by Joanne Rock
His hand dipped into her dress, cupping the curve of her hip and skimming the satin of her panties for one heart-stopping minute before he traced a slow path up her spine with his fingers.
Lexi decided she could wait. She could definitely wait.
“I want to at least see you with my hands.” Josh explored the curve of her waist, the soft skin under her arm.
Lexi thought she couldn’t be any hungrier for him, until he found the hooks of her strapless bra and popped them free. As her bra slid into the folds of her gaping dress, leaving her breasts bared, she realized she’d been dead wrong.
Slipping the remaining strap of her dress down her shoulder, Josh slid her dress all the way to her feet. Wearing only her panties, she wriggled backward to indulge in the feel of Josh against her naked back.
To find he wasn’t there.
“Josh?” Maybe she’d be able to hear him move around the room better if her heart wasn’t thundering in her ears.
“Over here.” His muffled voice called to her from somewhere in the room near the chaise.
He was obviously standing again. “I think I need to shed at least some of these clothes before I touch you, because I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop once I get started.”
Her disappointment vanished, transformed to a sense of feminine power.
She reached a hand upward in the darkness, desperate to find him and to ease the longing ache that plagued her. Fingertips moving through the inky blackness, her ears straining to catch any telltale sounds, Lexi yelped when Josh caught her hips and dragged her to the edge of the lounger.
“Can you see me?”
“No.”
His voice rumbled above her as he climbed back onto the lounger. “I can tell when you get close because of your perfume.”
His hands slid down her thighs and up the insides of her legs.
“And I can feel your heat.” His fingers paused at the juncture of her thighs.
“Oh.” She grew very still.
Just as she found his shoulders in the darkness, his lips found her breast and tasted her with a thoroughness that had her panting. He’d ditched his shirt and tie, leaving him clad only in his trousers.
Lexi explored the bare muscle of his chest and shoulders, marveled at the silky texture of the hair on his chest and the well-defined abs just above his waistband.
His smoky whiskey scent mingled with her floral essence, the heat of their bodies intensifying the effect. They fell back into the sea of leopard-print pillows, the faux fur cushioning them as they tumbled onto each other.
Josh’s mouth never strayed from her breast. He smoothed his cheek against her nipple, tempting her with the soft rasp of a jaw in need of another shave. He licked a path from one nipple to the other, his fingers playing along whichever one he had left in need.
Lexi wriggled her way on top of him, fitting herself over his erection despite the layers of clothes still between them. Josh groaned his encouragement.
When her hand dipped into the waistband of his pants, however, he flipped her onto her back again.
“That’s a risk I’m not willing to take just yet.”
“No?” How interesting. She liked thinking her touch was that potent to him.
“No.”
He pinned her legs to the chaise with his body. She could tell his head was about level with her abdomen, judging by the way his breath fanned out over her bare belly.
Faux fur caressed her on one side, warm muscle on the other side. A heady combination.
“Ladies first.” Josh trailed his finger along the lace edge of her panties. “I’m a gentleman at heart, Lex.”
His use of her name called her from her sensual reverie for a moment, reminding her this night was probably getting far too personal, despite their best intentions. How would she ever forget Josh Winger after this?
But then his lips lowered to her navel and she put all thoughts of tomorrow aside. She wouldn’t allow herself to miss out on tonight, not when Josh was touching her as she’d never been touched before.
His tongue flicked over her belly and down to her panties, snaking beneath the hem to tease her beyond reason.
She’d never committed the bold act that she suspected Josh was about to. In her world of stringent personal boundaries, that sort of intimacy seemed even greater than straightforward sex.
But tonight didn’t follow her rules, and she didn’t want it to. Sensual greed had taken hold of her, right about the time she’d first handcuffed herself to this man, and she intended to follow wherever that delicious hunger might lead.
Just as soon as she indulged in one final round of tonight’s game of hot pursuit.
JOSH COULDN’T fill his hands with enough of her. Lexi’s lithe little body slid around the chaise longue, disappeared into the mountain of pillows, then resurfaced at newly enticing angles.
She wriggled and trembled, shivered and shimmied her way away from him, then sighed and moaned her way back again.
He flung two pillows away and slid her thighs closer to him. By now he was starving for a taste of her.
“Woman, holding you still is like chasing quicksilver.”
“Are you having a hard time holding me down, Detective?” she whispered, that throaty voice alone enough to send him over the edge.
“I’m having a hard time all right,” he growled. He’d been so careful not to use the wrestling approach on her, but he’d never needed a leg lock so badly.
He heard a jingle a few feet above his head.
“Then, why don’t you show me how a real jailer uses these?”
Her words teased him to outer limits of control he hadn’t known he possessed. He knew what she was holding in her hands, damn it. He didn’t need the light to see those handcuffs in his mind.
“You’re kidding.” He held himself very still so as not to snap that taut leash on his restraint. If anyone ought to be wearing cuffs, it was him.
“I assure you, I’m very serious.”
Her voice wrapped around him like a seductive devil on his shoulder, the voice of everything wicked he’d ever wanted to do. “You don’t know me well enough to let me do that.”
Damn but it was hard listening to the good half of his conscience.
