Forbidden Attraction: A Contemporary Romance Box Set
Page 16
All smiles fell from his face as he stepped closer excitedly. “Really? Could you tell who it was?”
“Unfortunately, no.” His shoulders fell as if I’d told him his dog had died. “Sorry. The only thing we could tell is that the perp is male, he is a cop, and he knows how to cover his tracks.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.” We sighed simultaneously. “I was hoping for more, for sure. The guy is certainly gonna mess up, but until then, we have to keep with the same plan.”
“Me, out here, doin’ nothing. Great.” He threw his hands up in the air and slapped them down against his thighs in exasperation.
“I’m sorry you’re bored,” I told him. “I wish I could help.”
“Do you really want to help?” he asked, his entire aura changing to one of seduction.
My mouth went dry as he looked at me, lust in his eyes. I cleared my throat and murmured, “Um, if I can…”
He stepped closer and reached for one hand, lifting it to kiss it. His lips against my skin caused static in my brain, and I could only stare at him. His eyes remained on mine as he brushed his lips over my fingertips, then he dropped my hand and closed the distance between us. Rather than the deranged fucking we’d done before, he was employing every ounce of seduction. His lips started at the corner of my mouth, then slid along my jaw to the sensitive pulse. My knees nearly buckled when he captured my earlobe between his teeth.
“I’ve been thinking about you since the last time I saw you,” he murmured in my ear, his tongue flicking out and tickling my ear.
“You have?” I moaned, incapable of much intelligent speech.
“Every time I sat at the table, I pictured you laying on it, screaming my name as you came on my cock.”
“Oh, fuck…”
I stepped away from him, regaining the control he was trying to take from me, and started pulling my clothes off, throwing my top on the floor. He watched as I stepped out of my skirt, eyes on fire with need. Once in nothing but my lacy undergarments, I stood in front of him with my hands on my hips, challenging him. He looked like he didn’t know what to do, he was so surprised.
I reached back and unlatched my bra, sliding it off my shoulders and throwing it at his head. He laughed, grabbing it and dropping it in my pile of clothes. I pulled my panties off and stood in nothing but my black high heels. He still looked stunned, and I liked it. My nipples hardened.
“You gave me a headache,” I growled. “Fix it.”
I launched myself forward, wrapping my arms around his neck and jumping up, straddling him. He grabbed me, kissing me with passion as he walked into the living room carrying me. I could feel his cock hardening in his shorts, pushing against my pulsing mound. He set me down on my feet and pulled his shirt over his head, revealing those hot, tanned muscles I loved so much.
I grabbed a pillow off the couch and tossed it on the floor in front of him. I knelt, ran my hands up his thighs, and pulled his shorts and boxers down to the floor. His cock sprang loose in front of me. I smiled and reached forward, grabbing it and running my lips over the tip. He groaned, putting his hand on the back of my head. I smiled and leaned forward, taking his cock deep into my throat.
I bobbed my head up and down, sucking him into the back of my throat. He gripped tightly to the back of my head, pushing me down and holding my head there. I moaned with a full mouth, swirling my tongue around his shaft as he pulled me back up and off his cock.
He dropped to his knees and moved toward me, lowering me slowly to the floor and pulling my legs out from under me. He lifted my feet up onto his shoulders and grabbed my hips, guiding his cock into my warm, wet pussy. I moaned as he plunged, going as deep as he could. His body ground against my clit as he held tightly to my hips.
I massaged my tits, moaning loudly as he fucked me. I could feel the heat building in my belly already, and I ached for a release. My head fell back, and I whimpered, my body growing hotter as he thrust into me. I grabbed the rug beneath me, lifting my hips off the floor and grinding my body against his.
He started to move faster, pushing me higher and higher. I cried out, throwing my head back and arching my chest into the air as he swirled his thumb around my clit. Waves of pleasure blew through me, and I could barely contain myself. As my pussy squeezed his cock, he groaned, pulling out and flipping me over on all fours. He slapped my ass hard, reaching around and rubbing my clit. I wasn’t even done with one orgasm, and he was already pushing me for another.
