From the shadows on the bed, Adam sucked in a harsh breath. Excitement coursed through her. She had never associated sex with power. It had always meant a measure of subjugation. But now there was a subtle shift of power back and forth between she and Adam and subjugation wasn't an issue.
She knelt on the bed and crawled forward on all fours.
"Olivia." He rasped her name even as she moved between his thighs and up his body. She stretched out next to him on the bed.
"I'm sure you'd be much more comfortable out of those clothes." She tossed his words back at him. It was her turn to watch him. She squinted in his direction. Or as close as she could come to watching. Now struck her as a bad time to grab her spare glasses off the nightstand.
Actually, it was terribly arousing to rely more on her sense of smell, taste and touch. The scent of satiation perfumed the air between them. She ran her tongue over her lips, enjoying the taste of him, hungry for more.
Adam got rid of his clothes in record time. She couldn't see, but she discerned his general outline. Broad shoulders, flat belly, powerful thighs, and … oh, my. Her various body parts quivered and shivered and generally transmitted their approval of him naked.
And then he was back beside her, solid and warm and so overwhelmingly male her breath caught in her throat. He buried his hand in her hair, his fingers massaging her scalp. She wrapped her arms around his muscular neck. A kiss. She wanted one desperately.
"Olivia, I'm not—"
And women wanted to talk things to death? She kissed him. Okay, maybe more along the lines of attacked. Catching him in midsentence, she slid her tongue into his mouth. Men generally didn't do well with multitasking. She wagered he couldn't kiss and think at the same time.
With a muffled groan, he answered her call to action, his lips as demanding as hers. She strained against him, burning with a fever only he could cure. He rolled flat on his back, pulling her on top. She loved the feel of him beneath her.
She explored his chest with her hands. He was hard and muscular and very much a man, with a smattering of hair that arrowed down to his jutting sex. The brush of his hair-roughened thighs against her smooth—recently shaved, thank goodness—legs intensified her own femininity. She moved against him and felt the thrust of his arousal.
He caught one end of the ribbon holding her lingerie together and tugged. Hooking his thumbs in the satin straps on her shoulders, he slid them down her bare arms, the front unlacing along the way. She shrugged it off the rest of the way.
Olivia sighed at the play of skin against skin. With no clothes between them, they leisurely explored one another. His fingers following the curve of her back, the indent of her waist. Olivia discovered a small scar, finding the puckered flesh as she caressed the warm velvet of his back. Between kisses he murmured honeyed words that touched her soul and unleashed her passion. Words that praised. Words that encouraged. Words that excited.
The cool tangle of sheets about Olivia's feet were in direct contrast to the heat of her pirate's warm satin skin. She extricated her foot and pushed the sheets off the end of the bed. She'd lived a lifetime of cool, crisp sheets and perhaps there was a lifetime yet to come, but tonight there was no room in her bed for cool.
Adam reached beside the bed and extracted a square foil. "It's too easy to forget to stop later," he murmured as he donned the condom.
Apprehension surged through her. How could she have been so careless a few minutes ago? Adam ran his hands down the length of her back and back up again. Ahh. That was how. There was no changing the past and they were protected now. He wasn't a stranger and he was a regular blood donor. She gave herself over to the moment.
Olivia circled the pucker of his male nipple with her tongue and felt the quiver that rippled through his powerful body. "Are you always so prepared, or were you that sure of me?"
He buried his hand in her hair and brought her face to his. "You've always been a fantasy, but never a sure thing."
The quiet force of his words thrilled her, emboldened her. She'd never considered she might be anyone's fantasy.
Adam guided her to her side and gentled her hair to one shoulder. Using his lips and tongue, he feted the nerve-rich back of her neck. The mattress pressed against her cheek, muffling her sighs and moans whispered into the dark as gooseflesh prickled her skin. She'd never realized pleasure could be so exquisite as to border on pain.
She rolled onto her belly and clutched at wrinkled, warm cotton when he trailed his mouth down the sensitive line of her spine. His beard rasped against her soft flesh, an erotic contrast to his smooth lips.
