Tangled: Contemporary Romance Trilogy

by Dee Bridgnorth

  My mother made a loud sound of outrage. I think I was too stunned by Val’s speech to say much of anything at all. But it was my father who was guffawing and laughing and slapping Anatoli on the back. Of course, Anatoli had no idea what was going on. So my father spoke in hasty, rapid Greek to fill him in. Then Anatoli was laughing and clapping too.

  Wait. Was he glad not to have to marry me? Maybe the guy wanted to go back to Greece? I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure I cared. I was just glad that Val had taken this all in stride. It was a huge imposition. It was rude. And we were going to have to eventually find some way to get out of this fake engagement too. I didn’t want him to feel like he had to marry me just because I had lied to my parents about us. Not even if it was probably the best way in the whole world to keep myself from getting roped into an arranged marriage.

  “Well, I see that you two lovebirds are hard at work trying to get Tansy’s real estate career moving,” my father said suddenly. He grabbed hold of Anatoli’s shoulder and the two of them turn back toward the car. “God knows you want to make that happen. She’s never going to make enough money as a waitress to help support a family.”

  “Wait just a second here!” My mother called out after my father. “Joe! You cannot possibly think you’re going to support this ridiculous marriage!”

  “Save it, Shula,” my father said jovially. “I think it’s obvious that the girl has her own plans. I think we should leave her to it.”

  I watched them get back into the car and felt my mouth drop open. Then Val put his arm around me and lightly kissed the side of my forehead. “So. Engaged now, are we?”

  Chapter Thirty

  Valentino

  I probably should have been angry with Tansy, but I wasn’t. By the time the two of us sat down in her cozy apartment to have a cup of hot tea I was feeling more optimistic than angry. Engaged. It was a bit faster than I had expected the relationship to progress. And yet I could not say that I was upset that this had happened. Maybe that’s what needed to happen.

  “I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done today.” Tansy curled into the same corner of the sofa where she had been sitting the last time I spent any time at her apartment. At least she didn’t look defensive or upset. “I never expected you to take an entire day off your work at the garage in order to be part of my work crew. I feel like it was an awful lot to ask of you.”

  “No.” I shook my head and gazed at her. I set my hot tea aside. It had sounded good enough, but it wasn’t at all what I wanted. Not really. I wanted to have Tansy in my arms. I wanted to feel her heart beating. I wanted to touch her and kiss her and feel her arousal rising until there was no way to know where I began and where she left off. “I was glad to help. Besides, it’s not like my mechanics couldn’t handle today on their own. I’m sure there will be plenty of pseudo disasters when I get back to work tomorrow, but it will have been worth it.”

  “I can’t believe that the whole thing with Rory Stein went so seamlessly.” She sipped her tea with a thoughtful expression on her face. “He’s a real bastard.”

  “Anyone who would actually hit an old woman, their grandmother, deserves a good butt kicking,” I agreed.

  She took a deep breath and I realized that her cheeks were turning red. “And we haven’t talked about my parents showing up either. I have no idea why Ray would send them to find me. That was horribly rude. I told him where I was so they could identify the bodies and find the killer, not because I wanted him to tattle to my mother!”

  “Maybe Ray is afraid of your mother,” I suggested.

  She snorted. “Oh he is. So am I. Everyone but you.”

  “Your mother doesn’t scare me,” I told her quietly. “I’m more scared of losing out on this sudden chance to make your mother’s daughter a permanent part of my life. I realize that you were making a desperate stab at preventing your mother from pressuring you into marrying some stranger, but I have to tell you that I’m not all that upset about the whole thing. In fact, I think it’s kind of perfect.”

  “Perfect?” She was dumbfounded. She didn’t have to say so for me to read it all over her face and in her body language. “As in you think we should really get married?”

