Page 34 of Duress
She must feel the same way. She wraps her arms around her waist and hunches her shoulders like she misses the heat of my body as much as I miss hers.
“I, uh, don’t know exactly what I’m looking for. I’ve been hunting through Bryce’s office and digging through old files all day, but I don’t know if I’ve found anythinguseful. I need your help.” She bites the corner of her plump bottom lip nervously, as if calling me for help is a failure on her part. “I tried to do it on my own. God, Dane, I didn’t want to have to pull you into this.” She’s beginning to ramble, a sure sign of an impending anxiety attack, so I reach out and grab her again by the shoulders.
“Hey. Don’t apologize. I’m here. I want to help. I was dying to see you.” I move forward to kiss her, but she pulls back again, turning her cheek to me. Once again, I’m stunned into letting her go. Is she regretting what happened between us?
“Ever—”
“Don’t, Dane.” She steps back, shooting me a pleading look, her eyes softening at the rejection that must be written all over my face. “Let’s just look for evidence. Okay? We have three days to find something while Bryce is out of town. We need to make the most of it.”
I nod and follow her to the study. She’s right—we need to make the most of this time. But I have a feeling her most and my most are vastly different.
Everly sits at Bryce’s obnoxiously large and shiny bespoke desk, files strewn in front of her in various piles that seem to be chaotically organized. Everly struggles with organization thanks to her ADHD, but fortunately for me, I suffer from the same chaos brain. I just hope we can get these back into whatever order Bryce had them in.
I lean over Everly’s shoulder, listening to her explain what she’s found so far, but I find myself getting distracted by the sweet scent of her jasmine shampoo. It’s not as intoxicating as when she smelled like me after showeringat my place, with my soap, but my dick takes notice anyway. I rest my hands on the desk on either side of her, caging her in with my body, my body unable to resist the magnetic pull of hers.
“…so I put these files in this pile because they’re all from ten years ago. I don’t know how they link together, but it seems weird that he would hold on to them for this long, right? And this pile is for cases with names that are linked to local important people. Including your ex-partner, Dominick Reeves.”
Hearing Dominick’s name brings my mind out of the gutter, and I start paying attention to what Everly is saying. She had a point earlier; we need to take advantage of this opportunity we have. Fucking can wait until we have a reason to celebrate.
“Let’s start with these,” I say, pulling the pile of folders that holds Dominick’s file toward me. Glancing through it, I see she’s right. Each name seems to be linked to someone important in Birch Falls, or in our state. I notice the last name of our current attorney general in the stack. Interesting. I flip the yellow manila folder open and see a mugshot of a young white college-age man with a sullen look on his face. Brad Hopper. The douche who tried to assault Serena, and the one link tying Dominick to the murder of his buddy Todd. No wonder he got such a sweet deal for cooperating; he’s related to the AG. I take pictures of the information with my phone, saving it for later.
In the stack we also find Todd’s file, with his rap sheet of petty misdemeanors, bar fights, and a few cases of sexual assault handled by the campus police that got swept underthe rug. Apparently, Dom did do the world a favor when he killed Todd. Too bad it was so he could isolate and trap Serena in an abusive relationship.
There’s one more name in the stack that I’m vaguely familiar with. Andrew Jameson. It doesn’t appear that he was ever charged with anything, but he was arrested and questioned in the disappearance of a young college coed, Cassidy Grainger. Ultimately, he was released because there was no evidence to hold him. Knowing what I know about Dom, Brad, and Todd, I’m not inclined to believe that this Andrew character is an innocent victim of wrong place, wrong time. But what is the link between them?
We pore over the information in front of us for hours. Quietly reading, making notes, and calling out important seeming details when we find them. When I look up from the search I’m doing on my phone, trying to dig up more information on Jameson, I find Everly looking at me with a longing sadness that casts shadows in her eyes. When she realizes I’ve caught her staring, she clears her throat, looking back down at the paper in front of her.
Rising from my seat across from her, I round the desk and lean down, wrapping my arms around her shoulders, burying my face in her neck. Inhaling her scent, I brush my lips against the soft skin of her neck, causing her to stiffen and let out a quiet gasp. Her hand comes up to clutch my forearm, but she doesn’t pull it away like I expect her to. Instead, she melts into my hold, letting her head tilt to the side to rest on my shoulder, giving my mouth better access to her tender flesh.
I plant open-mouthed kisses up the column of herthroat, along her jaw, until I reach her mouth. Using my fingers, I turn her head until our lips meet, my mouth capturing hers in a drugging kiss. I swallow her needy whimpers as she lets me plunder her sweet mouth with my tongue. Slowly I pull her up from her seat, never breaking our kiss, until I have her pinned flush against me, trapped between the desk and my body. Her hands roam my body greedily, like she’s letting herself indulge in in the feel of my body. I have one hand wrapped around the back of her neck, tangled in the silky strands of her hair, while the other slides under her sweater and skates up her body until I am cupping her bare breast in my palm. No bra? I give her nipple a giddy tweak, drawing another whimper out of her. The need that had been a low banked fire of glowing coals between us ignites into an inferno.
