thought you were going to keep your tongue out of my mouth.”

Mick glanced up into Maddie’s face bathed in moonlight, and he reached for the zipper on the front of her sweatshirt. “I guess I’ll just have to put my tongue somewhere other than your mouth.” He pulled the zipper down, and the sweatshirt parted to give him a glimpse of her deep cleavage. She wasn’t wearing anything beneath, and his testicles tightened as the pale swells of her naked breasts were revealed a few inches from his face.

“Someone will see us,” she said and grabbed his wrist.

“The Allegrezzas are in Boise.” He pulled until the zipper parted at her waist.

“What about the neighbors on the other side?” she asked, but she didn’t stop him from pushing the edges of the sweatshirt aside. Her breasts were firm and pale white in the moonlight, her puckered nipples an erotic outline in the darkness.

“No one is out, but even if they were, it’s too dark to see anything.” He slid his hands around her waist to the small of her back and brought her closer. “No one can see me do this.” He bent forward to kiss her belly. “Or this.” He kissed her cleavage.

“Mick.”

“Yeah?”

She combed her fingers through the sides of his hair; her nails scrapping his scalp sent a tingling pleasure down his spine. She took short choppy breaths and said, “We probably shouldn’t do this.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No.”

“Good. I’ve found a place to put my tongue.” He opened his mouth and rolled her puckered nipple beneath his tongue. She smelled like sugar cookies tonight and she tasted a bit like sugar cookies too.

“Mmm,” she moaned and pulled him closer. “That feels good, Mick. It’s been so long.” She was a talker, but then, he could have guessed that about her. “Don’t stop.”

Mick had no intention of stopping, not when he was doing exactly what he’d wanted to do to her since the day he saw her at the hardware store. He slid one hand from around her back to cup her breast. “You’re a beautiful woman.” He pulled back far enough to look up into her face, at her parted lips and the desire shining in her dark eyes. “I want to put my tongue all over you. Starting here.” He sucked her into his mouth and drew lightly. Her flesh puckered even more and he loved the feel and the taste of her. His palm cupping her breast moved down her smooth flat stomach and slid beneath her loose pants. Since that night he’d kissed her at Mort’s, he’d had wild fantasies of what he’d do to her if he got her alone again. He slipped his hand between her thighs and cupped her through her thin panties. She was incredibly hot, and wet, and lust twisted and tightened painfully in his groin. He wanted her. He wanted her as he hadn’t wanted a woman in a very long time. He’d tried to stay away from her, but at the first excuse to see her, here he was with his mouth on her breast and his hand in her pants, and he wasn’t going anywhere this time until he satisfied the lust pounding through his body. She wanted him and he was beyond ready to give her what she wanted. He wasn’t going anywhere until both of them were too exhausted to move.

“Yes, Mick,” she said just above a whisper, “touch me there.” Her sweatshirt fell to her feet and he pulled back to look up past her breasts and into her face. He slid his fingers beneath her panties and stood.

“Right here?” He parted her slick flesh and touched her there. She was incredibly wet, and he wanted to put more than his fingers there.

“Yes.” Her breathing was rapid and her hands clung to his shoulders.

“I love knowing I get you this wet,” he said just above her mouth. “I want to use my tongue on you.” He brushed his fingers across her small feminine bump. “Here.” She nodded. “You don’t mind, do you?” She shook her head, then nodded, and then combined the two.

“Mick,” she whispered as her grasp on his shoulders tightened. “If you don’t stop…” She sucked in a breath. “Oh, my God, don’t stop,” she moaned as a powerful orgasm buckled her knees. He wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her from falling as his fingers touched and stroked and felt her pleasure in his hand. He kissed the side of her throat and ached to be inside her, feeling her tight walls gripping him with each pulsation.

When it was through, she said, “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

He pulled his hand from her pants and pressed his erection into her. “Let’s make it happen again. Only next time, I’m going to join you.” He brushed his wet fingers across the tip of her breast and lowered his mouth to her lips and fed her his need and greed and uncontrolled lust.

She pulled back from the kiss and gasped. “You have condoms? Right?”

“Yes.”

Bare from the waist up, she took his hand and led him into the house. “How many do you have on you?”

How many? How many? “Two. How many do you have?”

“None. I’ve been celibate.” She closed the door behind them, then turned to face him. “We’re going to have to make those two condoms last all night.”

“What do you have planned?”

