The Sizzle Saga

by Sarah O'Rourke

  “What?” he asked huskily, sucking gently on her breast before pulling his head back to blow gently on the wet skin. “What do you want, baby?” he asked again, nuzzling her firm mounds with his nose as he pressed another kiss just above her heart.

  “Your t-teeth,” Molly panted, tangling her legs with his as she arched against him, his mouth.already obediently obliging her request. His teeth surrounded her left nipple and tugged gently. The sensation he created with his lips and mouth only heightened the biting pleasure and her core clenched in response. “Oh, God, yes!” she gasped when his tongue circled the stinging pebble between his lips.

  “You’re so responsive, Molly,” he praised, kissing a path back up her neck to her lips. “I like it. I like it a lot,” he whispered before offering her another deep, wet kiss filled with passionate promise.

  “More, Devil,” Molly demanded as she tightened her arms around his neck. “I want more,” she murmured against his mouth.

  “Molly,” Devil whispered gently. “Honey, you have no idea just how much more I want to give you, but…”

  “Nuh uh,” Molly denied, lifting her head to nip his lower lip with her teeth. “You can’t tease me into a frenzy and leave me this way. It wouldn’t be the gentlemanly thing to do,” she chided, dragging her lips across his jaw to bite his neck. “You wouldn’t leave a lady in distress, would you?” she asked against his ear, licking the lobe provocatively as she rubbed her lower body against his. “I can feel how much you want me. Don’t ruin the image I have of you and disappoint me now.”

  “Molly, I don’t know what you think you know about me…”

  “Well, you’re reported to be quite the memorable lover. My sources tell me that you’ve never left a woman unsatisfied. Don’t tell me that you’re going to break that record with the woman you say you’re going to marry,” she teased, running her foot up and down his tense calf.

  “Molly, sugar, we shouldn’t….”

  Molly’s eyes darkened as she stared up at his tense face, her earlier haze suddenly clearing for a scant moment. Oh, God. What if she’d made a horrible mistake? What if he simply wasn’t attracted to her? Sure, he’d responded when she’d held his dick in her hand and stroked him, but that was a purely physiological response, wasn’t it? He’d probably have gotten hard with anyone. “It’s me, isn’t it?” she managed to choke, going rigid in his arms as she struggled to sit up.

  “What?” Devil asked, startled by the pain he heard clouding her voice. “What are you talking about?”

  “All those women that you’ve been with…that you’ve satisfied…I’m not like them, am I? That’s why you’re hesitating. I’m not hot enough or worldly enough to make you wanna sleep with me, is that it? It’s why you kissed me like a sister in Nana’s room. I really was just a convenient woman that you knew would pass your grandmother’s standards.” Shoving his broad shoulders, she fought tears. “Get off me!” she ordered harshly, kicking her heels into the sofa as she pushed for leverage. “Get off me and get out of my house!”

  Molly teared up as Devil tightened his grip on her, pinning her to the couch with his hips while he captured her flailing arms and held them above her head. Even though she squirmed, he held her carefully as though aware his superior strength could hurt her, and that only angered her more. Why should he be bothered if she strained a muscle trying to wiggle out of his embrace?

  “Molly, stop it!” he ordered the struggling woman through clenched teeth. “I mean it. Stop and listen to me, damn it,” he urged when she finally subsided and stared at the ceiling above her. “I want you. How the fuck can you doubt that? You can feel how much I want you,” he said softly, dipping his head to speak against her ear as he rolled his hips against hers, letting her feel the extent of her effect on him. “I’m trying to do the honorable thing here, and you’re wreaking havoc on my nerves, woman,” he admitted huskily, pressing his lips against her damp cheek.

  “Why?” Molly questioned bluntly. She could feel his eyes on her, studying her, but she refused to look at him. She couldn’t. Not yet, anyway. Her body still throbbed for release, and anger coursed through her, hot and fast.. She just wasn’t sure who she was madder at: him or herself.

  “Why?” he echoed, his brows drawing together in confusion as he stared down at her.

