"Then why did you ask me about him now?" She tried to ignore how the touch of his hand on hers was sending sparks of electricity up and down her spine. He was trying to seduce her, and heaven help her, but she was enjoying it and finding it hard to resist his charm.
"Because I wanted to hear you tell me," he said softly. His voice was like a stroke across her skin, sending even more sparks through her. "Before, I just had secondhand information, although I figured Luke knew what he was talking about. And the reason I still made a move on you that night was because I wanted you, and once Luke had a.s.sured me there was nothing between you and Frederick but a close friendship, I saw no reason to stand on the sidelines."
Just as she was sure he saw no reason not to continue stroking her hand. She was fully aware of what he was doing and why he was doing it. Electricity was coursing through her, and making her want things from him that she knew better than to crave.
She pulled her hand from his and casually glanced at her watch. She then looked up at him. "I hate to be a party p.o.o.per, but I"m a working girl and I"ve got an early appointment in the morning. I need to go home and get to bed."
Blade was sure it was the look of desire that appeared in his eyes that prompted her to add, "Alone."
He tilted his head to the side, studied her for a moment and then asked, "Do you really want to do that?"
She hesitated long enough for him to know she wasn"t quite sure what she wanted to do about him, and as far as he was concerned that was a good thing. That meant he was making progress. He was an impatient man. And he didn"t want to make progress, he wanted to make love-to her, nonstop, all night long. He wanted those long, s.e.xy legs of hers wrapped tightly around him while he buried his body deep inside her. He wanted her so badly he could taste it. And he intended to taste her. That seemed simple enough, and as hot and sensual as it could get.
"Yes, that"s what I want to do."
Her response, he thought, had been slow in coming. He wondered how she was going to handle knowing that he had arranged to be next door to her, never out of sight or out of mind. He was going to turn borrowing a cup of sugar into his favorite pastime. Sooner or later he would break down her defenses, and as her next-door neighbor, he would take pleasure in doing so.
Chapter 9.
When Blade slowed to a stop at the traffic light, Sam couldn"t help but look over at him, and not surprisingly, their eyes locked. Heat flooded her entire body and she wondered if he could feel it. He said nothing, but continued to stare. They got so caught up in the s.e.xual chemistry transmitting between them that it took a blast from a car"s horn to remind them where they were.
The sound also reminded her where they were going. Her car was still parked at the office and she planned get into it and drive home. And just as she"d told him, she would be going home alone.
Why did the thought of going home alone suddenly seem like such an awful choice, when she could have this s.e.xy man go home with her? He had laid it on thick tonight, oozing s.e.xiness all over the place and reminding her more than once that she hadn"t had a man in her bed in close to four years. Blade was making her feel that certain parts of her body were overdue for a tune-up and some serious repair.
She chuckled to herself. She couldn"t imagine him giving her a quick fix. He would take his time, probably make her beg, and then he would deliver in a way that would be far better than anything she could ever imagine.
But why imagine it when she could have the real thing?
She knew the answer to that question. Like all players, he needed to be taught a lesson, and she couldn"t start letting her emotions get in the way. She couldn"t forget that he was a womanizer who wanted one thing from her and only only one thing. Once she had s.e.x with him, he would move on to the next hard up and willing woman. He wouldn"t care one iota that someone"s heart would get broken. one thing. Once she had s.e.x with him, he would move on to the next hard up and willing woman. He wouldn"t care one iota that someone"s heart would get broken.
Blade was an arrogant man, but not in an intolerable kind of way. She had been out with men who were a lot worse-men who wore the word obnoxious obnoxious around their necks. But she could tell that Blade was a self-a.s.sured man-confident and comfortable with who he was. He wore his c.o.c.kiness proudly, like a designer label. around their necks. But she could tell that Blade was a self-a.s.sured man-confident and comfortable with who he was. He wore his c.o.c.kiness proudly, like a designer label.
He pulled into the parking lot, but instead of stopping beside her car, he circled the lot until he came to a secluded spot with very little lighting, under an arbor of low-hanging trees.
When he brought the car to a stop she glanced over at him. All it took was a look into his eyes to know his intention. "Tell me you"re kidding," she said.
His smile was hot. The hottest thing she"d seen in a long time. He unbuckled his seat belt and slid his seat back. "I never kid when I"m about to make out with a woman."
She lifted a brow. "Make out?"
He reached over and, with a flick of his wrist, her seat belt was unbuckled. "Yes, we"ll start with a few kisses and go from there."
His arrogance was showing. "And you a.s.sume going from there there will be easy for you?" she asked. She could deal with the kisses, and in fact was looking forward to them. will be easy for you?" she asked. She could deal with the kisses, and in fact was looking forward to them.
