“What are you doing here?” he repeated. Did she know what it meant to show up at a man’s home this late at night?
“I was going to call, but I don’t have your number.”
“Yes, you do.”
She pulled the briefcase she carried tighter against her coat as he approached.
“I put them all in your phone when you tried to break my back.”
Her eyes widened and then narrowed as she dropped her shoulders. “You are such a snoop.”
If that wasn’t the pot calling the kettle black. “So are you. You went through my SGI statements.”
“Maybe you left them there so I would.”
Was she taller? “Did you leave your phone on your desk so I would see how many men you’ve dated?”
“No! How could I have known you would snoop?”
His eyes took her in from head to toe. Yes, she was taller. She had at least four inches of heel on the boots hidden beneath her coat. Just how high up her leg did they go? He heard the cheesy music coming from his room, and his stomach clenched. Caught. He had to keep her from going back there, but the flickering light had already caught her attention.
“Are you alone?” She arched an eyebrow accusingly.
As if she could be replaced without a full lobotomy. “I thought you said you trusted me.”
She narrowed her eyes to slits, focusing on his face, bare chest, finally freezing on the tent in his sweats. Caused by her damned boots, not the two seconds of credits he’d seen before answering the door. Sensing the conclusion she’d jumped to, he grabbed for her arm, but she swung her briefcase at him, nailing him in the stomach before heading toward the bedroom.
He sputtered but kept going, not catching her until she was in his room, staring open-mouthed at the television. “Where did that come from?”
He dipped his shoulders in defeat. He wouldn’t be learning a thing about the boots tonight. “I can order it directly from the cable.”
His eyes widened as she sat down on the bed, her gaze never leaving the screen. Her hand waved at the movie. “Not this. The television. When did you get it?”
He wasn’t in trouble? He knew even less about women than he thought. “It hides in the cabinet during the day.”
She jumped as a third person came onscreen. Her posture went rigid, and she shook her head, giving him an incredulous stare.
He tried not to laugh. “Me, neither. I don’t even share chocolate.”
Her shoulders relaxed as she grinned and turned back to the screen.
Talk about surreal. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she watched. Moving behind her, he stretched his leg around her on the bed. “Do you like it?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered, as if they were in a movie theater and might disturb people. “I’ve never seen one before. It’s not very realistic. The noises are weird, and they’re all shaved. Even that guy with hair on his back.”
He laughed and leaned his head down on her shoulder.
“Are most women bare like that?”
He wrapped his arms around her before answering. “Some.”
Her stomach tightened beneath his hands. “Do you want me to be?”
“No.” His fingers found the buttons on her coat and released them one by one.
Her eyes were on the screen as he slipped the coat off. His breath caught as his fingers found the ribbons holding her slip in place at her shoulders. The white, lacy material was all she wore beneath the coat. Except for the boots that came all the way to the hem of the slip. Leather and lace.
He got up and shucked his sweats, not that she seemed to notice. She stayed in her trance as he encouraged her to lift up so he could get rid of her coat. Her concentration on the television started to bother him as he ran his hands down her sides to her hips. Through the slits on the side of her slip, he found her panties and began to pull them off. But his fingers encountered ribbon not elastic. Some genius had thought to make panties that tied on the side. If that wasn’t a million-dollar invention. He released her, but she remained still.
“I have a better idea.” He breathed against her neck as his hands found the top of the boots. He pushed her legs apart.
Turning her head, she kissed him slow and full. “Me, too. This is why they have that position for watching TV. I never thought of it before.”
“I don’t want you fantasizing about someone else yet.” He lifted her up and tossed her back against the pillows, crawling to her as she giggled.
Her hand squeezed around his cock, finally doing something about the pressure building since she had marched into his place in those boots.
“You don’t want to try it?”
“Try what?” He untied one side of her slip, peeling it back until his eyes feasted on her peaked breast. His tongue lapped at her sweet skin, carefully avoiding the bud. He wanted all of her attention. She threaded her fingers through his hair as she guided him to the tip. As she arched and moaned, he knew he had her, even before he pulled her deep into his mouth.
But as he made his way to her other peak, her mouth started again. “The television position. It’s called—” A shriek of delight escaped her as he scraped his teeth along the bottom of her other nipple. As he kissed a path down her stomach, she began again. “We have to practice the Top. I have to learn to spin from facing forward to back.”
He looked up. She had to be kidding. “Spin?”
She pressed her teeth into her lower lip as she nodded.
“I’m right here and you’re thinking about textbook positions?”
“I haven’t seen you for two days, and you’ve been here watching porn?”
His head fell against her belly, bouncing as she laughed with him.
“I was trying to give you a break.” He crept back up her body, blocking her view with his shoulders. “You’re new to this. I didn’t want you to be too sore, and I can’t be trusted to leave you alone if we’re too close.”
“I feel fine. I have a very active sex life, just not with other people. BOB and I—” He silenced her talk of the damned vibrator. He would make the thing obsolete if it killed him.
