by Lili Valente
But what if he couldn’t handle the responsibility for two lives—three including her daughter’s? What if he wasn’t the man he thought he was, and ended up bringing even more hurt into the life of the woman in his arms?
“I wish you’d talk to me,” she whispered. “You’re starting to freak me out.”
Blake winced. He should freak her out. He’d been acting like a maniac since the night he headed out of Vegas, bound for California. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
“About how we can make sure Scott is the one considered an unfit parent,” he said, the lie sliding easily from his lips.
He couldn’t tell Erin about his doubts about himself. Not now, not when she obviously had no one else to turn to.
“My partner and I opted out of another season of Vegas Ink,” he continued. “But I’m still in touch with a lot of the cameramen who used to work on the show. Most of them are based in L.A., so it shouldn’t be hard to find someone willing to loan us equipment.”
“What kind of equipment?” she asked, a hint of hope creeping into her voice.
“A hidden camera or two, a couple of microphones so tiny you can barely see them. A few things for a sting operation.”
Her eyes lit up and Blake couldn’t help but smile. “You think that could work?”
He nodded. “If we can get Scott on film threatening Abby, any judge out there will give you a restraining order and full custody until you go to trial, at the very least. If we’re lucky, the bastard might even get jail time.”
“You really think so?” Erin asked, the excitement clear in her voice. “But we’d have to make sure Abby was safe before we showed anyone the film.”
Blake thought for a moment. “I’ll talk to my partner, Rafe. He used to be a cop. He should have some good advice on how to handle your ex.”
“He has experience with domestic disputes as well as digging up private information on innocent people?” Erin narrowed her eyes, making it clear she didn’t think much of Rafe. “I’m not sure I want this guy’s help if it’s all the same to you.”
“Rafe’s a good guy. I’m the jerk who was nosing around behind your back,” he said, meaning it.
What had happened to the levelheaded man he’d always prided himself on being? It was like every ounce of restraint or common sense went out the window as soon as Erin was in the picture.
“But if you don’t like him once you meet him, we’ll go it alone,” he added. “We probably won’t need that much help anyway. Scott has to go to work and leave Abby alone sometime. Is she at a daycare center or—”
“He has a nanny. Two of them—a day nanny and a night nanny. But I still have the key to the house.” She chewed her lip, obviously working through the scenario in her mind. “I’m sure he hasn’t changed the locks or the code on the security system. He doesn’t expect me to go against him in this.”
“So we’ll wait until Scott’s out of the house and go in and take Abby,” Blake said. “Since we’ll have proof of Scott’s threats by then, I doubt you’ll catch any legal flak for doing whatever it takes to protect your little girl.”
“And I know exactly when to do it!” She pushed into a seated position, treating Blake to a very distracting view of her breasts.
Erin noticed the direction of his stare, but didn’t move to cover herself. Instead, she smiled, a secret little smile that made his cock even harder.
“There’s this new BDSM club Scott was visiting pretty regularly before I left,” she said. “It’s out in the Valley, but a lot of the girls who go there don’t mind swapping partners.”
Erin’s expression left no doubt how distasteful she found the practice. Good. Blake wasn’t into sharing and had never understood Doms who got off on watching their submissive partner perform sexually with other men.
She chewed her lip. “We can stake out the club. Then, when he shows up, we head back to the house and get Abby. By then, she and the night nanny will probably be asleep, so we can just sneak in and out without anyone even knowing we were there.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Blake said, reaching for Erin in spite of himself.
With all the doubts still swirling in his mind, the last thing he should be doing was making a move to continue their sexual relationship. They should be friends and nothing more until her little girl was safe and they’d had time to talk about what they wanted for the future.
But when Erin took his hands and pushed them above his head, straddling him with that naughty smile, he didn’t try to fight her.
One glimpse of the heated look in her eyes and he was a goner.
CHAPTER FIVE
Blake
Erin leaned over him, teasing him with her breasts, brushing the soft skin against his face as she lifted first one of his wrists and then the other to the headboard. “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
Blake didn’t fight. He let her cuff him, figuring she deserved the chance to turn the tables after what he’d done. After he’d manhandled her and tied her down without permission.
The thought was nearly enough to make his cock soften, but then Erin was kissing him, pushing her tongue into his mouth, making him groan. She tasted so fucking sweet, like everything he’d hungered for his entire life. He met her strokes with his own, exploring every inch of her mouth.
By the time Erin pulled away with a quick nip at his lower lip, both of them were breathing faster. Seconds later she was busy at his belt buckle, tearing off his belt, fumbling with his fly, her hands shaking like she hadn’t been laid in years.
“No foreplay?” he asked, groaning again as his swollen length sprung free.
Erin shoved his jeans and boxer briefs to his knees and then made quick work of her little black panties. “No foreplay. I want you inside me. Now.”
She rose up over him in one smooth motion, spreading the lips of her sex and positioning his cock at her entrance. Seconds later he was inside her silken sheath, encased all the way to his aching balls.
“God, Erin.” He moaned as she leaned forward, her hair spilling in silky waves around his face as she captured his lips once more.
