Poker Posse 1: Looking at Rose Read online

  It took a moment for him to put a name to the man’s face. “Boudreaux, right?”

  The man gave a nod but didn’t move. “Correct.”

  It wasn’t the black leather the man wore or the deep, rumbling voice that carried the same Southern drawl Ibraham had grown used to over the last year that made him ease the door shut and take his time approaching the desk. It was the air of menace that surrounded Boudreaux. Ibraham had sensed it in other doms over the years, the ones who skirted the edge not only in the lifestyle but in life itself. He might have a few inches on the man, but he didn’t doubt Jake Boudreaux had no qualms about fighting dirty.

  Ibraham took a bite of his danish, then washed it down with a sip of his coffee before asking, “Was there something you needed from me?”

  “Tell me what you want with Rose.”

  The tension tightening Ibraham’s muscles was instantaneous. It was clear the other man saw it, if the slight smirk on Jake’s lips was any indication. “None of your business.”

  Jake’s expression held no amusement as he swung his feet off Ibraham’s desk and rose from the chair. “Now that’s where you’d be wrong, Juice Man.” He kept his arms crossed over his chest as he stepped in front of Ibraham and looked up at him. “If you’re messin’ with Rose, it’s my business. You may not realize it, but Rose, she’s special. And there’s quite a few marines that wouldn’t take kindly to you dallyin’ with her affections.”

  “I was under the impression your interests lay in the direction of a particular strawberry blonde.”

  Jake’s eyes narrowed, and his knuckles went white. “Norah has nothing to do with this. Rose deserves the best.”

  “And I’m not the best?”

  Jake shrugged and moved past him. He pulled the door open before turning back to look at Ibraham. Something in his gaze held a warning that was followed up by his parting words. “Jury’s still out. But know this, you hurt her, and I won’t be the only one ready to take your hide.”

  Ibraham watched him leave the room and exit the winery before he left his office. First Rose’s mother, and now Boudreaux. Ibraham chuckled at the attention he’d garnered because of his sexy sweets maker. On the sidewalk outside Rose’s shop, Jake paused to make a phone call. After he finished and tucked the phone inside his jacket, he stepped into Rose’s shop.

  Instinct told Ibraham, on the heels of last night, he had nothing to worry about when it came to his Rose and Boudreaux. All the same, it didn’t sit well that the man was inside her shop. There had to be some history between the two, even if they weren’t lovers. A man didn’t get protective without a reason, and Ibraham intended to find out what that reason was. He tossed the last of his pastry into the trash and finished his coffee before exiting his shop and heading for Sweet Rose Treats.

  * * * *

  It took everything Rose had not to dump the samples of cakes over Darla Ann’s bleached-blonde head.

  “I have to say, the cake is delicious, but I am watching my figure, Rose. Stella Lee and I were just talking about you the other day, and I was telling her how I worry about you. Poor Rose, all alone with her cakes. Why, I can see you’ve had a hard time resisting all these sweets of yours. I could give you some diet tips, or the name of my personal trainer. I’d hate it if you never experienced the bliss I have with my Henry. Men like my Henry aren’t interested in plump women, you know. You’d look real pretty, and you might even have half a chance with the man I saw leaving earlier if you dropped a few pounds. I swear you’re twice as big as you were in high school.” Darla Ann tittered as she smiled across the counter at Rose.

  “Oh, I think you’re wrong, Darla Ann. Rosie hasn’t changed a bit since high school, whereas you…”

  Rose ignored decorum and squealed with delight. “Jake!” She climbed over the counter and pounced, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

  He easily took her weight, holding her tight and hugging her back just like he had when she was little and first started tagging around after him and his friends, Nick and Harlen. A low, rumbling laugh vibrated against her chest. “Hey, Rosie. Missed me, huh?”

  Darla Ann’s face pinched up, her eyes narrowed, and her lips pursed as she glared at the pair. “Rose Whittman, you should be ashamed. It’s disgraceful throwin’ yourself at a man like a common tart. Why, big as you are, you could have hurt him jumpin’ on him like that.”

