More Than Life
5
xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
Just do it.
Tess paced back and forth in her expensive hotel room in
it hard to believe that she was here.
The months since November had wizzed by,
almost faster than she could believe.
She’d gotten here 24 hours before, and had had just enough time to check
in, get some sleep, and worry herself to death.
Tomorrow she was supposed to go down to the bank and make a rather large
withdrawal from the bank from one of those offshore accounts that were in her
name. That would tip Keel – or someone like him – off to her whereabouts, and
after that, things would hopefully go according to Sands’ master plan.
Sands. Again, it came down to
Sands. It always seemed to come down to
him, it seemed. The man was
immovable.
What scared her was what would happen if she didn’t fit into his plans.
Not that she wasn’t used to that – she could take care of herself if
push came to shove.
That’s not what we were worrying about.
What they’d been worrying about was her continued . . . sensitivity to
Sands’ presence. The man had become a
hundred times more unnerving since regaining his sight and since ’d .’d . . .
.
around the rather large suite at the top of the San Antonio Hyatt hotel.
was on her own . . .so to speak.
somewhere, but she was going to be the one that everyone looked at.
rested on, and she couldn’t even make up her own mind about descending a
staircase.
You could invite him ure.
And do what?
air quotes that she felt her voice had used.
him by name?
went to the large windows that led out to the deck outside.
set a single foot outside, but the view was pretty, if reminiscent of
tower. Returning to her previous line of
conversation, she commented, Besides.
without someone knowing about it,
and I’m not an exhibitionist.
I
am.
Yes. And your body might end up
getting us in a lot of trouble if you can’t even keep from blushing uncontrollably
every time he looks at you sideways.
What happens if you’re on the job and catch sight of him?
a half, practically. Whether to
quo keep playing out for as long as she could maintain even the thinnest veneer
of a professional. As much as she didn’t
want to admit it – and d
admit it out loud – being . . . intimate with Sands again did have
Of course, it also had a downside – like him losing all respect for her, and her losing all respect of herself – but
the circular and repetitive conversations were nearly enough to make her scream
in frustration.
It was a matter of time now. The
only point up for debate was whether she was going to let any sort of sexual
relationship between them be her choice.
If she didn’t decide soon, someone
was going to take advantage of her indecision.
Either Sands or the voice, and neither choice was appealing.
It leaves you alone in you penthouse suite.
floor, knock on Sands’ door, then jump his bones.
have rather far-reaching consequences.
found herself crossing the room, moving from the windows to the door.
Like what? Her voice was
very skeptical, as if it knew that Tess was holding a very weak hand.
Which she was.
Well. . . .
Don’t play the pregnancy card, because we both know you’ve taken care of
that little inconvenience. Don’t try the
loss of respect one, because he really didn’t respect you much in the first
place, so you’ve nothing to loose. Don’t
tell me that you’re afraid of him, because I know you’re not.
wouldn’t be wasting time arguing with me.
The simple truth of the matter is you
that you do. Well, tough.
expect you to visit for, so you might as well use that to your advantage.
Tess paused with her hand on the doorknob to the room.
Think of it as an inoculation.
He’s a particularly nasty bug that you will continue to catch until you
become immune to him. To his voice, his
eyes, his touch . . . his body. You
clearly when the family comes calling; otherwise,
they’ll chew you up and spit you out, and neither of us wants to see that
happen.
so it held back its comment that Tess wanted to sleep with Sands again.
this inaction was wearing on all parts of Tess equally.
There was almost a hint of kindness to the voice that Tess didn’t
necessarily trust; she appreciated it, but she wasn’t sure how genuine it
was. How much of it was for her –
Tessa’s – wellbeing, and how much was for the voice’s own pleasure?
. . . .
Hesitantly, Tess opened the door to her room, making sure to grab a key
on her way out the door. She slowly
walked down the hallway, passing by the elevator in favor of the stairs.
Before she knew it, she was on Sands’ floor.
herself, she made her way to Sands’ room, stopping outside of it and tracing
the numbers on the door. 1013.
but she couldn’t think why. Se looked up
and down the hallway – it was completely empty.
Totally silent.
