Strips of see-through white lace and silk crisscrossed her body, leaving her at once covered and naked...and so damned beautiful that he was stunned senseless.

"I also bought this today," she told him in a husky voice. "Do you like it?"

But he couldn’t speak just yet, couldn’t do anything but reach for her again to run his fingertips down over the fabric that started at her shoulders, then curved over her incredible breasts. Her nipples beaded beneath his hands, and she pressed herself into his palms. Yet again, she was pure sensuality come to life as he followed the strips down across her stomach to where they met over her gorgeous bottom.

Again and again he’d vowed to curb his natural impulses with her, but now he wondered how the hell he’d ever have a prayer of doing that.

Any self-control he had left was on its last legs as his fingers slowly continued their trip over silk and lace. And when he finally cupped his hand between her legs, he learned that the shockingly sexy lingerie didn’t cover everything after all.

Damp, hot skin met his fingers instead of lace and silk. Whispering his name against his mouth, Brooke rolled her hips so that his fingers stroked over, then into the heart of her. Just that fast, she was coming for him, and the joy he felt when her climax tore through her was unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

Only with Brooke.

* * *

Oh my.

Brooke’s new sexy lingerie had inspired quite a response from Rafe...one that had her tingling from head to toe. But there were other things she wanted, too. Things that involved not only the naughty lingerie she was wearing, but also the silk bindings she’d bought in Seattle. Things that Rafe, quite obviously, had no intention of giving to her.

Maybe it was better that way. Since he had such a big thing about not wanting to "strip away her innocence," she’d take any room for potential guilt out of his hands by stripping it away herself.

Perhaps it was knowing just how powerfully he’d been moved by her sexy lingerie that made it feel perfectly natural to drop to her knees in front of him. She couldn’t help but smile at the way he was frowning down at her.

"Brooke—"

"Shhh," she said to him, just as he’d done with her when they were in the shower and she’d been begging him not to tease her. She didn’t need to feel him beneath the zipper of his jeans to know how hard he was, but when she undid his fly and slowly slid his jeans down, though she’d already been with him more than once, she was surprised all over again at just how big he was. Her mouth already watering, she didn’t just pull down the denim, but made sure to bring his boxers down, too.

"Oh, Rafe." She didn’t try to hide her delight at just how beautiful he was.

One of her hands rose automatically to wrap around him, and he throbbed hard once, then twice against her palm and fingers. "Come to the bed with me, Brooke."

But she didn’t want to do that—not unless he was willing to play with her the way she guessed he’d played with his other lovers. In some ways, she knew she had more of him than any of his previous lovers had—their friendship, their past, their family connections. But in others she knew she had less.

She wouldn’t settle for that, darn it, whatever good reasons he thought he had for the way he was behaving, for believing she couldn’t handle his darker desires…or her own. She wouldn’t go so far as to ask him for forever tonight, but she was going to ask for this.

When she let go of him, she knew he assumed it was because she was going to do what he’d just said and move to the bed. Instead, she picked up the silks she’d dropped to the floor when he’d been kissing her earlier. Still on her knees before him, she held them up and gave him one more chance.

"If I get on the bed, will you put these on me?"

No one had ever looked more conflicted than Rafe did in that moment, and she almost felt bad for him. Almost, but not quite. Because if he could only let go of his silly insistence on treating her "carefully"—along with his constant worries that he was going to hurt her in some way—she was certain that both of them would uncover something new. And spectacularly pleasurable.

Finally, with the muscle in his jaw jumping, he said, "I won’t put those on you."

"Not even as a blindfold?"

Frustration lit his dark eyes, the same frustration he was making her feel with his stubborn belief that she was too sweet, too innocent for these kinds of sexy games.

"No."

"Okay," she said softly, "I just thought of a better use for them, anyway."

Sitting back on her heels, she lifted her hands to her hair. The thick strands were completely dry now, but still heavy as she gathered them up.

"Look," she added in a husky voice, "I can put them on all by myself."

She could see that he now realized she’d gotten off—and was about to get them both off—on a technicality. But it wasn’t good enough for him to simply watch her wind the silks around her hair. She also needed him to know precisely why she was doing it.

"This way," she said softly as she tied the first knot in the soft fabric, "you’ll have a really good view."

"View?" The one word from his beautiful mouth was strangled. Borderline desperate.

"Yes," Brooke replied, certain that he wanted this just as much as she did. In any case, he’d left her no choice but to take matters into her own hands—and mouth, too. A rush of heat hit her at the thought of what she was finally about to do. "Your view of me doing this."

A moment later he was on her tongue, and she was moaning from the pleasure of finally tasting his hard, hard flesh. He tasted so good that she found herself growing greedier with every inch of him she took inside her mouth. And, oh, how she loved it when he wrapped his hand in the silk binding around her hair to hold her just where he wanted her as he grew bigger, hotter, with every slick of her tongue over him.

