I don’t know that I ever thought of Josh as particularly romantic but my heart really can’t take much more of this. Emotion has tears pricking the backs of my eyes. Everything in me turns to mush.
“If this is a new form of foreplay, I fully approve,” I whisper and then watch as lust and desire darken his beautiful slate-blue eyes.
His hand drops down and grabs my ass, simultaneously squeezing both cheeks and pressing me against his burgeoning erection, causing a rush of moisture to pool between my thighs. My nipples pebble into hard points against my shirt.
“I love it when you tell me what you like,” he murmurs as his mouth trails the slope of my neck, an erogenous zone he knows leaves me wild with lust.
I let out a helpless whimper, my head dropping like the dead weight it’s become. The desire pulsing through me beats in tandem with the acceleration of my pulse. “But you know I love everything you do.”
He growls and crushes my mouth under his.
We don’t make it to his room. We don’t even try, mostly because our need for each other is so great, but partly due to the lovely rug in front of the faux fireplace. I’m sure it isn’t as soft as a bear-skin rug, but Josh doesn’t seem to mind it when he’s naked on his back and I’m riding him to one of the most intense orgasms I’ve ever had.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Josh
I would have insisted on going with Erin to the police department the following day but I don’t have to. My girlfriend wants me there.
She’s fairly matter-of-fact when relaying what happened to her to the investigating officer. I’m not. Despite her having told me the night before, each word hits me like a punch in the gut.
The rage I can control. What’s worse is the feeling of helplessness. It isn’t as if I hadn’t known her then. I had. Fuck, if only I’d known, I could have—would have—protected her.
Like the last time, we’re not at the police department long. Just an hour out of our weekend.
“You okay?” she asks as we walk from the building to my car, my arm around her shoulder and hers around my waist. She’s treating me the way I should be treating her.
I shake my head in a futile effort to clear it of a past I don’t have the power to change. This isn’t the first time in life I’ve been presented with something that’s fait accompli. That there’s nothing I can do about it but deal with it.
Well, I’m dealing.
“I should be asking you that. I can’t believe how calm you were in there.” I jerk my head in the direction of the building behind us as we approach my car.
“I’ve had a lot longer to come to terms with it than you have.” She pauses at my side while I open the passenger door. “I also know it could have been worse. I could have been Audrey.”
From what Erin told me in bed last night, that son of a bitch intended to rape her. All I can say is thank God for Mother Nature. He hadn’t only raped his ex-girlfriend, he’d brutalized her. The cop had shown us the pictures she’d submitted. Rope burns on her legs and wrists, angry bruises on her arms, back and upper thighs, and bite marks on her breasts.
“The guy should be locked up,” I growl.
Once we’re in the car with the engine running, Erin gazes at me and says, “I’m glad you came with me.”
I stare into her eyes and I see more than gratitude and affection. I’m not alone here. I know it. It’s in the way she looks at me. The way she responds to me. If this isn’t love, love doesn’t exist.
Leaning over the center console, I press what I intend to be a brief kiss on her lips. But they’re so soft and welcoming, I can’t help but linger. Then my tongue dips in for a taste.
Fucking intoxicating.
That sweet humming sound she makes goes straight to my dick, her mouth opening wide for mine as she grips my forearm. It’s only the slamming of a car door that brings me back to the reality of what can feasibly be accomplished in the front seat of a sports car. In the parking lot of a police station no less.
I tear my mouth from hers, my breathing uneven and my dick throbbing. “You’re determined to get me arrested one way or another, aren’t you?” I groan, adjusting my dick in my shorts. These erections used to be easier to control. Erin always has a way of disrupting things.
With her lips bare of whatever gloss she’d put on this morning, she treats me to an innocent wide-eyed look. “What did I do?”
“You’re too much of a temptation,” I mutter and reverse out of the parking spot.
Smiling coyly, she runs the tip of her tongue along her plump bottom lip and I have to tamp down the urge to find someplace quiet to pull over. The next time I kiss her, it needs to be somewhere private where we can get naked and I can bury myself inside her.
“Ready to go home?” Home is my place, and it’s her home every weekend.
“Can we stop by my house since we’re in the area? I need to pick up clothes for work on Monday.”
At the mention of her job, I’m overcome with guilt. It’s quickly assuaged with the knowledge that if she’s laid off, I’ll do whatever I can to find her another job. Wes mingles with plenty of Altanta’s power brokers, so he should be able to help out.
“Does that mean I get an extra night this week?” When the time for her to go home rolls around every Sunday, I always remind her that she doesn’t have to leave. Her work clothes travel just as well as the stuff she packs for the weekends. It looks like she’s finally seeing things my way.
“Yep,” Erin replies, sending me a coy look.
“Then to your house it is.” I don’t care that I’m grinning like an idiot. All I know is that two nights in my bed is good but three nights is a whole lot better.
Erin
I’m facing the prospect of having to testify against my ex-boyfriend about an incident I’ve done my best to forget and I’m on the verge of losing my job, yet I’ve never felt more emotionally strong, and it has a lot to do with my amazing boyfriend.
