She found herself over by the wall by the pedestal, where the blue vase had been before she'd broken it. She grasped the smooth edge of the pedestal and looked up at the piece of artwork on the wall just above her head because then she didn't have to look at Jack. One look at Jack and she'd throw herself at him, and she shouldn't do that.

Lord and Lady, she was sick of shoulds.

"Mira?" Jack said behind her. He put his hand on her waist, and she closed her eyes. "Tell me what's wrong.”

She leaned her forehead against the wall. This was stupid. It was just sex. It wasn't like she was committing herself to the guy. It wasn't like she was marrying him or having his babies. She was a grown woman. She could have meaningless sex once in a while. After what her ex had put her through, she was due a little impulsiveness and reckless behavior, right? If she wanted to tumble into bed with her extremely attractive bodyguard, she could do it.

At her age, she was far below her meaningless sex quota anyway. It was time she sowed some wild oats.

In any case, this was all just the result of their magick— the innate attraction of fire and air. Maybe, if they succumbed this one time, the powerful draw would subside.

Jack gathered her loose hair to one side, baring her shoulder. "Mira?" His breath whispered over her skin as he said her name.

She exhaled fast and hard. "Touch me, Jack. Take me to a place where I can't think anymore.”

"I can do that. I want to do that." He lowered his mouth and kissed her earlobe. It sent shivers through her. "I'm going to tell you what else I want to do. I want to take this silly sweatshirt off you and ease these sweatpants down your legs. I want to fuck you up against this wall. I want to take you fast and hard in order to get all this out of both our systems. Then I want to put you in my bed and make love to you, slow and easy, over and over.”

Mira shivered. She grew warmer and wetter between her thighs, her clit plumping with need ... and he hadn't even touched her yet. His words aroused her as if he'd been stroking her body with his hands.

"What do you want?" he purred. "Tell me.”

Instead of answering with words, she took his hand from her waist and pushed it underneath the bottom hem of her sweatshirt, up to cover her bare breast. Her nipple tightened against his palm. "I want you to fuck me, Jack.”

"Ah," he breathed across the skin of her throat. "That's the answer I was hoping for.”