He pushed his cock into me and pumped his hips, slamming into me while his fingers rubbed circles over my hard nub. I shook and gasped, electricity pulsing in my stomach. I tried to move his hand, but he wouldn’t let me, and I gripped the rug beneath me as my body rolled from one orgasm to another. I screamed loudly, grinding my hips wildly against his fingers. As I felt every pulse, every shudder of another orgasm, he grabbed my ass, pushing hard and deep inside me. He fucked me hard as he held onto my hips, my moaning matching every thrust. He moved his hands up to my waist and pulled me back against him as his hips drove forward. I could hear him grunting behind me, and it turned me on even more.
He pushed down on my shoulders, lifting my ass up in the air. He swiped his thumb over my asshole, and I growled; no one had played with my ass before. He slapped my ass and grabbed onto it, softening the sting. He growled louder, pushing in deep and straining until every last drop was released.
When he was done, he sat back on his heels, and I flopped down on my stomach, pulling my arms under my head and smiling as I caught my breath. After a moment, I rose and asked for the bathroom so I could clean up. He pointed, and I padded nude to the door. I cleaned myself and returned to the living room. He’d retrieved a bottle of water, handing me the drink. I sat on his couch and sipped, feeling wonderfully spent.
He sat down next to me, drinking a beer he’d grabbed for himself. He shook his head and laughed, trying to catch his breath. I smiled and pulled my hands up behind my head after setting the water down close by.
“I want to tell you something,” he said. “When all this started, I came up with a plan to seduce you, trying to get you to believe that I was innocent.”
I smirked, having known that since the beginning. “And how is that working out for you?”
He snorted, taking another drink of his beer and shaking his head. I smiled, thinking about our first meeting and how he’d tried to charm the hell out of me. I had played it off because I hated him so much, a feeling I really couldn’t remember anymore.
“I don’t think a gun to your head would crack your objectivity.” He chuckled. “But I am up for continuing to try. Especially if you’re coming through that door stripping off your clothes without any warning.”
“They’re two separate things, Martin.” I sighed, sitting up. “You seduced the woman in me. The cop in me needed proof. I’m on your side because I have that proof.”
He sobered, nodding. “Yeah. I get that now. I’m sorry. I guess I thought I had to overcome an unfair bias. You know, because of our past.”
That startled me. He had tried seducing me to level the playing field, not tilt it in his favor? “Well look, keeping my objectivity was tough. Some shit you don’t get over easily. But I would still do it.” I hesitated. Should I bring up the real cause of my pain and distrust, beyond the humiliation and disappointment of my first time? The pregnancy? Not being able to let Jenny know her father?
“I get that now. And I’m sorry. If I had known you work that hard to stay objective no matter what, I wouldn’t have tried.” He looked regretful, but then grinned broadly and winked. “Until after the case was closed anyway.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. And he just smiled and gave me a dangerously tender look.
“And speaking of after the case,” he continued, looking at me sheepishly, which I’d not seen before. “As I said, I would like to continue this” –he waved his hand between us— “and maybe take you on a real date, get to know you, you know…”
“Yes, um, if you’re interested,” he said, looking into my eyes.
“Um…” I wasn’t sure what to say, but I did know one thing. I couldn’t start a relationship with this man until he knew the entire truth. “I, um, do need to talk to you about something before we can date or whatever.”
“Okay.” He watched me, and I felt self-conscious now.
I got up and gathered my clothes. He watched as I dressed quickly. I shrugged, chuckled self-deprecatingly, and said, “I’ll feel better having clothes on for this.”
He rose and put his shorts back on, but nothing else. “Okay. Go ahead.”
