Sugar and Spice (3 page)

“There it is,” he whispered, increasing the pressure until she began squirming.

“You like that?”

“Oh my God, yes,” she replied breathlessly.

Ryan forged on and trailed his fingers down to her wet opening.

Shit, her
soaked
opening was more like it. She was dripping with juices and her cunt was on fire. Ryan stifled a groan at the thought of what it would feel like to push his cock into that hot pussy. He pushed one, then two fingers inside and Brooks’ hips starting moving against them, trying to force them farther in.

17

Mari Carr

“Easy,” he murmured, but she didn’t seem to hear him. She was gyrating wildly on his thrusting fingers and he was having a hard time holding back his own enthusiasm.

She was so incredibly sexy it was all he could do not to come in his pants. When he sensed she was close, he moved his thumb back to her clit and tapped it firmly, twice.

He sensed Brooks wasn’t going to come quietly so he moved fast to cover her mouth with his other hand. He wasn’t disappointed.

“Shhh, wildcat,” he whispered, attempting to soothe her moans as she slowly came down from the peak. Glancing over, he saw that Anderson and Taylor were still sound asleep. Thank God. Brooks would have been mortified if they’d woken up.

Slowly he moved back, loving the sounds of her regretful whimpers as he pulled his fingers from her quivering pussy.

When his hand was free, she hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her and for several moments, neither of them said a word.

“Travers,” she whispered, leaning back to look into his face.

“Yeah, Brooks?”

“Thanks.”

He kissed the end of her nose and reverted back to his usual teasing. “Well, we men have a duty to uphold the reputation of all mankind. Couldn’t let you go around thinking we were
all
crap in bed.”

She’d given him a heart-stopping grin and Ryan could still recall the pain he’d felt at leaving her behind. He hadn’t been ready for things to change and he remembered the fear of losing her as a friend—terrified they would drift apart as so often happened.

He shrugged off his wayward thoughts and sighed. Luckily their friendship survived the time and distance and tonight, by God, he was going to show her one hell of a good birthday. She deserved it and besides, that’s what friends were for.

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Sugar and Spice

The doorbell rang at nine-thirty and Brooks jumped up from the couch where she’d been fidgeting with nervousness and excitement for the past hour. She’d been a damn fool to actually expect Travers to show up on time. The man was notorious for his tardiness. They liked to joke around the office that he’d be late for his own funeral.

As she stood, she straightened her tight leather skirt and pulled down her low-cut blouse, pleased by the sexy bit of cleavage peeking out. She picked up her ID and some money, intending to have Travers carry both in his pocket for her, and grabbed her cell phone as she walked over to open the door.

“Hey, Travers.”

“What the fuck are you wearing? What did you do to your hair?”

She jerked back at the vehemence in Travers’ tone, glancing uneasily at the outfit she’d only seconds before thought was perfect. “I went to the beauty salon and had them put in some blonde highlights, then I went shopping this afternoon. I wasn’t really sure what the norm was for a sex club, but I thought this was okay. What’s wrong? Too virginal?”

“Virginal? Shit. You look hot as hell! You can’t wear that.”

“Why not?”

Travers swallowed heavily as he continued to look her up and down and Ginny wondered what was wrong with looking hot as hell. Actually, she felt a tiny grin creep to her lips at his compliment.

Having grown up with the men in her office, Ginny was used to feeling like the same awkward middle-schooler she’d been when she’d met them. Never much of a girlie-girl, she’d been the tomboy they’d accepted into their midst as an equal and it was a role that had fit her like a glove…when she’d been twelve.

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Mari Carr

Somewhere along the line her feminine side had kicked in, but by then, Anderson, Travers and Taylor had stopped looking at her as a woman and instead saw Brooks, their buddy. The one who’d built a tree house with them, who’d creamed them in roller hockey and who’d smoked cigars with them behind the high school gym during their freshman year.

“Forget it,” Travers grumbled. “Are you ready to go?” Ginny raised her eyebrows and he offered her a guilty grin before adding, “Sorry I’m late.”

“No problem. I was afraid you’d changed your mind about taking me.”

“What if I
have
changed my mind?” he asked.

“It’s too late. You promised. Now let’s go.”

