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      The same lips I'd longed to touch, to force apart with my thumb a moment before curved into the merest hint of a smile. He licked his lips with the tip of his tongue. "I think we both know it wouldn't have stopped at kissing."

      This was the Gray Bradford I liked. The one who wasn't concerned about other people's opinions of him and me getting together. The one who was flirtatious, confident about referring to our childish necking session at my brother's house that could have led to so much more and didn't. The one who finally, finally admitted that yes, we did fancy each other. The one who agreed something was going to happen between us tonight.

      "It's just a shame it took us this long to get around to it," he added, and a shudder of lust rippled my spine when he put his hand on the small of my back. "I don't think we're going to be staying here long, are we?"

      Wriggling around in the back seat, I dug my hand into my jeans pocket to fish out a note as the taxi driver pulled up outside my block. Gray frowned as I extracted it but I shook my head, no. I would pay for the ride home. He'd already spent enough on drinks tonight and admittance to the nightclub. It wouldn't be fair to let him shell out for the taxi home as well.

      "Keep the change," I muttered and opened my door without looking back at Gray, sure he would follow.

      The cab screeched and sped off into the night as I crossed the road and stepped onto the pavement. I stopped, turned back to check on Gray and he was right behind me, staring.

      "Right behind you," he said with a wink. "Shall we...?" He glanced up at my window, already familiar with my address. He'd been to my flat on a number of occasions but not for some time now. We had some catching up to do.

      He tried to take my hand as we trotted up the steps to my tenement's main door but I lifted it away to use the intercom key. So he slipped a hand under the hem of my jacket, rested it on the small of my back. We were both here and knew why and he had to touch me.

      We hadn't so much as kissed all evening, not even in the nightclub. It was as if we had an unspoken agreement; once we started, it would be a case of light the blue touchpaper and stand well back, so best to save anything beyond light physical contact for the safety and privacy of my flat.

      I lived on the top floor and though the block wasn't huge—only three storeys—the now-mountainous climb to privacy irritated me. The only contact Gray made all the way up the stairs was that hand on my back but even then it was difficult to contain myself.

      He didn't say a word. Neither of us did.

      It wasn't as if I'd never done this sort of thing before. Just never with Gray.

      The words darted through my brain and made me, just for a split second, lose my breath. That was the key. Never with Gray.

      Willing my hands not to shake, I unlocked the door and Gray shadowed me as I stepped across the threshold. I moved to one side, not properly entering the house. "I need to lock the door behind you," I said. "It doesn't lock if you close it; you need the key."

      "Oh." He stood at my shoulder, not moving an inch away. "I thought you just wanted to lock me in." His hand stroked my belly and my stomach flipped over.

      Oh God, I want you so much. "That too." The voice which came out of my mouth was different to the one in my head. More confident, self-assured. Less jittery. Less desperate.

      The word shocked me. Desperate. Was I really?

      As I leaned forward to lock my front door and slip the chain back on I realized, yes, I was. Desperate for him to enact the images which had plagued me ever since Matthias left and Gray and I had agreed without speaking that this was going to happen. I'd had flashes of him kissing me, touching my bare skin, being inside me and now it was so close to happening I could hardly bear to wait another second. The only thing to hold me back was the threat of losing my dignity. If his actions signaled he felt the same rampant desperation, though, it was likely I'd lose it. Tear his clothes off.

      While I saw to the door, his hand continued to stroke my belly through my vest and his fingers grazed the underside of my breast. I closed my eyes, exhaled oh-soslowly and tried to calm down.

      Failed.

      I dropped the key and we both stooped to retrieve it.

      "I can't see it—"

      "Don't worry, I'll get it." I was more familiar with the

surroundings. I lived here. And I just wanted Gray to stand up again. In the darkness, with his breath on me, I was liable to pull him onto the carpet and do him on my hall floor.

      Then again...as he stood, and I crouched in front of him, groping for my front door key, other thoughts clouded my mind. When my right hand finally grasped the key, it was with relief I picked it up, slipped it into my handbag and stood. "Shall I put the light on?"

      "If you know where you're going, I'll just grab hold of you and follow on," Gray said with laughter in his voice.

      What to do, what to do? I asked myself. Kitchen, for a cup of coffee, keep things civilized? Or just cut to the chase? Bedroom? Hell, we both know why we're here.

      "I know what you're thinking," he whispered. "You can put the kettle on later. For now, I think..."

      "You read my mind."

      "I did." He brushed my hair aside with one hand and leaned in to whisper against my ear. "And I'm utterly disgusted at what you're thinking. You're a very, very naughty girl."

      In the darkness of my windowless hallway, my hand found his, and gripped it.

      His mouth stayed against my earlobe, my neck. "Can't think what took me so long."

      Concern about my brother. The fact I'd been with Andrew for months. Lack of confirmation that I felt the same, that our fumbling, groping kiss held the promise of something more?

      Leading him to the bedroom, my steps were confident compared to his stumbling ones. Sure, he'd been in my house, knew where the bedroom was, but this would be the first time he'd entered that room with a purpose beyond nosing around someone else's new place at a housewarming.

      I tossed my handbag onto my bedside table in the dark while Gray hovered at the door. Moonlight filtered through the curtains, enabling me to see nothing more than his outline.

      "Aren't you going to close the door?" I asked, and he did so, jerking himself into life.

