Pleasure Prolonged (11 page)

A cocoon of warmth encompassed her. “And I love the way you touch me,” she returned, acknowledging the rush of emotions turning her insides to jelly.

“That’s good, because I’m far from done.” He smoothed her hair back and looked deep into her eyes. He pitched his voice low. “Let me grab a condom.”

She nodded in agreement. “Hurry, Kale. I don’t want to wait another second for you to make love to me.” Her voice was husky with emotion.

Make love.

Oh God!

This wasn’t sex. This was lovemaking. She wasn’t naïve enough to believe otherwise.

Nervousness stole over her. Common sense would have dictated she get dressed and run away from him, but since common sense wasn’t ruling her actions, she remained sprawled across his bed. Wide open and vulnerable.

Kale turned sideways and grabbed a condom from his nightstand. She glided her fingers over his back as he ripped the foil package open. With skilled efficiency, he rolled it down the length of his erection.

He turned back to face her. When his gaze locked with hers, she felt so close to him. She wanted to crawl inside him and stay there forever. She swallowed past the lump in her throat.

“Did you want to be on top, babe?”

She felt tightness in her chest, a little to the left. “It doesn’t matter, Kale. I just want to feel you inside me.”

He rolled on top of her and situated himself between her legs. Blood pounded through her veins as his erection probed her slick opening. She thrust her hips forward, forcing his cock to press against her passion-drenched cleft.

He growled, his breath fanning her face. He looked at her with pure desire. “Next time, you can be on top. I want to take you like this for now so I can hold you close and kiss you.”

Next time.

There wasn’t supposed to be a next time.

She made a sexy noise and shifted, bending her legs at the knees, welcoming him into her body. His mouth closed over hers for a soul-stirring kiss as he buried himself in her. The tantalizing sweep of his velvety rough tongue inside her mouth made her shudder.

Heat coursed through her as she wound her hands around his neck and held him close. His thickness pushed open the tight walls of her throbbing pussy. She felt so deliciously full.

He lifted his lips a fraction of an inch from hers and growled into her mouth. “Ahhh, you feel so incredible.” His breathing was labored as he began thrusting. At first his movements were slow and gentle, but when she lifted her hips off the bed to meet his every push, he began pumping harder and faster.

She could feel her orgasm building as his cock caressed her oversensitized hot spot. Her head fell to the side as the pressure grew. She began panting, gasping for her next breath.

Kale buried his mouth in the crook of her neck. A strangled cry sounded deep in his throat as he kissed, licked, and nibbled on her flesh.

Slick moisture pooled on their naked flesh as need consumed them both. She pushed Kale’s damp hair from his forehead and writhed beneath him. His cock pulsed and throbbed inside her, and she knew he was only a heartbeat away from finding his own release.

“Kale, I’m…”

“I know, babe, me too.”

Her senses exploded with the sudden onslaught of pleasure as her orgasm took hold. She dug her fingers into Kale’s back and arched off the bed.

His breath came in a ragged burst as he exploded inside her. She tightened her sex muscles around his cock, milking every last drop from him. They held each other for a long,
quiet moment, both needing time to recoup and recover from their mind-blowing sex.

He inched back and gazed deep into her eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, breaking the comfortable silence encompassing them.

She cupped his cheeks and brought his mouth close to hers. She drew a shaky breath and moistened her lips. “God, Kale, that was so…so incredible. “I’ve never—”

He cut her off. “Gone past five minutes?”

She chuckled. “Yeah, that too. But I’ve never had so many orgasms in one day before.”

He brushed her hair from her face and planted a soft kiss onto her forehead. A kiss so full of emotion and tenderness, she wanted to weep.

His mouth twisted and he gave a soft chuckle. His laugh wrapped around her like her favorite cotton robe. She felt so safe, so cherished. So complete. She wanted to stay in the circle of his arms forever.

“Hold that thought, babe. I’m not done with you yet,” he murmured.

She raised her gaze to his. When she looked deep into his smoldering blue eyes, she felt a possessive tug on her heart. God, she could drown in those eyes. She swallowed hard and pushed down the wave of emotions. “I’m not done with you either. Come with me.”

