Then his lips were back on my stomach, teasing, tracing the hollows and planes of my abdomen. He made me feel beautiful, desired. As my back bowed off the bed, driving my hips up to his, he slipped his hands behind me and removed my bra with a flick of a few fingers. He slipped the straps down reverently, his breath catching as my breasts were bared to him. “I’ve never seen a more perfect woman.”

As turned-on as I already was, his words were like gasoline on a fire. I wrenched myself to sit as he kneeled between my thighs, gripped his shirt at the waist, and tugged it over his head. His body was even better than I remembered. I ran my fingertips over the hard planes of his stomach, and the fuck-me lines that framed his washboard abs and trailed into his jeans. I couldn’t help it; I sank my fingers into his waistband and brought him to my mouth. There wasn’t one spare ounce of fat on him, no give, no softness.

I worshipped the carved ridges of his stomach with my tongue, and quickly became addicted to the taste of Josh Walker. He sucked in his breath through his teeth, and when I raised my eyes to meet his, they were focused on me. His hands delved into my hair, holding me lightly to him, but clenching and unclenching his fists as though he was unable to control his own motions.

I did that to him, made him lose control, and I loved every bit of it. In a matter of seconds I had his jeans unbuttoned and sliding off his perfectly round ass to pool at his knees. “Ember,” he growled in warning. Men with asses like his shouldn’t be allowed near the female population. My hands grazed over the elastic of his boxers, but I couldn’t bring myself to pull them down, no matter how badly I needed to touch him, see him.

I met his eyes and nearly forgot what I was doing. The intensity radiating from his gaze sent a surge through my stomach, and I knew that without any other foreplay, I was ready for him. I’d never wanted something so badly in my life.

My hands explored his thighs, barely brushing under the legs of his boxers. I loved the texture of his skin, the crisp hair, the incredible way he smelled, like rain and sandalwood and . . . Josh. When my fingers caught the raised portion of his skin, I slid the leg of his boxers up to see the scar on his left leg.

“This is where you were shot?” I asked.

He didn’t deny it, or ask how I knew. “Yes.” His answer was gruff, his voice thick with what I hoped was desire.

“Are you ever going to tell me what happened to you?” It wasn’t the right moment to ask, but I couldn’t help it. I was about to surrender my body to him, and I deserved something of his in return.

His warm hand stroked over my hair and slid forward to cup my cheek as I fell into those eyes. “Just in the wrong place at the wrong time, baby. But I guess it led me to you, so it’s more like the right place at the right time.”

I fell even harder, if it was possible, letting go of the disappointment of not knowing yet what had happened to him. I leaned forward and kissed his scar, hating what it meant, the end of his dreams, but hoping I could help him figure out what his new ones would be. Then I reached around and firmly grabbed his beautiful ass.

“December, you have to stop, or I’m going to snap. I’m trying to go slow for you,” he growled, retreating.

Gathering every ounce of courage I could muster, I pulled his hand from my cheek, turned the palm to my skin and drew it down, through the valley between my breasts, over my stomach, and into my jeans. He sucked in his breath, and I held mine as I brought him under my panties to feel the warm, wet folds underneath. He stroked across my clit once, and my hips bucked. “Snap already, Josh. I’m on fire for you. I don’t need you to go slowly; I need to know what you feel like inside me.”

In one motion, he discarded his jeans and was working the fly of mine. I lifted my hips as he slid the denim over them and down my legs. The ache between my thighs intensified to torturous as he looked over me like a buffet. “Fucking perfect. Every inch of you.”

Before I could reply, his head was between my thighs, breathing on me through the thin silk of my panties. I couldn’t even be embarrassed that they were drenched through; I was too caught up in my desperation for him. My hips lifted to his mouth of their own accord. My body knew where it belonged. “Josh . . .”

He breathed against me again, sending a ripple of need straight through me. “What do you need, baby?”

“You.” My hips bucked against his mouth.

“Me?” He laughed seductively. Oh yes, he knew exactly how to twist a girl into knots.

I brought myself up on my elbows. “Joshua Walker, if you don’t put your damn hands on me in two seconds, I’m walking out that door.” I wasn’t putting up with his teasing. He had to be as lost as I was.

Before I could count to two, he dragged my panties down…with his teeth. I moaned at the sight.

Once they were lost to the oblivion of Josh’s bedroom, he was back on top of me, stroking my skin, relearning every curve and plane. “Jesus, I can barely control myself around you, December. You’re so fucking . . .” His voice drifted as his hands covered my breasts, pulling lightly on my nipples, rolling them until I thrashed beneath him.

“So. What?” I managed to get out.

Where I expected to see that slow, sexy smile was the fiercest glare I’d ever seen. If I didn’t know him so well, I’d have been afraid. “Mine.” He growled, his hands stroking up to cup my face. “You’re so fucking mine.”

He took my lips in an intense kiss, and as if I’d heard it snap, I knew his control was gone. I clenched his hips like a vise as he stroked himself over me, his erection gliding just enough where I needed it to wreck me, but not enough to get me off. I could only whimper and take what he gave as he controlled me, stroking his tongue into my mouth at the same speed he was thrusting against me. But I wanted more, eager to feel his skin against mine with no barrier.