Vicki’s eyes sparked. She shoved him back against the car so hard his breath rushed out. She grabbed his ponytail and jerked his head back, pinning him against the car like a bug, and he melted. His body went pliant, boneless, like she was the only thing holding him up. The only thing still making him breathe. That dependence and ultimate trust was complete and final, a very heavy responsibility.
Vicki saw it too, and she faltered. Before she could stop the scene, Elias stepped up into the shot. She raised her head, her eyes wide and dark with guilt, desire and fear.
Keeping his manner loose, he leaned down so his mouth hovered over hers. “I told you to show me what you want. I meant it.”
He kissed her, taking immediate control of her mouth. He smashed her lips beneath his until her teeth dug into that tender flesh. Inhaling her mouth, claiming her breath, he left no doubt in her mind that he wanted her like no one else. Silently, he challenged her. Fight me. Make me conquer you, while you conquer him.
When he broke the kiss, she tried to joke, but her voice trembled. “No shock and awe?”
He let out a low, wicked chuckle. “Not unless that’s what you want, babe.”
Jesse remained motionless against the driver’s side door, but his body wasn’t soft any longer. In fact, he looked like a gazelle about to leap into flight.
Noting the camera position, Elias shifted slightly so they’d get a good shot of her gown and what he intended to do with it. After all, the clothes were the commercial—not this awkward yet intensely hot threesome they were trying to work out. He pulled on the red bow tied in the small of her back and dragged the red scarf free. “Do you want him?”
Her chin lifted incrementally and her eyebrows rose in challenge. “Yes.”
He captured one of Jesse’s wrists and looped the scarf around it, then the other wrist so eagerly offered. Elias had no idea what he was doing. Handcuff, yes. Frisk, absolutely. But this bondage shit? Hell no. So he put a big bow in the scarf for show, just like she’d been wearing.
Despite his stick-up-the-ass conservatism, he was starting to think he really could get off on this. “Then I give him to you.”
“Blindfold me,” Jesse whispered, his voice thick and slow. “Use my shirt. Make me totally helpless.”
Elias had never seen anyone so willing to do absolutely anything for another person without a single reservation. He didn’t give her Jesse—he gave himself wholeheartedly, whether Elias approved or not.
With trembling fingers, she pulled the turquoise cravat loose and wrapped it around Jesse’s head. Before she could start thinking about the cameras and what his reaction might be, Elias pushed against her, using his body to trap her against Jesse. While the other man shuddered with bliss beneath her, Elias bit her neck in that tender spot that always made her hot. He held her firmly with his teeth, running his left palm down her flank and hip.
When she began unbuttoning Jesse’s shirt, Elias tugged her skirt up. He moved his mouth to her ear, biting her lobe hard enough she jerked against him with surprise.
“I could take you like this while you play with him.” He heard the violence rumbling in his voice and he didn’t care. Neither did she, by the way she arched and rubbed against him like a cat. “Would you like that? Kissing him while I fuck you? Then maybe when I’m done, you might still have something left for him.”
“Hell yeah,” she growled out against Jesse’s mouth. “Would you like that?”
“God, yes. Do me now.”
“Cut,” Shiloh called from the sideline.
Biting back a curse, Elias tightened his grip on Vicki and buried his face against her neck. “If I had my service weapon, I think I’d have to shoot her.”
She laughed raggedly. Jesse buried his face against her chest. She held him, running her fingers through his hair, but Elias couldn’t work himself up to jealousy. Not with her tempting ass tucked against his groin.
“Shiloh, I hope you got enough for the commercial,” Vicki said, “because I don’t think we’ll survive another round.”
“At least not in public,” Elias whispered against her ear.
She stilled, tilting her head slightly so she could see him out of the corner of her eyes. “Are you serious?”
“Maybe.” He blew out his breath in a gruff sigh. “Hell, Vik, you’re making me crazy, but I can’t seem to make myself care.”
“Well, well, well.”
