by J. Kenner
I’d nodded, but said nothing. What was there to say? I understood completely.
And now here we are in paradise, where we’ll either find out if the lead pans out or end up fighting for our lives. With both options equally possible. And that is part of why Antonio Sanchez is so fascinating to me. The way he simply dove into this mission, even with such a limited amount of information.
I’ve leapt before, of course. But always in the midst of a mission, when there’s a plethora of other facts that you can cling to like a life raft. He’s diving in at the beginning—and not only is there no raft, for all he knows, the damn pool is empty. It’s ballsy as hell. And exciting, too.
“There must be something you’re not telling me,” I’d insisted right before we landed. “Something else that brought you here. Some other bullet point on your agenda.”
He shook his head. “On the contrary. I’ve told you more than I tell most people.”
I’d studied his face, played back his voice in my mind. And by the time we touched down, I’d believed him.
Which has, frankly, left me with a niggling bit of guilt since I haven’t told him the truth about my interest in The Serpent. Then again, what’s it to him? He wants me here because of my skills. He never bothered to ask if I had an agenda of my own.
“Kari?” he asks, and I’m so involved in my memories that it takes me a second to recognize my assumed name. He’s still himself—it made sense as he was meeting the contact who might search him out by name—but I’m a free agent, and in case anyone decides to check up on me, we both decided I should be anonymous.
“Earth to Kari.”
This time I jump, tugged fully from my thoughts as he nods toward Mindy. I flash her an apologetic smile. “So sorry. I saw this incredibly colorful bird and my mind just flew away with it.” It’s only a little white lie. A tiny redbird is perched in one of the trees to my left. “Could you repeat that last bit?”
“I was just saying that’s what we’re here for,” she chirps, not looking the least bit irritated with me. “We have games and events all designed to help you mix and mingle.”
“Any sort of matching services?” Tony takes my hand with a sultry smile. “We don’t want to waste time waiting to meet the perfect companion.”
“Of course, you don’t. And, yes, we’re happy to assist with more traditional introductions. Is there someone special? Did you two notice someone as we were walking this way?”
“No—no one yet,” I say. “But, well, most people here are couples.”
“We’d like to meet a woman traveling on her own,” Tony says. “Anyone you have in mind?”
“Claudia’s our only single right now. She’s been here since Friday, and she’s very well settled with another couple now. Of course, that doesn’t mean that one of the other women wouldn’t be interested. And if you sweeten the deal with a trade or by letting her current companion watch…”
“That’s definitely an intriguing thought,” Tony says. “But what about the upcoming guests? Any single women arriving in the next few days?”
“What a good question.” We’ve reached our cabana, and she pauses outside the door to concentrate on pulling something up on the electronic tablet she’s been carrying. “It looks like we have three single women arriving tomorrow. Thea, Amy, and Tracy Ann.”
* * *
“Well, we’d love to meet them tomorrow,” Tony tells her, pressing a hundred dollar bill into her hand as he takes our keys. “Your help with an introduction would be very appreciated.”
“Of course.” She nods to the door. “I’ll leave you to explore the cabana on your own. Your luggage is already in your room. And if you need anything at all, just dial zero.”
She wiggles her fingers, then takes off down the path.
Tony opens the door, then enters, taking my hand and tugging me in behind him. I stumble, not expecting to be drawn in so quickly, then I gasp as he not only slams the door, but pushes me roughly against it.
His hand slides between my legs. He still has my panties from the plane, and I melt against him as his fingers find my bare sex. His lips close over mine, and I open to him, relishing the way his tongue teases me.
He pulls away, his teeth tugging at my bottom lip. I gasp, more turned on than I want to be as I clutch his ass and pull his body closer.
His lips trail kisses across my cheeks until he reaches my ear. “The place is probably bugged. Audio and video.”
I nod. The thought had crossed my mind, too. As far as I know, Debauchery is as legit as sex resorts come. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t taping the clientele and silently blackmailing their guests. Or even offering to split the profit from amateur porn as a side income.
I twine my fingers in his hair and tug his mouth back toward mine. “I know,” I murmur. “This isn’t my first rodeo.” I slide one hand down and cup his cock, now hard inside his jeans.
He groans and attacks my mouth in a kiss that I’m certain is going to leave a bruise. “Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?” His voice is low and right by my ear, meant only for me. “How much I want to fuck you?”
“I know.” The words emerge as a needy moan, and I don’t even care.
“You fuck me up,” he says. “I’m so glad I brought you, but at the same time, you fuck me up.”
“Me, too,” I confess, shocking myself with the revelation. Not only that it’s true, but that I’d said it aloud.
Not that it means anything. It’s not as if I was thrusting out my ring finger and demanding a gold band. We click. That’s all. And I have a feeling we’re about to click a whole hell of a lot more.
I wish he’d hurry up. My body is on fire, and I’m not sure how much more foreplay I can take before I have to fall to the floor and beg. I want him inside me. I want it hard and fast, and then I want slow and easy. I want to feel him inside me tomorrow. I want to be so sore it hurts to walk.
And since I really don’t want to wait any more, I tell him exactly that.
