Fearless

by Weber, Tawny

  It was like diving into a maelstrom.

  He’d found heaven. She tasted delicious, she felt incredible and she blew his mind straight to hell.

  Holy shit.

  Stunned at the power, the depths and the intensity of his passion, he stared into her big eyes.

  She opened her mouth as if to comment, then closed it again. Good. Maybe her brain was as scrambled as his.

  Before she could unscramble it, he lifted her off her feet.

  Time for a little of that initiative he’d mentioned.

  His hands on her waist, Luke backed her up until she was trapped between the wall and the hard, throbbing length of his body.

  He snagged her wrists, pulling her arms above her head to catch both in one hand. Focusing on the delight instead of the shock in her eyes, he cupped the back of her neck with his free hand, tangling his fingers in her hair and tugging her head into the perfect position again. Before she could do more than gasp, he took her mouth.

  Hot. Wild. Intense.

  Their lips slid, their teeth nipped. Tongues dueled.

  Quick as lightning, he pulled his hand from her hair to unsnap his pants. He didn’t have to bother with the zipper. His erection shoved that right down.

  Luke was barely aware of moving, barely cognizant of anything but the feel of her against his body. Somehow, with only a brief groan-inducing foray into her wet heat, he retrieved the condom from her garter and slid it on.

  Then, before she had time to offer up more than a wicked smile, he released her wrists, grabbed her ass and lifted her high.

  Gasping, she automatically wrapped her legs around his hips to keep her balance.

  “That’s the way,” Luke murmured as the sharp heels of her shoes dug into his cheeks.

  Then he thrust, hard and fast, into her welcoming body.

  It was like sliding into ecstasy.

  Fingers gripping her ass, her shoulders propped tight against the wall and her head thrown back, Luke watched Vanna as he plunged.

  In and out.

  Her breath came in gasps.

  Deeper and harder.

  A silken flush of red swept over her breasts up to her cheeks.

  Her hips undulated, meeting each thrust with a little shimmy.

  Insatiable, desperate, he arched his back to pound harder against her soft body.

  He needed to taste her.

  He wanted to feel those nipples, as big and inviting as berries, between his fingers. He craved the scent of her, just there in the curve of her neck where it met her shoulder.

  But he couldn’t stop.

  He could only thrust.

  He couldn’t taste. He couldn’t bury his face in her warmth. But he still wanted more. He’d take more.

  “Look at me,” he demanded.

  “Mmm,” she moaned, her eyes still closed.

  It damned near killed him, but Luke forced his body to halt. Dick just barely inside her, he could almost hear it whimper its own protest.

  Vanna’s eyes flew open. Frowning, she gave him an impatient look.

  Luke shifted, moving just a little so the tip of his erection circled her pouting lips.

  Her gaze turned to a plea.

  He held those brown eyes captive as he slowly, so freaking slowly he thought he was going to explode, slid back into her.

  Deep inside.

  Then he stopped.

  He could feel the walls of her body gripping him, rippling as if milking the pleasure from his cock.

  There ya go.

  Luke grinned. Then, with her eyes still watching him as if she were afraid he’d deny her again if she closed them, he plunged again.

  Hard and fast.

  “Ohhhhh,” she cried, the word rising as her fingers dug tighter into his biceps. Her nails cut into him, the tingling pain adding an extra edge of incredible to the experience.

  Her back arched.

  Her breath came in fast, intense gasps as the climax pounded over her. He could feel the power of it in her shaking thighs, her trembling fingers.

  Her soaking heat pouring over him.

  Panting, her eyes blurry with pleasure, she pursed her lips and blew him a kiss.

  He exploded.

  Chapter Four

  Girlz Guide to Doing It Right…

  Make ’em beg, then make ’em grateful they did.

  Gia had no idea how long she’d lain there, her body a puddle of melted lust poured over Luke.

