Burned Deep

by Calista Fox

  Unfortunately, I suspected it was too late for that.

  He gave me his half-assed grin. “I had a foot massage in mind. These shoes must be killing your feet when you’re not used to wearing them.”

  I’d told him they weren’t my style before. It was kind of sweet that he’d remembered.

  His fingers trailed over my skin, making me tremble. They swept around to the underside of my knee. Slowly, they grazed downward, over my calf to my ankle. Such a simple touch, as though he were acclimating me to it, and yet so electric.

  He slipped off the high heel, then started rubbing, with just the right amount of pressure, not tickling my sensitive soles. Caressing perfectly. A sigh fell from my parted lips. He grinned again.

  Only Dane Bax could make a foot massage so amazingly sensual. It felt heavenly but also highly arousing. The thrumming inside me was a demanding cry for another release. A demanding cry for him.

  My hands remained curled around my purse when they wanted to be buried in Dane’s lush-looking hair. His cologne and heat teased my senses. His nearness taunted me. His head dipped and his warm lips brushed over my bare thigh. Tempting me.

  Nerve endings sizzled. My nipples puckered against the shelf bra in my dress.

  He uncrossed my legs and parted them slightly. Then he eased off the other shoe and rubbed that foot. I came alive under his touch, the thrumming turning into a sharp throb.

  “Dane,” I whispered. That word was the most I could get out, because a lust-induced haze clouded my thoughts. And I was breathless once more.

  He glanced up at me and the need I felt must have been reflected in my eyes. His jaw clenched briefly. He stopped what he was doing and pulled apart the ends of his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, yanking the tails from his pants.

  I took in his sculpted chest, so beautifully defined with hard pecs that rose above ripped abs. All that tanned skin. Jesus, he was stunning.

  Without a word and without breaking our eye contact, he reached for the clutch I’d pretty much mutilated with my death grip. He pried it from my hands and set it aside. Then his palms splayed over the tops of my thighs and he pushed my skirt up. I lifted off the seat and he bunched the material at my hips.

  He spread my legs wider and wedged himself into the vee they created. One arm snaked around my waist and he tugged me closer to him, so that my satin-covered sex pressed firmly against the corrugated grooves of his stomach. The aggressive move and erotic touch jolted me.

  I grasped the edge of the seat with both hands on either side of us. His hands moved over me, up to my breasts. He squeezed them roughly, enough to convey his desire and spark a frenzy of excitement.

  He leaned close and his mouth swept over the rounded tops cresting the tight bodice of my dress.

  “You smell like rain and sex,” he rumbled against my skin.

  My hips jerked at his words.

  “That’s it,” he murmured, softly kissing his way up to my neck. “Rub your pussy against my stomach.”

  His hands slid around to my back and then lower to clasp my hips. He guided me into a slow, sultry rhythm that had me grinding against his muscles, the satin swath of my thong slipping and sliding along my swollen folds and clit.

  “Dane … Oh, Christ.” Heat flared between my legs. My inner thighs quivered. My belly tensed and released as the feel of solid, rippled sinew caressed the heart of me, pushing me up, up, up …

  He found a particularly tender spot just below my ear and pressed his tongue against it, then nipped gently.

  “Oh. Oh, God.” My head fell back on my shoulders and he continued the delicious torment.

  “You’re wet for me,” he said against my throat. One of his hands relinquished my hip and he reached between us to whisk aside the triangle. Then his flesh was against mine and I let out a small cry at the velvety feel of skin that covered his steel abs. I writhed on the seat, rubbing against him as heat and sensation swelled in my core.

  “That feels so good,” I said on a sharp breath.

  “Wrap your legs around me.”

  I did as instructed. Leading me, he picked up the pace.

  I panted in harsh rasps of air. “I’m going to come.”

  A low growl escaped him. “You make me so damn hard.”

  His teeth grazed my earlobe, biting lightly.

  “Fuck. Oh … yes … oh … oh, God…” The swelling expanded and exploded. I called out, “Dane!” as fire blazed through me, consumed me. My fingertips pressed into the leather. My inner walls clenched as I held on to the orgasm, prolonging it, savoring it. Vibrating from it.

