Ravenous Virtue

by Tracy St. John

  Raven would be dancing tonight, and she debated the merits of comfortable ballet flats with the leopard-patterned heels that would lift her short stature and make her legs look so killer. Finally, she opted for the heels, deciding their gorgeous style were worth the sore feet she’d suffer.

  A simple silver chain around her neck and Navaho-inspired bangles on her wrists finished off the look. Looking good and feeling great, Raven put a lipstick and her wallet in a small clutch. Happily humming the song ‘Stronger’, Raven left the apartment to meet Kimi.

  * * * *

  Raven and Kimi walked into Rafters, a loft club with a bar and decent-sized dance floor. Up on the second floor of the wood-frame building, with the beam supports of the roof exposed, it was hot despite the blowing air conditioning. It was still early on this Friday night, but there were already plenty of sweaty bodies beneath the pulsing lighting system, fearlessly gyrating to the club music beat. The place was awash in past and present scents of alcohol, sweat, and perfume.

  The two women squinted in the dimmer environs of the seating area. Neither Kimi nor Raven liked to sit at the bar. For a woman it was like begging to be picked up, and it never failed that the most disreputable-looking men would approach, sniffing for that opportunity.

  Kimi nudged Raven. “Hey, get out your time log. The auditor guy is here, Mr. No-Fun Bringer himself.”

  Raven looked where her friend indicated. With a jolt of pleasant surprise, she saw Douglas standing at the corner of the gleaming wood bar, looking at them with an amused smile. It was almost as if he’d heard Kimi’s comment. He looked amazing with his chameleon hair brushed neatly back, his white shirt open to the hollow of his throat and sleeves rolled back to display leanly muscled forearms. He somehow made the whole outfit heartstopping, including the blue jeans that clung lovingly to thick thighs and rounded ass and a pair of well-worn cowboy boots.

  Well howdy, partner, Raven thought. As polished as he looked in his suits, Douglas looked like rugged heaven in casual wear. The ranch hand fashion wasn’t quite right for a dance club like Rafters, but the man made it work. Every woman in his vicinity cast covetous glances at the tall vision of masculinity.

  He raised a beer bottle to Raven, and she gave him a little wave. She was suddenly glad she’d worn her heels, though they had started to make her toes ache. Her legs would have looked much too short otherwise.

  Kimi called, “Over here, Raven. Let’s have a drink and then hit the floor.”

  The perky blonde had managed to score the one still-empty table in the entire place. As Raven sat down with her friend, she couldn’t help but look at Douglas. Her heart actually fluttered to see him heading in their direction.

  Great. I have a crush. How high school can it get?

  There was no denying the warmth that flooded her body as he arrived at their table and nodded to them, slipping her a sly little wink as he did so. “Good evening ladies. Do my eyes deceive me or is this Ranger Virtue in a dress and heels? You look quite lovely too, Ranger Furio.”

  Kimi batted her eyes in obvious, and therefore insincere, flirting. “Thank you, Mr. Bringer. You’re just in time to keep the more desperate element from bothering us. Go ahead and take a seat.”

  “Only if I can buy the first round and you call me Douglas.”

  Kimi was never one to refuse a nice-looking man the opportunity to pay for her drinks. “No arguments here.”

  Douglas sat down next to Raven at the small table. His rough denim-clad thigh rubbed against her mostly bare leg by accident and stayed there. Feeling deliciously naughty, Raven decided not to move away.

  They ordered their drinks, both women going for Jack and Diet Coke. After the waitress moved away, Raven asked, “What brings you here, Douglas? Somehow I never would have picked a place like this for a guy like you.”

  “No? And what kind of guy would you picture me as?”

  His easy grin held that undercurrent of danger Raven had seen before. A curl of excitement went through her abdomen. Her pussy actually spasmed a little at that knowing smirk. She made herself quash the rush of arousal.

  Kimi answered with a giggle. “You’re an auditor, one step up from a stodgy accountant. You should be having tea with dear old Mom in her doily-covered sitting room.”

  That made Douglas laugh out loud. “Dear old Mom is probably out snapping the whip over her underlings. She’s not one to have tea with.”

