Kept (10 page)

But the depression and unhappiness was still there and if anything it was getting worse. Reed was one step away from dragging her to counseling to see if that would help, when they were at Maggie and Kell’s one night and he heard Maggie mention something that caught his attention.

It was during a break in the usual rabble rousing conversation. Everyone had noticed that Trish was unusually subdued, and when she excused herself to powder her nose, Maggie leaned over to him and whispered, "It’s almost a year since her Mom died."

Bingo. The light bulb went off over his head, and he coulda smacked himself with it. He watched her even more closely this

- 79 -

BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

evening – seeing her tear up when she thought no one was looking and stare listlessly out the car window on the ride home.

But he was totally unprepared for what she announced as they were getting into bed. "I’m going to take a couple weeks of my vacation and go away tomorrow. I need some time to myself right now."

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that there was no way in hell that he was going to allow her to go away in the condition she was in, but there was no codicil in the agreement that gave him any real way to keep her from marching out the door to go do who-knew-what who-knew-where. He wouldn’t have liked letting her go even if she was in a good mental state, possessive clod that he was – but as depressed as she was, spending time alone was the last thing she needed to do. The mere thought sent a cold chill up his spine.

"Are you sure you don’t want some company, honey?" he asked as casually as he could.

In the mood she was in, Trish was just gunning for a fight, even if it earned her a trip over his lap. He almost never used endearments with her, less so since the agreement was put into effect, and yet he was pulling one out now. How suspicious. "No, thank you. And I am entitled to a month off with pay, according to our agreement."

Reed was just about ready to flush that stinking thing down the toilet so he could deal with her without it getting in the way.

Sometime she used it as a shield to force him to maintain a certain distance from her, as if she didn’t want him getting too close. "Yes, you are," he tried to answer civilly, but it came out more like a growl. "Do you need anything?"

The answer was the same as he expected. "No."

- 80 -

BacksideOfLove.com

KEPT

He knew he had no right to ask the question, but he asked it anyway. "Where are you going – in case I have to get a hold of you in an emergency?"

Trish rolled away from him, curled in a fetal ball, the covers pulled tightly around her neck like she expected a plague of vampires in the night. "What kind of emergency is it that you’d need to get a hold of your mistress for? Got a hard-on and nowhere to put it – "

In two seconds flat she was beneath him and he was inside her, stiff and hard and big enough to never be easy to accept, even now. He insisted that she sleep naked, so he could get to her without having to fight his way through her clothes, and Reed liked keeping her just a little vulnerable to him. In this case, however, his words and his actions were at odds. "No." He stroked slowly, deliberately in and out of her, making her accommodate him, stretching her open and giving her no chance to get used to his bulk within her sensitive flesh. "I’m your friend, and I’m asking you to tell me where you’ll be."

Good grief, this man always seemed to know exactly how to turn her on, like flipping a switch. There wasn’t a fumbling, groping, or grabbing bone in his body – he knew his way around the female body like a Degas knew ballerinas. Sometimes the sex was hot and wild and uncontrolled and uncontrollable. Sometimes it was wickedly slow and sizzling, building up until Trish thought that she would die in that aching, arching unfulfilled state. But he never fell short of the goal – their pleasure – and was genuinely as goal-oriented about hers as he was about his own.

She had never said a word about enjoying being held down during sex, but his hands were planted right above her elbows and she really couldn’t move her arms. His weight kept her lower body pinned in place beneath him, helpless and vulnerable to his repeated invasions . . . all the way in, and all the way out again.

- 81 -

BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

Reed used the broad head of his penis – wet with her love juices – to rub over and over her exposed clitty, making her moan and struggle sensuously, but he wouldn’t let her escape him.

Ever.

Tricia lost track of reality, lost track of how many times he brought her allllmmmoooosssttt there, only to stop because she was getting too close. There was nothing she could do but endure it, live through pleasure that was almost pain until he chose to allow her release.

