More Than Meets the Ink (28 page)

James came even closer, nuzzling her ear.

“Who was that?”

“Jack.”

“Not a social call, I suspect, right?” Jack didn’t seem like the kind of guy inclined to make casual calls, much less at the crack of dawn.

He sighed. “No. He had news for us. Clint was brought in for questioning and is now under arrest pending further investigation. The police believe he’s responsible for the incendiary bombs yesterday. Apparently he was too drunk to bother covering his tracks afterward. When they went to his house to question him, they noticed one of the bottles with gas in his car. The police are checking his computer now. It will take a while, but they’re pretty sure he isn’t only your arsonist but also your Prince Charming.”

She turned around, her mouth gaping.

“Clint? You mean our Clint, the one I fired yesterday? There must be a mistake. It can’t be. He’s an asshole, I know, but he isn’t that kind of asshole. He’s harmless. He’s been working for me for over a year!”

“I had Jack check Clint out. He isn’t so harmless, honey. He’s been arrested several times for being drunk and disorderly and for fighting. He also has a couple of restraining orders from previous girlfriends, and he’s earned himself several mandatory anger management courses. He gets too intense.”

“Yeah, but—” she tried to interrupt.

“He’s also an unlucky gambler and owes a lot of money to Vito’s son. We believe he’s been using the hold he has on Clint to get him to aid in his campaign for you to sell. Clint might have expected you to grow close to him so he could convince you to sell out. The fire in the kitchen was probably his doing. He didn’t want to burn the place down; he just wanted to send Aidan packing and scare you enough so that you’d turn to him for help and advice. When that didn’t happen, he became more and more obsessed and erratic. Hence the worsening of the e-mails. Vito’s son isn’t known for tolerating failure or for being patient. And Clint isn’t the most coolheaded guy. His frustration was showing in his attitude too.”

She had trouble understanding it all. “And you guys think Vito put him up to it?”

“That’s the general idea, yes.”

She felt as if she’d fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole. “But…but Clint liked me. I thought he liked me and was pissed because I didn’t reciprocate.”

“I’m sure there’s a lot of that too. And the more you ignored him, the more pissed he got. You were supposed to come crying to him, allow him to be the hero of the day.”

“Wait, wait.” She stopped him, remembering something he’d said before. “You had Clint checked out behind my back?”

He nodded.

“And didn’t it occur to you even once to let me in on that?”

“No.”

“Damn, you’re arrogant,” she said with a grunt, slapping his chest.

“Ouch! What was that for?”

“You should have told me, James, I would have fired him.”

“No, you needed to convince yourself that you run Rosita’s, that you can make decisions, fire people regardless of whether they were hired by your dad or not. Besides, it’s not against the law to be an asshole or to get drunk and rowdy or to have a couple of restraining orders from previous girlfriends and be an unlucky gambler. All we had until now was conjecture. The bottle in his car, though, is hard evidence.”

“Has he confessed?” This was so surreal; she couldn’t believe she was saying this.

“Didn’t say anything intelligible. He was totally wasted and quite violent when the police arrived. Resisted arrest too. Today they’ll know more. If he can be placed at any of the Internet cafés from where the e-mails were sent, he’s going to be in deep shit.”

Her brows furrowed.

“He might have sent a couple of e-mails from his computer, but Jack’s friend found out Prince Charming has been using Internet cafés too,” he explained. “There’s also the possibility one of Vito’s goons was taking care of the e-mails and Clint was just their inside guy in charge of working you and causing the fires, but the tone of those messages is so personal it’s kind of unlikely.”

She was stunned. This was too much information to process at such an early hour. All this time she’d had the source of all her problems under her nose and hadn’t even realized it. She couldn’t believe it. She turned around, nesting her back against James, and quietly observed the lake.

“Well, at least this time the insurance company won’t be able to skip payment,” she concluded after a while.

“No, they won’t. And as soon as he confesses about the first fire, they’ll have to pay for that one too.”

“Good,” she said. “God, every time I think of what could’ve happened yesterday if I’d been in bed alone, I get the shakes.”

