Fool’s Errand: Cartwright Brothers, Book 4

by Anderson, Lilliana

  “Well…” Stopping when I reached Lizzie, I turned to face him, double-checking we were alone as I leaned against her. “I think you’re right to be concerned, and I also think your entire family, wives and all, are insane.” I kept my voice low so only he could hear me. Over dinner, I’d learned how deep Jasmine’s matchmaking efforts had really run. Holland and Alesha had literally been kidnapped and threatened with their lives to marry Nate and Sam. And Ronnie had damaged Kris’s car and been taken prisoner, but they’d fallen in love instead. They all swore it was the best thing that ever happened to them, but I didn’t know if it was the truth or the Stockholm syndrome talking.

  “It’s a lot to take in, I know. And I was against all if it from the start. But they really are happy together. Crazy but true.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to my shoulder. “I’m glad this thing between us happened without any of the same bullshit.”

  I closed my eyes and revelled in the sensation. “They just played chess with us, didn’t they?”

  “You know, I don’t even care how it seems. I know what I feel is real, that my choices were my own. No one made me fall in love with you.”

  “That was actually my master plan, and I’m kinda shocked it worked,” I teased.

  He grinned. “Wanna get out of here?”

  “Come back to the resort with me?”

  “Why don’t you grab your stuff and come back to our place?”

  “Our place?” I lifted my brow.

  “Yeah. It didn’t feel the same once you left.”

  “I will. Soon. But I’ve kind of paid for a whole month at the resort. And they have room service.” Placing my hand against his chest, I toyed with the buttons on his shirt.

  “I like your way of thinking.”

  “So how about you go and get your stuff and meet me there? Don’t forget the condoms.” I whispered the last part close to his ear.

  “It’s a date.” He kissed me briefly then stepped away.

  “And don’t think I don’t have at least a thousand questions for you over all that.” I flicked my gaze toward the house.

  “I’ll be an open book.”

  “Really?” I expected some ‘need to know’ crap.

  “Absolutely. You’re in the circle of trust now. That’s kind of why they unloaded on you in there.”

  “Like an initiation—drowned in secrets?”

  “Something like that. I’ll see you in about thirty minutes?”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  He smiled then pulled me against him, kissing me goodbye.

  “Give her the ring,” one of the brothers yelled from inside the house. We broke our kiss just in time to see a scuffle at the window before the curtains dropped back in place.

  “Looks like we’re being watched,” he whispered.

  “And that they know about the ring.”

  “Kris does. He knows where I’m at. He won’t say anything.”

  “He must be a really good brother.”

  Abbot turned his body towards the windows and held up a middle finger. “The best.” Laughter erupted from inside the house. “We should go before they get Kris to impersonate me and propose to you himself.”

  “I’d never fall for that,” I said. “I’ve always been able to tell you apart.”

  “Just another reason why I love you.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Perfection

  I did a running leap at Abbot as soon as he walked in the door. Thirty minutes felt too long at this early stage. He caught me with ease, a grin on his face as I wrapped myself around his torso like a koala on a tree. I had no intention of letting go.

  “This is a better welcome than I was expecting. I thought you’d bombard me with questions first.”

  Sucking on his bottom lip, I pulled back and shook my head. “No family shit. Sex first.”

  He chuckled. “You’re wearing too many clothes, blue.”

  “I could say the same about you, Cartwright. But, if you take me to the bedroom, I think we can fix that problem for both of us.”

  “I’m learning not to argue with the redhead,” he said, heading for the bedroom still carrying me. “Boy, this place is big.” He let out a grunt, making a dramatic show of stumbling and wheezing as he made it to the end of the bed.

  I slapped him on the chest when he collapsed us both onto the mattress and pretended to pass out with his face buried in my neck. “I am not that heavy.” I laughed, rocking my body beneath him to get him to move. “Get up. I want. Ohhh, you are up.” He groaned as I lifted my thigh, pressing into his hard length.

