As he kissed her, she unbuckled his belt and pants, when she lowered his zipper, his desire was clear. His erection brushed against her hand, sending shivers of desire racing though her body. Breaking the kiss, she pulled his pants and underwear off, letting her eyes roam over him, just as he’d done to her. Still fully clothed she led him to the bed and pushed him down. Then climbing on top of him, she straddled him, lowered her head and kissed him.
Donovan kissed her, his tongue exploring her mouth, his teeth nibbling on her lips, until she was breathless. His hands which had been stroking her back, found the bottom of her shirt and breaking the kiss, he pulled it over her head. His mouth found her breast though her bra, sending a bolt of pleasure though her, causing her to arch her back.
He unhooked her bra, freeing her swollen breasts, making her tremble with anticipation. Donovan bent her forward and pulled one of her hard nipples into his mouth, then teased it with his tongue and teeth. His other hand found the other breast and kneaded the swollen flesh until Elizabeth cried out with pleasure.
She could feel his erection rubbing against her clit through her pants and rocked her hips, increasing her pleasure with each movement. Donovan, with a growl in his throat, flipped her on her back, and pulled her pants and underwear off in one move. He let his eyes roam over her, his gaze only intensifying her desire.
Spreading her legs for him, she sent him a pleading look, and opened her arms as well. Donovan positioned himself between her legs, but instead of filling her with his throbbing erection, he slid one finger into her. His eyes locked on hers he slid his finger inside her over and over again, driving her the brink of orgasm, then stopping.
She could feel her juices dripping, as Donovan took her higher and higher. Finally, he slid another finger inside her, stretching her further and sending her flying over the top, her orgasm flooding over her in wave after wave of pleasure. Donovan covered her with his body as her trembling body recovered.
She could feel his erection hot and throbbing resting against her sensitive flesh, the feel of the heavy weight between her legs started a new wave of desire in the pit of her stomach. Donovan, sensing her desire, kissed her until she was panting, then slid inside her in one long slow stroke. Her body responded immediately, every nerve ending alive with sensation, as Donovan filled her hot core.
But after only a few strokes he pulled out of her, and flipped her over onto her stomach. She knew what he wanted and climbed onto her hands and knees, spreading her legs as he positioned himself behind her. Grabbing her hips, he thrust into her with a force that had her crying out his name. He was no long the gentle lover she knew from last night, instead he was demanding.
Holding her hips, he pinned her in place, slamming into her over and over. Elizabeth was wild with pleasure, the pure strength of Donovan’s body bringing her closer and closer to orgasm. He continued his demanding pace, until he felt Elizabeth’s body begin to shake with her coming peak. Slowing his pace, he brought her back from the edge, but immediately pulled her up against his body.
Still buried inside her, his stokes again became long and languid. “I don’t want this to end, this feels so good.” He whispered in her ear.
Elizabeth was past words, her entire body poised on the brink, all she could do was whimper and reach around behind her to grab his butt, cupping his cheeks in her hands, pulling him deeper inside her. At her touch, Donovan moaned with pleasure, then reached around her and found her clit.
Stroking her in time with each thrust inside her, he kissed her neck and used his other hand to tease one of her nipples. Elizabeth was lost in a torrent of sensation that she was powerless to control, every nerve ending demanding satisfaction. Finally, Donovan pushed her back down and with three hard strokes pushed her over the edge. Her body contracting in spasm after spasm of pleasure as Donovan cried out his pleasure and emptied himself inside her.
They collapsed on the bed on their sides, Donovan still inside her. “Don’t move yet, I’m not ready to be separated from you.” He said, pulling her close. Elizabeth relaxed into his arms, liking the feel of still being connected to him.
“Anything you say, I couldn’t move even if I wanted to.” She said, turning her head to look into his eyes.
He planted a kiss on her lips, then wrapped his arms around her. Once again they’d left every light burning brightly, but Elizabeth wasn’t going to move. She’d just have to get up later and turn them off, she thought as sleep over took her.
The next morning, they shared a quiet breakfast, each wondering what their next step should be. The water samples would still take some time, at least another day. Elizabeth still hadn’t heard anything back from the professor and Charles hadn’t called either.
“Looks like we’ve hit a bit of a wall. I’m not sure what our next move should be.” Elizabeth said, as she washed their breakfast dishes.
“Well, it’s really just a matter of waiting at this point. I was really hoping this would be over quickly, but that’s not going to happen.”
“How much longer can you be gone from the office before people start wondering where you are?”
“Not much longer, in fact I was just beginning to think it might be good for me to make an appearance. I’m not doing much good here now.”
Elizabeth didn’t want Donovan to leave, but knew that he probably had other responsibilities, besides it might be a good idea to put some space between the two of them. It seemed that no matter what she did, she couldn’t resist him. The more time she spent with him, the more she was growing to care about him, which was a mistake she couldn’t afford to make.
Caring about Donovan might cloud her judgment when she needed a clear head. She’d fallen into that trap years ago when she’d first started out her career in South America. It had happened on one of her first cases, she’d become involved with the son of a man who had been repeatedly destroying the rain forest illegally. It had ended badly when she’d discovered who he was and that his dad had sent him to spy on her.
