She cried out. She thought she said his name, but her mind was fogged with bliss. He stopped suckling to nibble her, then he sucked again…then he upbraided her tender nipple with his teeth. The varying stimulations continued until she was shaking and near orgasm. How had she come so far from so little?

He nipped at her breast and then laved the same spot with his tongue and her entire body went stiff with preorgasmic tension.

Oh, he was good…and before tonight, she would have let him keep going, would have given into the pleasure shattering her insides. Would have welcomed it. But tonight she was a new and stronger Beth. A woman in control of her sensual journey and she wasn’t ready to climax.

She pulled her nipple free and her body screamed for her to put it right back where it had been having so much fun. In his mouth. She shook her head at herself and turned unfocused eyes to him when he chuckled.

But his expression was not filled with humor…only hunger. It took everything of the new Beth to force herself to tuck her breast back into her bra and settle back on her haunches beside him. His eyes filled with feral heat, and he leaned toward her.

Only he couldn’t reach her because of the restraints. He could lift his head and move his arms a little, but not enough to touch her or stop her from touching him. Just exactly what she wanted, she reminded herself even as her body buzzed with the need for culmination.

“You were close,” he gritted out. “Why stop, baby?”

“Because that’s not the way I wanted it to happen.”

“Isn’t it?”

“No.”

“What do you want?”

“You. Tied like this.” She surveyed her handiwork and a smile of anticipation creased her lips. “I haven’t even begun to have fun yet.”

“Not even begun, huh?” he mocked.

She felt heat steal into her cheeks and down her breasts. “Okay, maybe we started, or you did anyway…” She sighed with delight and looked him over again, letting her body thrill with sexual pleasure at the sight of him bound to the bed. “But now it’s my turn.”

He laughed, the sound husky and deep. “You look like a sweet little cat who’s found herself a bucketful of unattended cream.”

“You think I look like a cat?” She put her hands on his chest, to test her freedom to touch. It felt good.

He liked it, too, if the rumble of approval in his chest was anything to go by.

“I think you sound like a purring lion.”

“Do you think a sleek little housecat can tame a lion?” he asked musingly, his voice all innocence.

Her spine stiffened with challenge and she narrowed her eyes. “Why don’t we find out?”

“Why don’t we?”

And then she knew. As innocent as his voice had been, he had been challenging her. She would meet that challenge and she would show him that she was no tame housecat.

Without a word, she got off the bed and left the room. It was all she could do not to stomp in her bare feet. She would show him tame.

He didn’t call out and ask where she was going or why she’d left, and his lack of curiosity came off as another challenge to her. He didn’t believe she was leaving him permanently, which she wasn’t. But he wasn’t even worried enough to ask. Then she remembered her clothes were lying on the floor and she supposed he was smart enough to figure out she wasn’t going anywhere without them.

But that didn’t mean he knew where she was going or why she’d left. And he wasn’t worried, but maybe he should be.

She went into the spare room and rummaged in his sports equipment until she found what she was looking for. When she came back into his room, he was watching the door with a curious frown and satisfaction filled her.

Not so unconcerned after all.

She held up her find and his eyes widened for just a second before he wiped the expression from his face. Oh…he had tough agent who could face anything down pat.

She licked her lips, seeking the courage to voice her desires. In her fantasies she was pure vixen, but in reality…even the newly emerging Beth had her shy moments and asking her soon-to-be lover for this final thing was turning into one of them.

Taking a deep breath, she forced it and the words out in a rush. “I want to tie your ankles, too. Will you let me?”

Several seconds of silence went by before he answered. “On one condition.”

“Maybe I don’t want to grant a condition.”

He let his head fall back, as if he was totally relaxed, without a care in the world. Not even the raging hard-on still sticking up from his body in adamant statement of his desire for her. “Good luck tying my ankles without my cooperation.”

There was that. She nibbled on her lower lip and decided she wanted his cooperation. “What is your condition?”

“That as soon as you’re done, you kiss me.”

For some reason, that surprised her. Probably because what they’d already done seemed beyond kissing. He was naked, she was almost there and she’d been so close to exploding, her body still buzzed with it. “You want me to kiss you? That’s all?”

His head came up again, the expression in his eyes almost angry. “All? Woman, you have not got a clue. I’ve been craving your lips for two years. The little taste I got last night was not near enough.”

She shrugged. “Okay.”

He let his head fall back and spread his legs without having to be asked, but she still approached the bed with trepidation. Which made no sense, considering he was bound, but she thought he’d probably been in situations that looked a lot more one-sided and come out the winner. Tonight he was her sexual opponent and she was not about to underestimate him.

She relaxed a little though when he let her tie his first ankle to one of the spindles that matched the headboard. She moved to do the other, but stopped when his foot slid away from her. “You’ll keep your promise about the kiss?”

“I don’t break my promises.”

“But you do get doubtful of your decisions.”

She couldn’t stifle the laugh of incredulity that bubbled up. “We’re way past me changing my mind now.”

His answer was to slide his foot back into reach. When she was done securing it, she surveyed her handiwork and something scary moved inside her heart. He’d let her do it. He hadn’t made fun of her, or refused her fantasies. He hadn’t tried to seduce her past them. He’d even bought the restraints. Just for her.

Oh, man. It was as if he understood the woman inside her, the fantasy vixen who needed to become real. And while her body vibrated with a sexual charge unlike any she’d ever known, unexpected emotion stirred inside her, too.

She reached out with a trembling hand and stroked his calf. It wasn’t a sexual caress, though the feel of his hair-roughened leg under her hand was intensely alluring. She just wanted to touch him, to connect to this man who made himself so open to her. “I don’t want to love you.”

The words came out of nowhere. She wasn’t thinking about love right then. Did not want to think about it with him ever.

“You’re making love to me, baby. Not loving me. There’s a difference,” he rumbled in that seductive Texas drawl.

“Are you sure?” the old Beth/new Beth asked.

“Yes. This is sex. Incredible sex, but that’s all.”

He sounded so sure. And why shouldn’t he? He had more experience with this sort of thing than she did. She’d never had sex with someone she didn’t love, but she knew he had. Probably a lot of someones. He knew what he was talking about. And she wanted to believe, so she did.

She climbed onto the bed and then onto him and he growled as the damp silk of her panties rubbed against his washboard stomach.

He hissed like she’d burned him. “You’re so hot, baby. Wet and hot like molten lava.”

She carefully pressed her hands against his shoulders and leaned down until their lips almost touched. “You’re hot, too, but you aren’t liquid…more like solid rock.”