The Innocent Liar (12 page)

“Against your will?”

She nodded, and he kissed the side of her neck. She couldn’t seem to let go of her memories, and she fought to get back to this place.

She finally gave up and pulled away from him. “You’re going to be late.” His eyes watched her as she picked up her T-shirt and pulled it back over her head. He didn’t seem upset; hell he didn’t even seem shocked. He just watched. He sat on the side of her bed, parting his legs, and then he reached for her waist. He guided her between his legs, wrapping his arms around her and snuggling against her belly. She finally relaxed, running her hands slowly through his hair.

When he pulled her down to straddle his hips there was nothing sexual about it, aside from the hard arousal trapped by his pants, but he didn’t push her. He kissed her gently, and even that was more sweet than sexy. He kissed slowly, never pushing past her lips, just sucking one gently between his, before claiming the other. He pulled back, looking at her, and his broad strong hands clasped her lower back as she leaned back, sitting on his thighs.

“You’re surprisingly…gentle…and…” She suddenly closed her mouth.

“The word you’re looking for is nice.”

It
was
the word she was looking for, but that would have been offensive. The amused look on his face said it wasn’t, even if it ought to be.

She nodded. “Yes, frankly.”

“I have to go. Talk to Jake.” He kissed her once more, standing and letting her down to the ground, and then she was alone.

Chapter Twenty-Two

E
li was back in the shop, working on some projects within an hour and a half, and when Aaron came in, stomping snow off his feet, he started chuckling. He’d called Aaron the evening before, asking him to get a butt-crack of dawn start toward Cody with the new bed. Aaron had grumbled until Eli offered to give him half a day off at his choosing in exchange, and now the man was standing in front of them, chuckling, and Eli was stressing the hell out. He really hadn’t expected Aaron to come back to the shop after a day on the road.

“Boss, you must have been having fun in Cody to pull that off.” And he went back to laughing. Aaron was usually gruff and stern; hell, it’s why Eli had sent him to Cody to collect the damaged bed and drop off the new one. He had been hoping for a bit of discretion or at least not enough interest to instigate a conversation. Eli stilled as the men looked at him. Naturally, they were all in the room.

“What’s he talking about?” Mike asked him curiously.

“Nothing.” He was speaking quietly but not quietly enough.

“Nothing?” More laughter as Aaron held up the two broken pieces of spindle. “Does this look like nothing?”

“What is it?” Mike again, and Eli just started shaking his head.

“It’s just a…a stair spindle. It’s nothing.”

“Looks a bit short to be a stair—”

“Try headboard.”

He hated Aaron at that moment, and as the laughter continued, Eli closed his eyes. When he opened them, Mike was chuckling quietly beside him, Aaron was still laughing like an idiot, Chris was humping nothing at all like a buffoon and grunting in a way that would terrify the average woman, and Jake was glaring at him.

“That’s just fucking great!” Jake’s words snapped out as he threw the orbital sander in his hand across the room, shattering it against the wall. The room went silent as Jake turned and walked briskly away toward the break room, and when Eli’s eyes returned to the remaining men, they were all studying him.

He ignored their stares as he walked toward the break room. Keeping his fury in check was going to be a struggle, but he reminded himself just how much he understood this jealousy. Hell, he’d struggled with it plenty himself in regards to Fiona. When he pushed the break room door open, Jake was pacing.

“You going to replace my fucking sander?” His voice was louder than he wanted it to be.

“You gonna replace
her
once you get bored fucking her?”

“My relationship with Fiona is none of your business, and I’m not going to tolerate you acting like a damn lunatic.”

“Just couldn’t keep your dick out of her, could you? Candace first, and now Fiona. You waited for something better to come along and dumped Candy so you could move on to the next one.”

“You don’t know anything about my—”

“You’re an asshole, Eli. I know
that
. You’ll hurt her, and you fucking well know it. She deserves better than you, and I thought you had enough respect for her not to do this. Guess you’re just as pathetic and selfish as I always took you to be.” He walked out, leaving Eli to stare at the floor.

