In a Bad Way

by Karin Tabke

  “I’m sorry,” she said again.

  “I’m beginning to think I’m not sorry you did it.” He ruffled his fingers through her hair and smiled. “I like it. Pink makes me think of bubble gum. It suits you much better than the blue.”

  Sheepishly, she ran her hand over the shorter cut side. “Me, too.”

  He pulled her hand away from her head, lifted his head up and kissed her. When he released her, his blue eyes danced as his randy penis continued to thicken.

  “There’s a lot about you I like.”

  “Yeah?” She cocked her head to the side. “Like what.”

  “Your tits, your ass.” He surged up into her. “Your tight pussy.”

  “Don’t be crude.”

  “Really? You drop more F-bombs than a sailor.”

  Shaking her head, Izzy pushed off of him, breaking their connection. He grabbed for her, but she slid off the bed and stood glowering down at him.

  He looked down and cursed. The condom was not only broken, it was bloody.

  Angry eyes shot her a glare.

  Izzy shrugged. “So what, I was a virgin. Don’t make a big deal about it.”

  He held up the empty limp latex. “I’m a little more worried about what my boys are doing right now.”

  Izzy fought back a smile and let him squirm a little. “I guess if they meet up with my sexy girl and make a date, you’re going to be a daddy in nine months.”

  “It’s not funny, Pink.”

  “My name is Isadora.”

  He moved from the bed and tossed the condom into the small trashcan beside the nightstand. “Well, Isadora, let’s hope my boys don’t meet up with your girl.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “What if they do? What happens if I’m pregnant?” Would he be the kind of man to step up or be the kind of man to walk away, like her father? Suddenly it mattered to her. It mattered to her a lot.

  He shrugged and said, “Then I guess you’ll have a baby.”

  Not an abortion? She wanted to kiss him.

  “What would your role be?” she said, pushing.

  “Why are we even having this conversation?”

  “Because I want to know the kind of man I just gave my hymen to.”

  Flynn cocked his head to the side and said, “Don’t you think that’s something you should have looked into before you drugged and seduced him?”

  “I didn’t seduce you, you were all over me before I slipped you that mickey,” she replied, defensively.

  He snatched her cell phone from the nightstand, tapped a few icons, then held it out for her to watch and listen to her talking to him as she undressed him. Ugh, she thought she had muted it! He hit fast-forward to the place where she was on top of him undulating and making sexy noises. He fast-forwarded it more and stopped when they were in the hot throes of passion. As in his head between her legs and her screaming like a banshee as she came.

  His penis reacted, just as her nipples tightened.

  “Okay,” she swallowed. “Maybe I seduced you a little.” While she was being honest she added, “And I can’t get pregnant. I’m on the pill.” They kept her wonky periods regular.

  “You let me think differently?”

  “I was just messing with you.”

  “Not something to mess with a man about.”

  “You didn’t answer my question, though. What if I was pregnant?”

  “Then you’d be seeing a lot of me.”

  Her heart warmed at his words. “You’d claim the child?”

  “Of course.”

  “You wouldn’t hide him or her away like a dirty little secret?”

  He took her chin in his hand. “No.”

  His answer scored him more points than all three of the orgasms combined.

  He moved back onto the bed, leaving her standing there. Like a big lion, he stretched lazily, his leonine parts erect and on the hunt for some prey. Rising up on an elbow, he looked so damn hot it took every ounce of control Izzy had not to climb on top of him and ride him like the wild thing he was. As she contemplated how she’d like to take him, he asked, “Why me?”

  She knew what he was asking and decided to play it cool. She shrugged and met his eyes. “It had to be someone, why not you?”

  “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

  “It doesn’t matter. You’ll be heading out shortly, and life goes on.”

  He reached out a hand to her. “I don’t have to leave right away. I want you under me again. Then you’re going to tell me how it is you’re a stripper-virgin and the rest of your story.”

  She took his hand and moved closer so that her breasts bobbed in front of his face. He made a strangled sound, but kept his hands and mouth to himself. “I want to be under you again, too, but my life story is none of your business.”

