Unforgettable (Family Justice Book 5)

by Suzanne Halliday

  Calder roared with laughter. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, completely, and Heather says she thinks Alex is Tony Stark. Apparently he gave her a jewelry box. One of those old school things with a twirling ballerina, only Alex redesigned it so the ballerina became the justice flames with a tiny light that makes the flames appear in shadow on the lid. He fed her some rubbish about bat signals and secret codes that in the mind of a five-year-old become larger than legend.”

  “Fucking Alex. Stealing all my best stuff.”

  “Speaking of your best stuff,” Stephanie giggled. “I hear from the girls that you’ve developed a naughty toy. Something about vibrating remote control balls? Were you planning on sharing this with me?”

  “Oh, for god’s sake,” he drawled. “I was just joking around. Drae was giving me shit about something in my lab and to shut him up I said it was a revolutionary sex aid. Didn’t expect the fucker to set up pre-orders.”

  “And did you name this imaginary revolution Alpha Balls?”

  She had him there because yeah. The clowning and joking around devolved into some raunchy talk about dominant alphas and the benefits of using orgasm denial as a way to manage one’s woman. Was he going to tell her that? Absolutely not. He liked his balls right where they were. Attached to his body.

  “Drae makes shit up.”

  “Hmm. So this revolutionary equipment doesn’t exist? Shame.”

  “Hold up,” he comically drawled with his hands raised. “Was that the sound of my unruly fiancée expressing interest in a vibrator? Well fuck!” he crowed. “I may have to rethink this shit. Maybe run a few designs through the 3-d printer and see what develops.”

  “What is it with men and the whole mechanical imposter thing?”

  God damn, now that was a funny question attached to a hilarious expression.

  “Ah, honey,” Calder smirked with a good deal of raunchy leering thrown in. “It’s all about the pussy—not the mechanics. Believe me,” he snickered.

  Stephanie raised a brow and smirked right back. “I suppose to you that makes sense.”

  He laughed, and when she crossed her arms and her beautiful tits pillowed on top, he casually bent down and licked both nipples. Then he kissed the tip of her nose and sat back.

  “Duchess, watching you come is like nothing else. Nothing. The fascination for guys isn’t the device, it’s how the pussy reacts. It’s kinda hard to ignore a hard cock and when a guy comes, it’s with a bit of fanfare.”

  She sniggered and pursed her lips.

  “But the female orgasm remains shrouded in mystery. Seeing it is powerful stuff. The way your pussy creams and those fierce contractions as the pleasure engulfs your body is worthy of a front row seat. Do I enjoy some mechanical device getting you off? No. But it is hot as fuck to do and as I said, the orgasm and watching your pussy come is deliciously satisfying.”

  She sniffed with hilariously fake indignation and snapped, “Well, at least you didn’t say magically delicious.”

  He gave a good laugh and smirked. “Nah, that Leprechaun shit is all on Alex. I’m into a certain grown up beauty queen with an ass shaped like a Georgia peach waiting for me to bite into it.”

  “Interested in what the ladies think of this mythical invention?”

  Part of him wanted to throttle Drae for shooting his mouth off about what was basically a random conversation. Another part was already in design mode.

  “Sure.”

  She surprised the holy shit from him when she uncrossed her arms, gathered her hair into a tail and twirled it around her fingers until it hung over her breasts with the nipple poking through. Whatever she said wasn’t going to be more joke than serious. Realizing the ladies had discussed this was something of a revelation.

  “Well,” she began in full twang, “it’s not the mechanism itself. It’s the control or lack of it.”

  “You mean the remote control vibe?”

  “We took a vote and it was unanimous. The vibrating kegel balls are yeah, whatever. But having your lover insert them and then control when and how they vibrate? On the alpha scale of hotness? That one ranks pretty high.”

  Calder considered this information and grinned like a fool. The women saw the benefits of controlled pleasure. What they failed to consider was how desperate and greedy they’d become if denied the erotic pleasure of the vibrations. He saw it in his mind as step one to a dripping pussy.

