Her hips shifted beneath him restlessly, anxious for more, desperate to feel him moving inside of her.
“Easy, baby. We’ve got all night.”
“I need you now,” she whispered, taking his face between her hands and parting her thighs for him.
“Condom,” he rasped, reaching for the nightstand drawer. He fumbled with the package and slid on the condom, his eyes never leaving hers. Slowly, one painstaking inch at a time, he slid into her. He’d never seen a woman’s eyes literally roll back in her head, but Delilah’s did. Her mouth fell open, her body tensed and she let out a long, sexy moan that was music to his ears.
“Oh, sweet Jesus, Joseph and Mary,” she whimpered. “Please, Eric…more.”
He didn’t know exactly what she needed so he let her guide their pace. She was almost frantic in her movements, her hands gripping his ass to pull him deeper and deeper until he was sure he had to be hurting her. But she was thrusting up to meet each stroke, each glide of his cock as he took her, until there was no distinction between them. Everything was one, they were one, the union of their bodies one delicious joining of souls.
When she exploded around him, her cry filled the room and he crashed his mouth to hers to drown out her moans as well as his own. He’d never come so hard, so fast, so utterly and completely spent, as if he didn’t have another ounce of strength because she’d taken it all. Except she hadn’t. Because he was still hard, pulsing inside of her with each shuddery little aftershock that had them both gasping for air.
“Damn, baby.” He nibbled her lower lip, chuckling softly when he tried to pull out and she clenched more tightly around him.
“Not yet,” she whispered.
“We can go again,” he whispered back. “Just give me thirty seconds to change the condom.”
“This time I’m on top,” she giggled, pushing at his chest.
“Fuck yeah, anything you want.”
Chapter 15
The next few weeks were about as blissful as any Delilah had ever experienced in her life. Eric didn’t get called away, and though he worked most days, he was usually home early and they would go to the beach, out to dinner, or take Elias to the park. They spent time with Ron and Bobbi, Cheeto and Leslie, and a few of their neighbors. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t miss her job, her friends in Boston, or even the Carsons. She had a new lease on life and she loved it.
She was also falling hard for her sweet, sexy husband. In retrospect, her marriage had been terrible long before she’d discovered Derek had been cheating and he’d hit her. He’d been selfish, overbearing, and stodgy. Their sex life had been mediocre at best and she wondered why she’d put up with it. She’d been buried in academia when they’d met, and really, that was all she’d thought about in those days. Biology, cells, diseases, research. That had been her whole life before Derek, and most of her life even after she’d married him.
Life with Eric was so much better. They had fun together, even when they were discussing everyday things like the leak in the kitchen sink or getting Elias ready for kindergarten in the fall. They laughed a lot, talked constantly, and made love any time they had a moment of privacy. In bed, in the shower, on the couch—it had gotten to the point where they barely bothered to undress completely. It seemed they couldn’t keep their hands off each other the second they were alone and the sex just kept getting better and better.
Her birthday fell on a Thursday at the end of July and Eric had told her he had a surprise for her so he didn’t want her to cook anything for dinner and to dress casually. She and Elias were ready when he came home and he kissed her deeply, looking into her eyes for a moment before grabbing Elias.
He gave her a wink before saying, “Okay, close your eyes and wait for me to call out. Come on, Elias. We’ll get Delilah’s surprise ready together.”
She was all but bouncing on her toes as she waited for his call and when she heard it, she practically ran out the door and then froze. There was a bright blue, small SUV of some kind in the driveway next to Eric’s truck, and it had a big red bow on the hood. In addition, there was a surfboard attached to the luggage rack on the roof.
“Happy birthday!” Eric and Elias called out together.
Delilah was frozen in place, staring at the vehicle, the bow, the surfboard, and the two people on earth she loved most right now.
“Honey?” Eric had a sweet smile on his face and she managed a step forward.
“Eric, what…what is this?”
“You can’t be stuck at home all the time when I’m at work, you know?” He walked towards her. “And when my grandmother asked what I thought you’d want for your birthday, I told her a surfboard. So she, my parents, and my sisters pitched in and sent me the money for this one. It’s the one you were looking at in the shop… Is it the wrong one?”
Tears blurred her vision and she stumbled into his arms, hugging both him and Elias tightly. “It’s too much,” she whispered. “I don’t need a car or, or, anything, but the two of you.”
“You do need a car,” he said softly, kissing her forehead. “Why do you think I nagged you to get your license? And the surfboard is because my family loves you.”
She smiled and sniffled, dipping her head.
“Do you like it, Lilah?” Elias asked, struggling to get down. “Can I try your surfboard too? Can we go for a ride in the new car? Why are you crying?”
“You can try my surfboard, we can go for a ride, and sometimes grown-ups cry when they’re happy.”
“Oh.” Elias looked confused, but then he threw open the driver’s side door and motioned to her. “Come on, you have to drive it.”
Delilah and Eric exchanged amused glances and she got in the vehicle. It was an older model but it was clean and the seats and dashboard gleamed.
