Rhea was completely unamused by his humor. "You better be down for it."
She took the card from Tee, then looked up at Ace. "You are really enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Absolutely. So what's first?" Ace asked playfully as he took a step toward her. "Dinner or sex?"
"Excuse me?"
He took the card from her hand, letting his fingers brush hers in a warm caress, and smiled like a wolf in sheep's clothing. "C'mon, Rhea. Have you ever been to an adult store before?"
Hardly. Kinky sex had never appealed to her at all, and she'd heard enough tales from her odder friends to know she had no interest in haunting adult stores for the aids they provided. "Have you?"
He looked completely unrepentant. "I'll plead the Fifth to that."
"I knew you were a pervert."
"Hey, it's not my fault the customers took me along whenever my dad made them watch me."
Rhea shook her head as Ace stepped back, then led the way from their offices toward the elevator bank.
Ace's father, Alister Cross, was a renowned director who had won several Academy Awards. Ace's grandfather, Osker Krux, owned one of the largest movie studios in the world, and Ace's younger brother was an Academy Award-winning special FX guru. Ace himself had once been a stunt double before he'd gone on to work for the Secret Service.
"You know, I've never understood why you're a BAD agent anyway. Why didn't you follow your family's business?"
He shrugged. "Movies are boring. Actors are fake and I figured if I wanted to live my life on the edge, I might as well be doing it for real. Why take a chance on dying from a blank gone bad when I can dodge real bullets intended to kill me and save the world?"
In a weird way that made sense to her, and she actually managed a grudging respect for him.
"What about you?" he asked as they waited on the elevator. "What made a respectable CIA agent follow Joe to a shadow agency that has no known ally?"
"I respect the hell out of Joe and Tee and their agenda, and I didn't like all the rules of the CIA." That's what BAD was best at. No rules to bind their hands. Each agent was licensed as a civilian contractor. They were funded under the Treasury Department and hidden away as a federal insurance agency, which in an ironic way they really were. Only "insurance" took on a whole new meaning for them.
In reality, they were an antiterrorism special task force that no one other than the president knew about. The individual agents answered to Joe, and he answered to the head man alone.
No one else knew they existed and they all liked it that way.
The elevator doors opened.
Ace stood back to let her enter first. She didn't speak again until they were enclosed inside and he'd pressed the button for the lobby.
"Besides," she said, continuing their conversation, "I like the different kinds of agents we have. You guys are a lot more fun than the other agencies."
He laughed at that. "Yeah, we're not your average crew."
Rhea smiled as she watched Ace from the corner of her eye. Even though he worked her last nerve into an apoplexy, she had to admit he was incredibly sexy standing there with his hands in his pockets while he looked up at the floor numbers overhead. Something about him was absolutely irresistible.
Too bad he knew it.
His presence was mammoth in the elevator, or then again, anywhere. He was one of those rare men who possessed an aura that was intense and all-encompassing.
As much as she had tried to stay angry at him for his pomposity, there had always been a tiny part of her that was attracted to him. A really tiny part.
When he was silent and serious, he was actually breathtaking, which had always made her wonder just how many hearts he'd left broken.
"So tell me, Ace. When was the last time you went out with a woman on a date?"
He looked at her. "A real date or an I'm-pretending-to-be-someone-else-and-am-prying-you-for-information date?"
"A real date."
He let out a low whistle. "Probably a year. What about you?"
She sighed wistfully at the painful truth. "Three years, at least."
"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "Our job doesn't exactly lend itself to dating, does it?"
"No. I'm never sure what to say when they ask me what I do for a living. Most guys are heavily intimidated by the thought of dating a federal agent."
He snorted at that. "I tell women I'm a federal agent and they laugh and think I'm handing them a line. So I usually make up bullshit about being a salesman or something."
The door opened. Rhea walked across the lobby as she continued to smile while thinking of Ace in a bar with some giggling woman who had no idea just what the man was capable of. He was incredible in the field. He could speak a dozen languages fluently and held no fear of anything.