  He made the face that says, ‘Really? Interesting!’ She blushed.

  “Will you be my test subject if the design in my head is feasible? I mean, after all, it’ll have to do a trial run to work out problems.”

  “We’ll negotiate after I see what you’re cooking up in that mad scientist lab.”

  He enjoyed the title of mad scientist. Went well with his protégée, Alex, who did the best absent-minded professor on the planet.

  “Cool,” he snicker-laughed. “I’ll have to take some measurements.”

  “Say what?”

  “Yeah,” he taunted. “With my dick. Measure your uh, yeah. Well, you know.”

  His love burst out laughing. “What am I going to do with you, shugah?”

  He had a couple of suggestions if she really wanted to know.

  7

  Angie watched Parker from across the corral. He and Drae were engaged in another of their stupid competitions. This one involving two soccer balls and what sounded like the ribald jeers and taunts of the other guys hanging around.

  Meghan walked up to her side and leaned against the fence posts, following the direction of Angie’s stare.

  “Oh jeez. What is it this time?” the red-head drawled in an amused voice.

  “Looks like your standard playground challenge – who can keep the ball from dropping on the ground. Highbrow stuff,” she sniped.

  They watched as the two friends juggled their balls with an impressive array of moves. Using the inside, outside and top of their feet they kept the ball in motion, occasionally getting in some knee action.

  The cheering and rude comments continued.

  Shaking her head, Angie winked at her sister-in-law. “Winner gets to sit next to Alexander at the next family dinner.”

  They cracked up laughing because it was probably true. Parker and Drae going mano-a-mano over some perceived advantage where her big brother was concerned was par for the course. Their antics were in fact so normal that she’d worry if they ever stopped.

  “I’ll leave you to it,” Meghan laughed. She offered a warm hug then turned with Angie toward the corral with Meghan’s arm draped casually about Angie’s shoulders. “My husband says your lawyer-man is chewing steel rods over your shenanigans.”

  She giggled. “Did he use the word shenanigans?”

  Meghan snickered. “No. He said fucking spoiled brat bullshit. I was just trying to be nice.”

  “If the shoe fits,” Angie smirked.

  “How long can you keep this up, Ang? Poor Parker. He’s freaking out about the engagement and your refusal to choose a ring. I think Cristián is having a canary too and Parker’s dad? Mr. Sullivan? He got Alex on the phone the other day. I heard the words ‘foot up her ass’ said a couple of times.”

  Ergh. She really wasn’t in the mood to hear any of this. Her entire extended family, including Parker’s parents Uncle Matt and Aunt Wendy, were up her butt non-stop. Politely, but still.

  “Sophie gave me an earful the other day. All of a sudden she’s become an authority on relationships. Spewing some existential twaddle about loneliness and the soul’s search for connection.”

  Meghan’s reaction was swift. “Sophie? Your sister Sophie?”

  The amazement as she said the name came across loud and clear. Sophia Valleja-Marquez was not known for her sparkling wit or charming social personality. Her waxing on and on about something not rooted in cold, hard fact was something of a stunner.

  “The very same,” Angie assured her astonished sister-in-law. “She doesn’t understand.”


  Why the hell wasn’t her stupid mouth outfitted with an auto-rewind button for those times when she spoke before thinking. Times like this.

  “Sweetie,” Red stated in an amused voice, “what is there to understand? You’re crazy for Parker and he’s got it so bad I hear he let you steamroll him into not bitching about the Chixie Dicks doing the live music for the family center grand opening.”

  Angie squirmed at the reminder. Parker’s personal antagonism for the rival band made all mention of the Dicks a crap shoot. Thunder couldn’t handle the musical duties at the opening for obvious reasons, so that left her with no choice but to swing a deal with Desert Thunder’s rock ‘n’ roll nemesis. Reminding her that Parker swallowed his enormous pride and kept his mouth shut about the arrangement because of her was a direct hit.

  A round of cheers erupted around the ball challenge but they did little more than glance at them. She knew her foot dragging was causing real concern for Alex. Meghan too. But she didn’t know how to explain.

