Authors: Tina Wainscott
All righty, then. He’d called her on it and laid out a huge temptation all at once. And oh, Lordy, he was tempting. She ached to give in.
Just when the word
sex
wanted to pop out of her mouth, Risk held out a piece of steak that was speared on his fork. “I won’t tell anyone. I won’t judge you.” When she struggled visibly with the offering, he added, “One taste of the forbidden won’t kill you. You can tell yourself that it probably won’t be as good as you remember.”
Was he talking about the sex option? She knew, down to her bones, that sex with Risk would be oh, so good.
Her resistance crumbled, and she leaned forward. He placed the bite in her mouth. While guilt and recriminations screamed inside her head, her lips wrapped around that juicy piece of steak. Her tongue sang. She closed her eyes and chewed.
Only after she swallowed did she realize Risk had been watching her the entire time. His smile wasn’t smug but pleased. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”
“It was delicious and wonderful and I want more of it. That’s always the problem with giving in to something you want and shouldn’t have.”
He cut another piece of steak. “So what if I give you one more bite of steak and tell you that’s all you can have? Take the issue of wanting more right off the table? Will that help?”
She eyed the square he was holding out. “Maybe.”
“I’m going to give you the steak, but you can’t have any more. That’s an order.”
She nodded, and he slowly brought the juicy bite to her mouth. There was something oddly erotic about his feeding her. It reminded her of the way she felt when he was spanking her. She liked it but knew she shouldn’t. Her mouth closed over the bite, and she savored it more, knowing she wasn’t getting another bite.
“Why are you smiling like that as you watch me ignore my code of ethics?” she asked after she’d swallowed.
“It has nothing to do with corrupting you, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s the first time I’ve seen you actually enjoy eating. I’ve watched you pick at salads, poke at fish, and I know you’re telling yourself that it’s good. But you never close your eyes and savor it.”
“I do savor those things sometimes. When they’re done right.” She tucked in to her fish now, sticking a bite into her mouth and following it with a spear of broccoli.
“How about sex?”
She nearly choked, patting her chest to facilitate breathing. “Come again?”
He leaned back in his chair, a slow grin spreading across his face. “Exactly.”
Damn, she felt her cheeks flush. “I meant repeat that.”
“And I meant come again. This time I want you to be able to scream and moan as much as your heart desires.”
Her appetite fled. “I won’t, because we’re sharing a house with two of your friends. Like that won’t be awkward. And I’m not setting foot in the haunted house, so don’t go there at all.”
She was rambling, because every nerve in her body—especially the nerves down
there
—had gone on super-alert. They all wanted to come again. And, well, so did she.
Risk lifted a finger, which made her think of the way that finger had driven her crazy. “One time. We give in, let ourselves go a little crazy because we deserve it, and then you’re cut off. Just like with the steak. You can enjoy it because you won’t be tempted to partake again. The option will be off the table.”
She watched him put another piece of beef in his mouth as he let her consider it.
Her body was screaming a big fat
yes!
Her brain was backpedaling, but it wasn’t making much headway.
“So if we do this, it’s just one time. Even if I beg you, naked, you won’t give in?”
“Don’t beg naked. That might be too much to resist.”
“You have to promise. Naked begging or not, you won’t have sex with me.”
That was the moment when the server decided to refill their iced teas. He cleared his throat and turned away.
She covered her face. “You make me crazy.”
“Back at you, babe.” Risk pushed his plate away even though half the steak was still sitting there. “I promise, even with naked begging, I will not give in. Besides, getting all hot and bothered when there’s potentially someone out there trying to hurt you is a really bad idea. We have the perfect opportunity while we’re here in Miami, a small window.”
She snorted. “Like the one that was cut into the back of your briefs?”
He smirked. “I’m trying to be serious. After this one time, we put our complete focus on finding out who’s behind your assault. When you’re safe, you’ll go back to being a celibate vegetarian, and I’ll go on to another job. We’ll write and talk on the phone, but eventually we’ll drift apart. Feel better about it now?”