With husky, honeyed words, he paid tribute to her. Each murmured phrase, each brush of his lips, tightened the tension inside her.
He discovered the dimples bordering her buttocks. His tongue dipped and swirled in the slight indentations, sending heat spiraling through her. He cupped the mounds of her cheeks and lavished them with sucking kisses. Instinctively, she hiked her rear closer to the source of such gratification. The tip of his tongue probed her cleft and nearly rendered her insensate.
Enough. Any more titillation and she'd explode. She whirled upright and pushed him to his back, her breath coming in ragged pants. Adam laughed, low and wicked. "You have the most delectable ass, Lady Olivia," he murmured as he encircled her wrist and drew her on top of him.
His words proved lie to her earlier thought that she couldn't grow more aroused. She could. She abandoned any latent inhibitions and all coherent thought as she took him deep within her body.
Adam filled her and still it wasn't enough. Even as her muscles gripped him, she hungered for him with an ache that transcended the physical. Their measured rhythm gave way to a frantic, almost violent battle of give and take. She rode him, each plunge bringing her pleasure, yet intensifying her craving for more.
Adam rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, bringing a sharper edge to her desperate quest.
"Liv, come with me to a place only the two of us can go," his harsh voice beseeched her. "Let me take you there."
It was as if Adam's words unlocked a place she'd carefully guarded. Olivia opened her heart and soul to the man beneath her, inside her, who this night had touched her as no one had ever touched her before. As she gave herself over to the spasms of physical release, her spirit soared, assuaging the ravening hunger that had gripped her.
Chests heaving, panting, sweating, they collapsed against one another, Adam cradling her against him. Neither spoke into the sated, emotional silence that connected them.
Tonight had been perfect. Still lying on top of him, the two of them still joined in the most intimate way, Olivia rested her head on the broad expanse of his chest. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat lulled her into further contentment. Adam's big hand rubbed lazy circles down her spine.
The bedside phone trilled into the thick, satisfied silence. Adam's hand stilled. "Do you need to get that?"
"Uh-uh. Let the machine get it. I'm not moving." Olivia sighed, stirring his chest hair to tickle her nose. Probably Marty, all liquored up, in jail and needing her to bail him out. Again. She should pick up the phone so Adam wouldn't hear the call from Inmate Marty at the Colther County Jail. But it was just too darn much trouble to move. And a drunk brother in the pokey didn't seem such a big deal when you were lying naked on top of a pirate who'd just plundered you beyond satisfaction.
Fourth ring and the answering machine took over. Even her voice, instructing the caller to leave a message, didn't sound so squeaky when she was lying naked on top of the man dedicated to her own personal pillage.
"Olivia, it's Adam."
Adam? It couldn't be.
Contentment. Lethargy. Satisfaction. Sanity. All vanished with those three little words.
Adam was… His voice came through loud and clear over the answering machine. "Once again, I'm sorry I couldn't come tonight. I left a message earlier. I hope you had a good time, anyway." She missed the rest of the message as a loud buzzing fil
led her brain and she fought overwhelming panic.
For one second, or perhaps a lifetime, the magnitude of her mistake paralyzed her.
Even as the penis buried deep inside her shrank to … well, the proportions of most men … Olivia flung herself off of the naked stranger and scrambled for her glasses.
Hands shaking, she shoved aside her mask, put on her glasses, and fumbled for the lamp. Hell's bells. She was naked. Olivia grabbed one corner of the rumpled sheet and covered herself. The first thing that registered in the lamplight was the tattoo on the muscular arm that had so recently held her. Born to Raise Hell.
Olivia closed her eyes for one second and blinked them open again. Nope. He was still there. This was a nightmare, but she wasn't gonna wake up.
She was wearing a sheet and a naked, tattooed man was boldly stretched out on her bed. Her starched dress lay beneath her feet in a heap, crumpled beyond recognition.
