by Virna DePaul
“I hope so.”
Tamsin settled herself so that Vladimir could see her reflection in the plate glass. She spread her legs and showed off the lacy thong that barely concealed her shaved pubes.
Vladimir ignored the display. He was fascinated by the swimmer.
She seemed to be alone. The reflecting sparkle of the water caught the low-key lighting around the pool and made her look like a ghostly mermaid. He narrowed his gaze, focusing his keen night vision on her drenched breasts, barely covered by the bikini top. She rose and fell slightly with each breath she took, a delicious tiny pool of water in her belly button remaining when the water sluiced off her skin.
Her hips lifted, too. Not much. Her pretty feet kicked gently to keep herself from sinking. Her face was serene, her eyes closed. The water did its magic, turning her hair into a waving crown of silken strands.
Vladimir finished his cigarette and crushed the butt into the windowsill. Then he looked at Tamsin’s reflection. She was being unexpectedly patient. But then her hands were busy between her legs. Stroking and rubbing. Penetrating herself with a small sex toy.
She interested him less and less, but at that moment he found her behavior arousing.
“That’s enough,” he said in a low voice, turning around.
“I thought you liked to watch,” was the petulant reply.
Vladimir gave a shrug. “Not now. Not what you are doing, anyway. Your pleasure is too selfish.”
“Sorry.” She withdrew the toy and set it aside.
“Hurt yourself for me. That is what I want to see.”
Tamsin sighed.
“Show me your nails.”
She raised her hands with palms toward him. “I had them done today. They’re extremely sharp.” The long, perfectly polished fingernails were lined on the inside with crescents of surgical steel that shone like silver.
“Good.”
Tamsin lifted her breasts, holding them tightly. She dug the steel crescents into her skin, watching his eyes widen. A few tiny drops of blood appeared. Vladimir moved quickly to pull her hands away and force them behind her back, licking up the red drops, eager for more, leaning over her. She fell back, playing helpless. The performance was reasonably effective. He sat and pulled her onto his lap, stroking her neck until her head fell back, exposing a pulsing vein in her throat.
The towel around his hips loosened and fell off. His long, rapidly stiffening cock was equally exposed—and pulsing harder.
Vladimir’s lips drew back. He sank long fangs into the vein, sipping with restraint. One of them had to hold back. Tamsin relished the languor that followed a loss of blood, a little too much. Her soft body pressed against him, writhing with pleasure. His hands slid under her bare bottom, avidly fondling her squirming buttocks as he drank a little deeper. He closed his eyes.
The blonde swimmer in his mind floated away.
Barrett heard a muffled splash. She raised her head to look around, seeing only the disturbed surface of the water. Strong hands grabbed her ankles and forced her legs down. She kicked free, frightened.
Nick’s head popped up next to her. He swam in place, smiling. Barrett splashed him until he laughed.
“Sorry. I couldn’t stand it another second. You looked like a water goddess.”
“I thought you didn’t have trunks.”
His shoulders and chest were bare and gleaming with water. He splashed her back when she tried to look down.
“You wish, Barrett. Had to keep on the jeans.”
She swam away, letting him follow. They circled each other in the water for a minute or so.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“Yes.”
They played around in the water for several minutes, then drifted together. One minute she’d been swimming by herself, and the next Nick was here with her, playing with her, bringing back memories of how good it had felt to be with him, both in bed and out. She really had missed him. So much. “I’m tired,” Barrett whispered.
“Put your arms around my shoulders,” Nick instructed. “Just ride. Don’t help.”
She hesitated briefly, knowing she was being weak. Reminding herself that she’d ended things with him for a reason—to protect her heart—and that she’d only come to him so he’d help her find Jane. She sighed. Just thinking Jane’s name made her feel small and powerless.
