by Caryn Carter
And all of it while pinned against a wall, no less.
"I'd like to freshen up." She turned to leave, but he pulled her back close to him.
A worried frown crossed his face. "Are you all right?"
'I'm fine, really."
She tried to lean out of his embrace, but he wouldn't let her go. He lowered his face close to hers. "I wasn't too ... rough?"
She tilted her head back so she could read his expression when she asked him, candidly, "Did you mean to be?"
A mixture of emotions crossed his face, but the one that etched itself there was disbelief. "Do you think I set out to hurt you in any way?"
She shook her head. "No, of course, I don't."
His body relaxed against hers and this time when she made a move to leave he didn't stop her.
"I'll clean up in the other stateroom," he said, heading in the opposite direction.
Bella closed the bathroom door behind her, walked the couple of steps to the sink, and looked at herself in the mirror above it. Her face was flushed, the hair on the right side of her head, where it had been pressed against the wall, was in disarray, one of her earrings hung precariously from the lobe. All in all, she was a mess.
No, she corrected, smiling as she hooked the earring in place--she looked exactly as she would have expected. Like someone who had just had a good romp in bed, even if she had not actually made it between the sheets.
If she was a little disappointed that her encounter with Nick had been sparse on the tender, romantic side, he had more than made up for it with energy and imagination. He had given her the greatest sex of her life.
Bracing her hands on the sink, she leaned closer to the mirror, searching for something she might have missed. The only thing she hadn't noticed before was the brightness in her eyes.
She grinned like the Cheshire Cat at the memory of their recent sexual feat.
Against the wall.
Now that performance certainly took more than a little ingenuity, maybe even some planning on his part. Even though, looking back it did seem a natural culmination to their desire for one another, enhanced by empty stomachs and two glasses of wine.
She turned on the faucet and waited until the water was warm to the touch before she set about methodically washing away the remnants of completed sex, allowing her thoughts to turn to a wickedly pleasant agenda.
Nick had bedeviled her. But even the devil got his due, eventually. And she wanted to be the one to give her personal earthly demon everything that was coming to him.
He'd beguiled and bewitched her. He'd turned her on to carnal delights surpassing even her wildest imaginings. The least she could do was return the favor.
After all, didn't one good turn deserve another?
Finished with her personal hygiene, Bella turned to leave, but changed her mind and hastily began unbuttoning her blouse, only to change her mind again and re-button it.
What was she thinking? Had she really entertained the thought, even for a split second, of going back in there naked? How had she become so brazen, so wanton in such a short period of time? Had she no shame? She had just made it with a guy that hadn't even taken the time to undress her, had maneuvered her against a wall and taken her like someone he'd picked up off the street. She caught herself up short.
That wasn't exactly the truth. They'd been working up to this night from the first time they'd met. Ever since then, she had been just as eager as he to participate in his little sex game. In fact, she'd loved it. Truth was, she hadn't had nearly enough of the game--or of him. And now she intended to go right out there and seduce him the way he'd seduced her.
She had some ideas of her own. She'd never had the courage to test them before. But Nick Fuller seemed like the kind of guy who would appreciate ingenuity. In a very short while she was going to find out if her speculation was on target.
She swung the door open. Nick was lounging in the doorway leading to the passageway. He made no move to approach her and something in his stance kept her rooted where she was.
He held up his cell phone. "It's that damn job again. My man needs me. I hope you understand."
Her mouth felt dry as dead leaves. She fingered the buttons on her blouse. Thank God she had changed her mind. She was thankful too, that she had always been able to assume a calm demeanor even when she was about to fall apart. "Sure, Nick," she said, graciously, "I understand. It's business."
"I'll call you tomorrow at work."
"Great."
Then he left.
When Bella was certain Nick was out of earshot, she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Sure, I understand. I understand you'll get yours, Nick Fuller. Just you wait and see."
Chapter Eleven
Nick braked on a dime for the red light, and wished his thoughts were as easy to stop. He hated himself for walking out on Bella without so much as a friendly hug or a casual kiss on the cheek.
One of the most important things he'd learned in his sexual experiences with women was that every one of them needed some kind of emotional after-play, even if it was only a little hug and a few well-chosen, even if empty, words of tenderness. He had always left every woman whose body he had enjoyed feeling as though he'd be counting the minutes until he saw her again. At least that had been his modus operandi until now.
But just fifteen minutes ago, he'd left Bella standing in the middle of the stateroom looking as if she'd just been robbed of something valuable--and in a way she had. He'd given more respect to streetwalkers when he worked vice, than he'd given to Arabella Quinn, who, he reminded himself sternly, had not even been charged with a crime yet. He felt slimier than month old pond scum.
The light changed and he shifted into gear, moving at a snail's pace with the traffic, using the extra time to think again about what had happened between himself and Bella.