Glancing at her watch, she saw it was past
weren’t responding. No. I’ve changed my mind.
Grow
up.
Almost as if she were in a dream, Tess watched her right hand rise to
knock softly on the door. As soon as she
heard the sound of her knuckles meeting wood, her paralysis shattered, leaving
her uncertain and strangely excited.
******************************************************
Sands was a light sleeper.
open in his line of work. So when the
timid knock came on his door, his eyes slowly opened as his mind immediately
jumped to analyzing his surroundings.
He was alone and the room was semi-dark, the only light being provided
by the half-open door to the bathroom.
He was lying on top of the bed, dressed just in a pair of sweats.
For a moment he wasn’t even certain if he’d been wakened by anything
more than a dream. The room was silent,
nothing was disturbed, and he couldn’t even hear the sound of someone else
breathing. But just as he was about to
dismiss the sound of a knock as a figment of his imagination, it came
again. Just as quiet, just as timid,
just as polite as it’d been the first time.
Whoever was out there obviously wanted his attention, but didn’t want to
intrude.
Squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again, Sands really hoped
that it wasn’t that red-head from the bar earlier that night.
enough to look at – and had been an excellent person to flirt with – he hadn’t
been nearly interested enough in her to invite her up, even though it’d been
clear that she would have jumped at the opportunity.
more than how to tumble a sleepy-eyed woman outhis his bed.
-Knock, knock, knock-
out of bed, stretched, picked up his handgun, and walked to the door.
in his bare feet, he paused to look out the peephole at who was bothering him
at this time in the morning. To his
great surprise, it was Tessa. She was
standing just over the threshold of the doorway, her arms wrapped around
herself, and her head turned to look up and down the empty corridor.
the day, so had seen what she’d been wearing.
She was dressed the same now as she had been then.
He rolled his eyes and shook his head, briefly considering going back to
bed. But he’d seen just how close to the
edge of giving up his partner in crime was.
It wouldn’t take much to make her turn taid rud run back to
liked it or not, he did need her to make this all work.
‘comforting.’
Tess jumped in surprise when the door to Sands’ room flew open.
instead using that fear to freeze her muscles before she took off down the
hallway. Now that Sands had answered the
door, she couldn’t just make a lame excuse and leave.
Sands wasn’t sure what she was thinking as he looked into Tessa’s
Her eyes were enormous, shockingly blue in a face made pale with
tension. He fully expected her to start
trembling or break into tears at any minute . . . but she didn’t.
doe ready to run for cover, and looked at him.
Thrown a little off balance himself, Sands asked, “Can I help you?”
“I . . . umm . . . I couldn’t sleep.”
That was brilliant.
the doorway, motioning for her to come in.
Hesitantly, she did, trying to relax knotted muscles asds cds closed the
door behind her, and the light from the hallway was cut off, leaving them in a
murky twilight inside the room.
Sands noticed the stiff set of her shoulders.
imminent reunion with her family than he’d thought.
of mind, Tess missed the cautious concern in Sands’ voice.
discipline not to bolt. If this was how
just being near the man made her feel, then perhaps the voice was right.
She turned just in time to see Sands reach for a light-switch.
Don’t!” It was bad enough that
she was here without having to see everything in graphic detail.
dreamlike. Even the strange look on
Sands’ face was easier to deal with. “I
. . . I umm . . . it’s dark. I wouldn’t
want the light to hyouryour eyes.”
That sounded reasonable, but Sands could hear another motive in her
voice. A motive that sounded rather
closely related to desire, except jumpier.
He leaned back against the door, and waited for Tess to make the next
move. She’d come to him for something;
let her be the one to make the opening gambit.
And in the meantime, he’d like to see her face a bit more clearly.
Tess leaped forward when Sands turned on the lights to the room.
the lights back off, blinking to rid her eyes of the spots dancing in front of
them. “Please . . .”
“I’m used to seeing the people I’m talking to, niña.
Tessa’s hand, testing her grip. It was
firm, but in no way unrelenting. He
could free himself if he wished . . . but at the moment he decided that he
liked having Tess this close to him. In
fact, he was close enough to see the trace of shame that flitted over her face,
right before she tried to move away, moving to turn on the lights for
herself. For him.
