“Alice.” Damien’s hands on her hips stopped her from escaping as she badly wanted to. “The word you’re looking for is ‘amazing’. That was amazing.”
“Not the word I was thinking of but I suppose it applies,” Alice drawled. “I think I should go.”
“Wait.” His grip tightened. “Are you going to look at me?”
“Oh, I think eye contact is overrated.”
“Alice.” The note of censure in his voice provoked an automatic response in her.
Obedience.
Her acquiescence annoyed her yet Alice couldn’t stop herself from doing as he bid. She met his gaze, expecting to find an expression of triumph on his too-handsome face. Instead she saw reverence, respect, even approval. His blue eyes, which had sparkled with arrogance before, were now warm with a kindness Alice hadn’t expected to see in him.
His voice was soft and rough at the same time. “You’re beautiful.”
With him still seated and her standing in heels, they were perfectly aligned. Before she could think better of it, Alice moved forward and pressed her mouth to his. Immediately he drove a hand into her curls, holding her head still so she couldn’t back away. His tongue nudged at her lips and she found herself capitulating. She parted on a sigh, allowing his tongue to sweep inside her mouth and take possession.
The kiss was breathtaking, somehow more intimate than his making her orgasm had been. Alice was stunned when the desire she’d thought quenched rose within her anew, making her nipples prod at the silky front of her dress.
She was disconcerted and more than a little embarrassed by her reaction to him. As though sensing her instinctive urge to flee, Damien kept a firm grip on her with one hand while his other gently massaged her scalp. The twin touches both prevented her from breaking away and coaxed her to remain.
When the kiss finally ended, Alice was very much aware it was Damien’s decision to stop, not hers. She was breathless and aroused, her thoughts in such a mess that when he spoke his words made no sense at first.
“I have a room at the place across the road.”
Alice blinked, wondering what he was talking about. A room, as in a hotel room, dummy. She tried to muster some outrage that he was inviting her to his room on so short an acquaintance but she couldn’t, not considering what she’d already let him do.
“I can’t leave a bar with a man I don’t even know.” Alice grasped for a reason other than her sense of decency, which had taken a powder the second she let him finger her in public. “It’s dangerous.”
“Perhaps the fact we don’t know each other is what makes it safe.”
For the briefest instant his eyes were crystal clear, revealing a depth Alice hadn’t expected. She’d thought him a player, a hedonistic creature and a man who always got what he wanted. But with his words and the flickering shadow that crossed his expression, Alice saw a person for whom making human connections had proven difficult, even painful.
Welcome to the club.
Alice fought against the tug of empathy that made her heart shift. No way should her heart have anything to do with this, even if she decided to take things further. Perhaps especially if. The fact we don’t know each other is what makes it safe. Maybe the mysterious and sexy Damien De Luca had a point.
“Tell you what, I’ll give you this.” He pulled a slim card from his inside jacket pocket and handed it to her. “You should call a friend you trust and give her my details, tell her where you’ll be. The hotel I’m staying in also has a twenty-four-hour concierge and security cameras. I’m not inviting you to my room so I can chop you into little pieces.”
That was a possibility she certainly should have considered before he brought it up. Very remiss of her not to assume he was a serial killer. She read the silver-on-black printing on the card. She looked up at him in surprise. “You’re a doctor?”
“Yes.”
“Of like…philosophy?”
Damien laughed softly. “Of like…medicine.”
“Oh.” Alice blushed now that she realized what a dumb question she’d asked. Dr. Damien De Luca wasn’t the buried-in-dusty-research-books type. She read the card again and registered that his business address was a place in Sydney. An out-of-town address, a hotel room…this obviously wasn’t the beginning of anything long-term.
Which was good. Alice had no desire to get into another relationship right now. But she’d never actually had sex with someone she knew there was no relationship potential with. Casual sex, for the sake of sex and nothing more. She’d thought she wanted it but had never actually had it. What would it be like?