He felt like an asshole most of the time, and Jake certainly wasn’t the first person to tell him as much, but he hadn’t even managed to mount a defense to that. He was too stunned to even think of defending himself, and he was furious that Jake had left him speechless. Eli didn’t give the last word to another man unless he intended to, and that asshole had taken it from him before Eli could even react. The truth behind Jake’s words was what had caught Eli off guard, or was it the fear? He didn’t want to hurt Fiona, but he couldn’t say he trusted himself not to. He
was
an asshole, and there were few who saw him as anything more.

He wanted to think he could protect her, care for her, but who the hell was he to think he was even capable? Maybe if she trusted him more she would share her secrets with him. But she clearly didn’t, and who the hell would blame her? He stared at the floor as he walked back to the workshop. When he entered, all focus was on him except Jake’s, who was conveniently picking up broken pieces of orbital sander off the floor.

“Go home, Jake.” His voice was cold and flat, and Jake righted his posture as he stood, squaring off with him.

“You firing me for having an opinion?”

“No. I’m sending you home for having a temper tantrum and acting like a child.” He glared, refusing to look away until Jake followed his order.

Jake dumped the pieces of the sander into the garbage, grabbed his coat from the rack on the wall, and stalked out the door without even putting it on.

When Eli’s eyes returned to the men, he was still glaring. “I don’t want to hear another
fucking
word about that damn spindle.”

It was his turn to stalk then, and he did—straight up to his office, slamming his door shut. He should have known not to expect peace and quiet though, and moments later, Mike popped his head in. He didn’t wait for an invitation. He strolled across the office, sitting in the chair and making himself at home.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“I’m a man. I don’t talk.”

“You mean you’re Eli, and you don’t talk. Don’t pretend it has anything to do with your testosterone level.”

Eli watched Mike intently for a moment. “I like her.”

“No shit.” Mike rolled his eyes as he spoke.

“I really like her.”

“I’m happy for you.” The look on his face was genuine.

“You mean you’re scared for her?”

Mike’s eyes dropped to the desktop between them and his brow furrowed. He looked back up at Eli with sadness or maybe frustration. “How long have we known each other?”

“You remember full well. I was thirteen and in your woodworking class at the rec center.”

“Ah, yes. Even longer than that if you consider we actually met at your mom and Tom’s wedding. But for the most part, yes, thirteen, and you were going crazy according to your parents, hence the need for a hobby. Isn’t that right?”

“I was going through a difficult phase.”

“My point is, I know you. I’ve known you more than half your life. You’re a good man, Eli.”

“And I think you’re crazy for thinking so.”

“And I think you’re exceptionally good at underestimating yourself. I’m an old man now, but if memory serves, you always have been. You have your reasons, but—”

“Jake thinks I’ll hurt her.” Eli looked out the window then. “Maybe he’s right.”

“Jake may very well be a decent and kind man, and don’t think I’m not well aware that it drives you crazy—”

“See! A man driven crazy by the sight of a
decent
man. What the hell does that say about me?”

“I was going to say you’re driven crazy with jealousy.”

“Oh, because that’s so much better.” He was not amused.

“And then, I was going to say you shouldn’t be. You’re just as decent. Jake doesn’t realize that. That’s his shortcoming. The fact you don’t realize it too and are so eager to believe him, that’s your shortcoming.”

Eli looked back out the window, refusing to buy into Mike’s decency theory. Mike eventually shook his head and stood, leaving Eli in silence. Eli quickly packed up the designs he was working on and left. He was only going to drive himself mad staying at the workshop, and when he ran back downstairs, Mike watched him curiously.

“Mike, can you lock up?”

“Of course.” And then he escaped.

