He reached for her, but she swatted his hand and pointed to the chair in the corner of the bedroom. “Sit.”
Faintly bemused, he did as she bid, stretching his legs in front of him. Becca’s smile held a wealth of mystery. She turned her back to him and slowly let her hair down from its braid, running her fingers through it and fluffing it out. It hung nearly to the rounded globes of her butt. Eli’s breathing speeded up, his heart thumped heavily. As he watched, her arms crossed and stripped her shirt off over her head. In the silence of the room, he heard the distinctive click of her front bra snap and then the lacy straps slid down her arms. The bra dropped to the floor.
Eli shifted his cock to ease some of the pressure on it. “Come on, baby. Don’t tease.”
Quiet laughter wafted to him followed by the snap on her shorts and the snick of the zipper. Heart pounding, he watched her hook her thumbs at each side of the waistband, sliding them down over the round globes of her butt. Eli stared fixedly at the view she offered as she bent over slightly to drop the shorts to the floor. He groaned and reached for the button on his shorts.
“Uh uh!” Becca laughed. “I heard that.” She straightened, fluffed her curls once more and faced him. The flush on her cheeks was pure arousal. He closed his eyes and inhaled, his nostrils flaring as he picked up the musk of her scent.
“Oh sweetheart. You’re so gorgeous, and I’m in such pain...”
“I can fix that.” She sank to her knees in front of him. He swallowed again as her nimble fingers reached for the fastening of his shorts. A fine tremor of anticipation shook his big frame. When she eased his cock out, Eli couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Her lips closed around the tip of his shaft and he groaned. “Yes. Oh Becca. Sweet, sweet Becca. I need this...you...so much.” Sensation overwhelmed him. Eli wanted to slam his head against the back of the chair, but he had to watch, had to see what she did. His breathing rasped and hitched as her mouth and tongue licked and nibbled. His climax pounded, demanding release. He slid his fingers through her hair.
“Stop, Becca! You’re gonna make me come, and I want to be with you, in you.”
She sat back on her haunches. They both breathed heavily, staring at each other in the dim light of the bedside lamp. “Then lose the clothes, Mercer, and take me to bed.”
“I am so going to do that.”
This was his reality. Everything that had gone in the past faded to nothingness.
****
Becca stretched awake in her own bed the next morning just as the sunlight was beginning to creep through the blinds at the window. She curled onto her side, watching that sunlight and smiling slightly to herself. She felt ever so slightly sore. Eli had brought her to several amazing orgasms and come inside her twice. He’d wanted her to stay the night, but Becca had shaken her head. As much as she was willing to stand up and fight Heather, she saw no reason to antagonize. The woman was certifiable.
In the end, she’d dressed, kissed Eli good night and driven home. He’d mumbled something about picking her up after his mother came for Bash. With that in mind, Becca showered and dressed in a khaki skirt, a fitted man’s shirt and flats, her hair pulled back into a long, loose ponytail.
She flew down the stairs to make coffee, only skidding to a halt when she noticed something had been slipped through her mail slot. Thinking it might be a note from Eli, she bent to retrieve it, but she didn’t recognize the handwriting on the outside of the envelope.
A fluttering of unease rippled as she slid a finger beneath the flap and ripped it open. One of the photos of her and Eli slipped out along with a note.
Stay away from Bash and Eli or the next photos go to your family.
It was unsigned. Of course. Becca’s mouth tightened as she shoved the picture back in the envelope and into the pocket of her skirt. The best defense was a good offense. As much as she might hate it, she would show it to Jake. Caleb had already seen them. That just left Luke, and she could deal with him later in the day.
Becca set the coffee pot brewing and pulled out her phone while she waited. She’d send email to Noah and let him know about her engagement. Her parents had been over the moon when she’d called them. If Becca knew her mother, she would already be halfway to having a guest list and a location for the reception.
A knock sounded on the door. Eli, dressed in khakis and a polo shirt, grinned at her. His hair was pulled back, and the gold hoops were missing. She smiled as she unlocked the door, noticing the small gold studs that had replaced the hoops.
“Going conservative on me?” She asked and stretched up to kiss him.
He touched the earrings self-consciously. “You don’t like ‘em?”
“I love whatever you do or wear.”
His grin widened. “Is that coffee I smell?”
“Sure is.”
“Any bread pudding?”
“Of course. I’ve already heated some up.”
Eli shoved the door shut behind him. “I knew there was a reason I love you.”
His smiled faded when she showed him the envelope and picture.
“We have to put a stop to this, Becca. Heather’s going too far,” he said, a grim expression tightening the lines in his face.
They decided to go to Jake and Sam first. The ring they would drive to Roanoke to get. In the meantime, Becca had hung his class ring on a gold chain she had in her jewelry box. It nestled now between her breasts.
* * * *
Since Jake’s office was nearly next door, they went there first. Eli’s gut tightened. Engaged to the police chief’s sister and less than a day after telling her family, here he was with the oh by the way...my ex-wife has been extorting money from me and is threatening to reveal pictures of me screwing your sister. This was not the way he wanted it to be, not the way he wanted it to be for Becca.
