Duplicity--A Tale of Murder, Mystery and Romance

by H. D. Thomson

  Katherine closed her eyes as desire wrapped around her. Clark eased his hands over her shoulders and pressed up against her back. Even through the thickness of her coat, she felt the heat of his body. She opened her mouth to tell him no, but the word caught against her throat. She didn’t have any willpower. Not when it came to Clark or the feelings he evoked.

  “I don’t want to let you go.” His whisper feathered the downy strands of her hair behind her ear. On their own, they were mere words, but with the urgency expressed in each syllable, they were so much more.

  Katherine turned under the gentle urging of Clark’s hands. The porch light illuminated the hard angles of his face, the sensual curve of his mouth and the hunger in his eyes. Oh, my. She wanted him, wanted him in her bed and inside her.

  Then he bent toward her, blocking out the light and the night sky, and kissed her. His lips, soft, sensual and with infinite tenderness, traced her upturned mouth.

  Sighing with pleasure, Katherine rose on her toes and deepened the kiss. She savored the taste, the texture of him. Their breathing mingled, deepened and quickened as Katharine’s hands and mouth matched Clark’s own growing urgency. Muscles bunched and contracted beneath her fingers, and the image of how Clark looked naked flashed in her mind’s eye. She remembered every male inch of him the day she’d spied him from his bedroom window when he’d stepped from his shower. He’d been all hard muscles and sleek flesh.

  Oh, Jesus. She wanted to see him like that again.

  With Clark’s hands framing her face, his mouth hungry on her own, Katherine backed into the house and stumbled over the threshold. Clark caught her around the waist and followed, closing the door with the heel of his shoe.

  Moonlight flowed through the windows, affording enough light to see by. She broke away long enough to shrug out of her coat and toss it against the coat rack. She missed the hook, and Clark didn’t do any better. Both jackets landed on the floor.

  As Clark reached for her, Katherine shook her head. “No, wait.”

  She slipped off his glasses. He had a beautiful face, masculine, rugged and filled with such determination and innate strength. And his eyes, now a dark charcoal, spoke of passion and wonder. She could lose herself in their smoky depths.

  “Better?”

  She nodded.

  “Good.” He took the glasses from her hand and placed them on a table against the wall beside her. “I want you happy. I want... I want you.”

  As Clark swept his thumb over her lower lip, and then slid it across her jaw to the lobe of her ear, he looked at her as if he wanted to devour her right then and there. It made her feel beautiful, feminine and oh so very desired. Slowly, ever so slowly, he trailed a finger down the pulse point on the side of her neck and skimmed over the line of her collarbone.

  “You have the most beautiful skin,” he whispered. “So creamy. So soft.”

  Undone, Katherine reached up to touch his face, but he captured her hand and pulled it down and around her back, arching her toward him. Her skirt tangled around his legs as he stepped closer, nudging her backward inch by inch until she found herself pressed up against the wall with nowhere to go. Clark’s body molded over her own, sandwiching her between him and the wall, while his hands stroked, teased and tormented.

  He dipped his head and claimed her mouth in a long, drugging kiss. Wrapping her fingers in the thick strands of his hair, Katherine sighed with pure pleasure at the feel and taste of him.

  Clark had her weak, hot and craving the heat of his skin against her own naked flesh. She pulled his tie loose, dragged his jacket over the wide breadth of his shoulders and snapped open the buttons of his shirt, finally able to slip her hands beneath his silk shirt to the unyielding wall of his chest. All the while, Clark’s hands were everywhere, stroking, kneading, delving into places that made her heart crash, her stomach quicken and her flesh burn.

  Clark unzipped the bodice of her dress and unsnapped her bra. Both garments landed by her feet. She kicked them aside, pulled his shirt apart and pressed up against his chest. A whimper caught against her throat, and she shivered. The feel, the heat of his naked flesh against her bared breasts was pure delight and pure torture.

  Clark slid a palm down along the tender side of her breast and her ribs until his fingers caught against the waistband of her nylons. He tugged at the strap of her thong, Her panties dropped to the floor with her other discarded clothing. But Katherine didn’t care. Nothing mattered but the moment, the hunger, the man in her arms.

