Wilde Thing

Chapter 8

Liz stood with her back beneath the hot shower spray and sighed as Steve soaped up the front of her body and washed away the remnants of caramel with luxurious sweeps of his big hands across her wet skin. He'd insisted on being the one to bathe her, and she'd let him do the deed for the most part, because after three years of devoting herself to her business it felt so good to be pampered for a change.

Through the steamy vapors swirling in the shower stall, his slumberous eyes latched on to hers, his dark, freshly washed hair finger-combed away from his handsome face. "Feel good?" he asked as his palms kneaded the slopes of her breasts and his thumbs lazily circled her ultrasensitive nipples.

"Oh, yes," she breathed, and because she couldn't stop herself from touching, too, she trailed her fingers up his muscular arms, deliberately taking the time to trace the tribal band around his biceps before continuing along his broad shoulders and down his muscled chest. He felt deliciously warm and sleek, exceptionally hard in all the right places, and she savored his virile strength even as he brushed his hands along her pliant body so gently, so eloquently.

While the sex they'd just indulged in had been hedonistic in many ways and undoubtedly erotically charged, this was foreplay at its finest, she decided. He'd washed her hair as soon as they'd stepped into the shower, and massaged her scalp with his long, strong fingers. Now his caresses were slow and languorous as he smoothed the fragrant lather along her belly and between her thighs to wash away the sticky syrup, then down her long legs. His unhurried exploration was designed to relax and arouse, and he did both exceptionally well. She felt boneless, yet every one of her feminine nerve endings hummed in renewed awareness.

He turned her around and let the hot spray rinse the suds from the front of her body while he pushed her wet hair out of the way so he could lather up her backside. She braced her flattened palms on the tiled wall for support as he applied a skillful pressure to the taut tendons running along her shoulders, and she groaned in praise of his talented, sensual hands soothing her overworked and exhausted body.

"How did it go tonight at work?" he murmured, using his thumbs to loosen the tension along her nape.

Did he really expect her to think with a clear head while he bestowed such lavish attention upon her? Apparently so, and she did her best to switch mental gears from pleasure to business. "Actually, it went well. I was able to talk to Roxanne tonight, alone."

"And…?" he prompted, his fingers working their magic down the muscles bisecting her spine, his firm touch spreading goose bumps along her flesh.

She closed her eyes, shivering as his palms slid over her hips and his big hands curved over her buttocks, squeezing and kneading her bottom. "Roxanne's been with The Ultimate Fantasy for about four months now, so she knows a bit about the fantasy parties."

"Does she go to them?" He easily nudged her feet farther apart and slipped his fingers along the crevice between her legs, grazing the swollen lips of her sex before retreating again.

She swallowed a moan at that teasing caress and managed a shake of her head. "No. Roxanne's not interested in being one of the 'party girls,' as they're called. She did remember Valerie when I mentioned her name, but admitted that she never hung out with her because she wasn't really her type," she said, trying desperately to keep her mind on the conversation she'd had with Roxanne and ignoring Steve's shameless attempts to distract her. "She gave me the name of another operator who Valerie was apparently friends with. Trixie Lane, but Roxanne didn't think that was her real name."

"Probably not." He readjusted the shower head so the water poured along her back in a fall of sensual heat, and he chased the soapy suds down her spine with his palms, leaving her skin satiny-soft and clean from head to toe. "Sounds like she's the next person we need to get into contact with."

She gasped as his parted lips skimmed the side of her throat and his tongue licked the moisture beading on her skin. His breath was hot, and her nipples puckered, tingled, aching to be caressed by his hands, his mouth. Again.

And still, she found the words to speak. Just barely. "Unfortunately, Trixie is now strictly one of the party girls and doesn't do the phone sex bit anymore, because of the money she's making on the parties. So, the only way we're going to be able to find her is to get invited to one of the parties and go from there."

"Then tomorrow night we turn up the heat on our phone calls," he said, nuzzling just below her ear, then nibbling on her lobe.

