He didn’t smile back. “Katie, I appreciate the effort, but you’re only making things worse.”
“You’d rather be arrested?”
“Well, no.”
Ted lowered the Taser. “I suppose you could be a research assistant, considering what you had in the car.”
“All in the name of research,” Katie said. “What did you bring for me to take a look at this time, Jess?”
Jess glanced heavenward. “Oh, the usual kind of stuff.”
“There’s a white lace teddy in the red bag,” Ted said helpfully.
“Oh.” Katie had wondered if she’d ever see it again. Although he’d bought it for her, she hadn’t felt right taking it last night. She glanced at Jess. “Thanks.”
He shrugged. “No problem.”
“Then there’s the sex book, of course,” Ted continued, “which he was reading while he listened to your program. It’s got pictures of real people, and they’re in color, which I personally think is better than black-and-white or drawings.”
Katie nodded in agreement. “Definitely better to have real people in color.” She glanced sideways at Jess. “The more colored pictures of real people, the better.”
Jess’s jaw muscles clenched, and he gave her a subtle shake of his head, as if to warn her to stop talking. She wasn’t about to. This was almost as much fun as having sex with him.
“So, Jess, what’s the name of the book?” she asked.
He cleared his throat. “The Kama Sutra.”
“Right!” Ted snapped his fingers. “I thought I recognized the name. That’s where you get your tips from, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.” She found it extremely interesting that Jess had decided to buy his own copy.
“That book was what grabbed my attention in the first place,” Ted added. “Mr. Harkins, you must’ve been concentrating really hard on that book, because I stood next to the car for a good thirty seconds and you never noticed.”
“I have great powers of concentration.” Jess stared at Katie, his expression unreadable.
“I’ll vouch for that.” Ted shoved his Taser into the holster strapped to his waist. “Anyway, in the other bag is a pornographic video that looks really hot, a box of flavored condoms, some fur-lined handcuffs, and I think those other little things are nipple clips, although I’ve never seen what they look like myself.”
Whoa. Katie did her best to look unfazed, but her brain was sizzling. She could barely believe that Jess had walked into a store and bought those things. He might not be falling in love, but he was certainly falling deep into lust if he wanted to venture that far out of his comfort zone.
“I see,” she said in what she hoped was a normal-sounding tone. “It’s good to keep abreast of these things.” When Jess snorted, she realized what she’d said. “Ha, ha. Pun intended.”
Ted grinned. “I knew that. You’re Crazy Katie. Nobody knows what you’ll say next.” He gazed at Jess with obvious envy. “Must be nice being her research assistant.”
Jess opened his mouth as if to take another stab at contradicting the story. Then he sighed. “Yeah, it is. Well, Katie, I guess we’d better get started.”
She wasn’t about to tell him, but she’d gotten started the minute Ted had mentioned the items in the shopping bag. She could hardly wait to find out what Jess intended to do with them.
JUST CALL HIM MR. SMOOTH. Jess locked his Jag, picked up the bags and got into Katie’s car for the ride to her parking spot. Neither of them bothered to fasten their safety belts, and he put the seat back as far as it would go to give him room for his legs. That way he could also put the bags at his feet instead of holding them like some dweeb who’d just been to Circle K.
If he’d hoped to impress Katie with his worldliness, getting detained by the security guard wasn’t the best way to go about it. At least the guy hadn’t decided to use his Taser, or Katie might have driven up to find him twitching on the ground. Even so, knowing that she’d felt obligated to rescue him added insult to injury. Plus he was worried about her cover story, which could do some real damage if it leaked out.
Maybe he should offer to bribe Ted. That could backfire, though. If he made too much of a deal out of this, Ted could decide to blackmail him for the rest of his life. Wouldn’t that be terrific?
“Fur-lined handcuffs?” Katie drove around the complex and parked in a numbered space under a canopy.
“Research assistant?” he countered. He didn’t want to discuss the handcuffs lying in one of the bags at his feet. He wanted to use them to make her become so crazed with passion that she left teeth marks on his body.
“It was the only thing I could think of to explain what you were doing with fur-lined handcuffs and nipple clips.”
The whole security-guard episode had been a fiasco from the beginning. “And how do you think Ted pictures this research being done?”
She turned off the ignition. “About the way it will be done, I guess.”
“And what if Ted is a blabbermouth?” All he needed was for this research assistant thing to somehow make its way to his work crew.
She glanced at him and smiled. “Relax, Jess. We don’t have tabloid journalism here and it’s a big town. The chances of Ted getting us into trouble are slim to none.”
“I’m already in trouble.”
“In what sense?”
In every sense. “My foreman Gabe drove by my house late last night and saw your car parked out front.”
She stared at him in the darkened interior of the car. “I don’t know which is scarier—that your foreman has your house under surveillance or that he took the time to figure out it was my car.”
“He doesn’t have my house under surveillance. I—” Jess paused to take a breath. In the close confines of this car he was way too aware of her. Being near Katie after a twenty-four-hour absence had put him on sensory overload, bombarding him with the scent of her perfume, the sound of her breathing, the rustle of her clothes. He was having a tough time containing his hunger for the body under those clothes.
