by Selena Kitt
"Okay, Monroe." She unfolded her arms and leaned forward until she was on both hands and one knee. She stretched toward him, almost crawling over the bench seat. Her face slid against his, and he summoned all his self-control to keep from pulling her onto his lap to kiss her. Her creamy voice curled around him in the sultry heat, and he held his breath. "Come inside with me."
She wanted him to give in. Give way to her. He wanted it, too. More than he'd wanted anything since the last time he wanted her.
"What's the magic word, boss?"
The soft sound of her lips actually made him think she was going to say please. When her teeth closed on the cartilage of his ear, a shaft of bright pain streaked down the center of him to his cock. He sucked in a breath.
She released his ear. Pain throbbed in time with his pulse.
"The magic word," she whispered, "is now."
* * *
Gigi shut the door behind them and leaned against it. Neither of them was really interested in pleasantries like drinks or conversation. But something about Noah made her want to invest the extra time.
He waited for her in the living room. The hodgepodge of furniture, most of which her parents had left behind on their way to retirement, looked small and insubstantial next to him. He towered over the coffee table like a giant.
Her giant.
He smirked at her. Probably concocting something else to say about her asking him for things. He could be kind of a wiseass when he tried.
Too bad she didn't intend to let him try.
"The bedroom is at the end of the hall." She pointed. "Go down there and strip."
Without a word, he headed down the hallway, peeling off his shirt as he went. She followed him and sat on the bed to watch him finish. He was stepping out of his pants and tugging his socks off when she turned on a lamp. This time she meant to get a good look at those long, muscular legs, that delicious-looking washboard stomach. Summer sun had bleached the hair on his powerful arms and calves. He tugged his boxers down over the firm ass she'd admired since he first started working, and his erection bobbed free.
Oh, hell, yeah.
His long, thick shaft curved toward his stomach. Her skin tingled at the sight of it.
She got off the bed and pointed. "Lie down on your back."
He complied and watched with his arms behind his head as she shed her clothes, quickly pulling off her work clothes. When she was naked, she picked up his pants and held them up by one belt loop.
"I presume you brought a condom this time?"
He grinned from the bed. "Right there in my pocket."
Gigi pulled a string of three condoms from the front pocket of his pants before dropping them on the floor with her clothes. She put the rubbers on the nightstand and climbed onto the bed. She gave in to her need to touch him, to explore his body with her hands, but when she straddled him, he reached for her, too.
She laced her fingers with his and lifted his hands away. "Not yet," she said. She guided his hands to the headboard's metal frame. "Hold on to this. Don't let go."
Curiosity mingled with desire on his face as he obeyed her. She released him and settled onto him eagerly, savoring the feel of his skin against hers.
"I wanted a lot more from you last night," she said, "but I had to be patient because of the condom. You know that, right?"
He smiled. "That location didn't do us any favors, either."
She rested her fingers on his mouth. "Location's not as big a problem, Monroe. If we'd had a condom, I'd have spread you out on the table and done whatever I wanted with you."
The sensual threat made his eyes go dark. Oh, yes. This would be better with the lights on.
"But I don't want to argue with you." She leaned over, steadying herself on the headboard. "I want to feel that mouth on me." She teased the seam of his lips with her tongue until he opened for her and then plunged inside. She closed her legs around him and kissed him hard, claiming him boldly, testing his resolve. She half expected him to release the headboard to toy with her hair. He stayed still, though, just as she'd told him to, and his obedience emboldened her.
She arched her back until her full breasts rubbed against his mouth. He opened for her, easily capturing her nipple between his lips. His tongue swept over her sensitive flesh and engulfed it with wet heat. She tugged at his short, wiry hair, willing him to suck harder, and he met her demands with gusto. His body fit so well between her thighs and she squeezed him hard.
His cock twitched between them and she reached for him, finding him hot and so very hard for her. She caressed him lightly and watched the sensations playing out on his face. He was so expressive, so open as he pursued his pleasure. His responses fueled her, made her feel powerful on top of him. She wrapped her hand around his shaft as he sucked on her, pumping him slowly. His eyes closed and she lifted her chest away from him so she could watch him lose himself in sensation.
Before long, she bent to whisper in his ear. "Tonight you don't come until I tell you. Understand?"
He nodded and shifted his body beneath her, making himself ready for her.
"Good. Keep your eyes closed and your hands right where they are." She teased the corner of his mouth with the tip of her tongue and moved on to his sculpted biceps, his shoulders. She took in the salty taste of him, the scent of sweat that clung to his skin. With her lips and tongue, she surveyed him and watched his responses as well as she could. He twisted beneath her when she scraped his nipple with her nails. His stomach fluttered when she traced his abs with her tongue. She glanced up to find him biting his lip.
Ticklish. She smiled against his skin. She should have told him not to laugh.
Finally, she reached his cock. A single drop glistened at its tip and she smoothed it into his skin with one fingertip. She slid her fingertips up the long ridge of him and then around the curvature of his cock head. He was holding his breath. Restraint made the muscles of his arms stand out as he clung to her headboard.
