Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) (9 page)

“Well, since you asked, I was hoping it would be something that required no clothes, a bottle of massage oil, and my king sized bed.”  He licked his lips and pinned her with his eyes, watching for her reaction. “Maybe my handcuffs,” he murmured.

She swallowed.  God, could it get any hotter in this damn restaurant?  She felt like her body was about to go up in flames.  She continued schooling her features, but grabbed her water glass to take another huge gulp.  Michael, in his typical devil may care way kept talking as if he hadn’t just painted the most erotic picture she’d ever seen in her mind’s eye.

“Were you gonna ask some of the guys if they’d be interested in helping out?”

By ‘guys’ she assumed he meant Jeremy and Luke, maybe even Dr. Drew, the doctor who’d patched up Ryann after she’d been shot.  She nodded.  “And maybe a guy or two from work.”

“Yeah?”  He continued looking at her.  “Which guys from work?” 

She looked back, a smile lightly touching her lips.  “Just some guys.”

“That guy you brought to the art show a few weeks ago.  I can’t remember his name –”

“Ollie.”

“You asking him?”

“Yeah.  I’m sure there are some boys who can relate to him.  He’s not always socially comfortable
, but he’s a genius on a computer.”

Mike nodded and continued looking at her.  “What’s going on between you two?”

She raised an eyebrow and tried not to chuckle.  There was absolutely nothing going on between her and Ollie, but Mike didn’t know that. 

“Why, Detective?”

“Just curious.”

“Ollie’s a sweetheart.  He’s one of our IT guys.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I know,” she smirked, taking another sip of her water.

“Are you sleeping with him?”

She choked on her water.  Now he was the one smirking.

“Like that’s any of your business,” she sputtered wiping her mouth.

He ignored her.  “No, the more I think about it I don’t think you’d ever be fucking a guy like Ollie.  Unless of course you were trying to give the poor guy a heart attack.  You’re way too much woman for him.  You need a man who could be your equal in the bedroom.”

He was right.  That was exactly what she needed.  What she
craved.
A man who was her equal and maybe even stronger.  Someone she could lean on when she needed to.

He waited, looking at her while the silence played out.

“Am I supposed to respond to that statement?” she asked.

“You know what else I think?”  He had a dirty habit of ignoring her questions.  He continued leaning in.  “When –”

They were interrupted by the waitress with their food.  Once she set it down and refilled their water glasses, she disappeared.

Emily couldn’t even think of eating.  All she wanted to know was what he’d been about to say before their food had arrived.  He, however, dug right in and took a huge bite of his burger.

Trying not to appear anxious, she took a bite of her own lunch.  They ate in silence for a couple of minutes except for the sounds of pleasure coming from Mike while enjoying his meal.

She just knew that’s what he would sound like when he was deep inside a woman.  She took a bite of her sandwich trying to calm her racing heart and butterflies. 

“I think you like having the control during sex, am I right?”

She was choking again, this time on a piece of bagel lodged in her throat.  He pounded lightly on her back and kept going.

“You don’t like talking about sex?”

“We’re not talking about sex.  You are.”

“I think you like control,” again ignoring her, “but I also sense you need to let go.  Have someone else to take control every once in a while.”  He took another bite of his burger, like they were talking about the weather.

“Why the hell are we talking about this?” she muttered then grabbed her water again to buy some time.

“Because I’m gonna be that guy.”  Then without a care in the world, he shoved a couple of fries into his mouth.

She swallowed the water hard and put the glass down even harder, sloshing water onto the table.  She couldn’t stop staring at him.  “You’re gonna be
what
guy?”  Her body was humming with sexual arousal.  He was the most arrogant man she had ever met, and she’d thought her cousin Mark was bad. 

All she wanted to do was crawl into his lap, bite on his neck and pull on his hair while he fucked her right where he sat.  She had to look down so he couldn’t read it in her eyes.

He waved a fry in the air with a flourish and said as if speaking to a child, “The guy who’s gonna give you the control you need in the bedroom but who’s also going to teach you how to let go and have fun.  Show you how to let loose at the same time.”

“Are you seriously for real?”  She finally looked back at him.

He smiled charmingly.  “Of course.”

“You think you and I are going to be having sex?” 
Yes, please.

“You can take one word out of that statement.”

“Which word?  Sex?”

He rolled his eyes.

She growled.

“And that, Em,” he whispered, “is the sound I’m looking forward to hearing from the back of your throat when we’re fucking each other’s brains out until we can’t see straight.”  He popped another fry into his mouth then pushed his plate away.  After wiping his hands on his napkin, he took her hand in his before she could stop him then began playing with her fingers.

“Emily, look at me.”

She did, but with exasperation.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, we will absolutely unequivocally be having some majorly dirty sex in the very near future.”

“With each other?”

He chuckled.  “Yes, Emily. With each other.  So it’s time to wrap your pretty little head around that fact.”

She removed her hand from his and leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest.  She smiled when saying, “You’re just so confident, aren’t you, Detective?  Don’t you know the more you push me, the more I’m going to pull away?”

“But see, that’s what adds to the excitement.  The push and pull.”

“That’s what adds to the excitement for a
time
, Detective.”  She was purposely not using his first name.  She needed to create some distance from him until she could figure out how to play the situation.  “Then, like every other man in the world, when the challenge is over, you’ll move on.”  She realized too late that she’d shown too many of her cards.  Her statement implied that she’d experienced it before and that she wouldn’t want a man to ‘move on’.  That she wanted a man to stay.

