Tricks

by Cambria Hebert

  After several long minutes of nothing but her touch, I couldn’t take anymore. My blood began to boil; my cock began to demand more. I grabbed her face and tilted her head back to stare down into her eyes.

  “This isn’t going to be like the last time. I’m not going to take my time with you. I want you too badly. I want you here. Now.”

  “Then take me.”

  The words were barely out of her mouth when I moved. Within seconds, I had her legs wrapped around my waist and her back pinned against the wall of the shower. Water flowed over our bodies as I surged inside her already wet and ready vagina.

  I cried out, burying my face in her neck, and stilled, allowing her body to stretch around me and allowing me a moment to catch my breath. Pure ecstasy rolled along my limbs. The feeling of her tight, warm walls clenching around me was almost enough to get me to spill my seed.

  Almost.

  I wanted more.

  “Hold on, darlin’,” I drawled and began to pound inside her. She couldn’t move because I had her trapped between me and the shower wall. I surged in her again and again, my thigh muscles burning from the effort and my penis so hard that it throbbed.

  Charlotte thrashed her head from side to side, gasping for breath and asking for more.

  I went deep into her, but I wanted deeper. I released some of the pressure on her body and she slid down the wall, burying the head of my cock into the most private places within her.

  I couldn’t hold it any longer and I titled, surging myself along her inner wall, and both of us fell over the edge.

  Her nails bit into my back and her teeth sank into my shoulder. The little mewling sounds that released from her throat as she rocked against me were like music to my ears.

  I started to pump again, milking every last drop of my orgasm that I could. When it was over, we collapsed against the wall, both of us breathing heavy. The water had turned cool, and I angled my back to keep most of the cold droplets from spraying her body.

  When I finally stepped back to turn off the water, she slid down, like her legs were incapable of holding her up. I chuckled and pinned her once more to the wall while I shut off the cold spray and reached for her towel. I wrapped it around her body and then picked her up, stepping over the edge of the tub and carrying her out of the bathroom and back to bed.

  “I’m soaking wet,” she protested when I tried to lay her in the bed.

  So I sat her on her feet and took possession of the towel. I dried every single part of her body. Twice.

  After she returned the favor, we abandoned the towel and slid beneath the blanket. I gathered her close, marveling at how well her body fit up against mine. My hand cupped her ass, kneading the bare, round flesh.

  “You better get some rest while you can.” I warned her. “We still have the rest of the night and I’m not even close to being done with you yet.”

  “You promise?” she asked.

  I smiled in the dark. It was a promise I would be thrilled to keep.

  22

  Charlotte

  I didn’t know there were so many different ways to have sex. Last night was an education of a lifetime. I had no idea where he learned some of the things he did to me, and frankly, I was afraid to ask.

  But damned if they didn’t feel good.

  We did it on the bed, in the shower, against the wall, on the floor, and with him sitting in a chair and me straddling his lap.

  He touched every inch of my body like he would be taking a written exam the next day and needed to know every last place that made me purr.

  I’d never felt so sexually charged… so wanted.

  Tucker made me feel bold. He made me feel like I could do anything to him and not be embarrassed. He was so daringly comfortable with his body that I somehow forgot to be uncomfortable with mine. When I reached for his cock, his eyes would get heavy, his lids would droop, and he would whisper my name.

  I loved when he whispered my name.

  He asked me for one night and I was so incredibly glad I gave it to him. For hours upon hours I didn’t think of deadlines or work. I didn’t worry about my suit getting wrinkled or my fine hair getting knotty. I didn’t check my email every ten minutes, and I felt like I could breathe.

  And now the darkness in the sky was giving way to the new light of day, slowly spreading across the horizon and turning the sky a deep shade of apricot.

  My bare feet barely made a sound as I made my way into the dim kitchen. I don’t think I slept for more than an hour last night, but I wasn’t tired at all. I pressed the start button on the coffee maker and then turned to retrieve a carton of orange juice from the fridge.

  The strong aroma of brewing coffee wafted through the air and I inhaled the rich scent as I filled a glass with juice.

  Strong arms slid around me from behind, looping around my waist and drawing me back against a firm chest. I closed my eyes and tried to commit the way he felt to my memory. I didn’t want to forget this.

  Tucker nuzzled the side of my neck and then released me. I held the glass of OJ over my shoulder, offering him the drink.

  He took it, and I busied myself with capping the carton and putting it away. I felt his eyes on me the entire time I moved. I felt the intensity of his dark gaze, the heat searing into my bones. Even though my lady parts were swollen and slightly sore, I would have welcomed him again without hesitation.

  But it was morning.

  Our one night together was ending.

  After I poured some coffee in a mug and replaced the pot, I turned around to look at him.

  He looked almost exactly like Max, but he was so incredibly different. I wanted to know more about him, more about his past, his feelings, his life.

  You aren’t dating him. I reminded myself. You’re dating his brother.

  At least I was… until he was murdered.

  Emotion bubbled up inside me, threatening to overwhelm me, so I abandoned my mug and excused myself to the bathroom. I gripped the cold marble counter until my fingers turned white, bowing my head, and squeezed my eyes closed against all the thoughts and feelings jumbled up inside.

