Hunter never missed a lick.

“Wait! Ben . . . Do you—? Ohh . . . oh God, that’s good.” She fisted the blankets. “Yes!”

Instead of granting the orgasm shimmering just beyond her reach, he pulled back, teasing her.

Ben snored once more, and Kata tried to pull away. But Hunter held firm, his huge, hot palms holding her thighs open, wedging his shoulders between, his mouth hovering right over her pussy, silently promising ecstasy.

She tried to block it out. “Stop. I’m telling you that—”

“Ben is snoring?”

On cue, her friend’s buzzing sounded again, this time deeper, longer.

“Yeah. We should wake him and—”

“He’s not necessary tonight, Kata. Want me to prove it?”

Chapter Three

HUNTER didn’t have to prove anything. He merely whispered in that sinful voice what she already knew: She wanted him far more than she’d ever wanted Ben. She’d had this fantasy of being touched by both her lover and a stranger forever and a day. But here, now, her panting breaths mingled with Hunter’s, his unrelenting stare reached through the shadows, promising searing pleasure. Despite her misgivings about his bent for control, Kata wanted him. Badly.

“Don’t stop,” she whispered, raising her hips.

He hesitated, then levered himself up to shut the bathroom door—blocking out Ben’s soft snores. He lowered himself to the mattress again, hovering over her, his stare drilling into her in the shadows. “I’m going to take you alone tonight.”

“I know.”

“Repeatedly,” he vowed.

Her breath caught. Desire branded his masculine face as his hot palm caressed her breast, the curve of her waist, before settling inside her thigh—skating heart-stoppingly close to her pussy. And then he stopped. As she strained toward him, her ache ratcheted up.

He seemed to know exactly what drove her mad.

“Keep talking to me.” His husky murmur whispered across her skin.

“Tell you what I want in bed?” Kata had no doubt he was capable of giving it to her.

“That, and more. I want you to be completely open to me.”

“Sexually?”

“In every way.” His eyes were solemn, startlingly direct.

Her heart skipped a beat. Kata pulled her lip through her teeth and peered up at the hard, shadowed angles of his face. “What is it you want, exactly?”

“All you’re willing to give me.” He smiled wryly. “And probably more.”

Those murmured words raised all of her red flags. What did he want beyond passion? Surely not more than a night of pleasure with no regrets. They’d been ridiculously in sync so far.

Maybe hinting at possessiveness was his shtick. Maybe he thought women dug it. Whatever . . .

“I can’t promise I’ll agree to everything, but if you do something I don’t like, we’ll talk it out.”

“Good.” His fingers tightened on her thighs. He pried them apart a bit wider, then wriggled down her body. His mouth loomed closer to the ache she desperately needed him to sate. “Kata, I will push you.”

“About the bedside light?” Kata frowned. Would he still want her if he actually saw all her curves?

“For starters.”

She paused. “Hunter—”

“Trust me, honey.”

The way he called her “honey” made Kata shiver. Usually, she hated that endearment, but the way he said it . . . hmm. Then the rest of his words registered in her lust-ridden brain. Trust him . . . with what? Was he trying to tell her that he was into some freaky shit? He’d done ménages before. What else did he have in his repertoire?

“Look, I don’t know how your preferences run, but I have a few boundaries.”

“Such as?” He breathed against her stomach, pressing mindstealing kisses to her skin.

“I’m really afraid of knives.”

His husky laugh warmed her. “No knives. I’m hard-core, not weird.”

Kata relaxed. Maybe she was overthinking this. “I don’t like pain.”

Hunter shrugged and trailed his fingers through her very wet pussy. “You’ll only get the good kind from me. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

She frowned. “Look, in case you didn’t get it earlier, I won’t be dominated.”

“You’ll be fine.”

His voice reassured her more than his words, but he hadn’t done anything to give her pause, other than put out a dominant vibe. She’d run across that before and walked away unscathed. She could handle Hunter, too.

Kata shot him a cocky grin and let her knees relax to the sides, widening her thighs. “Okay, then. Do your worst.”

“Oh, honey,” he chided, his gaze fused on hers. “Don’t doubt me. I will.”

Before she could reply, Hunter bent to her again. He slid those long, still-slick fingers inside her, thumb grazing her clit just before his mouth took over. He sucked her slowly, a nuzzle, a gentle lick. A tease. She tensed, stared at him.

Hunter oozed confidence—and not just in bed. The man was clearly intelligent. Interesting. Dangerous. His touch gliding over her skin felt gentle . . . but his stare told her that he wasn’t going to go easy on her tonight. Even the thought made her quiver.

He pressed firm fingers to her G-spot, and the question dissipated. Any cool perspective she’d gained in the past few moments . . . gone. His bold licks made her dizzy, and he savored her swollen bundle of nerves—and sent her reeling.

God, he was good at this. Really good. If she tightened or gasped, he did more of whatever drove her mad, then found unpredictable ways to make it even better. A light scrape of fingernails into the nerve-laden tissue in her channel, teeth tenderly grazing her ultrasensitive clit, sliding the pad of his thumb through her slick flesh, down, until he pressed in at her back entrance.

“No. Hunter, I—oh. Ah . . .”

“Don’t think about whether you should like it,” he whispered against her inner thigh. “Think only about whether you actually do.”

Deeper, deeper, he eased his thumb into her backside, parting her flesh in a sting of pleasure that made her gasp. No one had ever touched her there. Ben had talked about wanting anal sex once or twice, and she’d always shied away. But now . . . A million tingles she’d never felt leapt to sizzling life, coupling with the quivering, begging sensations in her pussy.

“Do you like it?”

Kata gave him a shaky nod. “But I don’t understand . . .”