I cleared my throat and shifted uncomfortably on the chair I’d chosen to sit in. “When we were eighteen and slept together, you ghosted.” He opened his mouth to speak, and I held my hand up. “I know, I know, we were young and stupid blah blah. But, um, what you didn’t know was that I ended up pregnant.” Like a Band-Aid, I decided.
He stared at me for several seconds without speaking. His face showed no real surprise; I had assumed he suspected once he saw Jenny. However, as his thought moved through his head, several emotions flitted across his face. Finally, it settled on anger.
“I have a daughter.” I nodded. “I have a daughter and you didn’t tell me.”
Oh fuck, I thought, preparing to defend my choice, which I still thought was the right one. “I didn’t tell you because you were gone, off to play college baseball and then professional baseball. Would you have come home to play family?”
He stared at me, blustering, and finally said, “I don’t know what I would have done because I didn’t know. That’s unfair, Rene.”
Calmness fled when he said that. “Unfair? You wanna talk about unfair?” My voice was loud and pitchy. “I raised a child by myself. I had to work twice as hard to get through college while working and taking care of my child. We lived in a shithole apartment until I moved us here. I went without so she could have, and you wanna talk to me about unfair?”
“I didn’t know!” he yelled. “You can’t blame me for this shit when you didn’t bother telling me.”
“I wanted to tell you!”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because you fucked me on a dare you asshole. You made me feel special and wanted and you took my virginity and then went off to laugh with your friends about it.”
He looked as if I’d slapped him. “What the hell do you mean I fucked you on a dare? Who told you that?’
“Brandi,” I said. “Afterward, she caught me in the hallway and told me all about it.”
He shook his head and ran his hands over his face. “That’s why you’ve been so pissed at me all this time?” he asked. “Because my crazy ex-girlfriend told you I slept with you on a dare?” He started to laugh.
“I don’t see what’s so fucking funny here,” I growled.
Martin threw his hands in the air. “She was lying Rene! She was pissed off, crazy, and jealous. I never would have hurt you like that. I liked you. Like really liked you. I went back up to be with you after I broke the fight up but you were gone. Then I texted you half a dozen damn times to make sure you were alright.”
I looked at him. “So there was no dare?”
“No! There was no dare. I slept with you because I wanted to.”
I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. All this time. All these years and so much anger wasted on a lie. And I wasn’t the only one who suffered for it. Martin had. And so had our daughter. Cindy Stone was lucky she moved out of town years ago because if I ever saw her again, I would probably go to jail.
Martin sat forward, putting his elbows on his knees. He clasped his hands and stared at them. I let him sit in his silence for as long as he needed. I had no idea what was going on in his head, and just when I was ready to speak, he looked up.
“I’m really sorry that you spent all this time thinking I’d done something so horrible to you. But I didn’t. And I’d really like to get to know our daughter, if you’d let me.”
I sat back in my chair, my mind whirling. “I—I, um, don’t know…”
“Why not?”
“It’s just…” I frowned as I looked at him. His face was earnest, though he also looked irked. “Jenny knows nothing about her father. I don’t know how she’ll react.”
“You could tell her about me, prepare her,” he suggested. “I wouldn’t intrude on your life until you told me she was ready.”
“You really wanna meet her?”
“Of course I do!” He reached across and grabbed my hand. “She’s my daughter. Our daughter.”
I sucked in a deep breath. “I just…” I pressed my lips together as he squeezed my hand. “Give me some time, okay? After the case is over.”
“After the case?” he asked, releasing my hand.
“Well, yeah,” I said. “I don’t want to bring her out here, get her possibly involved. What if the guy sees her, realizes who she is? I won’t put her in danger.”
“Oh, of course, yeah,” he said, nodding. “But you’ll talk to her about me?”
“I will,” I announced as I rose, glancing at my watch. “I gotta get back.” I glanced down at the crossword puzzle book laying on the kitchen table. I chuckled and shook my head, turning to leave. “I gotta get you a video game system or something.”
