by Taylor Lee
Jude just laughed at her struggles and tightened his hold. “Oh no you don’t, baby. If ever there was a naughty girl who needs to be spanked often and well, it’s you, Sprite.”
He landed a smack on her other cheek then rubbed the fiery spot with one big hand, heating it more. Drawling in her ear, his voice was raspy, thick with lust. “Jesus, Sky, do you have any idea how sexy your beautiful ass is, flaming rosy red?”
When he rained a flurry of smacks on her hot bottom, to her astonishment, a flood of erotic sensations drove her lust higher and higher. She cried out in ecstasy begging him not to stop. When she didn’t think that her bottom could get any hotter or that she could get any closer to yet another orgasm, he reached around her and found her clitoris. For the next several moments he played with her clit, alternating his probing fingers deep in her cunt with a crisp smack on her stinging bottom. As her excited cries rose in intensity, he flagrantly upped the ante. Running a wet finger around her anus, he teased the sensitive opening to her most private hole. When Jude pushed one, then two fingers deep up into her ass, Skylar gave into a screaming orgasm. As she came down from the shattering explosion, Jude rubbed her smarting bottom and drawled, “I’m glad you liked that, darlin’, because I’ve got all kinds of ideas about what I’m gonna do with this virgin ass of yours.”
Now hours later, as she laid beside him, at her involuntary shudder, Jude chuckled and pulled her closer to him. Nipping at her earlobe, he murmured, “I’m wondering which of the outrageous things I did to you last night caused that reaction.”
Skylar felt her cheeks flame, wondering if she’d moaned out loud. Pressing her heated cheek against his muscular chest, Sky gave into the fact that she was falling for this man in a way that she’d never believed she was capable of. Or more to the point, with a man who was so clearly out of her realm.
“Hey, what was that about, Squirt?”
She was horrified that in addition to everything else, Jude was also a mind reader. She wouldn’t be surprised. He could obviously read her body, why not her mind as well? Trying to deflect his question, she aimed for nonchalance. “What was what about? I…” She gave up, afraid that she might say something to telegraph her concerns.
Jude nuzzled her neck and laughed when she squealed at his tickling touch. “I liked those quiet little sighs and shivers rolling off of that expressive body of yours for the last ten minutes. I’m not so sure about that last shudder.” He added more seriously, “I don’t want you to have second thoughts about anything that we did last night or that we are going to do, Skylar. I gotta warn you, Squirt. If I think you’re going in that direction I’ll have to step in and remedy that.”
With an effort Sky managed to inject a bit of sauciness into her retort. “And how might you do that, accomplished one?”
“Why, honey, there’s only one way that I know how to quiet that busy brain of yours. Only this time I think I’ll bind your hands and feet—spread-eagle you on the bed.” At her outraged shriek he laughed. “Oh yeah, and this time I’ll blindfold you so that you won’t know what I’m gonna do next.”
Jude held her squirming body next to his, not letting her pull away. He knew that she had to be questioning all the things they’d done last night. Christ, he was as well, and he was a thousand times more experienced than she was. But it wasn’t the things he’d done to her that surprised him. Hell no. He’d done all of those things and a hell of a lot more in a lifetime of hot sex with countless women. No, what had surprised him was her reaction. He’d been with responsive women before, but Sky was different. Knowing that she’d had zilch experience, she should have been horrified, frightened at his aggressive lovemaking, and no doubt she was. But she was also excited, open, and begging for more.
Jude admitted that even more surprising than her response to him was his reaction to her. To say that she blew his mind and his body was an understatement. There was something about her innocence combined with her sheer joy and excitement that challenged and excited the hell out of him. He’d reached a level of ecstasy that he had never known. It was as if he could not get enough of her. It should have scared him, but instead it energized him. Already, his randy mind and body were racing with thoughts and ideas of what he would do to her and with her tonight and every night he could get his hands on her.
