Delly's Last Night (Go Get 'Em Women) (6 page)

Then she washed herself quickly. “Neal!”

He came and stood on the other side of the curtain, but made no attempt to move it aside. “Do you need something?”

“Apart from you?” She pulled the curtain aside and looked at him. “There’s a wall in here.” She patted the tiles.

She saw him swallow. His gaze travelled the length of her body and back. Then he pulled the sweater over his head and tossed it onto the counter.

No, Neal wasn’t a weak man at all. There was muscle there, and his flesh gleamed with a touch of the sun. He looked fit, healthy and not at all obsessed.

He stripped the rest of his clothing from him as she watched. His cock was thick, the tip flaring red with excitement. It was already erect, and veins bulged along its length.

Delly’s pussy throbbed along with her clit. She was more than ready. She had spent the night fantasizing about what might have been, and now that moment was here. All the potentials and could-have-beens would have a chance to become real.

She rested her back up against the wall, using it for support, as Neal stepped into the cubicle. The water from the showerhead sprayed on her shoulder.

Neal smiled. “A wall, hmmm? I did leave an impression.”

“You have to live up to your promise now.”

He lifted her up, his hands around her waist, and pinned her against the wall with his body. She wrapped her legs around him once more.

“Mmm. I like that,” he said, settling his hands under her ass. His fingers stroked gently, inching toward her cleft, making Delly catch her breath.

Then he kissed her and she lost track of his hands. She became immersed instead in the pleasure building in her from everything he was doing to her. Hands, mouth, even his body pressing against her clit. His lips trailing along her collarbones, then down toward her breasts. With a flare of understanding, she saw he had lifted her higher up the wall in order to gain access to more of her.

As his mouth closed around her nipple, she closed her eyes and simply tried to ride herd on her climax, to contain it and make this moment last.

“In me,” she whispered. “I want to come with you in me.” Her voice was unrecognizable even to her. It was thick, syrupy with lust.

Neal’s hands shifted, spreading to her hips. He lowered her, letting her slide down the wall. Just a few inches, then his cock nudged up against her cleft. Even despite the sauna effect of the shower, the heat of the blunt tip of his cock against her pussy was shocking. Delicious.

Delly clutched at his shoulders. “More,” she begged.

He pushed up inside her, gasping as he slid all the way in. “Ah, you’re like a fist around me,” he breathed, resting his head against hers.

But she couldn’t keep still. She arched, her body taut with her building climax. “Fuck me, Neal,” she begged.

He kissed her in reply, his tongue thrusting deep inside.

Then he began to thrust. The rough movement of his cock sliding in and out of her slick vagina, caressing the walls, was driving her closer to her climax. She beat at his shoulders as the slow pace of his thrusting kept her teetering on the edge of a massive explosion of pleasure. “Faster,” she begged.

“No,” he told her, his voice rough. His clear eyes were hooded, indicating his arousal, but he was watching her, measuring her responses.

But the inexorable pace of his cock inside her was enough. Finally her climax gathered...and built and built, stealing her breath. Then it shattered, and a mindless storm of pleasure ripped through her body.

She felt Neal’s hips shift and his thrusts falter. “Ah, you’re squeezing.” He gasped, and gave two more deep, hard thrusts. She felt his seed spill as his body stiffened against her.

For long moments, Delly could only hear her heartbeat, the soft patter of the shower against the tiles and Neal’s breath slowing, next to her ear.

He turned his head and kissed her jaw. “When do you next have to be somewhere?” he asked.

“Eight tonight,” she replied. “I’ve got the balance beam booked.”

“I’ve time yet to make you scream, then.”

* * * * *

Miami: June 28, 2.04 a.m.

“Why did you pull out of the Olympic squad, Delly?”
  
It was a casually phrased question, but Delly felt her body twitch to high alert.
 
It had nothing to do with what Neal’s hands were doing to her right then, either.
 
It was a moment of quiet contemplation that had fallen between them, while their bodies recovered.
 
Neal had turned the lights down in the room and settled himself on the floor, with his back resting against the foot of the bed.
 
Then he’d pulled Delly into his arms, snuggling her up between his legs until her back rested against his chest, with her head pillowed on his shoulder.
 
Then he’d fed her pieces of fresh pineapple and handmade chocolates, in between sips of wine.

As he fed her, his other hand continued to stroke her body, keeping the nerves awake and receptive. Tingling.

His question, softly put, broke the mood anyway.

She pushed the offered glass of wine away. “We don’t have time to go over the past, Neal. And there’s no point, anyway.”

His hand rested on her shoulder, calming. “Relax,” he breathed. “It’s just conversation.”

She tried to relax against him again, but the moment had gone. “Nothing about the past makes good conversation.”

“Not even us? Those two weeks just before the trials were pretty damned good by anyone’s standards.”

“Especially not us,” she said flatly.

Neal stiffened. “All right, then,” he said, his own tone very even and controlled.

She twisted her shoulders enough to look up at his face. “I meant...simply that the time in Colorado reminds me of how impossibly young and naïve I was. I don’t like reminders of how incredibly stupid I was then.”

“Stupid about me?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” she said flatly. It was the truth, after all.

“I see.” He took a deep breath, let it out. Then gave her a small smile. “Serves me right for prying.”

“Damien always quotes Forster when I ask too many questions.
Curiosity is one of the lowest of the human faculties
.” She mimicked Damien’s rich English accent perfectly for she had been listening to it for years.

Neal sat abruptly upright, throwing her forward and spilling the chocolates that had been sitting on her breasts. She thrust her hands forward to save herself, and scrambled out of the way, then turned to look at him, alarmed.

He reached for her wrist. “Damien Lacey?”

