A lump formed in my throat. “That’s amazing.”
“A miracle. That’s all.”
“Where are you going to live,” I asked.
“Well, you know how you’ve been telling me to look into one of those senior communities?”
“Yes.” I nodded along with my answer despite the fact she couldn’t see me.
“I got a call. Something with the doctors. They’re worried about me living alone. You know Rossetti’s, that nice one outside of Boulder?” She didn’t let me answer, but I did know. I’d even looked into it for her, but the cost was astronomical. “They have a program and because I no longer have a place to stay and they have an open apartment…the price is less than my rent and it includes meals and onsite medical care.”
My chest filled with emotion, knowing that no such program existed. Not officially anyway.
“Well, dear,” she went on, “it’s just another miracle. This could have been a tragedy; instead, it’s a godsend.”
Tears came to my eyes with the accelerated beating of my heart. “Jeanne, I’m so happy for you.”
“What about you? Where will you live?”
I scoffed. “I’m pretty sure the same one who got you set up has plans for me.”
“The Lord is truly amazing.”
He was, but I was one hundred percent certain that a heavenly being wasn’t responsible for this round of miraculous events. “Please call me with your new address,” I said. As soon as I did, I realized I could probably get the information from Patrick.
After we hung up, I found Patrick waiting just inside. At least he had the decency to give me privacy. “Thank you,” I said, handing him the phone. “For everything.”
“It’s just a phone, ma’am.”
“Right.”
I couldn’t describe what happened on this getaway. It was as if a new person came to life inside me. Maybe I wasn’t a spider but a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. How could someone who’d lived two different lives already be granted a third?
I didn’t know.
Sunday morning—our final day—I woke to the streaming of sunlight and a soft, cool breeze from the opened windows as a strong hand pulled my naked body closer to his warmth. It seemed impossible that I could want more of what he gave or that my body could even handle it. I was deliciously sore in all the right ways, and yet the prod of his erection against my lower back was all it took to turn my nipples to rocks and flood my core.
A moan escaped from my lips as his hands wandered. My breasts grew heavy as he skillfully manipulated my hardening nipples. With his other hand he found the evidence of my arousal as his long fingers roamed.
When I wasn’t certain I could take it any longer, large hands came to my waist and I was lifted until I straddled his toned torso. My fingers splayed over his hard chest before my kisses followed the indentations. And then I smiled up at his dark stare. “How do you stay so buff if you don’t work out?”
“Who said I don’t work out?” His voice vibrated through me, starting at my core.
“Me. I haven’t seen you work out.”
Before I knew what happened, I was flipped to my back and our positions were reversed. The room filled with my laughter as Sterling slid down my body and my legs opened for him. I squealed as his tongue teased.
Lifting his head, he peered my direction with his shining dark stare. “Sunshine, if you don’t think what we’ve been doing is a workout, I’ve been doing it wrong.”
My cheeks rose higher. “I’m pretty sure you haven’t been doing it wrong. I mean working out like weights or running. I found a workout room yesterday when I was searching for Jana.”
His smile evaporated as he climbed higher up my body. “Why were you searching for Jana?”
I shrugged. “I hadn’t seen her. I mean, I haven’t seen anyone but you, Rita, and Patrick for the most part. There is that other lady who cooks, but she doesn’t say much, and I don’t even know her name.”
“Did you find Jana?”
He seemed more concerned than I expected. “I did.”
“And?”
“Sterling, what? She thinks you’re the greatest person since sliced bread.”
“Bread isn’t a person. I don’t want you talking to anyone.”
I shook my head. “You’re being silly. Seriously, she would do anything for you. There’s no reason to be concerned.”
He lifted himself on his elbows, his face inches from mine. “Araneae, you don’t get it.”
I wiggled my hips. “I haven’t yet, but I was pretty sure it was coming.”
Sterling growled as he seized my lips. “No.”
“What?”
I shivered as the blankets that had been covering us flipped back and Sterling moved from me and the bed to the floor. Unashamedly naked and looking like a Greek god—one chiseled out of granite—he walked the length of the room and back. “Don’t you understand that no one can be trusted?”
I sat up against the headboard and pulled the sheet over my breasts, a little shocked and disappointed by the turn of events. “No, but I suppose you’re going to tell me.”
“Fuck…” His hand went through his bed-messed hair. “…you act like this is a game. Shit gets real tonight. It’s been real, but this is life and death.” He turned my way. “I’ve tried to tell you that the world you’re used to living in and the life you had is gone. I can’t make it come back.” His arms flexed as his hands balled and un-balled in fists at his side. “Hell, I didn’t think I’d want to…to lose you once I had you, but now…”
A lump formed in my throat as I looked down at the blanket over me. Taking a deep breath, I moved my gaze back to him and blinked away the tears his confession instilled. “Tell me what you mean. Are you saying that now that you’ve had me, you wish you could return me?”
He spun my direction. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
I slapped the bed at my side. “That’s what you just said.”
