Unwilling to end their talk but unable to not touch her, he drew a finger down one side of her face. “I’ve come to know you pretty well.”

“You think so?”

He nodded. “Yeah. And I’d say the professor’s clothes and her uptight demeanor are a cover.”

“I thought I was the psych major,” she reminded him in a teasing tone.

But he didn’t miss the fact that her voice quivered beneath the lighthearted banter. Yet another signal he’d struck home and she was afraid. Afraid of him getting too close. “You might be the smarty-pants psych professor, but I’m the—”

Quinn bit the inside of his cheek, catching himself in time. “I’m the people-watcher around here. I can recognize a con and a cover in no time.” He’d been about to say that he was the cop, good at reading people with something to hide. He couldn’t allow himself to slip again.

It looked like they both had good reason to fear each other. Being with Ari allowed him to let his guard down in a way he never had before. This was dangerous stuff and they were both walking a fine line here. He sensed the precipice they were on, their abilities to reach inside each other—and that was something he couldn’t allow. Not while he was still undercover.

Instead of trying to figure her out, he ought to just take what she offered and be satisfied. Since when wasn’t a woman’s offer of her body enough for him?

Since the woman was Ari.

“Don’t you think we’ve done enough analyzing for one night?” she asked.

“Not nearly,” he said, easing her shoulders down onto the pillow. “I could spend the entire night researching you.” The time for talk had ended.

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He reached for the front hook of her bra and he released the clasp and slowly lowered the straps down past her shoulders to her forearms, then peeled the cups away and revealed her bare br**sts. Against the cooler air, her ni**les puckered into rigid peaks, and against his boxers, his groin grew thick and hard with wanting her.

He leaned forward and brushed a lingering kiss over her lips, letting his tongue dart inside her moist mouth and taste all of her, before trailing equally wet kisses down her neck and throat, her chest and cle**age. He ended exactly where he wanted to be, inhaling the fragrant scent of her skin, his mouth on one breast. With his tongue, he traced the slope of one mound of her flesh, encircling her nipple in teasing strokes.

She sucked in a deep breath, then let out an electric moan of satisfaction when he pulled her into his mouth and began an insistent suckling that had her writhing with obvious burning need. She threaded her fingers through his hair, urging him closer, silently begging him to continue. And he did, grazing on first one breast, and then, when the sensation obviously became too great for her, he switched to the other, laving and giving it equal attention. It seemed he’d been waiting forever to have her come apart for him. Feeling her quiver with need and shake with desire beneath his hands gave him more pleasure than he’d ever imagined.

So much that when she reached for him, obviously intent on reciprocating, he shook his head. “I’m not finished with you yet.”

She forced heavy eyelids open and a sassy smile curved her lips. “But you can’t deny me equal time after.”

His body tensed at the mere thought. “Honey, I wouldn’t dream of it.” But first he had other objectives to complete.

With her arms safely at her sides—because he wouldn’t last a second if she touched him—he eased one finger into each side of her panties and, with her help, brought them down over her legs. He tossed them onto the floor, glanced at Ari lying naked but for a flimsy bra securing her arms, and thought he’d died and gone to heaven. But heaven couldn’t possibly look this good or offer so much, Quinn thought as he came over her, easing her legs apart.

She looked at him, wide-eyed and shockingly trusting. It was the trust that wreaked havoc with his heart, and that same trust he tucked away to think about later.

“You’re playing so unfairly,” she said while her body quivered with expectation and anticipation.

“I don’t think you’re really all that upset.” He chuckled, then rested his hands on her thighs and dipped his head, his intent clear.

She let out an exaggerated sigh. “I suppose not,” she said, too languidly for his liking, so he dipped his head and tasted her for the first time.

At the first touch of his silken tongue, Ariana’s back arched off the bed and tremors shot through her body. “Oooh, definitely not,” she said, a low ragged moan rumbling from her throat. She swallowed hard, barely able to think at all.

His warm breath combined with his slick tongue and just the right pressure of his teeth on her most sensitive spot had her trembling, on the verge of climax. She closed her eyes and he reached for one hand, wrapping his fingers through hers. That small act was so intimate, a surge of emotion enveloped her, bringing her higher still.

His tongue dipped inside her and another wave of tremors began. As if sensing the moment, he pressed against her with the palm of his hand, coaxing her closer still. Without warning, the feelings converged. The slide of his tongue, the delicious rolling of his palm over her mound and the delicate rasping of his teeth, all exploded into one long spiraling climax that seemed to go on and on. Just as he went on and on, wringing every last drop of sensation out of her.

The tremors continued even after Quinn released her hand and began to ease himself upward. She realized he’d managed to pull off his boxers, because his lean, hard, naked body touched every inch of hers as he moved. All muscle and defined male, he came over her. He bracketed her head with his hands and aligned their bodies so they came into intimate contact, his straining erection nestled in the vee of her legs.

That easily she came alive again. The desire she thought he’d sated returned, letting her know the previous orgasm, though incredible, had been but a prelude. Her body pulsed with need as an aching emptiness begged to be filled.

Needing to touch him, she pulled her arms free of the restricting bra straps and wrapped her arms around his waist so she cupped his behind in both hands.

Quinn let out a low groan. “What you do to me . . .” He shook his head. “It defies description.”

His groin pulsed low and hard against her feminine mound and she couldn’t help but smile. “That’s good to know, because I’m pretty swept away myself.”

He rolled to one side, opening the night table drawer and pulling out a sealed box of condoms. Ariana couldn’t believe how ridiculously happy she was to see that he hadn’t used them before. With no discussion, he opened them and sheathed himself, then he returned to pick up where they’d left off.




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