Served Sweet Read online

  “Riley. I don’t kiss and tell. I told you that.” She obviously didn’t have the highest opinion of him.

  “Yeah, yeah.” She waved him away. “Fine. You didn’t tell them anything. But we’re still having a lot of amazing sex.”

  “And this is a problem?”

  “It is because I don’t understand it. I admit I love having sex with you, but where does it end? I mean, if I want to date Ben tomorrow, I don’t think you’d be okay with that.”

  At the thought, he wanted to ram Ben’s head through the floor. “Not exactly. But then you didn’t seem to like the thought of Chatty and I getting it on.”

  “No.” She stabbed her salad. “I didn’t.” Before he could crow his victory, she added, “Safe sex is only safe without a condom when both parties aren’t screwing around on each other.”

  “Ever the pragmatist.” He lifted a glass in toast and downed it, irritated his meal wasn’t turning out so well.

  “So tell me, Anson. What are we?”

  “Why are you pressuring me for answers?” he countered. “You’re a smart, take-charge kind of woman. Why don’t you tell me what we are?” That way I don’t have to put my heart on the line and fail at the most important thing in my life.

  She watched him, then lowered her fork once more. “Maybe I will.” Yet she said nothing more.

  “I’m waiting.”

  “So am I.” The smile she shot him was nothing short of unnerving. Menacing and sexy, like a hungry wolf on the prowl. “We made a bet about sex, if I remember right. And you wanted to push limits. Well, I’m at mine. Time you were pushed to yours.”

  “Riley?” He didn’t think he liked her weird beating around the bush. “What the hell are you talking about?” He looked at her half-eaten plate. “I guess my dinner has gone to waste.”

  She stood and walked to him, then pulled him to his feet. Riley stepped into his personal space and poked him again. Freak that he was, his erection returned full force. “Tonight we push your limits, Anson.”

  “Oh?” He raised a brow, wanting her to get mad and do something so that he wouldn’t have to answer any more questions. Even an argument would be better than facing Riley’s perceptive stare.

  “Good try, Sir Wins-A-Lot, but I’m not going there. No arguments from me.”

  “Not going— Riley.”

  She’d tugged him by his collar away from the table down the hall.

  “Nope. This time I get to tie you up and do wicked things to you. Then you’re going to tell me what I want to hear.”

  He couldn’t believe she could be this controlling, not when she’d been putty in his hands since he’d first brought her to orgasm. “Don’t you like it when I take charge?”

  “Too much,” came the short answer. Which should have pleased him but didn’t. She seemed too intent for his peace of mind.

  He let her lead him into her bedroom, because what man would refuse being near a bed with a woman like Riley? “Okay, honey, talk to me. I know you had a hard day.” That had to be why she was acting so atypical and contrary. “What can I do to make it better?”

  “Shut up and get naked.”

  “Okay.” He smiled and stripped, pleased when she did the same. But before he could take her into his arms, she shook her head.

  “Not this time. Get on the bed and spread ’em.”

  “Riley?”

  “This time I’m going to play with your strings. I’m going to make you beg.” She smiled. “To make it interesting, we’re going to up the ante.”

  “Didn’t we just talk about how I hardly ever lose?” The poor woman. What had her day been like anyway?

  “Tonight it’s not about winning and losing.” She stroked his chest and pinched his nipples, and his cock bobbed against her without warning. “It’s about getting to some cold hard truths.”

  “You make no sense.” He wanted to fuck her. No question. What had she said about upping the ante?

  “I will. Now lie back and let me be in charge.”

  So charming when she got that look in her eyes. “Fine.” He smiled. “Do I still get to go down on you?”

  “Sure thing.” She smiled. “But only after you beg me.”

  Beg her? What a cute sentiment.

  But an hour later, he wasn’t laughing. His wrists and ankles were tied to the spindles on her bed. Riley being Riley had made the knots on the scarves tight enough to keep him from freeing himself. He’d been well and truly tied up and tormented.

