Simply Sinful

CHAPTER THREE

KAYLA WALKED INTO THE recently decorated lobby of the hotel where Kane was staying, trying not to feel like a woman about to embark on a one-night stand. She glanced around at the potted, but obviously fake plants and the bored clerk yawning behind the desk. It was a respectable establishment, but she wondered how many men brought women to a hotel room for a quick fling?

She stopped halfway to the elevator and grabbed the hard leather of Kane’s jacket. He turned toward her. “Second thoughts?” he asked.

“Just a reality check. I don’t know anything about you.”

“You know what’s important.” He brushed a fingertip down her cheek. Her skin tingled and her heart rate soared. “What more is there?” he asked.

“I don’t know, maybe you’re not really a salesman. Maybe you’re a…”

“Serial killer?” He jumped in with a disarming grin.

“Married or involved was more like what I had in mind,” she said on a nervous laugh. “But yours is a valid consideration, too.”

“Well, I can set your mind at ease on that score. No bodies buried anywhere in my past. No spouses, either, present, ex or intended.” He wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder. Well, it would have been comforting if not for her body’s immediate reaction.

Pheromones, she’d read recently, acted to stimulate a body’s chemical reaction to the opposite sex. But such clinical reasoning wasn’t enough of an explanation for her response to Kane McDermott. It might explain the all-over heat despite the chill outdoors, or the delicious sizzling sensations tripping around inside her. In no way did it account for the rush of warmth when those eyes met hers or the understanding she’d seen there when she’d told him about her childhood.

If he’d been vague about himself, that was okay. He’d be gone too soon for it to matter and he’d shown interest in her life, something no man had ever done before. His curiosity about her new career path and the new services she planned for Charmed! made her feel as if he cared.

Catherine was right. This was a man capable of putting Kayla and her needs first. But she’d never done anything like this before and she needed his reassurance before deciding to take this next step. She needed to know there was no one else in his life. That she wasn’t making a colossal mistake.

She glanced at his serious expression, one mixed with desire and concern. Kane might want her, but he was a gentleman in the ways he showed her his desire…except for that incident in the alley, where she’d been as willing a participant as he.

Her entire system shook in reaction. Foreplay, she thought. He’d readied her mind as well as her body. The heavy pulsing deep inside proved that, so did the anticipation of what awaited her.

She wanted to blame chemistry but she knew a lot more than that had pushed her to this moment. A lifetime of being treated as a sex object and not a person with feelings. Years of ignoring her own desires because she feared picking the wrong man, one who wanted her body but not the whole person. The final straw had come over the past month, when she’d taken on Charmed!-the vehicle to secure her sister’s future and hold onto her aunt’s past. While her sister dated, while Catherine registered and started culinary school, Kayla had deferred the rest of her education to run the business. She’d suppressed her own desires and needs. What about what she wanted?

She glanced at Kane. This man made her feel alive for the first time ever. Add what seemed to be a genuine caring and she couldn’t go wrong. There might never be another man who valued her. Because there would never be another Kane McDermott.

She met his gaze. He was unattached and sexy, dynamic…and hers, for the night at least. The suspense and excitement built and she smiled. “Well, I guess that settles things.”

“Does it?” He shoved his hands into the front pocket of his jeans. Tight jeans that molded against muscular thighs and showcased his obvious arousal.

She licked her dry lips. “Unless you’ve changed your mind.”

“You were quiet for so long I was about to ask you the same thing.”

Kayla drew a deep breath, as much for courage as for luck. Then she extended her hand.

A sexy grin edged the corners of his mouth and he intertwined his fingers in hers. “One stop first.” He crossed to the front desk. He handed something to the clerk, whispering too low for her to catch what he said. “Ready?” he asked, turning back toward her.

Her stomach felt as if it hit the floor. “Ready,” she murmured.

Everything that came next, the elevator ride and the walk down the dimly lit hall, all passed in a blur caused by near panic. Then she found herself alone with Kane in his hotel room. For a woman with limited experience, she wondered what had possessed her. She swung around, taking in the clutter. An open briefcase sat on the table, clothes lay scattered around and an unzipped suitcase had been shoved into the corner. The mess was so unfeminine, so like a man…so like Kane.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re trembling.”

