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  Imani studied him silently for several moments before the corners of her mouth curved upward. “I believe you. I just hope you’re up for the challenge.”

  “I am. But the final decision belongs to Naja.”

  “Good thing she’s an astute woman. However, she can be stubborn, but with an ally such as myself on your side, she doesn’t stand a chance.”

  Sterling chuckled. “As grateful as I am, I have to wonder why you would want to help me.”

  A dreamy expression fell over Imani’s face. “Because if it hadn’t been for Naja, I wouldn’t have taken a chance on Carson. How can I not want my sister to experience such joy for herself?”

  “And you’re positive I can give that to her?”

  “Are you?”

  * * * *

  Naja silent wandered down the hallway of Carson’s beach home. She’d just come back from freshening up in the bathroom.

  Okay. She hadn’t needed tidy up. She’d needed to collect herself. Being in such close proximity of Sterling for the past hour had her in a state of sexual agitation. She wanted him badly, in a way she felt like he wouldn’t agree to at the moment. But truth be told, if she had her way, she would drag him into one of the spare rooms and do things to him until neither of them could remember their name.

  However, there was something else simmering under the surface. Something a little hotter and it scared the crap out of her. She wanted more than a quick roll on the bed. She craved the opportunity to experience the intimacy he offered.

  Shaking her head to clear it, she resolved to return to the party and to her date and do her best to get through the rest of the evening sane. Then after she returned to the beach house she’d give herself the release her body screamed for.

  A small shriek escaped her as a hand covered her mouth. She was pulled into a room where the door had been left slightly ajar.

  “Shh, it’s me,” Sterling whispered.

  Her body relaxed before her brain fully comprehended the words. When he uncovered her mouth she laid into him. “I have you to know you just took twenty years off my life.”

  He had the nerve to wink. “Sorry, but I wanted to get you alone.”

  “Too bad,” she huffed in response. “We’re at a party. You don’t get to have me to yourself.”

  He glanced around the darkened room before glancing back at her. “It looks like I do right now so I plan to enjoy the moment.”

  A shiver of anticipation travelled down her spine.

  “How do you plan to do that?”

  “By getting to know you, of course. Would you like to have a seat?”

  Naja turned and spotted the bed, barely stifling a groan once she did. “You’re doing this to me on purpose, aren’t you?”

  Sterling chuckled. “No. I don’t know if you noticed this or not, but we are in a bedroom. It only makes sense the furniture choice is going to be a bed.”

  “And you just had to choose a bedroom, didn’t you?” she grumbled as she walked over to sit down.

  A moan escaped her after she had. The mattress was so comfortable. It was just the right amount of firmness to provide a solid foundation for several good rounds of sex and the perfect quality of softness to allow for a good night of sleep afterwards.

  This was absolute pure torture.

  “Tell me about the guy who broke your heart badly enough to make you swear off ever

  considering having a serious relationship.”

  Naja stiffened. “You and Imani had an interesting conversation I see.”

  “You could say that.”

  “Let me guess, she said just enough to make you curious, but not enough to actually tell you anything.”

  Sterling remained silent, just staring at her intently.

  She released a pent up breath and shook her head.

  “Okay then, but remember you asked. I met Troy right after I graduated from college and it was love at first sight. I fell head over heels for him. We dated for about a year in a half and I knew he was the one. But once another year had gone by I started to think the feelings might not be mutual. So one night I asked him about his plans for the future and if he ever thought about getting married.” Naja paused, recalling the conversation vividly.

  “His response was not what I expected. Troy told me when he met the right woman, he

  would love to get married. When I asked him if he thought I could be the right woman, he didn’t hesitate to tell me an emphatic no. It crushed me. I’d given my relationship with him everything I had. I thought we were happy, but it was clearly one-sided.”

  She emitted a humorless laugh. “After that conversation I was numb. I didn’t even care why he didn’t feel as though I was a woman he’d want to marry. I just needed to get as far away from him as possible at that time. What shocked me was when I met him a few days later to call the relationship off, he resisted. He didn’t think we should break-up. Troy thought we should stay together until he found someone suitable to marry. I threw my drink in his face and walked out. I never spoke to him again.”

  “And you’ve never allowed anyone into your heart after that point,” Sterling replied.

  It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

  “No, I haven’t. I focused on getting my business off the ground. I figured I would throw my energy into something I was passionate about.”

  “Seems like you made the right decision.”

  She nodded. “I did.”

  “So be honest—”

  Laughter echoed in the hallway right outside the door. Before she could blink, Sterling pulled her to her feet and toward a door that wouldn’t take them out of the room. Instead they ended up in a darkened half empty closet.

