Chapter Fourteen
Eva
I started to panic as the door slowly began to close, the bars appearing in front of my face before the door completely shut and locked me in with a loud bang. The finality of the sound echoed the resignation in my soul.
I was going to spend years in this place, pay for a crime I never would have committed.
Heart racing, I tried to stifle my hysteria as I lifted my hands and grasped the bars.
I didn’t do this!
I need to get out!
I didn’t belong here, but fairness had no place in my fate.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t been here before. I’d had to be locked up to await my trial. But this was different. I was no longer waiting for release because I’d been found innocent.
I’d been found guilty, and sentenced to four years. How in the hell had this happened?
Terror gripped me with clammy hands, and a chill ran down my spine.
I wasn’t getting out.
I wasn’t getting out for a very long time.
My situation was surreal, but the reality was sinking in fast.
“I didn’t do it,” I whispered frantically to myself, but words were futile. There hadn’t been a single person who’d believed I was innocent. From now on, even when I got out, I’d be a convicted felon.
“No. Please. I didn’t do it.” My voice got louder, more hysterical.
Sobs of desperation escaped my mouth, and I slid down to my knees, my hands sliding down the bars, feeling hopeless.
“No! No! No!” I screamed, hoping somebody would listen, that somebody might care. “Noooooo!”
“Eva!” A stern, masculine voice pierced my foggy, panicked brain.
“Trace?” Tears were flowing down my face and my body was trembling as I sat up in bed.
“Jesus! I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up.” He wrapped his arms around my naked body.
A dream. It was just a dream. I was out of prison, and Traced believed I was innocent. In fact, he’d proved it.
I relaxed into his body, still a little confused in the dark bedroom, although I knew that we were in his bed. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled against his naked chest.
“Bad dreams?”
I nodded, even though I knew he couldn’t see me. “Yes. I haven’t had nightmares for a while now.” I was guessing that seeing Nora had triggered the pain that was still buried deep inside me.
“About your prison sentence?”
“Yes. I was terrified when I first got locked up. I couldn’t believe it was really happening.”
“You thought the justice system would never be wrong?”
“For some reason, I trusted that they’d find out the truth. But they never really looked for it. It was pretty likely that I was guilty, so nobody really bothered.” I wasn’t sure I could really blame them. The case had looked pretty clear cut and simple.
“This is about your grandmother, isn’t it?” Trace asked huskily.
“Kind of…yes. But she thought I was guilty, too.”
“Fuck! I should have just told her no. I shouldn’t have forced this on you.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. I was angry at you, but I understand why you did it. If you had asked, I would have refused. And I think I needed to hear her story.”
When Trace and I left the party, I hadn’t said much. Although I’d initially leaned on him, I ended up angry that he’d set me up to see Mrs. Mitchell. I’d undressed myself and slid into his bed while he lagged behind. Emotionally exhausted, I’d fallen asleep before he’d come to bed.
“That last thing I’d wanted was to cause you more pain, Eva.” His voice was remorseful as he subconsciously soothed me by rubbing my back.
“I know.” I sighed, knowing that Trace was used to doing what he thought best. “But I’d like some warning before you ever pull something like that again.”
“Done.” His agreement was immediate.
He lowered me back to my pillow, and my eyes fluttered closed.
“Sleep, sweetheart. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” He laid an arm over my waist possessively.
Because I was still wiped out, I obeyed his command and slept.
When I opened my eyes again, it was still dark. For an instant, I wondered why I’d awoken so abruptly, but it only took me a moment to understand that it had been my aroused body that refused to keep on sleeping.
Oh, my God.
I could feel Trace’s heated, rock-hard body against my back, a sizeable erection resting against my bare ass. He had pulled me into his body. Hard. One of his hands rested solidly against my belly. The other…
Oh, shit!
I stifled a moan, my body tensing as his marauding fingers teased my clit lazily. He was exploring my pussy like it belonged to him, like it was an extension of his own body. I wasn’t sure if he was completely awake.
“Don’t tell me to stop.” Trace’s voice was husky with desire.
I guess my question of whether or not he was sleeping was answered. I shivered as his warm breath wafted against the sensitive skin of my neck and ear.
God, he felt good.
Not sure how I even felt about Trace right now, I didn’t respond verbally. My body wanted him, but my brain was still angry that he’d set me up without asking me if I even wanted to see the woman who had been my accuser. While my logical brain might understand his decision, I couldn’t help but feel slightly…betrayed.
