Sinful Desire Read online

  Ryan’s dog raced to her side, and Sophie pushed those thoughts away as she headed inside. After a quick bathroom trip to freshen her breath, she returned to the kitchen and decided breakfast for her man would be a fine idea. She rolled her eyes at the contents of his fridge—it was pure single guy. Beer. Mustard. A loaf of bread. She scanned the shelves and drawers for bacon, certain she’d find some. Personally, she couldn’t stand it. But what bachelor didn’t like bacon?

  She found none.

  At least he had a carton of eggs and some butter, so she set to work whipping up some scrambled eggs, and as she turned off the stove, a sleepy and sexy Ryan padded out of the bedroom with rumpled hair and a cute yawn.

  “Is this a dream? Or are you really waking me up with a homemade breakfast?”

  He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist as she served the eggs. He planted a sweet kiss on her neck, and his breath was minty fresh. “It’s real,” she said. “If this were a dream, there would surely be bacon. I bet you love bacon.”

  He shuddered. “Hate it.”

  She turned and stared at him with one eyebrow raised. “I have never met a man who hates bacon.”

  “Well, you have now, beautiful. I do not understand the fascination this country has with bacon.”

  Her heart skipped a silly beat. “I have to tell you something, Ryan.” Turning her voice intensely serious, she whispered, “I hate bacon, too.”

  He cupped her cheeks and kissed her. A quick morning kiss. “You let my dog out to pee and you hate bacon. I knew you were my perfect woman.”

  “Sit and eat or your eggs will get cold.”

  After the meal, he pulled her onto his lap in his chair, and thanked her for breakfast. “And now I have a question for you. You told me yesterday you don’t have pool-boy fantasies,” he said, reminding her of her joke at the pool.

  She nodded. “That is true. Nor stable-boy fantasies either, I might add.”

  “Good.” He kissed her earlobe. His voice went low and husky, sending a shiver through her as he asked, “What fantasies do you have?”

  That was an easy answer. She pulled back to look him in the eyes. “You.”

  He grinned wickedly. “You don’t have to fantasize about me. You can have me. I want to know what you fantasized about before you met me so I can do it to you.”

  She widened her eyes and stared at him, then gave the same answer. “You.”

  He furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

  “I wanted someone like you. I fantasized about the things we do. The kind of sex we have is the kind of sex I’ve always wanted to have. Dirty, kinky, rough.”

  He groaned sexily. “You told me in your car you’ve never had it like this before. How did you know you wanted it like that?”

  “The same way I can code with my eyes closed and one hand behind my back. The same way I can tell which cards are most likely to be played next in a blackjack hand. The same way I know two seconds after I see a dress if I want it. I just know. It’s second nature.”

  “And you just knew you wanted to be tied up? You wanted to be spanked? You wanted to be told what to do?”

  She nodded eagerly. “If you’re making sure I’m still on board, the answer is yes. I want it this way. But if you want to know why, I think it’s because my mind feels so busy all the time. Like mild OCD. I always make sure I’ve turned off the stove before I leave my home, and I check twice that I locked the door. I’ve always felt like I have all sorts of information and facts and details clanging around in my head, back when I was in school, and then when I was running the company. And now, even though I love what I do, I feel like I’m juggling one million things. But when you tie me up, I’m living in the moment. And I’m loving the moment. And that’s why I fantasized for so long about being on my knees, tied up, or bent over the bed for a man like you. And now, just for you.”

  He groaned and crushed her lips in a bruising, demanding kiss, giving her exactly what she wanted and erasing anything else in her mind. Just like she asked for. Just like she dreamed about for years. When he broke the kiss, he spoke firmly to her. “I need you to do something right now.”

  She recognized that tone instantly, and her nipples hardened in response. He was going to give her an order. “Go to my bedroom. Strip down to nothing. Go into my closet and pick a tie. Put it around your neck. I assume you know how to tie a tie?”

  “I do.”

