A Lover's Vow (23 page)

Thirty-One

J
ules nudged Dalton awake and looked down at him. “What's for breakfast?”

He slowly opened one drowsy eye and then two before staring at her as if she were an apparition. “Jules?”

“Yes, that's the name I prefer going by,” she said, glancing around his bedroom. “Nice place, Dalton, although you should think about adding more pictures on your walls.” She looked back down at him. “Now, what's for breakfast?”

He rubbed a hand down his face. “You stayed the night?”

She thought that was a dumb question. “No, I showed up this morning naked. Stonewall let me in, and I found you here in bed naked, with several opened condom packets on your nightstand. Looks like you had a wild night.”

“Smart-ass,” he muttered.

“What did you say?” she asked, leaning down toward him, her hair falling in his face. “Could you repeat that? I'm sure I misunderstood what you said just now.”

Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed her around the waist, flipped her on her back and then hovered over her. Now it was him looking down at her. “Did I invite you to stay last night?” he asked, like the very thought of such a thing was foreign to him.

“No, I forced myself on you. Hid my clothes and locked us in here.”

“Jules...don't play with me,” he said in a warning tone, leaning toward her.

She stared up into his face. Although he still had that drowsy look, his jaw had tightened, and his eyes were like steel. What in the world was wrong with him? She'd heard about not being a morning person, but this was kind of ridiculous. She used her arms to shove him back, not caring that he almost tumbled off the bed. “And don't you play with me,” she said in the same warning tone.

Pulling herself up, she pushed her hair back from her face and glared at him. “What is wrong with you, Dalton?” she snapped.

He rubbed a hand down his face. “Nothing.” Her question seemed to slap him out of whatever stinky mood he was in. “It's just that...”

When he didn't finish what he was about to say, she inched closer to him. “What?”

“I'm not used to this.”

“You're not used to what?”

He shrugged. “Waking up and finding a woman in my bed.”

Jules's eyes narrowed. “Just to set the record straight, you didn't
find
me here, you
put
me here. In your bed. Leather boots and all. And except for the few times I demanded a potty break, you've pretty much kept me here.”

His voice actually made the sound of a growl. “Do you have to be so damned sassy?”

“And do you have to be so damned arrogant?”

Jules stared into his eyes and saw beyond the moodiness and confusion. She saw nervousness. A high level of discomfort. Why? “I'm going to ask you for the third time, Dalton. What's wrong with you? Why are you so tense?”

“And I told you,” he said, moving to lie down in the bed beside her to stare up at the ceiling. “I am not used to waking up...
with
a woman in my bed.”

“If I recall, you woke up with me in your bed several mornings in Miami.”

“That wasn't
my
bed. It was the hotel's bed. No women spend the night in
my
bed.”

She frowned over at him while stretching and hated to admit that
his
bed slept a whole lot better than hers. “So what happens to them? They sneak out on you before sunrise?” Although she asked, she couldn't imagine such a thing happening.

“No. I have this rule. No woman sleeps in my bed.”

She froze. “So where do they sleep when the two of you get together?”

He shrugged again. “Their own bed. A hotel room. But definitely not here.”

She stared at him. “Let me get this straight. Are you saying that you don't have a problem sleeping in
their
bed, but you have a rule against them sleeping in
yours
?”

“Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.”

She smiled. “Then I'm glad I made you break that rule. Of all the idiotic things I've ever heard. That's being downright selfish.”

“No, that's being smart.”

“Then I guess you were pretty damned dumb last night, huh?”

She saw the flash of fire that swept into his eyes but wasn't fast enough to get out of his way. She tried sprinting from the bed, but he caught her around the waist and tugged her back. “I need to do something about your sassiness,” he snarled.

“And I need to do something about your arrogance,” she snarled back.

They stared long and hard at each other, and then it suddenly occurred to them that their breathing pattern had changed. They were breathing out a different kind of fire. Not one of anger, but one of desire. Jules wasn't sure who made the first move, and she didn't care. All she knew was that suddenly her back was on the mattress, and his hands were touching her everywhere. His mouth followed as his teeth raked across the skin his hands had stroked.

