by L. C. Giroux
"Michael, I... Are you saying what I think you are saying?" She was grinning from ear to ear.
"Violet, if you start laughing I swear..."
"I only laugh at you when you are being an ass, remember? No, I want to scream to the world, I... how long do those pills last? No, I don't care. So all that and no ill effects, right? I mean other than the scream which I'll chalk up to not knowing exactly what it was all going to feel like." She was so excited she was talking a mile a minute. Then she licked her lips. "Darling, we have an awful lot of catching up to do. Can you stand me to touch you yet?"
"You can always touch me."
"You may regret saying that."
Epilogue
"How are the wedding plans going darling?"
"Aaaghhh!"
"That well." Michael started laughing
"Oh, you have no idea. You get to just glide in and... Are you laughing at me?"
"Never dear. Maybe you are just feeling more emotional than usual."
"What is that supposed to mean? Why do you have that smirk on your face? Oh, has Cam agreed to be your best man?"
"Yes, you know we could just go get married at City Hall. Avoid all the bother of..."
"Oh wouldn't you be surprised if I said yes!"
"We may want to move the wedding up dear."
"What?, I don't know how I'm going to get everything done as it is."
"Well, it will be your first so you shouldn't show too much?"
"Wait what, my first...wedding? It will be my only damn wedding I can tell you."
"No dear, um, in all the excitement you haven't forgotten something? Something that shows up fairly regularly, monthly to be exact."
"Michael, I am up to my ears in plans, the invasion of Normandy was less work. What are you talking about?"
Violet, dear, you are pregnant, at least I suspect so."
"I'm what?"
"With child, my child, hence the ridiculous grin I can't get rid of. Um, that first night, we were rather focused on other things. We never really considered protection, I especially should have known better but..."
"That can't be right, I got my period... Oh! Oh! Michael!"
"Violet is it so awful?"
"No, just a shock, I'm scared."
"I promise to be with you every step of the way. So, Violet, can we just elope, tell a few friends, be done with the formalities. I want to spend every minute I can with my wife and child. God, in a million years I never thought I'd say that."
Violet let the papers she was holding fall to the floor. Walking over to Michael she sat on his lap. "I want that too. I suppose this means I am not your Kitten anymore?"
"You will always be my Kitten, quite frankly, I think that when you are 9 months pregnant I will still want you to walk around naked if for no other reason than I find you breathtaking. Though for the sake of the children things would have to get a little tamer."
"Children?"
"Oh, yes, a village to fill this huge house of yours my Lady Godiva."
Pay Back
Lovers and Other Strangers Book Two
Being auctioned off like a piece of meat was not high on Joseph Camenitti's bucket list, meeting a mystery woman from his past, that he could like, a lot.
Evie Tolland had spent WAY too long thinking of herself as the ugly duckling and that was going to change immediately.
He's all caveman, she's an old fashioned girl. Something's gotta give!
Prologue
Her back was to the door but she knew when he walked in. He was growling at her. She whipped around to face him. He was stunning, lean like a jungle cat. Dark curly hair and sapphire blue eyes. His skin was flushed from practice. She could smell his scent like an animal in heat, and it made her mouth water.
"I finally have you alone." The roughness of his voice nipped at her nerves making her jump.
"Wha... What are you going to do?" His smile told her he'd do exactly as he pleased.
"I'm going to do what you've wanted me to all along. I am going to show you what happens to good girls that want to be wild." He crowded against her, pressing his body tight to hers. His erection was tight against her belly. She licked her lips. She wanted him pressed against her, reveled in his warmth. The animal attraction of him made her bite at her lips. Why hadn't he kissed her yet?
"Kiss me." It came out of her like a breath.
"Not yet. If you want me, show me. Undress."
"Here? In the cafeteria?"
"Now!" She started unbuttoning her shirt but she was too slow for him and he pulled the sides apart popping the buttons off. Then both their clothes were off. His mouth was everywhere. His hands were so warm and strong holding her, pinning her to him. Her skin felt like it glowed reflecting back the heat of him. She was mesmerized. She inhaled the spicy male scent of him. She could not stop herself, she licked down the center of his chest. His hand clutched at her hair.
"I've got a better use for your tongue." He held her by her hair as he guided her down the length of him. He was tall but not gangly, his body beautifully formed. His pale skin frosted with dark hair across his chest and ran in a line down his body forming a nest around his cock.
"Yes, please, I want you in my mouth."
"Good girl, I love when you beg." She rubbed her face against his abdomen then licked at the tip of him. The salty musky flavor of him on her tongue made her want more. She kissed him and then ran her tongue up his shaft, licking a new drop from the tip. She took just the head between her lips. He was so warm, so smooth, and so hard. She dragged her teeth along the underside and heard him hiss. She smiled with him still in her mouth, happy she could please him. She pressed her face against him taking in more. She felt him at the back of her throat and felt him shiver as she swallowed. His hand was still in her hair and now he dragged her off him. She whimpered when he pulled out of her mouth.
