“Don’t assume the way I look is the way I really am,” she said, her pulse starting to throb in her wrists and her throat. She knew how to recognize the look in this guy’s eyes.

He wanted her.

And despite his smug superiority—or maybe because of it—she wanted him too.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so deeply attracted to a man. He wasn’t even her type. He was too old for her—with a dusting of silver in his hair—and she normally preferred blue-collar types. Military men. Cops. Firefighters. Construction workers. Men with calloused hands.

Not like this guy at all.

“I know who you really are,” he said, easing even closer to her so that her breasts brushed lightly against his chest for a moment. “You believe in love, don’t you?”

It was so far from the truth, Kelly almost laughed. She hadn’t believed in love since her father was murdered. “You are so wrong about me, it’s not even funny. I bet I believe in love even less than you do.”

“What do you believe in, then?” He was touching her hair again, skimming the tips of his fingers down the length of one loose strand.

She could hardly believe he was a stranger. It felt like she knew him—all the way down to the core. “I believe in being self-sufficient, just like you do.” She leaned toward him just enough to graze her nipples against his shirt before she pulled back.

“Do you?” There was a slight flush to his cheeks now, and it looked like he was breathing more quickly. He was definitely turned on. Just as turned on as she was. “What else do you believe in?”

“I believe in seeing the world as it really is and not dreaming of romantic fairy tales, just like you do.” She knew this about him, as well as she knew it about herself.

She saw the affirmation in his eyes, mingling with the blaze of desire. “And what else?”

“And I believe in sex.” They were in a public park, but she didn’t care. Responding to the challenge he posed, she slid one hand down his chest, then his belly, until she reached his groin, which she gave a brief caress.

She hadn’t been wrong. He was aroused. Hard in his jeans.

His breath hitched at her touch, and she could see he was holding himself back. “What do you believe about sex?”

“I believe people can come together for mutual gratification without all the baggage the world has built up around it.”

“Ah,” he murmured thickly, settling one hand on the small of her back. “Free love, then? To go with the puppies and flowers?”

“Not love. Sex. There’s no overlap unless you make it so.”

“I don’t make it so.” He pushed her hips toward his body until she could feel his arousal against her middle.

She was fighting to catch her breath, her pussy pulsing with desire, and her mind struggling to keep up with his quick wit. “Somehow, I knew that about you.”

“I’ve met a lot of women who make such claims, but then they’re crying when I don’t call them the next morning.”

“I’ve met a lot of men who do the same thing.”

He shook his head, pushing his erection against her very slightly. To the people in the park, they must look like they were just hugging, but a hug was very far from what was going on between them.

To Kelly, it felt more like battle. And she liked it. A lot. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this turned on, this invested in a conversation.

“So, you don’t cry?” he asked, his brown eyes smoldering with lust, excitement, and intelligence.

“I haven’t cried since I was ten years old.”

That was true too. She hadn’t cried since the months after her father died. Her whole world had changed that year.

“I still have no proof this is nothing but pretense on your side.”

“Because I’m a woman? Because I have a sweet face? You’re old enough to know that appearances deceive. You can fuck me now, and I’d never give you a second thought. You’d never hear from me again.”

“If I fuck you,” he murmured, “I promise you’ll think of me again.”

“There’s no way you’re that good.”

“You shouldn’t say such things. You’ll only be proven wrong.”

“Your arrogance is astounding, but I still haven’t seen you follow through.”

“You want me to follow through?” It was a genuine question. She could see that he was waiting for an answer as he watched her, even through the growing desire.

“Oh, yeah.”

She’d had sex with strangers before. All she’d ever had was sex with strangers. She didn’t normally have sex on a Saturday morning in the park, but there was no good reason not to.

She wanted this man—like he was a challenge that must be met, a battle that must be won.

“We’ll see,” the man said, sounding faintly skeptical, as if he still didn’t believe she took sex as casually as he did.

“See how, exactly?” She raised her eyebrows in a question, a call to action.

The man met the call, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the wooded area nearby. He snapped his fingers, and the dog stopped chewing his Frisbee and jumped to his feet to follow.

Kelly’s breath caught in her throat as they neared the trees. “The car might be more comfortable.”

“I’m not going for comfort here.” His grip was firm and strong and authoritative as he pulled her after him.

She felt a wave of panic as they entered the trees, not at one of the trails, but in the thickly grown area closest to where they’d been standing.

The woods were dark, unknown, everything hidden—masking horrors she just couldn’t face.

When they’d gone a few feet in, she couldn’t make herself go any farther. She physically couldn’t do it, yanking her hand out of the man’s.

He turned around with a resigned expression. “That’s what I thought.”

He thought she’d given up. He thought he’d won.

But he wasn’t going to win this, her phobia about the woods be damned. She grabbed his shoulders and pushed him against a large tree. “What did you think? That we would go deep in the woods where you could safely hide, where no one could ever see what we were doing? This is far enough.”

There was more risk of being discovered, this close to the edge of the woods. They would be out of sight, but not very far.

Kelly didn’t care. The fear of being caught was far milder than her fear of going deeper into the woods. Even now, a chill had broken out on her skin, almost distracting her from her arousal.

Almost.

The man smiled hotly and reached up to span her ribs with both hands, turning them around so her back was to the tree instead. “Here it is, then.” One of his thumbs moved so it was brushing against her nipple.

Kelly felt like his thumb was branding her, as if she couldn’t feel anything else. She stared down at her body—at his strong, masculine hands curving around her ribs, at his thumb pushing against the soft swell of her breast, over the white fabric of her tank top.

He looked down too. Noticed how she was watching the way he was touching her.

He smiled then, like a predator. Moved his thumb until it was intentionally circling the hard peak of her nipple. “You like that, don’t you?”

Kelly sucked in a ragged breath, her body responding powerfully despite the distraction of the woods. As his thumb teased her nipple, she could feel corresponding tugs between her legs.

He was gazing down at his hand on her body, and he shifted it until he was cupping her breast. “Maybe the reason you’ve never thought about a man afterward is that the men you’ve fucked haven’t known how to handle your body.”

“And you think you can?” Part of her wished she could pull away from him, escape from the woods, from the strength of the challenge he posed to her. Instead, she arched against the tree as he flicked his thumb over her nipple. “Women who rely on the man to make things happen for them in bed always end up disappointed. I’ve never made that mistake.”

It was true. She came every time she had sex, but it was because she made sure it happened. Some men were good at sex. Some weren’t. Some tried to make sure the woman came. Some couldn’t care less. It didn’t make a difference. She had to be responsible for her own orgasm if she wanted to guarantee she reached it.