Taming the Tease Read online

  The look that Jackie gave her was unconvinced, but resigned. "I guess."

  "Good." The pedicurists put the finishing touches on both of them, smiling and shooing them over to the table where they could let the polish dry under UV lights. Wiggling her toes, Maria grinned. "Now let's go let our feet bake and talk about where we're going to go for lunch."

  They ended up going to a hole in the wall restaurant a couple of storefronts down, since they felt lazy and didn’t want to drive anywhere new, which was surprisingly good. Maria was enjoying her day off and spending some time with her sister. Especially since Jackie seemed to have gotten the message about not bothering her about her romances. Maria still bet there was a pretty good chance that Jackie was going to contact her within the next week about some friend of Daniel's that Maria just "had" to meet. But she could live with that.

  In the meantime, she was so not going to let Rick get away just because he was a little shy about whatever it was he liked to do in the bedroom. Right now, Maria was feeling up for a little exploration. She just had to figure out how to approach him again, without scaring him off. Maybe even just showing him that he hadn’t managed to scare her off would do the trick.

  ******

  Since he wasn't expecting anyone, when he heard his doorbell ring, Rick checked the peephole. Immediately, he recognized Maria, nibbling her lower lip as she waited outside his door. He nearly groaned.

  It had been almost a week since he'd last seen her and made a complete fool out of himself. A period of time during which he'd been heavily distracted by working a job for Adam, trying to figure out what to do about Jared and Marissa and whether or not he could tell someone else without breaking Jared's trust, and mentally prepping himself for the next time he ran into Maria. Of course, he'd thought that their next meeting would be a chance run-in, he hadn't actually expected her to come to him.

  Why had she?

  And why did he find that so appealing? As a dominant male, he usually wanted to be the hunter and didn't like being chased, but seeing her outside his door made his entire body come alive in anticipation.

  Taking a deep breath, Rick opened the door, trying to keep his expression open without showing his pleasure at seeing her. This was exponentially harder when her face brightened the moment she saw him. He couldn't help but wonder why she was so pleased to see him after the way he'd treated her... had she liked being pushed up against the wall? Had she been excited when he'd trapped her? Considering that she'd shown up at his door again, without an invitation, she wasn't exactly acting like a submissive but maybe...

  Cut it out.

  "Maria, good morning," he said, determined to keep things neighborly and civil between them without anything more. "What can I do for you?"

  Almost as if she was ignoring his demeanor, she smiled brightly at him. Her curls were pulled back into a fat, bouncy pony tail of curls and she was wearing a knee-length fluttering blue skirt and a white tank top with matching blue edging that showed off a generous amount of cleavage. There was no doubt that she knew what looked good on her and used it to her advantage. Rick would be quite happy to fall into that cleavage and snuggle in like a bear hibernating in winter.

  "I was hoping that maybe you'd have time to invite me in for that drink," she said cheerfully, giving him a look that bordered on flirtatious but wasn’t quite. Almost as if she was inviting him to flirt with her, but wasn’t trying to push the envelope.

  Rick was surprised at how much he wanted to do so, to get to know a little bit more about her and what made her tick. To test the waters, so to speak. Hell, they didn't even really know each other. Ineffable attraction, that's what it was. Animal attraction maybe.

  "I don't think that would be a good idea," he said, determined to stick to his guns. Having her come into his personal space was a terrible idea; every little step he took towards getting to know her better, towards bringing her into his life, would probably just make him to want to take more. She was a dark-haired temptress, offering inducements without knowing what the consequences might be for herself.

  “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

  Maria just slipped past him, before he could react, too surprised by her brashness to stop her. Dammit, he was tired if he couldn't even keep one woman from getting in his doorway. Possibly stress induced fatigue from everything he'd had going round his head since the last time he saw her.

  "Maria," he growled, turning and holding the door open wider to indicate that she should get her gorgeous ass back outside, but she cut him off with another encouraging smile.

  "Come on Rick, I promise I won't bite. Unless that's what you like..." She fluttered her eyelashes at him flirtatiously, but the look that she gave him was more inquisitive than anything else. He had to stifle the urge to laugh, forcing himself to keep his expression serious and unwelcoming. "I have to admit, you made me very curious." Ignoring the open door, Maria stepped closer to him, tilting her head back to look at him with those beautifully dark eyes. Her voice was becoming breathy, filled with intrigue. Great, apparently he’d woken up a curious little kitty that wanted to come out and play. "Exactly what is it that you want to do to me? I'm willing to be... very open-minded."

  Rick narrowed his eyes at her, wishing that his body wasn't so very keen to take her up on her offer. While he might not be overly dominant outside of the bedroom, unlike some of his friends, he definitely should not have found her blatant come on so damned appealing. What was it about her? Or maybe it was just the way she was challenging him, as if begging for a punishment. He’d always had a soft spot for submissives that were teases.

  But she wasn't a bratty submissive and he needed to remember that.

  "I think it's best if you go," he said. "I'm not looking for open-minded, I'm looking for someone who wants the same things I do."

