Tying You Down (12 page)

Jo pushed her hair out of her face. She’d worn it down today but right now it was bothering her and she wished she’d braided it. “I saw the man Charlee’s dating at Carrie’s church this morning,” Jo said.

Tate pulled the truck out of the apartment’s parking lot and onto the street. “David Smith?”

She nodded. “He was with a woman and three children.” Jo frowned. “I approached him when he was alone and confronted him. He said the woman and kids were his brother’s family. According to David, his brother passed away and had asked David to look after them. So he takes them to church on Sundays.”

Tate frowned. “And this is bothering you, because…?”

“Something isn’t right.” Jo shifted in her seat. “It just doesn’t feel right. And it was the way David kept looking toward the woman, as if he was worried she’d hear us talking. He tried to look casual, but it felt like he was hiding something.”

“Is that all?” Tate asked, without making it sound like he was negating her concern.

She shook her head. “I worry about Charlee. She’s coming into an inheritance soon—a big one—when she turns twenty-five.”

He nodded. “And you’re concerned that someone might go after her for her money. Meaning David.”

“Yes.” Jo bit her lower lip before she added, “It’s a lot of money for a young woman her age. And someone like David…how do we know he didn’t target her from the beginning?” Jo sighed. “I’m not being fair. Charlee is a beautiful woman and any man would be getting a special person if he got her.”

“But your instincts are telling you not to trust him,” Tate said.

Jo paused then nodded. “Yeah, they are.”

For a moment, Tate remained quiet. “Do you trust your instincts?”

She thought about all the wrong decisions she’d made and the way she’d believed men who had lied to her, men who’d used her.

“Maybe I’ve just become jaded and I’m having a hard time trusting any man,” Jo said quietly. “Maybe I just don’t want Charlee to go through the same things I did.”

Tate looked from the street to her. “Any man?”

Jo gave him a little smile. “Almost any man. Present company excluded, of course.”

He gave a slow nod as he stopped at a streetlight. While he waited for it to change, he met her gaze. “What happened to you while you were in New York that made you feel that way about men?”

“What didn’t happen?” A hint of anger and regret was in her voice. “I was young, insecure, naïve, trusting… And I got walked over more times than I can count.” She looked out the window as the light changed green and Tate started driving again.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked.

For a long moment Jo was quiet. “No one knows this but Charlee, until now. I modeled for several years from the time I was a teenager until about three years ago. Runway, magazines, advertisements—I was a busy girl.”

“A fast-paced lifestyle for a small town girl,” he said as he drove.

“That’s not the half of it.” She twisted her hands in her lap. “A lot of parties and a lot of men who wanted to escort a model to those parties. Men who thought they could buy themselves anything they wanted.”

Tate remained quiet as she spoke.

“I fell hard for one man. I thought I was so in love with him.” Jo clenched her hands. “Then he told me one day that he’d found someone else. Turned out to be some billionaire’s daughter.”

Tate’s jaw tightened and he was frowning.

Jo gave a bitter laugh. “If that wasn’t enough, the next man I fell for left me when I stopped modeling. The jobs had dried up and I wasn’t in demand anymore.” She shook her head. “He said he wasn’t interested in a has-been.”

The backs of her eyes ached but she hadn’t cried over the pain of that shattering experience in a long, long time. She wasn’t about to start again.

When she looked at Tate she saw that his expression was furious. “If that sonofabitch was here, I’d take care of him.”

“It’s all right.” She gave him a smile but it was hard to do. “That’s been a few years ago now. I learned my lessons well.”

He guided the truck onto the interstate freeway. “Is that why it took a while for you to trust me?”

She turned away from him and didn’t answer for a long moment. When she looked at him again, she said, “Yes.”

“I’m nothing like those men, Jo.” His voice was gentle as he spoke.

“I know that,” she said quietly. “I think I knew that from the start. I’ve just been hurt so badly that I was scared to take a chance with anyone.”

“I’m glad you let down your guard and gave me a chance,” Tate said.

She smiled. “How could I not?”

He returned her smile. “You said you started modeling at a young age. How young?”

