He stroked over her back and found the zipper of her dress. He pulled it down slowly, giving her ample time to object. She only lifted her one leg to hook it around his waist and threw her head back as his mouth stroked fire down her arched neck. His shaft throbbed painfully; fully erect and eager to fill her hot body. He pulled her dress down to her waist. He held her in place with one hand around her waist and the other fondling around a breast. He gently stroked and caressed the generous curve to close and pinch around her tight nipple. His mouth found and pulled the other deep into his mouth and suckled greedily.
She mewled like a tormented cat and he stiffened as his memory was triggered by the sound, but she rubbed the apex of her body against his erection and his mind went blank. He growled, yanked her dress up over her hips and his hands found the narrow piece of material at the top of her butt cheeks. He sucked in his breath; he should have known she was the G-string type. Frustration rippled through him that it was so dark to not see what his hands caressed. He knew she removed her mask; he didn’t feel it when he kissed her.
His hands easily ripped the piece of material in two. His breathing stopped when her hands urgently opened his pants, but he pushed her hands away before she could reach for his shaft. He would combust if her hands as much as brushed against his arousal.
He walked her back until she was pressed against the wall, then he lifted her and her legs wrapped around his waist to lock her ankles behind his back.
“Good God, you are so wet! You better hold on sweetheart, this is going to be hard, fast and rough.”
He plunged into her with the last word and she mewled hoarsely again. The sound levitated the raging lust in him and he rammed into her uncontrollably, desperate for the release he knew would be the best he has ever had.
She countered every plunge of his, her movements as demanding and desperate as his. She dug her heels in his back as she urged him on, deeper and harder. She tightened in his arms and he thrust harder as her sheath tightened painfully around his throbbing shaft. She came hard and loudly, gripping him so tight he plunged into her viciously. He grunted when he came just as hard, his legs trembling with the strain to keep upright.
Their breathing was ragged and she clung to him, desperate to bring her breathing back to normal. To reduce her body temperature lower than the incinerating heat still raging through her. He pulled her legs from around his back and slowly lowered them to the floor. He looked up and noticed the outline of the mask back in place on her face. He turned away, still struggling to get his breathing under control. His fist slammed on the table he walked into.
“Shit, how the hell was this possible!” His voice rasped in the quiet of the room, his breathing haggard.
He has not lost control like this since … her! It shouldn’t have happened! It was said the men in their family, since as long as ever, only lost sexual control with the woman they loved. Good God! He did not even think of protection before he took her!
He pulled his hands through his hair, swung around when the door opened behind him and he saw her slip through to slam it closed behind her. He pulled his pants up and was still closing the zipper when he tore after her, but she already disappeared.
He searched in all three directions she could have disappeared to, opened doors even, but she was gone. His fist hit the wall in frustration.
He went back to the Ballroom and found her walking back onto the stage. He walked around the back and stood behind the curtain at the side of the stage, clearly in her view. She sang a pop song, her body gyrating and moving sensually. His erection rose higher and tighter with every thrust of her hips. His mouth went dry knowing she was naked beneath the dress.
Her eyes caught his and the words, ‘Give me more, more, more, ‘cause I like how it feels, oh yeah I like how it feels, show me up, make us one, let’s make a beautiful world, again and again and again, ‘cause I like how it feels,’ were meant just for him and he nodded, acknowledging they were not done yet.
She left the stage on the opposite side and with stage changes he could not reach her, but he kept his eyes on her for the rest of the evening. It was close to two in the morning when they rose and greeted everyone, clearly on their way out.
Tristan followed them determined to catch her before she reached the limousine. She started something, and the electric connection their bodies made was too rare and he would not allow her one quarter.
Damian caught him just as he walked through the door and short of being rude, he had to accept the invitation to lunch the following week. He tore outside, and he’d be damned, she disappeared on him again!
Chapter Three
“Mommy, wake up! Moooommmyyyyy!”
Three year old Tiffany jumped up and down next to Savannah, who groaned and pulled her pillow over her head. It felt as though she just fell asleep! She groaned when three year old Jason joined his twin in turning her bed into a jumping castle and sang “wake up little mommy, wake up!” to the tune of the Everley Brother’s, Wake up little Suzy.
She drew the pillow from her head and smiled at them through sleepy eyes. “Darlings, can Mommy please sleep a little longer?”
They stop jumping and both cuddled close to her side, hugging her arm between their warm little bodies. Their bright smiles were as broad as the morning was long.
“Hello Mommy.”
Tiffany said sweetly, kissing her on the cheek, her cherub face a replica of her brother’s, who leaned over and kissed her on the other cheek, smiling just as sweetly. Oh, how she loved these two rascals. She sat up and grabbed them close, hugging them tight until they complained and wiggled to be released.
She pushed her long black hair from her face and yawned tiredly, her heart tightening in anguish when Jason went to stand by her bedside table, kissing the face on the picture in the photo frame.
“Hello Daddy.”
