Alluring Tales

One

Kili couldn’t help it. As Ice Man’s exhalations came sharp and harsh, her own shortened and rasped. Perspiration gathered on her upper lip. Each powerful thrust caused muscles along his glorious arms, buttocks and thighs to bunch, then stretch, as he reached to deliver another mighty drive. Kili’s body tensed, her nipples tightening hard as diamonds, heat coiling low inside her belly-

“Are you feeling all right, sweetie?”

Kili fumbled to flip off her bio-plasma screen before looking up at her best friend and cubicle mate, Willa. “Fine!” she said, her voice a little sharp and high. She cleared her throat. “I’m fine. Why do you ask?” Did her arousal show on her face? She plucked away her blouse from her chest.

“You look a little hot and bothered. Got a fever or something?” The sparkle in Willa’s green eyes contradicted her concerned words. Willa knew full well about Kili’s dirty little obsession. “Honestly, I don’t know how you can watch that stuff-those gladiator matches are so barbaric,” she said, shivering delicately.

“I was just prepping myself for the pitch to the Centurion reps. Have to know what I’m selling, right?” she said, reaching for her purse beneath the desk.

Willa lifted a finely arched auburn brow. “Uh huh, and that outfit’s what you usually wear to a marketing meeting?”

Kili glanced down at her short-skirted suit. “It’s black and covers everything.” She tugged down the hem in back. “Mostly. It’s slimming. ’Sides, I’ll be seated the whole time.”

Willa shook her head. “You know they’re probably going to send the home office management boys-pencil necks-to the meeting. Don’t get your hopes up they’d take anyone off tour for a little sales pitch.”

Kili stifled a twinge of disappointment. “A girl’s gotta dream,” she muttered.

Willa looked beyond Kili’s shoulder and stiffened. “Come to Mama!” She pursed her lips and whistled softly. “Spoke too soon. Looks like they sent at least one gladiator.”

Kili glanced over her shoulder just in time to see her boss, Wilson Pickering, and an entourage winding their way down the aisle. Behind Wilson strode the pencil-neck management team, but bringing up the rear was the man who set her pulse quickening faster than a starship caught in Black Hole gravity-

The Ice Man! The man she’d fantasized about for weeks since he’d been drafted into the major leagues. As he towered above the men in the lead, she forgot how to breathe, staring at his chiseled jaw and the unbelievable shoulder span that just got wider the closer he came.

“This is Kili Wilder,” Wilson said, smiling although he lifted one questioning eyebrow in her direction. “She’ll be presenting our pitch for the new network spots after lunch.”

Kili clamped shut her slackened jaw. Now was not the time for her to go starstruck over arms that looked like they could bench press a hover car. She shook hands with the management team, and then drew a deep breath to fortify her jellyfish legs as Ice Man reached for her hand.

She thought she was ready, back in control, until his large hand engulfed hers. One look up into his ice blue gaze and her tongue stuck to the top of her mouth. “Uhmmmm.”

Humor wrinkled the corners of his piercing eyes. “Nice to meet you, too.”

Kili almost melted into a puddle of goo. The low timbre of his voice wrapped around his words like a caress as his gaze swept over her face and down her body, lingering on the length of her bare legs.

Wilson cleared his throat, drawing her attention away from the way the gladiator’s blond hair brushed the shoulders stretching his wine-colored team jersey.

“We’ll meet back here at one o’clock sharp. Right, Kili?”

Wilson said the last with just enough emphasis to make her flush. Lord, had her lust been that transparent?

As the men walked away, Willa snickered behind her. “Wow, you sure made an impression.”

Heat flushed her cheeks as she stared after Ice Man’s amazing ass. “Some friend you are-you could have warned me he was coming.”

“And spoil the surprise? Oh my God, the look on your face!” she chortled, and slipped her arm through Kili’s. “Come on. Let’s do lunch. Give you time to lower your blood pressure. Think about it-he uses brute force and a saber. You’d be bored talking to him inside an hour.”

Checking her makeup in the mirror hanging on the cubicle wall, Kili snorted. “Remember, I’ve had smart. Daniel was clever enough to figure out how to date three women from the same department without any of us catching on. I don’t want smart. I want…”

“Ice Man?”

Her stomach still quivering, Kili assumed a bland expression. “Someone like that, yeah. Not too bright. But strong enough to make me feel overwhelmed.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “Can you imagine stroking those arms?”

Willa leaned into her side and snorted. “I’m thinking his ass would be even finer.”

Kili groaned. “This isn’t helping. I need to get my mind off those glutes.”

“Girlfriend, I have just the thing to get him out of your system.”

Staring through the shop window, Gunnar Thorsson didn’t know whether to strangle the woman or haul her from The Lunch Break chair and kiss her breathless. The way she wriggled to snuggle her butt deeper into the contoured, black-upholstered chair succeeded only in raising the hem of her little black skirt centimeters higher. He wasn’t the only man in the vicinity to notice.

The technician in the lab coat who’d fitted her virtual-vacation helmet to her head had to readjust electrodes glued to her temples and chest because he couldn’t stop ogling her long legs.

Gunnar swore again. A perverse throb centered in the knot of flesh rising between his legs. Perverse because he shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t be lusting after a woman who was as shallow as a mud puddle.

One thing for sure, he’d liked her better before she’d un-tangled her tongue to speak. The way she’d stared with those chocolate eyes when they first met, a blush rising above the collar of her pale blouse to flood her face with hectic color-her lips parting as she’d moaned-had him hard in an instant.

Instinctively, he knew she’d wear the exact same expression when he took her to bed.

