Sins and Scarlet Lace (12 page)

Declan brought the bottle of beer to his lips and drank deeply as he watched the last of the stars fade through the storm clouds. Thunder echoed in the distance, but there was still time until the rain hit.

On a clear night he’d sit up on the roof and stare at the stars for hours. It was completely glassed in, and he supposed it was a good place to entertain, but he’d always considered it his private space. The only furniture he’d moved up there was a double-size chaise lounge, and it sat lonely in the middle of the large space.

He’d built it for her. Because the image of how wild and carefree they’d been that afternoon at the planetarium was burned in his brain. The way she’d rubbed against him casually as they made their way through the darkened rooms or the way her hand had trailed up his thigh and cupped the erection he had no hope of hiding. The place had been all but deserted and the little sundress she wore had his imagination going wild.

Then they’d come into a room that was nothing but stars and black sky and she lifted up the skirt of her sundress so just the bottom of the round globes of her ass could be seen, and she’d pushed down the tiny panties she wore so they dropped to her feet. He’d gone crazy with wanting her, and he pushed her to the wall, anchoring her hands above her head while he freed his cock.

He’d fucked her like an animal, and the whole thing had only lasted a couple of minutes at best, just enough to take the edge off until they were home again. But that day had always stayed with him, and even now, the remembrance had him hard enough he was glad he’d pulled on sweats after his shower.

Dec took another sip of beer and then went to lay down on the chaise. He was tired, and they’d both need to get several solid hours of sleep. It was probably best for both to retreat to their own corners for the night. She needed time to think. It was obvious she still had reservations even though she was willing to share her body with him. But trust had to be earned and he’d have to give her the time she needed to come to terms with her own wants.

His body went still as he heard the rooftop door open and close again, and then he breathed in the sweet scent of soap and his cock tented his sweatpants; he fought the urge to wrap his fist around the hard flesh and start stroking. He let his beer dangle from his fingers and he didn’t let his gaze shift from the turbulent clouds above.

“I found this on top of my clothes,” Sophia said, tossing something hard and square onto his stomach. He almost laughed when he looked down and saw the box of condoms. A 48-pack. “It seems Shane wanted us to be prepared.”

“That’s the MacKenzie family motto. At least one of them. Darcy left an identical box for me back in D.C.”

Declan tossed the condoms aside and finally looked at her. His bottle dropped the remaining couple of inches to the ground with a clank when he saw what she was wearing.

“I take it Darcy packed that for you too?” he asked, trying hard not to swallow his tongue. “Remind me to let her have the company credit card more often.”

The nightgown shimmered in bold ruby and was the sheerest, most delicate lace he’d ever seen. It flowed against her skin from breast to mid-thigh, and he could just make out the dark rose of her nipples beneath. She’d left her hair down how he liked it and her toes were painted scarlet to match the gown. He didn’t know why that little detail turned him on, but he found himself longing to start kissing at her toes and work his way up.

“I was just thinking about the planetarium, replaying the way you pushed your panties down over that sweet bottom and let them drop to the floor. It drove me fucking insane when you did that.”

“Like this?” she asked, arching a brow.

She turned so her back faced him, and he stopped breathing as her fingers skimmed up her thighs, catching on the gown and bringing it up higher and higher—teasing him—tempting him with sweet glimpses of flesh. Her thumbs hooked in the strings of the tiny matching thong she wore and she brought them down slowly until she finally released them and they fell to the ground.

Sophia stepped out of the panties and then bent down to pick them up, and he saw the sweetest sight imaginable. Her pussy lips were swollen and slick. And bare. She’d shaved during her shower, and the sight had his balls tightening against his body and come threatening to spill from his cock.

“Sweet mercy, Soph,” he rasped. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“It seems to be working better than shooting you.”

“Come here, baby. Let me give you what you want.”

***

Sophia let the gown fall back to her thighs and walked toward Declan. Her body was an inferno of need, and she knew there was no changing the course of a force so powerful.

She belonged to him. She’d always belonged to him, and she realized something while she was in the shower. There was no shame in loving him after all they’d been through. He hadn’t wanted her, but she’d managed to survive without him. And if he didn’t want her again she’d keep on surviving. But there was no point in denying herself the pleasure it was obvious only he could give.

She was stronger than she’d been then, and she wanted him to understand that strength had been born of necessity, and she wouldn’t run away this time. The love for him had never disappeared as she’d wanted it to, and he was in for a hell of a fight if he ever tried to protect her by sending her away again.

