The hot need in his eyes was almost unbearably intense. The sense of his resolve weakening made her need pulse in her body, heavy and delicious.
She was overcome by the restless ache between her thighs. With fierce, moaning impatience, she pressed back against the wall, eagerly sliding her sensitized skin against the silky skirt.
Her legs fell open and her fingers slid eagerly into the dampness between her legs. A flurry of sensual images swirled in a tumult behind her eyes. The image of him pushing her legs apart, pressing his face against her sex, his hot mouth closing over her clitoris, sucking with slow, gentle skill, sent sensations twisting through her as she imagined the thrust of his tongue deep into the burning, shuddering heart of her.
She imagined him lifting her against the hard wall, felt the heat, the press of his hard, powerful body. Then glorious contact as he thrust into her with one frenzied stroke, and then staggering pleasure as he pumped his muscled hips against her. She would wrap her arms around him for balance, as an anchor, clutching him tightly as he thrust deeper and harder, his powerful arms supporting her, his eyes gazing into hers, seeing her soul revealed, luminescent, fully his.
That pushed her over the top. She arched against the wall with a sharp cry and came. Her body shook with a continuous shuddering surge of carnal gratification, more forceful than any orgasm she had ever experienced.
She slid against the wall as bright sparks of fire ignited and extinguished, leaving her utterly satisfied and satiated.
When she opened her eyes, Jericho was no longer on his feet. He was kneeling on the floor, panting; sweat trickled down his temples, over his dark stubble, down his elegant throat.
She’d brought him to his knees. It drove her crazy, tearing down her image of herself, releasing something deeper and fiercer, something heightened and exalted and savagely feminine.
And if frightened her more than anything else ever had.
He looked up at her, his eyes burning, paying homage to her in her wickedness. Softly, his voice ringing with power, he said, “Come here.”
Adrenaline surged into her body, and she dropped her skirt and pushed away from the wall. Snatching up her keys, she turned and ran down the hall.
“Kate!” Jericho’s voice echoed in the hallway and for a moment, the torture, the need in his voice almost stopped her. She was sinking in too deep.Too deep. She had to get away. Tohellwith proving herself to anyone. Sheneededto forge her boundaries. She needed to protect herself.
She needed torun.
She pulled open the front door and flew down the steps. Her hands shook so badly she fumbled with the keys. She chanced a glance at Jericho’s open door and when he materialized there, she panicked. Electronically unlocking the door, she pulled the door open and jumped inside, pushing the ignition button. He was coming down the steps when she put the car into drive and sped off.
He would follow her. She knew that he wasn’t going to allow her to get away from him. So she couldn’t go home. She couldn’t go to either Lana or Sienna. He would find her there. She didn’t know how, but he would.
Paige would be safe. He wouldn’t think to look for her there. She would be able to gather her composure and squash these intense feelings roiling around in her.
How could she have been so bold, so wicked? How could she have let herself go like that in front of him? Those weren’t difficult questions. She wanted to. She wanted him to look at her like that. She wanted him to suffer, to want her, to need to touch her. She wanted to bring him to his knees. And she had.
It felt so good, so very good. A man like Jericho wouldn’t succumb easily. It had taken everything she’d had to entice him.
Her cell phone rang but she ignored it. She didn’t know what to say to him. She had enjoyed him watching her while she pleasured herself. It wasn’t like her to be so free, to abandon all propriety.
Or was it?
Had this wanton woman always existed in her, waiting for the right, darkly sensual man to goad her into it? Or had she always been this way and was too afraid to let herself go as she had tonight?
She parked in front of Paige’s house and ran up the walk, knocking on the door.
Paige opened the door with sleepy puzzlement, only to have her face change to alarm. “Dear God, Kate. What’s the matter?”
“I took your advice,” she said softly and burst into tears.
CHAPTER8
Jericho swore vehemently as her car disappeared into the night. Turning, he ran back to the house and up to his bedroom, spending precious minutes fighting his pants pocket for his keys.
He ran back down the stairs and got into his car. He squealed out of his driveway and drove as fast as he could to Kate’s apartment building. Once there, he parked and bolted out of the car. He ran up to her apartment and banged on her door, but no one answered. Swearing again, he went back to his car.
Inside the vehicle, he rested his head against the steering wheel. Christ, he was still hard and hot, his blood throbbing heavy through his veins. What the hell had happened?
Ha. Don’t you know, hotshot?It had finally happened, Kate had come into her own, and it had scared her. She was also probably embarrassed as hell that she had gotten herself off in front of him.
He, on the other hand, wanted to howl at the moon. He didn’t want her to wallow in her embarrassment tonight. He felt desperate to get to her. Desperate to tell her how much she turned him on. How much he wanted to slide into her. He could think of nothing else.