Evil Secrets Trilogy Boxed Set

by Vickie McKeehan

“What are you talking about? I had a rough night.” Her temper shot up. “So I’m running later than usual, slept in until six-thirty. I don’t understand why you’re here so early—and yelling at me.”

  “Early? It’s ten-fifteen. What makes you think it is six-thirty, Kit?”

  “The clock in the bedroom said six-thirty.”

  “Then the clock is wrong.” He held out his arm and showed her the time on his wristwatch.

  The Rolex read 10:15.

  She reached out and grabbed his arm, staring at the time on the watch. She glanced around the living room and then ran to the kitchen. The microwave clock flashed on and off in green digital numbers that blinked 0:00 back at her. The kitchen wall clock showed the time as 8:35. For some reason, she picked up the telephone. “There’s no dial tone. The line’s dead.”

  A cold shock went through Jake. He heard her say, “I had an electrical meltdown at three o’clock this morning. The electricity went off. Now the phone’s dead. When you rang the doorbell, I thought it was…a lot earlier. The alarm didn’t go off.” A sob broke out of her throat. “And now you’re yelling at me. Why are you yelling at me, Jake?”

  “Because…damn it…” He sucked in a breath. “The whole way here I was scared shitless something had happened to you. When Gloria called and said you never showed up for work―”

  She launched herself at him.

  He caught her, wrapped her up. She stuck like a magnet, molding her body to his. She nuzzled his neck before he reached and covered her mouth. He moved his hand up to her neck to support her head as she ran her hands through his hair.

  Kit parted her lips, returned his forceful kiss with a slick one of her own. Desire, greater than before, pulled at her belly. Holding his head with both hands, she encouraged more. Jake responded. He nibbled her ear, nuzzled the hollow of her neck before moving back to her mouth.

  He nudged her robe apart.

  “God you’re beautiful. I want you.” His fingers found the swell of a breast and stroked her nipple, popping it to peak. All the while their hungry mouths tugged, nipped.

  Kit’s hands sought flesh, too. She needed to feel him, all of him. She began pulling his shirt up out of his pants. Working the buttons open, she touched hot skin, ran her fingers over his upper body, felt the strength in his shoulders. He pushed her up against the kitchen wall, found her mouth again for another ravenous feed before traveling downward to her breast. Taking a nipple into his mouth, wrapping his tongue around it, he suckled.

  Kit arched her back to give him a better vantage point. She could barely breathe. She captured his head at her breast, encouraging him to take his time. Jake got the message and slowed his efforts. Not only was he responsive, but he proved he could multitask. While his mouth took turns at each breast, his hands rubbed the small of her back then dropped lower to her taut rear, and began moving her hips.

  Damn it, he wanted her but not against a wall. He wanted her stretched out, under him. He began moving, backing her up in the direction of the stairs. Their lips locked all the way to the stairwell. Wrapped up in each other, Kit awkwardly pulled him along with her up each step. Slowly, walking backward, she tripped once, but regained her footing, and inch-by-inch continued upward.

  This was taking way too long, thought Jake. He stopped his momentum long enough to draw one of her legs up around his body. His weight shifted to take on hers. There was no doubt what he wanted her to do. Her response was quick, athletic, and in one motion she wrapped both of her legs around his body, threw both arms around his neck.

  Jake carried her up the rest of the way to the bed.

  They both tumbled down on the rumpled sheets. He tenderly began tracing the swell of both breasts, cupping them, before bending his head down to take a nipple in his mouth, sucking, savoring.

  She held his head in place until her hands started to peel down his shirt. He pushed off her long enough to loosen his belt, toe off his shoes and socks, and strip off his trousers.

  When he turned back to her, a groan as he looked at her on the bed. “My beautiful Kit.”

  He eased his body next to hers. His erection landed on her belly.

  She gaped. For God’s sakes, don’t act like you’ve never seen one before. When she finally managed to meet his eyes, he was grinning down at her.

  His mouth found hers. His tongue sent flitters of delight through her body while his fingers probed her slick core.

