Dark Bites

  She got up on her knees and pulled his shirt over his head. Her gaze feasted on the sight of all that strong, tawny skin as she ran her hands over his delectable flesh.

  Good gracious, the man had a gorgeous body, and she couldn't wait to taste every inch of it.

  The way he watched her with his eyes dark and hungry, his breathing ragged, made her burn even more for him. How could a man like this want her?

  Sam hesitated as she placed her hands on the top button of his jeans. "I want you to know that I'm not easy," she whispered.

  "It never crossed my mind," he said as he cupped her face in his hands. He moved to kiss her, but she pulled back.

  She met his confused gaze. "I've only been with one other guy. My college boyfriend."

  "Okay," he said, dipping his head toward hers.

  She laughed as she dodged his lips again. "Would you listen for a second?"

  He arched a brow at her.

  "I wanted to let you know that I'm not on the pill or anything."

  Adrian went rigid. Cursing, he took a step back from the bed. "Well, since we're confessing things, I have to tell you, I haven't been with a woman since college, either. And I threw out my condoms last year after it occurred to me that they were older than I was." Adrian retrieved his shirt from the floor.

  Damn it, he was so hard it hurt. And all he could think of was taking her, consequences be damned.

  But he couldn't do that. He wasn't about to take a chance on getting her pregnant. In spite of what his mother thought, he wasn't his father.

  It figures. Whatever made you think you could have a woman like her, anyway?

  Sam frowned as he stalked out of the room. She started to call him back, then reconsidered. He needed to eat first.

  She went after him. "You hungry?"

  Adrian nodded, but by his face she could tell food was the last thing he wanted.

  Sam served him a bowl of chili.

  Adrian stood at the counter while he ate it.

  Bemused, Sam watched as he refused to look at her. And the only words he uttered were a very brief compliment on how good her chili tasted and a simple thank-you.

  As soon as he was finished, Adrian placed the bowl in the sink, then went to sit in his recliner.

  Picking up his remote for the stereo, he clicked on his CD player. He had to do something to distract himself from those luscious legs peeking out from under her shirt. He rotated the discs to Matchbox 20.

  Suddenly, he felt Sam beside his chair. He glanced at her, then did a double-take as he saw her shirt unbuttoned all the way to her navel. Even worse, the swell of one breast was so obvious that it sent a wave of heat straight through his groin.

  "Don't tease me, Sam," he said hoarsely.

  With a tight-lipped smile, she lifted up the hem of the shirt to gift him with a glimpse of the dark curls at the juncture of her thighs before she climbed into his lap.

  "Sam," he groaned as she reached to unbutton his pants. His entire body burned and, worse, her feminine, floral scent was making him insane. If she didn't get up, he was going to have her regardless of his common sense. "Please don't."

  She took his hands in hers and led them to her breasts.

  Adrian leaned his head back and moaned at the softness of her bare breasts in his hands.

  Sam kissed him then, and he felt something strange in her mouth.

  Adrian pulled back to see her with a wrapped condom between her teeth.

  The smile on her face was devilish as she removed the package. "I bought them at the store, just in case."

  Growling low in his throat, he kissed her fiercely.

  Sam gasped as he rose to his feet with her still in his lap. She wrapped her arms and legs around him as he carried her back to his bed with his hands firmly gripping her bare bottom.

  He set her on the bed, then pulled his shirt over his head again as she finished unfastening his jeans. She removed his clothes from him.

  Sam gaped at the sight of his lean muscles as she saw him naked for the first time. Every single inch of his lean, hard body was toned and perfect. Never had she seen anything like it.

  Her face burned as she saw the size of his erection.

  She ran her hands over the veins on his forearms, over the strength of a body she'd never dared hope to touch. His skin was so soft, his muscles so hard. It reminded her of velvet stretched over steel.

  She'd never imagined her programming genius would have the body of a Greek god. But he truly did.

  Adrian hesitated as he stared at her in his bed, wearing his shirt. She was beautiful there. So soft, warm, and giving.

