His One Desire (6 page)

He wasn’t laughing at her. And then his hand began to move,
exploring her slowly, softly, his fingers gliding gently over her most delicate
skin and making her tingle, not just where he was touching her but everywhere.

A thousand pin pricks made her nipples harden and her toes
curl.

His fingers delved deeper, almost penetrating her. And she
wanted him to. She wanted those long fingers inside her.

Oh, God, she was so wet for him. She’d didn’t think she’d
ever been this wet for a man.

And then Luke gave the first sign that he wasn’t made of
stone. A harsh breath escaped him, and her gaze jerked to his face.

His eyes were still glued to the front of the room, but she
saw the muscles of his throat move as he swallowed.

He was excited. Her response to his touch was exciting him.

She surrendered to her own arousal in a sudden melting rush.
She closed her eyes and moved for the first time, spreading her legs a few
inches wider. Luke gave another ragged, uneven breath, and then he thrust two
fingers into her as deep as they would go.

She bit her lip to keep from moaning out loud. His fingers
were moving in a deliberate, explicit rhythm. He was fucking her, pulling out
and pushing back in, the heel of his hand bumping against her clit with every
thrust and starting a slow burn that spread through her entire body.

She was awash in sensation. Her body felt heavy and weightless
at the same time, languorous and voluptuous and vibrating with pleasure, her
very fingertips pulsating with the slow beat of her blood.

More. She needed more. She moved against him instinctively,
pressing into his hand. Luke stilled for a moment, and then he pulled his
fingers out of her so he could concentrate on her clit, working her in ever
tightening circles.

Oh, God—she was going to come.

She opened her eyes to scan the area around them, but the VP
was still going strong and there wasn’t a waiter or waitress in sight.

Her heart was thundering, her blood rushing in her veins.
Her eyes closed again as her hands clamped around the table edge, holding on
for dear life.

Was she really going to have an orgasm in public? Luke must
have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for this kind of skill.

She was so close. Nothing could stop this from happening.
Not an earthquake or a tidal wave or—

The tinny sound of The Ramones’
I Wanna Be Sedated
emanating from her cell phone.

Her eyes flew open. Under the table, Luke’s hand went still.

A beat went by. The ringtone wasn’t terribly loud, but a few
people turned towards her, frowns of disapproval on their faces. She grabbed
for the phone and turned it off, her face even redder than it must have been
already.

Her heart was pounding, her body trembling. She ached for
release so much it hurt.

She gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. She
couldn’t meet Luke’s eyes, even though she could feel him looking at her. His
hand was still on her body. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he
spoke.

“I can keep going,” he said, his voice low and intimate.

She looked up then, and saw that his face was flushed, too.
He was breathing unevenly, and his blue eyes were fixed on hers with an
expression she couldn’t read.

God, yes.
Please
yes.

Her mouth opened to say the words and then closed again. No
matter how much she wanted to, she would not beg Luke Tanner to get her off.

Up until this point, everything that had happened between
them was his idea. This was his game. He was the one who’d dared her to sit
there, the one who’d put his hand on her. The fact that she’d enjoyed it didn’t
matter…unless she asked him to keep going. Then he’d have proof of his power
over her. Proof that she wanted him.

On the other hand, if she walked away now, he didn’t have
proof of anything.

She cleared her throat. “I’m all set, thanks. If you
wouldn’t mind…?” she glanced down at her lap and back up at him.

Slowly, as if he couldn’t believe she was serious, he took
his hand away from her body.

She grabbed her purse, stuffed her phone inside it, and rose
shakily to her feet. “Please excuse me,” she said primly, preparing to walk
past him.

He rose to his feet and blocked her way, leaning down so he
could whisper in her ear. “Going to the ladies’ room to finish yourself off?”
He shook his head. “It won’t be the same.”

The tickle of his breath made her shiver. “Don’t flatter
yourself,” she hissed, stepping around him and walking away, holding her head
high and praying she didn’t look as flushed and disheveled as she felt.

