Masked Indulgence

by Michelle Love

  ‘I’m looking forward to seeing more of you,’ she said, ‘but forgive me if I want to explore that slow burn.’ She removed her hand, and threw back the rest of her drink. ‘Pick me up tomorrow, my place. We’ll see if that slow burn is more of a flash burn.’

  She winked at an astonished Harry and walked away. He watched the sway of her hips as she sauntered out of the bar, the way she looked back at him and grinned. Confident. Sexy.

  He was looking forward to the next night. Flash burn indeed…

  San Juan Island, Washington State

  Was it stupid, coming back here? Was it too obvious, would they come looking? Lila had avoided – painfully – going back to Seattle so she picked a place up on San Juan Island, somewhere where she could walk around without being recognized but was still close enough to civilization. She wanted to be alone, not isolated.

  Alone. Did she really want that or was she in Washington State because at least this way, she could be near to Noah. You’ll drive yourself crazy, she remonstrated with herself. Stop thinking about him. Noah Applebaum was not an option. Not now.

  She sat on the porch of the little cottage she’d rented, that looked out over the Haro Straight. There was a decent bit of land with the property which she loved – privacy. Every morning since she had come here, she had taken her breakfast out on the porch, sitting at the small wrought iron table with her cereal and her tea. It was so quiet, so serene. She would periodically see orca in the water, marveling at their graceful movement despite their size.

  It was almost heavenly. She sighed now, placing her hand over her belly, still not quite believing that a tiny being was inside there. Noah’s baby. The day she had found out, she had flipped, lost it. It couldn’t be, not now, not with all this going on – what the hell would she tell the Carnegie’s? Oh hi, yeah, we’ve just buried your son and my fiancé but guess what? I’m having my doctor’s baby! Surprise!

  ‘Jeez,’ she said to herself, cringing. Tinsley had happened upon her when she was in the middle of her meltdown but Lila didn’t tell her about the baby. She just shut down on her and Tinsley, obviously hurt, had tried to be a friend. When the realization hit that the only way to handle this was to leave, Lila’s mind had calmed, had stilled and she’d calmly and politely asked Tinsley to go. Lila felt a pang now; Tinsley was a good friend and she deserved better than the brush off she got.

  Lila absentmindedly stroked her non-existent bump and wondered if she could risk emailing Tinsley to apologize. Get a temporary email address then delete it after she’d sent the mail. She couldn’t risk discovery, not by Tinsley, not by the Carnegies and not by Charlie.

  And definitely not by the stranger who’d broken into her house that night. Every time she thought about it, she was surer someone had been in her apartment while she was asleep in the bath. When she’d gotten out of the freezing cold bath, wrapping a towel around her nakedness, she’d grabbed a full shampoo bottle to use as a weapon and marched with purpose around the whole apartment. Nothing. No-one.

  But her things were moved. Her laptop, which she was certain had been shut off, was on, the browser open. She’d looked closer then recoiled with a gasp. Horrific images of murdered women, all of them stabbed.

  Then she got mad. She stalked around the apartment again, this time armed with her own knife, checking every possible place a person could be. When she was satisfied, she let out a scream of rage.

  She remembered that scream now; it had been a howl of anger, fear, and utter exhaustion. Whoever stabbed her still wanted her dead, that was clear.

  So getting away was a no-brainer. Lila breathed in a lungful of cold, fresh, clean air and wondered what to do next. For once, she was glad of Rich’s money, that it gave her breathing space to work out what to do next. She wanted to completely remodel this house, get it ready for the baby. The baby’s room was the one room she would not spend Rich’s money; she just couldn’t do it. Not for another man’s baby.

  So she would need a job. Minimum wage, stacking groceries until she was too big – she could do that. She would do that.

  ‘You and me now, beanpod,’ she said softly then went inside to change.

