A TANGLED WEB
by
SUMMER JORDAN
ISBN: 978-1-77145-021-8
PUBLISHED BY:
Books We Love Limited
(Electronic Book Publishers)
Chestermere, Alberta
Canada
http://bookswelove.net
Copyright 2012 by Summer Jordan
Cover Art Copyright 2012 by Michelle Lee
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored into a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Chapter One
Erin Fox squinted into the dimly lit cocktail lounge, looking for a place where she and Leanne Andrews could sit. “Happy Hour at Club Rendezvous certainly is popular. This place is packed. Mitch and I always come later in the evening, and it’s not so crowded then.
“There,” she added, pointing to a booth where a busboy had just finished clearing the table. “Let’s grab that one.”
They slid in across from one another and a server took their drink order, with Erin selecting a Cosmo and Lea, Sex on the Beach, a beverage Erin and their other Wives-R-Us business partner, Margo, had served at Lea’s wedding shower a few months ago.
Neither cocktail was included in the Happy Hour specials but they hadn’t come for bargains. Erin hated sitting home alone, and the kids’ team her boyfriend, Mark Mitchell, coached had a game, so she’d coaxed Lea into a Thursday night out.
Erin touched the wedding and engagement rings on Lea’s left hand. “Thanks for coming with me. I know you were hesitant because of Mike and the kids.”
Lea had married a psychologist with custody of his three-year-old twins, and she’d been busy furnishing the country home they’d bought while still working full time at Wives-R-Us. Margo Hunter, the third Wives-R-Us business partner who’d wed shortly after Lea, had gone to dinner and a movie with her husband Brit. When Mitch, the guy Erin was dating, was otherwise occupied, she missed having one or both of her closest friends to go out with.
“Mike said I’m still acting like a newlywed, not wanting to go anywhere without him, and I need to get out and relax.” Lea looked around. “It does feel good to chill and I like this place,” she said, smiling.
“It’s my favourite bar,” Erin said, following her gaze. “Mitch often brings me here for a nightcap. Reagan’s Sports Bar is his favourite place to eat dinner, if you can call it that. Mostly, they serve sandwich platters and snack-type foods such as hot wings and onion curls. After washing those down with beer while surrounded by blaring television sets, this becomes a welcome stopping-off place to set the mood for what comes later.”
Dim lights, soft music and brass nail-studded black leather booths and barstools lent the place atmosphere and put him and her both in the mood for a round of heated sex. Which was what she’d like to be having with him right now.
“Where is Mitch tonight?” Lea asked.
“Coaching a Babe Ruth game, and I wasn’t in the mood to watch kids play ball.” Erin took a sip of her drink. “He’s still a sports nut after all these years, but the way he can use his bat and balls,” she said, chuckling, “makes up for his obsession. That man knows how to wield a rigid cock.” Just thinking about Mitch thrusting his hard penis inside her aching pussy made her squirm with desire.
Lea frowned. “I can appreciate the appeal in that. However, I hope you don’t mind me saying this, Erin, but I think you’re more obsessed with Mitch’s prowess than you are in love with him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Erin bit the orange slice off her drink in half. “Obsessed with what?”
“Sex. You hadn’t really dated since your divorce and…” Lea raised her hands. “You keep talking about the great sex you’re having with him and you never really talk about his other qualities.” She shrugged.
Erin stared at her. I’m not seeing Mitch just because I like the way he fucks … am I? No. Of course not. “I do enjoy the sex and I may have been deprived for a long time, by my own choice, but I’m not in this relationship solely for that reason. You make me sound like a nymphomaniac.”
“I didn’t mean anything like that. I’m sorry.” Lea sat back in her seat. “So, do you think you’d be happy if he popped the question?”