  “Well, not tomorrow.” I sighed. I thought about all of the misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and stupid mistakes I’d made in three days or so. “I just want the chance to get to know you and a chance to be an exclusive part of your life. If that means we get engaged to keep your parents happy and then get married in a year, I don’t care. I just want you in my life. I want to figure out all of those uncomfortable moments.”

  “Oh, like what is the best way to break a date?” she teased gently.

  I gave her a self-deprecating smile and a nod. “Exactly. I need to remind myself that you had a very vibrant life before me. And I wouldn’t want anything to change that because it’s part of what I like about you so much.”

  She was silent for a moment. “And what about our sex life? Should we define that as well?”

  My heart was officially pounding inside my chest. I think I probably needed to turn in my man card. That is how nervous I was about this moment right here and right now. I didn’t feel like a man in his late thirties who was experienced in life. I felt like a moron in his teens asking a cute girl on their first date and wondering if he was going to get to kiss her good night.

  “Well?” she prompted. “Should we have rules? Because I don’t know what you want from me. Do you want sex? Do you want companionship? Do you want marriage? You keep saying take it slow and no pressure, but I don’t know if that’s what I want or not.”

  If my heart had been racing before, it was officially stopped as though I were about to faint dead away on the couch. I cleared my throat. I had to speak, to take action, something. “Tansy,” I told her, my voice rough and tight with tension. “I just don’t want to scare you away. That’s my only worry. I don’t know much, but that’s what I do know.”

  She got up from her little corner of the couch and moved toward me. I had taken my former seat at the other end of the sofa. She moved closer and closer. I felt every muscle in my body tighten in response. I wanted this woman so badly that I was honestly afraid that I was going to embarrass myself. Even though she had made me come hard the other day and I was pretty sure I had been completely satisfied, nothing was going to be enough until I was certain that Tansy Economides was all mine for good.

  “Tansy,” I whispered.

  But there was no more time for words. Not from me anyway. Tansy pressed her lips to mine and took my mouth in the most amazing kiss I could ever have imagined. My toes curled in my wool socks. Thank goodness I had taken off my boots. I could just see trying to get them off now and making a mess out of the whole process.

  Tansy moaned a little bit as she took my lower lip between her teeth and bit down. The pinprick of pain only served to amplify the pleasure she was bringing me. I put my arms around her and cupped her face. I kissed her back. I licked and sucked at her lips until our tongues were tangling together in a sweet duel for dominance. I wasn’t about to let her lead. Not this time. I wanted her. I wanted to be inside her. My cock was straining at the fly of my pants and I wasn’t going to tell myself no this time. I was going to make Tansy scream and beg for it if I had to. Anything to bring her pleasure.

  The two of us sank into the couch. Tansy kicked off her slippers with such enthusiasm that one of them went flying across the living room and nearly landed in the empty fireplace. I had never been so flattered before in my life to think that someone was that excited to be with me. It was like a dream come true.

  Tansy stretched out on top of me. Her breasts pressed against my chest. Her hands found my T-shirt and began to pull it up over my chest. I lifted myself up off of the couch just far enough to get that shirt over my head. She grabbed it and tossed it aside. I could not stop myself from chuckling, but soon enough I forgot what might be amusing. Her nails scored my chest. She lightly plucked at
my nipples and then I felt her fingertips plunging lower and lower until they neared my waistband.

  Lower. She went lower and I felt the tips of her soft fingers brushing the head of my cock where it pressed against my fly. I groaned and squirmed. I needed out of those pants. I needed her naked. I needed to be inside her. It was all rolling around in my head as if I were about to lose my mind with arousal and desire.

  Tansy kissed her way down my neck. She moved toward my chest. And when she began heading south toward my crotch, I knew I had to stop her. Not today. Later. But today was about Tansy. I wanted to make sure that she got everything she deserved and more. I wanted to give her everything.

  I wrapped my arms around her and flipped her onto her back. She gave a little squeak of surprise. I didn’t let that stop me. I took hold of her sweater and helped her get rid of it. I kissed the silky skin beneath it. I licked and sucked at her belly until I thought I might go mad with the need to go lower. It had been ages since I’d been with a woman like this, one that I wanted to please so very much.

