In Too Deep: A Romantic Suspense Novel (19 page)

T
he frigid late
winter wind howled outside the windows, but I was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Lying on the bed, I shivered as Cam trailed kisses down my neck, clutching me to him. "God I missed this."

"Me too," he mumbled into my skin as we rolled across the bed. He found my left breast and sucked on it hungrily, ripples of pleasure rolling through me. We’d been kissing and touching each other for nearly a half hour, the soft glow of candlelight sending flickering shadows of our foreplay against the far wall. We were finally moving toward what we both wanted, but took our time savoring it. It’d been a bit of a dry spell for us, at least for two people who'd only been married for such a short time. "I don't think I ever want to go a week without this again."

I groaned in agreement, Cam's tongue snaking out to trace around my aching nipple, causing me to gasp. His strong hands plunged underneath me to my back, not letting me pull away as he deliciously tormented me with his mouth and lips. I was nearly senseless when he stopped, pulling back and making me sob in frustration. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just because we haven't done this in a while doesn't mean we don't get to enjoy every second of it," Cam replied. "And I plan to enjoy this for as long as I can."

Cam kissed down my body to the juncture of my thighs, looking up at me ironically when I kept my legs pressed together, teasing him for as long as I could stand it.

But that didn’t last. I smiled as I let my knees relax, giving him access, and I fluttered when Cam's warm breath caressed my skin. “So beautiful."

“Wait. Lie on your back," I said, pushing him back playfully. Cam did, and I took a deep breath before swinging my leg up over his head, lowering myself to his waiting tongue while leaning forward, his cock so tempting in front of me. Grasping it, I shuddered as Cam responded by tracing his nimble tongue over my folds, not worrying about reciprocation but instead opening me up for his hungry desire.

I lost all sense of time as Cam licked me all the way from my clit to my taint and back, his tongue fluttering over the areas that he knew set my nerves on fire the most. I rolled my hips, trying to move away a little bit so I could catch my breath, but he was having none of it, his hands grabbing my hips and pulling his face up into his goal.

Cam's tongue plunged deep into me, setting afire nerves that I wasn't even aware existed as he caressed each one. His tongue stiffened, stabbing inside before retreating for another quick swipe of my clit, never giving me a chance to adapt. Each time the sensation of newfound electricity and new touches overwhelmed me. I couldn't believe it, even after all the times we'd made love, he still found new ways to set me on fire. I was desperate for more, my orgasm growing within me as he continued. "Cam . . . Cam I'm . . . ”

It encouraged him more, and he brought his tongue to my clit and licked faster than ever, each stroke driving me higher and higher. I gave myself to him, my husband, conceding to his wonderful tongue. Biting down on my forearm to stifle the moans, I came, my body clenching and my thighs squeezing together. Still, even though he was denied air, he kept up his assault, adding a white hot spark to each tremor of my body until I thought I might go crazy. Finally, the wave passed, and Cam let go, letting me roll to the side.

“Ahh . . . ” I said, unable to form any other words. I was that I was floating on a cloud of pleasure, and I never wanted it to end. My eyes couldn't even focus, but it didn't matter as my skin told me everything I needed to know.

I felt him slide up behind me, his hands coming around to cup my breasts and his cock nestling between my legs. With fresh sparks of desire igniting inside me, I lifted my leg to give him full access, the thrill of his penetration making me turn my head. We kissed as he slid inside me, my insides stretching around him and singing joyfully at the sensation. When he was all the way inside, our lips parted. "Cam."

"Yes?" he asked, his right hand playfully circling my nipple. "What is it?”

I tried to think of a more poetic way to say it, but my mind was filled with lust. I could only think in the basest of words, and the rawest of speech. “Give it to me hard."

He grinned, his hand tightening around my breast, desire flaring in his eyes. We stared at each other as he thrust in and out of me, unrelenting and powerful. I grinned back as he unleashed himself on me, his cock hitting all the right places as he started to hammer me. "Oh, that's it . . . God, I need that . . .” I whispered, my heart hammering in my chest again. "More."

