Mystic Park (19 page)

Vaughn felt Benita's small hands unbuttoning his shirt and tugging at his belt. She flung his dress shirt aside. He gathered her against him, loving the feel of her soft breasts on his chest. He breathed in her fragrance, cinnamon and vanilla. The scent haunted him, awake and asleep.

Vaughn stepped back to admire Benita's beauty. He cupped her breast in his palm, feeling its weight. Her skin was soft and smooth. Like a dream. He never wanted it to end. He ducked his head and captured her nipple with his lips. Benita arched against him. He suckled her. He teased her. He rolled her in his mouth. Vaughn tucked his hands into the waistband of her yoga pants and slid his palms over her hips to draw down her pants and underwear together. He kissed her breast one last time before he straightened to lift her onto the bed.

Benita rolled onto her knees. “Vaughn, take off your pants.”

Naked, she came to him. Helped him unfasten his belt. Benita studied him like a work of art. Her fingertips trailed down his torso as though it was the first time she'd ever touched him. She was his past and his present. He wanted to give her such passion and pleasure. He would be the only man for her, just as she'd ruined him for any other woman.

He climbed onto the bed with her and took her into his arms. “Let me love you, Benita.”

She smiled as she smoothed his goatee. “As long as you let me love you back.”

Vaughn smiled as he lowered his head to kiss her. Careful to keep his full weight from her, he pressed her into the mattress. Her body moved beneath him, beckoning him. He deepened their kiss, tasting her passion. He stroked his hand over her body, feeling her urgency.

Benita's body was humming with desire. Vaughn's large palm caressed her, shaping her breast, molding her torso, tracing her hip. She couldn't stay still. She could feel her blood heating in her veins. She could sense her passion spreading from her core. She wrapped her arms around Vaughn's shoulders and lifted her body against him, showing him what she wanted.

Vaughn captured her wrists and pressed them back against the mattress. He kissed his way down her neck, over her chest to her breast. He kissed its fullness. Licked its curves. Coming closer but not quite to the nipple.

“Vaughn, let me touch you.” Benita heard the need in her voice.

“You are,” Vaughn whispered into her ear.

His hair-roughened leg slid between hers. Benita shivered. She arched her back, offering her breasts to him.

“Let go of my hands.” She tugged against his hold.

“Why?” He traced his tongue around her nipple. Benita's legs moved restlessly.

“So I can touch you, you wicked man.”

“Not yet.” He drew her breast into his mouth.

Benita panted her arousal. The pulse at her core kept a steady rhythm. He sucked her breast into his mouth. He teased her nipples with his teeth. She moved against him as her body burned.

Vaughn left her breast. He licked his way down her torso to her hips. Benita felt her moisture build. Her heart raced. Her pulse thundered in her ears. She grabbed a fistful of his sheets and gripped them hard. Vaughn palmed her hips and drew her to his mouth.

Benita pressed her head back into the pillow and screamed. The pleasure was too intense. Her desire knife-edge sharp. She couldn't think. She couldn't see. She could barely breathe. Vaughn worked her against his mouth. Licking her. Stroking her. Teasing her. Sending tremors through her muscles. Benita's body quaked. Her nipples tightened painfully. Her legs trembled. Vaughn used his hands to move her. He squeezed her cheeks. He rocked her hips, pumping them until Benita took up the rhythm mindlessly. A pulse beat inside her, pitching her desire. Her core tightened. A pressure built and built and built until it broke. She gasped as her body spun free. Finally, Vaughn released her hips, laying her back down on the bed. Then he surged into her.

Her core was moist and ready, accepting him. Benita gasped again as her body flooded with pleasure. Vaughn's hips pressed into her. Benita wrapped her legs around him. Her body rose to meet his thrusts. His features were chiseled with desire. His cocoa eyes scorched her. A sheen of perspiration cloaked him. She lifted her head to kiss him. He kissed her back, hard and deep, as though he wanted to touch her soul. His heart beat against her.

