His Trouble in Tallulah: In the Line of Duty, Book 2

by Cathryn Fox

  No longer able to fight the inevitable, he said, “I want you on your knees. Now.”

  Without a moment’s hesitation, she crawled over the mattress, and when she put her sweet ass in the air, it became difficult to think. Restless and edgy he kneeled on the bed and came up behind her. He ran his hands over her soft contours, reveling in the feel of her skin and loving the way her body opened for him.

  He pushed one finger inside her and found her so fucking wet he began trembling from head to toe. “Tallulah,” he murmured, astonished by the need she raised in him.

  “Please…” she said in return, her voice rough with desire as she wiggled her backside.

  He swallowed. Hard. Frantic and damn near crazed to be inside her he growled, “I want you so much.”

  “I want you too.”

  He positioned his cock at her entrance. Baser instincts took over and he forgot every sane thought and drove into her. Tallulah clawed at the mattress and Garrett growled furiously in response.

  He gripped her hips for leverage and pushed impossibly deeper, needing to bury every inch of himself inside her, including his balls. Warm and wanting she moved against him, and he could feel himself twisting up inside, the emotions she roused in him were completely disconcerting.

  “So good. So fucking good,” he murmured, his pulse beating madly at the base of his throat as flames licked over him. His balls slapped against her and the air around them crackled, the tension of his orgasm tightening his muscles. He leaned over her, and dipped a hand between her legs.

  He stroked her clit, and she cried out. A second later she clenched around him, her pussy gripping his cock so damn hard he could barely hang on. Blinding pressure built inside him then he quickly joined her in orgasm, spilling himself inside her and giving every inch of himself. His body strained, his orgasm so powerful and intense, he began trembling, panting, gasping for his next breath.

  They stayed like that for a long time, his cock buried deep in her body, like it’s where it always belonged. He listened to her breathe, and by small degrees he relaxed against her. He ran his hands along her silky back, and she shivered when he pulled out of her. They collapsed on the bed and he grabbed her and pulled her to him. Once she snuggled in close, contentment written all over his face, he made a move to discard the condom. That’s when he realized he hadn’t worn one.

  “Oh fuck.”

  Tallulah tightened beside him and tipped her head. Big brown eyes blinked up at him. “What?”

  “We didn’t use a condom.” He shook his head. “Oh fuck, fuck, fuck. What was I thinking?” he rushed out, but it was a question he already knew the answer to. He wasn’t thinking. At least not with the head on his shoulders. “Shit, I always use a condom.” He brushed her hair from her face and when he saw concern backlighting her eyes his heart twisted. “I’m clean. You don’t have to worry about that. But what about…?”

  “I’m clean too,” she assured him.

  He smiled at her, and stopped to rub his hand over her stomach. “I know you are, but that’s not what I was talking about.”

  “Oh,” she said. “I’m on the pill.”

  “Why are you on the pill if you want to have a baby?”

  “My periods are irregular because of the endometriosis and the pill helps regulate them.” Then with a slight shrug she added, “My chances of conceiving are slim anyway, even if I wasn’t on it.”

  “We still shouldn’t take chances,” he said. “I won’t let it happen again.”

  She nodded in agreement, then after a long thoughtful moment she gave him a warm smile. “It’s kind of nice, actually.”

  “Nice?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just mean it was a first for both of us. Something that can just be ours, know what I mean?” When he didn’t say anything she looked a little embarrassed and said, “Maybe I’m just being silly.”

  “It’s not silly,” he assured her, completely unprepared for the things this woman made him feel. But they were different people, who wanted different things he reminded himself.

  And none of this was real.

  She settled back in the crook of his arm, her hair tumbling in disarray over his shoulders, making her look so sexy and desirable. Garrett knew any man would be lucky to have her. She’d be the perfect mother, the perfect wife. She just needed to find the right guy.

  After a long time he said, “I’m sorry.”

  “What are you sorry for?”

  “I know how much you want a baby. I could see it in your eyes when I was holding Sabrina.”

  She snuggled into him and he flinched when she rubbed the scar on his cheek. “I’m praying for a miracle.”

  He tried to breathe normally and hoped she couldn’t hear the pounding of his heart. “Oh yeah?”

  “Sure. I had a cousin who was married to a guy for years. She had the same problem as me and couldn’t conceive. They ended up divorced, because he said she was broken and couldn’t give him the family he wanted. She met another guy and within months they were pregnant.”

  “Her ex sounds like an ass.”

  “Yeah, and I think it was nature’s way of saying she was with the wrong guy. So when she did find Mr. Right, she got the baby she wanted.”

  As he thought about Tallulah with another man, her Mr. Right, his chest tightened with jealousy. Which was ridiculous, really. He had no right to be jealous and she deserved to have everything she wanted.

  She toyed with the ring he’d put on her finger. “Garrett?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Why do you need a pretend fiancée to get a job back home?”

  He stiffened, but relaxed as she began marching her fingers over his stomach. “They think I’m scarred,” he admitted, and then realized how easy it was to tell her, to talk to her, how strangely good it felt to share that painful truth with her, even though he knew they shouldn’t be dipping into personal territory.

