Secret Sauce

by Jill Sanders

  “I can bet.” He tried to sound casual, but she glanced at him. “Have you ever taken a bribe?” He knew the answer before asked the question.

  She shook her head. “Of course not. It’s one of the main reasons I write under a pseudonym. So they can’t find me. Do you know, I actually had a pub owner show up at my doorstep at three in the morning, drunk? He tried to convince me that his pickle sandwiches weren’t as bad as they were. He had a whole plate of the smelly things and tried to shove them in my door.”

  He looked down at her and could see the humor in her eyes. But he could see an underlying fear, as well.

  “It must have been scary.”

  She sobered and looked down at the forgotten mug in her hands. Setting it down again, she continued. “It’s the main reason I stopped listing my address and got a post office box.”

  He felt the tension in her and decided to lighten the mood. Pulling her close, he put his finger under her chin and asked softly, “What other hidden talents do you have?”

  She smiled slowly, then ran her hands in his hair and pulled him down for a kiss.

  She couldn’t have stopped herself if she’d wanted to. His mouth and hands felt too good on her to pull away. His blue eyes had called to her as he looked down at her. When they closed on a moan, she left behind thoughts of time and place and let her body take over.

  Her hands were shaking as she ran them through his hair, and her breath hitched every time he touched her bare skin. She’d trusted him with one of her most coveted secrets and somehow knew that it was safe to do so.

  When his hands roamed under her shirt, she arched back to give him better access to the spots she dreamed of him touching. Her hands fumbled to unbutton his jersey as his warm fingers skated over her ribs.

  “Mmm, you’re so soft,” he whispered next to her neck as he trailed kisses over her skin. He leaned closer as she pulled his outer shirt off his shoulders and sighed when she realized he was wearing a thin white T-shirt underneath.

  When she started pulling at his shirt, he leaned back and pulled it over his head quickly. Putting her hands on his chest, she held him at bay so she could get her fill of looking at him.

  “You’re so beautiful,” she said under her breath.

  He smiled a little and then reached over and started pulling up her shirt. Halfway up, he paused. “Is the kid going to wake up?”

  She shook her head. “No, he’s a sound sleeper. He’d sleep through a hurricane.” She smiled and helped him pull her shirt over her head. When she heard him sigh with pleasure, all of the nerves disappeared.

  “Perfect,” he said just before he bent down and placed a kiss on her shoulder. “I’ve missed the taste of you.”

  Leaning her head back, she felt her world spin as he took his time tasting and nibbling her skin. Then he was pulling her up into his arms and carrying her towards the hallway.

  “Last door,” she said against his neck as she nipped at his ear with her teeth and tongue. She’d closed her eyes and let the feeling consume her as she felt herself being carried the short distance.

  She heard her door shut and the lock button push in behind them, and then saw a bright light through her closed lids. When she opened her eyes, she had to blink a few times so her eyes would adjust.

  “I want to see you.” He smiled down at her. He was still standing just inside her doorway, looking down at her. His crystal eyes were roaming over her exposed skin. “Perfect,” he said again, right before he took her mouth with his.

  She felt herself sliding down his body, her warm skin against his. She felt the change when his hands and mouth turned hungry, like her own had. She tugged at his uniform pants as his fingers yanked at her jeans. The rest of their clothes hit the floor and he started to walk her backwards towards the edge of her bed.

  She expected him to pull her down on the bed, but instead he stopped and held her closer. “This is so wrong,” she thought she heard him whisper. His eyes were closed and he was resting his forehead against hers.

  “Tommy won’t wake up. Besides, you locked the door.” She pulled him back to her. She felt his stiff shoulders relax a little as he sighed.

  “Marina,” he pulled back a little, but she was pulling him back to her. She didn’t want the feeling to stop; she didn’t want him to stop. Not when she was heated up so much.

  “Please, Trent. I want you, no, I need you.” She dug her nails gently into his shoulders and turned him around so his knees were now hitting the edge of her bed. Pushing slightly, she went down with him as they landed softly on her mattress.

  When she pulled back to look down at him, her knees on either side of his narrow hips, he was smiling up at her.

  “Well, since you put it that way.” His hands were on her hips, digging in slightly. “There’s a condom in my wallet.” He nodded towards his discarded jersey.

  She smiled. “I’m prepared.” Reaching over, she pulled a string of them from her nightstand. He chuckled. Then she tossed them on the bed next to them and leaned in to take his lips with hers.

  When his fingers ran over her skin, lightly pulling at her nipples, her hips started moving above him. He lifted his head and replaced his fingers with his warm mouth, using his tongue to send bumps all over her skin.

  This time she wanted to explore him; she’d dreamed about it for the last few nights. She gripped his wrists in her hands and pulled them above his head.

  “Last time, I didn’t get to explore as much as you did.” When he smiled, she nodded towards his hands. “Keep them up.”

  Then she let her fingers roam slowly down his arms, feeling every vein, every muscle, until she touched his chest. His skin was soft over the hardness of his pecs. “You must work out a lot in addition to jogging.” He nodded and closed his eyes to the pleasures she was giving him. Her fingers circled his flat nipples, and then she leaned down and trailed her mouth and tongue over the same path. He tasted salty and delicious. She sucked lightly on his nipple and she felt his shoulders flex on the mattress.

