"Faster," she whispered. All the times in her life she'd wished for speed, then forced herself to shove those wishes aside, felt like they were flying away on the wind.
His capable hands gripped the wheel, kept them true. But, oh, how she wanted his hands on her.
She was done waiting, not just for Will, but for this rush. The rush of speed and joy and pleasure.
She'd had just enough wine at dinner to give her courage. The new lingerie gave her the nerve. The speed did the rest.
She didn't want him to slam on the brakes, didn't want to be the one to slam on the brakes, either. She wanted both of them to drive each other fast and furious.
As fast and furious as they could go.
"Will," she said. Just his name. It felt loud in the small cockpit of his sporty car.
They'd come off the other side of the mountain, and he downshifted to take the entrance ramp. When he was at freeway speed, she took his hand off the stick shift and put it on her knee, where the dress had pulled high enough to reveal a little bare flesh.
His hand slid beneath the dress, gliding halfway up her thigh. Then he trailed his fingers back down. Her pulse pounded in the wake of his touch.
She'd thought about having him all week. Longer than that--since the first time she'd set eyes on him, if she was being totally honest with herself. She wanted him. If there were consequences, she'd worry about those later. Not now. Not tonight, when she was so close to finally having what she wanted.
What she needed.
She'd always been a good girl, playing by the rules. Yes, she'd had sex, but she didn't invite men into her bed when her brother was home, and she'd never before thought of buying lingerie to seduce a man.
But with Will, everything was different.
And now she wanted to be wild.
*
It was the longest drive of Will's life, and it nearly killed him not to be able to give Harper his undivided attention. At long last, he saw the lights lining his driveway and the sports car purred up the hill. He pressed the garage opener under the dash, and they glided inside.
A second later, he had his seatbelt undone and he was already reaching for her when she grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to her mouth. The kiss was long and deep. He couldn't get enough of her. The stick shift dug into his thigh, but he didn't pull away. He let her take him, eat him up. She tasted sweet, like the raspberry tart she'd had for dessert, warm and sweet and rich. He slid his hands through her hair, pushing her back against the seat. Angling his head, he licked her lips, and she pulled him back for more, their mouths melding.
He could feel his heart hammering and the answering beat of hers against his chest. "I love the way you taste. And I want more. So much more, Harper. But not in a sports car." He wanted to enjoy her, take his time discovering--and pleasuring--every inch of her body, which was why he hadn't gone any further in the car during the drive home.
After climbing out, he rounded the hood and held out his hand to her. Her mouth was bare of lipstick and seductively kiss-swollen, and his heart rolled over in his chest just looking at her.
She was so beautiful, so damn sexy, yet somehow she retained the sweetness of the all-American girl next door. She was the kind of woman he'd never dreamed he could have. The good girl. The nice girl. The smart girl. The forever girl.
She didn't want his money or his fame or to hang on his arm while photographers snapped her picture. She was fresh and sweet and sexy as all-get-out.
He'd never be good enough for her. But he couldn't let himself think about that tonight. Instead, he'd let all his bad deeds be erased by her beauty and her sweetness.
But instead of heading for the house, and his bed, she pushed the remote button under the dash, and the garage door slid soundlessly closed. He could see the nerves still simmering away in her eyes as she turned back to him. But those nerves didn't stop her from saying, "I've never been naughty in a car." Her hands flat on his chest, she went up on her toes, her lips a breath away. "And I've never done anything naughty on the hood of a car before, either."
*
Harper couldn't believe what she was saying, could hardly believe how fearless she felt. But the bars she'd been confined by for so long seemed to have burst wide open tonight. And she knew she had to race to enjoy every last second of her freedom before they closed down around her again.
"Here?" Will asked in a voice heavy with desire. "Do you want me to take you right here, Harper?"
"Unless," she said in a husky voice, "you're afraid it'll muss up the paint job."
