Do You Trust Me? (13 page)

The soft hair of his
chest was like a sensuous blanket against her back and his hands like warm
cradles holding her breasts. Her fingers plucked at her still sensitive, aching
nipples. The liquid of her arousal trickled down the inside of her thigh,
mingling with the spray of the shower.

“Would you like to
feel me inside you, Rina? Maybe in your ass? God, I can hardly wait.” His lips
were right at her ear, his breath a whisper against her skin, the heat of his
body greater than the water. “You loved the feeling of the plug inside you,
didn’t you?” His breath hissed between his teeth. “Tonight, it will be my cock
you feel there.”

He reached for the
bar of soap, working up a thick lather, which he began stroking over her body.
When he reached her pubic curls, he rubbed the soap into them as if shampooing
them.

“Your curls are so
soft. But you know what would be even better? If that hot little mound was
completely naked. Bare, so every inch of it showed. Would you let me shave it
for you, Rina?”

For a brief moment,
she placed one hand almost protectively over her mound. Then she gulped in a
breath, swallowed hard and nodded.

“Tonight,” he
promised. “Tonight, I’m going to make the delicious cunt as naked as the day
you were born.”

He lifted one leg and
rested her foot on the rim of the tub, sliding his soapy fingers deep into her
sheath. Just as he’d promised, his thumb found her sex and began a slow,
circular massage. She was glad his arm was holding her upright, or she’d have
collapsed on the floor of the tub. Every pulse inside her pounded until her
body throbbed everywhere.

She was so lost in
the pleasure of McCall’s fingers probing inside her and stimulating her that it
almost didn’t register when he massaged thick lather into the cleft of her
buttocks and slipped a finger into her rectum. She jerked slightly.

“Don’t tense, baby,”
he whispered. “Go with it. I’m just going to relax you for the afternoon.”

As the fingers of one
hand plunged into her pussy again, his thumb circling her clit, two fingers of
the other hand pressed into her hot, dark tunnel. His tongue traced the line of
her ear, tickling and teasing.

“Oh, my god.” She
shivered all over at the multiple assaults on her senses. Her body was not her
own any more, totally controlled by the strong, hard man stimulating and
filling her.

“I can feel you,” he
said in that same soft voice. “You’re almost ready to come, aren’t you?”

She nodded.

“Say it,” he
commanded. “Tell me the words.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” she
chanted. “I’m ready. I want to come.”

The fingers in both
her channels moved faster. She leaned her hands on the wall in front of her,
water cascading over them, as he finally took her over the edge. He held her in
the clasp of both hands as her vaginal muscles clamped down on his fingers like
a vise. Spasms rolled through her like tidal waves.

When the last little
ripple subsided, he slipped both hands from her body and lowered her foot back
to the tile floor. When he pulled her back to him, she felt his heart thud
against her, beating in cadence with hers. He hadn’t come, concentrating only
on her, and his cock was still hard as steel.

Tonight, McCall.
Tonight I’ll give it all back to you.

At last, he turned
her and placed a hungry kiss on her lips. When he drew back, his hands cupped
her cheeks and he blinked the water out of his eyes. “I think I’m losing my
mind. That’s the only excuse I can find for this fire I can’t seem to put out.”

“But-”

He placed a fingertip
on her lips. “It’s too late to stop it. I just hope it doesn’t burn us both
alive. When this is all over...”

“We’ll worry about it
then,” she finished for him.

“Maybe. We’ll see. I
can’t make promises.”

“And I’m not asking
for any.”

He reached for a wash
cloth. “Meanwhile, we’d better shower for real and get dressed. Lunch will be
up pretty soon.”

It took the better
part of a half hour, a tube of concealer, and most of the bottle of her
foundation makeup to cover the bruises on her face. A dusting of powder helped
even more. When she was satisfied she’d done the best she could, she dressed
for the afternoon in a simple tailored dress and low heels, with a wide gold
necklace and tiny hoop earrings. The heavy curls of her thick hair were caught
at the nape of her neck with a gold clip that matched the gold of her jewelry.
She was the epitome of professionalism, but she could see from the flare of
heat in McCall’s eyes that he was remembering her as she was only moments ago
in the shower. A ghost of a smile drifted across his face.

“Okay.” He led her
out to the elevator. “Here’s the drill. When we get to Books Galore, we’ll walk
in together. It’s very natural for your lover”—his lips twisted on the word—”to
stick close to you.”

“Close. Fine.” She couldn’t
look at him. Just the word ‘lover’ dampened her fresh panties and sent tingles
through her breasts.

“Gage and Les and the
others will already be there,” he continued. “Do not look around for them,
though. We want this to be completely routine, nothing different than you’ve
done before. We don’t know who might be watching. We’ll go to whatever room
they have set up for the pre-signings, then to the open area.”

“Don’t forget Laurel’s planning to show up, full of questions, I’m sure.”

McCall made a sound
of disgust. “That woman sounds like a pest,” he told her. “You should choose
your friends more carefully.”

“Laurel has her
faults, but she’s been very good to me,” Rina pointed out. “And she’s a great
travel agent. She always manages to get me awesome ticket prices.”

“Did you ever think
how convenient it is for a travel agent to be best friends with a famous author?
Someone who could throw a lot of business her way?”

Since she’d been
thinking exactly the same thing that morning, she barely kept herself from
flinching. “You’re cynical, McCall. You don’t trust anyone.”

“I can’t afford to,”
he said quietly, and that simple statement brought it all back to her again.

Shar was waiting for
them with the rear door open when they parked in the small lot behind the book
store.

“Hi! Shar Fontaine.”
She reached out her hand, and McCall shook it. “You must be the boyfriend.”

