Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) (4 page)

She ignored his comment and the sexual current that ran through her at his words.  She always had on heels.  It was the only way her height looked and felt halfway normal instead of extraordinarily short.  She couldn’t reach the floor in most chairs if she didn’t wear them.  Most of her high heels added a good four or five inches to her petite height and when the shoe had a built in lift it was even better.  Whenever she wore flats, which was rare, most people couldn’t believe how small she was.

“Mmm.  Do you dream about that, too?”  He said while licking his lips when she hadn’t responded.

Yes.
 

Instead of speaking, she looked drolly at him and kept silent.

“You realize this is the first time we’ve ever been alone together?”

“You were the one who didn’t want an audience.”  Her heart was pounding out of her chest.

“I think the first time we roll around together should probably be in private, don’t you think?”  He smiled his megawatt smile.  “So.  Are you ready for me, Counselor?” 

“You bet.”

He reached back behind him and pulled off his shirt.

She nearly stumbled back at the rippled chest and cut stomach before her. 
Shit
.  What the hell was he doing?  She felt like she was in the scene from
Crazy, Stupid Love
, where Ryan Gosling took off his shirt and Emma Stone said he looked like he’d been photoshopped.

He had a smattering of dark hair on his chest which led to a very sexy happy trail drawing attention to his waist, nicely encased in a six pack of abs.  The trail of hair hinted at the places hidden beneath his sweats.  The tribal tattoo on his well-formed right bicep wound around his arm while another tattoo decorated his left pectoral muscle.  It looked like it was made up of initials and letters.

Her breathing kicked up.  He was hot and she wasn’t referring to his body temperature.

It had been a full 10 seconds and she still hadn’t said anything.  She finally dragged her eyes up to his which were looking at her with humor, challenge, and a little something else.

“What the hell are you doing?” she croaked out.

“Taking off my shirt,” he shrugged with an innocent look.

“No shit, Sherlock.  What the hell for?”

“I don’t wanna give you anything to grab onto.  Nothing but skin, baby.”

She narrowed her eyes and quickly rethought her strategy.  There was only one thing for her to do even though she was already a little chilled from the air conditioning and didn’t want to do it.  However she knew if she didn’t, she would be conceding the first point to him before they’d even started.

Two could play at this game.  While maintaining eye contact, she crossed her arms at the bottom hem of her tank top and pulled the clothing off and over her head, tossing it to the side of the mat.

She stood before him in her black Yoga pants and bright pink sports bra, her midriff bare and her nipples standing at attention in the coolness of the gym.  She knew she looked good.  Years of training had formed her compact figure.  And even though she only reached an inch over five feet, she was nicely proportioned with a curvy heart shaped ass and a full C cup.  The expression on his face told her she wouldn’t be conceding that first point to him after all.

His tongue was practically wagging and his eyes zeroed in on her breasts causing her nipples to tighten even more.  Served him right.  Without giving him another moment to look, she interrupted his ogling by making her first move.  She quickly turned and landed a helicopter kick to his chest, causing him to stagger back.  

“Shit,” he muttered, finally meeting her eyes and snapping out of his lust filled haze.  She could see him running his tongue over his teeth as if anticipating the match to come.  “You have me at a disadvantage, little Miss Emily.  Even though I know you’re a force to behold, I keep thinking I’m gonna hurt you.”

Before he finished his statement, she landed another kick to his side.  Just to tease him.  She bounced on the balls of her feet, smirking at him.

“Well, I guess there’s my answer,” he murmured.

She came at him again but this time he was ready, catching her foot before it connected with his body.  He pulled at it to knock her off balance, but she kicked her other foot up to meet the one he was holding and used both feet to kick at his chest.  He let go of his hold on her foot which was dislodged during the move.

She could tell his wheels were turning thinking of what to do next.  She decided to keep him off balance and began a series of arm chops when he finally fought back in earnest, deflecting each one.

Finally
.  She didn’t want him to treat her with kid gloves.  After all, she was at the expert level in Krav Maga.  A black belt.  And if they’d been in a real fighting situation, she could seriously hurt him.

He advanced on her, moving to grab her around the waist, but she was too quick for him.  Cartwheeling out of his reach, she ended up behind him performing a series of arm and leg jabs which he was able to deflect again.

“You’re a scrappy little thing, aren’t you, Counselor?”  He had that look in his eyes again.  It said he wanted to throw her over his shoulder and take her off to his cave.  With that thought still in her head, she anticipated his next move when he lunged forward.  She rolled out of the way and he missed her.  But they were now both on the ground and he was able to grab her leg before she could get away.

He yanked her toward him by the leg as they grappled with each other.  He was so heavy that she struggled to get out of his hands, but they were all over her and she couldn’t get a grip on anything but his torso.  It was warm and all muscle.  She was trying not to dwell on what it was doing to her stomach, not to mention other parts of her anatomy.  It had been way too long since she’d touched a man’s half naked body and Scott’s had never quite caused this reaction.

Never mind that she’d been out in the dry 90 degree weather earlier. 
That
hadn’t overheated her.  This however was a different situation.  She had finally reached that point of heat, her body completely flushed with unwanted desire. 

Damn body.  She couldn’t help but react to the closeness of him.  He smelled so good.  All she wanted to do was bite him, lick him, and just plain roll around with him for a while. 

Stop, Emily.
  She needed to keep her thoughts focused. 

He wrestled her to her back and threw her arms up over her head.  Then he settled with a ‘humph
’.  Right between her legs.

She took a moment to catch her breath, her breasts rising and falling, her nipples just grazing his chest from behind her sports bra each time she took a breath.  The hair on his chest tickled her front.

