“You’re tormenting me,” I whispered, when his hand slipped between my thighs. I gasped as he slid a finger inside me, then stroked me in long, slow movements designed to let the pleasure build and build—but never quite reach the pinnacle. “You bastard,” I moaned. “You’re doing this on purpose.”
“Clever girl.” He cupped his hands over my breasts, then brought his mouth to my neck. His kisses along my neck were a different kind of torture, and I instinctively tilted my head to one side. “But is it really torment?” he murmured, his lips brushing my skin with each soft word, and sending shockwaves rippling through me. “Or is it heightened pleasure borne from anticipating what’s yet to come?”
“Torment,” I said firmly, making him laugh. “And here I was starting to think you were a nice man. You’re not.”
He eased back so that I could see his face. Desire and heat and a feral ruthlessness that cut straight through me. “You’re right,” he said. “I’m not.”
While I worked hard to keep myself from whimpering, Tyler rose to his feet. He held out his hand, and I took it with both curiosity and anticipation. I hoped he was leading me to the bedroom; I hoped he intended to finish what he’d started. I feared that he had something else in mind, though—and, damn the man, I couldn’t help that sizzle in my blood that came from the mixture of curiosity and, yes, anticipation.
Without a word, he led me into a short hallway, then through yet another formal room.
To be honest, I was swimming in such a sensual haze, it’s a wonder I noticed anything at all. But small things jumped out at me. The paintings. The molding. There were antiques tucked into every corner, yet the room still looked elegant, not cluttered.
We moved down yet another hall, and I entertained the insane idea that all he was really doing was walking me in a circle. More torment. More anticipation.
When I said as much, he laughed. “I’m not that cruel. The place is just huge. You could get lost in it. I do sometimes.”
“Really?”
“No, but it makes a good story.”
“Is that what you do? Make up stories when the truth isn’t good enough?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Absolutely.”
“Well,” I said. “That’s a conundrum.”
“What is?”
“You’re being honest about being dishonest.”
“Maybe I’m just trying to keep you interested,” he said, a hint of heat returning to his voice.
I didn’t quite meet his eyes. “I don’t think you have a thing to worry about there.”
We’d reached the open door to the master bedroom, and I was surprised to see the contrast between its interior and the rest of the penthouse. This room contained the modern furniture that Tyler had said he preferred. Sleek lines that accentuated function over form, but nonetheless suggested money and taste.
Interesting. It told me that he was a man who was willing to compromise—but not on the things that were personal and important to him.
There were a pair of closed French doors on the far side of the room, behind which I assumed was a bathroom. A huge bed dominated the space in front of the windows, beyond which the lights of the city twinkled like surrogate stars.
I expected we’d move to the bed, but instead Tyler led me across the room toward those double doors. As we moved across the space, I focused on the details, looking at the room as I might look at a crime scene, trying to discern whatever I could about the man who occupied this space. The dresser—with his personal items laid out precisely on top—suggested organization even while the clothes tossed carelessly across the back of an armchair showed that he didn’t take it to the level of obsessiveness.
There were no photographs, no books, nothing personal in the room. Nothing except a handmade quilt folded neatly at the foot of the bed. And that one item stirred more questions in me than all the intelligence I’d dug up on this enigmatic, powerful, and potentially dangerous man.
I must have hesitated, because I felt a tug, and when I looked over to him, his expression was cloudy. He tilted his head toward a set of double doors on the far side of the room. “Not the bed,” he said simply. “Not yet.”
“I was looking at the quilt,” I said, inexplicably speaking in a whisper. “An heirloom?”
“Yes,” he said simply.
I started to ask more, then stopped myself. This wasn’t a date, and no matter how much I might be enjoying this night, I needed to remember that this was a mission. Knowing the bits and pieces might help me paint a better picture of the man, but I couldn’t imagine that a quilt had any connection to Amy.
I didn’t need personal details. And I damn sure shouldn’t want them. I knew Sharp was dirty. Maybe not in trafficking women—god, I hoped not—but in the way he lived, the way he operated his businesses, the way he looked at life. Tyler Sharp thumbed his nose at the kinds of rules I’d dedicated my life to enforcing.
And yet in just a few short hours, he’d managed to twist me up. I told myself that was understandable—you go into an op planning to seduce, and seduction is going to happen. And, yes, Tyler Sharp had well and truly seduced me. He’d revved me up, made me want. Made me need. He’d pushed me farther than I’d ever gone before, and I couldn’t deny that I liked it.
But this little field trip through the penthouse had given me the chance to gather myself together, and that was good. I still wanted his touch—oh, god, did I ever—but the sensual mist that had clouded my thinking had evaporated, and I was focused on my mission.
Sex with Tyler might be damned entertaining, but at the end of the day, sex was just sex.
And it was going to have to remain that way.
Chapter Ten
I think it was the candles that did me in.
He pushed open the doors, and I saw the room bathed in the golden glow of at least two dozen candles. They were on the floor, on stands, on small tables near the oversized bathtub. The room smelled of lavender and vanilla, and I breathed in deep.
“How?” I asked. “When?”
“I sent a text to the hotel from the car.”
I couldn’t help but laugh—he looked so incredibly smug.
He took my hand and guided me to the two steps that led up to the deep marble tub already full of lavender scented bubbles. “Go ahead,” he said. “Get in.”