At 11:45, he pulled up to the HarbourView Inn, grabbed his duffle bag and computer case and handed the sleepy valet his keys.
“Miss Laurel Leighton and Mrs. Tessa Byrnes back from 82 Queen yet?”
“Got back an hour ago sir.”
He handed the man a fifty and walked into the hotel. He managed to get a room on the same floor, two doors down from the room Laurel and Tess were in. He tossed his stuff on the bed, washed his face, ran his electric razor over his face, and brushed his teeth.
He grabbed his room key and strolled down the hall, and then he knocked firmly on the door of the corner suite.
The door opened without hesitation and he saw a smiling Tessa staring back at him.
“C’mon in,” she said breezily, “looks like I pegged you right.”
Laurel was just coming out of the bathroom. Dressed in blue silk pj’s she was an adorable sight.
“Garrett, what are you doing here?”
“It occurred to me that I might have been a bit ambivalent about planning our date this weekend.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. I should have mentioned that I had planned,” he quickly looked at this watch, “a midnight walk on the battery in the lovely city of Charleston.”
“Did you now?”
“Well, not initially. But as I drove south, the idea cemented itself in my mind. If you’re free, I’d love for you to accompany me.”
“I’m in my pajamas.”
He looked at her and raised a sardonic brow. “You can remove them, or I can. But I assure you, it will delay our walk greatly if you leave it up to me.”
“Garrett, maybe she doesn’t want to go for a walk right now,” Tessa said.
“Tessa, either she takes a walk with me, or you take one by yourself, and I’m sure Roman would not be happy about that. I am going to talk to Laurel privately one way or the other. Either we go or you go. I do have a room down the hall, you’re welcome to use that.”
Tessa stood, hands on hips and looked over at Laurel. “Laurel, what do you want?”
They both just stared at each other. The emotions of the last few hours had drained him and she could see he was tired. And quite frankly, so was she. It would be better to get this over with.
“We know how this is going to end,” she said.
“I hope to God you figure that to be in my bed.”
She gave him a tiny sideways smile. “Well, actually I hadn’t. But now that you mention it . . .”
“Laurel,” Tess began.
“Tess, have you never seen two star-crossed lovers trying to work things out? Surely it wasn’t all wine and roses for you and Roman,” Garrett said.
Tessa smiled at the memories that thought evoked. “No . . . no, it wasn’t.”
“Let me take Laurel with me. Just to my room. In thirty minutes you can check on her. If at any time she wants to leave, she can. I only want to talk to her, to apologize for my not making my intentions for this weekend more definite.”
“Sounds fair, don’t you think, Tess?” Laurel asked wistfully.
Tess shook her head. “Look at her, she’s already in a sexual coma for God’s sake. How do you men do this?”
Garrett grinned. “She is, isn’t she?” he said as he stepped forward, took her hand and led her out the door. “Don’t wait breakfast for us.”
“I’m still going to check on her.”
“That may delay things. But I’m nothing if not a patient man,” he said as he closed the door behind them.
He could hear Tessa’s laughter all the way down the hall. He had to smile at her audacity.
At the door to his room, he lifted Laurel into his arms. He opened the door and carried her inside, letting the door close softly against his foot.
Chapter Sixty
He stood her beside the huge four-poster bed and ran his fingers through her loose curls, tipped her head back to look into her sultry green eyes. There was something else there though; fire, and she let him know where it came from.
“Before you fog my brain with all that sexy mambo you have going on, you should know that I’m angry at you. You trivialized us. You caused me to have emotions that tore me up inside for days. I won’t have anybody treating me like a woman who can’t see through these types of machinations, who doesn’t know how to stand up for herself. The sex aside, I do fine for myself . . . for the most part.”
He took her frantically waving hand and brought it to her side, stroking the thumb as he held it in place. “I know you do. And I’m sorry. You may not believe this, but I had good intentions—the very best of intentions.”
“Oh, this I’d like to hear.”
He took a big breath and dove in. “I was trying to exert my control over you. In a purely physical way. The way a dominant might to ensure that the woman he’s with obeys.”
She gasped and her head jerked back. Then she simply stared. She could hear the ocean outside the window in the silence that grew, as her wide, curiously bright eyes met his. “So . . . you’re a Dom?” he saw the interest in her eyes.
“I am whatever you need me to be. I want this relationship to work. I’ll be whatever you tell me to be. In the few encounters we’ve had, I sensed submissiveness in you, it was calling to me and I wanted to channel it. So I was trying to set myself up as a master of sorts, for you . . . only clearly I didn’t go about it the right way.”
He watched as desire flared in her eyes. Oh, she was intrigued all right.
He continued, still stroking her thumb and gazing into her eyes. She had no makeup on and she looked lovely, her skin so smooth, so fresh, he wanted to kiss it all. And why did she bother with eye makeup, her lashes were naturally sooty-looking around her wide, bright eyes.
