Daring Time (18 page)

"Open," he whispered, his breath creating a warm mist on her seeking lips. She parted her mouth although she was confused by his request. His sleek tongue penetrated, just the tip moving inside her mouth and making a gentle sweep to capture her taste. When Hope touched her tongue to his, however, he groaned and leaned down over her.

Her eyes sprang wide at first when his tongue demanded full entrance, probing her depths possessively. He continued to seal his lips to hers, creating a slight suction that created a simultaneous tug at her sex. She gasped at the sensation. For some reason Ryan's penetration of her mouth called to mind how his penis had pushed into her body, how his flesh had rubbed and probed and agitated her own until she'd wanted to scream in mindless need and pleasure.

He came down over her further, his kiss becoming more demanding. He lightly pressed his chest to the tips of her breasts. Her back arched up into him, craving the sensation of his hard planes against her soft curves.

Ryan growled deep in his throat, the sound thrilling her.

When he gently sealed their kiss and lifted his head, Hope pulled against her restraints, her lips instinctively seeking out more of his taste and the intoxicating pressure of his molding mouth. He raised his hand, looking as though he was preparing to touch her face

... her lips. He grimaced suddenly and lowered it.

"What?" she whispered.

"There's a bowl and pitcher of water over there. I need to wash. My hands are bloody."

Hope stared at his knuckles, seeing how they were bruised and cut for the first time. "Oh no, you're hurt. Did you fight someone?" she asked quietly as he moved off the bed and stood.

He nodded. She watched him as he went over to the bureau where Sadie had collected the water she'd requested earlier. Fear rose up in her stomach and tightened her throat in a powerful wave at the horrible memory of seeing Diamond Jack Fletcher murder Sadie in such a callous, cold-blooded manner.

"Ryan, how are we going to get out of here?"

He turned abruptly from his actions of pouring water into a bowl at her question.

"We're going to be safe. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. We're going to walk out of this hellhole by morning. I have a plan. The only thing is ..."

"What?" Hope asked when he seemed to hesitate. He turned away, finding the soap and dipping his hands in the water.

"We have to sit tight for a while. They're not going to bother us until dawn at least.

Diamond Jack locked us in here," he murmured as he washed his hands.

"But how will—" Hope began more loudly.

"Shhhh," Ryan interrupted her. He'd kept his face turned away from her while he'd hushed her, the resulting sound so soft it'd barely interrupted her question. Hope watched silently as he washed his face, her gaze moving hungrily over his flexing back muscles, trim hips and tight buttocks. His legs looked impossibly long in the black pants he wore.

He picked up a towel from the bureau and dried his face and hands, being extra tender around his cut brow. Hope opened her mouth to question him about his actions when he finished, but a warning seemed to flash in his cerulean eyes when he turned toward her.

His handsome face looked rigid and shadowed, but his eyes seemed to glow in the dim light.

Hope bit her lower lip anxiously.

"I know this is frightening. But you have to trust me when I say that you're safe right now. And I
will
get you out of here."

"I do trust you," she whispered.

He gave a small smile and tossed aside the towel. Hope stared in rising awe and sexual awareness as his delineated abdominal muscles rippled subtly at the small movement.

Perhaps he was aware of the way she examined him because she sensed a sudden stillness, a rising tension in him. His gaze toured her face and lowered down over her body, causing Hope's nipples to stiffen and prickle against the cool sheet.

He slowly approached the foot of the bed, reminding her of a stalking wildcat.

"So ..." Hope asked. "We have several hours before we can act?"

"That's right," he rumbled softly. His lips twitched as he regarded her steadily. She watched his hand, mesmerized, as he dropped it to the sheet next to her bound ankle. His fingers flexed, pulling the sheet an inch lower over her chest. "You've suffered a head injury. Perhaps you'd like to rest until I awaken you before dawn?"

Hope's eyes widened when he pulled slightly again and the sheet slipped lower, this time revealing the top curves of her breasts. "I... I am not tired. And my head does not at all pain me as it did."

His smiled warmly. "That's a good thing. Have you any idea, then, how you might like to spend the.next few hours?"