  “Then wait for me, bent over the bed, ass raised high in the air, wearing only a tie. While you’re waiting, I want you to get yourself wet,” he said, then took her fingers and slid them into her mouth.

  “Suck,” he told her.

  She took her own fingers deep in her throat, moaning as she sucked.

  He breathed out hard. “Just like that. I’m going to clean up the table and do the dishes, since you cooked breakfast. When I’m done, I want you to be good and ready for me to fuck you.”

  * * *

  He found his beautiful woman standing at the end of his bed, his green tie nestled between her breasts, the very tie he’d been wearing the day he met her. The fact that she’d chosen that one made him even harder.

  Her palms were pressed onto his mattress, her ass lifted in perfect view, her pussy glistening.

  “Move closer to the edge of the bed.”

  She did as told, glancing back at him, awaiting further instructions.

  “Lie on your elbows,” he said, and she lowered herself, offering up her body even more.

  He unknotted the tie from her neck and bound her wrists together, so tight she couldn’t move them a millimeter. Running a hand down her spine, he watched her bow her back as he mapped her body, as if he were an explorer and she the territory he planned to claim.

  When he reached her round and luscious cheeks, he bent down to flick his tongue between the tops of them, eliciting a sexy moan from his woman. He bit the soft flesh. That earned him a breathy gasp, then she circled her hips, an invitation that turned his dick to steel. Clasping her ass in his hands, he smothered her rear in soft, quick kisses, then dipped his finger between her legs.

  The wetness was divine, like a fucking slippery paradise that he needed to feel greeting his cock.

  “You are good and ready,” he said on a groan. He stripped in seconds, rubbed the head of his cock against her, then sank in, stopping to savor the absolute bliss of her gloriously wet cunt before he set to work on the important matter at hand.

  Fucking her furiously.

  “Did you fantasize about me fucking you like this?”

  “Yes.”

  He grabbed her ass cheeks, squeezed them as he slammed into her. “You want it harder, right?”

  “Please.”

  He took her savagely, pleasure tearing through him, her moans ringing in his ears. Snaking an arm up her neck, he brushed his finger across her lips. “Get it wet, like you did to your own.” She drew him into her mouth and sucked, swirling her tongue around and up and down. “Good,” he hissed, then dipped that finger between her slick folds before he returned to her rear, rubbing against her entrance gently at first, then insistently as he kept fucking her.

  Her high-pitched pants were his permission to slide his finger inside all the way. “And this too? Tell me. Did you fantasize about this too?”

  “With you, yes,” she whispered, then her whispers turned into screams of ecstasy as he asked more questions, unearthing deeper and darker fantasies from his Sophie, ones he intended to fulfill, today and beyond.

  For now, he took her over the edge, and they came together with her shuddering beneath him.

  Later, when evening rolled around, he asked her if she’d consider spending the night again. She said yes.

  It was all he wanted her to say.

  Once upon a time, he’d wanted that yes for the sex. And he still wanted that from her. Oh hell, did he want it, over and over.

  But he wanted more. He wanted everything else. He wanted the woman, inside and ou
t, body and mind, heart and soul.

  For the first time ever, Ryan Sloan was falling.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The game moved too quickly for Ryan to talk to Marshall about anything more than their strategy on the ice. The opposing team demolished them for the first two periods, rattling his teammates with penalty after penalty. The last period wasn’t much better, and Ryan had to hold one of his guys back from starting yet another fight.

  “Cool off, man. It’s just a game,” he told him before the ref threw the guy in the penalty box.

  The game ended with a loss for his team, and his guys cursing up a storm, frustrated by their own poor play.

  Ryan hardly cared today. Marshall had texted him earlier that he had an update, so when the other men headed to the showers, Marshall pulled him aside. They took off their skates, and then trudged up a few rows, removing bulky gloves before parking themselves on blue plastic seats.

  The ice rink was mercifully empty.

