Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “Lorelei, where are you?”

  “Here,” she squeaked.

  I followed the noise to the corner of the room, expecting to see her standing in the corner, but instead, she was huddled in the corner, her knees pulled up against her chest protectively. I knelt down in front of her and reached out for her, but the instant I touched her arm, she jerked away from me. She was scared, absolutely terrified. With just that one touch, I had felt how much her body trembled.

  What the actual fuck? One minute, this woman was higher than life, taking on anything a man would do, and the next, she was curled up in a corner, scared as a kitten.

  “Hey, it’s me.”

  I saw her nod her head jerkily and I could hear her breath sawing out of her lungs.

  “Hey, just…just take a deep breath. You’re okay.”

  She nodded jerkily again, but she wasn’t calming down. I sat down on my ass and squished against the wall next to her. I didn’t know what the hell to say. I’d never met an adult that was scared of the dark. And why was she scared of the dark? The questions were digging at me, but I couldn’t push.

  “You know, when I was a kid, maybe six years old, we had this summer of storms. I mean, it was insane. It was constantly raining and it got so bad that the sump pump got overworked and died. We ended up with a flooded basement. So, my dad went to get another one to get it fixed, and in the meantime, it was still raining cats and dogs outside. And since we live in the ass end of nowhere, he had a forty-five minute drive to get to the ‘big city’, as we all like to call it.”

  I listened in for a second…she was still breathing hard, but she seemed to be attempting to calm herself down.

  “So, while my dad was gone, the sirens in town went off, telling us there was a fucking tornado warning. Well, we couldn’t go into the basement because it was flooded, so Ma brought out this game of Parcheesi, which is like the oldest game on the face of the earth. So, we all sat down in the living room and played fucking Parcheesi while there was a tornado outside.”

  “Did the tornado hit?” she asked shakily.

  “Nah, not even sure there was a tornado. It was windy as hell, but no damage to the property. But it’s one of my happiest memories, just me and my brothers playing Parcheesi on the ground while Ma was watching the storm outside.”

  She huffed out a weird laugh that sounded like she was trying to laugh, but still too terrified to actually make the normal sounds. I reached over and held out my hand to her. It took a few seconds, but eventually, she put a shaky hand in mine and held on tight. She didn’t seem like she was ready to move yet, so I just sat there with her. It seemed like we sat there for a good fifteen minutes before she finally spoke.

  “My dad wasn’t a good man,” she said quietly. “He was when I was younger, but then some stuff happened and…after my mom died, he turned violent.” She was quiet for a minute, and then she whispered, “I hate the dark.”

  “You’ve been alone in the dark before. What happened this time?”

  She dragged in a long, rattled breath. “The last time I saw my dad, he was drunk and he cut himself on a bottle of whiskey. I had to sew him up, and I accidentally stabbed him with the needle. He lost it and started beating me. I thought for sure I was going to die that night.”

  “What happened?”

  “My friend, Matthew, stopped him. He heard me screaming and he ran over to our house and picked up a skillet, hit him over the head, and we ran. By the time we came back the next day, he was gone. I never saw him again.”

  “He just disappeared?”

  “I guess. The police looked for him, but they never could find him. They thought maybe he stumbled off somewhere and died, but his body never showed up. About six months later, he wrote to me, telling me how sorry he was. And that was the last time I heard from him.”

  As terrified as I was by this woman, I couldn’t believe that her father would actually beat on her like that. I’d heard stories of it happening to other kids, but I’d never witnessed the fallout of it. And just the fact that he survived made my skin crawl. I wished the fucker had died. But since he hadn’t, I was going to find him when I got back to my apartment. I would make sure that he was nowhere near her ever again, because I never wanted to see her curled up in a ball, terrified of the dark.

  I finally got her to come downstairs with me and we closed the doors to the living room to save heat. She seemed to calm down and forget about her earlier freak out, because now she was acting like her old self, a smile on her face as she not-so-gently sewed up the cut on the back of my head. And the whole time she chattered on, I was at war with myself, trying to figure out if she was a psychopath or not. What serial killer was afraid of the dark? Wasn’t that like a rule or something, that serial killers lived for the darkness?

