“Where are you going?” Luke called out after her retreating back.
“Make a few phone calls,” she threw over her shoulder and disappeared around the corner.
Luke just hoped she wasn’t turning him into the cops. He made himself a coffee, black, no sugar, and tiptoed softly into the bedroom, with the mug in hand. Setting the vividly patterned cup on the nightstand, he pulled on his briefs, thinking better to be prepared than to be caught off guard.
He heard Ana talking quietly but couldn’t make out the words. His natural inclination was to stroll over and check out what she was talking about and with whom. Probably work, he thought, disgusted at his snoopiness. He’d rather envision Ana’s long hair flowing over her naked breasts and enticing him into making love to her, slowly and thoroughly. He glanced at his wristwatch and saw to his chagrin, that it was almost midnight. It was too late to make calls to his secretary about how the day had turned out. If she asked him how his had gone, he would only have been able to reply that he’d stayed out of prison.
So far.
* * * *
Ana had made two calls, one to her firm’s private investigator, and the other to her parents in Minnesota, who had both been asleep but nevertheless had been glad to hear from her. Now all she could do was wait patiently.
Following the strong smell of coffee, she strolled into the bedroom and found Luke in his underwear. She couldn’t help admiring his size.
“You’re so big everywhere,” she mumbled appreciatively.
“You didn’t call the cops, did you?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Is that what you’re thinking I did?” She was trying to help him, and here he was accusing her of something she wouldn’t even have considered.
He gnawed on his lower lip and emotions danced across his face. Regret, fear, bravado, and finally, resignation. “I thought about it, but I don’t think you can turn me in, not after what we shared.”
Furious, Ana wrapped the belt around her housecoat tighter and tugged on the flimsy fabric. “What makes you think I’d turn you in if I haven’t so far?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s been way too long a day.” He hung his head.
Seating herself in the armchair by the window, she set her tea on the small, antique table she’d refinished herself and crossed her legs.
“I was up before four a.m.,” she told him, her tone hinting at a reprimand. “My mother is very sick, but I can’t go to see her until this trial is over.”
“Because you’re defending a guy who’s guilty,” Luke murmured. “I feel like a heel.”
“Don’t, just recognise it’s been a long day for both of us. The good news is I have a private investigator looking into your father’s whereabouts. We should know something soon, maybe by morning.”
He jumped up, ran across the room, hurled himself at her feet, hugging her waist, and pressed his forehead to her middle. “I knew I could trust you,” he exclaimed.
“Don’t, Luke.” She felt uncomfortable with his almost hero-worshipping her. “We might have news.”
He was awfully handsome though, even if he was more expressive than she cared for, but she reminded herself, he was going to prison if she didn’t help him. She supposed in his shoes, she’d have been grateful, too. Prison wasn’t fit for the innocent and could, in fact, scar them in an unhealthy way.
“I’ll do whatever I want to thank you,” he responded to her reprimand.
He was acting like a kid. Ana shrugged. “If you want to do something for me, then make love to me again.”
Straightening, he pointed at his rigid shaft. “I’ve just been waiting for you to say the word.”
“Funny, but I was thinking the same thing.”
They assessed each other. “What are you wearing under the housecoat?”
“Why don’t you come and see for yourself?” She got to her feet, and with a flourish, untied the belt. The flimsy material immediately gaped open.
Luke eyed her appreciatively.
“You’re naked, waiting for me to ravish you.”
“I wouldn’t quite put it that way, but I want you again.” She paused, and admired the whole length of his body, from his gorgeous face, to his broad chest, his trim waist, to the tip of his cock extending beyond the elastic of his briefs. Today, he was all hers. She tingled all over at the thought. He aroused her like no other man had. Passion and fire flared through her. Happy ever after was for other people, not for her, but she could dream, couldn’t she?
Luke strode up to her, lifted her in his arms and raced to the bedroom. “Unless you want me to fuck you in an unusual place, like the kitchen, or the bathroom.”
“Or the courtroom,” Ana murmured on a sigh.
Luke paused in mid-stride, his face thoughtful. “Come to think of it, the cops could have walked in on us and arrested us.”
Ana decided to play with him and canted her head to one side coquettishly. “You mean they’d haul me off to jail naked?” She dragged in a breath. Naked with anyone but Luke was out of the question.
“They could have, but they didn’t. No one knew I was in the courthouse.” He marched to the bed. “You’re as light as a feather. What am I doing carrying you around when I want you under me?”
She shrugged as he gently laid her on the bed, rumpled sheets and all. “I want that long, hard cock in my cunt, sweetheart,” she said, mimicking John Wayne’s western accent for fun.
“I love it when you talk like that,” he responded, pulling her arms from the housecoat. “I love it, too, when you’re gloriously naked. Your nipples are so tight, and I bet your pussy is wet for me.”
“Guilty as charged.” Ana gazed up at him and saw the affection in his eyes. “What took us so long?” she mused.
As delicate as lace, he kissed the curve of her neck, down her shoulder and across one breast to another. She shuddered and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Take me, take me,” she whispered urgently. His penis was hard against her wet opening.
“I must kiss my way down your body first,” he murmured with a slight chuckle.
