The Negotiator: A Games People Play Christmas Novella Read online

  Their bodies rubbed together as he shifted, working his fingers to get her shirt open and off. Tugging the material as he kissed her. Slipping his hand inside the silky laciness of her bra and loving the feel of her soft skin under his palm.

  She gulped in a breath as he touched her. Her hands rested against the pillow near her head and her legs fell open. It was a surrender of sorts and he didn’t squander the opportunity. His mouth slipped to her neck then traveled lower. He savored every taste of skin as he nosed her bra to the side and slipped her nipple into his mouth.

  She groaned then. Her back arched off the bed. He opened his eyes just long enough to watch her stretch, to see her head fall back, exposing her neck. He wanted to lick every inch of her and vowed to do just that. He would take however long she gave him. And when her hand snaked down between them to find the zipper of his pants, he would have given her just about anything she wanted.

  His mouth slid over her, caressing first one breast then the other with his tongue. As his lips worked, his fingers slipped to her jeans. Their hands knocked together as they yanked on zippers and pushed their pants down to the tops of their hips.

  She brushed the back of her hand over him through his pants. Once . . . twice . . . until his lower body jerked in response.

  “Jesus, Lauren.” He could hear the pleading in his voice and didn’t try to disguise it.

  “Get the rest of your clothes off.” She glanced down. “And mine.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He loved that she knew what she wanted. There was no hiding her body—or her needs—from him. In the past she’d insisted being six years older than him was a problem, but he was only seeing the benefits.

  He stretched up and kissed her again. Their mouths met and she made this soft humming sound. The noise burned through the last of his control. He was almost frantic to get her naked now. He reached behind her and unhooked her bra. Lifted her back off the mattress and stripped the shirt and bra off, leaving her open to his gaze. And he did not wait. His hands skimmed over her and his mouth followed. He licked and sucked until she called out his name. He had never heard anything sexier.

  He moved then, slipping down and down. Pulling off her jeans and the tiny pair of white bikini underwear underneath. Sitting up he slipped off her boots and let them thud against the floor. A few yanks and everything was off. Every last stitch of material.

  His body screamed for him to grab a condom and slide over her, but she stopped him. Not with words or a hand. No, she shifted her legs, bringing them up until her feet rested flat against the mattress. Then she let her thighs drop open wide.

  The move was so sensual, so inviting, that he heard the screeching in his brain as his mind shut off and his body took over. Those lean legs and defined muscles. The tiny strip of hair that covered her.

  Fucking damn.

  He lowered his head and breathed in, taking in the scent of her. Brushing his lips lightly over the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. Hearing her long, drawn-out moan. Then his mouth was on her, his tongue inside her. He licked as he opened her. Kept at it with his finger and his tongue until her hips bucked and her mouth dropped up.

  Looking up the length of her he saw nothing but a beautiful, amazing woman totally in control of her body and handing off her pleasure to him. He happily took over the task. Pushing her legs toward her chest, he opened her even further and saw her suck in a gulp of air in response.

  “Garrett, please.”

  That’s all it took. That husky voice and the final okay. He practically bounced up from the bed and stripped the rest of his clothes off. His belt flew here and his pants landed over there. He stopped only long enough to think about where he’d stashed the condoms.

  The answer hit him fast and hard. The drawer next to the bedside. He’d thrown some in there while she was in the shower. Hopeful thinking and all that. The wooden drawer creaked as he ripped it open and grabbed a packet. Then he came back to her, slid over her, gasping at the friction of her body against his.

  The room heated and the sound of their breathing filled the air. The mattress gave under their joint weight, plowing her head deeper into the pillows. She didn’t complain and he didn’t stop. He slid into the space between her open thighs and kissed her again. Slipping his tongue against hers, tangling his fingers in her hair.

