HotTango (5 page)

Ohmygod, her badass husband had just done her as though she
were a romance heroine.

And she liked it!

* * * * *

Cole padded into the bedroom, two bottles of water and some
sandwiches in hand. The lights were off but the afternoon sun filtered through
the curtains, giving the room a warm glow.

Tanya lay curled up against the pillows, her hair piled up
on top of her head in a messy bun, and a ridiculous smile on her face.

He was still processing what had happened. It was a lot to
take in.

“Eat something.” He pushed the plate and a bottle of water
at her.

They sat against the headboard and tucked into their food.
It reminded him of their first apartment, which had been an efficiency. It was
so small they’d practically lived in bed, since it was the only furniture they
could afford.

“So…you like what we did?” Tanya asked hesitantly after a few
moments of silence.

He didn’t reply immediately. Instead he took his time
chewing his food and getting a drink of water. It was a question that could
have long-lasting repercussions. He didn’t doubt it would change her
expectations, depending on his answer. Tanya practically radiated tension, but
this was something serious enough that it warranted thought.

Cole set his sandwich down and directed his full attention
on her. “I like that you told me your fantasy. I did like being more physical
with you. The velvet rope things were interesting. Would I do that again? Yeah,
but I don’t want to always have to tie you up to have sex.”

“Oh, no way.” She shook her head violently. “No, I agree.
That was hot. And I loved it, but I didn’t like being told what to do enough
that I’d let you do that all the time. It’s a lot different reading it and
trying it out for real.” Her cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink he decided
not to mention.

He finished his sandwich and put the plate on the
nightstand. His stomach had demanded the sustenance, but he had other things on
his mind. Cole rolled to his side to give Tanya his full attention again.

“Good.” He placed his hand on her thigh for the physical
anchor it gave him. “I’m glad you said that because it was a real concern for
me. I read on that website a few scenarios that bothered me. I get that people
are into things I don’t understand or I’m not comfortable with, and I’m okay
with that, but I’ve made it my life to keep people safe. Please don’t ask me to
put you in danger, even if it’s just to get your rocks off.”

“Oh honey.” She shoved her sandwich and plate onto the
nightstand too and dove into his arms, clinging to his chest. “I would never
want you to do that. I just, I don’t know, wanted to do something fun. That’s all.
I would never ask you to go against your principles. I promise.”

Cole breathed a sigh of relief and tension he hadn’t
realized he’d been holding eased across his shoulders. Sometimes it was hard to
step away from being the cop. Maybe there was a part of him that would always
be connected in some way to the force. And if he were honest with himself, he
was okay with that. Having Tanya on the same side was the other piece to his
puzzle fitted.

They settled deeper into the bed and he pulled the blankets
around them. For a long time they lay there entwined.

This adventurous side of Tanya shouldn’t have been a
surprise to him. If he’d paid attention he would have seen it. Should have been
on that train a long time ago, even. They were each guilty of being adrenaline
junkies in their own right.

“This is nice,” she sighed, stroking his arm where a scar
marked the one and only bullet he’d taken in the line of duty.

He kissed her forehead. “Yeah.”

“Everything go okay last night?” Tanya never asked for
details, but he knew she felt better hearing them. And talking it out sometimes
helped him feel more certain about his actions or helped him view missions in a
different light.

“Yeah and no.” He sighed and scrubbed the side of his face.
Last night had turned into a nightmare. He didn’t relish telling Tanya about
this one, but he needed to because it wasn’t going away. “It was a raid we’d
practiced for, which I told you. We were waiting for more information before we
went in.

“It was supposed to be a joint bust with narcotics since
it’s a meth house, but when we went in, there was a back room that wasn’t
drugs. My heart’s never stopped before, but I thought it did then. We went into
the room and there was this pipe with wires and a digital timer on it.”

Tanya gasped. “A bomb?”

He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her back against his
chest. “It wasn’t a live bomb, but yes, it looks like someone there was making
bombs. The guys we picked up were peons. Said their boss rented out a room to
someone they didn’t know. The guys had just left after our pizza delivery guy
finished dropping off their order.”

“Did they catch them?”

Cole shook his head. The sense of dread from the night
before returned. “They just have a description of a couple of guys, nothing
more. The others didn’t even know what they were doing back there. I hate to
say it, but the guys are all talking like it might be connected to the Ali Saed
threats.”

