Still Waters...

by Crysal V. Rhodes

  “From you, always.” Ray pressed her to him and they stood for a moment enjoying each other. He rubbed his cheek against the softness of her hair. “Was that your mother calling?”

  “Nope, it was Renee. She and her husband are heading back home to New York today, so she was calling to check on Dana’s progress.”

  “She’s a good friend.” Ray liked her. She had called about Dana’s condition several times since they encountered her at the hospital. “How long have they known each other?” With an arm around Bev’s waist he walked her back toward the family room.

  “According to Dana’s journal they were friends in college and they ran into each other again about a year ago. It seems that Mitch was doing some work for her husband’s company.”

  “Stark Enterprises?” Renee had confirmed for Ray that it was indeed her husband who was the CEO of the company whose website he had found on Dana’s computer.

  Bev nodded. “Uh-huh.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that.” Ray settled on the sofa they had previously occupied and pulled Bev onto his lap.

  Tossing her head back in delight, Bev’s melodious laugher echoed through the room at the unexpected positioning. “What am I going to do with you?”

  Ray’s twinkling eyes turned serious. “Whatever you want.”

  Bev caught the change in tone and saw the look of hunger in his eyes. It told her clearly what he wanted. In the past she had dismissed that look. But now—

  “You’re turning me on, Mr. Wilson,” she confessed.

  “I sure hope so, Mrs. Cameron.”

  “You’re making me want you in ways that I would never have imagined a short while ago.” Bev traced the outline of his lips.

  “I’m glad to hear that.” He licked the tips of her fingers.

  Bev drew a slow unsteady breath. “Sooo, since that’s the case, I command you to make love to me.” She exhaled.

  “Are you sure?” Ray’s heartbeat quickened. The outline of the ring that she wore around her neck could be seen through her clothing. He knew to whom it belonged. “Are you ready?”

  Bev understood the meaning of his questions. He needed reassurance that he could trust her emotions, but could she trust them? Her answer to both of his questions was simple.

  “Yes.”

  No further time was wasted as they nibbled on each other’s lips, nipped at each other’s ears, and giggled like horny teenagers as they anticipated the inevitable. Hands roamed, familiarizing themselves with places that begged for exploration. Buttons and zippers were released. Ray removed the chains from around Bev’s neck—all of them—and laid them aside. He freed her from her lacey bra and then greedily suckled her breasts. Her moans of pleasure were like a sonata to his ears.

  “Let’s move into my bedroom,” he suggested, picking her up smoothly.

  “You like playing Hercules, don’t you?” Bev kissed his neck and tightened her hold on him, recalling the injured foot that had put her in his arms previously.

  “Just wait until we get in bed,” he grinned. “All of the Greek gods come out in me then.” Swiftly they moved up the stairs.

  “It’s been a while for me,” Bev confessed as they entered his bedroom suite and he placed her on his bed.

  Ray’s eyes swept her shapely frame. She made a sensuous sight in her state of half dress. “Glad to hear it, but I can’t understand how anyone could keep their hands off you.”

  Bev felt brazen under his scrutiny. “I’ve got to tell you that lying in a man’s bed with my breasts exposed isn’t something I do every day.”

  “I sure hope not.” He lay down on his side next to her.

  “Strangely enough, I don’t feel nervous. A little self-conscious maybe, but not embarrassed like I thought I would feel.”

  “That means that you’re comfortable with me.” Ray caressed her cheek. “And I’m glad, because I want to tell you that you’re beautiful. Everything about you is beautiful.”

  “Thank you.” She was proud of having taken care of herself and was aware that her body looked good for a woman in her fifties.

  “And I’m going to share something else with you.” Seductively, Ray slowly circled her nipple. “I’m not quite the hound that you might think that I am.” He placed a soft kiss on the hardened bud. “I’ve been celibate for a year.”

