Author: Christine Bell

“Courtney?”

She folded her arms to ward off the sudden chill and focused her attention back on Cat. “Sorry, what was the question?”

“Anything else about your sexual history that he should know?”

She mulled that over for a long time before shaking her head. “Nope. Nothing.”

Her friend looked at her like she’d spoken in tongues. “Uhm, how’s about the juicy nugget you shared with me a few minutes ago? About your ill-fated attempts to get to O-ville? Surely that’s worth mentioning.”

“It’s pretty personal…”

“As opposed to telling him whether you like”—she glanced at the survey again—“pony play?”

She had her there. “Well, that’s a specific question and has a specific answer. Besides,” Courtney added with a sniff, “it would put too much pressure on him to re-create the miracle. I don’t want to make him feel bad if it doesn’t happen again when this is an issue I had long before him.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” Her reluctant shrug was enough to make Courtney second-guess herself, but the idea of Rafe knowing that he was the first guy to ring her bell made her about break out in hives.

“I’m sure.”

Cat nodded. “Okay. Looks good so far, then. Oh! We forgot to fill out number eleven on page one. What did you say your feelings were on dog leashes again?”

Courtney groaned and slumped forward to rest her head on the cool Formica while Cat huffed a sigh and called to the waitress.

“Can you grab us two coffees? And might as well keep ’em coming. I think we’re going to be a while.”

…

Nine days.

Courtney blew the lock of hair obscuring her vision from her eye and gripped the steering wheel tighter.

Nine frigging days without a single word from him. After all that fuss, all those hours of waiting, anticipating, planning…

She’d filled out the survey about hard limits and safe words; they’d exchanged medical history forms. Hell, she’d even given him a key to her house once they’d put a system in place to let him know whether or not she wanted him to use it on a given day. All that, and then?

Nada.

It was like Indecent Proposal without any of the indecency. Granted, she’d balked at some of the truly outrageous stuff on the questionnaire, but there was plenty left on the table to work with, and he’d seemed more than satisfied at her sense of adventure. Still, maybe it wasn’t enough for him…

Whatever. She refused to let it shake her confidence. He probably decided—much like she did half the times she thought about it—that this whole thing was a terrible idea and had opted out. Fine. But it would’ve been nice if he’d given her a call so she could stop thinking that he’d let himself into her house and was about to ravage her every time she heard the radiator creak at night.

Which reminded her, she was going to have to ask Cat to get her key back for her. If things had been awkward before, they’d be more so now that he’d stood her up. Besides, Cat owed her one.

She adjusted her seat belt and toyed with the radio, turning back on her Rosetta Stone practice CD. It had been her lifelong dream to retire at fifty-five and travel the world, and she was hell-bent on speaking at least seven languages by that time. She’d already learned enough Spanish to eke by—especially if toilets or food were involved—and had just started on French. No way was she letting All Talk, No Action Rafe ruin her day or her retirement plans.

After yet another hellish forty hours at work courtesy of her new supervisor, who clearly had decided that making her life miserable was priority number one, she needed a break from the shit that had been her week. It was a beautiful summer night and she was exactly three miles from Cat’s family cottage where she planned to spend a relaxing weekend by the lake. She’d been thrilled when Cat had made the offer. Courtney knew she was probably feeling a little guilty for her part in this mess. Who was she to snub the offer if it made her friend feel better?

She rolled the window down and cranked up her French lesson, letting the warm breeze batter her hair into a wild mess, not giving a crap.

“La boulangerie,” the disembodied voice blared from the speakers. “Bakery.”

“La boulangerie,” she repeated, getting her Pepé Le Pew on, making sure to roll her tongue under to get that authentic sound working. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible.

She’d just turned down the dark, winding road that also acted as the Thomas family’s driveway and was in the midst of learning how to order a coffee when a noise broke her concentration. An ambulance? Blue and red lights flashed in her rearview mirror, and she groaned. Cops.

“Sacre bleu!”

It was like she had the worst luck in the world in this town. First a flat and now this. She pulled to the side, glad that this time there was space to get entirely off the road. Then she turned off the radio and started digging in her glove compartment for her registration. Had she been speeding? Or maybe her blinker was on the fritz?

A flashlight blinded her, and she covered her eyes, squinting.

“Jeez, wow, that thing’s pretty powerful. What’s that use, nine volt there?” She tried for a smile but with her face scrunched up, she was pretty sure she’d missed the mark on looking innocent and affable and landed somewhere around weird and creepy.

“I’m going to need you to step out of the car, miss.” His tone was sharp, and she winced.

“Uhm, can you tell me what I did wrong, Officer?”

The flashlight went dark and he leaned down to meet her at eye level. “I’m going to need you to step out of the car, miss. Now.”

Her stomach flopped like a landed catfish as the voice registered this time. She still couldn’t see well with her pupils adjusting to the lack of light again, but there was no mistake.

