Devouring the SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 2)

by Crystal Perkins

  “Oh, I like you Faith. I think you’re just what my son needs. I’ll be in the study if you can let me know when my lunch is ready.”

  “Of course. Hopefully my helper works out. Potatoes can be a little tricky to peel.” She walks up behind me, pressing her body against min as she looks lover my shoulder. “He already missed a spot.”

  Oh really? She thinks she’s funny? Well, game on Faith. Game fucking on.

  Chapter 2

  Faith

  This is my third day working for Gavin and his mom. They’re having a dinner party tomorrow, and the menu’s going to be awesome. Gavin and I combined recipes to make it eclectic and fun. It will be very different from what they normally serve, but that’s the point. Susan, as she’s told me to call her, is announcing her new platform to her party guests before she goes public on Monday. It should be a very interesting night.

  I’m excited for Monday because her staff will be arriving that day. Other than having a personality transplant, Susan hasn’t said or done anything suspicious. I planted bugs wherever I could, but Ainsley hasn’t had anything pop up either. It has to be a member of her staff who is selling the information.

  The last few days haven’t been without drama, though, or fun. The sexual tension between Gavin and I makes it hard to breathe sometimes, even though we kiss at least once a day. Well, I kiss him at least once a day. Just little pecks here and there. I know I’m driving him crazy because I haven’t told him I want him to kiss me. And he’s keeping his promise. He’s exacted revenge on me, though.

  Since I made him peel the potatoes, he’s tricked me into taking out the trash and scrubbing the pots and pans. I found out the first day that he doesn’t have a kitchen staff unless there’s a party or some big event—he likes to do it all himself. So now, we do it together. And it’s become an all-out war. The score is tied at the moment since I made him core all the apples I needed to prep for one of Saturday’s dishes yesterday. All it took was putting my lips an inch away from his and blowing on them right before I asked. I know I’m in trouble today, but I’m actually kind of looking forward to it.

  Until I walk into the kitchen. No! He can’t do this to me. “Where’s your shirt?” I blurt out and then immediately cover my mouth.

  “It was a little constricting on my arms while I was prepping these veggies. Is it a problem?”

  “No. Of course not. I-I’ll be right back.”

  He’s laughing as I run out of the room, but I don’t think he will be when I go back in there. It takes me a few minutes, but then I walk back into the kitchen with a swagger in in my step. His head is down as he chops the vegetables.

  “Feeling better? I’d hate it if you couldn’t concentrate.”

  I wait until he puts the knife down and starts to look up before whipping my now loose hair across his chest. He immediately freezes. “Fuck.”

  “What was that, Gavin?”

  “Why is your hair down?” He’s trying to look anywhere but at me as I twirl some strands around my finger.

  “It was just so constricting. Much like your shirt, I guess. Isn’t it so much better when we can just be loose and free?”

  I shake my head around, letting my hair swing. He slams me into the wall. “Ask, Faith. Please.”

  “What is you want me to ask you?”

  He looks like he’s in pain, but then he smiles. He’s found a loophole. He reaches out and runs his hand through my hair as he leans forward and licks a trail across my neck, up to my ear. I shiver as he licks the shell, and sucks the lobe into his mouth

  “I-I didn’t ask you.”

  “And I’m not kissing you,” he tells me as he nibbles on my neck.

  Damn loophole. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m loving every second of this. I wrap one leg around his waist as I rub my hands over his chest. Surrender isn’t an option, though, so I still won’t give in. But I have to touch him. Feel him. Taste him. That’s my last coherent thought as I lean down and bite his shoulder, then lick it to soothe the sting.

  “That’s it, baby. Take what you want,” he hisses out as he twists his hand further into my hair, pulling gently.

  “Gavin, are you in here?”

  I try to move away, but he holds my leg in place. “What do you want, Elizabeth?”

  The blonde who walked in turns, and her eyes widen as she sees us against the wall. “I wanted to surprise you for lunch.”

