“You’re a crime reporter, for God’s sake. You know crimes happen here just like anywhere.”
“I guess reporting on that stuff all the time kind of makes me numb to it. I start thinking it’s a normal part of life and don’t get paranoid about any of it.”
“That’s about the most ass-backward thing I’ve ever heard.”
He surveyed her head to toe, standing in the middle of his dining room poised as if she wanted to kick his ass. He wasn’t sure whether to be intimidated or turned-on. Well, turned-on was a given, but it struck him then how arousing intimidation could be. Maybe that’s one of the thousand things he found attractive about Nicole—that she was one of the few women he’d met who he was quite sure could take him down if she wanted to.
“Okay, okay. You’re right. I need to be more careful, especially now that we’ve got Mr. Psycho stalking us.”
“Whatever you do, don’t take this lightly,” she said, her expression stern, unwilling to lighten up even for a second.
“You can be a real hard-ass, you know,” Ethan said, unwilling to totally submit to her agenda.
Nothing was quite as fun as watching Nicole get mad. No, wait, that wasn’t true. Making love to her was a hell of a lot more fun, but aside from sex acts…
“Yeah, I think we’ve covered that already. Are you even listening to me?” she said.
“Of course I am.”
“What did I just say?”
“Um…”
“You were staring at my crotch the whole time I was talking.”
Oh shit. Okay, so maybe he’d missed something.
“I apologize. It’s just that I find your, ah, female regions very distracting.”
He watched her expression transform from pissed to outraged. This was the disadvantage of being a guy—the ability to say the absolute stupidest thing at the absolute worst time. Brilliant, Ethan. Just brilliant. It might be fun to watch her get angry, but it definitely wasn’t going to be fun to feel the toe of her shoe slam into his forehead.
But before she could give him the thrashing he deserved, the phone rang. Again. A trace had been placed on his phone, but so far the calls had all come from the few remaining pay phones in the area. Which made the idea of the calls being kids pulling pranks unlikely, but still, Ethan figured it was possible.
Or not.
He watched Nicole’s expression harden, and she went to answer the phone.
“Hello?” she said into the receiver. “Hello? Who is this? Can you please tell me who this is?”
A pause.
“Who are you? Jonas? You know we’re going to catch you, don’t you?”
A second later Ethan could hear a dial tone even from where he stood across the room, and then Nicole replaced the receiver on the desk.
When she turned back to him, she looked a little pale.
“He said something this time?”
“He told me to check the back patio, that there’s a present there for me.”
“What the hell? How could he have gotten back there unnoticed?”
Nicole shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s trying to make fools of us.”
She peered out the patio door, standing to the side a bit using the wall to shield her body. Ethan came up behind her and looked out too. At first glance, nothing appeared different. But after a few moments, he spotted a doll’s head poking out from the ivy vines on the fence next to the patio.
“Right there,” he said, pointing.
Nicole’s gaze darted down to the spot he indicated, and she reached for the cell phone at her hip. She called in a report about the call and the evidence waiting outside, and once she finished, she put the phone away and eased the door open.
Closer now, Ethan could see that this doll was male, and it had brown hair like his. It was covered in a red substance that looked eerily like blood, and the same substance also stained the patio.
“Nice,” he muttered.
“Let’s just leave it for the evidence team. I’m not in the mood to deal with this shit right now.” She turned away from the doll, and Ethan had to step out of her way for her to enter the house again.
He followed her inside, wishing there was something he could say or do to make her feel at ease. But there wasn’t anything. He felt lame and helpless, until he watched her sink onto the couch and realized the best gift he could give her right now was a distraction.
Ethan crossed the room and sat beside her. “I guess this means the self-defense lesson is done for today?”
She sighed. “We’ll try again later, or tomorrow, okay?”
“Want to give me a good punch in the nose? Beat on me a little to relieve some stress?”
“That’s not such a bad idea….”
“When I first came to the U.S., I became fixated on women’s kickboxing matches for a short while. I had a college roommate who attended them and dragged me along, and—”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I was getting to the point. I just meant to illustrate that I am not immune to the charms of a woman who knows how to kick ass.”
“So you’d get a hard-on if I beat you up?”
He winced. “Maybe not. I’d like to think I could hold my own in a match with you. I mean, what I lack in technical skill, I make up for in brute strength. Plus I’ve got fifty or sixty pounds on you, easy.”
She made an effort to smile, but it faded fast. “I’m sorry. I can’t be much fun to be around right now. I just hate this trapped animal feeling that goes along with sitting around waiting for Jonas like this.”
“Maybe he’ll have tripped up this time. You never know what piece of evidence will be the one that leads the police to him.”
“I should be out there on the job, not sitting here like a victim.”
“But you are on the job protecting me.”
“Whole lot of good I’m doing. The asshole managed to walk right up and put that doll on your patio without anyone—including me—seeing him.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Nicole. You can’t have eyes in the back of your head.”