  His desire surged through him like lava as he joined her in the bed and laid her back against the mattress. He rained kisses over her face and neck as he did his best to control himself.

  His body demanded he get down to business with her, but his heart wanted to savor her for as long as he could. Even if it killed him.

  Adrian groaned as she rolled him over onto his back and straddled his waist. He liked her feistiness. But most of all, he liked her on top of him.

  She leaned over his chest and ran her tongue along the edge of his jaw, sending a thousand needlelike chills over his body as she rubbed herself against his stomach.

  It shook him all the way to his soul.

  "I'm so glad you got rid of that goatee," she whispered in his ear a second before she ran her tongue around the curve of his jaw.

  Adrian held her against him. "If I'd known you would do this, I'd have shaved it off the first week you came to work."

  She laughed.

  He buried his lips in the curve of her shoulder, inhaling the sweet scent of her skin. His head swam from the moistness of her on his stomach.

  Needing her in a way that terrified him, he unbuttoned her shirt and pulled it from her shoulders. "You are so beautiful," he breathed as he saw her naked.

  Her curves were every bit as full and lush as he had imagined. And her breasts...

  He could stare at those luscious breasts all night long.

  His breathing ragged, he reached up and cupped them in his hands. She trembled in response, delighting him even more.

  He dropped his gaze down to the moist curls that were driving him crazy, the moist curls that covered the part of her he couldn't wait to have.

  Sitting up, he kissed her furiously as he skimmed his hand from her breast, down her smooth, soft stomach to the tangled curls and into the sleek, wet cleft.

  Sam hissed at the pleasure of his long, lean fingers stroking her intimately. She'd never felt anything better, until he slid them inside her. In and out, and around, those fingers tormented her with a fiery pleasure she feared might actually consume her.

  Shamelessly, she rubbed herself against him, wanting him in a way that went beyond the physical.

  Her body on fire, she pushed him back against the bed, then moved to kiss a trail down his chest.

  Adrian hissed as Sam brushed her lips against his taut nipple and when she drew it into her mouth he thought he would die from the pleasure of her tongue on his skin.

  He buried his hands in her hair, cupping her face gently as he let the love he felt for her wash over him. She was so giving, so kind. Never in his life had anyone taken care of him. Never had anyone cared.

  But Sam did, and it rocked him all the way to his heart.

  "Touch me, Sam," he breathed, wanting to feel her hand against him again.

  She moved herself lower, trailing her tongue and lips down his abdomen, to his navel, his hip, where she tormented him mercilessly with little nibbles that rocked his entire body.

  Delirious from her touch, he closed his eyes in painful anticipation as she finally brushed her hand through the curls at the center of his body. She cupped him in her hand.

  Adrian arched his back, growling at the softness of her fingers stroking his shaft.

  "Yes," he moaned, writhing from the unbelievable sensations that ripped through him.

  And before he
knew what she was doing, she moved her head lower and licked a slow, torturous path from the base of his shaft, all the way to the tip.

  Adrian hissed at the unexpected, blind ecstasy that tore through him.

  Sam smiled as she felt him shivering around her. Her only thought to give him more pleasure, she took him into her mouth.

  She knew she was making him crazy, and she loved every minute of it. Adrian deserved to be loved by someone who wouldn't take him for granted, and she wanted to show him just how much he meant to her. Just how much she needed him.

  Adrian clenched his fists in the sheets at the incredible sensation of her tongue and lips covering him. No one had ever done that to him before, and he couldn't believe just how good it felt.

  His body trembling, he couldn't stand not tasting her in return.

  He had to have her. Now!

  Sam lifted her head as Adrian sat up. His eyes dark and shuttered, he moved until his body was lying in the opposite direction of hers. He ran his mouth and tongue over her stomach as he skimmed a hand down her hips, blazing a scorching trail of heat.

  His touch literally burned her from the inside out as he trailed it up her inner thigh, urging her to open her legs for him.

  He nudged her legs farther apart, then buried his lips at the center of her body.