  Overcome by sensations she’d either never felt or had forgotten existed, she tried to keep up as she sucked feverishly on his tongue. When her body unwittingly shattered with her first orgasm, ever, her mind locked on overload. With so much happening to her at once, so many feelings hitting her that had never happened before, she braced for what she thought was the next logical step.

  Lacking a certain amount of finesse, she did everything she could to indicate to Jake that she was ready for that next step. Wanting him, ready for it to happen, she encouraged him, trying to get him to get the hint and pick up his pace. But no matter how much urging or tugging she did, the man purposely slowed his efforts, until finally he said, “There’s no rush here.”

  “I just thought…”

  “Stop thinking and feel. I want to give you…” In between deep, wet kisses, “…so much…pleasure…so much of…everything.”

  What did that mean?

  But in less than no time Kit discovered exactly what he meant. She stopped thinking and just…let herself feel. Jake made it easy. This was no eager frat boy, college student, or novice, but a man who knew his way around a woman’s body. And to prove it, his mouth moved downward to her breasts, mouthing, tasting, teasing first one nipple until it popped up firm and hard, then the other. He lingered, enjoying each flavor, the suckling of each textured, pebbled point. He took his time exploring, enjoying her moans as he tongued his way down to her taut belly, relished her belly button. He moved down her thighs, kissing, tasting before settling on a spot that had her…tensing, blocking access.

  He felt her tighten up, catch her breath, give a push to his head. Warped as he was, her inexperience only aroused him more. In an attempt to get her to relax, he traveled back up to her belly button, licked and tasted there, before moving back down to her center for another try. This time, caught up in the pleasure, she didn’t deny him but rather arched her back, moving her hips to the motion of his tongue. Soon her moans became little shrieks of joy.

  Even with her release, he put off his own need, wanting her to come…again and again.

  Delirious, out of her mind, she hadn’t known this existed, had never experienced such giving, such patience. She wanted him, needed him inside her, and she persuaded him to take her by reaching for him, playing under him, bringing his head back up to hers for a devouring kiss. When he rolled to his back, she anticipated that he wanted her on top. No problem there. She straddled him. But he positioned her astride his chest just within reach of his mouth where he began, once again, using his tongue on her. Her last rational thought was that the man was a saint. And when he sent her over the edge, she could do nothing else but throw her head back and ride the wave.

  Satiated, she didn’t realize their positions had somehow gotten reversed. Lying under him, Jake plunged inside. His body stretched out above hers, Kit wrapped her long legs around his waist, pulling him into her. He deepened his strokes. Slow and rhythmic, Kit moved her hips. She tightened her grip on his rear. As his need became fierce, he penetrated deeper. His deliberate strokes finding their mark, he drove them both to climax.

  After waiting so long for this, he stayed inside her, not moving. He kissed her ear and whispered, “Amazing. You’re amazing.”

  “Me?” She laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding. That was—off the map.”

  A slow grin formed. Easing off her, he rolled to his back. Steaming, sweating, they both lay sated. Jake asked, “Is it hot in here, or is it me?”

  Still out of breath, Kit puffed out her cheeks. “No, it’s hot in here.”


  In one quick motion, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, and wrapped up in the loose top sheet, told him, “The house doesn’t have air conditioning. I’ll open the doors, let in some fresh air.”

  He heard her feet pad across the floor as she made her way to the French doors. The breeze right off the ocean immediately made an impact, stirring the air in the room, making it somewhat cooler. He lifted his head to watch her struggle to walk back over to the bed, enveloped in the sheet.

  When her long legs kept getting tangled up in the fabric, preventing her from taking a step, comfortable with him, she simply dropped the sheet to the floor, giving him a sensual view of her naked, athletic form.

  She slid in next to him. In spite of the heat in the room, he didn’t let her settle on the sheets too long before quickly drawing her over to nuzzle against him.