“After my stepmother sent me away, I started modeling for juniors when I was eleven to make enough money to get by,” she said.

Tate looked at her. “She sent you to boarding school but didn’t give you enough money to live on?”

Jo sighed. “Kathy paid for the schooling until I was eighteen, but not much else.”

He gripped the steering wheel tight enough that his knuckles whitened. “Unbelievable. She threw you to the wolves.”

“Anyway,” Jo went on, “I grew up so fast that it wasn’t long before I was as tall as I am now. It’s amazing what they can do with make-up and how they can make a thirteen-year-old look eighteen.”

She continued. “After my modeling career ended, I had to find other jobs, like waitressing, bartending, and running a nightclub.”

They were well outside of Phoenix as she talked.

“I roomed with five other people and scraped by, saving every penny I could and putting it away with the money I’d saved from modeling,” she said. “That’s how I was able to buy Jo-Jo’s.”

Tate looked at her. “You’ve been through a hell of a lot.”

Jo shrugged. “Not any more than most people.”

With a shake of his head, Tate said, “Most kids don’t have to pay their way through life from the time they’re eleven or twelve.”

She sank against the seat, feeling weary. Talking about the past always took a lot out of her, one reason why she preferred not to.

“You okay?” He reached over the console and put his hand on hers, drawing her attention to him.

“Now I am.” She smiled. “Right this minute, here with you, I am more than okay.”

Chapter 16

David frowned as he made the drive north from Phoenix to Prescott on Monday morning. He wanted to get to the early lunch he’d scheduled with Charlee and he was running late thanks to a sick kid.

He’d tried calling Charlee on her cell phone, but it had gone straight to voice mail. That in itself was strange. Could Jo have gotten to her and convinced her that he wasn’t who he’d led her to believe he was?

When he thought about yesterday, he ground his teeth. Jo had come close to finding out the truth. Real close. If the kids hadn’t taken off running, and if Nancy hadn’t had to chase down the little one, all could have gone to hell in a big hurry.

He scowled at the memory. Of all the places to run into someone who knew Charlee, and it happened to be her sister. It had been obvious to him all along that Jo didn’t approve of him dating Charlee, probably because of the age difference. But now she might not only disapprove, she might not trust him as well.

For all he knew, Jo didn’t believe that David had been with his dead brother’s wife, and it would fuck everything up if she started looking into his real life. She’d find out that Nancy and the kids were his and that his brother was very much alive and unmarried.

He clenched the steering wheel as he thought of the tall redheaded bitch. If she wanted it bad enough she could find out the truth. It would take her some work to dig for it and to find out that he wasn’t David Smith and that his real name was David Hearn. He didn’t know how far she’d be willing to go. He wasn’t about to let her crumble his house of cards and allow her to ruin everything.

He had to think of
something.

The highway flew under his car’s tires as he pressed down on the accelerator. He needed to make sure Jo hadn’t had a chance to put any doubts into Charlee’s mind. If Jo had, he needed to make sure he fixed things with Charlee in a hurry.

With a grim smile he thought about the pretty little thing he’d been drilling. Just thinking about fucking Charlee made him hard as hell. It had been a real bonus that not only was she rich but she was young, and he preferred them young. He’d had his share of cougars. It was rare to get a sweet little kitten.

By the time he was through with Charlee, the naïve, little rich bitch would be penniless and he could move on to his next mark.

He relaxed his grip on the steering wheel. All was fine. Yes, he had no doubt that all would go according to his carefully laid plans.

He pulled into Prescott fifteen minutes late and parked next to Charlee’s car in front of the Hummingbird. He kept his movements and his stride unhurried and casual after he locked his car and walked into the restaurant.

Charlee was sitting in their regular booth and her smile brightened when she saw him. Relief warmed him. She wouldn’t have such a big smile on her face if Jo had convinced her that he wasn’t who he’d led her to believe he was.

“Hi, babe.” He reached her and gave her a kiss on her soft lips before sliding into the booth beside her, close enough that her warm body was close to his. “Sorry I’m late. I tried calling you but it went to voice mail.”

