“Hurt me,” he invited her.
Oh dear god in heaven. Everything inside her went hot and soft and quivery. She didn’t want to hurt him. But she did want to give him such intense pleasure he hovered on a knife-edge of pain. She vibrated against him, arched her pelvis into him, seeking, and he ground back against her. Pleasure poured over her at the feel of his hardness meeting her softness, and they moved against each other in a needy, desperate rhythm. She spread her legs, opened to bring him closer, their clothing a flimsy barrier between the lust surging through them. She nipped at his bottom lip.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “You’re going to make me come in my jeans.”
“Me too.” Her voice sounded husky in her own ears. She let out a long, low moan. “Oh god, me too. Ryan…”
“I know, baby, I know.” He rocked against her. Electricity sparked through her bloodstream and she arched her spine to press aching breasts against his hard chest. “Is this what you want?”
She rolled her head back and forth on the hard floor. “What?”
“Is this what you want? Rolling around on the floor, getting off on each other. ’Cause we could move to the bed.”
“Uh…” She didn’t want to move, so much pleasure sizzled through her as she pressed into him. “Just…want…this…”
“You sure?” He bent his head and kissed her, his mouth hot on hers, opening over hers, pushing her mouth open wider. His tongue licked at her and flames streaked through her body, an inferno of lust exploding inside her. And she came. Arched off the floor, her pussy pressed against the hard ridge of his cock beneath his jeans, hard waves of bliss shuddered over her. She cried out and lifted her upper body off the floor, pressing her face to the side of his neck.
“Christ, Sera.” He held her, kept the pressure where she needed it as she pulsed against him. Heat and light surrounded her.
“Oh sweet Jesus.” As her quivering body relaxed and softened into the floor, torrid embarrassment heated her body and face. She gulped in air, swallowed hard. “I can’t believe we did that.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Believe it, baby.”
And she realized he still throbbed against her, hot and hard. And once again, she’d gotten an orgasm and he hadn’t. Tenderness suffused her and she drew her face away from the shelter of his warm neck and put her hand on his face. “Let’s move to the bed.”
“Thank Christ.” He rolled off her in a flash, rose to his feet and hauled her up off the floor by her wrists. Then he all but dragged her down the short hall to the bedroom.
She was strong enough to resist him.
Okay. She was physically strong enough to resist him. Mentally, sexually, emotionally…that was a whole different tale. And she shook with fear at what that meant.
Irresistible. It was his fault for being so goddamn tempting. Enticing. Captivating.
It’s not that she was weak. Helpless. Powerless. God, no. Never again.
Then what the hell was going on here?
Ryan’s dick was about to burst out of his jeans. His balls ached, drawn up so tight he needed to reach for them and tug them down away from his body. Sera’s feisty, sexy strength turned him on more than anything he’d ever known. His irritation at her independence and determination only added to the intense arousal.
Inside the bedroom he picked her up and tossed her onto the bed. She let out of soft cry of surprise as she bounced on the mattress. Then he was on her, over her, pressing her down, kissing her mouth with fiery desperation, lips, tongues, teeth connecting. He ate at her with fierce hunger, pressed his hard cock into her softness, warm and damp even through her jeans. She moaned, and her fingers slid into his hair, tugging it loose from the band that held it back. Christ, the sensations of her threading her fingers through his hair, tugging on the strands, scraping her nails across his scalp, sent a barrage of sparks zinging through his blood.
“You drive me crazy,” he muttered against her jaw, and he licked her there then nipped. She moaned again. Then she moved under him, rolled and flipped him onto his back. Jesus.
She straddled him and looked down at him, hands on his chest, her hair a wild dark mane around her face and shoulders. He was used to being the one in control, the one on top. The alpha. Not that he minded her riding him like that. Not at all. She just had too many clothes on.
He reached for the hem of her T-shirt, slid his hands beneath it and found warm, soft flesh. The muscles of her stomach quivered under his fingertips. He lifted the shirt, and she cooperated—for once, thank Jesus—and raised her arms above her head so he could pull the shirt all the way off.
