Fascination (8 page)

Her shoulders sagged a little. “True.”

“But it’s in the past.”

Her eyes raised to his again. “Yes.”

Taking a deep breath, he stood, walking to the rail and staring out over the water. After a few moments he realized she’d joined him, standing only a few inches away.

“You had a good time today.”

Her brow furrowed. She seemed confused by his comment, so he elaborated.

“With EJ. Working on the code. It must have been like old times. You want back in.”

He felt more than saw her pull back from him, her chin kissing up as it always did when she was settling in for a fight.

“Don’t try to trap me, Ian, asking questions like that.”

“But it’s true, isn’t it?”

“Not the way you think. I do want to return to working with computers in some professional—and
legal
—capacity. I love it and I’m good at it. Do you think the desire to do it just goes away?”

“It should, perhaps, after what you’ve gone through. Or maybe even if you still want it, you shouldn’t get too close. I’m surprised you’re so eager, really, to find that kind of work.”

She expelled a frustrated breath. “Ian, it’s not like being an alcoholic. I’ll never work on viruses again, not
in terms of writing them. But I would be good at prevention work, security. I know I would be.”

“Kind of like a drug addict using legal drugs to get their fix.”

Her jaw set again.

“That’s ridiculous. It’s a talent I have. It’s what I know. Do you just expect me to work at useless jobs for the rest of my life?”

“You could reeducate. Be something else. A teacher.”

“I have absolutely no urge to teach unless it’s computer science. I want to work with technology. There’s nothing else I love as much.”

She turned to him, her hand closing around his arm, somehow physically urging him to understand. “Besides, I was a kid back then. Impressionable. Stupid. I admit that, but I’m not either of those things now. And you know, maybe working from the right side of the law, I can help prevent some computer crimes from happening. Make up for what I did before.”

“And will that be enough, Sage? Won’t you secretly be dying for more? To push past the boundaries, to test the limits? Isn’t that more your style?”

The air crackled between them, and he was incredibly aware of that delicate but strong hand on his arm. Desire rocked through him and just became more intense as she edged closer, a wicked dare in her gaze.

“Are you asking me that? Or yourself? Maybe we’re two of a kind—both wanting something we aren’t sup
posed to have. Intoxicating, isn’t it?” She moved her fingers over his skin ever so slightly. “Aren’t
you
secretly dying for more, Ian? Don’t you want to cross the line again? Afraid to let yourself, though, aren’t you?” She moved a step closer, looking up into his face. “Afraid to let yourself have me?”

He stepped back quickly, pulling his arm back as if it had been burned.

“You’re a game player, aren’t you, sweetheart?”

“No more so than yourself. We’re more alike than you think.”

“Right. This afternoon you were all over EJ—the two of you like peas in a pod. I guess it’s the man of the moment for you, whoever can get you where you need to go? You’ll do me if I don’t arrest you. Would you do EJ just as easily if he gets you a job? Then who’s next?”

He waited a second for her response, fully expecting fur to fly, and he was surprised when she remained silent, looking out at the water for a few minutes before she returned her steady, knowing gaze to his, her jade eyes alight with realization, almost amazement.

“That sounds like jealousy, Ian.”

He was taken aback. “Jealousy? Hardly.”

She stepped forward, closing the distance between them.

“Hmm. Making hurtful comments because you don’t like me sitting and laughing with another man—
a handsome man—sounds like jealousy to me.” She placed her hand on his cheek, trailing his soft fingers along it. “But don’t worry. I’m all yours. If you want me.”

S
AGE HELD HER BREATH
, saw the tense muscle in his jaw twitch under her touch. He was fighting for control and she was delighting in destroying it. She wasn’t nervous at all. She was unexplainably giddy. Having evaded arrest and being here alone with Ian, a sense of power shivered through her, stoking her own desire, daring her to tempt him to the limit.

She might not know what made Ian tick, but she knew how to get under his skin. She forgot everything else except finding her way in, her mind in predatory mode. She knew she could have him. And thank God, because she wanted him more than she wanted her next breath.

He kept trying to push her away, trying to make what they were sharing cheap and ugly, but she wouldn’t let him. There was magic in the air, whether he wanted to admit it or not. She smiled, marveling at the feeling of his skin beneath her fingers, taut and warm, freshly shaved. His hand came up, capturing hers.

“You’re playing with fire, Sage.”

“Uh-huh.”

His hand tightened on hers and his other arm hooked around the small of her back, pulling her none too gently up against him. She bit back a tiny moan when she felt the long, hard length of him against her stomach and raised her free arm around his neck, lifting her face to his, bringing their faces close, their lips just a breath away from touching.

“You want me, Ian. You may not want to, but you do.” She lifted her eyes, meeting his, studying the indecision reflected in his expression. She smiled, pressing her mouth to his gently, punctuating each word with a small butterfly kiss. “Let…me…make…it…easy…for…you.”

On the last kiss she darted her tongue out, dragging it sensuously along his lower lip. Before she could slide it back in the other direction, he consumed her. Any coherent thought she had went up in the flames of his passionate response.

