The Lies We Tell (16 page)

“Just us.” Sia pulled at his t-shirt. “Just you and me and the sun.”

Instead of coming to her, lying on her, thrilling her with the weight of his body, Todd pulled away. He stood and stepped off the blanket, looking down at her.

“This goes much better if we actually touch.”

“Shut up,” Todd said. “I want to take a moment to remember this. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those memories that I’ll want to be nice and clear when I’m on my deathbed.”

“Ah.” Sia stood. “Then if we’re after making some memories, let’s make them good ones.” She took hold of the bottom of her t-shirt and slowly drew it up over her head, tossing it to one side.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

She kicked off her sandals, reached for her jeans, undoing them and sliding them off her legs.

“Shame there’s no music. I’d love to watch you dance naked.”

“Next time.” Sia unclasped her bra and slowly drew it down her arms. The heat of the sun’s rays touched her breasts and she felt decadent and so alive.

“You were right. Sun on bare skin feels wonderful.”

Todd smiled, his eyes focussed on her fingers hooking into the elastic of her panties. “Water feels better.”

“That’s right — you owe me a date in your spa.” The cotton slipped down her legs, pooling at her feet. Sia stepped out of her panties and picked them up, dangling them from her fingertip for a moment before tossing them away.

She pressed her hand against her stomach, her skin tingling both from the heat of the sun and the heat in Todd’s eyes. She slowly smoothed her hands up her torso until she cupped her breasts, holding them out. Todd licked his lips as he stared at her and her nipples tightened in response to his need.

“You seem a little overdressed, lover.” She tweaked one of her nipples, loving the pulse that flared between her legs.

“Touch yourself,” Todd whispered. “Make yourself wet for me.”

Smiling, Sia trailed one hand down her body, over her stomach and hips, and dipped one finger between her legs. She touched her clitoris lightly, yet that pressure was enough to make her gasp.

“Ah, Sia.” Todd reefed his t-shirt over his head, revealing his perfectly formed chest. Hard pectorals, wide shoulders, narrowing down to clearly defined abs.

“You’re so beautiful.” Sia pushed her finger in deeper, spreading her lips and feeling moisture welling. “Sexy, stunning, incredible. One day, I’m going to paint you nude.” If there ever came a moment she could look at his body and be able to concentrate on work.

“Are you ready for me, sweetheart?” Todd pulled off his shoes and socks. Then he lowered his jeans and his erection reached hard toward his stomach.

“Not yet.” Sia circled her clitoris, teasing herself. “Soon.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“Anything.”

“Lie down. Spread your legs. Feel the sun on your pussy.”

Sia followed his instructions. It felt so incredibly wicked and wonderful, to be lying here fully open and with nothing between her and the elements.

Todd walked away, and Sia thought about lifting her head to follow his progress but instead she closed her eyes and arched her back, offering herself to the sun, the air and to him.

She felt him kneel between her outstretched legs, and wondered where he would touch her first. Breasts. Stomach. Thigh. Pussy. She wanted his touch everywhere.

Something brushed against the wet curls between her legs and she opened her eyes. Looking down, she watched in wonder as Todd caressed her with a rose bud he’d taken from the garden.

Her limbs quivered. It wasn’t arousing, the pressure was too slight for that, but it was so beautiful and perfect.

Todd was looking down at her and his face held such a rapturous joy that Sia’s heart exploded.

This wasn’t just about sex. She was falling in love with Todd Lansing.

Craving washed over her, deep and brutal. She needed him, inside her. Now.

“Todd…”

He caught her eye and smiled, his lips curving with satisfaction. “Not yet.” He lifted the bud and pulled one petal off it. He laid the flower on her, the bud resting between her breasts.

Then he pushed the petal against her clitoris. Sia gasped, her eyes shutting as her body tightened and shuddered.

“Todd. Please.”

“You beg so beautifully, Sia.” His fingers curled the scented bloom around her throbbing jewel. “I like hearing you beg.”

“I want you inside me.”

“Are you ready?” His finger moved and then he was pushing the petal inside her. A part of Sia’s mind told her it really felt no different than any other time he’d touched her so deeply but it was different — purer, sweeter, more tender and so much more incredible.