  Aware of the attention, Rose started to pull away, but Jake squeezed her close, one hand under her bottom and the other on her back as he grinned over her shoulder at the other woman. “Rosie’s not big, Darla Ann; she’s lush. A man likes to know he’s holdin’ a woman in his arms not a bumpy swizzle stick.” He pressed a kiss to Rose’s cheek and added, “Why, I bet if you’d greeted your first two husbands as enthusiastically, then maybe you wouldn’t be walkin’ down the aisle with groom number three.”

  Darla Ann drew herself up and stuck her nose in the air. “I never—”

  Jake’s smile turned wicked, knowing, “Oh, I know you have, Darla Ann.”

  The blonde didn’t stick around. With a huff, she pushed past the pair and hurried out the door.

  Rose relinquished her hold on Jake with a chuckle. He let her. “That was mean.”

  “Darla Ann’s a bitch, Rosie. She doesn’t need to be taking her spite out on you.”

  Rose leaned against him, enjoying the warmth and affection she always felt when around him. “You’ve been gone way too long, Jake.”

  Something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone too quickly for her to interpret it. “Workin’, hon. But I got every one of your packages.”

  She grinned and moved back around the counter to cut a sample of one of the cakes and put it on a small china plate for him. Passing it over, Rose watched as he quickly devoured the vanilla cake with lemon-lime custard filling and whipped-cream icing. “And I appreciate all the orders it generated.” She leaned on the counter and grew serious for a moment. “I promise to pay you back.”

  Jake shook his head and held the plate out for another slice.

  Rose refused to be silenced. She cut a larger slice and handed it to him. “I will, Jake. Every penny. If it hadn’t been for you—”

  The bell over the shop door tinkled, interrupting her.

  Ibraham stepped inside looking just as handsome and lickable as he had when he stopped by for coffee and danish less than an hour earlier. When he didn’t move toward the counter, Rose stepped past Jake and approached him.

  She could feel the heat in her cheeks as images from last night filled her head. Her body was quick to respond to his proximity, her nipples aching, bunching up into two tight beads, the warmth between her thighs ratcheting up until her cream slicked her pussy and wet her panties. “Hello again.”

  Ibraham motioned her closer with the crook of his finger until barely a breath of air could move between them. “Dinner tonight.”

  The rub of his thumb over her chin sent chills through her body as Rose gazed up at Ibraham and nodded. “Okay.”

  Leaning down, he smiled against her lips before whispering in her ear, “Tonight you learn how to please me.”

  Then he kissed her. His lips covered hers, coaxing them open so his tongue could delve inside. The warm taste of coffee and pastry filled her mouth along with the unique flavor she’d grown to recognize as his. The smell of grapes and leather and linen filled her nose as she lifted her arms to circle his neck and sank against his body.

  He tightened his arms around her, letting her feel the steady rise of his erection press against her belly. In slow increments, he released her. First easing her away from his body, then his lips lifting from hers, and last, smoothing her arms down from his neck so her hands were clasped in his between them.

  One last brush of his lips over hers before he repeated, “Tonight.” Then he looked over her head and offered a nod to Jake before he turned and left.

  She didn’t realize Jake had called her name until he spoke it louder a se
cond time.

  “Rose.” The sharp command in his tone startled her from her wistful thoughts, and she jumped, spinning to face him.

  “Oh. Sorry. Did you say something?”

  He seemed to notice the heat in her cheeks at the same time Rose realized she was blushing again.

  “You like him, Runt?”

  Rose nodded, sure the smile on her face made her look goofy. “Very much, Jake.”

  “You know what he is, right? You saw him at the Omen.”

  The heat in her face increased as she recalled the sexy lesson Ibraham had taught her last night. And he’d be teaching her more tonight, if she played her cards right. To Jake, she nodded. “Yes. I know Ibraham is a dominant and he frequents the Omen. Just like you.” She added the last and waited for Jake’s reaction.

  He studied her for long, silent moments before grunting. “Just be careful. Okay?”

  Rose moved closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. Squeezing tight, she assured him, “Always, Jake.”