  "Adrian!" she breathed as he tormented her.

  Sam moaned at the sensation of his mouth on her as he nibbled and licked. His tongue and fingers swirled around her, intensifying her pleasure.

  Trembling, she returned to torment him the same way.

  She writhed as he continued and as she tasted him.

  There was such fire and magic in his touch. It scorched her in a way that was indescribable. No wonder she loved this man.

  She gave herself to him without reservations or fear. There was something so special in this equal sharing, equal giving. It touched her profoundly and she knew in her heart that she would never be the same.

  Sam's head was light as he gave careful consideration to her, and when he slid two fingers inside her body and stroked her, she moaned in ecstasy.

  Biting her lip, she closed her eyes as his fingers delved deep and hard inside her, swirling around with the promise of what was to come while he laved her even faster.

  Sam's entire body shivered and jerked involuntarily in response to his touch.

  Her head spun from the intense sensations. The pleasure was so incredible, so extreme, as it built inside her until she could stand no more.

  Suddenly, her entire body exploded as white-hot ecstasy tore through her in ever-increasing waves. Sam cried out as her release came.

  Panting, she couldn't move.

  "That's it," he said, his skin covered in sweat. "I have to be inside you."

  Sam pulled back from him and reached for the condom a few inches from her.

  Adrian tensed as she gently slid the cool condom over his hot, swollen shaft. Then she cupped him in her hand. Her touch singed him as his body quivered in response.

  How could such tiny hands wreak so much havoc on him?

  Needing to feel her more than he needed to breathe, Adrian pressed her back against the mattress, then separated her thighs with his knees.

  You are about to violate your Web designer.

  He didn't know where that thought came from, but it ripped through his mind as he pressed the tip of his shaft against her core.

  What was he doing?

  "Adrian?" she asked as she looked up at him with a frown. "Is something wrong?"

  "Are you sure you want this?" he asked as he looked down at her. "If anyone finds out, we could get fired."

  "Then I'll find another job," she said, lifting her hips toward his.

  Joy ripped through him. Taking her hand into his, he stared into her eyes, then drove himself deep inside her body.

  They moaned together.

  Sam couldn't believe the fullness of him as he rocked his hips against hers. He went so deep inside her, she could swear he touched her womb as fierce, hot stabs of pleasure tormented her.

  She wrapped her legs around his lean waist and savored the feel of his muscles flexing in and around her. She ran her hands down his back, over the chills that covered his body as she met him stroke for stroke.

  He was spectacular.

  "You feel so good," he breathed in her ear as he rocked his hips, hard and fierce, against hers. "I could stay inside you forever."

  She was sure she didn't feel half as good to him as he felt to her. He lowered his upper body to where she could nuzzle his neck as he thrust into her.

  Sam wrapped her legs tight about his hips, then she rolled over with him.

  Adrian looked up, startled, as he found himself beneath her. She took his hands in hers and placed them on her hips. Then, holding them in hers, she lifted herself up to the tip of his shaft, before she lowered herself onto him.

  He growled at the feel of her body on his as she rode him fast and furiously. He'd never felt anything like it.

  "You're making my toes curl," she breathed.

  "I plan to make more than that curl before the night is over," he said as she released his hands and leaned forward.

  Adrian ran his hands over her breasts, cupping them gently as she continued to stroke him with her body.

  Why had he waited a year before kissing her?

  It terrified him when he thought of how close he'd come to never acting on his desire. What if he had let her get away without ever having tasted her lips? Her body?

  And in that instant, a wave of possessiveness washed over him. He would never let her go.

  She belonged to him.

  Sam watched Adrian watch her. His dark eyes were shuttered, but the look of pleasure on his face tore through her.

  She ran her hand over his stubbled cheeks, grateful that she had finally kissed him. This moment far exceeded any fantasy she'd ever had about him.

  Her body aching with bliss, she could feel her pleasure mounting again with every forceful stroke she delivered to him. She moved her hips faster as Adrian lifted his hips to drive himself even deeper.

