There had been those who touched me in the past, who knew what they were doing, who made me feel wanted, beautiful, and necessary. But no one had ever made me feel owned and devoured the way Titus did. It was the brush of his thumb back and forth, it was the clench of his fingers at my nape, and it was the pressure from his leg as he pulled me closer and closer. He was everywhere, even where we weren’t touching, and I had a feeling there was never going to be a way for me to get around him, which meant I was going to have to go inside of him to find space.

I adored the gruff, far-too-serious Titus that I tormented daily. But the unhinged, uncontrolled Titus was irresistible as he roughly palmed my now naked breast and grunted at me when I snaked a hand between us to fondle that hard length throbbing between us. The wild inside of him when he let it out was the most intoxicating thing I had ever seen and felt, and I knew I better eat every single second of it up while I got the chance. Because once he got his wits back, Titus was going to be furious that he had let the lock off the cage and that his inner beast had been allowed to run free for a few stolen moments in the bathroom of a strip club.

My fingers clawed at the denim that was keeping him from me and I threw back my head with a sudden jerk as his mouth left mine and landed with precision on the nipple he had been torturing with a rough touch. Fire zipped along every nerve ending and something more than passion started to buzz in my ears.

His mouth was hotter than hot and it was greedy. I was stunned and turned on beyond belief that my stalwart detective didn’t seem to care about soft touches and gentle caresses. He was all forceful hands and the sting of strong teeth. Titus was rough, and it was un-fucking-believable. I muttered his name and tried to get my hands under his heavy leather belt and behind his zipper but there wasn’t enough room. We were too close to each other and he had me trapped while he consumed my sensitive skin with his mouth. I panted and wiggled, wanting to get in on some of the touching action myself, but he wouldn’t relent. In fact those thick fingers in my hair tightened and pulled hard enough to make my eyes water just a little bit.

“Stop.” His voice was a growl that vibrated against my throat as he abandoned my chest and sank his teeth into the tender skin on the side of my neck, making it tremble under his lips.

“I want to touch you.” I sounded whiny and desperate. Two things I had never been before this man.

“No. We are not doing this.” He continued to kiss and nibble his way up behind my ear and I wanted to ask him what in the hell he was talking about, obviously we were doing something, but then he moved faster than a man that big should be able to and he took a step back and speared me with molten eyes. “We aren’t doing this, period, but we are absolutely not going to do it in a strip-club bathroom after you started a catfight, and with zero protection . . .” He trailed off and shook his head at me like we were both crazy. “I’ve made some questionable decisions since you came back to town, Reeve, but contrary to my recent actions, I do know where to draw the line.”

I stared at him. My body heaved, which drew his gaze to my still-naked chest. If I were someone else I would’ve covered myself to hide my shame. I wasn’t someone else, I was just me, and just me had had enough of the hot and cold with him. I narrowed my eyes at him and hopped off the counter where he had placed me. He took a step back but there wasn’t much room for him to go, so he ended up with his back against the door as I prowled closer to him, pulling my bra the rest of the way off as I went. He watched me warily until I was directly in front of him. Defiance and passion were warring for supremacy in his still-flaming blue and silver gaze.

I had done a lot of wrong things in my life for the wrong kind of men. This would be the first time I did something wrong for the right man. I didn’t care where it was or what was going to come of it, I wanted the part of him he let out to play just for me. Sure, the location left a lot to be desired, but I was taking the part of Titus that was mine and he wasn’t going to stop me, not that he really wanted to anyway. Sure, having him fully wasn’t going to happen today. He was right that having sex with no protection was a stupid mistake for either one of us to make, but he was wrong about it never happening and he knew it. I saw it in the way his dark complexion turned ruddy as I grabbed his bulky belt buckle and pulled the end of his belt through it. It should feel dirty and seedy. It didn’t. It felt right and unavoidable.

The leather made a whooshing sound that echoed in the tiny tiled room. “This is my questionable decision not yours, and I have never paid attention to the lines, Detective.”

The belt fell away and the zipper that was straining, hard, sounded twice as loud as I started to pull it down. I wasn’t surprised when his hand caught my wrist. I was surprised that he didn’t yank it away but just held it immobile, the cotton of his boxers and the heat of his erection burning against the back of my knuckles.

“Why? It won’t mean anything. It doesn’t change what’s going on with us. Crossing that line whether you see it or not doesn’t make this act we’re putting on any different.”

Always the cop with the interrogation and the need for a motive. I cocked my head to the side and he groaned as the long strands of my hair slid across the full curve of my breasts.

“You take care of everyone, always. Maybe I want to take care of you.” I lifted an eyebrow and slicked my tongue across my bottom lip. “This is happening, Titus. Fight it all you want but you can see it coming from miles and miles away.”

We stared at each other in silence for what felt like a solid minute and then he threw his head back so that it thumped against the door with a bang and let go of my hand at the same time. “I usually avoid trouble when it’s headed my way.”

“Not this kind of trouble.”

I got his zipper the rest of the way down, excited about my victory for more than one reason. He wasn’t giving in to me for good, but he was giving in to me for now and that was good enough. I laughed a little as I pulled his pulsating cock out of the confines of his underwear. He was impressive everywhere. I wasn’t surprised. He was the best of the best, so of course his dick would have to fall in that category as well. He jerked in my hand as I rubbed my thumb on the tip where the evidence that despite any reluctance his mind might have, his body and the wild inside of him was loose, leaking out and calling to me.

He grunted in response as I dropped to my knees in front of him. It wasn’t my favorite position to be in for any man, it smacked of weakness and submission, but here it felt like power, like taking what was mine. I didn’t care about the appropriateness of the time or the location. All of that faded next to the way he burned in my mouth as I sucked him in and played with him. His eyes had drifted to half-mast and all I could see as he watched me was a storm of swirling silver. He was still fighting, he refused to move with me, refused to touch me . . . at least he did until the beast woke back up as I twirled my tongue around and around the aching tip. I was just adding my hands to the mix, curling a tight fist around the base of his erection, when suddenly his hands where in my hair and he was moving into me.