by Moira McTark
Bitty put out her palms as if in defense. “It was either enlist Cal’s help, or call Mary on her afternoon off. I did what I thought was right.”
Lara’s head dropped, hanging heavily between her shoulders. Dette snarled and shoved her off, scrambling to her feet. One high heel dragged loose off to the side, secured around her ankle by the delicate strap, the other was nowhere to be seen. Staggering to a club chair, she sank into it and discarded the shoe, throwing it at the wall.
Gingerly probing her ankle, Dette glanced over at Lara, still kneeling on the floor, and then to Cal. “I wouldn’t let her tell you.”
Lara closed her eyes, shaking her head as Dette continued. “In the beginning I was panicked that you were going to let it go public, and even Adam wouldn’t stand for that. But after, when she wanted to tell you, I wouldn’t let her. I was…miffed. Lara’s easy to boss around if you know what buttons to push, so I lied and pushed them until she felt like she had no choice. She loves you. For whatever that’s worth.”
She loved him. It was what he’d been feeling and what he’d wanted, but that was before. A part of him was relieved it hadn’t been Lara in Vegas. It answered so many questions. But knowing that he’d been so easily blindsided again…he couldn’t stand it. He was a fucking idiot being led around by his dick.
Lara pushed herself back onto her hip and rubbed her knee. “Dette, you don’t need to justify my behavior to Cal.”
Sighing deeply, Dette picked at the torn seam on her blouse. “I suppose that maybe I did need to explain my part in it though. But I’ll leave you two to figure out the rest. Bitty, can you make sure the coast is clear before I head out there?”
Bitty grabbed the door and stuck her head out for a quick peek. “Looks good, Adam was working damage control earlier. I think he got everyone out.”
“What a man.” Dette started for the door, slowing as she passed Lara. Cal thought she’d say something but Lara didn’t even look up. Dette nodded and left, taking Bitty with her.
Cal stuffed his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to say next.
“You don’t have to do this.” She rose, her gaze still focused on the ground.
“I don’t have to do what?”
“You don’t have to try to talk it out with me. I’m so sorry. For dragging you into this craziness, for lying to you, for everything.”
Cal nodded. He reached down and cupped Lara’s jaw. The warmth of her skin permeated his palm. It seeped into his veins and coursed through his body, into his chest, easing the chill that had settled there. Tilting her chin to him, he saw the tears glistening in her eyes. “Was Dette telling the truth?”
Lara blinked and one tear made its silky descent down her cheek. She sniffed using the back of her hand to swipe it away. “Yes. She might not make a habit of it, but that time she told the truth. I love you. As she said, for whatever that’s worth.”
Amid the torrent of conflict within him, one question rose clearly in his mind. What was Lara’s love worth?
Her eyes were sad, soft. Images of grabbing her into his arms and begging her to forget everything that had happened swept through his mind. But he couldn’t do it. “I’m sorry.”
Chapter Sixteen
Lara peered out into the night at the black sky pressing down on the explosion of light and motion below.
It had been two weeks since Cal walked out of her parents’ house. He’d asked her to give him some time. It was a simple request, fair by any standard, and it received the most excruciating acceptance of her life. She’d followed him to his room and watched him pack, keeping the pleas that choked her throat at bay. He knew she loved him and she wanted him. And the rest was up to Cal to figure out.
That had been two weeks ago. Two crazy weeks more confusing and tumultuous than she ever could have dreamed. It was almost enough to distract her from the feeling that her heart had ceased to beat the minute Cal said good bye.
Lara looked over at her sister. “All things considered, I’m surprised you chose Vegas for the honeymoon.”
Holding her left hand out at an angle from her body, Dette swiveled it back and forth. “This is the best lighting in the world for watching my ring sparkle. Where else would I go?”
Dette was right, the three karat rock perched on her finger was pretty spectacular against the backdrop of flashing neon that surrounded them. Lara leaned her forehead against the glass and smiled at the sight of her sister playing with her newest trinket. Dette was happy. She finally had what she wanted and the sacrifice to get it had been one she was prepared to make.