She automatically tilted her head to the side, giving him better access to her neck as the spray of water continued to drizzle over them. "Any more heat and I'm going to go up in flames."

He chuckled at her double meaning and stepped closer, aligning her back to his chest. A muscled arm slid around her waist, and he pulled her bottom to his groin so that his erection nestled cozily between her thighs. His free hand played with her breasts and lightly pinched her nipples, causing her to suck in a sharp breath and wriggle against him. His fingers strummed over her stomach, slid through her slick folds, opening her so that rivulets of water teased her clitoris, and his shaft glided along her tender, swollen flesh from behind.

Her entire body pulsed, and another orgasm beckoned. She wasn't at all opposed to letting him take her this way, but she grabbed his hand to stop his alluring assault. "I want to come with you inside me this time," she whispered. "And we don't have a condom here in the shower." Despite her curiosity about his being so adamant about using his own protection, she respected his request to use a condom at all times.

He eased his hold on her but didn't let her go. "Damn, you sidetracked me," he muttered against her neck.

She laughed, accepting his excuse, but knew they needed to finish their conversation about The Ultimate Fantasy before they moved on to more pleasant diversions. "You were talking about turning up the heat on our phone calls."

He exhaled, seemingly regathering his thoughts. "As I was saying, we need to take our conversations to the next level," he said, scattering soft kisses along her shoulder as if he couldn't help himself. "We're both going to express interest in wanting to meet one another in person, and let's hope that Antonio jumps on that and decides you're worthy of being a party girl, and I'm worthy of being invited to a party."

His plan was the next logical step in finding her cousin. "It's been almost a week since Valerie's been gone." The statement slipped past her lips, more somber than she'd intended.

He gently turned her around to face him, and the water cascaded over her shoulders and down her curves. She experienced a moment of vulnerability that had nothing to do with her naked body. Physically, she was all his in every way, but it was the raw emotions working their way up to the surface that made her feel so exposed to him. And as a man so in tune to her, he seemed to sense that change within her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, and gently brushed a wet strand of hair off her cheek with his fingers.

The warmth and compassion in his touch lingered, wrapping intimately around her heart, urging her to divulge her personal thoughts. "I'm just feeling frustrated and worried about Valerie." And more and more resentful that her cousin had put her in such a predicament. And then there was her own damnable guilt and sense of obligation that was nagging at her conscience and pushing her to such extremes.

The genuine caring reflecting in his striking blue eyes was nearly her undoing. "We'll find her."

She needed to believe him, and the evidence he'd uncovered and followed up on so far backed up his reassuring claim. "It's as simple as a phone call from Valerie if she's off somewhere having a good time with his Rob person, but Val isn't known for being courteous. The part of me that's frustrated just wants to say to hell with all this crap, but then I think of my aunt and uncle, and I just have to know that she's okay. They're the only family I have."

"I know," he said simply and with understanding. "As soon as we get Rob's last name, I can put a trace on him, and I'm sure, wherever he is, we'll find Valerie with him."

"I hope so." Her voice trembled, another show of emotion that slipped past her barriers.

He stared at her for a long moment, then cradled the back of her head in his hand and brought her mouth to his for a slow, soft kiss, as if that physical contact was the best way he knew how to comfort her.

His method worked like a charm, because he made her forget everything but the glorious, desirable way he made her feel. She opened to him, clung to him, and when his warm, damp tongue slid into her mouth, she greedily accepted it.

Her heart beat so erratically beneath her breast, she was certain he'd be able to feel the wild tempo against his chest. Thick, hot steam built around them, and the moisture from the shower made their skin slippery, erotically so. His breathing roughened, and the kisses deepened, grew more urgent and evocative. He backed her up against the warm tiled wall, ruthlessly pinning her there with his hard, muscled body. His palms slid down her sides, and he grasped her bottom in his hands and ground his hips against hers, his solid, unmistakable erection causing a wet, silken friction along the lips of her sex.

