Trusting You

by L. P. Dover

  Brett grabbed his computer bag and came to my side, gazing warily down at me. “I swear the way he looks at you and says your name puts me on edge. It’s strange the way he is around you. In a way I want to tell him to back the fuck off, but I can’t considering he’s my client. Are you sure he didn’t come onto you or do something at the restaurant?”

  Sighing, I shook my head and swallowed my guilt. “No, he didn’t,” I lied. It was worse … a lot worse. “So what will you be doing in Seattle?” I asked, changing the subject. “Do you think you’ll get to do some sightseeing while you’re there?” He stared at me for a minute, eyebrow raised, but I held my ground and didn’t falter under his scrutiny.

  Taking my hand, Brett led me out of his office and down the hall toward the elevators. “Well, once I hear what the people want we’ll go from there. I’ll most likely be back in two days. I don’t see how it could take any longer than that.”

  “That’s good,” I breathed. “The sooner the better.”

  Brett held me in his arms as the elevator doors closed and we descended the fifty-nine floors to the bottom. Once inside the parking garage, Brett laid his computer bag in his Jeep and then grabbed me around the waist, taking me in his arms one last time.

  Breathing me in, his hand caressed my back as he leaned in to brush a soft kiss to my neck on up to my lips. “I’ll call you as soon as I land, okay?” he murmured.

  I nodded. “Just be safe.”

  “Always, baby.”

  His grip loosened and he kissed me one last time before getting into his Jeep and backing out of his spot. When I got in my car, I blew him a kiss and waved at him before starting up the engine and putting it into gear. My phone buzzing with a text made me stop and put the brakes back on.

  Daniel – How did your afternoon fuck go?

  Me – Like that’s any of your business, asshole.

  Daniel – He has nothing on me. Why don’t you end all of this and let me have you? I don’t like seeing you with him.

  Me – You don’t have a choice.

  Daniel – You’ll come around.

  Instead of replying, I ignored the rest of his texts and headed home. If he showed up at my house I wouldn’t answer the door, but I feared that since Brett was out of town I’d be getting a whole lot more attention from him.

  Whatever scandalous dealings Daniel was into, I was definitely going to find out before he screwed me over. I have to find out what’s going on before it’s too late.

  Nineteen

  Brett had been gone a total of two days and I was hoping he’d be home by the evening. He didn’t call during my lunch break like he always did, so I was clueless as to what was going on with him or if he was already on his way back. On my way home from work was when my phone finally rang with a call from him.

  “Hey,” I answered excitedly. “Where are you?”

  “I’m trying to get home to you,” he replied, and I could tell a smile was on his face by the tone in his voice; it made me smile in return. “Actually, I’m in Texas right now. I couldn’t get a direct flight back so I had to come here. I should be boarding soon … hopefully.”

  “So you’ll be home tonight?”

  He chuckled. “That’s the plan. You better be ready for me.”

  “You know it. So how did everything go with your meetings?”

  It was kind of hard to hear him with all the people around him talking, but I could definitely tell he was excited. “Oh, Melissa, it went great. They loved my ideas and they said they’ll be in touch as soon as they talk things over. I think it’s in the bag.”

  I squealed. “That’s awesome, babe! When will you find out?”

  “They said I should have an answer by next Monday morning,” he informed me happily. “So what are you up to this afternoon? We probably need to close up your pool soon, don’t we?”

  Sighing, I agreed, “Yeah, I guess so. We can do that this weekend if you want. I might go out there this afternoon and enjoy it one last time before we close it. I can’t believe it’s the end of October and it’s still in the eighties. With you around it’s hard to find time to read, so I’ll probably sit by the pool and finish the novel I started a few weeks ago.”

  “Sounds good, firecracker. I can’t wait to see you.”

  I smiled. “I can’t wait to see you, too. I love you. Be safe coming home.”

  “I love you, too. I’ll see you soon.”

