Alpha Me Not (12 page)

Joe waggled his eyebrows and beamed when she mock gasped, hand to her chest, and mirrored his actions. “Round two? Methinks the mercenary doth boast too much.”

“No boast, woman. A promise. The way you turn me on, we might need round three before I’m satisfied enough to focus on food.” He couldn’t treat her like one of his fuck buddies, no matter what delusion she suffered under. Nope. Time for seduction. Tease and titillate and keep her on the brink. Make her beg.

He slid her down his front, cupped her ass, and ground her mound over his erection. The thin running shorts didn’t cover or conceal a single pussy fold. Her soft pubic curls poked through the taut material and stabbed tingles along his turgid cock. Christopher. How in hell would he survive taming her?

Soon, soon he’d take her sweaty and musky from a fast run. Their slick skin sliding and rubbing sheer ecstasy chest to chest, her rosy nipples nipped to tight, hard, buds. Joe choked back a groan and concentrated on enduring the next couple of hours of tortuous anticipation.

While Susie phoned in an order for Greek food, Joe replied to an e-mail on his cell phone. His commander had accepted his resignation and had wished him well.

“The food will be here in forty minutes.” Susie stacked a menu into the drawer by the fridge. “They said their driver goes off duty at ten.”

“Then we’d better skedaddle, darlin’.” He scooped her up. “I can’t wait to soap every inch of your gorgeous body.”

He had them both undressed and in his shower in no time at all.

Self-conscious to the max, Susie tried to use her hair as a shield, pulled the thick locks in front, and draped the black mane over her breasts.

Joe chuckled. He adjusted the knobs, tested the temperature with his toes, and pulled the lever for the gentle tropical rain and steam. He’d left the lights muted, and the bathroom glowed with a soft luminosity.

“You were right about the special effects.” She lost her wary nervousness and examined the spouts hissing warm, moist air. Moved away from the two-foot-wide showerhead, tiptoed to peer at the pattern of holes, and grinned.

Unable to focus on anything but the tips of her luscious, rosy nipples pearling and peeking between the wet strands of hair, Joe tweaked one and then the other.

“Joe,” she squeaked and darted out of his reach.

Stalking her, he growled, “Susie.”

Wrapping both arms under her breasts, he took a moment to savor the visual of her sassy nipples mouthwateringly puckered, then cupped the sweet mounds and weighed them in his hands. “I’ve been thinking about this all day long.”

“Me too.” She stopped squirming and sank into him, her backside cradled his erection.

“You feel so good. Soft and warm and wet.” He nudged her thighs apart and slid his cock between her slick pussy lips. Nuzzled her neck and gave her a quick nip.

Her fingers curled around the outside of his thighs. She arched to the left.

Sliding her wet locks to the side, he bent to suckle her nape.

She moaned.

“Like that, do you?” He tasted a hint of salt at the point where hair met skin at the back of her neck, inhaled the fragrance of woman and a clean, honest sweat mingled with the lemon from the shampoo.

“Hmmm.” Joe grasped her right wrist, raised it high over her head, and set her palm on the tiled wall. Her nails dug into his flesh when he ducked under her arm and took her nipple into his mouth.

“Oh. My. Yes.” She squirmed and tried to turn around, but he held her fast and laved the peaked bud.

Slipping his hand down her belly, he marveled at the suppleness of her flesh. He parted her labia and rested his thumb on her clit.

Her breath hitched on a low yelp.

Teasing her sex, he rolled the slippery bud between his fingers.

She canted her hips forward, and he obliged, gliding first one finger, then another into her sheath. Joe had been right the first second he’d seen her. He had died and gone to vagina heaven. She fisted his fingers.

He bent his head to her breast and suckled hard. Licked, laved, and nipped while finger fucking her clenching pussy.

“Joe. Joe.” She grabbed his hand and urged him on faster, rose onto her toes, and shuddered, grinding her mound on the heel of his palm. Her long moan echoed and resonated off the walls.

He rubbed his cock up and down the crease of her ass. Joe rode the edge but wanted her with him. He thumbed her clit in a tight circle. “Come on, babe. Come with me.”

Jesus, she was an inferno, her sex muscles vacuuming his fingers in short, sharp, jerks.

He bit down on her nipple.

Her whole body contracted.

She made a garbled sound, somewhere between a shout and a growl, and her pussy walls went into a series of rapid-fire convulsions.

