Getting Tricky Read online

  “I can’t condone violence,” she said. “You shouldn’t be hitting people.”

  “Sometimes a scare is enough,” he said. “But I reserve the right to do whatever I want if any bastard pushes me too far.”

  As he felt himself getting angry about any guy who might try to touch his precious Lyla, he felt something damp against his chest.

  Damn, was that her tongue?

  Green light.

  Skimming one hand down her back, he let it settle over the rise of her gorgeous ass and began to gather up her nightdress. “How do you feel about sleeping naked?”

  “I might get cold.”

  “In my bed?” he asked and sniggered. “Not gonna happen.”

  “You’re not naked,” she said, and when her hand skimmed his hip to curve around his ass, he swore under his breath.

  Lyla didn’t usually touch him. Her confidence was growing and that meant he was in trouble. The more they did this. The closer they got. The more she’d touch him. His control was frayed enough already without her exploring him.

  Flipping onto his back, Trick wanted to whip off his underwear as fast as possible so she didn’t have to be out of his arms for a second longer than was necessary. “Am now,” he said, flipping to his front, he scooped her beneath him.

  It felt so good that her legs opened automatically for him and settling between them was like coming home. But he wasn’t going to bury himself inside her yet, they had unfinished business. He’d figured out that kissing her made her relax. So he occupied her mouth with his and went to work lifting her nightdress up over her hips. He’d keep on going and pull the damn thing off, if it didn’t mean he’d have to stop kissing her.

  “Nairn,” she whispered, when he slid his fingers through the seam of her body.

  Because she was pushing and stroking his chest, he deduced that she liked his torso. Good. The more things she liked, the more likely she’d be to stay with him. He wasn’t beyond manipulation or blackmail. If he needed to use either to keep the woman he loved, he’d do it.

  “Love?” he asked and her eyes slipped up to his, why did she look so grateful? “I do love you, Lyla.”

  “I know,” she said. When she smiled, he began to massage her clit again and tried to kiss her, but she inhaled and gave him another push. “I’m a bit… sore…” Hell, he’d hurt her, exactly what he didn’t want to do. “It’s ok.” Smoothing her hands up his body, she stroked his face. She was just so delicate, so gentle with him. Everything she did felt so tender, like he was precious to her. No one touched him like that. “I like it. It reminds me of what we did, but… can we go slow?”

  Slow? If she was in pain, his dick wasn’t going anywhere near her pussy, not until she was completely ready for him again. He wouldn’t cause her pain, wasn’t capable of it.

  “How about you trust me to make you feel good?” he asked and stole a kiss before crawling down her body, kissing his route south.

  Her whole body tensed when he kissed her clit, but he slid his hands up over her torso, beneath her nightdress to her breasts. Massaging and reassuring her, he carried on with his feast. She’d get used to having him down here, and she’d learn that even when sex wasn’t an option, he could make her feel good because he was dedicated to her in every way a man should be dedicated to his wife.

  EIGHTEEN

  They hadn’t made love again last night, but that didn’t stop Trick from taking her to climax after climax. Lyla hadn’t admitted to him that no man had ever used his mouth on her before he did. Now she felt like a veteran. But he didn’t just use his mouth. He used his hands, his fingers and his penis, letting her wriggle and writhe all over him to lose herself in the bliss of orgasm.

  When she woke up to him kissing her, she’d asked him to make love to her again, and he did after a little pleading on her part. He was so preoccupied with the idea that he might hurt her that he was reluctant. What he didn’t get was that she liked the feeling of him stretching her. It was overwhelming, just like him and the emotions he was invoking in her.

  Taking his sweet time, he wouldn’t push too hard or be too rough, and it was the most incredible way to welcome the day. They’d literally just come when Paul came storming in to the suite again. Trick had leapt out of bed, grabbed his own robe and ran out without telling her the plan.

  She overheard Trick greeting Paul and deliberately glazing over all their director’s questions about any intimacies they might have shared since he left.

  Breakfast was brought to the room because they had a long day ahead.

  The hotel was on the outskirts of a national park, so this morning, they’d all been piled onto the bus for a quick journey up through the park to the two-story outdoor center, which was built to resemble an old stone fort.