Benita moaned as her desire rushed to a peak inside her. She freed her lips from Vaughn's and tried to catch her breath. Her body twisted and turned beneath him. He tucked his hands beneath her hips and pressed her tighter against him. She rocked her hips, following the motion he directed.

Vaughn moved his right hand between them. Benita felt his fingers at her folds.

“Vaughn, touch me.” She whispered the plea into his ear.

“I will.” Vaughn's finger slipped within her folds and pressed her spot.

Benita's body stiffened. She felt Vaughn tense above her. Their bodies rocked together until spent. Benita went limp in his arms. Exhausted, she slept.

CHAPTER 23

Ms. Helen's doorbell rang Thursday afternoon. Benita set her basket of freshly laundered clothing on the floor beside the staircase, then changed direction to answer the door. She found Vaughn on the other side.

“Did you get my message?” She stepped back, inviting him in. He looked very professorial in his tan blazer, black shirt, and brown pants. “I hadn't expected you to come over. I thought you'd call.”

“I wanted to see you.” He placed a brief kiss on her lips as he crossed the threshold. “Is Ms. Helen home?”

Benita's heart skipped a beat. “Vaughn, I'd rather not—”

“I want to give your great-aunt my regards. Why? What were
you
thinking?” Vaughn arched a brow, though his eyes laughed at her.

Benita rolled her eyes at him before turning to lock the front door. “She's at a breakfast meeting with a committee at her church. But I'll give her your regards. Would you like something to drink?”

“No, thank you.” Vaughn hung his blazer on the onyx coat tree in the corner before following Benita into the living room. “Your message said you'd finally heard from Ginny.”

“I went to her office. She said she got my message but she'd been too busy to return it.”

“Did she tell you why she missed rehearsal last night?” Vaughn settled beside her on the thick purple couch.

“She went out with her new boyfriend.” Benita tried to keep the irritation from her voice. She failed. “I reminded her of the commitment she'd made to us. But she said that, since we're not paying her, we're not her priority.”

Vaughn sprang from the sofa and paced across Ms. Helen's hardwood floor. “No one's getting paid. This play is a fund-raiser for the community center.”

“I told her that her new guy would be turned on by her beautiful singing and sexy costume.” Similar to the way Benita was getting turned on by staring at Vaughn now. Her gaze moved over his broad shoulders, paused at his firm gluts, then continued to his long legs.

“Did it work?” Vaughn turned to face her. This view was even better.

“She said she's committed to the play. But she's said that before. We need an understudy.” She shook her head when Vaughn's cocoa eyes focused on her. “Not me.”

“It's too late to get anyone else.” Vaughn returned to the sofa. “We only have seven rehearsals left.”

“Then we'll have to hope that Ginny keeps her word.” Benita crossed her arms and legs.

Vaughn rubbed the back of his neck. “I do have some good news. Thanks to people like you, Jack, Ean, Darius, Alonzo, and Juan donating your time and talents, I've been able to cover expenses with the artist's grant and other donations.”

“Then all of the proceeds from the ticket sales will go to the center.” Benita's scowl cleared.

“We're already receiving ticket orders.”

“That's wonderful news.”

“Trinity Falls needs more people like you, who are willing to help in the community and who can inspire other people to volunteer, too.”

“This town needs a lot of things.” Benita shifted toward Vaughn. “Luckily, L.A. has those things and more.”

“You never miss an opening, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Los Angeles doesn't have the sense of community we have here, does it? How well do you know your neighbors?” The look in Vaughn's eyes told her he already had the answer.

“I don't spend much time with my neighbors.”

When she'd tried to introduce herself to the woman in the apartment next door, her neighbor had reacted as though Benita had beamed down from outer space. Benita had no idea how someone new to L.A. went about making friends. That's why she'd decided to bring a friend—and lover—back with her to L.A.

Vaughn checked his watch. “Have you had lunch?”

“I was going to put away my laundry first.” She nodded toward the staircase.

Vaughn stood, crossing toward the basket near the stairs. “I'll carry it upstairs for you.”

