Family Stone Holiday Box Set: (including Stone Cold Heart, Carved in Stone, and Heart of Stone) (Family Stone Romantic Suspense)

by Lisa Hughey

  Connor’s heart thumped hard in his chest. His mind continued to scroll through possibilities and probabilities. Although he already knew the basics of the story from his research on Fernandez, he prompted her. She was a source of information he couldn’t access online. Her recollection might not be perfect but impressions and intuition could be far more valuable than dry facts on a website or in a newspaper article. Maybe he could learn something from her firsthand account of what happened eight years ago.

  “What did the police say about the abductions?”

  She snorted. “No one cared about illegal immigrant girls. The families couldn’t afford to make a big noise in the media. The first thing cops do is look at family and friends. Her parents were likely to get deported back to Mexico where they would have no hope of ever finding her.”

  But Jose Fernandez had made the disappearances his call to arms.

  Again Connor wanted her insider view of the case. “So what happened?”

  “We never saw any of the girls again.” Ava’s mouth turned down. “The more superstitious whispered about El Chupacabra but I knew…those girls weren’t taken by any mythical creature. They were taken by evil.”

  “I remember the news,” Connor prompted. Just because he’d made the leap to Fernandez as subject F, didn’t mean he wanted her to make that connection. Besides, Jack had made it clear that he was not to talk to anyone about his investigation into Jose Fernandez. Which meant he couldn’t share his suspicions that subject F was likely Fernandez.

  “Yes. It became big news a few months later because Jose Fernandez, the local Union organizer for migrant workers, made it his mission to draw attention to the lack of services available and justice for immigrants.”

  Con nodded. “He’s supposed to be confirmed as Deputy Secretary of Labor after the recess.”

  “Yes.” She grimaced, her gaze skittered to the picture window and then back to him. “He’s waiting on approval from the Senate.”

  There was a hint of something in her voice. Disdain, ambivalence, loathing but he wasn’t quite sure.

  “You don’t like him?” Jack thought Fernandez needed a deep look and his brother was known for intuitive thinking.

  “I think he used a deplorable situation to advance his own political agenda. And something about him always set off my squick meter.” She rubbed her index finger along the outside length of her forearm clearly lost in her memories.

  Connor was silent for a moment as he examined implications and patterns, shifting the events of eight years ago and the current situation through filters and reaching for a connection. But he kept getting distracted by thoughts of Ava as a young, almost victim.

  “That’s why you wanted to work for GHR.” He understood the desire to change or make up for what happened in the past. Hell wasn’t that what the last nine months had been about?

  She kept her gaze averted. “The opportunity to be able to make a difference, both here and around the world is a powerful draw.”

  But Con was astute enough to recognize that while she might say she wanted to make a difference, her true goal was atonement. Wasn’t he still trying to atone for a awful teenaged mistakes? He could see inside to that kernel of guilt that lived where no one, perhaps not even Ava, knew it existed.

  Ava rubbed her hand over the center of her breastbone. Connor tried to ignore the little ping of arousal. He was a total dog for getting turned on while she was obviously still upset.

  “I’m sorry about your friend.” He suppressed the urge to take her in his arms and comfort her, and said gently, “But I’m very glad it wasn’t you.”

  She was perched on Jack’s desk, and Con’s hand was mere inches from her knee. The need to touch her, to confirm she was here now and she was okay, burned like a physical ache. Con put his hand on her knee and squeezed to relay his thanks that she was okay.

  But the move startled her. “Oh!” She jerked her knee back at his touch, her eyes wide and round.

  Truly, his only thought had been comfort, but the second his hand touched her skin, electricity arced between them, hot and sizzling.

  “Shit.” Connor went to push back Jack’s chair, but Ava’s foot got tangled up in the chair, and she lost her balance. Con’s hands came up in a classic ‘hands off’ gesture. But it was too late. Ava fell forward, and while trying to stop her from face planting in his lap, he managed to press his palms right on her perfect-sized breasts. Which startled her even worse and horrified him. He yanked his hands away. “Woops. Sorry!”

