Sensual Confessions (16 page)

“But what if this was just a joke? And someone is doing what Detective Adams said, just trying to ruffle my feathers?” Sam asked, breaking into his thoughts.

As far as Blade was concerned Sam’s questions were timely and necessary. He still wasn’t ready to think about his relationship with Sam. He wasn’t even ready to consider the possibility that they even had a relationship. And he was certain that she would be the first to deny one existed.

He leaned back in his chair. “And do you really think that?”

She slowly chewed her bacon. “I honestly don’t know what to think, Blade.”

The frustration in her voice touched him. He was tempted to get up and pull her into his arms and hold her, whisper in her ear that as long as there was life in his body, nothing would ever happen to her.

He took in a sharp breath. He was confused at how he was thinking, shocked by how he was feeling. He grabbed his glass of orange juice and almost finished it in one swallow. It would have been better had it been a glass of cold beer.

“I think the worst thing we can do is to not do anything and assume that note is the end of it and we won’t hear from him again. Whether this guy plans to take things
further or not doesn’t matter.” His tone then turned somewhat angry. “I want to know who he is regardless. I don’t want him to get away with what he’s done.”

And he won’t get away with it, Blade thought, as he continued to eat. Whoever the guy was, he had gone too far and Blade was determined to let him know it.

“You said you had a couple of things to discuss with me. That’s one. What’s the other?”

He glanced over at Sam. And suddenly his mouth almost went dry when she licked a crumb off her lip with her tongue. He straightened in his chair when he felt his erection straining against his zipper.

“I want to talk to you about this weekend,” he said.

She raised a brow. “This weekend?”

“Yes. I’m leaving town for the weekend, heading back to Houston.”

“Oh.”

“I’m attending that party Jake and Diamond are hosting for Sheikh Rasheed Valdemon and his bride. I want you to come with me.”

A look came across her face. He could tell she was surprised by what he’d said. Hell, he could understand that, since he was surprised by what he’d said, as well. For him to bring a woman to a family function was something he would hear about for the rest of his life. It would set a precedent. It would start all kinds of speculations. It would give his great-grandmother the idea that she should start looking for a dress to wear to his wedding. Hell, it would set off all those rumors he’d rather not deal with. But for some reason he wanted Sam with him. If only so he could continue to protect her. If he left her here he would only worry, so it stood to reason that she should come with him. It made perfect sense.

Evidently it didn’t make perfect sense to her, if the
expression on her face was anything to go by. “Do you have a problem going to Houston with me this weekend?” he asked her.

“Yes.”

Her response had been quick and he wasn’t sure just how much he liked that. “Why?”

She set her fork down. “Because for some reason you’ve gotten it into your head that I can’t look out for myself, Blade. I am well aware that I need to be cautious until I find out who sent those flowers and that note. But I refuse to become dependent on a man. I appreciate you being here and wanting to make sure I’m okay, but we agreed it was only so that Peyton, Mac and Luke wouldn’t worry. I don’t think we should get carried away with anything.”

Too late, he thought. They had already gotten carried away. He had done some things with her he hadn’t done with any other woman, and being inside her body without a condom was just one of them. And the crazy thing about it, as strange as it sounded and as unwise as he knew it was, his shaft was bursting to get back inside of her, just that same way.

“Want some more juice?” Sam asked when she noticed his glass was empty.

“Yes. Thanks.”

Sam lifted the pitcher off the table and poured him a glass. She wondered how and why he’d made an offer like that. Take her to Houston with him? And just where was she supposed to stay when she got there? She knew he had a condo, but did he actually expect them to stay under the same roof? All night? And what would his family think if they did?

And why was every muscle in her body, every fiber, oozing with a need that was as intense as anything she’d
ever experienced? The sensations running through her had her almost to the breaking point, but she still refused to give in. She was a tough nut to crack—stubborn to a fault. A die-hard Di Meglio.

But as she sat there and watched Blade butter his toast, she knew she was in deep trouble.

“S
ince you prepared breakfast I’ll clean up the kitchen,” Blade said as he stood to start clearing the table.

Sam stoodm as well. “That’s not necessary. It’s the least I can do, since you got out of bed early for nothing.”