She shuddered and held on to his shoulders, her need for him becoming a tangible thing, strong and powerful and nearly overwhelming in its intensity. She wrenched her mouth from his, panting. "Steve… I need you inside me."

"I need to be there, too," he uttered in a low, gruff timbre, and his words thrilled her.

Shutting off the water, he grabbed her hand, pushed opened the stall door, and pulled her out with him. Water dripped from their bodies onto the floor mat, and he reached for the towel hanging over the brass rack. But instead of drying them off as she expected him to do, he laid the fluffy towel on the vanity and hefted her onto it, cushioning her bottom from the cold, hard surface.

He pushed her knees wide apart and moved in between, the hands splayed on her thighs branding her. His eyes were dark and hot as they took in her wanton position and her dewy, quivering breasts. He lowered his head, his lips parting for a nipple, and he sucked her deep inside, his mouth hungry, his teeth nipping, his tongue soothing.

She threaded her fingers through the soft, damp strands of his hair and groaned as his lips burned a path across her jaw, along her throat. "Steve, no more teasing."

He let her go just long enough to reach across the vanity for the condom he'd brought into the bathroom with them and quickly sheathed himself. "Lean back and brace your hands on the counter behind you," he ordered.

She did as he asked, and realized the position tilted her hips and gave him better leverage. He caught her knees in the crease of his elbows, spreading her legs wide for his possession. She was primed and ready for him, and the tip of his shaft unerringly found the entrance to her body, pressing in a teasing, tantalizing inch when she knew there was at least six more to go. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she urged him forward, and with a low, guttural growl he buried his face in the crook of her neck. Buried his cock into her tight warmth with one long, purposeful stroke that stole her breath.

He didn't give her much time to recover.

"God, you feel so damn good," he muttered, and began to move within her, withdrawing and plunging in hard, fast, rhythmic thrusts that had her instantly unraveling.

A wave of uncontrollable passion rolled over her, demanding her surrender to this man who was such an intimate part of her. Her thighs trembled, and her inner muscles clamped around him as her climax hit. Ecstasy, pure and sweet and so seductive, swept over her, through her, and in a sensual rush of sensation she came, shuddering and moaning his name.

"Yes," he hissed, and tossed his head back, his jaw clenching. The muscles in his arms flexed, the ones in his abdomen rippled, and with one last deep surge his entire body shook as he gave himself over to his own scorching orgasm.

"I think Steve has a new girlfriend."

Steve had just taken a bite out of his meatball sandwich when his brother Eric decided to toss out that casual comment, making it fodder for discussion as they ate lunch at their favorite pub before heading off to the golf shop to pick out their father's birthday present. Since his mouth was full, all he could do was glare at Eric for bringing up Liz in Adrian's presence.

"A new girlfriend? Really?" Always interested when it came to the subject of women, Adrian, the youngest of the Wilde clan, jumped on the bit of gossip with the same enthusiasm that compelled him to skydive out of airplanes at fourteen thousand feet in the air. "Spill the details, Stevie."

He swallowed and washed down the bite with a drink of cold beer. He figured the best way to handle the situation was to give as little information as possible. "There's nothing to spill."

"Oh, come on, don't be so uptight," Adrian drawled, riling Steve the best way he knew how. "Is she hot?"

"Definitely hot," Eric said, looking much too smug as he shared his opinion with his brother.

Finished with his sandwich, Steve wiped spaghetti sauce from his fingers as he lifted a brow Eric's way. "What are you doing checking out Liz when you've got Jill?"

Eric shrugged unrepentantly. "It's hard not to notice that Liz has a great set of-"

"Don't say it," Steve said, cutting off his brother's remark with a deep, feral kind of growl.

Adrian snickered as he ate a forkful of potato salad, enjoying the exchange.

"Eyes!" Eric clarified, feigning such an appalled look that anyone would think he meant differently. "I was going to say she has a great set of eyes. They're a fascinating shade of green. Geez, what did you think I was going to say?"

