Tangled Web Series Box Set

by Jade C. Jamison

  The tub was half full when he joined her. He had found two champagne flutes she’d forgotten she had and poured the soda in them. She giggled when she saw what he’d done. He smiled back but just set the glasses on the counter. “Guess I should get out of my clothes.”

  “Not a bad idea,” she teased back. “So what exactly are we celebrating?”

  He looked down at his jeans as he pulled them down, seemingly because he had to, but Erin sensed it was something else. He sat down on the toilet seat. “Well, when I brought that originally, we were going to be celebrating our first time together and, I hoped, one of the best orgasms of your life. But, uh…that kinda fell flat.” He looked up at her and his fading smile was tinged with guilt and sadness. Oh, God…she hadn’t meant to ruin the mood.

  She took a couple of steps and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Well, I was mad at you at the time, but it was a pretty spectacular orgasm.”

  He still looked melancholy but said, “I never want you to feel like you can’t trust me, Erin, and I’m afraid that whole thing probably ensured you never will.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Besides, I kinda taught you a lesson, didn’t I? Made us even?”

  He smiled but the sadness didn’t fade. “Do you feel like we’re even?”

  She thought about it and nodded. “You know, I don’t think we should even think of it that way. Instead, well, we got through a rough spot. And I feel like tonight, we kinda started over. Don’t you?”

  His smile finally reached his eyes. “I like that.”

  She leaned over and kissed him. Then she glanced at the tub. She needed to turn off the water because it was already getting too high. “Are you ready to get in?”

  “Should I get in first?”

  “Probably…isn’t that how it’s done?”

  He laughed. “God, we’re pathetic.” He grabbed the champagne flutes and set them on the floor next to the tub and got in on the side opposite the faucet.

  “Oh, crap. Hold on a second.” She’d forgotten one of the most important parts of this fantasy—candles. She had a couple in her room as well as a lighter, so she grabbed them. Riley grinned when she came in and set them on the counter. She lit them and then switched off the light. “Now it’s perfect, right?”

  His eyes sparkled when he said, “Yep, I think so.”

  He held out his hand for her and she took it, then stepped in the tub. She sat down in front of him and asked, “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

  “Nope. Lean back.” She rested the back of her head on his chest and felt an overwhelming feeling of peace and comfort, an almost foreign emotion. And even though part of her felt like she should make conversation, the other part of her felt comfortable saying nothing, just enjoying the moment. His arms were wrapped around her and she felt better than she had in a long time.

  After a while, he asked if she wanted a sip of her soda, so she did. As she was handing him back the glass to set on the floor, his finger touched her wrist. The marks were still there but fading. “Jesus…I’m really sorry about that.” He took her glass and set it on the floor.

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not. It hurt you.”

  She smiled and turned her head, trying to see his face. “It really didn’t hurt. I didn’t notice it till after.”

  He didn’t say anything, just lifted her wrist to his lips and kissed it. And they stayed in the tub until the water grew cool, not talking like Erin had thought they would, simply reflecting. She wondered what Riley was thinking about. If he was doing what she was, he was looking back over the past few days, wondering how the fuck his feelings had grown so quickly.

  Erin didn’t know it, but his thoughts weren’t so far from hers.

  * * *

  Riley didn’t protest when Erin invited him into her bed to spend the night. Riley knew how his parents were, though, and they’d be that way until the day they died—worrywarts. But he also knew they might be in bed already, so he sent his mother a text, letting her know he wouldn’t be home till morning.

  Once they were in the bedroom, she told him to get comfortable and asked if he needed anything. When he said no, she switched off the light and snuggled next to him. She smelled and felt so good, and having her pressed up against him made his primal self stir deep within. But no way was he going there—she needed her sleep and it was close to midnight. He didn’t even know what time she normally awoke in the morning, but he wasn’t going to make her day tomorrow difficult by giving it to her one more time.

  He almost shook his head. No, he didn’t really think of it as giving it to her. In fact, he was moving into the make love territory. Jesus Christ…he couldn’t believe how quickly he’d collapsed in the shadow of this woman. He had no idea how she had this hold over him or why. He only knew she was something special and unlike any woman he’d been with over the past decade. And she might have seemed a little starstruck at first, but that hadn’t sustained her. No, he knew that the first night they met. Sure, he suspected she hadn’t completely minded when he’d pulled her body into his that first night as she was trying to extricate herself to drive out of the parking lot, but she’d been strong and stood up to him. When was the last time a woman—a hot, desirable woman—had done that? Shit…it had been ages.

  And then the whole handcuff debacle. A lot of women he’d been with in the last few years never would have said a word, no matter how they’d felt. But she had no fear of telling him exactly what she was thinking or feeling. Everything between them felt honest and open, and now that they’d cleared the air…well, anything seemed possible.

  He gritted his teeth and breathed in her smell. He could tell she was drifting off…her breathing was growing more steady and quiet and her body felt like it was relaxing more. He knew he should leave right now if he ever expected to stop himself from falling down that abyss, but before he fell asleep, he knew he’d made a conscious decision to stay. To hell with it.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  RILEY WOKE UP to Erin’s alarm blaring. It only rang a few seconds and she turned it off but rested her head back on her pillow. It was dark in her room, so he couldn’t judge the time. Her back was to him, but she was facing the side of her bed where the alarm clock was. Riley moved over and wrapped her in his arms.

