She ran to catch up to me. “Tommy.”
I kept moving.
She put her hand on my arm. “Tommy, stop.”
I halted and looked at her. “What?”
“I don’t think you’re stupid.”
I narrowed my eyes at her.
“I’m serious. I thought some bad things about you, but that’s not one of them.”
“Then, what were you going to say?”
“If you had let me finish, I was going to say, I can’t believe people read physical books anymore.”
“Oh.” I had overreacted. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m guessing, that’s happened to you before? Where someone assumes you lack intelligence?”
“Once or twice.”
“I’m sorry people do that. I have the opposite problem. Everyone thinks I’m super smart because I’m Asian.”
I wrinkled my forehead. “But you are smart.”
She leaned forward and whispered, “But I’m horrible at math. There’s a reason I became an attorney and not a doctor or scientist.”
I chuckled. “Come on. Let’s go look at the books.”
We made our way to the books and started looking around.
“We can always go to Barnes & Noble if you can’t find what you want here.”
I picked up a book and started reading the synopsis. “Nah, I’m okay. I’ll find something. Thanks for the offer.”
I looked at about six books before I decided on two. One was the book I had been reading since the plane ride here—I didn’t care about spending money on another copy—and the second book was for when I finished my current read.
“I’m ready,” I said. “Do you need anything else before we leave?”
“Nope. I’m good.”
We left the book aisle, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw who was standing over by the video games.
Hasn’t enough bad stuff happened today?
“What’s wrong?” Olivia asked me.
I pointed in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go. “Let’s go that way. I’ll explain later.”
“Ok—”
“Hey, asshole.”
“Fuck,” I said under my breath. “Hold this.” I handed her my shopping basket.
I stepped around her and squared my shoulders. “Frank.”
The asshole from the airport just had to be here at the same time I was. At least he was alone.
“Lucky meeting you here.”
“I would more go with unlucky.”
Frank barked out a laugh. “You’re funny. Which is good because you need to make up for the fact that you’re a pussy.” Frank looked around me, trying to see Olivia.
I tried to block her, but she made it easy on him by stepping out beside me.
“Your man is a pussy, did you know that?” Frank grinned. “Did he tell you about what happened at the airport and how I almost kicked his ass?”
I knew I shouldn’t say anything because someone like this was just looking for trouble, but my pride wouldn’t let it slide. “For fuck’s sake. You didn’t almost kick my ass. I told you I didn’t want to fight.”
And when I thought the situation couldn’t be worse, Franny showed up. “What’s this dickhead doing here?”
“He’s trying to tell me I didn’t almost kick his ass last week,” he told his sister.
She snorted. “He’s lying. Like when he said he didn’t touch me.”
“How do you two function when you are constantly getting your facts wrong?”
“What do you mean?” Frank asked.
The fact that he was asking me instead of telling me I didn’t know what I was talking about proved that I was right.
“First of all, I never said I didn’t touch you,” I said to Franny.
I saw Olivia’s head jerk back at my words and tried not to wince. Let me finish explaining, Liv.
Franny snickered. “Ha.”
I sighed. “I said, I technically touched you, Franny, because you’d tried to touch me first. On my dick. I simply removed your hand from my private area. So, yes, I touched you but not in the way you are implying. You were the perpetrator, not me.”
Franny’s face turned red, and she clenched her fists.
“And, Frank, I’m not a pussy.” I pointed to my chest. “See, I am smart enough to know when to fight and when not to fight. I was literally trained to do these things. And you, Frank, are not worth fighting.” I grabbed Olivia’s hand. “Let’s go. I’m done with these two.”
As we walked away, I heard Franny say, “Are you just going to let him talk to you like that?”
“Shut up, whore.”
Olivia stopped and tried to pull her hand out of mine.
“Liv, they are not worth it.”
“But he just called his girlfriend a whore.”
“Actually, she’s his sister.”
Olivia’s mouth fell open. “That doesn’t make it any better.”
“I know. It’s awful, and he’s a dick, but there’s no point in arguing with them.”
“You’re right.”
I took a breath in relief. “Thank you.”
I moved to keep walking, but Olivia yanked on my hand again.
This time, she succeeded in getting her hand away from mine.
“Shit,” I said as I followed her back to Frank and Franny.
“You, sir, are the pussy. Only a pussy would call a woman a whore, especially his sister.”
“Shut up, bitch.”
Olivia gasped.
I could see this was going to escalate quickly if I didn’t do something to stop it, so I took the basket from her hand and picked her up in a fireman’s hold.
“Tommy, put me down.”
It was the smart thing to do because it stopped Olivia from fighting with Frank and Franny. And those two were too stunned to do anything more than stand there and stare at us.
“I told you, they’re not worth it.”
“He can’t go around, calling women whores and bitches.”
“I understand, but this is a fight you’re never going to win.”
She was silent.
But I didn’t trust it.
“You can put me down.”
