Venture Forward (26 page)

Her fingers skated across his broad chest, breasts heaving against him. With a swift motion, she was wrapped in his strong arms, ankles locked around his torso, heart as swollen as the erection grazing her inner thigh. The mere thought of him being inside her made her tremble, and she longed to feel that connection. He was close…
so
close.

Goosebumps shot up her arms and down her legs, though her body was ablaze at his nearness. His eyes never left hers as he grabbed a condom and rolled it on. She pushed him onto his back, straddling him. Persistent fingers gripped her waist, guiding her, pleading with her body to take away the ache, to satiate his hunger. A sharp gasp emerged from her lips as he slowly filled her, inch by incredible, glorious inch. She rolled her hips over him, each rotation rocketing her to the place where euphoria was beyond anything she’d ever experienced. Her walls clenched around his thickness as he thrust… faster, harder, deeper, until her body convulsed. “Oh God, don’t stop!” Arching forward, her wails shattered the silence as she came apart, fingernails raking down his abdomen. He pulled her down, crushing his lips to hers as the intensity of their movements increased.

Suddenly, she was on her back, legs locked around his waist as he plowed into her still-throbbing core. “Deeper, oh God,
deeper
.” Moans intensified as the agonizing seconds passed; buildup was such sweet torture, and her body was primed to combust. Tingling sensations that swirled in her belly exploded throughout, eradicating all conscious thought. If her mind had been a circuit board, it had just been permanently fried.

He collapsed next to her, panting. She grinned and ran her fingers through his tousled hair, her body still humming from the aftershocks. “That was ridiculously
amazing
.”

“Because it’s you.”

“No, because it’s
us
.”

“
I WISH WE COULD
stay longer. I need a break.” She burrowed under the plush comforter, her fingertips dancing over his muscular chest.

“I know. Just give me a little time to take care of some things. Then we’ll go wherever you want.” He placed a kiss on the top of her head. “And we’ll relive last night over and over and over. Sound like a plan?”

“Oh
yes
.” A loud buzzing sound startled her. “Who’s calling you at this hour?”

He shifted and grabbed the phone. “Darryl. He called last night too. I’ll get to him later.”

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m sure it’s fine. I just saw him a couple of days ago. We talked about a new job, so he’s probably got some questions.” His hands roamed her curves, making every nerve ending tingle at the memory of their salacious night. Warmth filled her as those magical hands neared the areas screaming to feel him fill her again. “Maybe we should do one final replay before we take off.”

“If you start me up, I’ll never let you stop.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.” With a racing pulse, she realized her window was about to close. The truth had to come out. He’d made it very clear his feelings ran deep. It was time to find out just how deep. Letting out a slow breath, she toyed with the edge of the blanket. “There’s, ah, something I’ve been meaning to tell—”

A loud knock at the door interrupted her next words.

“It’s probably Housekeeping.” Paul twisted toward the door. “Can you come back later, please?”

The knocking persisted, and Mia’s loud command from the hallway sent a chill down her spine. “Paul, get up and open the door!”

He tossed a bathrobe at Avery and pulled on a pair of jeans. She tugged it on and followed him to the door. What the hell was going on? Mia sounded furious, but why? And why was she looking for Paul? Maybe it had to do with SportSensor…

Mia stormed in and shoved a newspaper at Paul. “You need to see this right
now
.” She folded her arms and focused on Avery, her caramel-colored eyes spitting fire. “I can’t believe you’d do something so deceitful. That fucking book is based on lies! You ruined Paul’s reputation and the livelihoods of so many people who never did
anything
to you. You watched everything crumble and never stepped up to fix it all.
T.A. Powell
. We’re
done
.” She stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Paul slowly raised his eyes. A golf ball took residence in her throat. Breathing was near-impossible. Avery wiped the palms of her hands on the soft terrycloth.
No, no, no… What the hell does that article say? This can’t be happening, not when I was about to—

He held up the newspaper with a headline that made her gasp.

Exposed — CrowdRok CEO Avery Hunter, aka T.A. Powell.

“Please, I can explain—”

“Is this true?
You
wrote that book? About me?”

Bile rose in her throat, somehow making it past the lump that now felt more like a grapefruit. “I-I told you how important CrowdRok was to me, how I needed to make it a reality for Tara’s sake. I…
she
… was out of time, and I thought… I thought you—”

“So you wrote a book about how Peter Everly fucked you over. You let everyone believe it was me, and you never said a word. You knew what the media was doing to my business… to my life!”

“I was going to tell you. I didn’t want you to find out like this,” she croaked, tugging at her hair. “I went to my publisher and said I needed to come clean. I’m so sorry… You have to believe me!” Her entire body shook under his venomous stare, teeth chattering uncontrollably. This was it. She’d officially obliterated her life, and there was no way he was about to give her a second chance to destroy what was left of his.

“Because you’ve been so honest with me, right? Is that why I should believe you?” The disdain in his voice turned her blood to ice. He grabbed a t-shirt and yanked it over his head. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, and the worst one was letting myself fall in love with a fucking liar.”

The whole room shook with the force of the door slamming. Sobs rocked her body as she crumbled to the carpet. Was it really worth it? To unleash all that misdirected anger and then not face the damage she’d caused? The insecurities, the inadequacies, the resentment… it had ruined her, left her empty with no hope of ever becoming whole again.