  “Oh, really?” Even in her distracted state Bev couldn’t mask her surprise. Bringing his mouth to her own, she kissed him and whispered, “So, you must be hungry. Does that mean that I have to worry about your appetite?” She glanced at the bulge in his pants.

  Ray felt dizzy with desire. “Should I worry about yours?”

  “Probably.” Bev kissed him again, but deeper this time. She drew away. “Now show me what I should look forward to getting.”

  She helped him remove his shirt. Ray worked out regularly, and his torso was a testimony to his efforts.

  “Nice.” Bev liked what she was seeing. “Real nice.”

  She helped him remove his pants and briefs. Lightly she skimmed her fingers over his engorged member, and then with adept hands showed her appreciation of the preview with unmerciful dexterity.

  Ray bit his bottom lip, enjoying the pleasure. “My, my, aren’t you bold.”

  Bev grinned wickedly. “Would you rather that I be timid?”

  “No, I think that you’re perfect the way you are.” He clasped her busy hand before he exploded. Straddling her, he rubbed himself against her moistened triangle, enjoying their sexy repartee. “Do you think that you can handle all of this?”

  Bev’s eyes moved slowly up and down the topic of discussion. It was impressive.

  “I’ll try my very best.”

  “You do that.” Burying his nose in the crook of her neck, Ray inhaled her fragrance. “Bev,” his voice quivered. “From now on, that’s what I’m going to call your scent.” He slipped his hand inside her underwear, and a second later she lay beneath him nude.

  “Mr. Magic, that’s what I’m going to start calling you,” she gasped in reference to her vanishing panties.

  “I can only hope that I don’t disappoint,” Ray said, deliberately misinterpreting her meaning.

  “I’m quite sure that you won’t.”

  She was right. Ray was an experienced lover. He prepared her for him with kisses and caresses so erotic that he had her drenched with need. He used his full lips and his tantalizing tongue so provocatively that there wasn’t a place on her body that was left untouched. She was begging for relief and he answered her call. Again and again Bev exploded. Lost in a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors, she had barely recovered when Ray covered his shaft and entered her tenderly. He was in complete control. Her body was incinerated. He stoked her with a skill that she didn’t know existed. The pleasure was unbearable, and, just when she felt that she could take no more, it got better. She screamed. She convulsed, and then she imploded.

  No, Ray Wilson did not disappoint.

  CHAPTER 15

  As Bev lay in bed next to Ray she felt so content that she could hardly move. In her lifetime, no man had ever made love to her as he had, and that included her late husband, whom she knew had loved her dearly. Ray had given her the best loving that she had ever had.

  She didn’t know if she had gone to sleep afterward or simply passed out, but she was aware that her world had tilted. She kept trying to tell herself that Ray’s expertise as a lover was because he’d had so much practice with so many women. While that might be true, she had sensed that their joining had really meant something to him. He had made love to her, not merely had sex with her. There was a difference. His heart and soul had been in their lovemaking. Ray had held nothing back. She had given him what she had to give, but she was sure that he had given her all that he had.

  Bev was right. Ray had made love to her with everything in him, he had wanted her to know how much he cared. As she lay sleeping beside him, he skimmed his fingers lightly down her back, and then placed a kiss on the curve of her spine. His he
art was full. Bev Cameron was a very special lady, and he wanted her to be his. He wondered if she ever could be, or would her heart always belong to another?

  Bev felt Ray’s touch. It was difficult for her not to react, but she continued to feign sleep. She needed time to think about the two of them and where they could go from here. Having made love with Ray meant that she had started in a new direction, but she couldn’t help wondering if her heart would follow.

  She turned over on her back, opened her eyes, and found Ray staring down at her, his chin in his hand. She expected him to be smug about their lovemaking, and as far as she was concerned he had the right to be. But the smile that he bestowed on her showed no hint of conceit.

  “Hey, there. How are you feeling?”

  Bev stretched contentedly and yawned before answering. “Fine.”

  Ray flashed a grin. “Oh, you are that.”

