When Sky called her asking how and if she could do something so brazen, Hailey’s matter of fact response was balm on Skylar’s disjointed spirit. Not only did Hailey have a recommendation, but she accompanied Sky to the Simply Perfect Spa for her own monthly wax which Hailey said included every part of her body. After taking care of the front of her, the technician calmly pointed to Sky’s butt cheeks and in her “technical” lingo told Sky to “spread ’em”, ensuring that there wasn’t a hair anywhere, back or front, to spoil the view. Any embarrassment Sky had felt and her reluctance to look in the mirror, horrified at what she had done, vanished at the expression on Jude’s face when she removed her thong. She would never forget his look of wonder mixed with hard-core lust. Even more surprising was his gratitude that she’d done it for him. Now that she was getting accustomed to it she admitted that while she liked the bareness, she also liked the confirmation of her daring. Jude was right. She was a bit of a rebel!
It was a darn good thing that she was, because he had subjected her to multiple rounds of lovemaking that she’d not known were possible. Good God, before Jude, Sky barely knew that she had a clitoris, much less one that he could torment in so many ways. As he had done with her nipples, he played with the sensitive nub causing it to swell and harden. He used his teeth and his tongue, driving her from one exhilarating climax to another. At one point when she was screaming for release he bit down on the swollen nub, sending her careening over a mountainside of pleasure that she would remember for the rest of her life.
But it wasn’t only her clitoris that he had worked. She mistakenly assumed he was done when he untied her. Foolish woman that she was, she thought she couldn’t get any hotter until he tipped her over and ordered her to get up on her hands and knees. Trapping her beneath his big, hard body, he held her in place with one arm. With his free hand he smacked her bottom, hard. Startled and appalled, Skylar fought to free herself.
Jude just laughed at her struggles and tightened his hold. “Oh no you don’t, baby. If ever there was a naughty girl who needs to be spanked often and well, it’s you, Sprite.”
He landed a smack on her other cheek then rubbed the fiery spot with one big hand, heating it more. Drawling in her ear, his voice was raspy, thick with lust. “Jesus, Sky, do you have any idea how sexy your beautiful ass is, flaming rosy red?”
When he rained a flurry of smacks on her hot bottom, to her astonishment, a flood of erotic sensations drove her lust higher and higher. She cried out in ecstasy begging him not to stop. When she didn’t think that her bottom could get any hotter or that she could get any closer to yet another orgasm, he reached around her and found her clitoris. For the next several moments he played with her clit, alternating his probing fingers deep in her cunt with a crisp smack on her stinging bottom. As her excited cries rose in intensity, he flagrantly upped the ante. Running a wet finger around her anus, he teased the sensitive opening to her most private hole. When Jude pushed one, then two fingers deep up into her ass, Skylar gave into a screaming orgasm. As she came down from the shattering explosion, Jude rubbed her smarting bottom and drawled, “I’m glad you liked that, darlin’, because I’ve got all kinds of ideas about what I’m gonna do with this virgin ass of yours.”
Now hours later, as she laid beside him, at her involuntary shudder, Jude chuckled and pulled her closer to him. Nipping at her earlobe, he murmured, “I’m wondering which of the outrageous things I did to you last night caused
that
reaction.”
Skylar felt her cheeks flame, wondering if she’d moaned out loud. Pressing her heated cheek against his muscular chest, Sky gave into the fact that she was falling for this man in a way that she’d never believed she was capable of. Or more to the point, with a man who was so clearly out of her realm.
“Hey, what was that about, Squirt?”
She was horrified that in addition to everything else, Jude was also a mind reader. She wouldn’t be surprised. He could obviously read her body, why not her mind as well? Trying to deflect his question, she aimed for nonchalance. “What was what
about? I…” She gave up, afraid that she might say something to telegraph her concerns.
Jude nuzzled her neck and laughed when she squealed at his tickling touch. “I liked those quiet little sighs and shivers rolling off of that expressive body of yours for the last ten minutes. I’m not so sure about that last shudder.” He added more seriously, “I don’t want you to have second thoughts about anything that we did last night or that we are going to do, Skylar. I gotta warn you, Squirt. If I think you’re going in that direction I’ll have to step in and remedy that.”
With an effort Sky managed to inject a bit of sauciness into her retort. “And how might you do that, accomplished one?”
