Janelle Denison - Wilde Thing

As she neared, she could sense the latent power he exuded, could feel the raw eroticism of his hot stare as he watched her close the distance between them. Could feel her own body soften and respond instinctively to that intense awareness sizzling between them. By the time she stood next to him, she was breathless and battling the urge to rip off his clothes and have her way with him.

Summoning a bit a defiance to keep from giving in to that favorite fantasy of hers, she lifted her chin and pinned him with a direct look. "How did you know where I live?"

"Where there's a will, there's most definitely a way." Taunting amusement flickered across his features.

And he was a PI, trained in tracking people and digging up secrets. "What are you doing here?"

A lazy, seductive grin curved his lips. "Sweetheart, I don't think this is a conversation you want to have out here, where your neighbors might overhear."

She ignored the warning note threading his voice, unwilling to make any of this easy on him. "And you're not getting inside until you tell me why you're here."

"I think we both know the answer to that question," he said, and leaned in so close, his warm breath fanned her neck and his lips brushed the lobe of her ear. His damp tongue added to the shivery sensations, and he added in a rough, wicked whisper, "But just in case you have any doubts in that pretty head of yours, I'm here to fuck you."

Steve heard Liz suck in a quick breath, and watched her eyes widen at his blatant and earthy declaration of what he wanted to do to her. He wouldn't apologize for his outrageous behavior, nor did he intend to back down from the statement he'd just issued.

He deliberately meant to startle Liz, shock her even, and he expected her reaction to go one of two ways. If he'd offended her, she'd probably slap him or turn him down flat, and he'd know he'd stepped beyond her comfort zone. If she was daring enough to join him in a more erotic, forbidden world of pleasure that included unrefined, primitive sex, then she'd welcome him inside her place and they'd indulge those carnal fantasies, and more, together.

Now that the time had come to take that next step, he needed to know she was game for everything uninhibited and unadulterated. He wanted to be assured that she was a match for his sexual appetite and a willing partner to his aggressive, more dominant nature when it came to sex. He liked his encounters hot and vigorous, and what he had in mind beyond that closed door was not gentle, polite, or altogether civilized by most women's standards.

***

Her answer would be the determinating factor of whether he kept their affair tame and within the confines of conventional sex or she granted him permission to allow his inner wild man loose with her.

Few women had.

He lifted a dark brow. "Well?" he prompted.

Her expression gave none of what she was thinking or feeling away. "Let me put it this way. If you weren't here to fuck me, I'd be pretty pissed after the way you left me hanging tonight."

Oh, yeah, the woman definitely had spunk, and that turned him on even more. "Touché."

He plucked her apartment key from her lifeless fingers, and when she didn't object to his take-charge attitude, he opened her door and swept a courteous hand inside the darkened entry-way. "After you."

Once they were both in her apartment and Steve had the door shut and locked behind them, that was where his gentlemanly manners ended. Taking advantage of the first hard surface they came into contact with, he maneuvered her up against the living room wall and pinned her in place with his big body, wanting complete control of tonight's seduction- and Liz's surrender. He dropped her keys to the floor, along with her purse and that small fan she'd told him about over the phone, which intrigued him with all the possibilities inherent in that little toy.

With one arm braced on the wall next to her head, and a dim light from the kitchen illuminating them, he held her gaze and slowly, gradually freed the buttons on her blouse with his other hand. "Did you think I was going to leave you on edge all night long?"

Mild accusation glimmered in her gaze. "That's what you wanted me to think, wasn't it?"

He dipped his head and nuzzled her neck, mostly to hide a smile at her accurate guess, though he wasn't about to admit that she was right. No, it was more fun sparring with her, and he liked her fearless, rebellious attitude, which would make her acquiescence all the sweeter.

"Only a cad would be so insensitive," he replied playfully. Done opening her blouse, he pushed a sleeve and bra strap over one shoulder, tenderly kissed the flesh he bared, and felt her shiver in response.

Her hands fluttered between them, finding her way into his leather jacket and tugging the hem of his shirt from his jeans. "Funny, that's exactly what I thought of you after we hung up."

He laughed, low and deep. "I guess I'll just have to do my best to redeem myself after being so greedy and leaving you so hungry."

"You're going to have to work hard for my forgiveness," she said brazenly, though there was no mistaking the provocation in her tone.

"Oh, I plan to." He brushed his fingers over the swells of her breasts and watched them quiver from his touch. "The thing is, if I hadn't come earlier, I wouldn't have been able to go this slow with you now. Think of it this way. Our earlier phone sex was merely an appetizer for me, and you need to catch up before we get to the main course."

A blond brow arched humorously. "That's quite an analogy."

He shrugged. "I needed that release so I can concentrate on giving you what you need now." Leisurely he drifted his fingers to the hard points of her nipples, straining against her sheer bra, and pinched the engorged tips gently, just enough to give her a taste of what was to come. "And what I plan to do to you is much more effective and pleasurable in person. And I can take my time doing it, too."

As much as he'd enjoyed sharing fantasies earlier, their phone sex hadn't been enough for him, despite what he'd gained from the encounter. He was a man who ultimately needed a physical connection when it came to sex. He needed to feel Liz's soft curves against him, taste her skin, hear her moans, and feel her hands on his body, too. Eventually.