  Noah pressed his lips against her throat, his big hands sliding around her back and stroking the soft skin. God I missed you…

  The way she whispered his name as he stroked her thighs, pulling them around his waist and slipping his hand between her legs to stroke her sex, feeling the warmth, the dampness as she gasped at his touch. Lila…

  Her violet eyes shone with love for him as his cock, so huge, so heavy, drilled deep into her ready cunt, her sharp intake of breath as he filled her, the friction between them driving them both wild as he moved in and out of her, their lips hungry against the others. Noah braced his hands either side of her head and slammed his hips against hers until she was moaning and coming and she looked so, so beautiful that he came over and over and over…

  Noah stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom. Every night he lay here awake, unable to sleep, remonstrating with himself. You slept with the woman once. That’s it. Stop obsessing.

  But it was the fact that she was missing that bothered him. Cora had told him that it wasn’t anything sinister but he couldn’t help but worry. Someone had tried to kill her before now; who’s to say he – or she – wouldn’t find her again and they would never know, never be able to protect Lila from her killer.

  Damn it, Lila, why’d you make my life so damn complicated? Noah shook his head. He’d never taken advantage of his family’s wealth and connections much before, but earlier today, he’d called the private investigators his father used and set them on a countrywide search for Lila. Invasion of privacy? Maybe, but if they found her, he’d instructed them not to make themselves known to her, to keep a distance. Then he would make his decision as to how to approach her. Jeez, what a mess.

  He couldn’t get an image of Lila’s murdered, mutilated body out of his mind. Please, god let me find her before he does…

  With that thought screaming through his mind, Noah flicked the lamp off and tried to go to sleep.

  Manhattan

  Harry was early. Tinsley grinned at him as she opened the door, her hair still wet from the shower, the zipper on the back of her dress still undone. Harry raised his eyebrows at her.

  ‘Sorry, I got home from work late, could you zip me up, please?’

  Harry laughed. ‘Sure thing…’ He let his fingertips drift up her spine before he pulled the zipper up and she shivered with pleasure. She turned around and slid her arms around his waist.

  ‘Thank you.’

  He smoothed the damp hair away from her face and pressed his lips to hers. ‘My pleasure,’ he murmured, breathing in her clean, soapy scent. ‘Although I’d rather be taking it off entirely.’

  Tinsley chuckled quietly. ‘Anticipation is the name of the game tonight, Mr Carnegie. Lots of kissing first…kissing and food, because I am starving.’

  They both laughed. ‘What are you in the mood for?’

  ‘Hamburgers,’ she said immediately, ‘all flame-grilled and juicy.’ She made the words sound so filthy he gave a little growl and she laughed. She slid her hand over his demin-clad cock. ‘Patience. It’ll be worth it, I promise.’ She grabbed his hand and put it under her dress. His cool fingers found hot bare skin. No underwear. Harry groaned and buried his face in her neck.

  ‘Tinsley Chang, I swear you’ll be the death of me.’

  She grinned. ‘Harry…I swear, tonight will be the best of your life. Are you up for adventure? Whatever it is?’

  Harry nodded. ‘Whatever it is.’

  They ate at a local burger place, family-run, huge sandwiches, thin but incredibly tasty patties smothered in mustard, mayo, pickle and lettuce. The sauces dripped down their fingers and made a mess but they didn’t care. There was something so carnal, so sensual about the way they ate them, licking their fingers so suggestively that they both ended up laughing. Afterward, they went to a low key bar and dr
ank mojitos.

  ‘I feel like I wanted to ask you more about your life, but tonight doesn’t feel like the right time.’

  She nodded. ‘Tonight is all about the physical, Mr Carnegie.’

  Really, he’d never met a woman so unaffected, so confident in her sexiness. It drove him wild.

  ‘So what do you like? Are you a straight up missionary girl….wait, I think I know the answer to that.’

  Tinsley sipped her drink. ‘Harry, I don’t believe in limitations or labels. I don’t believe in holding back. If I want someone, and they want me, why pretend to follow social norms that say a woman should be coquettish or pretend to a reservation she doesn’t feel. That just gets in the way of a good fuck.’

  Harry raised his glass to her. ‘I’ll drink to that.’

  She grinned. ‘I bet you do. Harry…where’s the wildest place you’ve had sex?’

  He considered. ‘Probably under the bleachers of my college football field.’

  ‘Is that it? Was it during a game?’