“Why, honey, there’s only one way that I know how to quiet that busy brain of yours. Only this time I think I’ll bind your hands
and
feet—spread-eagle you on the bed.” At her outraged shriek he laughed. “Oh yeah, and this time I’ll blindfold you so that you won’t know what I’m gonna do next.”
Jude held her squirming body next to his, not letting her pull away. He knew that she had to be questioning all the things they’d done last night. Christ, he was as well, and he was a thousand times more experienced than she was. But it wasn’t the things he’d done to her that surprised him. Hell no. He’d done all of those things and a hell of a lot more in a lifetime of hot sex with countless women. No, what had surprised him was her reaction. He’d been with responsive women before, but Sky was different. Knowing that she’d had zilch experience, she should have been horrified, frightened at his aggressive lovemaking, and no doubt she was. But she was also excited, open, and begging for more.
Jude admitted that even more surprising than her response to him was his reaction to her. To say that she blew his mind and
his body was an understatement. There was something about her innocence combined with her sheer joy and excitement that challenged and excited the hell out of him. He’d reached a level of ecstasy that he had never known. It was as if he could not get enough of her. It should have scared him, but instead it energized him. Already, his randy mind and body were racing with thoughts and ideas of what he would do to her and with her tonight and every night he could get his hands on her.
Knowing she must be having second thoughts, Jude decided he needed to address her concerns head on, or better yet through a side entrance. Jared’s chilling litany of the ways that Sky’s father had dominated and controlled her life made her response to him even more surprising. It also meant that she had to be struggling with the conflicting thoughts that had ruled her life. He snuggled her closer to him and asked a seemingly unrelated question. “You mentioned your Ana Sui dress, Sky. The one that brought me to my knees, but your father didn’t like. Did he choose your clothes?”
Sky laughed. “He tried to. When I was younger he succeeded. When I was sixteen years old I looked like a forty-five-year-old spinster librarian. I had long stringy hair, sturdy shoes, and always wore the shapeless plaid skirts and boxy jackets he bought for me.” She snorted. “He made me into a feminine replica of himself right down to his tweed jacket. And I acted that way.”
“What changed?”
She hesitated and frowned. “I did.” After a moment of thoughtful silence she added with a shrug, “I went through puberty and decided I wanted more out of life than being Morton Hughes’s daughter.”
“That’s when you started choosing your own clothes?”
“To a certain extent. I still wore hideous librarian clothes for the most part, but started branching out. Or as my father said, I started becoming a rebellious teenager. He could handle my pants and t-shirts, barely. But the biggest sin I could commit was looking like her.”
Though he knew the answer, Jude pretended ignorance. “Her?”
“My mother.”
“Hmm. And that was a problem because…?”
Sky tossed her head and said matter-of-factly, “According to my father, she was a harlot.”
“Was she?”
“I don’t know. I never saw her after she left us. I had just turned four.” After a short pause, she said, “My grandmother said she wasn’t. She showed me a picture of her. She…she looked a lot like me, only more beautiful than you can imagine.”
“Hmm, she must have been extraordinarily beautiful if she looked like you.” When she didn’t answer, he added, “Is your mother alive?”
“Yes, but my grandmother said it was better if we didn’t try to see each other. I agreed. We both know what my father would do to her.”
“Does your father know that your grandmother reached out to you?”
“No, and he never will. He would make her
and
my mother pay for it.”
“How?”
“In the way that he does everything. First, he would shame her for leaving me. Even though I’m sure that he made it impossible for her to stay. Then he’d tell her she didn’t deserve to have a daughter like me. That she wasn’t smart enough or clever enough, that she cared about common things like clothes and looking pretty, et cetera.” Sky hesitated then sighed. “In truth? She didn’t deserve a daughter like me. Why on earth would any mother want a daughter that was a miniature Morton Hughes?”
Jude let the silence stand for a long moment, then pushed forward. “Is that how he acted toward men who showed an interest in you?”
Sky snorted. “What men? My father taught me from an early age that only men who were as smart as he was would appreciate me. Which was his way of saying that no man would be interested in me.”
“What about lovers?”
“God forbid. He made it clear that men who were interested in baser issues would never choose me.”
“But you did have lovers.”
