by Lacy, Shay
She licked her lips. “Well, that explains the last few days then.” Her smile spread across her face like the sun rising. His heart lifted.
“I think we need to divest you of clothes and the sculpture so we can get busy christening this bed.”
“And the rest of the apartment,” he added, hope rising as well as his cock.
“One room at a time. Starting here.” Juliana reached for the large chambray shirt he had on over his T-shirt.
Charlie allowed her to remove it. She tossed it to the floor. Next they pulled his shirt over his head, uncovering the sculpture and all the rows of black electrical tape.
She pursed her lips and found one of the ends on the bottom row. Tugging, the tape came off as soundlessly as it had gone on. It pulled on his skin but didn’t hurt. She gave him the strip to hold and attacked the next row. His flesh itched where the tape had been and he noticed it left a red welt on his body. He held the sculpture while she removed the final rows of tape.
“Ow!” He’d tried to prepare himself to lose a few chest hairs from the last row, but that clump had hurt.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. At least I didn’t have more.”
When the sculpture was free, he handed it to her so he could rub at what appeared to be a bruise. Damn those Miami narcs.
“This thing has a bloody history,” Juliana breathed, frowning.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean a lot of people died getting this sculpture, stealing it, hiding it.”
“You can see it?”
She nodded, staring at the sculpture. “It contains echoes, powerful echoes. It’s old.”
“Then it really is a relic?”
“Yes. So many faces. Such greed. Such evil. I feel touches of good, but they don’t last long. A period of darkness that lasted until recently, when it must have been found. Charlie, every time someone evil had it in their hands, they believed it held power.”
“And that’s why the drug lord wants it? Because he believes what those others believed?”
“It must be.”
“Does it contain power?” Charlie couldn’t believe he’d asked that question.
“No. The power was in what the people who held it believed. And evil men can become very powerful with evil deeds.”
Charlie inhaled a breath to clear his head. “They believed, therefore they were?”
“Maybe.” Juliana shuddered and handed the sculpture back to him. “Too much blood. Too much death.”
He didn’t question her. He understood nothing about her psychic power beyond that she could find objects from photos. He laid the sculpture on his nightstand. For some reason, he didn’t want it far from the bed.
Juliana rubbed her arms. He touched her and felt her chill.
“C’mon, let’s take a shower. I need you to scrub this sticky stuff off me.” He herded her into the bathroom.
With eager hands, Juliana stripped off his khaki pants and underwear. He pulled off her knit top and jeans skirt. He took a moment to admire her matching peach underwear set. She looked delectable. He ran a caressing hand over her breasts, which made her nipples peak. She reached behind her and unhooked her bra, drawing it off to reveal those mouth-watering globes. He got both hands on them while she shimmied out of her underwear.
“Charlie,” she protested in a breathy voice.
Then her hands reached between his legs and, oh, God, that felt good. His cock responded to her caresses by growing firm and thick. He barely had enough brain cells north of the border to turn on the shower and adjust the temperature.
“Umm,” he murmured into her hair. He nipped her ear.
Juliana made her own relishing noises. She had nimble, eager fingers. He thrust into her hands. Her nipples were tight points between his fingers. He was panting. Being with her always did this to him.
“Into the shower,” he managed.
They shared the soap, kissing while their mingled fingers lathered. Then she slid her eager hands over his chest scrubbing at the tape marks. His soapy hands slid over her breasts, over the tight nipples. Her breath hitched. She lifted her lips for a kiss, and he complied.
As much as he desired to fill her and make urgent love to her, he also wanted to caress and kiss her all over, and have her do the same to him. He wanted to worship her in his home and let her know she was more than a sexual vessel here in California.
Juliana turned him to scrub at the stickiness on his back. He used the opportunity to take a deep breath and try to control the need he felt only for her. Her scrubbing was practical, necessary, it shouldn’t feel sexual at all. Until her hands slid down to caress his butt. There her caresses were anything but practical. His cock throbbed with need.
