by Tia Siren
“Open it.”
She unfolded it and looked up at him. “A heart?”
“It was the first thing I ever gave to you.”
She lowered her gaze and smiled, a light shade of pink covering her cheeks. “So I suppose I should do the right thing and keep it, huh?”
“Absolutely.”
She put her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.
“You got it, Edward.”
Chapter 46
“You do know that I could have you arrested for breaking and entering.” He walked backwards toward his bed, keeping her in his arms as he moved.
“Oh, really.”
“Not to mention the murders you so savagely performed on those poor, poor, innocent people.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and started unbuttoning Eva’s top. “Now, I could be persuaded to keep my mouth shut with the proper manipulation.”
“Hmmm, well do you have anything in mind?”
He peeled her top open once he had the last button undone. The sight of her breasts cradled in the light pink lace bra immediately gave him an adrenaline rush.
“Mm hmm. I know just what will keep me quiet.”
He leaned forward and kissed her between her breasts with a delicate kiss and a brush of his cheek as he let her top fall from her shoulders to the floor. His fingers hooked themselves into the straps of her bra and slowly slid them off her shoulders and down her arms. Just before they exposed her nipples, he stopped and let his arousal tease him. He pulled the material down and exposed her, allowing his hands to recover her. Her nipples grew taut and he moved the palms of his hands across them feeling the stiffness of them against his skin.
“I bet you do. Maybe I will call your bluff and try to get away with it instead.”
He trailed his hands down her stomach and past her skirt stopping only momentarily to feel her body shiver before moving up her legs and underneath her skirt. He moved her panties to the side and caressed her there.
She gasped, her head leaning backwards, her eyes closing and her hands grabbing hold of his wrists. She pressed his hands deeper and moved closer to him for more.
“Do we have a deal?” he teased.
“Yes,” she said breathlessly.
“I thought so,” he said intimately.
He pushed his finger inside of her and gently slid it in and out until her breathing became more irregular. He pulled her closer, his cheek resting against her bare stomach as he pleasured her close to orgasm. When her body responded to every touch and caress he gave her, he stopped and took her hand.
“Come with me.”
He went to his closet, helped her out of what was left of her outfit and helped her into one of his dress shirts before leading her to his window. He opened the window and crawled out onto a large iron balcony and stood there waiting patiently for her to follow.
After only a slight hesitation and a few looks down to the ground below, she followed. The ground below was of his large private back yard but the further up they climbed the iron ladder, the less privacy they had. If the people below were keen enough to look up, they would have most definitely seen more than just the sunshine. She attempted to pull his shirt closed around her legs several times until he stopped and lowered himself down a few rungs to where she was. He kissed her and reassured her.
“Don’t fidget. You are beautiful. Open your mind to new experiences.”
She nodded. “Where are you taking me?”
“To the top,” he smiled.
“I bet you are,” she said, mesmerized by the way her body so easily responded.
“Do you trust me, Eva?”
His voice was silky. She parted her lips at the thought of what he could do to her.
“Yes.”
He pulled at his tie, loosening it before pulling it up off his head and untying it.
“Hold on tightly,” he said softly. He flatted the tie and held it out between his hands in front of her face. He smiled slightly when he saw her bottom lip quiver as he slowly covered her eyes and wrapped it around to the back of her head, tying it tightly. He leaned in, very close to her ear and whispered, “Do you still trust me?”
She inhaled a ragged breath and nodded.
He moved to the side of the ladder and took her arm.
“Climb up past me. I will direct you.”
She felt the next rung with her foot and reassured her step before climbing up again. Once she got past him, he followed her up keeping himself very close to her in case she missed a step.
Within a few more steps, they had reached the top.
“Carefully climb over the wall and sit on the edge until I tell you different.”
She complied with his requests. Once they got over the wall, she felt him pick up her foot and slip her shoe off her foot. She shivered inside when he slipped her other shoe off and slid his arms around her waist. He picked her up off the wall and carried her a few feet before stopping.
“Stand here.”
He let her down and she jumped back when she felt something soft under her feet.
“What is that?” She reached up, wanting to take the blind fold off, but not wanting the mystery to end.
He took her by the hand and led her forward, the softness under her feet with every step of the way. She moved her feet back and forth as she walked.
“It feels like… grass.”
“You are observant.”
She felt his fingers on his shirt she wore and felt it slip off her arms. She tried covering her body with her arms but the warmth of his hands wrapping around her wrists put her at ease. He directed her arms to her sides and kissed her cheek. She felt the warmth of his body close to hers.
“Be confident in the way you look,” he whispered. “You are beautiful.”
He led her a few more steps then removed his tie from her eyes. A few blinks and adjustments to her surroundings and she gasped at what she saw. Grass covering the entire top of the building, a beautiful glass house constructed in the middle and flowers blooming everywhere.
“It’s breathtaking, Edward.” She walked around, looking at the beauty that nature had blessed the rooftop with, completely forgetting she was naked.