She sucked in a shallow breath. His touch was filling her with a longing she had never imagined. Her entire body tingled with awareness, and shivers escalated down her spine.

“You never said whether or not you missed me, Jules,” he said, his voice feeling like corn silk on her skin. He had paused from sucking on one of her nipples, but his hands were still planted firmly between her legs.

“Didn't I?” she asked, barely getting the words out.

“No, you didn't. And I think I sufficiently proved how much I missed you last night.”

Yes, he had. Almost too much. And in the most raw, sexual way. Primitive at its best. All last night and the early part of this morning. Before daybreak. “I owe you.”

“And don't think I won't collect.”

He used his knees to spread her thighs and a moan escaped from her lips when he entered her, pushing his engorged shaft inside her to the hilt. And he looked down at her, laced his fingers with hers when he began riding her hard. He established a rhythm. She didn't know the lyrics, but she understood the melody each and every time his hips slammed down into hers. They were making music, composing a song. One that would blow up the charts. It had a crazy beat and an intense tune.

She needed to lose herself in this particular song, and he was making it happen with each and every stroke. Strumming her like a guitar. Beating down on her like drums. Playing her like a finely tuned piano. And when her body exploded at the same time his did, she felt she was experiencing more than sensuous music. Dalton had played the entire song using every single instrument.

And moments later when he moved his weight off her and pulled her gently into his arms, kissing the side of her flushed cheeks, she felt drained, exhausted but pleasured in every inch of her body.

* * *

Jules woke up an hour or so later to find Dalton staring down at her with tension in his face. This time was worse than before. “I hope you're on the Pill.”

She wiped sleep from her eyes and yawned. “And if I'm not?”

Dalton frowned. “Please say that you are.”

“Why, aren't you ready to become a daddy?”

“Jules...”

“Okay, I'm on the Pill. What happened? Broke another rule?”

“Yes,” he said grudgingly, lying back down and staring up at the ceiling fan over his bed and feeling as though his entire effing mind was about to detonate. How had he let this happen? Unprotected sex. A woman spending the night in his bed. Jeez.

No woman had gotten laid in his bed, had ever been invited to his house, not even for a quickie. He didn't give out his address and rarely gave out his phone number. For him, most encounters were one and done, pound and gone. He might take someone out to dinner and then to a hotel, or to her place if he was invited, but that was as far as it went.

Maybe if he were to go back to sleep and wake up, it would all be a bad dream. But deep down, he knew there was nothing bad about what he'd experienced with Jules...except the unprotected sex part.

“Well, I'm on the Pill, and I don't have a cold.”

He glanced over at her. “What the hell does a cold have to do with anything?”

“Plenty. How do you think Shana got pregnant? She and Jace
were
using protection, but Shana was taking antibiotics, so her Pill didn't work.”

Dalton rolled his eyes. “Oh, is that what happened?”

“Yes. Didn't Jace tell you anything about it?”

“He told me she was pregnant and, trust me, that was enough.”

“Now you see how accidents can happen,” she said, easing out of bed.

Dalton tried not to notice her naked body when his shaft began throbbing again. “Not an accident. Carelessness.”

“Doesn't matter—it wasn't intentional. Like I'm sure if something goes wrong and I end up pregnant, I won't blame you.” She smiled over at him. “I will at first, but then I'll get over it.”

He sprinted from the bed and grabbed for her, but this time she was too quick and slammed the bathroom door before he could reach her. In a way, he was glad. He needed the solitude to think...bash his head against the bedpost a few times. To figure out what in the hell was happening to him. Breaking one rule was bad enough, but then a second? Both in the same night and with the same woman. Shit. How crazy could one man get?

She cracked open the door and poked her head out. “Hey, why don't you have extra toiletries in your bathroom, just in case you have an overnight guest or something?”

Dalton drew in a deep breath. Hadn't he told her he didn't have overnight guests? “Because I don't. Sue me.”

