by Desiree Holt
She gave him a short, concise version of what she had for him. Blaze knew she didn’t want to say too much over the phone. Cell phones weren’t as secure as people liked to think.
“No, I’m not giving you a line. Yes, the information is authentic. I have proof.” She laughed. “Yes, I know it’s a big story. That’s why I chose you to break it. I wanted someone I can trust. I wanted someone who I thought would do the best job with this and your name hit the top of the list. Listen. I’m going to put a man named Scott Hamilton on the phone. He’ll tell you how and where you can pick up the written proof. Yes, he’s one hundred percent solid.”
Blaze took the phone from her and rattled off some information before handing the phone back.
“Dawson? Someone is flying to Atlanta to give you the proof. I didn’t want to send it through the mail or try to do it electronically. But you have to promise me you will make the biggest splash ever. Yes, I know you do. That’s why it’s you I called. Okay. You’ll be getting a call and a delivery in a couple of hours.”
While she finished her conversation, he called Saint.
“Got another trip for you today.” He grinned. “And yes, we’re making sure you have enough hours in the air. The first thing you have to do is come by my place to pick up an envelope.” Finished with the call, he looked over at Peyton. “You hungry? We haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
She shook her head. “I’m too jazzed to eat. Oh, Blaze, you’ll finally get the revenge for your team members. Dawson’s big for this—television, Internet as well as print. I am so glad I could be a part of this.”
“A major part,” he reminded her. “I could never have done this without you.”
“Then something good has come out of this tragedy.”
“No kidding. If not for the hit and run, Warren Sulzberger might never have come into my orbit again. If you hadn’t hired us, I’d never have connected with the resources to finally make him pay.” He winked at her. “I think you deserve a reward.”
She looked up at him and grinned. “I think I do, too. But I think we’d better wait until after Saint picks up this envelope.”
To Saint’s credit, when he arrived, he didn’t ask any questions, just took the envelope and the written instructions on how to deliver it, and beat it. Saint swallowed a grin as he headed to the door. Blaze figured the grin was his recognition of how important Peyton ahd become to him.
Go figure. He’d spent years avoiding entanglements, only to embrace one that had hit him out of the blue. Now he just had to convince Peyton that three days was enough for them to move forward with this. And that she should move here from San Antonio, or at least stay a while so they could see where this was going.
He hoped his partners didn’t give him a hard time. When they’d formed Galaxy, they had all discussed what would happen if they developed a relationship with a woman that could turn out to be permanent.
‘We don’t exactly live a stable existence,’ Eagle had pointed out. ‘Most women can’t deal with that.’
‘Most women,’ Blaze had told him. ‘But the right one could—’ Then he’d shaken his head. ‘But you know that won’t be me. Footloose is my middle name.’
He swallowed a laugh thinking about it. He could imagine what they’d have to say.
“Finally.” Blaze locked the door after Saint and pulled Peyton into his arms. “Now I can say thank you properly.”
“Blaze, I’m all hot and sweaty,” she protested.
“Good.” He grinned. “Then I don’t have to worry about getting you hotter and sweatier. Come on. I think you need something to take your mind off all of this.”
He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom, sweeping back the covers on the bed and placing her on the sheets. He kept telling himself, Go slow, don’t rush things, but he wanted her with an unfamiliar fierceness that he couldn’t seem to control. He pulled off her shoes and tossed them to the side before lifting the hem of her silk blouse. Bending low, he placed a string of soft kisses along the strip of flesh exposed, then slid his tongue over the area.
God!
She tasted good everywhere, her skin soft as silk and tasting slightly of the peach body lotion she used. Teasing himself, he licked again, loving the way she squirmed, then slipped the fabric up and over to give him better access to her body. The breasts he’d come to love in such a short time plumped temptingly in a lacy gray bra. Traveling his tongue up over the fabric, he carefully licked the swells.
Peyton tried to grab the fabric to lift it up and over her head, but he wrapped his fingers around her wrists and forced her arms out to the sides.
“My party, my rules.” He licked around the edges of her belly button.
She wriggled her hips in a teasing motion. “Oh. Is that so?”
“It is indeed.”
“And just who decided that? Is that an order?”
He grinned, enjoying this side of her. “Me. And yes. The other night you took excellent care of me. Now I’m going to return that favor. Your only order is…don’t move.”
The pulse at the hollow of her throat beat harder as her imagination created all the things he might do to her. He maneuvered the blouse over her head, tossed it to the floor then pushed up the bra so her breasts plumped out beneath it. God, she had gorgeous breasts. The rosy nipples were already swollen, their color now a darker pink. He drew one into his mouth, scraping it with his teeth before sucking it hard again and again.
Peyton moaned and tried to raise herself up to him, but he pushed her back with one hand.
“Uh uh uh. My rules, remember?”
“Oh, we’re having rules now?” Heat danced in her eyes.
“Yes. As many as we need.”
What he really wanted to do was tie her to the bed and fuck her senseless, licking every inch of her over and over again, spanking her beautiful ass until it turned a gorgeous shade of dark pink. And fucking her until he wore out his cock.