  Their directors were talking to the guides while everyone rambled around. They’d all been given proper hiking boots, told to wear jeans, layers, and provided with a waterproof jacket which had a hood and a whole bunch of pockets.

  “I don’t know how to read a compass,” Sadie said coming over to where Lyla was sitting on one of the concrete picnic tables erected outside the fort.

  The producer, who wasn’t here as a producer but as one of Trick’s colleagues, was looking at the plastic device that she was holding up in the air like a cell phone.

  Standing on the bench, Lyla turned Sadie and put her arm around her to reposition the compass flat. “Just keep turning until the needle points north,” Lyla said, looking at the compass over Sadie’s shoulder.

  “How do I know which way to turn?” Sadie asked, going clockwise, then counter-clockwise.

  Lyla laughed. “It doesn’t matter, you’ll get there eventually.”

  While still wrapped around Sadie, Lyla could only go so far before she came to the edge of the bench and when they got to that limit, both women laughed. “What’s all the hilarity?” Trick asked, coming over. “There’s to be no jokes I’m not in on.”

  Sadie took her eyes from the compass to glance at him. “Lyla’s making my needle point north,” she said.

  Trick got to them and leaned in to whisper to his friend. “Don’t beat yourself up, she does the same thing to mine.”

  Sadie tutted and exhaled, but took the bottle of water Trick handed her, and turned around to face Lyla. Lyla sat back down on the table, keeping her feet on the bench, and took the bottle Trick gave her as he went to the head of the table to prop his ass against it.

  “This place is beautiful,” Sadie said, looking up at the building behind Lyla. “I wonder if they do weddings.”

  Trick finished gulping his water and twisted the cap back on. “Who are you marrying? I thought Adam went to Poland… and he was never going to marry you… just saying.”

  “Ukraine,” Sadie said. “He left three months ago. I’m just, you know, for… whenever.”

  “Well I recommend it,” Trick said, leaning back to bump Lyla’s arm with his back. “Marriage is great.”

  Sadie smiled. “You’ve got that big, ‘I just got laid’ smile on your face, it’s been there all day.”

  Trick shrugged. “Won’t see me hiding it. I’m happy. Who’d have thought it, huh? That I’d be married before you… Watch out for spinsterhood, Say, that shit sneaks up on a girl.”

  “Uh,” Lyla said, her head coming up from reading the back of the water bottle. “I’m offended.”

  “You?” Sadie asked. “I’m the singleton.”

  “Trick didn’t marry me because he loved me, he did it because he thought it was a lark,” Lyla said. “I would say ‘ouch’ except I only did it because…”

  Trick twisted toward them so he could look at her. “That’s a point, I never asked, why did you do this?”

  Hmm, well, she picked at the edge of her label. “Because the Cronies said I never took risks, never had adventures, and because… they said the only man who’d sleep with me was a fifty-year-old virgin who lived in his mom’s basement.”

  “Look good for your age,�
�� Sadie said to Trick, then turned to her. “The Cronies, that’s what you call them?”

  “Faith, Dinah, and Chelsea from my department,” she said. “I call them that in my head—but I don’t mean it as a way to disparage them, no. The word ‘crony’ comes from the Greek language, it’s a beautiful language, it’s like art when you see it written on the page… I need to take the time to really study it. I’ve always wanted to visit Greece. It’s a gorgeous country, beautiful beaches and the history… The period of Classical Ancient Greece has been of particular interest to me for a long time, that’s around 800 to 500 B.C, give or take… There were major advances in art and technology during that time period. It’s surprising to know how much of their culture reverberates through to ours. Oh, and one for you, Trick, honey, they held the first Olympic Games in 776… B.C., of course… though there is evidence to suggest they actually started before then. The games were held in honor of Zeus and carried on for hundreds of years. All contestants were male… and nudity was common.” Smiling at Sadie, Lyla shrugged. “If I can relate something to sex or sport, it’s more likely to stick in his mind.

