“A reporter from the New York Times called here. They asked if Damon Lear was my son. Do you know why that happened?”
“I was blackmailed by the publishing company we’re taking over. Stan Vasser is out to get me. He threatened to expose my past if I didn’t back out of the deal, and backing out isn’t an option.”
“Dammit, Reed. What does that mean?”
“It means he has gone to the press.”
“When were you planning on telling me this?” my father asks, yelling.
“Stop shouting at me. I was going to call you later. I’ve been busy trying to figure out how to salvage my reputation.”
“This is going to stir up so much shit, and do you realize the trouble I could be in?”
“All I can do at this point is damage control. You and Mom need to get away for a while. I’ll cover the trip, and see if Debra can leave town, too. I’ll pay for her, Jeff and the kids.”
“This is going to haunt our family forever.”
“Only because you didn’t want to deal with it then. I’m tired of you holding this against me.”
“We’re not rehashing this.”
“Rehashing? We’d have to speak about it to begin with to call it rehashing.” I fall into my chair and run a hand down my face, feeling the angry heat rising from it. “If we had dealt with it at the time, it would’ve stayed an old story, but having me change my name makes it appear we have something to hide.”
“Reed, I was a congressman. It wasn’t that simple.”
“Well, I own a company that’s worth over a billion dollars, so it’s not simple now, and it’s looking like I get to live the nightmare twice.
“You know, the way you kept Tiffany out of prison is worse than anything I ever did with her, so I won’t allow you to guilt me over it again. I’ll be in touch.”
I toss my phone on the desk. That was long overdue.
Alayna
“Damon, come in.” He steps into my parents’ home with Quinn following behind.
“Do you have Felicia’s keys?” he asks.
“Yes, and I wrote down the address of her employer and her cell number.” I hand the paper and keys to Quinn. “If you call her when you get close, she’ll tell you where to park the car. Thank you, Quinn, for doing this.”
“It’s no trouble, Ms. Wynn.” He takes them from me and steps out the front door.
Damon slips his coat off and gently kisses my cheek. His lips linger, and somehow, it feels like an apology. Holding his hand, I lead him to the family room.
My parents are standing before us with smiles on their faces before I do introductions. My mother’s blushing is embarrassing as she gawks at my gladiator. Good thing she can’t see his sword.
Dad sits him down to talk, and they begin conversing about Damon’s business. My mom takes a seat nearby and listens. Damon turns on a kind of charm I didn’t know he possessed. He’s talkative and grins.
In a matter of minutes, it’s as if he has known Fred and Judy his entire life. He must’ve perfected this skill from running a corporation. I’m sure he often meets new people and has to woo them for work.
He looks incredible today in khakis and a blue V-neck sweater. His dark as night hair is a little longer than I’ve seen it, and it makes him even hotter. I guess he has been too busy to get a hair-cut.
Damon never misses a beat when Domino jumps into his lap. He begins petting the cat as if it’s his own. OK, now I’ve seen it all. Who is this man? It’s as if he has two personalities.
After my father has a half-hour discussion with Damon about fishing, we get ready to leave. I have to promise my parents I will bring him back soon for dinner. My mom gives me a smile of approval as I put on my coat. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her this pleased with me.
Once outside, Roger opens the door of the Mercedes. I get in and watch as Marshall begins speaking to Damon. The man was sneaky following me here today.
“Is Marshall going with us to the Hamptons?” I ask after Damon slides in next to me.
“I sent him home. I hired a security agency to patrol the property. Marshall has been up all day; he can’t keep watch tonight.”
“You’re still concerned,” I say.
“I’ll share with you once we’re there.” Damon takes hold of my hand and squeezes it, his gaze weary. I want to see him the way he was with my parents.
“You hit it off with Fred and Judy,” I say, grinning.
His smile returns. “You have great parents. The Cleavers, like you said.”