“
WHAT THE HELL IS
going on?” Evan’s voice through the cell phone rose in alarm. “Why haven’t you called me back?”

“Do I really need to explain? You saw the paper. She’s a fraud. Evidently I’m not only a ruthless prick bastard, but also a fucking moron to boot.”

“I know you feel duped but—”

A hollow laugh escaped Paul’s mouth as he grabbed his bag from the luggage carousel. “You have no idea how much of an understatement that is.”

“What did she have to say about it?”

Paul hailed a cab outside the American Airlines terminal at LaGuardia in New York. “I didn’t stick around for a heart to heart. She deceived me in the worst imaginable way, writing that book to get revenge for something I never even did, then hiding it from me. I’ve got no interest in her fucking sob story. The one person with the power to stop it all just sat back and watched everything unravel.”

A yellow cab screeched to a halt at the curb, and he slid into the backseat. The cabbie eyed him. “Where to, pal?”

“Greenwich.”

“Maybe she was afraid of your reaction.”

“Maybe she was on to something.”

“I’m not condoning any of it, but are you willing to throw everything away because of this?”

“You know, when Androtti screwed me over, I swore I’d be more careful. It was a huge oversight and a major reason I’d never trust like that again. Blindly. Stupidly. Because leaving yourself open like that just causes issues, and I knew I had a lot to lose if it happened again.”

“That was business. This is different, and you know it.”

“It doesn’t matter. I let her in, and she betrayed me.”

“You’re in love with her, and she loves you too. Don’t you think—”

“No.” He squeezed his eyes shut, pushing out the image of Avery’s smiling face. “It’s over.”

“But she helped get SportSensor back on track…”

“Yeah, out of guilt. It’s nice she can feel remorse. Now that the truth is out, maybe she’ll get another book deal. A follow up about how she ruined people’s lives with her fabrications. At least she can be honest about the destruction she caused.”

“You’re going to regret this decision. Why don’t you just take some time and call her? Let her explain. Maybe she has reasons you don’t understand because you didn’t—”

“Look, I regret a shitload of my past decisions, but I’ve learned to live with them. I don’t give a fuck about her reasoning. She can save it for the next book, for all I care. I’ll talk to you when I get back.”

Traffic was light for a mid-morning, and the cab sped up the New York State Thruway headed toward Connecticut. Darryl’s name flashed on the screen of his buzzing iPhone.
Fuck
. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, not when he was almost face to face with the haunting memories that had consumed him for the better part of his life. Stabbing the Decline button, he made a mental note to return the call later, much later, when he was in a better place, assuming he could actually get there.

He switched his focus to the final loose end causing him angst, the reason for the impromptu trip back east. Finally, when his thoughts were about ready to explode out of his skull, the cab slowed at a stop sign on one of the side streets in Greenwich.

“That’s it on the left.” Paul tossed some bills onto the front seat.

He stared at the large, white Victorian in front of him after the cab peeled away from the curb. An icy feeling clenched his heart as he recalled the last time he’d stood in the same spot, gazing at the hellish place where he’d grown up, a reminder of the torturous existence he’d endured throughout his childhood years. On the outside, it was well-manicured, green, lush, welcoming. Picture-perfect, really. But beyond the shiny, red front door? Well, that’s where all the fear, anger, and pain lurked. The inside told a very different tale, one he’d been burying for way too long. It was time to face the demons and permanently lay them to rest. He’d already lost everything. Maybe facing the past could finally help him piece his shattered life back together.

He shuddered, slowly making his way to the porch, weeks after William’s death. Even though he was gone, Paul still relived those horrific moments. Would he ever escape?

Even a warm welcoming hug from his Aunt Margaret did little to settle his agitation. Being there, after all those years, remembering the misery of that fateful day, the screaming, the fear and the blood… all the blood.

“I’m so happy to see you, dear. It’s good you made it back.” Aunt Margaret took his hand and led him to the kitchen. Her familiar perfumed scent was anything but comforting. It had exactly the opposite reaction, and his stomach was close to revolting as they moved through the rooms. It looked exactly the same, except there weren’t broken dishes and glasses scattered on the floor, the end result of William’s fits of rage. Beads of perspiration formed on the back of his neck, and his breathing grew more and more erratic.
Get it the hell together. I’m not having a fucking panic attack. He’s gone, and so is his power over me.

Aunt Margaret handed him a mug of steaming coffee once he sat down. “Your dad had cleaned himself up, sweetie, but he knew things were over once you’d left for California. Much as he’d wanted to repair the damage done, he held back. That’s why he wanted to see you one last time, to apologize for everything. The man you remember wasn’t your dad. He wasn’t the loving brother I’d known. He’d had issues that overtook his whole existence, and, because he’d succumbed, he lost everything important in his life. He regretted his actions every day.”

“I hope it haunted him until he took his last breath.”

“It did. He was so relieved when Evan came to see him, but it devastated him that you didn’t. It was his dying wish to see you one more time and make amends. Of course, he’d understood why that could never happen.”

“I know he was your brother, but he destroyed our lives. So excuse me for not caring about his dying wish.”