The sight of her body squeezed all the air out of his lungs and he went lightheaded. For such a no-nonsense, get-it-done, I-don’t-need-anyone federal agent, she wore amazingly girly lingerie. The sheer ivory cups of her bra were embroidered with pastel pink and peach flowers, edged with lace and topped with tiny satin bows at the base of each strap. Her nipples played peek-a-boo with the embroidered flowers and he reached out to tug a fragile cup away to reveal her fully to him, filled with a desperate need to see her. Touch her. Taste her.
Her head fell back as he pulled the bra down and displayed her breasts, full, round, high, tipped with dark pink nipples tightly puckered into mouth-watering temptation. Heat slammed into his balls, his dick twitched hard and he brushed his fingertips over the tight tips of her breasts. She hissed out a breath, eyes closed, back arched, her fingers resting lightly on his abdomen.
“Holy hell, Sera, you’re beautiful.” His voice came out husky, worshipful.
She reached behind her and undid the clasp of the bra and it loosened. He hooked a finger into each strap and tugged it off. He wanted to toss it aside but first held the delicate scrap of silk and lace in both hands and just marveled at it. Her warm, feminine smell rose to his nostrils. God, if this was just her bra, what secrets did her panties hold?
He set the bra on the bedside table and reached for her again, flicked open the button of her low-rise jeans then tugged the short zipper down. She rose to her knees and helped him push the jeans down her hips. Once again his breathing stalled—uh, had he even started breathing again? He drank in the sight of her smooth hips and slender thighs, the tiny panties barely covering anything. They matched the bra, the same sheer, embroidered fabric a small triangle between her legs, tying in satin bows on each hip. He swallowed.
“Very pretty,” he choked out, brushing fingertips over the lacy triangle. His fingers lingered over another tattoo there, a small set of angel wings. He blinked.
The warm scent of her arousal rose around them. He stroked lower and hell, yeah, her panties were damp. He heard her small gasp, felt the faint tremor run through her body as he touched her there.
Somehow they got her out of the jeans, and then he too needed desperately to get out of his clothes. He was burning hot, feverish, his black T-shirt damp, his jeans annoyingly uncooperative as he tried to drag them down over sweaty flesh. When Sera’s hands covered his cock through his underwear, he almost came right then. His cock swelled, and need speared at his balls in sharp stabs. Her stroking hands sent sensation racing over his body. His skin tightened and heated.
“Nice,” she murmured, then she tugged the elastic of the boxer briefs lower. She paused as she lowered them to look at his left hip. At the tattoo there. “What’s this?” she murmured.
“St. Michael.” His voice came out hoarse. She lifted her eyes to meet his. They gazed at each other for a long moment and he could tell she was as taken aback by their matching tattoos as he was.
Then she wriggled down the bed to drag them off, over thighs, knees, calves and feet. To his shock, she kissed and licked her way back up, laying gentle sucking kisses on his thighs, as tight as if he’d just run a 10K, and as she got closer, his fever intensified and his body tightened with anticipation. Then she took him in both hands, stroked his quivering cock, so hard and aching he felt he might burst. He dragged open his eyes to watch her, and the lust and admiration shining in her
eyes threw him into a swirling cyclone of sensation. When her mouth closed over his dick, he let out a long groan, flopped his head back onto the pillow, eyes closed, and gave himself over to the exquisite bliss of her lips and tongue stroking over him, satiny licks and wet, heated suction.
He fisted the bedspread in his hands, made some noises that he would probably be embarrassed about later, and when her tongue licked over his balls, his hips lifted off the mattress.
“Sera!” he gasped. “Sera, stop.”
She lifted her head, his cock still captured in her hands. “Why?”
“Because I’m so close…I’m gonna come…but I want to fuck you.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Her soft husky voice seeped into his head. She bent and laid a soft kiss to the head of his dick, making him twitch again, and then she slid her long, smooth body over his and kissed his mouth.
He turned his head to meet her mouth and they kissed, long, clinging kisses, drawing on each other, tongues sliding. Then he rolled her, pinning her to the bed on her back, moved over her. She opened her legs and he shoved aside the tiny strip of fabric and found her wetness, slick and burning hot. “Ah,” he moaned. “Ah, Christ, Sera.” He stretched across the bed to the bedside table, yanked open the drawer and fumbled inside for a condom.
