by Lucy Score
“What suspicious activity did you suspect?” Eva asked, leaning into him and sliding her hands under his sweatshirt.
“I suspected a beautiful woman was sleeping alone.”
“Such a crime.” She brought her palms around to skim over the ripple of his abs. “I thought you were spending time with your parents?” Eva said, stepping into his grasp.
“Those lightweights passed out as predicted. I snuck out,” he said, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose.
“Sneaking out to your girlfriend’s house?” Eva tut-tutted. “You’re going to be in so much trouble.”
“I’m hoping you’ll make it worth my while,” he whispered, trailing his lips down her neck. “What are you wearing?” He stroked over the lace at her side.
“It’s just a slip thing.”
“I like it. I’ll try not to rip it when I take it off you.” He picked her up and followed the light to her bedroom. Eva unwound her legs from his hips and gasped as they fell on the bed together. He was already hard for her, and the sweatpants were easy for her to shove down his legs using her heels.
Donovan groaned when he discovered there was nothing underneath the slip. “Jesus. You were made to drive me crazy.” He pushed her higher against the pillows and gently pressed her knees apart.
“Lose the shirt,” Eva breathed, yanking on the back of his t-shirt.
He yanked it overhead and threw it blindly. Fully naked now, Donovan put his hands behind her thighs and lowered his mouth to her bared center. The brush of lips and tongue had Eva drawing in air through clenched teeth, hissing against the pleasure he sparked.
“You taste like perfection,” he murmured against her folds.
Eva fisted her hands into the sheets. “Oh, g-g-god.”
He fed on her, using leisurely strokes of his tongue to drive Eva wild. Her knees fell open, and she begged him for more with shallow thrusts of her hips. In the soft lamp light, she looked down and decided she’d never seen anything sexier than Donovan’s head between her legs, a devilish gleam in his eyes.
She took that gleam as a challenge and shoved him backwards. Surprise lit those blue eyes now. Surprise and need. Eva pushed him onto his back, and when she positioned herself over his head and leaned down to take his thick cock into her mouth, he groaned.
“Marry me,” Donovan rasped.
She didn’t have to answer. Her mouth was full of him. Eva slid her lips over his crown and smiled to herself when she heard his sharp intake of breath. His hands dug into her arms harder than he probably intended. She used the flat of her tongue to slide up his shaft and heard Donovan murmuring something like a prayer behind her.
She was feeling full of herself when she added her hand and worked him with mouth and fingers. His muscles were so tense beneath hers. She felt powerful. His body was perfection. Big and muscled. So hard. She just wanted to bite those muscular thighs.
God, she had a thing for Donovan’s thighs.
It was then that he remembered what he had access to. She cried out when he slid two fingers home and flexed them just enough, skimming over exactly the right spot. “I want to die doing this,” he whispered, bringing his mouth to her slit.
Eva gasped at the magic of his mouth. “Just not right now, okay?” she breathed out.
His reply was lost as he buried his face against her. His tongue and fingers worked to bring her to a frenzy. Through the haze of lust blinding her, Eva did her best to keep up, to drive him insane. He was achingly hard, and she was so eager to please.
His free hand clamped onto her hip, holding her in place whenever she tried to wriggle free. It was building. She could feel the need taking her higher and higher out of her body as if she were cresting a wave.
“Donovan?” She said his name to ground herself. She didn’t want to get lost. But it was too late for that.
He slipped his fingers into her again, and she came, clutching and begging. She saw fireworks behind her closed lids. Pops of color that shimmered and glowed as she rode out her release.
“There is nothing sexier in the world than you coming for me,” Donovan said, twisting under her. He tossed her to the mattress facedown and closed her hands over the rungs in her headboard. “Hold on for me, baby.”
“Hurry, Donovan,” she breathed.
He stroked his hand over her shoulder, down the arch of her back and across the curve of her hip. He pushed the lace and silk of her slip up until she was exposed. “You’re my every fantasy come true, Evangelina,” he told her.
