by Nina Pierce
Leaning forward, Damon sucked her pearled nipple into the wet heat of his mouth. Tiny sparks of pleasure shot out to her fingers and toes. She wanted to give into this, to lose herself once again in his masterful seduction. But the tattoo on his left shoulder, staring up at her, demanded her attention.
She’d immersed herself in Damon’s lovemaking, wanting more of what he’d been offering, refusing to acknowledge the very real possibility that Damon was the man on the tape with Jason. Damon had set her body on fire proving over and over again that he knew his way around a woman’s erogenous zones. And though it made no sense, Julie couldn’t keep pretending it wasn’t feasible that this man with the talented tongue wasn’t also Jason’s lover. Her stomach clenched once again, not with the salacious abandon of desire, but with the very real possibility that Damon knew a hell of a lot more about her best friend than he was letting on.
She should just stop this fiasco and not let her heart cloud her thinking. Heads needed to be clear to work through a puzzle. But the heat of Damon’s lips on her skin sent currents of desire straight to her pleasure centers, turning her brain cells to mush. She should be asking him about the tattoo—not thinking about the way his body fit so naturally with hers.
“Hey, yoo-hoo, Julie.” Damon waved a hand in front of her eyes.
She hadn’t been aware that he’d stopped kissing her breast.
“Where’d you go?” he asked.
Ignoring the nervous tremble of her lips, Julie forced her mouth into some sort of a smile. “I don’t suppose a nice guy like you has any horrible relationship stories.”
“I’m male. We always have horrible relationship stories. You definitely don’t want to hear mine.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and plowed his fingers through his hair.
She spun to her knees and leaned against his back, snuggling into his neck. “I just can’t imagine you leading anyone on then breaking their hearts. You seem like a pretty stand-up guy to me.”
“People aren’t always who they seem, Julie. Including me. There aren’t many guys I know who don’t have something illicit in their past that they regret.” He laughed with obvious disdain. “But I probably have more than most.”
Did she really want to know if this man who had loved her over the past several hours had also had an affair with her best friend? Damon’s actions didn’t feel like an act to uncover information. But perhaps the seduction thing was a means to that end. He had been unusually curious about the contents of the box after all.
“Sounds like you just had your share of fun. Come on, dish.” She continued to press him.
“Let’s just say my college years weren’t fertile soil for establishing good morals and leave it at that.” His clipped tone brooked no more questions on the subject. “Aren’t we trying to figure out what all this has to do with Jason?” He turned back to the contents of the box behind them.
His abrupt change in subject surprised her. Disappointment and confusion weighed down her shoulders. Maybe Damon did have something to do with Jason. She leaned back, hoping the distance would clear her head. “Do you really think there are clues buried in here?”
Damon picked up a couple of photographs. “I’m not sure we’re going to come to a different conclusion from the police, but we should probably go through all of this again. Elvis must have given it to you for a reason.”
“No, you’re right.” Julie rolled away from Damon and sat cross-legged once again, staring at the jumble of things in front of her. Until she understood how Damon, Jason and Elvis were connected—and she did believe they all knew each other—she would troll the waters of Damon’s sexual past with caution. No sense baiting a shark without the right equipment to catch him.
“Okay, here’s what I know,” she said. “Jason was finishing up his medical internship. He had every intention of coming back to Delmont to take over his father’s private practice. He was excited about that. He told me. Why would he suddenly feel like he had nothing to live for? I don’t understand why everyone thinks that was possible.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Jules. There sure as hell doesn’t seem to be a smoking gun in here.” Damon shuffled around the photos. “You didn’t happen to find a tape or anything?”
Julie choked on her incredulity. “Why would you ask that?”
Damon looked at her and made a peace sign with both hands, shaking his head side to side. “I am not a crook.” He laughed. “You know…Nixon and the Watergate tapes?”
She breathed deeply, trying to still her hammering heart. It was a joke. “This isn’t funny, Damon. My friend’s dead. The box is marked ‘Tilling’. Jason wanted my family to have this stuff. But why Elvis grabbed it from Jason’s condo the night he died is beyond me.”
“Maybe you’re not the only one who thinks something’s just a little off about this.” Damon’s brows furrowed with concentration. “Obviously, Elvis thought someone might find something in this junk. Though I don’t know how old pictures and a yearbook will offer any clues.” Mischief lifted the corners of Damon’s mouth. “I bet you’re in here somewhere.” He began leafing through the book’s pages, but Julie snatched it away before he got too far.
“Don’t you dare.” She held the yearbook at arm’s length. “I don’t know you well enough to expose that part of myself to you.”