She raised a trembling hand to her hair and made a sad attempt to fix it as uncertainty swamped her. She’d been so bummed when he hadn’t contacted her and now he was here and she wasn’t sure she could go through with it. Talk about the grass being greener. “Look, Rafe, I’m not sure—”

“This is your last warning. Step out of the car, or I will forcibly remove you from it.”

The icy command jarred her into action, and she reached for the door handle. With a yank, she opened it and stepped onto the grass. How familiar this part felt. They were only a few miles from where they’d had their last encounter, and her body seemed to recognize that fact. Her nipples stiffened beneath her tank top under the warm breeze and her pulse skittered wildly.

She could see him now. He was decked out in his dress blues, baton at his hip, gun on his belt. Delicious. His dark eyes were so intense her arms broke out in goose bumps in spite of the warm evening.

“Do you have any weapons?” he asked curtly.

She shook her head. “What? No.”

“Put your hands on the roof of the car.”

“I’m sure this isn’t ne—”

“Ma’am, unless you want to find yourself down at County, put your hands on the fucking roof and spread ’em.”

It was that last part that had her actually considering his request. She knew for a fact she was the only one coming to the cottage this weekend, and there were no other houses down this stretch of “road,” but what if someone made a wrong turn? Unlikely, considering how few cars came up that way, but possible. Before she’d made up her mind, she found herself spread-eagled and cuffed without ceremony. Jesus he was fast.

“Rafe…”

“Listen to me carefully, ma’am, because I’m only going to say this once. I’m going to give you instructions, and you’re going to follow them.”

The precariousness of her position made the butterflies in her belly start flapping. The form he’d had her fill out included a space for her safe word. She had chosen a two word phrase instead. Toy boat. She could “toy boat” him right now and this would all stop. The scene would end.

“Do you understand?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes, Officer.”

He let out a sigh and cleared his throat. “Good.”

She tried to stay still as he frisked her, but it was impossible. He wasn’t gentle. There was no hesitation. He ran his hands up her bare leg from ankle to thigh and down the other, and then between, lingering long enough that she would have filed a lawsuit if this were real. But it wasn’t. So why not have a little fun?

She worked up her courage and tried to keep her voice steady. “Officer, is that standard?”

Her back talk got her a second squeeze through her jean shorts, and she couldn’t stop herself from flexing into his hand.

“What do we have here?” he muttered.

“I can assure you that’s not a weapon, sir,” she said, already hearing the edge of need working its way into her voice.

He released her and slid both hands over her hips, past her rib cage and up until he cupped both of her breasts. Her nipples stood at attention, and he grunted in approval, pinching them lightly before releasing her and stepping back.

“I’m not a hard man by nature,” he said, fingering the links of the cuffs around her wrists lightly. “But I can be, if I’m not happy.” He closed the circle more tightly, two clicks, until the metal dug into her skin. “We can both walk away from this unfortunate incident happy tonight.”

She shuddered at the sternness of his tone, laced with precisely enough sensual promise to temper fear with desire.

“H-how?” And she so wanted to know. As much as she’d enjoyed their first encounter, it had gone against the grain for her to take and not give something in return. It had been bothering her ever since. A low-level annoyance that never really went away. But she had the chance to fix that now.

He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. By the light of the moon, she could make out the pulse pounding in his neck, and it gave her courage.

She stepped toward him, ignoring the twinge in her wrists as she moved.

“Get on your knees,” he ground out.

She paused and cocked her head at him. Was he serious? She tried to read his unfathomable eyes, but came up empty. She was supposed to drop down and go to town or…?

“I’m a busy man, miss. Lots of bad people running around and not a lot of time to catch them. Either you can suck me off or we can put that sweet ass in the back of my car and you can spend the night in jail. Your call.”

Blood pounded in her ears, and, to her surprise, between her legs at the harshness of his voice…the crassness of his words.

She sank slowly down, reveling in the pained expression on his face. Like he wanted her so badly, he could hardly stand it. Like her kneeling pleased him so much, he could barely contain it. Magnifique. She kept her eyes locked on him as her knees touched the cool, soft grass.

“What now?”

…

Great question.

His brain was scrambled ten ways to Sunday, but he was supposed to know. It was his job to lead her, teach her, guide her, and he wasn’t going to let the fact that she continually blew his mind distract him from that task. Her wide eyes stared up at him, glassy with need. He’d been pretty sure she would like this scene.

In spite of her hesitance to fill it out, the survey had been very telling, and he was thrilled to see that most of the things she seemed enthusiastic about were a great match for his own tastes.

Her tongue poked out and wet her lips, and suddenly he was done thinking, opting instead just to feel. And right now, he wanted nothing more than to feel that mouth on him. His cock bucked behind his zipper, and he made quick work of his belt before yanking his pants apart. Her gaze shot down to watch him with rapt attention as he freed his throbbing erection from his boxers.