Kansas Nights [Kansas Heat 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

Kathy had been raised among those kinds of people. They’d talk to her. Maybe if Mr. DEA Agent played nice, she just might be willing to help him out. That thought brought a smile to Kathy’s lips as she considered how very difficult it would be to sell Jack on that idea. More than just being arrogant, the man was bossy. He was also late.

It dawned on her as she shifted through the reference section that if Jack showed up early, he’d be in a temper. While an angry Jack might not be a pleasant thing to endure, it would certainly be better than a plotting one. That’s what time would give him—a chance to come up with a retaliation that stung for more than a few minutes.

Kathy paused as her gaze caught on a neat stack of worn, old books piled politely into a hidden corner. Books that dusty and ancient looking could only have come from the dungeon. That’s what they called the small, dark corridor upstairs where they kept the town’s archived history. Kathy hated the narrow hall. It gave her the creeps. Thankfully, most people agreed with her and stayed the hell out of it.

Today, though, somebody had lugged down a whole stack of maps, making Kathy wonder when they’d had the time. She’d have noticed somebody carrying all those heavy tomes down if for no other reason than to stop them. What came down had to go back up, and that, unfortunately, was Kathy’s job.

Sighing, she hefted up the heavy pile and trudged off toward the stairs. Humble might have one of the coolest library buildings around given the building’s history as a brothel, but it didn’t come equipped with an elevator. Instead, Kathy had to tote the large stack up thirty-eight steps until she crested the top and found herself at the mouth of another endless row of bookcases.

Moving through the stacks, Kathy started to mentally prepare herself for being cloistered in the dungeon. With reminders that ghosts didn’t exist and everybody could hear her if she screamed, Kathy finally reached the shadowed door that led to the back hall they used to store the town’s oldest books.

Kathy stepped into a dark, cramped world feeling like she’d walked from day into night. The long, thin corridor looked just as endless thanks to the shadows consuming most of its length. Narrow barrels of florescent lights tried to beat the darkness back, but without the aid of a single window, it was a losing battle. The only natural light seeped in around Kathy’s shadow. Even as she moved down the tight corridor, the light didn’t brighten enough to illuminate much beyond the doorway.

The corridor was too narrow for more than one row of bookcases. It almost wasn’t wide enough for one. Kathy’s arm bumped into more than one rough spine as she hurried to return each book back to its proper place. She couldn’t get done fast enough and ended up nearly jogging toward the entrance after setting the last book on its shelf.

Reaching the light, Kathy stumbled back out into the loft. There in the wide alley where all the rows of bookcases ended, Kathy finally managed to take a deep enough breath to begin calming her racing heart. It took a moment, but she ultimately managed to regain her sense of reason and sanity.

She used that time to pick up another book off the floor. Apparently the messy people had come out today along with the gossipers because the encyclopedia she lifted off the carpet belonged all the way at the other end of the loft. Trying to be positive, Kathy considered what size dessert she could have with lunch thanks to her elongated tour of the library that morning. All the walking had to be worth at least three hundred calories.

Consumed with her mental math, Kathy barely paid attention to the aisles she passed by and almost ran right over Sherri Dixon in her rush. Stumbling back, Kathy started to make her apologies before she even realized whom she’d bumped into. Sherri had never once been in the library. Kathy didn’t need more than one guess to figure out what had brought Humble’s horniest gossipy bimbo to the second floor of all places.

Hell, it wasn’t like some big secret that Sherri had already made loud claims on any man she wanted. Given the last man she’d rubbed her tits all over had been Jack, Kathy figured she was about to get a warning. Hoping to avoid such a scene, she stepped around Sherri with a big, fake smile and a quick dismissal.

Before the bubblehead could get a word out, Kathy fled down the aisle Sherri had popped out of. Headed now in the wrong direction, Kathy wouldn’t object to walking the extra distance. Kathy figured she’d just add it to her dessert tally as she rounded the front of the aisle and started racing back toward the rear of the loft. Given her day, she wanted the biggest and best dessert she could afford.

God must have been on her side, because Sherri had disappeared out of the back lane by the time Kathy rounded the endcap displaying a special section on world maps and atlases.