He tugged. The edge of the sheet lowered until it perched directly above the stiff peaks of her breasts.

"I... we could spend it. . . getting acquainted with one another?" she squeaked.

Her nipples popped out of the sheet, the crests looking rigid and pointed in comparison to the curving mounds of her breasts.

"You know, that was my thinking precisely."

Hope's startled gaze flicked up to Ryan's face. When she saw his expression she snorted softly with laughter. He twisted his mouth as though he was trying to prevent joining in her mirth.

"Untie me," she said.

Without speaking he unfastened her ankles from their restraints. Hope sighed in relief as she bent up her knees and then straightened into a taut stretch.

"Better?"

"Yes," Hope whispered, her voice nearly stolen by Ryan's fixed gaze on her exposed breasts as she arched her back into a stretch.

She sunk back again onto the bed although every muscle in her body was tense with anticipation. He leaned down over the bed and pulled the edge of the sheet down to her knees. For a taut, full moment he looked his fill at her naked body. A tingling sensation of heat flamed beneath her skin wherever his hot stare trailed. Her sex flooded with liquid warmth.

"Ryan," she whispered, desire making her whisper hoarse. He met her gaze. "Untie my wrists. I want to touch you so much."

She saw his throat convulse as he swallowed,

"I want that, too, Hope," he said so quietly she almost didn't catch the words. He came down next to her on the bed, the front of his big body pressing to the side of her. She gasped at the sensation of his bare torso sliding against her naked skin. She could tell by the rigid expression of his face as he encircled her waist with his arm and gently caressed her that he wasn't unaffected by their closeness, either. "But would it be all right if I left your wrists restrained for now?"

"Why?" Hope asked. He paused, as if considering his answer before he looked into her eyes and answered her. "It would turn me on." He must have noticed her puzzlement at his peculiar turn of phrase. "It would arouse me. Well... honestly, you would arouse me anywhere, anyway I could get you," he added as a wry aside as his gaze briefly traveled over her face and down over her breasts. As if he couldn't stop himself his hand rose and slipped beneath one of the heaving mounds. He shaped her to his palm and massaged her while Hope moaned softly.

"It arouses you to restrain a woman while you make love to her?" Hope finally managed to get out as both of them watched Ryan fondle her breast. She pressed her hips down on the bed, desperate for pressure on her sex when he gently plucked her turgid nipple between thumb and forefinger.

"Not always. But yes. I'd like to have you at my mercy right now ... to see trust on your beautiful face while I give you pleasure.

Have you ever wondered about the things men like to do with women in a bordello, Hope?"

Her lower lip trembled uncontrollably. She'd found the question uttered in Ryan's deep, raspy voice almost unbearably exciting. Her trembling only increased when Ryan leaned down and gently kissed her parted lips while he continued to play with her breast languorously.

"Yes," she whispered honestly against his firm lips a moment later when he lifted his head. "That doesn't mean that I believe in the necessity of prostitution. I believe ..."

"What do you believe?" Ryan prompted gruffly when her voice trailed off. She'd become distracted because he'd buried his face in her neck and proceeded to make her shiver with pleasure as he kissed, nibbled and scraped his teeth gently against her sensitive skin.

"I—I believe that wives and ladies should feel free to please their husbands . . . and lovers in whatever ways they feel comfortable." Hope gasped when Ryan trailed hot kisses down her chest. "And ... and I believe respectable ladies should take joy in the bedroom as well, for their bodies are their birthright, just as they are men's. Perhaps then men would not feel so compelled to come to houses of prostitution."

"That is a very modern, wise opinion." She saw a grin curve Ryan's mouth. She'd grown to love that small smile in such a short period of time.

"Ryan?"

"Yes?"

"You seem to have an understanding of what occurs in houses of prostitution. Does . ..

does that mean you disagree with my opinion?"

He met her gaze, his chin still hovering over her heaving breasts. "I don't. In fact, prostitution is one of the main types of crime I fight at my job."

Hope opened her mouth to pursue the topic, but Ryan made her forget what they discussed by slipping one of her nipples between his lips.

Her back arched up uncontrollably as his warm mouth enfolded the hypersensitive flesh.

