Pleasure Prolonged (4 page)

At the mere notion of wedding bells, his thoughts careened backward in time to relive the passionate kiss he’d shared with Erin at Jay and Laura’s reception. A kiss so full of emotion and tenderness it nearly brought him to his knees.

Casual, his ass!

Hell, no woman could possibly kiss like that without feeling some deeper connection.

Erin’s arousing feminine scent and the slow, torturous way her tongue had mated with his while he explored her sleek, sexy legs had made him fairly mad with longing. And when he’d whisked his fingers across her damp panties and connected with her moist private parts, he thought he’d been given a gift from the gods. Hell, he must have done something right in a past lifetime.

Just thinking about her triggered a reaction from his body. Perspiration broke out on his skin and clung to his upper lip. He instantly grew needy for her as he replayed the passionate slide show in his mind’s eye.

Shit, he’d better tamp down his desires and censor his thoughts. This was not the time or place for such delicious memories.

As everyone at the table concentrated on the lovely meal before them, Kale redirected his focus. He wondered what Erin was doing at that exact moment. Would she be having dinner with her family? Hanging out with her friends or testing her bad-girl act with another man? A sudden surge of jealousy rushed through his veins and fired his blood. The flash of possessiveness made his stomach twist. He frowned and worked to dispel the image of Erin playing bad girl, or playing anything with another man.

Kale knew Erin was not simply a passing interest. She made him feel the way no other woman had ever made him feel. He liked everything about her, right down to her cute ponytail and dark, soulful eyes. There was no question about it. He wanted her, and not just on a sexual level. Kale had never been exclusive before, but he wanted exclusivity with Erin.

For a reason that he resolved to get to the bottom of, Erin was anxious to take a stab at being the bad girl she pretended to be. Fortunately, that gave him the perfect opportunity to take their relationship to the next level of intimacy and show her that he could be more than a casual sex toy. Not that he wasn’t interested in being her sex toy, mind you.

A small grin tugged at his mouth as he conjured up the numerous ways to help her play the bad-girl act. Oh yeah, things around the lab were going to get very interesting. Because he planned on heating things up.

First thing tomorrow morning.

Starting in the elevator.

Night had closed around them as Erin sat at her mother and father’s dining room table with the rest of her family. Her younger
married
sister, Terry, as her mother so frequently pointed out, and Terry’s husband, Kenneth, fussed with their three-year-old daughter, Sarah. Her other sister, Kayla, the youngest of the three girls, hadn’t been able to make it to dinner. Her husband was on call at the hospital, and Kayla had been up all night nursing her new newborn.

Erin swallowed her last bite of mashed potatoes and secretly thanked the Lord that she’d made it through another Sunday dinner without her mother bringing up her single status. It was rather refreshing to eat a meal in peace without visualizing herself stabbing something, or someone, with her fork. Thank God her father didn’t pressure her too.

She caught her mother’s glance. Oh no. Perhaps she’d jumped the gun. A familiar matchmaking gleam danced in her dark eyes and sent alarm bells skittering down Erin’s spine.

The sound of Luke, her one-year-old nephew, waking from his nap in the other room gave her reprieve. His high-pitched cries were like music to Erin’s ears.

Erin wiped her mouth and tossed her napkin onto the table. “I’ll get him.”

Excusing herself, she rushed across her mother’s Persian rug, stepped into the living room, and walked over to the marble fireplace to scoop Luke out of his toy-filled playpen. “Hey Luke,” she cooed, brushing his damp hair from his forehead.

As she snuggled his squirming body against her chest and inhaled his wonderful baby scent, her heart lodged somewhere in her throat. She fought down the unwelcome tug of emotions and set the rambunctious one-year-old down. The sound of dishes clanking in the other room, combined with the delicious aroma of apple pie coming from the oven, obviously held more appeal then being cuddled by his aunt. With supersonic speed, he disappeared into the kitchen. Erin grinned. The kid knew only one gear. Full throttle.

Before Erin could say her good-byes to her family and escape back to her condo to prepare her notes for tomorrow morning’s experiment, her mother rounded the corner. Smoothing her short blond hair behind her ears, Anna lowered herself into her favorite French Provincial wingback chair, and neatly crossed her legs at the ankles.

Without preamble, her mother jumped right to the point. “I went Christmas shopping today, Erin.”

