Unnatural Relations (Lust and Lies Series, Book 1) (20 page)

His words were even more unnerving than his caresses. He must have sensed her tension, for he stopped talking and kissed her for another long time until the reason for her tension changed from uncertainty to needing more. The chemistry was much too strong, and her body had been deprived of pleasure for much too long for her to control its response to him.

"Do you have any idea how much I want to taste the rest of you?" His one hand moved from her back to her breast. "I'd give anything right now to taste you here." His hand loved that flesh, then slid down her stomach, over her hip, her bottom, and pressed between her thighs. "And here."

His mouth recaptured hers as she sharply inhaled, and she took his tongue as a substitute for what he made her want.

"Touch me," he pleaded. "And I won't ask for more tonight."

His request echoed her need to feel his desire for her in the most primitive way. Without hesitation, she stroked him through his slacks, wanting to inflame his senses as he was doing to her.

Abruptly he grasped her hand and brought it to his chest. With his heart pounding heavily against her fingertips, he hugged her tightly for several seconds then murmured, "I'm sorry. My fault. That's not the way our first time is going to be."

She would have told him she felt the same way but speech was beyond her capabilities at the moment.

"When we make love for the first time, we'll be completely alone, without any chance of being interrupted and we'll have all night because that's how long it's going to take for me to know every inch of your body."

His bold promise sent another shiver of pleasure through her, making it harder for her to remember why tonight couldn't be that night.

"I'd better go," he said, though he didn't attempt to move.

"I have to get up early in the morning," she added, but stayed where she was.

"Me, too. I have to be on the road before the sun comes up." He groaned and created some space between them. Lifting her chin with his finger, he gave her a light kiss and said, "For the first time in my life, I'm not looking forward to a business trip, but I can't change it at this late hour. As the new regional manager, I promised to pay personal visits to all my salespeople this week. I won't be back in Richmond until Friday afternoon. Can I see you that night?"

Rather than being disappointed that he'd be away all week, she was relieved. A physical separation from him was probably exactly what she needed to decide whether she really wanted to get involved as deeply as he did.

"Can I let you know later in the week?" She called up her standard excuses. "I have to make sure Matt's taken care of and that my parents don't need me."

He wasn't happy with her answer, but he didn't push further, except to ask for her phone number so he could call her. Under the circumstances, it would have been ridiculous for her to deny him that much.

It was a little easier to think after he left and she spent the rest of the night dong that instead of sleeping. There was nothing wrong with Kyle. As far as she could tell, he was perfect. It was just too much, too fast. Like with Howard. Or was it just the
deja vu
way they met that had alarms going off in her head?

Even if she dismissed the eerie coincidence and allowed for the possibility that her hormones won't get her in the same sort of trouble this time, there was something else to be considered before seeing Kyle again. Russ could show up any minute and throw her life into turmoil again, in which case, wouldn't it be less heartbreaking if she broke things off with Kyle before they got more involved?

Or should she grab a chance for momentary happiness and not worry how soon it must end?

No answers came during the night and a conversation with Matt over breakfast only added to her confusion.

"Are you going to go out with him again?" Matt asked in a tone that said he was hoping for a negative response.

"I... I'm not sure. Why?"

" 'Cause he's a creep."

Barbara stopped herself from reacting thoughtlessly. She had been afraid this might happen. He was jealous. "If he's such a creep, why didn't you turn down his invitation to the circus?"

Matt shrugged and pushed his scrambled eggs around on his plate. "I didn't know what a creep he was then."

"But you do now? I'm a little confused. Friday night you were suggesting I go away for a weekend with him. You jumped at the chance to go to the circus with him yesterday and you were having a great time until you got an upset stomach. Then after we got home—"

"I didn't have an upset stomach. I was mad."

"Over what?"

He sighed, practically out of patience with her.

"Sorry, kiddo, you're going to have to give me a few more clues. I mean, if he's really a creep I wouldn't want to go out with him again, but since I didn't see him do anything creepy—"

"That's 'cause you didn't go to the men's room with us."

Every hair on Barbara's body stood on end. She leaned forward and spoke very slowly so as not to frighten him into silence. "What did he do, Matthew? Tell me everything." As unbelievable as the prospect of Kyle being a child molester seemed, she braced herself for the worst.

Matt played with his eggs for a few more seconds then decided to tell her. "He waited outside the men's room while I went in. When I came out, I saw them, standing real close together and he was whispering something in her ear that made her laugh. And when she saw me she pushed him away, but it was too late. I already saw."

Though he sat there looking very smug, his explanation didn't clear up anything for Barbara.
"She,
who?" He rolled his eyes in exasperation. She quickly thought back to their trip to the men's room together. Tammy had excused herself seconds later, so Barbara had stayed behind to guard their seats. "Are you talking about Kyle and Tammy?"

She was so relieved that it wasn't the conclusion she'd jumped to, she almost laughed out loud, but his sad little pout held her in check. He wasn't jealous of his mother having a boyfriend. This was about Tammy.

"Oh, sweetie. You know how noisy it was there. He was probably only leaning close so she could hear him."

"You think so?"

"Yes, but I think you ought to know, Tammy has a boyfriend."

He made a face. "You mean Michael. They had a fight. She told me she had more fun with me."

Barbara decided she and Tammy would have to have a talk about Matt's feelings, but for now, it was time to get moving.

On the way to school, he talked about his and Kenny's plans for the week, but before he got out of the car, he got back to his first comment of the day. "I've been thinking. I guess it would be okay if you wanted to go out with Kyle again."

"You don't think he's a creep anymore?"