“No problem,” he said, walking toward the sink with dishes in his hand. “Any inconvenience was repaid twofold. You outdid yourself with breakfast.” And he really meant it. He’d never eaten eggs so fluffy and she’d even baked homemade biscuits.

“There’s no way I’m going to let you clean all this up by yourself, Blade,” she said when she reached his side.

He turned to face her. Stared into her eyes and said, “Yes, you are, because I need the space right now.”

Sam swallowed as she noted the look in his eyes. It was hot, full of lust. So much that it nearly took her breath away. She took a step back. “In that case maybe you should leave. I can handle things here.”

“No. Let me do this. Just leave me alone for a while. I’m sure there are other things you have to do.”

“Yes, I did bring some files home with me.”

“Then how about going and read them.”

A furious expression crossed her face. “Now look here, Blade. You don’t tell me what to do.”

“No,
you
look here, Sam,” he said, lowering his gaze downward toward his crotch.

She followed the direction of his eyes and gave a sharp gasp. He had a massive erection, bigger than she’d ever seen before, and it was pressing hard again his zipper.

Her gaze slowly returned to his face, then roamed over it. His eyes were like dark orbs glinting with fire, his nostrils were flaring and his lips were tight.

“It was hard as hell getting through breakfast with you sitting there,” he said in a low and husky tone. “Watching you eat. Seeing you chew your food and lick the syrup off your biscuits. Remembering.”

She drew in a deep breath and knew exactly what he’d remembered…her going down on him. “I think I’ll go up to my office and read those case files after all,” she said, slowly backing away. “Thanks for cleaning up, and you can let yourself out when you’re through.”

Her heart skipped several beats as she quickly walked out of the kitchen.

Instead of going into her office to read, Sam decided to stretch out on her bed. She had opened the blinds to let in some sunlight and had turned on the radio so that soft music played in the background. Then she tried focusing on the case file she’d grabbed out of her briefcase, and not on the man downstairs in her kitchen.

An hour or so later, she could no longer concentrate
on what she was reading, and dropped the papers as her head fell back on the mattress in frustration. Did Blade think he was the only one who’d had a hard time eating this morning? Well, he didn’t know the half of it. If he was watching her, did he not notice her watching him? She’d felt like a fool sitting there staring at his mouth each time he put a cup of coffee or a glass of juice to his lips.

And talk about licking something. What about the time her gaze had followed him when he’d stuck his tongue out to lick jelly from the corner of his mouth? Didn’t he realize seeing that had been a real turn-on for her?

She flipped on her back and stared up at the ceiling. In all her twenty-eight years she’d never encountered the likes of a man like Blade Madaris. He could be angry with her one minute and then give her a look that said he wanted to make passionate love to her the next.

If they continued on like this, allowing sexual tension and lust, not to mention anger, to rule their senses, then where would that lead? She knew the answer to that question without thinking about it: right to the nearest bedroom to work it out.

With all the planning she’d done, her elaborate scheme, she still hadn’t gotten rid of him. Blade Madaris was like the Energizer Bunny that keeps going and going and going. She closed her eyes and groaned when she felt a twitch between her legs.

She opened her eyes and decided to think logically about the situation. The first thing she needed to know and understand was why he was there. After what she’d done Monday night she would think he’d be miles away from her, jumping for joy at the thought that someone wanted to bump her off. Instead, he was staying close and had rearranged his schedule to become her bodyguard.

She glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It had been
more than an hour since breakfast. Why was it taking him so long to tidy up the kitchen? She eased to the side of the bed, thinking that perhaps he’d left already and just hadn’t told her that he was leaving. After all, she
had
told him to let himself out when he finished cleaning the kitchen.

But regardless of what she’d said, the decent thing for him to have done was to let her know he was leaving, if for no other reason than she could reset the security alarm. Slipping into her flats, she made her way down the hall and quietly walked down the stairs.

When she reached the bottom floor she walked through to the kitchen and found it spotless. Even the stainless-steel appliances had been wiped clean and were gleaming. She left her kitchen and headed for her front door to reset her alarm. She stopped and stared as butterflies fluttered in her lower belly. Blade was there, stretched out on her sofa, asleep.

The first thought that came to mind was why hadn’t he gone back to his place and slept on his own sofa? And then she knew. As much as they didn’t fully understand it, there was this pull that kept yanking them back together no matter how upset, angry and frustrated they got with each other. She had tried brushing him off, dissing him, setting him up for humiliation and deliberately getting on his nerves, and he was still here.