My breath hitched as I stared into the darkness, my body pleading with my mind to give in to Trace.
“I know you’re awake, Eva.”
Of course he knew I was awake. I was starting to pant like a wanton sex maniac.
“I know you need me right now,” Trace rasped.
My back arched as he began to get serious about making me come. “Please,” I breathed softly as my body tensed, my climax rapidly approaching as he stroked over the tiny bundle of nerves faster and faster. Harder and harder.
If he was trying to prove that I needed him, he was succeeding.
“Come for me,” he demanded against my neck, his mouth exploring the sensitive skin there as his other hand came up to my breasts and teased the stiff peaks of my nipples.
I was drowning in sensation, all thoughts of anything except satisfaction fleeing my mind. My body was in control, and it needed Trace.
I raised my top leg and rested it behind me, stretching it over Trace’s thighs to give him all the access he needed to drive me crazy.
“Good girl,” he whispered soothingly. “Let me in.”
I had a fleeting thought that his words meant more than just me making the erotic task he’d undertaken easier for him, but I was too far gone into my haze of pleasure to analyze what he had said.
My head fell back against his shoulder and I felt so vulnerable in that moment, so raw that it was almost frightening.
Trace could play me like an instrument, and I responded so easily, so naturally.
My orgasm washed over me in a wave of ecstasy that heightened and then rippled over every nerve in my body, leaving me spent and relaxed in his arms as I moaned through my climax.
I laid there for a while, Trace holding me tightly, his hand moving to stroke my bare hip before asking, “Feel better?”
“Hmm…” My capacity to speak hadn’t entirely returned.
“You were restless. I thought…”
I didn’t remember having any more bad dreams, but maybe I hadn’t been sleeping well. “And you thought an orgasm might help?” I couldn’t help it. I smiled into the darkness.
“No. I held you against my body, then I couldn’t help myself.” There was a touch of mischievous humor in his voice. “I had to make you come.”
“Why?” Nearly recovered, I turned in his arms to face him.
“I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to watch over you. I guess now I know that I can’t hold you that close and not touch you.”
I breathed in his masculine scent as I buried my face into his neck. Jesus! How was it that he always made these declarations just when I wanted so much to be indignant?
“You haven’t slept? You’ve been awake?” I lifted my head to look at the clock. It was almost five a.m. I assumed some hours had passed since I’d woke up from my nightmare.
“No. I know I did the right thing, but I feel like an asshole. It obviously disturbed you.”
“It was just a bad dream. My issue is that you didn’t talk to me. I had a right to know.”
“If had told you, would you have met with Nora?”
I was quiet for moment before replying, “I don’t know. But I should have been given the option. I’ve had my choices taken away from me for years, Trace. Do you know what it’s like to be given no basic choices, to be told when to sleep, when to eat, when to work, when to take a pee, for God’s sake?”
Deep in my heart, I knew he hadn’t made the decision to be in control, even though he was a control freak. He’d done it because he’d known that I’d refuse to see Mrs. Mitchell. Honestly, I did know that would have been my choice. I would have shied away from that part of my life because all I wanted to do was forget it.
“I didn’t think about that, Eva.”
I rolled my eyes in the still-dark room. To give him credit, I did assume he was thinking about it now.
“It would be Hell,” he decided.
“It was worse than that. It was dehumanizing.” My experience was the reason I still didn’t quite know who I was or where I fit into the world. I’d never had the chance to find out. “I doubt you’ve ever lost control.”
Trace had always been in the situation to decide his own destiny. I hadn’t. Ever.
He rolled onto his back and pulled my upper body on top of his chest. As he situated my head on his chest, he answered unhappily, “Not until I met you.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I wondered if he was saying I could make him lose control. I’d never really seen it, but I’d like to. “So you’re human after all, Mr. Walker,” I teased, my irritation starting to fade.
“So it seems,” he said drily.
He’d made a hard decision, and although I didn’t agree with what he’d done, Trace had picked the most difficult option because he thought it would be best for me. I could forgive him. After all, nobody had ever cared about me enough to even bother themselves to think about my welfare.
I stroked a hand across his chest, savoring the feel of his warm skin over hardened muscle. Then, I let my hand smooth slowly over his abdomen until I could run a finger along the light trail of hair that led to what I already knew was an impressive cock. I smiled as I wrapped my hand around him, not surprised that he was more than a handful.
“Eva. Don’t start anything,” he rasped bossily.
“Why?” I answered innocently as I stroked him, fascinated by the feel of the soft head of his penis, and the satiny skin stretched over his hard phallus. “You feel incredible.”
