SeductiveIntent (10 page)

“Stay right there,” he muttered and she saw him over her
shoulder going to the night stand for a condom. This time, she watched as he
donned it—and even that, the process of rolling it out over his hard penis, was
sexy to her.

When he mounted her from behind, she realized she was ready
for him too, closing her eyes, relishing the hard, relentless thrusts deep
inside her as he brought one hand to her breast, fondling the over-sensitized
flesh, his other hand moving to her clitoris, gently rubbing. “You have the
most incredible tits,” he groaned, kissing the top of her back, and for once
she reveled in the observation as she took him inside her, deep.

“You have the most incredible…” She tried to reciprocate the
compliment, but found herself shy at saying the word out loud.

He laughed, thrusting in her slowly. “What? Smile?” He tweaked
her nipple, just as he buried himself deep within her. “Was that what you were
going to say?”

He held himself still and she groaned, moving her own hips,
trying to tempt him to move.

“Or cock?” He pulled out and thrust in again. “Was that what
you were going to say? Cock?” He punctuated his words with short, fast thrusts
and she came again, his own climax coming a few thrusts later. When he pulled
out this time, she collapsed on her back on the bed and after disposing of the
condom, he did the same, gathering her in his arms.

She propped her head up with her chin on his hard chest
while he ran his fingers through her hair.

“Don’t do that again, Sophia. What you did downstairs.”

“What?” she said sleepily.

“Don’t tempt me into forgetting myself and going inside you
without a condom. Incredibly enough, you’ve proven you can do it, pretty
handily too. So I’m asking you not to do it again.”

“You’ve never done that? Gone into a woman without a condom
on?”

“No. Never. Not even when I was a teenager.”

“Mmm.” She snuggled against him, observing, “So it’s a night
of firsts for both of us.”

He smiled faintly. “But don’t do it again.”

“Make you forget yourself?”

He nodded.

“Why not? You’re making me forget myself.”

He leaned down to kiss her lightly. “You don’t feel guilty
or anything for sleeping with me, do you, Sophia?”

“Why should I feel guilty? In this day and age.”

“Exactly. So I don’t know what kind of ideas your father put
into your head about sex, but what we did was natural, beautiful. There was
nothing wrong with it.”

Nestling into the crook of his arm, she said, “I think I
gave you the wrong impression about my father. I said he was overbearing, but I
didn’t mean over-protective or anything like that. He just…I mean, he did
things…“

“What are you trying to say, honey?” He asked it so sweetly
she felt like crying. What was it about Brendan that made her want to tell him
everything? Would he understand? Would he look kindly at her as he had when she
had been disguised as a maid?

“I’m saying I was a virgin, but he didn’t, I mean, he didn’t
try to keep men from me or anything. Or tell me sex was wrong or anything. More
like he…“

“What honey? There’s nothing you could say right now that
would change how I feel about you.”

“He didn’t keep men from me. He kind of put me in their
path. Rich men. For his business.”

Brendan said nothing, just watching her.

“I’d dress all sexy and he’d use me as, you know, bait, sort
of. They’d kind of paw at me—”

“Shit.”

“I mean he didn’t force me to do it.”

“No he just asked you to. What a bastard.” He gathered her
closer.

“I guess at least he didn’t need me to sleep with them.”

He froze.

“I’m sorry I even brought it up,” she said quickly. “I just
didn’t want you to think I felt guilty about this.”

“No, I’m glad you told me. It explains a lot.”

She felt better after the admission. And it was the truth.
Sort of.

She snuggled closer.

Sophia was breathing deeply against his chest. She looked so
peaceful when she slept. Hell if he knew why he couldn’t seem to.

Her confession had startled him, but he was glad she felt
close enough to him to tell him it. Talk about shitty parents. Where the hell
had her mother been during all this? But it did explain a lot. When she told
him the truth about her father, he had wanted to murder the bastard. Good thing
he was already dead, he supposed.

The pull he was starting to feel toward this girl was
unnerving him.