“The hell it is.” His answer boomed through the room and open windows. “The answer to that ridiculous question is no. I will never give you up. You can count on that. Araneae, you’re mine. I just wish I could give you this.” His hand went out and about the room, the windows, and open blue sky beyond. “I’ll try as often as I can, but even here, everywhere, you need to remember that there are only three people you can trust with your life: me, Patrick, and Reid.”
“I don’t know Reid.”
“You will once we get to Chicago. No one else is one hundred percent trustworthy. No one.”
“Jesus, Sterling. If this is about Jana, you’re overreacting. She isn’t a threat.”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he reached for my hand. “That’s the problem right there. We don’t know.”
“Then how do you know about Patrick and this Reid guy?”
His back straightened. “We’ve been to war together.”
“Metaphorically?” I asked with a tilt of my head.
“No, sunshine. Two tours in the desert and nearly a lifetime in Chicago’s underground. I trust them with my life and because of that, yours. No one else has shown that kind of loyalty. I repeat, no one. Period.”
“I have a job to do and a business to run, remember?” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’m not being held up in some tower of your castle for my safety.”
“I remember. And we’ve been working on that, securing you office space because you sure as hell aren’t working from your warehouse or distribution center.”
I wanted to protest, saying it wasn’t in Sinful Threads’ budget, but he didn’t take a breath.
“Patrick will be your new shadow. And the same rules apply. Talk Sinful Threads all you want, but nothing personal. Nothing. Don’t mention me or us.”
“Sterling, you’re being—”
His finger landed on my lips. “Keep arguing and I’ll find something better for those lips to do.”
A smile crept under his touch. When he lifted his f
Okay, I hadn’t done that yet, but it didn’t sound all that bad to me.
The stern expression that had been staring at me a second earlier shattered as he moved from sitting on the edge of the bed and rolled, moving the sheet and lifting me back over his stomach. I really wasn’t sure how he did it or what happened. Maybe it was some maneuver he’d learned in the army, maybe he was really quicker than the speed of light—a superhero or maybe a supervillain. I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that by the way he was staring at me, I was certain that in a few seconds I’d be riding the most glorious rock-hard cock I’d ever known.
With his hands on my hips, he lifted me over him. My hands fell to his shoulders as he purposely lowered me just enough so the head of his penis brushed repeatedly over my entrance.
My struggle was futile. Finally, I slapped his shoulder. “Stop it.”
“Stop?” His brows quirked.
“Let me…” I wiggled.
“Tell me that you’ll do as I said.”
“You’re an asshole.”
He lowered me enough to let his cock slide in.
“Oh.” The relief of my growing wanton need was instant, and then just as quickly he lifted me off him.
When I only glared, Sterling smirked. “Sunshine, I can come up with all kinds of punishments.”
“Fuck you.”
“I think that’s what you want. What do I want?”
I was beyond wanton. That’s what he did to me. My desire was almost painful as my empty core throbbed, and his hands held tighter to my hips. I’d probably have his handprints bruised into my sides, but at this moment it wasn’t my concern. “Fine. I’ll do as you say.”
My eyes closed as he lowered my body, filling me completely. As the pressure built and he started to lift me again, I opened my eyes and gripped his shoulder. “Don’t do that.”
His lips quirked. “I want more. Tell me what you will do.”
“Only trust you, Patrick, and some guy I don’t even know.”
“And?”
“And I won’t talk about personal things. Or even to other people that I can’t trust.” For a split second, Louisa came to mind, but honestly the shaft below me was my bigger concern. I’d argue Louisa and Winnie later.
“Yes.” My relief was immediate as I slid down, his cock completely filling me.
“Ride me.”
It was the first time I’d been on top, ever. The power was intoxicating as I varied my movements, up and down, backward and forward. My long hair fluttered over his face. The sensation was overwhelming as I moved faster, only to slow as the cords in his neck became visible. I tried to stay slow, but the pressure became too much as my toes curled. It wasn’t just that I was close to another fantastic orgasm. It was also that my thighs were on the verge of cramping, screaming out from the exertion. When we finally came, I collapsed on his broad chest, my muscles spent.
Sterling rolled me to the side and kissed from my forehead down to my lips. “Go ahead and tell me how that wasn’t a workout.”
I slapped his shoulder. “Do you have to be right about everything?”
“If it means you’re riding my cock, I’d be glad to be wrong.” He kissed my nose. “Except I never am. Remember that and remember what you promised.”
Nodding with tired eyes, I asked a question I hoped I knew how Sterling would answer. “When we get to Chicago, will I have my own room?”
He leaned back and took me in. “It wasn’t in your earlier negotiations. Do we need to open a contract dispute?”
I shook my head. “No. If I can’t trust anyone else, I’d like to be with the one man I can trust, as much as possible.”
“I like to hear that.”
I curled closer to his warm chest and let my eyes close. He’d been right about one thing. It was a workout.
“Next stop, Chicago,” I heard him say as I drifted back to sleep.
Araneae 29
I woke to breakfast being delivered to our room. Instead of Rita or the woman whose name I didn’t know, my deliveryman was tall, dark haired, wearing low-riding jeans, and shirtless, making me forget what had just happened before my morning nap and considering if food was a necessity.