“I don’t think
boyfriend quite...” Rina began.

“That’s me. Nice to
meet you.”

“Nice choice, Rina.”
Shar winked at her, then took a harder look at her face, touching the bruises
with the tip of a finger. “I hope the new boyfriend didn’t do this.”

McCall tensed, but
Rina moved Shar’s hand away gently. “I thought I covered them up pretty well.
And no, McCall didn’t do it. Believe me on that. It’s a long story, and one we
don’t have time for now.”

Shar looked from Rina
to McCall and shrugged. “If you say so. Come on. It’s already jammed in the
store. The manager’s letting us use her office for before and after. And I
brought some of the posters for March second with me. The manager put some up
around the store. Thought you’d like to have a couple for yourself, too, since
your picture’s included.”

“Are these the
posters they’ve been sending out for the past year?”

Shar nodded. “How
they got the president to commit this far in advance I’ll never know, except
for the fact that he’s a sixth generation Texan.”

“More headaches for
the Secret Service,” McCall muttered, looking over her shoulder at the crowd
gathering inside.

He immediately shifted
into alert mode, glancing up and down the back end of the strip center,
scanning the parking lot. She knew he was mentally cataloguing the people
getting in and out of cars.

He doesn’t miss a
thing
.

“Sorry there’s not
more space.” Ellen Barton, the manager, ushered them into her office. “But we’ve
got all the books set for you to sign, with notes on each one.” She grinned. “I
had them clean the place up so you could meet with the reporters in here
afterwards.”

“I really appreciate
this,” Rina told her. “I’m sorry to make such a problem.”

“Not to worry. It’s
good for sales.” Another grin and she was gone to the main part of the store.

“I’m going to mingle
and listen,” Shar said and moved away.

“Reporters?” McCall
snapped. “Is that a little detail you left off the list, like your friend, Laurel?”

“Only one, actually. Just
a writer from the Express-News. The publicity’s good for me, and it won’t take
long.” She took a seat behind the desk. “This, however, will take a while. You
might get bored. Are you sure you don’t want to go find Gage or something?”

“Gage is a big boy.
He doesn’t need me to hold his hand. And there is no way in hell I’m going to
be more than two inches away from you until we leave here.”

By the time she’d
finished with the stacks of books, Rina was sure her hand wouldn’t make it
through the main part of the program. But Ellen had thoughtfully left her
bottled water and ice, so she sat back, kicked off her shoes, and dangled her
hand in the ice cubes.

McCall looked at her
curiously. “Ice?”

“My hand gets swollen
when I sign a lot. No big deal. They always have ice for me. We’ve got about
ten minutes so I can recharge myself.”

“When you go out to
the snake pit out there, I will be right with you. Introduce me as a friend who’s
visiting. Let people draw their own conclusions.” He gave her a feral smile. “Maybe
the thought of a lover will spice up your sales.”

“My sales spice up
all by themselves, thank you very much.”

“You know the rules.
Sully wants me to stick closer to you than your own skin, and I agree with him.”

“If you’re supposed
to be my lover, I hope you can put a more pleasant expression on your face. I
wouldn’t want my readers to think making love to me was a painful experience.”

“I am your lover,” he
told her quietly. “And making love to you is hardly painful. It’s—”

A knock at the door
interrupted him, and Shar poked her head inside. “They’re ready for you, honey.”

Rina stood up. “Let’s
do it, then.”

The book store was
packed, the early birds in line, others waiting their turn. McCall held tightly
to her elbow, guiding her through the lines of people waiting to see her.
Several of them called out her name, and she smiled and waved at everyone.

“This is nothing less
than a nightmare,” he muttered. “Anyone can pop out of this throng at any time.”

“Isn’t that why you’re
here?” she asked in an edgy voice.

“Over here, Rina,” a
voice called out.

Shar materialized at
her other side, leading her to the table that had been set up. Rina sat down,
pulled a stack of pens closer to her and nodded that she was ready.

McCall stationed
himself not more than an inch away. He knew he was crowding her, but he didn’t
dare leave even an inch for someone to crawl into. So he stood immobile, like a
stone statue, as she signed book after book, smiled at people, exchanged
greetings, posed for snapshots. The whole process was driving him nuts.

“How do you do it?”
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I’d shoot myself if I had to go
through this all the time.”

“Then let’s be
thankful you don’t,” she whispered back.

His gaze never
stopped roaming the crowd, seeking likely suspects, watching for anything
unusual. Gage and the others were doing the same thing, or at least they’d
better be. If they were lucky, they’d get through this without an incident,
although the whole thing was giving him a headache.

He knew she was
secretly hoping her appearance here today would draw these people out in the
open so he and his men could grab them. The plan might sound good in theory,
but McCall knew exactly how dangerous something like that could be.

Finally, they were
done, the last book signed, the last hand shaken, the last photo snapped. The reporter
was waiting off to the side with Shar.

“Good show, Rina.” Laurel had materialized from somewhere. “I insist on taking the two of you out for a drink
to celebrate. I want to get to know this hunk a lot better.” She winked at
McCall.

He cringed inwardly.
How did Rina not see this woman for the barracuda she was?

“Thank you.” He made
his voice pleasant but distant. “We appreciate it, but Rina and I have plans.”

“Oh.” Laurel pasted a smile on her face. “Well, perhaps tomorrow. After all, Rina and I are best
friends and we share everything.” She tried to slide her hand through the crook
of his elbow.

“I think we’ll be
keeping pretty much to ourselves while I’m here.” He extricated himself
smoothly and moved a pace away. “As a matter of fact, we need to get going
right after her interview. But thanks, anyway.”

They left Laurel standing in the aisle, an unpleasant look on her face.