  “Mmm.” His lips brushed against my pulse, making their way along my jaw. Suddenly we weren’t joking around anymore.

  “Abbot,” I whispered, loving his name on my lips as his fingers lifted my shirt and found my ribs, taking hold.

  “Sloane.” The soft rumble of his voice leaving his mouth just as his lips pressed to mine. So good.

  I whimpered, my whole body coming alive as we moved together, the same way we had earlier but with less desperation. We had all night this time.

  “Can I tell you something?” His fingers toyed with my nipples through my bra.

  “Anything.”

  “I missed these tight buds so much. I jacked off daily thinking about them in my mouth.” He tugged my shirt over my head, roughly pushing away the cups of my bra and ridding me of the thing. Then his mouth found my breast, showing me exactly what he’d missed.

  “My God, I missed this too,” I gasped, arching into him as his tongue flicked at my nipple before he shifted to my other breast. “And since we’re being honest, I used that picture you sent me—”

  “To ring your own doorbell?”

  With a laugh, I nodded. “Yes.”

  “That’s hot.”

  I ran my hands over his shoulders, his chest, needing to touch him, needing more of him. When my fingers found the hem of his shirt, he sat up and tugged it over his head in one fluid motion.

  “You’re hot,” I murmured, running my hands over his golden muscles, so defined and glorious that my insides stuttered at the sight. This beautiful, stunning, model-like man was mine. Mine.

  “And you are absolutely perfect,” he said, his voice husky before he leaned in and nipped my lips.

  “No, you are,” I teased in a whisper.

  His hands slid down, thumbs on my nipples, sending delicious ripples down to my core. “You are,” he returned, grinning wickedly before he kissed me again then travelled down, his tongue running lazy circles along my throat until he was back to sucking my nipple into his hot mouth, teeth grazing, tongue teasing.

  I hummed with pleasure as his fingers moved along my belly then he pushed my pants to the ground, his mouth now where his fingers had been.

  “I love the way you taste right here,” he said, running his tongue just below my navel. “It’s sweet.”

  I propped myself on elbows as I released a chuckle. “That’s because I keep Skittles in my belly button,” I joked.

  His shoulders bounced with laughter, as his mouth skimmed over my skin. “Skittles, huh?”

  “What else is a belly button for?” I grinned, breathless as his mouth left a trail of fire everywhere he touched.

  “Well, you can do this with it,” he said, running the tip off his tongue around the edge of the tiny opening. “And this.” He slipped the very tip of his tongue into the crevice and pressed down. A jolting tingle made its way between my legs.

  “That’s definitely more fun than using it for Skittles,” I gasped, sliding my fingers into his hair.

  He lifted his head and smiled up at me. “Nothing is better than Skittles, blue.”

  I laughed, then I made an Ohh sound as his mouth returned to my skin and one of his hands drifted lower, over my thighs, then back up again gently raking over the fabric of my underwear.

  He inhaled, his fingers so light in their teasing. “I fucking love the smell of you.”

  I arched towards his touc
h, wanting more. “Abbot.”

  “You know,” he said, resting on his elbow as he drew lazy circles over the cotton triangle, making me insane with want. “I still have a pair of these.”

  The corner of my mouth twitched. “They must be uncomfortable when you wear them.”

  He chuckled, his fingers sliding lower to where I was wet, dampness soaking through. “I didn’t wear them, Sloane. I sniffed them like a fucking creep and pulled on my dick, imagining I was with you.”

  His admission made my breathing shallow as the memory of his strong hand curling around his massive cock took hold in my mind. It was an incredible turn-on to be that desired, even more so that he would admit it to me. I loved how open he was.

  “You don’t have to imagine anymore,” I said. “You’re with the real thing.”

  In response, he growled then tugged my underwear down my legs, and suddenly I was naked. He knelt on the bed and parted my thighs, taking a moment to let his eyes roam all over my body.

  “Is being with me what you imagined?” I asked, feeling a little exposed as he continued his perusal.

  “It’s better than that,” he said, sliding his fingertips between my folds before pushing inside. “Mmm. So much better.”

