Sean tugged on a ladder leading to the rooftop. After he tested it, he shot her a mischievous glance. “After you.”
Her eyes searched his face. “Sean, what’s going on?” she asked, even though some small part of her told herself to stop questioning her good fortune and just go for it. Indulge in a wild night with Sean, let him ease the sexual tension inside her, and worry about the consequences tomorrow.
There was a suggestive edge to his smile when he said, “What’s going on is that you lied to me.”
His teasing tone made her lightheaded and she worked to recover her voice. “No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did and it was very naughty of you.” His grin was sexy and his eyes teasing as he stepped into her. Lust exploded inside her, and as their bodies collided, she faltered backward. He splayed one hand over the small of her back to help balance her, and the heat from his fingers fired her flesh. Hot flames licked over her skin and spread like wildfire through her body, and there wasn’t a thing she could do to curb the need resonating in her blood. “And would you like to know what I do to naughty girls who lie?”
“No.” Contrary to her words, her body vibrated with pent-up need. Of course she wanted to know what he did to naughty girls who lied, but she wasn’t about to admit it to him.
He gave her a wink that made her nipples tingle. “Well, whether you want to or not, you’re about to find out.”
“Sean,” she said again, but he fixed her with a look that said the subject was closed and nudged her forward.
When she refused to budge, a smile softened his features. “If you don’t climb, I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and carry you up with me.”
Her body stiffened, but it wasn’t from fear. She bit her lip as the scandalous image of her riding his broad shoulder rushed through her mind. But since it wasn’t in her nature to give in so easily, she shot him her best challenging glare, one that would have had a hardened convict dropping to his knees. Unfortunately, her glower didn’t work on Sean.
In fact, he simply grinned, heat glinting in his eyes as he met her challenge with one of his own. “Don’t think I won’t do it, sweetheart.”
Okay, so she might be a woman used to taking control, but there was something in that take-charge attitude of his that had her knees trembling. She’d never seen Sean so forceful before, and couldn’t deny that it fired her blood and made her feel a little breathless.
“Now move,” he demanded in a soft tone.
Gulping air and doing as he told her, she grabbed the metal rungs and began the short climb to the roof. Sean’s deep, sexy voice coached her from behind as he followed her up. When she reached the rooftop, she glanced out over the moonlit ocean, taken aback by its beauty, but more enthralled by the firefighter who was suddenly gifting her with his attention and going all alpha on her.
She turned to face him, and when he opened the first-aid kit and pulled out a long stretchy bandage, she asked, “What’s that for?”
His intimate laugh curled around her, but instead of answering, he backed her up until she was pressed against the metal railing. His glance locked with hers as he slid his hands down her arms. In a move that both shocked and surprised her, he shackled her wrists and wrapped the bandage around them. Then, as if he was worried she was about to run away, he tied her arms to the rail at her back.
“Sean,” she rushed out, as equal measures of nervousness and excitement raced through her. “What are you doing?”
Sean gripped her hips and pulled them toward him until her pussy was pressed against his hard cock. “Naughty girls need to be punished, sweetheart.” When he accentuated the word punished, desire flared in his eyes.
His glance left her face and trailed over her body. With only a sliver of moon casting soft shadows over their bodies, she watched him step back and was grateful for the dark night, grateful for the way it hid her ugly scar from his eyes. But she didn’t want to think about that right now—didn’t want to think about reality. Right now all she wanted to think about was the fantasy Sean was offering her, and what she was going to do about it.
As he stood back to peruse her, she could tell he was waiting for something, for some kind of reaction from her. Even though she was the one bound, he was putting the ball in her court. That gesture did the weirdest things to her heart. As her pulse hammered, she wiggled her hands and tried the binding. She could break it. If she wanted to. From the look on Sean’s face, he knew it too.
So what was she going to do about it?
As she watched his eyes smolder with want, she tried to wrap her brain around this unexpected turn of events. Honestly, they were both consenting adults who could make responsible decisions, right? Was there really anything so wrong in wanting to indulge in a few fantasies with him, to finally experience the pleasure of his touch?
Wouldn’t it be foolish of her not to take what she wanted? What he was offering?
If she kept her emotions out of it, surely she could enjoy the physical pleasures between a man and a woman and walk away unscathed.
He seemed to know the exact moment when she made up her mind, the exact second when she decided to open herself up to him. He stepped close, and with a feathery-light caress, ran his finger down her arms. She began trembling from head to toe,
