Sultry in Stilettos (20 page)

"Must have been. I’m not allergic to
anything else. I guess the juice we brought for Lila had
strawberries in it. I was really clear on the instructions though.
Fancy Juice is going to get an earful from me tomorrow. They could
have killed her." Ricca paused, frowning. "Wait, why didn't they
kill her? She drank it too, right?"

"Exactly. I've been trying to figure
out what happened all day. You guys share the same allergy. If you
had a reaction, she should have too, but she was fine. I checked.
As far as she and Roberto are concerned, they had a fantastic
magical day in an oasis in the desert."

"Oh, thank God. I was pretty sure we'd
be fired for sure if something happened to her.”

“I’m starting to think this isn’t a
coincidence. The driving course, and now this?"

"Aren’t I supposed to be
the one with the conspiracy theories? You never liked
The X-Files
."

"All I know is something isn’t right.
The juice in the prepped glass had strawberries in it, but not the
pitcher. It’s the only explanation since we know for a fact that
Lila drank the juice and she was okay. So either someone was trying
to hurt you or someone was trying to hurt Lila."

“It just makes no sense. Why would
anyone want to hurt Lila?”

“I don’t know. But maybe this is about
us. Ruin the fantasy, and we don’t get the job.”

Ricca’s eyes widened.
“Angel.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.”

“But murder is really extreme. Even
for her. Roberto could have been killed. Lila could have been
killed. Angel is a mean-spirited bitch, but she’s not a
sociopath.”

She had a point there. “Okay, look.
I’ll talk to her and see if maybe some harmless pranks have turned
into something more dangerous.”

“Fine. But honestly, you know how much
I hate her, and I still think this is crazy. Even for
her.”

Maybe Ricca had a point. But he wasn’t
going to let it go. He’d talk to Angel. Then he’d take his
suspicions to Serena. He didn’t give a shit what happened to him,
but Ricca’s life wasn’t one he wanted to play around
with.

Ricca had a point, but something
wasn’t right here. Just as he opened his mouth to argue with her,
there was a knock at the door. As he got the take out and set up
the kitchen table, his mind continued to work on it. Someone had
tried to hurt them, and he wanted to know who.

Later that night, Beckett almost broke
his own rule. He held Ricca as she slept, content to do nothing
more than hold her, which was a first. Forcing his mind to relax,
he drifted off to sleep.

He wasn’t sure how many
hours had passed when the most intense pleasure rocketed through
his dick and radiated throughout his body. He groaned, and his
fingers dug into the sheets, desperate to hold onto the intense
rush.
Ricca
.

He forced his eyes open, and there she
was, like a goddess between his legs, stroking the length of him
with her tongue. He’d removed his jeans before getting into bed
with her, but he’d left his boxers on. Tonight was supposed to be
about comforting, not sex. Apparently, Ricca had other
plans.

As she caressed him, she stopped just
short of the most sensitive spot at the underside of the tip.
Beckett held his breath as Ricca went still, only her breath
whispering over his rigid erection. Suddenly, she flicked the
sensitive tip with her dexterous tongue. Beckett’s hips rose, and
he ground out a string of curses through his teeth.

He dropped his head back, and harsh
ragged breaths tore out of his chest as she took all of him into
her mouth and sucked. She wrapped delicate hands around the base of
his shaft and milked him with her hands and mouth. Shifting one of
her hands from his erection, she gently caressed his
balls.

“Jesus. Fuck, Ricca. Are you trying to
kill me?”

She licked him once, then twice before
beaming up at him. “I wanted to see if I could make you lose
control.” Her cheeks went pink in the soft moonlight of her
bedroom. She pumped him with her hands. “I wanted to see if I could
make you lose control again. Like the other night.”

“Ricca, I—” His brain was
already on vacation. What was he trying to tell her? Oh yeah, there
it was, the reasons he wasn’t going to be a complete asshole and
bury himself in her until he couldn’t remember his name. “You—” She
licked him again.
Shit
. “Long day—” She swirled her tongue over the tip of his
erection, and his spine tingled. “Not fair—”

She stroked him again, then looked up
at him thoughtfully. “So you mean, now isn’t a good time to mention
that I’m on the pill and we don’t need to used condoms?”

