True Bliss (39 page)

"You're an injured man. You may even have a concussion. You've got to take it easy."

"My brain never felt better. Come here."

"I'm in charge. Do you know what that means?"

Excitement contracted his belly. The force of his erection made his zipper a weapon of torture. "What does it mean, Bliss?"

"It means you're at my mercy." She smiled widely, showing

her pretty teeth. "Have I told you lately what your green, green eyes do to me?"

"You're enjoying this game, aren't you?"

"I'm discovering a whole new side to my personality. Chilly thaws. Hidden fires revealed. Watch out for hitherto unknown tendencies toward the kinky."

He'd laugh—if his pants didn't feel like an iron restraint. "Why don't you demonstrate?" Fast.

Her dark frown of concentration amused him. He crossed his arms.

She circled him. "You are a bit of a mess. I was considering pre-shower, during-shower, and after-shower."

Once more she ducked beyond the range of his grasp. "If we're going to manage all that, we'd better get started. Don't tell me you're all blow and no go, Chilly."

"Not at all," she told him. "But I think I'd better go easy on an injured man. I should wash that back and make you take a nap."

"No way," he said, out of breath. "I want the pre-shower."

Bliss's smile was beatific. "Really? Have you ever made love on a desk?"

He winced and broadened his stance. "No. You're killing me. Strip and get on that desk. Now."

"Uh-uh." Sauntering, slipping out of her sweatpants as she went, she approached the desk and pushed the zen garden to a corner. "You strip and get on the desk."

Amazingly, Sebastian felt color rise in his face. Excitement, nothing more. "You can't be serious." Clad in her wisp of a bra and matching panties—and nothing else, she sat in his chair and tapped her fingers on the arms. He said, "You are serious."

"I'm going to kiss you all over—to make you better, of course."

Above the bra, her rounded breasts rose and fell too fast to prove she was as cool as she sounded. Sebastian undid his jeans. "When you've kissed me all over, do I get to kiss you all over— to make you better?"

She crossed her legs. "We'll see." Her panties rode low on her hips. He could sweep her up in one arm and dispense with those panties, and the bra, in about two seconds. Then they'd see who was in control.

Sebastian kicked off his loafers and got rid of the rest of his clothes. "I don't think you'd better take too long with the kissing, do you?"

"Oh, yes," she told him. "A long, long time. On the desk."

"Bliss—"

"On the desk. Unless you're one of those men who prefer submissive women."

Sebastian walked around to stand in front of her and this time he didn't blush when she studied him from head to foot, with long, lingering moments on points between. From where he stood, her nipples were in clear view and the dark hair between her legs showed through her panties.

"The desk, Sebastian."

Sighing, he sat on the cool wood, swung up his legs and stretched out—and grimaced. "You're cruel. I'm a wounded man."

"Oh, good grief." She shot to her feet. "I got carried away. Get in the shower, darling. This can wait."

His back didn't feel too bad. "The pain's fading already. Kisses really work—when you place them just right."

"I know they do." Seriousness suited her blue eyes—pseudo-seriousness. And it suited her full, soft mouth. "Let me see. Where should I begin." She made another visual assessment of him.

"I'm all yours, my love. Start anywhere."

She turned her face, staring at his mouth before she covered it with her own. Holding his arms down when he would have reached for her, she parted his lips and slid her tongue inside. Moving gently back and forth, rocking their faces together, she kissed him deeply. She kissed him, and her soft breasts grazed his chest. And when she raised her head they were both out of breath.

Sebastian groaned.

Chilly Winters began to prove she had, indeed, thawed. She kissed his brow, his nose, his closed eyes, his jaw, the lobes of his ears before she licked inside and sent shivers to his toes.

"I can't handle this," he told her.

She caressed his shoulders and arms and said, "Yes, you can," before she placed more kisses where her hands had been.

Over his chest, rib-by-rib to his belly, she kissed. A nipping, delving foray into his navel brought his knees jackknifing up while she spread her hands over his hips and slipped them under him to find and follow every dip and crevice.

"Bliss," he moaned, arching his back. "Bliss, you're into torture. Who'd have thought it?' "

"You, if you'd been thinking at all."

"I'm thinking now."

"Thinking you don't like this?"

