My heart was still racing twenty minutes later when he led me into the back of the garage. There was a small apartment set up back there, and I looked around, curiously. “I figured it would be easier to eat Chinese at a table,” Kane said, gesturing for me to sit.

I did so, arms wrapped around myself.

He noticed. “Are you cold?”

“No.” I had to fight to keep my teeth from chattering, but it had nothing to do with cold and everything to do with nerves.

My skin felt like it was on fire, alive with sensation.

It had been like that ever since the first time he’d come up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

Odd that terror hadn’t been the first thing to go through me.

Odd that I wasn’t terrified now, alone in this room with him.

But while fear was a shadow in the back of my mind, it didn’t loom over me. Not even when he sat down across from me at a table so small his knee touched mine as we began to help ourselves to the food he’d spread out in front of us.

“You’re doing pretty good with everything,” Kane said after taking a bite of fried rice.

“Thanks.” I shot him a smile and tried to pretend I wasn’t nervous as hell.

His gaze lingered on mine a little longer this time.

Throughout the meal, those lingering gazes happened more and more, and by the time we were done eating, I felt like I might come out of my skin. I was the first one on my feet. “Here,” I said, voice higher than normal. “Let me help you clean up.”

I turned away before he could say anything, arms full of nearly empty containers. Moving to the counter by the fridge, I asked, “You want to keep this for lunch tomorrow? I don’t want it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said from right behind me.

I jumped at the nearness of his voice and froze when his arms came around me, caging me in where I stood. Trapped. Yet oddly, I didn’t feel that way. I felt surrounded by him, but not in a bad way.

“Turn around and look at me, Raye,” he whispered, mouth right next to my ear.

Tension made me awkward and stiff as I did so, and I tried to tell myself to relax, but unfortunately, there was no coaxing voice to remind me of what came next as I turned to meet his eyes. We weren’t out in the garage, and he wasn’t teaching some move that might help me avoid an attack this time.

Sensation flooded me, swelling through me so big and overwhelming I didn’t know how to handle it.

Everything seemed clearer and sharper as I met his eyes. I could see striations of a lighter brown cutting through the dark chocolate of his gaze and I could make out each individual eyelash. He reached up to cup my cheek, and the callouses on his palm felt exquisite against my skin. I wanted to rub myself against his touch like a cat.

So why don’t you?

That soft voice inside me urged me to be bold, but I didn’t know how. Didn’t know if it was the right time or even if I should.

“What are you thinking?” he asked. “Your thoughts are racing. I can see them all flashing through your eyes, but I can’t keep up with them.”

My breath hitched in my chest.

Here was my chance. I could tell him what I wanted and let him decide. I thought maybe he wanted me. He’d kissed me before, and the tension in the air between us couldn’t be entirely one-sided, could it?

I licked my lips, and when I did, his gaze dropped straight to my mouth, and a strange noise escaped him.

Tell him…

“Will you kiss me?” I blurted out.

His lids drooped low over his eyes, but that didn’t quite prevent me from seeing the way the pupils swelled, all but swallowing the dark brown of his irises. A ruddy flush settled across his cheekbones, and he swayed forward just the slightest bit.

But he didn’t kiss me.

Instead, he reached up and cupped my cheek.

“Why?”

What do you mean, why?

“Um… because I want you to.” I had to fight the urge to pull away from him, and there was also a faint, hysterical giggle bubbling up in my throat, although I somehow managed to keep that held back. He continued to study me, and when he didn’t do anything, I arched my back, forcing some distance between us. “Unless you don’t…”

He pressed his thumb to my lips. “I’ve thought about kissing you again pretty much since the first time I did it, even when I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. But since that one ended with you slapping me…”

“I shouldn’t have done that,” I said weakly. “It was New Year’s Eve.”

“I disagree. You’d just had two assholes hassle you. New Year’s Eve or not, I had some seriously bad timing.” His gaze swept down to my mouth and heat lashed me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. “Still…I wanted to do it again. I still want to.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

“Good question, Raye.” His gaze held mine as he slowly lowered his head and brushed his lips against mine.

That was all he did at first, rub his lips against mine.

And he watched me.

Unprepared for that, I couldn’t tear my gaze from his, held captured by those dark brown eyes as he brushed one feather-light kiss after another against my mouth. A low, vibrating noise emanated from somewhere, and I didn’t realize it was me until after I’d moaned a second time.