Beckett flipped her on her back before
his conscious mind even registered her words. Yanking her pajama
bottoms down with her panties, he slipped his hands up under her
tank top, and she moaned when his hands came in contact with her
breasts.

Beckett wasted no time once he’d
divulged her of her clothes. He kicked his boxers off, wincing as
he shoved the cotton material off his rigid erection. Kissing her
breasts, he slipped his hand between them and stroked her core. She
was already so wet, so ready for him.

As he suckled her right breast, he
slipped two fingers inside her and growled as her flesh contracted
around his fingers. With his thumb, he stroked her clit. She tugged
on his hair, clamping him to her breast.

He scraped her nipple lightly with his
teeth, and she shivered underneath him. “Turn over,
baby.”

He removed his fingers and helped her
into a kneeling position. “Here, put your hands up on the headboard
and hold on tight.” Her breaths were ragged, but she did as he
said. Shifting into position behind her, he nipped her shoulder.
“Now, I need you to show me how you like to be touched.”

Beneath him, she froze. He kissed the
nape of her neck and stroked her breast. “Here, let me help you.
Taking her right hand into his, he smoothed their hands on her
hips, then down to the juncture between her thighs. Intertwining
their fingers, he whispered. “I want to make you feel good. I need
you to teach me.”

He led her fingers in stroking her
clit in slow steady circles. She was so slick, so wet for him
already. Her breath hitched, and he gently pinched her nipple. “You
like this?”

Her response was soft and breathy.
“Y-yes.”

“Good. I just want to make
you happy.” Removing his hand from her breast, he shifted behind
her and aligned his erection with her dewy center. “Lean forward
for me, baby. Just a little and—”
Oh,
God
. The moment the tip of his sensitive
flesh met her molten heat, his hips jerked. He slid in slowly,
gritting his teeth.

Their bodies rocked together, and
Ricca welcomed every thrust with one of her own. With their hands
fused together, she led him in a tutorial he would never
forget.

When he felt her inner walls convulse
around him, he moved both his hands to her hips and held on tight
as he increased the pace. Rockets of pleasure were shooting from
the base of his spine, but he held the orgasm at bay until he felt
her jerk and quiver in his hands. Meeting him thrust for thrust,
Ricca exploded around him and called his name as she
came.

As Beckett’s release spiraled through
his body, he knew he wouldn’t be able to let go of her anytime
soon.

“We think Angel is sabotaging the
missions.”

With sweat slick hands, Ricca listened
to Beckett as he presented their evidence to Serena. She had no
idea how Serena would react. She tried to pay attention to the
strong case Beckett was making against Angel, but she kept getting
distracted by the day-old stubble on his chin. Her lips twitched as
she tried to hide her smile. He’d left beard burn on some
interesting spots on her body.

Serena angled her head and listened
intently. Eventually, her boss let out a slow breath before
speaking. "Okay, I hear you. Angel has been perhaps not so nice to
Ricca in the past. But I do need proof, and if you can prove she's
behind all these incidents, then I’ll be the first one to jump on
that bandwagon. Until then, there’s not much I can do. These are
some pretty serious allegations."

Ricca couldn’t believe her ears. Her
brows furrowed as she spoke. “Serena, we have another fantasy
today. Neither one of us wants anything to go wrong, but you have
to take us seriously. Something isn’t right.”

Serena brushed her long hair off her
shoulder. “I agree that it is suspicious. But I need proof. Do you
have any?”

“No, but you have to keep her off site
today.”

Serena’s brows drew down. “At this
late stage in the game? No can do. I need all hands on deck today.”
Serena slid her Jackie O sunglasses on over her nose. “Bring me
some proof, and I’ll have her fired. Until then, there isn’t much I
can do.”

Forget fired—Ricca wanted Angel’s
skinny ass in jail.

