Love in the Dark

by 12 Book Boxed Set (epub)

  “Oh, shit,” he groaned and I felt his hands in my hair.

  The sound of his voice turned me on and encouraged me to keep going. I took more of his cock into my mouth and sucked it long and hard, taking it as deep as I could. He seemed to be growing even bigger as I sucked, and I felt him pulling on my hair harder as his breathing grew faster and faster.

  “Stop,” he groaned a few minutes later. “I’m going to blow.”

  “I don’t mind,” I said with a small smile as I could feel his body start to shudder.

  “I want to come in your other lips,” he answered, his voice deep and husky. The dirtiness of his words made me come slightly.

  “Hold on.”

  He rolled over and reached into his pants pocket again, and I watched as he pulled out a strip of condoms. He ripped open a packet and pulled a condom out, and before I knew what was happening, he was slipping it onto his hard cock. He grabbed my hands and pulled me up and then pushed me slightly so that I was on my back.

  “First position will be traditional and then we can go crazy,” he said with another wink and I felt the tip of his cock at my opening. His fingers rubbed my clit and he groaned. “You’re so wet for me.” He kissed me passionately, his tongue slipping into my mouth at the same time his cock entered me, hard and deep.

  I bit down on his lip in shock and pleasure as I felt him inside of me deeper than I’d ever felt someone before. His finger was still rubbing my clit and all my senses were overwhelmed with the pleasure he was giving me.

  “Faster,” I moaned, barely able to keep up as I flexed my muscles in rhythm to his grinding.

  “Say my name,” he said as I started writhing beneath him more urgently.

  “Go faster,” I panted, feeling my release close, but not wanting to say his name for some reason. “Please,” I groaned as he pulled out of me completely and stared down at me. “Zach, please.”

  “Please what?” He gave me a wicked grin, and I bit down on my lower lip as he rubbed the tip of his cock against my clit. I was about ready to burst, but I needed to feel him inside of me.

  “Zach Houston, please fuck me harder.” My fingernails dug into his back and I bit down on his shoulder. “Now.”

  He chuckled for two seconds before entering me again. This time he moved harder and faster than I had ever thought possible, and I moved along with him, trying to keep up. I felt the pressure building up, I couldn’t stop it, and I screamed when I felt myself coming long and hard. He stared down at me with a satisfied smile and then increased his pace faster, grabbing my hips and slamming into me with abandon.

  “Fuck, yes,” he grunted.

  He slammed into me two more times before he paused and came inside of me. He kissed my neck as he lay on top me, then a few seconds later he pulled out of me, took the condom off, and placed it on the side table next to the bed. He kissed me on the lips and looked into my eyes and smiled.

  “That was worth the wait, Piper Meadows. That was definitely worth the wait.”

  “Worth the wait?” I laughed. “We only met yesterday. What wait are you talking about?”

  Normally, I would have felt slightly embarrassed or guilty about having slept with a man I’d just met, but at this moment I didn’t care at all. This had been the best sex of my life so far, and it had been well worth it. Plus, it was Oracle Lion—well, Zach Houston—and I was pretty sure I would have regretted missing out. He wasn’t as big of an ass as I’d thought.

  “You know you wanted me as soon as you saw me at the club.” He nodded with a cocky smile. “Our eyes met, and you thought to yourself, I’d love to be riding Oracle Lion tonight. Maybe you were even contemplating lifting up your skirt and taking me to the dance floor.” His fingers reached between my legs and rubbed. “Or maybe you were hoping for a threesome with me and Jackson.” His lips made their way to my ear. “One of us fucking you while the other one played with your tits.”

  I stilled at his words and looked at him with an annoyed expression.

  “I’m just joking.” He laughed and put his hands up in the air. “Don’t kill me.”

  “Uh-huh,” I mumbled, feeling less happy than I had a few minutes ago. Had he been joking? It didn’t sound like it to me. Maybe that had been the plan all along. Maybe they did have threesomes or foursomes or couple swaps or whatever. Maybe they’d thought they’d hit the jackpot when Alexa had arrived looking all hot and sexy.