Not about to hesitate and give Sherri the chance to catch up, Kathy gave up the pretense and started running. The very last thing Kathy wanted to do was talk to Sherri about Jack Daniels. No, Kathy corrected herself a second later as she rounded the last aisle and came to a slamming stop against a brick wall, the very last thing she wanted to do was to talk
to
Jack Daniels.

Alarms sounded in Kathy’s head, filling her ears with shrill shrieks as her heart raced faster and faster with every inch her chin had to lift to meet the cool, hard gaze of one extremely pissed-off DEA agent. Jaw clenched, lips thinned, Jack looked ready to collect that strip of hide she owed him. Had she actually been stupid enough to wish for a quick and brutal showdown?

Right then, Kathy would have exchanged her fate for whatever revenge it would have taken Jack a few weeks to dream up. At least then, she would have had time to flee. That option had disappeared along with the sun, leaving her cold and alone in the deep recesses of Jack’s shadow. Despite all her planning, the only defense Kathy could come up with right then was to stumble over her own feet as she shuffled blindly backward in a vain search for escape.

Just as steadily, Jack paced forward, looking ready to strangle her where she stood. Somewhere deep inside, a silent voice screamed for her to run, but the fear that should have had her complying didn’t fuel the racing pound of her heart. The ever-quickening pulse only fanned the excited twist of need starting to tingle all through her, leaving Kathy starved for breath and flushed with desire.

And he wasn’t even touching her yet. The book she still held trembling in her grasp provided a hard buffer from the solid wall of muscles pressing forward as Jack forced her backward. With each step forward, his T-shirt caught against the edges of the rough cover, crinkling and bunching in soft waves over the edges that rolled and shifted with the thick muscles flexing beneath.

Kathy remembered what it felt like to rub against all those hard ridges, to feel them teasing every inch of her naked skin. The cotton of his shirt had softened under the heat, making every grinding pass a sensual thrill that even in memory had her nipples puckering with anticipation. She should have fucked him when she had the chance, because seeing him again only made the need worse.

Of course, sleeping with Jack probably wouldn’t have helped. Knowing how rough those fingers could be and how hot his breath felt against her skin made Kathy itch with the sudden need to be touched. No other thought could surface through the flood of memories igniting her body with a tense excitement.

Only the hard, uneven pattern of books’ spines cutting into her back jolted Kathy back to reality. Jack had walked her right into a trap. He caged her there, pinning her against the bookcase at the end of the aisle by simply lifting both his arms to rest on the shelves behind her.

God help her if Sherri showed up now. Kathy didn’t want to imagine the gossip that would cause. Not that Jack looked like he cared about what this little scene might cause her…or him. One thing for sure, Mr. DEA Agent didn’t look concerned.

He didn’t look overwhelmed with lust either. Like a cascade of ice water, that realization helped chill the fire burning in her veins, a little too late given her pussy had already soaked her panties in a silent cry for attention. Kathy could feel the blush racing across her cheeks as the smell of feminine arousal mixed with Jack’s own soap-fresh scent.

Thankfully, Jack didn’t appear to notice. In fact, when Kathy dared a direct look into his icy blue gaze she found him focused on her with such intensity she forgot every other damn thing in the world. She even forgot to breathe when his head dipped. With her breath held, his washed over her upturned face in a low growl.

“About my truck?”

“It was an accident.” That lie popped out without any thought, an instinctive response based on the primal need to placate the very large, pissed-off man snarling down at her. It might have worked better if her barely-there whisper hadn’t cracked in clear strain. Instead the small show of submission had Jack leaning in harder against her as his own voice deepened with the husky note of desire.

“And you’re going to pay for it.”

“I don’t have the money.” The bald truth slipped out as easily as the lie had, but with panic replacing the fear.

“I’m certain you have something to barter with.”

Kathy’s eyes widened over the low-toned assurance of his arrogance. If she had any doubt of what he thought she should offer as payment, the heated feel of his palm pressing into her thigh answered it. The soft fabric of her skirt protected her skin from the rough scrape of his palm, but it wouldn’t last.