As though she knew how her touch affected him, her hands left his buttocks. He sighed with relief and regret. But then they slid around his hips to grip his cock. She pressed her warm, soft body against his back as she caressed him. Charlie threw back his head and gritted his teeth. Despite his iron control, his hips thrust, driving his cock through her soapy fingers.
“That feels so good,” he groaned.
“Yes, it does.” She caressed his length. “I love your cock, how silky and strong it feels, how it feels when your first thrust enters me, how it feels as you move inside me.”
“You’re killing me.”
Her grip tightened as she stroked back and forth. “How it feels when you come.”
“Don’t.” His hands gripped hers on his cock. “I want to be inside you when I come.”
He gentled her grip and her movements and then lifted her hands away, turning in her embrace. He grabbed the soap and lathered his hands. Hers joined his on the soap. He lowered his head to give her a long, languid kiss. Their tongues touched, stroked. Her hands massaged his chest. He broke the kiss at last and held her away from him so he could slip a hand between her soft thighs.
He found the tight bud of her clit. As he stroked, she inhaled. He soaped her channel next, opening her body for the loving to come. Her hips thrust forward.
When no more soap remained, he undid Juliana’s French braid and massaged shampoo into her hair. She hummed her appreciation. Quickly he washed his own hair. Then he turned off the water and dropped to his knees in front of her.
Charlie looked up at her as water drops slid down her body over her full breasts, slender abdomen, and feminine hips, all the places he wanted to lick. With her hair wet, she looked like a water nymph here to share sexual delights with him.
“You’re beautiful.”
Her eyes were dark with desire. “So are you.”
“Lean down.”
She did and he took her breast into his mouth to lick off the drops of water. Her breathing increased as he paid tribute to her wonderful nipple, licking it as he knew she liked. When that breast was fully loved, he took the other one into his mouth. Juliana slid her hands into his wet hair and gripped his head in place. She needn’t fear he was leaving this feast.
He bit gently on her nipple. She made appreciative sounds deep in her throat. With reluctance he let her breast slide from his mouth. She had other delights he needed to explore. He sucked moisture from her abdomen, kissing her hickey, probing her naval, and then licked south.
He dipped his head between her legs to lick her clit. She gasped. He laved the sensitive nubbin, loving the jerks her body made in response. Then he began to suck. She rewarded him with groans that shortened as she came in his mouth. Her knees gave out.
Charlie opened the shower door and laid Juliana on the bath mat. He grabbed a condom from his pants pocket and sheathed himself. She watched with a languid gaze. He knelt, spreading her legs, and licked her channel. He teased her pussy, tasting her sweet essence, until he brought her to the peak once more, and she came again.
As she moaned, he mounted her and thrust into her body. Her body gripped his, the rhythmic clamping of her orgasm caressing him even as he thrust. She cried out, her hips lifting to take hi
m deep inside her. Charlie strained to hold back his orgasm. He wanted to experience all the wonders of Juliana’s body.
With rough, urgent thrusts he plumbed her depths. Juliana was just as urgent, even though she’d come twice already. He gripped her bottom and pulled her into a deep thrust, coming hard inside her. He held her to him. How had they waited this many hours to be joined like this? He ground his body into hers.
Charlie needed to let Juliana know she should have been here with him all along. He had more than a decade of emptiness to make up for.
They collapsed to the floor. He kissed the side of her face. “Welcome to your home away from home. I’m glad you came.”
“So am I. I’m also glad I’m here.”
“Naughty.” He bit her neck.
“Not yet, but I will be later.”
“Juliana . . . ” He stumbled over the magnitude of what he felt for her.
“What?”
“I could do this with you forever and never grow tired of doing it.”
“I feel the same.”
“Why is it only with you?” he murmured.
“Because we were meant to be together?”
