chapter twenty-one
Lisa came out the back door of Sera’s house and sat down on the porch swing beside Dave. She handed him a beer, then popped the top on one herself. They swung gently, watching Sera’s ponies in the pasture to the east of the barn. The moon had risen to a small half circle of pale amber high in the sky, and warm night air swirled around them, the temperature a good ten degrees higher than normal for this time of year.
“I had my hopes up,” Lisa said. “Sera had all the ingredients for margaritas. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any tequila.”
“Beer’s fine.”
“Actually, I was kind of hoping for something stronger.”
Dave nodded. “Hell of a day, huh?”
“I’ve said that every day for the past four days. Is there any end to this?”
“Yes. Alex will call tomorrow and tell us he’s got an informant, which means that when Robert crosses the border again he’s toast.”
“Will Alex be able to pull it off?”
“If anybody can, he can. Once he gets his teeth into something, he doesn’t let go.”
“Especially if he’s helping his brother.”
Dave smiled a little. “Yeah.”
“You’ve got a good family, don’t you?”
He nodded. “The best.”
“You’re a lucky man.”
Dave turned to Lisa. “Just because you struck out on one family doesn’t mean you can’t start one of your own.”
“It’s the kind of life that works for you,” she said. “But not for me.”
“You need to think twice about that.”
“We’ve talked about this, Dave. I know where I’m going. And that’s not it.”
Dave nodded and took a sip of beer, staring out into the night. “Have you thought about where this is going?”
“Where what is going?”
“The situation between the two of us.”
“Situation?”
“If you hadn’t noticed, we’ve been relatively unable to keep our hands off each other for the past few days.”
She turned away. “Just think of it as one extended adrenaline rush. Once that goes away, the rest will go away, too.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Come on, Dave. You and I both know this is a short-term thing. Let’s not go looking for any deep meaning here, okay?”
“You mean let’s keep it hot and mindless and try really hard not to think about it?”
“I haven’t met a man yet who objected to that.”
“You’ve met one now.”
For some reason, Lisa suddenly felt hot. Uncomfortable. Still Dave’s eyes were on her, probing and insistent, and she countered by replacing the frown she wore with a seductive smile. “So you don’t want to have hot sex with me on the back porch?”
“No, I don’t.” He leaned in, kissed her gently on the lips and whispered, “I’d rather make love to you in the bedroom.”
The sensual way the words rolled right off his tongue sent warm shivers down Lisa’s spine. For maybe the first time in her life, she sat within kissing distance of a man and had no idea what to say.
Dave set his beer down, then stood up and held out his hand. “What?” she asked.
“Come with me.”
“But—”
“Don’t argue.”
She opened her mouth to say something. Nothing came out. Her heart had started to thump a little harder right about the time he kissed her, and it was really gearing up now.
She set her beer down, took his hand, and he led her into the house. But as they walked through the living room she had a sudden uneasy closed-in feeling, as if a touch of claustrophobia had swept over her. When they passed the sofa she stopped him suddenly, circled her arms around his neck, and kissed him deeply.
“Sofas are nice,” she whispered against his lips, stroking the back of his neck with her fingertips. “You can do all kinds of things on a sofa.”
“Yes. I suppose you can.”
He reached up, disengaged her hands from around his neck, and led her up the stairs. Halfway to the second floor, she turned him around and rose to the same step where he stood, inching closer and splaying her palms over his chest. “Ever had sex on a staircase?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
“It’s . . . interesting.”
“I’ll take your word for that.”
He took her hand and continued up the stairs, dragging her right along behind him. They reached the landing and started down the hall.
“Dave—”
“The hall has hardwood floors,” he said. “That would be painful.”
“There’s a rug—”
“Wool. I’m allergic.”
“The bathroom—”
“I’ve already showered today.”
He led her into Sera’s guest bedroom. The lamp was switched on low, bathing the room in a warm yellow glow. To her surprise, he walked over to where his bag rested on the floor, knelt down, unzipped it, and pulled something out. With a flick of his wrist he tossed a handful of condoms onto the bed.
Lisa stared at them, swallowing hard. “Optimistic, aren’t you?”
“I was a Boy Scout.”
He took her hand again and pulled her around to face him. He buried his fingers in her hair, pulled her to him, and kissed her deeply. Slowly. Sensually. Moving with the speed of grass growing.
Faster. Faster. Come on. Let’s go!
