Camouflage (Predator and Prey #1) (11 page)

I was so fucked up.

He hadn’t advanced on me sexually the way he had our last meet. He hadn’t really tried. I pictured his naked body as he’d showered earlier and found myself writhing in bed. I tried to relax as the whiskey still coursed through me and in vain to drift away. Restlessness won as I wandered to my living room, slightly dazed to find him watching a silent CNN in my large lounger. I looked at the clock on my mantle and saw only an hour had passed since I’d attempted to fall asleep.

“You cannot sleep?” he asked, sensing my presence before I’d made it known. I kept my mouth shut as I circled his chair and saw his eyes light when he saw my dress, or lack thereof. I stood there motionless, waiting on any sign from him that this, me, was something he still wanted. Nearly naked and vulnerable for a man for the first time in years, I stood waiting on something, anything.

He gave me nothing as his dark eyes met my green.

Complete opposites, nothing in common, nothing to bond with but our shared bodies, I gave in to the one thing we both wanted.

My intention was clear as I watched him watch me. Nipples peaking and sex clenching, I slowly knelt in front of him as he lifted his hand to cup my chin, rubbing a smooth thumb over my parted lips. I pulled on his jeans after unfastening them and he lifted his hips to help me as his fat cock sprang free and stood proudly. I moaned and licked the tip of his thumb before diving to clench him between my lips. He let out a long puff of air as I sucked greedily, stroking every inch of him with my tongue. I looked up to watch his face tense and his dark eyes absorb my licks. I inhaled as his scent hit me, sucking harder, needing more of him, wanting more, craving his hands and his hunger. He gripped my hair hard and pushed me on him slightly in encouragement as he thrust his hips up and began to fuck my mouth. I felt the wetness slide out of me between my thighs and soak my panties as I swallowed him whole, willing him to come in my mouth. It wasn’t an apology, but it was as close as he was getting to one.

“Fucking mouth,” he hissed as he thrust his hips up hard before pulling me off of him and wrapping both hands around my neck, bringing me up to his waiting lips. We collided, tongues thrashing as I moaned into him, my bare breasts rubbing against his ready and soaked cock. Still locked in a kiss, I felt him move to the edge of the recliner, his legs encasing me as I remained kneeling before him. Limbs burning with need, I gripped his length between us and stroked. He pulled out of our kiss and grabbed my hips, lifting me from my knees and turning me away from him. Bending me over slightly with his hands, he rid me of my panties. I stood, legs parted in breathless anticipation.

“Perfect,” he growled as his finger tested then entered me slowly. I was lost in sensation as he once again gripped my hips, easing me into his lap and onto his rock hard cock. I gasped at the feeling of fullness as he impaled me inch by inch. Once completely seated, I felt his breath on my neck before I felt his tongue as it traveled from my neck to below my ear. He reached between my thighs and adjusted us so I was leaning back slightly and began to stroke my clit in slow circles. I was gasping repeatedly at every new sensation as he then reached around with his free hand and stroked my nipple. Trapped in a world of complete bliss, I moaned loudly as he began to move his hips, prompting me to do the same. Placing my arms on the side of the recliner, I lifted myself up and ground my hips as I lowered, meeting Daniello’s solid thrusts.

Whimpering and so completely full, I rest my head against his shoulder as his solid cock stretched me.

“You fit me now, and no one else.” His voice was low and filled with threatening lust.

Unable to take all the sensation, I burst around him, gripping the hand on my clit and the one kneading my breast, encouraging them to move faster.

“But you are good at this,” he complimented of my earlier comment as he started moving again, ignoring the limpness in my spent body and fucking me ruthlessly. I gripped the back of his head as he moved us forward so my feet were planted firmly on the floor.

“Ride my cock, Taylor.”

I pushed off with my feet as his arms slid around my waist and gripped me tightly. Moving furiously on his lap, I wasted myself on his thick dick, appreciating the sound of the rumble in his chest that led to the growl in his throat. I dug my nails into the flesh of his thighs as I rocked against him, the buildup burning through me. Arms still wrapped around me, his hand slid down my now slick body, his fingers teasing my pulsing clit.

“Again,” he murmured to my back before biting down hard just as I gave into his demand.

“Oh ...fuck.” I detonated, washing us both in my orgasm. His grunt ripped through my body as I felt his dick harden and pulse out his release in hot spurts inside me.

In his tight embrace, I gained my wits and stiffened slightly. Sensing my retreat, he moved back on the recliner, taking me with him.

“Look at me,” he coaxed as I kept my head on his chest. “Taylor,” he warned, his thick accent covering my drying flesh in goose bumps. I braved a look at him and was completely captured when he gave me a small smile before claiming my lips in a kiss just as powerful as the one we’d shared before. Surprised and completely confused, I kissed him back with as much fervor.

Our bodies still connected, his arms around me, I dove into him, my hands in his thick hair, my body warming as he kept our mouths connected. When we separated, foreheads touching and breaths heavy and rapid, I sighed. He laughed.

“Did that please you?” I asked with sarcasm and a small smile, my breath still escaping me in quick spurts.

He bit his bottom lip and studied me. My sex pulsed as I watched his face lit only by the TV, but couldn’t read his expression.

He turned me in his lap so I faced him fully and stood. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he walked us to the bedroom.

He never answered me, but by the time the sun crept into my bedroom, I was pretty sure I got my reply.

