What the Lady Wants

by Nika Rhone

  Humiliation upon humiliation. She’d been right. She’d put him in an awkward position, and he’d grabbed at the opportunity Margo had presented to extricate himself from her misguided attempt at seduction. Tears she’d thought long since spent pressed hotly behind her eyes, seeking escape, so she did the same.

  Ducking her head, she pushed past him, aiming for the privacy of her bathroom. “I’m sorry, I have to…”

  “Dammit!” Steely arms closed over her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides.

  “Let me go, Doyle. Please!” There was no way he’d miss the tears thickening her voice, or the desperation, but rather than let her go, he tightened his hold instead.

  “God, I’m screwing this all to hell and back,” he muttered into her hair. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I was a jackass. Leaving with Margo…it was self-preservation.”

  Thea stilled. Sweetheart? Had he just called her sweetheart?

  Doyle was still talking, his mouth pressed close to her ear. “I wanted to take you home that night. You have no idea how much. But I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t settle for a kiss goodnight. You had me so freaking crazy, I was afraid…” He laughed, the sound derisive and bitter. “I was afraid. That pretty much sums it up.”

  “Of me?” She was still reeling from the sudden confession.

  “No. Of me.” He sighed, rubbing his cheek against her like a cat scent-marking a beloved possession. “You opened my eyes, sweetheart, made me see that I’d been missing a very important fact all this time. You grew up. But then, I guess that was the whole point of these past few weeks, wasn’t it? Getting me to wake the hell up?”

  Heat bloomed through Thea’s body as she remembered the lengths to which she’d gone to achieve just that. “Yeah, kinda.”

  “Mmmhmm.” He chuckled softly, and she relaxed. “Well, it finally worked. That night at dinner, I realized that I’d just been holding off the inevitable. The blinders were off, and there was no going back. I wanted you.”

  “Wanted?” Past tense?

  “Want. Badly.”

  His words thrilled her, but she was still afraid of making the wrong assumptions. If things went wrong this time, she knew there would never be another chance for them.

  She leaned into him a bit more, asking with her body was she was too hesitant to ask with mere words. “How bad?”

  Muttering a curse under his breath, Doyle closed that last increment of space between their lower bodies, and Thea felt the hard ridge of his erection press into her backside. “This bad. God, you’re killing me.” He groaned when she pressed back against him and shimmied her butt just a little. “This is the shape I was in after you practically made love to that piece of chocolate cake that night. The only thing that was keeping me in check was the fact that Rick was there. Didn’t you wonder why I didn’t give him the night off?”

  “Yeah, a little.” At the time she’d assumed that by keeping her security detail in place, it was an indication that Doyle considered their evening out to be personal, rather than business.

  “I couldn’t very well kiss you, or touch you, or do any of the other things you had me wanting to do that night with him following us home.”

  “That would have made for an interesting report at the morning briefing.” Thea giggled when he tightened his arms around her in mock punishment for her sass.

  “You have no idea how interesting.” The whisper in her ear sent shivers down her spine at the dark promise in his tone.

  “You could show me.”

  “Oh, I intend to.” The press of his erection emphasized the words. “But first I have to finish explaining.”

  “You don’t have to.” Thea tried to turn in his arms to face him. He resisted at first, before letting her spin, but he didn’t relinquish his hold, as though afraid she’d run away if he let her go.

  As if.

  “You wanted me,” she said, bringing her hands up to his chest, relishing the hard play of muscles beneath the soft cotton. What she really wanted to do was throw her arms around his neck, but she didn’t quite have the nerve. This was all still too new and unexpected. She was terrified of screwing something up. “It freaked you out. I get that. And then Margo showed up.”

  “And then Margo showed up.” When Doyle said it, it sounded more like a curse. “She took me by surprise, and then when she asked for a ride home…I should have sent her home with Rick.”

  “Yeah, you should have.”

  “If I had, I would have had you half-stripped with my mouth all over your body before we ever made it home.”

  The image sent a wave of damp heat through her, and her breasts tightened painfully. “I wouldn’t have minded in the least.”

  “I would have. What I feel for you is worth more than a quick grope in the backseat of a sports car. Which,” he added, “Margo has never been in for any reason.”

  Thea grinned. It seemed she wasn’t the only one who remembered Margo’s veiled references to her “intimate” knowledge of the contours of that back seat. Then the grin faded.

  “But you’re still together, right? I mean, exclusive or not, you’re still involved with her.” Because Thea didn’t poach. And she didn’t share.

  “I suppose technically, yes. But not for lack of trying to change that fact,” he added quickly as she started to pull back from him. “I decided last week it was past time to end things with her, but she’s been ducking my calls. So I finally left her a message this morning, telling her we were over. I just don’t know if she listened to it yet or not.”

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure she did,” Thea said, remembering the hint of desperation in the other woman’s eyes as she declared Doyle “hers.” Again she felt the unwelcome twinge of sympathy.

  “That doesn’t give her the right to accost you.” Anger flared in his eyes. “I’ll be having a talk with her about that fact later today, as well as setting her straight about how things stand between her and me. Believe me, this won’t happen again.”