  Being a lawyer, I knew I couldn’t hide the truth from myself. The truth always came out.

  I kept the death grip on the counter but forced my eyes up so I could look into the mirror. I barely recognized myself.

  My skin was flushed and pink with mild brush burns from Tucker’s unshaven face. My lips were swollen and full, my eyes clear and brighter than I’d ever seen them. My golden-blond hair was a tangled mess, waving down over my shoulders and across my chest.

  I was used to seeing someone much more pulled together, someone with tightly pulled-back hair, focused eyes, and pale, unmarked skin.

  I looked so much younger this way, so much more relaxed… happy.

  It made me feel incredibly guilty.

  How could I look so happy? How could I feel so relaxed when I just found out that Max was dead?

  More still, how could I have slept with his brother—his twin?

  I was a skanky, dirty, no-good ho.

  Technically, I hadn’t cheated on Max, and in the world of the law, a technicality was more than enough to get someone acquitted. But this wasn’t a court of law and what I did was still a betrayal.

  A single tear tracked its way over my cheek and rolled until it dripped off my face and fell onto the counter.

  For days I had been living here with Tucker, so blinded by my attraction for him, so in awe of the sudden onslaught of desire that tangled me up inside I never stopped to really examine the evidence. If I had I would have known it wasn’t Max. I would have known that something was wrong.

  “I’m so sorry, Max. For so many things,” I whispered, wiping more tears from my cheeks.

  I couldn’t change how I spent last night. In fact, I really didn’t want to. Yes, I was ashamed that I would so quickly jump into bed with Tucker, but I didn’t regret it. I couldn’t. My body still hummed with satisfaction. I felt freed in a way
I never had before.

  That didn’t mean I had to repeat it.

  Tucker and my relationship (if you could call it that) from here on out was strictly about finding the evidence Max left behind and getting justice for his murder. After that, we would do exactly what Tucker said. We’d go our separate ways.

  There was a soft knock on the bathroom door. “Did you fall in?” Tucker asked from the other side.

  I rolled my eyes. He had the manners of a moose.

  “No,” I answered.

  “Well, standing in there gripping the counter and feeling guilty isn’t going to make anything better.”

  I paused. How could he be so barbaric one moment and the next be so oddly perceptive?

  “Coffee’s getting cold.” He cajoled.

  With a sigh, I opened the bathroom door and was greeted with a solid wall of man. Holy smokes, he had a nice chest, all wide and muscular. The tattoo on his arm constantly drew my eye.

  He needed a shirt.

  Like right now.

  My coffee was clutched in his long, thick fingers. Something deep inside me tingled with the memory of how well he used those fingers…

  I jerked myself out of my porn dream (What the hell was happening to me? Next thing I knew I would be Googling pictures of naked men on the internet. Gross.) and grabbed my cup, taking a long swig.

  “We should talk,” he said, his eyes turning serious.

  We definitely needed to talk. “Yes, we should.” I stepped around him and walked toward the living room, glancing behind me to make sure he was following. He wasn’t. He was staring at my legs.

  I needed some pants.

  And a shirt that wasn’t his. A shirt that didn’t smell just like him.

  I changed course and went directly into the bedroom, setting my coffee down and stepping over all the papers and photos I dumped on the floor last night to get a pair of leggings and a sweater. I guess I would just skip the gym this morning. I would be glad for that if I didn’t know myself well enough to realize that me skipping today would equal a longer workout tomorrow.

  I hesitated before pulling off the T-shirt I was wearing, but then I felt silly. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already seen the merchandise.

  “So we need to find a flash drive that contains evidence of corporate espionage that Max hid somewhere so the Feds can put away the men who killed him?” I summed up and spun around, tugging the ends of my hair out of the neck of my shirt.

  “Yeah,” Tucker said, reaching for my coffee and taking a drink.

  The sight of his lips wrapping around the rim of the mug gave me little shivers. I had a stark memory of him pulling my finger into his mouth and then slowly drawing his lips down to the tip.

  “Charlie,” he called, his voice breaking into the erotic thought.

  I glanced up, my cheeks heating with embarrassment because I got caught in the act of reliving what we did last night. “Yeah?” I asked, hoping he didn’t realize what I was thinking about.

  A devious little smile curved his very talented mouth. He knew. Of course he knew. “I said, do you have any idea where Max might have put a flash drive in this apartment?”

  I knew where Max kept everything. I knew how he liked to fold his socks. I knew his favorite kind of shampoo. That he didn’t like to use the oddball fork in the silverware drawer because it had a “funny-shaped” handle. I knew the way he filed his papers, the shorthand language he used on his calendar, and his favorite tie.

  And now he was never coming back.

  Overwhelming sorrow expanded inside me, like a balloon being filled with too much air. The thought of never seeing him again, of never being able to talk strategy or watch movies together, left a gnawing kind of pain in the center of my chest.

  I wondered if the sorrow would ever go away. I wondered if he could forgive me for how I spent my first night without him.

