Ark accepted his change, then took out a business card and wrote a number on the back. “Here’s my cell number. Call if you think of anything that could help us.”
Outside the store, Tess looked at Ark. “She’s lying. I think she suspects who Fred’s source is.”
He nodded. “I got that, too. I don’t think it’s her. And I don’t think she has any reason to be out to destroy me. I’ve bought condoms or a gift basket from her occasionally. She was always professional—there’s just no reason to think she’d be after me.”
“But you think someone is?”
Seven
Ark looked around Tess’s kitchen. The walls were painted a soft yellow. The wood floors and pecan-colored tile on the counters added to the warmth. It felt like a place to sit and have coffee with friends or lovers. It felt like a home.
He knew enough about Tess now to know that creating a home was very important to her. She understood her needs and found a way to fulfill them. She was an incredibly strong woman.
He liked that about her. A lot.
But she had a vulnerable side that touched him deeply. The side that had been hurt by her parents, and that she now guarded so carefully.
The side that brought out his protective instincts.
God, he wanted her. Needed her.
They had come to her house to do some research. The next place on her list to investigate was a dance club that had a secret sex club within it, The Fantasy. The dance club didn’t even open until nine P.M. It was just after six now.
Plenty of time to talk and make love.
He looked over at Tess bent over her laptop at the kitchen table with Fred’s articles spread around her.
She must have felt his stare. She looked up and asked, “How did Fred get into the exclusive shops in Prosper?” Her gaze was troubled, tired. “I never even knew these places existed. The Fantasy Club? It’s in one of the rooms at the Prosper Card Club and Resort?”
They’d talked about this, and Tess knew Ark had been to the Fantasy Club. She had told him her theories on who killed Fred. He was impressed with her reasoning and thought she may be right. He nodded at her question.
She looked back to her screen. “I think the source stole the e-mail from Fred to sell to the highest bidder—another tabloid. Since you think the source is out to destroy you—it’s probably reasonable to assume that it could be the same person who leaked the sex toy detail of Fred’s death.”
“Someone is getting around,” Ark said, “but who?” He went to stand behind Tess. “Who would you protect if you were Linda, Tess? She was angry; we could both see that.” He put his hands on her tight shoulders and kneaded.
She leaned back into his hands. “But she didn’t want to tell us who it might be. A child? Sister?”
Ark tensed at a thought. “Stepdaughter. She said her stepdaughter sometimes worked at the store.” Who the hell was her stepdaughter?
“Have you seen the stepdaughter when you have been in there?”
He strained to remember. “I don’t think so. No. Sometimes I send Maureen. I could ask her.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
Tess looked up at him with her wide brown eyes. “You send your publicist to the sex shop for you?”
He put one hand back on her shoulder. “For gifts. They deliver baskets of bath stuff, massage oils, lingerie. I haven’t done that in a long time, Tess. But I’m not a monk either. The one thing you need to know is that I am always careful—I choose nice women and use condoms.” He wanted her to believe him. Before he could be sure she did, Maureen answered in his ear.
“Ark, where are you? We need to go over our strategy for dealing with this disaster.”
He ignored her dramatics. He’d already told her he planned to spend time with Tess. “I’m busy, Maureen. I need to know if you’ve ever seen the stepdaughter of Linda at Sensual Delights. Do you know who she is?”
Seconds of silence ticked by; then she answered, “No, why do you ask? We need to be working on your image. I think we should get the press out to watch you play basketball with those boys.”
Those boys. Ark hardened his jaw. “Those boys are off limits, Maureen.” He felt Tess tense beneath his hand because his voice was ice cold.
“Ark, I’m trying to do my job here.”
“Leave those boys alone.” He hung up and stuffed the phone back in his pocket. To Tess, he said, “She doesn’t remember the stepdaughter either.”
She said softly, “Everything okay?”