He'd been reluctant to examine his motives too closely concerning the position he'd put Bella in, and he meant more than her position against the wall. Good Lord, what had he been thinking? He'd planned all along to take something from Kevin, just as Kevin had taken something from him, but to demean her like that was just plain cruel.
He shook his head, unable to come to grips with his actions. His only excuse was two glasses of wine and a fever for Arabella Quinn that had set his blood raging like a river out of control. He had wanted her so badly his need had taken the upper hand, and when she hadn't resisted...
She hadn't had she? No, he was sure she hadn't. He wasn't that much of a brute, regardless of his disdain for her, that he would have forced her to do anything against her will.
No. She had enjoyed his robust foreplay and the intensity with which he'd taken her as much as he had. Not once had she asked him to stop. Except to beg him to stop torturing her. To bring her to climax as fast as he could. And damn what a glorious climax it had been. For both of them.
He should turn around, head back to the boat and apologize to Bella for his lack of decency. He hadn't even kissed her. Kissed her? He hadn't even looked her squarely in the eye.
He wanted to turn around. He knew he should turn around. But he couldn't. He had to finish the job at Bella's house that he'd started the night before. He had to be certain that he'd done as thorough a job as possible under the circumstances.
And if he found nothing, then what?
Until now he hadn't given any serious thought to that possibility. But he was thinking differently now.
He'd been afraid all along that once he'd made love to Bella it might alter his focus. Was that why, although he'd gotten inside her body, he'd made certain he didn't get inside her mind, that what they'd done couldn't really be called making love, but could only be called having sex?
Nick pulled up in the same spot in front of Bella's house as he had the night before. As he'd done then, he checked the surrounding area before he went inside. The neighborhood looked the same as it had last night. Again, there were no strange cars to be seen.
He was still deba
ting the odds of Bella's innocence against the circumstantial evidence that she was guilty, when he closed the door behind him and let her scent seep into him as powerfully as it had on his last visit. On the heels of a deep breath, he went into the kitchen and resumed the job he'd left undone early that morning.
In another few hours, if he still hadn't uncovered anything incriminating against her, he would have to take another course. Until then he would proceed under the assumption that she was guilty until proven innocent.
* * * *
Bella awoke to an unfamiliar sound and glanced at the illuminated clock on the table next to the bed. Three o'clock. She rolled to her side and waited, afraid to breathe for fear of breaking the silence and missing the sound should it happen again.
She drew in a sharp breath. Waited. There it was again. She had not been dreaming as she'd first suspected when she'd awakened unexpectedly. Lifting herself to an elbow, she reached with the other hand for her cell phone next to the clock on the table.
Someone was outside in the hallway heading toward the stateroom, and although the steps weren't loud or heavy, she knew instinctively the tread was that of a man.
She mentally re-traced her actions before she had climbed into bed. She was positive she had locked the door. Still, what good was a locked door against someone determined to get to her?
Her eyes darted around the small room. The bathroom would give her an extra few seconds to reach the police. Clutching the phone to her chest, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed ready to hit the floor running when she heard a soft tap against the door. She could hear the beat of her heart in her ears.
She was on the edge of panic when Nick's voice, barely above a whisper, called her name. Relief flooded through her and for a few seconds she couldn't move or speak.
"Bella?" Nick's voice was higher, but still low enough that she had to strain to hear him.
She stood, made her way over to the door, her hand trembling as her fingers curled around the knob. "Nick? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me, Bella."
In one crazy second the erratic beating of her heart flipped from fear to a wild frenzy of excitement.
She unlocked the door and opened it slowly. Nick stood there, backlit from the low overhead lighting in the passageway, his shirt open at the neck, the day's growth already darkening his chin, his eyes heavy-lidded from lack of sleep.
"I decided to keep you company for the rest of the night." He took one step toward her then stopped. "If you want me to, that is."
If he'd asked her that question an hour after he'd left, her answer might have been different, but she'd done a lot of thinking since then.
His actions had been perfectly in line with the direction their relationship had taken these past few days. He wanted her. She wanted him. Everything between them had been simple and direct. The sex had been just that way, too. Although, she admitted, while it might be a stretch to call the sex between them simple, it had definitely been direct.
"What about the job," she asked, her throat tight, a strange pressure behind her eyes like tears were close.
"Ran up against a brick wall and decided to call it a night."
It suddenly dawned on her that neither of them had moved since she'd opened the door. Nick was still standing on the other side of the threshold and she was still hanging onto the door for support.
Seeing him again caused her body to tingle from the soles of her feet to the top of her head. From the look in his eyes, she knew a similar sensation was surging through his body. It was a stimulating, but frightening experience to acknowledge the powerful attraction that lured them to each other.
She wondered if it frightened him as it did her, but quickly decided it didn't. He was experienced as a lover, while her experience was limited to her sexual encounters with Kevin, one or two failed attempts since then, and seven years of wild, erotic fantasies culled from movies and erotic literature.
