Everything But Read online

  He paused, letting the hot breath flood out of his lungs onto her neck. Had he turned this goddess into a dominatrix? And this time, when all his blood took a dive for his nether regions, he didn’t fight it. He lifted his head and held his arms in the air as though he were being arrested. “I’m all yours.”

  “That’s more like it.” Yeah…there was definitely something dominant going on there. This might be a whole lot of fun. She slid her purse off her shoulder onto the floor and laced her fingers in his, pushing his arms against the door and kissed him. She was aggressive. He liked it. He was just going to follow her lead, let her do whatever she wanted to do. She backed away and then looked around. “Holy cow, this place is huge. Is there an actual bed here?”

  He laughed. “Yeah…there better be. I paid for one.”

  She picked her purse up off the floor and walked over to the bar that surrounded the kitchen area. She set her purse on the counter and fished out the handcuffs and something else she tucked in a pocket of her skirt. What the hell was it? She turned around and gave him a seductive look. “What are we waiting for?”

  Oh, God…his cock was throbbing in anticipation, but he could wait. He just couldn’t think straight anymore. He stretched his arm toward a door across the room that he figured had to be the bedroom. “After you.”

  She smiled and sauntered toward the bedroom. God, those fuckin’ heels…

  By the time they’d walked in the bedroom, his eyes had raked her from her feet up to her head, and after she placed the handcuffs on the foot of the bed, he took her in his arms, holding her around the waist, and kissed her. There was nothing sweet or tender about the kiss; it was passionate and bordering on rough, and he hoped that would communicate to her that he was open to whatever she wanted to do to him. By the end of the kiss, she was peeling his shirt off.

  And then, after throwing it on the floor, she pulled back and then grabbed his hands, urging him to the bed. Jesus…wasn’t even concerned about foreplay. That was just as well, because he didn’t need it. He didn’t recall a time he’d ever needed much foreplay. Just thinking about sex or seeing a woman he was thinking about that way did it for him. His imagination this afternoon had been his foreplay.

  Her hands on his chest urged him to sit on the bed and he did. She kept pushing against him until he was on his back. Erin snagged the handcuffs from the foot of the bed and then turned around. God, he was glad he’d sprung for a high-class place. Some of the discount places didn’t have headboards. This place had a good old-fashioned wooden one that matched the dresser and nightstand. And the bed itself was probably designed to take a beating. She held his forearm in her hand and slapped the cuff around his wrist. Ouch. A little rough, but he’d said he was going along for the ride. So he didn’t even wince. She pulled his arm up to the headboard and tightened the other cuff around the post.

  She looked down at him and grinned. She was thoroughly enjoying this. God, he relished the way his hard on was digging into the pants and he couldn’t wait for her to pull them off him too. She cuffed his other hand, again slamming the side of the cuff into his wrist, then pulling his arm up to the post. And then his upper body was fully restrained…he was fully hers.

  She kissed him, then her lips moved to his neck, his chest, and she sucked on one of his nipples. Oh, God…not many girls did that but when they did…fuck. He let out a sigh as her lips continued their trip south. Yeah, of course he liked it when a girl liked him enough to go down on him, but it was even better when he liked the girl back.

  So when she started unzipping those pants that had since become too hot and too constraining, he felt a huge relief. But she was going to tease him some more. She brushed his cock through his shorts just enough to practically make it jump up and dance, and then she started to pull his pants down. But that feat was easier said than done with leather pants. Maybe he should have taken them off before she cuffed him, and he thought some of making the offer, but she managed to get them to budge. He lifted his ass up off the bed to help and once she got them mid-thigh, she seemed satisfied enough with that progress. He sure as shit was happy enough with them right there. Pulling down his underwear was easy after that.

  He was aching for her to touch him, so when she wrapped a hand around his shaft, he bit his bottom lip and sucked air through clenched teeth. “Ooooh, big boy,” she said, “how does that feel?”