“Yes,” she hissed.

“I’m not sure.” His finger drew back and the petal remained inside her. She could feel it as a soft presence within, light pressure against her walls.

He pushed back into her and Sia’s back arched as her body reached the edge. It hung there, for a moment.

Then Todd bent and kissed her clitoris and she came undone, crying out as the pleasure swamped her.

The sun seemed to make her warmer, hotter, and the orgasm swept her breath away until she thought that she might have actually passed out for a moment.

Todd lay next to her and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her and Sia sagged against him and sighed.

“Now, I think you’re ready,” he said.

Ready to give her body, Sia thought as he rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him. She positioned herself and with the sun beating on her back, she put on the condom he gave her then slowly sank down on him.

But was she ready to give him her heart?

When Sia arrived home from work on Friday night, her father was in the kitchen talking to Bubba.

Sia greeted the biker with a kiss.

“Look at you, princess.” Bubba held her away from him, hands on her hips. His eyes scoped her up and down. “You’re glowing.”

“It’s her success,” Frank said. “It becomes her.”

“I’d say it’s some hot sex.” Bubba winked and Sia’s cheeks flamed hot.

“It is, it is.” Bubba shook her hips and Sia laughed. “So who’s the lucky guy? I hope he’s treating our princess right.”

“Very right,” Sia said. “In fact, you’re going to meet him in a few minutes.”

“Sia.” Her father’s deep growl drew her attention. “It better not be who I think it is.”

There was a knock at the front door. Sia kissed Bubba’s forehead and pulled away. She scurried from the room and threw open the door.

“Dad’s already pissed,” she said.

“Alcohol pissed or angry pissed?” Todd slipped his arm around her waist and held her close.

“Angry pissed.”

“It will be fine.” He kissed the top of her head.

Sia took his hand and led him into the kitchen. She looked first at her father and saw his eyes widen then narrow as he gripped the edge of the table and snarled.

Then she looked at Bubba. He was rising, slowly, his gaze tracking over Todd’s face.

“David.” The beloved name slid from Bubba’s lips.

“Bubba, this is Todd Lansing. I invited you here tonight because he’s got something to tell you.” She cast another glance at her father. Colour rushed from Frank’s face with concerning speed.

“Todd, this is Henry ‘Bubba’ Bunderson.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Todd held out his hand.

Bubba hesitated before he reached for it. He held Todd’s hand and stared at him. “You have the look of a cop about you.”

“Not today I don’t,” Todd said. “Let’s sit down. I’ve got something to show you.”

Bubba slammed back down into his chair. Todd sat opposite him and put a plastic bag on the table. He pulled a frame out and handed it to Bubba.

Bubba looked at it and his eyes were wet with tears. One shaking finger traced over the glass surface.

He frowned at Todd. “Where did you get this?”

“A storage unit in Bathurst. The man you knew as David was my father. Todd Lansing Sr.”

Sia walked around the table to put her hand on Bubba’s shoulder and give him strength.

“You look just like him,” Bubba whispered.

“So I’m told.”

Sia didn’t see it — to her Todd was Todd, through and through. The man in the photo resembled him, enough to make a family connection clear, but that was all.

“There’s a lot I need to tell you,” Todd said. “First, I’m sorry to say that Dad’s dead.”

Bubba shivered under Sia’s touch. “When?”

“Ten years ago. A heart attack. It was very sudden.”

“Poor David.” Bubba touched the picture again. “Did he suffer?”

“Yes, but not for long. The doctors said from the onset of the pain to death was only a matter of minutes.”

“He ate too much junk food,” Bubba said. “I told him his heart would give out if he wasn’t careful.”

“We didn’t know about you,” Todd said. “If we had, we would have told you.”

Bubba stiffened. “Would you?”

“Absolutely. My brother is gay, and he’s had nothing but acceptance from us. I’m sorry that Dad wasn’t able to live his life as openly.”

“How did you find out?”

“I was going through some of his papers earlier this week and came across the mention of the storage unit. I’d never heard of it before, so I went to check it out. It’s all there — his bike, his leathers, dozens of photos of the two of you together.”

