Red Lace (The Hard Men of the Rockies)

by Kym Roberts

  Then Ty set her ninety-pound shepherd on the floor, winked at her and signed in on the iPad at the desk like he hadn’t just shocked the holy hell out of her. He was more than cordial; he was radiating happiness and it was starting to scare the crap out of her.

  It’d been two months since he left. And they’d only known each other five weeks before that. Had only kissed twice—one was barely more than a whisper of lips brushing. The other made her yearn for more…

  Yet in the past two months, hell, he could have met the woman of his dreams and married her. It made her chest ache to think about that possibility. Because it could happen. But she prayed it hadn’t. People really didn’t meet, date, and get married in two months—did they?

  Acting like nothing had happened between them two months ago, or that the fact that he hadn’t called since Kas bit him was even remotely an issue, Ty signed the iPad and turned toward her.

  He’d cut off all those wonderful long locks she had wanted to play with incessantly, and was somehow sexier without them.

  Impossible.

  But evidenced by the rate of her pulse, the quickening of her breath, and God forbid, the wetness in her panties there was no doubt, Ty Beckinsale had returned—fueling her desire for him even higher.

  His eyes met hers and the corner of his mouth twitched in that delectable way she loved so much.

  “Good evening Ms. Artino. I’m here for a massage.”

  “A…a massage?” She asked and gulped before the drool actually slipped from her lips.

  “Yes, I called and made an appointment this morning.”

  Holy hell. He did not do that to her.

  No, no, no.

  Faith grabbed the appointment book and looked at the schedule. Penciled in at six-thirty, and then conveniently erased, was the name Ty Beckinsale.

  “There must be some mistake.” She blurted, but the sound of Phillipe’s mischievous voice as he’d left for the night echoed in her mind, Have a great night, mon ange.

  She’d laughed and said she had to be an angel for taking him back again, and again. But now, she realized she was just a fool. Ty stood patiently in front of her…waiting while Faith flipped through the pages, praying that Phillipe had moved the appointment to another date.

  Nothing.

  No matter how many pages she flipped, neither Brad Williams nor Ty Beckinsale appeared in any of the time slots. Just the one hint of an erased appointment—for tonight.

  “I’m sorry, my masseuse has gone home for the day.”

  And her manager would die a painful death tomorrow. Faith was pretty sure she didn’t say that out loud, but it was kind of hard to tell from the expectant look on Ty’s face. He was waiting for her to say something. Anything.

  “I could reschedule you for tomorrow?” Please dear God, take tomorrow.

  “When I made the appointment, Phillipe advised me that the regular masseuse wouldn’t be here this late, but that you were trained and licensed as well.”

  There wasn’t a question in his voice. If anything, his tone backed her against the wall. Pinned her arms above her head…and left her begging for more as the hardness of his body ground against the place she wanted him, now more than ever.

  And in her mind, she ran. Right back to the walls she’d built so many years ago. This was all kinds of wrong. He was a client. She couldn’t do this with him. Anyone else, she’d be saying, “Of course. It’s not a problem at all.” And it wouldn’t be. But this man was a different story. He undressed her with his eyes.

  No, that wasn’t true. Ty never did that. Other clients did that. When Ty looked at her, she stripped for him. Shed every last bit of clothing until she stood in front of him—naked. Waiting and wanting what only he could give her.

  She couldn't do it.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Beckinsale.” His brow lifted with her formal use of his name, but she plunged on, ignoring the urge to say she’d be happy to run her hands all over his body. “There must have been a misunderstanding. I can reschedule you for tomorrow.”

  She refused to look into his eyes. Coward that she was, she might just melt and give in—and that was the last thing she would do as owner of this spa. Faith flipped the page in the appointment book to the next day. “There’s an opening at five-thirty tomorrow.”

  “I understand…you’re busy.” His tone said he understood a whole lot more than that. “I’ll just get my workout in and then hit the steam sauna.” Ty walked away, turning toward the locker room and the glancing over his shoulder with the instincts of a big cat. His gaze accessed her, identified her as a target, then slid back to the hallway in front of him, letting Faith know he would wait for his dinner…but in the end, he would have it.

