The Sweetheart Hoax (17 page)

His mom refused Margot’s offer to help clean up.

“You kids have an early flight in the morning,” she said. “Whatever we don’t get to tonight, I’ll drag your dad over here tomorrow. We’ll have this knocked out before church.”

She didn’t have to go back to the table to get her wrap and purse. Phil had draped the wrap over her shoulders as soon as his mother began speaking and had shoved her purse in her arms before she’d finished. He kissed his mom on the cheek, gave his dad a handshake and a hug, and beat a hasty path to the door dragging Margot behind. She had to stutter-step to keep up. He either had to use the bathroom or he’d finally decided to quit fighting their attraction. She prayed it was the latter.

Once inside the car, she had her answer. He started the ignition, turned on the heat, and pulled her across the console for a mind-melting kiss. If they hadn’t been in a crowded parking lot, she would have climbed over and ended it once and for all.

“Is this for show, too?” she asked, pulling back because the gearshift had damn near poked a hole in her abdomen.

He ran his hand through his hair and turned to look at her. “Do you want it to be?”

“I don’t even know what you’re asking,” she said. Could he be more obtuse? She couldn’t have been more obvious with her intentions if she’d written ‘take me’ on her forehead.

He heaved out a sigh. “I’m about at the end of my tether with you, Margot. There isn’t a chance in hell I can sleep in that bed and not put my hands on you tonight. You’ve got to tell me and tell me now if I should sleep on the couch.”

Good grief. After all this, he was going to make her say it? “I don’t want you to sleep on the couch, Phil. I don’t want you to sleep at all.”

He slammed the car into gear and gunned the engine. “It’s going to take about ten minutes to get home. You’ve got that long to change your mind.”

Was he trying to talk her out of it? “I’m not going to change my mind. If you don’t take me tonight, you’re going to have to lay there and listen while I do things myself.”

He groaned and stepped on the gas. “I think I can make it in less than ten.” He gave her a mischievous grin. “What do you say we try?”

She reached over and put her hand on his thigh. His erection strained against his pants. “What do you say I give you a little motivation?”

“You’ve been motivating me for over twenty-four hours.” He picked up her hand, bit her knuckles, and placed it back in her lap. “Any more and I might not make it.”

“Then hurry. I’m at the end of my tether, too.”

***

He gunned it up the drive and slammed the car into park. He could barely get the keys out of the ignition with his hands trembling the way they did. When was the last time he’d trembled in anticipation of a woman? And yes, it was for Margot.
Young, silly, snort-laughing, beautiful, sexy Margot.

She was halfway to the porch before he got out of the car. He caught up to her and picked her up off her feet, carrying her up the stairs to the door while her laughter rang out in his ears. He plunked her down and used the key to open the house. He kicked the door closed with his foot and backed her against it, his mouth on her neck, his hands on her breasts. He kissed up her jaw and tried to shift the strapless bodice down, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Zipper,” Margot moaned. “In the back.”

He flung her around and began unzipping the dress while he pushed her toward the stairs. “Up, now, or I’m going to take you right here.”

She jogged up, holding the dress in place with her hands. The parted chiffon revealed black thong panties and a bare back. He was so hard he could barely maneuver the stairs. When he made it to the landing, she stood at the threshold of the door wearing nothing but her thong and heels. If his groin didn’t hurt so damn much, he would have thought he’d died and gone to heaven.

“Are you coming?” she asked as he gripped the newel post and looked his fill. She was magnificent. Her curls were popping free from her pins and hung around her face. The pale white of her skin was such a contrast to the hard pink tips of her nipples. The small tapered waist held up a daringly tiny swatch of underwear.

He met her in the doorway and took her breasts in his hands. “I think we both are. Very soon.”

Her eyes fluttered closed. “Not too soon, I hope.”

He backed her into the room and pushed the door closed with his elbow. He gripped her hips in his hands and lifted her against his erection while dipping his mouth to feast on her breast. She wrapped her legs around him and he lost his mind. “One of us is wearing too many clothes,” she said.

He carried her to the bed and eased her down. “Yes, one of us is.” He used his teeth to tear away her panties.

She gasped and tugged at his tie. “I want you naked,” she said. “I want you on me, in me, please. Get out of these clothes.”

He was hanging on by a thread. He wrestled with the buttons of his shirt while she pulled his tie free. He lifted the shirt over his head while she snaked her hands beneath his undershirt. He whipped it off and flung it across the room. When he stood up to undo his belt and pants, she leaned down to take off her shoes. “Leave the shoes,” he said.

“Hurry, Phil,” she pleaded as he toed off his Oxford Balmorals as his pants fell to floor. The boxers and socks were off in a flash. He stood before her, his erection all but clipping her in the chin. She reached out and touched it with her finger. He swallowed a groan as they both went still. The front door opened and his parents came inside, their animated voices carrying through the house. He thought she’d change her mind. He thought she’d rush to cover herself, although he knew there wasn’t a chance in hell his parents would open their door. She did neither, but shocked him by reclining on the bed in the most erotic pose he’d ever seen. He covered her body with his and the bed groaned with the movement.

“This fucking bed.”

Margot arched against him and gathered the comforter in her hands. “The floor. Now.”

They probably made as much noise getting on the
floor
as they would have if they’d stayed on the bed. Margot stood up, Phil gathered the quilt and blanket and tossed it on the hardwood, and lowered Margot to the makeshift bed. The scent of her drove him mad, the taste of her skin had him resisting the urge to bite and bite hard. She drew him toward her, arched up, and he took her with one long, hard push. There was a moment before he moved, before he could bring himself to move, when the sight of her face in the moonlight, eyes closed, lips parted, with just a hint of a smile on her face, had something flashing through him, something wild and reckless, something he’d never felt before. But then she lifted her hips and he started the dance, back and forth, deeper and deeper with every stroke until he couldn’t think, couldn’t breath,
couldn’t
do anything but let the animal in him take over.