  It turned out fantasies were pretty freaking awesome. Living out a naughty dream, jumping outside the comfort zone, making incredible memories. She’d been hopeful. And Luke’s rep had pretty much guaranteed awesome sex.

  So she’d followed the gettin’ it plan on the surface, telling herself it’d be totally awesome. But still, in the back of her mind, she had shored up plenty of justifications in case everything fell apart. She’d worried that maybe she’d chicken out. Or that by the time she found him, he’d already have hooked up with someone for the weekend. Or, high-score freak-out, that when they did get together, it’d be mediocre. That they’d have blah, average sex despite the makeover and Las Vegas mojo.

  Nothing blah, average or boring about this sex. It’d been mind-blowingly incredible. She gave a little shiver, her thighs pressing together as if holding tight to the memory. There weren’t enough words in her vocabulary to describe how good it had been. How great he’d felt inside her. How intense those four orgasms had been.

  Four. Freaking. Orgasms.

  She was seriously speechless.

  Which could be a problem if she was going to tell her friends all about how great this weekend was. Maybe she could pick up a thesaurus on her way home.

  Or give the fabulous sex a few more tries in case it inspired some memorable descriptions she could use to sing odes to this fantasy.

  Beneath her, Luke moaned. The sound was so faint, she wasn’t sure if she actually heard it or just felt his chest rumble against her ear.

  “Nice,” he murmured on a long sigh. “Very, very nice.”

  Nice?

  Mittens were nice.

  Struggling to keep from pouting—or worse, opening the door to her self-doubts again—Gia wrapped herself back in Vanna’s personality. Sex sirens were naughty enough to balance nice.

  “You like?” she asked, keeping her words light and sexy. As if every ounce of her confidence weren’t teetering on the edge of a cliff, waiting to jump to its destruction at one wrong word from him.

  “Like? Babe, I can’t move my feet. I’m pretty sure a few brain cells exploded in the intensity of that orgasm. Yeah. I like.” He patted her naked butt a couple of times as if to emphasize his point.

  Well, then. Suddenly filled with energy and trying not to giggle, Gia grinned against his chest.

  She wanted to do it again.

  But first…

  Curiosity overtaking her need to maintain her role, she shifted upright, stretching her very satisfied body and noting the tingles still making their way through her system as she did. She pulled the sheet around her and tucked it under her arms as she scooched higher on the mountain of pillows. Pushing the unfamiliar weight of her long hair off her face, she gave Luke a tentative look.

  “So hey, I’ve got a question.” She hesitated, not sure how to ask it without sounding silly. Or worse, desperate.

  Deliciously mussed, his black hair was a vivid contrast against the white sheets. His face was as relaxed as his body, the look in those gorgeous eyes a rewarding mix of pleasure and slumberous satisfaction.

  “Yes, it was good for me,” he teased when she didn’t say anything.

  Delighted, Gia hummed and gave in to the need to slide her fingers through his hair. It was so soft, like heavy silk. Emotions tangled in her belly, deep and needy, but she tried to ignore them.

  “You seemed a little reluctant to come up here with me. Why?”

  Brows high, Luke opened his mouth as if to make another joke. When she arched her brows, though, he shrugged and s
hifted onto his side so they faced each other. Unlike her, he didn’t bother to pull the sheet over himself. Which meant the view was mouthwateringly distracting, making it difficult for Gia to focus on the conversation.

  “I wasn’t reluctant,” he finally said, his gaze a hot caress as it skimmed over her body. The look on his face was pure appreciation, as if he were trying to assure her that he was totally into the view. His body, getting in on the reassurance, demonstrated some intriguing evidence between his thighs. Since she really wanted to hear his answer, Gia forced herself to keep her eyes on his.

  “Okay, if not reluctant, what would you call it? Thirsty?”

  “Hungry,” he teased. A long look at her face told him she wasn’t going to let it go, so he finally sighed and made a dismissive gesture with one hand. “You wanted a fantasy tonight. That means stepping outside your normal routine, right? Doing something different. Something you’ve invested a lot of time and thought into.”