  A steady thumping at her feet she initially thought belonged to her heart, drew Faith’s gaze downward toward her dog. His tail mopped the floor and then hit the side of the cabinet with the enthusiasm of that floppy-eared dog from the Garfield comic strip. He wore a ridiculous grin on his face and at that moment, the name Odie fit him better than Kas.

  As if on autopilot, Faith walked to the front door and looked out at the lone vehicle parked out front. The one she’d missed pulling into the lot. A sleek, black vintage Camaro SS with a chrome grill and wheels. It was like the man. Hungry. Mean. Yet smooth as river rock. It drew attention to its sleek masculine curves like the man who parked it. And she had no doubt it was a beast to drive. Handling it would be tantalizing. Exhilarating. Just like the man.

  She knew he was innocent. Well, maybe not entirely innocent, but he wasn’t with the mob, or the Italian La Cosa Nostra or a drug cartel from south of the border like she’d initially feared. In fact, he was the exact opposite. He was tender, and passionate. Caring and sensual. Gentle and carnal. He cherished his grandmother and had her dog acting like a lovesick puppy on a string.

  When Ty exited the locker room wearing shorts and his typical sleeveless t-shirt, she wanted to swoon. He looked at her, those complicated eyes daring her to act with confidence and conviction. To let hope and belief in him rule her actions. To take a leap of…faith. Like the name her parents gave her, and the dog her brother insisted she have. Her K-9 showed nothing of the fear or mistrust he had a couple months ago. Kas trotted after him, jumping up and nuzzling his hand as they walked across the lobby toward the weight room. She watched, struck still, with her lower jaw on her knees.

  Shock or lust, she wasn’t sure which outweighed the other. The little scared teenager who had grasped onto her seclusion like a security blanket was gone. Faith wanted to explore the endless possibilities of an attraction that, despite the time and the distance between them, still hadn’t gone away. To embrace the current this man created and let the voltaic charge flow between them.

  She’d been an idiot two months ago, and now it seemed she was going to continue down the road of idiocy if she didn’t jump with both feet. Ty had shown what type of man he was through his treatment of Rosie. Rosie, who adored her oldest grandson, recognized his faults, his stubbornness, his unwillingness to share his pain, and even his initial belief that he was in love with a woman who was already married. Rosie talked about it all. How his backbone got him through the hills of Afghanistan. How his aloof attitude had spared his mother the anguish of war, while costing him dearly. And how his mistaken belief that he was in love with Sammie, brought him to the real thing…

  The real thing.

  From day one, Faith had shown him how messy a relationship with her could be. She ran to her big brother at the first hint of trouble. She said, “yes,” to Ty, then “no.” Then “yes, OMG YES!” Only to shut him down again.

  She was dangerous to any man’s heart. Yet he came back. Knowing all of that, and the hurdle they’d have to leap with her brother, he came back.

  Faith also knew if Khaos had any clue what she was about to do, he’d need his own defense attorney.

  No, Ty wasn’t a threat to anyone, least of all her. He was an exciting beginning. The man she’d waited her e
ntire life to meet, but had been too afraid to recognize.

  It was time to say, “YES, YES, OMG, FUCK ME! YES!”

  Chapter Eighteen

  He sat at the other end of the sauna, his dark skin contrasting against the white marble bench. His eyes were closed, his muscular body lounging on the curved bench on the other side of the Roman columns. A white towel wrapped around his waist covered his manhood, but emphasized his masculinity. Despite his relaxed posture, his muscles still bunched from his workout. Sweat glistened across his chest and biceps.

  He was a good man, she knew that now. Probably not a permanent fixture in her life, but a man who followed a code of honor. A man loyal to those he’d sworn to protect. A man worth breaking her own rules for business. A man she could no longer resist. A man she loved.

