by Karin Tabke
“Who are you? Why are you here? What do you want?”
Kim stood and arched her back, suddenly exhausted. Her sudden trip to Carmel had been a ruse to keep Nick away from Evergreen. Now she thought it wasn’t a bad idea. “The answers to your questions are irrelevant.”
“What are you hiding? Why are you really here?”
“You’re a cop, you figure it out.”
Ricco smirked. “You’re a cold one, Misses Grinch.”
“And you’re a commitmentphobe, Mister Playboy.” He scowled. She smiled. “Truth hurts, huh?”
“You make not wanting to commit sound like a disease. What’s wrong with not making promises you won’t keep? What’s so wrong with being honest about not wanting a committed relationship?”
She shrugged. “Nothing—if you have ice for a heart.”
“Me? Ice for a heart? Are you kidding me? I’m a furnace inside!”
“You’re lukewarm at best. You can’t stand the heat, so you run far and you run fast.”
“You don’t even engage.”
She raked her fingers through her hair. “Fine, turn it around and beat me up. Bottom line is, your old man couldn’t commit and somehow you think if you make a commitment and break it you’re him. Get a clue, Ricco, promises are made to be broken. It’s life.”
“And just because your parents and every guy you’ve slept with disappointed you, you expect it from every other man.”
“Duh.”
“Not all men are pieces of shit.”
“Maybe you’re right, but I don’t care enough to find out.”
“You’re a liar.”
Her head snapped back. He walked into her space. “You want what every other female in this world wants.”
“I suppose you’re going to tell me what that is.”
“You already know what it is, you just won’t admit it.”
“Really? If you know so much, tell me exactly what my heart’s desire is.”
Ricco swept her hair from her shoulders and pressed his hand to her chest. Her heart leapt against his palm. “You want a man to put you up on a pedestal. You want him to love and cherish you. You want him to never lie to you or ever cheat on you. You want to know that you above all other women are the one he chose to spend the rest of his life with, and nothing or no one can change that.”
Her chest fluttered beneath his touch and his words. Every word he’d said was the truth. “Cinderella, if I were man enough for you, I’d sweep you away right this minute and set you up on that pedestal.”
“Why can’t you?”
“Because I’ll screw it up somehow. And I care too much about you to see you fall and get your heart broken.”
She leaned into his hand, feeling more fatigued than she could remember. “I don’t think you’re afraid to commit, Ricco, I think that’s an excuse.”
“For what?”
“You’re just as afraid as I am of being abandoned by someone you love.” He stiffened, and she knew she’d hit home. “It doesn’t make you a coward, Ricco, it just makes you human.”
He smiled sadly and nodded his head. “Maybe there is truth in that.” He drew her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “It’s been quite a roller-coaster ride since we met.”
She drew back and smiled. “You can say that again.”
He pulled her along with him and up the stairs to her bedroom door. “Get some sleep. You have a town to save in the morning.”
• • •
WHEN RICCO CAME DOWNSTAIRS SEVERAL MINUTES later, dressed for a run, he stopped short just outside the kitchen doorway. A small noise alerted him to someone’s presence. He went for his gun but frowned. Jimmy had had to take it after the shooting. He didn’t have a backup weapon.
He peeked around the corner to see his father scrolling through Kim’s cell phone.
“Find what you need?” Ricco asked, striding into the room.
Enrique had the grace to blush.
“I told you last night to hit the road. Why are you still here, and why are you going through Kim’s phone?”
The old man sighed heavily. Leaning on the cane he didn’t need, he sat down in Kim’s vacated chair. “I have a suspicion about your friend.”
“Really? Are you going to ask me to pay for that information?”
“No, son. Believe it or not, I do have affection for you and don’t want to see you hurt.”
Ricco threw his head back and laughed long and hard. His cheeks strained and his eyes actually teared. When he calmed down he looked his old man in the eye and said, “You don’t care about anyone except yourself. Get out of here before I call the cops.”
