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  Dante whirled around and attacked. “Hiya!”

  He saw her karate chop and blocked it. But she didn’t stop. She came at him with whirling arms and punches.

  How the hell does she do that in heels?

  Kenshin fell to the floor. “Ow! Ow!”

  Dante stopped. “Kenshin!”

  He smiled up at her. “Hi.”

  Groaning, she offered her hand. “I thought you knew kung fu.”

  At that moment, he grabbed her and brought her down to the carpeted floor with him. He rolled her onto her back, pinning her beneath him. Bringing his face close to hers, he confessed, “I do. But I don’t fight girls.”

  “Girl?” Dante quirked an eyebrow.

  “Woman.”

  “I don’t know why you’re here or how you got by Ren and Rob…”

  He kissed her cheek. “You are an attractive woman.”

  She broke into laughter. “So you said.”

  “I’m not here for sex…”

  “Really…”

  She sighed.

  “You turn me on, but I meant what I said. I mean to make you mine—not just sexually, but emotionally too.”

  Dante sobered. “You’re serious.”

  “Can’t you tell?”

  With that he leaned down and kissed her hard on the mouth, claiming the kiss she’d teased him with all night. Sweetness and a hint of spearmint were on Dante’s tongue and they quickly became flavors in his mouth. Beneath him, Dante’s pelvis rotated, grinding against him. He released her wrists and broke the kiss. It took all of his self-control. He released her and got to his feet.

  Dante sat up, rubbing her lips. “What just happened?”

  “I wouldn’t want you to think I was just here for sex.” Kenshin’s cock jutted against the fabric of his trousers as if contradicting his words. It resembled a tent pole, and he saw Dante’s eyes go to it. “Don’t worry. It’ll go away soon.”

  But not as long as I’m this close to you.

  Dante stood up and straightened her blouse. Breathless, she reached into her hair and removed the pins. Loose, sexy curls fell to her shoulders. She placed her diamond-decorated hairpins on the coffee table. Her eyes remained on him, moving up from his erection to his face.

  “Tell me again why you’re here, Kenshin. The sushi?”

  Chapter Three

  Dante waited for Kenshin’s answer. With a fluid, practiced motion, she kicked off her ivory stilettos. In stocking feet, she walked around the four-room suite and up to the minibar that neighbored the room’s kitchenette. The large space had seemed large. Now, it shrank, closing in on her with each step Kenshin took toward her. The room felt almost crowded—and Kenshin came incredibly close. She removed the lid to a round container of ice that was slowly melting like her resolve. Using the tongs, she fished around for a few salvageable chunks. Ren had done his duty and fixed the suite before coming downstairs to oversee the end of the party and to make sure folks got to a private room before too much skin and sin unfolded. Thank goodness.

  “I’m here to show you what you’ve been missing,” Kenshin said at last, following her to the other section of the suite. His voice glided along the air, enticingly smooth and seductive.

  “How do you know what I’ve been missing?” Ice clinked into the glass. She gripped the liquid-filled glass for dear life. Heaven help her, she’d promised. She wouldn’t succumb to her flesh, her lust, and her carnal craving. But Kenshin made it so hard to stay true to her promise. The cold seemed to anchor her. Jack Daniels and cola sounded good right about now, anything to calm her raging hormones. Kenshin tempted her. Her resolve could only last so long, especially with him. When he looked at her and spoke in that commanding voice, it turned her legs to jelly. It caused cracks in her armor. Maybe she could blame the booze in the morning.

  “Because I have been missing it too.”

  He reached out to her so gently, so streaked with emotion, she almost believed he’d been missing truth, love, and commitment. Almost.

  Before she knew it, his hands were in her hair, moving it to one side, revealing her neck. His breath was warm against her sensitive skin, raising chills as if she were cold, making her burn. It roused her once more, and her courage wavered. Then he pulled her back to him. His hard cock rested on the curve of her ass. Their clothes couldn’t lessen the stone feel of him. She melted into him. In a business like hers, she’d had her share of lovers. Did Kenshin really have something new and inventive to give her?