Damien stood, his height dwarfing her. Alice was five feet nine so it took a tall guy to make her feel like that. He bent down and murmured in her ear, “I really enjoyed what we just did but I’d rather get you alone so I could be more…thorough.”
Alice’s knees wobbled. Thorough… Oh God. Damien seemed like a true A type, the kind who had to be the best at everything. Based on her experiences with Cal, which had been satisfying but fairly nondescript, Alice knew instinctively Damien De Luca might be the best lover she’d ever have. If she took the risk and let him be.
Sex for the sake of sex and nothing more, with a walking, talking Ryan Gosling meme with edge. Hey girl, I’m going to rub your feet and feed you chocolate-coated strawberries, then I’m going to fuck you in five different positions and make you come repeatedly until you pass out.
The idea certainly had appeal.
“Think about it, Alice. Room 1208 at the Park Towers. I’ll be waiting.”
Chapter 3
Alice stood outside the door to 1208 so long she might well have worn a hole in the hotel-issue beige carpet. She’d thought the decision had been made when she walked across the street to the Park Towers, when she pushed the button for the twelfth floor in the lift. She realized now the real turning point was right here, right now, outside his door.
You can still turn back. Alice closed her eyes in an attempt to center herself, get to the truth of what she really wanted. The lack of visual stimuli intensified all the other sensations rioting inside her. Desire, intensely carnal, pumped through her blood, mixed with a nervous anticipation that produced sweaty palms. It was a potent combination that made her feel slightly seasick.
In the end the desire won—or maybe it was simply a case of being fed up with her own indecisiveness. Alice lifted her hand and knocked on the door.
When it swung back a few seconds later, Damien De Luca stood in the entryway wearing a self-assured smile and no shoes. Alice stared at his bare feet because facing that smile and not melting into the hall carpet seemed impossible. When she figured her staring would begin to seem odd, Alice forced her gaze to travel upward, over his dark trousers, the untucked tails of his striped shirt. He’d shucked his jacket and the ends of his purple tie dangled on either side of his open lapels.
The view of smooth, strong chest and rippled abs revealed by his loosened buttons almost did her in. She was pretty sure she whimpered.
Damien said, her name a question, “Alice?”
Alice replied, an answer to everything, “Yes.”
She stepped over the threshold and wound her arms around his neck, sagging against him. The heat of his bare chest penetrated her clothes and her breasts tingled. Damien—thank goodness—had the presence of mind to push the door shut.
He buried a hand in her hair. His grip was taut, enough to exert control without causing discomfort. He began to lay a trail of kisses over her face, gentle butterfly kisses that belied the tension coiled in his body.
He whispered, “I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”
“I told myself not to…about thirty-eight times.”
“What made you come up?” He kissed the tip of her nose, a strangely affectionate gesture that caused Alice’s heart to trip in a way she didn’t want it to.
“Are you conducting a survey? Trying to improve your game?”
At her arch question he let out a disapproving grunt and gave her a
sharp tap on the behind. “Can the sarcasm, Alice. I don’t want to spend all night working to get past your defenses.”
The little smack he’d given her sent sensation radiating outward. Her backside warmed, and at the prospect of all night, everything else did too.
“Okay,” she rasped. “I came up because I really need a man to… I don’t know. Remind me that I’m not dead below the waist.”
Her admission mortified her, as did Damien’s emphatic response. “You’re not. I felt you downstairs, remember? I’ve never known a woman to get so wet, so fast.”
“Oh, I doubt that.” The man probably made women cream their panties just by walking into a room.
“You’re making a habit of doubting me—and yourself.” He brushed his lips across hers, teasing her with an almost kiss. He pulled back enough so their eyes met. “I’m the first since your husband, aren’t I?”
Embarrassed, Alice nodded. “It’s been over a year, so forgive me if I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”
Damien loosened his grip on her, gave her a little space. “You want me to be gentle with you?”