She reached for his shirt buttons. He put his hands against hers, stilled them, then returned them to her sides. She countered by grabbing his belt buckle. He took her hands again, held them at her sides, then inched so close that she had to take a step backward. She bumped into the wall, then looked up to find him staring at her intently. Just the sight of those dark, watchful eyes focused solely on her made her heart leap wildly.
“You know, Lisa, you’ve given me a hell of a ride over the past couple of days.”
She curled her lips into a seductive smile. “Why, thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.”
“Trouble is, you didn’t come along for the ride, did you?”
She frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
She swallowed hard and turned away. “Of course I did.”
He took her chin in his hand and turned her back. The moment she met his eyes, she looked away again.
“My God,” Dave said. “I’m right.”
She slipped away from him, putting some much-needed distance between them, then turned back with a defiant expression. “Well, so what?” She made a scoffing noise. “Men. Jeez. Their egos are so fragile. They come all unglued if they think they haven’t—”
“This has nothing to do with my fragile ego. It’s hard to give somebody something when she refuses to take it.”
“It’s not important.”
He inched close to her again, tucked his hand behind her neck, pulled her toward him, and kissed the spot just beneath her left ear. Warm shivers spread all the way to her toes.
“Tell me, Lisa. Have you ever felt the thing that you’re so absolutely sure is unimportant to you?”
“Of course I have.”
“With a man?”
She pulled away again. “Will you stop asking stupid questions?”
“Sure. Just as soon as I think you’re telling me the truth.”
“Please. You’re acting like I’m some silly little virgin who doesn’t know the meaning of the word sex.”
“Nope. I can pretty much attest to the fact that you’re not one of those. I just think that up to now it’s been all give and no take.”
“Come on, Dave. Do I strike you as somebody who wouldn’t insist on having everything I thought I had coming to me?”
“You’d have to want it first.”
“And what woman in her right mind wouldn’t?”
“One who can’t bear the thought of not being in control of every single aspect of her life.”
“So now I’m a control freak.”
“You said it yourself. That’s one reason you like to fly.”
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t ever let go.”
“Prove it.”
“What?”
“Lie down.”
“What?”
“Do as I tell you to. Lie down on the bed.”
She had no idea what he was going for, but at least being on the bed meant they were that much closer to getting down to business.
She sat on one side of the bed, and Dave pressed her gently down to her back. Then, to her surprise, he took her wrists and lifted her hands over her head until her fingertips brushed the vertical spindles of the headboard.
“Take hold of these,” he said, wrapping her fingers around them, “and don’t let go.”
Her eyes flew open wide, and she jerked her hands away. “Are you crazy?”
Slowly, deliberately, he took her by the wrists again, then wrapped her fingers around the spindles. She snatched her hands away again. “Will you cut it out?”
He sighed, shaking his head. Standing up, he walked over to the draperies, reached for something behind them, and gave it a hard yank. When he turned around, she saw a cord dangling from his hand. He closed his fingers around it and ran it through his palm a couple of times. Lisa’s heart jolted as if a thousand-watt current had shot right through it.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
She sat up. “This is silly.”
He strode back across the room, every step he took feeling to Lisa as if a gale-force wind were blowing her down to her back all over again. She stared up at him, swallowing hard.
“What’s it going to be, Lisa? My way?” He nodded down at the cord. “Or this way?”
“Well, now,” she said, trying to keep her voice light. “You’ve never struck me as the kinky type.”
“Nothing kinky about it. It’s simply a battle I intend to win.”
Her breath was coming faster. She couldn’t seem to control it. No matter how hard she concentrated, still she was breathing faster. He sat down on the bed beside her, rested his palm against her hip, leaned in, and kissed her neck.
“What if I scream?” she said.
His breath tickled her ear. “The damsel in distress thing really isn’t your style.”
“Maybe not, but I’m betting it’s effective.”
He eased his lips along the column of her throat. “Nah, I don’t think you’ll scream. See, there’s this little matter of keeping our presence here a secret. This is not the time to draw attention to ourselves.”
“We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”
“Then screaming won’t do you any good, will it?”
He moved his lips over her collarbone, his voice humming against her, sending shivers all the way to her toes.
“Forget screaming,” she said. “I’ve got a pair of knees, and I’m not afraid to use them.”
He stood up quickly, grabbed the bedspread, and pulled it hard around her legs. Still standing, he put his knee down on top of it, until her legs were trapped like a butterfly inside a cocoon. She squirmed against him.