  Kimi’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, a woman of means? Are you a spoiled rich boy?”

  “Not at all. Nor would I want to be. I like the challenge of taking what I want.”

  As the waitress showed up with their drinks, Douglas’ amazing golden gaze bore into Raven’s eyes, as if he would telepathically tell her what it was he wanted to take. That hazy curl of excitement she’d felt transformed into a blatant erotic thrill.

  She thought of the wilder things she’d done with Todd the other night and how much she’d enjoyed them. She thought of how it might feel to do those things with Douglas. To have her backside swatted by his long-fingered hands. To have her wrists tied up in her stockings and a tie gagging her mouth while he fucked her hard.

  What in the hell has gotten into me?

  Sucking down a mouthful of her drink to cure the sudden dryness of her mouth, Raven pretended smugness. “It must be very disappointing when you don’t get what you want.”

  Douglas’ eyes narrowed. “It just makes me work harder for it. I might suffer a setback or two, but I never give up.”

  There was definite threat in his tone, though he gave her a playful smile as he issued it. Unable to help herself, Raven smiled coyly. She was flirting though she knew she shouldn’t. Somehow she couldn’t seem to help herself. There was just something about Bringer that drew her, that hint of danger that was so damned intriguing.

  Welcome to my home, said the spider to the fly. Raven shivered.

  Douglas finally moved his gaze to include Kimi. “What about your mothers? How do they feel about their daughters working the law enforcement job with the highest casualty rate? Or have you not shared that particular statistic with them about the National Park Service?”

  Raven shrugged and felt her excitement drop, the spell broken. “Mine are dead. Have been since I was young. None of the foster families I ended up with have kept up with me, not that I care.”

  Kimi added. “We’re both orphans.”

  Raven traded bitter smiles with her friend. “Kimi’s an orphan twice over.”

  Douglas looked at the blonde with startled interest. “Really? How is that possible?”

  Kimi sipped her drink. “My mother didn’t survive my birth. I have no idea who my father was. My real mom and dad, the couple who adopted me, drowned two years ago.”

  He looked suitably horrified. “Both of them at the same time?”

  Kimi nodded. She’d cried an ocean of tears on Raven’s shoulder over the loss. She’d gotten over it for the most part, but holidays and birthdays were still bad.

  She told Douglas, “Dad fell off their boat in Lake Mead. He hit his head on the way down, knocking him out. Mom went after him, but instead of saving him, she died too.”

  He touched the hand she had clutched around her glass briefly. “I’m very sorry, Kimi.”

  She managed a grateful smile for the sincerity in his voice. “Yeah, it sucked. At least I had them for the time I did. They were great.”

  Raven agreed. She’d been accepted by Kimi’s adoptive parents and had joined the Furio family for many of their important events after the two women had become friends. It was the closest Raven had ever come to having a real family herself. Kimi’s loss had proven to Raven she would have done anything to have had parents she could remember, even if only for a short time.

  Kimi mock-scowled at Douglas. “Damn, Bringer, I came out to have fun, buck up Raven here after that Miranda fuckup, and you’re killing my buzz.”

  He chuckled. “You’re absolutely right. Who wants to dance?”

&n
bsp; Raven stared at him. “No way. You dance?”

  He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Want to find out?”

  “Hell, yeah.” Raven knocked back the rest of her drink, stood, and grabbed Kimi’s wrist. “Come on, girlfriend, let’s see how this glorified accountant shakes it on the floor.”

  Kimi laughed, all the momentary sadness evaporating in an instant. “This I gotta see.”

  They pulled their handsome companion onto the floor, joining the crowd celebrating the weekend that Raven would be working through. Both women were impressed with Douglas’ ability to move his graceful body.

  “Damn, I need to switch from scoring cops to auditors!” Kimi declared in admiration.

  Douglas only laughed.