  What the fuck was she doing with her voice? She sounded so…dirty, cooing and purring, her voice low and seductive. His eyes were still closed and he bit the side of his cheek. But he relaxed his jaw and said, “Fuckin’ fantastic.”

  “Good.” She bent over and licked him there finally and he felt like he was going to jump out of his skin. All real thought had gone out the door and his entire brain was located right fucking there. She was amazing. She was running her tongue up and down the shaft, just teasing. It was some of the most delicious torture he’d experienced in ages.

  She stopped and literally stood up on the bed. She lifted a leg, pretty dangerous on the bed, but she managed to keep her balance, and then she held her foot on his chest, the heel of her shoe digging into his skin. She was reaching in her pocket to pull out whatever it was she’d put in there. “You’ve been a naughty boy, haven’t you?”

  He hadn’t thought he could get harder, but that did it. He swallowed and nodded his head, squinting his eyes, daring her to do her damnedest. He knew he looked like a defiant child just daring his mom to beat the shit out of him. After grinding her heel in his chest enough to leave a mark, she got back down and started kissing his neck. It was then that he saw what was in her hand: a tiny bottle of oil. She twisted the lid off while she nipped at his nipple. She poured half the little bottle in her hand and he smelled a strawberry scent. Not his favorite, but right now he didn’t give a shit. Then she wrapped her hand around his cock. She slid her hand up and down and it was smooth and soooo good. He let out a breath.

  “That feel nice, baby?”

  He could barely talk. “Yeah.”

  “Mmmm…I thought you might like that.”

  “Oh, I do. God, yeah, I do.”

  She put her lips up to his ear. “Tell me when you’re close.”

  He managed a nod but said nothing. Not yet. Part of him wondered why she wanted to know. What the fuck was she gonna do to make it a winner? She’d already succeeded in his book. He didn’t know the last time he’d felt like this. In his early twenties, maybe. It had definitely been a while, and she was pushing all his buttons. She was massaging his entire cock, up and down, up and down, and her grip was perfect—not too tight, not too loose. And she was kind of squeezing the crown every time she got to the top. Everything grew tight and he could feel the pressure building, building, until blackness started closing in on the edge of his vision and he closed his eyes. He could barely breathe.

  “Are you close, baby?”

  He clenched his teeth. “Yeah…yeah…real close.”

  And then she stopped moving her hand. She wriggled off the bed and walked in the other room.

  Sweet Jesus. What the fuck did she have planned now? God, he was going to have the most vicious fucking orgasm of his life. It was in those few moments that he knew she must have forgiven him and, maybe, she realized he’d tried to make her feel this spectacular yesterday.

  So where the hell was she? He heard her heels clicking across the tile in the entry area and then back over the carpeting as she got close to the bedroom.

  He raised his head a little to see her. She peeked her head in the bedroom and blew him a kiss. “Call me tomorrow, lover.”

  Then she turned around and he heard her heels clicking on the tile again, followed by the door to the hallway opening and closing.

  What the fuck?

  Chapter Seventeen

  WHEN ERIN CLOSED the door to the hotel room, she felt all kinds of guilty. But Jackie would be proud. She’d followed the plan through. All. The. Way.

  She leaned against the door and heard R
iley yell, “Erin, what the fuck? Come on back, babe.” This place was pretty ritzy and she knew the walls were pretty thick, so he must have been yelling loudly. It wasn’t that loud, but to her, it felt like everyone on the floor would be able to hear it.

  So it was time to amscray. She made her way to the elevator. She just prayed Jackie was right and that he wouldn’t fucking hate her forever.

  Maybe it would be something she and Riley could laugh about years from now.

  She shook that crazy thought from her head and tried to push the guilt out. She already felt herself caving. She wasn’t going to be able to fully execute the plan. Jackie had told her to wait for hours before letting him off the hook, but she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t. She’d already punished him enough just by leaving him high and dry with no relief. And, God…he’d been hard as a hammer. He was going to be hurting badly already. She wanted to teach him a lesson, not cripple him for life.