“Do you want to go inside?” she asked gently, as if she could read him like the Kama Sutra.
“Is it that obvious?”
“To me.” She leaned toward him. “But then, I know how your breathing changes when you want sex.”
His gaze took in her parted lips, just inches away. “Yours is changing, too.” He met her halfway and claimed her saucy, sexy mouth. She kissed him like a woman who was ready for anything.
When he cupped her breast and stroked her taut nipple through the material of her blouse, she whimpered against his mouth. He must be insane, because he’d started evaluating whether they could do it right here, just to take the edge off.
To buy himself some time to decide if he dared suggest that, he broke away from that steamy kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. “We should be able to make it to your front door, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know.” Her breath came in shallow gasps. “I didn’t expect to come home and find you waiting with fur-lined handcuffs and nipple clips.”
“We don’t have to use them.” He didn’t care so much about them at the moment. He just wanted to ease this unbelievable ache.
“I know.” Her voice grew husky. “But the very fact that you bought them…” Easing away from him, she reached under her skirt.
“Katie…” It was half warning, half plea. If she took off her panties again, he couldn’t be responsible for what happened next.
She didn’t take off her panties. Instead she found an equally effective way to blow his mind. “This is what you’ve done to me,” she said as her fingers emerged and she brushed the tips over his upper lip.
He moaned in desperation. The scent of her arousal eliminated all remaining common sense. Grabbing her hand, he licked and nibbled her fingers, starved for the taste of her, the feel of her closing around him. His voice was harsh with the force of his need. “I want you. Now.”
Her breath caught.
“Here?”
“Right here. It’s no more complicated than a mesquite bench.” He thought briefly of Ted, who might drive by in his golf cart, but then he dismissed Ted as irrelevant. Everything was irrelevant except being inside Katie.
“I guess you’d like me to take off my panties?” Her question trembled with excitement.
“Unless you want them ripped.” Releasing her hand, he fumbled in the bags at his feet and located the box of flavored condoms.
She wiggled in the seat next to him and tossed something lacy in the back seat. “Panties are gone.”
His heart hammering with anticipation, he handed her a condom packet as he started unfastening his jeans. She was right about how his breathing changed. Right now he was dragging in great gulps of air and praying he wouldn’t hyperventilate before he was finally buried deep inside her.
Her soft chuckle added another erotic sound to the mix. “These are the flavored ones. What flavor are they?”
“Who cares?” Hurriedly he lifted up and shoved his jeans and briefs down to his knees.
“I care. I’m curious.” She tore open the packet and put the condom in her mouth. “Raspberry,” she said as she took it out of her mouth and handed it back to him.
He’d never put on a condom that was already wet. The effect was so sensuous he was afraid he might come right then and there. By some miracle he didn’t. One hurdle crossed.
As he thought of how they could do this, he gave thanks for his short study period in the car. He’d learned only a few things, but one of the pictures and its explanation would come in very handy. “If you climb over here and kneel on the seat facing forward—”
“Mare’s Position,” she murmured. “You really were concentrating on that book.”
“A guy has to stay current.” He held her hips to steady her as she clutched the dash and hiked up her skirt so she could sit astride him. For a second or two he thought maybe it wouldn’t work, but then…oh, yes…she eased down, taking his throbbing penis in deep.
“Oh…” She lifted up a fraction before settling back down, firmly connected to him, her skirt bunched up around her waist. “That feels really, really…”
His voice rasped in the darkness. “Incredible.”
“Yeah.” She gulped for air. “Really incredible.”
Her bare bottom nestled right up against his stomach. He pulled his shirt up so they were touching skin to skin.
“Even better.” She did a little wiggle.
“Mmm.” He fought down his climax. Not yet. He wanted more contact. Pulling her blouse from the waistband of her skirt, he slid both hands up to her lace-covered breasts. In no time he’d unhooked the front catch of her bra and had filled his hands with her plump softness.
She moaned softly. “Better yet.”
Leaning forward, he nuzzled her earlobe as he lightly pinched her nipples. “Who needs clips?”
“Not me.” She shivered in his arms. “All I need is…to come. And that shouldn’t take long. I’m going to…start…pumping.”
“Good.”
And was it ever. Gripping the dash and balancing on her spread knees, she lifted up and eased back down again. She had the control, and all he had to do was hold on and enjoy her rhythmic strokes. In no time he was panting as the pressure of his impending climax built like steam in a boiler.
Her sweet bottom caressed his skin, and his fingers flexed against her breasts. If one Kama Sutra position could give him such a thrill, he might have to memorize the whole damned book. What a joy ride.
She seemed to be loving it, too. Her movements grew faster. Soon her bottom slapped against him with enough force to create the most wonderful sound—the sound of lovers moving closer to nirvana. People could have their ocean waves. Jess would take this beautiful sound any day.
“I’m almost there,” she said in a breathy voice.
He loosened his restraint a notch, wanting to follow her down that path. He wasn’t trying to give her more than one climax this time. They’d come together. And soon. Very…soon. Oh, yeah. The tidal wave was nearly upon him.