“I’m tougher than I look,” she warned. “You might have a fight on your hands.”
“A fight?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Now, I do love a good fight.”
“No way. You’re one of the good guys, Dave. Calm, cool, and sensible.”
“Maybe not.”
“Oh, really? That’s the Dave I know. What’s changed?”
“You came back into my life.” He stared down at her, his expression charged with emotion. “And that changed everything.”
Lisa felt a fundamental shift at that moment, as if that gale-force wind had whipped around and smacked her flat on her back all over again. A few minutes ago he’d asked her where this was going between them. She still had no answer for that, but she had the most uncanny feeling that she was on the verge of finding out.
With her legs still wrapped tightly in the covers, Dave sat down beside her, made a slipknot in the cord, then reached for her wrist. She yanked it away.
“Oh, all right.” She circled her fingers around the spindles of the headboard, which gave her the most heart-thumping feeling of having her body completely exposed.
“Now,” he said, “no matter what happens, do not let go.”
“If I do?”
“It’s back to Plan A. And God only knows when I’ll let you go then.”
She believed him. Every word. She flexed her fingers against the spindles, telling herself that it was no big deal, really. That she could let go anytime she wanted to.
“This is really dumb,” she told him.
“But no problem for you, right?”
“Of course not. Well, aside from the fact that the man I’m sleeping with appears to have some deep-seated bondage fantasies he’s just dying to play out. I admit I find that a little distressing.”
With a tiny smile, he rose and slowly pulled the bedspread away from her, his gaze trained on her body the whole time.
“The light,” she said. “Turn out the light.”
“Oh, no,” he said, tossing the covers into a heap on the floor. “I’ve got a really nice view here. Why would I want to mess it up?”
Her heart quickened as she waited for him to touch her, kiss her, or do whatever he had in mind that she couldn’t fathom. Instead he went to Sera’s dresser and thumbed through the drawers.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asked.
“New rule,” he told her, still fishing through the drawer. “I don’t mind you talking. But reprimanding isn’t allowed.”
He’d gone off the deep end. That was the only explanation. Most people got dysentery when they drank Mexican water. Dave turned into a sexual deviant.
“Ah. Here we go.” He closed the drawer and turned around, and she was surprised to see him holding a pair of scissors.
“What do you intend to do with those?” she asked.
He sat down beside her, opened the jaws of the scissors, and slid them over the hem of her shirt.
“What are you doing?” she said, squirming away from him. “You’ll ruin my shirt!”
“I’ve got no choice. See, you can’t let go of that headboard.”
“I don’t believe this.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll buy you a new shirt. Maybe a couple of new ones. Of course, I’ll be the one picking them out.” He paused, staring at her. “And you know, now that I think about it . . .”
He placed the scissors on the bed next to her, then hooked his finger into the scoop neck of her T-shirt and slowly pulled it down until it met her cleavage, his finger teasing her skin lightly all the way down. “I think it should be a little lower here.”
He considered that for a moment, then passed both hands slowly but firmly over her breasts, pulling the fabric snug against them. “And maybe a little tighter here.”
Lisa quivered at his touch, her nipples tightening in the wake of his hands. He held the fabric taut and stared down at her.
“Dave. Come on. This is silly.”
“Don’t interrupt. I’ve got a nice fantasy going here.”
As he mulled that over for an eon or so, her nipples grew more erect with each passing second. He was going to stare at them forever. Boldly. Blatantly. And for some reason, that made her feel hot as hell and more exposed than if she were naked.
“I think,” he said, in that maddening contemplative voice, “that I’m going to slip into that store dressing room with you when you’re wearing one of those tight little low-cut shirts.”
“Men aren’t allowed.”
“I’ll bribe the salesgirl.” He slid his hands along the sides of her rib cage until they reached her waist. “I’m going to turn you around to face the mirror.” He slipped his fingertips beneath the hem of her shirt, meeting bare skin. “Then I’m going to stand behind you, put my arms around you, and slide that stretchy little shirt up until I get a really good look at what’s under it.”
He moved his hands up, taking her shirt along with it. It tripped over her nipples before finally gliding away to reveal her breasts. Lisa’s heart leapt.
“You’re going to buy me shirts just so you can take them off me?”
“Mmm. It sounds even better when you say it.”
Dave stared down at her with total appreciation, his gaze lingering. And lingering. And lingering.
“Dave?”
“Sorry. I was just thinking what a beautiful sight this would be in a three-way mirror.”
