A Tangled Web (A Books We Love Erotic Romance)

by Summer Jordan

  The décor was like nothing Erin had ever seen. Nothing like she expected. She thought bachelors typically furnished their houses in brown and black, leather and wood or maybe glass and chrome. A stereotyped notion, she realised now. “Margo should see this,” was all she could say.

  “Is that a compliment?” Derek looked amused.

  “She decorates for a lot of bachelors.”

  “I confess. I hired a decorator and told her basically what I wanted, and she did a good job. You and I have very different houses and furnishings. Don’t get me wrong, but yours is a bit fancy for me.”

  “Feminine,” Erin corrected. Mitch hadn’t liked it either. She was surprised Joseph had managed to keep mum on the subject. It probably was a bit frilly from a masculine point-of-view. “I had it redecorated after Joseph and I parted ways. I was feeling my independence and in wanting to stamp out his presence, I tended towards…feminine. But I might have gotten carried away.”

  She stroked the arm of an overstuffed chair, enjoying the feel of the fabric while admiring the glow of the rich jade colour in late afternoon light. “I like what you’ve done here.”

  Derek had ambled over to the windows where he stood, feet planted wide apart, arms folded, gazing out at the view, but now he turned to face her, looking pleased. Comfortable. At home. Seeing him here, she saw him a new light. He was still sexy but he was a man with dreams and goals, an honourable male who’d tried to do what he thought was right after having acted too nobly.

  Erin crossed the room to stand beside him and gaze out the window. He turned and slipped his arm around her waist. “I put a lot of time and thought into this house and had it built the way I wanted. For the interior, I wanted lots of light, colour and comfort.”

  Nodding, she laid her head on his shoulder, loving the heat of his body, the smell of his cologne. She’d loved him almost from the moment they’d met, but she hadn’t really known him. This was the real Derek and she had no complaints.

  “Come on. Let me show you the around the rest of the place so you can decide whether to give it your stamp of approval.” Turning, he took her hand.

  “Are you going to show me the bedroom first?” she asked, heart hammering.

  “I think I’ll save it for last,” he said, grinning down at her.

  The kitchen was black and white with the latest stainless appliances, nice but Erin wasn’t terribly interested in cooking. Her eyes were on the butcher block-topped island and her thoughts were on an uninhibited bout of sex atop it.

  “Look out here,” Derek said, throwing open a door that led from the kitchen to a cosy patio with a café table and padded chairs, all shaded by an awning.

  “Lovely,” she murmured.

  “We could take our breakfast here on sunny days.” He slid his arm around her waist again.

  “Mm-hm.” The table was too small for sex but there was a generously sized storage chest with a cushioned top.

  “What are you thinking?” Derek asked, tipping up her chin.

  She felt her cheeks heat up. He’d apparently followed her gaze.

  “Naughty girl,” he said, laughingly touching the burning spots on her face. “If you are considering that spot, I believe I can show you better ones.”

  On the lower level of his house was a game room with a mahogany pool table, its surface covered with bright green felt. Standing once more with his feet apart, he stroked his moustache and grinned. “Shall I lift you up there? Or would you like to try the beanbag sofa?”

  She opened her mouth.

  He planted a finger over it. “Not yet. You want to make the right first choice, even though eventually we can try them all.”

  Derek drew her into his arms and kissed her. Tangling his tongue with hers, he fingered her crotch and she gasped.

  “You’re torturing me,” Erin whispered as he filled both his hands with her breasts.

  “I want you as hot as can be before we start anything,” he murmured.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tightly, pushing her groin against his hard-on. “I’m hot now,” she panted.

  “I can tell, but I think you can do better. Come on. I have something to show you outside.”

  “What about the bedroom?” she asked, pulling on his hand. “You haven’t shown me that yet.”

  “You’ve seen beds before.” Derek shrugged and pointed out a door. “That leads outside from this lower level. This is a walk-out basement, of sorts.” He led her outside and down a curving brick path that led to a swimming pool with blue water that sparkled in the sunlight.