She bit her lip to keep from blurting out the words that were clogging her throat. There was too much to fix before she could say them.
“Now, Donovan. Please!”
With great care, he lined himself up to her entrance and pushed into her. Eva felt the words she longed to say replaced with an uncontrollable whimper as he finally filled her. Her knuckles went white from her grip on the spindles.
Donovan’s shout of triumph was cut off. “Shit. Damn it, Eva.” He stilled in her. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“What?” she hissed the word out, not caring what the problem was as long as he didn’t leave her.
“I forgot the condom.”
“Birth control.”
“Yes. That’s what a condom is,” Donovan growled, his fingers digging painfully into her hips.
“No. I’m on birth control.”
“You’re okay with—”
“God, yes. Donovan, if you don’t start moving right now, I’m going to die, and this moment will be your life-long regret.”
“Yes, ma’am. I live to serve.”
And serve he did.
Bare, with nothing between them, Donovan stroked in and out of her. Eva dropped her face into the pillow because breathing no longer mattered. Nothing did but the feel of the man inside her, behind her, above her. She felt raw, vulnerable, exposed. But she didn’t feel scared. She felt… free.
He pushed her to her knees, and her spine bowed.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he said in staccato bursts between his powerful thrusts. “Eva.” He gritted her name out through his teeth.
In response, Eva rose on her hands and looked over her shoulder. His face was tight, the cords in his neck standing out as he fought for control. She’d taken him here. Let him take her with him.
Her muscles clenched and closed over him, and she knew he felt it, felt her.
He groaned, beads of sweat making their way down his expanse of chest. She couldn’t look away. She wanted to watch him as they went off together. She wanted to see him the first time he lost himself in her with nothing keeping them apart.
Her muscles quickened around his shaft. “I feel you, baby. I know you’re ready. Touch yourself,” he commanded.
Eva would have done anything the man asked in that moment. She brought her fingers to the apex of her thighs, and as Donovan pumped into her she stroked herself to a blinding orgasm. She felt him tense on the first explosion. He levered his hips into her and held firm with a half-shout. She came like that, with him buried inside her, pouring his own release into her.
Hot, pulsing need was finally fulfilled. He was moving again, more gently now as he drew out both their orgasms with a slow, smooth ride.
Eva flopped face down with a satisfied moan and Donovan collapsed on top of her.
“I’m so glad you snuck out,” she said into the pillow.
He grabbed her by the hair, lifting her face out of the bedding. “Huh?”
“Glad you snuck out,” she repeated.
He let her face fall back into the pillow and laughed softly as he gathered her to him. “Me, too. You’re worth getting grounded over.”
Eva giggled. “I bet you were a Boy Scout of a teenager. Probably never got in trouble. Never came home after curfew. I’d even wager that when your parents left you home alone, you never threw a wild party. You were a good boy who grew into a good man.”
“You ma
ke that sound like a bad thing.”
“On the contrary, there’s something awfully sexy about a white knight with a heart of gold. Makes me want to dirty you up a bit.”
He bit her ear lobe and made her gasp.
“Baby, you dirty me up a lot,” he promised. “I bet you were grounded all the time. Weren’t you?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Never.”
“How did you manage that?” he asked, biting her on the shoulder.
“You’re saying you don’t believe I was a sweet little angel?”
“You’re going to try to sell me on that after you shoved my face between your legs and begged me to make you come? I think you were a bad girl who grew up to be a badass woman.”
“Heat of the moment,” she argued. “You can’t take conversation during sex seriously.”
Donovan buried his nose in her hair. “You can with me. I love you. We’re getting married. And you’re so fucking hot.”
“You’re insane. Uranus has blinded you,” Eva murmured as her heart did a cartwheel in her chest.
“Your incredible body has blinded me. Now, back to how you never got grounded.”
“I was sneakier than my sisters.”