“Good idea,” she gasped. He rolled it onto his cock as fast as he could, fingers shaking, then returned to her sweet pussy. Fuck. He curved his fingers around the string of her thong panties and gave a yank. Her gasp mingled with the ripping sound of the fabric and he tugged the scrap away from her body then slid his fingers through her folds. He dipped lower, pushed gently inside her clinging warmth, then stroked up and around the hard, quivery knot of her clit. When he touched it gently, reverently with the tip of his index finger, she jerked against him and cried out. He swallowed her cry, taking her mouth again, and stroked her there, carefully, her body shaking. She seemed so sensitive, he didn’t want to be rough or abrasive.
When he felt her body tightening against his, he stopped and she whimpered. “Want inside you, Sera,” he whispered, and he found his throbbing cock and stroked it up and down her slit, wet and slippery, found her entrance and thrust inside her. She arched and cried out.
“Christ, you’re tight. Okay, angel?”
She nodded and he looked at her face, flushed and shiny, teeth digging into her bottom lip, eyes closed. He pushed in farther, withdrew, pushed in again. Her hot, wet, velvet sheath squeezed him in a sublimely erotic caress and he knew he was going to come way too fast. “Fuck.”
He found her clit again and rubbed it as he sank into her. She lifted against him, her hips moving in the same rhythm as his. Her hands clenched his shoulders. He spread his knees wide, got closer to her body, parting her thighs farther.
“Damn, you feel good,” he breathed, and then pressure built at the base of his spine, in his balls. Pleasure slammed through him, rocketing throughout his body. He again made low, guttural noises as he came inside her, gushing hot and hard into her body. She cried out too, wrapping her arms and legs around him, and Christ, her thighs were strong as she squeezed him with them. He loved that, and it sent him spiraling deeper as he thrust into her again and again.
They lay there, panting, chests heaving, hearts thudding, a sweaty tangle of limbs. He stroked her damp hair back off her forehead, kissed her cheek and she trailed her fingers up and down his sweat-slicked back.
“I just want to know,” she said, fingers dragging along his back. “Why’d you have condoms here?”
He choked on a laugh. “Uh…good question. I guess I just like to be prepared.”
“Hmmm.” She continued to caress him and her fingers slid lower, to the curve of his ass. It felt so damn good. “We should not have done this.”
“Probably not,” he agreed. “But you have to admit, it was coming.”
“Yeah.” She let out a soft sigh. Then she smacked his ass and he jumped.
“Hey!” He lifted his head to look at her and she grinned at him.
“I still could take you,” she said. Her eyes sparkled and her pretty mouth curved enticingly.
“I know,” he said wholeheartedly. “Believe me…I know.”
He lay there staring at the ceiling for a long time. He was the complete fuck-up Darren thought he was—he’d gone and done it again, gotten involved with someone on a case.
No. This was just sex. There was no emotional involvement. And nobody but the two of them needed to know about it.
Except…shit! The house was wired. It was entirely possible the whole world knew.
Chapter Twelve
Ryan was stubbornly adamant that Sera was not going with him on his delivery and pickup, so when Carly phoned to offer to pick her up and take her to their place for a swim in the afternoon, Sera accepted the invitation, figuring she could work on her own goal instead. Fine.
Carly made lemon drops and they sat beside the pool in the warm sunshine, sipping them. The blue water shifted and sparkled in the sun, and Sera pushed up her sunglasses on her nose. She stretched out her legs on the chaise lounge, and adjusted the top of her black bikini between her breasts.
Carly picked up a newspaper off the table and opened it. “What sign are you? I’ll check your horoscope.”
“Uh…” Sera didn’t know enough about the signs of the zodiac to make something up. The birth date on her new driver’s license was December—what sign would that be? “I don’t know. I’ve never checked my horoscope.”
“Really? I check mine every day. It’s amazing how accurate it is. What’s your birth date?”
Sera told her.
