Satisfaction Guaranteed

Chapter 12

Ethan gently rolled Beth off of him, not sure if she was asleep or awake. Her body was draped over him in boneless abandon.

She blinked up at him, her sherry-brown eyes drowsy. “Going somewhere?”

“Condom.”

“Oh.” Her eyes slid shut and she curled onto her side, facing him, one arm under her head. “’skay.”

He smiled and reached for his ankle. It wasn’t easy to undo the tie from that angle, but he managed it. It was a lot simpler to do the other one once he had more freedom of mobility.

Had she gotten what she needed from tying him to the bed? He didn’t figure she would have fantasized so much about him being her bound lover if she’d truly wanted to dominate. But even so, he’d pushed for her to lose her control. It wasn’t hard, she responded to him more intensely than any lover he’d ever had.

He couldn’t help wondering how deep the pleasure could go if he tied her to the bed. But she would be no more helpless than he. Because his body reacted to hers like a power supply to electricity. She turned him on with the first connection.

He took care of the condom and then eyed his big claw-footed tub with interest. They would both sleep better if they washed the sweat from their lovemaking off. Besides soaking in the porcelain monstrosity with Beth sounded like a heck of a lot more fun than going straight to sleep.

He ran the bath, dumping some stuff in the water that made it smell okay and feel silky. Women liked that kind of thing. His sister had given it to him as a gift and told him to use it when his muscles were aching from a tough workout or competition. It didn’t smell girly, so he’d agreed, but he’d never actually used it. Until now.

It was just the kind of thing his Beth would appreciate. She was a very sensual woman. He wondered if she even realized how much. Her own sexuality seemed to surprise her sometimes.

He left the tub filling and went back into the bedroom to get Beth.

She was still curled up on her side, totally naked. He’d taken the bedding off before lying down and she didn’t have so much as a sheet to cover her. She was gorgeous. Sweet, feminine curves that were different than his usual lover. Beth was neither an agent, nor an extreme sportswoman.

She worked out with her tae kwon do and her body was toned, but it wasn’t reed thin or bulked out like some women who lifted weights. The curve of her tummy and breasts were intensely feminine and excited him in a way that the ultra-honed women who usually populated his world had not in a long time.

This woman was all that made the female of their species unique and damned if that didn’t turn him on beyond reason.

He leaned one knee on the bed and reached for her.

Her eyes opened and surveyed him with curiosity. “All done?”

“Yeah, but I thought we could take a bath.” He hooked one arm under her shoulders and the other under her knees. “All right?”

“Yes.”

He liked that sweet acquiescence. Too much. He lifted her and carried her into the bathroom. The tub was as high as it needed to be, so he turned the water off and then stepped into blue tinted depths with her still in his arms.

She moaned as he settled her on his lap, the silky, hot water lapping around them. “This feels sooooo good.”

“You like baths?”

“I love them, especially in really hot water.” She leaned back against his chest, settling farther into the water. “I’ve never taken a bath with a man though.”

“You never tied one up before either. I guess tonight is your night for firsts.”

“Yes, it is.” She paused for a second, scooping water and pouring it over her shoulders and chest. “Do you mind?”

“What exactly?”

“That I’m not very experienced,” she said hesitantly, turning her head so she could meet his gaze, her dark eyes serious and concerned. “That I have slightly kinky tastes in sex.”

He almost laughed, but he didn’t want to hurt the little darling’s feelings. Only how could she be uncertain after the sex they’d just had? “You are incredible in the sack, baby. I don’t mind anything about you. I enjoyed your slightly kinky tastes, or didn’t you notice?”

She blushed right down to her still-engorged nipples.

Then he did laugh. He couldn’t hold it back.

Sitting up, she smacked his shoulder with her fist and pouted. “What do you think is so funny?”

It was the cutest pout he’d ever seen, her full lower lip protruding just enough to tempt him to bite it.

“You’re blushing because I said you’re good in the sack after tying me to the bed and shamelessly pleasuring yourself on my body. Would the real Beth Whitney please stand up?”

She pouted some more and his dick reacted like she’d offered him the blow job he’d demanded earlier…and had given up in favor of watching her touch herself. “I think she’s emerging now, but I have no intention of standing up. This water feels too nice.”

He gripped her hips and pulled her so that she was nestled right against his growing hard-on. “You feel nice.”