  He grabbed her hands and pulled her onto the bed, rolling over her with his big body. Raising her hands up over her head, he nipped a nipple. “There you are very wrong, Pink. Not only am I intrigued, but you broke the law and you’re going to make me understand why I shouldn’t arrest you, or why I should help you.”

  “You won’t arrest me,” she challenged. He would have already.

  “Don’t be so sure of yourself.”

  “What I’m sure of is that you like fucking me and you won’t give that up.” She spread her legs and wrapped them around his waist. “At least not until you get tired of me.”

  “You’re awfully sure of yourself.”

  “I may not be sexually experienced, but I know men and I know that when they are on the scent of a particular bitch, they don’t let up until they’ve had their fill.”

  His blue eyes sparked with humor. “I think,” he said as he slid deeply into her, making her lose all reason, “it’s going to be awhile before I get my fill of you, Pink.” He caught a nipple in his mouth and sucked hard, sending her over the edge.

  When she came down from her orgasm, he smiled smugly. “And I think I can say the same for you.”

  Chapter Six

  Her body was like a wonderland. Ripe, responsive, silky soft. She smelled like a pack of bubble gum. Sweet. Palatable. Addictive.

  Running his hands down her sultry skin, Flynn followed with his nose, inhaling her scent. There was, he decided, nothing like the scent of a well-sexed woman. Pink’s was locked in his brain. Until the day he died, the scent of bubble gum anything would bring him right back to this very moment.

  Pressing his lips to her belly button ring, he tugged it with his teeth, eliciting a low moan from the body it belonged to. Slender fingers dug into his hair, the nails scratching lightly. Grasping the cradle of her hips, he buried his face in the dip of her belly. She wasn’t a hard body like so many of the women he’d been with. Her curves were slightly padded, her skin firm but not pulled taut over gym-built muscle. Every inch of her from her hot pink toes to the flaming pink tips of her silky hair turned him on.

  He kissed her skin, liking the way she unabashedly let him know with her body that she approved his every touch. He nibbled at her bottom rib, then pressed his cheek to her belly and settled his head down there. Exhaustion stole over him. They’d been at it like rabbits. Couldn’t help it, couldn’t get enough of her. She was like an untouched canvas that evolved into a beautiful picture with each stroke of his body. His muscles were as depleted as his dick. He looked past her generous cleavage to the two beautiful sea green eyes framed by the longest lashes he’d ever seen on a woman.

  The impish grin produced a dimple in her right cheek he noticed for the first time. Here he thought he knew every inch of her body. He smiled back. It was easy with her. But as easy as it was to be with her, it was exhausting.

  “You wore me out, Pink.” He closed his eyes, and as he drifted off to sleep, he felt a tremor pass through her. Tightening his arms around her as she stroked his hair soothingly, it occurred to him that for the first time in his life, he was actually sleeping with a woman.

  “Rest up, Slick, I haven’t even sta
rted.”

  He smiled against her skin and drifted off to sleep.

  He woke with a start, unsure of his surroundings, but quickly registering where he was and why.

  The sexy little furnace plastered to his chest made a soft sobbing sound that speared him straight in the gut. She mumbled something and then shook her head. Her fingers twitched against his arms. He looked down at her worried brow, then held his breath as a lone tear rolled down her cheek. He touched his fingertip to it, catching it before it fell onto his chest. The warmth surprised him. Unthinking he pressed it to his lips, the saltiness of her tear jabbing at the high walls he had surrounded himself with for so long he’d forgotten why or when they’d gone up. They had protected him not only from himself but from disappointing those he could come to love.

  The fact of the matter was that the thought of committing to one woman terrified him. He didn’t want a divorce. He didn’t want to have children and wake up one morning only to realize that their mother no longer interested him. He didn’t want to stay in a loveless marriage for the kids’ sake. No matter how much he could come to dislike his spouse, he’d never cheat. He’d learned that honor code from his paternal grandfather. A great man who taught Flynn the importance of patience and honoring your word. “A prolific dick doesn’t a man make,” Pappy had told him. “Honor defines a man. Without honor, you are only half a man, and therefore no man at all.”