In the end, it was his own pleasure that demanded that he free hers, and he did, leaning back a little to put her legs over his shoulders then leaning back into her to the hilt while his thumb remained on that tiny bud between her legs. It only took a few deep strokes, a few sure, firm drags of that broad flat digit over her poor, swollen little peak to make her convulse wildly, bucking her hips into his, demanding loudly that he fuck her, and he was more than ready, willing, and able to comply. It was the only time in his life that he had ever fucked a woman and not paid any attention to her responses while doing so. The only thing on his mind was flooding her inner passage with himself, spurting deep inside her, and it didn’t take him very long to reach his own ecstatic peak.

In the aftermath, she broke down and sobbed, and Reed held her close, enjoying the way she clung to him. Just before she fell asleep on his shoulder, she murmured, "I’m going back to New Hampshire. It’s the anniversary of my mother’s death, and I just need to be there and – and go put flowers on her grave."

His arms contracted tightly around her. "I understand, baby.

You take all the time you need." Slowly, softly, he rocked her to sleep within the safety and comfort of his arms.

- 82 -

BacksideOfLove.com

KEPT

The twenty-fifth of October turned out to be one of those cold, gray, dreary days that foreshadowed winter, and Trish found herself standing alone at her mother’s hillside grave. Oh, she had bunches of friends who offered to accompany her, but she really did want to be alone. If there was anyone she wanted with her right now, it was a thoroughly annoying pit-bull of a man who was hundreds of miles away, figuratively and literally. Besides, she wasn’t fit company for man nor beast right now, with ever-present tears streaking down her cheeks. She couldn’t seem to control them

– they’d stop for five minutes then begin leaking out again, and even though she’d stuffed wads and wads of Kleenex into her pockets, she couldn’t seem to locate a clean one for the life of her –

While she was occupied with that task, her eyes were blurry with unshed tears; someone stepped up to her and pressed a hanky into her hand. Trish murmured a watery thank you and brushed it over her face quickly when she was unceremoniously jerked up against a very familiar hard body.

"Wha – what the hell are you doing here?" She strained to look up at him, but he was holding her so closely that she really couldn’t.

"Comforting you. So stand there and cry on me, like you’re supposed to," he ground out, in what still managed to sound like a soothing voice. But then, even his angry voice would be a welcome sound right now.

"But your work – "

He leaned his chin on the top of her head. "If I haven’t built a business that can withstand the boss taking some time off, then I haven’t built much of a business."

Trish sniffed loudly from her position with her wet face buried against his warm coat. "But don’t you have to – "

- 83 -

BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

A hand unerringly found her bottom, even through multiple layers of clothing. "Are you trying for a spanking, Patricia?"

"N-no," came the squeaky reply.

"Then I suggest that you cease and desist before I decide that you need one. What kind of a friend would I be if I left you alone at a time like this? You take your time – my car is just over the hill. I’ll be right over there when you’re ready to go."

He turned to leave, but Trish grabbed his arm and held him close instead. "No, stay, please."

"Certainly, sweetie." Reed was pleased that she had asked him to stay with her, and he held her through a few more tearstorms, until – long after he wanted desperately to bundle her into his nice warm car - she decided it was time to leave. He drove them to the hotel he had a suite at, and she got all blustery that he had been high-handed enough to go get her stuff from the much cheaper place she had checked into. Although he kept his voice very low and gentle, Reed let her know in no uncertain terms that he was not going to allow her to speak to him like that. He made allowances for the difficult time she was having – if she had gotten that huffy with him under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have hesitated to flip her skirt up, push her hose and panties down, and redden that tempting butt of hers.

Instead, once she was all settled in, he put her to bed for a nap; she had dark circles down to her ankles. Reed knew she truly was not herself right now because she didn’t even protest when he tucked her under the covers and rubbed her back until she fell asleep.

When she awoke, he helped her into some warm, comfortable clothes and took her out to dinner, making sure she ate most of the steak she’d ordered, whether she wanted to or not, hovering like a mother hen in football padding. After dinner, he

- 84 -

BacksideOfLove.com

KEPT

tucked her back into bed over her not too vociferous protests, soothing her fretfulness at being stuffed into bed again by renting a movie off the TV, but, just as he thought, she fell asleep in the middle of it.

