Bound Temptations: Stories of Temptation and Submission (10 page)

They'd reached Cole's car.
And he was staring at her. Looking over at him, she smiled slowly.
"Not on your life." Toying with the lapel of his coat, she studied
him in the dim, silvery light. It was a strange light, one that
appeared only on snowy winter nights. "Your place?
Mine?"

"Mine. If that's okay. It's
only four minutes from here, and I'm going to die if I wait much
longer than that," he said flatly.

Rocki chuckled, but the
laugh ended abruptly as he caught the back of her head and pulled
her against him. His tongue pushed between her lips and she gasped,
caught off guard. The sheer hunger in his kiss had her shaking,
left her head spinning—oh, damn. Oh, oh, damn. This was...this.
Just this. She'd missed this.

Desperate for more, she
moved closer only to have him pull away. "Damn it, now. We're
leaving now," he growled. He jerked open the door for her and she
stared at him, a little bemused, still dazed from that
kiss.

"You're making my head
spin." Groaning, she slid into the car. She wanted to wilt back
into the plush leather, but the bad thing about the corset she
wore—there was no wilting. She settled for closing her eyes and
resting her hands on her thighs to keep from reaching for him. She
was afraid if she did that she might end up trying to crawl all
over him in the damn car—with her luck, somebody would see them and
word would get all over. She'd never live it down.

Even with the snow, Cole
made it in good time, although it took longer than four minutes.
Close to six, she decided. Six long minutes. The entire six
minutes, she was reliving that kiss, the way he'd looked at her,
the way her skin buzzed when he touched her. Her body was all but
vibrating with arousal by the time his car came to a
halt.

She opened her eyes, but the
soft, golden glow of lights distracted her before she could look
over at him. She did a double-take. "Ah...you live
here?"

"For the time
being."

She stared. He lived at the
Centre. It was like...well, hell, the rich lived there. The young
rich, generally. Once upon a time, she'd daydreamed about having
the money to live someplace that nice. But that had been before
reality and life had intruded. Still...

She
couldn't help but stare as a uniformed doorman came out to open the
door for her.
Oooo-kay
.

As he came around to join
her, she slid him a narrow look. ColeStanton was seriously loaded.
Nerves hit her then, hard and fast. His hand came up and touched
her back. "You okay?"

She swallowed. Wondered if
she should back out of this...

No
-

"I'm fine."

Something had made her
nervous. The way her eyes had tightened, gotten darker, the way
she'd nervously glanced at him and Billy as he'd opened the door
for her, all of it. Cole suspected he even knew what it was-some
women just loved the fact that he had money. Some didn't
care.

Others…well, it made them
uncomfortable. He wasn't going to worry about it now.

Not now, because it didn't
matter.

They mattered. Everything
else was small stuff as far as he was concerned.

He tossed his keys to Billy
without another word. If they lingered too long, she might change
her mind again. Damn it, he'd died of perpetual horniness if that
happened. He didn't think he'd been stuck in this state since high
school.

It took sixty seconds to get
her inside the elevator—the ride up to his floor would take another
sixty. As the door closed behind them, he came up behind her and
rested his hands on her shoulders, staring at her in the gold
mirrored reflection along the back wall of the small box lifting
them higher and higher. "You ever made love in an
elevator?"

Rocki stared at him for a
split second and then she started to laugh. "No. Ah...no. Nor do I
intend to."

"Why not?" He slid his hands
down a little lower, letting his fingers tease the very edge where
her corset stopped, dipping inside. She shivered.

"Ah...elevators are
public."

He lowered his head and
pressed his lips to her shoulder. "This one isn't."

She tensed. "You're
serious?"

"Nah." He shrugged. The door
opened behind him and he stepped back, waited for her to turn.
"Shall we?"

"Oh, yes ..."

As the
door closed behind her, Rocki told herself,
Don't think. Relax.

Don't think.
Relax…

Except she couldn't stop
thinking. She couldn't relax. She hadn't expected this…elegance. Or
the obvious wealth that surrounded her. She'd grown up strictly
middle class and this was…well, kind of unsettling. But not
unsettling enough, because even as uncomfortable as she was, she
couldn't stop thinking about Cole.

Couldn't stop thinking about
how damn beautiful he was…that rumpled silk hair and those
whiskey-gold eyes, about how he made her heart do the damnedest
little flutter when he looked at her, his mouth quirking up at the
corners.

But then he touched her.
Breath lodged in her lungs and thought…stopped. It just
stopped.

As he lowered his head,
Rocki stared at him. Panic exploded through her. She licked her
lips, tried to make herself breathe, at least one breath, before he
kissed her so she didn't pass out.

He didn't kiss her mouth,
though.

His lips came down on her
shoulder, brushed against the skin left bare there, coming up
against the strap of her corset where it hooked to the sleeve. "The
way you smell," he muttered. "It drives me nuts."

Turning her face toward him,
she breathed him in. "Hmm. I could say the same thing about you."
She couldn't even define what it was about him...just musky. Male.
She could smell whatever shampoo he used—it smelled expensive, she
decided, but understated and subtle. Made sense, considering the
lay of the land, she mused. The same for the aftershave. She rubbed
her cheek against his and shivered a little at the roughness
there.

Rocki loved that five
o'clock shadow on a man.

A long-fingered hand stroked
down her shoulder, toying with the laces that held her sleeves on
before moving down. "You want a drink?" he murmured.

"No." Rocki eased back,
staring into his eyes. "I just want you."

Those golden eyes could
flash so hot, she thought. Her belly went tight and her knees
weren't feeling all that steady, either. Damn it. Licking her lips,
she lifted her hands and gripped the front of his shirt. Hoarsely,
she repeated, "I just want you."

