The Heart Has Reasons (24 page)

Her
smile quavered.  “You already admitted you wouldn’t whip me.”

“I
wouldn’t whip you for trying to escape since, as you pointed out, that’s your
duty.  But I
will
whip you to make you behave, so don’t push me.”

Her
teeth fastened seductively on her lower lip.  “No, you won’t.”

“If
you’re so certain of that, drop your pants and bend over the bed.”  He
thwapped
the belt loudly onto the surface of the dresser for emphasis, making her entire
body twitch.  “And I promise I
will
enjoy it.”

Unwilling
to call his bluff, she backed toward the bed and dropped onto the edge. 
“You really are a pervert.”

“I
thought we’d already established that.  Are you going to be good?”

The
smile reappeared.  “I’m
always
good.”

Needing
a distraction, he dropped to the floor and began doing pushups.  Propping
herself on one elbow, she watched, her eyes seeming to devour his body. 
Uncomfortably aware of the heat of her gaze on him, he said, “Why don’t you do
some yoga?”

“I’d
rather lie here and enjoy the view.”  When the cat rubbed against her,
demanding to be petted, she happily obliged, all the while never removing her
green gaze from him.

When
he finished his pushups, he rolled over and began doing crunches.  He did
two hundred, and then finished up with squats.  Feeling only slightly more
in control of himself now, he walked over to the bed and picked up the
handcuffs.  “Do you need to use the restroom?”

She
sighed irritably.  “No.  Hey, don’t forget my sleeping pill.” 
When he produced a capsule, she said, “Since you’re so determined to maintain
your chastity, I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight, so can I have two?”

Last
night’s fondling incident proved she was building up a tolerance to the pills
and, since he definitely did not want an encore performance, giving her an
extra might be wise.  He placed two capsules on her tongue, she raised the
water bottle to her lips, swallowed, and said, “For the rest of your life
you’re going to wonder what it would have been like between us.  And you
know
it would have been fantastic.”

It
was true, so unbearably true that, as his erection throbbed almost painfully,
he whispered, “Shut up, Larissa.  Please.  Just.  Shut. 
The.  Fuck.  Up.”

His
hands were almost shaking as he handcuffed her and secured the cuffs to the
headboard.

As
he shaved and brushed his teeth, he mentally castigated himself for having
managed this situation so ineptly.  His first and biggest mistake had been
in conversing with a captive.  But she’d been so frightened that first
night that he hadn’t been able to resist trying to allay those fears and, once
the conversational door had been opened, it’d been impossible to close it
again.  Because he’d failed to maintain a professional distance, he’d been
unable to avoid developing an unfortunate affection for her and, in
consequence, had lost a great deal of control over the situation. 

And
now she was attempting to seduce him.  Despite his declaration that he’d
never touch her in that manner, he was worried.  He’d never before been so
extraordinarily attracted to any woman.  She had an abundance of courage
and spirit that were undeniably sexy, and sleeping with her entwined in his
arms certainly hadn’t helped the situation any.

However,
after what Michelle had done to him, he simply could
not
violate the
dictates of his conscience by having sex with another man’s wife.  But as
his traitorous conscience insisted upon reminding him, Larissa and her husband
had been separated for the past six months.  Despite everything Keswick
had told him, there were always two sides to every story.  In addition to
catching her husband with the hookers, Larissa possibly had additional,
compelling reasons for having left him.  She might leave him again. 
She probably
would
leave him again.

If
so, would she take her two children with her this time?

Well,
none of that was his concern.  He was delivering her to her husband
tomorrow, and it was time to start putting some emotional distance between
them.

When
he strode back into the room, the little calico jumped off the foot of the bed
and twined around his feet, purring loudly.  He hated to put the cat
outside but, with no litter box, he couldn’t see that he had any choice. 
The unhappy cat cried and scratched at the door for several minutes, making him
feel irrationally guilty.

He
lay down on the edge of the bed.  Larissa gazed at him expectantly and,
when he made no move toward her, said, “Ex
cuse
me.  You can take
these handcuffs off now.”

“Since
you’re in such a frisky mood tonight, I think it might be better if I leave
them on.”

She
immediately rolled onto her side and draped a leg over him, coiling her lower
body around him like a supple snake.  When his cock immediately rose to
stand at attention, she grinned.  “See?  Hands aren’t everything.”

When
he tried to shove the leg away, she tightened it around him.  “Stop
screwing around, Larissa.”

“Don’t
be such a prude.”

“Did
you take it as a personal challenge when I said I wouldn’t have sex with
you?  If so, you’re wasting your time.  I meant what I said.
 Nothing is going to happen between us.”

“I
swear to you, this is
not
about you letting me go.  Something about
this situation has kicked my libido into overdrive.  You want to.  I
want to.  We’re alone in a motel room.  Let’s take advantage of the
situation.”  Mischief gleamed in her green eyes.  “We can wrestle
again if that’s what it takes to get you in the mood.”

His
cock jerked as her words spiked his desire up yet another notch.  “Go to
sleep.”

She
laughed and rubbed her thigh against his cock, which throbbed almost
painfully.  “Such sterling principles you have.  Don’t you think it’s
a little late in the game to be worrying about what’s right and what’s wrong?”

He
gazed at her, his resolve rapidly weakening.  Jesus, he could
not
make love to a married woman.  Not only would it be a breech in the trust
Keswick had placed in him, if Keswick found out he’d screwed his wife, he could
kiss goodbye to the second forty thousand.  Deliberately being crude, he
said, “I’m not going to fuck you because you don’t
really
want me to.”

She
immediately rolled onto her back.  “Put your hand down my pants.”

“Why?”

“So
I can prove that I really
do
want to.”