Her eyes grew wide. “What are you, the Energizer Bunny?”

“A certain pouty woman has this effect on me.”

“I do not pout.”

He laughed and leaned forward to nip her protruding lower lip. “Don’t you?”

She gasped and he kissed her, taking full advantage and sweeping her sweet interior with his tongue. She was still for a second and then responded with all the fire he’d learned she had locked inside of her. Tangling her tongue with his, she collapsed against him, her soft breasts pillowing against his chest. It felt great. Hell, everything with her felt too damned good.

She was straddling him and rubbing herself against his now straining erection before he realized what was happening.

“This is dangerous, baby,” he said against her mouth.

“D-dangerous?” she asked in a dazed voice that hardened his cock further.

“I didn’t bring a condom in here.”

“Would it stay on…in the water?”

“Yeah, but I have to put it on when I’m dry.”

“Oh.” She kissed him and then sighed. “I guess we’d better get out.”

He held her to him. “Or we could touch each other.”

“In the water?” she asked, sounding both intrigued and slightly appalled. “Won’t that be messy?”

“We can shower after.”

She rubbed herself up and down his length. “Okay.”

“Not like this.” She was too close. For the first time in longer than he could remember, he seriously doubted his ability to control his urge to slip inside a woman if they kept doing what they were doing. “With our hands.”

She stopped moving and sat up again, pressing her silky, swollen flesh against his erection and making him groan. “I want to touch you first.”

“Okay.”

She grinned. “I like it when you’re so accommodating.”

“You’re going to love it when I really accommodate you.”

She wrapped her fingers around him and his mind blanked. For a woman who didn’t have a lot of experience, she certainly knew how to touch a man. She used both her hands and gave extra attention to the ultrasensitive skin on his head. It usually took him longer to come with a hand job, but it didn’t feel like any time at all before he felt the pressure building at the base of his cock.

He rocked and urged her on with guttural demands she seemed only too happy to obey. His climax had him arching up and sloshing water out of the tub, while she caressed him until the pleasure was so intense, he couldn’t stand it anymore.

He pushed her hands away with a jerky movement. “Too much.”

“You’re crying uncle?”

“If you don’t stop touching me, I’ll be crying, period.”

“Wow.”

That was not the word he had been thinking. This woman got to him in ways that made him uncomfortable. He had thought just touching each other would be less intense than actually making love. He’d been wrong. He felt like she’d turned him inside out and now he was about to return the favor.

He pulled her around so she was straddling his hips but facing away from him, his still sensitive and semierect flesh nestled against her backside. “Now, it’s my turn.”

“How do you have the energy?”

Had she thought he would let her get him off and then call it a night? That was not his way. When it came to sex, Ethan took the game of one-upmanship very seriously. He liked knowing he’d wowed his partner…and not with his response.

“When it comes to touching you, I’ll always have it.”

“That’s sweet.”

Ethan had been called many things by his lovers, but sweet wasn’t one of them and he wasn’t sure he liked it coming from Beth. It made him sound safe and he was not a safe man. She ought to know that. “I’ll show you sweet.”

He touched her all over in ways he knew would please her, reveling in the way her resilient curves felt against his exploring fingers. He played with her breasts and nipples until they were hard and so sensitive she jerked every time the pad of his thumb slid over one. Then he played with her belly, exploring her belly button and the soft flesh just above her mound. She moaned and moved against him, but while he touched her inner thighs and the area all around her sex, he kept back from touching her there.

She begged him to touch her intimately and he brushed his fingertips lightly over her hair, making her body spasm with need. He didn’t delve between her lips though, but he kept her on the edge, building her excitement higher and higher. She grabbed his wrist and tried to force his hand closer, but he hadn’t worked on resistance weights for nothing.

He refused to budge, using her momentum to move his hand to her inner thigh again where he drew circles and kneaded her flesh until she was moaning and thrashing in the water. It wasn’t enough though. He wanted her to plead and she did.

“Please, Ethan, touch my clitoris. I’m so close!”

When his fingers finally dipped between her legs while his other hand tugged on an engorged nipple, he was fairly certain she wasn’t thinking he was all that sweet anymore.

She gave a keening cry and bucked in his arms. He swirled his fingertip over and around her swollen clitoris, then slid down into her silky wetness. Her inner muscles clenched as tight as a vice on his fingers and he remembered how incredibly snug she’d felt around his dick. She moved on him, riding his fingers like they were something more and moaning out her pleasure.