  * * * *

  The view was amazing, Rose decided as she tried to catch her breath and gazed up at the mirror above Ibraham’s bed. The sight of her body sprawled in the white silk sheets, her hair tousled and spread over the pillows was one thing, but the better image was the long length of Ibraham’s naked form settled between her legs, his hands tucked out of sight but very active in their movement over her pussy. The ink-colored silk of his hair gleamed in the subdued light and tickled her belly and hips as his mouth trailed fiery kisses around her navel and across her pelvis.

  A shiver moved through her as he slid one finger inside, finding all the spots that made her squirm. “I—oh, umm. Yes! I thought I was supposed to—oh yes, there, right there—please you.” The thoughts in her head were as incoherent as her words as she arched against him.

  He grinned up at her, his chin applying the slightest pressure to the flesh above her mound. He waited to answer until he’d pulled his finger free and carefully began to fill her with two. “You did please me, Rose. The feel of your mouth sucking my cock, how well you used your tongue.”

  Every word sent heat into Rose’s cheeks as she relived the taste of him in her mouth earlier. The heat, the smell, the way his girth stretched her lips as she employed every bit of information she’d read over the years about fellatio spurred her arousal higher even as Ibraham increased the speed of his fingers inside her. She turned her head, arching up against him, needing more even as the silk around her wrists kept her from touching him. The sight of his body dwarfing hers was reflected in the mirrored wall between the tall windows that overlooked the front of the shops.

  “Please. Oh God please, Ibraham.” Her voice was hoarse with need, desperate for something she knew he refused her.

  “What, Rose?”

  With a turn of her head, Rose looked down her body at him, wanting more. “Please fuck me.”

  Ibraham surged upward, his gaze locked with hers, his mouth hovering above her mouth, the fingers inside her still. “You pleased me, Rose. And this is your reward for swallowing without my asking you to, but I’ll not fuck you. Not yet.”

  His mouth covered hers, and the digits inside her picked up the pace, thrusting deep and hard, scraping over nerves and hot spots that made Rose squirm and cry out. Then it happened. The tightness winding through her belly and loins snapped, releasing waves of pleasure along every limb, through every bone and muscle until nothing mattered but the next crest, the next breath, and the taste of herself on Ibraham’s tongue in her mouth.

  Long minutes later, Rose shivered and slowly returned to her body, her arms and legs aching, but in a pleasantly satisfied way. She blinked open her eyes to find Ibraham lying beside her in the bed, his hand covering her sex, his attention on the mirror over them. Her own fascination with their reflection couldn’t be ignored. His skin was dark against hers as if he spent hours nude in the sun.

  The binding on her wrists had been removed, and she tentatively reached out her left hand to explore the hair-covered expanse of his muscular chest and firm abdomen with her fingers.

  “What is Jake Boudreaux to you?”

  That surprised her. “You know Jake?”

  Ibraham rolled onto his side and propped himself on an elbow to grin down at her. “He paid me a visit before going to your shop this morning.” He eased his fingers back, then forward. “He’s not a lover, so why would he take the time to warn me off?”

  Rose wriggled against the sheets, her body stirring to life, tingling for him to move faster, harder, at the same time her mind spun with the implications of Jake talking to Ibraham. “He’s a friend. Almost a brother.” She rocked her hips upward, trying to impale herself on his digits, needing more.

  “Did he always try to run off your boyfriends?” Ibraham lowered his head and nuzzled her ear. He shifted his weight, pinning her to the mattress so she couldn’t move.

  “I didn’t have boyfriends for him or the others to run off. Not when they were around or after they left.” Remembering how Jake and Nick and Harlen had left her behind cooled the arousal within her.

  “They?”

  This was the third time the guys had been mentioned to her in as many days. She wondered if Fate was trying to tell her something. “Nick Lipton and Harlen Krikkel. Norah’s and Ellie’s brothers. They hung out with Jake, and I tagged along after them.”

  “Why them and not their sisters?”

  Her body tensed, then relaxed into the bed. “Because they liked fishing and mud forts and working on cars. They didn’t expect me to play with Barbies and tea sets.”

