Out of Control Read online

  I didn’t look up again until my plate was clean of everything but a few sauce-smeared lettuce leaves. He had already finished.

  He pushed his plate aside to skewer me with his gaze. “So, I was thinking I could use someone like you at work.”

  “What?” I balked. “Ah, hell, no.”

  It was his turn to blink. “Just like that? You’re not even going to ask what I’m offering?”

  “Nope.” I shook my head. “Ever heard of #MeToo? Sleeping with the boss is a no-go zone.”

  He grimaced. “I wasn’t looking to take advantage of you.”

  “I don’t know that you’d be much fun to work for, anyway.” I added a grin to take the sting out of my words—not that I thought they’d dented his ego in the slightest. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m all about fun. Not worrying about what tomorrow may or may not bring. Rolling with the punches.”

  Blake pressed his lips together. “Is that what last night was about? Rolling with the punches?”

  I shrugged again, although it felt awkward. Uncomfortable. “You could have been anyone,” I said, telling half the truth. I had doubts I would have waltzed out of the bar with just anyone. Blake being Blake had definitely helped with the decision to take him to bed.

  He leaned in, placing his hands on the table so his fingertips were inches from mine. “You wanted me,” he said, his voice low and warm, sending shivers down my spine. “Me. When you first came in, you were checking me out.”

  I crossed my arms, hiding the fact my nipples were trying to reach through my T-shirt and grab him. “You checked me out, too,” I croaked.

  “Yeah, I did.” God, the way he said it. Brazenly. Like he wanted me again. Right here and now. On this table. I gulped in air as the temperature in our little corner of the pub shot up a degree or two.

  “Which is my point,” I said, trying not to wriggle under his gaze. He had a way of sneaking under my bravado, making me want things. Hot, steamy, sexy things. I shuddered out a sigh, shifting in my seat while my clit throbbed with wanting him. So not helping. “When people get their freak on, there’s nothing you can do but let it run its course. Lust. It’s a base animal instinct. Isn’t that why you came back to my apartment today?”

  “Partly,” he conceded. His hungry gaze roved my face before slipping down to my guilt-ridden nipples.

  I should have been embarrassed, but I was past caring. His words had stroked my nipples to hard points as surely as if he’d run his fingers over my breasts. My panties were sopping. I puffed out my chest, giving him a good view. He could look and touch any part of me he desired. I’d spent the last two years not being able to do anything without the approval of someone else, being suffocated by a man who’d tried to rob me of my will. Now I was all about proving I could do exactly what I wanted. Wasn’t that why I’d moved across the country to share an apartment with a woman I barely knew? My life was my own, and if Blake didn’t like it, the door was right behind me.

  Although, I’d prefer it if he didn’t leave until after we’d gone to bed.

  I waited until the waitress had cleared the plates before leaning in and sliding my fingers up over his hands. He glanced up. He must have seen something in my expression, because he went to lean back, but I dug my fingers into his wrists, taking control.

  I grabbed his gaze and held on just as hard. “I want to drag the hem of my skirt up my thighs, hook my thumbs into the elastic of my panties and peel them down,” I said throatily. His eyes dropped to my hands. “Then I’ll give a little shimmy of my hips. Like this.” I wriggled my fingers on his arms. “They’ll drop around my ankles and you’ll see how wet you’ve made me.” I licked my bottom lip, turning myself on just as much as I was getting to him. “I’ll step out of them nice and slow, then bend down and scoop them up before anyone sees.” I glanced to the side, conscious of the couple seated at the table next to us.

  Blake followed my gaze. He pressed his lips together, but his breathing was ragged, his eyes heated but uncertain. I drew back, fingers withdrawing.

  “You don’t think I will?” I stood up, my hands feathering my hemline.

  He shot up and grabbed my wrist, dragging me past the bar and into the corridor that led to the restrooms. I shook free of his grip. No one was in there, so I made good on my promise and did exactly what I’d said I would. His breathing stuttered, but his gaze never left me.

  “I’m making the first move,” I said, locking onto his gaze and hoping like hell my cheeks weren’t as red as they felt. “It’s up to you what you want to do about it.”

