By Appointment Only

by Lisa Eugene

  “One minute—no—only thirty seconds this time,” he said to Emmy, pulling me from my musings.

  I almost protested his unfair change in the rules, but I had faith in my daughter. I’d only briefly mentioned Emmy’s obsession with rubber bands, and had been surprised when, on our way out to the beach today, he’d produced a boatload of them. He must’ve cleaned out an entire store, and the ones he’d found were neon and brightly decorated with cartoon characters.

  He’d invented the game of hiding the rubber bands in the sand just as I’d run upstairs. Emmy got to keep the ones she found, and earned points for each find. Chase got points for the ones she couldn’t find. I snickered inwardly. From the straining seams of the Dora backpack, and the pitifully empty space around Chase, it appeared she’d found all of them. All except one apparently.

  “Oh,” he amended. “This one is worth ten gazillion points.”

  My jaw dropped. Chase grinned and shrugged his broad shoulders.

  “She’s kicking my butt. This is my only chance to win this.”

  I rolled my eyes. His grin widened, and as usual, stilled the very breath in my lungs.

  “Ready, set, go!” He checked his watch, eyes round in anticipation of victory. When Emmy didn’t move, he smiled smugly.

  I tapped my foot, waiting. Emmy had her head cocked, simply watching him like he was some odd species of human.

  He was in so much trouble, and didn’t even know it.

  “Only ten seconds left! Obviously I’ve stumped you,” he crooned.

  A laugh slipped out of me when he did a silly victory dance, and soon he realized it was premature. I watched his jaw slacken comically as Emmy turned, walked toward a small potted plant, and plucked the Dora rubber band from beneath it.

  Chase sucked in air, speechless as Emmy opened her backpack and added it to her large collection.

  “Wh—wha—I don’t—ho—how?” he stammered.

  I tsked loudly, shaking my head. He hadn’t realized it, but his gaze must’ve flicked to his hiding spot at least once or twice. Emmy had simply waited for him to give it away. She was extremely perceptive and picked up easily on nonverbal cues. She had a knack for reading people.

  Ambling toward them, my bare toes sank into the warm, powdery sand. “Looks like it’s a gazillion for Emmy, and hmm . . . zero for Chase.” I needled, fitting the sunhat onto Emmy’s head.

  The defeat on his face was exaggerated by the sexiest pout I’d ever seen. “All right. I know when I’m beat. Good job, Em!” He tucked my hand into his elbow and turned toward the house. “Let’s go inside. I’ll make lunch.”

  His steps stopped short when we didn’t follow. I watched him lift his brows innocently.

  “What?”

  Emmy and I just stared, and he started a slow, guilty squirm.

  “Oh, come on . . . you two don’t seriously expect me to stand on my head, do you?”

  I shifted my gaze to Emmy. Her focus was somewhere over Chase’s shoulder, but her feet were firmly planted. It seemed she wanted to savor her victory.

  Throwing his arms up in surrender, he shot me a look promising retribution, and got down to the business of falling on his ass—repeatedly. After the third attempt, he simply collapsed on his back in the sand.

  I had to wipe the tears of laughter from my eyes. Chase was covered in sand, looking like a fillet dipped in flour before frying. He’d been so clumsy I wondered if he’d put on a show just for Emmy, and the flame burning in my chest for him flickered a little brighter. I’d never have guessed this stern, powerful, business mogul could be so silly, could inspire such laughter, or could fill me with such happiness.

  “I could really use some help here!” he sang from the ground.

  Emmy fitted her backpack on her shoulders as she approached Chase, then she promptly stepped over him, and walked straight into the house.

  His shocked expression hurled me into another fit of laughter. I walked to him and offered a hand, squealing when he yanked me down on top of him.

  I wiggled in his clutches, only managing to cover myself with fine, white sand.

  Barring my escape, he flipped his gaze to the glass doors where Emmy had entered the house.

  “And just when I thought she was starting to like me,” he chuckled.

  “She does,” I nodded. “If she didn’t, she would’ve stepped on you, instead of over you.”

  A deep rumble came from his chest as he rolled us over, pinning me firmly beneath him. “She’s as stubborn as her beautiful mother, and extremely intelligent.”

