The Parent Pact (Book Three of The Return to Redemption Series)

by Laurie Kellogg

  He’d survived weeks of foreplay—he could certainly wait another hour or two. If they went up to the bedroom now, she would never completely relax. He needed to take her mind off what they were about to do. “Why don’t we take a swim?”

  In the blink of an eye, the remaining tension faded from Annie’s posture. “Okay. Ben bought me a beautiful bathing suit. I’ll go put—”

  “No. We won’t be needing swimsuits.”

  “Oh.” She gulped audibly.

  He led her to the solarium. The two double-wide, cushioned chaises, added since his last visit to the estate, suggested his buddy might have been doing a little seducing of his own.

  Tyler popped open the buttons on his shirt and shrugged it, along with his suit jacket, off while she spun her back to him and lowered her dress to reveal a skimpy scarlet lingerie set that left little to his imagination.

  “There’s no reason to be modest, sweetheart. I’ve already seen you naked. And believe me the image of you floating in my bathtub is imprinted indelibly in my memory.”

  “I know.” She shrugged, turning to face him again. “It’s just....undressing in front of you is different.”

  He sucked in a sharp breath as she released her breasts from their satin prison and pushed off the triangular scrap of lace covering her raven curls.

  The sight of her wearing nothing but her lace-topped black stockings and heels strained his control.

  “Stop right there.” He grabbed her hand to keep her from removing her hosiery. “I’d like to look at you for a bit.” He wanted to memorize this moment to relive on the lonely nights he lay in bed by himself.

  She crossed her legs and folded her arms over her breasts in a protective stance. “Well, while you’re looking, you owe me some clothes, Mr. Fitzpatrick. I refuse to be the only one standing here stark naked.”

  Good. She was feeling confident enough to tease him. Maybe the champagne they’d drunk had finally loosened her inhibitions a bit. He toed off his shoes and removed his socks before dropping his trousers. “There, I’d say we’re about even now, wouldn’t you?”

  “Afraid not. Even would be if you put those”—she nodded toward his socks and shoes—“back on and lost your shorts.”

  “Oh, I would,” he said with feigned sincerity, “except I’d look utterly ridiculous standing here in my birthday suit, wearing just my socks and shoes.”

  Her finely arched eyebrows lifted. “And I don’t?”

  “Oh, no-o.” He smiled, enjoying the rosy flush creeping up from her breasts. “Beautiful—erotic—sexy as hell, but not at all ridiculous.”

  “Still....” She tapped her lip with one crimson manicured fingernail and dropped her gaze to the tented front of his boxers. “I don’t think it’s quite fair that you’ve seen everything I’ve got while I’ve yet to get even a peek at your, uhhhh—manly assets.”

  “Curious, huh?” He smiled. “Okay, I suppose it’s only fair.” He slid his shorts off and straightened up to find her staring at his crotch with an anxious wrinkle in her brow. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

  “Y-you’re a little b-bigger than I expected.” She turned away as she kicked off her shoes. “That thing is a bit intimidating.”

  Even though the only other thing she had to compare his equipment to belonged to a first grader, Tyler’s ego swelled. Turning her to face him, he cupped her cheek. “You’ve had a baby, Annie. Trust me, it’s not going to hurt. Besides, we’re not having sex right now, remember? We’re going swimming.”

  He knelt to peel her hosiery down and discovered a couple of square foil packets tucked into the elasticized top of one stocking. When they fell to the floor, he smirked and rolled the other nylon off her. “I see you came prepared.”

  She shrugged. “I wasn’t taking any chances.” Before he could finish standing back up, she swatted him on the butt and jumped in the pool. He dove in and resurfaced next to her. “You’re going to pay for that.”

  When he pinched her playfully on the fanny, she swam away squealing, “You have to catch me before you can punish me. And you have to do it with your eyes closed.”

  “What, punish you or capture you?”

  “Catch me.”