Her hand gently squeezed his, bringing him back to her. He swallowed. This was his reality now—sane, passionate, practical Becca.
“We’ll get through this, Eli.”
“Hey Becca, Eli,” Jake greeted them. “Is this business or pleasure?”
“Business, I’m afraid,” Eli muttered. He held Becca’s hand, felt her warmth. “I hadn’t mentioned it before because I thought Bash and I had finally escaped her. When we lived at the coast, I went to court and got a restraining order against my ex-wife—Sebastian’s mother.”
Jake’s eyes narrowed. “She’s here?”
Eli sighed. “Yes. We were coming to talk to you and Sam today anyway, but after last night...well, it’s imperative.”
Jake slapped the side of his thigh, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Sam’s up in Roanoke today in Federal Court, but this is my jurisdiction. I’ll bring him up to speed when he gets back since we often provide coverage back and forth anyway. Why don’t y’all come on back to my office?”
Becca sat next to Eli. Just having her there made him feel better.
“Coffee?”
“No. Thanks. We had some at Becca’s before we came over.”
Jake chuckled. “And I can guarantee it was a whole lot better than the swill we serve around here. Becca?”
“None for me. I’ve tasted what you call coffee.”
Jake’s gaze returned to Eli. “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna take notes while we talk. Helps me remember everything when I put it in a report. Why don’t we start with some background?”
“Heather and I married seven years ago. Everything seemed okay until a few months after Bash was born. She’d quit drinking while she was pregnant—fanatical about it really—but after she quit breastfeeding, I’d come home after closing and smell the booze on her breath.
“Things went downhill from there. I tried to get her to get help, but she denied there was any problem. We started arguing. I could handle that. But when I started coming home to find Bash hungry or dirty...” he paused as he remembered how his gut had twisted sickeningly the night he’d come home to find Heather passed out and Bash crying pitifully in hi
s crib. “I gave her a choice. She could get help or get out.”
“And what happened?”
Eli’s mouth tightened. “She left. Said she didn’t need help, and she was moving in with her lover.”
It sounded so simple, so straightforward when Eli told his story to other people, but it had been so much uglier, so much more painful. Heather hadn’t gone quietly. Not at all. When she’d thrown the fact she had a lover at him, Eli had been floored. She was never keen to have intercourse with him, so when she continued to push him away after Bash’s birth, he’d chalked it up to having the baby. Finding out she’d turned to another man was just another blow in a series that left him hating himself as well as her.
“She didn’t seem interested in seeing Bash, so I hired a nanny and the two of us were doing okay. When it came time to work out a separation agreement, all of a sudden, she wanted joint custody. I was reluctant, but I didn’t have any concrete proof to offer why I thought it was a bad idea.” He sighed. “Trust me when I tell you how reluctant the courts are to take primary custody away from a mother.”
“A fact that worked in our favor with Noelle,” Jake interjected. “So what happened?”
Eli’s mouth twisted. “She called me the night before the court hearing and told me if I could get her a couple of thousand in cash, she wouldn’t contest me having primary custody. I should have called my attorney right then. Instead, like an idiot, I agreed. I was desperate. No way could she be the primary caregiver for my son.
“So I ended up with Bash during the week and she was supposed to take him every other weekend, except that it seemed at least one weekend a month, she’d call and cancel. That was okay with me. Bash was always cranky and whiny when I picked him up. This went on for a couple of years.
“She’d whine about needing money, and I’d give it to her. After all, I rationalized, it was really for Bash, to make sure he had what he needed.”
“So what changed?”
Becca took his hand. Eli swallowed. “I arrived at her apartment to pick him up. No one answered my knock. I tried the door. It was unlocked, so I stepped inside. Heather was passed out on the couch. I heard Bash crying at the back of the apartment. It was one of those older homes that had been split up into an upstairs and downstairs flat. When I walked into his room, Heather’s current boyfriend had him by the arm and was about to smack him.”
He stopped and made himself unclench his fist. “I nearly broke the guy’s arm. The only thing that prevented me from doing him serious damage was the knowledge that if I landed in jail, then Bash really would have no one but Heather. So I grabbed Bash and went to my attorney the very next morning.
“We petitioned for sole custody with no visitation. The court granted monthly supervised visitation in my home. Heather would show up for those visits sober and saccharine sweet. Then a day or so later I would get a call or a visit at the restaurant. She’d want more money.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
Eli shook his head. “I did eventually. I refused to keep funding her drug and alcohol habit. She would disappear for a while when things were good, but whenever her latest lover dropped her, she was back again. It became like stalking. That’s when I went to the law. I was able to get a restraining order to keep her away from our home, the restaurant, and the daycare where Bash was enrolled.”
“How did that work?” Jake asked.
“Fine when it wasn’t tourist season, but when the police force was already overwhelmed during beach season, a violation of a restraining order wasn’t high on their list.”
Eli glanced out the window at the buildings around the square. “So I contacted my parents. Made arrangements to come home where Bash and I would be hundreds of miles away from Heather and have the support of family. It worked for a while. Until a couple of weeks ago. I got a letter first from my attorney letting me know she’d come by the restaurant. Then I got a letter from her. The implication was plain that unless I paid her, she’d be trying to get custody. She was clean. She was sober. Do you have any idea how often I had already heard those same things?