Cam rolled us over, getting me onto my knees before driving me back into the bed, his body barely giving me any space to move as his cock pummeled me. I arched my hips up and back as much as I could, needing more of him inside me, wanting to feel myself split open by him. I was helpless, and didn't want to be anywhere else as he sat back, his hips nearly a blur of in and out as he pushed both of us higher. His hands grabbed my ass with force, digging deep to give him a way to hold on as he let himself go fully, giving me what I so desperately desired. He filled me over and over, my head thrown back as shockwaves rolled through my body, both of us on the brink of an explosion.

With a sharp grunt, Cam gave me a warning, and I was more than ready. With a near roar, he drove me into the mattress, his cock spasming deep inside me. He pulled back one more time and slammed into me, sending me into a second and larger orgasm.

I was barely able to think, and even Cam was slightly out of breath when he pulled me into a tender embrace, rolling to the side so that he could stay nestled inside me as long as he could. "You were so passionate tonight," I whispered, kissing his knuckles.

“It's not often that we have the time and energy for this these days.”

I chuckled, nodding. "Well, you've got basketball starting next week, and Jay is intent on grooming me to take over for him when he retires in a year or two."

It was true, Jay had decided that after running his little pharmacy for over thirty years, he was going to retire early. "It's like that song the high school kids keep playing," he told me when he informed me of his decision. "I'm going out in style."

And of course, with basketball season starting up again after the Christmas break, Cam was going to be as busy as ever. I was surprised that he continued on with teaching. I mean, it was obvious that he loved doing it, but he’d told me that he started teaching because he wanted to stay off the radar. To blend in. After all, no one would ever think that a high school English teacher would possess a potentially doomsday piece of software on a laptop. We hadn’t heard a peep about Albertine ever since that cloak-and-dagger meeting, and Cam was smart enough to do just about anything he wanted. But he’d grown to love teaching those kids more than I think he ever anticipated.

I was about to ask when a rustle came from the other bedroom, followed by a rattle and then a plaintive cry. "It sounds like Marie is hungry," I said, laughing. "She's going to be angry when I tell her Daddy drained my boobs."

"Sounds like a poopy diaper cry to me," Cam said.

"Hungry."

"Poopy diaper."

I laughed. "Tell you what. If she's hungry, you get to stay up, warm up the bottle and feed her while I get some extra sleep. If she's got a poopy diaper, I'll clean her up and nurse her back down while you get the sleep."

"Deal," Cam said, sliding out of bed and tossing me a bath robe, one of the ones we'd recently purchased to allow us some intimate time while still taking care of a six-month-old baby.

Marie was looking for us when we came in, her mood immediately brightening when she saw the familiar faces of her mother and father. Of course, Cam had been right, and she had a very poopy diaper, that was clear when we got within three feet of my daughter.

Thankfully, Cam didn't hold me to the bet, and stayed up with me until Marie was calmed back down and sleeping peacefully in my arms as I sat in the rocking chair in her room.

"God she's beautiful," I whispered, stroking a lock of her dark brown hair out of her eyes. She’d gotten my hair but her father's eyes, and even at six months old, I knew she was going to grow up to be a beauty. "You better make sure our marksman skills are sharp for when she becomes a teenager."

Cam laughed softly and kissed me on the temple, then kissed Marie on her forehead. His daughter squirmed for a moment, then nestled back into my arms, content and happy. "Actually, I was thinking maybe we could look at having a second," he said. “Things are going well for us, and everything on the Albertine front has been quiet ever since that night with Senpai.”

I looked down at Marie and smiled. "I think she'd love to have a baby brother to grow up with. Come on, let me put her down. Let’s go back to bed and see what we can do about that."

Cam smiled and took Marie from my arms, setting her in her crib and tucking her in securely. He turned to me and helped me out of the rocking chair, giving me a gentle kiss as our bodies came back together. "I like that. Let's go add to our future."