  Impatiently, she pulled at his belt, undid the buckle and the top button of his pants, and then traced a line beneath the elastic band of his underwear. She loved how his stomach quivered against her fingers. When she slid her hand lower over the fabric of his briefs to cup him, Clark froze, dragging his mouth from her own, then flexing and pressing his erection against her palm.

  “Touch me,” Clark demanded in a horse, urgent whisper.

  Deeply aroused by the power she had over him, Katherine tugged his pants and underwear over his narrow hips, exposing every single inch of him. She inhaled sharply. Such power. The idea of him thrusting into her made her skin flame and her body quake that much more. She caressed the length of him with a shaky, tentative hand. Then she grew bolder, using both hands to gently massage him.

  “Does that feel good?”

  “Oh, hell, yes.” Clark’s breath came out hard and fast against her skin.

  “So stiff, but so silky,” she marveled.

  Clark shuddered and stilled her hand. “Keep doing that, and I’ll completely lose it before I’ve even started.”

  At his words, she looked up. Clark was absolutely gorgeous with his hair tousled from her fingers, his face taut and flushed with arousal, and his white shirt halfway open revealing a large expanse of smooth skin. Moonlight cast the hard angles of his face in shadow, and without the shield of his glasses, he appeared more dangerous, more male, more...electrifying.

  Gently lifting and cupping the weight of her breast in his hand, Clark bent and covered the erect nipple with his mouth, using his tongue, his lips to suckle, to taste, to savor, shooting desire through her veins, into her limbs and every pore of her body.

  It felt so good. He felt so good. She wanted him over her, in her. She wanted—

  Suddenly, the heat of his palm cupped Katherine between her legs. She cried out and shuddered against his hand. Using his thumb to gently circle and rub her clitoris, Clark eased his middle finger inside her. The feel. God. His mouth, his hands, working both her breasts and between her legs with a hypnotic, savage intensity. She was coming undone, losing herself. She grabbed onto his shoulders, dragged her fingers into the locks of his hair, and shifted her hips in short, quick movements. She couldn’t stop. She didn’t want to stop.

  Clark must have sensed she was near the edge, because he slowed the rhythm of his fingers and the quick, rapid movement of his mouth on her breast. Straightening, he nipped gently at the lobe of her ear, withdrawing his finger from the moist heat between her legs, only to use both of his hands to gently mold, squeeze, and knead her buttocks. From behind, he swept the tips of his fingers over her inner thighs, opened and readied her for him.

  His breath was as heavy, as jagged as her own. “So wet. So hungry. Right now, I could wrap those gorgeous legs around me, slip inside and have you coming around me in seconds.”

  She sagged against him, aching with anticipation.

  “I didn’t plan this. I never thought...” His words and voice were rough, urgent. “I don’t have a condom.”

  Katherine, her brain muddled by passion, didn’t understand for a moment. “Oh. I’ve—”

  “In your medicine cabinet.” He branded her on the mouth with one long, thorough kiss. “Don’t go anywhere.”

  Katherine almost laughed. She didn’t think she could even if she’d wanted to. If not for the wall that held her up, she’d be a puddle on the floor. Clark had worked her body into a mass of need. She throbbed with it, hummed wi
th it. Closing her eyes, she touched her swollen mouth with trembling hands.

  Suddenly, Clark was back. She smelled his scent, felt the air stir around her as he stepped toward her. She opened her eyes and inhaled sharply. In front of her, Clark stood on strong and corded legs, while the light of the moon touched his narrow hips, flat, ribbed belly, and wide, smooth chest with loving hands. Naked, he looked better than any fantasy.

  “I never thought I’d say this to a man,” Katherine murmured in wonder, “but you’re beautiful.”

  He lifted his lips into an incredibly sexy, half smile, but his eyes were serious, turbulent and unfathomable when he stepped toward her. He tore the package open and pulled out the condom. As she helped slip it on his penis, her hands started shaking at the feel and size of him.

