The elevator stopped and the doors opened to an elderly couple waiting to get on. They took one look at us and passed on the lift. I tried to push back from him, to put some space between our bodies. For the second time today, I found myself panting for Ethan like a harlot, out in the open for all and sundry to see me.

“Not here, please, Ethan.”

His hand left my breast and reappeared from where it had been under my shirt. He brought it to rest on my neck. I felt his thumb start moving in a slow circle right under my chin. And then he smiled at me.

Ethan looked happy as he took my hand with his free one and brought it to his lips for a kiss. Damn, I loved when he did that.

“You’re right, and I apologize. Do you forgive me, Miss Bennett? I am afraid you make me forget where I am. ”

My belly flipped down low with an ache. I nodded at him because I couldn’t do anything else, and whispered, “It’s okay.” The elevator, bless its mechanical heart, kept moving us closer to his floor. I wondered what he would do as soon as he got me inside his apartment. Ethan had me totally under his spell and I was pretty sure he knew it too.

Finally the lift stopped at the top floor, the soft settling made my belly roll again as Ethan put his hand on me. The man was tactile—always touching if he could get away with it.

He used his key to unlock the carved oak doors and pushed one open, ushering me into his private space. It was a beautiful room, lighter than I would expect for a man. The main room sported a grey and cream palette, lots of wood and mouldings and decorative elements for such a modern space.

“This is beautiful, Ethan. Your home is lovely.”

Ethan shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it over a couch. Taking my hand in his, he led me over to a wall of windows and a balcony that looked out onto the breathtaking city lights of London.

But then he turned me away from the view out the glass doors to face him, and took a few steps backward. He just stared at me for a moment.

“But nothing is as beautiful as you standing here, right now, in my house, in front of me.” He shook his head, looking almost desperate. “Nothing compares.”

I felt the overwhelming urge to cry for some reason. Ethan was so intense and my poor brain was struggling to take everything in as he started moving toward me, slowly, like a predator. I’d seen the move before. He could go fast, slow, hard, gentle—any way, and make it look effortless.

My heart rate sped up as he came closer. When just inches from me, he stopped and waited. I had to lift my head to meet his eyes. So much taller than me, I could see his chest lifting with his own rapid breathing. It felt good to know he was as affected by this attraction as I was.

“I’m not beautiful like that…it’s just the camera lens,” I said.

He reached for my green sweater, undid the button, and slid it down off my back until it landed with a soft swish onto his shiny oak floor.

“You’re wrong, Brynne. You’re beautiful all the time.” He went for the hem of my silky black shirt and drew it up over my head. I lifted my arms to help him.

In my black lace push up bra I stood before him as he devoured me with passionate blue eyes. He brushed over my shoulders and traced over the swell of my breast with the back of his fingertips. The reverent touching made me ache for more and I couldn’t keep still any longer.

“Ethan…” I leaned forward into the stroking of his fingers.

“What, baby? What do you want?” He tilted my head to the side and exposed my neck. He kissed me there. The combination of his facial hair and those soft lips were electrifying. The pleasurable feelings grew to the point where I was totally lost to need. The point of no return had passed for me. I wanted him. Badly.

“I want—I want to touch you.”

I brought my hands up to his white dress shirt and loosened his deep purple tie. He held me loosely and stared as I unknotted the silk, tight as a bowstring ready to snap. My fingers worked at the knot and in a minute I had his tie slipping loose to join my green sweater on the floor. I started unbuttoning his shirt.

He hissed when my fingers touched his exposed skin.

“Fuck yes! Touch me.”

I pushed his fine white shirt off him to the growing pile on the floor. I looked at his bare chest for the first time and nearly wept. Ethan was tight with muscles and washboard abs that melted into the most erotic V-cut I’d ever seen on a man.

I leaned forward and touched my lips to the middle of his chest. He put his hands on either side of my head and held me to him, like he would never let go. His strength and dominance was pretty clear. When it came to sex, Ethan was the one in charge. And strangely, it soothed me to understand this. I was safe with him.

He moved down to kneeling, his hands sliding down my hips and then my legs. When he got to my shoes he tugged on first one and then the other and removed them sweetly from my feet. His hands skimmed back up to the waist of my linen pants. He pulled the string and loosened the tie and then dragged them to the floor. He steadied my legs while I stepped out of the crumpled heap of linen and then he kissed me right above the waist of my panties. My belly fluttered some more and the ache between my legs got stronger. Ethan brought his fingers to the black lace and slipped them under the elastic. He drew downward and then they were off me.

Bare to his eyes, he stared at my pu**y and he made a noise, very primal and very urgent and then he looked up at my face again. “Brynne…you’re so beautiful I can’t—fuck I can’t wait—”

He feathered his fingers over my stomach and hips and pulled me forward to his lips and pressed them right on my bare mound. I shivered from the intimate touch that held me captive, waiting for what came next.

He stood back up and placed my hands deliberately on his waist. I got his message loud and clear. I started to work on his belt and then his slacks. He looked impressive. The ridge inside his boxers was impossible to ignore as his pants came down. He growled when my hand brushed over the thin black silk covering his straining cock. As I bent down to focus my efforts on removing him from his clothes, he unhooked the clasp on the back of my bra and pulled it away. I was totally naked.

“I won’t stay the night here, Ethan. Promise you’ll take me home after.”

He scooped me up and started carrying me out of the room. “I want you to stay with me. Once won’t be enough—not with you.” He kicked open a door and brought me into a bedroom. His face looked wild and desperate. “I need to f**k you first, and then I’ll go slow. Give me tonight. Let me make love to you tonight, beautiful Brynne.” He hovered over my face. “Please.”