Too Close (5 page)

She focused on the fire running through her veins and the driving hunger for the taste of Kane. Leaning forward she pressed an open mouthed kiss to the cloth-covered ridge beneath his zipper. Her fingers worked the belt out of the way, and undid his trousers while she teased him through his pants. Then she gripped the waistband of both his trousers and his boxers, leaned back and looked up at Kane and slowly pulled them down to his knees.

When his cock sprang free, she gave a wicked smile at his groan. Kane had been blessed, and she was about to make him thank the Gods for giving her plenty to play with.
 

She leaned forward and let her breath tease him. She saw his cock dance and twitch, as if it were searching for her mouth, reaching out for the warmth it knew was waiting for him. Her hands ran up and down his thighs, those lovely muscled thighs that had her drooling from the minute she’d met him. They were thick and corded with the muscle of a man who worked at staying strong. There was a light brown layer of fur that covered them. Softer than the hair of any man she’d met.
 

She put her hands between his legs and pushed them apart, widening his stance, then leaned in and licked her way up his inner thigh. She could hear his gasp, and his panting breath echo in the quiet room, and her own fire burned hotter.
 

People were too fast when it came to sex, men were too fast. They needed to understand that the tease was almost as much fun as the payoff, and the better the tease, the bigger the pay off.
 

When her lips hit the top of his inner thigh, she nipped at the skin there and exhaled hotly over his balls before nibbling at the soft skin of his other thigh.

“Oh fuck, woman!” Kane’s fingers tightened in her hair and she smiled against his skin.
 

Unable to refuse her own desire any longer, she nuzzled against the velvety sac and breathed in deep. Such an honest male primal scent, it fired her up inside and she squeezed her thighs together.
 

A loud cross between a sigh and a groan echoed through the room, and Kane’s thighs trembled beneath her hands. She licked up the underside of his shaft and gave the shiny head a quick hard suck that made his knee’s buckle for a second. Her insides melted and her pussy clenched when she relaxed her throat and took him as deep as she could, only to find that there was still a good couple of inches left.
 

Oh, yeah, he was blessed, and for that she was thankful.

She reached between his rock hard thighs and cupped his balls. Fondling and rolling them between the fingers of one hand while she used the other hand to squeeze his shaft in time with her bobbing head. She sucked him deep and pulled back, adding a little twist with her hand that soon had him gasping and pulling at her hair and shoulders.
 

“Vanessa, stop, I want inside you.” His voice was strained and Nessa knew she had him. She had the control, and she needed to keep it.
 

She increased the suction and the pace. Kane’s panting grew ragged and his taste grew stronger. Her pussy was clenching rhythmically, aching for attention but she ignored it. She would take care of herself later.
 

“Damnit, woman!” Kane’s hand gripped her shoulders and the next thing she knew he had her off her knees and seated on her desk. Her legs were spread wide and he was standing between them, his hard cock nudging against her nylon-clad thigh. “I want you, not just your mouth.”

Then he swooped down and claimed her mouth, and any plans or resistance she had fled. His tongue thrust deep in her mouth and his large hand shoved her skirt up. Then he tugged her forward until her butt was on the edge of the desk and only he was keeping her pinned there. She’d never been so damn happy she never wore underwear in her life.

When Kane discovered her nakedness, his groan echoed in her mouth and her fingers dug into his shoulders. He ran a finger over her slit and Vanessa spread her legs wider, unashamed of the wetness he found.
 

“Feel what you do to me… how much I love the way you taste, the way you feel?” She panted the words against his lips, her body writhing against him. “Fuck me.”

Kane’s cock found its way between her swollen pussy lips and nudged at her entrance. He gripped her hips and thrust deep making them both gasp.
 

As he pumped his hips, he dragged his mouth away and nipped at her neck. She wrapped her legs around him, her hands clutching his ass, urging him on. Faster, deeper. This was no soft sensual partnership, he was fucking her. Rutting like an animal with no care for his partner. And he couldn’t stop.
 

Her moans and grunts urged him on. Soon her hands left his ass and she scraped her nails across his chest, leaving a trail of fire that made him growl in pleasure. She ripped her mouth away from his and nibbled at his neck, sucking and biting. He cupped her ass, tilted her hips and fucked her harder.
 

“Yes, Yes,” she chanted.
 

Her pussy clenched and he felt his balls tighten and pull up. He pumped harder, pulling back to look into her glowing eyes. Their gazes locked and he saw her lids drop, her lips parted and a long low moan filled the room. Her legs tightened around him, her hips jerked, and hot wetness drenched his cock.
 

Her cunt milked him and he couldn’t hold back. His cock swelled until it erupted inside her and pleasure exploded through out his body.

“What are you looking at?” Kane growled at the scowling female on his bed as he strode naked into his bedroom, fresh from the shower.
 

The one-eyed furry thing just stared at him silently.
 

“Hey, it wasn’t my choice to leave her after a good fuck, she
made
me go. Vanessa is not exactly an easy woman to win an argument against, you know?” He turned away from the cat and pulled a clean pair of boxer briefs from his dresser drawer. “And I did tail her when she left the club to make sure she got home safe.”

Mystery stayed silent, watching him as he moved about the room getting dressed. He didn’t know exactly what went wrong last night, but it damn sure wasn’t the sex. He knew when a woman came, and Vanessa had pushed and pushed his buttons until he lost control. She’d liked it when he’d gone caveman on her, which was completely opposite of how he’d pegged her.

He could’ve sworn she wasn’t into all the power games he saw others at her club engaging in. His instincts had said she was putting on a front for all those that were there. That inside, she was just a woman wanting to be treated like a woman.
 