“Curtis can come across a little harsh, but he’s already pleased with how you’ve looked after me.” Damon’s smile falters before he shifts to stare out the window. What now? I squeeze his hand this time. “So, what are we going to do at your place?”
“Let’s talk about it there.”
“You’re beginning to worry me.”
“Alayna, be in the present,” he says, a narrowed gaze returning to me.
“OK. Then you need to stay here, too.” I reach my free hand over and run it up and down the front of his khakis. In an instant, he’s growing hard beneath my palm. He lets go of my hand he’s holding and runs his fingers into my hair. He’s massaging my scalp as I rub along the bulge in his pants.
The partition is closed, and I’m weighing how receptive Damon would be to me being in control of this situation. His eyes channel his intensity, and I want him right now.
I unbuckle and begin taking off my jeans. Damon’s hand stays in my hair as I remove them, and I’m surprised he’s not taking over. When I unbuckle his seat belt, he lets my curls go and slips his arm through.
This vehicle is spacious, so I get in front of him, and leaning over, I plant one gentle kiss to his lips. His hands move to the sides of his thighs, and I’m pleasantly surprised. He’s really going to let me do this ... for now, anyway.
Our mouths are inches apart and eyes locked on each other’s as I unbutton his pants. While slowly unzipping them, I drag my bottom lip through my teeth. Damon’s mouth opens a little, and I can see he’s breathing unevenly. He’s dying to touch me again.
Gripping the sides of his khakis, I tug downward. He lifts up enough for me to pull them, along with his boxer briefs, to the top of his thighs. I take hold of his erection and begin stroking it.
My finger makes a swirl around the tip, and I hear him suck in a sharp breath. He wants to feel my hair, and now, he knows what I go through every time we mess around. He also knows that if he does it now, it’ll appear he can’t control himself. Oh, I’m loving this.
Sealing my lips around his length, I take him back to my throat. His body tenses, and out of the corner of my eye, I see his fist ball up tighter.
I never enjoyed this before Damon, but it’s different with him. I want nothing more than to bring him the same pleasure he gives me.
His cock is smooth and large, and when I make it wet, I think of it sliding right into me. I’m picking up speed, frequently adding my tongue to the act.
“Fuck it! Jesus, Alayna.” I hear the hiss before the strike. Hands delve deep in my hair and clench into fists. “Climb onto me.” I straddle him before his fingers slip inside my panties and straight into me. “God, I love to feel how wet you are for me.”
Moving the wet fabric to the side, he guides me down onto his erection. Fingers go to my hips and grasp as his head falls back against the seat.
“Baby, you feel so fucking good.” He groans, and I bite my bottom lip hard, fighting the urge to moan not only from pleasure but from the satisfaction of knowing I can give him what he craves.
When he fills me, we’re one with no barriers, the issues between us non-existent. It’s heavenly.
With Damon’s help, I rise and fall in tempo. One of his strong hands move to my breast and ambitiously kneads it. Our breathing is choppy as the pleasure grows, our patterned stride bringing us closer to orgasm.
Every rub along my flesh is invigorating and sends a prickling throughout my extremitie
s. Damon releases my breast to grab my hip again, and with both hands, he stops my movement after I sink onto him.
“No, please don’t do this now.” I grip his sweater with both hands and whimper as I plead with him.
“Tell me you won’t leave me after we talk,” he demands. I’m panting for air, my hips rolling forward and back, urging him to move.
“Have you raped or murdered someone?”
“No.”
“Are you secretly married?”
“No, Alayna,” he says with frustration.
“Then no matter what it is, I won’t leave. Just tell me the whole truth, and move already, dammit. I can’t take this.”
His manly hands begin to lift me again, his gaze commanding and hungry. “Your–sweet–ass–will–be–tied–up–later,” he says between every drive of his cock. “You don’t tell me what to do, Alayna.”