By then, my mouth had parted, and he took advantage of it, sliding his tongue out to lick at the small opening. That had me opening wider for him. He tasted so good…

He groaned against my mouth, finally deepening the kiss and his lids drooped all the way closed. As if that alone was all I’d been waiting for, I finally let myself close my eyes and gave into that kiss completely.

He slid one arm around me, pressing his palm against my ass and drawing me flat against him.

Heat exploded through me as his cock swelled against my belly.

It was a reaction I wasn’t prepared for. Any time I’d ever felt a man’s cock, it had caused a mix of terror and trepidation, although there had only been a handful of instances, mostly on dates gone bad, back when I thought maybe I could make myself be normal.

But this was new.

This was…kind of wonderful.

An empty ache centered low in my belly.

It pulsed, echoing through my entire body, and when his cock throbbed, those pulsing sensations started all over, as if in answer to some call from his body that mine sensed.

He boosted me up onto the counter at my back, and I gasped as he tugged me close. With the movement, his cock nestled up against me, and instinctively, I arched closer. That had those pulsing sensations panging that much stronger, and I felt his cock more fully now.

“Can I touch you?” he whispered against my mouth.

“You already are.”

He laughed against my lips, and it was a pained sound. “Not what I meant.”

I got his meaning a moment later as he placed his hand on my side, under the hem of my shirt. “I want to take this off and touch you,” he said, the words blunt. “I want to touch your tits…taste them. Can I?”

The stark, raw words had me jerking in his arms, and I pulled back, staring at him.

My breath came in harsh pants as I processed what he’d just said and what I felt about it. The answer, I already knew – everything in me was screaming yes. But I’d never expected to have a guy say something like that to me, and I didn’t know how I felt.

But I think I kind of liked it.

Slowly, I nodded and reached for the hem of my shirt, but he brushed my hands away, guiding them back to my sides. He was the one to peel the shirt off, and when he was done, he tossed it onto the seat just behind him. The kitchen was so small, there was barely room for the table and appliances. If I reached out with my foot, I’d be touching the chair I’d used for dinner.

I didn’t understand why the small area and the big man didn’t make me feel trapped.

But I felt…safe.

And…wanted.

His hands came up, cupping my breasts, and I jolted at the sensation. I’d been braced for…something. An echo of memory tried to take over, cruel hands, pinching, pulling.

But it faded under the gentle motions of Kane’s hands, the way he tugged lightly at my nipples through the bra. Then… I gasped as he dipped his head and took me in his mouth, his teeth lightly raking the nipple through the damp material of my bra. He worried and tugged and sucked until my nipple was tight, aching, and full, and everything he did sent a jolt of sensation shooting straight down to… there.

I was wet, something I didn’t realize until I started to squirm, and my panties rubbed back and forth over me.

He reached between my thighs.

I froze.

“Easy, Raye,” he murmured against my flesh.

But I couldn’t.

Tension shot through me, and slowly, Kane raised his head to look at me. I don’t know what he saw, but I had a good idea. It was probably the same look I saw on my face on the mornings when the nightmares brought me gasping into wakefulness, and I’d rush into the bathroom and turn on the water, hoping to wash away the nausea and the taste brought on by dreams I never could quite remember.

“It’s okay,” he said again, his hand now resting flat on my upper thigh. “We can stop anytime you want.”

I want…

That was the scared part of me that wanted to shout. The words were even boiling up my throat.

But a bigger part of me needed to fight those words back, and I swallowed hard against them, forcing them back down my throat, locking them away where they wouldn’t spill out the moment I opened my mouth.

“I’m scared,” I whispered.

“I know.” He cupped my cheek again and brought our mouths together. The soft, sweet kiss was seductive, and before I knew it, I was leaning into him, my arms around his neck, my knees hugging his thighs. When he broke away, I tried to follow, but he held me back just the slightest, gripping my upper arms. “Look at me, Raye.”

I blinked my eyes and focused on his face, hunger and want humming in my veins in a way I’d never felt before.

“We can stop whenever you want,” he said again. “But if you trust me, I’ll make you feel like you’ve never felt before.”

* * *

I told him yes.

I barely remembered doing it, hardly believed that low, throaty-sounding voice was mine, but I told him yes, and he’d picked me up.

Now, I was lying on the couch, half on top of him. He had one hand on my ass and the other cupped the back of my neck.