  Harry grinned sheepishly. ‘Nope, sorry. How about you?’

  Tinsley took a long moment before she answered. ‘There’s a club I go to sometimes.’

  Harry caught her tone and grinned. ‘Oh, ‘a club’.’

  She laughed. ‘Yes, and it’s exactly what you think it is, but it’s a safe space to…try new things.’

  ‘Like?’

  ‘Bondage.’ She studied his eyes for his reaction but he returned her gaze steadily. ‘It depends what you’re into, of course.’

  ‘And you’ve tried out everything the club has to offer?’

  Suddenly her smile widened into a face-splitting grin. ‘Nope, not once but I thought I’d try and freak you out.’

  They both laughed then, Harry shaking his head. ‘Woman, I tell you, when we get out of here, I’ll make you pay for that.’

  ‘Sounds promising.’ Her eyes dropped deliberately to his crotch then back to to his eyes. Harry growled.

  ‘Damn, when you look at me like that...’

  Tinsley got up suddenly and held out her hand to him. ‘Come with me.’

  Ten minutes later they were on the top of her building, looking out over the lights of New York City. Harry caught his breath. So beautiful…the city glittered below them and now, as he turned to face her, those lights were reflected in Tinsley’s blue eyes.

  ‘God, but you’re beautiful,’ he murmured and gathered her to him. As they kissed, his hands roamed over her body; her own fingers went to the button of his jeans.

  As she freed his engorged and throbbing cock from his jeans, he slid his hands under her dress and pushed her up, lifting her in one easy movement. He pressed her back against a concrete wall and thrust into her damp and ready cunt. He gave a shivery moan as he heard her gasp. ‘I’m going to fuck you long and hard, pretty girl,’ he growled into her ear and heard her shaky, almost breathless laugh. He thrust deep and long, right to the core of her, again and again and again, his cock wanting more and more of this feeling, his senses exploding. Tinsley wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping eye contact with him, forging a connection. Her lips were rough against his, her fingers twisting in his hair, her nails dragging along his scalp with a feral intensity.

  ‘God…Harry…more…’ His hips increased their pace, his cock thickening inside her, stretching the tight muscles of her vagina as he pounded into her. They both came too quickly, Harry groaning as his thick, white semen pumped deep into her belly; Tinsley gasping and moaning as he used his hand to tease her clit, her entire body vibrating with pleasure.

  They stayed connected as they caught their breath. ‘Wow, oh, wow,’ Tinsley managed to gasp as she grinned at him. ‘That was incredible.’

  Harry chuckled, kissing her deeply, his cock already stiffening again inside her. ‘I could do this all night…and guess what? That’s exactly what we’re going to do.’

  Tinsley threw her head back and laughed. ‘I’m in.’

  Harry grinned wickedly. ‘Actually,’ and he began to move in and out of her again, ‘I’m the one who’s in.’

  ‘God, you’re delicious,’ she whispered, kissing him then as her excitement grew again, she closed her eyes. ‘Yes…just like that, yes….yes…’

  They ended up back at her place, fucking on the floor, the bed, in the shower. At four am., finally sated and exhausted, they made their way to the diner at the corner of her street and had pancakes and syrup. Harry, his free hand covering hers, smiled at her. ‘You working tomorrow?’

  She shook her head. ‘Day off. Why?’

  ‘No reason. Just wanted to see if you felt like fucking for a full twenty-four hours?’

  She giggled at his cheeky expression. ‘Who wouldn’t with you?’

  Harry thanked her. ‘You’re incredible. I gotta say…never had it so good.’

  ‘Right back atcha – but don’t tell Charlie that,’ she rolled her eyes and chuckled.

  Harry scooped a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. ‘Why did you and he break up?’

  Tinsley’s smile faded a little. ‘Charlie is a great guy, heart of gold, very protective. Too protective for my liking. I’m a free-wheeler, Harry, it’s in my blood. I don’t do commitment, I don’t do being asked where I am all day.’ She sighed. ‘I understand why Charlie was extra-protective given what happened to Lila, but it brought us into conflict. In the end I had to sit him down and explain my…ethos, I suppose you would call it. I live, I love but I am my own person.’

