Sucker Bet (7 page)

Which was fucking hot. Nate disregarded all thoughts that had logic or caution attached to them and dove in, yanking Gwenna's T-shirt off over her head, messing her hair up. The shirt hit the floor and she made a futile effort to swipe stray hanks of hair off her face before giving up with a moan, while he bent over and sucked the peak of her breast. Her flesh was smooth and firm, her chest small and proportionate to the rest of her body, and Nate wanted all of it. With grappling fingers, he undid the clasp on her back and just ripped the bra off, barely noting that it was red as it followed her shirt to the carpet.

"Oh, yes," she said in a ragged voice when his mouth closed over her tight nipple. "Wow. That's really very pleasant."

He was thinking the same thing. She tasted delicious. He moved all over, from one nipple to the other and back again, loving the way his tongue slid easily across her smooth skin. Shifting downward, he traced over her ribs, dipped his tongue into her bellybutton, which made her jump, and since her jeans were so loose, managing to probe beneath the waistband in a brutal tease for both of them. Nate wanted at all of her, patience for the day completely wiped out.

Everything felt sharp and fast and hot, and he popped her snap with his right hand, while reaching into his back pocket with his left. He was almost positive he had a condom in his wallet since he'd made a habit of always keeping one on hand after a pregnancy scare with a girlfriend in college. He was good about replacing it when he used one, and he pulled the wallet out with jerky motions, determined to shoot himself if there wasn't one in there.

But there was, and he worked it out, letting the wallet fall from his fingers as he brought his attention back to Gwenna. She was holding on to the belt loops of his jeans, her chest heaving up and down in arousal, her cheeks pink, hair tousled. Her pants had slid down a little, undone and half-zipped, and there were red panties peeking up at him. She had her eyes closed, looking like without the support of the wall she'd be on the floor in a puddle.

Good.

Nate went down on his knees and tugged her jeans and panties down with one shift motion. A glance up showed her eyes flying open in surprise. He didn't give her time to speak, just closed the distance between them and kissed between her thighs, coaxing her legs apart with his thumbs. She was a true blond, skin flawless, body arching toward him. Nate buried his tongue into her, finding her clitoris and tasting it with bold, demanding strokes.

Gwenna was making rapid sounds of distress, her moans growing louder, frantic, hands burrowing into his hair and clamping down. Her arousal turned him on, made him so hard he ached with it, his whole body hot and tight, ready for release. He was light-headed, like he wasn't taking in enough oxygen, the room silent and dark around them, his control skittering and escaping. He stroked harder, deeper, possessively, wanting to taste her everywhere, sucking on the flesh of her thighs, and scraping his teeth across her swollen and slick clitoris.

Her legs trembled beneath his fingers and she went up on her toes, shifting away from him, trying to escape his touch. Nate knew she was going to have an orgasm, could feel the tenseness in her muscles, feel it in the way she yanked on his hair. He didn't want her there yet, not without him inside her.

So Nate stood up quickly, ignoring the pop in his left knee, and flattened his hand against the wall.

"Don't stop," she demanded, smacking his arm, which struck him as both hilarious and hotter than hell.

"I'm not stopping," he murmured, lips against hers, rubbing his erection between her thighs, encouraging her to spread further.

"It feels stopped to me," she panted.

Nate buried his head into her hair and thrust inside her with both abandonment and gratitude, a biting urgency, and hot, glorious desperation.

The tightness of her wrapped around him, stroking and milking his cock, the acute pleasure even better than he could have ever imagined.

It took all of thirty seconds to realize he wasn't going to make this time last very long. He was gone.

Gwenna couldn't believe she was standing against a wall in the chichi spa with a penis deep inside her. She wasn't exactly sure how it had happened, and if anyone had suggested to her three hours earlier that she would have sex vertically with a police detective before the night was out, she would have declared that person utterly insane. But it seemed the insane one was her, because she was in fact having sex with a virtual stranger after three hundred years of celibacy.

At least it was holding up to the wait. Nate was frantic in his attentions, aggressive and hungry, and she had to admit, she rather liked that. She wasn't sure she could have handled the intimacy of slow and explorative, but this fast and furious she was absolutely fine with. It matched her mood, her sense of hysteria at finding that man's body, at her frustration over still grieving for her daughter after so many years, her irritating helplessness that she would never, ever be able to fully disconnect herself from Roberto.

All of that mattered less when she was feeling the brutal slap and push of Nate Thomas thrusting into her. It did make her feel alive, made her vibrantly aware of her body, of the strength and power she had as a vampire. On her tiptoes, pants around her ankles, cool air and Nate's mouth sliding over her bare skin, she should have been embarrassed, should have felt self-conscious that she was for all practical purposes naked, while he was still fully dressed in his jeans and T-shirt.

But she didn't. She embraced the sensation of her bum scraping against the wall, her sandal straps digging into the tops of her feet, his fingers gripping at her waist, his penis hard and full inside her wetness, coaxing to life wants and needs she had thought were long gone.

Gwenna had never considered herself a particularly sexual person. She hadn't missed sex since her divorce, had never bothered to seek it out. But this was new and different and all-consuming. This was intense, and desperate, and overwhelming.

"Nate," she said raggedly, suddenly unsure, overpowered by all the sensations in her body, in her heart, at the feeling that she'd completely and totally lost all control. That the world as she knew it, had lived it, understood it, was shifting and cracking.

"Yeah?" He nipped at her jaw, her lips.

"I…" She shifted restlessly, mouth hot, throat tight, legs tensed. "I… don't know."

"Don't fight it, Gwenna, let it happen." Nate slowed down his pace, pulled way out, making her feel denied, and then slid back into her fully, deep.