She glanced at her surroundings once more. The king-size mattress in the center of the room drew her focus. What awaited her in that bed sent her imagination soaring. Kayla, Kane, hot bodies, tangled sheets…To her shock, her case of nerves calmed as she realized this was exactly where she wanted to be.

She looked at him. “I’m okay now.”

“Kayla…”

“Yes?”

He cleared his throat. “Have you ever done this before?”

She raised her chin at the doubt in his tone. “Lots of times.”

“Bull.”

“Fine.” She made for the door before his embarrassing, on-target questions humiliated her further. If her inexperience showed now, how disappointed would he be later?

She didn’t get far. Two steps and he stopped her departure with a firm arm around her waist, drawing her close against his lean, hard body. His masculine scent pummeled her nerve endings, enticing her physically, assaulting her already raw senses. Her breasts tingled, her skin sizzled with fire and that wasn’t the worst part. This man had the power to affect her emotions, too.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“My mama always said if you can’t do something right, don’t bother doing it at all.”

“Did I say you did anything wrong?”

She rolled her eyes and threw the blame squarely on him. “Not me, you.”

“I did something wrong. What?”

“You questioned my experience. Not exactly the way to endear yourself to a woman, McDermott.” She forced herself to remain stiff and unyielding in his arms, even though she wanted to curl into him and feel his strength flow through her.

His heated breath fanned her neck. His cologne threatened to seduce her and make her forget common sense. She struggled against the seductive pull. “Let me go.”

“Not until you answer the question I asked a minute ago and then I’ll explain. If you don’t like what you hear, I’ll take you home myself. Have you done this before?” he asked again.

“A one-night stand in a stranger’s hotel room? No. Happy now?”

“Not by a long shot. And that wasn’t the question I was asking and you know it.”

“Okay,” she said, resigned. “Once in my senior year of high school and once more a few years ago.” The first time she’d been young and inexperienced, scared but seduced into believing the guy had wanted her, not just a quickie in the backseat of his car. He’d gone to great lengths to convince her, and she’d bought his act. Then he’d gone bragging to his friends, and she’d never heard from him again. The second time had been years later. Another mistake, a futile effort to relieve the loneliness in her life.

She resented being forced to relive either time. “You want names and dates, too, Officer, or are the sketchy details enough?”

He jerked back, but kept his hand firmly around her waist.

“Well?” she asked when he remained silent. “Are you going to keep grilling me like some cop or let me go home?”

“Neither.”

His long exhale took her by surprise. Had he been as tense as she was about this encounter? Impossible. Men didn’t get nervous.

Kayla straightened as best she could, trying to ignore that her behind now snuggled firmly against him. She didn’t have to look back to know what male organ pressed hard and insistently against her. She gritted her teeth.

“Why is this so important?” she asked him.

“You said years.” His hand brushed her hair off her face and he lay a warm, comforting cheek next to hers. “I want you so badly I can barely stand.” His rough voice shook her body. The truth shook her soul. “If I didn’t ask, if I didn’t know, I’d have hurt you.”

Her cheek remained cushioned next to his. He felt so right. Her stiff muscles relaxed, even as her body remained strung tight and begged for sexual release.

Kane loosened his hold, apparently assured she wouldn’t run. She turned, crossing her arms in front of her and clutching her stomach in a death grip as she asked her next question. “And if you had…hurt me, I mean…you’d have cared?”

He swallowed so hard she saw his throat muscles at work. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“About a man, yes. About you, after this…no. I…” Her next words were interrupted by a knock on the door.

He held her gaze for a long second with a hot look that pulled his features taut and put sparks of need in his eyes. Need she inspired. The notion awed her.

“I’ve got it.” He opened the door and waited as a man placed a room service cart with what looked like a thermos of coffee on the only free counterspace available in the room. “Fast work. I guess money does talk.”

“What is that?” she asked.

“Payment.” She raised one eyebrow in question. “For what’s to come,” he explained. Lifting the silver tray off the plate, he revealed two packages of instant hot cocoa mix.

“You remembered,” she said, both pleased and impressed. This caring man had amazed her yet again.

