Panty Dropper

by Shawn, Melanie

  “Outstanding circumstances?” I repeated.

  “Foul play,” she explained.

  I wasn’t sure if I was in shock or what, but I still had no idea what she was talking about. “What does that mean?”

  “It means if your mother died of anything other than natural causes.”

  “What do you mean, because she was in a car accident?”

  “No. I mean…if she was murdered, or committed suicide.”

  “It was an accident. She took a corner too fast. It was a rainy night and that turn at the bluff sneaks up on you.”

  Reagan nodded, but I could see in her eyes that she wasn’t as convinced as I was.

  “You think someone did something to her, or that she would do that?” My tone was much more accusatory than I’d meant it to be.

  “No. I didn’t even know her. I was just…the things she was writing about she sounded…”

  “What?” I barked, not sure why I was taking this out on her.

  “Scared. Desperate.”

  “Desperate enough to drive off a cliff?”

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.” She started folding the papers back up.

  I covered her hand with mine. “No. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. It’s just, it’s hard to think of someone you love leaving you like that.”

  A heavy silence hung between us before she spoke so softly, I had to lean in to hear her.

  “Do you remember when I told you about the day I confronted my dad? Well, what I didn’t tell you was that the reason I was going over to my babysitter’s house was because I’d found my mom, on the couch unconscious with an empty bottle of pills on the floor.” She turned her head and looked out the window and I watched a single tear drop down her cheek. “I called 911, and when the ambulance got there, I was so scared that I just ran out. That’s why I spoke to him that day. I did it because I thought my mom was dead.”

  Her eyes fluttered as she inhaled a shaky breath. “But he didn’t want me. He never wanted me. It was the worst day of my life. Losing Hal was a close second, but that was the worst.” She wiped her cheeks, which now had several tears falling down them, and stood. “I’m so sorry. This isn’t about me.”

  Acting on instinct, I stood and wrapped my arms around her. Without any hesitation, she melted into me and I tightened my hold. I never wanted to let her go. I’d hold her forever if she’d let me.

  CHAPTER 44

  Reagan

  I didn’t know how long I’d stood there plastered against Billy. Time didn’t seem to exist as I surrendered to his embrace. A feeling of rightness, of home—or at least what I’d always imagined home to feel like—infused my bloodstream. All the reasons I’d stayed away from him suddenly seemed laughable. They were insignificant to the magnitude of what we shared in that moment.

  Chances were, I would’ve remained cocooned in his hug if it weren’t for the guilt that crept into my head like a thief in the night. A thief that stole the complete and total peace that being held by Billy offered.

  Tonight, he’d come over and trusted me with his mother’s journal, and somehow, I’d managed to end up with him comforting me. It was something my mother would do, not me. Sure, I hadn’t manipulated the conversation so that it turned in my direction like she would have. But did that matter if the outcome was the same? No.

  Feeling ashamed of my unnecessary admission and acceptance of the comfort that was offered afterwards, I forced myself to step back out of his touch.

  “I…um…will go to the police station tomorrow morning and get the report from your mother’s crash. If you want me to,” I quickly added. I had no idea if he would want to follow up on the information we’d discovered tonight. There was a good chance he might not want to find out what happened. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed that you’d want to get it.”

  “I do. But you’re not going alone. I’ll come with you. And I’m sorry again, for showing up like this.” Billy kissed me on the top of my head. “I should go.”

  I sensed that he had more to say, but I didn’t ask what it was. My feelings were so raw and close to the surface that I knew if what he said next had to do with the two of us in any way, I was toast. My defenses were completely down and, at least in the moment, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get them back up in time.

  He stared down at me, his big brown eyes boring directly into my soul. He took a deep breath. Whatever it was he was about to say, I could tell it took as much from him to summon up the strength to stand there and say it as it took from me to hear it, and probably for the same reason – neither one of us knew exactly what would come after the words, and that kind of mystery was even scarier than the other kind we were dealing with.

  He brushed his fingers gently against my cheek and my knees lost what little bit of strength they’d had. “I miss you,” the words coming out choked. Whether his throat was being squeezed by lust or emotion, I had no way of knowing…but I was kinda good with either.

  My heart melted and the guard I’d so carefully put up slipped away as I admitted the truth in an equally forced whisper. “I miss you, too. I can’t stop thinking about you. I’ve tried to fight my feelings, but…I can’t. I just…can’t.”

  I’d said more than I meant to. It felt like I’d been walking on the edge of an emotional cliff that I just jumped off. And I had no idea if Billy was going to catch me.

  “Then don’t fight them. And I’m not just talking about tonight. I care about you, Reagan.”

  The scratchy desperation in his words washed over me. Instead of being my soft place to land, he gave me wings and I felt like we were flying. Together.

  I was having trouble catching my breath as he continued.

  “I want more than tonight. I want more than a friendship with clauses. I want you. And if you’re not ready, that’s fine. I can leave and give you time to think about it. But I want you to know that the next time I kiss you, the next time I taste your sweet skin, the next time I’m buried deep inside of you, the next time I make you come so hard you forget where you are, it’s not going to be as your friend. I want you, all of you, and I’m done pretending I don’t.”