“Come for me, Beth. Come for me, now.” He pressed the heel of his hand to her sweet spot and brought her to orgasm.

She screamed out his name as she strained against him, but he didn’t stop and she launched into another immediate climax as the first was still waning. This time she sat straight up, straining against his hold and sending more water cascading over the sides of the tub as she screamed out an animal-like cry that went on and on and on.

The woman was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen…or touched. Her cry finally settled to a whimper while she moved restlessly as if trying to minimize her sensitivity to his touch.

Finally, she collapsed back against him as her body went boneless and her breaths came in sobbing gasps. “Too good. Too much.”

He immediately gentled his touch to a soothing motion, rather than one meant to incite more passion.

“You crying uncle?” he threw her words back at her, smiling at the way she rubbed her head against his chest as if seeking comfort from the cataclysm he’d put her through.

“Juss…cryin’,” she slurred.

And with alarm, he realized she was. He turned her against him, tucking one arm around her the other rubbing frantically at her back. “It’s okay, Sunshine. Hush. Don’t cry.”

“’sokay. I know, but too good.” She hiccupped a little and rubbed her cheek against his chest. “Do it again later.”

He said nothing, but something strange happened inside him in response to her crying after climaxing. He’d heard about that kind of thing, but he didn’t get deeply emotional with his lovers and had never experienced it. He and Beth weren’t into heavy emotion here either, but their sexual response to each other was out of this world.

And that’s all it was. Too much pleasure and she’d reacted with tears. Nothing big or earth shaking in that.

Right. Now, they’d better shower so they could get to bed before they drowned.

She wasn’t cooperative about taking a shower and groused when he made her stand up. Instead of annoying him, her crankiness charmed him and he shook his head at himself. Cranky women were not appealing, but Beth was different. She was just so darn cute, the way she grumbled and pouted and leaned against him like she couldn’t be expected to stand on her own.

He managed to get the tub drained, their bodies washed and dried, her back in bed, and the water mess on the tile floor wiped up before falling in bed beside her, exhausted.

He didn’t fall asleep right away though. He was totally wiped, but his mind could not let go of how out of control he’d felt with Beth in the bathtub. It should have been a pleasant way to end their lovemaking session, not something that had been close to soul shattering.

He was thirty-two years old. Beth was right when she said he had more sexual experience than her. A lot more. He wasn’t suicidal, he didn’t sleep with anything willing in a skirt, but he’d had sex partners who were more sophisticated, more knowledgeable about what turned a man on and willing to use that knowledge than his little Sunshine, but not one of those women seduced his senses the way that she did.

He had never even come close to losing his control with another woman. He’d never forgotten the condom or doubted his ability to withstand temptation, no matter how alluringly packaged. But he’d been positive that if she tried to get them off by rubbing herself along his cock that he’d end up inside her. The knowledge was far from pleasant.

What was so different about her?

It had to be her innocence…her emerging sensuality…the seductress that shone forth from her soft brown eyes. The sex had been so intense because they’d been living out her fantasies. Beth wasn’t the first woman who had told him that he starred in her most private dreams, but she was the first one who had exploded all over him with an excess of passion that came from not living those fantasies out with anyone else. Ever.

She’d been engaged to Hyatt, but she’d never bound him to the bed. She’d been a sexual powder keg waiting for the right spark and Ethan had been more like an inferno. And that’s what bothered him. His response had been over the top. He enjoyed mind-blowing sex as much as the next man, but he always stayed in control and he couldn’t do his job while he was at the mercy of an overactive libido.

Sex was fine. Hell, sex was great…he’d had it with other women on the job. Sometimes for the job, but he had to turn the intensity down a notch with Beth. Or he wasn’t going to be able to keep her safe. And that was not an acceptable scenario.

Definitely no more handcuffs.

And on that note, he finally fell asleep.

Beth slid another surreptitious glance at Ethan. Doing a great job of ignoring her and the interested looks he received from the other female passengers and their flight attendant, he was working on an expert-level Sudoku puzzle. The man did nothing in moderation. Not his job. Not his sports activities. Not his brain teasers. Not sex. Nothing.