And it was time that at least one of them found out why
.

She figured she should wake him, but decided against it. They would talk when he woke up on his own. Right now, she just wanted to look at him while he slept.

His breathing was deep and even and his chest moved with every breath. He was lying flat on his back with one leg thrown to the side, nearly hanging off the sofa. His zipper was facing her and she could tell he was no longer
as aroused as he had been before, but still big. He had taken off his shoes but had kept his socks on.

Her gaze moved back to his face. His lower jaw seemed more prominent today. Probably because of the slight shadow covering it, which indicated he hadn’t taken the time to shave before coming over. And his lips, those lips she enjoyed looking at so much, seemed to move slightly with every breath he took.

She also slept on her back and had once read an article that said people who sleep on their backs were confident and ready to tackle life. It also said they were vain and happy with their physical appearance and were always up for trying something new, both in and out of bed. Hmm, now that was definitely a thought.

Just watching him lying there filled her with a sense of desire she hadn’t known possible. The man was smoldering with sensuality of the fieriest kind. There was nothing about him that didn’t turn her on, whether he was in clothes or out of them.

Taking a deep breath, she was about to turn around when she heard him groan. She looked back at his face and saw his eyes were still closed, but there was an odd expression on his face, as if he’d gotten swept up in some sort of dream. He moaned again, and as she slid her gaze lower, she saw his T-shirt had risen to uncover a little of his tummy. The hair covering the area was curly and appeared soft to the touch. Her eyes moved a little lower and his erection began to swell right before her eyes.

From her studies in college, she recalled that according to Freud’s theories, the reason people dreamed was to release hidden urges and secret desires they weren’t allowed to express in real life.

She swallowed, and wondered just what kind of dream Blade was having when he groaned again, a grunt that
almost sounded like a growl this time. She knew she should leave him, let him do whatever it was he was doing in private, and turned away. However, the moment she did so, he groaned out her name in a fevered pitch. “Samari.”

She turned around quickly and stared at him. His eyes were still closed, but an intense look of pleasure covered his face. And she knew at that moment that whatever dream he was having, she was part of it.

I
n the deep, dark recesses of his slumber, Blade pulled at Sam’s hair, held tight to her curls when he slowly entered her, hoping and praying that they could finish what they started this time. If she told him to stop he didn’t know what he would do.

Very carefully he began entering her, feeling her body stretch to accommodate his entry, experiencing the sexual pleasure of her muscles clamping him tightly. He paused a moment to give her body time to adjust to his size and glanced up at the stars. They were outside on his balcony, back in Houston. He had taken the spread off of his bed, along with some pillows, to sleep out in the open. And make love.

They’d had a glass of wine, but that was not what was driving their desire. It was passion of the deepest kind, a need to know each other this way, to finally push aside the mistrust and anger. It was time for both of them to
realize there was a reason for this bond between them. They could continue to fight it, deny it and not claim it. But the truth of the matter was this was meant to be.

He looked down into her face and felt something he’d never felt before, saw something in her eyes he’d never seen, and he knew this time their union would be complete. There would be no interruptions.

He spread her legs farther apart as he felt his shaft go deeper and deeper inside of her, almost to the hilt. He hadn’t put on a condom, so they were skin to skin, flesh to flesh, and just the thought of it almost made him come.

He kept going, spreading her legs even farther, and then he—

“Wake up, Blade.”

He drew in a sharp breath and felt his body being shaken. He tried to hold on to the dream but felt it drifting away, out of his reach and out of his touch. He moaned in despair, not wanting to believe that once again he had not finished the task he’d set out to do. Refusing to accept that someone had the damn nerve to interrupt his dream, he opened his eyes wide. And there she was, the object of his obsession, the cause of his current state of frustration, looking down at him with a smile curving her lips from corner to corner.

“You were dreaming,” she said, as if that explained everything.

With a deep, guttural groan to mask his curse, he turned his head away from her for a second, trying to get his bearings, to hide his disappointment, and wondering just how much of his dream she’d heard. Slade swore that he talked in his sleep, telling things better left unknown.