She pushed him against the closed door, pulled his shirt over his head, and tossed it aside. “Something you should not have started.” She took control and her impatience got him so hard, he thought he might burst the buttons on his Levi’s. “But something you are going to finish.” Her breasts brushed his chest as she kissed his neck and her hands worked his fly. “I’m going to use you for your body.” She sucked the side of his neck and shoved his pants and boxer briefs to his knees. “You don’t mind. Do you?”

“God, no.” His dick poked her belly and she took him into her warm hand. She cupped his balls and stroked him up and down, pressing her thumb into the corded vein of his shaft.

“You’re a beautiful man, Mick Hennessy.” She brushed her thumb over the head. “Hard.”

No shit.

“Big.”

Mick sucked in a breath. “You can handle it.”

“I know I can.” She bit the hollow of his throat, then slowly sank to her knees, kissing his belly and abdomen on the way down. “Can you?”

Oh, God. She was going to use her gorgeous mouth on him. His “Yes” came out on a rush of pent-up breath.

“You don’t mind if I use my tongue on you?” She knelt before him and looked up, a little smirk on her red lips. “Do you?”

“Christ, no.”

Her gaze locked with his as she ran her velvet tongue up his thick shaft, and he locked his knees to keep from falling on her. “Do you like my tongue here?”

“Yes.” God, was she going to talk the whole time?

She licked the cleft in the head of his cock. “Like it here?”

She was driving him insane, but he had a feeling she knew that. “Yes.”

She smiled. “Then you’ll love this.” She parted her lips and she took him into her warm, wet mouth, drawing him to the back of her throat. “Holy shit,” he whispered and placed his hands in her hair. Most women were hesitant to take a man into their mouths. Obviously she wasn’t one of them. She sucked him into a sexual vortex that left him oblivious to anything but her. Anything but her warm hands, hot liquid mouth, and soft tongue giving him raw carnal pleasure. The glass door was cool against his back and his eyes slid shut. He expected her to stop at some point. Women always stopped, but she didn’t. She stayed with him as he came, an intense, powerful climax that squeezed the breath from him and hit him like a freight train. She stayed with him until the last flush of orgasm stopped and he was able to breathe. Most women thought they knew how to pleasure a man with their mouths. Some were better than others, but he’d never experienced anything like the intense pleasure Maddie had just given him.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice rough and his breathing rapid.

“You’re welcome.” She stood in front of him and touched a finger to the corner of her mouth. “So, you liked that?”

He reached for her. “You know I did.”

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her nipples brushed his chest. “Now that we both got the first one out of the way, I hope you weren’t planning on going to work, because I have plans for you here.”

No, he didn’t have to go to Mort’s. The new manager he’d hired was doing a good job. He kissed the side of her throat and raised a hand to her breast. In the pit of his belly, the lust that had been thoroughly sucked out of him a moment ago caught fire once again.

He had plans of his own.

She should not have fallen off the wagon. Having sex with Mick was wrong of her on so many levels, but the time to stop things before they got out of control had passed an hour ago. She should have stopped him before he put his mouth on her breast and slid his hand into her pants. But of course she hadn’t. Once she’d felt his moist mouth and skilled fingers, she’d become selfish and greedy. She’d wanted to feel his hands all over her body. To feel him touch her in places she hadn’t been touched in a long time. To look into his eyes and see how much he wanted her.

Within the spill of lamplight pouring across the gold and red quilt, Mick kissed the small of Maddie’s bare back and continued up her spine. “You always smell so good.” His hands and knees were planted on her bed on both sides of her body and his erection brushed the inside of her bare thigh as he leaned down to kiss the back of her shoulder.

No, she should not have fallen off the wagon with Mick, but she wasn’t sorry. Not yet. Not when he made her feel things. Wonderful things she hadn’t even known she missed. Tomorrow she would be sorry when she thought about all the ways she’d just complicated her life and his, but tonight she was going to be completely selfish and enjoy the naked man in her bed.

Maddie turned onto her back and looked up into Mick’s lusty blue eyes surrounded by thick black lashes. “You feel good,” she said and ran her hands up his arms and across the hard muscles of his shoulders. “You make me feel good too.”

He bent down, lightly bit the ball of her shoulder, and his penis touched her between her legs. “Tell me all the ways you’re going to use my body.”

She turned her head and said next to his ear, “It’s a surprise.”

“Should I be afraid?”

“Only if you can’t get it up.”

