"Why an arrow?" Both hands covering her breasts, he lowered his head and forged a trail of kisses down her neck.
Her eyes on the ceiling, she had to remind her tongue how to form words as he dragged his tantalizing mouth to her collarbone.
"It's a popular symbol," she breathed, goose bumps dotting her skin. A small squeak left her lips when he lightly licked one nipple. He tweaked them with his fingers, kissing her and swallowing her sounds of satisfaction.
"I want to know what it means to you, Merina." Oh, the way he said her name. Low and tender and filled with authority. He tugged her nipples, sending a flood of heat to the apex of her thighs. "Tell me, or I'll stop."
His tug turned into a tweak.
"Okay." Merina tightened her legs around his. She didn't want him to stop. Which he must've figured out, because next, he grinned. One of those Reese Crane grins that weakened her knees and made her want to punch him in the throat.
"An arrow…can only move forward…by being pulled back," she answered in between breaths and the pulls of his distracting, kneading fingers. "It's stronger for it."
"You're driven." Mouth covering the pulse at her neck, he sucked her skin for a mind-melting second before speaking against her damp flesh. "A quality I admire."
Head lifted, he zoomed in on her again, and she squirmed. Not only from his sexual attention but also the way he seemed to see her in that moment. Like he was really seeing her. It made her feel more naked than when she was actually naked.
"Not surprising." She jerked her eyes to another spot in the room. "You're equally driven."
"The Van Heusen is more than a building to you." Fingers on her jaw, he guided her face back to his.
"Yes. Isn't the Crane more to you?"
His eyes went to the side in thought, giving her a brief reprieve from his intense focus. "Not really."
"You mean if someone wanted to redesign your building, you would let them?" She found that hard to believe.
"No one would redesign my building without my permission."
"Because you'd never bankrupt yourself and have to sell it to the local vultures who—" A gasp swallowed the rest of her words. Reese had dipped his attention to her breasts again. She was beginning to think they were the most sensitive to his kisses.
A few mind-numbing ministrations later, and she'd forgotten what they were talking about.
"Stop teasing me." Clutching the back of his hair, she kissed him hard, driving her tongue into his mouth. She tore at his shirt, rewarded by the sound of two buttons plinking off the edge of the stainless steel sink.
He responded by kissing her just as hard, his hands moving her skirt up and finding her panties before tearing them down her legs. She worked his belt open but didn't get further before he stepped back. He took care of freeing himself, his erection pointing out and up in all its powerful glory.
Her mouth watered. His physicality paired with his formidability her own personal catnip.
Hands on her hips, he tugged her ass to the edge of the counter. She rested a hand on his cheek and his expression softened.
"You okay?" His voice was low with concern, his brows closing in slightly. She wasn't okay. She was in a fantastically compromising position with Reese and she didn't mean because she was perched on the counter. It was the last several minutes that had her chest pinging in warning. They'd discussed private things—not business, but how they felt. Intimacy on a new level, and now they were going to seal it with sex.
Danger, danger, her mind chanted.
She ignored it. She could handle the split between being physical and emotional. She could. She would.
"Condom."
He blinked twice as if snapping out of a trance.
"Wallet." He dug out the foil packet, a few hundred-dollar bills fluttering free of the money clip and sailing to the floor. He ignored them. She laughed. That was so…him.
"I need to get back on the pill," she said to cover for her amusement.
"No shit," he said, the condom packet clamped between his teeth.
He was disgustingly handsome. They smiled at each other, then Reese tore open the packet and put on the protection neither of them wanted to use.
She opened her legs wider and welcomed her against his body. When he needed more space to maneuver, he swept the cutting board, knife, and avocado into the sink and pulled her down on his hardness.
Yes.
Eyes closed, she clung to his neck and shoulders and enjoyed the feel of his big hands on her bare ass. She lost one of her shoes as she attempted to grip him tighter, and Reese had a near miss with the cabinet handle just over her shoulder. He cupped her head between thrusts to protect her from a similar fate.
"Dangerous," she breathed, but the word had double meaning. It wasn't as dangerous to have sex with Reese amidst knives and cabinets as it was to do it after talking about his intimate family history and her private tattoo not even her parents knew about. It was dangerous to discuss birth control and having sex with nothing between them.
Except a contract.
Yeah, except for that.
"Merina." He hoisted her in his arms and drove deep, teeth bared and eyes heated. There was another emotion mingling there she couldn't place. Heat, yes, passion, you bet, but almost…solace.
Like she was his refuge.
"I'm here." She ran her fingertip over his lips.
His intense gaze suggested he'd noticed her mind wandered. She wondered if he'd figured out in which direction…or if his had wandered down the same path.
Dangerous.
* * *
Back flat on the kitchen floor, Reese threw an arm over his face and caught his breath. His shirt was still on, his pants around his knees, and the floor was freezing his backside. Marble wasn't known for its warmth, but the rest of him was buzzing and humming enough to heat every inch of him.
Merina.
Sex with her might be the death of him. Or at least the man he'd become post-Gwyneth.
Merina's subtle touch rippled over his abdomen. His muscles clenched as he tried to channel whatever strength he could to keep from reacting. If she found out he was ticklish, he was screwed. Her fingers stilled.
"Oh, come on," she said, her voice husky. Sexy. She placed a kiss on his belly button and his muscles tightened again.