Blade sighed as he turned his head and looked back up at her, and then moving carefully, he pulled himself up in a sitting position as he rubbed his hands across his face.
He then looked up at her again and flinched when he saw that damn smile was still on her face.

“How long have I been sleeping?” he asked, working the kinks from his neck.

“I have no idea, since I wasn’t aware you’d gone to sleep until I came downstairs to check on things. I thought you had left.”

“Started to,” he replied. “But couldn’t make it to the front door. I collapsed on your sofa. Sorry about that.”

“No problem.”

He tried to move his legs, which felt as if they were still asleep. “Did you finish reading that file?” he asked.

“Not all of it. There’s only so much legal stuff I can take in one sitting.”

“Oh.” He wished she wouldn’t stand there like that, so close to him. She still had on those cutoffs and a tank top. She looked fresh and smelled good. And just to think that in his dream he had come close to getting what she had refused him in reality. Close but not close enough, deep but not deep enough.

He pulled in a deep breath and figured he’d better get out of there before doing something real stupid. Like reaching out and grabbing her thighs, unzipping her shorts and tasting her all over.

“I guess I better go now,” he said, getting up from the sofa, causing her to take a step back.

“Call me if you need to go somewhere. Give me a ring even if you decide on takeout for lunch. I want to be here if anybody shows up,” he added, throwing the sentences over his shoulder as he headed for the door.

“I don’t like being bossed around, Blade.”

He turned before reaching for the doorknob. If she was trying to pick a fight with him, now was not the time to do it. Twice he had left her house in a sexually deprived
state. The last thing she would want today was to deliberately provoke him.

“Let it go, Sam. I’m not in a good mood. Just do what I ask.”

“No, I won’t do what you ask. My father’s name is Antonio DeAngelo Di Meglio and not Blade Madaris.”

Blade glanced down at the floor and counted to ten. He even muttered a few choice words. When he felt enough time had elapsed, he glanced back over at her. He studied her and saw the stubbornness etched in her face, and he saw something else, too—deep sexual frustration.

His heart began beating deeply within his chest. He knew the signs and should have picked up on them sooner. Their predicament was basically the same. They needed to get laid, but not with just anybody, only with each other.

Always with just each other
.

He sucked in a deep breath, thinking how possessive that sounded. How final and absolute. He’d never thought about final and absolute with a woman in his entire life. All of a sudden a realization struck and it hit hard. If his feet hadn’t been planted firmly on the floor he probably would have been knocked over. He was feeling strong emotions toward a woman.

But this wasn’t just any woman. This was a woman who had proved she was different—difficult and different. Evidently that’s what he needed. And that’s what he’d been waiting for without knowing it.

He could vividly remember the night they’d met and all the times they’d seen each other since then. He had tried his luck with her, but instead of giving up, he had become almost obsessed with having her. He had convinced himself she was just another notch to add to his bedpost, and that his attraction to her was only sexual.

Now, ten months later, he hadn’t added her to his bedpost yet, mainly because she could never be just another notch. She was the one he had singled out without realizing he was doing so. The one woman he hadn’t gotten out of his mind since first seeing her. She was the woman who constantly invaded his dreams. The one who’d triggered an urgency within him that no other woman could match.

Over the years, he had been told, preached and even lectured to about what to expect when a Madaris man knew he had found the woman for him. The one he was meant to share his life with, his soul mate. And the one thing he’d always been told was that she would be different.

The one standing across the room glaring at him was different, all right. As fiery as they came and with an attitude that he would have to work on. And then there was that temper of hers from her Italian side of the family. He would let her keep it, just encourage her to tone it down some.

At that precise moment it was crystal clear why he’d been chasing her from the start, even after she’d dissed him a few times. Why he had looked for any excuse to come back to Oklahoma City to see her. Why he was living next door to her now. Why he had become her watchdog, determined to keep her safe. Why he had asked Alex to find out who was trying to hurt her. And why he had given up three hours of sleep this morning.

The reasons were as clear as the nose on his face. She was meant to be his. She
was
his. And he loved her with all the heated passion that was flowing through his body, all the torrid sensations that he felt—both sexual and nonsexual.

She would never believe the emotions he was feeling.
Very few people who knew him would. He would have to show her rather than tell her, and eventually she would understand. He would make damn sure of it. But he definitely wouldn’t share his feelings with her yet. If he gave her an inkling of how he felt she would refuse to believe it, and would think it was his way of getting revenge. There was no doubt in his mind that she would put up a wall between them so high it might take him years to climb over it.