  She tried to pull back, but that action backfired. Somehow, she landed in his lap her knee digging into his hip, but without hitting his erection, thank God.

  But her forward momentum pressed her very generous D-cups right into his face and his nose ended up buried in her cleavage. The scent of woman hit him like a sucker punch. Her spicy sweet floral perfume, the salty tang from a good workout, and the tantalizing fragrance that was all Ava, swirled around him, intoxicating him until all he could think about, all he could do was take what he’d been stalwartly ignoring for the last nine months.

  Connor curled his fingers around her hips and pressed a very chaste kiss against the mound of her breast. He moaned into her supple skin and couldn’t help himself, he swirled his tongue over the top of her sweet, salty flesh.

  Her breath caught and lifted her breasts like an offering to the gods, and he was powerless to do anything other than worship her. With wet, open-mouthed kisses he forged a path along the scoop neckline of her sports top, each suction of his lips and swipe of his tongue elicited another hushed, fervent gasp.

  Her fingers clutched his head even as her hot sex sank down over the erection straining the fly of his pants. There was no protest in her actions, only a silent request for more. So Con indulgently suckled the delicate skin along her collarbone. The sweet musk of feminine arousal drifted from her body. His cock was harder than a silicone motherboard.

  All his cognitive thought had arrowed to his groin. As if a virus swept through his system, common sense was wiped out and replaced with everything Ava. Her nearness, her feminine scent, the sheer sensuality of her movement. The images that he’d tried to suppress earlier came roaring back, flooding his mind and turning him one giant throbbing hormone. His body was intent on one thing. Making those images a reality.

  Yesterday, he wouldn’t have even considered touching her. But one random comment from Jack about sex on his desk, with Ava, and with everything else that had happened today and sex with Ava was all Con could think about. As if her touch unlocked a door in his mind, an avalanche of memories tumbled through his brain. Ava appreciating his mind as well as his body. The sweet bow of her mouth as she quietly smiled at his jokes. The curve of her lashes against her cheek as she hid her gaze from his. The little crease between her brows when she concentrated fiercely.

  And that involuntary hitch in her breath this morning when he told her he wanted her.

  Ava writhed over his cock, her running shorts a thin, silky barrier to her wet, waiting heat. He knew she was on board with his actions and his kisses when her clever, elegant fingers eased under the hem of his plain t-shirt. He had to stop kissing her skin to allow her to rip the t-shirt off and pull the cotton over his head. While he couldn’t touch her with his mouth, he cupped her breasts and thumbed her diamond hard nipples through the slippery spandex top.

  She scraped her fingernails over his back and smoothed her palm over the tense muscles of his pectorals and his body jumped at the sensual touch. And while his body rejoiced, his brain kept working. This was a bad idea. But damn, she felt good.

  What the hell was she doing? Ava knew this was a bad idea. And yet, so not a bad idea. She had been crushing on Connor Stone since she met him. Tonight, talking about Maria brought it all home. All the feelings she’d had when her friend had been kidnapped. And when Maria hadn’t been found, Ava had resolved to live life fully.

  Ava’s thoughts ran rampant. Pictures bulleted through her mind and s
he thought of all the times she’d turned away from her attraction to Connor. All the times she’d ducked her head and averted her gaze, unwilling to show him that she wanted him. But here she was, sitting on Connor Stone’s lap, and if the erection bulging against her swollen and ready sex was anything to go by he was as aroused and interested as she was. He wanted her. And all that determination to seize the day coalesced into one giant resolution.

  Ava knelt over Connor and finally made a move. She made the move. Seized the moment and pressed her mouth to his.

  Connor’s mouth was warm, supple, and responsive.

  Connor kissed the way he approached everything. With attention to detail and deliberate movements. His large hand cupped her cheek, and his fingers rested against the skin behind her ear, each pad a buzz of energy as if he were wired. His thumb brushed down the length of her nose and the swirl of brown and gold starbursts dazzled her as he hypnotically held her gaze. She was trapped by his overwhelming energy. Her entire body simmered with arousal, all pent up sexual want and nearly a year of suppressed sexual feelings.