“You know him?” Her heart was thudding in response to the tension that radiated from Neal’s stiff body.
 

“Englishman, with a deep baritone. What’s your relationship with him, Delly. Quickly. Tell me.”

“I...I work for him.” It was close enough to the truth. His grip on her wrist was growing tighter. “Neal, you’re hurting me.”

He loosened his hold and massaged her flesh, but it was an automatic thing. He was still staring at her with his clear eyes, looking right through her again. “Working for him....” he repeated, mulling it over. Then he closed his eyes and dropped his head forward. “Oh Christ....”

“Neal?” She couldn’t lift her voice above a whisper. Her heart was a runaway train now, thudding under high pressure. She didn’t understand what had caused Neal to react the way he was. She was reacting to his stress.

He lifted his head again. “Damien Lacey. Gentleman thief. You’ve been knocking off houses for him these last ten years, haven’t you?”

She opened her mouth but no sound emerged. Her shock was too great.

But Neal nodded his head as if she had confirmed it, anyway. “You threw over a career as a gymnast for the joys of a professional thief. My god, Delly, you were a sure bet for a place on the Olympic team...what on earth made you throw it all away for the dubious glory of working for a man like Damien Lacey?”

“You did.”

Chapter Five

Neal’s shock was visible.
 
He took an unsteady breath.
 
“Me...?”

Delly threaded her shaking fingers together to keep them still. “There were pictures of us. They showed them to me. Two men in suits with guns, and the senator. The senator had a friend, he explained, that wanted to be on the team and I stood in her way. It was a simple matter. I just had to screw up in my trial, ensure I didn’t get on the team and the pictures would go away.”

Neal stared at her, blinking. Then he tipped the half full glass of wine to his lips and drained it. “How does Damien fit into it?” he said, his voice harsh.

Delly looked at her linked hands. There was no way out of re-living the shame now. She knew Neal would not let her be until he had the full story. “I found out the Senator was staying in a condo not far from the Olympic camp. He was only on the fifth floor. For me it was a cake-walk.”

“You broke in to steal the pictures,” Neal said flatly.

“I broke in, yes. But...” She sighed. “I was stupid. I tripped off an alarm, and there were security cameras. So I dashed for the bedroom and found out I wasn’t the first one there. A man in a mask stood there with the photos in his hand and a briefcase in the other. He dropped the photos when I came in. By that time the alarms were screaming and police sirens were right outside the building.” She gave a small laugh. “I’m sure even you remember how tight security was during the trials. You couldn’t walk half a block without showing ID and there were cops everywhere, all on high alert.”

“I remember,” Neal said softly.

“The man in the mask took off running for the front door. He was smarter than me. He’d opened the door before he went to the bedroom, so he had a fast escape if he needed it.”

Neal glanced at the sliding door to the deck, then sighed. “What happened?”

“The police were waiting for him. As soon as he stepped out of the door, they opened fire. He went down immediately. And I was standing in the corridor, almost wetting my pants with fear. Then a hand grabbed my face and everything went blank.”

“A hand?” Neal said sharply. “Just a hand?”

“That’s all I remember. I came around god knows how long after and found Damien sitting next to me smoking a cigar. We were in a hotel room somewhere. He said he knew who I was and why I had been in the senator’s condo and I had got his man killed.”

“Shit, it wasn’t your fault,” Neal breathed.

“He wouldn’t have run if I hadn’t tripped off the alarm.” Delly shrugged. She’d had a decade to deal with this guilt. “Damien offered to help me. He said he could get the pictures back for me and he’d already acquired the tapes from the security cameras, so I was safe there. I’d been cautious enough to wear gloves so prints weren’t an issue, and DNA testing wasn’t much of a factor ten years ago. I just needed the photos back. In exchange, he wanted me to do a small favour or two for him.”

“Stealing for him.”

She hung her head. “He had the photos. He still has them. And he had the tapes from the cameras. And he did haul me out of a jam I could never have survived without him. So I steal to order for him. He makes the arrangements, picks the targets, I go in, and I get ten percent off the top.”

“He’s owned your ass for ten years...
Jesus
, Delly!”

“Yeah, well, not anymore. Not after tonight.”

“This appointment of yours?”

“At eight a.m. I have a meeting with the agent for Cassandra. Cassandra is the best forger in the business, bar none.
 
No one comes near her for authenticity, her work has never failed.”

“This Cassandra must have a hefty price tag, then.”

“It took me ten years to save up enough to afford a full kit. With what I’ve saved and the five hundred thousand in your safe, I would have had enough to buy the kit and money to tide me over for a year until I got settled.”

“What’s a full kit?”

“A full identity. Papers, documents, certificates—all perfect forgeries that would pass anywhere. A whole new life in a briefcase and a guarantee that no-one would ever find me again.”

“And what would you get without my money?”

“I can get basic ID pieces.” She shrugged. “It’s enough. It has to be enough. I can’t go back to Damien. Tonight, Delly Alexander has to die, one way or another.”

Neal’s hand curled around the back of her head and his temple rested against her forehead. “I’m going to miss you, Delly Alexander.”

He kissed her. His lips were hot against hers and the warmth spread through her like wildfire, kindling the banked embers. He lowered her to the floor. His lips traveled all over her body, lingering for long moments at her breasts. The suckling and tugging at her nipples left her quivering helplessly. She reached for him as Neal lifted her thigh and slid his cock into her.

“Harder,” she urged.

His fingers curled into the carpet, the knuckles whitening. “There is no other way,” he growled. Sweat gathered at his temples as he slid deep inside her, stroking the hot centre. His glittering eyes were staring into hers, and now she had nothing to hide. She opened herself up to him, physically and mentally.