Victim of Deception (5 page)

Mostly he hated himself.

A
aron watched Karessa pace across the bedroom floor, then turn and pace back again. “She isn’t a happy camper, Mary.”

“No, she isn’t.” Mary chewed on her thumbnail. “She’s been upset for two nights, ever since she argued with that man.”

“She obviously knows him. Who do you think he is?”

“I don’t know, but he’s here every day, working on the house.”

Karessa walked to the bed and sat on the side. Aaron sat beside her. His great-great-granddaughter seemed to sense him and Mary, to know when they were close. She didn’t sense his presence now. That told him she was truly upset. “What’s his name?”

“She called him Max.” Mary stepped in front of Karessa. “Whatever happened between them had a profound effect on her. They must have been in love.” She tilted her head to the side. “And I think she still loves him.”

Aaron frowned. Rarely did he disagree with his wife, but this time he did. “She hates him.”

“There’s a fine line between love and hate, darling. A woman wouldn’t react so strongly to a man if the feelings didn’t run deep.” She knelt before Karessa. “We have to help her.”

“How?”

“She needs to remember how much they loved each other.”

“Mary, you don’t know for sure she loved him.”

“Trust me, Aaron, I know. I’m a woman. I understand how she feels.”

“So you’re going to interfere.”

“I’m going to help. There’s a difference.”

Aaron watched his wife lay her hands on top of their great-great-granddaughter’s. Karessa jumped as if startled. Her gaze darted to Mary’s face. “She sees you.”

“She can’t see me, but she senses me.”

“Maybe we should leave her alone.”

“In a minute.”

Mary closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly released it. Aaron had seen his wife do a similar thing many times over the last century. She touched someone when she wanted them to do her bidding. But it hadn’t worked on Karessa earlier in the week when they’d tried to keep her out of their room. “Mary—”

“Shhh.”

His wife left her hands on top of Karessa’s for almost a full minute. Karessa didn’t move the entire time. Aaron looked back and forth from Mary to Karessa. He’d never felt such strong energy in the air. The two women were truly connecting.

When Mary opened her eyes, they were glowing.

Chills slithered down Aaron’s spine. He’d never seen Mary’s eyes glow. “Are you okay, baby?” he asked softly.

Shaking her head, Mary lifted her hands from Karessa’s. She cleared her throat. “Yes, yes, I’m fine.”

Her voice sounded husky, as if she’d just awoken. “Are you sure?”

Slowly, Mary got to her feet. “We need to leave her alone now.”

“What did you do?”

“She’ll dream of him.”

She looked at Aaron, and her eyes appeared normal once again. Aaron wished he could take her in his arms, hold her, to be sure she was truly all right. Instead, he rose from the bed and followed Mary out of the room.

Karessa no longer felt the cool air surrounding her. The sensation had been similar to the one she’d experienced the first day she walked into this house, as if she were standing directly beneath an air conditioning vent. She looked up at the ceiling. There were two vents in the room, but neither of them blew directly onto the bed. Besides, she hadn’t turned on the air conditioning yet because of the construction work.

Something—or some
one
—had touched her.

Her mind was too fuzzy to concentrate now on who that someone could be. A sudden yawn made her jaw pop. She’d been reading a bit of her great-grandmother’s diary every evening in bed. Tonight, she could barely keep her eyes open. All she wanted to do was sleep.

Karessa turned off the lamp and crawled between the cool sheets. An image of Max’s face flashed through her mind, as it had each evening since she’d seen him in her living room. Memories swam through her head…memories of a time when she’d been so desperately in love…

Karessa closed her eyes and tilted back her head. The warm wind ruffled her hair, making her smile. What a perfect day. Comfortable temperature, gentle breeze, and the man she loved. A woman couldn’t ask for much more.

She opened her eyes and gazed at Max on the blanket. He lay propped up on one elbow, chewing on a toothpick, looking at her. A crooked grin touched his lips. “Did you like the picnic?”

