Carter's Cuffs (9 page)

He suckled, at once hard yet gentle, and used his tongue to tease the very tip of her nipple inside his mouth. Her hot sighs filled the air and drove his thrusts slowly deeper into her welcoming cunt. He wanted to fill her, possess her. And mostly, he wanted to make her come.

“Unh…” Her hot rhythm changed then, just slightly, speeding up even as her gyrations became more drawn out. “
Unh
…” she moaned again.

He squeezed her ass, suckled her breast harder.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, baby.”

In back, he splayed his fingers wider over her bottom, using the longest on each hand to reach toward her anus. Then he curled his fingertips deep into her flesh, knowing she’d feel the sensation in her asshole, that the movement would draw it slightly open, making it tighten in response. He’d never heard a sweeter sound than the shocked, ragged, high-pitched little sob that left her.

He made the same movement, stretching his fingers across her ass over and over, each time taking her deeper into a swallowing sort of bliss he was pretty sure she’d never felt before. The noises that left her were new and she seemed lost to sensation, her head falling back, eyes dropping shut as she thrust, thrust, thrust in those hot, jagged little moves against his cock.

Soon her lips trembled beneath the rays of the streetlamp and Carter studied her face as she edged still further into ecstasy.

“Come, baby,” he whispered. “Come on me.”

“Oh, I…unh…”

He sank deeper into the rhythm she’d set for them, trying to make her feel him more. “Come hard, honey. Come so fucking hard on me.”

“
Unh
!” Her body jolted, once, twice, then she rocked on him, bucking like a wild rodeo girl, and she looked so fucking beautiful in the throes of passion, her arms stretched out at her sides, held in place by those red fur cuffs, that Carter couldn’t hold back.

“Jesus,” he groaned, then gave her what he’d planned from the beginning, those rough, brutal strokes that he wanted her to feel in every pretty limb of her naughty little body.

She cried out at each hot stroke, and he rammed his cock into her moist little cave over and over, back to feeling like an out-of-control animal.

“Yes! Yes!” she sobbed. “Do it! Fuck me!”

That last hot, dirty plea from her swollen lips pushed him over the edge into an all-consuming orgasm that rocked his whole body. “Ah, God!” he moaned, shocked by the power of it, trying like hell to keep holding them both upright as the waves of heat pulsed through him like thunder.

When finally they faded, he leaned forward, resting them against the chain-links until he could regain his strength. Finally Erin unwrapped her legs and he lowered her gently to the ground, easing out of her.

He never moved away, though—he stayed close, just looking into her brown eyes, and like the other night, feeling they’d shared something more profound than mere sex. Lifting his hands to her face, he gave her one last kiss, this one not quite so hard as the rest, but more desperate and searching.

That’s when it hit him. He’d fucked her brains out, filled his animal urges—but he still didn’t know why she wanted to keep this connection only a physical one.

So what had he accomplished here?

Okay, yeah, some really great sex and a couple of
insane
orgasms. But what had changed?

Nothing.

“Are you gonna leave me here like this?” she asked softly. “Cuffed to the fence?”

The question almost amused him, but she looked so worried that he couldn’t enjoy her fear. “No, honey. I wouldn’t do that to you.” That simple. He’d never even considered it.

And, glancing down at her still-bared breasts, he lowered a kiss to the curve of one, then pulled her bra and dress back up over them before zipping his jeans. Reaching in his front pocket, he extracted the little key that had come with the cuffs, and went about unhooking her from the fence and freeing her hands.

When she drew her arms down and took turns rubbing her wrists, he said, “Are they okay?”

She glanced up, nodding. “Fine.” Then guilt flashed through her eyes. “What about yours—the other night?”

He shrugged. “Had a couple red marks—no big deal.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry, Carter.”

Carter swallowed, just peering down into her eyes, feeling the depth of her emotions. He understood she was apologizing for more than just the marks left by the cuffs. So he decided to take another,
calmer
stab at the problem here. “You want to talk awhile? It’s nice tonight, cooling down a little now.”

At first, she looked hesitant, and he feared she would bolt, but after a moment, she gave in. “All right.”

Carter turned to lean against the fence, letting his back slide down it until he was sitting on the grass, his knees bent before him. He reached up to take her hand. “Come on down.”

Kneeling next to him in her sexy dress, she finally situated herself at his side, her back against the chain-links, as well.

He wasn’t sure where to go from here, but decided maybe kindness would work. Erin had seemed so nice at Marc and Diana’s party—maybe he could find that girl in her again.

“If I’ve been a jerk tonight, I apologize,” he said. It was just hitting him that he’d been crazed enough to handcuff a woman to a fence and fuck her, right in the middle of a bunch of condos. And not just any woman, but a
cop
.

“I was the jerk,” she replied quietly, looking straight ahead, toward the concrete walkway and the ornamental trees and tall, decorative grasses beyond that had made the location feel more private than it really was. “The other night, I mean. I…didn’t think it through well enough when I planned it.” Then she turned her head to look up at him, her eyes earnest. “And for what it’s worth, I don’t usually… I’ve never… I’m, uh, not generally that wild. It was my first threesome.”

“That part I didn’t mind,” he confessed with a smile. Fresh heat rose in his groin, his cock perking back to life that quickly at the memories. “I have to tell you, Erin, you were fucking beautiful being that bold, that hot, touching your friend, kissing her. That part was amazing.”

She lowered her gaze, still looking hesitant, appearing to choose her words carefully. “Then…what part did you mind exactly?”

“Mainly the part where you left,” he answered bluntly.

She sighed. “Yeah, that’s the part I didn’t think through.”

“Why did you do it that way? Why did you rush off?”

He saw her swallow, clearly nervous. “I…I’m just not into having relationships, Carter. It’s just…not my thing.” She shook her head, back to staring straight ahead now.