It had been a difficult lesson to learn and she’d promised herself she’d never let her heart get in the way of a case again. But now she found herself in a similar position, although Donovan didn’t seem to be hiding anything from her, he could still be involved in this ugly business. Getting some distance from him might be a way to create some separation again, it certainly couldn’t hurt.
“I can keep an eye on things here, if something comes up you won’t be that far away.” She said, as they made their way into the living room.
“Let’s look at these maps again as soon as you’re ready and then maybe we should make a visit to the ranch. At this point it might be good to bring in the rest of the family. I know you’re probably still concerned that they are involved in some way, but I can’t keep them in the dark for too much longer. Besides, it’s possible that one of them might be aware of something we’re missing. They live up here after all. They probably know the people up here better than anyone else.”
Elizabeth hesitated, she was nervous about meeting his family, even though she’d suggested that they keep it strictly professional. They might not be as understanding as Donovan was, after all she was the person who was trying to ruin their reputation with accusations of environmental pollution. Even worse, if one of them was involved, telling them about what they’d found would only tip them off to the danger they were in.
Sensing her hesitation, Donovan said, “I know you’re still not sure about them, but I think this might be the best way to convince you that the family isn’t involved. Plus, I don’t like leaving you up here alone with no one to back you up, this could get dangerous if it becomes public knowledge. Frankly, I’m surprised that it hasn’t gotten out yet.”
“I’ve told everyone involved to keep it to themselves, they trust me, that’s part of the problem. I’ve made a commitment to these people, they expect me to make this right for them, and I’m afraid that getting involved with you and your family might be the exact opposite o
f what they would expect.”
“Maybe you should look at it this way. If you can eliminate my family, then you can spend more time concentrating on some of the other people we’ve been suspicious of. While I’m gone, Charles and I are going to do a little more digging on some of the people who work for Terrell Industries.”
“Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’ll go with you to meet your family, maybe they can be some help. We’ve got nothing else to do now, so why not. Do they know we’re coming?”
“No, but I’ll call Garrett and let him know. I don’t think Sebastian and Leslie will be there, but Leslie is new to the family and Sebastian had been living in the city for a long time. He plays football for the Tigers.”
“I’ll go shower first then, you call and set it up.” She said, heading for the bathroom.
“We could share that shower.” He said, in an offhand way, expecting her usual answer.
Instead, she stopped in her tracks, looked over her shoulder at him, then said. “Okay, but I like the water hot.”
Donovan was off the couch and pulling her into the bathroom before she could finish her sentence. It was probably another example of bad judgment on her part, but this might be the last time she’d have the opportunity to be alone with Donovan for a very long time.
Several hours and a lot of wet towels later, satisfied, they lay curled together in her bed. “I can’t think of a morning I’ve enjoyed quite this much.” Donovan said, as he lazily ran his hand up and down her hips, sending shivers of desire racing through her.
“I can’t believe it’s already lunch time.” She said, her stomach growling.
“Well, your stomach says differently. I think it might be time for some lunch. Let’s go see what Daphne has on the menu.” He said, getting up from the bed and holding his hand out to her.
“Okay, but shouldn’t we call first.” She said, letting him help her up, then snuggling close when he pulled her to him.
“Nah, she’s always prepared for a crowd. Especially this time of year when the cattle are down for the winter.”
“Well, give me a few minutes to put myself together, I’m not sure that shower helped at all.” She said, trying to run her fingers through her tangled hair.
“Get dressed and then I’ll brush these tangles out of your hair. I love your hair.” He said, kissing her forehead, then leaving to get dressed himself.
He was back in just a few minutes, barely giving her time to decide what to wear. She couldn’t decide between professional and casual, but finally put on jeans and a sweater. It took another thirty minutes and a lot of kissing to get her hair into the simple bun she liked to wear.
Finally, hours later, they were on the way to the ranch to meet his family and clue them in on the situation.
As they drove through town, Elizabeth was mentally going over the information they would be sharing with his family in just a few minutes. They’d brought all the maps and paper work on the polluted wells, as well as information on each of the households that had been affected by the bad water. She was more nervous than she’d been sitting in his office, but then she’d only been facing one Terrell, not all of them.
At least the youngest brother wouldn’t be there, that would make one less pair of eyes staring at her as she told them the bad news. Donovan would be there backing her up, but he was one of them, she was the outsider. As they were making their way slowly across town, she realized that there were a lot more people around.
Donovan must have noticed as well because he said. “Looks like ski season is starting to get going. I just wish we had some snow on the way. We can make snow, but it’s just not as good as the real thing. It’s the end of October, we should have more than we do, but there’s still a couple of weeks before the situation gets desperate.”
“I’m ready for the snow, it doesn’t snow very much in North Carolina. Every great once in a while we might have gotten a couple of inches, but it always melted just like that snow did the other day.”
“Well, I hope you know what you’ve signed up for. Once the snow gets here in the winter, it doesn’t go away until spring. You’re going to hate it by the time winter is over.” He said, with a knowing look.