  “Oh, so you want to play a little Marco Polo, huh? Okay.” He shut his eyes and chased her around the pool for several minutes calling out, “Marco” and following the sound of her splashing and “Polo” echoes. Eventually, he couldn’t resist peeking and caught her enticing bottom popping to the surface like an alabaster fishing bob as she dove underwater.

  When she came up for air and saw him watching her, she pouted. “That’s not fair, you’re cheating.”

  She swam to the pile of clothing at the side of the pool to grab her dark stockings, then paddled over to him, and secured one snugly over his eyes. He could still detect some light and shadows, but he couldn’t make out any shapes.

  “And just so you can’t push it off,” she told him, “I’m tying your hands, too.”

  As she bound his wrists behind his back with the other stocking, he waggled his hands. “How am I supposed to tag you if I’m tied up like this?”

  She slowly slid her palm down his abdomen toward his erection, making him shiver. “You’ve got other appendages you can use.”

  Her hand trembled like a vibrator as she tentatively stroked the length of him. Rendering him helpless and assuming control of their lovemaking had evidently given her confidence.

  He groaned, fearing he’d burst like a horny schoolboy on his first date.

  “You have a foot, don’t you?” she asked.

  “You’re good for my ego.” He snorted softly. “I may be a little larger than average, sweetheart, but a foot?”

  “I meant the one you’re standing on—with toes.”

  “Right.” He strangled on his laugh and dropped his head back, reveling in the pleasure of her tantalizing fingers stroking him. “But h-how am I supposed to swim with my hands tied?”

  “I guess you have a problem, don’t you?” She licked the hollow at the base of his throat. “I suppose you’ll just have to trust me not to lure you into the deep end.”

  “I have a feeling I’m already in way over my head.”

  Did she have any idea how erotic this was for him? His panting turned into a groan as she traced her fingertip around one of his nipples and kissed the other one. “I suggest you just don’t let the water level get above these.”

  And she’d been worried about disappointing him? Apparently she’d taken it to heart when he told her to use her imagination. Annie was a natural.

  She swam away laughing, leaving his body screaming for more.

  “Ahh, don’t stop! Annie?” The very last thing Tyler wanted to do at that moment was chase her. “Marco!”

  “Polo.”

  Turning to the sound of her voice on his right, he followed her wake as she raced through the water toward the shallow end. Eventually, he ran into the steps where the water wasn’t quite hip deep. “Marco.”

  “Polo,” she whispered only inches behind him.

  He spun around and her warm breath tickled his chest. The gentle waves she created on the water’s surface as she evaded him lapped at his aroused flesh, sending a lightning bolt of desire through him. The deprivation of his sight only heightened his other senses, putting every tingling nerve in his body on alert. His increased perception told him she was very close.

  “Now let me see. If I try to tag you with my foot, I just might fall over.” He arched his back and wagged his erection like a divining rod in the direction of her giggles. “I bet my sex detector can find you. It’s equipped with special radar designed especially for locating—”

  He choked on his words as her mouth slid over him, licking and sucking. Holy crap! Where the hell had his shy pseudo-virgin gone? He should’ve served her champagne weeks ago.

  Her hands cupped his haunches and testicles, gently squeezing them and nearly driving him over the edge. This wasn’t how he wanted to come the f
irst time with her. “Annie, please—” He gasped. “N-not like this.”

  And he’d worried about getting her to relax? If she didn’t stop, he would explode.

  She quit sucking, and caressed him as she said. “Aren’t you the guy who said whatever feels good to me will feel just as great to you?”

  No, better. “How would you know how good this feels?”

  “As I told you earlier, I read a lot.”

  “If that’s the case, I want to borrow a few of your books.”

  As her lips slid over him again, he twisted and writhed, trying to shake her loose, but she held him tightly, imprisoning him in her mouth. By gradually stretching the stocking wrapped around his wrists, he managed to free his hands and rip off his blindfold. The sight of Annie floating on her stomach, staring up at him with her lips locked around his throbbing erection almost made him lose control.

  Grabbing her arms, he pried her off of himself and pressed her back against the pool’s side. He nibbled on her neck and growled, “Now, you little minx, I’m gonna give you a lickin’ you won’t forget.”

