by HELEN HARDT
This was physical, purely physical. We didn’t know each other well enough for it to be anything else. As a professional, I knew that. This was chemical and nothing more.
But that didn’t stop me from melting into his kiss. My nipples hardened, poking into his chest. I swore I could feel the juices dripping down my thighs.
He cupped my breasts, thumbing my erect nipples. God, it felt so good. No one had touched me intimately for so long.
I moaned into his mouth.
He groaned back, and I felt the vibration of his voice all the way to my toes. When he finally broke the kiss, we were both panting.
“I want you,” he said. “I swear to God I’ve never wanted a woman so much.”
I opened my mouth, but no words emerged. Didn’t matter anyway, because he sealed his lips to mine again, and his tongue filled my mouth, taking me, spiraling me beyond control.
We kissed again—kissed and kissed and kissed—and he moved his hand down from my breasts to between my legs.
He broke the kiss and sucked in a breath. “God, do you have any idea how wet you are? You’re soaked, Melanie. You’re soaked for me.”
I didn’t doubt it. His huge erection was poking into my belly. Yes, physical chemistry. We certainly did have that.
He turned me around and pushed me against the wall. “Don’t move,” he said in my ear.
From my position, I heard the rip of a condom wrapper. In about three seconds, he was behind me, his front to my back, his cock nudging the crease of my ass.
“I told you I’d fuck you up against this wall. Get ready, baby.”
I gasped as he thrust himself into me. “God, you’re so big.”
“Shh,” he said against my neck. “You’ll get used to it.”
I was used to it already. I felt complete in a way I never had before. No one had ever felt like this inside me, and I knew no one ever would again. So I was going to savor this afternoon. I was going to let him do whatever he wanted.
He pulled out and thrust back in. I gasped again.
“You like that? You like my big hard cock inside you?”
I wasn’t used to such language, but I liked it. God, I liked it very much.
I wept a shaky “yes.”
He continued pumping into me, and with each stroke, I spiraled higher and higher.
“Reach down and touch yourself, sweetheart. I want you to come.”
He didn’t need to tell me twice. After a few seconds of playing with myself, I was flying, the orgasm taking me with a force I had never experienced.
“That’s it, sweetheart. Come for me. Come all over my big dick.”
When my spasms finally cleared, he pulled out and turned me around. Then he lifted me in his arms and set me down upon his hard cock. This man was strong. He held me, lifted me up and down upon him, and oh my God, it felt good. Within minutes, without any clitoral simulation, I was coming again. Coming all over him.
“Oh my God, Jonah. Oh my God, so good.” I cried out, screamed, words left my lips without thought. I loved every minute of it.
“That’s it, baby. Show me how much you want me. Show me how much you like it. I want you to come. I want you to come all over me.”
He carried me to the bed and laid me down, not gently. Then he plunged inside me again, my legs over his shoulders.
Something about that angle… God, I was exploding again all over the place. The orgasms kept coming one after the other, wave after wave after wave of surging pleasure.
His cock hit the perfect place inside me, making me melt around him again and again and again.
“You’re so responsive. I’ve never had a woman stay this wet for so long. My God, you are something else. So gorgeous. So perfect.”
I bit my lip to keep from crying out again.
Then I thought to myself, why bother? I opened my mouth and screamed. It was freeing and wonderful.
He clamped his lips to mine and continued pumping into me. Our tongues swirled together. And with every new ounce of pleasure he forced from me, I only wanted more.
He pulled out, quickly broke the kiss, and flipped me over so I was on my hands and knees. He gave my ass cheek a quick slap.
I gasped. No one had ever done that to me.
Before I could decide if I liked it, he slapped me again, and then he thrust back into me.
“My God, so good. You’re so tight.” He continued to pound into me, and then he pulled out and lay down. His cock was still standing, huge and erect. “Get on top of me, Melanie. Ride me.”
It never occurred to me not to do what he asked. I scrambled on top of him and groaned as I sank onto his hardness.
He reached toward me and grabbed both of my breasts. “Gorgeous. Such beautiful breasts. They’re perfect in every way.”
They were average, but I wasn’t going to contradict him in the middle of sex.
“Your nipples are the same ruby-red color as your lips. So beautiful. So perfect.” He thumbed each hard bud.
I was riding high, right on the edge of yet another orgasm. When I writhed around him, he started thrusting upward, faster than normal.
“I’m going to come with you this time, sweetheart. I want to come all over that hot little pussy of yours.”
And then he rammed up into me so hard, I thought he might have touched my heart.
He squeezed his eyes shut. “Melanie, fuck.”
When my spasms finally stopped, I fell forward onto him, both of our chests slick. I closed my eyes, my breath coming rapidly.
“My God,” he said. “That was amazing.”
As soon as I could catch my breath, I would agree with him. For now, I’d clamp myself against him, my hair sticking to my back and shoulders, his stubbly cheek scratching my own.
After a few moments, he rolled me over. “Sorry, sweetheart. I have to take care of the condom.”