Lisa felt a sharp tingle between her legs. She flexed her hands against the spindles, her back arching almost involuntarily, desperately wanting him to do something besides stare at her.
Touch me. Please. Your hands. Your mouth. Anything. Everything.
Slowly he lowered his head.
Yes. Yes!
He placed a gentle kiss between her breasts. She waited, waited. . . .
He rose again, pulling the shirt back down to her waist.
“Wh-what are you doing?” she asked, a little breathless.
He picked up the scissors.
Yes. Cut it off. Get rid of it. And do it quickly.
She closed her eyes as he parted the scissors at the hem of her shirt again, but quickly didn’t appear to be a word in his vocabulary this evening. He cut as if he had all night to do it, forcing Lisa to endure the steady snip, snip, snip of the scissors as they slit her shirt, along with the feeling of the cold, hard steel inching its way along the skin from her navel to her neck.
Dave reached for the neckline of the shirt and gave it a final clip, then performed the same slow, maddening cutting action along both sleeves. Finally he laid the scissors down, grasped the shirt, and pulled it away from her body. Tossing the tattered remains aside, he stared at her naked breasts. Just stared, long and hard, until Lisa thought she was going to go crazy.
“Now it’s your turn,” she told him, flexing her fingers against the spindles.
“Excuse me?”
“Your shirt. Off.”
He looked at her admonishingly. “I’m sorry, Lisa. You’re in no position to demand anything.”
“Okay then, how about I reach up there and rip it off you?”
“That would require you to let go of that headboard, and I told you already . . . I wouldn’t advise that.”
He curled his hand around her rib cage, kissing the upper swell of her breast once, twice, moving at such a leisurely pace that she wanted to scream at him to get on with it. He moved up to kiss the base of her throat, then the side of her neck.
“But if you’d like to ask instead of demand,” he said, “I’ll take your request under consideration.”
“Now I’m an impolite control freak?”
He gave her a tiny knowing smile. Tightening his hand along her rib cage, he flicked his tongue against her earlobe, then nipped it gently. Suddenly her jeans felt way too tight, way too confining. She could actually feel the area between her legs growing hot and swollen. And damn it, if it took a private consultation with Miss Manners she was determined to get him out of that shirt.
She turned her head and whispered against his cheek, “I’d like it very much if you took your shirt off.”
He backed away and stood up, unbuttoning his shirt and taking it off, and not getting in any hurry at all to do it. Finally he tossed it down, and one word formed in her mind: wow. She could live to be a thousand and never get enough of looking at him. And touching him. Which she was dying to do right now.
“I can do all sorts of things with my hands,” she told him, easing her voice down into the provocative range. “You might be interested in some of them.”
“Thank you for your input. I’ll take that under advisement.”
He circled around to the foot of the bed. His gaze traveled the length of her body, from her feet to her head and all the way back down. That staring again.
“Dave, I’m starting to feel a little silly here. Can we get on with it?”
He shook his head sadly. “You’re an impatient person, Lisa. A minor character flaw, but a flaw just the same. You need to work on that.”
She exhaled with frustration. Right. And he seemed to be more than willing to give her all the “hands-off ” training she needed.
Finally he took hold of her ankles, and after a lengthy caress he pushed them apart. He rested his knee on the bed between her thighs, dropped a palm on either side of her hips and leaned over her, the muscles of his shoulders and arms standing out in sharp relief. He pressed a kiss just above her navel, sending a thrilling little shudder shooting right up her spine. Rising again, he unfastened the buttons of her jeans, stopping after each one to tease a fingertip over any newly bared skin.
Yes. Now we’re getting down to it.
Once the last button was undone, he slid his hands all the way from her hips to her calves, finally catching the legs of her jeans near her ankles and pulling.
“Maybe you’d better help a little,” he said. “Which is not permission to let go.”
“Then how . . .”
He waited patiently.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.”
As he pulled, she lifted her hips, squirming left and right. His tiny smile said he was enjoying the show, and his sudden inability to pull a pair of jeans off a woman said he was creating the show on purpose. Finally he pulled just enough that they skimmed over her hips and down her legs. He tossed them aside, then eased her panties down over her hips, her thighs, her calves, and finally past her feet. And a glacier could have thawed in the time it took him to do it.
She was naked. He wasn’t. That wasn’t the order she generally strove for. But at least they were making progress. Come on, baby. Let’s rock.