He smiled to reassure her. “Yes, just an old fight. My brothers and I do work with the Big Brother program. It’s something we enjoy, but Maureen wants to invite the press in.”
“And you don’t?”
“No. I want the boys to know that we care about the men they become. I don’t want them to ever think they were just some kind of photo op.” He knew how hard it was to grow into a man without a father. Ark had been lucky—he’d had a damn good father until he died. Many of these boys had virtually no role model.
Tess accepted that and turned back to the computer. She had hooked up to the Internet. “I’m on the Sensual Delights’ Web site to look for Linda’s last name. Or maybe the list of employees, something like that.” She scrolled through and finally found an e-mail. LRiley@ Sensualdelights.com. “Riley. I bet her last name is Riley.” She looked up at him. “Ark, Josie thinks that it’s a woman on the fringe of your life. Do you know a woman with the last name of Riley?”
“Not off hand. But I think Josie is right. And I’m worried about you. Whoever this is might be very jealous.”
She looked startled. “Jealous? Of me?”
“Sugar, anyone in that sports bar would have felt the sexual tension between us. And I don’t usually send a woman’s suitcase up to my suite. I don’t like to have women spend the night.” He should have told her all this sooner. He should have let her know from the first moment that she was special to him.
She stood up and went to the freezer, absently pulling the door open. “Are you hungry? I could make something while we work on figuring this out.”
She was nervous. Scared. Ark crossed the square kitchen and shut the door. He turned her to face him, looked into her wide brown eyes. “I want you, Tess. Don’t close up on me now.”
Heat rose in her face. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “We have to find Fred’s source, the killer.”
He touched her face, running both his thumbs alongside her temples and cheeks. “Later.”
She opened her eyes. “We’re going to end up in bed, aren’t we?”
He smiled, amazed at her honesty. He curved his hands around her cheeks, cupping her face with his palms. “We both feel the chemistry, so yeah, I’m going to be inside you before the night is over. I won’t let you walk away again.”
“I didn’t—” She stopped herself.
“I told you to go. I did it to protect you.” He used slight pressure to tilt her face up. “And I regretted it every single moment you were away from me.”
She raised her eyebrows. “So you tracked me down in a sex shop?”
He nodded. “That had a certain allure, but I’d have found you anywhere.”
Her gaze stayed on him. “You’ve been in there a lot?”
She had a right to know. He’d touched on this a few minutes ago, but he wanted to make this very clear. “Upscale sex stores have the better condoms, and I’m very careful about details like that.”
“You must think I’m incredibly naïve.”
He didn’t. He thought she respected herself too much to do what she wasn’t comfortable with. A huge difference. “I think you are a woman who knows what she wants. Whoever you had sex with wasn’t doing it for you. So you waited until you were ready to try it again. Or waited for the right man to come along.”
“It wasn’t Fred.”
“Which I suspect you knew,” he pointed out. “But what was the catalyst, Tess? What pushed you over the edge to open yourself up to a rel
ationship that involved sex again?” From the first, it was clear that Tess didn’t jump into bed with men.
Her eyes slid away from him. She had the faraway look of someone focusing on a memory. “My grandmother died. She was all I had left. I didn’t want to end up alone like her. I had to take a chance.”
He dropped his hands to her shoulders, tugged her to his chest, and wrapped his arms around her. He was going to hunt down Dr. Josie Montgomery and thank her. She took a huge chance on him. She never told him this part, but he’d bet she knew. The woman he’d talked to on the phone appeared to care very much about Tess, and she took the risk that Ark would be the man to ... care about her, too. Admiration for Tess welled up inside of him. She, the woman who measured risks so carefully, took the biggest one to find someone to care about. To open herself up to the intimacy of sex when the idea of losing control scared her. She was brave as hell.
She pulled back and looked up at him. “So? Do you still want to make love?”
He brushed his lips over hers. “I ache for you.”