  His lips were softer than she expected, and they curved into a smug smile.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I like it.”

  The first brush of his mouth had been sweet, tender. Now, as if he couldn’t wait any longer, Connor surged up, slanted his head and devoured her mouth. His tongue licked at her lips, and aggressively demanded entrance. He tasted of coffee with a single creamer.

  Connor curled his hands beneath her ass and lifted her up with ease. A visceral thrill rocketed through her at the unconscious display of strength. He deposited her on the desktop without breaking off the deep, drugging kisses and stepped between her spread thighs as if he belonged there. Then he slid his hot, hard palms up the sides of her spandex workout top and lightly cupped her breasts, right through the tightly constraining material.

  All the blood in her body rushed to her sex with dizzying speed. Ava’s head went light as she swayed against him.

  She paused, tried to think about what was happening here, what was the right action to take. But all that seemed to occupy her mind was the hard feel of his thighs between hers, the firm pressure of his hands on her breasts, and the wet suction of his mouth.

  Talking about her friend Maria had brought home the fact that life was short. Hadn’t she taken that to heart when Maria disappeared? Ava had started taking her classes more seriously, determined to make something of herself, determined to make her life count. To live the gift that she’d been granted to the fullest, a gift that her friend had been denied.

  But lately, she’d been too complacent. Fallen into a routine, looking to the future so much that she forgot to live in the present.

  The present was here in front of her, and she’d be a fool not to take advantage of what Connor Stone represented.

  It had been months since she’d been out on a date and even longer since she’d had sex. She hadn’t yet experienced her wild and crazy years. She’d lived at home while she went to college and just recently moved into her first apartment by herself. Her parents would still prefer that she live at home. The long lasting legacy from Maria and the other girls spurred an irrational fear that Ava could be taken too.

  So her sexual experience was limited to some fumbling dates in college. Since she started working for GHR she hadn’t had time to find a boyfriend. She wasn’t a partier or particularly social. She’d rather be at home cooking a good meal or reading a book or doing her CrossFit workouts than at a bar.

  “What are we doing?” she murmured, needing to be sure that they were on the same wavelength.

  “Indulging.” He nuzzled the sensitive spot beneath her ear, even as his hands skimmed around to her butt and pulled her tight against his even harder erection.

  He felt so good. Warm and strong and there.

  There to comfort her, there to hold her, there to take all her cares and worries and stress away. Connor was the consistent one, the solid one, the steady guy who was around whenever anyone needed him. Con Stone quietly went about his business and supported everyone else in the company without complaint, without ever making a fuss. And she wondered what kind of lover would he be? Then she wondered, who took care of him? Who supported him?

  And she wanted, at least for this brief moment in time, to be the one he turned to. The one who took care of him. Who looked out for him.

  Ava’s pulse thudded in her ears as if she’d done three WODs until she was wrung out. She had two choices, and only a few seconds to make a decision.

  Her body was melting from the inside, every sweet kiss, every tender brush of his fingertips sent a cascade of sparklers through her, and sent an answering pulse to her sex. It was hot and sweet and insane.

  “Indulging is good,” she finally replied. Her voice sounded as if she’d run a four minute mile, raspy and husky. She’d be a total fool if she didn’t seize the opportunity to have sex with him. She wasn’t naive. There was no love involved here. At least not on Connor’s part. But she had enough unrequited longing for both of them.

  As if her consent unleashed restraint she didn’t even know he was exerting, Connor dragged her spandex top up her body, the stubborn material clung to her skin, her breasts. “Arms up,” he commanded guttural voice. His impatience was evident in his jerky movements as he struggled to remove her running top.

  “You certainly didn’t dress for seduction, did you?” he growled.

  Five

  Thank God, Ava was on board. Con finally got the spandex to release it’s chastity grip on her smooth, sleek skin and he ripped it over her head and tossed the top behind him.