  “There, all done,” she said proudly.

  She held up two mirrors so I could see her handiwork. I grimaced when I saw that she had shaved the back of my head as close to the cut as possible. I looked like an idiot now.

  When she saw my grimace, she laughed. “Relax. We can take you into town to have your hair cut.”

  “I liked it the way it was,” I grumbled.

  “And it will grow out again.”

  She came around beside me and sat down, staring at the fire. After a minute, she laid her head on my shoulder and linked our fingers together. I stared down at our joined hands and frowned. Why did this feel so right? Why did I want her so much? No, not just want her, need her. When I saw her huddled in the corner, absolutely terrified, it felt like my heart was going to flop out of my chest and fall dead on the floor. I hated seeing that, and I would do anything to prevent that from happening again. Serial killer or not, she was getting under my skin, so deep that I knew I couldn’t just get out.

  “How’s the head?”

  I grunted in response, not wanting to admit that it hurt.

  She let go of my hand and climbed on top of my lap, her fingers running through my hair, but careful not to touch my cut. “I can make it better for you.”

  I grunted again, not wanting to admit that I wanted her. Her fingertips slowly slid up my chest, then back down, resting just above the waistband of my jeans. Her eyes glimmered as she watched me.

  “I can make it all better,” she whispered, nipping at my ear.

  My cock grew hard. God, this woman just had me so fucking confused. One minute, I was sure she was trying to kill me, and the next, I just wanted her to ride my cock, make me explode inside her. She was such a vixen. So fucking sexy. She slowly leaned forward, brushing her lips against mine. I swallowed hard, tasting that sweetness on her lips and wanting more. But before I could take it, she pulled back, giving me a saucy little grin.

  Her fingers closed around my zipper and slowly pulled it down. Fuck, I was pushing against my jeans, I was so hard. I needed to learn some self-control around this woman. I grasped her wrists just as she was about to undo the button of my jeans.

  She looked at me, that tempting grin that told me she was looking for so much more. Electricity buzzed between us. I couldn’t deny it. My body was at war with my head. I needed to step back, stay away from this woman. But instead, I found myself flipping her over and wedging myself between her thighs. I rubbed my cock against her body, feeling the heat of her core pulsing off her in waves.

  I snatched both her wrists and held them above her head. If I was going to fuck her, I was going to know exactly where her hands were. I ground my cock up against her again and again. I groaned at the sweet, delicious feel of her. I needed more. I sat up and quickly undid the button of my jeans, shoving them down my body. The cold chapped my ass, but did nothing to lessen my desire. In fact, my cock didn’t notice a thing. It just wanted to be inside her.

  Yanking her pants down and tearing them from her body, all that was left was that sweet, slick pussy waiting for me. I wanted a taste, but I couldn’t wait. I needed her so bad. Her hands reached out to touch me and I snatched them again, shaking my h
ead slightly as I pinned them above her head.

  “Don’t fucking move,” I growled.

  Her eyes flashed, desire sparking in the depths of them. I bent forward and kissed her hard, swallowing her moans as I rubbed my cock up against her slick pussy. I hadn’t entered her yet. I was just getting her warmed up. My cock slid up and down through her folds, getting harder and harder as it begged me to push inside.

  My lips skimmed over her neck, down to her breasts. I didn’t even bother undoing the buttons. I just tore the damn shirt open, groaning when I saw her breasts heaving for me. Fuck, that was hot.

  Oh, devil, devil, devil. I had to keep reminding myself that this woman wasn’t what she appeared to be. Devil, sexy vixen, torturer of men. Fuck it.

  I tore her bra from her body and latched onto her nipple. She gasped, her hands thrusting up into my hair, yanking on me. The pain mixed with pleasure. I knew I should put her hands back, but damn, to have her hands in my hair like this, yanking on me as I devoured her nipple, sucking it into my mouth as I flicked it with my tongue. I switched to the other breast, cupping the other one in my hand. Fuck, she was perfect, just the right size.