"I don't give a damn if it does." He lifted her as though she weighed nothing. Setting her on the hood, he slid his hands up her thighs, pushing the dress high, and stepped between her legs. "Tell me what you want me to do to you."
Everything. She wanted to feel his skin against hers, his body deep inside her. "Touch me," she whispered. "Touch me like you almost did in the car. I bought satin and lace for you today, and I want you to see it. Now."
"Satin and lace?" She'd never seen such hunger on a man's face. "I want to see it. I want to see you." He lightly stroked both hands up and down her legs, enough to make her skin hot and her body buzz, before his voice dropped to a sexy growl. "Undo the dress for me."
Reaching behind with less than steady hands, she drew the zipper down, then slid her arms free, letting the bodice of the dress fall to her lap.
"Jesus," he whispered. "You're so beautiful."
He swept his thumbs along the underside of the bra cups, up the sides, tracing the thin shoulder straps. His fingers were feather light on the swell of her breasts, leaving sparks that shimmied through her body all the way to her toes. Then his mouth was on hers, consuming her as his hands explored every inch of satin, every scrap of lace.
She was already mindless with need and he hadn't even undone her bra.
"I need to know how the rest of you tastes," he whispered against her lips. "I've been dying to know. Dying to get my hands and mouth on you. All of you."
His hands slipping down to her waist, he pushed her flat onto the warm hood of the car and came down over her. He was deliciously hard where his body rubbed against the apex of her thighs, creating friction with the bulge of his jeans. Pulling the bra aside, he trailed kisses over her breasts. Then his lips closed over her and Harper moaned, biting her lip. His touch was sensual, reverent. Wild. He licked, sucked, nipped, until she felt a jolt straight down to her center.
"Oh baby, you're so sweet. You taste like cherries."
Her nerves slipped back through as she said, "I do not. No one does."
"Cherries," he insisted, raising his head. His lips were wet, and she was half naked, one breast still covered. The decadent sight spiked her desire. "Your lips are like cherries, too," he said.
Then he kissed her again, and she tasted the slight saltiness of her own skin. Holding her head, he moved his mouth on hers, licking, biting, just the way he'd taken her breast. Then he went deep, his tongue sweet and hot, his body bearing down on her.
No man had ever played with her like this, teased her, taken her over. She wrapped her arms around his neck, lifting her head slightly to kiss him as passionately as he kissed her, fully open to him.
"So sweet."
Reaching between them, he effortlessly popped the front clasp of her bra. He closed one hand over her breast, molding her flesh with his fingers before flicking his thumb over the peaked nub. And then he put his lips over her once more and sucked hard, making her arch and moan against him.
"So pretty."
She raised her legs and wrapped them around his hips to hold him tight, intensifying the sensations. Gripping her thigh, he held her leg high, squeezing her bottom as he drove her mad with his mouth. He turned to her other breast, giving it the same sweet treatment.
He didn't rush--he savored.
"So perfect."
He seduced her with his words as much as with his body. And tonight, she wouldn't let herself think about the other
women he might have said these same things to. She wouldn't think about her real life that was waiting for her just around the corner.
For a few precious moments, it was enough that he was lavishing attention on her, worshipping her body as if he couldn't get enough.
He trailed kisses down her abdomen, licking her navel. Then he bunched her dress and pushed it up until it was just a ribbon around her waist.
The garage lights were bright overhead. He'd see everything. Touch everything. Taste everything. She closed her eyes and felt the rush of speed again, flying along the highway in his fast car with his fast hands on her skin.
Harper wanted all of it--Will's mouth, his hands, his desire, his laughter, his intensity.
Everything.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Harper was like the finest whiskey, the sweetest of late harvest wines. She reacted so beautifully to each touch, each word, as her sensuality took her over, opening her up to pleasure for pleasure's sake.
"You're so damn sexy. Look at all that see-through lace. You make me crazy with all your naughty lingerie. I want to see you in it and nothing else. And then?" He paused, made them both wait. "And then I want to see you out of it. Just you, Harper. I want to see you."