“I saw your badge with my own eyes. Besides, they’re not real. I could free myself if I really wanted to…although I have the feeling I won’t.”
The smile in her voice was obvious. She jingled the cuffs above him.
She was enjoying every minute of his torment.
So much for adopting the good cop act tonight. That had never been his style, anyhow.
“You’re playing with fire, Lexi.” Following the jingling sound, he snatched the cuffs unerringly out of her grip.
“Don’t I know it.” She shifted her thighs underneath him, moved her body restlessly against his. “I’m loving every minute of it.”
Her words chased away any hesitation in Josh. If the lady wanted to play, who was he to spoil her fantasies?
He located one of her fidgety arms and smoothed his hand up and down its silky length. She was toned and trim, supple but delicate to the touch.
On his final sweep down the length of her arm, he slowed his touch to gently massage the skin around her wrist. With his thumb he located her leaping pulse and soothed the throbbing vein.
She practically purred at his ministrations, her whole body humming with contented sighs.
Until he tapped one cuff into place around her wrist.
Her breath caught on a gasp and then released in a slow hiss between her teeth.
He waited, gauged her reaction, weighed her response.
Soon, she flaunted her free hand by walking her fingers right up the middle of his chest.
“Not so fast, sister.” He captured the free hand and chained it to its partner. “You’re not the one calling the shots here.”
The sound of her breathing dominated the dark room, coming in quick, shallow pants.
&n
bsp; “No?”
The quiver of excitement in her voice ignited his desire, robbed him of the last shreds of his self-control. “Definitely not.” He proved the point by looping her arms over her head to rest on a hill of pillows.
Finally, she remained where he had put her.
Naked but for a scrap of soft satin, Lexi lay before him handcuffed and breathless, yet because of the anonymous sex rule, Josh couldn’t witness any of it with his eyes.
He vowed then and there to recreate this scenario one day when he could have the pleasure of seeing it.
For now, his imagination did a credible job of providing him with visuals, while he counted himself lucky to be here with wild-woman Lexi at all.
“So how does it feel to fall from mighty jailer status to helpless captivity in the course of an evening?” He eased away from her to shove off the rest of his clothes. The next time he touched her, nothing would hold him back.
“Don’t be so sure of yourself, sweet lips,” she purred back. “I could turn the tables at any moment and make you my love slave—no matter how many chains you clamp around me.”
“That’s pretty big talk considering your utter defenselessness, don’t you think?” He yanked a condom out of his wallet and cursed the fact he only carried around one. He’d be damn sure to use it wisely.
“I dare you to come closer and say that, Detective.”
Heat practically radiated from her in waves. Josh could feel her sultry warmth, sense the position of her body even in the dark as he leaned over the chaise once again.
Her exotic scent filled his nostrils. Flowers and musk—hothouse sex.
She moved to loop her handcuffed wrists around his head, but he was having none of it. Before her arms could settle around his neck, he secured her wrists above her head with one hand and lay his other palm over the front of her panties.
Her body shuddered, shivered, lifted off the chaise to meet his touch. He kissed away her hungry whimper, rubbed away the chill bumps on her thighs with his fingers.
“Are you ready for me yet?” he whispered into the tangled silken mass of her hair. Her ear lay below those spiral curls somewhere.
His finger skimmed up the inside of her thigh, stopping just short of her satin panties.
Her moaned affirmative was part womanly plea, part threatening snarl.
He found her slick with desire and deliciously ready. The scrap of satin didn’t stand a chance against her heat and his hunger. With a snap of his wrist, he snagged them straight off her hips, shredding the seams in a noisy ripping of fabric.
Lexi made a little squeal of delight and wrapped one of her legs around his.
Unwilling to be distracted, Josh maneuvered his shoulders beneath her thighs, positioning her body for the kiss he’d wanted to give her ever since she’d slithered her way out of her black sequins.
She tasted like rich red wine, and she clouded his senses twice as fast. He would have indulged in her all night, but too soon her thighs went taut, her hips flexing upward off the lounger.
The shriek that should have accompanied her orgasm must have been released into the stuffing of one of her soft velvet pillows, but the muffled cries still reached his ears. Satisfied his male ego. Made him want to bring her to that mind-blowing point all over again.
“Please,” she finally managed to say between deep, gasping breaths.
The cuffs jingled in completion of her thoughts.
He didn’t need to ask where the keys were. Josh had seen her work the fake cuffs at the fund-raiser. With the press of a button, the links fell open, freeing Lexi and unleashing a small-scale attack.
She fell on him, rolling him onto his back sideways across the chaise.
“You are so all mine now, Winger.”
6
THE EARTH HAD MOVED.
Lexi still shook from the tremors of the most incredible orgasm ever—not that she’d had many for comparison’s sake. But she knew from the way her body trembled inside and out that she’d just experienced majorly amazing sex by anyone’s standards.
And they hadn’t even done it yet.
She meant to remedy that situation right now.
“I want you.” Whispering the words in Josh’s ear, Lexi wriggled over his body, savoring every provocative sensation the man inspired. “Now.”