Erin drew in air, and then plunked herself onto the matching sofa. Her stomach plummeted. She knew exactly where this conversation was headed. The same place it headed every time the family got together. She pressed her body deeper into
the cushions, hoping the sofa would open up and swallow her whole.

She rubbed her temple, attempting to ward off an impending headache. “That’s nice, Mom.”

Anna’s dark eyes widened in delight as she leaned forward in her seat. “Guess who I met at the mall.”

“Santa?”

Pursing her lips, clearly disappointed in Erin’s smart-assed comment, her mother continued, “Richard Wallis.”

Erin groaned. Cripes. The sight of him taped to the flagpole in high school with nothing on but his undershorts still plagued her memories.

“He’s still single, you know.”

Erin arched a brow. “Really, what a shocker. I would have thought women would be tripping over themselves to sink their claws into a thirty-year-old guy who sells watches out of his trunk and still lives with his mother.”

Damn, Anna was really scraping the bottom of the barrel this time. The poor woman was getting desperate to marry off her ancient, twenty-eight-year-old spinster daughter. She’d obviously given up hope Erin would snag herself a rich doctor, like her youngest sister had. Now it looked as if anything with a penis would do.

Erin resisted the urge to roll her eyes heavenward. Like it was a freaking crime not to be married with kids by your thirtieth birthday.

Likely her mother had grown tired of fielding questions from the old windbags at her country club as to why
her eldest daughter had yet to get married. It was simply scandalous.

Maybe Erin should just tell her mother she was a lesbian. That would really shake up the nosy old bats on card night.

Couldn’t her mother understand that she had her career, which was all she needed? And couldn’t she just be proud of Erin for working hard and earning the lead position for the latest project? And if this project turned out to be a success, she’d become head of her wing. Erin really didn’t need anything more than that.

Which left her wondering why her heart turned over every time she held her sweet little nephew in her arms.

“He no longer does that, Erin. Richard now sells video games at the mall, and he makes a pretty decent living. I hear he holds some King Kong record.”

Erin cringed inwardly. “It’s Donkey Kong,” she corrected. “I played it when I was a teen.”

How freaking delightful. Her mother was setting her up with a guy who still played kid games. The last thing she needed in her life was another man who never grew up and took responsibility.

Erin’s mother gave her a cool look and continued, “I bumped into him on the elevator.”

Meet me in an elevator sometime.

Kale’s parting words immediately rushed to the forefront and echoed in her head. Oh hell!

Despite the chill in her mother’s voice, her body warmed all over. The reception had ended more than twenty-four
hours ago, yet those words still played havoc with her body. She’d been unable to dispel the image of how delightfully naughty it would be to
bump
Kale in an elevator sometime. Lord, obviously it had been far too long since she’d answered the demands of her lascivious libido.

Kale, however, who had eagerly pointed out he was into casual sex, probably answered the demands of his body, one part in particular, on a nightly basis. Probably with a hot-looking Barbie-doll type too. Erin had never felt inadequate in the looks department, but she was no Barbie doll. Her boobs were
not
bigger than her brains.

The sound of her mother’s voice jostled her back to the present. “Erin, are you listening to me?” Disgruntled, Anna furrowed her brow.

Erin drew in air. How was it possible that her mother could reduce her to feeling like a teenager with just one stern look?

“I am now,” Erin offered brightly, struggling to marshal her inappropriate thoughts.

“Good, because we’re having a Christmas gathering tomorrow night and Richard is coming here with his family. It wouldn’t hurt for you to be nice to him.”

Hurt? Oh no, it wouldn’t hurt at all. And neither would electric shock therapy.

“And please try to do something with your hair.”

Erin tugged on her ponytail.
Kale liked her hair.
Good Lord, she couldn’t believe how many times that man popped into her head. She’d never lusted after anyone like this before. Not even her ex-fiancé. Maybe she was just going to have to
have casual sex with him. Obviously, this celibacy thing had gone on long enough. It was beginning to interfere with her thought processes. And that just wouldn’t do.

How was that for rational thinking?

“What’s wrong with my hair?”

“You’d look a lot prettier and attract a lot more men if you did something with it.”

Erin could feel the anger rising in her. “What if I don’t want to attract more men?”

Her mother waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t be silly, Erin. Of course you do.”