  She touched the crescent mark on his face again. “Scarred?”

  “Yeah. Scarred. As in emotionally damaged.”

  “Does it have something to do with this?”

  He grabbed her hand and held it. “I guess.”

  “Did this happen on tour?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What exactly is this job you’re after?”

  “Head of a new security alarm response team in Austin’s business district.”

  “It must be very important to you if you’re going through the trouble of a fake engagement.” When he shrugged, she frowned. “It doesn’t sound like it’s your dream job.”

  “It’s a job.”

  “Becoming director at the daycare is my dream job. Well, actually opening my own center someday is my real goal. I love working with kids, but some real changes need to be made on the business and government side of things.”

  “Oh yeah? Tell me about it,” he said, as her eyes lit with excitement and deterred her questions about his personal life.

  “I’m really interested in working on a new curriculum for the kids, new nutritional menus and advanced training for the teachers.” She exhaled slowly. “I wish my folks could see how important it was to me. My mom wants me to follow in her footsteps and be a stay-at-home mom. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just want different things.”

  Garrett turned on his side and propped his head on his elbow. “You know,” he began slowly as he brushed her hair from her face. “I love how thoughtful you are. It’s one of the things that separates you from most women I know. It’s understandable that your mother wants you to follow in her footsteps, because she’s had a happy life, but sometimes you have to go to battle for what you want.”

  She nodded and said, “Did your father want you to follow in his footsteps?”

  He dropped back down onto the pillow, and his heart grew heavy. “Yeah.”

  “You were a security specialist in the army, but never wanted to walk the beat?”

  Even though the room was warm he felt
a shiver move through him. Honestly, as much as he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps he knew he could never fill the man’s shoes. “I thought about it.”

  She opened her mouth to say something else, but he pressed her hand to his lips. Wanting to redirect the conversation, because things were getting far too personal, he said, “We should get some sleep. You promised me a day of sightseeing tomorrow.”

  She pulled the blankets up and covered them both, and he tucked her up against him.

  “Tell me about the ring,” she said quietly.

  He exhaled slowly, thought about how tenacious she was being, and sighed with resignation. “What do you want to know?”

  “Why is it so important?”

  “My dad gave it to me.”

  She nodded. “I read the inscription. He’s very proud of you. You two must have been very close.”

  He thought back to all the times he’d let his father down, and emotions hit like a nuclear blast, throwing him off balance. That’s when he realized how much he missed the man. He missed him so goddamn much it hurt. He tried not to choke on his words when he said, “We weren’t.”

  “Oh, I just thought…”

  “I was a fuckup, Tallulah,” he said before he could think better of it, but something about the woman in his arms and the things she made him feel completely disarmed him and had him spilling his guts. Christ, she was crawling past his defenses without even trying and if he knew what was good for him he’d shut his mouth right now.

  “The inscription said he was proud of you.”

  “He wasn’t proud of me. I couldn’t do anything right.” He raked his hand through his hair, and worked to keep his shit together. “I could never live up to his expectations, or anyone else’s for that matter.” He blew out a shaky breath and thought about the family he was supposed to protect in Afghanistan. Feelings long ago restrained swam to the surface.

  Christ, he was a specialist, trained to read people. How had he missed the signs of mental stress in his comrade? It was that mistake that cost two small kids their parents. Garrett swallowed the bile punching into his throat as painful memories ambushed him. Lost in a haze of confusion during their mission, the soldier under his command had opened fire on the wrong people, killing the mother and father they were supposed to protect. Then he’d turned the gun on the kids, but Garrett had tackled him to the ground, taking the wayward bullet in the side of the face. The scar that remained continually reminded him how he’d fucked up. The army discharged him a hero for saving the kids. But he hadn’t saved them. He’d orphaned them.

  “I always let everyone down,” he said under his breath.

  She went quiet, too quiet.

  “You never let me down.”

  Humbled by her soft confession, he pulled her to him and as he held her tightly, he found himself slipping closer and closer to the edge of caring.

  Chapter Eight

  “You look…different,” Kat said, her astute glance scanning Tallulah as they stood at the back of the church waiting for the wedding procession to start.

  “It’s the dress.” Tallulah smoothed her hand over her bodice. “I don’t usually wear fuchsia taffeta, or any kind of taffeta for that matter. It’s not quite me,” she rambled on, suddenly uncomfortable under her friend’s careful inspection.

  “No, it’s not that.” Kat narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “There’s something about you, but I can’t quite pinpoint it.”

  Tallulah glanced to the front of the church and when she spotted Garrett standing near the altar, looking so damn handsome in his military formals, her body warmed all over. She couldn’t help but think about all the things they’d been doing together over the past week and how much fun it had been showing him around her town the last few days.

  Between rehearsals, dress fittings and parties, she took him to Pete’s Pizza, her old hangout in the center of town. They filled up on greasy pizza and ice cream like she did when she was a teen. It felt good to show him off, and charming man that he was, he seemed to win over the people who expected her to move home and marry Jason. She honestly hadn’t anticipated that the townsfolk would fall for him, which when she really thought about it, put a crimp in her mission. When they called off this pretend engagement, the nice people that she’d known since she was a child were genuinely going to be disappointed.