But he was going to save that. Work up to it when he knew she wanted it as much as he did. Right now, he just wanted to do everything to make her feel very, very good.
He teased one nipple until she squirmed beneath his mouth then turned his attention to the other one. When they were deliciously swollen, he unfastened the bra and yanked it away, tossing it to the floor. Unhurried, he unzipped her slacks. He stood there for a moment, letting his gaze roam over every inch of her, drinking her in.
He eased the slacks slowly down past her hips, letting the tips of his fingers follow the curve of her hips and the line of her firm thighs, down to her ankles and her delicate feet. He’d been with all kinds of women—too many, some would say—but none of them held a candle to Peyton West. There was just something about her that set her about from all the others and pushed every one of his buttons.
And it wasn’t just her luscious body that kept his cock in a continuous semihard state or made his balls ache when she smiled at him a certain way. It was everything about her.
When she was completely naked except for the tiniest lacy bikini panties, he pulled in a breath to steady himself, shucked his shirt and slacks, and crawled onto the bed, leaving his boxer briefs in place to keep some control over his very eager cock.
“Don’t move,” he told her. “That’s an order.”
Her lips tilted up in a wicked smile. “What happens if I do?”
He moved so his mouth hovered over hers. “I might have to punish you. Severely. I might not even let you come.”
“Oh, god!” She arched her neck, eyes closed. “I’ll behave. I promise.”
Her words made him even harder, if that was possible. There was something so dynamic about sex with her, about being with her, an eroticism that he didn’t remember feeling with other women, no matter how extreme the sex they had together. He knew at that moment he’d do whatever it took to keep her with him.
Positioning himself between her knees, he lifted one leg and began to string soft kisses from her ankle along
her calf and inner thigh, taking little nips along the way. When he reached the little panties, he pressed a soft kiss to the fabric covering her sweet sex before trailing his mouth over to her other leg and slowly drawing a line down to the ankle.
Her breathing accelerated and her fingers gripped the sheet beneath her. He drew the line with his tongue again, scraping at the sides of her knees and tugging the fabric of the panties with his teeth. The more he did it, the more she squirmed, tiny sounds of pleasure whispering from her lips.
When she dug in her heels and tried to thrust herself up to him, he lifted her legs to bend them at the knees and planted her feet on either side of him. Then, instead of sliding off the tiny panties, he pulled the fabric of the crotch aside, pressed the lips of her sex open and drew a line tracing her wet flesh with the tip of his tongue. She moaned, so he did it again, and again.
He lapped the flesh over and over, loving the little sounds she made and relishing the sweet taste of her. Gently gripping her clit with his teeth, he tugged at it over and over, finally putting just the right amount of pressure on it to draw a small scream from her. He bit down a little harder, and just like that, she came, a small, shuddering orgasm, soaking his mouth. He swallowed it, and when her shuddering stopped, he licked the soft pink skin until he captured every bit of the liquid.
Peyton looked down at him, breath fluttering.
“God, Blaze. Just…holy god.”
He shimmied up her body, cupped her face in his palms and took her mouth in a kiss that was both sweet and hot. He swept his tongue inside, licking the warm surface, and she met every thrust with one of her own. If it weren’t for the fact that he was so damn horny, he could have spent the next hour just kissing her.
When the kiss ended, he grinned up at her. “Want more, sugar?”
“Are you kidding me? Damn straight I do.”
He laughed, a low and soft sound. “I live to serve.”
He grabbed the panties and ripped them off, tossing them to the floor. Then he pressed open the lips of her sex with his fingers again and plunged his tongue deep inside. God, she tasted so good. He pressed his face to her and inhaled her scent, his cock crying to be thrust inside. But this was for Peyton. For her. And he’d give her plenty of pleasure before he took his own.
He went to work on that very thing with a vengeance, licking and sucking, nibbling her clit, pulling back his tongue to thrust his fingers inside, curling them so with each backward pull, he scraped that special hot spot. Peyton pressed her heels into the mattress, pushing toward him, those delicious little sounds driving him crazy. He didn’t think he’d ever get enough of her taste or the soft, liquid feel of her. Every beat of desire entered himself in his cock.
The second orgasm came without warning, just as he closed his teeth on her clit again and thrust three fingers inside her. She rode his hand, his fingers driving in and out, his lips and teeth teasing her clit. When she was finished, lying there panting, tiny quivers still teasing at her inner flesh, he pressed a kiss to her opening, licked her one last time and reached into the nightstand drawer, where he’d placed a new box of condoms.
By now he was so hard it was painful. Hands shaking with need, he ripped open a foil packet and sheathed himself. Then he flipped Peyton over and dragged her to her knees.
“This okay?” His voice was so hoarse he hardly recognized it.
“It will be if you stop talking and start moving.”
God, but she was hot.
The sight of her upturned ass set his body on fire even more. He couldn’t help taking a moment to place a kiss on each upturned cheek and give a slow lick to the rounded flesh. He was rewarded by the shiver that raced deliciously over her body.
Slipping a hand between her thighs, he used his fingers to test her readiness. Wet! Soaked! Yes! Those two orgasms he’d given her had only taken the edge off. He wanted her craving more, craving him, craving the feel of his cock inside her.