She ran her hands through his hair. "Please."
The one word sounded so breathless that he was tempted just to tear everything off her. But he wanted to give Harper more. So much more. Enough to drive her crazy. Enough to drive them both crazy.
He pulled the bunched dress down. "Lift up."
She flattened her hands on the hood and levered herself up. Will tugged the material down, then stepped back to slide it over her legs, and tossed it on the hood of the car, next to her head.
Every coherent thought fled as he took in the creamy satin bra with pink lace, her breasts wet from his tongue. And then there was the hint of flesh and other delights through the lacy panel of the endlessly sexy panties.
Leaning over her, he trailed both hands from her breasts to her belly to the scrap of satin and lace at her apex. He took her lips at the same time he slid beneath the fabric and took her with his fingers. Harper moaned against him, then opened her mouth, her kiss wild, her nails scoring furrows through his hair. She bucked up against him, wanting more.
He went slowly, stroking, teasing, loving the way her body moved beneath his. "Remember what I said?" he murmured against her mouth.
She shook her head. "No. I can't even think right now."
Neither could he, but Lord, he was trying the best he could. "I told you I'd make you scream with pleasure."
"Oh God." It was almost as if the memory of his saying that was too much for her right now. "Do it, Will. Do it now."
The desperation in her voice made him nuts, too. It wasn't for his money or his power or his position or the things he could give her. It was for his hands and his mouth, his touch. It was for him. And he craved that.
Just as much as he craved her.
Will had developed incredible self-control as an adult. But now, with Harper, he couldn't hold back one more second from giving her what she wanted. What they both wanted, as he kissed his way down her body. Her limbs quaked, and her hot, sexy sounds filled the garage like music. Hooking his thumbs in the elastic, he tugged her panties down, needing all of her.
Needing everything.
"Mine," he said softly, tossing the lacy confection onto the dress beside her. Then he cupped her hips, shoved her higher up on the hood, and put his mouth to her.
He relished her, loving her taste on his tongue, loving the way she gasped and moaned and cried out his name, writhing beneath him. "Oh God, oh God," she chanted, a quivering mass of sensation. But he wanted to push her higher. Higher than she'd ever thought she could go.
He repeated the wicked pattern of his tongue sliding over her and his fingers sliding into her. Again and again and again until he felt the orgasm begin in her contracting muscles. She rocked, rolled, shuddered, and finally screamed out his name. It was long--it was loud.
And it was the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard.
*
Nothing had ever felt like that. She'd been a mass of vibrating nerve endings, her skin fiery to the touch, explosions of color before her eyes, his mouth magic on her.
"I want you. I need you. Now. Right now, damn it. But protection is in the bedroom." Will leaned over her, murmuring words it took her a moment to understand. "I hadn't planned on seducing you out here."
"I seduced you." Maybe she should have been shocked that she'd told him to drive her fast, fast, faster. Begged him to touch her right here in the garage. But there wasn't any room for shock amid all the glorious pleasure.
He touched his lips to the pulse beating at her throat, as if he needed to feel the racing of her heart. "You had me seduced at day one."
Before she could react to his surprisingly beautiful words, he took her with a mind-blowing kiss. It was sexy, decadent, exceptionally naughty, and she closed her eyes and arched up into his body, loving the hard press of him along her entire length. "I have protection." She wouldn't let herself feel shy again. Not yet. Not when she had intentions. Just as he had. "In my bag. In the car."
He moved so quickly to get her bag, she almost laughed out loud. When he handed it to her, she snapped open the clutch and produced a small box of condoms.
"I love a woman who plans ahead." He gave her a swoon-worthy smile.
But she was too focused on having him--all of him--to notice anything now but the fact that he still had all his clothes on. And she wanted them off.
"I want to touch you." A wild thrill coursed through her as she gave in to the urge to grab the open neck of his shirt and give it a hard yank with both hands. The buttons popped free, scattering across the concrete.
