The following day, Lenore and MP were finishing room service breakfast when the call from the Yardley PD came.
Lenore looked less than happy as MP watched her. She got off the phone furious.
“That SOB put a bug in the kitchen. It was bad enough that there was one in the office. I told you all about my dealings with Byron in the kitchen and, and, well—we’ve had some pretty energetic sex there too.”
At that he had to laugh. “Yes, and it’s a recipe I’d like to whip up again.”
Taken by surprise at his response and humor to the situation, she calmed herself a tad. “It was wonderful, wasn’t it?” Her eyes were bright at the memory.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, kissing her lips lightly. “It was off-the-charts sensational. I’m sure JI or whoever was listening was more than jealous.”
“This is ridiculous, MP. What if somebody leaks the audio?”
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care. But the fact is we’re two, single, consenting adults who happen to love one another, and if we want to make love in the kitchen, it’s no one’s business but ours. Plus, what was done is illegal so if the tapes are leaked and the cops find out who, he or she will be in trouble with the law.”
“I’ll be mortified.”
“You’ll get over it. There is nothing wrong with having sex and enjoying yourself.”
“Hopefully, it won’t leak.”
“So only the two rooms were bugged?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s good. Now I can ravish you in any room of the house in private.”
“You can.” Grinning, she let him kiss her again.
“They found nothing in JI’s house. So, either Morris got to it before the cops, or there was nothing there to find. Irving could have had an office or worked in another location.”
“Don’t think so. I don’t see your gray man doing anything over the top.”
“But I’d never think he’d bug my house or stalk me either.”
“You have a point,” he conceded. “But I think someone approached him to do this. I don’t think he was hired directly by the person who wanted information. I think there was a third party.”
“I know you do. But who wanted the information? Most likely Corrine. I think she’s every bit as resourceful as Gerald Morris. But the point is, we can go home.”
“I like the sound of that. Is the place still a mess? Do we need to deal with clean-up or anything?”
“Uh, I didn’t even ask. We’ll have to see when we get there. I should have thought to ask about reporters, too. Shit, what is wrong with me?”
“Not your everyday routine, mo chuisle. Cut yourself some slack. We can stay here another night or at least the day and go home in the middle of the night before they come back, if they do.”
Her cell was going off. “It’s Nik. It must have hit the news somewhere. I’m sure she has news alerts set up on us, or her crazy partner does.”
“Don’t tell her about Maxwell.”
“I’ll play it by ear,” she said as she engaged the call.
“Are you and MP okay?”
“Nik, we’re fine. We weren’t even there. My housekeeper was. She killed him.”
“Poor woman, but good for her. Some crazy guy demands to get into your house and won’t leave? Stabbing him is a good alternative to a gun.”
“Um, I suppose.”
“I already asked my partner if he hired the asshole. He says no, and I tend to believe him. I can tell when he’s lying.”
“I think John Irving was stalking me, Nik.” She told her agent about him following her at the Mercer Museum.
“Good thing the MF is dead.”
“I hate to agree, but I guess so.”
“Although why did he insist upon getting into your house if you weren’t there?”
The police must not have released all the information. Nikko didn’t seem to know about the bugs.
“Don’t know,” she replied.
“Probably to wait for you to come home. Ambush you and MP or something.”
“It’s possible. I think he was a wacko. I checked him out but…” She let the sentence trail off.
“Yeah, lots of them. One is my partner.”
“I’m sorry, Nikko. Is that getting any better?” Nik had found out that there wasn’t much she could do about the partnership agreement that Howard and Nolan had entered into, so the office was like the War of the Roses. She had her side and he had his.
“Doll, don’t be sorry. Not your fault he turned out to be a prick. I hope Howie comes back to haunt him.”
“Me, too,” she said sincerely, knowing the chances of that were minimal.
“But if Howard were still around, he would have shown his face before now. So I know that won’t happen. I wish he would, though. I miss him,” Nikko said.
“I know you do, honey,” Lenore said softly.
“Enough of my pity party. Are you okay? I mean, the guy you dated is dead, he was stalking—”
“Honest, I’m fine. It’s unsettling, to say the least, on several levels, as you’ve mentioned, but I’ll be all right.”
“Finnegan dealing?”
“Yeah, he is. I don’t know what I’d do without him.” She turned and flashed him one of her brilliant smiles. He returned one in kind, dimples making an appearance.
She turned her back so she wouldn’t lose her train of thought.
“At least the news articles didn’t mention LaSandra Lacy and MP Finnegan. They did use your name, Lenore Held, and it only seems to have hit your local papers, the Bucks County Courier Time and the Philly Inquirer, probably on the local news, too.”
“Could be worse, I suppose. We had to leave my house overnight and didn’t even think to look for it on the news. It was a crazy day yesterday.”
“I’m sure. I’ll let you go.”
“Thanks for checking on us.”
“We are not national news, only Bucks County and Philly,” she told MP.
“Good, we should be able to go home. If we see news people camped out, we’ll keep going.”
“Sounds like a plan. I miss being home.”
“I know you do, lass.”
She went to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Michael Patrick Finnegan.”
He grinned. Her spontaneous declaration pleased him.
“I love you, too, Lenore Held.”
She lifted her head for a kiss.
****
“Lenore, let me go in first and see what’s what,” MP said as they began to enter the kitchen through the garage entrance.
“Sweetheart, I’ll be fine. I’m a mom and have seen and done all kinds of gross and ugly. I’ll hold it together.”
“I have no doubt.” He liked that she called him sweetheart. She didn’t use many endearments, but when she did, he saved them up, each a cherished memory.
