“I can shut down in thirty seconds.”

He bit her lightly, just above the collarbone. “I’m not going to give you a chance to shut down.”

She laughed shakily, even as she lifted her other arm to capture him in a reverse embrace. “I meant the computer.”

He would have laughed himself, but he’d stopped breathing. “I know what you meant.”

“But I—” He slipped a hand under her skirt, and it was so sudden, so searing. Before she could gasp out in shock, he had driven her ruthlessly to the peak.

“I watched you.” Each word burned his throat as she poured into his hand. “I wanted you.” Half demented, he whipped her up again, pressing his face into her neck as her body shuddered, shuddered. “Do you remember the first time I found you here?”

“What?” She couldn’t remember her own name. There was only this need he was ruthlessly building inside her again. “Alexi, please. Come home with me. I need—” This time she cried out as the third high, hard wave swamped her.

“I wanted you then.” In one violent move, he spun her chair around and dragged her to her feet, and her already weakened system went limp at what she read in his face. “Let me show you exactly what I wanted.”

This wasn’t the smooth and patient lover of the night before. This man with the fierce eyes and bruising hands wouldn’t cuddle her and whisper exotic endearments. This was the warrior she’d only glimpsed. He would plunder. Whether or not she was ready, he was showing her that dark, reckless side of him that he kept so tightly controlled.

In the moment when he stared at her, the look in his eyes hot and concentrated, she understood that excitement took a twist into the primitive when it carried a touch of fear.

He fisted a hand in her hair and yanked her against him. His body was like rock, vibrating from deep within, as if from an erupting volcano. For that moment, there was only the strength and the fury of the inevitable.

His mouth burned over hers, his tongue diving deep, while his free hand tugged the snap of her skirt free. He wanted her flesh, craved it. That heated silk, those alluring curves and taut muscles. Time and place had lost all impact. There was only here. Only now. Only her.

Shivery fingers of fear ran up her spine. She hadn’t known what it was to be wanted this way. It was so huge, so violent, so glorious. Before, he had given her more than she had ever dreamed of. Now, he seemed compelled to give her more than she had ever dared dream.

Beside them, the printer stopped its practical clatter and dropped into a hum. The low, waiting sound was drowned out by the thundering of her heart. The bright working lights overhead seemed to dim as he took her hips and pressed her hard against him.

“You make a war inside me,” he muttered as his teeth scraped roughly down her throat. “There’s no end to it. No peace from it. Say my name. I want to hear you say my name.”