“That’s it!” She groaned, as Tim’s short, deep thrusts quenched her desire. He could hear his balls slapping up against her, as he stroked the delectable flesh of her legs. Feeling her soft hands gliding up and down his back, he laid hot, sensual kisses on her chest. But Tim recalled the few times that he had stared at her backside and it occurred to him that he had not touched her there yet. Maintaining a firm grip on her thighs, he rolled them over. With Josephine on top of him and her breasts barely an inch away from his lips, he would not waste a perfect chance to worship them. Still, now he could do something else that would arouse him and her even more: fill his palms with the hot flesh of her big, round ass. He ran his hands up her thighs and cupped her butt cheeks, taking her right breast in his mouth. Josephine tilted her head all the way back, loving the attention being given to multiple points of her body. Thrusting into her even faster than before, he squeezed her butt cheeks, sucking on her breast.
“Oh God…” she screamed, squeezing her eyes shut; “that feels so good.”
“You’re so sexy, doc,” he whispered, his voice raspy, filled with unbridled lust.
“Mmm, say more things like that,” she urged, tilting her head forward again. Sensing her hot breath on his face, he let go of her breast and opened his eyes.
“I just love your body,” he grunted, looking deep into her eyes. His words overwhelmed her. Tim had barely managed to finish his sentence, when she claimed his lips once more. Understanding that his compliment had such an effect on her, he grabbed and held onto her ass. He loved the feel of her butt cheeks in his hands so much that he pounded her dripping wet pussy, getting lost in the heat of the moment. He spread them, feeling her juices on the base of his rock hard shaft. Her soaking wet pussy was pulsing around his cock. Josephine’s kiss deepened; her body began to quiver for the second time that night. Within seconds, she started moaning out of control, her moans audible over his, as she shuddered from an even more powerful orgasm. Tim pulled out, a split second before a large amount of semen shot out of his cock. He took her trembling body in his arms and gave her a short kiss on her lips, before she tumbled into the bed beside him…
7
“What…” Josephine gasped. “What just happened?”
Her question amused him; a broad smile spread across his face.
“People call it ‘sex’, doc.” Tim teased her.
“I know.” She raised her tone of voice. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. It shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t like it.” He spoke in a much more serious tone.
“That’s not what I said.” Josephine maintained, turning her head to the left to face him. “It was just… incredible. But, it was wrong.”
“I stopped listening after you said ‘incredible’.” Tim wouldn’t let up. “Why did you stay here, Joey? And why was it wrong?”
“Joey?” She squinted at him.
“Yeah,” he said. “Well?”
“Ok.” She drew in a deep breath. “When Paul told me about you, I didn’t like it that a burglar was going to work here. I never liked criminals. But, I couldn’t be more wrong about you. So far, you haven’t caused any trouble and you’ve been very nice to me. I really appreciated the fact that you said that you wouldn’t speak to anyone about Paul. That’s why I kissed you. I didn’t mean to seduce you or anything. I’m not like that.”
“No, definitely not,” he agreed. “But I seduced you.”
“As far as your other question is concerned, we work together. And Laura has shown interest in you,” Josephine explained. “My God, she’d be furious if she found out about this. She’ll hate me even more.”
“I can handle her,” Tim said with a confident grin. “She doesn’t need to know. Besides, I don’t want to date her; not anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because of what you said,” his tone became bass-deep with a hint of sadness behind it. “She can be pretty mean. I don’t like that. And I don’t really care what she says.”
“You should.” Josephine advised. “You could lose your job.”
“Screw my job, doc.” He laughed. “I’m a burglar: a misfit; I’ll just get back to doing that.”
“Please, don’t talk like that,” she said in a sweeter sounding voice. “Do you want to go to prison?”
“Well…” he let out a snort of derision. “It makes no difference to me.”
“Don’t make me change my opinion about you.” All of a sudden, Josephine assumed a commanding tone. “You seem like a smart man. What you just said was not smart at all.”
“Thanks for the compliment.” He winked at her. “Are you free tomorrow night?”
“Oh no, no, no,” Josephine shook her head sideways, quickly climbing out of the bed. “You seem to have a problem with your hearing, Mr. Shaw. This was a mistake; a big mistake.”
“The only mistake around here is the way you think,” he protested. “Forget about her.”
“I’m not going to discuss this any further,” she said, putting her skirt back on. “Unlike you, I love my job.”
“We can keep it a secret!” Tim put some force in his voice, in an attempt to convince her.
“How?” She yelled, opening her eyes wide as she leaned over him. “Make no mistake, Mr. Shaw. We may be able to keep this a secret for a few days; a week, maybe. But, she will find out and she will stop funding my research. I don’t know if you have cancelled your date with her, but if you haven’t done so yet, please don’t. She may suspect something. So, please, go out with her and forget this ever happened.”
Tim couldn’t believe his ears. Too stunned to force another word out of his throat, he watched as Josephine put her lab coat back on and stormed out of his room. He didn’t want to admit it, but she was right. Laura was smart; she would demand an explanation and should she discover that he and Josephine had slept together, the young biologist would lose her job. He kept staring at the bed, recalling their encounter, wishing she was still there with him.