  He glanced down at my panties and stilled for a beat. When he looked up again, his gaze was shadowed. “So…what? Do you expect me to take mine off now, or finger you in public just to prove how impetuous I can be?” He flicked a glance sideways, then plucked my panties off the floor and stuffed them into his pocket.

  “It would be a start,” I said, struggling to hide my disappointment. But I’d committed to a course of action and I couldn’t back down. Not until I either got what I wanted, or I drove him away, proving he wasn’t the man for me. I craved fun. Adventure. Not a stick-in-the-mud who didn’t know how to play dirty.

  I twisted away from him and walked back to the bar, conscious of the way my thighs rubbed together, cool air hitting my pussy, although it did nothing to dampen my heat. The material of my skirt swished across my skin with every movement. It felt good. Free.

  “Can I have a couple of shots of tequila, please?” I stretched up on my tippy toes, leaning against the bar, feeling the hem of my skirt inch up the back of my thighs. Hopefully, Blake would catch a glimpse of my ass, or damn close to it.

  “Is this what you wanted?” he whispered roughly in my ear. He pressed up against my back, his hand sliding around to catch at my hips. His cock wedged in my buttocks, rock hard. I got caught up in a wave of heat and wriggled back, wishing away the thin barrier of fabric between us.

  If we had been anywhere but in a public restaurant, I would have ripped open his zipper and sunk back onto his big, rigid length, grinding myself into him. I circled my ass around his cock, letting out a little sigh when his fingers crept across my thighs, so close to my sex I could feel their heat.

  “Yes, this is what I wanted.” My thighs were slick with wetness. I didn’t know how I was going to walk away from the bar without slipping in a puddle of my own juices.

  He shoved forward, the heat from his cock branding my buttocks. He flicked his hips forward then pulled away. “Come with me. Now.” He threw a hundred on the bar and grabbed my hand, not stopping until we were outside. He paused for a moment before dragging me around the corner of the building to the back-entrance alleyway. He pushed me up against the rough brick wall, breathing heavily.

  “Put these on,” he gritted out, yanking my underwear from his pocket and waving them in front of my face.

  I froze. “What?”

  “Put them on,” he ground out quietly. His face was hard, but the heat in his gaze was still there. A test? He held my underwear out at waist height, his fingers pulling out the seams like a parent about to dress a toddler.

  I made a snatch for my panties, but he yanked them from my reach.

  “Put them on,” he ordered again, holding them out.

  I pressed my lips together, wishing I’d never started this madness. I was determined not to be embarrassed, but I wanted to kill him for doing this to me.

  Actions have consequences.

  He made me step into them like a child. One leg at a time, over my shoes and up to my knees. Then he slid them up my thighs, backing me into the wall again in the process. His fingers fluttered over my ass, pulling me to him, letting me feel how hard he was for me still.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  For once, I wasn’t going to argue.

  Chapter Seven

  BLAKE

  I held back a sigh of relief when Lila allowed me to cover her ass with her panties. That woman. She had no idea how close I’d come to d
oing exactly what she wanted—fucking her as she stood at the bar, just unzipping my jeans and thrusting deep inside her pussy. Her scent still clung to my fingers and my balls were tight and heavy. I wanted nothing more than to be pressed up against her again, her wet heat seeping through the front of my pants, so close to temptation.

  It’d been close, the peppery tang of excitement flooding my mouth, urging me to take hold of her and do what she had so clearly wanted. I could have driven two fingers inside her, felt the pulse and squeeze of her sex as she came, juices running down my palms. No one would have known what the hell was going on with the woman writhing and moaning at the bar. I would have made her lick my fingers afterward, running her tongue around my thumb, a precursor of what she could do later to my cock.

  Fuck, my dick was so hard it was a wonder I could walk. It was only the thought of what I would do to Lila when we were alone that had given me the sense to grab her hand and drag her from the bar. I hoped a hundred was enough to cover the meal and have them look the other way next time I dropped in. Not that I could see myself eating at Jacqui’s in the foreseeable future, anyway. I would always imagine Lila leaning across the table, drawing me in with her whispered promises, the challenge in her eyes I couldn’t help but answer.

