Читать книгу Courting Trouble - Kimberly Dean - Страница 6

Sienna’s feet were killing her, her stomach was rumbling and all she wanted to do was sleep. The evening had been more taxing than she’d prepared herself for. The Apple Tree Grille hadn’t provided enough wait staff for an event as large as the Aquamarine fundraiser had turned out to be. She’d been on her feet for hours, and she was tired of smiling. With all those projection scenes and people milling about, she felt as if she’d just swum the ocean.

She’d certainly been swimming with sharks.

She winced as she reached the top of the second flight of stairs and let herself into her apartment. She kicked off her shoes and flexed her toes.

‘Ah.’ That felt so much better.

‘Ahhhhhhh,’ came an echo from down the hallway.

Her spine stiffened in surprise. More murmurs followed, and heat filled her cheeks. Apparently, that felt better, too.

Her arms dropped limply to her sides, and she sent a woeful look to the heavens. Margo had company.

Tiredly, Sienna dropped her keys in the bowl by the door. Her roommate had recently started dating the drummer in her band, and they were still in the hot-and-heavy stage of their relationship.

Trying to block out the explicit sounds, Sienna headed to the kitchen. She transferred the leftovers she’d brought home in a doggy bag to a plate. She cocked her head as she evaluated the meal. Good enough for a bachelorette’s dinner. She grabbed a bottled water and waited for the hors d’oeuvres to heat. Unfortunately, the panting coming from the bedroom was louder than the whir of the microwave. When the bell finally dinged, it coincided perfectly with an excited cry. Sienna swept up her plate and made a beeline for her bedroom.

It wasn’t that she was a prude. She understood sex. She appreciated how good it could feel and how it let one express feelings for a significant other. She just didn’t care to be drawn into someone else’s bad porno movie.

A voyeur she was not.

Unfortunately, this apartment didn’t allow for much privacy. Her Logan Circle neighbourhood had seen a bit of revitalisation in recent years. Unfortunately, the row house she rented hadn’t seen any of that remodelling. The walls were thin, the floors creaked and, frankly, Margo wasn’t quiet.

Her roommate let out another moan just as Sienna was passing the occupied bedroom. The sound was enough to make her eyes widen and her sore feet pick up their pace. She closed her own bedroom door behind her, but the sounds of pleasure seeped through the wall separating the rooms.

Tiredness suddenly assailed her. As if tonight hadn’t been challenging enough, now she had to listen to sex sounds all night long? This close, she could hear the mattress squeaking and the headboard thumping.

That drummer really did know how to set the rhythm.

Face flaring, Sienna determinedly set about doing her own thing. She put her dinner beside the bed and began to get comfortable. The shoes had been a good beginning, but her hair was starting to weigh down its up-do and the clip was pulling. She removed the pins that kept her hair contained and ran her fingers through it.

The sigh she let out had nearly as much contentment as the ones coming from next door.

She was starting to feel better, but this had not been the night she’d planned.

Reaching back, she caught the zipper of her dress and released it. As work clothes went, the dress wasn’t bad. In fact, she rather liked it. She evaluated the uniform as she hung it on a hanger. At least it had been comfortable. Not too tight, revealing or hot.

Fall had arrived in the nation’s capital, but in the past few days DC had regressed to more summer-like temperatures. Sliding into a slip chemise, she tried to find the coolness that the air-conditioning in the place was not providing.

‘Oh, baby. Harder.’

Sienna turned away. The heat she felt had nothing to do with the activity going on next door. Nothing.

Still, she plugged in her ear buds and turned on her MP3 player.

Finally comfortable, she settled on the bed, stretching her legs out in front of her. A salmon puff or two helped ease the gnawing in her stomach, and she pulled out her laptop.

She checked her email first to see if she’d had any responses to the on-line applications she’d submitted. Her nose crinkled when all she found was spam sent out by the stores she frequented and a message from her mother.

Four months.

It had been four months since she’d graduated with her master’s degree, and she’d yet to get more than a nibble at full-time employment – and it wasn’t as if she’d waited to start her search until she had her diploma.