“Lucky for you, I keep a little overnight bag in the trunk of my car. You never know when I might have to take a flight at the last minute. Would you be so kind as to go out to my car and get it? I would go, but I don't want Stonewall to see me naked.”

Hell, he didn't want Stonewall to see her naked, either. “Fine. Where are your car keys?”

“In my purse. I think it's still at your front door where you made me drop it.” She pulled her head back into the bathroom and closed the door.

He got up and grabbed his bathrobe off the back of a chair, glancing at the clock on his nightstand.
Shit.
That time couldn't be right. He slid his feet into his bedroom shoes. “Jules, it's almost eleven o'clock,” he called out to her, hoping she'd heard him through the closed door.

She opened the door and poked her head out again. He could hear the shower going. “I know, and today is when we're meeting with your father's attorney. At two. I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday.”

Her eating schedule was the last thing on his mind. Jace and Caden were probably wondering where he was. Why he hadn't come into the office today. It was a wonder they hadn't called.

He moved quickly through his living room and found her purse right where she had dropped it. He remembered he hadn't given her time last night to get inside the door before he was all over her. The memories of taking her against the door sent ripples of pleasure through him.

He opened the front door and peeped out. The parking lot of his condo appeared almost empty, with most people away at work. The only cars were his, Stonewall's and Jules's.

Stonewall.
Of all the times he wished he didn't have a bodyguard, today was it. Stonewall's windows were up, and since they were tinted, he had no idea whether the man was awake or napping. Hopefully, Stonewall wouldn't notice him. Tightening his bathrobe against the biting cold, he walked past Stonewall's vehicle, opened Jules's trunk and grabbed the overnight bag.

He thought he had made it without being noticed when Stonewall rolled the window down, looked over at him and smiled. “Morning, Dalton. Sleep well?” Dalton ignored the man and kept walking until he was back inside his condo and then slammed the door shut.

“Dalton, I need my stuff,” Jules called from the bathroom. “We have less than three hours to make that meeting, and I have to go home, change clothes and grab something to eat.”

He walked back to his bedroom and knocked on the bathroom door. He barely heard her above the shower as she called, “Just leave the bag on the vanity.”

He opened the door and was about to do just that when he saw her in the shower through the glass door. They had showered together in Miami. So why was seeing her in
his
shower, using
his
water and
his
soap causing such a possessive reaction from him? Why was he thinking that everything in this place was
his
...including her?

He placed the bag on top of the vanity and slid out of his robe. Surprise shone on Jules's face when he snatched open the shower door and stepped in. She backed up. “What do you think you're doing?”

“About to take you in my shower,” he said directly, reaching out and pulling her to him.

She placed her wet hands on his chest. “We don't have time.”

He pushed her back against the shower wall and lifted her hips as she wrapped her legs around his waist, the water spraying down on them. “We're going to make time.”

Thirty-Two

T
hey were late. Not much, but late, nonetheless. And when they walked in together, all eyes turned their way. “Sorry I'm late,” Jules said, sliding into one of the first empty seats she saw.

Leaving me to fend for myself
, Dalton thought. “Sorry I'm late, as well.” And because he figured there was speculation circling around the room because he and Jules had walked into the conference room together, he said, “I bumped into Jules downstairs and helped her get through security.”

He figured that lie had gone over well with Carson, but with Shana and his brothers, he wasn't sure. In a way, it hadn't exactly been a lie. He'd been bumping into Jules for most of the past twelve hours.

“No problem. We haven't started discussing anything. Just chitchatting,” Carson said, smiling. She then turned her attention to Jules. “I understand you've been busy.”

Jules nodded. “Yes, I have. Has anyone filled you in?”

Carson shook her head. “No. I'd prefer that you do it. As an attorney, I prefer not to hear important information secondhand.”

Jules nodded and began talking. Dalton noticed how attentive Carson was to what Jules was saying, only interrupting to clarify a few points. He watched as she jotted information down on a notepad, but otherwise her gaze stayed glued to Jules.

