Tangled: Contemporary Romance Trilogy

by Dee Bridgnorth

Damion signed with his usual flourish. There was absolutely no resemblance between his signature and the fake one that Bob had falsified for him. Then Damion raised his left hand and brandished the pen at Bob. “Left handed, Bob. The paper gets slanted the other way when a left hander writes.”

  “Shut up,” Bob snapped petulantly.

  But Bob signed the addendum. It was almost painful to watch his pouty, petulant, childish manner as he signed away ten thousand dollars that he apparently desperately needed thanks to his philandering ways.

  “You know,” I mused more to myself than to the people who were hearing me do my musing. “I always thought that it would be satisfying to see Bob Abernathy get his comeuppance. The man was forever making inappropriate suggestions and sleeping with my coworkers. I covered his ass for years with poor Gail.”

  “And now?” Sherisse was the one who asked me that. I was surprised. She was watching Bob as though he were the main attraction at a freak show. “What do you think of his comeuppance?”

  “I think it’s just sad,” I told her.

  My words had a profound effect on Bob. He stopped ranting and muttering and spun around to stare at me as though I had just told him that his life was about to get worse. His mottled red face was set in lines of disbelief. He looked so angry that I wondered if he wasn’t about to give himself a heart attack.

  “You?” he finally managed to stammer. “You have the gall to feel sorry for me?”

  “Yeah. I do.” Funny, but I didn’t even have to stop and think about that. “Look at you, Bob. You’re a real estate broker. Do you have any idea how badly I want that title? I was willing to do your whole freaking job for you just to have the chance to take that class and get my license! And you what? You just squandered not only your integrity as a man and a husband, but your integrity as a broker!”

  Damion looked at Daria. “Where do I sign? I know that I have to sign for the purchase and for the disbursement of funds from my bank. I already talked to my banker. The funds are available.”

  “Uh. Yes.” Daria shoved a pile of paperwork in Damion’s direction. “Every signature line for you is highlighted in green.”

  Damion started signing. I watched him and could not help but think that even though Bob had turned out to be a total wolf in sheep’s clothing I would have done all of this again and again if that was what I had to do in order to have Damion Alvarez come walking into my life. That was worth a whole lot more besides.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Damion

  Falling in love is hard to do. Or at least it’s hard to do until you meet someone like Lena who just makes it so damned obvious that you can’t help but do it. I don’t think either of us had really mentioned the fact that Lena had kind of taken over my move into the new house. I was grateful that she was spearheading this monumental task and she seemed to really enjoy it.

  “You know,” Lena told me thoughtfully. “I saw this fantastic chair at an antique shop the other day that would be perfect for that corner.”

  One week. It had been one week since I closed on this enormous house and one week since Lena and I had kind of sort of firmed up our relationship status. It was still new. And when I slipped my arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck, I couldn’t help but think that I hoped this feeling of excitement and anticipation would never fade. I was getting addicted to it.

  “If you think you know the perfect chair for that particular corner,” I told Lena with a good amount of teasing in my tone. “Then I think you should go buy it.”

  She turned her head and looked at me. Her even white teeth were gripping her bottom lip as though she were worried about something. “Damion, I just don’t want you to think that I’m trying to take over your house.” She seemed to reconsider that statement. “Or spend all of your money. That would be bad too.”

  “I don’t think that.” There. Simple words to reassure her and we should move on. Right? “So I suggest you go and buy the chair and then we’ll make out in it for a while and see what we think of it. Because I personally believe that every surface in this house should be totally make out able on.”

  “That’s not even a word!” She giggled for a moment and then frowned. “Wait. Word? Phrase? Which is it?”

  I grabbed her around the waist and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Make. Out. Able. I think that would be a phrase.”