“We’ve been dating for months and we have fun together.” Erin, lowering her lashes, smiled as she visualised Mark Mitchell leaning over her on a king-size bed, his naked body all flat planes and muscles, his blond crew cut bristling and his green eyes narrowed in passion. Every time he came close, heat shot through her, straight to her clit. This was the first time she’d lusted for anyone since she and Joseph had broken up. Her ex-husband was good in bed and, even though she’d had little experience outside her marriage, she’d worried she might not find anyone to compare. Then she was reintroduced to Mitch.
“His body was pretty hot when we dated in high school, but it’s matured in all the right places so it’s even better now. And he’s picked up a few steamy tricks.” Her nipples pebbled just thinking about the things he did to her. He liked to kiss her from the tip of her nose down to her toes, pausing to tongue-fuck her navel and lavish long, hot licks on her clit. Her breathing accelerated when she came to the part where he laved the length of her pussy with his tongue. “He’s a top athlete in any sports arena,” she assured Lea. “He knows his way around a bed. Or floor. Or wherever.”
Margo Fox, now Margo Hunter, always talked about the many, creative places where she and Brit fucked, and Erin thought she and Mitch were catching up. They’d had sex in five of the ten rooms in her house. She grinned, just thinking about the time in the sun parlour. He’d been showering and she’d stretched out on the chaise lounge to read and fallen asleep. She’d been clad only in a robe when he woke her… She chuckled. Thoughtful, he’d donned a condom first.
Erin’s son was eleven and Mitch’s daughter Dakota was thirteen, so neither of them wanted to start that part of life over. Not that he’d ever mentioned marriage, but she assumed it was in the cards.
“The twinkle in your eye tells me I don’t want to know what you’re thinking,” Lea said, peeking between spread fingers. “But I’m sure it involves sex even if that’s not your primary interest.”
It isn’t, is it? Erin stabbed the cherry in her drink with the little plastic pick she’d taken out of the orange slice she’d eaten. “He says he loves me.” Sucking the liquor off the sweet maraschino, she thought about sucking some off of Mitch’s cock. They’d never tried booze, only chocolate syrup once and whipped cream, which was less messy, several times. Popping the cherry in her mouth, she bit down on it, savouring the liquid that shot out. “And I love him.” Don’t I?
“I know Mitch looks like a Greek god,” Lea said, “but he comes with a lot of baggage. Correct me if I’m wrong. He had one wife who died. Another he divorced. Add a daughter from the first marriage that chooses to live with his second spouse and you have a screwed up mess. I wouldn’t be eager to marry him if I were you.”
“It’s not as bad as you make it sound,” Erin said. “Dakota’s mother died of cancer when she was a baby and she thinks of Charlotte as her mom. Mitch lets her live with her stepmother for that reason and because he thinks that girls need a woman’s guidance. He sees Dakota frequently. It’s not as if he doesn’t care about her.
“Besides, your Mike came with baggage.” Erin shook her plastic toothpick at Lea, “and you worked through the problems wit
h his nutty ex.”
“I brought my share of baggage into the mix with my former husband and the Asian woman he’d gotten pregnant,” Lea said. “Remember how he tried to get me to remarry him so she wouldn’t expect him to tie the knot with her? You, on the other hand, don’t have any problems to bring into a marriage and you do have a lot to lose if you marry the wrong man.”
If Lea meant money, she was right, but Erin didn’t bother to agree or disagree. “I love Mitch,” she said firmly, “and I’m living alone in a huge house that feels empty without my son.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry I ever gave in and let my ex enrol Joey in that fancy boarding school.” She sighed.
“Besides not seeing my son as often as I’d like, I feel like the odd woman out since you and Margo captured and married wonderful men. We started Wives-R-Us as three divorced women and I’m the only one who’s still unattached. I suppose I should just be happy that Mitch is back in my life, but I would really love to get married.”
Lea reached across the table and squeezed Erin’s hand. “We’re at different stages of our lives right now. I have toddlers. Margo doesn’t. You’re enjoying dating, and that’s over for us. Nevertheless, we’re still best friends. Besides, single life isn’t bad. You’re not responsible for anyone except yourself. I’m happily married and love the twins, but it’s not easy having three other humans depend on you. You know that women have to do it all.”