You’re only doing what I expected you to do, doc. You don’t want to take any chances. I get it; your job’s important to you. But, trust me, Joey. You and I are not over. You’re not getting rid of me.
8
The next morning, Tim woke up overflowing with a sense of satisfaction. He had not felt that well in a while. The night he had spent with Josephine was wonderful, for more reasons than just their passionate, sexual encounter. Unexpectedly, she had shared with him the secret that had been haunting her mind. Then his mood was effectively ruined as he recalled her rejection and her advice. Tim was not used to being turned down, especially by women that intrigued him as much as Josephine had. More than that, her suggestion to date Laura frustrated him. The last thing on his mind was going out on a date with her. He didn’t have a problem keeping his encounter with Josephine a secret, but deep down, Tim knew that his boss would insist on finding everything out about her activities. Despite her claims, he still believed Laura would attempt to get the information she wanted for free. After all, she had proved to him that she could be quite persuasive. In order to find out if his hunch was right or not, however, he had to take Josephine’s advice and go out on a date with Laura.
Still, he had another, much bigger, problem to deal with: things would be quite awkward between him and Josephine. He thought that she would try to avoid him. She had made it clear to him that she regretted their actions of the night before. Much to his disappointment, she was adamant: they could not date each other. Her attitude would definitely make his job much more difficult. Tim would have to spend many hours in her lab and keep his mouth shut most of the time, pretending that nothing had happened between them. Nevertheless, the former outlaw had faced bigger issues in the past. In his mind, handling her would be much easier than the hardships he had been through so far in his life.
As their gazes met in her lab, Tim discovered that the icy look in Josephine’s eyes had returned. In fact, she was acting the way she did on the day t
hat they first met. It was still early in the morning; she was having a cup of tea, and browsing the internet on her computer. She would not even address him, despite the fact that they were all alone. Tim’s eyes lit with rage. Disgusted by her behavior, he stormed out of her lab and slammed the door behind him.
We did all sorts of crazy things in bed last night and now she’s acting like she doesn’t even know me. Damn … I hate it when I’m right.
Revisiting the spot where they had captured the chimpanzee the night before, he found Wally dragging a large box across the snow.
“Morning, kid …” The aging security guard murmured, casting an intent glance at Tim. “Good job last night.”
“Thanks,” Tim replied in his deep, masculine voice. “Listen, you’ve been here a lot longer than me. Has this happened before?”
“Yeah,” Wally snorted. “It’s happened twice before. About a year ago, a rock python escaped. We were all scared shitless. We’re talking about a twenty-foot reptile; the damn thing could kill us in a heartbeat. We got lucky. She had other plans.”
“Lucky?” Tim squinted at him. “What do you mean?”
“It all happened about two hundred yards north of here. We watched the whole thing. The snake found a mountain lion lair. She made the mistake of attacking the cub. The mother wasn’t far away. Jitter and his fiancé thought that the python would kill them both. They ordered us to wait until she killed those cats. The cub’s mother just pounced on that snake. She grabbed her by the head. What a fight … I swear, I’ve never seen anything like it. It lasted almost three hours. The mountain lion tore that python to pieces. Last summer, another chimp escaped. He started chasing a deer, right outside the fence. He killed it, but the noise attracted an oncoming pack of wolves. That guy was pretty bold; he wouldn’t give up his prey. Jitter wasn’t here; the doc was terrified. The wolves jumped him. He was dead in seconds. I saw Dr. Taylor cry that day.” Wally finished his narrative with a long, deep sigh.
“You’re kidding, right?” Tim laughed.
“Nope,” Wally shook his head sideways. “She cried; and I mean hard. That girl doesn’t just like her job, son. She’s married to it. That’s why she kept …” He faltered “shooting down Maddox. I’ve lost count of all the times he’s sent her flowers. He’s even visited her a few times.”
“He kept doing that after she got engaged to Jitter?” Tim’s voice raised in pitch.
“Yeah, he did alright,” Wally’s response sent shockwaves up and down Tim’s body. “He threw a fundraiser, a couple of months ago. Judging by the way he looked at her, he’s head over heels in love with her. I guess her engagement didn’t mean anything to him.”
Tim’s initial thought was to continue asking Wally about Josephine and her dead fiancé. His answers had triggered his imagination and convinced him even further that Maddox was behind Jitter’s murder. At the same time however, he realized that convincing her to date him would be much more difficult than he anticipated. Josephine had already turned down a rich man who had feelings for her. He wasn’t in love with her, but the fact that she had repeatedly rejected someone as powerful as Maddox made his heart sink. It showed him that she could not be influenced; Tim’s desire to approach her again evaporated.
“What’s the matter, kid?” His prolonged silence and his drifting gaze made Wally curious. “You look a little distracted.”
“Nothing,” Tim assured. “She’s in love with her job, isn’t she?”
