Satisfaction Guaranteed

Chapter 5

She rolled her eyes again. “Come on, Stud, admit it. I’m not exactly your usual date.”

He’d gotten the nickname at the agency long before Beth had come and it had never bothered him before. There was something about the way that she said it that made him feel as if she was mocking him though. The moniker Stud simply did not sound like a compliment when it rolled off of her acerbic little tongue.

“You’re an unusual woman, period.”

“I don’t think so.”

The waiter arrived again with a basket of fresh bread and the salad, then disappeared again just as quickly.

Ethan served her and then himself from the large bowl. “You’re wrong, Sunshine. You are different than most women in this town and yet you were born and raised here.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“You’re fresh and sweet, and a man can’t help wondering how you maintained such an aura of innocence in a city so filled with anything but.”

“Are you saying I lack city sophistication?”

He looked her over, letting his gaze linger extra seconds on the parts his body craved to touch. Her little black dress was perfect and the last word in sophistication, not to mention sexy as hell. The way she’d styled her hair was both tantalizing and chic…her makeup was neither too gaudy nor underdone. Nothing about the individual elements lacked the polish he would expect of her mother’s daughter, but Beth still managed to project an innocence that challenged the predator in him to teach her the depths of her own passion.

“No. You don’t lack anything, but you don’t fit this city either. Not like your mom does.”

“Or the women you actually date.”

He shrugged, not sure what to say. It occurred to him that another woman might be justifiably offended by his comments, but Beth was only looking at him with curious speculation.

She sighed. “If you want the truth, I’ve never felt like I fit. Not my family. Not this city. Not any of it.”

“So, why do you stay?”

“I love my parents even if I don’t always get them and vice versa. Besides, D.C. is all I know. I’ve thought of moving…I just wonder if I’d fit in any better someplace else.”

“So, why take a job with the agency?”

“There were a lot of reasons. It was time to make some changes and that felt like the right one. I was also bored out of my mind doing investment counseling.”

“You got a degree in finance.”

“And didn’t realize until too late how much making money bored me. I love what I do for the agency…the way I get to be involved in so many different things and people’s lives.” She buttered a piece of warm bread and put it on his plate.

“Thanks.” He took a bite, his hunger warring with his need to know more about this surprisingly enigmatic woman. “But you don’t live the adventure yourself.”

“Until now.”

But that hadn’t been her idea and he was sure she would have refused if she could see another way around the problem. “What are you afraid of?”

“Who said I was afraid of anything?” She ate a bite of salad, her eyes closing in apparent bliss. She moaned. “This is good. The dressing is perfect.”

“Everything here is perfect.”

Her eyes opened and she smiled. “Good. I’m starving.”

He was, too, but the food was not as alluring as the woman sitting across from him. Or her secrets. “You like touching the pulse of a project, but you’ve never wanted to be out there where the blood is really pounding. I’m wondering what about life scares you so much you don’t want to live it.”

Her brow furrowed. “I never said I didn’t.”

“You read about what you want to do sexually. You don’t do it.” She hadn’t confirmed that, but he was almost positive it was the case. “You hide sexy lingerie beneath conservative business attire,” he said, taking another guess.

Her hand stilled with a forkful of salad halfway to her mouth. “You said you hadn’t gone through my drawers.”

“I haven’t…yet. I saw the top of your stockings when you got into the car.”

“Oh.” Her Madonna-like features blushed. “Conservative attire is appropriate for the office.”

“Maybe…but the more I think about it, the more I realize you hide your natural sensuality.”

“So, now you’re a mind reader and a pop psychologist?”

“No, just a man who knows a lot about women.”

“Now that I believe, but you don’t know as much about this one as you think you do.”

“I’m going to remedy that.”

“So you say.”

“It’s necessary. For the case.”

“What a convenient excuse to sate your overactive curiosity.”

“Isn’t it?”

She ignored that and tucked into her salad.

He let her eat in peace until she finished it and then said, “I still think you’re afraid to live.”

“Are you goading me for a reason?”

