Playing with Temptation (4 page)

She hadn’t anticipated his concern, either—certainly not in a place like this, where a little rough play was common. Expected and encouraged even. His ability to command her body so thoroughly just moments ago, then switch gears to check on her mental and physical well-being changed everything about him—made him go from a hard-core sex object to something far more dangerous and appealing and
real
.

Not caring for the sudden heavy beating of her heart, she pushed away from his chest and gave him a reassuring smile that contradicted the odd twinge of regret forming in her chest. “I’m good.”

She lied, and he didn’t look completely convinced, either. That he even
cared
was something totally unexpected and confusing to her, and she needed distance to clear her head and put things back into proper perspective.

She used the best excuse she could think of. “Where is the ladies’ room?”

“Over by the bar, just past the men’s room,” he said, jutting his jaw in that general direction.

“Thanks.” Slowly, she stood, trying not to groan as their bodies separated—and very aware of the fact that he was still semi-hard. She straightened the hem of her dress and turned to go, but he caught her wrist and stopped her. Her pulse tripped all over itself—and she honestly hated that a man she’d just met had that much power over her self-control when she’d been so determined to treat tonight like a fun, no-strings-attached fling.

She glanced back at him, relieved to see that sexy, bad-boy smile of his making an appearance. The bad boy she could handle more than the caring man.

“I’ll meet you back here,” he drawled, looking so freakin’ irresistible Raina had to resist the urge not to climb back onto his lap right then and there. “I’m not done with you yet.”

His words were casual and flirtatious, but coming from a man like him, there was no doubt in her mind that they were more an order than a request. One she was certain that any other woman wouldn’t hesitate to obey, knowing the kind of pleasure he was capable of giving.

She made no promises, just walked on shaky legs toward the women’s restroom. She used the facilities, washed her hands, then paused in the lounge area, where a few other women were sitting around and talking. Her legs still felt like wet noodles, and her mind was still spinning, so she sat down in a chair off to the side. There was a counter in front of her, with a long, full-length mirror, and Raina stared at her reflection, shocked by what she saw—a woman who’d been well and truly fucked.

Her hair was a tousled mess from his hands, her blue eyes a bit dreamy from two amazing orgasms. Her skin was flushed, and her mouth was pink and swollen. She licked her bottom lip, still tasting him there, and dear Lord, she wanted
more
of him.

Nothing and no one would ever compare to what she’d just experienced—the attraction and off-the-charts chemistry between them and the way he’d so instinctively mastered her body and tapped into her deepest, darkest desires, the ones she’d never shared with any man before. It was a sobering thought that struck a slice of panic inside of her, because she feared he was a man she could easily get addicted to. A man who could tear down her guard and melt her resolve to keep every emotional component
out
of sex.

She exhaled a deep breath and mentally shored up her fortitude to get out of this situation as gracefully as possible. In her favor, he knew nothing about her. Not her past, her present life, nothing. She had to admit that it had been so nice to have that anonymity, without any expectations, just mutual pleasure. And that’s exactly how she wanted to keep tonight’s encounter—as a hot tryst between strangers. Her emotional well-being depended on it.

Now, she just had to figure out how to leave the club without running into him again, because one touch and she knew her willpower to resist him would crumble.

She stepped out of the ladies’ room and glanced in the direction of the alcove they’d shared, relieved to find the area vacant. Assuming he’d make a similar trip to the men’s room, Raina dodged her way through the throng of people still enjoying the Rave and toward the stairs leading to the upper level of the mansion. She reached the entryway without incident and continued out the main doors to the courtyard, then to the valet.

It was quiet outside compared to all the action going on inside the club, and as she waited for one of the attendants to bring her car around, she shifted anxiously on her feet while casting quick glances back toward the mansion’s doors to make sure she hadn’t been followed.

Just as her vehicle came around the curved driveway, she heard a very irritated male voice from behind her yell out, “Hey!
Wait
!”

Oh, shit.
She didn’t have to look over her shoulder to know it was him. The urgency and confusion in his deep voice spoke for itself. She willed the kid in her car to
hurry up
, and as soon as he brought the vehicle to a stop and exited, Raina quickly got behind the wheel before she changed her mind and did exactly as the man ordered and
waited for him
.

“Goddamn it,
stop
!”

He reached her car just as she shut and locked the door. Because she couldn’t bring herself to look at him, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him stop right by the driver’s door.

“I don’t even know your name!” he said, sounding both bewildered and extremely pissed off that she’d stood him up without an explanation.

No names exchanged, and she planned to keep things that way. She’d never see him again, so what did it matter? Self-preservation edged out the regret tightening in her chest, and she pressed her foot on the gas pedal and drove away, resisting the temptation to look in her rearview mirror to drink him in one last time.

She felt like Cinderella escaping her prince before the clock struck twelve and she turned into a pumpkin. But instead of leaving behind a glass slipper, she realized he still had her
panties
tucked away in his pocket.

Well, at least she’d left him with a sexy souvenir of their one night together.

R
aina didn’t know
what she’d been thinking to visit The Players Club on a Thursday night, a work night, knowing she’d have to be up early the next morning since Fridays were her day to open the store. To make matters worse, she’d agreed to meet her girlfriends for breakfast before work, because they’d insisted on hearing all about the sexy, illicit details of her evening at the club while everything was still fresh in her mind.

As if she could
ever
forget those heated green eyes, that rock-hard body, and being possessed so thoroughly she knew that no other man would ever come close to satisfying her the same way ever again. Even now, she was sensitive and sore between her legs, a decadent reminder of how a person could hurt so good.

