Tease Me Read online

  He smiled now too. His smile was broad and gleaming, and it invited her to share the pleasure that had inspired it. She felt the tension drain from him, which strangely served to heighten the intensity. “I don’t suppose there is,” he agreed. “But I could tell you that I’ll walk out of here right now, agree to let you call the shots, set the pace, because I’m satisfied with the fact that you’re giving us a chance. I could tell you that, and it would be the truth.”

  “You could tell me that … but is that what you want to do?”

  He held her gaze intently and slowly shook his head. “I want to seduce that mouth of yours again. I want to start on your lips and work my way down until I’ve tasted all of you. I want to torture both of us by slowly peeling away that dress you’re wearing to find what’s underneath … then peel that away as well. I want to use my mouth, my tongue, my teeth, my hands, my fingertips to explore every inch of you.” He brought his mouth within a breath of hers. “And then I want to start all over again … and again … and again … until we’re both ready to scream. Then and only then do I want to enter you, push deep inside of you, until there is no part of me that hasn’t touched every part of you.” His breath was hot and rapid. “That’s what I want to do, Lainey. Right now. And tomorrow. And every moment of every day for as long as you’ll let me. But you call the shots.”

  Call the shots? Lainey could barely think coherently. “I, uh … We …” She tried to clear her throat, but her heart was firmly lodged in it. No one had ever seduced her so thoroughly or made her feel so wanted—and he’d yet to do more than kiss her. The pictures his words painted, the pleasure they promised, the security she felt in his arms …

  “Your pace,” he said. He pressed a kiss on her cheek that was all the more erotic for its sweet lightness. “Your decision.”

  “No pressure or anything,” she managed, her wry intent lost on a soft moan as he pressed another gentle kiss to the side of her chin.

  “None,” he promised. “Unless you consider this”— he kissed her chin, the tip of her nose, then each eyebrow—“pressure.”

  “No, no.” She barely formed the words. “Not at all. Don’t … stop on my account.” He kissed her temple, then slid his hands into her hair and tilted her head back so that he could reach the base of her throat. “Please don’t stop.” Her breathing was little more than shallow pants for air. “I’ll let you know what I decide in—” She stopped on a sudden inhalation as his mouth dipped to the neckline of her dress and his thumbs reached up to brush ever-so-lightly across her tightly beaded nipples. “A couple of hours,” she said with a sigh.

  “Hours,” he said, dipping his head in agreement. “Hours is good.”

  “In … in the meantime,” she said, lifting her head as she drew in another breath, “why don’t you take that big, heavy shirt off while I do something about this dress.”

  Tucker chuckled, and Lainey thought she wouldn’t need to take her clothes off; if he got her any hotter, they would melt.

  “I think I said something about slow, torturous peeling.” He started to crouch, dragging his mouth down over the front of her dress.

  Lainey clutched the copier for support. “Slow, peeling, torturous.” She gasped. “Yes, I believe you did. Oh, God …” His mouth closed over one nipple, and she almost climaxed right then, the pleasure so ferociously intense, it was almost painful.

  “You have exquisitely sensitive nipples. I can’t wait to taste them.”

  “Me either,” she croaked.

  He shifted his mouth away and continued his slow journey. It was all she could do not to clutch his head and drag it back up until she could feel the sweet weight of his entire body on hers. As if he’d read her mind, he stood and pulled his white shirt from his dark, pleated trousers.

  She helped him.

  “This doesn’t change anything, you know.” She popped buttons while he loosened his belt and unclasped his pants.

  “I know.”

  He stopped what he was doing and cupped her neck, drawing her mouth to his for a quick, hard, hot kiss. He pulled back far enough for her to look him in the eyes. “But when you make your decision about me, about us, I want you to have as much information as possible.” He pushed his shirt off his shoulders and let it slide to the floor, then took her hands and placed them with firm deliberation on his beautifully molded chest.

  She pressed her fingertips into the smooth, taut skin. His skin was warm, almost hot to the touch, the muscles firm and resilient under her searching fingertips.