He pressed his erection into her. “That’s not going to be a problem.” And it wasn’t. He kissed and teased and tortured her with his hands and mouth, bringing her to the point of climax, then backing off. Just when she thought she might have to pin him to the bed and jump on him, he reached for the condom on the nightstand. Maddie took it and put it on him while she kissed his belly. Then he pinned her to the bed and knelt between her thighs. He wrapped his hand around the thick shaft of his penis and brought the broad head to her slick opening. He pressed into her, hot and enormous, and she gasped from the sheer pleasure of his entry.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. I love this part,” she said.

He pulled out and plunged a little deeper. “This part?”

She licked her lips and nodded. She wrapped one leg around his waist and forced him even deeper. His nostrils flared slightly as he pulled out, then buried himself to the hilt, thrusting into her and shoving them up the bed.

She cried out, whether in pain or in intense pleasure, she wasn’t quite sure. She only knew that she didn’t want it to end.

“Sorry.” He spread kisses across her cheek. “I thought you were ready.”

“I am,” she moaned. “Do it again.” And he did. Again and again. Maddie hadn’t had sex in a long time, but she didn’t remember it feeling so good—if it had been this good, she was positive she would not have given it up for so long.

He groaned deep, deep within his chest and placed his hands on the sides of her face. “You feel tight around me.” He kissed her lips and said just above her mouth, “And so good.”

Heat flushed her skin, radiating outward from where they were joined, and she slid her fingers up his warm shoulders and into his hair. “Faster, Mick,” she whispered. She loved the feeling of him touching her deep inside, the plump head of his penis rubbing her G-spot, then pushing into her cervix. She loved the press of his moist skin against her and the intensity of his blue eyes. Without missing a beat of his pumping hips, he ran a hand down her side and bottom to the back of her thigh.

“Put this leg around my back,” he said just above a whisper. He pressed his forehead against hers and his breathing rasped against her temple. He plunged faster. Harder.

“Mick,” she cried out as he thrust in and out, pushing her closer and closer toward climax. “Please don’t stop.”

“Not a chance.”

Like a flash fire, heat spread from the apex of her thighs, across her body, and she was completely mindless of anything but Mick and the pleasure of his body. She called his name once, twice, maybe three times. She tried to tell him how good it felt, how much she loved and missed sex, but her words came out short and abbreviated as he relentlessly thrust his erection into her, and slammed her into a pleasure so intense she opened her mouth to scream. The sound died in her throat as wave after luscious wave rolled through, and her vaginal muscles pulsed and contracted, gripping him hard. On and on it went as he plunged into her, his labored breath hot against her cheek until finally he shoved into her one last time and a long tortured groan died in his throat.

“Oh…my…God,” she said when she could catch her breath.

“Yeah.” He raised up onto his elbows and looked into her face.

“I don’t remember sex being that good.”

“It usually isn’t.” He pushed a few strands of her hair off her forehead. “In fact, I don’t think it’s ever been that good.”

“You’re welcome.”

He laughed, and his two dimples dented his cheeks. “Thank you.” When she didn’t reciprocate, he lifted one brow up his forehead.

She smiled and unwrapped her legs from around his waist. “Thank you.”

He pulled out of her and moved off the bed. “You’re welcome,” he said over his shoulder as he walked into the bathroom.

Maddie rolled on her side and closed her eyes. She sighed and settled within a nice comfy bubble of afterglow. She didn’t have a tense muscle in her body and couldn’t recall ever being so relaxed. She heard the toilet flush, and she wrapped her arms around the pillow under her head. She should probably have sex more often, as a sort of stress reducer.

“Who’s Carlos?”

Maddie opened her eyes and her afterglow bubble popped. “What?”

Mick sat on the bed and looked at her over his shoulder. “You called me Carlos.”

She didn’t remember that. “When?”

“When you were coming.”

“What did I say?”

A little scowl turned down the corners of his mouth. “‘Yes. Yes. Carlos.’”

Heat rose up her neck to her cheeks. “I did?”

“Yeah. I’ve never been called another man’s name.” He thought a moment, then added, “I don’t think I like it.”

She sat up. “Sorry.”

“Who’s Carlos?”

He obviously wasn’t going to let it drop and she was forced to confess, “Carlos isn’t a man.”

He blinked and stared at her for several moments. “Carlos is a woman?”

She laughed and pointed to the bedside dresser. “Open that top drawer.”

He leaned forward and pulled the drawer open. His brows lowered, then slowly rose up his forehead. “Is that a…?”

“Yes, that’s Carlos.”

He looked at her. “You named it?”

Maddie sat up. “I thought since we’re intimately acquainted he should have a name.”

“It’s purple.”

“And glows in the dark.”

