Wicked Pleasures (2 page)

“W
HERE ARE
we going?” Regina asked, nearly stumbling trying to keep up with Vivienne’s long strides toward a destination she couldn’t see. Still, you weren’t supposed to fight the hand leading you. And she was feeling good. Perhaps a little too good.

“Well, hello there.”

Regina realized they had stopped. She stepped up next to her friend to find her addressing the wide back of a guy seated at the bar.

At first Regina thought he wasn’t going to respond. Then he slowly turned, looking her full in the face.

She caught her breath.

“My God!” Vivienne said. “You look just like that wrestler…or actor. What’s his name? The Rock.”

Regina fairly gulped as she stared into the man’s pitch-black eyes. While she understood the comparison her friend was making, this guy was different in significant ways from the actor. First of all, his features weren’t as sharp, but more angular. Second, he was slimmer, his build more ropy than bulky.

She took in his simple black T-shirt and dark denim jeans and then blinked to look back up into his mesmerizing eyes. He had yet to acknowledge her friend.

“Hi,” Viv said, obviously amused. “My name’s Vivienne. And the one you’re interested in is Regina. What’s your name?”

“Lincoln.”

Vivienne’s smile widened. “Wanna dance, Linc?”

His brows rose as he looked them over. “With both of you?”

“Uh-huh,” Viv confirmed.

Regina glanced at her. She wanted all three of them to dance together? She raised a hand to her forehead, pushing her hair back, wondering if it had been a good idea to drink those shots…

“Sure.”

Before she knew what was happening, she was back on the dance floor between Viv and Linc. She hadn’t realized he was so tall when he was sitting on the stool, but now he towered over her by a good foot. Her friend put her hands on her hips from behind and swiveled her to stand face-to-face with Linc. She stumbled and he automatically reached to balance her.

“I’ve always wanted to do that dance from my favorite movie!” Vivienne said from behind her.

“What movie?” Regina asked.

“
Dirty Dancing.
You know, the one where Jennifer Grey dances with Patrick Swayze and his partner?” She reached for her right hand and then Linc’s and put them together, then resumed her place behind Regina, complete with hands on her hips.

Regina slowly looked up into Linc’s striking face. God, but he was handsome. And the way he looked at her melted away whatever might be left of her reserve. Her heart thudded loudly in her ears, nearly drowning out the music. Her skin tingled all over. And an ache she hadn’t experienced in what seemed like forever took up residence between her thighs.

“Come on,” Vivienne said. “Let’s move.”

Linc moved his right foot forward and she dropped her left one back as Vivienne did the same behind her, the hands on her hips guiding her into the next step.

There was something naughtily hot about the movement. Especially when Linc leaned in closer, points of his body making contact with hers. Mmm…he smelled good. Like deep woods and fresh air and hot male. And his hand where it held hers was big and warm, sending little shocks of sensation up her arms and across her chest, hardening her nipples under her dress.

Much, much too much time had passed since she’d been this close to a man. Her senses didn’t seem to know what to do with the overwhelming input washing over them. Of course, the alcohol probably heightened that effect.

Just then, Regina didn’t care how or why she’d come to be in that particular spot at that particular time. She was merely enjoying that she was. And didn’t want to be anywhere else…

D
AMN
,
SHE WAS INTOXICATING
.

Linc wasn’t much of a drinker—he preferred to remain in control at all times—but on the few occasions he had indulged, he’d had a similar rush to the one he was feeling right now, looking down into Regina’s face.

He easily led the steps Vivienne suggested, finding the scene reenactment subtly sexy. The movie was one of his aunt’s favorites and he’d been forced to watch it with her no fewer than a dozen times over the years during his visits.

Somehow in all his research, he’d missed the fact that Regina was stunningly attractive. Then again, maybe he hadn’t missed it so much as hadn’t anticipated his reaction to her being this close. It wasn’t often he came into face-to-face contact with one of his subjects, much less cheek to cheek.

His gaze skimmed her features, taking in the arch of her soft brows, the sizzling warmth in her green eyes, the almost poutlike quirk of her full lips. This close up he also understood that she wasn’t as thin as he’d originally thought. There wasn’t a single sharp angle to her.

His jeans tightened incrementally with each brush of his body against hers.

She readjusted her hand in his. He looked at her fingers and short, clean nails, totally unlike the bloodred polished ones her friend had. He knew Regina worked as a waitress at a small downtown diner and imagined she must do a lot to keep her hands as soft as they were.

He’d already guessed she didn’t drink often. If he needed further proof of that, her unsteadiness on her feet was clear evidence.

As she swayed toward him, his body instantly reacted, need, sure and swift, exploding through him.

“Sorry.” He saw her speak the word rather than hear it as she looked up into his face, her nose mere millimeters from his.

