Deadly Double (19 page)
Authors: Adrianne Byrd
Josie’s case would be a different story.
William finally looked as if he was wavering, but his words were like a slap in the face. “We have to do what’s right.”
Heat rushed up her neck and inflamed her face. “Then you’ll have to do it
without
me,” she seethed, and spun on her heels.
“Wait.” William rushed to catch up with her. “Where are you going?”
“I’m leaving.” She brushed her wet hair from her face as she stormed toward the front door.
“What? That’s crazy!” He grabbed her arm and spun her around. “You can’t leave.”
She snatched back her arm. “Watch me.” Turning, she jerked open the front door.
Lightning flashed and lit up the night sky. However, it didn’t step Josie from bolting out into the rain. In an instant, her clothes were plastered to her skin. The cold wind chilled her to the bone but did little to cool her anger.
“Josie, stop being ridiculous! You don’t have anywhere to go!” He spun her around again and was startled when her open hand struck his face.
“I didn’t ask for your help. I can take care of myself!”
“You’re not in any type of condition…”
“No.” She backed away from him. “You do what you have to do, and I’ll do the same.”
“You’re talking crazy!”
“I’m
not
crazy! Don’t you dare say that!” Her hands balled at her sides.
“Fine. You’re sane. Screaming out in the middle of storm is perfectly normal.
Now
can we go back in the house?”
“Just go to hell.” She turned and stalked off.
With his own anger mounting, William grasped her arm, but this time he was prepared when she attacked. Dodging a blow, he quickly seized her hands and pinned them to her sides. “I’m trying to help you.”
“I don’t want it.” Josie struggled to wrench her hands free. “Since I nearly got you killed, you should be happy to get me out of your life.”
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to,” she shouted above the loud wind. “It’s painfully obvious. Dump me at the police station and let me be
their
problem.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
She squirmed violently, trying to get away from him. “Let me go!”
“Not until you calm down.”
“I’m not going to the police!” She fought, and belatedly realized that she’d been lifted off her feet. “Put me down.”
“No.” He pulled her back into the house and kicked the door shut.
William’s curt reply further aggravated her. Here was someone else who was trying to control her life, and she was going to have none of it. At last, she freed her arms and swung in every direction.
“Josie, stop it.” He set her back on her feet and struggled to pin her arms down again.
“It’s my life. I can make my own decision,” she screamed repeatedly.
Another blow landed across his left cheek, but he shook away the stars and locked her arms down at her sides.
“It’s my life,” she wailed.
“I know,” he whispered close to her ear. “I know.”
The fight left her body, and she slumped against him. Together, they sank to the floor, where her silent cries became heart-wrenching sobs.
“It’s going to be all right,” he comforted. “You’re not going have to do anything you don’t want to. I promise.” He held her, stoked her hair, and then rained small kisses against her temples.
She leaned closer and slowly turned her head so that his soft lips pressed against the side of her face, her cheeks, and finally her lips.
At first the kiss was so light that she could barely feel his lips, but stars spun around Josie’s head at a dizzying rate.
His arms tightened possessively around her waist and within seconds she felt his hands make those tiny circles she loved so much against the small of her back.
Slowly, she slid her arms up his chest and locked them behind his neck. The kiss deepened, but Josie couldn’t seem to get close enough. She desperately wanted to fuse with his heat. Fire surged through her veins, sharpened her senses, and made her pulse race.
Intoxicated by the taste of him, she moaned during the passionate tango their tongues performed.
Her melodic moans, as well as her soft breasts pressed against him, seduced William. He loved how her body responded to his slightest touch and how her breathing came fast and light.
A caldera of emotions broke inside him, and he was scorched by fire. Finally, he deserted her lips to blaze a trail down to the crook of her neck.
She sighed and lifted her chin high to give him better access. “Will…”
It had been an eternity since he’d heard his name spill with such passion from her lips. A part of him still wasn’t sure whether all of this was just a dream, yet she felt too good and tasted even better to be a figment of his imagination.
An ache buried in the core of Josie began to pulse out of control. God help her, she wanted, needed, to make love to William despite the residue of fear. However, her body’s chant to give in quickly conquered the renegade emotion.
She tugged at his wet shirt, and then broke away from his lips to pull the garment over his head.
William stood up and held out his hand.
They stared at each other for an eternal moment, and then came together again in a storm of passion and desire.
“I want you,” she paned. “I want you now.”
That was all William needed to hear before he swept her into his arms and carried her up to bed.
Chapter 24
Heaven was indeed a place on earth; and to William and Josie’s surprise, it also existed outside of the borders of Paris, France. Once the old lovers entered the bedroom and stood facing one another, both seemed to have made an unspoken pact to take their time and savor each movement and moment.
Josie gave William the honor of lifting off her football jersey and in return, she was rewarded with the same opportunity. The beautiful contrast of their skin tones was highlighted by slivers of moonlight filtering through the blinds.
Seconds later, they were pressed together for another tantalizing kiss. Both became addicted to the taste of the other and were consumed with a passion that left them quaking.
Josie’s fingertips explored his chest, and she quickly discovered that his heartbeat pounded at the same rate as her own. The knowledge filled her with a new sense of power.
His big, strong, and possessive hands returned to their usual spot and made slow and seductive circles while she enjoyed the sweet invasion of his tongue. And just when she couldn’t take any more of his intoxicating kisses, his lips deserted hers to glide down the column of her neck and settle on a taut nipple.