  “Andrew,” she panted.

  I thrust against her pussy again, my tip just barely slipping inside her. I needed to step back. I needed more control. I pinned her wrists above her head again, staring down at her.

  “I told you not to fucking move.”

  A thrill shot through me. I had never been so dominating in all my life. I didn’t like to own my women, I just wanted to fuck them hard. But knowing that Lorelei was part devil, part vixen, I had to be careful. I had to be the man in charge.

  “You move those hands again, I’m gonna spank your pussy.”

  Her eyes widened, but I could tell she wasn’t afraid. She wanted it just as much as I did. Suddenly, I was begging her, challenging her to move those hands and give me what I craved, just so I could feel what it was like to slap that wet pussy.

  As if she knew what I wanted, she slowly moved her hands to my shoulders. “Do it,” she challenged me.

  I grinned and pulled away from her, spreading her legs wider. Her pussy glistened. Fuck, I’d never done this before. I pulled my hand back and slapped her pussy, not too hard, but the moans that spilled from her lips were so tantalizing. She wanted it. She fucking wanted it so bad.

  I pulled back and slapped her again, harder this time. Her body jerked. Her eyes slipped closed as she moaned.

  “Fuck,” she shouted.

  I slid my hand over her wet pussy, feeling her cream for me. God, she was fucking soaked. I slid two fingers inside her, fucking her pussy as I thumbed her clit. She climbed higher, her breathing heaving as I fucked her harder and harder, pushing her toward her orgasm. And right when she was about to tip over the edge, I pulled out and landed a hard thwack right on her pussy lips. She slammed her knees together, gasping as her whole body shook with pleasure. I pushed her legs wider. I wasn’t letting her get away with hiding from me.

  God, she was fucking soaked. I fingered her again, grinning as I slid my fingers in and out. “You like that, my sexy, little vixen?”

  “Oh, God, Andrew,” she moaned.

  “You like to be spanked?”

  “God yes! Do it again.”

  “You want more?” I asked as I thumbed her clit, pressing down on that tiny bundle of nerves. I wasn’t sure where all the dirty talk was coming from. I wasn’t usually this vocal during sex, but with her, all I wanted was to see how dirty I could get. She brought it out in me, made me want to bring out the devil in her.

  “You need my fingers, fucking that sweet pussy?”

  She shook her head.

  “You want my cock?”

  She shook her head again.

  I grinned. “You want your pussy spanked again?”

  She nodded this time, her lips tilting up slightly as she continued to hold her hands above her head.

  “Good girl. You just tell me to stop and I will.”

  She nodded, and as much as my cock was aching to be inside her, she wanted this. She needed this. I slapped her again, and again, watching as her chest heaved. I couldn’t wait anymore. I yanked her thighs up, lifting her ass off the ground as I shoved my cock inside her. She cried out as I seated myself deep inside her. My hips started jerking out of control, desperate to get my cock as deep as I could. I was fucking her as hard as I could. She was so goddamn wet for me.

  “My sexy, little vixen. What am I going to do with you?” I panted.

  “Just don’t stop, Andrew. Give it to me harder.”

  Always one to oblige, I thrust my hips forward and fucked her hard, my ass cheeks clenching with each thrust. Her legs wrapped around me, holding me to her. Her fingers reached out for my chest, clawing their way down and scratching my skin. I should have been terrified. I should have been getting away from this woman before she killed me, but all I wanted was more.

  I leaned forward and sucked a nipple into my mouth, biting slightly and enjoying her screams. Her body started to squeeze against me. I just rocked back and forth, in and out as she squeezed me harder. I slid my tongue over to the other nipple, licked it, sucked it, bit it. “You like that? You’re so fucking sexy.”