He’d left Pickering and the management team and circled back to Kili Wilder’s desk, intending to ask her to lunch and arrived just in time to hear a mention of his name. Curious about her first impression of him, he’d ducked into a neighboring cubicle, feeling foolish as a boy with his first stirring of lust, and listened to the tail end of her conversation with her friend.

So she wanted him…or someone just as dim-witted. Disappointment, unaccountably sharp, pricked his irritation. She was just like all the “gladiator groupies” who’d thrown themselves at him since he signed. They wanted the “fierce warrior” fuck, not the real man inside.

He’d almost blown her off. But then he recalled her soft brown hair, slender figure and endless legs and thought, why the hell not? He’d give her exactly what she wanted-while taking his own pleasure.

So he’d followed the women to the food court in the belly of the office building, keeping well behind and taking a separate elevator so they’d never know their next meeting wasn’t an accident. When they’d passed the food kiosks, he continued to hang back, curious about their destination.

“Wow, you’re the Ice Man! Can I have your autograph?”

Gunnar started, surprised to find another Lunch Break tech standing beside him, his face flushed with excitement. The younger man must have rushed out of the store when he found a sports celeb gawking through the window.

A thought, reprehensible as it was delicious, crept into his mind.

“Tell you what”-Gunnar paused and glanced at the tech’s name tag-“Oscar, I’ll do you one better. Can you hook me up with her?” he asked, nodding toward Kili. “But sit me somewhere she can’t see me?”

The technician’s eyes widened. “I don’t know, sir. Co-vacation is supposed to be consensual. She’s already engaged with the computer.”

Gunnar reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Want ringside tickets when the Centurions come to town? I wanna surprise my girlfriend.”

Kili sucked in a deep breath and blinked as her eyes adjusted to white, searing sunlight. Her first glance at her vacation setting sent her stomach plummeting. Where was the desert island with the horseshoe strip of pale sand and navy sea? Sure, heat radiated off the ground in suffocating waves, but where was the cabana boy in the Speedo?

Instead, an endless savannah stretched in front of her with tall, golden grass waving in the hot breeze and gnarled, stunted trees dotting the horizon. “What the hell?”

Stones skittered behind her and she spun to find a large, male figure standing on a rocky knoll. At least the program had gotten that much right. The Ice Man’s incredible, burly physique was nude except for a furry loincloth that draped from a slender cord at his waist, leaving the sides of his tanned hips and his massive, sleek thighs bare.

The breeze ruffled his pale hair as he strode toward her, his sharp gaze sweeping down her body, a predatory gleam in his eyes.

Kili’s heart thudded and her nipples tightened, the sensitive tips pressing into supple fabric. She glanced down and noted she too wore an animal’s skin, tanned and buttery-soft. The miniscule top barely covered her breasts and was knotted between them. Another soft garment draped around her hips, and the breeze licking up her thighs revealed she was totally nude underneath the crude clothing. “Now, that’s attention to detail,” she murmured. But if this was her fantasy, why weren’t her hips slimmer?

When she brought up her head again, Ice Man’s attention was directed behind her and his entire body tensed. He hefted a spear in one hand, holding it above his shoulder.

She followed his gaze and saw an enormous creature crouched low in the grass staring back at them, catlike with long fangs curving like tusks from its gaping mouth.

Before she could gasp a warning, Ice Man let loose his spear and snagged her wrist, dragging her behind him as he ran back up the knoll.

A hideous, snarling scream erupted, and Kili forgot that none of this was real-her heart accelerated and her breath rasped as she ran like the wind, flying up the rocks behind the gladiator, grateful for the fur-lined booties that shielded her feet from the harsh terrain.

Just as they crested the knoll, the sound of heavy paws thundered behind them. She didn’t dare look back, but Ice Man dropped her hand and drew another spear from the leather sheath strapped to his back. With a lithe twist, he turned and launched the spear straight into the large cat’s chest.

The animal dropped like a rock without a sound, dead before it hit the ground.

Kili shivered and reminded herself, This isn’t real. All that blood spurting in a gurgling stream from the creature’s gaping wound was just part of the program hooked up to her brain-waves to deliver a virtual adventure. She’d never really been in danger, but her racing heart didn’t seem to know the difference. The trembling that shook her body felt authentic, as did the excitement that thrummed through her veins.

She drew a deep, steadying breath and lifted her head to find Ice Man’s gaze leveled on her.

His chest gleamed with sweat, his jaw was taut, and hunger glinted in his hard eyes.

“I’m guessing this is where we’re supposed to share celebratory sex, huh?” she quipped, already feeling her body soften and moisten in anticipation.

A slow grin stretched his sexy mouth, revealing a flash of startling white teeth. His arm snaked around her waist and pulled her close, his mouth descending toward hers.

Kili let her eyelids droop, shutting out everything but the curve of his firm lips as she tilted back her head to await his kiss.

When his breath brushed her mouth, she shivered and snuggled her aching breasts against his naked, sweaty skin. He smelled earthy-of wood smoke and healthy man!

A masculine growl rumbled from deep inside him, and he paused, opening his mouth to speak.

Kili melted, clinging to his rock-hewn arms, a breath away from heaven.

He inhaled, pressing his brawny chest ever closer, and said, “Ugh!”

Two

Gunnar jerked back his head and tried again. This time, “Urgha!” was all he could manage to cram past vocal chords that had forgotten how to function. Fuck! Now, how was he supposed to convince the woman he was smarter than the average caveman?

Kili’s lips stretched into a grin, and a wicked light danced in her dark eyes. “They must have downloaded my personality profile,” she murmured. “Do they know what I want or what?”

He almost dumped her on the ground, but their bare midriffs were fused by sweat, and his barely clothed cock snuggled in the well of her soft belly-the possibilities were way too tempting for him to overlook for pride’s sake.

