Unleashed (18 page)

The thought terrified her as much as it thrilled her.

Danny climbed on the bed and knelt between her legs. “Brace yourself baby,” he said with a cocky grin as he positioned the head of his cock at her entrance. “You’re about to get the ride of your life.”

“Promise?”

Danny’s breath caught at her low, husky voice and her sultry smile. She let out a little gasp as he squeezed the tip of his cock inside. His own breath hitched and he squeezed his eyes at the slick heat.
So tight
. She’d come twice, was so wet the pale, smooth skin of her inner thighs was shiny with juice, but she was still so tight he could barely squeeze inside.

Almost as tight as the first time he took her.

No, don’t go there
. That night had been a near religious experience. He’d felt empty, broken.
Needy
. And Caroline had come to him, given herself to him in complete love and trust, and for a moment at least, filled the black hole inside him that threatened to swallow him up.

This is different
. He took a deep breath and eased up, giving her a chance to get used to him. He hitched her knee over his elbow and folded it up against her chest, opening her wide so he could sink in another few inches. This was fucking, pure and simple. Tab A in slot B.

She moaned, arched her hips and slid her hands down to cover his ass. “God, Danny you feel so good.”

His hips flexed under her hands; he sank all the way in, so deep his balls nestled up against the curve of her ass.
So good
. The fucking understatement of the year.

It’s just a fuck
, he reminded himself as he pulled out almost all the way before sinking back home in one smooth, gliding stroke.

But this is Caroline
. Caroline’s beautiful brown eyes narrowed into slits as she stared up at him. Caroline’s little pink tongue circling her plump red lips. Caroline’s sweet, soft tits bouncing with every jolting thrust he delivered. Arching her hips, taking everything he gave her, giving it right back.

She was so beautiful, still so gorgeous it made his chest squeeze just to look at her. Something inside him seemed to tear, a weak spot in the scar tissue that held back everything he’d managed to shove back over the past twelve years. Now it was breaking through in a slow, steady leak.

“Danny,” she called his name in a high, startled cry and started to buck frantically under him.

Yes, this was what he wanted. Caroline, who had become so cool and reserved under her shell of sophistication, hot and wet, writhing out of control underneath him. To show her that no matter how she tried to keep him at a distance, he had the power to make her half insane with lust and need.

He sped up his thrusts, reveling in the power he still had over her. Loving that he could still make her scream, make her beg. He hooked her other knee over his elbow, spreading her wide, pinning her like a butterfly to the mattress with the force of his thrusts. Caroline’s hands were frantic, sliding along the sweat slick skin of his back. The sharp prick of her nails urged him on, the pain sending currents of pleasure straight to his balls. His vision went red as he felt her stiffen and convulse around him, heard her wail her pleasure up to the ceiling as her pussy milked him in greedy pulses.

He held himself still inside her, as deep as he could go, relishing every last tremor. He stared down at her face, watching her eyes focus as she came back to herself. She gave him a sleepy, satisfied smile that punched him right in the chest.

Closer. He wanted to get closer. Breath to breath. Mouth to mouth. Every inch of him covering her until she was absorbed into his skin
.

A warning bell went off in the back of his head penetrating the fog of lust and need.
No
. He couldn’t give into the hold she still had on him.

He rose up on his knees and closed his eyes, caught her hand and pressed it back down to the mattress when she would have curled it around his neck. But even with his eyes closed, her beautiful face, her expression of sexual satisfaction was burned on his brain. He forced his mind away from it, focusing instead on the base, carnal sensations of her pussy gloving his cock, so hot it threatened to burn him alive. So tight around him, pulling and squeezing him to his own oblivion.

Just sex
, he chanted to himself, even as every sinew went tight and he was swept up in one of the most intense orgasms he’d ever had in his life. It started at the base of his spine, working up and out, tightening his balls almost painfully before he exploded with such force he was sure the condom would break. On and on, his body jerked convulsively, as what felt like every drop of moisture came spurting out the tip of his cock.