  Gia slowly nodded. Well, wasn’t he insightful. Maybe a little too insightful.

  “Well, my fantasy is a little different.” Pulling his gaze from hers, he paused to take a deep breath, as if he was trying to find the right words.

  “My fantasy includes a little more intimacy,” he finally said, his words slow and low. As if he was tiptoeing around them, unused to explaining himself. “Knowing more about a woman than her bra size before I slide into her body.”

  She should probably have been insulted. Instead, she was a little thrilled. After all, she was only a sex siren in the fantasy. In real life it was nice to know a guy like Luke wasn’t all about the easy lay. It was sweet.

  Even as she sighed and started to melt a little inside, her mind screamed warning. Sweet intimacy led to opening her heart. To thinking of Luke as a man, a person she wanted to know better. Someone she could fall for. And that kind of thinking was totally off-limits.

  Gia squirmed. Oh, no. Naked sexual intimacy was one thing. But she wasn’t about to share the real her. He’d just have to settle for her naked body. Especially since she was pretty damned sure that if he had any idea who the real her was, he’d have no interest in any part of her, naked or not.

  Time to steer the conversation back to her fantasy zone. Gia felt a little guilty at shortchanging his intimacy needs, but she figured she could find a way to make it up to him.

  “You’re so used to women throwing themselves at you, so jaded with easy—albeit mind-blowing—sex, that you try and make it more of a challenge for yourself?” she summarized.

  “It was mind-blowing,” he agreed, his smile wicked as he smoothed his palm up her thigh. His fingers were hot, a vivid contrast to the cool sheet as they slid beneath the fabric to caress her skin.

  Gia almost moaned at the delicious sensation. But she didn’t want him to know how easily he could distract her, so she kept her expression bland and pretended she wasn’t wet and ready again. Of course, if his fingers climbed a few more inches, he’d discover that fact for himself. To prevent that, at least until she’d got her answers, she twined her fingers into his.

  His quest north stymied, he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles and gave a contemplative sigh, then shrugged. He looked like a guy who was a little lost, digging deep into his soul to figure out what was going on.

  “I like a challenge,” he confessed. “But it’s not an ego thing. I don’t need to prove anything or gather notches on my condom box. But I quit doing fast and easy years ago. Like I said before, sex is more than slam-bam pleasure.”

  “What’s that like?” she asked, keeping her words light and teasing. “Calling all the sexual shots like you do? Are you always in charge?”

  “I wasn’t tonight.”

  Well, whaddaya know. Thrilled, Gia barely kept from clapping her hands in delight. He was right. She’d called all the shots. Fantasy was pretty freaking awesome.

  “So if the challenge has nothing to do with proving something, what is it about?” she wondered aloud, trying to figure out what made a guy like Luke, who was all that and a box of Godivas, push his comfort zone.

  “I guess I’m bored,” he mused, staring at their entwined fingers. He gave a self-deprecating grimace and rolled his eyes as he met her gaze. “That sounds bad, doesn’t it? It’s not that I’m so cocky that I think everything in life is easy. Or that I’m so damned good that there are no challenges.”

  But he made it look that way. Everyone at Tri-Solutions always said that anything he touched went golden. His accounts, his presentations, his track record with women. They were all legendary.

  Gia wondered what it would be like to have things come so easy. She’d never been one of those people who could ace the test without studying or walk into the room and wow the crowd. It must be nice. She’d always had to study extra hard, do extra credit. She had friends, great ones. But she wasn’t the person at the party everyone was clamoring to be seen talking to.

  Luke was.

  And he wasn’t happy about it?

  She didn’t even know what to do with that.

  “Are you out looking for challenges?” Gia wondered aloud, a part of her needing to figure him out. Another part wanted to help him, to put a smile back on that gorgeous face. “Or are you just riding the success wave?”

  “What do you mean?”

  What did she mean? She’d never been close enough to his level of success to have a clue if it was easy to ride out or not, so she was probably totally out of line.

