Butterflies scuttled around her stomach, but this time they weren’t because of nerves. Excitement danced its way through her veins. Desire. Lust. All there at the idea of this man possessing her even for a short period of time.

Lucas assisted her up the steps and they stopped in front of Cole.

Cole tore his gaze from Ren as if loath to even acknowledge Lucas, but he stuck to protocol and addressed the man who owned her first.

“Lucas, I’m glad you and Ren could make it.”

Lucas extended his hand and Cole shook it as the two men exchanged polite greetings.

Then Cole reached for her hand and Lucas released it. An electric charge singed over her skin as soon as Cole curled his fingers around hers. He pulled it up in a formal gesture and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

“Ren, you look beautiful.”

She blushed. Actually blushed, her face warm with pleasure. Cole slowly lowered her hand and then motioned toward the door.

“Please come in.”

As soon as Ren stepped inside she noted the innate comfort that oozed from every corner. There was nothing cold or sterile about this house. It was warm and inviting. Decorated and furnished for comfort.

The couches and chairs were sumptuous, plush leather. The artwork wasn’t modern, inexplicable renderings of God only knew what. Instead there was a rustic theme both in décor and color scheme that she loved.

It looked—and felt—like Cole. The Cole she remembered. The Cole he always wanted to be.

Sadness and regret welled inside her. Perhaps this would have been their home. Or maybe she needed to accept that they weren’t meant to be.

For a moment she lost herself and nearly went to sit when Cole made a motion for Lucas to get comfortable. After a half step, she froze and went instead to the middle of the living room to await instruction.

Lucas had already told her. Tonight she was Cole’s to command.

She glanced Lucas’s way, just insecure enough to want his reassurance. He gave it with a slight nod. Approval flashed in his eyes, eyes that were usually closely guarded in front of others, but he knew how on edge she was.

Carefully she turned in Cole’s direction and raised her gaze until she met his. The intensity in his expression sent shivers down her back. It was a delicious sensation of knowing she was hunted. There was no mistaking the naked desire in those brilliant blue eyes.

She caught her breath, suddenly nervous, giddy, excited to hear what his first command would be.

Cole stared at Ren, his chest so tight it threatened to split open. She was here. In his living room, his home, where she belonged. Where she’d always belonged.

She was here but she belonged to another man, and Cole was expected to perform in front of him so he could be judged. Deemed worthy of Ren. Hell, this sucked. He didn’t want to share Ren with anyone. He wanted her where no one else could see her, where he could lavish her with attention. Spoil her endlessly.

Lucas’s words flashed in his mind. She needed strength. She liked the hard edges. She craved them, needed them. Whatever happened between them for the rest of their time together, tonight he had to convince Lucas Holt that he could leave knowing Ren would be taken care of.

“Come to me,” he said, not making a move toward her. It took a lot of discipline not to charge over, throw her over his shoulder and carry her off to his bedroom. Fuck Lucas Holt and his damn expectations.

But he forced himself to maintain the tight discipline he held in all other areas of his life. Apparently when it came to Ren, everything he knew deserted him. She stripped him bare.

Ren walked on soft feet the few steps to where he stood. She was so close he could smell her. Sweet, a little exotic and infinitely mysterious.

Their gazes caught and held. He could drown in those oddly colored green eyes of hers.

“Kiss me.”

Her eyes widened. She was surprised by his command. But with little hesitation, she closed the remaining distance between them, pressed her body against his and leaned up to press her lips to his.

He inhaled deeply, overcome at the assault on his senses. Touch, smell, taste …Dear God, her taste.

He cupped her face in his hands and then slid his fingers back until they tangled in her hair. He held her captive, or maybe she held him in her thrall. Either way he wasn’t about to hurry this moment.

He fed on her lips. Absorbed her sweetness. Their tongues brushed, flirted, retreated and then boldly advanced again.

For too long he’d merely dreamed of holding her again. Of being able to kiss her and know that she was his.

His lungs screaming for air, he dragged his mouth away and slowly released her. She stumbled a bit and he caught her arms, glancing down at the wickedly high heels she wore.

He frowned. “Take off your shoes before you hurt yourself.”

There was faint amusement on her face as she slid the fuck-me shoes off and let them fall to the floor. As if he needed her wearing those shoes for him to want to fuck her …It was all he’d thought about for the last several days.

“You sound like Lucas,” she murmured.

He scowled, not at all flattered by the comparison. She frowned a little in return, worry flashing in her eyes. Worry that she’d displeased him. He purposely steeled his features, angry that he’d allowed her to see his reaction.

“Take off your clothes. Piece by piece. Don’t rush. You may lay them on the desk by the window.”

Color rushed to her cheeks and she glanced downward. He found her shyness both endearing and heartbreaking. It hurt that the woman who used to undress so boldly before him was now self-conscious, as if he were a complete stranger.

He moved to her and her head yanked up, fear now crowding behind the nervousness. She licked her lips, poised to voice an apology for her hesitation. He could read her as surely as if she’d already said the words aloud.

He simply shook his head and then pulled her into his arms. He lowered her head so he could whisper in her ear. “Don’t be afraid of me, Ren. It would kill me. I’ll never hurt you. I would rather be alone with you so that we could rediscover each other in private, but this is Lucas’s requirement and the only way I could have you.”

She relaxed into his arms and rubbed her cheek along his shoulder, a motion so achingly familiar that it damn near gutted him.

Instead of having her carry out his command, he began to undress her himself. The last thing he wanted was for her to be on edge around him. Anything he could do to assuage her fears and uncertainty, he’d do.

