Wicked & Willing: Bad Girls (11 page)

A drop of water reached her puckered nipple and hung there, practically inviting him to come taste it. She wanted more than anything for him to lick the drop off her, to warm her cool skin with the heat of his mouth, to take her nipple between his lips and suck deeply on her flesh.

He swam closer, silently, cutting expertly through the water. His piercing stare never left her body. And almost before she’d fully realized what she’d started, he was there, holding on to the rails on either side of her. He stayed below her, one rung down, his chest between her parted thighs.

“You’re wet,” he murmured. Then, as if he simply couldn’t help himself, he leaned close and licked away a bit of moisture in the hollow of her throat.

She moaned. “Troy.”

He ignored her protest. Or maybe it was a plea. She couldn’t think straight enough to decide.

“I didn’t get it all yet.” He followed the trail of the water, his tongue and warm breaths sending a path of pure fire across her skin. She didn’t move, could only clutch the metal handrails, her fingers close to his, so close, but not touching. Just his mouth. His tongue. On her chest. Until, finally, his lips were at the curve of her breast. She whimpered as he moved lower. Then, finally, he licked the single drop of water from her nipple with one slow, deliberate flick of his tongue.

She almost came right there on the step.

“Thank you,” he said. Then, with a sultry smile, he extended his arms behind him and leisurely swam away.

Venus watched, slack-jawed, ready to order him to get back over here and finish what he’d started. He paused a yard or so from the side of the pool, treading water again. Watching her, he waited for her next move, as if he’d
lobbed the ball back on her side of the court and wanted to see if she had the guts to hurl it back toward him.

Not about to let him think he’d nearly shattered her with his much-too-brief caress, Venus moved her hand down her body, following the path his lips had taken. She paused for a fleeting moment as her fingers reached her nipple, moving it as lightly and deftly as he had moved his tongue. She knew he understood she was mimicking what he’d done.

She felt sure she heard a tiny groan, but supposed it could have been the breeze blowing through the branches of a tree.

Then she lowered her hand under the water. Standing on the last rung, she bent and pushed the bathing suit bottoms off. Naked, she tossed both pieces of wet material to the pool deck.

“You’re right,” she whispered as she felt the liquid sluicing between her thighs, cooling her where she was most hot. “This feels amazing.”

Submerging completely beneath the surface, she kicked off the wall and swam for several yards, toward the shallow end of the pool. The feeling of being naked, enveloped by warm, gentle water, was incredibly sensual. She’d never felt more free while swimming and loved the way her body slid so intimately through the surrounding wetness.

When she finally came up for breath, she found herself standing in thigh-deep water. She made no effort to go deeper, or to cover herself. She wanted him to look at her. Wanted him to want her every bit as much as she wanted him.

Troy surfaced a few feet away, concealed from the waist down. “Venus rising from the waves,” he said. She saw his breaths deepen as he studied her, his gaze lingering on the curve of her throat, then her breasts. He looked
lower, to her waist and hips, then at the shadowed curls between her thighs brushing lightly, with delicious sensitivity, against the surface of the pool.

“You do look beautiful.” His voice was thick, revealing his reaction to her. “As wanton and desirable as any goddess of love should look.”

He approached her. She held her breath and made no effort to move away. Then, as his body emerged, she noticed a band of black fabric around his hips. She couldn’t prevent a tiny laugh, knowing she’d been tricked. “You’re wearing trunks.”

He shrugged, completely unrepentant. “I never said I wasn’t.”

“So why did you dare me to take off my suit?”

“I didn’t dare you, Venus,” he replied with a knowing smile. He moved closer, until they stood only inches apart. “You are perfectly capable of doing whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it.”

True…except when it came to him. Because what she really wanted to do was reach out and tug that suit off him, to see if he was as aroused and ready as he’d been in the bathroom. As she was right now. Then she wanted to wrap her legs around him and let their bodies move together in the gentle flow of the water.

He continued. “Do you blame me for understanding you well enough to know you’d take off your clothes and swim gloriously naked in the moonlight if given the slightest provocation?”

She shook her head, tsking. “You didn’t even try to stop me, when you knew what I thought.”

Lowering his gaze to her bare breasts, he whispered, “What kind of fool would do that?”

Making a split-second decision, she reached for the waistband of his trunks. “Maybe the same kind of fool
who would have handed you the towel in the bathroom?”

He laughed softly.

“Or the kind of fool who
wouldn’t
insist turnabout is fair play,” she murmured, determined to even the stakes.

