Provoke Me

by Cari Quinn

  She hurried up the narrow winding flight of stairs to the second floor. Immediately the noise level dropped and rhythmic Middle Eastern music replaced the driving club beat. Exotic-sounding instruments accented the sinuous melody, adding to the feeling of surreality. She’d truly stepped into a whole new world.

  She took a deep breath and sandalwood incense singed her nostrils. Or maybe it was the marijuana. Hard to tell.

  Sipping her drink, she glanced around the wide, low-ceilinged room. Everything was red. Walls, carpet, couches. It looked as if someone had blown up a watermelon. When her gaze landed on a pair on the couch in flagrante delicto, she inhaled deeply. God. The guy’s pants bunched around his ankles and his bare white butt flexed as he plunged into the beautiful caramel-skinned woman beneath him. Her legs were practically behind her ears. Kelly could hear her moans from across the room but the middle-aged couple reading the paper beside them didn’t seem to notice.

  As the woman’s moans turned to shrieks, Kelly sucked down another mouthful, nearly swallowing the tiny cherry-laden sword in the process. She whirled away and stared at the glossy picture of overripe fruit on the wall until the woman had finally calmed down and her own heart rate began to slow.

  What was she doing here? The idea of home seemed ridiculously appealing at the moment. She had no clue where Alana had gone and she’d probably be the laughingstock of The Book Nook when she walked in the door tomorrow. One of her coworkers had to have found her PDA. It was the most likely scenario, since she’d had it before lunch. Sure, she might’ve dropped it in the parking lot outside the store, but she doubted it. She had that kind of luck.

  Hell, they could be dissecting her private code over wings and beers at the Double Burger at that very moment.

  And Spencer’s cock was probably balls-deep in the delicious Nina, who probably whimpered through her orgasms like a porn goddess.

  To distract herself, Kelly dug out her cell phone. Somewhere along the way, she’d turned it off. Well, that would make it hard for Alana to get a hold of her, wouldn’t it? After a moment’s debate, she called her friend. And got voicemail. How shocking.

  Thanks, Alana. Appreciate the support.

  Resigned to her fate, she pocketed the phone and took another few sips of liquid courage, and again faced the lounge.

  Most of the scattered groups of people were deep in conversation. Though why people chose a sex club to get philosophical, she didn’t know. Other than bendy chick and white butt, who’d swapped missionary position for doggy-style, and a couple of girls engaged in a marathon French-kissing session, no one was touching each other. Or even partially naked.

  She could handle this.

  Three doorways branched off the main room and she headed for one before the last of her nerve packed its bags and headed for Tahiti. She had to pass the pair screwing on the couch on her way out but instead of looking away, Kelly found her gaze drawn to the ripple of the guy’s thigh muscles as he powered in and out of the woman’s cunt. The man’s and woman’s gazes locked and she whimpered, caught in his spell.

  Just as Kelly was caught. She heard the whimper rise in her own throat, begging to be released. She wanted to be taken like that. Without mercy and with complete devotion.

  The man jackhammered his hips against the woman’s, his speed below the waist somehow emphasizing how carefully he stroked his partner’s face. He kissed her with reverence and cupped her cheek, making it seem as if they were alone rather than in a room full of strangers.

  Oddly mesmerized, Kelly lifted a hand to her damp throat. Her pulse raced under her fingers and her clit throbbed but she kept her feet moving. She was here to be part of the action, not watch it.

  If she didn’t throw up first.

  She moved through the throngs of people until she was alone in a long, dank hallway. Laughter rang out at the other end and she walked toward the sound. The closed door at the end of the hall taunted her. Beckoned her to investigate. Her feet moved forward of their own accord, forcing her toward what waited.

  Finally reaching the door, she pushed it open and swallowed the last of her drink. No more hesitation. No more watching.

  Her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting quickly. A hand wrapped around her ankle, startling her. She glanced down at a reclining, giggling blonde, clearly drunk off her ass, who’d decided her mission in life was to divest Kelly of her shoes.

  “Off, off! You’ll ruin the floor.”

