Chapter Three

The night took on a strange resonance as Jesse’s words echoed in Estrella’s head. She was hyperalert to the swish of traffic beyond the walls, the shimmy of the trees, the warm silk of the water. And especially to herself. Skin so alive, it twitched and crawled, the chorus of blood singing in her ears, the push-pull of her desire.

Then there was Jesse. He didn’t back off.

“Is that supposed to scare me away?” she asked, barely keeping the wobble out of her voice.

His gaze lowered to her breast, where he turned his hand over, gently scraping his knuckles over her tender flesh. He scooped water onto her, and she was amazed that it didn’t evaporate into steam.

“It should,” he said, sliding his fingers over her slick skin before pulling away. “Scare you.”

“Why? Did you do something really bad?”

“They don’t send a man to prison for being good.”

“But you were innocent.” She tried to smile. “Don’t they all say that?”

“On TV, yeah.” He looked at her, his head still down. The angle seemed predatory and she wondered what he would do if she tried to stop, to leave. Although his confession had given her the option, he didn’t seem like a man who would let go easily. She might be making a mistake.

“I was guilty,” he said.

“Of what?”

“Assault.”

She shrank, giving herself a half-inch of space to slither down the pool wall until her toes touched bottom and she was shoulder deep. “What kind of assault?”

“I beat up a guy.”

“Why?”

“I won’t make excuses to justify it, if that’s what you want.”

“There had to be a reason.”

“A woman,” he said with reluctance.

“Ohhh.” Not what Estrella wanted to hear. She crossed her arms over her breasts.

Jesse took note with a flick of his lashes. “It was a stupid bar fight that meant nothing. I never saw her again.”

How could he say it was nothing? That was what her ex, Tony, used to say: I didn’t mean to. It’s nothing, just a little bruise.

She pointed her chin at Jesse. “Must have been serious if you went to prison for it.”

Slowly, he pulled an explanation out of himself. “I’d been involved in petty crime when I was young. Stealing cars, that kind of crap. Two convictions. I did some jail time for the second one, and when I got out, it was strongly suggested to me that I join the army to straighten up. I was too bullheaded for that kind of regime, so I picked the merchant marine instead. Got a different kind of discipline there.”

“So this time, when you, uh, ran into trouble—” She nodded, getting it. The state had a version of the three-strikes law, where there was no lenience for a third violation—maximum sentence, no matter what the extenuating circumstances. “—that was the third strike?”

“You’re faster than I was. Sure you’re not a lawyer?”

Her mind was spinning in another direction. Although he’d given her a small amount of space, she was still hemmed in by his broad chest and the cage of his arms, which were braced against the lip of the pool. She should have been frightened. But when she looked at the contours of hard muscle, what might have been intimidating remained arousing. Her fantasy wasn’t going away that easily.

She inhaled. “How long have you been out?”

“Getting scared yet?”

Exhale. “I was wondering if this is your first—?”

“Nope. It’s been nearly eight months.”

“Of course, and there are all those women catching sight of you in your handsome orange vest and throwing underwear out of cars with their numbers on them.”

One corner of his mouth twitched. “I’d be fired if I was caught making time on the job. I’m walking a narrow line with my crew chief as it is.”

“Then why are you here?”

He took his time answering. “Turns out you’re irresistible. And maybe I like trouble a little too much.” He studied her face. “But I don’t think you do.”

“Hmm. I guess you’re right. But for once I couldn’t help myself; and besides—” She ran her finger along his chest the way she’d imagined doing only days ago, except instead of continuing below the water line, she made a curve upward to trace around his bulging pectoral. His brown nipple had beaded and unconsciously she fluted her tongue as she looked at it, then gave her upper lip a slow lick. “—every hardworking girl deserves a night off.”

She put both hands on him and rubbed his chest. His skin flinched. “Make that a night to remember,” she said.

He took a step back, looking at her, amazed. The pirate’s earring glinted at his ear. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, keeping her mind on one track only as she slipped into position against his chest.

“I’m clean,” he whispered, his mouth against her hair as he cradled her.

“That’s good. Because I’m feeling kind of dirty.” Her tongue flicked against his nipple. She inhaled his scent—hot male and black tar. “That’s my confession: I want to be dirty.” She thought of him on the work crew, every muscle in use, glistening with sweat and grime. Of the words she’d already used and the ones banked inside like embers, still to be said.

Go ahead and say it. You want to fuck.

Good girls didn’t speak that way.

No, but she was fed up with being good.

Fuck me, Jesse. Please fuck me. Make me dirty.

She didn’t quite dare. “Is that enough of an answer?” she said instead. “Can you help me out?”

