She hung back for a moment to pull herself together. Deep, soothing breaths, she reminded herself. Instead of facing one fear tonight, she was going to face them all. At once.
And the first of them was already standing in line for the ride, motioning for her to join him.
Just. Freaking. Perfect.
…
From the moment the “wheel of death,” as Courtney had coined it, cranked into motion, it had been his prime objective to ensure she didn’t die by way of panic attack. With every inch the ride moved up into the air, she was edging closer to the handrail, obviously trying to hide the fact that she was gripping it so hard her knuckles had turned white. “Merde,” she muttered under her breath.
He paused and turned to face her. “You speak French?”
Her cheeks stayed pasty and she didn’t look his way. “No. I mean, not really. I like languages so I try to learn them in my spare time.”
“All of them?” he asked incredulously.
“Ideally. But I’m gunning for at least seven over the next twenty-five years.”
He resisted the urge to smile at that nugget of information because, in spite of his attempts to distract her, she was still focused entirely on the safety bar in front of them.
“Have you seriously never ridden the Ferris wheel before?”
“Listen, maybe you go skeet shooting, and, I don’t know, BASE jumping all the time, but not all of us are risk takers like that.” She forced a laugh that ended up sounding a lot more like a whimper.
He realized very quickly that the time for jokes had passed. She was really scared. He wanted to kick himself for dragging her onto the ride. “Hey, look at me. You’re going to be fine.” He reached out and tucked his fingers beneath her chin, pulling her attention toward him. For a moment, she still focused intently on the ground, but in the next, their gazes met. He had half an urge to pull his hand back, almost singed by the electricity that sizzled between them in that instant, but he resisted.
Instead, he cupped her jaw, catching a few strands of her hair in his caress. “You’re okay,” he murmured.
She nodded and slid away from the railing, leaning into his touch. Their knees brushed in the tin-can-size seats, and then he was gliding his hand around her neck, stroking her nape, stock-still as she moved closer to touch her soft mouth to his. She groaned, pressing more heavily into him, curling her arms around his neck.
God, she smelled good. Sweet, like peaches. He slipped his tongue between her lips, tasting her. She responded instantly, crushing her breasts against him, kissing him back with everything she had. What had started out as a gesture meant to comfort turned on a dime, and he growled low in his throat, need pulsing through him in waves.
When the ride suddenly cranked to a halt, it was far too soon. He was still in a daze when he realized they were at the bottom and it was their turn to exit. Courtney bolted so quick that he was amazed she didn’t leave a trail of dust behind her. He eased his way out, carrying her goldfish in front of him, strategically using poor Gil to camouflage his erection.
When he finally saw her standing in the crowd, she would barely meet his gaze. Instead, she tugged on her T-shirt, staring intently at the ground.
He’d really fucked this up bad. She may have been the one to kiss him, but he’d made her a deal. Four scenes. No strings. It wasn’t just for her sake. It was for both of them. The reason they made so much sense on paper was because they had great sexual chemistry, but no interest in falling in love. Her, not now. Him, not ever again.
The thought strengthened his resolve and he approached her cautiously. Lovers three more times, and friends from here on out. That was the plan.
“Hey, you lived,” he said, striving to recapture the earlier light mood of the evening.
She gave him half a smile, her lashes still shading her eyes from his view. “It would seem that way.”
“You look disappointed. The only solution to that is the tempura-fried candy bar, I think.”
“Yeah, that should do me in for sure.”
“That or if you tried one of the dart games. With your aim, you might impale yourself.”
She let out a genuine laugh, and he coaxed her into one more stroll around the grounds. After sampling more food than they should have, including chocolate-covered bacon, they stumbled out into the parking lot, stomachs filled to bursting. With every step they took, the lights grew dimmer behind them, and by the time he’d reached the row where they’d both parked, it was mostly dark.
He paused in front of her car, and they both started talking at the same time. He stopped, and waited for her to continue.
“Hey, I know it was—” She cleared her throat and shook out her hair behind her. “Kind of weird at first, but I want you to know that I had a really good time tonight. I’m, um, I’m glad I didn’t bail after the Ferris wheel.”
“Yeah, it was a lot of fun.” They stood in silence for a moment, surveying each other. Finally he broke the tension. “Look, that was no big deal. The kiss. Chalk it up to fear and adrenaline, okay?”
“For sure.” She nodded so vigorously that he was sure her head would hurt the next day. “Sounds good.” She darted to the driver’s-side door of her car, only to come scurrying back before he’d taken a single step.
“I forgot Gil.” She held out her hand for the fish.
“Right, right.” He nodded and handed it over. She met his gaze for another heart-pounding minute before getting into her car and cranking the engine.
He waited until she pulled out before walking slowly to his own car. What the hell had gotten into him? He’d let the simple fun of the night and the pleasant company addle his senses and make him act like a high school quarterback with a crush on the head cheerleader. The sooner he put a stop to that shit, the better, before he really botched it all up. He’d promised Courtney an introduction to BDSM and the chance to explore her sexuality with him, and he was going to deliver. But that and his friendship were all he had to give. He needed to make sure that neither of them forgot that.
