Karina Bliss - What the Librarian Did

“None.” He took her into his arms once more. When he bent to kiss her again she couldn’t remember which way to turn her head, and they bumped noses.

“Sorry.” Her arms were suddenly wooden around his waist. “Devin, I don’t-”

“My fault,” he said. “I’m overthinking this. To tell the truth, I never had sex completely sober. And I haven’t had sex at all for over a year.”

Rachel lost her self-consciousness. Of their own volition, her arms lifted to wrap around his neck. “I’ll try and be gentle,” she whispered, and Devin chuckled. This time when they kissed there was no mistiming, no awkwardness. They’d recaptured the lazy, electric ease that narrowed their world down to this room.

His fingertips were light on her face as he traced her features, watching her through half-closed lashes, a smile tugging at his mouth. By touch, she learned the slight bump in the strong bridge of his nose, the scar under his right eyebrow. Above the raspy jaw, his cheeks were baby-soft.

Her nipples tightened as his thumb dipped between her breasts in the black strapless bra and began a gentle circling under the lace. She pulled his head down for a kiss, warm, liquid, and they fell on the bed, where they bounced on the springs and broke apart, laughing.

Lifting his knuckle, Rachel kissed the dragon’s head, then followed its sinuous length up Devin’s arm. Under her lips, his skin broke out in goose bumps.

His fingers tangled in her hair. “Before we go too far, let me get some condoms from the bathroom.”

Rachel didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

He rolled over her to go get them and somehow her bra ended up at her waist and his mouth at her breast, his hands teasing circles on her inner thighs. She pushed him off. “Go!”

Sitting up, Devin cupped her face and smiled. Somehow it was a gesture more intimate than anything they’d been doing on the bed, and her throat tightened. “How did we end up here, again?” he asked.

“Wrong turn I guess,” she said lightly. She’d learned a hard lesson eighteen years ago. Never confuse sex with love.

“No,” he said. “Sooner or later I would have got you here.”

Something in his male arrogance took her straight back to another charmer, and Rachel instantly stiffened. “You…sound like you planned this,” she said, watching him closely.

She caught the telltale flicker of guilt before he smiled at her. “This I didn’t plan.” He disappeared into the bathroom.

So good, she thought, stunned, at faking sincerity. And oh, my God, she’d nearly fallen for it. Humiliated, Rachel hauled up her bra and covered her breasts.

Except she wasn’t sixteen anymore and no man got away with making a fool of her. Reaching for her dress, she paused. She had an idea. Did she dare?

When Devin came back, she was lounging seductively against the pillows in her underwear. Rachel held up the stockings. “Let’s use these.”

He blinked, then chuckled as he rejoined her in bed, jeans tightening over muscle. “You nearly had me.”

“And I want to have you.” She dropped her tone to husky. “Tied up.”

Half smiling, he scanned her face, and Rachel hid it against his chest, right over the place where his heart should be. His hand caressed her nape and she resisted the urge to turn her head and bite it. “I’ve always wanted to try it,” she murmured instead, “and you’re the perfect guy to do it with.” Under her cheek Devin’s ribs rose and fell in what felt like a sigh. But when she glanced up he gave a lazy shrug.

“Sure, babe, whatever you want.”

“Lie down.” All business, she looped one of the nylons around his wrist, then tied it to the bedpost.

“You put your bra back on.”

Rachel grabbed his other hand. “I’m shy.”

“You know,” Devin said thoughtfully, “I never thought I’d say this, but I was kinda looking forward to old-fashioned sex for our first time…ouch. Maybe you could loosen the tension on that one.”

She yanked his trapped wrist against the post and double knotted the second stocking. “So you’re suggesting they’ll be other times, then?”

His eyes narrowed. “Okay, what’s really going on?”

Rachel clambered off the bed and glared at him. “This wasn’t something that just happened. You had every intention of seducing me tonight, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but you changed my mind and then…”

“And then?”

“Hell, I don’t know…you changed it back.”

With his arms tied to the bedposts above his head he looked like every Amazon’s idea of a human sacrifice, pagan, muscular and deliciously vulnerable. Furious at the direction of her thoughts, she bent and scrambled for her dress. “You’re pathetic.”

“Rachel, you know we’re about more than sex.”

Hand frozen on her dress, she barely registered his comment. There was a pair of red stilettos under the bed. Lying on their sides at right angles, as if they’d been kicked off in a hurry.

I haven’t had sex at all for over a year.

The son of a…Enraged, she picked them up and tossed them onto his washboard abs above the hip-hugging jeans, hoping the heels left a mark. “Next you’ll be telling me you’re a cross-dresser.”

She waited for signs of guilt. For shame. Devin looked at the shoes and started to chuckle. The chuckle grew into a laugh that shook the bed. He laughed until his head was rolling helplessly on his shoulders.

Tears prickled the back of her eyes. It was 1992 all over again.

Rachel picked up her dress and stepped into it, reaching behind her for the zip and jerking it up. It stuck halfway and she pulled harder. Nothing. She spun the dress around to the front.

Devin’s laughter subsided. With difficulty, he wiped his streaming eyes on his bare shoulder. “They’re my mother’s,” he said.

“Spawn of Satan don’t have mothers.” Rachel struggled with the tab. “And funny, isn’t it, that you’ve never mentioned her?”

“Why? I’ve never heard about your family… Untie me and I’ll help you with that zipper.”

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” The zip still wouldn’t budge. Her anger grew.

“Look,” Devin said reasonably, “I did my growing up in public. Every stupid thing I’ve ever done is documented. In rehab I decided the rest of my life is private. Mom’s why I’m in this godforsaken country. She’s been in hospital lately with a heart condition.”

“Old ladies with heart conditions don’t fling their shoes under the bed in a ‘I’m about to have wild sex’ kind of hurl.”

He started to laugh again. “Do you use that imagination in bed?” Infuriated, Rachel stopped wrestling with the zip on her dress and dragged down the one on his jeans. “I’m hoping that’s a yes,” he added.

“You think this is funny?” Her dress slipped and she made a grab for it.

“Rub some soap on the zipper,” Devin suggested. “C’mon, Heartbreaker, get my wallet out of my pants-there’s a picture of my mom.”

“I don’t care if there’s a picture of your family dog.” She yanked off his jeans and dumped them on the carpet, but lost her nerve at the boxers. “I’m leaving you here for room service to find in the morning. Maybe that will make you think twice before lying to seduce women.”

Devin started to struggle against his bonds. “Okay, this has gone far enough. Untie me right now.”

His panic was the sweetest revenge. “Maybe I’ll even ring the media. They love bondage stories involving celebrities.”

“I’m serious. Right now!”

“Go to hell.” Head held high, clutching her dress under her armpits, Rachel disappeared into the bathroom.

“If you leave me here, I’ll sue you!”