  Clark captured her mouth and molded her body, her lips against his own. Cupping her hips in both of his large hands, he slowly, every so slowly, lifted her up against the wall and the hard length of his body. He was like a drug, and she the addict.

  Katherine kissed him back, again and again, massaging the muscles of his shoulder, his upper arms, feeling his tendons flex, his skin shiver against her fingers.

  Capturing her wrists, Clark shackled them above her head with one hand and used the other to cup her breast and gently rub the taut tip between his fingers. He broke off the kiss and urged by her ear, “Wrap your legs around me. That’s right.”

  Clark lowered her along the wall until the tip of his shaft nudged the opening between her thighs. She couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything but feel as he lowered her even further. His erection eased into her, slowly, inch by incredible inch, stretching, filling her with his length. He was hot, hard, inflexible and...pure male.

  Trembling against him, she clenched her legs tighter around his flanks. “You feel incredible.”

  “And you’re so tight and hot around me. So wet,” he whispered hoarsely. He kissed her temple, her jaw as he gradually withdrew, leaving only the tip of his shaft inside her. “Do you want me deeper?”

  She nodded, unable to think clearly enough to find the words.

  Flexing, Clark entered her fully and ripped a cry of passion from her lips. Sweat glistened against his brow as he eased in and out of her body, then he stilled.

  Katherine turned her head to catch his lips, but he kissed the corner of her mouth, her chin, the pulse point beneath her ear. To her complete frustration, Clark once again edged out until only an inch of him penetrated her.

  “Is this better?”

  “No—I want...all of it.” Her breath came out in short, shaky pants. “All of you.”

  Whimpering, she jerked her hips to take him in deeper, but Clark eluded her. Her breasts, slick from sweat, slid over his flesh as she writhed against his chest.

  Desperate to touch and explore, to feel his muscles bunch and flex beneath her fingers, to drag those same fingers into the silken strands of his hair, Katherine shook her head and pried at his hand around her wrists. He didn’t let go. Inflexible and merciless, he bound her to the wall with his body.

  “Please... Clark. I...”

  Catching her mouth in a kiss that took and devoured, Clark eased deeper into her, his moan mingling with her own. He was teasing her now, his movements slow, shallow and controlled, working her and her body with a rhythm that both taunted and tormented. She bucked, wanting him to move faster and harder, but, relentless and unforgiving, Clark flexed in and out of her with slow, measured strokes.

  “I can’t take this.” Katherine, pinioned against the wall and Clark, shook her head. Completely powerless, she took what he gave, but craved so much more. “I want you deep. Every single inch of you. I want you coming in me.”

  “Katherine—” Clark pressed his brow against her temple and groaned. “I can’t. Damn it. I’ve got to—”

  He drove into her, pulled back and drove into her again. Harder. Faster. Over and over. Oh, God. The pleasure. It crashed into her again and again, pushed her higher, higher, until she thought she’d die with the sensation. Then she was coming, convulsing, crying out as he pumped ever faster, pulling her under, shattering the last of her control. Clark quickly followed, growling low in his throat, shuddering against her.

  Shattered, Katherine slumped against Clark. Limbs heavy, body languid and pliant, Katherine had been thoroughly used. He’d made her beg and plead, but Katherine hadn’t cared. She would have said or done anything to slake the passion between the two of them.

  Clark freed her wrists. She slipped her hands down to his sweat-coated shoulders and felt the muscles beneath his skin tremble as he lowered her down to her feet. Katherine’s gaze collided with his. She saw the reverence in their gray depths and melted even further.

  “I never thought I could feel like that.” Resting a hand against the wall, Clark bent down and gently kissed her.

  Katherine smiled against his mouth. “Me neither.”

  Pushing off the wall, Clark pulled off the condom and grinned. “Let me get rid of this. I’ll be right back. The way I’m feeling, I’ll grab the whole damn box. I’ve got a feeling I might need it tonight.”

  With a matching grin pasted on her face, Katherine bent down and picked up her discarded clothing from the floor. She was going to enjoy making up for all those celibate years. When she rose with a pair of panties in one hand, Clark stepped back into the hall and stilled. At the oddness of his expression, Katherine frowned and followed Clark’s stare to a place on the wall to her right. White knuckled, she clutched her clothing against her chest.