While in the Secret Service, he'd been shot three times and had brought countless criminals to trial. She was actually amazed that Joe had been able to pry Ace loose from their clutches. He'd been a celebrated hero to his group.
"You want to ride with me?" he asked.
She shook her head vigorously no. "You can ride with me. I've seen the way you drive."
"What?" he asked, his face a mask of innocence. "I have a perfect driving record."
"Only because you charmed your way out of the last three tickets you got," she reminded him.
"Those were minor speeding offenses."
"Sure they were. And I'm a three-armed alien."
Her words seemed to only amuse him. "Fine, Cha-Cha. You drive."
She frowned. "Cha-Cha? As in Shirley 'Cha-Cha' Mul-downey?"
"You know racing?" he asked as if surprised by her knowledge.
Rhea nodded. It wasn't something she ever really mentioned to anyone, but then the topic seldom came up. "Are you kidding? She's the first and only female Top Fuel Champion in NHRA history. When I was a kid, I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. My father was an old friend of her crew chief Connie Kalitta, and I actually have her autograph. Oh, I love that woman!"
"Then why is it you now drive like an old lady?"
She scoffed at that. "Old lady, nothing. I can J-turn a bulletproof Lincoln limo with the best of them."
Ace chuckled at her reference to agent training where they all learned how to handle a variety of vehicles under stressful circumstances. One in particular that all BAD agents had to pass was the ability to jump into anything available and drive it out of any possible danger including heavy artillery fire, grenade and bomb attacks.
He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "You still drive far too cautiously for my tastes."
Rhea shivered at the unexpected sensation of his breath on her skin and did her best not to think of other, much more intimate things that would cause him to be so near her.
And she had the distinct impression that he wasn't really talking about the way she handled a car.
Unwilling to go there, she led him to the parking deck where she had her red Mustang parked.
Ace didn't say anything as they got in and headed out.
"Do we really have to go to the sex shop?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.
"That depends. You got any whips and chains at home? And if you do, I will definitely have to change my opinion about what Agent Rhea Stevenson does on her days off."
Rhea groaned. "The only chain I have is the small gold one around my neck, and as for whips...Do half-empty containers of Cool Whip count?"
"It does for what I have in mind."
She let out a tired breath. "Does everything I say to you have to do with sex?"
"Since you're supposed to dominate me, baby, yeah."
Ace watched her stony face while she wove her way through traffic in a much more sedate way than he would have.
Rhea was a hot woman with a cool exterior that he'd wanted to melt for quite some time. But then business and pleasure didn't mix well. He knew that better than anyone and yet he couldn't help wondering what the petite brunette would taste lik
e.
What those lean, supple limbs would feel like wrapped around his.
She was beautiful. Not so much in her looks, but in the way she could make him feel better by doing nothing more than smiling at him. She was extremely quiet and seldom said much even when her phone rang.
While in the CIA, she was supposed to have been one of their best field agents.
But in the last three years since BAD had come together, she hadn't taken many field assignments. Most of her work was done online, making Ace wonder what she'd be like undercover.
In more ways than one.
He'd always had a theory that silent, quiet women were much more uninhibited in bed. But since he hadn't known that many who were quiet, he'd never been able to test his theory.
She glanced over at him. "What are you thinking?"
Ace fell back into his standard male reply. "Nothing."
"Nothing? Then why do you look like the cat eyeballing the canary?"
He gave a wicked grin at that. "Okay, so I was thinking of you dressed in black leather, wielding a whip over my naked ass."
She didn't look at him as she made a left turn. "I think I like 'nothing' better."
"Excuse me?" he asked, stunned and excited at her words. "You really want to whip my naked ass?"
"No!" she snapped sharply. "I said I like 'nothing' better, not I'd like nothing better. Oh, jeez, Ace, grow up!"
