This was her only chance at getting it. If this wasn’t the password, she’d have to bail. Emily quickly typed it in, and watched as the lock screen faded into Ron’s desktop. Wow, it had actually worked. When did things ever go so smoothly? And she was right, she’d never have guessed it. Ever.
Emily’s heart started racing again as she plugged the drive into the slot on the side of the machine, and opened the folder. There was just one file loaded on it, and she double-clicked to load it. The computer beeped with a warning to be careful of opening files from people you don’t know as they could contain a virus, and was this file from a trusted source. Emily scoffed aloud before clicking “yes” to launch the program.
Then she had to wait. Initializing….loading programs…oh god, why was it taking so long?
Twenty-five percent…thirty percent…
Emily’s breath started coming in short gasps. How long had she been in here; how much longer before her absence upstairs was suspect? She wished she’d noticed the time when she’d entered, because her body had no idea if she’d been there two minutes or ten. Either way, she needed to leave. Soon!
Sixty-five percent…seventy-five percent…
While she waited, she closed the porn drawer and looked around for the paperclip so that she could lock the drawer again. It was missing. She looked in the drawer for it, on the floor, all over the surface of the desk, but it had disappeared.
Emily was about to unfold another one when she heard footsteps outside the office door. Realizing time was up, she closed the drawer and looked at the file.
Complete. Run program now?
Absolutely yes, and then she yanked the drive from the computer and slipped in into her pocket while leaping away from the desk and toward a wall on the side that was covered with photos of Ron with semi-famous people.
A second later the door flew open and Ron entered, his face purple with anger.
“What are you doing in here!” he snarled at her. “I told you this room was off limits!”
Terrified, but determined not to show it, Emily turned to him with a smile. She hoped it looked more realistic than it felt.
“I know you said you didn’t want wedding guests in here, but I didn’t think you meant I wasn’t allowed in here either,” she cooed at him, disgust coursed through her gut. “I just wanted to learn a little more about the man who is so clearly a leader for this family, and so generous too, helping with the wedding of his fiancée’s daughter. That’s just so…amazing.” Emily tried to make her voice flirtatious and sexy, and to keep the wobble of fear tamped down.
Ron looked unconvinced by her act at first, but Emily pushed forward, taking a step toward him and trying to remember the way Shelly had been talking to Ethan in the bedroom the other night. As grossed out as she’d been by it, she also had to admit that it had sounded pretty sexy, and she’d bet that act worked on most guys.
Now she channeled her inner Shelly and tried to curve her body towards Ron like Shelly had done. Closing the gap between them, but not touching. Not yet.
Emily tilted her head at him, and bit her bottom lip the way she’d done earlier, hoping Ron would notice again.
He did. “Well,” he said, “I’m all about giving. Is there anything you’d like from me? I’m sure I’d find a way to make it happen,” he added suggestively.
He reached down and took her hand, and pressed it against the growing hardness in his pants. Emily struggled not to pull back, even though her every instinct screamed at her to get away.
Instead, she rubbed her hand along his crotch. His penis was still mostly soft, twitching softly in his pants like a dying fish.
When he reached down and grabbed the wrist that was between them and squeezed it hard enough to make her squeal, she felt a big surge of his erection, confirming what she’d thought earlier: he liked to take what hadn’t been offered.
Suddenly scared again, even though she knew that there were other people in the house, Emily just had one desperate thought, and that was that she needed to get away.
She knew he couldn’t really do anything. Right?
“I’m sure we’ve been g-gone too long. The others will be wondering where we are. We should get back.” Emily tried to keep the sex in her voice, but was unable to prevent one small stutter of words.
Ron smiled nastily at her. “We’ll go back when I say we go back. And I think you’ve got to give me something more before I let you leave.” His hand was still clamped on her wrist, and he was forcing her to rub him. “Unzip me,” he demanded.