Was he? He guessed he was. He wanted to push her past her control and get to the real woman under the put-together, sunny exterior. “You don’t date agents…”

“That merely shows my intelligence, not some deep-seated fear of really living.”

“Why, Beth? What is so smart about refusing to date men who fascinate you?”

“You think agents fascinate me? Brother, you are so wrong.”

“I don’t think so.”

Her dark eyes snapped with irritation. “Stop being a prick.”

“Whoa…that’s a pretty strong reaction for what is essentially a harmless conversation. I must have struck a nerve.” And that interested him. A lot.

“Why don’t we dissect you and see how much you like it?”

“Go ahead, Beth. What you see is what you get.” He put his palms out in an open gesture. “I left my family behind in Texas when I realized I wanted more from life than I could find following in my daddy’s footsteps as a cattleman. So, I left that for my sister and both she and Daddy are happier for it. I like to test my limits with extreme sports and my job, which makes me a little more primitive than your average Washington politician, but that’s not something I’m ashamed of. I’m nowhere near ready to settle down, no matter what my mama might like, and I have very few sexual inhibitions.”

He didn’t know why he added that last bit-like a challenge-except he couldn’t get the image of those hot-pink handcuffs out of his head.

“Which is exactly why I don’t date agents.”

“Because of the lack of sexual inhibitions? I’d say that would be a benefit considering your leanings in that direction.”

“Because agents aren’t good long-term relationship material.”

“You said you weren’t interested in getting married.” And he’d about convinced himself to believe her because doing so would mean he could go after those pretty pink handcuffs with a clear conscience.

After the assignment.

If he made it that long.

“I’m not, but things happen. If you date a man, you can fall in love with him and end up married to him against your better judgment. My mother once told me never to date a man I wouldn’t want to end up married to.”

“That doesn’t sound like your mother. She seems like the type that would encourage dating whoever got you the connections most beneficial to her.”

“She’s not that much of a barracuda. Now if it were my Aunt Connie…”

“Your mom’s sister who is an actual politician, not someone who likes to play behind the scenes like your mom?”

“That’s the one. She makes my mom seem positively June Cleaver maternal by comparison.”

“So, your mom told you not to date agents,” he said, going back to the topic that interested him.

“She told me not to date a man I wouldn’t want to end up married to, and agents make lousy family men.”

Considering the fact her dad had been one, that said a lot about how Beth felt about him as a parent. “You don’t think agents should get married? At all? That’s pretty extreme, don’t you think?”

“I didn’t say that. You’re really into twisting my words tonight. I merely said that agents make lousy family men and that I have no desire to end up married to one. Ever.”

“It’s a good thing for you your mom didn’t feel the same way, isn’t it.”

“I don’t know. Is it?”

“Your dad is a good man.”

“Yes, he is. I’m very proud of what he’s accomplished with his life, but it came at a price.” She sighed, her expression not so much sad as determined. “He wasn’t the only one who paid it either. I know what it’s like to grow up with a very absentee father. Lots of kids do, but that doesn’t make it any easier to live with when you are one of them.

“Dad didn’t settle for a desk job until I was in my teens. By that time, Mother had developed a whole life independent of his. So had I. That works for them, but it’s not what I want for myself or for any children I might have. I’m not sure that what I do want is anything more than a pipe dream, but I’m not settling for something less. Which is why weddings and marriage are not high on my list of interesting conversational topics.”

It was a hint to let the subject drop, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to settle down right now either, but someday he had every intention of getting married. Maybe even having kids. Family was a good thing. He was just too busy enjoying the single life at the moment to have one. But she sounded like she really never planned to go that route, and something told him that would be a real waste.

She was warm and sweet…the kind of woman that would thrive in a family like the one he’d grown up in.

“Okay, so your dad missed a few school plays, but think of all the good he did.”

She laughed, her expression almost pitying. “It was a lot more than a few school plays and someone else could have done what he did in the field.”

“He was a damn good agent.”

“Yes, he was…but he wasn’t the only agent, not even the only really good agent. And who is to say that him moving to a desk job earlier wouldn’t have done the agency more good?”

“But he wouldn’t have been happy.” Didn’t she see that?