  Bev rolled onto her side and propped her head on her hand, mirroring him. “My, my, my, you are a flatterer, aren’t you?”

  “I aim to please.”

  “You did that.” Bev let her words leave no doubt about their meaning.

  “Touché,” he said, and he meant it. His body was still tingling from the effect that Bev had had on him. “You’re one hell of a woman, do you know that?”

  She winked. “It’s in the genes.”

  Ray took her hand and entwined their fingers. He liked the feel of her, the scent of her, and the sound of her voice.

  “Tell me what it’s like to belong to a family where failure is not an option.”

  Bev gave a heavy sigh. “According to Dana’s journal, it’s hell.” The sparkle went out of her eyes and the warmth left her smile. Withdrawing from his arms, she scooted up in the bed and propped a pillow behind her back.

  “I never thought of the ambition that my family has as negative, but my sister thinks it is. She wrote about her pride in our mother earning her place as next in line to head our family, but she thinks that Grandy’s shoes are too big to fill.”

  “Why?” Ray scooted up to sit beside her, trying hard to concentrate on her words and not her naked breasts.

  “Because in a time when women weren’t thought of as anything more than baby makers, Grandy nearly single-handedly made a fortune that’s been passed down to four generations and expanded beyond one’s wildest belief, plus she did it as a widow with six mouths to feed.”

  “Maybe she did it because she had six mouths to feed.”

  “No doubt, but according to Dana it was for revenge.”

  Bev pulled the sheet up to cover her breasts, but Ray barely noticed. Her last statement had caught his attention. He prompted. “How so?”

  Bev wasn’t sure that she should continue. If she did she would make Ray privy to Stillwaters family lore that few outside of their clan had heard. The story that followed confirmed her trust in him.

  “After Grandy recovered from having the triplets, she started planning her return to the homestead that my grandfather had bought for his family. She was determined to not only claim her land, but also the business that bigotry and hate had destroyed. She was going back with or without the help of the Freedom or the Stillwaters families. Nobody could stop her. Grandy can be a very stubborn woman.”

  Bev stopped and glared at Ray, daring him to say what she knew was on the tip of his tongue. He could barely contain his amusement.

  “What?” Ray looked at her innocently. He was practically biting his tongue in his effort not to make the comment about stubbornness running in the family. Instead he said, “I’m listening.”

  Bev rolled her eyes at him and continued. “The Stillwaters and the Freedom families decided to go back with her, and God help the man, black or white, who might stand in their way. Both families sold their businesses and combined their fortunes, but before they could make the trip back, both Great-Granddaddy Stillwaters and Great-Granddaddy Freedom fell ill. So, Grandy took control and hired an attorney to secure her claim on the family land and on the lumber mill. She also wanted to purchase the surrounding land for the rest of the family. It was bought in the name of the S and F Land Holding Group.”

  “Which is now the S and F Financial Consortium,” Ray muttered.

  His comment startled Bev. “How do you know that?”

  “It’s a major investor in Darnell and Thad’s…”

  “Production company.” Bev said, completing his sentence. It seemed that Ray knew more about her family than she thought he knew. “You’re right, but it started out under another name. The rebuilding of the mill was greatly anticipated by the town where my grandfather’s killers lived.”

  “Which town is that?”

  “It’s the one that’s about ten miles away. You have to pass it before you reach Stillwaters. Ironically by burning down the mill the stupid fools destroyed one of their town’s major industries. The legal representatives that Grandy hired went there on behalf of S and F and informed its esteemed citizens that the mill would open as soon as the murderers of William Stillwaters were brought to justice, and not one minute sooner. S and F wouldn’t do business in a town that harbored murderers.”

  Ray was riveted. “How long did it take to bring them to justice?”

  “One day to round them up, one month for them to be tried for murder, convicted, and sentenced to life. It was a first in the history of the county that white men were convicted of killing a black man. The mill opened after they were sentenced and the town has been thriving ever since, and it was all because of our sweet and gentle Grandy.”

