My Secret Life

by Lori Wilde

  “So tell me. I’m listening.”

  He heaved in a breath. “Okay, my mother came to Boston from Ireland when she was only seventeen. A friend got her a job working in a factory that made parts for sailing ships. The owner of the factory was a Beacon Hill Brahmin with eyes for my mother. She didn’t know he was married when they started dating. He wined her, dined her, treated her like royalty. Told her the kind of lies that make a young girl’s heart light up. Then when she found out she was pregnant with his child, he threw three hundred dollars at her and told her to get an abortion.”

  “It must have been awful for your mom.”

  Liam was breathing hard. He had his fists clenched. The muscles in his neck were bunched so tightly Katie could feel his anger. “Yeah.”

  She touched his arm. “And for you, too.”

  He didn’t say anything for so long that she finally prompted, “So what did your mother do after that?”

  “There wasn’t anywhere she could stay. There was a home for unwed mothers in Boston, but you had to give your child up for adoption if you stayed there. She refused to give me up. I was all she had. She’d lost all her family in Ireland. That’s why she’d come to America.”

  “How did she get through it?”

  “She had two jobs, worked in a different factory at night, pressed clothes in a dry-cleaning shop by day. Hard, backbreaking work, but the owners of the dry cleaner’s allowed her to bring me to work with her after I was born. On weekends, she took classes and earned both her U.S. citizenship and her GED. She raised me all on her own without one penny of assistance from my so-called father.”

  Katie’s heart hurt. For Liam, for his mother, for the struggles they must have endured. “I think I understand you,” she said.

  He stared at her with his sharp, intelligent eyes. The look unsettled her. “Have I scared you off because I’m so damaged?”

  Katie raised her chin. “Everyone’s damaged in one way or an other. Besides, I don’t scare easily.”

  He nodded, but he shrugged as if he didn’t believe her. Suddenly, she didn’t believe what she’d said, either.

  Every impulse in her body was urging her to kiss him, but she didn’t want him to misunderstand it. Hell, she didn’t want to misunderstand it. She felt something for this man. Something too powerful to take lightly. He could hurt her. She could hurt him. They could hurt each other very badly if they weren’t very careful.

  “I haven’t told you the biggest secret yet.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Finn Delancy?”

  “Yes?”

  “You want to know why I hate him?”

  She nodded, but she already knew what he was going to say. He merely confirmed it.

  “He’s the guy. He’s my father.”

  Katie concentrated on his features. It explained a lot, and now that he mentioned it, she could see a bit of physical resemblance between the two men. “But he doesn’t know who you are.”

  He gave a harsh laugh. “No.”

  “You resent people born into wealth and prominence, don’t you?”

  He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Not admirable, but it’s the truth.”

  Once he admitted it, a bleakness fell over her. He was with her because of her pedigree, who she was. That’s why he’d invited her to the dinner party, in effect, flaunting her. Making this subliminal statement: Hey, lookat me. I’m from the streets and I’ve nailed me a woman who can trace her family tree back to the Mayflower.

  Wretchedly, she closed her eyes, then opened them again to find him focused on her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You’re using me.”

  “What?”

  “You’re using me to get what has always been out of your reach, no matter how hard you’ve worked. I’m your entrée into Boston society. You made the money on your own, but you can’t buy a pedigree.”

  “No,” he vehemently denied. “I’m not.”

  She was feeling sick to her stomach. “Really? First you date Brooke and when there is no love connection between the two of you, then you come after me.” She turned and walked back to the Lamborghini, but he caught her by the arm and spun her around to face him.

  “That’s unfair. You seduced me at the Ladies League Ball.”

  “You expect me to believe my last name doesn’t have anything to do with why I’m here with you?”

  “Okay,” he said. “Maybe Brooke’s heritage was the reason I was initially attracted to her, but the minute I met you, all bets were off. You…me—” He pointed from her to him and back again. “This thing between us has nothing to do with our social standing or our past.”

