Once I reach my destination and work out I’ve probably still got some time to kill before she arrives, I call my father. I’ve been waiting for the right time, thinking over everything that’s happened so I can express exactly what I want to him.
He picks up quickly. “It’s almost midnight, Ashton. Your mother is sleeping.”
Like he gives a fuck about my mother sleeping. But I don’t bring that up because it’s not the reason for my call today. “I learned something interesting about you last night. Something that pissed me off enough to make me consider telling someone what I know about that construction site accident from ten years ago that you were tied up with.”
“Son, you don’t want to take that journey with me.” His voice is hard. Cold. Just the way I remember it from all the times in my life when he let me down.
“Oh, I think I might, Dad. Especially if you continue fucking with Lorelei like you have been.”
“What do you think you know?” He’s fishing to see if I do indeed know about all the things he’s been doing behind the scenes.
As he asks this question, I see passengers making their way through the gate Lorelei will be coming through, and I search for her while continuing the conversation.
“You paid someone to continually vandalise her Willow Street building and cause her no end of grief so she would sell that building to you. I’ve had one of my guys looking into it, and he sent me the proof I need to take this further if I wish.”
I hear the clink of ice and the sound of him gulping down what I presume to be scotch. “What the fuck do you want from me, Ashton?”
“I want you to leave Lorelei alone. Stop the vandalism, stop dropping by to see her, stop threatening her. Never fucking go near her again. If you do, I’ll make sure everyone knows it was you who signed off on that building years ago even though you knew it had safety issues. If that gets out, we both know the outcome.” It would bury him.
I spot Lorelei, my gut tightening as my gaze lands on her.
He hisses his disapproval. “When did you get so willing to play dirty?”
I make my way towards Lorelei, my eyes firmly holding hers. “You taught me well, Dad.”
“No, I didn’t. If I had, you wouldn’t let pussy get in the way of good business sense.”
I reach Lorelei and slide my free hand around her waist, pulling her close. Her mouth curls up in a smile and she presses a quick kiss to my lips right before I say to my father, “The little that you did teach me was lacking, but I’ve found a woman who’s teaching me the important things.”
“You’ve lost your ever-loving mind, son.”
I rest my hand on Lorelei’s ass. “Maybe, but I’m a lot fucking happier without it. Do we have an agreement?”
“We do. But if any of this gets out, I will tear you both down, piece by fucking piece.”
I smile at my woman, hardly hearing a thing my father is saying. I’m certainly not letting any of it affect me the way it used to. “Give my love to Mum.”
I end the call, shove my phone in my pocket, and slide my hand through Lorelei’s hair to take hold of her before claiming her lips in a kiss that clears all other thoughts from my mind.
“Fuck, it’s been too long since I’ve had you,” I say when I pull away.
She presses hard against me, her hands gri
pping my shirt. “Take me home.”
I don’t miss the heat in her words or the need that matches my own.
My woman wants me as much as I want her.
* * *
It takes us just over an hour to drive to Jack’s place, in which time Lorelei doesn’t remove her hand from my body. She moves it between my leg, my arm, my chest and my face. And she kisses me whenever she gets the chance. In the past, this kind of behaviour from women irritated me. With her, I can’t get enough of it. By the time we arrive at Jack’s, I’m hard as hell for her.
Grabbing her suitcase from the boot, I pin my gaze to her. She’s biting her lip watching me, and her expression leaves me no doubt she’s imagining me naked and inside her. “Jack’s out for the morning, which means you and I have a date that involves no clothing.” I don’t even care that she’s tired from travelling; I can’t wait another second for my fill of her.
Her smile lights up that beautiful face of hers. Not even long-haul travel interferes with Lorelei’s beauty. “I need to shower first.”
I shut the boot and walk to her, every fibre of my being blazing with my need. It’s electric and unlike any sensation I’ve ever experienced. Being without the woman I love for over a week has turned me into a half-crazed man, desperate to get my hands and mouth on her. “We’ll start in the shower.”