It was easy to see that every garment she wore was made exclusively for her form. And as he came from a world of couture, and had friends whose business it was to know the latest fashion trends, he certainly had enough knowledge about women’s fashion to know she’d be in high demand once the public got a chance to see what she did. Once she’d expressed her desire to put together a show for Fashion Week in a couple of years, it had sparked a fire in him.
That burning need to please her was one of the reasons he hadn’t been able to sleep last night. He wanted to help her. To speed up the process for her. And he couldn’t wait to tell her what he had in mind, but he wouldn’t. Not yet anyway. He’d wait. Give her time to finish school. Give himself time to put together his art show with her as the central theme. Then give them both time to see just where this intense need he had for her went.
The alert that indicated someone had arrived on this floor went off and his heart kicked up a beat. He met her at the door, and, as always, was struck dumb by her loveliness. Grinning, her pulled her inside, shut the door, and took her into his arms for a long, deep kiss.
Once he was temporarily satisfied with her taste, he loosened his hold. “Hi, gorgeous.”
Rose’s dimpled smile radiated happiness. “Hi, yourself. You taste like strawberries.”
Phillip took her and hand and led her to the kitchen. “Look what I have here.”
She looked over the array of fruits then glanced up at him. “It’s lovely. And smells yummy. But it looks more like a work of art than a snack, so what are we going to do with it?”
Phillip lifted the pallet, placed his thumb in the hole as he would if he were painting and placed his arm over her shoulder to snuggle her close as he walked them to the studio. He released Rose, took a plump strawberry from the assortment, and placed it at her lips. She opened her mouth, took a large bite, then moaned in appreciation.
“Yeah, I know. Come on out here. I want to paint you on my new favorite chair, and we’ll see just what kinda fun we can have with this fruit.”
She followed him out, returning to the chair they’d made love in the night before. “Why do I get the feeling this is gonna get kinky?”
Surprised that her mind was heading in that direction, he looked at her closely. “Unless I missed something, yesterday was a first for you.”
Laughter gleamed from her eyes. “You missed nothing.”
“And today you’re thinking along the lines of kinky?”
With a smile so big it showed nearly all her teeth, Rose moved closer and took a raspberry from his pallet. She lifted it to his lips. “Maybe. I’m thinking it might be fun to catch up. I’m so far behind on all this sex stuff. That is, if you’re up for it.”
Phillip sat the pallet on the table between the two lounges. “Oh, gorgeous, I can guarantee to be up for it. You tell me what you want. I am totally at your service.”
Rose’s glance slid to the tray of fruit then back to him. “I want you to rub whatever you like best all over me, then lick it off.”
Just like that and he was a rock. He loved that she was telling him exactly what she wanted. Games were more fun when you didn’t have to guess. “Then let’s get naked.”
Laughing, Rose stripped in seconds, leaving him breathless with amusement and desire. The woman was shameless and he wouldn’t have her any other way. He removed his own clothing slower, enjoying that she never took her eyes off of him. His breath caught when she moved forward and cupped his balls in her palm, squeezed gently, then released them to grasp his aching shaft. She slid her tight fingers over it, taking his breath.
Phillip removed her hand and gently placed her on the chaise then pulled the fruit closer. Teasing her lips with another strawberry, he held it so she could only take one small nip of its tip before placing his own lips on hers so that they shared the taste of the fruit while enjoying the taste of each other. He pulled back slightly to run it over the skin between her high, round, breasts, then lapped it up with his tongue.
Her quickly inhaled breath was satisfying, a sound he wanted to hear time and again. He ran the fruit from one breast to the other, circling each dark areola before repeating the motion over the tight buds at their center. Again he tasted, licked, nibbled, and chuckled when she squirmed. “Had enough?”
Rose pulled his head up and met his lips with her own. What started as a tentative exploration turned dark and daring, making Phillip ache with a need so intense it nearly hurt. He pulled her closer, fighting the need to cover her, enter her, and bring his desire to release. But this was for her. Her pleasure. Her fantasies.
“Kiwi,” Phillip all but shouted, needing to break away or take her then and there.
With befuddled eyes, Rose stared back at him. “What?”
“The kiwi. I want to taste the kiwi on you. And the peaches. And everything else.” He grasped the halved fruits, smashing them as he bathed her from neck to navel, his mouth following each area in full assault as she laid back, eyes closed, mouth lax with labored breaths, and allowed him to feast on her.
His fingers were saturated with the sweet fruit juices as he slid them further towards the thin line of hair covering her sex from his view. He parted her thighs, dropped the fruit to the terrace floor, and dipped his finger into her already moist, tight opening.
A moan tore from her throat, then increased in volume when his lips, gently nibbling teeth, and long tongue joined those fingers. He loved the smells, fruit and woman, woman and fruit, and feasted like a man starved.
Rose pulled away but he stopped her escape by sliding his hands under her thighs, grasping her hips, and pulling her back, closer. Feminine whimpers were music to his ears, like sonnets praising paradise. He had never been so into devouring a woman, wanting to please her, wanting to make her scream. When Rose finally did, as spasms wracked her entire body, he released her, crawled atop her, and slid into her so he could share in each magical vibration radiating throughout her body.