“When an intelligent woman speaks, I listen. Besides how could I deny such a simple request? Especially when it will get me everything I want.” His seductive smile caused her insides to twist into delicious knots only he could undo.

“Had for a cup of hot chocolate.” She couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess I’m easy,” she murmured, rubbing her still-chilled hands against her jean-clad thighs for warmth. His gaze followed the movement, his eyes darkening with unmistakable sexual heat.

“Are you?” He walked to her slowly. His eyes never left hers as his hands went to the zipper on her jacket.

His knuckles grazed her chin as he made quick work of opening the zipper, his large hands brushing the sides open and off her shoulders. The jacket slid to the floor in a heap while his hands lingered. He gripped her upper arms hard, yet his fingers were shockingly gentle as they molded to her flesh beneath the constricting turtleneck.

His next maneuver surprised her. Strong hands slid through her hair, gliding and touching in a soft whisper of movement. Her headband joined the jacket on the floor, creating a pile of clothing destined to grow. Strong hands combed through her tangled hair. The tugging at her scalp felt erotically wicked. Without warning, a violent tremor took hold. Heat pounded between her thighs and a trickling liquid warmth followed in its wake.

Being with this man wouldn’t be slow and easy. It wouldn’t be controlled and simple to understand. She didn’t want it to be. Her first step toward recognizing herself as a woman meant accepting what she’d believed impossible. A wild abandon existed in her soul, waiting for the opportunity to be set free.

Other men had touched-and they’d turned her ice-cold. No one else had inspired such gut-wrenching need. But Kane had seen beyond the packaging to the woman inside, and because he had, Kayla came together at last-body, heart and soul. She didn’t care if she’d only know him one night, she felt so much more. She wanted him and she wouldn’t, couldn’t restrain the gnawing hunger any longer.

She recalled his last question. Was she easy? “For you I guess I am,” she murmured and stood on her tiptoes to place a full, openmouthed kiss on his lips.

His body shook and the tremors vibrated through her as he grabbed her waist and pulled her roughly against him. “Lady, do you have any idea what you do to me?”

Kayla gathered her courage and repeated his words of earlier that night. “No, but you could show me.”

KANE EXPELLED A HARSH breath. In her playful innocence, she obviously had no idea she’d brought him too close, too fast. He hadn’t held back tonight and looking into her clear gaze, he couldn’t start now. He grabbed for her hand and placed it on the front placket of his jeans.

“Oh.” Her gasp of surprise was telling.

If she were as smart as she was supposed to be, she’d pull back before things got out of hand. The rational part of him hoped she would. Instead she cupped him firmly in her palm and molded her fingers to the faded denim, tracing the weight of his arousal pushing restlessly against the restricting denim.

He closed his eyes and tried to think…of sports. Tonight’s game, that ought to keep his mind off sex while her hand explored and his body contracted. Last thing he needed was to embarrass himself before things even got started. The weight and pressure of her fingers was driving him mad. And then she went to the button on his jeans. Baseball, he reminded himself. Bats, balls, stolen bases and home runs…Damn this was a bad idea.

He grabbed for her wrist. “Enough.”

“Why?”

He met her startled gaze. “Ever hear of too much too soon?”

Understanding lit her embarrassed gaze while his traveled the length of her and back again. Large breasts rounded beneath the tight turtleneck top and rigid nipples pushed through the thin white material. Her jeans were fitted, accentuating full hips and generous curves. Kane had had his share of women, and they’d had one thing in common. They spent too much at the gym trying to be model-thin, or had put themselves on ridiculous diets he’d never understand.

Kayla had eaten what she pleased tonight and enjoyed every mouthful. And he’d enjoyed watching her. He wondered if her sexual appetite was as unbridled.

Twice and she hadn’t been thrilled at the admission. What had those experiences been like for her? His groin still ached from a touch that hadn’t been hesitant but…experimental. Despite the body made for sex and sin, this woman was fresh and new.

Too wholesome for someone like him. Yet he couldn’t turn back. He needed her, something he wasn’t ready to face now…and probably not ever.

