“Well, I’d offer to pay, babe, but you’ve got my wallet.”
Her voice sounded sexy and he fought to keep the image of war in his head. Didn’t need his mother to see him pitching a tent in broad daylight. “I can meet you anywhere you like, and I’ll have your wallet and the handcuffs. You name the place.”
He was not going to romance this girl in a dive, so he was going to pick the classiest, most expensive hotel in Winchester. “The Sedgwick. But…”
“Hmmm?”
“Do you want to grab a bite first?”
She tittered. “Not hungry for food right now.”
Sick children, war… He ran the fingers of his free hand through his hair. “Okay, after then?”
“Sure.”
“So what time?”
“Six o’clock?”
“Want me to pick you up?”
“No…just meet me there.”
He hung up. In a daze, he tossed the weeds in the trash. He would’ve offered to take his mom out to lunch to celebrate but that was going to have to wait. In the meantime, he hoped she could keep him distracted for a few more hours.
Chapter Fifteen
ERIN COULDN’T BELIEVE she was doing this…but she was going to take Jackie’s advice, every last bit of it, and she hoped she wouldn’t regret it. Jackie had laid out a plan that, she said, would make Riley realize just was an ass he’d been.
Erin had her doubts, but she also knew she was too close to the situation to analyze it rationally. She didn’t trust her own judgment anymore. And why? Well, it was because she was actually starting to care about Riley now, and if that wasn’t the stupidest thing ever, she didn’t know what was. First off, Riley was just going to love her and leave her. He had another life far from Winchester, and why the hell would he want to be saddled with a high school English teacher who wrote literary papers analyzing empirical data about students’ short answer essay exams? And, even if he did, it wouldn’t work anyway. Besides, she’d sworn off men.
This wasn’t the first time a guy had breached her trust. Oh, no. It was becoming a pretty common theme. Colby, a guy she’d dated three years ago, was just a big man slut. She’d suspected for a couple of months that he was cheating on her, and when it was confirmed…it was on a spectacular scale. Not only had she arrived at his apartment—at his behest, although a little early—to discover him in bed with another girl, but she found out soon after that he had a long string of girls he’d been fucking the entire time they’d been together. Erin became convinced he was a sex addict.
And then there was Frank. She’d dated Frank about a year and a half ago. Unlike Colby, Frank was just an abusive asshole. He’d never raised a hand to her, but he was mentally and emotionally abusive, and after he’d criticized her for what she was wearing or how she was acting for the thousandth time, she’d just told him to fuck off and find someone who was already everything he wanted her to be, because Erin didn’t plan to change to make him happy.
And those relationships? Jackie had been right about both of them. She’d assured Erin long before the girl had proof that Colby was a cheating bastard. The signs were all there. And Jackie had hated Frank from the start…called him poison. Fortunately, Erin had trusted her friend and broken it off, and the more distance she saw from that relationship, the more she could see that Jackie was right.
So she was going to take her friend’s advice tonight too. And, if Jackie was right, Riley might be pissed for a while, but then he’d be eating out of her hand.
Jackie had even helped her get ready, laying on the makeup a little thicker than usual, dark, heavy eyeliner and bright red lipstick, curling the ends of her long, blonde hair, and insisting her friend wear the tight black leather miniskirt that hadn’t seen the light of day for at least four or five years. In fact, Jackie made her dig out the old trunk in Erin’s closet that had all her old concert-going attire. She wore a sleeveless silver-sequined top and black fuck-me pumps to match. But the kicker was the pair of spiked black leather wristbands Jackie found in the bottom of the trunk. Erin had forgotten she even had them, because she’d only ever worn them once, and that had been a long time ago. But the silly things would cover the marks on her wrists.