“You make me forget myself!” he groaned, pulling out before he spilled himself into her. With a clenched jaw, and curses screaming silently in his mind, he held on, determined to control himself. But Rose had other ideas. She grasped him, holding him hard, using the moisture still covering his penis to stroke him between their bodies.
“I can only take so much,” he whispered.
Rose pushed at his chest as she continued to stroke him, causing Phillip to stumble back. She rose to meet him, slid her tongue into his mouth for a brief hot kiss, before dropping to her knees and taking the long length of him into her mouth.
“Augh!” Phillip shouted, unable to hold on any longer. He jerked forward with the strength of his ejaculation, nearly knocking Rose backwards, but she held him in place, continuing to suckle, until he was spent, both literally and figuratively. He slid down to join her on the flagstone where they lay side by side, panting.
Finally he mustered the strength to look over at her. “You are way too good at this.”
Rose laughed, her blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “And I’m only getting started.”
Chapter Twelve
Memories of trying all the fruit juices on each other, followed by delivered take-out Chinese that led to playing with each other over noodles, followed by his making love to her in his bed, warmed her so much Aurora could hardly focus on Aunt Juniper’s lecture.
She’d made it home way past the aunts’ bed times, deliberately, but they were all up, and all in a tizzy. Pressing her lips together to keep from shouting, “Shut-up and leave me alone,” she sat silently. Finally Aunt Juniper was winding down.
“So, what do you have to say for yourself?”
Aurora stood and faced the aunts. She was truly an adult now. Spending time with Phillip had taken care of any lingering childishness she had once harbored. It was time to really take a stand. Besides, she was almost certain she was in love with him. And just as certain he felt the same. “I love you. All three of you.” She looked from one aunt to the n
ext, then the next. “But I’m moving out.”
At their gasps, she held up her hand. “Please. Hear me out.” After looking at each other, they turned their attention back to her, but remained silent. “I am going to be twenty-one years old in a matter of weeks. I’m nearly finished with my education. I have a boyfriend.”
“WHAT!” they all shouted at once.
Suddenly the aunts were up, grasping her arms, and pulling her towards the couch. Startled by both their actions and their strength, she allowed them to push her onto the firm cushions. “What are you doing?” she asked, angry and hurt by their actions.
“Enough!” Aunt Riona commanded. “That is enough! We have not protected you all your life to have you make a major mistake weeks before you come into your own!”
“That’s right,” agreed Aunt Millie.
“Darn tootin!” added Aunt Juniper.
Aurora looked at each in turn unsure what to say. “What do you mean? Come into my own?”
“Darn-it, Millie, you’d better tell her. I’m so mad right now I can’t. A boyfriend! Psh!”
Turning from Aunt Riona, Aurora focused on Aunt Millie. The sweetest of the three took a Queen Anne chair across from her, delicately overlapped the ends of her robe, and clasped her hands together.
“My dear, we’ve been talking about it all evening and agree it’s time you knew everything, otherwise you may make a terrible mistake.”
“What are you talking about?”
Millie looked to each of the aunts before turning her attention back to Aurora. “There is no easy way to tell this, but I will try. From the time of your birth, until now, you have been under the protection of Phillip Princeton, of Princeton Enterprises. He was a dear friend of your father’s and is your godfather, and executor of your estate. Until the day you turn twenty-one. On that date you take possession of your birthright. You are the sole heiress of the DeLaCourt estate.”
Aurora stared at Millie, too stunned to move. There were so many questions flooding her brain, yet none could find their way to her mouth. She glanced from Aunt Millie to Aunt Riona, to Aunt Juniper. Each had a guilty look on their faces. It gave her a thought. One she could voice. “And your part in all this?” she asked, glancing at them again. They had been mother, father, safe haven and prison guards her entire life. But suddenly she wondered if she knew them at all.
“We were hired to care for you as an infant. We are triplets who moved back in together after we buried our husbands. Mr. Phillip hired us with the expectation that we would be able to care for you around the clock, in obscurity, until you started school. But by then you thought of us as family and we all thought it best that we stay on until you were able to understand.”
Anger collided with the confusion. “Understand? Understand what! That my entire life is a lie? That the people I trust most in the world have consistently lied to me from my earliest memory? And who does this Phillip Princeton think he is? Where was he all these years? And why the hell have you never told me all this before?”
Aurora jumped to her feet as tears ran rivers down her cheeks. “Who the hell am I and what the hell happened to my parents?” She looked at the strangers staring back at her. “Dammit! Somebody better start talking!”
“Aurora!” Juniper snapped. “Watch your language, young lady. You were raised better than that.”
Ready to snap back, Aurora opened her mouth, then closed it. Aunt J was right. She had been raised better than that, but she wasn’t letting them off the hook. “You said I needed to know everything. Tell me about my parents.”
Aunt Millie took her hand, awaited her acceptance, then led her back to the couch. Once they were seated, Millie took a deep breath, then began. “You were just an infant. Newly baptized. The apple of your mother and father’s eyes. Your father was Jorge DeLaCourt.” At Aurora’s gasp the old woman nodded and patted her hand. “Yes, dear. The man you have always admired at college is your sire.”