The loss of his warmth against me made me whimper, but I moved over on my back, a drift of air from the ceiling fan above us feeling heavenly against my moist skin. I closed my eyes.
A few minutes later, the bed sank with his weight.
“That’s right, baby. Take a little nap. Because we’re not done. Not by a long shot.”
Chapter Nine
Jonah
Melanie’s breathing became shallow, and I knew she had fallen asleep. It was nearing five o’clock, but I was not yet sated. My need for her had been so great I’d gone straight for the gold. I hadn’t yet tasted her ruby-red nipples, her beautiful pussy. I hadn’t yet felt her gorgeous lips around my cock. What must she think of me? Other than a bit of kissing, we’d had no foreplay. It wasn’t like me to be so selfish, but my need for her had been that intense.
My dick stirred and hardened again. Just being near her affected me. But she looked so peaceful and serene in her slumber—a peace I didn’t see when she was awake. Something was eating her up inside. Maybe one day she’d tell me what it was. I had the distinct feeling that she understood my guilt better than she let on.
While I longed to wake her up and get started again, I decided to let her sleep.
She appeared to need it so much.
So I rolled to the other side of the bed and closed my eyes as well.
Big mistake.
When I woke up, she was gone.
I left several messages for Melanie after we’d been together, but she hadn’t returned any of my calls. I couldn’t think about it today though, because I sat with Bryce, waiting for the prison guard to bring Larry Wade out to talk to us.
We weren’t separated by glass, since we had come during regular visiting hours and there were two of us. We sat at a round table in the visiting area. The guard watched Larry closely.
Larry sat down. “Jonah Steel,” he said. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Hello, Uncle,” I said with sarcasm. I was hardly in the mood to be cordial, but I had to introduce Bryce. “This is my friend Bryce Simpson. Tom Simpson’s son.”
“The mayor. Sure
. Good man.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of his sardonic tone. It had been Mayor Simpson, after all, who had appointed Larry as city attorney when he came back to town a few years ago. I’d always known he was a shady character, and from what I’d heard from Jade, the man was about as unethical an attorney as there was. People like him gave lawyers a bad name.
Of course, bending ethics as an attorney was the least of Larry Wade’s crimes.
“Hello, Mr. Wade,” Bryce said.
Larry groaned. “So what do you two want?”
“Answers,” I said.
“Ask away. I’m pretty sure I don’t have any.”
“You can start by telling me why you left a red rose on Jade’s pillow a few months ago.”
He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Quit playing dumb, Uncle Larry. We all know what kind of man you are. The kind of man that kidnaps and fucks little boys. Pretty sick. Also, you killed Colin Morse.”
“Hey, I had nothing to do with that.”
“Whatever. So if you’re that kind of guy already, breaking and entering and leaving an ominous rose on a woman’s pillow would be nothing to you.”
“I said I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I couldn’t read him. Jade had said he had a champion poker face. She was right.
Larry turned to Bryce. “To what do I owe the pleasure of the mayor’s son’s company?”
“My cousin Luke was one of the other kids who was taken twenty-five years ago,” Bryce said. “So I’m as involved in this as Joe is.”
“Great.” Larry rolled his eyes yet again.
“You might want to try being a little less of an asshat,” I said. “You know we can make or break you.”
“Are you kidding me? My fate is sealed. Don’t try to work some deal with me, Steel. I’m headed up the river, and we all know that.”
“Well, you should be. But we have some business to discuss. You’re going to tell us who the other two men are who took Talon.”
“Nope.” Larry crossed his arms over his chest. “I ain’t talkin’. Period.”
“You need to change your tune. The prosecution will be a lot easier on you if you cooperate.”
“I know my rights. And I know what the prosecution will and won’t do. But I will not talk. I can’t.”
“Why can’t you?” Bryce asked.
“Because they’ll fucking kill me.”
“You’re in prison, for God’s sake. No one from the outside can get to you in here. Why not do yourself a favor and make your life a little bit easier?” I said. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Are you offering me money, Steel? What good would money do me now?”
“Well…you can hire yourself a decent lawyer rather than the public defender you’ve got right now.”
Larry licked his lips. God, he was a snake. Was he considering my offer? I couldn’t tell.
“That’s interesting. How much are you offering?”
“I’d say two hundred grand could buy you some decent representation.”
“That’s it? Everyone knows you’re worth way more than that, Steel.”
“It may come as a surprise to you, Uncle, but my main business isn’t paying off criminals. I’m offering you more than enough to pay a decent attorney.”
Larry shook his head, laughing. “It’s still pennies to you.”
I tensed.
Bryce nudged my arm. “Don’t let him get to you, Joe.”
I had no intention of anything “getting” to me. If he wasn’t talking, I’d take the money off the table.
“Forget the money, then. Do what’s right for once in your life. Do it for your nephew, whose life you made hell. Do for your sister, my mother.”
“No can do.” Larry looked at the guard. “I’m done with these people.”
“Wait,” Bryce said, standing. “You can’t leave yet.”
“Oh, yeah? You have money you want to throw my way?”
“I don’t have any money. Not that I’d give it to you if I had it. But I do need some information.”
