Spice (3 page)

“No. Painkillers and sleeping pills, sometimes harder stuff.”

“All right then.” He released her hand long enough to take a sip of his wine, giving her an opportunity to taste her martini. She hadn't had alcohol since they'd celebrated the opening of the café, and she needed to pace herself. Besides, Kane was doing a good job of making her light-headed and intoxicated on his own.

“Kane. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Have drinks with a beautiful woman? Of course.”

“Thank you, but that wasn't what I meant.” She waved a hand between them. “I mean this. Are you sure you want to take me on?”

“Very sure. Why wouldn't I be?”

“Because of my story.” She leaned forward, watching his eyes as his gaze dropped to her breasts, then back up to her face without apology. “I gave you the highlight reel, but everything you need to know about me, good or bad, you can uncover with a good Google search. Probably more than my therapist knows.”

He raised his gaze to hers. “Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer to get to know my partners by actually talking to them. Face-to-face. I don't believe everything I read on the Internet, and people tend to be less evasive when they're one-on-one.”

Nadia shook her head. “So you're saying I shouldn't search for you online either?”

“It depends on whether you're curious about my professional reputation or my sexual one.” He leaned closer. “I'm perfectly aware of my nickname. I'm sure your friends and part-timers have talked your ear off about Professor Sex.”

Her brows lifted. “Are you saying you didn't earn it?”

“No.” He gave her a slow smile that liquefied her insides. “I lecture on sex. I write about sex. I create profiles for law enforcement based on sex. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I like having sex. A lot of sex, a lot of different ways.” One finger tapped the tablecloth. “But I don't have sex with my students, despite the number of blogs to the contrary.”

She sighed. She couldn't help it. The man knew what he was doing with all that allure and confidence. “Just so you know, I didn't do a Web search on you. I didn't have to. Not with the friends I have. They were so eager to tell me all about Professor Sex, despite my every attempt to deflect them.”

“Why deflect them?”

“I want to make up my own mind about you. They're not your potential bed buddies, I am.” She raised a brow. “You haven't slept with any of them, have you?”

“No.” His smiled widened.

“Why are you grinning like that?”

“Because you called yourself my potential bed buddy. That's a step in the right direction. Means I'm doing something right.”

“I'd say you are. Maybe it's time to step it up.” She reached into her clutch.

“Oh?”

“I have something for you,” she said, then slid her hand across the table. Kane's hand wrapped around hers, large and warm with a pulse of pure masculine energy that snaked up her arm and then raced right to her ovaries. He slipped the device from her fingers. His eyebrows rose as he recognized the wireless remote for a vibrator, the business end of which she'd tucked into her thong. A slow, sexy smile curved his lips.

“Nadia Spiceland, you are full of surprises,” he murmured. “Shall I tell you what this means?”

The deep tenor of his voice, combined with the knowing way he held the remote, caused her pussy to cream in anticipation. “Yes, please do.”

“Giving me this is a test. Actually, a challenge,” he said as he leaned forward. “You said you're not into vanilla anymore, so this means you're willing to give up control—control of your pleasure, your body, your orgasms.”

He thumbed the dial, sending a quick pulse of sensation to her clit before turning it off again with an efficient flick of his thumb. “But you don't want to surrender to just anyone, do you? You want to make sure that the other person is worth it. Worth you, worth receiving what you have to give.”

“Damn ri—” Her voice cut off as he thumbed the dial again, increasing the intensity of the vibrations to its strongest setting. She gripped the edge of the table, trying to resist the urge to squirm as the pleasure built. Quickly.

He turned the remote off, then set it down, precisely lining it up with his dinner knife. “You're topping from the bottom,” he observed, watching her with those deep, dark eyes. “I like it.”

“Are you sure?” she questioned. She wanted to cede control, needed to in this one thing. From her teens, she'd rigorously managed her actions and choices. Having discipline gave her the chance to hone her skills with some great but demanding pastry chefs in Europe and bring that knowledge home. Losing control had cost her a career and a very comfortable lifestyle.

Yes, regaining control had gotten her to the level of comfort and success she currently enjoyed. Sometimes though, sometimes she just really wanted someone else to make decisions for her, to take her out of her head, at least in this one area of her life. Finding the right guy she could trust enough to surrender to sexually was a fantasy she hadn't thought she'd allow to come true.

Yet here she was with Kaname Sullivan, the professor and author known as Professor Sex, offering to give her what she wanted, the way she wanted it. If she wanted it enough.

Again that smile, the one that transformed him from professor to predator. No wonder his students were ninety percent female. “I said I like it, not that I'd allow it to continue.”

She flared at that, but subsided as soon as he put a finger on the remote. “As soon as I pass your test, and I have every intention of passing it, you will surrender to me. When you do, I will make sure that you experience all the pleasure you can handle, whether it's acting out scenes from
The Perfumed Garden
or anything else we decide on.”

She sat back, vacillating between curiosity and caution. “You're that confident of your talents?”

“I'm confident of wanting you. I'm confident that you're curious enough to dare, and daring enough to put your pleasure in my hands.”

The boldness of his words and the frank desire in his gaze heated her insides. She almost asked him to turn on the remote, but the waiter chose that moment to return for their food order. “What do you say to just ordering tapas?”

“I think that's a good idea. No worries about overindulging, at least in food. Allow me?” He thumbed on the controller to its lowest setting.

She bit her lip to keep from moaning as Kane calmly consulted with the waiter then ordered a variety of little plates, all the while discreetly working the mini controller. From the lightest of touches to full out, he had her pussy juicing, her blood rushing, her breath catching. Yet he somehow seemed to know when one second more would push her over the edge, and stopped the vibration altogether.

“You're playing dirty!” she gasped as the waiter left after giving her a curious look.

