Twisted Hunger (26 page)

“But I want us to be friends,” he said, giving her another squeeze. “And the look on your face then was like it is now. Not objecting at all. Almost as though—” He quickly moved his hand from the top of her thigh to beneath her skirt and straight for the jointure between. “Why, Miss Winters, you’re not wearing any underwear.” His fingers easily found their target. “And you are extremely wet. Could it be that my
oh-so improper
advances today got you hot for me? Have you been sitting here all day thinking about what it would be like to have me do this?”

She parted her legs wider and moaned when he gave her swollen clit a hard pinch. “From where I’m sitting, you’re not so prim and proper after all. It feels to me like you’re nothing but a dishonest, horny lesbo-slut, just hoping someone forces herself on you so you can claim you didn’t want it.

“Oh please don’t. This isn’t right.” Her body slid down in the chair and she pulled her skirt up to her waist, clearly contradicting her words.

He abruptly stood up and yanked her to her feet. “Oh no, you aren’t going to get it all your way.” He pushed and turned her around until she was reclining on the desk with her skirt gathered up at her waist. By shifting the armchair he was able to plant her feet on each arm with him seated in between, almost like when they played gynecologist. But the strappy high-heeled shoes made it very different. His fingers immediately returned to her clit to keep her in line.

“Admit that you want it from me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She gasped as two of his fingers slipped inside her cunt while his thumb continued to put pressure on the outside nerve bundle.

“Say you want a woman’s mouth on your precious pussy. Say you want my tongue licking you until you come.”

“No. No. I can’t. It’s not proper.” She squealed as he brought her close to orgasm then removed his hand. “No!
Don’t stop
. Not yet.”

“Then say it.”

She whimpered.

He clamped his hands on her knees so that she couldn’t close them to give herself any relief. “Say it or I walk out of here and you can take care of yourself.”

She sucked air in through clenched teeth. “All right! You win. I want a woman’s mouth and tongue on my pussy. I want
you
, Mrs. Jones, to make me come all over your face.”

Since she begged so prettily,
Mrs. Jones
energetically complied.

As soon as she shuddered with release, she lowered her voice and ordered, “Now fuck me, you wicked stuck-up bitch.”

He smiled and shoved down his pants. “Lucky for you, I happened to have brought a nice big dildo with me.”

* * *

Ellery spent most of the night trying to figure out what it was about Luke Madigan that had turned her into an animal in heat. What little sleep she got was wrecked by the old earthquake dream, with a new frustrating twist. While the ground around her kept opening up, instead of simply running to avoid the chasms, she was chasing after something that stayed just beyond her reach.

She was further frustrated when she walked into the lobby the next morning and saw Luke waiting to intercept her.

“I didn’t want to bother you while you were working,” he said, as though that was a satisfactory explanation for his presence. “And you didn’t give me your home number.”

Her instinct was to keep walking right past him, but she ordered herself to behave like a grown-up. “Look, I am truly sorry about last night. I wasn’t… prepared for what happened between us. I still don’t know how I feel about it.”

“Understood,” he said seriously. “So go out with me tonight, on a real date, not a dare, and we’ll talk about it together.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I… I’m, um, spending the evening with the friend who had to cancel last night.”

“You know, Ellery, you weren’t the only one who wasn’t prepared for what happened between us. Will you at least give me your phone number so I can call you later?” He noted her reluctance. “Fine. You know where you can call me when you’re ready to face the truth.”

He started to walk away then came back to her. “I almost forgot. I have something of yours.” He reached for her hand, turned it palm up and dropped three hairpins onto it.

Chapter 14

When Teddy arrived in the office with the morning’s clippings and gave her an incredibly sweet, shy smile, Ellery felt very guilty about what she was about to do. But when his question about their dinner plans took a full minute for him to sound out, she knew she could not go through with the promised date so soon after last night’s disaster. Diane had mentioned getting together tonight and that sounded more along the lines of what her case of nerves needed at the moment.

“I am so sorry, Teddy. I need to postpone again. Everything just piled up… you know how it is. How does tomorrow evening look for you?”

He swallowed hard and picked a piece of invisible lint off his jacket sleeve. “I’m g-going to Sssanta Mmmonica w-w-w-with Abe and Vivian. Mmmaybe next w-w-w-week w-w-w-will be better.”

* * *

Teddy paused on the stairwell landing outside of Ellery’s office door and took a slow, calming breath. He had been so positive that the stutter would not get the best of him, but her rejection had instantly shot an arrow into his bubble of confidence. She had not been able to meet his eyes when she put him off. That could have been because she felt bad about hurting his feelings.

Or it could have been because she was lying.

If he found out it was the latter, that there was no honest, business-related reason for her to back out of their date…

He had not yet decided exactly what he would do if she’d lied to him. He only knew she would be very,
very
sorry.

* * *

“It’s hard to believe we could have come from such different beginnings and ended up being so similar,” Diane noted with a chuckle. They had been comparing their life histories since they arrived at the restaurant and had found almost no common elements until they reached their adult years.

“Well, it is said that opposites attract,” Ellery offered with a smile that involuntarily morphed into a yawn. “Excuse me.”