Emily’s mouth dropped open in shock. Surely he didn’t really expect her to give him a hand job when his fiancée along with his soon to be step-daughter and her fiancé were just upstairs, probably wondering where they were.
“I—I can’t” Emily stammered. “Not right now. Someone will come!”
“Hopefully me.” He chuckled at his joke.
“Do it,” he whispered in her ear, his other hand coming up to pinch her nipple through her clothes. Hard, and without any pleasure for Emily. This was so unlike the times when Ethan offered her a little pain to precede the pleasure. This time she was an unwilling participant, and there was no desire, just revulsion and fear. The hand gripping her wrist tightened even more and twisted. Emily sensed that he’d love to keep twisting until it snapped.
With each sign of her fear, his dick grew harder.
Suddenly, Emily heard the click of heels on the stone staircase, and Charlotte’s loud voice, “I just can’t imagine what’s keepin’ them.”
Emily glanced up into Ron’s eyes; her relief must have shown on her face, because he gave her wrist another twist before releasing her.
“I don’t need to tell you that this wouldn’t look good for you should it become known that you came onto me,” he warned. “I think this should be our little secret until we have a little more…privacy…and can continue this…conversation.”
Then he stepped back and greeted the others just as they walked into the room.
All three gave a surprised look at Emily and Ron, though likely for different reasons. Vivienne’s eyes narrowed as she joined her fiancé’s side and gently rebuked him for taking so long, saying they waited upstairs forever before realizing they’d have to come down and see what Emily and Ron had gotten up to.
Charlotte looked concerned and her gaze kept darting between Emily and Ron, as if she was trying to piece together what had just happened, knowing that Emily was upset but not knowing if she’d been caught or if she’d been successful at loading the program.
And Ethan’s eyes narrowed in fury as he looked from Emily’s thudding heart and red cheeks to the wrist she was rubbing with her other hand. It stung, and she knew it would leave a bruise. Her hero once again, Ethan swiftly entered the room and positioned himself between Emily and Ron, creating a barrier that Emily somehow knew he’d never, ever, let Ron breach. If the anger in his eyes was any indication, Ethan was going to have no mercy on the guy.
Though the anger remained in Ethan’s face when he looked at Emily, she was almost certain it wasn’t directed at her. Suddenly, she had the horrible thought that maybe Ethan thought she was actually interested in Ron, that she was a willing participant. But surely Ethan knew. He must know. How could her disgust for Ron and her love for Ethan not be clearly visible across her face. Wait…her what? She had NOT just said the “l” word. Not even in her own head, where no one but she could hear it.
But she had. It had slipped out, escaped the confines of the deepest recesses of her mind where she managed to bury all her greatest emotions. The ones she wished she didn’t feel. Somehow this one had escaped.
It was the way he’d held her when she cried about her parents, telling the story of her childhood to someone for the first time ever. It was the way he looked at her and seemed to read her face and know her feelings without Emily ever having to say a word. It was the way he turned her on, and touched her in places and in ways that brought her to heights of clim
ax she’d never thought possible. It was the way she wanted to protect him. The way she wanted to take his heart in her hands and cradle it. Protect it. Just as she wanted him to take hers and do the same.
For the first time ever in her life, Emily envisioned going into the future with someone by her side. Love. She loved Ethan.
Stuffing her emotions back into their safe place in her head, she saw Ethan ever-so-slightly raise an eyebrow at her in question. The longer he looked at her, the more the anger faded from his eyes. Emily pretended she didn’t feel the gush of relief that he understood she hadn’t been an active player in the scene he’d just witnessed. She guessed he was asking if she’d managed the software upload, and she gave him just the slight nod in answer. Though almost indiscernible, Emily could see the relief course through his body, and she felt her own body relax with his.
She bit back a smile, suddenly able to move past the fear and revulsion she’d felt when Ron was touching her, holding her, and felt the pride and satisfaction that she’d done what she needed to do. Now the FBI would have enough to take him down and put him in prison for what she hoped would be a long, long time. She also hoped that while he was there he’d be abused the way he obviously either wanted or had done to other women.