Erin opened her mouth to protest. “I—”

Cutting her off, her mother continued. “I’ll make you an appointment at Claire’s for your lunch hour tomorrow. It’s conveniently located just around the corner from your office. Be there.”

With that nonnegotiable piece of advice, her mother stood and rounded the corner, disappearing from Erin’s line of vision. Erin threw her head back and pinched her eyes shut. What would it take to get her mother off her back? Of course, Erin already knew the answer to that. A man. Apparently any man.

Erin could only imagine the look on her mother’s face if she brought home a handsome, successful, confident guy like Kale. She’d probably have a coronary. Not that a playboy like Kale would be interested in coming home with her, mind you. Nor was she interested in bringing him home.

That would be much too personal.

So why the hell had she even thought about it?

A
s Erin pulled her car into her assigned parking spot at Iowa Research Center, she unsuccessfully tried to block her mind to a riot of emotions rushing through her. Just knowing that she’d be working closely with Kale for the next month brought on waves of nervous anticipation.

Tightening her coat around her body to ward off the winter wind, she slid from the driver’s seat and hustled across the parking lot.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Well, well, if it wasn’t her nemesis, Hooker Barbie, or rather, Deanne Sinclair. A woman who was hell-bent on sabotaging Erin’s career to claim what she believed was her rightful position as the lead scientist for the Pleasure Prolonged experiment.

Deanne stepped in front of her, blocking her path, forcing Erin to acknowledge her presence. Erin had never played
with Barbie dolls as a child and she certainly had no intention of playing with one now.

Forgoing pleasantries, Erin muttered, “Excuse me,” through clenched teeth as she tried to neatly sidestep her.

Deanne blocked her path, brushed her bleached blond hair from her face, and pasted on a plastic smile that was as fake as the conniving woman herself.

“Did you have a nice weekend?” Deanne asked, dark lashes blinking over fiery green eyes as her gaze raked over Erin’s body, as though assessing the competition. “You sure seemed to have a nice time at the wedding.”

Cripes, if looks could kill, Erin’s loved ones would be pulling out their funeral attire. The woman really had it out for her since Erin had landed the coveted position. And now that she’d also landed the very sexy, very slurpalicious, and much coveted partner, Kale Alexander, she’d managed to stoke the embers of jealousy brewing below Deanne’s cool, superficial surface.

“I had a terrific weekend,” Erin said breezily, sailing past her. She gritted her teeth and picked up the pace. This was not the time to get into a pissing contest with Deanne. After changing her clothes for the hundredth time that morning, which had absolutely nothing to do with working closely with Kale, she had repeatedly assured herself, she was running a bit behind.

Shadowing Erin, Deanne hurried her steps to keep up. The sudden throbbing in Erin’s head began beating a steady rhythm with Deanne’s spiked heals.

“I know how important this position is to your career, Erin,” Deanne said in a clipped tone, ignoring the fact that Erin had no desire to pursue a conversation.

Ice dripped from Deanne’s voice and seeped under Erin’s skin. Brrr…Erin hugged herself to stave off a shiver. Had the temperature around her just dropped a few degrees?

“And I wouldn’t want you to do something foolish to mess it up,” Deanne continued.

Yeah, right. Everything in her calculating voice clearly indicated that she prayed Erin had a category five screw-up. She suddenly wondered if that huge load of crap spilling from Deanne’s lips left a bad taste in her mouth.

Okay, so maybe she did have an extra minute or so for a pissing contest. And yeah, maybe all the clothes she had tried on earlier that morning had something to do with Kale. So what!

Drawing a fueling breath, Erin stopped mid-stride, twisted around, and questioned in a deceptively mild tone, “Something foolish?”

Deanne came up short and nearly crashed into her. The fake, high-pitched chuckle coming from Deanne’s throat was more irritating than the sound of her neighbor’s tweaked-out import peeling out of the parking lot at the most ungodly hours. It curdled Erin’s blood and raised her pressure from simmer to inferno. As Erin conjured the ways she could put a stop to her neighbor’s antics, her gaze drifted to Barbie’s ample cleavage. She wondered what would happen if she let the air out of those imported inflatables. Would it shut Deanne down too?

Erin slung her briefcase strap over her shoulder and stuck her hands in her coat pockets in an effort to resist the urge to inflict bodily pain on the other woman. She schooled her features into polite interest. “And what exactly is it that you think I would
do
that was foolish?”

