Authors: Marie Force
It occurred to him that he had two choices: wake her up to find out what was wrong or quietly leave with her none the wiser that he’d ever been there. The Blaine who had vowed to avoid projects like the plague should take option B and get the hell out of there. The Blaine who’d been moved by this woman, both in bed and out, squatted down, rested his arms on her legs and leaned in to kiss her awake.
She came to with a gasp, her eyes widening at the sight of him.
“Hey,” he said softly.
“Oh. Hi.” She rubbed her eyes. “What time is it?”
“Eleven thirty.”
She moaned. “I can’t believe I fell asleep when I knew you were coming, and I was supposed to…”
Blaine smiled at the way she lowered her eyes in embarrassment when she recalled his directions. Could she be any cuter? “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, why?”
“I figured something must be wrong if you’re down here rather than in bed waiting for me.”
“It’s nothing.” She started to get up. “Just give me a couple of minutes.”
Blaine told himself to let her go. He was here to have sex with her, not start a relationship. What did it matter to him if she was upset about something? Except it did matter. He could tell himself a thousand times not to get involved, not to make her problems his problems. While he’d like to think he’d learned from his mistakes, none of his past disasters had changed who he was deep inside. So rather than let her go, he slid his arms under her, picked her up and turned to sit in the chair with her on his lap.
Right away, the scent of strawberries filled his senses and fired his desires. But he forced his thoughts away from the need that strummed through him whenever she was close to him and focused on finding out what had upset her.
She looked at him with eyes gone wide with surprise at the unexpected move. She’d probably expected him to carry her off to bed. “You don’t have to—”
“What happened?”
“It’s nothing. Really.”
“Tell me anyway.”
She sighed and relaxed into his embrace. “Jim.”
Every muscle in Blaine’s body tensed at the mention of her ex-husband. “What about him?”
“He came by the store.”
“And?” Was she upset about seeing Jim again? Feeling guilty about what they’d done the night before? Did she want to reconcile with her lowlife ex? Was that what she was going to say? A stab of disappointment caught him off guard. Sure, he didn’t want to get mired in another messy relationship, but he didn’t want to see her back with a scumbag who didn’t deserve her, either.
“He’s going to do everything in his power to shut down my ‘smut’ shop.”
Relieved that her dismay had nothing to do with reconciling with Jim, Blaine didn’t think this was the best time to tell her the mayor planned to add her and her shop to the town council’s upcoming agenda. There’d be time for that later. “There’s nothing he can do, Tiffany. You’re there legally and have the same right to make a living in this town as he does.”
“He’s resourceful. If there’s a way to put me out of business, he’ll find it.”
“He’s probably annoyed that you’re getting on with your life without him and not sitting home feeling sorry for yourself. I’m sure that’s what he’s most upset about.” He’d grown up with Jim Sturgil, and in Jim’s world,
everything
was about Jim.
“He’s mostly mad about my advertising strategies.”
“I’m not wild about them myself.”
“Because of the accident, I know. But that wasn’t my fault.”
“Not just because of that.”
She glanced at him. “What do you mean?”
His fingers, which had been flirting with the hem of her top, slipped beneath to caress her back. “I hate the idea of anyone else seeing what I get to see.”
Her lips pursed into an O that he found adorable. “It’s the best way to show people what’s for sale in the store.”
“I don’t like it,” he said, his lips teasing the sensitive spot below her ear.
“You don’t?” Was she intentionally squirming on his lap? He wouldn’t put it past her.
“Not one bit. In fact, the next time I see you out there ‘advertising,’ I’ll have no choice but to punish you.” His hand moved from her back to her backside, a not-so-subtle warning of what her punishment might include.
A shiver rippled through Tiffany’s body. “You wouldn’t.”
“Oh no?” He spanked her lightly but firmly, drawing a gasp from her. “Want to try me?”
This time when she pressed against his erection, he had no doubt she’d done it on purpose.
“I know you’re used to people doing what you tell them to because you carry a gun and wear a badge, but no one tells me what to do. Not anymore.”
While he was proud of her for standing up for herself—something he was certain she hadn’t done very often during her marriage—he still didn’t want her showing off her curves in public. “You’ve been warned.”
“So have you,” she retorted.
Blaine smiled at her sauciness and then captured her fresh mouth in a searing kiss designed to show her who was boss. But of course she turned the tables on him by giving as good as she got. By the time he drew back from her, he had to call this round a draw.
“Go upstairs,” he said in a firm tone that left no room for argument. “Put on the outfit I bought for you and lie on your bed. Set the ceiling fan to high.”
She swallowed hard. “Anything else?”
“You know how I want your legs.”
With a dainty move of her tongue, she wet her lips. “Apart?”
Blaine ran his hand up the inside of her leg and pressed his fingers to her heated core, drawing a moan from her. He loved that she was so responsive to his touch. “As far apart as they’ll go.” Patting her bottom, he urged her up and off his lap. “Hurry.”
She grabbed the bag from the shop and sauntered up the stairs, appearing to take her own sweet time. With desire beating through him and heating his blood, Blaine forced himself out of the chair and crossed the room to the small bar set up in the corner. He poured a shot of whiskey, downed it in one swallow and felt it burn its way through him.
