Sensual Stranger (11 page)

“Then I’m going to hold you to that,” he warned and swatted
her ass again.

Cheeks burning, heart singing, she’d just opened the door to
the bays as an elderly female customer came in through the front.

Chapter Seven

For the first time in nearly two years, Zach didn’t dread
going home. He recalled how Toni had tasted this morning, her desire for him.
He thought back to those few moments they’d shared in his office.

You like to be spanked?
he’d asked, genuinely
surprised.

I like a strong man who takes charge and teaches me how
to obey in bed.

He was ready to do that, prepared to do it all—both
shameless and tender—with no regret, because this was about sex, nothing more.
Toni had said as much. No reason for him to feel bad or to think about it too
much. He had Toni all to himself, her body naked and willing, her comfort meant
for him alone during the next four weeks.

Eyes on the closed bathroom door, his pulse quickening, Zach
listened as she washed up. A half-hour earlier, Angel and Robbie had left after
asking her to have a beer with them. Gently, she’d turned them down, saying she
had other plans.

Now, it was only her and him.

With his keys jiggling in his hand, Zach frowned at the time
she’d already wasted. Primping, no doubt, when there was little need. He ached
to get on the road, go home, do whatever they willed, then stay wrapped within
her arms, nestled inside her body, protected by their sexual cocoon until
daylight forced them back here.

Shoving his fingers through his hair, Zach hauled in an
uneven breath.

On his rough sigh, the door popped open. Toni turned off the
light and fan. Eyes lifting, she met his gaze.

To his delight, she seemed oddly shy as though she was
already playing their games or didn’t know what to expect.

She did not. Throughout the day’s endless hours, he’d
planned every moment of this night, including her willing submission to his
dominance, which he wanted to explore. But only with her. She’d stirred
something deep within him, bringing it to life.

With a negligence that contradicted the powerful thrumming
of his heart, Zach raked her with his gaze, beginning with her surprisingly
sexy toe ring, edging up to her milky thighs, the flare of her hips, erect
nipples, parted lips, flushed cheeks and hooded eyes.

Her previous hesitation was no more than a memory. Giving
him a seductive smile, she advanced, her movements fluid, the sway of her hips
oh so female. Halting in front of him, with their bodies only a breath away,
she tilted her face to his and trailed her fingers from his tee to his fly.

Pleasure raged through Zach. He swallowed.

“Careful,” she warned, her voice no louder than a lover’s
murmur. “Keep looking at me like that and you may burn out your retinas.”

His rod hardened painfully at her smoky voice, effortless
sensuality, the cockiness he so enjoyed. And her fingers…wow…they ran down his
bulge, pausing at his balls, tracing their contours.

Astonishing sensations shot up Zach’s torso and down his
thighs, reaching nerve endings he didn’t know he owned. He fought an insane
urge to bend her over one of the vehicle’s hoods and relieve her of her
cutoffs, baring her luscious ass, taking her from behind, right here, right
now, endlessly, while the rest of the town went about its business just outside
the closed metal doors.

Pulling himself together, he spoke in a voice thick with
unacceptable need. “You kept me waiting too fucking long.” He took her
saddlebag and settled his free hand on the back of her neck, drawing her full
length into his.

The rosiness in her cheeks deepened. Her eyes glittered with
expectation.

Liking her reaction, Zach lowered his head, brushing his
lips over hers, his touch light, teasing, his mind recording her mouth’s sweet
silkiness and warmth. “Don’t do that again.”

Without kissing her, he lifted his head and straightened.

Toni stared, her expression saying she needed all the
intimacy he could offer, her manner not willing to accept anything less, her
voice as insistent as it had been this morning, “What are you doing? If you
want me, then take me here. In your office.”

“No.” Hand beneath her chin, he tilted her face to his.
“Tonight, I call the shots.”

A wry smile tugged the corners of her mouth. As he ran his
fingers down her throat, her lids fluttered and her voice grew even smokier.
“You run things during the day too.”

“And that’s not going to change. Come on.”