Somehow, through the blood rushing in her ears, she heard him growling her name before he gave himself up completely to her mouth, her hands. She drank in his pleasure as if it were her own, and her lips would have curved up in a full smile if they weren’t already wonderfully occupied.

A short while later, when he tugged at her silk-bound ponytail and she rose to her feet, the ends of the silk were sticking to the damp skin between them.

"Promise me you’ll never wear these in your hair again unless we’re in the bedroom."

She made a show of considering his question. "Do you really think anyone else will know they aren’t just pretty silk scarves?"

"I don’t give a damn what anyone else knows. I’d know, damn it. I’d know what you did to me while you were wearing them in your hair. I’d know the way you actually smiled as I did that to you."

Of course, that made her smile even wider. "Can I help it if you make me happy?"

That light she was starting to see more and more sparked in the back of his eyes as he slid the silks from her hair.

"Promise me, or these go into the next bonfire."

"I promise I’ll only wear them for you."

A split second later she was on the bed beneath him, and he was swearing he’d buy her more lingerie as he grabbed the lace and silk she was wearing and tore it off. She was thrilled by his rough, desperate possession, soon there were no more questions from either of them, no room for anything but sighs of pleasure and gasps of ecstasy as they wrapped themselves around each other.

But the most perfect moment of all came after they’d both toppled over the edge together, and he whispered the sweetest words she’d ever heard: "You make me happy, too."

* * *

Brooke was asleep within moments. Rafe loved the way she wrapped herself around him, her breathing even and soft now as she slept against his chest.

Every time they made love, she grew bolder, more confident in her ongoing quest to be wild. As he gently stroked her soft hair and breathed her in, he knew how frustrated she was that he kept refusing to do things like tie her up or blindfold her with the silks she’d brought home.

Didn’t she realize that just the thought of having her arms bound to the bed frame and her eyes covered was cause for insanity? He was afraid it would be a slippery slope, especially when he was already so much rougher with her in bed than he’d ever intended to be. There were plenty of gentle moments between them, too, but the fact was, he’d lost it every single time. Holding down her wrists, shoving her up against the shower tiles, then taking her again on the bed inside of fifteen minutes.

He’d never forget the way she looked when she was down on her knees in that incredibly sexy outfit, her hair tied back so that he could see every beautiful expression on her face as she’d gazed up at him with the unabashed joy she brought to everything, including taking him into her mouth...

Damn it, he thought as he buried his face in her sweet-smelling hair, he needed to stop replaying the sexy scene in his head or he’d end up being the most selfish bastard in the world by waking her up to take her again when she needed sleep to recover from her tiring day.

When she shifted against him, he wrapped his arms tighter around her, bringing her soft curves even closer. There was no point trying to deny that what they were doing had turned into so much more than just sex.

Rafe’s chest clenched tight as he felt her breathe slow and steady against his chest. The closer the two of them got, the more he worried about keeping her safe, not just with a deadbolt on her front door, but from people who would want to take advantage of her trusting, innately positive nature.

Brooke was so easy to be with that in moments like this, he could almost see himself spending the rest of his life with her. But could a cynical bastard like him ever truly make her happy outside of the bedroom? And what would he do if the answer was no? Could he do the right thing and give up the one person who did the impossible?

Because when Brooke was in his arms, she made the darkness—and all the liars and the cheaters—disappear.

Chapter Nineteen

Holy crap, thought Rafe as he looked in the delivery truck, his sister had bought a lot of furniture. And yet, once the crew finished unloading it all and putting it where Mia had told them to on the chart she’d made up, Rafe had to admit it was exactly the right amount.

Brooke was next door taking care of the work she’d put aside to help him with his house. It didn’t help that she’d lost another full day in Seattle yesterday. He would have offered to help her make the chocolates for this week’s upcoming delivery, but he figured he’d only end up getting in the way. Especially considering he couldn’t be in the same room with her without ripping her clothes off and taking her.

As it was, he’d been hard-pressed to leave her bed that morning. There hadn’t been one other thing he’d wanted more than to stay there beneath the sheets, her warm curves pressed against him as he tasted and kissed and caressed every beautiful inch of her. But since he’d known how much work she had to do, he’d forced himself to leave so that she could get to it.

There was still work to be done on his house, but as he wandered through each of the fully furnished rooms, he couldn’t deny that it was easily move-in ready. That first night, when he’d seen how trashed his family’s old lake house was, he’d been furious. He’d come to the lake to relax, not renovate a house. But now, instead of being glad his house was perfectly habitable, down to the matching towels Mia had ordered for the bathrooms and the bookshelves in the living room that held new hardcover copies of his favorite authors, a hard knot fisted in his gut.

Until today, it had made perfect sense to stay with Brooke. But with a new bed, a clean bathroom, and a decked-out kitchen, he could move into his own place now.

He should have been thrilled with the arrangement they’d made. Just sex. Wild sex, no less. It should have filled his independent male heart with glee that she’d clearly told him she wasn’t looking to settle down, that she wasn’t looking at him as her path to an engagement ring and a wedding dress.