Wicked Garden (4 page)

No answer. Not that she blamed him for taking off.

She flipped the covers and shivered. Donning her chenille robe, she tiptoed into the hallway. The Tiffany-style lamp threw a pattern of rainbow colors against the wall. She double-checked the doors downstairs, but Billy had locked them before leaving. Still, she felt every bit a selfish idiot. What’d possessed her to fall asleep?

When she’d crawled back into her bed and turned on the nightlight, she noticed the sheet of paper perched on the adjoining pillow. She grinned. Cocky man. He’d used her vibrator as a paperweight. The note read:

Eden,

I didn’t have the heart to wake you. Late lunch tomorrow? You pick the place.

Billy

PS-Tomorrow it’s your turn

She clasped the letter to her breast. He wasn’t upset? How had she forgotten his innate sweetness? Right. She’d been so bowled over by his sexpertise; she’d forgotten Billy Buchanan was comprised of more qualities than talented fingers and a skillful mouth. Smiling, she switched off the light and returned to sleep.

“Mr. Buchanan is here,” Shelby announced through the intercom early the next afternoon.

Eden’s pulse spiked. She peered at the clock. Late lunch meant little interruption for the surprise she’d planned. She fluffed up her hair and smoothed the crease from her black linen mini-skirt. “Send him in.”

The door swung open, but Billy’s handsome face was hidden behind a camcorder. He kept the camera trained on her as he folded his solid frame into the chair opposite her desk. “Today we’re in the office of Eden LaCroix, administrator for the Spearfish Community Center. Ms. LaCroix, I’d like to record your opinions on the future of this facility.”

“What is this?”

Billy depressed a button and rested the compact machine on his knee. “I told you I tape footage for every project.”

“Why?”

“Easier to find problems in case I missed something pertinent the first time around.”

“Does that happen often? You miss something important?”

He frowned and fiddled with the angle of the LCD screen. “Sometimes when I least expect it.”

“And if I refuse?”

His eyes met hers in challenge. “I’ll use my toy on someone else.”

Hoo-boy. Her body heated, remembering his proficiency with
toys
last night. “Fine. Let’s get started. Don’t forget we have a lunch date and I’m starved.”

As Billy trained his camera on Eden, he felt like he’d been split in two. The professional half calmly asked questions and appeared in perfect control. The testosterone-laden half gloated at the shine in Eden’s eyes, the high color in her cheeks, the way the lens caught every beautiful nuance of her face.

Had his attention to her sexual pleasure last night put the extra glow in her today? Nah. He couldn’t take credit. Eden was smart, striking, determined and it showed in person as well as on tape.

He listened as Eden rattled off the comprehensive history of the community center. She presented him a detailed list on how the city could improve and promote the community center in its present location. Some of her suggestions were unfeasible, but the majority of the ideas were reasonable.

Billy kept his questions to a minimum and let Eden’s passion for the project speak for itself. “That should be enough for now,” he said, powering down the unit and shoving it in the carrying case.

Eden rounded the desk, cocking a slim hip on the corner. Her short skirt rose up, showcasing an extra inch of marvelous thigh. Automatically his attention traveled higher. She rolled her shoulders back, the buttons on the sleeveless cinnamon-colored blouse stretched, exposing a creamy line of breast encased in a lacy peach bra.

Billy’s hungry gaze met her impish glimmer.

“Seen enough?” she murmured throatily.

“Not nearly.” He stood and pressed closer, letting her knee brush the bulge beneath his fly. “I wish I’d had this camera last night.”

“Sorry I conked out.”

Billy slid a quick glance to the closed metal blinds separating her office from the reception area. “I want to kiss you,” he said, leaning close enough to taste her sweet breath. “I need to feel your mouth on mine so I know last night wasn’t another elaborate fantasy I’d conjured up when I’m alone in my bed thinking about you.”

“You’ve been thinking about me?”

“For years.” Before he could erase those scant inches and fasten his mouth to hers, Eden ducked under his arm.

“If you’ve waited that long then another few hours won’t matter. You’re not kissing me in here.” She snagged an oversized purse. “But if you’re really good, I might give you a kiss in the car on the way to lunch.” Her amused eyes zeroed in on the swelling beneath his zipper. “Probably won’t happen though, because we both know how much you enjoy being bad.”

