Stripe Tease (3 page)

SIX

She blinked, his words sinking in. “Excuse me?”

“I’ll walk you to your car. To make sure nobody is lingering in the area, trying to do you any harm.”

She should say no, but the draw to this primal man and his animal was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She wanted to talk to him and find out more about the tiger. More about shifters. Heck, more about him.

“Okay. Do you...need to grab some clothes?” She glanced around, searching for an outfit or something.

“I tore them when I shifted. It’s fine. I’m used to being nude.”

She gulped. He might be used to being naked, but she wasn’t used to seeing anybody naked that she wasn’t sleeping with. Even then, they weren’t this good to look at.

“Let’s go back, then. Do you want me to take you home?” The offer came out of nowhere, leaving her shocked that she said the words. She did not know this man. He was dangerous with a capital D.

She shoved her hands into her trenchcoat’s pockets. Nerves were making her antsy. She was ready to start pacing between the trees. He walked quietly beside her for a moment and then replied, “I’d prefer it if you allowed me to drop you off at your house.”

She tripped on a pebble and almost fell flat on her ass, but he grasped her elbow and helped her stay upright. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. You don’t have any clothes.”

She hated sounding stupid, but she couldn’t sit in his car staring at his junk. It would be too tempting to sit there and talk to his penis to see if her words had any effect. She needed help. Mental help, of the professional kind.

“I have clothes in my car.” He laughed. “I’m sorry nakedness distresses you.”

She frowned. “It’s not distressing.” Hell yeah it was! She just didn’t want to sound like a prude. Who would have thought a woman who watches other women strip all the time could feel weird having this hot-as-heck man walking beside her in his birthday suit.

“I can dress and drive you home,” he said, shoving branches out of the way so she could pass. “I don’t want to worry about someone following you. Or worse, doing something to you on your way there.”

What a gentleman. A naked one. Only in Vegas. She sighed. She should have been rejecting the idea from the moment it came out of his mouth, but her father didn’t call her hardheaded for nothing. Vanessa liked to make her own decisions, and right now she had a feeling the tiger-man was a lot nicer than he appeared. “I guess that’s not a problem. You did save me after all. What’s your name?”

“Cash.”

Wow. His parents must have been big gamblers. Who the hell named their kid Cash? “Is your brother Check?” She laughed.

Oh, man. That was bad. She couldn’t help it. It was too easy.

He barked a laugh next to her. The sound was so sexy it made her all kinds of tingly inside. “No, though I think that’s one of the best lines I’ve heard. Usually people think my parents must have struck it rich right before I was born.”

She shook her head, her smile wider. “Imagine if they’d have gone broke. They might have named you Debt.”

He laughed harder, and she couldn’t help but laugh along with him. He was so cute when he laughed. The harshness of his features softened. He made her panties get wet and her heart race, and not race like she was having a heart attack either, which she swore was the case the last time she tried to run a marathon.

Once they reached the clearing that led to the back of the lot, she followed him to a dark corner where a low-slung black sports car set. She didn’t know shit about cars, but she knew what the hell a Bugatti was. She also knew she’d have to sell all her organs on the black market in order to afford one of its wheels.

“Nice car,” she said, trying not to sound like she was nervous that just looking at it would put a dent on the machine. He opened her door for her. She stopped to blink at the open door and then at him. This was the first time a man, any man, opened a door for her. For a second, she wasn’t sure what to do. Should she curtsy? Say thank you? Get down on her knees and repay with some oral? Decision, decisions.

He cleared his throat. She shook out of the visual of being on her knees pleasuring him. She really,
really
needed a mental evaluation.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice low and shaky. She got into the car, keeping her eyes facing forward and not on his cock. Nope. Not looking. She waited until the door shut before peeking out the window at his ass. She could bounce pennies off those cheeks.

She twisted in her seat to see what he’d do next. He opened the trunk and pulled out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. In no time, he was dressed and getting into the driver’s side.

“What’s your name?” he asked, putting the car in drive and taking off.

“Vanessa.”

He hadn’t given her his last name, and she wasn’t going to be nosy enough to ask, though she has a pretty good idea he belonged to one of the many shifter clans in the area.