I moaned against him as the hand on my ass moved to my hip, and he began to drag me up and down against his erection, eliciting an entirely new series of reactions. I shuddered at the feel, going a little wild when he pulsed against me.

He muttered something under his breath, then pulled back.

“I want to take you to my bed, okay?”

I blinked at him, the words not making sense.

Crooking a grin at me, Kane said, “Let me take you to bed. I want you naked, and I want to do things to you, but I can’t out here. There’s no room.”

I had no idea what he meant, but if he kept making me feel like this, he could take me to the moon, and I wouldn’t mind.

“Okay,” I whispered against his mouth.

He sat up, holding me against him like I weighed nothing.

In a series of quick movements that had the world swirling around me, he carried me into another room. This one was dark, and panic filled me. “Lights?” I whispered.

He let go of me, one hand reaching out to the table by the bed and a soft, pale gold filled the room.

“Better?” he asked as he laid me down on the bed.

I nodded, bracing myself as he knelt between my thighs. He’d come down on top of me now, and I wasn’t sure if I could take it. He read something on my face and laid a hand on my calf. “We stop when you say stop,” he told me.

I nodded, still nervous.

He gave me that same, lopsided smile and reached for the waistband of my jeans. “Can we take these off?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

He peeled the jeans away but left my panties on. I was glad I’d put on one of the pretty lingerie sets I’d bought from work as I lay in front of him. The silk and lace set was steel blue, and while the bra wasn’t a push-up, it made the most of my curves.

“You’re beautiful,” he said in a gruff voice, laying a hand on my thigh and stroking down.

I wanted to tell him thank you, but I was shaking hard and didn’t want the words to come out a wobble.

He moved, and I tensed even more, even as I tried to force my body to relax. He did lay down – but not on me. He sprawled between my thighs and pressed a kiss to my belly button as he toyed with the lacy waistband of my panties. “So pretty,” he murmured.

I lay like a stick under him, and he was telling me how pretty I was. He had to notice I was about as receptive as a doormat.

Not normal, not normal, I shrieked mentally.

But if he noticed, he acted otherwise. He eased lower, rubbing his lips over my belly.

I shivered.

He had to notice!

But he just continued to kiss and stroke and rub his way down until he was nuzzling me through my panties.

“Raye?” he whispered.

“Y-y-yes?”

“I want to eat you up,” he muttered.

My mind went blank. Eat me…?

“Can I eat your pussy?” he asked.

It was a shocking question, and one that managed to shock the tension right out of me. I went lax as I tried furiously to figure out how to answer that question, but my body had already figured it out and knew the answer. While I was still confused and thinking, my hips were lifting toward him, and he didn’t wait for any other answer.

His mouth touched me through the silk and lace, and a startled cry escaped me.

“Raye?”

“I…” Sucking in a breath, I closed my eyes.

“Should I stop?” he asked.

“No!” I shoved my hips toward him again, my body taking over once more.

He pressed his mouth more firmly against me – and this time, my panties weren’t in the way. He’d moved them, and I felt his tongue licking inside me, around me…he sucked on my clitoris, that mysterious spot that magazines kept saying could make me fly, but I’d never flown, not even once.

Until now.

He sucked on me, and I went straight up into the stratosphere, like somebody had put me on a rocket. It was the sweetest, most unexpected thing I’d ever experienced.

Then, while I was adjusting to that sensation, he pushed two fingers inside me.

It sent me straight to the moon.

I wailed out his name, and without thinking, reached down and twined my fingers in his hair, arching and moving against his mouth as he did exactly what he’d asked me permission for – he feasted.

He wasn’t quiet or delicate about it, either.

He made noise, grunting and groaning, talking to me and telling me how he loved my taste, urging me to ride his mouth, fuck his face and his hand.

Every dirty word urged me on, and I found myself doing exactly what he’d said – fucking his face, fucking his hand, begging him for more until the pleasure inside me was so intense, I couldn’t talk for it. I was barely able to make weak, mewling sounds as I begged him with my body and hands.

He thrust and twisted his fingers, curling them inside and sucking on my clit. Then it was happening – I felt that tightening sensation in me, felt it squeezing me, squeezing him, and I was coming.

Lights exploded in front of my eyes as a raw, savage sort of fury and bliss blasted through me, rolling through my body in wave after wave.

I thought it just might kill me.