Her sex clenched. “What did you discover about your brothers?”
“Nothing. Not a thing.” Anger tightened his jaw. “I found a couple military academies with pictures; nothing like the place I saw in my dreams. I searched their names, my name, hospital records. Death records.” His eyes swirled with emotion at the last. “Nothing.” He threw a pencil on the desk. “That’s not all.” Rising, he extended one hand into the kneehole of the heavy oak desk and casually lifted it a foot from the floor. “I’m seriously strong.”
Josie stood. Her heart slammed against her ribs. Nobody should be able to lift the desk so easily. “Apparently.”
He let the desk drop with a thud. “Did you know that about me?”
She tried for a nonchalant shrug. “I knew you were strong. Not that strong.” Apparently the guy had hidden more than his past from her. Who the hell was he? Anger began to slide through her veins. What was she doing even thinking about trusting him again?
“Close your eyes. What do you hear?”
She kept her eyes open. “The hum of the heating unit.” Other than that, silence echoed through the night.
Shane shook his head. “A block away a couple is having a spat about the tip the man left at dinner.” He stalked around the desk. Toward her. “The elevator has gone up twenty-three times in the last couple hours; gone down twenty-seven times.” His hands reached out to grab her forearms. “I need thirty-three steps to walk from here to the elevator. There are three exits from this building where I wouldn’t be seen.” His gaze dropped to her neck. “Your pulse rate increased when I grabbed your arms. I can hear it.” The large hands tightened around her biceps. “And you’re a liar. When you say it isn’t going to happen, you’re lying.”
He tugged her into masculine hardness, into incredible heat.
His palm slid up her neck until his fingers tangled in her hair—slowly, deliberately. He tethered her in place, his eyelids dropping to half-mast.
Goosebumps rose on her skin. Caution warred with desire. She jerked her head back—or tried to. His hold tightened, holding her where he wanted her. She couldn’t move. Shock and then flames licked through her.
His lips took hers, firm and determined. Her thighs dampened. He groaned low, bending her back, his hunger igniting hers.
Josie’s mind spun. He wasn’t asking. Gone was the care with which he’d always treated her. Pure, raw passion replaced thought.
Everything inside her melted as desire lit her on fire. While he’d always been passionate, this was new. Intense and dangerous, his hold showed no mercy.
He slammed her against the desk, the hard length of his body sliding against hers. He cupped the back of her head, his mouth moving over hers. A sharp nip triggered her to open her lips in protest, and he dove in, his body pinning her in place.
Hunger ripped through her veins.
His tongue stroked hers. The desk pressed into her back and she stiffened. He lifted her and plopped her atop the desk, her knees on either side of his hard hips, the skirt pooling up. Heat filled her sex. Her core rubbed against his erection.
“See what you do to me,” he rumbled against her mouth, giving her a reprieve to breathe. “From the first second I saw you in that coffee shop, you’ve done this to me.”
She clutched on to his hard forearms to keep herself upright. A protest caught in her throat when his head rose so he could pin her with a look. Danger glinted in those dark gray eyes. Possession. Promise. A hard flush covered his rugged face. “Say yes, Josie.”
“Yes.” The word came out before she could think.
He didn’t wait for a qualifier, not that her mind was working fast enough to invent one. Reaching past her, he swept files and papers to the floor. Broad hands circled her wrists, and he lay her back. He flattened her knuckles on either side of her head, palms up. “Keep your hands here.”
Her fingers curled until nails bit into her palms.
His gaze slid to the buttons of her shirt. He quickly flipped them open, smoothing the shirt apart to reveal her plain cotton bra. Hunger flared in his eyes.
So much she couldn’t speak. She could barely think.
“Ah, Josie.” He flicked open the clasp and the material sprang apart. “Finally, something I remember. You and us. This. The prettiest pink nipples in the world.” His hands dropped onto hers, holding them against solid oak as he lowered his head toward her breasts.
Fire. He engulfed one nipple in the heat of his mouth. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she pressed up against him. She’d forgotten. How had she forgotten how warm he could be? The inferno in that dangerous mouth? So unreal. Enhanced like his strength? She lifted her legs to encircle him, pressing her feet into his ass. Pressing him harder against her. Her hands ached with the need to touch him, and she tried to tug loose.
He kept her in place.