She didn’t want to feel that way. For now, she didn’t want to think of anything else but her and Nick. Almost defiantly, she reached out and clung to him, feeling the power in his muscled back, keeping her legs free of his strong kicks. It was bliss to let him take over and go in circles in the warm water. When they were nearly at the ladder, he pushed her arms off and rolled so that they were face to face but still floating. He brushed away the wet blond silk from her cheeks and kissed her. Again and again.
Nick pulled back, breathing hard. “I want you, Barrett. I know it’s not a good time, but it’s been over a year. A whole fucking year of me not having you. Of not being inside you. You don’t want this, just tell me now and I’ll—”
Barrett pressed her fingers against his mouth, effectively stopping his words. He’d sounded so damn desperate when he’d been talking. Desperate for her. And she felt that same desperation spiraling inside her. In that moment, all her doubts, self-protective thoughts, and worries fled. She let go of her guilt about Noah and Jane and let herself be greedy. She was going to have to leave Nick as abruptly as she’d found him in order to return to D.C. and interview Jane’s guardians. Couldn’t she take something for herself first?
She couldn’t think of anything she wanted more than to take Nick.
“I want you, too, Nick. I’ve never stopped wanting you.”
At her whispered confession, he snagged her wrist and dragged it away from his mouth. He kissed her again, angling his head for maximum positioning, tangling his tongue with hers and pressing her so close that she felt not only desired but safe.
Neither noticed the glowing cigarette behind the darkened glass of the window high above or the man who had returned to the window to smoke it.
He watched them until they left the pool.
Nick opened the door of the VIP lounge near the pool and looked inside. “Empty. Good. Wait here,” he told Barrett in a low voice.
He returned in a few seconds, with a luxurious new robe in his hand, draping it over her shoulders. She was grateful. The thick, velvety terry stopped her shivering.
“Who does this belong to?” The folded towels stacked by the pool for guests hadn’t been enough to ward off the night’s odd chill.
“The hotel. We can give it back later.”
They made their way back to his suite. She stayed with him, not going into the adjoining room. She knew what he wanted. She wanted the same thing. Barrett had no intention of playing coy. The floating kisses had taken her to a different place. A place where she was at peace. Opened up again.
But for some reason, she hesitated to take off the robe just yet. It was as if it represented some last vestige of restraint she had left. The only thing that stood between her and falling head-over-heels in love with Nick Maltese all over again.
He took her by the shoulders and turned her toward the bathroom. “We’re going to take this slow and easy. Hot shower first, you and me both. To get rid of the chlorine. I don’t want to smell anything but sweet woman.”
He’d gotten her good and lathered up lots of times.
Barrett caved. She wasn’t going to argue. Barrett shrugged and let the heavy robe slip off her shoulders. Nick caught it before it hit the tiles and slung it backward through the bathroom door onto the bed.
He slid his fingers under each strap of the bikini bra and pulled them down. Stopped. She wasn’t any more naked than she had been. But she felt bared to the soul. His dark eyes rested on hers.
Barrett unsnapped the front clasp and freed her breasts. He smiled and cupped them. She pressed her lips together. If he kissed her right now, it would be too dam
n much.
He did, but not on the lips. His lips brushed her forehead, pressing in for a fraction of a second. A ritual kiss, not passionate. Silently telling her she was his.
For now, yes, Barrett thought. It was nice to think so.
She stepped back and peeled off the wet bottom half of her bikini, wincing when it dragged over her damp skin. Once it was down to her ankles, she kicked it into a corner.
Then she straightened.
Nick stood inches away, stripped and solid. She drank him in. He’d lost none of the ribbed muscle and virility she relished. The purely masculine line of his groin was just as taut.
She couldn’t resist tracing a fingertip along it. He tensed but he was smiling. His gorgeous cock instantly came to attention.
Thick shaft, big veins, plum tip. The gorgeous length of it straining upward. Saying hello.
“Wow.” She smiled. “I remember that. Fine as ever.”
“Thank you,” he said. “So are you.” His eyes moved slowly, lovingly, over her bare body, lingering on her breasts, which perked up shamelessly under his hot gaze. His cock twitched.