  “I wish I could believe you,” she said, not knowing what to think, unable to decipher what she was feeling.

  He tilted her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “I won’t ever lie to you, Katie. All I ask in return is that you never lie to me.”

  “If I was dead broke and named Katie Smith, you’d still be here with me.”

  “Damn straight.”

  LIAM WAS ALARMED to think she could believe he was using her for his own gain. He had to show Katie how much she meant to him. He pulled her to him, slid his hands up the back of her neck to cup her head in his palms.

  Her hair was a soft and silky slide beneath his fingers. And the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest sent his own breath reeling. A heated awareness pricked his skin. Their mental connection was undeniable. He’d never felt so conscious of anything in his life.

  She looked at him, her eyes shining bright and eager in the glow of light from the overhead vapor lamp. She made him feel unique, and yet he had no right to feel that way. Katie was an adventurous woman, no doubt about it. From her mischievous grin, to her rakish smile, she appreciated sex.

  And no woman had ever aroused him so intently.

  She was playful and flirtatious and spontaneous; he was reserved and sober and scrupulous. She was windblown; he walked the straight and narrow. She lived to shock; he kept his feelings to himself. She was a blue blood and he’d been born with a plastic fork in his mouth. She was foie gras; he was a TV dinner.

  And he was falling for her hard and fast.

  Falling so hard and so fast that he didn’t even notice where they were.

  You’re just horny, he told himself but Liam was afraid that wasn’t the whole truth. He was terrified he was starting to care more for her than she could ever care for him.

  She pursed her lips.

  He kissed her then, every cell in his body humming in harmony with hers.

  She kissed him back, increasing the pressure, upping the tempo. Her lips blasted him into another realm of awareness, making him forget everything except the feel of her mouth under his. Her short fingernails dug into the back of his head. A deep flush of arousal painted her face, spread down her neck to her perky bosom. She was ready for action.

  The flick of her tongue over his teeth was lazy, sultry, teasing him by degrees. Slowly at first, but then with steadily building pressure.

  Liam didn’t remember how, but they made it back to the car. He wasn’t thinking, just reacting—blindly, crazily—and was mad to have her again and again and again.

  They stood beside the Lamborghini, Katie’s back against the passenger side. Liam pressed against her.

  His head spun, his heart pounded. His hand slipped down to cup her tight, round bottom. His penis strained against his zipper. Flexing, he curled his fingers into the soft, willing flesh of her buttocks. He heard her quick intake of breath, and it ignited him.

  “Now,” she said. “I need you. Now.”

  Then she reached up under the hem of her sexy black dress, pulled down her panties and stepped out of them. With her index finger, she made a slingshot of her red thong and shot it through the air. The tiny scrap of silk sailed over his shoulder.

  Agog, Liam stared hard as she bent over the back of the Lamborghini, waggled her sweet little ass in the air and whispered, “Come and get
me.”

  11

  THE SOUND of his zipper sliding down was incredibly erotic in the still of the chilly, dark night. The crinkling of a condom being opened caused her womb to contract. The feel of the cool, metal curve of the Lamborghini against her belly served to spike her desire even higher. The spicy taste of anticipation filled her mouth. Katie’s heart fluttered.

  But the smooth glide of his hot, palm sliding up the hem of her skirt to cup her bare ass was Katie’s undoing.

  Liam bent over her, pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, “Wild thing.”

  She swallowed desperately, felt his erect penis throbbing through the folds of his pants. He pressed himself against her butt. She felt his body swell harder still. Combing aside her hair, he dipped his head and lightly nipped the nape of her neck with his teeth.

  The hot wetness of his lips ignited her and the waves of passion that had been rising inside her streamed molten.

  With both his hands now up under her dress and splayed across her bottom, he cocked his knee up and used it to spread her legs farther apart.

