Beneath the Surface Read online

  She listened to how he really loved classical architecture and how he wanted to learn more. She told him as much as she could without it sounding like a lecture about the history of Grand Central and he listened to every word she spoke with rapt attention. He was so smart…and so hot.

  But eventually, all that wine supplemented with a few glasses of ice water to combat her dry mouth caught up with her and she couldn’t ignore the pressure in her bladder any longer. Rising to go to the restroom, she swayed dangerously.

  “You all right?” Rick smiled and placed one strong hand on her arm to steady her.

  “Fine.” She nodded and lied.

  In the bathroom she managed to not fall into the toilet. She even get her pants zipped and buttoned and put on lipstick without going out of the lines, but it all seemed harder than it should have been.

  Beth planted each foot precisely in front of the other in an attempt to look natural and sober as she made her way very slowly and carefully back to Rick at the bar. He took one look at her and smiled again. He had a beautiful smile.

  “I think I should take you somewhere and get you something solid to eat.” He ran one hand lightly down her arm and she felt a tingle run up her spine.

  She nodded. “All right.” That was probably a good idea. In fact, she had a sudden craving for pizza…as well as a few other things that only Rick could supply.

  He glanced quickly at their bill, threw cash on the bar and stood. “Ready to go somewhere else? Unless you want to stop and look at your brick again first.”

  She frowned for a second, not understanding, then remembered the cracked ceiling tile. The realization that she had actually forgotten about work for even a moment stopped her dead in her tracks. That hadn’t happened in…ever. But now that he mentioned it, she could take a peek at the readings on the motion detector.

  No. She wouldn’t let work interfere with her personal life anymore. Especially not now that it looked like she might actually have the beginnings of some sort of social life. Beth smiled. “No, I’m good. The Whispering Gallery will live without me until tomorrow morning.”

  “Whispering Gallery?” He frowned.

  Thinking that impressing a hot guy with her knowledge was not really work, she pulled his hand and led him out of the restaurant and into one corner of what was known to only serious aficionados of Grand Central trivia as the Whispering Gallery. “You stay right here and listen closely.”

  Feeling giddy, she turned and ran under the vaulted ceiling to the opposite corner. Glancing back to make sure he was still where she put him, she turned to face the corner and whispered, “Want to come home with me tonight?”

  When drunk, things that sound so good in your head don’t always seem wise once hanging out there in midair. Not that she was really drunk, not that she got really drunk often enough to be familiar with how it felt. But she was definitely feeling loose and freer than usual, enough so that for once she did exactly what she wanted and didn’t let her common sense talk her out of it.

  But now she had to deal with the consequences of acting on a whim. She truly hoped her common sense would not have cause to come back and say I told you so. Beth turned slowly and watched as Rick spun to face her. Then he smiled and was next to her in seconds. “That is quite the little party trick you have there. How does it work?”

  How does it work? Those were not the four words she had been hoping for. Yes, I’d love to or please, lead the way—those would have been far better responses to her question. She retreated to more comfortable territory, lecture mode. “Um, it’s the acoustics of the low ceramic arches. The sound travels along the curvature in the vaulted ceiling. It’s called telegraphing.”

  While she felt the distinct urge to crawl under one of those ceiling tiles, he listened to her explanation. “So, does it work in both directions?”

  She nodded, vowing that this would be the last time she would drink wine on an empty stomach and ask a man to come home with her.

  “Stay here.” He planted her firmly back in the corner. Across the space he faced the corner like she had. “I want nothing more than to come home with you.”

  She heard his voice, soft and so close it was as if he were standing right next to her.

  Turning, she smiled when she found him back beside her again, stroking her arms through the thin sweater gently with his big strong hands. How would those hands feel on her bare skin? A bit rough but gentle probably, like his short growth of stubble, like the raspy sexy quality of his voice.

  Beth managed to nervously choke out around the heart lodged firmly in her throat, “Good. Let’s go.”

  Chapter Four

  Damn. You never knew with some women. They could look all meek on the outside, but inside burned a sexual hellcat. Rick was finding that out now first hand, and he was not complaining.

  The subway ride from the train station to her stop had been uneventful. She’d held his hand, but kept blushing and looking away. She acted so shy he was convinced they would be going back to her apartment for herbal tea and maybe some PBS on television. That would have been fine with him though. Not only was she an interesting woman to talk to—he didn’t usually go for the cerebral types and it proved to be a nice change—but he might also be able to learn something useful about the behind the scenes workings within Grand Central that would help him with his assignment.

  Then in the elevator, somewhere between the lobby and the fifth floor, she got an undeniably interested look in her eye. Rick leaned in for a quick peck on the lips, just on a whim. He suddenly found his head held firmly in her grasp. She pressed her body against him as she opened her mouth and searched his. He let his tongue meet hers and tasted her wine mingled with his beer.

  What had started out as a fairly innocent kiss pretty much denigrated into an all out groping make out session for three more floors until the elevator binged and the door opened onto the hallway of her floor. Luckily none of Beth’s neighbors were around because neither one of them was in any shape to see anyone.

