"If you can't beat ‘em, bro, then join them.” Colin hung up, leaving graveyard silence on the other end.
Michael disconnected. What had happened to change his brother's mind? Whatever it was, it couldn't be pleasant. Colin didn't respond kindly to threats or intimidation and seemed disturbed over something this evening.
Shaking his head in consternation, Michael made a cup of chamomile tea for Nicole and opened a bottle of red wine for himself. When he got upstairs to his suite, the first thing he saw was Nicole lying unmoving on the floor. An unfamiliar face chattered away on the TV screen. He immediately suspected Nicole had turned on the TV to catch the late night news and she had probably seen she was on the cops’ most wanted list.
Hurriedly setting the tea and wine on an end table, he hurried to shut off the TV, before he knelt down beside her.
She looked up at him with frightened, doe-like eyes. “I couldn't feel my legs when I saw my face on the news."
"I don't want you turning the TV on. This whole affair is deeply upsetting to me, so I can only imagine what it's doing to you.” He lifted her in his arms, carried her to the bed and laid her down over the comforter.
* * * *
"I didn't know what to think,” she whispered, astounded he had told her the truth, that he was willing to put his own freedom at risk to protect her innocence. She wouldn't allow him to do that.
He stroked her forehead with a gentle back and forth caress. The tension began to drain away. There was nothing to fear. He was with her, once again protecting her, taking care of her. Her breasts ached and swelled with desire for him. If she could have turned back the clocks to earlier this afternoon when she had caused him pain and trashed his car, she would have. But she couldn't. The knowledge saddened her. He hadn't deserved her spiteful behaviour.
"I'm sorry,” she whispered, her eyes welling with tears.
"It's forgotten, sweetheart. There's no need to rehash or live through the past."
"But that was only this afternoon,” she objected. “And Brad, I can't get his face out of my mind. That he was in the trunk, that he was burning because of something I did.” Tears flowed down her cheeks. “He didn't deserve that."
"I know he didn't but it wasn't your fault."
"He might have been alive. I could have done something different. Like not drive your car up there at all."
"Shh. Let's not talk about that right now."
She shook her head. “I want to talk about him. He's dead. He shouldn't be. I don't think he had any enemies. He wasn't much for going out. I wonder if his wife had something to do with his death?"
"I don't think so. She wouldn't have put him in my car."
"Who could do something like that? Why? Even after all the nasty words he said last night."
"He doesn't strike me as the kind of man who loses his cool. What happened?"
Nicole told him. “He couldn't believe you had sent those presents to the house. He hit the roof."
His fingers paused over her forehead. “I never sent them."
"Who would? I don't understand.” None of the facts in Brad's murder added up. “None of this makes any sense."
"I know it doesn't.” He resumed caressing her forehead as if he could erase the turmoil seething through her.
With his softly spoken words, Nicole came to the belated realisation that the hatred she had fed off for the last ten years was gone. She had apologised but what kind of words could possibly obliterate what she had done to Michael? Not all the words in the world, nor all the actions. She tried again. “I'm sorry for not believing in you, for not trusting you enough to know you couldn't have killed your father. I'm sorry for ruining your life."
Michael took her into his arms.
She didn't belong there. The dreams of wasted years gone by were nothing more than that. Only dreams that would never come to fruition.
"I'm sorry too,” he murmured near her ear. “That the past has eaten you from the inside out. But you must forgive yourself because, without that, my forgiveness is useless and you won't be able to heal."
She didn't want to heal. She wanted to bury herself away in a dark corner where the sun could never cast its bright rays on her again.
"Whoever killed Brad will also answer to me, first because whoever it was used my car, and second because he put the one I hold most precious in my life at risk of her freedom."
"You used ‘he'. Do you know who did it?” She felt more at peace resting her head against Michael's shoulder than she had felt in a very long time.
"I have no idea other than I may have made an enemy here in Eastwynd and he wants to get back at me for something."
"I can't imagine you could have enemies.” She remembered how his employees treated him with deference.
"Everyone makes enemies. But I'm also rich and I exercise a great deal of power. Someone just has it in for me."
"I can't believe that. You've done so much good for the community.” Just after Brad had been hired at Anessa, he had shared with her that Michael's secretary, Libby Tanner, had a son who had brain cancer. Brad had told her Michael had paid all the medical bills and also given Libby two months off to be with her son while he had chemo and recovered. Not only that, but Michael had acted as Anessa's secretary while she had been away. How many employers in this day and age would go to such lengths to care for their employees? Nicole couldn't think of any.
"Maybe it's someone who knows you were in prison,” she said, knowing how futile her suggestion was.
"Maybe. Sweetheart, until this mess is cleared up, I want you to stay with me."
"I can't.” How could she if she put him at risk? “If the cops are going to arrest me for driving your car, won't they arrest you for owning the car?” She pressed her fingers to the base of her throat. How could she spend even one minute in a jail cell if she was innocent?
She felt him shrug.
"You could go back to prison, simply for aiding and abetting a fugitive."
"I'm willing to take that risk. You need my help and I won't let them put you in jail for a murder you didn't commit."