  Pulling back, she noticed that there was a light dusting of soft, dark hair that led from his belly button to his erection. Using just her fingertips, she trailed the pathway and watched him respond to her touch.

  When she gripped him lightly, his eyes flew open and he watched her from below his dark eyelashes. Smiling, she kept her eyes on his as she dipped her head and ran her mouth over the length of him. He watched her silently as she used her mouth to please him. She heard him open one of the foil packages above her and knew that she was too far gone to stop herself. Then she felt his fingers dig into her hips, and she was being tossed on the mattress. Her back bounced on the bed as he came over the top of her. In one quick motion, he plunged into her and growled.

  “Too fast?” he asked next to her ear as his hips pumped faster. Her legs wrapped around his hips, pulling him closer, faster. She shook her head as her nails dug into his shoulders. She threw her head back and cried out his name.

  “More?” he asked as she felt herself slide down.

  “More,” she repeated as he reached down with his fingers and found her taut slick nub. She felt her world explode in an array of light and her legs went weak just as he moaned her name next to her ear.

  Some time later, as his hand gently played over her bare shoulders, she opened her eyes and looked across the messy sheets at him.

  “I’d better get going,” he said.

  She was too far gone to register that thought until his weight was being removed from the mattress.

  “You could stay, you know,” she said, sitting up next to him on the side of the bed.

  He shook his head. “Better not. I’ve got an early meeting tomorrow.” He smiled and then leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Maybe next time.”

  She watched him walk across the room and pull on his tight jersey.

  “You know,” she said, tilting her head and enjoying the view, “I could get used to seeing you in uniform.”

&
nbsp; He turned his head and smiled at her. “Then you’ll come to our next game? You and Tommy?”

  She nodded. Her thoughts of him had already heated her body again. She stood up and walked across the room towards him, completely naked. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she pulled him back towards the bed. “You don’t have to leave right away, do you?”

  He leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips, starting a few more fires under her skin.

  He shook his head. “No, I suppose I don’t,” he said right before they fell back onto the bed.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next morning’s meeting didn’t sit well with Trent. Not only was the construction delayed on Manhattan Nights II, now it looked like some of the building permits had gone missing.

  He was standing in front of the new building talking to the construction manager, Doug, when Jake Baird, the owner of Cario’s, the Italian place across the street, came out and waved him down.

  “Hey, Trent.” Jake walked up and shook his hand. “Heard you’ve been having some problems.”

  Trent looked around. “Problems?”

  “Yeah,” he said, frowning at Doug. “I thought he had told you.”

  Trent turned towards Doug. “Problems?”

  Doug cleared his throat. “Nothing that I couldn’t handle. Besides, you’ve been real busy with the other site.”

  “Uh,” Jake said, taking a step back. “Well, um, I’ll chat with you later. It’s good to see that things are finally moving along,” Jake said, making a hasty retreat.

  “Problems?” Trent asked Doug again. Trent had known Doug for years. He’d actually gone to college with his brother, Mark. That’s why he’d hired him to help at Manhattan Nights and now again for Manhattan Nights II.

  “It was just some kids. They broke in and busted a few things. No biggie. Our insurance paid for everything and it only took a full day out of our schedule.” Doug shrugged his shoulders.

  “When was this?” Trent had a sinking feeling.

  “Three nights ago. But, like I said, everything was back up and running the following business day.”

  “Tell me you called the police,” he said, rubbing his temple as he felt a headache attacking quickly.

  “Sure, that’s standard. I have a copy of the report in my office. I didn’t want to bother you, since it was our equipment that was busted and it was on our insurance. Listen, we get this kind of thing happening all the time, kids breaking in to a site, tagging stuff.” He motioned for Trent to follow him to a small trailer that was parked on the sidewalk a few feet away.

  “Tagged? They spray-painted things?”

  “Well, sure. You know how it goes. If it’s a clear spot, kids will spray-paint on anything.”

  “What did they paint?” he asked, stepping into the small space. Immediately, he thought of Marina’s small space and how Doug could benefit from her organization skills.

  “Well,” he said, digging through a pile of papers. “On the side of the crane, they tagged a few choice words and something about someone’s mother.” He stopped and smiled. “The funny part was that they used one of our axes to slice up the dust plastic. It must have taken them over an hour to chop it all up. Since the building was locked up tight, the damage was limited to the outside. They did manage to tag up the plywood pretty good, but we replaced all that easily enough.” He pulled out a piece of paper with NYPD at the top. “Here it is. They took pictures and everything and gave me a copy for my insurance claim. Already talked to the adjuster and received a check to repaint the crane and replace the plywood.”

  Trent sat down in the folding chair and looked over the paperwork. It was hard to tell if it was the same person who had attacked his place. But it was just too big of a coincidence, especially knowing that both places had been hit in the same night.

  “Can I make a copy of this?” he asked Doug.

  “Sure.” He took the paperwork from him and stuck it in a small copier that sat behind his messy desk. “Like I said, nothing big. I didn’t think of calling you since I knew you had your hands full already.”