“Very much. It was a nice surprise.” She touched her stomach. “I ate way too much.”

“You’re supposed to eat too much on a picnic. It’s a rule.”

“A rule?”

“Yeah. Just like it’s a rule for the picnickee to pay the picnicker with a kiss.”

Karessa struggled not to laugh. “‘Picnickee’?”

He shrugged and grinned. “You get the idea.”

“Yes, I do.” Karessa moved toward him on her knees. “I think it’s an
excellent
idea.” She took the toothpick from his mouth and tossed it to the ground. “You do realize that I probably won’t stop with only one kiss.”

His grin widened. “I certainly hope not.”

Leaning forward, she softly kissed him. He tasted of the wine they’d drunk with their meal. Tilting her head, she slowly moved her lips over his. He cradled the back of her head in his hand and returned her kiss. The tip of his tongue touched her lips, seeking entrance into her mouth. Karessa parted her lips ever so slightly, giving him only a tiny sample of her.

Max growled deep in his throat. “Open your mouth, Karessa.”

“You can be such an impatient man.”

“I am when it comes to you. Let me taste you.”

Their mouths were but an inch apart. Each word he spoke puffed air across her skin. The sensation made her nipples pucker. With a soft moan, she parted her lips for his tongue.

Karessa could count the number of her lovers on one hand. She’d had one guy who barely knew what he was doing, and two guys who were very good lovers. Not even the very good ones
could compare to Max. He made her body sing every time they made love.

He slid his hand down her back to her buttock and squeezed it. His tongue stroked over her lips and teeth before beginning a dual with hers. She whimpered. His kisses touched not only her mouth, but every part of her body. She’d always scoffed at the term “his kisses made her melt.” She no longer scoffed. Max’s kisses did, indeed, make her melt.

Karessa knew in another moment, he would push her to her back so he could caress her entire body. While she loved his touch, she planned to be in control today.

When he shifted position and gently pushed on her shoulder, Karessa pulled away. “Nuh-uh.”

Max’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘nuh-uh’?”

“Today we play by my rules.”

“Oh, we do?” One of his dark eyebrows arched and his eyes twinkled with devilment. “What if I don’t want to play by your rules?”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“Well, then…” He lay back, his hands beneath his head. “Do your worst. Or your best.”

Karessa tugged up his navy T-shirt until it bunched under his arms. For a moment, she simply looked at his chest. Broad, tan, lightly dusted with dark brown hair. The hair formed a line down his flat stomach. She touched the center of his chest with one fingertip. She followed the line of hair until it disappeared into his denim shorts, then traced the line back up to his chest. Once she’d reached her starting point, she repeated the journey with her lips, dropping soft kisses on his skin.

The sudden tightening of Max’s stomach muscles made her
look at him. He rose to his elbows and watched her. Deciding to give him a show, she circled his navel with the tip of her tongue while she looked into his eyes.

“Do you like that?” she asked.

“Yeah.” His voice sounded rusty, as if something clogged his throat. “I like everything you do to me.”

She dragged her tongue up the center of his stomach. Each of his nipples received a long lick and gentle tug with her teeth. Max’s breathing became deeper, slower. His eyelids shuttered. She could no longer see the heat in those incredible gray eyes, but she knew it was there.

She traveled back down his stomach, alternating between kisses and soft licks. She stopped when she reached his navel again. Peering into his eyes, she released the snap on his shorts. She ruffled the hair beneath his navel with her finger.

“You like my happy trail?”

“Mmm, yes. Very much. I think,” she said while leisurely lowering his zipper, “I’ll follow it all the way to your campground.”

Max chuckled. “I’ve never heard it called
that
.”

“I thought I’d camp out for a while, see if anything comes up.”

“It’s already up.”

She could see the outline of his hard cock through the denim. “I noticed.”

Rising to her knees, Karessa gripped the waistband of Max’s shorts and tugged them past his hips. Surprised at her discovery, her gaze snapped back to his face. “No briefs?”