Besides, “Little Gunnar” didn’t seem to care that Kili thought he was the brains of the operation and unfurled beneath the loincloth, straining against the contrary woman’s body.

Big Gunnar hoped like hell his southern brain hadn’t forgotten how to function, too, because it sure looked like she was warming up fast to the idea of that celebratory sex.

Her palms molded the contours of his chest, and she rose on her tiptoes to glide her lips along his chin. “Mmmm, I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw you clobber the Zoltan Twins in the ‘Rumble in Orion.’” Her arms encircled his shoulders as she strained upwards.

Aware more beasts might be lurking in the grass, Gunnar knew he had to take the party indoors. He silently cursed the idiot who thought a caveman fantasy was the way to turn the tables on the woman. Never mind he’d bribed the tech to place them in the scenario of his choice. At this point, he figured he’d earned a little reward for all the earlier aggravation she’d put him through.

The same program that had robbed him of speech flashed a picture into his mind of a route to his abode. He gripped Kili’s hair to get her attention, and then took advantage of her gasp to kiss her mouth hard, stroking inward for a quick taste of what was to come.

Jesus, she was sweet-and hot! She mewled and rubbed on him like a kitten, until he seriously considered lifting her to fuck her where they stood.

Her mind must have traveled the same sexy path, because she hopped up and wound her legs around his waist before he had a chance to come up for air.

Unable to resist a quick feel, he slipped his hands beneath her suede skirt to clasp both bare cheeks. Her ass filled his palms-soft and round, yet surprisingly muscular. He clutched it tight and ground his cock against her open sex. Now, only the supple hide of his loincloth separated him from heaven.

A distant roar reminded him they needed to find shelter. “Nnnnn,” he protested, as he let her slide down his body.

Swaying, she held onto his arms for a moment then stepped away, her eyes blinking. “All right, I’m thinking they should have given me at least a few verbal commands you would understand. How do I say ‘fuck me’ in cave lingo?”

Gunnar growled his frustration, and then quicker than she could gasp, he bent and shoved his shoulder into her abdomen, forcing her to fold over his shoulder. If he was doomed to play a ravaging caveman…

Kili screeched and scissored her legs. “Put me down, you Neanderthal!”

Grinning, Gunnar reached up to swat her delectable bottom, and took off in the direction of the cave just beyond the next rise. With the sun resting on the horizon, he broke into a lope, not wanting to be caught in the dark with whatever creatures the program had decided should populate their adventure.

As a bonus, Kili stopped her caterwauling and held on for dear life, grunting softly as her stomach bounced on his hard shoulder. However difficult their communications issues, she understood he meant business. Nothing was going to get in the way of his seduction now.

The ground beneath them blurred as Ice Man picked up speed. Kili grabbed for his waist to save more abuse as she flopped like a rag doll.

Thank God, this was a fantasy! The last rays of the sun struck her naked upended bottom, but thankfully there was no one around to witness the sight. She could just imagine how ridiculous she looked from a frontal view-all wide, glowing ass cheeks. “Twin Moons over the Savannah” could have been her pitch line.

At the base of a tall rock outcrop, they passed an open fire where the grisly remains of some small creature roasted on a spit. Suddenly, he slowed and ducked low, scraping her ass along the roof of an overhanging rock.

Kili gasped, and then let loose a shrill shriek when he dumped her onto a bed of furs. Tossing back her hair, she came up on her elbows and glowered.

The object of her “Fantasy-Gone-Wild” grinned, looking entirely too pleased with himself as he pulled the strap of the spear case over his head. Not that she could blame him. He had her exactly where he wanted her, and she was hotter than a rocket in reentry.

And that was before he reached for the knot at the side of his loincloth.

Kili almost opened her mouth to give him a scathing set down just to keep him humble, but remembered he probably wouldn’t understand a word. Plus she’d just paid half a week’s wages for the privilege of taking a look beneath that furry flap. She licked her lips and stared as it slid down his thighs to pool at his big feet. Then she took a deep breath and followed the length of his braced legs back up to their juncture. “Wow!” she whispered.

His cock was as thick as her wrist and slightly darker than his bronzed skin. Uncircumcised. That wasn’t something you saw very often, except in men from the farther reaches of the galaxy. Primitive, barbaric men.

Her body expressed its enthusiastic approval with a wash of silky delight. But that wasn’t the end of the spectacular show! His glorious cock rose slowly as though hoisted by an invisible crane. No way should something that heavy lift under its own steam. And holy shit! It was still expanding-in both width and breadth.

“They didn’t have to exaggerate that much,” she said, feeling a little breathless. “I was all ready to be impressed-but wow!”

“Hrmph!” He snorted, bringing up her gaze to find him staring at his cock with a frown on his face.

“I’m thinking I’m glad this is my fantasy, because that’s actually going to fit, isn’t it?” she said, gulping.

Ice Man’s gaze returned and one dark brow rose-mocking her unease. His glance dropped to her breasts, lingering for a moment before sliding down her body to rest on her legs.

A thrill of excitement poured into her loins, a pure adrenaline rush of super-heated lust. “I’m thinking I’m overdressed.”

“Hrmph!”

The man certainly had a way with snorts. His hands went to his hips in a universally male “I’ll give you five seconds to start stripping” pose.

“Well, this is what I came for, right?” she said, her confidence lagging by the second at the heat staining his face and the sharpness of his gaze.

This was her fantasy, so naturally he’d be just as impressed with her overblown physique or her money back! However, her ass-nemesis made it impossible for her to feel comfortable stripping in front of perfection. But how could she distract him as she shimmied out of her clothes? “Maybe…we should have some of that…roast meat, before we-”

Ice Man stepped over her, placing his feet on either side of her hips. The man obviously had no body-part-nemeses to give him any insecurities.