That was the reason they’d begun Wives-R-Us. Years before, when Joey was small and Erin was working and feeling overwhelmed, she’d said, “I need a wife. Women do everything.”
Men were often as dependent as two-year-olds, but Erin missed having someone who needed her. “I know, but when you’re thirty-seven years old, available males are scarce, and Mitch really is a good guy.”
“You may be obsessed with marriage instead of sex,” Lea said. “The question is, do you think he’s the man you want to spend the rest of your life with? You’re smart, beautiful and a successful businesswoman with a fabulous home and son. Don’t decide to just settle, Erin.”
“Spoken like a rank newlywed,” Erin said, chuckling.
“Seriously. Give yourself time. You’ll find true love.”
Glasses clinked and music played in the background. Recognising a golden oldie, One is the Loneliest Number, Erin’s laughter died on her lips. She wasn’t sure such a thing as true love existed. Lovers passed in the night more than they meshed lives nowadays.
The server set the nachos they’d ordered in front of them and Erin, while munching a chip, looked around. Happy Hour with its half prices brought a full crowd, but it was nearly 7:00 and those who’d come for a drink after work had begun to drift out already. Time had passed quickly while she and Lea grew philosophical.
With a clear view of the bar, Erin could tell that the bartender was one she’d never seen before. “Wow. Look at that guy mixing drinks, would you? Is he hot or what?”
Tall and slender, he had dark, wavy hair, piercing brown eyes with long, thick lashes, a Roman nose, and between flared nostrils and full, sensuous lips…a moustache that intrigued Erin. She’d never fucked a man with a moustache. How would it feel when he kissed her? Here I go…imagining again. One sexual thought leads to another with me.
She narrowed her eyes and focused on the thick, sexy hair on the guy’s upper lip, imagining how it would feel against her breasts when he sucked them. Would it tickle and make her moisture pool between her legs? Her nipples hardened just at the thought and she grasped the edge of the table. She could see him sliding his lips and tongue down her stomach, that line of whiskers above his mouth brushing her tender skin and making her weak with desire. He’d wend his way down to her thighs, circling around to that crease where they met her body…first one, then the other, and then he’d find…home. He’d lick inside her pussy and take her clit in his mouth and those tickling little hairs would drive her mad with excitement.
She could orgasm right now with a touch of her hand. Her breath was coming fast and her breasts were swollen with excitement.
“I’d like to find true love with a hunk like that,” she said, sighing.
Suddenly, the barkeep looked straight at her and their gazes locked. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then, lifting the corners of his mouth in a barely perceptible smile, he winked, and Erin nearly climaxed. She looked away, suspecting her face was flushed. Did he know what she was thinking? Did he realise she was tingling with desire and creaming her panties for him? She felt as if everyone in the cocktail lounge knew.
Lea laughed. “I saw that,” she said. “He is hot and you caught his attention and vice versa. Do you think he’s Italian or Hispanic? He has that steamy, swarthy look.”
Erin glanced his way again and found he was still watching her, arms crossed above his narrow waist. The long sleeves of his light blue dress shirt were rolled up to just below his elbows, exposing the fine layer of dark hair on his arms.
She took a gulp of her drink, nearly emptying the glass. Thinking about the hair that would line the rest of his body…chest, legs, pelvic area…she grew even wetter between her legs.
“I…don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. I’m with Mitch. However, there’s an old saying that you’re dead when you quit looking at other men.”
“You weren’t just looking. You were flirting and you weren’t alone in doing it. But don’t look so scared,” Lea said, laughing. “You’re allowed to get all worked up over another man.” She paused to dip a chip in salsa and with it poised in the air, added. “Isn’t it enlightening, however, that he’s the complete opposite of the guy you’re dating? To me, that says Mark Mitchell may not be your type at all.”