  “Why are you trying to be honorable with me? Am I really that different from the other women that you’ve paraded through the office over the past year? I’ve got needs just like they do, Devil. It’s been two years, for God’s sake! Two years since I had a really good orgasm that I didn’t have to give myself! What the hell does a woman have to do to get laid in this city?” she asked sharply, then groaned loudly. “Why couldn’t you just be a normal guy and take what was offered? We could both be in Pound Town by now if you’d just cooperated with me,” she complained.”

  Yeah, she’d decided.

  She was definitely angrier at him.

  If he’d just gone with the flow like any normal guy, she’d be immersed in the Big O by now. Instead, she lay pinned, half-naked and humiliated, beneath a sexy man who’d suddenly decided to learn how to work his moral freaking compass. He decided NOW to listen to all those lectures she’d been giving him for the past year?

  She had to have the worst luck with men in the history of the world!

  As she felt his shoulders quaking above her, she shifted her gaze back to Devil and decided that she just might commit murder if she ever got the bastard to roll off her.

  “I really hope your life insurance is paid up, Devil Delancy, because I’m going to kill you for laughing at me right now!” Molly shrieked as she began to twist beneath him again.

  Sizzle: Chapter Seventeen

  Twelve hours later

  He knew he was surrounded by his enemies before he ever opened his eyes.

  Years of plotting corporate takeovers had conditioned Devil Delancy to waken quickly, instantly alert and ready to do battle. Some accused him of having some kind of hokey sixth sense that permitted him to sense when danger was nigh. He didn’t know exactly what it was that allowed him to do it, but he was grateful.

  Especially this morning.

  Carefully cracking open one eyelid as he remained perfectly still on his makeshift bed, he immediately met the yellow gaze of one severely pissed-off feline perched on the back of the couch he’d commandeered last night. He knew without looking that on the arm of the sofa yet another animal bided his time and waited for him to awaken...this one a species of the canine variety. The low growls emanating from the dog’s throat promised Devil he’d lose a couple of toes if he moved too quickly this morning.

  “Coco, Chanel,” he greeted both of Molly’s beloved pets guardedly as he slowly sat up on the couch, keeping his movements small and unthreatening. “It’s nice to see you both again.”

  The cat hissed and took a swipe at his bare shoulder with his thankfully clawless paw, while the dog growled again and dove for Devil’s bare foot, latching onto his big toe and snarling.

  “Son of a bitch!” Devil swore, jerking his foot back beneath the soft throw Molly had draped over the back of her sofa. “Down, Cujo!”

  The Pekingese merely deepened his warning growls as he pawed at Devil’s now-covered feet.

  “Look,” he murmured, throwing his legs to the floor as he looked between the two animals, “We’re all going to have to come up with a way to tolerate each other, because while I’d give anything to make you both into decorative throw pillows, I doubt your Mommy is going to be willing to part with either of you mongrels.” That was assuming he could convince Molly to listen to reason this morning. Last night, she certainly hadn’t been interested in having a sensible conversation.

  Who knew that being noble and doing the right thing could get a guy into so much trouble?

  Okay, maybe his laughter regarding their situation had been a mistake. But, damn, when irony slapped a guy in the face, what else could he do but chuckle? Crying certainly didn’t seem like th
e manly way to go.

  And nobody could say it wasn’t ironic that the woman he’d finally fallen for after many long years of bachelorhood should be the woman that had been right beneath his nose his entire life? Add that to the fact that said woman thoroughly believed he was a renowned philanderer when he hadn’t even been able to get an erection that she hadn’t inspired in two years ….and yeah, he’d been overcome by the hilarity of the situation and reacted accordingly.

  Gingerly touching his bruised jaw, he shook his head. He had nobody to blame but himself. Last night had concluded in a disaster of his own making. Given the volatile state of his desire for her, Devil knew he never should have touched her. At least the feisty woman he’d been kissing hadn’t blackened his eye. That would have been hell to explain. Nope, she’d settled for nearly breaking his jaw and splitting his lip with that right hook of hers before she’d locked herself in her bedroom.

