STORY EXCERPT

Swallowing a moan, she opened her eyes when the elevator dinged, her face burning. “You like to tease, don’t you?”

Laughing softly, he guided her out of the elevator with a hand at her waist. “Oh, definitely.”

Making her way down the hallway with Bill beside her and eyeing her thoughtfully, she looked up at him. “Thank you for dinner.”

“You’re very welcome. Maybe I should get take-out tomorrow and we can go back to my house. I’d like to show you a few things.”

“I only agreed to calling you.” Reaching her door, Kim sucked in a breath and looked up at him over her shoulder as she curled her hand around the doorknob and started to put her key in the lock. “Stop say—”

Stilling when her door moved before she could even get her key into the lock, Kim whipped her head around, seeing that her door had opened several inches. “I didn’t—”

Before she could finish telling Bill that she hadn’t unlocked the door, she felt a hard band of muscle wrapping around her waist from behind, pulling her back.

Moving her behind him, he took her hand and lifted it. “Stay behind me. Flatten your hand on my back and keep it there.”

His steely tone brooked no argument, and swallowing heavily, she did as he demanded. He shoved the door all the way open, slamming it back against the wall, revealing that her apartment had been trashed.

She sucked in a breath at the sight of broken lamps, her sofa and chair cut and stuffing spilling out of it, her television broken and lying on the floor. Unable to see around Bill, she looked from side to side, her stomach clenching at the sight of all the damage to her apartment.

In the kitchen, dishes had been pulled out of the cupboards, the pieces of them covering the kitchen floor.

In the bathroom, he didn’t even have to pull her shower curtain back because it already lay on the floor.

With her hand pressed against Bill’s back, they made their way through her apartment with Bill checking every closet, around every corner on their way to her bedroom. Tears burned her eyes when she saw even more damage.

Her mattress had been pulled off the bed and sliced in several places, along with her pillows. Every dresser drawer stood open, the contents either on the floor or hanging off the edges of the drawers.

Silently, Bill made his way to her closet. Reaching back, his attention on the closet door, he slid his hand to her belly and pushed her against the wall. “Don’t move.”

For the first time since she’d noticed the door to the apartment open, he wasn’t touching her, and she felt the loss to her soul.

Glancing around, she noted that her wooden jewelry box had been taken out of the drawer and thrown across the room to smash, broken on the floor in several pieces.

He came back to her, gathering her close and leading her out of the room. “It’s okay. It’s only things. Let’s go out to the living room. You can sit down while I call the police.”

When she stumbled, he picked her up and carried her out to the living room himself, pushing back his rage and fear.

If she’d been alone…

Seeing no decent place to sit, he grabbed the only unbroken kitchen chair, dragged it into the living room, sat, and, aware that she trembled, settled her on his lap. Pulling her cape more firmly around her, he kissed her temple. “We’ll get through this. Do you know anyone who would do this?”

“No.” Her voice, almost too low for him to hear, shook. “Oh God!”

Gathering her closer, he pressed his lips against her hair. “I’m going to call the cops and make a few other phone calls. Once the cops check for prints and question you, I want you to pack a bag and come home with me.”

“No. I’ll just get a hotel room.”

“Do you honestly think I’m going to leave you alone tonight? No. You’re coming home with me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have a damn thing to be sorry for. I’m pissed off enough without you apologizing for something that clearly is not your fault.”

She jumped out of his lap while he made his call to the police, searching all over the living room. “My laptop’s missing.” Holding on to the back of the sofa, she pointed to the television. “They broke the television but took my laptop.”

Bill listened as he spoke to the dispatcher, hanging up shortly afterward. “Come here, baby.”

Holding the cape around herself, she looked around again and moved to stand next to him while she scanned the kitchen. “Why would someone trash my apartment just to steal my laptop?”

She rushed from the room. “I have to see if they took my jewelry! Shit. I have to call Susan. I’ll tell her I’ll be away for a few days. I don’t want her to come here. She’ll worry.”

Bill rosed, scraped a hand over his jaw, and blew out a breath, but it did nothing to relieve the tension inside him.

He didn’t know what the hell was going on, but if someone attempted to get to Kim, they’d have to go through him.

And that would never happen.

ADULT EXCERPT

Sucking her nipple before releasing it, Bill lifted his head. “I already told you that I won’t be rushed. Now, be still so I can continue.”

