He cocked an eyebrow. “I’d like to.” Damn, this boy learned fast. But Ione wasn’t going to succumb to her inappropriately pumping blood. This was the Covent’s assayer and, now that she knew it, she wasn’t about to let her pussy lead her around on a leash and do something foolish.
“Mind if I sit?”
Yes, you mind, dumbass. Do not encourage him. “Actually, I was just...” Her voice trailed off as she glanced at the seat to her left and saw that “Officer Paul” had moved on to hit on a group of giggling undergrads—probably drinking on fake IDs—at the next table. She wanted to jump up and tell them they were being creeped on by a predator, but they would only think she was trying to bad-mouth him because she was jealous that he’d switched his attention to them. And it would have blown any chance she had of getting closer to the ringleaders.
Dev had already slid onto the stool on her right, his arm so close to hers that little pulses of static electricity seemed to be flowing between them. And he smelled delicious. Without meaning to, she’d moved her arm closer.
“What are you drinking?”
For a moment she thought he’d said, “What are you thinking?” Which was a very good question.
Ione tamped down her runaway libido. “Water.”
“Keeping safety in mind, then?”
She swiveled on her stool and rested her elbow on the bar to study him. “Why? Did you come prepared to ride?” She groaned internally, her sensible self watching her speak as if it was just an observer. Her libido was threatening mutiny. This was not going to happen tonight.
Dev’s cocky smile widened into a grin. “Even brought my own helmet.”
“Is that a metaphor?” Why was she still talking?
“Do you want it to be?”
It was like she had a pulse in her pussy. Ione’s rational mind made one last, desperate attempt to rein herself in. She was going to regret this. It was one thing fooling around with some stranger in a parking lot. But this was someone she was absolutely guaranteed to see again, and not in a pleasant capacity. It wasn’t a matter of right or wrong, even. Just a matter of not being stupid. She absolutely could not do this.
Ione swung off the stool. “Well, let’s see how you sit a saddle, then, cowboy.” She was going to hell.
* * *
Dev gave Kylie’s waist the tiniest tug to set her hips squarely against his thighs as she started up the bike after he’d climbed on behind her. She’d been highly amused when he got the helmet from his rental. He hadn’t wanted to give her any opportunity to ride off and leave his arse in the dust again. He wasn’t averse to screwing in the backseat of an automobile, but it wasn’t his first choice, and he imagined it wasn’t hers, either. He’d been perfectly prepared to offer to drive to his hotel, but he’d been hoping she’d opt for her place.
He hadn’t been on a bike in years. Kur seemed quite taken with it. He could swear the little bastard was purring inside him. Lord knew, Dev felt like purring.
Kylie’s waist was warm against his palms as he held her lightly beneath her jacket while they sped through the now cloudless night. The stars were rather spectacular out here, unimpeded by bright city lights. No wonder Percival Lowell had built his observatory in the mountains near this desert. They were heading down the highway in the same direction as the temple, turning just a bit south of it onto a twisting road among the spectacular rock formations.
Another half mile up into the hills, Kylie pulled into the driveway of a white, split-level stucco. The garage door opened, admitting them smoothly and closing automatically as Kylie came to a stop and shut off the engine. She took off her helmet, shaking out her blond waves, and Dev swung off the bike behind her and followed suit—sans hair swinging.
Kylie didn’t speak as they went through a side door into the interior, but before she opened the inner door, Dev curled his arm around her waist and stopped her in her tracks to kiss down the back of her neck. She tilted her head to the side, just a slight acknowledgment that gave him greater access, letting him work his way toward the front. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and unzipped the jacket as he traced his tongue along her jawline, slipping his hands inside the leather to cup her breasts.
Kylie leaned back against him with a soft moan that made his stiffening cock spring completely to attention. As tightly as he was holding her, there was no way for her to miss it.
She chuckled softly in her throat. “This is the laundry room, in case you hadn’t noticed. Do you maybe want to see the rest of the house or were you planning on bending me over the washing machine?”
He hadn’t been, but now that she’d mentioned it...
Kylie turned in his arms, blue eyes sparkling like the stars over the desert. “You got that helmet?”
Stupidly, he almost answered that he’d left it on the bike before realizing they were doing metaphor again. He grinned, unbuckling his belt and opening his trousers.
Kylie’s eyes were amused as he shifted his hands from his trousers to hers. “I take it that’s a yes?”
“Yes.” He kissed her as he yanked her belt from the loops, and she gasped into his mouth. He hadn’t meant to take the belt clean out, but there it was in his hands. He wrapped it lightly, teasingly, around her wrists as he let go of her mouth, giving her plenty of opportunity to slip her hands out. Instead she wove her fingers together, breath quickening as she held his gaze.
Dev slid the belt through the loop and buckled it, pulling it just a notch tighter than he needed to. He unfastened Kylie’s pants and slipped his fingers inside, breaching the lace, inching downward and finding the warm hood of her clit. Kylie moaned, blue eyes lidded with desire, pressing herself against his fingers.
“You’d better not be a psychopath,” she said breathlessly.
Dev smirked. “A bit of a pervert, perhaps, but definitely not a psychopath.” He drew his hand out, making her moan again, this time with disappointment. “Before we go any further, I just want to get a verbal—”
“Yes. For God’s sake, yes.”
He stopped wasting time and yanked the leather trousers and lacy pants down her hips in one go, then picked her up with his hands on either side of her waist and sat her firmly on top of the washer. The brushed steel had to be freezing but she didn’t complain. The legs of her trousers were too narrow to get over the heels of her boots so he stepped into the circle of her knees instead of bothering with tugging off all the leather.
Dev kissed her once more, enjoying the way she trembled at his touch while hooking her ankles behind his arse and tugging him closer. She had a way of being in control and ceding just the right amount of it at the same time. But he wanted a little more of it just at the moment. He lifted her arms above her head and slid the belt buckle onto a hook on the underside of the shelf overhead meant for hanging clothes. The slight stretch raised up her cotton shirt on her waist. He pushed it higher, letting his thumbs drag over the hard points of her nipples through the lace of the bra as he lifted the shirt to sit above it.
Kylie squirmed on the washer lid, suddenly making kitten noises instead of deep moans. This was where he wanted her, so soaked with desire that she didn’t care how she sounded. He tugged the bra down and lowered his head to her breasts, sucking each nipple in turn while she writhed and made more insistent mewling sounds.
He dug in his pocket for the condom, not finding it for a horrible moment, and enduring a look of disbelief from Kylie that promised coming wrath, just before his fingers closed over it. Dev presented it in triumph and grinned as he opened the foil packet. She rewarded him with a dig of her heels into his thighs like she was urging a horse to full speed, and Dev complied, unrolling the condom onto his cock and