  He never broke eye contact and his gaze burned with intensity. There was no mistaking what sparked that flame—it was lust. And I was very good with that. Especially now that I knew he felt more for me than just animal attraction, it left me free to fully freaking enjoy that animal attraction.

  His speech had taken me by surprise and I was really wishing that a court stenographer would’ve been there to record it because I knew I’d be mentally replaying his testimony over and over for the rest of my life. Beyond the actual words he’d said, there was a confident, take-charge conviction in his stance that sent tingles zipping and zapping in my core. We were standing a foot apart and the space between us crackled with electrical charge.

  “Do you want me to go, or stay?”

  It was a fairly straightforward question with a much deeper, much more complicated meaning. I knew exactly what he was asking. If I said that I wanted him to stay, then I was agreeing to give him what he was asking for. Me. All of me. My answer was a promise of a commitment that we were more than just friends.

  The only thing that was stopping me from once again jumping off the emotional cliff was whether or not he meant the things he said. Did he really want this as badly as I did? I had no clue. All I could do was act on the facts I had, and those were what I felt for him.

  “Stay,” I breathed, hoping I was making the right decision. Not that it was much of a decision at all.

  That was the last conscious thought I had before Billy pulled me back into his arms, lowered his head, and covered my mouth with the most sensual and loving kiss we’d ever shared.

  Things had changed between us in the last few seconds, in a way that was far more profound than the simple words we’d exchanged. As a lawyer, I would normally have wanted proof, but as a woman in love, I trusted my instincts—Billy and
I were all in together. I knew it. This kiss was telling me so, and I believed it more than I did most testimony delivered under oath and penalty of perjury.

  His hands traveled up and down my body, leaving a trail of electricity wherever they passed. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer. I was overtaken by the most curious and contradictory sensation, something I’d never felt before—the combination of a sense of urgency to be naked with him in bed, to have him inside me…and the simultaneous feeling that we had all the time in the world to be together because of the promise this kiss was making.

  It was intoxicating, to say the least, and my head spun harder the longer we kissed, and the more he touched me.

  With exceeding gentleness, Billy lifted me up and then lowered me down onto the creaky mattress, then knelt by the edge of the bed, brushing my hair back from my forehead as his eyes took in my face.

  It may have just been the half-worn-out boarding house bed I was lying on, but the way Billy looked at me made me feel like I was a princess in the fanciest four-poster canopy, and Billy was my prince.

  When he started undressing me, his eyes hungrily took in every inch of skin he exposed by taking off my clothes, I lost all sense of where I was, royal palace or boarding house or otherwise. I was just in a state of pure bliss, and Billy was the one sending me there. That was all my brain had room for.

  Just like he had in the field after our picnic, when he had me completely naked, he bent his head and started kissing his way down my body, starting at my neck and moving down my chest and belly—spending a good amount of time on my hard nipples, leaving me weak and moaning and wanting more.

  By the time he finally pushed my knees apart and positioned himself so that he was kneeling between my legs I was ready to come just from feeling the air on my sex.

  His eyes locked on my exposed folds and I felt my body contract with pleasure. Not from the air. I was about to go up and over the edge just from the hunger in his eyes. His primal gaze was that of an animal ready to devour its prey and it caused my inner walls to clench searching for sweet release.

  “Mine,” he whispered gruffly before diving down and claiming my sex with his demanding mouth.

  One word. One kiss. One flick of the tongue was all it took for my release to come crashing onto me like a wave at Mavericks, and the power of the orgasm pulled me under, drowning me in unparalleled pleasure.

  CHAPTER 45

  Billy

  As Reagan rode out her climax, I continued moving my tongue up and down her slick, tender folds, drinking in her release. Hope welled in me that the possessive pronoun I’d just declared might actually be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It hadn’t been premeditated in any way, I was just speaking into existence what I knew was in my heart.

  I was getting drunk off of her. And it wasn’t just the way she tasted in my mouth. It was how she felt. It was the way her skin jumped and her muscles twitched and her hips writhed under my tongue’s attention. It was how she sounded, the little moans and big screams that escaped from her as my mouth worked her sensitive spots.

  It was the feeling of having her entirely under my control, and using that power to give her nothing but the most exquisite pleasure. It was the biggest rush, the highest high, that I could imagine in this world. It was addicting, and since we’d been apart, I’d been jonesing for a hit.

  And that’s exactly what I was getting now. Her muscles convulsed and her fingers tangled in my hair as a cry tore from her throat. Her body bucked beneath me, no doubt from the focused stimulation, and I placed my hand on her belly to hold her in place as I continued the velvet assault on her tender nub.

  When she was completely still and sated, I took the opportunity to rid myself of my clothes and get a condom on. I did all of this as fast as I could, because my goal was that before the last aftershock of her first orgasm was over I wanted to be on my way to giving her another one. But this time with me inside her, and to take my own, as well.