Beckett snagged her hand and tugged.
“Come on, Baby. Let’s go.”

How the hell couldn’t Serena see what
was happening? How the hell couldn’t Serena see that this went way
beyond high school grousing and evil hazing rituals? Angel had
nearly killed both her and Beckett. That had to be attempted murder
or something.

As Serena stalked off toward the
track, Ricca frowned. “She barely even listened to us. I don’t
understand how she doesn’t see what Angel’s been up to.”

“She has a point. We’ll get the proof
we need. Right now, we need to get this fantasy going.”

He was right. It didn’t mean she had
to like it. She followed him, keeping an eye out for Angel. Heat
rose in waves off the tarmac. A quarter mile down the track, teams
of people worked on the two cars. Since Roberto’s first fantasy had
gone so horribly wrong, they’d opted to give him a do-over of
sorts.

They’d managed to procure a Fisker
Karma and a Bugatti Veyron for racing purposes. Roberto had almost
died when he and Lila had shown up at the track. He’d run over to
the Karma and standing shock still, had stared, open
mouthed.

Beckett squeezed her hand. “You need
to relax. Stay out of Angel’s way if you see her okay? And for the
love of God, don’t eat anything you didn’t bring with you yourself.
If you feel sick, just head back to the hotel. I’ll come find you
later.”

Ricca rolled her eyes. His concern was
sweet. And his intense gaze made her tingle in all kinds of
delicious places. “I hear you. But I’ll be fine.” She hesitated a
minute, not wanting to come off like a clingy girlfriend or
something. Guys like Beckett needed their space. But she also
didn’t want to see him hurt.

Defeat made for a nauseous meal in her
belly. “Beckett, I don’t think you should drive today. We should
try and postpone.”

"Ree, I get it, you’re concerned. It's
your job to worry about people. You’ve been doing it as long as
I've known you. But don’t worry today, okay? Angel has no access to
the cars. I made sure of that. You see those beefy knuckle draggers
over there?” He indicated two behemoths by the cars looking very
large…and capable.

She nodded.

“Their whole purpose is to make sure
no one tampers with those cars. They’ve been given the run down.
The car company sent them, along with the mechanics. It’ll be fine.
Angel may be on the fantasy today, but she can’t hurt either one of
us."

Ricca chewed her bottom lip. "So
you're saying if nothing happens we’ll need more proof?"

He chuckled ruefully. "Well that, and
we live another day. We’ll sort it out. I promise."

She sighed. "Fine, go play with the
shiny toy. I'll just stand here with paramedics on
standby."

He jogged off to join
Roberto and the techs. The techs stood by the cars, giving
instructions to Roberto, showing him the fancy computers they used
to measure each car’s performance. Beckett looked as happy as
Roberto did. He was such a motor head. If it went
vroom
, he pretty much
was reduced to a stuttering, drooling mess. He loved cars almost as
much as he loved being in the water.

She wasn’t needed on this fantasy, but
she'd come to support Lila. She knew her new friend was a little
nervous, considering the car crash. Besides, even if Lila didn't
know it, she'd almost died yesterday.

Lila grinned when she saw Ricca coming
up the stands that had been set up for spectators. "Hey there. I
didn’t see you at all yesterday."

Ricca did a brief memory scan from the
day before and considered what to divulge. "Yeah I was strictly
behind the scenes yesterday. Unlike Beckett, my fantasies don't
usually involve me being seen and interactive." She smiled. "I'm
pretty sure my clients prefer it that way."

Lila giggled. "Yes, good point. Would
have made for awkward drinks and lunch if Roberto and I were caught
by you doing all kinds of kinky things in that tent."

Ricca gave her a bemused smile. Lila
was lovely. Kinky and her didn’t necessarily fit well. She wouldn't
choose this time to tell Lila that cameras were planted all over
the outside of the tents and that the waiters had been just within
earshot to give the couple privacy. But if Lila and Roberto had
gotten up to all kinds of fun, then they might have been
overheard.