“That still doesn’t explain it. You don’t have to want a relationship to act decent after sex. And who ever even
said
anything about a relationship?” He was interested in having one with her—he couldn’t deny that to himself—but he’d sure as hell never told her that. “All I did was ask you out.”

Next to him, she sighed. “Well, dating often
leads
to relationships. So…I just didn’t want to go there.”

He stared at her pointedly. “There’s more to it, more you’re not telling me. Because nobody acts this weird about sex and dating without a reason. Now out with it, Erin. Tell me the truth. What’s really going on here?” Maybe he was pressing too hard, but at this point, he didn’t care. She was the one who’d seduced him without his consent and turned things so odd and intense between them. He had every right to find out why.

And when she didn’t answer, simply sat there staring quietly upward at the crescent moon overhead, he only grew more resolute.
So
resolute that he picked up the furry handcuffs from the ground where they had fallen and quietly put one end around his right wrist, clicking it shut, even though it was too tight on him and needed to be loosened. Then he grabbed her left wrist and snapped the other red cuff around it, locking them together.

She gaped down at the cuffs and the silver chain between them, then raised her eyes to him. “What the hell is
this
?”

“Consider it gentle persuasion,” he said. “You’re gonna sit here with me until you give me a real explanation that makes sense. And guess what, honey. I’ve got all night if that’s what it takes.”

Chapter Five

How had this happened? Erin could only stare in disbelief. She never could have known he’d be so damn upset about her leaving him or so hell-bent on understanding why. The plan had seemed so simple in the beginning—the perfect way to get close to him
sexually
without getting close to him
emotionally
. What a disaster she’d created.

“Well?” he prodded. “Gonna tell me?”

She stayed silent, unable to summon an answer, still too stunned by this whole thing. Not only his reaction—but the sex just now. It had been…overwhelming. The best she’d ever had, by a long shot.

She’d been angry at the beginning, of course, feeling trapped and cornered—suffering that loss of that control she valued so much.

But the truth was, there had been moments when she could have gotten away.

She could have fought him, but she hadn’t, not even a little. And she could have screamed—they were in the middle of a condo complex, someone would have heard.

But she hadn’t done those things, or
any
thing—besides succumb.

“I’ve got all night, Erin, but if you just tell me now, we can both go inside and get some sleep. On the other hand, if you want to sit out here with me, watch the sun rise, and let some of our neighbors find us cuffed together, with your panties on the sidewalk,” he pointed to where they’d landed when she’d kicked them off, “that’s fine by me.”

Okay, she was crazy about the guy, but he was getting on her nerves about this. And he’d just pushed her over the edge. “You want to know why I left? And why I won’t go out with you?”

“Please,” he said brusquely.

She glared at him. “Fine. It’s because I can’t date a guy like you without getting emotionally involved. And I can’t afford to get emotionally involved—with anyone. And I thought I could at least have sex with you without getting emotional, but that didn’t exactly go my way, either. So I left before I felt any more emotions than I already had. So there. I
feel
something for you. That’s the answer. Happy now?”

His eyes widened, then narrowed, until he looked completely bewildered. “Kind of. But what the hell are you talking about—saying you can’t afford to get emotionally involved? What does
that
mean? That some jerk hurt you and you never got over it? Because I know girls are like that sometime, and let me tell you, it’s dumb to waste your life worrying about getting hurt by people.”

Oh, the gall of him. “It’s not like that,” she snapped. “But even if it was, I wouldn’t appreciate you telling me I was dumb.”

He didn’t apologize. “Then what’s it like?”

She huffed in frustration. God, he was insufferable. She didn’t want to tell him. Because she didn’t like thinking about this, let alone talking about it. But if it got her uncuffed from Carter—if that’s what it took to end this—fine, she would spill her guts a little more.

“It’s like…” Her voice softened. “My father died.”

He blinked, concern filling his green gaze. “I’m sorry.”

But she shook her head. “It was a long time ago, when I was in high school. Only, the thing is, he was a cop, too, and he died on the job. And the reason he died on the job was…he was too emotionally wrapped up in my mother. She was sick at the time—cancer—and he was having a hard time dealing. His focus shifted from his work to her health, and he lost his edge. Then got shot by some idiot because of it.”

She didn’t think she’d ever heard Carter speak so gently, with such care, as when he said, “I’m really sorry about that, honey. It’s awful. But…what does that have to do with
us
?”

Another heavy sigh escaped her. She bent her knees, not caring that her dress dropped to the tops of her thighs with the move. “I can’t lose
my
edge, Carter,” she explained slowly. “The day I chose to be a cop, I knew it meant placing the job above all other things, for my own safety. I made a conscious decision that I couldn’t get too attached to anyone from that point forward. Guys, I mean.”

He was looking at her like she wasn’t making any sense. “Well, forgive me for pointing this out,” he said, still speaking with care, “but don’t most cops have…pretty normal lives? Like don’t they get married, have kids, that sort of thing?”

She pursed her lips, glancing over just enough to meet his eyes. “Most cops, yeah. But…I guess I’m not most cops.”

He shook his head. “I don’t get it.”

She let her head drop back, exasperated. She didn’t necessarily expect him to
get
it—she just wanted him to accept it. But since he still didn’t, she felt forced to dredge up yet one more personal truth. “I…feel things
deeply
, Carter. My father always said so. He said I had a ‘sensitive soul’. He told me once that he was afraid my life would be more difficult because of it—because I get hurt easily, because I feel pain too long, too deep. And the truth is…he was right.”

She paused, bit her lip, peered up again at the moon as if it held some deep secret she could interpret. “But my strength is that I know my weakness. I know how to combat it. And I need to ask you to respect that, even if you don’t understand it.”