  “Piper, I’m joking.” He touched the side of my face and stroked down to my collarbone. “I don’t do threesomes, and even if you’d begged me, I would have had to have said no.”

  “If I had begged you?” I hit him on the shoulder, and he burst out laughing. “Very funny. This isn’t something I do often you know. If you think I just sleep around and …” My voice trailed off as I watched him chuckling to himself. “Are you laughing at me?”

  “Would I do that?” He pulled me into his arms. “It’s been a nice night, Piper. Well, I should say a nice night and morning. It’s been just what I needed.”

  “Yeah, it has been nice.” I snuggled into his arms and closed my eyes. “You’ve given me some inspiration for my next book,” I said with a secret smile and shook my head as his eyes grew inquisitive. “And no, I’m not going to tell you what it’s about.”

  The banging front door awoke me and I stretched against a sleepy Zach who was watching me with hooded eyes. “Oops, I guess I fell asleep.”

  “I guess you did,” he said with a small smile and I wondered what he was thinking.

  “I guess Alexa is back,” I said stupidly. “I wonder if Jackson is with her. Maybe they want to get brunch or something.”

  “Hmm.”

  Before I could say anything else, Alexa was opening my bedroom door and striding in. “You will never believe what I found out about Jackson Camden,” she said as she walked in and stopped, her eyes were wide and her hair was wild.

  “Score, Piper. I knew you’d get Oracle Lion into the sack one of these days.”

  Alexa grinned wickedly, though the smile didn’t reach her eyes and before Zach and I knew what was happening, she was snapping a photo of us with her phone, flash on and blinding us with its light.

  “If times get hard again, this will be worth a pretty penny.” She winked at me before heading out of the room again.

  I looked over at Zach with a small smile about to apologize for Alexa’s poor sense of humor, but all humor and affection had gone from his face. He looked at me stonily and I could feel his emotional and physical withdrawal from me.

  “She’s just joking.” I made to stroke the side of his face, but he recoiled from me. “Zach, are you mad?” My eyes took in the veiled anger in his face. He shook his head and pulled away from me.

  “Nope.” He looked at his watch in an exaggerated fashion and then reached down to his pants and pulled his phone out of his pocket, swiped a couple of times and appeared to be reading something. He glanced up at me with narrowed eyes and gave me a bitter smile. “Some writer, eh?”

  “Excuse me, what?” I stared at him, feeling emptiness already fill me as he jumped up out of the bed.

  “I have to go.” He pulled on his clothes quickly, typed something on his phone, and gave me one long last glance. “It’s been real. Thanks for the fun,” he said as he walked to the bedroom door. He stopped at the door and looked back at me with disdain, then took a leather wallet out of his pocket, opened it, and pulled out a stack of bills, which he threw onto the bed.

  “That’s for you,” he said with a twist of his lips. Then he moved back toward the bed and stared down at a shocked me. “And if I see that photo of us in any tabloids, I will sue you for every penny you have.” And with that, he was gone. I sat on the bed in shock, wondering what the hell had just happened. He couldn’t have been that upset because of Alexa’s joke, could he? Granted, it had been in poor taste, but it had just been a joke.

  “What the hell happened to Oracle?” Alexa walked into the room looking confused. “He
just stormed out of the apartment and gave me the dirtiest look I’ve ever been given in my life.”

  “Girl, I have no idea.” I shook my head. “But I knew he was an asshole.” I sighed as I picked up the stack of bills he’d left on the bed. “He basically just called me a whore.”

  “What? Alexa’s jaw dropped. “No way.”

  “He dropped all these bills on the bed.” I counted them quickly. “Two thousand dollars.” I held the money up in shock. “He left two thousand dollars.”

  “Did he think you were a prostitute?” Alexa sat on the side of the bed and gave me a look. “How rude.”