Rolling his eyes again, Sands pulled Tess out of the small hallway into
the slightly larger sitting area. He
roughly sat her on the couch while he sat directly across from her on the
coffee table. For a moment silence was
once again allowed to reign heavily while Sands examined Tessa’s down-turned
face, trying to figure out exactly why she’d come to him.
When the silence had gone on long enough to become exponentially
uncomfortable, Tess finally looked up from her study of the rather
uninteresting carpet. She’d come this
far, she couldn’t turn back now without a complete loss of face.
were up to her. But that was what she’d
wanted, wasn’t it?
Biting her lip, she noticed that her hand was still holding on to his
wrist. The fact that he hadn’t pulled
free both confused and comforted her at the same time.
touched, so the knowledge that he hadn’t pulled free was somewhat
reassuring. Maybe things would work
after all.
Sands watched as Tess wet her lips with the tip of her tongue.
were slowly drifting up his arm to his torso, he felt the first buzz of arousal
at the base of his neck. When her eyes
finally met his – albeit briefly – that seed of desire burst into full
bloom. The look in Tessa’s eyes was that
of a woman who’d sought out a man with a certain outcome in mind.
the confidence she’d shown in coming here.
Tess felt shivers move down her spine at the sudden heat that flared in
Sands’ eyes. Sleeping lions. The thought
was disjointed, completely at odds from the way her eyes were roving over his
bare chest. The last time she’d been in
any position to do this, she’d been too focused on surviving the ordeal to take
in the landscape. But now . . . now she
was very aware of the color of his skin, of the way that skin stretched over
muscle and bone, of the way the hair on his forearms was standing because of
the slight chill in the room, and of his several tattoos.
shoulder, one on his left forearm, and another – smaller – one over his
heart. She vaguely remembered seeing
them when she’d given him that sponge bath over a year ago, but then – as a few
weeks ago – she’d had other things on her mind.
As much as Sands didn’t mind the admiration in Tessa’s eyes, he was
getting a bit bored with just sitting here and letting her look her fill.
she balked. “Relax,
conejo. I – ”
She shook her head, interrupting him.
“No. Not tonight.”
never. This thought she kept to
herself. Sands would be more cooperative
if he thought he would get his way later on.
Sands hadn’t missed the flash of fear that’d accompanied her
statement. He’d been wrong.
. . she was scared about being alone with him.
But she was here. And she was
taking the initiative. He wasn’t
of furniture. A mental image accompanied
that thought, and it was rather . . . inspiring.
Tess didn’t know where to go from here.
That is, she knew, but she
wasn’t sure about it.
Don’t tell me you need help with
descent. Are you honestly telling me
that you can’t figure this out on your own?
almost breathless, sounding ever so much more aroused than Tess felt.
rot. And if that doesn’t work, ask
a door slammed somewhere in Tessa’s mind.
Not a wooden door, but a glass one.
Enough to keep her out, but not enough to keep the voice from observing
the proceedings.
Tess looked up, both from her internal debate and her
intense study of Sands’ body. She
swallowed hard before looking Sands in the face, uncertain of what she would
find there. What she found was that she
was being subjected to an equally powerful stare and the sneaking suspicion that
Sands knew exactly what her problem
was. No
point in hiding it, then, I suppose.
Tessa wet her lips again, before whispering, “I don’t know what I’m
doing.”
The admission was almost enough to make Sands shove Tessa out the
door. Almost enough for him to end
things here and now and tell her to go back to her room and get some
sleep. Almost. It was the darker
side of him that clamped down on the whispered admission and held onto it.
daydream and more realistically pointed out that this was a good opportunity to
win some of her trust. Not to make her
his to keep, but his to manipulate and eventually abandon.
He ignored the small part of him that found his tactics despicable, and
focused instead on maintaining a cool head for the time being.
Tess was strangled until its cry was nothing more than a desire to be gentle
enough with Tess that she wouldn’t get scared.
He was already physically ready to take things farther . . . but Tess
was going to take persuasion. And he
looked forward to it, in a masochistic sort of way.
