Satisfaction Guaranteed

Chapter 4

Beth was shaking with nerves by the time that Ethan buzzed her condo that night.

She’d told herself over and over again that this was not a real date. It was an opportunity to solidify their cover. Right. And the fact that they would be sitting across an intimate table for two should not be sending her libido into overdrive. She’d read somewhere that women were at their sexual peak in their thirties. Well, she was only twenty-nine and she’d been peaking for Ethan for almost two years.

Which meant it wasn’t some kind of hormonal joke her body was playing on her. She wanted the man. So much that she’d stopped calling herself depraved and learned to deal with the urges. Only now she was faced with more temptation than she’d ever had where he was concerned. She didn’t know if she could deal with that.

Darn him anyway for being the one man she was sure would not only not balk at her sexual fantasies, but who would know what to do with them.

She bit her lip as she took a final look in her full-length mirror. She had not morphed into a cover model for Vogue in the last ten seconds. More was the pity, because while she was sure Ethan would get her sexual fantasies, she was equally certain he would have no interest in sharing them. She was not his type.

At five-foot-six, she was at least three inches too short, a cup size too small in the curves department, and several lovers shy of the experience a man like him was no doubt used to.

None of that had stopped her from trying on six different outfits, doing her makeup three times, and trying her hair four different ways before settling for a sloppy topknot with tendrils framing her face that went well with the simple black dress she’d settled on. It left a good portion of her legs and back bare…all in the effort to look as sexy as she could for him. For this nondate. Sheesh.

She needed to get a life.

The problem was that she didn’t want a life…she wanted him. Every sexy, tantalizing, irresistible inch of his six-foot-three frame.

The buzzer went again and she jumped, grimacing. Showtime.

She rushed to release the entrance lock for downstairs. Ethan was knocking on her door less than a minute later.

She opened it, keeping the kittens back with one wary foot. “Hi.”

“Hi, Sunshine. Is there a reason you’re blocking the door?”

“The kittens.” She scooted back, keeping the cats away from the opening as she widened it to let him in. “Come on in and I’ll get my jacket.”

Ethan moved swiftly, grabbing Beethoven as the black-and-white kitten tried to make a break for the hall and shutting the door immediately upon stepping inside her apartment.

“Thanks. They want to go exploring, but with my luck they’d end up at the manager’s apartment. She’s allergic to feline fur and was very dubious about letting me get the cats.”

Ethan grinned. “I can imagine.” He whistled as he looked around. “Nice place. Exotic.”

That’s what she’d been going for. She’d decorated with Byzantine colors and rich textures like silks and velvets as well as faux fur throws on her sofa and chaise longue. It fit her, but usually surprised people that did not know her well. Even some who did.

Ethan didn’t look surprised, only intrigued.

“The cats like it, too…too much sometimes,” she said ruefully, looking at her gorgeous drapes, now shredded near the bottoms.

Ethan’s gaze followed hers and he laughed as he scratched Beethoven’s head before putting the kitten down. “There’s a spray you can get that keeps the cats off your furniture and the like.”

“Will it stop them shredding my curtains?”

“I don’t know. My sister swears by it, though, and she’s got four cats.”

“Four?” Beth asked faintly. Two were enough to wreak more havoc than a marauding army in her opinion.

“She’s got kids,” he said with a shrug, as if that explained it.

Beth hadn’t spent much time around children, but maybe it did. Maybe each child had insisted on having his or her own pet…or maybe his sister hadn’t wanted any of the kids to feel left out and gotten them each a kitten. Being an only child, those kind of family dynamics were a mystery to her. But she found them interesting. She’d always wondered what family life was like in a “normal” household.

She used to dream of finding out. She didn’t dream of that anymore. Mostly because she’d come to realize her dreams were more fairy tale than hopeful fantasy.

She grabbed her vintage velvet dress coat from the back of the chair where she’d left it in preparation. “I’m ready to go, if you are.”

“Dinner’s not for another hour.” He took the coat and laid it back over the chair.

Then he shrugged off his own leather jacket and put it on top of hers. And she let him. Without a protest. Weird. This man brought out more than one unexpected reaction in her. Even odder…she then just stood there staring at him and trying really hard to remember…this was not a real date.

But his dark sweater clung to his muscular chest in a mouthwatering way. He looked so hot…in every way.