  His hands slipped from her bottom up to her waist, his wrists pushing up the skirt of her dress in the process. The cool air on her naked skin drove goose bumps up her spine.

  Groaning, he rocked against her. “Beautiful, so damned beautiful.”

  She whimpered as the deep center of her feminine core constricted and her nipples squeezed down to rock-hard pebbles beneath the silk of her bra.

  He reached up to weave the fingers of one hand through her hair at the same time he ground his hips against hers. Holding her firmly in place, he ran his devilish tongue down the back of her neck.

  It was totally erotic, sandwiched between Liam’s hot body and the cool metal of one of the world’s most expensive automobiles. Shivering, she flexed her inner muscles, desperate to drive as hard as this precision sports car.

  They were in the open park, hidden only by midnight and a privacy hedge shielding them from direct view of the neighborhood development behind them. At any moment a car could drive by and expose them.

  The thrill of the notion stole her breath.

  Liam’s fingers tightened in her hair, pulling her head up as if she were an untamed mare and he her wild stallion.

  “Tell me you want me.”

  “I want you,” she panted. “I want you inside of me now!”

  Then he was in her, and she gasped at the immediate insurgence of pure pleasure. He filled her up so completely she might not be able to take any more.

  “You’re so wet, babe,” he murmured. “Dripping wet for me.”

  “All for you.”

  He felt so good. Hard, lean, and strong. Her hips twitched against his, the muscles between her thighs clenching tight.

  Their breathing pattern altered, grew more ragged, more urgent. Their mating was primal. Ferocious. He plunged heedlessly into her. Driving them closer and closer to the edge.

  The stars twinkled overhead. The wind rustled against their fevered skin.

  “Harder,” she cried. “Faster.”

  Liam’s cock pounded, sending her spiraling upward, higher and higher. Her ears rang. Flashes of heat rolled through her. The feel of his big body behind her, his thick fingers fanned out over her ass, flung her into the stratosphere.

  And when she believed she absolutely could not take any more pleasure, he separated her aching cheeks with a palm. His thumb pressed gently against the pucker of her bottom causing a sizzling jolt of white-hot lightning to shoot through her nerve endings.

  Katie lost her last shred of control. She’d never felt anything so exquisite. She screamed his name and her spine arched at the piercing intensity of the sensation.

  Liam was equally crazed. He slammed relentlessly into her. His cock was a sword and she the waiting scabbard. He moved his hips and his hand in unison, satisfying her sex with his, caressing her in a secret place she’d never been caressed before. Supplying her with new dreams to dream, fresh fantasies.

  Glorious.

  She gasped.

  Her womb spasmed, squeezing him tight as her muscles clenched around his exploring thumb.

  “You like that?”

  “More,” she pleaded. “More.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Amidst the sultry haze, inside the warmth of her own skin, Katie closed her eyes and breathed in the power of the moment, experiencing everything—the distinct contrast between the soft velvet of her dress, the hard metal of the car and the friction of Liam’s skin.

  This was a memory she planned to treasure forever. She memorized the deep bass thud of her heart; experienced the taste of her desire, sharp and sweet as strawberries; savored the thick ebb and flow of blood rolling through her arms and legs. And, she accepted the uncertain sureness of fear breathing into her ear. Don’t enjoy this too much. It’s only temporary. It’s nothing but a dare.

  He drove into her one more time and she was gone.

  Katie felt weighted in a deliciously lazy way, as if she were floating, hanging, flying high. Her thoughts retreated. Her mind emptied as her body filled up, dragging away her ability to form full sentences. Words slipping through her head like beads on a pearl necklace.

  She. He. The Lamborghini. The luxurious night.

  Heat. Flesh. Bodies. Thumbs.

  Adventure. Excitement. Lust. Love.

  Love?

  No, no, not love.

  Maybe not love, but sincere like and lots and lots and lots of lust.

  There was no escaping the power of their lust for each other. He’d captured her, made her his prisoner, and taken her free will. She was nothing but his sex slave and she loved her sentence.

