by Mari Freeman
He looked down at the device in his hand and stroked the buttons. If not for that meeting, he’d never have met this woman and he’d never have gotten hold of this little remote.
He needed to readjust himself again. From the looks of it, she was taking it all better than he was. Craig was ready to grab her, drag her out into the lobby and check them 14
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into one of the hotel rooms. His imagination was running wild. He pushed the top button again.
The redhead jerked forward, almost coming off her stool. Whatever that did, it was a doozie.
She looked around the room again, but still didn’t find him. She stretched her back, moving her shoulders in a circle as she sat upright. The black woman looked to be questioning her. She shook her head and took another sip of the shared martini. Maybe he should send her a drink of her own.
He flagged down a waitress, ordered what he’d heard her order earlier and asked that it be sent over. It didn’t take the waitress long to deliver it—along with a note he’d scratched on a napkin.
Enough?
He watched her face light up as she read the note and then watched it grow determined as she penned her reply. She took the drink and returned the note to the tray. She leaned toward the waitress and said something to her over the music. The waitress laughed then turned to leave.
She came straight back to him and handed over the napkin. He opened it eagerly. No wonder you lost your license.
He laughed and tipped the waitress.
“She said to tell you something too.”
He loved playing with this woman, and not just because of the sexual tension it was building. “Yes?”
“She said, ‘You turned it off, dork’.”
Craig smiled and nodded to the waitress. Inside, he was chuckling to himself. That was about his luck. Here he’d thought that last one was a killer, and it turned out to be a big letdown. And how long had it been since anyone had called him a dork?
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The other women were dragging his redhead on to the dance floor. This was his chance to get in closer and up the ante in this game.
He took a swig from his own drink and headed to the floor. He tried to remember the last time he’d danced. Two years ago, maybe three? He felt a little self-conscious. But at the same time, dancing his way toward a group of women he didn’t know was a bit of an adventure.
Craig didn’t hesitate. He moved right up behind her and matched the rhythm of her swinging, gorgeous hips. He made sure he didn’t touch her but he leaned in close enough to speak.
“Dork?” he shouted, confident her friends couldn’t hear the conversation over the thumping music.
She swung around, not missing a beat, dancing with him and not her friends. Maybe her friends did know the game they were playing. At this point, he wanted this woman and he didn’t care what anyone knew. He just had to find a way to get her alone for a while so he could convince her to spend a little time with him.
Becky flashed him a very sensual smile. She knew the moment she hit the dance floor he would come out after her. If their places had been reversed, she would have done the same thing. Neither the sound of his voice nor the presence of his body behind hers startled her.
She was going crazy. The intensity of the vibrations had been one big turn-on. It had been hot and so good, but now that the vibrations were gone, the lack of sensation was making her want more, and not just the hum of the vibrator. She pictured herself with him in her mind as she felt the tingling between her legs. Having his body this close to hers, moving with perfect rhythm as he danced, made her even more attracted to the man. She let her gaze travel his body as he seductively swung his hips from side to side. She could picture his hips moving like that with no 16
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clothes on. The way she wanted this guy was primal. He was handsome and adventurous, two things she liked in a man. He even smelled appealing. But the fact remained that she was in New York on business and it was her biggest event yet. Months of preparations were on the line this weekend. She didn’t want to screw around with a one-night stand and not be sharp at the early-morning meeting for the ArtMania festival.
He slid his hand around her waist and pulled her a little closer. He leaned in enough that she could feel the heat of his breath on her neck. “I guess I need some lessons before I can get my license back. You a qualified instructor?” He pushed the top button again. His attention and playfulness were driving her crazy. The revived vibrations caused Becky to shudder. Her body rocked so hard there was no way he didn’t feel it. It didn’t matter if he had. Her pussy was on fire. She was wet through her thong. Her shirt was thin, letting the heat from his hand warm her skin. Fantasies started rolling though her mind. She could have done him right there on the dance floor and not cared if everyone stopped their dancing to watch. Hell, she was turned on even more thinking about everyone watching. They seemed so physically suited as their bodies moved.
He pulled her body against his. “I guess you are. How about we get out of here and discuss the cause and effect of pushing each of these buttons? We can have a round of scientific experimentation.” His voice was confident, hypnotic. Her instinctual reaction was to scream “Yes!” and drag him up to her room. They were still swaying but losing the beat. The slowing motion was much more of a lap dance than what the fast rhythm demanded. She didn’t care. He felt good.
“That would make me a guinea pig.” Becky knew she needed to pull away from him. She needed to go to her own bed, alone, and get ready for her big day tomorrow. Spending a wild night with a stranger, no matter how hot, was not on her agenda. She pulled back enough that their bodies were no longer touching. He didn’t resist and even lifted his hand from her hip.