As well, he seemed awfully proud of the cock-that-could-choke-an-elephant. This close, it seemed to stretch above her-endless, and well, damned intimidating.

“You know, I’m thinking we should take a little time to get to know each other first,” she babbled, alarmed when he dropped to his knees and leaned forward on his arms, his wagging appendage tapping her belly before he eased down.

Closer now, she noted the flare of his nostrils, like he was taking in her scent. Was scenting a stone-age mating ritual or was he sniffing out his next meal? Her nerves jumped when a low growl erupted from deep inside his wide chest, and he leaned down.

Her hands shot up and braced against that wall of solid muscle, but he seemed as immoveable as the rock ledge on which she lay. “Um, I don’t suppose you’re the kind of guy who just likes to lick his food first, huh?”

The corners of his lips twitched, making her wonder if her expression had clued him in to her nervousness. His downward momentum didn’t stop until he lay on top of her-every overwhelming inch.

She forgot how to breathe. Instead, she wheezed, afraid to inhale too deeply and accidentally press upward against the long erection. Already, it burrowed between her legs and lapped over the top of her miniscule mini.

The fat, bulbous tip of him burned her quivering belly. “This is nice,” she said quickly. “Maybe we could stay like this for a little while?”

“Uh ugh,” he murmured, and dropped his head to nuzzle her neck. Again, he inhaled, sniffing her like she was a tasty treat. A thick thigh nudged between hers.

Despite her misgivings, her nipples dimpled and she relaxed her knees to let him slip between them. The base of his cock settled against her pussy, and she couldn’t help the little gasp that escaped her lips or the liquid pleasure that bathed his heavy sac as he rubbed against her. Her body softened instinctively beneath his.

No less breathless, now she opened to him, lifting her knees on either side of his hips to help him snuggle closer to the part of her drowning in excitement. “Maybe you are the kind of guy who licks first, hmmm?”

As though he understood her need to slow things down, he nudged beneath her chin and mouthed her skin, sucking softly as he followed the column of her throat.

“Yes, please. Just like that,” she whispered, her arms creeping around him to slide her hands up his neck and into his thick, blond hair.

She’d never considered herself easy, exactly, but going with the flow of this fantasy felt natural-even right-and if The Lunch Break had conjured the object of her daydreams to deliver the ultimate lunchtime getaway, why should she resist?

Slowly, Ice Man worked his way to the bare expanse of her upper chest, sliding his body downward so she missed the feel of his balls nestled against her pussy. She may even have moaned a protest, but he quickly substituted new delights that blew the loss right out of her mind.

His wicked mouth suctioned and nipped at her mounds until she gasped and moaned according to his will. Soon she was mad for him to remove the garment knotted between her breasts. Her nipples swelled and tightened, aching for his caress.

However, he seemed content to trace the edges of the garment with his tongue, licking over the tops of her breasts and between, then nosing the spiking nipples pressed against the thin suede fabric. When at last he sucked them through the cloth, her belly jumped and quivered, and moisture seeped to wet her swelling labia.

But it wasn’t nearly enough. “Please,” she moaned and tugged at his hair, trying to gain his attention, trying to urge him to get to “the points” a little faster now.

Rather than unknotting the garment, he tugged it lower, freeing her breasts, but trapping them above it, so they were squeezed over the top.

The constriction excited her almost as much as the heavy-lidded look he gave her rosy, dimpled areolas. Each shallow breath she managed to drag into her air-starved lungs lifted the distended tips like offerings.

Please, please suck them! She’d never known her breasts could be so sensitive, so attuned and eager for one man’s attention. Foreplay involving her breasts had always been nice, but only an appetizer.

Now, she’d gladly skip the main course if he’d just suckle-his wicked mouth to her taut stems.

His fingers closed around one peak, plucking, squeezing, twirling-igniting a firestorm that raced from her breast to her womb.

Kili’s breaths shortened, each exhalation a soft groaning sob as her body undulated, seeking to bring him toward her center. Her fingers threaded through his hair and wrapped tight around his skull as she tried to pull him down and bring his lips to her throbbing crests, but he resisted.

Frustrated, she curved her belly, craving more connection, and ground her mons against his belly.

Motionless, he stared at his fingers plucking her ripening nipple. Finally, he grunted, a harsh and fiercely masculine sound, and swooped down to take her breast into his mouth, drawing so hard her toes curled into the furs.

He didn’t stop suctioning-not when she keened high and sharp, not when she clamped her legs around him and bucked, her belly shivering and jerking as he tortured her.

Kili stared at the jagged ceiling of the cave and savored the sensations of the rhythmic pulls of his mouth, the weight of his solid body pressing her into the fur, and the coiling heat building deep inside her. She thought she might come from just his mouth on her breast-a first.

But he released the tip and glanced back up at her face. The darkness creeping into the cave painted deep shadows beneath his sharp cheekbones and cast his eyes in an almost sinister light. Again, he seemed a predatory animal, pausing to gauge whether the mouse he teased still had the strength to play.

Kili panted, unable to rally her mind to wonder what he planned. She trembled, anticipating what he’d kiss next and hoping for something even more breathtaking than what she’d already experienced. “Please, Ice Man.”

Perhaps her urgent tone and the way her nails dug into his flesh gave him the message. The corners of his lips curved upward, forming a slight, satisfied smile. Rather than moving lower down her belly, he simply switched to the other breast, clamping hard on her ruched nipple.