When Jules had finished covering everything, Carson pushed her notepad aside. “Although Ivan Greene and his parents, until they are fully ruled out, should be considered persons of interest, we can't place all our attention on them. I would love to know what Imerson had in that report, as well, but we can't waste time going backward. We have to build our own report, and hopefully in that process we will find out some of the same things he did.”

“And they were things that got him killed,” Shana said pointedly, staring across the table at her sister.

“Yes,” Carson said, nodding. “Sheppard certainly believes that, and from what you've garnered from that police report, Jules, there might be something there. If so, I hope you understand the risk you're taking by becoming involved in this case.”

“The work I do does involve a certain amount of risk so, yes, I understand.”

“And I hope you understand there's a strong possibility that once I share everything with Sheppard, he might not want you handling the investigation.”

Jules nodded. “I've thought of that, too, considering how protective he is of everyone, and I can understand and appreciate that. But regardless, Carson, I intend to finish what I started, with or without Mr. Granger's blessing. And you can tell him that.” She paused briefly and then added, “Respectfully, of course.”

Carson grinned. “I most certainly will.” She leaned back to relax in her chair. “So now, is there anything any of us can do to help move the process along?”

“Yes, there is,” Jules said, pulling out her cell phone to check the notes she'd made earlier.

Dalton had been with her then. He'd watched her, fascinated by how her fingers had moved on her smartphone, although he didn't have a clue what notes she'd made. All he could think about while watching her was how those same fingers had gripped him, stroked him and led him to her mouth.

The thoughts made him shift in his chair. They had left his house at the same time today and had grabbed something to eat at one of the restaurants nearby. He felt the least he could do was feed her since he had been responsible for her missing two meals. And he had to admit he'd been pretty damned hungry himself.

“First of all, Jace and Shana.”

Dalton could tell his brother and sister-in-law were surprised when Jules called out their names.

“Yes?”

“Yes?”

“I would like a list of everyone who attended your dinner party. I understand there were some people there you didn't know because of uninvited guests tagging along, but I want a list just the same.”

Jace nodded. “No problem. And just to make you aware, there were video cameras in place that night.”

Dalton sat up straight. “Video cameras?”

Jace shifted his glance to Dalton and smiled. “Yes, video cameras.” He paused as if he wanted that to sink in with Dalton before swinging his gaze back to the others. “It was Quasar's idea.”

“And a good one,” Jules said, nodding.

She wouldn't think so if there had been a camera out on the patio that night
, Dalton thought. He cleared his throat. “Where were the cameras located?”

Jace shrugged as he glanced back at Dalton. “They were strategically positioned in various places.”

Cut the crap, Jace
, Dalton wanted to say. “Exactly where?”

Jace smiled. “Here and there. Is there a particular place you're interested in?”

Dalton figured his brother knew what he was getting at, since he had walked in on him and Jules kissing on the patio. “We'll discuss this later.”

Jules, who at some point had caught on, hurriedly said, “And Caden?”

“Yes.”

“I retrieved my audio notes when I interviewed you regarding that attempt made on your life. You mentioned how the Greenes were treating you rather poorly at Shiloh's wine boutique open house, and you led me to believe others were doing so, as well. I'd like names.”

Caden nodded. “The only other person whom I recall acting like a bit of a jerk that night was Sedrick Timmons. Everyone else was pretty friendly.”

Jules lifted a brow. “Dr. Sedrick Timmons? Shiloh's brother?”

“Yes, but I will admit he thought he may have had a reason to feel some animosity toward me. He wasn't too keen on Shiloh and me getting back together. He spent quite a bit of time hanging out with the Greenes that night, and I'm sure they were filling his head with lies about me.”

“Lies about what?”

“I have no clear idea, but I can speculate now that it might have had something to do with the affair between Michael Greene and my mother. As you know, I didn't even know anything had been going on between them at the time, and I didn't find out until during our interview.”

“Yes, I remember that. What about Shiloh and Sedrick's mother, Sandra Timmons? From Manning's research, I see she and Sylvia Granger were good friends at some point. I will need to interview her as well as Sedrick. Maybe Sedrick can shed some light on why the Greenes were so hateful to you that night. Ivan Greene certainly wouldn't tell me when I asked him about it. I've also compiled a list of people who were members of the country club that your parents were close friends with at one time. I intend to interview them as well as try to determine why they were so quick to believe your father was guilty.”