The door to the suite opened behind them allowing the commotion of the Sinclairs, Norton and Beverly, chatting up their new son-in-law to spill inside. “But, Dale, if you’ve never tried fly-fishing, you can’t know you won’t like it,” pressed Norton.
Lara chuckled softly. Her father had been trying to convince Dale to go fishing with him for two days straight.
The younger man shook his head and walked over to Dette, curled her into his arms. “Nort, it’s that catch and release business you’re talking about. It’s not my style. Once I set my mind on wanting something, I never let it go.”
Dette started giggling and spun around to face him, planting a solid kiss on his mouth. Pulling away, she stroked his cheek. “Lucky for me.”
Norton stretched an arm across his wife’s shoulders and beamed at his oldest daughter.
Lara couldn’t help but share their sense of pride. She’d been as shocked as they were when, upon arriving back from Mexico, her parents had found Dette waiting for them in the front hall. She’d announced in no uncertain terms she wasn’t going to settle for a suitable man like Adam. She was going to marry Dale Edwards and they could keep their money.
Dette had looked sick when she said it but then Dale walked in, and with one glance at him, she was as confident and secure as anyone had ever seen her.
Norton had stared the two of them down, making them wait for his response. Finally, he’d asked Dale if he was willing to take Dette without her money. There wasn’t a moment’s hesitation, not even a flinch, when he’d said he loved her. Dette’s bottom lip trembled and she’d had to swallow hard before she responded. She’d finally realized the money wasn’t important without Dale.
It was the most important choice of her life and Dette had chosen well. Norton and Beverly embraced the couple. They assured their daughter she had chosen a perfectly suitable man and the money was hers. Dette squealed and stomped her feet, dancing around. Dale had laughed and shaken hands with his soon-to-be in-laws. The only awkward moment was when they realized Dette hadn’t waited until Adam was gone to make her announcement. The poor man was forced to drag his luggage straight through the middle of the celebration. But Lara couldn’t feel too bad for him. His heart hadn’t been on the line.
True to form, Dette ran right out and bought herself the exact ring she wanted, something flashy and extravagant that perfectly reflected her taste and style. Dale didn’t mind at all and picked out a solid gold wedding band to accompany it on her finger. Dale and Dette were married the following Monday.
Because Dale hadn’t gotten to know the Sinclairs yet, the newlyweds asked that Lara and her parents join them for a week in Vegas.
It had been wonderful to see Dette finally acting like a woman, confident in her choice and herself. Dale had apologized profusely for the misunderstanding when he’d grabbed Lara, using techniques only his bride appreciated. Lara hadn’t really wanted to know those details about her sister but, in the end, she was happy for them both.
Happy and more than a bit jealous. She still hadn’t heard from Cal, and the hurt of not being with him wasn’t diminishing. She missed his silly jokes and his steady touch.
She’d never really known what she was missing until she’d had a taste of heaven and then thrown her chance at it away. She wasn’t angry with Dette anymore. Her sister had her quirks and limitations. Lara needed to stop using them as an excuse and own up to her own
role in her loss of Cal.
Bitty had told her from the start to be honest. If she had been, maybe she and Cal would be together right now.
“Lara. Stop your sulking,” Dette chided. “Look, our dinner reservation is scheduled across town and we’re not quite ready. Since you’re the only one ready, is there any chance you can take the car over and hold the table for us? You know how they are.”
“Sure, no problem,” she said wrapping a light scarf around her shoulders. “I’ll see you guys over there, but don’t take too long.”
She rode the elevator down from the twelfth floor and headed past the casino without stopping. After a few days in town she almost didn’t notice the din and flash anymore.
