“I know.” Leaning over her on the table, he kissed her again, his mouth hot and just a little bit demanding as his tongue owned hers. Slowly. Achingly slowly, taking his damn sweet time, breathing her in, spreading hot, wet, open-mouthed kisses along her jaw, her throat, to a breast, and then, as he went down on his knees, over her belly.

Her inner thigh.

Between.

With a gasp, her head fell back, and she rocked her hips as he rasped his thumb over her, making her arch up for more. He gave it to her using his tongue now, and she lost her words, her train of thought. “Ohmigod, Pace—”

“Don’t even think of asking me to hurry.” His tongue made another slow foray over ground zero, and unable to keep quiet, she cried out, rocking mindlessly against him as his hands tightened on her, holding her still for his mouth.

She couldn’t hurry him, which meant letting him do as he wanted to her, which was amazing, but she was programmed for fast sex, it was all she knew—

“Mmmm,” he said against her skin, making her thighs quiver. He stroked them, soothing even as he nibbled at her in a rhythm designed to rile her up. Her belly quivered, too, and he stroked her there as well, all while slowly, tor tuously driving her right out of her own mind. He held her on that edge, poised on the brink until she was panting, desperate to take the plunge.

And then he nudged her off, holding her as she burst, holding her through the shudders until she sagged back flat on the table, staring up at the ceiling, breathing like a lunatic.

He pulled a condom from his shorts on the floor. Straightening, he looked down at her with heated, glittering eyes as he lifted her leg and wrapped it around his hip, pulling her body up against his hot, hard one.

And everything that had kept her heart protected from him flew right out the window as he protected them both and entered her, a deliciously hot glide that had her wild again in seconds. She arched, rocking up so he’d move within her.

But he still couldn’t be rushed. No, the man who could throw so fast he made her head spin took his damn sweet time giving her another long, slow, perfect thrust. And suddenly, instead of racing for the finish line, she wanted it to never end. “Don’t stop,” she gasped, holding on for dear life as he pushed into her. “Oh God, please don’t . . .” Her toes curled, and she could feel herself letting go, really, fully, utterly—letting go.

“Feel it, Holly. Feel me.”

Yes. She was getting a real feel for him, thick and straining for release inside her.