"I don't want to go off there. On the table, spread your legs. I need to prepare you to take me." She was on the table before she could blink. He released her hair as he laid her down. He spread her legs farther and reached between them with both his hands.
"This is mine and no one else's. Is that clear. You are mine. Say it!"
"I am yours. Only yours." She was writhing in anticipation of his touch. He ran his hands down the inside of her thighs. He stroked his thumbs over the outer lips of her sex. He was teasing her, making her want it more. Then his thumbs dipped into her, easing her lips apart, exposing her essence to him.
"Do you want it like a good girl?"
"Yes." She whispered
"Liar. You want it bad. You want me to take you hard."
"Oh God, yes." She felt his fingers thrust into her without warning. She was so wet it didn't matter. His thumb stroked up on her clit when he pushed in again. She drenched his hand with her juices.
"Now you are ready for me. I can feel how close you are. I want to feel you come around my cock." He took his hand away and moved over her. She could feel him at her entrance. In one thrust he was fully inside her. With every thrust he marked her as his, imprinting himself on her soul.
"Mine, you are mine."
Evie's eyes flew open as the first wave of her orgasm rolled through her. She lay in bed shaking, her hips twitching to the spasms happening inside her. Oh dear God, she was too old to be having dreams like this. It was the middle of the night and now she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. She wanted to cry, to scream. Who the hell thought she would still be a virgin at thirty five. Bernard had been hinting that he wanted to date her… Ugh, no. She didn't know why but he just seemed all wrong. Besides, if she was going to even think about this she wanted someone that at least turned her on. Too bad she didn't know any guys that did. She needed to go back to sleep but when she closed her eyes now all she could see was him. She hadn't thought about 'dreamboat' in ages. He had been breathtaking in high school. Maybe she should look him up, hell that's what Facebook was for? Right, so she could find out he was happily married with 2
kids. Or worse, single but had let himself go like ex-jocks do but still thought he was a stud, Eww. She laughed, hey at least in her fantasies he was still damn hot, he could just stay there, nice and safe and all hers. She closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep with a smile on her face.
***
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! I can't believe I missed the shot. I make that nine times out of ten! Fuck!"
"Sorry dude, but you'll have to pay up. 7:30, Saturday, the Continental, auction starts at 8:00. Wear a dark suit or better yet a tux. The women will love you." Chauncey walked away laughing
"Shit!" Cam lobbed one ball after another at the net and all of them dropped in without touching the backboard. Now he was stuck going to the annual meat market and he had a really bad feeling about it. It wasn't as if he lacked for female attention, well he hadn't exactly been overwhelmed with it since he had ended up in the chair but, damn those bachelor auction things gave him the creeps. Something about the blatant appraisal and the women's no holes barred sexual aggressiveness had turned him off when he had two working legs. How would he be judged now? It wasn't like he could roll out there and yell, Hey Ladies! The legs don't work but the rest of the equipment is just fine. The fact that the auction raised money for the widows and families fund didn't make it any less unsavory. He'd just have to deal but this was going to suck in no uncertain terms.
Chapter One
Saturday had gotten here way too quick but then your execution always does. Cam took a deep breath to quell the nerves that he wasn't used to feeling. Joseph Camenitti was not afraid of much but being auctioned like a piece of meat was not high on the list of things he wanted out of life.
"Camenitti? Christ! How the hell did they get you to do this?"
"Hey O'Reilly. Would you believe I lost a bet. I'm taking Chauncey's slot. You ever done this before?"
"Yeah, My wife ropes me into it. Its not really so bad. She kind of gets off on buying me for the night. I suppose after ten years of being married I should be happy she still wants to pay for the pleasure."
"You mean your wife buys you?"
"Yeah, didn't Chauncey tell you how this works? You figure out how much you're willing to pay to save your ego and then you get some woman to bid that amount and you pay it. Happily I might add. God, I'd never get up there if I didn't know for sure I'd get bid on." O'Reilly shuddered for added effect. Cam wanted to be sick, this was going to be even worse than he had imagined. He could see how it was going to play out. He would roll out on stage and there would be dead silence, fucking crickets. He was going to kill Chauncey when he saw him next. He snagged one of the programs. Everybody had a picture and a short bio, except him, his bio was on a piece of paper that had been stuck in at the last minute announcing that Chauncey had a pressing engagement and Joseph Camenitti would be taking his place.
He supposed he should be grateful that they listed him as a decorated cop, wounded in the line of duty but they didn't say the wounds meant he'd ended up in a wheel chair. He looked in the mirrors the organizers set up. He wasn't bad looking he supposed, not like he thought about it much. God knows his romance writer sister had used him often enough for her damn romantic heroes.
She claimed women loved the tall dark and handsome look. He ran his hand through his curly hair, well he did have the dark hair. Women always seemed to love the blue eyes too. He had been tall and broad shouldered but that was before he got shot and before he'd ended up in the chair. He was still fit and had some muscle on him, being behind a desk all day sucked but at least he had time to workout and shoot hoops so he hadn't turned to mush yet. This wasn't helping. He pulled at the bow tie and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. At least he could breath now. His tux still fit which was good because it was this or his dress blues and that seemed like a serious cry for attention. The guys had been going out one by one and getting bought up. He needed to just brace himself for the worst and move past it. What the hell did it matter if nobody bid on him, their loss.