  By the time we hung up I was already pulling into my driveway. After I parked in the garage and checked the mail, I made my way inside so I could change clothes and grab my book. Since it was the last day I was going to lay by the pool, I put on my bikini and threw my hair up into a ponytail before washing off my make-up. As soon as I sat down and read all of two pages in my novel, my phone rang.

  It was my cousin, Mason. Finally. It’d taken him forever to get back to me.

  “Hey, Mase. Please tell me you have something for me?” I asked expectantly.

  “Yes I do, and sorry about the wait, Mel. I got called away on a case and time just slipped by. However, it did take me a while to track down Claire. Do you have something to write this number down on?”

  “Actually I don’t, I’m outside. Just text it to me and I’ll call her.”

  “Okay, and now that I’m free I’m going to look into this whole thing with Daniel. I’d like nothing more than to bust his ass doing something illegal.”

  “You and me both,” I said. “And by the way, thank you for helping me. I really appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome. Let me know what Claire says when you call her.”

  “Will do,” I insisted. As soon as we hung up the phone I got a text from him giving me Claire’s number. Immediately, I dialed it and let the phone ring. It rang and rang until eventually her voicemail chimed in. Just my luck. I decided to leave a message and hoped she’d call me back. If not, I was going to call her over and over until I got in touch with her.

  Once the beep sounded, I spoke into the phone, “Hey Claire, it’s Melissa here. I haven’t talked to you in a while so I thought I’d give you a call and see how you were doing. Please give me a call back. I have something I really need to talk to you about. Hopefully, I’ll hear from you soon.”

  Shit, that sucks. I was really hoping to talk to her. “Please let her call me back soon,” I said to myself, closing my phone.

  Annoyed, I set down my phone and grabbed my book. Over the past couple of nights I hadn’t slept well at all, so sitting there trying to read was probably going to put me to sleep. Needless to say, I read for about an hour before my eyelids started to droop and I slowly drifted off into the dream world where nothing and no one existed but me and Brett.

  I couldn’t tell if I was dreaming or if I was awake, but the tender touches flowing down my arm and leg sent chills all over my body. When I tried to open my eyes, I couldn’t … I was blindfolded. Sitting up quickly, I tried to lift the blindfold off, but a pair of strong hands held me firm and a husky voice in my ear murmured, “Shh … relax.”

  I giggled. “Brett, what are you doing? I see you made it back in one piece at least.” Instead of speaking to me, he placed a finger to my lips and slowly nudged me back. “Okay, I get the hint,” I mumbled against his finger.

  Slowly, I settled back in the lounge chair and fought off the shivers that crackled along my body. I didn’t know how long I had been asleep, but I could tell the temperature outside had dropped a little so I was assuming it was pushing the evening hours. Thank goodness Brett made it back in good time.

  He trailed his fingers over my breasts in my bikini and let them glide down my stomach all the way to my thighs. I moaned as he separated my legs and settled his weight on top of me, making my lounge chair dip lower to the ground. If we weren’t careful the chair would break.

  “I’ve missed you,” I breathed.

  My body tingled in anticipation for Brett’s touch. I’d spent the past two nights almost in withdrawal from missing his kisses and
feeling his hands on my body as well as on the inside. His touch was addictive. I could feel his warm breath on my stomach as he trailed kisses up to my breasts. Untying my bikini top, the straps gave away and exposed them as he lowered his lips to my taut, sensitive nipples that had been deprived of his attention.

  I groaned and thrust my hips against his hard cock. “Please make love to me, Brett. These past two days have been torture without you.”

  A growl rumbled in his throat and I thought it was sexy as hell. He delved his fingers inside me hard and penetrated me like he was a starved man. It was wild and feverish the way he plunged in and out with his strong fingers and with his lips sucking vigorously on my breasts. When he pulled back I could hear him undoing his pants and removing his clothes.

  When I tried to remove the blindfold again, he smacked my hand away and held my arms to my sides. “Why won’t you let me see you?” I asked, exasperated. “I haven’t seen you in two days.”

