She liked this, lying here with him, watching him, remembering the things they’d done. It wasn’t frightening, her nerves of yesterday long gone. She’d loved playing the angry mistress, tying him up, not allowing him to speak, taking him. She didn’t need the audience to come hard.
But he was a dangerous man; he was becoming important to her. She was starting to want more. She dreamed about more nights sleeping in his arms, waking up in the morning to his lovemaking. If somehow their relationship was revealed, if she was forced to make a choice, she didn’t believe she could give him up. It was a sobering thought.
Finally, she couldn’t lie there anymore. She needed the bathroom. As she passed his side of the bed with the clock on the table, she noted it was almost six. After washing her hands, she thought about crawling back into bed for that morning lovemaking. So delicious. Then she thought about how there were things she should never get used to. If you didn’t have it, you didn’t crave it. Once you’d tasted the forbidden fruit, however, you were hooked. You couldn’t give it up. Best not to start. So she turned on the shower and stepped beneath the spray.
He was still sleeping when she opened the bathroom door. A towel wrapped around her, she tiptoed to her bag and scooped out a fresh pair of panties and a clean T-shirt she’d dropped in at the last moment, since she wasn’t sure Rand would provide anything for the return trip.
He slept soundly. Like the boys. A herd of hippos wouldn’t wake them.
Once she was dressed, her hair drying on its own, and her makeup applied, she slipped out of the room. Though early morning patrons were few, the sounds of slot machines assaulted her as she stepped off the lobby elevator. There was already a line at Starbucks, so she headed up the ramp to the food court. At McDonald’s, she purchased two coffees. Casino hotels did not have coffeemakers in the rooms. They wanted to you downstairs where you could buy their food and play their machines.
At one of the other fast-food places, she snagged a Danish to share, then headed back up. It was seven. Surely he couldn’t still be asleep.
He was, despite the sunshine now spilling through the bank of windows. Removing the top from the large coffee she’d brought him, she set in on the bedside table, wafting the steam with her hand. Maybe the coffee scent would penetrate.
He moved like a snake striking, grabbing her wrist and tumbling her onto the bed across him. His lips were on hers before she could utter a sound or complain that he might have made her knock over the coffee. He tasted sweet and minty; he’d obviously already been up. He was also up beneath the sheet, his cock hard along her thigh.
“I wanted to wake you up with a spectacular fuck,” he muttered against her mouth.
That word. She’d said it so many times last night. It got to her, so elemental, so physical. His hands were already tunneling down between her legs. She was wet. “I needed coffee,” she said, trying to sound composed.
“Sex is more important than coffee.”
“Not to an addict.”
“I am addicted.” He bent his head, bit her nipple through her bra and T-shirt. An arc of electricity shot through her. “To you,” he finished.
God. He made her melt, with his words, his touch, his desire. She needed to be wanted. “But what about our flight?”
“There’s plenty of time to make you come at least twice before we have to check out.” He lifted his head, held her gaze. “I don’t get you for another week so I’m not going to waste one single minute.”
He tugged on her belt, her zipper, then yanked her jeans all the way down her legs and tossed them off along with her shoes.
“I need to be inside you,” he murmured at her ear as his fingers slipped all over her hot, wet, needy places.
Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me. The words reverberated in her mind. She needed this. She would never stop needing it.
She was addicted, too.
29
THE FLIGHT WAS LATE TAKING OFF. MECHANICAL FAILURE. FOR the first two hours, they were stuck on the plane itself, then, when it looked like it was going to take another two—and the air-conditioning wasn’t working—they were allowed to deplane for the duration. Rand felt the tension vibrating through her as he held her hand.
“I have to call Gary,” she’d said when they weren’t sure they were ever going to get out of Las Vegas.
He’d listened to her end of the conversation.
“No, I don’t know when the flight will take off.” She pursed her lips. “I don’t need to tell you when I go out of town.” Her fingers drummed on the armrest. “You have my cell number, and you can call it anytime.” She glanced at Rand, her teeth gritted, then turned slightly away from him as if she didn’t want him to hear.
Fuck that, he thought. They might have secrets from everyone else, but she didn’t need to hide anything from him.
“It isn’t your business whether I went away with someone or not,” she snapped into the phone.
It had been so good. Doing the tourist thing yesterday, a couple of hours of gambling, shopping, then The Bordello and burning-hot sex. He’d even liked being tied up, because she was having so much fun. Then this morning, ah, the deliciously languid sex, twice. She’d been pliable, hanging all over him in the security line, snuggled up against him while they waited to board. Yeah, he could get used to it.
Now this. Fuck. Everything ruined because of her asshole ex. If it had gone according to plan, he’d have had her home by three. Now it would be more like seven. She’d had to tell the asshole, of course. Rand understood that, but he still resented the guy’s intrusion. He was dating, so what the hell did it matter if Rachel was, too? Because she went away? Because she was secretive about it?
Whatever. Four hours late, they finally took off. When they arrived, it took half an hour to deplane, get on the long-term parking bus, and retrieve his car. Finally, when he was afraid her head might explode with the tension, they were headed to her place.
“Drop me at the corner,” she said.