  "And how do you know that I don't?" she asked, pressing those gorgeous soft curves up against him. Rick nearly groaned as his body reacted immediately and her eyes got wide. She knew damned well that he had a hard on now, not that she needed any encouragement. "It's not like I'm asking you to be my boyfriend, I'm willing to experiment... and we can have a good time."

  Now that pissed Rick off. He didn't even need to pretend to glower now. As if she realized that she might have misread him, she took a tiny step back. Not far, but just enough, as a slightly puzzled expression went across her face.

  "And what makes you think I'm just looking for a good time?" Rick demanded, torn between the desire to shove her out the door or drag her back to his bedroom and show her just exactly what she was asking for.

  "I mean... look at you. Guys that work out like you do, that look like you do… they’re… usually players," she said, but her voice was hesitant. As if she was remembering the last time she'd made an assumption about him and how wrong she'd been then. Maybe even remembering the way he’d pressed her against the wall to prove that he absolutely did find her attractive and he had no problem with her curves.

  Rick truly wanted to hunt down every male she'd had an interaction with throughout her life and beat the daylight out of them. What made this gorgeous, confident woman have all the stereotypes about men that she did? Unfortunately, he had a feeling that her life experiences probably backed up all those stereotypes. At one time in his life, he might have too; a sexy curvy girl showing up on his doorstep and offering a good time would have seemed like Christmas. But that wasn't what he wanted now and it grated on him that he'd apparently already been assessed and judged by her.

  "Well I'm not," he said, stepping forward and slightly to the side, forcing her to change her position so that her back was to the open doorway. He knew he was crowding her, trying to herd her towards the door, but she didn't back up as much as he thought she would. His voice was low, fierce, because he didn't want the neighbors to hear what he was saying if they were home, but he wanted her to know that he was one hundred percent sincere with everything he said. "I'm not the kind of guy that's going to fuck a woman he doesn't
want to be seen in public with. I'm not the kind of guy who's just looking for a good time. I'm not interested in being someone's experiment. And I'm not interested in flirtatious little teases who are just looking for a cheap thrill."

  With every sentence he took another step towards her, forcing her to back out into the hallway as her big eyes widened even further. She was finally out of his apartment, out of his space, and part of him was incredibly disappointed by that. He needed to give her a damned good reason to stay away from him.

  Deepening his voice, deliberately making it rougher and more forceful, Rick stared directly into her eyes, packing his pent-up frustration and heat into his gaze.

  "If you knock on my door again, Maria, I will put you over my knee and spank your ass until it's a hot cherry red. And I’ll enjoy every second of it."

  With that he slammed the door. Practically in her face.

  His chest felt tight as he turned away from the door. Damn, but he'd hated doing that. Hated intimidating her, hated threatening her, hated that his cock had been rock hard the entire time he'd been doing it. At least he'd given her just enough information to indicate what exactly it was he liked to do in the bedroom, which should scare her off. Especially with the manner he'd delivered it in. He hadn't imagined the shock and spark of fear in her eyes before he'd closed the door. That kind of response, as long as it was tempered with excitement, was like manna to a Dom. He hated that part of him had enjoyed that, because he knew that it wasn’t going to be followed up with a hot scene that would temper her fright with pleasure.

  What he hated most of all, was the disappointment that swept through him when he realized she would probably never darken his doorstep again.

  Chapter 5

  Holy crap... holy crap holy crap holy crap holycrapholycrapholyCRAP!

  Maria's knees actually felt weak as she slammed her own apartment door and then pressed her back against it. Her heart was pounding. Not like he was chasing her or anything - he'd made it pretty clear that he wouldn't be doing that - but Maria had so not been prepared for that kind of confrontation.

  He wants to spank me?

  If it hadn't been for the way his eyes had sparked and flared with interest as he said it, she might have thought he was just trying to scare her away with something outrageous. But there was no mistaking the fact that even just saying the words definitely got him hot and bothered. The question was, did it get her hot and bothered too?

  She didn't know. It was one thing to contemplate getting it on with a hot guy who might want to lick her feet or maybe wear her panties, but Rick had made two things very clear: he wasn't just looking for a good time and he wanted something that had never been on her menu. Like... seriously... spanking? People actually did that?

  Okay, she wasn't a complete idiot, she knew that people did that, but somehow his golden boy, Greek god good looks didn't lend itself to the way she would have pictured a spanker.

  How did she picture a spanker? Well, she'd seen that movie, Secretary, so maybe a little bit like James Spayder. Or maybe some Goth kind of guy that dressed in leather and chains. A super conservative throwback to the 1950’s guy who wore pressed suits and considered himself the Head of the Household. None of those descriptions came anywhere close to Rick though.

  Man, she was really good at stereotyping and she hadn't even realized it! Not a pleasant realization. She always hated when people stereotyped her and she'd now done it to Rick multiple times. Even knowing that she’d already wronged him once.

  And he had given her a lot to think about.