“With me,” he says, taking my hand and leading me toward the bathroom. He turns the shower on high, checks the temperature, then strips. I do nothing—I’m enjoying the view far too much.
The corner of his mouth twitches. “Waiting for me to undress you?”
“Maybe,” I say, then unbutton the skirt. There’s not much to be done to get naked. The tee is easy to peel off, and since I’m braless, that’s all it takes. And since he still has my panties in a pocket, all I have to do is shimmy out of the skirt to be standing in front of him completely naked.
He tugs me into the multi-jet, walk-in shower, then grabs my ass and pulls me close for another deep kiss. He’s rock hard, and his cock presses against my belly as he leans in to whisper, “If they are taping us, I’m buying a copy.”
I laugh, then squeal as he spins me around. I thrust my hands out against the slick tile to steady myself as his hands close over my breasts and his lips tease my neck, his beard stubble rough against my skin. His cock is hard against my rear, and I whimper as he slides one hand down to tease my clit.
“Please,” I beg, not even certain what exactly I want. “Touch me. Fuck me.”
“Soon,” he says, spinning me around again and urging my back against the tile as he slowly licks and kisses his way down my body as the spray of the shower warms us.
I gasp as he sucks on my nipple, his fingers stroking my clit in time with his suckling. “Tony. You win. I’m begging. Just please, please, fuck me now.”
He pauses long enough to tilt his head up, his eyes so full of heat I melt even more. “Trust me, sweetheart,” he says.” You haven’t even come close to begging.”
Chapter Nine
Advance Reader Copy
“Is that a promise or a threat?” Emma asked, and Tony wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or kiss her.
He settled for kissing her. A fast, flirty kiss that soon turned heated and wild. The kind of kiss that shot through him, making his cock hard and
his skin burn.
Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun during sex.
He slid his hands down her soap-slicked body, cupping her breasts, and then sliding back up to meet her eager mouth. He’d wanted her on this mission because of the skills she’d developed during her years working undercover in the intelligence community. But now, he was seeing a whole new skillset. One that he had never anticipated she’d excel in to such an incredible degree.
The truth was that it had been a long time since he’d felt this comfortable with a woman. She wanted him to make her beg? Well, he was definitely up to the challenge.
He took the handheld showerhead from its hook, then gently rinsed them both off. Then he took her hand and urged her out of the shower, pressing a finger to her lips when she started to ask a question.
The resort’s towels were kept on a warming rack, and he wrapped her in one before drying off himself. Then he led her out of the room and to the bed. He’d noticed the straps as they’d walked in. Not your traditional hotel bed embellishment, but this wasn’t a traditional place.
“On your stomach,” he said. “Arms spread.”
She raised a brow, but complied. He waited a moment, enjoying the view. The arch of her spine, the tight curve of her ass. The two dimples at the top of both cheeks. Her legs were long, with well-defined muscles, and he imagined sinking deep inside her, those strong legs wrapped around him as he exploded inside her.
Soon…
Right now, he had something else in mind.
He moved to the headboard, then pulled out the first tie-down. It had a padded cuff, and he attached it to her wrist, tightening it enough so that she couldn’t tug her hand free. He repeated the process with her left wrist as she turned her head and watched him through eyes cloudy with lust.
He met those eyes silently, then sat on the edge of the bed and picked through the resort’s goody bag until he found a blindfold. He saw the quick flicker of surprise, but she didn’t protest when he covered those beautiful eyes. But when he moved lower to spread her legs and bind her ankles, she finally spoke, her voice a whisper. “What are you planning?”
“I thought you were mine to do with what I choose. Isn’t that why I’m paying you good money to have you here with me?”
He couldn’t see it, but he could imagine her smirk.
“Are you setting limits?” he pressed, as she stayed quiet.
“No.” He thought he heard hesitation in her voice. “I just want to be prepared.”
He fastened the second cuff around her ankle and moved back up the bed. His weight shifted the mattress, and she turned her head to face him even though he knew she couldn’t see him.
He reached out and stroked her damp hair. “I’m not into BDSM if that’s what you’re asking. No need to prepare for a whip or a flail or even a hard spanking.” He bent forward and teased the curve of her ear with his tongue. “I hope that’s not disappointing. And I promise that no matter what you were hoping for, you’ll enjoy what I have planned. And, yes, you’ll beg.”
He stood, then eased up the side of the bed until he was even with her head. He sat again beside her pillow, then reached out to stroke her cheek. She made a soft noise, and he felt the power of it rush through him. That knowledge that he was giving her pleasure from something so seemingly small as the brush of skin against skin.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are? How your skin glows in the light. Do you?”
He expected her to make some sort of shy noise, pushing off the compliment as so many women did. Instead, she whispered, “You make me feel beautiful,” and the power that she gave him with those words cut straight through him, heating his blood even more than the deepest kiss would have managed.
He said nothing, but he was certain she could feel his pleasure radiating through his touch. The soft caress of his finger over the curve of her ear. The heat of his palm as he cupped her cheek. The gentle pressure of his fingertip on her mouth, silently urging her to part her lips and draw him in. He slipped one finger past her beautiful lips, then just about lost his shit when she drew him in, sucking with so much pressure that it was as if she’d created a direct conduit from his index finger all the way to his cock.