“Where do you live, Vanessa?”

She watched him handle the powerful car with grace and strength. Would he be like that with a woman? All sexy, gliding his hands on her legs like he did on the wheel? This was getting out of hand. She hadn’t realized how badly not having sex had affected her.

She gave him her address and thanked every deity she could think of that he couldn’t tell she was ten seconds from flinging herself at him and asking to baptize his car the old-fashioned way. Like in the back seat getting hot and heavy.

They were quiet for a little while, until he put some music on, that is. She almost broke her neck when one of her favorite songs came on the radio.

“I so would not have taken you for an oldies kind of guy.”

He glanced at her with one of those grins that made her knees weak and wobbly. “I love seventies, eighties, and old music. I like all kinds of music.”

She raised her brows. “I don’t believe that.”

He nodded. “I do. I like all music.”

She grinned. “You mean to tell me you rock out to Diana Ross at home and sing ‘I will survive’ while cooking?”

He chuckled and gave her a side-glance. “You’re pretty creative, aren’t you?”

She nodded, rubbing her hands on the leather of her seat. The damn car was like a sex toy—all warm and soft, making her excited just looking at it. “I have to be creative in my line of business, or I’d lose my mind.”

The smile dropped off his face, and his jaw clenched. “Do you enjoy what you do?”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t. I live for my job. It’s the only fun thing I get to do. Most of the girls I work with are awesome. The staff is pretty great at Charlie’s.”

He squeezed the steering wheel so hard she saw his already-pale knuckles turn white. “I see.”

“Yep. What do you do? No!” She yelled after she asked. “Don’t tell me. I can guess.”

He gave her a quick glance with raised brows. “Okay.”

“You’re a professional gambler. You’ve got a sixth sense about slots, and so you’ve made millions playing.”

He shook his head. “You think I’m a gambler?”

She nodded. “I know I’m right. I’m pretty good at figuring out these things. You have that face.”

“What face?” There was a note of surprise in his voice.

The I’m-going-to-fuck-the-shit-out-of-you-until-you-can’t-walk-a-single-step one, but she was so not telling him that. “You know. That poker face that’s hard to read.”

SEVEN

“Ahhh. So because of my face, you think I’m a gambler.”

“Come on. You can’t tell me I’m not right. I bet I am.” She giggled.

He chuckled. “I find your humor quite interesting, Vanessa.”

He did? This was her nerves talking. He definitely didn’t want to see her when she had a few drinks in her. She was dangerous.

One more turn and they were on her block. The row of little houses in the private community away from the hustle and bustle of the strip was like night and day. She loved living in Las Vegas but hated some of the areas near the strip. There was so much crime and poverty around there. She preferred to stick to this side where the streets were clean, her neighbors didn’t go gamble at the grocery store. This was also a place she could have silence.

He stopped right in front of her house and turned to face her. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt tonight.”

She nodded. She was glad, too. In a way, she was also glad he’d shown up, so she could finally meet a tiger shifter. Those were the one kind she had yet to see.

“Do you want to come in for some coffee?”

Coffee. Right. Not sex. But wait, didn’t coffee always mean sex?

His eyes brightened to an amber color that held her entranced.

“I’m not sure me going in there would be a good idea,” he said, leaning into her.

Her heart tripped in her chest as she watched him come closer. Yes, it was. It was the best idea she’d had her entire day.

“All I want,” he whispered, his lips so close to hers she smelled the hint of whiskey and chocolate on his breath, “is to get you naked.”

She inhaled sharply and did something she wasn’t known for—she made the first move. With a slight lean forward, she closed the distance between them and brushed her lips softly over his. It was a quick kiss, one she had thought to pull back from swiftly. All she’d wanted was a taste of him. Her hormones had been doing the Harlem Shake from the moment she saw him naked.

A rumble sounded from his chest, shaking the hand she hadn’t realized she’d placed on his shoulder. He cupped her face, holding her in place, while he drove his tongue deep into her mouth. And dominated. The powerful kiss wasn’t like any she’d been given before.