For the first time in a long time, he found himself thinking of Eden and the nightmare he’d endured at her hands. He’d discovered far too late that she used people to get what she wanted and then discarded them when she’d sucked them dry in every possible way. He hadn’t known Tiffany long, but he already knew she was made of much better stuff than that. She didn’t have a user bone in her body. He’d discovered that despite the tough outer shell she showed the world, inside she was made of softer, more compassionate stuff, the kind of stuff a man could fall in love with rather easily if he wasn’t careful.
Blaine poured a second shot and took it with him when he returned to the chair. He consumed this one more slowly, reminding himself all the while that he’d embarked on a sexual affair with an attractive woman. That didn’t mean he had to solve all her problems or turn into an emotional wreck over her. This was about one thing and one thing only: sex. He glanced at the stairs. Knowing she was up there, spread out and ready for him to feast on, made his dick throb painfully.
As he downed the last of his drink and stood up to go to her, he thought of her earlier distress and chose to ignore the equally painful throb in his chest. Nothing good had ever come of that.
Wearing the black sheer bustier that barely covered the tips of her nipples, Tiffany lay on the bed with her legs spread wide. Her thighs trembled from anticipation and the effect the swirling air from above was having on her exposed flesh. On the verge of her first-ever ceiling-fan-induced orgasm, Tiffany squirmed against the tug of the thong, trying to exert more pressure where she needed it most without involving her hands. She wondered how much longer he planned to make her wait. If his goal was to get her hot and ready for whatever he had in mind, she’d arrived at that destination ten minutes ago. Hell, who was she kidding? She’d been hot and ready from the second she’d woken up to his kiss.
The apple-scented candles she’d lit flickered, and the light breeze filtering in through the open windows only added to her heightened sense of awareness. Her body hummed with tension and desire as she waited for him.
Jim hadn’t appreciated sexy underwear.
“It’s going to end up on the floor anyway,”
he would say,
“so what’s the point?”
The point, she was finding, as the bustier abraded her aroused nipples, was more about the way it made
her
feel: sexy, desirable, wanted. Whatever it did for her partner was secondary.
Her partner appeared at the door and took in the scene before him. At the sight of him in the candlelight, her breath caught in her throat. He was, by far, the sexiest man she’d ever known, and the naked desire on his face, desire for
her
, nearly took her over the precipice she’d been clinging to.
Unbuttoning his uniform shirt, he crossed the room to her.
The trembling in Tiffany’s legs intensified as he took his gaze on a lazy journey from the straining nipples he could probably see through the sheer fabric to her quivering belly and smoldering center.
He shrugged the shirt from his shoulders, and Tiffany licked her lips at the sight of his muscular chest.
“Are you wet?” he asked gruffly.
“Yes.”
“How wet?”
“Very.”
He stood by the side of the bed looking down at her, the huge bulge in his pants the only indication that he was equally aroused. “You’d better check, just to be sure.”
Mortified by the idea of touching herself while he watched, she hesitated.
“Do it.”
Now her hand was trembling, too, as she skimmed her fingertips over her belly and under the waistband of the thong. Her fingers slid through the slippery dampness between her legs.
“Stroke yourself. I want to watch you come.”
One part of her was shocked by his frank talk. The other part was hugely turned on. “I
can’t
. Not with you watching.”
“Yes, you can.”
Tiffany closed her eyes and tried to forget he was there, watching her. Under the satiny thong, she moved her fingers back and forth over the tight, tingling bud.
“Push your fingers inside,” he said, his breathing sounding choppy.
Tiffany bit her lip and did as he requested.
“Farther. Mmm, that’s it. Use your other hand on your breast. Roll the nipple between your fingers.” He paused, waiting for her to follow his instructions. “Now look at me.”
Tiffany did as he directed and imploded, the climax streaking through her like lightning, leaving her quivering with the need for more.
Chapter 6
She opened her eyes to find him still standing next to the bed, but he’d removed his pants and was stroking his straining erection. Tiffany held out her arms to him and sighed with satisfaction when his body covered hers. For the longest time, he lay there without moving, holding her close to him, infusing her with his warmth and an odd sense of comfort.
“That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said gruffly.
“Was it?”
“Mmm. Do you like it when I tell you what to do?”
“I shouldn’t, but it makes me feel all…”
“What?”
“Hot. Insanely hot.”
“You are insanely hot, and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a little domination in bed. It doesn’t make you any less of an independent woman in the rest of your life.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “What do you want me to do next?”
Blaine smiled at the coy look she gave him and reached for the cuffs on the bedside table. Dangling them above her, he said, “Raise your arms over your head.”
Before she did what he asked, she ran her hands over his smooth back and down to cup his firm rear end, drawing a gasp from him. Then she slowly raised her arms over her head, which lowered the top of the bustier.
Blaine’s eyes were fixed on her breasts, watching intently as they broke free of the tight confines of the garment. Bending his head to ravish each nipple, he seemed to have forgotten the cuffs.
Tiffany floated on a cloud of sensation so intense it took her breath away. Her entire focus was on the hot mouth tugging and sucking on her breast. Since he had her firmly pinned to the bed, she couldn’t move to satisfy the reawakened ache between her legs. The sweet torture seemed to go on forever, until she was certain she’d go mad. She tried to reach for him and found her hands locked to the headboard. When had he managed to do that, and how had she failed to notice?
Tiffany had never been so transported in the midst of lovemaking, and the realization was both unsettling and exciting at the same time. She tested the restraints and experienced a stab of fear at how tight they were.
“Hey,” he said, his voice penetrating the fog. “Look at me.”
Tiffany forced herself to focus on his handsome face.