“What do you want to do?”
Tess listened to that question with a sense of disbelief.
problem. Okay. Calm down.
What’s something you enjoyed the . . . the last time?
liked kissing.
The woman across from him didn’t answer, but her eyes did lock onto his
lips for more than a moment, before rising to meet his gaze again.
that seemed apparent enough. Moving
slowly, doing his best not to startle Tess, Sands moved to sit beside her on
the couch. Tess swallowed hard when she
found herself so much closer to Sands, but the way her heart was speeding up
was . . . it felt good. She shivered,
suddenly cold and the need to be warm was more than she could stand.
Sands watched as Tess folded one leg under her to make
his jaw. For a moment her newfound
incentive wavered, torn between the desire to conquer new territory – the spot
right behind his ear – and the need to reacquaint herself
with familiar territory – his mouth. The
unknown proved to be too much of a daunting choice, though.
jaw until she’d reached his lips. She pulled
away for a moment to study his face, her own countenance deadly serious, before
closing the inches separating them.
She almost hummed in satisfaction when Sands met her but didn’t
overwhelm her. Last time he’d dominated
her, this time he was . . . letting her play.
Explore. Accustom
way he tasted.
It was hard for Sands to sit still and keep his hands to himself until
she was ready. Tess was being so
torturously slow that he was tempted to speed things up.
against her better judgment, then surely it’d be even easier to get her into
bed when she was here of her own free will.
But the fear that’d been in her eyes came back to his mind, and he
resisted the urge to strip her shirt from her and press her back against the
couch cushions. She hadn’t been scared
the last time.
Tess was trying to catalogue and analyze everything she felt as she felt
it, but was failing miserably. The
entire point of this had been to help get used to the way he made her felt, but
how could she when she couldn’t process the sensations running through her
body? Maybe she just needed to change
their contact.
Slowly, carefully, Tess parted her lips.
Hesitantly, she ran the tip of her tongue over his lips, asking
permission for more, for deeper contact.
Sands readily opened, fighting to keep from taking over the kiss.
lost. Any thought of analyzing was
lost. All that was left was desire,
uncertainty, and a trace of fear. Fear
she wanted to lose.
Sands noticed when Tessa’s kiss changed from tentative to
it was nice, he wondered at the change.
He pulled away from Tess, watching her face as her eyes opened.
that’d made him hesitate before was still there.
leave. It would be painful . . . .
“Please. . . .” Tessa’s whisper
jolted Sands back to reality. There was
no way in hell he was going to let her go.
She was simply too sexy for her own good at the moment.
genuinely uncertain instead of coy . . . or at least, it was something he’d
rarely found. The chance to be the one
to make that fear go away was too good to pass up.
Tessa’s eyes widened as the wrist she was still holding, twisted to grab
her wrist.
an aura of suppressed violence around him at the moment.
started?” Yes.
When she nodded, Sands used his hold on her arm to pull her closer to
him, before changing his mind and pulling her to her feet after him.
inside the door and pulling her against his body.
starting at her neck, and moving up.
Tessa’s eyes drifted closed as he kissed neck, ear, throat, chin,
cheekbones, temple, nose, lips. Her head
was rolling on her neck by the time Sands finally deepened the kiss.
time. Perhaps she’d been right to do
this after all.
“I want to lie down on the bed with you.”
Tess nodded, giving her consent.
Her knees were starting to feel shaky, and she didn’t want to
collapse. So when Sands moved towards the
bed, still kissing her, still holding her head in his hands, she went with
him. By this time, room in Sands’ sweats
was getting scarce. He didn’t know what
it was about Tess that made him so . . . eager . . . to get inside her, but he
was.
Tess could feel him growing hard against her, and it simply made her
slip farther under the surface of desire.
She could feel her own body responding, growing open to his
advances. The need to be close to him
was the bass-line in the sound of her blood rushing through her ears.
the hem of her light sweater. She had to
pull away to get it over her head, but the moment it was, she pressed against
him, pressing so close he was forces to raise his arms and wrap them around
her. One rested warmly on her hip,
pulling her against his rather noticeable arousal, while the other traveled up
her neck to the hooks of her bra. She
rested her head against Sands’ shoulder as he released the fastenings and
pulled the bra strap down her arm. Tess pulled
far enough away to let the undergarment drop from her body, but not enough for
Sands to easily goggle her bare breasts.