      After pushing the door shut he moved over to me, shrugged his jacket off and let it drop to the floor with a thud. We faced each other for a second, breathed each other in, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

      Even though I still wore my heels, he was taller than me so I tilted my head up and waited for him to kiss me but he didn't. Not yet. He put his hands on my chest, slid them up to my collarbone and pushed my jacket off my shoulders. I mirrored his earlier movement and shrugged it to the floor as his lips drew closer to mine.

      "Now, where were we," he murmured. His bottom lip, which had so fascinated me earlier while we sat in Nocturne, grazed mine, a barely-there kiss, nothing more than physical contact as light as a feather.

      I held on to his belt with both hands, pulled him in closer and his kisses grew more insistent. We tasted each other, just with lips, no tongues and it drove me crazy. I wanted him to take the lead, prove how much he wanted me. Maybe he was just making me wait. Torturing me.

      I drew back to catch my breath and as my eyes grew accustomed to the dark I made out his jaw line, the shape of his lips, the way part of his fringe fell over his eyes.

      "What is it?" he whispered and I wondered why he spoke so quietly. Darkness did that to some people, made them covert, devious or secretive.

      "Just looking."

      "I thought you were planning something."

      I remembered what it had felt like before and wanted his tongue in my mouth again. And to show him how much, I lifted my hands to his neck, guided him down to me. Even as his tongue slid into my mouth and I lost myself in his kiss, my hands still registered brushing over his tiny hoop earring, the curve of the back of his neck, the faint stubble along his jaw.

      His hands wandered up my back, though still above the fabric of my vest and tugged it up, catching it on the cheap beads I wore.

      Again we broke. He panted as I hauled the beads off and dropped them somewhere in the vicinity of the bedside table. I thought I'd missed, didn't much care if they ended up on the floor.

      And he pulled my vest up, too impatient to wait for me to undress, in a hurry to get me naked. I fumbled at his shirt buttons and somehow within seconds my vest came off, as did his shirt, and we fell back onto the bed. I kicked off my shoes, he did the same and tugged off his socks and I had to bite my lip when I hear one of the sexiest sounds I'd ever encountered.

      The jangle of his belt buckle immediately preceding the hiss of his zipper.

      My hand went to his waist and he tried to kiss me but I pulled away, even as my hand worked its way below his waistband.

      "What...?" he asked in confusion. The desperate longing in his voice only served to turn me on more. "I want to kiss you."

      "And I want to hear the way your breathing changes when I touch you here," I said, pulling his shorts out of the way to release his erection and running the back of my hand along the underside of his cock.

      He sucked in a breath, sharply, and his groin jerked up. "God. Jesus."

      Stroking him at the base, my hand curled around him lightly, not gripping, not going near the tip.

      "God, Piper..." he groaned into the air. "What the hell...?"

      "Don't you like it?" I lifted my hand away.

      "Are you kidding? I...Lie down next to me. Properly." With one arm across my hips and the other curled up on the pillow beneath his head, he pulled me closer.

      He lapped at me with his tongue, distractedly sliding it across mine as I ran my palm over the ridges of his cock, from base to tip. He groaned, even growled, and the hand lying on my waist crept up my back and pulled me in. He rocked against me and whispered between kisses, "Piper... oh God, Piper..."

      My name in whispers was enough to make my skin prickle. It had never been like this with Andrew. Or perhaps my memory played tricks on me.

      I tightened my grip and Gray gasped.

      "I could stop if you like."

      "Don't you dare."

      I did, just to see what he would do and he grabbed my

hand, forced it onto his cock again. "I told you, don't you dare stop." His breath came in shallow gasps. Every time I paused, he looked at me, or said, "Don't. Stop."

      I slowed my stroke, became gentler and stared at him, wondering what might have been back then. Not that there was any point. Time had passed, I'd met someone else...

      "Jesus, Piper. Christ, I can't think straight when you touch me like that." Gray gripped my arm, forced it down, held it in place and thrust himself forward. His face was so close to mine his breaths warmed my mouth. He didn't kiss me but held back, biting his lip. "Piper?"

      "Mmm?" There was enough moonlight for me to see his cock as I ran my hand over its surface lightly. God, he was gorgeous. If I had to wait much longer to have him inside me I'd go crazy.

      "I could have kicked myself that night for stopping it. Jesus. A bit tighter." He let go of my hand, arched his back, strained against my grip. "Okay, stop."

      The way he said it convinced me he wasn't joking. I let go, held my hand in midair for a few seconds and lay it across his chest. "What?"

      "I don't want to come too soon." His chest rose and fell even as his heart rate slowed.

      I gave him time to recover, waited for him to speak again.

      "Tonight...you looked so...happy. You looked so happy to be alive."

      I lowered my lips to his chest, flicked his nipple with the tip of my tongue. He wriggled, so I did it again. I looked up at him and his gaze met mine. At least, I assumed so. Everything was bathed in a murky dimness. Outlines visible without too much detail.

      "I don't know what took me so long. But now I've got you right where I want you."

      "I rather think it's me who's got you right where I want you," I said with a laugh, and my hand went to his cock again, more aggressively this time, and Gray sucked in his breath.

      His back arched, shoulders digging in to the mattress and he thrust himself at me in obvious desperation. He reached over to me, to stroke the back of my hand as I stroked him, guiding me, and sighed into the darkness, not saying another word. Just his breathing was erotic enough for me; who needed words?

      He rolled onto his side and the sensation of his skin against mine distracted me. The hand he'd used to guide mine moved up my body and cupped one breast outside the fabric of my bra and I jerked forward, wanting more of his skin on my skin.