Carter's Cuffs (12 page)

Erin sighed, tried to smile. She truly liked Diana, so she would listen politely then say good night. “All right.”

“Once upon a time, I, too, tried to wish away a part of myself, tried to close it up and pretend it wasn’t there. Then I met Marc. And he made me realize how unhappy I was that way, and that I had to be who I really was and that it was okay to want the things I wanted. The right guy, Erin, can change your life forever, in lots of wonderful ways, if you’ll only let him.”

* * * * *

The following night at seven, Erin stood at Carter’s door holding a bottle of wine. It seemed crazy as she thought about it, since this wasn’t a dinner party—it was a date for sex. But she’d never had a date for sex before—well, other than the weird one she’d set up without his consent last week at Caesars Palace—so she wasn’t sure what to do, what to bring or how to dress.

“Hey,” he said with a smile, opening the door, taking the wine. God, he looked good. His dark hair was only slightly less rumpled than usual, late-day stubble shadowed his jaw and his muscular body filled out his t-shirt and jeans just right. “Come on in,” he said. “You look great.”

She’d finally opted for a thin pink sweater with dark blue jeans, but his eyes roamed her body with the same look he wore when she was in her hooker costume. Of course, that made her tingle—all over. Which was good since she knew she had a crazy night of sex ahead, but bad since she knew this was the last time. She took a deep breath and tried to smile back as he showed her to the dining area off the kitchen—the condo having the same floor plan as her own.

She watched, feeling oddly shy, as Carter uncorked the Chardonnay and poured two glasses, passing her one. Their fingers touched as she took it, and he made a toast. “To…tonight. And possibilities.” His eyes were playful—and possessive. And as usual with Carter, her pussy spasmed just from the way he looked at her, the forbidden promise in his gaze, as she swallowed her first sip of wine.

“By the way,” he said, pointing to a pair of handcuffs—
her
handcuffs—that lay on one corner of the counter, “thought you might want those back.”

Blushing slightly, she nodded. “Now that you mention it, yeah—if my sergeant knew what I’d used them for, I’d be dead meat.”

“Well, I’m officially returning them. Consider it a peace offering,” he told her. And her heart warmed a little—maybe this meant they were going to put all the kinky stuff behind them now.

A few minutes later, they sat down to barbecued pork chops from the grill on Carter’s balcony, along with baked potatoes, corn, and rolls. “I hit up Marc and Diana for dinner ideas,” he told her across the table as they both dug into the food. “But next thing I know, they’ve got out this recipe book filled with complicated Italian dishes from Marc’s mom. She’s from Italy, so it’s the real thing. And I’m not much of a cook, so I finally just threw up my hands and said, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna go with something simple that I can make without screwing up’.”

And in that moment, Erin nearly stopped breathing. Because he was so…real. Such a normal, simple, nice guy. So meat and potatoes, literally. Like her own dad had been. Of course, he was also impossibly hot, and every look at him had her cunt swelling more, her breasts feeling sensitive and heavy.

And the reason she couldn’t breathe was—he was perfect. Her perfect man. He had it all—everything she wanted in a guy. Even when he was rough, demanding, when they were fucking, something about that became perfect. She’d never thought she could want that in a man, but when it came from Carter, it was the ideal attribute, complementing all the others he possessed.

“You okay?” he asked then.

She sucked in her breath. Got hold of herself. Nodded. “Yeah, fine. The pork chops are great,” she assured him. And wondered how she’d survive the rest of the night without saying the words that were gathering inside her, almost pummeling her heart right now.
I love you.

Did she? Love him?

Oh God, she feared she really did.

Which meant getting over him and moving on was going to be a hell of a lot harder than she’d realized. But she still had no choice—she had to do it. The way she saw it, Carter and her job couldn’t co-exist in her life peacefully—one of them had to go. And her job meant so much to her—until Carter had come along, it had been pretty much
everything
, and she just couldn’t give it up.