  She complied, mainly because she assumed that would make the blonde slink away faster. She was right. The moment Kelly stepped out of her heels, the blonde crawled into a huge bear of a man’s lap. The towels between them fell away like tissue paper as she simultaneously wound her arm around his neck and her hand around his cock.

  Kelly jolted at the sudden tightening in her nipples. Damn, this was unreal. She turned her head, blinking away the thick clouds of steam that made her already clingy dress tighten as if it were cellophane. Her vision cleared before her mind could take in the scene before her. It wasn’t an orgy, exactly, because mostly everyone was split into couples. But the sheer amount of nudity was staggering.

  She swayed as a wave of dizziness swept over her. Between the overwhelming heat, the alcohol and her empty stomach, she couldn’t seem to focus. Her vision grayed and her damp fingers tensed around the glass she still held. Her back hit the wall and she groaned, beyond grateful for the support.

  Breathe, just breathe. Ride it out.

  Her swimming head shifted toward the couple in the corner directly across from her. At first she couldn’t make out their faces through the thick steam but it didn’t matter. She didn’t need to. She recognized the large hand on the small of the woman’s naked back, just below her fall of auburn curls. The thick but somehow elegant fingers, the wide palm, the expensive gold watch.

  Kelly swallowed hard. Flight-or-fight instincts kicked in, strongly leaning toward flight. But she couldn’t stop staring.

  God, he was beautiful.

  They stood at an angle, offering her a profile view. Shadows gilded his roped shoulders as their sweat-slickened bodies rubbed against each other. His head lowered to hers, his perfect lips roaming her mouth, her cheeks, her neck. He fisted a handful of her hair and turned her around so that his cock, clearly visible under his towel, brushed her ass. She smiled over her shoulder at him, her long, blood-red nails scraping up his neck as their mouths flirted. Almost kissing, but not quite.

  Kelly didn’t move. Scarcely breathed. What would he do next? Fuck Nina right here in front of everyone?

  Of course.

  But he didn’t. Instead he pushed Nina toward a man seated on a bench a few feet away and stepped back.

  Nina went willingly, her eagerness palpable as she tore the man’s towel away and straddled his lap. It was only then that Kelly saw the guy had already donned a condom. Was that how it worked? Guys suited up and waited for a woman to hop on?

  Apparently Nina didn’t have a problem with that idea. She impaled herself on his cock and he grabbed her breasts, lifting them to his hungry mouth. He ate at her flesh as if she were succulent fruit and she squirmed against him, clearly loving every moment.

  Kelly sucked in a breath, unable to look away. Unable to remember why she didn’t want to be there. She pressed her thighs together, trying to ignore the persistent throb of her clit. This wasn’t her scene, even if her body said otherwise.

  Nina dropped her head back, her long hair trailing over the guy’s thighs as she rode him with abandon. Her legs squeezed his and he sucked on her nipples, making her cry out loud enough for Kelly to hear. Squeal was more like it. From the sounds of things, she’d be coming in no time.

  Spencer stared at them, standing close but apart. Not touching anyone, just watching. Kelly’s gaze dropped to the definite rise in the front of his towel. She gasped aloud as he undid the knot at his hip and gripped his length, twisting hard, his face contorting with need.

  God, she wanted to touch him. To see and to ta
ste. If only he would watch her the way he watched Nina and that guy go at it, as if he were memorizing every movement, absorbing every groan. What would she do to make his jaw clench that way? What could she do?

  The guy palmed Nina’s ass and hauled her up and down his cock, eliciting more of her cries. They seemed to fill the room, rising above the noises of the other couples. The guy started swatting her ass, leaving red handprints as he thrust up into her waiting pussy. Waves of heat washed over Kelly from head to toe. She clutched her glass as flames licked at her sex, arcing sparks into her nipples.

  She couldn’t believe how turned-on she was. Between the rampant sexuality all around her and Spencer standing mere feet away, wearing only a towel, touching himself, she couldn’t think. She needed to come. And from his restless pulls on his cock, he needed the same thing.

