He frowned. “What are you doing?”
I gestured at his bare feet. “Just leveling the playing field.”
His frown deepened, but he kept staring at me. “Okay. So what, exactly, am I wrong about?”
“For starters, the notion that I might feel beholden to you for saving me from that hit man.” I reached around and tugged down the zipper on the back of my dress. “I wanted to make it crystal-clear right from the start that I feel no such beholdenment.”
“That’s not a word,” he protested.
“It is now.”
I drew the dress down off my arms, stepped out of it, and scooped it up off the floor. Then I folded the garment and set it on the kitchen counter next to my purse. The air was a bit cool, and I shivered in my blue bra and matching undies. Tucker’s gaze trailed over my body, and suddenly, I wasn’t cold at all.
“As for you doing bad things, well, I’ve probably done just as many, including killing my own brother. It doesn’t get much darker and more vicious than that. So I would say we are evenly matched in that regard.”
He didn’t respond, but his gaze remained locked on my body, and his hands clenched into fists, as though he was fighting the urge to reach for me.
“Something else you should know is that I like to be prepared.” I opened my purse and drew out a condom. I showed it to him, then set it down on the counter. “I also take birth control pills.”
He still didn’t respond, but his fists clenched a little tighter, his knuckles standing out like white stars against his tan skin.
“Now, I could be wrong, but it seems like we’ve spent the past several weeks doing this weird sort of flirting and tiptoeing around our mutual attraction. Well, I don’t want to tiptoe around anything anymore. So I came here to tell you what I want, what I’ve wanted for a long time now—and that isyou, Mr. Tucker.”
“This is a bad idea,” he rasped, although his gaze never left my body.
I strolled forward, swinging my hips just a bit, and stopped right in front of him. “See? There you go again, being wrong about everything. Because I happen to think it’s anexcellentidea.”
He kept staring at me. When it was clear he wasn’t going to make the first move, I reached up, pushed the flaps of his shirt aside, and smoothed my hands down his bare chest. He sucked in a ragged breath, and his muscles bunched and flexed under my light, teasing touch.
“So warm and firm,” I murmured.
He still didn’t move, so I stepped forward and buried my face in the crook of his neck. His cologne washed over me, and the spicy scent made my head spin. Mmm.
I drew back and looked up at him. Hunger filled his face, and the raw, naked emotion made me shiver again, this time in anticipation.
Tucker loosened his fists, then slowly reached up and cupped my cheek. He trailed his fingertips down my face and throat, stopping at the pulse that was hammering in my neck.
“I can hear your heart,” he rasped again, a note of wonder in his voice. “Beating hard and fast, just like mine is.”
He grabbed my hand and placed it on his own heart as if to confirm his words. I flattened my palm against his chest, drinking in the delicious warmth of his skin against mine. Then I curled my other hand around his neck and drew his mouth down to mine.
All my previous restraint vanished the instant our lips touched. I plunged my tongue into Tucker’s mouth, and he growled low in his throat and kissed me back just as fiercely. Suddenly, I couldn’t kiss him quick enough, couldn’t touch him long enough, couldn’t feel enough of him pressing up against me. I tugged impatiently on the sides of his shirt, trying to shove it out of the way. Tucker drew back and ripped it off, then stepped into my arms again.
We spun around and around, lips and tongues clashing together time and time again, even as our hands roamed all over each other’s body. Somehow I ended up with my back against the door. Tucker stood before me, his gaze raking over me again.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured in a low, reverent voice. “Inside and out. Far too beautiful for me.”
His compliment warmed me from head to toe, inside and out, and I crooked my finger at him. “Then come here and show me exactly how beautiful you think I am.”
A devilish grin spread across his face, and he stepped forward.
Tucker kissed me again, his hands gliding up my back, and I moved away from the door so that he could unhook my bra. I slid it down my arms and tossed it aside. Tucker’s hands landed on my breasts, and he rolled one nipple in his fingers, while he bent down and sucked on the other one.
I moaned and arched back. Every gentle tweak and hard suck sent a fresh wave of desire spiking through my body, and a wet heat pooled between my thighs. I reached down and stroked his thick, hard erection through his pants, wanting to bring him the same sort of pleasure he was giving me. Tucker hissed out a breath and drew back, his black eyes glimmering with desire.
I stroked him a few seconds longer, then opened his pants and slid my hand inside. My fingers closed around his erection, and he hissed again, his lips drawing back and his fangs flashing like pointed white pearls in his mouth.
“I’ve dreamed about you touching me like this,” he said in a low, strained voice. “And touching you in return.”