He took hold of her hand and pulled her close, and she lifted herself to his kiss, letting the passion take over as his lips slanted hungrily across hers. His fingers tangled in her hair, and the sharp bite against her scalp as he pulled the strands had her gasping into his mouth.

Arousal swept through her loins like a wild flame and she moaned as his tongue swept inside her mouth and mated in a way so primitive and sensual that her knees shook. Her hands found the hem of his T-shirt and jerked it up so her hands touched the taut muscles of his stomach.

He let go of her hair and ripped the shirt over his torso and tossed it aside, and she rubbed her breasts against his hot skin, moaning at the sensations as she teased herself mercilessly. He tugged at the bodice of her nightgown so her breasts popped free, plump and high, displayed for his pleasure. He filled his hands with the swollen mounds, his fingers tweaking the rosy peaks of her nipples, and she felt the tug all the way to the tight bud between her thighs.

She arched against him, crying out as he leaned down and took a nipple into his mouth, sucking it deep as his tongue laved across it. Her fingers grasped the back of his head and pulled him closer, and then she grew impatient, wanting to feel more of him.

Her nails raked down his chest to the elastic waistband of his sweats and she tugged—hard—so they pulled down below his hips and his cock sprang free. Her hand fisted around him and she groaned as he seemed to swell in her hand.

“Fuck, you’ll have me coming in your hand,” he said, releasing her nipple with a pop. He pushed down the sweats all the way and stepped out of them so he stood naked—his cock a mouth-watering sight as it stood iron-hard and hot away from his body. His hand replaced hers at the base of his cock and she licked her lips as he squeezed hard and a tiny drop of pearly liquid gathered at the tip.

“Mmm,” she moaned, kneeling before him. His hand fisted back in her hair and he sucked in a sharp breath as her tongue licked out as delicate as a cat’s and gathered the salty drops on her tongue.

“Fuck me—”

His head dropped back on his shoulders and his grip tightened as her lips wrapped around the flared head of his cock and her tongue swirled around him. One hand cupped his balls gently and her other hand gripped his thigh, her nails biting into flesh. She opened her mouth wider, took him down deeper, until her chin rested against the delicate sac. She held her breath, prolonging his pleasure for as long as she could before she had to pull back and suck in oxygen.

“Enough,” he shouted. He was seconds away from shooting inside that sweet mouth, and she was lapping him up like cream. But damned if he was going to come inside anything but her tight pussy.

He pulled her back and lifted her to her feet, pushing her back until her knees his the back of the chaise and then down so she was sprawled on her back, the red lace of the nightgown pulled down over her breast and up over her hips, exposing the bare flesh between her thighs.

“Christ, Sophia,” he panted. “The sight of you is my every fantasy. It’s my turn to taste that sweet pussy and bury my tongue between those naked folds. Did you think of my tongue sliding through that sweet syrup while you were shaving?”

His finger trailed between the folds, gathering the cream of her desire so she could see the evidence. He brought his finger to his lips and sucked, moaning as the taste of her filled his senses.

“Pull your knees up high,” he demanded. “I want to see all of you.”

Color darkened her cheeks, but she did as he asked and pulled her knees high to her chest. He kneeled beside the chaise and inhaled her arousal before placing a soft kiss on the swollen bud of her clit.

“Fucking beautiful,” he whispered, his breath feathering across the moist flesh. And then his mouth and tongue were pressed against her as he sucked and licked and tasted every delectable inch of her folds.

Her fingers tightened on his scalp, and the mewling cries she made in the back of her throat only made him want to give her more, to make her lose control until the cries turned into screams of ecstasy. Her hips rolled against him and she jerked as his teeth scraped over the hardened bud of her clit.

“Dec.” His name was desperation on her lips as his tongue moved faster, building her higher and higher. He parted the bare folds with his fingers, tonguing her deep and hard before pushing two fingers into the suckling depths of her pussy.

Her back arched on a gasp and she clamped down around him, the syrup of her desire coating his fingers and dripping down his wrist. All he could think was how tight she’d feel wrapped about his cock, and he stepped up his efforts to make her come like this first—so when he finally pushed inside of her she’d be swollen and tight and still pulsing from her own climax.

Perspiration coated both of their bodies and her desperate pants turned into wailing moans as his fingers curled inside of her and rubbed against her G-spot. The texture was different there, rougher, and he moved his fingers faster and faster over the spot until she stiffened, her legs clamping around his head, as her entire body shook with the force of her orgasm.

