Everything Bared (Six-Alarm Sexy) (6 page)

“She’s already implemented that plan. I’ve been doing her bidding all evening.” Will lit the barbeque, then put the potatoes on the grill. After closing the lid, he went back inside and re-emerged with a large tray piled high with food and dishes. Silently, he set the table, then sat across from Dani. She waited while he took a healthy swallow of what looked like scotch, his expression strained. Was he going to kick her out?

When he finally set the tumbler down, his eyes met hers, and her stomach clenched. She wanted to live here for a month. Wanted to get to know Will better. Shit. She really enjoyed living in his luxury downtown high-rise. It was the nicest place she’d ever stayed in.

“So, how do we do this?” he asked.

There were so many ways she could interpret that question. Some of which might shock the shit out of him. Better to clarify. “Do what?”

He flicked his hand toward the dog at her feet. “Teach her that I’m her alpha.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Just saying that makes me feel stupid. Anyway, I don’t want her going all Lorena Bobbitt on my dick if I do something she doesn’t like.”

Will saying
dick
was so unexpected, she started laughing and couldn’t stop, even when tears spilled from her eyes.

“What’s so funny?”

She was good at reading people, and his tight lips spelled out “pretty pissed.” Wiping the grin off her face, she sat back and took a sip of beer. “I’ve never heard you swear before.”

“Sure you have. I told Jamie to fuck off just the other day.”

Another curse, and another fit of giggles. God, this was so embarrassing. She was acting like a first grader. She clapped her hand over her mouth and forced herself to breathe. When she’d calmed down, she pressed the chilled beer against her cheek. The coolness grounded her.

“Getting back to the canine issue, we’ll start slow. But here are a few things to remember. As the alpha, you eat first, you sit first, you enter a room first. If you’re walking with her, you’re in front, or she’s at your heel. If you’re playing with her, you tell her when to start and stop, when to fetch and drop.”

He looked at Coco, who hadn’t budged since Dani had given the order to heel. “She’ll stay there until you tell her she can move?”

“Yes. Now let’s try an experiment. Do you have a ball? Something she can bite?”

“Jamie left a Frisbee here when he moved out.” He walked past them, his eyes widening when Coco didn’t even turn her head to follow his movements. Dani patted the dog. “Good girl.”

A minute later, he came back holding a standard red Frisbee. Dani stood and demonstrated. After throwing it through the open door into the condo, she said, “Coco, find it.” When the dog took off, she faced Will. “You have to speak firmly, with authority, but there’s no need to yell. Dogs have very acute hearing.”

When Coco returned, her tail wagging wildly, Dani said, “Drop it.”

Coco opened her mouth, obeying the order, and sat on her haunches to await the next instruction. “Good girl,” Dani said. “You have to always reward good behavior.”

She handed the Frisbee to Will. “Your turn.”

He tossed the toy into the house, while Coco quivered with the instinct to follow. “Find it,” he said. The dog didn’t move.

“Remember the tone. Pretend you’re at a meeting with some troublesome employees. You need to let her know who’s boss.”

He straightened his shoulders, his appearance seeming to transform. Authority radiated off him.
Oh boy!
Was she seeing Mr. Caldwell, the CFO soon-to-be CEO of Caldwell Fine Furnishings? “Find it,” he said.

His tone was perfect. Low. Strong. In-charge. Wet heat surged between her legs. Oh God. He sounded exactly like he had in her dream. She turned away so he couldn’t see the hunger in her eyes.

Coco trotted back out, exuding excitement. Fetch was one of her favorite games. She stopped a few feet away, looking from Dani to Will. Dani waited. The timing was critical. If she interfered now, Coco wouldn’t recognize Will’s authority.

“Drop it,” he said, in the same voice he’d used before. The tone worked on Coco. It had a similar effect on Dani.

Her nipples tightened and she had to pinch her lips to stifle the moan that wanted to rumble out of her. To cover her arousal, she picked up her beer and drank deeply. “Do it a few more times. I’ll sit over here… out of the way.” Where she could watch the sun play on his hair, watch his muscles bulge as he tossed the Frisbee, watch his features relax as Coco followed his orders. And wonder—would
she
ever experience being commanded by him?

