Jarrett curled his fingers in her panties and tore them off her. He was sucking her clit into his mouth even as she screamed out her first of what he hoped would be many releases. As he guided her to the bed, letting her fall back on it, Jarrett pulled his own pants free, never taking his mouth from her pussy.
Eating her was wonderful when she was aroused like she was. She was wet, hot, and her cream tasted of her. She came three more times in quick, hard releases, and he drank greedily of her. The more he ate of her, the more she gave him until she was begging him to stop. Standing up, he looked down at her.
“Words fail me when I look at you. And like this…I’m so tongue tied that all I can say is wow.” Addie leaned up on her elbows and licked her lips. “I want to make love to you.”
“Please.” He stripped out of his clothing slowly. He watched her face. It was showing every bit of her need, and he fumbled with his buttons twice before he could get them to work correctly. When he touched her body, his finger grazing along her leg, she moaned, and he kissed her belly.
“Would you like children?” She didn’t answer him, but he could see that she was scared. “Not right away but later, once we’re settled and know each other better.”
“I know nothing about children.” He nodded, telling her he didn’t know a great deal about them either. “What if they’re like me?”
Jarrett took her nipple in his mouth and suckled it hard. He held his cock at her entrance and then looked at her face as he slowly entered her. Her hands gripping his back made him bow up, and he knew that he filled her more.
“I want them to be just like you.” She cried out when he pulled to the tip and slammed into her. “Your beauty. Your grace. And most of all your magic.”
Addie cried out again when she came. Jarrett held her while she sobbed out her release, and he moved in and out of her again when she wrapped her legs around him. He wanted to roll to his back, have her ride him, but she was holding him so tightly that he never wanted her to let him go. When he came, his body hard with his own release, she clung to him more and came again. Jarrett felt like he was the luckiest man in the world. When he dropped onto her, turning to his back at the last minute, he knew she was crying and held her to him, as it seemed as if a dam had been broken.
She cried herself to sleep. He held her, not sure what else to do. Tim had told him the best thing he could do for Addie was to tell her that he loved her. He said to show her in as many ways as he could. It might not seem like he was doing anything at all on some days, but little by little, it would get better. Jarrett hoped so. Right now he felt as if he was going to lose her, and that thought circled around in his head long after she fell asleep, and he finally joined her.
When he woke, he was alone. His clothing was laying on the chair, and he had gotten up to dress when he found a note.
I’m in the study with your brothers. I’m sorry.
Jarrett wasn’t sure what she was sorry for. Being in the study with his brothers was okay with him so long as they didn’t harm her, which he knew they’d never do. But other than that, he had no clue. He stepped into the bathroom to shower quickly before going in, and simply stared at the room.
It wasn’t just a bathroom, but a flipping spa. A large garden tub was surrounded by glass blocks, and a large picture window over the tub looked out over the back yard and pool. Just seeing that made him think of how rich she really was. And this was a very old sort of rich, he knew.
The faucet and other handles in the room were gold, and he’d bet his last dollar it really was gold too. There was a towel warmer, as well as a closet that held not just linens but a dresser. He didn’t open the drawers, but he’d bet they held her clothing. The floor under his feet was warm, and he figured that the tile was being heated by water. The towels and the hand towels were all monogramed with a huge P.
He showered quickly, noticing that someone had put his personal things in the stall. When he went to dress in the bedroom, he looked in the closet and noticed that his things were hanging next to hers as well. Jarrett thought he kind of liked seeing them there.
As he made his way downstairs, Bill met him at the bottom of the steps. He handed him an envelope as well as a glass of tea.
“Mistress said that you are a tea drinker. I would ask that you give me your opinion on this, sir. Before I serve it with dinner.” He took a sip, then a bigger drink. “It meets with your approval then?”
“It does.” He held out the envelope that simply said his name. “I don’t think anyone knows that I’m here, so maybe you can tell me what this is?”
“Mistress Camp has been here twice, sir. I have told her that you and the mistress are not receiving as yet, but she insisted that she speak with you.” Jarrett nodded and waited. He had no idea, but he thought the man might have an opinion on the Mistress Camp. “She’s not a good friend of Miss Addie, but she is….”
When he didn’t finish, Jarrett grinned. “I’m not sure where I’m going to be living with Addie. Here or at my apartment. I’d like you to treat me as you would Addie. If you have something to say to me, it would help me a great deal if you just said it.”
