Any Way You Want Me (10 page)

Hadn’t he done enough?

He knew he had. He’d done more than enough. He shouldn’t have insinuated himself in her life again.

What the hell was he doing here, besides trying to prove to himself that he wasn’t inept as an investigator? Indulging his long-held desire for Yasmine? Was that what this was really all about?

He saw himself clearly for the first time, reflected in her gaze. He saw how low he’d sunk. His actions were not just underhanded, they were sleazy, despicable, unjustifiable…

And he couldn’t go through with it anymore.

He’d already had more than enough of an impact on Yasmine’s life, and he needed to stop before he did any more unintended damage.

Okay, admittedly, her stint in the juvenile detention center might have scared her straight, and if it really had, then he’d helped do some good in her life, too, but clearly, she’d paid a hefty price for her crimes.

Another problem remained. If he wasn’t seducing her for information anymore—then where did that leave them, besides lying naked together in her bed on Christmas night?

“You’re being awfully quiet,” she teased. “Did I bore you to sleep?”

“No, I was just thinking it’s sad you and your parents are so disconnected.”

“Everybody’s got their problems. Mine are pretty small in the great scheme of things.”

“But still—”

“This is exactly why I didn’t want to go into all this crap. I really didn’t want you to feel sorry for me, or to think I’m damaged because I spent a year in juvie.”

“I don’t. I just hate that any of that stuff happened to you.”

“I brought it on myself—end of subject,” she said, smiling as she brushed her fingertips across his cock, her obvious and very effective attempt at distraction. “Now can’t we think of something more interesting to talk about?”

His groin stirred at her touch, but he couldn’t go there now.

“So long as it’s not
my
dark and sordid past,” he said, forcing his tone to remain light, joking.

“Do you need to call your family today?”

“Oh, right,” he said. “It’s still daytime in Hawaii, but I’d better call before long.”

Yasmine had talked to her own parents this morning briefly, but Alex had put off calling, dreading thinking of what he’d say when they asked who he’d spent the holiday with.

Part of him wanted to flee the scene of his crime before he got caught.

And yet it was Christmas. He couldn’t just abandon her, and he didn’t want to. He wanted to stay and make love to her all night, all weekend, wanted to forget his real identity and become whatever man she imagined him to be. Clearly, he wanted too damn much.

He needed to tell her the truth, but now wasn’t the time. He had to find the right time soon, though, before
their emotions got any more complicated. Even at this level of intimacy, the fallout could be major.

“But seriously, stop joking around. I want to know all about you now.”

“I’m the one with the boring past. Not much to tell.”

Except that he was a lying, sneaky, good-for-nothing fraud.

“All I know about you is that you know how to survive in the wild, you surf, and that you started in college. Where’d you go to college?”

“William and Mary in Virginia. I grew up in Virginia Beach, went to school for a year at Old Dominion before I decided to make the switch to a school away from home.”

“So you’re a mama’s boy?”

“Not exactly. I had to pay my own way through school, and living at home helped, but I got sick of it and decided to eat the cost of room and board.”

“That’s what student loans are for, right?”

“Exactly.”

“So I guess between teaching survival skills and surfing, you’ve managed to stay a lot more fit that the average programmer.”

“I have?”

“Haven’t you noticed you’re nearly the only guy in our office who doesn’t have a paunch?”

Now there was a detail of his disguise he’d failed on. Not that packing on the pounds would have done much to help attract Yasmine’s attention.

“Um, no. You’re pretty much the only person at the office I’ve checked out.”

“I’m flattered,” she said as she brushed her fingertips along his bicep, sending chills through him. “I was
just wondering, would this be a good time to start redeeming my coupons?”

His will to resist Yasmine lasted all of a nanosecond. “Absolutely.”

“U
NLIMITED SEXUAL FANTASIES
fulfilled?” Yasmine smiled at the little coupon and tried to imagine what she’d choose if she could have any fantasy come to life.