Josh is everything Dale wasn’t and won’t ever be. Besides all the crazy stuff, Josh supports me. Dale never did. He liked the thought of me being a lawyer but not of me actually having a career. He’d talked about us getting married when we graduated and then having kids right away.
Guess who he expected to stay home and care for the kids?
That’s right, me; the woman, of course. Before I could even begin my career, he was treating it as an afterthought, something that would take a backseat to me being his wife and the mother of his children. I remember the conversation as if it were yesterday.
“When exactly do you see me using my law degree then?”
“Before the kids are born and after they start high school.”
That’s when I knew Dale and I weren’t going to make it for the long haul. It had been that and how controlling he was. I already had a father, thank you very much. Then, of course, there was his temper. I found out at the end that someone doesn’t have to hit you to be violent.
“Do you want to wait in the car? I should only be a minute.” My mother’s car is in the driveway and I’d like to avoid an introduction right now, if possible.
Josh’s gaze strays to the black Mercedes Benz and then back to me, narrowing slightly. “No, I’ll come in.”
I release a sigh of resignation to which he responds, “You know I’ve met them before.”
We both get out of the car. “My dad’s out of town on business so it’s only my mom. And not as my boyfriend, you haven’t.”
I wait for him to join me. “What? Ashamed of me? Worried I won’t measure up?”
“I’m worried she’s going to say something to run you off,” I reply with a laugh, only half kidding. My mother has this air about her and sometimes I’m convinced she truly believes the title of Princess or Duchess precedes her name.
In other words, Margaret is a snob and unfortunately some of my friends have the scars to prove it. If their parents don’t belong to a country club, she doesn’t have time for them and doesn’t t
hink I should either. Paige is the exception, but it took several years for my mother to warm up to her.
Josh captures my hand in his and gives it a gentle tug, pulling me close. “Do you really think I can be run off?” He plants a hard kiss on my mouth and says huskily, “I’m not giving you up that easily. As a matter of fact, I’m not giving you up at all.”
My man has a way with words. I’m choked up and turned on at the same time.
“I’m going to hold you to that. Now let’s go face your first challenge.”
I expected my mother to be polite; she isn’t uncouth, after all. What surprised me is how pleasant she is to him. I think she remembers him from the few times he came over with Mitch when Paige was here, but she doesn’t say. And Josh, well, he can charm the pants off a naked woman.
My brief stop home is already fifteen minutes strong by the time I finish packing. I’d been afraid to leave them alone but neither looks worse for the wear when I return to the living room. I purposely don’t sit down, politely drawing our little visit to a close.
Josh, great at taking cues, shoots me a smile and pushes to his feet. “I guess we should be getting out of your hair now.”
My mom follows his lead, her movements as graceful as any lady of the manor born. “What are your plans for the rest of the day?” She directs the question at me as we walk out into the hall.
I look at Josh. “Nothing big. We’ll probably go see a movie.” That’s if we go out at all. It’s not even four in the afternoon and I’m ready for some physical exercise of the naked and sweaty variety.
“Erin, before you go, may I have a word with you?” The in private is unspoken.
Josh answers for me by saying, “I’ll go wait in the car.” He turns to my mother all smiles and affable charm. “It was nice meeting you again, Mrs. Bancroft.”
“I expect we’ll be seeing more of each other. Take care, my dear.”
After relieving me of my garment bag, Josh whispers to me, “You don’t need to rush on my account.”
But that’s exactly what I intend to do. My mother hasn’t been acting herself and I’m waiting for her to revert back to the Margaret Jean Bancroft I’ve known the last ten years.
When the front door closes behind Josh, she directs her attention to me. And I brace myself.
“Did Detective Owens get in touch with you?”
My jaw nearly hits the floor.
“He left a message on the house phone,” she explains, waving a hand in the direction of the telephone stand.
It’s not that I wasn’t going to tell them—my parents and sister—about what’s going on with Dale, just not now when I’m only coming to grips with it.
I incline my head in the barest of nods. “We talked yesterday.”
Suddenly her mouth forms into a thin line. “He has to be stopped.”
If my jaw nearly hit the floor at her initial question, this time it lands with a deafening thud. “What?” The question bursts from me.
“He wanted to speak to you about Dale, didn’t he? About what he did to that girl.”
I let out a garbled sound as I gape at her. “How do you know? Is that what he said in his message?”
My mother gently touches my arm. Her hand is shaking slightly. “No, I called.”
I shake my head, a little dazed and a lot confused. “I don’t understand. You contacted the police?” She isn’t making any sense.
She steers me to the embroidered bench nearby and I let her pull me down beside her.
“After Dale left, I knew you probably weren’t the only one he’d done it to, so I hired a private detective. I thought for certain there had to be a girlfriend in Boston since that’s where he’s going to school. That’s when the detective found the complaint she made against him.”
I blink. Oh. My. God.
“They weren’t going to do anything about it. Nothing. They weren’t even going to try to confirm her account of the incident. They thought her bruises were self-inflicted. They said it was probably a kinky bondage thing gone awry. For five months the police did nothing.” My mom’s eyes harden, and her voice lowers to growly mother-bear protectiveness. “And then I told them about what he did to you. What that boy did to you. That’s when they promised they’d take a closer look at the case.”
