Tripped Up Read Free Page A

another woman in there? The man had a body every female dreamed of touching and claiming, at least for a night, so what made her think he’d spend his first night off duty alone? A man with Trip’s looks and personality must have a black book the size of Webster’s dictionary.
    “Shit, this is a mistake,” she muttered as she paced back and forth in front of Trip’s door. “He’s probably not alone, and even if he is, he’s asleep and sure as hell won’t like me waking him up to ask if he was serious.”
    And that’s where the trouble lay. How could she know if he meant the words or if he was such a flirt that anyone with breasts would have drawn the same rhetoric? Damn him and his sex appeal. Thanks to Trip’s husky proposition, Karen had been unable to satisfy her carnal lust no matter how much she tried. She just never quite reached the point of satiation. Oh, she’d made the climb okay. Large amounts of money spent on top of the line pleasure toys assured that. But even as a climax had her crying out something had been missing.
    Tired, fed up, on edge, and in desperate need of relief, Karen’s common sense deserted her long enough to drag on a man’s white dress shirt, her favorite socks, and park herself in front of his door.
    Could she? Should she? If he turned her down or laughed at her, she’d never be able to face him again. They were supposed to spend the remaining time before the wedding together. She’d promised Syn and Alexa to keep Trip entertained so he wouldn’t feel left out. Somehow, she didn’t think screwing Trip’s brains out was exactly what the two women had in mind when they suggested Karen keep him busy.
    “I can’t do this. It’s a mistake,” she declared, pacing in front of the thick oak door, her feet almost sliding on the light bamboo floor. “But it’s his damn fault I can’t sleep.”
    Oh, screw it. Taking a deep breath for courage, Karen raised her hand and tapped on the door as softly as possible. “There, he’s not—”
    The door swung open before her hand dropped, and her mouth hung open. Trip stood before her looking mouthwatering in nothing but a pair of loose cotton sleep pants and a wicked smile. Her mouth snapped shut with a painful jarring of teeth.
    “It took you long enough, darlin’” he drawled. “Please tell me you’re here to put me out of my misery?”
    She swallowed hard, trying to add moisture to her suddenly dry mouth as her gaze travelled over the tanned feast of roped muscles in front of her eyes. “Misery,” she questioned, absently licking her lips.
    “Oh, Karen, don’t tempt my already shaky control,” he warned in a husky tone. “I want you, badly. So either come in and let me have you or walk away so I can go back to jacking off.”
    “You really want me,” she asked, still hesitant to believe him. “I mean you want me for sex?”
    “You have no idea.” His gaze latched on to the taut nubs of her nipples pressing against the thin cotton material. “I want to take you hard and fast against the wall, shove my cock so deep inside your pussy you feel me at the back of your throat. I want to feel you clamping down on my dick when you come, to hear you scream my name and feel your nails digging into my skin.”
    “Oh, shit,” she whispered. Mental images of them doing just that flashed through her mind and heated her blood.
    He stepped closer until she felt the warmth of his body. “Tell me, Karen. Yes or no. Yes, I can take you, have you and fuck you until neither one of us can walk tomorrow. Or no, and we part ways here and now.”
    Sanity demanded she walk away. Why risk possible rejection and humiliation from a man she didn’t know? Hadn’t she already been there done that with the last ex, Will? Except Will never seduced her with words. His every action had been calculated for effect, but not Trip.
    The man standing in front of her seemed to be holding onto his control by a narrow thread. If she said no, Karen knew