The house smelled medicinal and lemony. While she didn’t care for the odor, the kitchen was not trashed nor the dark tile floor stained or damaged.
“It could have been so much worse, MP. He could have killed Maria or held her hostage and waited for us to come home and—”
He knew where she was going and cut her off. “I know, a chuisle, but he didn’t. With that imagination and brain of yours, you’ll have us scared out of our wits in no time,” he teased.
“You’re right. I want to work on the book,” she said. “Normalcy.”
“Whatever the lady would like.”
“That will have to wait for later.”
He raised an eyebrow at her and grinned, a sinful grin that had mischief step-dancing in his eyes.
They settled in her office with hot chocolate, a plate of cookies, and a great deal of creative energy.
“As soon as the meeting’s over, lass, he’s going to lock the door and take her hard and fast,” Michael Patrick said.
“She’s counting on it,” Lenore said, delighted.
Wicked woman had on black stockings and a garter belt but no underwear and she made sure he knew it. The secret was for him and only him. He had to avert his eyes from her or lose his train of thought. They were working on staging and lighting and needed to get it right.
She was able to carry on as if she weren’t bare assed, her pretty lower lips blowing him kisses every time she crossed and uncrossed her legs. In fact, the vixen seemed unruffled by his furtive glances between those legs. But he’d bet she was wet and eager for him, and if she wasn’t, she would be.
Meeting finally over, he ushered everyone out, closed the door, and locked it, then leaned against it as casually as he could and looked her up and down. On the surface she was every bit the proper workingwoman: knee-length skirt, black thigh highs, jacket and shell to match, a tasteful rope of pearls around her neck. Cool, elegant, professional—that’s the picture Amanda projected to the world. “Perception is reality,” as she always said.
He pushed off the door, his eyes now fastened on hers.
She turned then and looked out his window, appearing to take in the city.
Cass came up behind her, moved her hair to one side, and then nuzzled her neck. She arched into him. “You’re something, Amanda.”
“What might that something be?” she asked huskily.
“Right now you’re a devil in a Talbot’s suit.”
She laughed.
One of his hands snaked between her legs from behind and to her inner core, plunging two fingers into her. She jerked at the suddenness of it.
“You’re wet for me.”
“More often than you know,” she murmured.
“We’ll have to discuss that in detail later.”
She ground her hips into his thrusting fingers.
“Put your hands on the windows. Palms open and flat.”
She did as he asked. Maybe for the first time ever, since they met.
He let her feel his arousal through his pants and her skirt, but it was unmistakable. She made some unintelligible sound. He liked that.
“Widen your stance for me.”
She did.
He added another finger to the other two.
“Ahh, ahh,” she breathed.
He took his fingers away.
“No, not yet,” he informed her.
She didn’t speak, didn’t beg, kept her legs spread apart, and her hands flat on the window.
His hand came around the front of her now and teased her clit.
“You teased me all through that meeting, Ms. Loring, and now it’s payback time.”
She moaned as he stroked her. Her inner thighs wet.
He kissed her ear and ran his tongue around the curve of it, then nipped her ear lobe, causing her to jump involuntarily. Still she said nothing.
The sound of him unzipping his pants was all but deafening in the otherwise silent room.
He noted her breathing was erratic and shallow.
“Spread those lovely legs as far as you can,” Cass directed.
She did.
He hitched her skirt above her waist. Her bottom was round and near perfection. He wanted to see if she had freckles there, too, but that would wait for another time.
One of his hands opened her to him, and he entered her slowly.
“Please.”
“Since you asked so nicely.” He pushed the whole of him into her.
“Yes,” she sighed.
He felt her muscles contract around his cock, drawing him deeper. Cass thrust into her hard and fast, kissing the pulse beating frantically in her neck as if it were trying to break free.
“Yes.” She almost cried it this time.
Amanda was now meeting him thrust for thrust, no longer able to hold herself still. She heard his breath as ragged as hers.
“Come with me, Cass. I don’t want to go alone.”
He groaned as her muscles spasmed and clamped around him, milking him for all he was worth. Condom, he thought in the dim recesses of his mind. He’d deal with the consequences later. He couldn’t stop now.
“Casper,” she called out, as he grunted, groaned, and growled his own release, until finally he whispered, “Amanda.”
He leaned into her, both of them breathing hard. He brought his hands up to cover hers on the window and then gently brought them down.
Cass kissed her cheek. This was more than games and sex. What this was, he didn’t want to think about yet. But he knew she felt it, too. He could see it in her deeds and hear it in her voice.
He brought their joined hands together and encircled her waist. Finally, he turned her around to face him and there were tears in her eyes.
“Sweetheart,” he almost whispered, “Are you okay?”
She smiled and nodded.
He drew her to him and then picked her up. He never dreamed she’d be like this, soft and emotional, under that hard-as-nails attitude. Cass kissed her forehead and carried her to the couch.
He laid her down gently and brushed stray strands of golden fire from her delicate face.
“I want to make love to you. The only thing I want left on your body is the strand of pearls.”
She watched as he began to undress her.
“It’s great,” Lenore breathed when he finished reading the passage. “I like it a lot.”
“Squirmy? Edgy?” he teased.
“Yes. But I like the sentimentality in it. You can feel the dynamics of the relationship shift.”
“You can, can’t you?”
She nodded. Lenore knew she was flushed.
He tucked her hair behind an ear and kissed her.
“In need of that release you told me about?”
“Yes.”
“Me, too.”
He began removing clothes, and so did she. Pressing her back on the couch, he took every inch of her and made it his. My breath.