My fingernails clutch his shoulders as his thrusts bring me to climax, his words lost in the dizzying sensations whirling throughout my scorching body. With teeth clenched and head back, his pulsing dick floods me with its release.
Damon’s arms wrap around me after I fall forward, my head resting against his neck. I’m burning up as I come back from the euphoric place he always takes me.
Chapter Four
Damon
Alayna’s eyes grow when we pull into the driveway of my home in east Hampton. It’s a modern style with five bedrooms and four baths and sits directly in front of the bay. “I can’t wait to see it in the daylight,” she says excitedly.
Taking her hand, I kiss the back of it. I wish we were coming here under better circumstances. Part of my reasoning for bringing her here is so it’s not as easy for her to leave. The other reason is to hide from the press. They’ll be looking for me by tomorrow.
“What if we need to go somewhere?” she asks as Roger begins to back out of the drive.
“I have a car in the garage.” I give Alayna a tour once we’re inside. Like everywhere else, she finds her way to the windows with a view. She’s staring out the great room toward the moonlit water. “I can’t believe you have two places this beautiful.”
From behind, my arms go around her waist, and my mouth goes to her neck. She flinches from my tongue swirling along it. I want to take her to bed and forget everything else.
“Damon, I need to clean up after, well, the sex in the car.”
“Or, I could get you dirtier first,” I whisper in her ear. She twists around in my arms.
“We need to have this talk. Then we can move on.”
Letting out a deep breath, I reluctantly release her.
“I wish it was that simple. I’ll find you some wine.” In the kitchen, I open a bottle for her. My stomach is queasy from what lies ahead, so I can’t eat, but Alayna didn’t have dinner.
I find grapes and a cheese spread with crackers before I fix her a plate. I’m fully aware of how she likes to put away the wine when she’s nervous, so she needs something on her stomach.
Trudging back into the living room, I find her on the sofa. I prefer her naked, but she has changed clothes, and the outfit she’s wearing is my favorite. It’s her grey sweatshirt that sits off one shoulder and her black yoga pants.
The shirt shows her creamy skin, giving me better access to nibble on her shoulder and neck, and the pants hug her curves, accentuating her superb ass.
“Here, you need to eat something,” I say as I hand her the plate. I set the glass of wine and bottle on the end table next to her.
“What about you?”
“I’m not hungry.” I sit on the sofa and face her.
“What are you drinking?” she asks before she pops a grape into her mouth.
“Scotch. It’s needed today.”
Alayna swallows her grape and then chews on her lip as she plays with the food on her plate. After a quiet minute, she sighs heavily.
“Say it, Damon. Keeping secrets is what will hurt us more than anything.”
“It can’t be summed up in one sentence.”
“Then start from the beginning.”
Alayna
“Feed me your darkest secrets, and I’ll swallow your pain.”
I take an ample swig of my wine before shoving a cracker in my mouth. Damon is about to tell me something significant that he would rather I not know. If he wasn’t in front of me, I’d be shoveling in the food and burning through a bottle of wine in minutes.
“Things are going to change for the both of us tomorrow. I brought you here for seclusion. Vasser Publishing, the company I’m assuming, leaked information about me today. The media will soon be trying to find us.”
I point to my chest. “Us ... as in you and me?”
“Yes, and I would never voluntarily put you in this position, but it’s out of my control.”
I watch Damon’s tumbler of scotch tremble, and the hand resting on his thigh is shut tight. Shit, this is going to be difficult. He looks away from me.
“When I was almost seventeen, my female history teacher began talking to me outside of school. Tiffany was twenty-three and had been married for two years.”
I swallow hard and drop a grape into my mouth.
“She claimed she needed my number to discuss my school assignments but soon started texting me daily, crying that her husband was abusive. All the guys at school thought she was hot, so I was flattered that she chose me to confide in and also furious that her husband was mean to her.”
Damon shakes his head and lets out a clipped laugh. “I guess that’s ironic, considering what I’ve done to you and other women.”