“Shut up. Cole, that’s not good.”

“Easy, babe. We’re on to them. They won’t get away from us,
and now we can be prepared.” It was easier to defend against attacks they knew
were coming. It would have been worse had they not expected it and something
happened.

“Now I’m going to worry about you even more.”

He kissed her temple and swallowed the words to tell her not
to worry. “What do you have going on this week? Preparing for the game next
weekend?”

“Yeah, just practice Wednesday and Thursday. Work should be
pretty light, so I’ll be around. I was thinking I might take off a day or two,
and actually, I think I will. I want to be around when you are.” She clung to
him tighter, her unspoken words coming across loud and clear. She was worried
and wanted to stick close to him.

They continued to chat about the week, the pauses growing
longer, eyes getting heavier until blissful sleep overcame them both.

Tanya slammed on the car horn and brakes. Her heart pounded
ninety miles an hour.

“Fucktards,” she grumbled at a car stopped dead in the
street. In the middle of the one-way street.

As if traffic weren’t bad enough because of the Olympics,
even her backup routes were experiencing a dose of stupid. She waited for the
driver with out-of-state plates to turn around, nervously tapping the steering
wheel.

“Come on, come on, come on,” she chanted.

Cole had to report for patrol at the Olympic Village by
three for a twelve-hour shift. They hadn’t spoken much since their postcoital
discussion the day before, but it sounded as though his team was being extra
cautious. She was proud and worried for her husband, but right now all she
wanted to do was get home so she could eat lunch with him.

The car blocking the road was doing a sixteen-point turn.
Vehicles were piling up behind her, drivers laying on their horns. A few times
she was pretty certain the driver of the car in the road just went back and
forth, wasting more of her precious time.

“Finally.”

Twenty minutes later than she’d wanted to, Tanya pulled into
her driveway. Cole’s city-issue SWAT SUV and his personal truck, which had seen
a better decade, were still in the drive. She grabbed her things and rushed
inside.

“I’m home,” she called as she kicked the door shut.

“Hey, babe.”

Tanya dumped her stuff on the entryway table and entered the
kitchen. “Oh no, you’re eating a sandwich?” Her shoulders slumped.

Cole stood at the counter still in his sweatpants, a
sandwich halfway to his mouth and more than a quarter gone. He glanced from his
meal to her.

“I was going to cook you something.” She circled the bar as
he took another bite and pulled up a stool, accepting defeat. This time.

“Sorry,” he said around a mouthful of food.

“It’s okay. Traffic is stupid out there.”

He nodded and wiped his mouth. “They’ve shut down more
streets around the complexes and there are a lot of detours.”

“Oh.” Well, that made sense, but she didn’t have to like it.
“You’ll be home really late, won’t you?”

“Yup. You’ll probably be getting up by the time I drag in.”
He tucked into the sandwich, demolishing what was left in a few bites.
“Everything go okay this morning?”

“Yeah, client really likes my ideas, and that some will cut
costs in the long run. People always like to hear they’ll spend less money.”
She hadn’t driven halfway across the city to talk about work with her husband.
If she couldn’t feed him, she could pleasure him.

Pandora’s Box and her husband’s adventurous streak inspired
her.

“I’m going to go get ready.” Cole finished wiping down the
counter and headed toward the bedroom.

Tanya followed him and sat on the bed, legs crossed and her
skirt spread out around her while he brushed his teeth in the bathroom. The
navy-blue uniform was already spread out on the comforter on his side of the
bed.

It was a pity she hadn’t gotten home earlier. She’d thought
herself so clever coming up with this plan. Lunch had been just the start. They
hadn’t talked like they had yesterday in ages. That was what she wanted back.
Tanya consoled herself with the fact that there were still plenty of things in
Pandora’s Box to go through, and Cole seemed more than willing to use them.

“We should take a vacation when all this is over. Maybe just
stay home and veg out,” she suggested. The key was getting away. Even when he
was on vacation Cole could get called in, unless they were across the country.

Cole wiped his face and didn’t reply for a moment.

Tanya sighed and rolled her eyes. She could practically feel
him resisting her suggestion. She didn’t know if it was his workaholic
tendencies or that he was really opposed to going away.