Dressed in a metallic sheath with matching shoes and bag, something she would never be caught dead in at home, she could almost see how easy it would be to lose yourself in another identity here. Lara stepped outside through the lobby doors and the sounds of the casino died away. Only then did she realize her phone was ringing. Her heart stalled, just as it had every other time the phone sounded over the past two weeks. Bracing herself for the sinking sensation of disappointment that would come when, as with every other time she’d answered and it hadn’t been Cal, she pulled the phone out of her clutch and flipped it open.
One text message.
Her legs went weak, her feet lost direction. She stopped where she was and pressed retrieve.
What are you wearing?
Tears sprang to her eyes. Her heart started to pound with a force she hadn’t felt in weeks. What an opening. God, she’d missed his sense of humor. Her manicured thumbs danced over the keypad.
Something Dette picked out. A shimmery little silver thing with matching heels and, she was aching for him, there was no reason not to make him ache a little too, panties.
A black limo pulled into the drive and the driver jumped out, running around the car to open the door. “Miss Sinclair.”
Her gaze fixed on the mobile in her hands, she nearly tripped at the curb. The driver grabbed her elbow and helped her toward the open door.
Matching panties? I’d like to see that.
She was wet just thinking about showing them to him. She slid into the back seat and stared down at the screen. Could she type with one hand?
“So why don’t you show me?” The voice came from the darkened interior of the car.
Lara’s head snapped up, eyes wide with disbelief. “Cal.” The single word, little more than a breath, was all she could muster. Throwing down her phone and bag, she lunged across the limo’s open interior into his arms. Her fingers trembled as she ran them through his shock of wild blond hair and down the chiseled line of his jaw.
“Shh, baby, don’t cry.” He swept the broad pad of his thumb across her cheeks. She felt the cool evidence of tears she hadn’t known she’d shed.
“Wha-what are you doing here?” she stammered, not knowing what to say.
“I couldn’t stand being away from you for another minute. So I came. Dette and your folks helped me a little, since I wanted you alone.”
Now she understood why her sister had been so adamant that Lara get the sexiest dress with the most provocative underwear. Thank God for the girl’s ability to push, or Lara would have been soaking cotton Jockeys right then. “I’ve missed you, I can’t stand it. I didn’t know if you would ever—”
“I was an ass. My ego and pride gave me too many excuses to walk away. I shouldn’t have left you, especially when you needed me. I was afraid I was being a fool. I tried to stay away, to get my head together, but it was misery. I love you, Lara. I can’t be without you anymore.” Cal wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tighter into his lap, stroking back her hair. “I never want to be without you again.”
“I love you, I love you, I love you.” She’d wanted to whisper it, scream it, and sing it every minute of every day since he left. She sighed, pressed her face against his chest. She felt small and safe nestled against him. “I love you.”
Tilting her face to meet his own, he held her with his gaze. “You know what that’s worth to me?”
The corner of her mouth curled up against his chest and her eyes filled with fresh tears.
He smiled, stroking his hand down her back as he settled deeper into the seat and closed his eyes. “Everything.”
Lowering his mouth to hers, he kissed her slowly, deliberately. Thoroughly. She sighed against him, leaning closer, moving eagerly.
The hard bulge of his cock strained between them. She shifted over him, bunching the silver sheath to straddle his hips. Cal’s deep blue eyes bore into her with a hunger she was desperate to satisfy. Sliding her knees out wider over the leather seats, she settled her pussy against him. Closing the distance between their mouths, she whispered, “Show me, be with me.”
His lips were warm and soft in that first touch. His tongue no more than a tease against the seam of her mouth. Locking her arms around his neck, she pulled him closer and opened to him, begging him to take her mouth like she wanted him to take the rest of her. Completely.
Cal thrust into her wet mouth with his tongue, groaning as she met him with a sweeping stroke from her own. He’d never tasted anything so sweet. Her hips rocked over his groin, the heat between her legs making him ache. Loosening his fingers from her hair, he ran his hands down her back and the clingy fabric of her nearly non-existent dress. Below the skirt, he cupped the firm globes of her ass, pulling her down harder over his cock, still imprisoned beneath his suit trousers. She groaned around his tongue as her sex throbbed against him.