Troy had only intended to tease her a little, to taunt Venus into doing exactly what she’d done. He had no compunction about tricking her into removing her clothes. After all, he’d been remembering her naked ever since the moment she’d dropped the towel in the bathroom. He’d wanted to look at her stunning body again almost as much as he wanted to lose himself in it.

He hadn’t, however, counted on being completely unable to control his reaction. He’d managed to back away after one quick self-indulgent taste of her supple skin.

He’d tried to keep his desire for her in check, not wanting her to see the intense storm of need almost making him shake. But when she reached for him, when she brushed the tips of her fingers against his stomach in a long, slow caress, he couldn’t prevent a deep groan.

“Oh,” she whispered, obviously hearing his need and seeing the coiled tightness of his body. “You’re not quite as unaffected as you wanted me to think, are you?”

He shook his head, unable to lie about something so damned obvious. “No.” He slipped his hand into her hair, tangling his fingers in the wet strands. “Venus, I’ve wanted you since the minute I laid eyes on you.”

She moved her cool fingers lower and grasped the waistband of his suit. He leaned closer, making it easier for her to remove the trunks.

“That’s your answer?” she asked, apparently recognizing the move for the confirmation it was.

“Yes.”

She didn’t hesitate, not that he’d expected her to. Troy waited, watching her nibble the corner of her lips as she
pushed the suit down his hips until he could kick them off under the water. He hissed when she cupped his ass, squeezing him tightly, pulling him closer. His wet erection slid against her bare stomach, making them both quiver.

“So we do this, we do what we’ve wanted to do since the minute we met, we, uh, get it out of our systems, and that’s the end of it?” she asked as she slipped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer for a kiss.

He chuckled, truly amused. “Hell, no, Venus.” He gently tugged her head back, still cupping it, still stroking her hair, touching her soft earlobe, scraping his fingertip along her nape. Her green eyes were wide and excited, full of anticipation as she met his stare.

“We do this,” he told her, pressing his body suggestively against hers in an instinctive male question that she answered silently with a feminine thrust of her hips. “And then we do it again.” He kissed her temple. “And again.” Moving lower, he lightly nipped her earlobe. “And again.” After sampling her neck, he moved his way to her mouth.

Just before their lips touched, she gave a helpless groan and whispered, “Works for me.”

Then he was kissing her deeply, tasting her, feeling her warmth and acceptance. Their tongues danced and mated as she melted against him, her naked body warm and vibrant. The scrape of her pointed nipples against his chest nearly made him lose his mind as her hands stroked his back and then her nails dug into his shoulders.

“Do you know how crazy it’s been making me, wanting to touch you like this?” he whispered when they parted for breath, hearing the hoarse need in his voice that he couldn’t possibly disguise.

“Like this?” she asked, drawing his hand up to her breast, offering that perfect, puckered flesh to him.

He knew what she wanted as she pressed against his hand. Instead, he drew out the tension, moving his hand away to delicately rub her collarbone and the hollow of her throat. He built the fire, even though he knew it was already hot enough to burn them both up.

He should have known Venus wouldn’t respond with similar restraint. She pushed him back until he lost his footing and almost fell under the water. When he rose again, she kissed the surprised laughter off his lips. “No more teasing, Troy. I just can’t take it,” she said, making no effort to play coy.

She wanted what she wanted. And she wanted it now.

God, he loved a woman who didn’t play games when it came to something as elemental as sex.

“Fine,” he promised her. “No more teasing. But I reserve the right to some serious foreplay at a future date.”

“Deal.”

“By the way, I really
like
foreplay, Venus.”

Venus heard a note of something in Troy’s voice and saw his amusement segue to pure male drive. Before she realized what he intended, he’d picked her up by the hips and tugged her legs around his waist. The warmth of his erection slid between the wet folds of her body, coming close, so close to where she wanted him. Beginning to pant and quiver, she arched closer, trying to take what he wasn’t yet giving her.

“Not yet,” he muttered just before he lowered his mouth to her breast, as if he had to taste her, now, or die.

She jerked when he captured one sensitive nipple and sucked it deeply into his mouth—hard. Yes.
This
was what she wanted, what she’d demanded moments ago.

He completely supported her weight, easily holding her with one arm as she arched back invitingly. He thor
oughly tasted both her breasts, nibbling and suckling one while he playfully stroked and cajoled the other with his fingers. She wriggled and writhed against him, not wanting him to stop, but wanting more than just his hands and mouth.

