pussy pulsed and her clit throbbed as the orgasm ricocheted through her. Rex’s big palm that was kneading her breast loosened its grip, and he pinched her nipple.
Her gasp was fleeting, morphing into a moan that rumbled around in her chest as everything inside her hummed like a beehive.
His lips fell to her neck, replaced by teeth that scraped and nibbled, intensifying an already intense orgasm. His panting and grunting behind her said he was coming too. But now that they weren’t using protection, she’d have known he was filling her up even if he’d been quiet.
She’d been asleep.
In her own bed, too, when a big, bare, muscular arm snaked around her torso, pulled her backward and against a boa constrictor made of pure steel.
They’d had the birth control chat on their way home from dinner at Joy’s, and since Lydia had an IUD in and they were both clean, they practically raced upstairs from his truck to her apartment, engaging in serious restraint not peeling each other’s clothes off in the building hallway.
Poor Diesel wasn’t sure what to think, though, and kept trying to push his way into the action, jumping up at them and barking in excitement.
Eventually, he found Pia, and the two curled up on the couch and fell asleep, which gave Rex and Lydia an opportunity to sneak into her bedroom, close the door, undress each other completely and use her “blue” restraints.
After he’d sufficiently restrained her, he made her wait, naked and wanton on her bed, as he scoped out her apartment for anything nefarious.
Then he returned to her, still naked and still very hard. He slid between her thighs, condom-free, and made her forget anything and everything in her world besides the man inside her, on top of her and consuming her.
She took him in her mouth when he was able to get it up again, enjoying the heavy pants and manly groans that rumbled through him as she tugged hard on his balls and deep throated him as he came down her throat.
Then they lay in bed laughing and talking until well past midnight, cuddled up naked beneath the covers, touching and caressing until he rolled on top of her once more, brought her to climax and she fell asleep in his arms.
Her sleep had been blissful. Dreamless and deep.
No nightmares of weirdos in dark hoods creeping into her apartment or going through her cupboards and drawers.
An iron bar pressed into her back and a growling bear started to nip at her shoulder blades. She didn’t even bother resisting, because that would have been a lie. Rather, she pressed her butt against him and let him slide inside from behind.
“Mmm,” he hummed, tracing the shell of her ear with his tongue, “nothing like spoon sex in the morning.”
“Agreed.” She pointed her toes and stretched, enjoying the dull ache in her muscles from their marathon sexcapades last night.
He slipped out of her and rolled over to the other side of the bed, standing up and heading to the bathroom.
She stayed on her side, shut her eyes and waited for him to return, allowing her mind to drift back to just moments ago when Rex was inside her and the world made complete sense.
The toilet flushed, the sink ran and his naked gorgeousness appeared around the bedroom corner a second later.
They didn’t say anything, just smiled like idiots at each other. She waddled to the bathroom and sat down to pee.
She forgot about the one real downside, besides getting pregnant when you don’t want to, to going condom-free—the mess!
Ugh.
Oh well, whatever, it was totally worth it.
She did what she needed to do, washed her hands and rejoined him in the bedroom. He had jeans on but nothing else.
It was a goooood look for him.
“I’m going to make a motion that you’re not allowed to wear a shirt ever again,” she said, opening her dresser drawer and pulling out a sports bra.
“Motion denied. Maybe if we lived somewhere like Tahiti or Ecuador, but it’s too cold here half the year.” He rubbed his chest. “My man nips would fall off.”
She snorted a laugh. “Your man nips?”
She went to reach for her underwear off the floor to toss them into the laundry hamper, but he was faster than her and snatched them first.
“Mine,” he said.
She gave him a weird look. “Not my jam, there, Rexington. Seeing a dude in women’s panties. If that’s what you want to do on your own time, cool, but that’s not what gets my engine revving, and I’d prefer if you bought your own.”
His eyes rolled. “I don’t want to wear them.”
“Then why do you want them?”
“I’m going to be gone for a bit, and I want to keep a part of you … I want to be able to smell you whenever I feel like it.”
“Eww. No!” She wrinkled her nose and went to take them back, but being well over six feet tall, he didn’t even have to hold them very high over his head to keep her from getting at them.
“Mine now, baby. Anytime I want to get a whiff of that sweet pussy, all I have to do is …” He put her underwear to his nose and took a big inhale. “Ahhh.”