  On the upside, he now knew she could defend herself if it ever became necessary. That had been his doing, too, he supposed. He and Grant had been the idiots that had insisted she learn a few self-defense stances in case she ever needed to protect herself. Before she left for college six years ago, he’d taught her the art of that right cross she’d landed on him last night. At the time he’d never imagined her inflicting those skills on him, though.

  It was true; his lady could land one hell of a solid punch if she was provoked.

  Expelling a long breath as he rubbed his hands over his face, he finally forced himself to rise from the surprisingly comfortable couch he’d slept on.

  Both animals merely glared balefully at him, each silently judging him and his actions. He was pretty sure that they’d heard their mistress crying last night. God knew that he’d heard it, too. After screaming at him to get out of her life and house and delivering a parting sucker punch that had left him seeing stars, Molly had disappeared into her bedroom, slamming and locking her door behind her. Her sobs had kept him standing outside her bedroom door for the better part of an hour, begging her to talk to him. Unfortunately, he’d only been answered with silence and her soft whimpers.

  He felt like shit for hurting her, and Devil was pretty sure he couldn’t blame her animals for plotting his imminent demise. They were in good company, though, since he’d given some serious thought to throwing himself off the nearest bridge last night.

  “I’m not a bad guy,” he advocated for himself plaintively, holding his hands out to his sides as he faced the judgmental duo. “I want to marry her. I’m going to marry her. Then, I’ll give her all the orgasms she can handle. Hell, I’ll give her more than she can handle. Right after I make her understand that I’m not some oversexed millionaire that gets into the panties of every woman I see.”

  He could feel the animals assessing him, their dark eyes somehow managing to be both judgmental and condemning. Both their little heads were cocked to the side and their gazes remained focused on him. Speaking about orgasms and panties to a couple of four-legged assassins wasn’t exactly his normal method of negotiating, but a guy had to do what a guy had to do.

  “I’m going to make this work for all of us. I’m a freaking legend in the boardroom. I can negotiate with one tiny woman and two small animals.”

  The cat yowled in response.

  “Look, I can promise you all the catnip you can handle, Coco. And you,” Devil bargained with a grin, gesturing toward the pooch on the arm of the sofa, “Can you say gourmet kibble?”

  Chanel’s answering snarl had Devil taking a step backward.

  Looking a little desperately between the cat and dog, he hissed, “I’m in love with her, okay? I love her! And I know that you both love her, too. Which means that the three of us share some common ground. So, you can’t completely hate me. We’ve just got to work together here for the best possible optimal outcome. You two are a substantial part of that process. Molly values your opinion. She’ll take her cues from those she loves the most!” So, that meant getting all the animals in Molly’s zoo in line.

  No fucking problem, right?

  And the fact that he was considering contacting a pet psychic to help wasn’t at all crazy, now was it?

  “C’mon, Coco,” Devil murmured, reaching out a hand to pet the cat’s head. “Let’s be pals.”

  He jerked his palm back as soon as the feline bared fang. Sighing, he looked toward Chanel.

  “What about you?” he asked the dog. “Are you interested in being man’s best friend?”

  Sniffing Devil’s hand, Chanel yapped once before jumping off the sofa and scampering to where he’d slipped off his eight hundred dollar Italian loafers the previous night. Watching as the small canine lifted his leg over the expensive leather and peed, Devil’s jaw dropped.

  “You could have just bit me!” he yelped, staring at the ruined footwear the dog left behind before he’d scampered out of the room. Devil winced as Coco jumped from his perch and used his bare back as a springboard to land smoothly on the floor in front of the shoes, and he could have sworn the damn cat cackled.

  Sighing as both animals disappeared down the hallway, he shook his head.

  The pet parlay had obviously failed, but he consoled himself with the knowledge the first-time offers were often rejected.

  This war was still his to win.

  He just needed to find the right artillery.

  Sizzle: Chapter Eighteen

  As soon as Molly Ramsey opened her eyes Saturday morning, she groaned. Sunlight poured through the east-facing windows of her bedroom, temporarily blinding her. Why, oh why, had she even decided to face the new day?

