Fool’s Errand: Cartwright Brothers, Book 4

by Anderson, Lilliana

  “How exactly would I climax…exactly?” I knew I said the same word twice. But I was struggling to make a coherent sentence, so I was to be forgiven.

  “Well,” he whispered, licking and sucking his way down my body until his face was positioned right where I wanted him. Throb, throb, throb. “You could do it yourself. Or…we could play for third base and I could do it for you.” He pushed my thighs open and I let them fall willingly, watching him kiss over the thin cotton of my underwear.

  “Over clothes or under?” I could only whisper.

  “Over.” He ran his nose up my centre and I moaned at the contact, the building ache so ready for touch after days of teasing without satisfaction.

  He inhaled. “I can smell you, Sloane.” His fingers trailed lightly down then back up, pressing against my opening and my clit. “I can feel you through your panties. Wet. Were you dreaming of me too?”

  Yes. “Maybe.”

  He chuckled. “You were.” Then he leaned down and placed his mouth right over all my best bits, licking over the fabric, the pressure of his tongue causing me to arch my back and lose my mind.

  “Oh God.”

  “Mmm. I can taste you.” He shifted a little and touched his fingers to my inner thigh, right where the cotton met my skin. “I bet that if I slipped my fingers just under here”—he teased the edge of the elastic—“you’d feel like silk and your pussy would be so greedy that I could slide my fingers right in.” Do it. He moved his fingers to my centre, staying on top of the fabric as he pressed against my seam. I want him to fuck me. So bad. I don’t even care anymore.

  He inhaled again. “Your scent is making me so hard, Sloane. So wet and ready for me. Just like you were in my dream. I slid inside you and it was so tight. I lost my mind. I’m losing my mind now. I want you so bad.” He clamped his mouth over my pussy again, my underwear so drenched they were barely an issue. Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me.

  “Abbot.” I grabbed his hair, my hips rocking as his mouth worked, applying just the right amount of pressure and friction to have me… “Oh God. I’m coming. I’m coming.” My hips lifted off the bed as I writhed beneath him, howling like a mad woman until he slowed his stroking tongue and brought me back down, panting, out of breath. “Holy fuck that was fast.” Too fast. I wished it had lasted longer, but I was too on edge, too ready for him. I’ve been ready since he walked into my store.

  “If you were a guy, that would be very bad.” Abbot chuckled, kissing his way back up my body. I smiled and kept my fingers in his hair.

  “But since I’m a girl, it adds to your prowess.”

  “I am the god of your clit right now,” he said with a triumphant smile as he held himself above me. I could feel his new erection against my thigh.

  I get it, Abbot. I want to do that again too.

  “You are so full of yourself,” I teased, my hands moving down to his shoulders, chest and ribs. He released a delighted shudder then kissed me, long, slow, his skilled tongue drawing a whimper from my chest. Being with him, just in this small way, had felt as amazing as I’d imagined. I already missed being able to touch him after I was gone.

  “I would much prefer it if you were full of me,” he whispered, nibbling my ear and pressing himself against me. And I considered it. For a moment. A wonderful tempting moment. But then I remembered the money and I pulled my lip with my teeth and shook my head.

  “The stay is over. We both came. And don’t think I didn’t notice that you never played me for third.”

  “I played with you for third.”

  “Doesn’t count.”

  “I can’t go back to not touching that heat between your legs, Sloane.” His words were a strangled gasp as he pressed his pulsing cock against my thigh. I shuddered out my breath.

  “Then pick a game.” Having him touch me like that without coming again was going to be absolute torture.

  He pulled back and kissed the tip of my nose. “Yahtzee.”

  A laugh burst out of me. “Yahtzee?”

  “Yep. And I’m awesome at it, so be warned.” He pushed back onto his knees and held out a hand. “But first, let’s go get cleaned up. I’ll even let you take the first cold shower.”

  “Such a gentleman,” I said as I walked ahead of him to the en-suite.

  He slapped me on the arse before I could make it through the door. I yelped then laughed.