He closed his eyes, losing himself for a moment in that sterling sensation of desire that set every atom in his body ablaze. And then, when he withdrew his finger and she moaned in protest, he was once again sliced to pieces by the wild need that grew inside him, hot and demanding.
He wanted her—no question about that. But he’d meant what he’d said. This was about her. More than that, it was about making her beg.
With gentle fingers, he pushed her hair to the side, revealing the delicate curve of her neck. She was strong, he knew that, but naked and bound like this she was so damn vulnerable. Even her bone structure seemed frail. She was completely at his mercy, and there was probably no one in the world who understood what that meant more than he did.
The knowledge both humbled him and made him crave her even more. He wanted to take her to the edge and leave her teetering there until she cried out his name when he finally let her go over. He wanted that control, he realized. Not because he wanted to prove that he was stronger than she was, but because he knew that she was strong—and yet she was giving herself to him so willingly.
Most of all, he wanted to go slow and let her pleasure build from a tiny pinprick of pleasure until it was something so massive she’d have no choice but to surrender under the power of it.
Slowly—so very slowly—he trailed his fingertip from the base of her neck down her bare spine. She had the most beautiful back. Her skin smooth, her spine straight, and the gentle dip at her waist before sloping up again toward her ass.
He wanted slide his hands along that soft, glowing skin, not simply tease her with his fingertip. He gave in to the urge when he reached the two dimples on her ass. It was a thing for him—he had to admit that. He’d seen a Bond movie when he was a kid—he had no idea which one now—but the Bond Girl had worn a bikini and those two dimples had fueled his dreams for weeks.
Now he had to taste them, and he bent over and brushed his lips and tongue lightly over both indentations, relishing the way she squirmed as he feasted.
He’d been standing at the side of the bed, but now he moved to the foot. He eased up onto the mattress, then slid his hands along her thighs until his thumbs reached her core. She was so wet, and she made soft moaning noises as her hips moved beneath his hand. She wasn’t begging, though. Not yet.
But then again, he wasn’t done with her either.
Slowly, he teased his thumb along her slit, relishing how wet she was and fighting the urge to sink his fingers deep inside her. Hell, to strip down himself and take her from behind. But this wasn’t about a fast, hard fuck. This was about making her feel. About pushing her to a sensual breaking point, and then watching her face as she finally lost all control and shattered in his arms.
So instead of filling her the way he knew she wanted, he only slipped the tip of his thumb inside her. Just enough to tease around the sensitive edge of her vagina. Enough to have her rocking her hips and whimpering.
But still she didn’t beg.
She wouldn’t, he knew. She’d hold on as long as she possibly could, and the reward—for both of them—would be all the sweeter for it.
He continued his sensual torture, trailing a fingertip along her perineum, sliding back and forth, his finger slick with the feel of her. His body was on fire, and he thought that he could spend days enjoying the way she wiggled her ass and moaned.
But still, she didn’t beg.
She was so wet the sheet was soaked, and he wanted so badly to sink inside her but not yet. He’d have that satisfaction soon enough. This moment was about making her ready. Making her beyond ready, really, and as he lightly traced from her core to the sweet flower of her ass, he knew that he was taking her closer and closer to heaven.
“Tony,” sh
e murmured, as he gently pressed his wet thumb against her rear.
“Is this okay? Do you want it, or should I stop?”
“No, it’s okay. I like it. I’m not begging—I want to make that perfectly clear—but I like the way you make me feel.”
He couldn’t see her face, but he could hear the smile. He could also hear the need, in her voice., and it made him hard. He wanted more, too. Wanted to be deep inside her. But he’d told her that he’d make her beg, and that wasn’t something he intended to back off of. Not even if that was her plan—to hold out so long that he was the one who broke.
“Devious,” he murmured. “That’s what you are.”
She laughed, and he knew he’d nailed it. “Nothing’s changed, sweetheart. I’m going to make you beg.”
He kept only his fingertips inside her pussy. Just enough to tease her as he slid the rest of his body down her leg. He brushed his lips over her soft skin, then slowly moved up her body. She was spread wide from the bindings, and he had plenty of room to maneuver, and as he slowly kissed and stroked his way up, she started to wriggle. Her legs brushed his face, her body shifting under his ministrations. Until finally, slowly, he reached her wet pussy once again.
He withdrew his fingers, replacing them with his tongue. He laved her, relishing the taste, the sweetness. He couldn’t get enough of her, and he felt his cock straining against his jeans, desperate for its own taste of heaven.
He slid his fingers between her pussy and the mattress, finding the swollen nub of her clit and lightly stroked her there as she bucked in pleasure. But he wanted to see her face, and that meant that he was going to have to let her flip over.
Part of him wanted to keep her the way she was, on her stomach and blindfolded. But that was punishing him too. He wanted to look into her eyes. He wanted to see the building passion there.
Decision made, he moved back down to her body and slowly, very slowly, he unfastened the straps that held her ankles.
“Giving up so soon?”