Raising her hands, Claudia backed down and kept her thoughts to herself. “If you have everything covered here, I am going to drive back to London tonight. We can meet at your house tomorrow night to discuss any paperwork and information you gather tomorrow.”
Stella eyes were drawn to Carly as she climbed from the bed and straightened her clothes. “Okay, I’ll call you when we get back.”
Claudia giggled and gathered her things together. Carly accompanied her to the door and hugged her. “Thank you for all your help today. We’d have been lost without you.”
With a quick kiss to Carly’s cheek, Claudia disappeared down the corridor and out of sight.
Carly marched back into the room to find Stella sipping from her bottle of water. “I think we should order something in for dinner tonight. Claudia went shopping and got us some clothes, so there’s no reason we should go out. Besides, my head is hurting, and I could do with resting up and getting my strength back ready for the morning.”
Stella took Carly in her arms and snuggled her against her body. “After the day we’ve had, I’m not surprised.” She pecked her lips as she pulled away from the embrace. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
“It’s part of my job. What type of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t look out for you?” With her emotions all over the place, Carly’s breath caught as she said the words, and tears formed in the corner of her eyes, and slipped free. A sob thundered from her throat as she aggressively grabbed hold of Stella and held on to her with dear life. “Why is this happening? I was so…worried about you…today!”
Stella’s eyes watered as she held the shaking woman. “I don’t know, baby, but it stops now! I promise you.”
Chapter Eighteen
Late in the afternoon the next day, Carly and Stella were on their way back to London. The emotional avalanche of the day before had taken its toll on them, and they both wanted to get home and spend some time with George.
The contractor had given them an estimate for the cost and told them the new building wouldn’t be completed for at least six months. However, that hinged on how long all the reports took to write and whether or not the insurance company would drag their heels in paying their settlement.
“How are you feeling?” Stella glanced to her side at Carly.
Carly twisted her head from side to side, stretching her muscles out. “Okay. However, I didn’t know it was possible to feel so exhausted without actually doing anything.”
“You’ve dealt with a lot over the last three days, and you have a concussion. If you didn’t feel tired, I’d be surprised.” She slid her hand over Carly’s thigh and gave it a brief squeeze. “Close your eyes and take a nap. I’ll wake you up when we’re on the outskirts of London.”
The only reply Stella received was deep and even breathing. Carly’s head was nestled into the plush leather headrest, and her eyes were closed.
“Sweet dreams, darling.”
It took longer than she anticipated as the traffic had been horrendous, but she breathed a deep sigh of relief as she steered her car off of the M25 onto the road that would take them home.
“Wake up, sweetheart.”
When Carly failed to respond, Stella reached over and shook her softly.
“Come on, love, we’ll be home in about twenty minutes.”
“Okay, I’m awake.” Carly’s voice was delightfully raspy with the remnants of her nap. She sat up in her seat and scrubbed the uninjured side of her face with her hand.
Carly struggled to stay awake, and her head fell backwards and forward all the way to the house. As she pulled into the driveway, Stella slammed on the brakes.
“What the hell?” Five cars were parked in a semi-circle around the front of the house. “I recognise three of the cars, but whose are the others?”
“Oh shit.” Carly squirmed in her chair. “That’s my parents’ car. They must have come home early to surprise me. I don’t know who the other belongs to.”
“Well, let’s find out shall we.” She shifted the car into gear and pulled up next to Claudia’s BMW.
As soon as the engine had been switched off, the front door flew open and George sprinted from the house towards them. He opened Carly’s door and climbed inside onto her lap.
He wrapped his short arms around her neck and kissed her cheek. “Hi, Aunt Carly.”
Stella bit back a chuckle. “Oh, so I’m chopped liver now?”
George sprang from Carly’s arms and into his mother’s. “I’ve missed you, Mum.”
Stella placed a kiss on his forehead and patted his back. “Missed you too, buddy. Now, shift your little butt and let’s get out of the car.”
“Okay.” George hopped from the car and waited while they gathered their belongings. When Carly reached him, he grabbed her hand and tugged at it to hurry her along. “I love Nana Gabby, she’s so much fun. She and grandpa Rus brought me loads of cool stuff from Spain. There’s even more Lego for us to build.”
Stella rolled her eyes as a beaming smile spread across her lips. “Just what we need, someone else to spoil him rotten!”
A hive of noise met them as they entered the house.
Helen rushed to their side and hugged them both. “Oh thank God, you’re finally home. Ever since the news broke about the explosion, the house phone has been inundated with calls from media agencies. They want to interview you both about what happened. The fire chief’s response to their questions is apparently not enough.”
“Well, that’s not going to happen.” Stella placed hers and Carly’s bags on the floor. “I’ll set Claudia on them and give her a statement to read out in a conference on our behalf. Now, what is going on here?”
Helen took their arms and led them across the hallway to the living room. “Everyone is here to support you both and make sure you’re okay. Once the story hit the main news channels last night, all the families rallied together.”
Gabby appeared behind them from the kitchen. “It even aired on the BBC World News channel that we watch.”
“Mum!” Carly fell into her mother’s arms. “You didn’t have to expedite your plans to come home.”