Billy’s response, “I’ll be good, I promise,” fell on deaf ears as she sailed out the door.

She’d chosen an upscale Italian restaurant in a renovated turn-of-the-century warehouse showcasing exposed maroon bricks, metal beamed ceilings, original wide-planked wooden flooring with deeply weathered grooves. The structure appealed to him on a professional level. Add in old-fashioned gas lamps updated with electricity, crisp ivory linen tablecloths, pots of fresh herbs and private high-backed booths and it was charmingly romantic.

The college-aged male waiter recited the lunch specials, warning them the kitchen was about to close. After ordering, Billy noticed Eden’s fingers nervously plucking the tablecloth.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just weird, us having lunch together.”

“Because we’re in public?” Anyone strolling by had to look damn hard to see them, as they’d chosen a secluded booth away from the kitchen and the front door.

“No. Because when we were younger neither of us had enough money to eat someplace this nice. And we’d rather have been…”

Billy twined her fidgety fingers through his. “We’d rather have been making out like crazy, all hot mouths, frenzied hands and unfulfilled aches.”

Color rose on her cheekbones. “Like last night?”

“Regrets?”

“None. Except for me falling asleep. I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t be. I told you. Last night was for you.” He grinned. “I’m not worried. I’ll get mine.”

Eden grinned back, a bit smugly, in his opinion. “Sooner than you might think.” She deflected his next question by pointing to his briefcase. “Is this a business lunch?”

“No. But it’d appear that way to anyone who might see us eating together.”

“Good thinking.” She settled into the cushioned leather backrest. “So, with all the stuff going on at the center, you haven’t told me about your fabulous life in Chicago.”

Fabulous. What a laugh. “What do you want to know?”

“The usual. Do you go to Bulls games? Do you walk along the waterfront?” She brushed a lock of hair from her forehead. “Do you and your friends heckle the hapless Cubs? Or do you prefer fine dining when you’re out on the town?”

“Sometimes I do those things. I’ve also been known to wolf down a Chicago style pizza and a hot dog or two. But mostly, I work, so my social life is pretty pathetic. Plus, I’ve been in Canada for the last eighteen months working on an intensive restoration.”

“Eighteen months? Isn’t that a long time to be away from home?”

Funny, he’d never considered his condo home; he was so rarely there. He spent more time in his battered office chair than on his brand new living room couch. “I’m used to it. The majority of my projects are done in other cities.”

“Bet you’ve been some pretty cool places?”

“I guess. What about you?”

“Me? I’ve never ventured from here. Spearfish has always felt like home.” Frowning, she stirred her tea. “But now with the future of the community center up in the air, it’s a little scary wondering where I’ll end up.”

An awkward silence lingered until the waiter interrupted with their salads. Billy was determined to get the conversation back on personal ground. “I love the Black Hills. Now if I can only convince my baby sister Maggie to stick around here.”

Eden’s fork stopped midway to her mouth. “You have a sister who lives here?”

“Maggie lives in Rapid City. She signed on as a civilian computer programmer at Ellsworth Air Force Base a few months back. I hadn’t been able to visit her until the job in Calgary ended.”

“You planned on coming back to South Dakota
before
Jim called you?”

Here was the moment of truth. Billy fixed his gaze to hers so there’d be no misunderstanding. “Yes. Bob’s heart attack just speeded up the process. I’d intended to spend time in Spearfish long before that.”

“Did you know… Never mind. Don’t answer.”

“Yes. I knew you still lived here.”

She rooted around in her salad. “Why didn’t I know you had a sister?”

“Actually, I have two sisters. Lacy is married with two kids and works as a publicist in New York City.” He focused on the muted fresco covering the far wall. “I didn’t tell you about my family because my senior college year wasn’t an easy time for me. My mother went off the deep end after my dad’s death. Luckily, Lacy had escaped to NYU. I’d ended up here on a full scholarship and lived with my grandma, but poor Maggie was stuck with our mom.”

He remembered the guilt, the hysterical, late-night phone calls from his frightened sister. His sister who was the same age as Eden. Talk about a wakeup call. The night when Eden doffed her dress in the motel room and stood in front of him completely naked? As much as Billy wanted her, his brain got stuck on whether his little sister was losing her virginity to a lecherous college boy in a sleazy motel after her senior prom.