A grin tweaked the corners of his mouth. “I figured they’d just be in the way.”

She smiled. “You’re so clever.”

Karessa pulled his shorts down his legs and tossed them aside. His shaft lay against his stomach, fully erect. Her mouth watered with the desire to taste him.

“Take off your blouse and bra, sweetheart. Let me see those pretty tits.”

She granted his request without hesitation. She’d no sooner tossed the bra to land on top of Max’s shorts than he sat up and opened his mouth over one nipple.

Karessa moaned. Tunneling her fingers into his thick hair, she pulled him closer to her breast. He kneaded her other breast while he suckled her nipple. His tongue circled the hard nub, his teeth scraped across it. He took his time, switching from one nipple to the other…back and forth, back and forth, sucking, nipping, licking. Karessa threw back her head and arched her back, trying to get even more of her breast into his mouth. Obeying her silent cue, he suckled harder.

The orgasm shimmied down her spine and zinged through her clit. She gasped as her pussy clenched and moisture dampened her panties. Experiencing a climax but not quite sure
how
, she clasped Max’s head to her breast while she tried to remember how to think.

He lifted his head, a smile on his lips. “Did you come?”

Unable to speak yet with her heart beating so hard, she nodded.

His smile widened into a cocky male grin. “Yeah?”

The obvious pride in his voice made her laugh. “You didn’t just invent the cure for cancer, you know.”

“You’ve never come from me sucking your nipples.” He caressed her back and buttocks. “I wonder how many other ways I can make you come.”

“Oh, so now you want to show off?”

“Yeah.”

That overconfident grin of his made her laugh. “All the ways I come now are fine, thank you.”

“But we just discovered something new. I think we need to experiment some more.”

She reached down and clasped his hard cock. “I think we need to concentrate on a climax for
you
right now.”

Max hitched in a breath when she began fondling his shaft. “Well, if you insist…”

Karessa awoke with her heart pounding and her lungs struggling for air. Desire flowed through her veins like fire, making her skin damp with sweat. She’d often had dreams of Max and her making love in the past, but hadn’t had one in a long time.

This hadn’t been a product of her subconscious. Everything in her dream had actually happened, right down to her having a climax from him sucking her nipples.

Her clit throbbed in memory.

Rolling to her back, Karessa lifted her large T-shirt to her waist and slid her hand between her thighs. She wasn’t surprised to find her labia creamy and swollen. She bit her bottom lip and moaned when she touched her clit. It had been months since she’d been with a man. Her body decided to remind her of that fact this morning.

She rubbed her clit while she raised her shirt over her breasts. A few tugs on her nipple and her toes began to curl. Her body was so hot, it wouldn’t take long for her to come. One, two, three more swipes across her clit and the pleasure flowed through her body.

After the pleasure, the tears came.

Karessa pushed down her shirt and pulled the sheet over her body. An orgasm was a powerful release. So were tears. She often cried after a climax, simply because the feelings were so intense.

These tears had nothing to do with her orgasm.

She damned Max again for coming back into her life and making her want what she didn’t have.

Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Karessa threw back the sheet and sat up. Enough of self-pity. It was a totally useless emotion and accomplished nothing. She was a strong, independent woman. She had money in the bank and a house that would be gorgeous after the renovation. She ran the largest museum in the Metroplex, and ran it successfully. Her body had needs, as it had demonstrated to her this morning, but she could take care of that, too. She didn’t need a man to make her life complete. She certainly didn’t need love. That only led to a broken heart.

With that thought, Karessa rose and headed for the bathroom. A shopping trip to one of the malls would be the perfect way to spend her Saturday.

K
aressa rubbed her forehead, but it did nothing to ease her pain. She hated headaches. No amount of medicine could make this one go away. She knew that the only thing that would help was lying down in a dark room—or a bout of wild, sweaty sex. Since she didn’t have a place to lie down here in the museum and sex wasn’t an option, she’d been suffering for most of the morning.