“Are you protected?” he asked raggedly, his tone telling her she’d damn well better be.

“Yes. The pill.”

“Good.”

Then, with one agonizingly perfect thrust, he plunged deep into her, filling her up until she cried out at the pleasure of it. He caught her cries with a wet kiss as they both absorbed the sensations. Hot bodies. Cool water. Deep…
deep
penetration.

She’d never felt anything more pleasurable in her life.

“This is just the first time, right?” she somehow managed to say, almost crying at how good he felt, so thick and solid inside her. “There’s an again?”

“Absolutely.” He cupped her head, pulling her close for more of those slow, hot kisses that completely melted her and made her want to devour him at the same time. “Several agains.”

“Oh, thank heaven,” she managed to whimper, needing him to move, faster, deeper, harder. “Then could you please,
please
go slow next time. Right now I want…I need…”

She didn’t have to finish. He seemed suddenly as out of control as Venus, catching her around the waist and pounding into her with deep, soul-shattering thrusts. The water gushed against her in never-ending, undulating liquid caresses. His mouth licked hungrily at her own. He filled her so deeply she imagined she’d feel him inside her forever.

And finally, when he dropped his head back and shouted out his completion, he gave her another of those screaming orgasms.

L
ESS THAN TWO WEEKS
on the job and he was going to be late for work. Troy glanced at his watch, seeing it was after nine, and hit the gas. He didn’t imagine his new boss would care for his excuse.
Sorry, Max, I overslept because I was up until four having the most amazing sex of my life with your granddaughter. Man, we did things I didn’t even know were possible.

No, he didn’t want to have to explain. Especially because he couldn’t think about last night without getting hard again.

Venus. She’d been incredible. He’d never known a woman as completely in tune with her own body, and her lover’s. They’d read each other’s moods, known what each other wanted. When to slow down, or when to pound forward. Every touch had been savored, every stroke answered in return.

After that first frantic encounter in the pool, Trent had carried her out and gently dried her off. They’d curled up on a padded lounge chair, exchanging kisses and caresses for an hour as the night shadows deepened. More lovemaking, this time sweet and languorous, had followed.

They didn’t come inside until almost three. After he’d placed her in bed, Venus had sleepily whispered, “When you mentioned those
agains
, did you mean all of them tonight?”

He’d chuckled and held her until she fell asleep. Then, not wanting to risk discovery in the morning, he’d left her warm bed and gone back to his own. As much as he’d wanted to say goodbye to her this morning, he hadn’t gotten the chance. He’d call her from the office in a while, just to hear her voice. Of course, that sounded sappy as hell, so he’d have to pretend to be calling to see if his package had arrived.

Venus would know, anyway. The woman could read him better than anyone ever had.

While thinking of the package he was expecting today, he reached for his cell phone. Max had mentioned another event—a semiformal party—scheduled for Friday night. Venus would be no more prepared for that than she would for tonight’s dinner at the club. He quickly dialed his brother’s home number.

“This is starting to become a habit,” Chloe said when he identified himself.

“I’m glad I caught you. I was afraid you might have left for the store already,” he replied.

“Doctor’s appointment.” He heard a crunching sound and knew she was eating while holding the phone. Trent had told him Chloe had constant cravings for apples. He hoped his godchild liked them since that and Doritos were about all Chloe had sent down to the poor kid in the past several months.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Did you get the stuff for me?”

“Uh-huh. It’ll be there by three.”

“Great. I need another favor.” He told her what he wanted.

She whistled. “Very nice. I’ve seen that dress and thought about using my employee’s discount myself.”

“I think you need to be shopping in another department,” he teased.

“Yeah, the beached whale department,” she said. “I swear to God, if the doctor’s wrong and this is twins, I’m going to kill you and your brother.”

“Whoa, I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“Damn right you didn’t.” Trent’s voice. He’d picked up on another extension.

“Aw, hell, why are you home?” Troy asked. “Shouldn’t you be out pulling weeds or something?”

“I’m taking Chloe to the doctor.” Then, as expected, his twin tossed an insult right back at him. “What about you? Sounds like you’re stuck in traffic. Shouldn’t you be sitting at a desk getting fat and pasty?”

“Oh, and Troy,” Chloe said, ignoring the insults, “I nixed the stockings. The shoes you picked cry out for bare legs.”

Venus with bare legs. That worked.

“Tall woman?” Chloe asked, quite obviously fishing.

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“The shoe size. Is she a blonde?”

“Redhead.”