Then again, he wasn’t into all the head games either, and he’d sure enjoyed their little bit of tug-o-war over who controlled their first time. He swallowed the last of his morning coffee, afternoon now, and gave himself a once over in the mirror. He looked the same, yet, inside he felt different. Something inside him had shifted since the day before, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to examine it too closely.

“Be good,” he instructed the feline and snatched up his keys on his way to the door. Time to go to work.

Kane spent the rest of the afternoon in court, testifying on a home invasion case that he’d closed months ago, but that the court was just getting around to dealing with. It was after five o’clock when her entered the stationhouse and found Jackson gobbling down greasy cheeseburger and fries.

“Eating that crap is not going to help you your recovery process you know.” He tugged off his tie, undid his collar and dropped into his chair.

“It’s not going to slow it down either,” he retorted. “Besides, I am recovered. It’s the pencil pushers and insurance geeks that think I’m not street worthy yet.”

Kane shook his head and pulled a protein bar from his desk drawer. The men ate in silence for a few minutes until Kane snapped at Jackson. “What?”

“Have fun at the sex club last night?”

“I don’t know that you’d call it fun. But I did find a person of interest or two.”

“Yeah? Would one of them the be the person that bit you?”

Kane’s hand snapped up to his neck and the love bite that Vanessa had left. Damn it. He’d forgotten about that.

He let his hand fall and glared at Jackson. “Lay off.”

“I thought you were a classy guy, Michaels. Didn’t you know hickies went out when I was a teenager?”

“Your just jealous because the last woman to see your naked ass was the nurse who emptied your bed pan last month.”

“At least she didn’t want to spank me.”

“That’s not what happened. In fact—“ He cut himself off before he could be a complete idiot and assert that he’s been the one in charge. “Forget it.”
 

He picked up a case file and tried to get into some work. He’d tried to call Vanessa a couple of times that day. Each time he got her voice mail. He thought about calling the club later, or maybe dropping by. She’d turned down his invitation to spend the night, but she’d done it in such a way that he wasn’t exactly sure what had happened. He’d been outside and in his car ten minutes after he’d pulled his pants up.
 

“Hey man, come–on,” Jack wheedled. “You couldn’t expect me to let it go. Not when for the first time in the ten years I’ve known you show up not only with a bite, but that look in your eyes.”

“What look?”

“The look that means some woman’s got her claws into your brain. I’ve never seen it on you before, but I’ve seen it enough to recognize it.”
 

“Your bitterness is showing. It wasn’t like that.”

Jackson looked at him. “Something about her has your shorts in a knot.”

“It was nothing. Just a beautiful woman that got to me a little more than I’d anticipated.”

“Yeah? Well, I’d be careful around that woman. The ones that can make your brain numb are the dangerous ones. Just ask Yardley and the other RR victims.”

Damn it to hell. He was right

A flash of flowing red silk caught Vanessa’s eye and her hand stalled. Instead of pulling out the black flared skirt she’d been thinking of for work that night, her hand came away with the dress she’d worn the night she’d broken into Edward Yardley’s safe.

She rubbed the rich texture of the material between her fingertips and came to a decision. She’d told Ophelia she was done, so why was she hanging on to the trappings of the Risqué Robber?

With fast and sure movements she gathered up the dress, the wig box from the top shelf of her closet, and the make-up kit from the floor. She shoved the items into an old backpack she’d pulled from under her bed, adding the outfits from the other robberies as well. It was past time for her to get rid of the evidence.
 

Things were chaotic, to say the least, at the club that night. Wednesdays were a busy night. The middle of the week and people needed a small pick-me-up to make it to Friday. That usually meant alcohol.
 

She’d been in the club all afternoon, waiting for a workman to show up and fix the pipe that had sprung a leak under their beer cooler, only to be told to duct tape it until the next day.

Now, she was working the bar next to Rob so he didn’t have to rush. The last thing she needed was for him to slip on the wet floor and break a leg. When Vanessa looked up and saw Ophelia striding through the crowd, she squelched a sigh. She knew that look, and she wasn’t in the mood for an argument with her boss.
   

When the perfectly coifed blond stopped in front of the bar and smiled at Rob, he straightened up and waved Vanessa on. “Go on, Nessa. I’m all caught up and you don’t want to keep this beautiful lady waiting.”

Ophelia blew Rob a kiss and swept through the swinging doors to the back ahead of Vanessa.
 

When they reached Vanessa’s office she waited until Ophelia was comfortable before dropping into the seat behind her desk. “That boy’s a real charmer, Vanessa. It was a smart move, keeping the bartenders male.”

“The male customers enjoy watching the Go-Go Dancers, but we both know that females are happier with a little eye candy around too. Especially if the eye candy flirts with them.”
 

When Vanessa had started working for Ophelia the only male staff members had been a couple of knucklehead bouncers that harassed the waitresses worse than the customers did. That had been eight years ago. When one of the bouncers had grabbed her by the ass as she was bent over cleaning a table, Vanessa had come up swinging, and gave the guy a broken nose.
 

That was when Ophelia had taken her under her wing, and started grooming her to run the club.
 

“What’s up, O?”
 

“What makes you think something is up?”

“You never come by the club anymore unless you’ve got something important on your mind.” Vanessa noted the worry in her friend’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

The woman waved a manicured hand. “I’m fine. It’s my friend I’m worried about.”

A chill skipped down Vanessa’s spine. “I’m sorry to hear that.” She braced herself to hear O’s request, on behalf of her friend of course, that she help her get what was rightfully hers from a selfish ex-husband.