by Lynne Silver
“That’s understandable.” He’d let his nana do the same thing when his relationship with his parents became too strained. “Why else are you crying?”
She took a deep breath. “Well, because this whole thing with my dad is finally getting to me. I’ve ignored it as much as I could, but now with him gone, it’s weird…It’s like his absence made his presence stronger. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah. It kind of does.” All his muscles tensed as she spoke openly about her dad for the first time. Damn, he was not well trained for subtle interrogation, and he was walking a fine line here comforting her and getting her to open up about Stanley Rose.
He wanted his job back, but at what price? Was he willing to betray the woman he was sleeping with? To whom did he owe his loyalty? He didn’t have to decide now, right? He could listen; if she said something revealing he could determine what to do with the information later.
“I wasn’t always close with my dad. He was often working or traveling with one of his wives, but he found time to call or bring me a present from his trips. He wasn’t the kind of dad who showed up at my teacher conferences. It wasn’t a normal father-daughter relationship, but he’s still my father. You know what I mean?”
Did he ever. It had been eight years since his parents cut him off for joining the Secret Service instead of the family business, but the obligations and relationship between father and son couldn’t be cut off easily. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her the truth, but a grain of self-preservation swallowed it back. He’d only known Ari a matter of days. Could he trust her with that information? He said instead, “I know what you mean. It’s hard to shake the bonds of family.”
She totally missed his slightly bitter tone. “Why would you want to? You’re lucky to have such a loving and supportive family.”
“What makes you think my family is loving and supportive?”
“Well, I met your nana, and your sister gave you that watch. I bet your parents are equally great, right? I mean, you seem together. Do you ever have crazy fits of hysteria like I’m having at the moment?”
“All the time.” He grinned.
She laughed and it was the best sound in the world. “Liar.”
“Yeah, but I do understand about your dad. More than you could possibly know.” He quickly redirected the conversation back to her. He didn’t want her to question his cryptic comment. “Tell me more about your dad.” His hand rubbed big comforting circles around her back, dipping lower to her round buttocks.
Arianna sat thoughtfully for a long time. He feared she would clam up, but then she answered. “Well, you know I’m his only child.”
He nodded.
“And he spoiled me. Ridiculously. All that stuff you said about me being a spoiled brat is right. He’d fly me to Paris to shop or hire an Olympic skater to teach me to ice skate.”
“You can be spoiled without being a brat.”
“True, but I was both. It’s only in this last year that I…” She paused, seeming unsure of how to describe the impact of her father’s criminal act on her nature.
“That you came back to earth with the rest of us mortals?” he guessed.
She nodded. “That’s a good way of putting it. I overheard Jason telling Val that I got hoisted on my own petard.” She giggled. “If I didn’t like him, I’d kick his ass for that comment.”
“Wouldn’t you say it was your father who learned a lesson?” He needed to keep this about her dad, and maybe she’d give him a clue as to where he would’ve run.
Ari’s brow furrowed and her lips pinched into an adorable, kissable pout. “One would think, but my dad always had this sort of…king-of-the-world, entitled attitude. If he stole the money, maybe he thought he deserved it?”
“He was that much of an asshole?”
“Hey.” She lightly punched his left biceps. “That’s my dad you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, your internationally renowned criminal-on-the-lam father.”
Lance panicked when Ari hunched into a ball, blocking her face from view, and started to shake a bit. Oh, shit, had he made her cry again? He physically turned her around to peer into her eyes. Thank God, just laughter, albeit hysterics, but still better than tears. Better keep her laughing with distraction. “Where would you go?”
Her shoulder shakes slowed as his question registered. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“Where would you go if you had millions in stolen money? Me, I’d head to Namibia, someplace where the U.S. can’t get to you.”
“Given it much thought, have you?” she asked dryly.
He shrugged. “It’s my field, it’s only natural I’d think about it from the opposite end, too.”