“Now,” she said, gasping. “Now…squeeze my nipples…oh, good…good.” Pumping wildly, she cried out as her orgasm overtook her.
Her muscles clenched around him and then the ripples of her climax massaged his straining penis until…there…yes. He said her name and then he kept saying it as the spasms shook him. Katie. She’d challenged him, taunted him and completely bewitched him. Somewhere in the past few days, without him realizing it was happening, she’d become the center of his world.
As his dazed brain was trying to process that truth, she stirred in his arms. “Jess.”
“I’m here.” And he wanted to be here—close to Katie—for a very long time. He had no idea how he’d get that accomplished with all their conflicts, but he’d look for a way. It wasn’t only the sex either. It was—
“I hear Ted’s golf cart coming.”
“Oh.” That information certainly didn’t add to the ambiance. Logically he should have guessed that Ted would be along eventually. His job was to patrol the area and look for anything unusual. Jess wondered if Ted would consider this scenario unusual.
“I’m going to slide back into my seat.” She lifted away from him.
Jess felt as if he’d lost his hold on all things wonderful.
“Just act natural,” Katie said as she pulled down her skirt and settled into the driver’s seat. “If he stops and shines his flashlight around—which he might because he’s so darned curious about us—we’ll tell him we were sitting here talking.”
“I have to say, Katie, that you’re one hell of a conversationalist.” Jess grabbed the shopping bags and positioned them on his lap to hide the evidence.
“You hold your own, too.” There was laughter in her voice.
Sure enough, there was a tap on Katie’s window and Ted’s flashlight beam invaded the car.
She switched on the alternate current so she could roll down her power window. “Hi, Ted.”
“Is everything all right, Katie?” Ted asked.
“Perfectly fine, Ted. We got into a heated discussion and ended up staying right here to hash things out.”
Jess clenched his jaw to keep from laughing.
“Okay then,” Ted said. “Just wanted to make sure you two were safe and sound.”
“We’re definitely safe.” Katie glanced over at Jess. “Right?”
Jess knew she was thinking of the raspberry-flavored condom they’d just used. He cleared the laughter from his throat. “Right.”
God, this was fun. The thrill of trying to get away with something added an element of excitement he hadn’t felt since…hell, he’d never tried to get away with a damned thing. He’d been sickeningly good all his life.
“Glad to hear everything’s okay. Have a nice night.” Clicking off his flashlight, Ted hopped in his golf cart.
“Thanks! You, too!” Katie called out the window as Ted putt-putted down the access road.
Ted waved in reply.
Katie clapped one hand over her mouth to muffle her whoop of laughter as she used the other to push the automatic-window button. Once the window was closed, she looked over at Jess and they both lost it.
“A heated discussion!” Jess wiped his eyes. “How do you come up with these things?”
She grinned at him. “I guess you inspire me.”
He gazed at her, his heart full of an emotion he hesitated to name. Once he gave that emotion a name, his world would change forever. “Same here,” he said softly.
17
“THAT WAS FUN.” KATIE reached under her blouse to fasten her bra. She needed to be a bit more presentable before they made the trek to her apartment door.
“Yeah, it was.” Jess buttoned and zipped his jeans. “Which surprises the hell out of me. For a guy who didn’t want to do it in cars, I’m turning into a real convert.”
“Maybe denying yourself as a teenager has made you crave it as an adult.�
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“I don’t know, but I’m sure you could find somebody who’s written a book on the subject.”
“Was that a crack?” She tucked her blouse back into the waistband of her skirt.
He gazed at her innocently. “Nah.”
“It was, but I’m going to ignore it because you’ve given me a great idea. I could do a show on vehicular sex.”
“Sounds good to me.” He opened the passenger door and picked up both shopping bags in one hand. “The sooner the better.”
Grabbing her purse and panties, she climbed out of the car and punched the button on her key ring to lock the doors. “Because then I won’t be doing a show about your construction project?”
“Bingo.”
“Sounds like you’re more worried than you want to admit.” She stuffed her underwear in her purse as she led the way across the access road to the outside stairway that would take them to her second-story apartment.
“I’m not worried that your programs will cause the project to be dumped, if that’s what you mean.” He followed, swinging the bags as he walked.
Thinking of the contents of those bags, she began heating up all over again. “You should be worried.” She started up the stairs, intensely aware of Jess right behind her. They might be talking about her campaign against his project, but her body was speaking a whole different language.
“Katie, it’s only a bunch of talk. In the end, I promise you the building will go up.”
“I don’t think you’re quite as sure of yourself as you were a few days ago. Besides, the station manager is a hundred percent behind me, which means he thinks we can win.”
“He’s wrong.”
Even though they were on the brink of an argument, his voice teased her nerve endings, warming every part of her body. Soon they’d be behind a locked door. And Jess had brought fur-lined handcuffs. She looked back over her shoulder. “If he’s so wrong, why do you care what I say on the show?”
“Because you’re infuriating my work crew. If they could see me now, they’d think I was the biggest turncoat in the world.”
Talking About Sex... Page 17
