A Lover's Vow

by Brenda Jackson

  “Where?”

  “Yes, where was the ache? In your head, your teeth, back?”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “It does to me.” He pushed the bedspread aside to uncover her. She was naked. Beautifully so. When she saw where his gaze was fixed, she tightened her thighs together. Too late.

  “Does it bother you that I like looking at you there?”

  She released a soft chuckle. “Kind of late for me to be bothered, isn’t it? Especially after last night.”

  He had to agree with her there. Last night, he’d done more than just look. He’d touched, tasted, thrust inside like a lust-crazed maniac on an effing marathon. He wanted to see how long he could stay hard inside her and how many times they could come. And speaking of come...

  He reached out, and his fingers caressed the folds of her womanly core before sliding inside to begin stroking her clit. Touching her there sent erotic sensations straight through to his fingertips. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Now she thought to ask. Her voice was choppy, her breathing uneven and her legs eased open a little to give him better access. “Using my fingers to turn that annoying ache into a pleasurable one. Mmm, you’re wet.”

  “You honestly thought I wouldn’t be?”

  No, he hadn’t thought that. This basically proved he was no more out of her system than she was out of his. One all-nighter hadn’t done the job, apparently. And when she let out a rasping moan, he knew it was time to take things to the next level.

  He reached onto the nightstand where several condom packs were spread out. Some his. Some hers. He grabbed one and proceeded to sheathe himself. With an urgency he hadn’t counted on but refused to back away from, he eased toward her and placed his body over hers. Capturing her hands in his, he held them over her head, drawing her luscious-looking breasts upward to mouth level.

  He seized her gaze as he entered her, stretching her wide and sinking deep. For the first time ever, he actually felt the heat in a woman’s womb, and it propelled him to begin moving, thrusting inside her. Riding her hard.

  “Oooh, Dalton...”

  She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he felt the tips of her fingernails dig into his back after releasing her hands. He stared into her eyes, glazed with lust and darkening with need. The thought that she still wanted this, needed this, as much as he did made him feel both possessive and invigorated. And he felt something else. Passion. Deep passion.

  At that moment, he needed more than anything to kiss her. Sliding his tongue between her parted lips, he began devouring her mouth with a greed he only experienced with her. And what was destroying his strong hold on reality was the way she was returning the kiss, with an intensity of fervor that equaled his own.

  He loved her taste, and it would have suited him just fine for it to continue without any interruptions, but the need to breathe made such a thing impossible. She inhaled sharply the moment he released her mouth and when she exhaled, his name was said on a breathless sigh. “I can’t take much more,” she whispered.

  He wasn’t sure he could, either, but something within him drove him to try. Deciding to give her mouth a reprieve, he lowered his head to her breasts and slid a hardened nipple between his lips. Sensations tore through him, and he began sucking hard as his shaft continued to pump into her.

  “Dalton!”

  “Being inside you feels so good,” he crooned as he continued his thrusts with an urgency he felt in every part of his body. He did know that what they were experiencing wasn’t the norm. No two people should be able to fire up bedsheets the way they were and make multiple orgasms a standard practice.

  And then something exploded within him, shot him off to a high plane, and his entire body hammered and bucked in pure ecstasy. And his guttural groans filled the air. Uncontrollably. Unashamedly. He was open in a way he’d never been before. For the first time in his entire life, he felt vulnerable. It took some doing for him to gain enough strength to lift his head, and when he met her gaze, he could only whisper her name. “Jules...”

  His tongue swiped across her lips, and he said her name again. Easing his body off hers, he clutched her close and brushed a kiss against her temple. “Sleep,” he said softly.

  And while she slept, he would stay awake and try to figure out what the hell was happening. Specifically, why the thought of Jules making love with any other man was just something he could not accept.

  * * *

  FBI Agent Marcel Eaton returned the smiles of the people who greeted him in a conference room at Granger Aeronautics—Jace, Caden and Shana. “Where’s Dalton? Still at lunch?” he asked, taking a seat at the long table.

  Jace responded, “No, he took a trip out of town and won’t be back until the weekend. You mentioned something to Shana about having new information on Brandy’s death.”

  “Yes, and I appreciate all of you seeing me on such short notice.”

  Brandy Booker had been a young and vibrant administrative assistant in the executive department, whose suicide several weeks ago had shocked the entire company. What was disturbing was that after reading the suicide note, her mother felt Brandy had been forced to write it and that she’d not taken her own life but had been murdered. However, there was no evidence to support the mother’s claim, and the authorities were still ruling the death a suicide. What was even more disturbing was that right before Brandy’s death, she was caught on a Granger Aeronautics security camera on more than one occasion going through Dalton’s office as if she were searching for something. Jace and the Granger Aeronautics security team had been scheduled to meet with her and question her about it on the same day they’d learned of her death.

  Marcel, who had worked to expose trade-secret violators at the company a few months earlier, had been apprised of the suspicions surrounding both Brandy’s death and her possible connection to the trade-secrets corruption. Bruce Townsend, who was a computer whiz and worked on occasion for Shana and Jules, was having Brandy’s work computer analyzed to see if it had been wiped clean from some remote location.