Enrique stood and faced his son. “I’ll go, but before I do, be warned, I have a hunch your friend Miss Michaels has ties to the people who have been terrorizing Evergreen.”
“That’s it.” Ricco grabbed him up none too gently by the elbow, thrust the cane into his hand, then shoved him toward the back door. “Get out!”
Once the image of his father was gone, Ricco locked up after himself for the first time since he could remember. Then he did what he always did to clear his mind. He ran. And ran. He pushed the visions of his father, his mother, and his sisters out of his mind. For a few miles he even managed to push from his mind Kim’s last words to him and her smiling blue eyes. Replacing it was the still body of the man he’d killed that day, and while he was never one to feel sorry for a criminal, he did have regrets for taking a life. But they were short-lived. It was the old law of the West—kill or be killed. He’d do it again one hundred times over.
And once he reminded himself that it could have been Kim or himself in the black body bag, he didn’t give it another thought. But he gave Kim more thought. His father’s accusation niggled at his brain. And every time he thought of Kim tied in with Land’s Edge he felt like he was going to puke. So he pushed it away and took the accusation with a huge grain of salt. It was just his father’s way of fucking with his head some more. The man didn’t care who he hurt in the process.
Ricco bellowed in rage, and his fists punched the air. He was sick and damned tired of his peace being destroyed by his father’s past, present, and future. Ricco came to the abrupt conclusion that most of his frustration wasn’t what his old man had done to them; it was the fact that he continued to do it. He wanted the man to stop. To come clean. Not that he longed for father-son fishing trips, but he wanted to be rid of the emotional burden of knowing he could never trust the man with himself or his family. He was afraid it would never happen.
He ran until his brain could not formulate another thought if his life depended upon it. Nevertheless, he came to a decision, one that terrified him as much as it thrilled him. Kim was right. He wasn’t afraid to commit; he was afraid of being abandoned. And that realization brought him to another one: For the first time in his adult life, he was willing to stick his emotional neck out and take a chance, despite the record amount of turmoil in his life at the moment.
He headed back home, where he showered and slipped on a pair of flannel sweats, then dug around in his duffel bag, looking for something special.
• • •
KIM WOKE FROM A DEEP SLUMBER TO LIGHT KNOCKING ON her door. Sleep swirled around her muggy brain. There it was again. “Who is it?” she called.
The sound of a key slipping into the lock alarmed her. Was it an intruder? No, she reasoned, they wouldn’t knock first. But still…Looking around, she jumped from the bed and grabbed the iron fire poker.
When Ricco emerged from behind the door she let out a long breath of relief. Until she saw his dark gaze. He leaned up against the jamb, clad only in black flannel sweats. “I’ve come to a decision, Cinderella.”
She lowered the poker, but her blood quickened. “And it couldn’t wait until morning?”
He shook his head. “No, it couldn’t. And once I tell you, I think you might agree.”
“I’m all ears.”
He sucked in a long breath
and released it. “I am willing to try this commitment thing, at least while we’re both here, if you are.”
You could have knocked her over with a breeze. “What?”
“You and me, an item, a couple, a pair. Stay until the New Year at least.”
Kim was stunned, flabbergasted. In shock. “I—”
Ricco grinned. “I feel your pain. Believe me, this is uncharted territory for me as well.” His grin widened, and he opened the hand he held over his head against the jamb. A pair of handcuffs clanked together. “I want to tie you up and have my way with you all night long.”
She thought she would melt into the floor right then and there. “I—”
He sauntered into her room and shut the door behind him, soundly turning the lock. “C’mon, princess. What is the ultimate fantasy of a control freak like you?”
“I—”
He moved her back against the bed. Taking her right hand, he slipped one of the cuffs around her. The soft click of it locking around her wrist sent shivers rushing up and down her spine and to all points in between. He pushed her back onto the bed and pulled her left arm over her head. Then he slipped the chain through the bedpost and slid the other cuff around her left wrist. The soft click of the clasp had her wet, shivering, and wanting him more than she had ever wanted a man.