  “Inform yourself.” He flashed her a grin. “Please,” he added, then gasped when she gently squeezed his erect nipples.

  “Seems I’m not the only one who’s exquisitely sensitive,” she teased.

  “Seems you’re not,” he ground out as she closed her lips over one. “Oh … my … G—” The words ended on a long, growling exhale.

  It was thrilling to know she could affect him the way he affected her. She was amazed that the pleasure she derived from running her hands over him, touching him, tasting him was as strong and satisfying as the pleasure she received from his touch.

  Lainey knew, in some corner of her mind where she’d shoved what little rational thought she still claimed to have, that she might very well live to regret the aftermath of what she was about to do. But there was no way she’d ever regret the act itself. She’d never forgive herself if she walked away right now. Of course, that was supposing she could walk at all. She might not trust herself to handle things correctly afterward, but she did trust Tucker. He understood what she’d meant when she said this wouldn’t change anything. He wouldn’t mistake this for something it wasn’t. And neither would she.

  She slid her hands up over his shoulders and linked them behind his neck. “I never knew education could be so … enlightening.”

  Tucker leaned her back. “Enlightening and—” The copier beeped, startling them both, then the top part of the machine grumbled to life and began to shift, making Lainey yelp and jump forward, almost knocking Tucker off his feet. A blinding flash of light followed as they righted themselves and Lainey turned to glare at the offending mood breaker. Only it hadn’t broken the mood. Tucker pulled her back against his warm chest and nuzzled at her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Let’s feed this thing some paper and go be alone for a while.”

  She knew she shouldn’t. She should have taken the beep as a cosmic signal or something, but it felt too perfect in the circle of his arms. She heard herself laugh softly. “Is this where I’m supposed to say your place or mine?”

  His chuckle was wickedly sexy. “Oh, I’m not letting you go. I have the perfect place in mind.” He leaned over and scooped up the prospectus papers from where he’d dropped them on Lillian’s desk, then reached around Lainey and laid the stack in the feeder tray. He continued to nuzzle her and kept one arm around her waist as he punched the correct buttons and started the process.

  Distracted both by the copier’s beeping and whirring response and Tucker’s lips, Lainey didn’t give much thought to where Tucker’s “perfect place” was … until he scooped her up into his arms, surprising a squeal out of her.

  “Put me down before you drop me. This isn’t the movies. I’m not one of those wraithlike heroines.”

  “No,” he agreed, as he shouldered her out the door into the hallway and started toward the interior of the salon. “But then I don’t have to go that far.”

  “You’re simply too chivalrous,” she said, but she was giggling. He didn’t carry her as if she were a feather, but neither was he truly struggling. Her ego survived un-bruised … and the rest of her was unabashedly thrilled by his rather cavemanlike behavior. She broke off suddenly as she realized where he was headed. “You aren’t.”

  “I am.” He shifted sideways and turned the knob to the massage room, then kicked the door gently open.

  “Tucker—”

  “Shh.” He toed the door shut and a nightlight flickered on, casting a sma
ll glow that left most of the room in heavy shadows. He walked to the linen-draped padded table and put her down, urging her to stretch out. “Don’t go anywhere.” He walked over to the small wheeled table she recognized as the one that held all the oils and lotions. She heard the click of several switches. There was a sudden low hum, then a soft orange glow emanated from the floor as a small ceramic heater purred warmth into the room. Before she could sit up, he was back by her side.

  “Roll over. Onto your stomach.”

  “Tucker, you don’t need—”

  “Oh, I need. Badly. Let me, Lainey. If you don’t enjoy it, I’ll stop.”

  Oh, she had no doubt she’d be transported, but she was still achy and tingly, with muscles clenching in odd places and an almost agitated need that begged her to do something hot, hard, and fast to assuage it. The very last thing she really wanted to do was stretch out and relax.

  With gentle, confident hands he urged her onto her stomach. On a long sigh, as he began to knead her shoulders, she complied.

