Reckless Assignation (3 page)

As his release rushed over him, more quickly than he would
have anticipated, Rick realized tormenting her had done its share to keep him
in a state of arousal too. He shuddered into his climax, choking with the
desperate need for breath that eluded him. His legs felt as if they were going
to buckle and he leaned forward to grip the edge of the bed.

Cinthya ran her hands through the fall of hair that fell
over Rick’s face and kissed his forehead as she pulled him onto the bed. She
lay back on the silk sheets and stroked his hair and shoulders as he stretched
out beside her, resting his head in the center of her chest. They stayed that
way for a long time.

Rick stirred first, raising his head to look into the soft
blue of her eyes. She was watching him, her face lit by a gentle smile.

“You seemed a little breathless,” she observed with the
innocent mischief that never failed to charm him.

He grinned, his expression rapidly taking some of the
smugness out of her smirk. He moved higher in the bed, then leaned over her,
catching both her hands in a loose grip and holding them above her head. “Look
around you, honey. This bed has four posts. That could be interesting, don’t
you think?”

She shook her head and broke the light hold as she squirmed
away, putting a couple of feet between them. “No way!” she protested
wholeheartedly. “I’m not going through
that
again.”

Rick feigned a hurt expression. “
I
thought it was
fun,” he said, the pretend hurt fading into genuine amusement.

She laughed, still managing to stay out of his grasp. “When
did you start getting into this kinky shit?” She backed up a little on the
silky sheets until her back just met the solid resistance of the headboard,
wide-eyed disbelief in her expression. He knew she was calculating how quickly
she could escape the room.

“Kinky?” Rick considered the concept as he inched toward
her, enjoying the wariness in her eyes as she tried to maintain a distance that
was closing quickly. He made a lunge for her and enfolded her in an embrace as
he rolled with her. She ended up straddled across his hips, staring down at
him.

“Maybe I should tie you up and see how you like it?” she
suggested.

His eyebrows rose in speculative interest. “If you think you
can manage it, Cindi…”

The challenge was obvious, but she apparently chose to
ignore it. She started to slide off him and ended up yelping in surprise when
he caught her around the waist and reversed their positions. Rick had her hands
trapped and he eased them outward toward the posts at the head of the huge bed.

She started squirming in earnest, and Rick laughed as the
futility of her protest began to dawn on her. He shifted his hold and his
laughter became wholehearted when she stared up at him, blue eyes filled with
humor and love.

“You wouldn’t really do it?”

He didn’t miss the note of entreaty in the whispered words
but he shook his head, giving in with what he knew was probably suspicious
ease. He saw the faint caginess come into her gaze as she relaxed beneath him
and began to run light caresses over his forearms where they still held her
shoulders in a loose grip.

“I’m hungry,” she murmured, her tone soft. She glanced
around at the elaborately decorated room and her grin widened. “This really is
great.”

“Watching you in that chair made it more than worthwhile,”
Rick said, thoroughly enjoying the slow spread of scarlet on her features. He
released her and slid over to the edge of the bed. He picked up the previously
discarded champagne bottle, popped the cork and poured two glasses. He handed
one to her, then reached down to open the door of the bedside table.

Her eyes lit up when he handed her the chilled bowl of fruit
salad. She settled into a cross-legged seat, placed the bowl in front of her
and promptly plucked a large strawberry from the center of the tempting array
of fresh fruit. She had apparently decided Rick was forgiven for the bondage
routine.

“If this is what you do for Halloween, Christmas is going to
be wonderful this year,” she remarked once he’d settled on the bed in front of
her.

“And what makes you think you’ll get me to go through this
much trouble for you a second time in the same year?” he teased, selecting some
of the fruit himself.

She plucked the grape from his fingers and leaned over to
feed it to him. “Because you love me,” she whispered, popping the grape into
his mouth.

“We’ll talk, sweetheart.”

“The only thing you missed was fog around the floor.” She
grinned as she again let her gaze wander over the room.

“I can’t stand the smell of dry ice,” he said, turning her
face back to his. “I do love you.” He eased her toward him until their lips met
and her arms went around him with natural intimacy. Rick could taste the faint
hint of strawberries on her tongue as he melted into the kiss.