“That doesn’t surprise me in the least. Example?”
“I’d go to bed, wait until everything was quiet, and sneak out the back door. I’d stash my pajamas in the shrubs behind the house so when I got home I could change in the yard. If Dad ever caught me—which he did once or twice—I just told him I heard a noise outside.”
“Franklin believed you were going all scary movie heroine instead of being a bad party girl?”
“I think he wanted to believe it. And I was convincing. I’d mess up my hair. I even had my retainer out there. No one would believe I went to Tammie Germanski’s party with my retainer.”
“You are a natural sneak. Why is that? I’d think, as the baby, you’d be allowed to get away with everything.”
She yawned. “I didn’t want to worry everyone.” She snuggled in a little closer to his chest. “They already thought I’d fall apart over Mom leaving so I tried not be too much trouble.”
“That’s a big burden to carry,” Donovan said. He was stroking his hand up and down her arm, and it felt so good. Every cell in her body felt good.
“Small price to pay to keep my family safe.”
“Safe?” Donovan prodded.
“I mean happy. They deserve to be happy. And so do you.”
“And you’re going to make that happen?”
Eva yawned again. She was going to sleep for a million years in these arms.
“Whatever it takes. I’ll make sure no one ruins it.”
“Who’s trying to ruin it?”
“Parents ruin everything…” Eva’s voice trailed off as she fell asleep wrapped in the safety of Donovan’s arms.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
To: Beautification Committee
From: Bruce Oakleigh
Subject: Banquet
Hello, fellow B.C. members,
Bruce Oakleigh, president, here. As you are aware, one of our founding members, Hazel Cardona, has returned to town. Some of you have expressed an interest in hosting a Beautification Committee Past and Present banquet. I feel such an occasion would call for an exciting interactive presentation on every match in our history.
Personally, I feel that if we are to do justice to all of our happy matches, we should spend a minimum of five minutes on each couple. Who in our little group is adept at PowerPoint and available to conduct interviews by say next Tuesday?
Yours in matching success,
Bruce Oakleigh
--------
Eva kissed Donovan good-bye after a naked breakfast of cold cereal while the world was still dark. It was barely five a.m., but he wanted to sneak home before his parents got up, and she had plotting to do. She’d slept without dreams, which was unusual for her. Even in sleep, her imagination usually worked in overdrive.
But in the cold dark of morning, her mind was clear. Today was the day she was getting rid of Agnes for good. She channeled her nervous energy into two hours of writing, and by the time the sun came up, she was stalling out. She got up to pace, mindful of the coffee table this time. The picture on the mantel caught her eye.
It was her graduation day. She and her father were grinning like fools at Emma who was behind the camera. Gia stood next to her, wielding the dozen roses they’d chipped in to buy her. She remembered that day vividly. Eva had always wanted them to be proud of her like she was of them. And that was the first time she’d felt like she’d really caught a glimpse of that pride.
She traced a finger over the frame. She’d do anything for her family. Eva guessed that made them her Achilles’ heel.
Her lips curved in a slow, fierce smile as an idea formed. It was more satisfying than figuring out the perfect plot twist. She was clearing the path to her own happily ever after.
Eva dressed quickly and applied make-up as if it were war paint. Satisfied, she gave her reflection a final nod and then marched out the door.
“You’re leaving today, mother. And you’re never coming back,” she rehearsed in the car. “No. Too personal. You’re leaving today, Agnes. Yeah. A little disinterested like she’s an annoying gnat.”
The B&B was just minutes from Donovan’s house, she noted, turning down the tree-lined drive. At the Y in the road, she followed the signs left toward the Blue Moon B&B. The right appeared to lead to the neighboring winery and the mysterious Davis Gates that the Beautification Committee was so enthusiastic about.
Interesting.