  Nodding, I said, “She is. It’s sad so many people assume there’s not much going on in her head since she’s autistic and doesn’t speak. They underestimate her. Some are mean, even hurtful. ”

  “People often fear what they don’t understand. It’s just ignorance.” He sat up and pulled me up to sit beside him, carefully brushing off my back. “Did she ever speak?”

  I studied a clump of sand on his tanned shoulder then flicked it off. “She will sometimes say one or two words. She spoke more when she was little. It was just a few words, no verbs. I tried to encourage her, but even with speech and language therapy, she just stopped.”

  “What about signing? I’ve read teaching sign language along with speech can accelerate the ability to speak.”

  “We tried. It didn’t work, and once she no longer qualified for the program, Steven—my ex—didn’t want to pay for it privately. Emily has the ability to speak. There’s nothing physically wrong with her. She just doesn’t.”

  “Huh.” His brows furrowed as he twisted to look at me. “What about your ex? Is he a part of Emily’s life?”

  “No,” I said, but had trouble holding his gaze. I didn’t want to confess Steven had been harassing me all summer, and was growing more and more out of control. I’d had to call the police on him again when he’d showed up one night banging on my apartment door. Steven was my problem.

  “There’s a speech and language specialist at the Academy. I can have her work with Emmy privately. She’s amazing. Maybe there’s something she can do.”

  “Chase, really. You’ve already done too much. The piano, CPS, fixing the ceiling—”

  “Were not a big deal.”

  “I’m not your responsibility.”

  He killed my argument with a slow, sloppy kiss.

  “You taste like sand,” he laughed. Standing, he hauled me to my feet.

  “Thanks to you!”

  Pulling me against his hard body, he dusted me with more of the white powder and nibbled my ear. “Just think of how much fun it’ll be when I help you rinse it off—especially from all those hard to reach places.”

  With that promise, he winked and tugged me along. I was stuck in the sand, legs useless because of the wicked images swirling in my head.

  ***

  CHASE

  “Chase! Pleeeease . . .”

  Dani panted through her mouth, short breaths blowing hot and fast against the mattress. She cursed me, screamed profanities at me for the exquisite torture I was inflicting on her straining, intensely aroused body. I kneeled behind her, naked and hard with my need to take her.

  But first I needed to take away her control, break down the wall of indifference she was trying to erect between us. She was too stubborn to admit her feelings for me, or that she needed me. Dani wasn’t one to need or depend on anyone. Life, it seemed, had robbed her of that luxury. I had to show her she was wrong.

  She tugged on her wrist with a little whimper. She couldn’t move. I’d bound her hands with the belt from my bathrobe, then secured them firmly to the headboard. She was fucking gorgeous, her luscious body draped faced down over a heap of pillows I’d propped under her hips. The position was good for muffling her moans into the bed, and it left her ass high up in the air, kept it exposed, and totally at my mercy. My long fingers spanned and caressed her plump ass cheeks, kneading them slowly before drawing them apart.

  I swallowed hard at the sight
and forced myself not to attack, not to sink myself deep into each hole and fuck the shit out of her. That was what she did to me—made me crazy with lust. She seemed a little shy at my bold inspection, but I loved looking at her. I’d spent months feasting on her with my eyes. This was nothing new.

  Her body seized when the tip of my tongue wiggled through her folds from behind, stabbing at her clit with flawless precision. My tongue circled rapidly, sweetly tormenting the distended knot of flesh. I felt a shock wave roll through her, and sparkling pleasure twitched my cock and drew up my aching balls. She strained against her tether to the headboard and tucked in her chin, moaning long and low into the mattress to suffocate the sound.

  Emmy was asleep in the room next door, and although it was almost 4:00 a.m., we couldn’t risk being heard. I had my own room across the hall, but had been sneaking into Dani’s for the past two nights and leaving in the early hours of the morning.

  I plastered the front of my naked body to her back, then brushed her thick ringlets so they spilled over her bound arms and fanned out on the sheets above her head. The heat of her skin felt heavenly, and my latex covered cock slid against her ass as she bucked.