Chapter Twenty-Three

F
iona loved it when the workshop was clean. She didn’t necessarily enjoy the cleaning, but it was quite an impressive place when it wasn’t buried under a layer of sawdust. She looked around, taking in her accomplishment, and she sighed. She’d been antsy all evening, and the workshop had proven to be a good distraction. She’d come down at three thirty expecting to find Jake. She owed him a conversation she didn’t really want to have, but he was gone, and when she asked where he was, no one really seemed to want to answer. She got the same noncommittal answers when she asked where Eli was. She also got a terribly difficult to read pat on the back from Mike that left her confused.

His eyes were saying something, but she’d be damned if she could figure it out. Sadness? Awe at something? It was bizarre, and as she started collecting garbage, he continued to watch her curiously. It set a strange mood for her evening that was perpetuated by Eli’s absence. She’d wanted to see him. It had been awkward when he’d come to the loft earlier in the day, or maybe it wasn’t awkward, but things had gone from one emotional extreme to the other. She’d been ready to scream at him for the first five minutes, then nearly wilting with need the next ten, and then catatonically in a stupor after that. She’d opened her mouth. She couldn’t seem to stop opening her mouth and divulging things she wasn’t entirely sure she really wanted him to know. But that was just it. She couldn’t really say she didn’t want him to know at all. She was terrified for him to know, but she wanted him to anyway.

Now he was gone, and she didn’t have a clue how to feel about it. If he’d said goodbye, said he was leaving, stayed until the shop closed, she could rest in peace, but instead, he was gone by the time she came downstairs, and no one seemed to want to explain why he’d gone home early.

Every time she thought she was done cleaning, she’d find something new to clean, and she’d get distracted again. She obviously needed to be sidetracked or she wouldn’t be so
easily
sidetracked. Self-regulating emotions. That was her gig apparently. When the exterior door was suddenly pushed open, she jumped. Eli was there, staring at her from twenty feet away. He smirked, but there was something off with him, and the expression fell from his face quickly. Maybe he was still fuming about her less than forthright handling of Jake. She’d thought he was past that earlier in the day, given his desire to have sex with her, but she supposed perhaps the two weren’t necessarily related. She likely didn’t know him well enough to judge just how much his emotional state was attached to his penis. She’d liked his penis so much, she hadn’t given it much thought, but now, watching the serious expression on his face, she wasn’t at all sure what to think.

She forced herself to smile, even as she took in his rather serious expression. “Are you all right?”

He nodded and walked slowly toward her but said nothing.

“You left early today.” Her unease grew when he simply nodded again, still walking tauntingly slow and searing into her with his dark eyes. “Everyone was acting…odd.”

He cocked his head to the side like an inquisitive dog, but he kept the gait of his feet deliberate and steady.

“I was worried.” She let out a gasp of breath as he stepped right up to her, looking down.

“You talk too much.”

“I don’t!” She balked. She did too, and she knew it well. Especially when she was nervous, and she was certainly that at the moment.

“You do. Perhaps you could stop for long enough to fuck me? I
was
thinking I’d like to be behind you, but now that I actually see those beautiful blue eyes looking at me, I can’t really stomach letting go of the sight of them, and all I want is you watching me. Take your clothes off.”

He undressed as she did, and soon they were standing naked in front of one another. He was aroused already, and she was too, and as she watched him tear into a condom packet and roll the sheath down the length of his erection, her wetness intensified and she whimpered. She’d barely had a chance to look at him fully aroused the other night, and now, he was letting her see everything she could want to see. She knew he was large, but standing across from her, erect and in full light, she was certain he was the largest man she’d ever seen by a long shot.

He pushed his body up against hers as she leaned back to the workbench and trailed her hands over his chest.

“Turn around.” He leaned to her ear. “After we make love, I’m going to take you home with me and run us a hot bath. I’m going to keep you all weekend, and I’m going to keep fucking you.” He was kissing her neck, lifting her hair as he moved around the back, sucking gentle kisses along the nape. “And come Monday morning.” Kiss. “You’re going to be exhausted.” Another kiss. “I’m going to be exhausted.” A nip on the top of her shoulder. “And you’re never going to want to let me go.”