“I know. But his happiness came at the cost of mine. I can understand that as an adult…that he had to do what he felt was right, but I can never condone subjecting any child of mine to a similar situation. It hurts too much. I didn’t understand why he had to do what he did when I was little. All I knew was that my dad didn’t love me enough to be there for me when I needed him. I love him, but I’ll never allow a child of mine to go to sleep at night wondering what is wrong with her that she’s so unimportant to her dad he’s missed her birthday again, or her first date, or her high school graduation.”

He opened his mouth to speak and then shut it again. He didn’t know what that was like. Sure, things had come up when he was a kid that made his parents have to miss something here or there, but never one of his birthdays…or his graduation. It would be too easy for him to say it wouldn’t have mattered, but he didn’t know because he’d never had to face that.

“It sounds to me like you know exactly what you want-”

“Or don’t want.”

“Or don’t want. You’re definitely strong enough to turn down a guy if he wasn’t offering you the kind of lifestyle commitment you’re looking for.”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Maybe I am now…but I wasn’t always.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just that I’ve made mistakes in the past I have no intention of repeating.”

“You’ve never been married.”

She winced. “No, I haven’t.”

Did she have any idea how her half answers were driving him nuts. The more he learned about her, the more he wanted to know until it was a burning thing inside him.

That was just his curiosity. Nothing special, but he hadn’t been intrigued by something outside his job like this for a long time. Not since wanting to find out who had killed the uncle who had lived estranged from his family for decades.

He’d had to learn that info secondhand…another man had discovered the identity of the killer. But this time, Ethan was going to be the one to discover what made Beth tick.

“So, you’d be safe dating agents.”

“And if I fell in love?”

“Love?” He didn’t deny its existence, but he’d never felt it. Not for a woman. Sometimes he wondered if he just wasn’t the type of man to fall in love.

“Yes, you know that pesky emotion that causes people to do lots of stuff they swear they’d never do.”

“I don’t see you letting it rule you.”

“Don’t you?”

“You’re too stubborn.”

“Stubborn…what kind of talk is this? You are supposed to be telling this one of her beauty…ai, ai, ai…you leave the talk of stubborn for after the marriage.” Vito was shaking his head and staring at Ethan in horror.

Beth grinned. “You tell him, Vito. Besides, I’m not stubborn. I don’t know where he gets the idea that I am.” She batted her long dark lashes at him and the old Italian beamed, eating up this flirtatious side to the quiet little admin.

Who damn well was stubborn. Very. His mama would love her. So would his sister. His daddy would say to steer clear unless he wanted to end up roped and hog-tied. He frowned. Not bad advice.

“Now you glare at her? This sweet thing. What could she have done?”

“Nothing. Honest.” Beth smiled coquettishly. “He’s a little upset because I think he’s a poor prospect for a long-term relationship like marriage. He thinks jumping out of airplanes and forgetting to pull the rip cord on his parachute until the last minute is entertainment. I have my own ideas about how to pass the time.”

She said it so suggestively Ethan almost choked on his wine. This vixen was not the shy, but stubborn little secretary he was used to dealing with.

Vito was shaking his head again. “There is nothing romantic about jumping out of an airplane, but he did bring you here for dinner.”

“That’s true,” Beth mused provocatively. “I suppose I’ll have to give him marks for some level of romanticism.”

“That is good, no?” Vito placed their dinners on the table before leaving to greet another obviously well-known customer at the door.

“I can be as romantic as the next man, but this is not a real date, or had you forgotten?”

“My memory is just fine, thanks.”

“Then what was all that stuff you spouted at Vito? I never said I wanted to marry you.” He realized how ridiculous he sounded only when the words were out of his mouth.

He was coming off like a defensive kid who was not confident of his ability with women so had to tell her what a great guy he was.

She laughed, the sound warm and filled with amusement. At his expense. “Would you prefer I told him that our get-to-know-you session for the sake of the case was getting too intense?”

“Of course not.”

“He thinks we’re on a date, so I acted like I was on a date.”

“Then I pity the poor man you actually deign to allow yourself to go out with.”