  He couldn’t tell if she actually fell back asleep. As he lay there, his cheek touching her hair, breathing in her sweet smell, he knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. In fact, he was wondering how much time she gave herself to get ready in the morning. He had dreamed about her most of the night and his thoughts weren’t exactly pure, so he wondered if they could sneak in a little fun before she had to go.

  Finally, unable to stop himself, he brushed her hair aside and kissed the back of her neck, just small, warm kisses. That’s when he found out she was awake. She shivered and then scrunched her shoulders. “Morning,” she said. He said it back but kissed her again, once, twice, just tiny little kisses on the nape of her neck. “You better quit that. I don’t have time this morning.”

  He let out a long breath. “What if we were able to finish by the time your alarm goes off again?”

  She giggled. “We’d just be getting started.” She rolled over and he thought maybe she was going to go for it. Instead, she pecked him on the lips. “You can sleep longer if you want.” She rolled over to get out of bed, but before she could sit up, he wrapped his hands around her waist.

  “Not so fast.”

  “Riley, I have to get ready. Like it or not.”

  He kissed her neck again. “Well, shit. I guess if you feel the need to be responsible…”

  He let go of her and she sat up. “I happen to like my job, so I guess I better.” She switched off her alarm clock. And even though it wasn’t light in her room, he could see her outline as she walked across the room and pulled her robe off a hook hanging on her closet door. “If you want breakfast, I have plenty of food in the kitchen.”

&
nbsp; He sat up and stretched his arms. “Maybe in a while. Are you gonna eat something?”

  “Nah. I’m just gonna jump in the shower.”

  He felt a smile spread over his face. “Sure you don’t want some company?”

  A light laugh flowed from her mouth as she walked back across the room. “You’re a little devil.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Behave yourself.”

  “All right.”

  He sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes and heard her start the shower. He was going to get dressed and realized his jeans were in the bathroom. So he got up and tapped on the door. He heard Erin say something, so he popped his head in. “Can I grab my pants?”

  “Yeah. Go ahead.”

  He entered the bathroom and, even though he was tempted to rip the shower curtain aside and ravish her, he just grabbed his jeans and underwear off the floor and put them on. “Mind if I use a little toothpaste?”

  She pulled the shower curtain aside and peeked her head out. “No, go ahead. It’s in the medicine cabinet.”

  He took the tube out and squeezed some on his index finger, then cleaned his teeth and tongue as best he could. But he wasn’t thinking about what he was doing. Instead, he was thinking about Erin. A week ago, he’d been hanging with his band mates, complaining about how he had to make an appearance at home. Sure, he’d played it up a little, because he really did want to see his brother and he’d even wanted to see his parents…just not for an entire week. But he’d never expected to find this woman and fall as hard as he had.

  Riley paused and looked hard at himself in the mirror. Yeah, his eyes weren’t lying. He was falling.

  And that was fucking stupid.

  He was going to be gone in just a few days. This was supposed to just be a little fun. Somehow, he’d managed to get his heart entangled in the whole mess.

  And he wasn’t planning on telling her everything. No way. But he needed to talk to her about what he could manage. He’d tell her everything but.

  That meant, no matter how tempting it was to just hop in the shower and have his way with her, he would behave, just like she’d asked.

  She’d said she didn’t want breakfast, but that might have been just because she hadn’t wanted to fix it. So he said, “Thanks,” and left the bathroom.

  There wasn’t much light coming in the kitchen either although the sun was coming up. He turned on the light and smiled at the flowers on the table. That had been a classy move on his part (rare for him), and he loved that they were still vibrant and colorful.

  Well, she’d said there was plenty of food in the kitchen, so he needed to decide where to start. The fridge would most likely have the freshest food, so he opened the door and looked around. No eggs, but he did find some butter and jelly. No milk. No bacon. Just what did this girl eat for breakfast?

  He opened the freezer above the fridge and found a box of link sausages. That was something. Then he saw a can of grape juice and snagged it. After moving a few more items, he found a box of frozen waffles. He set them all on the counter and then started looking in the cabinets. There was a box of oatmeal packets.

  Riley came to the conclusion that Erin either didn’t eat much breakfast or she didn’t like it very much. But he’d make do with what he’d found. He had the sausages in a skillet and the juice made by the time she made it to the kitchen, dressed in her robe with a towel over her head.

  “Good…you found some stuff.”

  Riley turned around, just having moved the sausages around with a fork. “Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that. Didn’t you say you had plenty of breakfast food?”

  She grinned. “No. I just said I had food.” She joined him at the stove. “You’re pretty industrious.”

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her, just a small, sweet kiss. It was hard restraining himself, but he really didn’t know how much time she had before she had to go. “I heard once that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So, here I am, making sure you go to work with fuel.” He almost followed that up with telling her it made him a good boyfriend. And he wondered what the fuck was wrong with him. He could barely even remember the last time he had been a boyfriend…and that reminded him why he didn’t want to be one again.