The moment the scrap of cotton and lace hit the floor, she was pressing
her body against his again, hiding herself from his sight, if not his hands.
“Tessa.” Sands could feel
frustration building in him, despite his decision not to push her too far.
Tess shook her head like a child, refusing to move away.
the hollow of his throat, lightly sucking at the skin.
skin, his hands gave up trying to push her away and instead pulled her
closer. He muttered something about
stubborn women, but before she could decipher his comment, she was on the bed,
landing on her side with Sands still holding onto her.
Breaking away from her current activities, Tess took the opportunity to
catch her breath and luxuriate in the way Sands’ chest felt against hers.
wasn’t obvious if someone simply looked
at him.
“Like what you see?”
Tess nodded, closing her eyes as Sands rolled her onto her back.
his body stayed close to hers, and the only thing she felt was his hand closing
around her neck.
Tessa’s eyes shot open as she remembered how easily he could choke
her. The only thing she found was a look
of complete seriousness on his face. His
hands stayed undemanding as it slid from her neck, across her collarbones, down
an arm, and up her side from her hip before finally coming to rest over a
breast. He didn’t touch her, didn’t say
anything – just kept his hand hovering close enough for her to feel the heat of
it, but none of the substance. “Your
choice, niña.”
She knew he was serious. If she
wanted, she could get up and leave right now.
But only right now. After this it
would be too late. But this was what she
wanted. What she’d been wanting. It was just as
dangerous as playing with fire . . . but that was part of it.
Decision made, Tess purposefully arched her back into Sands’ warm hand,
sighing as he quickly increased the pressure.
Her legs tangled with his as he lavished attention on her chest.
mouth were creating were so intense that she placed both hands on his chest and
tried to push him away, but he fought.
Her eyes opened, locking on the sight of her brown hands against his
paler skin. He was so
absently wondered if it intrigued him as well.
Tess didn’t know how much time passed before Sands tried to get into her
pants. All she knew was that he was
stepping dangerously close to the line of taking all the power, and that’s not
what she wanted. She wasn’t a toy to be
played with or a doll to be dressed and undressed.
Sands bit back a curse, but did as Tess asked, although he knew it
wouldn’t be for long. If she didn’t make
her point soon, he’d make them both forget about it.
more than to get Tess out of her clothes and underneath his body as he thrust
into her. Or above him, or next to him,
or a multitude of other positions.
“Tessa –”
Tess whispered, “That’s not what I meant.
Taking a deep breath, she continued even more quietly than before, “I
wanted you to let me take my pants off . . . so you could take care of yours.”
Sands closed his eyes and rested his head on her shoulder for a moment,
giving silent thanks to anyone who was listening.
weeks. With a groan, he rolled off to
the side, and got rid of his sweats; the procedure took less than ten seconds.
Tess took a bit more time, self-consciously stripping off her khakis,
hesitating, then deciding to take off her underwear as
well. She wasn’t going to need it.
her arms over her chest and looking at Sands, waiting for some cue as to what
to do next.
Unable to keep his hands to himself, Sands pulled Tessa’s arms away from
her chest before rolling her back onto her back, his chest resting on hers as
he kissed her deeply. This was it.
could occur before getting to the main event, although, he had the feeling that
some more was going to prove necessary.
Tess was still tense underneath him, and while her body reacted, she
wasn’t nearly relaxed enough for the type of invasion that sex usually
required.
Tess gasped when Sands latched onto one nipple with his mouth, roughly
rolling it with his tongue. She was so
focused on the way that felt, that she was totally
oblivious to the hand that traveled down her body.
thigh and buttocks met, she did
notice though, her back arching and the muscles of her abdomen clenching.
Sands was greatly pleased by the discovery.
She couldn’t stop the weak cry that escaped her mouth when he started
kneading the large muscles of her thigh.
