Free For Desire Alone by Jess Michaels

they would share that wasn’t rushed and desperate.
    He drew back and looked down at her. Her hazel stare was almost impossibly dark with desire at the moment and focused entirely on him.
    “Take off your clothes,” he rasped as he stepped away.
    She blinked. “You don’t want to take them off?”
    It was said so sweetly that the words alone could hardly be taken as a challenge, but her expression was anything but sweet. She was taunting him, daring him to do so.
    He shook his head. “I will rend the dress in two if I do it. And then you will be forced to leave my home utterly naked.”
    Her responding laughter was throaty and made his groin ache, but then she lifted her hands to the buttons of her gown. It was a different from the one she had worn earlier in the day and had buttons along the front. He stared as she flicked each one free with just a smooth motion of her wrist and parted her gown to seductively reveal the curves of her breasts.
    “If I am to take off my clothing,” she said with a counterfeit pout, “I think it only fair that you remove yours. None of this only one person naked while we make love nonsense.”
    He swallowed. She was testing his resolve and his control with her playful, seductive teasing. And truth be told, he liked it. So many women he encountered seemed intimidated by his presence, his reputation, his money, his name, that they were coy with him. They allowed him to do all the work that led to a sexual encounter. And while he enjoyed a good seduction as much as the next man…
    Well, he also very much liked Mariah’s confidence and boldness.
    She opened the last button of her gown and parted the fabric slightly. She gently lifted and pushed her breasts together, but did not uncover them, offering him just a tantalizing glimpse of cleavage.
    “Your turn,” she ordered.
    He did not require a second request. Without breaking their stare, he shoved out of his jacket and tossed it away from him without bothering to see where it landed. Next he unbuttoned his shirt, carefully repeating her seductive play when she had done the same with her gown.
    She grinned and then laughed at his playful teasing and his heart jumped unexpectedly at her wide, pretty smile. She so often didn’t show it, instead playing the part of a seductive, erotic mistress. But dear God, it was worth everything to see her so at ease, so joyful.
    He stripped his shirt off and she stopped laughing and instead just stared at him.
    “John,” she murmured and reached for him, closing the gap between them to press her hand against his bare chest.
    He sucked his breath in through his teeth and held it as she glided her fingers down his chest, over his stomach and then let them fall away.
    “You approve?” he managed to ask.
    She nodded and her gaze returned to his. “Oh yes. Very much so. But I’m sure you think nothing of that. Every woman who sees you like this must coo and moan over you. You know you are beautiful, a specimen. My thinking the same couldn’t be of any consequence.”
    John stared at her. As if he could ever rank her amongst the numerous unimportant women who had touched him over the years.
    “Mariah, trust that your thoughts mean a great deal to me. They always have,” he said softly.
    Her eyes went wide and she stared at him for so long that he shifted at the intensity of her gaze. To lighten the mood, to break the tension, he smiled.
    “Now I am half-naked, and you are still fully clothed. I thought you wished to prevent this sort of disparity from occurring. It is only fair that you remove some portion of that gown.”
    She blinked and the spell was broken. Her smile was wobbly, but she slowly, seductively glided her gown over her shoulders and tugged it down. She held up the fabric around her chest as she slipped her arms free from each sleeve and then dropped the dress around her waist to reveal her perfect breasts.
    “Dear God,” he growled, almost against his will.
    “Does this mean you