James hugged her tight. “You aren’t alone anymore. Nothing would’ve happened because I would’ve been with you.” She went quiet for a long time. She didn’t want to talk about Rosita’s anymore, or the fires, but James didn’t lighten up. “Tell me, what are your plans now that Rosita’s is off the hook? Diners are rolling in again, and soon the financial problems are going to be a thing of the past. Are you going to continue running it personally?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Before I got derailed, I had been thinking about quitting being a secretary and going back to school to get a fancy degree. Maybe I’ll hire a manager for the restaurant and do that. I really don’t know. Although if I have to be honest with you, I like running the place. I’d miss it if I weren’t there every day. What about you, James? What are your plans for the future?”

“I don’t know. I’ve already earned enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life. I might ask Zack and Sean to buy me out, or maybe I’ll concentrate on the security consulting side of the business and leave the rest to them. That way I could have more free time to spend with you,” he said, caressing her arm. “I like spending time with you, princess, and I like helping you out in the restaurant.”

The implications of what he was saying hit her hard.

“This place is amazing. The views alone are breathtaking,” she murmured after a second of silence.

He chuckled and traced her throat with his mouth. “You’re breathtaking. And sneaky when you don’t want to talk about something.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yeah right! Just a hint; if you didn’t want to speak about the future, sex would’ve been a much better distraction than mentioning the views. Come on, baby, distract me; turn around and come sit on my face. I want to lick your pretty pussy.”

“Are you nuts?” She giggled. “I am not sitting on your face!”

“Come on, I’ve been dreaming about it for weeks now. Your bed doesn’t have a headboard, but look at this one, baby, look at the metal bars. You could hold on to them as I pleasure you, as I stick my tongue deep inside you. I want to feel you coming on my tongue.”

“I’ve come on your tongue plenty of times.”

He ignored her. “And think about the possibilities of those bars. After you come on me, I could tie you down. Do you like that idea? I bet you do; your heart is racing, princess.”

“Yeah, and how many girls have you had tied to this bed, huh?” Her chuckle died in her throat, not thrilled at all about that possibility. Then a question occurred to her. “Is this the place you shared with Elaine?”

“Why? Are you afraid I’m proposing oral sex to you in the same bed I shared with my wife?”

“Yes. No. Well, maybe.” She shrugged. “The thought just crossed my mind.”

“No, I didn’t share this place with her. We lived in Boston, in an apartment. She thought Alden was too…provincial. I had just left my dad’s company and taken up bounty hunting. I didn’t have the means to build a house, let alone this one.”

“What happened between you two?” she asked, turning around.

James groaned. “Do we really have to talk about this? I’d much rather have you sitting on my face. Are you sure I can’t convince you?” he offered, his thumb caressing her lower lips.

As tempting as the offer was, she kept a cool head. “Nope, spill your guts.”

He sighed, went on his back, obviously not thrilled with the way the conversation was going. “She got tired of being alone, basically. Being a bounty hunter involves many days on the road, tracking leads, people. There are no schedules, no hours. She said she felt lonely, neglected, so she started cheating on me behind my back. Until one of her lovers got a huge promotion and she decided she was done wasting time on me and traded me up for a hotshot with a fancy house and an expensive car who could give her a better life. So she upgraded husbands. But I don’t want to talk about her.”

“She was mistaken, James; she traded
down
.”

“Did she? I’m not sure about that. I wasn’t a good husband.”

“You didn’t ask her to cheat on you.”

“No, but I did leave her alone very often. Not that it explained the whoring, but still. I don’t love her, but for many years, I felt guilty about the way my marriage ended. Maybe she was right and I hadn’t tried hard enough.”

He’d gotten somber, his hazel eyes sad.

“No, she wasn’t. And she did definitely trade down; take my word for it. Surely the sex couldn’t be this great with that hotshot, never mind his fancy house and his expensive car.”

He smiled. “Glad you think so.”

“Or maybe she was crap in bed. Because face it, you need two to tango.” Her hand slid from his chest down to his crotch, barely touching him. “And you have to admit, I am a great dancer.”

He looked incredulously at her. “I saw you line dancing, baby. You were scary.”

She giggled. “True, but you see, I’m a shy dancer. I need privacy for a top performance, alongside the right motivation,” she said while intensifying her touch on him. “And I love to tango.”

He quietly smiled and lifted his hips to her hand. “Miss Cooper, I believe you are a tease.”