He cocked his brow at her and her stomach dipped. “Um…if not dinner yet, then what?”

“I thought we could have a drink and talk a while before we go.” He looked around her living room again. “I want a chance to soak in who you are away from the office so I can relate to that person in front of Prescott.”

It sounded reasonable, but Ethan Crane was the last person she wanted to invite into her life on a more personal basis. Why hadn’t she given that thought more credence before agreeing to do this job? Probably because she hated making decisions based on weakness. And she definitely saw her feelings for Ethan as a major weakness.

She took a fortifying breath. “I keep the drinks in the kitchen. What will you have?”

“I’m partial to beer, but I don’t suppose you keep that on hand.” He managed to look sheepish and way too kissable all at the same time. “It’s the Texas boy in me.”

“Dark ale in a longneck bottle all right?”

His eyes narrowed. “Who do you keep that in the fridge for?”

“It’s football season,” she said with a shrug.

“So?”

“I like Sunday football, but don’t tell my mother. It’s not nearly as politically correct as baseball.”

“Who do you watch it with? Hyatt?”

There had been a time, but Alan wasn’t the football fan she was. He preferred participating in, not watching…any sport. She was sure Ethan would be the same way. “No. By myself.”

“So, you drink the beer?”

“And eat peanut butter-filled pretzels? Yes. It’s all part of the experience.”

“Maybe I’ll join you next Sunday.”

“You like to watch football?”

“Sunshine, I’m from Texas. Of course I like to watch football.”

“And drink beer.”

“I’m not sure about the peanut butter in the pretzels, though.”

“I suppose I could spring for a bag of regular ones…or some popcorn if you’d rather.” What was she saying? Was she inviting him to invade her football season ritual?

“I could bring my own.”

Somehow as they’d been talking, they had also been moving closer together and now their bodies were practically touching. She stared up into his face and forgot what she was about to say. How had he gotten so close? Had he been the one to move…or had she? Oh, gosh…she was not going to survive this assignment. She just knew she wasn’t.

“Ethan?” Her voice came out a breathy whisper.

Not good. She sounded like she was issuing invitations, and she wasn’t. Was she?

“Yes, baby?”

Oh, man. Warmth and moisture pooled between her legs. She needed to eradicate that particular word from his vocabulary, but she couldn’t even get enough breath to protest it.

“What’s happening?”

“Don’t you know?”

She thought she did, but she couldn’t believe it was happening between them. Sexual desire so strong it literally pulled their bodies closer. Or was it all coming from her? No. He didn’t touch her, but he watched her lips, his eyes filled with predatory green lights. It excited her until her body shook with it.

A plaintive little wail and soft fur rubbing against her ankle snapped her attention back to some semblance of reality. What in the world had she been doing? She’d come this close to kissing the man and more than likely the whole moving near one another thing had been her doing. Even if it hadn’t, it was sheer insanity to give in to her physical attraction for him at this stage.

Never mind letting someone else shred her heart for her, why not offer it on a silver platter and be done with it?

She jumped back and swooped down to pick up Mozart. “Are you hungry, sweetheart?”

The kitten meowed back and Ethan laughed. “I take it that was a yes.”

“I think so.” She smiled. “I’ll just get your beer and feed the kittens before we go. I can’t believe I almost forgot their dinner.”

She’d been ready to leave the condo without feeding them. Guilt swamped her. Some pet owner she was.

“I have a feeling they wouldn’t have let you forget.”

“Um…look around like you said you wanted to, and I’ll be right back.”

“Sure.”

She took her time feeding the cats and getting his beer, using the solitude to regain her equilibrium. That was the plan anyway; it wasn’t working too well. Knowing he was in her living room, looking around with an eye to try to get to know her, did things to her body and her heart she didn’t even want to think about.

She vacillated between getting a beer for herself in hopes of relaxing her rapidly frazzling nerves or forgoing it to keep her wits about her as best she could. Finally deciding to go for caution over optimism, she poured a glass of sparkling water for herself instead. Nothing was going to soothe her nerves and she could not afford to lower her inhibitions even marginally.

She walked back into the living room, wishing she’d had an hour rather than a few minutes to regroup and worrying that even that might not have been enough.