  I cried out, rocking my hips and meeting his strokes.

  “Feel good?” he asked in a sexy, wicked voice that knew very well it felt good. His firm fingertips and the perfect speed of his movements a sweet, torturous heaven. “I could torture you like this forever.”

  “I thought you could suck on my nipples forever?” Each word came out as a gasp, which by the quirk of his lips gave him great delight.

  He shifted over me, nipping at my bottom lip. “That was all night. This”—he pushed his fingers in deeper, curling them into my G-spot—“I could do this forever. I love watching you squirm.”

  “So cruel.” I kissed his chin and raked my fingernails over his shoulders.

  “So sexy.”

  I’d never felt sexy the way I did with him. He brought it out in me.

  “So responsive.” His lips returned to my mouth, tongue moving while his fingers moved in and out of my body, drawing circles around my clit before diving right back in.

  “Please, Abbot.”

  “She’s finally begging,” he murmured right next to my ear before he ran his tongue along my lobe. “I like it.” I shivered, my nipples aching as my insides screamed for release.

  “Please.”

  “Not yet, beautiful blue. I haven’t finished playing with you.”

  Beautiful blue. It sounded like a rhyme and warmed my heart. I truly believed I was beautiful to him. He’d made me feel nothing but beautiful from the moment his interest became known to me.

  Beautiful.

  I’d never believed it before, but with his eyes on me, I could see that even tomboys were beautiful, and they didn’t need a makeover to prove it. Just a man willing to see them for who they were.

  Abbot slid down my body, hands pushing at my knees and spreading me open. Then he glanced up, meeting my eyes briefly before his face dropped and his tongue joined his fingers.

  “Oh God,” I cried out as he hummed while sucking my clit.

  “You taste even better than you smell.”

  “No more talking,” I forced out, placing my hand on the top of his head. “Only sucking.”

  He chuckled then dove back in, his mouth sucked while his tongue swirled and fingers curled. It was too much, and I clenched my fists, one in his hair, the other on the sheets. Then all at once I came apart, making a sound that could possibly be described as the mating call of a howler monkey.

  “Holy fuck,” I said as my internal spasms calmed and he kissed his way back up my body. At some point he must have shucked those unnecessary pants of his off because I could feel the damp, smooth tip of his cock, tapping along my leg.

  “I need to be inside you so bad right now,” he said, sucking gently on my lips. Pulling on a condom, he positioned himself at my entrance and I lifted my head to take in the sight of his impressive man stick—or branch in Abbot’s case.

  I rocked my hips to take him in. “Please,” I begged. “I want you inside me.”

  “Slowly.” He pushed at my entrance and I felt myself stretching around him. “I want to make it last this time.”

  “Oh wow.” He was so big. Some might say too big. To me, he was exactly the right size.

  “You OK?” he asked once he was fully seated, and I nodded, mouth open, barely able to speak because I was so fucking full.

  “You feel so good, Sloane.” He moved in full strokes, massaging my insides with his thick length. “So good.”

  I gripped his forearms. His biceps. His shoulders.

  Then I wrapped my legs right around him and urged him deeper.

  He leaned forward, mouths together, noses side by side, my arms winding around his neck as he thrust and kissed and thrust and murmured.

  Sex with Abbot was an experience like no other, and I felt like I was discovering what making love was supposed to be like. With Abbot inside me, I felt like everyone else had been doing it wrong.

  So wrong.

  Losing my mind to sensation, I existed on some other plane where all that mattered was desire and chasing orgasms. I was caught between wanting to stay connected like this forever and wanting that orgasm caught.

  The orgasm won.

  “Abbot,” I howled as my body tightened then released, exploding around his length, coming undone.

  “Fuck.” He pushed deep and ground his hips against mine, giving my orgasm a little more life as he found his own release in gentle pulses. He dropped his weight, hot breath on my neck.

  “Hey Sloane.” He lifted his head then brought his mouth close to mine. “I love you,” he said on his breath.