“There’s a condom on the floor near my pants.” He molded her hips with his hands, measured her waist with his fingers, spanned her belly with his palms.
Lexi hadn’t even thought about protection. She had no intention of getting personal with Josh Winger, but she had to admit, he was the kind of man a woman could trust to protect her in every possible way.
Searching over her bedroom carpet with her hands, Lexi found the packet and handed it to him.
A snicker of satisfaction rolled through her when she thought about the stud on the condom-dispensing machine she’d seen in the women’s restroom earlier tonight.
Josh was ten times the stud that man was. And she’d snagged him.
Josh handed the condom back to her, and the packet brushed her fingers in the darkness. “Will you?”
Not a simple request for a woman who had never put a condom on a man before. Lexi’s snicker faded.
“I’m no good with those things.”
She could hear the condom packet ripping open and Josh rolling on the device without her aid.
“I hope you mean the condom and not what’s inside.”
“I’m very good with what’s inside.” She hoped. She wanted to be. After that orgasm he’d given her, Lexi wanted him to see stars. Solar systems, maybe.
Luckily, the impersonal dark gave her the brashness to straddle him. She never would have been able to carry off tonight’s sexy scenarios with the lights on, but the utter blackness of the room gave her permission to be daring. The darkness gave her confidence a boost, removed all insecurities about her appearance, making her feel beautiful.
Taking what she wanted most, Lexi guided his rigid length inside her by slow degrees.
He filled her so completely, stretched her so lusciously. Her world narrowed to the hot, seductive sensations he imparted.
She tested the length of him, easing herself away from him until he nearly withdrew, then edging back down to join them together fully. Lost in her enjoyment of a body that brought her so much pleasure, Lexi was surprised when he flipped her to lay on her back again.
His chest seemed to surround her in a wall of fur-covered muscle. She couldn’t see him—but everywhere she reached, she felt him. Soft velvet hair over steely sinew.
She wanted to remain there, wrapped in the safe, sexy haven of his powerful body, but he reached between her thighs to touch her again.
That unerring thumb found the source of all her pleasure and gently plucked. Sensual satisfaction pulsed through her like electric waves. Lexi would have lost it again—if he hadn’t nearly withdrawn for a moment.
She lingered on the brink, her body coiled with pleasure, until he slid back inside her and sent her hurtling headlong into the sultry abyss. His groan of fulfillment comforted her, assured her she wasn’t the only one flying apart in the haven of a chaise longue tonight.
As aftershocks rippled through them, Lexi marveled that a certain dangerous detective had lost his cool right along with her, and it couldn’t have been more satisfying, more rewarding, or more terrifying.
Lexi had allowed herself to be far more personal with Josh than with any other man she’d slept with. If she wasn’t careful, she’d find herself caring about him—about what he thought, about whether or not he liked her in return.
And she wouldn’t allow that. Not when she’d fought for so long not to care what anyone thought of her.
All she had to do was make sure he left before dawn. Then maybe she could pretend this had all been a regular one-night stand, instead of something earth shattering.
But the heat of his body was mesmerizing now, and dawn was blessedly hours away. She snuggled closer to
his shoulder, reveling in yet another heady experience she’d always missed out on—wrapping herself around a man’s body and cuddling into the crook of his arm.
She could afford herself a few more hours with Josh, a little more time to enjoy their over-the-top chemistry. Just as long as he was out of her bed by morning.
Because no matter how many hair-curling orgasms Josh Winger had the power to give her, Lexi wasn’t about to allow their relationship to turn into something personal.
Handcuffs she could handle, but sharing her toothpaste was a risk she had no intention of taking.
JOSH WOKE to the soft whimper of a dog.
He didn’t need to pry his eyes open to remember precisely where he was and why. Lexi’s perfume had scented all his dreams, while her wild hair had been his only blanket. But the cop in him had no choice but to investigate the canine problem.
Sunlight had managed to permeate the blinds, providing him with his first glimpse of the bedroom he’d slept in—or rather, the apartment’s jungle headquarters.
Tiger stripes decorated half the pillows on the chaise, while some sort of cheetah or leopard print covered the rest. Everything was faux fur or velvet, including the black lounger.
A few feet away, a mammoth bed dominated the room, its pristine white linen coverings protected by a suspended tent of floor-length mosquito netting. Any wooden furniture was dark mahogany—the headboard, a bookshelf, a nightstand—and all of it showcased elaborate carvings.
But the furniture and framed prints of exotic animals weren’t what held his attention. It was the walls covered with framed photos that accomplished that feat.
There was silence from the whimpering dog for a few moments, while Josh let his eyes roam the pictures of Lexi in her charitable mode. Some photos were from glitzy events like last night’s fund-raiser; in each one Lexi was dressed to the nines. In a few, she had her arm slung around well-known actors and actresses; in others, she embraced pint-size kids sporting ball caps that only partially hid the effects of chemotherapy.
There was obviously a lot more to this woman than he’d realized. More heart. More generosity. He touched a photo of Lexi riding on the back of someone’s wheelchair at the Special Olympics. Lexi tangoing with a woman bearing a shirt that read “I’m a Survivor.” Both women wore the pink ribbons that raised awareness for breast cancer.