  She did want to find out. What was one little night of pleasure? After all, she was grown. No one to answer to but herself.

  His lips traced down her delicate skin and right to her collarbone. Moving the silk fabric of her blouse, Kenshin planted small, light, barely there kisses along her shoulders. He cupped her breasts and kneaded them slowly. With his tongue, he tasted the skin along her jaw and up to her earlobe. He sucked gently, and tucked in playful teasing.

  “Kenshin…” Goose bumps skated down to her clit, forcing it to beat rapidly with each nip of her ear and squeeze of her breasts. Sensations flooded her body, but she shouldn’t be as turned on as she was right then. Other men had touched her, kissed her, sucked her, but Kenshin’s touch set her aflame. Her body burned for him, craved him, causing an inferno.

  He released her ear, and stepped back. Suddenly, she turned around. “Stop. Teasing.”

  “Make me,” he countered.

  She put her hands on her hips. Oh, so that’s how he wants to play it, is it?

  Locking on to his broad smirk, she unbuttoned her blouse, her breasts tightening at the anticipation of feeling his soft lips latched onto her hard, aching peaks. When she reached the last one, she jerked around, showing him her back. Seductively, she lowered the blouse from her arms. Shrugging out of it fully, she heard Kenshin clear his throat.

  “Your back is so sexy. I almost like it more than your front—almost. Still, I’m not moving from this spot.”

  “I’m not done.” She glanced over her shoulder. As she did, he watched her watching him and froze, with his hand still positioned above his still-clothed and sizable cock. A second later she would’ve found him stroking his rod. She smirked at him.

  “I hope not,” he said, just loud enough for her to hear.

  Smiling, she turned back to the bar. She hurried and undid the leather belt. Her fingers slipped on the button, so great was her desire. The zipper’s descent resounded loudly in the room—at least to her. In a very deliberate manner, she bent over and lowered her slacks, allowing the expensive fabric to glide over the round curve of her ass, revealing her ebony thong. Closing her eyes to the room’s cool air on her hot flesh, she rubbed her hands over her thighs before stepping completely out of her pants. Dressed only in her matching black bra and thong, Dante shifted to the side, giving Kenshin a profile view of her curvaceous figure.

  “Dante.” Kenshin’s voice came out barely above a croak.

  Turning fully to face him, she tossed her hair back and leaned against the bar. “So, is that all you have to say?”

  Kenshin visibly swallowed. He quickly unbuttoned his shirt, his nimble fingers zipping down the line of clear circles. At once, it fell, forgotten, to the floor. There in all its glory, just for her, Kenshin’s dragon—roaring with life. His flat nipples begged for her lips, and her tongue longed to trace those intricate lines of the dragon’s scales, across the flames shooting from his mouth. Those glowing, dark eyes shifted as he did. His muscles brought the beast to life. He brought the heat. Almost as if the mythical beast had set her own fire with its eternal flames, igniting her internal wick, threatening to burn down her resistance.

  Not waiting, Dante reached into the underwire cups of her bra and lifted out her throbbing breasts. Kenshin had probably seen her naked before at other Inferno parties, but his reaction to her now made her feel incredibly sexy. The isolation, the coziness of their closeness, and the quiet pants all made it more intimate. Before she could blink, his lips were lat
ched onto one of her pointed, pebble-hard nipples. She held him to her and ran her fingers through his hair, as he suckled and teased with his teeth. Gasping, she grinned in victory. No heterosexual, breathing man had been able to resist her. Not to brag, but she knew her sexiness. In fact, she’d used her allure and brains to build a profitable and popular business.

  Kenshin tugged her closer to him and his lips’ sweet torment.

  She moaned. “See?”

  Kenshin released her and straightened. Looking down at her, he said, “You make me crazy. I’ll admit it. But understand me, Dante. If we go further, I mean to keep you all to myself. Do you understand?”

  “No one owns me,” she said breathlessly, incredibly turned on by how badly Kenshin wanted her. She lazily strummed her pointed peak. “No one.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to own you,” Kenshin said, bending down to her lips, one of his hands teasing the nipple of her other breast, pinching it and rolling it between his fingers. His fingers acted in concert with hers. “No, you’re much too independent. I want your love. I won’t share you with anyone. Dragons do tend to hoard their treasure.”