“Do you?”

Hell no. He envied him…the date and the pink handcuffs.

He was envying a lot more later that evening as he poked through Beth’s closet and drawers. Okay, so he’d guessed she wore sexy undergarments, but damn…he hadn’t expected anything this hot. She had lacy thongs and see-through bikini briefs and bras that were nothing more than a couple of bits of silk. The demibras killed him. He’d picked one up and his hand had actually shaken.

He had a real thing for that particular piece of lingerie…the way it held a woman’s breasts up and left the nipples bare, as if they were waiting to be touched and played with. He couldn’t help wondering what kind of breasts she had. Were they perky? Or a little heavy? Cone shaped or round? Did she have big nipples or small ones…dark or light?

Her skin was pale, but her hair and eyes were dark…it could go either way. Did she like having her breasts and her nipples touched, suckled…bitten? He was aching to find out.

Her clothes were a revelation, too. He’d seen the office gear she wore to work, but she had a rack of filmy, feminine dresses that made his mouth water. Thinking of her in them, worn over some of the more risqué lingerie, sent another surge of blood rushing to his groin. It was all he could do to stifle a groan of pure male hunger.

He’d never done this before, going through a woman’s closet. He’d sure as heck never considered doing so could be such a turn-on, but picturing Beth in the clothes-or partway out of them-was making his dick hard as a rock and his brain short-circuit.

“Are you about done?”

He didn’t have to look at her to know what he’d see. She’d taken off her heels but left her stockings on and was sitting on the edge of her bed. One leg swung gently while she had the other lifted so she could lean her head on her knee. Dark brown eyes watched him with mysterious thoughts that he’d give his spot on the next bungee jump for.

Despite the fact that her skirt was short and her leg was lifted, nothing showed. She’d made sure of that with a quick tug on the hem of her flowy skirt, but if she moved just a little bit, he would be able to see her panties. He was killing himself wondering what type she was wearing and how much else he would be able to see. If she moved her leg just a half an inch to the side.

Had she done so already? That was another thought that was tormenting him.

He turned to face her, to see. He made no effort to hide his erection. If she was looking below the waist, she was going to see the effect going through her closet and dresser had had on him.

But her doe-brown eyes were trained on his face and he wasn’t sure if he felt relieved or disappointed by that fact.

“Yeah…I’m done. In here. I’d like to look over the rest of your apartment some more.”

“Okay.”

“Tomorrow night you can come to my place for dinner and do your own reconnaissance.”

She bit her lip and damn if he didn’t want to help her out with that little habit. “Do you really think that’s necessary?”

“Yes.”

She sighed…and shifted. And he got his wish. She was wearing black panties. Not a thong. They were sheer, but not at the crotch. There was a small dark splotch right in the center. She was wet. So wet that she’d soaked through her panties. His knees nearly buckled. His dick had been hard. Now it throbbed. He was not going to make it out of the apartment without at least kissing her.

But what he really wanted was to bury his face in that little bit of silk and take in her scent and her taste until he was drowning in both.

She gasped and he realized she’d just become aware of where he was looking.

She didn’t move though. Or say anything.

“You’re wet,” he ground out.

“You’re hard.”

“I wondered if you’d notice.”

“It would be impossible to miss.”

Primitive male pride filled him. He was no monster, but he was big enough. And from the tone of her voice, she liked that…and was a little awed by it. Good. He liked that.

Their gazes met…locked.

“I would have expected you to be more sophisticated in your tastes.” She was probably trying to sound caustic, but her voice was too breathy for that.

He smiled. “What do you mean?”

She licked her lips. Nervous…or excited? “I’ve never seen you as the type of man to get his jollies from looking at a woman’s underwear.”

“I didn’t get my jollies, I got a hard-on, and it wasn’t the little bits of fabric you call underwear that turned me on. It was the image of you in them.”

“Oh.” Her leg moved a little more and her skirt slipped, showing her stocking top, the smooth, pale skin of her thigh, and the dark curls of her mound through the sheer fabric of her panties.