Sands smirked as her legs parted incrementally, unable to stay tensed as
he massaged her thighs. He took full
advantage of that, his other hand moving between her legs to gently rub against
her clit. He was prepared for the way
her body arched, but he wasn’t prepared for the scream that emerged from her
throat. He hadn’t thought she was a
screamer. If she was, he was going to
have to muffle that – there were people in the rooms to either side of his.
Rising up on one forearm, he kissed her again as his finger toyed with
the small button of flesh that’d gotten such a large reaction just moments
before. This time, she did nothing more
than let out a small moan, her body shuddering as she suddenly found herself on
sensation overload.
Sands found himself with an armful of senseless female, to his great
amusement. Again, he was struck by how
much about Tess was different than anyone, but her
reactions, her biology was the same. And
it was certainly some good looking biology.
Carefully, he slipped a single finger inside Tess, watching as her eyes
popped open, her eyes searching him out.
She almost looked shocked at finding herself here, with him, and for a
moment he paused his actions.
He wasn’t really surprised when Tess moved away from him, her hair in
her face and her eyes still watching him.
He was surprised when she
halted her retreat and came back to huddle against him.
what was happening. If she was going to
loose it on him, he wanted to be able to restrain her.
What was running through Tessa’s mind was nothing so
serious as that. She’d simply had to
stop before he could bring her to release.
It’d been too intense. She wanted
to come with him inside her. But to do
that, she needed to take a break.
Besides, Sands hadn’t been giving her a chance to return the favor.
When he didn’t move to hold her or to even touch her, Tess tilted her
head back to look at him. “What’s
wrong?” she asked quietly.
“You’re all there?”
For a moment Tess felt disgust and shame roll over her, but then she
realized he was just being cautious. It
wasn’t anything against her – it was a display of how long he’d
she’d done to distract him. Well, she
was going to have to correct that oversight.
Instead of answering, Tess pulled his head down for a kiss at the same
time her free hand found one of his nipples.
She rolled her thumb over it as she kissed him deeply, nipping his
bottom lip as her fingers pinched him, making him gasp.
When Tess laughed softly at his reaction, Sands retaliated, kissing her
harshly while he used his superior body weight to push her to the bed.
while her hands cautiously started exploring his back.
skin, the interplay of flesh and musculature fascinating her.
It was Sands turn to arch his back as Tess ran her hands up and down his
spine. Their mouths were still fused,
although the kiss was quickly growing hungry.
Sands rested his hands on Tessa’s hips, pulling them up off the mattress
as he rested his arousal against her belly.
Tess groaned into his mouth, trying to turn them so she could get her
hands between their bodies, but Sands didn’t let her.
control and a premature release. If Tess
tried to wrap her strong hands around him . . .
Tess reveled in the sound that escaped Sands as she managed to squeeze a
single hand between them to stroke his stiffened length.
manacle-like hand wrapped around her wrist before she could touch him
again. Clearly, something were off
limits at the moment, although she lacked the breath to ask why.
Sands proved to have more motivation . . . or at least more
desperation. “Part your legs for me,
niña.” He ached, he was so hard.
or he was going to have a stroke.
Tess sighed, but did so, trying to pull Sands’ head back down to hers.
kissing, and Sands had a very nice mouth, and . . . her thoughts trailed off as
she felt something pressing against her opening.
finger.
Sands held his breath as he entered Tess.
if she weren’t exactly comfortable, so he moved slower, pulling back and
pressing on in short, slow, thrusts.
Tess could feel impatience building up inside her at his leisurely pace,
but she couldn’t catch her breath to tell him so.
could feel her diaphragm spasm, knocking the air from her lungs before she
could get an actual breath. “Sands!” she
gasped. He froze, and she took a deep
breath, before hitching her legs up around his hips.
Cocking his head, Sand did as she asked, ramming his hips into hers
before once again freezing. Tess was the
picture of a pleasured woman – her head was thrown back, her mouth parted in a
silent cry, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.
hair, and pulled her head to lie flatly on the pillow, attacking her lips as he
tried not to ravage her body. She was
still new to this and he didn’t want to hurt her.
have any reason not to do this again.
