Played (Trapped Book 3)

by Beverley Kendall

  I place my palm on her smooth, sun-kissed thigh. “Is this nerves or excitement?”

  She gives a self-conscious laugh. “Probably a little of both.”

  I smile. “I guess that makes two of us then.”

  Erin

  I’m still trying to wrap my brain around what’s happened so far. Digesting everything he just told me. That he’s willing to follow me to LA still blows my mind—and steals my heart in the process.

  I keep hold of his left hand as his other one absently strokes my thigh.

  “First, I want to apologize.”

  A frown line forms between his eyes.

  “You’re nothing like Dale. He’s horrible,” I’m barely able to suppress a shiver. “Which makes the two of you as different as night and day. He wasn’t scared of losing me if I had a career. He wasn’t supportive because he’s selfish to the core.”

  I blink rapidly. “I spoke to my mom about it and she thinks that I might be expecting too much from you. That I expect you to be perfect. And I think she’s right. You see, I took a lot from Dale when we were dating. It was the little things at first, like him telling me I’d look better in that dress or shirt or whatever. He expected me to dress to please him.”

  It had been the subtlety of his actions that prevented the warning bells from going off immediately.

  “Then it was my friends. Because of my family’s wealth, he couldn’t understand why I’d want to hang out with anyone who wasn’t in their social circle.” I shake my head. “I should have caught on then.”

  “Hey, there’s a reason they say hindsight is 20/20,” Josh says, giving my leg a comforting squeeze.

  “But then I discovered what he was like when he didn’t get his way. He got handsy. He’d grab me by the arm or put his hand against the door to stop me from leaving.”

  Josh’s nostrils flare, his jaw starts ticking and his eyes narrow in rage.

  I reach up and stroke his clenched jaw, the bristle prickly against my palm. “That’s when I knew I had to break up with him, and you know the rest. Anyway, after that I vowed I’d never let it get to that point. I’d pick up on the signs sooner. So, with you, I think I was always looking for you to screw up. And when you did, I took that as a sign to get the hell out of Dodge.”

  I’d also known I was falling hard for him and I’d just needed one reason to call it quits. He’d handed it to me boxed and gift wrapped.

  His next breath is audible. Almost a sigh.

  “And I think that’s why, when you suggested Paige cheated on Mitch and told him he should get a paternity test, I broke it off.”

  Josh looks away. A moment later, he’s staring at me with an intensity that raises the hair on my nape. “That had more to do with Stephanie than Paige.”

  I lower my hand from his face. “Stephanie? Your ex-girlfriend?”

  He nods. “She had an abortion. That’s why we broke up.”

  Rendered stock still, my hand flutters to my lap. “What?” The scratchiness of my throat makes it come out like a croak.

  Josh draws in a deep breath. “She told me after the fact. When she knew I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.”

  Speechless, all I can do is stare at him.

  He gives a short, humorless laugh. “To this day, I’m not even sure if it was mine.”

  “Are you saying she cheated on you?”

  “I would hear stuff when I came home from college. She swears she didn’t, though.”

  That explains how he’d reacted when Paige got pregnant. Mitch and Paige had been carrying on a long-distance relationship when she got pregnant too.

  “Did you want the baby?”

  It’s a bittersweet thought, thinking of Josh as a father. I’m sure he’d make a good one, but the child would have been with someone else. Not me. And that’s the rub.

  “I don’t know. It’s nothing I would ever have planned. But I didn’t even have a choice. She took that away from me. She said it was her body and that I wouldn’t be the one who had to carry it.”

  I didn’t even have a choice. Those words echo in my mind.

  “Do you think you would have agreed to the abortion if she’d come to you beforehand?”

  He shrugs. “I don’t know what I would have said or done.”

  “Were you in love with her?” I don’t know why I ask but something in me has to know.

  “Looking back, I’m not sure it was ever more than infatuation. Marrying her would have been a mistake and I don’t know that I would have been ready to raise a kid on my own because she sure as hell didn’t want to be a mother.”