Knowing she must be having second thoughts, Jude decided he needed to address her concerns head on, or better yet through a side entrance. Jared’s chilling litany of the ways that Sky’s father had dominated and controlled her life made her response to him even more surprising. It also meant that she had to be struggling with the conflicting thoughts that had ruled her life. He snuggled her closer to him and asked a seemingly unrelated question. “You mentioned your Ana Sui dress, Sky. The one that brought me to my knees, but your father didn’t like. Did he choose your clothes?”
Sky laughed. “He tried to. When I was younger he succeeded. When I was sixteen years old I looked like a forty-five-year-old spinster librarian. I had long stringy hair, sturdy shoes, and always wore the shapeless plaid skirts and boxy jackets he bought for me.” She snorted. “He made me into a feminine replica of himself right down to his tweed jacket. And I acted that way.”
“What changed?”
She hesitated and frowned. “I did.” After a moment of thoughtful silence she added with a shrug, “I went through puberty and decided I wanted more out of life than being Morton Hughes’s daughter.”
“That’s when you started choosing your own clothes?”
“To a certain extent. I still wore hideous librarian clothes for the most part, but started branching out. Or as my father said, I started becoming a rebellious teenager. He could handle my pants and t-shirts, barely. But the biggest sin I could commit was looking like her.”
Though he knew the answer, Jude pretended ignorance. “Her?”
“My mother.”
“Hmm. And that was a problem because…?”
Sky tossed her head and said matter-of-factly, “According to my father, she was a harlot.”
“Was she?”
“I don’t know. I never saw her after she left us. I had just turned four.” After a short pause, she said, “My grandmother said she wasn’t. She showed me a picture of her. She…she looked a lot like me, only more beautiful than you can imagine.”
“Hmm, she must have been extraordinarily beautiful if she looked like you.” When she didn’t answer, he added, “Is your mother alive?”
“Yes, but my grandmother said it was better if we didn’t try to see each other. I agreed. We both know what my father would do to her.”
“Does your father know that your grandmother reached out to you?”
“No, and he never will. He would make her and my mother pay for it.”
“How?”
“In the way that he does everything. First, he would shame her for leaving me. Even though I’m sure that he made it impossible for her to stay. Then he’d tell her she didn’t deserve to have a daughter like me. That she wasn’t smart enough or clever enough, that she cared about common things like clothes and looking pretty, et cetera.” Sky hesitated then sighed. “In truth? She didn’t deserve a daughter like me. Why on earth would any mother want a daughter that was a miniature Morton Hughes?”
Jude let the silence stand for a long moment, then pushed forward. “Is that how he acted toward men who showed an interest in you?”
Sky snorted. “What men? My father taught me from an early age that only men who were as smart as he was would appreciate me. Which was his way of saying that no man would be interested in me.”
“What about lovers?”
“God forbid. He made it clear that men who were interested in baser issues would never choose me.”
“But you did have lovers.”
“A couple. I’d just turned twenty-one, and learned that Scotch would make me less shy. Frankly, it was disappointing. Both of the men I slept with were truly one-night stands, meaning that they never ask
ed me out again. That was when I decided that my father was right. I was a brainy, sexless freak. Sexy men, real men, would never choose me.”
“So you wore your glasses and the clothes that you do, to make sure they didn’t?”
She glared at him, then stuck out her lip and said tartly, “Well I did cut my hair, and bought sexy underwear. Dammit, I even tattooed my ass. And…I do have a vibrator.”
Jude roared with laughter then laid her on her back and pulled down the sheet, exposing her naked body.
“And now you have a bare pussy. And me!”
***
After making love to her for another hour, then again in the shower, Jude glanced at his watch. “Damn, darlin’. Where the hell did the time go? God, I feel as though I just picked you up and got to see your 485 for the first time. Which reminds me, let’s agree that we’ll be using your car to get back here tonight. That way I can spend my day deciding which I lust after more—your sexy body or your sexy car.”
At her mock-aggrieved frown, Jude pulled her next to him. “Honey, it’s not even close. Compared to its owner, that sexy car has miles to go before it can begin to be as exciting as you are.”
Skylar nodded as she held out her keys. “Good response, Detective. And yes, you may drive us to the precinct.”