  But Kit had other ideas. Her innate sexual shyness gone, she turned audacious. She’d never been the aggressor, never felt this playful or bold before, never felt the need to offer more. But after what he’d done to her body, she felt different, empowered. She took a deep breath and ran her fingers up and down his chest, ever so lightly, barely touching his skin. She pursed her lips and gently blew air over his hot, sweaty body, moving her head back and forth, hovering over his glistening damp chest to create a cooling effect. She did the same thing when she moved down to his lean belly, but this time she licked away some of the sweat that clung there and blew air onto his stomach.

  “Is that better, cooler?”

  His low moan told her she was on to something. Jake tried to pull her up to his mouth, but she mischievously resisted, enjoying the play.

  In the driver’s seat for the first time in her life, she wanted once and for all to make certain that this man no longer thought of her as that teenager he’d once known. She wanted that image completely erased from his brain, wanted him to know the full grown woman could be aggressive, assertive, and just as giving.

  To prove her point, she sat astride his body, intentionally letting him hunger for her touch, taking her time, working her way up his body; finally reaching his mouth, lingering there long enough to suck on his lips, she played with his tongue before moving to his chest, licking each nipple, leaving a wet trail downward.

  Barely touching his skin with light kisses, she moved down to his hard belly, where she worked to gently caress skin, then moved lower, tantalizing him, stroking him with her tongue until she took him into her mouth. Caught up in the play, running on sheer instinct, she didn’t notice his moans had grown louder. It was then she took him into her. This time it was her turn to set the pace. She rode him fiercely then enticed him with slower strokes before quickening to fast and furious until they exploded into each other again.

  Kit fell on top of him, breathless, sweaty, and exhausted.

  Their strength depleted, they lay next to each other on their backs, trying to cool off. When Jake finally caught his breath, he reached for her. She turned and moved into his chest. He gently ran his fingers through her damp hair, playing with several wet strands before turning his attention to the curve of her body. He moved his fingers along her shape. As he held her close, he turned her face up to his. “Listen, you can hear the sound of the surf from the open doors. I could listen to that sound all day, all night. I can’t think of a better sound for making love than the sound of the ocean. I love that sound.”

  “Mmmm, peaceful. I love living by the water, at the beach.” Remembering his sailboat, what they didn’t get to finish yesterday, she wanted to know, “What’s it like to make love on a boat?”

  “I was hoping we’d find out yesterday.”

  She looked at him like he was nuts. “Oh, come on, Jake, you don’t expect me to believe you’ve had your boat all this time and haven’t had a woman on board.”

  He grazed on her shoulder, then her neck, moved on to her lower lip. “It’s true. You’d be the first. I was hoping we’d take care of that yesterday, but we got interrupted.” Neither of them mentioned they’d almost been blown to bits.

  “You really know what you’re doing. I’ve never experienced anything like that before. For me, that was... no one’s ever...well...I’ve never...had the big O before.”

  He lowered his gaze to those trusting green eyes. “Never? You’re kidding, right?” Was she just saying that to bolster his ego?

  “Nope. That was the first. And then I had...” She started counting on her fingers.

  But Jake knew the count. “Four more, five total.”

  “You’re right. Five. Wow. Could you...like...spread that out...over time?” She could do a happy dance right there between the sheets.

  He ran his hands over her again, liking the feel of her. He was pretty sure this afternoon there were a lot of firsts in this bed. “And I take it no one’s ever...taken the time to give you...oral before today.”

  She blew air into her cheeks and blushed. “Oh. Well. No. That was a first too, and...I...was...uh....you know...sort of nervous about it.” Kit thought for a moment and giggled. “I had to wait for this so long. Great sex makes up for all the times you were such a jerk to me.”

  He looked nonplussed for a moment, then said, “Ah. About that. I’ve been thinking. That isn’t entirely true, that I was such a jerk to you. To some extent maybe so, but think back, you used to talk to me about the music you liked. At the time, Pearl Jam was your favorite group back then, as I recall. Do you remember?”

  Perplexed at what her musical tastes back then had to do with anything, she said, “So?”