  This whole thing was, as her mom liked to say, a real pickle. One she made all by herself.

  She looked at Parker. The fire he ignited all those years ago still burned inside her. It’d kill her if …

  “I’ve loved that man my whole life, Meghan,” she murmured. “Not a lot of people get to say that and have it be true. But for me, it is. Even when I considered marrying someone else, it was Parker who held my heart.”

  She turned worried eyes to the woman next to her and took a steadying breath. “He walked away from me so easily ten years ago.”

  “Angelina Marquez!” Meghan snapped. “He did not walk away. He let you go because he knew what you two were up to was wrong.”

  Angie grimaced. It wasn’t wrong. Maybe ill-advised considering her age at the time, but not wrong.

  “Look,” Meghan continued in a no nonsense tone. “To this day Alex still grumbles about what went down. It bothers the fuck out of him and not just because you were an infatuated teenager and his best friend should have known better. Angie,” she said rather pointedly. “Your brother isn’t dumb. He knows maybe a little too well what floats the hunky lawyer’s boat. That’s a lot to take on board for him. Know what I mean? Bottom line sis, he’d kill Parker if all this was a sham.”

  Her heart filled with emotions she couldn’t handle. What if she fucked up? After all, it’s not like she had a stellar relationship track record. And what if their age difference was the big thing everyone said it was? Did it matter that they were both a decade older and wiser?

  Finally, Meghan broke the serious moment with a barking chuckle. “Things are changing around here little sister. Time to make the jump to warp speed, know what I mean? I’d say you’ve got about this much time left to make up your mind,” she said with her fingers pressed together. “Don’t be surprised if he takes matters into his own hands.”

  A heated blush crept up her neck. Parker taking matters into his own hands was what her wicked inner bad girl was hoping would happen.

  They parted after that with Meghan headed back to the main house with one of her distinctive parasols shielding her pale skin from the relentless Arizona sun. Angie watched her go and mulled over the ‘things are changing’ comment.

  She snorted out a quick laugh. Her brother wasn’t the only one who wasn’t dumb. Alex and Meghan trying to keep a secret around here was like peeing into a coffee filter. Eventually, it all leaked out. She only had to be in the same room with the newlyweds when Carmen was around for her to quickly follow the paint-by-numbers pantomime and conclude the Marquez family was about to expand.

  Jesus. Talk about changing everything! Alex—a father? Parker was going to have a meltdown along with every other member of the Marquez and Sullivan families. If a baby was well and truly on the way for the two lovebirds, she knew the emotional floodgates surrounding all things Family Justice would open. Parker wanted what Alex and Meghan had. Shit. So did she. He’d regard Alexander becoming a father as just another reason why they shouldn’t wait any longer.

  Shaking off her worries, she zeroed in on the handsome man with the impossibly big hands and booming voice as he put as much energy into defeating Drae as he did on winning a court case.

  Sophie was onto something with her surprising rant about connection and the soul. Parker Sullivan was her soulmate. Next to Alexander of course, he’d been Angie’s champion and protector from her earliest memory. Meghan was right. He let her go because he had to. As a result, she ran away to escape the pain. But he also claimed her straight away when she came back. That had to count for something.

  Striding toward the raucous group of grown-up boys causing so much commotion, she fluffed her hair as she walked and popped two buttons open on her chambray shirt, just enough so the girls could make a cameo and have some air.

  When she was about twenty yards away, Angie heard the new guy, Jace, whistle a heads up and yell out, “Battle stations, men. Desert angel running hot and straight for her target.”

  She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning. Both Drae and Parker looked at her as she approached, but the competition was strong with these two so the ball juggling continued.

  Strutting like the queen of all she surveyed, Angie marched in between both men and simultaneously punched their respective balls, sending them bouncing wildly and ending the game.

  The men booed. Some laughed and cheered her on. Drae called her a brat. She kept on strutting her stuff being sure her ass conveyed its silent call to the man whose attention she needed.