Picking her up, I slide her onto the desk, wedging myself between her thighs until I can feel the heat emanating from her center. She opens for me, granting me the closeness I crave.
“Dane—” She pulls back, looking at me, her green eyes shimmering with conflict. She wants this as much as I do, but she’s trying to stop whatever this is between us. I see the protest forming on her lips, so I lean in and kiss her again, pressing my rigid erection against her core, the thin material of her leggings doing nothing to hide her desire for me.
I thrust, grinding my dick against her clit, as I pinch her nipple again. This seems to crack the last of whatever resolve she has. Her hands come up, wrapping around my neck, pulling me deeper into our kiss.
I press my advantage and lean forward until I have her flat on her back on top of my brother’s desk, writhing under my body with desperate need. I am going to fuck her on this desk as a fuck you to my shithead brother, and after everything I’ve read tonight about the people he makes a living defending, I’m not going to feel even a little bad about it.
CHAPTER 30
EVERLY
Dane has me pinned flat against the desk, his erection pressing into my center. The dark gray joggers he’s wearing do nothing to cushion the hardness of his cock as he thrusts his hips against me, his mouth devouring mine. I’m vaguely aware of his papers shifting under my back; the clatter of several folders hitting the floor barely registers in my mind. My senses are so completely consumed by Dane. By his touch. His heat. His possessive kisses. The longer he kisses me, the harder is it to remember why we shouldn’t be doing this. I tried so hard to be good and stay away from him, but the moment he kissed my neck, he shattered the defenses I had hastily cobbled together out of shame and guilt.
The way his touch is carnal but possessive, like he wants to crawl into my skin, undoes all of my good intentions. This is why I didn’t want to involve him. I knew I would be too weak to resist him.
Dane’s rough stubble scrapes along my neck as hekisses his way down. His hands drag my sweater torturously slowly up my body, until I feel the chill of the air caress the bare skin of my breasts. I let out a lusty moan when he catches one of my sensitive nipples in his mouth, while his hands are busy pulling the sweater over my head. When my arms are free from the garment, my hands clutch his head to my breast, fingers gripping into his hair so tightly he nips at my nipple, grazing it with his teeth before grinning up at me. Our eyes lock, and the devilish gleam in his sends a surge of arousal coursing through my body. He wants this even more than I do. I’m not strong enough to fight this battle for the both of us, even if it only ends in heartbreak.
“God, Dane.” His name is a prayer on my lips as his lips begin to journey further south, while his rough hands slide under the waistband of my leggings. He gives my hips a rough tug, forcing them up enough for him to pull down my leggings and underwear. I am bare before him, panting, flushed with a feverish desire, and he is standing there, devouring me with the most predatory gaze. Like he isreallygoing to eat me.
“You are so fucking beautiful, Ever. You are perfect.” His eyes trace over every inch of my skin, and I swear I can feel his gaze like it’s a physical touch. My skin erupts in goose bumps as his tongue slowly runs over his bottom lip while his eyes finish their journey. I watch as his eyes widen when he sees how wet I am for him. I know my pussy has to be glistening. My panties were embarrassingly damp when he removed them. I had nearly come apart just from dry humping him. Slowly, like he has all the time inthe world, he reaches into his joggers and gives his dick a leisurely stroke while he studies me.
“You are so fucking sexy. I love those gorgeous thighs and I can’t wait to be buried between them.” His praise lights me up from the inside. I know I don’t look the same as I did when Bryce and I first began dating, but knowing this stupidly gorgeous twenty-something finds me irresistible still, this close to forty, does wonders for undoing the damage Bryce’s neglect has caused. He leans forward and plants open-mouthed kisses on my stomach, slowly making his way to my aching pussy. He takes his time, nipping, kissing, sucking, and licking my flesh until I’m a needy, pleading mess.
“God, Dane. Please. Fuck me.” My fingers thread into his hair again, and I push his head down to where I want him. No,needhim. I feel his hot breath against my clit as he lets out a low chuckle. Then he dives in, his tongue lapping greedily at my clit, causing the air to rush out of my lungs. He pins my hips to the desk with one muscular forearm while his free hand moves between my legs, his fingers teasing my achingly empty cunt with the promise of being filled. I let out a needy whimper when I realize I can’t thrust my trapped hips to get the relief I am desperate for. He continues to tease me with the most featherlight of touches and I realize he’s doing this on purpose. Acting like a brat. Is this my punishment for brushing off his kiss earlier?
Just when I think I can’t handle any more teasing, he plunges two thick fingers into my center, pulling a low, throaty moan from me. He curls his fingers just so, sendingmy back arching as I tried to escape the intense pleasure. He is relentless with his assault, his mouth worshipping my clit as his fingers graze my G-spot. An orgasm rocks through me, causing my muscles to seize, locking him into place. It feels like an eternity before I’m able to relax my thighs from his head. When I look down at him, I find him gazing up at me with triumph in his eyes and a lazy, satisfied grin tilting his lips up. I watch, mesmerized as he licks his lips, looking like a dangerous jungle cat.
