Love Bites (8 page)

“I enjoyed my visit, Raquel. And I’m glad we straightened things out regarding our pooches.”

She was glad for his intrusion into her thoughts. No telling what she would have thought of next. “So am I, Quest.”

She glanced down at the poodle that had followed her to the door. Raquel leaned down and picked her up, cuddling her close to her face. “Smookie means a lot to me. She’s the last birthday gift from my brother before he was killed in a car accident.”

“I’m sorry.”

She felt his sincere sympathy. “Thanks. That was a couple of years ago. Time heals all wounds.”

“Yes, but you’re never fully rid of them, are you? We don’t forget the scars left behind. Goodbye, Raquel.”

“Goodbye, Quest.”

He opened the door and left. She closed the door behind him and released a rush of breath she hadn’t been aware she’d been holding.

“So tell me all about Quest Newman.”

Whitney was on Raquel’s Bluetooth as she moved around the kitchen preparing brownies for Ms. Albright’s bridge party that night. “Not much to tell. He was in a way better mood than the last time, and of course he still looked like eye candy. Not that I’d expected his looks to change or anything. But sometimes an improvement in attitude can also improve your looks.”

“I know what you mean. So he’s willing to share the cost of Smookie’s expenses? He didn’t ask for proof or anything, like DNA?” Whitney asked, chuckling.

“Nope. And I have to admit I enjoyed his visit.”

“What woman wouldn’t? Not only is the man gorgeous, but he’s well-off. I followed his career when he played for the Broncos and even later when he was traded to the Colts. He got two Super Bowl rings before getting hurt.”

Raquel slid the tray into the oven. “There’s something he said before leaving that gave me pause, though.”

“What?”

“I mentioned Smookie had been a gift from Jordan and that he’d gotten killed in a car accident. He said something about, although time healed all wounds, there would always be a scar.”

“Umm, I can understand him saying that,” Whitney said softly.

Raquel lifted a brow. “Why?”

“You’re not into football, so you probably don’t remember the scandal.”

“What scandal?” Raquel asked, leaning back against the counter. She glanced over at Smookie, who was entertaining herself with a stuffed toy Raquel had surprised her with yesterday.

“He walked in on his girlfriend making out with one of his teammates.”

“Wow, that sucks!”

“I know. That was two years ago. Now I hear that, although he dates, he won’t let another woman get close. I read in the papers last weekend that his twin brother got married.”

“He has a twin?” Raquel asked, surprised. There was definitely a lot about Quest Newman that she didn’t know.

“Yes, not identical though.”

Raquel nodded. She couldn’t imagine there being two men with Quest Newman’s looks out there. “Well, I don’t expect to see or hear from him again for a while. He’s agreed to be fair with Smookie’s expenses, and that’s all I wanted. It’s not that I couldn’t pay for them, but it’s the principle of the thing. Males, even dogs, need to own up to their responsibilities.”

“You’re thinking about what an ass Derrick was.”

“Umm, I guess I am.” Her ex-boyfriend had been always been considerate…at least, he had in the beginning. But then when she began making money as a phone actress, he hadn’t felt the need to do practically anything…including work. He thought it would be okay to live off her income and do whatever the hell he wanted…which was to play golf all day. He’d gotten to the place where he hadn’t wanted to take out the trash.

She figured he had been shocked as hell when he’d come home one day from a golf game to find she had packed his things and had them waiting for him on the doorstep, with the locks to her doors changed. She had pretty much decided that her relationship with him had been a year of her life wasted.

“Any calls scheduled for tonight?” Whitney asked, reclaiming her attention.

“No, I need time to study.” She had decided to pursue an MBA from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Although school didn’t start until the fall, she’d chosen to get a head start by taking a few summer classes.

After her phone call with Whitney ended, Raquel pretty much settled down for the evening with a quantitative analysis book, but she couldn’t help but replay in her mind Quest’s visit. Her condo was rather spacious, yet he had almost appeared bigger than life standing in the middle of her living room. And the man was so darn handsome and fine. But what she liked most of all was that, once he’d acknowledged his dog sitter’s lack of responsibility, he’d agreed to do right by her Smookie.