They kissed for what seemed like forever, a slow, sensual meeting of lips, teeth, and tongue that communicated so much more than words. Less than a half hour ago, he’d thought he’d never know this kind of connection with Erin ever again. That sense of loss was still so close to the surface, intensifying the pleasure of every kiss, setting the places they touched on fire.
And slowly driving him even further out of his mind.
It didn’t help that Erin limited her movement to tiny circles of her hips, grinding against him so only the base of his cock felt the friction of sliding in and out of her tight heat. The slight movement made him impossibly thicker, harder, until things low in his body cramped with an almost painful pleasure.
It was a sweet breed of torture, lying there beneath her. He was dying to buck his hips, to drive inside her, hard and fast. But he only hummed into her mouth, forcing himself to follow her lead, to let her set the pace.
“Blake.” She breathed his name, the arousal clear in her voice making his jaw clench.
Damn, it was hell to hold back, to force his movements to mimic Erin’s own. But he could feel how her pussy clenched each time he nudged against her clit. She was close to the edge, her muscles strung tight and her breath coming in swift, shallow bursts. The arms braced on either side of his face trembled and her hands fisted in the pillow beneath him. She only needed the slightest push and she’d shatter, her cunt clenching around his cock.
Thankfully he had just the perfect push in mind. “I want to suck my tits. Move for me.”
Erin obeyed with a moan, shifting on top of him so that her breasts and her tightly puckered nipples were within easy reach. Blake’s breath caught at the erotic beauty of her flushed skin. She was so perfect, the only woman who had ever literally taken his breath away.
He captured one rosy tip
in his mouth, sucking and nibbling, tracing the pebbled flesh with his tongue until Erin writhed on top of him. She picked up the pace of her movements, more wet heat gushing from her sex as he transferred his attention to the other breast, dragging his teeth over her nipple before licking away the sting.
“Are you going to come for me?” he asked, in between flicks of his tongue. “Are you going to come on my cock?”
“Oh, God. Oh, God, yes.” She moaned, the circling of her hips growing more and more frantic until finally she threw her head back with a wild cry. Her back arched, pressing her breasts closer to his face as she came.
Blake sucked harder, pulling at her sensitized flesh until she screamed his name and began to move again. In seconds, she was coming a second time, fingernails digging into his shoulders with enough force for it to sting, even through the thick fabric of his sweater. The feel of her slick, hot pussy clutching at him a second time was almost more than he could take.
“Fuck, Erin,” he mumbled against her soft, damp skin. “Ride me. Ride me hard.”
She sucked in a deep breath, braced her hands on his chest and lifted her hips, slamming them back down. She set a brutal rhythm, sheathing him inside her again and again. The sound of flesh slapping against flesh filled the room as her ass made impact with his thighs, underscored by the grunts and groans as each of them neared the edge. Blake arched to meet her as she dropped her hips, intensifying their connection, reaching all the way to the end of her and still not feeling as if he’d ever get close enough.
The smell of her arousal spun through his head, making his hands itch to reach between them, to gather some of the wet heat dampening her thighs and bring his fingers to his mouth. He wanted to taste her at the same time he lost himself inside her, wanted to drown himself in every aspect of Erin.
“Blake. God, Blake,” she gasped, her rhythm starting to falter.
“Harder, faster. Don’t stop.” He watched her breasts bounce as she began to ride him once more. His swollen balls ached, throbbing with the need to come, but he forced himself to hold back his release, to savor every last moment of being inside his girl.
“I’m going to come, Blake. I can’t, I—”
“Come,” he groaned, the sound transforming to a cry of surrender as orgasm hit them both at the same moment.
His cock jerked inside of her even as her pussy clenched around him, milking every last drop of seed from his body. Things low in his body twisted in ways that didn’t feel natural, but they sure as hell felt good. He couldn’t remember ever coming so hard his vision blurred and his senses struggled to contain the pure pleasure exploding inside his every cell.
His ears were ringing by the time his body and soul finally reconnected, the blood pounding through his veins making him hard of hearing.
That was the only explanation as to why he didn’t notice the men standing in the doorway to the bedroom until the taller one cleared his throat.
Blake blinked and his every muscle went rigid. “What the fuck are you doing in my house?” He sounded fucking dangerous, but he was cuffed to a bed and not in a position to be doing anyone damage. If these men wanted to hurt Erin, they wouldn’t have to try very hard.
Blake mentally cursed himself for being so careless. He must have forgotten to lock the door. A stupid call out here in the middle of nowhere, where they had more than their share of backwoods crazies.
Erin let out a squeak of surprise and leapt off of him, burrowing under the covers before poking her head back out. “Oh my God, you scared the hell out of me,” she said, breath coming fast as she flipped one edge of the blanket over Blake’s now exposed cock. Still, she didn’t sound afraid.
Probably because the men were cops.
After a second look at the door, Blake noticed the khaki uniforms and the holsters, complete with walkie-talkies and standard-issue firearms.
Shit. The people at the diner must have called the cops after all.
