Page 40 of Love & Rockets

Unable to resist one second longer, she slid both hands into his hair. “The skins creep me out.”

“You have beautiful skin.”

Her dress slid down and nearly covered his head. He didn’t seem to mind, but she did. The damn thing was blocking her view of Jake Dalton worshiping her, so it had to go.

Darla yanked the dress up, shimmying as she worked the fabric over her breasts, then tossed the dress to the floor as if it were loaded with spiders. Running a hand over her hair to smooth the curls back into place, she looked down to find Jake sitting back on his heels, a wide smile cutting brackets into his cheeks.

“I liked the little dance.” Leaning in again, he pressed his mouth to the logo printed on the front of her panties. “Do it again.”

Determined to mask the fact that her legs felt about as stable as a couple of gummy worms, she sniffed and stuck her nose in the air. “I don’t dance on demand.”

“No.” The man breathed the word into the polyester blend, and the warmth of his breath seeping through the thin barrier nearly undid her. “You are Wonder Woman,” he murmured, then started pressing kisses to each of the white stars spangling the cherry red background. “An Amazon warrior princess.”

He punctuated each descriptor with kisses. Darla planted her hands on his shoulders to catch her balance. And for a gratuitous grope. “Not much of a warrior,” she said, breathless.

Jake sat back. “You forget I saw you in action the night of the fundraiser. You are the fiercest of warriors.”

Heat flooded her cheeks, but she’d apologized for her behavior and she refused to do so again. “I haven’t been any kind of princess other than a cartoon character in more than a dozen years, and I’m hardly what anyone would call an Amazon.”

Her litany of denials barely left her lips before he hooked his fingers in the waistband and stripped the panties down her legs. Darla blinked, stunned by the swift decisiveness of the action.

“Wha—”

Jake cupped the back of one calf and ordered, “Lift.”

She did as she was told, and he divested her of one black pump and then the tightly furled nylon.

“I understand you wanting to keep things separate,” he said, his tone level and calm. He slid his hand up the back of her other leg and she lifted automatically. But instead of finishing the job, he simply looked up at her until he seemed satisfied he had her attention. “But our nights together are nights together. No wham-bam-thank-you-man.”

She lowered her foot to the floor, panties still circling her ankle. “Isn’t that supposed to be ma’am?”

“Are we agreed?”

When he fixed her with the pointed, laser beam stare, she’d agree to just about anything. But he didn’t need to know. Affecting a nonchalance she was miles from feeling, Darla gave in with a tiny shrug. “Fine. Agreed.”

Little more than a breath later, the panties and her other shoe were gone and Jake was rising to his feet. “I don’t know who you’ve been talking to,” he said, catching the clasp of her bra as he unfolded his long, lean length, “but they’re wrong. You are an Amazon. You’re strong. Resilient.”

She gasped when the triple hook closure opened as if he’d waved a magic wand. “Wow. Skills,” she said in a rush of admiration.

“I’m an engineer.” He slid his hands around to catch the bounty he’d unleashed, leaving the straps to slide slowly down her arms. Cupping her gently, he looked into her eyes. “You know, under the right circumstances, I might be willing to be your slave.”

Her heart beat triple time. She wanted to arch her back and demand he back up his words with action. She didn’t want tender caresses and teasing words from him. They were dangerous. Oh, so dangerous. Like kryptonite, or whatever it was that sapped Wonder Woman of all her powers. Wetting her parched lips, she managed to exhale a weak, “Okay.”

In a flash he had her up off her feet. This time, he left her alone and wanting at the very center of his bed while he stripped off the rest of his clothes. By the time he stretched out beside her in all his running man, hard hat wannabe glory, Darla was surprised to find she was nearly panting. She’d never been one who got off on gawking at buff guys. As far as she was concerned, how a guy looked on the exterior was marginally important, but there had to be something more to spark her interest.

Sincerity. Wit. Intellect. A talent for dropping a well-timed ‘Bazinga’ into an argument.

She wasn’t sure about the last one, but from what she knew about Jake, the guy was the total package. He skimmed a hand along her side, tracing the outline of her hip and waist before reclaiming her breast. “How do you feel about The Big Bang Theory?” she asked, her pulse beating fast as a strobe.

Both of his eyebrows shot up, but it was clearly going to take more than a simple non sequitur to throw him off his game. He pinched the tight furl of her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Lowering his head, he glanced up at her from under dark lashes. “I’ve dedicated my life to it.”

“Good answer.”

Darla knew damn well he wasn’t talking television, but she couldn’t have cared less. Bowing off the bed, she sank her fingers into his hair as he ran the very tip of his tongue around the aching tip. When he caught the sensitive flesh between his teeth, she sank back down, reveling in the pull as he followed her at his own maddeningly slow pace. And then, as if to punish her, he released her without so much as a kiss to make the hurt go away.

“Fine. What circumstances?” she demanded, fixing him with a ferocious scowl.

“Hm?”

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