M
edical student Sophie White
is working two jobs to pay for her college tuition. But when she meets the handsome, dark and mysterious Mark, she is thrust into a world that she never knew existed.

A man of confidence, Mark exudes a quiet power and seductiveness, but who he is and how he acquired his wealth remains a mystery. When he meets the lovely Sophie White, he is smitten, and despite every fiber in his body telling him not to, he brings her into his dark world.

"
C
ome on Sophie
, you've been cooped up in your apartment for weeks now."

The needling voice in my ear belonged to Tabby Williams, my best friend. A relentless man chaser, she lived by the motto YOLO. Five foot five, a hundred and fifteen pounds, with auburn red hair and blue eyes, she could pretty much seduce any man she wanted.

How the two of us became friends is a mystery that really had a lot to do with luck more than anything else. Coming into a new city from high school, the two of us had been put together in the freshman dorms by pure random assignment of the computer. I had been sitting at my desk, trying to set up my computer when Tabby walked in, two jocks already following her, carrying some of her bags.

There should have been no reason for the two of us to hit it off as friends, but we did. When my 'freshman fifteen' ballooned into my 'freshman forty-five,' it was Tabby who not only made sure that the idiots around campus didn't give me any crap, but also helped me work my way back down.

"It's all my fault anyway," she told me over and over again during my sophomore and junior years, "I'm the one who kept ordering the bargain double large pizzas and then only eating three slices."

You can see how it went. By the end of junior year, we were officially known among our social group as
The Odd Couple
, and did everything together. It was Tabby who convinced me to get a tattoo on my shoulder during senior year, and it was I who convinced Tabby not to just jump into marriage with Ted Bickerstaff, the frat boy she'd been dating who saw her more for her tight ass and perky tits than the young woman I called my friend.

"You came to college to get your MA, not your M-R-S," I told her. When Ted got caught cheating on his senior thesis and kicked out, she thanked me by taking me to the Bahamas for Spring Vacation.

Unfortunately, graduation caused us to drift apart some. Tabby went immediately to work on her MBA, while I had to pick up two jobs, one as an unpaid intern in a local emergency room as a way to get my foot in the door with the local healthcare providers, and another tending bar at a local Irish tavern. I didn't blame Tabby, while she didn’t talk to her folks that often, they were able to pay for it. Mine couldn't. But over the past two years, we'd gone from seeing each other every day to maybe three or four times a month.

Tonight was one of my few nights off, and I had originally planned to spend it doing some long overlooked cleaning of my apartment, and then crash. I had an early double shift at the ER the next morning running files, doing admin stuff, and avoiding Dr. Green staring at my ass. He's a creepy bastard, plain and simple. When Tabby called at six thirty, I knew my plans were going out the window.

"Tabby, I've got a seven in the morning start down at the ER tomorrow," I said to her, trying to get out of it, not that it ever worked. "Seriously, can't we put this off until Saturday?"

"Are you kidding? DJ Manik is only in town through tonight. He's one of the best, and I was able to score tickets for three of us. So I invited you and Kelly. You know you two had fun the last time we went out together. Besides, name the last time you had a Saturday night off. You're either slinging drinks down at the tavern, or down in the ER treating the same idiots you would have been serving any other night."

"I know, but you know what's going to happen. You're going to get drunk, Kelly's going to get picked up by at least two men, and possibly go home with both, and where does that leave me? Catching a cab home after midnight and maybe putting you to bed? You've got a strange idea of what I like to do on a Wednesday night."

Three hours later, I could hear my words running through my head. After picking me up, and then spending twenty minutes harassing me to change into something sexier, Tabby, Kelly and I went to the club. I had to admit, though, the DJ was pretty good. I'm not normally into remixed hip-hop, but this guy was good, putting enough house beats into it that I thought it was pretty damn decent.