“God, no.” Alice struggled not to blush again as Damien laughed at her blurted response.
He released her entirely and stepped back, eyeing her as though seeing her for the first time. “You know, I think I really like you.”
Alice shrugged, using humor to pretend she wasn’t warmed by the declaration as she followed him farther into the room. “You’re quite lickable yourself.”
He cocked a brow at her intentional mispronunciation. “Tell you what, I’ll let you lick anything you want…if you take off your dress.”
“Wow. Straight to it, huh?”
Amusement twinkled in his eyes. “I could offer you a drink, we could talk some more.”
The implication being that he’d simply be biding his time until she was ready for what she really came here for. Like she was a nervous virgin and he the school rugby captain. Grow up, Alice. “No, I’ve had enough to drink. Let’s do this.”
He chuckled softly. “It’s not a physical exam, you know.”
“I’m sorry if that sounded crass.”
Alice looked around the room. A standard-issue hotel bed—king sized—a flat-screen television turned off. The bathroom was to the left and the view of the Gold Coast skyline, with its glittering skyscrapers imprinted against the black expanse of the Pacific, on the right. A two-seater sofa in chocolate brown was set against the white-painted wall adjacent to the window.
Damien moved toward it and sat with his arm across the sofa back and an expectant look on his face.
“So you really want me to…” Alice gestured to her dress.
“Yes.”
Jeez. A little help might have been nice. “I would have thought undressing women was one of your skills. Doctor’s hands and all that.”
“I’m not a surgeon. The mood I’m in, if I take it off I might rip something.”
Curiosity spiked at the hint he’d given her about his job. Alice wanted to know what kind of doctor he was but she quashed the interest. She hadn’t forgotten what he’d said downstairs. Knowing too much about him seemed dangerous.
Stripping in front of him was terrifying.
Alice flicked her gaze toward the bedside lamps that illuminated the room. “Do you think you could—”
“The lights stay on. You don’t want kid gloves, so strip.”
Well, she had specified that whole don’t be gentle thing. Except she hadn’t exactly thought this was what he meant.
Come on, Alice, are you a woman or a little mouse?
With trembling fingers, Alice reached for the zipper at the back of the silky dress and drew it down. The room’s air-conditioning touching her bare skin raised gooseflesh. Closing her eyes tight, she let the garment drop to the ground.
The silence was deafening until Damien noted, his voice amused, “Just because you can’t see me, doesn’t mean I can’t see you.”
“I know that.”
“Stop shying away from me. Open your eyes.”
That authoritarian tone was back in his voice, the one Alice responded to without thinking. The one that made her quiver with anticipation and the finest edge of alarm. She had no idea what he would do if she defied him but right now she didn’t want to find out.
Or maybe you do. Alice recalled that impromptu spank Damien had given her backside a few moments ago and her thighs clenched.
Oh boy.
Breathing rapidly, Alice lifted her eyelids to find Damien gazing at her with heat in his eyes. His focus tracked downward, over the swell of her breasts encased in a black balconette bra trimmed in cream lace, down toward the matching panties, over her stomach—
Ack! She’d forgotten about her stomach. Alice reflexively twined her arms around it so he wouldn’t see the flabbiness that had accumulated due to her failure to set a regular gym schedule.
Immediately, Damien reproached her. “Don’t do that. Put your hands behind your back and keep them there.”
His command and the steely thread in it made Alice’s breath hitch. That leap of fear made her comply but when her hands rested at the base of her spine and she could no longer hide herself from Damien, it wasn’t fear that kept them there. Her nipples and clit throbbed with the telltale signs of burning, forceful lust. He was looking at her openly now and her inability—or was it unwillingness?—to hide herself liberated something inside her.
“Gorgeous,” Damien complimented her, his voice rough. He stood and walked toward her, his approaching nearness obliterating the slight chill in the room. There was an unmistakable gleam of approval in his eyes. When he reached up and cupped her breast, her knees buckled.