She tucked Riley’s wallet and handcuffs in her purse, along with the one key she could find. It had taken her a while, but she’d finally found it under her pillow and, fortunately, it fit both pairs of cuffs. Since they were still locked on her headboard posts, her whole plan would have failed if she hadn’t found the damned key. She hadn’t even slept in her bed last night. It was for three reasons. The first was because she was pissed at Riley for not listening to her. Granted, there was no way he could know her well yet, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was saying, did it? Part of her, though, was horrified that, even though she felt like had every right to be pissed at him, he was a great lover and really had made her feel incredible. Still, though…couldn’t there be another way to go about it? And third…well, she was really starting to like him. So sleeping in her bed that night was too fresh. Instead, she took a blanket to the living room and fell asleep on the couch, watching The Prestige for what seemed like the hundredth time. It was hard getting on the couch at first too, because that’s where he’d been sitting and twice now he’d laid some of the most sumptuous kisses on her she’d ever experienced.
Unbelievable that she was already missing this guy.
And she felt quite dubious about Jackie’s plan. Still, she was going to give it a try.
So she got out of her car at the Sedgwick (“Oh, my God!” Jackie had screamed. “The fucking Sedgwick?”), making the conscious decision to park out front so if anyone saw her car, she could tell them she’d been dining in the restaurant. Hiding in the back would require different answers. Fortunately, since the Sedgwick—although it catered to the rich and lazy—was in a laid-back town like Winchester, valet wasn’t the only way to go. And as she walked up to the entrance, she saw Riley’s Mustang out of the corner of her eye, but it didn’t look like he was in there.
Good. She wasn’t ready to face him yet. Would he be able to see through her lie?
She hoped not. It would never work if he could. And, just as she thought she had a few more moments to compose herself, she saw him stand up from a bench where he’d been sitting, just a few yards from the entrance. God, he was fucking gorgeous, and just looking at him, she didn’t know if she’d be able to go through with the plan.
He was wearing his dark sunglasses, so she couldn’t see his eyes, but she’d dressed perfectly, because he was in his full rock star regalia…tight black leather pants, black t-shirt with a white skull on the front, black boots. His tattoos stood out in the early evening sun against the backdrop of an all-black outfit. Jesus…she really didn’t know that she’d be able to go through with it now. He was too perfect, too fucking sexy and irresistible. She figured she was also quite lucky he wasn’t surrounded by a bevy of girls right now.
And as she got closer, he pulled the sunglasses off and she couldn’t believe the look on his face. His eyebrows were raised just a little, but she could read the expression. The way she looked was not what he’d expected…and it looked like it was in a good way.
She managed a smile, even though it was small and shy, and she did a small wave. As she got closer, he hung his sunglasses in the front of his shirt. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ. What inspired this?”
Her smile got away from her, turning into a huge goofy grin. “What? You think I dress in formal gowns all the time?”
“No, but…”—he took a deep breath—“since you’re a school teacher, I expected you to be a little more…prim, you know, wearing the kind of shit you wore at school today.”
She was quick. “What makes you think I don’t dress like this to teach?”
“Fuck. If you do, I think I understand that Van Halen song.” She raised her eyebrows until he started singing the chorus to “Hot for Teacher.”
Erin started to blush,
but she was still feeling top of her game. “And what’s with your getup? You getting ready to perform a concert?”
He shrugged. “Just felt like it.”
Yep, this was gonna be hard.
She pulled her eyes off him and reached in her purse. She took out his wallet and handed it to him. He took it from her and slid it in his back pocket. “Thanks.” Then he draped his arm around her shoulders and they started walking to the hotel entrance.
So much for being low key. If anyone would ever ask, surely the desk clerks would remember these two did not go into the restaurant. They went straight to a room.
Not that he didn’t give her a chance to renege. “Sure you don’t want to get a bite to eat first?”
She nodded. “You hungry?”
He smiled. “Not really.”
There was a large revolving door in the front but to the side was a regular door, and he opened it for her. Once through, he put his arm back over her shoulders. It felt nice, and she wrapped her arm around the back of his waist. And then she smelled him again, that spicy, masculine smell that made her want to tear him apart.