“It could be nice to stay home for a while. I need to do
some work on the backyard,” he countered.

“Have the landscapers not been going back there?” She
frowned and tried to remember the last conversation with the company’s owner.
With what they paid him, their yards should be amazing.

Cole threw the towel on the counter and stalked into the
bedroom. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

His sudden anger was completely from left field.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I think I’m missing
something. Why do you sound mad?” How had her amorous lunch turned into the
beginnings of a battle?

“It’s nothing.” He snatched his uniform pants and began
getting dressed.

“Cole, it’s not ‘nothing’. Will you tell me what’s bothering
you?” Hello, two steps forward and five steps back.

He continued pulling on his uniform, resolutely not
answering her. God, she loved the man, but his stubborn streak could drive her
up a wall.

“Cole—”

“I would really rather not have this conversation.”

“I’m just supposed to be okay with you being upset at me?”

“It seems that every time something comes up, instead of
taking care of it yourself, you throw money at the problem until it goes away.
The house isn’t nice enough? Get a new one. The yard isn’t green enough? Hire
someone. Your clothes aren’t pressed enough? Get someone else to do your
laundry. We used to do all these things ourselves, and now it’s like, I don’t
know, I’m obsolete in my own house.”

Tanya stared at her husband, no idea how to reply to that.
She had been ready for something about her being late, working too much or even
their sexual escapade the day before. This was unexpected and left her
speechless.

He was upset because they had enough money to pay people to
do some of the chores? She knew he’d never loved the house design as much as
she had, but the idea he flat-out hated it had never occurred to her.

All the stuff he mentioned was miniscule compared to the one
major thing that stuck out to her. Tanya had always had a gift for picking up
on the deeper issues at hand, but this one had blindsided her.

Cole felt obsolete.

She got off the bed and went to where he was furiously
shoving his shirt in his pants.

“Cole?”

“What?”

“Will you stop for one second, please?”

She thought he would tell her he needed to go, that he
didn’t have time for this, but he stopped and turned toward her, his lips
tightly compressed and his gaze going over her head. That didn’t matter. He was
giving her a moment. He’d told her what was wrong. They had communicated.

Tanya wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him as
tight as she could.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you felt that way. You’re not obsolete.
You’re why I want to try to make everything easy for you. You work so hard, I
just wanted you to be able to come home and relax. Not do chores. I’m really
sorry. Can we talk about this later? Tomorrow? Figure something out? I’m not
sure when our schedules will align.”

Cole sighed and hugged her back, resting his chin on the top
of her head. “Yeah, I think we should talk about it.”

“I’m sorry,” she said and meant it.

“Me too. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.” He
kissed her forehead.

“It’s okay. You’re under a lot of stress and I probably
haven’t helped any.”

He chuckled and slid his hands down to squeeze her hips. “I
think you’ve
helped
just fine.”

Tanya laughed, relief washing over her. Cole was like her.
He didn’t carry grudges, which was a blessing. They’d be okay. “Well, I’m sorry
there’s not any time left to
help
you before you go to work.”

All her plans of surprising him were pointless now. She
wouldn’t make him late when things were so stressful right now.

He glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. “I don’t
know. Fifteen minutes is longer than a lot of operations I’ve run.”

“You can’t be serious.” Tanya leaned back and stared up at
him. Deep down she wanted him to be serious.

Cole spun her in place and lifted her in one motion, setting
her ass on the edge of his dresser.

“What are you doing?” she managed to get out through
laughing.

“Whatever I want,” he said, pressing his face close to hers.

Cole grasped her arms and brought them around behind her.
Cold metal wrapped around one wrist, then the other, followed by a
click
click click
.

“What—?”

Tanya jerked her arms, but she was handcuffed to the spindle
that supported a large mirror attachment. A thrill shot through her. They’d
used his police-issue handcuffs once after he got them in a giggle-fest that
had been some of the silliest sex they’d ever had. But they’d also been all of
nineteen.

“Don’t make me put you under arrest,” he purred. Cole’s
hands were in her panties before she could get a grip on the back edge of the
dresser. She giggled and lifted her hips enough for her panties to be whisked
away.