Her back bowed beneath the unrelenting pressure of his lips. Her head thrashed, every sensation painfully intensifying. His hot mouth surrounded her; his teeth grazed and chewed the hard, swollen tip. Even the fur beneath her felt erotically charged-soft, yet prickly on her back and bottom, a counterpoint to the sleek, smooth chest and belly pressing her deeper into the bedding.

She was so wet-so unbelievably hot! Everywhere! Moist, humid heat. Sweat, slick and searing, bonded their bodies where skin met skin. Her sex wept, the swollen folds clasping around nothing, aching to be stretched and filled with his cock.

Teeth bit into her nipple and Kili arched her back, crying out. Ice Man wasn’t just a gladiator-he was a love god!

Three

Gunnar ground his cock into the fur and groaned. Sweet Kili was killing him-coming apart in his arms-and he hadn’t even entered her yet.

Her body shuddered, and she was making those kittenish sounds again-the ones that made his balls so hard he thought he’d explode. Each little jerk and rolling wave of her hips had him ready to slide back up and slam inside her tight, hot cunt. Well past ready, she was hotter than a saber burn.

He didn’t know why he’d drawn out his lovemaking so long. Kili seemed eager enough to get on with it, but his hunger drove him to explore her body and discover every erogenous secret it withheld.

With the women he’d enjoyed before, foreplay had been pleasant, but strictly a preliminary round building to the Grand Slam.

However, Kili’s breasts seemed more delicious and velvety than any he’d ever tasted and miles more responsive. Even her cries were more compelling, building a painful urgency in his loins. One he knew he had to temper or he might hurt her.

Never mind this was just a fantasy-a real mind-fuck. They’d share the memory of this wild-ass dream. Gunnar grew determined she’d never forget him.

So, he curved his tongue around one beaded little point and pushed it against his teeth, rearing his head back to tug it, side to side, pushing her past comfort into the pleasure-pain zone.

Her sexy little gasps and groans quickened like the panting of a cat and he smiled, wondering if she’d purr or snarl when she came.

The scent of her drove him crazy. Her arousal, a mix of wild exotic musk and clean woman, blended with the flavor of her skin-every bit as appetizing as a cinnamony sticky bun.

He released her breast and rose up on his elbows to admire his handiwork. Both nipples were reddened, the tips thick and engorged. Confined above the shelf of her little top, they looked like presents ready for unwrapping.

Because he felt every inch the primitive male, he growled, letting the sound rumble through him, and lowered his eyelids to half-mast before glancing up at her face. Then he reached behind his head and drew down one of her small hands and placed it on her breast.

Kili needed no coaching. Her graceful fingers fluttered over the straining peak, cupping the heavy mound then concentrating her caresses around the blushing areola. Her breaths puffed between her pursed lips as she stared down at what her fingers teased.

He leaned close and tongued her nipple between her fingers. He stroked along the appendages, sucking on fingertips and fluttering against the erect bud that peeked between them. Then he slid down her body to lick along the bottom of her ribcage, all the while holding her fascinated gaze.

Her gaze unknowingly held a touch of innocent wonder, while the teeth nibbling at the corner of her mouth betrayed more than a hint of worry.

He wished he had the faculty to reassure her, but then again, it was empowering knowing he held her entire attention and her body was his for the taking-and so attuned to his love making he’d have her purring before he finished.

He growled again, deep in his throat, loving the way her eyes widened and her breath caught.

From fear or arousal? The latter, he thought, because her legs clamped around him tighter.

He scooted down again, his face now level with her rounded belly. He planted kisses and licked the salt from her moist skin, loving the way her belly jumped each time he surprised her with a sexy bite.

Her navel drew him, the opening a tender little hole that fit the tip of his tongue perfectly. He stroked inside, rimmed it, and pushed on the soft button at the center and her thighs splayed wider as her hips slammed upward against his chest.

Almost there, sweetheart.

He slid down further and grasped the edge of her little skirt and rolled it down to the top of her mons, exposing the first dark hairs peeking from underneath. Feeling a little more teasing was in order, he traced the edges of the skirt with his tongue and fingers, dipping beneath the band of fabric. Her hips wriggled, and he guessed she was ready to lose the skirt entirely.

So was he. He rose up, moving to the side, and pushed the skirt down. She lifted her hips to aid him, and once free, she sighed. She spread wide her legs. An invitation to play he couldn’t resist.

Gunnar lay down beside her and trailed his fingers from her breast to the top of her cunt, twirling his fingertips in her dark curling hair, while his gaze drank in the sight of her white thighs and moist, swollen cleft.

Her hips rose from the fur, and a hand wrapped around his fingers to urge him further down between her legs.

He resisted the pressure and smiled to let her know he wasn’t dense-just teasing.

Her answering frown caused a rumble of laughter. At least he hadn’t forgotten how to do that.

She must have taken his laughter as a challenge, because she lifted the same hand and reached over to cup the head of his cock, squeezing it gently.

His reaction was impossible to deny-pre-cum smeared her palm, and she used the moisture to glide around his head, rubbing and squeezing harder.

He slid a finger deep between both sets of soaking lips and tucked its length into her opening to stroke in and out. Christ, she was wet!

Her inner walls clasped his finger, and her hips tilted up again to take him deeper. Her hand smoothed over the plump head of his cock and beneath to grasp the shaft. She squeezed up and down his length. “What’s it gonna take to make you understand? I need you inside me,” she said, her voice tight, strained.

Gunnar understood all right. His own body was primed, ready to cover hers, ready to thrust inside and find release. Instead, he drew a deep breath to calm his racing heart and speared her cunt with a second finger, easing inward, twisting to scrape his knuckles against her inner walls. He wanted her screaming for it.

Kili turned her body toward him and lifted a thigh over his, pressing closer to scrape his cock against her belly as she stroked up and down. “Didn’t they program you to fuck?” Her look of desperate determination undid him.

