Fixing Justice (17 page)

“Enough about me, lady. Tell me something I don’t know about you.” He refreshed their wine glasses while she considered his question.

“I would marry chocolate if it was legal.” He tried not to laugh at her smart-ass answer and gave her one of those,
are you fucking kidding me
looks. Victoria chuckled and groaned, “Alright! Alright! Something you don’t know. H
mmmm
,”

She took a sip of her wine and glanced around the room as though some sort of inspiration was going to appear out of nowhere. God, she was unique. It had been his experience that women couldn’t wait to talk endlessly about themselves. Watching her struggle told him that she didn’t see herself as particularly interesting. It must have been hard to be a girl who excelled in a predominantly male world. Not even nerds were immune to big tits and a botoxed smile.

A thought must have formed in her mind when her eyes sparkled with mischief and a huge smile lit up her face. Bringing her finger up to her mouth she said, “Shhhhh! Turns out I have a secret!” Setting her glass down, she sat up straight, placing both hands on her knees. She looked for all the world like a naughty child about to admit to having gotten caught in the cookie jar. “Next to coffee and desserts, I can not live without trashy romance books!” She said it quickly, like she was admitting to a serious crime.

“What?” He burst out laughing. “Are you joking?” When she turned solemn, truthful eyes on him, and nodded her head indicating that she wasn’t kidding around, he was beyond charmed. “Are we talking mommy porn or Lord Higginbottom ravishes the maid?”

“Oh God, that mommy porn stuff isn’t for me. My safeword would be a knee to the groin,” she giggled. “And yes, Lord Higginbottom has probably figured in a story or twelve. Right now, cowboys are all the rage and billionaires of course!”

“You are full of surprises, honey.” He chuckled with delight. A brilliant thought flashed in his mind as he asked, “Do you have one of these trashy books with you?” She looked slightly taken aback by his question. She was fucking adorable.

“Well,…uh,” She coughed to clear her throat. “Actually, yes I do. I like to read before bed. Helps me get to sleep,” she muttered as a deep shade of red crept up her neck and across her cheeks. Why, she was embarrassed!

“Let me check this trash out!” he snickered playfully pushing her from the sofa to go get the book. She resisted as best she could, even laughing at his efforts.

“No, Draegyn, stop! C’mon. You’re embarrassing me.”

“You brought it up!” he barked. Knowing how to get her running for the book, he made to tickle her into compliance, even getting in a few good groping touches, before she gave in with a shout of laughter.

“Enough! I surrender,” she wheezed between giggles. Standing before him in her bare feet with the sweater hanging loosely around her, she impishly wagged her finger in his face threatening him with dire circumstances if he ended up laughing at her.

He couldn’t help but swat her behind when she turned to walk away. “Hurry up!’ he commanded as she stuck her tongue out at him in reply.

Returning less than a minute later, she had two small paperbacks clutched in her hand and a wicked look on her face. “You choose,” she said. “Either the rugged, sexy cowboy or the handsome Viking with the big, uh….
sword
.”

“Do you have a favorite?” he inquired silkily. “Which hero do you prefer?”

She thought about it for a minute then answered, “Mmmm. I think the cowboy.”

Without another word, he reached up and pulled her onto his lap where she landed with a thud. She might be small but her body colliding with his when she wasn’t expecting it meant she was mostly dead weight.

“Read to me.”

Holy shit
, Tori thought as she tried to retain some dignity and not squirm on his lap. The minute she fell onto him, her senses were assailed with the warmth coming off his body. She hadn’t expected to find herself perched on his thighs and struggled to contain her wild excitement at the intimate closeness.

From their position, she was at eye-level with him, breathlessly aware of the arm stretched across her thighs holding her in place and the way his other arm curled around her waist. She couldn’t help but stare at the undone button on his shirt or the skin of his neck. This close, she fell into the glittering blueness of his penetrating gaze. As usual, she lost all coherent thought when her eyes dropped to his mouth.
Damn
, he had tempting lips.