"Thinking I'll die if you stop."

"You won't be dying real soon."

Abandoning his belly, she shifted quickly to his feet and began her mouth map at his toes. No inch of his legs was allowed to feel neglected. When she parted his thighs to kiss the inner sides, he brought his hips off the table and she stood up.

"Devil," he told her. "Evil woman."

Without preamble, she cradled his balls and flipped the tip of her tongue over the tip of his penis.

Sebastian yelled. He had to. He yelled and sat up.

Bliss pushed him back, and took him into her mouth all the way to the hilt. She took him in, slowly sucked her way almost free of him—and promptly made another meal of his throbbing flesh.

He came. He couldn't stop himself. "Bliss! Hell, Bliss!"

Laughing, she buried her face in his crotch. "Don't swear. I don't like it."

"Oh, God! Nothing like that ever happened to me. Geez."

"You didn't like it?"

"Come here."

"That was the before-the-shower. Now we'll do the during-the-shower. As soon as you're up to it, that is."

"Enough." He spanned her waist and hauled her to sit astride his hips. "You'll see how long it takes me to be up to it, sweetheart. How about two before-showers, and two—"

The intercom buzzed.

Sebastian froze.

Bliss covered her mouth and giggled.

"I sent him home, dammit!" He reached above his head to press the button. "What? I told you to go home, William."

"I'm still catching up on what I missed today, Mr. Plato."

"You can call me Sebastian. You helped save my life, remember?"

The next sound was of William clearing his throat. "Thank you. A Ms. Polly Crow called."

Bliss opened her mouth but Sebastian put a finger over it. "I know Polly."

"She wants you and Ms. Winters to know she's been hired."

"That's Bliss to you," Sebastian said. "Thank you, William."

"Hired as what?" Bliss said, pushing his hand away.

He worked her panties down, gave up on the puzzle of how to get them off and disposed of them with a single, tearing tug.

William cleared his throat again. "According to Ms. Crow she's to be a sort of female Mr. Rogers on a children's TV show. She's very excited."

Sebastian nudged the very wet place between Bliss's legs and mouthed, "Very excited."

She lifted her bottom and braced herself on a hand each side of his chest. "That's great news, William. I'm going to thank Zoya myself."

"It was Mr.—I mean, it was Sebastian who arranged the interview."

"That's just fine, William," Sebastian said, grinding his teeth. "Thank you. You can go home now." He cut the connection.

Bliss's lips had parted. Her eyes glittered from the shadow of her mussed hair. "You're a dear man."

"They wouldn't have hired her if they didn't think she could do the job."

"I love you."

"I love you, too. I'm ready again. Sit on me."

Instead she played herself over his penis. Sebastian spied the cunning little fastening between her breasts and released it. She spilled free, her flesh white and full with pink nipples. The centers of her nipples stood out erect and too tempting—and wonderfully accessible above his face. Her breasts swung, just a little. He captured them, pressed them together, bobbed up to open his mouth over each crown, and grinned at her indrawn breath—and the way she forgot to keep her bottom just out of range.

His entry was sweet, slick, tight, a demanding contraction of clever muscles designed for moments like this.

Bliss's reaction was immediate. Her eyes closed. Her face became tense. Her lips flattened to her teeth and she panted. She panted, and pumped her pretty hips.

This time she cried out before he did, clamped down on him with a wild spasm before he ejaculated—but only instants before.

He couldn't keep still any longer. They rode out his climax together and Bliss fell on top of him, pressed wet kisses to his jaw and neck, to one of his nipples until he urged her face onto his shoulder. "Stop. Just for a moment, please. I'm older than you, remember?"

She sighed. "Two whole years. No excuse."

The intercom buzzed again.

"Oh, no," Bliss whispered. "What if he can hear us?"

"If he can, he's a very jealous man." Sebastian opened the line again. "Yes, William?"

"Ms. Fabiola Crow this time. She's now The Seattle Micro Breweries Woman."

Bliss raised her head and grinned.

"Great," Sebastian said, meaning it. "I thought she was exactly what they were looking for. She'll be all over town. Billboards, TV, everywhere."

"That's what Ms. Crow said. And she wanted to thank you. She wonders if now would be a good time."

