No Romance Required by Cari Quinn

stars
     in an inky black sky. Of his heart racing against hers.
    Of wanting him more than she cared about the consequences.
    His tongue snaked through her parted lips and he pushed his hand under her sweater.
     Just the sweep of cold flesh against warm had her moaning. He swallowed the sound,
     pulling her up on her tiptoes as he devoured her with kisses so desperate and hot
     she couldn’t do much more than try to keep up.
    His touch didn’t travel upward as she’d expected. He never did anything she could
     anticipate. One cool finger stroked her belly ring and his lips curved against hers
     as she trembled. Oh, he liked that he could make her quiver.
    As easily as he aroused her anger, he could inspire her lust. Now he exploited both,
     teasing her to the point of madness with his talented tongue sucking on hers and that
     single finger reminding her how close she was to begging.
    He caressed her thin leather belt as he lowered his mouth to her jaw. With one pull
     of his lips on her pulse point, she had to grab his shoulders to keep from falling
     off the edge of the world.
    “Do you know how long it’s been for me?” He used her belt to yank her closer. His
     cock was so hard she could feel its imprint on her flesh as if they were both naked.
     “Long enough that I don’t want to hide what I need. How I need.”
    She offered him her throat, holding on while he took full advantage. There would be
     marks from his teeth, his lips, and she’d happily resign herself to turtleneck sweaters
     for eternity if only he’d just keep going.
    “This.” He yanked on her belt, his mouth almost vicious in its blazing sweep down
     the column of her neck. “I want you in this. Around your wrists. At my mercy.”
    His words finally reached her in that blissful cocoon of longing she’d retreated into,
     and she snapped back with enough force to lose her balance. She scrabbled to hold
     on to him as he pulled her fully upright, his gray eyes locked on hers as if his life
     depended on her answer.
    He’d been serious. This wasn’t just fun and games or a way for him to push her away.
     What he wanted from her was a lot more extreme than her body.
    He was asking—demanding—her trust. Even without truly earning it, he’d settle for
     nothing less.
    After a humming moment, he stepped back. “Exactly what I thought.”
    Shivering in the cool air, she risked a look at him. He’d already shoved his longing
     behind those thick icy walls he summoned so effortlessly, causing her to wonder if
     she’d ever seen it naked and aching on his face at all.
    Maybe it had simply been the reflection of her own.
    She flung a glance at the sky until her hazy vision cleared. Once it had, she chanced
     another look at his face. Taut jaw, hooded eyes. All locked up tight. Whatever she
     said now, the moment between them was gone.
    Did it really matter? If he expected her to bare all with giving nothing in return,
     he was asking for too damn much.
    She’d never let herself look too closely at her interest in him for a number of reasons,
     the biggest that she’d feared he would laugh in her face. Hot on its heels was that
     Cory wasn’t the kind of man who would share himself with more than one mistress. He
     was completely and totally owned by his work.
    In his world, she would rank right around the level of a goldfish he forgot to feed
     until he discovered it floating belly-up three months after it had died.
    Sex with Cory was one thing. What he was asking for—a trust that went way beyond an
     on-and-off snarktastic friendship—didn’t slot neatly into that category. Giving him
     more without a guarantee of the same would be a mistake she wouldn’t make.
    After her mother had left years ago, she’d spent too long using things outside herself
     to quell her fear at being left again by those who mattered most. She’d found other
     coping strategies, such as yoga and even feng shui, and had learned how to quiet her
     mind during