She ran a hand through her hair, flipping it over to the side. The advancement of technology hadn’t been a friend to jobseekers. Résumés seemingly fell into a black hole, never once reaching human eyes, and companies were so rude these days. She’d applied to nearly a hundred places, but only a handful of businesses had set up an automatic reply to let her know they’d received her materials. The ones who’d actually interviewed her hadn’t followed up, even though she’d sent thank-you notes and polite inquiries on the status of the job openings. Her recruiter said that businesses were simply fearful of lawsuits.

Sienna blamed it all on abysmal business etiquette.

She had a master’s in corporate communications, after all. She’d learned that sort of thing.

Closing her eyes, she tried to slow her breaths. The all too familiar sense of panic and helplessness was back.

And jealousy.

Moans from the next room made her turn up the volume on her music. She nibbled on a shrimp quiche and opened the email from her mom.

Her jaw set when she read it.

She knew her mother was trying to be helpful, but she hadn’t even sent along an encouraging message this time. She’d simply forwarded the job posting.

Customer Success Associate.

Code for call centre.

Sienna sank back onto the pillow she’d propped up behind her. She hadn’t won an advanced degree in order to take a minimum-wage job. She could hear her mother even now, though, arguing that the job was at least in communications.

Sienna rubbed her temple and nearly groaned along with the couple coupling in the next room.

Was she being too picky? Too snobbish?

The green fish dress glinted at her from across the room. She didn’t think so. She was making more from waitressing, and she got tips. Tips that she needed. Living in DC wasn’t cheap, even on the outskirts.

The panic started to flare again. Should she start looking outside the capital area? She’d sent résumés up and down the East Coast. Should she start applying out west? She didn’t know anybody out that way, but she’d lived in places across the world. She could adjust.

Shaking her head, she closed the email and switched over to social media. She might as well. It wasn’t as if it was quiet enough for her to consider sleeping.

‘Yeah, baby. Just like that …’ A shiver shot down the back of her neck.

OK, that had been kind of hot. And dominant …

She bit her lip and tried to focus. Scrolling down the board, she read about what her friends were doing. There were photographs from parties and vacations. One classmate was touring Europe before settling down. Her best friend, Erin, had posted pictures of three different place settings and was asking for votes on which to put on her wedding list.

Sienna sighed. She was happy for Erin, but she couldn’t help feeling that they were losing common ground. Erin and Marty had been a couple since high school, and her best friend planned to be a stay-at-home wife. She really didn’t understand the pressures of being single and supporting oneself, which was Sienna’s life these days.

Kyle had never understood the pressure either. Her ex-boyfriend had received a GPA that had been barely passing, yet he’d secured a prime job as a reporter for one of the major sports television networks in New York. All he’d had to do was be captain of their college lacrosse team and drink beer with the right alumni.

It had all been so easy for him, the lowlife slacker.

Sienna tore the headphones out of her ears and lurched off the bed. He’d called her stuck-up and prissy when he’d broken up with her.

The dress caught her eye.

A cold fish.

Excited cries reached a crescendo next door, and her head dropped back. It wasn’t fair. She’d followed all the rules. She’d got excellent grades, she’d volunteered and she’d interned at two prestigious marketing firms.

Where was her job offer?

Where was her significant other?

Shouts of completion next door finally hit their peak. The cries drifted down from their highs to lower murmurs of satisfaction.

The heat Sienna was feeling was quickly followed by a cool chill.

Why was she having to fight for everything while others had things handed to them on a silver platter? It just wasn’t fair.

She began to pace back and forth in the small space between the bed and the dresser. It just … wasn’t … fair.

The headache settled again at the base of her skull. She raised her hand and rubbed at the tension. The Aquamarine fundraiser had turned out to be stressful on more than one level. Seeing all those successful people … Knowing that a hundred-dollar tip to them was pocket change, while for her it meant groceries for a month …

Her bank account was running frighteningly low, and rent was almost due. Something had to pop up soon. Otherwise, she didn’t know what she was going to do. She supposed she could ask Erin for a loan, although with a wedding coming up –

Oh, who was she kidding? The Fosters would be paying for that. Erin’s parents had bought her everything she’d ever wanted.

Sienna clicked her nails as she stared out the window of her apartment at the street. She dreaded the thought of going to her parents for help. Her family was well-off. They travelled in all the right circles, but they wanted her to make her own way. They’d been so insistent on her finding a job and supporting herself.