“You’re sick,” she said, giving up the fight and grabbing a new pair from her dresser drawer and pulling them up her thighs. “A big ol’ pervert.”
Before she could blink, Lydia was bent over at the waist, her hands on the bed and her legs being forcibly shoved apart. “And you fucking love it!” he growled, dropping to his knees and ramming his tongue inside of her, where just moments ago he’d come.
She tried to wriggle away, but his hands kept her in place. “You just came inside me.”
“So? Then you went pee, washed yourself and now you’re clean. Besides, you swallow my cum ...”
It’s true. She had. And would again. He liked it when she gave him head last night, and she’d enjoyed giving it to him. His moans of pleasure were like primitive words of encouragement in her ears.
A painful but oh so wonderful little nip was delivered to her inner thigh, his way of telling her to shut up and enjoy. She heard him inhale through his nose while his tongue jammed in and out of her like a velvety cock.
“Mmmm,” he hummed. “I’m going to miss this smell.”
Dear God, the man was talented with his tongue.
He was talented with his cock and fingers too, and before she knew it, she was convulsing on the bed as his index finger waggled over her clit and his tongue fucked her center thoroughly. She was helpless to his ministrations. There wasn’t a damn thing she could do but let him take her to Orgasm Town and enjoy the ride.
Not that she had any plans to open the car while moving and tuck and roll. Oh hell, no. The journey itself was beautiful.
Her toes curled on the carpet, and her fingers bunched in the unmade bed. Everything tingled, and the way he was twiddling her clit, she thought she was going to pass out from the intense pleasure.
The explosion was powerful, and for a moment, she thought she saw God—although he was far away and blurry, so maybe it wasn’t him, or her—but either way, she had a brief out-of-body, spiritual experience when Rex’s tongue, ramrod straight and so fucking slippery, pistoned in and out of her pussy.
By the time she regained her faculties and opened her eyes, she was ready for a damn nap. And here she’d been planning to go for a nice, long run.
He stood up from the floor and smacked her ass for good measure. “I’m keeping the panties.”
With Jell-O for legs, she stood up straight, her thighs slick, pussy still throbbing.
Rex was all grins. And with a still shiny face and dimples that were filled up with her glossy arousal, he leaned in and planted a big wet kiss on her mouth. “Diesel and I will be right back. I’m just going to go grab my running clothes and feed the beast, then we’ll meet you in the lobby.”
She was still coming down from that orgasm, but she nodded. “O-okay.”
He put her panties back to his nose, closed his eyes and inhaled deep. “Mmm, Eau de Lydia, the perfect scent.”
Her eyes could not roll any harder if she tried. She picked up a pillow and tossed it at him. “Get out of here, you pervert.”
His brows waggled on his forehead. “Shower sex after our run?”
Her clit and vagina made her mouth respond before her brain even had a chance to comprehend the question. “Need you even ask?”
It was Tuesday afternoon, and Rex had been gone a little over twenty-four hours. He’d texted and called a few times to check up on her, then they did some super steamy phone sex as they went to bed Monday night. The man definitely knew how to talk dirty, and in no time, Lydia was coming, her fingers working hard between her legs as Rex made guttural noises and grunts on the other end.
He’d messaged her Tuesday morning to check in, nothing too clingy or smothering. Just a quick Hope you have a good day. Stay out of trouble. Xoxo.
Her body temperature would increase, her panties would get damp and her face would hurt from how hard she was smiling. Over the course of the day, she’d bring up his message again and re-read it.
Diesel and Pia were still getting along swimmingly, and she’d met with James and Emma Shaw and their twins Monday afternoon. They were excited to have her come over Wednesday and stay with the twins for a couple of hours to test things out. Emma was particularly excited, since she seemed frazzled and exhausted chasing after two precocious little girls all day.
Jayne had also texted and called a few times, along with Krista, Stacey and Chase. It seemed everyone was looking out for her but at the same time respecting her space.
Before he left Monday morning, Rex accompanied her down to the police station, where they filed the report about the weird mail and left the mail with the police for evidence. Once she gave her statement, including all the other weird occurrences, she was told that a cop would be in touch with her.
She wasn’t overly hopeful that something could come of it, since there were no fingerprints, but at least now the authorities were aware of the situation.
She’d just finished lunch, and even though Diesel was contentedly sleeping on the couch wrapped around Pia, she knew the dog needed to get out for a long walk.
Just as she was getting on her lightweight, white puffy vest, her phone started to vibrate in the back pocket of her jeans.
