He shook his head. “Not this time. I’ll help you though.”

Her smile was sunny. “You’re such a dear. Unselfish. Magnanimous. Altruistic.”

“Sensible. Practical. Not looking for trouble.”

She grinned. “That too.”

“You’re sure nothing hurts now?”

“I’ll scream if something hurts.”

“That’s worthless,” he drawled. “You always scream.”

“I’ll scream It hurts! How about that?”

“Simple enough.” His blue gaze was lead-us-into-temptation enticing. “Would you like to play a little first?”

“Give me a minute to decide, yes.” She slid her fingers through his sleek hair, tugged his head down for a kiss. “Yes, yes, yes… yes.”

“God, it’s good to have you back, baby,” he whispered, his heart in his eyes, his old flawed world locked away. “It’s fucking heaven on earth…”

NINE

One slow, stirring, hot and heavy kiss later—Kate was whimpering, Dominic was thinking, Screw waiting, when a tiny, still-functioning portion of his brain screamed, “HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MOTHER-FUCKING MIND?” The sound was faint and distant, however, almost drowned out by reckless, dare-devil I-don’t-give-a-shit horniness. But Dominic’s hard-wired fight or flight reflex heard it, hit the panic button, and alarm bells blasted through his lust-addled mind. Sweeping Kate from his lap with dizzying speed, he dropped her on the bed, rolled away in a flash and lay on his back—eyes shut, breathing hard, bathed in a sudden cold sweat.

“I won’t… hold you… responsible,” Kate gasped, feverish, impatient, insatiable desire a hard, throbbing ache deep inside. She turned to look at him, her eyes half-lidded, passion-hazed. “Please, Dominic… don’t do this to me!”

He wouldn’t look at her, his self-control stretched to the limit. What if he listened to her, pleased her, pleased himself and his raging libido? What then? Every possible outcome raced through his mind—none of them advantageous, all of them pushing the 3 percent odds he was willing to accept. Dragging in a breath, he first raised his head, then sat up in a ripple of rock-hard abs. “I’ll find you… something else.” His voice was a harsh rasp, every muscle in his body taut with restraint.

“I don’t want something else! I want you!” Quivering with frustration, Kate grabbed for his dick.

Catching her hand midair, then her other hand, which was intent on the same target, he hauled her upright and held her at arm’s length. “Forgive me, baby,” he whispered. God, he felt like shit turning her down. “I promise I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”

“No, now!” Trembling with need, heedless to reason, she struggled to free herself, twisting in his grasp. “Please, I can’t wait! I can’t talk myself out of coming like you! Dominic—have pity!”

His nostrils flared; a voice was goading him, It’s only once.… Come on. And she was so goddamn small and defenseless, so needy, his old, hard-core impulses were urging him to ram it home. His erection surged at the thought.

“See—you want to too!” Her gaze on his engorged dick swelling even larger before her eyes, Kate jerked against his constraining grip. “Dominic, just once more! Once more can’t matter,” she pleaded.

He shook away the brute image filling his mind, but it took him a second more to completely repress his savage impulses, keep his libido in check, and another second to remind himself that the last thing he wanted right now was to frighten Kate away. “Baby—listen to reason,” he said more calmly than he was feeling. “You don’t need my dick to come. We’ll do something else. And in a few hours everything’s wide open again—okay?”

“No, it’s not okay,” she muttered, flushed and overwrought, so close to orgasm that logic and reason were no longer functioning. “I thought this was about me, not you, but you’re always in charge, aren’t you—every freaking minute.” She tried to wrench free. “Just let me go.”

His grip was unyielding, his voice, in contrast, gentle. “You don’t have to wait because I do, baby. There’s a hundred other things I can do to help you out.” Oh shit. Her gaze had instantly turned from flame-hot to arctic.

“Only a hundred?” Ice a mile high in her voice.

“It was an expression.” He knew better than to prolong a lie by explaining too much.

A taut silence fell.

Kate was trying to deal with that hundred number like a rational adult.

Dominic was thinking how much easier it was to deal with women who wanted only his money.

“Fuck this,” she muttered. “I don’t even care anymore. You’re right. I’m wrong.” She tried to twist free. “Let go will you?”

“In a minute.”

Tension rippled through the air.

“Do you mind?” Kate tautly murmured, glancing at his hands pinioning hers, twitching in his grip.

“I’m waiting for you to relax.”

Her gaze came up like a laser. “Are you afraid I’ll hurt you?”

Laughter flickered in his eyes. “Should I be worried?”

She sniffed, then sighed. “God, I hate when you’re so bloody calm and sane.”

“One of us has to be.” In the interest of detente he didn’t mention he knew who that was.