Her eyes shone bright with hot anticipation and female invitation. "Who says I want slow?" she asked, all sultry, seductive temptress.

He recognized her taunting for what it was, but wasn't about to let her take charge this early in the game, if at all. "I'm not giving you a choice, sweetheart. Not this time, because I've thought about this moment since the first time I laid eyes on you at the cafe. Of stripping you naked, seeing your breasts bared, and watching you come, again and again."

She looked up at him through lashes that had fallen to half-mast. "Considering how you left me earlier, I don't think coming is going to be a problem."

He groaned at the thought of all that pent-up passion just waiting to be unleashed. "Once I'm done with you, I think you'll forgive me for being so selfish earlier."

"We'll see," she taunted once again.

She reached out, and the muscles in his stomach flexed and rippled as her cool, slender fingers caressed the heated skin of his belly. Knowing he'd never last as long as he intended to with her hands all over him, he dragged the other sleeve and bra strap down her arm, just past her elbows. The stretchy lace material covering her breasts lowered, too, and his mouth watered at the bountiful flesh he'd exposed-ripe, full breasts that begged for the touch of his fingers, the wet rasp of his tongue, the slow, heated suction of his mouth…

Summoning patience, he quickly and efficiently used Liz's bra straps as makeshift ties by wrapping the corded material and the loose ends of her blouse around her wrists. Before she realized what he was doing, he had her hands tethered and fastened, and the excess fabric of her top secured into a knot just below her breasts, which effectively pinned her arms to her sides and restricted her reach.

She tugged on the bindings, her expression reflecting be-musement that he'd so easily managed to restrain her with her own clothes-leaving her physically vulnerable and sexually defenseless. "My… aren't you clever," she murmured.

"I'm a very resourceful kind of guy. I said slow, and I meant it, and tying you up assures me that I've got your full cooperation and I can do as I please with you." He took a small step back, giving himself just enough room to reach down, slip his hands beneath her skirt, and shove the hem up around her waist. Unable to help himself, he skimmed his palms around to her backside and squeezed her buttocks, liking how soft and giving her body was-everywhere.

She gasped, the sound filled with surprise-and excitement, too. "Now what are you doing?"

"Feeling you up," he said with a grin, then took in his handiwork, pleased with the effect he'd created. Half dressed and trussed up in the bondage he'd devised, she looked deliciously sensual with her breasts swelling, nipples stiff and dark, and her honey-blond hair tousled around her pale shoulders and beautiful face.

Her legs were long, her thighs gently curved-the kind that could cradle a man's hips in infinite softness as he thrust hard and deep. He'd left her panties on-mainly to save his own sanity, but those would be gone just as soon as he took care of other matters first.

Shrugging out of his jacket, he tossed it onto a nearby chair that was part of a dinette set, then unbuckled the shoulder holster he wore. He carefully laid his weapon on the table, then stripped out of his black T-shirt and added it to the pile.

"This is so not fair," she complained huskily, her eyes glazing with desire as she watched him undress. "I want to touch, too."

It was nice to know that she liked what she saw. "I never said I play fair." He strolled back to where she was still leaning up against the wall. His cock pulsed, already hard and aching for her. Again. "But maybe, if you're a good girl, I'll let you play later."

Her appreciative gaze traveled over his well-defined chest; then she eyed the tattoo encircling his right biceps, with undisguised interest. "I like your tattoo. Any special meaning to it?"

Not one he wanted to discuss at the moment. He'd gotten the tattoo right after his divorce years ago, as a symbol of his newfound freedom and bachelor lifestyle, and to cover up the scar the bullet had left on his arm. Yet despite the rebellious act, he'd been compelled to weave a name within the intricate design, of the one and only female who would ever be permanently linked to his heart. And he didn't want to discuss that with Liz, either.

He smiled lazily. "It's just a plain ol' tribal band."

Her fingers flexed at her sides, as if she wanted to reach out and touch the etched design. "It makes you look tough and dangerous."

"I am tough and dangerous." His attempt at being serious was lost in the light laughter vibrating in his tone.

"Of course you are," she agreed generously, though it was obvious to him that she wasn't intimidated by him at all. At least not in a malicious sort of way. Sexually, however, he was feeling very aggressive and intense.

She licked her lips, leaving them damp and shiny, beckoning for him to nibble and taste. "All that toughness and danger turns me on, and that tattoo makes me hot."

She was deliberately provoking him, he knew. "We can't have you burning up on me, now, can we?" Inspired by their earlier fantasy on the phone, he picked up the spritz fan and switched the small unit on, sending a cool gust of air across her skin.

Her nipples automatically puckered and darkened to a deep raspberry hue, and her luminous eyes widened in astonishment… and realization. "Steve…"

Dismissing the mild protest he heard in her voice, he pulled the trigger and sprayed a fine mist of water on her throat and breasts, then did the same to her bare belly and naked thighs.

Her entire body trembled, and her breathing deepened as he stared at her wet skin and lush body, fascinated at the way the dewy moisture gathered in places and slowly trickled downward like a soft, drizzling rain.

God, he'd never seen anything so sexy, so mouthwateringly tempting as the delectable feast she presented. Then again, she was the first woman to allow him complete trust with her body and so much control over her pleasure. And that in itself was a huge turn-on for him. Undoubtedly, Liz was a pure, reckless addiction to his senses, and like a junkie, he intended to get his fill of her.