“Can you do that while you’re fucking me?” She knew that was an impossibility, but who cared? His kisses left her breathless. Her heart was pounding like a bongo drum against her chest. She pressed her ankles harder against his waist.
“You’re a vixen,” he told her, relenting to her pressure.
“Just fuck me.”
He tipped his cock against her entrance and that was all it took for her world to explode in a violent, but pleasurable orgasm. Even as she rode the high wave of ecstasy, he entered her channel in one long stroke. He bent over her head, and their lips tangled in a mind-blowing kiss, then their tongues mated voraciously as if they couldn’t get enough of each other. They never would, Ana thought. Even if they spent the rest of their lives together, she wouldn’t get enough of Luke’s attention and his ministrations to her body. He knew exactly how to pleasure her.
“I love it when you’re kissing me,” she said softly, struggling to regain her breath as Luke plunged into her with sure, even strokes. She settled her heels over his waist and felt him tense. “Luke?” she whispered in concern, unable to fathom his reason for freezing.
He shook himself.
“I’m okay, Ana,” he said, gazing into her eyes with an intensity that defied description. Was it with affection bordering on obsession, or was it something else? She couldn’t decide, but did it really matter? Her heart did flip-flops. After he made love to her, and they figured out how to deal with the mess they were in, he’d leave. Wouldn’t he?
Tenderly, he began thrusting into her again. She squeezed her heels gently against his waist, and he increased his speed. She lifted her hips in time with his tempo, and time ended then. There was nothing outside of the pleasure of his body inside her pussy, of his ragged breathing, and her whimpering moans.
He must have sensed she was ready for an earth-shattering orgasm. He closed his eyes, kissed the tip of her nose and g
ave a drawn out groan. Her world spun around into a kaleidoscopic medley of colour, patterns and pleasure as they sheered apart together.
As dawn came, Ana fell into an exhausted sleep. They’d waited all night for the phone to ring but there’d only been silence except for their heavy breathing.
* * * *
The phone startled Ana awake when it finally rang. She blinked her eyes open. Sunlight fell on the carpet. The alarm clock told her it was nearly six-thirty a.m. She’d have to be in court in an hour. Groaning, she hurried to the phone in her study with the uneasy feeling that Luke wasn’t in the apartment. Where had he gone?
The private investigator was returning her call. He’d found out where Luke’s father was. Thanking him, she went in search of Luke, knowing he’d be unhappy with her revelation.
“Luke?” she called out. There was no answer. In the bedroom, his jacket was folded carefully across the chair’s arm, so he probably hadn’t left.
The bathroom door was closed, when she normally left it ajar. She rapped on the door. “Luke?”
No reply. Ana decided to walk in, praying no misfortune had occurred. Opening the door, she walked in. The lights over the vanity were on, casting murky shadows into the corners. The tub was filled with bubble bath, which smelled of vanilla and lemon. And Luke’s ass stuck in the air as it had last night when he’d made love to her. He was practically submersed under the water.
“Luke! What are you doing?” she asked, not knowing whether to be outraged or amused. His butt was very cute.
Soapy water splashed out of the tub and onto the floor and mat as he jerked up. He gave her a sheepish grin. “What did you say?”
She placed her fists on her hips and demanded, “What are you doing?” She’d never seen this playful side to him before yesterday. Perhaps the threat of going to jail had brought out the boy in him, which endeared him to her.
“I was looking for you,” he explained with a wicked grin.
Ana had to laugh. “But you know perfectly well where I am.” She’d been in bed sleeping.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “What can I say? I wanted to make you laugh.”
Her smile vanished as she considered not telling him what the private investigator had said, but she had no other choice.
Luke read her openly again. “Ana?” he whispered, grabbing a towel from the rack. “What’s going on?” All playfulness was gone, and he was deadly serious again. And deadly handsome.
“Nathan called.” At his blank expression, she elaborated, “The private investigator.”
He nodded in comprehension and wrapped the towel around his torso.
This would be difficult to explain, but Luke needed to hear the truth. “Your father is in jail. He murdered your mother last night at the assisted care living facility.”
Luke covered his eyes. His shoulders shook. Ana closed the distance between them and touched his upper arm sympathetically. “Your father confessed to committing the bank robbery and several others. He laid all the blame on himself. He wore masks to commit the robbery. He claimed it would be fun to see your face on the nightly news as one of them.”
“Fun?” Luke asked, uncomprehendingly. His eyes were glassed over with tears, and his mouth was set in a hard, grim line.
“That’s all Nathan would tell me. Is there somewhere you need to go, something you have to do before I leave for court?”
He shook his head. “My mother is dead. I can’t do anything for her,” he said in a choked voice. “My father is as good as dead and gone, too. I can’t help him. I didn’t know.” He covered his face with his hands and sobbed.
Ana took him into her arms as she would have a child. His arms came around her waist and held her tightly. The police were no longer looking for him, he was free to return to his construction company, but all she could hear were the sobs wracking the length of his body. She quickly ran through a hundred things she could tell him about his loss but opted to remain silent, embraced him and let him weep against her shoulder.