Ethan wasn’t there. His coat was still draped across hers, but the living room was empty. From where she stood, she could see the door to the bathroom down the hall and it was open. The small room was dark. Besides her bedroom, the small condo had no other rooms. A small teak dining set served as her dining room at one end of the living room, and she’d just come from the small kitchen.

She turned in a full circle, somehow expecting him to magically appear, but he didn’t. Where could he have gone? He would have said something if he’d needed to go back to the car for something. Not to mention, he would have donned his jacket again. Wouldn’t he? Even Ethan wasn’t immune to the cold and it was chilly for autumn.

A muffled sound came from her bedroom. What in the world was he doing in there?

She rushed down the hall and into her bedroom, stopping in mortified shock at what she saw.

He stood beside her bed, flipping through an erotic romance novel by one of her favorite authors.

“What are you doing?” she demanded in what should have been a shriek but that came out an embarrassing squeak.

“You read some pretty interesting stuff before going to sleep,” was all he said before dropping the book back onto the table beside her bed, its blatantly sensual cover face up. He turned to face her. “If I read that kind of stuff before bedtime, I’d never sleep.”

“It’s a good thing you don’t, then.” Thankfully, her voice was stronger and she sounded almost like her normal self.

He didn’t respond, but the look he was giving her spoke volumes. All of it hot, if she could believe the interpretation of her own eyes.

“What are you doing in my bedroom?”

“Getting to know you. It’s this kind of thing that can make or break an assignment like ours.” He indicated the book with a flick of his long, tapered fingers.

“My taste in reading material?”

“My knowledge of it.”

“I can’t imagine this sort of thing coming up with a prospective employer.”

“You never know, Beth. And it’s not just a cliché…it is better to be safe than sorry.”

“Having you snooping around my apartment was one thing, but this is an invasion of my privacy.”

“I’m not snooping…you gave me permission.”

“To look around. I didn’t think you’d come into my bedroom.” Was that strangled voice hers? She sounded ready to kill somebody.

He didn’t look worried. “We’re supposed to be lovers, Beth. Of course I came into your bedroom and I’ve got to admit…I’m seeing a side of you I never expected to exist.”

Had he looked in her drawers? Had he seen the dildo? Lots of women had them, or vibrators. She shouldn’t be embarrassed. She was single, but that didn’t mean she was sexless. She was also celibate…or had been for almost three years. A toy for self-pleasuring was practically a necessity for a woman in her position.

“Loved the hot-pink handcuffs.”

Her cheeks burned. “I…”

“Who uses them? You, or him-or both of you?”

“Neither…no one. You had no business looking in my drawers.”

“We’ve been over this. I need to know. It’s easier to look than to ask and from the way you’re reacting, I don’t think you would have been honest if I had.”

“You would have asked about my sex life?”

“Yes. This is a dangerous assignment and I’m not going to risk you getting hurt because I don’t know the things I need to know to make our relationship look real.”

“I’m not comfortable with you knowing this kind of intimate stuff about me.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s the way it has to be.”

And she should have realized it. He didn’t say so, but she knew he was thinking it. She had taken the training and she knew enough about their assignments to know what to expect. Or should have.

“Did you look through my other drawers?”

“I hadn’t gotten to that yet.”

“Don’t.”

“I need to, but look at it this way…you can come to my apartment tomorrow and do the same thing.”

“It doesn’t help.”

He sighed. “Do you want me to wait to look at your clothes until we get back from dinner?”

“Yes.” She didn’t want to sit across the table from him right after he’d had a good peek at her lingerie drawer.

She liked sexy underthings and could only imagine how he would tease her after seeing them. He already thought the fact she liked to read erotic romance and use a dildo was shocking…what would he think of her black leather corselette or her selection of lacy demibras she only wore on the weekends when nip-ons were not an issue because no one else saw them?

He moved toward her, stopping a foot away. “The thing is, Beth, I can’t get the image of you tied to the bed out of my head. And it’s doing things I hadn’t planned on.”

Her gaze skimmed down his body, snagging on the rather large, rather long bulge in his jeans. Oh, my, yes…but the image of her tied to the bed? “Don’t you mean you picture the cuffs on someone else?”

He laughed, shaking his head. “No, ma’am, I do not.”

Oh, man…she was in trouble. She licked her lips.

He made a soft noise that was almost animalistic and stepped closer. “You’ve got kinky thoughts, baby. I like that.”