  I lifted her arms above her head, pinning her wrists in place as I met her eyes and held them. With my other hand I positioned the tip of my cock at her entrance. I didn’t even have to ask her if she was ready, the answer was clear in the gleam of her eyes and the tension in her body. I’d never felt as connected to her as I did just then. Being inside her would just be one more way to cement that connection.

  With a powerful thrust forward, I drove myself into her. Her walls squeezed tight around me, the warmest and most welcoming feeling ever. I almost lost control right then, busting a nut in her without even completing a full stroke like a fucking virgin.

  Which in a certain way, I was. When it came to making love to someone who meant everything to me, with not just my body but my soul—yeah, that was brand new territory to me.

  I gripped her hip with one hand while holding her wrists tight with the other as I moved in and out of her, never breaking eye contact. It was an undeniably powerful experience. The energy flowing back and forth between us through our locked gaze was nearly as powerful as what was going on below. When it came to what was driving me on a runaway collision course with a powerful climax, both were equally powerful factors.

  Reagan’s arms tugged against the restraint I was providing. Her breathing sped up and her cheeks flushed as she gasped, “Oh, Billy – yes. Yes!”

  With those words, I let go of everything inside me and surrendered to the powerful climax I’d been building to, the one that we shared together.

  As we both came down from our highest of highs, I went to the bathroom and disposed of the protection and dampened a towel to clean her up. When I got back to the bed, she was barely able to open her eyes as I gently ran the cloth over her sex.

  “That was…” Her head turned as she searched for the word.

  “Just the beginning,” I finished her thought.

  CHAPTER 46

  Reagan

  My eyes opened and before I even checked my Apple watch I knew what time it was. Careful not to disturb Billy, whose arm was draped over me, I turned my head and was not surprised at all to see the time displayed on the clock radio that sat on the nightstand. It read 5:12.

  I sighed, wishing that my body’s internal alarm clock would take a day off. I didn’t have to be awake for another hour. Normally, I’d get up, take a shower and start my day. But it felt so nice lying beside Billy I couldn’t bring myself to leave the warmth of his arms.

  Since falling back to sleep wasn’t an option for me, I stared up at the ceiling and tried to wrap my mind around what had taken place just a couple of hours ago. Something had changed between Billy and me, but I wasn’t sure I knew exactly what. I’d been so sure in the moment, but now doubts were starting to creep in.

  He’d said he wanted all of me. Did that mean that we were a couple?

  From what Nadia had said about him, not to mention his general reputation around town, he wasn’t really the settling down type. How could he want anything more than just something casual?

  He said that I was special. He said that he wanted more. That he wanted me. All of me.

  Why would he say that? How would that benefit him?

  It couldn’t have been because he wanted to get me into bed. If anything, he’d been the one putting conditions on that only happening if I agreed to his terms.

  “Do you always think this hard first thing in the morning?” Billy’s gravelly morning voice sent a shiver from my head to my toes.

  “What?” I didn’t know why I asked that. I’d heard exactly what he’d said, but for some reason I felt like I’d been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

  I looked over at him and my heart jumped into my throat. His deep brown eyes were locked on me, his five o’clock shadow was extra shadowy, his thick hair was sexily tousled. He was beautiful. There was truly no other word to describe him.

  “I can see the wheels turning in that pretty head of yours,” he stated sleepily.

  “Oh, yeah.” And just like that we were back to two syllable r
esponses. Just when I thought I might be building up some sort of immunity to Billy’s charms, he grinned or spoke and I was right back to being a blushing, giggling schoolgirl.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” He asked as his arm tightened around my waist.

  “I, um, never sleep.” Wait. That didn’t make sense.

  “I mean…I’m always awake now.” Nope. Still not there.

  Okay, let’s try this one more time, and this time hopefully I’ll be able to communicate a coherent thought!

  “I wake up every morning at the same time.”

  His brow creased. “I didn’t hear an alarm.”

  “No. No alarm. At least not an external one. I have an internal one that it wakes me up every morning at five twelve.”

  “You wake up every morning at five fifteen?”

  “No. Not five fifteen, not five fourteen, or five thirteen, or five eleven. Five twelve. It doesn’t matter if I’ve only been asleep for one hour or eight, that’s what time I wake up.”

  “Have you always woken up at five twelve?”

  “No. I think it started around the time I left for college. I know it sounds crazy. I can’t explain it, but it happens. Every day. Without fail.”

  “Okay, good to know. What else ya got?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What else should I know? As your boyfriend, that is.”

  “My boyfriend.” My stomach did somersaults hearing him use that term.

  “Yes. Your boyfriend.” His fingers gripped my hip possessively as he repeated the title. And as much of an independent woman as I was, I had to admit, I wasn’t mad at it.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “I want to know everything about you.”

  The sincerity in his words and eyes caused my already pounding heart to join the somersault party in my stomach. As strange as it was considering my profession, words never really meant anything to me. I was more of an action girl. Maybe it was because of what I did for a living that I knew better than most that people would say whatever they wanted to serve their own purposes.