by Faye Avalon
“On what?”
“On whether or not you’re still a virgin.”
She looked genuinely surprised, then pissed, and then she let out a huff and reached for her drink. “Please. Do you honestly think I’ve gotten into my twenties without having had sex?”
“It crossed my mind. You don’t seem to know what to expect.”
“Because I’ve never hired a male escort before.” She took a healthy swig of brandy. “Of course I’m not a virgin. Do you give all your clients the third degree? If so, I’m surprised you’re still in business. You’re not exactly getting me in the mood.”
“I just want to know you’re totally on board with this. You’ve been giving out mixed signals, and to be honest, I’m still not entirely sure you’re not playing me. It feels like there’s a big punch line coming and I’m not party to it.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Another swig of brandy. “If you must know, yes, I was really pissed at you and what you did to me, and part of me wanted to get you all worked up, show you what you’d missed, and then tell you to take a hike. With your pants around your ankles, just like you did to me.”
“For pity’s sake, Lexi. Your pants weren’t around your goddamn ankles. And that was bloody years ago.”
“It took me ages to live it down. But the point is that maybe I did want revenge. Maybe I wanted to teach you a lesson.” She looked up at him with those warm soft eyes. “Except now it doesn’t seem so important. I just want you, James. I always have.”
Something caught in his chest. He would have staked his reputation on the fact that she wasn’t shitting him around this time. Which meant, he had to shut this down. Right now. “Lexi, I’m a professional escort. You need to know that this is an assignment for me. Nothing else.”
Brutal, he thought. But sometimes it was the best way to go.
“I know that.” With no hint of discomfiture, she shifted closer. “I’d just like the chance to draw a line under that part of my life. Being humiliated doesn’t do much for a girl’s confidence.” Lightly, she touched his hand and smiled. “And I still want to get you all worked up and show you what you missed out on.”
Shit. She was messing with his head, his dick, and everything in between.
“So let me get this straight. You want us to have sex to put what happened into some kind of box so you can shove it in the nearest cupboard and forget about it?”
She smiled again. “I wouldn’t put it exactly like that. I simply want to know what you’re like. In the sack.”
Fuck. What did that mean? He’d never once spared a thought for his performance. About whether his clients had been satisfied with his prowess. He’d simply assumed all was well, especially since most of his assignments included a nice healthy bonus at the end of the evening. But here she was making him spare that thought.
Just what esteemed levels did he need to aspire to in order to satisfy Lexi’s expectations? She said that she’d wanted him for years. It was entirely possible, given the vagaries of time and the imagination, that she’d exaggerated his abilities. Would he fail to live up to whatever pedestal she’d placed him on?
Hell. She was unnerving him. Making him question himself. His skills. Somehow the reins had slipped from his grasp, and it was time to take them back. In spite of what Lexi had said, this was an assignment. She’d bought him and his exceptional skills for the evening, so who was he to deny her?
Never in his working life had he needed to pull out all the stops of his professionalism, had to batten down his feelings about a client, an assignment, and just get the hell on with it. But right then, he did.
He sucked in a breath. “Let’s take a minute and go back a few steps. If we’re going to do this, I need details.”
“Details? What sort of details?”
He shrugged. “Like, if you want to be the dominant partner. Or the submissive.”
It was her turn to shrug. “I just want to have sex.”
“Someone has to take the lead.”
“Okay. You take the lead.”
“You’re sure?”
She swallowed. “Yes.”
His cock jerked. He looked down at her temping cleavage secured in the sexy black dress. “Once we start this, I’m not going to stop.”
“Who’s asking you to?”
Before he could change his mind, he took her hand and coaxed her to stand. His blood was positively humming with the thought of finally getting his hands on Lexi. She’d never realize that those years ago when he’d embarrassed her, what he’d been trying to do was protect her. He’d been trying to do the right thing. In spite of who he’d been back then, what he’d done, with Lexi he’d wanted to be more. He’d always wanted to be more.
He turned her slowly, let his fingers play across her shoulders, felt her tremble beneath his hands. The zipper of her dress slid easily past her shoulder blades, her waist, the small of her back. She wasn’t wearing a bra, something he should have realized with the way her cleavage was exposed so that the top of her breasts spread silkily above the black lace edge of her dress.
He swallowed, his throat contracting painfully as he caught a tantalizing glimpse of juicy flesh at the base of her spine. He ran his hands down her sides, along the curve of her ass. His cock jerked so hard she turned to look over her shoulder, the look she gave him an acknowledgement of his predicament.
She turned around, her eyes holding his captive until, saying nothing, she slid the dress from her shoulders and let it fall away to her waist, revealing full, milky breasts with darkened nipples.
His eyes burned, matching the fire in his veins. Raising his hands, he let the ripe firmness of those breasts fall into his palms. Her warm, plump flesh molded to his skin, and he took a sharp inhale.
“Do you like my breasts?” she asked softly.
“Are you kidding me?”
She smiled and cupped her hands over his. “I never kid a man when his erection is prodding me hard in the stomach.”
He narrowed his eyes. Shit, but he didn’t like her referring to other men, or their erections.
She moved her fingers a little, gently kneading his as they molded her breasts. Her eyelids fluttered down. “That feels nice.”
“We can do better than nice.”
Her eyes opened slightly. “I’m counting on it.”
He brought his hands to her hips and slid the dress over those curves, letting it fall to the floor. She wore black, lacy panties with a barely-there crotch. He slid his hands around to her backside, catching the creamy flesh of her ass the same sensuous way he had her breasts.
Since his groin was throbbing hard, he pulled her toward him and let her feel just how much she was affecting him.
“I never asked,” she said a little breathily. “If you’re a breast man or an ass man. Right now, I can’t tell.”
“I’m pretty much an ass and breast man, and everything in between, and above and below, come to that.”
She laughed and let her head drop back as she held on to his shoulders. Then she looked him straight in the eye. “Can we even things up a bit? You getting naked like me, I mean.”
“No.” Her frown made him laugh, as much as it was possible to laugh right then seeing as he had a hard-on the size of Saturn. “You wanted me to take the lead, remember? Which means we do this my way.”
Before she could respond, he hoisted her up into his arms, her legs wide around him. She gasped as he ground his cock against her, and swore he could feel her heat through his pants and that strip of fabric covering her crotch.
She clung to him, her breath coming out on a long exhale when he lowered them both to the sofa. She lay against the cushions, her hands sliding into his unbuttoned shirt and spreading over his heated chest.
“Don’t you want to go to my bedroom?”
“Not yet.” He caught her wrists and eased her hands away. Keeping hold of her arms he brought his mouth within inches of hers. “Tonight, I’m going to kiss every inch of you, Lex. You
’re going to let me.”
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, smiled a little, and nodded.
“Know what else?” He waited until she shook her head, then he grinned. “I’m going to make sure you get your money’s worth.”
End of sample chapter
http://www.evernightpublishing.com/coming-on-strong-by-faye-avalon