Combine her pain with lack of sleep due to her erotic dreams of Max, and she was ready to snap at anyone who talked to her. Unfortunately, Joy had several things on her agenda today that needed discussing.

She jerked at the sudden snap when Joy closed her portfolio. “Okay, that’s it. Go home, Karessa.”

“What?”

“I see you rubbing your head. I know you’re hurting. We aren’t getting any work done. Go home.”

“I can’t. The workers are there.”

“So go to your condo.”

She could do that, but she didn’t want to. Her condo was so…sterile. It had only taken a short two weeks for her to
think of the Victorian as her home. “I don’t want to go to my condo.”

Joy frowned. “Now you’re sounding childish.” Rising from her chair, she rounded the desk. She picked up Karessa’s purse and briefcase from the bookcase and shoved them into her boss’s arms. “Go
somewhere
and lie down.”

“You know, I could fire you for this abuse.”

“No, you couldn’t.” Joy grinned. “I’m indispensable.”

“That’s true.” Lying down sounded like a wonderful idea. They weren’t getting any work done with her in pain. Shifting her purse and briefcase so she could carry them, she stood. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Only if you’re better.”

“Yes, Mother,” Karessa said dryly.

Once in her car, she thumped her fingers against the steering wheel while deciding where to go. Her condo would be the logical choice. No dust, no noise, no interruptions. If she went to the house, the buzz of electric saws and the pounding of hammers wouldn’t let her get any rest.

Besides, she’d see Max.

He’d kept his word. She knew he was still working because she’d casually asked Kevin about him, but she never saw him. Going to the house in the middle of the day meant she would surely see him.

That would be incredibly stupid.

“I like him.”

“How can you like him?” Aaron asked. “You know Karessa doesn’t.”

Mary moved to Max’s right side and watched him swing his
hammer. “There’s something…good about him. And Karessa may not like him, but she loves him.”

“So you think.”

“So I
know
.”

Mary had no doubt of Karessa’s feelings for Max. The problem lay in getting Karessa and Max back together. She didn’t know what had happened between them in the past. Until they got beyond that, they couldn’t have a future together.

She wanted her great-great-granddaughter to be happy.

The erotic dreams seemed to be working for Karessa to help her remember Max. Maybe a few erotic memories would work for him, too.

Mary touched his shoulder. Max jerked and stopped hammering. He whipped his head in her direction, his eyes wide.

Aaron moved closer to her. “Mary, what are you doing?”

“Helping him to remember Karessa.”

“He’s reacting to you. That’s never happened except with a member of our family.”

“He’ll
be
a member of our family, Aaron…in time.”

She closed her eyes and concentrated, letting her energy flow into Max. She could feel him trying to fight it. Refusing to give up, she continued to touch him, telling him with her mind to remember how much he’d loved Karessa.

How much he
still
loved Karessa.

Mary opened her eyes when she felt him lower his arm. His chest rose and fell with a deep breath. She smiled to herself.

Gotcha
.

Max stopped hammering when Kevin walked up to him. “It’s almost noon. You wanna go with C. J. and me to grab a burger?”

Food held no appeal at all to Max right now. He didn’t understand that for he rarely missed a meal. “Thanks, but I’m not hungry. I think I’ll keep on working awhile.”

“Suit yourself. See you later.”

Max continued nailing two-by-fours into place until he noticed all was quiet in the house. The guys had left for lunch, or were eating outside beneath the huge oak tree in the backyard. That gave him time alone with his thoughts.

He couldn’t help but think of Karessa since he was in her house. Usually he could push the thoughts away and focus on finding the bond. Not now. Memories filled his head and stayed there, no matter how much he tried to push them aside.

When he hit his thumb instead of a nail, Max knew it was time to take a break.

