Twelve Days of Temptation (A Hot Holiday Novella) (Temptation #1) (4 page)

I don’t know that. Maybe if you told me who you were . . .

Not going to happen. Tell me about the bath. Did you think about anyone while you were soaping yourself? Did it make you so hot you had to stroke yourself until you came?

Honestly? No and no. But it was nice. The candles are my favorite scent.

Brock sank onto his couch and groaned.
Nice? Seriously?
The phone beside him beeped with an incoming message.

The music was beautiful, too.

So much for the articles that said a romantic bath always put women in the mood for sex. There was no way in hell he was going to blow his one chance with Kate. He tossed the phone onto the other side of the couch and reached for his laptop. As it booted up, he cracked his knuckles and rolled up his sleeves.

He searched for popular female fantasies and studied them with determination. He scoured the Internet for what women were reading. His friends were wrong. It wasn’t one spicy book that women were talking about, it was the whole genre that was popular. The heat level of some of the romances made his eyebrows meet his hairline a few times. But he downloaded a few of them and read them like he was cramming for a college exam.

Kate Hale, prepare yourself.

This elf is going Alpha.

Kate lingered around her house the next day waiting for her doorbell to ring. This time she wasn’t even trying to pretend she wasn’t waiting. The day before, the package had arrived early, but today lunchtime came without a delivery.

When Kate returned from making herself lunch in the kitchen, either the doorbell hadn’t rung or she hadn’t heard it because there on her porch was her next gift. It was wrapped as the first two had been and was larger than the day before’s. Kate hurriedly carried it to her kitchen table.

She tore it open without hesitation. Inside were several smaller boxes. She opened the first and found a pair of jeans. She laughed and sent a text.

Jeans?

Is that all you’ve opened so far?

Yes. But why would you send me jeans? I’m totally confused.

I like them. They’ll make your ass look amazing. And you’ll wear them tonight.

I will?

You will. Open the rest of the boxes, Kate.

The next contained a bottle that looked like perfume. She read its label. Pheremones. The description said they enhanced a woman’s attractiveness.

So, you don’t like how I dress, and you think I need help attracting men? Thanks. I’m not feeling naughty; I’m feeling insulted.

The problem, Kate, is you’re overthinking things. It holds you back. The jeans are because I like jeans. The pheromones are because you need confidence. So, tonight, you’ll go to a bar and meet someone.

Why would I do that?

Because you want to please me. And you will. Tonight. Open the last box, Kate.

Kate did, and her eyes rounded. Two silver Ben Wa balls were laid out in a box pretty enough to have held jewelry. They were attached to each other by a short string. A small silver remote control was in the box next to them.

I have no idea what to do with those.

That’s okay, we’ll learn together.

You don’t know either?

There was a pause before he texted
:
I meant I’ll teach you.

Kate knew she should be creeped out by receiving such an intimate object from a man who claimed to be an elf. However, she wasn’t. In fact, for some reason she couldn’t understand, she was beginning to trust him.

Okay.

Take off whatever you’re wearing and insert them.

Right now?

Yes.

I feel like I should wash them first.

Okay, go wash them, then insert them.

Kate did. They were cold at first, but not in an unpleasant way. She clenched her vaginal muscles around them, at first afraid they would fall out
.
They’re in.

Now put on the jeans.

With them inside me?

Yes. Don’t take them out until I tell you to.

Kate put her undies back on, then pulled on the jeans. They fit snuggly, removing her worry that a ball would drop to the floor
.
The jeans fit perfectly.

I don’t care about the jeans. How do the balls feel?

They’re interesting.

I think it gets better when you start to walk around with them.

You think?

Walk around, Kate.

Kate took a lap around her couch and had to admit the balls’ movement inside her excited her. Not orgasm hot, but a warmth that spread through her. She texted
:
I heard these are good for a woman’s health, too.

Stop thinking, Kate. Go get the remote. Turn it on.

Kate turned the dial all the way and gasped.
Whoa, that’s too high.
She lowered the vibration.
I can see why people like this.

Tell me how it feels.

Kate hesitated, then texted
:
It’s amazing. I can feel myself getting wet. I had no idea it would feel that good.

That’s your G-spot, Kate.

I like it.

Good. But don’t like it too much. You can’t come until I tell you to.

You can’t tell me what to do. I don’t even know you.

I’m already telling you. And you’re doing it. You know why? Because I will get you the mind-blowing fuck you’ve always wanted. But only after you follow my rules. For the next nine days.

I will?
She thought about what little else she had to look forward to and texted:
Okay.

Then leave the balls in, Kate. Every hour, I want you to turn them on for five minutes. Then turn them off. But don’t remove them. Tonight, go to Grady’s Bar at nine and keep them in. Wear those jeans on your perfect little ass, and spray your neck with what’s in that bottle. Don’t leave until you have the phone number of a man you find attractive. That’s the man you’ll picture when you return home and I finally let you come. That’s the face you’ll see when you stroke yourself tonight.

Will you be there?

No. This isn’t about me, Kate. It’s about you. The bath was only disappointing because you let it be. You should have had your fingers pumping in and out of yourself while imagining someone fucking you. Try it again tomorrow, and picture the man you meet tonight. But nothing happens between you and him unless I say so. Understood, Kate? You’re mine. Not his. Only fuck him if I tell you to.