“To do the roles properly, they have to eclipse into our every day lives. I guess the idea that I could sit you on a shelf and come back for you later, on my own time schedule, didn’t work its way into your overall thinking.”
“No. It did not.” She removed her thumb from his caress and walked over to the window facing the waterfront.
It was dark, few lights shone but she could make out the water churning its way to the coast in the distance.
“Garrett, I was very upset the day you left, and every day after. It’s hard for a woman not knowing, not being sure of her man.”
“Am I your man?” he asked softly, coming up to stand behind her, about to put his hands on her shoulders when she turned to face him.
“You are currently the only man I am fucking, so, yeah, I’d say you’re my man. Now whether that grants me exclusive rights, that’s hard to say. But it works both ways, as you don’t have them either at this point.” She turned back to the window.
“I don’t?” he asked as he ran his fingertips up her arm and stroked the back of her neck. Confidence filling him again, he smiled. She thought of him as her man.
“From a strictly health-based issue, we need to talk about this—especially if you plan on foregoing condoms. Emotionally? Well, I can only commit to one person at a time. And they get my full attention.”
“They?”
“Okay, by they, I mean he.”
“Good to know. Although for the record, I’m not opposed to the other scenario as long as I can watch or be included.”
She looked into the glass and gave him a wry smile, “Let’s just settle our current issues, okay?’
“I would love to. What do I need to say or do to make that happen? You want a calendar with the date nights blocked out?”
“No. I just want to know we aren’t going to play games with each other. I need true feelings, honest emotions . . . I want to see where this can lead, but only if it’s genuine. And if you find you aren’t interested a
nymore, I want you to tell me. I don’t need the high drama of finding you with another woman.”
“I had the high drama of thinking I was coming here to find you with another man,” he whispered close to her ear, his hand sliding on the smooth, cool silk over her belly as he pressed her back against him. She groaned and he let out a sigh of relief. They had this. They would always have this.
She snickered and brought him back to the present. “Humph! Not likely. I haven’t had a lot of experience, but I’ve had enough to know that nobody plays my body like you do. I go from hot and bothered to a fevered pitch in nanoseconds when you touch me. And nobody can make me step away from myself and completely let loose. I’ve done things with you . . . gosh, I blush to think.”
He met her eyes in the reflection of the dark glass. And for the first time he realized how good they looked together.
“Well, I think the most important thing to establish, is . . . will you do them again?” he asked as he bent and kissed her on her neck.
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Good.” He unbuttoned the first two buttons of her pajama top and brushed his fingertips along her collarbone. “I guess before we get started, it might be prudent for you to call Tessa and let her know I’m not abusing you . . . yet,” he added with a wicked gleam in his eye.
He walked over to the nightstand, picked up the phone, punched in the prefix and then Tessa’s room number, and handed the phone to Laurel. He listened as she talked to her friend, assuring her that everything was going to be fine, telling her that she would be staying with Garrett in his room and going home with him tomorrow. Garrett interrupted with a raised finger to say, “Tuesday . . . that is if it’s all right
with you.”
She nodded and gave him a big smile. A moment later she offered him the phone, “She wants to talk to you.”
He groaned and reluctantly took the phone Laurel was handing him.
“Yes, Tess?”
“I just want to make sure you understand that this girl is not to be trifled with. If your feelings are not real, if you have any doubt about being able to make something of this, something lasting . . . then end it now. Because I can assure you that Roman, Matt, and Philip, hold her in high regard, and will come down on you hard if you hurt her again.”
“Technically, I didn’t hurt her this time. She came to the erroneous conclusion on her own that I was not interested in her other than physically.”
“It was not on her own. You were being manipulative.”
He paused for a long moment and took a deep breath. “All right, I’ll grant you that one.”
He heard her chuckle. “Good for you, you’re a big boy, owning up to your transgressions. Now, no more games. She’s been through a lot. She doesn’t need a love affair to bring her down.”
“Tess, I promise . . . I will not hurt her. I’m vested in this. Truly. But believe me,” he said in a sultry voice, “there are going to be some games.” He winked at Laurel.
“Well, mmm . . . that’s very nice to hear. Good night, Garrett.”
“Good night, Tess.”
He hung up the phone and walked back to Laurel. “Mambo sexy, huh?”
She nodded and finished unbuttoning her pajama top.
When he saw the tiny lacy bra under it, he frowned. “You wear a bra to bed?”
“Not usually, but sometimes. I like to think of it as working against gravity for my dotage.”
“Okay, we’ll leave it on,” he said as he used his index finger to hook the scalloped lace edging then pulled it down to expose her right breast.
“I only need one to play with right now anyway.”
He tugged her to him by using his fingers, inserted under the cinched strap between her breasts, ducked his head and kissed her hungrily, his skilled tongue doing incredible things inside her mouth.