As he turned around toward the bed, there was a split second of the expression I didn’t like. I didn’t fear it, but its presence meant he was no longer the man I’d gotten to know in this mountaintop cabin. And then just as quickly as his gaze met mine, it evaporated and his cheeks rose. I didn’t think I could tire of his smile. As with the softening of his facial expression, his smile was a gift that I doubted anyone who didn’t make his short list of trusted individuals was privileged enough to see.
“Good morning, sunshine. We have plans and you can’t sleep the day away.”
A glance at my wrist told me I’d slept until nearly noon.
As I took him in, I hoped our plans were either the same as we’d done most of the last forty-eight hours or perhaps another ATV ride to the lake. “I told you. I only sleep late if a man keeps me up into the early hours of the morning. Or apparently awakens me repeatedly. You know, there’re supposed be eight uninterrupted hours before getting up.”
“I’m pretty sure it was me who stayed up.” He lifted the tray from the table across the room where he’d just placed it and carried it toward me. Small collapsible legs fell from the bottom, showing me that it would fit over my lap.
“And therein is the reason for my needed sleep.” I scooted up the bed and pulled the sheet higher. “To what do I owe the honor of you delivering my food?”
The gleam in his gaze sizzled as he narrowed his eyes. “Who else would I allow to come in here when you’re lying there all naked and alluring?”
My smile bloomed as warmth filled my cheeks. “I’m glad you think so. I think I’m probably a wreck.” I lifted my hand to my hair. “I’m sure my hair is a mess and I probably smell of sex.”
His nostrils flared as he came closer. “If it were up to me, it would be the perfume you always wore.” Sterling placed the tray over my lap and lifted the lid. “You’re gorgeous, and I’m not sharing.”
The feast before me included a scrumptious vegetable omelet, thick sourdough toast, and a bowl of fruit. Above what had been covered, was a glass of juice, large mug filled with coffee, a small pitcher of cream, and a tiny vase with one of the purple flowers I’d seen growing outside the cabin.
“Are you also the chef?”
“No. I could manage the toast without burning it, but cooking has never been my strong suit.”
I took a bite of toast. “Yeah, you probably didn’t need to, growing up like this.”
His smile disappeared. “I told you, tip of the iceberg. Having cooks, maids, and a big house doesn’t guarantee happiness.”
“Sterling, I’m sorry.”
“Most of my cooking skill came in the army, and I won’t feed you the shit we ate…ever.”
As he paced about the room, it seemed as though he was giving me glimpses into the man he was, and yet the pieces were all fragmented, a mosaic instead of a portrait. It also seemed that despite Sterling knowing almost everything about me, I would learn his secrets in his time.
No, I’d learn both of our secrets in his time.
Lifting the warm mug to my lips, I asked, “What are our plans?”
His head shook. “It’s time to go back to Chicago.”
My appetite disappeared as my stomach dropped. “I was hoping that could wait until tonight.”
Sterling disappeared into the large closet and came back out with a black dress that appeared somewhat familiar, yet I was certain I hadn’t seen it in his closet.
“We have an engagement,” he said.
It was hard to tell from the hanger, but the material reminded me of the Sinful Threads prototype I’d worn during my last trip to Chicago. “Where did that come from and what kind of engagement?”
“Where dresses come from,” he said noncommittally, “and the engagement is considered formal.”
“Am I wearing some other woman’s dress to this formal engagement?”
“Of course not.”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere. Why can’t we get to your castle before I dress?”
His hand went through his hair. “You’re infuriating.”
My eyes popped open wide. “Me?”
“Can’t you just do as I say without ten thousand questions?”
“I think the obvious answer is no.”
Sterling swallowed as his neck strained. “It was easier to have a dress delivered than the other dress dry-cleaned.”
I wanted to mention whose fault it was that the red dress needed dry cleaning, but this conversation wasn’t going well and poking the bear didn’t seem like a good idea.
“There are shoes and jewelry in there. My house—our house,” he corrected, “isn’t a castle. My mother still lives in that. When she’s done with it, it can burn to the ground for all I care. We live in a penthouse, five complete floors and the best security in the world.”
“Why do you need five floors?”
“Only two are the living quarters. You won’t need to enter the other three.”
“I won’t need to enter? Or I’m not allowed to enter? Is this like the not talking to people thing?”
“Just eat the damn food and shower,” he said as he stepped toward the door and reached for the doorknob.
“Sterling, do not walk out.” I was trapped by the damn tray as I lifted it from my lap and threw back the covers, the table setting rattling. Well aware that I was now completely without clothes, I decided to concentrate on the future. “Why can’t I get adjusted to everything before an engagement? I’m…” I wasn’t sure what I was.
The expression from before was back, including the dark stare and clenched jaw. “Do you or do you not want to go to work tomorrow? Do you want to continue with Sinful Threads?”
My fists went to my hips. As soon as they connected, I realized that I’d been right. My hips were bruised from the earlier grasp of the man before me. Ignoring the pain, I answered, “You know damn well that is what I want. It was part of my demands.”
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