I woke on my stomach, wrapped around an oversized pillow. Pushing the dried, sweaty red mess of hair off of my forehead, I turned to see I was again alone. It did little to stop the smile on my face.

In the shower, I went over my loss of control and the way I’d handled myself with Daniello. He might have found my lack of etiquette amusing, but I found it disgusting. Last night I’d lost order and to a complete stranger.

“Act like a lady, you’ll get treated like one.”

It had been years since I’d even thought of the voice that belonged to the man who had groomed me to become one of Tennessee’s finest debutants. Squeezing my eyes tightly shut, I cleared my head until the image of him dispersed, forcing thoughts of Daniello and our night together to take their place.

Washing between my thighs, I felt the delicious ache, burning, and Daniello’s absence. He’d been gentle last night. I assumed he’d sensed my vulnerability. He was good at reading me and yet he’d commented more than once that I was acting like a crazy person. Pressing my forehead to the shower wall, I groaned in embarrassed agreement.

If having Daniello near me aided in helping me abandon my good sense, maybe the whole situation needed to end. At the same time, I was having way too much fun to stop our charade. In the end, it was up to me to get my shit together. This wasn’t about emotions or the possibility of falling in love. This was about him seeing behind more than a decade old façade and wanting to uncover what lay beneath.

And once again, it was up to me to make sure that the poor piece of Tennessee white trash lay dormant to the woman I’d evolved to. A force to be reckoned with, business owner, and woman of means.

“Keep it tight between the ears and between the legs and you become every man’s fantasy.”

“Ray,” I whispered as if anyone could hear me. It seemed all the ghosts of my pasts were making an appearance these days. While turning the shower off, I had expected ghost number three to show up in the reaper’s cloak and tell me to change my wicked ways before it was too late.

But this wasn’t a Christmas Carol, there was no tiny Tim, and the only family needing more compassion were whispers, images, face of my past that took residence with the rest of the ghosts in the audience while my life played out on the screen. I’d left them all behind, but it seemed these days I wasn’t trying hard enough.

It had been a few years since I’d thought of Ray Tyco. Turning off the shower, I wiped away the moisture from my skin and cleared a visible path across the mirror to take a good look at the woman across from me.

“If you intend to play with the big boys, kitten, you have to keep your emotions in check at all times. The only time a man show’s any sort of emotion in the business world is when he’s screwing or being screwed, and even then he may be hard pressed to reveal it. The world you are about to enter has no place for quivering lips and a weak mindset.”

I owed everything to that man, and yet he’d collected. He’d collected for years.

An involuntary shiver drifted down my spine as I gave myself a stern internal lashing.

Maybe it was thoughts of Laz and Ray or the fact that I knew it was time to try to reach out to Amber again. Either way, my past had nothing to do with my present, or my situation with Daniello.

I sat down on my couch and texted Cedric.

Me: It’s time.

Cedric: I’ll make the call.

The last time I’d seen Amber, I’d just graduated from Harvard. I was twenty-two and barely had enough money to get us by, but I was determined to try to get her away from my parents. My mother intercepted our reunion as Amber remained locked in our house, peeking out the window behind the same tattered curtain that I’d been forced to hit with a broom daily. Her face haunted me as it looked so much like my own, a younger and far more burdened version of myself.

The confrontation on the front porch that day had been a long time coming, and I recognized the fear in Amber’s eyes as she stared at me through the window. I hadn’t seen her in seven years but I could see the itch in her posture, the constant movement of her eyes from me to the front door. She was thinking of fleeing as my mother screamed at me in her meth induced state. Though I tried to barrel past her, she pushed me hard on my back and began tearing at my clothes. I managed to get her off me as I watched Amber fall apart before my eyes, her indecision to leave showing in the agonizing look that painted her features. I’d gone back later that night to find her window nailed shut. My mother kept watch through the living room, pacing continually like a rabid guard dog to keep me at bay. She had her drugs to thank for her watch dog abilities.

Amber was fifteen then and as I looked at her through the window, I saw myself so clearly. The resemblance was uncanny. And also, I knew her life and I knew her need to escape. I wanted nothing more than to give it to her, and though I wasn’t exactly in the position to be a parent, I couldn’t help but linger.

I waited for her after school, as we’d agreed through hushed whispers through the window glass the night before, in vain. Maybe it was out of fear that she hadn’t shown, or maybe she resented me for leaving her all those years ago at my mother’s heavy hands. Either way, this time she’d left me. I’d waited for hours knowing she’d had a chance to break free at least once in the day and fought hard to respect her decision, though the urge to rip her away was debilitating.

Forced to leave town due to the danger of Laz finding out I had returned, I fled back to Boston, no closer to getting my sister out than I had been when I left. With me, she’d had a chance.

She’d never left Dyer, this much I’d found out through Cedric, who still kept up with a few people in town. She was now the same age that I was when I went to see her. I’d spent so many years buried in my career and working hard to get myself into a better situation, I’d abandoned her altogether.

I’d hoped she’d do the same for herself. I’d hope to have to track her down one day and find her married, happy, and successful. What burdened me was the fact that she hadn’t left, which almost guaranteed all my hopes for her were for nil. Dyer wasn’t a place to build a life. It lacked life, lacked oxygen, period. The town was a dead end cloud of dust that could only suffocate you.

And I was sure my future would bring me back to it sooner rather than later. I jumped on my couch, deep in thought as my phone vibrated.

Cedric: She has your number.

I’d reached out, that was all I could do. It was up to her at this point. Deep down, I’d hoped for a reunion of two.