  She could just hear Jackie’s voice in her head: Oh, come on, Erin. It’s not that bad!

  No, but her guilt was.

  So, by the time she arrived in the lobby, she had made up her mind. She walked to the counter and wasn’t surprised when the clerk from earlier raised her eyebrows. The girl smiled but she was curious as to why Erin was there without her man candy.

  When Erin approached the counter, the girl asked, “How may I help you?”

  Erin took a deep breath. God, she felt like such a shit. She really should go back up there right now and apologize. But then she forced herself to remember how he hadn’t stopped when she’d asked, stupid fucking safeword or not. She took a deep breath, steeled again, and said, “Um…yeah. You know the guy I came here with?”

  The girl grinned. “Well, yeah. Riley Schultz.”

  “Uh…well, I left him in a…compromising position, but I really have to go.” She cleared her throat and placed the tiny handcuff key on the counter. “Could you please send someone up to unlock him?”

  The smile slid off the girl’s face and her face paled. “What do you mean exactly?”

  “He’s…uh...handcuffed to the bed.”

  The girl’s eyebrows shot into the air. “Is he…”

  “Naked? Yep. Mostly, anyway.”

  The girl visibly gulped. Maybe she was a little too young to handle this delicate situation. She took a deep breath. “Uh…I guess we can take it from here.”

  Erin tried to smile warmly and took out a twenty as a tip. She slid it on the counter to the spot where she’d set the handcuff key that the girl now had in her hands. “I appreciate that. Thanks.”

  She stood up straight and walked through the lobby and out the door. She was aware of a few sets of eyes, eyes she hadn’t noticed when she’d been hanging on Riley’s arm. Yeah, so the outfit drew a lot of attention. Her stunt could draw more if the desk clerk didn’t handle the situation with discretion. But it was done. She had to leave now before she totally wussed out. Jackie was going to be disappointed as it was.

  Her sleep was restless and she wondered how it had all ended. Riley hadn’t called screaming at her and he didn’t come banging on her door. Maybe that’s what was making her so damn nervous. Nothing happened.

  * * *

  It was eleven-thirty. Riley was pacing in his parents’ living room. Hell, yeah, he was pissed but he also knew exactly why Erin had done it. It was because she’d wanted revenge for what she’d thought was a breach of trust. And, as angry as it had made him, he had to admit it was a good plan, even though he’d been the butt of the joke. And even through the deep, delicious ache she’d put him through, he understood.

  Still…how cold. But he wasn’t giving up on her yet. There was one thing that would make it all okay.

  And not knowing what she was going to say made him stare at that goddamned cell phone in his hand. She had told him to call today, and—if he remembered correctly—she had called him around this time yesterday, so he was hoping it was her lunch break.

  He would call once. If she wasn’t available, he’d leave one message. Then the ball would be in her court.

  He could just text her, but he felt like this subject merited a phone call. So he took a deep breath and dialed. When she answered, he could barely hear her voice. “Hi, Riley.” His teeth had been holding the tip of his tongue steady. He let it go and said hi back. Then she said, “How mad at me are you?”

  “Really wanna know?”

  “I don’t know. Do I?”

  “Probably not.”

  “Can I come see you after school? Maybe make it up to you?”

  “What do you have in mind now?”

  “You’ll just have to trust me this time.”

  He couldn’t help but smile. “All right. Why don’t you come by my parents’ house when you get done?”

  She wrote down his address and told him she’d be there around four or four-thirty. So he needed to find something to do in the interim to occupy himself. Mom was hanging around during the day so smoking a little weed was out of the question. Guess keeping his mother company was the best and only thing he could do until Erin arrived later that day.

  But he wound up helping his mom clean out donation items from the attic and even used his parents’ truck to haul them to the secondhand store. Then he came home and showered and it wasn’t too long after that Erin arrived.