She bit her lip thoughtfully and sat back against him. “I’d go to…London, even with the extradition treaty in place. I adore London, and it could be easy to get lost there.”
“London is cool, but the Brits do love their security cameras. You’d have to change your looks. Dye your hair, maybe.” He swept up her mass of red hair and curled it around his hand. “This is pretty distinctive.” He dropped the hair and ran a finger across the tops of her full breasts dipping into her cleavage. “And these…what would you do about these?”
“They’re breasts. Isn’t one pair interchangeable with another?”
Lance squeezed one breast carefully and pretended to stare at them like a scientist observing something under a microscope. “Hell, no. These breasts are unforgettable. Never seen a pair like them before. One flash of this cleavage and Interpol would be banging down your door.”
She laughed a breathless chuckle. “Well, then, I’d simply flash them a whole lot more than simple cleavage and run away while they drooled.”
“Good plan. Show me.” He used his best authoritative Secret Service voice. How the hell had they run so far off topic from her father? Although now that they’d arrived at her amazing breasts, he wasn’t heading back on course any time soon.
Ari hopped off his lap and onto her desk facing him. Both her hands cupped the undersides of her breasts, pushing them up and displaying them for him. His tongue had to be hanging down into his lap. He felt like one of those cartoon characters when a Betty Boop figure strutted by, and Ari was a heck of a lot hotter than any two-dimensional pencil drawing.
She oozed sensuality even when not trying, and when she pulled some moves, like now…look out. It was a five-alarm fire, and he swore flames licked at his skin. As she revealed more of her breasts by unbuttoning her blouse, his groin tightened to the degree of pain. It was like he couldn’t get enough of this woman and couldn’t foresee a time when he would.
“Holy…” he said and exhaled deeply as she revealed a black, lacy bra that barely covered her nipples. How had he missed her fastening that on this morning? Maybe because he hadn’t been looking. To make the meeting with Sullivan, they’d had to focus on getting up, dressed, and out of the apartment. He’d dutifully averted his eyes when Ari did her ridiculous yet sexy morning dress ritual. But, oh man, had he missed an eyeful. Did the panties match?
“Wondering what’s covering down below?” Ari asked in a sultry voice when his gaze fell to her hips.
His stare rose back to her breasts as he nodded in silence. Hell, yes, he wanted to know what was covering her smoking-hot ass.
“Nada.” She held his absolute attention as she stood up and began to slowly unfasten pale pink capri pants.
“Nada?” He’d taken Latin, not Spanish, in high school, but he was pretty sure nada meant “nothing.” Could that be right? He hoped so.
“These pants are tight enough they show panty lines even with a thong, so it’s better if I go with nothing.”
“Of course,” he choked out, finally giving in to the urge to adjust his hard-on before it broke. “You’ve been waltzing around all day with no underwear on?” He shook his head and tried to slow his heart rate down before he ruined a perfectly good afternoon tryst by hyperventilating and keeling over. It wouldn’t be a
total loss; Ari could do mouth-to-mouth on him.
She shucked her clothes completely and stood naked but for the excuse of a bra. “I wouldn’t call it ‘waltzing.’ Prancing or skipping, maybe, but definitely not waltzing. Why? Do you like knowing that there was only one layer of cotton between you and my…” She stopped, seeming unsure of what to call it.
He raised a brow at her sudden shyness. “Your what? Say it,” he dared.
She sat back on the desk and shook her head. “There’s no good name for it. At least nothing that sounds mature and sexy at the same time. Vagina sounds clinical. What do you call it?”
Lance lowered his body to kneel on the floor, putting his head at eye level with her so-called unnameable part. “Whatever fits in the moment, usually pussy. Maybe cunt.”
She shuddered. “No, not that.”
“Maybe snatch.” He tested the last one out. “Slide forward; let me take a look at your pretty, wet snatch.”