They’d wanted her to work her way up, but they seemed embarrassed by her job at the Apple Tree. Was it too ground-level? They hadn’t invited her along on their trip to the summer house. Had they not come to the event tonight because they’d known she’d be waitressing?

She ran her finger along the edge of the curtain. She had to admit, she was glad they hadn’t attended. It had been awkward enough with Mr Stahl, although that woman he’d been talking to had tried to smooth things over.

‘Oh!’ Sienna gasped. She touched her forehead in self-rebuke. The business card.

She opened her purse on the dresser and began to search. She found the card she’d tucked away in a pocket. The name Nina Lockwood was spelled in crisp gold gilt. The stiff, heavyweight card was jet black with matching gold edging. There was a number, but no address.

She turned the card over. Luxxor Limited.

Sienna shook her head. She’d never heard of it, and she’d been scouring the DC business scene for months. She ran her thumb over the raised lettering. It was a classy calling card, but it gave little information. There wasn’t a website or even a QR code she could scan.

Frowning, she slid one leg beneath her and sat down on the bed again. She pulled the laptop closer and did a quick search for the company.

Nothing.

She hooked her hair behind her ear. That was strange. She scrolled down and even went through three pages of results. There were no links to a company with the name Luxxor, at least not in the DC area.

She leaned back against the pillows. Were they a defence contractor? It was DC, after all. Many of those companies liked to keep a low profile.

She tried variations on the spelling and even did a search under Nina Lockwood’s name.

She became even more puzzled when that came up null.

Sienna picked up the card from the nightstand. Ms Lockwood had been a very impressive woman. There was something about the way she carried herself. She demanded respect, and everyone at the Smithsonian party had nearly fallen over themselves to give it to her. The woman was beautiful, classy and obviously powerful.

Who was she?

Sienna brushed her thumb over the phone number and an idea occurred to her. She did a reverse-number look-up on the Internet. Her nose scrunched when site after site wanted payment. Finally, she found one that simply said it was an unlisted number.

Did people still do that?

‘Call this number in the morning,’ the woman had instructed. She’d offered an interview, but for what?

I’m impressed by what I’ve seen here tonight.

Sienna blinked, and her throat tightened when she remembered that statement. She’d been told that by teachers and professors her whole life. Friends’ parents had always approved of her. Yet now that she was out in the real world, all it seemed to want to do was slap her in the face.

She let out a ragged breath and toyed with the ends of her hair.

It wasn’t in her to complain outside the privacy of her bedroom, but she’d worked so hard for so long. She’d done everything her mentors had asked of her. To fail so miserably just out of the starting gate had wrecked her confidence. Hearing those kind words meant more to her than the woman could know.

‘Ready for another go around, baby?’

Sienna groaned and threw a glare at the wall when the sexy words seeped through. No, please. Enough, already. She couldn’t take much more of the stereo hijinks.

‘Always, you sexy beast.’

There were giggles, and then the discussion dropped mercifully to the point where Sienna couldn’t hear. She was just relaxing into her pillow again when a thud against the wall nearly sent her off the bed.

‘Want to join us, Si?’ Margo called.

Sienna’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She recoiled inside and out. She was trying frantically to come up with a polite excuse when she heard giggles again.

Giggles directed at her.

It was impulsive and totally out of character, but she swept one of her running shoes off the floor and flung it at the wall.

The splat turned the giggles next door into flat-out laughter.

Margo thought Sienna was frigid, a true ice queen, simply because, in the time they’d lived together, she’d never had a guy spend the night.

Sienna flounced on the mattress and jabbed her ear plugs back into her ears. It had only been five months since she and Kyle had broken up.

Five months. It didn’t seem that long, but that was nearly half a year of celibacy. With no intimacy, no connection, no climaxes …

She wiped a hand over her brow. The heat and discomfort were back.

She yanked the headphones off and tossed them onto the bedside table. They weren’t working any more, at least not for her needs.

Margo and Drummer Boy had caught their second wind and were going at it full-tilt. The soft pop music coming through the earphones couldn’t cover up the noise. Neither could the classical music she liked so much. The only thing that might work was hard, driving rock ’n’ roll, but wouldn’t that be defeating the purpose?

