Hot Number

by V. K. Sykes

“It’s better we talk there before we head out. My boss would go nuts if he spotted me strolling out of the casino with you after what just happened back there.” He took her hand and started to stride down the hall.

  “Wait a minute.” Sadie pulled away, shaking free of his hand. She stared at him, refusing to move.

  “What?” His voice was sharp, impatient.

  “I’m not going back to the gulag—not for one second! Whatever you’ve got to say, you can say it right here. Stop acting like a bully. I don’t respond well to such tactics.”

  Nick took a deep breath and made a visible effort to hold onto his temper. “Have it your way, then, Professor. We’ll talk right here. You obviously have no idea that you were playing cards with a notorious rapper whose crew has a reputation for trouble, do you?”

  “Notorious!” Sadie thought he must be joking until she assessed his cold stare. “Tiny? Really, I find that rather hard to believe. He appears to be a lovely, gentle man. And a famous singer, too, I gather.”

  Nick looked dumbfounded. “Jesus, didn’t it occur to you that he’s surrounded by a small army of bodyguards and security agents for a reason? It’s not just to keep fans away. Tiny’s gang has been involved in a public shootout, Sadie. A goddamn shootout. I couldn’t risk you getting caught up in the middle of something so potentially dangerous.”

  Sadie rubbed her forehead, torn between feeling flattered by his protective instincts and angry at the way he’d dragged her away. She’d been in the middle of a casino, for goodness sake. Did he really think anything bad could happen to her when she was surrounded by all that security?

  No. This was just another example of Nick trying to impose his formidable will on her. She stared up at him and he stared right back, obviously not one whit sorry for the way he’d embarrassed her. God, she was tired of being treated like a ten-year-old. Why did everyone assume she couldn’t take care of herself?

  “So, you thought you’d just barge your way in and demand that I obey your commands instantly. Is that what you call being protective?” Sadie jabbed her index finger into his muscled chest so hard she winced. Unfortunately, he probably barely felt it. “Did it ever occur to you that I might actually be able to take care of myself? And do you think there’s anywhere safer in this whole damn city than precisely where I was, cocooned by as much security as the President of the United States?”

  Months of stored-up frustration swept through her, unexpected and powerful. “You’re not the emperor, Nick Saxon, and I’m not some concubine. So, stop treating me like one.”

  Nick cursed and slammed his fist against the wall, leaving a dent in the drywall. “Dammit,” he growled, “that’s going to look great on camera. Christ, Sadie, you’re driving me nuts. Can’t you see I’m doing this for your own good?”

  “My own good? No, all you care about are your damn cameras,” she shouted, furious that he would blame her for his own lack of control. “Well, you can take your cameras straight to hell with you, Big Brother. It’s disgusting how you people invade everyone’s privacy like it’s your God-given right. Honestly, I don’t know how you can stand working in a place like this. Do you actually enjoy harassing people?”

  The harsh planes of his face, so cold in the fluorescent light of the concrete corridor, made her shiver. “Sadie, if it’s so rotten here, why don’t you go play somewhere else?” he said. “There are dozens of other casinos in Vegas. Give one of them a try.”

  “You don’t get it, do you?” she snapped. “I’m not going to run away every time I have to face something that’s idiotic and unfair. Not anymore.”

  She drew herself up to her full height, even though that barely brought her up past his chin. “Now, I’m returning to my table, and I’d be grateful if you would leave me alone.” Her throat closed with pending tears at the thought of walking away from him, but she couldn’t let him bully her like this.

  “I can’t do that, Sadie. You’re obviously too naive to realize what could happen if things got out of hand, so it’s up to me to protect you.” His face was a hard mask, but his big hands gently grasped her naked shoulders, overwhelming her with an infuriating desire to give in to his seductive, masculine strength. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to take the elevator to the fourth floor of the parking garage and wait for me there. I’ll be two minutes behind you. Then we’ll go to my house and talk this through. For as long as it takes.”