  His breath caught at the bounty spread before him. Her breasts were heavy and full and round with gorgeous silver dollar areola, the color of the pomegranate seeds he ate like candy, and the same deep shade as her mouth. Her lips were swollen and plump from the force of their kisses.

  Her hands clutched at his shoulders and her nipples were just begging for his intimate kiss.

  “Damn, you are beautiful.” He delicately lapped at the aroused bud, then rolled the engorged button on his tongue. He plucked her other nipple in his long fingers and drew a breathy moan from her.

  Triumph surged through him at her response. His cock ached and the heat from her sex nearly burned him with the intensity of her arousal.

  Ava burrowed her hand down between their bodies and began to unbutton his pants, even as he played with her breasts. The scent of hot, aroused woman and underlay of the sea and sand, wrapped around his senses. He was full to bursting, his balls tingled and his cock throbbed with the need to bury himself deep in her slick channel.

  Ava had managed to get his zipper down and reach into his briefs. Her capable hand and long, cool fingers wrapped around his dick and all the blood in his head surged south. Fucking A, he was harder than the barrel of his Glock. Locked and loaded and ready to blow.

  “Stand up,” he gutted out.

  She pushed off the desktop but didn’t let go, her hand working him, stroking up and down slowly, clearly trying to drive him over the edge. Her breasts hung in his face, and it took a Herculean act to ignore the temptation to bury his face in her cleavage.

  Connor clasped his hands around her hips and shoved her tiny running shorts to her ankles. His pants and underwear were caught at his thighs, and her hands were busy cupping his balls and massaging him.

  “Jesus.”

  Ava had managed to get one foot free of her shorts. Connor scooped his hands underneath her thighs and shifted her so her back was on the desk, and her legs spread out on top of the cordovan leather blotter. He made the mistake of glancing down and the sight of her ruby red pussy, dark curls glistening with her juice, and her tawnier fingers wrapped around his white erection nearly caused him to blow right then. A drop of pre-come squirt onto her fist. He wanted to pound inside her with an ache that was unprecedented.

  “You’re killing me.” Connor groaned and pressed his hips forward un
til he hovered at the entrance to paradise.

  She held him tightly, and didn’t let him enter.

  “Please tell me you didn’t change your mind,” he begged.

  “Please tell me you have a condom,” she countered, her brow furrowed and her face desperate.

  Shit, he’d almost forgotten. Fortunately old habits, leftover from his time in the Army, were hard to break and he’d loaded up his pockets with a variety of emergency supplies this morning before he came to work. Although he would never have predicted he’d be using this particular supply. “Left leg. Second pocket down.”

  Conner let Ava delve into his pocket while he slicked his fingers over her swollen and plump sex. She moaned as she ripped the wrapper open. He continued to play with her clit and rub his fingers in the sweet juice that coated her sex. She was so fucking ready and he couldn’t wait to bury himself deep inside her. He tilted Ava’s hips up, and spread her wide for his invasion. She fell back on the desk, her knees up by her chest. Connor threaded his fingers through hers and pressed her flat against the fancy cordovan leather desktop. She lay out before him like a feast.

  Her face was flushed, her lips roughened from their frantic kisses, her sex spread wide open and waiting for his invasion. His arms were hooked under her thighs as he paused at her entrance. Connor rubbed the head of his cock along her slick folds, and moaned as the heat of her pussy beckoned.

  “Quit teasing and do it,” she growled. Shit, that take charge voice turned him on. She was usually so damn quiet. The fact that she got bossy during sex really did it for him.

  With one desperate lunge, he thrust inside her.

  Con paused, held clasped inside her velvet fist, as he absorbed the sensation of coming home. Which was ridiculous of course. She wasn’t home. She was just a hot woman with an itch. A hot woman he’d been quietly observing and lusting after for months, while he ignored his building desire. But the ache in his chest grew as he slowly slid out until his tip teased her clit, then he slipped back inside her.