There was a different doorman working in the lobby when Ross and Sharon reached his apartment. Ross was a bit glad—he had nothing against Jose, of course, but he didn’t want anyone realizing he’d brought the same girl back twice. It had never happened before, and the last thing that he needed was for the staff in his apartment building to start speculating about his love life. He had a reputation as a good guy who happened to have a lot of perfectly polite one-night stands, and he was content to keep it that way.

He briefly wondered if the real reason he was glad for Jose’s absence was because he didn’t want to admit to anyone, even himself, that Sharon was becoming important to him. He was happy to have an excuse to bury that thought and forget about it, preferably forever.

Sharon gave him one of her coy looks from underneath her lashes as they entered the elevator. “Think you can keep your hands to yourself for thirty seconds, Dr. Hardwick?” She asked.

Oh God, he wanted to devour her right there for that comment. “I think I can manage.”

Sharon made sure to walk ahead of him while they were headed down the hallway to his apartment, her ass swaying as she all but strutted. She leaned back against the wall while he unlocked his door, her eyes sultry as she watched him. “What are you thinking about?” He asked. “Tell me.” He made sure to put a bit of his growl into his voice.

Judging by Sharon’s responding shiver, she’d liked that growl. “I’m thinking about how you grabbed me the last time, how you seemed almost out of control.” Ross could see how dark her eyes were becoming and how her chest was fluttering as her breath became shaky. “I was thinking about how I wanted you to do that again.”

Ross pushed open his door and stepped back, an invitation for her to step inside. “You want me to do that again?”

Sharon nodded. She seemed to be a bit hesitant.

“You like it when I take control?”

She nodded again. She still didn’t step inside. Ross could feel his eyebrows drawing together and his mouth drooping in a frown. “Does that make you uncomfortable?”

Sharon looked away. Her eyes were glassy, like she wasn’t really seeing anything in front of her. “I like it, I do. I have to be such a control freak at my job, and growing up with… I was always in fear of slipping up, of falling prey to something and losing my control. And with my job… I just, I have to be in control and I want to be. But it gets so exhausting and so I like… I like that you take that away and I like the idea of just letting you—but it…”

She seemed to be floundering, so Ross took a step closer. “It scares you?”

“Yes.”

Ross felt the urge to hug her and had to swallow hard to overcome it. “It’s okay. We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. You can give up as much or as little control as you want to.”

Sharon looked at him, her eyes shining with gratitude. “Thank you.”

“Tell me what you want,” Ross urged. “Let me know and I’ll do it. I want to make sure I’m not crossing any line.”

Sharon finally stepped inside the apartment. Ross followed and closed the door behind them. She kept walking, going backwards until she was only a foot in front of the wall next to the doorway that led to his bedroom. “I want you to pin me down and… and fuck me.”

Ross advanced on her, just a little. He didn’t want to scare her. He could practically see Sharon willingly giving up control, loosening a usually white-knuckled grip. He remembered how tightly she’d held onto her steering wheel, and the whitening of her knuckles as she gripped his bed posts. He wanted her to feel relaxed and to trust him.

“Where and how?” He asked.

Sharon opened her mouth, then closed it again, shaking her head. “I don’t know. I want you to decide. Please.”

Ross nodded. “Okay then.”

He lunged forward, pinning her to the wall. He lifted his hands to brace himself against the wall and bracket her in. “What about…” He slid one hand down her left thigh and hitched it up around his waist. “Here?”

Sharon’s breath caught and Ross bit his lip to try and hide his triumphant grin. He loved how easily he seemed to take her breath away. He felt the creamy skin of her thigh and was immediately grateful that she’d chosen to wear a dress that night. He slid his other hand up her dress, expecting to meet lace, but his fingers kept going and going and he realized—

“You’re not wearing underwear.”

The grin that Sharon gave him was nothing short of wicked. Her eyes flashed, and Ross couldn’t help it—he kissed her, as slowly as he could. And then he kissed her again. And again. He loved that spark of playfulness in her, the way she played coy to prompt him to assert control over her. It helped to reassure him that she truly wanted this, and that she wanted him to take care of her in this way.

Sharon slid her hands underneath his shirt and up his back, her nails scraping lightly as she exposed his skin to the cool air. Ross lifted her leg up even higher around his waist and ground against her, letting her feel how aroused he was. He could certainly feel her. Even through his pants, he could feel the heat of her and the wetness starting to slide down the inside of her thighs. He couldn’t wait to be buried inside her.