  They had dinner with her folks last night and the night before, and Garrett even suffered through a family game of Rummoli with her father and uncles while she fielded questions from her mother and aunts about her engagement and wedding plans.

  Garrett seemed to fit right in, and when her father tested him on things such politics, religion and government, as well as a slew of other hot topics, Garrett rose to the challenge, impressing not only her father, but Tallulah as well. Still, she was pretty sure her folks would be happy when she called off the wedding, which made this farce a little bit easier on her.

  As if feeling her gaze on him, he turned from the usher he’d been speaking with and glanced her way. They exchanged a long look, his eyes sweeping over her, and she bit back a small, knowing smile as her chest rose and fell with a deep intake of breath.

  For a brief moment, she allowed her mind to drift, imagining that he was up there waiting for her. Instinctively, she placed her hand over her stomach, and wondered what it would be like if she were pregnant with his child.

  Of course he’d been up front with her right from the start and warned that he wasn’t father material, but her maternal instincts told her otherwise. Garrett Andersen would make an amazing father. She suspected he was the only one who didn’t know it.

  “You’re flushed.” Kat’s gaze moved over Tallulah’s features as she pressed the back of her hand to Tallulah’s forehead. “Are you sick?”

  “It’s warm in here.”

  “Are you sure you’re not sick?” Kat continued to glare at her as organ music filled the church and the last of the guests arrived.

  “Kat, I’m fine. Honest.”

  She sighed. “You’re probably flushed from all that great sex you’re having.”

  Once again Tallulah’s thoughts returned to the deliciously naughty things they did with the scarf the other night and a shiver moved through her when she revisited the way he’d bound her, and pushed her past her comfort zone. She’d never been restrained before and it surprised her at how comfortable she felt with him doing it, how easy it was to be naked in front of him. But most of all how he’d given her total control of their sex play. As she told him what she wanted, what she needed, it felt like she’d bared more than just her body to him.

  He encouraged her in ways no one ever had before, helping her discover things about herself, empowering her in ways she’d never imagined. It occurred to her that he was way better at reading her and more in tuned with her needs than anyone, her family included.

  She couldn’t deny that it felt so right to be held by him, and she’d found solace in his touch, his kisses, his lovemaking. The night on the elevator when they were discussing Ving and Jenny, he’d so much as told her he didn’t care about her, and at the time she was glad of the reminder. What was between them was sex. Albeit great sex. But sex nonetheless.

  But everything in what they did later that night, and every night after, the way he’d talked to her, touched her, made her tell him exactly what she wanted, felt like it was so much more than just casual sex. It felt like he’d taken her on a journey of self-discovery.

  Why would he do that if he didn’t care?

  Then, when they’d engaged in pillow talk she realized there was so much more to this man than she knew. There were things he didn’t want to tell her. What happened between him and his father? What happened in Afghanistan? What made him think he’d let everyone down?

  “Ah, are you okay?” Kat asked.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “You have a strange look on your face.”

  “I’m okay.”

  Kat rocked back and forth on
her too high heels, her upswept hair bobbing on her head. “Oh boy.”

  “What?”

  “What’s he done to you?”

  Jenny came from the backroom looking like a real life princess and a hush fell over them all. Tallulah smiled and remained quiet until the beautiful bride took her place at the back of the line.

  “What are you talking about?” Tallulah whispered, as Garrett came her way.

  Kat pitched her voice low. “You look like a lovesick puppy.”

  “I do not,” she said, leaning in so the others couldn’t hear them.

  A worried look came over her friend’s face, and she grabbed Tallulah’s hand. “Has he changed his stance on marriage and children?” Kat asked.

  Tallulah gave a perplexed shake of her head. “No, why?” she asked as Garrett closed the distance. He cocked his head as he passed by her, and from the play of emotions on his face, she worried that he could see into her soul, see that she felt things she knew better than to feel.

  Kat gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “Then you’d better pull yourself together, Lu. Otherwise you’re going to end up in a world of hurt.”

  A nervous sensation settled in her gut as she thought more about their pillow talk. Garrett said he always let everyone down. She wasn’t sure what had happened to make him feel that way, but knew his scars ran deep. She twisted the ring on her finger and wondered more about this security job he was after, and what the Committee knew that she didn’t.

  “I’m fine,” she said, even though she wasn’t so sure anymore. When they started this charade it never occurred to her that she could actually fall for him. She knew everything about him threatened her sexually, yet she never expected her emotions to get the better of her.

  The music started, and Tallulah put her worries to the back of her mind as she walked slowly down the long aisle. As all eyes turned on her and she drew a calming breath as she stepped up to the altar, the other bridesmaids following along and taking their positions beside her.

  When the bridal march started, she looked at Jenny on her brother’s arm as he stepped into his father’s role to walk her down the aisle. It occurred to her how well he filled those shoes, how he wasn’t letting his sister down at all.