  Chapter Six

  Her heart froze in her chest as someone entered the room. A short time later the sound of muted voices reached her ears. They didn’t belong to her sister or Carson. She frowned, wondering who it was. So far it only seemed they were talking, but perhaps she should make her presence known to be certain that’s all they did.

  She turned to suggest it to Sterling, but in the pitch dark she hadn’t realized his face was turned her way. Instead of his ear, her lips came in contact with a hair-covered skin. She experienced the shock of it through her lips. Had she brushed his cheek? There’d been a boniness and an indentation. His chin. Her lips had brushed his chin.

  In the split second it took her brain to decode the shockingly delicious sensations, he’d lowered his chin and brought his lips down on hers. The humming shock jumped from her lips like an electric charge zipping around her body, creating more sparks.

  If he’d had any idea how hot and bothered she’d become, being in such close proximity, he never would’ve kissed her. The effect on her system was akin to splitting the atom. And he didn’t know about her little problem yet. Oh, but he soon would if they didn’t stop now.

  But how could she pull away when his firm lips controlled her mouth with casual mastery?

  His hands, those wonderful, warm, capable hands traveled lightly up her arms, more to see her by touch, she thought, than in any intent to caress. But everywhere he touched she felt caressed. She wished she had a braille sign imprinted on her body for him to read. Back off before it’s too late.

  Her skin was ultrasensitive, as though she could feel the blood pulsing, warm and full of life, just under the surface.

  He brought his hands up to cup her cheeks, holding her head in place, his thumbs resting at the corners of her mouth.

  She shouldn’t be doing this. They shouldn’t be doing it. He’d completely misunderstood her intentions, thinking she’d made a pass when she’d only intended to tell him they should let the couple on the other side of the door she and Sterling were present.

  She should make him stop immediately.

  She stroked his tongue with hers.

  He needed no other invitation to deepen the intimacy. His lips increased their pressure and her whole body seemed to sigh as his tongue, hot and wet, ente
red her mouth. She met his tongue thrust for thrust, licking, nipping, nibbling at him all the while remembering to be silent. So quiet.

  Outside this warm and exciting cave, she was dimly aware of the low murmur of voices, but inside it was as dark as the deepest secret. Her body had a hell of a racket going on; fireworks exploded, her heart pounded and her blood roared. But on the other side it was so quiet she heard their clothing rubbing together, heard the soft inhalations and exhalations.

  She sensed the tide of desire rising fast, too fast, the way it took her sometimes so her reason went cloudy and she acted crazy.

  Only, she didn’t care. She was always a model of propriety at work, setting a good example, keeping her sex life from interfering with her job duties. So far in fact, her last relationship had been a brief casual stint with an emergency room doctor in Raleigh about a year ago. The sex had been great, but ultimately there hadn’t been enough there to make a future.

  Her eyes snapped open in the dark. Ten months. After a dry spell like that, no wonder she was acting totally and deliciously irresponsible.

  It was too late to stop now. She knew that. Like a partyer who’s had one too many and couldn’t stop, her desire had climbed too fast for her to tamp it down now.

  She was squeezed so close to Sterling in the tiny closet she was positive she’d bear his imprint on her body for days, but still she couldn’t get close enough. She grew mindless and greedy with need.

  Her hands reached for him, finding the silkiness of his hair, tracing the contours of his neck and shoulders. Oh, those shoulders. Strong and wide, as though he could carry the world and not topple.

  Pushing her breasts into his chest only made them ache more. She rubbed them against him, needing the friction, even though her nipples felt like striking matches bursting into flame.

  Whimpers of pleasure and need crawled up her throat and she bit her lips to try to contain them.

  Quiet. She had to stay silent.

  But it was so difficult with her body throbbing for fulfillment.

  She rocked her pelvis against his, loving the feel of his erection against her neediest place.

  She felt empty, hollow without that glorious hardness to fill and complete her. A moan escaped her, cut off by his lips. He trailed a path of kisses to her ear and whispered, “Shh.”

  She should tell him. She should tell him now her shameful secret—that soundless wasn’t an option when she was aroused—but then he’d stop.

  And she’d die.

  Getting caught going at it in the closet of her sister’s boyfriend’s house seemed preferable at the moment to death from sexual frustration.

  The murmuring voices outside the door continued, but in her foggy state they’d taken on the almost soothing quality of ocean waves in the background.

  Her breasts heaved as her breathing grew thick, not from panic, though. This was the opposite of panic, the tension rising and rising only to burst in a great relaxing wave.