He swallowed hard, wanting to kiss her so much in that one moment it was all he could do to stop himself.

Interestingly, he didn’t have to. Because she kissed him.

He wasn’t surprised to find she tasted as good as she looked. Strawberry lip gloss teased his taste buds even as the tang of tequila remained on her breath.

“I say we get out of here,” Vivienne said behind her.

Regina blinked and drew away. “What?”

“I don’t think the lady’s ready to leave yet,” Linc said, not wanting to let her go just then.

“I meant the three of us…”

Linc looked from Regina to Vivienne and back again.

He couldn’t have agreed more…

R
EGINA TRIED TO
open her eyes, but she feared they were fused shut. She rubbed her eyelids and then blinked against the bright morning sunlight flooding the bedroom in her small apartment. Her head pounded and her body ached in places she hadn’t been consciously aware of until that very moment. She groaned and closed her eyes again, rolling over…straight into something.

Before totally registering someone else was in the bed, she was out of it. It took her a moment to realize she wore nothing but her birthday suit. She grabbed the throw that had been lying on top of her bed but was now on the floor.

A groan and then the figure under the sheet rolled over.

“Vivienne!” she said. “For God’s sake, you scared me half to death.”

“Why are you whispering?” Her friend smiled and looked around. “Is this your bed?”

Regina pulled the throw closer. Sleepovers had never been part of the plan before. Never mind open nakedness. Viv’s casual tone inched her uneasiness higher.

Slowly but surely, some of last night’s events played out in her mind. Little more than blurry snippets of candlelight, music, wine and more, um, dirty dancing in the living room.

And her and Linc and other naughty goings-on.

Oh, no…

She stared at the bed, her heart hammering in her throat even as heat warmed her blood.

“What happened?” Viv asked, stripping back the top sheet.

Regina started to close her eyes to keep from seeing more than she wanted, then realized her friend was wearing her bra and underpants—red satin with black lace. The type of lingerie Regina would never dare buy herself no matter how much she might want to.

She let out a long breath. While the undergarments weren’t what she was used to seeing her friend in, it wasn’t complete nudity. She’d seen more of her in her bathing suit.

“Coffee?”

Regina squealed at the sound of the male voice behind her. She whirled to face none other than the guy they’d met at the bar last night.

He was here?

Still?

Her gaze trailed to the bed, to him and back.

Oh, no…

His grin was one hundred percent pure sin.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

His words contradicted his naughty expression.

He openly looked her over, his gaze lingering in places that made her blush everywhere but on her cheeks. Well, at least those on her face.

She glanced down. She held the throw between her breasts, leaving them both bare. When she’d faced him, the fabric had twisted around her legs, her pubis clearly visible.

She gasped and turned around to adjust the material, then realized she was giving him a full back view. She couldn’t move fast enough to cover herself even as she ducked into the connecting bathroom.

Oh, no…oh, no…oh, no…

Regina leaned against the doorjamb, her eyes closed, her lungs refusing air.

This wasn’t happening… It wasn’t even remotely possible she…

What was going on?

Her mind reeled, racing from one thought to the next. Had all three of them spent the night together? In the apartment? In her bed?

She remembered kissing Linc. She ran her tongue over her lower lip. Boy, did she ever remember kissing Linc. And she even recalled some clothing removal. And soft moans. And…

Oh, God…

I
NCREDIBLE
. She was even more beautiful in the morning. Short hair mussed and framing her face. Smudged mascara darkening her eyes, her mouth swollen.

Linc put down the coffee cups on the nightstand, noticing the way Vivienne lay back in the bed staring at him invitingly.

An invitation he wasn’t interested in acknowledging much less accepting.

“Well,” she said with a suggestive purr. “Since Reggie couldn’t tell me what happened last night, perhaps you can.”

He smiled rather than grimaced. “I’m heading out. Pass on my goodbyes.”

“Leaving so soon?” she asked. “Don’t hurry out on account of me.”

She was exactly the reason he was leaving.

“Nice meeting you, um…both,” he said.

Within moments, he was closing the front door of the ground-level apartment behind him. It would be nice if he could leave the image of Regina’s nakedness behind as easily.

Oh, nothing had happened. At least nothing near what the two women might believe. Not because the opportunity hadn’t existed. But in the end, no matter how attracted he’d been to Regina, he hadn’t been able to take advantage of her when she’d been so obviously intoxicated.

The memory of the taste of her mouth made him groan even as he allowed himself the freedom to recall exactly what had gone down last night. And what hadn’t…

They’d returned to the small apartment complex on the edge of town, a place like many that was short on quality but high on location, the view of the Rocky Mountains to the west enough to make a hole-ridden tent look appealing. He’d viewed it from the outside on several occasions over the past few days, but it was the first time he’d gotten a glimpse inside. He’d been surprised to find it so stark, barren of all sign of the woman who lived there. Well, except for the stacks of books, some that bore the plastic covers indicating they came from the library.