Gripping his swollen cock in one hand, he pressed the head against the entrance to her sex and gently pushed into her. Despite how tight she was, her muscles were loose from the two orgasms he’d already given her, making his entry easy and smooth. When he was fully seated inside her, he stopped to take a breath and gather himself.
He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss at the small of her back. Then he began the steady in-and-out movement, gripping her hips to hold her in place. Gathering himself, he began the familiar in and out, thrust and withdraw, again and again, all the way inside then back. When she squeezed him with her internal muscles, need strong as a hurricane rushed through his veins.
Her body matched every movement of his, her tight inner muscles clenching at him. Over and over he drove into her, the walls of her sex tightening around him and little flutters giving his shaft an erotic squeeze. He gritted his teeth, holding on as long as he could, until he felt her orgasm surging through her. He was so close to the edge and he didn’t want this to be over before he even blinked. When her release exploded, drenching his cock, he could finally let go, pumping hard, his cock pulsing.
Depleted at last, he collapsed forward, taking her down with him, catching himself on his forearms. His heart was beating so hard he wondered they didn’t hear it, and his breath came in harsh gasps. Peyton’s body shuddered beneath him, her breathing as ragged as his.
He wasn’t sure how long they lay there like that until he finally realized he needed to dispose of the condom.
“Now I think we can use that shower we didn’t take.” He chuckled. “We earned it.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Except pulling out of her body gave him an unfamiliar empty feeling. He had to make sure, when all this was wrapped up, that this woman stayed here. Sometime in the next forty-eight hours or so, everything was going to explode. Diane Kendrick would be arrested for Dane’s murder and the attempted murder of Brianne. The story on Warren Sulzberger would break, with its expected fallout. And he had to pull out all the stops to convince Peyton to stay.
Chapter Fifteen
Peter Kendrick was up at five-thirty, ragged from lack of sleep and fighting a combination of fear and anger. In his head, he kept replaying the conversation from the night before with Owen and Diane. How the ever-lovin’ hell had everything gotten so fucked up?
There was no way he could go into the office. He was agitated and on edge and needed to plug the holes in his suddenly leaky ship. He’d also be no good to his clients with his mind focused one thing only—how to make sure any remaining evidence against either Diane or Owen was destroyed.
He’d have to start fixing things all over again, beginning with the CCTV footage. Sulzberger had the contacts there, people he’d done favors for, people who also didn’t mind taking a bribe or two. He had to make sure the tapes were wiped clean.
Paying off the cops would take a little more ingenuity, since Warren had handled it before, but he’d figure it out. He’d have to, because he had no choice. His family and everyone’s future were at stake.
Warren might have bailed, but there were still powerful figures who were indebted to him. At his desk with a full pot of coffee, he spent the morning going through every name on his private list, figuring out who would be the best to contact. He was just about to ditch the coffee and switch to something that wouldn’t erode his system when his cell phone rang. He looked at the readout. Owen. Now what?
“What is it?” he barked.
“Dad?” Owen’s voice sounded like a strangled frog. “We need help.”
Peter clutched the phone as a sick feeling washed over him. “With what?”
“The police are here, arresting Diane. Jesus, Dad. What the fuck are we going to do?”
Put everyone on a plane and hide on some isolated island.
How the hell had they done this so quickly?
Were the people the West woman had hired so powerful, so well connected, that they could make something like this happen? And where had the police gotten the proof that it was Diane? Eve
ryone, including himself, had believed it was Owen until he’d gotten the news last night. What piece of evidence had they all overlooked?
“Dad?” Owen’s hysterical voice pierced the fog in his brain. “She’s freaking out. What should we do?”
With supreme effort, Peter pulled himself together.
“Where are they taking her? Get me the precinct number and I’ll meet you there. As soon as I find out what’s going on and what proof they used to make the arrest, we’ll get the best criminal defense lawyer in the Southeast. Just…pull yourself together. Your wife needs you now.”
He noted the information in his phone as soon as Owen gave it to him and pulled himself together. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart. He’d thrown on comfortable slacks and a polo shirt this morning to work from home. He’d better get changed and get his ass in gear. Right now.
* * * *
Peyton and Blaze were eating a late breakfast when his cell rang.
“It’s Rocket. I’ll put it on speaker phone.” He answered and punched the button so they both could hear. “Hey. We’re both on.”
“Good,” his partner said. “The deed is done. The arrest’s been made. Diane Kendrick is on her way to the police precinct.”
Peyton could hardly believe it. “Are you sure?”
Rocket laughed. “I parked across the street and got photos so we can show them to Peyton. What are you doing right now?”
“Just finishing breakfast. Come on over.”
“On my way.”
He disconnected the call and looked at the woman across from him.
“You heard, right?”
Her hands were shaking so badly she could hardly hold her coffee cup.
“I can’t believe it really happened.” She looked across the table at Blaze.
He grinned at her. “Believe it. Rocket’s on his way with pictures.”
She took another sip of coffee then had to set the cup down. “I know you guys have pull with the police commissioner, but—”