  Harry was nodding with understanding. ‘I think that’s fair. So you decided…?’

  ‘We’d be friends and I’m so grateful that we are still friends. I know your brother and Charlie didn’t always get on, but I swear….I wish I could find a way to set him up with someone who deserves him.’

  ‘Momma Bear.’

  Tinsley grinned. ‘Definitely not a mama. Kids aren’t in my plan.’ She looked at him as if expecting him to protest but he nodded.

  ‘That’s fair enough. Not entirely sure I want them myself. Not got to that point in life yet. What?’ He asked when she chuckled...

  ‘No, nothing, except it’s just woman are expected, almost as soon as we hit puberty, to address the question: do you want children? And the reason is always given – because the clock is ticking. Men never have to worry about the ticking clock or the expectations that a woman will always – even secretly – want a child. When we say we don’t, there’s always a counter-argument – Oh, you’ll want one eventually. Well, not me. I don’t hate kids; I just don’t want one of my own.’ She looked at his face and grinned. ‘Sorry, bug bear of mine.’

  ‘Completely valid. I get it too…I’m not one for commitment or the saccharin stuff. Tinsley, you’re beautiful and sexy and I love spending time with you. I love fucking you. No strings.’

  ‘Word, brother,’ she tapped her coffee mug against his. ‘Now, if you’ve finished eating, I think you’d better take me back to bed.’

  He watched them as they left the diner. He’d started following the blonde woman, knowing she was Lila’s best friend, wondering whether she knew where Lila was. He’d been prepared to get the information out of her with violence, if necessary. And now he discovered she was banging Richard Carnegie’s brother. ‘All getting a little incestuous,’ he murmured. Still, she would be alone at some point then he would get to her.

  He was absolutely sure his knife would make her tell him everything, and then when she did, he would silence her forever.

  San Juan Island, Washington State

  Lila sat happily at the register of the bookstore. She had been expecting to score a job at the farmer’s market or the grocery store but when she’d come into the bookstore three months ago, trying to find something new to read, she’d seen the ‘Assistant wanted’ notice and eagerly applied.

  Now she was settled here. The bookshop was owned by Ronnie and Flynn, partners in business and love, who were built like loggers and yet possessed the sweetest natures of anyone she’d ever met.
They’d just adopted twin daughters and Lila watched the two men dote on the girls. They’d hired her to run the bookshop, impressed by her literary knowledge, and she found they stepped back from the business more and more. She didn’t care; she loved it here, talking with customers about books, making recommendations. She even loved cleaning and tidying the place. It was a haven. The whole island was, and she’d found herself relaxing here, her mind finally peaceful after the months of turmoil. The island had a terrific medical center with warm and efficient staff and she liked her obstetrician, Dr. Low, very much. The young Chinese woman had told her what she could expect during her pregnancy, and had advised her on any extra precautions she should take because of the damage to her belly due to the stabbing.

  ‘You’ll probably find your scars itch a lot so plenty of cream. Internally, well, we’ll have to see. You’re still tender, your muscles still weakened. But I’ll keep a close eye on you. I take it the pregnancy wasn’t planned?’

  Lila had shaken her head but now, as she thought back, she found herself wondering. She had not even for a second, considered an abortion. She was absolutely pro-choice, but when it came to this baby…would she have felt the same if it had been anyone else’s child but Noah Applebaum’s? Even Richard’s?

  She asked herself over and over why she couldn’t get Noah out of her head. She reasoned with herself but there it was – unfinished business. She wrestled whether to tell him about the baby and found herself confiding in Ronnie and Flynn, asking them what she should do.

  ‘We can’t tell you that, honey, but the man deserves a shot at whether or not to be involved.’

  Lila chewed her lip. ‘It was a one-time thing though.’

  Flynn rolled his eyes. ‘But you’re crazy about him, anyone can see that. Just go be with him.’

  Lila sighed. ‘It’s not that easy. Firstly; I have no idea if he feels the same way or if I was just a one-time thing. Second – my fiancé was just murdered. It’s bad enough I’m having another man’s baby….god, what a fucking mess.’