  “And don’t you forget it, Slater.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Level The Playing Field

  I am a Yahtzee champion. And it sucks. With my time in Torquay coming to an end, I’d actually been looking forward to some rubbing and teasing down south. The kind of frantic making out you did with your first serious boyfriend before you were ready to have sex. I wanted to get close to coming then push Abbot away with a breathless, “Stop!”

  Winning really sucked.

  Still, there was plenty of enjoyment to be had. Kissing and naked chests, massages and tongues on salty skin, fingers teasing waistbands. The restraint was tantalising all on its own, and I loved every moment with him. But I was ready for more. Something I was never going to get if Abbot kept losing games while also making it hard for me to work.

  It was now Wednesday and I hadn’t seen the safe since Friday. Which I guess would be fine if I wasn’t getting so desperate for release. One orgasm was not enough. In fact, it had made it worse, and I was getting seriously crabby.

  On Monday, I’d been sent to a tailor to have the bridesmaid’s dress turned into a playsuit. It should have only taken a couple of hours, but Abbot said he had business in town and dragged me all over the place until he decided dinner was more important. Then we played blackjack for third base. I won, the pants stayed on.

  On Tuesday, he had lawns to mow. That’s right, lawns. Seemed that Abbot’s regular job was running a landscaping business with Kristian. I was left at the apartment all day to twiddle my thumbs even though Toby offered to babysit my safecracking efforts. Abbot had refused and childishly taken the battery cables out of Lizzie so I wouldn’t be tempted to go out there by myself. I was pissed and bored. I went for a long run then ruined it all with Netflix and junk food. By the time he got home from his work, I wasn’t in the mood for any games. So he ordered pizza and joined me on the couch. We made out a little then fell asleep in each other’s arms. Found out I was wrong about Abbot; he was the cuddling type.

  And I was sleeping. Despite feeling hornier than ever, I was actually getting some rest. Maybe it was the orgasm; maybe it was the fact I was getting used to sleeping next to Abbot. Either way, the fact I was sleeping well in a bed other than my own was a bonus. I was going to seriously miss everything about him when I was gone.

  “Take me to the safe,” I demanded, straddling his waist, my hands either side of his head on the pillow.

  He opened one eye, barely awake, a slow grin spreading. “Sitting on me half-naked isn’t gonna convince me to get out of this bed.”

  “I’m serious, Abbot. Take me to the safe. Keeping me away isn’t getting you any closer to your goal.” I wriggled my hips so my arse rubbed against his morning wood. He groaned.

  “That feels like it is.”

  “Have you ever considered that I want the safe open so I can get paid and be free to—”I rolled my hips again—“beg you to fuck me?”

  His cock pulsed between my thighs and I moaned from want.

  “You can fuck me right now, blue. No begging required.”

  I slid from his waist and he groaned in disappointment. “You haven’t even won third base yet. Besides, I need to get paid.”

  “You really need money that bad?”

  “Yes, you dumbarse,” I yelled, picking up my pillow and hitting him in the chest. “How many times do I have to tell you that Pop didn’t leave me any?”

  He caught the pillow and tucked it behind his head, looking at me with a thoughtful frown. “Are you saying you’re broke?”

  “If you hadn’t walked back into my life dangling a cash incen
tive, I’d be bankrupt before the year was out.”

  “Shit. I didn’t realise it was that bad.”

  I got out of bed and pulled on a shirt. “Don’t go throwing the game now that you know. I want to win this fair and square. And I don’t take handouts.”

  “I have no intention of giving you a handout, Slater. A bet’s a bet. You knew the terms and your situation going in. But, I think I can help level the playing field.”

  “How?” I pulled on a pair of loose-fitting black pants.

  “Give me ten minutes and I’ll take you.”

  “To work?”

  “No. To your granddad’s workshop. If he left money and we find it, we’re fucking on it.”

  Hell yes.

  I mean, no. “Hell no. If we find money, I’ll give you third base.”