He drew back after a few minutes and set the bowl of fruit
on the table next to the champagne. He pulled back the sheets and settled on
the bed next to her, shivering when she draped one long, shapely leg over his
hip and arched into his embrace. A second later she shifted in his arms and
said, “We’re not gonna really
sleep
here, are we?”

Rick glanced around at the decorations and renovations that
had taken a sizeable chunk out of his Gold Card. “I don’t see why not. It’s got
all the comforts of home. Except, of course, for a television set. Now you
can’t watch any more of your spooky shows.”

She yawned and nestled closer. “I think I saw all the horror
movies I wanted to see last night.” Another yawn and she turned onto her back,
pulling him on top of her. “Besides, who says we need to sleep anyway?”

“You got better ideas?”

“You up to it?”

“Oh you have no idea, darling.” Rick grinned down at her.

Chapter Three

Cinthya watched the deep creases emerge around both eyes
with the change in his expression. Rick’s features were softened by the gentle
lighting, his eyes lit with an orange glow of reflected candlelight.

She couldn’t quite suppress the fleeting moment of
melancholy as she realized how much she truly loved this man and how often she
feared she would lose him. His well-loved face clouded, then concern moved
instantly into his dark-brown eyes.

“You all right?” he asked.

She shook herself out of the brooding moment and pulled him
down and into a long, soul-searing kiss. It lasted long enough for both of them
to be gasping slightly when they broke contact. She smiled, looking up at him
as he searched her face for just a moment. He straddled her supple body,
settling down over her hips. His hands ran the length of her arms, drawing them
up over her head in a slow, lazy stretch. He was clearly enjoying both the
sensation of his own elastic muscles and the sight of her stretched out beneath
him.

“Remember how I told you this bed had four posts?” The
mischievous glint was back in his eyes and she stirred out of her drowsiness
long enough to begin to get suspicious.

Too late.

She felt, rather than heard, the
click
of metal on
one wrist before she could even begin to react. The second wrist was cuffed to
the other bedpost in nearly the same, fluid motion.
That’s it
, she
thought,
Rick isn’t going on any more overseas assignments. This is just too
fucking weird.
It was Japan, she knew it. Rick had been there less than a
month ago and she had heard all kinds of stories…

Her heart almost flew out of her chest when a loud, muffled
bang sounded from somewhere outside their room.

“What was that?”

Rick was still as stone, listening intently. There was
nothing but silence in the hotel now, nothing to indicate a crazed murderer
might be close by. Her thoughts were interrupted as he sat up across her hips
and smiled. In his best Saturday matinee growl, Rick intoned, “
Friday the
13th Part 2
.”

“Rick, you don’t even look the part. Besides, it’s just not
scary with you doing it.”

“Oh don’t worry, honey.” His grin became satisfyingly manic.
“I’ll see that it’s scary. The power tools are under the bed.”

“Yeah, right!” Cinthya snorted, not the least impressed with
the empty threat. She relaxed and tried to appear bored and disinterested, a
bit difficult in her vulnerable position.

Rick settled back on his heels and remained silent, his gaze
locked intently with hers. She waited, certain he’d make some kind of move
before long. Minutes passed in total silence and his expression didn’t change
in the slightest, his eyes never left hers. She began to stir beneath him,
growing restless as she maintained the unflinching stare. Rick’s eyes seemed to
change in the flickering light, losing the loving warmth she was so familiar
with, to be replaced by a mildly disturbing blankness.

“Rick?” She tried to keep her tone steady but knew there was
a thread of uneasiness in the word. He didn’t move or respond, and she shivered
when she realized she hadn’t even seen him blink for what felt like five
minutes. There was so much she didn’t know about him and, at the moment, what
she didn’t know seemed to overshadow what she did know. A serpent of ice began
to uncoil at the base of her skull and slither slowly along the course of her
veins.

His eyes opened a little wider, giving him a slightly
demented look, and he turned his head a little but continued to hold her stare.
The shift in position revealed more white to his eyes and she felt a tiny
flutter in her stomach. The prolonged silence and the growing intensity of
Rick’s look were beginning to get to her despite her knowing he was only
teasing her.

“C’mon, enough already. You haven’t got power tools under
the bed and you’re
not
scaring me—” She stopped speaking abruptly when
Rick lunged off the bed and she heard the sound of something creaking above
her. Her gaze flew upward and a high-pitched scream escaped her when the
cob-webbing rippled, a heavy black bat slipped through a tear in the fine
material and landed on her chest with a dull thump.
Shit!
She shuddered
at the feel of the thing, cool and leathery against her skin. She thought the
damn things were plastic.