  “Where are we going? My apartment is the other way,” she said as I turned left into the street.

  “We’re heading to my place,” I said. Yeah. Her bedroom was closer, but I couldn’t do the things I wanted to her there, not if Mia was home. I wanted to get home before giving in to the temptation to drag Lila back into an alley and rip that ridiculous scrap of lace off her pussy, and bury myself balls deep.

  I made it to my car and opened the back door. I wanted her well out of my reach. “Get in,” I said, guiding her head past the top of the frame so she didn’t bump it. “Stay put,” I said gruffly, belting her in.

  “Or what?” She looked up, her eyes sparking.

  “For fuck’s sake,” I cursed under my breath.

  She needed to shut that smart mouth, or I was going to lose control and have her in the back seat, parked right here on the street. I wanted her to wrap those lips around my cock and—

  I groaned. “Or I’ll drive you home right now and I won’t fulfill whatever little fantasy you had in mind when you took your panties off.”

  That shut her up. Thank God. I slammed the door on her “O” of surprise and got in front. I worked out my frustration on the road, concentrating on driving home in record time, swearing at anyone who got in my way. Two miles felt like two hundred.

  I finally pulled into the garage and waited for the door to roll down before getting out. She fiddled with the door handle but didn’t make a move to follow. I swallowed a curse and walked around to her side to tap on the window.

  “Are you going to get out?”

  “I can’t.” She grinned up at me. “Kiddy locks.”

  That knocked the corners off my growing impatience. I stifled a smile and opened the door. I never knew what she was going to do next, which was no doubt what had me so twitchy. Something she knew and used to her advantage. Each time I thought I had the upper hand she would flip it on me, show me how out of my control she really was.

  I loosened my shoulders and ushered her inside. I didn’t know what her agenda was, but my sole focus was on getting her into my bed. Or as close as I could before I truly lost it.

  Again, she took me by surprise. “This is where you live?” She spun on her toe, her mouth falling open as she did a complete three-sixty of the living room.

  I glanced around, trying to see things as she saw them. I had built the house a few years back. Multifunctional and utilitarian, it was an ultra-modern building in stressed concrete and glass. Leather couches and oversize furniture filled the massive living area, while at the other end was a large, stainless-steel kitchen. The windows gave a nice view of the city lights and the dark glint of water from the Potomac River that flowed fifty feet below.

  Yeah, I had a pretty nice pad, but I’d earned every bit of it.

  “It happens when you work hard and save your pennies,” I said dryly.

  She wrinkled her nose and her hands found her hips. “Did you bring me all this way just to lecture me on my future?”

  That was it. The last smart-assed comment I would let her get away with.

  I rocked forward and gathered her up, driving my mouth down onto hers. She met me halfway, wrapping her fingers in my hair as she opened beneath me. I dug my tongue in, scraping against her teeth before finding what I was searching for. She opened farther, moaning into me as our tongues thrust and danced against each other.

  I had wanted the kiss to be a punishment. A warning. But, of course, she foiled my plans by melting into my body, all soft and luscious-like. She cupped my cheeks, pulling me closer, and I followed her across the floor, devouring those sweet lips of hers. She came up hard against the back of the couch and I grunted in appreciation as I finally got to jam my aching dick against something solid. I ground into her belly, sucking on her tongue like a piece of candy.

  It still wasn’t enough. I hoisted her off her feet and walked her through to my room, all the while our mouths still fused together. When I judged we were close enough to my bed, I threw her backward. She bounced, but before she could protest my rough treatment, I climbed on top of her, bracketing her between my knees and arms while she squirmed beneath me.

  I hung my head and gazed down at her, taking in the high color of her cheeks, her reddened lips, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath.

  “You all right?” I wanted to make sure she was with me.

  “Shut the fuck up and keep going.” She gripped my shoulders, trying to pull me down.

  Good enough for me.