  She wasn’t dressed like a metal chick like she’d been the day before. No, today she looked like he’d expected before…conservative but pretty, like he thought a high school teacher would look from day to day. She was wearing a light spring dress, cream-colored with a pattern of tiny flowers, sleeveless and ending just above the knee. She was also wearing sandals, her toenails were painted in pink, and her hair was pulled back. She was gorgeous. It was her smile, though, that disarmed him.

  He opened the door and said, “Welcome to the Schultz residence.” He heard his mother walking toward the foyer, responding to the doorbell. She hadn’t known he was expecting someone. In anticipation, he said, “Erin Lancaster, this is my mother, Margie Schultz.”

  Erin’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Margie. I had no idea Riley was your son.”

  Riley felt his eyebrows knit. “You know each other?”

  “Yes, son. I’m on the school board, remember?” He nodded. “So, I knew Riley had wound up winning the bid for you for the cheerleading auction, but I had no idea you were actually seeing each other.”

  Riley felt his hackles stand up. Did his mom not approve and, more than that, did she think he really gave a shit what she thought? But Erin was charming and he’d had no idea she could have that effect on his mother. She smiled at his mom and shrugged, saying, “Well, we kind of hit it off. I don’t know if you’d call it seeing each other, but we have been hanging out some since then.” She looked up at Riley. “How would you describe it?”

  “Fair enough assessment, I guess.” Or maybe just a more polite way of saying they’d seen each other naked and had played around that way.

  His mother nodded. “Well, not to be rude, but I have other obligations I need to attend to. Nice seeing you, Erin.”

  Thank God. The last thing he wanted was for Erin and his mom to spend all night yapping. He’d known his mom was meeting his dad for some dinner thing, but he hadn’t known when she’d be leaving. He felt immense relief when his mom walked in the other room. He said to Erin, “How about a mini tour?”

  “Sure.”

  As they started moving farther inside, his mom walked past them toward the front door again. “Have fun, kids. Riley, your dad and I will probably be home around eight or so.”

  “Sounds good, mom.” That should give them plenty of time alone together. His mom stopped and he kissed her on the cheek.

  “Oh, one more thing,” she said, then headed back to the middle of the house.

  He took Erin’s hand and walked through the living room in his parents’ house. He pointed out things that were already obvious to her, hoping to bide his time until his mom was out o
f the house, but before they left the living room, Erin noticed the family pictures on the mantle. One of them was of two brown-haired, freckly-faced preteen boys, him and his brother Brian. That was the one she noticed. She paused and walked over to the picture. “Is that you?”

  “Yeah, on the right. My brother’s on the left.”

  “You were cute.”

  “You don’t have to sound so surprised.” She smirked at him and then turned to look at other pictures. Riley heard his mom in the kitchen on the phone. God, was she going to leave or what?

  They finally wound up at the back of the house where his bedroom was. Might as well, he thought, because they were going to end up there anyway if he had any say in the matter. Before they walked in, he said, “Now…bear in mind that this room looks like it did when I left the house.”

  “So what’s that mean?”

  “It looks like a teenage boy lives there. But it’s kinda cool to visit.”

  Erin got a twinkle in her eye. “Dirty socks on the floor?”

  “Very funny.”

  “See you later, kids,” Riley’s mother yelled from the front of the house. They heard the door close just as Riley opened his bedroom door. It was about time, because he was starting to think about Erin in a way that would make all coherent thought leave his brain.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ERIN STEPPED IN Riley’s bedroom. Well, it was nothing fancy, but she saw what he meant, that it was reminiscent of a teenage boy’s room. There weren’t any girls in bathing suits hanging on the walls, which is what she’d been expecting (but she suspected that they’d been there at some point). There were a lot of band posters and even a poster of guitar chords. There was a shelf with some collectibles, but nothing Erin could make out, and a baseball and glove on a different shelf. She couldn’t make her way over there anyway, because Riley wrapped his arms around her waist and pinned her to the door. She couldn’t read his face.