  He released her reluctantly at first, until he realized the sooner they got inside her apartment, the sooner they could be out of their clothes and he could be inside of her. That possibility looked more and more like a definite with each passing second. That was a good thing because he really wanted this woman. He wanted her so badly he was hard enough to feel his pulse throbbing in his cock.

  Rick looked on as she struggled to get the key into the door and flipped the two sets of locks while he imagined how smoothly he would slide into her over and over again. She was probably a missionary position type of girl. That would be fine to start. Then he would have to show her the virtues of a few other more interesting positions. She was tall and slender, but had all the right curves a woman should. She would look fine straddling him, or on her knees, or up against a wall, or bent over a desk…the mind boggled at the possibilities. And then he didn’t have to imagine how she would look or feel because they were inside. She had dumped her giant bag on the floor and was on him again, her mouth on his, her hands roaming over his chest.

  He kicked the door shut behind them as she clawed at his jacket to get it off him. He broke free. “Hold on, baby. I’ll do it.”

  Rick flung the jacket onto the floor on top of her bag and looked around. “Which door is the bedroom?”

  The slightly tipsy and very horny hellcat disappeared as quickly as she had come as Beth got a look of panic on her face at his question. He could have kicked himself in the ass for asking it so soon. Time for damage control. Rick brushed one hand lightly over her cheek while running the other up her arm. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t usually do this.”

  He laughed. Of that he was certain, which made the recent turn of events on this date even more amazing. “I know. You’re not the type. I could see that the minute I laid eyes on you.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded and took one small step closer, bringing his body close to, but not quite touching, hers
. “Really. But the fact is I like you, and I think you like me…” He continued, fairly confident he could charm the hellcat back to the surface. “And even good girls are allowed to be bad once in a while, you know. It doesn’t make you less of a person, and believe me, it can be a lot of fun. I promise.”

  Rick pulled the pins out of her hair and it tumbled onto her shoulders. Cradling her head in one hand, he lowered his mouth to the pulse in her neck and ran his tongue gently down her throat. He felt the tremor run through her. God, she was easy to rile. He wet the whorls of her ear and let his breath touch the same spot. She actually moaned, a soft sound that cut right through him. All of this foreplay was getting to him too. He leaned in and pressed against her so she could not possibly miss feeling exactly how aroused he was. Her breath caught in her throat.

  He let one hand stray down her side to the waist of her pants. He wanted them gone, but he couldn’t move too fast. Not with her.

  Rick turned her so his groin stayed nestled happily against her hip but his hand could dip inside the front of her pants. Hearing Beth’s breathing change again, he slid his hand lower, knowing once he got his hands on her clit, all of her doubts and reservations would disappear. He held his breath as his fingers slid under the elastic of her panties, lower to the curls he could only imagine would be a slightly darker blonde than the hair he had just released from its bun and tucked behind her ear. He finally encountered the slick hot wetness of her slit.

  That made him smile. She was already wet. She wanted him. Her head may be fighting it, but her body was ready and waiting.

  So enthralling was this discovery, he nearly missed the slight movement she made that set her feet farther apart and gave him easier access to her pussy. Taking full advantage of her willingness to play, Rick slid his finger inside her. He watched her squeeze her eyes more tightly shut as he pumped into her a few times before pulling out, coated with her juices. Damn, he wanted to taste that later and he had every intention of getting the chance. Still afraid she would turn tail and run if he moved too fast for her, Rick began to circle her clit, softly at first, then harder, until she leaned more heavily against him and grabbed his shirt with two fists for support.

  More than aroused, he pressed his erection harder against her thigh. He was perfectly happy to get her off first, but he wanted to remind her he was still there and waiting with so much more to give her.

  She turned her head toward him as he lowered his to take her breast in his mouth through the sweater. He wanted that sweater gone too, but he could wait. When he felt her warm breath ruffle his hair as she began panting, getting closer to orgasm, he knew it wouldn’t be a long wait.

  Increasing the pressure of his fingers, he rubbed faster until her knees buckled and he had to hold her up with his free arm around her waist.

  Her voice sounded so sweet when she came, just like he’d imagined it would. It was a sound he intended on hearing many more times that night. He wasn’t quite done with her yet now. Sliding two digits inside her this time, he finger fucked her while his palm stayed pressed against her clit. She continued to cry out and nearly collapse in his arms. He wanted her so worked up that nothing but his cock buried deep inside her would satisfy. Judging by the way she gripped him but made no attempt to move away, he figured he was doing a good job.

  He finally pulled his fingers out of her pants. Had she been any one of the other women he usually fucked, he would have slid those fingers right into her mouth and told her to taste herself, or he would have licked them off himself. Beth wasn’t one of those women, and he was too close to what they both wanted to risk it now by scaring her off.

  Her eyes didn’t quite focus when she opened them and looked up. “Middle door.”

  Middle door.

  She was telling him that the bedroom was the middle door off the hall. Rick wasted no time scooping her up in his arms and swooping her through that door, because he was more than ready to sink himself to the hilt into her sweet pussy.

