Tailored for Trouble: A Romantic Comedy (Happy Pants) (17 page)

Who does he think he is, all bossy and demanding?
It so made her want to go with him. “I told you we’re done.” A wicked something gleamed in his beautiful eyes before they moved to her lips again. Suddenly, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into him, his full lips crashing against her very shocked mouth. A moment passed as her mind caught up with her body.
Nope. No conflict there.
Both were doing a little cancan, kicking in time with wild enthusiasm.

His soft lips were warm and sensually firm. His rough stubble scraped deliciously against her delicate skin. His scent was everything intoxicating—a spicy, hedonistic mixture of premium cologne and a hint of fresh sweat from the running around he’d just been doing.

He leaned her back, bowing over her body and supporting her effortlessly with his strong arm while his wicked tongue glided between her teeth. He felt so hot and sinful and nectarous inside her body. Her mind went wild imagining the many methods of penetration she wanted to experience with Bennett’s other body parts.

Her hands slid up and over the sleeves of his blazer, feeling his firm, thick arms flexing and stretching the fabric. He felt just as delish as she’d imagined. Not that she had. Okay, she might’ve. Yes, yes. Many sad little times, with many more to follow especially considering last night he’d had his hand shoved down her panties, stroking her throbbing little jellybean of pleasure.

No. This is crazy. You need to stop. You need to go home and end this.
She was at serious risk of wanting this man for more than just his lean hard frame and gorgeous face.

But his kiss is so…raw and sexy and hot
. Like he was making love to her with his mouth.

Okay, we’ll have some innocent mouth sex. Just good old-fashioned, wholesome mouth sex. And that’s it.

Taylor allowed herself to melt into his kiss, but held back from giving more—no subtle pressing of her breasts into his chiseled chest to satisfy her aching nipples’ need to be touched, no pushing her throbbing c-spot a few centimeters toward his pelvis to relieve that excruciating tension, no gentle squeeze of her fingers over his generous biceps flexing beneath her hand. It took everything she had to only allow the moment to be the kiss and nothing more.

Whether he sensed it subconsciously or not, the lack of her physical submission—those subtle sexual cues that told a man if he was winning the battle over a woman’s resolve—only made him deepen the anger-tainted, punishing assault on her willpower. It was like he wanted to tame her with his kiss, own her with it, make her his with it.

I’m only giving you this, Bennett. Just this and nothing more.

Maybe it was her imagination, but the more she attempted to contain the panty-dropping effects of his warm body pressing to hers, the more his sinfully skilled tongue felt like an erotic dancer inside her mouth, working that pole determined to get the last twenty in her hand.

He pressed his mouth harder to hers, his tongue pushing deeper inside her, becoming more demanding, more sexual in its rhythm. Then she felt something infinitely more erotic: his huge, stiff penis pushing into her stomach.

Oh God. He does not play fair.
A part of her knew they were standing on a busy sidewalk in the middle of Tokyo where the fine citizens probably did not appreciate two foreigners making out like horny teenagers on a path to accidental parenthood, but she just didn’t care. With each stroke of his tongue and the sensual massaging of his large warm hand over her back, her inner thighs quivered, her core throbbed, and her entire body sizzled. Bennett tightened his grip around her waist, pulling her so close.

Okay. You win, Bennett.
Closer. I need to be closer
, was all she could think.
Where’s the damned pusher now?
Because she’d love to be pushed all the way back to a hotel room to finish what they started last night.

Suddenly, Bennett pulled away and released her. His lips were red and wet, and he had a wild look in his eyes. She, on the other hand, probably looked like someone had smacked her upside the head with a phone book. She swore she saw stars circling over his head, and she felt like she might actually pass out.
Oh God. He kissed the breath out of me.
He’d punished her with his mouth and tongue and showed her who was boss.

The sun caught the tiny flecks of brown in his thick multi-day stubble, and a wicked little victory-smirk danced across his lips. Yes, dammit, he knew he’d conquered her resolve.

“I’m glad you changed your mind,” he said with supreme cockiness.

She blinked at him, unable to think straight. “Huh?”

“About coming with me to Paris.”