  I gathered her hands in one of mine, pinning them high above her head. I spread my fingers and ran my hand down her arm, loving the little shiver I caused as I brushed the edges of her breasts. Her nipples were hard like bullets. I pushed up her T-shirt and yanked down the top of her bra until the buds popped out, ready to be tasted. But not yet. I deliberately left her nipples begging for attention as I kept on my downward trajectory, sweeping my hand over the curves of her belly, over her hip, down to the hem of her skirt. All the while, she wriggled and writhed beneath me, caressing me with her body, making my balls ache with wanting her.

  I pulled up her skirt, exposing the pair of panties that had started my obsession tonight. Her punishment. She was wet, the musky scent of her desire teasing my senses. I drove my leg between her thighs, pushing her knees out. She shunted up the bed, digging her heels in to gain purchase.

  I lowered my head and dove straight in, burying my nose between her legs, drawing her scent in through my lips, tasting as much as smelling the sweet musky aroma that stuck to the back of my throat like a caress. I burrowed my tongue into the lace, and she ground her hips against my face, trying to push herself closer as I licked and laved the thin fabric barrier. I toyed with the edge of the lace, close enough that she would feel my fingers, but not close enough to touch any part of her she wanted. She hissed in frustration, but I pushed her hand away.

  “No. Naughty girls have to leave their panties on.”

  She grabbed two fistfuls of my hair, jamming her pelvis into my mouth, finally finding traction with her clit on my nose. I shoved her panties to one side, playing a tune around the edges of her sex while I made a spear with my tongue, flicking in and out while she went out of control on my face.

  She swept me up in her excitement, little mewling sounds that made my cock weep with the need to be inside her. I flexed my hips back and forth against the end of the bed, seeking a release I knew wouldn’t come. Not until I had what I wanted. I redoubled my efforts on her pussy, lapping at her juices. Her scent filled my senses, sweet honey sliding down my throat with each thrust of my tongue, mewls turning to cries of pleasure as she clawed at my shoulders, driving me on. I fingered her clit, rubbing and pinching the tight nub, each touc
h eliciting a rush of liquid until it coated my lips and chin.

  I went back for more, flicking my fingers across her clit faster, increasing the dip and dive of my tongue, digging deep into her pussy. Her thighs tightened around me as she gathered herself, muscles clenching. I slid a finger deep inside her, curling the end to hit the sweet spot while I pressed my tongue hard around her clit, working it in small circles. Her body stiffened, and she let out a cry, suffocating me in her creamy goodness. I didn’t care. Drowning in Lila was a great way to die.

  The edges of my vision were blurring when she finally let me go. I eased back, intending to undress her and lay her bare, but she got the jump on me.

  “Like for like,” she insisted. She pushed me to the floor and had her hands on my cock, making a fist out of my shaft and the material of my pants. She undid the top button and I wriggled free, but she wouldn’t let me go any further than pushing the waistband past my hips. I strained against her hand, and she bit her lip.

  “Or I can go further if you let me get naked, too?” she said, with the barest of smiles.

  “Take off those damn panties. Now,” I ordered.

  She grinned. “So you’ve learned your lesson?”

  Lesson? If there was one, I’d forgotten what the hell it was. And I didn’t care. It was all I could do to lie on the floor and watch as she stood up and stripped. Her skirt and panties came last, nice and slow, making my mouth water. She sank down to straddle my legs.

  “Stay still,” she said, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

  Fuck. That got me even more excited. I didn’t know what to expect and, for once, I was okay with that. Surprisingly, I trusted her not to hurt me. Not physically, anyway.

  “I think I need to educate you another way. Put your hands out.” She plucked her panties from the pile of clothing, pulling the slim bands of elastic out taut, then letting them spring back, as if testing their strength.

  A kick of excitement had my heart thumping, and I did as she wanted, fisting my hands together in front of me and holding them above my throbbing cock. I doubted her delicate lace thong would fit around my hands, but I was as much in the moment as she was, so I held still, letting her wrap the fabric about my wrists until they were tightly bound together. There wasn’t much left over to make a decent knot, but she bent to the task, her tongue sneaking to the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on tying me up tight.