“I don’t really believe there’s such a thing as too much, do you?” She touched a soft hand to his cheek and he knew. She trusted him, yet everything about them was a lie. He’d known enough about her going in to wrap her around his finger, and he’d done it easily. He hadn’t counted on being floored himself. But he had been…as much as she.

Since she believed he’d be leaving the state after tonight, he could give them both a time to remember. No risk involved for either of them. She was too good at chipping away at the rough exterior he’d built and relied upon to survive. If not for the softness in her, if not for the softness she brought out in him, they’d be in a sweaty tangle on the floor by now. His throbbing body reminded him they hadn’t gotten that far. Yet.

He held his hand toward her. “Why don’t we find out?” Her fingers twisted in his, he led her to the oversize chair beside the table. He sat down and lowered her into his lap, facing him. “Still cold?”

She turned so she straddled his hips with her own and met his gaze head-on. “Not anymore.” He heard a smoldering heat in her voice. “Or should I say yes so you’ll warm me?”

Her impish grin was at odds with the questions in her eyes. Kane decided to erase those, as well as all rational thought once and for all. He wrapped his hands around her waist. “How about you say nothing at all?” he said and sealed his mouth to hers.

She tasted as good as before. She made him as hot as before-only faster this time. He pulled her shirt from the waistband of her jeans, needing to feel, taste and savor the sensations only she aroused. A willing partner, she helped, raising her arms to make his job easier, and before he could blink, he was facing his fantasy.

Ever since stealing a glimpse of Kayla Luck through a glass storefront window, Kane had been waiting for this. He just hadn’t let it enter his conscious mind. It was there now. She was there now.

He traced the edge of white lace surrounding her plump breasts, feeling her soft flesh beneath his fingertips. Her chest rose and fell in time to her rapid breathing, but she held his gaze and didn’t say a word.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re beautiful.”

“Don’t worry. If I let you get this far, I believe the compliment.”

“Unlike this morning.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t know you this morning.”

“And you do now.”

She laughed and he discovered even her grin made him hard.

“I know what’s important,” she said playfully. “Isn’t that what you said?”

He nodded and pushed the material beneath her breast, exposing all of her for view. The blood in his veins pumped fast and furious. “Still hot?” He placed a kiss on the distended tip of her nipple.

A strangled sound escaped her lips.

“I’ll take that as a yes-which makes hot chocolate out of the question.”

She stared at him wide-eyed.

“But I am hungry. How about you?” Reaching to his side, he felt beneath the room service cart left by the hotel staff earlier and came up with a can of whipped cream. “Special request,” he said.

“You think of everything, don’t you?” she asked.

“I try.” He shook the can with one hand.

She was already willing. He also wanted her hot…and wet…and enjoying every moment. She hadn’t done much of that in the past and he wanted her to remember him even after he was gone. He didn’t want her ever to forget.

With great show and care, he circled her nipple with a generous helping of whipped cream. Her smoldering gaze met his. “Something wrong?” he asked.

“It’s cold.” Laughter and anticipation lit her voice.

“Not for long.” He lifted her breast in his hand, savoring the weight, the feel, the warmth and then he proceeded to devour his dessert until he was tasting beyond cold and sweet, until he was tasting Kayla.

Unfortunately for him, his plan worked too well. She lost herself in sensation. She moaned aloud, her thighs clenched and unclenched around his. And Kane knew she was past conscious thought, past the point of asking him to stop.

Which meant she trusted him. He glanced at her glazed eyes, and her honest face. A protest of his own rose to his lips. Before he could speak, her hips bucked against him and his coherency vanished. He met her thrusts with unrestrained pumping of his own until he thought he’d come right then. Lifting her up, he waited only for her to wrap her legs around his hips and he took the few steps needed.

Together they toppled onto the bed. In between spurts of laughter and the mess of the whipped cream, which she attempted to lick from his lips, they managed to stand and undress. Kane grabbed for his jeans and pulled a condom out of his wallet, realizing on some subconscious level, he’d been prepared for this. He’d made sure his wallet wasn’t empty.

Shaking off the implications, he joined her on top of the mattress. She lay beneath him, naked and ready. His. He shook his head to clear that thought, but it remained. He pushed a strand of hair off her cheek, stuck there thanks to leftover whipped cream.