Tess moved with Sands as he at first began to move inside her with
shallow thrusts. She could feel the
sweat breaking out on his body, could feel the way his skin slid over hers as
she tried to move closer to him. As she
tried to get him to speed up. His
slowness was torture, the shallowness of his thrusts did nothing more but give
her a taste of what real contact would feel like.
Sands groaned when Tess breathlessly asked for more.
snapped completely. Tess suddenly found
herself being ridden hard as Sands dominated her mouth with his.
his lack of restraint. Within moments
she was coming, with shocking strength.
Her arms tightened around Sands’ bos shs she ripped her mouth from his,
trying to breathe through the pleasure and Sands’ continued battery.
either. The feel of Tessa’s body
gripping and pulling at him was too much to stand.
own groans in the pillow under her head.
******************************************************
Tess groaned as a buzzer went off
by her head. She rolled and buried her
head in her pillow, taken aback when her nose picked up an unfamiliar
scent. Confused, she rolled over, looking
around the room with eyes that were nothing more than slits in her face.
wide open.
For a moment she was confused when she realized this wasn’t her room,
but almost immediately she remembered the events of the previous night.
It’d been after
she’d come down here. To see Sands.
Yes,
but for scientific reasons.
‘scientific.’
completely naked. Wrapping the sheet
around her, she slammed the alarm clock to turn it off.
up now, she wouldn’t be able to for another hour, and housekeeping made their
rounds at
didn’t want her here when they came around.
They couldn’t have any connects between them . . . at least not visible
ones.
Climbing out of the bed, Tess cautiously poked her head into the small
bathroom – it was empty. As was the rest
of the hotel room. Sands was gone, his
bags nowhere to be seen, any trace of him having been here gone, except for
Tess herself.
Looking around the room, Tess found her clothes, stacked in a sloppy
pile on a nearby chair. She abandoned
the sheet and got dressed, not bothering to put on her shoes.
some sort of outfit that would make her look like some sort of socialite with
old money. Not the Paris Hilton and
Brittney Spears look that was so popular, but more along the lines of . . .
someone on their way to a charity auction for orphans in
Not to mention there were no memories of Sands lying in wait for her in
her own room.
It’s Ok, ****************************************************** Tess stood in front of the mirror, ****************************************************** The lobby of the hotel was
Unfortunately, the previous night wasn’t that easy to put out of her
head. Again, she opted to take the
stairs instead of the elevator, not wanting to run into anyone who would wonder
why she was looking so disheveled so early in the morning.
out,” she muttered. “I’m really not sure
this is worth it.” With every step, Tess
felt the muscles of her legs and some other rarely used muscles complaining
that she was taking the stairs too fast.
Every step was a reminder that she’d had sex, not once, but twice, the
night before. She felt her face breaking
out into embarrassed flames, but she didn’t feel all that
regretful or repentant.
>
Why is that odd? So you figured
out you’re a woman, and you’re a woman who enjoys men.
been asleep. Just don’t get used to it.
enemy.
room. No. I won’t live like that. I
donb stb style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>want to live like that.
true though. Perhaps they’re not all out
to kill
you, but they’ll all take advantage of you.
And Sands wouldn’t regret it.
He’d say it’s your own fault for being so trusting.
be trusting.
you be naive and I’ll keep us alive.
that you think I’ll get myself killed without your eye constantly on me.
undressed again, folding her dirty clothes and putting them in the cloth bag
she always took her her on trips for that purpose.
There’s worse things than death, Teresa.
You tha that.
She did. But wasn’t something she
needed to ponder as she was getting ready to let the world of organized crime
in
All of which I’ll experience if I’te gte getting to the bank.
He’s had everything else.
making last moment adjustments to her hair and clothing.
and successful without drawing anyone’s eyes to her.
he che cartel compound. If a single hair
was out of place, she would be punished, and the longer she went without
attracting anyone’s attention, the better.
But that wasn’t the look she was striving for today.
confident, and in charge. It wasn’t
everyday someone withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars, and not everyone
would be allowed to do so . . . especially from accounts as closely guarded as
the ones she was attempting to access.