  “What she did wasn’t fair to you.”

  He shoots a glance toward the windows and then returns his gaze to mine. “Not that I would have tried to force her to carry a child she didn’t want, but as the father, I had a right to be in on the decision.”

  “Of course you did.”

  “And then I turn around and do the same thing to you because by not telling you, I was essentially making the decision for you,” he says, holding my gaze.

  “Maybe, but I wouldn’t put them in the same category.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I was wrong. I should have trusted you. I should have known you’d do exactly what you did today.”

  “And I’ve forgiven you. Now all I want to do is turn the page and move on.”

  In silence, Josh gazes at me, his expression tender. “I don’t know what I’ve done in this life to deserve you but whatever it is I need to keep doing it.” Then in a quieter voice, he says, “I love you more than I can possibly say.”

  And there it is. The tears. They were destined to come, and at his heartfelt declaration, my vision blurs and I’m swamped by emotion. Drowning in it.

  Then I’m in his arms and his mouth is on mine in a deep, love-affirming kiss. It quickly turns hot and hungry.

  With a groan, he pulls me down until we’re sprawled on the bed. His hands are everywhere, urgently caressing me until he has me writhing under him.

  “You wore that on purpose,” he says huskily, making my bikini top the first casualty of our haste. When the strings catch around my neck, Josh impatiently works the knot loose, discarding it on the rug.

  “I wanted to remind you what you were missing. Now please,” I pant against his lips, grabbing his wrists and pushing my breasts into his hands. “I need you.” The thrum of desire pulses strongly through me, the ache in my sex unbearable.

  He lowers his head and takes my nipple in his mouth and I swear to God, I almost come. My back arches off the bed and I grind my pussy against his crotch, his khakis doing little to contain his rock-hard erection.

  His clothes need to go.

  Josh lets out a raspy chuckle. “It’s been too long, huh? Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” he soothes, his warm breath bathing the pebbled peak he abandoned.

  In no time flat, he relieves me of my bottoms and strips out of his shirt and shorts. The second his cock is liberated, I take it in hand.

  “Yes,” I murmur, running my tongue slowly over my bottom lip as I begin to stroke the thick length. God, I’ve never wanted anyone so much.

  Josh’s hips jerk hard at my touch. “Fuck, Erin, I don’t think you should—” he breaks off and grits his teeth when I tighten my hand on another sweep.

  “You don’t know how much I missed you,” I murmur, my gaze on his engorged cock. “How much I missed this.” I circle the tip with my thumb, coating it in precum.

  Suddenly, I’m flat on my back, my arms pinned above my head and a very horny Josh over me.

  “I’ll let you play all you want next time,” he pants in labored breaths as he bends my leg at the knee and spreads me for him. “Right now, I’m about to give new meaning to the term fast and furious.”

  Using his freed hand, he lines his cock up to my entrance, running the tip down the center a few times before pushing in.

  I let out a gasp at the feel of him and struggle to free my hands. If I don’t touch him, I’ll go
crazy.

  “Yes. Fuck yeeessss,” Josh practically growls his pleasure. “So fucking tight.”

  He takes his time seating himself to the hilt, his eyes nearly black with lust as he stares at his cock disappearing inside me. Once he’s all the way, he stops and closes his eyes.

  My sex clenches around him, my hips restless, seeking. “Move,” I pant. It won’t take much for him to send me over the edge.

  Only then does he release my hands and brace himself beside my head. Finally granted the freedom to touch him, my hands clutch his shoulders, my fingernails digging into his taut, muscled flesh as he begins to thrust.

  My breath stutters as pleasure builds. He hooks my knee over his shoulder and on his next downward plunge, he goes deeper, hitting my clit in the exact right spot.

  “Oh God,” I cry out, lowering my grasping hands to his tight, muscled butt. “Harder.”

  Josh makes a tortured sound in his throat and begins to slam into me.

  My body contracts as an orgasm rips through me, touching down like a tornado and whipping me about like a rag doll. I control nothing. For those moments, my body isn’t mine as my pussy convulses around his cock.