  “Promises, promises.” She giggled.

  He spanned her waist and lifted her until her breasts were even with his mouth. Her back arched as he flicked his tongue at the droplets of water dangling from each of her rosy nipples. While he sucked hungrily, she moaned and clutched his hair, squirming frantically in his arms as she held his mouth to her luscious peak.

  “Oh, sweetheart,” he murmured into her breast. “Damn, you make me hot.”

  If she wasn’t ready to make love now, she’d never be. Letting her slide down his body halfway, he wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed her deeply while he carried her up the steps and laid her on the doublewide chaise.

  He snatched up one of the foil packets from the floor and stared down at her heaving breasts while he covered himself. Crawling over her water-slicked body, he dotted her face with a dozen tender kisses. Sex had never been this much fun before.

  His breath caught as he slid his finger into her slick heat and stroked the swollen bud hidden in her crease. “You’re so ready, sweetheart. Open up for me, love.”

  Her legs spread wide, and as he dipped his head and kissed her delta, she whimpered, “Pleeease, Tyler. Don’t make me wait.”

  He lifted his head and their gazes locked as he gradually entered her taut velvet passage. The look of complete wonder on her face nearly undid him. “Annie,”— he strangled on his words—“please tell me you’re all right. I can’t wait a second longer.”

  “Oh, yesss.” She released a long breathy hiss.

  The tightly controlled undulation of his hips created a fierce pressure in his groin that commanded him to move faster. As her body rose up, eagerly meeting his impatient thrusts, he buried his face in her chlorine-scented hair, unleashing the savage passion consuming him.

  “Oh, Tyler. I never dreamed it could be like this.” She panted as he urgently plunged in and out of her, devouring her nipples and exulting in the intense pleasure she brought him.

  “Me, neither, baby.”

  Their wet bodies rubbed against each other’s like warm oil sliding over glass, arousing him, releasing the primitive need caged inside him. He gripped the chaise’s arms and levered his weight off her so he could indulge in the rapid-fire thrusting his body screamed for. Never in his wildest fantasies had he ever imagined a woman could feel this incredible.

  Suddenly she convulsed around him and shivered, gasping, “Ohmigosh.”

  He rocked faster, pumping his hips, urging her body into a second more powerful climax.

  “Yes, oh yes, Ty-ler!”

  Annie’s excited cries of delight echoed in the large glass enclosure. Her fingers clawed desperately on his back, pushing him over the top into a freefall of sensation. “Oh, baby, you’re incredible.”

  Squeezing his eyes shut, he collapsed on her, shuddering through an orgasm so intense the earth spun out of control.

  He could die now. It didn’t get better than this.

  As he tried to roll off of her, his leaden limbs wouldn’t cooperate. She locked her legs around him, sounding miles off as she purred in his ear, “You feel so good. Don’t leave me.”

  “I’m too heavy for you, sweetheart.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  He relaxed and basked in her warm sheath surrounding him while the blood slowly returned to his brain. Goosebumps danced across his back from the cool air wafting over his damp body, causing his aroused flesh to slowly wilt inside her. Lying in her arms, his chest tightened as he traced his fingertip over her passion-swollen lips.

  Now that he knew how incredible making love to Annie was, how could he bear to give her up if she refused to consider allowing their fling to become something more serious?

  “I think we’d be more comfortable in bed,” he whispered.

  “Mmm, probably, but I’m too drained to move.”

  “You don’t have to. I’ll carry you.”

  As he pulled out of her, the condom slipped off. “Damn it.”

  “What’s the matter?”

  He’d known better than to stay inside her until his erection faded. “The condom leaked, so some of my semen spilled—”

  Her body stiffened beneath him. “Are you saying I could get pregnant?”

  He smiled at the surprise in her rounded eyes. “That’s always a possibility when a man and woman have sex.”

  “Believe me, if anyone knows that, I do.”

  “When was your last period?”

  “I’m not sure.” She gnawed at her lower lip. “I have it marked on my calendar at home.”