He collapsed beside her, eyes closed, air sawing in and out of his lungs as he struggled to get oxygen back to his brain.

Jesus
. What a fucking disaster.

He felt the mattress shift as she rolled toward him. Her slender hand rested tentatively on his chest and her soft kiss on his shoulder burned him like a brand.

Without hesitation he brushed her hand from his chest and rolled off the bed.

Caroline stared at his retreating back and watched him disappear into the bathroom, feeling like she’d been kicked in the gut.

She didn’t know what she’d expected. She was a grown up, after all, and a realist. Not to mention she’d gone too many rounds with Danny in her life to expect that he’d go all ooey gooey after sex. She didn’t really expect him to curl his big body around her as he had in the past, snuggle her back to his front while they spoke in whispers about everything from what movie they should go see that weekend to what kind of house they would live in after they were married.

But she also didn’t expect him to literally brush her off like an annoying fly and hightail it from the bed like the mattress was on fire.

And she didn’t expect that such callous behavior would hurt so much.

The bathroom door clicked open and she sat up, clutching the sheet to her chin. Danny emerged into the dimly lit room. Asshole or not, he was still the most gorgeous male animal Caroline had ever had the pleasure to see or to touch.

Even now her fingers itched to trace the ridges in his abdomen, to follow the trail of coarse hair that led to…she jerked her eyes guiltily to his face to see if she’d been caught staring.

He wasn’t even looking at her, and didn’t spare her a glance as he pulled on his pants, socks, and shirt. He pulled on his boots and turned to her, finally deigning to acknowledge she was in the room. “I’m going to see if I can find us something to eat and make a few phone calls.”

He didn’t bother to wait for a reply before he left. Icy wind blustered through the room as the door shut behind him. But the shudder that coursed through Caroline’s veins had nothing to do with the temperature outside.

Idiot
. She was such an idiot to ever let that happen.

She put her forehead to her sheet covered knees. Five minutes. That’s all she was giving herself to wallow and kick herself for her own stupidity. Not so much for letting herself sleep with him. Really, who could blame her? Caroline and James hadn’t had sex for nearly a year before he’d been killed, and even before that it was nothing worth bragging to the tennis group about.

Unlike some of her set, Caroline was faithful with a capital F, and never considered finding satisfaction with the poolboy, or the masseur, or the tennis instructor, or any of the other young, good looking, easy going guys some of her acquaintances seemed to collect like stamps.

So when met with a full frontal assault from the one man who had always been able to make her wet and willing by just looking at her the right way, it should be expected that she would be a little vulnerable. That she would indulge.

What she couldn’t forgive herself for, she thought as she stepped into a shower hot enough to peel off a layer of skin, was allowing herself to think, even for a second, that maybe…maybe this still raging sexual connection meant that something deeper existed between them. He remembered things from when they’d been together and he hadn’t hesitated to use them to get to her. Maybe that meant something.

Right. As if that would be enough for her to get over him for tearing her heart out, him to get over his own anger at her. If they managed that, there would still be the issue of her dead husband’s involvement in his mother’s death to work through.

If they could only accomplish all that, maybe they could find their way back to each other. Just thinking it through was enough to make her hysterical laughter echo off the shower stall. It was either that or sob uncontrollably.

She scrubbed herself with the tiny, cheap bar of soap, and lathered her hair with an envelope of two in one shampoo and conditioner, but she couldn’t get the scent of sex, of
him
off of her. She lathered herself twice from head to toe, but it was as though he’d marked her. It didn’t help that every time she closed her eyes she was back in the damn hotel that was just like that one, the one he’d forced her to remember before proving to her once again that while the sex they had was off the charts, beyond compare, as a couple they were irretrievably broken.

They had been broken twelve years ago, and one hot round between the sheets wasn’t going to change that.

Caroline emerged from the bathroom, relieved to find Danny still gone. She pulled her clothes on and borrowed a comb from his toiletry kit to untangle her hair. She checked her phone and saw that Kate had called twice.

Caroline, I haven’t heard from you in two days, and I’m starting to get worried
.

