Hot & Humid (5 page)

He snapped his arm back, pulling her across his lap with an ease that showcased his strength. The horn honked when her backside slid against it. “If I let you go, I’d have to hunt you down again to do this.”

She gasped.

His mouth crushed against hers, taking, sexing her with the erotic edge of his tongue. Brine felt her pussy clench and his hand smooth down to squeeze her breast. His fingers pinched her pebbled nipple, pulling on it until shivers of desire quivered through her pussy. She fought with the cuff, but his hand was too powerful. His left hand tangled in her hair, wrapping the long, wet strands into his fists. He angled their heads to take her places she’d never been. He kissed her until she was dizzy, until she felt thoroughly owned.

Conquered and taken.

He nipped playfully at her love-swollen lips as he pulled away. She shuddered at the loss of erotic heat that she so desperately needed to live. How had she gone so long without?

She could see his want reflecting back. What was she doing? She had to get her senses back in check. Brine pressed her hands against his chest. She had to put a stop to this before it went any further. Erotic kisses were placed strategically over her ear. The heat of his breath seared her skin. Her eyes fluttered closed.

“I don’t want to do this with you,” she said.

“Yes you do.”

She squirmed. “I can’t.”

“You are.”

She tried to fight away, but he held strong.

“You have a strength that makes you the most stubborn woman I have ever met.”

“More reason for us to not fool around.”

“I think I made myself clear. I want you, and I plan on doing everything to have you.” He kissed the exposed skin on her breast. “I know you want me. Your heart beats wild for me. I can smell your sex readying. Your nipples are so fucking hard.”

He pinched and squeezed her aching flesh through the lace. She stifled a moan by biting her lower lip. “Because it’s cold.”

“It’s lust. You want what I have,” he countered. “We’re both adults. You can handle what I have.”

Brine felt the force of his cock pushing hard against the side of her thigh. She moaned as his hand smoothed down past her belly, to the crux of her thighs. The wedding dress was bunched up high. She’d lost one of her boots somewhere along the way. His hand pulled up the dress and found her silk panties. His hand seared as he cupped her thatch with his palm, moving his fingers around the thin barrier. Brine fought the urge to buck up into his hand as his fingers skimmed through her trimmed hair.

He could take but she wouldn’t give willingly.

She pushed against his chest, but it was useless fighting him. He was stronger and she was growing tired of the fight. He kissed her again in a long, lazy move to learn what she liked. His kiss was full of experience and longing. She never imagined that a man could be so thorough with his mouth.

He groaned as his fingers dove further through her folds and found her pussy weeping with forbidden desire. She bucked up hard from the sudden attention, making his finger push wildly inside. His thumb strummed her clit, causing her sensitive flesh to hum. Her hand gripped his wrist as he hammered her with sensations she’d never experienced before. Her legs fell open wider, giving more of herself over to his touch. She felt suddenly empty as his fingers pulled out of her pussy.

His hand twisted her panties around, positioning the fabric so that it slid up the crack of her ass. He rubbed, making her pussy quake with need. His thumb rolled her clit around in a tight circle that sent her body spiraling.

“Tell me you want me.”

She groaned. She wanted him, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of saying the words he wanted to hear.

He growled. “Tell me you want it hard and fast.”

Brine dug her nails into his wrist. She did want it. She wanted to fall from the edge he was dangling her off of, but she wouldn’t go like this. Not with a man she didn’t know taking more than she was willing to give. That thought taunted back like a boomerang. It was a lie. She wanted it hard and fast, slow and erotic. She wanted all of it with Thane, any way he was willing to give it to her.

“Look at me,” he said.

“No.”

Brine snapped her eyes open when his hand caressed her cheek. His face was drawn into tight, pained lines of arousal. “Trust me. Trust what’s happening between us.”

She didn’t know how. Life was cruel, and she couldn’t deal with it the same way normal people did. She had to guard her heart as though it could be taken away at any time. “Thane…”

“You can’t stop this, Brine. I’ll have you.”

“You won’t
ever
have my body.” His thumb cranked down over her clit, making her orgasm explode through her pussy. His fingers pushed inside to ride the wild waves of her pussy. Brine bowed up from his lap, hitting her head against the window, arching into his hand. She humped his fingers as though it was the last time she’d ever touch him. Honey flowed over his fingers, and he groaned as he rubbed her quaking sex. She felt thoroughly fucked from just his hand.

Brine’s eyes closed heavily as Thane murmured sexy words into her ear. More promises of what he would do to her when they were alone. Her body convulsed over his hand, snapping in tight, powerful pulsations that embarrassed and shocked her. She normally didn’t respond this way. The power of her orgasms shocked her. He kept her coming with just his words. He tightened his hold and kissed her temple.

She felt Thane’s hand smooth up over her belly. The loss of his heat was a shocking alarm that had her awakening fast from the sexual bliss she was experiencing.

The click of the handcuff being opened startled her. His predatory blue eyes looked deep within her soul and took ownership of it.

Taken.

“I can have you any time I want.”

Brine felt her cheeks flame. “This won’t be happening
ever
again.”

She scooted away, trying to put distance between her and the hot, thick cock Thane Elam had bulging down the leg of his pants. He made no attempts to hide the fact that he was completely aroused and that he wanted her to scoot back over and mount him. Brine shivered when his heavy-lidded gaze caressed her breasts. Temptation was going to lead her down a dangerous path if she wasn’t careful. She had to get out of there before she did anything else she’d later regret tonight when she was falling asleep.

She grabbed for the door.

“Coward,” he whispered.

The word slapped her pride. “Go to hell.”

“Maybe I’m already there.”