"I hope so. I want you, Samari Di Meglio. You give a whole new meaning to the word desire desire. I want you to the point that I ache." He drew in what sounded like an angry breath, and said, "h.e.l.l, this is the first time I"ve admitted that to a woman."
A smile curved her lips at the frustration she heard in his voice. "Wow, I"m flattered. A sensual confession. Got any more?"
"What? Sensual confessions?"
"Yes."
A smile touched his lips. "Not tonight." He leaned closer and whispered against her lips, "But I do have something else to give you."
She didn"t have to ask what, and didn"t have time to, anyway. Before she could draw in her next breath, he was there. And when his lips captured hers and he proceeded to slide his tongue into her mouth, while running his fingers through her hair, she couldn"t do anything but close her eyes and moan.
Blade didn"t have time to question why he was feeling so possessive toward this woman, and so needy. He refused to ponder why there was such an urgency to taste her and why she was becoming something he craved. Instead, he allowed his body and mind to tumble out of control while he feasted on her mouth, her lips, her tongue, on everything within his reach.
Her moans were like a symphony to his ears and propelled him to deepen the kiss. With each kiss she responded with a pa.s.sion that matched his own. His stomach clenched each time her tongue stroked his with the same intensity he felt. Their movements were restricted by the confines of the car and the clothes they were wearing, and he could only imagine what it would be like to have her stretched out on a bed beneath him, totally naked.
The thought of that inflamed his pa.s.sion caused a primitive hunger to stir within the depths of his masculinity. Emotions that he couldn"t put a name to suffused him, enveloping all of his senses.
He was playing out one of his wildest fantasies with her. Making out in a parked car with the risk of getting caught gave him an adrenaline rush. Shudders of electricity coursed through his body. Under normal circ.u.mstances, he didn"t take any risks with women. Caution had always been the name of the game. But at that moment, he couldn"t think of anything else but enjoying her.
An alarm went off in his head at the thought that he was headed toward a danger zone, and he quickly pulled his mouth away and drew in a deep breath, taking in the scent of her s.e.xual arousal. With moonlight coming in through the windshield, he could see her clearly. Her body had shifted and her back was pressed against the door. Her clothes no longer looked as neat as they had earlier. One part of her jacket nearly hung off her shoulder and a couple of the b.u.t.tons on her blouse had come undone, revealing what looked like a red lace bra. Red lace? He"d seen red lace before, but why did seeing it on her have the lower part of his body throbbing?
And then there was her skirt, which had risen up her thigh and was barely covering her hips. Her long, beautiful legs were teasing him, making him see her as a delectable morsel to be eaten.
He quickly glanced out the window. He had parked in a dark and secluded area. It was the perfect spot to make out with a woman. He hadn"t done anything like this since high school. h.e.l.l, he was a grown man, not a h.o.r.n.y teenager.
But Samari Di Meglio was making him lose control. His desire for her was making him not think straight. Seeing her like this, with her dark, sultry eyes staring back at him and her moist lips parted, he felt the s.e.xual tension inside him become almost unbearable.
A s.e.xual hunger tore into him-more intense than before. He ignored whatever had triggered the alarm inside his head, and lowered his mouth to hers again. A sensation filled with horrific need ripped through him the moment their mouths connected. She moaned and sank against him as he shifted his body deeper into the arms she had opened to him.
More sensations raced through him when his hand made contact with her thigh. He felt her respond to his touch as she arched her back to get closer. He couldn"t do everything he wanted to do to her in the car right now, but what he would do, what he intended to carry out, would be done in such in a way that she would always remember this place, this time tonight, with him.
Sam felt a sense of loss when Blade slowly pulled his mouth away. She drew in a deep breath, but before she could summon any more of a response than that, she felt his hand continue its trek up her thigh. At the same time his lips brushed lightly across the bare skin above the top of her blouse.
What he was doing with his lips and hands was causing heat to course through her veins in a way that had sensations spiking in other areas of her body. She"d heard about people making out in cars, mostly in the backseat, but she had never done it. Although she was intent on making players pay for their behavior, she drew the line on just how far she would go in her quest for revenge. She enjoyed setting them up, teasing them mercilessly, fueling their fire and then dousing them with cold water. Telling them exactly where they could go-and none too nicely.
For some reason she had made Blade an exception. She was granting him liberties she"d never given any other man-player or otherwise. But she was convinced there had to be a good reason for this madness, and before it was all over she would regain her sanity.
She believed the reason he"d become her weakness was because he was making her feel things she"d never felt before. It could also have been because he evoked the wild, risque fantasies that she had kept hidden for years. They had been locked away, buried, until recently, when she became enraptured by her erotic dreams. Lately, he"d played a starring role in them. It was as if he"d found the key to her innermost s.e.xual fantasies, secrets that she had always wanted to explore. And now she was on the verge of living out her s.e.xual desires.