“Got a great deal on it from a friend of Ron’s,” Eric told her. “And if anything goes wrong, the guy’s garage is only a few miles away.”
“This is amazing,” she said softly, glancing up at him. “Thank you.”
“What do you want to do first? Take the new SUV for a drive or take the surfboard for a spin?” he asked.
“Can I drive it to the beach to try out the board?”
“Absolutely. Let’s get bathing suits and we’ll go right now.”
Elias raced into the house but Delilah got out of the car and slowly approached Eric. She stared up into his face for a long time, her head slightly cocked as she looked into his eyes.
“What?” he asked softly, circling her waist with his hands.
“You’re…special. When your grandmother started telling me about her grandson, I kind of rolled my eyes, like, ‘Yeah, okay, Antonia, I know you love him.’ She showed me pictures, and while you were cute, you were just a guy in a picture. I agreed to meet you because it was so important to her, even though I knew that nothing would ever come of it, but I would give it a chance because of how much I love her. And because of her, now I have you.” She faltered slightly, unsure how to express herself. “I can’t put into words how wonderful you are, Eric. The last two months have been the best of my entire life. I’m not even exaggerating.”
“They’re really high on the list for me, too,” he responded slowly, his gaze never wavering. “I kind of felt the same way when they approached me with the idea of a live-in nanny, like I’d talk to you just to shut everyone up, but the minute I saw you I had a feeling there was going to be more. I wasn’t sure how or what, but there was something special there.”
“And now here we are.”
“Here we are.” He pushed her hair back out of her face and leaned forward.
“Daddy, stop that!” Elias came running out again. “We’re ready to go surfing.”
Eric sighed but Delilah just laughed and turned to him. “Yes, I need a minute to change and we’ll go.”
She practically floated inside to change, her happiness so overwhelming she almost couldn’t stand it. How in the world had she gotten so lucky? This was
the best birthday she’d ever had and it was all because of Eric.
She was so excited she didn’t know what to do first, but driving her new SUV was at the top of her list. As soon as she drove around the corner, she immediately named it Rhett.
“But it’s blue,” Elias protested when she announced her decision.
“R-H-E-T-T,” she said, spelling it out. “With a T, not a D. It’s a character from my favorite movie.”
“What movie? Did I see it?”
“It’s called Gone with the Wind, and no, you haven’t seen it yet. You’ll see it when you’re a little older.”
“Is there a lot of kissing?”
Eric covered his laugh with a cough.
“Yeah, there’s a little kissing.” Delilah grinned at him through the rearview mirror.
The beach was busy but Delilah was so excited to try out the new board she could barely stand it. “This is awesome!” she told Eric, placing a quick kiss on his lips before running into the water with the board under her arm.
Eric watched her with a lazy smile. God, she was beautiful, and even more so when she was as happy as she was right now. He’d gotten the car for a steal, but he would’ve paid three times the amount if he’d known it would make her this happy. Elias was bouncing around like a little monkey and Eric was about to tell him to play in the water when his phone rang. Louie.
He was a little afraid to answer, but he did anyway. “Hey, man.”
“Can you talk?”
“I’m at the beach with the family but tell me what you found.”
“Well, Derek Porter is a piece of work. He’s got so many dings on his record I don’t even know where to start talking about them. Apparently, he’s somebody’s favorite, because no matter what he does, it pretty much gets swept under the rug. There are notes in his file about excessive use of force and a lot of other shady stuff, but it’s like no one cares.”
“And Delilah?”
“She’s impressive, man. Did you know all this about her?”
“I don’t know what all this is,” Eric said patiently.
“She was a Ph.D. student and a teaching assistant at MIT while working on a huge, federally funded biotechnology project with elite scientists and computer programmers. She was one of the top biotech minds in the country, on the radar of all the big government agencies. Then she was accused of having an affair with the professor heading up the project. She divorced her husband and dropped off the face of the earth. When I started digging, her name popped up, along with her marriage license when she married you. Government has no beef with her—having an affair isn’t illegal—but it was interesting that her name came right up when I searched.”
“Okay.”
“So her ex is a douchebag, and she was a brilliant up-and-coming scientist who preferred to drop off the grid rather than fight for her career or marriage. Seems like there are pieces of the puzzle missing, but I don’t know what they are.”
“I need one more favor.”
“Hit me.”
“Talk to the professor she allegedly had an affair with. Find out why they’re not together since she divorced her husband. Maybe talk to some of her colleagues. It doesn’t make a lot of sense that she ran like that.”
“Unless her husband really threatened to kill her.”
Eric grimaced. “Yeah. Exactly.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Beer’s on you when I see you next.”
“You got it.” Eric disconnected and stared out at the water. Damn. He hadn’t imagined she was the type of woman who would cheat on her husband, but since they hadn’t known each other that long, anything was possible. He wouldn’t bring it up tonight, though. It was her birthday and he wanted to wait for Louie to talk to the professor. Besides, there were two sides to every story and he didn’t want to rush to any conclusions. It bothered him a little, considering he was falling in love with her, and he didn’t know how to reconcile the two disparate feelings.