  “Over clothes or under?”

  I squirmed a little where I stood. If we found money, I could afford to push this a little further. “Under.”

  “Oh, Sloane.” He grabbed his cock in his left hand, the white sheet doing little to hide just how hard and large it was. “You’ve got yourself a fucking deal.” Indeed.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Highly Inappropriate

  “So, um, I sent you a text before we left today,” Abbot said, hand on the wheel as he guided Lizzie along the highway on our way to Bendigo. It was about half an hour from home and two and a half hours from Torquay. And the only reason I was allowing him to drive my girl was because he knew where Pop’s workshop was and I didn’t.

  “I haven’t really been checking my phone much lately.” Mark continued to call or text, so I kept it on silent most of the time. “What did it say?”

  “You’ll have to open it and find out.” There was a teasing note to his voice that made my insides wake up excitedly.

  “Now you’ve got me intrigued.” I reached over the back of the seat to grab my pack, rooting around inside for my phone. “Let’s see what Abbot sent that was so—” My cheeks immediately heated and I pressed my phone, screen down against my chest. Holy shit.

  “Just a hint at what you’re gonna get after I win third base today.” Glancing my way, he wore a shameless grin.

  I lifted my phone again, the screen lighting the full screen image he’d sent through. Throb, throb, throb. It was a photo of him in the bathroom mirror. Naked. Holding his enormous cock. Holy fucking hell.

  He wasn’t shy.

  “You’re that confident there’s money here, huh?” I placed two fingers on the screen and zoomed in. Wow.

  “I am—hey! Are you zooming in on my cock?” Surprise and amusement coloured his laughter.

  I tilted my head to the side. “What else did you expect me to do? This thing is massive. I have to work out whether it’ll fit.”

  He chuckled. “See, that’s what I expected you to do—think about having me inside you. I want to plague your thoughts, red.”

  I shut off the screen and rested my phone face down against my thigh. “You already do.” The words came out as I released my breath.

  “Need me to pull over so we can scratch that itch?” Glancing at me, he wiggled his eyebrows and I laughed, pushing him against the shoulder.

  “You are relentless.” I blew out another sigh. I’d love to scratch that itch. More than once. More than twice. Until I couldn’t possibly come anymore.

  I had a feeling he was going to ruin me.

  “Let’s just get to the workshop and see if you get your prize, first.” A smile teased the edge of my lips, funny I was actually considering myself a prize when I’d never felt that way before. This game was doing wonders for my self-esteem.

  He clicked on the indicator. “And what a prize it will be.”

  Steering Lizzie through the industrial part of town, Abbot pulled up in front of a yellow building that housed four brown roller doors, each belonging to a different business. As we got out of the van, we assessed the security risk before preparing to break into door three.

  “I’d say Trev had this alarmed,” Abbot said, pointing at the cameras mounted either side of the door.

  “That would make sense,” I said, crouching down and pressing my finger against the locked slide bolt. “He’s used BiLocks too.”

  “They’re supposed to be unpickable, aren’t they?”

  “That was the original claim. Of course that caused the picking community to prove them wrong. There are even YouTube videos explaining how these days.”

  “Can you pick it?”

  “I can.” A humourless laugh bounced out of my chest. I’d gotten caught up in the craze too, spending hours working the tiny gates. But, I’d gotten there in the end, lock picking was always a skill I took pride in. “It’ll take a while, but once it’s open we’ll be in.”

  “The benefits of knowing a locksmith.”

  “You can still pick locks, right?” I asked as we walked back over to my van and gathered what I needed. I got my picking kit along with my cracking kit for the safes Abbot said were inside.

  “Simple ones.” He leaned against the open door, arms folded as the sun beat down overhead. “But, we steal keys whenever we can.”

  “Sounds risky.”

  He shrugged. “Making noise forcing entry is riskier. Getting keys is all sleight of hand. We had to be excellent pickpockets before we were given anything bigger.”

  “I always thought of you like the boys in Oliver Twist,” I said, closing Lizzie’s doors.

