Her melodic moans, as well as her soft breasts pressed against him, seduced William. He loved how her body responded to his slightest touch and how her breathing came fast and light.
A caldera of emotions broke inside him, and he was scorched by fire. Finally, he deserted her lips to blaze a trail down to the crook of her neck.
She sighed and lifted her chin high to give him better access. “Will…”
It had been an eternity since he’d heard his name spill with such passion from her lips. A part of him still wasn’t sure whether all of this was just a dream, yet she felt too good and tasted even better to be a figment of his imagination.
An ache buried in the core of Josie began to pulse out of control. God help her, she wanted, needed, to make love to William despite the residue of fear. However, her body’s chant to give in quickly conquered the renegade emotion.
She tugged at his wet shirt, and then broke away from his lips to pull the garment over his head.
William stood up and held out his hand.
They stared at each other for an eternal moment, and then came together again in a storm of passion and desire.
“I want you,” she paned. “I want you now.”
That was all William needed to hear before he swept her into his arms and carried her up to bed.
Chapter 24
Heaven was indeed a place on earth; and to William and Josie’s surprise, it also existed outside of the borders of Paris, France. Once the old lovers entered the bedroom and stood facing one another, both seemed to have made an unspoken pact to take their time and savor each movement and moment.
Josie gave William the honor of lifting off her football jersey and in return, she was rewarded with the same opportunity. The beautiful contrast of their skin tones was highlighted by slivers of moonlight filtering through the blinds.
Seconds later, they were pressed together for another tantalizing kiss. Both became addicted to the taste of the other and were consumed with a passion that left them quaking.
Josie’s fingertips explored his chest, and she quickly discovered that his heartbeat pounded at the same rate as her own. The knowledge filled her with a new sense of power.
His big, strong, and possessive hands returned to their usual spot and made slow and seductive circles while she enjoyed the sweet invasion of his tongue. And just when she couldn’t take any more of his intoxicating kisses, his lips deserted hers to glide down the column of her neck and settle on a taut nipple.
Instantly, her knees weakened as she gasped for breath and dug her fingers through his silky hair. His gentle suckle unraveled her world and pitched her onto lofty clouds of splendor.
William swept her up into his arms again and gently placed her on the bed. He filled his hands with her soft breasts, and then captured her gasp with a deep kiss.
She moaned as he lowered onto her and his rock-hard erection pressed insistently against her thigh. Her body rejoiced as if it recognized a missing part of itself.
He returned to her breasts and he caressed her with his mouth, teeth, and tongue until she twitched wildly beneath him. William’s hand floated like a feather down her body and brushed against the nest of curls between her legs.
Her anticipation heightened as he began to nudge her legs open, and that same feathery touch roamed her inner thighs. Josie closed her eyes, surprised by how much she trembled.
When his lean fingers finally dipped inside her, she nearly came unglued. At his slow, gentle strokes against her sensitive nub, her breath thinned to the tiniest of vapors.
Josie’s repetitive moans filled the room like music, and it also served as an aphrodisiac for William.
After he’d thoroughly bathed her tanned nipples, his mouth traveled lower to explore other body parts. Seconds later, he locked his arms around her hips, and his tongue replaced his probing fingers.
At the intense pleasure, Josie thrust her hips up and tried to scramble away. Instead, she gave him better access to the very thing she was trying to withhold.
She gasped for breath, never seeming to get enough air into her lungs. The stars returned behind her closed eyelids and she suddenly felt hot, and then cold.
His talented tongue performed a series of erotic dances with the bud of her femininity and she locked her legs around his neck. In no time, tremors of her first orgasm ripped away reality and created a new world where only pleasure existed.
William’s plunder through her body’s sweet honey only increased her struggle to break away from his hot mouth; but his grip remained firm.
Josie squealed with reckless abandonment as her next orgasm hit hard and fast.
However, William was relentless.
Breathing became a chore while she still fought to push his head away. The chant of his name slowly became cries for a mercy that never came. When her third orgasm slammed into her with the force of a locomotive, she was clueless to the mindless chatter that tumbled from her lips.
Granted a slight reprieve, Josie panted as though she’d just completed her first triathlon. The new world continued to spin inside her head, while William temporarily left the bed.
She was just getting her bearings when he returned. She heard a rip and turned to see him opening a condom. Without murmuring a word, she reached for the packet. “Not yet,” she whispered.
She leaned forward, kissed him tenderly, and began her own slow decline down his broad chest, past his rock-hard abs, and settled her mouth around his thick shaft.
A low sigh of pleasure escaped William, while his strong hands glided through her black hair. She took her time rewarding him with the same intense pleasure he’d given her. And like her, he found himself repeating the Lord’s name.
“I can’t take it anymore,” he said. His strength easily allowed him to extract Josie from her loving worship and place her on her back.
