Burning Violet

by Watson, A. P.

  He glanced at the screen. “I’ve seen these,” he whispered.

  “But not these.” Swiping to the right, I switched to the photo that clearly showed Brett’s face. “Your son wasn’t the man in the photographs. Brett Lyle was.”

  “Hunter’s friend from Harvard?”

  “The very same. He had the photos taken and then circulated them around the office, making everyone believe it was Hunter who was fucking around instead of him.”

  “My God.”

  “Hunter has all the integrity in the world, and you should’ve believed in him.”

  He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the dark locks. “What have I done?”

  “I just thought you should know.”

  “How can I ever repay you?”

  “Apologize to Hunter. That’s all I want.”

  He stared at the pictures, his hands cradling his head. “Why didn’t he show me these?”

  “Hunter wanted you to realize he wasn’t capable of something like that. He wanted you to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

  “I’ll talk to him.” He nodded and handed over my phone. “And I apologize for everything I said to you as well. I was wrong, I see that now.”

  “Apology accepted,” I replied.

  “Thank you for showing me these pictures, and for putting me in my place.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  I left his study behind and began sprinting for the stairs. Closing the door to my room behind me, I sucked in a deep breath. Had all of that really just happened? Milk coated the dryness in my throat as I finally downed the drink I’d originally set out for. Setting the empty glass on top of a nearby armoire, I climbed into bed.

  I was glad Mr. Desmond saw the error of his ways. Hunter deserved his respect, love, and support. I only hoped the man would deliver on the promise to apologize to his son. Turning over, I stared at the wall for at least an hour. Nadine still hadn’t called, which meant things at the club must be hopping. Closing my eyes, I begged for sleep to come, but the more I sought rest, the more elusive it became.

  This bed felt empty, too empty, so I threw off the covers and headed for the combined bathroom Hunter and I shared. Sleep wouldn’t come anytime soon, if at all, and I didn’t want to be alone. Opening the door to the bathroom, I saw Hunter entering across from me.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you need to use the bathroom?” I asked softly.

  “No, I was actually coming to see you. Do you need to use the bathroom?”

  “No.” I smiled, my eyes raking over his body. “I was coming to see you.”

  He took a step toward me and I followed suit. We were being drawn to one another like magnets. That pull we’d felt since we met at Eddie’s was too powerful to ignore any longer. I’d never felt this way about anyone else in my entire life. Excitement swelled in the pit of my stomach, radiating to every distant part of my body.

  Now, we were so close that I had to tilt my head back to keep his gaze. I slid my hands up his chest, noting the way he inhaled sharply beneath my touch. “We shouldn’t,” he whispered.

  I knew as well as he did that we needed to avoid the way we felt about one another, but I’d been denied happiness for so long it had become a foreign notion to me. And I wanted it back. I wanted to experience so much joy that the feeling seeped into the marrow of my bones.

  “I know.” We shouldn’t do the things we wanted to do so badly. But fuck, I was beyond the point of caring. “Everyone already believes we are, whether it’s true or not.” I wanted Hunter, and I was sick of pretending otherwise. “So, why not give in and let it be true?”

  “I made you a promise . . .”

  “And I’m asking you to break it.”

  “I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t exactly what I wanted,” he confessed.

  “What if we gave in just once? Got it out of our system.”

  A grin tugged at the corners of his lips. “Do you think once would be enough?”

  “I’m willing to take the risk and see.”

  “I’m tired of trying to stay away from you.”

  “Then I think that’s our answer,” I breathed.

  His lips crashed into mine with more yearning than I ever thought possible. Opening my mouth, I slid my tongue along the tip of his, kissing him as if my life depended on it, as if everything depended on it. Hunter tasted sweet, like peppermint candy, and I held onto him tighter, craving more. Strong hands gripped my ass, lifting me into the air until my legs wrapped around his waist. Our bodies folded into one another as if we were nothing more than a mass of tangled vines. Eventually, we stumbled backwards into his room, our mouths never parting.

  “I’ve never done this before,” he whispered, lowering the straps of my nightgown.

  Satin slid over my breasts, uncovering my skin. “What do you mean?”

  Air caught in my lungs as his gaze lowered to take in my newly bared flesh. Fire burned in the depths of his eyes as he appraised me. “I’ve never done this with someone I love before.”

  Grinning at him, my fingers traced the line of his jaw. “Neither have I.”

  “One night of you isn’t going to be enough.”

  “I promise we’ll figure it out.” Cradling his face in my hands, I softly pressed my lips to his. “But for now, I want you to show me how much you love me.”

  “I can do that.”

  The smirk Hunter donned elicited a rush of anticipation to overtake my body. With one hand supporting my weight and the other tearing at my nightgown, his mouth fixed on my breast. The sensation of his tongue gliding over my flesh was almost too much to take. My spine curled backwards as his mouth moved to my other nipple. Moaning with delight, I clawed at him, needing him closer.

  The man had barely touched me, and I could already feel myself wanting to come undone. Laying me on the bed, he removed my nightgown before wrapping his fingers around my panties. An eternity seemed to pass as he pulled the garment downward, slowly licking the length of my leg. When I was finally free of all my clothes, Hunter stopped to stare at me.