  The steam swirled with her entrance and he lifted his head, his gaze meeting hers and then getting stuck on the towel she held tightly closed between her breasts. Faith did the one thing she’d never allowed herself to do before—she took a leap. Placed her safety and trust in another human being outside her family. Yes, he was a man she knew little about, but she knew everything she needed to know. She knew he was the one she’d been waiting for. Whether it lasted for one night, one week, or one month, this man would pass through her guarded gates.

  She relaxed the grip on the terrycloth entwined in her fingers and took a step forward as his gaze returned to her face, measuring her emotions. She took another step and inhaled deeply before letting her hand relax even more.

  Her heart demanded to be set free and she listened. For the first time in her adult life, Faith allowed herself to follow it completely. She didn’t stop. Wouldn’t stop. She stayed on the path she’d chosen, gloried in the widening of his eyes and the hitch of his breath as he recognized her intent.

  “Don’t drop that towel,” he ordered.

  She nearly stumbled, shocked that he knew what she was planning to do, and confused by his lack of desire to see her naked.

  “I want to be the one to remove it from your body.”

  She couldn’t help it, her breath escaped on a deep exhale. The place, the timing, the man couldn’t be more perfect.

  Ty’s feet slipped to the floor and he stood to watch her. Flanked by a column on each side, he exuded power and strength…and was her Achilles’ Heel.

  As she approached, she recognized the passion darkening his eyes. Felt the heat rolling off of him in waves as his gaze travel up and down her body. “Turn around.”

  Her eyes drifted closed. Her bare feet following his instructions, turned slowly on the warm white marble slab.

  “Stop.”

  He didn’t have to repeat himself. She listened. Felt the shift of the air as he walked around her and stood just beyond her reach.

  “Back up.”

  Faith took a few steps back and stopped.

  “Two more steps, then reach for the hooks on each column.”

  Faith opened her eyes and peered up at the hooks. A terrycloth belt belonging to the complimentary robes she made available in the locker rooms hung from each hook.

  Her eyes flew to his. “You knew I’d come.”

  The corner of his mouth quirked, in that way she was beginning to recognize as a full blown smile. “I fantasized about you coming,” he admitted.

  Faith swallowed her fear and reached for the hook on her left, and then the one on her right. The towel strained with her position, loosening and threatening to drop at their feet.

  Ty moved closer and her heartbeat increased. His fingers caressed her left shoulder and trailed up her arm before he wrapped the cloth around her hand. Goose bumps raised on her flesh, chasing after his touch. His gaze met hers. The question was there, in the depths.

  This was her last chance to escape.

  Faith wet her lips in response and his nostrils flared. He pulled the belt tight in one swift powerful move and Faith gulped down the excitement rising within her, reveling in the passion no one else had come close to stirring.

  His gaze captured hers and refused to let go. Faith met it, bolder than she’d ever thought possible, submitting in a way she never dreamed she would…to any man. He tightened the belt around her right hand and sealed her fate.

  Ty stepped back and for a moment, panic wanted to take over. Demand that he release her. Tell him it had gone too far. That she couldn’t do this.

  She closed her eyes, swallowed it down. When she regained control, she opened her eyes and saw him standing in front of her. Devouring her without touching her.

  His feet were spread shoulder width apart, his sculpted forearms crossed over his muscular chest. She saw the scar on his side and knew that he was everything she’d dreamed of, strong, powerful, giving. But he was also everything she feared. A predator, dangerous and unknown. He growled deep in his throat, before stalking her and taking her face in the palm of his hands. He angled her head just right and crushed her mouth with his, like a man who could no longer resist the temptation dangled in front of him.

  His velvety tongue attacked, sparred with her own, and suddenly Faith didn’t want to be tied up any longer. She wanted to run her hands through the wet curls at the nape of his neck. She wanted to caress his shoulders, rounded and bunched with years of conditioning. She wanted to reach down and drop his towel, let the rock hard arousal straining against it loose so she could see him, touch him, drop to her knees and take him in her mouth.

  It had been a mistake, letting him tie her hands, restricting her access to his body that she desperately needed to touch.

  She whimpered and tugged at her bindings.