She didn’t go to the ladies’ room. She went past the
restrooms and into the lobby, and she didn’t stop walking until she stepped
into an elevator and pressed the button for her floor with a feeling of intense
relief.

Damn Luke Tanner to hell, she thought a few minutes later,
turning on the taps of her tub. Damn him in particular for making that crack
about finishing herself off.

Because she really, really wanted to. And now she couldn’t,
because with that remark Luke had ensured that if she touched herself tonight
she would think of him…and imagine that his hands were on her.

Oh, God, those hands.

She tried to forget about his hands as she sank into the
bath. Unfortunately, the heat and the wetness and the fact that she was naked
weren’t the best deterrents to thinking about Luke Tanner.

She’d always known that he was capable of making a woman
feel like that. There was an implicit promise in those intense blue eyes and
that sexy half smile and those big, strong hands. She’d recognized that promise
even at fourteen, before she’d known what to call it. And she’d always felt it.
Every woman who looked at him felt it.

I think you watched those movies because I was in them.
I think you went home afterwards and fantasized about me.

He’d hadn’t meant it seriously, of course. He’d just been
trying to jerk her chain. But the sad thing was, it was true. Luke Tanner had
starred in her very first sexual fantasy, and even though she’d tried to
replace him a thousand times since then, he was still her leading man in that
particular capacity.

But not tonight, damn it. And not ever again. She was done
thinking about Luke in any capacity whatsoever.

Two hours later, she had to acknowledge her utter failure in
the don’t-think-about-Luke department.

The last hour had been particularly miserable. She’d gone to
bed early, hoping for the oblivion of sleep, and instead she’d tossed and
turned. Despite her determination to think about anything except Luke, she had
in fact thought about him until her body and mind were in such turmoil that she
finally threw her pillow on the floor and got out of bed to pace.

Of course there was an easy solution to one part of her
problem. Given how hot and bothered she was, she’d come apart in about five
seconds if she touched herself.

But the specter of Luke Tanner would be hovering over her,
even more than he was right now. Damn him and his stupid game and—

The game. Truth or dare. That’s how all this had started, right?
And they hadn’t finished their first round.

It was her turn now. The ball was in her court.

She stopped pacing. An idea had come into her head that was
as wickedly appealing as it was terrifying.

If she had the guts to do it then maybe, just maybe, she
could finally turn the tables on Luke Tanner.

* * *

He was in hell.

His plan had backfired. He’d come here to let go of the
past, to put Kali Jones behind him. But after feeling her come alive under his
hands, feeling her respond to him and melt at his touch, all he wanted was to
make her feel that way again. To get past her defenses and watch her come apart
in his arms.

How the hell had she been able to walk away from that
intensity? After she left he’d been disappointed, if not really surprised, that
she didn’t come back. It wasn’t the first time she’d run from him. But she was
an adult now, damn it. She ought to have the courage to face her own feelings,
to—

There was a knock on his door. When he glanced at the clock,
he saw it was after midnight.

This wasn’t the first time he’d had a late-night visitor in
a hotel. If a woman was determined enough, it wasn’t impossible to get a man’s
room number. And he thought he could guess who it was. After Kali had left the
dining room, that redheaded actress had made a move on him. On another night
she might have succeeded, but he’d let her down easy and headed back to his
room, where he’d been pacing back and forth for the last hour.

Another knock, more impatient this time.

He sighed and went to the door, glancing through the
peephole as he reached for the knob.

It wasn’t the redhead. It was Kali.

He pulled the door open and stared at her. She looked back
at him defiantly, as if they’d just been in the middle of an argument. Her hair
was tousled, her face was scrubbed clean of makeup, and she wasn’t wearing her
glasses. She was in sweatpants and an old Pretenders tee shirt and bare feet.

A rush of desire hit him fast and hard, and he ordered
himself to get a grip. She couldn’t possibly be here for sex—not with that scowl
on her face.