Steve wasn't even going to go there, and he shot Adrian a look that told him not to share his own colorful answers to Eric's question, either, or he'd be dead meat.

"So, Eric's met this woman of yours," Adrian said, his tone thoughtful and curious. "Is it serious between the two of you?"

"Is it ever?" Steve snapped, feeling uncomfortable under his brother's scrutiny when he was beginning to recognize that his affair with Liz was turning into something more for him than a superficial fling to get her out of his system. And that realization came with a whole slew of emotional complications he wasn't sure how to deal with, since he truly wasn't looking for a long-term commitment with any woman. At least not the kind that led to marriage. And eventually, every woman wanted marriage.

"Hey, no need to get defensive about it." Adrian held his hands out in a placating gesture, his deep-blue eyes reflecting a hint of contrition for pushing what seemed to be a sensitive issue. "I'm just making sure that since Eric here has been bitten by the love bug, that it's not contagious."

Eric didn't deny being bitten, and the besotted grin on his face backed it up. "Be careful," he said to Adrian. "It might just sneak up on you and bite you in the ass when you least expect it."

Adrian shuddered dramatically. "Not likely. Been there, done that, and while I'll admit that you got lucky with Jill, I like my life the way it is, free of emotional commitments and demands. I come and go when I please and answer to no one but myself. It works for me." He dragged a french fry through the pool of ketchup on his plate and returned his attention back to Steve. "So, back to lover boy here and his girlfriend, Liz…"

"She's a client, and I'm working on a case for her," he said, hoping to dispel any further debate on his love life.

"Mixing business with pleasure, huh?" Adrian tipped his beer toward Steve in a masculine salute and waggled his brows.

Steve pushed his lunch plate aside and leaned back against the upholstered booth. "The last thing I want to do is discuss my relationship with Liz with the two of you." He felt very protective of her and wasn't about to taint what they'd shared so far. And he wasn't the type to kiss and tell. They weren't talking forever, but he respected Liz and wasn't about to let anyone think otherwise. Not even his womanizing brother Adrian, appropriately nicknamed the Wilde One.

"She's a nice woman," Eric said sincerely in a show of support. "She's the owner of The Daily Grind."

"I've heard of the place but haven't been there." Adrian reached across the table and filched the extra french fries Steve had left on his plate. "If the scenery is that good, I'll have to stop in there sometime."

"Stick to your sports groupies, Adrian," Steve said, knowing those wild, willing women were more his style. And he had a slew of them who were eager to please-in bed and out.

"You know I like a good challenge, and those women are too… well, easy-if you know what I mean."

Steve understood more than Adrian realized. His brother was finally becoming selective and discriminating, and gratuitous sex obviously no longer had an appeal for him. Steve was glad to see it happen, since Adrian had spent much too long using other nameless females to make up for the hurtful rejection of the one woman he'd fallen hard for.

The waitress came by, cleared their plates, and asked if they wanted a refill on their drinks, or dessert. They all declined, and Steve was slipped the bill. Lunch was on him, as he'd promised Eric the day before, though he'd foregone his threat of McDonald's in favor of their favorite pub. He pulled out his wallet to pay the bill so they could head on to the golf shop.

Eric cleared his throat and fiddled with the set of car keys he'd put on the table. "Hey, look, before we go, there's something I need to tell the two of you."

Steve was infinitely grateful that the spotlight was finally off him, and he welcomed the diversion, though his brother's suddenly somber mood concerned him. "Sounds important."

Eric glanced from one brother to the other. "It's one of the most important decisions I've ever made in my life."

Surprisingly, there was no wisecrack from Adrian, though Steve was plenty prepared to kick his younger brother's shin under the table if he demeaned Eric's need to tell them something so obviously significant. Eric had always been the easygoing, carefree bachelor of the three of them, and it wasn't often that he revealed such a serious side.

And that was enough to demand their attention.

"What is it?" Steve asked when the silence stretched out too long.

"I'm going to ask Jill to marry me."

