“You’re irresistible when you’re all heated up.” His voice was a low purr vibrating right into her. “Hell, you’re always irresistible.” He carried her through to the living room, set her down on the couch, then pushed the coffee table back with his foot. Her robe fell open around her, and Darius looked incredibly pleased about it. “I’ve always been known for my timing, but it’s never been better than right now, coming here and finding you all naked and pretty for me.” She loved the way he said hot, sexy things all the time. “I just got out of the shower.” He removed his jacket and tossed it on the other end of the couch. “Then my timing wasn’t so impeccable after all, was it? A few minutes earlier, and I could have stepped under the water with you.” The idea of him taking her with his pristine shirt and tie on was exciting. So exciting that it was almost impossible to remind herself—and him—that there needed to be boundaries to what they were doing. Whatever the heck it was. “You shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t be doing this.” He came down on one knee between her legs. “Give me a good reason why not.” The problem was that when he touched her, Nathalie couldn’t think of any reasons at all. Nothing more than a simple, “Because.” “That’s not a reason,” he said with a smile. One full of anticipation. As much as she was feeling herself. “It’s just a word.” He moved his fingers over her, and Nathalie felt her temperature rising, a flush of heat coloring her skin. “Someone might see.” Darius glanced to the window, then back to her with a quirk of his mouth that said it all. Because of course her mother’s lace curtains would hide them from prying eyes. “Try harder,” he said. But he was the one trying harder, finding just the right rhythm with his hands, his wonderfully talented fingers, to make her toes curl. “Because it’s morning. And it’s not the weekend. And I have to get to work. I’ve got appointments. So do you.” There. All good reasons. But his touch was magic. “Then you’d better come quickly.” Only, she didn’t want to come quickly. She wanted to savor his touch. She tugged him down by his tie and was surprised to find a challenge on her own lips. “Make me.” He laughed, a heady masculine sound filled with desire and delight, just before his lips met hers. It wasn’t like the fast, wild kisses on Saturday night. This was slow and delicious. He licked her lips, nibbled on the lower one. He kissed her lightly, turning one way, then angling the other. She laced her fingers through his thick hair and held him closer, opened her mouth for him. All the while, he did amazing things with his hands. She gasped as his tongue took hers, a particularly sweet shaft of pleasure rolling through her. She deepened the kiss, raising her head off the cushions. He was all minty toothpaste and hot male. Then she couldn’t concentrate anymore. There was just his hand and the sweet, hot build of tension as he kissed and caressed her. She squeezed her eyes shut and her hips rolled to his movements. “That’s it, baby. Come for me. Fast and hot, just the way we both love it.” She panted, soft moans rising in her throat, knowing she was going to do just what he wanted as a hot spike of pleasure shot down to her center and exploded. She cried out—maybe it was his name, she couldn’t be sure. Her body bowed, and she clutched his shoulders, then wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tight as the waves of pleasure swept through her. And after, she was clinging and knew she ought to let go, but as she floated down from that blissful place, she felt so good in his arms. So complete. There was no way she could bear to let him go. “Definitely the perfect way to start the day,” he said into her hair. Despite the hint of arrogance in his tone, she couldn’t deny that she’d never had a more perfect wakeup call. He gave her one more kiss, then drew back. “I hate to leave you, but you’re right that both of us have meetings to go to.” Her eyes snapped open. “But you haven’t—” He cut her off with another kiss, then pulled back slowly. “The next time I take you for a ride in my fast car, I will. And so will you. Again and again and again.” Grabbing his suit jacket off the couch, he shrugged into it. After straightening his tie, he held out his hand. Nathalie took it and let him pull her to her feet. Darius tugged the robe over her breasts, his large hands gliding possessively across her flesh before he tied the belt. He was always fully clothed while she was exposed. It was yet another way he used his power. Yet another thing she liked despite herself—though she still desperately wanted him to be naked, too. He led her to the door, opened it, then demanded in a low voice, “One more kiss before I go.” She wanted so badly to kiss him again. She wanted him as crazy and out of control as she was. Wanted him to want her so badly that he couldn’t walk away. Her body was still humming with the things he’d done to her on the couch. He wasn’t like any man she’d ever known. She’d talked herself into having burning-hot sex with a sizzling-hot guy. And she’d gotten way more than she’d asked for. Maybe she’d even gotten more than she could handle. Because now she didn’t think she could wait until the weekend. He’d stepped on her accelerator and she was ready to race. Only, she’d promised herself that she’d stay in control, that she’d let herself have fun, but wouldn’t make the mistake of reading too much into any of this. Suddenly, however, she wasn’t feeling casual at all. She was starting to want a whole lot more. Whereas he seemed perfectly happy to drop by, make her come, then head out for his meetings. Check, check, check—all part of a billionaire’s day. As if he were used to doing things like this all the time, making women crazy for him, getting them to fall in a hot, senseless rush, while he kept everything seamlessly compartmentalized. After all, who had the still perfectly pressed suit and tie? And who had the sex-hair and barely closed robe? Somehow, some way, she needed to grab the control she’d just lost. Which meant that instead of kissing him again the way he’d just commanded, there was only one way to reassert the control she’d given him from the moment he’d stepped inside without an invitation. Nathalie smiled, held onto the doorknob, and said, “Have a great day, Darius,” then closed the door with a soft, but final, click. She barely breathed as she waited for the sound of his footsteps that would let her know he was heading back down her front path toward his car. None sounded for several long moments—moments where she knew he must be trying to decide whether to let her win this round or not. Finally, he walked away, and her held breath left her in a hard whoosh as she heard him start up his engine and drive away. She tried to return to her day as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, tried telling herself that she was just as much in control of her life, and her emotions, as ever.