  Her mouth dragged along his steel-hard cock, giving him no respite from the teasing she’d instigated. He’d already licked her to an orgasm after she rode his face, and God, had that been difficult not to come at the taste of her. Then the minx had sucked him, touched him, and dragged her short nails all over his body. And still no orgasm for him.

  Every time he drew close, she backed off, keeping him in a high state of arousal.

  “Come on, Riley. Fuck me.”

  He clenched his wrists and pulled, but the scarves didn’t give. Sweat dotted his forehead, and his body felt like one giant exposed nerve.

  She knelt between his legs and leaned down, waving her fine ass in the air. Then the witch sucked his balls and had him writhing uncontrollably.

  “Gonna come,” he groaned, needing to release, lost to her skilled touch and out of his ever-loving mind for admitting the fact.

  The blasted woman backed away, smiling at him. His cock waved in the air, so thick and hard it was a wonder he didn’t come just from the damn thing slapping against his belly.

  “Come on, baby. Tell me the truth.” She swirled a finger around his left nipple, and he hissed an expletive. “You like me.”

  “Fuck yeah, I’ve told you that fifty times. I like you, already. Do me, Riley. Let me fill you up.”

  “Oh, I will. But not yet.” The laughter in her eyes hit him hard, and he couldn’t look away from her. So beautiful, so amazing and, right now, all his.

  “What do you want?”

  “The truth.” Her eyes narrowed and she nipped his chest, sucking one taut nub between her lips before biting down.

  “Fuck.” He bucked up, needing to thrust into her. “Sit on me, already.”

  “How do you feel about me?”

  Uh oh. A minefield for sure. “You’re gorgeous, stacked and fucking brilliant. What more is there to know?”

  She frowned. “You said you like me. Do you love me?”

  “Riley. I thought we were going to keep this simple.” His heart threatened to race out of his chest, he was so in love with the stubborn woman. But he worried that if he told her, he’d lose her. She’d demand he open himself up, that he’d be as good at relationships as he was at everything else. Then, once she saw he couldn’t do any better than he’d been doing, she’d realize he wasn’t so perfect. That she could do much better, and she’d crush him into tiny pieces.

  “Can’t focus, can you?” she said smugly. “How about you begging for me? It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who gets desperate to have you.”

  “Are you serious?” He started to grow angry. “You can’t be that dense. I get fucking huge for you.” He glanced down at himself. “It’s not just from you rubbing my dick either.”

  “Then what is it? My mouth? The sight of my amazing breasts?” She held one to him and dangled her nipple over his mouth.

  He seized it and sucked, desperate for her, as she’d wanted him to be.

  “That’s good, baby.” She rubbed his hair, and he growled. “Tell me. Are we dating?”

  He released her nipple and buried his head between her breasts.

  “Tell me.” She grabbed his head and pulled him back. “What are we?”

  “We’re lovers, okay?”

  She smiled through her teeth. “Lovers are people who love. Do we love or just fuck?”

  “What’s the damn difference?” He yanked at his restraints.

  “You know. But I want to hear you say it.”

  “Why? So you can d
ump my ass? I know you’re still out to get back at me,” he threw at her, hoping against hope it wasn’t true.

  Riley didn’t give anything away. “I don’t think it’s asking too much that the man I’m fucking on a regular basis tell me who I am to him in the grand scheme of things. If we’re dating, it makes sense I don’t see other men. If we’re just fucking, then we should both be free to go our separate ways without feeling as if we’re cheating or anything.”

  “What do you want?” he asked. “You want to date other guys?” He was so angry he couldn’t speak.

  “Oh no. You’re not putting this on me. You tell me what you want.”

  It took him a moment to focus past his fading rage. “I want this.”

  She gripped his shaft and pumped him a few times, then she eased her warm pussy over him, keeping the tip of him at her entrance but not sliding down the rest of the way. She remained on her knees over him, and he wanted to howl. No matter how hard he tried, she remained out of reach. Metaphorically as well as physically, unfortunately.

  “No, Anson. You tell me what you really want.”

  “Jesus. Fuck me already. You wanted me begging? Well, I’m begging. I’m dying for you.” He panted, needing her like crazy. “Hell. Put yourself over my mouth again. Let me taste you if you won’t let me inside. Anything you want.”

