Free Rocked in the Dark by Clara Bayard Page A

life on my terms. Doing things the way I wanted. And what I wanted more than anything right now was Rick. And I meant to have him, damn the consequences.

Sadly, it took a lot longer than thirty seconds for us to get out of the elevator. I was too busy trying to control my libido to check the time, but it was either ten minutes or a thousand years. Without having to discuss it, Rick and I stayed on opposite sides of the car, keeping as much distance between us as possible. But now that we’d opened the door to desire, there was no way to fully contain it.
The sensation was like nothing I’d felt before. With five feet of space between us it felt like electrical current arced between our bodies. The closest I’d ever felt to this was onstage. When the crowd was mine, hanging on every note and I was in the zone, just letting it happen, giving everything I had. Magical.
By the time the elevator lights turned back on and we rode up to my floor, I was gone. On the outside I managed to thank the technician waiting for us there and walk calmly towards my door, but inside I was a tightly coiled spring of need.
Likewise, Rick went with me wordlessly, but I noted he was careful not to touch me until I’d unlocked the door. Then, like a rocket taking off, he pushed me ahead of him into the room so fast he stumbled.
I giggled, high on the weirdness and rush of hormones.
We tumbled into the room together, hurrying to remove clothes and shoes and get to the bed as quickly as possible. Rick turned away as he threw his shirt onto the floor and my mouth watered at the intricate tattoos that covered the wide expanse of his back.
Throwing all caution to the wind I shoved him down onto the bed on his stomach.
He laughed. “What the hell?”
I didn’t say anything, just slid my jeans off and climbed up, straddling his narrow waist. I bent down and kissed along the line of his spine, my fingers dancing over his ink. One day I would ask about each one. The stylized web. The tightly wound knot. The sharp barbed wire.
But with his skin on mine, talk was the last thing I wanted to do.
Sitting back, I traced the lines of muscles up to his shoulders and down his arms.
“That feels great, Julia, but if you let me up I could be a little more involved in this party.”
“If you want something, take it.”
He growled and flipped us both over, managing to catch me at the waist so I didn’t fall to the floor. In a second he was above me, braced on his arms to look into my eyes. “I want everything.”
I smiled and bit down on my lower lip. “So what are you waiting for?”
Rick kissed me hard once and then slid lower, unhooking my bra and freeing my breasts. He held each in one hand and settled in between my spread thighs. He licked each tip slowly, rolling his tongue around the sensitive skin over and over again.
“Hurry,” I hissed.
He chuckled. “Won’t argue with you on that one. Have you got…?”
“In the nightstand.”
He reached over, grabbed what he needed and then gave me his full attention again, kissing a line of heat down between my breasts to my belly. The pads of his fingers slid lightly around the soft swell and then out to my hips. He hooked into the sides of my panties and slid them down and off.
Now completely naked, I was bared to him completely. His gaze raked over my body like a caress, and then he used his hands to take the tour again. Lightly, gently, but quickly, he touched me everywhere, leaving tingling desire in his wake.
“Rick,” I said impatiently.
“Mmm. Greedy. I like it.” He got up long enough to remove his jeans and I wasn’t at all surprised to discover he didn’t have anything on under them. Like the rest of his body, his shaft was long and thick and hard. He fisted it in one hand and smiled at the hungry look in my eyes.
Cocky bastard . But, considering what I was looking at, he had reason to be.
It occurred to me that Rick’s mistake in life was wearing clothes. Because in the presence of his