She remembered the show he'd put on for her before and cupped his balls in her hand. His chest rose and fell on a long, shuddering breath. She caressed his sack with her palm, teasing him with just enough pressure, just enough of her touch. His body went taut, twisting and arching for more of her.
Very lightly, she scraped the delicate skin and was rewarded with his sharply indrawn breath. She rubbed a circle around that sweet spot with her fingers and took hold of his shaft with the other hand.
He could hold out against his climax this way, she knew. His self-control had impressed her from the beginning. But then she took him into her mouth, warming his flesh with a long breath before closing her lips around the head of his cock.
He groaned and bucked beneath her. Perfect. She swirled her tongue around him while working his cock and balls with both hands. She could drive him to madness like this, with the very center of him in her hands and her mouth.
His grip tightened on the metal headboard, making it creak, and his body shuddered with the suppressed urge to push his cock deeply into her mouth. Oh, he was good. He was very good. He seemed to grow longer somehow, thickening in her hands. He'd be able to hold out as long as she wanted.
Longer than she could, anyway.
She released his cock and went for the condom. "Keep your eyes closed," she whispered. "And remember, you come when I tell you and not before."
Sweat glistened on his forehead when he nodded.
She slid the condom onto his cock and mounted him. She slid his cock head up the length of her slit, teasing the slippery folds with his hardened flesh before slowly taking him. He filled her so completely, and she savored every fraction of every inch as she lowered herself onto him.
How long had it been since she'd had anything like this? The thought of him had long since blotted out the thought of her other lovers. Noah's body was built for her every need, and his strong will provided a temptation she'd missed for way too long.
Using her inner thighs, she rode him hard. Watching the play of sensation an
d emotion on his face excited her even more, and she rocked her hips forward and back on his cock. She wanted more. She wanted everything he had.
She unleashed the days and weeks of pent up need and fucked him hard, her hands splayed over her breasts. She pinched her own tight nipples, squeezed the firm flesh to send lightning flashes of pleasure down to where her body met his. He groaned beneath her, his knuckles white on the headboard as he pumped his hips up into her. The first ripples of her climax built deep inside her, and she angled her hips toward him. She pressed her fingertips to her clit, where his thick shaft stroked her hard, and she let her head fall back as her body clenched over and around him.
The orgasm surged through her, wrenching a cry from her. Wave after wave of it rocked her. She shuddered and gasped as it subsided, but when she looked down at Noah, she found his eyes still closed.
"Your turn," she said. "Let go and come."
His knuckles popped when he released the headboard. Need took hold of him when he grabbed her hips, and he drove into her hard. The force of his movements as he claimed her threatened to bring her over the edge again, but she opened her body to him, making way for him to fuck her hard.
Orgasm seized him after just a few vicious thrusts, and released him just as quickly. She lowered her body to his as it subsided and saw something she hadn't noticed before.
She kissed his cheek tenderly, finding the skin damp with sweat. "It's okay, Monroe. You can open your eyes now."
Chapter Four
Overcome by his lust, Noah hadn't noticed the decadence of the bed itself. His body sank into the lush mattress. Fragrant linens embraced him. He'd never understood women's need to cover the bed in pillows until he found himself here, cradled by them. After the orgasm had ripped through him and Gigi had lifted herself off him, a paralysis had engulfed him. He noticed that she'd turned off the light and left the room, but after that, his eyes had closed.
The sound of a striking match restored him to consciousness. He found Gigi lighting a red candle on her nightstand. She dropped the match into the candle's metal cover and set a coffee cup next to it. Steam rose from the cup, and Noah could make out the top of a bottle emerging from it.
His deep breath ended in a yawn. "That's not coffee, is it?"
Wrapped in a dark, silky-looking robe, she sat on the side of the bed and shook her head. "Massage oil."
He wasn't sure how he would find enough strength to sit up and give this woman a massage, but the promise of finally running his hands all over that breathtaking body made him want to try. He tightened his stomach, willing himself to sit up.
She rested her hand on his shoulder. "You're getting the massage."
"Ah." He relaxed into the luxuriant bed again. "Okay."
Her mouth curled into a soft smile. "If you feel up to that."
He closed his eyes and breathed deeply of the bedroom's warm, berry-scented air. "Definitely."
"Good." Clinking sounds and the quiet drip of water told him she was removing the bottle from the cup of hot water. "It's ready. Turn over."
Noah rolled onto his stomach, his head on one of the larger pillows. Behind him, he heard her palms rubbing together and a new scent emanated from her, something wintry and herbal.
Her warm hands swept over his shoulders before digging in to him. The heels of her hands pushed into him, driving heat into his weary body.
He hadn't realized how worn out he'd been. All that lifting and bending and repetitive motion had accumulated in his back and arms. Under her ministrations, his body melted. A sigh escaped him.
"You all right down there?"
"Mmm. Never better." He almost whimpered with pleasure when she worked the fragrant oil into the back of his neck. "For a second, I thought you were going to make me give you the massage."
Her laughter rippled over him. "You've done plenty." Her hands paused long enough for her lips to brush his hairline. "This is a time for me to take care of you."
Tiny chills raced down his spine before she rubbed the oil into his back. Sleep threatened to pull him under again.