“Okay,” she said on a long exhale. Now that her body had permission, it shot into a heightened sensual awareness. She felt throbbing between her legs, and he hadn’t even touched her yet. “Go on, finish your meal.”
Risk waved the server down. “I’m not in the mood for steak anymore.” He aimed a heated look at her. “But I am in the mood for a vegetarian.”
All of her nerve endings went up in flames.
Whoosh
. God, she wanted this man.
The server brought their bill, and Risk shoved cash at him. “Thanks for everything,” he said, taking Addie’s hand and leading her toward the stairs that went directly down to the docks.
She
would
follow him into the haunted house if it meant she could totally let go. Hmm, maybe that’s what the ghostly sounds were all about, moans and groans of a whole
different sort. Risk glanced her way when she giggled at the thought. She was giddy. Giddy! She occasionally got that way when her blood sugar took a dive. Clearly she was in need of something sweet. Immediately. And Risk fit that bill nicely.
She made her way to the open bow, balancing on bare feet as the boat bounced off the waves. Everything looked brighter, clearer, as he steered away from the docks. The sun hovered above the skyline of Miami in the distance, shiny and sparkly and—Okay, she was imagining things. The wind tangled in her hair the way she wanted Risk’s fingers to. The wind buffeted her and created a chop across the water’s surface.
She wished he’d go faster.
The sort-of sentence he’d made on her fridge came back to her:
MINDLESS CRAVINGS ABOVE AND BEYOND
.
He had that right. Every cell of her body craved him. The feel of him beneath her hands, his touch on her. Though he’d been scanning the horizon, his gaze slid to her. Heat fired in his hazel eyes. She loved being a craving, relished that this sexy, skilled man wanted her so badly. His hair didn’t move at all, but the breeze snapped at his cotton shirt. He once said he could make the impossible happen, and he was doing it again. Offering her a sensual experience without expectations. Her body would be completely sated and her mind would have nothing to panic over.
Right in the middle of the huge bay, he cut the engine. Not one boat in sight. He had a hungry look in his eyes as he came around the transom toward her. Her heart thrummed tight and fast in her chest as she stepped toward him. They crashed together, his hands cupping her face, his mouth devouring hers. She twined her fingers in his short hair, sliding through the soft brush of it. His erection, so hard it was almost painful, pressed against her stomach. She ground herself against it, reveling in the evidence of his wanting her.
He braced his feet on the deck, balancing both of them as his hands slid down her backside. He squeezed her butt and made low growling sounds that vibrated through her. She’d never made any kind of noise, but something like a soft whimper came from deep in her throat.
He pulled away with what looked like great effort, taking her in with eyes filled with heat. And deep longing. “Addie,” he whispered, kissing her, his tongue sliding against hers.
She loved hearing her name whispered hoarsely like that, as though he needed her and only her or he would die. “Risk,” she said, and it sounded the same. How had she come to want—need—him so much?
Just for right now
, she told herself.
Right now I can let myself need him more than air
.
His hands roamed down the front of her shirt, sliding over her breasts on the way down to her hem. He tugged the shirt out of her pants and pulled it over her head. After tossing it on the bench, he unsnapped the clasp at the front of her bra. It joined her shirt. Though she wasn’t Babbette, he took her in as though she were the sexiest woman he’d ever seen. He trailed his fingers up her stomach, tracing crescents beneath the globes of her breasts before covering them with his hands. She arched in to his touch. He squeezed her breasts gently, his thumbs trailing over her rigid nipples, and kissed her again.
She blindly unbuttoned his shirt, and he shrugged out of it. He unhooked his holster and set it on the captain’s chair. Gilded in the setting sunlight, he looked like a Greek god. She had this insane urge to tell him how beautiful he was, perfect even with his scars. Before she could embarrass herself, he laid her down on the long bench and took one of her nipples in his mouth. She gasped softly, her breasts so sensitive with desire; his gentle sucking drove heat right down between her legs.
God, that was weird. She wriggled as the sensation coiled through her, finding his thigh between her legs. He moved to her other breast, and the cool air tightened her damp peak even more. She dug her fingers into his hair, her fingers stroking his ears.