  She made a noise in the back of her throat that never ceases to drive me out of my mind with lust. I wanted to make love to this woman. I had been kissing and touching and biding my time. But right now? I was done waiting. That’s all I could think about. I wanted to see her naked and smiling and gasping when I entered her body. I wanted to bring her exquisite pleasure right before I had the best orgasm of my entire life. And then I wanted to do it all over again on every horizontal or vertical surface in the house.

  “Damion, it’s still daylight outside,” Lena whispered against my lips. “We should stop. What if someone comes to the door?”

  “I suggest not answering.” I almost wanted to laugh, but not quite. My Lena was a modest and very real woman. She wasn’t some raging sex pot who would let her goods hang out all over the city for everyone to gawk at. “And right now I think the next thing that will really help this house to feel like a home is to make love to you on that countertop right there.”

  “Excuse me?” She gaped as I pointed to the counter in the butler’s pantry about five feet away. “That counter?”

  “Sure.” It seemed perfectly reasonable to me. After all, I had been eyeing the thing since the first time I saw it because it was the perfect height for such an activity. “Should I issue another challenge?”

  “No!” She sounded scandalized. “You’ll have to bleach it just to make sure the thing is sanitary after we, um, make love upon it.”

  Damn, I loved this woman’s sense of humor. It was present even when she was shocked out of her mind. You had to respect that. It was an ability to keep her head and her wits even when her brain was spinning.

  “Damion…”

  But I was done talking. I wanted down and dirty and now. It was going to be our first time together and I know that a more romantic guy would probably be waxing poetic about a bed and candles and some kind of furry throw blanket. He would get his lady naked in the bathtub and wash her with rosewater.

  That wasn’t me.

  I knelt in front of my glorious woman and reached right up underneath her skirt. Can I just tell you how much I love the fact that this woman wears skirts on an almost constant basis? So perfect. Because I hooked my thumbs in the sides of her panties and dragged them right down her legs so they were nothing but a useless pool around her ankles.

  “Damion!” There was surprise in her voice, but not a hint of the word no.

  I nudged her legs apart while I was still kneeling there in front of her. I stroked the softness of her thighs. Her scent and the feel of her skin were now totally familiar to me. And precious. I could not express what kind of satisfaction it gave me to touch her warm flesh and feel her tremble with anticipation.

  I stroked her legs and then let my fingers quest higher and higher until they were tangling in the soft hair covering her mound. I gazed up at her while I touched her body. I wanted to see the heat on her face and the passion flaring in her blue eyes. She smiled at me. Her hands lightly touched my hair. I felt that loving touch and I knew that this was exactly the right moment to make her mine for good.

  I stood up and lifted Lena off the polished wood floor. Her sandals hit the ground one at a time with a little pattering noise. That was good. They needed to go anyway. I set her down on that marble countertop in the butler’s pantry of my new home and I began to kiss her.

  She whimpered and her nails scored my neck as she struggled to get closer and closer to me. I felt her hands at my waist. She pulled my shirt up and I moved away just far enough for her to pull it over my head. I love to feel her hands on my chest. I love the way she kneads and scratches my skin when I kiss
her. Her nails dug into my shoulders and I felt the pinpricks of pain only serve to heighten every bit of passion I felt for her in that moment.

  I gave her one last lingering kiss and nipped her full bottom lip just before I knelt in front of her once again. I pushed that skirt out of the way and gazed at the pink perfection of her most intimate feminine flesh. She was glistening and hot and wet and I could not resist the urge to taste her just once.

  Lena gasped and cried out as she climaxed almost instantly. The feel of her softness trembling and convulsing beneath my tongue mingled with the taste of her and I knew that I wasn’t going to last but a second when I finally got the chance to enter her body.

  I lapped and sucked at the hot core of her body. She leaned back against the cabinets and tilted her hips toward me. The instinctive welcome from her body made me bolder. I let my tongue dart inside her. I circled the tiny nub of nerves hidden between her folds. I cherished it with my lips and lightly sucked it into my mouth. And when I felt her tremble and shake I knew that I had sent her to the stars once again.