  Even though he was gone, there was still something I could do for him. There was still a way I could at least attempt to make up for what I did.

  I could bring down his killers. I could see their murdering asses in jail. Maybe I would arrange for them to have a cellmate named Tiny Tim, only he wouldn’t be that tiny.

  “If it’s here, I’ll find it.” I vowed.

  Tucker held the mug out to me as I passed by him. I glanced between him and my mug. The mug he practically just made out with.

  Okay, so he didn’t make out with it.

  But his lips touched it. Same difference.

  “Keep it,” I said. “I’ll get another.”

  His knowing chuckle followed me all the way out into the living room. I ignored him. I had a flash drive to find.

  23

  Tucker

  We searched the entire place. Charlie looked in places I never even thought of. She knew all the little nooks and crannies in this place, and every single one of them was empty.

  Not finding it was a letdown.

  Going through all my brother’s belongings was worse.

  I missed him, and the fact we drifted apart during recent years was something I would never forgive myself for. The distance between us was my fault, a fact I never wanted to admit to myself until now.

  It was obvious that Charlie cared for him. I could see the lines of pain etched in her pretty features. I watched the set of her shoulders slump every time she came across something that meant a lot to Max.

  I was an ass. A world-class jerk.

  I took advantage of her sorrow last night. I took advantage of her fear from being attacked. She was a willing participant, but I was the one who initiated it all.

  “It isn’t here,” Charlotte said, bringing me out of deep thought.

  “I already searched his office and his locker at the gym. He didn’t have a safety deposit box at the bank. Can you think of anywhere else it could be? Was there anyone Max trusted—really trusted—that he might give it to for safekeeping?”

  After a moment’s thought, a light came into her eyes. “There is one place we can try.”

  “Great, let’s go.”

  “We can’t.”

  I swung back around, wondering if she lost her damn mind. “What the hell do you mean we can’t?”

  “The place doesn’t open until later.” She glanced at the clock and sighed. “Besides, I’m going to be late for work.”

  “You’re going to work?” I asked incredulously.

  “I have to. The clients that I managed to get an account with are coming in to sign the papers today. I have to be there.”

  “You’re going to put your job ahead of justice for Max?” I growled.

  She drew herself up to her full height (which was still shorter than me) and gave me a glare. “How dare you say such a thing to me?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “If I call in sick, it will look suspicious. I’ve never called in sick a day in my life. People will wonder what’s going on. Whoever killed Max is probably watching us. The best thing to do is go on like everything is normal.”

  “I’m not going into his office and pretending to be him. That place sucks.”

  Charlie rolled her eyes and went back to the bedroom. I followed her. “Fine. Stay here and pick up the mess we made searching.”

  I raised an eyebrow. Did she just suggest I stay home and clean? Maybe I should bake some cupcakes with pink frosting while I was at it.

  With an armload of clothes, she turned to me. “I’ll go in, sit through the meeting, and then tell the partners I’m coming down with something and come home. By then, the restaurant will be open and we’ll go see if Max took the drive there.”

  “It’s at a restaurant?”

  She nodded. “Max’s best friend owns a restaurant here in the city. It’s a really classy place.”

  Classy = no beer.

  “I can’t wait,” I said sarcastically.

  She grinned and went to the bathroom, shutting herself in. It was too bad because I was hoping for a glance of some skin.

&
nbsp; A few minutes later, she came out dressed in a pair of loose black pants and what looked like a dark-green fitted T-shirt tucked into the pants. It accentuated her flat stomach and the way her waist curved in like an hourglass. Her hair was pulled back in that stupid bun.

  She rushed to the door, sticking a pair of black high heels on her feet and grabbing a black fitted jacket. Her brief case was sitting by the door where she left it along with her purse.

  “Charlie,” I said, stopping her from leaving.

  She turned back.

  “About last night…” I began, not sure why I wanted to bring it up but unable to let her walk out of here without bringing it up. We hadn’t talked about it at all. True to our agreement, when the sun came up, our focus switched to Max.

  Focusing on Max was good. But looking at her now…

  She held up her hand, halting my words and my thoughts. “It can’t happen again.”

  Her words wounded my manly pride. That had been some stellar sex. I excelled in pleasing her. I knew we had an agreement, but I thought once she got a taste of this she’d want more.

  So I did what any man with wounded pride would do. I lied.

  “I wasn’t talking about the sex,” I said, clearing my throat. “I just wanted to remind you to be careful out there. Clearly those guys last night were following us. Waiting. Pay attention to your surroundings today. If anything seems out of the ordinary—anything at all—you get to a crowded area and you call me. Okay?”

  A pink stain bloomed across her high cheekbones and she shifted uncomfortably. “Oh. Right.”

  I didn’t enjoy making her feel like she was the only one that was thinking about the incredible sparks between us. But I didn’t know what else to do. It was easier this way. Less painful.

  She left the apartment without a single glance behind her.

  I sighed and ran a hand over the top of my head.

  I wondered what she would have said if I’d told her the truth. I wondered if the guilt in her eyes would give way to something more.

  I wondered if I was the only one that thought one night hadn’t been enough.