“But I…”

He took her hand and grabbed her suitcase handle. She stumbled along, and Bennett tapped on the window of the limo. The driver appeared and opened the rear passenger door. Bennett gestured for her to get in, but her feet couldn’t move.

“Don’t make me do it again.” His victory smirk turned into a frown.

“But…but…” Her mind was spinning. There was that horrible bet with his friends—
I should be mad right now
—and there was the way he touched her last night—
okay, I should be dry humping him right now
—and then there was the way he bossed her around like he owned her and that cellphone stalking and—

“Taylor, this is one of those moments you shouldn’t overthink. Get in. Please,” he added. How he managed to make the word “please” sound like a command, she’d never know, but she sensed it was the closest this man would ever come to asking nicely.

Nope. Feet not moving
. Maybe the powers that be inside her—heart, body, soul—weren’t as aligned as she’d thought.

He sighed exasperatedly. “Opening up doesn’t come easily for me, Taylor. But I promise, if you give me time, you’ll understand my actions. All of them. I’m not a bad guy. I just…do things my way. It’s the only way I know how.”

She opened her mouth and wanted to say a million different things to him, starting with asking why he’d kissed her like that, why he’d played a hand in ruining her reputation, and why he’d freaked the hell out because her cell reception dropped. “Not good enough.”

He laughed and rubbed his whiskered jaw, shaking his head. She noticed then how he had a prominent bulge pressing against his nicely tailored black pants.

Holy crap, it’s huuuge.
She could see the distinct outline of his rigid shaft starting from the base directly between his legs, jutting to the side of his upper thigh, contained by his well-fitted pants. He was so thick and long and firm and…

She licked her lips.

Bennett cleared his throat. “All right. This time I can’t blame you for looking.”

Her eyes reluctantly met his. “I’m…I’m…”
Nope. Not feeling any shame.

“Yes?” he asked, a pleased sort of devilish expression on his face.

He’s proud! He’s actually proud that I’ve just looked at his enormous cock and licked my lips like a hungry little slut.

“You’ll do anything to win, won’t you?” she said.

He shrugged and grinned. “I’m a man with many gifts. Nothing wrong with that. Are you getting in?” His eyes flashed to the gleaming black limo.

She hissed out a breath. “You want me to get in and do what?” After all, he was aroused and riled up. She was aroused and hotter than hell for him.
Please say you want to—

“Train me.” He paused. “And trust me.”

Not what I was hoping for.

Wait. What? Get your head out of your ass, Tay. This guy kisses you and suddenly you’re going all fan-girl on him. Here, sign my panties, Bennett! Sign them while I’m wearing them!

“Trust? You’re asking a lot, Bennett. A lot. If you want me to trust that your motives are on the level, you need to give me something—anything—as a sign of good faith.”

Perhaps he’ll show me his erection.

Nooo…You are so bad. We’re in public.

He tilted his head. “Like what?”

“Why did you do that bet?”

He looked up at the sky exasperatedly for a moment before looking back at her again. “It’s complicated. But I promise I’ll explain when the time is right.”

Right for who? Right for what?
she wondered. But something about the way he’d said it made her want to give him the benefit of the doubt, like he was pleading with her for a little patience. Her heart nudged her to give it to him.
I’m a huge sucker, aren’t I?

“Okay. Fine then what’s your ‘thing’?” she asked.

He almost rolled his eyes with frustration, but ended up looking away toward the noisy street.

“Please,” she said, mimicking his non-begging tone.

“If I tell you, will you come to Paris?”

She’d actually go anywhere with him right now—Laundromat, chicken coop, dark alley with serial killer and rats—she just wanted him. But her non-horny bits (i.e. pride and mind) demanded he give her some reason, any reason, to believe he wouldn’t emotionally wreck her. Otherwise, she’d be forced to feel like an idiot for giving in to him.

She crossed her arms and nodded. “Yes.”

“I get
garble, garble
…” he mumbled, rubbing the prickly hairs over his upper lip.

“What? I didn’t catch that,” she said.

He dropped his hand and pinned her with his eyes.

“Just say it,” she urged him.

“I get panic attacks.”

She stared, trying to understand.