  “I like hearing my name on your lips,” he said as he kissed my neck. “Now I want to hear you beg. For me.”

  chapter 8

  He released my hips, shifted away. Dane sank into the seat across from me and our gazes locked. I could barely breathe and my pulse jumped in wild beats. But I hadn’t missed a single word he’d said.

  Reaching for a packet of Wet-Naps on the bar, he wiped his hands. Not his stomach. That sent more zings through my body than I could process all at once.

  “Are you a virgin, Ari?”

  “Of course not.” My chest rose and fell sharply with my rash breathing.

  He dragged his gaze from mine and it flashed to my fingers, still grasping the edge of the seat. His eyes lifted to my face. “Did someone hurt you?”

  “No. Nothing like that. It’s not—it’s not that.”

  He tried a different tactic. “How do you like to be fucked?”

  I pulled in a slice of air. “Hard and fast. My clothes still on.”

  His brow knitted. “Every time?”

  I nodded.

  “Tell me about the last time. No, don’t.” He raked a hand through his hair, as though knowing the details would torment him. “Give me an idea, so I know what we’re talking about here.”

  I wasn’t sure this was the right path to travel, but I offered the highlights. “I’ll see a man in a hotel bar, sit next to him, let him buy me a drink or two. I’ll suggest we go to his room—or he will. I don’t need to know his name. I don’t need to know anything about him. We go at it. No foreplay. Not much touching. No kissing. Five, ten minutes later, I leave.”

  His jaw tightened as he took this all in. Then he asked, “Why so impersonal?”

  “I don’t want to get involved. Intimacy gets too complicated. It leads to emotions you can’t control. Ones that can be … devastating.”

  The furrowed brow jerked up. “And you don’t consider what we just did intimate?”

  I nodded slowly, steeling myself. “Yes. And that’s dangerous.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I know what happens when things like this go wrong. My grandparents, my parents … really volatile splits. Also”—I gave a small shrug, though this was no minuscule matter—“My dad was totally blindsided by my mother’s cheating. It destroyed him. For quite some time. He was a mess. And that wreaked havoc on his career. His life. My life.”

  Dane rested his forearms on his thighs and leaned forward. “You think history will repeat itself?”

  “I do believe it’s genetic.”

  “Cheating?”

  “No,” I was quick to say. “I would never do that to anyone. Especially since I know the kind of pain it causes. I just don’t think I’m wired to get deeply involved.”

  “So … no kidding when you told me you weren’t the marrying kind.”

  “No kidding.”

  “Hmm.” His dark eyes clouded as he sat back in his seat.

  “We’re just talking about sex, right?” I dared to ask. “Between us. Anything more—” I shook my head.

  I suspected the socialites in his circle fell hard and fast for him, that he was used to it. How could he not be? He was rich, gorgeous, intelligent, and powerful. And I’d seen the extraordinarily beautiful Mikaela Madsen fawn over him. Which probably drove Fabrizio nuts.

  Not to mention, Dane knew how to make a woman come hard enough to see stars
. I’d learned that firsthand, and he hadn’t even touched me, not really. So it was an easy assumption to make that he left plenty of wet thongs and broken hearts in his wake.

  He asked, “You’re kind of young to be this jaded, don’t you think?”

  “I’m twenty-six.”

  “I know.”

  Of course he did.

  “I don’t really consider it being jaded,” I told him. “I consider it being smart.”

  He ground his teeth. Then he said, “Come here.”

  I stared at him.

  He grabbed his jacket and dropped it on the floor between his parted legs. Then he crooked his finger at me. “Come. Here.”

  Apprehension moved through me. I took a few deep breaths. Then I did as he’d asked. Demanded. Whatever.

  I knelt before him. He dragged one end of his tie down his shirt, slipping it off. “Hands behind your back.”

  My stomach flipped with excitement. Yet tumbling from my lips were the words, “Not a chance in hell.”

  His gaze didn’t falter. “Do it.”

