The Dare Collection: February 2018. Anne Marsh

smile she steadied herself on one of the simple posts of his contemporary four-poster bed and removed first one shoe and then another, her challenging glare pinning him to the spot.

      The muscles of his jaw bunched as he lost the battle to meet her eyes and flicked his gaze over her nakedness once more.

      ‘What do you want?’ His sexy voice held an almost desperate edge.

      Libby exhaled. He was still with her. His reactions matching her own.

      ‘I want you naked.’

      She’d barely finished speaking before he’d heeled off his shoes and reached behind him to tug his T-shirt up and over his head. He tossed it away, his other hand tugging at the button fly of his jeans, and with rapid jerky movements pushed his jeans and tight cotton boxers down his muscular thighs, kicking them away.

      Libby’s mouth had forgotten how to make saliva. She’d been right. His body was a magnificent display of long lean muscles encased in golden skin and scattered with a liberal sprinkling of dark hair, and it stole her ability to think. Her eyes followed the dark scatter of hair covering his pecs, touched on the ink decorating one shoulder and one side of his ribs before dipping to the trail of black hair below his navel that merged with the thatch at the base of his spectacular manhood.

      Her brain shut down completely. Alex Lancaster, a specimen of male perfection in his prime, was completely at her disposal.

      Awareness returned, and the slight chill of the dimly lit room countered the fire raging inside her. Her nipples pebbled, and moisture gathered between her thighs, She pressed them together to ease the hollow ache inside.

      He rolled on the balls of his feet, every muscle tense as if he was forcing himself to stay away from her, at the distance she’d set.

      ‘What do you want?’

      More desperation, mimicking the same thing firing along every nerve ending in her body.

      ‘I…’ Him. She wanted him. ‘What do you want?’

      His stare burned into hers. ‘Everything.’ His voice a low rumble. ‘I want all of you.’

      As if slapped, she sobered. His stark declaration brought her back to her senses. She couldn’t give him that. She’d done that once. Loved. Planned. Built a future. And she’d lost it all.

      The floor solidified under her feet and resolve returned. ‘I want you to fuck me.’ That’s all.

      In two long strides he reached her. His mouth crashed to hers, guided by her tug to the back of his neck, and she moaned, the relief so overwhelming that if he hadn’t banded his arms around her waist, she’d have collapsed to the floor. Her fingers tunnelled through the silky strands of his hair and she parted her lips, welcoming the surge of his powerful tongue with one of her own. Her hands roamed, glorying in the smooth fragrance of skin stretched over hard planes of taut muscle, every inch of him a tactile feast for her fingertips.

      He slotted one thick thigh between her legs, the spring of his chest hair grazing her nipples as he pressed closer. Libby rubbed her wet sex on his leg, the friction sublime, but not nearly enough. She tore her mouth from his, her head spinning with an oxygen-deprived head-rush.

      ‘Now, Alex. Now.’

      She reached between them, her hand circling his hard length, the satiny skin sliding over the steel beneath as she worked him from root to tip.

      He stared, his chest working furiously, his mouth swollen and his eyes heavy-lidded.

      She wanted him inside her. Yesterday.

      With a grunt, he lifted her, depositing her in the centre of the bed and following her down. But rather than settling himself between her spread thighs, as she craved, he dipped his head to her breast, his mouth covering her nipple, sucking her inside the moist warmth.

      Libby cried out, her flash of disappointment banished by sublime pleasure. Better than she’d imagined… the fantasy a poor relation to the reality. His cheeks hollowed as he drew more of her flesh inside, his tongue flicking the nub erect and then his teeth scraping with just a bite of pain—enough to shoot sensation to her core in a prelude to the spasms she hoped would soon follow.

      As if he’d seen this arc of sensation he spread her thighs wider with his knees, his fingers finding her slick centre, homing in on her clit with pinpoint accuracy and the perfect amount of pressure.

      She whimpered, her fingers frantic in his hair as he abandoned one nipple in favour of the second. There was no reprieve from his relentless barrage. His tongue laved, his fingers swirled and plunged, and Libby forgot to breathe as coils of rapture wrapped around her from the inside out.

      His dark lashes fluttered open, his stare finding hers as his mouth curled around her breast.

      ‘Alex…’ She was close, so close. She wanted him inside her, but she wouldn’t make it.

      He growled—a feral noise from the back of his cultured throat, as if encouraging her over the edge. Libby latched on to the dark swirls of his irises as his mouth and fingers continued to drag every drop of bliss from her strung-out body.

      Her orgasm blindsided her, slamming her back into the mattress with a ragged cry. The spasms rocked her. Alex kept her thighs spread with his, his hand working furiously and his mouth relentless at her breast.

      She shoved at him, the pleasure too intense. But he’d drained her of any strength she possessed and her hands flailed uselessly at his shoulders as he abandoned her clit but continued to suckle at her sensitive nipple.

      ‘Stop…please.’ She lay boneless, her head swimming.

      He pulled back, releasing her from his wicked mouth and pursing his swollen lips to blow a stream of air over her wet, puckered nipple. He smiled. A predatory kind of smile. If she’d had any energy she’d have clawed back command of the situation. But she could only watch as he crawled over her, his lips grazing a path from her ribs across her belly and to the tops of her thighs.

      He held her open, kissing first one thigh and then the other before staring at her sex with uninhibited candour and blowing cool air over her wet lips.

      ‘Alex…’ He’d completely disarmed her. And he still hadn’t given her what she’d asked for. This was her game. Her rules.

      With a lazy smile he kissed one thigh again and then climbed from the bed. His muscular ass flexed as he strode to the nightstand. Amazed that she had any hormones left, Libby licked her lips. The clench of his buttocks and the jut of his thick, proud cock was enough to create an impressive second wind.

      What was happening to her? She should leave. Show him she was still in control here. But she craved him inside her as much as she enjoyed her power over their liaison. Shoving away doubts, and the sting of memories, she focussed on him, compelling her breathing into a deep, regular pattern.

      He returned to the bedside, his bold gaze on her as he tore open a condom packet with his teeth and rolled the latex down his length with practised, single-handed skill.

      ‘Come here.’

      He held out his hand and Libby moved to the edge of the bed before him. He pushed her back until she rested on her elbows and then leaned over her, cupping her face in both hands and kissing her with a passion that stole her sanity and sent fresh spasms through her pelvis. Pulling back, he splayed his large hands on her thighs, slowly easing her open, his gaze darting between her face and her exposed sex.

      The way he looked at her… As if he was seconds away from devouring her whole. And that was exactly how she felt. Consumed. His stare alone took her there.

      ‘I’m going to fuck you now. That’s what you want?’

      She nodded, her blood boiling, any snarky retort lost behind her paralysed tongue. If she’d thought businessman, philanthropic, surfer dude Alex was hot, this determined, focussed man scorched the flesh from her bones.

      He