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“Are you…?” Carys started to ask, but he kissed her before she could finish her question. Her arms were already around his neck by the time he lifted his head to stare down at her.

“Did you have a productive day?” he asked, his voice huskier than usual.

Since he kept his hands on her back, pressing her against his hard, delicious body, Carys didn’t bother to remove her hands from his hair, which was softer than it should be on such a hard, muscular man. He should have rough hair, not soft, silky strands.

“It was good,” she admitted, struggling to remember what he’d asked her. “How about yours?”

“Good.” He released his grip on her back, but those hands slid down to her hips. “Until some woman told me that she didn’t want to be seen with me.” He looked around, then down at Carys. “Are you sure this place has a license to serve food?”

Carys laughed, ignoring his comment about being seen together. “I promise the food is great. And yes, they have a license.”

He sighed, tilting his head. “Let’s grab a table toward the back.”

Carys grinned, her mood lightening now that he was here with her. What was it about this man that made her feel so good?

They ordered margaritas and chips with the best salsa. For dinner, she got the taco combination while Rafi ordered the fajitas. The steak and veggies came on a sizzling platter and, for a moment, Rafi looked confused as to what to do with the parts of his meal.

“Just put it together the way you like it,” she explained to him, nodding her appreciation when the waiter set down their second round of margaritas.

He looked across the table at her with a dark, raised eyebrow. “You think I don’t know how to eat fajitas?”

She laughed and took a big sip of her drink, enjoying the sweet and sour flavors. “I think you’re a food snob and wouldn’t know excellent flavors unless they were put in front of you at a five hundred dollar a plate establishment.” She was only half kidding.

But he took the bait. With precision, he piled the meat, onions, green peppers, and sour cream on his flour tortilla. Carys watched, thinking to warn him that he was overloading the tortilla. The trick was to have just a few ingredients on the tortilla so that nothing fell out when one took a bite.

Obviously, Rafi hadn’t ever had them like this, so when he lifted his over-stuffed tortilla to his mouth and took a bite, more than half fell out the other end back onto the platter.

Carys snickered, then covered her amusement with her own taco, which was perfectly filled. “You missed a bit,” she told him, chuckling at his frustration.

“You know you’re going to pay for making me look foolish, right?” he warned her, concentrating on rebuilding his fajita again, but with less fillings this time.

“I know you’ve just proven my point.” She lifted her drink and took a long swallow, enjoying the way the tequila soothed the edges from the day.

“How so?” he asked and took another bite of his fajita.

“You didn’t know how to fill your fajita. You’re a newbie at this.”

He took a chip and dunked it in the spicy salsa. “That doesn’t mean that I’m a food snob.”

“Aren’t you though?’ she teased, tilting her head slightly. She narrowed her eyes. “I think you are. You might not realize it yet.” She feigned a frown. “And that’s really sad. It’s tough to not be self-aware.”

He growled something and selected another flour tortilla to start a second fajita. “Oh, you don’t think I’m self-aware?”

“Nope!” she laughed, leaning back in her chair with her margarita in hand. “However, I acknowledge your superior talents in other areas that are equally important.”

His hands froze and he looked across the table at her. One dark eyebrow lifted. “And what’s that area of expertise?”

She knew what he wanted her to say, and her small, triumphant smile warned him that she was going in a different direction. “You’re excellent at motivating the staff at work.”

He growled and stood up. Carys laughed, then quickly downed the rest of her margarita only moments before he threw a bunch of cash onto the table.

It was probably twice the cost of the food, but Carys didn’t have a chance to tell him that.

He grabbed her hands and pulled her out of her chair.

She was nearly carried out of the restaurant and, laughing hard, was stuffed into the back of the SUV.

The same man was driving but there was a different man in the passenger seat.

Carys barely acknowledged them, continuing to tease Rafi. “Oh, so now you think you can manhandle me?” she joked.

He growled, then slid his hand under her pink sweater. “You don’t think so?”

Carys couldn’t speak. Not with his hand teasing her like that.

Somehow, his fingers worked their way under her bra and located her nipple.

Carys gasped, grabbing his wrist as she glanced warily at the men in the front seat.

They didn’t even look around, but she stilled his hand.

She didn’t like the idea of someone watching what they were doing.

Following her gaze, he pressed a button and a divider came up between the back seat and the men in the front seat.

Carys hadn’t expected the divider, but she couldn’t really think, distracted as she was.

Not with his thumb and forefinger pinching her nipple.

He’d done that last night and she’d come apart. It wasn’t much different tonight.