He pushed her back on the furs and mounted her, shoving her thighs wide apart to settle his cock against her pussy. He stared at where their bodies met, thinking nothing could look sexier, and nearly groaned when she slid her fingers down to part her folds and position him at her entrance. Her hand tightened around his shaft and pulled him closer.

Poised above her on one arm, he burrowed a hand beneath her bottom to clutch her ass and slowly pushed himself inside her, cramming past the furled lips into her moist, clasping channel.

Sweet Jesus, she was tight and hot as he worked his way into her, flexing his hips to push forward then pull out, loving the drag and pull of her inner muscles on his penis. Gritting his teeth, he fought the need to slam into her and tunneled slowly inward, eager for her heated walls to surround him.

In. Out. Digging deeper with each stroke. Sweat gathered between his shoulder blades as he concentrated on the measured motions, finding a rhythm that kept him sane, under control.

The obstruction, when he butted against it, shocked him.

Kili’s eyes flew open, and he knew the program had given them a gift-a little “celebratory” first for both of them. His whole body shuddered as he paused, cursing inwardly at the evidence of this incredibly erotic beginning.

His body clenched as he fought to regain control, but he was too far gone, too aroused to be gentle. Holding her wide-eyed gaze, he pulled back his hips and slammed back inside, tearing through the thin membrane.

Kili gave a strangled scream, but her arms encircled him, pulling his torso closer as he crammed his cock inside her silken sheath, pressing relentlessly forward, forcing himself as deep as he could reach. Only then, could he gather the strength to halt his movements.

He hovered above her, dragging in deep breaths while his arms and thighs trembled as he fought to hold himself back. He squeezed his eyes shut to close out the sight of her with her brown hair glinting from the firelight, her features strained and taut.

Her hands smoothed up his back, sliding easily in his sweat, then glided back down to trace his spine, widening as they reached his hips. When her fingers splayed to cup his ass, he opened his eyes.

Her tremulous smile was sweeter than any he’d ever seen. “I’ll have to ask them to rerun this program,” she whispered, her voice a little unsteady. “But I’ll ask them to do a few things differently-like get you here on top of me, inside me, faster. You feel…incredible.”

He hated the reminder this was only a fantasy, and that at any moment they could both be plucked out of their bed of furs and parted. Time was only relative inside the program. Half an hour on The Lunch Break time clock couldn’t last. His aggravation was tempered only by a feeling of overwhelming tenderness at the echoing sadness he read in her moist eyes.

Would she miss him? The real him? The one trapped inside the monosyllabic Cro-Magnon.

However, now wasn’t the time to dwell on partings. His body clamored for release. Since she didn’t betray any signs of further discomfort or pain, he pulled slowly out, almost freeing the crown of his cock, then thrust forward again.

Her cheeks billowed around a gusting breath. “Oh yeah. Again,” she said, urging him to move with her hands.

Another series of pulls and thrusts, the same as before, earned him a deep sigh and a quivering response from deep inside her inner walls. He increased the speed of his steady strokes, varying the angle of his hips, seeking, testing, until she gasped-and he knew he’d found that little spot of hyper-sensitive nerve endings inside her vagina. The one he’d heard about, but had never taken the time to find with any other woman.

Scraping slowly over it, he delivered shallow thrusts, careful to rub the spot with the ridged crown of his cock. He gauged her rising excitement by her shallow gasps and the way her fingernails dug into his ass.

“Ice Man,” she keened, her back arching and her eyes squeezing shut. “It’s happening! Jesus, now!”

He withheld himself, continuing to stimulate the spot, wanting to draw out the moment as long as he could.

“No, no, no! Please, fuck me!” The rising pitch of her voice and the desperate way she thrashed her head told him she neared release.

Over the edge himself, he lengthened his strokes and hooked his arms beneath her knees to push them up and forward, tilting her hips at just the right angle to slam an inch or so deeper.

His cock became a hammer. Hard as steel.

Unleashed, he pounded against the cradle of her thighs. Driving his cock hard into her hot, juicy cunt. His thrusts quickened, sharpened-until tension gripped his thighs, tightened his balls. His jaws locked, and every muscle of his body strained toward release.

Kili’s hands dropped from his shoulders and clutched the furs. Her sweet mouth opened around a scream as she arched her back. Convulsive ripples, like waves of liquid heat, caressed his shaft.

He was lost. He slammed into her hard one last time and felt his balls erupt, jetting cum through his cock in a pulsating wash of fire.

Afterward, he was loathe to release her legs and continued to rock his hips against her. Tension slid from his body while the last ripples rolled along his cock, slower now, fainter.

Slowing like the rhythm of his heart.

He removed his arms from beneath her knees and lowered himself on top of her, easing her legs alongside his thighs, while he rested most of his weight on his forearms.

Bodies aligned but still connected, they stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment, until Kili’s gaze fell away.

She drew a deep breath and blew it out. “Wow. Think there’s time for a second round?” Her attempt at lightness sounded forced.

He hated the reminder their time was nearing an end.

Apparently, she did, too. A shadow crossed her face, and she brushed his hair back with her fingers and tucked it behind his ears. “If you were real…if this were real…I’d want to stay like this forever.” The admission seemed real as the breathy catch in her voice.

Gunnar didn’t want to let go either. He hoped she’d say more and give him a key he could use later to unlock the soft, sexy side of Kili when next they met.

Here inside the program, he though he could see the heart of the real Kili, the one inside the brassy, smart-mouthed career woman. Here, she had no need for sexual subterfuge, no reason for sarcasm. She believed her thoughts and words were private-between her and a virtual reality program regulated by law to provide confidentiality. Here, he could eavesdrop on her heart’s desires.