“Capricorn. Here’s your horoscope for today… You should handle matters of the heart with care today, and don’t allow your dreams to run away with you. The planets are suggesting that you may want to postpone any romantic interludes until tomorrow, when improved aspects breathe new life into romance!”
Pfffft. Romance. Romantic interludes. “Hmm. Interesting. What’s yours?”
“Today should be a big improvement on yesterday, with you back on form again. Romantic matters are likely to flourish today, whether you’re single or attached, so even if you’re still feeling the effects of yesterday’s negativity be assured that someone will make you feel better by this evening.” Carly looked up. “That sounds good. Vince was a little annoyed with me last night. He should be over it today?” She smiled.
Carly’s habit of making every other sentence a question could get irritating. Sera lifted her drink. The tangy lemon played with her taste buds.
“Oh, here’s Jessie! I invited her over too.”
Jessie walked around the corner of the house. “Hey, y’all,” she said with a wave. Her long, bleached-blonde hair gleamed in the bright sun, huge black sunglasses hiding most of her face. It was probably the first time Sera’d ever seen her sober.
“Hey, Jess. Come on and sit down. We’re having lemon drops.”
“Yum.”
“How’s your jewelry making going?” Sera asked Carly.
“Okay, I guess.”
“I still think you could sell your work. It’s really good.”
“Thank you. But…I don’t know. How would I do that?”
“In L.A. you could set something up on the beach and sell it, but I don’t know Clover City so well. There must be somewhere…”
“On Sunday afternoons there’s this flea market thing at Joaquin Park. I could do it there.”
“We should check it out sometime and see. Do you have enough pieces to display?”
“I have lots.” Carly leaned forward, eyes shining. “But…what if nobody buys anything?”
“So what?” Sera shrugged. “What have you got to lose? Other than a couple hours of your time.”
“I’d have to ask Vince.”
Sera bit her lip but couldn’t stop the question from popping out. “Why do you have to ask him?”
“Well…because. You know?”
Sera didn’t know. She would never k
now. But she nodded as if she did, as if it didn’t bother her that a grown woman thought she had to ask her husband’s permission to do something like that.
“That was fun in El Mirage last weekend.” Jessie changed the subject.
“Yeah,” Carly said. She looked at Sera. “Did you talk to Dominick like you wanted?”
“No.” Sera tried to not look too frustrated about that. “Zocco said he’d talk to him about it.”
“Oh. That’s good. Right?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Sera smiled at Carly. “I just wanted it before I went back to L.A. this week. I could’ve sold a lot to my friends. I can’t sell the stuff here, this is Zocco’s territory.”
“L.A.’s not that far away. You can go back when he gets you the stuff.”
“True.” Sera took another sip of lemon drop. “Dominick’s the main guy, huh?”
“I guess. He’s kind of scary. A few months ago, he wanted Vince to kill someone.”
Sera blinked. “Really? Who? Why?” Dammit. Her recorder wasn’t running. She’d never thought she’d be talking about something like this with Carly. Could she reach for her purse and get it going? She eyed the bag sitting on the table across the patio. Shit.
“I don’t know his name. Apparently he witnessed some of the guys beating up someone else, who ended up dying, so they had to get rid of him.”
Sera felt paralyzed. Two murders? “Vince wouldn’t kill someone, would he?”
Carly nibbled her bottom lip. “Yeah. He would. But he didn’t kill that guy. He tried to get this new prospect to do it, but he wouldn’t do it.”
Sera sat up a little straighter. “So who did, then?”
“Zocco.”
Oh dear god in heaven. She’d just found out who’d committed that homicide Ryan had been talking about. And she didn’t have it on tape. Shit, shit, shit.
“Have another lemon drop?”
Sera and Jessie held out their glasses and Carly refilled them from a pitcher on the table. Carly and Jessie chatted about inconsequential stuff and Sera tried to look interested as her mind raced. She’d tell Ryan and then he’d have to talk to Zocco about it and get him to admit to the murder on tape. God. Zocco probably wasn’t the brightest light, but he was street smart and suspicious. He’d taken her to a private place to talk to her about selling the angel sugar.
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