He drank her until the last shudder wracked her body, and then he pulled his fingers free.

“I’ll buy you another,” he said, ripping the gown down the middle and then flipping her quickly to her belly, removing the shredded cloth and tossing it aside. Her pussy gleamed with the proof of her release, and he couldn’t wait to be inside her.

Sophia’s hands clawed at the fabric of the chaise and she tried to catch her breath, to reorient herself to the present, but Dec didn’t give her a chance to do anything but scream. He thrust into her in one smooth stroke, and the walls of her pussy still quivered from her previous climax.

He stroked fast and hard—forceful—and her muscles stretched to accommodate his size. His fingers bit into her hips as he slammed against her, and he pushed so far, so deep, that she felt the familiar building inside of her once more.

Flesh slapped against flesh and sweat coated their bodies as she felt pure sensation gather in her womb like the beginnings of an electrical storm—white hot and pulsing as her pussy tightened around him. Her knees gave out and he followed her down to the chaise so their bodies lay flat, but he didn’t stop driving into her.

His fingers twined with hers and they both grabbed at the edge of the chaise, and if possible he moved higher and harder inside her and that was all it took to set the lightning free. It coursed from her womb down her arms and legs, and she didn’t recognize her screams of pleasure as the heated jets of Declan’s come blasted inside of her, every spurt increasing the pleasure of her orgasm.

The intensity of their lovemaking left them both limp and weakened, and he didn’t know how long they lay there, their breaths heaving in tandem and the sweat cooling on their skin. Declan groaned when he pulled out of her and felt the stickiness of his semen against the chaise.

“Damn,” he said, rolling to his side and pulling her with him so she rested in his arms. He wasn’t even sure she was conscious. “Condoms. There was a whole fucking box and I couldn’t think past the point of burying my dick inside you to put one on.”

“S’kay,” she murmured. “Birth control. All good.”

The rain had started to fall sometime during their lovemaking, and he stared up as the rain splattered against the glass ceiling. She rolled over in his arms so her head rested against his chest and her hand splayed on his stomach. He hoped to God she wasn’t ready to go again, but he wasn’t sure he could get another hard-on in the next week, much less the next ten minutes.

“I always hated that you used condoms before, even though I was on the pill. I never felt like I felt all of you. That day at the planetarium was the first and last time you ever took me without one.”

His fingers glided up her back and then back down again in a lazy motion. “That last time we were together it took every ounce of self-control I had to put one on. I thought when I came back home that I’d ask you to marry me and then I’d never use one again. That whole mission I thought about how good it would feel to slide into you with nothing but flesh between us.”

“I understand why you felt you had to push me away,” she said softly. “I don’t agree with it, but I understand that protecting the people you love is just part of your makeup. It’s in your blood. You talk about getting me to trust you again, but if you think about it, you never trusted me to begin with. You didn’t trust me to love you enough or stand by you no matter what.”

She felt the breath shudder in his chest, but she had more to say. “And I wasn’t strong enough to tell you to shut the hell up and that I wasn’t going anywhere. If we were in the same position today there wouldn’t be a nurse or a relative you could throw in my path to keep you from me.”

“So I guess when it comes down to it, I didn’t trust your love enough either. Because I should have known you were full of shit as soon as the words started coming from your mouth.” She felt the tears she’d sworn she would never shed drip down her cheeks and onto his chest. “Because if I’d been paying attention for the two years we were together I would’ve been positive that the love you showed me in every gesture or kiss was the kind of love that can’t be turned off and on like a switch. What we had was real. And we were both stupid for walking away.”

“I want a second chance with you,” he said, the huskiness in his voice warming her heart. “I want to make a life with you. We’ve already wasted so much time.”

“Ten years is a long time to pick up where we left off.” She swallowed and closed her eyes against the pain. “We’re different people. We might find we don’t like each other as much as we once did.”

His lips touched the top of her head and she felt his smile. “I guess we’ll find out. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together.”

***

Declan looked up from his laptop as Sophia came into the kitchen early the next morning. It always took her a good hour before she was ready to face the day, and she stumbled into a bar stool as she followed her nose to the coffee pot.

The sight of her wearing nothing but one of his shirts had the blood pooling from his brain to his lap, and he shook his head in wonder. After the night they’d just shared he should be more than satisfied for a long while. Apparently not.