  He drew back and smiled, but this time it was that full-blown smile, the one that took her breath away. His straight white teeth were framed perfectly by lips made to drive a woman wild. His eyes glistened with satisfaction, with himself and her frustration.

  “Now you know what I’ve been going through since our very first kiss. Bound by my word not to kiss you, touch you. Wanting you in every way imaginable, yet denied what I desired more than anything else. You’re going to feel that need, burn with it and then I’m going to consume you, fill you beyond what you think you can take, and give you more.”

  By the size of his erection, she had no doubt he was speaking the truth. She wasn’t sure she could take him, but she wanted to. She strained against the bindings, wanted to wrap her legs around him, if he’d just get close enough.

  Ty stepped back and she growled. His laughter rumbled in his chest.

  God how she wanted to feel that vibrate through her body. To lay with this man with her hands roaming over him, her ear to his chest as they laughed and shared intimate moments in the afterglow of hot passionate sex that she’d never allowed herself to enjoy. Had been too afraid to let anyone close enough, lest the past creep into the present and a man she loved be given the choice of silver or lead.

  Ty ran his finger over her mouth, tracing her lips with a strong powerful hand callused from hard work and even harder play. At first she just savored the touch, watched his reaction to the act. The way he seemed to study every place he touched, memorizing it like he never wanted to forget. The same way she forged the moment deep in her brain to replay over and over once he was gone.

  He pushed his finger in her mouth and she welcomed the intrusion with a fever that had never existed before he came into her life. Wantonly she stroked it with her tongue, took the length of it and sucked until she saw the rise and fall of his chest quicken. He was as mesmerized by the connection as she was…until he withdrew it, breaking the bond too soon.

  He traced the line of her jaw, her neck and when the moment came that he reached her towel, she closed her eyes, arched into his touch and savored the moment like no other. She should feel vulnerable, but she didn’t. She felt desired and in an odd way, worshiped.

  When the towel didn’t drop, she opened her eyes and found him studying her face. His expression so unchecked, she wasn’t sure he was the same man she’d walked into this
room to find. She’d read his desire before, but only because he’d allowed her glimpses of it. Now it was everywhere. In the smooth line of his brow, in the swirling depths of his hazel eyes that flashed like a storm on the rough sea—pulling her into their midst, in the determined set of his jaw to control himself and what he was about to do.

  “Are you wet for me, Faith?”

  Her throat too tight to answer, she nodded in response and leaned toward him, pleading for him to find out just how ready she was and drop her towel. He palmed her thighs. Dug his fingers into the flesh above her knees and drug them up her legs to the edge of the towel. The entire time keeping distance between her body and his, denying her the contact she craved. Her head dropped back, eyes closed as she strained toward his touch.

  “I will not stop again. Now is your last chance to back out.”

  “Please, don’t stop.” She begged.

  Ty’s warm sultry breath tickled her neck. His lips so close to her skin, all she had to do was lean…

  “What do you want?” He asked.

  “A kiss.”

  His firm lips brushed her neck and she leaned toward them, savoring his touch until he withdrew.

  “That’s it?” he asked.

  Faith whimpered. She wanted to hear words of love, but realized she may never get them from this man. She knew that coming in; she had decided making love to him would have to do. But still…

  “More.”

  His tongue teased circles around her pounding pulse. He nipped and sucked, drew the lobe of her ear into his mouth with his teeth. All without allowing his body to come in contact with hers. He was a man who knew how to tempt the most experienced woman to his bed.

  But Faith didn’t fit into that category. She was the exact opposite. Fear had driven her to seclusion and loneliness at a time in her life when her friends had been experimenting with sex, loving boyfriends who would become ex-boyfriends, and losing their virginity like it was a passage to freedom.

  But Faith had hidden in her apartment, and then her mansion. Alone. Never realizing what she was missing until he walked into her life. Or she walked into his…either way, now she wanted it all. Every last taste of carnal sin this man could give her. She would do anything, receive anything. As long as it was by his hand, nothing was too much.