Vicki went rigid in his arms. Shit, he’d gotten so caught up in the sensual playing for the commercial that he’d totally forgotten that Mrs. Connagher was going to stop by. So much for cutting the old hag off at the pass.
Ripping off his blindfold, Jesse hopped up off the car like it’d suddenly roasted his ass and joined Elias. Side by side, they turned and faced her with Vicki behind them. She wasn’t one to cower or hide…unless the threat was her mother.
The formidable matriarch of the Connagher family wasn’t a tall woman physically, nor exceptionally beautiful or stunning by typical beauty standards. She radiated confidence and power, though, and it only took one look into her dark eyes to see where her children had inherited their steely core. Mr. Connagher had passed away before Elias had the chance to meet him, but he’d have given his right arm to meet the man who’d managed to tame her long enough to sire three children. By Vicki’s stories, her parents had truly loved one another.
Mrs. Connagher smiled and chills dripped down Elias’s spine. “Here I despaired of you ever settling your mind on one man and now I see two. Does that mean double the grandbabies?”
18
Vicki wanted a bottomless pit to open up and swallow her. Her stomach quivered so tight and uneasy that all she wanted to do was whirl away and run off set like demons chased her. What a nightmare. She’d taken great pains over the last few years to make sure Mama only saw her at her best, and they’d still blown up at each other. What the hell would this be like?
Caught panting between Elias and Jesse in risqué clothing. God, please, just kill me now.
Mama hugged Victor and for the time being, took delight in tormenting his fiancée. That gave Vicki enough time to smooth her dress and find her confidence. She’d faced down mean old judges with the power to throw her in jail if he didn’t like her blouse. She could certainly deal with Mama.
“Vicki.” Mama smiled and held out her arms. Vicki’s face felt frozen and brittle, but she hugged Mama and gave her a dutiful peck on the cheek. “How’s my girl?”
“Fine, Mama.” She knew Mama wanted an introduction or at least an excuse about what was going on, but Vicki refused to give an inch. Make her ask. That keeps the advantage with me.
It worked at least a little, because Mama’s jaws tightened and her eyes narrowed. She turned to Elias and held out her hand. “Detective Reyes.”
“Ma’am.”
“I thought you were out of the picture.”
His neck turned red, which was almost enough to make Vicki laugh out loud and relax. Almost, but not quite, because she was more worried about the other man standing on her right.
“I’m Jesse Inglemarre, ma’am.”
Mama took his hand, squeezing hard evidently, because Vicki noted the way his face tensed a moment before relaxing. His shoulders dropped, his body easing into the fierce grip like he did when she touched him. Suddenly she was so pissed, so mindless with jealousy and fury, that she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. She wanted to strike out with violence, even against her mother.
“Ah,” Mama breathed out and released him. “So the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree after all. When you picked Reyes, I honestly started to wonder. I thought maybe I’d been wrong.”
“You’re never wrong, Mama.” Vicki didn’t even try to keep the bitterness out of her voice. At least that was better than violence. “I learned that a long time ago. Just another way I’ve let you down, right?”
“Is that what you think?”
Unperturbed by Mama’s unusually quiet voice, Vicki wrapped her arm arou
nd Jesse’s waist and pulled him against her. With Elias on her other side, she’d be shielded from the fiery darts Mama would lob at her. “I know it. First I quit my job at the firm after years of grad school and grueling overtime to try and make partner, all on a lark—to start my own clothing line. Now I’m dating two men at the same time. You’ve despaired of me ever getting married and settling down.”
“Quitting that law firm was the best thing you’ve ever done.”
Braced for an I-told-you-so tirade, it took Vicki several moments to realize that was actually a compliment. Stunned, she could only stare at Mama, searching those dark eyes so like her own for the truth. What she saw horrified her.
A tear streaked down her mother’s face. “So that could only be your self-doubt, honey, if you think I’m disappointed in you. Same with Reyes. I knew you two were fire and oil, too explosive together. You’d kill each other before you’d ever work out enough of a truce for marriage, but that’s exactly what you wanted. In a way, you were punishing me by picking an upstanding man I had to like but you never intended marriage. Don’t look at me like that, Beulah Virginia.”