  Earlier, when he realized the condom broke, a cold hard fear gripped him so completely he couldn’t breathe. Oddly, now that he had the time to think about it, something else had happened. His breath released with the realization he wanted children. Damn if the thought of having them with Pink didn’t intrigue him.

  But she was a stripper. From what he remembered of the breed, strippers weren’t the maternal type. He looked down at the sleeping woman on his chest. He wasn’t naïve. She had been willing to drug him, make a video, and hand it over to a criminal to use against him, for what? To find her sister? He wanted to believe her. The cop part of him was always wary. More than that, he knew what her kind was capable of. He’d heard all the lies his father’s women had conjured to win his favor over another. Flynn trusted no woman. Had learned the hard way not to. If Pink was still angling to play him, he’d know it.

  There was something completely contradictory to her stripper act. She had been a virgin. Was wholesome and fresh. Yet, she embraced her sensuality. He admired that aspect of her. Loved how she delighted in his touch and how it made her feel.

  His mother would roll over in her grave if he brought Pink home. Exhaling loudly, Flynn clamped his hand over his eyes and shook his head. He never should have gotten in that cab with the little hellion. He sure as hell should have run as fast as his legs could carry him when he suspected she was a virgin. Even though she’d said she wasn’t. He’d believed her lie.

  How the hell was that even possible? She was a stripper, for Christ’s sake. She’d flashed her tits to the men he worked with, many of them his friends. He had left the room so quickly, he didn’t know if any of the guys had gotten out of line and touched her. She moved like she’d been born to dance. Came on to him like he was the only man on earth. Had he been that easily set up? Blinded by lust. It had ruined his parents’ marriage. At least now he understood the power of it.

  Flynn looked down at the pink-haired firecracker who had rocked his world all night long. If she was yanking his chain, he’d find out soon enough.

  Early morning rays of sunlight filtered through the slatted blinds. The room was small, the full-size bed taking up most of it. The sheets had been clean, but now they were a rumpled, sexed mess. There was a battered white dresser that matched the nightstand. Flynn wasn’t sure if it was what people considered shabby chic or just really used. It wasn’t broken down. Colorful rag rugs covered the wooden floor. It was small, not his style, but it was clean, and suited Pink.

  He caught sight of the long mirror that was propped up against the wall behind the closed door. Next to it was a brass coat tree with several colored wigs hanging off the hooks. He scowled. Hanging lower were several micro-sized bikinis. Possessive anger burned hot in his chest. The foreign emotion stunned him. He’d watched Jack get worked up when he thought Stevie and Flynn had been flirting. It wasn’t pretty. He’d watched his mother, the lovely socialite Diana, reduce herself to a miserable drunk because of her jealousy. Ultimately, the alcohol killed her. His sister Genevieve had gone from a beautiful, confident artist to a closet wino because her husband, like their father, brought his women home. Jealousy was as ugly as it was debilitating.

  He needed out of here.

  As if sensing his flight intent, the woman in his arms stirred, her hand sliding down his belly and with that his dick instantly stirred.

  “Son of a bitch,” he cursed.

  “Mmm, that’s not a nice thing to say,” her sleepy voice said. Her breath rushed across his chest as her hand moved lower. He grabbed it just before she brushed the head of his now raging hard-on.

  She propped up on her elbows and blinked back the sleep from her eyes. Her full, kiss-swollen lips pouted in such a way he wanted to ravish them. Her pink and blond hair was a wild halo around her pretty face. Free of makeup, her youth and innocence hit him hard. Shit, she looked like a teenager. Had she lied to him about her age, too?

  “How old are you?” he asked, dreading the answer.

  “Twenty-four. Why?”

  “You look like jailbait.”

  “I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not.”

  “I want the truth, was I really your first or did you somehow pull one over on me?”

  Her body stiffened and he knew by the hurt in her eyes that not only had he been her first, but he had just insulted her.

