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She liked being the one in control. She continued her exploration downward, just below his silky waistband, teased him there. “Tyler…”

His reply came out breathy and uneven. “Yes….”

“I know you want me. Are you going to make me beg?”

She could swear she felt him smile. 

“That’s not a problem, is it?”

He turned abruptly, and before she knew it she was in his arms. Body to body, soul to soul. Then he was kissing her. And, oh, did he know how to kiss. He took control, possessed her. If he had wanted her to be the aggressor in this scenario, that moment had passed. And what gave him the right? What if she wanted to be the one calling the shots for a change?

His hands wandered down her back, over her behind, his erection long and hard between them behind the slippery silk. He cupped her backside and squeezed so she bit his lip. Hard. He gasped and jerked and for a second she thought she’d gone too far.

“Did I hurt you?”

His lids were heavy, eyes glassy and unfocused as he gazed down at her.

“Yeah, but I liked it.”

So she did it again. She wrapped her hands around his head, pulled him down for a kiss, and sank her teeth into his lower lip. Tyler groaned and tunneled his fingers through her hair, fisted his hands in it. He pulled her head back to look at her, hovering on the line between pain and pleasure.

This time there was a smile on his face. “I’m not sure what is happening right now, but I like it.”

“It gets better.” She reached into his pajama bottoms and circled a hand around his erection. He mumbled a curse and his eyes rolled up. But when she tried to pull the pajamas down she only got them halfway past his hips before he caught her hand.

“We’re outside,” he reminded her.

She knew that. And to top it all off the light from the bedroom was silhouetting their bodies quite clearly.

“Oh, yeah?” She shook off his hand and shoved his pajamas the rest of the way down. “What’s your point?”

Then she was off her feet. She gasped as her back slammed hard against the wall beside the door. She was pinned between the door and the balcony railing, between rough stucco and Tyler's long, lean body. He hesitated for a second, went stone still, as though he was afraid he might have gone too far.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked.

She wrapped her legs around his hips and ground herself against him, so he could feel how wet she was. “Yeah, but I liked it.”

He seemed to know exactly what she wanted, and he didn’t hesitate. He drove himself inside her, hard and swift and so deep that she cried out. With pain and shock and pure ecstasy. Tyler pulled out, hovered there for a second, torturing her. Then he plunged forward, and she gasped as the rough wall dug into her back. Pleasure and lust and pain. She wanted it all, right here, right now. There was no such thing as too much.

“Harder,” she gasped and he drove hard against her, inside her. And when it wasn’t hard enough, she dug her nails into his back, dragged them across his skin. “Harder.”

He did as she asked. He may have been the one driving, but she had her foot on the accelerator. She was still in control.

She could feel him tensing, feel him losing it. Bit by bit. She was doing that to him. She was making him lose control.

And when he took the plunge, when he shuddered and roared with release, she went over with him. 

There were orgasms, and then there were orgasms. The kind that grabbed hold and didn’t let go until the absolute last bit of energy had been wrenched out. The kind that released so many endorphins and pheromones that it took several minutes for her body to realize it was twisted like a pretzel, to register that the tingling in her back was not from arousal, but the sharp stucco facade shredding her skin like cheddar on a cheese grater.

“Ow.”

Tyler lifted his head from her shoulder, where he’d dropped it a few minutes ago while he caught his breath. He shifted and she winced.

“Problem?”

“Wall…sharp.”

Only then did she notice the grimace on his face.

“Disengage your claws and I’ll let you down.”

Oh, jeez! She hadn’t even realized she was still clinging to him. She loosened her grip and he eased her away from the wall and set her on her feet.

He pulled her into the bedroom, into the light. “Turn around. Let me see the damage.”

He examined her back and she watched him over her shoulder, trying to gauge his expression. “How bad is it?”

“Is the dress you’re wearing for the wedding backless by any chance?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Then it’s bad.”

“How bad?”

“It looks like someone ran a belt sander across your back. And you have pieces of the wall still stuck to your skin.”

“That would explain the pain, I guess.”

He touched her lightly between her shoulder blades and the sting made her wince. “We need to get this cleaned up.”

He turned her again and nudged her in the direction of the bathroom. When they were inside he switched on the light. Just like her bathroom, it was really bright with lots of mirror space. Miles of it. The floor-to-ceiling kind that screamed out each and every detail. 

He turned and crouched down to check the cupboard under the sink. She had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from gasping in horror. He emerged with a first aid kit, and when he saw the look on her face asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Your tuxedo isn’t backless, is it?”

He turned to the mirror, inspecting the long red welts criss-crossing his back from his shoulders all the way down to his butt. “I never knew you had such a wild side.”

She bit her lip. “I'm sorry.”

He hooked a hand behind her neck, drew her to him and kissed her. Not quite passionate, but not a peck, either. “Darlin’, that was not a complaint.”