Erin swallowed the last of her Cosmopolitan and looked over the rim of her glass at the bartender. He had his head turned and she managed to read his name badge. Derek. A nice name with a suitably masculine sound.
Derek must have felt her gaze because he looked around and, half-smiling, plucked a cherry from the bowl on the bar and, laving it with his tongue, held Erin captive with his gaze.
If he can do that with his eyes, imagine what he could do with his…other body parts. Like the one currently nestled inside his pants.
*
Erin arrived home from Club Rendezvous feeling mellow from Happy Hour drinks and an orgasm she’d induced in the car. It had been dark in the parking lot and she’d been so near to coming when she’d left the bar, and the bartender, she’d just closed her eyes and recalled him licking that cherry and let her imagination run wild. It only took a few strokes of her fingertips on that hard, damp nubbin before she climaxed, gasping from her lustful thoughts.
After dropping her keys in the Oriental vase on the table in the foyer, she headed up the curving staircase to her ivory and peach bedroom suite. She’d much rather have reached satisfaction with the guy who’d caused her desperation, but she wasn’t the patient type. Besides, she was Mitch’s woman. And since she wouldn’t be seeing him tonight, she’d taken matters into her own hands.
The bartender probably wasn’t that great at fucking anyway, and he was obviously a flirt, so it wouldn’t do to get involved with him. Besides, most women would kill to have a boyfriend like hers, she reminded herself. Mitch’s athletic lifestyle had built muscles and endurance while keeping his body trim and supple. She’d never been a sports fan before they started dating but she certainly appreciated the prowess athletics seemed to bestow. The only drawback was that his fervour took a lot of the time she’d rather he spent with her. Besides all his baseball, he went to the gym after work twice a week. She’d have thought that managing a sporting goods store would wear him out on such stuff.
Erin took off her beige slacks and top. Wearing the same colour head to toe made her look taller, as did the spike-heeled sandals she hadn’t yet removed. Standing in front of the full-length mirror, she examined her body in black lace bikinis and a matching demi-bra that exposed the tops of her rounded breasts. Th
ey weren’t big but they were still firm and with a push-up bra she showed appealing cleavage. Beneath the panties was the still tingling vagina of a woman who’d been too eager for an orgasm to wait until she got home to use her vibrator.
The bartender at Club Rendezvous had set her hormones into a frenzy, but he was sexy in a totally different way from Mitch. A down-to-earth sort, Mitch was hot wings, French fries and Budweiser Beer. Derek was suave and…she closed her eyes and pictured him in a restaurant, his face illuminated by candlelight…prime rib, hearts of romaine and scotch.
How did he like his women? She looked at her slim body in the mirror. She was still as petite as when she’d made out with Mitch in the back seat of his Mustang in their high school days. She’d heard other girls talk about screwing and she’d wanted to know what she was missing. She’d always had a strong imagination but that wasn’t enough when it came to something that was supposed to be wonderful but she’d never tried.
Now, she loved Mitch and planned to marry him. He’d been her first lover and he would become her last if he asked her to be his wife. She picked up her pink vibrator and fondled it, considering making herself climax again, but decided to wait and see if she was horny when she went to bed.
Downstairs in her bisque and black kitchen, Erin poured herself a glass of Chardonnay which she carried to the living room. Settled in her favourite cream-coloured, cushioned armchair with the newspaper and her drink, she sighed when the phone rang. It was too early for Mitch to call. After a kids’ game, he took his daughter, Dakota, home and then went to his place to shower and settle in with a Budweiser before phoning.
Some things had changed over time. He used to go to bed early the night before a ballgame and party afterwards. Now he went to bed early after a game, even if he was just coaching. Some things stayed the same though. He still drank the same kind of beer. Still had the same great package he used to show off in his Speedos.
“Hello?” She spoke into the receiver.
“Well,” Erin’s mother, Barbara O’Brien, huffed, “it certainly took you long enough to answer. Is that man you’re engaged to there with you?”
A Tangled Web (A Books We Love Erotic Romance) Page 1