Instead of grabbing the yearbook, he nuzzled her shoulder. “I’m thinking you’ve exposed just about the most intimate parts of yourself, Miss Julie Tilling.”
She wanted to melt into this. Let his mouth bring her back to the blissful detachment of not thinking of anything but pleasure, but somehow she felt time slipping through her fingers. “Damon.” She bent and kissed the silky black of his hair. “We already said we shouldn’t get caught up in that.”
Undeterred, he nibbled his way to her neck and she laughed.
“Besides, it’s almost eleven, and I know my mother’s watching out the window to see when you leave. Notice the phone hasn’t rung once while you’ve been here.” It had been peaceful without her sisters chiming in to grill her about Damon.
Damon’s expression was serious when he lifted his head to meet her gaze, but humor glinted in his eyes. “They wouldn’t.”
“Oh, they would. And they do. When your motorcycle pulls out of here, the Tilling tag-team phone system goes into action. My sisters are just chomping at the bit to find out the juicy details. Now, focus. There’s no telling how long their patience will last. I really don’t want them calling while you’re still here.” She picked up the folded Mickey Mouse ears from the bed, no doubt a silly memento from Jason’s youth. “What can we glean from this stuff?” Opening them, she lifted them over her head, intent on putting them on, but she stopped when something rolled down her torso.
She picked up the prescription bottle that had fallen in her lap, rotating it to read the label. “Jason McCarty, Lithium, something, something, take one tablet twice daily.” Julie looked up at Damon. “Doc McCarty prescribed Lithium to my mum for depression a year or so ago.”
His features softened and a sad smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “Julie, maybe Jason was depressed, and he really did do this to himself.” His hand slid down her arm.
“I suppose…” Misery sagged her shoulders. “Maybe I can find out something from the prescribing physician.” Julie looked closely at the bottle. “It’s a Dr. Maura Wells.”
“What?”
She looked at him hopefully. “You know, talk to the physician.”
Damon took the bottle and confirmed what she’d just told him. “Well, shit. It was prescribed by Maura.” He dragged the name over his tongue as if tasting the repercussions.
“Do you know her?”
“She’s Elvis’ silent partner at Starry Knights.”
* * * *
Damon paced the carpet in Elvis’ office. After meeting Julie’s family earlier this afternoon, he’d had every intention of coming here tonight and collecting what was his from Elvis and
destroying it. He just hadn’t thought he’d be bringing this tantalizing woman with him and tangling her in his hornet’s nest.
But Julie was nothing if not determined. When he’d nonchalantly mentioned he was coming to Starry Knights after leaving her house, she’d insisted on joining him, even donning the black wig from last night. Now, he wasn’t sure how she was going to react to what would happen here.
Well, he’d just have to play the cards where they lay when everything came out.
His gaze caught hers and held, his heart squeezing at her discomfort. Julie’s brows furrowed as she shifted nervously on the chair where he’d put her. The couch was off-limits. There was no way in hell Elvis was getting another show. Anger twisted in Damon’s gut. He’d been so caught up in Julie last night that he’d forgotten about Elvis’ damn camera. And now he wasn’t sure if Julie would believe he hadn’t intentionally taped their love making for his own sordid pleasure.
Because if this day with Julie had proven anything, it’s that his feelings for the copper-haired beauty were deepening. What she thought of him definitely meant something. And if Julie refused to believe him about the tape he’d come to collect, well—that would be unacceptable.
He’d just have to convince her one way or another.
“Julie, Demon, what an unexpected pleasure.” Elvis strode into the room. “Have you come to do an encore performance, Demon? The DJ platform is always open to you, my friend.”
“I left Demon at home.” Damon held out his arms as proof. The faded jeans and T-shirt weren’t the Demon’s style. No one ever recognized him when he was clean-shaven, with his thick hair pulled back neatly in a ponytail, and the wire-framed glasses instead of his contacts. He had been grateful the Tilling clan hadn’t figured out his identity earlier. “I’m not sure you’re going to be too happy to see me when this is finished.” Damon was sure however, that Julie wouldn’t like what she was about to hear.
“Oh, my, Damon, that sounds ominous.” Elvis’ hand fluttered over his heart. His long legs carried him to the minibar in the corner of his office. “Perhaps I can get you both something before we get started?”
“I’ve come to collect what belongs to me,” Damon said, ignoring his feigned hospitality. “And ask you a couple of questions about Julie’s friend, Jason.”
“Ah, I assume you found some clues to Jason’s untimely death in the box I gave Julie last night?” Elvis asked innocently, his hand pausing only momentarily as he reached for a glass.
Julie stood and began pacing around the chair. Heavy sighs puffed her cheeks. The woman was restless, and Damon had no idea what had set her feet in motion.