She let out a long “ahh,” which probably meant something to her, or to anyone with a uterus, but which he didn’t get at all.

“Does this mean your self-imposed celibacy is over?” Trent asked. “And you’re out of this miserable mood you’ve been in?”

He frowned. “I haven’t been in a miserable mood.”

“Yeah, you have,” Chloe said. “Ever since that dingbat got you all tied up in knots because you asked her to lunch and didn’t show up with a wedding ring.”

Troy was so startled by Chloe’s comment that he nearly cut off a semi loaded with beer in the next lane.
The driver laid on his horn, and Troy jerked the steering wheel. He gave the guy an apologetic wave and got flipped off in return.

“You there?”

“Sorry,” he muttered. “Now, what are you talking about?”

“Oh, come on, Troy. You’ve been doing the self-flagellation thing for months. I could understand if you’d done anything to deserve it.” She muttered something under her breath, which sounded suspiciously like
as usual
. “But this time you didn’t. You took her out, it didn’t work, and she got all whacked out about it. You just wanted to spend some time with someone you thought was ‘nice’—for a change—and she turned out be a loony.” She crunched her apple again while Troy thought it over. “What I don’t get is why you went out with her in the first place,” she mumbled between bites. “You must have caught some of my pregnancy hormones and temporarily lost your mind.”

“They’re catching?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Trent said. Troy had forgotten he was on the extension. “Women turn into goo-gooing know-it-alls who want to rub Chloe’s stomach and tell her how to breast-feed.”

He could definitely get into the breast thing, but that’s about as far as he could relate.

“And men look at me like I should be strutting because the whole world knows I actually had sex with my wife at least once.”

“Hopefully not in the store after hours,” Troy said with a wicked chuckle, reminding them of one of their premarital dates.

“Trent Langtree, you are a dead man,” Chloe said,
suddenly sounding incensed. “How could you tell him about that?”

Troy let his twin sweat and sputter for a minute. “I didn’t say he told me.” He heard Trent’s relieved sigh, then decided to pay his brother back for the fat and pasty crack. “Maybe he just forgot to turn off one of the security cameras.”

He hung up as Chloe shrieked, figuring he’d admit he’d lied later. Trent would never kiss and tell—he’d always played his romantic cards close to the chest. Troy had put two and two together when the security guard had admitted Trent had bribed him to leave them alone in the store one night last summer.

Picturing his twin trying to convince his wife of that, he laughed all the way to work. Damn, he really missed his brother.

When he arrived, the first thing Troy took care of was a quick call to the rental office of his new apartment building. They expected him to move in tomorrow, but he made an excuse and put off the move until Monday—
after
Venus left.

Since he’d only known her a few days, he couldn’t quite understand the flash of dread he felt at the thought of her leaving. Still, it was undeniable. He might not have known her long, but he knew he wanted every minute he could get with her. So he’d have to stay at Max’s through the weekend. Max wouldn’t mind. He’d been trying to talk Troy into staying on anyway. After last night, he didn’t think Venus would mind, either.

Hit with a crisis involving a flooded mailing center at their north Georgia warehouse, Troy got so wrapped up with work that he forgot about calling Venus that morning. He thought about it while heading out for a lunch meeting, but since he was with the sales rep of one of
their big textile providers, he decided to wait until he got back. They’d just sat down at their table in a nice restaurant in the Atlanta underground when he heard the trill of his cell phone, which he’d been about to turn off. He apologized and hit the answer button.

“Troy Langtree.”

“You got a big package,” Venus said.

He couldn’t prevent a truly amused chuckle from escaping his mouth. His lunch companion eyed him curiously, and he turned slightly for privacy. “Thank you. Glad you approve.”

She snorted. “Ha. I meant in the mail.”

“Sure you did. Come on, you set that one up on purpose.” He practically dared her to deny it.

“Okay,” she admitted. “I did. And you went right for it, you dirty-minded thing.”

“Just call me Mr. Black Kettle, Miss Pot.”

She feigned offense. “Are you calling me dirty minded?”

“I would never do such a thing,” he replied, knowing he sounded every bit as insincere as she had.

“While we’re on the subject…”

“Yes?” he prodded.

She paused, then lowered her voice to a sultry, very satisfied-sounding whisper. “Wow.”

He turned farther, almost covering the mouthpiece of the phone with his cupped hand. “Wow? Is that a good wow?”

“A most excellent wow.” She sighed so deliberately it was almost a purr. He could suddenly picture her stretching out, extending her long, slim arms over her head, making her beautiful breasts rise up for his mouth, as she had last night.