  "Oh, my goodness," she breathed as her body became even hotter as massive, wrenching stabs of pleasure tore through her.

  Adrian rolled over with her then, and placed her beneath him. His eyes wild, he quickened his pace.

  Sam moaned at the feel of him sliding in and out, fast, deep, hard.

  And then suddenly, an indefinable ecstasy exploded through her body in resounding ripples. Sam gasped at the same time Adrian threw his head back and roared as he delivered two more long, deep thrusts to her. His entire body convulsed around her as he released himself.

  He collapsed on top of her and buried his face in her neck.

  Sam held him there, cradled in her arms and legs as she just listened to him breathe. She felt his heart pounding against her chest and sweat covered them both.

  This was a perfect, peaceful moment that she wished she could hold on to forever.

  "That was the most incredible experience I've ever had," he whispered in her ear as he cradled her gently in his strong arms.

  "No kidding," she said as she ran her hands over his hard biceps, then kissed him tenderly on his chest. "You know, I've never done that before."

  "Done what?"

  "Orgasmed."

  Adrian smiled. He was glad he'd been the man who had shown her the full depth of her sexuality. Cupping her head in his hand, he pulled her lips to his for a scorching kiss.

  The phone rang.

  "I swear, I hate those things," he snarled.

  "Oh," Sam said as she let go of him. "I forgot to tell you Heather called."

  Carefully, he withdrew from her. "Then I'm sure that's her," he said, reaching for the cordless phone on his nightstand.

  "Hi, Heather," he said in a tone that was half a growl.

  Sam could hear just a hint of Heather's chattering on the other end.

  "Damn, Heather. What do you do with your mon
ey? I pay you two hundred and fifty dollars a week to do my laundry and buy groceries for me, and half the time you don't even do it."

  She heard Heather chattering again as Adrian ran his hand through his hair and clenched it tight.

  Adrian got out of bed and reached for his pants as he listened to her. Biting her lip, Sam admired the perfect shape of his buttocks and rear as he stooped over.

  "Give me a break," he said as he fastened his jeans. "I worked three jobs in college and no one ever..."

  He went rigid. "I'm sorry," he said. "Just stop crying, okay? Heather, please stop crying."

  Sam sat up as he walked out of the room.

  Frowning, she pulled her shirt on and followed after him.

  He wiggled his mouse at his computer. "I'm doing it right now," he said in a gentle voice. He cursed again. "You only have two dollars in your account, did you know that? What are you living on?"

  His jaw ticked, but his voice was patient. "All right, I'm transferring two grand over to you, but this is it, Heather. I work too damned hard just to give it away to you because you decide you need a Christmas vacation in Daytona for a week."

  He clicked the phone off and tossed it on his desk.

  Sam moved to stand behind him. She ran her hand over his back. "You are a wonderful man."

  "I'm an idiot," he said under his breath. "I don't know why I put up with them."

  "You love them."

  "I wonder sometimes. God, I'm just so tired of everyone needing me all the time."

  Sam went cold at his words. His dependability was what she loved about him most, and in truth that was what she wanted. Someone she could depend on who wouldn't disappoint her. She was tired of unkept promises.

  Sam, you fool. No one is ever going to put you first. When are you going to realize that?

  Her father had done what Adrian's had, he'd abandoned them. And her worst fear was to fall in love with some thoughtless, woman-chasing jerk who dumped her for a trophy girlfriend the minute she passed the age of thirty.

  She didn't want a little boy, she wanted a man.

  And she had hoped Adrian would be that man.

  "Is something wrong?" he asked.

  She shook her head, then brushed her hand over his whiskered cheek.

  Please don't disappoint me, too. The words were on the tip of her tongue. But she didn't dare utter them aloud. Didn't dare give him any more ways to hurt her. He already held a place in her heart where only he could destroy it.

  "Why don't we go back to bed?" she whispered.

  He looked up at her with those dimples flashing. Then, he scooped her up in his arms and ran with her back to the bedroom.