She took Carly’s face into her soft fingertips and turned it to the side to examine her injury. “Yes, we did. We were talking about it after we spoke to you on Skype, and the explosion made our minds up. We organised a cleaning crew for the house out there, packed up what we needed, and arrived home at midnight last night. I needed to see my baby to make sure she was okay.” Gabby’s eyes lingered on Stella. “Also to meet the woman and her son who have you so charmed. After spending the day with George, I can’t blame you for being completely enamoured with one half of the duo. He’s an intelligent, spectacular young man.”
Stella’s chest swelled at the compliment. “Thank you, that means a lot to me.”
Gabby released Carly and took the two steps necessary to capture Stella in a similar hug. “I’m sure once we spend some time together I’ll feel the same way about you. I can already tell by looking in my daughter’s eyes how happy she is.”
Helen cleared her throat and gestured to the living room with her arm. “We have other people waiting for you.”
Stella took Carly’s hand and led her into the throng of people. Her mouth dropped open as nine heads turned in their direction. “Wow, you did all rush to protect us.” Her gaze met Sophia’s as the older woman strode across the room and hugged her.
“I know that our only tie is George, but you’re still family. Josie and I were worried about you…both of you.” Sophia’s eyes landed on Stella and Carly’s joined hands.
Stella squeezed the smaller hand in hers. “That’s really kind of you, and I’m glad you’re all here.”
The room erupted into a cacophony of voices as all their friends and family descended on them. Hugs were exchanged and questions were called from everywhere. Stella and Carly were thrust close together, their breasts bumped against each other as they crowded around them.
“Okay, hold on a min
ute!” Stella held her hands up to get their attention. “We’ll answer your questions but not like this. We’re tired and need something to eat. I’ll order us all dinner, and we can sit around the dining room and discuss it like civilised human beings instead of us being squished in a scrum.”
George hustled out of the room and came back a few seconds later, waving a takeout menu. “Can I have chow mein and sweet and sour?”
Carly shook her head and ruffled his hair. “It looks like we’re having Chinese food for dinner.”
An hour later, the dining table was swarmed with a mass of plastic containers. The aroma of Chinese five spice, ginger, and garlic filled the air.
Stella and Carly tucked in with gusto. They fed each other small morsels as the conversation carried on around them.
Claudia cleared her throat. “Do you two need some time alone?” When they pulled away from each other, their faces were strawberry red. “Now that you’re back with us and your hunger is being sated, we need to talk about what our next move is.”
Stella wiped her mouth on her napkin and took a sip of wine. “There’s not going to be one.” She leant over and pecked Carly on the lips then took her hand. “Enough people have suffered because of a stupid plan I concocted to get some revenge. My beautiful Carly is one of them, and I won’t see her hurt anymore.” She turned Carly’s head with her fingertips so she could look into her eyes. “From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry you were injured and have been pulled into this stupid media circus.”
“You forget that it was of my doing that I was hurt. It’s not your fault!” Carly reached for water to wet her suddenly dry mouth. “I wasn’t going to let Delia hurt you and acted on instinct.”
“Claudia, we’ll get together tomorrow and write a press release to address the concerns the media has about the explosion. But after that, it’s over. Have the forensic accountant continue his investigation and hand all of his finding to the crown prosecution services for further action. We’ll take whatever action is needed to replace managers and other staff as the need arises. This whole revenge vendetta is over. I’ll never allow someone I care so deeply about to be put in harm’s way ever again.”
Claudia slammed her hand down hard on the table-top. “Stella! None of this is your fault! Delia had a screw lose. How were any of us to know she was that unstable?”
“Her little rampage through the club after hitting me should’ve given us some indication. But we could have no idea she was going to use her car as a bomb to blow the place up.” Carly reached for a container. “Anyway, I agree with Stella. Let’s draw a line underneath everything and let the professionals hang them out to dry. I’ll start with the remodels and implement my new plans when I get back to work.”
“Okay, that’s enough now.” Helen laid her hands-on Carly’s shoulders, and glared at everyone around the table. “The girls are tired, and I think they’ve had more than enough for one night. Let’s finish our dinner and leave. The best way we can support them is to be here for them whenever they need us, and until then, we need to give them some space.”
“Thank you.” Stella mouthed to her mother as she winked at her and slumped back into her seat.
***
Once everyone had left and they’d bathed George and got him into bed, Stella and Carly flopped down onto the sofa. Stella tugged Carly in her arms and kissed her fervently, projecting everything she was feeling into that one erotically charged moment.
Carly’s fingers tugged at Stella’s hair as she tilted her head and welcomed her tongue into her mouth, and dual moans echoed around the house. She pulled her mouth from Stella’s, her breathing laboured. “I know we should be exhausted, but after everything that’s happened, I need to feel you and have you make love to me.”
Stella caressed Carly’s face with the back of her fingers. “We should’ve gone straight to bed.”
Carly’s hands slipped down from her hair over her shoulders and travelled lower until they touched the fabric against Stella’s toned stomach. “We need to be careful that George doesn’t walk in on us. He was pretty tired when we put him to bed and should be asleep by now. We could head up now, and by the time we’ve taken our showers and are ready for bed he’ll be definitely be out cold.” Her hand was swallowed by Stella’s larger paw, and with one tug, she was on her feet.