Jude whooped with laughter and reached for the keys. As they neared the station, he gave a hard sigh. “Nothing like getting back to real life. Let’s face it, Sky, in our world the human drama never ends. We’ve got another door to close, Squirt. I had a call from Charlie Berkley’s sister. She insists that she needs to see me. I agreed. It’s time that poor family knows how their son and brother died.”
Chapter 27
“Excuse me, Jude. Mrs. Berkley, Charlie’s mother, and sister Shirley Martinson are here. I showed them into the conference room.”
Jude rose to his feet, scrubbing at the knots in the back of his neck with a hearty sigh.
“Thanks, Bernice. Skylar and I will be there in a moment. In the meantime, please see that they have water and—”
Bernice interrupted him, “I already offered but they refused. I dunno, Detective. I think you might consider dragging out your flak jacket and a jock cup. Mrs. Berkley is upset, but Shirley? That is one angry, pissed-off woman. She’s loaded for bear and then some.”
Jude shrugged and winked at Skylar. “That’s one of the reasons I’m bringing the squirt with me. But thanks for the heads up, Bernice.”
***
Seeing the two women sitting at the conference table, Skylar sucked in a deep breath. Bernice hadn’t exaggerated. The older woman, who had to be Charlie’s mother, was clearly grief-stricken. Her face was blotchy, haggard. Her red-rimmed eyes were swollen, testifying to the tears in her bleary eyes. She clutched a sodden handkerchief in her hand, but didn’t bother to swipe at her looming tears when Sky and Jude walked in.
In contrast to her mother’s tortured appearance, Charlie’s sister’s expression was hard, combative. Her eyes flashed dangerously when Jude greeted them.
“Good morning, Mrs. Berkley, Ms. Martinson. I’m sorry as hell that we’re meeting like this. I’m Detective Jude Justice, and am heading up the investigation in your son’s and brother’s death. This—”
Before he could introduce Skylar, Shirley Martinson jolted out of her chair. Slamming her hands on the edge of the table, she leaned forward, bright scarlet splotches flaming on her pasty cheeks. “I don’t give a flying fuck who she is, Detective Justice. And it isn’t as if I don’t know who you are. You’re one of the fucking Justice brothers. Powerful men who were out to railroad my brother for the murder of those goddamned fucking Parkers. Too bad for you, Detective, they got to Charlie first before you could accuse him of the murders. And just so you know, no one deserved to be killed more than that bitch Carol Parker, or her disgusting piece of shit husband. No one except maybe those three sick sisters, Alicia, Marion, and Charlotte.”
Mrs. Berkley put a restraining hand on Shirley’s arm, but the infuriated woman shoved at her mother’s hand, refusing to be stopped. “So, what are you going to do now, Detective? Tell me that my brother was drunk? Like the rest of those lying cops the rich bitches pay to lie for them? Tell me that the same brother who never drank more than two drinks was so drunk, he drove off the side of a cliff on a road that he’s driven since he learned how to drive? Is that what you’re going to tell me, big bad, know-it-all detective?”
Not responding to the irate woman’s tirade, Jude pulled out a chair across from Mrs. Berkley for Skylar and moved to the head of the table. He sat down and focused a stern gaze on Shirley. “Sit down.”
When she glared at him, her eyes storming with anger, he added quietly, “Now.”
He held her gaze, not allowing her to look away. After a long moment, the fuming woman expelled a noisy breath, and made a production of jerking her chair back, scraping it noisily across the tiled floor. With an exaggerated snort, she planted her generous backside onto the plastic chair and glared at Jude.
Skylar wasn’t surprised that the incensed woman obeyed Jude’s quiet command. She had seen thirty-year-veteran cops rush to obey when Jude so much as quirked a brow. And she was hardly the exception, given that all he had to do was turn that commanding gaze on her and a swarm of butterflies took up residence between her legs.
“Mrs. Berkley, Shirley, this is Skylar Hughes. She is an Intelligence Analyst with the Duluth PD. Ms. Hughes is partnering with me on the Parker investigation, which now includes the death of your son and brother.”