“Rick!”

Another reactive yelp of surprise came from her when he
leaned over her, his face inches from hers, his expression wild with craziness.
He scooped up the bat and promptly bit into it. Then his face split into a
huge, very familiar grin as he dropped back onto the bed. He held out the bat
and offered her a bite.

“Licorice,” he laughed when she made a repulsed face at him.
“I thought you liked it?”

Her heartbeat was still erratic and loud in her ears as she
glowered at him in impotent fury. She was equally enraged at her own response
to the teasing, mostly because she should have seen it coming. Rick’s laughter
earned him another pointed glare, and she did her best to keep the expression
firmly in place when he tossed aside the candy bat and crawled back over her
hips to stare down at her.

“That was pretty fuckin’ stupid!” Cinthya finally snapped
when he placed a hand on either side of her and leaned forward.

“Yeah, it was,” he agreed with a smug smirk. “But you
did
react so beautifully.”

“Get off me!” she demanded, yanking at one of the restraints
that held her. She looked back at Rick, her face reflecting all the anger she
was suddenly feeling. “And get these damn things off me while you’re at it.”

He considered the request for a few seconds, then shook his
head. “No. I think I like you like this—pissed off and mouthy. Makes your eyes
light up.” He ran his hands across her midriff until he was cupping her soft
breasts gently.

“Fuck you, Leighton,” she retorted, her anger going up
another notch at the prolonged teasing.

“We’re getting to that, I promise,” he murmured, bending
over to place a light kiss in the center of her chest. His tongue trailed
across to one nipple and flicked at the hard tip for several seconds before he
nipped at it with his teeth. His hands glided down her sides to brush over the
curving ridge of hipbones. He could feel the faint tremor of reaction in her
body, the response natural despite her irritation. He reached for the glass of
champagne he’d left on the night table.

“Are you having a good time, Cindi?” he asked, his smile
lazy and amused. He sipped at the chilled champagne and waited for her to stop
glaring at him. He could see the softening in her stunning sapphire eyes
already.

“Yeah, this is great,” she said, giving in with a resigned
sigh. She knew better than to think she could stay mad once Rick really started
to make love to her. His reputation for being a ladies’ man was well-earned,
and he had shown Cindi the brightest part of heaven more than once in their
time together. She adored him.

“This would be a whole lot more fun if I could do more than
lie here.” Her complaint was cut off quickly when Rick slid back on her thighs
and bent to trickle warmed champagne from his mouth into the hollow of her hip.
She twitched in response when he ran his tongue through the tiny pool of
liquid. She watched in fascination when he took a long swallow of the cold wine
and set the glass aside, then gasped loudly when he bent and sucked one ripe
nipple into his mouth. The lingering chill of the champagne was startling
against the heat of her flesh. The trapped bud reacted instantly, hardening in
Rick’s mouth as another surge of pleasure bolted through her.

Cinthya closed her eyes and let herself experience the
sensation of Rick’s mouth growing steadily warmer. She sighed softly when he
slid up to settle over her. Her legs tangled with his as she pulled him closer
the only way she was able to.

“Let me go, Rick, please?” She murmured the words into his
mouth when he was about to cover her lips and he drew back for a moment to look
closely at her. She could feel the hardness of his erection against her thigh
and she wanted desperately to touch him.

Rick leaned on his elbows and let his gaze drink in the
image before him. The candles were flickering—soft, shivering touches of
illumination, the muted light catching the glow of gold in her fair hair. Pale
skin looked like buffed ivory against the background of ruby-red silk and
shimmering black velvet. Ocean-blue eyes softened at the intensity of his
expression and he brushed a lock of blonde hair aside to kiss first her
forehead then her lips in a gentle caress.

“I love you, Cindi,” he breathed, voice soft and throaty
with the depth of emotion he felt for the woman in his arms.

“Make love to me.” She strained to touch his lips as she
made the request, smiling when his tongue ran across her mouth in a teasing
caress. She moved to put her arms around him, clearly forgetting the restraints
that held her hands. The pull of the handcuffs on her wrists made her wince and
she gasped as one of the metal bracelets scraped her skin.