“Ricco,” she whispered, “take me there.”
“I’m going to do more than that, sweetheart.” He brushed his lips across her cheek. “I’m going to love you all night long and into the morning. I’m going to love you until you cry out for me to stop.”
“We’ll be here for eternity.”
His lips lowered to hers. “I’m all for that.”
Seventeen
KIMBERLY LAY BACK INTO THE PILLOWS AND CLOSED HER eyes. For the first time in her adult life, she allowed another human to take her control away. As his lips trailed from hers to her neck then to the high mound of her breasts, she wanted more. But she could not force him to do more. His hands were on either side of her head, his body raised above hers. Only his lips, that soft warm flesh of his, touched her scalding skin.
He nibbled at her collarbone; he took her nipple into his mouth through the fabric of her cami and suckled her. She arched into him, her back coming off the bed. Her fingers reached for him as her arms strained to touch him to press him more firmly against her. Her thighs parted, her hips undulated. Yet he only touched her with his lips.
“Ricco,” she gasped, “please stop. Touch me harder. Touch me everywhere.”
With his teeth he pulled down her panties. Twisting, she tried to press her hips into his face, but he continued the slow slide of her panties down her legs until he slid them off of her. He tossed them to the floor. His hot breath flushed her already sizzling nether region. When he came so close to her core that she could feel his hot breath move across her damp curls, she cried out. When his hands ran up her thighs, she almost came on the spot. He pressed her hips back into the sheets and nibbled the inside of her thigh. “Ricco,” she begged, “touch me with your mouth. Put your finger in me.”
In a slow, light slide he licked her creamy lips. She cried out, this time not caring who heard. Lucky for her they were the only guests. His tongue swirled across her, his lips suckled, his big, thick finger slid feather soft back and forth across her clitoris. Her body shuddered. When he slid his finger into her hot, wet cavern, she screamed. Slowly he moved in and out of her, his finger swirling inside of her as his lips blazed a trail up her belly to her quivering breasts. When he latched onto a nipple, she lost it. In a slow, wet wave she came all over him.
Delirious, she pulled at the handcuffs and twisted beneath him, her hips quivering as spasms wracked through her. “Unlock me,” she demanded.
“No,” he answered. “Not until you can’t move.”
He slid off his sweats, and his long, warm body pressed against hers. The hard, thick length of his penis rubbed against her thigh. She wanted to touch him. Feel the heat and passion of him in her hand. But he kept himself from her. He teased her by turning around to face her feet, his jutting erection just out of reach of her mouth. When his lips descended between her thighs and his fingers slid along her wet cleft, they moaned together. He did wicked things to her body, teasing, taunting, giving her just enough to drive her up the steep ledge only to take away from her and leave her hanging, begging for completion. His erection pressed against her side, the full head of him weeping with anticipation. She tried to reach for him, wanting desperately to touch him to take him into her mouth, to tease him as he teased her, but he kept himself from her.
She begged him. She pleaded with him. She promised him anything and cajoled him to let her go, to give her control. But he ignored her. His hands, his lips, and his teeth tormented every inch of her. When she could no longer stand it, he entered her, filling her inch by sweet savage inch until he filled her to capacity. And when he did, she turned liquid. The sublimity of him made her weep, it made her catch her breath and it made her terrified, knowing she would never again be taken to the heights this man took her. He was her drug. Her fix, her desperate need for fulfillment. Her orgasm came so hard and so fast and with such a velocity that Ricco moaned. “Jesus, Kim, I can feel that.”
She gasped for breath, her hips pressed against his, her body spasming. And then she sank into the linens and let him take her on his flight. His body was like a well-oiled machine, a slick, hot engine. He powered into her, his hips thrusting, hers answering. He gathered her up into his arms, his body bent over hers, and in one long, hard thrust he exploded deep inside of her. “Dios míos,” he gritted out as his body convulsed against hers. Like an out-of-control engine, his body took time to come to rest against hers. His chest heaved, his slick body slid off hers. He pressed his forehead against hers, and his breath, in slow bursts, pummeled her cheeks. He dug his long fingers into her hair and pulled her up to meet his lips. Her body, still attached to his, twitched.