Whatever bank official she ended up dealing with could not be allowed to
harbor a single doubt as to who she was.
Hence, the $300 outfit she was wearing.
It’d taken her some time to decide what she was going to wear.
suits which were perfectly acceptable for a professor at a small community
college. But that wasn’t the image she
wanted to project. After searching
through her closet several times and dismissing every item that was meant for
cold
convey the image she wished to project.
First, there was the long black wrap-around skirt.
side, giving the illusion that the skirt really had been wrapped around her
waist several times. On top of that was
a sleeveless mock turtleneck in a shade of deep, rich, turquoise blue, meant to
emphasize her eyes. She’d wanted to wear
red – it was such a warm, friendly, forgiving color – but the entire point of
this exercise had been to help her look
like a spoiled heiress or some jet-setter.
And that meant enhancing her natural features whenever she could.
wear a long black duster. It was one of
her favorite things to wear because she loved the way the sleeves belled out
around her hands.
To complement that, she was wearing silver bangle-bracelets and a pin of
silver and turquoise that’d been worked in the shape of a turtle.
her hair was enough to harouaround her face.
If >If there was one thing she would say, it was she liked her hair.
was only slightly above average – although it was plain when she compared it to
what Ajedrez had looked like – but her hair was a dark ash brown, wavy, and
grown a little past her shoulders. When
she fastened part of it behind her head with a silver hairclip, two sds hds hung
down to frame her face.
I suppose I look presentable,
she thought, although my bangs could use
a trim. She smiled softly when her
mind pulled up a thought from a book she’d once read – one of the Little House
books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
about lunatic fringe; that’s what they called bangs.
A buzzer went off in the other room.
With a deep sigh to bolster herself, Tess left
the bathroom, picked up her purse and her attaché, grabbed a room key, and went
downstairs. It was time to do this.
Whether she felt like she could do it or not.
busy. There was the pre-lunch crowd that
was leaving and the lunch crowd that was arriving, not to mention a bus-load of
tourists who appeared to be checking out.>
Tess easily threaded her way through the crowd, staying on the fringes,
skirting the potted plants. There was a
tense moment when she nearly collided with an overeager bellboy, but she did
manage to get past the door man and outside to freedom without incident.
the bank. She knew what b but but not
where it was. Taxi then, she thought with a silent groan.
taxies. They were dirty, and their
drivers were usually dirty, and they drove too fast and too recklessly . . .
but she really didn’t have much of a choice.
She couldn’t ask for directions because she couldn’t keep a map straight
in her head, and she didn’t want to end up walking miles to get therywayyway.
“Miss?”
and saw the doorman standing there. The
man was ancient; his face was lined with more wrinkles than she could count and
his shoulders were stooped, but he had a kind smile on his face.
“Yes. I need a taxi.”
The old man nodded and took her by the elbow, leading her over to a taxi
that had just pulled up to the curb.
“Where are you going, miss?”
“Winston and Harnel, the bank.”
The doorman escorted her to the door of the cab, opening it for her and
lending a hand as she got in.< sty style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Then he
closed the door and told the cabbie where she was going.
bank.
The ride was completed in silence, something for which Tess was
eternally grateful. In her admittedly
limited experience, cabbies liked to talk.
And she wasn’t adroit at making small-talk at the best of times . . . of
which this wasn’t. All her energy was
focused on one thing at the moment – keeping perspective on everything.
be for another two or three days at the least before anyone tracked her
down. That would be time enough to
prepare for her return to
“I’m charging you for using my backseat as a sitting room, lady.”
Tes>Tess jumped, suddenly a tha that the car wasn’t moving any longer.
Gathering her belongings, Tess got out of the cab, blinking in the harsh
sunlight. With one hand she dug her
sunglasses out of her purse while turning back to the cabbie who
was still waiting for his fee. “Can you
wait for me?” The man was gruff, but she
didn’t want to go through the hassle of finding another cab during the lunch
hour.
“I dunno. Can you afford to have
me wait?”
“Yspanspan style='mso-spacerun:yes'> And there’ll be a fifty
dollar tip in it for you.” The cabbie
nodded, turning off his engine. “Thank
you.” He grunted.