He just wished he could ask her outright what the hell they were.

Four

Kili framed his face with her palms and stared into his blue eyes. Now that her breath had caught up with her, she was content to stay like this-physically linked, blanketed by his large body. She felt truly surrounded.

Finally, overwhelmed.

This was the feeling she’d been seeking, although she hadn’t really known how wonderful and all-consuming it would be.

Now, she just wished she could figure out a way to find it outside the cave-back in her real life.

If only she could find another man like this caveman.

Knowing she’d never find his likes again, she sighed. “This is pretend, right?” she said softly. “I’m your cavewoman. You’re my caveman-boy-toy,” she quipped. She knew he didn’t understand and was glad for it, but she babbled away just the same. She liked to talk after having explosive sex-and saying whatever came to mind helped her keep from thinking too much about what lay ahead. “Although I think I’ll leave the grunting to you. Your delivery is quite masterful, by the way.”

His lips twitched and a growl rumbled in his chest.

She tilted her head to the side, trying to read the intent behind his ice-blue gaze. “You understand me, don’t you?”

He lifted his chin, and his gaze speared hers. “Ugh!”

Her breath caught. “Then every time I asked you to fuck me and you didn’t, you were just playing, right?”

His lips stretched around a wide, wicked grin.

“Oooh!” She smacked his chest and laughed. “I’m almost mad at you. But I really like where we ended up, so I think I’ll forgive you.”

When he ground his hips into her, she knew he understood her point. He punctuated it with a nip of her earlobe, which turned into sexy licks that rimmed her entire ear. Finally, he lifted his head to press a quick kiss to her mouth.

“Yeah, I know,” she said, slipping her arms around his shoulders to snuggle closer. “This feels great. You feel…” She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “…incredible!” She giggled. “For a woman who makes her living finding just the right words, my brain seems stuck on one so far as you’re concerned.”

His head lowered and he nibbled at her chin, then nudged it up to suck the soft, ticklish skin along her neck.

“Oooh, you know exactly what I love,” she said, biting her lip, when he sucked particularly hard.

His hips circled over hers, and his cock stirred slowly back to life inside her.

Kili rubbed her inner thighs restlessly alongside his. Round Two was underway! “But I wish I had another name for you. I feel kind of silly calling you Ice Man all the time.” She grabbed a handful of his thick hair and pulled his face back. “Will you understand if I tell you I’m Kili?” She pointed to herself. “Kili.” Then she pointed to him.

He leaned to one side and lifted a hand to point a finger at himself, “Gnnnn.” He appeared frustrated, and his eyebrows lowered as he tried again. “Ggghhhhn,” was all he could growl out.

“Ghhnnn. Guuun? Shall I call you Gunn? Do you like that?”

He huffed a breath and nodded. “Ugh!”

She grinned. “I like that so much better than Ice Man. It’s not like you’re really him. But it’s not like you’d make great date material in real life, either. I know guys don’t like to talk, but a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ every once in a while is essential.” Only that was a lie. If only she could find someone like this caveman. Her “Gunn.” She had no illusions the real Ice Man was anything at all like this roughly tender man.

One blond eyebrow quirked upward and his head canted to the side.

“This virtual dating-I’ve never considered it before. A girlfriend turned me onto the vacation aspect, and thought a quick fling was just the thing I needed.” She traced the edge of his sharp cheekbone, not wanting to meet his gaze when she spoke so intimately about her inner thoughts. “I’m awfully glad she brought me here. I was feeling a little nervous. The guy you look like took my breath away, and I knew I wasn’t going to get an intelligible word out if I didn’t do something drastic to get back in control.

“Now, I think I’ll have no problem at all, because I’m not going to be the least bit attracted to him. He’s not anything like you. All beating his chest, ape man, growling at the cameras. You’re perfectly matched to my personality. I wanted a man who was less talk/all action, and they gave it to me.”

It must have been a trick of the light because it looked as though he crossed his eyes.

“Next time I come here I’ll definitely ask for some adjustments. Although, I may have to mortgage my house, because I think you’re going to be an addiction.”

His lips curved and he dipped down to nibble at her cheek.

“I know I’m talking your ear off, but I’m still feeling chatty like I always do after a really wild bout of sex-and this was the wildest I’ve ever had, so I have lots to talk about. I used to drive my old boyfriend nuts when all he wanted to do was sleep.”

His hips lifted and surged back inside-hard.

“Are you jealous? Or ready for me to shut up?”

Another sexy thrust had her lifting her knees to let him ease deeper. “A little of both, huh? No wonder Willa is always in a good mood after lunch,” she said, her breath getting lost again as her body revved up. “But I’m thinking I should have brought a change of underwear. I bet I’m soaked through.”

A low-pitched growl sounded from outside and Gunn’s head drew back sharply, his expression instantly hardening.

“We could ignore it,” Kili said, trying to turn his face back toward her. My time can’t be up! Please, not now!

He glanced back down, looking as though he was about to say something. Instead, he shook his head and leaned down to kiss her hard. When he ended it, he withdrew his cock, sliding it slowly out, his jaw tightening as though the effort was killing him.

She held him with her legs a moment longer, and then let him go. Despite the balmy air inside the cave, her skin dimpled at the loss of his heat.

He rose to his feet and grabbed the sheath of spears.

Kili’s breath caught on a moan. Standing near the mouth of the cave, red gold firelight flickering over his sweat-slick skin, his cock still erect and glistening from her juices-she knew she’d carry that picture with her for the rest of her life.

And then he was gone-and she was sucked back into the black dream-void, a low whooshing sound filling her ears.