When they got up to the counter, the young woman started typing in his information off his driver’s license and she asked a couple of questions. She was being as professional as possible, but Erin could tell the woman knew who Riley was. Fortunately, Erin had never met the young woman before, or that could have proven to be embarrassing and hard to explain, considering there probably was no question about what the two of them would be doing. He gave the clerk a credit card, but she couldn’t help but hear the price of the room. Holy shit. She couldn’t believe he’d drop that much on the room. And he was gonna be totally pissed when all was said and done and he’d blown that fucking much. Oh, well…according to Jackie, the goddess of relationships, it had to be done.
They started walking over to the elevators and Riley asked, “So how was school today?”
“It was fine, but I had to answer a bazillion questions about you.”
“About me?”
“Yeah. ‘Ms. Lancaster, what’s Riley Schultz like?’ ‘Did he like the food?’ ‘Is he a good dancer?’ ‘Did you kiss him?’ You put not just my cheerleading squad in a frenzy but all the kids. I’m surprised the gym wasn’t more crowded during the auction.”
The elevator door opened and Riley placed his hand against the side of the door to hold it while Erin walked inside. “It’s ‘cause it was a last-minute thing. Guess I got lucky.”
He walked in and pressed a button. Erin said, “Lucky? I call bullshit. Why else would you dress up like a rock star right now if you didn’t want to be noticed?”
He looked down his nose at her, his eyes already seeming as seductive as they had yesterday. “Only one person I want to be noticed by, and I think it worked.”
Oh, hell, yeah. Going through with the plan was going to be really hard, because it had worked.
Chapter Sixteen
RILEY COULD BARELY help himself, having had to think about Erin and handcuffs all fucking afternoon long while listening to his mom chatter about her scrapbooking class. So once he’d opened the door with the card they gave him at the front desk, he didn’t even let her set her purse down. He just locked her face in his hands and kissed her.
Maybe that was a bad move considering her hard feelings yesterday, but shit. She’d teased him with the goddamn handcuffs and then looked fucking hotter than hell, so even though he restrained himself, he needed just a little taste.
But she responded and not by slapping the shit out of him. Maybe they could talk later when they had this out of their systems. When he pulled her close, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back. He wound his fingers through her hair just over her ears, something he’d had yet to do, and held himself back from just throwing her on the couch a little farther inside and having his way with her. He felt like a fucking animal, almost like a teenager, unable to control his thoughts and feelings.
He moved his lips to her neck, loving the taste of her skin there, and she said, “Now, hold on.” Her voice was barely a whisper. Her lips touched his ear when she said, “Remember, I’m in charge now.”
He paused, letting the hot breath flood out of his lungs onto her neck. Had he turned this goddess into a dominatrix? And this time, when all his blood took a dive for his nether regions, he didn’t fight it. He lifted his head and held his arms in the air as though he were being arrested. “I’m all yours.”
“That’s more like it.” Yeah…there was definitely something dominant going on there. This might be a whole lot of fun. She slid her purse off her shoulder onto the floor and laced her fingers in his, pushing his arms against the door and kissed him. She was aggressive. He liked it. He was just going to follow her lead, let her do whatever she wanted. She backed away and then looked around. “Holy cow, this place is huge. Is there an actual bed here?”
He laughed. “Yeah…there better be. I paid for one.”
She picked her purse up off the floor and walked over to the bar that surrounded the kitchen area. She set her purse on the counter and fished out the handcuffs and something else she tucked in a pocket of her skirt. What the hell was it? She turned around and gave him a seductive look. “What are we waiting for?”
Oh, God…his cock was throbbing in anticipation, but he could wait. He just couldn’t think straight anymore. He stretched his arm toward a door across the room that he figured had to be the bedroom. “After you.”