Aside from the fantasy she was already living—spending a weekend in bed with Kyle. Even now, lying next to him naked on her sofa, she felt as if the line between fantasy and reality had blurred, as if maybe this weekend wasn’t really happening to her, but rather, she’d stepped outside of her own life and was living someone else’s.

Kyle had just gotten off the phone with his parents, and she’d relished listening to his conversation. The way his voice softened a bit when he spoke to his mother, grew a little heartier as he talked to his father—it gave her a glimpse of what he was like as a son, and now, oddly, she was even more turned on by him.

She’d even been ridiculously flattered that he hadn’t tried to hide what he was doing for the holiday weekend. He’d simply told his parents he was spending it with a female friend. No, they hadn’t met her, and, yes, she was a lovely woman.

“Now there’s a gift that keeps on giving. What fantasy would you like to have fulfilled today?” he asked as he rubbed his hand along her thigh and up her hip.

“Wow, I’ve never given this kind of thing much thought.”

Kyle gave her a disbelieving look. “You work at a company that makes sex software, and you’ve never thought about your favorite fantasy?”

She shrugged. “I have lots of fantasies, but I don’t really think about acting them out in real life.”

The truth was, some of her favorite fantasies were kind of politically incorrect, and she couldn’t imagine saying them out loud to anyone.

“Are you just too shy to admit what you want?”

“Me? Shy? Never,” she lied.

“Maybe I should make one up for you then,” he said.

“No! I mean, no, that’s not necessary. I’ll think of something….”

Maybe she needed to down some champagne, loosen herself up a little.

Or get over herself and ask for what she really wanted.

If there was any guy she wanted to act out her most secret fantasies with, she realized, it was Kyle. How had she come to trust him so quickly? She couldn’t put her finger on any one reason. It was just a feeling, a sense she’d had since the first time they talked that they shared some familiarity, some past life that allowed them to pick up where they couldn’t remember having left off.

“Well? What’s it going to be? Me Tarzan, you Jane? We can act out the Jungle Honey game—how about that?”

She took a deep breath. Could she do it? Could she reveal a part of herself that she’d never revealed to any man? Yes, with Kyle, she could. She would.

“No jungle love right now. What I really want—I want to be tied up and taken…without my permission.”

There it was, out there, hanging in the air between them.

“You mean, like I’m the thief, breaking into your bedroom, coming to steal your virtue?”

He didn’t look altogether thrilled by the idea, although he didn’t seem repulsed, either. Yasmine felt her face getting hotter and hotter.

“I know that’s kind of weird. But,” she paused and shrugged, “who ever said fantasies were realistic?”

“So tell me a little more about how you’d like this scenario to go.”

“You could use the handcuffs. Maybe you didn’t think anyone was home when you broke in, but now that you’ve found me…”

“And you’re the lonely, neglected housewife, desperate for sexual satisfaction?”

“Mmm.” She squirmed at his touch as he started tracing her breasts with his fingers. “Something like that. Of course, I’m not allowed to want you. But if you’ve cuffed me to the bed, what choice do I have but to lie back and enjoy the ride?”

She was getting hot at the thought of the scenario, and she wanted to do it now.

He smiled. “You get ready for bed, and I’ll be going now—off to work. Be a good little wife while I’m gone, okay?”

Yasmine tried not to laugh. This was her fantasy, after all…. “Okay, honey.” She gave him a chaste peck on the cheek, then stood up to go to the bedroom. “I’d better leave a window open tonight, it’s so hot in here—sure hope no burglars are prowling around.”

A few minutes later she’d put on a black lace teddy
and was standing at the dresser brushing her hair when the lights in the room went out, startling her a bit even though she knew what was going on. A moment later, rough hands clad in leather gloves grasped her and pulled her toward the bed. A thrill shot through her, leaving her a little breathless.

“Shh,” he said. “No screaming. Cooperate and you won’t get hurt.”

She felt the handcuff clasped around one of her wrists, and then he pushed her onto the bed, pulled her to the center, and cuffed her to the iron headboard.

