She smiled and licked her lips one last time, preparing her mouth to take me. Then she swallowed me up. There was no tease, no subtle kissing, licking or stroking of my length. She just wrapped her lips around me and drove her head forward until I could feel the soft heat and wetness of the back of her throat.
Maybe she wasn't as vulnerable as I thought she was. Maybe she'd done this a thousand times already. She definitely wasn't the innocent sensible older nurse I had previously assumed.
But I didn't care or have the chance to dwell on my thoughts because the blood was draining away from my head. Every drop of it rushing toward her mouth.
I couldn't stop the groan that escaped my mouth as the purest pleasure invaded my body. It had been so long since I had felt the touch of a woman and being cooped up in here with all the young nurses fussing over me had been torture.
"Shhhh!"
She pulled away and slapped my thigh, angry that my moaning could get us caught.
"Sorry, I couldn't..."
"Shhhh!"
She slapped me again but it did nothing to dampen my feelings. I was more aroused than ever as I felt the sting of her slap still tingle on my skin. Looking down, I saw a red handprint on my pale thigh.
"Get up," I whispered.
Without hesitation, she jumped up, turned around and pulled her dress up around her waist.
"Be quick," she hissed. "Hurry!"
I pushed my hand between her legs and felt how her panties had been soaked through. Pulling them to the side to reveal her plump and shaved sex, I tentatively thrust two fingers inside her.
She grabbed a towel off the nearest shelf and held it to her face, biting down on it to stifle the scream that was waiting to explode from her. It made her body shake as though it was on the cusp of erupting.
Still biting down, she looked over her shoulder and pushed her ass out toward me. I didn't need to hear her speak to know what that meant. It meant hurry up.
I pulled out my fingers along with a stream of wetness as she let out a grunt of frustration.
"Fuck me," she said, her face still pushed up against the towel. "They'll be wondering where we are."
"You want me to fuck you?"
I trailed a finger down her back, sending goosebumps down her legs.
"Yes!"
I lingered the tip of my cock against her and she ground against it.
"Put it inside," she begged.
"Say please."
As much as I was desperate to fuck her, I was enjoying every second of tormenting her, watching her grow wetter and wetter the more I waited.
"Just put it inside," she moaned and I reached through her legs to grab me. "Fuck me!"
She pushed herself onto me and at last, we were both in heaven. I bit down on my lip to stop myself crying out but it was pointless because all around us, the shelves were shaking. Blankets rained down on us as I thrust into her, our bodies melting together.
It wasn't long until my thighs were shaking, barely able to hold my weight. I couldn't stop the intense and blissful orgasm that was gushing through every cell in my body.
Grabbing her arms and pulling them behind her back, I drove myself into her, our bodies sticking together with sweat.
I grunted through my teeth as I ejaculated, almost collapsing as my knees gave way. With a hand between her legs, she rubbed herself furiously as she trembled, her vagina clenching around me as she came.
Breathless and trembling, she released her body from mine and lowered her dress.
"Fuck," she gasped and clapped her hands to her cheeks that were now as red as my cock. "I need to go. Don't follow me or they'll know we were together."
"Do I not even get a goodbye kiss?"
She was already gone, the light from the hallway almost blinding me as she walked out. As I lifted my gown from the floor, I felt like a schoolboy that had just lost his virginity.
I knew I'd be seeing her again.
Chapter Five
ETTA
I didn't know how long I'd been sitting on the cold, tiled floor. It could have been minutes or hours. It was only when a sharp pain accosted my hand did I pull my attention away from the shuffling noise in the hallway. I saw that I'd been gripping the cologne bottle so tight a red imprint was burningon my skin.
Meanwhile, Craig was still mumbling to himself, still moving just inches beyond the door. I couldn’t imagine what he was doing. The noises gave nothing away but I knew that the longer I waited, the worse it was going to get.
He was growing angrier, more frustrated and the fact that he hadn't tried to break the door down already meant, at least in my mind, that he was plotting something, playing the long game.
Now, locked in a stalemate, there was nothing to do but wait. There was no point reasoning with him. He was now unhinged and irrational. Anything I said would be misinterpreted and anything he said would be indecipherable.
One of us was going to have to make the first move. But who?
I could feel my body becoming weak. With no memory of the last time I ate, I could feel my stomach clench tight with the beginnings of starvation. With no sense of time, I could only gauge how long I'd been in the house by how thin I was becoming. I was never a skinny girl but beneath the towel, I could feel my ribs and the angular shape of my hip bones.
At least I had tap water and for the time being, it was enough to help me survive. I'd worked as a medical professional long enough to know what dehydration could do to your body. It made your mind foggy, made your organs work at minimum capacity while your brain struggled to cope with the most basic of tasks.
Water. It was one thing to be grateful for in this horrendous situation.
Wary of turning my back on the door, I edged back toward the sink before bending down to suck at the faucet. I swallowed enough water to feel my belly swell like a balloon before dashing back to the door.
I needed to feel ready, needed to know I had the upperhand. Although right now it didn't feel as though either of us was in charge. We were both manic with exhaustion and fear.
"Fuck..."