Kili waited, feeling numb as the tech removed the electrodes from her chest and then slipped the helmet from her head. She accepted his hand to help her out of her seat and tugged at the bottom of her skirt.

Willa came bouncing from around the corner of a booth. “Well? How’d you like it?”

Kili gave her a thumbs up, although inside she felt like howling. “I think that did the trick.”

When the management team filed into the conference room, Kili steeled herself-and fought the urge to tug once more on the bottom of her skirt to make sure everything was covered. Her undies were tucked safely into her purse, and she hoped like hell she didn’t drop anything she’d have to bend down to retrieve.

Wilson nodded and proceeded to direct the men to the sideboard where drinks and snacks awaited. Kili stood beside the projection screen, ready to run through her prepared spiel.

Then Ice Man entered the room.

She thought she had herself back under control, but one look at his silvery blond hair and bluer-than-blue eyes and she forgot how to breathe again.

She forced her gaze away and gripped the papers in her hand hard, deciding then and there she wouldn’t look at him once during the presentation.

Her heart was too vulnerable, her emotions too raw. She’d had the adventure of a lifetime during a thirty-minute lunch break-and nothing would ever be the same.

She’d found-if not love-connection. Something she’d never known with a man before. But her lover didn’t exist.

Now that she knew how that “connection” felt, she wanted to find it again-with someone. But at the moment, it hurt too much to look at the man whose face would forever be etched on her heart.

“Ahem, Kili,” Wilson’s voice broke through her thoughts, bringing her back to the purpose for the meeting. The management team had all taken their seats and waited with pencils poised above pristine white pads of paper.

She gave him a nod and cleared her throat before sweeping her gaze over the men assembled to hear how she was going to increase the number of female viewers who tuned in to watch the Centurion Gladiators’ matches.

But her gaze snagged on Ice Man who remained standing beside the snack table, his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze boring into hers-wearing the exact same expression as her “Gunn.”

Swallowing, she tried to remember what she’d scripted for herself to say, but mortification settled around her like a heavy blanket of embarrassment when she couldn’t remember a word she’d rehearsed.

She dropped her gaze to her papers, realizing she couldn’t go with the pitch she’d prepared if she couldn’t remember it.

She drew a deep breath and decided to go with her gut. “Ever wondered what makes a woman hot? She’ll tell her girlfriend it’s an animal-a monosyllabic caveman in a loincloth-all bulging pecs, thick neck, and rippling abs. That man will certainly catch her eye-make her pause and stare. But how does he keep her interest?” She paused to swallow and wet her dry mouth.

“Is that a rhetorical question?” Ice Man’s deep voice came from the sideboard.

Finally, she was forced to meet his gaze. Her heart skipped a beat at the smoldering warmth she found there. “I am inviting…your answer,” she said carefully, pushing the words past stiffened lips.

“Gunnar Thorsson is the team’s elected rep,” her boss added. “He’s got final approval on the spot. He has a dead-on instinct for what people want.”

Gunnar? Her eyes opened wide.

His gaze didn’t waver. “A woman likes the danger and strength the warrior embodies, but she really wants more than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’-or a primal grunt. She wants the warrior to unstop a clogged sink, or teach a child to play ball…and to tell her roughly, but eloquently, how beautiful she is to him.” The last seemed like a caress.

Christ, it couldn’t be him. Her Gunn. But he was giving her back her words…and more.

Had what happened in the cave been real, or at the very least, mutual? And who would she kill later-Willa or The Lunch Break staff for hooking them up? If it really was him, he’d remember every stupid thing she’d said.

Her throat tightened around a lump at the back of her throat. It couldn’t be true. She was just projecting her desires onto him.

Her eyes filled. She shook her head as she stared at him, hearing the murmured questions from the management team as she tried and failed to pull herself together.

Ice Man’s arms dropped to his sides and he stepped forward.

Alarm filled her. Christ, don’t let him get too close or I’ll fall apart!

But he opened his arms and enfolded her next to his rock-solid chest. His hands caressed her, soothing up and down her back.

She inhaled, dragging in his now familiar scent-not the wood smoke part, but the manly musky part. She clutched the front of his jersey and tried to make sense of her reactions and figure out a way to run from the room before she made an even bigger fool of herself.

His hand cupped the back of her head, tugging on her hair to tilt back her face. His gaze held hers for a long, intense moment, and she wished like hell she understood what it meant.

Then his lips slammed down on hers in a searing, mind-blowing kiss.

His lips ate hers, molding, sucking, drawing her back into a familiar firestorm of searing emotions and lust. Finally, his tongue thrust inside her mouth to stroke hers, and she was helpless to resist. She tangled her tongue with his and moaned.

Christ, the man could kiss!

“Oh, I see you already know Gunnar,” Wilson said from somewhere behind Ice Man, an edge of dismay in his voice. “He has an excellent track record, actually, for gauging what consumers want. Kili?”

She lifted her hand, one finger extended, telling him to wait just a second. Her heart pounded as she recognized the sound rumbling from the chest pressed to hers.

Ice Man drew back and settled his forehead against hers, his breath hitching every bit as raggedly as hers. “Sweetheart, it’s gonna be all right,” he rasped.

“But, I don’t understand,” she said. He kissed like Gunn, growled like Gunn…Her heart accepted him as Gunn.

Ice Man snorted and kissed the tip of her nose. Then he bent to whisper in her ear, “Ugh!”

DELILAH DEVLIN has lived in Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Ireland, but calls Texas home for now. Always a risk taker, she lived in the Saudi Peninsula during the Gulf War, thwarted an attempted abduction, and survived her children’s juvenile delinquency. Creating alter egos for herself in the pages of her books enables her to live new adventures-and chronicle a few of her own (you get to guess which!).