Eva’s Mini cruised up the paved path, and she brought it to a stop to gawk at the oddball splendor. The structure rose three-stories and sprawled over half the manicured lawn. Turrets, adorned with jewel-toned shingles squatted on the peaked roof. The porch, a wide avenue of stained wood, wrapped around both sides of the house. Stained glass, ivy, and a comical crescent moon weather vane were the icing on the sugary sweet cake.
She refused to be distracted by the whimsy of the place. Nope. Not even the fluffy dogs romping in the side yard were going to dull her temper. Her mother was inside this hippie fantasy, and one of them was leaving today and never coming back.
Eva strode onto the porch and pushed open the front door. A fairy bell tinkled above her head.
A door on the far side of the front desk swung open. “Oh, hey, Eva!” Eden’s bright greeting came from behind a mound of steaming biscuits. She wore a ruby red apron over slim black pants and a white button down. What kind of woman baked in a white shirt? Eva wondered.
Eva’s stomach growled, distracted by the heavenly scent of fresh baked carbs. She’d burned off the cereal hours ago thanks to her writing sprint and furious plotting.
“Hi, Eden. Is Agnes around?” she asked, staring at the platter of cloud-like biscuits.
“Sure. Follow me. She’s in the dining room. You can join us for breakfast.”
Eva, a sneaky observer of human behavior, detected the slight edge in Eden’s tone. Agnes had that effect on people.
“Okay. Sure,” Eva decided. She’d have to postpone the smack down until she could get Agnes somewhere more private. But at least she could eat one of those gorgeous biscuits.
She found Agnes sneering at The Weekly Monthly Moon at the far end of the dining table. She was dressed in a ratty off-the-shoulder sweater. Her denim-clad leg was jiggling, fingers were tapping a distracting beat on the hardwood. The rest of the guests seemed to pick up on the unfriendly vibe and hovered around the opposite end of the massive table.
Eva flashed an apologetic smile at them and took the chair next to her mother.
“About damn time,” Agnes rasped without looking at her. “You bring my money?”
“Why don’t we talk about this somewhere more private?” Eva suggested.
“What? You don’t want an audience,” Agnes sneered in the direction o
f the guests at the other end of the table. They studiously avoided eye contact, and Eden cheerfully distracted them by launching into the day’s weather report.
Eva rolled her eyes at Agnes and rose. “You know what? I don’t have time for this today. Or ever.” She grabbed a biscuit off the platter, hefted it in her palm. “I’m going to go talk to Eden about settling your bill, and then you can hit the road.” She headed for the door.
Damn if it didn’t feel good to be the one walking away for once. She took a victorious bite of the biscuit. It was hot and flaky on her tongue.
She made it as far as the front desk.
“That’s quite a mansion Emmaline got for herself,” she said casually. “Looks like she’s done well for herself,” Agnes said casually from behind her.
Eva said nothing. Usually, a vague threat like that would have her jumping for her checkbook. But not this time.
Agnes’s eyes narrowed. “I’m thinking about hanging around here. There’s this little yoga place in town. Maybe I should drop in?” Agnes let the comment hang there.
Eva casually took a bite of biscuit. “So, you’re into yoga now? Better than prescription drugs, I guess.”
The woman that gave her life scowled at Eva. “I saw that fancy husband of Gianna’s walking the kids to school. Maybe they’d like a visit from Grandma?” Her smile was mirthless. “They look like they got money.”
Eva laughed, a short sharp bark.
The woman didn’t even know the names of her grandchildren. Had no idea how many she had. To Eva’s way of thinking, it was a good thing. Those kids didn’t need to be tainted by this woman ever calling their name on the street, laying any sort of claim on them.
“Oh really?” she asked coolly. “What exactly are you going to do? Demand their lunch money? Because I don’t think Gianna raised any pushovers.”
Agnes gave a sullen shrug. “I’m family. Families take care of each other.”
Eva saw it clearly for the first time, in the moment. Agnes knew what her buttons were. Family. Responsibility. Guilt. Well, her mother wasn’t the only one who could push.