He held his breath as he untied her top and let it fall away. She went to pull at her skirt, but he put his hand on hers. “No. Let me. I’ve decided I’d like to do it myself.”

Her fingers shook as she let her hand fall to her side.

His knuckles graced the softness of her belly as he lowered his hand to catch at the waistband of the frilly skirt. Unsure of who he was teasing more, her or himself, he inched the material down until finally it billowed to the floor at her feet.

There she was, adorned only in lacy black lingerie, looking so sensual and utterly beautiful that he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t want to breathe. He just wanted to stare and drink her in until he was high on nothing but her.

She lifted her chin, and for the first time since he’d commanded her, she returned his gaze head on. She was as aroused as he was. Satisfaction was a savage thrill that coursed through his veins like a potent drug. She wanted him. There was no disguising the truth in eyes that never lied.

“Take off the panties. Just your panties,” Cole whispered, barely about to speak around the knot in his throat.

Her thumbs tracked down until they caught in the thin string of the delicate lace. She did a little shimmy with her hips to ease the scrap of material down her legs and he nearly swallowed his tongue.

Soft, creamy skin. Smooth legs. Hips with just enough curve to be damn sexy and an enticing place for his hands to rest.

At the V of those perfect legs was a tiny triangle of trimmed, dark hair and it fired his imagination. Did she keep her lips smooth and bare as she had when they were together?

He’d never forget the first time she’d shyly presented her newly waxed flesh. He’d spent hours touching, licking and coaxing her to orgasm after orgasm.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Lucas move. Just shifting one leg over the other, but it brought reality crashing back. Total buzzkill.

He was expected to perform. To another man’s standards. It made him want to bare his teeth and snarl like a predator issuing a challenge. If only it were that simple …

He turned away from Ren, leaving her standing in only her bra. He pulled a condom from his pocket, resentful of the need to use one. Lucas probably had her bareback on a daily basis. If Ren were Cole’s he sure as hell wouldn’t have anything between his dick and the pure sweetness of her flesh.

He lowered himself onto the armless leather chair and let his legs sprawl apart. Then he held the condom out to her and motioned her over.

She came without hesitation and stood before him, waiting his next instruction.

“Unzip me, suck me hard and then put the condom on.”

Her eyes narrowed to half slits and they burned with sudden fire. He smiled secretly to himself. She still loved it when he talked crudely and explicitly to her.

She went gracefully to her knees, her hair falling forward over one shoulder. Her hands smoothed up his legs, a subtle tease, before she unbuttoned his fly and slowly lowered the zipper.

She pulled at his underwear, slipping the band over his rigid arousal until finally he was free. His dick popped out and into the warm clasp of her hand. As soon as she gripped him, he damn near passed out.

He’d told her to get him hard, but from the moment he’d stepped out of his front door to see her getting out of the limo, he’d been nothing more than a walking, talking erection.

She lowered her head and gently tucked him into her mouth. He moaned, not keeping his pleasure from her. She made a sound of appreciation around the head of his dick and then sucked him deeper.

“That’s it,” he murmured. “Good girl. That feels so good. Deeper. Now hold it. Yeah, just like that.”

He felt her quiver around him, her soft sounds of pleasure spilling from her throat. She’d always loved when he was vocal during sex. Loved when he told her exactly what pleased him.

He pushed his fingers into her hair, pulling the strands back so he could see her cheeks puff out and then suck in around his cock. Her eyes were half closed, satisfaction glowing brightly in their depths.

He could hardly believe that she was here, between his knees, her mouth around him. It was a scene from his deepest held dreams, the ones he wouldn’t admit to himself in the light of day but would look forward to each and every night.

It should irritate him or somehow make him feel much younger and less mature than his thirty-plus years that for all practical purposes he’d pined for this woman for ten years. But all he could think was that finally, finally she was here, with him, where she belonged.

He tightened his hold in her hair and then gently pulled through the strands so they spilled over his hand like a midnight sky.

“You decide when it’s enough,” he said in a low voice. “After you put the condom on, I want you to straddle me and take me inside you. If you aren’t ready, tell me so that I can better prepare you.”

He could hardly wait to have her in his arms. All of her. Her astride him, his dick embedded deeply in her body, his arms full of lush, beautiful woman.

She worked him in and out of her mouth several more seconds and then carefully eased her lips over the crown and then away, leaving his cock slick and shiny with her saliva.

She opened the condom and deftly rolled it down his rigid length and he stared at it, hating every inch of the latex as it sheathed him. Then she rose, standing before him in just that wicked sexy bra that barely covered the tops of her nipples.

He held out his hands to take hers and helped her position herself astride him. She settled onto her knees on either side of his hips and then reached down for his dick.

He shook his head and pushed her arm back up. “Put your hands on my shoulders and hold on.”

He reached down to position his cock at her opening, rubbing up and down her slit to tease her. She let out a small sigh and briefly closed her eyes.

“Open your eyes,” he said in the same measured tone he’d used with her thus far. “I want to see you when I slide into you, Ren. I want you to see me and know who it is inside you.”

“I would know,” she whispered.

He smiled.

He eased his hips up the tiniest bit so that the head of his cock was lodged just inside her. Then he met her gaze and issued his next command.

“Take me.”

Her eyes widened, the pupils flaring. A shudder rolled through her and her fingers bit into his shoulders.

“That’s right, Ren. I want you to fuck me. There’ll be plenty of time for me to do the fucking. For now I want you to ride me.”

She let out a small whimper as she began her downward slide. She opened around him and he let out a strangled moan as she fisted him in her hot, velvet glove.