  Treasure. That’s a new line. She closed her eyes, a rush of pleasure flowing over her. “Kenshin, please, just fuck me already.”

  “Tell me you agree, and I will.”

  “Coercion!” she purred, her hands touching his hard abdomen. The soft skin beneath her fingertips shuddered.

  “You’re right.” His body heat vanished.

  Dante growled and opened her eyes. Not again! Groping for his body, she found nothing but air. She spun around and saw Kenshin already back across the room, putting on his shirt. He glanced at her, but didn’t say anything. Tousled hair, his casual sexiness, and the heat burning in his eyes, caused her skin to warm. He looked ready to go to her bed, not home. So why was he putting on his clothes instead of removing more of them?

  “What are you doing?” she asked, her hands on her hips. Maybe he’d gotten a business call or something. That had to be it. No way in hell he would leave her like this.

  “Leaving.” With an even tone, calm movements, and blank face, Kenshin appeared completely comfortable with just walking away from her. Disappointment made her cold. Dante snatched her own blouse up from the floor and stomped over to him.

  “Yeah, I can see that. So what the hell? You like teasing me? I knew it. You’re playing some damn game. You’re not serious about anything. Go! Just get out!”

  “Dante, I’ve already said how badly I want to make love to you. But know this. I’m not into just fucking you. I mean to make love to you.” Kenshin suddenly touched her hair as if he’d never felt anything so soft before. “I meant what I said. I want you…forever. Tonight we’re both too raw.”

  Furious, Dante crossed her arms in a huff. “Raw? This isn’t a long-term marriage. It’s just sex.”

  He sighed. “That’s just it. I don’t want this to be just be sex.”

  “Why the hell not? You don’t know anything about me to want forever.” She offered him a no-strings-attached night of divinity and he’d just told her no. Straight up? Is he married? Too furious to say much more, she couldn’t puzzle it out.

  He put one hand on each of her shoulders and stared her right in the eyes. “Good night.”

  With a small peck on her cheek, Kenshin walked out of the suite.

  Dante touched her face.

  What the hell just happened?

  Chapter Four

  One Week Later

  Friday morning, Dante had finally crawled into bed, head spinning from the numerous glasses of Jack and cola she’d consumed. Dante paced back and forth from the door to the kitchen. She couldn’t wrap her head around the fact he left her. Right in the very heat of horniness. With her flabbergasted and her hunger set to ravenous, she pondered what to do. Her condominium overlooking Lake Michigan right off of Michigan Avenue had more polished furnishings than most hotel suites. She glanced at the clock and despite it being well after ten in the morning, she had just awakened. On a Friday. Pathetic. Before retirement, she would’ve had a minimum of twenty things crossed off of her to-do list and twenty more ways to increase her net worth and her business because Friday meant implementation of or clean up after one of her notorious freak parties.

  Not today.

  At thirty-five, she had more than enough life left to do anything she wanted—to launch a second career. Like most days in the past week, her thoughts turned to Kenshin and away from the very scary endeavor of pursuing something else. She fingered the intricate designs on the comforter. A long time ago she learned how to discern between mean men and those who used walls to keep people at bay. Sure, she’d been hesitant at first, but once Kenshin demonstrated he meant to sex her down, she wilted. What woman wouldn’t in the face of such sexy, masculine temptation? None could withstand his appeal. The weakening of her will didn’t bother her. What annoyed her most resided in the fact that she let him leave without giving her what she sorely wanted.

  Had it all been just a game to Kenshin? To see how far she’d let him go? She hated playing head games. Marcus, aka Sugar Bear, had forever tainted her ability to trust—all his teasing and taunting soured in her stomach. Thank goodness she’d been wise enough to move on. He’d been so full of himself, hurting her during sex and not in a good way. No, he seemed to enjoy her pain, making it rough and uncomfortable at times, and then when she thought she could stand it no longer, switch to gentle, almost kind lovemaking. Thriving on her frantic clawing at his chest and glowering at her when she wept, Marcus had required nearly five years of therapy to numb her agony and blur the memories.