He didn’t believe in love at first sight and he didn’t by
any stretch of the imagination think he was in love with Sophia. Come on, get
real. More like entranced with her body and the fact that she was a virgin. Not
to mention, stunned from his first bareback ride ever.

It was sex. It was always sex with him. It had to be.

She snuggled closer.

But he might not mind getting to know her a little better.
He kissed the top of her head.

If he could ever get her to tell him her last name of
course.

* * * * *

Sam Kendon watched the front door to Brendan Beckett’s
apartment open. Beckett was in the Caymans, as Mandrake had airily informed
him—as if flitting off to the Caymans on a moment’s notice was an everyday
occurrence for the hoi-polloi.

So he knew it wasn’t Beckett. Mandrake was out on a hot
date, which would end in an even hotter hook-up, he’d assured Sam. Mandrake
didn’t stay overnight at the penthouse anyway. He was just there during the
day.

Whoever was opening Beckett’s door at this time of night had
a key, which only confirmed that Beckett was careless with access to his
apartment, as Sam had suspected. That it was a woman was no big surprise.

Correction. A girl.

That was a surprise. She looked a little young for Beckett,
but at least she looked of age.

The girl, blonde hair swung up into a messy ponytail,
sported the usual uniform of her generation—jeans and a sweat shirt, some
college logo on the front, and she carried a back pack. Head down, she dropped
her pack on a chair, not noticing him at first. When she looked up and did, she
startled, but regained herself quickly. “Hey. You’re not Brendan.”

“No,” he said calmly.

“Are you with Mandrake?”

“No.”

She shrugged. “Oh. Okay.” She looked around for a minute
before she said, “So are you supposed to be here?”

“Are you?”

“I guess not. Brendan doesn’t really like us to drop in
unannounced, but I knew he was away. And he did give us a key. Just in case.”

“In case what?”

“I don’t know. You know how he thinks.”

“Not really.”

Only then did this incautious girl have the grace to look a
little cautious. She was after all alone with a strange man. “Who are you if
you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t mind. Who are you?”

“Mindy Beckett.”

Ah ha. A sister. A foolish one still, though. “A word of
advice, Miss Beckett. Don’t go around volunteering your last name to strange
men. You’re part of a rich family. Somebody could take advantage of that in a
way you wouldn’t like.”

“I didn’t volunteer it. You asked me.”

“You do everything you’re asked?”

She glared at him now. “I thought you were cute when I first
came in, but now you’re reminding me of Brendan.”

“Another thing you’d be well advised not to do. Tell strange
men you think they’re cute.”

“Okay, just who the hell are you?”

“What if I told you I broke into this apartment?”

She didn’t look as scared as she should be at that question
and in this circumstance, at least seeing it from her perspective. What was it
about rich people, the girls especially, that made them think they were
invincible?

“Did you?” she demanded.

“If I did, you wouldn’t be able to get back to that door or
to your cell phone fast enough to stop me from doing whatever I wanted with you
right now.” This girl needed some scared-straight therapy. A little side
service he’d offer Beckett for free—giving his little sister some training in
self-preservation.

But the girl didn’t give an inch. “Are you threatening me?”

Approaching her to take out some of the outrage out of that
high-and-mighty tone and put a little fear of God into it seemed like the right
thing to do.

He walked right up to her, never breaking eye contact. “I’m
pointing out that if I was threatening you, there’s nothing you could do about
it.”

She was a pretty little thing, all creamy skin and blue
eyes—eyes that were staring daggers at him right now. Unfortunately, staring
daggers didn’t cut it with an assailant. Better she learn that in a safe
environment rather than one in which it was too late. He wasn’t really going to
lay hands on her—Beckett undoubtedly wouldn’t appreciate that—but he was going
to intimidate her to make a point. Up close now, he towered over her, giving
her his best badass stare.

Until he crumpled over in pain.

The little witch had kneed him in the balls and he hadn’t
even seen it coming. Over his gasps, he heard her say, “I can take care of
myself, whoever you are.”

