'You won't.'
Her eyes narrowed. 'Don't be so sure about that.'
He humored her. 'What do you want?'
'You have to tell everyone how much you love jalapeno jelly.'
'What do you want if you win?' she asked.
He smiled. A deliberate, carnal curve of his lips. He knew exactly what he wanted. 'I get to lick whipped cream off your nipples.' Whipped cream wasn't sex. It was dessert.
Her mouth fell open and her eyes got huge. Then the corners of her mouth curved up, and she spun on her heels and ran through the back room and out into the store. Rob followed close behind and nearly tripped on a Tasmanian Devil slipper in the doorway. His gaze scanned the dark store, and he caught a flash of white T-shirt just as she dashed between aisles three and four. •
'Your white shirt is giving you away.' He stepped into the aisle. She stood at the end, a barely discern-able outline in the darkness. If it hadn't been for her shirt and the white can in her hand, he might not have noticed her at all. 'Maybe you should take it off right now.'
She laughed, a low, throaty caress within the variegated shadows. 'Yeah, right.'
He walked toward her, and she took a few steps backward. 'It'll save me the trouble of taking it off of you.'
'I don't want to save you trouble.' She moved behind a bin of fruit. The weak light in the corner of the produce slashed across her mouth and shoulder and lit up the dice on her T-shirt. He watched her lips move when she added, 'I want to cause you as much trouble as possible.'
'Oh, you do.' His hands grasped the edge of the bin, and he thought of picking up an orange and nailing her with it. Stunning her for a few fortuitous seconds while he made his move. 'You've caused me all kinds of trouble since the night we met.' He picked up an orange, but instead of beaning her with it, he pitched it at a cardboard Keebler Elf display and knocked over bags of cookies.
'What was that?' she asked and turned her attention toward the sound. Then before she knew what hit her, Rob was on her, wrapping his arms around her waist, just beneath her breasts and slamming her back into his chest. 'Rob!' she shrieked and laughed at the same time. He grabbed the can and tossed it on a pile of fruit. 'No fair. You cheated.'
'Fuck fair.' He breathed in deeply the scent of her hair and said into the top of her head, 'I never play fair. Fair is for whiners and weenies.' He slid one hand to her belly and bunched her T-shirt in his fist. The sound of his breathing and hers filled his ears. Standing within the dark corner of the store with Kate in his arms, the rest of the world and its problems faded. 'I've pictured you here,' he said as he slid his other hand up and filled his palm with her soft breast. 'In one of my fantasies. You let me eat strawberries off you.' Through her shirt, he felt her hard nipple against his palm. His lungs squeezed, and the pit of his belly got tight. His dick got so hard that he had to lock his knees. 'Then you rode me like a rodeo queen.'
She turned her head and looked up at him. 'Where?'
'Checkout counter.'
'Perverted.' Her lips softly kissed his jaw. 'That's where I bag groceries for little old women. I like it.'
'Then we had sex a second time in the back on the table where your grandfather cuts meat.'
'Am I on top again?' She kissed beneath his chin.
'No. I'm driving that time.'
'Stainless steel is chilly.'
'Not when we're on it.' He lowered his head, and the instant his lips touched hers, the raw, naked edge of desire sliced right through to the primal place in his being that screamed for him to go for it and fuck everything else. To rip off her clothes and touch her everywhere at once. To throw her down and crawl on top.
She inhaled, sucking his breath from him, and he was lost. Lust thumped through his body and grasped his testicles in a fiery squeeze. Her mouth opened and she kissed him. A sweet, liquid warmth that tasted like whipped cream and sex. Their slick tongues touched, and he gave in to the overwhelming urge to touch her everywhere at once. He slid his palms over her breasts, her belly and thighs. He slipped his hand between her legs, feeling her on the outside of her clothes. The heat of her body warmed the seam of her jeans, and he pressed his finger tight against her. He pushed his erection into her behind and felt the deep, primal response that he'd resisted for far too long. It rose up and urged him to devour her. To eat her up and rip out the throat of anyone who tried to stop him.
He bunched her T-shirt in his fists and broke the kiss to pull it over her head. The shirt fell from his fingers and she stood before him wearing a white satin bra that pushed her breasts together. It had been so long since he'd seen breasts that he was afraid to move. Afraid it would all fade away-like a fantasy.
Kate pulled back just far enough to look into his face. Her heart pounded in her chest and she fought for breath. The light from the corner lit up the little scar on Rob's chin. She didn't need to see his eyes clearly to know they burned with desire. She didn't need to feel the long hard length of his erection pressed against her to know the depth of his need for her. It surrounded them both in hot waves. Pressing in and taking over. Making her ache for his touch. She'd never felt anything like the weight of it. It was like Rob himself. Big. Forceful. Dominating. And this was one of those times when she didn't mind being dominated by something stronger than herself.
She ran her hands up his chest, and she felt a shudder deep within him. She pressed her open mouth to the hollow of his throat just below his Adam's apple. He moaned and she tasted the warm muskiness of him on her tongue. She unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it from the waistband of his pants. Once she had it open, she touched his hard chest and ran her fingers through the hair she found there. The thick, coarse hair of a man on testosterone overload.
The small lightbulb lit up slices of her and pieces of him. Disjointed. Fragments and shadows, and none of it seemed quite real.
In the dark, he stared at her. So intense she could feel his hot gaze, and she raised her hands to cover herself.
He grabbed her wrists and stopped her. 'No. Don't. Let me see you.' He finally touched her, running his fingers along one edge of her bra, between her cleavage, and up the other side. He unhooked the center, and the cups parted. He pushed the straps down her arms, then his big, masculine hands covered her. His warm palms pressed against her tight nipples and the ache between her legs constricted into a painful knot that only he could satisfy.
'Kate,' he said, his voice a low gravel. 'You're better than anything I could dream up.'
In that instant she knew there was no turning back. She leaned forward and kissed his neck. His hands slid to her back and he pressed her breasts against his hot, naked chest. He grabbed her waist and lifted her to sit in the produce bin behind her. Oranges toppled and landed on the floor, and he reached for the can of whipped cream. Light from the weak corner bulb shone on her breasts as he covered each of her nipples with perfect white triangles. He was a little too practiced, and she wondered how many times he'd done this before, then his hot mouth was on her and she didn't care. Her hands grasped the oranges beside her and she arched her back. He sucked and licked her clean, then he reached for the can and started all over again.
Before she lost all reason and gave up caring along with everything else, Kate said, 'I don't have a condom. Do you?'
He lifted his head and looked at her. 'Shit.' Then he said a few more swear words she didn't quite catch. 'Wait. This is a store. Where's the damn condom aisle?'
'Five.'
He grabbed her waist and set her on her feet on the floor. Then he took her hand in his and pulled her along behind him. Several boxes of condoms hit the floor and suddenly everything turned hotter, more intense. A blur. A rush. A throbbing urgency. She tore at his clothes, and he pushed her pants and panties down her legs. She stepped out of them and reached for him. In the dark aisle, he was naked, and she took his penis in her hand, huge and hot, his pulse pounding against her palm.
He groaned long, as if he were in pain, and then he sank to the floor, taking her with him. He kissed her and touched her and somehow she ended up on her hands and knees. He knelt behind her and slid his hand across her bare behind and between her legs. He parted her and touched her. She bit her lip to keep from moaning and rested her forehead on her forearm. 'You're wet.' The hot head of his penis replaced his fingers, touching her where she