“My husband could come home any moment now. You’d better leave me alone,” she said, not sounding very convincing, hoping her bad acting skills wouldn’t ruin the fantasy.

“I’ll leave you alone when I’ve had my fill of you,” he said, raking his hands over her, under her teddy.

“No, please don’t—”

He silenced her with a hungry kiss, and a hand pushed aside her panties. His leather-clad fingers rubbed her, forced their way inside her, where she was already slick and wet. She squirmed against him, pretending to struggle but loving every second of it.

Why did his domination of her feel so good? She didn’t want to analyze it. Some things didn’t need to be picked apart. Just enjoyed.

Then he was gone, and his absence left her feeling exposed and thrilled at the same time. She heard the sound of a condom wrapper, a zipper, and he was between her legs, pushing them wide apart.

“I’m going to taste you,” he said. “Don’t try to fight it.”

“No.”

She made an effort to move her legs, but he held them tight, and then his tongue was slick against her, dipping into her, massaging, coaxing her.

“Stop,” she said between gasps of pleasure.

And then, to her dismay, he did.

“As you wish,” he said, his voice hard-edged and taunting.

She whimpered and squirmed to no avail.

In the darkness, his shadowy form moved over her, but their bodies didn’t touch as he lowered his mouth to her ear. When he drew her earlobe between his lips and sucked, gooseflesh dotted her skin.

“You want me, don’t you?”

“No,” she whispered. “Leave, please.”

“If you want me to leave, why are you so wet?”

His gloved fingers again were between her legs, massaging her in a circular motion. Yasmine gasped, struck again by how fully she trusted this man who had complete control over her now. He could do whatever he wanted, and the danger of it thrilled her…yet she felt safe. He would never hurt her. She had so little frame of reference for that certainty, but she didn’t doubt it for a moment.

She closed her eyes and gave herself over completely to the fantasy.

“Okay, you don’t want to answer me? I’ll just give you what you’re afraid to ask for.”

He grasped her hips as his cock found its destination.

“Bastard,” she said.

Then he thrust hard into her, and she arched her back and cried out, having a difficult time pretending not to enjoy herself.

“You like this, don’t you?” he said as he thrust again and again.

“Mmm,” she moaned.

She wrapped her legs around his hips as he pounded into her, giving it to her hard and fast the way she wanted it. She loved that he knew what she wanted without her having to ask now. Loved the feel of him deep inside, stretching her, forcing her closer and closer to orgasm.

“You knew I was watching you through the window, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” she said. “I knew.”

“You want me to make you come?”

“Yes,” she cried out, and a few seconds later she was there.

Her legs locked around him, she felt something inside her give way as she gasped in the rush of her orgasm. Her body drinking him in, he came, too, his moans drowning out hers as he gave his final thrusts. Then they collapsed together, spent and breathless.

Yasmine nuzzled her face into him as they caught their breath, her mind reeling with the implications of what she might start to hope for in their relationship now. Now that she knew how deeply she trusted him, how different she was sure he was from the men who’d never seen past her surface.

A few minutes later he pulled away from her and freed her from the handcuffs. “Wow,” he said. “Got any more fantasies you want acted out?”

“I think that’s enough political incorrectness for one night,” she said, smiling.

But clearly, she’d spent far too long ignoring her fantasy life.

“Just let me know,” he said, spooning up against her on the bed. “I’m available for any and all requests.”

“How about you?”

“The coupon is yours, not mine.”

“Okay, then my next fantasy request is to fulfill your favorite fantasy.”

“Hmm,” he said. “That sounds like a twisting of the rules to me.”

She laughed. “Guess I forgot to read the fine print. Now, come on, I told you mine. You tell me yours.”

“In the spirit of political incorrectness, I have to admit….”

“Come on! Spill it.”

“I’ve always had this thing for peep shows.”

She bit her lip and smiled, rolling over to look him in the eyes. “You mean, like the ones where you pay a dollar and get to see a naked chick?”