  Sinking down onto the floor in front of the sofa, I took hold of her leggings and pulled them off. She wasn’t wearing panties. The dark thatch of hair between her legs was just a narrow strip of curls. I lightly pressed my face to that intimate place. Tansy grew absolutely still. Her breathing was ragged and each exhale sounded like a little whimper.

  Then I spread her legs and I lightly licked her core. I savored the taste of her on my tongue. Nothing had ever been so feminine or so sweet. It was unfamiliar and yet I wanted it to be familiar. I licked and I sucked. I tasted her like a treat and savored each and every sound and squirm that she gave me in return. She was trying to speak, but her words were jumbled. Then she spread her legs just a bit farther and brushed the top of my head with her fingertips.

  The welcoming gesture was enough to make me want to lose control then and there. I kissed her intimately, letting my tongue skate around the delicate folds of her most intimate place. This was what I needed, what she needed, what we both wanted. And I was happy to give it to her.

  I felt her tremble. The little shudders coming faster and faster as her core pulsed beneath my tongue. And then all at once I felt her convulse. She cried out and a gush of warmth left me lapping at her sweetness until I was almost out of breath and mad with the need raging through my body. It was too much. I could not stop myself from doing what came so naturally.

  I kissed my way back up her body. Fumbling at my waist, I got rid of those pesky cargo pants. When I felt my erection spring free, I took it carefully in my hand. I was shaking. Everything was shaking. I gazed down at her. There wasn’t much light in the living room, but there was enough to see the look of anticipation and pleasure on her face.

  She reached up and lightly stroked her fingers down my cheek. “Don’t make me wait anymore, Val. I’m yours. I’m all yours.”

  The words unleashed something desperate and feral inside me. I plunged inside her body. She spread her legs wider, welcoming me even as I sank my cock deep inside her until I was fully embedded in her sweetness. I thrust hard, trying to tell myself that there was no hurry. But that didn’t matter. Maybe I wasn’t hurrying anyway. I was just desperate. I was ready and so very thrilled to be exactly there and now. I wrapped my arms around her body and thrust deeply again and again. I felt her legs wind around my waist. She pulled me deeper still and arched her back. Then I felt her body rubbing against mine as she ground herself intimately against my hips and my cock. She rode me furiously, not wasting a single second as the two of us rose toward orgasm.

  I could feel the climax nipping at my heels. I could feel it getting closer and closer with each passing second. I was panting, struggling to get a breath. And then Tansy cupped my face in her hands and made love to me with her mouth as though there were nothing else in the world she needed to survive. She kissed me with a desperate sense of longing. Her teeth clicked against mine, her tongue tasted her own fluids on mine. And finally I heard her gasp.

  She tightened around me, her body spasming even as I held her tighter and closer and thrust hard to pour my own climax into her depths. We strained together, our bodies reaching that pinnacle of pleasure only to begin the immediate rush back down to earth.

  But this time there was no confusion or wondering. I knew that I had just made love to Tansy Economides and that I would do it again and again in as many ways and in as many places as I could possibly imagine.

  “Oh my word,” Tansy whispered. She touched my face, brushing her fingers over my lips. “You have magic mouth, Val. Did you know that?”

  “I’m not sure most people would agree,” I teased.

  She snorted. “Then I’m pretty sure it’s because they’ve never seen your mouth in quite the same context.”

  I laughed. “I hope not.”

  She grew sober and thoughtful. “I know that you acted almost embarrassed when you were telling me that you hadn’t been with anyone since your wife passed away. But I have to be honest with you, Val, I find that sexy as hell. I never have to worry about running into some woman that you once had a relationship with. I don’t have to compare myself to a bunch of your former flames and their playboy-bunny-worthy bodies. It’s just—well, it’s refreshing.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I felt flattered that she was willing to overlook inexperience and consider it a positive part of what made me the man that I am. I could not think of words to say what I was feeling in that moment. And then I realized that I knew the perfect ones.