“I didn’t know about that. David — Todd — your father was very secretive. He wouldn’t tell me his real name, where he lived, what he did, anything. We always met at my place and he would arrive on his bike.”

“It’s clear you made him very happy.”

Bubba smiled. “No, he made me happy. David was the love of my life.”

“I’m sorry that you didn’t get to spend it together.”

“He was such a proud man. You, his family, the family name was so important to him. He couldn’t bare to do it any harm, even though living that life made him miserable.”

“That stress probably contributed to the heart attack.”

There was silence as the two men considered the years that could have been, if Todd Lansing Sr. had lived.

Then Todd reached into the plastic bag again. He held an envelope out to Bubba.

“Here’s the information, and the key to the storage unit. It’s paid up for another ten years — Dad saw to that. You should have everything there. It’s about you, not us.”

Bubba opened the envelope and tipped a key out onto his palm. “Thank you.” He nodded at Todd. “You don’t just look like him, you have his gentle spirit as well.”

“And his stubbornness.” Sia smiled at Todd.

Bubba took one of her hands from his shoulder, kissed her knuckles then stood. “Thank you, princess.”

“My pleasure, Bubba.”

Bubba left and the three of them — Sia, Todd and Frank — were still and silent until the front door closed.

Frank’s hands landed on the table with a resounding thud and he surged to his feet.

“I told you to stay away from him,” he spat at Sia. “But no, you had to know better.”

“Bubba deserved to know.”

“I don’t give a shit about Bubba.”

“That’s clear,” Todd said. Frank spun round to glare at him.

“Leave my house.”

“Not until you listen.”

Frank started to lean over Todd, but then Todd stood. He towered over Frank. The two men glared at each other, then Frank slammed back down into the chair.

Todd sat. “Sia and I know everything, Frank. We know that my father was embezzling money from Lansing Mining to support his life with Bubba. When he realised he was being investigated, he tried to get rid of the evidence. He went to you, and arranged for you to steal the files. You were probably supposed to destroy them too, except you hesitated and then the cops arrived. We know that you knew who Bubba’s David really was, what happened to him and that you didn’t tell your friend. You just sat back and let Bubba suffer, let Sia suffer and you did nothing about it.”

Sia frowned. When she and Todd had talked through what would happen, she’d made him promise not to bring her up.

“You have no right to judge me.” Frank slouched in the chair like a recalcitrant teenager.

“Sia and I won’t tell Bubba your part in all this because he doesn’t deserve to suffer like that. But here’s what is going to happen from now on. You are going to treat your daughter with respect. She will be allowed to see whoever she wants to see. You will contribute to this household instead of just taking and you will never hit Sia again.”

Sia rushed around the table and stood between Todd and her father. “Todd, no.” She looked over her shoulder at Frank, whose face was now red and eyes smouldering. “Dad, it’s all right. You don’t need to hide any more. I know everything and I love you. It’s fine.”

Frank again surged to his feet and Todd matched his action. With a sudden vision of the two of them swinging at each other, Sia put her hand on Todd’s chest and pushed him backward.

“Todd’s leaving,” she said.

Todd narrowed his eyes, focussed on her father. “I mean it. Touch her again and I’ll make you wish you were never born.”

“I wish she had never been born.”

Biting back the tears at her father’s words, Sia pushed Todd through the house and onto the front verandah. She closed the door and then clenched her fists.

“Why did you do that?”

“He needs to know that he can’t lay his shit on you any more.”

Her nails dug into her palms. “We agreed that you weren’t going to lay into him.”

“He needs to hear the truth, Sia.”

“You promised.” The words exploded from her mouth in a near scream. “Why the hell can’t you just accept the way I handle my Dad?”

“Cause it’s wrong. Cause I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I wouldn’t have been hurt, if you’d kept to what we agreed.”

Now Todd was the one blazing with anger. “Dammit, you can’t expect me to just sit idly by while that man abuses you.” The words were ground out through gritted teeth.

“I can expect you to support my decisions. If you can’t do that, then obviously there’s no future between us.”

“I can’t support decisions that are going to hurt you.”

“My life, my choice.”

“And you’re choosing your father over me.”