She looked into his sapphire blue eyes. “How are you sure I didn't do it?"
"I am. You couldn't have taken another being's life. It's just not in you."
Nicole cringed inwardly as she placed her hand on his chest. His heart beat underneath her flesh. “Maybe it's payback time."
"I don't understand."
"You were innocent of the crime you were found guilty of and imprisoned for. I seem to be travelling down that same path, but I'd rather face going to prison for something I didn't do rather than get you arrested for trying to help me. You might go back to prison. I can't, I won't, allow it."
He tipped her chin up. Their eyes met. “I won't ever allow you to do that. This is not payback time."
"Maybe in God's eyes, it is."
He shook his head, even as he leant forward and touched her lips with his, and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, yearning to merge her body with his, if only this once. After she turned herself in, she might never again have a chance to please him. She wanted this last time with him since she wasn't deserving of his kindness, not when he faced the unpleasant possibility of going to prison again. For her sake.
The kiss was slow and passionate—everything she could have wished for. And more. His heart beat faster under her palm.
"Make love to me?” she whispered, hoping he wouldn't reject her.
His hands slid under her blouse and around her waist, trailing fire along her heated flesh. She didn't want to wait for him to undress her. She hastily unbuttoned her blouse and unfastened her bra. The scent of his musky, male arousal excited her, made her nipples turn into nubs. She heard him gulp.
"You're so beautiful."
She unbuttoned his shirt, running her fingers along the warm flannel as he unbuckled his belt. He grunted something and tore at her pants and panties. Warm air breezed over her naked flesh, but she no longer cared
she was bared to his eyes. She felt all female and powerful as he scooted back and surveyed her breasts.
"This is so much like the very first time,” he murmured. “I replayed that time over and over and never tired of it.” He pulled free of his shirt.
Nicole ran her fingers through the hair on his chest and lower to his erection, jutting out from his white briefs. She curled her hand over his rigid shaft and sucked in a breath. “Please, please, hurry."
He chuckled. “I guess I don't have to tie you down this time?"
She shook her head, pressing the soft pad of her thumb over his mushroom-tipped glans coated with glistening pre-cum. When he shucked off his jeans and underwear, she moaned. “You're so big,” she murmured.
"That's what you said the first time. Why don't you get on your knees?"
Nicole complied and, once her knees were firmly planted on the comforter, she spread her legs wider, inviting him to enter her.
A small cry of pleasure escaped her as he circled her hard clit and moistened her labia with her juices. Then he plunged into her, driving his hard cock into her sheath. She groaned, deeply satisfied that a glimmer of a hope had come true. Their lovemaking was brief and ardent as he thrust in and out. His balls slapped her thighs. She widened her legs even more, and he drove into her harder.
"Tell me you want me to fuck you,” she heard him say harshly.
Nicole knew without asking that he meant his words as a gesture of love. “Fuck me,” she said out loud. As she said the words, she felt the waves of her orgasm wash over her. Michael came at the same time, and with one last, deep thrust, he groaned. His hot cum spurted into her channel. She collapsed onto her elbows and closed her eyes against the ferocity of her orgasm.
Behind her, Michael's breathing was rapid but he kept his cock lodged deep within her. This was the last time she would ever make love to this sensitive and wonderfully giving man. The very last time before she walked out of his life. She would rather sit in prison than see him tortured into abject submission as he tried to help her when she didn't, in the least, deserve his help.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter Nineteen
* * * *
Bryan finished mopping up the floor of the cooking oil, an arduous task but worth the pleasure. Cathy wiped the last of the mess from the table with a soapy dishcloth.
"You know,” he said, observing her peach-shaped ass wiggle, sinfully tempting him, “I've never tried sex with chocolate. Want to give it a shot?"
She laughed. “Why don't we have a shower first, and then try the chocolate idea?"
"Why clean up the mess, then?” he asked, plunging the mop into the bucket of foamy water.
She walked up to him with sexy, lowered eyelids and parted lips. “You know what I'd like to try just once?"
He felt her press her breasts against his chest. “What would you like to try? Your wish is my command."
"I'd like you to tie me to the bed, so I can't move while you fuck me.” She winked. “You could even drizzle chocolate over me and lick it off my breasts and my cunt."
"I'm not sure I'm into that kinky stuff,” he replied. “Okay. But if I tie you down, you'll have to do the same to me."
She giggled and smoothed a fingertip over his nipple. “We can't both tie each other down at the same time."
"Man, you're a hot babe.” What did he have to tie her down with? Hell, he would try it once if that's what she wanted. “I don't have any rope or anything like that."
"Not to worry,” she said. “I brought everything you need."
"How fortuitous,” he murmured. “The lady comes prepared."
"Isn't that half the fun?"
"Yow, mama."
He went with her into his bedroom where she dug in her suitcase before she exclaimed, “Ah!” and took out a small cardboard box. “Everything you need to perform the deed."
Bryan examined the photograph on the box. The woman lay on her back, spread-eagled, and her wrists and ankles were strapped to a mattress. Her pussy was strategically covered by a silky, white scarf but her breasts were the feature that caught his eye. They were the size of melons and perky like Cathy's.