  “Got some news for you. You told me your brother-in-law had gotten a tip that Stefano wasn’t as active in the Sinners at the time of the murder, right?”

  Ryan nodded. Brent had shared that detail during the pool game at his house, something he’d heard from Mindy. But everything was hearsay still, and Ryan was hoping that could change soon.

  “I think I know why.”

  “Tell me,” Ryan said, and a mix of both desperation and anticipation gripped him. He wanted a fact. He prayed Marshall was dealing in that currency.

  “Seems like Stefano had a broker,” he began, and Ryan furrowed his brow in a question. Marshall made a rolling gesture with his hand to explain. “Like his guy who set up his hits.”

  The ice in the rink had nothing on Ryan right now. He was chilled to the bone. His body turned subzero just hearing how that killer operated. “This guy set up murders for hire?”

  Marshall nodded. “He brokered them. The Sinners were all about drugs then, and stealing. Fencing stolen goods, some territory battles—the usual gang stuff, to be honest. But, sadly, there’s money in murder, too, so the broker started working that angle for his boy Stefano.” Marshall shook his head in disgust. Ryan gritted his teeth, trying to tamp down the treacherous ball of rage that lived inside of him at times like this. “Sounds like he’s one of the guys the detectives are looking for.”

  “T.J. and K.,” Ryan said in a hiss, the initials slithering out of his mouth. “That has to be them. His friends. His fucking accomplices. Who the hell are they? Do you know their names?”

  “That’s the problem. They’re slippery. They’re smarter than you’d expect a bunch of street thugs to be. The Sinners were quiet for awhile, sort of fell apart, but are now rising up again, and the word is this guy has played a role in some serious shit that went down. But we don’t have a name yet. Not a real one, at least. Detective would probably sell an arm for a name.”

  Ryan probably would, too.

  * * *

  The week flew forward, hurtling toward the benefit in a heady blur of emails and texts, of days and nights, of sex and sleepovers, of dinners and drinks, and time…so much time together and so much desire for more time.

  Tonight was the next big step.

  from: [email protected]

  to: [email protected]

  date: July 25, 4:58 PM

  subject: I’m so not nervous at all.

  You swear they don’t bite? I ask because, well, you bite.

  from: [email protected]

  to: [email protected]

  date: July 25, 5:05 PM

  subject: You have nothing to be nervous about.

  My brothers better not bite you. As for Shannon, I make no promises.

  from: [email protected]

  to: [email protected]

  date: July 25, 5:17 PM

  subject: Dress code?

  What are you wearing?

  from: [email protected]

  to: [email protected]

  date: July 25, 5:22 PM

  subject: The usual.

  Pants, shirt, tie.

  from: [email protected]

  to: [email protected]

  date: July 25, 5:35 PM

  subject: Now you’re turning me on.

  I’ll wear a dress. You’re shocked, I know.

  from: [email protected]

  to: [email protected]

  date: July 25, 5:37 PM

  subject: On a scale of 1–10…

  How turned on?

  from: [email protected]

  to: [email protected]

  date: July 25, 5:41 PM

  subject: Zero.

  Now I’m nervous again. I need to go get ready. Jumping in the shower. See you soon.

  from: [email protected]

  to: [email protected]

  date: July 25, 5:42 PM

  subject: Breathe easy, beautiful.

  They will adore you.

  * * *

  She was ready.

  After her pulse had slowed to a normal level, and her rapid breathing settled. After she gave herself more pep talks than she had ever needed when pitching to investors or proposing media companies use her compression services. And after taking more deep breaths than she’d ever required before walking into a billionaire’s office with her head held high and asking him or her to generously support a cause.

  She’d handled those situations without batting an eyelash.

  But meeting the people who Ryan cared about most was new to her. She had no clue what to expect as she headed into the Chandelier Bar in the middle of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Two-story strands of crystals spilled from the ceiling, enrobing nearly the entire establishment. Faint purple lights cast pretty streaks across the bar.

