Free Flashback by Ella Ardent Page A

phone. “There you are!” She
crossed the room and threw her arms around him, her relief
tangible. She kissed him so sweetly that Rex was relieved himself.
“I was worried,” she scolded, holding his shoulders. “You were
going to stay here. Don’t frighten me like that again.”
    “Who were you talking to?”
    She rolled her eyes. “I was trying to talk
someone into doing me a favor. I was going to ask him to look for
you around town, or listen in at the copshop.” She framed his face
in her hands and smiled up at him. “I’m so glad you came back when
you did. I hadn’t told him anything yet.”
    “Someone?” Rex echoed.
    “He doesn’t know my name. I met him in a bar
once and we had vanilla sex. I was bored.” She shrugged. “Maybe
drunk, too.” She smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t have
risked anything. I was just worried about you.”
    Rex relaxed. He kissed her, then pulled away.
“How do you know the Count?”
    Leya looked momentarily confused. “What?”
    “He invited you to the Plume, didn’t he?”
    “Yes, but I thought he was asking on behalf
of the Plume.”
    “Did you know him before that?”
    “No, but I’d heard of the Plume.” She smiled
impishly. “I thought it was the proverbial invitation that couldn’t
be refused.” She brushed her lips across his, then slid her tongue
over her mouth. “And look who I found.” Leya’s hand slid down Rex’s
chest and she caressed him, coaxing his erection.
    Rex was losing the ability to think straight,
but he had a tough time worrying about it. He was with Leya. He had
nothing to think about except being with Leya.
    “We’re safe,” she whispered. “There’s wine
and there’s dinner. Maybe we should celebrate our escape.” She was
pushing down his jeans, peeling off his shirt, her lips on his
throat and her hands around his cock.
    “Did you get any condoms?” Rex managed to
ask.
    She swept away his reservations as easily as
she fed his desire. “What do we need them for?”
    “It’s Plume rules,” Rex began, but Leya put
her hand over his mouth.
    “We’re not at the Plume anymore, Rex, and
we’re not going back there.” Her dark gaze held him captive. “It’s
just you and me now.”
    “But...”
    “But I hate condoms. I don’t like how they
smell and I don’t like how they feel. I don’t like the implication
that I don’t trust you or that you don’t trust me.”
    Rex took a step back. “We have to be smart.
We have to be careful...”
    Leya laughed. “I think we’re past that, Rex.”
She unfastened his jeans, her gaze locked on his. “This is about
trust.” Her hand closed over his erection and he shivered as the
surety of her touch. “I trust you. Do you trust me?”
    “Of course I do.”
    “Then let’s stop talking about condoms,” she
said. Before Rex could argue, she dropped to her knees and took him
in her mouth. Her tongue rolled across him, flicking against the
tip of his penis, touching that tender spot right beneath the head,
driving all sensible thought from his mind.
    It was true. He felt more without a condom,
and he wasn’t quite ready to lose the full sensation of what Leya
was doing to him. Her tongue was wicked - and wonderful.
    He’d talk to her about it again, later.
    Much later.
    As he tangled his fingers in her short dark
hair, Rex had a thought that almost made him laugh aloud. He was
having vanilla sex, again.
    This had to be love.
    The funny thing was that the realization
didn’t worry him, not one bit. For years, he’d evaded long term
commitments, but it felt so right with Leya. They were two of a
kind and understood each other, anticipated each other, supported
each other.
    She was Rex’s future and he was glad.
     
    * * *
     
    Athena thought long and hard about Rex’s
safeguards at the Plume after she left the Count’s house. She
walked as she thought, taking satisfaction in the decisive click of
her heels on the pavement. She didn’t care where she