He cleared his throat. “Wow works.”

Seeing the sales rep glance at her watch, he murmured, “I should go. As for my…ahem…package, don’t open it.”

She sighed audibly. “It’s from your department store.”

“I know.”

“It says it’s from the Ladies’ Department,” she hinted.

He held back a chuckle. “I know.”

Silence. She was probably trying to think of a way to get him to let her open it. Finally, she went for bluntness. “How will I know if I want to wear it if I don’t get a chance to see it?”

“You’re wearing it.” His tone allowed for no argument.

Obviously not the tone to use with Venus. “Well, for your information, if it’s a boring, typical little black cocktail dress, I’m so
not
wearing it.”

Before he could reply, the sales rep leaned over and asked him if he knew where the ladies’ room was. When he pointed, she got up, leaving him alone at the table. He knew Venus had to have heard the woman’s voice. And of course karma was never kind enough to provide a bad cell phone connection when he needed one. Sure, it’d die out during an important business call, or if he broke down in the middle of the night somewhere. But certainly not right now when he had a woman on the line prepared to leap to the wrong conclusion.

“Where are you?” Her voice no longer sounded playful.

“At a lunch meeting. With a sales rep.”

“A sales rep. A female one. Is she sixty and wrinkly?”

“No,” he said, almost enjoying the flash of jealousy. “Probably thirty. Petite.”

“Oh, thanks so much for sharing,” she snapped.

“You asked.”

“Which I shouldn’t have. It was none of my business. I
was just curious about whether last night released you from your spell, and you’ve gone back to your full dogginess.”

He didn’t know whether to be amused or offended. Knowing Venus could be a lot more easily hurt than even she would admit, he replied with honesty. “Venus, she’s happily married with kids, and she’s a nice lady. This is a business lunch.”

“Okay,” she murmured, not sounding completely convinced.

“I’m damn sure not a saint…”

“No question,” she muttered.

“You wouldn’t want me so much if I were.” He dared her to deny it—she stayed quiet. “I can honestly tell you, however, that I’m not interested in anyone except you.”

She harrumphed into the phone, obviously not believing him. “It’s not like it’s any of my business, anyway. We had sex. We’re not lovers or anything.”

That really made him laugh. “Oh, honey,” he said between chuckles, “we are
definitely
lovers. We’ve been lovers since the moment I touched your foot on the balcony Monday afternoon.”

He heard her slow breaths as she absorbed his words, took them in, accepted them. They were, after all, nothing but the truth.

Then, finally, she whispered, “I won’t open the package.”

But he knew she would.

V
ENUS SWEATED
for about nineteen and a half minutes after her conversation with Troy, then she finally tore the brown wrapping off the damn package. “He knows I will. He expects me to,” she told herself. The realization
should have made her more determined not to open it. Uh-uh. She just couldn’t resist.

When she opened the box and found a plastic-wrapped bundle of emerald-green silk, she cooed. She pulled the dress out, breathless as she admired what Troy had selected for her.

She should have known the man would never go for something as simple as a little black cocktail dress. This was a glittery silk sheath. Slick and straight, it would fit like skin. Shot with gold threads, the fabric caught the light and sparkled like a jewel. It wasn’t low cut, in fact it would fit tightly up around her neck. Judging by the high slit, however, what it didn’t show in cleavage, it would make up for in leg.

The box contained everything else she’d need for tonight. Strappy, high-heeled sandals, along with a green silk bra and underwear so soft and silky they would feel like liquid against her skin. The man had very good taste.

Though she was dying to try everything on, she decided to shower first. It was already after one, and Max said they’d need to leave for the club by six. So, really, she’d done Troy a favor. Imagine she had waited for him to get home from work, and the dress hadn’t fit? It wasn’t as if she could have just pulled something out of her suitcase.
Hmm, the red spandex catsuit or the leopard-print halter and black leather miniskirt?

That would have made for an interesting evening.

Besides, when Troy saw her in the dress, he’d forget he’d asked her not to open it. She hoped.

After showering, she dried her hair and took her time doing her nails. As she reached for the dress to try it on, someone knocked on her door. When she opened it, she saw the housekeeper, Mrs. Harris. The older woman
smiled. “I wanted to see if you needed anything for tonight.”

Surprised and touched by the offer, Venus shrugged. “Well, I don’t think so. I have the dress.” She nodded toward the closet door, where the dress was hanging.