  “It’s gorgeous,” she whispered. A high wall surrounded the pool and landscaping, which consisted of yuccas and brightly-coloured flowers she didn’t recognise along with a sculpture of a naked couple holding hands and a spouting cherub fountain. “It’s Paradise,” she said softly.

  “We could swim naked and no one would see us.” Grinning, he unbuttoned his shirt.

  Gazing at his hard body, Erin traced the fine mat of dark hair on his chest down to where he’d hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his suit pants. The button was open and he was about to lower the zipper. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Couldn’t wait to run her hands over his manly chest and…

  He unzipped his trousers and slowly slid them down his legs. Her eyes were on the bulge in the front of his tight briefs now, and her breath was coming fast. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Derek’s hard-on. She could feel him watching her devour his every movement but she was too spellbound to meet his gaze.

  With one quick motion, he lowered the waistband of his underwear and she gasped. His penis never failed to fill her with awe.

  “Your turn,” he said huskily, and standing there totally naked, feet spread wide apart, his cock standing straight out, he folded his arms and watched her with a half-smile.

  Erin fought the desire to tear off her clothes. She was dying to feel his hands on her body and his penis inside her, both stroking until she went wild. But she paced her movements and, watching the way she affected him, she began to enjoy her dance of seduction. Slithering her yellow dress up over her hips and breasts, she wiggled it over her head and tossed it away. Swaying her hips while unfastening her lacy bra, she eyed his rigid cock. “Are you eager?” she asked, chuckling throatily.

  “What do you think?” He half-growled the words.

  She twirled the bra in the air and let go.

  He smiled as he watched it snag on a landscaping light. “A ringer. Let’s see what you can do with that thong now.”

  Erin turned to display her ass before slipping off the tiny garment. Laughing, she tossed it his way.

  He raised a hand and caught it. “I got the brass ring and now I get a prize.”

  “Who says?” she asked, pushing out her lower lip in a pretend pout.

  “Everyone who’s ever ridden a merry-go-round.” He held out his arms. “Now come here, you.”

  Suddenly, her playfulness left her and her desire rose, hardening her nipples and dampening her now-aching pussy. All she cared about was having Derek’s hands roam all over her body.

  A light breeze whipped a lock of hair across her face and surprised her, reminding her where she was—outdoors, standing alongside Derek Acampora’s swimming pool, both of them naked.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  Confused, she nodded.

  “Then come on.” Derek dived into the pool.

  A shallow dive because the depth was modest, but his form was so beautiful, Erin wished she had a photo of his lean, muscled body breaking the surface of the water, late afternoon sunbeams tinting the spray as it rose.

  He surfaced, holding his arms open high and wide, and she jumped into his welcoming grasp. “Sweetheart.” His voice was gruff with emotion. His wet body pressed hard against hers and he held her tightly.

  Manoeuvring her into water shallow enough for him to stand, Derek backed her against the pool wall and braced himself with a hand on ei
ther side of her. Lowering his head, he kissed her, the ripples of pool water caressing her breasts and her longing pussy. Seeking with his mouth, his penis pressed into the softness of her belly, he delved lower to suckle her breasts, first one and then the other. Squeezing and gasping, he laved her nipples with his hot, seeking tongue while stroking her throbbing clitoris.

  “I want you, Erin. I want to slide my aching cock between the lips of your wet pussy. I want to feel you tighten around my penis and I want to shove deep inside you.”

  “Yes,” she breathed. “I want you to fuck me. I want you so much, Derek.” She dug her fingers into his shoulders and clung to him.

  He pushed his tongue deep inside her mouth and pressed his hard rod against the soft skin of her stomach. She sucked his tongue and his movements grew frantic. The slosh of the water against and between them added a new sensation. As he shoved his rigid cock between her legs, she rocked back and forth along its slippery surface. Moaning, he bent his knees, lowering his body to plant the head of his shaft against her vulva. She cried out, and clutching her ass cheeks, he pushed inside of her then slowly withdrew.