Now he needed to regain the ground he’d lost ASAP and make sure there was no confusion lingering for either one of them. Time to get back to basics.
Chapter Seven
Time to make her move. With the Mission: Impossible theme song playing in her head, Courtney glanced up and down the long hospital corridor before scurrying to the bank of elevators. Keeping a watchful eye, she thumped the down button repeatedly, a silent prayer on auto-loop in her head. When the arrow lit green, she blew out the breath she’d been holding.
Almost home free.
After the way things had ended between her and Rafe, she’d considered calling out from work that morning. She’d spent half the night tossing and turning. It was only the thought of sitting at home with way too much time to think about this thing with him that made her bite the bullet and don her scrubs. By the time it was over ten endless hours later, she was regretting that decision heartily.
Work had been brutal. Three stabbings—those always increased in the summer as heat made people stabby— and a three-car pileup on the interstate that had been a veritable blood bath. One person had died on the scene but the team of ER doctors had managed to keep the fatalities to the one. That was a blessing.
What hadn’t been a blessing was when her asshole supervisor Barry had asked her to stay two hours past her shift to straighten out paperwork that wasn’t even hers. The guy had been at the hospital for all of three months and had been a holy terror, screaming at the nurses and taking advantage of them all by piling on double shifts with total disregard to their home lives. It was getting to be a major issue. One that was starting to make Courtney hate a job she used to love and had her sneaking around like a thief in the night in hopes of avoiding him in case he found yet another reason for her to stay longer.
By the time she slogged her way up the winding path to her front door, she could think of nothing besides sipping on a sizable glass of cheap wine snuggled beneath her down comforter with the air-conditioner blasting in her face while she read a sexy novel.
Paradise.
Her weary muscles protested as she trudged up the stairs, tugging off her scrubs as she went. When she reached her bedroom and flicked on the light, weariness fled to make way for an almost dizzying wave of excitement.
On her bed sat a large rectangular box. Pristine white with a red envelope resting on the lid, but otherwise unadorned. It was stupid, really, but the breath caught in her throat just looking at it, so beautiful in its simplicity, so civilized and elegant, which was such a contrast to what was likely inside.
This was it. Scene number two.
Part of her was a tiny bit disappointed. When they’d sussed out the details of their arrangement and she’d agreed to give him her house key, he’d given her two scarves. One red and one green. If she preferred he not use the key on a given day, she was to tie the red one on her balcony. If she was open to him letting himself in for a scene, she should use the green one. She’d gone with red the first few nights out of nervousness, but when she hadn’t heard from him, she’d gone green and had left it that way ever since. Many a night was spent tossing and turning, fantasizing about waking up with his magical mouth on her.
But the disappointment faded fast as she inched toward her bed, excitement building with every step. She refused to credit her now-shaking legs to bone-deep relief that there was going to be a scene two at all after the way they’d ended. She was sure she’d blown it when she kissed him, but now here he was. A strange sensation settled over her. Happiness that he wanted more time with her was mixed with fear that every minute she spent with him, she was skating closer and closer to trouble.
He’d been hard to resist when he was one-dimensional—controlled dom Rafe, who held the power to make her tremble in his fingertips. Now that she’d gotten to sample the other side of him? The funny, sweet guy who’d held her when she was afraid on the Ferris wheel and won her a pet goldfish? He was lethal.
But even as fear and doubt clouded her mind, she never considered walking away and leaving the box unopened. She had three more nights with him, and short of an apocalypse, she wasn’t giving them up for anything or anyone. She’d push on and deal with the fallout when it was over.
Her fingers shook with a combination of nerves and anticipation as she picked up the envelope. With a steadying breath, she tore it open with a singular swipe of her thumb. The paper was typed on high-end card stock that was like silk under her fingertips. She read the lines once, willing the thudding of her heart to slow, then again, trying to process all of his instructions.
Courtney—
Meet me at the Feldmoore Hotel on Edgemont Street at 7 p.m. Ask the concierge for a key to Mr. Welter’s room at the front desk.
You are to wear nothing except the contents of this box, and your hair should be up.
When you enter the room, go straight to the safe on the west wall and open it. The code is 41-42-69.
Do not be late.
Rafe
Her breath was coming in short bursts as she wrenched open the package, peeling back the crimson tissue paper to reveal its contents. A sleek black trench coat with leather leggings to match and a pair of black stilettos stared up at her. Searching for the shirt to complete the outfit, she riffled through all the tissue until it sat in a pile on the carpet, but turned up nada.
No top, which was surely no accident. Rafe was meticulous, focused, and detail-oriented. If he’d wanted her to wear a top, it would’ve been in the box.
She chewed on her bottom lip and surveyed the instructions a second time before glancing at the clock. Six twenty. The Feldmoore was twenty minutes away, and if she was going to make it there on time, she’d have to leave ASAP. Her hands shook with excitement as she set the letter down and headed into the bathroom. She stripped the rest of her clothes off and took a shower so fast that Guinness himself would’ve applauded.