“God, you feel so good,” he whispered, his body pressed into hers. He reached down and cupped her breast in his hand, then bent to capture her nipple, licking and sucking until it was hard.

Rachel groaned, arching against him. “Oh, yes.” She let go of the shelf and wrapped her arms around his head. “Oh my.” She rocked against him, his cock sliding against her clitoris. He moved with her, growing slick with the damp of her desire.

Dec shifted, grasping her buttocks and moving her up and down against him. Her breath came in quick gasps and she moaned in rhythm to his thrusts. “Do you want it?” he asked, his tone thick with desperation. “Do you want me inside you?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Now. Please.”

“Condom,” he murmured. Wrapping her legs more tightly around his waist he walked with her to the desk where his jeans hung off the edge. He set her down on the smooth wood surface, then grabbed his wallet and pulled out the plastic packet he’d tucked inside. He tore it open, fumbling with the slippery rubber before he smoothed it over his cock.

He picked her up again but Dec wasn’t sure he could hold her and come at the same time, so he shoved the papers off her desk and laid her back down in front of him. She seemed ready for him, but Dec wasn’t about to ignore her needs. He spread her legs, then knelt down to lick and tease at her clitoris.

She was already aroused and within a minute or two, she cried out, exploding in a powerful orgasm. He wanted to feel the spasms of her body so he quickly rose and slipped inside her. She was hot and swollen and still convulsing as he began to move inside her.

It didn’t take long before he was dancing on the edge of his own orgasm. Dec gathered himself, pushing back against the pleasure until it was too much to bear, then pushing back again. He grabbed her foot and brought it up to his mouth, kissing her instep, then running his tongue up to her toes.

How could it feel this good? Even the very first time he came inside a woman, it hadn’t felt this good. It wasn’t just the physical pleasure that he was experiencing but the sensation of possessing Rachel, of her being entirely his for the time he was inside her.

He’d never been a jealous person, but he knew now how a man might become crazy with need for a woman. If anyone ever dared try to take Rachel from him, there’d be no limit to what he’d do to keep her. It wasn’t a rational thought, Dec knew that. But the feelings inside of him were so powerful that he felt he couldn’t control them.

He brought her legs over his shoulders, then stared down into her face, her beautiful face. Her eyes were closed, her damp lips parted. She was his fantasy come to life. Though he’d said the words to her, he didn’t really know what they meant until now. This was all he’d ever needed or wanted.

Dec reached down and slid his thumb gently between their bodies, rubbing at her again. After last night, after the sensation of her body clenching around him, he wanted be inside her when she came. He moved slowly, giving her time to relax and recover from her first orgasm. But it wasn’t long before she began rocking against him in an ever-quickening rhythm.

He was close but Dec waited, holding back far longer than he’d ever thought possible. And when Rachel arched against him, he let go, joining her in a shattering orgasm that seemed to last forever, driving into her one last time.

Spent, Dec fell forward. He nuzzled her neck, kissing a trail from her ear to her shoulder, then back again. “I bet none of your research subjects ever had that reaction to those magazines,” he murmured.

Rachel laughed softly, then grabbed his hair and pulled his head up so she could look at his face. She gave him a slow, deep kiss, then sighed. “Remind me to put those in a bag so we can take them home.”

“I don’t need pictures of naked women to get me going,” Dec said. “You do that just fine on your own.”

She sighed, then pulled him back down on top of her. “I don’t think I want the police to catch my stalker. Then you could be with me forever and make me feel like this all the time.”

Dec wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. Funny, he was thinking exactly the same thing.

RACHEL STOOD STARING INTO HER suitcase and studied her wardrobe possibilities, searching for an outfit that was sophisticated, yet simple, and flattered her figure as well.

She and Dec had come back to his place from her office and immediately tumbled into his bed, repeating the experiences of that afternoon. She’d just assumed that they’d stay in bed until it was time for her to leave for her shift at the station, but Dec was determined that they go out on their date.

He’d already made a reservation for dinner and though they’d missed going to an early movie, Rachel agreed that a night out would be good for them. After all, an entire day of sex had left her famished-and a bit exhausted. And if they stayed in Dec’s bed any longer, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get out.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“No,” she called. “I’m not sure what to wear.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’ll look pretty in anything you put on.”

For most men, the compliment would have simply been a way to move things along a little faster. But Rachel honestly believed that Dec would be attracted to her whether she wore a potato sack or a designer gown.

She plucked a black camisole from the suitcase and set it aside, then found a pretty black peasant skirt, adorned with jet beads. She usually wore the camisole underneath another blouse, but she decided to be daring tonight. Dropping her robe, Rachel pulled the camisole over her head, not bothering with a bra.

The hem rested just above her belly button and the skirt, just below, offering a tempting view of her stomach. She turned around in front of the full-length mirror on the back of Dec’s bedroom door, then smiled. It was simple and very sexy. She grabbed a cropped jacket to put on when she reached the station, then slipped into a pair of strappy sandals.

“I’m ready,” she called as she walked out the bedroom door.

Dec was waiting outside the room, his shoulder braced against the wall. When he saw her, he straightened, then smiled. “Wow,” he said. His gaze slowly raked her body. “You’re not wearing any underwear, are you?”

Rachel smiled. “Is that a problem?”