  When she got to the corner of the barn, she stopped and looked over her shoulder. The men were in a tight circle, slapping backs and doing whatever the hell it is that guys do. Only Parker’s eyes were on her. Everyone else was cracking up at something Drae said.

  Insanity took her over. She quickly unbuttoned the rest of her shirt, pulled it out of her jeans and flashed Parker wearing only a modest white bra. His jaw clenched and she saw the fire burning in his eyes. His first reaction was to make sure no one else witnessed her cheeky taunt. When he turned back to her the unbridled lust in his expression was so hot she felt a trickle of sweat gather at her hairline and move down her neck into the collar of the shirt.

  She ran for her life knowing exactly what would happen next.

  He caught up to her as she was frantically unlocking the tack room doors. Taking the old key ring from her hand, he shoved her against the wood wall, pushed his big muscled thigh between her legs and took her breath away with a punishing kiss that started with full tongue and quickly careened out-of-control.

  Parker, who was always so good at multi-tasking, had her humping his thigh while moaning into his mouth as he unlocked the private Marquez tack room and somehow maneuvered her inside.

  He set her off him and she wobbled on unsteady legs. The sound of the iron bolt sliding made her jump. She looked at him as he locked the doors and turned all his attention on her.

  Pulling his t-shirt over his head, he dropped it on the floor and continued stalking toward her with his hands working the buckle on his belt. He looked sexy and dangerous. Exactly what she wanted.

  “Naughty angel,” he drawled in a husky murmur. “Your antics gave Drae the winning edge.”

  She pursed her lips and shrugged as if she didn’t care, knowing full well being haughty would juice up his alpha chest thumping. The delicious tingling between her legs was her body’s reaction to what she knew was coming.

  “Take your clothes off,” he demanded.

  “No,” she answered drily.

  He stopped dead, his jeans undone and hanging open, his arms crossed against his massive chest.

  “Excuse me?” he asked.

  Dammit. She didn’t have a good comeback. Not when the happy trail leading from Parker’s navel into the briefs he wore had all her attention.

  “Ah,” he snickered when she didn’t answer. “My angel is having a kitten moment. Cat got your tongue, hmm?”

  Oooh, that man! He knew calling h
er kitten was going to get a reaction. It was an old taunt from her childhood.

  She stomped her booted foot like a kid and stuck her tongue out.

  Parker was on top of her in a flash. He grabbed a fistful of hair and took control of her head. He also ripped open her shirt, stuck his big paw inside her bra and squeezed a breast.

  “Kitten. You know what happens now, right?”

  He looked her over with such lascivious intent that she started to shake.

  “I was just going to fuck you. Teach you some manners. But that snarky mouth of yours continues to write checks your ass has to pay.”

  She gulped and looked at him wide-eyed. His snarl was all kinds of hot. Pushing one last time she gave the snarl right back. “Oh, bite me, Counselor.”

  All it took was two seconds before she went flying over his knee as he sat down hard on a wooden bench. His hand smacking her bottom through her jeans as she wiggled and spouted a stream of vulgar epithets made her hornier than this situation would seem to call for.

  After four or five swats, he yanked her upright and smirked as she fought to remain standing. Damn. Being turned on by a spanking still surprised her enough that she couldn’t hide her disappointment when he stopped.

  “Now take your clothes off woman. And be quick about it.”

  Angie was shaking with desire when he stood up and moved across the room from her. She didn’t immediately start to undress, but once he was gloriously naked and stroking his cock as he watched her through hooded eyes, she stripped down in record time.

  He crooked his finger at her and she obeyed without hesitation. The knowing smirk told her that he knew how eager she was.

  Trembling, she stood before him and withstood a slow, painstaking inspection as he raked her with that lusty expression, which sent an arrow of pulsing arousal straight to her aching pussy.

  He leaned close and breathed her in. She watched his big hand doing that sexy back and forth on his cock that always made her melt.

  “I smell your need, kitten.”

  Her whimper was involuntary and made his eyes flare with pleasure.