He then let his mouth kiss a slow trail down her back to the cheeks of her bottom. He gripped her hips and turned her body back around as his kisses trailed over her hip and then up over her belly. He was kneeling in front of her at this point, staring up at her as he stroked her tummy, kissed her skin, and focused on her eyes.

When he was once again standing in front of her, he lifted her to straddle his hips. He walked to a nearby stool, with a hand under each of her legs. As he lowered her to the seat of the tall stool, he let his cock impale her slowly as she sank down. She cried out at the invasion, and he pulled her hips to teeter on the edge of the seat, tilting them slightly to his angle.

He started thrusting, and she whimpered as he pushed deep and hard into her depths. She was clenching him, quivering around his length. He clasped her lower back with one hand, and his other clutched her cheek, running his thumb over her trembling lower lip. And then he pounded. Her breasts bounced slightly with every swift penetration, and in her self-consciousness she crossed her arms on her chest. He smirked for a second but pulled her arms free, so he could see her. He studied the way her tits moved with every invasion, and his face looked pained as his arousal mounted.

Regardless of her nerves, it took her little time to come, and when she did, he clutched her up in his arms, sinking into her and holding her tight as he came inside her. She could feel him pulsing, and she was whimpering against his neck as her muscles trembled and constricted around his spasming erection, and as he groaned, he sank to the floor of the shop with her in his lap, still fully embedded in her body.

It had been fast, furious, rushed, and completely hasty, but it felt perfectly right after a bizarre and tense day that had left her uneasy and unsure what to think about him and unsure what he thought about her. They stayed there on the floor panting as he nuzzled into her neck, and then he finally lifted her and carried her up to her shower.

“I can kidnap you and take you home with me just as easily tomorrow morning as I can tonight. Can we just stay here?” She was relieved as she nodded. Her body was exhausted, and all she wanted was to be curled up next to him. She drifted off quickly when he finally got her into bed.

“No…no, Dad, please…Don’t hurt her.”

Fiona was touching Eli’s arm, waiting for him to wake, but he was stuck in whatever sort of hell included a dad that hurt women. What woman?

“Fiona!” He sat bolt upright in bed as he yelled her name, and she sat up, trying not to panic, but it was the sound of his voice that scared her. His terror easily gave rise to hers, and even knowing she was safe and it was nothing more than a bad dream didn’t lessen the effect of his tone.

“Eli?” Her voice was quiet.

His body trembled as he sat staring into the darkness. She could easily see his silhouette against the bright night sky, and his lips were parted as he panted and struggled to overcome whatever nightmare had terrified him so much.

He turned to her, and his panting increased as he clutched at her cheeks, pulling her to him. “Fuck, fuck, oh, fuck.” His voice was lurching as he spoke.

She waited. She didn’t know how to fix this. Hell, she didn’t even know what
this
was. She ran her hand down the side of his face, feeling the stubble of a long day, and he dropped his forehead to her shoulder.

“What can I do?”

He shook his head as he rested against her. “Nothing. I’ll be fine. Just a bad dream.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. Go back to sleep.” He pulled her down to lie facing him, and she snuggled into his chest, listening to his heart thump furiously. She heard as the anxiety passed and his heart relaxed again into a gentle lulling monotony.

It wasn’t the only time she woke that night, and it wasn’t the only time he did either. When she rolled over expecting to feel his body, there was nothing but the silhouette of his frame sitting on the edge of the bed against the night sky as he looked out into the darkness.

“Did you have another bad dream?”

He turned to her but said nothing. When she climbed up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist, she tried again. “Please talk to me.”

“I’ll tell you everything you want to know when you decide to do the same.” His voice was quiet as he spoke, and she let go of her hold on him, scooting back to sit at the head of the bed.