Her mouth was so soft, so lush, it was difficult not to kiss it whenever he looked at it. But right now would have been an incredibly bad time for a kiss, he sensed. Or maybe it wouldn’t have. He was wallowing in indecision when Nicole asked, “Why did you move to the U.S., anyway?”
“For college. I was chosen for an exchange program at USC, and after that I got the job here at the Times and moved to San Diego.”
“And you’re here for good?”
Ethan nodded. “It took me a while but I came to love it here, so I applied for my citizenship after graduating.”
“Is it weird leaving your home country for good?”
He smiled. “Have you ever tasted English food? Or lived through a London winter?”
“Come on, you must miss your family and friends from back home.”
“That’s what air travel is for.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind having my family separated from me by a nice long plane ride sometimes.”
“Eventually it felt like my home was here. I don’t regret a thing.” And he never regretted being as far as possible from the tired, bitter dynamic between his mum and his no-good father.
Nicole opened her mouth to say something, but the sound of a car door slamming out front distracted her. They stood and looked out the window to see a police cruiser parked in the driveway, along with a second unmarked car pulling up behind.
“I’d better go out and talk to them,” she said. “But I’ll take a rain check on that distraction, okay?”
Ethan was pleasantly surprised by her playful smirk.
“Any time,” he said.
“Thanks for trying to cheer me up. It really did help,” she said over her shoulder as she headed for the front door.
Ethan watched, let his gaze drop to the delicious curves of her ass in a pair of white yoga pants. His usual aching for her—the physical desire
for her that was so constant he’d already come to accept it as a normal part of his life—was accompanied by another ache, this one deeper, centered somewhere he couldn’t pinpoint. He simply ached for her company, her companionship, her engagement. And already, watching her walk away felt like a loss.
NICOLE HAD NO IDEA how to ease the frustration of being with Ethan without sleeping with him. After three days cooped up with him and a second near-disastrous self-defense lesson that nearly ended with her stripping her clothes off and mounting him right there on the floor, she knew something had to give.
The close quarters of his tiny house were feeling closer by the second, and her only escape seemed to be the privacy of the bathroom. And the lure of the removable showerhead, which, while it wasn’t a live male, and definitely wasn’t Ethan, was at least a serviceable substitute that could relieve some of her frustration.
Sometimes, being a woman who loved sex too much to allow herself to have it much really, really sucked.
And okay, so she’d lied about his sexual skill level. What was she supposed to say? That he was by far the best lover she’d ever had? That the chemistry between them was so intense, all she had to do was think of him and she was instantly wet and ready? Yeah, that would cement their professional relationship big-time.
When they’d finished the self-defense lesson, she’d tried distracting herself with television, then with a book, then with pacing around the house under the guise of looking for security breaches. None of which helped. All she could think about was sex. With Ethan. ASAP.
So she told him she needed a shower and disappeared into the bathroom. She undressed and turned the water to near-scalding, then got in and washed up. It was only after the tension built to a near boiling-point that she allowed the showerhead to dip between her legs. She was still sudsy there, still slippery, and she massaged herself with one hand while directing the water spray with the other.
The intense sensation was almost too much to take, but she pressed herself against the shower wall and forced herself to take it. She needed the intensity. She needed the outlet, fast and simple. She slipped two fingers inside her hot, slick opening and moved them in and out while letting the spray massage her clit, and in no time, her body was quaking, and her breath quick.
She was about to come when she heard the bathroom door open. Nicole gasped and dropped the showerhead, then hurried to pick it up.
“What are you doing? I’m in here!” she called out.
Instead of answering, Ethan pushed aside the shower curtain and peered in at her.
“You look amazing,” he said.
“Get out,” she said, but he didn’t budge.
“I just couldn’t pass up the chance to see you all wet, even if you won’t let me touch you.”
“Why the hell won’t your bathroom door lock?” She glared at him and tried to pull the curtain closed again, but he held tight.
“Precisely for opportunities like this.”
“Get out of here now!”
“I’d like to point out first though that my sexual skills are heightened in the shower. I’m at least an eight in this particular setting. Wouldn’t you like to have an eight?”
Nicole aimed the showerhead at him full blast, and he was instantly soaked, his light blue oxford shirt clinging nicely to his chest and his jeans sporting a huge dark blue spot on the front. He sputtered and tried to grab it from her, but she dodged his grasp and sprayed him again.
“Get the hell out or you’ll be even more soaked, along with the rest of your bathroom.”
Instead of obeying, he started taking his clothes off. “I’m all about water conservation,” he said. “I believe in communal showering.”
She should have sprayed him again, or kicked him hard in the balls, but her body was still tense with her interrupted release, and she was desperately, wildly horny.
Seeing Ethan all wet with his shirt off now didn’t help matters. Not one little bit.
Okay, so she had no willpower. So she was prone to screwing him whenever he got within three feet of her. There had to be an explanation. Maybe she could blame the lust potion after all. In which case, she could enjoy him without feeling too guilty. She could bask in the best sex of her life for just a little while longer until the potion’s effects dissipated.