"Confusing," he said.
"Not really. I spend a lot of the day taking care of people. That's all my job is. Anticipating customers. Making sure my staff gets what they need to keep bringing in good business. I love that part."
"You're good at that. Customers love you. All your regulars."
"Yeah. It's like a family. They love that place. You'll see at Heather's party."
"But you know how to lead people, too."
"It's easy when your people are good. They need very little direction when they're trained." She started kneading his back, below the shoulder blades, where he'd begun to ache at night. "You already know that."
He took a long breath of candle-scented air. "Yeah. When your team is good, you can do anything. They start to come together, and after a while, you don't even have to tell them anything. They just move."
"Right." She laced her fingers in his and lifted his arm away from his side. "That's not what all this is about, though."
He opened one eye. "It isn't?"
"Not for me." She stroked his arm. "For me, taking the lead in bed just gives me a rush. I like having a man prove he can give me exactly what I want. No second guessing. No questions. No games. I say what I want, and he does it."
Her backrub had left him feeling languid. He had to rock his hips to one side and use the momentum to roll to the other, so that he was on his side. She settled onto the bed beside him and held his hand again. In the candlelight, clad in her silken robe, her thick curls on her shoulders, she looked like something from a dream, someone who would beckon him to rest at the end of long hot days.
"Hard to believe you don't have men lined up to give you what you want," he said.
She looked away, thoughtfully. The mellow light lent warmth to her brown eyes.
"Guys want to give me what they think I want. Or they want what they want, and they hope I want it, too." She met his gaze again. "You know what I mean?"
"Not really."
"Okay. Before I told you to take your shirt off the other night, where did you want that to go?"
That was easy. "I'd have taken my shirt off." His memory of his need to have her hands on his skin had grown almost as strong as the need itself.
"And then?"
"I don't know. Maybe your shirt. I'd have kissed you."
"Because you wanted it, or because you thought I wanted it?"
He retreated into the memory of pulling his shirt off. He wanted her to see his body and know the same desire that had tormented him. He wanted her to reveal herself to him, to finally uncover the strong, rounded body he wanted so much. He wanted her soft skin against his. He wanted to tease and coax her mouth open.
He wanted, he wanted, he wanted.
"If I tell you what I want," she went on, "then you don't have to guess what I want. You don't have to hope I'll go along for the ride. Right?" She caressed the back of his hand with her thumb. "Most guys are really uncomfortable with that, though. It's like they feel something's being taken away from them."
She rested their linked hands in her lap and looked down at them.
"How did you know I'd be into it?" he asked quietly.
She turned to him and laughed. "I didn't." The confession made her laugh even harder. "I had no idea."
"Really?" He was shocked. "All this time, I thought you knew."
She shook her head, a timid smile on her face. "No idea."
"I guess I thought…"
"What?" She released his hand and moved so that she was leaning against the headboard. When he still hadn't responded, she poked his chest with one finger. "What?"
Heat suffused his face. "I thought that you figured… you know, I was in the Army, and I was working for you, so I knew—"
"How to take orders?" She laughed. "No. I actually thought you'd be less likely to let me lead." She playfully raked her nail over him. "And I'll remind you that I talked to you about
this the next morning."
"We had a conversation about it, yes, but I don't think that's what you said."
"And I didn't even think about this relating to you being in the Army." She put her hand over her eyes. "I mean, that's kind of gross, Monroe."
Genuine laughter rolled out of him. "Gigi, if you knew some of the things I've been asked to do in bed because I was in the Army…"
She gaped at him. "Do I want to know?"
"Probably not. Let's just say submitting to my partner isn't even top five." The expression on his unflappable boss's face made him laugh again. "I have been asked to do some bizarre, freaky shit."
"Did you do it?"
"That's just one of the many things I will never tell you about, boss." He grinned up at her. "I've never done this before, but it's not that weird." He looked up at her ceiling. "At first, when you told me to take off my shirt, it was like a challenge. A test. Am I strong enough to do this your way?" He turned back to her. "Am I strong enough not to touch you? Am I strong enough not to come? Can I stay in control long enough to do what you tell me to do? I mean, you're saying it's kind of gross, but in a way, the Army trained me for this. Delayed gratification, control of my body, that's all part of my training."
She smiled down at him for a moment. "Maybe that's why you're so good at it." She leaned over to kiss his forehead, and she stroked his hair. Then she sat up and blew out the candle.
She shed the robe and dropped it on the foot of the bed before getting under the covers with him. Sleep rolled toward him, now that it was dark, and he wrapped one arm around her waist while pillowing her head on the other. She turned in his embrace until her forehead touched his.
"You're definitely strong enough, Monroe." She kissed the tip of his nose. "Now get some sleep."
Chapter Five
The dreams were part of his life now. Sometimes they were just about the endless heat and the seas of sand that got into everything. The sun blazed bright and merciless in the dreams. But in that bright sunlight, hazards lay hidden, waiting for vehicles or men on watch or passersby to appear at the wrong time. In the dreams, he never encountered these dangers himself. His job was to send other people into these wrong places at the wrong times.