He continued to smile at her, which was something he didn't do around many people. There was just something about her that attracted him against all common sense or reason.
Not even he fully understood his incessant need to tease her. Other than the fact that he thoroughly enjoyed her snappy comebacks and the way those brown eyes would flash at him whenever he made her angry. It was almost as sexy as foreplay.
Almost.
"I figured you would, which is why I said 'nothing' to begin with."
She slid a censoring look to him. "I can't believe I'm going to do this."
"You? I'm the practice slave. I think if anyone should be embarrassed, it should be me."
Rhea glanced at him as she pulled into the parking lot of the large blue building covered in triple X's that had no windows whatsoever. "Look, Ace, it's your home away from home."
Rhea stood in the doorway of the adult novelty store as total horror engulfed her. She'd never seen anything like this in her entire life. Cages were set up in the corners with mannequins dressed and chained in the most sexually graphic manner imaginable. Did people really use this stuff?
She paused next to a display of penis-shaped suckers and scowled at them.
"What's wrong?" Ace asked as he brushed past her into the store.
It was all she could do not to gape. "Where do I begin?"
He shrugged nonchalantly as if missing her point. "Well, we could begin with one of the swings over there."
Rhea couldn't help gaping now as he pointed to something that looked as if it had come from the planet Porno. The large, black contraption held a spread-eagled female mannequin completely subdued and gagged.
Yeah...
Unwilling to let him know she was bothered by it, she quickly recovered her facial expression and paused at the display of leather blindfolds and masks that were covered in spikes.
"Can I help you?"
Rhea actually jumped at the sound of the shaky female voice behind her. She turned to see an elderly woman with white hair and black-rimmed glasses staring at her. Jeez, it was someone's grandma! She even had the black SAS shoes and a white dress with little, dark blue flowers that matched her dark blue sweater. She looked kind and frail.
Why on earth would she be here working as a porn store clerk?
"No. Just...looking."
The older woman laughed and lightly patted her arm. "This must be your first time, sweetie. Just relax and have fun. Don't let me worry you, I've tried most everything in here, so if you have any questions, please let me know."
"Um...yes."
Grandma smiled as she watched Ace. "Well, you're a lucky woman to have that for a playmate. Why, he's simply delish."
Delish? Grandma knew delish?
Okay, I'm in an episode of Twilight Zone with Grandma as the zookeeper. Just go with it, Rhea.
Grandma continued to study him. "You know, he reminds me of my dearly departed Herbert. Oh, hon, he was the best. He just lived for sex. Would throw himself into it anywhere, anytime. In fact, we once got arrested for indecency on a subway while we were in New York."
This was way too much information.
"Have you two been arrested yet?"
"No," Rhea answered quickly and honestly. At least she hadn't been. With Ace...well, she wouldn't make a bet on it.
"Then you two ain't doing it right." Grandma winked at her.
Grandma was without a doubt the most frightening thing in this store.
"Oh, you'll like those," Grandma said to Ace, who had paused two aisles over. "The strawberry are the best, though my Herbert liked the lemon-flavored."
Rhea looked to find Ace examining packages of edible panties. She inwardly cringed as he inspected them. "Don't even think it, Ace."
He held up one of the packages. "They have grape." Then he looked to Grandma. "You ever try these?"
"The grape isn't the best. They have a bit of a bitter taste to them."
Ace put them back. "You said to try the strawberry?"
Rhea's gaze narrowed as he picked up a package. Fine. Two people could play that. "You also have whips, right?" she asked the woman.
She nodded.
"Do you have nice, spiked ones?"
"Absolutely, sweetie."
"No!" Ace said, putting down the panties and moving back toward Rhea. "No spiked nothing."
She arched a brow. "I can't believe I've finally found something to make the big, bad Ace craven. What on earth could make you fear spikes?"
"A Goth girlfriend in high school who left lasting scars on my flesh. I don't ever want to cozy up to another porcupine as long as I live."