“Where?”

She grinned. “You’re not the only one with fantasies.”

S
weat beaded on his forehead as life surged into his cock. What was the little vixen up to?

“I’ll be right back.” He made a quick trip to the bathroom to dispense with the condom. After cleaning himself up, he came back with a warm cloth for her. Erin sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for him.

“I thought you might want this.” He dropped to his knees, urged her thighs apart, and caressed her swollen sex with the cloth.

“Oh my,” she moaned. As she blew out a breath, her silken curls shuddered. “Is that supposed to be turning me on?”

Kale grinned. “You really are a bad girl, aren’t you, Erin?”

She returned his grin. “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” She reached for his hand. “Come with me.”

Kale stood. “I’ll
come
with you anytime, anywhere,” he whispered, a faint tinge of humor in his voice.

She made a quick trip to the bathroom and grabbed a couple of oversized towels, then guided him to the patio doors off the dining room.

She tossed him a towel. “Wrap yourself. It’s cold out there.”

Erin pulled her thick terry towel over her bare shoulders.

He cocked a brow. “We’re going out there? Naked?”

She nodded.

“Is your fantasy to freeze me to death?”

Standing on her tiptoes, she leaned into him and pressed her lips over his. Her breasts grazed his chest. He loved how free and uninhibited she was with him.

“Hot tub,” she murmured into his mouth.

Understanding finally dawned on him. How in the hell had he forgotten about the hot tub?

Erin inched open the door. Before she could make a run for it the doorbell sounded, stopping them both in their tracks.

Kale glanced at the clock and noted it was nearing eight. He wasn’t expecting anyone. He furrowed his brow. “Who could that be?”

Erin shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Should we ignore it?”

Erin hugged her towel tighter. “I think we should answer. It could be something important for Jay or Laura.”

Kale nodded in agreement. “You’re probably right. Let’s grab a robe.” He turned to face the door. “I’ll be right there,”
he called out. He grabbed Erin’s hands in his and put his mouth close to hers. His eyes darkened as he whispered, “Then we’ll finish what we started.”

After they each pulled on a thick terry robe, Erin went and sat on the sofa in front of the Christmas tree while Kale made his way to the front door. He pulled it open and came face-to-face with a UPS courier. In one hand he held a padded manila envelope, in the other an electronic signature device.

“Are you Kale Alexander?” the man asked.

“Yes,” Kale answered, confused. Who would be sending him a package here, tonight?

“Sign here, please.”

Kale signed and accepted the padded envelope. As he made his way to the sofa, he turned the package over in his hand and looked for some indication of its origin but found no return address. “This is strange.”

Erin twisted around to face him. “What is it?”

Kale tore into the package and produced a computer disk. He ripped off the sticky note attached to it. “It comes with instructions to view right away.”

“Who sent it?” Erin asked.

Kale shrugged. “I have no idea. Come on, Jay’s computer is in his office. Let’s go check it out.”

Erin grabbed the envelope and examined the package and the metered postage. “This looks like it’s from the lab.”

Seating himself, Kale inserted the disk while Erin stood behind him, watching over his shoulder.

A few key strokes later a blurred video image appeared
on the screen. Brow furrowed, Kale angled his head and squinted. “What the hell am I watching?” As the image focused, understanding dawned. “Holy fuck,” he bit out and nearly fell off his chair.

Erin gasped. “Ohmigod.”

He twisted around to see her. Her face paled, her hands flew to her mouth. “Ohmigod,” she repeated.

Kale jumped from the chair. Shock segued to rage as he watched a digital slide show of Erin writhing beneath him in the research room while he brought her to orgasm. “Who the hell…” His gut clenched, along with his fists.

He jabbed the eject button and tore the disk from the computer. He spun back around to face Erin. Eyes open wide, she stood there, slack jawed, staring at the blank screen.

“Erin, what the hell is going on?”

She reached for the envelope and fished around inside until she produced a note. As she scanned the words, her face paled even more.

“Ohmigod,” she repeated, and held the paper out for him. “Lab…recorder…still running…director…distracted…forgot to turn off…Hooker Barbie…watching me…pink camper…run her over.” Her words were fractured and she wasn’t making sense. He was definitely missing something.