  Josh’s anguished voice barely penetrates. “Shit, Erin, I’m coming.”

  Then with a few more hard thrusts, he spends himself inside me with a hoarse cry.

  It takes him a good half minute to catch his breath, which is when he pulls out and flops down on his back beside me.

  “Goddamn, that was good,” he says, groaning.

  All I can manage is a hum of agreement as I’m still trying to catch my breath, my body abuzz in the delicious aftermath of the earth-shaking orgasm that had just rocked my world.

  The mattress moves under his weight when he rolls onto his side and tucks me up against him. Sweeping the tangled mess of my hair aside, he places a kiss on my neck. “Make up sex is the reason people fight. Did you know that?”

  I giggle and snuggle closer to him.

  It’s silent for a bit and then Josh asks, “You think they’d miss us if we stayed in our room for the rest of the day?”

  “As the official hosts, we can’t.”

  Sighing heavily, he flattens his hand against my stomach, his pinky venturing past the Mason-Dixon line. “Are you sure, because an old gypsy told me marathon sex was in my future and I was kinda hoping it would be tonight.”

  I send him a coy glance over my shoulder. “Oh, you’re going to get your marathon sex. That I can guarantee you. Just know you won’t be getting any sleep tonight.”

  His arm tightens around me. “That’s right, who needs sleep.” I can hear the smile in his voice.

  “I should go clean up.”

  “Do we have to go down now?” His tone is close to whining without crossing that very fine line.

  “Calm down, you big baby, I’m just getting myself ready for round two.”

  I’m on my back in an instant and he’s staring down at me. “You promise you aren’t going to go in there and come out with your clothes on?”

  I slide my hand over his chest and down his ridged abs to his cock. It immediately begins to stiffen in my grasp.

  “I believe not long ago you accused me of insisting we stay in so I could ride your dick all night?”

  Josh’s eyes flare in recognition of his words.

  “Well, when I come back, I intend to get started on that.”

  On a chuckle-groan, he kisses me firmly on the lips. “My very own cowgirl. You’re more than welcome to ride me anytime.”

  Which is something I intend to do regularly.

  Epilogue

  Erin

  “Hold onto the boxes and your bag,”

  The words are barely out of Josh’s mouth before he swings me up into his arms and elbows open his apartment door.

  I let out a laughing shriek. “What are you doing, you crazy man? You’re supposed to carry the bride across the threshold. We aren’t the ones who got married today.”

  Josh smirks and kicks the door shut. “I’m practicing.”

  I love when he talks like that. With the understanding that marriage, babies and the whole works are in our future. It’s the best kind of foreplay.

  Stepping around the moving boxes littering the hall, he carries me to the living room and arranges me on his lap as he takes a seat on the sofa.

  “Give me those,” he says, taking my precious box of wedding cake and my clutch purse and placing them on the table beside us.

  I promptly wrap my arms around his neck and lay my cheek on his shoulder.

  “Have I told you how gorgeous you look today?”

  “This will only be the tenth time, but I never get tired of hearing it.” I love my dress. No surprise there as Paige let me have the final say in the three different maid of honor and bridesmaids dresses she’d selected—with my help.

  Speaking of the bride, Paige looked stunning in her white, silk gown with embroidered lace shoulder straps. She’d asked Trent to give her away and it was funny how a few of the guests confessed to mistaking him for the groom at one point.

  Everyone was there. All our friends from New York returned as well as Rebecca and Scott, the women saying they should have stayed when they were here for the bachelorette weekend festivities instead of flying home and having to fly back two weeks later. I wouldn’t have minded that. We don’t see each other nearly often enough.

  But that’s about to change when it comes to Rebecca and Scott; we’ll be seeing them a lot more once we’re in LA.

  Yep, Josh and I decided to give it a go. Once in a lifetime jobs are exactly that, Josh was quick to remind me. He insisted I needed to strike while the iron was hot and employed a few more of those clichés. The plan is he’ll be the on-site manager in charge of opening PixelGraph’s new office in California. His focus will be on hiring the talent and managing projects, and Wes will split his time between Georgia and California until the office in LA is up and running—smoothly.