“I’m not dropping you at the corner.”
“Don’t be difficult, Rand.” She sounded like she was talking to Nathan.
“I’m not one of your boys, and I don’t just drop a lady off at the corner.”
She turned in her seat, her face set. “I already have enough issues with Gary. I do not want him to recognize you. So if you will please help out and allow me to walk from the corner to my house, I would appreciate it.”
He realized he no longer liked being a secret. He didn’t want to barrel in and start taking over like her husband was so obviously good at, but neither did he like being forced into a one-eighth slice of her life. He wanted to take her away for weekend trips. Or out to dinner. Without worrying about who might see them. He wanted to pick her up at her door, to have more nights with her in a bed, all night, and long into the morning.
Good God. He actually wanted a relationship. Something beyond just sex. He didn’t know exactly when it had happened, though he was sure it had started brewing the moment she’d walked into the principal’s office and was no longer his mystery woman.
“Please, Rand.”
There were obstacles, of course, Nathan being the biggest one, since the kid hated his guts. But they were workable.
For now, however, he had to acquiesce. “I’ll let you out at the corner, but I’ll watch to make sure you get in the house safely.” He pulled over at the end of her street.
She touched his arm. “Thank you.”
He wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss, her lips sweet beneath his. “Next Sunday.” He paused for another kiss. “Dinner at my place.” Yeah, he could actually cook. “And bring that little video with you. I feel like watching a movie together.”
He felt her smile against his mouth. “You’re such a dirty man.”
“And you’re a slut, which I love. So bring it with you.”
She nuzzled him a moment. It was sweet. He liked the closeness. He didn’t want her to go.
/> “Thanks for this weekend. It was incredible.”
He had to agree. “I want more weekends like that. I’ll just make sure the plane works the next time.”
She laughed softly. “And you should. You’re the principal.”
Then she pulled away, grabbed her small bag from the backseat, and climbed out. He watched her all the way down the street, the sexy sway of her ass. He wanted that ass.
He was, therefore, going to have to make friends with her son.
GARY’S CAR WAS IN THE DRIVEWAY.
Dammit. Well, the cat was out of the bag anyway, so to speak, when she’d called him from the airport. Why oh why did that flight have to be late?
“You don’t owe him any explanations,” she muttered as she climbed the steps to the front door.
The door was locked. She had to get out her keys. She wished now she’d left the overnight bag in Rand’s car. There wasn’t anything in it she couldn’t live without for a week. Maybe she could just toss it down in the hall as soon as she walked in, then take it back to her room later. It wasn’t Gary; it was the boys. What on earth would they think? What had Gary told them?
The best-laid plans, that’s how the old saying went. First the plane, now this. As she opened the door, Gary was coming out of the bedroom hallway, probably from the main bathroom.
“It’s about time,” he snarled. “I’ve been waiting an hour.”
She felt herself flush with guilt, but she wouldn’t let him see it. Instead, she glanced at her watch. “It’s not even seven. And you didn’t have to wait. Nathan and Justin are fine on their own for a couple of hours.”
He looked pointedly at her bag. “Where’d you go, Rachel?”
“That isn’t your business.”
“The boys wondered why you didn’t call them last night.”
They probably hadn’t even noticed. She ignored Gary’s taunt. “Did you already give them dinner?”
“Of course I did. I do my duty.”
He was baiting her. She wasn’t going to bite. Instead she squeezed past him into the hallway. “Tell them I’ll be along to see them in a minute.” She assumed they were in the family room in front of the TV.
“What are you going to do, Rachel? Hide the evidence?”
The problem was she did have evidence in the bag. The sexy shoes and see-through blouse. The scarves. Although no one would really wonder about scarves. She should definitely have thrown out the rest of the condoms, though. “You can leave now, Gary.”
In her bedroom, she threw the bag into the back of the closet. She’d empty it later, put the condoms at the bottom of her purse, take them to work tomorrow, and throw them out there.
Gary made her so angry. He had a girlfriend, for God’s sake. The boys knew he was sleeping with Sherry.
She found her sons in the family room with Gary. “Hi, guys.” She dropped a kiss on Justin’s head. Nathan barely looked up from the TV. “Say goodnight to your dad,” she said pointedly.
Gary stood. She wondered if he’d grilled the boys about what she did during their weeks with her.
After he left, she waited for one of them to ask her a question. What were you doing, Mom? Why were you late, Mom? Where’d you go this weekend, Mom?
Neither of them asked anything. In fact, the rest of the evening was quite pleasant. She started to feel like she could play the weekend over and over in her mind without feeling guilty. The boys didn’t have a problem; only Gary did.
When they were in bed, she took her purse into the bedroom, buried the condoms deep inside it, then put the rest of her things away. For a moment, she held the blouse in her hands, fingering the lace, then she hung it at the far end of the closet. She touched the shoes, the gorgeous red shoes meant for a desirable woman. They made her feel sexy even now. Then she put them at the back, behind her more practical footwear. She folded the scarves, opened the drawer, and stopped.
Her heart began to race. The contents looked different. Her vibrator sat squarely on top of a jumble of panties. She shuffled things around, then started tossing them on the floor in a panic. Her upper lip began to sweat. Staring down into the empty drawer, her head was spinning. She couldn’t breathe.