She drank the first cup black and standing against the kitchen counter. He knew better than to say anything until she was ready, so he went back to checking the traps he’d set for their friend. The last thing he wanted to do was leave a trail that could be followed back to their location in Surrender, so he’d set up dummy trails showing their location at multiple places all over the world.

Hackers had patterns, or signatures, they used when they tried to overtake a system, and Declan was hoping he’d be able to recognize the signature by the time he’d finished taking the bait. He had his own signature as well, which is what made what he was doing risky. Whoever was on the other end of the computer had already traced three of the nine dummy locations he’d set up.

“Good morning,” Sophia finally said.

He grinned and pushed the computer back, reaching for his own cup of coffee. “Twenty-nine minutes,” he said, looking at his watch. “You’re getting faster at waking up.”

“I can recognize sarcasm when I hear it. Did you eat already?”

“That’s a loaded question if I’ve ever heard one.” His brow quirked and he watched in fascination as she blushed as red as the nightgown she’d been wearing the night before. “I could go for a little dessert for breakfast. Why don’t you come over here and let me show you what I have in mind.”

It was becoming increasingly warm in the kitchen, and he watched as Sophia’s nipples puckered to hard peaks beneath the cotton of his T-shirt.

“I don’t know, Dec.” She fluttered her eyelashes flirtatiously. “It seems to me you should have to eat a good meal before you get dessert.”

“I’ve always thought food tasted better if you had to catch it yourself.” He grinned and scooted back from the table, hooking his fingers in his shirt and pulling it over his head.

Sophia’s eyes widened and she put her coffee down on the counter, moving a few steps back with each step he took closer. His thumb and forefinger flicked open the button of his jeans, and she licked her lips and took another step backward.

The air around them was thick with lust and anticipation, and he stood poised at the ready, waiting for her to make the first move. The kitchen was open on all sides and she stood just at the edge of where the kitchen met the dining room.

He saw it in her eyes before she made her first move, and he was already leaping after her as she turned to run. A shriek of surprise bubbled out in a laugh as his fingers glanced off her arms before she maneuvered quickly in the opposite direction and put the dining room table between them.

“You might as well give in,” he taunted. “Maybe I’ll take it easy on you if you surrender peacefully.”

“Who said I wanted it easy?” She pulled off her shirt and tossed it at his face to distract him as she took off toward the foyer.

Declan leapt over the dining room table and caught her before she made it to the stairs. She was laughing as he took her lips in a scorching kiss, going straight for heat instead of a slow simmer. His hands grasped her bottom and lifted her so she was able to wrap her legs around his waist and her nails bit into his shoulder blades.

The kiss was endless, a mating of tongues and a sensual slide of lips. His hip bumped a table and something crashed to the ground, and he cursed as he worked to get his jeans unzipped. Her back slammed against the wall, knocking a picture from where it hung and her breasts rubbed against his chest as she pushed back against him. He could smell her heat and his knuckles glanced off the slick essence between her thighs as he finally got the zipper down and his jeans shoved to his hips.

His cock sprang free and he lifted her, searching for the entrance of her pussy so he could sink home, but she rolled her hips against him just as the head of his cock found her entrance and she dislodged him. Instead she slid her drenched pussy up and down his shaft.

“Christ,” he panted. Her bare skin scorched his fingers as she pleasured herself shamelessly against him. The taste of her filled him, until he was drunk from the pleasure, and he stopped worrying about how he’d find the ability to draw his next breath as her ankles crossed behind his back and she squeezed him tighter.

He stumbled back from the wall, intending to move her to the couch, but her teeth bit down on his lower lip and color exploded from beneath his closed eyelids. Something shattered—maybe a vase—and her back hit the front door just as the flared head of his cock probed at her entrance. An incredible pressure rose within her as he stretched her sore muscles, and she bit her lip as the pleasure/pain assaulted her system.

A pounding at the front door and then the insistent ring of the doorbell had them both freezing, their breaths tight in their chests.

“Everything all right in there?” Shane called out, laughter in his voice. “It sounds like someone fell over.”

Declan groaned and sank a little further inside of her as he kept her pressed against the door.

“Maybe if we’re quiet he’ll go away,” she whispered in his ear.

“I thought we were supposed to have a meeting this morning,” Shane called out. “Maybe I’d better come in and make sure everything is all right.”