On the drive to his house, Zach didn’t police his movements.
With one hand on the steering wheel, his other roamed the inside of her naked
thigh. Just yesterday, he would have considered it a reckless move, considering
the accident and its aftermath. Since then, he’d always kept both hands firmly
on the wheel, his attention ever-vigilant for the unexpected.

He certainly hadn’t expected Toni to show up at his garage
yesterday morning or to be with him again tonight, partially tamed to his every
desire. With her at his side, Zach experienced more than passion. He felt
strangely invincible, as though nothing bad could happen to either of them.

His fingertips slipped beneath the ragged edge of her
shorts.

Sagging in her seat, she inhaled sharply, allowing him what
he willed. In his peripheral vision, Zach saw her fingers gripping the edge of
the leather seat as he touched her damp, fragrant curls.

She mewled.

At the approaching stop sign, he reduced his speed. With no
one on the road in any direction, Zach pulled off the asphalt onto the
shoulder, safely away from any possible traffic, putting the Ram into park.

Lifting her head, Toni swung it left, right, taking in their
location. At last, she looked at him in confusion, then down as he tugged her
tank top and bra strap over her shoulder, not stopping until he’d exposed her
breast.

He smiled inwardly at the pleasant surprise in her eyes and
spoke with the authority she’d told him she craved. “Keep an eye out for
traffic.”

“Are you kid—”

The rest of what she’d intended to say disappeared beneath
her delighted gasp as he drew her nipple into his mouth and suckled as hard as
he dared, exactly as he had this morning, learning what she liked.

Toni’s hand moved to his head. Her fingers tunneled through
his hair, the tips digging into his scalp to keep him at his task.

Inhaling deeply, he smelled the lavender cologne she’d
sprayed on her throat while in the shop’s bathroom, along with the soap she’d
used to clean her hands and arms. Beneath it, her musk drew him like a starving
man to food, guiding his free hand to her cunt.

Instantly, Toni arched her back and spread her legs,
inviting Zach to do whatever he wanted.

Unobstructed wind buffeted his pickup, shaking it as he
would their bed when he thrust into her repeatedly, sating her and himself.
Sand and gravel flew against the vehicle’s body, sounding like sleet during a
raging storm, matching the fury of his pounding pulse.

Latched onto her nipple, enjoying her fragrant, supple
flesh, he unbuttoned her shorts and pulled down the zipper, snaking his fingers
into the fabric’s gap, over her mound to her damp, slippery cleft.

She choked out a moan. With her heels dug into the vehicle’s
floor, she lifted her ass, giving him greater access.

Zach took it. On contact with her rigid little clit, his
fingers stroked.

Toni’s grip tightened on his head. She rocked her body into
his hand. Wanting more. Demanding completion.

Determined to deny it for the moment, to prove he commanded
and she obeyed, Zach abandoned her mouth and pulled his fingers from her
cutoffs seconds before her climax.

Her mouth hung opened on her heaving breaths. Her voice was
a throaty whine. “What are you doing?”

“Driving.” With his vehicle in gear, he glanced in all
directions, saw no one approaching and pulled back onto the asphalt.

Toni sagged against her door. In the corner of his eye, Zach
saw her staring at him. Her scrutiny and obvious lust pleased him beyond
reason.

Swallowing audibly, she next cleared her throat and asked,
“Why’d you stop? Why didn’t you let me come?”

Zach looked over.

With his deliberate silence, she arched one brow. “What are
you planning to do with me tonight?”

Whatever the fuck he wanted, exactly what they both
required.

* * * * *

He drove as quickly as safety allowed, refusing to answer
any of Toni’s questions as to what he had in mind for her this evening or the
few others they’d share.

Only a month.

Yesterday morning, when she’d been tired and thirsty, nearly
out of luck and hope, thirty days would have seemed like an eternity.

Tonight though…

One full day had nearly ended, their time together seeming
to move far too quickly.

Inside the house, he dropped her saddlebag in the foyer.

Toni swung her head from its solid thud to the stairs, her
thoughts on his bedroom at the top, at the end of the hall. Heart beating
fiercely at the images rolling across her mind, she looked at him for
direction.

Zach’s eyes held her as he inclined his head toward the
stairs.