The very idea of him directing her to expose herself, to touch herself, especially if there was an audience like in her dream, almost had her coming right on the spot. Jesus. She’d obviously been working too hard if she thought Mr. CFO would ever be into something like that. Exhibitionism was
her
kink, not his. But the expression on his face when he’d been watching her sleep… didn’t prove anything beyond the fact that he was a healthy red-blooded man.

After several more fetch-and-drop cycles, she said, “Tell her to h-e-e-l, then pet her and say good g-i-r-l.” The uncertainty in his gaze made her smile. “Try.”

He put his hands on his slim hips and stared at Coco. “Heel.”

Coco bowed her head and parked her butt next to his foot. He leaned down and scratched her ears. “Good girl.” Coco thumped her tail.

He grinned. “What now?”

“Tell her to r-e-s-t.”

“Coco, rest.”

The dog went to the mat next to the sliding door, turned twice, then lay down. Will’s brows rose. “Wow.”

Wow indeed.
It had been all Dani could do not to leap over to the chaise longue at his command and stretch out. She laughed to hide the vortex of emotions whirlpooling in her stomach. His power over her was disconcerting. She’d always thought of herself in the driver’s seat with respect to Will. She’d wanted to shake him up, but maybe she’d be the one shaken.
Shit.
What had she gotten herself into?

Chapter 4

William sipped from his glass of zinfandel as Danielle carefully placed each spoonful of fresh raspberries and vanilla bean ice cream onto her tongue. He imagined how it would feel to have her take him in her mouth like that. When her full lips closed around the sweet dessert, he felt them close around his cock. A groan escaped him.

She looked up, her brown eyes twinkling in the fading twilight, and smiled. Her small pink tongue slipped out and captured every last speck of ice cream remaining on her lips. Oh, she knew. Danielle knew exactly what she was doing to him. His erection pressed hard against his zipper. If he didn’t get up now, he’d soon be on his way to the ER. The crooning tones of Adele’s latest album filtering through the patio’s speaker system gave him an idea. Tossing back the rest of his wine, he walked around the table. “Dance?”

A startled look passed over her features as she stared at his outstretched hand. But then she blinked and placed her fingers in his palm. He helped her up and pulled her close, trapping their joined hands between them, while his other moved to rest lightly at the small of her back. It took all his willpower to keep it from straying south. The dress molded the curves of her ass just right, and he burned to slide his hand over them, to draw her into him. With her heels, she was only a few inches shorter than he. It would take just a small tug to position his cock exactly where he wanted it to be. He inhaled deeply and the fruity scent of her shampoo pleased him. No strong spicy perfumes for Ms. Harris.

Danielle ran her hand down his back, from his shoulders to the base of his spine, pausing to explore every bone, every muscle. He suppressed the moan building in his chest. Dancing with her, the feel of her wrapped in his arms, moving against him, sent his senses soaring. “This is nice,” she said, and he wasn’t sure if she meant him or the dance.

She freed her hand and used both palms on his butt to mold her full length against him. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, “But this is better.”

He sucked in a breath as her breasts pressed into his chest and his cock met the relative softness of her belly. Could she feel how hard he was? When she twisted her hips, teasing him, he knew she did.

He tried to step back, to put some space between them, but she stopped him by squeezing her arms, effectively trapping him against her. “It’s all right,” she murmured.

Her breath, sweet raspberry scented, feathered his lips. Desire roared in his veins, and he was unable to withstand the siren’s call of her mouth. With a groan, he seized her lips and ran his tongue along their seam, teasing her until she opened up to him. Their tongues met in a glorious tangle. Sliding, swirling, surrounding. Reining himself in, he took the time to explore every corner of her mouth, every tooth, the hardness of her palate and the softness of her inner cheeks. He tasted it all.

And in the process, he lost himself. Everything disappeared except for her. His hand slipped into the slit of her skirt. He stroked the soft skin of her outer thigh and slowly moved inward. She moaned and widened her stance, giving him access. As his hand moved between her legs to cup her pussy, he froze.

No panties. No hair
.

When his lungs started working again, he pulled back from their kiss. “What are we doing here?” he asked, his voice a rough whisper.

She chuckled. “I think that’s pretty obvious.”