  “I want you to tell me what I am to you.”

  Alarmed and desperate and fucking angry, he growled, “Mine, okay? You’re fucking mine.”

  She slammed down, taking the whole of him inside her, and he shouted as he came in one glorious burst that blew his mind and his control all to hell.

  She’d said she’d make him beg, but she hadn’t mentioned she’d make him lose all sense. He’d opened himself up, made himself vulnerable. And now she could take him or leave him. He didn’t know which would be worse.

  If she left him, the pain would be fierce and immediate, so he wouldn’t have to wait for the inevitable end.

  But if she took him, she’d learn he wasn’t nearly as perfect as everyone thought. The decline in their relationship would make her unhappy while eating away at him. And then she’d leave him a broken shell of a man, and she’d see the bare bones truth of him for what he really was, and leave.

  That scared him more than anything.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Riley wondered for the thousandth time if she’d done the right thing by forcing Anson to commit to her, if only by a simple declaration of feeling.

  Mine. Not a grand sweeping statement of undying love, but that jealous tone and the glitter of possession in his gaze had won her over. That and seeing him lose himself in her, unable to control himself as he’d come violently hard, had definitely been worth it.

  So why had the bastard been so weird for the last few days? At turns sexually explosive and emotionally distant. Anson had never been a super talkative guy, but now he seemed to be caging his answers. Yet if he hadn’t wanted to talk to her, why had he insisted on spending his time after work with her since Tuesday evening? She might have chalked it up to the smokin’ hot sex they continued to have, but Anson stuck around both before and after rolling around in the sheets.

  He’d bring her so much pleasure, act so caring, stare into her eyes like a man in love. And then he’d be brusque and arrogant. They talked business together, like equals, before he’d turn patronizing while giving her advice. Sound advice, but offered from the mouth of a man who acted like Moses on high. Then he’d catch her giving him her “I’ve had it up to here with you” look and he’d tone it down, even once apologizing. He made no sense, contradicting himself in small ways that seems worlds different than the supremely confident man she’d known most of her life.

  Now Friday night, instead of having more mind-numbing sex with him, Anson had dropped her at Ann’s place to meet with the girls while he took the weekend to go into Portland for some unfinished business.

  “Anson’s acting weird,” she told her friends as they sat on the couch eating and chatting. Wine and cookies, a traditional Terrible Trio meal that shouldn’t go together but did.

  Maya snorted. “He’s always weird, you ask me.”

  Before Riley could snap at her, Ann shoved a plate of cookies at her. “Ignore her. Eat these; my mom made them.”

  Maya grinned with pleasure. “Oh, triple chip. My favorite.”

  Riley couldn’t help a laugh as Maya indulged her sweet tooth. The woman had an uncanny ability to put a person on the defensive. Like a pit bull, she’d hang on to an argument until her opponent surrendered. But put a plate of sweets in front of her and it was like waving a white flag.

  Ann, at least, could always be counted on for solid advice. “Well, from what you said, you sexually blackmailed the man into admitting he loves you.”

  “Mine isn’t love,” Maya said. “That’s want. I’m going with lust on this one.” She bit into a cookie and chewed with pleasure.

  “I just wanted him to admit he likes me. He’s so hard to handle.” Before Maya could speak, Riley cut her off. “And don’t you dare make any snide comments about me handling him or him being hard.”

  Maya laughed as she ate, making no attempt to cover her mouth.

  “You’re so gross, Maya.” Ann didn’t hide her grin and turned to Riley. “Could be he’s scared of you.”

  “Of me?”

  “Sure. He clearly likes you. You’re successful, gorgeous and don’t really need him. Men like to be needed. Add to that he’s pretty used to being king of the mountain.”

  “Yeah,” Maya agreed. “But you’re no peasant, Queen Baking Bitch. We think it’s gotta scare him because he doesn’t know where he stands with you. You said he called you his. That’s like a declaration of marriage for Anson. According to Dex, at least.”

  “But he wouldn’t commit to dating or being your boyfriend?” Ann asked.