To her surprise, he walked to the door of the bedroom.
“Hey! Where are you going?”
“I’ll only be a minute.” He pointed an admonishing finger. “And remember what happens if you let go.”
He left the room, and she heard his footsteps on the stairs. What in the hell was he doing?
This was completely insane.
Get up. Take control of this outrageous situation. Get him naked and get on with it.
Then she glanced down at the drapery cord still lying on the mattress beside her.
Better stay put.
A minute later, she heard his footsteps coming back up the stairs. He came into the room holding a large bowl. What in the hell was he doing?
He sat down on the bed beside her again, setting the bowl on the nightstand. He reached into it, and what he extracted made her heart go crazy.
A lime.
Dave grabbed a knife from the bowl and flicked through the lime, separating it into two halves.
Lisa’s eyes widened. “Oh, you have got to be joking.”
“Those Lozanos. Gotta hand it to them. They really know how to kick a party up to the next level.”
“Dave, no. This is insane. I’m going to let go. I swear—” The first frigid drop hit right at the hollow of her throat. If he’d released a lit match on her, she couldn’t have felt it more. Even though the lime juice was cold, it seemed to sizzle against her skin, and she had to clamp her mouth shut to keep from gasping.
“You’re out of your mind,” she said between clenched teeth. “You know that, don’t you? You’re completely out of your mind.”
He ignored her, squeezing the lime half until it dripped into the hollow of her throat, then moving it to either collarbone, down to her breastbone, and circling her nipples, letting each drop fall slowly and singularly. He blazed a path of lime juice down her stomach, into her navel, as she watched with rapt disbelief. She had no idea just how intense a Chinese lime juice torture could be.
Then he moved lower, and she nearly gasped when she realized how far he intended to take this.
She immediately pressed her thighs together. He countered by teasing his fingertips in a tickling motion along the crevice between her thigh and pelvis. As she twisted away from him, her legs fell open, and he took the opportunity to squeeze the remainder of the juice of the lime half right between her legs.
“You play dirty.”
That smile again.
Then he reached into the bowl again and produced a saltshaker.
Not in her wildest dreams had she imagined that she’d be making like a head-to-toe tequila shot tonight, or that the slightest sprinkle of salt along the same path as the lime juice could make her practically jump out of her skin.
“I’m taking it easy on the salt,” he said, shaking lightly. “Gotta watch the old blood pressure.”
Which meant he intended to taste every bit of it, and the thought of that made Lisa’s heart rate shoot through the roof.
“Don’t tell me you found the tequila,” she said.
“Not a drop in the house,” he said, eyeing her body from head to toe. “But I have a feeling that in just a minute I won’t give a damn about that.”
He set the saltshaker down and stood up, and she finally got at least one wish she’d made tonight. He stripped completely, and she saw to her immense relief that he appeared to be as ready as she was to get on with this.
But still he was in no hurry.
He began by licking at the hollow of her throat, his tongue moving gently against her, waking up nerve endings she didn’t even know she had. Then he teased his tongue over her collarbone in a slow, sensuous back-and-forth motion. She wanted to scream. Centuries turned more quickly than this man was moving.
Edging downward, he circled his tongue around her right nipple, then sucked it into his mouth, taking the salt and the lime juice in an intense pulling motion that sent fiery hot tremors radiating right down between her legs.
“I love the way you taste,” Dave said, his lips humming against her breast. “And the salt and lime juice aren’t bad, either.”
He moved to her other breast, giving it the same treatment, licking and sucking the salt and lime away, every movement of his lips and tongue so slow and sensual that she almost couldn’t endure it. Then he moved along her breastbone, working his way down to her navel, stopping periodically to swirl his tongue in tiny circles or reach out the tip of it to capture a stray drop of lime juice. Lisa had never felt anything like it in her life. He was concentrating every bit of his attention on one tiny part of her body at a time, elevating the sensitivity of that particular part until she wanted to scream.
“Dave?” she said breathlessly.
“Uh-huh?”
“You’ve got to stop this.”
He responded by streaking his tongue over her abdomen. She stiffened, sure he was going to move lower still. Instead, he stopped and stood up.
“Now,” she said on a harsh breath. “I want you inside me. Right now.”
He came around to the foot of the bed, where he gently pressed her legs apart. He stared down at her for a long time, devouring her with his eyes, his intense gaze making her heart rate soar. She lifted her hips, encouraging him to plunge right inside her. Instead, he began to stroke her legs with his fingertips.