  Against my better judgment, I did. He reached around and deftly secured my wrists. I gasped.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Teaching you a lesson about control.”

  “Dane,” I said, my panic bouncing off the walls of the car.

  “Don’t worry,” he told me, a hint of edginess in his tone. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.”

  “Then why tie me up?”

  “You’ll see.”

  The challenge in his eyes was enough to make my heart skip several beats.

  One of his beautifully sculpted hands slid along my cheek and cupped the side of my face, his fingers burrowing in my hair. His thumb swept over my bare lips. I’d not applied more lip gloss after drinking champagne.

  His other hand rested at the dip of my waist, where my skirt was still gathered. It didn’t faze me to be half dressed the way it unnerved me to have found myself in the compromising position I’d been concerned about when he’d said we’d ride back together in the limo.

  The thumb stopped sweeping. His head dipped and his soft lips grazed my temple, then my cheekbone. The throbbing in my pussy returned full force. He tugged gently at the corner of my mouth with his lips. I started. He was going to kiss me.

  “Dane,” I said in protest. A measly one. It was only vaguely audible.

  “That’s not the word I wanted to hear,” he murmured. “I want you to beg, remember?”

  Oh, God. My eyes squeezed shut. My insides rioted.

  He nipped at the other side of my mouth as his hand at my waist held me steady, although the road to Sedona was fairly smooth. It was Dane who made me vibrate from head to toe.

  He smelled sinfully delicious. So masculine. So enticing. And being this close to him … it did the craziest things to me. My palms itched to splay over his bare chest. My heart pounded. My core tightened and my inner walls contracted, once again in search of something elusive.

  Need burned through me. Not just the need to touch him but the need for him to possess me. To take what he wanted from me.

  “Please,” I whispered before I could stop myself.

  “Better.” Then he kissed me. Sexy, tongueless kisses that did exactly what I knew he intended—tease me. Seduce me. Bring me over to his dark side.

  I leaned into him, melding to him as best as I could. He let out a low, strangled sound that sparked more carnal cravings. I wanted him desperately. It was terrifying yet too thrilling to stop.

  My eyelids fluttered closed as his lips twisted and tangled with mine, our breaths becoming one.

  The hand in my hair shifted and slid down my body to my slightly parted legs. He yanked the strand of my thong down one side, then the other, so the panties rested mid-thigh, further restraining me. His fingers glanced lightly over my slick folds. A small cry escaped me as his touch sent lightning bolts through my body.

  He continued to engage me in his sensuous kisses as he stroked leisurely, tauntingly.

  “You’re so wet,” he said against my lips. “I want you wetter.”

  He massaged my clit, picking up the pace.

  I gasped and he used that opportunity to slip his tongue inside, toying with mine at first. Then he deepened the kiss. And moved his other hand to my backside, his fingers gliding along the cleft of my ass. He eased one into my pussy, penetrating from behind. My hips bucked.

  Dragging his mouth from mine, he said, “You’re tight. My cock will be a snug fit.”

  Fiery sensations sprang to life.

  He wedged a second finger inside and pumped vigorously as he continued to rub the sensitive bud between my legs, with a bit more pressure and speed.

  A moan leapt from my throat. My heavy panting filled the cabin of the limo.

  “You’re close,” he said. As usual, cataloging everything about me.

  “Yes.”

  He worked me a bit faster and I felt the threads unravel.

  “Dane.” I had no other thoughts in my head. Sensation consumed me. The blaze brightened and then, when his teeth pulled on my lower lip, I lost it completely. “Oh, God!” I cried out as I shattered at his mercy. “Dane!”

  I came even harder this time. Every fiber of my being lit, every feeling to the depths of my soul centered wholly on him and the intense pleasure he gave me.

  His fingers continued to massage and stroke as the orgasm went on and on. My inner thighs quivered again. My stomach tightened.

  A strong, erratic pulse echoed in my ears. Irrational, raw urges clawed at me. I had to touch him. I had to press my body to his. I had to have him. Now.

  “Dane,” I said, my voice a mere wisp of air. “Untie me. Please.”