Knowing
he was making a mistake but unable to stop himself, he slipped a hand under the
elastic waistband and slid it down the silk of her lower belly to the smooth
and hairless juncture of her thighs.  “Ah, Jesus, you’re so wet.”

Eyelids
heavy, she murmured, “Told you so.”

His
eyes closed as a wave of intense longing flooded through him.  Her skin
was velvety against his palm, her sex as plump and juicy as a sun-ripened
peach.  Struggling to control his raging passion, he said, “Then you
should have taken care of yourself while you were in the shower.”

“Is
that what you do?”

“How
else would I get any sleep with you wrapped around me all night?  But,
you’re wasting your time because — no matter what you do or say — I am not
going to free you.”

“I
know
that.  I’m still going to beg you to let me go, but I give you
my word of honor I won’t throw in your face the fact that we made love. 
Pull my pants off.”

“Jesus,”
he muttered.  Whether or not she threw it in his face, the knowledge of
what he’d done would torment him.  “What if I free one of your hands and
you take care of yourself?”

“While
you watch?”

Once
again, his cock jerked at the mental image her words brought to mind, and a
rush of desire surged through his body.  Mutual masturbation had its
merits, and there’d be no guilt afterwards to plague him.  But whom was he
kidding?  It might start out as self-pleasuring, but it
definitely
wouldn’t end that way, and making love to her would be a mistake of
astronomical proportions.  “No.  I’ll be in the bathroom.”

“Doing
the same for yourself?  Where’s the fun in that?”  When he made no
reply, she added, “Come on.  This is a win-win situation.”

His
hand was still down her pants.  When he lightly caressed her, she moaned
aloud.  Alarms wailed in his head and, tempted almost beyond all logic and
willpower, he ordered himself,
Get up now, before it’s too late.

He
shifted his gaze to her face to find her watching him with heavy-lidded
eyes.  “Ple-e-e-ease?”

“No.” 
Despite his denial, he continued to caress her.  His hand was cupping her
mound and, seemingly of its own accord, the tip of his middle finger barely
penetrated her.  When her pelvis arched up against his palm in an attempt
to drive it deeper, he finally lost all restraint.

Rising
onto his knees, he grabbed the waistband of her pants, yanked them down her
legs and over her feet, then stood and quickly peeled out of his pajama pants
while gazing down at her gloriously naked body.  Oh, sweet Jesus, she was
beautiful.

But
despite the fact that she was begging him to make love to her, doing so with
her physically restrained would be tantamount to rape.  As he quickly
unlocked the cuffs, the corners of those luscious lips curved upwards. 
“What’s wrong?  Not into the kinky stuff?”

“Shut
up before I change my mind.”

The
moment her hands were free, she whipped her tee shirt over her head and dropped
it on the floor beside the bed.  He turned off the bedside lamp, throwing
the room into near-total darkness, and pulled off the ski mask.  When he
eased down beside her, she immediately rolled atop him, which was a good
thing.  If she were on top, she couldn’t very well later that he’d forced
himself upon her.

Nor
could a troubled conscience.

He
reached up to clasp her face between his palms and brought her mouth down to
his.  Their lips melded and locked.  When he opened his mouth, her
tongue immediately found his.  She kissed him long and deep, her tongue
sweet and restless in his mouth.

 
Breaking off their kiss, she dipped her
head to his chest, taking first one nipple, then the other, into her mouth,
sucking and flicking her tongue across them and making his cock throb. 
She trailed kisses down his stomach and, just as her mouth was about to close
over his cock, the warning —
Teeth!
— blared across his brain in
brilliant neon.  Hooking his hands beneath her armpits, he hauled her back
up.

“What’s
wrong?”

“You
don’t have to do that.”

She
laughed, deep and throaty.  “I was joking earlier when I said I
bite.  I promise I won’t.”

“Sorry,
I’m not taking that chance.”

“You
don’t trust me?”

“What
do you think?”

She
found his mouth in the darkness and gently nipped his lower lip.  “Suit
yourself.  You don’t know what you’re missing.”

Unfortunately,
he could imagine.

She
rose up slightly to position herself.  She was so wet her body was already
prepared to receive him.  As she slowly impaled herself on him, he gripped
her hips and moaned, “
Ah, Jesus
.”

Hot,
wet, and deliciously tight, she rode him with an excruciatingly slow
deliberateness, sliding down his shaft until he was sheathed as deeply as
possible, then reversing direction, rising up until only the very tip remained
within.  Lost in her moist, velvet heat, his desire staggered him. 
As her soft moans filled the darkness, he longed to see her beautiful face
aglow with passion, and silently cursed the necessity of extinguishing the
light.

Deprived
of his ability to reason, he was aware of nothing but the smoldering fire
slowly devouring him.  Grasping her hips with his hands, he began
thrusting up into her with rapidly escalating force.  As a deep core of
molten heat arose within him, he warned, “I’m going to be fast the first time.”

Her
response was a breathless whisper.  “Then I hope we get to the second time
before the sleeping pills kick in.”

Ah,
shit.  He’d forgotten about the fucking pills.  He shifted his grip,
tilting her hips.  He knew he’d hit the right angle when her breath
abruptly quickened.  Increasing the tempo, she continued rocking back and
forth above him.

 All
at once she cried out, a long, keening wail.  The sound made his entire
body go rigid.  Not breathing, he hovered for an endless moment on the
very edge of the precipice.  Then his own orgasm hit with the impact of a
freight train.  He cried out as well, bucking his hips beneath her.

As
their cries gradually diminished, she collapsed forward onto his chest. 
Still partially erect, he remained sheathed within her heat, relishing the
scented tangle of her silken hair while his hands explored the glorious curves
of her body.