She suddenly sat up and tore at my shirt, yanking it over my head, putting her breasts right in my face. I wrapped my arms around her and held her to me, my tongue sliding along her neck. I bit her ear gently, overcome with the desire to do more than just taste her. Her nails scraped harshly down my back. The sting was enough to let me know she drew blood.
I was slightly scared. Okay, I was terrified, but I was also harder than I’d ever been in my life. There was something scary and exhilarating about this possibly being the final moments of my life. She pushed me back until I was laying against the arm of the couch. She winked at me, but not in a cute way, but something along the lines of you may not survive this. I swallowed hard as her fingers undid my zipper and she started yanking down my pants. A smart man would lose his hard on right now. A smart man would run for the door. But me? I wasn’t so smart. And when she wrapped her mouth around my cock, I groaned and got even harder. My eyes rolled back in my head as she deep throated me. I didn’t even have to hold her where I wanted her. She knew exactly what she was doing. And if she induced a heart attack in me right now and I died, it would all be worth it.
She was better than any fantasy I’d ever had. She worked my cock like she was made to do it. Her tongue slid across the underside of my cock like she could read exactly what I needed. It was dirty and so damn amazing. And when she swirled her tongue over the head of my dick, I almost lost it right then. But I wasn’t going out this way. I wanted to feel her wrapped around me before it all ended.
I rolled her off the couch, landing between her spread legs. I wasn’t as gentle with her as she was with me. I tore her jeans off, practically ripping them in the process. But the whole world stopped when I saw she wasn’t wearing panties. I glanced up at her and smirked.
“That’s so fucking hot.”
“I didn’t have any laundry.”
“I think every day should be laundry day.”
I bent down and took my first swipe, and goddamn if that didn’t kill me, I knew being inside her would. I kicked my jeans the rest of the way off as I feasted on her, dragging her up and down my mouth and eating every last bit of her pussy. I didn’t care if my knees hurt from the floor or if I got splinters, I was taking her right fucking now.
I angled her hips higher, until she was just where I wanted her, and I slammed home, shouting out as I hit as hard and deep as I could. Stars filled my eyes, fireworks exploded…fuck, the flames of hell licked at me. It was spectacular. My hips slammed against her over and over, taking her like a wild beast. I felt crazed with her, partly from fear and partly from desire. I had never wanted a woman like her before. I had never met someone that could confuse me, terrify me, and bewitch me all at the same time.
Lorelei
Oh God, I was falling apart here. I had never intended to sleep with Andrew, at least, not anytime soon. That wasn’t part of the plan. I was just supposed to befriend him and have him help get the town on my side. Now he was involved. The only way to keep him away from this disaster was to kick him out. But how did I kick someone out when they were still inside me, staring down at me with a burning lust that told me there was so much more to come?
His heavy breaths fell across my face and his fingers slid through my hair as he stared down at me. His face morphed into confusion for just a second, making me think that he didn’t understand this any more than I did. I was using him, so why did I still want him? It didn’t make any sense.
He pulled out, and I thought that maybe he would get dressed, but instead, he pulled the blanket up over us. We both laid there in this totally awkward silence. Neither of us knew what to say.
“So…that happened,” he finally said.
I huffed out a laugh, covering my face with both hands. I hadn’t had sex like that in years, not since I still lived in West Virginia. And even then, it was nothing compared to what had just happened. I knew I was going to be sore in the morning. Hell, I was sore now. The way he had yanked my legs apart as he pounded into me was just downright brutal.
He let out a long sigh and looked up at the dying fire. “It’s getting cold in here.”
“It usually does at night.”
“When’s the damn furnace going to be here?”
“I have no idea. Eric said something was delayed. I’m guessing it won’t be too much longer.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a good thing you have the fireplace. Winters can get brutal around here.”
“Really? Eric told me that winters have been mild recently.”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s true, but when we get a storm, being out here in the open, that wind is gonna be killer until you can get the windows replaced. Not to mention that if a tree falls on the power lines, you’re not going to have power for days.”
“Good to know. So basically, I need to chop down the whole forest so I have enough wood on standby.”
He smirked at me as he got up and tossed another few logs on the fire. “Not the whole forest. Besides, I don’t think what you have behind your property could be considered a forest. More like a copse of trees.”
I stared at him, wondering why the hell he still had that damn beanie on. He was indoors, so why didn’t he take it off. He rubbed his hands together and climbed back under the blanket, but just as he did, I snatched the beanie off his head.
“Hey!”
I held it out of arm’s reach and laughed as he tried to grab it. “You’re going to have to come get it from me.”
“I have no problem with that,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “Just make sure you put it someplace fun.”
“What’s with this hat anyway?”
He shrugged. “I just like it. I’ve been wearing it for so long that I feel naked without it.”
“You wash it, right?”
He snatched it back and tugged it back on his head. “Of course I do.”
“Is your head always cold or something?”
“No, I just like it.”
“Because you kind of look like a hipster.”