He inhaled deeply, the scent of her arousal turning his up another notch. “What about you?”

“I haven’t seen your underwear,” she whispered.

And that added to his excitement. Hell…everything about her did that. “Want to?”

“Yes…no…this is a bad idea.”

He didn’t agree. He undid his pants and slid them down his thighs. His cock sprang free. The air brushed against him like a caress. It felt good, but not as good as she would feel.

This time she moaned…a tiny sound that nearly obliterated his control. “You aren’t wearing any.”

“I like commando.”

“I can see that.”

“Now, tell me why you’re so wet you’ve soaked your panties.”

“It’s not a new thing around you,” she admitted with a choked laugh.

They were looking into each other’s eyes again and hers were glistening with need.

“You fantasize about me?”

“Yes.”

“A lot?”

She blushed. “Yes.”

“And the pink handcuffs.”

The blush spread down her throat to cover the tops of her breasts revealed by her neckline. “Yes.”

Hot damn. “I’m not looking for a long-term commitment right now.”

He just could not get the image of her and orange blossoms out of his head. Most women he dated didn’t need it spelled out for them, but she was special and he owed her honesty.

She didn’t look hurt…or bothered even. “I’d never want that with you.”

For some reason, despite his arousal and his brain telling him that was exactly the way he wanted it, her response made him mad. But he had enough intelligence not to tell her so. It was just his ego taking a hit and he wasn’t going to let that get in the way, not of an attraction this strong.

“Do you want me?” he asked.

“You can see the effect you have on me.”

“Wanting is more than a physical reaction, Sunshine. I need to know if your brain wants this too, because if it doesn’t, I need to tuck my hard-on back in my pants and get out of here. Fast.”

She was silent. A long time. Too long.

He might have pushed another woman, but probably not and definitely not her. He’d learned long ago that both the sex and the aftermath were better when a woman was absolutely sure of what she wanted. It was agony, but he started the painful process of tucking himself back into his slacks. His body protested, but his brain told him this was the right thing to do. He had few relationship rules, but this one was firm.

Her eyes widened. “I didn’t say no.”

He couldn’t quite manage a smile, not when his cock was so hard it felt like it was going to shatter. “You were taking too long to say yes. If it’s that hard to decide, you aren’t ready for what I want from you.”

She blinked in confusion. “Sex.”

“Mind-blowing sex.”

She stood up, her face flushed, her bottom lip caught in her teeth again. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I thought I wanted it… I do want it, it’s just…”

“It’s okay, baby.”

“I teased you,” she said in an agonized voice.

“I liked it.”

“But I’m not ready to follow through,” she admitted. “I don’t know if I ever will be.”

He had more confidence, but he knew she’d have to deal with whatever was holding her back.

“It’s okay.”

“It is?”

“Yes.” She looked unhappy with his agreement, like it bothered her.

She should be grateful. A lot of men wouldn’t have been as understanding, but he wasn’t a kid. And he liked her. He wasn’t pushing her into a sexual relationship she wasn’t ready for. The things he wanted to do with and to her required a lack of inhibition that wasn’t going to come if she was doubting the rightness of letting him touch her.

He crossed the room and brushed his thumb over her lip, disengaging it from her teeth. “If you don’t stop doing that, you’re going to end up bruised…or bleeding.”

She looked up at him, the sensual longing in her eyes so strong he had to exert iron control to keep from stripping her naked and showing her how much she really did want him.

He kissed her, softly-almost chastely-on her lips, but his tongue took an irresistible swipe of her taste before he pulled away. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She nodded, following him silently to the door.

He stopped there. “Remember, dinner at my place. Right after work.”

“I’ll have to come home and feed the kittens first.”

She was sugar sweet and that was another thing that was different from the women he usually dated. He liked it. “Okay, make it six-thirty.”

“I’ll be there.” She didn’t sound sure, but on this…he didn’t have the luxury of waiting or being understanding.

She needed to come to his home and get an idea of who he was outside the office. “Take a taxi. I’ll drive you home.”

“Okay.”

He almost told her to bring the pink handcuffs, but he wasn’t into self-torture.