Whatever had set Cole off was long forgotten, judging by the
way he gazed at her through heavily lidded eyes and his almost lewd grin. She
wanted to touch him, but the handcuffs didn’t allow for much movement. He
seemed to read her mind, holding her face with one hand, lowering until his
lips were almost within reach. Tanya strained toward him but he remained
untouchable.

“My rules,” he said.

“Fine,” she huffed.

“Good.”

Cole swooped in, digging a hand into her hair to hold her in
place and nipping her lower lip. He followed it up with a sweet, sucking kiss
that stole her breath away.

Tanya would like to savor this giddy, carefree moment, but
their fifteen-minute window of opportunity was ticking down. Cole glanced over
his shoulder and spat out a curse. He made quick work of his pants, unfastening
and shoving his clothing and underwear down. They hadn’t done quick in a long
time. Hell, just doing sex was a rare occurrence for them. But she could
remember stolen moments between classes when they’d been complete sex junkies.

Again she jerked against the handcuffs. She wanted to get
her hands in there, grab his cock and pump it. She knew the transformation her
handling his stiff flesh brought about on his face, but her hands were tied.

Cole studied her for a moment, one side of his mouth hitched
up in an infuriating, mischievous grin. He wrapped his hand around his stiff
flesh, stroking it up and down. She bit her lip and glared at him. This whole
bondage idea was a bad one. It completely sidelined her.

He grinned and scooted closer. “I think I’m onboard with
this whole tying you up idea.”

“Well, I’m not,” she snapped.

Maybe that was a lie. There was something hot about watching
Cole, knowing he was aroused for the same reason she was. They might have
disconnected for awhile, but they were getting back on the right track. They
weren’t broken, just a little rusty.

Cole gathered up her skirt, revealing her nakedness. He slid
his thumb between her folds.

“Mm, yeah,” Cole muttered.

“Ten minutes.” She threw the words down like a challenge.

Cole pushed her knees open wide. “Fuck being on time.”

“I think I’d prefer it if you fucked me.”

“I can do that, babe.”

She hitched her leg up around his hip and leaned back on the
dresser. The sensation of Cole’s cock thrusting up into her pussy hard and fast
drove the oxygen from her lungs. He pulled her closer to the edge and she
perched one foot on top of a drawer pull, wrapping her toes around it for
leverage.

“Look at me,” Cole growled out.

Tanya opened her eyes, unaware that she’d shut them. Cole’s
gaze bored into her, demanding and owning her as he thrust into her. Her
breathing hitched with every joining. His pelvic bone ground against her clit,
driving her into a spiral of lust.

She squeezed her inner muscles tight and pushed back against
him, working in tandem to the rhythm he’d set. Thrust, withdraw, repeat. Each
time her vision narrowed until all she saw were the two brown-black points of
Cole’s eyes.

“Babe?”

“Oh yeah.” She nodded.

Cole surged into her, going deep and hard, again and again.
Tanya’s jaw dropped and she groaned as climax rippled through her, hard, fast
and devastating, as if it were pulled up from her toes by force. Cole’s body
went taut, his jaw dropped on a silent moan, his grip on her thighs almost
bruising and their breath mingling and bodies going lax.

Tanya could have rested there for an age, but Cole gently
pulled out. He produced the key to the cuffs and unlocked them, taking a moment
to massage each wrist and press kisses to the pink marks. Once she’d caught her
breath, he helped her off the dresser.

It didn’t hurt her feelings that he so briskly went about
getting ready.

Again.

“Guess it is a good thing someone else does the laundry,” he
chuckled and gestured at the evidence of their lovemaking on the front of his
uniform.

She climbed up in bed and smothered a laugh in the pillows.

In less than five minutes he’d changed and was ready to go.

“Bye, babe.” He leaned over her and gave her a slow,
lingering kiss. On the mouth, not her forehead or cheek, but full on the lips.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him there for a moment longer,
relishing this deeper intimacy they were rebuilding.

“Bye. Stay safe, okay?”

“I plan on it.”

Tanya listened to Cole’s movements through the house and the
beep
of the front door as he left.

So there were more issues than she realized. At least it was
something they could fix. It was more than she’d had before to work with, but
she felt up to the challenge.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her phone.
Since she’d put out feelers to a few of the derby girls for some afternoon
skating, she lugged herself out of bed, jogged to the table and grabbed her
phone on the last ring.