Tears filled her eyes. How many times had she stared at the large portrait hanging in the main rotunda, as she’d passed through going from class to class, wondering what it would have been like to have known such a great man and such a lovely woman? “My parents? Why was I never told? What happened to them? It’s always been a mystery. But you know, don’t you?”
Aunt Millie nodded. “It all started long before you were born but came to a head the day you were baptized as an infant. Mr. DeLaCourt’s father, your paternal grandfather, had two sons according to a woman named Elvira Maleficent. She was a wicked woman who had a horrible drug habit. She abused drugs so much that it distorted her looks early in her life and caused severe damage to the child she carried, a child she claimed your grandfather, Hammond, sired. Your grandfather denied her claims of a relationship and denied the child was his own. It’s been said it drove her over the edge.
“She was truly wicked, child. Mean as a snake. Some think the drugs did it to her, but who knows? I don’t know that anyone ever knew her before she abused them. How your grandfather got hooked up with her, I’ll never know.
“Then he met and married your grandmother and had your father. Hammond DeLaCourt was a tough man who knew what he wanted and he knew how to make money. He indulged himself in both. Once your father came of age and proved himself as savvy as his sire, Hammond was ready to pass the reins and enjoy his last years traveling abroad until his death a month before you were born.”
Millie glanced at her oldest sister. “Would you get me a water, dear? The telling is making my dentures dry.” Aunt Juniper left the room as quickly as she could and Aurora understood without being told that the story wouldn’t resume until she returned. Once Millie had her water, she sat it by her side and cleared her throat.
“Uhmm. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, Hammond died. And you were being baptized. And that woman, who no one knew about at the time, showed up, screaming about destroying your family, just like Hammond had destroyed hers and her son’s.”
Tears filled her eyes and she took Aurora’s hand into her own soft hands. “And she did. To an extent anyway. Once the baptism service was over your parents and their friends were all leaving the church for a fine reception at the DeLaCourt’s Manhattan home. You were still inside the church with your nanny as you needed a diaper change.
“That woman had been thrown out of the church after making a terrible scene but she hadn’t left. She was just outside, waiting at the bottom of the stairs. She had a gun. And she opened fire just as soon as your parents were close enough for her to hit them.”
Aurora held tightly to Aunt Millie’s hand. This was worse than anything she had ever fantasized about as a child. No wonder the aunts had refused to tell her when she was younger. “She killed them.”
Millie nodded. “Yes, dear. She did. In her rage, she revealed who she was and who she believed her son to be, but she was so crazed that by the time the police arrived they took her to a mental hospital rather than jail. After a short trial, where she never denied her actions, she was sentenced to twenty years in a metal institution.” A frown furrowed Millie’s brows. “She was released six months later because her son needed full time care and the court system said she had been rehabilitated.”
Aurora shook her head. “No! Six months? She only served six months?”
Nodding, Millie continued, “Yes. After that, Phillip Princeton knew he had to hide you. Change your name so you couldn’t be found. And stay away from you in case that woman used him to get to you. Up to that point he and his wife were going to raise you until you could take your place as the sole heir to the DeLaCourt empire.”
Aurora shook her head. It was all too much to take in. Her parents had died a terrible, violent death. They had been know as the Golden Couple, a moniker that stuck, as they were still revered by the students who were blessed enough to get to attend the college her father had built.
Her father.
Tears started and built to a hard rain as wracking sobs overtook her body. The aunts gathered
close, huddling around her in solidarity and protection, though now they could no longer protect her from the truth. Endless minutes passed as they held each other, the older women with silent tears, the younger one a torrential storm of emotion. Moans rent Aurora’s throat as the magnitude of what she’d lost pounded at her broken heart. Her whole life had been stolen by a selfish, mean woman who had never been made to pay for her sins. Eventually the tears slowed as hiccups collapsed her chest over and over. Finally she hugged the aunts tightly before pulling herself free.
There was so much to think about. So much to absorb. Phillip. Oh, good Lord! Phillip. Sweet, sexy, loving, free-spirited Phillip couldn’t be brought into this. If that woman was still out there, just waiting for her to surface when she came into her inheritance, then she’d have to hire body guards, would always be looking over her shoulders, maybe even be forced into a world of chaos.
No, she could never do that to him.
The tears started again. Her loses weren’t over yet.
Chapter Thirteen
“There you are!”
Aurora shook her head in frustration. The last thing she needed today was the pest. All she wanted to do was go see Phillip one last time. Then she had an appointment with the man who had invisibly orchestrated her entire life.
She didn’t exactly feel anger towards Phillip Princeton. Mostly she felt ambivalence. About pretty much everything right now. It was like having a cocoon of numbness wrapped around her. Her vision was even a little foggy as nothing had sharp edges. It was like walking through a cotton candy tunnel. Nothing touched her. Nothing mattered.
“Hey! I’m talking to you!”
Aurora stopped as the girl’s anger finally penetrated. She turned to find Tina approaching with hurried, angry steps. “Too good to talk to me?”
Unforgettable Heroes Boxed Set Page 57