“I can’t…”

“Forget I asked. I know you’re not supposed to talk about it.” He stood then, walking away to the dining room table where he’d left his clothes. She listened as he quietly dressed, and when he spoke again he was standing by the door. “I can’t…I’ll be back.”

He slipped out the door, and she sat there quietly saying nothing. The man was an emotional yo-yo if she’d ever met one. He left her feeling worshipped and adored one moment, and then terrified he’d walk away the next. No part of her actually thought it was intentional. He seemed far beyond enjoying or wanting her pain, but she just couldn’t figure him out.

Apparently, when he said, “I’ll be back,” he didn’t mean anytime soon, and it was well after two in the morning by the time she realized it wasn’t worth staying awake for the event. She fell asleep upset, and she hoped like hell she wouldn’t wake that way.

The sun was annoyingly bright in the sky as it disturbed Fiona’s rather restless sleep. When she growled in irritation, she was shocked to hear a warm chuckling sound coming from the foot of the bed. She was laying naked nearly on her stomach with her leg pulled up to her side, and as her focus shifted to the footboard, where Eli was watching, she instantly tried to lower her leg and grab for the sheet.

“Don’t you dare.” His eyes were taunting and so was his nudity, which didn’t seem to bother him in the least. He was leaning back against the footboard with his knees up and his legs open just a bit—only enough that she was afforded a perfect line of sight between his strong calves and thighs to his groin. He was aroused, and his testicles sat heavy and large on the bed.

“This is making me uncomfortable.”

“
This
should be a walk in the park in comparison to fucking under the bright shop lights last night.”

“Why did you leave?”

She killed his playful mood in one fell swoop, but he wasn’t upset, just serious. “I needed to think.”

“About me?”

“Trust me, I do plenty of that.” His smile was small.

“I meant about us.”

“So did I.” His face was serious again.

“Bad stuff?”

She was still peering over her shoulder at him, and he studied her, letting his foot trail out and stroke gently along her calf. “I suppose that’s the abbreviated version. I have concerns I was trying to figure out.”

Her heart started racing as she watched him. It was a pathetic anxiety inducing statement to hear. “What does that mean?”

He continued to watch her, stroking his toes along the length of her calf. “You make me want to give…a lot without getting much in return.”

She could feel her brow flinching.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he continued, “you gave me plenty last night, but I’m not talking about sex. You want openness, and that’s hard for me, especially when I know so little about you.”

“But—”

“I’m at a disadvantage with you, and for a man who doesn’t often find himself in that position and, in fact, avoids it at all cost, it’s difficult.”

She rolled to her back, and his eyes slowly drifted from her eyes down to her breasts and then finally down to her groin. When she sat up, pulling her knees up, he sighed in mock frustration.

“I was looking at something. Do you mind?” He cocked his head, wedging his hand between her knees and pulling one of her legs open to expose her to him.

“And here I thought you were upset with me.”

He pounced then, pushing between her legs and pinning her back to the bed.

His chest pushed into hers as he breathed deeply and steadily on top of her. “Don’t tempt me to get upset. I assure you, it’s what I want to do. It’s also what I’m trying not to do.” His eyes were threatening to make good on his statement.

“Ask me something not off limits then.” She leaned to his neck, biting him. She was trying for playful, but when he moaned and his cock twitched between her legs, she realized she might have missed the mark thinking there was anything playful about her mouth on his neck.

“Fake boobs? Alien locator implant? Do you turn into a pumpkin at midnight?”

She watched him hesitantly. She knew very well that his joking was laced with annoyance, and she wasn’t going to play into it until she knew it was safe to. He nuzzled into her neck for a moment, and when he pulled back, he cupped her cheeks and pulled her mouth to his.

She broke away first, and she studied him. “My boobs are my own, I will absolutely turn into a pumpkin at midnight if you piss me off, and I suppose it’s possible I have an alien locator devise implanted in my butt. Who would really know with a butt the size of mine?” Her lips pursed in a smile, and after studying her for a moment, his lips pulled up.