She felt his fingers brush against her hip then settle on an exposed patch of skin. When he stroked high up on her thigh, she nearly moaned out loud.
This is dangerous
, she thought. If she had a lick of common sense she would run from the room before their truce turned into something hot and naked.
Eh
, screw common sense.

“What would you like me to read?” she quizzed in a husky voice.

“How about you just open the book to any page and go from there?” The hoarse sound of Draegyn’s answer let her know she wasn’t alone in the battle for good sense.

Not knowing how to get comfortable without grinding her bottom onto his groin, she tried to sit still and upright.
Good luck with that
, she thought wryly. Try as she might to appear blasé, the warmth gathering between her legs had to be making an impression on his senses. She might not have all that much experience but she knew a growing erection when she sat on one.

Fanning the pages of the paperback she made a production of randomly picking a page to begin reading. Just her luck that the scene she chose was full of sexual tension and building intimacy. Uh, maybe this
really
wasn’t a good idea.

He kept his fingers stroking lightly along the skin of her thigh with one hand while the other played with her knees in a way that made it difficult to think. “Read, Victoria,” he murmured.

She cleared her throat and prayed she wasn’t about to make a huge fool of herself. Without thinking what her action would do to the body underneath her, she wiggled her bottom until she found an easy position and began reading quickly.

“Okay. Well, let’s see. We’re on page ninety-four. Jake, the rugged hero is about to seduce Wendy, our spirited heroine.” She cleared her throat and started reading: “
Your shirt’s all wet darlin’. Jake’s voice had gone husky, his gaze fastened on her plump breasts clearly visible beneath the damp cotton. Wendy’s heart thudded in her chest as she watched his tongue touch one of the pebbled nipples she couldn’t disguise. Take it off, she demanded as he peeled the soggy material from her. She felt a slight shudder run through his body as he devoured her naked flesh with his hungry eyes. I’m not very good at this sort of thing, she blurted out. Turning eyes blazing with desire to her shocked ones, he murmured softly, My body thinks you’re better than good at this. She slid her hand inside his open shirt with shy hesitancy and ran questing fingers over his chest, pausing to gently examine his male nipples. More, he groaned as his mouth latched onto her neck with a series of sharp, stinging nips that brought a burning need spreading through her heightened senses. She moaned in helpless delight, not caring if his teeth left marks on her flesh. His calloused cowboy hands cupped her tender, swelling breasts, squeezing the fleshy orbs, until she dug her nails into his skin. Tweaking her tightened nipples, she slid her hands into his hair and groaned. Please, Jake! What baby? He growled. What do you need? Please, she cried again. Take it into your mouth, hurry! She cried. When he did, she arched her back as wave after wave of sexual desire flooded her panties.
”

Tori stopped reading to catch her breath.
Dammit.
A couple of paragraphs about a sexy cowboy and a warm lap with a very big hard-on pressing into her sweet spot had raised her awareness level to near painful heights. She was frantically deciding what to do next, since continuing to read any more of the story was going to make matters worse, when Draegyn reached for the book and took it from her hands. He looked at the cover illustration for a moment and then at her. She found herself helplessly drowning in the smoky eyes of an aroused male. Tossing the book aside, she felt the hand curved around her waist, slowly rise up her back until he reached the hair secured at her nape.

In seconds he had the pins removed and was running his fingers through her locks in a way that got a husky purr from her. She loved the way he took control. It was just what he did. This was the thing about him that turned her on without any effort at all. He commanded every situation he was in and right now, he was most definitely the one in charge.

His fingers tangled in her hair, as Tori rubbed her scalp against his firm touch. It felt like she was free-falling and all he’d done was stroke her head. Needing an anchor in the sensory storm, she laid a hand upon his chest and snaked the other around his neck for good measure. When he pulled her mouth to his, she let him. Gladly.