Heat swept over Tess when Ark firmed up the pressure of his mouth, sliding his tongue deep inside. Desire curled a tight knot in her belly. She lifted her hands, running them up his arms, under the sleeves of his shirt, and up over the cut of his hard muscles.
Ark broke the kiss, looking up. His hazel eyes had a lust-induced haze to them. He glanced around the kitchen, then back to her. He reached to the hem of her shirt, pulling it up.
“We can go into my bedroom.” She had the blind pulled in her kitchen, but—
He pulled the shirt off. “We will. But now I have to see you. I’m not going to let anything get between us again.” He reached down to unsnap her jeans.
Tess caught hold of his shirt. She wanted to see him, to see all of him. Ark helped her get the shirt over his head. Then he reached back to push her jeans down. “Take them off, Doc.”
She shimmied the jeans down and took a moment to step out of her sandals and kick her pants off. Then she looked up.
Ark was naked. Her mouth went dry. Her hands itched to touch him. He obviously worked out. No wonder People magazine had been so anxious to feature him, he looked hot both in clothes and out. At just over six feet, he had full, wide shoulders, a flat stomach, and slim hips that framed a big erection.
He was big. Everywhere.
She put her hand on his chest, just to touch him. Then she looked up into his face.
He had his gaze locked on her. She stood in only her bra and panties. She could feel the heat from his skin beneath her hand. She trailed her hand down and felt his stomach contract. She went lower to his penis. She wrapped her fingers around him. Hot and thick, it moved and danced in her hand.
Ark closed his eyes, his face darkening in pleasure. When he opened his eyes, he said in a thick voice, “Turn around.”
She let go of him to turn and face the fridge. She felt him move her hair and unclasp her bra. She let it slide down her arms. Ark leaned down to her ear. “Put your hands on the refrigerator, Tess.”
She blinked, staring at her side-by-side. But she trusted Ark and put both her palms flat on the fridge. The surface was cool compared to the heat of Ark’s body behind her.
He caught hold of her panties, sliding them down.
Tess concentrated on keeping her hands on the refrigerator. She stepped out of the panties.
He ran his hands up her legs as he rose behind her. Then over her butt and up her back. She shivered, feeling vulnerable with her back to him.
Ark put his arms around her. She felt his dick pressing into the curve of her lower back. “You are so damn beautiful.”
His voice was rich and whispery. He gently caressed her belly with one hand and stroked her breasts with another. His touch and words heated her up. She didn’t feel vulnerable anymore.
He slid his hand down, tangling his fingers in her pubic hair. “I want you, Tess. But first, I want to feel you come. Just let me touch you, stroke you, until all you can do is feel white-hot pleasure. And I’m going to be right here, holding you up while you let go.” With his other hand, he grasped her nipple and gently rolled it. The sensations shot from her throat to her core.
And he moved his hand deeper between her legs. “Spread your legs for me.”
She shifted her weight and spread her feet to give him better access.
He moved his hand deeper between her legs, using his fingers to separate her. Then he found her swollen clit. “You’re wet. Sexy.” His voice was thicker and tighter. She could feel his heart slamming against her back, while her heart picked up speed. He began circling her clit.
“Ark.” She arched back while pressing her hips into his hand.
“Keep your hands on the fridge.” He increased the pressure between her legs and dropped his mouth to kiss her ear, down her neck, and the curve of her shoulder.
She pressed her hands flat into the fridge. The sensations slammed into her, rolled through her, until she couldn’t breathe.
He slid one finger, then two inside her. His palm rubbed against her clit. “Move, sugar. Move your hips against my hand.”
She did, because it was torture. Blissful. She leaned back against him and pumped her hips against his hand.
“God, yes. Perfect.” He panted the words into her ear.
His words sent her over the edge into an orgasm. Shudders of pleasure rocked through her. Her legs buckled.
Ark dropped his hand from her breasts to loop his arm around her waist. “I got you. I’m right here,” he whispered.