Giving up, Sienna shut down her laptop and put it back on the nightstand shelf.

She let out a long gust of air as the situation became impossible to ignore. Would it be better in the kitchen? Because that was about as far away as she could get and still be in the apartment. The only other person she knew in the building was Mr Russell, the building manager, and he was a creepy guy.

‘Roll over,’ the drummer panted.

The mattress squeaked.

‘Like this?’ Margo asked.

‘No, turn the other way.’

‘Oh!’ her roomie squeaked. The sound turned into more of a coo. ‘Oh, my.’

‘Come on over, Sienna,’ a deep voice prompted. ‘I’ll help you relax.’

This time, Sienna did jump off the bed. That hadn’t been Margo. She bounded the two steps it took to get to the door and locked it.

She stepped back.

And heard more sounds of pleasure.

Unbidden, her nipples stiffened and she rubbed her hand over the strange sensation building in the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t fear. She didn’t feel threatened, and she knew neither of them would make her do anything she didn’t want to do.

But there had been desire in that male voice. A gruff kind of turn-on.

Her knees weren’t steady when she took another step back and bumped against the bed.

She should go somewhere. Anywhere. This might be her home, but the situation was becoming more than embarrassing. She could sleep on Erin’s sofa. Her BFF had already started packing things for storage after the wedding, but surely she had a sheet and pillow to spare.

Although it was nearly two o’clock in the morning.

Sienna stared at the clock on her nightstand and swept her hand through her hair. She couldn’t wake Erin. It would take the rest of the night to peel her off the ceiling if she called this late.

But God.

The words from next door disintegrated to whispers and sighs. Sienna could hear the creaking of old box springs, the wisp of sheets and the jingle of Margo’s tambourine on the bedpost.

She moved to the window, trying to concentrate on the rain that had started outside. The heaviness in the air had made it feel even warmer, but the humidity was finally squeezing out raindrops. They wetted the street and streamed down the glass in rivulets. Instead of distracting her, though, the low clouds only tamped down the space.

The soft rain increased the intimacy and cocooned her with the lovers in the tiny apartment.

The drummer in the nearby bed let out a guttural sound, and Sienna bit her lip to stop a corresponding moan.

Oh, she missed sex.

She might not be any good at it, according to her ex, but she’d liked the intimacy. She’d liked the surprise and the physicality of it.

She swept her hand down her arm to quiet the goosebumps, but they only perked up harder.

She missed being touched. She wanted to be kissed. She wanted to feel the weight of a man holding her down as he spread her legs wide.

‘Mmmmmm,’ she whimpered.

She swept her hair off the back of her neck. It was so warm in here, and the rain outside only added to the clamminess. The air-conditioning was fighting a losing battle.

‘Come on, babe,’ the man next door said urgently.

Sienna’s head fell back. She was not going next door. He wasn’t talking to her any more, and she would never ever engage in a three-way.

Not with her roommate, anyway.

‘Give it up, pretty girl. You know you want to.’

Sienna’s toes curled into the carpeting. She couldn’t leave, and she couldn’t get away. The situation was driving her crazy.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, crossed her legs and pressed them together hard, but the silk slip teased her tender skin. It rode high on her thighs. Her core ached, and she gasped when she found herself rubbing back and forth on the firm mattress.

‘That’s right. Let me make you feel good.’

Her head dropped back. Need was consuming her.

She flicked away a bead of sweat that had formed between her breasts, but her breath caught at the sensation. Her hand had brushed against her nipple.

She bit her lip. It had felt good. A bit naughty, but safe.

She turned her head away, towards the opposite wall, but the sounds refused to be ignored … and her hand slipped lower this time, to cup her breast fully.

She shuddered at the unexpected relief it gave her.

Oh, she really shouldn’t … but what if she just …

Teeth still worrying her lower lip, she hesitantly looked down. Her hand was cupped fully over her breast, her fingers spread wide. Her nipple felt hard against the middle of her palm, while its twin jutted straight out, tenting the other fragile cup of the camisole.

Giving in, she cupped it, too. Her breath became ragged as she felt herself. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend it wasn’t her hands touching her. She’d never been one for self-gratification. It had always felt too … personal. Too embarrassing. Too distasteful.