Diane smirked at her. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who watch the ten o’clock news because you can’t stay awake ‘til eleven! Or do you have some juicy excuse, like a male friend who kept you up all last night?” She raised her eyebrows in response to Ellery’s flushed cheeks. “C’mon, girl. Let’s hear some details. I’ve been on short rations for a while.”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“That’s okay. Just tell me what it
was
like. At this point I’d even appreciate some vicarious heavy breathing.”

Ellery laughed. Maybe talking it out with another single career woman would help clear her head. “I met this man Saturday night.”

“At the banquet? I thought you were there with Brandon.”

“Yes, but that’s a separate story.” Without mentioning Brevowski or her suspicions about Luke, she briefly explained how he dared her into going out with him and the bewildering effect he had on her. “If you hadn’t canceled on me last night, I might not be in this predicament today.”

“Hah! You can’t blame me because this guy lit a brush fire under you.”

Ellery knew she was the only one to blame. “The problem is, I don’t want any man lighting that kind of fire under me. It… it takes away from… from the focus I need to achieve my career goals. You should understand that.”

“Hmmm. I gather you don’t lose your
focus
with Brandon.”

Ellery shrugged. “Brandon and I were casual lovers a long time ago. It was good. Actually,
he
is quite good, but in a rehearsed kind of way. It’s like… he knows where all the parts are and what to do with them to assure satisfaction.”

Diane choked on that one. “That’s more than most men can do. But now I’m really confused. Brandon told me he was up here to spend time with you, but that you didn’t let him in your bed.”

“That’s true,” Ellery replied, wondering when the two of them had such an intimate conversation. “I have to guard my reputation and Brandon is a media magnet.”

“Don’t you mean media hog?”

“Obviously, the time you spent with him gave you a good picture of the man.” Ellery paused, then decided to tell Diane the rest of the Brandon story in hopes she had some advice to share. “The truth is, he was pushing for an instant, long-term commitment, not a one- or two-night stand, and I’ve always intended to remain single and independent. But he got me thinking of the advantages to be had by marrying someone like him.”

“Let me guess. He poses no threat to your career goals. In fact, his celebrity status could bring you some recognition if it was played right, and let’s not forget all that satisfactory sex.”

Ellery giggled. “It sounded better when it was all inside my head. The one big thing that would stop me from accepting his proposal is that he’s always been a chronic womanizer. I couldn’t tolerate living with a cheat.”

“Then there’s probably something I should tell you. Brandon made a pass at me after you went home the other night.”

“Huh. Well, that certainly clears up the question of how serious he was about marrying me. Thank you for telling me.”

“I wasn’t sure that was something you’d want to hear, even though I turned him down. Some women wouldn’t want to know. Of course, now that I know you aren’t madly in love with him, I’m sorry I didn’t take the opportunity to check out his well-rehearsed techniques for myself. But enough about the mechanical man. I want to hear about the one who scares the hell out of you.”

Ellery’s mouth dropped open. “Why did you say that? I’m not afraid of any man.”

Diane held up her hands defensively. “Down, girl. I was just rewording what you said before. We can change the subject if you want.”

“I’m sorry.” She sighed. “You might have a point. The thing is, there was this chemistry between us, the kind that not only takes your breath away but strips you of all your common sense at the same time.”

“And you consider that a bad thing?”

Ellery shook her head. “No, not bad, I guess. Just too much of a good thing, maybe. I guess he does scare me in a way. I prefer to feel like I have some control over a man if I’m going to be alone with him. In this case, I don’t even seem to have control over
me
. Even when he’s goading me, I’m—” She touched her cheek. “See? I can’t even talk about him without heating up!”

“Ooh, you do have a bad case, girl.” Diane leaned forward and spoke in a sincere voice. “Listen to me. I know what I’m talking about here. We oh-so independent, single career ladies need to get our hair mussed up every so often, just to keep everything balanced and working properly. And from what you’ve told me, you’re way overdue for a good tune-up.”

The reference to her hair made Ellery think about the hairpins, and her cheeks flushed again. “Brandon invited me down to L.A. this weekend. Maybe I should—”

“
No!”
Diane ordered then softened her voice. “You couldn’t possibly do that without ending up on the front page of a tabloid. Besides, all the technical skill in the world can’t put out a fire set by another man.”

Ellery pouted at her. “I know that. But I’m just not sure I can trust him.”

“Why do you think it’s called ‘the battle of the sexes’? Haven’t you heard? Men are all cheats and liars and women are all nagging and needy. It’s a true mystery how we manage to survive on the same planet, let alone under one roof. The fact is, you don’t have to trust a man to accept his gifts, whether those gifts are material, physical or emotional. And as far as him distracting you from your career goals, I can almost guarantee that once you’ve gotten that tune-up, you’ll have more energy and be more focused, not less. If you don’t believe me, answer this. How productive were you today?”

Ellery groaned. “I was lucky I remembered the senator’s name.”

“Enough said. And now that we’ve had our traditional girly chat, the only thing left to do to seal our friendship is order the Death by Chocolate dessert for two.”

Overly full and high on chocolate, they took a walk after they left the restaurant. Ellery could not remember the last time she laughed so much, but once Diane got started relating some of her memorable dating experiences, she couldn’t be stopped.