Perhaps the realization of her inexperience should have made her feel less confident, even subordinate to him, but it didn't. The look in his eyes told her, that at that moment, he was subservient, not she.
She opened the door wider and stood aside.
* * * *
Nick stepped inside the stateroom and caught Bella up close against him.
"You look beautiful," he whispered, his hands gliding over her body, the satin of her emerald green nightgown rustling softly beneath his fingers.
She'd packed the sexiest nightgown she owned, along with the matching bikinis and cover-up, with the hope she'd actually get to wear them for him. And now here he was.
Nick looked down into her eyes, his own a riot of emotions. "I'm sorry about the way I left earlier. Can we pretend it never happened and pick up where we left off?"
Winding her arms around his neck, she lightly touched his lips with hers. He had given her an opening. Did she dare take it? Use this opportunity to play out one of her fantasies? The answer came easily. "Are you willing to pay the price for waking me?"
Was this brazen woman really her? A woman who just a few days ago could barely remember what it was like to have a man make love to her? Only this wasn't about love, she reminded herself. This was only about sex. Pure, raw sex.
Nick crushed her to him, aligning their bodies so that she felt every hard plane of his, leaving no doubt that he was already highly aroused. He cupped his mouth to her ear. "Name your price."
A chill shook her. Whether he knew it or not, he had just changed the rules of the game. He had given up control. And she intended to use the power she now held over him until he was the beggar this time, not she.
The memory of how he'd taken her, how she'd willingly given herself to him the night before and what wonderful delights they could still bring to each other, sent a blaze of heat through her that lodged in the hollow between her thighs and made her gasp softly. She was already wet for him. Her breath caught in her throat and her body sloped into his. She drew back. She couldn't weaken. Not now. Not if she wanted this night to be hers--and she did. She so very much wanted this night to be hers.
Tilting her head back so she could see his face, she pressed her body into his, curving her lips in a wicked smile. "Are you sure you're up for this?"
"Without a doubt."
She'd never felt such exhilaration before, never enjoyed tempting a man so much. She felt drunk with power. "When you find out what I have planned for you, you may change your mind."
"Don't count on it. I'm up for any pleasure you choose to deliver." To make his point, he ground his full-blown erection against her belly, an unnecessary move because she'd never had any doubt how aroused he was since the moment he'd taken her in his arms.
His hands slid to her bottom and he rocked her sensuously against his turgid cock. "And I'm also up for giving you any pleasure you choose to take."
She shook with the thought of what lay ahead, trembled from the pleasure she was already planning for him. For both of them.
Taking his hand, she led him across the room to the side of the bed and started to undress him. She unbuttoned his shirt, slipped it down his arms, flung it to the floor, moved quickly to stand behind him. "Hand me that robe at the end of the bed," she directed, releasing him so he could do as she'd ordered.
Nick held the green satin cover-up out to the side where she could reach it. She took it, removed the sash, and dropped the garment on top of his shirt on the floor. He knew what she was up to the moment she grasped both his wrists and brought his hands behind his back. She worked swiftly, looping the end of each sash over and under the opposite wrist. She repeated the maneuver, tugged firmly to be sure the satin handcuffs were secure and finished with a double knot.
He had remained perfectly still while she performed her handiwork, but now that she was finished, he was anxious to test the strength of the bonds. He tried to free his wrists. The fabric wouldn't give. Damn, she had tied him up good. Of course, he knew he could put an end to this little escapade of
hers any time he wished.
To prove his point, he pulled hard against the ligature, but the knot held. Damnation, maybe it wasn't going to be as easy to free himself as he thought. His heart hammered against his ribs and nearly cracked open when she slid her arms around his hips and unzipped his pants.
While she took soft bites across his back, she worked her hand inside the placket opening. His engorged penis had already stretched the soft knit of his briefs to its limit, so she had to work her fingers around the distended fabric until she found the opening.
A low moan started deep in his chest and caught in his throat, causing his breath to hitch. "Put your hand inside, baby." He arched his back and tried to reach her mouth with his, but she leaned away from him.
She was breathing as fast as Nick now and her fingers trembled as they worked their way inside his briefs. When she finally found his outrageously firm shaft it was already hot to the touch, and as she stroked him for a few moments, his sharp intakes of breath were followed by quick bursts of air as it rushed from his lungs.
"That's it, baby. That's it. Take hold of me." His words were guttural and broken as he bucked against her hand.
Nick's heart skipped a beat when Bella loosened her hold on him and brought both hands up to his belt, unbuckled it, released the catch at his waistband and tugged his pants, along with his briefs, down his hips. When she stepped around in front of him and fell to her knees to rid him of his shoes and socks, his head started spinning.
Soon he would be standing naked before her and her mouth would be just inches below his--Jesus, all she would have to do was lift her head and--he staggered and nearly fell when she swirled her tongue around and around his cock from its base to its tip. He clenched his jaw to keep from crying out when she took him into her mouth and tugged on him. He wouldn't last through much more of this.