Iron Rods: 1 (Strip Club) (11 page)

But he hadn’t said she would fail as a manager. Had he?

Tears welled in the corners of her eyes. When a wet bead
slid down her cheek, she angrily swept it away with the back of her hand.

Seeing her so upset was more than he could bear.

“I’m sorry. I truly am.” He ran his fingers through his
hair, racking his brain for some way to make things right. “You have every
reason to be mad at me.”

Tatum continued to look thoroughly miserable. He’d have to
do better than just a spoken apology.

Inspiration struck. He needed a diversion.

He cupped her cheek and wiped away a tear with his thumb
while he slipped his other hand into his pocket and pushed a handkerchief up
his shirtsleeve. Once finished setting up his trick, he waved his empty hand
before her.

“Here,” he said, reaching behind her ear. “Use this.”

With great flare, Bennett whipped out the square of fabric,
hoping it appeared as though he’d found it lurking near her earlobe. He offered
her the kerchief. “I’m sorry, Tatum. Please don’t cry.”

Her watery eyes brightened slightly and she smiled as she
grabbed the hanky. “How did you do that?”

“I am a man of mystery. A man of many talents.”

“I already knew that. But I didn’t know you knew magic.”

Bennett shrugged. “I learned a few tricks when I was a kid.”

“Including walking a coin over your fingers?”

She glanced his way when he failed to respond. Acknowledging
the Susan B. brought feelings of vulnerability to the surface that he’d rather
stay deeply tucked away.

“I’ve seen you playing with it a few times,” she continued.
“It’s a great trick. I’d love to learn how to do that sometime.”

“Maybe someday.” He returned the handkerchief to his pocket,
then turned as though listening to a sound. “Do you hear that?”

“No. What is it?”

“I think I hear dessert calling.” Latching on to her hand,
he pulled until she fell into step with him.

After making another stop at a food trailer for two large
chocolate cupcakes which they ate sitting on a painted wood picnic table, they
finally arrived at her townhouse. Bennett killed the engine and shifted in the
bucket seat. Once again, his head and body sparred for control.

He’d be a fool to walk Tatum inside and take a stab at the
chance to bed her again. There was no future for them. They both had to know
that. Making matters more complicated, this was her home. If he did sleep with
her, what would come next? Most likely there would be an awkward scene where he
thanked her for the marvelous fuck and left out any discussion about business.
Then he would grab his clothes and make a quick exit.

He couldn’t possibly stay the night. Doing so would suggest
there was more to their relationship than he wanted her to believe. Definitely
more than he was ready for. Yes, she was incredibly sexy and strangely
entertaining. And yes, he felt so much at ease with her that he’d found himself
dreaming up excuses to be around her. But a line had to be drawn somewhere. He
wasn’t the kind of man who involved himself in relationships. Relationships
eventually led to deep feelings. Deep feelings, he’d discovered the hard way,
led to heartache.

Hadn’t he already had enough heartache to last a lifetime?

“Want to come in for a drink?” she asked. “I don’t have any
Scotch, but I have cold beer.”

Tatum had to know inviting him into her home meant more than
just providing him a cool beverage. Before they finished their first drink, he
would have her shirt off and her jeans unsnapped. After that, he wouldn’t stop
until she lay spread-eagle on her bed, his mouth attached to the little nub of
her clit where he would let his tongue flick until she shouted his name from
pleasure.

Was he a wild beast devoid of principles and decency? No. He
might not have been born a gentleman, but he’d certainly been raised as one. He
needed to allow her a way to reconsider her offer. It was the right thing to
do. Plus he needed a moment to think carefully through his answer. His dick
might be ready to accept her most generous overture, but that little brain had
a tendency to get him into trouble more times than not. Look what a mess it had
already landed him in.

“A beer sounds great, but I don’t want to put you out.”

“You won’t be putting me out at all,” she said, digging her
keys out of her purse. “My roommate is in Houston for a few days, so it’s just
me at the
casa
. I’d love to have your company.”

