Ask For It (5 page)

“Are you going to show it to me?”

His jaw almost dropped. But he caught himself in time to utter “If you ask nicely.” Her nostrils flared. And then her cheeks turned a charming shade of pink.

They stared at each other for a few long seconds before they both burst out laughing.

“Pretty please,” she whispered. That look of uncertainty filled her eyes as her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red.

Deciding to forgo the pleasure of eating her out, he stood up. Unable to help himself, he leaned back in for a scorching kiss and quickly got swept away. Her hands moved to his fly and after a few too many heartbeats he was free. His hands joined hers and he pushed his jeans and boxers down to his knees.

He needed her now. With a single minded determination that had made him as famous as his touch down dances, he slid a hand between her legs and dipped a finger into her. Tight and slippery, he worked his finger in an out a few times. Added another. Thrust them deeper.

Fuck. Just fingering her made him ready to shoot off.

They were so close, all he had to do was pucker and he could kiss her. As if reading his thoughts, she pulled his lower lip between her teeth and his cock jerked toward her. And since he’d let go of her arms, her hands caressed his skin with an urgency that stole his breath.

She reached his cock and closed her hands around him. Cool but strong fingers caressed the length of him and he gasped. She took advantage, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. A zing of surprise traveled down his spine. He liked this side of her. A lot. Playful, sensual, taking rather than being a passive stander-by. Damn, he couldn’t wait to delve inside her.

He pulled back long enough to remember protection.

“Damn.”

“What?”

“I don’t have a condom.”

“Damn,” she echoed in that sweet southern drawl.

If his balls hadn’t been turning blue, he would have laughed at her pitch perfect declaration that mirrored his frustration to a T.

Slowly and with great effort, he removed his fingers from the warm, slick center of her body. Rather than look at her and all that he was missing, he backed up and turned away. Mentally he calculated the distance to the nearest drugstore. He didn’t live in this part of the city anymore but he thought there was one three blocks up.

Who was he kidding? Julia Fairchild deserved more than a quick lay in the back of an old shoe store. But Lord if she wasn’t his teenage fantasy come to life. He’d worked in this shop every summer from the time he was sixteen until he went to college. He’d imagined, more than once, a beautiful girl coming through the front door and stealing him off to the back room to have her wicked way with him.

But that was the kicker. Julia was more than a fantasy. She was…the real deal. Warm, willing woman. The woman he’d always had a little thing for.

Back room shagging wasn’t how he wanted their first time to be, despite what his cock said.

Hoping his balls would forgive him he took a deep breath to steal himself and turned back to her. She stared up at him with big, expressive eyes.

She was waiting for him to find the solution. He just hoped she’d approve.

Bending over, he retrieved her panties. Good Lord they were minuscule. And see through. And
wet
.

Biting back a groan, he held them out to her. “Put these on and button up.”

She looked more than a little disappointed. “Why?”

“I’m taking you to dinner.” Something he should have done a long time ago.

CHAPTER FIVE

Las Vegas

Cindy Smith stared out at the Vegas strip, excitement bubbling through her. It’d been three weeks since she’d seen Adam and their parting kiss had been on her mind ever since. Some moments she still couldn’t believe what she’d done. How she’d gone from teaching the tech support guy a lesson to having sex on his desk. Then going to dinner with him followed by a long night of horizontal (and vertical) activity in her hotel room.

The knock at the door pulled her back from memory land and she strode over to look through the peep hole. Adam’s dark brown hair, brilliant blue eyes and kissable lips filled her view. She flipped the lock, slid out the safety chain and wrenched open the door.

“Hi,” she said, smiling and ready to throw herself into his arms.

So much for playing it cool, Cindy.

He took two steps forward to close the space between them. She heard him drop something to the floor an instant before he pulled her against him. Without the added height from her high heels she had to tip her head back a little to look up at him. “Hi yourself,” he said and then he kissed her.

Not a sweet “I’ve missed you” kiss, but hard and demanding. It curled her toes and made her lose her head. He turned her and she felt the wall at her back.

Adam anchored her against the wall with his hips while his hands traveled her body, familiarizing himself with her curves again. Damn, he’d missed her. More than he thought it possible to miss a woman. Boy had he been wrong.

She threaded her fingers through his hair, keeping his lips against hers. He spent too much time working to date a lot, but he’d never been kissed the way she kissed him. Like she wanted to be as close to him as humanly possible. Like she never wanted to be separated and didn’t care if she never breathed again.

He nipped her lower lip and was rewarded with a throaty moan.

Who would have thought the gorgeous bombshell who’d stormed into his office with the force of a hand grenade would be back in Vegas, in his arms?

He’d promised himself they’d go slow this time around. Dinner. Talking. Maybe even take in the sights. His cock obviously had other plans. But for once, he was overriding that part of his anatomy.

With all the willpower he possessed, he severed the kiss. But that didn’t stop her lips from trailing down his jaw. Hot damn, that made him shiver. From the beginning, she’d seemed to know just how to touch him. Just what to do to drive him slowly out of his mind.

He was looking forward to returning the favor.

“You smell good,” she moaned against his throat, pressing hot kisses against his skin.

“So do you.” Like cherries.

He took a step back. “I brought you a present.”

She pulled her lower lip between her teeth and let it slide out slowly. Then she gave him a coy smile. “For me?”

He reached for the large shopping bag and headed for the small round table in the corner. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. They’d talked on the phone every night since she left. And although she still refused to tell him her real name he’d done some sleuthing.

He didn’t like deception, but he understood her reasons for keeping her privacy intact. After all, he was just some guy she’d met and messed around with one weekend. And just because he lived and worked in Vegas didn’t make the old “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” any less true.

At least not until she’d come back to be with him again.