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“I have a soft spot for guinea pigs,” he said with a disappointed smile. “But I presumed this was a spectator sport from the start. No problem.” He wasn’t going to push her. “Thanks for handing over the controls. You’re simply irresistible. A beautiful diversion was just what I needed this evening.”
He held out his hand to offer the remote. Becky wanted his thumb to brush across the button again, but she knew he was right. They were at the point of no return in their little adventure. It’d been fun. Becky knew if she let it go any further, they would end up naked and wrapped around each other in her room. He’d made it clear that naked and wrapped up would be perfectly fine with him. Her body was screaming at her to keep playing, the vibrator was screaming at her to keep playing, and she wanted to listen to both.
This man was a stranger. She didn’t even know his name. It was almost irresistible, but she needed to be clearheaded and well rested tomorrow. Damn. She reached out to take the remote with an unsteady hand. He gently caught it and pulled it to his lips. Without breaking eye contact, he turned her hand over and placed a light kiss on the pulse point of her wrist.
“Thanks again.” He let the remote fall into her palm and walked off the dance floor without looking back. Her body protested her cowardly decision. She joined several women on the dance floor as they craned their heads to watch him go by. His confident strut was such a turn-on.
“You piss him off, sweets?” Tanisha’s voice broke her attention and the trance she was in as she watched his tight little ass.
“Nope. The doctor is OUT for the evening.” She shut off the vibrator and tucked the remote away, making sure this time to put it in the pocket opposite her money. The absence of vibrations actually made her want him even more. She started to dance with Tanisha again, trying to get her mind off him.
She never even learned his name. The man she would never get a chance with again. The man who’d driven her crazy with a simple look, and had enough chutzpa 18
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and adventure to play with a total stranger’s vibe remote. The man who had enough respect to walk away because she’d asked him to.
Becky st
opped dancing. If she was going to change her mind, she had to do it now. If she wasn’t, she was going to need a way to cool down a bit. She headed toward the hotel lobby, still unsure which plan she wanted to follow. She neared the exit to the lobby and stopped.
To her right, the lobby doors, and a chance she could catch up with him and have what she knew would be a great night of much-needed sexual attention. To her left, the elevators. Neither choice was a good one. Both options would leave her with a long night and little sleep. She could be tossing and turning alone, wondering what she had passed up and fantasizing about that man—or she could have him. She looked to the right and saw him on the far side of the lobby, talking to the doorman. He ran his fingers over his forehead and through his hair. He looked as frustrated as she was.
“I cannot believe I’m about to do this,” she said to herself as she stepped to the right—into the lobby.
Craig was about to lose his temper with the doorman. A scantily clad woman struggling with her bags seemed to be too much a distraction for him to multitask and hail a taxi for Craig. It was probably best if he walked anyway. The spring air would help quell the Herculean erection created by the redhead and her party games. He’d known from the moment she gave him control of the remote it was all in fun. Nothing serious. No real connection. But, as he’d watched her, the way her face lit up, the sway of her hips against his, he’d let himself hope. She was incredibly sexy. Knowing she was responding to his commands had been the best foreplay he’d had since his divorce. Probably long before then. He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head at his own state of affairs before turning toward the revolving glass doors.
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Maybe he shouldn’t have taken the remote. Then he wouldn’t be haunted by the look in her eyes when he’d teased her at the bar or by the way her head fell back when he’d changed the settings. Her skin had flushed when he’d inadvertently turned it off. Deciding he needed another drink before heading to his apartment, he stepped into the bustling New York City night. He loved the energy of the city, and tonight, in his heightened state of arousal, it seemed even more electric. 20
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Chapter Two
Craig felt a hand on his back. The sensation nearly made his heart stop. He smelled her, knew it was her. The thought of that woman would already be a distraction for days. He didn’t know if he could take much more teasing and playing without it becoming overbearing. It had been hard enough to walk away on the dance floor. If she tormented him any further, he would lose his mind, but he turned anyway.
“Um…dork?” She gave him a confident smile, but he knew it had to have been hard to work herself up to coming after him. It took a brave, bold girl to chase down a total stranger in this city. Impressive. He was glad she’d done it though. Now he had a chance to kiss those lips. He needed to think fast before she lost her nerve, or he did. He cupped her face in his palms and placed a sweet, chaste kiss on the side of her mouth, barely connecting with her lips. It was killing him not to be more aggressive.
“What’s your name?” he whispered into her ear.
“Becky,” she said, not pulling away.
“I can get us a room in the hotel, Becky.” He knew he was shooting straight at the target, but he could sense that she wanted it as much as he did and there was no need to beat around the bush with a woman who had let him control her vibrator. At least he hoped there wasn’t.