But this felt good. The warm hold felt confident on her soft flesh, but it wasn’t quite what she wanted. Emboldened by the sex sounds floating in the air and the privacy of her room, she slid her hands under the cups of the camisole and shivered. Oh, that was better.

Skin on skin. Strength against vulnerability. Feeling brave, she carefully explored the swollen tips of her breasts. They were stiffening and reddening and …

‘Ah!’ she cried when she gave them a soft pinch. They were sensitive.

Sienna quickly looked at the wall, scared that the other occupants might have heard her, but their intimate sounds continued uninterrupted. Glancing at the closed door, she impulsively slid the straps of the camisole over her shoulders and pushed it down to her waist. Sliding her hands up her stomach, she felt her warm skin.

She fell back on the bed when her hands settled where she wanted them the most.

Kyle had never spent much time with her breasts and, when he had, he’d been rather ham-handed. He’d sucked at her like a piglet tugging for milk, but, unlike him, she’d never complained.

It had felt too good to be touched. And stroked. And ridden.

‘You are so hot, babe. Come on, you know you want it.’

Oh, God, she did. Her erogenous zones were lighting up. Sienna rubbed her thighs together helplessly. Rolling onto her side, she drew her legs to her chest. None of it helped the ache deep in her core.

She slid one of her hands down her stomach. Maybe if she –

She gasped and yanked her hand away. No, she couldn’t do it. She knew others did. Erin talked about masturbating when Marty travelled for his job. Sienna had never been able to work up the nerve.

The feel of her own fingers on her most private place? She gave a shiver. It was just too shocking. She even used a washcloth in the shower – although she’d come to look forward to that part of getting clean a bit too much.

No, she was aroused and needy, but she just couldn’t make herself do it.

‘Spread your legs wider, honey. I gotta get inside you.’

Honey, baby, pretty girl. The endearments in that rough voice were getting to her almost as much as the sighs and grunts. Sienna squirmed on the mattress, her legs opening and closing as she tried to find some relief.

She rolled towards the nightstand, intending to turn her alarm-clock radio on to block out the words. Margo’s boyfriend might be talking to his lover, but it was as if he was whispering the rough endearments right into Sienna’s ear. He was making her want him.

No, he was making her want a man.

Her gaze locked on the closed drawer of the nightstand, and an idea occurred to her. A naughty one.

No, she absolutely wasn’t going to do that.

Her hand went to the drawer handle, all the same.

She pulled it open and pushed aside some books. Her fingers brushed against a box and she flinched.

Yet she didn’t close the drawer.

She stared at the gag gift that Margo had given her for her birthday. She’d thought it was so funny, while Sienna had found it unsightly and embarrassing.

And so magnetic right now, she couldn’t look away.

She’d never been the least tempted before.

But she’d never thrown the vibrator away.

She hesitantly pulled the box out of the drawer and rolled onto her back. Her naked breasts rose and fell as she looked through the clear plastic window of the box. The shape of the device was so … so suggestive. The thing was a soft pink colour, ironic she supposed, because it was meant to be a substitute for a very male organ.

‘It’s medium-sized,’ she remembered Margo saying eagerly. ‘I didn’t think you’d want a large, because you’re not very active. I mean, it might have been uncomfortable. I don’t know if you’re into that sort of thing or not, but I wanted you to feel it, so I didn’t go with the small. That all right?’

Was that all right?

‘God, you’re hot and wet. I’m gonna slide right in,’ the drummer groaned.

Sienna moaned right along with him. Oh, God. She had to do something. Touching herself just felt icky, but maybe with this toy …

A very adult toy. Giving in, Sienna undulated on the sheets and stripped off the rest of her clothes. The camisole stuck to her skin, which had become sweaty, and her panties were downright damp.

She was wet and hot down there, too.

So damn hot.

Panting hard, she stared at the ceiling and spread her legs. Reaching down, she tried to align the thick plastic rod with where it was supposed to go.

She gasped when it brushed over her clit.

‘Ohhhh.’ Her moan wafted through the air.

The device was hard and smooth, but plastic and foreign.

Her hips rolled as she found the notch between her pussy lips. They eagerly kissed the wicked plaything, sucking it into place. Her hips rolled up reflexively, but then jerked back down to the mattress when her conscience gave a yelp.