  He didn’t. Rather, he lifted the hand at the apex of my legs and swiped the tip of his finger over my lips. Then his tongue smoothed over it, tasting me, before he kissed me. Deeply. Passionately. As though he couldn’t get enough.

  His fingers were still buried in my pussy and I came again, a powerful ripple that echoed through every inch of me.

  He captured my whimper with his kiss, not breaking the contact.

  Oh, fuck. I was so out of my element, so lost in him.

  So very, very screwed. Because I needed him more than I needed my next breath.

  When he pulled away, disappointment flashed through me—likely across my face, too.

  “See?” he said in a darkly triumphant tone. Not exactly a gloat, but more of a silent I just proved an invaluable point. “You can’t have it both ways, baby. Either you want me to kiss you … or you don’t. Either you want me to touch you—and you want to touch me in turn—or you don’t.”

  “You win again. Untie my hands.”

  The desire raging within was like nothing I’d ever imagined, nothing I’d ever believed I could feel.

  Dane pulled the knot loose, freeing my wrists. This time, I kissed him. And shoved him back toward the seat. He clasped me by the waist and hauled me up and against him, shredding one side of my thong so that I could more easily straddle his lap. I pressed my chest to his.

  It wasn’t enough.

  Breaking the kiss, I sat back and ran my hands over his cut abs, up to his well-defined pectoral ledge, to his wide shoulders. Then back down. Over and over, I absorbed the feeling of him beneath my fingertips, my palms.

  His muscles flexed. His breathing turned ragged. His eyes smoldered with lust and longing.

  He wanted me. Bad.

  I felt his erection along my sex. I writhed against the hard length of him.

  “Glad to see you couldn’t resist for long,” he said in a strained voice.

  “I know better than to do this,” I confessed. I knew better than to let myself get caught up in him. Yet here I was, completely entranced, enthralled.

  His. All his.

  Anxiety lingered on the periphery, but I chose to ignore it. I knew what I wanted. What I couldn’t go a second more without.

  I slipped between his
legs again, kneeling on the floor of the limo. I worked the fastening of his belt. Too slowly, apparently. Dane joined in, undoing it quickly along with the top button while I worked the zipper. He shoved his pants and briefs down just enough to free his cock. I gaped.

  Not that I hadn’t expected everything about him to be magnificent—perfection personified, really. But … Good Lord. He was wide and thick. Beautifully hard. Amazingly tempting.

  I wrapped my fingers around his base. His body jerked at my intimate touch. One of those primal growls that elicited my extreme excitement met my ears. He definitely wasn’t immune to me.

  I bent my head to him and licked my way up his shaft, teasing the underside of the head with my tongue, then licking some more.

  “Fuck,” he ground out. His hands plowed through my hair, lifting strands away from my face and off my shoulders. “I’ve thought about you doing this since we met. Jesus, you make me hot.”

  Spurred by his enthusiasm, I whisked my tongue over the indentation at the tip of his cock and then closed my lips around his head.

  His hips rose and he said, “Take all of me.” He let out a frustrated sound. “As much as you can.”

  I sheathed his erection with my mouth, down to where I still held him.

  “Yes,” he said in his strained voice. “Suck me hard.”

  I did. His hips bucked. “Damn, Ari…” He held my head in place as he pistoned into me, fucking my mouth. “Shit.” His breath came in heavier pulls.

  I took him deep once more.

  “Oh, yeah. Just like that. Do it again.”

  My head bobbed as my lips slid up and down his shaft, pulling him in, sucking him harder.

  “God, Ari…” A coarse sound slipped from low in his throat. His hips lifted again. I kept at it. “Swallow me down, baby.” He came hard, his heat and salty taste flooding my mouth, sliding easily.

  His release set me on fire again. I looked up at him, watching me. Desire and yearning raced through me.

  “Dane.”

  He must have heard the need in my voice. His large hands gripped my biceps and he brought me up and onto him once more, my legs spreading to straddle his lap. Then his hand skimmed my ass and suddenly two fingers pressed into me from behind. He stroked quickly, confidently. I’d never needed this so much. I’d never greedily sought these powerful releases.