The video card was gone. It had been hidden under all the underwear and scarves. Right next to the vibrator. Someone had been through her things. Someone had found her vibrator and taken that damn card.
Gary.
RACHEL STARED AT THE CELL PHONE ON HER DESK. SHE’D PUT IT there the moment she walked into her office this morning. She’d been watching it for three hours. It hadn’t rung.
Gary wanted to torture her a little longer.
She hadn’t found the courage to call him last night, yet a million questions ran through her mind all night. She hadn’t slept a wink. Why would he take the card? How could he possibly know something was on it? Because it was next to her vibrator? Why had he searched her drawers? What did he want?
She was a good mother. She’d been a good wife. Why was he doing this?
“Aren’t you coming in to do the orders?”
Rachel jumped, almost shrieking out loud. Yvonne filled her office door, arms akimbo, her hair frazzled.
“Sorry,” Rachel said. “I was finishing the cash receipts.”
“That looked more like daydreaming.”
Daydreaming implied something pleasant. Her thoughts were anything but. She gathered a pencil and pad to take more notes. “I’m coming.”
Yvonne marched. Rachel followed. It was what she’d done all her life, marching to someone else’s tune, following someone else’s orders, trying to meet someone else’s needs, hoping to keep everyone happy.
She screwed up the three customer orders she tried to do. Yvonne ended up grabbing the keyboard and making her watch. She requested a bio break and checked her cell phone.
No one had called.
After lunch, Dominic gave her a brochure to proof. She missed three typos. In the afternoon, the phone would not stop ringing, customers, vendors, solicitors, whatever. She transferred one of Erin’s calls to Bree and lost one for Cam.
No one phoned for her.
She expected Erin to stomp into her office and ask what on earth was up, but Erin didn’t, thank God.
Rachel was terrified, but she had to speak with Rand, tell him she’d lost the card. Oh God, his face was on that video. Gary could get him fired. At the very least, he could create a terrible scandal. He most certainly could tell Nathan he’d caught her in a compromising position with the principal.
Nathan would never talk to her again.
She left work ten minutes early. She could not stay there one more second. To call or not to call. Gary, that is. Preemptive strike, demand to know what the hell, yes, what the hell he was doing going through her drawers, her personal items.
Rachel didn’t have the courage now any more than she’d had last night. Besides, he might have no clue how to use the video against her without making himself look even worse. He’d never tell the boys for fear it would backfire on him.
By the time Rachel was on her way home, she’d convinced herself of that and was feeling much better. Until she saw Gary’s car in the drive. Naturally he was blocking the garage.
Her heart racing, she climbed the steps and found the front door unlocked. Good, the boys were home. She was safe. Gary couldn’t say anything with them as witnesses.
Think, think, think. How could she fix this? She was a peacemaker. She knew how to get everyone to put down their weapons and make nice.
Except in the past few months.
Setting her purse on the front hall table, she was sure she could hear the TV in the family room. Her footsteps felt leaden. The farther she moved down the hall, the more recognizable the sounds became. Her ears were roaring, and she was sure she was going to faint by the time she stood in the family room doorway.
Gary was seated on the sofa, his gaze fixed, the remote in his hand.
On the TV screen, she saw herself, completely nak
ed and fully exposed.
30
ON THE BIG SCREEN, RACHEL MOANED. RAND GROANED. HER LEGS were spread wide over him, her breasts bouncing as she rode him. She saw everything, his cock in her, the slickness of her pussy, the frenzy of desire contorting her face.
It had been so beautiful when she watched it by herself. Gary destroyed all the joy she’d had in it.
“What the hell are you doing?” She moved so fast, the toe of her shoe snagged on the carpet, and she stumbled. Catching herself, she made a grab for the remote. Gary held it out of reach.
And those sounds just went on and on.
“Stop it,” she screamed at him.
Very calmly, his gaze on her, Gary pointed the remote and pushed a button.
The sounds stopped, the cessation so quick, her ears still hummed with it. But he hadn’t turned it off. No, he left the freeze-frame right up there on the screen. Her. Rand. His cock deep inside her.
“Well,” Gary said softly, maybe even snidely. “I guess I don’t have to ask what you were doing this weekend or who you were with.”
She felt utterly sick to the very pit of her stomach. Sick with fear. With horror. With loss.
“We need to have a talk, Rachel.” He was so very calm, in total contrast to her roiling emotions. Of course. He had the upper hand.
She collapsed on the chair. “Where are the boys?” God, please don’t let them be in their rooms. Gary would never do that. Would he?
“Sherry took them out to dinner.”
She swallowed back the resentment. “What right did you have to search my things?”
He just smiled. “They’re my sons. I have every right to make sure what you do doesn’t taint them.”
“What about you and Sherry?” she spat at him.
“Nothing happens when they are in my apartment,” he said, holier than thou.
She wanted to smack him so badly, her body shook. “How did you even know it was important?”
He smirked. “Right next to your vibrator? Tsk, tsk, Rachel. I’m not an idiot. Of course it meant something.”
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