  “Well, I appreciate it. It’s better than the glazed donuts they leave in the teacher’s lounge every day.”

  He grinned. “I didn’t say I was making any for you.” She wrinkled up her nose and playfully tried to wrench herself away from him. He didn’t release her, though. “Of course I made some for you. If it was just for me, I’d go out to eat.”

  She relaxed. “Oh…so you’re willing to do my bidding?”

  He smiled again. Maybe there would be time after all. He’d already assessed the table…seemed pretty sturdy. “What did you have in mind?”

  “I told you last night I need the floor in here scrubbed.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Ain’t gonna happen. But I’m pretty good at scrubbing other things.”

  She smirked. “Yeah, you are, but I don’t have time.” She pulled herself away and started walking back out of the kitchen. “You are a bad boy.”

  He raised his voice so she could hear him in the other room. “Yeah, and I think you like that.”

  He couldn’t hear her response, but he didn’t want to leave the sausage. He nodded his head to himself as he turned off the kettle of boiling water and dropped two waffles in her toaster. Yeah, they really needed to talk.

  * * *

  Erin’s makeup was done and she had just finished combing out her hair, but she was still in her robe when Riley announced that breakfast was ready. When she went to the kitchen, she was pleasantly surprised to see he had set the table and had everything ready to go…including coffee. Yep, he was definitely a keeper.

  Stop that, Erin. God, why had she been torturing herself? It would never work. He was leaving in just a few days to return to the decadent lifestyle to which he was accustomed, one where he was probably surrounded by handfuls of girls of every flavor. She would surely pale in comparison.

  But she’d enjoy him while he was here. The food looked and smelled good, and he looked so proud of himself. “Wow. This is nice.” He pulled out a chair for her. She laughed as he stood there, waiting for her to sit down. “It’s just breakfast, right?”

  He slid the chair in and sat next to her. “Well, food-wise, yeah. But we can talk too.”

  Why did he sound so serious? Had he been able to discern the mental lashing she’d given herself? Did he know what she’d been thinking? “Yeah…we can.” She was afraid to commit to anything that sounded too much like she had an agenda. Yes, she’d been considering having a talk as well, just so they could lay their intentions on the table…but she didn’t know that breakfast was the right time to do it.

  He smiled and handed her the plate of sausages so she could put some on her plate. He picked up the juice. “Want some?”

  “Sure.”

  He poured her a glass and then continued handing her the rest of the food until she filled her plate and her coffee cup. He filled his too, and while she poured syrup over her waffles, he asked, “So…what are we doin’ here anyway?”

  Yep…she’d read him right. She didn’t know that she was ready for a heavy conversation first thing in the morning, though. Maybe keeping the mood light would help, so she joked, “Well, I didn’t want you to have to eat all this by yourself.”

  He smirked, but the look in his eyes told her he wasn’t going to let it go so easily. “You’re funny, Erin. I’ll give you that.”

  She didn’t know why, but hearing him say her name made her breath catch in her throat. And she could feel something inside her, something that was spreading like a disease…the roots of something burying itself deep in every part of her, something that would be hard to let go of. Yeah, she supposed, they probably should talk, but with the kind of emotions she was experiencing, she didn’t know if it was even a good idea. What she was feeling was too fre
sh and she was too vulnerable. She needed to guard herself and now, maybe, it was too late. She took a sip of her coffee and decided to go with the innocuous comment. “I try.”

  He cleared his throat while cutting a link of sausage with his fork. Then he took a deep breath. Holy shit, yes. Extremely serious. He looked up and locked eyes with her. She hadn’t moved quickly enough to avoid it. “I’m just gonna throw it out there, and I hope you’re okay with it.” She swallowed. “You and I both know I’m leaving on Monday. So…how far do we want this to go?”

  Her breath caught again. She thought she liked his directness, but she found it intimidating at the same time. She felt another pool of saliva rush to fill her mouth before she said, “Well, uh…what do you have in mind?” She was afraid to say what her deepest thoughts were without knowing what he was thinking, and since he’d already proven to be the braver of the two, she was going to make him spit it out.

  But he clenched his jaw and lowered his eyes to the table. He didn’t look angry. He too looked…vulnerable. Really? Erin was surprised. Here was a guy who literally could have any girl he could put his finger on, so she couldn’t understand where that look was coming from. Maybe, though…maybe she was just misreading him. It wouldn’t have been the first time. And maybe her own feelings and hormones were clouding her judgment. He raised his eyes to hers and she saw a twinkle in them. Oh, definitely…what she’d thought was vulnerability had most certainly been her imagination. “I asked you first.”

  She was up to the challenge. She could stuff down whatever weird emotions she was feeling and deal with them next week, long after he’d gone. “Do we have to have a plan?”

  He took a deep breath. “I guess not.” He set his fork down and picked up the glass of juice, downing half of it. She was glad, because it gave her a few extra seconds to process and plan. “I just…don’t want to make any pretense about anything.”

  She didn’t like the sounds of that. “What do you mean?”