Even though Deanne pouted her full lips and batted her long, thick lashes innocently, she still couldn’t mask the look of disdain. Erin knew the woman had an agenda of her own. She made a mental note to be careful.

“Why Kale, of course,” Deanne said matter-of-factly. “You two seemed pretty cozy at the wedding reception.”

Erin wet her lips as the scandalous image of her
doing
Kale rushed through her mind.

Deanne’s eyes gleamed dangerously. “I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that the director frowns on such behavior. Stepping out of line at the center, or breaking protocol, could cost you your job.”

Well, well, a Barbie with a brain. What an unusual, if not dangerous, combination.

Deanne cocked her head as she offered Erin a saccharine smile bright enough to light up the entire research center during a blackout. “You know how I’d hate to see that happen.”

Yeah, about as much as Erin hated to see Barbie pinned under the wheel of her sporty pink camper. Just like the one Erin had purchased last week for her niece’s Christmas present. The visual made her grin.

Deanne pursed her mouth, linked her fingers together, and gave Erin a once-over. “Then again, it’s probably not
something you have to worry about. It’s not like a playboy like Kale would want anything from you. I’m sure it was a chore for him to slip that garter over your leg.”

“Yes, and I’m sure it was a chore for him to kiss me with such heated passion when he discovered the mistletoe over our heads as well.”

Deanne’s face turned an odd shade of red, like a cross between a beet and a baked ham. She gasped in outrage. Her saccharine-sweet smile slipped from her face.

Pissing match over. Final score, one to nothing for Erin.

Deanne began mumbling something about the bouquet, an unfair toss, Kale, and mistletoe, but Erin tuned her out and let her gaze drift to the candy-apple red truck that had materialized in the lower lot. Maybe it would run Barbie down and put her out of her misery. No, put them both out of their misery, she corrected herself. Although Erin suspected that Barbie’s plastic limbs would simply snap back into place.

The sound of Deanne’s voice pulled her back. “This isn’t over, Erin.”

Using her tongue, Erin made a slow pass over her bottom lip, adding fuel to Deanne’s slow-burning fire. “It’s been nice chatting with you, Deanne, but I have to run. Kale’s probably anxiously waiting for me.”

Deanne snarled. “I’ll be watching you.”

Erin arched one brow and gifted her with an amused look, the juvenile side of her enjoying their push and pull far too much. “Really? Well, I’ll try to make that as pleasurable for you as possible.”

Shelving their conversation in the recesses of her mind, Erin turned her back to Deanne and rushed inside the lab’s main building. She pushed open the heavy glass doors and stepped into the lobby. The warm air chased the chill from her body as she moved farther into the building.

Ribbons of sunlight followed her inside and gleamed on the cracked but freshly polished tiled floor. The building might have been old and run-down, but the janitorial staff kept it impeccably clean. The familiar, almost comforting scent of pine floor cleaner reached her nostrils as she greeted the front security clerk with a cheery Monday morning smile and flashed her identification card.

“Good morning, Mikey. How was your weekend?”

Michael’s green eyes brightened as she stepped up to the counter. He sat up straighter in his seat as Erin leaned forward and signed herself in.

“Hey, Erin. Good morning to you too. You’re looking beautiful as always.”

Erin grinned and playfully batted her lashes. “Mikey, you say that every morning.”

“That’s because you look beautiful every morning.” One dark brow lifted suggestively. “So what do you say, Erin. Will you go out with me this weekend?”

She dipped her head and chuckled, enjoying their usual innocent flirtation and easy banter. “Are you bringing your wife?” she teased, the same way she teased every other morning. Erin knew Mikey loved his wife more than life itself.

He pressed his hand to his chest. “Erin, you’re breaking my heart.”

She grinned and twisted on the ball of her foot. “Have a good one, Mikey.” As she crossed the wide expanse of marble floor, she eyed the stainless steel doors of the elevator.

Meet me in an elevator sometime
.

Her footsteps stilled as a fine tingle stirred her most erogenous zone. Good Lord, she needed to pull herself together. She diligently tried to shrug off his sexual invitation as she resumed her pace. Not only was it frowned upon to intimately consort with a colleague, as Deanne had so graciously pointed out, but she would never be able to get any work done as long as she continued to imagine the kinds of private, intimate things he would do behind the closed doors of an elevator.

Private, intimate things he would do to her.