  Ray’s mind was on overload. Sweet? He had no doubt about that. Gentle? From what he had just been told he wasn’t so sure about that description, but one thing was for certain, Esther Stillwaters was tough.

  “I’ve always heard that still waters run deep,” Ray mused. “It’s often the quiet, unassuming ones that you have to watch.”

  “I can agree with that.” Bev paused before continuing. “Grandy earned her place as the head of this family. It was she who planned every detail of what happened in that town. She was twenty-three years old. Our family never thought of what happened as an act of vengeance. If we had wanted that, believe me, the Freedom and Stillwaters families would have gone into that town with guns blazing and we would have taken no prisoners. What happened in that town was justice, long overdue.”

  Ray found it hard to grasp all that he had been told. He had admired Grandy from the beginning, but now— “That woman is an icon.”

  “To say the least.” Bev nodded in agreement. “It was she who led the two families back to the land that her husband had purchased. After they recovered, my two great-grandfathers and the other men and boys in our family built the wall that surrounds Stillwaters with their own hands. Grandy buried her husband and son in the cemetery that I showed you. She then left her six children in the care of her family and went north to Oberlin College in Ohio for four years, where she earned a degree in business.”

  “You’re kidding!” Ray could hardly believe the woman’s daring.

  “No, I’m not. She was one of the first minority women to earn a degree in that area. Of course in those days that more or less meant secretarial work, but not for her. She used what she had learned to build an empire that has sustained our family ever since.”

  The room was silent as both absorbed the enormity of what Esther Freedom Stillwaters had accomplished. For a moment Bev wondered if perhaps Dana was right about trying to live up to such a legacy. But the thought quickly dissipated as Bev continued.

  “Each member of our family has been issued the challenge to follow in our matriarch’s footsteps and under less daunting circumstances than Grandy faced. Each of us has picked up the gauntlet and has achieved success. Excuses are not acceptable.”

  Bev turned to Ray. “I love Dana, but if she can’t appreciate such a heritage, that’s her problem. I know for certain there are no murderers in our family.”

  Ray’s mind was still reeling from the story that she had
related. He didn’t say it aloud, but the more he learned about the Stillwaters family the more convinced he became that she was right.

  Lying back on the bed, Bev stretched again, enjoying how sinuous her body felt. It was a wonder what good loving could do. “What time is it?” she asked absently.

  He glanced over his shoulder at the clock on the table next to the bed. “It’s four.”

  “What?” Bev sat straight up. “I had no idea that it was that late. I need to call the hospital.” She looked around for her clothes.

  “While you were sleeping I called your mother. She said Dana is doing great.”

  That didn’t stop Bev from clambering out of the bed. She started gathering her clothing. “I meant to call my office, but everybody’s gone home by now. Why did you let me sleep so long?”

  “Uh, I wouldn’t call what we were doing sleeping.” Ray plumped the pillows up behind his back and relaxed as he watched her rush around the room. She was nude. His groin twitched.

  “I need a shower,” Bev wailed, frustrated that she had let so much of the day slip by. “Is your bathroom through there?” She indicated a set of double doors across the room.

  “Yep,” Ray drawled lazily, slightly amused by the whirlwind of activity. He would have preferred that they continue to lie there and talk.

  Bev headed toward the bathroom doors, opened them, and disappeared. A second later she peeked back out into the bedroom and looked at Ray. “Well, I’m running the shower. Are you joining me in it or not?”

  As far as Ray knew, he broke the world record for getting out of bed.

  * * *

  Bev and Ray went to the hospital together to check on Dana. She was awake but still wasn’t very alert. The family continued to sit at her bedside, and Bev was prepared to take her turn while Ray went to his office to catch up on business. They made plans to meet for dinner later that evening. Those plans quickly changed as each of them received unexpected telephone calls from two different sources. Bev’s call came from Janice Brady, her long-time assistant in her Chicago office.