The Private Serials Box Set(28)
“I can’t just leave. Derrek will wonder where I’ve gone. We’re supposed to be putting on a show for everyone, parading our happy marriage for all to see.”
“I’ll take care of Derrek.” My eyebrows rose in doubt. “Trust me,” he said, reading me.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Good girl,” he said against my lips, before he took them again in a scorching kiss. It was wet and hot and long. It was also full of promises – vows made directly to my body, which I instantly and stupidly believed.
He pulled away from the kiss, his hands trailing down my neck, and he said, “Go now, sweetheart. I’ll meet you at your house.”
For reasons I couldn’t quite understand, I did exactly as he asked. I left the utility closet and walked straight out of the gala, not speaking to anyone except the clerk working the coat check when I retrieved my coat and purse. I walked out of the building, hailed a cab, and rode home. All the while, I was painfully aware I had no panties on.
For most of the ride, my mind flipped and flopped from thinking about how stupid I was being for even entertaining the idea of getting involved with Preston, to then picturing his hand as it thrust inside me, making me come inside a closet. By the time the cab pulled up in front of my house, I had really only come to one conclusion.
I wanted Preston inside me. Desperately. All of him.
So I walked inside to prepare to give myself to someone other than my husband. I had everything to lose and practically nothing to gain, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
END OF PART ONE
Part Two
Private
Encounters
Chapter One
I watched the city streetlights blaze past the windows of the cab, my mind reeling just as quickly as the buildings flew by. I closed my eyes and all I could see was Preston tucking my panties into his breast pocket, his gaze searing my body. My clit pulsed as I remembered what it felt like when his thumb stroked it. My eyes opened quickly and fluttered to the cab driver, making sure he wasn’t watching me. His focus was on the road, which was good, because one look at me and he definitely would have been able to tell my thoughts were dark and dirty.
With just a few more blocks to travel to my house, my phone pinged in my purse.
**Pack an overnight bag. I’m coming to get you.**
The text from Preston made my insides liquefy, but I wasn’t sure if going with him was the smartest decision. My body wanted to leave with him, of that there was no question, but the cab ride had given my brain room to breathe and it was leading me in the direction of not doing more harm to my already crumbling marriage. Not that I was concerned with saving it, but I was concerned with getting out unscathed and with the money I was entitled to.
I paid the cab driver, walked up the driveway, and then heard the unmistakable sound of Preston’s Lotus coming around the corner. I watched as he passed his normal spot down the street and instead pulled right into the driveway as if he belonged there. That was a problem. He opened the door and got out, walking toward me as he pressed a button on his key fob, making the car’s lights flash and its horn beep two short, quick blasts.
He stalked toward me in that ridiculously attractive tuxedo, his eyes locked on mine and giving no indication he planned to move them. In fact, his eyes stayed on mine until he was right in front of me, only breaking the contact when he gently placed his hand around my elbow, turning me, and leading me toward the house. He came to the electronic keypad and with precision, keyed in the passcode.
My mouth gaped open as he hauled me into the foyer.
“How do you know the passcode to my house?” Without stopping, he pulled me up the stairs toward my bedroom, but spoke to me as we walked.
“Again, Lena, knowing things, especially secrets, is my job.”
We entered the bedroom and his hand released from my elbow, but he continued to the closet, flipping on the light from the inside.
“Have you been in my house without me here?”
“Pack your bag,” was his only response as a duffle bag came flying out of the semi-open door, landing in the middle of the bed.
“Preston,” I said firmly, “have you been in my house while I wasn’t here?” I watched as he came into view, stepping out from the closet and walked to me. He stopped when there were just inches between us, but made no move to touch me. He looked me right in the eyes.
“A few days ago, I was tailing Derrek and he came here. He went in the house with a briefcase, but came back to his car without it. I thought, perhaps, there was something of importance in there, something I could use against him. So, yes, I came in the house. But I didn’t look at anything or anywhere besides his office.”
For a reason I hadn’t yet fully formed in my mind, it bothered me that there was a level of distrust between Preston and me. I’d, for all intents and purposes, hired him to be sneaky and shifty, but I didn’t like feeling as if he was hiding something from me. Admitting this, though, would also be like accepting things were changing between us. It would be like admitting he was no longer just someone I’d hired to end my marriage; he had become someone involved in the actual demise of it.
“Lena,” he whispered, stepping closer to me, his hands wrapping gently around my neck, urging me to look up at him. “Don’t let your mind run away with you.” His thumbs moved over my cheekbones, the soft friction nearly soothing me. “Don’t get caught up in the whys and the hows.” He bent down and pressed his lips to mine in, easily, the most sensuous kiss I’d ever experienced. I felt that kiss everywhere: my chest, my mind, my heart, and most definitely my core. It wasn’t an exceptionally sexual kiss; his tongue just barely grazed the seam of my lips, not wanting in, just tasting. I took a deep breath in through my nose as the kiss continued, and was gifted with the musky scent of his cologne. It was spicy and dry, and it added one more dimension of sexy I would have to try to ignore.