Beautiful Innocence (15 page)

My hands run under her dress, feeling her wet skin, and I grab the hem and lift it inch by inch. With each inch I kiss the newly exposed skin until I reach her breasts. “Hands up.” She lifts her arms. I kiss her nose and then quickly remove her dress and drop it on the floor. Once she’s fully naked, I softly smile and step out of the tub. I don’t offer my hand this time. Instead I lift her into my arms, and pull her to my chest as her legs wrap around my waist. Her ankles rest on my back, digging in and almost send me over the edge.

Her mouth latches onto mine and we kiss until we’re back in my room. Gently I place her down on my bed. The only thing I can hear is the sound of our breathing and the racing of our heartbeats. I push her knees gently back and slip between her thighs, leaning her all the way back. I wrap my hand around the back of her neck, twirling strands of wet hair around my finger. She grips my forearm, staring into my eyes. Unable to hold on anymore, I plunge inside of her, taking her breath away with mine. I close my eyes, letting myself enjoy the way she feels as I move inside her and how she moves with me. When I come back to her, I stare into her beautiful face as her mouth slightly parts and soft moans escape. She closes her eyes, but I want to see them. I love getting lost in them, especially when she falls apart. “Don’t close your eyes,” I tell her.

They spring open and stare up at me and I see it. I see the heated look of what she’s feeling right now and want to show her I feel the same way, so I lean down and capture her mouth and kiss her with everything I have. One hand snakes around her waist, pulling her up to me until she straddles my lap. Not once do I break the kiss or the connection of our bodies. I grab her hips and move my hands until I’m cupping her bottom. She rocks on top of me while my hands pull on her ass closer to keep the momentum going. I’m not going to make it much longer, listening to her soft moans and the occasional sound of my name. My hands dig into her hips as I feel myself coming undone and pray she’s following. “Baby, come with me.”

She screams my name once and then a few oh, gods. When she collapses back onto the bed, she’s smiling. I fall back and pull her top of me and nestle myself to her. I’m having a hard time catching my breath, knowing I will never be able to duplicate that ever, ever again, no matter how hard I try. Hell, and here I thought that night in the parking lot was going to be impossible to top.

We’ve both come down from the high and are lying in the quiet and the darkness of the room with just enough light streaming in for me to see her face. “Ava, that’s twice now we didn’t use protection. You need to call me on that, babe. I forget sometimes when I look at you.”

She runs her hands over my chest, and before I know it she’s seductively looking down at me as she hovers on top. “I’ll take care of it.” She pauses and reaches to my nightstand, holding up a condom. “Now, I’m reminding you.”

“Shit, you’re going to exhaust me woman.”

“If you don’t want to…” she teases as she starts to slide off me.

“Get back here. I’ll never say no to you.” I pull her down and roll on top and kiss every inch of her mouth. “You make the sweetest love, babe. It’s impossible to say no to you.”

She’s lying in my arms naked, after round two and quite possibly the best sex I’ve ever had in one night. I’ll never look at the tub the same again. I’m having trouble finding the words to tell her how I feel, so instead I showed her. I’m not one for tossing the big declaration out or love making but even I have to admit it was extremely different from what I’m used to, but also extremely amazing. And I’d trade all the fucking I’ve done in the past for a future of more of what we just did.

“What are you thinking about?”

“My stuff,” she answers after waiting a beat or two.

“What about it?”

“I noticed you placed it in the spare room.”

I sigh heavily. I did put in there, but probably not for the reason she’s thinking. “I don’t want you to think I’m pressuring you. My bed is open for you whenever you want to be in it, Ava. But if you feel like it’s all too much, I want to make sure you have your own space. That you have options.”

Ava stays quiet for several seconds, but then swings her leg over my thigh and pushes herself up until she’s on top. Her long hair hangs down, brushing my chest. “I like sleeping in your arms. It makes me feel safe.”

I push up on my elbows and kiss her lightly. “Then move your shit in here and stay.”

“How long will I stay for?”

I know what she wants to hear. Part of me is a little afraid to admit my feelings out loud, but I know she needs to hear something. “As long as you want to be in my bed, I want you in it.”