No, no, no!
“Dave—now.”
“Hush.”
“But I want you to—”
“What you want is not the issue here. I’m far more interested in what you need.”
He passed his thumbs over the creases between her thighs and pelvis, causing salt to scrape gently against her skin. Dipping his head, he ran his lips across her, then followed with his tongue, easing toward the very center of her.
Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. . . .
Exposing her clit with his thumbs, he teased his tongue in a half circle around it on the continued pretense of finishing off the lime juice and salt. She couldn’t breathe for the anticipation she felt, and when he finally flicked his tongue against the most sensitive part of her a flash of unbearable sensation streaked through her. She gasped and twisted hard to one side.
“Easy, baby,” he said, holding her hips until she stilled. “You act as if the men you’ve been with have never done this before.”
“They haven’t.”
“Only because you wouldn’t let them. Fortunately, I don’t have to ask.”
He lowered his head again, this time closing his mouth over her with a soft sucking motion of his lips and tongue that made her squirm all over again, but he held her in place, and after a moment the sharp stabs of sensation melted into something warm and pleasurable. He splayed his palm against her abdomen to hold her steady, then swept two fingers of his other hand over her moist opening. With his mouth still against her, he slid his fingers deep inside her, then stroked them back and forth at the same time his tongue moved in an incredible rhythmic motion that did away with all pretense of salt and lime juice removal. Every move now was focused only on making her crazy with need, driving her from feeling warm and pleasurable right into hot and passionate.
“Dave . . . oh, God. . . .”
With no voluntary thought at all, she began to flex her hips in sync with his movements. She was used to control, demanded control, but now she had no control at all. He was propelling her right into a realm where she wasn’t thinking straight, where everything seemed hot and hazy and unsure. She tried to focus, tried to think, but all at once it felt as if she’d flown into a bank of clouds and couldn’t get her bearings. Her breath was coming so fast she felt dizzy and light-headed, shifting her perception until the pleasure seemed distorted, her heart racing with uneasiness instead. With every stroke of his tongue and fingers, one more fragment of her carefully constructed sense of control slipped away, until she felt as if she were falling, as if her plane had stalled and she was plummeting toward earth, only this time there was nothing she could do to pull out of the dive.
“No!”
She pulled away from the headboard, sat up, and grasped Dave’s shoulders, breathing hard, her eyes squeezed closed. “Stop. Please stop. Please.”
Dave leaned away with a regretful sigh, shaking his head. “Now you’ve done it.”
He rose, came around the bed, and sat down beside her. He picked up the cord.
“Dave,” she said, her breath coming in ragged spurts. “No. You’re not actually going to—”
“I don’t make idle threats.”
He took hold of her wrists and slid the looped cord loosely over them. When she tried to pull away, he gave her a warning stare.
“Now, Lisa, while you’re a woman I’d generally think twice about messing with, you and I both know that the outcome here is hardly in question.”
She couldn’t believe it. He actually intended to tie her up.
“I’m a very patient man,” he said in a firm but even voice. “But before this night is out, I will get my way.”
She still felt so hot and swollen between her legs, her whole body trembling with the need she felt desperate to deny. As she sat there, her chest still heaving, he wound the cord around her wrists in a figure eight motion, and some force she couldn’t fathom kept her from pulling away. Then he eased her down to her back again, held her bound wrists over her head, and secured them to the headboard spindles. With a final tug on the cord, he leaned in and teased his lips against her ear.
“I’ve got you now. I can do anything I want to, and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it.”
Her heart hammered her chest, beating with the frantic pace of a hummingbird’s wings. She tried to concentrate on the incredible level of sexual excitement he’d brought her to, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t fight the feeling that washed over her with her wrists bound, the terrible sense that she was caught. Trapped. Completely at the mercy of another human being. With her control completely stripped away, her apprehension quickly turned to panic.
She pulled on the cord that bound her wrists, desperate to free herself, desperate to get away, desperate to—
Wait.
She froze, breathing hard.
Pulled again.
With next to no effort, she could have slipped right out of the cord that held her.
She snapped her gaze up to meet Dave’s and found him staring down at her, waiting for her next words. Just staring at her, his dark eyes solemn and sincere.
Trust me, he was telling her. Just let me love you.
As the depth of his understanding suddenly became clear, her world seemed to tilt into an entirely new dimension. He was trying to give her something that went right to the heart of the relationship between a man and a woman, a connection she needed so much. And more important, he was giving her the pretense to accept it, if that was what she needed.