“Just feel.”

With that, he settled his mouth back over her clit, dragged his fingers relentlessly over the responsive spot inside her, and swiveled his thumb in her depths.

Hunter touched her as if he had already figured her out and now sought to use that knowledge to blow her mind. Maybe maintaining control wouldn’t be as easy as it had always been . . . Her heart pounded, galloping so hard and loud, she couldn’t hear anything but its roar. Her own moans rang in her ears. How could he both thrill and terrify her at once?

Her fingernails dug into her palms as the pleasure he gave rushed toward her like a towering tsunami. Kata had no doubt it would drown her. But she couldn’t stop wanting it, crying out for it. Time stood still as she held her breath and waited.

Pressure tightened and burned under his fingers, multiplying, then rocketing until she felt as if her body would burst. Kata’s back arched, her hips lifted, with the body-bending force of the orgasm. She screamed his name. Stars burst across her vision as ecstasy crashed over her. And Hunter’s unrelenting focus on her with every touch of his fingers, every flick of his tongue, drove her deeper into the abyss of a pleasure so overwhelming, Kata wondered if she’d ever be the same.

Finally, her breathing evened, her heartbeat slowed. Only then did Hunter rise from the bed. Before she could stop herself, Kata whimpered at his loss. But when he took a step, she knew his destination.

“Please, don’t turn on the light. I don’t like . . .” God, even finishing that statement was too revealing.

“Being seen?” He flipped on the lamp as if she hadn’t spoken.

Kata blinked against the harsh light. Apprehension seized her. He could see how thoroughly he’d devastated her by the flush that must surely be reddening her cheeks, by her swollen nipples and so-wet pussy. A look of dazed satisfaction, no doubt, filled her face. His blue, laser-focused stare peeled back her layers to see deeper still. She closed her eyes, but it was too late to hide.

In that suspended moment, Kata’s stomach tightened. How had Hunter reached inside her, stripped the veneer of confidence from her, and dug down so quickly to the vulnerable woman beneath? The fact that he had, it terrified her. She didn’t reveal that inner person to anyone, especially someone she barely knew.

With a curse, Kata rolled away, turning her back to him.

Hunter clamped a hand down on her thigh, another on her shoulder. “Don’t hide.”

Before she could argue, he braced himself over her thighs . . . and fixed his gaze on the heavy curves of her breasts.

“Don’t stare.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

Moving his weight onto his knees, he clasped her wrists and imprisoned them above her head gently—but firmly. “That’s like telling me to stop breathing. Impossible.”

“I told you I didn’t want the light on. I don’t want your eyes taking a walk all over me. Now get the hell off.”

“Why don’t you want me to see you?”

How pushy was this guy going to get? “Going down on me doesn’t entitle you to an answer. Turn off the fucking light. I don’t like being stared at.”

“That’s not true. If you didn’t want men to look, you wouldn’t have been wearing a black leather miniskirt or that attention-getting red sweater that was like a second skin. You wouldn’t have that luscious gloss on your lips or the bright polish on your toes. You wanted to be seen at your party. But you’re afraid for me to see you naked. Why?”

Kata blanched, her heart stuttering. He had noticed way too much.

She tried to calm herself with logic. So far, he’d made observations, asked a few questions, pressed a little—not behaved like a world-class asshole. He wasn’t as loudmouthed as her stepfather, Gordon. That calmed her some. Taking back control would do the rest. Because whatever he was trying to pull, she wouldn’t be playing. “Either turn the lights off or let me up.”

He made no move to comply. “Did some prick criticize your body?”

Only her whole life. It wasn’t any one prick in particular. Starting with Sean Lampke in the second grade and moving right up to football jock Mike McKindle in high school. Not that any of them had seen her naked, but all the teasing, especially after her breasts had developed in the fifth grade . . . Their opinions didn’t matter. She was proud of herself. Fuck them if they didn’t like her. But opening herself up to Hunter? She didn’t do that for anyone.

“What are you after?” she challenged. “This is a one-night stand, and you don’t need to know my innermost secrets for that. If you want me, then turn out the damn light and let’s fuck.”

“Kata, I need to see you. All of you. I want to watch your face as I slide in deep. I want to see your lashes flutter closed and your skin flush as your arousal surges, right before your pretty hazel eyes flash wide open and orgasm slams through your body.” His eyes darkened with arousal. “I won’t let you hide from me, honey.”

There it was again: honey. The way he spoke to her made her sizzle. She shouldn’t like that dominant tone of voice that went with it, shouldn’t feel tingles down to her toes. Damn if he wasn’t everything she shouldn’t want.

“Won’t let me?” she parried. “You came here to share me with Ben, then encouraged him to drink until he was too wasted to participate. Now you’re trying to strip me of far more than my clothes. I barely know you. This control freak routine you’re pulling? It’s not happening.”

His lips curled up, and it couldn’t exactly be called a smile. “You’re tough on the outside. But inside, there’s a vulnerable woman. And there are times, like now, that you hate it. You don’t want anyone to see anything but your independent façade. You’re adventurous—when it suits you. You have a lot of friends but aren’t really close to anyone. You don’t like being told what to do, especially by a lover. Kata, I’m going to be the man who changes your mind. About everything.”

Her jaw dropped, even as goose bumps broke out all over her skin. God, Hunter had read her perfectly. He was clearly used to sucking in the universe, examining it, then bending it to his will. She’d bet he did it as naturally as breathing.

Anyone like that wasn’t for her, no matter how big a thrill he gave her.

“That’s arrogant. I won’t just . . . roll over and play dead. You’re not dictating to me. You know what?” She pushed against his chest. “I’m done here.”