Cole closed his
eyes.

His hand curled around the
nape of her neck, warm and hard, calloused just enough. "You want
to drive me insane, I think," he whispered, pressing his brow to
hers.

"Now why would I wanna do
that?" She smiled, leaning close enough that their mouths
touched.

"Because I suspect you enjoy
driving people crazy." Cole eased away. "Do I pretend interest in
showing you around the place or do you care?"

"I don't. Not in the least.
You can do that later. Or on our second date."

"The second?"

"Yes." Rocki grinned at him.
"I don't sleep with guys on the first date. And this isn't a date,
remember, so it doesn't count."

Cole stared at her for a
long moment and then started to laugh. "I think you might be
insane." Then he held out his hand, just like he had earlier—and
also just like earlier...she accepted.

Not since the night of high
school graduation had Cole been this nervous. It had been at Sandy
Kempff's beach party that he'd lost his virginity, in the pool
house after everybody else had left. He'd been eighteen, a bit of a
late bloomer compared with some of his friends, but he'd still been
more geek than anything else.

And Rocki was going to blow
that experience with Sandy out of the water, he already
knew.

Shit. He shouldn't be this
nervous. He knew he shouldn't. Trying not to let it show, he led
her to his room, hitting just one panel of lights. They came on in
a soft, warm glow. Along the eastern wall, the windows faced out
over the city and he watched as she wandered over to it, a smile on
her lips.

"Beautiful view," she said
quietly. "I love the city at night. It's so peaceful."

"Well, until you hear sirens
wailing."

Rocki made a face at him.
"Pessimist."

"Realist," he corrected. He
went over to the gas fireplace and hit the switch, watching the
flames leap to life. "Screaming sirens don't happen too often, but
they do shatter the peace."

Rocki laughed. "Well, there
is that." She turned and sauntered over to him. "We'll just have to
make sure we're too preoccupied to notice them tonight."

"I can handle that." He had
no problem blocking out the wail of a siren. The problem was he
wasn't so sure he could handle her. His throat was tight and dry,
his hands sweating. And, damn it, he knew he needed to be talking,
needed to be saying things—responsible things, adult things—but all
he wanted to do was go to his knees and just stare at
her.

No. Not right. He wanted to
go to his knees after he'd stripped her naked and fucked her. But
responsible—he'd be responsible.

Swallowing, he turned away
and moved away from her. Not toward the bed. The fireplace again.
Safer. Wasn't close to her, wasn't close to the bed. Safer.
Right.

Until he looked into the
mirror that had come with the apartment and saw her coming closer.
Aw, shit.

Although it was hard to do
without grabbing her, he made himself do it anyway. Turning, he
looked Rocki square in the eye.

"I've got protection here,"
he said, forcing the words out before he couldn't speak at all.
"Also had a blood workup done just a few weeks ago. Needed it for a
life insurance policy I was doing for...well, something that's not
going to happen now."

She stopped in front of him
and touched his cheek. "It still makes you sad," she
murmured.

He caught her hand. "No."
Pressing his lips to her palm, he stared at her. "It really
doesn't. I just don't want to be thinking about anything else now
except you. The logical, adult part of me insists I be logical and
adult, though."

Rocki smiled at him. "Very
responsible of you, Cole. I admire that. I'm healthy as a horse."
She sighed and gazed at herself in the mirror, although he doubted
she saw her reflection or much of anything. "There's been nobody
since my husband died."

He'd suspected that. Hearing
it, though, left him rather floored.

Somehow, it managed to cool
the fire in his blood...even as it made him that much more nervous.
Reaching up, he cupped her cheek in his hand.

"You sure you want to do
this?"

"I've never been more sure
of anything in my life." Rocki covered his hand with hers. Her dark
eyes stared into his, and a faint smiled curled her lips. "That may
sound insane...but very often life is. So there you go."

"Life's insane?" He stroked
his thumb over her lower lip. "Does that mean this is,
too?"

“
Oh, I'm quite certain this
is insane." She caught his thumb between her teeth and bit down
gently.

"Seems rather right to
me."

Rocki leaned against him and
Cole suspected the ability to think, to talk—hell, even
breathing—might become difficult here in the next few minutes.
"Most insane people think they are perfectly sane." She hooked her
fingers in his waistband. "Come on. Lets go lose our minds
together."

It was, without a doubt, one
of the most appealing invitations he'd ever received.

Without letting himself
think about it another second, he caught one of her hands and
twined their fingers, leading her to the bed. The black silk she
wore glowed against her skin and unable to resist another second,
he closed his hands around her waist, stroking up, then down. "You
know, I still say I could easily develop a fetish for these things.
As long as you're the one wearing them."

Rocki chuckled. "Well, I
tend to wear them more for the store than anything else. But I have
to say, I did like seeing the look in your eyes." She caught her
lip between her teeth and reached up, catching the dark wealth of
her hair in her hands. Slowly, she turned around, baring her back.
Cole groaned as he caught a glimpse of the thin strip of her spine
left bare by the laces.

"Think you can figure out
how to undo it?" She let her hair fall over one shoulder, peering
back at him over the other.

"Ah, maybe we shouldn't do
that yet. The second I get you naked, I'm going to lose any bit of
control I've got."

Rocki grinned. "Good." Then
she rolled her shoulders. "Come on, Cole. Either you do it, or I
will."

Well...since she put it that
way. He reached for the laces, taking his time as he studied them.
It wasn't a quick process either, he realized. The top and the
bottom, all of it had to be loosened. And because he knew he hadn't
been exaggerating by much, he drew it out even more, pausing here
and there to stroke his fingers along her spine, to brush a stray
lock of hair out of the way.