The ability to speak, however incoherently, completely shattered. That movement, that whatever the hell he was doing, robbed her of words, thoughts. She just grabbed on to his arms and gave in to the orgasm, letting it sweep over her, a hot, shuddering rush of ecstasy.

She was aware of Nate moving faster again, of his breathing growing deeper, low grunts coming from him as he went over the edge himself, pounding hard through his orgasm, but she didn't react. Couldn't react. She just clung to him, speechless and insensible from pleasure.

Bloody hell.

The man knew how to shag.

And she had forgotten how to breathe.

They both stood shuddering and sucking in air for a minute, neither inclined to move. Then Nate was gathering her in his arms and peeling her off the wall when the phone rang, startling them both. Gwenna glanced over at it, feeling a little guilty. They were still in the spa's lobby, which was remarkably tacky. This had not been at all what she'd had in mind when she'd suggested a chat on the spa sofa. She could only imagine what Nate was thinking of her. Sense of relaxation and wonder already evaporating, Gwenna felt anxiety crash back in on her as the phone continued to ring incessantly. Anyone could have just strolled off the elevator and seen them. That would have made a pretty shot.

Obviously not having the same concerns, Nate gave a soft laugh, nuzzling her neck a little. "Sorry, I got a little carried away."

That was the thing about just giving in to passion and tossing over every inhibition she'd ever had. It was good while it lasted, but suddenly she felt awkward as hell. How in the world did she bend over gracefully to pull her pants back up?

The phone stopped ringing. Then immediately started again. As did her mobile phone in her pants pocket. That really destroyed her last shred of calm. "Oh, damn, maybe I should answer that."

"Why?" Nate asked, his expression indicating he thought the suggestion was absolutely ludicrous.

Resenting that he could just zip his fly up and be squared away and ready to head back out into the world, Gwenna tried to slide down the wall, bending her knees a little, to reach her dropped jeans. She missed gowns. This would have simply required dropping her skirts back over her legs in the nineteenth century. Not that she would know from actual experience. She hadn't taken to having sex with strangers standing up until just that very day.

"Because it could be important."

"Or more likely it's your ex trying to control you."

Well, there was that.

The spa phone began to ring yet a third time, and they both heard the elevator ding. Someone was getting off on their floor.

"Oh, damn," Gwenna said, panicking. No longer worried about how it would look from Nate's point of view, she bent over and yanked up her jeans, buttoning them posthaste despite the fact that her panties bunched painfully in parts that were sensitive and sore and didn't appreciate the rough treatment.

Nate grabbed her T-shirt off the floor and handed it to her before turning around and blocking her from view. She was yanking it over her head when she heard a voice say in surprise, "Ms. Carrick?"

Oh, lovely. It was Ethan's bodyguard and head of hotel security.

"Yes, Sam, it's me," she said, straightening her shirt and hair before peering around Nate's arm. "Can I help you?"

It really was unfortunate that even as a vampire she blushed. She could feel her cheeks burning. And there was no hope he wouldn't notice her blush or her state of disheveled dress, even though the room wasn't fully lit, because he was a vampire, too. With an acute sense of smell.

"I just wanted to make sure you're alright and that you don't need anything. We, uh, saw you come in here on the security cameras."

Oh, God. Mortification had a name and it was Gwenna Carrick. But at least she could reassure herself that they hadn't seen
her
on camera, just Nate. It would have been obvious to Sam that Nate was having sex with a vampire, given the lack of a visible partner on tape, and he had probably felt obligated for security reasons to at least investigate who that vampire might be. Ethan's former secretary, Kelsey Columbia, had been notorious for taking mortal men up to the office suite for quickies, but Kelsey wasn't allowed unsupervised in the building anymore since she had run off and married Ringo Columbia, an assassin and heroin addict.

"I'm fine, thanks so much. Sorry to cause trouble." Or more sorry she hadn't been smarter. Damn, she should have just taken Nate to her room. But she had been worried about how that would look to him or to any staff who might see her entering her room with an unidentified man. It was safe to say that this looked worse.

Sam hesitated, adjusting his cell phone headset on his ear. "Okay, then. Have a good night."

He turned around and headed back toward the elevator. Gwenna bit her lip. "Sam?"

"Yes?"

"You're going to tell Mr. Carrick about this, aren't you?" It was his job, she knew that, to inform Ethan of anything out of the ordinary. This certainly qualified as that.

But Sam shook his head. "Not if you don't want me to. If something has no bearing on hotel and casino security, I'm not obligated to tell Mr. Carrick about it."

He was letting her off the hook, sweet man. But Gwenna suddenly found that she was tired of worrying about her brother's reaction to her behavior. The goal she had set for herself was independence, and that had to start with being honest with her brother—telling him she loved him, but she needed to live her own life.

"No, that's fine, Sam. Feel free to tell Ethan. Or I can mention it to him myself. I shouldn't be up here. Though if you don't mind, I'd like the tape destroyed."

Sam almost grinned. She saw his mouth tilt up before he caught himself. "Sure thing." He nodded. "Good night."

As the elevator doors closed, Nate turned back to her. He looked amused himself. "Did we just make a sex tape?"

"It seems that way." At least he didn't appear angry with her.

"I wish I had known. I would have made sure my good side was facing the camera."

Gwenna laughed in spite of her lingering embarrassment. "Which side is your good side?"

"You tell me." His arm went around her waist, and he pulled her to him.

She liked the way he did that, so casually, so easily.

It seemed perfectly natural to say what she was thinking. "The front side. Bottom half."

"Yeah? Want to see it again? Somewhere without cameras?"

This was it. She could walk away now, astonished that she had felt such passion, but still slightly embarrassed that she had, or she could really thrust herself out of her comfort zone and explore the desire Nate inspired in her.