He lifted his head and met her gaze, and she saw the naked hunger in the depths of the eyes staring back at her. He held fast to her gaze while his fingers inched farther and farther up her thigh, moving toward the juncture of her legs. Within seconds, his fingers had reached their mark and his hand flattened and gently sank into her, as if staking a claim.
She felt the heat of his palm against the crotch of her wet panties, and the contact launched a surge of s.e.xual heat that burned through her. Her breathing intensified while her heart thumped loudly in her chest.
"Remember our conversation earlier tonight about dessert?" he asked in a deep, husky tone. The timbre was so sensual that she felt her pelvis clench.
Yes, she remembered. And their verbal exchange, every single word they had spoken, his innuendo, were still vividly on her mind.
"I remember," she said, barely able to get the words past her lips as heat flooded her belly.
She felt the moment he gripped the hem of her skirt and began inching it up with his free hand, the moment the air surrounding them began cooling her exposed flesh. Now was the time to stop him, to tell him that what he was about to do was totally crazy, insane. She needed to rein him in, take control and remind him they were adults and not hot-and-bothered teenagers with overactive hormones. But her mind and her body dismissed every argument that her brain was trying to make.
Instead, her primal s.e.xual urge overwhelmed any rational thoughts. She couldn"t do anything at that moment but remain still. And the idea made the area under the palm of his hand that much wetter. From the look of the dark eyes staring intensely at her, she knew he was aware of it. The smile that touched his lips, corner to corner, confirmed it.
And then she watched as he lowered his head. Not to her lips, nor to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, but to the area between her thighs.
"Blade!"
She screamed his name the moment she felt his palm being replaced by his mouth, and he began flicking the tip of his tongue against the moist spot in the crotch of her panties. It didn"t seem to bother him that they were practically drenched. The only thing he appeared to care about was savoring the taste of her.
That thought sent a flood of pleasure through her. He gripped her hips and used his teeth to move aside her barely there panties, then proceeded to insert the hot tip of his tongue inside her.
Her body responded immediately to the invasion. Even the leather behind her back seemed to burn at that moment. Sharp, piercing, hot strokes of pleasure shot through every part of her. When he worked her legs over his shoulders and delved his tongue even deeper inside of her, he literally stole her breath.
How had she lived twenty-eight years and never experience something like this? She forced herself to breathe, and when his lips joined his tongue and skated over sensitive flesh, he lapped her right into an o.r.g.a.s.m. Shudders began consuming her and she grabbed hold of his head, to keep him in place.
His tongue and lips continued to stroke, caress and consume her as if it was his due, his every right to send pa.s.sion blazing through her. And as her body continued to shudder and convulse, he held tight to her hips, refusing to release his grip as he continued to use his mouth to give her pleasure.
She screamed his name once more when everything within her body exploded, sending sharp shards of ecstasy spiraling through her. Instead of releasing her, he spread her legs farther and continued to sip her as if she were the finest of wines. His foreplay sent bone-deep sensations all the way to her womb, making her quiver from the inside out.
Her body felt suspended in midair and her senses were wrung tight as her womanly core became drenched with her juices. At that moment she did something she"d never done before-she purred with intense satisfaction. Searing waves of pleasure continued to overtake her, and she closed her eyes while drowning in pure rapture.
Blade didn"t pull back his tongue until he felt the last of Sam"s spasms subside. He licked his lips, thinking that he"d never gone down on a woman like that before, with a hunger that seemed unquenchable. Her taste had tempted him. It had teased and taunted him mercilessly. Even now, the flavor of her womanly fluid had seeped into his tongue, saturated his lips and made the thick veins of his erection pulsate like crazy.
Before he eased his head away from her, he lifted his gaze and met her eyes, which seemed dazed, hazy, stunned. Surely she"d had a man make love to her in that way before. The look in her eyes, her flushed face, took his breath away. He reached out and gently stroked his hand through her hair, which had come undone and was tumbling around her shoulders, making her look downright s.e.xy and sated.
He let his fingers glide through the strands, while fighting the throbbing of his aroused body part. The interior of the car had her intimate scent. The more he inhaled it, the more he wanted of it. Not only did he want to taste her again, fill his mouth with her flavor, but he wanted to sink his shaft into her, feel the wetness that he"d tasted.
He lowered his mouth and kissed her, knowing she could taste the essence of herself on his lips and tongue. The thought of her doing so sent molten blood surging through his veins, and drove his senses wild, so much so he thought he would explode. But he couldn"t stop kissing her. He couldn"t curb the urgency of his tongue as it took hold of hers, stroking, melding, tangling. This was definitely an R-rated kiss if ever there was one.