“Thanks.” Benita rose to follow him, then froze when she remembered what was in the basket. “On second thought . . .”

Vaughn straightened with the clothes basket in his hands. His attention was sewn to the Heritage High School football jersey mixed in with her other clean clothes. “You've had my jersey all these years.”

Benita was mortified. She'd been caught in her lie. “Do you want it back?”

Vaughn lifted his eyes to hers. “Why did you take it?”

She couldn't hold his gaze. “I thought it would help me to not miss you as much when we went away to college.”

“Did it work?”

“No.” Benita chuckled without humor. “It doesn't help me in L.A., either. But I don't want to give it back.”

“You don't have to.” Vaughn offered a gentle smile. “But it seems to me that you'd have better luck with the real thing.”

Vaughn lowered his lips to hers and gave her a wistful kiss full of dreams and yearning. He was right. There wasn't a substitute for the real man. But she needed to convince him to return to L.A. with her.

 

 

Leonard George waited for Alonzo on a seat near the Sheriff Department's front desk Friday afternoon. The sight of Doreen's ex-lover soured Alonzo's already cranky mood. What did the other man want?

“I heard you proposed to Doreen.” Leonard stood. The glare he gave Alonzo said he wished the sheriff would disappear and he didn't care how.

“We'll talk in my office.” Alonzo glanced around the reception area, a fancy term for the strip of space between the front door and the bull pen.

His deputies and administrative staff were pretending not to eavesdrop. But this was Trinity Falls. Gossip was currency and his staff was looking for a big pay day. He was going to disappoint them.

Leonard didn't move. His face was a mask of hatred. His brown cheeks were flushed pink. “Is it true? Did you have the nerve to ask her to marry you?”

“If you want to talk, shut up and follow me. Otherwise, leave.” Alonzo walked away. If the high school football coach wanted to talk, they could do so in private. But Alonzo wasn't giving his department a show.

Thankfully, Leonard was silent as Alonzo led him to his office. Maybe the other man realized he wouldn't have been heard above the shouted conversations, tapping keyboards, and ringing phone lines. Some members of his department stared openly as Alonzo walked past. Most made the effort to at least appear busy.

Alonzo stopped outside his office door. He considered the high school football coach's loose-fitting blue button-down shirt and navy blue pants as Leonard preceded him into his office. The other man had lost weight.

Leonard helped himself to one of the two black leather guest chairs in front of the desk. Alonzo tensed. He didn't have anything to say that would require Leonard to take a seat. And he doubted Leonard had anything to say that Alonzo wanted to hear. He checked his watch. It was four in the afternoon.

“Did you propose to Doreen?” Leonard glared up at him from over his shoulder.

“What does that have to do with you?” Alonzo shut his door, then circled the desk to take his seat.

“I care about Doreen.”

That irked Alonzo. “As long as you care about her from a distance.”

“I've been doing a lot of thinking about you, Alonzo, and your return to Trinity Falls.” Leonard rested his right ankle on his left knee.

Alonzo wasn't fazed. He'd stared down worse situations than a jealous ex-lover. “I haven't thought about you at all.”

Leonard continued as though Alonzo hadn't spoken. “I want to know what you were really doing all those years you were away from Trinity Falls and what brought you back.”

Alonzo looked at his watch again. This time, he used the act to cover his unease. Leonard's demand had hit an open wound. “My bio's on the Sheriff Department's Web site.”

“You're not going to answer me?”

“Why do I need to?”

Anger clouded Leonard's cold, dark eyes. Alonzo returned the other man's stare without expression. Silent moments ticked by during the battle of wills.

The high school math teacher and football coach finally broke the impasse. “You came back to town and thought you'd replace Paul.”

“That's not precisely the way it happened.” Alonzo considered the other man's reaction to the news he was marrying Doreen. It was greater than disappointment and stronger than resentment. What was it—and how dangerous could it be?

“Where were you while Paul Fever was dying and Doreen needed someone to lean on?” Leonard became more agitated. “You weren't here and neither was her son.”

