Secret Sauce

by Jill Sanders

  He moved them back again until she hit the edge of the bed. When his fingers moved around to undo the snap on her bra, she felt the flutter in her knees and was happy when he finally removed the barrier.

  He mouth moved downward, and she groaned when his lips finally closed over her sensitive skin. Her fingers gripped his hair as he played his tongue over the tight nub.

  His hands traveled down her sides, pushing her skirt down her hips until finally her silk skirt and panties lay in a pile at her feet.

  When he stepped back and looked at her, she felt nervousness creeping in again. Her hands started to shake as she reached for his jeans again. This time, he nodded and smiled as she pulled open the button and slowly unzipped them. She pushed them over his narrow hips and groaned as he sprang free. It had been too long since she’d enjoyed a man. He stepped out of his jeans and stood there for her to view.

  He was perfect. She looked at him and then realized he was looking at her, too. Heat caused her skin to flush as she stepped closer to him and brushed her body against his.

  This time he moaned with pleasure. Then his lips were on hers and they were tumbling back onto the soft mattress. The air was knocked out of her lungs momentarily. Then he reversed their positions as his hands ran over every inch of her exposed skin.

  He rained kisses along her shoulders, down over her breasts and ribs until he reached her navel and kissed a path across her hips. His fingers dug into her hips, holding her still as he lapped at her skin. Her hips pumped as his fingers brushed lightly over the soft curls that covered her sex. She could feel the moisture growing and wished more than anything to have his hands on her there.

  “Please,” she begged him as he avoided touching her in the one place she desired most.

  “You’re so soft,” he said, as he looked down at her skin, his fingers gently rubbing over her curls. When he moved down and touched her, her shoulders jumped off the mattress as he explored every dip, every curve.

  He shifted, and her eyes flew open as his mouth touched where his fingers had just been. She lost all thought as he explored her, pleased her.

  Just when she thought she couldn’t handle any more, he moved up over her.

  “Tell me you want this as much as I do,” he said. When she nodded, he leaned over and pulled out a condom from his nightstand. Then he was kissing her again. “Tell me how much you want this.”

  She couldn’t deny him. As he kissed a trail across her skin, she told him how much she’d wanted him all this time. How she’d dreamed about him touching her, kissing her, making love to her.

  He slid slowly into her as his blue eyes watched hers. A slow smile crossed his lips as he watched her eyes close with pleasure. When he started to move above her, she couldn’t control the shiver of pleasure that raked through her entire body.

  When he started to move quicker, she lost all other thoughts except him.

  Chapter Eight

  Trent listened to Marina’s heartbeat as he tried to settle his own jumping pulse. Marina’s hair floated around his face. Her soft scent around him caused his mind to focus on only his need for her.

  When she stretched, pushing her soft breasts closer to his chest, he couldn’t stop himself from wanting her again. His mind kept screaming at him that this was wrong, that she could be his enemy or could at least be working with his enemy. But his body wanted her over and over.

  “Mmm,” she moaned as her hands ran over his arms and chest. “I can’t believe how good it feels to just lie around. It must be close to lunchtime now.” She moved to get up, but he held her still.

  “Don’t move. I’m enjoying this too much.”

  He heard and felt her chuckle, and then she moaned as his hands got back to work moving over her. He felt little bumps rise over her. He started kissing them away and then took her again slowly. When he entered her, her eyes went dark and she moaned his name. Her lips were too soft not to kiss, her skin too scented not to taste; he was quickly losing his self-control. He tried to get himself under control, but he was enjoying every second of it, more than he’d ever enjoyed being with anyone else.

  He realized he’d been thinking too much when she quickly flipped over and straddled his hips. When she leaned over, her breasts brushed against his chest as his hands reached up and cupped her gently. She smiled, which caused her beautiful dimples to flash quickly.

  “Maybe you’re still a little too sick to finish the job, so just lie back and let me nurse you back to health,” she whispered into his ear. Images of her in a tight white outfit with a stethoscope around her neck flashed into his head. Then she started moving over him and he lost his train of thought as she used her hands and hips to bring him to his breaking point.

  He slept for a while and when he woke up, he was alone in his bed. Hearing the shower running, he made his way into the bathroom and smiled when he saw her outline in the foggy shower door. He stepped in behind her, and she moaned as his hands ran over her wet body.

  “I thought you’d gone,” he whispered next to her ear.

  “Soon. I have to get Tommy and pack for our trip.” She turned and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

  “I wish you could stay longer,” he whispered against her skin. When she moaned in response, he smiled, knowing she was thinking the same thing.

  Half an hour later, he watched through light rain as she jumped into a cab. He decided he was still not up to sitting at his computer and walked over to flip on a game on his large flat-screen television.

  He fell asleep and when he woke, it was dark in the room. It took him a few minutes to figure out what was different. His TV screen was off and there was a blanket over his shoulders and lap.

  Reaching over, he flipped on the light at the end of the couch. Frowning, he looked down at the blanket he swore he’d last seen in his hall closet. It was tucked over him with care. His television set was turned off and the remote was sitting over on the bar countertop, causing him to jump up, every muscle in his body on alert.