  Her taste grew tart and tangy. My mouth watered and I felt her juices cover the lower half of my face. I didn’t mind. I reveled in it. Her strong thighs tightened against my cheeks. I touched her with my hands and gently spread her legs farther and farther. I wanted her to come one more time. I wanted her to be absolutely ready for the moment we finally came together.

  Gripping the edge of the countertop, I inched my way up her body. I pushed her blouse out of the way and left her sweet folds for the taut flesh of her belly. I kissed a spot just above her navel as I reached up behind her and unfastened her bra. She was squirming desperately to get out of her blouse and her bra. She was still wearing that sexy little skirt though and I could not help but think that she made the sexiest sight I’d seen in a long time in nothing but her skirt.

  “Oh my God, Damion! Stop. Teasing!” Lena moaned. She reached for me, pressing my head to her breasts as I teased and sucked at each nipple until they were hard and pouting in my mouth. I rolled the distended buds against the roof of my mouth and heard her gasp with pleasure. This was what I wanted. It was more important than the feel of her nails raking over my chest or the way that she was desperately trying to unfasten my jeans.

  But the second she drew my cock into her hands, I knew that I was done. It was over. My self-control was threadbare and ready to snap. She measured me with her hot little hands and tugged at my shaft as though she were demanding I enter her right now. I shoved my jeans down over my hips. I got caught in my underwear then. My erection seemed to have pushed its way past the side seams to beg for attention and now I had to get it out of the way to push my underwear down.

  “Having trouble?” Lena asked with a teasing lilt in her voice. “Because I’m not sure I can wait any longer. You’ve got me so hot and wet for you, Damion. Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?”

  I gasped as I finally got my pants down to the polished hardwood floor. “I want you always,” I groaned.

  Lena spread her legs. She was pink and wet. I moved closer and she was the one to reach down between us and grab hold of my erection. I watched as she fit the end of my cock to her opening. It was the sexiest damned thing that I have ever seen in my life and I’m pretty sure that no porn cam could ever come close to what I was seeing right now. There was no comparison. There never will be.

  “Oh. My. God!” Lena moaned as I sank deep into her body. She wrapped her legs around me and pulled me in as far as I could possibly go. “Don’t. Stop. Please! Take me, Damion. Make me yours.”

  The words set me on fire. I began thrusting into her body as though there was nothing else in the world that mattered. The cabinets rattled. The counter creaked. And for a second I thought we were going to bring the whole damned house down.

  Lena cried out again and again. The sound of her screams echoing off the walls was the most satisfying sound I’ve ever heard. I grunted. I moaned. And I pushed deeper and deeper. I felt the muscles inside her body flex and tremble as I pushed her higher and higher. She dug her nails into my arms. Her head lolled to the side and she panted and gasped right along with me.

  The two of us were one being. There was no me and no her. There was just us and it was perfection. My sac drew up between my legs. I felt every muscle in my legs tighten as I pushed as hard as I dared into this perfect woman. She was absolutely perfect. I wanted her. I needed her. And when I finally climaxed, I could feel her melting all around me. She grew softer and hotter and then she drenched me in her pleasure as we orgasmed together in the undulating waves of fulfillment.

  I don’t know when it ended. I wasn’t even sure when it started. But I did know that I had my arms around a woman who was going to be mine until the world ended and we both turned to dust. I loved her. I had never felt like this before. I needed her. Both physically and emotionally and everything in between.

  Lena exhaled a long sigh and pressed her face to the hollow beneath my shoulder. “I want to do that again.”

  “Right now?” I wasn’t totally sure I could accommodate her. “I think I might need some sustenance first.”

  “Yeah. Pizza. Pizza sounds good. Don’t you think?”

  “A girl after my own heart,” I teased her.

  “There’s a bedroom put together upstairs, right?” She was actually yawning. “I’m so relaxed right now I would hate to waste this feeling.”

