He smirked at me and crossed his arms over his chest. I tried not to ogle the way his muscles bulged and stretched the fabric of his shirt. “I never expected you to be sweet, Noe Lee. Angry, defiant, feisty, and rude. Those I’m prepared for, but sweet is a nice surprise.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not. “You haven’t given me a lot of reason to be sweet, Snowden.”

He grunted and shifted his gaze away from mine. “You’re right. I’ll have to work on that. I’m not really a guy who brings out the best in others. I’m not exactly personable.”

I slid around the edge of the counter so I was standing directly in front of him. The heat from his body radiated into mine, and it made my breath shudder. The current that pulsed between us had a life of its own as it sparked and popped with electricity that I swore I could almost see and smell.

“You’re challenging, Stark. Nothing wrong with that. The things we have to work for are the things we appreciate the most. Nothing that’s handed over without some kind of fight is worth holding onto.” I’d learned that each time I’d had to make a new life for myself. Each time it had pulled me away from everything I’d ever known. The first time, I’d had to fight to get free from the life I’d been forced into. The second time, I’d had to fight to stay free of the life I’d known. Now, I was fighting for a life that meant something, one that had value and purpose. He was going to be all kinds of effort and exertion. Something told me he was worth every single second of the effort.

“Not everyone likes a challenge.” His tone was dry but his eyes were watchful and alert. The pulse at the base of his throat leapt under his tattooed skin because he was a man and not a machine, no matter how hard he tried to fight it and cover it up.

I had to stand on my tiptoes to reach that throbbing vein. I put my fingers over the tender spot and felt his heart race as I leaned closer, eyes locked on his. He could crush me, literally and figuratively, but I trusted him not to. “I do. I thrive on tackling a challenge. The bigger, the better.”

His teeth flashed white and his eyes crinkled at the corners as he gave me the first real smile I’d ever seen on his harshly hewn face. It softened him, made him look younger and less world weary. His smile was irresistible and it sealed the deal for me. If he could smile like that when I was sweet, then I would make an effort to be sweet more often, and if I couldn’t stick to that plan, then I was just going to kiss the shit out of him every chance I got. I saw his smile brighten and his eyes widen as I threw my much smaller body into his. It was like hitting a wall. I felt the impact vibrate all the way down to my toes. I also felt my heart rate kick up and my nipples tighten as I pressed into the solid strength of his chest.

I had to stretch to get my arms around his neck, and we both gave a quiet groan as the move plastered my entire front to his. Nothing would move him if he didn’t want to be moved, but he lowered his head so I could reach his mouth. He tasted like coffee and sleepiness. His stubble was rough against my chin and fingertips, and I used a finger to trace his chiseled jaw line. I’d never been with anyone who was so overtly masculine before. I’d also never kissed anyone who wore glasses. The way they fogged up and tilted slightly to the side was fucking adorable and had me doing my best to shove my tongue down his throat even though he was taking things nice and easy.

There were no grabbing hands and aggressive teeth with Snowden Stark. The man kissed like he did everything else, deliberate, thorough, slow, and thoughtful. He was turning my head inside out as he traced the curve of my lips with the tip of his tongue, savoring every inch of my mouth. He lifted a hand so he could circle one of my wrists where it was propped up on his shoulder. His thumb gently moved in tiny circles over the abused skin and his simple caress turned my knees to water. I dug my fingers into the back of his neck, nails dragging through his short hair. I enjoyed the prickle of it against my fingertips and the brush of it against my palm.

His free hand smoothed over the curve of my hip and trailed to my backside so he could palm my ass. Everything about him was oversized. I’d never felt more feminine or breakable than I did under his hands. It made me shiver and kiss him even harder. He made a noise as I nipped at his lower lip with my teeth, but relented when I soothed the bite with a flick of my tongue that demanded he let me inside the warm cavern of his mouth. He complied with a soft chuckle that I felt between my legs. I shifted anxiously on my toes as my center throbbed and pressed involuntarily against the rigid length that was making itself known against my stomach. He was hot and huge. Like seriously, the thing was intimidating on its own without the rest of him that loomed in front of me.