“Very good, sir. She is a viper. Of the worst kind. When Master Addison was alive, she would come over daily to inquire as to his health. My wife calls it
casing
the place.” Jarrett nearly laughed when the man sneered. “If I were you, sir, I would ignore her summons for you to call upon her while you’re here.”
“Okay.” Jarrett tore the envelope apart and handed it back to Bill. “If you’d be so kind as to dispose of this for me, I’d be grateful. And I have a favor to ask you.”
“Anything, sir.” Jarrett nodded. He liked this man. “I need to know if you could make sure that tonight’s dinner is a sort of informal affair. My family…we’re under a great deal of stress right now, and I want them to be relaxed.”
“Yes, sir, I can do that. But I do believe that Mistress Hunter Emerson has expressed a desire to be fancy, as she called it.” Jarrett asked him what she’d meant. “She got a peek into the dining room, sir, and she said she’d like to have dinner in there.”
“Then that’s just as good. Dressy it is.” He started to turn away but looked at Bill again. “How fancy? I don’t have anything other than some dress pants and a nice shirt with me.”
“I can take care of that for you, sir. You and the other men just leave it to me.” Jarrett nodded and started to turn again when Bill spoke. “Sir, should I move you and Miss Addie to the master suite? I didn’t before because I wasn’t—”
“No. Where we are is fine. She’s still…we’re here to take care of things, and then hopefully she can get closure.” Bill thanked him and moved out of the hall to a door at the back. Jarrett should have asked him where the study was, but heard voices as he made his way to the door Bill had gone through. It sounded to him like Hunter and Addie were both pissed. Smiling, he entered the room.
Chapter 10
Duncan wasn’t happy. Nothing had gone right since he’d left the hotel. Well, it had started well before then, but things were going downhill at an alarming rate, and he felt like he was drowning in bad luck. And he was broke.
He’d had to go back to the hotel to get his things. Duncan had thought to leave them but as he made his way down the sidewalk, a cruiser with a man he’d swear was old enough to be his own father pulled up in front of him. And when he got out of his car, Duncan could have sworn the man growled at him.
“Your credit card bounced out of the hotel.” It took Duncan a moment to figure out what he’d meant. “You need to get on back there and get your stuff and pay your bill. Or I will arrest you.”
“I paid with a credit card when I arrived.” The man nodded, then opened the back door of the car for him. “I assure you, I did pay.”
“Like I said to you, it bounced. Now they did run it again just to be sure, but then they found out that you’ve been let go of your position and the cards that you used are from the company you
did
work for.” Duncan opened his mouth to tell the man that there had to be a mistake when he continued. “I talked to Luke Emerson too. He’s future brother-in-law to Addison Parker. You know her. She fired you.”
He got into the cruiser. Cursing at this man, he knew, would get him into all kinds of shit that he didn’t need, and all he wanted to do was get home before he really got himself in a bind. But that was before the hotel took care of him.
“Whoever heard of a two hundred dollar bounced check charge?” He realized he’d spoken out loud when the woman next to him on the sidewalk moved away. The hotel had told him that because he’d used a fraudulent card, they were well within their rights to charge him. The little shit had even gotten out the sheet he’d been given that he’d signed when he arrived. Plus, they charged him for the second night even though he’d been out well before the deadline. But, the manager pointed out, his clothing was not.
It had cost him nearly all the cash he’d had on him, nearly four hundred dollars and some change. And since the fucking bitch had not given him what he wanted, he was now down to spending his mad money, and it was nearly gone as well. Then he’d called the airport to see how much it would cost him to get a one-way ticket home, and they’d informed him it was impossible to have a one-way ticket, he’d need to pay for a round trip. That would have been nearly another four hundred bucks.
Now here he was looking for the cheapest hotel he could find because he didn’t want to spend another night in the bus station sleeping. Last night had been hard enough. And vending machine food was just nasty.
Duncan thought of the over ten million in cash he had hidden away. There were other things there as well that he’d be able to use. False identifications were among the items that he wished he’d had now, as well as credit cards with large open balances on them. And here he was nearly at beggar status.
He had about fifty bucks left. That had to see him home. Food and a hotel would take all of that. Then there was the trip. Duncan wished now that he’d taken better precautions with this trip. The idea that Addie had figured it out and would fire him had just never occurred to him. She’d been so busy with her own things and her fucked-up head that he’d never thought she’d come out of the fog long enough to check him out.
