• 1-More Than Life
• 2-1
• 3-2
• 4-3
• 5-4
• 6-5
• 7-7
• 8-It Begins
• 9-Double Agent
• 10-10

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Just do it.

You do it.

I would, if you would loosen up.

Tess paced back and forth in her expensive hotel room in San Antonio. Even now she found
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. 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 herself taller on the couch, before she leaned in and kissed
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. Slowly, Tessa’s mouth ghosted along Sands’
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 herself to him; to his body, to the way he smelled, to the
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. If he could convince her to sleep with him
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. The moment his tongue met hers, she was
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 distressed. And while
it was nice, he wondered at the change.
He pulled away from Tess, watching her face as her eyes opened. They were clouded with desire, but the fear
that’d made him hesitate before was still there. What had he gotten himself into? There was still time to get her to
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. It was rare to find a woman that was
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. “Relax, Tessa. I’m not going to hurt you. You know that.” She did know that. He wasn’t . . . he didn’t . . . there wasn’t
an aura of suppressed violence around him at the moment. “Do you want to finish what you
started?” Yes. She did.

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. He pulled her into the bedroom, stopping just
inside the door and pulling her against his body. With determination, he started kissing her,
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. Things weren’t as overwhelming this
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. As she let him kiss her, her hands went to
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. He wanted to see what she looked like.

Tess shook her head like a child, refusing to move away. To distract him, she fastened her mouth over
the hollow of his throat, lightly sucking at the skin. When she gently rasped her teeth over his
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. The man clearly worked out, although it
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. She was sure he was going to ogle at her, but
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. Once upon a time, she’d taken risks. What risks had she taken lately?

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. At some point, the sensations his hands and
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 pale when compared to her. The difference fascinated her, and she
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. “Stop.”

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. He was hard and throbbing and wanted nothing
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. I don’t want you to stop. I . . . .”
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. Stopping now would have put him in a bad mood for the next several
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. She then rolled back onto her side, crossing
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. There was a limited amount of foreplay that
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. When it started caressing the place where
thigh and buttocks met, she did
notice though, her back arching and the muscles of her abdomen clenching. She’d no idea that she was so sensitive, and
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. He held his hands away from her, unsure of
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 been having to keep track of such things, and of how little
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. Tess let him, going down without fighting,
while her hands cautiously started exploring his back. His skin was so smooth, so soft. And yet, muscles rippled under that same
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. He was already riding the edge between
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. The sound was halfway between a moan and a growl. She wanted to hear it again, but a
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. Or the motivation to her her mouth from his.

Sands proved to have more motivation . . . or at least more
desperation. “Part your legs for me,
niña.” He ached, he was so hard. He had to bring them both a speedy release,
or he was going to have a stroke.

Tess sighed, but did so, trying to pull Sands’ head back down to hers. She’d discovered a particular fondness for
kissing, and Sands had a very nice mouth, and . . . her thoughts trailed off as
she felt something pressing against her opening. Something with a bit more diameter than a
finger.

Sands held his breath as he entered Tess. He heard her breath hiss out of her lungs as
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. Every time he thrust deeper into her, she
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. “Please, just do it.”

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. Ruthlessly, Sands tangled one hand in her
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. Anything else went, but he didn’t want her to
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. This just wasn’t enough.

Sands groaned when Tess breathlessly asked for more. If she’d kept her mouth shut . . . but she hadn’t, and as a result, his control
snapped completely. Tess suddenly found
herself being ridden hard as Sands dominated her mouth with his. She whimpered, pushed past mere arousal by
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. Not that he lasted for much longer
either. The feel of Tessa’s body
gripping and pulling at him was too much to stand. He came just as hard as she had, muffling his
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. It was bright in here – the curtains were
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. Or morning.
It’d been after midnight when
she’d come down here. To see Sands. With the express purpose of getting laid.

Yes,
but for scientific reasons.

Oh yes, very
‘scientific.’
Not to mention there were no memories of Sands lying in wait for her in
her own room.

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. “Not that they wouldn’t be able to figure it
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. Which was odd, if she thought about it.
>

Why is that odd? So you figured
out you’re a woman, and you’re a woman who enjoys men. Tess could feel the voice stretch as if it’d
been asleep. Just don’t get used to it. I’m not against a little bit of nookie now and again, but you’re dangerously close to liking that man, which is not acceptable. He’s the enemy – remember that. They’re all the
enemy.

Tess shook her head as she unlocked the door to her
room. No. I won’t live like that. I
donb stb style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>want to live like that.

It’s
true though. Perhaps they’re not all out
to
“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. And with that, Tess went inside the building.