  As the reality that she was about to have sex with Rick became more and more apparent, Beth’s stupid conscience kept nagging at her, but luckily she had consumed enough wine to ignore it. Once the orgasm hormones reached her brain there was no question as to which direction her internal argument would go. She wanted Rick totally and completely. Wanted to be made love to all night long until she couldn’t walk the next day. In fact, what the hell, why not tell him?

  He smiled, then outright laughed after she did say those exact words. Words that shocked the all-work-and-no-play half of her self.

  “I am definitely the man for that job.”

  As he stripped off his shirt and revealed a chest and abs the likes she had only seen on the cover of romance novels, she decided she had made the right choice. After hanging around with museum curators, professors, and art students most of her adult life, Beth hadn’t been exposed much to the phenomenon of the Alpha male. But Rick was that if ever she saw one.

  He’d carried her to the bedroom. Actually physically carried her. Now he stood totally nude before her, hard and erect, and ready to please her. When her gaze finally traveled back up to his face, she realized from his expression as well as his erection just how aroused he was.

  “Get naked.” Crawling onto the bed beside her, he just about growled that order.

  Her heart sped, nervous and excited at the same time. This was nothing like her first sexual experience with her virgin boyfriend during freshman year at college. This wasn’t even like the ill advised relationship with one of her professors in graduate school or her one and only long-term boyfriend she’d dated for years. Rick was a real man and she had a feeling she was about to be made love to like she had never been before. After she pulled off her pants and sweater and lay before Rick in only bra and panties she became certain of that when he crawled between her legs.

  He looked up at her. “I am going to taste you first and then fuck you all night long.”

  Her panties disappeared quickly, floating down to the floor beside the bed where Rick flung them. Her inhibitions disappeared just as fast as Rick spread her legs wide, boldly looked her over, and even more boldly trailed his tongue over her most private area, sending a shiver up her spine.

  “Mmm. I’ve wanted to do that for hours.” He licked her one more time and then set to tantalizing her with a tongue that proved to be as talented as his fingers had earlier.

  Soon she writhed beneath him, making noises she had never known to come out of her mouth before. She came, so hard and long it eventually bordered on painful until finally, panting and unable to speak, she reached down and pulled him off her by his hair.

  He complied, biting and kissing his way up her body. Pushing aside the cups of her bra, he sucked on one nipple and then the other. He used his teeth on her before he kissed his way up her throat and finally reached her mouth.

  “Kiss me.” He plunged his tongue into her mouth and she tasted her sex on his lips.

  Beth groaned. Rick was incredible, his every touch sent her into ecstasy. She wanted all of him. But she couldn’t possibly be as good at this as he was. And what if he was disappointed in her after?

  “Rick, it’s been a long time for me.”

  “Mmm. Good. I like the idea I’m the only one you’ve been with.” He went back to nibbling at her throat like a true proprietary caveman.

  She spread her legs wider and nestled closer to his erection. She wanted him inside her, but he didn’t accept her invitation.

  His gaze met hers. “Tell me what you want.”

  “I want you,” she whispered.

  He shook his head and kissed down her throat. “Nah uh. Wrong answer. Tell me what you want.” He obviously was going to make her work for her pleasure.

  “I want you to make love to me.”

  Rick raised himself on an elbow and laughed. “No, you don’t. Tell me what you really want.”

  Knowing what he was getting at, Beth swallowed hard. “I want you to fuck me.”

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nbsp; The words came out soft and sounded painfully shy to her own ears, but they seemed to satisfy Rick. He leaned down toward his pants on the floor and came up with a condom in his hand. Once he was covered he smiled. Finally, he thrust into her, sliding easily into her ready body. A sigh escaped her lips as he stroked in and out of her, slow and steady, sending tingling impulses through her.

  “I think when a good girl decides to be bad, she wants to be really, really bad. Is that true, baby?”

  How did he know exactly how she felt? She wanted him to do things to her that had never been done before. She wanted to experience it all with him. “Yes.”

  His grin was both sexy and sinful. “Good to hear.”

  He pressed her one leg to the bed while raising the other to rest on his shoulder. Nibbling at her ankle, he watched her face as he thrust deeper, harder and faster than she’d ever been taken before. And when he wet one finger in his own mouth and slid it slowly into her anus, she came again with a full body shuttering, amazing orgasm. He followed right behind her with a shout and a release of his own.

  Listening to this man finally give in to his own need, sensing him shudder within her, feeling more powerful than ever before because she was the one giving him pleasure, she hoped this would be the first of many more times to come.

  Chapter Five

  The dim sunlight slanting through the apartment’s bedroom window shades told Rick he had fallen asleep at some point and in the meantime dawn had arrived.

  He stretched and groaned as his sore muscles protested. Memories from the night before came flooding into his brain and his dick hardened.

  Smiling, he rolled over onto his side and ran one finger lightly down Beth’s arm. Still half asleep, she let out a small sound of satisfaction. He would let her rest some more. If he felt this sore, she would no doubt feel even worse. Besides, he had to pee, and his teeth felt like they were growing cotton since brushing them the night before had been the absolute last thing on his mind. After a brief trip to the bathroom to take care of a few necessities, he would wake her up in a big way.