  “I’ve thought about seeing you naked thousands of times, but you’re even more beautiful than I imagined,” he stated. His hands caressed every inch of me before spreading my thighs open. “Fuck, I’ve been dying to taste you.”

  Lowering his head, my muscles contracted with pleasure as his tongue met with my sensitive flesh. “Don’t stop,” I begged, my hands grasping the sheets beneath me. A delicious mixture of tension and bliss filled me from the inside out. He continued to taste me, licking in slow, delectable circles. “Hunter.” His name escaped as a gasp, eliminating the silence surrounding us.

  Immediately, he moved to hover over me. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

  “Yes.” After I finished jerking down his boxers, my hands reached for his neck. “You belong inside me,” I sighed, sucking on his bottom lip.

  “Is that so?”

  “Which one of us is the boss?”

  He laughed and gripped my waist. “As always, you.”

  I opened my legs and watched as he slid inside me, filling up every open inch of my body. Moaning against his neck, my teeth grazed along his flesh.

  “Fuck,” he groaned, the sound echoing in my ear.

  Over and over again, he rocked into me. His eyes locked on mine, staring at me with each thrust of his hips.

  Tangling his fingers in my hair, Hunter’s mouth consumed mine once more. We moved in unison, the feel of him intoxicating my senses. Whenever he held me, this was what I wanted, what I craved. For so long, I believed I was tainted and unworthy of being loved, but Hunter proved me wrong. He longed for my touch as much as I longed for his. My nails scratched the length of his back as he increased our pace.

  Sweat beaded where our chests brushed against one another. Hunter moved his lips, alternating between sucking and nipping my earlobe. The juxtaposition of his soft tongue and hard teeth forced me closer to the edge.

  “Oh, God,” I gasped, jerking
on his hips.

  “Are you getting there?”

  “Yes.”

  He pushed inside me repeatedly, wanting to go as deep as possible. Pleasure skimmed up my spinal cord and I cried out in response.

  “Probably shouldn’t let everyone know what we’re doing in here,” Hunter said, swallowing the sound with a kiss. Our mouths moved together ravenously, not wanting to take a single moment of this for granted. “The way you feel is unlike anything I’ve ever known.”

  “That’s because you belong inside me,” I panted. Our bodies moved as an intricate mess of flesh and sweat. Every inch of our skin that touched, fused together as if we were a singular being. We were but two parts longing to be whole. “Please, keep going,” I all but begged.

  “You’re close?”

  “So close.”

  “Me too.”

  His voice was husky as he spoke. Like mine, his breathing grew more ragged by the second. Pressure built slowly for a while until the sensation intensified and eventually burned through every inch of me. My body curled toward him, craving release, as the most intense feeling of ecstasy I’d ever known rained over my skin.

  Praise spilled from my lips, and Hunter was quick to devour my mouth with his. With each second that passed, I was lost to another swell of pleasure. Hunter thrust inside me one final time, his body shuddering as he came. He groaned loudly, muttering a list of profanities as he grinned down at me.

  “Yeah,” I breathed. “Once definitely isn’t going to cut it.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing.”

  Giggling, I lowered Hunter’s head to lay on my chest. “I can’t remember the last time I felt this good.”

  “Glad I could be of service,” he said, kissing the space in between my breasts.

  “And how long before you can be of service again?”

  Glancing up at me, his green irises flashed with mischief. “Give me a few minutes.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I teased.

  Scooping me up in his arms, Hunter carried me into the bathroom and set me on the edge of the tub. I turned on the water and waited as it filled the ceramic basin while Hunter stood at the sink with his back to me. Muscles lined every inch of his torso all the way down to his calves.

  “See something you like?” His gaze focused on me in the mirror.

  “I really need to see the front before I answer that question.”

  He spun around and leaned against the sink. “Happy now?”

  My eyes drifted downward, taking in every luscious inch of him. “Extremely happy.”

  When the tub was finally full, we sat down together, the steaming water soothing our bodies.

  “Fuck.”

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “I was so damn eager to be inside you, I forgot about grabbing a condom. Not that I brought any here.”

  I laughed. “It’s okay. I get a birth control shot every few months, so I’m covered on that end.”

  “Okay, good.”

  “Besides, it wasn’t like I was telling you to stop.” I inched toward him, needing to be closer.

  “Believe me, I wouldn’t have been able to stop,” he replied, his lips rubbing along the length of my neck.

  I eased onto Hunter’s lap and slid my hands around his shoulders. Peppering kisses over his cheeks and forehead, I paused for a moment, garnering his attention. “I love you, Hunter.”

  The tips of his fingers massaged the length of my spine, and my head rolled backward at the touch. God, I’d never be able to get over how good that felt. “I love you too, more than anything.”

  “I don’t want this to stop.”

  “Me neither.”

  “Then what should we do?”

  “Keep fucking. That seems like the best course of action.”

  I smacked his arm lightly. “You would say that!”

  “But in all seriousness, I think we should do what we can to keep this a secret from everyone at work.”

  “That’s not going to be easy.”