“I thought Mom was safe there,” he muttered against her ear.
“She was, sweetheart.” Ana’s heart bled for him. He’d lost his mother and father in one evening, though he’d started to lose his father years before when the old man had turned on him.
“I should have listened. He threatened to kill her. Those were almost his last words to me. ‘If it’s the last thing I do, but I’ll get even with her’.” He sobbed harder.
Ana continued to comfort him, sorry for his loss and sensing precious time was ticking away, time she needed to get ready and drive to the courthouse. She led him to the bedroom, seated him on the bed and told him, “I’ve got one more phone call to make.”
He grabbed her hand as she spun around. “You’ve worked so hard, Ana. Why are you defending a scumbag?” Tears sparkled on his cheeks.
“Just what I was wondering myself. Let me make that phone call.” In her study, she made one of the hardest, yet one of the easiest, calls she’d ever make.
“Barb,” she said to the law firm’s receptionist, “I’m unable to come in today. In fact, I’m quitting so don’t expect me any time soon.” She hit the disconnect button and stared at the phone for several seconds before she replaced it in its cradle.
“I’m sorry you had to do that,” Luke said from behind her.
She whirled around. He’d come in so quietly, she hadn’t heard him.
“Don’t be,” she murmured, her heart pounding in her throat. She’d just ended all she’d worked so hard for in the last eight years.
“You could always come work for me at the construction company.” The tiniest of smiles flickered along his lips. “But somehow I don’t think you’d care for it that much.”
She hugged him, breathing in his scent. “You know time heals. I’m sure I’ll find something else I’m good at.”
“There’s business law,” he suggested, kissing the top of her head.
“Yeah, but I’ve had a hankering to put on the same kind of hat Sherlock Holmes had, get a big smoking pipe and become a real private investigator. Do some ‘surveillancing’.” She turned her face up to his and watched his smile widen.
“Funny, you should say that, but I was thinking as a couple of investigators would open their own investigative agency and make a success of it.”
Ana chuckled. “What about your construction company?”
Luke sighed. “I’ve met my challenge there, to create a business, make viable, and now I can sell it and move on. I need the change.”
She nodded. “I guess I need change, too. I have connections in and out of the courtroom, so the agency could work.”
He breathed in a small breath before he exhaled. “Why don’t we drive out and see your parents in Minnesota first, tell them the good news.”
Confused, Ana asked, “What good news?” There hadn’t seemed to be much of it in the last twenty-four hours.
“That we’re about to open an investigative agency. We’ll be together, and we can decide where we want to go from there.”
“What about your mother and your father?”
“I’ll make the arrangements for Mom’s funeral before we leave. I’ll work through this, and one thing I can be thankful for is that she isn’t suffering anymore. It was hard for both of us. For her, because she didn’t remember, and for me, because I could remember the good times.” His eyes took on a far away look. “I wish I could have helped her more, but she didn’t recognise me anymore. She hadn’t for several years.” Tears ran down his cheek. “Your mother is alive, and maybe we can do something for her. We’ll be back for the funeral. And my father, well, he’s made his own bed, let him lie in it.” He sighed. “There isn’t much we can do for the dead, but we can certainly try for the living, and if I’m not mistaken, you haven’t seen your folks in a while.”
“Right. We’ll be back in plenty of time.” Encouraged that Luke was dealing as well as could be expected with this tragedy, and that she was at his side, Ana s
tood on tiptoe, and kissed his forehead. “Two heads are always better than one.”
Luke burst out laughing. “You wicked, wicked woman.” Then he wrapped his arms tighter around her. She had never felt so wanted than she did at that moment, and she hoped the feeling would last forever.
Epilogue
Eight months later
“Time has flown by,” Ana told her husband, the ever-handsome and sexy Luke.
“Yes, Mrs. Desemond. Look around you, though. It’s been worth it.”
Ana loved the way his eyes sparkled. The office of Desemond Investigative Agency was about to open first thing in the morning, but there was one last thing she wanted to do before the area became public. “Make love to me on that desk,” she asked.
Luke’s eyebrows arched upward. “I remember our first time in the courtroom.”
She waved a hand in dismissal. “That’s old news. Let’s make something new.”
He stepped up close to her, reached an arm around her waist and gently patted her stomach. “What will our baby think of his horny parents?”
Ana laughed softly. “He hasn’t arrived yet, and later, when he’s older, we’ll have to explain how he got here, won’t we?” She admired Luke. He’d sold his construction business for a handsome profit and had set up the investigative agency. He still grieved over his mother but time dulled the pain. Her own parents had sold the farm in Minnesota and moved to Pine Woods to be close to their grandchild.
“You want it fast like the first time?” Luke asked, settling her hand on his heart.
She didn’t know how, but she could feel the love there, for both herself and their baby. “Fast is good.”
He stripped her of her skirt and panties while she laughed with pleasure then backed her up against the desk in the front office. She unbuckled his belt and slid down the zipper of his jeans. It rasped in the quiet, and his erection sprang free of the brief’s elastic waistband.
“Turn around, Mrs. Desemond, or else I’ll have to arrest you.”
She frowned playfully. “On what charge?”
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