“Nope. I don’t believe you. Last time you agreed with me, you marched back there and yelled at Frank.”
“You can’t just carry me through the store.”
“I already am. Besides, Addison gave me permission.”
“It was a joke.”
“Oh no, she was serious.”
“If anyone looks up my skirt and sees my ripped underwear and vagina, I’m going to kill you.”
“Don’t worry. Your skirt is long enough to cover you. No one gets to see that pretty pussy but me.”
“Tommy, you can’t say stuff like that in public.”
We were at the front of the store now, and a couple of heads turned our way.
“Shh…everyone’s looking at you,” I said as we reached the cash registers. I opted for the self-checkout.
“They’re looking at you because you’re carrying me.”
“Ma’am, are you okay?” a lady behind me asked. “Do I need to call security?”
“It’s tempting,” Olivia said. “But I’m fine. He just has a protective streak.”
I quickly ran my things over the scanner and paid for my stuff while Olivia assured the lady that she was safe. I was a little worried someone would stop me at the door and accuse me of kidnapping, but the greeter at the door was an older gentleman who smiled at me.
“I was married once,” he told me.
“We’re not married,” Olivia corrected the man.
The gentleman laughed. “Don’t let her go,” he said to my back. “She’s a keeper.”
“Sexist pig,” she muttered once we were outside.
“He just said you were marriage material. That’s a compliment.” I carried Olivia to the SUV and set her down, but I caged her in with my body. “Are you going to run back
in there?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “And give you the satisfaction of carrying me out again? No way.”
“Good.” I rotated my shoulder. “Because you’re heavy,” I teased.
She socked me in the gut. “Just get in and drive.”
20
Olivia
I was still fuming as Tommy drove to my house. I really, really hated being called a bitch.
I knew that Frank guy didn’t know me and had just called me a bitch because I had confronted him, but that word and I went way back.
I’d been called a bitch a lot in my life. Women had called me that because I didn’t want to hang out with them in high school. And guys had called me that because I didn’t want to go out with them. Just because I’d had better things to do with my time than party every weekend didn’t mean I was a bitch. And I shouldn’t let it bother me anymore. When I was a bitch, it was usually in court, and it helped me win a lot of the time. But my teenage self still hadn’t come to terms with the insult.
“You okay over there?” Tommy asked.
“I’ll be fine. I just hate assholes, is all.”
He put his hand on my thigh. “Me, too.”
It was at this time that I realized I wasn’t the only one who had been called names. “You okay?”
He looked at the rearview mirror and then at me. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because of those assholes.”
“Oh.” He laughed as he looked in the mirror again. “Nah, I’ve dealt with way worse people than them. They’re not worth our time and energy.”
I watched him look in the mirror one more time. “Why do you keep looking in the mirror?”
“Just making sure that no one is following us.”
I gasped and turned around. “Do you really think Frank and Franny are following us?”
“No. I’m afraid whoever sent you those letters is following you.”
A chill went up my spine. For a few hours, I had put the threats out of my head.
Tommy squeezed my thigh. “Don’t worry. No one is behind us.”
I was grateful that he was trying to comfort me, but I still couldn’t stop the images in my mind of someone following me home and breaking into my house. But then again, they didn’t have to follow me. They already knew where I lived.
And now, I had to wonder if I had led them there.
Have I been trailed without knowing?
I liked to think I was aware of my surroundings, but sometimes, my mind was caught up in my work, and I didn’t always pay close attention to the world around me.
I sighed and lay back against the headrest.
I wanted to think I was tough and didn’t need help or protection, but knowing that the person sending me threatening letters knew where I lived scared the bejesus out of me. I knew that me arguing with Tommy about calling the police was just a deflection of my fright. I had really wanted to believe that it was all a ploy for Tate to lose his case and end up in prison.
I was so lost in thought that I didn’t even realize we had pulled up to my house. It was a good thing I’d given him the address and he had a GPS in his phone.
Tommy went to turn off the ignition, and I put my hand on his arm.
“I’ll go in and open the garage door, so you can park in the garage. If someone really knows where I live, I don’t want them doing anything to Maddox’s SUV.”
He turned off the ignition anyway. “You’re not walking into that house alone. I’ll come back out and move it after I know the area is clear.”
I didn’t even pretend to argue because I didn’t want to go in by myself either.
Tommy grabbed his bag of things he’d bought from the store, and we walked up to the front door. Everything looked the same from the outside, which was only slightly reassuring. I unlocked the door, and we stepped into my foyer, where I gave him my security code.
Tommy locked the dead bolt once we were inside. “Stay here. I’m going to check all the rooms.”
I nodded.
It felt like forever for Tommy to go through my house, which wasn’t even that big. When he went down into the basement, I began to wring my hands. Every horror movie I’d ever seen flashed in my brain. There could be someone hiding down there.
When I heard his heavy footsteps pounding on the stairs as he came back up, I released the breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding.
