He wanted to keep her safe, but at the same time he wanted to push her to the limit. To command her and control her until she burst from the sheer pleasure of it. Because he could sense that she wanted to be Dominated. She’d probably love it if he tied her up until she was totally helpless, then manhandled every delectable inch of her incredibly sexy body. Or if he snapped a collar around her neck and commanded her to pleasure him completely.
He kissed her forehead as she snuggled her head against his chest, thinking about the pleasures he would introduce her to in the coming weeks. Because he had no intention of letting go of this woman.
* * *
Marie sighed as Zeke stroked her head. The curly hairs on his chest tickled her nose as she nuzzled her cheek against his solid, muscle-ridged flesh.
She had totally gotten into it when Zeke instructed—no, commanded—her to imagine Ty making love to her. Calling out Ty’s name … thinking of his cock filling her … really made her feel like Ty was the one making love to her.
Even now, she longed for Ty’s arms around her, even though she currently lay naked and wrapped around Zeke’s hot, hard body.
Ty was solid and dependable. He was the kind of guy she usually dated. And he was super sexy and gorgeous. But Zeke was wild and sexy and crazy, in a good way. Exciting. And different. And maybe that’s what she needed right now. Different. Ty was a safe choice, but probably not a good choice. After all, she’d always dated his type and the relationships always ended. After a few months, she always ended up feeling restless and eager to move on. Which meant his type probably wasn’t the right type for her, and she didn’t want to risk messing up a great friendship. Not that she really thought Zeke would lead to happily-ever-after, but he would help her break out of her rut and figure out what she really wanted in a man.
All she knew right now was that tame wasn’t it. She wanted someone who would push her limits. Let her get a little wild and funky. From everything she knew about Ty, that wasn’t him.
* * *
Marie grabbed her second earring and slid it into the hole in her ear, then raced toward the living room to answer the door. A second knock sounded. She glanced at the clock on the DVD player. Seven forty-four. She still had to finish putting on her makeup, make breakfast, and get out the door in time to catch her bus at eight thirty.
She peered out the peephole. Ty stood on the other side of the door.
She sucked in a breath as heat suffused her cheeks. What did he think of her after correctly guessing that she’d had a man in her bed yesterday morning? He knew she hadn’t been dating anyone before the long weekend, thus the man in her bed was basically a stranger.
She pulled open the door.
“Good morning.” She smiled.
He smiled at her. She couldn’t help noticing how handsome he looked in his work clothes. His broad shoulders filled out his royal blue shirt quite nicely, and his dove gray dress pants accentuated his trim waist and long legs. No doubt, he would complete the outfit with a tie just before he left for his job as a software architect.
His sandy hair was neatly combed, but a spike or two already trailed down his forehead.
“Hi. I wasn’t sure if you remembered that it’s Tuesday, with the long weekend and all. Breakfast is almost ready.”
“Oh … I didn’t know you still wanted to do that, now that my course is over and all.”
In July and August, she’d taken a sculpting class on Monday evenings which kept her out until eleven o’clock, which meant she got to bed an hour later than usual on a work night. Ty had offered to cook breakfast for her on Tuesdays to allow her to sleep an extra half hour. It had become a wonderful routine she’d looked forward to, both because of the great food—he was a sensational cook—and the great company.
“I like our Tuesday mornings. We don’t have to give it up just because your course is over.” He grinned. “And you can’t abandon me this morning. I made a variation of your favorite, eggs Benedict, but I replaced the bacon with thin slices of smoked salmon. The recipe calls it Norwegian eggs. And I made the hollandaise sauce from scratch.”
Her mouth watered. She loved anything with hollandaise sauce, and Ty’s homemade sauce was to die for.
“You had me at ‘breakfast is almost ready.’ ”
She followed him down the hall to his apartment. As always, his place was spotless. His brown leather couch and chair, solid dark oak furniture, and minimal use of bold artwork gave his apartment a masculine feel. She followed him into the dining room where the table was all set with his red and black mugs and cutlery.
A thermos jug of coffee sat on the middle of the table. He poured her a cup as she sat down. She added cream and stirred as he went into the kitchen, which was open to the dining room, and grabbed two English muffins from the toaster. He dropped them onto the two plates on the counter, then assembled the other ingredients. She watched in eager anticipation as he spooned the hollandaise sauce over the eggs, then returned to the table and placed the delectable meal in front of her.
“It looks amazing.” She cut a piece and took a bite. The textures of the creamy sauce, smooth eggs, flaky salmon, and toasty bread combined in her mouth to produce a delightful sensation.
She swallowed and smiled. “You’re an amazing cook.”
He sipped his coffee and smiled. “I aim to please.”
Soft rock music playing in the background and bright sunlight shining in the large window overlooking the city added to the pleasant ambiance.
“It looks like it’s going to be a gorgeous day,” she said.
“It’s going up to seventy-eight today. Too bad the weekend’s over.” He took a sip of coffee. “Did you have a good time at the cottage?”
“Oh, yeah, it was fun.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I bet. You met someone new, I take it.”
She stopped cutting into her eggs and glanced at him. “Um, yeah, I did. He was at the next cottage. We … sort of hit it off.”
“He must be pretty special. You broke your five-date rule.”
Damn, she wished she’d never told him about that. When he’d helped her through her breakup with Everett, they’d shared tequila shots along with thoughts on romance. He had told her he hadn’t dated for a while, that he was waiting for the right woman so he could settle into a stable long-term relationship. She had told him about her five-date rule. She’d also told him that she always dated Mr.-Nice-Guy types, but there never seemed to be any passion, and she found herself longing to move on and find a guy who sent her senses—and her heart—into overdrive.