This was nothing like the flash fire she remembered from their first kiss. No, this one was slower, wetter. He simply joined their mouths and went deep. All she could do was groan and clutch helplessly at his shirt. He accepted the parting of her lips with a slow slide of his tongue that grew steadily fiercer. A sensual shudder of desire ripped through Tori, making her hips roll on his hardness. She arched against his chest asking for a whole lot more. Taking a cue from the story that ignited this quickly escalating bonfire; she made short work of his tie and the buttons on his shirt so she could slide her hand inside the parted material.

Rubbing her fingers along his heated skin was a sensual delight. He was pumped up, hard to the touch yet soft at the same time. Skillfully devouring her mouth with an unhurried rhythm, his breathing turned ragged. With each tongue swipe, she swirled hers around his, eventually whimpering like a hungry child begging for more. While her touch on his chest had been gentle and shy at first, as he deepened the kiss her caresses grew desperate.

Her marauding fingers descended as far as they could as his big solid body shuddered when she traced the taut skin on his abdomen just above the waistband of his trousers. Wrenching their mouths apart, his head fell onto the sofa back as his chest heaved with the effort to bring oxygen into his lungs. Tori leapt on his exposed neck without hesitation, falling on him while her tongue and lips kissed, licked, and nipped every bare inch. He tasted like a man should. Warmth met her tongue as she slid it against his collarbone until the flames of desire reached into her core, making her clamp down hard on his sensitive skin. She moaned and sucked on his flesh, becoming even bolder when she felt his hand reach into her hair, encouraging the ravishing kisses.

They were both struggling to breathe as Tori squirmed on his lap until he let out a desperate groan. The sound accompanied his fingers sliding up her thigh, under the hem of her dress until he touched the lacey thong that wasn’t doing much to contain the dampness spreading between her thighs. When he ran a single finger under the elastic she started to come undone in his arms.

They’d gone from zero to heart-stopping arousal in no time flat. There was no denying that she wanted him in the worst way. Apparently, not being each other’s type hadn’t stopped nature from staking its own claim on the situation. The intoxicating balls-out lust that drove them into each other’s embrace was stronger than anything she’d ever felt before.

They were back to devouring each other’s mouths when an odd sound made its way into the sex-drenched haze that surrounded them. At first, she only noted that there was a sound, not what it meant. Since their incendiary kiss hadn’t lessened at all, she tried to ignore the interruption until finally, they drew apart as the sound became a persistent shrill. It was one of their damn cell phones.

Tori groaned in frustration and slapped her hand against the back of the sofa a second before she scrambled awkwardly off Draegyn’s lap. She surprised them both when a hoarsely muttered, “Fuck,” slid from her throat.

“I couldn’t agree more,” he grumbled, reaching for the offending object and snatching it up without humor. “What?” he barked into the phone as she sank to the cushions in a melted heap of overly sensitized flesh. “This isn’t a good time, man.” She heard him murmur. A few seconds later he said, “No. Victoria is right here. She’s fine. We both are. Why the late call Alex?” He wasn’t even trying to hide the impatience or irritation in his voice.

Pulling herself together so Draegyn could find out what was stuck in Alex’s radar, she stood up and smoothed the material of her outfit over trembling thighs. Somewhere during their heated embrace, she had lost the sweater, leaving her in just the short dress. As she bent to retrieve their wine glasses she caught Draegyn looking at her with undisguised arousal shining in his eyes. She felt like strangling her interrupting boss right then.

Hurrying from the room with the empty glasses and wine bottle in her hands, she managed to stub her toe on an end table, muttering a dramatic, “Ouch!” that left her limping and annoyed as hell. Dropping the glasses and bottle on the counter of the luxurious wet bar, she caught her reflection in the mirrored backsplash and nearly died. She looked like a wild animal had mauled her. Peeking over her shoulder at said wild beast, she had to wonder how far their interlude might have gone if not for the damn inconvenient timing of Alex’s call.