Knowing he expected her to obey, pleased to do so, at least
for the moment, she led the way, acutely aware of him following, his boots
slapping the hardwood floor, the sounds far slower than the blood pulsing in
her ears. Taking the first step, she looked over as Zach grabbed her wrist.

Toni’s heart snagged on a beat at the change in him. In the
few seconds since they’d left the foyer, his demeanor had grown even more
intensely male, almost wild.

Her throat constricted with excitement even as her body
softened with female need. She wanted his weight on her, his big frame
restrictive, imprisoning, his passion uncivilized and reckless.

Because of it, a part of her held back, conscious of how she
looked after a day at the shop, no matter how thoroughly she’d cleaned up. For
him, Toni wanted her body freshly bathed and perfumed, completely feminine,
fragile, helpless against his masculine strength. The kind of woman he surely
preferred. Not one who could talk and repair engines and hold her own with most
guys.

She lifted her free hand to the stairs and made her request,
the only one she sensed he’d allow her tonight. “Let me take a shower before we
do anything.”

Zach’s fingers tightened around her wrist, his hold
confining, not painful. “No.”

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, then narrowed in a
frown as she attempted to reason. “It’ll only take a few minutes.” To sweeten
her argument, she murmured, “We can shower together.”

His gaze travelled her length, halting on her cunt. “I want
you naked. Now. Take off your clothes. Don’t make me wait.”

The words were out of her mouth before Toni could stop them.
“And if I do?”

Unbridled lust darkened his expression. His voice was hard
with a hint of desperation she knew he couldn’t hide. “Strip. Now. The shoes
and shorts first. Or I’ll have to punish you.”

Heat surged to Toni’s chest, throat and cheeks, along with a
rush of anticipation she’d rarely known. His last words seemed to linger in the
otherwise quiet foyer and surely reverberated in her mind.

I’ll have to punish you.

With a longing to draw out their sexual game, to stoke
expectation until she couldn’t bear it any longer, Toni stepped down.
Dutifully, she kicked off her flip-flops, their rubber tapping slightly against
the floor. Her hands went to the button and zipper on her shorts. The crotch
was damp from her earlier arousal in the pickup, the denim making a brief
smacking sound as it hit the polished hardwood at her feet.

She stepped out of the garment and faced him, legs parted,
arms to her sides, flaunting her partial nudity, showing him the power she
possessed.

With lust-slitted eyes, Zach put out his hand. “Give me your
cutoffs.”

She delivered the garment, watching as he lifted the fabric
to his face and inhaled deeply of her musk. Zach’s lids slid over his eyes. His
Adam’s apple bobbed with his hard swallow.

The insides of Toni’s thighs tensed. A dull ache settled in
her groin, demanding her attention, begging for relief only his fingers, mouth
and cock could provide.

Zach wasn’t about to give it, at least not readily. She saw
determination in his expression and restraint in the way he held his desire in
check.

Allowing her shorts to drop from his hand, he regarded the
dark curls between her legs. Her sheath responded with a new hint of moisture,
lubricating her cunt for his ruthless penetration, his meaty rod buried deep
within, his balls smacking her ass.

“Lose the tank top and bra,” he ordered, his tone stiff,
strained.

Moments earlier, she’d wanted to delay her coming
discipline. Now a sudden urge for it welled up in Toni. She hungered to bring
them to a new level, wanton, primitive, unrestricted. Deliberately disobedient,
she spoke, her voice firm and challenging. “Make me.”

Zach’s gaze flicked up, meeting hers. His expression
revealed his thoughts—that she’d accept what he would soon do. That she trusted
him not to harm her. That he’d play their game in fun and for pleasure.

Her earlier words to him returned.

Whatever punishment you decide.

In one fluid movement, he propped his foot on the bottom
stair, grabbed her wrist and slung her over his good leg, exposing her naked
ass.

Toni’s lips parted on a crude moan. She wrapped her arms
around his thigh, fingers digging into the denim. Cheek pressed against her
shoulder, her voice trembled with excitement, “Go on, do your worst, you’ll
never get me to obey.”

Offering no comment, Zach ran his fingers over her buttocks
and down her furrow.