He opened his mouth to invite her in, but she spoke before
he could.

“Truth or dare?” she asked belligerently.

“What?”

“The game. It’s my turn. Truth or dare?”

Sweet holy heaven, maybe she
was
here for sex. Why
else would she show up after midnight to play the game?

Please, God, let her be here for sex.

“Dare.”

A spark of satisfaction lit her eyes. “I dare you to sit
without moving or speaking for ten minutes.”

Was she going to do to him what he’d done to her? He modified
his prayer slightly.
Please, God, let her do to me what I did to her
.

“Where do you want me?” he asked huskily, not taking his
eyes off her.

She glanced around the room for a moment. “There,” she said,
pointing, and he tore his gaze from her long enough to see her indicate the
armchair next to his bed.

She didn’t say anything about taking his clothes off, so he
left them on. He sensed that Kali wanted to be in charge and he was all for it.
This was a side of her he’d never seen before, and he wanted to see a whole lot
more.

He sank down into the chair and watched her come closer. Now
that she’d made her first move he could see uncertainty in her eyes, warring
with determination and other, hotter emotions.

His hands tightened on the arms of the chair.
Don’t let
her run away. Not this time.
She was on the edge, he could see that.

“When does my ten minutes start?” he asked.

He noticed suddenly that she wasn’t wearing a bra under her
tee shirt. And just like that, he went from hard to harder. He forced his hands
to relax before he pulled out chunks of stuffing from his chair.

And damn if Kali didn’t pull her cell phone from her pocket
and program the alarm.

“It starts now,” she said, setting the phone down on the
bed.

She paused. Then, without looking at him, she shimmied out
of her sweatpants, leaving them on the floor as she climbed onto the bed.

She wasn’t wearing any underwear. Sweet holy fuck.

A rush of pure adrenaline made his heart slam against his
ribs. It was a miracle he managed to stay still, when every cell in his body
was pulling him towards her.

She lay back against the cushions of his bed, still without
looking at him. He watched her chest rise and fall as she took a deep breath.
Then, very slowly, she opened her legs.

She wasn’t going to do to him what he’d done to her. She was
going to do…something else.

Christ, she was so beautiful. So fucking perfect. Those
slender legs, firm and toned and sleek. And at the juncture of her thighs a
triangle of softness, enticing and mesmerizing, a place he’d felt tonight but
hadn’t seen.

He wanted to see more. He wanted to see everything. And
then, as if she’d read his mind, Kali slid both her hands down to frame her
pussy, pausing for just a moment before she pressed her fingers into her outer
folds and pulled them apart, revealing the silken, glistening, dusky pink skin
inside.

The sight affected him like the scent of ripe peaches. His
mouth started to water with the need to taste, to lick, to suck, to consume.
He’d never wanted to own a woman’s pussy the way he wanted to own Kali’s.

Then she slid her fingers over that silky skin, tracing her
folds softly, slowly. He felt heavy, drugged with lust, his nerve endings
sending messages of pleasure to his brain. Her body opened further, revealing
more secrets, and the honey of her arousal made her skin gleam like satin.

His hands twitched spasmodically. And then she settled two
fingers over her clit and started to rub in lazy circles, spreading her legs
even wider as she let her body arch back into the pillows.

Fuck
.

His cock strained against his pants as she brought herself
higher and higher. Her eyes were closed, her breath fast and shallow.

Was she imagining him right now? Picturing him thrusting
into her?

And then her legs spasmed against the bed as she moaned and
gasped, her skin flushing with hectic color.

As he watched her come down, slowly, he became aware that
his body was as taut as a bowstring, his cock throbbing with the pulse that
beat through his veins. His hands were clenched on the arms of his chair and
his breath was coming in ragged pants.

After an endless minute, Kali closed her legs and sat up.
She hadn’t looked at him once this whole time. Now she met his eyes for the
barest instant before looking down again, picking up her phone with a shaking hand.