She shoots me a weak smile, so I continue. “Baby, I have never in my twenty-eight years wanted to end my day and start the next one with one women in my bed. So, yeah, I want you to stay, and most importantly, Ava, I want you to be comfortable staying.”

When she searches my eyes for a second I can sense she’s hesitant. “Is it too early to tell you that I have feelings for you?”

I fall back onto the pillow taking her with me, needing to be inside of her again. “No, because I have feelings for you, too.”

Ava’s been living with me for five days, and I’m surprised at how easy and nice it all is. I like holding her to me as we watch episode after episode of Cops. I like watching her brush her hair in the morning. I like watching her make our breakfast. I like everything about her being here. She’s home for the first time alone, until she heads out with her Aunt, but I got it locked and loaded while I’m at work. No one is getting in there.

“I think you might want to see this, Josh.”

I barely spare a glance up since something or someone has caught my eye on the surveillance tape from the bar from two nights prior. “What is it?”

“Another typed letter, but this time there’s a pic inside.”

That grabs my attention, so I freeze the screen.

“Where’s Ava today?” Dane asks, and I can tell whatever the letter says is making him hesitant to tell me.

“She went shopping with Angie, and then they were going to hit the super market. Why? What does it say?”

He scans it one last time before handing it over to me. When I look at the picture my heart skips a quick beat. I quickly peruse the letter.

Fuck!

We both stare at each other until Jason bursts through my door. “I just got your message. What’s up?”

Dane turns to Jason. “We think Ava’s mom was murdered.”

“What?”

He looks at the desk and focuses on the picture of a dead woman. “That’s doesn’t prove anything. You can’t even tell if it’s her, and once again it’s a typed letter.”

“I know, but we already know her wallet was picked up. Without her I.D. or anything else she can’t go anywhere, do anything. Somehow he’s getting the information that the average citizen can’t obtain. How would he know about the wallet and the bum?” I swing my gaze to Dane. “Do you think he hired a gun to look into Ava?”

He shrugs noncommittally.

I flick my eyes back to the screen and call them over. “Check this out.”

They come over and stand behind me. “There.” I point. “I’ve never seen this kid before in my life. It looks to me like he’s using that corner booth to hide himself, but look at his face when he spots Ava at the bar and then ducks out real quick.”

“All right, so someone needs to keep watch there. We need to keep those cameras going until we spot him again.”

“I’ll show Sam and Angie. We can’t be there all the time, Josh. They’ll call us if they spot him, or we’ll see him on the screen and then pick him up.” I start to stand, but he holds his hands up.

“Josh, do us a favor and relax. Go home to your girl and celebrate your birthday.”

“I almost forgot. Shit! Tell the girls I’ll come over tomorrow. We can celebrate then.”

I weave between them. “And do me a favor? Have Johnny tap into Annapolis’s police network. Something’s not adding up for me.” Johnny is our residential hacker extraordinaire. We try not to use his ridiculous capabilities so we don’t catch heat in the rare chance we get caught, but this is getting too real for me.

AVA

“Oh, no, what are you doing home so early?” I scream running my pink bag into the spare room, and toss it onto the bed.

Josh jogs up behind me and spins me around. “It smells amazing in here. What are you making me?”

I narrow my eyes, and slam my hands onto my hips. “Did you really think you’d get away with not telling me it was your birthday?”

His face warms with a sheepish grin, one that I love. “You making me a cake?”

“I am. Now go away so I can concentrate.”

He peeks his head around me and looks inside the room. “What’s in the bag?”

“You’re not supposed to see that. It’s a surprise for later.”

He pouts. “But I want to see it now.”

“Nope.” I shuffle past him and start toward the kitchen, but he lifts me up and carries me to the bed and plops me down.

“Put that on right now, so I can look at you. Please, babe, it’s my birthday.” He pouts and looks too adorable for me to say no to, and I know I won’t get out of here unless I do.

My gaze travels to my Victoria’s Secret bag. I was feeling brave earlier and didn’t even think about it, I just bought it. “I’ll put it on, but then I need to take it off, so I can save it for later.”

He tilts his head and grins. “That’s all I’m asking for is one small peek.”