  Nina released a long, broken moan and Kelly’s hold on her drink faltered, her fingers slipping from her own sweat.Shit.

  Glass exploded on the polished floor, the sound ricocheting like gunfire. Only the people closest to her noticed. Or at least that was what she thought until her gaze connected with Spencer’s. He’d drawn back to stare at her as if he were seeing a ghost. Shock etched features that a moment ago had been taut with lust and those heavy-lidded, dark eyes burned into hers across the room.

  Hey there, Spencer. Remember me?

  Awareness hummed between them. His hooded gaze raked her bare, left her shivering and raw.

  Exposed.

  It was all too much. She’d come here to be with him when she couldn’t even face herself in this place. She couldn’t take those few steps toward him, but she couldn’t turn away.

  Her game had gone way too far.

  “Jesus, fuck, look at all the glass! I got a piece in my ass!” The giggly blonde—not so giggly now—leaped to her feet and glared at Kelly. At the same moment, Kelly’s cell phone went off in her purse, launching into one of the latest songs.

  “Christ, turn that shit off!” Giggly blonde’s male friend must not have been a fan of pop music.

  Kelly grabbed her shoes. Obviously, she’d overstayed her welcome.

  She didn’t stop to slip on her sandals before running through the door. Just keep moving. Hard to do when the hall suddenly teemed with people. Where had they all come from?

  She waited for a break in the foot traffic to take a step but her dizziness returned. Better and better. She had to get out of there. But her feet refused to work.

  Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to get hold of herself. She could freak out later. Much later, when she was safe in her bed at home.

  She fought her way through the crowd, somehow managing to make it to the shadowy end of the hallway. The emergency exit loomed ahead. Safety. But before she reached it, someone drove her up against the wall. Her breath rushed out in a big whoosh as she realized a muscled male body had her pinned.

  And not just with his hands. A hard cock pressed against her backside. She went still.

  “Don’t think you got what you came for,” he said softly, his voice barely a hot whisper against her ear. “Or do you just like to watch too?”

  She’d thought she couldn’t breathe a second ago? Cripes, she’d been positively overoxygenated compared to this. Her lungs squeezed and she stared at the wall, sure she’d wake up in her bed any time now. Alone, with her hand between her legs as she’d awakened so many times before. He always visited her in her dreams, taunting her with what she’d never have.

  Except he was right here. And she’d be damned if she just let him walk away.

  She bucked against him, and for an instant he dropped his guard and the arm he’d used to cage her. Then she grabbed his hand and pulled it down, pressing it against her belly. Giving herself that extra second before she took things to a place they couldn’t step back from.

  His fingers flexed in her hold.Go for it, she admonished herself.

  But before she could, he went for it for her. He slid his hand between her legs, rubbing hard. She jerked her hips against his palm, desperate for more. The friction of his brusque touch both soothed the ache and intensified it. As wet as she was, she barely needed any stimulation at all and he’d already overloaded her.

  Her heart pounded frantically and she opened her mouth on a soft cry. He ground his hand, circling, dragging it up and down until her cries became one long, endless moan.

  She tensed and stilled in his hold, the storm inside her reaching the breaking point. Yes. Finally. He covered her mouth with his other hand and pulled her head back against his shoulder, muffling the sound of her scream. The resulting spurt of fear from his abrupt move only magnified her orgasm. Helpless, she bit his fingers as she came.

  He gave her a moment to regain her equilibrium. Then he whirled her around.

  As she met his dark, needy eyes, Kelly blushed clear down to her kneecaps. For once in her life, she was completely speechless.

  “You bit me,” he said in an undertone.

  She swallowed a dozen retorts.I want to bite you everywhere. “Did you like it?”

  Before he could answer, a group of people thundered past them toward the exit. Spencer tugged her against him as if he could shield her with his body. But from what? Where was the fire?

  “What’s happening?” she whispered.

  Just then someone shouted, “Cops!”

  Cops? Hell no. She was not about to get caught with her boss on her virgin outing to a sex club. Impossible.