Edward sat on the edge of a glass table and watched her, delighted at her childlike manner she took her surroundings in. “Yes, it is.”
Her innocence was one of the many traits he fell in love with.
“I love it. I could stay up here forever,” she said.
“Come here.”
He knew the moment she realized she was naked again, her body language changing from a freedom every woman should never go through life without experiencing, to a demure necessity to isolate herself from those with eyes around her.
She walked toward him, feeling his eyes on her body. When she reached him, he stood and turned her around. He raised her hands over her head and moved her hair off her neck. She felt the heat from his breath on her neck and ached to feel his lips. It seemed he was able to get closer, closer, closer without touching her, her skin wanting to burn from the flames of his mouth. When he finally kissed her where her neck feeds down into her shoulder, she wouldn’t have been able to decipher his kiss from a burn.
His hand cascaded up her sides, his chest pressing into her naked back. She loved feeling his clothed body against her nudeness. It gave her a sense of protected vulnerability she had never felt before. She closed her eyes and allowed her other senses to take over as he guided his fingertips across her taut nipples, as he pressed his body closer to hers, as he dragged his teeth across her delicate skin. The arousal she began to feel in his bedroom had increased and bubbled over the top with just the touch of his body against hers. She could not fathom what else he could have possibly done to her.
She turned and faced him, unbuttoning his shirt and clumsily yanking it from his body. With a chuckle, he assisted, discarding it at his feet as she worked on his belt. Within moments, he was as naked as she was.
She caressed him wit
h her hands, her eyes following close behind her touch. She loved admiring him. She started moving down on her knees and he stopped her shaking his head.
“Come here. I want you close to me.”
He picked her up in his arms and carried her into the glass house. Every window was open and a warm gentle breeze blew through. A white fur rug lay on the floor and he placed her upon that rug, the fur tickling her body with every move she made. He knelt at her feet and caressed her legs, her knees slowly parting as her heart beat harder. He lowered his body onto hers and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her deeply and enjoying every inch of her that touched him.
He tried being patient and enjoying her for as long as he could, but his body ached for her. He fought the urge to fuck her as his lips trailed along her neckline. It didn’t help that she was already panting and moaning, her body begging for more. He moved his heavy kissing and small bites down her chest, along the outside of her breast and down her stomach.
“Eddie, please.” Her words were breathless.
He moved back up and kissed her lips, his cock finding its own way where it wanted to be. He slowly pushed into her forcing himself to hesitate, feeling her open easily for him, her body pushing against him, her body begging to be penetrated, her eyes pleading with him to feed her insatiable hunger.
He grabbed her hands and pinned them on the rug above her head, pushing himself up off her to watch her face. He pushed further inside her, his arousal increasing as he watched her eyes squeeze closed and her lips part in a silent moan. He moved slowly in and out, pleased at how he was pleasing her. She struggled against his weight on her hands. He knew she wanted to touch him. He loved the control over her. She opened her mouth to beg him and he quickly moved closer, covering her mouth with his, his tongue sliding inside to dance with hers. He pushed in further, feeling her body arch against his. He pushed in further, her mouth gasping for more. He pushed in further, her muscles tightening around his cock and keeping it for herself. He maneuvered inside the tight passage he was snuggled inside and coaxed every part of her out, her arousal building, her breathing heavy, her mouth panting, her chest heaving. He knew she was his. He pulled out slowly and thrust into her pushing her to the edge. He was in complete control, he was in complete awe of her and he was completely in love with her.
He wrapped himself up in her and pushed into her one last time, feeling her body contort and stiffen against him, throwing him into his own orgasm. He let out a guttural yell and thrust into her again, filling her with everything he could have given a woman.
They collapsed into a pile of heaving breaths, sweaty bodies, jerks and muscle spasms. The sun warmed their skin and the cool breeze from the day ending blew gently across them.
She lay next to him in his arms and let his fingertips cascade across her arm.
“I am so in love with you.” His voice was deep and confident.
It made her shiver and smile and swell up with love. She picked up her head and rested her chin on his chest.
“I love you, Edward Caldwell.”
“So, what now?” He fed his fingers into her hair and combed through it over and over again, watching the long dark strands fall across his chest. “Are you ready for a life with a rich man, knowing he is much more than what you perceive us to be?”
“I am.”
He sat up and looked at her. “Are you?” His seriousness heightened and he needed a serious answer.
She sat up and wrapped her legs around him. “Well, I do need to finish school. I have two more years left. I won’t have you providing for me. I will do that on my own.”
“And I am willing to wait for you.”
“I’ll just be a couple of hours away.”
“Not if I can help it.”
He pulled her back into him and kissed her again.
He knew his life had changed and for the first time he felt whole.
***
END OF THE SECOND STORY
The Daddy Dilemma
I’m Gordonville’s own runaway bride – but I never thought Brock would ever want me back.
And now that I’m coming home, there’s so much I need to tell him.