“I didn’t think she’d show. Then Saturday, I thought I saw her drive by, only her hair was blond. I dismissed it until Caleb showed up at Becca’s.”
“Why did that change things?”
Becca cleared her throat. “He ran into a woman—literally—at the hotel bar near the interstate and knocked some pictures she was looking at to the floor. They were pictures of Eli and me. Intimate pictures.”
Eli watched her as she talked. Becca seemed even more determined and rock solid than she had last night. It would be easy to slide into the “what ifs,” but he knew they’d both been shaped by their experiences, and had they hooked up when they were younger, it could have been a lot different.
“As Eli talked, I realized the woman he and Caleb described had been in my business earlier in the day.”
Jake glanced up from his notes to study his sister. “What was her demeanor like with you?”
“When she came in the store, she was a lot like those customers who come in and look around for a while then leave, but eventually she did buy a roll and some coffee and a loaf of bread.”
“Did she ask any personal questions?”
“No. Wait. Yes. She asked if there was more to see upstairs...and I told her that was where I lived.”
Eli shut his eyes. So now Heather knew not only where he lived, but also where Becca did. Great. He opened his eyes to Jake’s grimace.
“Any more contact with her?”
“Yeah. When we left Luke’s last night and got to my house, she pulled into the drive right behind us. And the gloves were definitely off. She handed me an envelope with copies of the pictures she’d taken and threatened to expose them. I reminded her she couldn’t be there because of the restraining order, and that it was particularly unwise since you were Becca’s brother.”
“Did she threaten any physical violence?”
“No. It was the same shit—wanting money to stay away from Bash. She talked to him, wanted a hug, but Bash clung to Becca—called her Beccca Mama. That went over like a lead balloon. She yelled—called Becca a slut. After Becca went inside the house, I gave her a minute to get off the property.”
“And she left?”
“Yes.”
“Heard from her or seen her since then?”
Becca shifted and pulled an envelope from her pocket. “I have. This was waiting for me when I got downstairs this morning. Slipped it through the mail slot I assume.”
Jake held out his hand. “May I see?”
Eli wished there were any way around this, but Jake had to know. Becca held the envelope. “It’s not something I’d really want you to see in the normal course of things, Jake. It’s one of the pictures of Eli and me.”
Jake’s face reddened. “You’re right. I’ll want it as evidence, though. Tell me about it.”
“It shows us together. Nude,” Becca paused. “This is just weird, okay? Talking to my older brother about this. Look, we’re having sex. There’s a note inside warning me to stay away from Bash and Eli or the next photos would go to my family.”
“I’ll take your word for it, honey.” Jake set the envelope on the desk next to him. “Eli do you have the photos she gave you last night.”
“No. I burned them.” Eli grimaced. “Sorry, man. I was just so pissed.”
“Don’t worry about it. You and Caleb have both seen them, and we’ve got the one she left for Becca. Has she ever shown any signs of violence, ever threatened any?”
Eli shook his head. “She’s all about the money.”
“And if she doesn’t get it this time?”
Eli sighed. “I don’t think she’s violent. I can’t imagine she would ever hurt Bash...except through neglect.”
“Your parents know about this?”
“Yes. Except for what happened last night...and this morning.”
“We’ll beef up patrols around your hous
e. Sam’s guys will come into this to cover your parents’ house. You’ve both got alarm systems on the businesses, right?”
Eli nodded, saw Becca did too.
“Make sure you use them. Keep Bash supervised at all times, not alone out in front of Mercer’s...” Eli flushed. “Not even alone in your back yard. She’s already shown she can invade your privacy. If she confronts either one of you again, don’t do anything except call us. She’s already in violation of the restraining order. Based on that, we’ll keep an eye out for her and pick her up if we find her. You have a picture, Eli?”
“I brought one. Her hair’s darker, but you’ll get the idea.”
By the time they left, Eli felt like he’d been through a ringer. And worse, he felt incredibly guilty for embroiling Becca in this whole sorry mess.
“You want to take my car to Roanoke?” Becca asked.
“Yes, if you still want to go.”
She stopped him. “Of course I want to go, Mercer. You think I’m going to let her scare me off? You’ve hung around us Allreds long enough to know we don’t quit.”
He stopped, closed his eyes for just a minute and then smiled. “I should know, shouldn’t I? Thanks for that, Becca.”
“Come on. You drive. I’ll keep you awake by telling you just what kind of rock I want you to put on my finger. Did I tell you I love big, flashy stones?”
They’d reached her SUV. Eli caught her chin in his hand. “Have I told you I love you, and I’ll buy you the biggest flashiest stone you want?” He bent his head to kiss her, right there at the edge of the square. Right there in front of the whole town.
Chapter 14
Becca did her best to ease Eli’s tension as they traveled the interstate. Used to a large family as she was, she was also accustomed to the lack of privacy that went along with it. Eli on the other hand, was much more private. Revealing all his personal business in front of Jake this morning had to have been difficult.
The Secret Ingredient Page 18