"Oh my God." Her hands stilled, holding the edges of his shirt. "You're so beautiful."
His chest had a dusting of dark hair across his pectorals and around his nipples, arrowing down to his jeans. Her skin was pale against the darker tones of his rippling muscles. But even this wasn't enough. She wanted to hold onto his bare shoulders, wanted to strip him the way he'd stripped her.
She started to drag the shirt off his shoulders, but before she could, he leaned over to trap her wrists against the hood.
"Not as pretty as you are." Holding her down with one hand, he ran his fingers between her breasts at the same time that he shifted his hips between hers.
He was all sexy male and hard flesh, and she needed him to finish what he'd started. What she'd started. Pulling her hands free of his hold, she pushed herself to a sitting position between his legs and tugged on his belt. She wanted to play, tease, see if she could make him as crazy as she felt. After unzipping him, she shoved her thumbs into the waistband at the sides and slowly slid the denim and cotton down until all that hot, hard, gorgeous flesh was in her hands. She felt him throb against her palm, and her breath hitched with the thought of how he'd feel inside her.
"Don't tease." His eyes were dark and fathomless.
A shiver of need ran through her as she whispered, "I thought you liked to tease?"
"I do," he said with a wolfish smile that made her core clench tight and hot. "But I need to be inside you. Right. This. Minute."
There was something in his hoarse words that made her tremble. She had never felt so desired in her life. No one had needed her in quite this way.
"Yes," she answered softly as they sheathed him together. "Right this minute."
He pulled her legs around his waist. "Don't let go. Hold me tight."
She had no choice. Holding him tight was the only thing she could do.
The only thing she wanted to do.
But instead of just taking her, he braced himself on the hood and pushed her flat against the metal. Stroking between her legs with his hard heat, he played her in slow, mesmerizing circles. Harper closed her eyes and let sensation take over the rising pulse of her body. She locked her legs around his waist the same way her
arms imprisoned his neck and rose up to meet his touch, rolling with his rhythm.
"That's it, baby, just like that." Leaning close, he finally moved with a faster pace. "I want you right on the edge when I finally take you."
His words were as potent as his touch, and she shuddered. Her breath puffed with sounds she barely recognized as her own, and her skin heated.
"Oh God." She arched her neck. Almost there. One more second. Just one more...
"Now." He plunged deep.
And she shattered.
*
"Harper."
The way she came apart for him, not holding anything back, giving him all of her pleasure, was enough to make him lose everything right then. But he wanted more. Wanted to see her, to drink in every detail of her pleasure.
She was beautiful in her bliss, her breath coming fast as she arched her neck. The long column of her throat begged for his mouth, but he kept up the slow plunge inside her, forcing her to ride the edge. Her eyelashes fluttered, and sexy little cries fell from her lips.
She grabbed his forearms, her nails digging in with the most delicious pain he'd ever felt. "I don't... I've never..."
"You will," he promised her. "Take me, baby." He needed to get as close to her as he could, needing to erase any distance that remained between them. "Please take me. All of me."
He'd think about the meaning of his words later, but for now, he moved faster, stroked harder, went deeper. So deep he could lose himself in her. Become one with her.
With a soft cry, she anchored herself to him, her arms around his neck, her body hugging him, her legs tight at his waist.
"Yes, yes, yes," she panted. "That feels so good. Will...please...more."
He took her completely then, with everything in him. Pounding hard, his blood racing, his mind fogging to anything but the feel of her hot skin, her breath on his throat, her silky hair against his cheek.
He felt her next orgasm begin in the quiver of her limbs. Moments later, he was looking into her blue eyes and calling out her name. And as he gave her everything--and she did, too--he had the strangest sense of being owned.
No one had ever owned him. Not since he was a kid, when it felt like his father had wrapped a tight and jagged chain around him.
But when he was with Harper, it was as though something eased inside him.