He flicked his tongue in such an expert fashion she was moaning and leaning closer. Her mind focused on his lips pressing hard over hers, his tongue driving deep and pulling back, twirling and twisting and engaging her in a sensual play. Her stomach trembled as need coursed through her veins, firing up every pleasure cell in her body. She moaned. Her nipples turned tight with arousal. She sucked on his tongue and let her naughty side out to play, using her teeth and biting him as well.

He pulled back, tearing his mouth from hers and staring at her with glowing eyes while he breathed hard. “You...”

She gulped. Wow. That was the best kiss of her life. She felt like she should get him a thank you card or something. Every woman in the world needed to be kissed like that at least once in her life. “Me?”

He licked his lips, and she almost came on the spot.

“Let’s go inside.”

Thank you, Jesus! She nodded jerkily and didn’t wait for him to open her door, hopping out of the car on legs that felt like wet noodles.

He was faster than she expected. By the time she was shutting the car door, he was offering his hand to help her up the step onto the curb. She met his gaze with a smile. Still a gentleman. With fur. Nobody ever said life was boring in Sin City.

Her hand shook as she pulled the keys out of her pocket. For a few seconds, she fought the door trying to get the key into the lock. He placed his much steadier hand over hers and helped her out. With the door unlocked, she turned the knob and walked in. Anticipation burned a hole in her stomach. She felt like a damn teenager. A thirty-five-year-old woman who’d had more boyfriends than she admitted to her father was nervous. This was ridiculous. She turned around to face him, ready to give him a tour of her place, when she was pulled into his arms and his lips came crashing down on hers.

There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in her. She gave up her body willingly for him. There was something she was still trying to figure out. Cash was good looking, yes, but there was an aura of command about him that reeled her in. The intensity of his gaze and the heat of his touch made her thirsty for more of him. This was new. Different. Better than anything she had ever had before.

The sound of the door being locked resonated inside her living room. Then he cupped her face and continued to devour her with his lips. His sinful tongue drove in and out, daring hers to join in. Pushing the envelope on her wicked thoughts. He moved forward, leading her back until her ass hit her dining room table.

There, he picked her up by the waist and set her on the heavy wood. She was lucky the thing weighed a ton, or she’d have been worried it would break with her weight. Vanessa knew her body well enough. She was a really big girl, with real curves. Real rolls. Real hips and way more ass than she needed. But she didn’t mind. Her body was her temple, and she adored it. Her mother raised her to love herself. No matter what anybody else thought, she lived for her, not for the world. Her view of beauty was the one that mattered. It was her humble opinion that she was a hot-as-hell curvy woman.

Cash pushed her legs open, pressing his hips into the curve of her crotch. Holy mother of big cocks! His erection dug at her pussy. Big. Hard. Feeling it drove the point home that she wanted him naked too. Again.

Raking her hands down his chest, she curled her fingers around the seam of his T-shirt and yanked the soft cotton up and above his head. Her pussy clenched at the same time his abs contracted. What a gorgeous sight. She glided her hands back down his stomach to the jeans riding low on his waist. Lord have mercy. Even his hips pointed down to his cock. She tugged on the fly and yanked down the zipper, biting her lip and meeting his gaze.

Her breaths pumped in and out of her lungs, burning with each drag of air she took.

“Go ahead, beautiful,” he rumbled, his voice so deep and gravelly she ached. “Touch me. Do it.”

She gulped hard, keeping her gaze locked on to his, while she shoved his pants down his hips until they fell around his legs. Her vision darted south so fast one would think she’d been forced to look. His long, hard cock stood proud. She’d swear it was bigger than the last time she’d stared at it—all of half an hour ago.

Her eyes widened as she watched his cock stiffen some more. A low groan rumbled up the back of her throat. Lord, he was so sexy, especially those muscles on his hips plainly pointing down saying “check out this piece of equipment.” She slid her hand over the velvety flesh of his erection, loving the smooth-as-silk texture along with the steely hardness.

“Ah, babe,” he groaned. “You’re hands are so soft. So small.”

Hell no, she didn’t have small hands. He had a big cock to work with. It made her almost giddy to see a man that had a great body and something he could use that was bigger than an eraser. Nothing worse than the sexy body/small penis problem she’d encountered too many times in her life.