Bennett’s nerve endings sizzled beneath his skin. The
beating of his heart quickened and became irregular.

Damn it all! He shouldn’t be considering going in her place.
Doing so was wrong, wrong, WRONG!

His fingers tingled at the prospect of stroking her soft tan
skin. A light tang of waterworks already filled his mouth in anticipation of
kissing her lips, sucking her nipples and licking the sweet folds between her
spread legs. If his ramrod-hard cock throbbed with any more force, the damn
thing would tear through his slacks.

He wanted her more than any other woman he’d ever had the
pleasure of having sex with. What did Tatum possess that inexplicably drew him
to her?

Bennett pulled the key from the ignition. “Then my company
you shall have.”

He would undoubtedly pile more regrets to his mounting list
in the morning, but his body once again trumped his common sense. Tatum had
given him a huge green light to proceed. How could he resist?

Tatum flipped the light switch once she opened the door to
the townhouse. “Make yourself at home while I get the beers.” She tossed her
purse on a table and then scurried off to the kitchen. “I’ll only be a second.”

Although the place smelled slightly of smoke, it was clean
and contained matching furniture. Much better than anything he’d anticipated.
The secondhand couch and stained carpet he’d imagined didn’t exist. He frowned
as he took a quick look around, not happy that his father might be right. Perhaps
he did have a tendency to look down from his high horse and expect the worst of
people, especially Texans. He was proud to be raised in a family of means and
have high standards, but he couldn’t live with being a snob. Mean-spirited
bullies who were better than everyone else were the types of people he’d had to
deal with growing up. How had he let himself become one of them?

Breezing into the living room with a longneck bottle in each
hand, the flyaways from her ponytail framing her face, Tatum had never looked
more beautiful. The simple V-neck T-shirt and jeans she wore accentuated her
womanly curves. Red Western boots added length to her already long legs.

To hell with the drinks. I want you now.

As she drew close and handed him a beer, he plucked both bottles
from her grasp and set them on the coffee table.

“What are you—”

Before she could finish her question, Bennett tugged her to
him and covered her mouth with his. She still tasted of chocolate cupcake. With
little effort, he parted her lips and swept his tongue over and around hers,
picking up even more flavor from her earlier treat. Lord, but he was an
absolute fool for chocolate, not to mention this tantalizing woman.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and slid the other around
her neck, then drew her tightly against the length of his body. Tatum groaned
into his mouth and bright sparks flashed before his closed eyelids when her hip
ground against his stiff cock.

Without the benefit of sight, he raked his fingers through
her pulled-up hair until he located the ponytail holder. Slowly and carefully,
he slipped her long locks free. He repeated the process of combing her hair
through his fingers, reveling in its softness. When his hand passed through the
silky ends, he placed his palm on the curve of her back and then bunched the
cotton fabric of her shirt in his grasp. A quick yank freed the T-shirt from
the confines of her jeans.

Rather than break their kiss to remove her top, he lowered
his hand through the slight gap between her back and the band of her jeans. His
fingers caught on what felt like a taut string. Following the thin strand, his
hand found the narrow cleft between two round ass cheeks. He stretched his arm
and the tip of his middle finger as far as he could, trying to reach into the
depths of the warm crevice, but met disappointment. He settled for rubbing his
palm over one tight globe and then the other before grabbing a satisfying
handful of the tight flesh.

She moaned, filling his mouth with a titillating low
vibration and the delectable taste of sweet chocolate. His dick immediately
responded by leaping behind his boxers.

“Where’s your room?” he asked in a strained voice,
tightening his grasp on her ass. After their earlier experience on the hard
surface of a desk, no way he was going to fuck her on anything other than a
comfortable bed tonight.

Tatum nodded toward a hallway.

“Take me there.”

Bennett withdrew his hand from her pants and stood aside,
making room for her to lead the way. She took him to the end of the hall and
through an open doorway. He waited while she found her way through the dark
room and turned on a lamp.