I’d never groped a guy before, and I was enjoying the feel of Trace.
“I’ll lose it,” he groaned desperately.
Hell, that was the whole point. I wanted him out of control for once. “I’ll make you come,” I promised, even though I had no idea whether I could do it or not.
“Fuck!”
His needy curse convinced me to try. There was nothing I wanted more than to taste his pleasure. I moved my mouth down his body, dragging my tongue along his tight abs, delighting at the salty taste of his skin.
Boldly, I kicked the covers down to the bottom of the bed, and moved my mouth to his engorged cock. I licked the mushroom head, and I moaned softly at the taste of the droplet of moisture I swallowed. It was the essence of Trace, and he was absolutely delicious.
I didn’t care when he grasped my hair. “I need you to take me into your mouth, Eva.” His voice was already desperate and demanding.
“You need me?” I asked, wrapping my hand tighter around the root of his cock. I wanted to hear the same thing he did when he’d been pleasuring me.
“More than I’ve ever fucking needed anything.” His voice was low and feral, scratchy and hoarse.
My heart soared, and that was all I wanted to hear. I wrapped my lips around his cock and took as much of him between my lips as I could handle.
I might be unskilled and inexperienced, but it wasn’t like I hadn’t heard and read about sex acts for years. I tightened my lips around him and sucked as I pulled back, only to have him push my head forward to take him again almost immediately.
I let him tutor me this time, use his grip on my hair and the strength of his hand to tell me what he wanted. And Trace wasn’t shy.
“Suck me harder, Eva. Fuck! I’m not going to last.”
He set a brutally fast pace, his hips coming up to fuck my mouth as his hand pressed my face forward. The entire experience was carnal and raw, and I cherished every untamed moment of him as he cursed and groaned his approval.
“Christ. You’re making me crazy, Eva. I’m going to come like a fucking horny teenager.” He sounded like he was struggling to breathe.
I didn’t care how he came, I just wanted it to happen. I wanted to give him the same ecstasy I’d experienced a short time ago.
Do it. Come for me, Trace.
I took my free hand and gently fondled his balls, and his body tensed.
“Move back unless you want a mouthful,” he warned urgently.
I did. I wanted it. I wanted to experience every single part of Trace. I wrapped my lips around him harder, even though he was nudging my head away from his pulsating cock, and then I took as much of him as I could, plus a little bit more.
“Dammit, Eva!” he groaned desperately, his back coming off the bed as he seemed to be in a battle…with himself. “You feel too damn good.”
I felt the rush of his hot release in the back of my throat as he stopped trying to fight with himself, and I swallowed happily. His reaction was exquisite, the moment almost surreal.
Trace Walker was completely lost in his release, his grip on my hair wild and almost painful as he spilled himself with an abandon I’d never experienced before.
His body relaxed and he flopped back down on the bed. I could hear his labored breathing as his grip on my head relaxed.
I savored the experience, licking him clean as he struggled to take in air, then crawled slowly up beside him.
“I warned you,” he said harshly, his voice raw.
“I know. I wanted to taste you,” I answered honestly as I laid on my stomach next to him and arranged a pillow under my head.
Although I knew that it was going to be painful when my job with Trace was over, I wanted to experience everything I could while I was with him. I’d been deprived of feeling anything but fear and devastation for so long that I couldn’t resist taking any kind of joy I could experience, even if I’d pay for it later.
I felt him sit up and reach for the sheet and quilt at the end of the bed. I squealed as his hand came down on my bare ass with a whack!
“What was that for?” I asked in a faux outraged voice.
“For driving me crazy,” he grumbled as he covered our bodies and gathered me close to him, making me abandon my pillow for his shoulder.
I smiled as he tucked the covers around me protectively. “I’d say it was a pretty short drive. You hired your stepsister to be your fiancée, and she ends up being a convict. But you still didn’t run away.” I was teasing him, but really, maybe he was just a little bit off the rails.
“You’re not a convict, and I’d never run away from you. I need you too damn much.” He sounded completely serious, and somewhat disgruntled.
That shut me up. My heart might be rejoicing, but I knew I couldn’t make too much out of his admission.
I need you, too.
The thought jumped into my mind, but I closed my mouth so I didn’t say it aloud. If I’d learned anything in my rough background, it was that there were very few people in life I could count on long term except myself.
Closing my eyes, I let myself enjoy just being in his arms, his arms protectively enclosing me. For now, I felt safe, and that had to be enough.