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Nick took a deep breath and made a visible
effort to hold onto his temper. “Have it your way, then, Professor.
We’ll talk right here. You obviously have no idea that you were
playing cards with a notorious rapper whose crew has a reputation
for trouble, do you?”

“Notorious!” Sadie thought he must be joking
until she assessed his cold stare. “Tiny? Really, I find that
rather hard to believe. He appears to be a lovely, gentle man. And
a famous singer, too, I gather.”

Nick looked dumbfounded. “Jesus, didn’t it
occur to you that he’s surrounded by a small army of bodyguards and
security agents for a reason? It’s not just to keep fans away.
Tiny’s gang has been involved in a public shootout, Sadie. A
goddamn shootout. I couldn’t risk you getting caught up in the
middle of something so potentially dangerous.”

Sadie rubbed her forehead, torn between
feeling flattered by his protective instincts and angry at the way
he’d dragged her away. She’d been in the middle of a casino, for
goodness sake. Did he really think anything bad could happen to her
when she was surrounded by all that security?

No. This was just another example of Nick
trying to impose his formidable will on her. She stared up at him
and he stared right back, obviously not one whit sorry for the way
he’d embarrassed her. God, she was tired of being treated like a
ten-year-old. Why did everyone assume she couldn’t take care of
herself?

“So, you thought you’d just barge your way in
and demand that I obey your commands instantly. Is that what you
call being protective?” Sadie jabbed her index finger into his
muscled chest so hard she winced. Unfortunately, he probably barely
felt it. “Did it ever occur to you that I might actually be able to
take care of myself? And do you think there’s anywhere safer in
this whole damn city than precisely where I was, cocooned by as
much security as the President of the United States?”

Months of stored-up frustration swept through
her, unexpected and powerful. “You’re not the emperor, Nick Saxon,
and I’m not some concubine. So, stop treating me like one.”

Nick cursed and slammed his fist against the
wall, leaving a dent in the drywall. “Dammit,” he growled, “that’s
going to look great on camera. Christ, Sadie, you’re driving me
nuts. Can’t you see I’m doing this for your own good?”

“My own good? No, all you care about are your
damn cameras,” she shouted, furious that he would blame her for his
own lack of control. “Well, you can take your cameras straight to
hell with you, Big Brother. It’s disgusting how you people invade
everyone’s privacy like it’s your God-given right. Honestly, I
don’t know how you can stand working in a place like this. Do you
actually enjoy harassing people?”

The harsh planes of his face, so cold in the
fluorescent light of the concrete corridor, made her shiver.
“Sadie, if it’s so rotten here, why don’t you go play somewhere
else?” he said. “There are dozens of other casinos in Vegas. Give
one of them a try.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” she snapped. “I’m
not going to run away every time I have to face something that’s
idiotic and unfair.
Not anymore
.”

She drew herself up to her full height, even
though that barely brought her up past his chin. “Now, I’m
returning to my table, and I’d be grateful if you would leave me
alone.” Her throat closed with pending tears at the thought of
walking away from him, but she couldn’t let him bully her like
this.

“I can’t do that, Sadie. You’re obviously too
naive to realize what could happen if things got out of hand, so
it’s up to me to protect you.” His face was a hard mask, but his
big hands gently grasped her naked shoulders, overwhelming her with
an infuriating desire to give in to his seductive, masculine
strength. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to take the
elevator to the fourth floor of the parking garage and wait for me
there. I’ll be two minutes behind you. Then we’ll go to my house
and talk this through. For as long as it takes.”

A few minutes ago, the prospect of returning
to Nick’s house would have made her melt with excitement. Now, she
felt like running back to her hotel room to have a good, hard cry.
How had everything gone so wrong? Again.

She shook herself loose. “Go to hell,
Nick.”

His jaw dropped. Sadie felt a sliver of
satisfaction that she had stuck to her guns, but she knew she had
to get out of there fast. If he touched her again, she didn’t know
what she would do. Despite his outrageous behavior, she wanted to
be with him so much it made her chest ache—especially since this
could very well be the last time.