  But her tension built with no relief in sight. It was too tight in here to move. Besides, they hadn’t exactly come prepared for this. Unless Carson kept a supply of condoms in his half empty spare closet, lust among the clothes seemed like it’d be cut short.

  Maybe she could be satisfied with kissing. Kissing Sterling was one of the greatest pleasures she’d ever experienced. He acted as if he owned her mouth, and for the moment she was happy to hand over control.

  His hand squeezed between them to cup a breast, kneading the aching flesh.

  She moaned softly into his mouth and she could feel his lips curl in a smile. “Shh,” he said against her lips.

  He had no idea how restrained she was being. She might be quiet and professional at work, but she made up for it in the bedroom, as Sterling would find out before long.

  He did a kind of pressing-pulling thing with her nipple that sent a hot spurt of desire spiking right to the core of her womanhood.

  She couldn’t stand it anymore. She slipped out of her left shoe and her leg—the one that wasn’t jammed against the back wall of the closet—climbed his.

  He wasn’t slow to take advantage of a situation, she’d give him that. The hand left her breast and worked its way down to hike up her skirt of her dress and pin it between their bellies. His fingers plunged beneath her panties.

  His questing fingers must have figured out for themselves how very close she was, for he had the presence of mind to whisper in her ear, “Can you come quietly?”

  Not a chance. She was a shouter, a moaner, a screamer. Her vocal chords seemed to be under the impression anything that good should be celebrated. But if she had to restrain herself or go without, she figured the sleeve of a nearby light jacket would make an effective gag. She nodded.

  Even in the darkness she could tell he gazed at her, trying to decide whether he could risk it.

  But the heat and tension emanating from him were clear indications he was as far gone as she.

  She knew he’d made up his mind when he covered her mouth with his lips and slid his

  fingers over her hot spot, swirling her own wetness around and against that exquisitely sensitive flesh. The trembling began from deep inside her. He rubbed faster and she felt like one of those whirling fireworks that spins until it throws out sparks, then flames, then explodes into a million stars.

  The trembling became shuddering and she jerked her hips back and forth in counterpoint to his rhythm. He thrust a finger inside her, still keeping to the same rhythm and she began to lose control.

  She had to be discreet. She had to be silent. God, it was too much, she wanted to scream.

  But no. Have to be quiet. She panted with the effort to hold in her mounting passion. She pulled his head down and kissed him hard, but even from their sealed lips, she was certain her cries would be heard.

  Two fingers inside her, up inside, pushing forward, found her G-spot. How could she not wail?

  Frantic now, she pulled her mouth away from Sterling’s and, with a mental apology to Carson, grabbed the sleeve of his jacket, stuffed it into her mouth and bit down. She barely noticed the scratchy fibers against her tongue or the taste of damp of the material as she gagged herself.

  The pressure built. A drop of sweat trickled between her breasts. She was going to blow like a volcano half a dozen centuries overdue for a good lava flow. Knowing her control was about to slip, she slapped her free hand over her mouth, hoping the combination of the sleeve and her two hands would stifle her cries.

  A thumb on her pulsing clit and she was gone. Explosion after explosion rocked her world, along with the cries of fulfillment spilling into the gag, and trapped by her hands. Mindlessly, her hips rocked and jerked and only as she came back to herself did she realize she’d been trying to climb his waist, to put his erection inside her.

  * * * *

  Sterling struggled to catch his breath. His body ached in a major way, but he couldn’t even focus on the fact. Instead he was busy reliving what had just occurred between Naja and himself.

  It’d been explosive.

  Literally.

  Even now the last of the tremors left her body. He could feel the thigh muscle in her leg wrapped around his quiver. When she lowered her foot back to the floor, he instantly missed her warmth.

  This was the last thing he’d expected to happen when he agreed to come to this party. He wished he could see her face, to see if she looked as shell-shocked as he felt. He’d find out soon enough.

  “Do you think the coast is clear?” he whispered.

  “Let me check.” She shifted away from him and a chill raced through him.

  He missed her touch instantly. The sound of clothes being straightened reached his ears and he adjusted his fading erection in his pants.

  There were a few moments of silence then she spoke. “It sounds as though they’ve left.”

  A big boom resonated through the house followed by another, then another.

  “Come on,” she whispered. “Sounds like the fire
works show has started.”

  “We’ve already experienced one from where I stand,” he responded.

  She chuckled. “As cheesy as that sounds, only one of us had that happen, unless I missed something.” She glanced at the crotch of his pants.

  “No, you didn’t. But believe me, witnessing you orgasm was definitely fulfilling. I honestly can’t wait to do it again. But it will have to wait until later.”

  Reaching around her, he twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. The room was