And he was sure what she’d talked about in the meeting was only the tip of the iceberg on things that were going to come to light now that he wasn’t there to keep her out of it. Wait until she got to the house.
That fucking bastard Bill and his wife had messed up his entire plans for that place. He’d been planning to put it on the market and not tell her. And when she did ask, if she ever did, he’d just tell her that she okayed it. He had the email from her all ready. That and a lot of other information that she’d never sent to him. But Bill had called the company that Duncan had tried to list it with and told them that it wasn’t for sale. Then Bill had called him. That conversation had been short and harsh. Bill had threatened him.
Duncan had hired himself a hacker. It had taken him a long time to find one that would be dishonest enough to help but not greedy enough to take him to the cleaners. And he’d been keeping track of her emails, her investments, and anything else she’d done on the computer until a month ago, when she’d had to replace her computer.
He’d tried his best to convince her to let him send her one. But she’d insisted that she was nowhere he could send it and that she was going to do it herself. He’d been a little pissed at her over it and had been trying his best to get her to give him the address of the computer since. She’d told him several times that she’d email it to him, but had never once emailed him from the new computer.
“And now I’m fucked.” He was too. For now. Moving along the sidewalk, he was glad that he’d abandoned his suitcases. Why he’d packed so much, now that he thought about it, was beyond him. He’d only been planning to stay a night at the most, but he’d made plans to also take a little side trip. Duncan had wanted to see about the other houses she had, and to see if he could put them on the market.
Putting out his thumb when a large semi came up the road, he thought about all the horror stories he’d read about hitching a ride. But right now he was too desperate to give into his own fears. When the man told him where he was going, Duncan found himself nodding that he needed a ride and got in with him. At the rate this guy was going, he’d be at the first large stash by morning.
He hoped.
~~~
Addie was just going into the kitchen when Slone stopped her. She said that she needed to speak to her and wondered if she had a little time. Addie didn’t want to talk to anyone right now and nearly told her so, but she put her hand on her protruding belly and rubbed it.
“Jarrett asked me if I wanted children.” Slone nodded and smiled. “I don’t think I want any. I mean, what if they’re like me? Fucked up beyond anything that can be fixed.”
“Do you want to be fixed?” Addie nearly told her of course she did, but Slone continued. “You don’t really need to be fixed so much as you need to be loved. And as soon as you let us in, we’ll do that.”
“I don’t know what you mean, let you in. I’ve brought you to my home. Opened up like I’ve never done for a lot of people, and even showed you what I really am.” Slone was shaking her head. “What haven’t I given you?”
“Yourself.” Addie didn’t know what that meant but followed Slone when she made her way to the living room. When she’d been here with her dad, this was the one place he was never allow to work. He had parts of something he’d been working on all over the place, but not this room. She sat in his favorite chair and felt the sadness surround her.
“I’ve had the food wagon shipped to Mable. I understand that she talked to you about her plans.” Carrie came in with a large tray of tea and snacks, and Addie waited until she left before she continued. “She’s a nice woman.”
“She is. Her and her son have helped me a great deal since I’ve opened my gates.” Addie knew about Slone and her stepmother. Not just from reading about it in her mind, but also it had been all over the papers recently. “I’d like to talk to you about suicide.”
Addie wasn’t sure what to do or say. She looked around to see if there were men in jackets to come and take her away, but it was just the two of them. Addie shifted uncomfortably in her chair and wished now she’d just gone to the kitchen as she’d been planning.
“I doubt very much that killing yourself is what you really want to talk to me about. And if it’s about my attempts, then that too is off-limits.” Slone sipped her tea and didn’t speak. “I did it and failed. That’s all there is to know.”
“I’ve spoken to the man who saved you.” Addie stared at her, her body stiff with the need to run. “He told me that you’d begged him to leave you alone. That you said you’d make sure he was well paid to let you die. Just how bad is it, Addie?”
How bad? Just how bad? She’d never been asked that before. Oh, she’d been asked how depressed she was. How hard it was to function, but no one had asked her about her abilities. Because as much as Slone was being vague about her questions, Addie knew she wasn’t talking about her depression.