Sienna covered her face with her hand.

She shouldn’t want to do this. Sex was something meant to be enjoyed between a man and a woman. Or a man and a man, or two women. Or more. She bit her lip. Consenting adults. She wasn’t one to cast judgment. Heck, she lived in Logan Circle. It had one of the largest LGBT populations in the city. This was just a personal hang-up for her.

A hang-up that was causing her considerable grief at the moment.

The air-conditioning finally kicked back in. The cool breeze blew across her nipples, making them pucker tightly. She was so aroused, every nerve ending was tingling.

Oh, damn, but she needed this.

‘I’m gonna do you so hard, you naughty girl,’ Drummer Boy said gruffly. ‘I’m gonna fuck you until you beg.’

Sienna’s hips twisted, seeking relief that was only inches away.

Kyle. They were finished and she was still angry with him, but she tried to picture his face and hard body. Her eyes closed tightly as she tried to remember what he’d looked like when he was on top of her.

Her eyes popped open when another man entirely came into her conscience.

She let out a shuddering moan.

She didn’t even know him. He’d just been a guest in the crowd.

Yet she could imagine vividly what his muscled body would look like naked as he crawled atop of her, intending to fuck her into oblivion.

Her neck arched on the pillow.

It didn’t take much to imagine his hot breaths on her neck and his demanding mouth on her nipples.

Her heels slid upwards and dug into the mattress.

‘Take it,’ the male voice next door growled. ‘Feel me inside you, my little slut.’

The vibrator slid an inch into her by accident. The rest of it Sienna took on purpose. Her hand simply thrust, and her hips rose as her pussy greedily accepted the penetration.

‘Oh, God. Oh, God!’ she whimpered.

It felt so good.

He felt so good.

That intense-looking man at the party was suddenly the one inside her, filling her and grinding deep. She pulled the vibrator out a bit and pushed it back in. It slid smoothly through her wetness, even though her body was squeezing tight.

She was glad of the size of the device, eager for its length.

Would he whisper to her as he took her?

Kyle had never wanted to talk, but that hard-looking man? He’d say impossibly dirty things to her as he rode her. He’d be aggressive and in her space.

Sienna pumped the vibrator faster, loving it.

She felt the man’s hands on her breasts, pinching her nipples and licking the pain away. She tasted the champagne that had been on his lips, and she heard his desperate swear words as she ran her fingers down to the base of his spine.

‘I’m almost there,’ Margo cried. ‘So close.’

So was Sienna. Her breaths were heaving in her lungs, and her breasts were juddering hard. Her hair stroked across her skin before splaying wildly across the pillow.

Most blatantly, though, her legs were spread wide, knees bent, as she rocked her hips up and down, taking the pink sex toy. She was so consumed, so involved, she didn’t care when her fingers brushed against her distended lips. It was the stranger’s rough fingers stroking her so intimately; it was he who was plucking at her sensitive clit.

Sienna nearly came off the bed when she hit a button she hadn’t known was there. It was the power switch. She hadn’t even had the thing turned on!

Her cry was sharp, and her pussy squeezed spasmodically.

There was a reason it was called a vibrator.

She turned her head and let out another cry of delight into her pillow. She came so hard, every muscle in her body clenched. All she could do was gasp for air and hold on.

And shudder.

And relax.

And feel her thighs clench again.

She sagged against the bed as the orgasm wrung her dry. Obliterated and exhausted, she lay there with the vibrator still trembling inside her.

‘Sweet dreams, Sienna,’ the drummer called from the next room.

She didn’t even realise that meant they’d heard her. In her head, it was her fantasy man talking to her – the one who’d made her knees go weak with only a look.

Sweet dreams indeed.

Rolling onto her side, she pressed her knees together as the vibrator tickled and played.

She was keeping the thing, and she was keeping him – her secret lover who could be pulled out whenever she felt this way again.

Arm heavy, she clicked off the bedside lamp. She saw the business card just before the lights went out, and she sighed in contentment.

As awkwardly as the night had begun, it was ending well. She’d had a gourmet dinner. A sexy fantasy man had made her orgasm like a spinning colour wheel, and she was calling for an interview in the morning.

For what? She didn’t know and she didn’t care.

It was the best night she’d had in months.