Josh flops onto the bed as I head into the small bathroom to change.

“Take your hair down too, babe,” he yells.

I slip out of my clothes and slink into this baby blue nightie that has garters and stockings that go with it. Once I peer down and see how it all goes together, I quickly peek into the mirror at myself. “Holy shit! That’s me,” I mumble. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I can’t believe I look like this.

“Are you ready?” I yell back before opening the door.

“Absolutely,” he hollers, and I can tell he’s still on the bed from the distance of his voice.

Nervous, I open the door and tiptoe out into his view. His head lifts and he props himself up on his elbows, and he just stares with his mouth hanging open.

“Ava, get over here, baby.” His voice is rough and sexy and I love when his tone gets like that, but I also know what that tone means.

“You said just a peek.” I force myself to walk over to the bed and spin slowly around for him to get the full effect. I’m feeling rather daring these days, but it’s all because he makes me feel that way.

Josh slides off the bed and his hands run up the nightie until his warm hands are underneath and touching my waist. “I’m gonna take this off, but I want you to leave those damn, hot as hell stockings on, okay?”

I back away, shaking my head. ‘Josh, it’s for later. I have a whole night planned out.”

The piercing screams of the alarm flooding the apartment bring both of us to a heart-wrenching stop. “Stay here,” he warns.

Oh, no! I run out and find him bent over, with the oven door open, smoke billowing out and his birthday cake ruined. “No, no, no, not again.” I fling open a few windows and grab a towel to fan the smoke detector. Josh takes the now ruined cake out of the oven and tosses the hot pans into the sink and then turns his eyes on me. The alarm finally settles. “We’ll go out for cake later, right now it’s go time, baby.” That’s all I hear before he sprints over and throws me over his shoulder, smacking my behind the entire way at my attempts to wriggle free.

It’s not that I don’t want to have pre-birthday fun, but I have everything planned, and he’s throwing it out of whack. He kicks the bedroom door shut and tosses me on the bed. He crooks his fingers, calling me to him as he rips off his shirt and then his pants. “Just ten minutes, baby, please? You look too beautiful for me to let you get dressed yet.” Josh says as he sits on the bed.

I press my lips together, trying to hold my smile in. I love gentle Josh, but sometimes-playful Josh is really nice too. “Fine. Ten minutes.”

Josh insists on going out for dinner after I gave in. I wanted to pay but he refused to let me. Two hours later we’re back home and snuggling in bed. He’s playing with my hair as he always does to put me to sleep. There’s just something about his hands buried in my hair, soothing me each night. “When’s your birthday?”

My heart stops. “What?”

“Your birthday, babe. You’ve never mentioned it.”

“It’s not until Fall.”

“What date?”

“October the fourth.” My words are shaky as I lie, hoping he doesn’t hear it in my voice. I figure if I give myself a couple of months, I might not even be here for him to reprimand me. Truth is my birthday is in four weeks, but I’m so afraid to tell him in fear that he’ll somehow discover my real age. We’re now eight years apart. I have no problem with the numbers, but I haven’t a clue if it bothers him.

“We should go somewhere special for it.” He’s still caressing my hair.

I gulp at his suggestion and how he still pictures us as a couple four months from now. “Okay,” I agree and then cuddle into his chest to prevent him from seeing my face. He says it always gives me away, so I’m not taking that chance tonight. I want him to have a special birthday and I don’t want to ruin it. I’ll tell him soon, I promise myself. It’s the last secret I’m keeping.

The next morning he’s off to work early, leaving me home alone. Even though there are cameras watching, I take that time to go through some photo albums I haven’t had a chance look at yet. Several hours later I’ve had no sign or word from him. I try to settle in watching television, but I get antsy. He told me not to leave, or to call before I do, and since I’m practically broke from my splurge on a nightie that I only got to wear for maybe five minutes before it was on the ground, I decide on taking a nice, warm bath.

After pulling all my hair up on top of my head and applying an egg wash on my face, I flip on his iPod, and then sink into the warmth of the tub. I prop my head onto one of his bath towels that I make into a pillow for my head and close my eyes.

I wake to a start as Josh flies inside, breathing harder than I’ve ever seen.