When he released her hands, Kim lowered them, fisting them at her sides, sharp cries of need pouring from her as Bill used his mouth and tongue over her belly and then her abdomen, working them closer and closer to her throbbing clit.

“Bill! I can’t take it!” She tried her best to remain still but trembled helplessly and couldn’t stop pressing her heels over the bedding.

“Yes. You can.” He rose to his knees and slid her pants, panties, and even her socks down and off, taking time to stroke her feet, dragging a moan of pleasure from her.

He kissed the center of each foot before moving between her thighs, lifting to his knees. “You’re sensitive everywhere and an absolute delight to explore. I’m looking forward to learning every one of your secrets.”

While he spoke, she heard him rip the condom open and felt him move as he donned it.

She felt his cock, hard as steel, brush against her hip. “Bill, please take me.”

Desire burned hot inside her, so hot that she was willing to beg for the relief she desperately needed. Digging her heels into the mattress, she lifted her hips, the hunger becoming agony. “Please! I’m so close.”

“Yes, Kim. I know that.” Sliding his hands into her hair, he touched his lips to hers. “Anticipation heightens the pleasure. It’s a lesson you’ll learn soon enough. I’m going to use my mouth on you to take the edge off.”

Just the thought of it sent ripples of pleasure through her, her cry one of desperation.

He scraped his teeth over her bottom lip, an erotic threat that elicited another cry from her. “Don’t always expect it.”

 A harsh moan came from somewhere deep inside her as he slid his hands down her sides while his lips worked their way down her body.

Rocking her hips, Kim gripped the bedding, another cry escaping when Bill closed his hands on the backs of her thighs, lifting them high and wide as he lowered his head to her slit.

Needing friction against her clit, but unnerved by how sensitive it had become, she kicked at him. “You can’t! It’s too much.”

Bill shoved her legs wider apart. “Either behave and let me have what I want or use your safe word. I want a taste of what’s soon going to belong to me. Are you going to deny me?”

With a fingertip, he traced her wet pussy opening. “Or are you going to be a good girl?”

Shaking her head from side to side, and realizing that this was just having sex for him and that his dominance with toys would be much more intense, Kim whimpered, her toes curling. “No. I won’t deny you. I’ll be good.”

She couldn’t believe she’d actually said those words, words that would have mortified her if she hadn’t been in the throes of passion, but with Bill stoking fires inside her, it seemed natural.

“That’s my good girl.” His deep voice held a silkiness it shouldn’t have, the tone of it strumming her passion into a darkly erotic seduction she’d never felt before.

She’d never even imagined it could exist.

The first glide of his tongue over her clit jolted her as if she’d been touched by a live wire, the cry that escaped like nothing she’d ever heard before.

She writhed helplessly at the too-extreme pleasure, crying his name when the wave of pleasure caught her in its grip. Breathless and shocked into immobility, Kim could do nothing except ride the wave of bliss, her entire body trembling as Bill flicked his tongue over her clit several more times before lifting his head. “Oh God!”

Breathing harshly and feeling vulnerable, she reached for him as he covered her body with his, needing his solidness against her trembling body.

To her delight, he gathered her close, one hand beneath her head and the other beneath her bottom as he poised the head of his cock against her pussy opening. “So sweet.”

As he slowly entered her, his thick cock stretching her, Kim gripped his shoulders and pressed her heels against his buttocks, reminded of his size like never before.

Surrounded by and filled with hardness and heat, she kissed his neck and buried her face against it. Tightening her hold around his neck, she lifted her face as he began to thrust into her, slow thrusts that stretched her with every inward stroke of his cock.

Tilting her head upward, he covered her mouth with his, the faint taste of her passion combined with her juices a sharp reminder of his erotic nature and proof that she was the woman he’d been searching for.

He wanted to consume her, finding her softness and passion irresistible. He loved the way she held on to him, loved her soft cries of passion and need, and absolutely thrilled with the way she felt in his arms.

She was everything he wanted-needed-and he had to keep reminding himself to go slowly.

Their lovemaking was just one step in a long journey that he looked forward to with an intensity that filled something empty inside him.

Although he deepened his kiss, he kept it slow, the tenderness in it a far cry from his increasingly deep thrusts, thrusts that came faster and faster.

She’d never felt so taken before, so consumed with pleasure, a sizzling warmth spreading over every inch of her body.

His cock stretched her, the friction against her inner walls sending her higher with every smooth stroke.

Her body tightened as she went over again, her cries swallowed by Bill.