“I don’t picture myself tied to the bed,” she blurted, stepping hastily back from him.

Instead of taking it for the denial she’d meant it to be, he saw below the surface. She just knew he did from the slow, easy smile that took over his hard features. “You picture tying your lover to the bed?”

“I’m not some kind of closet dominatrix.”

“Not unless you’re into pain, you aren’t.” He rubbed his chin, his green gaze too darned knowing. “Are you into pain, Beth?”

“No!”

“Not yours.”

“Not anyone’s!”

“But you like the idea of tying a man to the bed?”

Oh, they could not be having this conversation. “That is none of your business.”

“I’ll take that as a yes. Why do you want to tie your lover down, sweetheart?”

She shook her head, too choked to answer.

“Maybe we should talk about it over dinner.”

“We aren’t going to talk about it at all.” But especially not over dinner. What kind of man thought sex talk at dinner was appropriate?

Ethan. Dangerous. Untamed. And too sexy for her health.

She shook her head emphatically. “N-no. No sex talk over dinner.” She swung her hand up to emphasize her denial, only realizing she was still holding the glass of sparkling water when it sloshed over the sides.

Ethan grabbed his beer from her hand before it suffered a similar fate. He took a long swig. “Mmm. That’s good, but I know something I’d like better.”

“N-no…”

“I promise you, baby, I do…and you’ll like it, too. But it will keep. Drink whatever that is you poured yourself and then let’s go. If we don’t leave soon, we aren’t going to make it to the restaurant at all,” he said in a dark voice.

She wanted to pour the sparkling water over herself rather than drink it. To cool off. He could not mean what she thought he meant. Could he?

That dangerous expression in his green eyes certainly implied he meant it.

He was right. It was time to go.

Ethan helped Beth into the passenger side of his low black Solstice. As she dipped down to settle against the leather seat, her skirt hiked up, showing him the top of honest to Hannah stockings. Did she wear them all the time? Or just for dates? This wasn’t exactly a date, but a get-to-know-you-better-for-the-sake-of-the-assignment dinner. She saw it that way, surely? But she looked sexier than he’d ever seen her.

The woman turned him on and in ways that other women had never touched. He’d dated women who dressed provocatively all the time, but the idea of Beth wearing stockings under her more conservative work gear made his cock lurch in response. Knowing she was wearing them instead of panty hose tonight had him hard and aching and he hadn’t even touched her.

Was not going to touch her, no matter what he’d fantasized about when he’d seen those kinky pink handcuffs in her bedside drawer. He needed to know her better to pull this job off, but he didn’t need to get involved with her.

That would be a bad idea.

He closed the door on temptation and sent a silent command to his hardened sex to settle down before going around to get into the driver’s seat. Only her muttering something about two pairs of panties as he shut the door did not help. He did not want to think about her panties. He really didn’t.

Did she wear a thong?

He wouldn’t put it past her, not the Beth Whitney he was getting to know tonight. Just the thought of her butt bare against that little black dress was enough to undo any good his self-lecture might have done. What the hell was the matter with him? He’d been vamped by the best of them, but he did not lose control.

So, why did he have an almost irresistible urge to pull his powerful convertible to the shoulder of the road and find out if sex in a two-seater was really impossible?

He wasn’t happy about using a nonagent as the contact with Prescott. The last thing he could afford to do was to mess up his own focus by getting involved with her. And he had a feeling that getting involved with Beth would be harder on his equilibrium than any other woman had been in a very long time.

She was just so surprising.

That book next to her bed…it had been hot. He wouldn’t mind reading it himself and not just for the obviously intense sex in it, but the story had sounded pretty good, too. Damn it, he was losing his mind.

He pulled up in front of the small Italian restaurant where they had reservations, only now realizing he’d spent so much time thinking about her, he hadn’t said a word to her for the whole drive.

She was busy looking out the window, but her hands were clenched in her lap and he wondered why. Was she still angry he’d invaded her bedroom? She was going to have a fit then, when they got back, because he had every intention of doing exactly what he’d said he wanted to. Go through her drawers. He needed to know her in a way only a lover would, or he would screw up his role in that capacity.

Failure wasn’t an option for him, especially when her safety was at risk.

She said nothing as he came around to open her door and she avoided his eyes when she got out of the car, but she took his proffered hand. She moved away from him as soon as she got vertical and clear of the car though.