She took a sip of coffee, opened her book and decided to push any thoughts of Quest from her mind for now.

“I just sent you the information you wanted on Raquel Capers, Quest.”

Quest smiled. “Thanks, Brett.”

He’d known his brother would not fail him. After all, Brett was computer savvy, a bona fide technical expert who worked as a private investigator in Atlanta for the Peachtree Private Investigative Firm. All you had to do was give him a name and he could research just about anything on that individual. The good, the bad and the ugly.

“Any reason you’re so interested in Ms. Capers?”

Quest tossed aside a report he’d been reading as he adjusted his cell phone to his ear.

“Yes, Bandit knocked up her poodle.”

“What! How in the hell did you let that happen? I warned you that would happen one day, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”

Quest rolled his eyes. His brother was the main one who’d strongly recommend getting Bandit fixed, if for nothing more than health reasons, not to mention the issue of overpopulation. “It was during one of those times I left him with Tawny.” He then told Brett what Tawny had told him.

“For Pete’s sake, I warned you about leaving Bandit with Tawny. She’s our cousin and I love her to death, but she is one spacey chick. You should have taken my advice on both counts.”

“Well, okay, I didn’t, and it is what it is.”

“What kind of dog does Raquel Capers have?” Brett asked. “And I wonder how many pups she’ll have.”

Like you’re interested in taking one
, he wanted to say. He knew his brother, who was a couple of years older, had no time on his hands to care for a dog. “She has a toy poodle. White. A beauty.”

“Evidently so is the owner, since you want to know everything about her. She’s a phone actress, I see.”

“Yes, that’s what she says.”

“It seems to be a rather good occupation financially, and the business is operated differently from some of those sleazy ones. They have a high-end clientele, and if anyone gets out of line they are dropped. So I guess you can say Companionship Plus could be considered the cream of the crop. Classy and all of that. But still, there’s no telling what kind of conversations
these guys are engaging her in. What one person might consider
clean
doesn’t necessarily mean someone else will.”

Quest twirled a pen between his fingers while listening to his brother give him a personal summation of what he’d uncovered in his investigation. “Anything else?”

“Yes. Although she’s a partner in the business, she evidently likes being a phone actress and leaves the running of the business to her partner. She made close to a million as an actress the first year. Kind of makes you wonder what she’s saying to the clients to make them call back.”

It was probably her voice, Quest concluded, remembering how good she sounded during their conversations.

“She’s so popular, she was given her own private call-in line. Now the only calls she gets are through what’s called the Hot Wire. The callers pay more to talk longer. Trust me, the rates aren’t cheap. And some of the restrictions as to what they can say or ask for are toned down somewhat.”

Quest rubbed his chin. “Umm, I bet things can get pretty kinky then.”

Brett chuckled. “Probably. But I have to say, your Ms. Capers is pretty smart, and so is her business partner, Whitney Frazier. The latter has a MBA, and your Ms. Capers is presently working on hers. She’s even taking summer classes. She’s scheduled to finish in another year.”

Quest heard Brett take a sip of something, probably a beer or soda, before he continued. “Her father is retired military, and he and her mother chose to remain in Europe to live. She had a brother—two years younger—who was killed in an auto accident a few years ago when a drunk driver ran a stop sign. Since then, she visits her parents during the anniversary of his death and usually stays a month, as she did earlier this year.”

Which is when her dog got pregnant
, Quest thought to himself.

“She had a boyfriend who didn’t seem to want to be employed. She took it for a while and then dumped him.”

Quest couldn’t help wondering how his brother had gotten all this information. This was some real personal stuff; it gave him the creeps to know someone’s life history could be pulled from computer data banks. Maybe he ought to feel guilty for wanting to know so much about her, but he didn’t.

“What about the phone number to her private line? Were you able to get it?” he asked.

“Yes, but it wasn’t easy.”

