letting you watch.” She barely recognized her own voice. It had turned sultry, the kind of voice that belonged to a woman who was teasing herself with the blunt end of a penis-size candle.
He groaned.
“Consider this a tutorial.” Her breathing quickened. “Pay attention.” She held his gaze as she pushed the smooth wax taper deeper. “You might learn something.” She was learning that being a bad girl was more exciting than she’d ever dreamed. One slide of the candle and she was ready to come.
“All right.” His tone was strained. “Now I’m begging.”
Her words came out in a breathy rush. “For what?” She stroked slowly with the candle, wanting to prolong the moment when she had Jess completely enslaved.
“Don’t make yourself come like that.” His dark eyes glowed with an unholy fire. “Let me touch you…please.” He made a move toward her.
“No. Stay there.”
“I want to satisfy you, damn it!”
Her thighs started to quiver. “But this is guaranteed satisfaction.”
“So am I!”
“I don’t know that.” She jiggled the candle faster.
His breath grew tortured. “I do! Katie…God…Katie.”
“I’m going to come, Jess.” She moaned as the spasms started. “And it’s good…so very…good….” Clutching the candle in both hands, she shuddered and slumped back against the sofa cushions.
Through half-closed eyes she gazed at him. He was a wreck. Her tender, caring side felt sorry for him and wanted to invite him back to her bedroom for the fun and games he’d hoped would happen.
But she needed to remember that he’d broken into her apartment expecting to seduce her. The wine and candlelight had been part of a carefully constructed plan. With the old Katie, it would have worked beautifully.
Instead she wanted to change the dynamics, and inviting him to her bedroom this soon would destroy all the progress she’d achieved so far. A bad girl wouldn’t make things that easy for him. A bad girl would expect him to wait a little longer.
She took a calming breath and laid the candle on the coffee table.
Jess glanced at it before refocusing his gaze on her. “Now what?” he asked quietly.
“We make a date for tomorrow night.”
Disbelief flashed in his eyes. “You’re sending me home?”
“It’s been a lot of years, Jess. I think we need time to get reacquainted, don’t you?”
“Like this? With me watching you masturbate? What kind of ridiculous idea is—”
“You don’t have to come back tomorrow night if you’d rather not.”
A muscle worked in his jaw. “Maybe I won’t.”
“Suit yourself. But if you decide to, make it about six. I’ll have some snacks for us. Maybe something…interesting.”
“I’d expect cucumbers and bananas, at this rate.” His gaze burned with frustration.
“I’m sure I can think of something more creative than that.”
“No doubt you can. But you’d better know now that I plan to take part in whatever you dream up. Sex isn’t a spectator sport, you know.”
“You don’t think so?” Her research for the talk show was really coming in handy. “Don’t you ever use mirrors?”
“I—no.”
“You should try it sometime. Mirrors give a whole new dimension to the action.” She didn’t know that from firsthand experience, but she had no trouble imagining it.
He studied her, his jaw tight. “I don’t know what to make of you, Katie. I thought we could just have sex.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“I can see that.”
Maybe now was the time to dangle a carrot in front of Jess’s nose. “In any case, if you decide to show up tomorrow night, I’ll make you a promise.”
“What’s that?” He looked wary.
She smiled. “You won’t be just a spectator.”
5
JESS DIDN’T GIVE KATIE a firm answer as to whether he’d show up at her apartment on Sunday night, but he was certainly firm in one specific area. He drove home with an erection that refused to wilt. The image of Katie masturbating with the candle followed him the whole way back to his town house, which explained his continuing problem.
Once he was in the privacy of his own shower, he took care of that immediate situation, but he still wanted Katie. He would go back tomorrow night. No matter how much he’d like to stay away and salvage his pride, he wouldn’t be able to do it. She had him hooked.
Besides, tomorrow night would be different. She’d said so, and even if her plans didn’t include full participation from him, he’d make that happen. He wasn’t going through another session where he only watched while she brought herself off.
But even as he ranted against her treatment, honesty made him admit that he’d never been so aroused in his life. She’d raised the bar on sexual excitement with that trick. And when he finally made it to the major attraction with her, the rewards would be greater because he’d been forced to wait and required to suffer extreme frustration.
So, yeah, maybe her technique wasn’t all bad. Once was enough, though. She’d proved her point and he’d gone along for the sake of future benefits. He expected those benefits tomorrow night. Either they’d indulge in the whole enchilada or he was outta there.
KATIE WOKE UP AT DAWN the next morning feeling wired even though she hadn’t slept all that well. Wearing her faded KRZE sleep shirt, she wandered into the living room to see if she’d dreamed Jess had been here. But the candelabra with the penis-size candles told her that he’d been there, all right, and she’d acted like a very bad girl.
Thank God she was scheduled to meet Cheryl at Sabino Canyon this morning for a run. She needed to work off some of her excess energy. After changing into shorts and a sports bra, she grabbed a water bottle, her cell phone and a visor before heading out of the apartment. Now that vehicular traffic had been banned from the canyon, the road into it made a perfect walking and jogging trail.
Cheryl was late, as usual, but Katie didn’t mind. Strolling the parking lot at the entrance to the canyon, she listened to the birds and watched the sunlight move down the granite cliffs. She loved Cheryl, but her constant chatter tended to drown out the beauty of any natural surroundings.
“Here I am!” Cheryl’s cheery greeting sailed across the parking
