"God, you look good," he said as he picked her up and carried her down the short hallway to thestateroom. He kicked open the door and a huge king-size bed dared her to look away. But she wasn'tgoing to back down from what she wanted. Not tonight. She kicked off her heels and let him lay herback on the bed, let him look at her like she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.Sweet Lord, his chest was a masterpiece. Her fingers ran across his bronzed skin, and when hermouth grew jealous she ran her tongue along his pecs, over his nipples, which hardened beneath herlips. He groaned and threaded his hands through her hair just as she brought her teeth down on him.She slid her hands down the back of his shirt, pushing it off his broad shoulders, and then he waskissing her eyelids and her chin and biting her earlobe.

In seconds his shirt and pants were on the floor, even though he never once stopped kissing her.Wearing only his boxers, his bare leg hot against hers, he hooked his thumbs under the bodice of herstrapless dress.

And then—could this really be happening to her?— his mouth was on her nipple, hot and wet.Sweet Lord, how could she have lived for so long without feeling this?

She pressed her hips into his thighs, and wetness seeped through her panties, through her thindress.

Somehow she wasn't embarrassed; being with Ty was the most natural thing in the world.He slid her dress off, past her hips, and his hand moved to the concave lines of her stomach. Hetoyed with the elastic edge of her panties and her thighs spread in a clear invitation for him to takeany—and every—thing he wanted.

His warm hand moved down, past her pubic bone. Slowly he ran one finger, then two, over hermost private, secret spot. She'd touched herself before, but it had never felt like this. Never felt likeher entire world was turning inside out, like blue was green, and yellow was red. He sucked her moanof ecstasy into his throat, sliding his fingers down farther, farther still, finally slipping one inside her.His touch was a sensual invasion of every wall that Julie had ever built around herself, her body,her heart. She wanted him inside of her then, no more foreplay.

More than anything, she wanted him to love her as much as she had always loved him from afar.

"Please," she begged.

But instead of taking her right then and there, he moved his mouth along the same path as hishand, kissing her on her belly and the lacy edge of her panties.

"Please," she whispered again, wanting him to know that she couldn't stand it anymore. She bither lip hard enough to draw blood and still she could barely keep a scream of erotic frustration frompouring up from her throat. At the final moment, when she'd given patience all that she had, he slidthe lace away from her mound and covered her with his mouth.

She cried out then, a long, low sound. Julie had no defenses anymore. Not from the way histongue circled her clitoris. Not from the way his finger moved in and out of her. She could go insanefrom the rush of pleasure taking her over, body and soul. She would have promised him anything justthen; all he had to do was ask. But thankfully he wasn't talking, he was sucking and licking and kissingbetween her legs.

Her hips bucked up off the bed, and as she exploded against his teeth and tongue, she moaned,

"Ty!" And just as she found herself wishing that his mouth was on hers, that she could taste himagain, he was taking her lips in a kiss that said she was his. Forever.He slipped a condom on and then the thick head of his penis pushed at her wetness, where hisfinger and tongue had been.

She wanted to touch him, wanted to feel if his shaft was as hard—as hot—as she thought it wouldbe. Everything about Ty was made to drive her crazy.

"Please," she said again, "I want to touch you. I want to taste you like you tasted me."He groaned and took her lips again, pushing his thighs between her legs.

"I need to be inside you. Now."

And she was ready for him, desperate to take him inside. With a groan that was half pain, halfpleasure, Ty pressed the head of his penis against her.

"Are you sure you're going to fit?" she asked.

He just said, "Perfectly," as he pushed fully into her in the next breath. He stretched her wide andit hurt so much, but then, it didn't anymore.

Sex was wonderful.

Their hips moved together and even as he grew impossibly huger inside of her, the ecstasy thatshe'd felt only minutes before welled up again at the base of her belly. He plunged in then out, fastthen slow, and with every stroke, with every kiss, she met him with a passion that was as big, aspowerful.

He stilled above her, his muscles tight beneath her fingertips. He was going to explode inside ofher, just as she had when his mouth was on her. It was all she needed to send her back up to thepeak of ecstasy again.

Nothing in her life had ever been this good.

God, she'd been such an idiot. All she wanted was to forget the day she'd met Ty Calhoun. She wasn't a green girl anymore, not the kind of woman who could be sucked in by a hot jock's charisma and perfect physique ever again.

Julie never worked with sports organizations. She didn't trust professional athletes, so how could she get other people to trust them?

She'd simply refer the Outlaws to one of her competitors, who would be more than happy for the ongoing business. After all, athletes were always getting in trouble and their teams were always paying someone to "reform" them in front of the public.

And Julie would try not to mourn the money she was flushing down the drain. Her stomach churned as she slid on her headset and said hello.

"Sean McGuire here, with the Outlaws. Our team needs to hire a great image consultant for Ty Calhoun, and we think you're it."

She swallowed her gasp and told him she didn't have the resources to take them on as a client, then referred him to another company.

"We'll double your fee. Triple it."

Triple? Sweet Lord! If she took this gig with the Outlaws her financial fears would be a distant memory.

As if he could sense her wavering, Sean said, "All I'm asking is that you come in for a meeting before you say no. We need you."

Had a Crazy switch been turned on in her head? Was she really going to turn down this huge fee, especially since this job could springboard into other big clients?

Yet even if she didn't have a personal history with Ty, how could anyone expect her to change him from a playboy into a solid, reliable man? It was too big a job for one person. And how embarrassing and unprofessional would it be if they found out she'd been one of his early groupies?

Especially one who only lasted one night?

"Look," Sean said into the weighted silence, "Ty Calhoun needs you. Desperately. I'm begging you, here."

All the air went out of her lungs. Ty needed her? Well, he'd acted like he needed her once before, and she'd been so blind with lust and what she'd thought was love that she'd needed him too. What a huge, enormous mistake that had been.

Nothing was ever going to make Ty change his ways. From everything she'd heard, he was just as selfish, just as screwed up, and just as much of a womanizing bastard as he'd been in high school. Oh, she understood that women wanted to save Ty, and his bad boy antics made him more attractive, more dangerous, more in need of saving than ever.

But she didn't have the slightest desire to reform a bad boy She liked her men intelligent, well groomed, and low-key.