Deciding it was time to get his brother off the phone, he said, “You know where to send the bill.”

“It’s already been sent.”

Quest chuckled as he hung up the phone. He quickly turned to his computer to download the information Brett had sent him.

“Hello, this is Precious.”

“Hello, Precious, how are you doing?”

“Fine, and who am I talking to?”

The person paused a second and then said, “Renardo, but you can call me Ren.”

Ren was a new caller. Raquel didn’t recall ever talking to him before and wondered how he’d come through the hot wire. “So what can I do for you, Ren?”

“Plenty.”

She chuckled. “Okay, what’s for starters?”

“Say my name.”

“Renaldo,” she said in a sultry voice.

“You sound good. I love the way you say it.”

Raquel settled back against the sofa cushions while thinking he sounded pretty good himself. He had a deep, sexy baritone voice. Something about it was oddly familiar, but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. Because talking on the phone was her line of business, it was no surprise some voices seemed recognizable.

She usually enjoyed the hot wire calls because she never knew what to expect with some of them. Once in a while, she would have to end the conversation because the caller got too graphic and explicit, but seldom was that the case. The majority of the time the men were respectful.

“What else can I do for you tonight, Ren?”

“Tell me what you’re wearing.”

Raquel glanced down at her skimpy shorts and T-shirt. “I’m in a red teddy,” she lied, wanting to set the mood.

“I love red but I want you to take it off. I want to give rub you down.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

“You sure you don’t want me to give
you
one?” she asked, grabbing a magazine off the table to flip through and wondering how long he would keep her on the phone.

“No, I want to take care of you tonight.”

She couldn’t help but smile at that. Most of her callers had a list of what she could do for them, but this one had the opposite in mind. He wanted to take care of her as he thought he really could. How sweet. This should be interesting. Okay, she would get into the mood right along with him by removing her shirt, at least. And she might as well remove her bra. “Okay, I’m naked,” she said. She wasn’t totally naked, but at least her body above the waist was bare.

“Good. Now go get your favorite body lotion. I want to rub it all over you.”

Getting up and crossing the room, she padded on bare feet into her bedroom and grabbed the lotion in question. With her Bluetooth in her ear, she said, “I got it.”

“What fragrance?” he asked her.

“Warm mango.”

“Sounds delicious.”

His voice sounded so darn sensual, so blatantly erotic, that a rush of heat flowed through her. That reaction surprised her since she’d talked to hundreds of men in the past, and she fought back that pulsing heat. But the throaty timbre of this voice had an alluring effect.

Deciding that since she was in her bedroom, she might as well stay there, she asked, “Now what?”

“Stretch out on your bed and squeeze some lotion in your hands so I can rub you down. And I want you to close your eyes and concentrate.”

With that voice enticing her to do whatever he asked, she moved toward the bed and tossed the covers aside. She sat on the side and squirted some lotion into her hand before stretching out on the soft sheets.

“Go ahead. Close your eyes and think of me, Precious.”

She thought his request was odd, given that she didn’t know him, nor did he know her. So instead of imagining her mystery caller as the invisible man in her bed, she focused on a man she did know, one who had been in her thoughts a lot lately. Quest Newman.

Why on earth Bandit’s owner had begun lurking in her mind when she’d only seen him twice was beyond her. The only reason she could come up with was that he was so pleasing to the eyes she couldn’t help herself. And although she tried to downplay it, she had been physically attracted to him from the start. What woman wouldn’t be?

“Your eyes are closed?”

“Yes.” She smiled and closed them as she spoke.

“Good. Now take your hand and use your fingertips to slowly stroke up and down your throat. I want you to think about me and get familiar with my touch.”

Doing as he instructed, Raquel stroked her throat and thought about Quest. She remembered how he had appeared in his doorway, looking sexy and annoyed—the combination was mind-blowing and had the throat she was stroking feeling tight. And then she recalled last week when he’d come to her place, wearing a pair of relaxed-fit jeans, a soft yellow button-down polo shirt with tan boat-shoes and no socks. She had known the moment she opened the door and found him standing there that she would have to keep her senses under control.