Rhea was amazed he'd admitted that. "You went out with a Goth chick? How unlike you."
"Not really. I always had a thing for women in leather." He looked meaningfully at a mannequin dressed in an extremely revealing leather corset that left its breasts bare except for two tiny leather pasties.
The expression on his face said he was picturing her in that getup.
Rhea decided to play fire with fire. Determined, she walked over to the rack of leather Speedos, which would have to be laughable on any male no matter how sexy or fabulous he was. She picked up one that was of a thong design and looked back at Ace, who grimaced.
"Trust me, baby, that would be like trying to cover two bowling balls with a slingshot."
"Oh, that's disgusting!"
He flashed her one of those taunting smiles. "But it makes you curious, doesn't it?"
She hated to admit it, but he'd won this round. "No, it just makes me pity whatever woman ends up permanently shackled to you. Do womankind a favor, Ace, get neutered."
"Oh, no, honey," Grandma said. "No one should neuter something as fine as him. Take my word for it. I've seen lots of handsome men in my day, but yours...He's definitely worth keeping around."
"See, she likes me."
Rhea bit her tongue to keep from saying Ace should train Grandma for Bender. But rule one was never to disclose an agent's mission to an unknown no matter how harmless he or she appeared. Words could kill even faster and more effectively than a handgun.
Rhea took a deep breath and looked around. "So what appeals to you, Ace?"
He picked up a jar of chocolate body paint that even came with its own paintbrush and came to stand next to her. In that moment, there was something extremely compelling about him and the soft way he was looking at her. "Rhea al dente."
An unexpected shiver went over her and she knew it was caused by the hot, seductive curve of his mouth. Ace Krux was a man to be reckoned with.
"If you li
ke that, we have a sample," Grandma said as she brushed past Ace.
She went to the shelf and opened a tester jar, then took a white, plastic spoon and ladled out a bit of chocolate into a small plastic cup.
When Rhea reached for it, she pulled the cup back. "Give me your finger."
Before Rhea could really comply, the old woman took Rhea's finger, dipped it in the chocolate, and held it up for Ace to sample. He didn't hesitate to open his mouth and capture her.
Rhea's stomach fluttered as his warm, sensuous tongue encircled the pad of her fingertip while he held her hand in his to keep it in his mouth. He nipped her flesh ever so gently with his teeth while he stared at her with a hot, needful look. His masculine scent of aftershave and shampoo filled her head, making her heart pound.
Never in her life had she been so unexpectedly turned on by any man. This was intrusive and rude and...and she was dying to know what his lips would taste like.
Get a grip!
Rhea pulled her finger out. "I hope you've had a rabies shot lately."
He laughed at that, then dipped his finger into the cup. "Your turn."
"That is so not sanitary."
"Chicken?"
Rhea couldn't believe he was relying on the childhood tactic. Even worse, she couldn't believe it was working. She wasn't about to let Mr. Perfect Agent get away with it.
It was time Mr. Krux learned a lesson.
Taking his hand into hers, she opened his palm and blew her breath across it. She gave him her best "do me, hotshot" stare before she licked the palm of his hand and took the entire length of his finger into her mouth.
Ace ground his teeth to keep from cursing in blissful agony the instant she started tonguing his finger. That woman had a tongue that poets should write about.
At the very least it deserved a major letter to Penthouse Forum.
Every hormone in his body fired as his cock hardened to the point of pain. And with every tiny, erotic stroke of her tongue, he hardened even more.
She growled low in her throat before she took a gentle bite of his skin, then pulled back. "Hershey's is better."
Ace was completely dumbstruck. Since all of his blood had drained to the center of his body, there wasn't much left to understand her words. He only knew she'd stepped away from him and that was the last thing he wanted.
In fact, the only thing he wanted right then was to take her into his arms and taste that sweet, sassy mouth. To pin her to the wall behind her and sate the painful ache in his groin that wanted nothing more than to be naked and sweaty with her.