"Okay,” he said. “Just show me how to strap you down.” He found himself wanting to please her to the best of his capabilities, to delight her more than himself. Shaking his head in self-wonder, he asked, “Do I get to blindfold you too?"
She slapped the box onto the bed. “The rules are simple. You get to do anything you want, but no pain."
"I can handle that. Do you want me to act like a caveman, or civilised?"
Her eyes twinkled with undisguised lust. “What do you mean?"
"Do you want me to throw you down on the bed and tie you up or do you want to lie down without my help?"
"Let me see. If you threw me over your shoulder and ravished me, that would be quite in keeping with your macho, caveman mentality. If I simply lie down, what fun would that be?"
Bryan eyed her speculatively. “Which will it be, ma'am?"
"I prefer you throw me over your shoulder but you might not get to the bondage part because you're really aroused right now. So I'll lie down."
She got onto the bed and lay on her back. He grunted appreciatively as her tits jiggled back and forth. “Are you going to open your legs like this, too?” he asked, motioning at the photograph of the bound woman.
"Tie me up and see for yourself."
Using the photograph as his guide, he placed the black leather straps under the mattress and, one by one, circled her wrists and ankles with cuffs and hooked them to the straps. She lay motionless, her chest rising and falling with her gentle breathing.
He stood back and admired his handiwork. Her arms were bent at the elbows and her hands rested a few inches from her head. Her legs curved at the knees, stretching her legs wide apart. He ogled her pussy's pink folds and her anus. “Man, I'm not finished yet. You want me to blindfold you too?"
"No. How would I see your cock then?"
"You're a visual creature, aren't you? How do you feel?” He slowly ran a finger up and down her pubic bone.
She wriggled her fingers one by one and then her toes. “Bound for your pleasure."
She attempted to close her legs but her ankles were too far apart to do that effectively. The hairs on her mound and around her pussy were still moist from the cooking oil. He frowned. “Did you say there might be more toys in the box where this came from?"
"Why don't you have a look see?"
Feeling like a grown-up kid rummaging through a toy box, he asked, “What do we have here? Ah, a dildo. Big too."
"Hmm. But not as big as you, loverboy.” Cathy turned her head in his direction. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, her pupils dilated.
"Wouldn't you like to know?” he teased, sitting between her legs.
Creamy honey trickled from her vagina. He dipped his finger in and brought the digit to her lips. “Have a taste."
She licked his finger before he placed the tip of the rounded end of the vibrator to her opening. She drew back towards the headboard but the straps didn't allow her to move more than a few inches from his reach. “That's cold."
Bryan fought back a pang of regret. “Sorry. Should have warmed it up first."
"You're such a gentleman."
"Gentleman caveman, you mean?"
Her sparkling laughter was cut short by a grunt as he began to push the vibrator into her vagina. He figured it was substantially larger than his dick, although he wasn't small by any standards. Her nipples beaded. Thumbing the ‘on’ switch, he heard the soft buzz.
"Oh, oh,” she cried out, rolling from side to side in pleasure.
"Too much for you to handle?” he asked, driving the vibrator deeper.
"You're opening me so wide."
"Is that good or bad?” His cock stiffened at the sight of the white dildo meeting her pussy lips. He wanted to substitute his rod. Momentarily, he would. After he gave her more pleasure. The veins stood o
ut along the length of his engorged cock. Gasping, she arched her neck into a long, elegant line. Strands of light brown hair spilled over the pillow as she twisted her head from side to side. She raised her hips. Her facial muscles went rigid. She climaxed, throwing her legs wider apart. Her juices flowed out and around the vibrator and onto the tousled print sheets.
"No more,” she gasped.
Bryan kept the vibrator in place.
"No more. Too sensitive now,” she breathed, trying to roll over.
He snorted. “That's when it's the very best."
No more than two minutes passed. She gritted her teeth and bore down on another orgasm. More of her juices flowed from her pussy.
"Man, you make me forget everything except watching you have an orgasm. Hmm, I'd love to dribble warm chocolate on your cunt and eat you."
"Well? What are you waiting for?"
He left the vibrator humming inside her.
"Don't leave me here like this!"
"Be right back!” He ran down the stairs to get a bottle of chocolate syrup, which he carefully warmed to room temperature. The phone rang. A glance at the microwave clock told him it was past midnight. Maybe something had happened at Anessa that needed his immediate attention. His only wish was to stay inside where it was warm with Cathy where nothing was being demanded of him. He felt relaxed with her, something he hadn't felt since he was young, brash and dating the girls.
"Yeah?” he barked into the phone, hating the interruption.
"Bryan? I had to call because I think you ought to know."
"At this hour? Libby, couldn't this have waited until tomorrow?” Bryan demanded, stirring the chocolate and watching the edges congeal.
"It is tomorrow. It's after midnight."
She barged on. “When Colin came into Michael's office, they argued low for a while before that bull raised his voice. Michael argued back, almost as loud. He said he had been framed, that he had never killed his father. Bryan? I never knew Michael was in prison. It just doesn't seem possible."
"Is that why you're calling me at this hour?"
Imminent Conquest Page 20