“You don’t know that will happen,” he said quietly, watching her.

“Let’s be honest with each other, okay?”  She leaned forward.  “You’re a lover of women.  Pure and simple.  You’re looking for a good time and when you’re done with your good time, you’ll move on to the next one.  That’s all fine and dandy, Detective Callahan, if you want to live your life that way, but I’m not interested in being a notch on the bedpost, if you catch my drift.”

“Again, you’re making assumptions and as a lawyer I’m surprised you would do that.”

She rolled her eyes.  “My assumptions are based on very astute observations.  Come on.  You’re an outrageous flirt with every female I’ve ever seen you around.”

He waved that away.  “That’s just my way.  It means nothing.  I
do
love women.  I love their minds and how they reason and talk, I love laughing with them, fighting with them, and yes, I love fucking them.  But that doesn’t mean I fuck any woman on the street.  I do have some scruples, Em,” he finished with a cute pout.

She huffed out an exasperated sigh.  “My point is you’re a good time kinda guy.  You’re not serious in relationships –”

“Is that what you want?  And how do you know I’m not serious in relationships?”

“Have you ever been in a serious relationship with a woman?” she asked in a disbelieving tone.

“Answer my question first.” 

She was getting worked up.  It was taking her a moment to remember what his question was, and when she didn’t respond he continued. 

“Is that what you want?  A serious relationship?”

Yes.  I’ve wanted that for a long time.

“I’m not having this conversation with you.”  She wiped at her mouth and calmly took her sweater off of the back of his chair to put it on.

“Okay, so that was a ‘yes’.  Good.  Now we’re gettin’ somewhere.”

She put her sweater on.  “No. 
We’re
not getting
any
where.  I gotta get going. I’ll walk the rest of the way.”  She had to get out so she could have some time to strategize.  She used to think her brain was a well-oiled machine, but when she was around him the cogs in the wheel seemed to fall off.

“I’ll take you on the bike.” He took out his wallet and tossed a twenty dollar bill onto the table. 

“No, that’s okay.  And I can pay for my own lunch –”

“Of course you can.  But since I made you come to lunch with me, I’ll get this one.”  He smiled at her then tweaked her nose.  It was like the man was never bothered by anything, even her curt, bitchy attitude at the moment.

“Thank you,” she mumbled.

“You’re welcome.  And I’m taking you home.  I promised I would and that’s what I’m gonna do.”  Then he stroked her cheek in such a nonchalant way, it was like it was the most
natural gesture in the world.  He grabbed her hand then led her out the door.

While walking to the bike, Emily again tried to unsuccessfully extricate her hand from his, but he held on tight. 

“Are you like this with all the women you try to bed?” she huffed.  “It’s amazing anyone will even sleep with you,” she muttered. 

He appeared to be thinking about her question.  “No.  Actually, now that I think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever had to work this hard.”

She snorted.  “Well, I’m glad that I can teach you the importance of hard work, Detective.”

“The best things in life are worth fighting for.  Isn’t that what they say?”

She tried not to blush at his words.  Why the hell did he want her so much?  She was afraid if she got on that bike, her strength would be shattered and she’d
really
paw him on the final stretch home.

“I’m gonna walk.”  This time she was able to remove her hand from his.

He stopped.  “Why?”

“Because I’d like some fresh air,” she said stupidly.

“You’re not gonna get that on the back of the bike?” he teased.

“Just – I’m walking, okay?  Deal with it,” she said, throwing his earlier words back at him.

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“I mean, no, you’re not walking.”

Because she could think of nothing else to say, she just said, “Fuck
you
, Detective.”

His eyebrow shot up just as the corner of his mouth did.  “Okay.  I have the king sized bed, but your place is probably closer.”

She growled, which was becoming her typical response with him.  She began to walk away and he simply followed.  She stopped and practically stomped her foot.  Here she was a grown woman, an attorney for Pete’s sake, and she was having a childish petty argument with this infuriating man in the midst of foot traffic on the sidewalk.

And right there in the middle of Amsterdam Avenue between West 72
nd
and 73
rd
Streets, he finally did what she’d been dying for him to do since that moment she first saw him. 

He kissed her.

Sweet, dear Lord.  Please save me. 

He grabbed hold of her face in his hands, then moved them back into her hair and slammed his mouth to hers, taking delicious licks and bites.  One of his hands dug into her hair while the other traveled down to her ass, grinding her into his erection which poked into her stomach.  His mouth was relentless, never stopping its movements.  Soft but firm, taking control of her senses. 

He changed the angle then went at her again, devouring her mouth as if he was starved and hadn’t just consumed a huge meal.  He tasted like chocolate milkshake.

It was so much better than she’d ever thought it would be.  Better than all of her fantasies combined.

She fisted her hands into his hair and gave back as good as she got.  He was so much taller than her so she pulled his head further down while he lifted her slightly off the ground pressing them hard into each other.  She felt like she could swallow him whole.  She wanted to climb his body like a tree, perch on his branch and settle in for a good long while.

The thought made her finally give into the craving she’d had for months.  She wanted him between her teeth.  Grasping his bottom lip, she bit down.  They both growled at the same time and she felt the warm liquid rush of arousal soak her panties at that very moment.  They gripped each other even harder, their teeth now clashing.