“If you do, you die,” Declan finally yelled through the door. Sweat gathered at his temples and his muscles strained at the effort it took to hold back. “Go away, Shane.”

“I could just wait here on the porch for ten minutes and then knock again. But maybe y’all should go to a different room because you’re pretty loud.”

“Come back in an hour or I’m going to shoot you.”

Sophia’s body shook in a fit of laughter and she buried her head against his neck. Every movement she made had him slipping a little farther inside of her and he felt like his skin was being flayed alive. He eased his grasp on her bottom and let gravity sink her farther onto his cock. The laughter stopped and a sharp gasp rent the air as he felt the familiar tightening of her muscles.

“An hour?” Shane asked. “That’s impressive, brother. I guess you get to be king of the jungle today. And to think I woke up early for this.”

They both held their breaths as they heard a car door slam shut and then an engine start before driving away. Her teeth bit into his shoulder and he realized she was just on the edge of coming.

“Remind me to kill him later,” he panted. Declan tightened his grasp on her bottom once more and pushed his entire length into her with one rough thrust.

The orgasm ripped from her body and she heard herself cry out, but it sounded as if it was trapped beneath water. Blood rushed to her ears and all she could focus on was the thick shaft pounding inside of her. He kept her anchored to the door with his hips, and she clamped tighter around him as she felt his finger probe at the sensitive bud of her anus.

All it took was a touch and she climaxed hard and long around him, bucking against him as she begged for mercy. His shout echoed her own and she felt the hot spurts of his semen filling her as he pinned her to the door with a final hard thrust. It was enough for a fast and powerful climax to shudder through her once more.

***

Thirty minutes later they were both showered and dressed and back in the kitchen.

“I’m never going to be able to look at Shane again,” Sophia said as she rummaged through the fridge for sandwich fixings.

“That would be perfectly fine with me. I’m pretty sure I’m honor bound to kick his ass for that little stunt.”

“Though to be honest, we probably were being a little loud. I’m sorry you broke your clock. And the picture frame. And that table. But I’m pretty sure you can glue the leg back on.”

He narrowed his eyes as she laughed at him. “You laugh now, but what you don’t understand is that this family is relentless when it comes to stuff like that. My cousin Dane and his wife once pulled a towel rod free that was bolted into the wall. It flew out of Charlie’s grasp and shattered the shower door. Everyone still talks about that and it’s been years.” He grabbed the bread from the pantry and a knife from the drawer as she started setting things out on the counter. “Also, I like how you say it was me who broke the clock. Like you weren’t involved at all.”

“I was just along for the ride. I’ve got the sore muscles to prove it.”

“You know, I’ve got a very nice Jacuzzi downstairs—” His phone buzzed on the table and he sighed as he saw it was Brant on the line. “Hold that thought,” he said as he picked up the phone.

“Why aren’t you on vacation?” he said as he answered the call.

“Because I’ve learned to listen to my gut,” Brant said by way of greeting.
“We’ve got major trouble. About an hour ago a man dressed in a business suit carrying a briefcase was buzzed inside your building by your receptionist. The man pulled out a silenced pistol and double tapped your security guard in the head before giving the receptionist a single shot to the heart. I’ve seen the surveillance footage. It was quick and professional.”

Dec stayed silent as fury boiled in his blood. He didn’t show any outward reaction to what Brant had just told him, but Sophia must have sensed something was wrong because her eyes became worried and she stopped what she’d been doing to watch him carefully.

“Keep going,” he said.

“The man left the briefcase and walked out. The outside cameras show him getting in a black sedan, and then they stopped beside the gate that leads down to the parking area. He tossed in a hand-held device that seemed to be on the same timing system as the briefcase left inside. The device rolled down almost all the way before things went boom.”

“Who was called to the scene?” Dec asked.

“The police initially, but it wasn’t fifteen minutes before Director O’Daniel was there shutting things down. I managed to slip in through your private entrance and clear out all of the classified files and set the computers to self-destruct mode.”

Dec opened his laptop and checked the progress of the bait he’d set up. “How’d he find us?”

“Director O’Daniel isn’t very forthcoming at the moment, but from what I was able to find out it looks like someone broke into his files. You’d think the Director of the CIA would have better security.”

“Not for someone like this. Do me a favor and take Darcy on that vacation. And spread the word. I want all agents to go underground until I know how much of our personal information has been breached.”

“You want me to leave you alone to fight this out by yourself? Darcy would have my head on a platter.”