Inch by inch, his fingers drew the cotton hem up higher and higher along her legs. Some rational part of Kathy’s brain knew she should stop him, that it was completely indecent. Worse, Sherri was still about.

The words, though, couldn’t surface without breath, and Kathy didn’t have the strength to take one. Then it was too late.

“Jack—” Her voice broke over his name as his hand slipped under the hem and slid boldly up to cup the sodden crotch of her panties.

“Are you wearing pink lace again?”

“Lavender.”

“I want to see,” Jack growled, tickling her neck with the heated rumble.

Kathy could only answer with a soft, complacent moan, too drugged by the sultry feel of those magical fingers tracing heated patterns over her panties. It wasn’t enough. She needed to feel the rough glide of those calluses grinding over her swollen flesh, not be teased by the silky slide of her own underwear.

“And you’re going to show me.” This time when she didn’t answer, Jack nipped her neck with his teeth. The small sting sent a frisson of awareness streaking through the passion fogging her mind, enough that she could follow his prompt. “Isn’t that right, Miss Coben?”

“Yes.” Kathy didn’t know what the question was, but was certain of the right answer. He’d taught her that much last night. “No” could be a very dangerous word to use against Jack.

“Yes,” though, had him rewarding her instantly, smoothing over the small assault with a soft brush of his lips. Arching her neck to offer her tender flesh up for something more than a toying caress, Kathy offered a similar silent plea for more than a teasing massage with the lift of her hips.

“In fact, you’re going to do everything I tell you to.”

“Yes.” Kathy sighed the word out when his fingers pressed down harder, splitting open her slit with their wide width to finally discover the swollen clit throbbing with desperation to be petted.

“You’re going to give me seventy-two hours.”

That didn’t make any sense, but Kathy didn’t care. All she cared about were the fingers grinding too slowly over her clit to make her body sing, but using enough pressure to make it cry out in need. Jack didn’t need to make sense right then. He only needed to be satisfied.

“Yes.”

“At my beck and call.”

“Whatever you want.”

That complete submission should have brought nothing but delight. Instead of being rewarded for her obedience, Kathy felt punished the second he stopped all motion. Nothing could have been more cruel or painful. The agony that suddenly gripped her had Kathy’s drooping lashes lifting, looking toward Jack in confusion.

“What I want is you.” He’d been waiting to capture her gaze. Still intent, his eyes were no longer cold. “I want you naked and on your knees by my chair waiting for my command. I might order you to crawl up on my lap, straddle me, and lift that pussy up for my tasting. Or I might decide to have you drape those curvy thighs over the arms of a chair and spread that pussy wide so I can watch as you play with yourself. It doesn’t matter what I ask. You will obey.”

She knew he wasn’t kidding. The hunger in his gaze couldn’t be faked. Kathy swallowed as the very idea pumped more fuel into the already-overwhelming need consuming her. She should tell him to go to hell, just as she should have last night, but some primitive part of her craved his domination. He hadn’t even fucked her, and yet Jack had taken her to new heights that Kathy knew she’d spend the rest of her life dreaming of.

“Seventy-two hours.” She’d have given him twice that and then some, but Kathy wouldn’t give him her pride no matter what he demanded. “And I’m going to save up the money and pay you for the damages to the truck.”

That brought back a wisp of a smile to Jack’s features. Small as the gesture was, it still lightened his features until he almost looked relaxed. “I wouldn’t expect anything less, Miss Coben.”

Kathy opened her mouth to respond, but Jack cut her off in a sudden rush of motion. The world whipped away from her as fast as his fingers ripped through her panties. Part of her had been hoping he’d go around the elastic band, but Kathy had never expected to suddenly find the cool air caressing her hot folds. Then, with the pump of two thick fingers deep into her cunt, it didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered anymore but the glorious sensation of feeling the hard press of his thumb twirling over her swollen bud while he fucked her hard and fast. Kathy panted out little whimpers as wave after wave of molten heat washed over her body. Growing stronger with each stroke of his fingers, they built into a constant roar of pleasure.

“Please.” Swamped with a mindless need to feel that final spark that would ignite the last, all-consuming explosion of ecstasy through her, Kathy could only manage that one-word plea.