And just like that her tension disappeared. Her lips curled into a smile. No man could resist a woman in a dirndl skirt, and James apparently even less than most.
“Nice.” She stomped up the stairs, feigning annoyance, her Mary Janes announcing her presence with each clanging step.
“It certainly is. Especially from here.”
She looked back over her shoulder and spotted James at the bottom of the stairwell.
“How juvenile.” She snorted her derision. “I thought only teenage boys hid under the stairwell to peek up girls’ skirts.”
He gave her a salacious look and took the stairs two at a time to join her at the top. “Where do you think I learned my skills? I knew one day I would want to look up a milkmaid’s skirt, so I made sure I had lots of practice.”
“I’m not a milkmaid,” she huffed. “I’m a frisky fräulein.”
James pushed open the door to his room and ushered her inside with a firm hand against her back. “Well, frisky fräulein, you disobeyed my order to stay away from Rex and the clubhouse.” He slammed the door closed and slid the bolt with a loud thunk. “You’re going to need all that friskiness to pay the price for your disobedience, and I promise it’s going to be high.”
Breathless with anticipation, Lana forced herself to focus on the real reason she had come and backed up against the wall, out of his reach. “Before any prices are paid by frisky fräuleins, I have something important to tell you. There’s a mole in the DEU. He’s reporting to some guy who has met with Rex a few times. The guy told Rex there’s a rat in Hades. He offered to give a name for a price but Bones said it was you. Rex isn’t sure. He’s setting up a trap to catch the rat himself. He said it was on an island…Kirkland, I think.”
Other than a slight widening of the eyes, James appeared remarkably unperturbed. “I knew there had to be a mole. Every time I called in about a possible raid opportunity something went wrong. And Bones hasn’t made any effort to hide his suspicions about me. I’ve been waiting for them to set some kind of trap.”
Lana deflated. “I guess I didn’t need to risk your wrath after all.”
“You came to warn me.” His eyes warmed and he closed the distance between them. “Don’t think I don’t appreciate it. It goes some way toward mitigating your otherwise unacceptable behavior.”
He leaned his forearm against the wall, blocking her view of anything except him. She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent, raw and masculine, leather and grease, with an ocean-breeze chaser.
“That’s a shame,” she whispered. “I was hoping we might put this frisky fräulein outfit to good use.” She bit her lip and whispered, “Willst du mit mir schlafen gehen?”
Her request for sex didn’t meet with the expected response. James scowled and an angry rumble rolled through his chest.
“Did someone at Oktoberfest say that to you?”
Lana’s cheeks burned and she bit her lip. “Mmmm-hmmm. Some guy outside the restroom. My friend Hans translated it for me.”
“You will never wear that outfit again, except in front of me. Is that clear?” He traced her lips with his thumb, then gently parted them. Lana’s insides quivered and she trembled.
“Crystal.” Warmed by his smile, Lana leaned up and tentatively brushed her lips over his. “You didn’t give me an answer.”
“That’s because I don’t have to.” In one swift, sudden motion he lifted her arms, pinning them over her head with one hand. His body pressed against hers, trapping her against the wall, his answer evident in the hard ridge of his erection pressed tight against her stomach.
Lana shivered uncontrollably. James had been the only lover to understand this side of her, to see her need to yield but not submit. The first time he’d fully restrained her had been the first time she had really let go. It had been the first time she’d ever trusted anyone enough to give up control. It had been the last night they’d been together.
A shudder racked her body. Too much. Too far. Too fast. They no longer shared that level of trust. Not even close.
“James…” Her words caught in her throat.
Somehow, he understood. Dropping her wrists, he leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.” She bit her lip and drew in a ragged breath, remembering as she did the picture in his dresser drawer. “And it’s not just that. I can’t do this. You have someone. It’s not…right.”
Chest heaving, James pulled back and frowned. “I’m not seeing anyone.”
Her face flushed. “The girl. In the picture. In your drawer. I was looking around.” She grimaced and her cheeks reddened.
His mouth tightened and pain reflected in his eyes. But only for an instant. “She died ten years ago.”
Oh God. That’s what she got for snooping. Her heart swelled, ached. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up.”
“We’ll just add it to your list of misdeeds,” he said softly, his lips curving in a smile. He stroked the bloom of her cheek with his thumb. “Such a gentle heart for such a frisky fräulein.”
Before she could take a breath, he had her face between his palms, his lips on her lips, claiming her gently, driving away her every thought but the desperate need to have him inside her.
She melted into him, welcoming the hardness of his body and the long, demanding caress of his tongue. How many hours had she tossed and turned, remembering their wild nights together, his firm hands stroking their way over her curves, his tongue easing the ache between her thighs?
“You are impossible to resist at the best of times…” he murmured against her lips, his voice raw and husky with need, “…but in this outfit…”
She arched into him, offering herself to the soothing stroke of his hands. He cupped her breast, squeezing gently as he circled his thumb around her nipple through her clothing, drawing it to a tight, hard peak. Desire licked through her body and she burned for the moment he would be inside her.
She hooked her leg around his calf and pulled herself tight against him, rubbing the curve of her sex over the erection straining beneath his jeans, her core tightening at the exquisite sensation.