Grabbing a Pepsi from his cooler, he held it against his throbbing thumb as he walked outside to the veranda. A gentle breeze blew from the south, bringing the smell of rain. Thunderstorms were predicted for later today and the rest of the week. He hoped it poured. The rain and gray skies would remind him of his home on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.

He’d never planned to settle in the Pacific Northwest. In his line of business, he traveled more than he stayed home. He’d bought a condo in Florida and lived there between jobs. It had served his purpose, even though he’d always thought of Florida as one big tourist state.

When a job had taken him to Seattle, Max had immediately fallen in love with the area. The cool weather, huge trees, beautiful mountains…they’d all grabbed him and refused to let go.

He wondered if Karessa would like Washington.

Well, I made it for about three minutes without thinking of her.

Max popped the top of his Pepsi and took a long drink.
Karessa had always liked the outdoors. He remembered one time in particular when he’d surprised her with a picnic…

Max closed his eyes as Karessa fondled his cock. He’d just made her come from sucking her nipples, and that had never happened. He wanted to explore other ways he could bring her to orgasm.

His vixen apparently had other ideas. She tugged his T-shirt over his head. “Lie back, Max,” she whispered.

Leaving his eyes closed, he did as she commanded. He lay still, waiting for what she would do next. First, he felt the soft brush of her hair across his thighs. Next, he felt her warm breath on his balls. The tip of her tongue teased the base of his cock.

Max groaned.

That wicked tongue ran up the length of his shaft and circled the head. He opened his eyes and rose to his elbows so he could watch her. Her own eyes were closed as she continued to lick the head. She’d told him she loved performing oral sex on him, and would gladly do it every day.

That worked for him.

She lowered her head until his shaft disappeared inside her mouth. When her lips touched the base, she slid them back up to the head. She slowly repeated the journey over and over. He wanted to pump. He
needed
to pump. But the rapturous look on her face made him lie still and wait for whatever she would do next.

Torture had never felt so good.

She opened her eyes as her tongue circled the head again. “Do you want to come in my mouth?”

Max swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

The tip of her tongue darted into the slit. “We’re playing by my rules, remember?”

Unable to resist touching her any longer, he tunneled one hand beneath her hair and cradled the back of her head. “Your rules are to torture me?”

A mischievous twinkle lit up her eyes. “No. My rules are to make you feel
really
good.”

“Coming in your mouth would make me feel
really
good.”

“How about coming in my pussy?”

“Oh, yeah. I’d like that, too.”

Releasing his cock, she rose to her knees and leaned forward. Her breasts barely brushed his chest. With her lips a breath away from his, she whispered, “How about licking my pussy?”

“I would
love
that.”

“We could do all of the above.”

“I’m in no hurry to leave.”

She smiled her vixen’s smile, the one that always made him hard. Since he was already hard, this time he growled. Pulling her head closer, he gave her an open-mouth, tongue-dueling kiss.

The whimper in her throat caused the blood to surge in his cock.

“Take off the rest of your clothes. I want you naked.”

She stood up and unfastened her khaki shorts. They fell in a puddle at her feet, leaving her in nothing but a pair of tiny blue panties. He palmed his cock and leisurely stroked it while she hooked her fingers in the waistband of her panties.

Instead of pulling them off, she gave him that vixen smile again. “I have a surprise for you.”

He waited, but she didn’t say anything else. She pulled her panties down an inch. His gaze snapped to that enticing strip of
skin between her navel and the top of her panties. She pulled them down another inch. “Are you ready for your surprise?”

“Yeah,” he rasped.

Her panties joined her shorts on the blanket. Max’s mouth dropped open. If possible, his cock became even harder. “You shaved your pussy?”

She nodded.

Max rose to his knees before her. Slipping his hands between her thighs, he pushed gently until she opened her legs. He slid his thumbs over the smooth, silky skin. “When did you do this?”

“I shaved a couple of days ago, then again this morning. I thought you might…like it.”