***
"Eden, you said we were just going to go for a drink!"
"We are, but in here we can have a drink and ogle some man flesh too!"
"You're depraved."
"You don't know the half of it!" Eden laughed, she loved to shock her older sister.
"Evie, when was the last time you actually went on a date, forget about having sex, just a date with a man? Wait, have you decided you're into women?
"No, I still like men but I don't see its any of your business when my last date was..."
"You can't remember because you don't date, EVER! I know it is hard for you to believe but you really are a beautiful woman, even if you went through a serious ugly duckling phase. Most guys would be thrilled to have you by their side but you won't even make eye contact."
"So instead, you expect me to buy some cop? These things are always so...awkward."
"No you don't have to buy one of them, but we can look at the merchandise. Think of it as shoe shopping. You see something you like, you try it on, maybe you take it home, maybe not. Either way no harm done. Come on, it will be fun and its almost over anyway. We'll have to sneak up toward the front. I see two seats on the side, over there."
Evie tried to calm her nerves. Nobody knew her here and where they had found seats was in the dark so most of the women couldn't even see them. She should just relax and enjoy the good looking guys on display. No matter what Eden said it wasn't like she would ever bid on any of them. She picked up the program and looked through the bios of the guys. All of them were cops, rugged macho types. She'd given up on the macho guys after high school. When she had lifted the program a slip of paper had fallen on the floor. She bent over to pick it up when the MC announced the next guy up. She banged her head on the table on the way up and it hurt like hell. She wasn't able to stop her shout in pain but she had a greater shock when she looked up on the stage.
Cam had expected crickets. Gasps of horror seemed a little much even to his way of thinking, okay maybe just one gasp of horror, but still. He narrowed his eyes trying to see the audience through the blinding stage lights. He couldn't make out any faces. He could tell the shout had come from the left side of the stage but since he couldn't see anything he just glared at all of them. The MC read his information off and started the bidding at five hundred dollars. Thank God he hadn't pulled himself back together and retied his tie because he'd be gasping for air now. He smiled his best panty melting smile, the one his sister said she wrote into all her novels. For half a second he wished she were here, she'd bail him out. What were big sisters for? Of course then she'd never let him forget it. Delia wouldn't be any different. His niece was tough as nails and under normal circumstances he loved her for it, except when she turned it on him. He had a real soft spot for the kid. The MC dropping his price down to three hundred pulled him back to reality.
He started cursing under his breath and heard rustling over where the gasp had come from. He focused all his attention on that corner of the room. He turned his chair in their direction and leaned back in what he hoped came off as a devil may care dare. He heard some frantic whispering, and a woman stand up.
"Three thousand!"
The MC croaked. "three..."
"Three THOUSAND dollars."
"Going once, twice, sold!"
What the hell had happened? One minute he wasn't going to go even at three hundred, he'd been sure of it and now he was the highest selling guy of the night. He hadn't thought about what happened next because he had figured there would be no takers. He was more than intrigued to find out about the woman would dump three grand on a date with a guy in a wheelchair.
***
"Damn Evie, what the hell was in your drink. three grand, you probably could have gotten him for the three hundred. You made him the most expensive guy of the night." Eden watched her sister smile.
"That was the point. Come on, I need to go pay up and then get the hell out of here."
"Aren't you going to stick around and even talk to
the guy? I don't get it. You pay that much money and you don't even want to date him?"
"It wasn't about the date. It was about making sure he got through the auction. I owed him one."
"Are you going to explain any of this?"
"No." Evie found the table where she needed to pay and wrote out her check ignoring the curious looks from the ladies manning the cash box. When she turned around she almost fell on top of her prize. Physically he was different than she remembered, stronger, broader. Then there was the wheelchair. Her heart broke a little for him at that, funny how it didn't seem to have changed his sex appeal one bit. His attractiveness, for her, was always about his eyes and the way he smiled. Okay, it wasn’t like she hadn't ever noticed the gorgeous body but the smile and the way it lit up his eyes was always the part that grabbed her. A if he had this wonderful secret and he was about to let you in on it. Her stomach did a flip remembering what that was like. He was smiling at her now but it was shyer more tentative.
"I owe you for saving my ego."
"No, you don't. I owed you one so we are even.
"Do I know you?"
"You don't remember me? Actually that's just as well, better maybe. I have to go."
"No wait. We're supposed to make plans for the date you just bought."
"I have no intention of holding you to it. Bye Joseph." She stepped around him and disappeared into the crowd. Even if he ran over people he wouldn't be able to get near her again. He turned back to the cash table and put on his most winning smile.
"Ladies, a small favor."
Chapter Two
Cam had her name, number, and address sitting on his desk for a week. All week he thought about calling her and rejected the idea. Something told him if he called she would brush him off as she had done at the auction. It was making him crazy, she knew him and he couldn't remember her at all. They definitely hadn't dated before or after he'd been shot.