She pulled back with a sly grin and a flush of excitement. “I have one. A room. I mean, I’m staying here and I have a room.”
“That’s convenient.” With his hands still on her face, he used his thumb to tilt her head, exposing her neck. He kissed a line along her chin and brushed his lips over her ear. She smelled like cherry blossoms and sex. “I’m Craig.”
Her breathing was heavy. He felt his skin tingle as her hands slid around his waist.
“Hi, Craig.”
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He turned her chin the other direction and kissed the other side of her neck. This time letting his tongue brush her skin after each kiss. Her fingers dug into his sides. He stopped his warm path of kisses at her collarbone. “Shall we go then?” He was almost breathless.
Becky looked into his eyes, seeking something. Craig was taken by the green hue. It was rimmed in black to make her face seem otherworldly in the streetlight. She smiled; evidently, she had reached some decision but she didn’t speak before turning back to the hotel. Craig followed her, equally silent, letting the tension build. Not that he needed more sexual buildup. He’d probably come the moment she touched him. Back inside the hotel, another couple was in the elevator, talking and laughing. Becky stood in front of him, facing the door. He could see her blurry reflection in the stainless steel doors. He pulled her body against his, her back to his chest. Her head leaned against his chin and he pressed his raging cock into her back, could feel the contour of her ass cheeks as she pressed her body to his. He groaned, hoping the other couple didn’t hear.
The couple got off on the ninth floor and the doors closed. She reached back and pulled him closer, grinding her ass against his body. The anticipation she was creating, combined with the feel of her body and the smell of her hair, was an incredible elixir. The doors opened and she stepped out. She stopped him in the hall as he exited the elevator. A light fixture buzzed somewhere in the distance as she looked him over.
“I don’t know you.” She put her hand on his chest to give herself some space. “You could be a serial killer, a rapist.” She looked up at him with a small shrug. “A taxi driver.” She was fighting her own moral compass. He liked that. “And do you have condoms?”
Craig closed his eyes and concentrated. He needed to be careful here. She needed his reassurance, not his judgment on the decision to come after him. “I’m not a serial killer.” He leaned forward and kissed her. This time it was square on the lips and 22
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serious. He pushed his tongue into her luscious mouth and tasted her. She responded after only a second of hesitation. Her lips were so soft and her mouth so hot. He pulled back, but just far enough to speak, his lips still brushing hers as he spoke.
“I’m not a rapist. You came after me, remember?”
Craig pushed one hand though her hair and used the other to snake around her waist and pull her against his body, letting her feel his excitement once again. He nuzzled his face under her hair, his cheek against her neck, and took a deep, long breath, enjoying the smell of her skin. She was trembling under his touch. “And I’d never admit it if I were a taxi driver.”
He pulled away so she could see his face, his eyes. “I won’t hurt you. I’ll stop or leave at any time. And yes, I have a condom.” Her body shuddered. She looked down at his chest and backed up, nodding slightly.
When they reached her door, she fumbled getting the key card into the slot. He didn’t dare try to help. His hands would have shaken like maracas. He leaned against the door and thought to offer verbal support. “You obviously don’t have a license to operate that,” he said, his tone light and teasing. Something had to be done to break the tension between them or they’d explode on impact.
She smirked at him and slid the card home, swiftly pushing down the handle before he had a chance to lift his weight from the door. Craig fell into the room, stumbling over a briefcase on the floor. He tried to catch his balance within a couple of steps, but failed. He landed on his knees at the end of the bed.
Becky barked out a laugh. “Smooth.” She tried to walk past him but Craig reached out and grabbed her belt loop, pulling her down. Becky stumbled and attempted to scrabble away from him and onto the bed. Her boisterous laugh was as intoxicating and exciting as anything else had been the entire evening. He loved that sound. Laughter.
“I’m not through with you yet. Now, where is that remote?” he asked, pinning her down as if he were going to spank her. Becky’s upper body was pressed to the be
d, facing the headboard, her legs hanging off the end. He started feeling the back pockets 23
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of her jeans. She tried to escape, still laughing, but he managed to hold on to her to conduct his search. Her muscles flexed and released as she mockingly struggled against his efforts.
“Oh. No. You. Don’t,” she said, trying to get her knees under her to push away, but he just flipped her onto her back and started to search her front. Since he had to pin her down with one hand, he had only the other to explore her breasts, searching each one with exaggerated fascination. “Hmm? Not here. Although you have very fine breasts. I’ll return to further examine those shortly.” His hand traveled down her belly, feeling the contour of her stomach as he went. “Maybe here?”