Mark led them to a table in the corner of the room. The place was packed tight, bodies undulating on the huge dance floor. The waitress brought them drinks and Lara sipped hers while watching the interaction of the couples milling about.
“So, what do you think?” he asked.
“I think this place is ripe for research.”
He arched a brow and took a long swallow of his drink. “What kind of research?”
“Sexual.”
“Oh yeah?”
She nodded. “Sexual behaviors of the young and single couples. I wish I’d brought my notepad. I could jot down some ideas or maybe even wander around and ask some questions.”
His lips curled. “Oh yeah. I know they would love that.”
Good point. “Okay, maybe just observing will give me some thought processes to go on.”
“Tell me what you see.”
“Look at that couple in front of us.”
Mark’s gaze followed hers. “The woman in the red dress with the really tall guy?”
“Yes. See how he looks over her, not at her?”
“Yeah. So?”
“He’s not really interested in that particular woman.”
“How can you tell?”
She smiled, feeling more comfortable now that she they were talking about her area of expertise. “His body language. He holds her loosely, his hands barely grazing her hips. And no body contact. They’re at least six inches apart. The fact he isn’t looking directly at her clearly indicates he’s already scoping out another woman.”
“Really. You can tell all that just by looking at them?”
She turned to him and nodded. “Yes.”
With a shrug, he said, “You’re probably right. Places like this are known to be meat markets. And some guys like to have a lot of women to choose from.”
“Is that why you brought me here?” Stupid question.
“Nah. I said some guys, not all guys. Besides, I’ve got the best-looking woman in the place.”
Lara snorted and turned to the couples on the dance floor, scanning for more interesting subjects. She’d have to keep her wits about her tonight so she could remember everything she saw. When she returned home, she could type up her observations.
“Tell me more. What else do you see?” he asked.
“The area over by the bar. That’s where the male will size up available females before making his choice.”
“Why?”
“Typical male response. Males are hunters. Their primary mission is continuation of their species. They always look for the most attractive woman in the crowd. If he captures her, if they have chemistry, he knows he can bond with her.”
Now it was Mark’s turn to laugh. “I can guarantee you that ninety-nine percent of the guys in here aren’t looking for a wife.”
She shook her head. “No, not a wife. A mate. Someone to have sex with. Good sex, at least to a man, equals a good mate and therefore continuation of his line. Doesn’t mean he wants to spend all eternity with her. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. The male of the species deals in quantity, not quality. The more women he can spread his seed among, the more likely his lineage will continue.”
“In other words, fuck ‘em and go on to the next one.”
“Exactly.”
She could have laughed at his affronted look.
“Whoa. That’s kind of harsh.”
Lara smirked, knowing all about a man’s ego and how easily it could be bruised. “But it’s true. If you think about it logically, you’ll know it to be true.”
“So in other words, my taking you out tonight is because I want to have sex with you.”
She choked and grabbed for her drink. “Um, no. That’s not what I meant at all.” She didn’t mean the two of them. She and Mark were…well, whatever they were, it wasn’t like that at all.
“Then you’ve just blown your theory right out of the water, professor.”
At a loss for words, she watched the dancers, hoping Mark wouldn’t ask her any more questions.
“You prefer that, don’t you?” he asked, pulling her attention back to him. He leaned back and slung his arm over the top of the chair. The movement stretched his shirt tight over his chest. She hoped she wasn’t drooling.
“Prefer what?”
“Watching, rather than participating.”
“I’m an analyst. I love to survey the sexual interactions between people. It’s what I do.”
“Don’t you miss joining in?”
She never had before. Content with her life for many years, Lara had convinced herself she didn’t need a man to make her complete. She still felt that way, although if she were going to participate rather than watch, the man sitting across the table from her would be her first choice.
“Not really. I’m satisfied with my life.”
“Satisfied, but not happy?”
Mark must have taken psychoanalysis lessons from Nancy. “I didn’t say that.”
“No, you didn’t. Let’s dance.” He stood and held out his hand.
“I’d rather watch.”
“Not this time, professor. This time you participate. C’mon.”
She took a quick gulp of her cocktail and stood, hoping she wouldn’t pierce his foot with her stiletto heels. Or even worse, fall on her ass.
Mark maneuvered them in between the throng of bodies on the dance floor. The music was slow, sensuous, a wailing strain of heartache pouring from the saxophone. He stopped and turned, then gathered her into his arms and pulled her close. His hand rested low on her back. Damn Nancy and her choice of low-cut dresses.
And he could dance. Lord, could he dance. His body fit tight against hers, his fingers splayed on the skin of her back, softly moving up and down against her spine. Her legs wobbled.
“Would you relax? I’m not going to bite you. Unless you ask me to.”
His teasing wink was not comforting. His gaze focused on hers and for the life of her she couldn’t pull herself away.
Chemistry. Biology. This was the stuff she wrote about, but had never really felt with a man. This self-combusting ache that settled somewhere between her legs, making her breasts tingle, her body fire up in preparation for…
For what? For sex? With Mark? He’d laugh if she told him what she’d been thinking.