With sinking heart, Olivia voiced the question, even though she knew the answer. "If that was Adam, who the hell are you? And what are you doing here?"
* * *
4
« ^ »
"I can explain." Luke leaned back on his arms. No need to introduce himself, he'd seen recognition flash in her eyes, followed by loathing.
"How could you do this? You masqueraded as your brother and then you … we…" Her gaze swept the rumpled bed. Flushed, she clutched the sheet tighter around her.
"Yes, we did." The scent of their lovemaking surrounded them. "And it was very, very good." His voice ended on a low, rough note as he sat there, damn close to stupefied by the portrait of Olivia against the backdrop of her elegant bedroom, her hair tangled about her shoulders and her kiss-swollen lips at odds with her prim tortoiseshell glasses. Sexy as hell, that's what she was. Want unfurled low in his belly. Unfortunately, he'd have about a snowball's chance in hell of talking her back into bed right now. Maybe ever. He forced his attention away from the curve of her breasts outlined by the sheet and the fine bones in her hand clutching said sheet.
Awareness mingled with the anger and betrayal that simmered beneath her surface. Olivia's gaze flickered over him. Hell yeah, it had been better than good between them. Even now, all she had to do was look at him and he wanted her again. Maybe his libido was making up for lost time. Or maybe she just made him crazy. Either way, she was looking and he was starting to stand at attention. Her nipples peaked into relief against the sheet, revealing her own response.
Feeling at a distinct disadvantage lying about with a hard-on, Luke swung his legs over the side of the bed and picked up his briefs. "I'd better put these on."
Olivia's posture grew ramrod straight. "I'm perfectly capable of restraining myself."
He stood and pulled on his briefs and pants, deliberately eyeing the pout of her nipples through the fabric. "Good for you. I'm not so sure I am."
The rapid rise and fall of her chest and her unsteady hand clutching her sheet told a different story. She marched across the room and wrenched open a door. Poised on the bathroom threshold, she turned to face him once again, regal in her makeshift cotton toga and mussed hair. "I'm getting dressed. Then you're going to tell me why you did this and then you can get out." The door closed with a click, more telling than if she'd slammed it.
Luke shrugged into the shirt draped over the edge of the bed. Things had gotten out of hand and gone much further than he'd planned, but there was something to be said for the old adage of taking two to tango.
He traced a finger along the intricate carvings of the bedpost, polished to a high gloss. Mahogany. His grand-daddy Joe had whittled and taught Luke all about woods. This particular wood was beautiful, with subtle patterns in its grain, yet strong and resilient.
The red light of the answering machine blinked from the nightstand. Adam. It confirmed that he, Lucas Jasper Rutledge wasn't a decent person. A decent person would've felt a hint of guilt over stealing his brother's girlfriend. And she was stolen, whether she knew it or not. Adam had crossed the line when he'd referred to her as the "ice princess" in his disdainful tone. Olivia—a far cry from an ice princess—deserved better than that. Even he, Luke, was better than that.
The door across the room opened and Olivia the Librarian emerged—hair scraped back in a low, tight bun, her body covered by a long skirt and loose shapeless sweater. Luke was sure she'd deliberately outfitted herself to be as nondescript as possible. She could waltz out wearing a tent and it wouldn't matter. The image of her by the bed, brimming with tousled sensuality, was burned into his brain. He would forever know the woman beneath whatever clothes or mask she chose.
"The den's this way." Olivia avoided looking at the rumpled bed. Shoulders stiff, she led him down the short hall, past the scene of the first crime—the front door—and into a room lined floor-to-ceiling with shelves of books except for one shelf dedicated to an aquarium stocked with a colorful array of fish. Two armchairs flanked the fireplace. A small lamp cast a dim glow over the back of one of the chairs and a fat, sleeping cat. Stacks of books spilled over onto the floor next to a plump sofa which faced the chairs and fireplace. Except for Olivia's hostility, the room held a cozy intimacy, which she immediately dispelled by turning every lamp in the room on high. The orange-striped cat blinked in the sudden harsh glow of several sixty-watts.