She moved to hold it but he caught her by the wrist. “Not yet.”
She sighed, more with anticipation than with regret. She knew exactly how good that part of him felt in her hand, especially when he was above her, her legs spread wide to receive him. She didn’t mind waiting. Some orders were worth following.
“Let’s get in,” he said. “After you.”
She went first, looking up at the fixed main showerhead above. There was a handheld shower below it.
Nick followed her in, doing his best not to crowd her. There was barely enough room for two normal people. Buck naked, he looked even taller. Barrett pressed back against the tiles so he could turn around.
They had just been in each other’s arms. Mouth to mouth. Why did she feel so nervous all of a sudden? Because, she told herself, the thin nylon swimwear that had been between them was gone. No armor.
Nick had a way of reading her mind. “You’re okay,” he said. “Don’t think about what happened on the mountain. That’s far away. You’re here with me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He reached for the bar of soap and rubbed it between his palms, making foam. “Turn around.”
Barrett rotated until her back was to him. He reached around her, sliding the foamy bar over her breasts and nipples and working down to her waist, moving the soap around it in a swift stroke and over her hips, switching the bar from hand to hand. Then he set the soap aside, reaching up to tilt the showerhead and sluice her off.
She closed her eyes. Knowing he was so close was powerfully erotic. She felt a cock bump on the side of her hip and straightened.
“Stand still.” The command was almost a growl.
Barrett still felt like obeying. What the hell. She tensed when his balls brushed the small of her back as he reached around to get the handheld shower attachment. Oh yes.
Nick figured out how it worked and got a pulsing stream going, a stronger sensation than the waterfall over her head. He employed the handheld expertly, flicking the pulse button to greater intensity when he got to her breasts. Barrett arched her body to lift them higher.
He knew what she wanted and narrowed the pulse with one twist of the handle. Tiny jets of water hit each nipple in turn. Barrett moaned under her breath.
“Hold ’em high. Play with those beautiful tits.”
She could barely stand up. Barrett swayed back against him, cupping her breasts, pushing the tips into the rapid pulses.
The jets of water felt like a licking tongue. His. She couldn’t wait for him to suck her wet nipples into tight pink peaks.
Nick had other ideas. He treated her to a few more variations of the pulse setting. Down her belly. Over her pussy. She reached down to open her labia.
He got the point. Her clitoris got the attention. After a glorious minute, she closed her legs tight and pushed his hand away. “I don’t want to come too soon.”
“If you say so,” he muttered, moving the handheld around to her back. The pulsing stream splashed over her behind. Nick seized his chance—and her. With a low laugh, he copped a squeeze. Then another. “Oh yeah. Round and firm.” The squeezing turned into an erotic, one-handed massage and intimate rubdown that made her rock her hips back and forth.
“Ooh. Yes. Nick—yes. More. Don’t stop.”
“Guess you like that.”
“You know I do.”
Being thorough, he parted her cheeks and kept the handheld in play.
“Not that,” she said quickly.
Nick laughed again. “Don’t worry. But don’t think I’ve never thought about it. Your ass is beyond cute.”
Pulse pulse. Between her cheeks. Splash. Up her back. Down her front. Back. Front. And around again. The constantly moving sensations were almost too much. Barrett turned around and made him drop the thing.
She draped her arms around his shoulders, giving herself a boost when he scooped her up for a kiss.
“We’re going to fall!”
“Wouldn’t be the first time. Let’s get wild. Rawrrr. Grrr.” Nick growled into her wet neck, making her laugh, too. She stretched out a hand against the wall to brace herself and him. He turned and set her down outside the shower enclosure and stepped over the low sill.
His magnificent erection was still going strong. Barrett slid a hand over his hip, admiring all that. She had half a mind to drop to her knees and—
“Not yet, girl.”