"Are you crazy?" Adrian blurted, then tempered himself when Steve managed to follow through on his plan to give his brother a swift kick to knock some sense into him. "I mean, are you sure?"

"I love her," Eric said simply, unfazed by his brother's outburst. Reaching into the pocket of his trousers, he brought out a small velvet-lined box. "I picked this up this morning." He flipped open the lid, revealing an impressively sized diamond ring.

"Jesus, Eric!" Adrian turned his head, as if the glare from the stones were much too bright for him to take. "Blind us with that thing, why don't you?"

"Wow," Steve said profoundly, despite his own failed marriage. "You're serious."

"I wouldn't joke about something like this." He snapped the box closed again and tucked it back into his pocket for safekeeping. "I don't want anyone in my life but Jill. She's the one I want to be with for the rest of my life. I've even started thinking about kids lately and having them with Jill, and my biological clock is ticking," he joked.

Steve grinned. He'd never seen his brother so happy, and it warmed him deep inside that Eric had found someone he wanted to share his life with. "If you're looking for approval, you've got mine. Jill's perfect for you. And I know that Mom and Dad will be thrilled, too."

Adrian shook his head in awe. "You must be in love, because that ring had to have cost you a small fortune."

"She's worth it." Eric shrugged, as if money was inconsequential to what the ring symbolized. "I was thinking of proposing at Dad's party, in front of family and friends."

"Are you sure she'll say yes?" Adrian asked humorously.

"I wouldn't ask her if I didn't know with absolute certainty that she'll say yes," Eric replied confidently. "It's the next logical step in our relationship, and I think we're both ready for it."

Steve smiled. "I'm genuinely happy for you."

Adrian slapped Eric lightly on the back. "Me, too."

"Thanks. I'd propose to Jill regardless, but it means a lot to me that you guys are behind my decision." Eric sent both brothers a grateful glance, but his gaze remained on Steve. "You know, you might want to consider Jill's suggestion to bring Liz to Dad's party tomorrow. It's family and friends, so I'm sure she'd fit right in."

Inviting Liz was a big step into his personal life, and Steve wasn't sure he was ready to take that leap. So he opted to give his brother a noncommittal answer. "I'll definitely think about it."

Friday evening was a busy night for phone sex. After verbally satisfying over a dozen customers, Liz was certain every Tom, Dick, and Harry without a date had decided to call up The Ultimate Fantasy and make up for their lack of companionship and get lucky in the only way available. The switchboard operators were jammed with calls, and Liz was so busy, she worked through her break. As soon as she disconnected one call, another came in, giving her only enough time to catch her breath before greeting another client and starting all over again.

At ten after eleven, she was the unfortunate recipient of a call from a man named Stan, who'd just had his wife walk out on him for a young stud and needed a major confidence bolster from a woman. Any woman. And it wasn't sex or physical satisfaction he was after. He wanted to talk, and went on to tell her what he did for a living, how he'd met his wife, how long they'd been married, and how he'd found out about the affair. It didn't take her long to figure out that Stan was a lonely, insecure man who wanted to feel significant, and she did her best to fulfill his particular fantasy with compliments and reassurances.

It was the easiest and most undemanding call of her evening. Unfortunately, he kept her on the line for nearly thirty minutes, and while she was thrilled to earn the extra bonus money to help pay back Steve for his PI services, Liz prayed that she'd get a chance to talk to Steve before the night was over. They had a mission to accomplish.

As soon as she hung up with Stan at twenty to twelve, her line beeped again, and she connected the call anxiously. "Hi, lover, what's on your mind tonight?"

"You."

She smiled, the sexier-than-sin timbre of Steve's voice making her toes curl in her sandals. She leaned back in her chair as the night's tension drained from her limbs and was replaced with a welcoming buzz of awareness. "You've been on my mind, too." An understatement. The man was never far from her thoughts.

"I like that," he murmured. "Do you want to know what I've been thinking about all day long?"

She could only imagine. They'd spent the day apart, both of them busy with their day jobs, and she'd missed talking to him. Being with him. "Tell me."