  “Derek,” she whispered, the word almost lost in her welcoming groan. “We’ve found heaven in Paradise.”

  He rubbed his moustache over her mouth in the way he must know turned her on, and she squirmed against his cock. He positioned himself so it stimulated her clitoris and she buried her fingers in his thick hair.

  He raised his head and looked at her. “You’re really asking for it now. You know that?”

  Wild with desire, she hadn’t realised she was pulling his hair, but now that she did… “So,” she said, tugging harder, “what are you going to do about it?”

  “This,” he said, thrusting inside her once more and beginning to move rhythmically, his pace increasing.

  Her excitement rose. With the hard planes of his body pressed against her welcoming one and his throbbing cock pushing in and out of her tingling pussy, Erin cried out in ecstasy. “Yes. Yes.”

  He lengthened and quickened his movements, and wrapping her legs around him to raise her hips, she met his thrusts eagerly. His breath came hot against her face. His heart pounded next to hers. They were joined at the groin and that indescribable feeling of excitement and pure joy that started there began to radiate…until suddenly, her climax washed over her. With a cry, he came too.

  “I love you,” Derek said as he held her close.

  “I love you too,” Erin said and this time she knew what love really was.

  *

  A little while later, after he’d dried her body with a big fluffy towel, they sat in the bedroom in the middle of a mammoth round bed, enjoying a glass of champagne. Erin wore a blue dress shirt of Derek’s with the sleeves rolled up, and he was clad in black underwear so brief she couldn’t take her eyes off the contours of his penis and balls.

  “This is the final leg of the tour, the one I saved for last,” he said. “Do you like it?”

  Erin swept her glance over the spacious bedroom. Sheer curtains drawn over the windows filtered the light that spilled over the bed. “It’s wonderful.” She ran a hand across the blue and white striped bedspread and wiggled her bare bottom into the depth of the mattress. “You have a charming house.”

  “So you’re giving it your seal of approval?”

  “Absolutely.” Her heart beat wildly, but if she’d misunderstood what he was asking, she didn’t want to appear a fool. “I particularly like the swimming pool.”

  He chuckled, tipped her chin with his forefinger and gazed into her eyes. “What I’m trying to find out is…is this a place where you’d like to live, with an attorney who’s never been married or arrested, loves scotch on the rocks and prime rib, has never been known to snore or sleepwalk and who graduated from Indiana University Law School summa cum laude?”

  She laughed lightly, almost but not quite sure of herself now. “Is that a proposal or a crash course on your background?”

  “Both, but primarily a marriage proposal.” Derek took her into his arms. “I love you and want you in my life forever, Erin Fox. We don’t have to marry right away if you feel the need to wait, but if we do it my way, it can’t be too soon.”

  “Derek?” She could feel the hardness of his penis and she was hungry for him again. “Let’s start with me spending the night,” she said, rolling him over so he was on top of her, “and we’ll talk in the morning.”

  “Suits me,” he said, ducking low, his words muffled as he rubbed his moustache across the lips of her pussy.

  She couldn’t possibly not marry him, but there were things she wanted to do right now that did not include talking.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Everything concerning Angel’s wedding turned out great,” Erin said, stretching her arms high over her head, “but I’m glad it’s over. All that led up to it was nerve-wracking.”

  It was Monday morning and, as she faced her partners across her French provincial desk at Wives-R-Us, she brimmed with happiness. The arrangement of their workspaces in the office allowed her to look into their faces as they talked, and she wanted to gauge their reactions when she told them her news.

  Margo reclined in her yellow leather chair, leafing through a window treatment catalogue, trying to find something suitable for her current client’s bachelor pad. Lea was sitting at her black enamel table desk, studying her fingernails.