I sit in stunned silence with my hands on my lap and my knees locked. I have no words.
“I’m not trying to force you to give a statement or testify on her behalf—or yours, for that matter—but your father and I both agree that you deserve to have that option, and we’ll support whatever you choose to do.”
My throat locks up, making it impossible to swallow. “Mom, I—” I clear my throat and start again. “Mom, I don’t know what to say.” My voice is hoarse.
“I hope you’re not mad,” she says softly. “I know this is something you tried to put behind you, but when it happened you didn’t feel you could come to me or your father. All I’m trying to do now is to finally give you the justice you deserve.”
As I mentioned before, we’re not touchers, my family. I think the last time I initiated physical contact with my mother was when her father died three years ago. My mother doesn’t particularly like to be kissed because, you know, her makeup.
Right now, however, she looks sad. Shaken. In need of comfort. So I take her hand in mine and examine her pale, slender fingers adorned only by a two-carat diamond engagement ring and a platinum wedding band.
“I’m not mad. I’m surprised. Okay, maybe more like shocked. But I’m not mad.” I emit a laugh that possesses not one ounce of amusement and lift my gaze to hers. “Now I wish I’d thought of it myself.”
“No, it’s my job to protect you,” she states simply.
I don’t know what to say except, “Thank you, Mom.”
Chapter Thirty
Erin
Josh exhales heavily, shifting his gaze from his phone to my face. “Remember last week you were asking when I was going to introduce you to my parents as my girlfriend?”
“Yeah.” If my tone sounds a tad snippy it’s probably because that phone call interrupted one of the hottest kisses and the imminent removal of our clothes. I don’t appreciate interruptions to our Friday night routine. I’ve been waiting to jump his bones a full four days. I don’t want to wait another five minutes.
“Well she’s on her way up. She’s out shopping and had dinner in the area so…get ready to say hi to my mom.”
I sit up and reluctantly remove my hand from his sizable bulge. I was in the process of relieving the pressure behind his button fly when his phone rang.
“Sorry, babe.” He kisses me on the lips and stands.
“You may want to wait a couple minutes before answering the door.” He’s still hard. And because I’m feeling ornery and horny, I give his junk a squeeze.
Josh hisses and jerks back. He then directs his hungry, lust-filled eyes at me. “I’m so going to make you pay for that.”
Unfolding my legs from under me, I push slowly to my feet. “What’re you gonna do, spank me?” I’m all seductive sass and sexual innuendo as I turn and offer him a bird’s eye view of the related body part. I know exactly what my ass in yoga pants does to him.
His eyes smolder.
The expected knock on the door has him cursing under his breath and rearranging his junk in his jeans. “You won’t be able to sit down,” he mock growls before marching toward the door.
I shiver dramatically. “Oh, now I’m terrified. Why don’t you turn me on some more, big boy.”
He shoots me a dark look over his shoulder while I giggle like a middle school girl.
Sex with a sexually frustrated Josh is beyond hot. I see at least three orgasms in my immediate future.
But the second he opens the door, I instantly sense a change in him. It’s not because of his mother, though. She looks the same as she did the last time I saw her at Josh’s graduation—I’d tagged along with Paige and Mitch. Brown hair the color of toffee, medium
build and height, and a smile permanently adorning her pretty face. Nope, it’s the woman beside her who has Josh transfixed. Literally rendered mute.
“Surprise!” Mrs. Marshall exclaims, a smile wreathing her face. “Look who’s here.” She gestures to the woman at her side with a Vanna White-like flourish of her arm. “Carly’s back in town and she insisted on seeing you before she flies home Wednesday.”
Without uttering a word, Josh steps aside, allowing his mother and her friend to enter.
“I hope we’re not interrupting anything, but we promise not to stay long.” Mrs. Marshall presses a kiss on his cheek and then ushers her friend into the living room.
Both women are dressed in flowy summer dresses, but that’s where the similarity ends. Mrs. Marshall looks like the youthful mother to full-grown children, while her friend Carly is the epitome of Fifth Avenue chic. You know the kind, slim, classy, cool and attractive, her makeup flawless and her face smooth and unlined. She reminds me of the lead actress from the TV series Scandal.
Josh clears his throat. “Um, no, we were just watching TV.”
Smiling, Carly greets Josh with a big, warm hug. “It’s so good to finally see you again. My goodness, I feel so old. The last time I saw you, you were this high.” She holds her hand at her waist. “Now I have to tip my head back to look up at you.”
Everyone laughs but Josh’s sounds forced. Now I’m absolutely convinced something’s wrong and it has to do with his mother’s friend. But what? She herself said she hasn’t seen him since he was a kid.
I catch his eye and raise my brow in question. What’s wrong?
He responds by giving his head a barely perceptible shake before looking away.
Mrs. Marshall finally turns to me. “Erin, it’s so lovely to see you again.” I’m treated like a beloved friend of the family as she throws her arms around me, enveloping me in the warmth of her embrace and whatever floral-scented perfume she has on.
Played (Trapped Book 3) Page 24