“No.” He gently detached her and stepped back, leaving her confused and breathless, aching.
“There is a price for disobeying the rules.” He reclined on the bed and folded his arms behind his head. “Strip.”
Still reeling from his sudden withdrawal, Lana just stared.
“Babe, you’re racking up the penalties like there’s no tomorrow. I said strip.”
“Excuse me?”
“Everyone at Oktoberfest got a show. Hades got a show. Now it’s my turn. You can start with the cap and work your way down.” His eyes glittered fever-bright. “Once you’re naked, I’ll decide what to do with you.”
“You’ll decide?” Nervous excitement ratcheted through her.
He waved her toward the foot of the bed. “I’ll decide.”
She stared pointedly at the bulge in his jeans. “Seems to me part of you has already decided.”
He gave her a warning look that sent quivers of need straight to her core. “Seems to me there’s something you want and you know what you have to do to get it.”
Of all the…
Her hands found her hips. “You think I can’t just walk away?”
“Babe, I don’t think you want to walk away. And neither do I.”
Chapter Twelve
A thrill of fear shot through Lana’s veins.
“How about we just have sex? I’m up for that. And apparently so are you. Right here. Right now. No foreplay needed. I don’t even need a call tomorrow. No strings attached. Just a good old roll in the hay, or against the wall, or even on the bed. Your choice.”
He gave her a measured look. “What are you afraid of? I know what’s under that sassy little dress,” he rumbled. “Seen it all before. Want to see it again. But slow and sexy like.”
Her heart thudded in her chest and her stomach clenc
hed. “I’m not afraid. It’s just…too…”
Intimate.
How could she tell him that? Sex, she could do. Raw, physical, need-slaking sex. But the last time she’d stripped for him, her heart had been full to bursting. She had wanted to make him as happy as he made her—do something to give him as much pleasure as he gave her.
She sighed. “I can’t.”
He studied her for a long moment and then a glint of mischief lit his eyes. “I’ll make you a deal. If you strip for me, I’ll strip for you.”
She snorted her amusement. James? Decorated homicide cop. Badass biker. Dancing around the room? Stripping for her? She couldn’t even picture it in her mind. “Sure you will.”
“You have my word. As fast or as slow as you want.” His intense, steady gaze gave her pause.
“Seriously?”
His eyes crinkled when he smiled. “Seriously.”
“Okay.” She couldn’t pass up the opportunity, no matter how much her heart protested.
“You want music?”
Lana swallowed, nodded. “Music is good. It’s easier if I have something to focus on other than your lascivious grin. I like…”
James chuckled, cutting her off. “I know what you like.” He flipped through his iPod and placed it in his iPod dock on his bedside table.
“You’ve changed,” she said as she waited for the music to start. “You’ve become rougher. Also unrestrained, unpredictable, uncontrolled and, strangely, more relaxed.”
“Seems to me you like rough and unrestrained.” The deep, sensual timbre of his voice made her bones melt.
“Maybe we should just forget the deal and…”
James’s eyes softened. “Babe, I fucking ache with wanting you. But it’s been a long time and I want to enjoy your body. So strip for me. Nice and easy. Then we’ll see where we go from there.”
Her body thrummed with desire. When they had been together, she’d wondered if he could actually bring her to orgasm with just his words and the seductive tone of his voice. Now, she was pretty sure he could.
The first notes of Danzig’s “She Rides” tugged her lips into a smile and for the first time since stepping into the clubhouse she felt some of her tension slide away.
“You remembered.”
His eyes glittered. “I remember everything about you.”
Twenty minutes and several repeats of “She Rides” later, Lana posed at the foot of the bed, breathless, wearing nothing but her stockings. “Last thing,” she murmured. “Play it again, James.” She couldn’t believe how easy it had been. Maybe it was the alcohol still in her system, or maybe it was the music, or maybe his obvious enthusiasm and encouraging words had broken through her reserve.
“Leave them on.”
She looked up slowly, gazing over the muscular chest, his corded neck, his jaw dark and prickly with a five o’clock shadow, and his firm lips curved into a smile.
“Please don’t tell me you have a fetish for milkmaid stockings with big black bows.”
“Too fucking sexy to take off.” He pointed at the wall behind her. “Over there. Hands against the wall. Legs apart.”
Caught in his gaze, her heart pounded. “You gonna frisk me, Officer Hunter?”
James pushed himself off the bed. “I’m gonna do something to you, babe, and it’s not frisking. Now run.”
Lana ran. Heart racing, she took the required position. A drop of liquid arousal dripped slowly down her thigh and she lowered her hand to brush it away.
“Don’t move.”
He gathered her hair into a ponytail and dropped it over her shoulder. One hand slid around her body to cup her breast and he rolled her nipple gently between his thumb and forefinger, sending zings of pleasure through her veins. His other hand feathered down her neck and along her spine. By the time he reached the cleft in her buttocks, violent trembles shook her body. She drew her thighs together, seeking even the slightest sensation to ease her aching clit.
“Mine to touch,” he breathed in her ear. He gently kicked her legs apart and she whimpered her pleasure.