“I never realized making love could be fun,” she said, out of breath.

He’d never laughed while having sex, either. At least he’d given her something after all. He grinned. “Sweetheart, you haven’t seen anything yet.” He shifted his weight and slipped his hand between her thighs.

She was everything he’d wanted her to be. Warm, slick and, if the sighs greeting his ears were any indication, she was definitely enjoying. He slipped one finger inside her moist heat.

“Kane?” His name came out on a groan.

“What?” Closing his eyes against the tension threatening to burst inside him, he eased his finger out…

“I’d rather you…I mean, we…”

He knew what she meant. But he wasn’t ready. He wanted more for her than a fast tumble. More memories. He slipped his finger back in once more. “Patience is a virtue,” he told her through clenched teeth.

“Then I’m not virtuous.” As if to make her point, she wrapped her hand around his straining length and proceeded to pick up a rhythm that brought him to the brink.

“Point made.”

Taking care of protection seemed more of a nuisance than it should. Then, grabbing her wayward hands, he yanked them above her head and held her wrists with one hand. With the other, he eased himself inside her, trying like hell to keep in mind it had been a long time for her.

Considering how perfect the fit, how intense the emotion she drew from him, this was a first for him as well. Kane held onto rational thought long enough to recognize he’d never felt like this before. Seconds before he climaxed in her arms, he knew he’d never feel like this again.

HE WOKE TO THE SOUND of rustling clothing. Kane rolled onto his back to see Kayla slipping back into her clothes. Last night came back to him in a rush of memory and sensation-because his body was rock-hard. Despite that he’d slept with her twice, and that the sheets still carried their scent, he wanted her again. Wanted her more than he had the first time.

One glance and he knew she’d planned on slipping out before he awoke. Something he’d done himself and only now, being on the receiving end, did he realize how low a maneuver that actually was. The sense of loss shocked him.

She was leaving. Because she was sorry for what happened? Because she was embarrassed and couldn’t face him? Or because, God help him, he’d been nothing more to her than a one-night stand? He couldn’t stand the possibility, and in that fleeting second, he wanted more.

“Going somewhere?”

She glanced up from buttoning her jeans. Her hair fell around her face in easy waves, surrounding guilt-ridden, embarrassed eyes. “I was just…”

“Leaving?”

“Getting dressed. I would have woken you.”

“Bull.”

“You like that word.”

“Only when it fits.” He rose from the bed, ignoring that he was naked, and trying unsuccessfully to ignore her gaze following him across the room.

“I thought a clean break would be best. You’re going back to New Hampshire later today any way, so I figured, this way, no messy goodbyes.” She turned a bright, sunny smile his way.

He shoved his hand into his pants pockets and fished through his wallet. What was he to her? She hadn’t accepted his date until he’d pressured her into it with the lesson pretense. Was he a client she never wanted to see again or something more?

In his mind, the case had been closed long before he slept with her. He knew she wasn’t a prostitute, knew she had no knowledge of any ring that might exist. But she was the woman who’d slipped past his walls. No one had ever gotten that close before. If anything would kill the edge Reid was so worried about, the one that kept him alert and alive, this was it. A soft, caring woman.

Kayla Luck.

Kane drew a deep breath. It didn’t matter why he’d come into her life. The fact remained that he had, and, in the process, he’d compromised himself, his principles, his case and his job. Not bad for a night’s work, McDermott. He had to let her go. But the same part of him that wanted to kick himself for getting in too deep also needed to know. Could it all have been one-sided?

He turned toward her, wallet open. “We never agreed on a price, but I’m sure this will cover last night’s…lessons.” She might not think she’d taught him anything. But she had. A very expensive and painful lesson. He tossed the wad of bills onto the bed.

Don’t take the money. His heart seemed to hammer out the words in rapid beats. Furious with himself, he still needed to see her reaction, needed to know what he’d meant to her.

He looked over his shoulder. She’d paused in the process of pulling the baby-blue jacket onto her shoulders.

“What…is…that?”

“You said we’d see how things go.” And they had. He thrust his hand toward the bed where the money sat, glaring and rude. “That’s payment for services rendered.”