“Me? I think I made good on all my promises yesterday, Mr. Bowen. I don’t recall you groaning and yelling in ecstasy because you didn’t get to come.” She’d been exhausted after the hot tub treat, and the second her body hit the bed, she’d fallen sleep, but she’d woken up in the middle of the night and kind of attacked him. Not that he’d complained or anything; on the contrary.

He covered her hand with his and lifted himself to her while her mouth fell upon his dragon. “And do you know what else I believe, Miss Cooper? I believe you are the one for me.”

“Mmm,” she answered a bit mockingly, her tongue tracing the ink. “Jeez, that I love nibbling your dragon. So sexy. Say, how many more tattoos are you going to get? How many pivotal moments in your life are you planning to have?”

“Don’t know. I’m having one now, though.”

Her heart skipped a beat.

He cupped her face. “I love you, Tate.”

She froze. “James…”

“Shh, sweetheart, don’t freak out on me. I know you don’t want to hear it, but I won’t keep it inside any longer. You don’t have to say anything. I don’t want you to feel obliged to answer anything back. I just needed to say it out loud. What I really want now is to make love to you until all you can see and feel is me. Would you let me do that?”

She closed her eyes and nodded, letting herself go. He turned her on her back, settling between her thighs. He eased the T-shirt he’d given her for the night up and over her head and trailed his mouth down from her throat to her breasts, nipping at her swollen nipples as she writhed.

“You are so beautiful, Tate.” His hands expanded on her stomach, followed by his mouth kissing his way down her core. “Made for me.”

He nuzzled the clit ring. “This isn’t mine. I thought I made myself clear yesterday. I want my ring on your clit, sweetheart.”

“Didn’t have time to get to the beauty salon,” she whispered, her body shuddering as his tongue circled her slit and lapped at her tender folds, licking each curve. “I’ll go there first thing today, I promise.”

“Good.”

He lifted her legs up and bent them, leaving her totally exposed.

He brought her to a hard orgasm with his tongue and then moved upward. He brought her hands up and held them there in one of his while his mouth trailed down her breasts and his cock thrust inside her.

“I love having you in my bed, Tate, so you better get used to it, babe. No more avoiding Alden.”

He made love to her with a clever combination of short and shallow thrusts and then long and deep ones, never letting her hands go. His other hand reached under her behind and lifted her to him, adding to the maelstrom already raging inside her. His mouth tormented her nipples, his teeth raking them.

“So sweet, Tate, so sweet and so tight. Do you like it, babe?”

She nodded, or she thought she did.

“Now I am going to let your hands go, I want you to hold on to the bars. Do not let go. If you let go, I stop, do you understand?”

She nodded and gripped the bars, her back arching at each of his plunges, her pussy on fire, the muscles fluttering with the need for release.

“Are you mine?” he asked as he hooked her legs over his elbows, forcing himself even deeper inside her core.

Her voice wouldn’t come out; her throat was tight with emotion.

“Are you mine, Tate?” he asked again, thrusting into her deeply, the head of his dick slamming at her womb, her back arching at the tension gathering in her body.

“Yours,” she whispered. “All yours.” Body and soul. She couldn’t lie; she was too raw for it. She needed too much.

He looked at her with such a fierce possessiveness and male pride it was shocking.

He began a hard rhythm that was going to kill her. His mouth and his tongue were tormenting her nipples, sending jolts to her clit and womb while his cock was claiming every inch of her.

“Oh hell, James, I’m coming.”

“Give it to me, Tate.” She heard his rough voice grating her senses. “I’m so close. Come for me, babe. Come for me while I fill you up with my cum.”

His tongue took a hard swipe of her nipple, and then he bit it. She felt herself explode, her pussy convulsing, sucking James deeper and deeper.

* * *

She’d given herself to him without reservation, but she hadn’t said the words. He’d seen the doubt and panic on her face when he’d told her, as if she couldn’t or wouldn’t let herself believe it. Clearly she was going to need some time to get used to the idea that he loved her. And that was nothing compared to the time it was going to take her to come to terms with the fact that she loved him, because she did, he knew, even if she refused to acknowledge it to herself. It was okay. His ego wasn’t too happy about it, but he’d wait.