“We were just leaving, ma’am,” the younger man said, tipping his hat and directing his eyes to a spot on the ceiling. “We’d gotten a report there might be a woman in trouble up here, but obviously we were mistaken.”
“Unless you’re the one in trouble, sir,” the taller man asked, a shit-eating grin on his face, though he too had the decency to avert his eyes from the bed.
“Nope, no trouble.” Blake willed his voice to stay calm and collected, to not betray the anxiety he felt. If Erin were going to turn him in, she would have done it already. Right? “At least not any trouble I don’t want to be in.”
“And you, ma’am? If you want to leave, we can wait while you get dressed and escort you back to town.” The younger man’s hand rested near where his gun was holstered, making it clear he was ready to do whatever it took to protect and serve.
“No, I’m fine. We were just having a little argument earlier. Disagreeing about wedding plans.” She laughed, such a genuine sound Blake would never have guessed she was lying if he didn’t know better. “You know how stressful weddings can be.”
“I understand, but you had a few people worried.” The older cop sighed but didn’t seem overly annoyed. He and his partner probably hadn’t had much else to do tonight in a community like this one. “Try to watch yourself more carefully in the future.”
“Will do. Thanks, officers.” Erin smiled and actually waved as the two men turned and tromped down the stairs.
Blake lay beside her, holding his breath until he heard the door slam below them.
That had been entirely too close. What if he hadn’t stopped modifying Erin’s tat in time? What if the policemen had entered the room to find a sobbing woman tied to his bed and him jabbing at her with a needle?
Getting arrested wouldn’t have been anything he didn’t deserve at that point, but still…
The enormity of his risk finally hit him full on. Rafe had been right. It had been a form of suicide to kidnap Erin. Even the fact that she had seemed happy to be with him most of the time they’d been together didn’t make up for it. He was a madman, a criminal, and not nearly good enough for the woman giggling as she rolled over him to fetch the handcuff keys.
“Ohmygod, that was awful! I’ve never been caught in the act before. I nearly peed myself I was so scared.” She unlocked the cuffs and then hurried into the bathroom, still laughing, calling over her shoulder as she ran, “I’m so embarrassed!”
Blake heard the water running and then the toilet flush, but not even those normal sounds could thaw the cold clutch of fear in his chest. He was going to have to watch himself very, very closely. Whatever madness had driven him to this point was probably still swirling around in his brain, waiting to come out and play. His job now was to make sure it didn’t get the chance, that he never committed another criminal act around Erin or anyone else.
He’d help her, make sure she and her daughter were safe, and then he’d get the hell out of her life. It was the best thing he could do. There was no doubt he loved her, but she deserved a sane, rational man who would never think of doing half the things he’d done in the past two days.
Including taking sexual advantage of a woman in a vulnerable position.
“So, I’m starved. What about you?” Erin asked as she plucked her clothes from the floor and dressed. “Do you think that pasta you made is still good?”
“We can reheat it, and eat it on the road. Let’s get everything packed up.” Blake rolled from the bed and tugged his pants up around his waist.
“Okay,” Erin said, her tone wary. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I just think we should get back to L.A. The sooner we get things moving, the sooner we get your daughter back.”
She nodded and walked toward her room, but stopped at the door to the bathroom and turned back to him. “I was never going to tell the police, Blake. Even if you’d forced me to change the tattoo, I wouldn’t have. I care too much about you to do something like that.”
Blake’s heart lurched in his chest as he
watched her disappear.
Her words only cemented his decision. He had to get out of her life, as soon as possible. He didn’t deserve a woman like Erin.
He never had, and now he never would.
CHAPTER SIX
Three days later
Erin
“So we’re all straight on where we need to be when?” Blake paced the luxury hotel suite where they’d been staying since their return to L.A. He’d thought it would be best if they stuck close to plan their strategy, which had been more than fine with Erin.
The suite was twice the size of her studio apartment and she still couldn’t get enough of Blake. Even after the sex marathon they’d had at the cabin, she’d been eager to get back between the sheets with the man. Making love to him was swiftly becoming an addiction.
Too bad he didn’t feel the same way…
He hadn’t touched her in three days. Instead of joining her in bed, he’d sacked out on the couch, leaving her one of the suite’s bedrooms and his partner, Rafe, who had flown in from Miami, the other. Something was obviously bothering him, but she hadn’t had the chance to talk to him about it. Rafe or one of his other friends always seemed to be around. They hadn’t had ten minutes alone together since the ride back to L.A.
But if she were honest with herself, she’d felt him pulling away even then. Ever since their brief and embarrassing encounter with the police, he’d been acting differently. He was still committed to helping her get her daughter back, but he didn’t seem interested in continuing what they’d begun up at the cabin.
Erin knew she shouldn’t let that hurt her so much. Two days was nothing in the scheme of things, and saying you loved someone didn’t necessarily mean you were ready to try to make a relationship work. Hell, she wasn’t even sure she was ready. She only knew she missed the connection they’d had, missed it so much it made her feel hollow inside.