“That’s okay. I understand.” She looked like a lovesick schoolgirl as she met his gaze, and that made him smile inside. She was so damned easy, it almost made him feel guilty—but not quite. She bit her lower lip before adding, “I forgot to charge my phone last night and I can’t find my car charger, so my phone is dead.”

“You look beautiful.” He let his gaze drift down to her blue blouse and it gaped a little at her cleavage so that he got a peek at her lacy black bra. Her nipples pressed against the fabric of her blouse. She had big nipples. All the better to suck. He’d bet she was wet and slick right now. She was always horny for him. Always wanting him.

He had sex with his wife on the weekends to keep her happy, and she was good in bed. But there was something about fucking a pretty twenty-four-year-old that made him hotter than hell.

When his gaze met hers again, her cheeks were pink. She knew what he was thinking—at least the part about taking her. He wanted her now.

He slid his palm onto her thigh, just below her short jean skirt, and she bit her lower lip. “Do you have to get to work after lunch?” he murmured as he inched his hand along her thigh, pushing up her skirt.

She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. She flushed and tried again. “I have forty-five minutes.”

He gave her the sexiest smile he could. “Then we’d better eat fast.”

Her throat worked as she swallowed and she smiled up at him, her pretty eyes worshiping him.

The power that he had over her was heady and it almost made him forget himself sometimes.

He ordered a club sandwich while she had turkey on whole wheat. As usual, she seemed a little shy. She was such an innocent.

“Did Jo tell you I saw her in Phoenix yesterday?” David didn’t think he had anything to worry about since Charlee had given him such a warm reception, but he wanted to head anything off that might come up.

“No.” Charlee shook her head. “Where did you see her?”

“I was at church with my brother’s wife and kids.” David gave her a pained look. “I mentioned to you that my brother died some time ago. I take his family to church every Sunday. I promised my brother I would take care of them.”

“Yes, you did mention your brother had passed on.” Her expression went soft as she laid her hand on his arm. “That’s nice of you to take them to church.”

He shrugged. “It’s the very least I can do.”

After Charlee paid for lunch, he took her hand and led her to his car. She got in and he drove to an isolated location and told her to get in the backseat after he parked.

She obeyed him like a good little girl as she always did. As soon as he had the doors closed and locked, he pulled down the zipper on his slacks and slipped them down to his ankles with his boxers.

Her eyes were wide as she stared at his huge erection. “Get on your knees on the floor,” he ordered her. Again she did as he told her. He grasped her head in his hands and pulled her down, forcing his cock into her mouth. “Finger yourself.” He told her. “Make yourself come while you give me a blow job.”

She slipped one hand beneath her skirt and gripped his thigh with her other hand as he kept his hold on her head and forced it up and down. She gagged as he went to the back of her throat, over and over again, but she didn’t try to stop, didn’t complain.

When he climaxed, he came hard, his come shooting into her mouth. She gagged again, but he didn’t let her stop until he was spent.

He reclined against the leather, exhausted, as she remained on her knees with her hand between her thighs. “Finish,” he said as he gripped a fistful of her hair in his hand and dragged her closer to him.

He watched as she brought herself to orgasm and she gave a little cry when she climaxed. Her hips bucked against her hand as she came and then she shuddered as she stopped.

Even though he was ready to leave, he knew she needed a moment of cuddling. He couldn’t let her start to think their relationship was based on sex, even though he wasn’t too worried about that. She wanted him too badly, and it was clear she worshiped him.

He drew her up so that she was on the seat beside him. He smoothed her hair that was wild now since he’d had fistfuls of it in his hands just moments before. After a few moments he moved her aside and pulled up his boxers and his pants. He watched as she adjusted her skirt and made herself presentable.

“You’re beautiful, baby,” he murmured as he drew her close to him.

“Are you sleeping over tonight?” she said.

He nodded. “I’ll be at your house after I’m finished for the day. Did you have a key made for me?”

“Yes.” She gave him a big smile. “It’s in my purse.”

“Good.” He gave her a kiss. “You can give it to me and then we’ll get you back so that you can get to work on time.” He smoothed her hair some more. “Do you still plan on working once you come into your inheritance?”