  He slid a folded velvety towel under her head. Something wasn’t completely right, she thought dazedly. Oh, yeah. “My dress,” she murmured. “Shouldn’t you—”

  “We’ll get there, Lainey.” He stepped to the foot of the table and slid her shoes off. She wriggled her toes, then moaned as he took one bare foot in his hand and began to slowly work his fingers along the sole of her foot. Somewhere, somehow, he’d rubbed oil into his palms. They were warm, slick, and incredibly arousing. Who knew relaxing could be so intensely erotic? The agitation she’d felt banked down to a low, constant hum of need. She sank deeply into it, gave herself over to it—and to the man who’d so perceptively stirred it to life within her.

  “Right,” she agreed blissfully. “Slow. Torturous. How could I have forgotten?” She groaned as he deeply rubbed first one foot, then the other. “This is too good to be legal.”

  Tucker chuckled and focused twice as hard on working slowly up to her calves. Touching her this way, forcing restraint, was driving him insane. He was a breath away from simply devouring her. Who’s stupid idea was it to go slowly? There was no denying it was exquisite torture.

  “You are a consenting adult,” he said, moving past the backs of her knees.

  “I’m a begging-you-please adult.” The words were muffled against the towel. She’d gone all languid and drowsy on him, but as his fingertips worked farther up her thighs, he felt the tension thrum back into her muscles until she was almost quivering with it.

  He’d never been so close to exploding from merely touching a woman. He was climbing out of his skin, and they were both still mostly dressed. He pushed at the hem of her dress, nudging it higher and higher as he worked his fingers into the backs of her thighs.

  “An if-you-stop-now-I’ll-kill-you adult.”

  “Mmm, an assault adult.” He slid his fingers along the inside of her thighs. “Maybe we can focus all that … aggression.” His fingertips brushed silk. She groaned and writhed under his touch. A hot lick of pleasure rushed over him. It took every scrap of control he had to keep from climbing onto the table and burying himself inside her right then and there.

  “Who’s idea was this, anyway,” he grumbled. His tortured tone made her laugh, then groan as the movement caused his fingers to brush over her again. She was hot, and there was no mistaking she was ready for him. Scented oils could not compete with scented Lainey.

  As he moved to the side of the table, his hands never left her body. He pushed her dress higher, exposing a hint of pale peach silky panties. He groaned. She writhed. He was dying a slow, scented death. His control began to crumble as he nudged her thighs farther apart and slid his fingers along the inside of the soft elastic.

  “Tucker.” Her demand was part growl, part mindless need. He understood her perfectly.

  He leaned down and kissed the side of her neck, surprising a gasp out of her. She lifted her head and turned to him. He took advantage of her parted lips … and her parted legs.

  Her response was everything he could have hoped for and then some. She reached up and hooked his neck, pulled him closer, and returned his kiss with a power that left him trembling. Her thighs clamped around his wrist as she moved under him, moaned into him, came for him.

  Her climax was raw, unabashed, and pure Lainey. He couldn’t stand it a moment longer. He pulled her dress over her head even as she reached for his loosened belt buckle. It wasn’t graceful, and they were both panting and half laughing by the time their clothes landed in a heap on the floor.

  “Highly unprofessional. You’ll never get your massage license now,” she said, smiling up at him.

  She was propped up on one arm, and he pulled her around so that she was sitting on the side of the table, her legs straddling his. He tucked his hands under her thighs and lifted them to his hips. They both moaned as he brushed against her. “What a damn shame.” He leaned over her, pressing her back, pressing against her heat.

  Her head dropped back, inviting him to taste fully the breasts he’d only grazed earlier. They were amazingly distracting, and he took his sweet time satisfying his sudden craving.

  She gasped as he pulled one beaded nipple deeper into his mouth. “How do you do that?”

  “This?” He playfully dragged his tongue across the shallow valley between her breasts. “Or this?” He circled her other nipple with his tongue, then teased it gently between his lips.

  He urged her legs to lock behind his hips, then slid a hand beneath her neck and lifted her head until she looked at him. In the space of several silent heartbeats, their smiles faded. He looked deeply into her eyes. “Are you ready for me, Lainey? All of me?” He was asking a far bigger question than the obvious.