They were wedged tight within the throng of heated bodies surrounding them, all swaying to the music. Some men’s hands rested on their women’s buttocks. Considering they were in public, it was a free-for-all of sexuality that astounded her.
“No one cares,” Mark said.
She refocused on his face. “Cares about what?”
“About who is touching who and where they’re touching. Everyone’s into the music, the moment, concentrating only on the body they’re holding onto. Do you see anyone else studying the people around them?”
She scanned the room, realizing that the couples on the dance floor focused only on each other. Okay, maybe she’d been wrong. “No.”
“Then look at me, Lara. Feel me, touch me anywhere you want. Let your senses come alive and get into the moment. Get into the reality.”
The offer was tempting, but scared her to death. “I’m doing fine.”
His lips curled in a delicious smile that made her shudder with a need she hadn’t realized existed. “But I’m not.”
Blazing a scorching trail of fire, his hands moved up her back to tickle the nape of her neck, then slowly, ever so slowly, traveled downward past the middle of her spine. Then lower, and even lower.
When he rested his fingers against the top of her butt, she gasped, but he held her firm. His fingers burned through her skimpy dress and flimsy panties, scorching her skin.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked.
She almost blurted the yes that automatically hung on her lips. But his hands felt too good. “No.”
“Then touch me. Anywhere you want.”
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she moved her hands over his shoulders,
delighting in the feel of his muscles tensing against her fingers. Exploring further, she moved her palms over his chest. His heart beat fast and strong against her hand.
So did his erection. Nestled between her legs, he rocked his hips against her and sparks shot off deep inside her sex. He was hard. She turned him on. Holy hell, that was exciting!
“Feel what you do to me?”
“Yes.”
“What are your thoughts?”
She didn’t want to tell him what her thoughts were. But she couldn’t help herself. “It excites me.”
His whiskey eyes darkened, the sensual promise within their depths melting her from the inside out. “Good.”
He pulled her close to his chest and her nipples beaded to hard points. They ached for his touch, his mouth, anything to douse the fire he’d started. He arched a brow and grinned, then moved against her, mirroring the dancing couples around them.
Each time he ground against her mound, she wanted to drop in a heap of arousal onto the floor. Her clit was in a knot, her pussy pulsing. Juices ran from her slit onto her panties, readying her for a sensual assault she truly wanted but knew she wasn’t going to get.
Really, how could people take this sexual teasing? The academic part of her mind wanted to take notes, to jot down every thought, every sensation running through her body. The woman part of her wanted to rip Mark’s clothes off and have her way with him right here, right now.
She was pathetic. One dance, one hot body rubbing against hers and she was toast.
“Let’s go,” he said, moving away from her and leaving her chilled and wanting.
She thought he was tired of dancing, but instead of returning to their seats he led her out the door and back to his car.
That was it? One drink, one body-melting dance and they were done? Her body was aroused to the point of pain, her panties were wet and her nipples were desperately trying to bore a hole through her dress.
And now she was going home?
What a disappointment! She slid into the seat of his SUV, remembering now why she didn’t date. The reality was never as good as the fantasy.
He drove her home in virtual silence, the tension between them palpable. Lara glanced over at him, hoping he’d smile or make some kind of eye contact.
Nothing. His jaw was clenched tight and he gripped the steering wheel like he was trying to maneuver through an obstacle course. By the time they reached her house, she was prepared for him to slow down, toss her out and speed away.
Instead, he parked, walked up the sidewalk with her and waited while she fished for her keys. When she got the front door open he fit his hand on the small of her back and gently propelled her inside, following her.
He shut the door. Locked it.
She turned around, planning to ask him what he was doing, when he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her against him. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes spoke volumes. His pupils were dilated, his breathing heavy and erratic.
He brushed her hair away from her face and lowered his mouth to hers.
She expected a gentle touch of his lips, like the last time.
That wasn’t what she got.
His lips crashed down against hers and he tightened his hold on her, slipping his tongue inside and licking the inner recesses of her mouth. He drank from her lips like a man in the throes of desperation. She welcomed the onslaught because she was insanely hungry for his touch.
Lara melted in his arms, grabbing his shoulders and then winding her arms around his neck to tangle her fingers in his hair. He groaned against her lips and kissed her deeper, harder, ravaging her mouth in a way that left her unable to take a breath.
Not that she cared. This was passion. Pure, unadulterated mating of two bodies with explosive chemistry. She’d never had it before, had no idea it could be like this.
Now that she’d discovered it, she wanted more. So much more.
His hands moved frantically over her body, heating her blood wherever he touched. His heart raced against her breast, the rapid staccato beat matching her own.
She tore at his shirt and pulled it from the waistband of his pants, sliding her hands under the fabric so she could make contact with his skin. His stomach quivered and his breath caught and held. She could entice that kind of reaction from him?
Wow. For the first time in her life, she felt wanton and desired.