Alonzo's temper stirred at the criticism against Doreen's son, who also was Alonzo's friend. “Paul didn't want Ean to know he was sick. You're aware of that.”

“You're making excuses for him?”

“That's not an excuse. It's a fact. And I was here, Leo. You know that as well.”

He'd returned to Trinity Falls after his high school friend wrote and told him he was dying. But he'd returned for Paul, not Doreen. He'd spent a lot of time with Paul. It was during one of those times that Paul had asked whether Alonzo had left Trinity Falls because he loved Doreen.

Leonard stood and paced the room. “What makes you think you're worthy of Doreen?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” Alonzo struggled to maintain his implacable expression. His temper was rising. He tracked the other man's progress past his desk to his dark wood bookcase tucked into the corner near his window. Alonzo maintained his silence.

“I can tell you're hiding something.” Leonard turned to face him. “What is it?”

Enough was enough. He didn't know Leonard's game and he wasn't playing it. Alonzo stood. “I
will
marry Doreen. I
won't
answer your questions. Get out of my office.”

“You're right. You don't have to tell me.” Leonard wandered to the door. He stood with his hand on the knob and looked back to Alonzo. “But I'll figure it out. Whatever you don't want to tell me, I'm sure Doreen would be interested in knowing.”

Alonzo watched Leonard walk through the open door. His features remained impassive but his temper burned.

What about Doreen? If Leonard told her about his past, would she turn away from him? Terror iced his temper. Alonzo sank onto his chair. He'd tried to convince himself to leave his past behind, but now Leonard threatened that. Should he tell Doreen himself or continue to hope his past would remain a secret?

 

 

Alonzo knocked hesitantly on Darius's open office door in
The Trinity Falls Monitor
office Friday afternoon. He waited for the newspaper man to look up. “How are you settling into your new office?”

Darius spun his executive chair away from his computer monitor. A welcoming smile brightened his movie star good looks. His right arm swept the room, encompassing the stacks of files, competitor newspapers, and reports spread across the top of every desk and file cabinet in his office. “I'd say I'm pretty well settled in.”

“They might have some trouble getting you back out.” Alonzo considered the organized clutter that had invaded his friend's office. The other man looked pretty busy. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea. He took a step back, searching for a graceful exit.

Darius gestured toward one of the two gray padded visitor's chairs in front of his wood laminate desk. “Have a seat, Sheriff. What's on your mind?”

He should have known the former newspaper reporter would sense a cover-up. Darius's expression sobered when Alonzo pulled the door shut.

He crossed the room and took a seat. Did Darius realize his office smelled like newsprint? Separate from the clutter on his desk were personal mementos. On a shelf above his computer monitor stood a photo of Darius, posing with Ean and Quincy after a Heritage High School football game. On the far side of his keyboard was a framed photograph of Peyton sitting on the lip around Wishing Lake. She was laughing into the sun and her copper curls were bouncing on a breeze.

Alonzo turned to Darius. “I don't know where to start.”

“What's troubling you?” Darius held Alonzo's gaze as though the newsman could read his mind.

Alonzo drew a deep breath, exhaled, and filled his lungs again. “I don't think I'm good enough for Doreen.”

Darius didn't answer right away. Alonzo struggled to remain still under the other man's steady scrutiny. “When did you decide that?”

He'd expected Darius to ask why he felt he wasn't good enough for Doreen. The former reporter's question caught him off guard. “It was after we started planning the wedding. Doreen said she wasn't going to wear white, of course, because ours will be her second marriage. I started thinking about the things I've done as a law enforcement officer.”

“You think you're not good enough for Doreen because you're in law enforcement?”

“I did some things while I was a metropolitan police officer.” The words burned his throat like acid and stirred memories he prayed every night to forget.

“Have you spoken with Doreen?”

“No.” Alonzo answered even before Darius had finished asking.

“I didn't think so.” Darius leaned into his desk, holding Alonzo's gaze. “I have no idea what you've been through or what you're going through now. I don't know the man you were. But I'm proud to call the man you are a friend. And I know that man makes Doreen happy.”