“I’ll give you a fucking job if that’s what you’re worried about,” he cursed.

I stepped around Xavier and vaguely heard him growl. My hand ran down Marx’s cheek and then rested on his jaw. I leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, knowing it was most likely the last time I would get to do so.

Marx closed his eyes when I pulled back. When he opened them again, he ignored me in favor of giving a scathing look to Xavier. Then he walked through the crowd that was gawking at us. When the murmurs of the bystanders died down, I knew he was gone and I felt a small crack form in my heart.

This was so completely unfair. Xavier had no right to dictate who I spent my time with. It was the classic situation of he didn’t want me, yet he didn’t want anyone else to have me either.

Well too bad for him, because I did not think so.

Knowing he still stood behind me, I walked as quickly as I could out of the room. Hell bent on getting the fuck out of there and calling a cab, I yelped when strong fingers closed over my bicep and dragged me down a hall and into a dark room.

The door slammed and the hand released me. I spun around and pushed on the chest of the figure that stood in front of me. The moonlight shining through the floor to ceiling windows that continued in that room as well, highlighted Xavier’s face, leaving half of it in shadows and giving him a sinister look.

“How could you?” I yelled as loud as I could in his face.

“Because.”

“What are you? Two? That isn’t an answer.” I pushed him again, this time with my hands balled into fists, only growing more frustrated when my attempts to hurt him were unsuccessful.

“Stop.” He pinned my arms to my side with his hands and pressed his body against mine.

“Why should I?” I continued to shout.

“Because I said so.”

“Oh, that’s so much better than your last answer,” I grumbled. “I won’t let you ruin my life.”

He let out a humorless laugh. “It’s only fair considering you’re ruining mine.”

I let out an inelegant sound that sounded like pffft. “How exactly am I doing that?”

“By breathing.”

“You’re impossible.” I struggled against his hold only to have him tighten his grasp on my arms.

“You’re right. Impossibly attracted to you.”

“You’re so full of shit,” I shouted again, choosing not to read too much into his admission.

“Don’t you get it? I don’t want to feel this way. I didn’t ask for the irrational urge to kill any man who so much as looks at you. I don’t want to feel the need to break the fingers of every single client who dares to touch you. And I don’t want to have this compulsion to fuck you until you feel me inside you the next day. Or to hear you say my name while I’m buried deep inside you. But here we are.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I finally managed to say after the weight on my chest from his words started to ease.

“I wish I were,” he said sardonically.

“You had your chance and you screwed it up. Royally,” I reminded him in an effort to remind myself.

“So you say,” he spoke absently as he watched his hands move up my arms and around my back, pulling me against his hard body.

“What are you doing?” I asked as his head began descending.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he replied evenly as if his kissing me was the most natural thing in the world.

“No. You’re only doing this because of Marx.” I jerked my head back to put some much-needed distance between us. The way he was staring at my mouth made it difficult to remember why that space was so crucial.

“No. I’m doing this because I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit back and watch someone else take what’s mine.”

“Jealousy isn’t a reason for you to kiss me,” I snapped at him.

“I plan on doing a lot more than kissing you.” His voice dipped, subsequently making my belly dip with it.

“You are certifiably crazy. We can’t,” I cried hysterically and tried to pull away from him. I hated the way he was making me feel. I was both confused from his about face and nervous as all hell what this might mean. For me. For him. For everything.

What was he playing at?

“You’re just jealous,” I said again when his mouth was mere inches from mine.

“I’m not doing this for Marx,” he clipped out tersely, his hold on my upper body tightening almost painfully. “I’m doing this for you.”

“You are crazy,” I breathed, unbelievably turned on by his minty breath against my cheek and his hard body pressed against my soft one. This was a losing battle. Question was, how far did I want to take it before I finally surrendered?

“Probably,” he muttered right before his mouth slammed down on mine. The kiss started out hard. I tried fighting his pull, but it was futile. My body responded almost immediately to him. He knew the exact moment he had me—when my body relaxed into him, my tongue seeking his in desperation, my hands pulling his shirt from his pants so they could run up his warm, hard back.

He growled in his throat at the feel of skin on skin. The sound reverberated in my mouth and through the rest of my body. My scalp tingled and I felt my body growing wet.

His fingers pulled down the zipper of my dress, his hands spreading the fabric and running enticingly over my bare skin. I had the hysterical thought that Candy was right—this dress was designed to drive a man crazy. She just had the wrong man in mind.

Within seconds, my dress was in a puddle on the floor. Xavier pulled back from my mouth, his eyes hungrily taking in the sight of my mostly nude body. My nipples hardened under his gaze and I felt my breath catch when his fingers gripped my thong, tearing it clean off my body in one fell swoop. It was no less hot than the first time he did it.

“Wow,” I whispered in amazement.

Xavier gave me a scorching look right before he dipped his head and took my nipple into his mouth, sucking with ferocity. I cried out, my hands flying up to grip his head.

His mouth moved to my other breast. His thumb and forefinger coming up to roll the first one, while his teeth scraped and nipped at my flesh.

“I need to see you,” I murmured, lost in the exquisite sensations of his hair brushing against my breast and his tongue flicking the hardened bud.

He pulled back, yanking on his shirt and sending buttons flying across the room. His belt was next, sailing into the darkness and landing with a thud several feet away. When his pants dropped to the floor and I saw in the moonlight that he was going commando, my desire went through the roof.

He was sheer, raw masculine beauty from head to toe.

Kicking the rest of his clothes out of the way, he lunged at me. His mouth crashed down on mine at the same time we toppled onto his rather soft bed. From that point, we were all hands and mouths and tongues, exploring each other as quickly as we could. I wasn’t sure what was driving him besides lust, but I can tell you the driving force behind my race to get him inside me was the very real possibility that he might pull away from me again.

There was no way in hell I was ending the night without knowing what he felt like inside me.

“Hey!” I cried when I suddenly found myself not between his legs but rather flying through the air just as my mouth was about to close around the head of his cock.

“Next time,” he whispered against my mouth, and my heart soared knowing there would be a next time.

Xavier positioned himself between my legs and then I felt him at my entrance. My eyes closed and I bit my lip in anticipation. I knew from my exploration moments before that he was hung. The reminder had a fresh surge of wetness gathering between my legs.

“Look at me,” he demanded, and I opened my eyes to look into his. That was when he slid inside me, slowly, each inch a delicious burn as I stretched to accommodate him.