  She slid off the bed and grabbed a silky green wrap of some sort from the top drawer of her dresser. As she tied the sash around her waist, she looked hard at him and said, “You can leave now.”

  Two minutes ago it was all he’d wanted, but now– “I’m not going anywhere.” He snatched her phone from the nightstand and quickly removed the SIM card.

  “Hey, that’s mine!” She lunged at him, trying to grab the card from his hand. He pulled her toward him and rolled her over on the bed, and grasping her hands with one hand, he pressed his hips against hers as he opened his wallet with his free hand and slipped the card in. Then he took the wallet and slid it between the mattress and the box spring.

  “You have no right taking that! I can’t afford another SIM card!”

  He turned his attention back to her. His gaze swept the length of her. The little robe gaped open, exposing her luscious tits, and taut belly. He was a sucker for those tits. He dropped his nose to her neck and inhaled her. “I swear to God, you make me fucking crazy.”

  She arched against him as he dragged his nose along her throat to her cheek. Her warm breath pulsed against his lips. He licked them, catching her bottom lip. She moaned responsively beneath him.

  His lips brushed across her parted ones, barely touching, but wanting to plunder. He hovered there, their breaths mingling, both of them wanting the same thing.

  “Tell me to leave and I’ll go,” he rasped.

  Her eyes fluttered open. He lost himself in their passionate depths, praying she would beg him to stay.

  “After you give me back my SIM card.”

  He smiled, feeling like a teenage boy with his first girlfriend. Despite the seriousness of the act that brought them together, she made him smile. He liked that. Jack’s fiancée, Stevie, had told him once that he was too uptight and needed to loosen up. How would the detective like meeting this firecracker?

  Somehow he knew Stevie would approve. So would Kat, Simon’s wife. “After you take a shower with me.”

  “After you promise to give me back my SIM card.”

  “After I erase that video.”

  “After—no way!”

  He grew serious. “There are only two sets of eyes that wi
ll ever see that video, yours and mine.” He rubbed his nose across a pert nipple. “I’ll be happy to bring over the popcorn and watch it all night with you, but no way in hell is it leaving my possession.”

  “How do I know you won’t show it to your friends?”

  He jerked back and looked at her like she was crazy. “Just because you shook your tits in front of them and God only knows what else, doesn’t mean they get to sit in on what happens between us.”

  “That really bugs you that they saw my boobs?”

  “Damn straight it does.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it belittles you in their eyes.”

  “Am I less in your eyes because I’m a stripper?”

  He caught himself. The honest answer was yes. “I don’t like that you strip for a living. I don’t like that the men I work with have seen your tits and your ass.” He pushed her back into the sheets and swept his fingers across the warm swells. “I hate that they might have touched you.” His voice had dropped several octaves. He pressed his lips to a perky nipple. “I hate that they may have kissed you like this.” He cupped them. “Or touched you like this.” He sucked a nipple deeply and as he did his erection surged between them. “I don’t want any man to think he has the right to touch you because you strip.”

  “Flynn,” she said softly. “Last night was the first time I gave a lap dance and the first time I took off my top. No one touched me and I didn’t touch them. Honesty, I don’t know if I could have done it if you weren’t there.” She bit her bottom lip, then said, “You flipped a switch last night and all I wanted then is what I want now, more of you inside of me.” Her candor surprised him. It was refreshing. She said exactly what she was thinking. Even when she was trying to trick him, she was guileless. Instinctively, he knew lying went against her nature.

  He growled softly, grabbed her up into his arms, and strode with her into what he correctly assumed was a bathroom. An old-fashioned claw-foot tub with a metal wraparound hanger and clear shower curtain took up half of the small room. Holding her tightly, Flynn stepped into the tub, then letting her go with one hand, her feet touched the bottom. With one hand still around her waist, he yanked the shower curtain around with his free hand and turned the faucets on full blast. Without waiting for the water to warm up, holding her tightly to his chest, he pushed her toward the shower head. She squealed as cold spray hit her, but instantly warmed when his mouth came down hard on hers.