With an effort that nearly killed him, he broke off their kiss and raised his head. Her lips remained parted and she was breathing as heavily as he.

Damn. He’d known sparks would fly between them, but this…this was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. His legs felt like rubber and his hands were unsteady. She looked up at him through glittering, half-closed eyes.

After licking her lips, a gesture that had him gritting his teeth, she whispered, “Whoa. That was…”

“Yeah. I know.” He dropped a hard, quick kiss against her mouth. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

She ran her tongue along his bottom lip and he groaned. “Agreed. And I think maybe you’d better not kiss me again until-”

“We’re somewhere we can’t get arrested?”

“Exactly. How far away do you live?”

He forced himself to set her away from him then pushed off the wall. Grabbing her hand, he scooped up the bag of food and started out at a rapid pace toward the parking lot. “Fifteen minutes.” Fifteen interminable minutes.

“I’m only five. So I vote for my place.”

“Done.” He glanced at her and his jaw tightened at the sight of her beautifully messed curls and swollen lips. “But even five’s going to be hard.”

Her gaze flicked to his tented pants. “Very hard.”

So damn hard, walking was uncomfortable. “If you keep looking at me like that, we won’t make it out of the parking lot, possible arrest or not. Where are you parked?”

She pointed just ahead and he caught sight of the ’64 Mustang. “You?”

“Next row.” He waited while she unlocked her door. “It’s an homage to your legs that I can’t take my eyes off them long enough to admire your very excellent ride,” he said, watching her slide into the front seat.

She shot him a sexy smile. “Thanks. Follow me.”

Hell, yeah. Anywhere she wanted to go. He jogged to his pickup and tailed her through the dark, quiet streets of Santa Rey. He opened the windows in an attempt to allow the cool, ocean-scented air to relieve the feverish sensation coating his skin, but it did little to abate the heat consuming him.

Five minutes and eighteen seconds later-not that he was counting-Toni pulled into the driveway of a small stucco ranch on a peaceful side street. After parking behind her, he grabbed the food, exited his truck, and cut across the neat postage stamp of a lawn. Just as he joined her, she opened the front door.

He followed her in, and with his gaze on hers, pushed the door closed behind him. She dropped her purse and walked toward him with a sinful sway of her hips that momentarily stupefied him. Before he could fully recover, she reached behind him and locked the door. Then she set her hands on his chest and pushed him back against the wood panel. Reaching up, she twined her arms around his neck.

“Now finish what you started,” she whispered against his lips. The bag of food hit the floor, and with a groan he yanked her against him.

Toni moaned as Brad’s mouth came down on hers, hot, hard and demanding. Never in her life could she recall wanting a man this much-feeling such sharp, raw hunger, such desperation.

“Normally I prefer slow,” she said between panting breaths and frantic kisses, her fingers impatiently jerking his shirt from his waistband. “But not now. I want your hands and mouth on me. Mine on yours.” His body buried in hers. Hers wrapped around him. And all these damn clothes simply had to go. Her hands plunged beneath his shirt and settled on the warm skin of his ridged abdomen. “Now.”

“Now sounds good to me,” he muttered against her neck. Clearly he felt the same urgency as she, and clearly he knew his way around women’s clothing because no sooner had he spoken than the zipper on her dress was down, the material was bunched around her waist, her strapless bra was on the floor, and his hands were cupping her breasts.

A gasp of pleasure escaped her as he teased her nipples. His tongue blazed a trail down her neck, over her chest, then drew one tight, aching peak into the wet heat of his mouth. Toni arched her back, offering more of herself, an invitation he instantly took her up on. Each tug of his lips, each circle of his tongue shot fire straight to her womb. Moisture pooled between her thighs and she shamelessly gyrated against his hardness, desperately seeking relief.

He made a sound that resembled a growl, then turned them. With her shoulders pressed against the door, she watched him drop to his knees, dragging her dress and panties down with him. When the velvet and bit of lace hit her ankles, she stepped out of the pool of material and kicked it aside, leaving her wearing only her heels.

“Spread your legs,” he said, the hoarse words blowing hot against her stomach as he pressed kisses to her quivering skin. Feeling as if she were about combust, she set her legs wide apart. And was rewarded with a long, slow swipe of his tongue over her swollen folds.

A moan escaped her, one that turned into a gasp of pleasure when he thrust two fingers deep inside her. “Beautiful,” he murmured, then lazily circled his tongue around her clitoris. “Wet. Hot. Delicious.”

The back of her head hit the door and her eyes slid shut. He lifted her right leg and settled it over his shoulder, opening her more fully for his fingers, mouth and tongue. Need knifed through her and she fisted her fingers in his hair, unable to hold off the orgasm screaming toward her like a bullet. He performed some sort of magic with his mouth and fingers and her climax roared through her, hot pulses of intense pleasure that dragged a cry from her throat.

The spasms had barely tapered off when she felt him scoop her up in his arms. And a damn good thing he did, too. Otherwise she would have slithered to the floor in a mass of trembling, sated flesh. Still, even as she reveled in his strength, the independent feminist in her felt compelled to say, “I can walk.” A weak protest at best. An outright lie at worst.

He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “This is completely selfish on my part. I can’t keep my hands off you.”

“Well, in that case, carry on.” She wound her arms more firmly around his neck and leaned forward to lightly scrape her teeth over his earlobe. “Literally.”

“Bedroom?”

She toed off her shoes, pointed down the hallway with her foot and he started walking. “Sorry I came so fast,” she said, nibbling on his neck. God, he smelled good. Tasted good. Like warm, clean, freshly showered man.

“No apology necessary. I can’t wait to see how fast you can come again.”

She huffed out a laugh. “Given how long it’s been since I’ve had sex and given your extreme sexiness, I think it’s going to be an embarrassingly short period of time. I’m afraid I’m feeling somewhat…” she gave his neck a little bite “…insatiable.”

“That’s a shame. Really. God knows I have plenty of reasons to complain because of that, but I’ll try to keep a stiff upper lip and take it like a man.”

“Stiff will serve you well.”

“Stiff is not a problem, believe me.”

He strode into her bedroom and set her on her queen-size bed. She landed on the pale yellow comforter with a gentle bounce. When he started to unbutton his shirt, she immediately scooted to the edge of the mattress and stood.

“Oh, no,” she said, shooing his fingers aside and applying herself to his shirt buttons. “You undressed me. You don’t get to undress you, too.”

“Okay.” He raised his hands and filled his palms with her breasts.

Toni laughed and firmly set his hands back at his sides. “Nor do you get to distract the undresser. I didn’t distract you when you were stripping me bare.”

“Wanna bet?”

She cocked a brow and resumed flicking open buttons. “What did I do?”

“You stood there.” He brushed the backs of his fingers up and down her abdomen. “That’s all it took.”

“Clearly you’re easily distracted.”