As the meal continued, Carter told her how he’d grown up in a whole family of construction workers, but when the seasonality of the business in his native Boston had gotten to be too uncertain for him, he’d decided to make a drastic move west. He’d been to Las Vegas on vacation before, and for a couple of bachelor parties, and he’d liked it enough to make a home here.

With some prodding, Erin told him a little more about
her
life—growing up nearby, the daughter of a cop. She explained that she’d always straddled the line between tomboy and girly-girl, even having to choose one year between being a cheerleader and a track and field star.

“What’d you choose?”

“Track and field. I like to win,” she told him, smiling.

“About your dad,” he said then, speaking more quietly, “I hope you’re okay. I mean, after the stuff we talked about the other night.”

She nodded, sorry they’d delved that quickly back into a serious topic, but she appreciated his concern. “Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“Do you see your mom a lot? Is she…I mean, did she get over losing your dad?”

Erin stiffened a little, because the answer, she understood now, related to her personal relationship issues. “It took her a very long time for her to adjust to life without him. They were…pretty crazy in love. But…” She let her tone change to a more hopeful one. “She got remarried a couple of years ago to a nice guy named Tom. And yeah, I go over for dinner once every couple of weeks, and she and I go shopping or out to lunch pretty often. We’re…close, she and I.”

“I’m not surprised,” he said with a gentle smile.

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “Gotta be close to somebody.” The unspoken part was,
And you sure don’t let yourself get close to anybody else.

After dinner, Erin helped him clear the table, but standing near him in the kitchen got her hot, quick, all over again. And the moment they bumped arms at the counter, Carter looked down at her and their eyes met, and he swooped in for a kiss. She nearly dropped the plates in her hands, and a second later, his strong arms were easing around her from behind and he was whispering in her ear, “Put those down.”

Her whole body flooded with warmth as she lowered the dishes into the sink and fought the urge to lean back into the erection she could feel growing in his pants.

“I have to tell you,” he said, leaning closer to her ear, his voice as intoxicating as the wine, “I loved talking to you over dinner, just spending time with you. But I’d also be lying if I said I haven’t been waiting all damn day to get close to you again, to get inside your sweet, perfect pussy.”

She gasped, that particular part of her body grown heavy with anticipation. Then she turned in his arms, because she could no longer resist. Besides, she’d decided to throw herself into this, right? For this one last night? So she was ready—oh so ready.

Looping her arms around his neck, she pulled him down for a long, deep kiss, tongues swirling slowly as she pressed her body to his. Mmm, he was so hard—not just his delectable cock, but his stomach, his broad chest, the thick arms that closed around her. Construction work had built a very nice body on this man.

His hands dropped to her ass then, pressing her tighter against his crotch. Oh God, he was so big. She hadn’t forgotten, yet it somehow felt brand new just to have that rock-like column stretching up her center.

“Do you remember the rule for tonight?” he asked.

She swallowed. God, had she really agreed to this? Unbelievably, in a moment of weakness, she had—so she had no choice but to nod.

His deep voice colored the dark words, making them sound just as forbidden—and frightening—as they were. “You let me have you however I want you. You don’t say no to
anything
.”

She couldn’t seem to speak—there was a lump of trepidation in her throat—so she only nodded again. Agreed again. To let him. Do anything. And
everything
.

And it occurred to her that she had the power to stop it—she could disagree right now, tell him she’d changed her mind. But the cold, hard truth was, she didn’t want to. For this one night in her life, she wanted—amazingly—to have the control taken away from her.

Chapter Seven

“Wrap around me,” Carter said, then hoisted Erin up into his arms, her legs twining around his thighs, her ass in his hands. He kissed her, angling his mouth first one way, then another, as he carried her down the hall into a bedroom done in light but masculine shades of beige and sage green. The window was open, admitting a gentle breeze, but darkness had fallen, so the only light in the room came from the overhead, which she decided must be on a dimmer switch.

