Leah Braemel - Deliberate Deceptions

He started at the ceiling for a second before shaking his head and looking at her. “I get that you needed help. That you needed to get away from the press. From everything.” His voice had thickened so he cleared his throat. “What I don’t understand is why you stayed away for so long. Without a phone call. A letter. Something. Anything.”

“I did write to you,” Lauren said in confusion. “I wrote to you a couple weeks after I left, explaining where I was, begging your forgiveness. I wrote week after week. Asking you if I could come back when I was released. But you never replied. So when I got out, I didn’t think you wanted me back.”

“I didn’t get any letters, Lauren. Not one.”

He’d hadn’t seen her letters? Oh, dear God, had Thalia been intercepting his mail? But on which end? At the spa or their condo? “I sent dozens.”

He shook his head.

“I should have come back right then, shouldn’t I?” She sighed. So many mistakes she’d made. Too many. “Then, one day, your lawyer showed up on my doorstep with the divorce papers. I took that as your answer, so I signed them.” She debated telling him about Thalia’s role, but decided against it. He’d figure it out soon enough. The conversation needed to be about them, not his sister.

“My lawyer showed up with the divorce papers?” His eyes closed and he canted his head back as he drew in a deep breath. When he looked at her again, his expression was shuttered. “You divorced me, Lauren. Not the other way around. I’m the one who got served.”

“No, I didn’t seek the divorce. I’d wanted to come home, to try again. I swear.” Dear God, he didn’t believe her. Lauren’s legs wouldn’t support her; she slumped onto the bed. “The solicitor said he represented your lawyers here in the States. He said you were living with someone else. That you wanted the divorce so you could marry her.”

“What was the solicitor’s name?” Chad’s voice was soft, but she heard the menace underlying it.

She told him, wondering just what Chad would do to him. Destroy his career? Or have him met in a dark corner someplace to mete out his own form of vengeance?

“It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I discovered you’d never remarried.” That you weren’t the one who had hired the lawyer.

His breath escaped him in a huff; he looked to the side. “I kept hoping you’d come back. I bought a house and fixed it up. So if you came back I could offer you somewhere better to live than our condo. And I own forty-nine percent of Hauberk, Lauren. Sam’s my partner, not my boss.” The look he gave her was so bleak her chest ached. “I did it for you, Lauren. I know I fucked up with the FBI. I know you were disappointed with me for going against orders, that you didn’t think I’d be able to provide for you anymore. I needed to prove to you that I could still be someone you could rely on.”

“I never thought that. Oh, God, Chad, I never ever thought that of you. I know why you went against orders. I understand that. I always did.” She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms about his waist. “I didn’t leave you because of that.”

His arms banded around her, holding her tight against him. How long they stood there she couldn’t say. Eventually he took a deep breath and placed his hands on her shoulders, pulling her away.

“We’ve both made mistakes. That ends now. We say whatever we feel, we don’t shut the other out and expect them to know what we’re thinking. Agreed?”

She nodded. Half of her hoped Harris wouldn’t be found for months. Hell, ninety-nine-point-nine percent of her hoped Harris would never be found. They could live here forever, safe.

Chad wrapped his arms around Lauren and pulled her against him once more. She sighed with a quiet moan as she softened against him.

This was the way it was supposed to be. The two of them together, damn the world outside. If she hadn’t sought the divorce the way he’d believed, and she hadn’t left…was there hope for them?

There was so much time to make up, so many nights he’d been alone with only his own hand to satisfy his needs. The nights he’d spent on duty at the club, watching everyone else having sex hadn’t helped. In the years they’d been together, she’d known how to turn him on, known that he didn’t like a passive woman but a willing partner. Her heart hammered against his chest, her breath warmed his cheek in a gentle caress, her hips ground against his erection.

He lowered his head and caught her lips in a kiss, one with enough pressure that she’d know exactly what he expected.

Her fingernails digging into his biceps was his first clue that she remembered. And that she’d give him exactly what he needed. He damned near swore when her grip on him ceased until his sweat pants slid down his legs to pool at his ankles. She broke the kiss and sank to her knees.

Was there anything as erotic as watching her tongue dart out to dampen her lips, or the smoky look in her eyes as she stared at his erection?

Her mouth closed over the swollen tip and he had to say yes, having her mouth sucking his cock was a lot more fucking erotic. Her tongue slid up the length of his shaft and her hand circled the base in a loose fist.

“Suck it down, babe. You know how I like it.”

She did. God, her mouth hadn’t lost any of its skill. She used just the right pressure with her tongue, her teeth rasped just the right spots and the suction that hollowed out her cheeks…holy fucking shit. Her free hand slipped around his ass, cupping one of his cheeks. When she started humming, the vibration shot straight down his shaft and landed in his balls.

He groaned from deep in his belly and wrapped his fingers in her hair. She rocked against him, taking him deep until the head hit the soft palate at the back of her mouth, then withdrew. She repeated the movement until he clung to her as if the room was spinning. His eyelids weighed a ton. He fought them from closing. If they did, she might disappear and he’d wake up to find this was all a dream.

The familiar tingle started in his balls, drawing them up tight against this body and he stopped her. “On the bed, babe. I need to finish inside you.”

She withdrew, taking the time to press a kiss to the end of his glistening shaft in a gesture so sweet, so gentle, he wanted to gather her in his arms and just hold her. How had he ever let her just walk away? Why hadn’t he flown to London to visit her, to find out… No, he told himself. Those days were past, and while he knew there were questions still to be answered, this was not the time. If nothing else came of this reunion, he’d have the memory of her beneath him, around him one last time.

A frown creased her forehead. “I should have a shower. I’m all sweaty.”

“So am I. I don’t care.” He pulled his T-shirt over his head and dropped it on his sweat pants then reached for her shirt.

Their clothes on the floor seconds later, Lauren stretched out on the bed, propping herself up on the pillows. His chest tightened as her hand smoothed over her belly and she parted her folds and began to play with herself. His cock ached to be inside her, especially when she let her legs fall open and gave him a glimpse of her glistening pussy. Shit, she knew how he loved watching her get herself off. But watching would have to wait.

He crawled up the bed and wedged himself between her thighs. God, he’d loved how she smelled, how she tasted. Her scent had lingered in the closet for a few weeks, no more, and he’d mourned when it had faded. He buried his face in her mound and inhaled, filling his lungs with her.

Ignoring the need to continue his path up her body, he stayed right where he was. He deserved the chance to reacquaint himself with this part of her body. Besides, while he was primed and ready, she’d had no foreplay at all.