His exhale rushed through the phone line. "I've been thinking about what it would be like to meet you."

Well, he certainly got straight to the point, she thought with a bit of amusement, but knew there would be more to tonight's conversation than just a request to meet each other.

"But you've already met me," she said, deliberately being coy and making it sound as though their acquaintance were all phone-related. "You know who I am, and you're with me every night."

"Sindee," he said, using her call name. "I know your name; now I want to meet you. For real. In person. Face to face. Skin to skin."

Her stomach tumbled and her nipples tightened. Having had intimate knowledge of just how decadent "skin to skin" felt like with him, she wanted that just as much. "I'd like that, too."

"You've become more than a fantasy to me." His husky voice mesmerized her, as did his words. "I crave you."

A tiny thrill shot through her. "Even after last night, when you had me covered in caramel?" she teased, reminding him not only of their phone conversation but what had happened at her place afterward.

"Ummm." Another deep, rumbling growl from the back of his throat. "That only satisfied my craving for something sweet, and you were definitely that. What I want now is a hot physical contact. With you."

Her pulse quickened for the first time that evening, and she crossed her legs, knowing they were heading toward another provocative verbal exchange certain to make her ache and want. "If we met in person, what would you do to me?"

"I think you know." His tone resonated with dark sexual hunger. "And it's not hand-holding I have in mind."

She laughed softly, sensually. "I'd be very disappointed if it were."

"I think you and I would be like two strangers meeting for the first time, and there'd be an instant chemistry between us that neither one of us can deny," he said in a low, rich murmur. "It's powerful and irresistible, and we'd have to have each other, right then and there, at any cost."

She wanted him now. "Yes, I think it would be just like that between us. Urgent and sizzling hot," she agreed, and expanded on the fantasy. "The room is dark and shadowed, and our gazes connect and hold. We don't have to say a word, because we know what's going to happen, and we both want it."

"Our hands and mouths would convey everything we need." His breathing was ragged and beyond aroused. "And our clothes only make it half off before you're straddling my lap and I'm pushing deep inside you."

A low moan slipped past her lips before she could stop it.

"God, you're so hot and wet," he rasped, and groaned, too. "And every time you move on me, you squeeze my cock like a tight, hungry fist."

Her inner muscles clenched in reaction, and she closed her eyes with a shudder, which only served to conjure images of the two of them entwined so erotically. She could almost feel him within her, so smooth and full and hard.

"I want you" he said fiercely, desperately, aggressively. "Meet me tonight."

"I… I can't." She resisted, only for the sake of the roles they were playing.

"Do you want to meet me?" he demanded.

She bit her bottom lip. "More than anything."

"Then let's be those two strangers who meet in the dark of the night."

"I don't know." She infused a believable amount of uncertainty in her tone. "I wouldn't want to break any rules here at work by fraternizing with a client without permission."

"You won't be breaking any rules if no one finds out," he countered, trying to sway her.

He was very persuasive, and while this was all an act between the two of them, she wondered if this was how her cousin had gotten involved with one of her clients. Had Rob been this convincing and Valerie hadn't been able to resist his allure? She could definitely see how that could happen.

"I want you," he went on, his possessive tone singeing straight to her soul, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality for her. "I want you bad, and I'll do whatever it takes to have you. No more phone fantasies. I want the real thing. I want to feel your skin against mine, smell your scent, and taste your desire."

Her head spun, her body caught fire, and her mind chanted, Yes, yes, yes!

"I want to take you every way you'll let me." His voice was raw and primal and sounded just as restless as she felt. "Do you want that, too?"

"Yes," she breathed. She was shamelessly turned on, her skin hot and prickly, her sex aching. She was his for the taking, any way he desired.

"Good." He sounded pleased, with an edge of arrogance thrown in for good measure. "Then see what you can do about making it happen."

"I will," she promised.

They'd put their plan into motion, both of them emphasizing their interest in each other. Now they just had to wait and see if Antonio took the bait.