I leaned my head against the door as a wave of nausea hit me. The water was heavy in my stomach, making me feel as though I was about to be sick. Swallowing a deep breath, I willed it to stay down.
This can't last much longer, I thought. It just can't. How long can we sit here?
How long would it take until someone found me?
Lincoln must have noticed I was missing but where the fuck was he? Did he not realize I was with Craig? Did he not think this was at least one of the places I was being held?
A sense of guilt flowed through me. He was probably out there trying his best to find me and I was sat in here chastising me for not getting here quick enough. I knew that he was on his way. I trusted him. In this chaotic world, I was sure of one thing. That he loved me and would do anything for me.
Just sit tight, I thought. It won't be long until he's here. He'll save you.
Yet, as much as I tried to steady my nerves, I wasn't sure that he would get here on time.
Outside the door, Craig was moving. I could hear his clothes brushing up against the wood, could hear his breath. As night fell and the house grew darker, I could now see a sliver of electric light beaming from the minute gap beneath the door.
Lying on my stomach, I tried to make out any shape or movement that would give me a clue as to what he was doing. I narrowed my eyes. There was something but I couldn't quite make it out. I approached a few more inches, pressing my face right up to the door.
I saw it clearer and my stomach dropped.
There were the frail ends of matted hair, something yellow and moist lined with red veins. The edge of a thick eyebrow.
He was looking right at me.
"Bitch," he spat as he pressed himself up against the door. "Bitch I'll kill you."
I reeled back and kicked my feet up against the door just in case he tried to barge his way in. He was angry and screaming profanities at me.
There was the leather squeak of his jacket as he reached for something.
Then a metallic swiping sound cut through the air followed by a flash of silver beneath the door. He'd forced a knife through, moving it from side to side as he tried to reach me.
"I'll kill you!"
In a moment of panic, I reached for the phone charger and brandished it by the end of the cable. I brought it down onto his hand, over and over again. Blood spattered up the door as the prongs lashed his fingers but he didn't cry out in pain, didn't even flinch. He just kept coming at me, oblivious to the injuries I was inflicting.
"Get the fuck away from me!"
With all my strength, I hit him one last time. The crack of his fingers echoed throughout the bathroom and this time, he couldn't fight the pain. He yelped and pulled his hand away and I took my chance. Grabbing the knife, I pulled it through the slit beneath the door just before he reached or it.
"Don't you dare!" he screeched.
But it was too late. Now I had a proper weapon, one I wouldn't hesitate to use.
Chapter Six
LINCOLN
"I'm going to marry her," I told myself as I gripped the steering wheel. "As soon as I find her, I'm going to marry her."
There was not a single doubt in my mind that it was the only thing to do. After all we'd been through, after everything that had happened to us, I knew there was no one better suited to me than her, and there never could be.
As I raced back toward Normont, the golden hue of the cornfields turning into gray concrete as I returned to the frozen north, I stepped on the accelerator. That bastard jobs worth sergeant had wasted enough of my time.
The weather changed with every passing mile, growing colder and colder, the wind picking up and shaking the car as the clouds became black and swollen, pregnant with an approaching burst of rain. My hands were growing sore but I was unable to loosen their grip. It was as though if I held on tigther and kept looking North to where she had to be, I'd get there faster.
My knuckles turned white as my palms grew sweaty but I didn't dare uncurl my fingers from around the soft leather that enveloped the wheel. Nor did I slow down even a fraction.
It felt as though I wouldn't be able to think, to breathe until I knew I could see her again.
"I'm going to marry her," I said. "And we're going to get the hell away from everything and everyone. I'm going to keep her safe. I'm going kill that motherfucker Craig."
I stepped on the accelerator with as much strength as my body could muster and cranked the engine up a gear. Up ahead, I could see every car move into the adjoining lane, knowing full-well I wasn't going to slow down.
"…fuck outta my way…"
Looking down at the speedometer, I saw I was hitting nearly a hundred miles an hour. The last thing I needed was a cop to pull me over but I didn't want to think about that. I just wanted to get back to the city. After all, if we weren't supposed to reach this speed then why did they build cars to go so fast?
At last, on the horizon, loomed Normont's skyline like a cubist painting with blocked overlapping structures in a series of grays and blacks.
It was easy to see why it wasn't a glamorous city like so many others. It was beyond dark. Beneath the black clouds it looked ominous, like anyone who entered was doomed to never leave. It was my home.
As I entered the packed out streets and the traffic began to slow my progress, I had no choice but to hit the brakes. Finally, I took what was something akin to a full breath and joined the end of the traffic jam. It was the morning rush hour and it was likely I could be stuck out here for at least an hour. But I didn't have an hour!
Part of me thought I could get out, abandon the car and run, but I knew that was just the anxiety and rage filled insanity within me thinking. That wouldn't do anything but leave me without a car only moving as fast as my feet would take me.
Gliding down the window, I let the city smells waft inside. It was the scent of diesel fumes and stressed out commuters. In a strange way, I'd missed it.
Poking my head out the window and looking up at the sky, I thought there was maybe the chance I could arrange for my helicopter to come get me. But then what? What were we to do? Fly over the city during a storm looking for Etta?