  A large hole, the size of a fist, punctured the wall to the right of her head. Concrete chips scattered across the floor around them.

  In his passion, Clark had pounded his fist against the wall. This particular wall, built for noise and fire protection, separated her townhouse from the other. It consisted of thick solid masonry—not some flimsy layer of drywall. A person didn’t smash a hand into a wall like that and create such damage. At least not a normal person.

  Katherine looked at Clark’s upturned hand—the one he now stared at. The glow of the moon revealed enough. Not even a scratch to his flesh. A sick sensation curled around her stomach as she thought of the baluster earlier tonight and how he’d supposedly bumped into it. Now she knew otherwise. He’d touched it with his hands. If Clark could do either by accident, what could he do when he set his mind to it? Worse yet, what could he do to her in anger? One touch, and he could kill her.

  Fear propelled her away from Clark. “Who are you? No. Better yet. What are you?”

  “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what? Don’t be frightened? Don’t worry? Well, I am. Unless you can give me a rational explanation. How did you put that hole in the wall?”

  “I don’t know.”

  But Clark did. She saw the lie in his face. When he stepped toward her, she warned, “Don’t come any closer.”

  “Katherine, there’s no reason to be scared of me.”

  When he kept coming, she turned and ran down the hall.

  “Katherine!”

  She didn’t stop but rushed into her bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind her. She fumbled for the light switch, found it, snapped it on, and then backed away from the door.

  But she quickly found the closed door and lock weren’t nearly enough protection.

  She watched in horror as the door cracked, groaned, and flew open, the hinges tearing and snapping loose from their moorings. Chest heaving, Clark, naked and terrifying, stood in the doorway.

  “Get out! Now! I swear if you don’t, I’ll scream the bloody walls down!”

  When Clark stepped through the room, something in her face or voice must have gotten through to him, because he froze.

  “Shit. Katherine. You’re really scared of me. I’m sorry.” He glanced to the door and flinched. “I honestly don’t know what came over me. I’ll pay for the damages.”

  “Go. Just please get out of here.”

  “This isn’t over between u
s.” Clark’s voice steadied, then strengthened. “I’ll make you see you’ve nothing to fear from me. That’s a promise.”

  After Clark turned and walked out of the bedroom, Katherine sat down hard on her bed and pushed herself up against the headboard. Bending her legs, she curled her arms around her knees and stared at the doorway, expecting Clark to reappear any second. She didn’t relax, didn’t hardly breath until she heard him leave. Only then did she scramble off the bed and venture from the room.

  Quickly, she locked the front door and almost laughed hysterically at the stupid act. Locked doors weren’t going to keep Clark out.

  She stood in the hall, her bare feet chilled by the wood floor. She’d had sex, lost complete control with this man—someone she’d thought she was growing to know. But she didn’t know Clark.

  He could kill a person with the flick of his wrist. He was dangerous. Strange. Frightening.

  She wiped her mouth, but the feel of him still lingered.

  Heaven help her.

  Who was she kidding? If it’d just been sex between the two of them, then why did it feel like her heart was breaking?

  Chapter 16

  “So what’s so important that you needed to see me alone? It’s crazy if you ask me—what with over a hundred people running around. If someone sees us together like this, they’re going to find it odd.”

  Paul Spalding checked the hall before he followed the other person into the game room. “No one’s going to find out. And even if they do, they’ll probably be too drunk to care.” He closed the door from the music and crowd. “It’s John Davenport. The son-of-a-bitch had the brass balls to show up here tonight.”

  “What are you talking about? He’s dead. The car accident. Everything was set.”

  “No, he’s not dead. All this time, I thought we’d covered most of our tracks with the accident and the fire at Miltronics. There was just the shelter to take care of. But now we have this. Someone screwed up in Arizona. Right now, he’s out there walking around and eating my damn food like he doesn’t have a care in the world.” Paul strode around the pool table and over to the bar, where he grabbed a bottle of scotch.