  A few minutes ago, the prospect of returning to Nick’s house would have made her melt with excitement. Now, she felt like running back to her hotel room to have a good, hard cry. How had everything gone so wrong? Again.

  She shook herself loose. “Go to hell, Nick.”

  His jaw dropped. Sadie felt a sliver of satisfaction that she had stuck to her guns, but she knew she had to get out of there fast. If he touched her again, she didn’t know what she would do. Despite his outrageous behavior, she wanted to be with him so much it made her chest ache—especially since this could very well be the last time.

  She pivoted on her left heel, only to feel the stiletto spike start to slip out from under her. Damn it to hell! What was it with her and high heels?

  Flailing her arms, she fought desperately to regain her balance. The next thing she knew, her back was pressed tight against Nick’s chest and his muscular arms were wrapped tightly around her, right under her breasts. Her heart pounded as he pulled her against him—and his erection. The feel of it, a big, unyielding column of flesh pushing against her bottom, sent an answering ripple of heat up her spine.

  Typical male. Sadie tried to convince herself he wasn’t turning her on, but his hot breath prickled her cheek and his bristly stubble rasped against her ear. She couldn’t move, and she wasn’t sure any more that she wanted to. When he shifted his hands to cup her breasts, she gasped. As she had feared, her body eagerly betrayed her and she couldn’t help melting against him.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” She wriggled in a half-hearted attempt to free herself from his embrace.

  “Exactly what you want me to do,” he said, his voice between a rumble and a purr as he massaged her suddenly taut and aching nipples through the thin layers of silk and lace that barely covered her.

  Pure heat. Pure sex. He was right. It was exactly what she wanted, but she’d die before admitting it. “Why, you big—”

  He spun her so she faced him. Before she had a chance to utter another word of protest, he covered her mouth with his own. His hot tongue claimed her, forcing its way past her only slightly reluctant lips. She pushed her hands against his shoulders, struggling to break free. But she might as well have tried to move a mountain. She knew she should tear her lips away from his and stomp on his toes, or kick him in the shins, or even knee him someplace higher up. She couldn’t submit, couldn't forget his unbridled arrogance. Couldn’t let him just demand and take and order her around like he owned her.

  But a dark little voice whispered inside her head. Why not?

  She froze. Why not, indeed? This was Vegas and this was the new Sadie, the one who could do whatever the hell she pleased and deal with the consequences later.

  He smoothed a hand down her tingling spine as he played oh-so-skillfully with her tongue. Finally, she responded, unable to stop the little moan that escaped her lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Nick obviously needed no further encouragement, breaking the kiss only to snatch her hand and pull her a few steps down the hallway and through a door marked Employees Only. Any thought of further protest flew out of her head like a flock of birds arrowing south for the winter.

  As he locked the door, Sadie gave the area a quick scan. It looked like some sort of small lunch room or staff lounge, not very different from the casual and comfortable kitchen used by the maintenance guys in her building at the university. She’d glimpsed the inside of that room many times on her way by, and had often thought about whether the men and women there had more fun than the professors in their stuffy, elite lounge higher
up. Now she was sure they did.

  Several chairs surrounded the chipped, laminate-topped table. Nick yanked one away and jammed it under the door handle. This time when he reached for her, Sadie melted into him without a struggle. It felt so good and right, as if they’d been made for each other, her softness happily molding itself to his hard, warrior physique.

  Nick’s thumbs came up under her jaw, gently tilting her head back so he could look at her. The rampant hunger and banked anger in his eyes made her insides thrum with wild, forbidden desire. Oh, yes. She was in all kinds of trouble. No doubt they’d both passed beyond the edge of all reason. And doing it here wasn’t simply risky—it was downright insane.

  She broke away from his kiss long enough to circle her eyes around the ceiling. None of the usual camera pods were in evidence.

  “No Big Brother in here?” She gasped as he slid a hand inside her dress to cup a naked breast.