He frowned. “Are you mad at me, Sunshine?”

Her gaze snapped around. Sherry-brown eyes looked at him blankly for a second and then she shook her head. “No, of course not. Why would I be?”

“You didn’t like me going through the stuff in your bedroom.”

She moved toward the brick building that housed the restaurant. “No, but I understand you think it was necessary.”

“It was.”

“I’m not talking about my sexual fantasies over dinner,” she blurted out, sounding pretty defensive.

Is that what had her avoiding his eyes? She was embarrassed by the prospect of talking about her sexual preferences? The woman was a mass of contradictions.

He couldn’t help smiling. “Do you have sexual fantasies?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” She stopped before the open door.

“I suppose…but I’ve always been more of an action man.” Though he knew images of her and those hot-pink handcuffs were going to play a starring role in some heated fantasies for some time to come.

He’d like to take her home and play a few of them out. Right now.

Her small pink tongue darted out to lick her lips in a gesture that was both nervous and arousing. “Yes.”

“Yes what?” He shook his head, clearing it. She hadn’t meant yes to his thoughts, but his sex was acting like she had.

“You’re an action man. I don’t see you merely thinking about doing something…I think you’d do it.”

His body thought so, too. “You’re right. Usually. Are you saying you’ve never used the handcuffs?”

“I told you…I’m not having this discussion over dinner.”

“We’re not in the restaurant yet.”

She took a hasty step over the threshold into the small restaurant. “Now we are.”

He laughed and followed her inside. “Don’t you know that denying my curiosity satisfaction just makes me more determined to know?”

“Don’t you think it’s time you learned to control that curiosity?”

“Now what would be the fun in that?”

She didn’t get a chance to answer as the restaurant’s owner, Vito, came forward with an effusive greeting before leading them to Ethan’s favorite table in a quiet corner. The ambient lighting and brick walls on two sides of the table enhanced the feeling of intimacy while dining. And Vito’s menu was superb.

Ethan’s mouth watered as the scent of garlic and his favorite pasta dishes assailed his nostrils. He was hungry and food was going to have to do.

“You bring a beautiful woman this time, Ethan.” Vito kissed his fingertips toward Beth. “Bellisima.”

She blushed a soft pink and Ethan smiled as he held her chair out for her, usurping Vito. “I agree, Vito. She is one-of-a-kind gorgeous.”

“This is true.”

That had Beth rolling her eyes at both of them.

“She no believe us. Why is this? You no tell her how beautiful she is before?”

“It’s an oversight, I admit.” Ethan took his own chair, letting one leg slide against Beth’s.

She jumped and moved her leg away, giving him a chagrined look.

Vito shook his head. “I think you are smarter than this, Ethan my friend. Tonight I help you make up for your foolishness. I serve you a dinner that would make the angels weep, no? Good food, it is the way to a woman’s heart.”

“I always heard it was the way to a man’s heart,” Beth said with amusement lacing her voice.

“Ah…men are more simple than that, but that is no a discussion for ears such as yours. It is a woman that requires the wooing and I will help my friend tonight with this.”

Beth laughed, shaking her head, and Ethan felt something tighten in his chest. He’d brought dates here before, but Vito did not act like this with them. He flirted, as all Italian males flirted, but he never made jokes about reaching the woman’s heart. What was it about Beth that brought that out in the savvy restaurateur?

She’d said she wasn’t into weddings, but even Vito saw the difference between her and the women Ethan usually dated.

“I go to order you dinner…you leave it up to me, no?”

The man had never made such an offer before, but Ethan trusted him. “That’s fine by me. Beth?”

Her lush lips curved in a sweet smile. “I’d be honored.”

Vito nodded, his expression filled with pleasure, and then turned to leave. A moment later, a waiter appeared with a carafe of red wine, which he poured before leaving them in solitude once again.

“Vito is a character.”

“You bring out a different side to him.”

“You mean he doesn’t call all your women beautiful and promise them a dinner worthy of angels?”

“Now that you mention it…”

She laughed. “That’s what I thought.”

“But he has never offered to help me get to a woman’s heart…or to select my dinner for me.”

“He’s probably wondering what in the world you are doing here with a woman like me.”

She’d missed the point entirely, but he wasn’t going to belabor it. “What do you mean, a woman like you?” he asked instead.