  “I should go,” I tell him, trying to get away again.

  “Stay,” he growls at me before answering her. “Why would you do that? I made it extremely clear that I wasn’t interested in you.”

  “So what, you’re with her? Does your mother need the Asian vote or something?” Oh hell no.

  He lets go of me then and turns to face her. “Get the fuck out of my house before I throw you out, you stupid bitch.”

  “The party this weekend…”

  “We’ll see you there,” I tell her brightly.

  “You’ll be in here, you mean. I won’t see you.”

  “Actually, I’ll be with Gavin.”

  “But she’s the help,” she protests. I think she may just faint from the shock.

  “I’m not going to tell you again. Get out of my house.”

  “Where’s your mother?”

  “I’m right here,” Susan says from behind her.

  “Oh thank Go—you’re in jeans.”

  “Yes. I am.”

  “Did you know Gavin wants her to be his date tomorrow?”

  “I did. I’m happily surprised that she agreed.”

  “But she’s…I mean, come on now. This has to be a joke.”

  Now she’s really starting to piss me off.

  “It’s really time for you to leave, Elizabeth. If you’re intending to come to the party tomorrow, I suggest that you wear a different attitude along with your party dress.”

  She turns and storms out. I shake my head. Why did I ever think this would be an easy assignment? Oh yeah, that’s right. I didn’t know Gavin would be involved when I accepted it.

  * * *

  Gavin

  If I didn’t despise Elizabeth already, I do now. She interrupted what was looking to be an amazing make-out session. I doubt Faith will let us continue where we left off. She did say that she’s my date for tomorrow, so that’s a win. I’m going to take every chance I can get to break down her walls so that she’ll trust me.

  “Never a dull moment around the two of you. I like it. Remember what I said about scandalizing the staff.”

  I shake my head as she leaves. My mom really is behaving like the hippie she used to be. It’s awesome, but scary.

  “Where were we?”

  “I’m going to go put my hair back up and then help you with the prep for Saturday.”

  “Don’t do this, Faith. Don’t let that bitch stop what’s between us.”

  She smiles and then kisses me lightly. “I’m not. We just have a bunch of stuff to do, and if we continued on the path we were heading, it would be tomorrow before we knew it.”

  Yes! “Or we’d miss the party altogether. Not that I’d mind.”

  Her face falls all of a sudden. “I’m really sorry about that.”

  “About what? Nothing that just happened is your fault.”

  “I told her I’m your date.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Now you have to take me. Or not. I could pretend to be sick.”

  “I want to take you, Faith. Don’t you know that? You’re all I’ve been able to think about since the night we spent together, and these past few days have only made my feelings stronger. You’re fun and refuse to take crap from me. Like today. I was sure I’d get you to ask me if I worked with my shirt off.” I hold my hand up. “Yes, I know I’m conceited, but I think I have a nice chest. I mean, I do work out. But you upped the stakes and took your hair down. I gotta tell you—I may not have a hair fetish, but I do have a ‘Faith’s hair fetish.’ You made me find a way around our deal.

  “You m
ake me think. I have to stay on my toes around you. I’m loving every second of this thing between us. There is nothing I’d like more—okay, we both know that’s a lie. There are few things I’d like more than to take you to the party with me tomorrow. But I want you with me.”

  She puts her arms around my neck and leans in to my ear as I automatically place my hands on her hips. “Thank you, Gavin. I think about you all the time, too. I appreciate you taking things slow and letting me decide when I’ll be ready for us to sleep together again.”

  “You’re welcome. Do you realize that you just made it sound like we’re definitely going to be together again?”

  “Did you really doubt that?”

  “Just a little.”

  “Don’t. I was a little put off when you said our night together was just something we could get over. But when I saw you again, I knew you didn’t mean it.”

