Her heart, if that was what still beat there, turned over. For him.
She opened her mouth to say something, anything, when his lips enclosed her nipple.
She gasped, her hands tightening in his hair, her eyelids closing. He sucked. Hard. Nothing could’ve prevented the low moan that slid up her throat and into his hair. He found the other nipple and pinched.
A mini-orgasm rocked through her.
More. She wanted more. Her body moved of its own volition, her thighs clamping his, rubbing against him.
He manacled her hips and stilled her, leaning back. “Decide now. You want this?”
God, she did. It felt good. After so long, something felt good. She didn’t care about repercussions, and she had stopped thinking about tomorrows months ago. “Yes.” She tried to move again, but he kept her immobilized.
He grabbed her hair and wrenched her head to the side, his gaze capturing hers. “This is fucking. Full bore, I’ll take you and make you come so hard you’ll forget the world for a few minutes. But that’s all it is. Not love, not forever, and not a way to manipulate me.” Dark red spun beneath his skin, highlighting the angles and deep hollows. His arms vibrated as if fighting his determination to hold back.
She gulped down air, only partially listening, needing to move. So she nodded.
“Say it.”
“Fucking,” she breathed out. “Just that.”
With the words, he changed. Not in an obvious way, but his tension exploded out, and his eyes darkened. With promise and something darkly male.
Standing, he kept her straddling him, his hands cupping her butt. He squeezed fresh bruises.
Pain and then fierce need cascaded through her, throwing her headfirst into a desire hot enough to incinerate. His responding grin held so much sin she blinked, captivated by the raw handsomeness that was Jax Mercury.
For the moment, however brief, he was hers.
“You shouldn’t have done that. Earlier,” she breathed, gyrating against him, her butt still smarting.
“Point to make.” No apology, no regret glimmered in his hard eyes. Only desire, rimmed with lust he did nothing to hide.
The rational part of her, the woman who’d lived before the world had changed, knew she should court caution. Understood she should ask questions.
But questions and caution were things for the past. Only here and now existed, and her body ruled. So alive, for the first time in too long, she took the chance to embrace danger in order to feel again. To be a woman, with flaws and fears, strengths and soul, for one night in time.
With a stranger more deadly than the bacteria that had killed billions.
The rational part of her brain, the scientist that understood human behavior, comprehended the advantage of being tied to Jax Mercury. Safety lay in his savagery, in being protected by a man who had what it took to survive.
But he was more than that. She knew, from the gentle way he’d treated her earlier, the man had depths.
Even as her mind tried to claim the decision, her body and a deeper part of who she was clung to the moment. She’d been numb, she’d been afraid, and she’d been hopeless.
Now she hungered.
Even so, when he laid her on the bed, vulnerability swamped her.
He straightened and tugged the shirt over his head, revealing a tattooed and battle-scarred chest. Some scars were old and faded to white, some new and still jagged; knife and bullet wounds cut into hard muscle and firm ridges. “Nothing happens you don’t want,” he said, his hands going to his belt buckle as he read her with impressive accuracy.
The sound of the streets echoed in his tone, the tenor somehow intriguing and full of warning.
Masculinity could be both beautiful and devastating in its brutality. She hadn’t realized that before. Even after months of fighting and months of hiding, she hadn’t seen the elemental nature of man at such a level. “I want you,” she whispered.
He shed his jeans and reached down, with surprisingly gentle movements, to remove hers. She gasped at his fully erect, glistening cock. “Uh—”
“We’ve established you haven’t been abused, and you’re not exactly afraid of me right now, but I need to know, how long has it been?” he asked, dropping one knee onto the bed and sliding up her.
Her mouth opened and closed. He nearly enclosed her, pinning her to the bed, all heated male and lust-filled intent. Heated flesh slid against her, and she fought the urge to let her eyes roll back in her head. “How are you talking rationally right now?” she gasped.
He reached for his jeans on the floor and drew out a condom. “Losing control isn’t an option. I asked you a question.”
Yeah, but command filled every word. She slid her fingers through his thick hair and clenched. Her body burned, and her clit actually pounded for release. “Have you always been like this?”
“No.” His grin transformed the harsh lines of his face into something almost sweet. “Believe me, I had a temper to tame. But now survival dictates we think before acting, and I’m sussing out the facts here. How long has it been?”
She amused herself by sliding her hands through his rough hair. “A year, I guess. Before getting infected.”
“Good.” He lay over her, elbows holding his weight, and lowered his head to kiss her deep. Question and intent filled his kiss, winding through her mouth and down to hit all the important spots on the way.
She widened her legs, gasping when his cock jumped against her clit. “Any chance you could get lost in the moment?”
He grinned against her mouth and leaned back, brown gaze warm. “Green Eyes, if I got lost in the moment, you’d be bent over the bed, face in the pillows, begging to come with every fiber of your being. I’d make you promise everything.”
Heat flared in her abdomen, and a shudder slid down her back.
He chuckled. “Don’t tempt me.” Before she could think again, doubt the moment, he reached down and slid his thumb across her clitoris.
Electricity sparked through her sex. She arched into his hand, and the sound she made would’ve embarrassed her had her mind not blanked. The feelings, so good, so natural, nearly threw her into an early orgasm. “Jax,” she moaned.
“Enough talking.” He shifted to the side and rolled a condom into place. Then he levered his body over hers, both hands capturing her face to hold firm. “Decide now. You want slow and building, or do you want fast and explosive? Want me to take you away?”
Heat rose from her chest to her face, burning in its intensity. She was already wet and primed for him. “Not slow.”
His chin lifted, his gaze intense. “Say it. Tell me what you want.”
She blinked, her body rubbing against his. Pride didn’t mean a damn thing in the face of oblivion. Add in pleasure, and she truly didn’t give a damn what she needed to say to reach temporary bliss. “Fast and wild. Make me forget.”
“Forget what?” His biceps strained as if he held himself back with great effort.
“Everything,” she whispered, spreading her legs wider.
“Fair enough.” Raising up to plant one hand by the side of her head, he reached between them, positioned himself, and shoved deep enough to stop her breath.
Pain flared inside her, and she arched up against him, her breath catching in her lungs. One hand slapped against his chest, as if trying to ward him off. Feelings, raw and real, ripped through her. Pain hinting at an edge of pleasure.
He grabbed one of her thighs and pushed up, opening her further. “You’re tight, sweetheart,” he murmured, dropping his wet forehead to hers.
That simple act, one of intimacy, warmed her throughout. “I know.”
He positioned the other thigh, opening her fully to him and whatever he wanted to do to her. The moment should’ve whispered for caution, but instead, her desire clawed higher. She couldn’t move. Her internal walls relaxed around him, and her breath picked up.