Taking a deep breath I took the call. I reminded myself that I was doing this for Willow... for us. So that we both could be left in peace. I said nothing while he introduced himself as Finnegan. He had a slimy voice that made my skin crawl. I’d met hundreds of men like him inside. Psychopaths.
“We’ll send our guy over on Monday,” he slimed.
I felt my free hand clench into a fist, but my voice was quiet. “No.”
Willow might decide to come to the office, and I didn’t want her anywhere close to these bastards. Besides, I knew men like him and his lot. If you give them an inch, they will take a mile. As soon as I allow one person into my premises they’ll start to behave as if they own me and the business.
I laid out my own demand. “I work alone and I don’t want any of you hanging around here. I’ve made headway on the product, so in about a week I’ll meet with whomever you want wherever you want, and show you the ropes of how it works. And then we’ll be done. You just make sure it’s someone with a brain because I’m not going to repeat myself.”
“Sure, sure,” Slimy said.
I ended the call and turned to stare unseeingly out of the window. I didn’t trust that oily voice. “Sure, sure,” was always bad news. I already knew giving them a powerful vehicle to cheat the system would never be the end of it. It would just be the beginning. They would always want more and more until I got caught and sent back inside.
But even more than that I didn’t want to have another Ponzi system that ruined the lives of thousands of innocent people on my conscience. When I had created my first one I had been a naïve kid. I had actually believed Frank when he said it was simply a learning tool. A way for me to learn the ropes.
“Once you have created such a vehicle, you will understand exactly how the market works,” he said.
Well, he was right about that, it was indeed a great teacher, but the thing I’d created was so brilliant he sold it behind my back. The people he sold my monster to unleashed it on the public. Five years later, I read about my creation in the news. The thing had sucked millions into it, and it was called the worst scam in the history of the stock market.
That was the day I fell out with Frank.
No one knew I was the creator and no one pointed a finger at me, but the guilt of seeing the frightened, lost faces of those pensioners who had lost their life savings haunted me for years. Some chosen patsies went to jail and their fortunes were confiscated, but there was no way to claw back the bulk of the hundreds of millions that had simply disappeared. There was nothing anyone could do for those unfortunate people. I swore that day I would never again be so careless with my talent with numbers.
Never again would I put myself in that position.
I had bought myself a week to find a way to free myself and even though I felt angry and frustrated that I was again in a position where I was being asked to do something that would definitely land me back in prison, I was determined to find a way to beat them at their own game. I was a smart guy and one way or another I was going to find a way out for me and Willow. I had to.
I turned away from the window, I couldn’t lose the faith. I had Willow to think of. Who would take care of her if I was inside? I had programmed her number on speed dial and before I knew it my finger had already pressed her name.
“Are you alright?” I asked as soon as she picked up.
“Yeah,” she replied, slightly out of breath. “I’m sorry. I was outside.”
“Have you had lunch?”
“Not yet.”
“I’ll come over. Let’s eat together.”
“Really?” She was breathless once again.
A smile slipped onto my lips. It was the Willow effect. No matter how bad I felt she always made the sun shine again in my world. “What do you want?”
“A burrito bowl, from that village bistro opposite your office building. They have another branch at Berkeley and it’s the best burrito bowl I’ve ever tasted.”
I didn’t even know there was a bistro opposite my office building. “Alright. I’ll be there soon.”
I picked up the food and drove to her shop. The door tinkled when I pushed it open. Inside it was quiet so I went past the counter, and headed out back. The back door was open and it led out to a fenced, small concrete courtyard that she had turned into a garden.
It held an impressive array of flowerpots and hanging baskets. I found her on her knees, a big sunhat on her head, and her face turned in my direction. She had been planting seedlings into a wooden trough filled with soil.
“Hey,” I called softly.
I felt my heart slam against my chest. The past tumbled into my head. How many times had she looked at me like that, with that same expression. It saddened me that our wonderful past was lost to her, but I reminded myself that it was better this way. I watched her face light up with excitement.
“Hey,” she greeted shyly, jumping to her feet.
I went over to her, and without even hesitating pulled her into my arms. I captured her lips in mine and quickly lost myself in the kiss. This was what mattered. Only this. I could beat those men. I was smarter than them.
The trowel she had been holding fell from her hand, but neither of us paid attention to it. The kiss was intense. Her gloved arms wrapped around my neck, while I grabbed onto her leg and raised it up so she could feel my hardness against her sex.
With my hands on her ass to hold her in place, I bent my knees and ground my cock into her. Our tongues swirled in a passionate dance, as we shared without words just how much we had missed each other over the last two days.
When I finally broke the kiss, she was panting, struggling to catch her breath.
I waited as she leaned her head against my chest, and when she was finally recovered enough, she lifted her eyes up to mine. In the bright sunlight, I could see the golden patterns in her lovely brown eyes.
“I missed you too,” she said with a smile.
And I kissed her once again. I wanted to take her back into the shop, lock the doors and take her right there, but I forced myself to exercise some control.
“There’s no one manning the shop,” I said.