Gaping, Vicki flinched at both the use of her real name and the sharper tone of voice, even while Mama dashed her tears away impatiently.
“Don’t stand there so innocently shocked. If you’d really wanted Reyes, then you would have demanded he marry you or get the hell out. Forget this polite ‘dating’ and sometimes sleeping together crap. Either you love him or you don’t. Make up your damned mind and quit punishing me.”
“I’m not…”
“Aren’t you?” Mama cut in, taking a step closer to glare into her face. “You want to play pity party because you think you’ve let me down, but in reality, I’m the one who let you down, right?”
Vicki backed away but ran into a hard body. At first she thought it was Elias, but he would have protected her from this confrontation. Her brother wouldn’t. Victor’s hands settled on her shoulders to hold her in place and comfort her at the same time. “Don’t run from this conversation, Little V. It’s beyond time that you two aired your grievances.”
“This is your doing,” she whispered, blinking back tears. “You brought her here.”
“Yes. Because I love you both and I can’t stand seeing you hurt each other any longer.”
“You’re still mad about something that happened almost fifteen years ago.” Mama sighed and dropped her gaze to the floor. Vicki couldn’t hold back the tears, then, because her mother looked so dejected. “I let you down and you can’t forgive me. Every choice you’ve made since then was a deliberate act of punishment and rebellion.”
Elias pressed closer to her side and whispered in her ear. “What happened?”
She shook her head, but that didn’t stop Mama. Nothing would ever stop her. “A smooth-talking devil tried to take advantage of her while she was up north visiting my mother.”
The cop in Elias made him tense. Vicki knew he was assuming the worst. “He regretted his mistake pretty quickly when I kneed him in the groin and broke his nose before he could do much but rip my shirt.”
Victor laughed. “Then Conn got his hands on the little runt.”
“My poor taste in boys nearly got my brother arrested. Strike one for me, right, Mama?” Vicki couldn’t keep the sharpness out of her voice, even though her mother winced. “You never trusted me to go up to Miss Belle’s alone after that.”
Mama’s eyes flared with surprise. “That’s why you quit going, isn’t it? Honey, I had no idea you wanted to go again. We thought you might be scared to go back and deal with the gossip.”
She laughed, but the sound hurt her ears. “Right. Have to worry about those gossipers. It was all my fault anyway.”
“I never…”
“Yes, you did.” Each word rang like a sledgehammer in her head. “You said I should have had better taste than that. You said you were disappointed. In me. Not the asshole trying to rip off my shirt. Me.”
“Honey, I was out of my mind with worry. As God is my witness, that boy was lucky he had Conn to deal with instead of your Daddy. By the time we drove up to Missouri—and knew you were all right—he’d calmed down, but I’d listened to him rant and rave for six hundred miles. Add that to my own rage, and it was all I could do not to horsewhip that fool, no matter how rich and important his family.
“I was not at my best. I apologize. I said the wrong thing. I know it. I never once blamed you for what happened. Never. But you refused to ever let me tell you how sorry I truly am. I love you more than anything in the world, honey. Don’t you know that? I’ll say it again. I’m sorry. I was wrong to make you feel badly after such a traumatic event.”
Vicki had to touch her mouth to make sure she wasn’t gaping like a beached fish. She’d never heard her mother apologize or admit that was wrong. Not once in thirty years.
“However,” Mama said slowly, drawing the word out.
Vicki groaned out loud. I should have known an apology was too easy.
“You had no business dating a boy like that. Yes, his family was rich and influential, but he was all show, no heart. He was like a sleek, flashy horse prancing in the arena, but as soon as you ask him to run a mile, he ends up winded and lame because he’s not built to run. You were too concerned with status, fitting in, making the right sort of friends, and that had me worried. I’ve been worried for a long time, but I couldn’t get you to stand in the same room without arguing about something ridiculous.”
“I don’t care about status.”