  I dragged her legs out from around my waist and held them wide as I shoved my cock deep inside her. My hips had a mind of their own, fucking her hard, slapping against her wet skin. God, she was leaking all over the place for me.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

  And then before I knew what was happening, she flipped me to my back and straddled my cock, grinding down on me, her hips flexing against me as she took me. Her tits bounced with every movement. I reached out to grab them, but she slapped them away.

  “Nuh-uh. Now it’s my turn to play.”

  A quake of fear shot through me, but not enough to make me stop. I liked what she was doing. She got up on her heels and started bouncing down on my cock, drawing it all the way out until the tip of my cock was hovering just at her entrance. She slammed down on me and I groaned at the force of it.

  “Fuck, oh, you’re so fucking amazing.”

  She looked at me, her eyes sparkling. I should have been terrified, especially when she leaned down and bit my nipple, but instead, I wanted more. I never had a woman do that before. This was fucking insane, but so hot.

  “I’m gonna make you come so hard,” she whispered. “I’m gonna make you wish you had died by the time I’m done fucking you.”

  I groaned, wondering if this was the end. I remembered thinking that the last time too. Did it only get better with every time we had sex? My eyes rolled back in my head, and I had no doubt that what she was saying was true. She shifted on top of me, lifting her whole body off me.

  And then my eyes flew open when I felt the pucker of her ass rubbing against the tip of my cock. I narrowed my eyes at her, daring her to do it. But it turned out that wasn’t necessary. She wasn’t a woman to go back on her word.

  I cried out as she slowly lowered herself down on my cock. Each inch felt like a slow, wonderful death. It was fucking amazing. And when I was fully seated inside her, I watched as she adjusted to my length and planted her feet on either side of me. She slowly rose up, dragging that ass along my cock and then sank back down. Each time was a little faster, rubbing my cock into a state of frenzy until I couldn’t take it anymore.

  I flipped her over and slammed back inside her, fucking her with everything I had. She was panting hard, screaming my name as her fingers clawed at me. I rubbed her clit, building the pressure up again as I continued to fuck her. And just as she started to come, I slammed inside her one last time and spilled my cum inside her ass.

  Panting hard, I leaned forward and rested my forehead against hers. I was spent and I was more than sure that she was going to be sore as hell. I slowly pulled out, then despite the cold, walked out of the room to grab a cloth to clean up. I took a moment in the bathroom to collect myself, staring at myself in the mirror.

&nbs
p; “What the fuck are you doing? She’s going to fucking kill you.”

  My reflection laughed and told me it was one hell of a way to go. I shook my head and wet a cloth before walking back out to her. She was still laying in front of the fire, her chest slowly rising and falling. I cleaned her up and then tossed the washrag off to the side for later. Pulling her under the covers with me, we both drifted off on the hard floor, wrapped in each other’s arms.

  Lorelei

  Andrew was still sleeping when I woke up the next morning. My body was sore as hell, but I couldn’t deny that I loved what he had done to me last night. I felt like a wild beast when he touched me, and though a strange endearment, I loved that he called me his sexy vixen. I did everything I could to appear sexy, but it wasn’t at all how I felt, and I definitely wasn’t a vixen. I grinned as I shifted to look over at him. He looked so peaceful sleeping and I really didn’t want to wake him, especially after the day he had yesterday.

  The house was freezing and the fire was dying down. Even shutting the doors to the living room wasn’t enough to keep us warm. We needed more firewood. There was no way that I was letting him help me haul in the firewood. He needed rest, not that last night could be considered rest…But since I hadn’t been able to get him to a hospital, I had to be sure that he took it easy today.

  I found my phone laying on the ground just a few feet from us and checked for service, but it was still dead. Sighing, I flopped back down and stared up at the ceiling. I needed to shovel out a path to leave. What if he needed help? I couldn’t just assume that he was okay because he fucked me last night.

  Slipping out from under the warmth of the covers, I shivered and quickly pulled on my clothes, rummaging through the laundry basket that I lived out of for warm socks. Glancing over at him one last time, it was clear that he wasn’t waking up anytime soon.