He lost it. The orgasm rolled his testicles tight to his perineum, flamed across his pelvis, and his sperm erupted in hot jets onto her ass crease.

For a long time they stayed in that position until Joe felt her knees tremble and fold. He swept her up and stumbled to the bench on the far wall. Sat her sideways on his lap and tucked her head under his chin.

A few minutes elapsed. She butted him in the jaw. Patted the spot she’d injured. “You have a bench in your shower?”

Grinning, he bussed her lips. “And that’s just the beginning. We haven’t even begun to explore the special features.”

“You’re a wicked man, Joe Huroq. I suppose you’ve done this loads of times.”

Ah, he recognized her guarded tone. Was she one of many? “Actually, I finished the bathroom remodeling right before I left on my last mission. This is its christening. And I have the same aversion as you do to eating where you muck. You’re the only woman I intend to share this with, Susie Elizabeth White.”

“I never told you my full name.” She toyed with the circle of hair framing his areola.

“Nope. You didn’t. I researched you on the Internet. I decided to storm your bastions and needed information armor.” He kneaded the small of her back. “You’re twenty-five, Susie. How is it I was your first? Not that I’m complaining. No way. I’m extraordinarily shocked and fricking pleased. And why didn’t you tell me? A woman’s first time should be special.”

She scraped the wet strands of hair from her cheeks and forehead, stared into his eyes, and gifted him with a smile the famed Greek sirens couldn’t match in a zillion years. “But it was, Joe. Special. Perfect.”

His face warmed. “I’m glad you think so. So why hasn’t some lucky son of a gun claimed you?”

“I grew up in a small town in northern Michigan. My family came from the wrong side of the tracks, and my father and mother both drank too much. There was no way I was going to add slut to the gossip pool about the Whites.” She clamped her lips together and averted her gaze.

Joe knew regret for her openness and honesty had set in, and he didn’t want to push her too far, too fast. “The food will be here soon.”

“Is that my cue to disappear back to my room?” She sidled onto the bench.

He captured her wrist and brought it to his mouth. Pressed his lips to the faint blue-green vein beneath her satiny skin. “No. How about I towel you dry and carry you to your room?”

Her throat worked. “Would you mind if I dashed back to my room alone?”

Fuck yes, he minded. Joe ground his teeth before replying, “Let’s go for it.”

Before she could object, he lifted Susie out of the shower, swathed her in a thick terry, and pointed her toward the door. “Meet you in the kitchen in fifteen minutes.”

“Okay.” She snuck an over-the-shoulder peek at him.

He winked. Joe knew her competitive nature enough after their run to expect her in the kitchen in ten or less.

By the time Susie appeared eleven minutes later, he had the table on the outside deck laid and had opened a couple of bottles of wine. His favorite new toy, an iPod, was anchored in the latest docking station and blasted the music and lyrics of “My Eyes Adored You” from the sideboard in the dining room.

“Wow an iPod—how cool.” She marched over to the sideboard. “I promised myself one with my first paycheck.”

He resisted the urge to tell her she’d have one first thing in the morning.

Instead he drank her in. She wore a dark blue swingy skirt with a ruffled border that skimmed her midcalf, a creamy poet shirt cut to drape below her buff shoulders, and a three-inch laced-in-the-front black leather belt. Her damp waist-length hair glistened as she twirled to face him. Her bare feet added a primordial edge to the wild, gypsy portrait.

“Nice outfit.”

“Thanks. Made a pit stop at a boutique by the college today.” She smoothed the cotton fabric.

“Food should arrive any minute. Come here, gypsy woman.” He crooked a finger. “Dance with me.”

“Dance?” She curled one foot on the other’s instep. “Trust me. Not a good idea.”

Joe shook his head. “All women love dancing.”

Her lips stretched into a thin line. “You’re staring at one who doesn’t.”

“What’s not to love? Come on. Humor me. I’ve been thinking about dancing cheek to cheek with you since the pool.”

“You saw me naked at the pool and thought of dancing?” She arched a brow. “Don’t believe that one for a nanosecond.”

He rolled his eyes, stalked across the room, and tugged her into his arms. She stiffened, back so rigid he could’ve sworn her vertebrae had fused in protest.

It hit him all at once. “You’ve never slow danced with a man, have you?”

She laced her fingers together and rested the side of her palms in the middle of his chest. “You’re a genius, you are. If you must know, there wasn’t a whole lot of time for anything as frivolous as dancing during high school and college.”