“Help you out? I’ll manage.” He lifted her into his arms again and she went without a moment’s hesitation, meeting his mouth in an unbridled kiss. His hands roamed over her body—breasts, belly, butt—as he shifted her in his arms each time he found another area to pet and squeeze. Even before they broke the kiss, he had reached for the elastic waistband of her bikini panties and snapped it. The undergarment floated away and she realized with an absurd shock that she was nude in a pool overlooked by a hundred or more windows and she didn’t care if the occupants of the entire building watched her get it on.

Tomorrow, she would care. Tonight, she wanted Jesse.

And Jesse’s hot mouth, and Jesse’s blazing tongue, consuming her like fire. His fingers, not reluctant, oh not at all, two of them spearing through her swollen labia, pushing into her tight clenching opening until they were lodged inside her three knuckles deep. Her buttocks tightened and she rose several inches out of the water, almost clambering him like a tree trunk, driven by an instinctive need to get away from the sudden invasion even though it felt good. So damn good, she was almost crying for it.

She hadn’t escaped anything. The fit was too tight. He worked his fingers in and out, and she rode them, urging a faster rhythm with small jerking motions of her hips, feeling absolutely licentious in her abandon. His knuckle ground against her clit and she whimpered at the stinging pleasure, biting into his shoulder with her nails, bearing down on a galloping climax.

The water lapped at her bottom, wantonly spread. Sweet Santa Maria, she was almost completely exposed!

Sensing her alarm, Jesse moved them into deeper water, pressing her against the wall for more privacy. She leaned back to brace herself, arms outstretched and shoulder blades sawing as she rode his plunging fingers like a valkyrie into war, the water churning and frothing all around.

He nuzzled between her breasts. “You are a dirty girl, aren’t you?” He tilted back, goading her. “Do it. I want to feel you tremble as you come on my fingers.”

The hot flush of embarrassment produced by his command was no match for her need for relief. But she couldn’t quite let go. She wanted to beg him to please not do this to her, so fast and blatantly, but if he stopped now, she might die.

Jesse kissed her, his breath hot as he whispered, “Don’t hold back.” He moved in tight against her, one hand secure at the small of her back, the other busy between her thighs, and, when his mouth found her breast and sucked her nipple deep into his throat, finally then she felt the irresistible pull and relentless pressure as her senses wound so tight, there was nowhere, no further, to go. The pleasure snapped and she flooded with a copious release.

She howled. Her body jerked; her arms flew up.

Jesse’s face nudged hers. “Hold on to me.”

She obeyed, hugging him. He kissed her ear, her neck, whispering soft words she wasn’t able to comprehend right then. His fingers slipped out of her, and for an instant there was a hollow ache before she was bathed by the soothing warmth of the water. Washing her, but not clean. She wasn’t ready to be clean. Maybe never again if this mindless bliss was the reward for being dirty.

Slowly, she came back into herself and realized that they weren’t through. The thought was a wonderful surprise, like finding a forgotten gift under the Christmas tree after the others had been opened. She might even be able to have him all night. Her intention had been to entertain him upstairs, but now that the moment had come—come like a steam train—she wondered if she really dared.

She had gone this far, so of course she dared. Why not? Her mother had always said, In for a peso. . . .

Though she doubted that her mother had intended this.

Gradually Estrella’s vision cleared, as did her head. She blinked and looked around at the empty pool deck and the border of landscaping, beginning to focus on the public aspect of the location. Titillating, but dangerous in all sorts of ways. “We should go up.”

“Your apartment?” Jesse grimaced. “I’m in no state.” As if in agreement, below the water his erection bobbed against her, sending a shock through her system. They definitely weren’t finished.

“I’ll be your shield,” she offered. “I just want to get out of the pool before we end up arrested for public indecency.”

He came close to smiling. “Yeah, that’s all I need on my record.”

She blinked. Okay, here I am asking an ex-con into an expensive apartment that’s not even mine, with an open invitation to perform unspeakably lewd and lascivious acts upon my naked body. Can I get any more risky?

“How do we do this?” Jesse asked.

“We find our clothes, for starters.” She pushed out of his arms and paddled toward the steps, remembering she’d tossed her top somewhere in the vicinity.

Jesse stood and stopped her when she’d climbed halfway out of the pool to reach for the abandoned garment. “Estrella.” His arm crooked around her neck and head, pulling her toward himself. He kissed her. Sweetly, with a gentle tongue.

She passed a hand over her face, ostensibly swiping up the droplets. “What was that for?”

“You’re safe,” he said. “I’m not dangerous.”