  “Relax.” He cupped her cheek in his palm. “I didn’t come all the way inside you, so the chances are pretty low that you’ll get pregnant.” Especially if Erica was right when she accused him of shooting blanks. “If you’re worried, we can find a pharmacy and get you an emergency contraception pill to put your mind at ease. But I understand even if you take it, it’s only seventy-five percent effective.”

  “No. If it’s really that unlikely, I don’t want to spoil our weekend.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief. A few weeks ago, he’d had a hundred reasons why marriage between them wouldn’t work. But now, the idea of his baby growing inside of Annie and the prospect of sleeping with her for the rest of his life seemed awfully appealing.

  Idealistic and foolish maybe. But damn good.

  ~*~

  After an erotic snack of chocolate mousse and whipped cream followed by a night of tender lovemaking, Tyler slept wrapped around Annie until almost ten the next morning. They ate a light breakfast of croissants and fruit salad before he took her horseback riding for the first time, and then spent an hour in the bathtub washing the stable smell off of each other.

  At one o’clock, they took the picnic Alain packed for them onto the speedboat to enjoy the Indian summer day.

  After dropping their fishing lines in an inlet, Tyler pulled her close. “Enough fishing. Let’s make out.”

  She laughed as she pushed him away and reached into the lunch basket. “No way. It’s time to eat. I’m starving.”

  He spun his feet up on the bench seat and laid his head in her lap. “Okay, woman, if you won’t give me any lovin’, then feed me.”

  While she dropped bite-size pieces of sesame seed flatbread topped with shrimp salad into his mouth, she stroked his head and told him a series of lawyer jokes.

  “Here’s my favorite.” She licked deviled egg from her fingers. “If Hitler was on one side of the road and a lawyer was on the other side, who would a hit man run over first?”

  “Okay, I’ll bite.” He reached in the basked for a few grapes. “The lawyer?”

  “No, no, no.” She shook her head, wide-eyed. “You should know business always comes before pleasure.”

  “Oh, yeah?” He wrestled her beneath him on the bench seat and tickled her until she gasped for air. Her shrieks begging him to stop echoed across the water. He pinned her
arms over her head and lowered his mouth to hers, murmuring, “This afternoon, pleasure comes first.”

  ~*~

  “So what do you want to do tonight?” Annie asked that evening after a delicious prime rib dinner accompanied by tiny oven roasted potatoes and asparagus with hollandaise sauce.

  Stepping behind her, Tyler slid his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. “The same thing I wanted to do last night—and this morning—and this afternoon. I can’t get my fill of you.”

  “You can’t possibly be ready to make love again already.”

  “I can try.” He grinned. “I’ll start by giving you a massage and see what arises.” He carried her upstairs to the bedroom and rubbed every inch of her with warm oil, relaxing and arousing her until she was a simmering cauldron of sensation.

  Finally, he flipped her to her back. The shadowed ridges between his muscles deepened as he poised his hard body above hers for a full minute, staring down at her with a look of amazed enchantment. The only sound came from his hot erratic breaths and the pounding of her heart.

  The fire in his gaze warmed her as he bent his head to feast on her mouth, her throat, her aching breasts. The hunger in his lips left her starving for him and pushed her toward the edge of sanity. He nibbled his way down her stomach and caressed her, spreading her legs while she clutched the sheets and arched up to his mouth, writhing in ecstasy. With only a few flicks of his tongue, she came hard and fast, unable to smother her shriek of pleasure.

  As her orgasm subsided, she yanked on his shoulders, urging his aroused body over hers to fill the empty cradle between her legs.

  “Slow down, love. We have all night,” he murmured and drew back a moment to sheath himself in latex. He joined himself with her and whispered sweet tender words in her ear, tearing down the fortress she’d erected around her heart.

  A short time later, a lump swelled in her throat as they cried out their mutual pleasure in a chorus of gasps and groans. She’d stupidly let herself fall deeply and passionately in love with a man whose needs she couldn’t begin to fill properly outside of the bedroom.