“Damn right, baby. You can either walk up these stairs, or I’ll carry you. But either way, you are going to be underneath me.”

He half expected someone to call out that they could hear them. But silence had its own ring in the air.

When she hesitated, he smoothed his knuckles over her jaw. “My beautiful lover. I’m going to wreck your lipstick and that pretty hairdo and make sure everyone knows that you’re mine.”

She gave him those eyes—the get-between-my-thighs expression he’d seensomany times during their trysts.

The staircase was twelve steps too long for him—he wanted her naked. Now.

As he pulled her up the last step, her foot snagged the carpet and she pitched forward.

A soft grunt escaped him as she hit his chest, knocking him backward.

He scrambled to stay upright, one hand braced on the wall. “I have got to rip up that carpet before it murders one of us.”

“Later!” She crushed her lips to his.

With an urgent growl, he wrapped his arms around her hips and lifted her.

They never made it to the bed. The door barely closed and they were dropping to the floor and tearing at each other’s clothes.

He sent the lookalike outfit flying.

He flattened her on her back, and she hooked her ankles behind him, yanking him in hard and fast.

With a rock of his hips, he sank balls-deep, stealing his very last thought.

All he had left was the sensation of moving inside her…wanting to pour everything into her. Taking her to the next level of loving him.

His biceps bulged as he jerked his hips and stretched her deepest point. God, he hoped this wanting between them never ended. Passion blended with need.

A cry tore from her throat. He rolled with her, flipping her on top of him. Surprise yanked a laugh from her.

With a wicked grin, he urged her into motion. She sank down over his cock, taking him to the hilt.

“Christ, baby.” He shoved his fingers into her hair, tugging just enough to heighten her arousal. The other hand cupped her breast and he pinched her nipple into a tight peak.

“Quaide!” She moved to a beat that only they could hear. Her knees hugged his hips. Her pussystrangledhis cock.

“I love you,” he rumbled. “I want to marry you.”

She didn’t even stumble. “Yes!”

As he captured her lips in a deep kiss, his grin spread over her mouth.

The tight knot of need at the base of his spine began to throb. He drove in deeper and faster. Perspiration broke out on her throat. He drew her on top of him to trail his lips down to her collarbones, nipping and nibbling her into a frenzy. When he sucked one nipple between his lips, his callused fingertip located her clit and pressed down with just the right technique to send her body sailing.

She clamped down on his length. He pumped inside her two more times with an unstoppable force and let go just as her orgasm struck.

Suddenly, she stilled. She lifted her head and looked him in the eyes. “Do you smell smoke?”

ChapterFifteen

Dove wore nothing but his shirt as she raced down the steps in front of him. He was shirtless and barefoot in jeans, but he had a weapon in one hand and the other tucked along his spine.

Jesus Christ.

That smoke better be because Julius left the toaster on a high setting for too long while fixing one of his snacks.