“I know that.” And she did. Not with one-hundred percent certainty, because that could only come over time—which they didn’t have, she realized with a pang—but there was something inside her saying that Jesse wasn’t like Tony. His gallantry might be grudging, and he showed little emotion, but he would never hurt her. She felt safe with him. A minor miracle, that was, after the length of time she’d gone when she’d wanted no contact with men at all.

Safe, but quaking with an anticipation that verged on trepidation. Make sense of that.

She grabbed her top, then swam to the deep end to find her skirt, taking the opportunity to cool her fevered body. Jesse climbed out of the pool as he was—sporting an erection that had scarcely subsided. Attempting to appear oblivious, she watched him out of the corners of her eyes while struggling into her wet clothing.

Oh my goodness. The sight of his engorged penis was riveting. Enough to bring a woman to her knees.

Estrella lurched suddenly off hers as he approached. She staggered and he caught her elbow, keeping her steady as she led the way inside beneath the lush trees and towering palms, finding the set of keys she’d zipped into her skirt pocket. Once inside, she peeked into the atrium lobby, found it echoing and vacant, then took his hand and rushed him through to the elevator, a compartment paneled in stainless steel with diamond-patterned quilting.

The walls were reflective. She peered closer, pushing wet hair out of her eyes. Not bad, though she was sodden and bedraggled while Jesse remained arrestingly sexy. Since he hadn’t dried off, his wet skin had already soaked through his shirt and trousers, making them clingy and transparent in various appealing spots. Especially those areas that highlighted his virility.

She started to thank the gods that they were alone, but luck wasn’t with her. A hand reached through the elevator doors just as they were closing.

Jesse stepped back, pulling her in front of him. An older man nattily dressed in a fitted suit entered the compartment, took a look at them and spun on one heel to face the doors, his narrow face hollowing in disapproval. He punched in his floor. Fourteen.

Complete silence. The elevator rose. Estrella couldn’t help but stare at the back of the third passenger’s head, where his closely cropped silver hair revealed a pink bald spot. She willed him not to turn around. She was in no state to withstand questions.

Jesse pressed a fingertip to the small of her back. The touch felt like the burned head of a matchstick applied to a bruise. She had to smother a yelp.

The other man glanced over his shoulder. “Been swimming, I see.”

Estrella recognized him, but not by name. “Yes, we had an impulsive dip.” She plucked at the sagging yarn of her top. It dripped like a used dishrag. Even though Jesse wasn’t as wet as she, a puddle was forming around their feet. “I’ll be sure to, um, wipe up the elevator.”

“Hmph.” The man looked at Jesse and raised a supercilious eyebrow.

Jesse must have responded with his own look, because the tenant quickly faced forward again. Estrella’s eyes went to Jesse’s reflection in the steel doors and met the hard black glare that she found strangely exciting. She was reminding herself to breathe when his hand dropped to her rear end. She tried to reach behind herself to grab hold but he avoided her. Seconds later, he lifted the back of her skirt. A wash of cool air touched bare skin. Her panties were missing.

She elbowed him. Jesse’s left hand closed on her shoulder. His right grazed her exposed bottom. She cleared her throat. The tenant moved his head slightly, trying to see without actually turning to look.

Estrella pasted on a pleasant smile, praying for the elevator to move faster.

“I’ve seen you before,” the man blurted as Jesse traced a finger along the seam between her cheeks.

Oh God. She was in trouble now.

“Aren’t you the—?”

“Here we are,” she interrupted. “Fourteen.” Bing. The elevator doors slid open. “Have a good evening.”

She kept an ungiving smile on her face as the man departed, exhibiting a quizzical look as if he wanted to say more. She’d only been in and out of the building every weekday for more than a year, but she supposed he’d never seen her as a real person. Fortunate for her, at the moment.

Jesse squeezed her ass as the doors closed, and this time she turned and socked him in the rock-hard gut. “There are mirrors all over this elevator. He might have seen!”

“He was a prig. You should have flashed him.”

“You should have flashed him.”

“Didn’t want the guy to get too excited.”

“He’ll be complaining to the condo board as it is.”

“What’s to complain about? A beautiful tenant, spicing up his ride in the elevator with a little gratuitous nudity?” Jesse caught her around the hips, rucking her skirt up beneath his fingers.

She smiled, pushing it down in front. “You are beautiful, in a ruthless way.”

“No, you are.” He nodded with his chin. “Look.”

She swiveled her head to take in the steel-and-mirror enclosure, and saw multiple angles of her naked butt, pale and marbled against the contrast of his brown hands. With a helpless moan, she buried her head against his chest.