“I can’t…” she whispered, desperate to feel the beautiful release, like last night. But not…not in the back of a vehicle where anyone could see them.

“The windows are tinted,” he murmured, shifting her around so that her legs were draped over his lap.

He had more freedom in this position and she was nearly lying on her back on the seat.

He spread her legs and pressed his thumb against that nub through her panties.

In the back of her mind, Carys decided to always wear skirts around this man in the future.

His fingers were magic, she thought, her body tightening with every stroke of that thumb. “Rafi!” she gasped, shifting her hips against his hand.

“Show me what I’m doing to you, habibi,” he whispered, his tone and thumb urgent now.

With those words and his mysterious endearment, her body exploded. She pressed her hips against his hand, her own hand coming down to guide his. Within moments, her mouth fell open in a silent cry as her body splintered apart.

When she opened her eyes, Rafi was kissing her neck and she was trembling, now straddling his hips.

The SUV came to a stop in the underground parking garage.

It took all of Carys’s concentration to stand up and walk beside Rafi, enter the elevator and pretend as if nothing had happened in the back of that SUV.

He chuckled, looking down at her. When she started to lift her hand, self-consciously thinking to fix her hair or…whatever, he pulled her into his arms. Carys leaned against his chest and inhaled the spicy sent of him, reveling in how good he felt like this.

But before she could relax, the elevator doors opened.

The two men stepped out, then held the doors open while Rafi casually led her into the penthouse.

And just like the previous night, she didn’t have time to admire the elegant décor.

Rafi took her hand and practically dragged her into the bedroom.

Within seconds of closing the door, he was on his knees, pulling her skirt down.

“I love your boots,” he grumbled.

“I didn’t know that was your kink,” she said, laughing as she balanced with one hand on his head while he stripped off her underwear. When he stood, his hands captured her sweater, tossing that onto the floor with the rest of her clothes.

“It is,” he replied, reaching around her to release the catch on her bra. When it was gone, Rafi pushed away so he could feast his eyes on her.

“I’m completely naked and you’re still dressed,” she whispered, trembling in anticipation of whatever Rafi was going to do to her next.

“You could fix that,” he replied.

Carys smiled, her need increasing. There was no way she was going to resist the opportunity of stripping him down.

“I didn’t get to touch you yesterday,” she whispered, releasing the buttons on his dress shirt, one at a time.

He wasn’t wearing a jacket or tie and every release exposed more tanned skin and the fascinating muscles underneath.

She kissed every inch of him that she exposed, running her fingers over those rippling muscles, fascinated with every part of him.

When she was on her knees, pulling off his boxers, like he’d done to her, his erection was right there.

Carys couldn’t resist and took him into her mouth.

He wasn’t prepared for her warm mouth wrapping around him and hissed, but didn’t push her away.

Rafi’s fingers dove into her hair, and as she licked and sucked at him, his hand hit the wall, trying to steady himself.

He could only take that kind of torturous pleasure for a few moments.

With a growl, he lifted her into his arms and tossed her onto the bed.

He barely waited for Carys to stop bouncing before he spread her legs wide.

He paused for a brief moment to admire the picture she made, appreciating the pink beauty of her folds before he pulled one of her legs over his shoulder, then thrust into her.

She gasped and Rafi froze, praying that he hadn’t hurt her.

“Move!” she hissed, rolling her hips as he chuckled at her command. And he obeyed, sliding in and out of her heat. With every thrust, her hips lifted, meeting him, her inner muscles tightening, making his brain fizzle.

All too soon, his body tightened, his thrusts coming faster, harder. He knew that he didn’t have much time left, so he pressed his thumb against that nub, helping Carys come right along with him.

He absorbed her cries into his mouth, kissing her deeply as they tumbled over the cliff together, clinging to each other as the shudders slowed, shifting to trembling aftershocks.

When they finally caught their breaths, Rafi pulled Carys into his arms, breathing in her sweet, feminine scents, his mind fracturing as he replayed the past hour in his mind.

“Will you stay until morning?” he asked, whispering in her ear.

Carys was more than half asleep, but she managed to answer, “No.”

Rafi wasn’t sure if he should be irritated by her stubbornness, or amused by her honesty. “Why not?”

She sighed, her eyes already closed as her body melted into his. “Men don’t stay. I leave first.”

Her response was so unexpected, it woke him up. He looked down at her, but saw she was already asleep. Only the moonlight lit up her lovely, sleeping features. But Carys’s response was so revealing, he couldn’t stop staring at her.