His hands glided over her skin, skimming over her shoulders, curving around her breasts, in and out of her waist, and over her hips. He slid his fingers into the elastic of her stockings and followed them around her thighs, his fingers cool against her heated skin.
“Won’t last long if I have to look at you in those fuck-me stockings.”
Her breath caught in her throat and everything below her waist tightened. “Fuck-me stockings?”
“Every man’s wet dream. Ryder must have had a fit when he saw you dancing on the table.”
Lana turned around, dropping her hands. “They don’t look very sexy to me.”
“You’re not a guy. And on you, with those legs… Christ. I can’t believe the Hades crew wasn’t all over you.”
Lana smiled and ruffled her hand through his hair. “I like it when you talk dirty.”
“Hands on the wall,” he barked. Lana spun around and he covered her with his body, pressing himself against her as he positioned her hands. His thigh pressed between her legs and she angled herself to rub her throbbing clit against his jeans.
He fisted her hair and tugged her head back against his shoulder. “What did I say?”
“Yours to touch,” she whispered as moisture flooded her pussy. “Please…James…touch.”
“Not yet.”
She grunted her displeasure. “I thought you were supposed to strip for me.”
He pressed his lips to the sensitive skin of her neck, his hands cupping her breasts, fingers pinching her nipples, his thigh pressed tight against the curve of her sex. “You want me to stop and strip, babe?”
Lana’s head fell back and she groaned. “No. Yes. I want your clothes off. Now.”
“Turn around then.” He backed away and she spun in a slow circle to face him. Her skin heated under his quiet perusal, her sex tightening as his gaze fell to the red curls at the juncture of her thighs, and then back to her face.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he rasped.
“And you’re still dressed.”
He gave her a wicked grin. “How do you want it?”
His words sent a tremor of excitement through her and suddenly she couldn’t wait. She wanted him with a desperate ache that seared her to the core.
“Hard. Fast. Now.”
He rumbled a laugh and tugged off his T-shirt, baring his lean, muscular body for her viewing pleasure. His fingers found their way over slim hips to the waistband of his jeans. With a quick yank, he unfastened the buttons and peeled them open. Lana’s heart skipped a beat. Oh God. Now that he was a biker, he was going commando. No wonder he’d switched to a button-fly.
Slowly, he slid the jeans down long muscular thighs before letting them drop and kicking them to the side.
Lana’s mouth went dry as she studied his perfect body. He was more defined than she remembered, his muscles smoother and less corded. But his shoulders and chest were just as broad, his hips just as narrow, and his powerful thighs still lean and tight. And his cock…
She licked her lips and gazed down at his erection, thick and ready, jutting from its nest of soft, dark curls. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. So much bigger than she remembered.
“I think I got the better end of our deal,” he murmured.
Her body tightened. “I’m not sure I agree.”
Satisfaction creased his face and his firm mouth closed over hers, taking possession so quickly she was caught off guard. He licked along the seam of her lips and then thrust his tongue into her mouth as he cupped her sex, brushing his palm gently over her curls.
Her throat tightened. Her every breath seared her lungs as he slid his fingers through her folds.
“You’re so wet for me.” He held up his fingers so she could see them glistening with her need.
On impulse, Lana grasped his hand and leaned forward, drawing his fingers into her mouth, tasting her salty sweetness on her tongue. James
groaned, his body tensing as she slid her lips up and down his fingers.
“Babe…”
Ignoring the warning tone in his voice, she sucked harder, licking his fingers, swirling her tongue over the tips until a moan broke from him.
“Christ.” He wrenched his fingers away and slammed her hands against the wall. Pleasure crashed through her like a tidal wave, silencing the warning that had made her stop him only a short time ago.
“I’ve gotta have you now, babe,” he rasped. “Hard and fast like you want and you are not going to move.” The commanding voice, the knowledge he could keep her pinned to the wall, melted her inside.
Cupping her ass, he lifted her until she could wrap her legs around his waist, and then he anchored her against the wall and captured one nipple in his mouth.
As he sucked and laved her nipple into a tight, hard peak, the room heated past bearing and sweat trickled down her back. He teased one nipple, and then the other, until her breasts swelled to the point of pain and her body arched against the wall. Her sex throbbed in time to the beating of her heart and a violent tremor of need shook her body.
What happened to hard and fast?
“You have beautiful breasts,” he murmured. “I could play with them all night.”
Lana frowned. Not what she wanted to hear. “James…”
He arched an eyebrow and then slid his hand between them, trailing his fingers through her folds, drawing a gasp from her that made him chuckle.
“That close?”
She stifled a whimper as his fingers teased her entrance, never venturing where she wanted them to go. She rocked her hips against him and he slowly pressed one finger up inside her. White-hot lightening streaked through her body and her sex clenched tight around him.
None of her lovers had made her respond like this. Nor had they ever taken such care to pleasure her. She wanted to cry that the one man who knew her body so well didn’t know her heart.
James grunted with satisfaction and slid his finger out, then added a second and pushed in deeper until she mewled with pleasure.
“That’s it, babe. I need you ready for me because I’m not going to last long.”
Barely Undercover: Legal Heat, Book 2 Page 11