  It took her down.

  The orgasm. Splendid and brilliant as a shooting star.

  The power took her down. Down, down, down. Into a place she’d never before explored.

  She heard Liam cry out. Moments later, he was pulling her up, turning her around and tugging her into the crook of his arm. They clung to each other, their bodies glued with perspiration and honeyed sex.

  His fingers stroked her hair, pushing it out of her eyes. She looked at him, searched his face for any signs that what he’d felt was just as monumental as what she’d experienced. Afraid to see the answer, terrified equally of either yes or no.

  He smiled softly, dipped his head, captured her lips and kissed away her doubt. He’d taken this as she’d intended. Living in the moment, enjoying himself.

  Katie breathed in the scent of him, along with a sigh of relief, but she couldn’t figure out why she suddenly felt so impossibly sad.

  DREAMILY, Katie gazed out her office window, her mind on Liam. No matter how hard she tried to focus on the art graphics design for his ad campaign, she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

  Or the rather wanton way she’d acted.

  Katie cringed. What was the matter with her? Why did she possess this constant need to outdo herself by finding ways to shock and surprise him? The sex had been mindblowing, but she couldn’t help feeling bittersweet about it. Their relationship was based on nothing more than a silly dare.

  And speaking of dares, the latest one had arrived in her mailbox that morning. She’d stuffed it in her purse on her way to work, and there it sat, unopened.

  Mocking her.

  She glanced under her desk at her purse. She could see the corner of pink linen paper peeking out at her. Part of her couldn’t wait to rip it open and discover what exciting Martini dare awaited inside that gilded envelope. But another part of her was scared of what the dare might say.

  You don’t have to do it, you know. Just toss it in the trash, forget all about the Martini dare.

  But Katie had never been one to walk away from a challenge. She pulled the envelope from her purse and leaned it against her coffee mug. Propping her elbows on the desk, she sank her chin into her upturned palms and glowered at the envelope.

  It might sound like a romantic cliché, but she’d never met a man like Li
am. When she thought of him, her heart grew full and achy and her stomach twisted up in knots.

  She remembered the innocent things about him. The way his unexpected smile made her light up inside, the reassuring sound of his rich comforting voice, the spark of passion in his eyes when he looked at her.

  And no man had ever responded to her sexual teasing in quite the same way that he did. Magically, he hardened at the slightest brush of her hand. Provocatively, he took the bait when she challenged him to expand his sexual horizons. Bravely, he followed where she led, and yet he made it seem as if he were the one doing the leading.

  His sense of adventure matched hers—even if he was just now discovering it. The power of his life force was a thing of awe. He was secure in his masculinity and self-confident in business. And he made her feel like the sexiest woman on Earth.

  She thought about the secret he’d told her—that he was the illegitimate son of Finn Delancy. She tried to imagine what that felt like—growing up without a father, never feeling that he was good enough, having to find his own way in the world.

  It explained so much about him and made her love him all the more.

  Love?

  No, no, she didn’t mean love. She admired him, yes. But that was all. Love was much too strong of a word. Love required too much of her. Most definitely, this feeling wasn’t the budding bloom of love. Maybe it was time she cut the relationship short before things got too complicated.

  She thought of how terrific sex was with him. How good she felt when they were together. How simply looking at him or thinking about him made her pulse quicken and palms grow damp.

  Her gaze fell on the envelope.

  Well, maybe one more date.

  She reached for the dare, opened it and read.

  You are hereby dared to have sex in an exotic place.

  Exotic place? Hmm.

  She thought of the bungalow her family owned in Fiji. How easy it was to think of her and Liam walking the white sand beaches, sipping festive umbrella drinks, feeling the balmy tropical breezes on their skin. Not to mention making love in a hammock under a bright starry sky.

  Goose bumps scattered up her arm. Erotic and exotic.

  But how to get Liam to go to Fiji?