Kale dropped the disk onto the desk and grabbed the paper from her hand. He read it once, and then a second time. “Jesus H. Christ.”

“Shit. Shit. Shit,” Erin blurted out, pressing the butts of her palms to her eyes. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” She turned
her back to him and paced toward the door. “My list of people to kill just grew by one.”

“Where are you going?” He closed the small distance between them, grabbed her by the waist, and turned her back around.

“You read the note. If I don’t step down, Hooker Barbie is going to send a copy of this to the director.” She rubbed her temple and mumbled another round of curses. “Playing sex games in the research room during work hours isn’t going to get me that promotion, Kale. It’s going to get me fired.”

“Who the hell is Hooker Barbie?”

“Deanne Sinclair. She wants my job. Obviously.” This was turning out to be some pissing contest.

He scoffed and shook his head. “I had my own run-in with her. And it wasn’t my
job
she was after.” The details of the encounter weren’t worth mentioning.

She closed her eyes in distress and then nodded toward the paper. “What does she mean, you’re on probationary status?”

Kale let out a long sigh. “A few months back I fucked up at Castech, and if I fuck up again, I’m out of a job.” He scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “Apparently Deanne’s been busy, doing a little research of her own. She’s been digging into my confidential records.”

“Like Deanne said, if I don’t step down, I’ll be dragging you with me. And I’m not about to do that.” She got quiet for a moment and then added, “Talk about one hell of a bump in the road, Kale. I guess this is your exit.”

The significance of her actions didn’t elude him. Erin was willing to give up her career, the one thing that meant the world to her, to save his. A sudden rush of warmth enveloped him as his heart tightened in his chest. No woman had ever done anything so meaningful, so touching for him before. His chest swelled as the love he felt for her grew to insurmountable proportions.

“What are you talking about, Erin? I’m not going to let you step down.”

Her tongue darted over her lips, moistening them. Her eyes opened wide as surprise registered on her face. “You will if you want to save your own ass.”

“Fuck my ass. Wait.” He shook his head, flustered. “That came out all wrong.”

Perplexed, she looked at him. “This is your out, Kale. Why would you go down with me when you don’t have to?”

He hauled her into the circle of his arms. “Unless it’s in the bedroom, sweetheart, neither one of us is going down. Besides, I take full responsibility for what happened this afternoon.”

Dark eyes flashed with tumultuous emotions. Her chin came up a notch, astonished. Her voice was low. “A man who takes responsibility. That’s so refreshing.” She conjured a smile. “But you weren’t the only one in that room, Kale.”

Eyes riveted on hers, he dragged a finger over her chin, her cheek, and brushed her hair from her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. I’m the one who seduced you.”

Erin arched a brow. “And here I thought it was the other way around.”

He snaked his arms around her waist and held her tighter. “You worked your tail off for this position, and Hooker Bambi is not going to take it from you.”

“Hooker Barbie,” she corrected.

Hooker Bambi, Hooker Barbie, the name didn’t matter. He knew her type all too well, had dealt with conniving women like her many times. He shook his head as he considered the situation a moment longer.

“I don’t believe Deanne has any plans to take this to the director. The information stored on the digital video recorder is highly confidential. If she’s tampered with it, or made copies”—he reached behind him, scooped up the copy she’d sent them, and held it up—“she’ll be implicating herself.”

“She could send it to him anonymously.”

“I don’t know how anonymous she thinks she can be. It is her job to record and log the responses from the digital data, isn’t it?”

“Regardless, even if she’s not bright enough to figure out she’ll go down with me, I don’t want a copy of this landing in the director’s hands. Or on the Internet.”

“I really don’t think that’s going to happen, Erin. Even on the net, it could be traced back to her. Trust me, I have dealt with her type many times. She’s bluffing. I’d bet my last dollar on it. But if it will help ease your concern, I’ll go to the lab and erase it from the hard drive.”

Incredulous, Erin lifted her eyes to his. She swallowed. “Really? You’d do that?” Her voice wavered when she added, “For me?”

Everything in him reached out to her as her expressive gaze told him how much that offer surprised her, meant to her. He touched her cheek. “Of course.”