She perched on the edge of the cat chair. "Sit or stand." He took a step toward her and she threw up a slender arm as if to ward him off. "As long as you're not near me."
Luke opted for the sofa.
"Now, maybe you wouldn't mind explaining why you decided to ruin my life." Tight anger laced her voice and glittered in her eyes. The cat stretched and hopped off the back of her chair. Smart cat.
Damn, wasn't that a bit harsh? "I wouldn't consider sleeping with me ruining your life."
"I've been dating your brother. Finding myself in bed with you is a disaster." Her hands gripped the chair arms until her knuckles turned white and her face turned red.
Even Luke's thick hide objected to being labeled a disaster. "Well, sugar, landing in the sack with you wasn't exactly where I planned to be either. Believe it or not, I didn't set out to corrupt you, Lady Olivia."
"Well." Color flushed along her cheekbones. "What exactly does that mean?"
He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. If he burst her bubble and told her the "good brother" she'd been dating, the respectable one, was only using her, she'd never believe him. He opted for the other damnation. "It means I went to the party in Adam's costume, but I never meant for things to go as far as they did."
"You deliberately tricked me. You know I'd never come near you with a ten-foot pole."
Damn. That hurt. "Thanks for clearing that up for me in case I might've thought otherwise."
She stood and paced back and forth in front of the empty fireplace. A coffee table, littered with a half-finished jigsaw puzzle and its pieces, separated them. She'd tugged back her hair and clothed herself in that long skirt and sweater, but she'd left her feet bare. Olivia's feet were sexy, well-shaped with bright red toenails and slim ankles. She rubbed at her temples with her fingertips. "Oh, God, when I think what we … I may be sick."
Sick? Ouch. Olivia didn't bother to pull her punches. And yes, he had pretended to be Adam, but he didn't deserve this blistering. "I tried to tell you, Liv. More than once."
"Really?" She dropped her hands from her temples and pushed her glasses onto her nose. "How difficult was it to work in the truth somewhere between slipping into the party and slipping on the condom?" She planted her hands on her hips and glared a challenge across the coffee table.
He leaned forward, bracing his forearms against his knees. "A lot harder than you make it sound now. I tried to tell you in the garden and then again here."
"But you didn't." Her accusation hung between them. "Why did you do this? Why did you let it go so far?" She dropped back into her chair, like an engine running out of gas.
Dammit, didn't she have a clue? She
'd been there with him. She'd felt it too. "I didn't know how much I would want you, after just one kiss. I didn't realize I would ache for you, like a physical pain."
The pulse at the base of her neck took on a frantic quality and she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, but still she gave no quarter. "That's not good enough."
No, he never had been, had he?
"What about you, Lady Olivia?"
Her head tilted in regal inquiry.
"Did you really think I was Adam? Did you really not know or did you just not want to know?"
"Of course I thought you were Adam. I can't see without my glasses." Her voice shook and she shoved her glasses farther onto the bridge of her nose. "Whether you meant for things to go that far or not, you made a decision. But you took away my decision, didn't you?"
Anger welled within him. She had responded to him. She had wanted him. She could at least admit that much. "Are you saying one man's touch affects you the same way? You couldn't tell the difference between my kiss and Adam's? Even now, I can still taste you, feel your fingers whisper against my skin, and it's like a potent, addictive drug. Sugar, I'll never mistake another woman for you—for the way you taste, the way you feel. Do you moan in the back of your throat for him? You know, the way you moaned for me when my tongue touched yours?"
She looked away from him. The thought that the answer might be yes sucker punched him.
"Does he taste the same as me? Smell like me? Do you want him so badly when he brings you home that the two of you barely make it inside?"
She steadfastly refused to answer or meet his gaze, but her breathing rasped into the silence.
A relentless need to have her admit he affected her differently from Adam, drove him to push her. "Does he make you wet the way I do?"
She looked at him then, her eyes tortured. "Stop." Her whisper rang as loud as a shout.
BARELY MISTAKEN Page 5