He chuckled and shut the drawer. “It’s big.”

“Not as big as you.”

“Yeah, but I can’t…” He scratched his cheek. “What does it do?”

“It can pulse, vibrate, throb, and get hot.”

“All that and glows in the dark too?” He dropped his hand to the bed.

“You’re better than Carlos.” She moved to kneel behind him and slid her hands down his chest. “I’d much rather spend time with you.”

He looked up into her face. “I don’t glow in the dark.”

“No, but your eyes get all sexy, and I love the way you kiss and touch my body.” She pressed her breasts into his warm back. “You make me vibrate and you make me hot.”

He turned and pushed her down on the bed. “You make me feel like the last time I was in this room. Like I can’t get enough. Like I’m fifteen and can go at it all night.”

A lock of dark hair fell over his forehead and she reached up and smoothed it back. “Is this room a lot different from the last time you were here with…what was her name?”

“Brandy Green.” He glanced about the bedroom. At the mahogany dressers and bedside tables and lamps. “To tell you the truth, I don’t remember what it looked like.”

“Too long ago?”

He returned his gaze to her. “Too busy to notice.” Laugh lines creased the corners of his eyes. “Brandy was a senior and I was a sophomore and I was just trying to impress the hell out of her.”

“Did you?”

“Impress her?” He thought a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Well, you’ve impressed me.”

“I know.” He moved over the top of her onto his back, then pulled her across his chest.

“How do you know?”

“You’re a moaner.”

She pushed her hair over her shoulder. “I am?”

“Yeah. I like it.” He brushed his hand up and down her arm. “It lets me know you’re into what I’m doing to you.”

She shrugged. “I like sex. I’ve liked sex since my first time when I was a sophomore at UCLA and lost my virginity to my first boyfriend, Frankie Peterson.”

His hand stilled. “You waited until you were, what…twenty?”

“Well, I was Cincinnati Maddie, remember? But once I moved out of my aunt’s house and went away to college, I dropped sixty pounds by virtue of being so poor I didn’t have money to spend on food. In those days, I used to work out a lot too. So much so that I burned myself out, and now I refuse to work up a sweat on anything that is painful and boring.” She ran her fingers up the thin line of hair on his belly.

“You don’t need to work out.” He slid his hand down her back to her behind. “You’re perfect.”

“I’m too soft.”

“You’re a woman. You’re supposed to be soft.”

“But I’m—”

He rolled her onto her back and looked down at her. “I look at you and there isn’t anything I can tell myself that makes me not want to be with you.” His gaze moved over her face. “I’ve tried to stay away. Tried to keep my hands off you. I can’t.” He looked into her eyes. “Maybe after tonight I can.”

Maddie’s breath got caught in her chest. She didn’t want one night. She wanted several nights, but he was Mick Hennessy and she was Maddie Jones. She would have to tell him. Soon.

“We better make it good, then.” She slid her hand to the back of his head and ran her fingers through his short hair. “And tomorrow you can go back to being mad at me, and I’ll go back to being celibate. Everything will go back the way it was before tonight.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “You think?”

She nodded. “Neither of us is looking for love, nor even a commitment beyond this room. We both want the same thing, Mick.” She brought his mouth down to hers and whispered against his lips, “No strings. Just a one-night stand.” Since it was the last time she figured she’d have sex before she jumped back on the wagon, she made sure it was memorable.

She left him long enough to turn on the jetted tub and pour mango-scented bubble bath into the water. Then she took him by the hand and led him into the bathroom. They played within the foamy bubbles, and when it was time, she rode him like a seahorse. This time when she hit her peak, she made sure she called out his name.

Once it was over and Mick flushed the last condom, she fell asleep with her back pressed against his chest and his hand on her breast. He’d been talking to her about something, and she’d nestled her bottom against his groin and passed right out. She’d meant to put on a robe and walk him to the door, but it had been a long time since she’d let herself feel safe and secure and protected. It was an illusion, of course. It had always been an illusion. No one except Maddie could keep her safe and secure and protected, but it had felt so good.

When she woke in the morning, she was alone. Just as she wanted. No strings. No commitment. No demands. He hadn’t even said good-bye.

She rolled onto her side and looked at the morning shadows playing across her wall. She placed her hand in the indent on the pillow next to hers and curled her fingers into a fist. It was better this way.

Even if she never told him who she was, if she just left town and never set eyes on him again, he’d find out eventually. He’d find out when the book hit the stores.

Yes, it was better that he’d left without a good-bye. One night was bad enough; anything more would be impossible.