“Do you have a problem?”

Her words pulled him out of his daze. “A problem?” he asked.

“Yes, you’re just standing there staring at me like you have a problem.”

If she only knew
. He leaned back against the door. “My only problem is that you have too much of a smart mouth.”

She narrowed her eyes, stiffened her spine and placed her hands on her hips. “You want to try and change it?”

He could tell she was poised, ready for a fight. She had no idea the type of battle they were about to wage. It was probably a good thing she didn’t know, he thought. “Yes, I want to try and change it. I would love teaching that mouth of yours about respect.”

He saw the fiery blaze deepen in her eyes and his lips couldn’t help but twitch in response. The heat was certainly on now.

She laughed. “Do you honestly think you can take me on?”

A sensuous smile touched both corners of his lips when he said, “I’m going to damn well try.”

He began walking toward her and he had to admire her for standing her ground, not moving an inch, keeping
her hands on her hips and tilting her chin up, which was fine with him. It gave him a better angle for his mouth to connect to hers.

When he got close she said, “Enough of this, Blade. I want you to leave.”

He kept smiling. “No you don’t. If I left that would be like you admitting defeat, and I don’t think you want to do that.”

She lifted her chin an inch higher. “I’ll never admit defeat.”

“I didn’t think you would.”

And then before she could blink, he reached out and gently grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her face closer and slanted his mouth across hers. He was doing something about her smart mouth, just as he’d warned her he would. He was teaching her about respect in the most sensuous way.

Sam knew the best way to get out of his grasp was to use her knee to kick Blade in the groin. She hadn’t taken all those self-defense classes growing up for nothing. But at that moment when Blade slid his tongue inside her mouth, any thought of doing physical harm to him flew out the window.

Instead she grabbed hold of his shoulders and pushed her mouth even closer. His taste was invading her senses as it did each and every time their mouths locked. She enjoyed kissing him. She enjoyed him kissing her. And the touch of his tongue on all parts of her mouth was causing her to groan back in her throat. It enticed her to participate in this sensual mouth play any way she could.

So she did.

Her tongue became embroiled in a heated duel, tangling with his, swirling from one side of his mouth to the
other. It was as if they couldn’t taste enough, touch enough or get close enough. Her body was humming in pleasure, telling her this was what it needed, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. It didn’t come close. Deeper intimacy was what her body craved and what she longed for. And to prove the point—as if her body had a mind of its own—her middle pressed against his aroused member and her erect nipples poked hard into his chest. Her body prodded him to press his tongue even deeper inside her mouth, move it around in a frantic pace and lick and suck everything it touched.

He suddenly pulled his mouth from hers and stared down at her face as he drew in a much needed breath and gave her the chance to do the same. “Do you understand about respect now?” he asked in a thick, raspy voice.

She held his gaze. “No. You’re going to have to do a lot better than that,” she challenged.

A growl emanated from deep in his throat and the expression on his face became one of intense determination. The look in his eyes—hot, hungry and devouring—sent shudders through her body and had her shivering. “Then I guess I’ll need to take things to another level,” he said in a voice raw with sexual need.

He didn’t wait for a comment. Instead, he simply reached out and ripped the tank top off her body, tossing it somewhere behind him. A furious look crossed her face. “Damn it, Blade. That’s going to cost you.”

He gave her a haughty smile. “Send me the bill.”

His gaze then went from her face to her chest to see what his handiwork had unveiled. Beautiful and plump breasts with the most gorgeous dark tips he’d ever witnessed. He’d thought that before when he’d seen them and thought the same thing now. He’d been around enough to know that no two women had the same breasts. Shapes,
sizes, textures and tastes varied. But he could stand there and say that hers were in a class by themselves. They were made for his hands and mouth alone.

“Give me my top back.”

Her request pulled his gaze back up to her face. “I don’t know why you’d want your top when you’re about to lose your bottoms. But I think I want to hear you beg me to take them off of you.”

Sam glared at him. “Don’t hold your breath because I don’t beg.”

Blade shrugged. “There’s a first time for everything.”

And before she could open her mouth to give him a scathing retort, he tumbled her back onto the sofa.