  Marcel glanced over at Shana. “Did you ever discover why Brandy’s father’s employment with Granger was terminated?”

  It had been discovered that both Brandy parents had worked for the company, although Brandy didn’t reveal that on her employment application. Her parents divorced and her mother had left the company to pursue a career in nursing, but her father had gotten fired a year later.

  “Yes. Neil Booker was fired when he assaulted a female employee in one of the break rooms when she ended their affair. I guess he wasn’t too happy about her dropping him,” Shana said.

  “Apparently,” Marcel said, shaking his head. “We were able to search Brandy’s apartment and didn’t find anything but this,” he added, placing what looked like an office key in the middle of the table. “Does it look familiar?”

  Jace frowned as he picked up the key and studied it. “No, it doesn’t.”

  “Well, we ran it through your security team and discovered it’s a key to Dalton’s office.”

  “A duplicate key?” Shana asked, leaning forward to stare down at the key. “So that’s how Brandy got into Dalton’s office when he swore he locked the door before leaving every day.”

  Marcel nodded. “Yes, and the big question is how she got hold of this copy.”

  Caden leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “If you’re thinking that maybe she and Dalton had an affair and she lifted it off him without his knowing it, then don’t fall for that assumption, Marcel. Dalton said he’s never been involved with Brandy, and I believe him. Trust me. If Dalton is ever involved with any woman, he has no problem admitting it.”

  “I believe him, as well,” Marcel said, “but that’s not what concerns me. I want you all to notice the age of the key. It’s well worn and look
s nothing like the ones you’re using now. It’s an entirely different brand.”

  Jace stood and pulled out his key ring. Caden did the same. Their keys were a shiny bronze color, and the one that had been in Brandy’s possession was a tarnished silver.

  “True, so what does this mean?” Jace asked with concern on his face. “Why would Brandy have an old office key in her possession?”

  “One that obviously still works,” Shana pointed out.

  “Yes, one that still works.” Marcel looked at Jace and asked, “Did you ever find out the names of any employees who occupied Dalton’s office before he did?”

  Jace hesitated before answering. “Yes. According to what I’ve been told, the only other person who occupied that particular office was my mom. After her death, it was closed up until Dalton began using it a few months ago.”

  Marcel’s brow rose. “Your mom worked for the company?”

  Jace sighed. “Yes, for a short while. From what I remember, she began complaining about getting bored at home and said that she regretted never having had the chance to use her college degree in marketing.”

  “So she was brought in as part of the marketing team?” Shana asked her husband.

  Jace shook his head. “No. I asked Dad about it once, and he said he and Granddad decided to give Mom the glorified title of marketing analyst to keep her busy and away from Sutton Hills when they weren’t there.”

  Caden’s brow furrowed. This was the first time he’d heard any of this. “Why would they want to keep her away from Sutton Hills when they weren’t there?”

  “Evidently, during that time, she had it in for Hannah, and Hannah threatened to quit unless Mom’s attitude improved,” Jace explained.

  “Who’s Hannah?” Marcel asked.

  “Our housekeeper. She’s actually more than that. She’s been with us for more than fifty years.”

  Marcel didn’t say anything for a minute. “I had our investigative team work with your security guys, and it seems that key,” he said, pointing to the one on the table, “would be the same key that opened Dalton’s office years ago.”

  Jace frowned. “If that’s true, how did Brandy get my mother’s old office key?”

  Twenty

  “So how was Miami?”

  Jules continued eating her breakfast, refusing to meet her father’s eyes. “Nice. I needed it.”

  “Evidently. You had originally said you’d be returning Saturday, but I got your text message that you were taking an extra day.”

  The additional day had been Dalton’s idea, but she would never admit that to her father. As far as she knew, no one was aware she and Dalton had spent the past week together. And what a week it had been with a man who was bold enough to have a colorful tattoo of Sonny the Cuckoo Bird, the mascot for Cocoa Puffs cereal, right on his lower hip. Jules thought it was a pretty erotic place for a tattoo.

  She was a woman who enjoyed sex, and his presence had definitely served a purpose. Today she felt relaxed and back in control. Alert. Ready to tackle anything that came her way. Although the extra day had been Dalton’s idea, she had agreed one hundred percent. Surprising what a few nights of nonstop sex could do for you, which had been a testament to just how horny she’d been. He’d been determined to transform that annoying ache into a pleasurable one, and he had done so. Possibly too well. And what was also surprising was how much better they got along once the issue of sex had been resolved.

  They’d both agreed that what happened in Miami would stay in Miami, and there was no need to continue things in Charlottesville. Miami was one and done. They were out of each other’s systems, and that was all that mattered.

  “Have you talked to your sister yet?” her dad asked, interrupting her thoughts.

  “No. It was late when I got in.” Last night all she’d wanted to do was take a shower and go to sleep. It had been the best sleep she’d had in months. While in the shower, she’d noticed passion marks over a good percentage of her body. Luckily, none of those places could be seen when she was wearing clothes.