And only as he lay her back on the bed did she realize that a crisp, white sheet stretched beneath her, standing out from the rest of the room’s décor and clearly placed here especially. Her man, it seemed, had a plan—dimmer switch, white sheet—she just had no idea what the plan entailed or how worried she should be.

Easing between her legs, he lay down atop her, kissing her over and over, each kiss taking her deeper into desire. She liked this, just kissing him, clothes on, like normal people—not like crazy cops arresting him and cuffing him to a bed, or him chaining her to the fence a few nights ago. The crux of her thighs grew just as hot from this, simply making out with him.

She didn’t mind at all when he pushed her sweater up, sliding the soft fabric over her breasts. “Mmm, look at this,” he said, peering down at her cleavage as he brushed his thumbs over her nipples. “A pretty pink bra under your pretty pink sweater.”

She smiled, then rose slightly, letting him take the sweater over her head. “Pink panties, too,” she volunteered, feeling more comfortable now, less afraid of what the evening would hold.

He raised his eyebrows. “Let me see.” Then unzipped her jeans.

She lifted her rear from the white sheet to let him pull them down until they were around her bent knees. He lay on his side next to her now, propped on one elbow, running his palm over the panties, just above her mound. “Perfect,” he whispered, and she bit her lip, feeling pretty and sexy and ready for more.

“Take yours off, too,” she said.

He made a tsking noise and reminded her, “Who’s in charge here?”

She rolled her eyes playfully. “Forgot.” Then let her voice go silky, seductive. “But I want you naked. I want to see that big, beautiful cock.”

He grinned, both teasing and lascivious. “I like when you talk that way. Keep that up, and I might have to give you what you want.”

She just giggled, kicking off her jeans the rest of the way and delighting as his hands closed over her breasts, squeezing, molding, making her cunt surge with moisture. “Mmm,” she purred throatily.

“You like that?” he whispered, his voice taking on a naughty edge.

“Mmm, yes.”

“I’m gonna make you feel so good tonight, baby. I’m gonna make you feel things you’ve never felt before. I’m gonna make you…mine.”

Her toes practically curled at the promise. Or was it a threat? Either way, her entire body tingled as Carter drew the bra straps from her shoulders to begin kissing his way across her chest, and by the time he drew the cups away from her breasts, it felt like a glorious release, like she’d been trapped but was now free.

Cupping the outer sides of the two mounds in his big, rough hands, he licked and kissed first one taut nipple, then the other. She liked watching, and threaded her fingers through his thick hair to make sure he knew she wanted more of his hot mouth there. Licking her upper lip as she let herself get lost in the simple pleasure, she arched her breasts higher, thrusting one nipple deeper into Carter’s mouth. He suckled her, soft at first, but then hard, in a way that shot straight to her cunt. She writhed on the bed, rubbing against him, hungry for more stimulation, everywhere.

Still kissing her breasts, he reached behind her to smoothly unhook her bra, then drew it down her arms and flung it away. Next he rose to his knees and lowered her pink panties. “I’ve never had you completely naked,” he told her, all playfulness gone from his voice. “Tonight I’m having you naked.”

The panties hit the floor, too, and he used both strong hands to part her thighs wide. She wondered if he could see how wet she was, and if her pussy was parted, open for him.

He studied her for a moment then smiled wickedly. “More pink.”

Question answered.

Erin was as on fire for him as she’d ever been, and waited for him to sink his mouth to her cunt, or to finally open his pants and maybe sink his nice, stiff shaft there instead.

Which was when he eased his body up onto hers once more, skimmed his palms up her arms, urging them over her head, giving her the feel of being stretched out and on display beneath him—and proceeded to handcuff her to the damn bed.

She felt the fur, heard the clicks, and looked up above her to see that his bed possessed convenient twists of wrought iron, perfect for cuffing. It shouldn’t have surprised her, but it did. And it also
reminded
her—he was in control here, he
did
have a plan, and they weren’t just making out like “normal people” anymore. They were about to travel back to the land of “beyond normal” again, and that both bothered and unwittingly aroused her.