Travers shook his head and walked her to the car, crossing to the passenger side to open the door for her. She was blown away by the gentlemanly act. Usually they raced each other to the car shouting, “Shotgun!”

“I didn’t,” Travers said as he held the door open.

“Didn’t what?”

“Promise,” he replied.

“But Travers…” She stiffened her spine, prepared to fight if necessary. There was no way he was getting out of taking her to the Way Down Under Club.

“Get in, Brooks.”

She sat down as he shut the door behind her and walked in front of the car to his side.

As he climbed in, he leaned over and touched the furrowed lines on her brow with the tip of his index finger. “Don’t worry. I’m taking you to the club. But I’m warning you right now—you better not get more than five feet away from me at any time. Not looking like that. I’m not sure I’ll be able to beat all the men away from you.”

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Sugar and Spice

Ginny smiled at his sweet words. “You sure do know how to make a girl feel special on her birthday. I know I haven’t said it before, but thanks, Travers. I have to say this has gone from being the shittiest birthday in history to one of the best.”

“Yeah, well. We haven’t gotten there yet. I’m afraid you might be in for a bit of a disappointment. There really isn’t much to see at the club.”

“Nice try, hot shot, but you aren’t going to talk me out of this.”

“Why in the hell are you so fired up about going to a sex club? I thought you said the shithead didn’t dump you.”

“
Liam
,” Ginny stressed his name, “and I haven’t broken up. Besides, I just wanna look around the place. Nobody said anything about me going there to hook up.”

“Yeah, well, believe me, dressed like that, every guy is going to want to hook up with you, whether you’re looking for it or not.”

*

Ryan tried to remember why he’d thought it would be a good idea to bring Brooks to the Way Down Under Club as they pulled up to the front door. A valet opened the door for her and he had to thrust his hands in his pockets to keep from punching the guy in the face for eyeballing his best friend’s overabundance of cleavage. Moving quickly around the car, he placed a protective arm around her back and steered her toward the front door.

“I meant what I said before, Brooks. Stay close.”

She giggled and Ryan felt uneasy at the mischievous sound. “Now where’s the fun in that? Relax, Travers. I’m a big girl, remember?”

Ryan fought to restrain a growl. If he had a brain in his head, he would have waited to bring her here until Anderson and Taylor could come as well. He had a feeling it was going to be tough running interference alone. Despite her insistence that she and Liam were still an item, he could see she was hurt by the fact the guy had bailed on their romantic weekend. Bringing a pissed-off Brooks to a sex club was probably not one of 21

Mari Carr

his more intelligent moves. He’d just been desperate to wipe away the look of sadness he’d glimpsed in her eyes this afternoon when she said Liam wouldn’t be taking her out of town. He’d grasped for the first thing he could think of to make her smile and this was it.

It didn’t help that she’d pulled out all the stops on her appearance either. It wasn’t that he didn’t think she was pretty. He’d just grown used to seeing her in loose-fitting jeans and conservative tops, and tonight her lusciously long legs in that tight skirt were making him think highly inappropriate thoughts.

On top of that, she never wore her hair down. She was the queen of ponytails and braids. Thinking back, he didn’t think he’d seen her light brown hair loose since senior prom and it had been considerably shorter back then. When did it get so thick and silky? And why did she have to add those sexy highlights? Damn if she wasn’t a knockout.

He readjusted his pants and shook his head. Shit, he was getting a hard-on thinking about Brooks. What the hell was wrong with him?

He nodded to the doorman, Burt, before guiding Brooks toward the bar section of the club. There were strict rules at Way Down Under and the main one was that there was no hanky-panky in the bar. It was a sophisticated room, decorated with black leather furniture and cherry wood. It was dimly lit and soft jazz played in the background. It was the perfect place to meet new people or have an intimate chat with a lover. The atmosphere was romantic, without the slightest hardcore sexual overtones.

Compared to the rest of the place, the room was almost chaste.

No doubt, Brooks would be shocked by what she would find beyond this room.

Not that she was leaving the bar…at all. They were going to have a few drinks and then he was going to take her back to her house—none the wiser about his true connection to the club.