She closed her eyes and cursed herself for leaving the photo on her bedside table last night. There was no stopping them now and they bombarded her with questions.
“When are we going to Daddy, Mommy?
“Where is Daddy today, Mommy?” and the one that tore her heart to pieces, “We long for Daddy, Mommy!”
She drew her hands resignedly over her face and swallowed hard to keep the tears at bay before she faced the two little humans that completely changed her life since their birth. She brought them up with their father’s picture as the only link to him, and they sponged it up. They came to love the man from the stories she told them and he was just as deeply entrenched in their minds and hearts as she was. She frowned at them in mock anger.
“Now explain to me why you woke me up so early?”
Jason went to the window and pulled the curtains apart. He struggled to get it open all the way with his small body. He stood proudly aside and pointed dramatically to the sun shining brightly and already high in the sky.
“It is already time for lunch and we are hungry, but Hetta said we must wake you first.”
She marveled at the twins’ speech, they started talking months earlier than were usual for babies and used words and spoke at the age of three, other toddlers only did around five or six years of age.
In mock astonishment she looked outside. “You are right, my clever little boy. Very well, go tell Hetta I’ll be down in fifteen minutes. I am going to take a quick shower and will join you soon.” She smiled and watched them run squealing for Hetta down the stairs.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed; her eyes caught the face of the man in the picture on her bedside table. She picked up the frame and held it on her lap, her eyes caressing the strong, chiseled jaw, the smiling mouth and the steely silver grey eyes. Her finger gently stroked over the hair, as if to wipe it back from his brow.
She swallowed hard at the lump in her throat. Would the hurt ever go away and would she ever be able to forget about him, find another to fill her empty heart and arms? The twins being three year old replicas of the man in the picture tendered the a
nswer. She could not answer the twins because they might never meet their father!
The hurt still throbbed as hard and painful as it did the day she walked into his office and found him shirtless on his back. His pants around his knees with Jessica Donley, his supposed childhood friend, astride him, groaning as she undulated against him, her hands clasped over his on her thighs. His face was turned away from the door, but his temple and chest shone from moisture with the heat of their … their copulation. Jessica looked right at her, smiling in glee, but it was the low groan of enjoyment that emanated from him that chased her out the door and out of his life.
A sob escaped her throat, God why did it still hurt so much! Four years later! Maybe because this happened a scarce two weeks after he put the shining engagement ring on her finger, promising her his love and marriage four months later. Even worse, on the same day she went to his office with happiness and ecstasy throbbing in her heart; to tell him she was pregnant.
The water cascaded over her body and she shivered remembering his strong hands holding her against him, pummeling his shaft into her with such force she still felt sore and tender. She slapped her hands against the tiled surface of the shower and cursed herself to hell and back for giving into the temptation to feel Tristan Wade inside her again. To hold him in her arms and kissing his beautiful mouth once more.
The shock that nearly paralyzed her when she walked towards the entrance of the Grand Matize Hotel, still shivered down her spine. His eyes blazed into hers and she feared that he knew who she was, but of course he didn’t. She couldn’t keep her eyes off him and caught his burning gaze on her numerous times throughout the night. When she came back from the rooftop apartment to check on the twins and he was suddenly there in front of her, she nearly fainted. She took a detour to ensure no one realized where she came from; otherwise she would not have bumped into him.
The heat that radiated from him, the desire and lust in his when their eyes met, were what induced her to open that door and invite him in with her eyes.
The orgasm she had, still made her tingle and she cried in anger. How would she forget now! Oh Lord, he was the only man to drive her passion and wantonness so high and uncontrollable, just as it did the night before, to make her explode and crave for more.
Why did she agree to perform at the Charity ball? She always avoided any public appearances and never performed at any of them. He was clearly there as the Security detail. The question that nagged at her was how long he would be in town, and what the chances would be of her bumping into him.
She groaned as she remembered singing to him special meaningful phrases and his nod during the second song, accepting her … invitation. God, how could she have been so stupid! He was an expert in his field, and she was aware also now the best there was! If he really wanted to find Purple Pearl, he would!
She joined the twins and Hetta on the lower level patio for lunch, her heart contracting as she gazed lovingly at her cherished children. Both black haired, Jason with emerald green colored eyes, like his mother, and Tiffany the soft grey of her father’s. Her heart contracted in fear. What would he do if he found out about them? He was a passionate man, and what was his, he protected and held close to his heart. She knew that if he ever found out, she would lose them.
She jumped up and went to stand next to the balcony wall. Her hands gripped the banister until her knuckles were white; her green eyes dark and stormy. The wind ruffled her hair softly, the single purple streak stark against the black of her hair.
“Hetta, please pack everything after lunch. I’ve changed my mind. We’re going home this afternoon.”