She winced guiltily. She’d been so caught up in everything lately she hadn’t returned Kate’s calls. She knew Kate must be worried, especially after what happened to Rachael.

She hit CALL REPLY, but her phone beeped a warning and died before the call could go through.

Crap
. She’d forgotten to charge her battery. She used the hotel phone to call, not surprised when Kate didn’t pick up at the unfamiliar number. Caroline left a message explaining the phone issue and telling Kate to call her back.

The room phone rang less than a minute later. “What’s going on with you?” Kate asked before Caroline could even get out a “hello.” “Why haven’t you called me back? I was getting worried.”

Caroline apologized. “We’ve been really busy. We’ve found some new information—”

“We? You mean you and the private investigator guy? What have you found out? Any more information about Dad?” Kate asked in her typical breathless manner.

Guilt pricked Caroline as she struggled with how much to reveal. She hated keeping Kate in the dark, but like Danny, she didn’t want to inadvertently give too much away until they knew who they were up against. “We’re following some leads, that’s all I can say right now. I just wanted to let you know I’m safe.”

“Where are you, anyway? I don’t recognize the area code.”

“Believe it or not, we got stuck in a blizzard in some little town you’ve probably never heard of.”

Kate asked what kind of lead would take them up there, but Caroline blew her off. “It’s too much to go into right now. We’ll be heading back as soon as the roads clear, and I’ll fill you in next time I see you.”

“Fine,” Kate said, her annoyance at Caroline’s continued evasiveness evident in her voice.

“Can I talk to Mikey real quick?”

“Actually I need to get going. I’m dropping off Mikey at the sitter’s a little early so I can have dinner with someone before class.”

Caroline shoved back her disappointment, along with the suspicion that Kate’s refusal to let her talk to Michael was a punishment for not telling her everything they’d discovered. She was probably just in a hurry. Since when had everyone’s motives become suspect?

Since your husband was killed, someone tried to pin the murder on you, and then tried to kill you, that’s when
.

Maybe a little caution was justified.

“Really? Anyone special?” Caroline asked, trying to inject a little enthusiasm in her voice. Kate hadn’t dated much at all since Michael was born. She had been so messed up by what Spike had put her through she’d been totally gun-shy about dating anyone since Michael’s birth four years ago.

“Maybe. But I don’t want to jinx it by talking too much about it. I gotta run.”

Caroline hung up, a little miffed Kate wouldn’t share the details of her date. Maybe she wasn’t sharing because she was afraid Caroline wouldn’t approve. She hoped not. Thanks to Spike, the bar was pretty low. As far as Caroline was concerned, anyone with a brain, a job, and an appreciation for Kate was fine with her.

For awhile Caroline thought there might be something going on between Kate and Marshall, one of James’s associates at Medford and Kingston. He’d been sniffing hopefully around Kate ever since he’d joined the firm five years ago, and even Kate’s relationship with Spike and the birth of Michael hadn’t seemed to dampen his enthusiasm.

It would be good for her to date a guy like Marshall. Stable, steady, and obviously smitten.

Unlike some
other
men Caroline could think of. Maybe she should take a page from Kate’s book and avoid any emotional entanglements with big tough bad boys who were nothing but bad news.

Caroline turned her attention to putting the room back in order, her resolve strengthening as she went through the comforting ritual of straightening up. First the bed, stripped then remade with precise hospital corners. Then the bathroom, towels draped evenly over the rack, counters wiped down. She even folded the end of the toilet paper roll into a point. She emptied out Danny’s duffel bag, folded, and repacked it. And even managed to stop herself from lifting his T-shirt to her nose and taking a deep inhale.

She looked at the neatly made bed and forced herself to relive every second. Especially at the end, when he had pulled away, pushed her hand from his neck, closed his eyes and gone at her like a battering ram. Broken any connection with her until she became nothing but a means to release. She’d felt it, even then, her stomach sinking, the rosy glow of orgasmic bliss fading as she felt him distance himself even before he’d finished.