“We are a perfect fit.” He was still hard. He wanted her again, but he wanted to let her have her way with him first. He withdrew slowly. Then he kissed her hard. If only he could keep her. If only he deserved a woman like her.
Juliana reached between his legs and felt his cock. “Ready to go again I see. What room do you want to christen next?”
CHAPTER 18
“Do I get to go with you to meet Jordan Hessler?” Juliana asked when Charlie hung up the phone.
Charlie wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her into his lap. “I think he’ll speak more freely if I’m alone. We want him to give himself away.”
“I know, but I don’t want you to face him alone.”
Charlie kissed her. “You’re a good woman.”
Juliana laced her arms around his neck. “I’m good for you. You should keep me around.”
He smiled. “I wish I could, but what would your father say?”
“He’s not my spokesman. What would I say?”
“You’d say call those DEA agents and set everything up.”
Juliana hid her disappointment. Charlie avoided any talk of commitment. Now that he knew there wasn’t going to be a sting, he’d lost some of his animation. It had meant something to him, represented something to him. She knew what it had meant to her. She wished with all her heart he could do the sting, because when he’d thought he was going to conquer villains, he’d wanted her by his side.
He wanted her now, desperately, with a palpable need, but he held back. Not his body, God, no. Not his neediness. He couldn’t stop touching her, mating with her. It was so much more than sex between them. He tried to brand her, possess her, consume her, make them one. But then he’d retreat.
She didn’t understand. He wanted that unity so badly, but he pulled back afterward. And then he sought it with her again. She ached from the number of times they’d made love last night. And that last time had taken them nearly an hour to come.
Juliana laid her head on his shoulder. He nuzzled her face and lifted the phone again. His voice rumbled through her body as he asked for Agent Fuentes. She accepted his kiss.
“Agent Fuentes, it’s Charlie Ziffkin. I’m set to meet Jordan Hessler at four today.”
He listened. She could faintly hear a man’s voice.
“Sure. We’ll look for you at three.” Then he hung up.
“We have three hours. What would you like to do in that time?” Charlie waggled his eyebrows. His erection was growing under her bottom.
“As much as I’d like to rip your pants off and bury you deep inside me, I’m hungry and you don’t have much to eat in the house.”
He nuzzled beneath her ear. “I could be persuaded to feed your appetite if you feed mine.”
Juliana pulled away from his wicked lips. “You should be sated. I lost track of the times I fed yours.”
Charlie tried to tug her back to him. “I’ll never be sated. How about a quickie before we find food?”
“Charlie, once you get my clothes off we’re not going to stop until the DEA agents knock on the door.” His erection was a hard insistence now.
“Party pooper. It’s been hours since we made love.”
“We were asleep,” Juliana pointed out. “Exhausted. Worn out.”
“I’ve got my second wind.”
“Food. Then I swear you can do whatever you want.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Anything?”
Juliana felt her eyes widen. What did he want to do that they hadn’t tried already? She was intrigued. He’d lived in California for more than a decade. They were on the cutting edge out here. He’d probably learned a lot of sexual tricks before he became a born-again virgin.
“Yes. You can do anything.”
The aphrodisiac massage oils Charlie bought at a sex shop on the way back from the fast food restaurant had the unfortunate side effect of giving them an itch they couldn’t scratch. They were still trying to appease their sexual hunger when the DEA agents arrived.
“Oh, God, they’re here,” Charlie groaned. The sound vibrated across her clit.
“Why didn’t you tell me that stuff lasted for hours? Right there. Please. Oh, Charlie.” She gripped his butt as he brought her close to climax with his plundering tongue.
The doorbell pealed again. He lifted his head and she squawked her protest. She was so close.
“We have to do this.” Charlie climbed off the bed. He pulled up his jeans over his thick erection.
“You have to do me. You did this to me!”
“I’ll let them in. Or send them away.” He ran a distracted hand through his wild waves, threw on his shirt without buttoning it, and headed out of the bedroom.