Just thinking about him had her heart pounding, and then she began fantasizing that the hands touching her were strong, firm hands belonging to Quest.

“Now move them lower to the center of your chest and stroke there. Already I can feel the way your heart rate has increased.”

She wondered if he really could, because he was right—her heart rate had increased and her breathing and pulse right along with it.

“I love the way you feel, Precious,” he whispered in a husky voice. “Soft, gentle. All woman. And I like the way you smell as well. Warm mango. The scent on you is so seductive. My hands are on you, moving across your shoulders, under your neck, working my way toward your breasts. Oh, I like the way they feel. Full and firm. The tips are hard beneath my fingertips.”

She didn’t want to admit it, but they were hard. She couldn’t ever recall a caller luring her into his fantasy.

“And I like how your belly button looks, all sweet and sexy. Cute as a button. I think I’ll put a little extra lotion around there as well,” he added.

Knowing she was still wearing her shorts, but curious to see how much of her body he intended to cover, she lifted her hips and, with eyes still closed, she tugged down her shorts and tossed them aside, leaving her completely naked.

As if he knew exactly what she’d done, he said, “The area between your legs is beautiful. Looks good enough to eat, and I intend to do so after I lotion you down some more. I want to touch you everywhere, and then I intend to lick you all over, especially there.”

He paused a moment, then said, “I intend to tell you just what I’m doing every step of the way, and I want you to concentrate, okay?”

“Okay,” she responded in a voice she barely recognized as her own. His words were doing a number on her, and she felt herself getting heated all over.

“I’m kissing your stomach, licking around your navel. Umm, I like the taste of your skin.”

His words caused blood to rush through her veins while heat sizzled in her pores. She was concentrating hard and, in the deep recesses of her imaginative mind, she could smell his masculine scent, could feel the tip of his tongue as it moved over her.

“And while my tongue is all over your stomach, my hand has moved between your legs.

“Oh, it feels so good down there. You’re hot and wet.”

Raquel felt her womanhood throb. Sensations were moving through her and settling at the apex of her thighs. “Ohhh,” she moaned and wondered how something imaginary could feel so real.

“I’m slipping my fingers inside your heat, inside your wetness. Oh baby, your scent is driving me crazy. Your juices have mingled with warm mango and it smells heavenly.”

For the next few minutes, he kept it up and with his sexy baritone voice, he told her what his fingers were doing inside her. Somehow in the back of her subconscious mind, she could envision herself with him—this sexy-sounding client who she pictured as Quest. And whose hands had touched her all over, but were now busy between her legs while he whispered in her ear some of the hottest, naughtiest and most erotic words she’d ever heard. And those words were making a slow, steady thrumming sensation take her all over. What he was doing defied all logic and pushed her to want more.

“Please.”

Raquel could barely keep her hips level with the mattress. She could feel him, actually feel him, and she bit down on her bottom lip to keep from crying out.

“Let it go, baby, while my fingers work you this way. Just let it go. I’m right here. Let your juices flow.”

As if his voice had the ability to command her actions, she jerked when sensations exploded within her. They were feelings she hadn’t felt in almost a year, and never to this extent, this magnitude or to this extreme.

She snatched her eyes open, not believing what had just happened. Evidently, he’d heard her intense moans, because he said, “Baby, you sound beautiful when you come. Listening to you makes me want to start all over again, but this time take you hard, penetrate deep. Maybe next time. I’ll be ending our call now.”

She sucked in a deep breath. Pulling herself up in bed, she sucked in another and then asked, “You will call back?”

“Yes.”

She couldn’t believe she had asked that. She had definitely lost control, because she sounded downright needy. Somehow their roles had gotten reversed, and she had become the client and he the one dishing out pleasure. A part of her felt it had been a deliberate move on his part. Hadn’t he said at the beginning of the call that he would take care of her? He’d certainly done that and more. Who was this guy, and how did he have the ability to verbally seduce her this way? Having an orgasm during one of her calls was definitely out of character for her.