  Pushing thoughts of Marcus aside, Dante’s mind returned again to Kenshin. Instantly her mood brightened, warmth spilling throughout her body. Oh yes, she definitely had a crush on the handsome accountant. She buried herself under the covers, relishing the coziness of the sheets and thoughts of Kenshin’s body, his scent, arousing and foreign—all of which had been tattooed on her psyche.

  Why? Why did it matter what Kenshin thought about her or her situation? Dante twisted her lips into a pout. Kenshin probably needed someone. More importantly, he thought he needed her. She lay back against the bed as she recalled her last thought before the blackout took her. Kenshin’s words: he meant to make her his and only his. Now, thinking through the thick fog of a hangover, the revelation hit her. He was serious. Well, hell, he couldn’t be serious. He knew full and damn well what she did for a living.

  Did.

  Three hard knocks pounded on her door, making her head ache.

  “Go away!” she shouted. Damn.

  “Let me in.” The voice didn’t sound like a command, but it held all hints of authority.

  Not. Now. Groaning, she put her face in the pillow. She slipped out of the bed and pulled on her kimono and marched directly to the door.

  “Yes?” she grunted at Ren’s cheery face.

  Outside her door, Ren waited.

  “Good morning, beautiful!” He thrust a cup of coffee into her hand and came in.

  “Shush! Do you have to be so loud?”

  He chuckled but lowered his voice to its usual resonate pitch. “Long night?”

  She sighed and stepped back inside the room, allowing him to come in. After shutting the door behind him, she put her hands on her hips.

  “I’m very tired and need about ten more hours of sleep. So what do you want, Ren?”

  Ren kept going toward her living room. She followed him and sipped the hot coffee already mixed with creamer and sugar. He sat down on the cream leather sofa and crossed his arms. Uh-oh. This is going to be a long lecture. She just knew it.

  “I’m going to put on clothes.”

  Ren laughed. “Why? I’ve seen you naked scores of times at the freak parties, plus I’ve known you forever.”

  She snorted and went back into her bedroom. Due to her work at the parties, she wore little clothing, but that had been work. That hadn’t been her life. She yanked on a wh
ite T-shirt and her ebony yoga pants. Still barefoot, Dante picked up the coffee cup and returned to her living room.

  “So?” She sat down in her overstuffed leather chair.

  “I came by to talk to you.”

  “About?”

  “You.”

  “What about me?” Dante heard the sharp spike in her voice.

  Ren’s voice softened. “It’s been a week since you saw Kenshin. What’s going on there? Give me the nitty-gritty as they say.”

  She peered at him. “Wait a minute, Mr. Ridiculous. How do you know he came up to my room last week? Wait a minute. You sent him up there?”

  Ren shrugged. “You need him. You’ve been secretly in love with him for years. So Rob and I decided to put you two together.”

  “I should fire your asses, both of you! I don’t need a damn matchmaker.”

  “But you won’t get rid of us because you know it’s true. Plus you don’t have that business anymore.”

  She glared at his amused face. Gloating didn’t become him, but if she mentioned it, he would only become more smug. Damn him for being right.

  “Fine. I’ll admit. I like him. It’s clear he doesn’t want me.” Dante swallowed the rest of it. Pity parties weren’t the kind of event she threw.

  “You’re crazy about him, D. You talked about him and mooned over him when he came to your parties. You’ve never been shy about going after what you wanted, so what gives?”

  Dante slumped down beside him. “Kenshin said he didn’t want me. So I moved on.”

  “He said he didn’t want you?” Disbelief hung heavily on his words.

  Dante swore. She should’ve known not to try to tiptoe around Ren. They’d been friends for too long.

  “No. He said he wants a relationship, more than a nightcap. I just don’t know how he could even think he wants that when he barely knows me. Hell, I’m not even sure I want that.”

  Ren snorted. “Are you kidding me? Dante, you’ve been in love with Kenshin for years. Everyone knows he’s all into you. You ended up talking to him for hours. Remember that time in Milwaukee?”