  “So you haven’t heard about the new development Marcel uncovered with respect to that girl who committed suicide?”

  Jules’s brow lifted as she took a sip of her coffee. She remembered the incident Shana had told her about. The suicide had come as a shock, and the mother had suspected foul play, but nothing had been proven. And then there was the issue of whether she’d been connected to that trade-secret scandal Marcel had exposed earlier in the year, when several Granger employees had been arrested. What had made the woman a suspect was that the security camera at Granger Aeronautics had captured her searching Dalton’s office after hours.

  “No, I haven’t heard about it. What did Marcel uncover?”

  “They discovered how she was getting into young Granger’s office when he was careful about locking the door every night before leaving.”

  “How?”

  “It seems she had a key. One that once belonged to Sylvia Granger.”

  “Dalton’s mother?”

  Her father stared over at her for a minute before saying, “Yes, Jace, Caden and Dalton’s mother.”

  Jules quickly picked up her fork and began eating her eggs. Why had she singled Dalton out? Her father was too perceptive and was probably wondering the same thing. “How did the woman get the key?”

  “No one knows, but everyone finds it interesting that she had it.”

  Jules didn’t say anything, but she found that piece of information interesting, as well.

  * * *

  Caden looked his brother up and down. “Glad you returned from Florida in one piece.”

  A side of Dalton’s lips curved into a smile when he dropped into the chair across from Jace’s desk. Caden was occupying the other chair in the room. Okay, he thought, he would play his brother’s silly little game. “Any reason I was not supposed to return in one piece?”

  Jace chuckled. “With both you and Jules in Miami, we were concerned you might return all shredded. Ripped into pieces.”

  The words shredded and ripped made Dalton remember the dress Jules had worn to the club that night. That had been the beginning of the most pleasurable six nights of his life. He had to fight back a throaty growl trying to break through the memories. He shifted in his chair and cleared his throat. “What makes you think our paths even crossed?”

  “Didn’t they?” Caden asked, studying him closely.

  Dalton shook his head. “What is this? Get into Dalton’s business day?”

  “Why not? You certainly like getting into ours enough,” was Caden’s comeback.

  “I concur,” Jace added.

  Dalton shrugged. “That was before the two of you married. There’s no need to get into your business now, because your lives are boring as hell.”

  Caden laughed. “You think so?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hate to disappoint you,” Jace said, smiling while twirling his pen between his fingers. “And you never answered the question about whether yours and Jules’s paths crossed.”

  If he refused to answer, they would take that as a yes. So he decided to tell them a lie. It wouldn’t be the first time. “Sorry to disappoint you guys, but I didn’t see Jules.”

  “Not at all?” Caden pressed.

  Dalton rolled his eyes, refusing to answer. “I hope the reason you summoned me here, Jace, was not to interrogate me about Jules.”

  Jace tossed his pen on the desk and nodded. “You’re right. This meeting has nothing to do with Jules. We thought we’d bring you up-to-date on Brandy Booker. Marcel discovered whose key she was using to get into your office.”

  “Let me guess. She’d made a duplicate,” Dalton said drily.

  “No. Only the company security team can duplicate the keys, and there was neve
r a work order for one.”

  Dalton shrugged. “Doesn’t mean anything if you know someone in the right places. Brandy was a looker. Pretty damned hot, too.”

  Caden frowned. “And, of course, you know this. I hope you didn’t lie to us about not having an affair with her, Dalton. Especially after I came to your defense with Marcel.”

  Dalton stretched his legs out in front of him. Brandy had flirted with him a lot of times. Had even thrown out hints regarding her availability and eagerness to please. Although he’d flirted back with her on occasion, the last thing he was interested in was an office affair. He figured Brandy for the clingy type, and things wouldn’t have boded well when he dropped her, which he would have done eventually...like a hot potato. “Relax, Caden, I meant it when I said Brandy and I never slept together. Hell, I never even kissed her. She and I became friends, nothing more.”

  Jace snorted. “Instead of friends, maybe the two of you should have remained employee and employer.”

  Dalton smiled. “Oh, like you and Shana? And please don’t tell me your situation with Shana was different, because it wasn’t. Especially not when she’s starting to walk around with a big stomach.”

  He knew his statement had been a stark reminder to his oldest brother of just what he and his now-wife had been doing months ago, probably during working hours in addition to those nighttime hours. Sounded like the teapot was calling the kettle black.

  “Never mind him, Jace,” Caden piped up. “Just tell him about the key.”

  Following Caden’s advice, Jace said, “The key Brandy used to get into your office was Mom’s.”

  Dalton lifted a brow. “Mom’s key?”

  “Yes.”

  “How did she get Mom’s key?”

  Caden sighed deeply. “That’s a good question, one that we’re trying to figure out.”

  At the sound of the buzzer on Jace’s desk, he pushed the button and said, “Yes, Christine?”

  “Mrs. Shiloh Granger is here to see Mr. Caden Granger. Should I have her wait in his office?”