“No.” She swallowed hard at the raw emotion on his shockingly beautiful face, and at the powerful emotions pushing through her insides, too. “It isn’t fair.”

She couldn’t make things fair for him, couldn’t give him whatever it was he seemed to want, couldn’t promise him a future where it didn’t matter who he was or how complicated his life and career were.

All she could do was give him herself, and pleasure, one more time.

Smith was so much bigger, so much stronger than she was, but passion—and the pain of knowing how badly she had hurt him this morning by wanting to leave so soon after waking—gave her the strength to tumble them over so that he was on his back and she was straddling him. Her wrists were still in his hand, but now her palms rested flat over his chest, right where his heart was beating fast.

With her thighs opened wide above him, she found his hard length and began to move over him, not taking him inside, but gliding up and down his thick length again and again until they were both panting. All the while, he held her hands over his heart as her belly tightened down and she rocked harder into him. With his other hand, he gripped her hips hard to help her all the way over the edge of pleasure she hadn’t realized she’d already approached. She cried out his name as her climax took her over, head to toe, Smith’s hard body steady beneath hers as she rode out wave after wave of sweet sensation.

It wasn’t until she finally came back to earth that she realized he had reversed their positions again so that she was lying back on the bed. Her body was still vibrating from the incredible strength of her unexpected release when she felt him shift slightly to the side, heard a drawer opening and paper tearing, her entire body clenching tight, then opening again for him, in anticipation of even more intense and heady pleasure.

* * *

Smith was a heartbeat from roughly thrusting into Valentina when sanity punched him hard across the jaw.

What had he just done? And what the hell was he about to do to her?

“Valentina, forgive me.”

“Forgive you?” The words were soft, and sounded so damned sexy, from lips swollen from his rough kisses. “What have you done?”

Did she really not realize he’d all but tackled her just minutes ago when frustration—and a helplessness he had no idea how to deal with—had finally gotten the best of him?

He lifted one of her wrists and winced at the red marks. He didn’t know if he deserved the chance to make it better, but he couldn’t stop himself from trying.

“I hurt you,” he said just before he leaned in to press his mouth to the sensitive skin at the inside of her wrist. “I never meant to hurt you.”

The last thing he expected was for her to slide her hand from his and place it against his cheek.

“No,” she said softly, “you didn’t hurt me. I’m the one hurting you. And I’m sorry.” She lifted her mouth to his and pressed a soft kiss to one corner of his lips. “I’m so sorry for hurting you.” She pressed a kiss to the other side before both hands moved to his face. “That’s why I tried to leave this morning, because I don’t want either of us to get hurt. But,” she admitted before her mouth found his with a kiss that stole another piece of his heart, “I didn’t want to go.” Her tongue swept across his lips. “I still don’t.” She pulled back enough to look up at him. “Please, Smith, kiss me back.”

She’d never gotten around to asking him for a kiss at Alcatraz. She’d simply taken it instead, and he’d loved that she had.

But now, as she finally asked him for his kiss, he prayed it was her way of saying he hadn’t hurt her...and that she wouldn’t hold anything he’d done this morning against him.

Wanting her more than he’d ever thought it was possible to want another person, he cupped her face in his palms and turned her soft kisses into the dark, dangerous tangle of lips and tongue and teeth that they were both craving. And yet, even in the swirling darkness, there was such sweetness, a shimmering light rising up over both of them.

“Take me,” she begged as she opened herself to him and wrapped her arms and legs around him. “Please, Smith,” she whispered on a soft moan when he lowered his mouth to the hollow of her neck to taste her skin, to try to convince himself that she was real, that she could still want him after he’d nearly crossed the line. “Make love to me one more time.”

God, he thought as he kissed her again, he would never get enough of her mouth. Even as he finally moved into her and her hips bucked up into his to take him even deeper, even as he lost hold of anything but how soft and hot and perfect she was beneath him, around him, his lips never left hers.

Sex had always brought him pleasure, but making love with Valentina went so far beyond pleasure, that as she begged him between kisses to take her harder, deeper, until her words blurred together into one long, low moan that merged with his, he could barely hold back his own pleas.

Not just for more pleasure than he’d ever dreamed was possible, but for the chance to seduce more than just her body.

To win over her heart, too.

Afterward, they lay together, forehead to forehead, nose to nose, mouth to mouth. He wanted to stay like that with her forever, wanted to do whatever he could to keep her from leaving, but he was so much heavier that he didn’t want to crush her. Shifting onto his side, while still keeping her cradled against him, he stroked one hand over her damp hair.

Unfortunately, too soon, she was saying, “I promised Tatiana I’d have a girls’ day with her. We haven’t seen much of each other outside of the set.”

She offered the explanation as if to try to soothe him, and he was glad to know that despite how clear she’d been about not wanting to date him, his feelings obviously mattered to her.

“In fact,” she said, “I really need to get back home before she returns from the airport. If she knew I didn’t spend the night at home, she’d wonder why.”

A heavy cement block landed on his chest. “You’re not going to tell her about us.”

She shifted out of his arms and sat up partway on the bed, using the crumpled sheets to cover her beautiful naked skin.

“No,” she said softly, “I’m not.” She licked her lips. “I don’t regret what happened last night. Or this morning.” The hazel of her eyes met his, so steady and so beautiful that his entire chest squeezed even tighter. “But I thought you of all people would know how this is supposed to play out.”