Instantly, her knees weakened as she gasped for breath and dug her fingers through his silky hair. His gentle suckle unraveled her world and pitched her onto lofty clouds of splendor.
William swept her up into his arms again and gently placed her on the bed. He filled his hands with her soft breasts, and then captured her gasp with a deep kiss.
She moaned as he lowered onto her and his rock-hard erection pressed insistently against her thigh. Her body rejoiced as if it recognized a missing part of itself.
He returned to her breasts and he caressed her with his mouth, teeth, and tongue until she twitched wildly beneath him. William’s hand floated like a feather down her body and brushed against the nest of curls between her legs.
Her anticipation heightened as he began to nudge her legs open, and that same feathery touch roamed her inner thighs. Josie closed her eyes, surprised by how much she trembled.
When his lean fingers finally dipped inside her, she nearly came unglued. At his slow, gentle strokes against her sensitive nub, her breath thinned to the tiniest of vapors.
Josie’s repetitive moans filled the room like music, and it also served as an aphrodisiac for William.
After he’d thoroughly bathed her tanned nipples, his mouth traveled lower to explore other body parts. Seconds later, he locked his arms around her hips, and his tongue replaced his probing fingers.
At the intense pleasure, Josie thrust her hips up and tried to scramble away. Instead, she gave him better access to the very thing she was trying to withhold.
She gasped for breath, never seeming to get enough air into her lungs. The stars returned behind her closed eyelids and she suddenly felt hot, and then cold.
His talented tongue performed a series of erotic dances with the bud of her femininity and she locked her legs around his neck. In no time, tremors of her first orgasm ripped away reality and created a new world where only pleasure existed.
William’s plunder through her body’s sweet honey only increased her struggle to break away from his hot mouth; but his grip remained firm.
Josie squealed with reckless abandonment as her next orgasm hit hard and fast.
However, William was relentless.
Breathing became a chore while she still fought to push his head away. The chant of his name slowly became cries for a mercy that never came. When her third orgasm slammed into her with the force of a locomotive, she was clueless to the mindless chatter that tumbled from her lips.
Granted a slight reprieve, Josie panted as though she’d just completed her first triathlon. The new world continued to spin inside her head, while William temporarily left the bed.
She was just getting her bearings when he returned. She heard a rip and turned to see him opening a condom. Without murmuring a word, she reached for the packet. “Not yet,” she whispered.
She leaned forward, kissed him tenderly, and began her own slow decline down his broad chest, past his rock-hard abs, and settled her mouth around his thick shaft.
A low sigh of pleasure escaped William, while his strong hands glided through her black hair. She took her time rewarding him with the same intense pleasure he’d given her. And like her, he found himself repeating the Lord’s name.
“I can’t take it anymore,” he said. His strength easily allowed him to extract Josie from her loving worship and place her on her back.
It took no more than a couple of seconds to slide on the condom; but before he bulldozed his way into her, he reminded himself to take his time, to extend the pleasure for as long as he could.
But he
wanted
to take her now.
While his needs and his wants warred within him, it was Josie who made the final decision.
“I need you,” she whispered.
He thanked her by claiming her soft lips for another deep and intimate kiss...and, simultaneously, eased into her moist cave.
Josie tore her mouth away to gasp at just how well and perfect he fit. When he rocked slowly inside of her, she lifted and locked her legs around his hips. In no time, they found their own rhythm and lost themselves in the splendor of the other.
She was the first to utter a strangled exclamation as she was pulled into a vortex of euphoria.
Feeling her body tense around him, William picked up his tempo and coaxed her with erotic talk to give in to her building climax.
This time as she cried out her release, it felt as if she’d shattered into a million pieces, but then just as suddenly she was more whole than she had ever been.
Moments later, a strong force gripped William and extracted a roar from him that undoubtedly filled the entire house.
Josie wrapped her arms lovingly around him as if sensing his moment of vulnerability. For a few seconds, his body quaked with aftershocks while their hearts thundered against one another.
They held each other, enjoying their quiet intimacy and treasuring it like a precious jewel.
All too soon the real world, complete with its problems, started to creep back into Josie’s thoughts. What in the hell was she doing?
As if he’d heard her thoughts, William turned his head and peppered the side of her face with light kisses. Gradually, she became aware of the strain in her splayed thighs.
Lord, was she ready for another round?
Despite his growing erection, he seemed to be content to kiss, cuddle, and wipe every bad thought from her head.
And thank goodness, it was working.
In some strange way, Josie found that being in William’s arms erased the past sixteen years. Their bodies welcomed each other home like the separation had been no longer than a few hours. Josie wondered how that was possible.
“I never thought I would have the chance to hold you like this again,” William whispered. “You feel so good.”
“I’m having a hard time believing this night as well,” she said.
He leaned over onto an elbow. He stared down at her face, which was bathed in moonlight. “Any regrets?”
“Plenty.”
William frowned.
A slow sardonic smile curved Josie’s lips. “But none about tonight,” she added, and then watched him visibly relax. “I guess I don’t have to ask you the same question?”
“No regrets.” He kissed her. “Tonight was perfect. And it’s just beginning.”
She chuckled. “How is it that you just happen to have condoms with you?”
“What can I say? I’m a boy scout through and through. We’re always prepared.”
Laughing, she accepted another kiss from him, and then snuggled closer.