  After spending ten minutes walking through his place, making sure everything was secure and he was really alone, he decided that he must have been sicker than he thought. There was no way someone would have broken into his place, turned off his television, and covered him with one of his grandmother’s afghan blankets.

  Walking back upstairs, he jumped into the shower and soaked away the last aches and pains of the twenty-four hour bug before heading out to check on how things were running across the street.

  By the next morning, he was up jogging like the flu hadn’t hit him the day before. Instead of taking his normal jogging path, he ran past Marina’s building without even realizing he was doing it. He would have continued except he almost knocked over a little red-headed boy that was trying to carry a large bag to a waiting taxi.

  “Oops, sorry, buddy.” He grabbed the little boy by his shoulders to steady him.

  “S’okay.” The boy looked up at him and smiled, flashing a set of dimples that looked familiar.

  “Here, let me get this for you,” he said, reaching for the bag.

  “I can get it.” The boy tried to pull the bag back, but it was too heavy for him and he started to fall again. Trent chuckled and easily took the bag.

  “Maybe you should let your dad carry this out for you.” He started walking to the taxicab, the boy on his heels.

  “I don’t have one. Besides, I’m a big boy now; I just turned eight last month.” The little boy’s chest puffed up and Trent could see his cheeks turning pink with anger.

  “Wow,” he stopped and knelt down. “Eight, huh?” When the boy nodded and something close to pride flashed in his eyes, Trent couldn’t help but smile. “Well, then, I guess you are old enough to grab your own taxi then.” Trent turned around and handed the bag to the waiting cab driver.

  The boy chuckled behind him. “I’m not alone, my aunt is with me. See, here she is now.” The boy nodded to the old stone building. When he turned around, he was a little surp
rised to see Marina standing in the doorway, two large bags in her hands and a very angry look on her face. It took her a second to finally step down the stairs and walk towards them.

  “Mari, this man helped me carry my bag out. I could have done it myself, though.” The boy frowned up at him.

  “I’m sure you could have. Tommy, would you go sit in the cab and wait for me, please?”

  Tommy nodded and skipped to the back door of the cab.

  “You have some nerve,” she said, shoving the bags towards the cab driver, almost knocking him over.

  “What? Helping a kid with a bag that was too heavy for him to carry in the first place?”

  “No.” She turned on him and motioned with her hands. “Following me. Tracking me down. Like some kind of”—her hands flailed about—“stalker.”

  “Whoa, hold it now.” He took her shoulders and walked her a few steps away from the taxi so the little boy and the cab driver wouldn’t hear their conversation. The fact was, he felt like a stalker. He knew he had to make things right with her, at any cost. “You have the wrong idea here. I was jogging along when I almost tripped over the boy. Honest, I had no idea he was your nephew. I swear.”

  He watched the anger drain from her face as she realized he was in his normal jogging attire, with his ear buds hanging around his neck and his music blaring through them.

  “Oh.” Her mouth puckered in the sweet way he loved as she realized her mistake. “Oh, no. Trent, I’m so sorry.” He felt her shoulders dip with embarrassment.

  He chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. So”—he nodded—“at least I finally get to see where you live.”

  She nodded, keeping her eyes down. He put his fingers under her chin and lifted until her eyes met his.

  “He’s a cute kid.” He smiled as she nodded.

  “It’s just that I’m so protective of him. I wasn’t sure I was ready for you two to meet.”

  He nodded. “Well, now that we have, maybe you won’t be so hesitant about it in the future.”

  She nodded and smiled slightly.

  “Good, so you’ll bring him to the game on Thursday night?”

  She nodded and smiled. “We better get going. We were running late as it was.” She nodded towards the cab.

  “Okay, but there is one more thing.” He pulled her close and kissed her deeply right there on the sidewalk. When he felt her heart skip next to his, he released her. “There, now you can go.” He smiled down at her when he saw that her eyes were cloudy and full of desire.

  She nodded and licked her lips. His eyes followed the slow motion.

  “Hurry back,” he whispered to her when she turned to get into the cab. She nodded again.

  Marina sat in the train heading to Boston and wished more than anything that she could get Trent out of her mind. But that kiss had clouded her vision and made her think only of him. She had the funny feeling that that had been his intention all along.

  She’d been so upset when she’d walked out of her apartment and seen him kneeling down next to Tommy. At first, she’d yelled at herself mentally for allowing a man she hardly knew to get this close to her. She’d feared that she’d jeopardized everything that mattered most to her. But after she’d realized that he was wearing his jogging clothes, she relaxed a little. After all, it wasn’t impossible that he’d run by her place before. There were only a dozen or so blocks between his place and hers and she didn’t know how far he jogged on a regular basis.

  “Mari, can Brian and I go to the food cart?” Tommy asked, breaking into her thoughts of Trent.

  “Sure, let me grab my purse.” She bent down to retrieve her bag.

  “No,” her nephew sighed. “We can do it all by ourselves.”

  The look the two of them gave her was priceless. But she shook her head no.

  “What kind of chaperone would I be if I let you two wander the train all by yourselves? You wouldn’t want Miss Keith to fire me now, would you?”

  The boys looked at each other and shook their heads vigorously.