“Mine either.” He thumbed the dimple in her chin. “I don’t have a clear image of my mother. Not quite sure she even could identify my father. There’s only her name on my birth certificate. My gran-gran raised me. When I was sixteen, she died. From then to when I graduated high school I lived in a series of foster homes. Got to college on a football scholarship. Coach Tommy decided learning to ballroom dance would somehow improve our agility and reflexes. I had a great teacher.”

“You like it, don’t you?” Color rode her cheekbones, but she’d relaxed a tad, not so unpliant in his embrace anymore.

“Yep.”

The doorbell rang.

“Saved by the bell.” She twisted out of his embrace. “I’ll get it.”

“It’s only a reprieve.” He followed her to the door.

“I’m paying for this.” She jammed one hand on her hip. “I insist.”

“I have accounts with most restaurants in the area. They charge all orders and bill me monthly.” Joe rolled a shoulder. “Next time it’s your treat.”

She accepted defeat, but only because the delivery guy sat on the ringer and drowned out her objections.

“Yo, man.” Bob’s mouth sagged when his gaze landed on Susie standing to Joe’s right. A blush redder than an overripe tomato stained his freckled face. “Um. I mean. Good evening.”

“Susie, this is Bob who delivers for about half the restaurants in the area. Thanks.” Joe took one of the two brown bags from Bob, palmed him a ten, passed the parcel to Susie, winked at the boy, accepted the other bag, and kicked the door shut.

“I was going to give him the tip.” She tucked the bag to one side.

“They add in a standard twenty percent and once a month I throw in a little extra.” Joe jutted his head at the kitchen. “I set up the deck.”

“Really? That’s great. I love decks. Mike and Melanie added on one to their cottage this spring. Nothing like being outdoors and barbecuing. Food smells so much better in the outdoors.” She marched to the kitchen.

“Who are Mike and Melanie?” He liked following in her wake, tracing the jaunty sway of her hips.

“My older sister and her husband.” She dumped the bag on the counter and turned in his direction.

“Plates and serving spoons are to your left. I have bottles of red and white wine on the outside table as well as glasses, napkins, and cutlery.”

“You’re so efficient, Mr. Huroq.”

“Saving time so I’ll have more during which to devour you.”

She burst into laughter. “I’m no grammar major, but that didn’t make sense.”

“You got the gist.” He pulled out the stacked boxes from both parcels. “Earn your keep, gypsy. Dish out the food.”

“Hummus, hot pita bread, couscous, lamb kabobs, and a Mediterranean salad.” She inhaled the curls of steam rising from one of the containers. “Bread is my greatest weakness. Aside from curiosity, that is.”

Dark eyes twinkling, she stared at him, and the flag dropped.

Rockets burst.

Fireworks exploded.

All the corny clichés in the galaxy felled him into the next universe. An ache mushroomed beneath his ribs, and he wanted no secrets between them.

“I can’t imagine any of my male relatives admitting taking ballroom dancing lessons. You might be a mercenary, Joe Huroq, but you’re no obnoxious alpha. Male.”

Ouch.

Maybe some things warranted a little cloak-and-dagger—for the present.

Hold on.

What did the three-second pause between alpha and male mean? Between her earlier tongue-in-cheek Red Riding Hood allusions and her use of the unusual word alpha, he’d take odds she knew all about wolf shifters.

“Whoa!” He held up a hand. “Now you’ve insulted my manhood. I issue a challenge. A dancing duel. After dinner.”

She crossed her eyes, thrust one leg forward, and tapped an alluring foot. “Make that a dance lesson and you have a deal.”

His full plate almost slipped to the floor. “You mean it?”

“If a football player can learn how to dance, I certainly can. Heck, how hard can it be? I should warn you, though. The only time I ever went to a dance, my date complained about his near-broken toes. Apparently I have a heavy tread and no musical rhythm whatsoever.” She sashayed to the deck ahead of him.

Though Susie’d tossed the sentences out as if she considered the passive-aggressive nasty words amusing, Joe’d picked up on the slight waver in her voice. What asshole had convinced her she couldn’t dance? Had no rhythm? Time to remedy
that
notion.

She oohed and aahed over the half-dozen lit bamboo torches stuck in the newly sprung lawn needles. Bent to smell the lilacs he’d picked up at the gas station store on the way home but forgotten after finding her semicatatonic in the bedroom.