  “But with better food.” He chuckled, holding his hand out to carry my stuff.

  “What happens when you can’t get keys?”

  “There are other ways to get inside places besides the front door if you look like a tradie. But for cars we have special tools, and anything beyond that was when we called Trev.”

  “But now you call me.” I crouched back down in front of the lock and inserted the tension tool into the keyhole, angling it as I wriggled my pick inside.

  “If that’s what you want.”

  “I really don’t know,” I said, tapping my pick against a pin to test for false gates. “I haven’t decided yet. Toby acted like there was no choice, though.”

  “When did you talk to Toby?“

  “When you and Jasmine were busy yelling at each other over that transport job.” I moved my pick to the next pin. “He questioned me about what I knew.”

  “And what did you tell him?”

  I paused my movements and flicked my gaze to meet his. “What he needed to hear.”

  He went quiet for a moment, picking up one of my other picks and twisting it in his fingers. “He obviously trusts you then.”

  “What makes you think that?” I asked, clicking the next pin in place.

  With a shrug, he dropped the pick into my kit. “The family meeting would have gone very differently if he didn’t.”

  “And that’s all you can say on that subject?” I looked at him with a small but understanding smile.

  “That’s all I can say.”

  “Well then, I suggest you shut that sweet mouth of yours up so I can concentrate.”

  He chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”

  It took a good fifteen minutes to get both locks open, but when I did, I stood up and stretched with my arms above my head, cracking my back. “Will you do the honours?”

  Abbot stepped forward and lifted the roller door with a dramatic tug of his arms. It flew up and hit the end of the track with a clang that reverberated through the unit. The empty unit.

  “What the fuck?” Abbot murmured.

  “Where are all the safes?” Panic gripped my heart. “You told me this place was full of safes.” A lead weight landed in my stomach as a little sparrow swooped down from the rafters and flew out the open door, taking my hopes with it. Where the fuck is the money?

  “Maybe that guy took everything,” Abbot suggested, squinting up at the sky as the little bird flew away. It was a shitty joke. But I laughed anyway. It was either that or cry.

  “Who could have done this?�
�� I asked, stepping inside and turning around. There was a spot on the wall where an alarm panel was. But even that was disconnected. Someone had come and shut everything down.

  “Could have been anyone, really. Hearing of his death, some thieves wouldn’t be able to resist the easy take.” He spotted the disconnected alarm system. “Or he could have had a failsafe set up. Someone he trusted to shut this down in the event of his death.”

  Someone he trusted. Someone who wasn’t me.

  “Is that a normal thing to do?” Spotting a door in the back corner, I wondered if it was a bathroom or an office and headed towards it.

  “It is when you have others to protect.”

  I wasn’t the person he’d trusted. I’d been the person Pop had protected.

  “I wonder who he’d trust to do all that.” Could Jasmine have done this? Someone else? A contact I didn’t know about? I pushed open the door to uncover an office, empty save for an old crappy desk. I walked over and went through each drawer. Empty. Empty. Empty.

  Sighing, I leaned against it. I might just fucking cry over this.

  “I’m sorry, Sloane.” Abbot placed a hand on my shoulder and pressed lightly with his fingers.

  “What are you apologising for? You didn’t do this.”

  “I’m not apologising. I’m offering condolences, which is a very different thing. I got your hopes up.”

  “You did. Fucking on a pile of money might have been a joke, but it would have been pretty bloody epic.”

  He chuckled and moved a little closer. I wanted him to hug me, comfort me. But that wasn’t what we were.

  “Now there’s no third base and absolutely no way you’re winning this bet—not that you ever had a chance.”

  He grinned and tucked my hair behind my ear. “I love that you’re pissed over missing third base. Especially since I reckon you won’t be able to say stop when I’ve got my fingers sliding along your slit, teasing you so close. So close.”

  Throb, throb, throb.

  Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me.

  “Calling it a slit is so crass.” I forced my breathing steady as I met his eyes.