chest, hooking it into his belt just above his throbbing erection. Another shudder went through her as a warm wetness rushed to that spot between her legs. She worked his belt out of the first loop and slipped it free of the buckle.
His eyes drifted shut, and he sucked in a hard breath. “Yeah. The bedroom.”
“Do you have…” Condoms could suck the romance right out of a room, but she’d promised to be safe. So this was her, being safe. While she began to unbutton his jeans.
“Several.” He grabbed her hands and moved them away from his pants. So maybe he wasn’t giving up all of his control.
How nice was it to not have to argue or plead or cajole about condoms? To be with a man smart enough to know they were non-negotiable?
Things were about to get interesting.
He led her farther back. The lights behind them shut off as one small light came on behind a full wall of glass bricks that completely hid the bed from the rest of the wide-open spaces. The glass curved back toward the end of the space, which was a wall of windows that reached from floor to ceiling.
A bed the size of a small country sat in the middle of the room—for this truly was a room—with another abstract painting in softer greens and blues hanging overhead. The sheets were a pristine white with hospital corners so perfectly crisp that she was afraid to mess them up.
Still holding her hand, Ben stepped around the far side of the bed. An old-fashioned reading lamp stood on a table next to the bed. He let go of her to open one of the drawers and pull out a box of condoms—ribbed for her pleasure, she saw. Of course Ben would have planned ahead.
Condoms, check. Bed, check. Desirable, gorgeous man, double check.
Things were about to get very interesting.
Josey’s hands shook as she peeled off his T-shirt. Finally, she was going to see what all those muscles looked like.
Her breath faltered as she revealed the true magnitude of the body that man was packing underneath his clothing. He was chiseled. She’d known his biceps were a sight to behold—all that drumming—but his chest? She had to touch it. He had a small thatch of glossy black hair between pecs of steel. Her fingers traced the six-pack of his abs all the way down to the V of his waist as it cut down hard under his briefs.
He sucked in another breath when she ran her fingers under the fabric. When she ran into something soft yet very, very hard, he grabbed at her again. “Whoa, whoa. I thought you wanted to take it slow.” The strain in his voice was unmistakable. Ben Bolton was a man just barely hanging on to his self-control.
“I never said that.” She gave him a shove, sending him back into the bed. “Maybe I don’t want it slow.” She grabbed hold of his briefs and yanked them off. “Maybe I want it a little rough, a little gritty.”
The word gritty died on her tongue as he sprang free from the last of his clothes. He was huge. Well, all of him was huge—this part was to perfect scale.
She didn’t have long to gawk. Ben sat up with a sickeningly easy grace and snatched her hands, pulling her down onto the bed as he rolled over. Before she knew it, she was pinned underneath a naked, aroused man. All that hugeness hung heavy against her leg as he nuzzled her neck.
“My place, my rules. And the first rule is, ladies first. I want this to be memorable.”
As he kissed down her neck, Ben let go of her hands and moved lower. Oh, yes, she wanted a memory. But not just one.
No, she didn’t just want this night in this bed.
She wanted more.
The clasp on the front of her bra gave, and cold air rushed to beat Ben’s hot mouth. He hovered above her for a cool second before he rasped his tongue over her nipple. The total shock of the sensation didn’t have time to fully register before he lowered his whole mouth onto her and fiercely sucked at her flesh. The exquisite pleasure cut through her moodiness. Her hips bucked, but he used his full weight to push her back down to the bed.
“Slow down, woman,” he said as he kissed the space between her breasts. “We’ve got all night.”
She tried to say something, but he latched onto her other breast