Dirty Little Liars (18 page)

“Come with me,” Tyler said and led her onto the wooden dock. Their heavy footsteps echoed in the stillness of the night. When they neared the boat she remembered how large it had appeared to her as a child.

Ty stretched out a leg and stepped onto the boat before extending a hand and helping her on as well.

“I still don’t understand what we’re doing here. So you father is a lying, cheating scumbag. I already knew that. And yes, I met you once before, when we were kids. That doesn’t change our situation now. You are a U.S. Senator. You are engaged to the daughter of the governor of Virginia. And you are in the middle of a shit-storm of controversy surrounding your true identity the minute the press finds enough evidence to avoid being sued for libel.”

“I’m not engaged.”

“What?” Juliette froze.

“I just thought that while you were keeping track of all the reasons why the two of us should not be a couple, you should have your facts straight. I’m not engaged.”

“You called it off.”

“I didn’t have to. Courtney was using me as much as I was using her. My father’s arrest meant we might not win the election next week, thus she dropped me like a hot potato.”

“A hot potato? Do people still say that anymore?”

“Shut up. It’s endearing. And it’s not the point.”

“Then what is?”

“I am now a very single man. But I don’t intend to stay that way for long.”

Tyler turned and opened the door to the main cabin. He flicked the light switch and then stepped aside, waiting for her to enter.

Juliette crossed over the threshold. The small space was glittering with twinkling lights that covered the tables, the ledges, and the low hanging ceiling above her head. The only things outnumbering the lights were the red rose petals littering the counters, tables, and floor all the way to what she guessed was a private bedroom.

Chapter 38: Bad Intentions

“Go ahead,” Ty breathed into her ear. “Make yourself comfortable.” Her heart flipped in anticipation. Ty’s hands on her waist seemed to be holding her up as she stepped farther into the room.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Her voice quivered at the mention of good.

“No.” Tyler gently steered her in the direction of the bedroom. “It’s a very, very bad idea. Completely and totally naughty.”

Juliette’s breathing quickened.

“But I have a feeling,” he continued, “that you are going to want to do it over, and over, and over again.”

On the third “over” she spun around in his arms so that her body was facing his. She leaned into him, desperate to feel his touch, yearning for his kiss once more.

She rose on her toes, her lips searching for his. When they met, it was as if the whole boat had been launched across the universe. She was drowning in his warm, masculine pleasure and she couldn’t get enough. His hands trickled across her spine, pushing her forward, claiming her body as his own.

She staggered backward into the countertop. The dishes rattled inside. Something made of glass crashed to the floor. But neither one of them bothered to look. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he lifted her onto the counter and bent over to kiss her neck. She yanked her sweatshirt over her head, revealing the red lace bra.

“Mmm, I like it,” he muttered before dipping his head lower to kiss the creamy, untouched skin of her breast. Her head swirled with each soft pluck of his lips as Tyler moved from one mound to the other and back again.

She let out a soft moan when he reached behind her to unclasp her bra. In less than a second she was completely exposed, the cool night air biting at her nipples. He rubbed his hands over her breasts, pausing at each brown nub with a flick and pull. The shock of pain sent a shiver through her stomach.

She reached for the button on his jeans and undid it with a snap. She fumbled slightly with the zipper, only because she was too distracted by Ty’s tongue tracing across her shoulders to open her eyes and see what she was doing. She could feel the bulge in his pants straining against the fabric and was delighted. That stiffness was hers. She was solely responsible for his erection.

The zipper came free and she jerked his pants down with one hand. He was wearing a pair of cotton boxer briefs with an elastic waistband that proved useful when she tugged him toward her.

Suddenly she could feel him pressing against her inner thigh. Heat radiated from his groin. She tilted her hips up slightly. The tip of his penis nudged through the fly of his boxers and grazed her skin.