“Pretty little dirty girl.” He palmed her cheeks, pressing her closer against the fullness at his crotch. Lazily she rocked her hips. His erection had subsided somewhat, but she soon felt the swelling and lengthening that signaled how well his equipment worked. Her own warming arousal answered as her mind filled with erotic images of what she could do once she had him in private.

Or had him right there, right now.

She tried to shake away the temptation. The hell he wasn’t dangerous. He made her forget herself.

And his damned talented fingers were tickling between her thighs again.

Estrella’s head snapped back. A terrible thought had cut through. “Security cameras!”

Jesse immediately pulled down her skirt. At the same moment, the elevator stopped and the doors opened on the lobby—empty, luckily. She stared out, dumbfounded for a moment before it occurred to her that after the other man had exited, they’d forgotten to press the button for sixteen. The car had automatically returned to the ground floor.

She slapped at the panel, closing the doors, then hit the sixteen before looking up. Sure enough, there was a camera high in one corner, filming their every action. She cringed. Please don’t let there be one at the pool.

She pointed the camera out to Jesse. “You’re a bad influence on me. Look at all the trouble I’m in.”

He laughed, the bastard.

“Maybe I should show you what it’s like,” she said. “See how you enjoy being at my mercy.”

He held his arms open. “You can try.”

“You think I won’t?” With a mighty shove that moved him only because he allowed it, she backed him into a corner and attacked the front of his shirt, giving it a good wrench that popped a couple of buttons. They pinged off the stainless steel paneling. Clean-up on Elevator One.

“I’ll sew them back on,” she said while staring at his naked chest.

His laugh made a number of muscles ripple. She wasn’t sure what she’d said to get him to laugh—she wasn’t thinking too clearly again—but she hoped he’d do it often. Her hands reached out, spreading over his chest like a Braille reader. Watching him ripple was nice, but feeling him ripple was better.

She stroked the corrugated slab of his stomach. The heaviness and heat below his waistband drew her, but she resisted by traveling upward. Jesse gripped the steel rail that circled the enclosure and rested his head against the wall while she experimented on him, prodding and petting, tasting and teasing, peppering small kisses over the expanse of warm rounded muscle until she reached his shoulder, where she scraped back the damp cotton and opened her mouth wide, making an unabashed glutton of herself as she slurped with her tongue like a child with a melting ice cream cone. A moan rumbled in Jesse’s chest.

The elevator stopped; the doors opened. Reluctantly Estrella raised her head. She hadn’t even managed to get his shirt all the way off. Only his biceps were—

Her eyes widened. Ice crackled in her veins. An inch below the glistening skin where her mouth had been was a tattoo. Somehow, she’d missed it up to now.

Maybe she’d blocked it out on purpose, she realized, as the bottom of her stomach dropped out. It wasn’t a large tattoo—only a simple line drawing that had faded to the point where she had to stare to make it out. A curling wave, vaguely Japanese in style, with a moon above.

Not a threatening tattoo, so why had she backed all the way across the elevator? Why was she reaching for the doors, to be sure they didn’t close and trap her inside?

“What’s wrong?” Jesse said, coming toward her with his shirt hanging off his forearms.

She stiffened. He stopped.

“You have a tattoo.” It was nothing. Nothing. No reason to get all psycho.

“Yeah. And a couple on the other arm too.” He lifted his right shoulder to show her. “Just small ones, from years ago.”

She didn’t want to look. Or explain. But he deserved something, because suddenly her entire body was a Popsicle. Her teeth would be chattering if she hadn’t clenched them so tight. “I’m s-sorry. I have a thing about tattoos.”

“I don’t get it.”

“An aversion.”

Jesse frowned. “They’re only tattoos.”

The doors started to close and again she put her hand out to block them. “I can’t help it. I know it’s irrational, but they turn me off. Tattoos remind me of some—they bring back bad memories.”

Jesse was breathing heavily. He clenched his hands. “I’ve had them all along. Why would they matter now?”

There was no good answer for that. She looked away, her previous trepidation rising too high to deny. One foot edged over the elevator threshold into the hallway. It was all she could do not to bolt. “I didn’t notice before. You’re very tanned and I . . . I . . .”

She was miserable. And even though the hot animal attraction was gone, she could still remember every bit even if she couldn’t feel it. She hated having to leave him, aroused and frustrated.

But that was what she must do.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking into his eyes and pleading for an understanding that she knew he couldn’t offer. Given her open provocation, she’d be lucky if he didn’t follow and break the apartment door down.

Jesse shook his head in disbelief. “Estrella . . .”

“I made a mistake,” she said. “Good-bye.”

And she turned and ran.