Chapter One
He told her he wanted to buy her a pair of thigh-high, stiletto-heeled boots—just to wear in bed. Tina was close to coming at that point anyway, but the idea of wearing such a delectable sex accessory pushed her right to the edge of orgasm.
"Thigh-high?" Tina replied, as nonchalantly as she could, under the circumstances.
Shaun nodded
"To wear in bed?"
He nodded again, his smile turning wickedly suggestive.
Tina was on her back with Shaun between her thighs when he'd chosen to mention the boots. Locking eyes with her, he pivoted against her with her legs draped over his shoulders. Her feet—with strappy high-heeled sandals still on—were locked behind him. The position fixed his agile body against her, so that the head of his cock rubbed right up against the front wall of her sex, to bring her off. He was fully dressed. Her stockings and dress also remained on. In their desperation to take each other all that had been stripped off was her French lace G-string.
"Well," he said, pausing on his thrusts inside her, "do you like the idea?" He was holding back on her, as if his next thrust depended on her answer.
She bit into her lower lip and tried not to moan out loud, even though her body was hungry and desperate for the crest of pleasure that more contact would bring. She had come to the conclusion that it was important not to seem too eager with Shaun.
"Go for it," she said, feigning self-control, which was hard.
She'd already figured he was the type of man who liked a challenge, and she was right. Shaun always did go for it, if it was a worthy challenge.
He held her gaze a moment longer, as if daring her to make a demand, and then laughed huskily and began to move again, riding her fast, going for the prize. The intense expression he wore urged her on, the look in his eyes knowing, as if he was in sole control of the how and when of her orgasm, as if he was her master. It was not so far from the truth.
Don't fall for him. The often repeated thought whispered around her mind even as her chest tightened in the passion of the moment. She dug possessive fingernails into his shoulders when her core went into spasm. Heat welled in the pit of her belly, like a hot rock was lodged there. When that rock rolled free and her sex flooded with release she had to shift one hand and bite the back of her wrist to stop herself from crying aloud. She couldn't afford to let him know how good it was—or how much she wanted him.
Shaun groaned loudly in response to the rhythmic clutch of her sex in orgasm. His body arched and seized, then he let rip with a succession of grinding thrusts, his cock jerking. His climax ended with a deep and appreciative roar.
Suffused with heat and suddenly languid in the afterglow, Tina stared up at him as she tried to ground herself. Her emotions were hopelessly tangled. Something about Shaun made her angry and lustful all at once. It was because this was all a game to him, a challenge. That's all she represented. They were both independent sorts, but at times like this she wanted to slap him for his bravado and his damned cheek, and yet she also wanted to draw him close and hold him tight, for the very same reason.
As he gasped to regain his breath, she pushed his body away from her—because she was afraid she might say the wrong thing. Her unsteady emotions unnerved her, and that wasn't good.
But Shaun grabbed one of her ankles as she lowered her leg to the bed and took her foot to his mouth, stroked its outline and the enclosure of straps and then kissed the tip of her big toe, smiling at her in the most suggestive way.
While her body simmered on in the aftermath of their passions she asked herself why? Why was she drawn to this man, this strange loner who taunted and challenged her so? She would walk away if she could, but the desire she felt ran deep and torrid, and it was undeniable.
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Right from the moment Tina had met Shaun she'd been fascinated, curious but wary, too. He was a difficult man to read, and she certainly wouldn't have guessed that they would answer so many of each other's fantasies.
Tina had met Shaun through her friend Kate's monthly gaming weekends. She'd known Kate since University. Back then Kate had taught Tina to play chess on a rusty magnetic travel kit in the common room of their hall of residence. They'd spent entertaining evenings playing games that were punctuated with chatter about life. That had set the pattern for their friendship. Ten years on and they still played chess, although it was now on a jet and ivory inlaid board at Kate's beautiful home on every second Wednesday evening.
When Kate asked Tina to come along and join in their new monthly game-playing venture—which was more the project of her husband, Ray, a computer wizard with his own web design company—Tina hesitated.
"You'll meet some interesting people," Kate had teased, stroking her finger over the head of her pawn, before making her move on the chessboard. She was smiling to herself then. She was still smiling to herself a month later when she sat at the head of the table during dinner and Tina had arrived to join the other regular guests. Tina wondered, even then, what other sort of game was in her friend's mind.
Ray and Kate's home was a restored manor house in Surrey. Close enough to London to commute, but far enough to feel part of the rolling countryside that was known as the green belt of London. The house was the sort of place that drew a gasp on first sight and where the gravel crunched underfoot as one approached the doorway. The guests that gathered for the game sessions were a friendly bunch of eccentrics—employees from Ray's company, friends and relatives from further afield.
Tina arrived late that first night because she'd had some chores to run after work, but just in time to witness Shaun crucifying one of the other guests about his thoughts on the future of technology. The remnants of dinner sat on the table while he dominated the after-dinner conversation. She felt like she'd intruded, but she was riveted by the intense presence he created. He was opinionated and forthright, yet there was a contained air about him, something that suggested the controlled sexual predator. When they were introduced he cast a look over her that made her cream inside a split second.
Who was this man? Something inside her hankered to know, even though he inspired wariness in her, something that put her on guard. At first it annoyed her that she found him so attractive because he certainly wasn't the type of man she wanted to be attracted to. Too cocksure and arrogant by far. She talked to him politely, distantly, when introduced. It was an act. She was immediately curious, she couldn't help herself. Then she realized that he was watching her with a shrewd glance as she twined her fingers in her hair.
Stop it, she told herself, annoyed. Everyone knows that's a sign of sexual frustration.
In her discomfort her gaze dropped and then anchored on the long key chain that trailed from his belt. The silver chain hung heavy and determined against his arrogant hip. It also lapped rhythmically against his thigh as he walked—an action that drew her attention to his sexual power.
She was already hot. That made her wet.
When she entered the games workshop on the Saturday morning she let her eyes run over the assembled occupants and once again was immediately drawn to Shaun, much as she had been the night before. He was engrossed in his computer game on the opposite side of the room, his hand stroking slowly over the dark stubble on his chin. He was well built, muscular, with a sinuous energy that seemed to be forever uncoiling in his body. His ash-colored hair was cropped and spiked with sun-bleached tips. He wore charcoal grays and faded black combats, his eyes echoing that same sharp grey metal intensity that seemed to characterize him. He looked like a mercenary, she thought to herself and how apt that was, she later reflected. Unconventional in every way, seemingly a loner, and yet when he came after her he did so in a predatory, devious attack, taking her by surprise. Taking her by storm. Taking her, completely.