Unbeknownst to her, her employers weren’t merely members, but part owners.

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Sugar and Spice

“Wow,” Brooks whispered as they entered the classy room. “This is gorgeous. Beats the hell out of the bar at Buffalo Wild Wings.”

Ryan laughed at her joke. Her sense of humor was one of the things he enjoyed most about her. Despite the fact she’d been one of his best friends for years, he seemed to be seeing her in a different light tonight. Whether it was the romantic setting or the fact she looked so feminine and beautiful, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but for some reason, everything he’d spent a lifetime taking for granted about her suddenly seemed illuminated, brighter, more stunning.

“Come on. Why don’t we grab that table by the fireplace?” He led her to the table, painfully aware of the stares they were receiving. He seldom came into the bar, usually preferring to take his dates straight to the more interesting rooms. While he didn’t think anyone would directly approach Brooks as long as she was with him, he did—much to his chagrin—see two of the club’s more aggressive Doms eyeing her with some serious interest.

Terrific. He was screwed.

He pulled out a chair for her before taking his own seat. “So what would you like to drink?” he asked as the waiter immediately stepped up to take their order.

“Oh the usual, I suppose. Tequila shots ’til we drop?”

Ryan grinned and shook his head. Regardless of his unfamiliar feelings toward her, Brooks didn’t seem to be sharing the awkwardness of the situation.

“Why don’t we try something a bit different tonight?”

“Okay,” she agreed. “I’m game. What are you thinking?”

“Have you ever had a martini?”

She shook her head.

Ryan looked up at the waiter. “We’ll have two Grey Goose martinis.”

“Ooh la la. Aren’t we playing the part of sophisticates tonight? Should I drink with my pinkie out?”

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Mari Carr

“Very funny, Brooks. There’s nothing wrong with a little high living every now and again.”

“I wouldn’t know. I’m a lowly office manager.”

“Shit, Brooks. You run that damn business of ours and you know it. We’ve been trying to convince you for years to become a full partner.”

“Let’s don’t fight that old fight, Travers. You guys have the big fancy engineering degrees—master’s degrees and all that. I have an associate’s degree in Business Administration from the community college and I’ve taken a couple of accounting classes so I can keep the books and that’s it. There is no way you guys can justify making me a partner.”

“Brooks, you’re smarter than the three of us put together and you know it. If your mother hadn’t gotten sick, you’d have gone to the university with us.”

If Ryan could have bitten his own tongue off, he would have.

Great, Travers.
Bring up the worst time in the woman’s life on her birthday.

“Stop looking so guilty, Travers. My mother is alive and in remission and I’d much rather have
her
than a lousy framed piece of paper hanging on the wall. Besides, let’s face it, your folks blew all that money sending you to college and it didn’t make you any smarter,” she teased.

“Yeah, well, it made me smart enough to hire you. We couldn’t run that place without you.”

Brooks frowned and looked at him so strangely he wondered what he’d said wrong.

“You know, Travers, it’s kind of hard to be a smartass when you keep saying such sweet things.”

Ryan shrugged. “Sorry, I’ll work on being my usual charming jerk again.”

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Sugar and Spice

“I’d appreciate it.” She smiled and Ryan felt like he’d been punched in the stomach.

Christ, Brooks was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. The revelation caught him so unaware, he felt dizzy.

The waiter returned with their drinks and Ryan was grateful for the opportunity to try to recover his wits.

“What should we toast to first?” she asked as she lifted her glass.

Ryan smiled. “First, middle and last tonight—your birthday. Happy thirtieth, Brooks.”

“Thanks.”

As they drank, Ryan caught sight of a couple in the corner of the room. He hadn’t noticed them when they’d walked in as he’d been too preoccupied with the attention Brooks was generating.

Now, however, he could clearly see Liam the Enormous Prick wrapped around some buxom blonde.

The lawyer and his date were pushing the limits on the bar rules and were precariously close to breaking all of them in one fell swoop. Liam’s hand was firmly cupped around the woman’s breast and he was nibbling away at the all-too-prominent nipple poking through her tight, sheer blouse. The woman was humping Liam’s thigh and her moans were starting to make their way through the room despite the music and soft chatter surrounding them.