  “We’re not sharing a jail cell,” she muttered, once again stunned into immobility. Her brain and mouth worked just fine but her shoes felt stuck to the floor.

  “Goddammit, Kelly.” He shook her hard enough to make her still quivering belly revolt. “We need to go.Now.”

  Chapter Four

  She stared at him. “You called me Kelly.”

  “It’s your name, isn’t it?” He didn’t wait for her answer. Instead he clasped her wrist in his broad palm, squeezing until it felt as if all circulation in her hand had ceased. “Let’s go.”

  When she still didn’t move, he yanked her forward and barreled toward the exit, navigating the twisty staircase with ease. Even in the melee of people and noise, he knew right where to go. The moment the door thunked shut behind them, he gripped her chin.

  His eyes were blacker than she’d ever seen them before. Holy fuck, he looked pissed.

  “What the hell possessed you to go in there alone?”

  Kelly sputtered, her mouth now as incapable of working as her weakened knees. Had he already forgotten the moment they’d just shared against the wall? “Where did she go?”

  “Who?”

  “Your girlfriend.”

  “Christ, Nina’s not my girlfriend. Didn’t we already have this conversation in my office?”

  “But where did she go? I mean, she was in the steam room with you before you, uh, came out to see me.”

  He rolled his neck as if he were gearing up for a workout. Or a fight. “We just met up here. And she probably left with the guy she was fucking. I don’t know. I had other priorities.”

  Kelly blinked. Did that mean she was his priority? Since when?

  “I asked you a question. Why did you go in there alone? Are you nuts?”

  “I didn’t— My friend—”

  “Get in your car and head home.”

  “I didn’t drive here. My friend could still be in there.” Even as she said the words, she glanced across the parking lot to where Alana’s car had been parked.

  The slot was empty.

  Her throat convulsed as her phone again went off in her purse. She dug it out, saw the caller was Alana and shoved it back in her bag. She wasn’t interested in speaking to the person who’d ditched her right now. Some friend. “I’ll get a cab.”

  “Great idea. Stand here and wait for the cops to pick you up. Put on your damn shoes.” He’d taken them out of her hands without her realizing it and shoved them back at her. “My car’s over there.”

  “I
know.” She slipped on her sandals and hurried after him, feeling like a wobbly toddler. People still weaved around them and cars peeled out of the lot with loud squeals of rubber.

  “Oh do you?”

  His tone rankled even more than the perspiration beading her face and sliding down the valley between her breasts. Unrelenting desire did tend to up the heat. The orgasm she’d had a few minutes ago had only made her eager for more.

  “I make it my business to know things about people I work with,” she said, trying not to study the faint patch of sweat blossoming on the back of his T-shirt.

  Wait a second. T-shirt? Since when did Spencer Galvin wear T-shirts, khakis and sneakers?

  Probably since he started hanging out at illicit sex clubs.

  “Yeah? Me too.” He stopped under the beam of a streetlamp beside the Acura and unlocked the passenger door, turning just enough for her to see the pinprick droplets above his upper lip. She wanted to lap them up, savor the salt explosion on her tongue.

  She fought back a shiver and clasped her thighs tighter. God, she couldn’t get in his car. She’d ruin his seats.

  “Get in already.”

  Then again, she couldn’t not get in his car. Up-against-the-wall orgasm aside, she was so freaking horny she’d die if she didn’t get her hands on him. His leather interior wasn’t her problem.

  “Since you asked so nicely.” She slid inside and sucked in a breath as he rounded the hood. The car reeked of pineapple. Her stomach burbled a weak protest at the possibility of food.

  “What’s that smell?” she demanded once he opened his door.

  “Leftover pineapple chicken.” He folded his long body behind the wheel with remarkable grace and jerked a thumb at the backseat. “You can have it if you want, since your tongue’s about to fall out of your mouth.”

  She didn’t particularly like that comment but it was sterling truth. Though she wasn’t sure the lollygagging tongue was from the Chinese or the sight of Spencer all rumpled and sweaty. He wasn’t a tower of nerves like she was but he also wasn’t his normal unflappable self.