“A couple. I’d just turned twenty-one, and learned that Scotch would make me less shy. Frankly, it was disappointing. Both of the men I slept with were truly one-night stands, meaning that they never asked me out again. That was when I decided that my father was right. I was a brainy, sexless freak. Sexy men, real men, would never choose me.”
“So you wore your glasses and the clothes that you do, to make sure they didn’t?”
She glared at him, then stuck out her lip and said tartly, “Well I did cut my hair, and bought sexy underwear. Dammit, I even tattooed my ass. And…I
do
have a vibrator.”
Jude roared with laughter then laid her on her back and pulled down the sheet, exposing her naked body.
“And now you have a bare pussy. And me!”
***
After making love to her for another hour, then again in the shower, Jude glanced at his watch. “Damn, darlin’. Where the hell did the time go? God, I feel as though I just picked you up and got to see your 485 for the first time. Which reminds me, let’s agree that we’ll be using your car to get back here tonight. That way I can spend my day deciding which I lust after more—your sexy body or your sexy car.”
At her mock-aggrieved frown, Jude pulled her next to him. “Honey, it’s not even close. Compared to its owner, that sexy car has miles to go before it can begin to be as exciting as you are.”
Skylar nodded as she held out her keys. “Good response, Detective. And yes, you may drive us to the precinct.”
Jude whooped with laughter and reached for the keys. As they neared the station, he gave a hard sigh. “Nothing like getting back to real life. Let’s face it, Sky, in our world the human drama never ends. We’ve got another door to close, Squirt. I had a call from Charlie Berkley’s sister. She insists that she needs to see me. I agreed. It’s time that poor family knows how their son and brother died.”
Chapter 27
“Excuse me, Jude. Mrs. Berkley, Charlie’s mother, and sister Shirley Martinson are here. I showed them into the conference room.”
Jude rose to his feet, scrubbing at the knots in the back of his neck with a hearty sigh.
“Thanks, Bernice. Skylar and I will be there in a moment. In the meantime, please see that they have water and—”
Bernice interrupted him, “I already offered but they refused. I dunno, Detective. I think you might consider dragging out your flak jacket and a jock cup. Mrs. Berkley is upset, but Shirley? That is one angry, pissed-off woman. She’s loaded for bear and then some.”
Jude shrugged and winked at Skylar. “That’s one of the reasons I’m bringing the squirt with me. But thanks for the heads up, Bernice.”
***
Seeing the two women sitting at the conference table, Skylar sucked in a deep breath. Bernice hadn’t exaggerated. The older woman, who had to be Charlie’s mother, was clearly grief-stricken. Her face was blotchy, haggard. Her red-rimmed eyes were swollen, testifying to the tears in her bleary eyes. She clutched a sodden handkerchief in her hand, but didn’t bother to swipe at her looming tears when Sky and Jude walked in.
In contrast to her mother’s tortured appearance, Charlie’s sister’s expression was hard, combative. Her eyes flashed dangerously when Jude greeted them.
“Good morning, Mrs. Berkley, Ms. Martinson. I’m sorry as hell that we’re meeting like this. I’m Detective Jude Justice, and am heading up the investigation in your son’s and brother’s death. This—”
Before he could introduce Skylar, Shirley Martinson jolted out of her chair. Slamming her hands on the edge of the table, she leaned forward, bright scarlet splotches flaming on her pasty cheeks. “I don’t give a flying fuck who she is, Detective Justice. And it isn’t as if I don’t know who
you
are. You’re one of the fucking Justice brothers. Powerful men who were out to railroad my brother for the murder of those goddamned fucking Parkers. Too bad for you, Detective, they got to Charlie first before you could accuse him of the murders. And just so you know, no one deserved to be killed more than that bitch Carol Parker, or her disgusting piece of shit husband. No one except maybe those three sick sisters, Alicia, Marion, and Charlotte.”
Mrs. Berkley put a restraining hand on Shirley’s arm, but the infuriated woman shoved at her mother’s hand, refusing to be stopped. “So, what are you going to do now, Detective? Tell me that my brother was drunk? Like the rest of those lying cops the rich bitches pay to lie for them? Tell me that the same brother who never drank more than two drinks was so drunk, he drove off the side of a cliff on a road that he’s driven since he learned how to drive? Is that what you’re going to tell me, big bad, know-it-all detective?”