Once inside, Dez heard her front door close. She turned to ask Mace if he wanted a drink or something when Mace’s big hands grabbed her leather jacket and yanked her to him. His mouth on hers, her jacket pulled off her shoulders and snatched from her back.

“I thought we’d never get here,” he growled against her neck.

“City traffic. Blows, doesn’t it?”

He walked her back until her ankles hit the stairs, then he pushed her down. Dez watched as he pulled off her sneakers, her jeans. No smooth or controlled moves from Mace this time. She could actually feel his desperation and she loved it. He wanted her and he wasn’t going to be happy until he had her.

Her panties were the last to go, then Mace dropped to his knees, burying his head between her legs. His dry, rough tongue gliding along the wet folds of her pussy. Dez’s eyes crossed as her entire body arched. She didn’t know anything could feel so good.

His big hands slid under her ass, lifting her up so he had better access to her. He continued to lick, until he sucked her clit into his mouth.

Dez reached up and grabbed the staircase handrails, pulling her body off the floor. “Fuck! Fuck!” She really couldn’t think of anything more eloquent to say. She was lost. Deserted in this place that Mace took her. The place where he kept taking her. Again. And again. And again.

Mace never meant to be so rough with her. He never meant to grab her and fuck her on her own damn staircase. But dammit, he couldn’t help himself. The whole trip in from the city had been absolute hell. He kept smelling her, kept hearing that damn voice as she asked him questions. He couldn’t even remember what she asked him. Not with that voice of hers rasping over every word. The way her left hand sat on the steering wheel and her right kept brushing her hair off her face.

Eventually all he could manage was monosyllabic answers to all her questions, and he had no idea if what he told her was even remotely true. He’d never wanted anything or anyone as badly as he wanted her. He had no idea finally fucking Dez would make him want her more. He thought it would be the exact opposite. He’d been so damn wrong.

“Fuck! Fuck!” He really did love hearing her come. She became that tough Bronx girl he knew so well. Not that well-educated detective who knew how to hide herself behind her badge. When she came, her whole body and soul became his. Add in that voice and he was in absolute heaven.

She grabbed the shoulders of his sweater and yanked him up her body. She still had on her Marines sweatshirt. He wanted to pull it off her so he could get a mouth full of tit, but she seemed equally as anxious. Her body writhing under him as she reached up and kissed him hard. She unbuttoned his jeans, pushing the denim past his hips. He lifted himself up and pushed his jeans down as far as necessary while taking the condom out of his back pocket. Hewhipped it on his painfully hard cock and buried himself inside her.

“God, Mace!”

He gripped her hips hard, pulling himself out, then slamming back in. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her teeth on his throat. There were no more words between them, just the sounds of their fucking. The sounds of him taking her body over and over. She let him, holding him tight and urging him on with her growls.

His orgasm began to come on fast, but he wouldn’t let it explode. Not until he got Dez there too. Luckily, she left herself completely open to him. So damn ready for his cock she started coming so suddenly they both seemed surprised. One second she merely hung on for dear life, the next she screamed and sobbed into his neck. He let go then. Let his body come hard, knowing he’d be back inside her tonight as many times as he could manage.

It took him a second to realize he roared. Like a lion that had nailed the lead female of the Pride. He roared and she gripped him tighter. When he crashed on top of her, she wrapped her arms and legs tight around his body and sighed.

After a few minutes, he lifted himself up on his elbow. He looked down at her face. Her eyes closed, a faint smile on her lips. She looked absolutely stunning.

“Should I apologize?”

Her eyes opened and those gray beauties focused on him. “What the hell for?”

“For not trying to get you into an actual bed.”

“Don’t you dare.”

She ran her hands through his hair. Before he knew it, she had him purring. No woman had ever made him purr before simply by stroking his hair.

Dez kissed his cheek. Nipped his ear. “Besides,” she whispered, “beds are overrated.”

Dez listened to her cell phone messages while Mace scooped out into two bowls the gourmet dark chocolate ice cream he’d bought that morning. After a few minutes, she closed her phone and grabbed a bowl and spoon.

“Everything okay?”

To enjoy a more leisurely fuck on the couch, they’d finally gotten their clothes off. Her jeans, sweater, sneakers were scattered around her house. But Dez’s gun, cuffs, and badge were safely on the metal island she now leaned against. Her position allowing her the absolute joy of watching Mace walk around her house naked.

“Yeah. Three messages from Vinny and the guys. They feel guilty.”

“You have protective friends.”

“We used to watch out for each other when we were in Japan.”

“Did you date one of them?”

Dez almost choked on her ice cream she started laughing so hard. “Are you kidding?”

The look he gave her over his spoon told her no, he wasn’t kidding. She cleared her throat. “Not sure why it should matter to you, Mace.”