“I can always escape to the city, I hear the winters aren’t as severe once you get out of the mountains.” She said, suddenly realizing that Donovan had turned onto Meadows road. “Hey, I thought we were going to the ranch? My parents live up here.”
“We are, this is the way to the ranch. It’s at the end of this road. Which one is your parent’s property?” He asked, already pretty sure which property they’d bought.
“It’s the blue house with the red barn, right by the forest service accesses point.” She said, amazing that the Terrell’s were the neighbors her parents had been telling her about.
“I met your parents a few weeks ago. They were a big help with the situation we had going on up here. Aren’t they gone for a month or something?”
“Yeah, my aunt had to have some surgery so they went back to spend some time helping her out and visiting family.”
“Huh, it really is a small world.” He said, as they pulled into the yard.
“I’ve never been this far up the road, didn’t have a need to I guess. It’s probably a good thing, I might have been even more scared to talk to you than I was.” She said, not realizing she’d admitted to being scared of him.
“Am I really that scary?” Shutting off the car and turning in his seat to face her.
“Well, put yourself in my place. First I had to fight tooth and nail to get an appointment with you, then it was rescheduled twice. Add to that the hour and a half wait at your office plus your rude assistant and I had just about decided to just leave when you finally agreed to see me.”
“Then I was nothing but rude to you. I think I might have told you to do your homework.” He said, cringing and shooting her an apologetic look.
“Actually that was okay, it made me mad enough to stand up to you.” She said, laughing.
Donovan watched her for a second, thinking about how much he’d enjoyed her standing up to him. “I’m sorry I was such a jerk, but it was really sexy when you got mad at me.” He said, grinning at her.
“Well, it all worked out in the end I guess.” She said. “But only because you had enough intelligence to look at what I left you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Are you ready?” He said, squeezing her hand, then pulling her toward him and kissing her.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She said, turning to look at the house. She was sure that she’d seen one of the curtains in one of the front rooms move, but she wasn’t sure. Hopefully no one had seen that kiss, it would totally undermine her credibility if they had.
They were met at the front door by a beautiful blonde woman, who threw her arms around Donovan and hugged him. She then gave Elizabeth her full attention, finally thrusting out her hand and introducing herself. “I’m Daphne, Donovan’s cousin.”
Relieved that she knew who this woman was, she shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Elizabeth Mathews.”
“Come in, you’re just in time for lunch.” Daphne said, leading them into the house.
“You know me, I can always eat. I wanted to bring Elizabeth up to meet you and let her explain what’s been happening. We can’t keep the rest of the family in the dark any longer.”
“Good, it’s been killing me trying to keep the secret. You came on a good day, everyone is here, even Sebastian and Leslie.” She said, leading the way to the biggest kitchen Elizabeth had ever seen.
Elizabeth was a little overwhelmed at first, there must have been ten people sitting there around the table all of them looking at her as they walked into the room. But, within seconds one of the men, who was clearly one of Donovan’s brothers jumped to his feet, all the other men following suit.
She’d never experienced such a greeting before and she could feel herself blushing to the roots of her hair. Donovan sensing
her discomfort, immediately began introducing her to everyone at the table. When he’d finished, Daphne insisted that they have lunch before any business was completed. Everyone gave her a strange look, but no one challenged her decision.
They made small talk during lunch, but the main topic was the coming cold front that was supposed to finally bring the snow that was so desperately needed. “Are you ready for the snow?” Garrett asked.
“I think so, I’ve got wood for my stove, candles, water, and food stored for an emergency.” She said, liking Garrett more and more as the meal progressed.
Garrett’s question prompted everyone to begin telling stories of power outages and huge piles of snow. By the time they’d finished lunch she’d been charmed by his family and gladly volunteered to help with the cleanup. She wanted to give Donovan a few minutes alone with his brothers, before they talked to them about the pollution.
She was also curious about the other two black women in the room, it had become apparent over the meal that they were involved with Donovan’s brothers and she wondered how that had come to be. There was no way she was going to ask, but it seemed strange to her that both brothers had picked black women as their significant others.
After they’d finished the dishes, Daphne got them all a cup of coffee and they joined the men in the living room. When he saw her, Donovan pulled Elizabeth aside. “Are you ready? I’ve got the maps hung up in the dining room, there’s plenty of space in there and we never use it.”
“As ready as I’ll ever be. This is probably the hardest jury I’ve ever faced.” She said, with a smile.
“Don’t worry they won’t stone you or anything. Just lay the facts out and see what they say. If you want to know if anyone is involved, that will be the perfect time to get a reaction. No one but Daphne knows what’s coming, this is going to be a complete surprise.”
“Great, if that was supposed to make me feel better, it doesn’t.”
Donovan gave her a quick kiss, then went off to get the rest of the family. Once they were all seated in the dining room, Elizabeth cleared her throat and launched into the story of how she’d come to be a part of Pleasant Valley. She then explained about eavesdropping in the library and becoming involved with the ailing town’s people.
Make Me Whole (Brothers From Money #3) Page 9