She smiled and sauntered toward the bedroom. God, those fuckin’ heels…
By the time they’d walked in the bedroom, his eyes had raked her from her feet up to her head, and after she placed the handcuffs on the foot of the bed, he took her in his arms, holding her around the waist, and kissed her. There was nothing sweet or tender about the kiss; it was passionate and bordering on rough, and he hoped that would communicate to her that he was open to whatever she wanted to do to him. By the end of the kiss, she was peeling his shirt off.
And then, after throwing it on the floor, she pulled back and then grabbed his hands, urging him to the bed. Jesus…wasn’t even concerned about foreplay. That was just as well, because he didn’t need it. He didn’t recall a time he’d ever needed much foreplay. Just thinking about sex or seeing a woman he was thinking about that way did it for him. His imagination this afternoon had been his foreplay.
Her hands on his chest urged him to sit on the bed and he did. She kept pushing against him until he was on his back. Erin snagged the handcuffs from the foot of the bed and then turned around. God, he was glad he’d sprung for a high-class place. Some of the discount places didn’t have headboards. This place had a good old-fashioned wooden one that matched the dresser and nightstand. And the bed itself was probably designed to take a beating. She held his forearm in her hand and slapped the cuff around his wrist. Ouch. A little rough, but he’d said he was going along for the ride. So he didn’t even wince. She pulled his arm up to the headboard and tightened the other cuff around the post.
She looked down at him and grinned. She was thoroughly enjoying this. God, he relished the way his hard on was digging into the pants and he couldn’t wait for her to pull them off him too. She cuffed his other hand, again slamming the side of the cuff into his wrist, then pulling his arm up to the post. And then his upper body was fully restrained…he was fully hers.
She kissed him, then her lips moved to his neck, his chest, and she sucked on one of his nipples. Oh, God…not many girls did that but when they did…fuck. He let out a sigh as her lips continued their trip south. Yeah, of course he liked it when a girl liked him enough to go down on him, but it was even better when he liked the girl back.
So when she started unzipping those pants that had since become too hot and too constraining, he felt a huge relief. But she was going to tease him some more. She brushed his cock through his shorts just enough to practically make it jump up and dance, and then she started to pull his pants down. But that feat was easier said th
an done with leather pants. Maybe he should have taken them off before she cuffed him, and he thought some of making the offer, but she managed to get them to budge. He lifted his ass up off the bed to help and once she got them mid-thigh, she seemed satisfied enough with that progress. He sure as shit was happy enough with them right there. Pulling down his underwear was easy after that.
He was aching for her to touch him, so when she wrapped a hand around his shaft, he bit his bottom lip and sucked air through clenched teeth. “Ooooh, big boy,” she said, “how does that feel?”
What the fuck was she doing with her voice? She sounded so…dirty, cooing and purring, her voice low and seductive. His eyes were still closed and he bit the side of his cheek. But he relaxed his jaw and said, “Fuckin’ fantastic.”
“Good.” She bent over and licked him there finally and he felt like he was going to jump out of his skin. All real thought had gone out the door and his entire brain was located right fucking there. She was amazing. She was running her tongue up and down the shaft, just teasing. It was some of the most delicious torture he’d experienced in ages.
She stopped and literally stood up on the bed. She lifted a leg, pretty dangerous on the bed, but she managed to keep her balance, and then she held her foot on his chest, the heel of her shoe digging into his skin. She was reaching in her pocket to pull out whatever it was she’d put in there. “You’ve been a naughty boy, haven’t you?”
He hadn’t thought he could get harder, but that did it. He swallowed and nodded his head, squinting his eyes, daring her to do her damnedest. He knew he looked like a defiant child just daring his mom to beat the shit out of him. After grinding her heel in his chest enough to leave a mark, she got back down and started kissing his neck. It was then that he saw what was in her hand: a tiny bottle of oil. She twisted the lid off while she nipped at his nipple. She poured half the little bottle in her hand and he smelled a strawberry scent. Not his favorite, but right now he didn’t give a shit. Then she wrapped her hand around his cock. She slid her hand up and down and it was smooth and soooo good. He let out a breath.
Tangled Web Series Box Set Page 23