  “I love you, Tansy,” I whispered. I held her closer and kissed her lightly on the lips. “I really, really love you. Forever.”

  “I know you do,” she whispered back. “I love you too. Lots and lots. Even though we don’t really know each other that well. I feel like we know what we’re getting into.”

  “That we do,” I told her gently.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Tansy

  Sometimes I think the best part about being intimate with someone is that feeling you get after the fireworks. Everyone knows what I mean. That floaty sort of lethargic sensation that makes you think you’re walking on air. I love that feeling. It’s just so pleasant. And the fact that I was dozing on my couch underneath a cozy throw while laying half naked with my sweetie after great sex? Well, that was just the icing on the proverbial cake. Right?

  So one might be able to imagine just how badly it sucks when something comes roaring onto the scene and forces that euphoria right out the door. Not just out the door. I mean something just destroys that euphoria. Totally destroys it.

  “Hey!”

  I didn’t actually realize that this was someone’s actual voice at first. I was too busy being snuggly with my sweetie and snoozing away on my cozy couch. But a few more shouts had me picking up my head and wondering who or what had decided to ruin my high.

  “Hey!”

  I lifted my head from Val’s chest and tried to stop the still thundering beat of my heart. “Did you hear that?”

  “Yeah,” he muttered. “But I was hoping if we just ignore it, it will go away.”

  “I feel like that’s not actually going to happen,” I told him. “It sounds like a familiar voice. Do you know who it is?”

  “I’m afraid I might,” he admitted. Then he lowered his head back to the couch cushions. “But I think I’d rather pretend that there’s nobody yelling and leave it at that.”

  No sooner than he’d head the thought, something heavy and wet hit the windows not far from our heads. I have a huge picture window on the front of my apartment. I actually saw something huge and shadowy hit that window and then slide down as though it were something right out of a horror film.

  “Did you see that?” I whispered to Val. “I don’t think we should ignore that.”

  “Maybe not,” he grunted. Then he struggled to sit up. That meant I had to get up. I didn’t like that. But I wasn’t going to fight him about it either because that would have been ridiculous. So I watche
d him start to pull on his clothes.

  “Oh. Clothes? That sucks!” I muttered.

  He gave me a lopsided grin and a little kiss on my lips. “Sweetie, as soon as I can be naked with you, I will be. All right. I always promise you that.”

  I reached for my own leggings and sweater. I didn’t really feel like putting them on, but something else had smacked into the window. It was loud and it did the same sort of squelching roll down the window into the bushes. I could see that these things were actually making tracks. That did not give me a good feeling in my stomach.

  “Get your phone,” Val called out as he moved toward the door. “I have a feeling that we are about to come face to face with something straight out of one of those stupid gangster movies.”

  My gut knotted, but I didn’t actually feel afraid. It was more just excitement. I had a feeling he was right. And I figured I knew exactly what self-proclaimed Bonnie and Clyde couple was waiting outside that door.

  “For the love of God!” Val shouted when he opened the front door. “Seriously? What is that? Pork roast or beef roast?”

  Before I could even get a chance to poke my head out and look, a piece of meat came sailing toward the front door from the direction of my front stoop. Val ducked reflexively and the hunk of fatty meat whooshed through the front door and landed right in the middle of my foyer. The meat hit hard and then skidded a little on the wood floor. It left a bloody streak before coming to a stop right in front of my kitchen doorway.

  “Hey!” Val shouted. “You guys do realize that was a twenty dollar roast, right? What is wrong with you?”

  I pushed my way past Val. At the last second he managed to snag me around the waist and reel me back in just before another hunk of bloody meat flipped through the air. This one missed the front door opening and slammed against the fan window above our heads. As it fell, I smelled the coppery stench of the blood now dripping down the façade of my building.