Finally, he released her mouth and drew in a deep breath as he leaned back against his seat. He wanted to do a lot more than just kiss her, but he knew the confines of the car wouldn"t allow it.
"Blade..."
He shifted to meet her gaze. Her eyes were still hazy with a look of sensuality, and her breathy voice seemed throaty and constrained. "Yes, Sam?"
"I have a sensual confession of my own to make," she whispered, in a tone saturated with the aftereffects of her o.r.g.a.s.m.
He moved closer to her. "What"s your confession?"
"What you did to me down there...no one...ever."
He released a hard, guttural breath as his mind translated what she was saying. He had suspected as much, but her confession confirmed it. She had just admitted that no man had ever done to her what he"d just done. A fierce sense of s.e.xual pride arose in him as he shifted his body to lean closer to her lips, connecting them with his again.
He began devouring her mouth once more, enjoying s.e.xual pleasure everywhere his tongue touched. When she pushed him away, he literally groaned in protest.
"I thought I saw a light, Blade."
He glanced out the window and saw the headlights of what looked like a security patrol car headed their way. He pulled her up on the seat. "Come on. We need to get out of here."
Blade watched as Sam quickly eased up in her seat. He turned on his headlights to give the impression he was about to pull away, and when the patrol car circled the parking lot and left without approaching them, he released a deep breath.
He glanced back over at Sam and saw her straightening her clothes, tugging her skirt down her thighs. Then she ran fingers through her hair and glanced over at him.
Not sure what she was about to say, and really not wanting to risk that it would be something he didn"t want to hear, he leaned over and kissed her again. He then pulled back, looked into her eyes and whispered, "We"ll talk about it tomorrow."
He appreciated that she merely nodded as he backed out of the parking s.p.a.ce. It didn"t take long to reach where her car was parked. As soon as he pulled up beside it, she opened the door and jumped out.
"Sam!" he called after her.
Instead of slowing down she tossed over her shoulder the same line he"d just said. "We"ll talk tomorrow."
He watched as she quickly got into her car, and when her red sports car sped off across the parking lot, he was right behind her.
Sam"s fingers tightened on her steering wheel as she drove through the streets and away from downtown. How did tonight happen? She was supposed to have been the one with the upper hand. But somehow Blade had turned the tables on her, caught her at a weak moment and taken advantage of the fact that she had lowered her guard.
She squeezed her legs together in an attempt to stop the tingling sensation that was still there, actually pulsating out of control. His mouth ought to be outlawed. She drew in a quick breath and then thought, Umm, maybe not. Umm, maybe not.
She shook her head. She wouldn"t want his mouth outlawed, definitely not with the lingering sensations she was feeling now. Once she got home and calmed her enflamed nerves by drinking a cup of herbal tea, she would be able to recover her shattered brain cells and recoup her senses. At least now she was aware just what she was up against, and the next time she would be fully prepared.
To be honest, a part of her, though-definitely not the area between her legs-was hoping there wouldn"t be a next time. Fool that she was, she had even confessed to him that it had been her first time.
"That was real smart, Samari," she muttered angrily to herself as she hit the b.u.t.ton to roll down her car window. The cool night air blowing in her face was what she needed right now.
Sam glanced into the rearview mirror and saw the object of her distraction was following her home again tonight. She couldn"t do anything but smile, thinking that at least she would have the upper hand in something. He evidently a.s.sumed he had primed her for the next phase of her seduction, and that she was so hot and bothered that she would tell the attendant at the security gate to let him through. It wouldn"t surprise her if Blade was already wearing a condom in antic.i.p.ation.
When she came to a traffic light her thoughts went back to what had happened in his parked car. Talk about something that had definitely been wild and risque. And to make matters worse, she had been so absorbed in what he"d been doing to her that she hadn"t given much thought to where they were parked. Frank, who usually worked from nine at night to nine the next morning, had a habit of driving around the parking lot as part of his security duties. What if he had caught them in a compromising position? Talk about major embarra.s.sment.
She frowned when she saw that Blade was still following behind her as she turned into the driveway toward the security gate. He actually thought she would be gullible enough to tell the guard that it would be okay to let him through. The corners of her lips curved in a wicked smile. She would take great pleasure in bursting his arrogant bubble. She brought her car to a stop. The attendant recognized her and the security arm was lifted.
As she drove through, she glanced back in the rearview mirror. When she saw Blade stopping at the station, she smiled as she kept on going. He would probably claim that he was with her, but the attendant on duty would not let him through under any circ.u.mstances without her consent, which she hadn"t given. That would serve Blade right, for a.s.suming he had the upper hand after what had happened tonight.