  “It was tiring,” Margo agreed, “but I enjoyed the brief getaway. There’s a lot to be said for shacking up in a hotel with my handsome hubby.” She rolled her eyes and licked her lips. “I’m glad you didn’t have to borrow Brit for the ceremony, Erin.”

  “The reason it was tiring, Margo, is all that time you spent in your room,” Lea said. Pulling a bottle of nail polish out of a drawer, she began adding a fresh coat to her coral-coloured nails. “You two were missing half the time.”

  “There’s something about hotel rooms that turns me on,” Margo said, chuckling.

  “What doesn’t?” Lea asked, and they all laughed. “So what’s up with you and Derek, Erin? Are you two next to tie the knot?”

  Erin folded her hands tightly on her desktop, savouring her news and unwilling to give it away too fast. “I’m still in shock that he’s an attorney with half-ownership of a law firm and the owner of a marvellous house in downtown Indy. You should see it, Margo. Talk about bachelor pads! This one is amazing, but it’s also well-suited to family living. It’s set on a hill, and it’s all stone and glass and modern with huge rooms and a terrace and a kidney-shaped swimming pool.” Her pussy tightened just thinking about what they’d done there. “It’s beautifully furnished, it’s his dream house. It’s almost anyone’s dream, but…”

  “Not yours?” Lea asked, waving her hands even though her nails must be dry by now.

  “No…yes. I could live there and love it.” She couldn’t hold back her news any longer. “Derek proposed but I haven’t given him a definite answer yet.”

  “Why in hell not?” Margo demanded, tossing a catalogue on the floor. “What are you waiting for?”

  “I don’t know about Joe—if he’d be happy there.”

  “He’d love a swimming pool in his back yard,” Margo said.

  Erin nodded. “And the pool table Derek has on the lower level, and since Joe goes to boarding school, moving to another area wouldn’t affect his friendships.” It would be an adjustment for her son, but she intended to give him and Derek some time to get to know one another before the marriage. “Joey is mature for his age. I guess that’s one good thing about the school, and I believe he’ll come around just fine.

  “However, there’s another issue…” This was one that would be less easy to solve and the reason she’d asked Derek to give her a couple of days to work things out. “What about Wives-R-Us? If I move into Derek’s house, which is what he wants and I do too, it’s unlikely anyone would buy my home and let us continue to maintain a business on the premises. I wa
s fortunate to win an exception from the zoning board in the first place, and if the property changes hands, there’s a good chance the board will reverse their decision.”

  “So-o…” Lea’s tone caught Erin’s attention immediately. “Have either of you ever thought about closing the business?” Lea asked.

  “Have you considered it?” Erin demanded, leaning forward in her chair.

  “What would we do without Wives-R-Us?” Margo asked. “I’d get bored staying home every day.”

  Erin spoke slowly, taken aback by Lea’s suggestion. “It may be different for Lea with twins at home and Mike working out of the house.”

  “It is.” Lea studied her nails and Erin knew this wasn’t easy for her. “I’d like to take Julie and Jon to the park and zoo and other places they enjoy. You know I wanted children but Doug didn’t, and now I feel like I’m missing the best part of it. Their sitter gets to do all the fun things with them and Darlene is good, but it’s a job to her, and I feel they need a mother’s love. They’re either with her or at nursery school, and since their real mom has never cared about them, I think Julie and Jon need me. I also like being there for Mike when he’s between patients and wants to talk.” Lea smiled. “Or cuddle. However, I didn’t want to walk out on the two of you, so I haven’t said anything.”

  “Maybe you could work from home,” Margo suggested.

  “With twins tugging at me to do this and that? If had to say ‘no’ to them every time they wanted something, that would defeat my purpose.”

  Margo nodded, and Erin waited for her comment.

  “Brit has been talking about a Mediterranean cruise, and closing our business would free me up to go. I might need another career down the road unless we decide to get pregnant.”

  “You’re considering a baby?” Erin squealed.

  Margo shrugged and smiled. “We’re just practicing making one for now, but I don’t think I’m too old if we decide that’s what we want.”