Her laugh was more of a snort, but she obliged and slid forward, resting her feet on the abandoned desk chair. “I feel like I’m at the gynecologist’s.”
“Your gynecologist better never do this.” He leaned forward to slide a tongue through her curls, eliciting a gasp, then a moan, as his fingers joined his tongue.
“No, she never does this,” Ari said, spreading her legs wider. “Oh, God, this is decadent. I’m supposed to be working. You’re a bad influence on me, Lance.”
“I try.” He concentrated at his task and used one hand to undo his pants. Why had he worn a belt today of all days? Finally, he sprung his erection free, massaged himself with one hand, and used his other hand and mouth to pleasure Ari. She grew damper and softer at his touch and her breath came in gasps.
The heat and taste of her scalded his tongue, and he craved more. Everything about this woman was Sexy with a capital S, from her luscious body to the little moans and cries emitting from her full lips. Reminded of those lips, he needed to kiss them the way he needed to breathe, and he pulled back to hover over her on the desk.
“Tease,” she said, pulling at his hair and tugging him down for a passionate kiss. “I was close.”
He didn’t answer because his mouth was on her, nibbling and sucking at her tongue. She kissed him back with equal ferocity. His mouth moved down her body, pausing to give excruciatingly detailed attention to all his favorite parts of her body, and he was quickly gaining a lot of favorites. Her nipples, the color of her last name, filled his mouth, sending heat through both their bodies
“Lance,” Ari begged. The plea was an aphrodisiac to his already desperate body. It’d be easy to shift positions and bury his cock deep in her wet, waiting body, but he didn’t succumb. It was payback time. From the moment he’d met Arianna, he’d been one heartbeat away from hard-core arousal at every second. And the damn woman seemed oblivious to his struggle. She’d flirted with him in her carefree style, unconcerned that she left a path of drooling men in her wake, and he was the drooliest. He’d had nearly three days of living with an ever-ready erection. It was sheer bliss to turn the tables on her and get her close to his state.
He tongued her faster, urging her toward climax, and knew she was getting close when her hands tugged his hair, pulling him closer to her core.
“I’m close.”
“Me, too,” he grunted, then moved his mouth back into play, flicking at her clit.
“Huh? How are you close? My hands are up here.” She lifted up on one elbow to take a peek down at his hand fisting his cock furiously as his tongue moved in rhythm on her.
“Oh. Oh, God.” As usual, Ari did the unexpected. Instead of continuing their lovemaking, she remained on her elbows watching him fist himself. They stared into each other’s eyes. The only movement in the room was his hand moving back and forth on his stiff dick.
“You like watching me?” It wasn’t a question, because he knew the answer. The heat in her eyes told him. “Tell me, Ari. Say it. Don’t make me guess.”
Her lips parted but it took a second before sound exited. “I like watching you.”
“More,” he challenged, rising on his knees and squeezing the base of his shaft. “Tell me more or I finish this alone and leave you wet and aching for it.”
The shocked look on her face should’ve made him laugh if the situation hadn’t been desperate. The world might truly end if they didn’t take this interlude to its climax.
A keening sound from the back of Arianna’s throat told him she was as desperate. A flood of words flowed from her mouth, every syllable bringing him closer to the edge.
“Your body is so strong, especially your cock. And seeing it in your hand…heaven. I remember how it felt in me last night. So full. Like you were made to fit inside me.”
Shit. Game. Over. His legs buckled, bringing his mouth back to her wet pussy. She fell back against the papers on the desk as she tightened in little flurries around his tongue. His balls tightened against his body, and he leaned in to taste more of her juices. She was a honey-and-spice cocktail mixed purely for his pleasure.
Her release spurred his, and come shot onto his hand as he slowed his movement on them both. He knelt at her feet, resting his forehead on the desk edge while his breathing slowed to non-heart-attack rate.
“How do you do that?” she asked.
