Mystery Date (Harlequin Blaze) (19 page)

She looked like another woman entirely, but still the same Leigh Vaughn who’d finally become what she’d always dreamed of, even though her transformation was just as temporary as this thing with Callum was.

Pensively, she smoothed down her hair so that it fell over her shoulder in a sultry wave. The only thing wrong with this image was her expression. The sadness in her eyes. It was a reflection that showed the real her—a woman who’d gotten in too deep, her heart already aching at the thought that the game wouldn’t mean as much to Callum as it did to her.

But why did sex all of a sudden have to mean love? Or at least the possibility of it? Wasn’t she overjoyed at what Callum made her feel sexually? Wasn’t she still addicted?

You’re sad because this is happening with someone you’ve started to fall for,
she thought.

The disposable phone she’d brought with her rang, and when she answered it, a zing electrified her through and through as she heard Callum’s voice.

“Are you ready for me?”

Her heart crumbled. “Give me a minute. Then I’m all yours.”

She wanted to cringe at the way she’d phrased that. She might be all his, but he still belonged to someone else.

“Let me know when you’re ready,” he said.

“I will.”

Putting the phone on the bed, she sat between the parted mosquito netting, then picked up the blindfold and tied it at the back of her head. Total darkness; she was getting all too used to it.

She picked up the phone. “Ready now.” Her pulse nearly blocked her throat. She would’ve been ready for so much more had he just said the word. But it was what it was, and she was going to have a great time. She would do just about anything for him, because he hadn’t steered her wrong yet.

She heard a sound from across the bedroom, the door to the adjoining room opening, and her breath jammed in her lungs as she shut off and put down the phone.

Footsteps, anticipation, her heart jumping with each thud. And it was jumping so hard, crashing into her ribs, that it felt bruised.

Why had all her feelings come to the surface now, making things so clear to her at the wrong time? Was it because he was here in person? Here but not truly here?

She felt him standing in front of her, and her mind went fuzzy, her body a field of static. And when she felt him touching her hand, lifting it and helping her stand, shivers ran through her with such harsh speed that she could barely function.

But it was the kiss on the back of her hand that made her gasp.

The shape of his lips buzzed on her skin as he kept holding her. “You’ve surpassed every one of my fantasies,” he said in that deep, smooth voice.

“I do my best,” she said, trying to joke. “Fantasies‘R’Me.”

Although he chuckled, the quip still fell flat between them, but when his hands rubbed up and down her arms, then traveled to her nearly bare back, she didn’t care about judging her sense of humor. She only floated in sensation, erotic and steamy.

“Do you trust me?” he asked again.

With the sex? Yes. But not with anything else.

“You know I do.”

“That’s the girl I know. You’re a good player, Leigh,” he said, and she could hear that he had a smile on his mouth. But the smile sounded tighter than usual. “You’re all about the adventure, and you’ve always understood what makes me happy while making you happy.”

Where was he going with this? It didn’t sound as if he had another “guess where the feather’s going to touch you” game in mind.

“That’s right,” she finally answered. “I’m all about the fun.”

She thought she felt his hands stiffen on her back before he took them away.

“As you like it,” he said.

Was there a note of something in his voice that she hadn’t heard during any other personal encounter? It was as if he’d wanted her to say something else, but what?

“In one minute,” he said, “I want you to take off that blindfold. Don’t ask what you’re going to see, because I’m not going to tell you.”

He was having her take the mask all the way off? Now she was really intrigued. “All right.”

In spite of her doubts about him, she thought that this could be it—the moment. The big reveal. Excitement took her over, and she got ready to doff the blindfold after the sixty seconds he’d requested.

When she heard the adjoining door shut, the excitement eased off. “Callum?” she asked.

No answer, but he’d done stuff like this before, so she counted down from sixty...to fifty...

She rushed to get to zero, and when she did, her hands trembled as they went for the blindfold, her fingers like wet noodles as she tried to work off the material.

