Hot and Bothered - Erika Wilde Page 0,36

and you know it. I can see for myself that it’s a condom. What I want to know is why you lied about having any in the house.”

He leaned back in his chair and affected a casual shrug. Ignoring the hurt and confusion in her eyes was a tad more difficult. “Because I don’t think you’re ready for that yet.”

Soft, dry laughter escaped her. “Don’t you think that’s a decision I can make for myself?”

Feeling uneasy at the direction this conversation was taking, he closed his internet browser and stood. “You have amnesia, sweetheart, so I’m trying to make the decision easier for you, and I think you need time to recuperate from the accident first.” God, his excuse sounded lame and insubstantial even to his own ears.

“And how long do you think I need until I can handle having sex with you? A week? A month? A year?” She rounded the desk and boldly maneuvered herself between him and his desk so that they were aligned from chests to thighs, forcing him to acknowledge her and their sizzling attraction.

As if he could ignore it.

That quick, his dick grew hard and stiff with wanting her, his erection fitting perfectly at the crux of her thighs. Her fiery mood and determination turned him on, and he knew he had to do something fast or he’d succumb to her seductive scheme. Just as he attempted to take a safe step away from her for much-needed space, she grabbed his shirt and held him in place.

She rose up on her toes, putting her mouth inches below his. “I want you so badly, Noah, I ache with it.” She lowered her lashes and nipped lightly at his jaw, then used her soft tongue to soothe the love bite. “Stop treating me like a fragile piece of glass. I swear I won’t break.”

Bracing his hands on either side of her hips on the desk to keep from touching her, he shuddered and groaned, holding fast to his dwindling resolve. “Natalie—”

“Don’t tell me no.” The plea was heartfelt and brimmed with a wealth of emotion as her lips traveled up to his ear. “I need the closeness and intimacy of making love with you. I might have lost parts of my memory, but not my desire for you. That’s stronger than ever.”

Noah squeezed his eyes shut as he battled between right and wrong. The words she’d just spoken were so honest, saying so much about her feelings for him—that while she’d turned him down for nine months, her indifference had been a ruse. She’d wanted him, too, and without those memories of keeping her distance, she was allowing her emotions and passions to run wild and free.

Seemingly taking his silence as acquiescence, she pulled his shirt from the waistband of his jeans, shoved it up and over his head and tossed it to the floor at their feet. She flattened her palms on his bare chest, and her breathing deepened as she caressed his taut, heated flesh and strummed her fingers down to the muscles flexing in his abdomen.

Arousal surged through his bloodstream and arrowed straight to his groin. His erection pulsed against the fly of his snug jeans, making a mockery of the release he’d given himself that morning in the shower.

Bolder still, she dragged her tongue along the shell of his ear, then dipped inside. “I’m wet with the thought of having you deep inside of me, Noah,” she said huskily, and lifted one of her legs high along his thigh so that she could rub herself against his erection. “Touch me and you’ll see for yourself.”

His fingers curled into tight fists against the hardwood desk as he fought the temptation to obey her request.

She gave him no choice. Grabbing his wrist, she slid his hand under the hem of her dress and up her smooth thigh, then pressed his fingers against the damp panel of cotton covering her mound. “Oh, yes,” she breathed, a pleased, dreamy smile tipping the corner of her mouth.

He swallowed hard, which did nothing to calm the chaotic buzz of lust and need clamoring inside him. She was so damned brazen and sensual, her feminine confidence affecting him on a purely masculine level that made him want to drive into her, hard and fast and deep. She trusted him to take her body, to give her the physical intimacy she craved. He could see the certainty in her eyes, her expression beckoning him to fulfill every one of her