  “I don’t think he did.” I shook my head slightly and then pointed at her. “He got all funny when you took that photo. Why did you do that?” It was then that I noticed that Alexa looked upset with red eyes. “Have you been crying?”

  “You won’t believe what happened,” she said collapsing down on the bed. “Ugh, I hate men.”

  “Does this have to do with what you said you found out about Jackson Camden?” I thought back to her words when she entered the room.

  “Yes.” She nodded. “You’re not going to believe what I found out.”

  9

  Oracle

  * * *

  Idiot!

  That’s what I was thinking as I walked to the beach after leaving Piper’s place. Idiot! I couldn’t believe that I’d been taken in by Piper so convincingly. As soon as Alexa had walked into the apartment, I knew something had been off. Jackson was the sort of guy who would have taken her to breakfast and then to lunch and then most probably would have seen if she’d be up for a quickie at the airport before he left.

  I’d seen the look on Alexa’s face when she’d walked into the bedroom. She hadn’t looked happy. Which led me to believe her night with Jackson hadn’t gone as planned. And what was that she’d said about finding some secret out about Jackson?

  I looked back down at the text that Jackson had sent me that morning, “Dude, if you’re still with that chick, get out of there. I’m pretty sure she and Alexa are journalists and last night was a setup.”

  I clenched my fists as I reread his words. No wonder Piper hadn’t wanted to tell me what she was working on now. It was a frigging article about me and maybe Jackson. She’d well and truly fooled me. I stared at the photo of the newspaper that Jackson had sent with the text and my heart froze. I sighed as I realized I couldn’t go to my private home in Venice beach. I had to go back to the main house and talk with Jackson, and we had to figure out exactly what each one of us had told the girls. And exactly what Alexa had found out.

  My mind flashed back to Piper’s shocked expression as I’d thrown the money on the bed. She’d looked taken aback and hurt and I bet she was shocked that I’d figured out her secret. I had to give it to her, she’d had me well and truly fooled.

  “She thought she was so smart,” Jackson growled and slammed the paper down on my dining room table with a loud bang. “She didn’t even ask me anything about it, just sat there reading.”

  “She sat there reading it right in front of you?” I asked him, choosing my words slowly. I could tell from the way he was talking that he was worried. “Did you ask her where she got the paper?”

  “I didn’t want her to think I was interested or had noticed what she was reading. I didn’t want to make her think I knew anything.”

  “So it could have been a coincidence?” I asked, but really, how could it have been?

  “Do I think it’s a coincidence that she was reading the Orlando Sentinel and the front story was about the reopening of a case from twelve years ago?” He gave me a look that told me he thought I was stupid. “We’re in Los Angeles, Zach. Does that sound like a coincidence to you?”

  “Did you know?” I didn’t even have to ask him the full question. He knew what I was talking about, but I decided to clarify anyway. “Did you know they were reopening the case?”

  “I had no idea.” He shook his head, his eyes downcast. “I have to call Margaret.” Margaret was his younger sister and the only woman that Jackson had truly cared about in his life. “Maybe she knows something.”

  “But what if she doesn’t?” I said softly, touching his shoulder. “Let’s just see what happens. You don’t want to get her upset or anything.”

  “Did you say anything to … what was her name?” he asked me, his eyes searching mine and I could see him relaxing as I shook my head.

  “Piper, and no, she didn’t even ask.”

  “Did you fuck her?” He grinned now, obviously feeling better enough to be crude.

  “Really, dude?” I shook my head. “That’s so classy.”

  “So that’s affirmative. You fucked her.” He started laughing then and checked his phone. “I’m wondering if I should cancel my trip to New York and fly to Orlando instead. What do you think?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think that’s smart.” I walked over to him and touched his shoulder. “Don’t do anything out of the ordinary. There’s no point.”

  “You sure you didn’t tell that Piper anything?”

  “She didn’t ask me anything …” I paused to think back to my conversation with Piper. “Well, I guess she kinda asked about my pre-fame days, but nothing much. Nothing detailed or searching …” I stopped for a second and tried to think back to the beach. “Maybe she asked me about our friendship, though.”