  Riley shook her head. “No, but he agreed to being monogamous.”

  Maya bit into another cookie. “He’s been a dickhead since I’ve known him. Even Dex admits Anson could take it down a peg. But from what I know, he doesn’t screw around. He dates a lot, but only one woman at a time.”

  “Yeah, he’s like the old you, before Dex,” Riley said, to which Maya suggested she shove her head up her ass a few times to shake some sense into her brain, which made little sense but had Maya laughing.

  Riley countered with a head and ass comment of her own she thought particularly clever.

  Ann ignored them and said to Riley, “I was talking to Jack about you two and Jack agreed. Anson has had a thing for you forever.”

  “Really?” It made her feel good to know the jackass had been mooning over her since she’d been doing the same for him. “Are you sure that’s not just what you want to think happened? I mean, if Anson and I hook up, then the three of us and the three of them—Jack and the guys—are one big happy family.”

  “Big happy family?” Maya frowned. “Anson is not my family. Why are you, of all people, jumping the gun? Ms. Rational is suddenly neurotic? Come on, Riley. The guy is into you and he’s not great with relationships. Sometimes two plus two does equal four.” She stole another cookie. “Why go looking for trouble? Look, I asked Dex, and he agreed that Anson is totally floored by what to do with you. Dex thinks all that bragging is Anson’s way of showing you how great he is, but then you go and just flip him off for it. Which I totally love, by the way.”

  Riley frowned. “I don’t flip him off.” He’s trying to impress me? So that bull he fed me before was true?

  “Metaphorically,” Ann explained. “I don’t think Maya means you really flip him off.”

  Maya grinned. “Though that would be even better.”

  Riley couldn’t stop thinking about him. “It’s weird how we connect in a lot of ways. Physically the man is a total stud. Yeah, I know, Maya, once you go Black you never go back. And by the way, it got old the third time you said it.”

  Maya smirked, and Ann laughed.

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; “He was nervous at dinner on Tuesday. And, well, I was tired from work and from not knowing how he feels about me. So yes, I made him connect with his feelings for me, and he still ended up not really being clear. What the hell does ‘mine’ mean?”

  “He admitted you’re his. Now’s your chance. Dump his ass.”

  Ann and Riley turned as one to stare at Maya.

  “What? That’s part of our revenge pact, right?”

  “Are you high? The man is showing the first hint of vulnerability I’ve ever seen from him, and you want me to crush him?” Riley asked.

  “If you even can crush him. He has a seriously hefty ego.”

  Ann sighed. “That’s true.”

  “Ann? You too? You’re the nice one.”

  “And you’re the level-headed one. So why are you acting so weird?”

  “How am I weird?”

  Maya raised a brow. “Oh let me count the ways…”

  Ann talked over her. “We know you have feelings for him. But how deep do they go? Do you or don’t you want Anson as a boyfriend? And if not as a boyfriend, then something more serious, maybe?”

  Do or die time. Riley had been trying to avoid this particular truth since Anson had moved back to Bend. “I— Oh hell. I like him more than I should. There’s a lot more to him than being a handsome blowhard. He can actually back up all that bragging he does.”

  “Which only adds to how annoying he is,” Maya muttered.

  Riley sighed. “What makes it worse is I now find his bragging cute. He doesn’t mean to imply that I suck just because he’s great. And he is great.” She groaned and leaned her head back on the couch. “I like being with him. He plays to win, which I respect.”

  “You would, Ms. Competitive.” Maya snorted.

  “But he’s not mean when he wins. Well, not more than I can handle.” She grew warm remembering how he’d made her pay rent when she’d gone bankrupt at Monopoly. Talk about a dirty, dirty landlord. “He’s actually thoughtful and sweet. When he’s not being an overbearing jerk.” She blew out a breath. “Boy can he kiss his way into an apology, though.”

  “Didn’t I tell you she’d fold? You have no staying power.” But Maya smiled away her blame. “Face it, Riley. You and Anson are perfect together. You’re both smart and successful. And so damn picky when it comes to dating…and life in general.”