Pulling back from his kiss, she gazed into his face. “I think if you want to see my panties, you’re going to have to tear them off me.”
Without a word, Cal slid his hands over to the slim band of elastic at her waist, his fingers curling around it, and snapped it so the fabric fell loose at her hip.
Biting her bottom lip, she ground harder over his shaft and stared into his eyes.
Cal moved around to her other hip and tore the elastic there as well. Pulling the garment out from between their bodies, he rubbed the sodden strip of her panties between his fingers and thumb. So wet. He had to touch her. Snaking his hand under her raised ass, he stroked through the slick valley, parting her swollen folds with his fingers.
A quivering moan escaped her lips, tickling the skin at the side of his neck.
Working her hands between them, Lara fumbled with his belt and the clasp of his trousers. She unzipped the fly and grasped him as she pulled his cock free. Pumping him slowly, she raised higher on her knees arching forward to position herself over his shaft.
She felt so good, sliding against the head of his cock, he didn’t know how long he would last. He gripped her ass with both hands, guiding her down as he thrust up. God she was tight. With every inch of penetration her muscles clamped against him, squeezing and drawing him deeper inside her. When she had taken all of him and their bodies pressed together in the most intimate embrace, he skimmed the dress over her ribs and breasts, pulling it off her raised arms before he discarded it at his side.
She sat atop him, her creamy skin displayed in offering to his roaming hands. He cupped her breasts, taking their weight in his palms. Her dark nipples beaded hard as he brushed them with his thumbs.
Lara started to rise, but he gripped her hips and pushed her back down. “Like this, just a little longer. I just want to feel you around me like this for another minute.”
Her mouth parted, her breath feathering his lips. “I don’t know if I can wait.”
Even as she said it, the muscles surrounding him began to pulse. “You don’t have to wait,” he whispered, rocking his hips to deepen the penetration, rubbing her clit in a slow circle. Another needy pulse gripped him and Lara let out a tiny moan. It was the sexiest sound he’d ever heard. “Baby, I want to feel you come around me. I want to feel it while I’m buried deep inside of you.”
She nodded, her eyes fixed on him. Driving up again, he pushed her hi
ps down, trapping her clit between them in one long caress. Waves of throbbing heat engulfed him.
Sucking her bottom lip between her teeth, she bit down and clenched around him again, panting. “So good, you feel so good inside of me.” She cried out and he couldn’t wait any longer.
He dragged her up and down, in steady repetition, each time taking the contact harder, making her moan louder—grip him tighter with her pussy. Up and down, faster with every stroke, until Lara’s fingers dug into his shoulders and her body stiffened. Within, she gripped him with wave after searing wave of her climax, until his balls tightened and every nerve in his body screamed for release. Pumping hard, he buried his face between her breasts and let go with a muffled roar as he spilled his seed inside of her.
Time seemed to stop for him then. It was nearly the perfect moment. The woman he loved in his arms, his cock pulsing inside her. Only one thing could make it better.
Lara sifted her fingers through his hair, kissing him slowly before leaning back with a lazy wave at the darkened limo windows.
Cal let out single laugh, loving the way she made him smile. Their bodies still locked together, he pulled a small black velvet box from his jacket pocket on the seat next to him. He flipped it open, revealing a dazzling three stone emerald cut engagement ring. “I knew two weeks ago that I was in love with you, but with everything that happened, I wasn’t ready to trust it. I needed to get my head straight. I needed to be sure. And now I am. I’m sure I can’t live another day without you. Nothing could stop me from loving you. If you’ll have me, I’m taking you home and keeping you forever. I want to make love to you every night for the rest of my life. I want to wake with you in my arms every morning. Watch you gorge on pancakes and bacon. I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me, Lara?”
Her eyes widened, her lips splitting into a gorgeous smile. She was his beauty.
“So not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?” she asked, her voice trembling.