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Burning with need, desperate with it, Skye moved to help him. She undid her belt, grabbed the hem of the shirt she wore and lifted it off, yanked her shorts down her hips and then sent them flying across the room with a single kick of her legs.

Her underwear was nothing special, only a pair of boyshort pants and a matching racer-back sports bra. The black cotton set might have lacked sex appeal, but the pants fit her small hips snugly and the bra moulded her boobs.

TJ didn’t seem to care that she wasn’t in seductive lace or prettily designed lingerie. He stood at the foot of the bed, staring at her, his eyes dark. ‘You’re beautiful – you know that?’

Skye smiled shyly as that news first washed over her. She watched as he untucked his shirt and pulled it over his head, before tossing it on the floor, swallowed thickly as she took in his long, lean body. TJ was all corded muscle and tanned skin.

When he turned and sat on the edge of the bed to take off his boots, Skye saw the huge bull skull tattoo on his back. It was black and white. And beautiful. The bull’s horns spread over each shoulder blade, the forehead extending down his spine to where the lower jawbone ended a few inches above his waistband. The bull’s horns served as the balance beam for a scale: a weight tray dangled off either horn, down the sides of his back. In one tray, the word Live had been inked into his skin. In the other, Die. Skye noticed that the Live side was favoured, hovering slightly lower, heavier.

TJ yanked off his boots, and even though Skye held her breath in anticipation, he didn’t take off his jeans. Just climbed onto the bed and came to where she lay.

He levered onto his elbow so that he could look down at her. Skye’s nerves pulled that knot in her stomach tight, but oddly, there was very little panic now. It was as if the anticipation had displaced all that fear of the unknown.

TJ kissed her. Just once. Deeply. As if he wanted to go slow so that he didn’t scare her.

But Skye simply gave him a shove and sent him sprawling onto his back. She climbed onto him, straddling him low so that their centres pressed together through the layers of their remaining clothes.

TJ’s hands found her hips and squeezed. ‘I don’t know what to do with you, wild girl.’

She saw that it cost him his pride to admit that he was out of his depth. But the fact that he could be vulnerable only made her feel safe. And in that safety, she found the courage to say, ‘Just treat me like you would any other woman.’

TJ groaned, but he levered into a seated position. ‘You’ll talk to me,’ he said. ‘Tell me what you want as we go?’

‘Yes,’ she promised.

He reached for the back of her sports bra, stopped, asked, ‘Please, for the love of God, can I take this off now?’

Skye nodded. She raised her arms as he lifted, helping him, but the moment her bra came off, she lowered them back down, covering herself. Her breasts were small and insignificant, and just then, it was almost painful to contemplate all the things her body lacked compared to the women TJ must have been with.

He didn’t force her protective shield away. Instead, he raised his hands, one to each breast, and he whispered, ‘I’ve got you.’ And the moment Skye dropped her arms, he used those big, warm hands to cover her nakedness.

He took her mouth as those clever hands worked, squeezing and kneading until her core throbbed with pressure. His tongue teased hers.

‘TJ, please …’

His body trembled beneath her, as if all that trapped need was escaping through his skin, and when he said, ‘Please, baby, let me look at you?’, his voice was stretched painfully tight.

Skye nodded. How could she not? The honest need in his eyes coupled with that word, baby, undid her. She would have given him anything.

TJ dropped his hands. His gaze followed. Skye waited, thinking she’d see that flash of disappointment. But instead, he groaned in approval, and he said, ‘Fuck me.’ He raised one hand, covered her entire breast with it. ‘Perfect fit.’

Leaning forward, he tugged her into his mouth, used his tongue to circle her peaked nipple.

A shock of pleasure slapped through her as the new sensation radiated from that tiny point of contact and through her body to pool between her thighs. Skye was helpless but to grab hold of him and let her head fall back as she succumbed to it. A long, guttural moan left her lips, and with TJ’s hot, wet mouth on her, she wasn’t embarrassed. She was too steeped in pleasure, too lost in the new adventure he was taking her on.

‘Does that feel good?’ he rasped, his voice heavy with his own battle for control.

‘Yes.’

He dropped his head to her other breast, tortured her in the same way, balancing out the shockwaves that ricochetted through her.

Swamped by unspeakable pleasure, her core filled to aching, Skye unconsciously ground over him as if she could relieve that building pressure with just that. She almost did. The orgasm built quickly, rising in one uncontrollable wave, but the moment it hovered, the moment she braced for it, relaxing her body to welcome it, TJ stopped.

‘Jesus Christ. Holy shit,’ he panted, his eyes wide and wild. ‘Not yet. Too soon.’

She whimpered and thrust her hips over him again.

TJ’s eyes dropped. ‘Fuck, I can feel you soaking my leg through my jeans.’