Her nails dug into his back, her legs locked around his waist, and the heels he’d insisted she leave on poked him in the ass. Margot pushed at his chest, pushed him onto his back, and took him inside her with a moan that was his name. He watched her delicate form move over him. Lost in her own pleasure, she destroyed him. Her hands flew to her head and, with one
twist,
her hair tumbled down her back. She came with a muffled cry, his name on her lips. He’d never seen anything so erotically beautiful as Margot losing herself in pleasure. She collapsed on top of him. He tossed her onto her back, reached down and pulled off her shoes, and plunged back in. He was going to set them both free as he let the lion inside of him roar.

***

Phil lay full out on top of her, dragging air in through battered lungs. Every inch of Margot’s body felt alive, and she could have wept for the perfection of their coupling. Three years, she thought, three years of fanaticizing about the man hadn’t even come close to the exquisite pleasure of having him. She ran her hand down the muscles of his back, down to his butt, and back again, memorizing the texture of his skin, the play of his muscles, the scent of the man she loved.

Never before had she given herself with such reckless abandon. Flashes of what she’d said, what she’d
done,
entered her mind and she pushed it away. There would be time to analyze and obsess, but she didn’t want to waste time doing that now, not when he was still inside her, atop her, his breath evening out. He shifted to the side and propped up on his elbow, his hand caressing her still sensitized breast.

“My God,” he said. “Wow. That was...wow.”

“Yeah. Definitely wow.”

She pulled her courage together and snuck a glance at his face. His expression looked serious, too serious for the moment.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Okay? “Believe it or not, Phil, I’ve had sex before.”

“I...I meant the floor. Your back.”

“I’m fine.” Or at least she would be if he’d hold her, if he’d tell her how much being together meant to him other than scratching an itch.

He pulled the quilt around her and cocooned them both. She wasn’t going to be a chicken and turn away, wondering what it all meant. She shifted to face him, her hand resting against his chest. She could feel his heart pounding beneath her fingertips.

“I never meant for this to happen,” he said. “This wasn’t why I asked you here.”

She brought her fingers to his lips and stopped the string of apologies before she ended up in tears. “I’m not sorry it happened. I wish you weren’t sorry, either.”

He blew out a breath and rolled over onto his back. “I should be sorry, I know I should be sorry, but I’m not.”

“Then no apologies.” She snuggled closer, tossing her leg over his and wrapping her arm around his chest. This would more than likely
be
the only time in her life she’d have the chance to be with him like this, and she wasn’t going to waste it wishing she’d done more to entice him. “The party was nice. I think your dad had a good time.”

Phil chuckled. “Yeah, he likes to pretend he doesn’t like the attention, but he does.” He wrapped his hand around her and began making small circles on her shoulder.

“You’re lucky, Phil. Your parents are happy. You have a great foundation here.”

“I know. I don’t think I appreciate them enough.”

“You should. Take it from me, flaws and all, there’s no substitute for family.”

His hand stilled on her arm. “What happened to your mom?”

“She died. I told you that.”

“You didn’t tell me how.”

“She was born with a heart condition. She didn’t realize she had it until I was born. She lived a lot longer than anyone expected her to.”

“What about your dad?” he asked.

She deliberately kept her voice even. “I never knew him.”

“Is he dead?”

Margot sighed. “I thought he was. For a long time, I was led to believe he was dead.” And oh, how she wished she still believed in that fairy tale.

“So…do you know him?”

She knew him all right, but that wasn’t what Phil had asked. “Nope. I never met the man who loved my mother.”

He continued rubbing circles on her shoulder, making it hard for her to concentrate. “So what do you do on holidays? Thanksgiving and Christmas?”

“I have an aunt who lives in Sumter. I usually go there, but my cousin is getting married in Barbados over Thanksgiving, so I’ll probably just work.”

“Work on Thanksgiving?”

“It’s just a meal, Phil. The double-time pay will go a long way toward paying back my loans.” She glanced up when his hand tightened on her shoulder. He studied her with an intense expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I don’t like the thought of you being along on Thanksgiving.”

“I won’t be alone. I’ll be surrounded by hundreds of people in the hospital.”

“That’s not the same.”

“Maybe for you, but it seems like home to me.” She reached her hand down and cupped his very fine ass in her palm. “That’s why you’re lucky, Phil. No matter where you live, you can always come home and know your family loves you.” She pinched his butt in hopes of diverting his attention. “Even if you are gay.”

He leaned up and pinned her hands above her head. “Gay, huh?” His lips brushed hers ever so lightly as he settled between her legs. “We’ll just have to see about that.”

Chapter 18

Judy tiptoed down the hallway, past the bath where either Phil or Margot or maybe even both of them showered in the pre-dawn morning. She hadn’t needed to set her alarm to get up and start the day. Bo’s tossing and turning had left them both unable to sleep.

At least they weren’t the only ones.

Coffee. She needed coffee and the monotonous task of making breakfast to steady her nerves after listening to her son and his girlfriend have sex all night long. She didn’t know whether to feel proud or sickened that he had the stamina to keep going for hours. He certainly hadn’t gotten that from his father.

She heard the bathroom door open and quickened her pace, unable and unwilling to face either of them before she’d composed herself. She set the coffee machine on brew and was just pulling the eggs from the refrigerator when Bo entered the kitchen wearing his Sunday finest, his hair still wet from the shower and a scowl etched on his face.