She met his tortured gaze, filled with regret and pain. Her heart longed to know what weighed so heavily on his soul. She didn’t know what to say. She’d been to the edge of hell and back again, too. Life wasn’t pretty there. It was hard and not many people were willing to walk that rode to make sure you came back safely. He looked away from her. That hurt more than she wanted to admit.

“I don’t ever want to see you on one of my construction properties again. It’s not safe. We clear?”

“I won’t be seeing you ever again. You can count on that.”

He reached out and snagged her wrist. “You’re trying the hell out of my patience, woman. You’re not hearing what I’m saying.”

Brine’s heart was hammering for all the wrong reasons. A secret part of her that she didn’t want to admit was there wanted her heart to be hammering for other reasons. There was something about Thane she wasn’t ready to confess to anyone. She pushed open the door. “I guess that makes us even then.”

“Don’t write the article,” he warned.

“Thanks for the ride.”

She smiled wickedly and slammed the truck door.

Brine shut the door to her place and locked it. She was inside before she realized that she left her boot in Thane’s truck. She was down one antique blunderbuss, one leather boot, and a handcuff. The score was 3-0. Not good.

Voices carried through the thin walls. Poppy was doing a reading. Brine stared at her palm. Maybe it was time she found out about her love life? She clenched her fist. The only thing she needed to worry about was e-mailing in her article before deadline tonight. She closed her eyes. Honey soaked her panties. She wasn’t doing anything until she took a cold shower.

Chapter Four

Dark shades covered her eyes as she headed through the doors of the Sentinel. She’d forgotten to take them off as she rode the elevator up to the seventh floor. There was a quiet calm in the office as she glanced over the cubicles. That had Brine stopping in her tracks and taking off her sunglasses.

All eyes were on her as she slung her bag on her desk, knocking over the pencil holder in the process. “Good morning?”

Stephanie slammed back her office chair. Her red curls were a hot mess around her heart-shaped face as she flounced her way. She cocked a hand on her hip as she leaned in close. “What the hell is going on?”

“What do you mean?” Brine asked.

Steph glanced over her shoulder to ward off the stares coming from their coworkers. “You were supposed to call me.”

“I forgot. I’m sorry. What’s going on here?”

Steph snapped out the front page of the newspaper she had gripped tight in her hand. It was the latest copy of the
Enquirer
, their competitor. A picture of Brine chained to the sequoia reflected back.
Thane. That dirty, rotten man.

“Fred’s not happy.”

“My article ran right?” Brine asked.

“It ran. Fred…”

The door to Fred’s office opened with a quiet click. The storm gathered tension in the room as her coworkers pretended to be busy. Steph’s curls bounced as she tossed her gaze at Fred.

“You better talk to him.” Steph walked away.

Brine scooped up the paper and headed to his office. He shut the door and edged around the desk. At sixty, Fred had bright, white hair and the hard jaws of a man who worked far too long in the business and had done it all. He paced behind his desk, finally staring out the window that overlooked the downtown Salem skyline.

“Explain it to me.”

Brine didn’t know where to begin. She knew she’d lost objectivity and wrote with too much emotion. Then there was the problem of her kissing someone she shouldn’t have. “I…had to get his attention.”

Fred’s face reddened. “You’ve made us a laughingstock! I’m sorry, Brine. But you have to eat crow on this one.”

Oh, for the love of all that is
right
…The thought of eating crow had her thinking of eating Thane’s hot cock instead. An image of the long, thick length of it down the inside leg of his jeans had her mouth watering. A forbidden hunger spun wickedly through her body. Brine’s nipples tingled and her pussy contracted hard at the thought of going down on him. She tightened her crossed legs and squirmed in the chair. She imagined unzipping his jeans and his spring-loaded sex shooting free from the tight confines.

She liked it when a man’s engorged flesh hit her face when she did that. She flushed at the very idea of swirling her tongue over the ridges of his cock head and sucking his thick phallus over her lips.
Is it thick?
From the way it hung down the inside of his leg it was definitely long. Probably wide, too, like the wrist of a man’s arm. She could tell a lot about a man’s size by stroking their wrist. Had she taken the time to notice Thane’s? She was so busy being angry with him that she hadn’t noticed how thick his wrist was.

Fred snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Hellooooo! Brine! Are you even listening to me?”

She woke up with a start. “What? Of course I am. I won’t eat cock on this.”

“It’s eat crow,” he corrected.

“Roosters. Corvine. What’s the difference?”

Fred glowered. “The difference is between a lightning bug and lightning.”

“Mark Twain said that,” Brine said.

“You’re smart, Brine. How could you be so foolish? I have to have Stephanie write a retraction tomorrow on the bullshit you wrote up.”

“It wasn’t complete and utter bullshit.”

He flipped open the paper, picked up his reading glasses and leaned onto his desk. “Questionable business practices that range from illegal imports and exports to taxation fraud. Who’s your source? You can’t make shit up.”

She opened and closed her mouth. “They’re rumors worth mentioning. I’m reporting their reputation.”

“Have you ever thought they could be from a competitor or a former employee? I’ve got legal all over this one. They called me at home this morning. This is nothing more than gossip.”

“I…”

Fred flipped open another paper. “What about this, Brine? Is it true?”

She didn’t have to look to know what he was asking about. It was only a matter of time before her past caught up. “It was a long time ago. I didn’t do anything wrong. I’ve put it behind me.”

“What a mess.” Fred dropped down in the chair, making the bearings squeal like bad breaks on a car. He rubbed his face with both hands. “I don’t want to even know the details of your past. It’s your business as far as I’m concerned. This just looks bad.”