It wasn’t a number she recognized, and the ID came up Private.
Her blood turned frigid as she stared at the screen, contemplating whether to answer it or not.
Not a lot of people called nowadays. Most people texted.
So now, any unknown phone call made her instantly skeptical.
Should she let it go to voicemail?
It was probably just some scammer anyway, telling her she was in some kind of violation and if she didn’t give her social insurance number over the phone right away, the cops would come pounding on her door and carry her away in chains.
But what if it was a cop? What if they’d miraculously found the person who was taunting her and had them in custody and were gearing up to throw the book at them? They just wanted to give Lydia a heads-up that she could now breathe easy.
She hit the green button on her phone and put it to her ear. “Hello?”
“Lydia, sweetheart? It’s Joy.”
She let out a sigh of relief, but there was also a mild touch of disappointment there too that it wasn’t the police telling her they’d caught the weirdo cheese-biter.
“Hi, Joy.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I got your number from Rex. I wanted to see if you’d like to go for a walk. It’s such a beautiful day, we could go and walk up Mount Doug if you’re interested.”
She loved Mount Doug. The three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the city, peninsula and ocean, the criss-crossing trails around the whole mountain. What wasn’t there to love? She’d just been planning to take Diesel for an extended walk around the block or to the off-leash park, but a rigorous hike up Mount Doug sounded far more enticing.
“I’d love to.”
“Perfect. How about I come grab you and Diesel in fifteen minutes? I’m just finishing up at the dentist. I can meet you in the parking lot at twelve thirty.”
“We’ll be ready.”
They said goodbye and disconnected the call.
It was incredible how easily—and quickly—she’d been welcomed into the Hart family fold. She hadn’t even known Rex for a week and yet his mother was already calling her up to get together.
Was this normal?
Was this what a real adult relationship was like, and she’d just been goofing around in adolescent affairs until now?
Or was Joy keeping an eye on her for other reasons? Was she concerned for her son? Did she think Rex was hooking up with some crazy woman and she wanted to take Rex being on the mainland as an opportunity to better vet Lydia?
Was this walk such a good idea after all?
She stood in her kitchen staring at her phone, debating whether to call Joy back and cancel or just suck it up and deal with the walk, whatever might happen on it, when it started to ring and vibrate in her palm.
She jumped in surprise, nearly dropping her phone.
Blocked number this time.
Cops?
Rex from a burner phone?
A scammer wanting all her money?
She hit the green button on the screen and put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”
Silence.
“Hello?”
More silence.
“Who’s there?”
Dead quiet.
She was about to hang up and chalk it up to some weird pocket dial or a wrong number when she heard a deep inhale on the other line, followed by the sound of distant traffic.
“All right, what the hell is this? Are you the person who has been trying to drive me crazy? Did you break into my house? Send me a fucking sex toy? What the hell is wrong with you, dude? Leave me the fuck alone! Get a life!”
Click.
The line went dead.
She hung up. Her hands shook so badly, she needed to put the phone down on her island. Her heart hammered in her chest, and her pulse filled her ears.
That had to be whoever was tormenting her. Only tormenters, only sickos did the call and deep breathing, right? That was their MO.
Her vision was blurry, and she swayed where she stood. Diesel was suddenly beside her, whimpering and hitting her thigh with one paw.
What the hell was going on?
Who was doing this to her?
Why were they doing this to her?
Who had she hurt? Who had she rebuffed or angered enough that they would break into her house, send her creepy mail and call her but not say anything?
Diesel’s whimpering grew louder, and he nudged her wrist with his nose before licking the back of her hand.
That was enough to snap her out of her weird haze, and she blinked a few times, her senses refocusing, synapses reconnecting.
She rubbed the dog’s head. “Thanks, buddy.”
Slowly, leaving her phone on the island, she went to sit on the couch. Diesel followed her, keeping in step and gazing up at her with those soft brown eyes full of worry. “I’m okay,” she said to him when he rested his chin on her thigh. “I’m okay.”
He started to whimper again and sat down at her feet, his head still resting in her lap, tail swishing softly on the carpet.
Who was doing this to her?
Was it Dierks?
She couldn’t think of another soul who would want to cause her any kind of torment. She wasn’t the type of person to make enemies. And she didn’t think she knew enough people in Victoria to earn a stalker.