“You okay?” Rick whispered into her mouth.

“That hurt,” she admitted, shifting her position slightly,
letting him see her discomfort. “Let me go, please?”

Rick moved instantly, snapping open the metal cuffs. He
hadn’t bothered to lock the things, fully intending to release her anyway. He
hated the idea that she’d been caused even a tiny amount of pain by the antic.
When he had both arms free, he was surprised by the sudden twist in her body.
She had him pinned effectively seconds later, and Rick couldn’t miss the
triumphant grin on her stunning features.

“Gotcha!”

“You little shit!” he laughed.

She caressed Rick’s chest, she shivering, and Rick smiled
with the realization of how much she truly loved the feel of his body. He had
no illusions about himself, but despite the many women before this one, it was
Cyndi’s appreciation that he cherished. She knew the taste and feel of every
inch of him, the exact location of the few scars that marred otherwise smooth
skin, and it never ceased to amaze him that her touch could send tremors
through him that left him breathless and shaking in her arms.

“I love you,” she whispered, then bent her head to his mouth
before he could answer, entwining her tongue with his as their kiss deepened.
Her hands moved lower to find the straining hardness of his cock. He groaned
into her mouth when her fingers curled around the rigid shaft and began to
stroke slowly. She broke their kiss and immediately closed her lips over the
sensitive hollow of his throat, her tongue playing in the curve. Her hand moved
on him with greater demand.

Rick’s hips rose to answer the easy rhythm of her strokes
and he moaned low in his throat when her mouth trekked after her hands and
closed over him. Delicate fingers slipped between his thighs and cupped his
balls in a gentle massage as he thrust into the warm mouth that covered him. He
felt the betraying swell of his release beginning and took a deep breath, then
carefully eased her away from him. He was gasping and it took him a couple of
minutes to get his breath back. She leaned over him, grin smug and much too
cheerful. Rick laughed at the expression and pulled her back to him, shivering
when she met his kiss with an excited hunger that left him searching for breath
once more.

She shifted to the side and took Rick with her as she rolled
onto her back and tangled her legs around his. He thrust his tongue into her
mouth and arched into her body with urgent demand. His mouth released her and
he pulled back to kneel between her spread legs.

“Pull your knees up, Cindi,” he said, his naturally rough
voice now like gravel. He moved in closer and braced his thighs against the
back of hers, then lifted her hips and slid into the tight, familiar warmth,
quickly finding a slow, tantalizing rhythm.

She saw the ripple of total rapture that crossed Rick’s face
when he moved deeper into her and watched in wonder at the shudders that shook
him. He leaned in closer and her spine curved in response to give him freer
movement and easier access. Another thrust sent him fully into her and she
moaned softly as her head fell back and their rhythms blended into a smooth
flow of shared motion.

Her body tensed minutes later as her orgasm spasmed through
her, her hands still gripping Rick’s solid shoulders. The shuddering climax
tightened every muscle in her body and he moaned loudly as his own release
poured over him in answer to hers. The tremors continued to pulse through him
as he spilled into her and she collapsed back against the pillows.

She watched the slow relaxation of his features. It was
hardly the first time she’d seen his face as they made love, but it still
thrilled her to the core of her being to witness his expressive face softened
with so much pleasure that she felt a flutter of renewed excitement in her stomach.
Rick pulled his arms from under her legs but left her limbs draped on either
side of him.

Her own breath was easing slowly and she let her eyes close
as she fought for control of her heartbeat. A small, almost choked cry escaped
her a few minutes later when Rick slipped free. She opened her eyes and watched
him crawl up beside her and, with a heavy sigh, stretch his body the length of
hers. She curled into his arms.

“Does the shower work?” she asked a short while later. She
felt sticky with sweat and the results of their lovemaking.

“No, but you’re gonna love the bathtub,” he murmured in her
ear, kissing her cheek before claiming the slightly parted lips in a loving
caress. “C’mon,” he directed, getting out of the bed.

Rick hadn’t been kidding. The bathtub was ancient, one of
the huge, deep things with clawed feet at the base. He went to it and gave the
knob a twist. It was already partially filled with lukewarm water, and it
didn’t take long for steam and bubbles to rise as hot water poured in a steady stream,
with only mild objections from the long-unused pipes.