“That’s not actually a bad idea, as long as it’s not networked.” His smile was still too soft, and it made me nervous.
I turned to leave and decided to make a joke after the really serious conversation we’d shared. “Thanks for the headache relief.”
He stood up and walked over to me, grabbing my arm. I stopped and looked at him, raising my eyebrows. He leaned forward and ran his lips up my neck to my ear. “You’re not walking out that door so quickly.”
I looked at him with a smirk on my face as he grabbed my hand and pulled me back into the living room. He looked me in the eyes and pushed down on my shoulders, lowering me to the floor. I looked up at him as he knelt in front of me and pushed me backward. I smiled, watching him push my skirt up and move my panties to the side. He licked his lips and nodded his head.
“I don’t think you’ve had enough,” he smiled. “How about one more for the road?”
“I won’t argue with you on that,” I said, succumbing. I lay back as he dropped to his stomach and opened my legs.
He pushed my folds apart and ran his fingers through my juices. I groaned, feeling the pressure on my clit. He dipped his head forward and licked me from bottom to top. I tilted my head back and moaned loudly, feeling the warmth of his tongue smooth through my lips, circling around my clit and moving back down. He lowered his fingers and pushed two of them inside me as he kissed and licked my clit.
I grabbed the carpet, my body tensing. He slipped another finger inside me and pushed in and out as his tongue danced through my juices. I moved my hips, grinding against his face, whimpering at the pressure building. He pushed faster, twisting his fingers and fluttering his fingertips. I cried out, arching my chest into the air. My body exploded, my thighs quivering around him as I came hard and long.
He smiled, feeling my juices flowing out over his fingers. Slowly he pulled them out and leaned forward, flicking his tongue over my clit. I shuttered as electricity flowed through me.
“Holy shit.”
“It was my pleasure,” he smiled.
“You mean my pleasure.” I laughed. I felt a warm vulnerability that scared me a little. I was in way over my head. I quickly readjusted my clothes after he’d helped me off the floor.
He kissed me sweetly at the door. “I really can’t wait to meet Jenny.”
I shifted uncomfortably. “I think she’ll be eager to meet you as well, once I tell her about you.”
“So you’re gonna say good things?”
“Well,
I’m certainly not telling her about the fact that I’m investigating you,” I joked.
“I’d rather you didn’t,” he said.
“I’ll see you.” I left quickly, planning my conversation with Jenny the entire way home, grateful she was staying at Dad’s. I decided, after the case, I’d take her to the bakery, get some treats, and talk to her about it. Obviously, I’d have to tell Bobby and Dante first so they would let us alone, but I also wanted to hear their thoughts. Bobby would probably be adamantly opposed at first, but he’d see that it was a good idea since Jenny had started asking about her father.
Our lives were about to change one way or the other. Jenny’s father would be in her life, which would alter her world, and a chance existed that he’d be in my life too.
After the case…
Martin
I fell asleep with her taste in my mouth, and I dreamed she was sleeping next to me. I let myself sink into the dream, envisioning waking up with her next to me. Jenny, my daughter, would bang on the door and run into the room, telling us she made breakfast for us. I could actually smell the burned pancakes, and I grinned as I roused from the warmth of a life I didn’t think I wanted, but now thought seemed like an incredible version.
After the case, I reminded myself as I climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom, refocusing my brain. I had to help Rene get my ass out of the sling or any life I hoped for wouldn’t happen. I’d be in prison making friends with men I’d put there. Fuck that, I thought as I padded into the kitchen to make coffee, I’d be dead within a week in gen pop.
As I sipped my coffee, I wandered onto the front porch to sit in the rocking chair my grandmother had left. I sat thinking about my conversation with Rene the day before. The thought that she’d been carrying all that hurt and anger for so many years because of a lie made my blood boil. It also explained her animosity toward me. But it had robbed me of the first years of my daughter’s life and that I couldn’t quite get over.