He was right. So right. He couldn’t give her anything if she refused to take it. With a desperation that drenched her very soul, she wanted all he had to give her, no matter how much she had to open herself up to get it.
“You seem to have forgotten where you were,” she said, her voice quivering.
“Do you remember?”
“You were touching me.” She swallowed hard. “With your tongue.”
A faint smile crossed his lips. “Now, how in the world could I have forgotten that?”
As he rested his hands against her thighs, she let her legs fall to either side. But when he pressed his mouth to her again, the feeling was so intense that she couldn’t help shivering beneath his hands.
“Just relax, baby,” he told her. “Relax. . . .”
His voice was hypnotic, his hot breath skating across her. She closed her eyes and gave herself to him completely, allowing him to touch her, tease her, to send her on an upward spiral all over again. The tension he created slowly pulled her tighter and tighter, like an arrow on a bow, quivering with the need to be released. Soon her breath became short, sharp gasps, her mind so far beyond reason that she couldn’t have managed a single coherent thought. It was as if she were climbing through that cloud bank again, only this time she was focused on the clear blue sky she knew was beyond it and wanting it more than anything.
He paused for a moment, and she instantly arched up to meet him again. “No! Don’t stop! Please don’t stop! Oh, God, Dave . . . don’t stop!”
Words of sheer desire tumbled from her lips in a spontaneous rush. He pressed his mouth to her again, and somewhere deep inside her something caught fire. Flared.
Exploded.
She cried out his name, shuddering wildly, as wave after wave of incredible sensation slammed into her. He clamped down hard on her hips, holding her steady, compelling her body to accept every bit of pleasure that he could possibly wring from it. Still she gripped the spindles of the headboard, her eyes squeezed shut, overwhelmed by the feeling that she’d burst through those clouds into a sun so brilliant it couldn’t possibly be real.
She sensed him grabbing one of the condoms, ripping it open, and before she could even breathe again, before the sensations had faded away, he rose above her, moved between her legs, and plunged inside her in one deep, possessive thrust, intensifying the climax still pulsing through her. He fell to his forearms, his dark gaze locked onto hers, transfixing her with the burning desire that filled his eyes.
“Do you feel how much I want you?” he said, his voice a harsh whisper. “Do you?”
“Yes,” she said, barely able to speak. “Yes.”
“Hold on to me, baby. Put your arms around me.”
She twisted her wrists wildly, pulling loose from her bonds, then wrapped her arms around him. Oh, God, it felt so good to finally touch him, to hold him like this. As he moved inside her with hard, forceful strokes, she clutched him tightly, her fingertips digging into the muscles of his back and shoulders, bruising him, she knew, but she couldn’t stop. She had the most glorious sensation of him filling her, not just her body but her heart, her mind, her deepest needs. Unbelievably, instead of her climax fading away, she felt that place inside her spark again, deep ripples of heat swelling through her. An act that always generated a raw, unfinished sensation for her felt on the verge of being full and complete, and she wanted it more than anything.
She rose to meet every stroke, begging him with every breath to bring them both together to that glittering moment of release. The same foggy sensations clouded her mind as before, the same spasms radiated deep inside her, all of it expanding and multiplying with every furious thrust.
“Oh, God . . . Lisa . . . yes. . . .” A groan rose in his throat, a deep, rasping sound of pleasure that seemed to quiver through his entire body. “Come with me, baby. . . . Come with me. . . .”
He’d barely gotten the words out when she drew in a deep, gasping breath. It was happening again. She couldn’t believe it.
Oh, God, she was coming again.
She cried out as the sensations swept through her, deep, concentrated spasms that seemed to go on forever. They locked every nerve and muscle in their grip, bubbling up from someplace inside her that had never been touched before. And Dave was right there with her, holding her so tightly, drawing himself deeply inside her as the last waves of pleasure washed over them both.
Breathing hard, he lay against her, every muscle taut, his face buried against her neck. “Yes,” he murmured. “Every time, just like that. That’s how it’s going to be from now on.”
“Oh, God,” she said suddenly, shifting beneath him. He rolled to one side. She sat up suddenly, barely able to breathe, the sheer power of it making her tremulous and unsteady. “Oh, my God.”
He sat up with her, wrapping his arm around her waist from behind and settling his chin in the crook of her neck. She tried to shudder from his grip.
“Take it easy, baby,” he said.