She thought she was controlling the game, playing on her terms, but his crushing kiss stole her breath and her sense of controlling anything—Ian, herself, the situation. Suddenly everything was out of control and she didn’t care. Control was vastly overrated when a man like this had his hands all over you with such hunger that he couldn’t seem to get enough.

His lips left hers and trailed a searing path down her neckline, his tongue tasting her skin, and she arched back to allow him better access as her entire body came alive.

God, she hadn’t felt like this in her life. Maybe it was because she was a woman now, grown and ready, or maybe it was Ian, but she was so gloriously on fire she could barely think. He pushed up her dress and slid his hand along her body to her breasts. He rolled one nipple between his thumb and forefinger while his mouth latched over the other. She cried out, the sensation was so intense.

She wound her hands into his hair, holding him close and keeping herself upright as the onslaught continued. The dampness between her legs became a hot slick of desire, and she tried to tell him what she needed, but each word she attempted to utter was lost in a fresh wave of sensation.

They were bent around each other on the patio like an erotic wood carving she had once seen, two figures entwined so that you couldn’t tell where one started and other ended. Dusk settled around them and all that could be seen from their vantage point on the deck were some boats on the Chesapeake. If those boaters happened to have binoculars, they were sure getting a show tonight.

The idea that someone could be watching added one more layer to her excitement, and Sage wiggled suggestively, not feeling one shred of self-consciousness as Ian pushed her panties down and out of the way. He looked up at her, his hands rubbing along the outsides of her calves and thighs and along her bottom, his skin ruddy with desire, his pupils dilated as he took in her
partially naked form. His voice was rough with need, and she felt his breath on her skin, making her shiver.

“We should go inside. It isn’t as private as it seems out here.” He glanced briefly toward the water and then back at her. She smiled, shaking her head. Lifting her arms up, she peeled off her dress, baring herself to the night air and his eyes.

“No one’s looking, Ian. And if they are, so what? We’ll give them something to talk about.”

I
AN WASN’T SURE HE WAS
as crazy about potentially having an audience as Sage apparently was, but what was more important was that he was next to a gloriously naked woman, ripe and ready for the taking. He wasn’t about to get into a debate about location.

The shadows were cloaking them somewhat, he reassured himself as he investigated the taste of the skin at the meeting of hip and thigh. As he tasted more, he increasingly lost any self-consciousness about where he was. All he knew was that he wanted Sage, and for the moment all bets were off. If she wanted to stay out there in the open, he wasn’t about to argue.

He felt her quiver under his hands as he lightly traced his fingertips along the backs of her legs, across the sensitive hollows behind her knees, up to the soft rounds of her derriere. There he let his hands slip gently into the warm crevice where skin met skin, exploring every bit of her, delving and testing into soft, secret places, smiling as his fingers prodded the tight bud he sought, penetrating ever so slightly. He felt her quiver become
a shudder as she moaned in pleasure and clenched him with her strong muscles. He waited for her signal to go further, to journey more deeply, and she pressed back against him, her voice a ragged whisper.

“Ian, please, yes. More…”

He thrust gently with his finger while spanning his hand fully between her legs, his palm pressed against her sex so that his thumb could massage her swollen, slippery nub while he pressed gently inside of her. In only seconds she went to pieces.

He lifted his face and watched her come, gloried in how she let go, convulsing, leaning back to grab the rail as he kept probing and stroking until her cries died to gasps and she looked down at him, her eyes dark with pleasure, damp red curls plastered against her flushed cheeks.

He ran his hands over her skin, thrilled by her responses, her absolute lack of inhibition. She seemed still dazed from her climax, so he was slightly shocked at the clarity of her voice, the sharpness of her command.

“Take your clothes off, Ian. Now.”

He looked into her flushed face and rose, yanking off his T-shirt and quickly losing his shorts, until he stood as naked as she was, his throbbing erection jutting eagerly toward her.

She looked over him slowly, and he let her, enjoying the excitement on her face. She smiled slowly and in such a sexy, feline way that his cock jerked in re
sponse, thickening with need just watching her smile. For him.

“You’re a very generous lover, Ian, but you know what they say about having to get as good as you give.”

“Why don’t you show me?”

“Gladly.”

Stepping close, she came as near as she could without touching, letting the sensual promise of the moment hang between them. Reaching out, she wrapped her fingers around his length, her eyes promising and daring him at the same time as she eased her palm up and down his shaft, caressing him. His eyes went molten, and she saw him fight giving himself over to her totally. He was keeping himself in check, and she wasn’t going to have any of that. How much he could take?

She stepped a little closer, letting the tip of him prod her belly, and whispered, “The rule is you can’t move. You can’t touch, speak or change position. If you break the rules, I stop.”

She slid down his body, dragging her tongue down the flat, supple muscles of his torso, all the while stroking him until he shuddered, but he still held his position. His breath was ragged, and she smiled against his skin.

“Mmm, you taste so good, Ian.”

Mimicking his actions and running her hands up and down the length of his strong, sinewy legs, she rubbed her cheek along the hot, soft skin of his erection, nuzzling him tentatively before licking him lightly, teasingly. At the tentative touch of her tongue he went
rigid and growled through clenched teeth, but he still didn’t move.