Ark had pulled her back, flush to his hard body, with his arm tight under her ribs. His cock pressed into her lower back; his breath feathered over her shoulder. Tess got her breath back, and she wanted more. She took her hands from the refrigerator and put them on his arm. “I want more.”
He lifted his arm from around her waist and moved back from her.
Tess turned. He stood with his back to her at the kitchen table. He looked magnificent. When he turned around, he was rolling on a condom he’d pulled out from the Sensual Delights bag. He met her gaze. “Come here.”
She walked to him.
Ark pulled her into his arms. Wrapped her tightly against him. “I’m desperate to be inside you, Tess.”
She looked up. “My bed?”
“Oh, yeah. Later.” He slid his hands down her waist and lifted her high against him. “Your bed, maybe the shower ... but right now—” He walked while carrying her to the kitchen wall. “Put your legs around me and take me inside you.”
His words were hoarse. He leaned her against the wall. She curled her legs around his hips, then reached down between them to guide his cock inside. Once she positioned him, Ark took over.
“Hold on to me, Doc. Now. Hold on.” He drove into her and groaned a deep sound of satisfaction.
Tess put her hands on his shoulders, felt him tremble with desire and need. She leaned forward and kissed him.
Ark made another noise deep in his throat. He shifted his hands to her hips, then pulled out and thrust back into her.
Again and again.
Tess held on, kissing him and accepting him as he thrust deeper, reaching sensitive, tender places far inside of her. She was panting again, wanting again. And he gave it to her. She broke the kiss and buried her head in the curve of his shoulder as a second orgasm rushed over her.
“Tess,” he groaned her name in a thick, shuddering voice and drove into her one last time with his orgasm.
Ark sat back at the kitchen table. They had another hour before they should leave for the Fantasy Club. They were back to doing research. He lifted his beer.
It was almost too heavy.
“Sugar, I think you killed me.” Two more times. He’d gotten the chance to make long, slow love to her again on her bed. He used his mouth to make her beg. Then she paid him back in the shower.
She grinned across the table where she was back at her laptop. “You’re the one who had something to prove, Underwood.”
God, she was beautiful. She had her hair piled up on her head from the shower, and her skin did that glowing female thing. She had pulled on a tank top and her jeans. No bra. Her lean, toned arms flexed as she worked on the computer. “So what do you think, Doc, do I have erectile dysfunction? Need the rush of a new babe to get it up?”
She flushed red. “I’m so sorry I ever—”
Ark got up and went around the table. “Tess, I’m just teasing you.” He dropped to a crouch next to her chair. “We’ve all done stuff like your e-mail. I’m not pissed about it. It was a private thing that got out into the public by accident. I’m pissed that someone sold it. I hate it when people use me that way.” He wanted to make her understand. “I fought my way to the top, Tess. People who pull shit like this e-mail? They are cheating.”
She met his gaze directly. “Honesty means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
Ark looked into her brown eyes and knew she understood. “Yeah. My dad was in a crazy business, too. But he always kept it real, Tess. I guess I learned from him. He put my mom and us kids first.” He thought of a memory from so long ago. “Sometimes he had a late night and when he came home we’d all be in bed. But he’d wake one of us boys up to have ice cream with him. All by ourselves. It was pretty cool to a little kid.”
Her gaze softened. “So he came home to his family when he could have been out partying with famous people.”
Like her parents probably had done. He regretted that he’d said anything. It was like throwing up what he had into her face. “I’m just saying that he was honest. He said his family came first, and we did. I respect honesty. And you are honest. More honest than any other woman I’ve met.”
She smiled. “Thanks. But I’m also more trouble than any woman you’ve ever met. I need to fix this. I’ve found something here—” She turned back to the computer. Then she asked, “Would any man go to a sex store and buy a pink-colored erection enhancer?”
Ark looked at the computer screen. She was back on Sensual Delights’ Web site. “Not any man I know.”
Wicked Women Whodunit Page 19