  Her pupils were huge, her lovely green eyes were drowsily seductive … but they held his gaze with a certainty that told him she knew exactly what he was asking. “I guess we’re about to find out,” she whispered.

  It wasn’t the assured promise he wanted, but it was honest, and that was far better. He began to press inside of her, delighting in seeing how her eyes changed, flashing green fire. He decided he could easily spend the rest of his life watching her as he made love to her. Her smiles, her laughter, her eyes that promised sleepy seduction one moment, then snapped and crackled with heat the next.

  No, he’d never grow tired of loving Lainey Cooper.

  He buried in his heart the words that crept right to the edge of his tongue and buried himself inside her at the same time.

  They were half frantic and all wild, and it was over long before he wanted it to be. He remained deep within her after their moans had slowed to deep breathing and their shuddering bodies had relaxed. Tucker held Lainey tightly to him, cupping her head to the curve of his neck as he leaned heavily against the table. “I don’t want to let you go,” he said, his voice a deep rumble. “But I’m going to end up on the floor if I don’t—”

  “Climb up here with me,” she said, her lips warm and damp against his neck.

  Just hearing her voice, he actually began to stir. He felt her smile as his own curved his lips.

  “Maybe I should have said climb up here on me.” Her voice was smoky and rough, and he hardened further.

  He chuckled and held her even tighter. “Oh, Lainey, where have you been all my life?”

  He felt her tense and regretted, for an instant, his comment. But though his timing might not have been the best, he refused to feel bad for speaking the truth. His life before her was the past, over and done with. But his life ahead was filled with possibilities, and he wanted them all to include Lainey Cooper.

  She lifted her head and he shifted to allow her to look at him. He hated what he saw in her eyes, hated more what he knew she was going to say, but he also knew—had known all along—that nothing, not even the powerful connection they’d just shared, would circumvent the inevitable. There was no going around it, but he was determined to get them through it.

  “Tucker, you understood what I meant ear
lier.”

  “You said this wouldn’t change anything. I agreed. It didn’t, for me. I already knew how I felt about you, and I knew that making love with you would deepen it, strengthen it, but not change it.”

  “But that is a change. It alters the risk.”

  “For me. It was one I was more than willing to take.”

  She shifted against him, and he reluctantly let her move and sit up, though he kept her legs around him and continued to hold her.

  “Will you expect the same from me?”

  He knew what she was asking. “I only expect you to be honest with yourself and with me. As I said, I know how I feel, and I think I’ve made that pretty clear to you. What you feel is something I can’t control. Only you can decide that.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Tucker.”

  His heart tightened painfully, and he fought hard to keep that pain out of his eyes. “I’m hoping you won’t.”

  “But—”

  “Shh.” He pressed his fingers gently to her lips. “I said ‘hoping.’ Whatever you decide, be honest with me, Lainey. Even if it hurts. But promise me one thing.”

  “What?”

  He dropped a soft kiss on her lips, then brushed his mouth across her cheek. “Be just as honest with yourself.”

  ELEVEN

  Lainey was closing up the café, her thoughts on Tucker, as they had been every minute since they’d parted two nights before, when someone rapped on the front window.

  With one hand pressed to her chest, she unlocked and opened the front door. “You scared me half to death.”

  Tucker stepped inside and out of the way, while she locked the door once again and closed the blinds on the door and front windows. “You were expecting me, weren’t you?”

  His expression was unreadable. “Yes, I was. I was lost in thought, I guess.” The truth was, she’d been expecting him to pop up sooner. Lainey had had catering obligations that had taken up most of her time during the last forty-eight hours, which was why they’d agreed to meet tonight to go over their plans to help Minerva. But given Tucker’s pursuit thus far, not to mention what had occurred two nights earlier, she’d jumped at every sound, certain that when she turned, she’d find Tucker lounging against the nearest wall, tree, or building, grinning confidently, ready with a new plan of attack.