Pulling her arms over her head, he whispered against her neck, “If you were satisfied with BOB, you wouldn’t be making a booty call on a weeknight.”
“I’m here for business.” She spoke the bland words like a phone-sex operator.
Dressed like this? He looked down into her face—her eyes closed, lips parted, breath ragged. Business? Hardly. Running him through the positions for real this time? Definitely. He pulled away and opened the nightstand. “Which one’s first?”
She pushed up on her elbows. “Which one what?” Her heavy lids opened wide. “What are you doing with that?”
“Which position did you want to try first? I’m not sure if the spinning one works for real, but it sounds like a great show.”
She snatched the condom packet from his hand. “What are you doing with this?”
He grabbed it back and stared past her shoulder. “I can’t have kids, Sophie.”
Her blue eyes flickered like the center of a flame. He hoped it was from the television. “If you can’t, then you don’t need it. And that’s not a problem, anyway. I told you—I’m on the pill.”
“Are you trying to get pregnant?” Why is this such an issue with her?
“Of course not.”
“Then using a backup shouldn’t be a problem.” He held the packet in the air. “No condom, no sex.”
“Fine.” She pulled up her slip and retied it at her shoulder. She had to be kidding. She would actually come all the way over here dressed like that and then bail because he wanted to double up on their birth control?
He watched her get up and confidently march from the room. No way. He rose from the bed as she came back with her briefcase.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I told you, I came for business.” Sitting on the bed, facing the action on the TV, she popped open her briefcase an
d pulled out a file, an envelope, and a stack of note cards. She handed him the envelope. “This came by messenger today.”
He could tell without looking it was an invitation to the retirement party Tessa had turned into a fundraiser for extra publicity. He handed it back, unsure why she’d given it to him in the first place.
“Okay, so it’s not from you.” Looking down, she busied her hands sorting through the file.
“Would you want to go?” He didn’t. Why would she?
She shoved the papers back in the folder and stuffed everything back in her briefcase. “This was a bad idea. Forget it ever happened.” She slammed the briefcase shut and reached to the floor for her coat.
“Why?” He swooped down, grabbed the coat, and held it behind his back. She wouldn’t be going out again dressed like that.
“Why?” she echoed. “Because I’ve had enough rejection for one night.”
“I’m not… Where is this coming from?” He sat down next to her on the bed.
She grabbed the packet he’d left on the mattress and flung it at him as an answer.
“This is safety, Sophie. Unprotected sex is an indulgence.” One neither of them could afford to get used to. All too soon, she’d be done with him. She’d realize he couldn’t give her what she wanted and be out in the world looking for someone who could.
Her eyes closed, and he watched her gnaw at her bottom lip. “You’ve been with a lot of women, David. I need to have something of you they don’t.”
She did. Did she ever. But telling her would ruin what little power he still held. He carried the coat with him as he made his way to the table by the door and then back. She was still holding her briefcase across her lap when he returned.
She’d turned off the television, and the reflection of the lights on the water barely lit the room. The curls, ribbons, and lace made her appear even younger. Joining her on the bed, he handed her the credit card he’d retrieved from his wallet.
She narrowed her eyes as she flipped the card between her fingers. “What is this for?”
“You’ll need a dress.”
She held out the card. “I don’t want your money. And I’m not trying to guilt you into anything.”
He didn’t take it. “I know. I hate these things. I don’t want to go. I’ve never asked anyone to come with me. I didn’t want to subject you to it.”
“If you don’t want to go, don’t.”
If only it were that simple. “It’s a work thing, and he’s my father. It would look strange if I don’t make an appearance. And if I suddenly show up with someone, people will talk. Tessa turned it into a benefit for the school district athletics program. There’ll be cameras and reporters and after Colin’s column… I honestly thought about asking you to come, but I didn’t think you’d want to risk it.”
“Risk what?”
“Daphne finding out.”
Her mouth formed a perfect O as he stood, gathered the briefcase from her lap, and stacked it on the chair in the corner. He slipped the card into the pocket of her coat and left that on the chair, too. He circled back to the bed and stood before her. “If you want to go, buy a dress. If not, then don’t.” He ran a finger down her face. She turned, placing her cheek in the palm of his hand. “Isn’t there something better we could be doing?”
…
She took a deep breath and wondered how David managed to talk about everything from money to family politics blissfully naked. She had trouble keeping her mind off the fact that he’d taken off her panties. What she wouldn’t give to be that comfortable in her own skin. She gazed up into his eyes while he gently stroked her face. If she could only put her feelings for him into words. Then again, maybe not. Maybe it was better he couldn’t read her mind. Not until she could read his.
“What do you like best about me?”
He answered quickly, without blinking. “Your hands.”
She sat on his bed in thigh-high leather boots and a lace baby doll that left nothing to the imagination. As if he was thinking about her hands.
“Come on, you can be honest. I asked. It’s not a trap.”