  He was riding the edge. His control held, but only by a thin tether. So when she dropped her hand, dragging her fingers over his bare chest and continuing lower, he stopped breathing. He couldn’t even feel his heartbeat as she wrapped her hand around his length and pulled. She tightened her fingers and smoothed her hand up and down. The sensation mesmerized him. Had everything inside him tightening and begging for more.

  But he wanted to end this time inside her. Condom on, head tipped back and hopefully with her screaming his name. At least that’s the fantasy that played in his head. When he rolled the condom on and pulled her hand away, he knew he hovered right there, so close.

  The months of foreplay and wanting had piled up. Touching her was enough to set him off. When he slipped inside her, just enough to feel her inner muscles clamp down on him, he broke out in a sweat. It gathered on his shoulders and across his back.

  He tightened his muscles and tried to hold off the final moment for as long as possible, to savor every first with her. He might have succeeded if she hadn’t moved. One lift of her hips, one trail of her tongue down his neck, and he was fucking done.

  He plunged inside her, going slow and deep on the first thrust as she wrapped her body around his. Her breath echoed in his ear and her fingernails scraped across his bare shoulders. He could feel her, taste her and smell her. There wasn’t a part of him that didn’t touch her. And when he started to move, pulling in and out, mixing the rhythm and pressing his hips forward with every pass, her fingers slipped into his hair.

  She pulled his head close. The sounds of her harsh panting matched his as she leaned up to whisper in his ear. “Faster.”

  “Fuck yes.”

  He lost it then. All control abandoned him and he rode her. Forget finesse and taking it slow. She didn’t hold back and neither did he. Not now that he was inside her, surrounded by her warmth.

  His orgasm hovered right there on the fringes but he wanted her with him. His hand went to the juncture of her legs and his finger slipped over her, hit that spot. He knew when it happened because she gasped and a resurgence of heat moved into her eyes. Then she was bucking, her hips tightening around him. He could feel the orgasm hit her and he let his body follow hers.

  Instinct took over. He couldn’t tell how or when they finished. All he remembered was the sound of a rough breath sneaking out of her throat and the insistent pounding of his heart. It thumped loud enough to block out every other noise.

  With his body emptied and her lying in a satisfied sprawl beneath him, he finally let his head drop. His forehead touched hers as he fought to regain his strength, his breathing—something.

  After a few minutes of comfortable silence, she unwrapped her legs from around his hips and let them fall on the mattress on either side of him. Her fingers massaged the back of his neck as they balanced there together.

  “That was as great as I thought it would be.”

  His eyes popped open and he lifted his head to stare down at her. “You dreamed about us doing this?”

  A sexy smile crossed her lips. “All the time.”

  “Then what the hell have we been waiting for?” He almost yelled the question. He’d been so hot for her, so careful but so ready.

  Her fingers tightened against his skin as she held him close. “I had to be sure.”

  He wasn’t quite clear on what that meant, but it didn’t sound bad. “Are you sure now?”

  “Definitely.”

  He let that be good enough. For today. He’d negotiate for more later.

  Chapter Seven

  Her body still tingled the next day. Once they had sex, they didn’t stop having it. Lau
ren’s thighs ached in the most delicious way. She hadn’t experienced that feeling—the puffy lips, the sensitive breasts, that sensation of being filled—in so long.

  Even before Carl left, he had checked out of their marriage and moved into the extra bedroom. Since she was never quite sure about his commitment to either fidelity or her, she hadn’t fought the move to the extra bedroom. She handled what she needed herself. Tricked her brain and body into thinking that was enough for her. But the truth was she loved being touched and being with someone who appreciated her body and took care of it. She’d missed the sounds a man made when she wrapped her fingers around him. Now, thanks to Garrett, it all came rushing back.

  He was as good as she’d known he’d be. Not selfish. Almost worshipping when it came to her nearly thirty-seven-year-old body. She was in good shape, but gravity was gravity and he didn’t seem to notice. She thanked the universe for his failing eyesight or whatever it was that had him kissing and licking her, running his hands over her, as if she was a tight twenty-something.

