and that basket sat directly beneath the safe. If she left it behind, could Michael find a way to trace it to her? She needed time to think. A new plan.
But thought became impossible when Michael leaned even closer, the canopy drape falling closed behind him so that they were now enclosed in silky darkness. Only the barest hint of light glowed behind the golden drapes.
Michael’s face was hidden in the shadows, which just made everything seem more unreal. More dreamlike.
Until he kissed her. The taste of him was very real. Dizzying. Delicious. His warm, firm mouth skimmed her lips in a way that actually made her lean into him for more.
A low growl rumbled in his throat as he deepened the kiss and she had to grab his broad shoulders to keep from falling back on the bed. Her fingers encountered warm skin and hard muscle that flexed beneath her touch.
Michael moved beside her on the bed, never breaking the kiss, as his fingers slid down the length of her throat to the bow tied at the collar of her cloak. He worked it with his fingers until it loosened, the fabric gaping to reveal the red silk blouse she wore underneath.
He broke the kiss and used both hands to reverently lower the hood, revealing her hair tied back in a ponytail. He released it, so that her wayward dark curls hung about her face. Winding one loosely around his index finger, he brushed it against the rough whiskers on his jaw.
“Soft.” His voice was husky, his eyes intense.
Desire pooled low in her belly as Michael slid her cloak off her shoulders, his hungry gaze roaming over her body.
Sarah reached out one hand, but instead of pushing him away, she placed her palm flat against his chest. The silky hair there trickled between her fingers. Her touch made his chest muscles contract and she could feel the fast gallop of his heart beneath her hand.
Almost as fast as her own. “My, what big muscles you have,” she whispered, knowing instinctively how risky it was to tease a wolf. But Sarah couldn’t seem to stop herself. She didn’t want to stop.
“All the better to hold you with, my dear.” Then Michael kissed her again, even more hungrily this time. He enveloped her shoulders with his grip, the warmth of his big hands seeping through the thin silk of her blouse.
He pulled her closer, until her body was flush against his own. Silk against skin. Soft against hard. The intimate contact made her long for more. Made her forget everything but this man. This moment.
As his mouth devoured her, his fingers stalked the buttons of her blouse. The zipper on her skirt. Until she wore nothing but her lacy red bra and panties, lingerie bought on a whim yesterday to implement her New Year’s resolution to take more risks. No more boring beige underwear.
No more boring beige life.
“My, what big hands you have,” she gasped as his touches became more intimate.
She could sense rather than see his predatory smile.
“All the better to ravish you with, my dear.”
Then he did just that, but with a fierce tenderness that both touched and aroused her. Michael’s big hands peeled away her bra with such sensual skill that Sarah thought she must be dreaming.
Then those incredible hands moved lower.
A midnight madness now consumed her and she simply couldn’t think at all anymore. Only feel. The hard length of his body pressed against her. The skilled pressure of his hands. The urgent heat of his kisses.
Soon they were both naked. Both voracious. Both hunting for the pleasure they knew they’d only find in each other.
Michael tasted every inch of her. His tongue stroking her breasts. Her belly. The inside of her thighs. His ravenous exploration of her body driving her wild. A wildness he seemed to share when she did the same to him.
“Oh, Red,” he moaned, his breath coming in short pants as her hair swept over his belly. Strangled groans of desire emanated from deep in his chest.
At last, Michael pulled her up to kiss him. Frantically. Reverently. Her naked body now lay atop his own and she wasn’t surprised to find they fit perfectly together.
Then he rolled her under him, reaching into a drawer and retrieving a condom in the same movement. He tore it open with his teeth, then inhaled a choked breath as she slowly rolled it on him.
When he reached up to remove her mask, she shook her head, determined to remain anonymous, to perpetuate the fantasy. They were two strangers in the night. No names. No questions. No promises.
Only Michael did make promises. With his hands. His mouth. His body. At last he sank into her, moving with deliberate slowness to draw out the exquisiteness of the moment. She’d never made love like this before. Never with so much savage hunger. So much need. So much passion. Animal passion that now consumed her, bringing out her most primal instincts. Her hands raked across his back as he brought her to the brink of ecstasy.
“Michael,” she cried, wanting more of him. All of him.
“Red,” he breathed, sweeping his lips across her mouth and shifting his body in a way that heightened the incredible sensations twisting through her.
It was enough to send her over the edge.
She took him with her, his body tensing in her arms, then shuddering with one final thrust. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, his breathing as harsh and uneven as her own. When at last he collected himself, he turned onto his side, pulling her with him.
“I won’t let you go,” he whispered, even as his eyelids drooped. His arm tightened around her, pulling her even closer.
Sarah relaxed against him, all her nerve endings still thrumming. The warmth of his large body enveloped her like a cocoon. She closed her eyes for a moment, still caught up in the fantasy, one she knew had to end very soon. But not yet.
Not quite yet.
SARAH AWOKE SLOWLY the next morning, the rays of the morning sun streaming through the open drapes. She winced at the brightness, yawned lazily, then suddenly she realized that she was naked beneath the silk sheets.
Naked in Michael Wolff’s arms.
Panic hit her like a jolt of caffeine. She’d fallen asleep last night. She hadn’t returned the necklace to the safe. She was in big trouble.
Her body tensed as she listened to the sound of Michael’s deep, even breathing. At least he was still asleep. She might still have a chance to make her escape before he awoke.
Carefully extricating herself from his arms, she slipped soundlessly out of the big round bed. How could she have fallen asleep last night? She remembered lying in his embrace, waiting for him to drift off. The warmth of his naked body pressed against her. The sated afterglow of her own. The dreamy visions of more nights together.
A dream that could never come true.
Instead, she’d created her own nightmare. She’d proved beyond all doubt that she wasn’t cut out for a life of crime—as if sleeping with her family’s archenemy hadn’t already done that.
But Sarah couldn’t