  He closed over my lips before I could say anything else, and that was when I knew something was wrong. His kisses weren’t the same, he didn’t taste the same, and he sure as hell didn’t smell the same. Holy shit! I should’ve known something was wrong when he didn’t speak to me, and now I knew why. It wasn’t my Brett kissing me and about to make love to me, it was Daniel.

  Catching him unaware, I bit his lip hard—drawing blood—and pushed him off of me. “What the fuck?” he shouted.

  Immediately, I undid the blindfold and the second I adjusted to the light outside I punched him on the side of his cheek, making his head snap back. Angrily, I pushed him again and this time he fell on his ass on the concrete.

  “What the fuck is right, asshole. What do you think you’re doing? I could have you arrested for this,” I yelled vehemently.

  Sitting there in his boxers with blood running down his chin, the smirk on his face turned into an evil grin. He rubbed his now bruising cheek and lifted an appreciative brow while wiping away the blood with his hand. “Damn, I didn’t know you could hit like that. And don’t think about going to the police because if you do I’ll go on my search for the perfect high school boy of your dreams. Besides, why are you fighting me? I could feel how turned on you were to have me there between your legs. I just wanted to show you what you were missing.”

  Disgusted, my mouth flew open. “Are you kidding me? I thought it was Brett you arrogant asshole, and he’s probably going to be here any minute. How did you get in? I had all the locks redone.”

  Wolfishly, he smiled. “I can’t tell you all my secrets now can I? And by the way, Brett’s not going to be here for a while. I just got off the phone with him before coming here. He’s still stuck in Texas. So…sorry to disappoint you.”

  My hands trembled as I tied my top back on and grabbed my towel, wrapping it around my body. This had gone too far. There was no turning back now … I had to tell Brett as soon as he got back.

  Through clenched teeth, I hissed, “If you know what’s good for you you’ll leave now. I don’t know why you feel the need to have to blackmail me, and believe me I’m going to find out. I don’t know what you’ve got going on, but I’m not going to let you bring me down with you.”

  Nonchalantly, he shrugged his shoulders and put on his shirt. “Good luck with figuring it out. Let me tell you you’re wasting your time.” I backed away as he approached me. “I need Brett on this project as soon as possible. Make sure he does that, will you? My investor is getting impatient with me.”

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I turned my head and clenched my jaw. I wasn’t going to do a damn thing for him except bust his ass in whatever shady business he had going on.

  Daniel chuckled. “Still as stubborn as ever aren’t you? I’ll admit I hated it when I was married to you, but right now I think it’s fucking hot.” Anger boiled in my veins as he ran his finger down my bare back. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Sleep tight, angel. I’m sure you’ll be getting a visit from me again soon.”

  Like hell you will, I thought to myself.

  I huffed and moved away from his touch. “Leave,” I snapped violently.

  “Okay, firecracker, I’ll leave. Oh wait, that’s what Brett calls you, isn’t it? Have fun with him when he comes back, but I know you won’t forget how slick I made you between your legs. I bet he can’t do it half as good as me.”

  It took all I had not to spit in his face, but doing that would only fuel the fire. Instead, I stayed quiet until his laugh filtered out when he disappeared around the side gate and completely went silent. As soon as I heard his car leave my driveway, I bolted inside the house and packed a bag. I wasn’t going to stay in my house another moment alone. I threw on some clothes and hastily loaded up my car with a day’s worth of things I’d need before heading to Brett’s condo.

  My hands shook as I dialed his number. Please let him pick up.

  He sounded agitated and tired when he answered the phone, “Hey firecracker. I know you’re not going to like this, but I won’t be back until sometime in the middle of the night. My flight got delayed an extra couple of hours.”

  “Yeah, I see that. Can I stay at your place tonight?” I asked hesitantly. I had to get away from my house and all I wanted to do was surround myself with his things and his smells. Daniel had lost his mind and there was no telling what he’d do, and with him saying he’d see me again, that was a chance I didn’t want to take.

  “Are you okay? Did something happen?” he asked, worried. “You don’t sound right.”