“I do.” He pulled apart her feminine lips with his thumbs. She was already creamy and swollen, proof of her arousal. “My God, this is sexy.” Leaning forward, he swiped his tongue across her clit. He enjoyed it so much, he did it again. “I love the way you taste.”

Karessa tilted her hips toward him. “Max.”

He looked up at her face when he heard her breathless voice. The desire in her eyes made him want to devour her. “Lie down, sweetheart. Let me lick on this pretty pussy.”

She stretched out before him, a blond goddess. Max spread her legs wide. For a moment, he simply looked at her…from her tousled hair, down her long torso, past her bare mound, all the way down to her toenails painted a pale pink. He made the return journey as leisurely as the first trip, until he looked into her eyes again. His heart clutched in his chest. “You’re beautiful, Karessa.”

He kissed her, long and deeply, before he stretched out on his stomach between her thighs. Closing his eyes, he inhaled her unique, musky fragrance. Nothing smelled better than an aroused woman.

Or tasted better.

Max liked to take his time when giving oral sex for he enjoyed it as much as Karessa. He gave her one long swipe with his tongue from her anus to her clit. She moaned and spread her thighs another inch. Slowly, he licked the length of her slit again.

“More,” she breathed.

Only too happy to oblige, he suckled her clit, darted his tongue into her vagina, licked her anus. Concentrating on that sensitive bit of flesh, he pulled her buttocks apart with his thumbs and pushed his tongue deep inside her ass.

“Oh,
God
!”

Her cry made him smile to himself. She loved it when he tongue-fucked her ass. “You like that, sweetheart?”

“Yesssss.”

Max had never made a woman come from licking her anus, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Karessa could climax that way. She was a very passionate woman who loved sex. She’d already come from having her nipples sucked. Rarely did they make love without her having at least two orgasms.

Even if she didn’t come, experimenting would be fun.

Max pushed her legs forward until her knees almost touched her breasts. “Hold your legs for me.”

She hooked her hands behind her knees. The position left her pussy completely open for him.

Beautiful.

Slipping his hands beneath her buttocks, he began the gentle assault on her anus. He drove his tongue deep inside her, then pressed it flat against her. He licked back and forth, up and down, in a circle, before driving back inside her again. Each new movement made Karessa moan a bit louder. Each new movement made his cock a bit harder. He’d fantasized about sliding his shaft inside her ass for weeks.

It was time he made the fantasy a reality.

She arched her back and keened deeply. Max leaned back and watched her anus contract with her orgasm. The urge to mate pushed him past his limit. Rising to his knees, he rolled Karessa to her stomach. Her body was limp as a damp dish cloth. Good. He wanted her perfectly relaxed when he thrust inside that gorgeous ass.

Max reached for the bottle of coconut-scented massage oil he’d included in the picnic basket. Flipping up the top, he poured a generous amount over his fingertips. He parted Karessa’s buttocks with one hand and slathered the oil over her anus.

She moaned softly.

“Get on your knees, Karessa.”

She did as he said. Max slid his cock inside her pussy. The tight, wet warmth made him groan. He thrust slowly while he pushed his thumb into her ass. She moaned again and arched her back.

“Okay if I play a little, babe?”

“Yessss.”

He grinned. He loved when she stretched out her “yes.” That meant she was totally into whatever he did to her.

He continued to thrust slowly. Removing his thumb from her ass, he replaced it with two fingers. He pumped them in and out, in and out, getting her ready to accept his cock.

Several moments passed before he couldn’t wait any longer. Max withdrew his fingers from her ass, his cock from her pussy. Adding more oil to the head of his shaft, he pressed it against her anus. Instead of tightening, as he’d expected, Karessa pushed her buttocks back at him.

His little vixen wanted this as much as he.

“You want me to fuck your ass, don’t you?”

“Yessss.”

“Hard or easy?”

“Hard. Fuck me hard, Max.”

He pushed his cock all the way inside her ass. Karessa arched her back even more and tossed back her head. “Oh,
God
!”