  “Even so, I think I’ll just stick to running on the grounds for a while, just to keep the peace,” Thea said, only half joking. Because once Doyle broke things off with her in a permanent, never-going-to-change-his-mind way, Margo seemed the type to take her spite to a nasty level.

  “You don’t have to. Margo won’t be at Fit anymore.”

  Dismay bloomed. “Oh, Doyle, you didn’t.”

  “I didn’t have to. The manager heard what happened from several of the people there this morning. There’s no way they’d keep her on after she went after a member like that. He called here to assure me that there wouldn’t be any further incidents. Hey.” He slid a finger under her chin, tipping her face up to his. “Margo losing her job isn’t your fault. It’s hers. Don’t feel bad about it.”

  She did, though. The woman was a royal bitch and had caused her no small amount of grief over the past week, but she still hated for anyone to lose their livelihood.

  “You’re still doing it.”

  “I can’t help it. Maybe if I call them—” She stopped when Doyle brought his finger up over her lips.

  “Not. Your. Fault.”

  She couldn’t help it. Staring into his eyes, Thea’s inner imp made her flick out her tongue and lave his finger, just as she’d done at the restaurant that night. This time, however, there weren’t a few dozen people sitting in the room or a jealous sort-of girlfriend storming the scene.

  This time there were just the two of them, and Thea watched, fascinated, as Doyle’s pupils dilated and his nostrils flared. The flush she’d noticed earlier on his cheekbones darkened, making them look sharper and sexier. As if he needed any more hotness. He already had her sizzling, and he hadn’t even kissed her yet.

  An oversight he didn’t waste any time correcting, replacing his finger with his lips and giving her a whole new use for her tongue.

  Chapter Twenty

  Thea’s lips opened under his with little coaxing. Doyle felt the softness of her lips, the eager warmth of her tongue a
s it met his, and a part of him was amazed that this was actually happening. This was Thea. Thea. For all the doubts he’d had, for all the agonies he suffered trying to decide the rights and wrongs of it all, he knew now that this was exactly what he wanted.

  Right here. Right now. This was his woman, and he would stake his claim before another bout of stupid made him resist the idea again.

  Woman. God, yes, Thea was all that and more. The firm globes of her breasts pressed against his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. One of her hands sifted through his hair as the other clutched his shoulder as though to hold him in place. He almost laughed. Like he was going anyplace but where he was right at that moment.

  Finally given the freedom to explore, he felt like a kid let loose in a candy store, not knowing what treat to start with first. Deciding to start at the top, he rubbed both hands along her back, feeling the play of her shoulder blades, the soft curve of her back as it dipped toward her waist and then flared out again in a sexy curve at her hips.

  Once there, his hands took opposite directions. One curved around to cup her ass, lightly kneading it to the accompaniment of Thea’s tiny moans, which sent even more heat to Doyle’s already rock-hard dick. He’d promised himself that he’d go slow, that he’d ease her into lovemaking, but his body was giving him trouble keeping that promise. All he wanted to do at that moment was strip her naked and climb inside of her for the next week or so.

  The other hand, which had been sliding up her ribs, found its destination and curled around her left breast. It was a lovely handful, and all he pictured was the way the luscious mounds glistened under her fingers as she smoothed sunscreen all over them. He’d tried not to look then, but now all he wanted to do was look, and taste, and touch.

  Settling for touch, he caressed the soft mound, rubbing his thumb over and over the crested peak beneath the barrier of her clothing, a barrier he wanted gone. Now. But he also wanted to savor each step as they took it. Everything was a first for them, and he wanted each and every memory of this first time to be perfect. For both of them.

  Thea gasped into his mouth as he lightly pinched the erect nipple and then shuddered and moaned when he did it a second time, easing the slight sting with more caresses each time. She broke her lips from his to take a deep, hitching breath and then sent a rain of almost frantic kisses along his jawline as her hands slid down and caught the edge of his polo shirt and started dragging it upward.

  “Slow down,” Doyle said, as his body cooperated and pulled back from her just enough to let the material slide free.

  “Slow down, my ass,” Thea muttered, still tugging at his shirt. “I want you naked. Now.”

  Hiding a grin at her bossy impatience, Doyle took over and finished drawing the shirt over his head. He let it drop to the carpet and waited. Standing there while she looked her fill made him feel like a damned idiot, but the greedy look in Thea’s eyes as they roved over his bare upper body made it worth it.

  Almost hesitantly, she placed both palms against his pecs, her fingertips curling inward like a cat flexing its claws before she leaned in and placed a gentle kiss at the very center of his sternum.

  Next to his heart.

  Unfamiliar emotion clogged his lungs at the simple gesture. Too much. Too soon. His instinct was to put things back on a more physical level, so he hooked a finger under the bottom of her T-shirt and gave it a playful tug. “My turn.”

  He thought she might say something about his reaction—or, rather, lack of one—but instead she smiled that Thea smile, the one that said she knew what he was thinking, and took a step back, in both the figurative and the literal sense.

  Where Margo would have used the opportunity to put on an act, all coy hesitations and sexy poses, Thea simply skinned the top up and off, dropping it onto the floor next to his. She seemed to falter for just a second, enough to let him know that she wasn’t quite as blasé about the whole thing as she was trying to play it, before gathering her resolve and letting her lacy bra follow.