She whimpered in stunned arousal at the delicious sensation. He suckled her gently, his tongue like a wet, sleek lash gently whipping her helpless nipple.

"Oh!" she cried out loudly. Distantly she wondered if Ryan would remind her to stay quiet, but her concerns were soon forgotten as he continued to suckle her nipple in his warm mouth while he tweaked the other aching crest with his fingertips. Fire prickled in her flesh and tore down to her sex. She writhed on the bed, but the restraints held her securely in place for Ryan's sensual torture.

Was this why he said he'd enjoy having her at his mercy? The fact that it was impossible to turn away from him or to deny her own hot, needy desire certainly added a sharp edge of excitement to their lovemaking. Her sex ached for him unbearably.

"Ryan .. .
quickly,"
she groaned.

He looked up at her even as he continued to draw on her nipple. Her womb flexed painfully when she saw how his cheeks were hollowed out as he suckled. Hope didn't know precisely what she'd been begging him to do, but Ryan's heavy-lidded stare and unceasing, rhythmic suck informed Hope they were going at his pace, not hers.

She suppressed a moan when he finally lifted his head and inspected her glistening nipple. His constant, gentle suction had drawn blood just beneath the surface, making the crest red and defining and distending the center nubbin nearly twice its normal length.

Hope knew that the sight pleased Ryan when he shifted his hips. She felt the hard column of his penis press against her thigh, his heat emanating into her skin.

He placed his hands under both of her breasts, holding them up and massaging them lightly. "You have the most beautiful breasts I've ever seen."

Hope gasped at his focused attention and gruff compliment. Warm fluid gushed at the gate of her sex. "Thank you," she murmured dazedly.

He stared longingly at the breast he hadn't yet suckled, but as if he regretted leaving the other, he lowered his dark head and kissed the damp nipple softly before slipping it between his lips. Hope cried out sharply in excitement—she couldn't seem to help herself—when he gently scraped the tingling flesh between his front teeth before he released her.

Then he proceeded to torment her other breast with his lips, mouth and teeth, all the while plucking and strumming her other nipple with his fingertips. Hope writhed beneath him in sweet agony. But she had to endure, for the ropes prevented her from moving.

Her sex grew so wet she felt moisture slicking her inner thighs. She knew Ryan was aroused, too, from the sound of his satisfied grunts and the feeling of his stiff penis pressing to her thigh. She pushed up on him, wanting more of the exciting sensation. He groaned, the sound vibrating into her breast. As if he couldn't help himself he flexed his hips, stroking her rhythmically with his erection.

Finally he raised his head. Hope panted in the break of sensual torture. He scraped his front teeth gently along her ribs just beneath her heaving breasts, making her cry out.

"You're so sensitive. I think you'll be able to come from nipple stimulation alone. We're going to find out in a moment. But first.. . I have to taste you."

Hope's mouth sagged open as he began to move his mouth over her ribs and belly. When he ran his teeth gently along the sides of her torso she moaned uncontrollably, her back curving into him for closer contact. Shivers prickled her flesh. Her skin roughened. His hands moved beneath her, lifting her even further until her back bowed up off the bed as he served himself her eager flesh. How had he known she would be almost painfully sensitive along the sides of her ribs or that she would cry out in sharp pleasure when he took a small bite at her waist and soothed her with his warm, sleek tongue?

By the time he transferred his attentions to her thighs, Hope was nearly out of her mind with stark arousal. He kissed her flexing muscles while his hands moved beneath her, tautly squeezing her buttocks in his large palms. She couldn't take it anymore. She just knew she couldn't. Ryan had her stretched on a sensual rack of pleasure and she would break apart any moment.

He released her bottom with one hand and pushed a thigh wide. Instinctively Hope closed it. No matter how aroused she was, she wasn't used to exposing such private flesh to the open air, let alone a man's hot gaze. He used both hands this time, pushing her legs apart and holding her in place while he stared at her sex. Hope moaned in mixed mortification and intense arousal.

The muscles of her vagina flexed inward painfully.

"Ryan .
'.. please,"
she grated out between a clenched jaw. She had no idea for what she asked, but something told her that Ryan knew.