When she was finally able to toss it away, she eagerly looked toward the door, finding nothing.

Until she felt someone standing near the window.

She turned her gaze there, her mind scrambling at who she saw in his usual plaid shirt and a pair of jeans, hooking his thumbs into his belt loops like the cowboy he was.

* * *

A
DAM DIDN’T KNOW
what to do when Leigh took off that blindfold and just stared at him.

While she’d been counting down the minute, Adam had pretended he was leaving the room, then sneaked softly over to the window. Not knowing what to do next, he’d merely fisted his hands by his sides. It was only at the last few seconds, when she was struggling to take off the blindfold, that he’d decided to appear more casual. That was because she didn’t care about anything other than sex, either, and all they were here for was to push the physical limits with each other, just as they’d always done. Right?

Adrenaline shredded his veins as she just kept staring at him. But when she glanced at the door where Callum had supposedly disappeared, he knew that she wasn’t just taken off guard. There was a glow in her gaze that told him she was considering what Callum had suggested, that she was so caught up in these fantasies that she couldn’t put the brakes on.

But there was confusion in her gaze, too.

Being careful to use his “Adam” drawl, he spoke before she could. “You’re wondering why I’m here.”

“I think I have an idea.”

He had a story all worked up—a fiction that would keep the fun going while never letting her know exactly who he was. Neither of them would have any reason to contact each other after the date anyway. They would both just move on as he’d always intended, so no harm, no foul by tossing out a few more white lies.

“Callum’s in the other room,” he said. “Listening, watching.”

“How’s he watching us?”

“He’s got more money than he knows what to do with, so there’re ways. Believe me.”

She gazed around the room, probably searching for camouflaged cameras. But she liked cameras—that had been established yesterday. She’d had a sexual awakening he’d initiated within her, and she was probably dreaming of bodies entangled, adventures and fantasies unwound.

“A threesome,” she said softly. “Not a traditional one, but you’re in here, I’m in here and Callum’s watching. That makes three of us.”

“You could call it that.”

As Adam attempted to read her, he realized that he hadn’t just wanted to see what her reaction would be to finding “Adam” in the room. He was testing her until she wouldn’t be able to take any more. Actually, he even wanted her to be the one who dismissed Callum instead of him dismissing her.

But he had started this, and he couldn’t be stung if she wanted to go through with it.

“How did you get recruited for this?” she asked. “Is it the first time or is it part of the job description?”

Ouch. But in answer, he let down his shields for once—and once only—allowing all the desire he had for her to shine through his gaze.

Her lips parted as if she got his message loud and clear.

Was it possible that she was holding back an attraction to Adam?

“You don’t know much about me,” he said. “But I’ve never been able to say no to a beautiful woman, and when Callum suggested I come up here, I sure as hell didn’t say no.”

When she didn’t respond, a tiny spark flitted through him. The thought of being with her, face-to-face, thrilled him. She would never know that he and Callum were the same person; it would be the ultimate game.

But it wasn’t sitting right with him, and he hated himself more than ever now for not leaving well enough alone, for leaving himself open to getting flayed by all the emotions swooping down on him.

Pushing back his hair from his face, he sent a lowered look to her, and she absently rubbed her hands up and down her arms, as if this scenario gave her goose bumps. He yearned to do the same thing to her, remembering the feel of her skin just a few minutes ago when “Callum” had been in here.

“All Callum wants,” Adam said, “is to watch your face when you’re at your happiest.”

“Creative guy, isn’t he?” She looked at the door again, then back at Adam. “If he was the one in here with me, he wouldn’t be able to see all of my face because I’d have a blindfold over my eyes. But with you, he’s free to sit back in the other room and enjoy while your hands take the place of his. It’s almost like a film, only he’s the one who gets to watch it.”

What she didn’t know was that this would be the last time between them. Adam had to make sure of it because, even now, it felt as if his heart was breaking.

But he’d asked her to do this. Callum had.

She laughed a bit. “So Callum likes to watch.”