  I took a deep breath and tried desperately to calm down. The last thing I needed to do was get Brett all upset when he was halfway across the country. “No, babe, I’m fine. I’m just tired is all. I haven’t slept too well since you’ve been gone.”

  Brett chuckled. “Aww … have you missed me that much?”

  “You have no idea,” I remarked sadly. “So do you mind if I stay at your place?”

  “No, I don’t mind at all, but there is one thing …” he began and stopped.

  My heart tightened in my chest because I knew I wasn’t fooling him. “Yeah, and what’s that?” I questioned.

  He blew out a frustrated breath. “When I get home you’re going to tell me exactly what’s wrong with you. I could tell something’s been eating away at you for the past couple of weeks, but I’ve kept quiet about it. Are you pregnant and scared to tell me or something? I’ve been trying to stay patient with you in hopes that you’d confide in me, but you haven’t.”

  “Shit,” I whispered mainly to myself. “No, I’m not pregnant, but we’ll talk about everything when you get home. Just be safe and know that I love you. Please remember that.”

  “Oh hell.” He groaned. “I don’t like the sound of that.” He huffed out a breath. “Okay, my flight is about to start boarding. I’ll be home in a few hours.”

  “I love you,” I blurted out before he could hang up.

  “I love you, too, baby.”

  So now the waiting game began. I could already tell my stomach was going to be in knots until Brett got home, but I had more phone calls I needed to make in the meantime.

  Twenty

  The second I walked into Brett’s front door I rushed to the shower. I had to wash any and all traces of Daniel off my body and quickly. I felt sick and disgusted with myself with the thought of letting him touch me even though I had no clue it was him doing the touching.

  Once out of the shower, I changed into pajama bottoms and a tank top and laid across Brett’s king size bed. Ever since Brett and I got together he’d been spending all his time with me at my house. I didn’t realize how safe I would feel in his place surrounded by all of his things. It brought me comfort, if only for a little while.

  I knew with everything going on that once I informed Brett of my situation I would have a long night and morning ahead of me. I called one of my friends who happened to also be the woman who substitutes for me and asked her if she was free. Thankfully, she was going to cover for me so now I�
�d have an extra day to deal with my problems. However, my problems didn’t just deal with me and Brett … it dealt with his company as well and also Daniel’s sister.

  I chose to call Claire first, and again, no answer. I was starting to get worried about her and since her mother had died I knew of no one else I could call to check up on her. Hopefully, I would hear from her soon. Sighing, the next person I knew I needed to call was Korinne.

  She answered on the second ring. “Hey, Mel, what’s up?”

  “Oh, Kori if you only knew. Do you have time to talk?” I asked. “If you don’t I can call you back later.”

  “No, right now’s perfect. I just put Anna-Grace down to sleep so I’m all yours. You sound upset, though. What’s wrong?”

  “Are you in Charlotte or are you two at your cabin in the mountains?”

  “We’re in Charlotte until next week,” she said slowly, hesitantly. “Why?”

  “Because Brett and I will probably need to meet up with you and Galen tomorrow at the firm to discuss some things.”

  “Why are you being so cryptic?” she scolded halfheartedly. “You know you can tell me what’s going on.”

  I sighed. “Oh I know, Kori, and believe me I want to, but I owe it to Brett to tell him first. I just know that once he finds out we’re going to need to figure out our next move. And since what I have to say involves M&M it should also be told to you and Galen.”

  She groaned. “I don’t like the sound of this, Mel.”

  “Me neither,” I retorted, “but Brett and I will be there tomorrow. Hopefully, he’ll still be talking to me.”

  Jumping to conclusions, Korinne gasped and said, “Oh dear goodness, please tell me you didn’t cheat on him.”

  “No,” I shouted forcefully. “I would never do that to him.”

  “Okay, well since you’re not going to tell me I’d say you have your work cut out for you when Brett gets back. Just breathe, darling. Brett’s a good guy and I’m sure he’ll understand whatever’s going on. You have to have faith in him.”