Was
he going to have sex with her? He certainly wanted to, but she was his roommate, his brother’s platoon member. Besides she wasn’t the right kind of girl for him. Then again, he had time for some fun before he needed to find a society wife. “Are you sure? This could get complicated very fast.”

“Because of Jamie, you mean?” As she spoke, she worked the buttons of his silk shirt and pushed it off his shoulders.

She isn’t stopping.
He breathed a sigh of relief as the shirt fell away. Still, he had to be sure. “That and our living arrangements.”

Her hands explored his shoulders, each touch setting off mini fireworks along the surface of his skin. “No one has to know. It can be our little secret.” Her tone was light, but he could see the frown between her brows.

Clasping her hands in his, he kissed the worry lines on her forehead. “I’m not ashamed of you.”

“No, but I’m not your type. You need a woman who’ll pop out an heir and a spare, then play Hannah the Homemaker during the day and Tina the Trophy Wife in the evening.”

Christ.
She’d read him like a book. “Am I really that transparent?”
That shallow?

She pressed her lips to his in a sweet tender kiss. “Look, I’m not judging. We’re just two people with very different life goals. If we do anything, if we don’t do anything, it’s our choice. But we both have to understand that this is only for fun. When I move back home, anything we might have started is over.”

“I don’t know whether to be impressed or insulted.” She wasn’t saying anything he hadn’t been thinking, but hearing his thoughts put into words was strangely upsetting. He felt almost
affronted
by her loose attitude. Was
she
ashamed of him? Maybe he was too white-collar for her and her crowd.

“Be impressed.” She grinned. “And if you keep an open mind, I promise you won’t regret slumming with me.”

“I will, on one condition.” He kissed her nose.

Toying with the neckline of his undershirt, she curled a few of his chest hairs around her finger. “What?”

“You stop putting yourself down. My brothers are firefighters, and I respect the hell out of them.”

She stared up at him. “What are you saying?”

“That you’re a beautiful strong woman, and I respect the hell out of you too. Anyone who does what you guys do is a hero in my book.”

As her eyes glistened, he cupped her cheeks and peppered her face with deliberate kisses. “Do you accept my condition?”

Her smile practically blinded him. “Absolutely.”

“Let’s go inside,” he said, taking her hand.

She tugged on his arm. “Can we stay here? I love the view.”

He looked around. The sun had set and, except for the light from the candles on the table, the balcony was dark and private. When he nodded, she stepped behind him and grabbed the hem of his muscle shirt. As he stared out at the lights shimmering on the waters of Puget Sound, she slipped the white cotton over his head, tracking its progress with light kisses along his spine, up between his shoulder blades before reaching his nape.

“God, you have a sexy back,” she said. “I never imagined you’d be so ripped under all those fancy suits.”

He leaned into her touch as her fingers continued to play over his back and down his sides. “I work out a lot,” he said, just to say something.

“Whatever you’re doing, keep it up.” From either side, her hands shifted to his front, gliding over each rib, shaping the contours of his abs. He held his breath as they moved lower.

With her near, he had no problems
keeping it up
. She drove him crazy with her sexy smile and her teasing tone. Since she’d moved into his condo, she’d consumed his thoughts, this woman who was so wrong for him. He had to have her. Maybe after that he’d be able to concentrate on work, on the issues with the union.

Twisting in her arms, he captured her face between his hands and whispered against her lips, “I want you. Now.” Then he kissed his way down her neck, paying special attention to the spot right below her ear. She shuddered and arched into him.

So good.
His hands gripped her ass and he yanked her against his straining cock. She rolled her hips against him, the added pressure making things both better and worse. His hand went to the tie on the side of her dress that, from what he could tell, held the entire sexy ensemble together. Lifting his head, he held her gaze as he pulled on the string. The front of the dress swung open, laying bare her gorgeous breasts—and her equally naked body.

Bending his knees, he cradled her breasts and closed his lips over one ruched nipple. His tongue swirled, his teeth nipped—and she groaned, the sound uninhibited and wanton. The sound of a pleased woman. When the peak was red and distended, he engaged her other nipple, suckling it before clamping it between his teeth. Her nails dug into his shoulders as she let out a soft sigh.