She pivoted on her left heel, only to feel
the stiletto spike start to slip out from under her. Damn it to
hell! What was it with her and high heels?

Flailing her arms, she fought desperately to
regain her balance. The next thing she knew, her back was pressed
tight against Nick’s chest and his muscular arms were wrapped
tightly around her, right under her breasts. Her heart pounded as
he pulled her against him—and his erection. The feel of it, a big,
unyielding column of flesh pushing against her bottom, sent an
answering ripple of heat up her spine.

Typical male.
Sadie tried to convince
herself he wasn’t turning her on, but his hot breath prickled her
cheek and his bristly stubble rasped against her ear. She couldn’t
move, and she wasn’t sure any more that she wanted to. When he
shifted his hands to cup her breasts, she gasped. As she had
feared, her body eagerly betrayed her and she couldn’t help melting
against him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She
wriggled in a half-hearted attempt to free herself from his
embrace.

“Exactly what you want me to do,” he said,
his voice between a rumble and a purr as he massaged her suddenly
taut and aching nipples through the thin layers of silk and lace
that barely covered her.

Pure heat. Pure sex.
He was right. It
was exactly what she wanted, but she’d die before admitting it.
“Why, you big—”

He spun her so she faced him. Before she had
a chance to utter another word of protest, he covered her mouth
with his own. His hot tongue claimed her, forcing its way past her
only slightly reluctant lips. She pushed her hands against his
shoulders, struggling to break free. But she might as well have
tried to move a mountain. She knew she should tear her lips away
from his and stomp on his toes, or kick him in the shins, or even
knee him someplace higher up. She couldn’t submit, couldn't forget
his unbridled arrogance. Couldn’t let him just demand and take and
order her around like he owned her.

But a dark little voice whispered inside her
head.
Why not?

She froze.
Why not, indeed?
This was
Vegas and this was the new Sadie, the one who could do whatever the
hell she pleased and deal with the consequences later.

He smoothed a hand down her tingling spine as
he played oh-so-skillfully with her tongue. Finally, she responded,
unable to stop the little moan that escaped her lips as she wrapped
her arms around his neck. Nick obviously needed no further
encouragement, breaking the kiss only to snatch her hand and pull
her a few steps down the hallway and through a door marked
Employees Only
. Any thought of further protest flew out of
her head like a flock of birds arrowing south for the winter.

As he locked the door, Sadie gave the area a
quick scan. It looked like some sort of small lunch room or staff
lounge, not very different from the casual and comfortable kitchen
used by the maintenance guys in her building at the university.
She’d glimpsed the inside of that room many times on her way by,
and had often thought about whether the men and women there had
more fun than the professors in their stuffy, elite lounge higher
up. Now she was sure they did.

Several chairs surrounded the chipped,
laminate-topped table. Nick yanked one away and jammed it under the
door handle. This time when he reached for her, Sadie melted into
him without a struggle. It felt so good and right, as if they’d
been made for each other, her softness happily molding itself to
his hard, warrior physique.

Nick’s thumbs came up under her jaw, gently
tilting her head back so he could look at her. The rampant hunger
and banked anger in his eyes made her insides thrum with wild,
forbidden desire. Oh, yes. She was in
all
kinds of trouble.
No doubt they’d both passed beyond the edge of all reason. And
doing it here wasn’t simply risky—it was downright insane.

She broke away from his kiss long enough to
circle her eyes around the ceiling. None of the usual camera pods
were in evidence.

“No Big Brother in here?” She gasped as he
slid a hand inside her dress to cup a naked breast.

“The union won’t stand for them.” He ran his
tongue up her throat to her ear, then gave the lobe a quick nip.
“The cameras outside may have caught us ducking in here, but I
doubt it. The area around the door is supposed to be off limits to
cameras, too.”

“Lucky us,” she gasped as he untied her
halter. Barring a platoon of security guards bursting into the
room, there was no chance either of them could stop now. And, as
angry as she still was with Nick, she definitely didn’t want
to.