"I don't know. I just figured I'd invite Kenny next time instead of Tammy."

She sent him off with a hug and a smile, but as she drove to work, she kept thinking back to their time at the circus. Could Matt have been right? Had there been a few sparks between Kyle and Tammy and she'd missed it entirely? She was just so very, very bad at analyzing men. In this case, she would actually be relieved if Kyle decided to turn his attentions elsewhere. It would save her the trouble of making any decisions about him.

* * *

Russ slowly exhaled the pungent smoke then offered the joint to the woman lying beside him.

"No more. I have to go to work. I don't know how I'm going to get through the day as it is." Rather than get up, she snuggled closer and stroked his stomach.

He took another deep drag then snuffed out the burning tip with his fingertips. He wondered if he needed to do her one more time before she left. God, he hoped not. It was bad enough in the dark. Her fat fingers drifted down between his legs, and he had his answer. Since he couldn't shut out the morning sun, he closed his eyes and pictured Barbara.

When Decker offered him a chunk of money to run a little errand, Russ figured he'd be back in Fredericksburg in two days, max. He had now been away for five. At least success was in sight, thanks to Betty Blubber-Butt.

It had sounded like such a simple task—get Barbara's medical file from her obstetrician to prove that she had delivered the baby prematurely. Russ's word wasn't enough for the Hamiltons. Since it was vital to his ultimate goal that the Hamiltons had no doubts about the child, Russ drove up to New York City to get the evidence Decker requested. Besides, he had been down to his last hundred dollars and was in serious need of operating capital.

He figured he could break into the office over the weekend and be back Sunday night. But Dr. Roselli had moved her practice to Albany and when he got there, he discovered that the files in the office only went back two years. A phone call Monday morning informed him that the file was in storage, but could be retrieved—with the doctor's approval—in two to three weeks.

The only solution he could think of was to seduce one of the office girls into getting the file for him and unfortunately for him, only one was immediately available. So he zoomed in on Betty something-or-other, a middle-aged, grossly overweight, sex-starved divorcee and all night had been pre-paying for the favor he needed.

Part of his deal with Decker was a promise that he would keep an eye on Barbara and make sure she didn't skip town while Russ was away, or if she did, he would have her followed. Decker thought Barbara was Russ's only interest and Russ certainly wasn't going to tell him otherwise.

As a backup, though, Russ knew his partner was sticking close to Barbara and the boy as well.

With his mind focused on Barbara and his newest plan to put her in his debt forever, he was able to give Betty one more wild ride on the Russ-mobile before asking her to perform a little chore for him.

* * *

"I miss you," Kyle said as soon as Barbara identified herself over the phone.

She glanced at her watch and noted that it was one-thirty, the same hour that he'd called on the previous two days since he'd been gone, only this time she had someone sitting in front of her desk.

Knowing the kinds of things he might say that she couldn't possibly respond to at the moment, she asked, "Could I call you back? I'm with a customer right now."

"No. I'm on my way out. I just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you."

She smiled at the elderly man across from her and pretended to be writing an important message. "Very good. We can discuss that later."

"Have you made arrangements for Friday night yet?"

"Um, no, I'm still working on it."

"What you're doing is stalling. Listen to me, Barbara. I'm not going to go away just because you're afraid of complicating your life. I want you in a way that I've never wanted a woman before, and after Sunday night, I know you feel the same way. You can set any kind of limits that will make you comfortable. Just promise to spend Friday evening with me."

"I'm sorry, I really can't get into that right now."

"Fine. I'll call you tonight. It might be a little late."

"That's okay. Thank you for calling." She hung up and smiled again at her customer. "I'm sorry. Now, you were telling me about how your housekeeper threw out your mail by mistake." As the man related his long explanation of why his checking account was overdrawn, Barbara kept replaying Kyle's voice in her head. Monday and Tuesday he had teased her about her hesitation to follow through with what they'd started Sunday night. Today he sounded...
testy
.

When she was with him, there was no doubt in her mind. She wanted everything he had to give her. When she was alone, however, the relationship seemed hopeless. She knew she had to end it before it became more intimate. Then she would hear his voice over the phone and bounce back to being confused.

That afternoon, Matt unknowingly helped to push her toward a decision. The first words out of his mouth as he climbed into their car were, "Kenny asked me to stay over at his house Friday night. His mom already said it was okay, and to tell you she'd pick me up right after school, so you won't have to rush for a change."

Barbara thought that was the sign she'd been waiting for, until she saw a countersign parked in front of her house. As she pulled into her driveway, Simon Decker got out of his car and hurried to head her off before she and Matt could go inside.

"You will hear what I have to say, Miss Mancuso, or we will do our talking in a courtroom."

For a split second before she got control of her temper, she considered strangling the vile man. "Do I need to remind you that I know a little about courts myself, Mr. Decker, such as how to get a restraining order against someone who insists on harassing me without cause."

"Let's see," he said, rubbing his jaw in an exaggerated manner. "That would be from your Russ Latham period, I suppose. I must admit, I wasn't terribly surprised to learn how that relationship ended. That young man's temper had caused a number of problems on the estate."

"Is that why you suggested he
charm
me into signing that agreement after Howard left?"

His eyebrows lifted. "Latham told you about that? How interesting. What else did he tell you?"

"That you were a slimy little worm that would crawl on his belly if the Hamiltons told you to. Matthew, go inside and call the police." She handed him her cell phone. "Tell them we have a trespasser." She was pleased to see Decker react with a step backward. "The police will be here within five minutes. That gives you four to say what you came here for and take off."