“I hear them all the time. You, the baby, the men in the house. Hunter is wondering if the tie that he’s going to wear tonight will be strong enough to tie you to the bed later. Graham is thinking about the house he wants to buy, and if he can purchase it on his own without you knowing so you don’t help him.” Slone nodded. “Cash is wondering if he can snitch another slice of apple pie before dinner and if anyone will notice it missing. What he doesn’t know is that Carrie likes him and has put out the pie so he can steal it. I think he likes the sly way of doing things rather than the upfront way.”
“That sounds like him. Who else can you read? How far reaching is your ability?” Addie closed her eyes and she heard Slone continue. “What is Shawn thinking right now? I know that you have a connection with him. But can you reach him from here?”
“He’s working on the house that Graham wants. Making a deal for the owners to say that they’re asking less than they have it listed for.” Addie looked at her. “He knows that you’re doing it. Graham, I mean. He is using this house to get you off the one he really wants.”
Slone nodded and smiled. “You’re very good. And so is he. I don’t suppose you’d tell me which house, would you?”
“No, I won’t.” Slone nodded. “There aren’t just voices but emotions too. I can feel that while you give the appearance of being very relaxed, you’re far from it. You’re worried about the new business venture that you’re having Shawn look into, but you feel it’s going to be a good thing.”
“It’ll help a great many people if it works.” It would, too, and Addie told her it would. “You have business sense as well as a good head on your shoulders. What you said to Jack on the way here, it was perfect. Just what she needed to hear. But I wish she’d do something other than serve donuts at her meetings.”
“It’s her thing. And she feels like she’s accomplished something huge when she doesn’t eat one.” Slone laughed and rubbed her belly again. “About children. I don’t think that Jarrett has thought this through with them and me.”
“Oh, I’m sure he has. And I think he’s more afraid that his children will be like him than he is about them being like you.” She asked her why. “Because Jarrett, unlike his brothers, is not very secure in himself. He’s the most self-doubting person I know.”
“Jarrett?” Slone nodded and took another cookie off the tray. “He’s the most put together man I know. And he really knows computers.”
“He does and so much more, but he doubts his ability to make this company run, much less the one that I really need him to focus on. I want him to run my IT department. He is afraid he’ll fail me.” Addie shook her head again. She just couldn’t believe that Jarrett Emerson was anything but a man who knew what he wanted and got it. “I know he can do it. He’ll make it work and keep it running. I know this. And you look as if you might believe it as well.”
“Jarrett is a man that…he will go places.” Slone nodded and put her feet up on the couch as she sat there. “May I ask you a question? What do you think of my abilities?”
“Think about them? I guess I never really gave it much thought. It’s fun to see what you know. And I wonder what you find when you touch my mind, but I really don’t think of it as anything more.” She took another cookie as she stared at her. Addie had a feeling she was being sized up. “You’re afraid of them. What they can do. How they give you information. Why is that?”
“I know things.” Slone nodded. “Things that I shouldn’t know. Like I know that deep inside, you’re not just afraid but sick with terror when you go out of the comfort zone you’ve created for yourself.”
“Most of the family knows that. What do you really know?” Addie got up to walk around the room. She moved things to suit herself and then moved them back when she realized that they looked better the other way. “Are you afraid that I’ll turn you away when you tell me?”
“Not really. Because I really don’t care what you think of me.” Slone told her she was lying. “Okay, I am afraid. Everyone respects your opinion, and if you didn’t like me, Jarrett might not either.”
“Doubtful, but I can see where you’d think that. And for the record, I do like you. A great deal. As does the rest of the family.” Addie wasn’t so sure. “What are you keeping from me, Addie?”
“I knew he was going to die that night and I left anyway.” She waited for Slone to speak and when she didn’t, Addie turned to look at her. “He told me to go out and I knew that it was going to be a horrible time for him, so I left him there. I’d been there so much and I didn’t—”
“I don’t blame you one bit.” Whatever she’d expected Slone to say to her, that wasn’t it. “I think I might have, too. If I had known that my own dad…he was murdered while I was sleeping in the other room. I didn’t know, of course. Terror kept me in my room, and I think even to this day that had the house caught fire, I would have stayed put.”
“Your stepmother.” Slone nodded. “I read about her. And you. Not back then, but recently when you gave that tell-all.”
“It was the most difficult thing I have ever done. That and trying to get rid of Hunter. He was most persistent, thank goodness.” Slone stretched out again. “Now. Back to what you said about leaving your dad. He more than likely knew what you were doing. And I think you knew that as well. Didn’t you?”