Bringing her palm up to cup him, she investigated his body more thoroughly, loving the manly scent of his sex, feeling her own heart pound harder as she kissed him more insistently, finally wrapping her lips around his fullness and sliding down to the base, taking him as deeply as she could. She sighed against him when he sank his hands into her hair—somewhere in the back of her mind she supposed his move was against her rules, but she didn’t care. They were far beyond the rules.

She lost track of time, licking and nipping, sucking and kissing, until he let out a loud groan of tortured ecstasy and she felt his thighs quake with the effort of maintaining control. From the hot, pulsing energy that was practically melting in her mouth, she figured he wouldn’t last much longer, and though she was enjoying herself thoroughly, she wanted more. She wanted all of him.

Drawing back, she turned her head, loosening his fingers from her curls, and dragged her lips across his palm, looking up at him wordlessly. She was struck by the intense passion etched into his expression, the blatant need she saw there, the fine sheen of sweat that covered his body. He was magnificent.

His gaze locked onto hers and she just nodded silently. In a second his hands slipped under her arms, pulling her up as if she had no weight at all, and he sealed her mouth with a kiss that was steamier than she
would have thought possible before turning her in front of the rail and positioning himself behind. He leaned forward, pressing against her, and she shivered. His voice was close by her ear.

“Don’t move. Don’t turn around. I’ll be right back.”

She wasn’t sure what he was up to until a moment later he reemerged on the patio and she heard a ripping sound. Breathing a sigh of relief, she was glad that one of them had thought of protection. She should have known Ian would never take that kind of a chance, and for once she was glad for his never-faltering presence of mind, much as she had been trying to wreck it.

Sage wrapped her hands around the cool cast-iron railing, her body knotted in anticipation as his hands planted on her hips and his knees nudged hers, opening them wider. She helped willingly, bending slightly, offering him what they both wanted.

She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sky, balanced on the fine edge of expectation when Ian plunged suddenly, his hardness filling her completely with one long, desperate thrust. She cried out, her hands tightening on the rail as her knees went weak with the thrill of it. She whimpered, her body happily accommodating the fullness of his and wanting more.

Deep inside her, Ian pressed his front to her back, wrapping his arms around her, covering her breasts, massaging her and leaving kisses everywhere on her neck and shoulders as he moved against her, whispering into her ear, urging her on.

She rotated her hips back against him, seeking re
lease from the wonderful pressure that was building inside until she could hardly stand up. He felt increasingly rigid and thick inside of her, his head resting on her shoulder, their sighs of pleasure filling the humid evening air.

She hovered at the edge of climax, afraid for one brief moment she might not make it over in time. But she needn’t have feared. Ian traveled one hand down her body and slid it between her thighs, flicking her lightly in exactly the right spot. The moment his fingers touched her she unraveled. Her climax rippled through her, and she lost all sense of anything but Ian filling her, his body stroking hers. She lost all control, grinding wildly against him as he thrust into her with increasing speed until he also yelled out as his climax shook through him.

Ian tried to catch his breath. Had he ever felt this way with a woman? Not in recent memory. Not even with his wife had he ever experienced such insanely strong pleasure. Sage’s skin was hot and moist next to his, and he locked his arms around her, touching her everywhere, not able to get enough.

He didn’t want to leave her body. He didn’t want the separateness between them that was inevitable, didn’t want to lose the moment and travel back into a reality that was becoming more confusing by the second.

So he held on, wrapped her against him, buried inside her until his softening erection left him no choice. Still he held her, unsure of how to deal with the intensity of what had just happened between them. He tried
to stem the thoughts rising to the surface as his mind cleared, but they wouldn’t be stopped.

Why now? Why her?
How could he let himself lose control like this and what was he going to do about it?

He sighed, burying his face in the back of her neck, letting himself soak up the intoxicating scents of her body.

And then he let go.

He stepped back and watched her straighten, her back still to him. He had no idea what to say but just reached for his shorts. Pulling them on, he looked up and saw her still nude, watching him. He swallowed, averting his eyes. In spite of what they’d just experienced, the sight of her sent a fresh wave of lust slamming into him unexpectedly.

“Uh, you might want to get dressed.”

Her eyes gave nothing away and she said nothing. He felt increasingly awkward, so he picked her dress up from the patio floor and shook it out.

“I’m sorry if this was ruined. I can get it cleaned for you.”

Something sparked in her eyes but was quickly hidden as she reached for the dress and took it from his hand, though she didn’t put it on. She walked by him, her voice nonchalant.

“Don’t worry about it.”

As she walked calmly into the house and up the stairs to her room, Ian pushed his hands through his hair. Though he hated to admit it, he was very worried.

L
OCKE LOWERED HIS
binoculars and spat over the side of the rail into the water. His breath was ragged with anger as well as desire and the two blended into an ugly mix. If LadyBug was faking it, she was putting in one hell of a performance.

He’d watched her undress for the fed, her body fuller now in womanhood, hotter than he’d remembered, and his hands had clenched so tightly onto the eyeglasses he’d almost snapped them in half.