She blew out a shuddery breath and surveyed the lobby. Deanne hurried past her and made her way to the stairwell. God forbid the woman took the elevator and stored a calorie. Of course, the fact that the antique elevator wheezed like a pneumonia patient and made unscheduled stops between floors, leaving its occupants trapped while it recaptured steam, made for another good reason to take the stairs.

Erin glanced around again. No sign of Kale. She released a sigh and ignored the odd wave of disappointment that stirred her blood. Cripes, she wasn’t really considering having sex in an elevator with Kale, was she?

When the steel doors opened, she rushed ahead and stepped inside. Catching sight of her reflection in the floor-
to-ceiling mirror, she smoothed her hands over her windblown hair.

Okay, okay, so she couldn’t deny that she’d taken extra care with her appearance that morning as she carefully knotted her hair in a ponytail at the nape of her neck.

The way Kale liked it
.

She touched her finger to her lips, and for the umpteenth time since the wedding reception, she relived Kale’s sensuous kiss. Here it was days later, and that kiss was still messing with her mind. No man had ever kissed her like that before.

The truth was, the two men she’d been intimate with had spent more time worrying about their pleasure than hers. Her trips between the sheets were over long before they had even begun, leaving Erin having to take matters into her own hands.

Of course, there was that one time that she thought she’d had an orgasm with her ex-fiancé, but then she quickly realized the flutters in her body were from a bout of indigestion. That’s what she got for eating pepperoni pizza before bed.

Something told her Kale would never leave her unsatisfied and frustrated. Her body fairly vibrated just thinking about how he’d undoubtedly take matters into
his
hands.

She drew her lip between her teeth and allowed herself another moment to reminisce about Kale’s warm mouth over hers. To think he’d barely gotten started. She could only imagine how wonderful it would have been if he’d had the time to thoroughly explore her mouth…her body. Damn, she could feel herself coming unglued just thinking about it.

She’d spent all of last night agonizing over how to proceed where Kale was involved. There was no denying the physical attraction between them. It was an attraction unlike anything she’d ever felt before. It set her loins on fire and muddled her usually clear thoughts. Kale had certainly made his intentions clear at the reception. All she had to do was gather her courage and play the part of the bad girl.

The woman in her told her to go for it. Have casual sex, enjoy it, and move on. Thanks to her ex-fiancé, she no longer believed in happily-ever-after and wasn’t looking for a relationship.

Kale would be returning to Los Angeles in a little over a month’s time and had made it clear he wanted her only sexually. They had no future. Nor did she want one.

On the other hand, the emotional part of her advised her to be careful, warning her that having sex with him would be a bad idea. Since her breakup with Dwayne she’d taken control of her life, her work, and her emotions. But when she was with Kale, that control seemed to pack up and leave town. The man threatened all her barriers. She wasn’t so certain she could satisfy her sexual desires without the risk of feeling some deeper emotional connection with him.

Erin pressed floor fourteen on the glowing orange number panel and leaned against the wall. Her thoughts drifted.
Fourteen floors of wild, hot, untamed sex.
Whew. Time to shed her winter coat.

Moments before the doors pinged shut a pair of well-worn sneakers jammed between them, shaking the old elevator
and bouncing the doors back open. Those sneakers led to a pair of faded jeans slung low on the hips. The jeans led to a very familiar tight waist, thick chest, and broad shoulders. Erin gulped.

Oh God, it couldn’t be.

Her eyes locked with his.

Kale!

Oh God, it was.

Awareness flared through her as he stepped inside. His presence swallowed up the small space.

Desire flickered across his face as his gaze fixed on her with intent. His bad-boy grin curled her toes.

“Going down?”

She didn’t miss the double entendre. His words sent a tingle along her nerve endings, sparking a pool of moisture to dampen the silky curls at the apex between her legs.

She took a moment to consider her situation. Here she was alone in an elevator with a gorgeous guy who oozed sexuality and sent waves of passion ripping through her. A guy who’d made it perfectly clear that he liked getting intimate in public places. A guy who wasn’t looking for more than she could give. Her pulse kicked up a notch. A guy who didn’t know she was all talk and no action. She had two choices, really. One, she could slip from the elevator and bolt, or two, she could slip out of her panties and put her money where her mouth was. Her gaze drifted downward to examine the massive bulge in his jeans. Or rather, his cock where her mouth was.

When she looked at it that way, it really narrowed down her choices.