“I want you so bad,” he muttered before reaching for her panties beneath the long denim skirt now shoved up to her waist. He stepped back long enough to slide the red panties down her bare legs, his hands caressing her hips, calves, ankles, and feet. With them off, Juliette was free to move as she pleased, completely unrestrained.

Ty didn’t bother removing his pants. He simply jerked the boxers down to his knees and stepped between her parted legs.

The distance between them disappeared.

Juliette dug her fingers into his back before fingering the bottom hem of his shirt. He lifted his arms and let her pull the shirt away from his smooth chest. She tossed it to the side; it landed in the small sink. Before she could ponder if the shirt was wet, Tyler was kissing her again. His tongue massaged hers, his kiss so deep she thought he might be trying to consume her. And this time when the head of his penis brushed against her wetness she felt herself open up to him.

He hesitated only for a second. Pulling back to look down at her, those deep blue eyes drinking her in.

“Fuck me,” she said and then he was inside her, one long deep thrust and she felt as if she might explode. It was better than she remembered, having him like this, with no secrets, no restraints. Her body tightened against him as he pulled backward, teasing her. She didn’t want him to stop, didn’t want him to pull out. She moved her hips higher in protest.

It didn’t matter though, he withdrew until only the tip of him was inside her and waited, watching her, teasing her. “I don’t want to rush this,” he said.

“No. Now.” She breathed. “Don’t tease.”

He pushed himself inside her again, moving deeper along her channel. The width of him filled her completely.

“Harder, or faster?” he crooned.

“Both.”

Tyler pushed himself inside her once more. With each thrust he began to pick up speed, grinding and pumping into her until the two of them were banging against each other like jackhammers. More dishes fell to the floor. Her hands dug into the counter edge as she struggled to keep her balance. He slammed against her—each thrust like another declaration of his love. She cried out in a mixture of pain and pleasure as the scent of their sex filled the air. Her insides coiled tighter, ready to burst at any moment. When he exploded inside her she came undone. Her own release as epic as his.

They clung to each other, bodies drenched in sweat, their remaining clothes completely askew.

“Damn,” he muttered. “It’s like it gets better every time.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Juliette whispered back as he pulled out of her.

“You better, because I intend to keep doing this all night long.” He set her back against the counter as he stepped fully out of his boxers and jeans. Then, standing naked in front of her, bent over to kiss her again. She felt herself rising to meet him. Greedily, ready for more.

Chapter 39: The Hail Mary

They had sex a half dozen times over the course of the evening. They did it everywhere inside the small cabin, including the tiny shower and the cabin deck. Now they lay naked and spent on the large king bed in the lower level bedroom.

“What do we do now?” Ty played with a strand of her brown hair, twisting it around a finger and then letting it fall loose again.

“You go back to D.C. and I go back to my godparents.”

“I’ve got a better idea. How about we both go back to your godparents?”

“No way. Jean clearly hates you, and when he finds out I snuck out of the house to be with you, he is going to hate you even more.”

“Fine, then let’s not go back at all. Why not just hitch this beauty to the SUV and drop it off at the nearest ocean port? We can sail south until we see palm trees and sandy beaches.”

Juliette rolled on her side. “Is that what you want?”

“I want to be with you. I don’t really care where we go.”

“What about the campaign? Your career. Your father.”

Ty grew silent.

“The whole campaign was a long shot. Winston and I thought we’d be able to find evidence of foul play on Senator Reis and connect that evidence to my father long before I’d have to run in an actual election.”

“So you don’t want to continue being a senator?”

“Hell no. I mean, it was fun—for a while. I thought I might actually be good at it too, but that was before I met you.”

“Hey, having an affair with another woman is like a rite of passage in politics. Everyone cheats.”

“Yeah, well the voters may have been willing to forgive me of that indiscretion but they won’t forgive me for lying to them about my father. Who’s going to elect the son of a convicted felon?”

Juliette brushed a stray hair away from his eyes and rested her palm against his cheek. She could already feel the stubble against her skin.