It reminded him of his place.

As he climbed into his company SUV, he ousted the reflection and replaced it with the memory of kissing Regina.

Or had she been kissing him?

Definitely a mutual kiss.

They’d been dancing in her living room, her face alluring in the flicker of the candlelight. Her friend Vivienne had essentially passed out on the sofa, an empty bottle of Merlot tucked in her arm, leaving him alone for all intents and purposes with Regina. Which is what he’d been angling for all evening.

She’d seemed to read his thoughts and swayed into him, her mouth millimeters from his.

Oh, he’d kissed her all right.

And kissed her and kissed her and kissed her.

He couldn’t recall a time when he’d enjoyed feeling a woman’s mouth against his so much.

Then she’d pressed her hips against his in an instinctively female way that set his every male instinct ablaze and he’d suddenly wanted much, much more.

In that one moment, he hadn’t cared if she stumbled a bit when he walked her toward her bedroom. He’d only known an intense desire to be buried deep inside her. To watch her mouth open in a soft moan. To hear her throaty sounds as they had sex.

They were no sooner in the bedroom than she was pulling open his jeans while simultaneously trying to strip him of his T-shirt. He’d chuckled, helping her even as she tugged at her own clothes.

Within seconds they were both naked…and she was dropping to her knees to take his pulsing length into her sweet mouth.

Linc swallowed hard, his jeans tightening at the mere memory. It had felt so good having her attention focused so intensely on pleasing him. More, it appeared she drew pleasure from the sexual act. He knew plenty of women who did it as part of a show, looking up at him perhaps in approval, or to check to make sure they were getting the reaction they were after. Not Regina. Her attention was solely on what she was doing.

And oh, she had done it so very, very well…

He hadn’t planned to come, but he couldn’t help himself. She’d easily adjusted, smoothing his semen over his still-hard length then licking him clean.

Hell, he’d nearly come again just watching her.

Then she’d stood up and nearly fell over.

And he knew he couldn’t take it any further.

He groaned now as he had then. He’d had every expectation that sex with her would be even better than the blow job, but he’d known it wasn’t a good idea to go any further than they had. Especially since he was afraid he’d allowed things to go too far already. He didn’t want her regretting anything that passed between the two of them. Ever.

As he drove toward his own apartment across town, he reminded himself there was another, primary reason why he needed to keep her friendly: she was the key to his catching her ex.

He grimaced. How had a woman like Regina ever become involved with the likes of Billy Johnson? It was a thought he wouldn’t have entertained for more than two moments before. Who cared, so long as he met his objective? But now that he’d spent a little time with her, he couldn’t help wondering what she’d found attractive in the no-good criminal.

As far as he could tell, she led a clean life. Even under her own name, she held no record.

She was the only child of a single mother. She’d grown up and had lived her entire life in the small town of Livermore Falls, Maine…until leaving after Johnson’s sentencing.

Could limited options have been the reason she’d hooked up with Johnson? A check of an online high school yearbook found Johnson had graduated two years before her. In a town where the entire senior class was only thirty students, he figured opportunities would have been greatly limited.

It was something with which he personally couldn’t identify having grown up in the Bronx, where he couldn’t have named ten percent of his graduating class much less every one of them.

At any rate, that was a long time ago.

His cell rang. He picked up on the second ring. “Yeah.”

“Some information came in on that fugitive.”

One of his contacts from Quantico.

“Shoot.”

“There’s a report out of August, Maine. It’s believed he was pulled over for speeding eighteen hours ago.”

“They’re holding him?”

“No, they let him go. They didn’t realize who they had until an hour afterward.”

Linc had heard far too many stories of a similar nature. Close calls, near misses. Of course, in this case, it was probably a good idea the officer hadn’t been following national news bulletins or he might have ended up dead.

He didn’t see Billy Johnson allowing himself to get nabbed during a routine traffic stop. Had the officer tried to arrest him, no doubt Johnson would have pulled out the gun he undoubtedly had. And he would have used it.

“So he’s hanging around home, then.”

“Looks that way.”

He thanked the contact and disconnected even as he pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex. Ten minutes. That’s all it would take for him to grab a shower, dress and be back out in the car. He needed to check in at Lazarus, then map out Johnson’s possible whereabouts and try to figure out where he might be heading next.

And how long it would take him to make his way to Colorado Springs.

In the meantime, it was still a good idea to stick as close to Regina as possible.

His immediate jolt of desire at the prospect made him grimace…