Twining and twisting my tongue around the heat of his, I gasped into his mouth when I felt his other hand land on my ass. He used his hold to hoist me up as if I weighed nothing. I wrapped my legs around his lean waist and circled his neck in a death grip. I didn’t think he was going to drop me, but if he suddenly realized we were the worst two people in the world to be getting all tangled up in one another, he might. The boy was nothing if not logical, and eventually he was going to remember that we were a bad idea, nothing short of a bona fide disaster waiting to happen. For now, he kissed me back with as much enthusiasm as I had while I tried to devour him.

I knew what it was like to be hungry, so hungry you thought you might starve. When you finally got a bite, no matter how big or small it was, you inhaled it like you might never eat again. That’s what I was doing with Stark. I was taking as much as I could, since I didn’t know if I was ever going to get another taste.

I moaned and pressed my breasts into his chest when he used his hold on my hips to grind my soft, wet center against that straining erection that was like a steel pole between us. The friction made me squirm and had my thighs quivering. I couldn’t remember ever being this sensitive and this quick to turn liquid and ready before. That ever-present electrical current wrapped around every nerve pulsed with need. I could feel his heart pounding and the iron control he was exerting as he accepted what I gave but made no demands of his own. I wiggled in his hands, pressing closer, grinding down on his cock in frustration. I wanted the clothes between us to be gone, and I wanted him to want me with the same kind of uncontrolled fierceness I had for him. He made me reckless and it bothered me that he handled me so carefully.

I dragged my rough and uneven nails down the side of his neck and swallowed the moan that vibrated against my lips. I felt his fingers press into my backside and his chest rise and fall like he was struggling to breathe. He was on the edge and it wouldn’t take much to push him over. I pulled back a little bit so we were eye to eye, considering each other as we panted and pressed into one another. I was planning my attack. I wanted to push him. I wanted to prod him until he short-circuited like Booker warned me he would.

I never got the chance. As soon as we came up for air, his phone started to ring in his back pocket and he carefully set me down on my feet, hands lifting to my waist and setting me back a safe distance. He looked at his phone and told me he had to take the call, and although he didn’t tell me who had interrupted us, I saw Nassir’s face flash on the screen.

I rubbed my fingers over my swollen mouth and across the tender spots on my face where his whiskers had rubbed my skin raw. “I told you I could be sweet.” I smirked up at him and was surprised when he tossed back his head and let out a rusty, cracked laugh.

When he looked back at me, his eyes were glimmering with promise and so much potential for more unexpected moments of sweetness that it stole my breath.

“No one has ever been sweeter.”

He said it like he meant it and I knew I was in trouble. I didn’t have any room for him and his secrets, but somehow, I was already clearing space. Something told me I was going to have to get rid of everything that cluttered up my insides because Snowden Stark was about to fill up every nook and cranny. He would weigh me down more than any of the baggage from my past ever could. I knew that was going to be okay, that together we both would be okay.

Stark

A client who had a standing date with one of Nassir’s working girls claimed he was being blackmailed by the escort. He was up in arms because the girl had threatened to out the John to his wife and the rest of his very conservative family. The man claimed she demanded twenty thousand dollars in cash and had already sent a threatening text message to the man’s spouse that had her questioning where he spent his Wednesday nights. Nassir was calling bullshit on the man’s story. His girls had rules, and they knew not to break them if they wanted to stay on the Devil’s good side and on his very lucrative payroll. He kept them safe. He vetted all the clients and wouldn’t let anyone near his business unless they knew how to keep quiet and treat the girls well. He didn’t tolerate any kind of nonsense, and his wife was even more fiercely protective of the women who earned their living in such a timeless and dangerous way. She didn’t tolerate any disrespect when it came to the working girls, and it was no surprise that Nassir was on the warpath if Keelyn was upset. He moved mountains and leveled entire cities to make things right for his woman. She was the only thing on Earth he cared about more than power and control.