She grinned. “Oh, Sandra is meant to do that, when she heard you were coming she suddenly realized she had to run an errand in town that could take up to three hours.”
“I like the way your friend thinks,” I murmured.
She blushed a delicious pink.
God, she was so beautiful she made my heart ache. “Don’t you worry someone would come in and steal your stuff while you’re out here, though?” I asked, because I couldn’t tell her what was in my heart.
She started taking off her gloves. “I’m listening carefully. I run out every time the bell rings.”
“You didn’t when I came in.” I pointed out.
“That’s because I knew it was you.” She held up her phone. “‘I can view the camera’s display from my phone.”
I nodded. “Do you want to eat now?” I asked, “or do you want to round up first?”
“How long do you have?” she asked.
“As long as you want.”
She stuck her finger in my chest. ‘‘I’m serious.”
“Alright, about an hour and a half, but I can get away with two.”
“There’s twenty minutes of work left to do here, so I’ll just leave it until you’ve gone.”
I looked at the seedlings she was planting and rolled up my sleeves. “No, you won’t. I’ll help you.”
“But you have to go back to work. You’ll be all sweaty.”
“I like getting sweaty with you,” I mocked.
“Stop it,” she warned sternly, but her cheeks were flaming.
“Or what?” I drawled.
She wasn’t playing that game. “Just wait a few seconds then,” she said and hurried away. She returned with a large pair of gloves, a kneeling pad and a straw hat that had seen better days. She handed the gloves over to me, dropped the pad on the ground, and
placed the hat on my head. Then she leaned away to admire her work.
“There!” she cried. “You’re protected.”
“Thank you,” I replied, as I thought of the men I had lived with in prison and how they feared me. If they could see me now. I tried to get my hands into the gloves, but they were too small, which was a good thing because I wanted to feel the soil on my hands. It had been too long since I felt good, honest soil on my skin.
After briefly instructing me on what to do with the seedlings, we worked together in silence. She would never know how much I appreciated working with those seedlings. The thin velvety stems, the cool feel of the dark earth between my fingers. The heat of the sun on my back, the total peace of being next to her.
It was over too soon and she stood and surveyed our handiwork.
“Let’s go wash up,” she said.
We went together to the big butler’s sink at the back of the shop. We took turns washing our hands. She went before me and after she was done, she moved back and stood behind me wiping her hands on a towel.
There was a mirror over the sink and I watched her reflection through it, her heat flushed face adding a vibrant sheen to her complexion. It gave me an almighty erection just to see her like that.
“Are we officially dating?” she asked, meeting my eyes in the mirror.
“Of course we are,” I replied. “I thought I made that clear the last time.” I turned with my hands still wet, and approached her threateningly. “Or do you need a refresher?”
With a laugh, she took several steps backwards until her back hit the closed door and she was caged between my hard cock and the unyielding wood.
I grabbed the hand towel from her and dried my hands, while she licked her lips in anticipation. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. I pressed my body against hers and her eyes widened when she felt the hardness of my dick.
“You didn’t make it clear,” she whispered. “You only said that I was yours.”
Our faces were just inches away. “What else was I supposed to say then?”
“You were meant to ask me, officially ... to be your girlfriend.”
I looked at her curiously. If she knew what I felt. If she knew what we had promised to each other. But of course, she had forgotten everything.
“Don’t worry,” she said quickly, mistaking the look in my eyes. “I’m going to say yes.”
I ground my hips against hers. “Willow Rayne, will you be my girlfriend? Officially.”
She bit her lower lip in an effort to control her smile, her eyes were sparkling. I stared mesmerized by them. I had lost twelve years of this.
“I’m not sure,” she teased.
“Let me help you make up your mind,” I growled. Reaching under her skirt, I pulled her panties down her legs. When they pooled around her feet, I grabbed her from under her thighs and lifted her off the ground.
29
Willow
A second later, my legs were tightly wrapped around his hips, and he was mercilessly pounding into me.
I couldn’t believe we were doing this in my shop, where at any moment anyone could walk in and clearly hear our bodies slamming against the door. It was madness and I should stop him, but the working next to him in the sun had turned my brain to mush. I had watched his fingers caress the soil and dreamed of them on my body. That sense of déjà vu was overwhelming. If I didn’t know better I would think we had done it before. Kneeled on the bare earth and planted flowers together under a burning sun.
“Faster,” I panted, digging my nails into his ass as I swung my hips to meet his wild thrusts. His cock filled me, the delicious friction driving me out of my mind.
It wasn’t long before I felt myself begin to climax. My core tightened at the impending release and when it crashed through, I cried into his mouth. “Oh God.” I shuddered. “Oh God!” It shook me hard, so I hard I heard him coming as if from far away.
His burst came with a guttural groan. The violent slam of his fist against the wall almost made my soul leave my body, but I understood him. I was as shaken as he was, the frantic, desperate pace of our mating meant even my blood hummed with excitement. But once again, I noticed that he’d pulled out of me before he came and it was his fingers that were pumping inside me. I knew I should have appreciated him for the precaution, but I wanted his seed in me. I wanted those seeds to grow inside my body like those pale seedlings we’d planted together.