“The hell you don’t. Take a look at that fancy car behind you. Why did you become a defense attorney? Why did you take the job at Wagner & Leeman’s in the first place?”
Vicki opened her mouth to retort, but Mama cut her off with a sharp gesture.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not slamming attorneys. Our justice system needs them. But you didn’t help the truly innocent people who need a good defense. You were getting drug dealers and money launderers out of jail when that’s exactly where they should have been rotting. It only took meeting your boss one time for me to know he was the worst sort of bottom feeder, every bad cliché and joke about lawyers wrapped up into one. Yet you slaved for him, determined to make partner. And for what? A flashy Jaguar? A high-priced downtown condo?
“And here you are again, pussyfooting around, tied up in knots about your men. Not because they’re not willing to work something out for you. Not because you don’t love them both, because I can see it as clear as the nose on your face. No, you’re afraid of what people will think. You’re afraid to follow your heart instead of worrying about climbing some societal ladder that only you care about. You’re going to be in the public eye for this fashion show, and you’re frozen with indecision because people might talk. There might be scandal.”
Vicki didn’t know what to say. Her mind felt numb, cold and shaken. Was that true? Did she care too much about what everyone else thought and expected, instead of just following her heart?
“Everybody lets people down no matter how they try not to,” Mama said in a dull, heavy voice as she turned to leave. “I’m sorry, Vicki. I let you down. I hope someday you can forgive me.”
19
Bundled up in a quilt—made by Mama—on the couch, Vicki snuggled deeper into Elias’s side. He had his arm around her shoulders, while Jesse stretched out on her other side with his head in her lap. She ran her fingers over and over through his hair and tried to think about what Mama had said, but she was hollow inside.
Crying always did that to her.
Elias had managed to come back tonight instead of working late, and her tears had shockingly not driven him off. His fingers made slow, gentle circles on her upper arm. “Why didn’t you ever tell me about that jerk?”
“Because.” She shrugged, trying to be nonchalant, but Elias let out a low growl. “It’s not something I’m very proud of.”
“Hell, Vik, you busted the asshole’s nose. I’d be pretty damned pro
ud of that.”
“I didn’t have a crush on him or anything, but I did like the way people treated me when they thought we were dating. Usually my brothers and I showed up for a few weeks and everybody treated us like we had the plague. Once I started dating Jared, everybody wanted to talk to me. I was invited to go to the lake, shopping, everything. A group of us drove up to Springfield and hung out at the mall. That’s when I first became interested in clothes and fashion, because I’d never gone to a mall with Mama. She’s not a big shopper, and we usually bought all our clothes in town instead of driving down to Dallas.”
“When did you decide to become a lawyer?”
A wry smile twisted Vicki’s lips. “When my brother was almost thrown in jail for beating Jared up. I’d already broken his nose, but Conn just about killed him. I had to pull him off, and if anyone other than Miss Belle had been there, I’m sure they would have thrown him in prison. It would have been my fault, and I was determined to find a way to get him—and others like him—out of prison. Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that.”
She swallowed hard and forced herself to broach the painful subject they’d been avoiding—but still stewing about—for so long. “When Donnie was killed by one of our clients, I was sick. I mean it, Elias. I threw up in the women’s restroom, over and over, on my knees, clinging to the toilet and wishing I’d taken the bullet instead of him. I’d been lying to myself for so long, pretending that I was happy with my job, that I was doing the right thing. When he died, all I could think about was: what if that had been you shot dead? By my client. I’ll never forgive myself that Donnie’s gone, but God, Elias, if it’d been you…I would have killed myself.”
“Ah, babe.” He held her, pressing his mouth to her temple. “I felt guilty too. I kept thinking that bullet should have had my name on it, not his. I didn’t have kids who’d have to grow up without a daddy. I didn’t have a wife who’d cry herself to sleep for years. But I finally convinced myself it wasn’t my fault. Shit happens, bad shit, I know, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. There wasn’t anything you could do about it either. Even dirtbags have rights. I didn’t like it, but you were only doing your job.”
The Connaghers Series Boxed Set Page 62