Juliana should never have promised him anything. She shouldn’t have agreed to the aphrodisiac. She smiled despite her burning clitoris and aching pussy. They’d had a really good time.
She heard male voices and then Charlie was back. He closed the bedroom door, dropped his jeans and shirt, and climbed onto the bed. He mounted her, entering her hard.
“Charlie,” she protested. “They’re downstairs!”
“I said we had an aphrodisiac mishap. They gave me fifteen minutes.” He grunted quietly as he thrust.
Juliana gritted her teeth and ground herself into him. “Mishap.”
His smile flashed again. “Be thankful the bed doesn’t squeak.”
They strained and twisted and pressed together until they came.
“I’m still horny,” Juliana complained as she gripped him to her.
“Tough. Welcome to my life,” Charlie said. “Time’s up.”
They dressed, hid the sculpture, and went to meet the agents. Juliana’s face felt as hot as her clit. She could barely stand still while they taped a mike to Charlie’s bare chest.
“Tape,” Charlie grumbled.
“It should only hurt a little coming off,” Agent Fuentes said.
Charlie snorted.
“What’s this bruise and red abrasion?” the agent asked.
“The Miami narcs got a little rough when I wouldn’t let them arrest me.”
Fuentes lifted both brows. “I haven’t heard that story.”
“I don’t need further humiliation right now,” Charlie responded, which made the agents smile.
Charlie led the way to Hessler’s mansion on Coldwater Canyon Drive north of Beverly Hills. It was a modern sprawling structure made of lots of glass, one of many houses jutting out on the hillside.
Juliana rode with the DEA agents in their plain white van. They drove on a little way past Hessler’s driveway before stopping. Then Fuentes and Steiger climbed out and entered the back of the van, where the electronic surveillance equipment was, and where Juliana sat on the floor. They donned headsets and gave her one.
A man’s smooth baritone spoke clearly.
“Charlie, glad you’re back. Come into my office so we can talk.”
Traffic sounds ceased as Charlie moved indoors. Hessler asked, “How was your trip?”
“The flight out was uneventful, but I brought my high school girlfriend back with me. We reconnected after all these years. I’ve got you to thank for that.”
“Glad to hear it. Have a seat.” A door closed. “So where’s my sculpture?”
Cloth rubbed against the microphone as Charlie sat. “I shipped it. It’ll be here tomorrow morning. I didn’t want to take it on the plane.”
“You know how important it is for me to get it back.” Hessler sounded a little impatient.
“I know what you told me. You should have warned me there’d be drug dealers after it and it would be dangerous.”
“I didn’t know about that.” Hessler sounded shocked.
“Cut the crap,” Charlie snapped. “I hear rumors. I know actors get drugs at your parties.”
A chair creaked. “I can’t help what my guests give each other.”
“Right, you don’t provide any of it, do you?”
“Of course not. Drugs are illegal.”
Charlie snorted. “I charge extra for dangerous assignments.”
The chair squeaked again. “I’ll pay the additional when you bring me the sculpture.”
“Fine.” Rustling cloth indicated Charlie was moving. “Mr. Hessler, why did you hire me? You could have hired a big name.” The sound came from two difference sources, so Charlie must have planted the bug.
“You needed the money. And I thought you’d be discreet. You don’t hang out much with the acting crowd any more I hear.”
“No, not anymore.”
“You’ll call me as soon as the sculpture arrives?”
“First thing,” Charlie agreed.
“Great.” Hessler’s voice moved closer. “I’ll see you out.”
The two men were silent as they walked to the door. The door opened. “I’ll expect your call,” Hessler said. The door closed.
Back in the van, Fuentes sighed. “Nothing.”
“You warned him,” Steiger said.
Juliana ached for Charlie, knowing he’d wanted the sting so badly. She couldn’t imagine him handing over the sculpture to Hessler tomorrow. It was going to haunt him.
