Her eyelids fluttered open. Big mistake, she realized as she looked into his deepened, darkened stare. Eye contact while making love should have been a distraction, Brianne thought idly. But when everything she saw in Jake’s eyes was honest and real, she wasn’t distracted. Rather, she was drawn more deeply into the vortex of emotion and desire.

Shook up by the intensity of emotion welling in her throat and the incredible feelings building in her body, she switched her gaze over his shoulder just as he lowered his head and latched on to one of her nipples. He pulled the taut peak into his mouth, alternately grazing with his teeth, then suckling and soothing with his tongue, until she was beyond reason.

Her bucking, shifting body was no longer hers, but rather something he controlled. And he did it well, his hips pumping upward, meeting every gyrating movement she made and matching it until the most incredible climax beckoned, just out of reach.

He switched his attention to her other breast, but instead of the frenzied need with which he’d started, he picked up a different tempo. Using a slower, circular movement, he laved her entire breast with his tongue. The cool air around them contrasted with his warmer mouth, and with each lap he took of her skin, her nipple tightened and peaked, begging for his attention with a pulling need that found a home between her thighs, where their bodies joined in the most intimate act imaginable. But still he persisted to tease her with slow, methodical strokes of his tongue that had her body writhing and begging for release.

“Open your eyes.”

She hadn’t realized she’d closed them again, but his deep, husky voice brought her out of her desire-filled haze. She complied, once again meeting his penetrating gaze, and, as she did, he slowed the movements of his lower body until she wanted to cry at the unfairness of his leaving her strung tight and needy.

“I want you to look at me when you come,” he said, his voice raw as he explained the answer to her unasked question.

He cupped her full breast in his hand, kneading the plump flesh for a moment. And then, as if she’d told him exactly what she needed, his thumb and forefinger locked onto her nipple and he began to roll and flick at the tender nub just hard enough to bring sensation to life once more. He pumped his hips in an upward, circular motion, never pausing to release his hand or stop the perfect rhythm he’d created. The waves began in earnest, a steady mounting of desire that encompassed her entire being.

And just as she crested, her eyes locked on his and his climax joined with hers. She came, her body undulating with wave after wave of rapid release. And as she fell, she caught sight of the skyline behind Jake and felt as if she were free-falling over the city. Like her emotions, she was tumbling, body, heart and soul, without a safety net.

HER BREATHING was rapid and her body still shook around him, as Jake’s awareness returned. He couldn’t breathe any better than Brianne and his body wasn’t on any more solid ground. Neither was his mind, considering he’d avoided facing reality.

He’d needed to tell her she was in danger but, by the time she’d come home, he’d been so worked up and worried, he couldn’t think let alone form a coherent sentence. One look as she’d walked into the apartment and all he could do was feel. The relief in seeing her unharmed had been so great, he’d needed to release the fear and prove to himself she was alive. He’d done that all right. And though he should sit her down and talk now, he wasn’t ready.

As long as they were inside this secure penthouse, they were safe. And as long as he had some more time before Brianne looked at him with disappointment and distrust in her beautiful eyes, he was damn well going to take it.

He brushed her hair over her shoulder. “You promised me a whirlpool,” he whispered in her ear.

Her soft laughter found a home deep in his heart. “I said if you cooperated I’d consider the whirlpool.”

“And I’ve been a very good boy.” He didn’t add a word about therapy because the time they’d actually spent working on his shoulder had been minimal and he didn’t want her to call him on it just yet. Besides, it hadn’t been intentional, and he would let her do all the physical therapy she wanted on his body. Later. Much, much later. When she had no more desire to be in his bed. He shook off that thought as best he could.

A husky purr escaped her throat. “You are good, I’ll give you that.”

She paused to take a nip on his earlobe, and the desire she created rocked him down to his toes. “So the whirlpool it is?” he asked.

“If I don’t get out of this position I might never straighten my legs out, and those hot water jets sound awfully good right now.” She winced, and he realized how much discomfort she must be in.

He braced his hands on her waist and helped her leverage herself off him and come to a standing position on shaky legs. His body definitely felt the loss, and he intended to make up for it as soon as they hit the whirlpool.

“I can think of many ways to stretch out your legs, and I guarantee you’ll feel much better.”

“I thought I was the physical therapist.”

“Just give me a chance to work those muscles of yours. You might be surprised at how proficient I am with my hands.”

Her eyes darkened at his completely sexual intent. At least there they were in perfect agreement, Jake thought. He held out his hand and she grasped it, not quite meeting his gaze.

He figured she had issues of her own to work out, and, considering the upheaval he’d be bringing into her life, he’d give her this time.

He knew it couldn’t last.

ON A ROOFTOP high above New York City, Jake led Brianne to the now infamous whirlpool. They’d grabbed towels from the apartment, and he’d taken her via the exclusive penthouse elevator to the private spa on the roof.

The view was incredible. White stars twinkled in the inky night sky and the outline of buildings and lights illuminated the spectacular setting. But the Empire State Building lit up in its red, white and blue glory was the pièce de résistance, and stood out from all the more ordinary buildings surrounding them.

Brianne walked to the edge of the roof, and though she kept one hand on the towel around her body, she used the other to grasp the high railing so she could peer out for a better look. “This is almost surreal.”