“Well, I kind of am a hipster. And you’re probably a few years younger than me. You can’t tell me that you’ve never seen people do this before.”
“Oh, I’ve seen it,” I laughed. “I just didn’t realize they were still doing it.”
“You’re really funny,” he said sarcastically.
I did my best not to laugh and changed the subject. “So, what was it like growing up around here?”
He shrugged. “You know, small town and not a lot to do. My brothers and I got into a lot of trouble.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded. “You’re from a small town, right?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, West Virginia is full of them. It must have been cool living out there.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, if you didn’t mind being poor.”
“Did you ever try and leave? Find someplace else to go?”
“We couldn’t. We owed too much on the house. There weren’t any good job opportunities nearby, so it’s just kind of how the whole town lived.”
“How did your mom die?”
I flinched, not wanting to talk about it. It was bad enough that we lost everything we had, but to lose her was the hardest part of everything.
“She died in her sleep.”
“How? She must have been young.”
I shrugged, even though I knew. It was best if I didn’t say too much. “They said she passed peacefully.”
“But weren’t you curious?”
“Of course, but we didn’t have the money for an autopsy. We barely had enough money to cover the costs of her funeral.”
“How old were you when she died?”
“Thirteen.”
By that point, people were being laid off left and right. My father had lost his job the year before and we were already struggling.
“After she died, my dad just went into this downward spiral. I would find odd jobs or anything I could to help out, and then I would come home and
find that he had spent what I had brought in.”
“That’s really shitty.”
“Not as shitty as how violent he became,” I whispered.
I remembered all the nights that I snuck out of the house to go see Matthew. I didn’t want him to know what was going on. I didn’t want anyone to know. And when he found out, everything took a turn for the worse. He had been my only friend and he was dead now because of me.
“How did you get away?”
I sighed and rolled away. I didn’t want to talk about any of this. It was dangerous territory, but I also felt for some reason that I could trust Andrew. But I wasn’t stupid enough to open my mouth just because we had fucked.
“I saved up for as long as I could and then I just left. I found a job as a secretary. It didn’t pay a lot, but it was enough, more than I’d had in a long time.”
Surprisingly, I felt him wrap his arm around my waist and pull me in closer. I smiled to myself because I had been successful. He was coming around to my side. It wasn’t at all that I liked his touch, I lied to myself.
“So, what do you think about going on a date with me?”
I snorted and craned my neck to look at him. “A date? Don’t you think we’re doing this a little backwards? Besides, you hate me.”
“Hate is a very strong word. I don’t hate you, I just don’t know you.”
I pulled the blanket up higher to ward off the chill and spun to face him. “You sure sounded like you hated me when you came here.”
He smirked slightly. “You frustrate me. I don’t understand you and that irritates me. I’m not used to women being a mystery to me.”
“And I’m a mystery?” I asked, wondering where he was going with this.
“You wouldn’t be so interesting if you were easy to figure out.”
With the guys working downstairs and nothing to do at the moment, I decided to go upstairs to the attic and pull out my paints. My mother had been a great painter, and she taught me everything she knew. I didn’t get to paint often as of late. My plans had gotten in the way of me having any relaxation time. When I pulled out the canvas and set up my paints right in front of the window, I finally felt some of the stress of the past year fade away.
I rolled my shoulders, really allowing the muscles to loosen in my neck and across my back. The snow had just started falling, and it looked like there would be an early winter. At least, that’s what everyone around town was saying. I was still making trips into town as much as possible, wanting to get to know as many people as possible while I had the time. I needed to establish myself here, just in case the worst happened.
With the morning light, I had a beautiful landscape to paint and I spent the next few hours getting lost in my work. There was a very small pond out back, just before the tree line, and with the snow falling, it made a beautiful picture. I imagined what it would be like when the water froze over. Maybe Andrew would come out here with me and skate on the ice.
I smiled to myself, but when my phone rang and I saw who was calling, I reminded myself that my plans with Andrew were for a reason, and I needed to stick with them.
“Callum,” I answered.
“How are you holding up?”
I glanced around my makeshift studio and smiled. “I’ve never been better. Any word on the trust?”
“It’s still being looked at by lawyers.”
“But no one has asked for the body to be exhumed?”
“Barty’s asking. There’s no evidence to suggest that it should be though. Lorelei, I have to ask…is there anything they would find?”
“Not by me.”
“Because you’re too good or because you didn’t do it?”
I sighed, hating that he was even asking. But he knew a secret about my past that would most definitely make him think that I had killed Arlen. He didn’t need to wonder if I did it. I was pretty sure he was already convinced it was me. I was ready to get out of this, and the sooner the better.
“Callum, I can’t believe that you would even have to ask.” He sighed over the line, so I decided that instead of going down this road again, I would just change the subject. “How’s everyone doing at home?”
“Same. Matthew’s parents have been asking about you.”
Panic tore through me for just a moment, before I realized that it was perfectly normal for them to ask about me. We had been best friends. “What did they want to know?”