She picked up her cell phone and made all the arrangements with Jason Wilson, her manager, protector and friend. The quicker she got the twins out of the city, the better. Anger now mingled with worry when she realized he had sex with her the night before - a total stranger to him. To her that was a clear indication that he became a ruthless man over the years. That he took what he wanted, with no thought of the repercussions. He did not even spare a thought on protection before he plunged inside her!
“Don’t tell me she disappeared, Walt! Find her!” Tristan’s voice was soft and controlled, but with so much force behind it, he could just as well have shouted.
Walt sighed and tried again. “Tristan, be reasonable. We spent the past four months searching for her. For that matter, the whole world has been searching for her for three years, with no luck. She doesn’t want to be found! We need our resources on other projects.”
No one understood the sudden obsession he had with finding Purple Pearl and he was not volunteering any information either.
“Others do not have our expertise, technology and resources, and Steel Security is the best. Appoint more people if you have to. I want results, Walt. I want her found!”
Walt threw his hands in the air and stormed out of Tristan’s office shouting for Shirley as he went.
Tristan stood at his usual spot gazing at the park below. His jaw was rigid and his hands balled in tight fists by his side. No one could just disappear like that and overnight for that matter! He started looking for her the very next day, but no matter where he went or how many clues he followed, they all ended in dead ends.
Walt walked back in and asked quietly, “Which one has priority, Boss; Purple Pearl or Savannah Seagers?”
A harsh laugh escaped his lips. What were the odds? Two women screwed him over and both disappeared on him.
“Both.”
Walt sighed loudly. They have been looking for Savannah for four years and there were no trace of her. They got close once, when one of their tracker programs picked up that she booked a plane ticket to Australia four months after she disappeared. They arrived at the airport en masse and waited and searched every nook and cranny. Tristan was nearly beside himself, cold and hard during the search and livid when she couldn’t be found at the end.
Tristan turned around and Walt watched him with worry in his eyes. He was his Head Commander in the Navy and they became friends. When they both decided to leave the SEALS, he immediately bought his idea of the Security Company and even owned some shares in the company.
Circumventing a concerned sermon Tristan lifted his hand and said tiredly, “I don’t want to hear it, Walt. Sorry about earlier, I am just tired. You know I will never stop looking for her. There are too many unanswered questions, and I won’t rest until I get them.”
“For goodness sakes Tristan, it has been four years and nothing! To this day her own family does not even know where she is. What are the chances?”
“Someday she will become complacent and slip up. Just keep looking, Walt.” He rubbed his neck tiredly. “And no, I have nothing to say on the Pearl, just find both of them!”
He walked around his desk and sat down, waiting for Walt to leave and pulled the bottom drawer of his desk open. He hesitated and lifted the photo frame from the drawer. His hands tightened around the frame before he turned it over and stared at the beautiful woman laughing back at him in the picture.
Her hair was cut in a short Chinese bob with the long pieces folding around her cheeks in the front. Her large almond shaped, emerald green eyes smoldered with happiness framed by impossibly long and thick eyelashes. Her cheekbones where high and complemented her small straight nose that rose proudly above her smiling lips. Full coral shaded lips with a natural pout that made you want to kiss and suck on them for hours on end, completed the picture.
His heart beat faster and his hands fisted around the frame. How he loved this woman! She could arouse him with the lightest of touch, the sweetest of smiles and brought him ecstasy unequaled ever since. Until the Purple eyed witch took him to heights he didn’t know existed!
“Damn the both of them!” His wrathful cry echoed through his office, fury trembling through his body. Fury for the guilt he felt at finding ecstasy in the arms of another that was not her!
“Curse you Savannah Seagers!”
He jumped up and went t
o the control room where all the research and development was based. It was Walt’s domain. He walked in and stood behind Walt screening video footage of the back door at the Hotel Matize. He glanced at Tristan.
“I am going through the hotel footage again, looking at all possible angles. Nothing on her leaving the front door on the night you said she left. Her band left, but she was not with them, and did not leave through the front door for two days after. That is when I decided to check the other doors. Nothing through the side doors for three days and nothing so far the next day through the back do …”
“STOP! Stop and rewind, slowly.” Tristan leaned forward his gaze fixed on the screen.
Walt rewound the recording until Tristan told him stop and played again at half speed, his eyes fixed on the large television screen on the wall. Hotel staff came and went, a hotel nanny with two little black haired kids in tow, a delivery man left and then he froze when he recognized the tall, lean figure dressed in tight jeans and a red t-shirt with red sneakers on her feet.
“Stop and freeze.”
His voice quivered in rage. Walt looked up and squinted at the woman’s face. He shuffled amongst papers on his desk and grabbed a well-used photo from the pile.
“My God! Is that …”
Tristan’s eyes were glued on the face on the screen. She was now even more beautiful, her body toned and lean, his hands itched to measure the tiny waist and bury his face between her full and firm breasts that begged to be caressed. Her face was fresh and devoid of make-up and her hair pulled back in a tight pony at the back of her head.
“Play at slow speed.”
Payback Time, Baby Page 2