As they hurried towards the stairs, Stella turned the lights off and locked the door. Carly bit her lower lip to quell a shriek as she was hoisted into Stella’s strong arms and carried to the bedroom.
Stella laid Carly on the bed and crawled over her and kissed her again. Carly pulled back and gazed up at her. “Before we get too carried away, I think you need to check on George. I know I’m being paranoid. I really don’t want to get caught making love to you or vice versa.”
Stella chuckled as she climbed from the bed. The white door to his bedroom was not fully shut, so she peeked inside the room. George was flat out on his stomach, cuddling his pillow. An adorable snore emitted from under the duvet.
Carly was not waiting for her on the bed when she returned to the bedroom. But Stella’s bat-like hearing picked up the sound of running water in the en-suite. Stella giggled as she stripped from her clothes and left a trail across the room as she made her way to Carly.
The bathroom door swung open as she was reached for the handle. Carly stood gloriously naked in front of her. The light from behind enhanced each exquisite feature and her sublime body shape.
They fell into each other arms, devouring and exploring every piece of skin they could kiss or touch. Carly didn’t waste another second, pushed Stella back onto the bed, and kneeled over her.
Her aggressiveness was shocking, and Stella’s already screaming libido rose like lava through her entire body. The hot wetness of Carly’s tongue enveloped one of her nipples and caused her to buck and thrust the small bud of nerves further into Carly’s mouth.
“Damn, I could easily come like this.”
Another surge of wetness gathered between her legs. A sound, something akin to a growl, left her throat as she pushed down on the bed with her legs and upper body and rolled them over.
Carly threaded her hands in her hair as Stella’s mouth worked its way lower. She shifted on the bed and raised one of her legs, inviting Stella to continue her journey south.
The sudden touch of Carly’s strong thigh against her swollen clit made Stella break their connection, she threw her head back and emitted a loud groan as she pressed harder on to it.
Their eyes locked together as the passion that infused them rose. Stella placed her hand on Carly’s chest and trailed it temptingly lower and stopped to stroke and pinch at each nipple before she continued downwards.
The wetness she encountered made her head swim. Oh God, there’s nothing I want more than to bury my head in between those soft creamy pillows of flesh. But I want to watch her as she climaxes!
As her hand slipped into the beautiful slickness, she pressed the pad of her finger against the small-engorged bud she knew would drive Carly crazy. Stella slipped two fingers into Carly’s opening and groaned at the tightness and creaminess she discovered. Her own wetness ran from her core as Carly bit down on her bottom lip and surged her thigh harder into her centre.
“Oh, yes, Stella, like that. Please, baby.”
If she wasn’t so absorbed in the moment, Stella would’ve grinned at her girlfriend’s impatience.
Carly’s hand joined her thigh as Stella continued to rock against her, and Stella rose up to allow Carly entrance. The sensation of Carly’s fingers as they slid inside caused her to clamp her inner muscles down on them, and the pace of her hips increased.
With her next thrust into Carly, Stella added another finger. From the concentration and ecstasy on Carly’s face, Stella could see she was trying to hold her orgasm back. Stella kissed Carly on the lips and moved her mouth to her ear. “I’m close, baby. Don’t fight it. Let go.”
At the sensually whispered words, Carly tugge
d forcefully on the back of Stella’s hair, crashed their mouths together, and silenced her scream.
Carly’s inner muscles twitched and tightened against her fingers and pushed against them as she rode them faster and harder to seek further release. Her free hand ran down Stella’s back forcefully and left scratch marks from her nails in its wake.
The biting sensation sparked Stella’s own climax, a jolt of electricity swept through her, and she tumbled head first into one of the most powerful climaxes she’d ever experienced. Their mouths were still locked together as they muffled the sounds of their lovemaking.
As Stella’s orgasm ebbed, she laid her head-on Carly’s heaving chest, then rolled to the side of her to lay her head on the pillow. “Jesus! I think you’ve killed me. My legs and arms feel like jelly.”
A smile of smug satisfaction spread across Carly’s face as she edged closer and nudged her head into Stella’s left breast.
“I know exactly how you feel.” She tilted her head up and saw Stella’s eyes were already closed and her breathing was slowly returning to normal. “I can’t believe we even had the strength to make love. I also can’t promise I won’t wake you up again in the middle of the night to do it again.”
One of Stella’s eyes flew open, and she leant down and kissed the top of Carly’s head. “Mmm, I think we’ll be spending more nights together like this. You can come and stay whenever you like. I’ll even have you a key cut for when I’m not here.”
Carly sat up quickly. “You’re giving me a key to your house?”
“Sure, if I’m called away on business, there’s no reason for you not to see George. You can also use it if you get fed up at work and want to take an early day.”
She kissed Stella deeply. “I’m severely in like with you, Stella. You’re amazing, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.”
“I’m in serious like with you too, darling. Our future is unknown, but I promise to make it as interesting as I can and to always love and protect you.”
Absolute Betrayal Page 18