  Beautiful. Absofuckinglutely beautiful.

  She stood there, her head held proudly up like a glorious Boadicea, but he saw the flicker of anxiety just beneath the surface. He of all people knew just how little experience she had with intimacy. The fact that she trusted him enough to bare herself like this was humbling as well as arousing.

  Reaching out a hand, Doyle stroked the soft flesh of her upper chest first and then circled down slowly until the back of his fingers brushed over one rigid rose-colored crest, tightening it even further and drawing a tiny whimper from her.

  “Beautiful,” he murmured, covering it this time with his palm, bringing his other hand up to cover her other breast at the same time.

  He stroked both globes, bringing his thumbs over the peaks, loving the small gasps she made every time he did. Some women didn’t enjoy having their breasts touched and teased, but clearly Thea did, a fact for which he would be eternally grateful.

  Using that knowledge, Doyle leaned down and took one nipple into his mouth, laving it with his tongue and drawing his teeth gently across it just to see what reaction it would bring. The small yip he got had him looking up, worried that he’d stepped wrong, but the almost frantic look on Thea’s face reassured him that it had been a good sound.

  Wanting freer access to Thea’s luscious body than standing provided, he maneuvered her backward three steps until her legs bumped the edge of the chair she’d vacated. Pressing her into it, he pulled her legs apart and dropped to his knees between them, reclaiming the nipple he’d left damp and wanting. Thea’s hands went to his head, first petting his hair as he worshipped her breasts and then clutching it as her moans became more frantic and breathy.

  She squirmed in the seat, and he realized that she was tugging at his hair, trying to get him to lift his head. Worried that he’d hurt her, he pulled back, only to have his mouth claimed hungrily by hers as she pushed at his shoulders. He resisted, unsure of what she wanted, until she ripped her mouth from his and panted, “I want to touch you, too!”

  The image of Thea’s hot little hands running free over his body was enough to send the remainder of his blood supply south in a painful rush. The next time she pushed, he went over backward, taking her with him, cushioning her against his chest as they went to the thick, soft carpet. She laughed, obviously knowing that she’d only moved him because he’d allowed it, and then hummed in pleasure as she studied the options laid out before her.

  The anticipation was killing him by slow inches, but he swore he’d allow her to take things at her own pace for as long as he could stand it. Which, judging by the way his dick was throbbing inside his too-tight jeans, wouldn’t be very much longer at all.

  Propping herself on her elbow beside him, Thea ran her free hand across his chest, stopping to run a fingertip around each of his nipples on the way by before leaning in and touching her tongue to the one closest to her. He felt rather then heard her hum again as the disc tightened under her attention.

  He’d never thought his nipples were sensitive enough to be a source of arousal, but Thea was proving that belief wrong as she licked, sucked and lightly nipped, sending wave after wave of electric sensation straight to his groin, a spot that didn’t need any additional stimulation. He felt like he was going to burst long before they got to the main event.

  His concentration was focused so tightly on what Thea was doing with her mouth that he missed the fact that her hand had gone questing all on its own. The little minx had managed to undo the button on his jeans, giving her just enough room to slip her soft hand inside. He jerked when her fingers brushed the sensitized tip of his penis and then let out a harsh groan as they curled around him in a gentle squeeze.

  Fighting the urge to either throw her to the ground and fuck her brains out, or thrust into the soft cocoon of her hand, Doyle struggled to remain still and allowed her to explore. A small breath puffed out of him as Thea’s thumb found the drop of liquid on his tip and smoothed it around and aro
und with infinite slowness. God, the witch was driving him crazy! She caressed, stroked, and explored until his entire body twitched with anticipation and need.

  “You’re killing me.” He groaned, his head thudding back against the floor as her nail scraped ever so lightly against the sensitive underside of the crest.

  “Then I finally got something right.”

  The smug satisfaction in her voice had him smiling. “Sweetheart, there’s not a damn thing you could do wrong right now.” The assurance was barely out of his mouth before he caught her wrist as her fingers gave a firm stroke to his shaft, sending another pulse of liquid from the tip and a warning tingle that said he was close. Too close. “Except sending me over before we get to the best part.”

  The pout that came to her lips made him want to kiss it off, so he did just that. Sliding her hand free of his shaft brought a groan of disappointment from her and a groan of almost-too-much from him as she gave a last little flick to the tip with her thumb. He rolled her onto her back and straddled her hips with his knees, giving her a mock chiding glare.

  “Naughty, Thea.”

  She gave him a smile so steamy he could practically feel himself break into a sweat. “Only as naughty as you want me to be.”

  With a groan, he pressed his forehead to hers. “Lord, woman, you’re going to make me insane.” He caught the hand that was sneaking its way back into his pants and pressed both of her arms to the sides of her head, pinning her in place with gentle care as he stared down at her, taking extra caution with the arm that Margo had bruised. She tested his hold and then sighed and gave him a disgruntled glare, which morphed to uncertainty when he gave her what his sisters had dubbed his “pirate smile.”