Still, as soon as we were in, both girls had drinks in their hands and men orbiting them like they had gravity wells or something. As the third wheel, I soon found myself alone at the bar, while Tabby and Kelly worked the dance floor. I looked on enviously as they had two super hot guys each, teasing and grinding until I was sure the guys were about ready to blow a load in their pants. The night was going exactly as I thought it'd go.

Sighing, I took my club soda and headed upstairs. The music was a bit quieter up there, and I could at least think for a moment. Looking down on the dance floor, I considered my options. It was kind of like those old
Tom & Jerry
cartoons I watched as a kid, when the devil would pop up on one shoulder while the angel popped up on the other. On one hand, I could go down to the floor and get myself my own guy. I mean, I'm nowhere near as hot as Tabby, but I considered myself at least average.

By now, I'd lost most of the weight Tabby had helped me put on in my early college days. At five foot seven, one hundred and forty-nine pounds, green eyes and brown hair, I had gotten myself into a little better shape, and I'm sure I could find myself a guy to dance with down there. Still, I knew my stomach still had a bit of a pouch, but with the outfit I was wearing, it wasn't going to show. That was my first option, and perhaps the most fun.

The second option was the smarter one. Enjoy my drink, make sure that Tabby and Kelly were set for the night, maybe sit and enjoy the music for a few, and then head on home. It was a smart idea. I mean, I was in my last year of my Master's degree, and could look forward to becoming a physician's assistant within six months. I'd been volunteering in the ER to work on getting a reputation on top of my internship, and hopefully getting a letter of recommendation. Showing up with a hangover and sleep deprived was not the best way to do it.

I was still deciding which option to take when I saw him for the first time. The funny part was, he didn't look all that out of the ordinary. He was about six feet tall, maybe a hundred and seventy or eighty pounds, dirty blonde hair, and was wearing a black silk shirt with what looked like designer jeans. What caught my attention though was the way he carried himself. The only thing I can think of to describe it is that he looked like a lion on one of those Animal Planet documentaries, relaxing amidst a savannah of prey. He exuded confidence, but not in that cocky way that I saw a lot of the posers in the club try and pretend to be. He didn't need to puff out his chest, and I didn't see him wearing any bling at all.

What caught my eye the most about him was that he was looking at me. I checked both left and right before I knew, but he was looking at me, that was for sure. He nodded to me and smiled, making his way through the crowd with lithe grace to approach me. "What's your name?"

It wasn't the most original opening line that a man has ever used on me, but there was something in his eyes that said
I don't need a come on, you're going to want to talk to me.
It was true, honestly. I wanted to talk with this man.

"My name's Sophie," I told him, giving him what I hoped was my best smile. "What's yours?"

"Mark," he said, offering his hand. I shook, and was pleased by what I felt. There was a restrained strength in his grip. I could tell he knew he could crush my hand, but he didn't feel the need to. He held my hand for a moment before letting go. "So you're a nurse."

His comment took me off guard. How in the hell did he know that? “Close, but not quite,” I replied, shaken. "I'm in school to become a physician's assistant. How'd you know that?"

"Your thumb and the tip of your forefinger is callused, like someone who has done a lot of injections or carried a knife. You could have been a chef, but your hands aren't built like a chef's. Also, your hands are really heavily lotioned. The only jobs I know that need that are either manual laborers who work with greasy tools, or medical professionals who are constantly washing your hands with chemical filled junk. I didn't say doctor because you're too young."

I was impressed. "Wow. Can you tell me what sort of hand cream I use, too?"

"Aveeno Oat Complex Cream," he replied with a grin. "The almost total lack of odor and no greasiness at all gives it away. It's a good choice, by the way. I like to use Nivea with CoQ10 myself in winter."

I couldn't help by laugh. He was dead on. "Wow, you're pretty observant. Just what do you do with all that observation skill?"

Mark smiled, and there was a hint of danger in his smile. More than ever, he reminded me of a predator, and I wondered for a moment if I was his prey. "I'm a freelance troubleshooter," he told me. "My clients contact me whenever there’s an issue that they can’t take care of themselves. I go out and make sure their businesses are protected, and that they aren't going to have any problems."