The next day, over breakfast, Reed asked her what she had planned next.

Trish shrugged listlessly. "Nothing, really. I was gonna see some friends and see Momma one more time, but nothing special.

Why?"

It chafed him to ask, but he did. "Would you mind if I made another suggestion?"

His suggestion won out, hands down. They did go visit her Mother one last time before they left, but then, unwilling to allow her to wallow, he whisked them off in his private jet. Their flight was short, and a limo met them at the airport in Scranton. They had a leisurely ride through the Pocanos, where it had already snowed enough to cover the ground, ending up in the middle of the woods, in someone’s driveway.

Reed got out first then helped her out. The limo driver brought in their bags while Tricia wandered through the place, her eyes bugged practically out of her head. "Oh, my word, this is gorgeous!" she said when he caught up to her in the master bedroom suite, which had a bathroom the size of most people’s living room – complete with a huge tub, sauna, and shower stall for eight - and a bedroom the size of a football field. "Is this place yours?" She stood in front of a huge bow window – complete with window seat - that looked out into the smallish backyard, then beyond that into a deep green forest. This was one of the most truly secluded places she’d ever been; the closest neighbor was probably three or four miles away.

- 85 -

BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

"No, it belongs to a friend of mine who likes to ski up here in the winter. I thought you might want to take some time to unwind, and I can be very . . . distracting." Trish turned and caught his eye, blushing at the blatant heat she saw there. "Do you like it?"

She snorted. "What’s not to like?" The house was open and light with a lot of natural wood, but the furnishings were overstuffed and welcoming, although a quite masculine color scheme ran throughout – there were even green and cream flannel moose sheets on the bed. "It’s absolutely beautiful."

Just to get a rise out of her, he asked as he crossed the room to her, "Want me to buy it?"

Trish slapped him lightly, but knew that he was kidding –

she thought. "Don’t you dare."

He pressed his lips to her temple, feeling her collapse into him. "Tired, Trish?"

"No, and stop trying to put me to bed!"

Grinning, he countered in a teasing tone, "But I thought you liked being in my bed, Miss Barton?" She snuggled closer, and he wrapped her in his arms, loving the fact that she was leaning on him, letting him take care of her.

"I do." Her words were muffled by his Harvard sweatshirt.

"But I’ve had enough sleep lately for twelve people. Someone keeps tucking me in every five seconds!"

Strong hands rubbed up and down her back in a motion that she would give him at least three years to stop. "Yes, but you’re all stressed out and unhappy and you need someone to watch over you or you’ll compromise your health." She could feel Reed kiss the top of her head. "And I’m just the person for that very tasking job –

"

- 86 -

BacksideOfLove.com

KEPT

Her smack this time was intended to be harder, but he caught her hand before it connected with his bicep. He was quick for an old man, she told him, and he growled at her impudence.

"Watch it, my girl, or you’ll be sent to bed with no supper and a very sore bottom," he warned, turning her loose with a proprietary pat on the bottom.

Trish sniffed. "I’m not worried about the ‘no supper’ part; if you feed me any more you’re going to have to roll me home!"

"But you should definitely worry about the ‘sore bottom’

part," he threatened, chasing after her playfully when she stuck her tongue out at him.

That week with him was positively magical, and he did everything he could to make it that way. If a stranger had looked in on them, he or she would have wondered which of them was the employer and which was the employee. She got a tiny cold – just the sniffles, really - and he danced attendance, cooking for her, worrying over her, running errands into the small town ten miles away to get her favorite foods. And, of course, making her nap and go to bed early. It wasn’t until one of the last nights they were there that he allowed her to make use of a surprise he had shown her about the house – the secluded outdoor hot tub that was surrounded by pines and small drifts, where they saw a herd of deer at the edge of the forest one dusk as they were giggling and stroking and soaking.