  “I appreciate it, but from now on, let me know if anything like this happens again.”

  “Sure will,” Doug said, handing him the copies. “Oh, if you want, I can email you the pictures I took on my phone.”

  “That would be great.” He frowned down at the paperwork as he walked out.

  He made it back to his place around noon and was highly disappointed that the cleaning crew was still removing all the broken pieces. It had taken them four days now to clear the debris that used to be his house.

  Since he no longer had a desk or kitchen table, he sat at his bar on one of the barstools he’d carried across the street from the restaurant, working on his laptop. After only half-an-hour of sitting in it, he realized just how uncomfortable they were. He made a mental note to replace all of them the first chance he could.

  He was punching away at his keyboard when he heard a gasp behind him. Turning around, he saw Marina standing inside his doorway, her jaw dropped and her eyes huge. She was wearing a dark blue sweater dress. She wore a light scarf around her shoulders that was tossed across her in a low dip. Her tall black heels made him want to get his hands on those long legs of hers. Her hair was tied up in a loose knot.

  “What happened here?” she asked, not moving from the doorway. The workers continued to bang around as she stood there, shocked.

  “Marina?” He got up from his stool and walked over to the door. “What are you doing here?”

  She shook her head and held out a bag of food from one of his favorite Thai places down the street. “I thought I’d see if you were free for lunch.” She handed him the bag without even looking at him. “Where you robbed?” She walked into his place and started looking around.

  “Not really.” He followed her across the room and set the food on his bar.

  “You didn’t do this yourself, did you?” She turned on him.

  “Of course not.” He chuckled. “I actually liked my furniture.”

  She turned around and almost bumped into a worker.

  “Tell everyone to take an hour for lunch,” he said to the worker and watched as the crew of four quickly left.

  When they were finally alone, he pulled her close and kissed her slowly. No one had brought him lunch in years and the fact that she’d thought of him made him feel all soft inside.

  “There, now my day is finally going better.”

  She smiled up at him. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

  He sighed. “Someone broke in and decided to take their anger out on my furniture.”

  “Did they destroy it all?” She looked towards the stairs and the back rooms.

  “Afraid so. They even got my great-grandfather’s clock.”

  “Oh, Trent. I’m so sorry.”

  He kissed her again. “Now that you’re here, it’s better.” He backed her up until her hips hit the granite countertops. “Now tell me why you’re really here,” he said when he felt her heart skip against his hands.

  He hoisted her up on the tall counter, and his hands roamed under her dress as he enjoyed her luscious lips, which had been painted a light shade of pink. “Mmm, cherry,” he said, licking at her lips.

  She smiled and wrapped her legs around him. His hands slowly moved down her soft legs until he was gripping her ankles. “I’m liking these heels.”

  “Boots,” she said as she tried to pull him closer. He pulled back.

  “Boots?” He looked down at the tall shoes. “Boots come up to here.” He slowly ran his hand up her calf and stopped just below her knee. “Or up to here.” He ran his hands up higher to her thighs, pulling her dress up higher. He watched her head roll back and was happy when a dark lock of her hair sprang loose.

  He wanted his hands on the softness, but decided to wait until he was done enjoying her legs. He moved his hands up higher until he came to a barrier. “Are you wearing garters?”

  Her
eyes opened and a smile formed on her lips as she nodded.

  “For me?” he asked, running his fingers over the soft material. She nodded again and he couldn’t control the smile. “You are in so much trouble,” he said right before his lips crushed hers. Her hands pulled at his shoulders as his went even higher on her thighs. When he reached her soft curls, he realized that she wasn’t wearing any panties and his mind flooded with desire so fast, he actually felt his head spin.

  The next moment he was yanking his jeans down his hips and pulling her to the edge of the countertop. Before he could gain control, he was inside her and listening to her scream in delight. Her legs wrapped around his hips and held him close to her. She’d rolled her head back and he was delighted to see that most of her hair had come loose from the bun.

  His eyes roamed over her; the sweater had strayed lower, giving him a beautiful view of those soft breasts. The scarf had fallen off her shoulders and one of the shoulders of the dress had followed. The skirt of the dress was hiked up over her hips, exposing every inch of them twisted together. He watched as he slowly exited her soft lips, then he flexed his hips and entered her again as her skin gave way to his. He watched the movements for a while until finally he couldn’t stop the speed he desired.

  Placing his hand on her nether lips, he felt where their bodies combined. His other hand went to her lower back, holding her close to him as he thrust farther, faster.

  When his eyes closed, his mind played over every detail of how wonderful she’d looked lying naked underneath him last night. How her breasts had looked as he’d kissed them, licked them.

  When he opened his eyes again, he was happy to see that her left nipple was almost exposed through the loose material. Reaching around, he helped the sweater dip lower and pinched the bud lightly.

  She was biting her lower lip, her arms wrapped around his shoulders as she held onto him. When he dipped his head to taste the sweetness of her, she leaned back, allowing him better access.

  “Marina,” he said, not quite sure what he had meant to say, but when her dark eyes opened and she looked at him, he felt something different that he hadn’t expected.