  “Uh, Lauren?”

  Lost in her own thoughts, it took a minute for the words to break through. She looked up to see Garrett’s knowing smile and realized he was the one who’d cleared his voice and called her name.

  “Sorry.” But she wasn’t. Not for the night before. Not for this morning. Her only regret was agreeing to this meeting.

  At just past ten, she sat with Garrett, Jake and Bob around the small table in the corner of her office. She’d pushed the business pamphlets and paperwork to the side to make room for everyone, though Matthias still stood at the door, keeping watch. The man looked ready to pounce, but she was pretty sure that was his usual look. Only Garrett seemed calm. Maybe repeated sex did that to a guy.

  Bob leaned across the table, focusing only on her. “What did Carl say to you when he came back into town?”

  She’d been asked that question so many times that she started to doubt how innocuous Carl’s stop at her door really was. This time Bob demanded to know, as if he had a right to ask her for anything. She’d been furious with Carl over his screwed-up financial dealings and all the lies. How he actually went to the extra step to falsify documents just to throw her off. Who did that sort of thing?

  But the simmering rage for Carl’s antics didn’t compare to what she felt for Bob. She despised Bob, the self-proclaimed financial guy who gave Carl investing and business advice. He pretended to be an innocent victim to Carl’s scams, but she didn’t buy it.

  “Carl didn’t say anything. Literally nothing of any interest.” That wasn’t a lie. Other than ticking her off, Carl’s comments had been unremarkable, which was saying something since he’d just risen form the dead.

  Bob’s eyes narrowed. “Tell us exactly. Line for line.”

  “She walked through this with me and again with Matthias. Another time with the police and Detective Cryer.” Garrett leaned back in his chair. “That’s probably enough of that unless you have a specific question for her about a specific topic.”

  Bob’s frown only deepened. “Who are you two again?”

  “I’m an interested party,” Matthias broke in and then nodded in Garrett’s direction. “He’s Lauren’s boyfriend.”

  She waited for a not exactly or something similar from Garrett, but he stayed quiet. Only Jake shifted in his chair. “Since when?”

  “It’s recent,” Garrett said.

  Sure, now he piped up. She fought off the urge to roll her eyes.

  “Carl came to my house and asked to come in.” She made sure to emphasize the my part. “He wanted to pick up where he left off and wasn’t offering any explanations, even though I asked for them. He was there all of ten minutes before he left.”

  “And then came back and was killed.” Bob wore a self-satisfied grin. At forty, his hair had started to recede and his shiny good looks had faded a bit, but he still possessed that successful-and-flaunting-it air that many men of a certain age in the metro area had. The sharp navy suit. The matching unnecessarily expensive watch and sedan. And every now and then he dropped the name of the school he graduated from, as if anyone cared.

  “Yes, Bob. We all know what happened.” She kept her voice flat, hoping to telegraph just how done she was with Bob and his prepackaged persona.

  “Do we?” Bob’s gaze flipped between Garrett and Lauren. “You guys start going out, the husband comes back and now he’s dead. Seems convenient, or maybe I should say inconvenient for you.”

  Garrett shifted just an inch and all the attention at the table flicked to him. “Do you have a question, Bob?”

  That low steely voice suggested Bob should rethink this topic. The I-could-kick-your-ass tone had her mind drifting back to Garrett’s comments about killing. He possessed an interesting mix of an easygoing charm and a commanding personality. He clearly was successful but never needed to spell that out for people. She could see it in his sure confidence. In the way he held his body and spoke. But underneath she wondered if maybe there was something a little bit lethal about him.

  “It’s suspicious.” Bob opened his mouth as if he was going to say more, but one look at Garrett and he stopped.

  Matthias finally pushed away from the wall and stepped toward the table. He didn’t sit down. No, he stood, looming over Bob. “As suspicious as your knowing Carl planned to fake his death so you could collect money from Lauren here and from a top-secret business insurance policy that you, not his wife, benefitted from?”