He knew all about her girlfriends, her apartment, her family, even her orange and white cat, Gizmo. And he’d shared plenty about himself as well.

Their relationship reminded him of his grandmother’s stories about the nice boy she’d met just before he’d left for the war and how they’d gotten to know each other through letters. The nice young boy, by then a man, had come back from the war and immediately asked her to marry him.

Adam realized that without a physical connection…when there was nothing but phones, emails, text messaging and the occasional video chat, that left a lot of time for ‘getting to know each other.’

Which made him curious why she was still being mysterious about her identity after three weeks. He felt like they’d moved past the awkward “this is new” phase and were friends. And lovers. Definitely lovers.

He pulled a small vase of purple flowers out first.

“Freesia…” she said on a sigh and dipped her face closer to the fragrant blooms. “My favorite.”

“I remember.” He remembered everything she said. Like the fact that each spring she and her girlfriends went and got matching pedicures.
Happy toes
they called them because each toe was painted a different, bright, fun color. He remembered that Gizmo had been a stray, taken in by a rescue organization and loved being spoiled even though she still relished gutting her toys.

He pulled a canvas mouse with a long yarn tale out of the bag next. “Something for Gizmo.”

Her lovely pale blue eyes beamed up at him and her smile tipped his world. “Thank you.” She sounded breathless and full of joy. “She’ll love it!”

“Now something for us.” He pulled out a bottle of wine and two plastic cups. She’d told him about how she and her friends liked to try a new wine each week. While he was more of a hard cider guy, a glass of wine with a beautiful woman was no hardship. Especially when it made her grin like that. “Should we order some dinner to go with this?”

“Are you on the menu?” she asked, shifting so her hips met his.

“I’m dessert,” he murmured against her upturned lips. “Now stop trying to distract me.”

She frowned, sticking out her lower lip. Damn she was adorable. Beautiful and adorable; what a combination.

He poured the wine and reached around her for the menu. “They have chicken marsala,” he said, knowing it was one of her favorites. “What else looks good?”

Still pouting, she turned and looked down at the menu. “Mmm... Bacon cheeseburger with barbecue sauce.”

“I’ll get that then. We can share.”

She looked up at him again with that expression he couldn’t quite decipher. The frown was gone and her eyes were soft and dreamy.

He settled himself onto the bed, glass between his legs and reached for the phone to place the order. She curled up next to him and sipped her wine as he talked with the kitchen.

“This is really good. I’ll have to make a note for next time the girls are over,” she said as he hung up.

“Good. Glad you like it.” He took a sip. “Now,” he turned toward her. “Are you ever going to tell me your real name?”

Cindy took a long sip of her wine before turning to the man at her side.

“You remember that book you were looking at? The day we met…”

At the time she’d told him her name was Athena to protect her identity and add a hint of mystery to the experience. And he’d asked her a half dozen times since then, but she had a feeling he’d already figured it out. It wasn’t like she’d kept many other details of her life a secret.

Just her name and occupation.

But he was one smart cookie. Who would have thought she’d be so into geeks? She’d obviously underestimated brain power.

He nodded.

She had a feeling he’d already put two and two together. “That’s me. Cindy Smith. Erotica author.”

The corner of his lips turned up. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“You already knew didn’t you?”

“Just because you set up a new email address didn’t mean you could hide, babe.”

She let out a fake frustrated sigh and bumped her shoulder against his.

“You’re not mad are you?”

She shook her head. “But I should be. Then we could have make up sex.”

Those masterful lips turned into an outright grin that made her heart ache a little as it pounded in her chest. She reached up and pressed a hand over the thundering organ. How did he do that?

He finished his wine, set the glass aside and then turned back to her. “Sounds good to me.”

He quickly saved her glass from a certain spill and then pulled her beneath him. Giggling, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him. He ducked his head and proceeded to kiss her into oblivion. When there was a loud knock at the door, they came up for air. Groaning, he pressed a kiss against her forehead and then shoved off the bed.

Already? That had to be the fastest damn room service in history. Blowing out a sigh, she combed her fingers through her hair and sat up. A minute or so later he had the table set and the delicious scent of chicken marsala hit her.

“Smells delicious,” she said, taking the seat he held for her. A gentleman. Who knew they still existed under the age of fifty? The girls would be delighted to hear that.

The question was, would he keep it up? Was chivalry ingrained in him or was he simply romancing her?

Pondering the question and wondering why men like the heroes she wrote about didn’t seem to really exist outside her novels, she took a bite. And moaned.

“Best room service ever.”

He cut the hamburger down the middle and offered her half. Maybe he
was
born a gentleman. She gave him half of her chicken and pasta.

“You’re right.” He said a moment later, those clear blue eyes rolling back in his head. She liked that he obviously enjoyed food as much as she did.

“Fries are a tad over done.” But it’s not like that’d stop her from indulging.

She was all about portion control and out of this world flavor.

“I’m glad you came back out here,” he said and topped off her wine.

“Me too.” She wouldn’t be able to claim this trip on her taxes since it wasn’t the least bit work related, but that didn’t matter.

“I’d like to come visit you some time. When things settle back down at work…”

“Settle back down?” She swiped one of the fries off his plate and started munching.

“Well, this crazy, beautiful woman stalked into my office a few weeks ago and tied me up. She demanded that my company provide better customer service,” he said in a droll tone.

“You’re kidding,” she said in mock horror.

“What happened?”

He grinned across the table, the look setting her insides on fire. He was absolutely dazzling. Geeky, dazzling and thoughtful. Perhaps she had the heroes in her books all wrong.

“You know what happened…” he said quietly, his voice a little tight. She kicked off her shoe and ran her foot up the inside of his leg. Sure enough, he was hard as a rock. Feeling the long, steely length of him brought a flood of moisture between her thighs.

“I meant… after that. With work?”