Feel the Heat: A Contemporary Romance Anthology

“What took you so long?” he asked, working to keep his cool as her gorgeous body beckoned his attention.

With her hair coiled tightly on her head, she lifted her chin, but he didn’t miss the quiver in her voice when she answered with, “The only reason I’m standing here with this dress on is because I’m starving.” She looked at the food on the table, and frowned.

“You shouldn’t have kept me waiting.” He gave her a disapproving look and continued with, “It was also unfair to Ester, who went through all this trouble for us. Now instead of taking her well-earned break, she’ll have to start again.” As soon as he said her name, Ester stepped outside. She gathered up the plates of spoiled food and looked to Quinn for instructions.

“Please give us a minute,” he said, and she nodded in understanding before stepping back inside to give him his privacy. He turned back to Rebecca. “I’m not a man who tolerates insubordination and I don’t like to waste perfectly good food.”

“Neither do I. I didn’t mean…I didn’t think…”

“My orders were very specific. You were to dress and meet me on the terrace.”

Her cheeks turned pink. “Mr. Montgomery,” she began, sounding flustered as he stepped close, crowding her.

“It’s Quinn.”

She hesitated for a moment and he listened to her throat swallow before she began again, “Quinn, look. My intentions weren’t to spoil—”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to be punished for not following my orders.”

She gasped, but he didn’t miss the excitement backlight her big blue eyes. Christ, she was everything he knew she would be, and he was just glad that he was the guy in charge of guiding her down the path to full sensual freedom—at least this way he’d ensure she was properly introduced and cared for in the process. A thrill moved through him, and because he hadn’t felt anything so exhilarating in a long time, he grasped on to it, enjoying the sensations she aroused in him.

He stepped up to her, and she took a quick step backward, but he matched it and soon had her in his grasp. He thumbed the material of her dress, enjoying the feel of the cool silk on his fingertips before he bunched it in his palms. Pulling it higher and higher on her thighs, he slipped a hand between her legs. A cool breeze blew off the ocean and washed over them, but he suspected the quiver in her body was from his intimate touch, and not the misty air.

He looked at the bun on top of her head. “Was there an elastic on your bed?”

Her brow furrowed and her words were rushed, breathless when she asked, “No why?”

“Then why is there one in your hair?”

She blinked, looking confused for a second then answered with, “I put my hair up this morning.”

“Take it out,” he demanded.

He pressed his cock against her midriff, and a tremble moved through her. She lifted her arm, and then hesitated, like she was having second thoughts.

He leaned closer and spoke quieter. “I said, take it out.”

Her full, lush breasts, which were high and pert in the formfitting dress, rose and fell erratically as she quickly pulled the band from her hair, letting her long dark curls fall down her back. His hands traveled higher on her thigh, only to discover that she’d once again strayed from his instructions.

In a shaky voice she began, “You weren’t serious earlier, were you? I mean you’re not really going to pun—”

He made a tsking sound and when he grabbed the band on her panties, giving them a good hard yank to rip them from her hips, her words were replaced with a broken gasp.

“Quinn…” she shuddered.

He tucked the scrap of material into the back pocket of his khaki shorts, and dipped back under her dress. He slid his palm along her soft, supple skin, until he reached her backside.

Testing her, he pulled her against him, and gave a slap to her ass cheek, the sound curling around them in the most sinful way. He stifled a groan, his cock throbbing and pulsating inside his unforgiving pants.

Rebecca let out a ragged cry of pleasure and Quinn kept the satisfaction from his face as he spun her around. He crushed her breasts against the exterior wall of his estate as he caged her with his chest. He put his mouth close to her neck, and whispered, “Were there panties on your bed?”

“I just thought…I decided…”

“Everything that happens here, every choice involving you is mine to make, not yours. So from this moment on, you’re to stop making decisions, and enjoy the freedom that comes with that.” He kept her pinned to the wall, his hard cock pressing into the small of her back. “Speaking of Freedom, that is your safe word.”

“Freedom?” she murmured, her voice husky.

Evelyn Adams, Christine Bell, Rhian Cahill, Mari Carr, Margo Bond Collins, Jennifer Dawson, Cathryn Fox, Allison Gatta, Molly McLain, Cari Quinn's books