One of Sharon’s hands cupped around the back of his head. She pressed down gently and Ross followed her lead, breaking off the kiss and ducking his head to suck at her throat. He moved his other hand down to grasp the back of the leg that still supported her.

“Ready?” He growled against her throat, pressing the words into her skin.

He could feel her trembling as she nodded, but her arms wound more tightly around him as if to pull him impossibly closer, so he knew it was from arousal and not from fear. Ross braced himself and hefted her up, wrapping both of her legs around his waist. Sharon gave a little squeak but clung to him. She laughed into his mouth as he kissed her again.

“I’m going to have to find a way to pin your hands down like this,” he mused, pushing her dress up so he could touch her breasts. “Get you tied up with your legs spread.”

Sharon moaned and grinded against him helplessly.

Ross grinned, kissing just underneath her ear. “You like that idea? You want me to tie you up? Leave you at my mercy?”

Sharon gasped in time with her movements and uttered soft sounds of pleasure with every roll of her hips. Ross let her continue as he talked to her. “Who would have thought you liked dirty talk, Miss Talcott? You want me to tell you how it would feel to leave you all strung out and unable to touch yourself, unable to touch me, just having to take everything I give you?”

He bit down lightly on her earlobe and tugged, simultaneously rubbing slow, tight circles around her nipples. “Such a wild thing you are. I bet you could get off just like this, listening to me talk as you fuck yourself against me. I’m almost tempted to let you finish this way.”

Sharon whined, her hands wildly grasping at his back and shoulders. “R-Ross,” she gasped, the word going up into a high whine at the end. “Please…”

“Please what? Please get inside you? Please let you finish right here, like this?” Ross was careful to keep his voice lazy and detached, as if he was discussing the weather. “It might be nice to slide into you after you’ve already come. Once you’re pliant and relaxed. You’d be so ready for me then, wouldn’t you sweetheart?”

Sharon let out a long, low moan at that, and Ross couldn’t help but chuckle. She was so sexy like this, driven wild and unable to stop herself from grinding against him. His pants were painfully tight, and while he liked the idea of keeping her pinned and letting her use him like this, he couldn’t wait any longer.

“But that’ll have to wait for next time.” Ross moved his hands back down to her legs and hoisted her up just that little bit higher so he could shove his pants down and line himself up. “Would you like to do the honors?” He asked, fishing a condom out of his back pocket before his pants fell down completely.

Sharon’s eyes were glazed and distant, but after a moment she blinked and focused again. She grinned at him, wicked, and plucked the condom from between his fingers.

Ross groaned as Sharon ran her hand over him, pumping him a few times before and after she slid the condom on. The impossible woman couldn’t just get down to business. No, she had to keep teasing him even after he’d seen and felt how desperate she was.

“Let me know if it gets to be too much,” he warned, and then slid inside.

Sharon let out a half-moan, half-sigh of relief. She wrapped her legs around him as tightly as she could before rolling her hips. Ross thrust in and out slowly a couple of times just to make sure she was ready, and then the pace he set was hard and fast—almost brutal.

The scream of yes that Sharon let out made him spasm with pleasure. God, she was perfect like this, eager and desperate, letting him pin her to the wall and do as he pleased with her. He was definitely tying her up next time if she’d let him. He’d tie her down and keep her on the edge until she was sobbing and begging. But right now, right now, he could only think about how many times he could dive into her clenching, welcoming heat, and the sound of her voice as she screamed his name.

Afterwards, he let Sharon use the bathroom first while he put his clothes in the laundry hamper and threw away the used condom. To his surprise, when she exited the bathroom, she made straight for the door.

Then he remembered his rule. No staying the night.

Ross closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He wanted to keep seeing her. Hell, if he were younger, he would already be dragging her into bed for round two. “Sharon.”

She paused, half-turning. “Yeah?”

Ross held out his hand to her, trying to stifle the terrifying emotions rising up in his chest. “C’mere.”

Sharon quirked an eyebrow. “You’re letting me stay the night?”

“It was rude of me to make you leave before,” Ross replied. Sharon put her hand in his and he tugged gently, drawing her close enough wrap an arm around her waist. “Stay.”

Sharon looked up at him with an odd light in her eyes. “Okay.”