  Kimi, being the gregarious creature she was, moved on to other dance partners after fifteen minutes. Raven didn’t want to dance with anyone else, and fortunately Douglas seemed loathe to give her up. He kept touching her, as if to make sure she and everyone else knew she was with him. The contact was innocent, just cupping her shoulder or elbow, sliding his hand down her upper arm, or brushing her waist. Yet every touch made Raven feel warm inside. The seductive way he swayed rather than jerking enthusiastically like many others chose to dance, also had her nerves jumping. The man was pure sex in jeans, and Raven found herself assaulted once again with visions of what he could do to her.

  Those deep, dangerous eyes, with their mesmerizing gold color, seemed to hypnotize her. She just couldn’t look away from Douglas, not even when the floor grew more crowded than ever and she was constantly bumped into. It was almost as if they existed on a separate plane from everyone else, like ghosts among the living.

  He had some kind of hold on her, Raven realized. It should have warned her away. Instead, she wanted to remain in his thrall, to see what danger the man truly represented. She moved close to him, so close that she could smell his exotic cologne. Close enough to feel the warmth of his body against hers. Dancing with Douglas Bringer was like dancing with a cobra, a beautiful, deadly creature that bided its time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

  It was almost midnight when Raven decided to call it a night. She worked weekends, prime time for the tourists, and she was out too late by her own standards. Her fascination with Douglas Bringer had kept her out well past her bedtime.

  Kimi was still partying it up and having a great time. Raven didn’t worry about leaving her friend alone in the club. Kimi never had more than two drinks even when she wasn’t scheduled to work the next day. Plus, she was absolutely lethal in hand-to-hand tactics, which a man wearing gang tattoos had discovered six months earlier when he attacked her.

  The altercation had turned deadly over a citation Kimi had issued to the man for scrawling graffiti on an ARPA-designated archeological site. Even when an officer killed someone in self-defense in the line of duty, it hit that ranger hard. The department psychologist was only now discussing Kimi coming off dispatch and going back to patrol duty soon.

  “I could do it again if I had to,” Kimi had told Raven a few weeks back. “Lethal force, I mean. It’s the stupid nightmares and insomnia that keep the shrink from giving me a clean bill of health.”

  Right now Kimi danced with a former second-string pro football player she and Raven knew pretty well. Big and muscled beyond belief, he presented plenty of intimidation where any would-be troublemakers were concerned. He was also gay with no interest in Kimi beyond friendship and a great dance partner. Raven knew he’d walk Kimi back to her car when the night was over, sending her safely home alone.

  Raven said her goodbyes and stepped out into the warm night not one bit worried about her friend. However, she was a little nervous for herself. Douglas insisted on accompanying her to her SUV. It wasn’t that Raven didn’t trust him. She wasn’t trusting herself so much. The auditor was interesting and funny, but it was that sense of peril he gave her that had her contemplating him in unsavory ways. She’d been aroused all night as they danced, drank, talked, and laughed. The man really got to her.

  Raven led the way to her sand-scarred SUV, the parking lot lights twinkling off the scratched metal and glass. She listened to Douglas’ cowboy boots thump lightly on the pavement behind her. She’d had a good time and hated she had no excuse to make it last longer, along with too many reasons why the night had to end.

  “Here I am. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said. “Unless you’re off? It is the weekend.”

  Raven turned to find Douglas standing very close. Her stomach fluttered to see how close.

  He said, “Usually I would be, but I have some paperwork that needs catching up. We’ll probably run into each other.”

  “Okay then.” Raven tried to turn back to her vehicle, where she would unlock the door, get inside, and drive home. Only she didn’t. She simply stood there, looking up at Douglas.

  He stepped closer, only inches away. The next thing Raven knew, his mouth was on hers and he was kissing her.

  His lips were warm and soft. Raven moved hers to feel him better, then her tongue peeked out to taste him. His mouth opened in response, and the silk of his tongue twined about hers.

  Raven moaned. Douglas tasted as exotic as he looked and smelled, a mix of the imported beer he’d drunk, something a bit spicy, and earthy muskiness. His tongue swept into her mouth, exploring with excruciating thoroughness. She melted into the kiss, her body sinking against his. As if in response to her surrender, Douglas’ hands closed on her wrists. He lifted them up and pinned them to the roof of her SUV. His body pressed demandingly against hers and Raven forgot everything except tasting and touching and moaning.