“Something like that, though I’m guessing they cost more than a dollar these days.”

“That might be kind of hard to duplicate,” she said, giving the matter some thought. “But I do know a place….”

The strip club where Cass used to work had a little of everything when it came to X-rated entertainment, and Yasmine was pretty sure she’d heard Cass describe some private rooms that might fit the bill for a full-on peep show fantasy.

“Really, it’s the element of voyeurism that’s appealing. I like the idea of watching a woman put on a show—”

“But there’s more to a peep show than voyeurism. It’s a kind of seedy, dark, sex appeal. It requires the right setting and props to be effective.”

“We don’t have to make it so complicated. In fact, I’ve got plenty of other fantasies we could act out.”

“No, this is the first one that came to mind, and I like it. I just need a little time to make some arrangements, find the right props, and your fantasy will be fulfilled.”

“It’s awfully generous of you to share your coupon with me.”

“Purely for selfish reasons, trust me. In the meantime, I think I saw a massage coupon in my gift package….”

“Ready to redeem it?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She rolled onto her belly and rested her head on her arms.

Kyle sat up and straddled her hips, removed his gloves, and dragged his fingers lightly up her back, sending tingling sensations through her. He started kneading her flesh, finding tense spots around her shoulder blades and neck and working them out, and Yasmine felt herself relaxing by a degree with each stroke.

In a matter of minutes, she’d be asleep if he kept it up. But he quickly moved on from her back to her arms, then her legs, then her feet. And after he’d finished working the kinks out of her feet, he moved up her legs again and slid his fingers inside her.

She hadn’t been expecting it, and her breath caught in her throat. She arched her back and invited him in deeper, her body instantly heating at his touch.

“I’ve never had a massage like this before,” she said.

“This is a little bonus I reserve for only my favorite clients.”

He slipped one finger up and found her clit, while his other fingers remained inside her, working her until she must have been dripping wet. She moaned and
squirmed, but he held her still, working his fingers around, in and out, then stretching her inner muscles as she began to contract around him. The sensation was incredible, and so close on the heels of her last orgasm, she came again with very little buildup.

When Kyle stretched out behind her and warmed her body with his, tucking her against him and holding her tight, she closed her eyes, started drifting off to sleep as the question formed her in head—could it get any better than this?

B
ECAUSE THE
V
IRTUAL
A
CTIVE
offices were closed today, the day felt like any other Sunday, and Sunday mornings always evoked a sense of laziness in Yasmine. They made her want to curl up and read, go for long, meandering walks in the park and generally be unproductive. The Monday after Christmas, alone with Kyle, brought on those feelings twofold.

They’d spent the morning eating doughnuts in bed and working their way through the rest of Kyle’s Christmas coupons—except for the surf lesson, which Yasmine ripped up and threw away the second time he suggested using it. By afternoon, it became clear that they’d have to leave the apartment to get a decent hot meal, so they reluctantly dressed and strolled down the street to an Italian dive for pizza.

But by the end of lunch, Yasmine was plagued with the thought that the sexfest had come to an end. Their little weekend of escapist fun was drawing to a close. The idea of work and a return to reality looming the next day had a lot to do with it, but also, it seemed as though something about Kyle had changed since last night.

He seemed more serious, a little morose, even. And she didn’t have the guts to broach the subject.

Now, back in her apartment and lying on her bed stuffed full of pizza, staring up at the ceiling, Yasmine had the uncontrollable urge to brighten Kyle’s mood with something silly.

She sat up and slid to the edge of the bed and down to the floor, then pulled an old box that had once contained a pair of purple suede boots out from under her bed. She climbed back up with it and sat down next to Kyle, then shot him a look meant to seem pregnant with importance.

“What’s in there?” he asked, sitting up.

“The snow globe collection. I haven’t shown it to anyone in years.”

“Why not?”

“Because everyone thinks they’re lame.”

“Maybe everyone else is lame.” The corner of his mouth twitched, and his tone was light again, as if the cold front that had descended was moving on.