He unfolded a huge towel and wrapped it tightly around her without his hands ever touching her skin. Somehow that seemed more erotic than a caress after a shower like that. And she knew his hands would be all over her naked body in a short while.
“Take a breather. I gotta make some calls.”
Disappointment slammed through her at his abrupt about-face. It made her reconsider what she was doing, but only for a split second. After what they’d just done in the shower, she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity for more simply because he had work to attend to. She had, after all, popped in out of nowhere, and their little helo flight hadn’t exactly been planned.
Barrett snatched a towel off the rack to make a turban for her dripping hair. She could act as blasé as she needed to and give Nick the time he needed.
She studied her face in the mirror, liking the rosy glow. A good man was better than any makeup.
Wet, her eyelashes looked like she had on mascara. She patted her flushed cheeks. No blusher needed. Barrett hummed to drown out what she could hear of his conversation.
Sounded like business. Not interesting. But she had never been above eavesdropping. Under the circumstances …
Barrett gazed into the mirror, seeing the anxiety in her blue eyes. He’d better be talking business.
Too bad that coming back to a former lover meant having to accept who he’d been with since her. New moves. Different rhythm. Clues to someone else’s pleasure. Female demands that weren’t hers. So far, so good. But Barrett didn’t imagine for a second that Nick had been celibate in the year they’d been apart.
She didn’t like the thought of an invisible woman getting between them. Correction: women. Plural. Had to have happened. But there was nothing she could do about it. Considering how close she’d gotten to Powell, she couldn’t exactly ask Nick a bunch of nosy questions.
Barrett took the hair dryer from the hook by the sink and switched it on, yanking off the towel and running a hand through the worst of the tangles before using the hottest setting to begin to dry her damp locks.
After a while, she switched it off. Her hair didn’t have to be perfect. Nick gave a single knock on the not-quite-closed door and came in when she said to, moving behind her, gazing at her in the mirror. He lifted her hair off her neck and let it slide through his fingers.
“Nice,” he murmured. “Feels like hot silk. Now where were we …”
Barrett said nothing. It was delicious
to be treated with such gentleness.
He wrapped some longer locks around his hand and bared the nape of her neck, bending down to kiss it.
His lips moved over the sensitive skin with the skill she remembered. Barrett stood riveted to the spot, not wanting him to ever stop. When he got to the back of her ear, he took the lobe in his teeth and nipped. The tiny flash of pain made her hiss. With pleasure.
Nick opened his fingers and released her hair. She shook her head and pushed the tumbling strands back into place, more or less. He rested both big hands on her bare shoulders.
“Look at you,” he said approvingly.
“Big deal. You can’t see a thing what with this towel.”
She inspected him from head to toe. Slouchy athletic pants covered him from just below his taut middle to his ankles. The sleek bulge below the low waistband looked beyond tempting. “Why’d you get dressed?”
“Room service. I ordered for both of us. They came while you were blasting that dryer.”
“We had dinner.”
“Just a little something more. Come on. I’ll show you.” He guided her out with a hand on the small of her back.
Nick was being a gentleman. His hand stayed where it was, not drifting lower to enjoy the softness of her unpantied ass beneath the towel. Which was so not like him.
Barrett willed his hand to move. It didn’t. She was distracted from her frustration by the sight of the room-service table that had been wheeled into the middle of the suite. Immaculate white damask showed off a silver wine cooler, dewy with icy moisture. It held a bottle of very good champagne, wrapped in a white napkin.
Oh wow, she thought. So that’s who he’d been calling. At least, it had been one of the calls he’d made. So he hadn’t interrupted their make-out session as easily as she’d thought. He’d been trying to be romantic … and man, he’d succeeded.
“For now. Or for later,” he clarified. “Whenever you want.”
“Thanks.” Barrett lifted the domed cover of a small dish and saw huge, chocolate-dipped strawberries. Also chilled, also dewy. “Definitely later for all of this,” she said, turning to Nick. “I want you. Now.”