  He seemed to think about it. “Your father was a mechanic, wasn’t he?”

  Rose nodded. “JR Automotive. He let me help out in the shop as soon as I could tell the difference between a torque wrench and socket wrench. When Jake bought a broken-down Harley, Daddy, the guys, and I spent six months stripping it down to the frame and rebuilding it.”

  “And you never fantasized about them? Wondered what they would be like as lovers?”

  She couldn’t contain the giggle that bubbled up. “If you’re asking if I thought they were hot, the answer is yes. I’m not blind. And I had plenty of girls trying to be nice to me to get closer to them, but the guys were just my friends. They never harassed me about what I wore and didn’t mind that by the time I was fourteen and they’d joined the marines, I stood almost as tall as them.”

  “And none of them ever—”

  She groaned. “No. Why would they?”

  The grin lifting Ibraham’s lips was wickedly carnal. The flare of heat in his gaze and the motions of his fingers between her thighs inched her inner mercury higher. “Oh, I can imagine the way you’d look bent over a car engine.” He slipped one hand under her bottom and squeezed an ample cheek. “This sweet, round ass barely covered by cutoffs, a tight tank top showing off your hard nipples. Your daddy in the office working on the books while you and the boys are getting sweaty just feet away.”

  The words built images in her mind. Thoughts she’d never entertained when she was younger. She shook her head, but he kept talking.

  “Mmm hmm, can you feel them as they strip off your clothes? One of them on each arm, supporting your bent-over position, their hands playing with your breasts, pinching your nipples.”

  A low, throaty moan slipped from her lips as she closed her eyes, sinking into the fantasy of his words. She could feel the oil-and-grease-scented air like a moist blanket against her skin, a firm hand on one breast, the nip and suction of a mouth on the other.

  The fingers inside her increased their pace, thrusting in and out in rhythm with the weight of his hard cock against her belly. “Behind you, you can feel him, your friend. His prick is hard, ready for you right before he pushes in. Filling that tight little socket of yours with the perfect plug.”

  Body quivering on the edge of climax, Rose gasped as calloused fingers covered her mouth. Her eyes flew open, but the sight of the man over her barely registered.


  “Shh. You can’t let your father hear. Not before they all have their turn.”

  Pleasure and heat bathed her insides as passion uncoiled in steady pulsing waves. She was there, in the fantasy he’d concocted. With Ibraham. The metal of the car’s grill digging into her thighs; the gritty smell of grease and engine parts; the faint whiff of gasoline, and the heady musk of hot, sweaty sex. She could see exactly what he was saying. But it wasn’t her friends in the dimly lit garage. It was only Ibraham and her.

  Above her, she felt him tense. His eyes squeezed shut, and the warm splash of his cum bathed her belly and the undersides of her breasts. A low purr rumbled in his chest as his body slowly relaxed. He eased off her and onto his back beside her, then met her gaze in the mirror over them.

  “You would look good at the club.”

  A shiver went through Rose. Ibraham rolled onto his side and rose on an elbow to gaze down at her. He tugged the edge of the sheet up and carefully wiped the semen off her body. The intensity of his look froze her in place. Any inclination to push for more from him tonight was immediately quelled. Her mind spun, her focus on a single image and the heat within her reignited. “In your cage?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I want to play with you in my cage for all the world to see. Jake and his friends, perhaps even your mother if she were to walk into the club.”

  Despite the scene he’d described, the thought of baring herself to Jake, Nick, and Harlen didn’t disturb her, but Rose’s mind cringed at the thought of her mother seeing her bound inside the black wrought iron bars. Nude. “I-I’m not sure…”

  A gentle smile lifted his lips, and he pressed a kiss to her brow. “I know. That is why I want you to think about it. Talk to your friends, the ones who are familiar with the club and what goes on there.” He lowered his hand so it caressed the slope of her breast, nudging aside her arm until his fingers could tease her nipple back to life. “To take your time, Rose. I want you to be sure.”

  Rose moaned; it was insane how easily he played her body. A simple touch had her senses stirring again, the heat pooling in her center and spreading out to simmer just under her skin. “I have. I will.”