  She was decked out in a simple red linen dress with a hip-hugging pencil skirt and a strappy bodice. White piping lined the neck and the hem, giving the dress the retro look she embraced. Her earrings matched, and her lipstick was red and neat.

  She’d only checked twenty times on the way from her building to the nearby hotel.

  The dark-haired Shannon arrived first with her husband and immediately wrapped Sophie in a big hug. Well, it was a little hug, because Shannon was a pipsqueak.

  After the embrace and hellos, Sophie placed her palms together as if in prayer and pleaded, “Will you please tell me everything you have in store for the Dance All Night reunion special? I promise I’ll be your best friend forever if you do.”

  Shannon eyed Ryan approvingly and squeezed Sophie’s shoulder. “I like her. Keep her around.”

  “The big secret is…she’s bringing me on the show. I have all the moves,” her husband Brent said, adding a gyration of his hips like a stripper.

  Shannon rolled her eyes. “You wish.”

  “Hey! I know you!” Sophie said excitedly, pointing at Brent. He was tall, sturdy, and had sparkling brown eyes. “Your late-night show was the best. And King Schmuck cracked me up on many occasions.”

  Brent nodded at Shannon. “What she said. I second it. I like you, too.”

  Soon, Michael and Colin joined them, and Sophie understood what Ryan had meant by Michael’s intensity. He was like a sheepdog guarding the flock, even in the middle of a chichi Vegas bar. He had that ‘my-eyes-are-everywhere’ watchfulness in his cool blue gaze. His eyes were lighter than Ryan’s but his hair was darker, making for an interesting contrast. Colin was the laid-back one, easy-going, quick with a joke, and even able to hold his own among Brent, the former comedian, as well as two super protective older brothers. He had an infinity symbol tattoo on his wrist, with four interlocking circles in black ink, nearly the same shade as his hair.

  Colin also was a kindred spirit, and as a venture capitalist he inhabited some of the same worlds Sophie had trafficked in. “I had my eye on your second round of funding for InCode several years ago,” he said. “I tried to get in on
it, but it was too late.”

  “Oh no! Shame on me then,” Sophie said, lightly smacking her own hand, admonishing herself.

  “Yeah, it’s one of my greatest regrets in business. That was a hell of a sale you had.”

  “Thank you,” she said with a wide smile.

  “I’m looking at some startups that are playing in the same space. I’d love to get your thoughts sometime,” he added, taking a drink of what looked to be iced tea.

  “I’d be delighted to talk shop. I haven’t had the chance in ages.”

  “Then we’ll make it a date,” Colin said with a wink.

  “Date?” Ryan asked, arching an eyebrow as he draped an arm around her.

  She turned to look at him, and couldn’t resist planting a kiss on his cheek. “Just to talk numbers and other geeky things.”

  Michael whistled under his breath. “And Ryan Sloan gets a kiss in public from the first girl he ever introduces us to,” he said, holding up his palm to high-five Shannon, then Colin. “I knew he liked her for real.”

  Ryan made a pshaw sound, then must have decided to say screw it, because he grabbed Sophie, dipped her, and kissed her deeply in front of them all. The hooting and hollering intensified. The clapping grew sonic. When he pulled her up, she felt woozy and stunned, and she was sure her lipstick was smeared.

  “And we have a winner,” Colin declared, smacking his glass lightly on the counter.

  Winner. She felt like one tonight. Holy hell, did she ever.

  She’d passed a big test.

  * * *

  “I told you they’d adore you. Every single one of them already texted to tell me how awesome you are. I’m going to keep you around,” he said, raining kisses on her cheeks, her shoulders, and her lips as they walked through the Cosmopolitan, his arm wrapped around her.

  “You better,” she said with a murmur caused by him running a finger through her hair. “Because I think we’re already beyond our seventh date. And yes, I’m counting the weekend as more than one date.”

  “I lost track of how many it is. I’m glad I lost track,” he said, as they left the hotel.