His full, sensual lips firmed into a line. His nostrils flared, the skin across his cheekbones tightened and in the golden brown depths of his eyes...there, she saw it. The flare of surprise, then the blazing hungry heat and something shadowed, something...more.
No, she wasn’t alone. Not in the least.
Wrapping her arms tighter around his neck, she burrowed her face in the strong column, throwing herself into the ecstasy, the burn, the passion—into him. Opening her mouth over his skin, she tasted his tangy, musky flavor, mewling as he burrowed so deep inside her, she wondered how far he would go, how much he would take.
Not enough. The answer quivered in her mind.It won’t ever be enough.
A trill of alarm sliced through her, but it was almost immediately drowned out by the carnal havoc he created within her body. After sliding his hands down her back, he palmed her behind and held her for his long strokes. He forged a path that only he could travel, dragging his thick length in and out of her and igniting tremors with each thrust. She savored each one, rolling up to meet each plunge.
“With me, sweetheart,” he murmured in her ear. Tunneling his fingers into her hair, he gripped the strands and tugged her head back. His eyes so dark with lust that only flickers of gold remained, he grated through clenched teeth, “I’m not going alone. Get there and come with me.”
The words, so arrogant and commanding, but strained with lust and drenched in need, were like a caress over her flesh. Clawing at his back, she slammed her hips against his, and his cock rubbed against a place high inside her, forming a catalyst, a detonator to her pleasure.
She shattered.
Screaming, she threw her head back against the pillows, propelling herself into the orgasm that claimed her like a ravenous beast, devouring her, leaving nothing. Above her, Darius rode her through it, until he stiffened and quaked. The throbbing of his flesh triggered another orgasm, rolling into the previous one like an unending explosion of ecstasy.
Darkness swept over her, pulling her under, but not before a seed of worry sprouted deep in her head. In the heat of passion, they’d become something new tonight.
But what?Who?
And would they survive it?
Twelve
Darius stared at his computer monitor, but he didn’t see the report on the possible acquisition. Too many other thoughts crowded his mind. No, he had to be honest with himself.
Isobel.
Isobel crowded his mind, not leaving room for anything else.
Who was this woman? The selfish, devious conniver he’d believed her to be these past years? Or the woman he’d come to know since the night of the blackout? Just a week ago, he would’ve said both. That maybe single motherhood and being on her own had matured her from the person she’d been. But now...
Now doubts niggled at the back of his mind; perhaps he’d been wrong all along.
The things Isobel had hinted at—the controlling nature of her marriage, the lack of independence, the chameleon nature of the man Darius had called friend and she’d called husband—as well as the things she’d left unsaid. Working at a neighborhood grocery store even though she resided in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the state.
But if he believed Isobel—and God help him, he was starting to—then that meant Gage had concealed a side of himself from his family. What else had he hidden? Was it possible that Darius’s best friend could’ve lied to them, to him? And if so, how could he have been so blind? He couldn’t have been...right?
The urge to unearth the truth swelled within him, and he reached for the phone. He could have the company PI investigate for him. Contact Gage and Isobel’s old neighbors or employees that had worked with Isobel at the time. It’d been years, but maybe they could give him some insight...
Just as his fingers curled around the receiver, the desk speaker crackled, and his executive assistant’s voice addressed him.
“Mr. King, Mrs. Wells is here to see you.”
Darius pressed the intercom button. “Thank you, Charlene,” he replied. “Please let the marketing team know we’re going to move our one o’clock meeting to one thirty.”
“Yes, sir.”
Darius rose from his chair and was already halfway across his spacious office when Helena opened his door and strode in. In spite of his unsettled thoughts, pleasure bloomed inside him at the unexpected but welcome visit. Several weeks had passed since the disastrous dinner at her home. Since then, he’d visited them several times, but without Isobel and Aiden. Though they’d asked about the boy and when they could spend time with him, Darius hesitated. First, he’d promised from the beginning that he wouldn’t make arbitrary decisions about Aiden without consulting Isobel. And that included taking him to see his grandparents without her permission, even if he longed for them all to build a loving relationship.
Helena, regal in a black dress that wrapped around her still-slender figure, met him with outstretched arms.
“What brings you here today?” He led her to his office sitting area, lightly clasping her elbow.
She arched a dark, elegant eyebrow. “Do I need a reason to come see family? Especially when he’s been a bit of a stranger lately?”
Darius laughed as he helped her settle on the black leather couch and then took a seat beside her. “That was subtle,” he drawled. “Like a claw hammer to the head.”