Vivienne, always the Southern lady, broke the tension in the room. “Well, I think we can all see that this room just won’t work for the weddin’, so shall we move on? I can have Flora bring out some fresh sweet tea for us all, so we can freshen up.”
Emily appreciated the interruption, and the offer, but was ready to leave.
“Thank you, Vivienne, but I have to decline. I have everything I need from here, and I really must get back to the office to finish the preparations. Thank you so much for the refreshments earlier, and for opening your house for this event. It’s just lovely here, and I know we can make it a beautiful and memorable evening.”
Emily felt a little sad that the wedding wouldn’t actually happen. It really would have been gorgeous.
“Of course, darlin’,” Vivienne replied. “I’m happy to help however I can.” She smiled serenely at Emily, though there seemed to be more meaning to her smile than just pleasantness. Was it just Emily’s imagination? Probably. She was still coming down from the adrenaline high of planting the software and almost being caught, and she was sure she was overly sensitive about everything.
Chapter Eighteen
Though Ethan and Charlotte had arrived together, as they were leaving, Ethan handed the car keys to Charlotte and asked if she’d mind driving herself home. He could come by later for his car. Charlotte agreed with a knowing look, and a wink at Emily. Before leaving, she folded Emily into a warm hug.
“Thank you, Emily, so, so much!” she gushed. “I just can’t believe how close we are to getting this guy and saving my mom. And hopefully getting some retribution for all those other poor women he tricked. You have done so much more than anyone could have expected of you, and so thank you.” With that, Charlotte flounced off.
“You coming with me, then?” she asked Ethan, though the answer was certainly obvious.
“I sure hope so,” he replied with a sexy grin. God, that smile got her weak in the knees every time she saw it. She could imagine…actually, she could remember, exactly the way that smile felt on her skin, in her most sensitive spots. Her clit throbbed with the memory of the wicked things he could do to it with his fingers and the promise of what he might do with his mouth and his tongue.
“Let’s go, then.” Adrenaline was still coursing through her, though she sensed the crash was coming. The memory of Gaines’s hands on her sent a shudder of fear through her, and she absently rubbed her wrist. Ethan’s eyes followed her action and his eyes narrowed in anger. He gently took her hand and caressed the skin, already mottled red and purple with the developing bruise.
“He hurt you.” The statement came as a growl.
“No, not really. He couldn’t. There were too many people around. There was you.”
Ethan’s eyes remained troubled and Emily feared he would rush back in and assault Ron. She tried to lighten the mood.
“And you told me you were nothing like Prince Charming. But still you rescued me,” she smiled up at him, and batted her eyelashes with exaggeration.
“I could kill him for laying a hand on you.”
“I know, but I survived. I’m not hurt. This,” she indicated her wrist, “is nothing. He did worse to all those women and now we…I mean you…have a chance to stop him.” Emily worried about how invested she had already become in this investigation. She also worried about how safe she had felt when Ethan walked into the room when she was trapped with Ron, how she’d actually been counting on him to rescue her. It reminded her that she was losing focus on keeping her defenses up. She couldn’t let herself depend on him. She’d seen how that turned out with her parents, and she was committed to protecting herself from that hurt.
Ethan still held her, and his thumb was drawing whisper-soft circles on the inside of her wrist. When he pressed gently on the pulse point, her heart leaped in response. He turned her hand in his so their fingers were intertwined, and it was such a sweet gesture, Emily thought she might cry. It was more kindness she didn’t want to get used to. At that moment, however, with all the excitement and emotions, Emily allowed herself to fall into Ethan’s body when he tugged her gently toward him. His arms surrounded her, solid and comforting at first. But as Emily registered his own rapid heartbeat thudding against her chest and the hard strength of his body on hers, she felt hers quicken in response and a new set of feelings wash over her.