So, why had she felt he was holding something back this morning when he woke her up for a quickie before they went to the office for a couple of hours prior to catching their flight? Her orgasm had been spectacular, though she hadn’t cried afterward again. Thank goodness. His had seemed pretty darn good, too, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d stepped back from her.

The restraints had been nowhere in evidence when she woke up, not that she wanted to try that soul-shattering experiment again anytime soon, but he’d put them away. Why? And he’d barely talked while exciting her body to a fever pitch and then sending her over with him inside her.

He hadn’t been cold, or anything. He’d smiled at her and insisted on making her breakfast. But he hadn’t been warm either. Or maybe that wasn’t the right word. Affectionate. He hadn’t been affectionate and he’d neatly sidestepped any attempt she’d made in that direction.

He was so good, she hadn’t realized at first that he didn’t want her touching him outside of the bedroom. His subtle movements to avoid her had only registered as he’d taken her arm to lead her onto the plane and she realized it was the first time he’d touched her since they got out of bed that morning.

She’d stilled and almost pulled away in an instinctive shock, but he’d whispered for her ears only, “It starts now, Beth. I’m the possessive boyfriend, remember?”

And that’s when she’d realized. He hadn’t let her touch him at his apartment. He had avoided touching her in the office. He’d touched her on the plane, but that was because it was showtime. She didn’t know who he thought was going to see her on the flight, but apparently, he’d decided that now was the time to start acting in character. Which only underlined his earlier behavior in bold black.

She turned to look out the window, her thoughts in turmoil.

Because along with the realization that Ethan did not want her touch outside of the bedroom was the disturbing revelation that she wanted to touch him with affection. She wanted to be touched. He’d told her what they had was only sex, but she hadn’t let herself really think about what that meant. Now, she had no choice.

She’d thought it didn’t matter that his primary reason for going to bed with her was the case, but now she knew it did. Ethan would do whatever it took to succeed in bringing down Prescott, but that didn’t extend to pretending affection for her he did not feel. Because he didn’t think he had to.

After all, hadn’t she told him she didn’t want love and happily ever after, or even a good run at it? Apparently, he’d taken that to mean she wanted nothing more than the overwhelming pleasure she found with his body. And really, that’s almost basically what she’d told him, wasn’t it?

Welcome to the real world of sex without commitment, Beth. It hurt. She didn’t want to love him. Refused to consider even the possibility, but she hadn’t expected this no touching outside of the bedroom except for the case thing. She’d had no idea what to expect, if she were honest.

Alan had loved her and she’d loved him and that had extended to all their time together. Ethan had none of those feelings for her. At best, he cared for her like a friend, but he was not a touchy-feely person. That meant he wasn’t going to hug her shoulder, or brush her nape, or hold her hand-he wasn’t going to offer or accept any of the casual touches of affection she craved. Except for the sake of the case.

Why did that hurt so much? Why did facing a reality she had known existed before she ever flashed him with her panties make her feel wounded and vulnerable? She wasn’t vulnerable to him. She wouldn’t let herself be. And she had no business feeling wounded by actions that were in keeping with everything he’d said to her, everything she knew about him.

But she felt cheap and that was an ugly feeling. She couldn’t let herself feel used. It had been mutual. They had both derived pleasure out of the other’s body. But he was more prepared to deal with commitment-free sex than she was and she was just waking up to that fact. Was she dumb, or just a little blind when it came to her own limitations?

He didn’t need the trappings of a relationship to enjoy her body. And she was going to have to learn to deal with that reality because she didn’t think she had the strength to turn him down for sex. Not now that she knew what happened when they touched. Fantasies were not enough anymore.

They picked up a car at the airport and then checked into a hotel on the western edge of the metropolitan area, so their drive to the coast the following morning would not be hampered by city traffic. There was only one bed in the hotel room and while it wasn’t as big as Ethan’s monster bed, it was king sized, dominating the room and Beth’s thoughts with its presence.

“You ready for the interview tomorrow?” Ethan asked from behind her after engaging the safety double lock on the door.

She shrugged. “I’m not worried about that part.”

“Not at all?”

“Why should I be? I’m perfect for the job and I just have to remember that.” Funny how her preoccupation with her pseudorelationship with Ethan made everything else sort of pale in significance on her internal anxiety meter. She didn’t feel even sort of nervous about tomorrow.

“Not worried about playing the role of a woman with an overly possessive boyfriend anymore?”