  “Nnnnghhh,” Molly groaned, lifting a hand to shield her face from the sun’s glare. Of course, it just had to be a bright, clear morning. Why couldn’t it have been cloudy and rainy? At least then the weather would match her current dismal mood. And in the very instant she’d woken, memories from the previous night had flooded her consciousness and ruined her day before it had even gotten started.

  It was her own fault.

  She’d been a fool, throwing herself at Devil like she had, and mortification burned like acid in her belly. How the hell could she face him now? Thoughts of taking the first plane to anywhere but here tempted her the same way a carton of chocolate fudge ice cream tempted her on the day before her period. It was everything she could do to keep herself from reaching for the yellow pages and searching out the nearest travel agent. She had a little vacation time saved and some money saved in her bank account. Maybe she should just take advantage of the long weekend and disappear for a few days.

  Knowing Devil, though, he’d just hunt her down like a dog and drag her back here – most likely kicking and screaming - to face the music. She’d give the man points for persistence. Even after she’d locked herself in the bedroom, he’d stood at the door and told her that nothing had changed.

  He still planned to marry her.

  In his mind, he’d already deemed it a foregone conclusion.

  She knew his confidence should have irritated her. After all, who was he to simply assume she’d go along with his wacky matrimonial plan? She knew he was banking on the fact that she’d do anything to keep his nana healthy and happy, and there had to be a way to get them off the hook without destroying the elderly woman’s grand illusions. It seemed that Molly was doomed to shackle herself to a man that had the power to cripple her emotionally... and she was freaking terrified by that knowledge. Surely there was one other woman besides her that his grandmother would accept as her new granddaughter-in-law.

  Pushing the covers back, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood. She couldn’t hide in her room all day no matter how appealing that sounded. Instead, she needed to let her pets outside to go potty and make a phone call to check on Nana’s condition.

  It was with that plan in mind that she trudged to the small bathroom attached to her bedroom and splashed her pale face with cold water. After using the bathroom, she ran a brush through her naturally curly red hair
and tried to tame the out-of-control-locks into some semblance of order, and then brushed her teeth. Staring in the mirror, she shrugged.

  Her reflection wouldn’t win any beauty contests, but she didn’t look like something out of a bad horror movie anymore. Besides, if her God was the good, kind deity she thought He was, she would successfully avoid Devil until Monday. She’d simply make sure he wasn’t at the hospital before she went to visit Nana today, and she’d make up some believable excuse for not having the engagement ring the old woman wanted to see on her finger.

  Good luck with that, her conscience snickered. Nana’s like Santa. She knows when you’ve been naughty or nice. She can spot a lie at twenty paces.

  “Shut up, Marilyn,” Molly growled under her breath as she shoved her feet into Hello Kitty slippers. Why did that inner voice always have to sound like a blonde bimbo channeling Marilyn Monroe? Why couldn’t it have resembled Maggie Smith? At least that chick had some dignity and gravitas about her. Marilyn’s great claim to fame was boinking JFK. And if the internet was to be believed, more than one chick had had that privilege, anyway.

  Cautiously opening her bedroom door, Molly stepped into the hallway and listened closely. Hearing nothing out of the ordinary, she relaxed and strolled into the living room. Pausing to scratch Coco’s head, she smiled at her cat. “Let me get some caffeine in me and I’ll serve you a nice can of tuna, sweetie,” she promised the feline before making her way into the kitchen.

  “Chanel,” she called for her Pekingese. “C’mon, baby! Time to go potty,” Molly yelled over her shoulder as she pushed open the swinging door to her kitchen and froze.

  “Well, good morning, Sunshine! It’s a beautiful day out.” Devil Delancy grinned from his position, seated at her kitchen table with a steaming mug of coffee at his elbow and her weekend edition of the newspaper strewn out in front of him. “I made a pot of coffee. May I get you a cup?” he asked good-naturedly, lifting his mug toward her.