His hands spanned her stomach, then moved down to her waistband.
Yes, touch me, touch me
, some wanton part of her begged. She moved her pelvis against his hand, and within seconds her pants and panties were down her legs and somewhere on the deck. His outrageous touching at the dinner had woken a hungry, wild part of her that had been whispering in her ear ever since.
He ran his hand up the inside of her thigh and slid his thumb between her folds. “Mm, nice and wet for me.”
Only for you
. She’d never gotten wet just wanting a guy before. She moved against his thumb, needing more of his touch. His mouth trailed down her stomach as he touched everywhere
but
that throbbing nub. Was he trying to drive her crazy?
Then she felt his hot mouth on her. Her hips bucked involuntarily in response to something she’d never experienced. He pressed softly against her for a moment, and then she felt an odd sensation: He was sucking gently on her. His hands angled her thighs farther apart, exposing all of her to him. His tongue lapped over her clit, and she panted as the tidal wave of pleasure rolled closer.
“Addie, girl, you can’t go over yet. It’s way too soon.” He spread her folds and lapped in the space on either side of her clit. Barely touching. Enough to make her gasp but not enough to send her over the edge.
She gripped the side of the bench with one hand, the railing with the other. “No, it’s … perfect timing.”
He chuckled, and the sound vibrated against her. Even that sent great pulsing waves over her. His mouth moved down, and he dipped his tongue inside her. His fingers stroked the sensitive skin of her inner thighs as he made love to her with his tongue. She had no idea that the skin around her entrance could be so erotic, too. His hands slid beneath her behind and held her aloft for better access.
His tongue stroked her clit, one quick swipe that made the pulsing start all over. Her fingers actually hurt from her desperate grip, and her chest felt as though it were going to explode.
“Risk,” she pleaded.
He licked her, backing away when she convulsed. “Yes, doll?” Oh, that endearment did things to her all by itself. Even if it was filled with teasing ignorance. “Something I can do for you?”
She moved her hands to his shoulders so he’d feel what she needed. Her nails dug in. “Let. Me. Come.”
Another touch of the tip of his tongue to her. “You sure? You seem to really be enjoying yourself.”
“I’m in agony.”
“Maybe that’s where the expression comes from, the agony”—another flick of that wicked tongue—“and the ecstasy.”
She was panting. “I want … the ecstasy now. Please.”
“Well, since you asked so nice.”
Did he send her over?
Nooooooo
. He slipped his finger inside her and slid it back and forth a few times. His fingertip rubbed against the wall of her, and then, finally,
thankyougod
, he laved her and sent her over.
A breathless scream emerged from her mouth the moment the wave crashed over her. Every muscle in her body went rigid as she arched and curled her toes with it. As powerful as that damned Taser but a hundred thousand times better.
Then his mouth came back down, and he stroked her some more.
“What are you doing?” she managed.
“Last time you told me I couldn’t do that again,” he murmured as he continued sliding his tongue over a nub so sensitive she thought it might erupt in flames. “And I told you I could. Make you come again.”
Her body convulsed as another orgasm took her. She gasped, writhing in mindless pleasure.
“I could even do it one more time.”
She twisted to the side and managed to say, “No, I don’t think I could take any more.” With rubbery arms, she wrestled with his pants, finally unzipping them and pushing them down his hips and thighs. He kicked them off. Holy
Playgirl
magazine, he was gorgeous. His erection thrust skyward out of neatly trimmed hair. For a moment she could do nothing but take him in, standing in the golden light.
“You keep looking at me like that, and I’m going to have to take you right here and now,” he said in a husky voice.
“You are … just beautiful.”
She thought he might smirk at the description or wave it off. Instead he grinned.
“Back atcha, doll.”
Because she was sitting and he was standing, all of his male glory was at face level. She pulled him closer and kissed down the length of him. Her hands squeezed his behind, tight and firm, finger sliding over the smooth scar.
He braced his hands on her shoulders and tilted his head back, surrendering to her. She ran her tongue up and down, nice and slow. As she held him, tasted him, the need for him to be inside her grew stronger. He’d turned her into a sex fiend!