She turned to face him, hugging herself so she wouldn’t reach out to touch him. They were alone now, no longer on the stage of their pretend life together. “No. I think we’ve got the act down.”

He snorted at that. “We haven’t even started.”

“I’d say that after last night, we’d more than started.”

“That wasn’t part of the act.”

“Whatever you say.” She wasn’t going to argue with him over it.

Maybe he didn’t see it that way. Maybe for him, it was enough that he genuinely wanted her, so he didn’t see the timing and the fact their relationship was bound to the case as actually being part of the act for the case. Whatever his reasoning, she wasn’t about to get into a drawn-out discussion about it.

He tipped her face up with a fist under her chin, his green gaze penetrating hers. “Something bothering you, Sunshine?”

She moved away from his touch and headed for her suitcase. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

“If it’s going to affect your effectiveness on assignment, I do.”

She shook her clothes out and hung them up, mentally noting she needed to spot iron the jacket she planned to wear to the interview tomorrow. “I’m good to go with the assignment.”

“You tired?”

“Maybe a little.”

“It would probably be best if we forgo sex tonight and you get some uninterrupted rest.”

She paused in unpacking her case and then went back to what she’d been doing. “Whatever you think is best. You’re the agent in charge.”

He was silent for several seconds, but she just finished unpacking and then slid the small case in the bottom of the closet before turning to face him again.

He was watching her, an odd expression on his sculpted features. His eyes snapped to her face and he frowned. “I could use a run. I hate the enforced inactivity of being on a plane.”

“You weren’t exactly inactive. You did several sets of isometrics in your seat.”

“It’s not the same thing.”

“No, I don’t suppose it is.” Was he asking for her permission? No. Not in character…for either the pretend or real Ethan.

“Besides, if I’m going to leave you alone, I need to work off some of this extra energy.”

“That makes sense.” Not that she really thought it would be all that difficult for him.

“You want to come?”

She shook her head. “I’m not a runner. I like my tae kwon do, but that’s about it. I’ll probably go to the exercise room and use their mats for a workout, or ride a stationary bike for a while.”

“I’d prefer you not go by yourself.”

“Why?”

“It’s not in character for me to let you work out alone.”

“I don’t think we need to be fully in character right now.”

“The sooner we start, the more natural the role will be for you to play.”

“You aren’t going to have any problem with the role. You said so.”

“I’m not the only one playing a role here.”

“My biggest responsibility is to react.” He’d said that, too.

“To an extent, that’s true, but you’ve also got to get in the mind-set of a woman who is used to asking her boyfriend about everything. We’ve been together two years…that would have affected your behavior some.”

“Okay…here I am asking: Do you mind if I work out in the exercise room while you go running?”

He made a sound of frustration. “I already said I’d prefer you not.”

“This is where I assert some of my dormant independence and say tough.”

He laughed. “Fine. If you’re sure you don’t want to go running with me instead.”

“You’re kidding, right? Even if I was used to jogging, I wouldn’t run with you. You’d leave me in the dust and the whole running together point would be defunct by the end of the first block.”

“I’d match my stride to yours.”

“And walk?”

He frowned, but didn’t say anything before grabbing his jogging shorts and T-shirt from his carryall. He took them into the bathroom to change and that surprised her, but she wasn’t going to say anything about it. When he came out, she tried not to look, but it was a lost cause.

The man had an incredible body. His long, muscular legs were exposed by his shorts and his tank top stretched snugly over his chest, making her mouth water.

“If you don’t stop looking at me like that, I’m going to choose a different form of exercise.”

“And that would be a bad thing?”

“I want you rested and relaxed at the interview tomorrow, not hungover from a surfeit of explosive sex.”

She’d never had so much sex she got a hangover from it, but she’d heard of that happening. “Are you saying that if we start, you don’t think we’ll be able to stop?”

“It’s a distinct possibility. You have a lot of years of fantasizing to make up for.”

The words pierced her mind, but it took a second for her to accept their meaning. “You think I’m sex-starved?” she demanded, her voice going up an octave.

His eyes widened. “That’s not what I said.”

“You may as well have. Apparently, I’ve gone too long without real sex and therefore would make too many physical demands on you, so much so that I would not be in any shape to interview tomorrow morning.”

“Settle down, little Beth, I-”

“Don’t call me that! I’m not little. I’m not a child. And I’m not sex-starved,” she finished from between gritted teeth.