“I’ll let you know,” he said. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along, through the kitchen door. When they got outside, Dec helped her into his car then circled around to get behind the wheel. He started the car and popped in a CD. Soft jazz filled the car.

Rachel sat back in the leather seat and smiled. Of all the things they’d done together, this was the most normal. It was as if they were just a regular couple going out on a Saturday night. She turned to Declan and smiled. She’d met him not even a week ago and yet it seemed as if they’d known each other for ages. The details of their lives before they met weren’t important. Yet, Rachel still wanted to know more about the man she was falling for.

“I guess that whole celibacy promise is down the drain,” she said. “What will your brothers say?”

“I don’t know. I’ll definitely have to pay up. And I guess I’ll get razzed for it for the next few years.” He glanced over at her. “But it was well worth it.”

“Did you learn anything?”

“Yeah, I think I did.”

“And what is that?”

He paused, as if to consider his words carefully. “I think when I decided to propose the bet, I was hoping it might change something in me. That if I wasn’t constantly looking for sex, maybe I’d be able to see something more in a woman.”

“Like what?”

“Like a future,” he said. “Something that lasts longer than just a few nights in bed. Other guys have it and I guess I wanted it, too.”

“And is that what your brothers want?” Rachel asked, steering the conversation in a different direction.

Dec shrugged. “I think so. We had kind of a screwy childhood and I think that made it more difficult for us to form attachments. You could probably figure it all out for us.”

“What happened?” Rachel asked.

“My ma got sick and me and my brothers were sent to Ireland to live with our grandmother.”

“That must have been interesting,” Rachel said.

“It probably would have been, if we hadn’t stayed for eight years. Hell, almost nine. One day we had a family-parents, brothers and sisters, and a home-and the next day, we were on a plane going to live with a woman we’d never met. My mother’s illness pretty much ruined the family financially so it was probably the only thing they could do. My grandmother was rich, we were poor.” He looked over at her. “So, am I totally screwed up for the rest of my life? Or is there hope for me?”

“There are probably some scars, buried pretty deep,” Rachel responded. “And I’d guess that you’ve maintained a distance with women, and with people in general, because you’re afraid of being abandoned again. But you’re an adult, Dec. You can look at those fears and face them for what they are. A lot of people have difficult childhoods but they get beyond them.”

“I think that may be happening,” he murmured.

Rachel wanted to ask him what he meant, but when she looked over at him, he seemed completely lost in his thoughts. Had she changed him somehow? Had their relationship made him realize it was possible to have a future with a woman? She drew a deep breath. And was she that woman?

So many times over the past week, she’d had to remind herself not to get caught up in the romance of it all. This was every woman’s fantasy-handsome man come to rescue her, an undeniable chemistry, and then sex like she’d never had it before. Already, they’d shared so much and it was still early in their friendship.

There were so many different ways it could all turn out, she mused. They could continue on for a long time until the passion was spent, the interest faded. Or they could burn out quickly, unable to find anything more than sexual attraction. Or, they could spend the rest of their lives together.

Rachel knew the odds of making it to happily-ever-after weren’t very good. But they did increase a bit considering how well she and Dec seemed to get along. She liked him. He was sweet and sexy and funny. And he was a man who enjoyed pleasing a woman. And not just in bed, but everywhere else, from opening her car door, to drawing her a bath, to bringing her breakfast in bed. He liked to make her smile and she’d grown to love him for that.

She sucked in a sharp breath, turning her gaze to the window. Love. She loved him. Or did she? This could be simply infatuation, the flood of affection that came with a new relationship. She’d have to be careful. Dec had his own demons to wrestle with when it came to love. Confiding her own feelings to him too early might just scare him away.

“Where are we going to dinner?” she asked.

“It’s a surprise,” he replied. “Oh, by the way, there’s a box in the backseat. Can you reach around and get it for me?”

Rachel leaned between the two front seats and grabbed the small white box. “What is it?”

“It’s for you,” he said.

She laughed. “For me?”

“Since this was an official date, I figured I ought to give you something to remember it by. Go ahead, open it up.”

“When did you have time to buy me something?”

“I made a few phone calls and then sent one of my guys out to pick it up.”

She pulled the cover off the box and sighed. Tucked inside pretty pink tissue paper was a tiny bouquet of flowers, a nosegay. “In Victorian times, men used to give little bouquets like these to a woman they wanted to court,” she said.

“I know,” he said.

“How do you know that?” Rachel asked.

“I’m not a complete idiot in the romance department,” he said. “My grandmother had a huge flower garden and she used to make us help her pick weeds. She used to rattle on about tussie-mussies and what all the different flowers meant. My brothers and I would just roll our eyes. I guess some of it must have stuck.”

“Do you know what these mean?” she asked.

Dec examined the bouquet as she held it out to him. “The red roses are for passion. The forget-me-nots speak for themselves. The lavender is…devotion, I think. And the ferns are fascination.”

Rachel held it up to her nose and drew in a deep breath. “You surprise me,” she said.

“That’s good, right?”

She leaned over the center console and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Yes, that’s very good.”

They rode for a time in silence. Dec reached out and grabbed her hand, then brought it to his lips. “I’m looking forward to tonight,” he said. “It’s our first official date.”