“They just wanted to know that you were okay out in the real world.”
I huffed out a laugh. It didn’t get any more real than my hometown. People were suffering, and that was where it truly determined how strong you were. It was ironic that Matthew’s parents wanted to know how I was, the person that killed their son. Of course, they didn’t realize it was me.
“And what did you tell them?”
“Well, you know they were confused as hell when you married Arlen, but they figured that you did it to survive. I don’t think they ever believed that you loved him.”
“Thank God Arlen wouldn’t ever have allowed them to be invited to the wedding. They would have seen right through me.”
“Would they? I think a lot of people in town just thought you were drowning and looking for a lifeline.”
“Wasn’t I?”
I loved Callum, but I hated talking to him. He was a reminder of everything bad in my life. He had saved my life, but the longer I stayed in contact with him, the more I could feel my soul draining away. I needed this all to be over, and the sooner that happened, the sooner I could move on with my life.
“So, how do we move forward?”
“I tried reaching out to Oscar. I thought maybe he could convince his brother to back off, but no dice. He knows Bartholomew too well. He knew there was nothing he could say to convince him to drop this whole thing.”
“Oscar was always too good for his family.”
“Lorelei, I can’t stress enough, we need Oscar on our side. Maybe you could give him a call.”
I hated the idea. As much as I hated that family, Oscar was a good kid and I didn’t want to drag him into this mess.
“Fine. I’ll call him.”
“Good. You’re doing okay, though?”
“Yes, I promise. I’m doing fine.”
“Alright, let me know how it goes.”
After hanging up, I scrolled through my phone to Oscar’s number. Taking a deep breath, I got in character and prepared to talk to my step-son.
“Lorelei?”
“Hey, Oscar,” I said gently. “How have you been?”
“I’m okay.” I heard the slight croak in his voice. Oscar knew about his dad’s flaws, but he still wanted his approval. I always felt bad for him, tried to reach out and help whenever I could.
“How’s school?”
He sighed slightly. “It’s not great. I’m having a hard time concentrating.”
I frowned, wondering what I could do to make it better. “Because of your dad?”
“A little.” He paused and I waited for him to speak again, feeling like there was something he wanted to say. “Lorelei, I feel like I never really knew him. I keep thinking he was the man I knew, but I can’t help but wonder if he was different.” Oh, he had no idea. “I mean, he married you, and you’re nothing like him.”
“I think your brother and sister would disagree.”
“Well, they’re nasty people. I never liked them.”
“You know, I think sometimes we never really know who a person is. I think you’re better off remembering what you can about your dad, but focusing on yourself. If you fail out of school, what are you going to do then?”
“It just doesn’t interest me.”
“Is there something else you want to do?”
“Maybe,” he said hesitantly. “Dad would kill me if he were alive.”
I smiled at that. “Well, that’s the great thing, your dad isn’t here to make those decisions for you. This is your life. Do what you want with it.”
&nb
sp; “It would mean changing majors.”
“Then do it.”
“But dad already paid for my tuition. He had stipulations…”
“I’ll take care of it.” I really didn’t know if I could, but I would try my hardest. “I’ll make some calls and hopefully have some answers for you soon. But you have to finish out the semester, and if you fail your classes, it’s going to be pretty hard to convince them to let you switch majors.”
I had no idea if that was true or not, but the suggestion seemed to work. We spoke for a few more minutes and then I hung up, smiling to myself. I felt a little better after that conversation, and I didn’t think I would. Sometimes I really surprised myself.
Andrew
I spent the morning digging into the car accident that Lorelei’s fiancé, Murray, was involved in. A single hair was found in the passenger side of the vehicle. I hacked every database I could find, but I came up with nothing. This mystery person wasn’t anywhere that I could find, and I could find anyone. The hair alone didn’t mean that someone had been in the car. Anyone could have left a hair behind. However, there were fresh mud tracks in the passenger side, not to mention the footprints leaving the passenger side of the car.
The prints were smaller, definitely a woman’s shoe, but since it was winter when the accident occurred, it was hard to say exactly what size in the snow. The person could have been wearing snow boots. There were also fibers found in the car that appeared to match a scarf. That was all the investigators could find. They had the brand of scarf, but there wasn’t any DNA they could pull off it since it was just a few fibers. And since the scarf was popular, sold at Target, it could have been purchased by anyone.
I looked over the photos for hours, trying to find anything the investigators had missed, but there was nothing. I analyzed the tire marks on the road, and I had to agree with the reports, it looked like someone was jerking the wheel. Then again, if the lug nuts were loose on the tire, it was entirely possible that the erratic driving was because a tire was coming off, which was why the investigation said it was a single person crash. They brushed off the footprints as a passerby that came upon the scene of the crime and then ran away. It didn’t make much sense, but without having any proper evidence that someone else was in the vehicle, and not being able to prove who was there, it was really the only way to close the case. Murray Claybourne’s death was marked as an accident and that was the end of everything.
Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) Page 11