“Good night, Precious.”

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

She thought of what she wanted to say, but decided there was no way she could voice it. He’d said he would call back, and she had to believe that he would. “Nothing. Good night, Ren. I hope you enjoyed our conversation.” She gave him the closing statement she gave all her callers.

“What I enjoyed, baby, was touching you and licking all over your breasts and belly. Trust me. Your mango scent will be with me for a while. Good night.”

“Good night.”

The call was disconnected, and Raquel drew in a deep breath and shifted in bed. Too weak to move just yet, she stared up at the ceiling wondering just what she had gotten herself into.

Quest stepped into the shower. A cold one. His sex talk with Raquel had gotten out of hand, affected him right below the gut in every possible way. His groin was still throbbing, needing the release she’d gotten.

And the thought that she’d actually come. He had heard her on the phone, and there was no way he would believe it had been an act. It had been too perfect, the timing just right, her moans and groans on cue and believable. But then, he should know, because the sounds had aroused him to the point where he’d had to hold himself in check. This cold shower was a damn lousy way to end the evening.

No wonder men called her on the hot wire. She had the sexiest phone voice and had gone along with everything he’d asked. And like he’d told her, he would be calling her back.

But what if she’d only been acting? Hell, then she had done a damn good job of it. In his bedroom, he had actually gotten into the thick of things to the extent that he was convinced his nostrils were still filled with the sweet scent of warm mango.

And when he had told her he had been fingering her, he had honestly imagined doing just that to the point he had sucked his fingers when the call had ended. Her taste, the one he imagined, was simply delicious—mouthwateringly good.

A few moments later he got out of the shower and dried off. In his subconscious mind, he could swear the scent of mango was in his room, still lodged in his nostrils. Yes, he would be calling her again, but not too soon. For now, he wanted both of them to savor the memory of tonight.

It had been a week, he hadn’t called back and a part of Raquel wondered if he would. Maybe not calling was a good thing. But if she really thought that, then why had she been in a bad mood for the past few days?

“Okay, Raquel, what’s wrong? Your concentration hasn’t been the best lately.”

She was pulled back into her phone conversation with Whitney. They had been discussing the need to hire more women—ten at least—to handle the increase in phone calls. She had informed Whitney that in a few months she would need to come off the call list for a while. She needed to put in more study time with her classes. Plus the responsibility of taking care of Smookie and her pups would be a job in itself.

Thinking of Smookie’s pregnancy made her think of Quest. Her vet had called to say they’d received Bandit’s medical history and were pleased with the care Quest had given his dog.

And later that day, Quest himself had called to check on Smookie. He had a sexy phone voice, and there had been something about his voice that reminded her so much of Ren. But then she knew why she thought there was a similarity. That night during her phone call with Ren, when she’d closed her eyes it might have been Ren’s voice, but it was Quest she’d fantasized was the one touching her while saying all those naughty things to her.

“Raquel!”

“What?”

“Okay, that does it. Time out. What is going on? Is all that studying getting the best of you? Is something wrong with Smookie? Your parents? What? You need to get laid?”

Raquel couldn’t help but laugh, because with the latter her best friend had hit the nail right on the head. Oh yes, she needed to get laid and all because of Ren. She had talked to the man once, and her hormones seemed to ooze all over the place whenever she remembered that episode.

“It’s probably your fault,” she told Whitney.

“My fault?”

“Yes. Who is Renaldo and how did he get special privileges to call the hot wire?”

“Renaldo?”

“Yes, but he prefers to be called Ren. He called my direct number. He has a real sexy voice and, needless to say, he reminded me of just how long it’s been since I slept with a man.”

“He sounded that good?”

“It wasn’t just the sound of his voice, it was what he said. He called once but hasn’t called back, although he said he would.”

“And he probably will, but you know I have no way of checking on anything, especially the identity of the clients who call the hot wire, and most will give fictitious names to protect their privacy. All we can track is the amount of time they spend on the call to make sure we’re getting paid.”