It took no more than a couple of seconds to slide on the condom; but before he bulldozed his way into her, he reminded himself to take his time, to extend the pleasure for as long as he could.
But he wanted to take her now.
While his needs and his wants warred within him, it was Josie who made the final decision.
“I need you,” she whispered.
He thanked her by claiming her soft lips for another deep and intimate kiss...and, simultaneously, eased into her moist cave.
Josie tore her mouth away to gasp at just how well and perfect he fit. When he rocked slowly inside of her, she lifted and locked her legs around his hips. In no time, they found their own rhythm and lost themselves in the splendor of the other.
She was the first to utter a strangled exclamation as she was pulled into a vortex of euphoria.
Feeling her body tense around him, William picked up his tempo and coaxed her with erotic talk to give in to her building climax.
This time as she cried out her release, it felt as if she’d shattered into a million pieces, but then just as suddenly she was more whole than she had ever been.
Moments later, a strong force gripped William and extracted a roar from him that undoubtedly filled the entire house.
Josie wrapped her arms lovingly around him as if sensing his moment of vulnerability. For a few seconds, his body quaked with aftershocks while their hearts thundered against one another.
They held each other, enjoying their quiet intimacy and treasuring it like a precious jewel.
All too soon the real world, complete with its problems, started to creep back into Josie’s thoughts. What in the hell was she doing?
As if he’d heard her thoughts, William turned his head and peppered the side of her face with light kisses. Gradually, she became aware of the strain in her splayed thighs.
Lord, was she ready for another round?
Despite his growing erection, he seemed to be content to kiss, cuddle, and wipe every bad thought from her head.
And thank goodness, it was working.
In some strange way, Josie found that being in William’s a
rms erased the past sixteen years. Their bodies welcomed each other home like the separation had been no longer than a few hours. Josie wondered how that was possible.
“I never thought I would have the chance to hold you like this again,” William whispered. “You feel so good.”
“I’m having a hard time believing this night as well,” she said.
He leaned over onto an elbow. He stared down at her face, which was bathed in moonlight. “Any regrets?”
“Plenty.”
William frowned.
A slow sardonic smile curved Josie’s lips. “But none about tonight,” she added, and then watched him visibly relax. “I guess I don’t have to ask you the same question?”
“No regrets.” He kissed her. “Tonight was perfect. And it’s just beginning.”
She chuckled. “How is it that you just happen to have condoms with you?”
“What can I say? I’m a boy scout through and through. We’re always prepared.”
Laughing, she accepted another kiss from him, and then snuggled closer.
“I love you, Josie,” he confessed out of the blue. “I always have and I always will.”
Josie closed her eyes and became alarmingly still in his arms. Making love was one thing, but opening her heart was another. Love meant trust and how could she trust anyone again?
“I know that you love me, too,” he said, as if he didn’t notice the change in her body. “You might not be able to say the words, but I felt how your body responded to me.”
He kissed the lobe of her ear and chipped at the wall she was already beginning to rebuild. “The body never lies,” he murmured, and lifted his head. “And neither do your eyes.”
She met his gaze and was propelled to a new level of defenselessness. She forced herself to look away, but could only do so for a few seconds before her gaze returned to his magnetic presence.
Slowly, his head descended. Both kept their eyes opened as their lips met.
“Say it,” he urged, lifting his head once again. “Say you love me.”
Don’t you dare!
His head dipped again, but this time his soft lips drew a taut nipple into his mouth.
She felt the playful flick of his tongue and her insides melted instantly.
“I’m still waiting,” he said, moving to the other breast.
Don’t say it.
“You’re not going to tell me anything I don’t already know,” he said.
She shook her head as tears swelled in her eyes.
William inched lower, igniting fires within as he went. “I love you, Josie,” he whispered and kissed her abdomen. “I love you, Josie.” He kissed her belly button.
Don’t say it!
“I love you, Josie.” He nudged her legs open.
Don’t!
“I love you, Josie.” He kissed her inner thighs.
Tears slid from her eyes while her lips trembled.
“I love you, Josie,” he said, locking his arms around her hips and sinking his tongue deep within her.
She gasped as she arched her body and was once again thrown back into that new world of pleasure. For hours, William wore down her defenses, and she was mindless to everything else around her. By the time dawn approached, Josie feared that her heart had finally returned to its rightful owner.
Chapter 25
Ming felt terrible that she’d fallen asleep during her husband’s hot-oil body rub. Its dual purpose was to relax her and initiate foreplay. Well, one out of two wasn’t too bad, she thought.
Like most mornings, she woke to the rich aroma of fresh, brewed coffee and the sizzle of turkey bacon. Lord, where would she be without her domestic husband?
Climbing out of bed, Ming shivered in the room’s cool air. It would’ve been okay if she’d slept in her thermal underwear like she’d wanted to, but since she’d planned to have sex, she was stuck in some useless satin garb that made her colder than the room itself.