“I told you. I’m not naming the others.”
Bryce shook his head. “I get that. But I want to know something else. I want you to tell me what happened to my cousin. Luke Walker.”
My heart thrummed against my sternum. If Larry told Bryce… I should have seen this coming. I had to be the one to tell Bryce about Luke, not this degenerate. I should have told him before we came. Instead, I’d taken the easy way out, putting off the unpleasant—hell, unpleasant was stating it mildly—until later. One thing was for sure. I couldn’t let Larry tell him. I opened my mouth to put an end to Bryce’s question, but Larry spoke first, his eyes wide.
“Come again?”
“You heard what I said. What happened to my cousin?”
Larry erupted in laughter. Evil laughter. “Steel, you haven’t told him?”
Bryce, still standing, turned and looked down at me. “What’s he talking about, Joe?”
Why hadn’t it occurred to me that Bryce might ask Larry about Luke? It should have. Definitely not my finest moment. I’d been desperate for someone to accompany me, and I hadn’t been able to ask either of my brothers for obvious reasons. And Bryce had offered…
I opened my mouth to speak, but Larry beat me to it.
“I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of what happened to your cousin,” he said. “And neither does Jonah here. There’s only one person you know who can tell you for sure what happened.” He cocked his head. “Actually, there are two people.”
One was Talon. Who was the other he was talking about? Who else would be able to tell Bryce? The only other people who knew were—
The other two abductors.
Was Larry insinuating that Bryce might know one of them?
I stood and addressed the guard. “Get this piece of shit out of my sight.”
“What was he talking about, Joe?” Bryce asked after the guard had led Larry away. “What happened to Luke?”
I didn’t relish this moment. How exactly was I supposed to tell my oldest friend in the world that his cousin had been killed, chopped into pieces, and stuffed inside a garbage bag?
“Let’s find a bar and get a drink,” I said, nearly choking. “And I’ll tell you everything.”
“How could you keep this from me?” Bryce took a long drink of his beer. “I thought we were friends, Joe.”
“We are friends. I only just found out about this a couple weeks ago myself. What would you have done in my place? I haven’t seen you in years, and first thing I tell you is that your cousin was chopped up while my brother was forced to watch?”
“Why did you want me to go see Larry with you? Surely you knew I’d ask about Luke.”
I sighed. “I probably did know in the back of my mind. I just wanted the company. And you do have a stake in this as well. Luke was your cousin.”
Bryce shook his head. “Damn,” he said. “Twenty-five years. I haven’t given this a thought in…over a decade at least. So now, all of a sudden, why is it so damned raw?”
I didn’t know how to answer my friend. Yes, twenty-five years had passed, and it had been raw for me the whole time. Bryce didn’t know how lucky he was. “It’s raw because it’s heinous. It’s unthinkable. Inhumane. Unbelievable that people like those three exist in the world. I wish I knew what to tell you. But just remember that it was twenty-five years ago. Luke is long gone. He was dead before they took Talon.”
Bryce finished his beer and signaled the waitress. “You want another?” he asked me.
“No.” Beer wasn’t my drink, and I was nursing the martini I’d ordered. “Look, I was going to tell you. I just didn’t know how.”
He nodded. “I understand, man. Not exactly news anyone wants to reveal.”
He was taking this better than I expected, and for that I was very grateful.
“I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you before
we saw Larry. That was an idiot move on my part.”
“I won’t disagree, but I get where you’re coming from. I know you didn’t want to see the guy alone, and you couldn’t ask your brothers to go with you.”
I took a long drink from my gin infusion. Good stuff. I still felt like shit, though. “There’s one more thing we have to think about, Bryce.”
“What’s that?”
“Larry said something that stuck with me. He said there were only two people that you knew who had firsthand knowledge of what happened to Luke.”
“Yeah, the other two kidnappers, I guess.”
I shook my head. “That’s not what he meant. He said specifically that they were people you knew. One of the people he was talking about was Talon. I’m sure of it. I think he gave us a clue about who one of the other kidnappers is.”
“What clue?”
“That you know him, Bryce. You know one of the other men who took Talon.”
Chapter Ten
Melanie
Sitting across from Talon Steel in a session wasn’t easy. I had the eerie feeling that he could tell what I had just done with his brother a few days prior. But I was still Talon’s therapist, and he had made much progress, so I needed to continue his sessions. Knowing that I was helping Talon and my other patients was the only way I felt a little bit better about what had happened to Gina.
He hadn’t asked Jade to marry him yet.
“So what’s stopping you?” I asked.
“Well, Jade’s mom, Brooke Bailey, moved in with us. She’s going to stay while she continues to recover from her accident. She and Jade are trying to rebuild their relationship. This is really important to Jade, so I don’t want to interfere.”
“And you think proposing marriage would interfere?”
He chuckled. “Not interfere so much. I just don’t want Jade having to think about other things while she’s rebuilding a relationship with her mom. She’s also the city attorney now, so she’s always swamped at work, thanks to my esteemed half-uncle.” Talon visibly tensed.
“What’s going on with that?”