Jules then glanced back over at Jace. “And I'll need permission to review Granger employment records of one of your former employees, namely Michael Greene.”

“That won't be a problem,” Jace said evenly. “Just say when.”

“Thanks, and one other thing.”

“What?” Jace asked.

“I need access to the boathouse.”

* * *

After the meeting, Shana pulled Jules aside. “You did a great job in there. I'd forgotten how meticulous you are during your investigations. You don't believe in leaving any stones unturned, do you?”

Jules smiled. “Not on my watch.”

Shana studied her sister. “Where were you last night?”

Jules lifted a brow. “Why you want to know?”

“Because Dad was looking for you. He was concerned since he hadn't heard from you in a few days.”

Jules drew in a deep breath. “I know. I need to call him. I've been super busy.”

“That's what I told him, but I think you're the person who should tell him why. I'm not sure how he's going to feel about you handling the Sylvia Granger investigation and the risks involved.”

Jules waved away her sister's words. “I'll be fine.”

“Jules, we can't help but worry. Take care of yourself.” Shana turned to walk off but then stopped and leaned in to whisper, “And that's an awesome-looking hickey on the right side of your neck.”

When Jules blushed and quickly slapped her hand over that part of her neck, Shana chuckled and said, “Gotcha. I was just teasing. There's no hickey, but the mere thought that you believed there was lets me know what you were doing last night. I just have to figure out with whom.”

* * *

“So, Dalton, you were late for our meeting with Carson because you were delayed getting Jules through building security?” Caden asked, coming to stand beside his brother.

“That's what I said, isn't it?”

“Yes, but it's what you're not saying that has me worried.”

Dalton shook his head. “You know, Caden, since you've been married you haven't made much sense. Maybe you need to get back into playing your sax to calm your mind.”

“I do play my sax, and my mind is calm. I'm not the one who's worried about where those cameras were located at Shana's dinner party.”

His brother's comments reminded Dalton he needed to talk to Jace. “Whatever. Now, excuse me for a minute.” He quickly walked over to catch Jace before he left the room.

“Jace?”

“Yes?”

“About those video cameras?”

Jace leaned back against the table. “What about them?”

“Were there any positioned out on the patio?”

Jace smiled. “I figured that's what you were worried about.”

Dalton rolled his eyes. “Well, were there?”

Jace rubbed his chin. “Umm, let me think.”

“Cut the crap. You know if there were or not.”

“Yes, I do know, and there weren't. But there were cameras positioned to show who came and went off the patio, just in case private meetings were taking place. Like the one you and Jules were holding.”

“We weren't holding a private meeting that night. And we merely kissed. No big deal.”

“Really? Then why were you so concerned about whether or not you were captured on video?”

“Just safeguarding my privacy.”

“What about your privacy, Dalton?” Shana asked, joining them.

“Nothing,” Dalton quickly replied noticing, in his peripheral vision, that Jules, who'd been talking to Caden, was leaving.

At that moment, Sarah Pecorino, one of the executive administrative assistants, entered the boardroom appearing flustered as she approached Jace.

“Sarah, is there anything wrong?” Jace asked.

“Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Granger, but there is someone here to see you. Security has detained her, and I told them to let her know you were in a meeting. However, they say that she's very insistent.”

Dalton turned his head to keep from chuckling, knowing immediately who was demanding Jace's attention. Evil Eve had arrived in town. And Dalton could tell from Jace's expression that he knew, as well, but his brother still questioned Sarah.

“Who is she?”

Ms. Pecorino raised her chin. “I spoke with her, and she told me to tell you she's Mrs. Jace Granger.”

“Well, she told you wrong, Sarah. As you can see, the only Mrs. Jace Granger is standing right here beside me,” Jace said, indicating Shana.

“I know, sir, and she said you would say that. And she told me when you did to remind you that she was the first.”