That’s not all I can do,
Adam thought.

She looked at the door again, then turned toward him, taking a step forward.

Adam’s body took over, physical sensations eclipsing everything in his mind, but his heart was still in limbo, hovering, waiting for her next step.

* * *

A
THREESOME,
L
EIGH
THOUGHT.
She’d never in her wildest dreams believed she would even be considering it.

Why
not
jump all the way into this? Callum wanted it.

Her body said
yesyesyes, please continue.
This was just another way to explore the sexuality that’d been pressed into her and hidden for so long, and no one could take it away from her now that it’d emerged.

Yet before she could take another step, Adam came toward her, and she stopped.

“The first moment I saw you, Leigh,” he said in that sexy drawl, “I wanted this.”

There was such an intensity about him that she couldn’t go on. She’d always longed for someone to say something like that to her, but that wasn’t the real reason her skin was tingling. The way Adam had uttered it told her that he wasn’t putting her on or merely trying to get into her figurative pants. He truly meant it.

She allowed herself to really appreciate him for the first time: his glossy, thick black hair, his tanned skin, his compelling gold eyes that gleamed like a predator that knew what would appease its hunger. He was built strong, with wide shoulders, muscled arms, and she could imagine what they would feel like wrapped around her.

But she also wanted Callum’s arms. Damn him. Why did her thoughts always go back to him?

Adam spoke. “I only want to touch you, make you feel good.”

“Just like Callum.” She was dwelling on the “touch you” part. Did that mean they weren’t going to go all the way?

With a sidelong glance, she looked toward the door again. She couldn’t stop it. Was Callum in the other room, enjoying the show?

Adam came to her, such a tender expression on his face that she blinked. He’d been hiding his attraction to her, just as Callum always hid. It was only now, when he had permission to show it, that his need for her was clear.

Reaching her, he lifted his hand, resting it on her bare shoulder, then tracing it down her arm, leaving a trail of raised hairs and awakened skin.

Her breathing had turned erratic, even with this one minor gesture. And when he skimmed his fingertips back up her arm, his gaze was muddy, as if he was struggling for control.

“Is it okay for me to go on?” he asked, the same way Callum had always sought her permission.

She thought of Callum in the next room, watching, waiting.

Before she could answer, Adam did something totally unexpected. As the country-noir music played on, just as if they were in a darkened club in the middle of a night-washed nowhere, he pulled her to him, grasping her hand and bringing it to his shoulder.

He began to lead her in a slow, breath-stealing dance, her chest to his, her heartbeat pounding against him.

“Leigh,” he whispered, as if trying out her name, seeing if it belonged to him or not.

It didn’t, but something inside her sure wanted it to in this crazy moment. Callum had been seductive but never this romantic. It was as if she had one side of a coin sitting in the other room while the second side was here, leading her in a surprisingly sweet dance.

A bass plucked away on the sound track, complementing the singer’s soulful voice.

His cheek was against her head. “I like when you wear your hair down,” he said.

True—it had always been in a braid or ponytail around him. But how many times had he seen her?

He put a stop to her curiosity when he slid his hand to the small of her exposed back, just above the expansive bow of her gown. Stroking there, he kept swaying with her.

It was all a dream: like Callum, he smelled of leather, but the outside kind, not from fancy furniture inside a beautiful house. Most important, though, Adam was willing to show his face, revealing his soul in his eyes.

When he dragged his fingertips up the center of her back, following the bumps of her spine, she stopped dancing, thinking about Callum watching.

This is what he asked for,
she thought. So she let Adam draw his fingers over other parts of her back, high and low, slow and sensual.

“You’re everything I ever thought you’d be,” he whispered near her ear.

Strange, the way he’d said it, as if the first time he’d seen her in those stables had really marked him. But when he brought his hands to her face, cupping it, looking into her eyes, she got too lost to think anymore.

Passion-dizzy persuasion—that was what filled Adam’s gaze, and it made her chest cave in under a melting warmth.