“Your hands. They are my secret obsession. Hands so tiny and fragile looking, but they’re amazingly strong and powerful.” He laced his fingers through hers. “Hands wonderful to touch, and amazing to be touched with.”
“You could show me. Teach me what you like.” She traced her way down his body, flattening her palm against his muscled thigh.
His intense gaze never left hers. “The way I remember it, you don’t need to learn anything.”
The space between them sizzled, sparking with energy. “You could show me what to do, the rhythm, the pressure.”
“I like it better when you do it.”
“You’re not playing fair.” She brushed her hand over his hip, making a path until she wrapped around his length.
“No, I’m not playing show and tell.”
She felt him warming and hardening again beneath her hand. Her voice came out low and throaty. “Are you thinking of what you want me to do? Tell me.”
“Surprise me.”
She began to slowly stroke his growing member. “Maybe I should stop, if you don’t like it enough to tell me.” She tried to pull her hand away, but his held it in place. He stared into her eyes as he lengthened her stroke. He showed her how to twist her hand gently at the top before coming back down. He released his hold on her, and himself, and resumed watching her.
She took him first in one hand, then the other. Her hands worked together, one finishing and the other beginning as she stroked the length of him. His breath snagged in his throat as he grabbed her wrists, freeing himself from her delicious torture. Pulling her arms overhead, he pushed her onto her back and reached for the condom.
“Let me,” she asked sweetly, her greedy fingers contrasting her innocent tone. If he needed it to feel safe with her, she’d let him have it. And besides, she was curious to learn if it felt different.
He took the packet back. “I think I’ve had about as much of your hands as I can take.”
Chapter Fourteen
Something had shifted the moment they had made love. She’d thought it had only been her, that it was the way you felt after your first time. But now she wasn’t so sure it hadn’t happened for him, too. He seemed happier, lighter than before.
It was her turn to be the reluctant one now. Which made her feel extremely guilty for all the pressure she’d put on him. Obviously, he wasn’t hiding the relationship from his family, but she kept it from hers. She vowed to tell Craig and Daphne as soon as the baby was born. If she still had anything to tell.
Her fingers danced across the racks as she flipped through the dresses. Only three hours until he picked her up, and she still had no idea what to wear. The invitation said black tie, but what did that mean for her exactly? Short or long, black or white? Not white. She wanted to catch his eye, to really make him see she could be as sexy and sophisticated as any woman there.
“Is there something I can help you find?” a sunny voice said from behind her. She usually shooed the sales clerks away, but today she could use all the help she could get.
Turning, she smiled, recognizing the familiar face from one of her classes.
“Cindy? I didn’t know you worked here.”
“Here, there, and everywhere. The discount keeps Ramon from getting too angry about my shopping habit. Class was great last night, but I have to ask you”—Cindy lowered her voice and stepped closer—“does the Top really work?”
Sophie’s cheeks went up in flames as she nodded. “Just go slow.”
Cindy dropped her gaze to study the floor. “David mentioned that about ten times.” They both fell into nervous laughter. “What can I help you find?”
“What do you wear to a black-tie benefit?”
“With David?” Cindy arched an eyebrow.
David’s comments in class the night before had removed any doubt the students might have had about them being tog
ether. No need to hide it from everyone. She nodded.
“I need something that will make him think how great I will look out of it.”
…
Sophie’s credit card was probably melting inside her wallet, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to take another cent from him. She still hadn’t figured out a way to pay him for the SUV or all of the security upgrades he’d put in her apartment.
Still, she hadn’t held back. Everything touching her body was new. Even the makeup Cindy had one of her friends apply at the store. She stepped back and wondered at her reflection in the mirror. She’d wanted to look less like a wallflower and more like a woman David would be with. She felt like Cinderella before the ball.
She’d piled most of her curls on top of her head, but a few tendrils danced around her neck. She stifled a gasp as she looked down at the dress. The halter neckline pressed her breasts up and out, serving them up on a platter. The bodice cinched her waist before the silk georgette flitted about her legs in jagged, asymmetrical layers. Stockings weren’t an option with such a high slit, so she left her legs bare. Cindy had dared her to wear nothing beneath the dress, but she’d chickened out and bought a small, red satin thong that matched the color of the dress perfectly.
Red was her theme of the night, from her pouty lips, to her spike-heeled shoes, to the quick coat of polish they had brushed across her nails before she’d left the store. Both cars David had bought her were red, so she guessed he liked it. She’d never worn red before.
Sophie jumped as she heard his familiar pounding at her door. The man did everything at full bore. No polite knocking for David. She slipped on her coat as she went to let him in, buttoning up quickly before she opened the door.
She reminded herself to breathe as he made his way inside. Sophistication oozed from him. Clothes just didn’t fit regular people that well. His black tuxedo was obviously designer and expertly tailored, his black coat a wool three times as thick as hers. And he smelled so good. Maybe they should stay in.
“Ready?” he asked, turning in the entryway.
She could only nod as he brushed his thumb across her lips, then pulled it back, and looked at it.
Compromising Positions (Invested in Love) Page 19