  Groaning, I feathered my lips across her bared nape and jaw. My teeth sank into her earlobe—hard. At the same time, I slid two fingers deep into her pussy, twirling them slowly. She jolted beneath me, her body no doubt confused at the combination of pleasure and pain. I worked my fingers faster, scissored them, moaned as her wet, slippery heat drove me to a feverish pitch.

  “God!” I groaned roughly against her ear. “All those fucking months of wanting you, of staring at your pretty pussy. I don’t know how I lasted as long as I did.”

  Lips parted, her eyes squeezed shut. She rocked her hips back into my fingers. I could tell she was close, could feel an approaching orgasm begin to spiral through her tight flesh.

  “Fuck me!” she gasped.

  “You belong to me, Dani.” I pistoned my fingers fast, my bicep bulging. “You can’t control this.”

  Tugging her earlobe between my teeth, I sucked it into the heat of my mouth. I was crazed, my breaths coming choppy and hot. My tongue roamed everywhere, swirling into the shell of her ear and licking roughly up the side of her face. I couldn’t seem to get enough of her.

  “You’re soaked.” I hooked my fingers, wringing out a strangled cry of pleasure. “You wanna come again, love?”

  “God, yes! Yes! So . . . so . . . close!”

  “Not until you’re wrapped around my cock,” I whispered before moving away and quickly withdrawing my fingers.

  She muttered a few choice curses that provoked a throaty chuckle. Although I loved driving her wild with desire, I didn’t know how much more I could take. I’d been at this for over a half hour, keeping her on the edge with my mouth, my fingers, rubbing my shaft through the slickness of her cleft, or taking her with just the broad tip of my cock until she panted with need.

  I’d let her come once, but when she’d tried to overpower me, I’d tied her hands. I needed her to relax, to give up the fight, the control she felt she always needed to have.

  Dusting my lips up her spine, I scattered shivers over her back. It was only when I heard her beg and felt her go limp with surrender, I powered my cock deep in her pussy in one hard, exquisite stroke. Her shocked cry sounded more like a hungry whimper, and with elbows on the bed, she pushed back, desperate for more.

  My gasp hit the air before I snuffed it out in the back of her neck, letting it evolve into a deep, vigorous moan. Thinking of the child sleeping next door, I bit my lip and trapped the sound in my throat. Her thighs shook from the leashed pleasure, spine arched stiff like a bow. I slid an arm under her belly and slowly withdrew all the way before plunging to the hilt, letting her feel every inch of my hot, swollen flesh.

  “Oh, fuck! That’s good,” she choked out, tears in her eyes.

  Exhaling a long breath, I rocked my hips and gave her what she needed. Each thrust was bliss, our connection fluid, a blend of seamless ecstasy that poured from one to the other. I kept up a steady, patient rhythm. When I was filled to overflowing, when I could no longer distinguish my body from hers and the pleasure was a roaring fire in my balls, I let myself go. She gripped me tight as I took what I desperately needed. Rearing up, I seized her hips with a punishing grip and pounded her slick passage.

  “Shit! Now. Come on my cock, Dani!”

  “Chase! Oh, God, please . . . Chase . . .”

  “Let me feel you,” I whispered hoarsely.

  Her teeth clamped down on a pillow to keep from screaming, and I fucked her furiously before falling headlong into one of the most powerful climaxes of my life. A few seconds later, I crash-landed on her back, my body shaking with delicious aftershocks.

  I planted kisses on her damp neck, then trailed around to her cheek, seeking her lips. She turned into the kiss, smiling with a liquid euphoria. God, she meant the world to me. My beautiful, beautiful love.

  “You’re fucking amazing,” I whispered, rolling off her onto my back. I lifted my fingers to stroke tangled hair from her cheek. My finger pads caressed her soft skin.

  “I’m going to have permanent bags under my eyes if you don’t take a breather,” she drawled.

  I grinned, pulling off the condom. This was our third time having sex tonight. “There’s plenty of time to rest. You can sleep in tomorrow. We have one more day here.”

  I’d convinced her to stay until Monday. She’d called Philippe, who’d been more than happy to give her the day off. My meetings were rescheduled for later in the week. The biggest obstacle had been Phil. If he wasn’t one of the best campaign managers, I’d have fired his ass long ago, but Kensington had hand picked him.