  “Nothing, really,” she said with a shrug that shifted the sheet low enough to remind her that she was very naked, lying in bed with the sexiest guy she’d ever fantasized about. And she was wasting time playing therapist? Talk about blowing about a dozen Girlz rules. “Just ignore me.”

  “No. I’d really like to hear what you think,” he said, shifting onto one elbow so he could stare down at her. Her lips twitched at his automatic move into a powerful position. He was definitely used to things going his way.

  Which didn’t bode well for her suggesting that he might be a little on the spoiled side, at least when it came to success.

  “Well,” she said slowly, telling herself one wild round against the wall and the rug burns on her ass were great memories. She didn’t need a whole weekend. “Take this for instance.”

  This, she indicated with a wave of her fingers between their bodies, meant them.

  “What?” He scowled. “You think I didn’t put in a hundred percent?”

  “Oh, no. You put the whole thing in there,” she said, with a wicked smile. She waited a second for his frown to ease and the entendre to sink in; then she arched her brows. “I’m just saying, when’s the last time you had to work for a woman? When’s the last time you went after someone outside your, well, comfort zone?”

  Someone like her. The real her.

  Someone average, who didn’t have a model body or stunning looks, who made a decent income but didn’t fly off to Hawaii for a weekend fling. Someone who didn’t add another layer of shimmer to his golden reputation.

  “At work, when’s the last time you worked on a—” he almost said project before remembering that she wasn’t supposed to know what he did. She stumbled over the word but quickly caught herself. “—job, or whatever it is you do for a living, that didn’t feel easy? One that was outside your area of expertise?”

  It’d been years, she realized, thinking of his time at Tri-Solutions. He’d started in tech, but once the bosses had discovered how good he was at talking up the projects, they’d jumped all over that talent. She didn’t remember ever hearing about his stellar tech skills, though.

  “So what’re you saying? That I’m slacking?” His face revealed a combination of amusement and offense, as if he couldn’t decide if he wanted to laugh at her or be irritated over the presumptuous comment.

  She couldn’t blame him.

  Except, well… He’d said it himself. When was the last time he’d actually had a challenge?

  She couldn’t ask, though. Not with
out giving away her identity. Gia wet her lips. Besides, who was she to tell him what to do? The only way she’d been able to take on a challenge was by hiding behind extensions and a fake name.

  She’d had no idea he wasn’t happy with easy street, though. Now that she knew, she hated seeing him like this. Maybe there were advantages to being average, to being the girl who did endless crunches and planks, never giving up the dream of perfect abs. She got stronger every time she pushed herself. Even if she didn’t quite reach the stars.

  But how did that help him?

  Then it hit her.

  He’d mentioned blindfolds when they were dancing.

  That was the perfect way to rescue her fantasy and maybe make Luke feel good, too. In addition to all the other ways her fantasy was going to make him feel good, that was.

  Excitement took hold. Purely sexual, she told herself. It had nothing to do with the prospect of average ole her making a guy like Luke Monroe feel good about himself. Her pulse danced and she quickly shifted, squishing the pillows behind her back as she moved into a sitting position. The sheet still tight against her breasts, she gave him a stern look.

  “You need to work a little harder,” she said.

  “At?”

  “At pleasuring me.”

  That made him laugh. His grin was wicked, sexy and assured. “Babe, that’s not work.”

  “Oh, but it’s going to be.”

  Interest lit up his eyes as he sat up to face her.

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “As nice as that was,” she said, gesturing to the wall they’d banged on an hour ago, “I’m thinking I gave it to you.”

  “No argument there. But I gave it right back.”

  Remembering how well he’d given it back, she shivered with delight as she nodded.

  “How about we do it again.” Her body heated with happy tingles as she imagined how incredible doing it again was going to feel. “This time, though, you’re playing blind.”

  “Whaddaya mean?” he asked slowly. He didn’t look worried, though. More intrigued.