“The things women do for men.”
Once beneath the shower’s blast of hot water, Ming’s thoughts returned to her work; particularly to Michelle Andrews and how the woman had her hands in quite a few cookie jars.
Andrews was Daniel Thornton’s last known girlfriend and she was also a longtime mistress of Dr. Ambrose Turner. Both men were dead.
And where was the real Josephine Ferrell?
She probably needed to face the fact that there was a strong chance they wouldn’t find Josephine. Ming exhaled and dipped her head into the steaming water.
So far, the likely scenario was either Andrews or Dr. Turner killed Thornton, Bancroft, and Ferrell. With Ferrell gone, Andrews could switch identities with her reclusive sister without anyone being the wiser.
The plan had a few sparks of brilliance, but the execution was entirely too sloppy. Of course, at the moment, she couldn’t prove any of it.
Ming reached for her half-empty bottle of Herbal Essence and wondered how she was going to paste this puzzle together. She squeezed a quarter of shampoo into her hand and gently worked her hair into a thick lather.
“Fingerprints,” she whispered. Somehow, she needed to get Michelle’s fingerprints. “Oh, that should be easy,” she said sarcastically.
She wasn’t crazy to think that Andrews would simply invite the police back into her home. Ming definitely wasn’t going to convince her superiors to haul Michelle’s butt in without any proof of her theory. She mulled everything over through her rinse cycle and was just applying conditioner when a new idea hit.
#
William woke up still joined to Josie. The fantasy of being able to do this every morning planted hope in his heart. More than ever, he was committed to protect the woman he loved, but he realized that he needed a plan to do just that.
Gazing at her angelic face, he remembered her confession of love and couldn’t help but lean in and capture a kiss. Admitting their feelings was half the battle, he believed, and reclaiming her life would be the other.
Carefully and with great reluctance, he withdrew from her and the bed. While he was in the shower, he couldn’t help but relive the previous night’s events.
Josie poked her head around the shower curtain. “Any room in there for me?”
A wide smile eased across William’s face. “There’s always room for you.” He slid the curtain back and offered her a hand to step inside. “It’s been a while since we’ve done this.”
Boldly, she stood beneath the showerhead and pressed her nude body against his.
He kissed her and slid his wet, soapy hands down the curves of her butt. When he squeezed, she emitted a soft moan against his lips, and he loved its sound.
He deserted her mouth to make a trail of tiny, biting kisses down the column of her neck and against the curve of her shoulders.
Josie’s moans turned into husky sighs, but it was the gentle way her breasts rubbed against his chest that destroyed his concentration. Her hands began their exploration, and he sucked in a shuttering breath when her soft fingers closed around his throbbing shaft.
He ached against her hand, tormented by a touch that was too light and too knowing. In retaliation, he drew one of her taut nipples through his teeth and then it with lazy strokes of his tongue.
Josie gasped with pleasure. Nobody knew her body the way William did. He stroked, kissed, and loved her the right way.
It wasn’t long before the lover returned soaking wet to the bedroom, and Josie was lost in the rhythm of his caress.
Her hips soon moved against his hand with a sinuous demand that shredded his control. He needed to be inside of her. William slid on another condom and sank gently into her slick passage. When he moved inside her, he did so with slow, deep strokes. It should be a crime for a woman to feel this good.
Josie moaned his name while she kneaded his back with her nails, and her hips matched his grind stroke for stroke. He wanted the moment last forever, but then he felt his control ebb away.
He clasped her waist tightly and ac
celerated to a faster, wilder ride. William felt her body’s orgasm a fraction before she cried out his name. The passion behind her cry was just enough to pitch him over the edge. His body tensed, and then exploded in ecstasy. When they began, each was on a mission to explore new heights of passion...and they succeeded.
A few hours later, William woke up again and took another shower. He stole another kiss, and then scrambled down to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. However, no sooner had he started cleaning up last night’s dinner, than his cell phone rang from a charger off the kitchen counter.
When he scanned the name of the ID screen, he was surprised to read Marcus Hines’s name. Immediately, his heart racked his chest as an endless series of possibilities scrolled through his head.
Finally, he shook them away and answered. “Hello.”
“Oh, thank goodness I found you.” Relief filled Marcus’s voice. “Please say that you’re still in town.”
William hesitated. “I haven’t left the state, if that’s what you mean.”
“Perfect. I need another favor.”
“Sure, if I can.” It didn’t sound like he was in any sort of trouble. At least Marcus hadn’t started hurling accusations.
“We have another situation.”
William frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Ambrose was killed yesterday. I need you to cut your vacation short and come back to work.”
Stunned, William leaned back against the counter. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure. They found him and his car in some lake. He’d been shot.”
“Shot?” William didn’t understand. Two of their doctors murdered within a week?
Deadly Double Page 15