“Have to level the playing field somehow.” He smiled, placing the controller beside his wineglass.

“What do you mean, ‘level the playing field'? Seems like you're the one with the advantage here.”

“You think so?” He thumbed the dial to a medium setting. She blew out a breath and shifted on her chair as a soft vibration thrummed between her thighs. “I can do this and you can get through it without attracting too much attention. But I have no relief in sight. Everyone's going to know that I have a problem as soon as I stand up.”

“Does that bother you?” she gasped.

“Hell, no.” He thumbed the setting off. “With you looking as hot as you do, I'm sure there are several other men here in the same predicament.”

“Thanks.” She fought to keep from squirming again. Damn, she was majorly horny. Would she be able to convince him to progress from talk to action?

He turned on the stimulator's remote control again, snagging her attention. She took a deep breath, and his eyes immediately dropped to her cleavage. Something close to a curse slipped softly from his lips as he turned the power off. “The way your lips parted has me thinking of things best not shared in a crowded restaurant,” he admitted ruefully. “I need a distraction. So,
The
Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delights
. How did you get interested in an Arabic sex manual from the Middle Ages? I would have thought the
Kama Sutra
or the
Joy of Sex
would be more to your liking.”

“I like those too, but I discovered
The Perfumed Garden
during a world literature course in college.” She sipped her drink, growing more heated by watching the way he watched her lips. “I like the name, and I find it amusing how the Burton translation is so much more over the top than the original. But I still like the feelings of sensual mystery and discovery it evokes.”

“Sensual mystery and discovery.” His voice dropped to a low, sensual rumble that made her sex clench. “Like tonight.”

“Yes.” Hmm, maybe she wouldn't have to try too hard after all. “So, I'm guessing you know a lot about
The Perfumed Garden
?”

He stared at her over the top of the remote. “I do indeed, among other things. It takes material from other sexual treatises that were available during the time, most notably from India, and adds stories as illustrations on some of the methods and treatments it recommends. Do you have a favorite part?”

She held her breath, but he didn't turn the vibrator on. Bastard. “Being a college coed, of course I was focused on chapter six, ‘Concerning Everything That Is Favorable to the Act of Coition,' and I thought it would be fun to actually try out those positions
.
I'm too modern a woman to do more than shake my head at some of the descriptions.”

“Oh, you mean like the qualities of a perfect woman?” Capturing and holding her gaze, he thumbed the remote to a low setting. “The sheik said, ‘Then the Almighty has plunged woman into a sea of splendours, of voluptuousness, and of delights, and covered her with precious vestments, with brilliant girdles and provoking smiles. So let us praise and exalt him who has created woman and her beauties, with her appetizing flesh; who has given her hails, a beautiful figure, a bosom with breasts which are swelling, and amorous ways, which awaken desires
.
' You are definitely appetizing, Nadia Spiceland.”

He cut the device off then smiled at her, just smiled, and she was ready to take him to the floor. Or grab him and leave. She opened her mouth to suggest it but the waiter chose that moment to arrive with their appetizers. Who knew tapas could be prepared that fast? She tried not to glare daggers at the poor waiter. It wasn't his fault that she'd given control of her clit to a professor with a sadistic streak. She reached for her water as the waiter placed everything then quickly retreated.

“You are an evil man.”

His dark eyes twinkled. “Only in the best of ways. And you're enjoying every moment of it.”

She was, she realized. Being away from the café, all dressed up, with a man so different from her usual type was making for a most excellent evening. Still, it wouldn't do for Kane to be too confident. She needed to turn the tables, even the score.

She reached for one of the appetizers, something with a bit of sautéed shrimp on top. Biting into it, she let out a moan as the flavors exploded on her tongue, her eyes sliding shut to enhance the tastes. “Oh, that is so good!”

“Nadia.”

Her eyes popped open. Kane stared at her, his jaw clenched, his eyes burning. “Are you okay?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I'm not okay. I just realized sitting here watching you eat is self-inflicted torture. How are you with desserts?”

“Eating them? Damn good. I'm even better at making them.” She smiled as she forked up a bite of another appetizer. His gaze focused on her lips, and she slowly withdrew the fork from her mouth, teasing him. “I test and taste every recipe I create, and if I don't like it, I don't make it. What about you? I bet you've got wide-ranging tastes.”

“The more I learn about the world, the more I learn about myself. So yes, my tastes are all over the board. Some people couldn't handle it. Do you think you can?” He turned on the controller again, his thumb working the intensity level from soft to full out, over and over.

She closed her eyes and gripped the edge of the table as her pussy juiced. “I sure as hell want to find out.” Just a little longer . . .

The vibrator stopped. Her eyes popped open. Kane gave her an unapologetic smile. “Not yet. You need to eat, to keep your strength up for later.”

She gritted her teeth. “Clit teaser.”

“Sorry,” he said in a tone that said he clearly wasn't. “I just want my cock in you and not a vibrator when I see you come for the first time. Is that wrong of me?”

His directness left her breathless. “N-no, but if you think we're going there without condoms . . .”

“I believe in being safe,” he told her, “and that means no jumping without a parachute. I'm not a man-ho by any definition, but I do get tested regularly. I'm clean.”

“I'm not a ho either,” she said, trying not to sputter out her martini over the way he'd said
man-ho
. “After getting out of rehab, I got tested six ways to Sunday to prove that I was clean on multiple levels. I still get tested every year on my anniversary date of being clean, which was a week ago. I'll show you my papers if you show me yours.”

“You haven't been with anyone since you moved here?”

“Getting the café off the ground was more important,” she said. “I've just now decided I can make the time to have a fling. But it's hard when I'm in the café all the time and all my customers are college students.”

He leaned forward. “You're not in the café right now.”

“No, I'm not.”

“And, might I add, I'm not a college student.”