He’d patted her hand and assured her that Mr. Right was out there for her. At the comforting warmth of his touch and his intense gaze boring into her, sending her senses spiraling, she’d searched those warm brown eyes of his, overwhelmed by an almost irresistible urge to kiss him. In fact, she’d been sure he’d wanted to kiss her, too, and she’d found herself leaning in close, waiting for him to capture her lips, her eyelids almost falling shut.
But he hadn’t kissed her. He’d politely leaned back, as if not noticing her intent.
She’d almost made a total fool of herself.
“Yeah, well … sometimes rules are made to be broken. Especially when you meet a super hot guy at a friend’s cottage, with only two days to make a move.”
His eyebrows arched upward. “So you made a move on him?”
“Well, in a way. He was skinny-dipping and he … sort of caught me watching him.”
It felt weird talking with him about this, but only because of that almost kiss. Before that had happened, they’d always talked with an easygoing openness. Sometimes they’d discussed what they found attractive in the opposite sex. Like one of the times they’d gone running together and she’d pointed out the guy with the nice tight set of buns running ahead of them.
He’d point out attractive women and what he liked about them, too. She’d been surprised at first. He didn’t go for the blatantly sexy blonde who had crossed their path several times. He liked brunettes with slim figures and good muscle tone rather than bouncy and voluptuous women. In fact, women who looked a lot like Marie. She often wondered if he’d just been trying to build up her confidence. Since he’d come to know her, he’d picked up on her lack of confidence in her attractiveness.
Ty was such a nice guy. It would be just like him to do that.
“So you jumped his bones?” Ty asked, raising an eyebrow.
Despite Ty’s teasing tone, Marie sensed an undercurrent she couldn’t quite place.
“Do you disapprove?” she asked.
Three
Marie respected Ty and didn’t want him to think badly of her, but what was done was done.
Ty’s gaze locked on hers. “Of course not.” He touched her cheek. The gentle brush of his fingertips sent ripples of awareness through her. “I would never disapprove of you … or anything you do.”
Her pulse pounded in her ears and her breathing seemed slow and far away. All that existed for her at that moment were his warm brown eyes gazing into her soul. And his tender touch on her cheek.
Then he drew his hand away and everything returned to normal.
She drew in a deep breath.
Oh God, why did she have to feel this intense attraction for Ty? Another Mr. Nice Guy. If she got involved with him, it would only end like all her other relationships. Then this wonderful friendship they shared would also end, and she so didn’t want that to happen.
Falling prey to her attraction to him would be exactly the wrong thing to do. Bad for her, and bad for him.
It might have been impetuous leaping into a relationship with Zeke … even worse allowing it to continue beyond a weekend fling … but she was glad she had. He was opening her up to a whole new world of sensuality and she wanted to embrace that exhilarating newness.
Since Mr. Nice Guys hadn’t worked for her, maybe a bad boy like Zeke was exactly what she needed.
* * *
At lunch, Marie decided to get outside to enjoy the warm sunny day. She walked to the park near her office and sat on a bench by the river to eat her sandwich.
A cyclist rode by and she glanced across the glittering water. The bright sunshine, the clear blue sky, the leaves rustling in the trees, all reminded her of being at the cottage this past weekend. With Zeke.
Images of Zeke filled her mind. His devilish smile. The tattoo that trailed down his spine. The way his dark hair, a little too long on top, tended to trail over one eye, and how he often tossed it aside with a flick of his hand.
A child’s laughter drew her attention back to the park and she smiled as she watched a toddler glide down a slide into his mother’s arms at the nearby play structure. She wished she could sit here all day, but a quick glance at her watch told her it was time to return to the office.
She sat down at her desk and dropped her purse in her drawer, then glanced at her e-mail inbox. In the list of unread messages, she noticed one from dragon.zeke. Her heart fluttered as she clicked on the e-mail to open it.
Okay if I stop by tonight? We can do pizza.
She smiled. Zeke hadn’t said anything about wanting to see her again when he’d left yesterday evening and a part of her had feared he’d just walked out of her life.
She noticed by the green dot beside his name that he was online now. She opened a chat window.
me:
Pizza tonight would be great. What time?
She waited a moment, then the message “Dragon.Zeke is typing…” appeared in the chat box.
Dragon.Zeke:
What time do you get home from work?
me:
About 6.
Dragon.Zeke:
Let’s play it by ear.
me:
Okay. See you tonight.
For the rest of the afternoon, she felt lighter than air. She’d be seeing Zeke again tonight!
Finally, five o’clock rolled around and she grabbed her purse and headed for the bus. She boarded the crowded bus and got off at her stop. About ten minutes later, she hurried into the lobby of her apartment building, then unlocked her mailbox and pulled out several letters. Mostly bills.
She summoned the elevator, wondering when Zeke would arrive. As the doors whooshed open, someone stepped up behind her and followed her into the elevator. She turned around and came face-to-face with Zeke.
“Oh, hello,” she stammered. She pressed “17.”
God, he looked
bad
… in a very good way. Torn blue jeans with a chain cascading from one belt loop to another, then hanging straight down, punctuated by a silver skull. A black muscle shirt exposed his bulging shoulder and arm muscles, as well as the delicious dragon tattoo on his upper arm. Not to mention the two metal spikes through his eyebrow.
He smiled seductively and winked, then leaned against the mirrored elevator wall. Another woman raced toward the closing doors and Marie pressed the Open button. The doors opened again. The woman stepped inside and nodded to Marie, then glanced at Zeke, her gaze shifting from his tattoos to the chain hanging at his hip. She stepped to the opposite corner, clearly uncomfortable with Zeke’s presence, and pressed “3.”