  “Good, let’s go then.” Tommy was doing more each day to prove to her that he was growing up. He’d begged her that morning to carry his large bag down the stairs and out to the cab himself. She hadn’t been concerned since she was just a few steps behind him, but allowing him and his friend to roam the large train was different. She wasn’t at the point where she could allow that. The way she felt about him, he would be in his thirties before she allowed him to walk to the corner by himself.

  She smiled as they sat back down after getting a snack. The train was full of business people and a few families. When she looked around the car, she found her eye’s zeroing in on a large, bald man. She’d bumped into him at the station and now she gave him a weak smile as he stared at her across the small space. When he didn’t respond, she continued to eat her yogurt and read the book she’d brought along for the almost four-hour train ride. Since boarding almost two and a half hours ago, she’d hardly read a page. Either the kids were demanding her attention, or her mind was consumed by Trent.

  Thinking about Trent, her mind sidetracked again, and the next time she surfaced, the train was pulling into the Boston station.

  The next two days were a blur. The kids were a handful, but a complete joy. They went to the museums, the zoo, and even took a tour of Fenway Park. She’d been too busy to think about Trent, except when he would text or call her in the evenings.

  They still had a full day to go and the small group was ordering pizza for lunch when she felt the small hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Glancing around, her eyes scanned the small Italian diner. She’d just about decided it had all been in her head when she spotted a familiar face outside the large windows.

  Quickly grabbing Rebecca’s hand, she asked for a moment and excused herself.

  Walking out onto the street, she came face to face with Tommy’s father. She’d known that he still lived in Boston, but not in a million years did she expect to run into him on this trip, or ever again. His deep red hair was styled away from his square features, so much like Tommy's. He wasn't a tall man, but the suite made him look powerful. Even for a man in his late fifties, he looked in great shape.

  “Hello, Brandon. How did you find me?”

  “I have my ways.” He smirked then added, “Have you seen your sister?” He reached out and grabbed her arm tightly.

  If anyone were to look at the scene, they would only see a US Congressmen standing on the corner causally talking to a woman. But his fingers were like a vice on her upper arm, causing pain to shoot throughout her body.

  “Let go of me this instant,” she said, calmly.

  When he tightened his grip, she whispered, “I’d hate to make a big scene.” She nodded around the crowded street.

  When he dropped his hand, she rubbed her upper arm and sighed. She supposed she’d have to deal with this sooner or later.

  “No, I haven’t seen or heard from Trina in over a year.” She looked up at him with fire in her eyes. “Though, if I had, I wouldn’t tell you.”

  He glared at her. “I suppose that’s the brat she tried to pull off as mine.” He nodded towards the large window where Tommy sat shoving a large piece of Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza into his face.

  “That’s my nephew, Tommy. And if you think you have a chance of taking him away now…” She took a step towards him. “You’ll have to go through me first.”

  Brandon looked down and her and cracked a thin smile. “If only your sister had the gumption you do.” He shook his head. “The kid’s not mine. I want nothing to do with him, but your sister has something of mine and”—he reached down and grabbed her arm tightly again, pulling her close until their noses almost touched—“I aim on getting it back, at any cost.”

  Just then, Rebecca walked out. “Is everything all right?” she asked. Marina noticed that she’d dragged the waiter out front with her.

  Brandon dropped her arm and stepped back. “Everything’s fine. Just visitin
g an old friend.” He nodded and turned to get into the back of a black sedan that was parked illegally in the street. “Be sure to tell your sister that I’ll see her around,” he said before ducking into the back seat.

  Marina shivered and rubbed her bruised arm as she watched the dark car drive away.

  “Was that Brandon Hughes? The US Congressmen?” Rebecca asked, standing next to her.

  “Yes.” She turned and looked at Tommy’s teacher, who had turned and was now looking closely at Tommy through the window. Marina shook her head. “Please don’t ask.”

  Rebecca placed a hand on her bruised arm. “Did he hurt you?”

  Marina sighed and shook her head as she looked down at the arm. “It’s only a bruise.” She shook the woman’s hand off lightly.

  “If you want to talk about it, I’m here.” She smiled. “Well, come on, I’m starved.” Rebecca smiled and started walking into the diner.

  Over the last three days, Marina had gotten to know Tommy’s teacher pretty well, and she had gained a new respect for the woman. She even considered her a friend. Her opinion of her had grown even more after seeing how she had handled the situation with Hughes.

  When they had arrived back at their hotel, there was a note at the front desk for her. She quickly stepped aside and opened it.

  Stay away from my husband. You think you can pawn that little brat off on us? I know who you are and I won't tolerate this kind of behavior. This is your last warning.

  Silvia Hughes

  Marina crumpled up the note and tossed it in the nearest trash can. She remembered Silvia Hughes. The older frail woman was a socialite, never a hair out of place, always wearing an Armoni suite and diamonds. The senator and her had never had children and it had gone around the rumor mill that she'd been barren, especially since the news of Tommy and Trina had spread in all the papers.

  She didn't know why Mrs. Hughes felt threatened about her husband talking to her, but since she'd never hoped to see the man again, it wasn't going to be an issue.