  “It’s already tomorrow,” she razzed, pulling on her bound wrists. “Plus Emmy wakes early. I’ll need to be up. Now untie me. I can’t believe you put me in this crazy position.”

  I chuckled. “You’re lucky. My plan was to fuck you while you stood on your head—payback for today at the beach.”

  She rolled her eyes and smiled, watching as I unraveled the complicated knots. Un-looping the belt from around her wrists, I massaged the chafed skin. Damn, her skin was rubbed raw. I hadn’t meant to make the knots so tight.

  “Sorry, this might turn into a bruise later.”

  “No big deal. I’ll heal.”

  “I just hate to mar your beautiful skin,” I said, studying the deep mocha glow of her body. “I love how dark you are from the sun. Your body looks great wrapped around mine.” I wiggled my brows playfully and placed kisses on her wrists. I let my tongue soothe the marks.

  She laughed and rolled her eyes, but she’d admitted once that she also loved the look of us tangled together.

  “You’d said your dad was Irish?”

  “Yeah, he died when I was a little girl. I don’t have many memories of him.”

  “Your mother never remarried?”

  She was quick to shake her head before she looked away. “They were never married. She got pregnant with me. Mom said they were supposed to get married, but his family didn’t approve. He left her.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She sighed heavily, stretching out on the bed. I wanted to tell her that I thought her father had been a coward, but who was I to judge his circumstances. I’d been too afraid to tell her I had a wife.

  “Mom never got over it. Funny, but I think she’s still in love with him, even after all these years. It’s just very sad, really, but there’re some things in life you just can’t count on.”

  The words fell off her tongue like the gospel. I just stared, although her cynicism shouldn’t have surprised me. A long, awkward moment followed, curdling the air between us with stale silence. We were on our sides, facing each other, the small space suddenly filled to bursting with our crowded thoughts. There was one truth I needed her to count on, to believe in no matter what.

  “I love you, Dani,” I confessed softly.

  She looked
away, her gaze plainly uncomfortable. More silence ticked by, a void of endlessly quiet emotion. I placed my hand on her cheek and my fingers snuck into her hair. I listened to the even cadence of her breaths, needing to steady myself for what I was about to share. This was a tough subject for us.

  “I think she knew,” I whispered.

  Her gaze flew back to my face and I knew I didn’t have to explain who I was referring to.

  I blinked slowly, swallowed, and continued, “I think Amy knew I’d fallen in love, that it was time to let go if she was never going to come back to me.”

  Her eyes grew glassy as she listened quietly, gaze tied to a spot on my chest.

  “I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I know it sounds . . . strange, but why now? Why now after five years did her body finally quit—to the point where even modern medicine couldn’t help her? Listen, I’m not a religious person, nor do I believe in the supernatural, but I think wherever Amy was, maybe looking down on all this, she wanted me to move on, to find happiness again. It was time. I hadn’t been with anyone in five years.”

  I paused, then confessed, “It was very difficult seeing her like that—in the hospital. I’m not sure she would’ve wanted to live like that. It isn’t living.”

  She frowned, confused. “Then . . . why?”

  “Her father. Joseph Kensington worshiped her. He went crazy after her accident. I think he lost a little piece of himself along with her, something he’s never recovered. He became obsessed and wouldn’t listen to reason. He kept everyone away—most of the family, the media. He used his influence to kill every news story about her. She was cocooned in that hospital with twenty-four seven private care, the best specialists around the world. Even right before she died, he’d started exploring new brain regeneration research at the Mayo Clinic.”

  “Was there any hope? Would it have worked?”

  I shook my head, remembering my conversations with the specialists. The pain of losing Amy resurfaced and I struggled to breathe through it. “No, she was too far gone—brain dead for five years, but Joe wouldn’t hear of turning off life support, even when the doctors told us there was no chance of recovery. After the accident, I—I was too devastated to think straight. I knew she was gone, but I’d loved her so much, and she was his only daughter, his only child—how could I make that decision—take her from him? In a way, I still hoped for that miracle, too.”