“Dean hasn’t been convicted of anything yet. Hell, he hasn’t even been charged with a crime. And if your father is as good as we know him to be, he will find a way out of this trap just like every other one that has ever been sprung on him.”

“That almost makes it worse. Not only am I the son of a criminal, but I’m the son of a criminal who never gets caught. Talk about a superiority complex. If they thought I was entitled before they are going to slaughter me now.”

“So you’re just going to withdraw from the race? Let Robertson win?”

“What other choice do I have?”

“You can run. I mean at least try, in earnest. The people of Virginia may surprise you. And you do have a kick-ass campaign team to back you up.”

“Yeah, I’m sure Winston could rig an election if he wanted to.”

“No stuffing the ballot boxes,” she nudged him lightly. “Win fair and square. You can do that much.”

“And if I lose, what then?”

“We cross that bridge when we come to it. Ty, this is your chance to beat him at his own game. If you win, we get more time to find out what Senator Reis had on him. We get closer to finding out the truth about my parents’ death. We may even live to see the day when he actually gets locked away for good.”

“If I do this, I want you by my side. I’m not letting you hide in the shadows anymore.”

“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

He inched forward and kissed her. “You keep saying that, and I find it incredibly sexy.”

She kissed him back and they gave in to another twenty minutes of
meaningless distractions.

Showered and dressed, the two of them climbed back into Ty’s SUV and headed for D.C. Juliette quickly sent a text message to her godmother, letting her know she hadn’t wanted to wake them but had decided to go back to D.C. with Tyler. She emailed them the information on the rental car, hoping they would be able to return it before she got charged for an extra day. Then she and Ty worked out a new campaign strategy.

The easy part was distancing himself from his father. Since Ty had legally changed his name, he could use that as justification that he had made a clean break from his criminal father and the dirty life that he lived. He would paint a story about how he wanted to get into politics to better protect the American people from criminals and con men like his father.

And as for his affair with Juliette, he decided to stick with a version of the truth. She would continue to use her alias, Jules Everdeen, but willingly share bits of their past wrapped in kernels of truth to keep the reporters satisfied. They would tell the story of how they had met as children and became star-crossed lovers, always bumping into each other at the wrong times. He would argue the notion that anything inappropriate ever happened while he was with Courtney. And accuse his father of working with his opponent to doctor photos out of context and mislead the public about the relationship he had with Jules.

Of course that wouldn’t work on a lot of voters, particularly women who were sensitive to the notion of a cheating lover. Juliette told Ty not to worry about it. That she had an idea that might bring more women around.

By the time they hit D.C., Juliette had interviews lined up with three evening news stations and a press conference to boot. Juliette had Ty drop her off at the Georgetown metro, where he would go unnoticed by news media.

He pulled to the curb and let her out, but not before giving her a quick kiss. “See you soon.”

She grinned back at him as she slid out of the car. “Count on it.”

Juliette waited until Tyler pulled back into traffic, then she promptly turned and headed for the metro.

Chapter 40: Creative Bargaining

Thanks to Winston’s amazing hacking skills and constant habit of tracking people with their cell phones, Juliette knew exactly where to find Courtney. She climbed off at the Dupont Circle stop and headed for the Ritz-Carlton. She waited until she was in the building and headed for the bank of elevators before dialing Courtney’s number. The phone rang as she waited.

“Hello, Jules,” Courtney greeted her.

“Hi, Courtney. Do you have a moment? I was hoping we could chat.”

Courtney sighed into the phone. “Not really. I’m on my way out, if you can believe that. I’ve been cooped up all day because of this media circus and Daddy thinks a quick trip to the spa will do me good.”

“Sure it will. I think it’s a great idea for you to de-stress while all this mess of a scandal dies down.”

Juliette stepped into the elevator and prayed she wouldn’t lose reception.

“What do you want?”

“I want to see you.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Really. Aren’t you staying at the Ritz? Room 1629?”

There was silence on the other end, long enough for Courtney to hear the ding of the elevator as it stopped on the 16th floor.