Mark pulled his mouth from hers and rained heated kisses across her jaw and down her neck. She shivered, goose bumps popping up on every inch of her skin. When he sank his teeth lightly into that spot between her neck and shoulder, she whimpered and scraped at his back with her fingers.
His skin was on fire. Her body was fully engulfed in flames. She needed that inferno doused and now.
Mark tasted the sweet skin of Lara’s neck again, his body hard and aching to sink between the soft flesh of her thighs. This he hadn’t planned on, had no way to fight it. She fired him up hotter than a breaking story, and right now all he wanted to do was make love to her, article or no article.
The rest he’d worry about later.
Reaching behind him, he pulled her arms from around his back and moved her a bit so he could look at her.
Her lips were swollen from his demanding kisses, her hair mussed from his fingers tangling in the silken tresses. Her nipples were clearly outlined against the flimsy dress, erect and begging for his touch. He wanted his mouth on the perky tips, wanted to taste her there. Hell, he wanted to taste her everywhere.
If he were polite he’d ask her permission, ask if she wanted to make love, ask where her bedroom was.
Fuck it. He wanted her and her body sure as hell was giving off the same signals. Without a word he swept her up into his arms and walked through an open doorway.
Ah. Bedroom. He laid her on the bed, taking a moment to admire the view of her long legs, gorgeous hips and breasts.
But he knew with Lara he’d have to tamp down his urges a bit. Throwing her dress up and plunging into her wouldn’t be a wise choice. That might be exactly what he needed, but she needed much more. And he’d damn well planned to give her everything she needed, and then some.
He’d think about the whys of that later.
Easing onto the bed next to her, he let his hands roam freely over her body, not wanting her to change her mind at the last minute.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured, burying his face in her neck and nuzzling against her soft hair.
“Am not,” she whispered.
“Are too.” He slid his hands underneath her and pulled her so they lay on their sides, facing each other. When he swept his palm over the material covering one breast, she gasped.
He caressed the distended bud through the thin material covering it, rewarded with her whimpering moan. When he closed his mouth over her breast, she cried out and threaded her fingers through his hair, holding him closer.
The taste of silk and woman was intoxicating. The taste of Lara was intoxicating. More so than any woman he’d ever touched. He was in way over his head with a woman like her. Eagerness and innocence made her lethal, dangerous.
Wherever he touched, she responded fervently. Her whimpers and moans drove him crazy. His cock throbbed, insistent on having its way, and he was finding it difficult to win out over his demanding libido.
“Lara, look at me.”
Her eyes tightly closed, she didn’t want to open them. The sensations were indescribable, delicious and wicked, like her fantasies. She didn’t want to open her eyes and find out none of this was real. But she did as Mark asked, shocked to see his darkly aroused gaze. When he thrust his hips against her, she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out in ecstasy.
“I want you.”
She wanted to ask him to say it again, she’d heard it so infrequently in her lifetime. How did one respond to a statement like that? “Thank you.”
He laughed. “Thank you? How about you want me too?”
“That’s kind of obvious, Mark. Yo
u can tell by my body’s biological response to you.”
He’d show her a biological response or two. He slipped the thin straps of her dress over her shoulders and down her arms. Her bra followed next, revealing her small breasts. She fought the urge to cover them with her hands, but he pushed them away. Her tiny pink nipples were gorgeous. No way was he going to allow her to cover them.
“Your body’s biological response, huh? You mean, like these hard nipples?” He petted one and it puckered and stood up as if reaching out to him.
“Yes.”
“And are you wet for me, Lara?”
Oh, God. She couldn’t answer that. “I…I…”
His fingers seared her leg, then blazed a forest fire up to her thigh. When he slipped his knee between her legs and ran his fingers further upward, she couldn’t hold in the groan of pleasure.
He made short work of sliding her panties off. She was on fire, craving his touch, desperately needing his hands, his mouth, his body on her.
She thought it couldn’t get any better. But it did. Right when he cupped her sex with the palm of his hand. She shuddered, her body writhing against him.
“Oh yeah, you’re wet all right.”
Mortification mixed with excitement as he slowly moved his hand over her aching clit. Sparks shot into her belly and she silently begged him to send her over the edge. She was close, so very close.
“I’ll bet if I pet you a little bit you’d come all over my hand, wouldn’t you, wildcat?”
He really was psychic. “Yes. No. I don’t know, maybe.”
“Shh, quit talking. Just feel, Lara. Let me please you.”
Please her? He was damn near killing her! But she bit her lip to keep from saying anything more. Until he touched her again. Then she couldn’t hold back her response.
“Oh Mark, yes. That feels so good. Right there, yes, there.”
She couldn’t help talking now, needing him to caress that magical spot.
“There? Tell me, wildcat. Do you like it when I touch you there?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Soft, like this, or a little harder?”
His voice was as seductive as his fingers, both sending her spinning out of control. “Yes, like that. Now faster.”
His husky laugh had her shivering and rocking against him.