As he freed her breasts, he sucked one
pebbled nipple into his mouth and circled his thumb slowly around
the other. His tongue, hot and wet and swirling over the taut bud,
sent ripples of sensation rocketing through her body. A flood of
moisture dampened her panties. She was so ready for him—as ready as
she’d ever been in her life.

He drew back, leaving her gasping for breath,
her nipples tight and aching. In one smooth move he spun her around
and bent her forward over the table, flipping the short skirt of
her dress above her waist. Sadie yelped, momentarily stunned by the
dominating move. But the protest died on her lips when his hands
moved to her ass, kneading her, and then lightly stroking over her
cleft again and again until she thought she would shriek with
arousal and frustration. Finally, his fingers dipped below the
waistband of her panties and yanked them roughly down her legs.

She’d propped herself up on her hands, but
her arms were starting to tremble with the strain of keeping her
face off the hard surface of the table. Nick saw the problem and
fixed it in an instant. Letting go of her, he rolled up his suit
jacket and shoved it under her head so she could rest her face and
arms on it. Then he adjusted her hips and slid his hands between
her thighs to spread her wide. Sadie was so turned on and so hot
for him, she couldn’t wait another second.

“Hurry up and put on a condom, you big jerk,”
she gasped.

She wriggled her ass, more to ease the ache
in her throbbing flesh than to encourage him, but the low, growling
noise he made told her how much he liked it. She heard a ripping
noise as he fumbled behind her, his breath ragged. Then, his
demanding hands gripped her hips and tilted them up until she was
on her toes. The roughness and the urgency of his touch drove her
into an insane vortex of need. When she felt the thick head of his
erection press through her wet folds, she sucked in a shaky breath
and ordered him to hurry. “Now, Nick. I want it now!”

He cursed, and then one deep thrust filled
her completely, stretching her slick, hungry sheath until she felt
and heard his balls slap against her bottom. Moaning, she clutched
his coat, stunned by the depth of his penetration. No wonder people
liked to do it this way. It was so...primitive, so elemental.

So perfect.

Nick started to move and Sadie, perched
precariously on her toes and spread out before him, could only hold
on for the ride. Every hard, demanding stroke drove her closer to
unbearable heights of pleasure. She moaned and gasped for breath
and uttered words she didn’t even realize she knew. But every
sound, every word from her lips only seemed to excite him more. In
a rough voice he answered back in crude, exciting language, holding
her hips in a tight grip as he hammered into her.

Sadie lost all sense of time and place. His
jacket might have been the softest pillow. The hard surface of the
kitchen table might have been the comfiest bed. All she could feel
was friction and heat as each thrust sent throbbing vibrations
through her clit. It was like getting sucked into a slick, hot, and
spiraling tension. An amazing inner coiling that would soon explode
in a shower of stars.

She stretched her arms wide to grasp the
edges of the table, the movement rubbing her stiff nipples against
the cold surface beneath her breasts. Her inner muscles seemed to
swell in reaction, tightening around Nick’s thick shaft.

He let out a low growl and his strokes grew
more and more urgent. She could feel his thighs tense against
her—the muscles as hard as marble. “Fuck, baby. I want you so much
it makes me crazy,” he rasped.

Sadie registered his words but she had lost
all ability to form a coherent reply. Nick slipped his right hand
under her hip and stroked through her saturated flesh to reach her
throbbing clit. She gave herself up completely to the overwhelming
sensations—prickles racing over her skin, her insides burning with
a suffusing heat. There was nothing left in her world but his
thrusting cock and his stroking fingers and his muscled body
arching over her. She’d never felt so disconnected from the world,
but so utterly connected to another human being.

Yes, yes, yes!

His jacket muffled her scream as an explosion
of stars shattered the darkness behind her closed eyelids. Nick
thrust once more and he was gone, too—his shaft jerking inside her
as he covered her boneless body with his own.

* * *

“Don’t think I’m changing my mind. I’m still
going back out there,” Sadie said in a muffled voice that
effectively killed Nick’s post-coital buzz.