Sebastian clamped Bliss's face to his chest. He was still bur-

ied inside her—and, wonder of wonders, he was getting hard again. "No, William, now would not be a good time. Tell her I'll be in touch, and congratulate her for me."

When they arrived, the Medina house was in darkness. Bliss ached deliciously. They'd enjoyed before, during, and after showering. For the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. When they'd finally left Raptor, she'd been surprised either of them could walk at all.

"I do want to get back to the Point and tell Polly and Fab how thrilled I am for them," she told Sebastian.

"You will. I've got to get into some clothes that aren't in shreds."

"How do you feel?"

He switched off the engine of the Ford. "Are you fishing for compliments?"

"You're injured."

"And you're the best antidote to pain on earth. Injured? Me? A scratch or two—nothing. Have you ever made love on the hood of a truck?"

"No! And I'm not going to now." She shot from the passenger seat to the driveway and slammed the door behind her.

Sebastian joined her and draped an arm around her shoulders as they walked into the house.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Maryan Plato swayed in the doorway to the living room. "You told me you'd be home hours ago."

Bliss tried to turn away but Sebastian kept her beside him. "You're drunk. Again."

"Fuck, yes, I'm drunk. What the fuck else would I be after waiting for you for hours."

Ron appeared behind her, an apologetic smile on his too pretty face. "Sorry, folks," he said smoothly. "We've had a bit of a shock. William told us he didn't know how to reach you."

Bliss heard Sebastian mutter, "I'll give him a raise."

"What?" Maryan asked, lurching toward them. "What d'you say?"

"I said, it's been one of those days."

Bliss almost chuckled.

"Where've you been?" Maryan's old pewter eyes strayed blearily to Bliss. "With her?"

"We've got bad news," Ron said quickly. "That Prue woman called. Bad and good news, actually. Seems we've waved bye-bye to our darling Zoya."

Sebastian held Bliss even tighter. "Spit this out, Ron. I'm not in the mood for games."

"Unless they're with her." Maryan pointed a wavering finger at Bliss. "That's gonna stop. You owe me."

Bliss's stomach revolved.

"Seems Zoya's flown the coop," Ron said, making a futile attempt to hold Maryan's arm. "That bitch O'Leary's been digging around and she found out Zoya was taking money from clients."

Sebastian stiffened. "Where is Zoya? I don't listen to stories about my people without giving them a chance to tell me their side."

"I told you," Ron said. "Gone. Cleared out."

"Good," Maryan said. "The bitch wanted you. She always wanted you."

"That's enough, love," Ron said, his smile fixed now. "Zoya was taking kickbacks, Sebastian. Simple as that. She'd been in big financial trouble even before she invested in the Bellevue operation. She didn't have the money to cover that investment, so she traded jobs for fees. Extra fees that never showed up on our books."

"Our books?" Sebastian said tightly.

Ron grinned. "Sorry. Your books. And it was Zoya who sent the kid to the guy who made the porn flicks. Another big kickback, evidently."

Bliss's knees felt weak. "Sebastian?"

"Hell," he muttered. "If this is true, I've been a fool. A dan-

gerous fool in this case. I'll have to speak to the WOT people. I owe it to them."

"You don't owe them anything," Maryan said. "Zoya screwed us all over. She's gone. End of story."

"If she caused a girl's death," Sebastian said. "I've got to address that."

"Get rid of her," Maryan said, indicating Bliss. "We've got to make plans to get out of here in one piece."

"I think Maryan's right," Ron said promptly. "Withdrawal is definitely in order. Whether or not you knew what she was doing, Zoya's activities will be linked to us. We could find ourselves fighting liability issues. We'll never be able to do business effectively here now."

Sebastian didn't correct the "we" this time. Instead he led Bliss past Maryan and Ron, into the room where the entertainment center shared space with exercise equipment. "Wait for me, my love." He kissed her lightly. "I've got to deal with those two. Then we'll go over to the Point."

"Maybe I should leave. I can call a cab."

"No, you can't." His smile tightened places she had excellent uses for now. "You're going to sit here and let me put my sister and her friend straight. I'm not going to be able to do anything about Zoya till the morning anyway. Not that I'm sure I believe what I'm being told."