A warm glow lit up the room, revealing an old metal bed
painted white, its mattress covered by a faded quilt. An afghan lay draped on
the footboard. Near Tatum stood a small bedside table also painted white. To
his right, pushed against the wall, a five-drawer dresser completed the
ensemble.

Knowing of her modest upbringing, he couldn’t be sure
whether the décor was an intentional shabby chic design or simply a collection
of hand-me-downs. Preferring modern furnishings and clean lines, his aesthetic
couldn’t be further from hers. But the space and its owner were nothing less
than cozy and inviting. Comfort in the form of a soft bed and a beautiful warm
body.

Tatum turned and hopped backward, her butt finding and then
bouncing on the mattress. She kicked her legs and feet as though splashing in
an unseen lake.

“I don’t suppose you know how to help a lady pull off her
boots.”

Her statement sounded like a challenge.

If she only knew just how much experience he had. As a kid,
assisting Lyle in removing his boots had been one of Bennett’s nightly chores.

“I think I can figure it out,” he said, making his way
around the bed.

One hand firmly grasping the back of her heel, the other on
the tip, he tugged and easily slid the well-worn boot from her foot. Seconds
later, the remaining boot landed with a
thud
on the faux wood floor.

“You’ve had a little practice at that,” Tatum said shyly,
her gaze not leaving her sock-covered toes.

“You might be right.” He leaned forward, eased the metal
buttons from the corresponding holes in the fly of her jeans and then yanked on
the bottoms of the pants until her legs were bare save her ankle socks. “I have
a little experience with that too.”

A blush colored her cheeks. She rubbed her legs as though
the action would keep him from noticing the nervous quiver in her hands or the
goose bumps pimpling her flesh.

One minute bold and sassy, the next timid and bashful.
You certainly know how to keep me guessing, Ms. Reynolds.

She might not be a virgin, but she lacked the confidence of
a woman who’d had many lovers. Her naïveté couldn’t please him more. He would
be the man who taught her the finer points of sex. He would be the accomplished
lover she compared all others to.

Taking in the half-naked golden-haired angel, Bennett’s gut
twisted at the thought of her having sex with someone else. He mentally shook
his head.

Enough already.

Let’s do this.

Bennett sat down next to her and took one of her hands in his.
With his thumb, he rubbed circles into her palm, hoping she’d relax.

She turned her head and peered over her shoulder. “Thank
you.”

If she had any idea what he wanted to do in that moment, the
last thing she would probably want to do was thank him.

“What for?”

She squeezed his hand. “For not rushing me.”

“We have all the time we want. We’re not in a race. As a
matter of fact,” he added sincerely, “I prefer to take my time. Savor the
moment.”

Not that he had the chance to do that often with the women
he’d known, but taking his time with Tatum felt right. He truly did want to
savor their brief time together.

He released her hand and brushed the back of his knuckles
against her cheek before angling in for a kiss. With slow but gentle force, he
eased her back on to the soft cushion of the quilt while his tongue swished
around the sweet cavern of her mouth.

Slow and steady. Ease her into it.

They lay there for several unhurried minutes, indulging in
heated kisses. When the tension in her muscles relaxed, he placed his fingers
beneath her shirt, then slid the digits up until he met her bra. Cupping a
lace-covered breast, he located the hardened peak of her nipple. She sighed as
he pinched the nub through the fabric.

Sensing she was prepared for more, Bennett found the latch
of the bra between her fleshy globes. With a quick twist of his thumb and
forefinger, he unlocked the clasp and silently thanked the person who invented
the simple hook in the front.

Her breasts now free from their confinement, he allowed his
hand to drift between them, kneading and squeezing as he went. To his surprise,
Tatum covered his hand with hers and then directed it over the flat muscles of
her abdomen and under the elastic waist of her panties.

He glanced at her face, trying to read her mood, and saw a
broad smile spanning from one cheek to the other.

Okay. No more slow and steady. Full steam ahead.

Letting his fingers do the walking, he reached lower under
the silk of her underwear. When he felt the narrow thatch of downy curls, saliva
filled his mouth. He licked his lips, remembering the delicate tang of her
juices.