  “No, but we’ve been spending a lot of time together, and no one seems to know.”

  “Except Rhonda,” I replied.

  “Well, she knows everything.”

  “That and she’s wanted us to get together from the third day we worked together.”

  He smiled, his attention returning to my neck. “Rhonda and I have that in common,” he whispered, nibbling my flesh.

  “Do you know what we have in common?”

  “What?”

  “We both love doing this.”

  Hunter inhaled sharply as I lowered myself on top of him. Instantly, his hands shot to my hips, guiding me back and forth as I rocked in place. Every so often, he would thrust upward, deepening our embrace in the most delicious way. My fists balled in his hair as I claimed his mouth with mine, our tongues gliding together in perfect synchrony.

  It felt as if a subdued fire ignited beneath my skin. The connection we shared was everything. It was like a jolt of electricity, reviving the dead remnants of my soul. My spine arched, and Hunter moved his hands to steady my waist.

  “God, yes,” I sighed, rolling into him once more.

  Water sloshed over the edge of the tub as we continued moving. Slowly, his tongue licked a path up my chest, and I bit my lip to quiet the moan threatening to pour from my mouth.

  “Does that feel good?” Hunter’s voice was soft and sexy as he whispered in my ear.

  “Yes.” His fingers grasped my hips as he pulled me into him. “Please, keep talking,” I begged.

  “I can do that,” he whispered. “Would you like me to carry you back to bed?”

  “Please.”

  Strong arms lifted me into the air. Beads of water trailed down our flesh as Hunter carried me to his bed. We crashed on the mattress, the sheets knotting around us. Anticipation overpowered my thoughts. Once would never be enough. The ache tearing through me as I waited for Hunter to rejoin our bodies increased with each breath I took. He flipped me on my back and raised my leg to rest on his shoulder. Then, he pushed inside me with a single controlled thrust. I suppressed a scream at the deeper position. The intensity of it hummed through my body like an electric current.

  “Is that okay?”

  “Uh huh,” I answered. “Please, don’t stop.”

  “I’m not stopping until you’re calling out my name.”

  A moan slipped out at his promise. His hips rocked into me slowly at first before gaining momentum. I cried out at the increased pace, and once again, Hunter stifled the sound with a kiss. The only thing my mind was able to grasp was the feel of him sliding inside me, and the fact I never wanted it to stop.

  Just when I though he would slow down, Hunter began moving faster.

  “Oh my God.”

  “Nope,” he breathed. “You know what I want to hear.”

  My nails dug into his chest. Tugging his head downward, my mouth briefly found his. “You want me to say your name?”

  “I want you say the name of the person who is making you feel so good, you can’t stop moaning.”

  “Fuck.”

  His lips planted just beneath my ear. “Still not what I want.”

  Pressure and pleasure tore through me simultaneously, building each time Hunter moved. Good didn’t even begin to describe the way he made me feel. Each muscle in my body convulsed and tightened. My orgasm built steadily until it became too much to contain.

  “Oh, Hunter,” I cried as euphoria overpowered every other thought. I moaned his name again, my legs trembling in ecstasy. He pumped his hips a few more times before finding his own release.

  Sucking a deep breath into my lungs, I began laughing.

  “What’s funny?”

  “I’ll say your name as much as you want if that’s what you’ll do to me every time.”

  “It’s a promise,” he answered, grinning at me. “You want to finish our bath?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two


  The week following Christmas was bar none the best of my life. Each day I spent around Violet was a Godsend. She was exactly what I needed, and if the way she made me feel wasn’t proof enough, the apology I received from my father was. He admitted his mistakes and expressed his regret at not believing in me. Not only that, but he apologized to Vi as well. I had the full support of my entire family, and for the first time in a long time, things were pretty fucking great.

  When I got back from my parents’ house, I decided to email Galterio the photos Vi obtained. I typed out a long email stating how I never slept with his wife or Talia and that I had evidence to prove it. A day later, Brett was sent packing and Galterio practically begged me to return to Chicago.

  But I declined. My life was in Boston now, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  The only negative aspect of my life was the fact Vi and I had to keep our relationship a secret. At the office, we maintained a strict no-touching policy. Any time we got our hands on one another, clothes were ripped off and we ended up fucking. I wasn’t complaining by any means, but with Vi going back to school soon, I needed to keep my job so she could focus on studying.

  Since Christmas Eve, I’d been trying to work up the courage to ask her to move in with me, but every time I tried to form the words, I chickened out. We hadn’t been together for a long time, but I knew what I wanted, and that was her.

  Sliding my finger over the mouse pad on my laptop, I searched for the right icon to click. Realizing all the documents and icons I had neatly organized on my home screen were fucked up yet again, I picked up the phone.

  “Hello?”

  Even the sound of his voice irritated the fuck out of me. “Joel?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s Hunter. I’m calling because everything is screwed up on my computer again.”

  “Again?”

  “Yes. All my case files and documents are out of order. I can’t find a single thing.”

  “We just rebooted the entire server.”

  “Why?”

  He sighed, and even though he hadn’t spoken a word, I could sense his annoyance. “I’m busy at the moment. It will be at least an hour before I can come fix it.”