  Dammit. She really needed more female friends. More than ever she needed to talk through some of this stuff with someone, but her choices were rather limited. She could either fess up to Ava (ha!) or Lara about what was going on or she could go back to Jackie, but she didn't know how any of her sisters would react to the idea that she was interested in a guy that wanted to spank her. Or that she was tempted to let him. Sure, they'd all talked sex before, but not like this.

  As the oldest, she also felt like she was supposed to be the mature, responsible one, never mind that they had all gotten married before her. There was something inside of her that said she had to set a good example. Somehow, getting spanked just didn't seem like it would send that message. She was supposed to be strong and independent and all that good feminist stuff.

  So why did she feel more excited than outraged?

  ******

  When Brooke, one of her servers, came looking for her the next day at work with a call of distress from Janet, the hostess, she was glad to get out of the office and away from the paperwork, even though it meant dealing with a pain in the ass woman who insisted on a window seat despite the fact she didn't have a reservation.

  "Yes, I understand that the table at the window doesn't have anyone sitting at it right now," Maria said calmly, wanting nothing more than to smack the snobby looking woman across the face. "However, we have a reservation that should be arriving any minute that specifically requested a table by the window. As all the other tables by the windows currently have people seated at them, and none of them will be getting up any time soon, and you do not have a reservation, I'm sorry but I can't seat you at the window. It wouldn’t be fair to the person who made the reservation for that table. We're happy to seat you at any other table in the restaurant."

  The snobby woman was with a friend, who was grimacing and looking apologetically over her shoulder at Maria. Maria sent the other woman a quick little smile as the snobby one rolled her eyes and made a disgusted noise. Even if this woman was a bitch, it was obvious her friend wasn't and Maria felt a little bad for her. It must be embarrassing to be out with someone who so obviously felt entitled, and was basically making a scene that made both of them look bad.

  There was no way in hell Maria was going to put out someone who had the courtesy to make a reservation with a specific request, in order to cater to some bitch who thought the world should just bow down to her.

  "This restaurant is just awful," the woman fumed, furiously tapping her perfectly done French manicure on the top of the hostess stand. Click, click, click, click. "Every time I come here, the staff is slow or rude or both, you management people never do anything to help, and the food isn't even that great!"

  Stifling the fury that she felt at such a derisive summation of what Maria considered her restaurant, well aware of the wide-eyes of Janet who was watching the entire thing, not to mention the serving staff that was in ear shot, Maria gave the woman her brightest smile.

  "Well then," she chirped, in her most friendly and upbeat manner. "May I ask, what brings you back?"

  The woman gaped like a fish as her friend burst out laughing. Maria could hear the choked gasps and laughter of the staff, out of the corner of her eye she could see several of the servers making a beeline for the kitchen where they'd be able to laugh themselves silly. And probably share what she'd said. Next to her, Janet was having a sudden coughing fit. Stoically, she held her bright smile, blinking and waiting for the woman's response.

  "Well I never!" she finally huffed and turned on her heel to go outside.

  "Sorry... new money... thank you!" her friend choked out before following.

  "Have a nice day!" Maria called out after them.

  Next to her, Janet finally started cracking up. She was a sweet girl, senior in high school, but sometimes the more demanding guests could roll right over her. Which is why she'd sent Brooke for Maria, because she'd known the right thing to do, she just hadn't known how to handle the woman.

  "Oh my god... Maria, you are so bad!"

  "I was perfectly polite."

  "And still, so bad!" Janet shook her head, still giggling as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I don't know how you kept a straight face."

  "Lots of practice," Maria said with a grin. That and she'd been pissed enough that even her retort hadn't made her want to laugh.

  "What did that other woman mean by 'new money’?"

  Maria si
ghed, making a face. It was a problem they were probably going to have more often, although hopefully most of the people like that woman just wouldn't come by, because Murphy's was so not going to cater to them when they were being unreasonable. "You know that new housing development down North Hill Road? About five minutes away? A lot of people that are moving in there are people who are just starting to become rich. Old money, like the people we get from Mansfred Park, tend to be polite, classy, and not rub it in your face. They're used to having money and influence. New money means they feel like they have to step all over you to prove how much better they are than you."

  "So, no class." Janet made a face. "I hope we don't get a lot of people like her in here... I wonder why that other woman was with her. She seemed nice enough."

  "Maybe they were friends before," Maria said, shrugging. "Or maybe they're forced into being friends because of business or something. Who knows. Anyway, don't let people like that push you into doing things that will mess up the way the floor is running. Murphy's has plenty of business, we don't need to antagonize people who play by the rules by indulging people like her."

  "Okay. Thanks Maria."

  "That's what I'm here for," she said, smiling.

  She was going to have to tell Ava about that little interlude later. Ava loved hearing working stories, especially about the craziness that difficult customers could bring into the restaurant. It was definitely amusing, after it was over, although while it was happening Maria could usually feel her patience wearing thin.

  Deciding she should go check on the kitchen, she wove her way through the dining room, stopping at a table here and there, saying hi to the regulars that were there. One table wanted her to sit and have a drink with them, but she refused. Sometimes James or Jeanne would do that with the regulars, but they were owners, not managers. It made a difference in privileges.