“You bet,” Wally agreed. “I’ve been doing this job since before you were born. I’ve met dozens of scientists. They all thought that they would make a breakthrough, discover something that would change the world to the better. They mostly all failed. But that’s not what bothers me. The things they’d been trying to do were tough in the first place; losing is just part of the game. It really pisses me off to see young people waste their lives like that, though, and not enjoy the simple things in life, you know?”
“Thanks a lot for the info, Wally.” Tim said, unwilling to discuss it any further. He would have to find a way to stop thinking about her and treat her exactly like she did him. After all, his colleague’s words had left him no choice.
Keep it professional? I don’t know if I can do that; not after last night. I don’t even know if I want to do that. Hell, things have become so complicated that staying in this job doesn’t make any sense. Laura and the doc don’t like each other and I’m in the middle of it. Now that I can’t date her, why would I want to stay here anyway? I need to talk to Laura. She won’t like it, but I have to tell her…
9
Laura’s text message, later that morning, made him realize that she viewed their date very differently than he did. In fact, she wanted to meet with him in “Luigi’s”, a fancy, Italian restaurant in Burlington. For Tim, their date was nothing more than an obligation, something that he merely had to do. He was not going to date the woman who had haunted his thoughts. Instead, she would stay behind in a large, cold building, far away from him. And, after that night, she would be even further, as Tim had decided to go back to New York and live with his sister. What he would do from now on did not trouble him. He would go back to what he knew best: being an outlaw.
Two, massive, sparkling chandeliers lit up the large hall, as he walked into the crowded restaurant. Laura was sitting at the table in the upper right corner. As usual, she looked wonderful, but it didn’t make any difference to him. He would not be dazzled by her looks again. This was the last night that he would spend in Vermont.
“Hi…” She spoke, as a polite smile spread across her face.
“Evening,” he muttered, joining her, taken aback by her somewhat different approach. Tim expected a much warmer welcome than that.
“So…” Laura started. “How were things at work today: anything unusual?”
“I thought you said I didn’t have to spy on her,” he complained.
“Relax,” she smiled, playfully this time. “I was just messing with you. Tonight’s for us, anyway. I don’t want to talk about …” she faltered, “you-know-who.”
“You don’t even want to say her name, do you?” Tim put a little force in his voice.
“You already knew that,” Laura spoke in a calm tone, unaffected by his remark. “Let’s just focus on us, shall we?”
“That’s just the thing, blondie,” he smirked. “There can’t be any ‘us’.”
“Why?” she inquired, as her smile left her face. “I thought …”
“It doesn’t matter what you thought,” Tim interrupted. “It’s pretty obvious that there’s a lot of history between you the two of you. I can’t do this. I’m quitting tomorrow.”
“What?” Laura exclaimed, as her face loosened in utter disbelief. “Did she tell you anything about me?”
“Even a blind man could see that, Laura.” He attempted to use a forceful tone. “No, she didn’t say anything, but, ever since I got here, you keep…” he paused, “… bitching about her. I mean, what the hell has she done to you?”
Her eyes darkened, as she dropped her gaze from his intense stare. Laura squeezed her lips and started shaking her head sideways, baffling Tim some more.
“My father left my mother for her,” she said, her voice trembling, as she stared down at her hands. “We were best friends, once. That’s until she slept with him. My dad became obsessed with her. He still is, I think.”
“Yeah, well, whose fault is that?” he whispered, leaning over her. Tim wasn’t surprised. He already suspected that things were complicated between her parents, as she never spoke about her mother. “Look, I’m not defending her or anything. But, it looks like your father is the one who messed up, not her.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Laura murmured, returning her gaze to his face. “She stayed away from him. But still … she was my best friend, Tim. She shouldn’t have done that.”
“I know,” he said with a nod. “Haven’t you made any mistakes? Anyway, I’m still leaving tomorrow.”
“Then why did you even come here?” Frustration was lingering in her voice. “Couldn’t you just cancel on me?”
“I wanted to say these things in person,” Tim explained.
“Stay,” Laura urged, her voice quivering. “You can work in my company when this is over.”
“I don’t like being owned,” He groaned, furrowing his brows.
“Well, you work for me now, don’t you?” She squinted at him.
“That’s one of the reasons I’m quitting,” Tim claimed. “Why do you want me to stay so badly? You barely know me.”
“Is it so bad that I want a relationship with you?” Laura made her voice sound sweeter. “Come on, Tim. What will you win if you leave now?”
“Peace of mind,” he said, as a bitter smile spread across his face. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“Fine:” Laura gave an exasperated gasp. “I was pretty shocked when you said that you wouldn’t spy on her. Twenty thousand dollars is a lot of money. Any other guy would have just jumped on the opportunity. You didn’t. Who would have thought that a burglar had principles?”
“Let me tell you one thing about outlaws,” he brought his index finger to his lips. “Most of us don’t like to rat. Those who do end up shot or stabbed to death.”
“What if I changed my attitude towards her?” She posed yet another question. “Would that convince you to stay?”
Filthy Desires: A Romantic Suspense Collection Page 178