Jake came up behind her. “Pretty amazing, isn’t it.”

She nodded. “And your sister owns this along with the penthouse? No one else in the building can come up?”

“No one.”

She let out a brief whistle. “I guess this is what they mean by wealth.”

“Guess so.” He propped one hip on a rung of the guardrail. “Nice life if you can get it.”

Brianne heard the chill in his voice and was reminded of the only time he’d frozen her out: when she’d verbalized the conclusion that he didn’t live in this apartment, that he was a visitor much like herself. She’d wondered then why he’d turned cold, and figured now was as good a time as any to ask.

“Jake?”

“What?” He stared out over the panoramic view of the city, obviously lost in thought.

She tried to come up with a way to formulate the question that wouldn’t set him off further, and realized there probably wasn’t one. “Why is money such a sensitive issue with you?”

He turned and looked at her. “I suppose when a guy’s wife leaves him for what he doesn’t have…”

“…he decides to paint all women with the same brush?” She finished the sentence for him, the conclusion not hard to figure out.

“I guess so,” he said with a brief nod.

And it hurt, Brianne thought. For so many reasons. The first of which was that she hadn’t known he’d been married. The thought of him in love with someone else stabbed her in the heart. Add to that the painful truth-she didn’t know much about him at all.

Except how he’d been injured. What it was like to share living space. And the rapture of his body deep inside hers, intimate in a way she’d never felt before. She was wrong. She did know him, she just knew too little about his past. And she’d wanted to keep it that way, to avoid the pain of emotional connection.

But it was too late. She’d already entrusted him with personal insight-her parents’ death, her difficulty dealing with anxiety and danger, and the frugal way in which she’d been forced to live in order to survive. She’d given to him emotionally despite the risk. It was time she let him talk in return.

But there was another reason his attitude about money and wealth hurt. She’d been open and honest about who and what she was but she’d never once given him the impression she’d taken this job so she could live the good life. In fact, no matter how he looked at it, she was still working two jobs to make ends meet. “It’s not like I’m some gold-digging tramp,” she muttered.

“No, you are not.” He grabbed for her hand.

His low growl and warm touch snapped her out of her internal dialogue and brought her anger to the surface. “Then, why do I feel like you’re thinking otherwise?”

“My fault for overreacting.” He glanced down as he ran his thumb over her wrist and massaged the pulse point there in an erotic circular motion.

His touch felt wickedly good, but she was more interested in what he had to say. Forcing herself to ignore the sensations traveling from a place as mundane as her wrist to other more private parts, like her breasts, wasn’t easy. But she managed, and one second later she was glad she’d remained alert enough to hear his next words.

“And showing my fear.”

Her heart leapt in her chest. “Fear of what?” Because Brianne thought she held a monopoly on that particular emotion. Hearing that a big, tough guy like Jake could not only succumb to fear but admit to it was a revelation she couldn’t believe.

“Fear of your judging me and finding me lacking, for one thing.”

She felt her eyes open wide-along with the heart she’d tried so desperately to keep shut tight. She stepped closer and found herself reaching for his face. A small voice in her head warned her she was treading emotionally deep waters, but she couldn’t stop.

His deep blue eyes bore into hers, and she cupped his razor-stubbled cheeks in her palms, the abrading sensation both ticklish and yet subtly arousing against her skin. “How could any woman find you lacking?” she asked.

“Do you have any idea what a cop earns?”

A smile worked at the corners of her mouth. “More than I’ve had left after boarding school bills, I’m sure. But I’ve never been unhappy. Just overwhelmed, exhausted and cash-poor.” She forced a laugh, then sobered quickly. “But if I’ve learned anything since my parents died, it’s that we make our own happiness in life.”

“My ex-wife looked to me to make her happy.” He shook his head. “Scratch that. She looked to my checkbook. The incredible thing is, she knew all about my lifestyle and what I could and couldn’t afford when she married me. She was a teacher, which meant her salary wasn’t over the top, either. I really did think we shared the fundamentals. Like the desire for a family.”

Brianne’s heart ached at the thought of Jake sharing anything with any woman other than herself. Uh-oh. “Did you have…kids?” She nearly choked on the word.

He shook his head. “But I wanted them.”

Did he still? “What changed?” she asked, quickly denying herself the time to think through the notion of Jake with another woman’s baby. The idea was too painful.

“I still don’t know. We moved to the suburbs, she met different people, more affluent couples-doctors, lawyers, businessmen.” He shrugged. “Then Rina met and married Robert. That couldn’t have helped.”

“None of that should have changed how she felt about you. None of that should have altered who your wife was inside.”

His eyes narrowed, and she could almost see the wheels turning inside his head as he sorted through his past. “Maybe that’s it, then. I never really knew who she was inside. I never took the time to find out.”

Her pulse picked up rhythm, if only because Brianne knew he’d taken the time to discover who she was. Enough to take her on a real date, to bring her ice cream because he thought that had been in short supply in her life. And to give himself, a warm, caring, loving man.

He may not have opened up before but he was doing so now, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to contemplate why. He’d started in the permanently off-limits column of her life, and now she wanted to move him over, into the more stable, long-term column. A place he couldn’t, wouldn’t want to be. He’d made that abundantly clear at the outset.