I’d orgasmed so hard my juices were still spilling out of me. My legs felt as if they had locked into position and I couldn’t unhook them from around his hips.
“I don’t think I can stand,” I gasped.
He straightened then and I watched completely mesmerized, as he licked his lips and with the back of one hand patted the sweat away from his forehead.
He then pulled the bolt on the door and carried me towards the sink, he positioned me next to it.
“What can I use?” he asked.
“There are some wipes in that drawer,” I told him, and he headed over to retrieve it after which he began to carefully wipe me down. I watched as he set about taking care of me, as if he had long accepted me as his responsibility.
He was extremely quiet as he cleaned me up, and I knew that his silence was nothing bad and I shouldn’t break it. Not that I wanted to. I too was in a contemplative mood as I replayed the sheer magic of our joining. No matter how fast and furious it was I never felt dirty or soiled. It felt right. I felt good.
As he pulled my skirt over my thighs I heard myself blurt out, “Have you ever felt like this with anyone else?”
Realizing how idiotic I sounded I quickly hurried to explain. “I’m just wondering. I don’t have that much experience.” Or any for that matter that I was aware of.
His gaze softened. “Never, Willow. Never.”
My breath left me with a rush. Every time he said things like this, it should have been impossible to believe, and it should have made me suspicious of him because it was too much too soon for a man to be saying these things. It almost made him seem emotionally careless.
But for some weird reason I believed him. Maybe it was his temperament. He was quiet and watchful and serious. He didn’t seem like the kind who could be emotionally careless, and moreover when he said the words, it didn’t seem like he was trying to impress me or mess around with me. It seemed as though he was speaking from the very depths of his soul.
I didn’t want his apparent sincerity to persuade me into completely letting my guard down, and giving all of myself to him. I had visions of being left high and dry. I unlocked my legs from around him and slid down until I was on my feet.
His cock was still hanging outside his pants and I grabbed some of the wipes with the intention of returning the favor, but before my hand could reach him, he seized my wrist.
“If you touch me,” he warned. “Neither of us will leave here for at least twenty minutes.”
“The burrito must be cold by now anyway,” I whispered.
And instantly his cock jumped to attention.
At that moment, I heard voices from beyond the door. My heart lurched into my throat. We both stilled as we listened, and it didn’t take long to realize that Sandra was outside with Bradley.
“Where is she?” I heard him ask.
“Willow,” I heard Sandra call out my name. “Willow,” she called again loudly.
I knew she was giving me a heads up so I could get myself decent. When she started to head our way, I slapped my hand across my lips and to my surprise Caleb looked as if he was unable to control his laughter. I threatened him with my gaze as I hurriedly straightened myself. If Sandra were to catch me right now in the state I was in, I would never hear the end of it. Even before I was ready Caleb had straightened himself.
“I’ll go first, then you can come out later,” I whispered to Caleb. He stole a quick kiss from me, and then began to nibble on my lower lip, reluctant to let me go.
Realizing that he wasn’t going to stop, I pulled t
he door open and almost fell out in my haste. Both Sandra and Bradley were watching me with confused expressions on their face.
“What’s going on?” Bradley asked watching the stupid smirk on my face.
“Nothing,” I replied as I glanced nervously at the door, then glanced at Sandra. “You came back early?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Yes, then I met Bradley in town and he said he had a delivery to make.”
“Oh,” I said and began to head towards the counter in order to divert all unnecessary attention away from the backroom. “Well, Bradley. You can just leave the bags over there.” I tried my best to get behind the counter and pretend to look for something on the shelves behind it. A few seconds later, all of our heads turned, as Caleb walked in from a direction he was not supposed to be coming from.
Bradley’s eyes nearly popped out of its sockets and Sandra winked at me.
“Hello,” Caleb greeted. “Great to see you again, Sandra.”
She raised her hand to wave slowly to him. I avoided all of their gazes and kept my eyes on the computer screen.
“He said he wanted to use the bathroom,” I explained airily. When I raised my head I was shocked to catch the murderous scowl on Bradley’s face.
Caleb was fully dressed. His white shirt was tucked neatly into charcoal pants and his sleeves were folded to just below his elbow. Even his hair had been arranged back into place, but one look at our flushed cheeks, swollen lips and glazed eyes, and there was no doubt of what we had been up to in the restroom. I was fooling no one. But even so why was Bradley so angry with me? What business of his was it if I chose to have sex with someone in my own damn shop?
“Well, I’ve got to get back now,” Caleb said.
I nodded. “I’ll see you out. Sandra, I’ll be right back.”
“Wait!” she suddenly called. “Bradley please pass me that lucky bamboo plant over there. I heard that you just opened your office downtown. This is a gift from us to you. We wish you all the best.”
She reached out to take the vase from Bradley but before she could reach it, it left his hand, and headed straight for the floor. Sandra immediately jumped away, but Bradley didn’t move an inch.
Saint & Sinner: A Second Chance Romance Page 12