She wanted to cry. She wanted to touch this man and tell him he made her feel like Cinderella. Like she was truly special to him.
“I don’t have the key,” he softly said against her lips.
Kim laughed and tried to touch him. “I think it’ll be pretty funny when the maid comes in in the morning to make the bed and she finds me half naked, hanging off the headboard.”
Ricco relaxed against her, pressing his head to her belly. His fingers trailed across her wet curls. He pressed his palm against her sultry heat. “You’re still hot.”
She pressed her mons to his hand. “Ricco, that was amazing. Right now my entire body feels like one exposed conduit.”
He kissed her belly. “Give me a minute and I’ll light you up again.”
“I want these cuffs off so I can return the favor.”
He turned his head and looked up at her. Kim melted. His face was flushed, his lips full, and his eyes so sexy and dark that she thought she’d come again just looking at his postcoital glow. “No way.”
She smiled lazily. “Oh, really?”
“I’d go crazy in handcuffs.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.” He reached down, grabbed his sweats from the floor, and dipped into the back pocket, where he pulled out the small key. Deftly he uncuffed her.
• • •
RICCO WOKE TO WARM, WET MOISTNESS AROUND HIS hard-on. A towel, warm water. He smiled, keeping his eyes closed. A sponge bath. He moved his hands to touch her but found them caught up by…His eyes flew open. Kim laughed and continued to wash him.
“You little minx. Unlock me.”
She smiled at him, her blond hair swirling around her full, perky tits. He loved her tits. His fingers ached to touch them. But she had done to him what he had done to her. And for a man who had thought he would go ballistic in handcuffs, he found the opposite to be true. His cock filled with more blood. In some weird way he was okay with being the victim of Cinderella’s lascivious ministrations.
Kim set the towels asid
e and climbed up alongside him in the bed. She smoothed her palm across the underside of his dick, and he surged. His arms pulled at the constraints. “Let me make sure those are secure,” she softly said. She rose up against him, her sweet, musky pussy brushing up against his shoulder. The wild scent of her sent more of his blood south. He turned his head and strained his neck toward her, wanting to press his lips to the fiery spot. But she pulled back just far enough away that he could see her moist pink lips hiding behind the soft blond curls, her heady scent swirling temptingly around him but not close enough to taste. His fingers reached out to her, and he managed to grab a hank of her hair.
“Let go!” she cried out.
“No.” He pulled her toward him, and her neck bowed. “Press into me.” Her body stiffened. He pulled her hair harder. “Now.”
Grabbing the headboard for balance, she pressed her hips closer to his mouth. But not close enough for him to taste her. “Closer,” he commanded.
When she hesitated, he pulled her hair tighter. She cried out and moved close enough so that his tongue could just catch the tip of her straining clitoris. She gasped, and he knew he had her.
In a slow undulation, she pressed full into him. He wanted to dig his fingers into her ass, but he couldn’t reach her. “Straddle me,” he commanded, and this time there was no hesitation.
She grabbed the headboard and, steadying herself, moved hotly against his mouth. He felt her orgasm, the way her body shifted in momentum. And when she came, he sucked her as deeply as he could. She gyrated and shuddered against him, and he thought his cock was going to explode. When she slid her hot box down around him, fitting him like a snug glove, he nearly spilled at that moment.
As much as she tried to set the pace, he did—even handcuffed—and she was at his mercy. In a wild, combustive explosion, they erupted inside each other, and it was a long time before she could move her noodle-limp body from his.
When she released him, he took her into his arms and smoothed back her damp hair, kissing her cheeks, whispering to her how precious she was to him. He meant it. And while that should have terrified him, it didn’t.