That was crazy, not to mention dangerous. I needed to be on the ground, needed to be winding my way through the streets. And the fewer people that knew, the better.
With the traffic still at a standstill and the rain beginning to batter down on the windshield, I had no choice but to glide the window back up and sit tight.
I shook with the sensation of being trapped, not just of being trapped in the car, but of being held within my own head, a slave to my misery and fear.
That's when I truly realized how scared I was. I was petrified. It wasn't a feeling I'd had often but now it was different. I was scared for Etta as I worried that she could be hurt. I didn’t care about what could happen to me. It was only her I thought of.
The fear I felt for her was so intense it ravaged my body, made me feel as though I was losing my mind and made my hands twitch and shake like I was having physical withdrawals.
Then the tears came.
They dripped down my shirt, soaking themselves through to my skin. It felt as though my body was folding up, crumpling with the stress and grief of losing her. In the moment I was certain that I'd never see her again.
She’s gone forever.
I sobbed into my hands until I was shuddering against the steering wheel, the supple leather becoming slick with saltwater.
There were times when I tried to take a breath, tried to slow the swell of sadness that overwhelmed me but any fleeting second of calmness was washed away by a tidal wave of anger and frustration.
Beside me, a mom in a beat up people wagon with rusty wheels and a spluttering engine noticed me. She leaned out and tapped the window, the sides of her eyes creasing with concern. Running a hand through her graying hair, she looked as though she was ready to fall asleep behind the wheel. Meanwhile, behind her, her children were staring at me, scared, as though I was an alien.
"Hey, you're Lincoln Bosworth, aren't you?"
I wasn't sure if she was genuinely concerned for me or if she wanted to take a picture.
"Sorry," was all I could say as I wiped the back of my hand across my eyes. "I didn't mean to worry you."
She leaned into the back seat and pulled out one of her kids’ backpacks. A moment later, she was handing over a tissue and a candy bar.
"I'm sorry. It's all I can give you," she said.
It was the purest act of kindness. She didn't have to do a thing. She could have taken a candid picture of me and sold it around the world. People would just love to see the billionaire inventor sobbing his heart out in his car.
"Thanks," I managed to say although my throat was red raw.
"You'll be okay," she said. "Whatever's happening."
Before I could answer, the traffic began to move and she was accelerating away, waving out the window as she left.
~
As I pulled myself together and joined the fast-moving stream of traffic, I kept an eye out for the blue minivan with the kids' clutter piled up in the backseat but I never saw her again.
Chewing down on the candy bar, I realized it was the first thing I'd eaten in almost two days. My stomach growled and moaned as the chocolate went down and I found myself a little stronger for the hit of sugar.
If only I'd see that young mom again. She didn't know how much our little interaction meant to me. She had the kindest eyes and she obviously adored her kids. She also looked as though she was struggling and I hated that the kindest people in the world were often found to be the poorest. Probably because they knew what it was like to have nothing. If I saw her again, I'd change her life forever. I'd make sure she'd never worry again and her kids would never go without a single thing.
But as much as I would have liked to dedicate some time to finding her, I knew I had more important thi
ngs to do. Maybe one day we'd bump into each other again. Fate has a peculiar way of making people meet. But right now, fate was being a real bitch.
As I entered Normont I felt the warm rush that always came over me when I saw the hospital come into view. It was in the distance, its immense height taking over the skyline with the rest of the buildings below looking like little more than houses made from matchsticks.
Now I was here, I found that I was directionless. I had an urge to return to the house. Maybe I'd go back there and find that it had all been a hallucination and that Etta had been there the whole time. She'd share an awkward glance with Jason and they'd both stare at me as though I was crazy.
"I was always here!" she'd laugh and then she'd hold me, kiss me, make me feel as though I didn't have a single thing to worry about.
Yet, as much as I tried to convince myself that that was possible, I knew it couldn't be. She wasn't there. No matter how hard I imagined she was.
I thought about what the young girl had heard above the coffee shop. A scream.Etta's scream.
I didn't want to think about what could have happened to have made her scream...
Braking at a stoplight, I took the chance to feel the tulip pendant inside my pocket. It was warm from the heat of my body with its curved edge reminding me of the winding arch of her waist. I closed my eyes for a second and imagined the softness of her body. How many times had I held my hands to her waist?
Whatever the number, it wasn't enough. I needed to feel her in my arms again, needed to know that once she was there, she'd remain there.
For as long as I lived, I wanted to be sure that I would never have another night away from her.
The light turned green and a car behind me honked its horn. I thrust the necklace back into my pocket and hit the gas. To my left wasbBroadwood and the Waters House. Fuck knows what Jason had done to the place without me there to supervise him but right now I didn't care. I didn't want to see the place again. Not without her. It was all meaningless without her.
Straight ahead lay the hospital but I didn't want to be there either. Although maybe there was a chance Berger could help me. But would he? He wasn't even in shape to pull on pants let alone track down Etta. No, I'd leave him there. He was in no condition to be thrust into another deadly adventure.
Jewels And Panties: (Book 1-15) Billionaire Romance Series Page 43
