The timer beeped and she searched the drawers for a mitt. She bent over the open oven door and inspected the biscuits. They were a warm golden brown. Perfect. Humming again, she pulled them out of the oven and turned it off. When she turned around to set them on the hot plates she’d put on the granite island earlier, she froze.

Wes stood in the doorway, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. There was something undeniably sexy about him in suits, but in jeans…her body exploded with heat and desire. His bare chest displayed those perfect pectoral muscles and washboard abs. Callie blinked, trying to focus, but in a haze she realized she couldn’t remember what she’d been trying to focus on.

“Busy morning?” he asked. His head tilted as his gaze slowly swept across the messy flour-strewn kitchen.

Was he mad? She’d pretty much made a hot mess of his kitchen and Wes seemed to never leave a thing out of place or messy.

“I’m so sorry. I was going to clean it up after I’d gotten a tray ready for you.” She reached for a dish towel and wiped her white-powdered hands on it.

“A tray?” He raised one eyebrow. It felt like a challenge, but she didn’t know why.

“Uh-huh, you know, when someone brings you breakfast in bed.” God, she sounded like an idiot. She had wanted to do something nice for him, something that might make him smile. She loved his smiles. He had at least three of them. One when he was content, one when he was playful and when he was ready to pounce on her, and—

That third type of smile flashed over his face and it was her only warning. He stalked across the kitchen and before she could react, he’d gripped her by the waist and lifted her up. Her bottom hit the counter behind her as he set her down. And then he grasped her face, and with one long scorching look at her eyes, then her lips, he was kissing her. He nipped at her lips, bit her bottom lip, and teased her tongue in a wild type of play that drove her frantic. She clawed at his shoulders, his body, trying to get closer for more of this intoxicating rush of sensations. His skin was hot beneath her hands and his muscles jumped at her touch. She scraped his back with her nails, feeling an animal rise inside her.

“That’s it,” he growled. “Mark me, darling, fuck.” He hissed and then he was embracing her again, hands sliding beneath the top of her boxers.

When he met the little cotton panties she wore, he traced the edges, then slid beneath them. His large hands on her bare bottom made her moan and she nipped his mouth, licked at him, feeling wild and playful. He massaged her ass, clenched it, and then his fingers traced that sensitive seam, exploring the hidden places no one had touched before. She jolted into him, surprised at the flare of awareness his touch created. He stroked, pressed, circled his fingers again and again on that one spot and she arched against him, rubbing her throbbing clit on the hard bulge in his jeans.

Then he pulled away and she whimpered in protest. She needed something…needed a release of the tension building inside her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” he rasped as he lifted her off the counter and spun her around.

Before she even realized what was happening, he bent her face down over the granite island. She braced her head on her forearms, panting as he covered her from behind, kissing and nipping her neck. His hands were magic, one sliding around the front of her body, this time touching bare flesh as he cupped her sex. She gasped and jerked, but couldn’t escape his touch. No man had ever touched her there and the fact that it was Wes was a little scary and exciting at the same time. He located that ultrasensitive bud. He pressed down hard, then eased up, then circled it lightly before pressing down again. He repeated the pattern over and over and she wriggled beneath him.

“You want more?” His harsh breath in her ear ratcheted up her arousal that much more.

“Please,” she begged. She was near mindless. This building need for pleasure was the only thing that mattered now. It consumed her.

“All right, darling.” The way he said darling made her burn inside.

He slid two fingers down into her sex and parted the slick folds. One long finger entered her, sliding in and out. She groaned at the strange feeling of that single penetration.

“So tight, Callie, so fucking tight.” His hoarse words, the subtle dirtiness to them, undid her. She couldn’t stop the orgasm when it hit her. He didn’t let up on her. He tortured her by pushing a second finger inside her, stretching her, and her body reacted, clamping down on him, trying to keep him there.

“I can feel you,” he groaned, burying his face in her neck, panting.

She pushed her hips back, grinding her ass against his groin, feeling the climax roll through her before she went limp. He cursed above her, his hips jerking hard against her, pinning her to the countertop and then he let out a little laugh.

“You okay?” He brushed back the hair from her neck and planted a soft lingering kiss.

Callie sucked in several ragged breaths. His fingers were still inside her. He turned them, curled them, and she whimpered, her inner muscles rippling around them before he withdrew his hand. He stood up and she tossed her hair back from her face and looked over her shoulders. He slid his two fingers into his mouth and sucked, a look of exquisite pleasure on his face.

“Do you have any idea how you taste?” He chuckled and helped her stand.

Her legs shook so he lifted her back up on the counter and then fisted his hand in her hair and slanted his mouth over hers. She tasted herself on him and the mere knowledge of that had her womb clenching with renewed hunger. Wes’s kiss this time was sweet and slow, but rich and thorough as though sated with their mutual release and now he was basking in the afterglow along with her.

“You taste better than that cognac I bought…So much better.” He nuzzled her cheek, breathing deeply, and she shivered in response and their lips brushed in a light kiss.

When their mouths broke apart again, he rested his forehead against hers. “You didn’t answer my question. How are you feeling?” He massaged her neck, his eyes locked with hers.

“I’m good,” she assured him. They hadn’t actually had sex…well…they’d done something but she wasn’t sure what to call it. “It felt amazing.” The shy little smile she gave him wilted when she realized the breakfast was probably cold. “I’m sorry about all this. The food is cold.”

“Sorry for what? It’s my fault. I took one look at you covered in flour and tousled from bed and I couldn’t resist you.” He glanced around the kitchen. “What did you make?” His hands moved to her bare thighs and he rubbed her skin soothingly as he surveyed the room again.

“Omelets and biscuits,” she replied and then she pressed a kiss to one of his bare shoulders, loving that she could do that and knowing he didn’t mind. She could never have done that with Fenn. He hadn’t been hers, hadn’t been someone she could kiss whenever she’d wanted to. Callie’s affectionate nature ran deep. Her father had told her that she was like her mother, and not being able to express that part of herself to a man had left her feeling cold. Now here she was with a hot, hungry man at her fingertips. She stifled a sigh of delight and pressed another tender kiss to his collarbone. Wes’s hands on her back tightened a little and he released a long sigh, one of contentment.

“What a lovely way to wake up,” he murmured in her hair. “Stay right here. I’ll microwave the food and fetch some plates.”

Callie gawked at him. They’d almost had sex in the kitchen and he seemed unaffected. Well…maybe more relaxed. She, however, felt…Well, it was hard to describe. More than one emotion churned inside her at that moment and it left her dazed and confused. She wanted to run and hide from embarrassment about how she’d just acted, like a cat in heat howling for more. But she also wanted to stay close to Wes, to inhale the scent of his skin and feel his body heat close to hers. They had shared another type of intimacy that couldn’t be undone. It left her unsure of how to move forward. She wasn’t a worldly woman. How was she supposed to act around a man she’d almost had sex with?