"What are we doing this time, Audie?"

"You're giving me another foot massage."

"Wow." Quinn dipped his head and nibbled on a nipple. "Then I should have been a podiatrist," he whispered.

The sound of her low, throaty chuckle made him close his eyes in pleasure. When he reopened them, he saw her sweet laughing face, those dark eyes and darker lashes, her plump mouth. She was beauty and softness and sex beneath him, and he'd never wanted a woman so much in his life.

"Would you kiss me again, Quinn?"

A wave of exquisite heat rolled through his groin.

"If you'd kiss me back."

The instant his lips touched hers, Audie lost whatever bit of control she thought she had. Her response was beyond control, beyond reason. She knew she wasn't ready for this, that this would likely end just as badly as every other relationship, but her body gave her no choice in the matter. At that moment, all she wanted was to give to him, take from him, die in the heat of him. It was exhilarating. It was scary and intense and it was building and building.

He dragged his lips down her throat, over the clump of tank top, and then down to her breasts. His tongue was hot and his teeth were gentle and skilled, and she began to writhe beneath him, her wrists still pinned above her head.

"You're very spicy, Audie." His voice was scratchy and low. "I've been wondering how you would taste and you taste spicy."

"But my spices aren't alphabetized."

"I don't give a fuck."

Her giggle turned to a moan when he bit down on a nipple, then caressed it with his tongue.

"Oh, God."

He released her hands and let his mouth travel down her smooth stomach. Her hands rippled along his shoulders and neck as he kissed her belly button and pressed his lips against the front of her shorts. Then he raised his head to see her stretched out on the couch, reaching for him, half-naked and all his.

"Come here to me, Audie," Quinn said, and he cupped his hands under her bottom and pulled down on her shorts and underwear, until a mound of dark curls appeared before him.

He stopped to stare. He could hardly breathe. She was perfectly formed, opening with desire, dark and lush.

"Come here to me," he said again, as he yanked the clothing from her feet and reached for her hands to pull her to a sitting position.

"Quinn, what are you …?"

"Relax, Homey. I'm going to take real good care of you."

Audie let her head fall back against the couch, telling herself this wasn't really happening. This had to be some kind of extremely wanton sexual fantasy. In all likelihood, Quinn had just excused himself to go to the bathroom and she was sitting on the couch, alone, making all this up in her head because she was so sexually frustrated. She should be ashamed of herself.

Because there was no way she was really sprawled on the couch with her shirt up around her neck like this. Stacey Quinn couldn't be bending her legs and spreading her apart like this. His fingers were not slipping into her and she was certainly not squirming against his hand like this or making these sounds in her throat.

He was not kneeling in front of her with his sun-streaked head between her thighs like this, like he worshipped her, smiling up at her with his green eyes and doing things with his mouth that made her want to believe in God.

This could not be happening.

But then his tongue licked into her so long and slow and thorough that she heard herself cry out and she started to pant. When he licked her again, two things became very clear in Audie's befuddled brain-Quinn was, in fact, kneeling in front of her with his tongue and fingers hot inside her. And he would, in fact, take really, really good care of her. He already was.

Then a third thing occurred to her-the phone was ring ing."

She stopped squirming under him.

"Don't get it, Audie," he breathed into her, not lifting his head. "Let the answering machine get it." He nibbled along the swollen rim of her.

"I don't have an answering machine anymore!" she cried out, panicked. "Oh, God, I don't have an answering machine!"

"I'll buy you one tomorrow. They're a lot more affordable than they used to be." His tongue landed hot and sharp on her erect little clitoris and she grabbed on to his shoulders to pull him closer, then push him away, right as she teetered on the brink of a sharp orgasm.

"Oh, God, yes! Yes! Wait! Stop! Crap! Oh, hell!"

Audie forced herself to breathe and forced herself to think. She wormed her way out from beneath him and lunged for the phone on the side table.

"Russell?"

Quinn watched in horror as Audie pulled the tank top down over those luscious breasts that he hadn't sucked on near enough and he thought he'd cry when she bent over to find her shorts and underwear and… suddenly she was gone. All of that soft, wet flesh was put away.

He could hear Russell screaming.

"Why haven't you called me? Why did you cancel your trip? It's going to totally fuck up your publicity schedule!"

Quinn collapsed face-first into the couch cushions.

"Why haven't you messengered the contract over to me? What the hell is wrong with you, Audie? Now we've got less than a week to agree to the terms!"

"Then get me an extension, because I'm not ready to sign anything yet!" she screamed. "And don't call me at home at… what the hell time is it anyway?"

"Ten-thirty," Quinn offered helpfully, lifting his head and turning as he plopped down on the floor.

Audie whipped around to look at him, startled by his appearance. He looked all scruffy and shell-shocked and his mouth was red and wet and he was leaning against the front of the couch like he'd been shot.

She'd just attacked the man again! And he'd just… "Oh, boy," she whispered.

"Audie?"

"What, Russell? Get me an extension and leave me alone-can I be any more direct than that? Jeesh! What is with people? It's like they don't take me seriously!"

Quinn stood up just then, and it was obvious that he took her quite seriously, because Audie's eyes were drawn to his nylon shorts, now straining around a rather impressive erection.

"My God, you're huge," she whispered involuntarily.

"What did you just say to me?" Russell screamed.

"Oh, crap. Hell." Audie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Work it out, Russell. And don't call me again."

She slammed down the phone and turned to Quinn, who was slowly advancing toward her, his eyes hot and green and serious. She brought up her arm, bracing it out straight, palm out, and she felt like Diana Ross doing "Stop in the Name of Love."

"Don't move."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to do this."

"But I do." He moved a step closer.

"I'm not ready," she breathed. "Please."

"Not ready for what?"

"For you, Quinn." Once again she surveyed everything the man had to offer and she let out a little whimper. "All ofyou."

"You sure felt ready a minute ago."

"My body is. The rest of me isn't."

He stopped and brought a hand up to his forehead and rubbed furiously. "What are you doing to me, Audie?"

"Oh, God. I'm sorry. I don't mean to do this. I'm just scared, OK? I'm scared of you."

His eyes widened and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, aware that he might look a bit… damp. "Why in God's name are you scared of me?"

Audie stared at him, handsome and sexy and rumpled and hard as concrete. She closed her eyes.

"Because of who you are, everything you are, everything I feel-everything I'm not very experienced with." Audie's breath was coming in gulps and she dared to look at him again. "I need to be sure, OK? You're different, and I need to be sure. Can you give me one more chance to try to get ready for you?"

Quinn turned away and crumpled onto the couch. She watched him grind his palms against his closed eyes.