“Can you drive?” she asked, suddenly unsure if she’d be able to focus on driving enough to keep them from crashing.
His response was to pluck the keys from her hand and then settle her into the passenger seat. After sliding behind the wheel, he started the car, and as he pulled away, he looked over at her, his voice equally gravely when he said, “I like to be the driver. I like to be in control. Do you like that, too, Emily? Do you like to let go and let someone else do the steering?”
Emily caught his double meaning, and answered honestly. “Sometimes I do. Sometimes I like to let go of it all, and sometimes I like to be on top. It changes with my mood.”
“What’s your mood saying now?”
“Right now?” Emily paused, considering. She was still feeling residual fear from her encounter inside, and she was confused about how to navigate her relationship with Ethan. But there was also a more immediate need that was growing inside her, and she decided that was the one she would focus on. “It’s saying hurry the fuck up because I can’t stop myself from touching you for more than about two more seconds.”
“Damn, Emily,” Ethan growled. “I like it when you talk dirty. You see what it’s doing to me?” Ethan shifted in the seat, and Emily noticed the growing bulge in his pants. She swallowed, her breaths becoming raspy with anticipation, her panties growing moist with arousal.
“Pull the fuck over. Now,” she demanded between clenched teeth. Any longer and she was going to come just from thinking about Ethan and his hard cock, pounding inside of her.
“Yes, ma’am,” Ethan agreed with ease, but Emily could see the tension he shielded in the hard set of his jaw, and his rock hard erection straining against his crotch was an admittance that he was just as turned on as she was.
He screeched the car to a stop on a quiet road. A few houses were tucked back behind large green lawns and drooping willows affording them some degree of privacy. It brought back memories of the last time Emily had been alone in a car with Ethan and how hot that had been before he’d denied her any satisfaction. She wasn’t about to let that happen again.
While Ethan was still pulling over and putting the car in park, Emily unsnapped her seatbelt and vaulted herself across the center console until she was straddling his lap. Not wasting any time, she ground her pelvis into his cock, moaning at the friction and pleasure it gave her clit, She pressed into him hard, and
he answered with a deep moan of his own, and a shattered gasp of her name.
“I can’t wait,” she gasped at him. “Now. Please. I need you now.”
He didn’t need the pleas. He had pushed up her shirt and dragged her bra down to expose her breasts, and was sucking greedily at her nipples. His hands squeezed her breasts, hard, and his mouth moved from one to the other as if he were starving and the ripe berries were all that could satisfy his hunger. Her skirt had ridden up to her waist, and as Emily writhed against him, he moved one hand down to stroke her through her panties. When his fingers slid under the thin silky fabric, Emily nearly came right then. But she wanted more this time. She needed to be filled by him.
Emily fumbled clumsily with his belt buckle, loosening it just enough for her to undo the button at the top of his pants and slide down the zipper.
“Fuck, Emily, what are you doing to me?” Ethan groaned as her fingers brushed the hard length of him. She silenced him by bringing her mouth to his, crushing it to hers, nipping at his bottom lip with her teeth.
Impatient for him, she freed him from his shorts and enfolded him in her hand, stroking his huge cock. She smiled at his sharp intake of breath.
“Emily, do that again and I won’t be able to hold back. Your touch feels so fucking good, but there’s somewhere I think you’d rather me be right now.”
“Stop talking,” Emily demanded, biting at his lip again, not gently.
She pushed her panties aside, vaguely noted that they were as wet as she imagined they’d be, and then sunk down on top of him, taking his cock deep into her.
She groaned at the insane amount of pleasure it gave her even as she lifted herself off him before sinking down again. Harder this time. Taking in even more of him.
“Condom.” he bit out.
Emily ground onto him. “Pill,” she managed back, adding, “Clean. You?”
“Clean,” he panted, lifting his hips up to hers, trying to set the pace. Emily pulled herself off him and shook her head at him. “Uh-uh, I’m driving now.”
Private Engagement Page 16