  “Anyway, the word ‘crony’ means long-term, and those three have been friends forever, far as I can tell they’re friends anyway.” Frowning at the trio who were loitering at the edge of the pack, Lyla wondered at their internal politics. “They’re always together, but sometimes it feels like they don’t like each other that much, I don’t know, I don’t understand it.”

  “You’re too nice to understand women like that,” Trick said, folding his arms.

  Sadie was staring at her, but Lyla didn’t notice until she spoke. “You know that in your head?”

  Lyla hadn’t thought about it and didn’t have time to say anything because Trick spoke with a grin in his voice. “Hot as hell, isn’t she? Keep your hands off, she’s mine.”

  “Really? You know all that,” Sadie said and looked at each of their faces. “What the hell do you two talk about?”

  “I don’t need to say anything,” Trick said and uncapped his water bottle. “I could listen to her talk all night.”

  As he lifted the bottle to his lips, Lyla put her hand on his. “Don’t drink it all. We’ll have to get physical. Save some for after.”

  The instant joy and innuendo on his face made her sag, she’d done it again, said a stupid thing. “You got it, baby. Stand back, everyone, husband emergency! I got this one,” he said, prodding his water bottle at Sadie who grabbed it just before Trick hooked Lyla’s closest leg and thrust it straight up in the air to put her on her back and twist her around so her ass was at the head of the table where he’d been propped. “Damn jeans, no problem, I can work around ‘em.” As his hands went to work unfastening his own jeans, he bowed his forehead to hers, “How do you feel about doggy style?”

  “Trick!” Sadie was the one who called out his name this time and the exclamation made him straighten.

  “Ok, everyone, if I can have your attention?”

  The guide from the outdoor center was moving to the middle of the scattered group with his hands in the air and a clipboard held aloft. Sadie turned and took a few strides toward the guide.

  Trick opened his mouth and inhaled, Lyla sat up so fast that her body hit his. “Don’t,” she said, pressing a finger to his lips to silence him.

  She just knew that her husband was going to make a joke and draw attention to them. Their eyes met and suddenly she couldn’t hear, or focus properly. What was wrong with her? They’d had sex. Sitting on a concrete table with him between her thighs shouldn’t be making her awareness grow in time with the speed of her heart.

  Her leg curled around his and she saw her hand coiling around the side of his neck before she even knew it had moved.

  Turning her nails into the back of his neck, she felt the pressure of them digging in and winced. “Sorry,” she whispered and relaxed her hand. “I don’t know why I keep doing that.”

  Bowing toward her, Trick brushed his nose over hers. “Because it feels good, baby. It’s passion, it makes you want to put your mark on me and I love it… I told you, there are no rules for you, no limits, no boundaries to what you’re allowed to do to me.”

  “But I don’t want to hurt you,” she whispered.

  Tipping his head, he made hers move with his until their lips were just a fraction apart. “Then don’t ever leave me,” he murmured.

  The words hit her hard. He meant them. This relationship was everything to him. Some of his own vulnerability showed as his eyes closed and she realized she hadn’t returned his enthusiasm. In bed, sure, he had her, but she hadn’t told him how she really felt about him.

  “What do you think about Greece?” she asked.

  “The movie?” he asked, scooping his hands around her ass to pull her closer to him.

  It didn’t take him long to switch back into playful mode. “The country,” she said. “Maybe we could go one day. Maybe in Spring, after the show’s done.”

  Bending his knees, he kept her ass in his hands as he got lower. “For real?”

  “They have nightclubs,” she said and had to half-shrug. “I’ve never been in a nightclub, but yeah… I’m sure they have them.”

  He was grinning. “You’d come to a club for me?”

  “If you’d come to the Acropolis with me,” she said.

  Trick laughed. “I don’t even know what that is, but if you’re there, I’ll be with you… It could be our honeymoon.”

  “We had a honeymoon.”

  He sneered. “Nah, it doesn’t count if there’s no sex.”

  Laughing, she leaned back. “So you expect to go clubbing and…”

  “Get laid?” he asked. “Yep, if there are no cameras, you have no excuses.”

  That was true. If there were no cameras, she didn’t have any reason to say no… and wouldn’t want to. “Uh, excuse me! Mr. Strickland!”

