Without speaking, they wound through the parking lot. When they reached her car, Adam caught her up in his arms and kissed her hard, as if he hadn’t touched her for days instead of a matter of minutes. His mouth’s demanding hunger reduced the world to just the two of them. Still holding her in his arms, he raised his head.
“Olivia, I want you to know there hasn’t been anyone for a long time.”
“Does that mean you’re desperate?” she blurted out, her insecurities running away with her mouth.
He chuckled as he slid the backs of his fingers against her cheek. Although she couldn’t see it, she felt the intensity of his gaze. “No. It means I’m choosy. Very, very choosy.” He bent his head and kissed her, a slow, lip-clinging, mind-drugging, heat-infusing kiss. “But I am desperate for you.” He brushed her lips with his once more. “I’ll be right behind you,” he promised, looking back as he strode away.
Olivia remained against her car, uncertain she was actually capable of driving.
She opened the door and fell into the seat, the bright light of the interior harsh compared to the soft moonlight. Olivia killed the dome light and fumbled for her glasses. She slid her mask to her forehead and donned her glasses. She cranked the car and pulled out of the space. Adam’s car lights flashed in her rearview as she turned left onto the highway.
If she hadn’t seen him drive up in his car, wearing the costume he’d described earlier, she wouldn’t have known him. Tonight everything about him—his voice, his scent, his touch—tapped something deep inside her.
Although she had her occasional wild impulses, there had never been anything of this magnitude. Tonight was so out of character for her, she should be frightened. But it was excitement that rendered her hands unsteady on the wheel. The only thing that scared her now was that Adam might change his mind on the drive.
She checked her rearview mirror. Yeow! Let him get a look at this and he’d change his mind for sure. Tortoiseshell glasses and a black velvet mask hiked to her forehead—not pretty. Without her glasses, she was a one-woman wreck waiting to happen. But the minute she pulled into the driveway, they were history.
LUKE FOLLOWED OLIVIA. Don’t change your mind, he silently willed her.
But what kind of son-of-a-bitch considered sleeping with his brother’s girlfriend? A worrisome remnant of his conscience niggled him. The kind who knew Adam didn’t really care about Olivia. The kind who knew she had never responded to Adam the way she responded to him. The kind who couldn’t manage a coherent thought after kissing her. The kind pulling into her driveway behind her…
In three quick strides he caught up with her as she fumbled with the key in the front door lock.
“Let me help you with that.” He reached around her, fitting his hand over hers, and inserted the key. Wisps of her hair tickled his chin. The curve of her buttock teased his erection. His hand shook so badly, it took both of them to open the door. Olivia in her seductive mode stirred the wildness in him to fever pitch.
He followed her into a small, dark foyer. The door barely closed behind them before she turned to him. He reached for her as she launched herself at him, her mouth demanding, her hands eager as they worked at the buttons of his shirt. His body surged a response, impatient to find release in her. He struggled to remember something important he should discuss with her. Her hips ground against him and his brain skipped to autopilot.
Harsh breathing—his—echoed in his ears. She mewled deep in her throat as his tongue parried with hers. He damn near came.
“Honey, we’ve got to find your bedroom or your couch because I can’t—”
“No.”
She’d changed her mind. He tensed, painfully near the point of no return. But if Olivia said no, then it was no. “No?”
“Forget the couch or the bed. Here. Now.” Her voice, low and husky, seduced him. She stroked him through his breeches, her touch a trail of fire. “Against the wall. Just the way you described it at the club, in the garden….”
He backed her against the door before she finished her sentence. “Against the wall like this?”
Her sharp intake of breath transmitted her approval. Her breathing rasped as harshly as his own. “Yes.”
She unzipped his pants and he sprang free. Luke gritted his teeth and barely held himself in check when her fingers found the thick fluid at his tip and spread it down his shaft.
He jerked up the stiff material of her skirt until it bunched around her waist. He held it in place with one hand. Her breath came in short, sharp pants. Her eyes glittered behind her mask as she brought her fingers to her mouth and tasted him. He could barely speak. “Raise your skirt like this?”
She licked her lips and surged against him. “Yes. Just like that.”
He delved between her thighs and discovered wet satin. Pushing the material aside, his fingers found her honey-drenched folds. “Oh, baby.” His voice shook. “Put your hands on my shoulders.” Cupping the soft, plump mounds of her buttocks, he lifted her and tested himself against her slick wetness. “Liv, you are so hot. So wet.”
She wrapped her legs around his waist and strained against him. “Yes. Yes. For you.”
For him. His Lady Olivia. He lowered her onto his shaft. “Slip into you like this?” He braced her against the door and clenched his teeth. As he slid farther into her, she took him to a place he’d never been before, where the current of emotion ran as fast and deep and twice as treacherous as mere physical desire.
Deep within her body, her muscles tightened around him in response. “Yes. Just like that.”
He thrust three more times and Olivia began to climax. The shudder that gripped her, affected him as well. Luke threw back his head and joined her in a release. And for the first time in his life, it was more than a physical release. The fact that they’d just had hard, fast sex didn’t diminish the wellspring of jumbled emotion he felt for Olivia.
Her legs still wrapped around him, she slumped against the door. A satisfied smile curved her lips. Male pride surged through him. He had put that smile on her face. And regardless of how fast she ran this time, he’d be right behind her. And doubtless, she’d run. She wouldn’t be pleased when she discovered his true identity. But he’d discovered the buried treasure and he wasn’t giving her up. She was his booty.
She opened her eyes with a flutter of lashes. A subtle shift of her lips transformed her smile to suggestive seduction. She trailed her finger down his chest to his belly and beyond to where their bodies remained joined. “Ready for a little pillage and plunder?”
OLIVIA TUMBLED back onto her bed, bringing Adam along with her. For the first time ever, she wished she owned something more risqué than pima cotton sheets. For the first time ever, she’d discovered delicious satisfaction and the restless ache for more.
Moonlight filtered through the sheer drapes at the window, bathing the room in a soft glow. It reinforced the surreal quality of the night. She’d swear she’d embarked on an out-of-body experience, except her body was very much involved. The red blink of the answering machine on her bedside table heralded a message. A responsible woman would check her messages. But she’d thrown off that particular gown tonight. Quite frankly, she was much more interested in her pirate than finding out if Marty had landed himself in jail or if the literacy council was meeting next week. She ignored the persistent blink of the red light.
“I’m sure you’d be much more comfortable out of that dress,” Adam teased as he reached behind her and tugged at her zipper. In the amount of time she’d known him, he’d never teased before. She liked this playful side of him. But then again, he’d done a lot of things tonight he’d never done before. And she liked all of them. She could get used to him sprawled across her bed, coaxing her out of her clothes.
Olivia slid off the bed and shimmied free of her starched pleats. She’d