Chapter 16
It was two days before Delilah noticed something was off with Eric. He’d been quiet after her birthday dinner and last night’s lovemaking had been quick, as if he’d been distracted. Afterwards, instead of cuddling and talking, he’d gone right to sleep. Then this morning, when she’d asked him what he wanted for dinner, he’d demurred, saying he might have to work late. He never worked late. They did PT in the morning, had whatever training and strategy meetings in the afternoon, and he was home for dinner. He was either upset with her or something was going on that he didn’t want to tell her about.
She waffled between calling him and asking him outright or waiting until he got home, no matter how late it was, to find out exactly what was going on. They’d come so far this summer, and she was finally starting to trust that things might be okay and that her life might get on track again. Maybe, just maybe, she might be able to finish her Ph.D., go back to research, get a real job. Elias would be in school full-time in another month, so they could make it work. Assuming Eric hadn’t changed his mind or something.
She fed Elias and put him in front of the TV with a movie before starting to pace. She didn’t know what her conversation with Eric was going to be like, but it had to happen. They’d become acutely in tune to each other since the first time they’d made love and his distance last night had been jarring. Tonight she was going to find out what was bothering him.
He got home a little while later and she met him at the door solemnly.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” He put down his bag and lightly kissed her cheek.
She paused. “Are you hungry?”
“No, I ate. Thanks.”
“Let’s talk, Eric.”
“I wanted to—”
“Whatever it is that’s wrong, you should tell me.”
He seemed startled and then resigned. “Yeah, I should’ve known you’d figure out something was bothering me.”
“Did I do something?”
He sighed. “Not exactly.”
“Okay, then I guess we need privacy.” She went into their bedroom, sat on the edge of the bed, and looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to join her.
Eric wasn’t sure how to respond now that she’d confronted him. He’d spent almost all day trying to decide how to approach this, but now that it was time, he couldn’t think of a single thing to say. Maybe he should just tell her everything and see what she said.
“One of my best buddies works at the NSA.”
“Louie.”
“Yes.” He swallowed. “I asked him to look into your…life.”
“My life?”
“Your ex and you, to see if there’s anything we can do to get him off your trail.”
She squinted slightly. “There’s nothing you can do to make him change his mind about wanting to kill me and I already told you he’s a cop with a lot of friends. What were you expecting to find? I mean, my life—” She froze. “Oh, I see. You had him check me out. You wanted to see if I’m who you think I am.”
“No, that wasn’t it, but there was no way to check him out thoroughly without checking out his wife. And that was you.”
“So what did you find that’s made you so weird the last day or two?”
“He told everyone the reason you divorced was that you had an affair with one of your professors at MIT.”
“And?” Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“And I need to know what happened.”
“Are you serious right now?” She stared at him.
“Kinda. Yeah.” He squirmed uncomfortably. Maybe direct had been the wrong approach. She didn’t look guilty or ashamed; she looked like a pissed-off woman who wanted to scratch his eyes out.
“I can’t believe you.” Her lips had thinned into a flat line of sheer fury.
“You could just answer the question,” he suggested softly. “And then we wouldn’t ever have to—”
“I shouldn’t have to dignify that question with an answer,” she hissed. “After the time we’
ve spent together, you needed to ask? The woman you’ve been making love with, the same one who loves your child like her own, who’s been falling in love with you… I can’t believe you actually had to ask.” She turned on her heel and walked out of the room.
“Delilah, wait.” He followed her, his stomach churning with guilt and frustration. “I have to know everything because—”
“If you don’t already know, we don’t have anything to say.” She grabbed her keys. “I’m going surfing. I need to cool off and if I stay here, I’m going to say things I may regret.”
“Babe, you shouldn’t go alone. You know Diego has been—”
“You know what? At this point, I don’t even care if Derek finds me. It’s preferable to living with someone who doesn’t trust me and automatically thinks the worst of me. I already left a life like that and I can do it again.” She stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her.
It took Eric a second to process what had just happened but he managed to jump into action. His blunder notwithstanding, he wasn’t going to let her go to the beach alone. Even if he had to sit in his truck and watch from a distance, he wasn’t letting anything happen to her. Especially not now, when he felt like a complete idiot. He should have phrased it differently, given her a heads-up that he had Louie looking into things as soon as he’d asked him to do it. That would have been a lie of omission to a degree, but it would’ve been better than what he’d just done. Shit, he was so screwed.
Sitting in Eric’s truck in the parking lot, Eric and Ron watched Delilah from a distance. He’d called Ron and asked if he and Bobbi could watch Elias for a little while, and once he’d heard the reason why, Ron had offered to come along. Bobbi hadn’t seemed to mind keeping Elias with her, so now they were sitting in silence, with Eric lamenting what he’d done.
Protecting Delilah - Kat Mizera Page 8