With a soft groan, she rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling, her eyes scratchy and tired. After the earth-shattering orgasms her sex god had given her, she should have slept like a baby, but instead, she’d spent most of the night tossing and turning, alternately feeling bad for ditching the guy without an explanation and knowing she’d done the right thing for
her
. It had been a long time since she’d felt so exposed with a man,
a stranger, no less
, and she’d certainly never let any man have that much control over her body.

The worst part? She’d
liked
him being in charge, and that was a very dangerous realization for a woman who’d learned the pitfalls of trusting men in general—that doing so usually came with a wealth of heartache and disappointment.

Her iPhone pinged from where she’d left it on the nightstand, and she picked up the device, punched in her code to unlock the screen, and read the text that her best friend, Paige, had just sent to her.

Rise and shine, baby! Our Coffee and Cocks Club meeting is in thirty minutes, and you’d better not be late. We’re all dying to hear what happened last night!

Paige’s message made her laugh and lightened her mood. Leave it to her outrageous friend to rename their monthly Cocktails and Cocks Club meeting to reflect the morning hour.

Don’t worry, I’ll be there.
Raina added a smiley face and hit send, then got out of bed and took a quick, hot shower. She didn’t have time to wash her hair, so she pulled it back into a ponytail, applied minimal makeup, and chose a pretty pink summer dress that buttoned down the front and a pair of white strappy heels. Twenty-five minutes later, she was heading for the door, with ten minutes to get to the café in Old Town that was located a few blocks from her shop. She was going to be a few minutes late, and no doubt Paige was going to give her shit about it.

She unarmed the alarm system that came as part of the apartment building security and opened her door, startled by a loud clanking sound against the metal surface, and it took her a moment to figure out what had made such a clamor. She frowned in confusion at the metal handcuffs dangling from her doorknob just outside of her apartment, one end secured tight around the round handle so that she’d need a key to remove it. Tied to the handcuffs with a thin red ribbon was a piece of paper, which Raina removed so she could read the note, which had been written in a barely legible masculine scrawl.

I know you like it rough.

Raina’s stomach lurched, and a trickle of unease scurried down her spine.
Holy shit.
Who would leave something like this on her door? Her heart raced as she mentally ran down the list, coming up empty except for the one thing that made any sense—that maybe the man at The Players Club had somehow followed her home last night. Which meant he knew where she lived and obviously hadn’t taken her rejection well if his little present, and ominous message, was any indication.

Nausea swamped her. She felt violated and scared. If he’d had the nerve to leave the cuffs on her door, what else was he capable of? And worst of all, how had she misread him so badly?

Trying to calm the rush of fear coursing through her veins, she glanced around the second-floor landing just outside of her apartment, but there was nobody around. It was eerily quiet, and her car was parked right where she could see it, so she locked her door, having no choice but to leave the cuffs where they were for now. She quickly walked down the flight of stairs to her vehicle with her car keys in one hand and the small canister of mace she always carried in her purse clutched in her other hand, armed and ready for any surprise attack.

She made it to her car safely and wasted no time getting the heck out of there. Within minutes, she’d arrived at the café, walked inside, and found the girls already sitting at a table in the back of the restaurant. All five of them were talking and laughing, already enjoying their various coffee drinks as they waited for her to arrive.

“There you are!” Paige said enthusiastically, her green eyes as bright as her personality. “I was just about to send you another text. I thought maybe you ditched us for something, or someone, better.”

Raina knew her friend was joking, but she couldn’t bring herself to respond with a teasing reply like she normally would. “Umm, no,” she said, her voice faint even to her own ears as she slid into the vacant seat between Jillian and her other friend, Stephanie.

From across the table, Kendall frowned as her gaze searched Raina’s face. “I was expecting you to be glowing from your night of hot, wild sex, but you look pale and a little panic-stricken. Are you okay?”

Raina shook her head, her system still in shock over what she’d discovered. Her girlfriends were anticipating titillating stories about The Players Club, but after coming to the realization that she had a stalker, it all felt so wrong, and she needed to tell them the truth so they could help her figure out what to do.

“Something unexpected happened this morning that still has me shaken up,” she said and swallowed to ease the dryness in her throat. “When I opened the front door to leave, there was a pair of metal handcuffs attached to the doorknob, along with a note that said, ‘I know you like it rough.’”

Kendall gasped. “Oh, my God.”

“What the hell?” Paige said, her outrage on Raina’s behalf coming through loud and clear.

“Who would do such a thing?” Stephanie sounded equally indignant.

“I don’t know.” Raina looked at each one of her friends, noticing how calm and collected Jillian was, that she’d yet to speak, but she was listening very intently. “The only thing that makes any sense was that the guy I was with last night somehow followed me home.”

“Well, that certainly isn’t a reassuring thought,” Summer added, her tone concerned. “I thought The Players Club did an in-depth background security check on all their members to make sure things like this don’t happen.”

“They do,” Jillian said, finally speaking up. “But that doesn’t mean someone with issues can’t slip through the screening process. This isn’t good at all. What was his name?”

Raina shook her head. “I don’t know. We didn’t exchange names.” She felt her face flush as she revealed the truth. “I kind of ran out on him after we were together, he followed me out to my car, and he was a little pissed off that I left so suddenly.” She didn’t feel the need to elaborate on the fact that she’d had an emotional panic attack that had sent her bolting.