She got quiet for a moment, and Kale wondered what she was thinking. Was she beginning to see them as more than casual? Was she beginning to trust him, to finally acknowledge there was more driving their relationship than just physical desire?

“And if she did make a copy?” Erin asked.

“If she did make a copy I’ll get that too.”

“How?” she asked, her expression wary.

His mind raced a mile a minute as he considered things a moment longer. “She mailed this from the lab, right?”

Erin nodded.

“Probably because she didn’t want to get caught leaving with confidential office documentation.” Kale tapped the disk. “I’m also willing to bet if she did make another copy, it’s stored in her locker. She wouldn’t want to have it in her possession outside the center.”

“So how do we get into her locker?”

“I break in.”

When her head came up with a start, he presented her with a cocky grin and said, “Misguided youth.”

Erin scoffed. “You’re charming, Kale. Charming enough to talk your way out the eye of a hurricane, but I don’t think that charm will work on the nighttime security if you get caught in Deanne’s locker. You’re not Gerard’s type.”

“That’s where you come in.”

Her eyes opened wide, questioning him. “Go on,” she said.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, until every inch of her body was pressed up against him. When her sensuous body melded with his, he trembled. “We’ll have to rely on one another if we want to pull this off.”

She looked at him, her eyes wide, questioning. “Enlighten me.”

He brushed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. He felt her shiver in response. Obviously their proximity was affecting her as much as him.

“Are you able to have faith in me, Erin?” His stomach clenched as he waited for her response.

He sensed her hesitation. “Yes.”

Kale’s stomach relaxed. “Good. Now go put on that sexy dress of yours. You have some distracting to do.”

Erin’s heart raced like she’d been given a shot of adrenaline as Kale escorted her into the front lobby. Maneuvering across the wide expanse of floor, he pressed his hand against the small of her back as they moved toward the security counter. God, she loved the way he touched her in such an intimate way.

Nervousness began stealing over her as they approached Gerard. Although he was used to seeing her coming and going at odd hours, and her presence tonight wouldn’t raise his suspicions, she still felt jittery.

She strove for normalcy as she greeted him. “Good eve
ning, Gerard.” She glanced at the security screen behind him and watched it flash in an indistinguishable pattern as it displayed secure areas of the lab.

His nod was tight and very professional. “Good evening, Erin, Kale.”

Erin cringed inwardly. If only Mikey were working the night shift. Gerard wasn’t the flirty type. Mikey would have been much easier to distract while Kale broke into Barbie’s locker.

“We have to grab a file. We’re working late,” Erin explained as she unbuttoned her coat and eased it open, exposing her sexy dress.

When Gerard caught sight of her barely there, hot red slip of a dress, his forehead creased. He shot her a suspicious look and raised a brow as if to say,
You’re going to work late in that?
Damn, that wasn’t the reaction she’d been going for.

When she met his steely gaze, her stomach plummeted. She didn’t like this. God, she really didn’t. Not one tiny bit.

Erin smiled and pushed back her panic. “First we have a quick Christmas gathering to attend, then we have to go over some paperwork before tomorrow morning’s experiment.”

Satisfied with her answer, Gerard relaxed his forehead.

Trying for slutty, Erin leaned against the counter while Kale signed himself in. “I’ll just be a second,” he said. “Erin, you might as well just wait here.”

Despite all her best efforts to distract him, Gerard turned his attention back to the monitors as Kale made his way to the elevator.

Shit!

She glanced around the lobby, looking for something, anything to talk about. If a man wasn’t interested in a woman in a hot red dress, then what the hell was he interested in?

A man in a hot red dress? Cripes! Maybe she and Kale should have switched places.

Then it hit her. Sports. All men liked sports, right? Her father and two brothers-in-law spent their weekends glued to the television watching football. She’d caught a few games with Sam as well. Although she had to admit, she knew nothing about football and had watched only so she could admire all those hunks in their tight uniforms.

“So did you catch the game last night?”

His head went up with a start as he twisted around to face her. A wide smile softened his features. She watched, transfixed at how quickly his demeanor changed. Who knew football was so powerful?