Free Strip Search by Shayla Black

her style.
    "I don't think--"
    "You think too much," he whispered, moving his hand off the wall and easing it around her hip. "Your eyes tell me your mind is always moving. Now it's time to just feel."
    He knew her. Somehow, someway, he'd seen the constant mental energy, the relentless planning and worrying and hoping going on in her head. She fantasized about just letting go. The fact he understood her both thrilled and terrified her. What else would he be able to guess about her? Her deepest fantasies?
    Mark leaned a fraction closer. Her hormones catapulted like an Olympic high jumper.
    Nicki swallowed. "The problem is--"
    "You think you're going to control this--and me. You're not, baby."
    "But--"
    "Are you the kind of woman to welsh on a bet?"
    Damn it, she hated having her honor questioned. She defended it with everything she had when necessary. But when it warred with her preservation instinct, that just sucked.
    "No," she admitted. "But I don't want--"
    "Yes, you do," he whispered. "It just scares the hell out of you. But I'm going to kiss it and make it all better."
    He wore a smile of lazy challenge as the searing hand on her neck situated her perfectly under his mouth. His lips hovered above hers, and he hesitated like a man contemplating a feast. The green heat in his hazel eyes burned her. Nicki's pulse picked up speed. Near Mm, dizzy seemed like such a permanent state she might as well make it her middle name.
    Robbed of the will to resist, she closer her eyes.
    He pulled her flush against his hard torso. Nicki had a mere instant to marvel at the sensation of his wide, muscleslabbed chest against her breasts before his lips covered hers.
    Actually, covered was too weak. Mark seduced her lips apart with a soft swipe, a teasing hot-breathed brush. He gave so little, took even less. Taunted her. He left her wanting, aching.
    Damn him.
    More. She needed more now. Melting like a cheap candle, she arched up, opened to him. Silently, she invited Mark--pleaded with him--to taste her.
    His fingers on the back of her neck tightened. That was her only warning before he slanted his lips over hers, seized her mouth and invaded.
    Suddenly, he was everywhere. The taste of creamed coffee and mint and something that could only be him flowed from his tongue to her with every caress. It blended with the scent and feel of aroused man. The elements exploded in her head, igniting a spark of need that made her knees go loose and wobbly.
    Her ability to think--gone, burned away in a kiss that was three parts lust and one part Mark's determination to make her surrender.
    He was thorough, methodical in his passion, ensuring no part of her mouth felt neglected. His tongue raked the roof of her mouth before he nibbled her bottom lip. Nicki whimpered, drowning in sensation. The man's kiss was a tender domination. Soft, yes, but no less in control. Persuasive, cajoling, yet Nicki knew--just as he did--who commanded it.
    Having her control stolen away so quickly, so completely, was a new and unsettling experience--but one that only made her want him more.
    Pressed against his firm chest, her breasts ached so badly. The idea of his fingers, his mouth, on her stiff nipples obsessed her. That thought alone gushed the pulsing place between her legs with moisture. At least one part of her was an optimist, hoping he'd be guiding the length of his impressive male anatomy deep inside her soon. But the length of his arousal pressed stiff and strong into her lower belly, far too north of her ache to alleviate any need.
    Damn him.
    She squirmed, her body seeking relief. Without lifting his mouth from hers for an instant, Mark fitted his hands beneath her arms and lifted her from her floor. Hands clinging to his shoulders, Nicki held on as he braced her against the wall and held her in place with the burning width of his chest. She felt seared with his touch, the need to get that evil shirt off his body and feel his flesh against hers.
    Instead, satisfied