Free A Wicked Seduction by Janelle Denison

wanton feeling coiling deep inside her—a demand she’d ignored for far too long. The slow, insistent throb would take very little to appease, she knew. She bit her bottom lip and wondered…if she took the edge off her desire now, maybe, hopefully, she’d no longer lust and fantasize about a man who was incredibly sexy and gorgeous and totally off-limits to her.
    Giving in to the urge to let her imagination be a little wild and uninhibited, she allowed her lashes to flutter closed. And that easily, Dean was inside the steamy shower with her, his big hands replacing hers as they gradually skimmed lower, blazing a heated trail down her quivering stomach. With her eyes shut tight and her mind focused on pure pleasure, the silky cascade of water along her skin turned just as seductive as a lover’s warm, seeking mouth…as erotic as the slow, sensual lap of an experienced tongue gliding across her belly, licking along her thighs, and burrowing in between, where long, skillful fingers found and stroked the swollen nub of flesh hidden there.
    Falling under her own spell, she braced herself against the shower wall, let her head fall back, and surrendered to the provocative fantasy the man in the other room had evoked. She welcomed the swelling, tingling rush of her orgasm building and cresting within her. Her breathing grew heavy in an effort not to moan, her knees buckled, and she finally let go and lost herself in the torrent of sensation flooding her limbs.
    Seconds later, she opened her eyes and refocused on her surroundings—alone again, her phantom lover gone. Her heart pounded erratically in her chest andsteam from her hot shower billowed around her, as feverish as the climax that she now realized had merely been a temporary solution to obscure her more forbidden desires. Her release had lessened the immediate need that had taken up residence in her, but she still felt empty and unfulfilled in other ways…and she was dismayed to realize her yearning for Dean, the flesh-and-blood man, had only grown stronger.
    Refusing to dwell on that revelation, she turned off the water, stepped out of the shower and quickly dried off with a towel. She changed into clean panties, then threw on the cotton shorts and T-shirt she wore to sleep in when she was on a bail recovery assignment. After fastening her leather holster once again to her left side and clipping her keys to the buttonhole in the elastic waistband of her shorts, she brushed her teeth, ran a comb through her damp hair, and dumped all her toiletries back into her cosmetic bag.
    All in all, her time in the bathroom had taken less than ten minutes. Gathering her personal items, she opened the door and stepped back into the sleeping area as a warm vapor cloud of moisture followed in her wake. She found Dean right where she’d left him, sitting in what had to be an uncomfortable position in the chair with his hands fastened against the headboard. An action-adventure movie featuring Bruce Willis flickered on the TV screen, but his attention was focused solely on her…which started at her bare legs and gradually worked its way upward.
    Eventually his gaze touched on her loose hair, free from the restraint of the ponytail she’d worn earlier,then lingered appreciatively on her freshly scrubbed face, which was flushed, she knew—from his slow perusal, the heated shower she’d taken, and other intimacies she’d indulged in. And just remembering what she’d done with him in her mind sent a renewed flash of heat skittering across her skin.
    A charming grin slid into place. “You certainly look refreshed.”
    If he only knew. Holding tight to her composure, she walked to the dresser and dumped her dirty clothes and toiletry bag into her duffle. “A hot shower was just what I needed.” In more ways than one.
    â€œDid you leave any hot water for me?” he asked.
    â€œMaybe.” She zipped up her bag and turned