  “The union won’t stand for them.” He ran his tongue up her throat to her ear, then gave the lobe a quick nip. “The cameras outside may have caught us ducking in here, but I doubt it. The area around the door is supposed to be off limits to cameras, too.”

  “Lucky us,” she gasped as he untied her halter. Barring a platoon of security guards bursting into the room, there was no chance either of them could stop now. And, as angry as she still was with Nick, she definitely didn’t want to.

  As he freed her breasts, he sucked one pebbled nipple into his mouth and circled his thumb slowly around the other. His tongue, hot and wet and swirling over the taut bud, sent ripples of sensation rocketing through her body. A flood of moisture dampened her panties. She was so ready for him—as ready as she’d ever been in her life.

  He drew back, leaving her gasping for breath, her nipples tight and aching. In one smooth move he spun her around and bent her forward over the table, flipping the short skirt of her dress above her waist. Sadie yelped, momentarily stunned by the dominating move. But the protest died on her lips when his hands moved to her ass, kneading her, and then lightly stroking over her cleft again and again until she thought she would shriek with arousal and frustration. Finally, his fingers dipped below the waistband of her panties and yanked them roughly down her legs.

  She’d propped herself up on her hands, but her arms were starting to tremble with the strain of keeping her face off the hard surface of the table. Nick saw the problem and fixed it in an instant. Letting go of her, he rolled up his suit jacket and shoved it under her head so she could rest her face and arms on it. Then he adjusted her hips and slid his hands between her thighs to spread her wide. Sadie was so turned on and so hot for him, she couldn’t wait another second.

  “Hurry up and put on a condom, you big jerk,” she gasped.

  She wriggled her ass, more to ease the ache in her throbbing flesh than to encourage him, but the low, growling noise he made told her how much he liked it. She heard a ripping noise as he fumbled behind her, his breath ragged. Then, his demanding hands gripped her hips and tilted them up until she was on her toes. The roughness and the urgency of his touch drove her into an insane vortex of need. When she felt the thick head of his erection press through her wet folds, she sucked in a shaky breath and ordered him to hurry. “Now, Nick. I want it now!”

  He cursed, and then one deep thrust filled her completely, stretching her slick, hungry sheath until she felt and heard his balls slap against her bottom. Moaning, she clutched his coat, stunned by the depth of his penetration. No wonder people liked to do it this way. It was so...primitive, so elemental.

  So perfect.

  Nick started to move and Sadie, perched precariously on her toes and spread out before him, could only hold on for the ride. Every hard, demanding stroke drove her closer to unbearable heights of pleasure. She moaned and gasped for breath and uttered words she didn’t even realize she knew. But every sound, every word from her lips only seemed to excite him more. In a rough voice he answered back in crude, exciting language, holding her hips in a tight grip as he hammered into her.

  Sadie lost all sense of time and place. His jacket might have been the softest pillow. The hard surface of the kitchen table might have been the comfiest bed. All she could feel was friction and heat as each thrust sent throbbing vibrations through her clit. It was like getting sucked into a slick, hot, and spiraling tension. An amazing inner coiling that would soon explode in a shower of stars.

  She stretched her arms wide to grasp the edges of the table, the movement rubbing her stiff nipples against the cold surface beneath her breasts. Her inner muscles seemed to swell in reaction, tightening around Nick’s thick shaft.

  He let out a low growl and his strokes grew more and more urgent. She could feel his thighs tense against her—the muscles as hard as marble. “Fuck, baby. I want you so much it makes me crazy,” he rasped.

  Sadie registered his words but she had lost all ability to form a coherent reply. Nick slipped his right hand under her hip and stroked through her saturated flesh to reach her throbbing clit. She gave herself up completely to the overwhelming sensations—prickles racing over her skin, her insides burning with a suffusing heat. There was nothing left in her world but his thrusting cock and his stroking fingers and his muscled body arching over her. She’d never felt so disconnected from the world, but so utterly connected to another human being.

  Yes, yes, yes!