  His muscled thigh slid between her legs, shoving right up against her crotch. Raven rubbed against it, feeling her already awakened body coming to acute alertness, especially there. A part of her felt as if she was falling, descending to a place where only pleasure mattered. Where only Douglas Bringer mattered. She kept rutting against his thigh, his deep, demanding kiss urging her on. Heavy, gorgeous desire moved deep in her belly, and she worked against him harder and faster. Meanwhile, he kept her prisoner against her SUV, allowing only her mouth and hips freedom to move, to claim her pleasure. One hand continued to hold her wrists while the other rubbed her breasts with exciting demand. Douglas was strong, like Todd never was.

  Well, except for last night. Todd was like this for me, and it was so good. Powerful and forceful and…

  Oh no. Todd. Also known as her boyfriend. What the hell was she doing?

  Raven gasped and jerked her head to the side, breaking the kiss. “Stop!”

  Douglas stopped mauling her chest. His chest heaving, he looked down at her, his brow creasing. “What is it, Raven?”

  She groaned. Damn it, she was beyond aroused, and there was nothing she wanted more than to finish what they’d started. But what she was doing was wrong. She’d looked at plenty of men, had fantasized and even flirted, but she’d never cheated on anyone before.

  Raven’s face flamed with heat. She’d led Douglas on, and that was wrong too. “Damn it,” she groaned. She made herself look him in the eyes. “I’m so sorry; I really am. I shouldn’t have let you kiss me. I shouldn’t have encouraged you. I’ve got a boyfriend, Douglas.”

  The auditor smirked. His hand left her breasts, but he didn’t release her. “He can’t be much of a boyfriend, given your reaction to me.”

  Raven made her voice firm. “He’s a good man. I know I can count on him.”

  “And that’s it? You can count on him, so you’ll settle?”

  “The details of my relationship are none of your business. Now please let me go.” She gave Douglas a bald stare, letting him know she wasn’t kidding around.

  He hesitated, staring back with an evaluating gaze. Raven wondered if she would have to get physical with him. He was bigger and stronger, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take him down. Kimi Furio wasn’t the only tough broad on the Park Service’s roster.

  After a moment, Douglas let his danger
ous grin slide over his lips. Raven’s self-assurance dropped a bit in the face of that calculating look. Then he let her wrists go and took a step back.

  “All right, Raven. For now.”

  She felt a little thrill of terror and heightened arousal at his continued stare. Good heavens, what was with her? Whatever it was, she needed to get away from Douglas Bringer. Pronto. That was easier said than done, because try as she might, she couldn’t move. Not when he looked at her like that.

  His smile grew, making him absolutely predatory. “Go home, my lovely Ravenous Virtue, heroine of appetites both mundane and carnal. Go ahead.”

  As if her body had been awaiting his permission all along, Raven was finally able to move. Mumbling an uncertain “good night”, she got into her SUV and started it up. As she reversed, Douglas continued to watch her, that voracious grin never leaving his face. Raven had the idea that he still had some kind of hold on her, that a single gesture would make her slam on the brakes and jump out to leap into his arms.

  She backed her vehicle out of its spot and put it into drive. She continued to feel trapped until at last the golden-eyed auditor was gone from her rearview mirror.

  Chapter 4

  Raven arrived at the park rangers’ offices early Saturday morning. She sighed with relief when her glance around the parking lot found no sign of Douglas’ rented Lincoln. After her behavior the night before, she was eager to avoid him.

  Having thought about the wanton way she’d acted with the auditor, Raven was absolutely humiliated. She’d been like a dog in heat, offering herself with such mindless abandon. She wondered what had her hormones so out of control. Sure, Bringer was gorgeous and enticing, but damn it, she wasn’t that hard up for decent sex. Was she?

  Raven scowled as she walked into the office. Better get a grip, Virtue, she told herself. You’ve got a good, steady boyfriend who has finally figured out sex is more than putting tab A into slot B. Be grateful and get that other man out of your head.