  “What did she ask and what did she already know?”

  “I think maybe she knew that we grew up together and we went to the same college.” I sighed. “But maybe I told her that. I don’t remember.”

  “But she didn’t tell you she was a journalist, did she?”

  “No.” I grew angry again. “She didn’t tell me that. She told me she wrote books, but she didn’t want to tell me what she was working on now.”

  “Yeah, I wonder why.” Jackson tapped his hands against the table. “I could ruin her career. It would take one call to Bill, and he’d make sure she never got hired again by any reputable media house.”

  “Who does she work for now?” I asked him, curious and slightly guilty. I didn’t want to ruin Piper’s career. I’d thought she and I had some sort of connection. Obviously, I’d been wrong.

  “Don’t know. Alexa was telling me something about how she was so proud of Piper for doing what she loved and mentioned how she’d written some articles that had made her a shit ton of money.”

  “Exposé articles?”

  “That’s what I’m guessing.” Jackson shook his head. “I should have known when she was faking not knowing you in the club that she was up to no good. Like who the hell doesn’t know Oracle Lion?”

  “A few people.” I laughed, though I wasn’t feeling happy. “She didn’t seem to know my real name was Zach, though.” I started pacing back and forth. “And she didn’t mention the band.”

  “Yeah, because she’s smart enough not to show her cards too soon,” Jackson growled. “I need a beer.” He walked into the kitchen and I followed behind him. “Also, your mom called.”

  “Pass me a Bud,” I said as he opened the fridge. “And maybe throw me a sandwich. I’m hungry.”

  “You didn’t eat yet?”

  “I was kinda occupied.” I gave him a wink, and he laughed.

  “And I’m the dirty dog?”

  “You didn’t hook up with Alexa?”

  “Nah, she wanted to talk.” He rolled his eyes. “Now I know why.”

  “They don’t know anything, Jackson. There’s no way they know anything. It’ll be okay, man.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” He took a deep breath. “I just thought that by now we’d be able to breathe easy, you know?” He shook his head. “But you can’t trust any of these hoes.”

  “Yeah.” I nodded as I popped the tab on the Bud can and started drinking. Piper’s innocent smile and breathtaking face popped into my mind, and I tried to ignore the memory of her fingers digging into my shoulders as she climaxed. Her eyes had been so wide and full of emo
tion. She’d acted like I’d given her the best orgasm of her life. I snorted as I realized she’d been a better actress than I’d given her credit for. “She did say something weird to me, though.”

  “What?” He paused.

  “She told me I’d given her inspiration for her next book.” I clenched my fist. “And her friend, Alexa—well, her friend said she found out something about you.”

  “What?” Jackson looked nervous. “What did she find out?”

  “That, I don’t know,” I said in an agitated tone. “That I really don’t know.”

  “We have to find out, Zach. This can’t get out in the open.” He stared at me for what felt like years, and I was taken back to our childhood and memories that I’d tried to forget. “It would ruin us both. It would ruin everything.”

  “I know.” I squeezed his shoulder. “Leave it to me. I’ll take care of it.” I spoke in such a confident tone that almost I believed myself, but I didn’t know what I was going to do. I’d have to think and plan. I knew that I had to do whatever it took. We hadn’t come all this way for someone like Piper Meadows to make it all come crashing down. Not even with her cute impish smile and sexy long hair. She wasn’t going to bewitch me again. I would make sure of that.

  “Have a safe flight. I’ll speak to you later.”

  I waved bye to Jackson as he got into the waiting limo then walked back to the dining room. I walked over to the table and picked up the newspaper so that I could read the full article and see what had gotten Jackson so nervous. Maybe he’d been working himself up for nothing. I could feel my heart racing as I stared at the photo and headline that took up the full front page of the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. The headline read, The Case of Radley Markham—What Happened To the Billion Dollar Heir to the Markham Fortune? And right below it was a photograph of Radley at Cocoa Beach with a surfboard.