“It’s not the same,” I say.
“Anyway, our relationship progressed quickly. We were talking and texting daily. She started having me over or would come to my house when no one else was home.
“I felt needed, comforting Tiffany when she was vulnerable and wounded. She swore she was going to divorce her abusive husband and led me to believe that I was her rescuer. I wanted to be.”
I might vomit. This happened years ago, yet I feel desperate to go back and save him from this woman. It’s ridiculous, but I’m also jealous.
“We were going to wait to have sex until I was of consensual age, which was seventeen, but right before my birthday, we slipped up and let it happen. She told me she loved me and that we would be together as soon as I was an adult, but she always had an excuse as to why she couldn’t leave her husband.
“I was naïve and put up with it. I didn’t want to give her up. My world completely revolved around when I could see and speak to Tiffany. Of course, we kept our relationship a secret.”
He finally takes a glimpse at me. “Alayna, I never intended to sleep with a married woman. My parents had a good marriage, and cheating was never an example set for me, but she was determined to seduce me, and being a teenage boy with raging hormones didn’t help the situation.
“We’d been seeing each other a little over a year when I turned eighteen.” Damon sets his glass down and runs his hands through his hair until he’s holding the back of his head. “That’s when my life and who I was changed forever.”
Taking the last gulp of wine, I grab the bottle of red and fill up my glass again.
“A few days after graduation, we were having sex at her house when her husband came home from work early.”
I can’t help but cover my mouth. This could not have ended well.
“He went into a fit of rage and attacked me. I remember the first few blows but nothing after that. I woke up five weeks later in a hospital. He had practically beaten me to death.”
My hand moves from my mouth to my heart. His pain forces the air from my lungs and occupies its space.
“Damon, I’m so sorry.”
“She filed for divorce, and we both lied about when we started dating. Almost dying seemed worth it at the time. She was finally going to be with me. My family was furious that I was going to see her again, but I wouldn’t listen to them.”
“Damon, I don’
t understand how this news would be relevant now. I mean, I know you’re well known and own a corporation, but this was long ago.”
I set my glass and plate aside and climb into his lap. My arms go around his neck, and I lean my head against his chest.
“Stan Vasser wants to destroy me. I’m sure the media will make me look like someone who wrecks marriages. It’s not good for readers to view me that way, and it’s not good for my company.
“Also, I’m sure he leaked that you’re my girlfriend. I don’t want it to hurt your career. He most likely told where I’ve been frequenting for sex all these years. I’ll look like the man who lives this kinky lifestyle behind his girlfriend’s back.”
“Damon, I think you’re worrying too much. If it even gets attention, I don’t believe it will hurt your reputation or your company. Maybe the other stuff will be too hard to prove, and they’ll let that go, too.”
He doesn’t say anything, so we sit quiet. “Can I ask what happened with Tiffany?” His heart is pounding in his chest, and I feel him swallow against my head.
“I continued to see her my freshman year of college. I refused to go to her place. Actually, I’ve never stayed at any woman’s place since. She’d frequently sleep with me in my dorm room and feed me bull about how we’d be together once her divorce went through.
“I do believe she felt guilty over the assault, and I think that’s why she continued to string me along. Right after I turned nineteen, she was arrested for seeing a student at the same school. He was only sixteen.”
“Oh, god, Damon.”
“To say I was devastated is an understatement. I had been infatuated with her. Every minute of my life for over two years had been consumed by Tiffany. I had never felt so betrayed. What she’d done to me was much worse than what her husband had done.”
I sit up to look at him. “I’m furious with her.”
“Don’t feel sorry for me, Alayna. I can’t take it. It’s why I didn’t want you to know.”
What my mother said about men sharing their feelings comes back to me. “I feel sorry for that boy you used to be. It doesn’t change the way I look at you now. I’m furious with her because she changed you.
One Urge, One Plea, Keep Me Trilogy Page 22