That idea literally deflated his plans and he was too embarrassed to tell Eden the truth. Instead, he’d yanked his pants up over his limp cock and vanished into the night.

The next week college finals had started. After the last stunt his mother pulled, he’d had no choice but to leave right after exams, skipping his college graduation ceremony. As soon as he’d settled Maggie in New York with Lacy, he’d joined the Chicago firm.

A warm, soft hand covered his. “I’m sorry. Guess I was so self-absorbed back then I didn’t see you suffered with your own family problems.”

“Not self-absorbed, Eden. Self-conscious, maybe. Self-reliant, definitely. But you are the least self-centered person I’ve ever known.”

The meals arrived and they ate in companionable silence. Eden sucked a fat piece of shrimp from her fork, releasing the tines a millimeter at a time, swallowing with gusto and then licked her lips.

An image flashed of her wrapping those shiny red lips around his cock. Sucking frantically and her beautiful throat muscles working as she swallowed. The urge surfaced to sweep everything from the table, spread her wide and fuck her fast and furiously on top of it.

The air thickened and the booth seemed to close in.

When the waiter appeared to clear plates and detailed the dessert menu, Eden fished around in her purse, pulled out a twenty and handed it to him. “Nothing else. We won’t have to bug you and we can get on with our business.”

Before Billy considered Eden’s motives, she’d squeezed next to him in his side of the booth, her right thigh pressed to his left. Her body heat seared him and her heady, dark scent made his already shallow breathing more difficult.

“Put your briefcase on the table and open it, so it looks like we’re working.”

A tiny kernel of anxiety unfurled in his gut, but he placed his briefcase on the middle of the table and popped the locks. “Are we working?” he asked inanely, removing file folders.

“Not you.” Eden’s cool mouth suctioned to the hot skin below his ear. He shuddered at the simple touch. Her left hand arced down the center of his body from the knot in his tie to the buckle on his pants. “However, I have catch-up work to do. It is my turn, remember?”

The full impact of her words sunk in when she unbuckled his belt. “Eden—”

“Billy,” she whispered back in a mocking tone, making quick work of his zipper. “I’m going to stroke your cock right here under the table until you explode in my hand. And you’re going to let me.”

Turned on beyond measure, he said not a word.

“Sit back and open your legs wider.” Eden’s exhalations tickled his neck. “Pretend you’re studying a market analysis.” Her fingers slipped into the gap in his boxers. When the warmth of her hand circled his aching cock, Billy groaned.

She stroked from root to tip, letting the plump head rub against the hard ridge of her palm. Drops of pre-come dribbled down, making the glide of her hand easier, increasing the sensations until his buttocks tightened and the vein running up his cock began to pulse.

If anyone passed their table, all they’d see was two heads bent close, engrossed in the sheaf of papers on the table between them.

Eden repeated the words he’d said last night. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want to fuck you. Hard. Fast. Right now.” His hand moved under the table and he tried to stop her activity on his dick. “Let’s go.”

“No. You let go.” She nipped his earlobe, knocking his hand away with her knee. “My turn to call the shots.” She stopped the slide of her hands to feather butterfly touches from his balls to the weeping tip. “You’re so damn sexy, Billy. I want to feel you come. I won’t stop until you do.”

As he nuzzled Eden’s soft hair, his tension slipped away. No doubt if he would’ve slid his hand under her skirt, he’d have expected her compliance. Hell, he was a modern man, equal time and all that. He admitted it felt good to let Eden be in charge. And if the euphoric look on her face was any indication, she was getting off on the naughty exhibition as much as he was.

“I wish it was my mouth on you.” She squeezed from the bottom of his shaft up, her fingers a tight ring as she rubbed her thumb over the slick tip. “My lips, teeth and tongue. I’d get your cock really wet. See if I could deep throat you. Then when you were teetering on the edge, I’d suck you dry and swallow every drop.”

“Enough. God, I can only take so much.” Damn. He was close. Too close, but he had no intention of trying to hold back.

“Do you like me talking dirty? You’ll like it even better when I do this.” She increased her strokes.