  Needless to say, we’re both super excited to begin this new stage in our lives, and thrilled we’ll be doing it together.

  As if reading my mind, Josh says, “You ready for palm trees, constant sun and no rain?”

  I tip my head back to look at him. “You forgot Rodeo Drive and sandy beaches.”

  He chuckles and places a kiss on the tip of my nose. “I’m calling ahead to warn the shoe stores.”

  “I hope there’s enough room for my massive collection in Wes’s closet,” I tease. I’m not joking. I have over one hundred and fifty pairs at home and there are no less than ten pairs in the walk-in-closet here. The addiction is real and I’m unapologetic about it.

  “It’s a good thing his apartment has three bedrooms, or you’d have to get rid of at least half of them before we move.”

  I playfully swat him on the arm. “Those are fighting words.”

  His uncle offered to let us live at his place near Culver City for as long as we want. He bought the condo because of its proximity to many of the major Hollywood studios. He frequently flies out to LA to meet with studio executives, and now with the opening of an office there, he’ll be flying there a lot more.

  The location is convenient for me because it’s literally a twenty-minute commute to ACN’s office. And then, of course, there’s the apartment itself. Josh says it’s nicer than this one but since I’ve only seen pictures and videos of it, I’ll be reserving judgement until I can see it myself.

  “Fighting words,” Josh muses, rubbing his chin and watching me with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “As long as it leads to make up sex, I’m game.”

  I let out a husky laugh and smooth my palm down his chest. God, I can’t get enough of all those hard muscles. “You’re lucky I let you leave the apartment after I saw you in this tux.” I’m practically purring now. “I was ready to saddle you up for a ride.”

  Can I just tell you that Josh in a tux doesn’t do justice to the term eye-candy? It’s orgasmic. Tailored black and white never looked bet
ter on a male body. Actually, he looks even more delicious now with the top button of his shirt undone and his bowtie untied and draped around his neck.

  Josh makes a humming sound deep in his throat as his eyes lower to half-mast. “I’m liking the sound of that.”

  The audible rumbling of my stomach proves to be a sexy mood killer and we both burst out laughing.

  “Apparently, somebody’s still hungry.”

  “I hardly ate any of the chicken Marseilles,” I say in my defense. I was so busy performing my maid of honor duties, I didn’t give much thought to food. And by the time we finished the bouquet and garter toss—which Olivia and Zach won, by the way—I was polishing off my third glass of champagne. Those had filled me up. I hadn’t even indulged my sweet tooth when they cut the wedding cake.

  Now I’m so hungry, I think I might just eat it out of the gold engraved box I brought it home in. Honestly, I might even eat Josh’s.

  “Come on, cowgirl, let’s get you something to eat so you’ll have enough energy for that ride tonight.”

  “I want cake and a big glass of milk.”

  “Cake and milk it is.” Josh stands and helps me to my feet.

  With the skirt of my off-the-shoulder, cappuccino gown swirling around my feet, I scoop up the box of cake and follow Josh to the kitchen.

  “Sit down, I’ll get it for you,” he instructs.

  I let out a sigh and sink into the chair, content to watch him cater to me like this. Content to simply watch him.

  Life is good. I’m pinch myself I must be dreaming happy. The only thing marring my otherwise sunny, cloudless life is Dale. Last week, the prosecutor called to let me know that he’d accepted a plea and I wouldn’t have to testify. Dale agreed to serve twenty months in jail, which is basically like getting a slap on the wrist given he was facing eight to fifteen years.

  Josh asked me if I was okay with the sentence. When I told him I wasn’t, he reminded me that Dale would have to register as a sex offender when he gets out and it will be something that’ll follow him for the rest of his life. And on top of that, at least Audrey and I will finally receive some measure of justice without being put through the trauma of a trial where we were sure to be victimized again by his defense attorneys.