  “I didn’t. It nearly killed me to say those words to you. But I wanted you to work with me. It was after I got off the phone with you that I confronted my mom and told her I wasn’t going to keep trying to be the perfect doll for her to manipulate. And she admitted that she missed her old self.”

  “I like the new her. Not as much as I like her sexy son, but I’m glad she’s not so uptight anymore. She apologized to me for what she said about me cooking fried rice.”

  “I like her, too. It’s nice to have the mom I remember from when I was little back again. I’m glad she apologized. I won’t let anyone say rude things to you.”

  “I can take care of myself, you know.”

  “I do know that. But I want to take care of you, too. I think you like it when I take over.”

  “You know I do. But only in certain circumstances.”

  “Ones that involve no clothes?”

  “Or clothes moved around,” she reminds me.

  “Wicked, wicked girl.”

  She tightens her arms around me and hugs me. I wrap my arms around her and hug her back. We stay this way for a few minutes. I reluctantly let her go. We do have a lot of work to do for tomorrow. She goes to put her hair up, while I put my shirt back on.

  * * *

  Faith

  Things could’ve gotten a lot uglier with that woman. I’m used to being insulted, but I never put up with it. It was nice to have Gavin, and Susan, stick up for me, especially since I haven’t known them long. It just sucks that it had to interrupt what was happening with Gavin before she walked in. Damn, if that wasn’t hot. I’ve been wanting him to break our deal, but what he was doing was so much better. Finding a way around me is just like him. I decide to give him a reward.

  “You haven’t shown me your pool house yet,” I tell him as I walk back into the kitchen.

  He stops what he was doing and looks me in the eye. “Because you haven’t said I can kiss you. There’s no way we’re going anywhere near a bed without me being able to kiss you.”

  “You were doing a good job of getting around our deal earlier.”

  “Ah, now it’s all clear. You want me to lick you. And bite you. Where do you want me to lick and bite you, Faith?” he asks as he moves closer to me.

  “Everywhere,” I answer him. “Well, for the biting, it has to be where it can’t be seen. I don’t want to have to wear a scarf over my dress.”

  He’s in front of me now. “So, hidden places?”

  “Y-yes. Sexy places. That’s where I want your tongue and teeth.”

  “Every inch of you is sexy, so that answer won’t work.” He trails his hand down my body, caressing my breasts through my coat before cupping me through my pants. I arch into him and practically purr. “I can’t wait to taste you after you slice all the strawberries for tomorrow.”

  “Yes. Wait. The strawberries? No. There are hundreds. We were going to do that together.”

  “You already said yes. Can’t go back on it now,” he says as he lets me go and saunters back to the dough he was working on.

  “Bastard.”

  “You would’ve done the same thing to me.”

  He’s right. I totally would have. “That doesn’t mean I can’t be mad.”

  “Too mad to get the tour of the pool house later?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  We both know that’s a lie. I’m so going over there later, but I have to try and make him sweat. He’s back in front of me on his knees before I can even process what he’s doing. He angles me away from the cameras and pulls my pants and panties down just far enough to give me one long lick.

  “Yum. I knew you’d taste good. Is that enough incentive to bring you to my place later, or do I need to lick your beautiful pussy again?”

  “If you put your tongue on me again, you better be prepared to finish what you start.”

  “Can’t take it, huh?”

  “Could you take a couple of sucks from me without needing to finish?”

  “Hell no.”

  “Then get back to work. We need to finish the prep so you can finish me.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he tells me with a laugh.

  We work in silence for the rest of the day, both of us focusing on getting everything done. Not just because we want to go back to Gavin’s—although, that’s a big part of it. We’re both proud of our food and want to make sure it’s done right. Gavin ends up helping me finish the strawberries because it really is a two person job. Once everything is put in the refrigerators, he takes my hand and leads me out the back door.

  He stops in front of the pool house and turns to me. “It’s not nearly as spectacular as your place, but I hope you like it.”