  Trick didn’t pay attention to the guide who was shouting at him because he was too busy trying to kiss her. Lyla had to lean back and give him a push. “Honey, that man is talking to you,” she said because she didn’t know the guide’s name.

  “Not possible,” Trick said, trying to kiss her again. “We’re the only two people on Earth.”

  Laughing, Lyla pressed both hands to his shoulders and straightened her arms to put space between them. Trick growled and turned toward the guy who was closer than he had been, and had drawn the attention of the whole group to their private conversation.

  Though “private” was a relative term. The cameras were on and had been for most of the morning though the crew were keeping their distance.

  “I’m sorry, sir, we need everyone to be safe,” the guide said.

  One of Trick’s hands slid off her ass, but he kept the other arm hooked over her shoulders. “It’s ok. We’re married. We’re both clean and open to the idea of children, so, thanks man, but we’re good with the protection thing.”

  She shouldn’t laugh and didn’t know what the camera was picking up, so she turned her head away to hide her face. It probably appeared that she was embarrassed, which was good because it fit with her role in the performance. But she was too used to Trick and his ways now, so she actually found his behavior funny not offensive.

  “Oh, no, I…” The guide sounded mortified, Trick really knew how to embarrass people, he’d done it to her enough, but she was accustomed to it now, others weren’t as lucky. “I mean, we need a demonstration.”

  Trick exhaled impatience and sagged before straightening, like the suggestion was a major inconvenience. “Ok, fine, man, but you owe me. I’m not packing rubbers, so you’ll have to provide, and she’s wearing jeans, so are we all ok if I come at her from behind?”

  “Trick,” Lyla said, and frowned at him as she gave his shoulder a slap.

  “What?” Trick asked, exuding innocence. “The guy asked for a safety demonstration.”

  “Not a safe sex demonstration,” she hissed at him then smiled past him at the gui
de. “I’m sorry for him. Really.” Scanning the group, she saw some smiling faces who were amused and others who were shocked, like the Cronies. “He can’t help but… be him.”

  Nuzzling his face against her temple, Trick let his lips slide around to her ear. “There’s something hot about you apologizing for me.”

  His breath tickled her neck, making her shiver. “You think everything’s hot,” she murmured.

  “Everything about you, sure.”

  Sadie cleared her throat. “Maybe you two should, uh…”

  “Get a room?” Trick asked. “What is it with me having to finish women’s sentences these days?”

  Lyla nudged him. “I think she meant we should cool it and stop being rude. Sit down there.”

  “What?” he gaped. “You’re benching me?”

  But he didn’t argue, just stomped the step to drop onto the bench her feet had been on when she was sitting here initially. Folding his arms, Trick slouched back against the table, grumbling to himself. But Lyla wasn’t punishing him and to prove it, she brought her legs onto the table and twisted to hook her knees over his shoulders.

  He didn’t expect her to do something so physical, or intimate, but he welcomed it by curving his hands around her shins. When he tried to tip his head back to look at her, Lyla put her hands on his face and directed it toward the guide, then when Trick was looking at the guy, she ran her fingers through her husband’s hair then let her hands slide down his body until her chest was on his head. Holding him firm like this meant he’d keep his eyes front, which was what everyone wanted.

  “We’re listening,” Lyla said to the guide and smiled. “Please carry on.”

  Everyone was given a whistle to go with their compass and the guide gave instructions on what they should do if they got lost or hurt because cell phone coverage was non-existent out here.

  The guide was coming to the end of his speech. “I’ll call out a name and that person will pick their partner for the day. You are responsible for your partner’s safety. If anything happens to them it’s your responsibility to stay with them, keep them calm and provide any medical care that’s required. You must not leave your partner alone, not for any reason. Pairs will each be given a map, and on the map are three checkpoints. You must find the checkpoints, retrieve the ribbon, and move to the next checkpoint before you return here to this rendezvous. Right here. Some checkpoints are individual, others will overlap. Some people will hit all the same checkpoints, some will have one or two checkpoints that overlap. Every pair will set out with another pair, but may split ways for the second or third checkpoints. The four of you may help each other, but you must maintain your link to your original partner at all times.”