He walked over to me and folded his big hands around my neck in comfort. “Hey, you okay?”
“I don’t know.”
“I know you said you wanted to stay here, but we can always go back to Brook Creek. If we do stay though, I will make sure that you are safe. This is your home, and no one should scare you out of your own place.”
I let my purse slide off my shoulder and onto the floor. I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I know we don’t know each other that well, but I really need you right now.”
Tommy leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. “I understand.” He put his arms behind my back and under my knees, picked me up, and carried me to my bedroom.
He gently laid me on my mattress and stepped back. He took off his shirt and went for his pants. I followed his lead and removed my clothes. When I got to my torn underwear, I threw them toward my bathroom. They were garbage now.
Tommy dropped down on the bed over me and took my mouth. He gently pressed his tongue against mine, and I moaned.
We kissed for a few minutes, my desire for him rising. My breasts felt heavy, and I was wet. He ran a hand down my body, thumbing my nipple and pinching it. He continued further south and grabbed his cock in his hand. He rubbed the head of his thickness against me and gently pushed inside me.
I yanked my mouth from his and threw my head back with a gasp.
He was so large, and my walls stretched to accommodate him. A few days ago, I had been afraid he would break me in two, and now, here I was, loving the way he filled me. I thought if he were even a centimeter bigger, I wouldn’t be able to handle all of him, but instead, he was perfect.
I clutched at his back as he slowly thrust into me and kissed and sucked on my neck. It felt incredible to be surrounded by him, and it pushed all the bad thoughts out of my mind, just like I’d wanted it to.
I ran my hands all over Tommy’s body as he began to move faster and harder. I lifted my legs, so he could drive into me deeper.
I felt and heard his breathing quicken, and I knew he was close. I wasn’t going to come, but it still felt good, and I loved that my body was making him feel good, too.
When he grabbed on to my shoulders as his body shuddered and his cock jerked inside me, I held him.
We lay for about five minutes or so, just embracing each other, our bodies still connected.
Tommy stirred and gradually withdrew from my body. He kissed each of my breasts and moved off my bed to the floor. He pulled me around, so I was open to him, and without warning, he licked my pussy and sucked on my clit.
My back arched at the sudden stimulation. I was already worked up from having sex, and this was the cherry on top of the sundae.
He continued to eat me out for the next fifteen minutes or so, and I thought it was the best head of my life. The fact that he had come inside me minutes before and that he hadn’t made me clean up or anything was so hot that I could climax from that thought alone.
A guy who was confident, who didn’t care if his cum was on me and inside me and didn’t hold back as he ate me like I was his favorite meal, was incredibly sexy.
I wanted it to last forever, but all good things had to end, so when I knew I couldn’t hold off on coming any longer, I let go.
My orgasm washed over me like a wave. I pictured the way an atomic bomb started in the center and fanned out over the land. My chest was heaving, and I was so sensitive that I had to gently nudge Tommy to stop.
He stood over me, hard again, and I brushed my fingers over his erection.
He picked me up and moved me to
the center of the bed before he climbed over me. I opened my legs and welcomed him into my body once more.
21
Tommy
After Olivia fell asleep, I put on my jeans and moved Maddox’s SUV into the garage. Then, I went around the house again to make sure every door and window was secured. Lastly, I double-checked that the security system was armed. It would be helpful if she had surveillance along with the alarm. Maybe that was something I could convince her to do in the future.
I was glad that we were going back to Brook Creek tomorrow because while Olivia might be right about her theory of who was behind her threats, I’d feel safer with her out of town.
Tomorrow was Friday, and then the weekend was Brook Days. I hoped that the fun and games would relax her some. And then, if we were lucky, the police would figure out something before she was due to return to work.
I went to the kitchen in search of something that I could make for dinner. We’d had a late lunch, but I was already hungry. Appetizers didn’t fill me up for very long.
I found some beef in the freezer and noodles and spaghetti sauce in the pantry. After a few more cupboard searches, I found the frying pan and a pot to boil water. My last find was pure luck, seeing as she might not have bread in the house when she’d planned to be gone for a week, but there was a loaf of French bread in the freezer, too.
I got to cooking and turned on the news to keep me company.
When I was finished, I went to check on Olivia. She was still sound asleep. I thought about waking her to eat but opted to keep her food warm instead. I grabbed my book out of my Walmart bag and sat down at the kitchen island to eat and read.
About forty-five minutes later, Olivia shuffled out of her room in my T-shirt with tired eyes.
I set my book on my chest from my spot on the recliner. “You okay?”
She ran her fingers through her hair. “Yeah. How long did I sleep?”
“I’m not sure exactly but around an hour and a half.”
“Wow.” She sniffed the air. “What’s that delicious smell?”
“Dinner.” I pointed to the kitchen. “You hungry?”
Take Me in the Dark (Take Me #2) Page 9