“I’m not following,” she said slowly.

“I become very anxious when I don’t know where people are. People I care about,” he growled.

She pulled back her head. “You mean you have everyone you care about followed?”

“No,” he scoffed. “I’m Bennett Fucking Wade. Do I
look
like a stalker to you?”

She shook her head no. He
looked
fucking hot—expensive suit, silky dark hair, swollen sexy lips, and a carnal look in his blue eyes.
Don’t forget his woody. So damned hot.

“I just need to know that I can reach them at any time. Just in case there’s an emergency,” he elaborated.

“Really? What happened to—”

“That’s all I’m going to tell you. Now, I held up my part of the deal so get in,” he demanded, puffing out his chest and straightening his spine in that special Bennett Wade kind of way that flaunted to the world that he was not the sort of man to be messed with.

Of course, Taylor knew his trick.
Not fooling anyone, Bennett. Wait. He just said he cares about you.

Blinking with shock, she slid into the backseat. She listened to Bennett give some instructions to the driver in Japanese before he climbed in next to her. She didn’t know he spoke Japanese—though she probably should’ve guessed—but apparently the man was as much a mystery as he was domineering. And sexy. The chauffeur closed the door, jarring her from her mental quandary and shutting out the loud city, cocooning them in an awkward silence.

She didn’t know what thoughts might be rolling through his head, but the thoughts inside hers could no longer be contained.

“Why did you kiss me?” she blurted out.

He glanced at her. “You got your one offering of good faith. That’s enough sharing for today.”

She looked at him as he dug out his cellphone.

She gently placed her hand over his, blocking the screen. “No. It’s not. I really need to know.” Because she felt like she was on the brink of jumping. No longer into an ocean of pity, but into Bennett’s body. Of water, that was. And she feared if she went for this swim, she might never be able to turn back. Was it the way he hid who he truly was from the world? Or that he had these strange adorable quirks? Or that he was a big, strong, sexy guy with the power to crush people like the slugs that they were when they deserved it? She didn’t know. Maybe, just maybe, it was all that passion and raw pent-up sexuality he’d given her a taste of.

But the reason didn’t really matter because she felt her heart growing little arms, reaching longingly for him.

God, I so fucking want him. What am I going to do?

He gave her an angry look that she now suspected wasn’t anger at all, but his way of expressing discomfort with something. It was a quick and easy way to deflect.

Yes, I am mastering his ways.

Oh stop, Tay.

“I kissed you because it was the only way to get you in the car,” he replied curtly to her question, and then firmly but nonaggressively removed her hand from his phone.

She almost got angry. Almost. But her B.S. meter had lit up.

She gave a little laugh, crossed her arms, and leaned back in the seat. “If you say so…‘Bennett Fucking Wade,’ ” she playfully mocked his deep tone.

“I say so,” he said coolly and made his call. It was to Robin, confirming the meeting change. As he listened intently, looking away, he slid his hand over to Taylor’s thigh just above the knee. Before she could process, he gave it a squeeze. A hard one meant to tickle.

She yelped, and smacked his hand away. “What the…?”

Still not looking at her, he grinned and carried on the phone conversation. “Oh, good. Thank you, Robin,” he said. “And please reiterate my apologies to Mary once again for the delay.” He listened for a quick moment.

“Yes,” he said. “I’ll call her now.”

Bennett disconnected and dialed another number.

“What was that?” Taylor swatted him across the biceps.

He looked at the phone in his hand and dialed another number, a hint of a playful smile on his lips. “Just showing you who’s boss: me. Bennett Fucking Wade. Now be quiet while I make my calls, or I’ll be forced to spank you.”

Taylor laughed.
What!
“Pardon me, but—”

“Hi. It’s me,” Bennett then looked at Taylor pointing to his phone as if to say
Hey, can’t you see I’m on a call?
and then proceeded to make a little spanking motion with his hand. Taylor growled.

He listened for a while, and any playfulness vanished. “Yes. Yes. Okay, but—” He listened some more, seeming concerned. “Why?” Silence. “If it will make you happy, but I assure you I’m fine.” A few moments passed, and then he turned toward Taylor. “She wants to talk to you.”