  “Say it again,” I whispered back, my arms wrapping around him.

  He smiled. “I love you.” He kissed me as I grinned like the goofball I was, this moment becoming my favourite moment of all. If everything turned to shit after this, it’d be the moment I held in my heart and called happiness…perfection.

  “I love you,” I said again. Perfection.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Fool Me Twice

  “I really should have spent last night working on my picking skills,” I said to Abbot as I dropped several padlocks into the shopping basket he was holding. They would be the practise locks we trained on.

  “That hurts my heart, blue.”

  Beautiful blue.

  I smiled at the memory and leaned into him, kissing his lips. “I said should, not that I wanted to. Last night was magical, much better than doing work, or dissecting the insanity of my life right now.”

  “Three months then we’re free.”

  I liked that he was being positive about this. I, unfortunately, was imagining a future of conversations through Perspex barriers and conjugal visits. This three months might be the only months we had, and I wanted to make the most of them.

  “I think we should make this three months as fun as possible,” I said, running my hand over his chest. “Stay at the resort, spoil ourselves.”

  “Kind of like a reverse honeymoon?” His eyes lit up with interest.

  “The rest of our lives will be the honeymoon, Cartwright, but yeah. We take time, relax and enjoy each other so you go into this job at the top of your game.”

  “Tell you what,” he said, dropping a few random things into our basket so it wasn’t just about the BiLock padlocks. “Let’s play a game.”

  “We’re back to the games now?”

  “This one is a sex game.”

  I grinned. “Weren’t they all sex games?”

  “OK.” He chuckled. “You got me there, but hear me out. We’re gonna mix work and fun.”

  “Shoot.”

  “For every ten seconds we knock off the time it takes to pick these locks, I’ll make you come.”

  “So, if I knock off a full minute that’s six orgasms? You’re o
n.”

  “Hmm, I’m gonna get a sore tongue.” He kissed my nose then pulled back when his phone went off in his jeans pocket. “Bro?” He pressed the phone to his ear.

  I turned to walk away and give him privacy, but he caught me by the back of my jeans and pulled me to him, our basket now on the floor.

  “How long?” He listened then said. “Cool. See you soon.”

  “Soon?” I asked as he slipped the phone back into his pocket and retrieved the basket.

  “That was Nate. There’s a meeting.”

  “I thought we were starting lessons at nine?”

  “We have new intel to go over.”

  “Oh, well just drop me back at the resort and I’ll work on my speed.” I pointed to the locks.

  “You’re coming too.”

  “I’m coming to a meeting? Again? Do they need my field of expertise or something?”

  He grinned then gave me a peck on the lips. “Nah. You get to hang with the wives and play nice.”

  “But I don’t play well with other women. I especially don’t do well with crazy kidnapped women.”

  He laughed like I was the most adorable thing in the world. “They’re not crazy. Just had crazy beginnings. Ask them about it, they’ll tell you whatever you wanna know.”

  “You know I’ll be doing exactly that, right?”

  “I expect nothing less. Now, let’s go. They’re waiting.”

  The wives. Yikes. How would that go?

  * * *

  “We normally drink through these things, but we’re all pregnant or trying to get pregnant,” Holland said, thumbing towards Alesha on the last part.

  “I’m highly emotional and on hormone injections,” Alesha said with a half-smile. Despite the make-up, she looked quite tired. “IVF.”

  “We can get you something though,” Ronnie added.

  My eyes were a little too wide, feeling strange that they all just basically spoke for each other. It’s like a cult. A cult of kidnapped baby makers. So fucking weird.

  “I can live without alcohol,” I said, generally preferring a Bundaberg ginger beer to the alcoholic kind anyway. And besides, there was a tiny sliver of wonder if Abbot’s and my unprotected moment had sparked a life of our own. Would that indoctrinate me into this? Yikes. But it was something I’d have to talk to him about. I knew he was receptive because he’d already mentioned kids. But I needed to know how he’d feel if it happened right away.