  Bob snorted. “You obviously don’t understand how this works. Business policies are routine.”

  So routine that no one bothered to talk to her about it. That fact kept spinning around in Lauren’s head. The more she learned, the more she felt like she let her marriage happen to her rather than being an active participant. She had never been weak but when it came to Carl and their marriage she quickly ran out of energy and enthusiasm. She should have walked early on but stayed because everything she’d ever known about family had been skewed. She’d convinced herself that being with Carl was better than being alone. And she was wrong.

  “Do you really want to have an argument with me about how businesses operate?” Matthias leaned in closer to Bob. “Please say yes.”

  “And the part about you being in on the lie about Carl’s death?” Garrett asked.

  “That’s a fucking lie.” Bob looked from Garrett then up at Matthias. “It is.”

  She was more convinced than ever that Maryanne had told the truth, at least on that point. “Maryanne confirmed it.”

  “The chick Carl ran away with?” Bob snorted. “She’s a—”

  “Careful.” Lauren knew some insulting word was going to come out of his stupid mouth and she shut that down. She hated that argument trick. The game where people went after a woman’s looks or sexual activity to score points. It was derailing and insulting. Neither of those things were Bob’s business and neither had any relationship to Maryanne’s ability to tell the truth about the fraud.

  Bob made an odd choking sound. “What, she’s your friend now?”

  “You can describe her, talk about her, without calling her names.” That was Lauren’s one rule. She likely had others, but she absolutely lived by that one.

  Garrett winked at her. “Nice.”

  “Wait.” Jake held up both hands. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

  “Bob knew Carl planned to leave, knew he planned to engage in fraud.” Matthias kept his arms crossed in front of him and he launched into the explanation. “Maryanne knew and likely would have stayed with Carl, but he dumped her. Because clearly that’s his MO. He uses a woman and moves on. Maybe Maryanne got too old for him. Who knows.”

  The chair scraped against the weathered hardwood floor as Bob pushed it back and stood up. His furious scowl never left her. “And someone killed him in your locked house on your floor.”

  “Just say it, Bob.” She dared him to call her a name this time. Garrett would likely jump across the table at him,
but she’d bet she’d get there first.

  But Bob didn’t go there. “No one would blame you. He treated you like crap. He deserved it.”

  “Then why did you help him to disappear?” Garrett asked in a deadly cold voice.

  “Never happened. That woman is lying.”

  Garrett shook his head. “We’ll be able to trace the paperwork. Now that we know where to look, it’s only a matter of time.”

  “There is nothing to find.” He stepped away from the table and around Matthias, who hadn’t moved an inch to get out of the way. “And I’m done here.”

  Bob stormed out without a glance. He’d fallen back on his anger. Lauren had looked for signs of something else—guilt or fear—but saw nothing. His nerves either ran ice-cold or Maryanne had spun a believable tale and Lauren got trapped in it.

  The door still shook from the force of Bob’s slamming it. No one else in the room moved. Boats bobbed in the marina and the constant clanking of boat lines and metal provided the only sounds around them.

  It was another few seconds before Garrett spoke up. “That went well.”

  His voice seemed to snap Jake out of whatever haze he’d fallen into. He glanced at Lauren. “May I talk with you for a second? Outside.”

  When Garrett started to get up, she gestured for him to sit again. She could handle this. Hell, she wanted to handle this. Her life kept spinning around her, preventing her from moving forward. It was time for her to take back control, and that started right now.

  Garrett watched Jake and Lauren go. He didn’t like her wandering out of his sight. Not that he didn’t trust her. He did. She was smart and could handle herself, but Garrett knew that sometimes mere seconds were the difference between a rescue and a horror.

  “Sounds like Lauren believes Maryanne. Do you?” Matthias pulled out the chair Jake just left and sat down. As was his practice, he wore an outward calm while he constantly scanned the area for threats.