"Interesting," I replied, smiling. Suddenly, a thought came to my head. "Listen, would you like to dance?"

Mark chuckled and shook his head. "Not really. I came down here tonight thinking it was R&B night, not dance-house. But, I needed to blow off some steam, so I stuck around. Glad I did, really."

I
'd seen
Sophie long before she saw me. I had come to the club about two hours earlier to meet with a business associate of mine who owned a partial stake in the club. In return for his investment, the club gave him a good place to conduct business where the police would find it hard to set up wiretaps or surveillance. After the meeting, I found three women who wanted to have some fun, typical club girls, but nothing too shabby. It actually was a pretty good club.

She carried herself like a woman who was still a bit unsure of her own attractiveness. Five-seven before her three-inch heels, with a nice figure, but she hid it with a looseness to her blouse that was supposed to be sexy, but actually disguised the curves of her body. I had almost dismissed her from my mind when I saw her peel off from her two girlfriends to come upstairs. Most of the third wheels I've seen in this club either end up getting themselves shitfaced, or just turn into some fratboy's slampig, neither of which I find sexy in the least.

This girl, though, she looked like she had her head pretty well screwed on, other than her self-image. She wasn't downing alcohol for false courage, and she wasn't clinging to anybody who'd give her attention. I decided she was worth my time, and a hell of a lot more interesting than Tammy, Sunny, and whatever the other girl's name was.

"All right you three, go have some fun or something. I've got something to do," I said, disentangling them from my arms. What's-her-name had been pressing her newly enhanced breasts into my side and gave me a pout. I rolled my eyes and looked at her. "Baby, you head downstairs and you'll have all the cock you want in about two minutes looking the way you do."

I hadn't meant it as a compliment, she was a dumb slut, but she took it that way anyway and smiled. She pulled a business card of all things out of the edge of her bra and handed it to me. "Call me some time, sugar?"

I glanced at it, and noted that her name was Rachel, and she was a legal secretary. I momentarily wondered if she was sucking her attorney boss' cock or not. Then again, maybe her boss was a woman and she could have been munching rug. Either way, she didn't look or act smart enough to be worthwhile to any business outside of a strip club. "Sure baby," I said, pretending to tuck the card into my pocket while secretly palming it. No way was I going to call her. "But go have fun for now."

Before the three could say anything, I disappeared into the crowd, working my way around in a large circle. The upper floor of the club is laid out in a large ring shape, with three staircases leading to the main floor. The VIP rooms are along the back wall, closest to my business associate's office, and I made my way past them where the five bodyguards gave me a respectful berth. I kept my eyes on the tall woman and worked around until I was ready for her to notice me. My impression of her increased when she noticed me more quickly than I’d anticipated.

After introducing myself, we fell into easy conversation. Sophie was smart and funny, although I quickly could tell that she was overly self-conscious about her appearance. Looking at the way she constantly did her best to twist her waist or hide her stomach, I assumed she was one of those girls who had lost a lot of weight, probably within the past three or four years. In any case, she was, in my opinion, sexy as hell.

"Listen, would you like to dance?" she asked me all of a sudden, biting her lip, not in that intentional
I'm trying to be sexy
way, but instead as an unconscious expression of her want for me, and her own self-doubt.

I hadn't come to dance, especially not to the music that was playing tonight, so I tried my best to decline politely.

"Oh," she said, only slightly dejected. She wanted to continue on with our conversation, but she didn't know what to do next. We were in a club, after all.

I decided to take her out of her misery. “I don’t particularly like this music. How about we get a VIP room, where we can control what we listen to? It'll be quieter."

Sophie gave me a sideways glance. "You must think I'm the sort of girl who does things in clubs often."

I threw back my head and laughed, honestly amused. "Sophie, that was the farthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to talk more and get to know you. Besides, like Chris Rock said, there's no sex in the champagne room."