He pretended to misunderstand, though with Arianna, he often wasn’t pretending. She kept him on his toes with her quick wit and sharp sense of humor. “It’s a little technique I like to call paying attention. First I start with my tongue, and when your moans get all high-pitched and fast, I add a finger,” he said with a grin.
She swiped the side of his head with a not-so-gentle foot. “Idiot.”
He lifted his head to smile at her. “Seriously, how do I do what?”
“Make me forget. One minute we were talking about my dad…not a sexy topic, and the next you had me naked and writhing on my desk.”
“What can I say? It’s a talent.” When she lifted a foot to knock him again, he caught her by the ankle and yanked her down to his lap, cushioning her fall. He kissed the top of her head, berating himself for getting sidetracked. She’d been getting chatty about her dad, and even though he wouldn’t purposely sleep with her for information, if she happened to drop clues about her father’s whereabouts during pillow talk, he would share it with his superiors. He’d totally distracted her with his dick and now he was leaving, since the security company he’d called was arriving any minute to take over. It had been a great long weekend with Arianna, but now it was over.
At least the living together part was finished. He’d meant what he’d said to Ari about continuing to see each other. True, his boss wanted him here spying for the feds, but mostly he wanted to see her because he genuinely liked her. Discounting the hottest sex he’d had in his life, Arianna made him laugh more than he could remember in a long time. She made him want to play again. For too long, his life had been work and family obligations. Even dating hadn’t been fun. It was clear now, he’d been finding the wrong women. He knew now his type was a petite, curvy redhead with an overly developed sense of fashion.
He stood and smiled at the sight of her sprawled naked on her desk. She seemed to sense his sadness and sat. “Are you leaving now?” she asked quietly.
A wry grin formed as he looked down at his exposed body. “Mind if I shower first?”
“Sure.”
He stared at her for a minute, then bent to kiss her lips. “Hey, no looking sad. I’m leaving for the night, not forever. You’re going to see me again. Remember, we’re dating now.” He ignored his discomfort that she’d be seeing him again under his boss’s orders to stay close.
“Promise?” she asked softly.
“Promise. This is not good-bye.”
Chapter Seven
Fifteen minutes later, Ari hung up the phone to the caterer, satisfied the food would meet her standards at the upcoming show. It had taken all of her concentration to focus on the conversation when the ro
om still smelled like sex and her desk showed signs of hard use.
With Lance upstairs in the shower, she had a minute to herself to catch her breath. He kept her on edge sexually, and she could go from crying about her father one minute to soft and ready for him the next. And oh, man, when she’d realized what his hand was doing…whew. Was there anything sexier than watching a man stroke himself to completion?
When he’d stood to leave to get cleaned and packed up, she’d nearly done something out of character for her. She’d nearly begged. She, Arianna Rose, begging a man? Had never and would never happen. It was better that Lance was leaving. It wasn’t as if she could ask him to move in with her. They’d known each other a few days. It’d be ridiculous. He’d said he wanted to explore their new relationship by continuing to date, which should’ve been satisfactory. It still didn’t explain why the thought of a professional security company taking over made her want to cry. She wanted her personal sexy bodyguard.
She added some handwritten notes to the printed catering menu, with one ear listening to the sounds of running water upstairs. A knock at the back door startled her; she wondered how long someone had been standing there knocking while she worked in a daze.
It must be the hired security company. Already. Why were they at her back door? She froze at her desk, unwilling to answer the door, because it meant her idyllic interlude with Lance was over. He’d go back to his real life, and she’d go back to her nightmare.
When the knocking grew louder and faster, she stood and made her way to the door. Her footsteps quickened with renewed sadness, and she yanked open her back door to tell the hired guard to go away until tomorrow, only to be smacked in the chest and face with something warm and rank smelling. She opened her mouth to scream but closed it immediately when a vile taste flooded in. With eyes and mouth squeezed shut, she felt for the doorframe. What in hell had happened? What was on her shirt and splattered on her face?