Will he ever forgive me so that my son can have his daddy?
Brock:
Ashley left me standing at the alter six years ago like a jackass, and then skipped town.
All I’ve thought about ever since is getting even.
F*ck me if she had her reasons.
And now that she’s returned, the least she can do is tell me what happened.
There’s no f*cking way I’ll ever take her back in my arms.
It’s too late for that.
But one look at her and my head’s flooding with memories of the good ol’ times.
I’m tempted to make her regret ever having left.
Kiss her all over.
Touch her where it makes her legs shake.
Make her scream out my name.
But there’s just one thing I gotta know.
The kid she brought back with her… is he mine?
*
Chapter 1
Ashley
No. This couldn’t be happening. I had to be stuck in a dream—no, a nightmare. I was convinced I would wake up and everything would go back to normal. I could resume my regularly scheduled life and forget it had happened. I closed my eyes, willing it away, took a deep breath, and then opened them again.
It didn’t work. I was still standing in my office, my phone in my hand, and life still sucked.
My world felt as if it had tilted with that one phone call. Everything looked duller, as if a wand had been waved and all the life had been zapped away. I looked down at the phone in my hand. My sister’s name was still on the screen. It wasn’t a nightmare. It was real. The phone in my hand was the evidence.
I stared down at Leslie’s name. A picture of her smiling face with her two daughters squeezed in close was saved in the contact information. I loved that picture, but now it would always haunt me. Her face would always remind me of that moment everything had changed. It all seemed unreal. My dad was sick. Very sick. Leslie begged and then demanded that I get my ass home to help get things sorted out. Not only was dad sick, but he was losing his farm, my family home.
Leslie, being the oldest, had taken the role of mother to me, my other sister, and my brother. She was thirty-two, six years older than me, but very mature. Our mother had died when we were young, and Leslie had stepped into the role as our pseudo-mother. I was the baby of the family, and they all made sure I knew it, which was why I lived in New York and stayed as far from that small-town life as I could possibly get.
Looked like I had to go. I had to get back to West Virginia. My dad needed me. I looked around my small office filled with framed magazine covers and various awards. My pictures were starting to gain national attention, but all of that would have to be put on hold. I had to go home. The thought scared me to death, but it had to be done. I would have to face down the people from my small hometown. It had been six long years since I had been back. No more running. As my dad would say, it was time to face the music.
Taking a seat at the desk, I opened my laptop. My full calendar was something I was proud of. I was booked, which meant I was doing great. Now I had to cancel all the jobs I had worked so damn hard to schedule.
I picked up my phone, dialed the first client, and prepared myself. “Good morning, Janice. This is Ashley Parks, the photographer. I’ve had a family emergency come up and I need to see if we can do your shoot tomorrow instead of Monday.”
I waited while she checked with her manager, my stomach rolling. Thankfully, she came back quickly.
“Sure, Ashley. He says that works fine. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Thank you so much, Janice. I really appreciate it,” I told her, releasing the pent-up breath I had been holding.
I hung up, made the note in my calendar, and repeated the process. Some jobs I had to cancel all together or push to t
he end of the month. I knew I was committing career suicide, but I didn’t have a choice. Anna would be thrilled. We had always been competitive, I think because we were so close in age, she being a year older than me. We were exactly thirteen months apart and my dad always called us Irish twins. Anna had always been jealous of me and hated it when I received an accolade for anything. It was as if she wanted me to fail.
It was almost three by the time I finished clearing my calendar for the next two weeks. I hoped everything would be taken care of by then so I could resume my life in New York City. My day was done. The bonus of working for myself was the freedom to set my own hours. It made it much easier for me to work around Jasper’s schedule. Being a single mom was tough business, and finding daycare wasn’t easy. This year had been great. He had started school, which meant free daycare!
I pulled into the pick-up lane and waited my turn to collect my son.
“Hey, buddy!” I said when he climbed in the back seat.
“Hi, Mom,” he said, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
“How was school?”
He shrugged. “It was okay. Randy picked his nose—again.”
I bit back a laugh. The tragedies of kindergarten were rough. Jasper was a smart boy and often had trouble coping with other kids his age. He preferred playing in the dirt or searching for rocks over coloring. He wasn’t the kid that wanted to race around the playground playing tag or just being silly. He would rather watch documentaries than cartoons. He was a serious child. I often wondered if that was a product of his genes or the way I was raising him. I hoped it was the first. I didn’t want to think I was responsible for turning my child into a loner. He was an old soul. It made me a little sad he was so grown up before his time but very proud as well.
I pulled out of the school parking lot and headed for my loft in Brooklyn. I couldn’t quite afford to live in the city, but I hoped to continue to grow my business and one day have an apartment there or maybe a house outside the city. A house was what my boy needed, but I loved the idea of living close to work. I loved the hustle and bustle of the city, too. It always made me feel so alive. In other ways, I knew it was probably not the best place to raise a little boy.