  I gathered her into my arms and began to walk out of the kitchen with a very strange shuffling motion. I was determined not to put her down. I had not yet figured out how I would navigate the steps with my pants around my ankles, but I was willing to try.

  “This could be a new workout,” Lena suggested with a giggle. “The pants down shuffling stair stepper.”

  “Sounds worse than burpees,” I observed.

  Lena sighed and kissed my neck. “I love you, Damion. Have I told you that yet?”

  “Not with words,” I said softly. I was in danger of doing something completely out of character like sobbing with joy. I could actually feel it. “But I think I got the message at some point over the last week or two.”

  “I’m sorry that I treated you like you were every other loser out there.” Lena nuzzled me again, which of course made me forget that there had ever been doubts. “But you’ve proven to me over and over again that you’re not every other guy.”

  “I can be that way because you’re not like any other woman,” I assured her. “You’re mine. You’re precious. You’re hilarious. You’re gorgeous without trying too hard. And you are going to make a kick ass life partner when we finally get around to that part of our lives.”

  “Life partner,” Lena murmured. “That has a really nice ring to it.”

  “A ring?” I couldn’t help it. I had to slip that in. “Because I would be honored if you would let me buy you a certain round, shiny, and very bling-covered ring.”

  There was a pause, but then after a minute or two when I had managed to get at least halfway up the stairs with my pants around my ankles, Lena gave me the words I would remember for a lifetime. “Yeah, I think a bling ring would be a kick ass gift. As long as it’s not too blingy. I don’t need too much bling.”

  “Just enough,” I agreed. “Exactly enough for my girl.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Lena

  There is nowhere quite like the Jewel Box in Forest Park. Green, purple, and orange lights gleamed through the panes of glass that made up the fifty-foot-high tiered greenhouse. Lights from the surrounding city created a bluish glow that seemed to underscore the crazy clear view of the party going on inside the monstrous seven-thousand-five hundred-square-foot space. I could actually see the people inside the greenhouse. They were all decked out for the Halloween—oh, excuse me—the Fall Festival in their favorite vintage ballgowns and masks. Men wore tuxedos and opera capes as they pretended to be the Phantom. But none of them could hold a candle to me or my scrumptious date.

  “Ow!�
� I put my hand up to block another hit from the prodigious nose sticking out of Damion’s mask. “Dude, don’t turn your head! That’s a lethal eyepiece you have going on there! I think you could actually take out my eye with that thing!”

  “Pardon me.” Damion sketched me a wonderful bow and I briefly wished I was standing behind him so that I could see how amazing his butt looked in those leather steampunk pants. “Why don’t you just pull out that flintlock pistol and whip me?”

  “Wow, are you really into that?” I fingered the butt of the pistol jammed into a holster at the bottom of my corset top and batted my eyes at him. “I had no idea, Mr. Alvarez.”

  Of course this started us laughing. We’d picked the steampunk costumes after googling the coolest masquerade ideas ever. Both of us had loved the idea of showing up looking dashing and mysterious like a bunch of futuristic buccaneers.

  Once I’d seen Damion in his purple and black striped waistcoat, the ragged looking black top hat, a long black fitted trench coat and those oh my word leather pants, I knew I was going to remember this night forever. His mask was actually this weird set of steampunk-inspired glasses with brass rings and so many flips and layers that I would have been curious to know if there were actually uses for each set.

  My dress was long in the back with asymmetrical ruffles and arched up over my knees to brush against the bottoms of my thighs. There were gathered points at both of my hips and a corset top so tight that breathing might actually become an issue. But oh my God, the boots! I loved these boots. I wasn’t giving them back to the costume store. Ever. They were knee high, black, heeled, laced up one side and zippered on the other. Of course I wore white thigh high stockings held up over my knees with big wide buckled garters. I looked amazing and I felt kick ass.

  Damion tugged at my skirt and then leaned down to kiss my shoulder. “You look so sexy in that outfit that I’m considering re-renting this getup for the wedding.”