  “Well, you went on and on once about wanting the Pearl Jam CD No Code more than life itself as I recall, and Alana wouldn’t let you buy it. If I ignored you completely, how is it I bought it for you, left it in the file room on top of the filing cabinet with a note and a little pink bow on it? That’s what I remember.”

  All at once, Kit sat up, clutched her heart, thrilled at the idea that he’d listened to her back then about the simplest thing as a music CD. “Oh my God, you bought that for me. How could I have forgotten that? Alana wouldn’t let me buy it even with my own money. I remember bitching to you about that. And you bought it for me. I hid it from her in my special hiding place under the dresser in my bedroom, only played it when she wasn’t at home.”

  Grateful, she launched herself at his chest, hugging him. “That was so sweet of you.”

  Jake found her reaction both amusing and touching. “I just want to make sure I understand this; because I bought you a CD, I’ve gone from being a rude, arrogant SOB, the scum of the earth, all the way to sweet?”

  “I like knowing you listened to me, paid enough attention to what I wanted back then, that’s all.” As if very appreciative, she put her lips to his and gave him a deep kiss.

  “If I get that kind of reaction to buying you a simple CD, what would happen if I gave you something nice now?”

  She gave him a puzzled look. “You just gave me something nice, something very nice, something I’ve never had before.” She held up her right hand in a gesture of honor, playfully, teasing him. “And I promise from this day forward never to give you a moment’s grief about how much control you have. You were incredible.”

  And they both dived for each other again.

  He liked Beverly Hills. What was not to like? It was the cleanest city he’d ever seen. He even got a kick out of Rodeo Drive, where he strolled down a narrow street that looked more like it belonged somewhere in Europe than it did in Los Angeles. He walked past Cartier’s and window shopped at Armani before moving on to Neiman Marcus. There he actually went inside.

  He had time before his next intervention, and what better place to spend time than here, among the world’s richest people, the stores where they shopped, where the wealthy splurged on whatever whims caught their fancy?

  It was really karma, he told himself. In life, they humored and gratified themselves with whatever whenever the mood hit them, doing it all without a backward glance to consequences. Like the
Boyd, Geller, and Gatz clans and their massive greed. The philosopher in him kicked in. Well, it was payback time; time to pay the piper. The bill had come due for all of them.

  And he was the collector.

  He spent another hour walking around until he looked at his watch and realized it was time, time to go to work. Pulling out of the parking lot, he once again headed to Malibu.

  As he had with Jessica Boyd, he was sitting in the backseat waiting for Eva Gatz when she crawled behind the wheel of her sleek late-model Jaguar and turned the key. Because the backseat of the Jag wasn’t as roomy as the backseat of Jessica’s Benz, the cramped space had caused the muscles in his back to tighten and his leg hurt.

  He was obviously getting too old for this shit. His mood was a little dark, maybe on the bad-tempered side, so when she fought the hand over her mouth, when she screamed and tried to wriggle out of the car, it pissed him off. “I don’t want to kill you right here, but I will. Now stop the fucking screaming. Got it?”

  At the nod of her head, he told her, “We’re going for a little ride, to the place your kind wanted so much you were willing to kill to get it.”

  “I’ll give you anything you want; any amount of money; anything, just please, please don’t hurt me.”

  “Now that just pisses me off even more, lady. I don’t want your fucking money. Come to think of it, it isn’t even your money, now is it? But I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll take a little ride, have a little talk. Then we’ll take a short walk down memory lane. Rumor has it you’re an even smarter legal eagle than Jess was. Is that true?” He didn’t expect an answer and simply added, “You’re going to need all the smarts you can manage.”

  It was just after two in the afternoon when Jake stepped back inside Kit’s kitchen. After taking a walk around the house, it hadn’t taken long to discover why her phone didn’t work. Someone had cut the phone line.

  His money was on Collin Boyd.

  As he scoured the refrigerator for eggs and vegetables to make omelets, he wondered if it would do any good to call the police. Even now, as he began to chop shitake mushrooms and spinach and melt butter in a skillet, he wondered if the cops would do anything. He decided they might not, but at least they’d have a report on file should they need it.