Ice clinked precisely into the crystal glass Elvis held, clicking off the seconds of tension filling the room. “Yes, well, it is Saturday night, and I am very busy.” Elvis smiled, but it held no warmth. In all the time Damon had known the man, he’d never seen the contempt that contorted his face at this moment.
“You’ve got a few minutes to spare for a friend,” Damon said.
“Oh, is that what we are tonight, Damon? Friends?” Elvis stretched the word out of the sneer contorting his mouth. “From that tone, I’d thought we’d gone into business mode.” Elvis set the glass down and looked over at the woman wringing her hands. “Julie, did Damon happen to share with you the details of our relationship?”
“Elvis, now wait one Goddamn minute—”
“I take that as a ‘no’.” Elvis’ smile was venomous.
What the hell was going on? Damon had come here to talk to Elvis about Maura and Jason and collect the digital recording of him having sex with Julie. Having Julie found out how he knew Elvis wasn’t something he’d planned to have happen tonight.
“There’s no need to get into any of that shit,” Damon countered. “Julie’s got other things on her mind.”
Elvis’ smirk widened. “Oh now, now, Damon, I don’t think that’s true.”
Damon headed for Elvis, intent on strangling the man before he could get out another word, but Julie’s gasp stopped him mid-stride. The truth was going to come out whether Damon wanted it to or not. He should have told her the truth about his connections with Elvis when he had the opportunity tonight.
“I…I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Elvis.” Julie’s fingers worried her rings.
Elvis flashed a smug look at Damon. “No, I don’t suppose you do,” he said, splashing two fingers of gin over the ice and adding tonic water. His motions were slow and deliberate, dragging out the confusion until it stood between Damon and Julie like a wall.
“Julie…” Damon had no idea what to say to her. “Whatever he says—”
Elvis ignored Damon’s stammering. “Like she’s going to believe a word you say. A man intent on conquering a woman and adding her to his proverbial notched belt holds no credibility with someone as innocent as Julie.” Elvis sipped nonchalantly from the glass. “Has any of your pillow talk included the exploits of your college years, or does she know only the Damon side of you? Hmm?”
Damon shook his head. Elvis couldn’t possibly intend to betray his confidence this way. Tripping down memory lane with the owner of Starry Knights certainly wouldn’t bode well for his burgeoning relationship with Julie. He’d managed to pull her away from that line of questioning only hours ago. Now, it seemed Elvis was going to do the job he’d avoided. “Elvis that was a long time ago. Julie doesn’t want to know about foolish college-boy shit.”
Elvis arched one elegant brow. “Which shit are you referring to? The part where we were fraternity brothers sharing tats or frat brothers sharing bedmates?”
“You son of a bitch!” Damon lunged for Elvis.
“Stop it!” Julie forced herself between them. “Just stop it! Obviously, this office is filled with nothing but secrets.”
The fear and confusion sparking in her eyes cooled Damon’s rage. He let go of Elvis’ shirt. He hadn’t really intended to hurt the man. He only wanted to shut him up. There was no way in hell he wanted Elvis to share stories of their college years and warp any feelings Julie may have developed for him.
Elvis coughed and ran a shaky hand down his chest. “My, my, I always suspected you had a temper, Damon. But I didn’t really think you’d act on it.” Elvis carried his drink across the room, putting furniture between him and Damon.
“Damon, it doesn’t matter what he has to say. We’ll just leave.” Julie’s voice shook with emotion. Even as heat rose in currents off his body, Julie’s hand on his chest seared straight through the cotton fabric. Her gentle tone soothed the edges of his anger. “There’s nothing we need here, Damon.” Her gaze drilled into him as she spoke quietly through clenched teeth. “Nothing.”
Damon was beginning to wonder what she knew about this office. The hard set of her jaw led him to believe she too was keeping something hidden.
“But I thought you wanted to know about Jason.” Elvis set his glass on his desk and began unbuttoning his shirt with slow, meticulous motions.
Damon’s stomach churned. This is not how he wanted Julie to find out about his past.
“I’m pretty sure there’s some information that will help you, Julie,” Elvis continued. “Obviously, information Damon didn’t give you.”
“This has nothing to do with Jason,” Damon said. “I didn’t even know the man.”
“Oh, Damon, I’m not so sure of that at all.” The soft tufts of hair on Elvis’ chest were now exposed. His fingers continued manipulating the buttons, his eyes, burning hatred into Damon’s skin. “You see, Julie, Damon and I not only shared a frat in college, we shared the same taste in women and men. And I’ve wondered about Jason and my friend here for some time.”
“I never even met Jason,” Damon exclaimed.