Damien steadied her with a hand on her waist. With the other he began kneading her flesh, turning it ripe and heavy. Alice swayed into his touch. Instinctively, she reached up, intent on gripping his shoulders.
“No, Alice.” Abandoning her breast, he grasped her arms and put them behind her back once more. With one hand, he held both hers at the base of her spine, applying a little force. Enough to make her feel the stretch in her muscles. Enough to thrust her chest out so her erect nipples grazed his pectorals.
Enough to make Alice whimper in a way she never had before—with a combination of trepidation and excitement.
Damien brushed his lips over her temple, a soothing gesture to nullify her anxiety. “Did you call your friend?”
Alice had to search her mind to work out what he was referring to. When she remembered, her momentary concern subsided. “Yes. She’s my oldest friend from school, the only one I felt I could tell.” She and Emma had covered for each other countless times during their early, single-girl hijinks. Their lives had gone down different paths but they’d never lost touch.
“You told her all about me?”
Alice nodded. “She’s expecting a call later. She’s on night shift…as a police officer.”
At that, Damien laughed. “You really know how to pick a safety buddy. That’s good. I want you to be safe.” Tilting her head back, Damien lightly scraped her throat with his teeth, making Alice wonder if she could ever truly be safe locked in a room with a man like him. “I also want to tie you up.”
Oh fuck!
Perhaps sensing the way her body stiffened, Damien pulled back so he could see into her eyes. He watched her closely, gauging her reaction. “Only your hands. Does that bother you?”
His grip on her wrists seemed tighter all of a sudden, his words making Alice aware her hands were already in effect bound. She wasn’t exactly objecting to that and her body screamed with hot delight every time her breasts brushed his chest. If he tied her wrists, both his hands would be free to do…whatever they wanted.
Alice wet her lips, hardly believing the answer she gave. “No. I mean I don’t think so. I’ve never had anyone do that.”
“It’s not about pain. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Okay.”
“Having c
ontrol really pushes my buttons. And you, Alice, can’t help but want to please people. I saw that downstairs and I saw how someone could take advantage of that. I don’t want to take advantage, I want to reward you for it. Do you understand?”
Although she wasn’t sure she did, the prospect of reward provided a powerful incentive. Alice nodded. “I think so.”
“Good.” He released her wrists and stepped back. Alice watched with a quivering heart as he slowly slid the purple tie he wore from the collar of his shirt. “Take off that bra.”
It was insane that she was so aroused by the fact he told her to do things, rather than asked. Had she learned nothing from eight years of a marriage where she blindly went along with whatever her husband wanted? Maybe not, but somehow Alice sensed this situation was different. There was a reward in store for her cooperation, her obedience. Ridiculous as it might be to trust Damien, she did trust him on that at least.
Alice reached for the hooks at her back and released them. She let the lacy garment slide down her arms and off, until it dropped to the floor. She didn’t try to hide herself this time. Her insecurity about her stomach and thighs didn’t extend to her breasts, which were full and relatively firm for a woman in her thirties.
Damien smiled as though he agreed. He touched the end of his silk tie to her nipples, so lightly Alice almost didn’t feel it, yet her body reacted as though he’d pinched her.
With measured steps, he moved until he stood behind her then he grabbed her wrists and began binding them with his tie. He wrapped it around her a few times, securing her wrists tight together. “Can you get free?”
Alice wriggled her fingers but she couldn’t find the knot. She tried to move her hands together but there wasn’t enough give in the bindings. “No.”
“No, what?”
Alice tried to figure out what he meant for her to say, what he wanted to hear. “No, Damien. I can’t get free.”
He let out a breath that was hot on her shoulder. The stutter in it told her what she’d said notched his arousal higher. Was that what he wanted? For her to admit aloud she couldn’t get away from him? Would he ask her to beg for her freedom for the sole purpose of denying her?
The Dirty Martini Page 9