The game was suddenly felt very real, and Kate had a rush of doubt.
This is crazy. I can’t do this. I don’t like bars. I don’t like crowd
s
.

Kate?

I can’t do this.

Yes, you can.

You don’t understand. I can’t just walk into a bar and get a guy’s number. I get nervous around people I don’t know. I never know what to say.

Kate. You are a beautiful woman. You could say nothing and get someone’s number.

I think I’m going to throw up.

Even that wouldn’t stop a guy from giving you his number, Kate. But you’re not going to throw up. Get the remote. Keep turning the dial up until you stop thinking. A really good fuck starts in your head, Kate. Your head. You need to learn to turn off the noise. When you do, nothing will make you nervous.

Kate did just that, and a warm heat spread through her stomach. Soon the intensity of the stimulation had her gripping the side of the couch. If she kept it up, she knew she would come right then and there. She thought about what he’d said and turned them off. She could wait.

Do you have a name? I can’t keep thinking of you as an elf. It’s not very sexy.

You can call me Master.

Kate chuckled
.
That’s not going to happen.

You might like it. Try it.

Good-bye, Mr. Elf.

Until tonight, Kate. Don’t forget. Turn the balls on for five minutes every hour. And don’t take them out.

Kate didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. They both knew she was his to command. At least, for nine more days.

***

Brock changed his shirt three times as he cursed himself for not getting a haircut that week. It was eight thirty and he was a wreck. He faced himself in the mirror.

Calm the fuck down.

He needed to get his ass over to Grady’s before Kate arrived. He’d sent her to a bar he knew would be full of tattooed, drunk rednecks. If all went as planned, he would be an island of familiarity in an ocean of otherwise scary choices, and she would beeline it to him.

He didn’t want it to seem like he was expecting her, nor did he want to look like he didn’t belong there. He needed just the right outfit. He changed back into a light-blue button-down cotton shirt and jeans.

He sped over to Grady’s and rushed to order a beer as soon as he arrived. He’d barely planted himself on a stool at the bar when Kate walked in. A silence fell over the normally rowdy crowd as all turned to look at her.

She stood transfixed at the door with her eyes opened wide, looking like she was about to bolt. She scanned the crowd quickly, passing over Brock. Then her head snapped back around as she recognized him.

He raised his beer to her.

A relieved smile spread across her face, and she stepped into the bar. As she walked toward him, a delightful pink lit her cheeks, and Brock wanted to haul her out of there and into his bed. His cock throbbed with the same desire.

She stood beside Brock’s chair and looked up at him so shyly he almost felt guilty for being the reason she was there. “Hi,” she said softly.

“Hi, Kate. You look amazing.”

She blushed and looked away. “Thanks. Do you mind if I . . . I mean . . . if you’re with someone I don’t want to . . .”

Brock pulled an extra stool over. “Have a seat. I’m here alone.” She sat on the stool carefully, and Brock hid a smile.
She still has them in. Good.

“Me, too,” she said simply, clasping her hands in her lap.

“Want a beer?”

“I don’t drink beer. I’ll take a white wine, though.”

Brock ordered it for her, and she sipped it quietly beside him. To make sure there was no misunderstanding, Brock said, “I’m not dating anyone, Kate.”

She smiled as she took another sip of wine but didn’t meet his eyes. “I’m not either.”

Loud country music started playing in the background. Brock moved closer so she could hear him. “Do you want to dance?”

“Here?” She looked around in surprise. “No one is dancing.”

“Someone has to start,” he said as if he’d done it before. He took her hand and led her to an area of the bar that was more open. He would have pulled her closer, but he didn’t think she was ready for his raging hard-on. Not yet.

As they moved together with the music, he watched her face. She was flushed, and her eyes shone with an excitement he wasn’t sure had to do with him or with the movement of those balls inside her. He wondered if she was as wet as he was hard.
God, I could fuck her right here, right now. And not care who’s watching.

She looked up and met his eyes. “I thought your eyes were green, but now they look blue.”

“They’re somewhere in between,” he said, hoping he didn’t come right there while explaining his eye color to her. “They tend to look the color of the shirt I wear.”

“They’re beautiful,” she said, then blushed again and looked away.

“Why thank you, Kate.” He strove for a casual tone. “It’s nice to get a compliment now and then.”

She peered back up at him from beneath her long lashes. “You must get them often. You’re a good-looking man.”

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Kate Hale, what has gotten
into
you tonight?”

She pulled back, eyes wide, and stopped dancing for a moment. “What did you say?”

He was so turned-on he didn’t know what he was saying. “You don’t normally flirt, that’s all.”

“Oh, yeah.” She relaxed in his arms and began dancing with him again. “Sorry.”

He whispered in her ear again. “Don’t be. I like it.”

She shuddered beneath his touch, and Brock was tempted to call the game off and ask her to go home with him that night. But he didn’t want to rush her. When she came to him—and she would, on the twelfth day—he wanted her to do the asking, the begging.

“So, is there anything new?”

She swallowed visibly. “No.”

“The music is too loud to talk. Let’s get out of here. Want to go for a walk?”

She shuddered again. “Okay.”

They stepped out of the loud bar together and, despite the coats they’d grabbed on the way out, were hit with the frigid night air. He laughed. “I didn’t think this out well. It’s too cold for a walk. Do you want to go back inside?”