Desire unfurled in her belly as a finger of his left hand traced its way down from her neck to her collarbone and then grazed the top of her breast. His finger circled it, then his hand lifted it more fully from the cup holding it prisoner, and he lightly plucked at the heavy fullness on the underside. He was careful not to touch the tip. She moaned and whispered, “Please . . . it’s been so long.”
He lifted his head from where he’d been kissing her lips, nibbling at them and sucking on them.
“Please what? What do you want me to do for you?”
“My breasts . . . your mouth . . .”
“Lick, suck, bite?” he asked, as his thumb and fingertip found the tip and lightly pinched it.
“Aaaah . . . I’m not sure . . .”
“Let’s try a little of each, shall we?”
Just the thought that his lips were moving in the direction of her breast had her gasping. When he flicked the tip back and forth with his tongue, closed his lips over it and tugged, she sagged in his arms. He nibbled on the lengthening tip and tugged with his teeth drawing it out further, and she cried out his name and gripped his arms to keep from falling.
He released her nipple and looked up at her with slumberous eyes. “I’m not about to let you fall, baby. But maybe this will help hold you up.” He unbuckled his belt and whipped it from his belt loops. It made a whirring and snapping sound. It made her jump.
He smiled at her reaction, then took both of her hands and held them above her head. He cupped them around the back of the bed support, forcing her to overlap her fingers behind the tall post. When she was gripping the column of the four-poster bed the way he wanted her to, he stepped back.
He threaded his leather belt through his hands as he watched her—admired her. Then he leaned in to kiss her forehead.
“I’m going to bind your wrists to the bed post and then I’m going to make love to your body. And you’re going to stand there and take it . . . every lick, every kiss, every bite. When you’re trembling with need, I’m going fuck you . . . and if you’re a good girl, I’ll let you come. Now if none of this appeals to you, I’d mention it now before I get too involved. Are you going to be okay with this?”
She was nodding her head before he could finish the question. He chuckled. “I thought you might be.” He reached up and wrapped his belt between her hands and then circled both her wrists and the pole until he could fasten the belt with the buckle.
When he saw she was bound properly, he stood back and admired his handiwork. The woman tied up in front of him was trembling with need. His own body was hardening and he was getting impossibly heavy in his groin. His erection was a painful ridge inside his jeans. He squeezed it lengthwise and let out a groan as his head fell back and his eyes closed.
When he opened them he looked at her and said, “See what you do to me, see what the sight of you restrained does to me? Laurel, you are so fucking beautiful, I can hardly stand it.”
She felt her womb contract and then the flow collect and dampen her panties. She squirmed and panted as he focused on her joined hands, the loose blonde hair grazing her shoulders and the one sweet breast poking out of her bra cup. Her midriff was bare, the long silky pajama bottoms she still wore, slung dangerously low on her hips. The same ones she was desperately trying to pull off with her bare feet.
He couldn’t hold back the smile. “Stop fidgeting. You can rest assured that I will be taking them off. Everything is going to come off, except your bra. As I promised . . . you can keep that on. He walked over and bared the other nipple, this one by lifting the cup over it. He openly examined her, raising both brows and giving her a smug smile. “I can’t decide which way I like to display your breasts better.”
She flushed and creamed herself even more, wondering what she looked like, trussed for his perverse pleasure—unable to cover herself, unable to do anything but watch this incredibly handsome man have his wicked way with her. She fought to keep f
rom looking at herself in the mirror over the dresser on the other side of the room. But then gave in and looked. The way she was posed was sinful . . . lewd . . . objectifying . . . and hot—unbelievably hot.
He took her head between his hands and kissed her hard, delving his tongue deep. “I love how you taste. I can taste caramel on your tongue. It drives me wild. What flavor will I find when I taste you here?” he whispered, lightly stroking her mons through the silk. “Maybe I should shove a few Werther’s up there and then try to fish them out with my tongue.”
Her knees buckled and only the belt around her wrists kept her from falling. He cupped her genitalia until she got her legs back under her. He loved seeing her so aroused. Loved the look on her face as rapture overtook her and her eyelids fluttered closed.
He leaned in and began kissing her right breast, working toward the nipple as his talented fingers plucked at the nipple of her left one. Her throaty moans, devastating shivers, and arching hips were a testament to the heady desire moving through her body that was making her soft and ready for him.
His lips found her nipple, sucked . . . tugged. He heard her gasp and knew he couldn’t hold her back much longer. He kissed his way down her cleavage to her navel where he sucked and tongued her. He followed the slanted line of her pajamas, kissing and using his teeth to inch them down, one side, and then the other. When they fell past her hips, the weight of them took them to the floor and she was all but bare. Skimpy lacy underwear, a scrap of material he felt sure would fit in a lipstick tube, and a bra hiding nothing were all she wore. He looked up at her, drinking in the sight of this beautiful woman displayed so provocatively for him. He couldn’t stand the pressure of his erection fighting to stand tall in his pants any longer.
Flash Drive Page 44