“It was too much,” she said, “too much. . . .” Suddenly she felt swamped with emotion, the pounding of her heart erratic and unchecked. And tears were streaming down her face. Tears? Why in the hell was she crying?
“Just relax,” he said. “Lie back down.”
She thought about how she’d screamed, begged, been totally out of control, and suddenly she felt embarrassed. She refused to look at him. “No. I can’t. I acted . . . a little crazy. . . .”
“And I loved it,” he murmured. “All of it.”
She swept her tears away with the back of her hand and started to get up. He pulled her back down again.
“I’m still a little salty,” she said. “I—I need a shower.”
“No. I know what you need,” he said, wrapping his arm around her again. “What you’ve needed for a very long time. And I’m going to give it to you until you wonder where your next breath is coming from.”
His words made her satisfied body shudder to life all over again, even as she felt as if she had to get out of there right now.
“You don’t understand,” she said.
He sighed softly. “Yes, I do.” He backed off a little, his voice quiet and measured. “You need space right now. You need to pull yourself together, to feel as if you’re in control again. And most of all,” he said, “you need to convince yourself that this didn’t mean anything to you, just in case it doesn’t mean anything to me. Is that right?”
She turned to him, astonished that he’d just put voice to the feeling she always had when she was with a man. That feeling of putting herself into somebody else’s hands. That feeling that somebody else controlled even a moment of her life.
That feeling that if she gave her heart along with her body, the joke would be on her.
“Yes,” she said softly.
“Then go.”
She expected to see anger on his face, but all she saw was compassion. For several seconds she just sat there, staring at him until finally he held out his hand. She took it, and he eased her down next to him, pulling her back into his arms again. He held her gently, running his hand along her thigh in deep, calming strokes.
“It’s like claustrophobia,” she said. “I get this breathless feeling, like I’ve got to get away.”
“Is that how you feel right now?”
Slowly her breathing was returning to normal, her heart rate calming. She felt heavy, relaxed, and as content as she’d ever been in her life, knowing now that the invisible cords that bound her to Dave were more powerful than any physical ones could ever be.
“No,” she said on a sigh. “I feel good. So good.”
“Then I don’t want you running away from me every time we make love. And I won’t have you giving me a really nice backrub and putting me to sleep, either.”
She smiled a little. “So no more backrubs.”
“Well, maybe after you’ve come three or four times. But by then it’ll be a moot point, because you’ll be the one who’s asleep.” He slid his hand along her neck and kissed her hair, her temple, then pulled her close again. Her eyes began to get heavy, and she knew exactly what Dave had meant. Any moment now she was going to be asleep.
Then she heard the phone ring.
She blinked her eyes open. “Sera?”
“Let’s hope so.” Dave rose from the bed. She started to throw back the covers, but he put his hand on her shoulder. “Just stay here,” he told her. “I’ll get it.”
He went into Sera’s bedroom to answer the phone while Lisa waited in bed. He returned a few minutes later.
“That was Sera,” he told her. “They’re at Hospital San Juan in Monterrey. Adam’s having some tests right now, but they made it there just fine.”
“Thank God.”
“I told them what we found out here, and she’s going to pass it on to Adam.”
“Good. He’ll be so happy to hear it.”
Dave climbed back into bed, and immediately Lisa curled up next to him with a sigh of relief and contentment rolled into one. His body was so warm next to hers, so inviting, and she was tempted to think that somehow it could be like this forever.
She’d been right all along. She’d never stopped loving him. She loved the man who’d told her that day eleven years ago that there wasn’t anything on earth she couldn’t do if she wanted it badly enough. She loved the man who’d come to Mexico on a cryptic phone conversation just because she was in trouble. She loved the man who lay with her now, who understood more about her than any man ever had before. But where did they go from here?
I don’t want you running away from me every time we make love.
How many more times could there possibly be?
I want you to be exactly who you are.
Fine for now. But what about the long haul? Was he actually thinking about the possibility of there being one? If so, he was closing his eyes to reality. He had a daughter, a family—the kind of staid, settled, conventional life she knew would eventually suffocate her.
But as she closed her eyes and hovered in that nebulous world between sleeping and waking, those impossible images began to play through her mind. And Dave was standing in the midst of it all, opening his arms to her, inviting her to be part of it. And suddenly she wasn’t suffocating. She was breathing deeply, drawing it all in—feeling as if she was taking huge, endless, invigorating breaths for the first time in her life.