  His jacket muffled her scream as an explosion of stars shattered the darkness behind her closed eyelids. Nick thrust once more and he was gone, too—his shaft jerking inside her as he covered her boneless body with his own.

  * * *

  “Don’t think I’m changing my mind. I’m still going back out there,” Sadie said in a muffled voice that effectively killed Nick’s post-coital buzz.

  He sighed. She lay under him, a bundle of warm, panting woman who had just rocked his world. He was still in her, for God’s sake, and yet she had to reaffirm her defiance. He’d never met anyone with a will as strong as Sadie Bligh’s.

  “No surprise there,” he said. “But you better believe I’ll be no more than ten feet away.”

  “I guess I can live with that,” she murmured.

  He wrapped an arm around her chest, feeling the strong beat of her heart resonate through his body. Her back was perfectly smooth, her petite frame softly cushioning him. As he rested his cheek in the hollow between her shoulder blades, catching his breath, he wanted to cradle her in his arms for as long as possible. Nick had the feeling that he would want to do that for a very long time. But this was getting way too crazy, and he’d already exposed both of them to a truckload of risk by letting his hormones overpower his good sense. He needed to get her out now before some maintenance worker on the night shift decided to stop by for a cup of coffee.

  He pushed himself onto his elbows and levered off Sadie. He took care of the condom and got himself squared away before glancing at his watch. Less than fifteen minutes had elapsed since he’d pulled Sadie away from the blackjack pit. Probably well under ten since she’d stumbled into his arms for the hottest sex he’d had in very long time. Probably ever. That was saying something, too, given how hot their previous encounters had been.

  “Nick, that was really fun,” Sadie began as she shook out her dress.

  Nick reached down to the floor to retrieve her panties. Fun? It was mind-blowing, and she knew it. Resisting the urge to make a sarcastic remark, he simply lifted an eyebrow before handing over the little scrap of fabric that passed for her underwear. She blushed as she put them on. He loved it when she blushed.

  “Okay, I’ll admit it was actually rather spectacular,” she grumbled. “But you need to realize it doesn’t change what I said before. What you did was wrong, dragging me out and ordering me around like that. I won’t put up with that kind of Neanderthal behavior.”

  She was right. His motives had been good, but he’d acted with all the sophistication of a marauding bull. And barking orders like a boot camp sergeant was not the way his par
ents had raised him to treat a woman.

  “I get it,” he said. “But it worried the hell out of me to see you running with Tiny’s crowd. I was just trying to protect you.”

  Sadie turned her back to him as she rearranged her halter top. She didn’t turn around again until she’d completely dressed and fluffed her hair. When she did, he was brought up short by the sober determination on her pretty face.

  “Nick, you might be interested to know that those are the precise words my father used every time I tried to do something he didn’t approve of, especially something he thought might carry even the slightest hint of risk or impropriety. I’ve spent my life under his critical eye, constantly being told I can’t do this, or I shouldn’t do that. I have to say I’m thankful we didn’t have GPS technology in those days, because if my father could have tracked me, or trained a camera on me twenty-four hours a day, I’m sure he would have.”

  Distaste rippled across her features. “But I had to wait until I got here for that, didn’t I?”

  “I’m not your father, Sadie,” he said quietly.

  “Then please stop acting like him. I have to do what I have to do. Stop trying to control me.”

  Now she looked more than determined. She looked downright mulish, just as she had last night when he asked her to quit playing blackjack. Any attempt to argue with her would be akin to beating his head against foot-thick steel. Other things were driving her now, and there was nothing he could do to stop her. All he could do was stay close and try to mitigate any disasters.

  “Like I said, I get it. Do you want to go back to my place after you’re done playing tonight?” he asked.

  Sadie moved the chair away from the door handle and twisted the lock open. When she didn’t answer right away, he found himself holding his breath, mentally urging her to say yes.

  “I’d like to,” she finally said. “But I think we’d just get in another fight, and I couldn’t stand that. Maybe we can talk tomorrow, after we’ve both cooled down and gotten some sleep.”