Allowing a heavy silence to settle over the room, Jude leaned forward. “Skylar is also the person who found irrefutable evidence that changed the focus of this case. Because of Ms. Hughes’s astute analysis, we are able to inform you that your brother was not drunk, and he did not miss that curve because he was intoxicated. Rather, our evidence proves conclusively that Charlie was murdered.”
Charlie’s mother cried out. “Oh my God! Oh my God! Charlie…Charlie was murdered? Why would anyone kill my boy?” Bursting into tears, she leaned against her daughter, crying uncontrollably.
Shirley wrapped one hefty arm around her mother, and turned in shock to Jude. “I don’t understand!” Her face was contorted with a mixture of pain and disbelief.
At Jude’s nod, Skylar spoke carefully. “I cannot begin to imagine how you feel. I will try to be as clear as I can, but please feel free to interrupt me at any point if you have questions.”
While the two women stared at her helplessly, tears streaming down their shocked faces, Skylar described her findings. She explained how acetone mimicked alcohol, and how in the wrong hands it could easily be mistaken for alcohol.
After Sky laid out her detailed analysis, Jude broke in, “We may have ultimately discovered that it was acetone and not alcohol that caused your son’s ‘accident’, but it was Ms. Hughes’s astute analysis that prevented a misinformed diagnosis. We all owe her a debt. We now know that someone planned to kill Charlie, and that he, or they, succeeded. Our task is to determine who that was—which is what we’re doing now.”
For a long moment, Mrs. Berkley’s watery sobs were the only sound in the otherwise silent room.
Jude turned to Shirley. A hard frown creased his brow. “You made some challenging accusations, Shirley. Specifically about the Parker family. I need to understand the basis of your allegations.”
Shirley glanced at her mother, then glared at Jude. But when she responded, her bluster was somewhat diminished. “I…didn’t exactly accuse them of anything, except for being weird.” She looked at Skylar, seeking her support. “Do you know what I’m talking about. You’ve seen families that are just plain sick. You know what I mean?”
Skylar nodded. “Yes, I’ve definitely seen families whose behavior is unusual, even strange. But I’m not sure what you are saying about the Parkers. Can you be more specific?”
Shirley looked at her mother, who looked away, nervously twisting her hands in her lap. The younger woman
raised her chin defiantly. “Someone needs to say it, Mother. And now that Charlie is dead—murdered—what do we care what those sisters do? How can they hurt us any more than they already have?”
Both Jude and Skylar were silent, waiting for the flustered woman to expound. She finally snorted and said, “Fine, I’m gonna say it just like I told Charlie. He said I was crazy, but I know I’m not—” A sob caught in her throat stopping her in midsentence.
Sky wasn’t sure she would continue, but Shirley straightened her shoulders and stuck out a belligerent lip. “I told him again and again. There wasn’t a chance in hell that he could ever work his way into that crazy family, no matter what Alicia said. There was one man, and one man only, for every damn one of those women, and that was Blake.”
Skylar frowned. “Do you mean because he’s their only brother, the only son in the family?”
“Yes, but it was more than that.”
Shirley and her mother looked searchingly at Jude and Sky, as if they weren’t sure how to make them understand.
Skylar exchanged a glance with Jude. At his imperceptible nod, she turned to both women and pursed her lips. “Help me out, Shirley. Before the murders, I met the Parker sisters at several social events, but never talked with any of them until the investigation. I did have a number of conversations with Blake, but I don’t know him well.” She nodded encouragingly to Shirley. “Tell me more about the relationship between Blake and his sisters. How is it different from what one would expect? He is the youngest of the four Parker children, correct?”
Obviously agitated, Shirley shook her head. “Yes, yes, he was the baby of the family, but it was much more than that. It was almost like…he was their child, or their…”
Shirley stopped in the middle of her sentence and looked to her mother, who refused to meet her daughter’s gaze.
Jude broke the silence. “Are you saying that their relationship was sexual? That he was their lover?”