  He’s biting his lip, and it looks so cute. It’s not often that Gavin looks nervous, but he definitely does right now. I smile and kiss him lightly on the lips.

  “It’s yours, so I’ll love it.”

  “Like you love me?”

  I suck in a breath and then answer. “I like you. A lot. It’s a little too early for love.”

  “I’m falling for you, Faith. I need you to know that.”

  “I’m on the edge of the cliff, Gav. I can’t promise that I’ll go over the edge, but it could happen.”

  “I won’t push you over that edge because you need to get there on your own, but I’m going to send you over some other ones tonight.”

  “More than one? Feeling cocky, are you?”

  “We both know multiples is your only option tonight.”

  I shiver as the thrill of our night together fills my mind. “Open the damn door, Gavin.”

  He chuckles and unlocks the door as he pulls me inside after him. It’s pretty much what I expected. The living room is filled with big brown leather couches, a wet bar with a small fridge and microwave, and a fireplace. Through an open door, I see a huge sleigh bed.

  I’m about to tell him that I like it when my phone rings. I pull it out and see that it’s Ainsley.

  “I have to take this call.”

  “Okay.”

  “Can I do it in the bedroom? My friend is having some relationship problems. I know she’d be embarrassed if you accidentally heard something.”

  “Sure.”

  I thank him and answer my phone before closing the bedroom door behind me.

  “Hi, Ainsley.”

  “Just listen for a minute. That whole place is bugged. Your phone sensors lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as you walked in. Cameras and microphones, Faith.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, sweetie. Is there anything I can do to make it better?”

  “I’m guessing that you didn’t go to the pool house to watch TV?”

  “Oh no.”

  “Can you get out of there without causing suspicion?”

  “I don’t think that’s the way to go.”

  “Shit. Okay. We have two options, neither which are good. I can scramble the signals using your phone—you’ll need to leave it on and mute me because I really don’t want to hear you having hot sex with Gavin. The problem with that option is that whoever is watching and listenin
g will know we’re on to them.”

  “I say go with option two.”

  “Faith.”

  “I know what that means, but I think it’ll be best.”

  “You’ll be taped.”

  “There’s really not another choice.”

  All of a sudden it’s Reina’s voice I hear. “Get out of there, Faith. No guy is worth having some unknown person make a sex tape of you. Tell him your friend needs you.”

  “It’ll be fine. I promise.”

  “I wasn’t asking. That’s an order.” Her voice softens. “You won’t enjoy it while it’s happening because you know about the cameras, and you’ll just regret it after. If this guy is really into you, he’ll take a rain check.”

  “Okay. If you really need me, I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Love you.”

  I walk back into the living room, and Gavin stands when he sees me. “Is your friend okay?”

  “No. She really isn’t. I don’t want to leave, but she needs me.”

  “I understand. Go take care of her. I’ll see you tomorrow. I can’t wait to see you all dressed up again.”

  “You don’t like me in my chef’s outfit?”

  “Oh, I do. I really, really do. But I love to see you all dolled up because I know you’ll have something sexy on underneath.”

  “I have something sexy on right now. You already saw my panties,” I remind him as I run my hand over his cheek.

  Her growls. Literally growls. “You need to go now and be with your friend before I keep you here.”

  I laugh and kiss him lightly on the mouth before walking out the door. For a moment I forget that his place is fully bugged. As I walk to my car, it all comes back to me. Who would want to do that, though? And how is Gavin involved? I need to figure out the answers to those questions as soon as possible because I’ve got one foot off the cliff at the moment, and I don’t think I’ll be able to fight it—or him—for much longer.

  Chapter 3

  Gavin

  I can’t wait to see Faith tonight. I insisted that she take the day off and let me, and the staff I brought in, finish the food for today. With all the prep we did yesterday, it’s just a matter of baking, frying, and sautéing things. It’s the most eclectic menu we’ve ever served for a large dinner. I’m pretty sure it’ll go over well.