His arousal was obvious behind his fly.

Anne drew him back to her mouth, and his heavy body came willingly, finding a home between her thighs. Rolling her hips against him, she stroked his erection with her core through their slacks, and the growl that came back to her made her feel sexier than any compliment could ever have.

Slipping her hands between them, she freed the button at his waistband and he twisted to the side so she could unzip him.

What shot out at her was thick and hard and hot.

Commando, she should have known. And shit . . . that was erotic.

“Anne, fuck!” he groaned as she circled him with her hand and stroked him.

He didn’t let her get far with that. He grabbed both her wrists, pulled her away and stretched her arms up, pinning them to the mattress.

Dropping his head, he breathed hard as a freight train. “You’re going to make me finish way too early if you keep that up.”

Moaning in the back of her throat, she arched again and he cursed in her ear.

This time, when he kissed her, he didn’t hold back. His lips ground down on her own, and she wanted the passion, she needed him, all of him.

Her slacks were off her next. Then his were all the way gone.

And her panties went flying across the room.

“Condom,” she said. “Do you have—”

“Hold on. I think so. Wait here.”

Danny was usually as coordinated as any athlete, and yet he stumbled as he got off the bed, catching himself on the bureau before he face-planted on the carpet. Over at his bag, he threw shirts and boxers over his shoulder—

“Fuck.”

As he hung his head, she put her hands to her face. She hadn’t expected to have sex, so she certainly didn’t have anything with her. And there were probably condoms down in the gift shop, but if he bought them, it was going to cause talk—

“I only have one.”

Anne exhaled in relief and could have sworn a halo appeared over the bright blue Trojan packet he held out.

And then she looked down his body, his sex standing proud and hard at his hips. “Put it on,” she ordered him. “I want to watch.”

* * *

Yes, ma’am, Danny thought as he stared across at Anne.

She was stretched out on the now-messy duvet, her arms over her head, her breasts tight and ready for more attention, her lower body turned away from him so her spectacular ass was on full display.

Palming himself, he stroked his shaft up and down, giving her a show she clearly appreciated given the way her legs churned.

Then he bit the wrapper, ripped it, and took out the condom.

He prayed he didn’t drop the goddamn thing.

Pinching the top, he put the rolled base over his head and hated the wet, cold feel. But that shit did not last as Anne reached between her thighs and started stroking herself.

“Slow, do it slow . . .” she said.

His erection was so hard, it was like covering a baseball bat, and he watched her watching him until he nearly orgasmed. When he was done, she split her legs.

“Come here.”

Following orders, he got right up on her beautiful body, lying where he had been and never wanted to leave. Then he found the hand that she had been pleasuring herself with and brought those talented fingertips to his lips.

Extending his tongue, he licked her forefinger, then sucked it deep, tasting her, drawing her in and out of his mouth.

As she moaned, he drove into her.

Anne called his name out, and he knew he would remember that sound for the rest of his life. And then he didn’t do much more thinking. His body, long denied of what it had craved, took over, finding a rhythm that was so much harder and faster than he wanted.

Thank God for latex. If this had been bareback? He would have come the instant he was in her. As it was, there was a dimming of sensation that, when coupled with his gritted molars and his determination to make sure she came first, pretty much made it possible for him to not find his release.

She did come first.

Hard.

So hard, something bit into his back. Her nails? He didn’t care if it was a wild animal loose from the fucking zoo or an All Hallows’ Eve gremlin attacking him. And he didn’t give two shits if she gored him down to his spine, either.

Slowing his rhythm, he felt the internal contractions of her core and knew he was doing okay. But still he worried. He prayed this was the best sex she ever had.

Because that way, maybe she’d let him in again.

When she finally stilled, he took the back of one of her knees, stretched her leg up, and looked down into her eyes.

“Hold on,” he said. “And I’m sorry this is going to be so rough.”

As she bit her lower lip and moaned, he started to move again.

Harder. Faster.

He wanted to make love to her, but he ended up fucking her to the edge of the bed, her head falling off the mattress, her breasts offered up to him, his mouth trying and failing to find a nipple because he was going wild on top of her.

Stars.

Danny literally saw stars as he came, his balls going tight as his erection went numb—before the top of his head blew off and his vision went Fourth of July.

Loud noise. A wolf growling. Was that coming out of his mouth?

A crash. The lamp on the table?

He didn’t know. He didn’t care.

He was having the orgasm of his life and she was the reason for it.

His beloved Anne.

Chapter 5

In the aftermath, as Anne lay underneath Danny’s heavy body, she wanted to stay in the netherworld they were in forever.

She wanted to be in this warmth and connection, this closeness, this . . . happy quiet, for the rest of her life. Running her hands over his shoulders, she felt the lax muscles under the smooth skin and then she threaded the hair at his nape through her fingers—

Out in the hall, someone shouted something and laughed. Then ran down and back.

It was probably one of the 499 crew. Or Moose and Danny’s fraternity brothers.

The intrusion into their quiet was a harbinger of the reality that waited for them and was not going to go away.

As she thought about Monday morning arriving and her showing up for roll call at the firehouse, she was reminded that gravity didn’t just apply to objects on the earth. It also subjected moods and experiences to its tendency of grounding.

When the sex had been happening, it had been a roar of sensation that had eclipsed everything. Now, as all that receded, everything else became razor sharp and invasive.

More people talked out in the hall. And a toilet flushed in the room above. And her neck was getting stiff because she was hanging off the edge of the bed.

Lifting herself, she saw the top of Danny’s dark head. He was still breathing hard, the muscled carve of his arm blocking out the rest of the room.

“Here, let me move you,” he said.

As he repositioned her with his brute strength, she didn’t want someone to take care of her, think about her needs, anticipate what she required.

And that wasn’t about Danny. That was what her father and mother had taught her the hard way: Anything that was provided by someone other than yourself, whether it was money or position or emotional support, could be, by definition, taken away from you.

“This doesn’t have to be the end,” he said. “We can start something slow . . . see where it takes us.”

Anne closed her eyes. Drawing in a deep breath, she said, “I need to go.”

Danny’s body tensed. And then his torso lifted off her. As his eyes met hers, his face was a mask—and the control suggested she had hurt him. Which, again, was a surprise—but nothing she could dwell on.

It was easy to get caught up in their attraction in the moment, but now the rational part of her brain was taking control again.

He reached between them and held the condom in place as he withdrew. “Yeah. Sure.”

Anne moved out from under him, and she felt like a fool as she looked around in the dark for her underwear. She found her panties on the chair in the corner, draped on the arm, stuck there like they were in an ad for a movie. Or for condoms.

She drew them on with her back to him and then the first tuxedo shirt she came to was his, the voluminous folds testament to how built he was.

Putting that shirt on the chair, she found the right one and cursed at the little buttons. But then she had her slacks on, and everything tucked in, and the jacket in place, and her shoes on.