By the time he could stand up again, he saw that she had
sauntered into Beckett’s state-of-the-art kitchen that her brother had by all
appearances never even boiled an egg in. She was rummaging inside a practically
empty cupboard when he entered. “It’s a mystery to me what Brendan eats when
he’s home. He never has any food. I don’t know why he even has a butler if the
guy never shops or something.”

When she turned back to him, a ghost of a smile played on
her glossy lips, some cherry-colored lip balm appearing to be her only makeup.
“Oh, you. Come to frighten the little girl again?”

He smiled despite himself. “I do like a woman who can
protect herself. My apologies, Miss Beckett. I underestimated you.”

She laughed. “My new brother-in-law taught me a lot of neat
moves like that. He grew up on the streets or something. He thinks every woman
should know how to defend herself. You should see my sister Virginia now. She’s
really into it.”

“Yeah, well, from what I’ve heard, Virginia Beckett’s always
known how to take care of herself.”

“I guess that’s true. So, should we start again? I’m
Brendan’s sister, Mindy, and you are in Brendan’s apartment why?”

“I’m putting in some security systems for him.” More or less
true. “And I of all people should know better than to judge a book by its
cover. Sorry for that, Miss Beckett. You’re not the shrinking violet I took you
for.”

“Don’t worry about it. Everybody does. Underestimate me, I
mean. I’m used to it.”

“I’ll get going now, then.”

“Don’t let me chase you out.”

“Well, you did beat me up,” he pointed out.

She smiled. “If I promise to go easy on you, will you stay
and finish doing whatever it was you were doing before I got here?”

She pulled her sweatshirt over her head and wrapped it
around her tiny waist. It amazed him what young girls these days considered
tops. The black bustier with spaghetti straps encasing her high, sweet little
tits looked more like lingerie to him, but she undoubtedly didn’t think twice
about wearing it to class.

She caught him looking and smiled.

“How old are you?” he asked.

“Old enough.”

Man, this girl really was dangerous.

“Nineteen,” she added, as if that was supposed to make him
feel better.

The front door opened and slammed shut again. “Mindy? Are
you here?”

Sam turned around and saw this girl’s twin. Literally. She
was dressed differently, a little more upscale in a short miniskirt and some
high heels he bet cost more than he made in a month, but her face was
identical. More make-up, but identical. And this one wasn’t carrying any books.

“Well, hi! Who is this, Min?”

“Actually, I never got your name,” the first girl said to
him.

As if one gorgeous young girl wasn’t enough. “Sam Kendon.
And I’m just going.”

“Don’t go, Sam Kendon. Are you my sister’s?”

“No, Missy, he’s not mine. I just found him here when I got
here. He’s doing some work for Brendan on the apartment.”

“Ooh la la, a carpenter or something? How sexy, with those
big brown eyes and dark hair. Though you should let it grow out a little. You
look like you just got out of the marines or something.”

Okay, time to go. They weren’t jailbait, but close enough to
make him uncomfortable. Especially given how open they seemed to be.

“No, he does security systems, Missy. Or else he broke in
here. I’m not really sure which.”

“A thief! Wow. Even better.”

“Okay, well, I’ll just be going now.”

“I don’t know,” the new one said, “maybe we should take you
as our prisoner. What do you think, Mindy? He’s awfully cute.”

Again with the cute. It was starting to piss him off, maybe
even more than getting kicked in the balls had. When had he become such a
pussy?

“Maybe we should just call Brendan,” Mindy said.

“No way, he’d just yell at us for barging into his apartment
without asking for permission first. Although I don’t see the big deal would be
since he’s off in the Caymans with Miss Mystery Babe.”

Sam had his hand on the door knob to the front door, but
turned around at that. “Mystery Babe? What do you mean by that? Just that
you’ve never met her?”

“More like Brendan’s barely met her. The story I got from
Virginia, who got it straight from Aaron, is that Brendan didn’t even know who
the girl was before the wedding. Virginia’s wedding, I mean.”

“But someone did,” he persisted. “Know her, right? I mean,
she was at your sister’s wedding, not working at it or something?”

“In the dress she had on,” Mindy commented, “I should say
she wasn’t working at it. Though I did see her holed up with one of the waiters
later on.”