“I’ve been trying to get you into this position for two months, Counselor.”  She met his fiery gaze and his mouth kicked up into a sexy grin.  His gorgeous big brown eyes were bouncing between her eyes and her mouth. 

“Me and every other female in Manhattan, you mean.”

“Nah,” his lips quirked.  “Just you,” he whispered in a confused tone, his eyes zeroing in on her lips.

She rolled her eyes.  “Please.”

He had such a masculine face.  Strong jaw line covered in stubble, slightly crooked nose which only added to his appeal, very kissable lips, and those eyes.  Big and brown.  The kind you get lost in.  She could feel his breath on her face.  He licked those tempting lips of his, his erection pressing at the juncture between her thighs. 

Shit. 

“You have great eyes.  They’re such a pretty shape,” he mused aloud.  “Sexy bedroom eyes.  Ever since the first time I met you at Ryann’s apartment complex, they grabbed me by the balls from behind those glasses you wear, and they’ve been screaming for me to take you to my lair ever since,” he breathed out on a smirk.  He looked at her lips again.

Fuck.  Me.
 

All she had to do was push up into him and she could ride her way to a glorious finish to what was already a pretty good sexual buzz she had going.

“I propose a wager about our little rematch here,” he began, his eyes glittering.

“I’m not making a wager with you in this position,” she said, trying to maintain her control.

“Chickenshit.”  His mouth kicked up into a smug grin.

She needed to get out from under him and fast.  She wasn’t going to negotiate while she felt the evidence of his arousal against her own throbbing sex.  With a quick twist of her hips, she dislodged herself and was able to buck him off momentarily so she could place her feet on his hip bones, pushing him off with a classic rape defense move.

She rolled away and back up to her feet.  Shaking out her arms, she brought him back to his words from moments earlier when he stated he was only pursuing her and not all women from Manhattan.  “Just me, huh?  What about Candy?” she asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

He was still sitting on the mat, now leaning comfortably back onto his hands looking at her in amazement for being able to get out of their previous placement of bodies.  At the same time, he sat there completely unflustered by the fact that moments earlier she had been able to feel, and could now see, his very obvious erection tenting his sweatpants.

“We teach Krav Maga to our recruits at the NYPD.  You should come in and teach some moves to our female officers.  But I digress.  So, you want to give me some candy?  I’d love some.”  He looked lecherously at her breasts.  “I know just where to find it.” 

She almost covered them as she felt her nipples harden and tingle.  Almost. 

“What do you wanna wager, Detective?” she asked in an exasperated tone.  Her body was humming and she needed to let out some of this energy soon if she was going to beat him. 

“If you were referring to Candy, my
date
at the Institute a few weeks ago, she and I weren’t able to see eye to eye on some things,” he said, ignoring the question she’d just asked.

“I find that shocking,” she snorted.  “It couldn’t possibly have been her name, I’m sure.  And all that it implied,” she said sweetly.

He smiled mischievously.  “What?  I liked her name.”

“You would.”  Her last name had been Lane, as in Candy Lane.  She’d looked like a porn star.

“No, it wasn’t her name.  It was more the fact that when she talked it was like nails on a chalkboard.”

“Oh, were you interested in her for the
talking
?  You couldn’t find other uses for her mouth?”

Had she just said that out loud?

His eyes heated.  “Ooh, you’re a dirty little girl, aren’t you, Counselor?  I suppose I could’ve found other uses for it, but it all worked out in the end since I was on call that night and had to unexpectedly head back to work.  Saved by the murderers and all that.  Oh, the irony,” he waved his hand and got up.  “So, my wager.  If I win,” he waited until she was looking at him, “you do exactly what I say.  For one hour.”  He was licking his lips again with his eyebrow raised in challenge, willing her to fight him.

She faked a yawn and made a big deal out of it by patting her mouth.  “Unoriginality called, it wants its cliché back.”

He smiled.  “Counselor, I do love our banter.”

She twirled her finger down by her side as if to say
Yeah, yeah.  Get on with it.

“If I win, you do
exactly
what I say,” he said again slowly and more forcefully.  “Unless, of course, you really are a chickenshit and you’re afraid you’re going to enjoy it too much.”

Even though a challenge always made her competitive spirit emerge, she couldn’t help but be annoyed at his constant use of the strategy.  She put her hands on her hips.  “Take your reverse psychology and use it on one of your perps, Detective.  We both know you don’t scare me.” 
Much
.

But even as she said it, a plan began to take form in her mind and a slow smile spread on her lips.

He noted the change in her expression and narrowed his eyes.  “I wish I was inside your head.”  Then he murmured with a soft smile playing on his lips, “Among other places.”

She ignored the sexual awareness in her body and smiled again, licking at her lips seductively.

“You seem to like that idea,” he said in a husky voice.

“Oh, I do,” she said back to him, matching the sexy timbre in his voice.  “The wager idea, that is.  And if
I
win, you do exactly what
I
say.”  

He looked at her with a mixture of lust, humor, and wariness.  Lust won.  “With pleasure.” 

“Excellent.  Whoever pins the other person three times wins.”

“Perfect,” he said rubbing his hands together.  “Looks like I only have two more to go.”

She blinked.

“You know,” he continued.  “Because I just had you pinned, so that counts as the first one.”

“We hadn’t made the wager yet.”

“Semantics,” he shrugged with a wave of his hand.  “You’re not gonna whine about that, are you?”

She glared at him.

“Let’s shake on it.  I don’t want you screaming about technicalities when you lose,” he said.