Pia stretched from her spot on the couch and gracefully stepped into Lydia’s lap. Both animals seemed to know she needed the comfort right now.
Animals really were the best companions and form of therapy out there.
She closed her eyes for a moment and petted her cat, allowing Pia’s purrs and warmth to soothe her. To absorb the tremors of worry that raced through her and ease her wildly beating heart.
By the time she opened her eyes, things were better.
Not great.
Not fixed.
But better.
She could breathe without the feeling of a hippo on her chest. The twisted sensation in her gut was still there but not as tight.
The ornate wrought-iron clock she had on her mantel said it was almost twelve thirty. Joy would be waiting for her.
They needed to get a move on.
Careful not to jostle Pia too much, she pried herself off the couch, grabbed her phone from the island and strapped Diesel into his harness. Then, just like Rex had advised her, she videotaped herself locking her front door.
Though if the perp really wanted to get to her, they wouldn’t let a flimsy deadbolt stop them.
The question was: What was their end game? Was their goal just to harass her? Drive her crazy? Or should she start looking over her shoulder and wear a Kevlar vest while out buying groceries? Was her life in danger? Did someone want her dead?
Okay, that was more than one question, but the fact that she had so many and didn’t have an answer for any of them only made her worry all the more.
What if someone did want her dead?
Should she move?
Would they just follow her?
More questions.
So many questions.
Should she call Dierks and ask if it was him who’d been harassing her? Sic the cops on him?
But if it wasn’t, then he might just start worrying about her and try to find her anyway. He hadn’t been a bad boyfriend or a bad person, but after his brain injury, he definitely needed help.
She didn’t think he would be the type to come after her and start stalking her, but then again, you really don’t know people as well as you think you do. And even when you do … they often surprise you, and not necessarily in the jumping out of a cake or proposing on top of the Eiffel Tower kind of surprise.
Now she was wondering how well she knew Rex.
All of this started happening after she met him.
Was there a connection?
Did he have an ex who wanted her out of the way?
Was Rex who he claimed to be? Who his family knew him to be?
Did he have a darker side to him? One where he got off secretly taunting and harassing a woman while simultaneously playing her hero?
Seemed like a far-fetched possibility but not a completely impossible one.
She’d been duped by nice guys before. So had her mother, and that duping could have ended very differently, very badly if her neighbor hadn’t come knocking at just the right time.
There wasn’t a breath of a breeze in the freshly blooming leaves on the trees as she stepped out of her apartment building, and yet the hair on the back of her neck stood straight up, and she hugged her arms around her body like an icy northeaster had just swept across her skin.
That was the first time she’d thought about Lyle in years. She’d effectively blocked out the memory of him, but now that weird shit was happening … the man was a locksmith, after all. It would explain how someone got into her apartment so easily.
But he was also back in Hope, right? How on earth would he know she was in Victoria? Especially since she’d been living in Vancouver for the past eight years up until two months ago. And why, eighteen years later, would he start bothering her now? After Mr. O’Flanagan put the fear of God in Lyle, she and her mother hadn’t seen or heard from him again.
Good riddance, of course.
But still …
A white Toyota Corolla pulled into the apartment complex parking lot, and the lights flashed. It had to be Joy.
The fact that all four of her sons had big, black, beefy Chevy pickups and little Joy had a small, white compact sedan was a hilarity not lost on Lydia, even given her mental anguish. She wouldn’t put it past the sprightly woman to have bought the car on the premise of it being the antithesis to her son’s vehicles. Possibly just to spite them or needle them in some way.
Joy was barely visible behind the steering wheel, but she managed to stop right in front of Lydia and Diesel. When Diesel saw his nana, he started to bark in greeting.
Joy rolled her window down. “I laid the dog cover in the back seat. He knows what to do.”
Still shaken by the sudden thoughts of Lyle Whigby, particularly after all these years of repressed memories and blissful ignorance, she opened up the rear door and Diesel hopped right in. He instantly lay down on the back seat, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he smiled wide.
Shutting the back door, Lydia moved around to the front passenger door and opened it, sliding into the seat and buckling up. She barely gave Joy a smile and hello.
Joy put the car in gear and backed out of the lot. “I’ll give you a minute to collect whatever thoughts are currently causing you to have the Grand Canyon between your brows, but then you’re going to spill.”
Diesel barked.
Joy hooked her thumb over her slender shoulder, but her blue eyes twinkled and were laser-focused on Lydia. “See, even he agrees.”