By the time Ethan had his pants and boxers off, she was pulling him into the tub, and when he pressed his erection against her abdomen and kissed her hard, she moaned into his mouth, grasped his hips with both hands, and pulled him harder against her.
She wanted him inside her right that second. No teasing, no foreplay, just screwing. Right now, up against the shower wall.
“I want you now,” she demanded.
And he obliged, as always. He lifted her leg and propped it on the edge of the tub, bent his knees a little, produced an already-open condom from the shower caddy, positioned his cock between her legs, and slid into her all the way, where she was so wet, he didn’t encounter even the slightest resistance.
“You were getting yourself off in here, weren’t you? That’s why you’re already so wet and your nipples are standing up like that,” he said as he pinched one lightly between his fingertips.
He watched her with a half-lidded gaze as he moved slowly inside her and played with each of her nipples. He couldn’t have seen anything on her face but unabashed, out-of-control lust.
“So what if I was?” she said between gasps as he pumped into her, pushing her precariously close to orgasm again.
A half smile curved his mouth. “I just want to know if you’ve been violating my showerhead. What rating does it get, by the way? A 3.7?”
“No, you’ve definitely been outdone by the showerhead,” she dared to joke.
He stilled inside her, narrowed his eyes, and tried his best to look offended. “Is that so? Maybe I should let you get back to your real lover then?”
She was beginning to see that one of the things that attracted her most to Ethan was that he essentially wouldn’t let her push him around. Sure, he’d act as though he was a big pushover on the surface, but whenever she really tried to push him, he stood strong. He wasn’t intimidated by her.
Which was a huge turn-on. She’d never met a guy before who could stand his ground with her.
“No!” she said too quickly. “I mean, you know, so long as you’re here.” She glanced down at their bodies joined together and smiled an apologetic smile.
“Tell me my real rating,” he said. “I know you were lying earlier.”
“And what if I wasn’t?”
“You wouldn’t want me here unless you were lying. You didn’t exactly fight me off, you know.”
“I still could.”
“But you won’t.”
She sighed. “No, I won’t.”
“Because?”
“Look, the no-sex thing was a bad idea, okay? I admit it!”
“Oh?”
“As long as I’m here, we can have sex.”
“I’m still waiting to hear my real number,” he said, a devilish smile playing on his lips.
The feel of him inside her was too delicious, too much satisfaction to resist. “You’re a ten, Ethan. A solid ten.”
“That’s more like it.” He started pumping his hips more urgently now, and Nicole held on to him, kissed him, clung to him because she was too limp with pleasure to do anything else.
Then he stilled and withdrew from her for a moment, turned her around, and let her brace herself against the shower wall again as he eased into her from behind. In this position, he could penetrate even deeper, and she moaned at the heightened sensation of having him so far inside her.
She grasped the towel bar to steady herself more as he moved faster, and her gasps echoed throughout the bathroom. The showerhead still dangled, spraying oddly at their shins, but neither of them were disposed to stop and deal with the thing now, not when they were possessed by something that felt so good, so right.
Nicole felt an odd
mingling of sexual relief and a vague sense of dread. But dread about what? She was hardly in a state to be contemplating such big questions, but when she thought of how out of control she felt right now, she knew in an instant. Ethan threatened her every feeling of safety and security that came with being in control.
He turned her world on its ear and made her question why she felt so strongly that she needed to be always controlled, always denying her passions. Sometimes—like right now—it was damn good to follow her passion.
When Ethan reached around and teased her clit with his fingertips, all coherent thoughts vanished. Nicole sank into the sensation, until she felt herself giving in to the orgasm that she’d been on the cusp of all this time. It had been building strength, and it rocked her hard when it came.
She heard herself cursing and moaning and breathing hard as the uncontrollable pleasure wracked her body, and when it was finally done, she wondered how would she ever deny herself such pleasure again?
14
SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY, the potion’s so-called magic must have turned into real magic. Ethan had no idea what the stuff was, and it wasn’t exactly the crime lab’s first priority in spite of Nicole’s having tried to put a rush on it—they were claiming a six-week backup at the moment on non-urgent jobs—but he didn’t need scientific proof to know that it had had some power over them.
It had been enough to get Nicole to give in to him, at least. And that was a lot.
Ethan became aware that he was lying awake in the dark, and he glanced at the clock to see that it was half past three in the morning. Nicole’s leg was warm against his, so he moved closer to her, until the length of his body was pressed against hers. His cock stirred, then grew fully rigid and pressed into her hip, but she didn’t wake.
Yeah, somewhere along the way, the potion had worn off, but the animal attraction remained. Intensified. Expanded, until the intensity between them was greater than anything they’d experienced initially, under the influence of…whatever that stuff had been.
He tried to imagine explaining to anyone that he’d been operating under the influence of a mysterious lust potion, and he immediately nixed the idea. No one would believe him. He wasn’t even sure he believed it himself. But how else to explain that Nicole, with her steel will, had finally given in to him? There simply was no other explanation.
A Whisper Of Wanting Page 13
