Chapter 19

Blue

Gripping tight onto my phone, I keep peeking out through the long pane of glass set into the front-door frame, looking for Erik’s car to pull in. It’s been a languid morning of sunbathing by the pool while he ran to the arena for a meeting. It was seventy-two degrees by the time I made it outside after Erik left, which was perfect for me to lie in a chaise and relax.

I’m not sure what the meeting he had to attend was about, but he seemed perturbed by it. I want to ask him questions like, “You look bothered by this meeting; is there something I can do for you?” but I don’t feel quite right in doing that.

Yes, we’ve been dating for two weeks.

Called a truce and were easy friends for a few weeks prior to that.

I’ve let Erik do things to me that I’ve never even imagined a man doing, and I’ve done things just as dirty to him.

And yet…I was hesitant to poke into his business, despite the fact that he barrels through mine without any regard.

I wonder why that is. Is it because I don’t trust my value to him? And if so, is that because of the way he disrespected me all those years ago. Am I expecting him to do that again?

Or perhaps, it’s merely that I don’t have enough confidence in myself to fully latch onto this relationship that he’s clearly trying to build with me.

The sound of a big engine startles me and I look back through the window to see Erik pulling in. He’s driving his truck—a massive charcoal gray thing with dark tinted windows—and rather than pull it back into the garage, he uses the circular driveway to park right in front of the hacienda-style porch.

I open the door and run out to meet him. I round the front of the truck just as he’s shutting the door.

He turns, blinks in surprise to see me there and then says, “Holy shit. You in that bikini running out to meet me may be the best thing ever.”

I grin at him.

He makes a spinning motion with his index finger. “Turn around, run back in the house, and do it again.”

Rolling my eyes at him, I take a step forward, practically vibrating with excitement. My hands grip my phone so hard, it’s in danger of cracking.

Erik moves in closer and puts his hands to my hips. “You sure look happy about something and I don’t think it’s seeing me.”

“Of course I’m happy to see you,” I tell him primly, but then I start hopping in place because I can’t contain myself. Not the best idea as Erik’s eyes immediately drop to my breasts which are hopping up and down with me, threatening to pop out of my bikini top.

A tiny squeal pops out of my mouth and I blurt out, “I got a raise.”

Erik jolts as his eyes sort of pop before slamming into mine. His voice is both amused and incredulous at the same time. “You did?”

Holding my phone out for him to see, I squeal again. “Just got an email from the front office. Management said we’d had a lot of praise from the team about how well we did our jobs so they decided to not only give us each a 15 percent raise, but they gave us each a five-thousand-dollar bonus.”

“Jesus, fuck,” Erik mutters in awe, before his mouth curves into a huge smile. “That son of a bitch gave you a raise too.”

“Huh?’ I ask him as I let my arm drop down, completely confused by his reaction. “What son of a bitch? And what do you mean by too?”

The crazy fool doesn’t answer me but instead bends at his waist, puts his shoulder to my stomach and hauls me up over his shoulder. My hands grip the back of his T-shirt—a very tight fitted black Meat Puppets tee—and I try to make my voice sound as irritated as possible. “Erik…put me down right now.”

One arm is wrapped around the backs of my thighs to hold me in place but the other is free and he lands a solid slap to my ass. I let out a yip and then immediately flush from the memories of him using his hand on my ass last night. God it was good. Him drilling into me from behind, slapping me at intermittent and random times so I never knew when it was coming. I actually came after one of his slaps, but in fairness, I think it also had something to do with his thick cock plunging in so deep I felt it in my dreams that night.

Erik marches right up the stairs with me and I get a little dizzy as I hang upside down over his back. It’s no surprise he heads right into his bedroom and tosses me onto the bed. Before I can even right myself, his hands are at my bathing suit. I can’t even think to touch him in return or make a grab for his clothes before he’s pushing me back and pressing his face between my legs.

I arch into him and moan, “Oh…Erik…oh, wow.”

He chuckles and it vibrates straight through my core. He adds his fingers—one, then two and when he stuffs in a third I start to lose my fucking mind. Mouth on my clit, half his goddamn hand pumping in and out of me and my entire body contracts tight, before it explodes.

Holy shit I’ve never come that fast in my life, and the strength of it has me screaming his name so loud, his head pops up so he can look at me. His fingers still work me from the inside but his expression is troubled. “Are you okay?”

“No,” I gasp as I shake my head.

“Did I hurt you?” he asks as he pulls his hand out from between my legs, and my entire body shudders from the sensation.

“God, no,” I rasp as I come to my elbows and look at him with bleary eyes. “It’s just…I’ve never come that fast before. What was that…like maybe ten seconds or something?”

Erik smirks at me and I swear puffs his chest out a little. “Maybe more like thirty to forty seconds, but I agree…that was fucking fast. Never seen that happen before.”

“That was bananas,” I murmur in bewilderment. “There was no buildup. Just…damn that felt good, and then damn…I’m coming.”

Laughing, Erik crawls up my body and kisses me. He tastes like me and fast orgasms and I let him push me back down to the mattress. But he does nothing more than roll to my side and rest his head in his hand to look down at me. “I expect you to be giving notice to whoever it is you work that charter service for, okay?”

“Um…okay.”

“Like, I mean you call them today,” he presses.

My uncertain smile turns into a glare. “You’re not the boss of me.”

“That’s not how it played out last night when you were yelling, ‘Spank me harder, baby,’ ” he chortles and I slap him in the chest with a huff. But he’s really right about that. I would have done anything he asked of me last night.

“What did you mean when you said ‘that son of a bitch’ gave me a raise too,” I ask him.

“Nothing,” he says quickly.

Too quickly.

“Erik,” I drawl, lacing enough warning in my voice I expect him to be honest with me.

His face clouds for a moment but then he sighs, almost regretfully. “Look…I emailed the organization just saying that I thought the flight attendants needed raises.”

I hazard a guess. “Meaning you thought I needed a raise.”

“Well, yeah. I didn’t want you having to work a job that took you away from Billy and where old men could grope you.”

I consider this for a mere moment before I give him a soft smile. “That was sweet. Thank you. It was more than I could have ever expected and yes, I’ll quit that other job. I’ll call today.”

“Thank you,” he says, leaning into me for a kiss. It’s a good one…tender and possessive, with a tiny, gentle bite to my lower lip before he releases me. Somehow my lip is miraculously connected to my pussy, because it contracts when he does that.

Which means I need him naked right now.

“I may have interfered in your life a bit more,” Erik says and I freeze, my hand a few inches from the button to his jeans.

“How so?”

“Well, the meeting this morning was with Dominik Carlson. It was about that sexual harassment lawsuit.”

I nod in recognition. Everyone knows about the lawsuit because it was hot news on all the major sporting news sources when it happened.

“After the meeting, Dominik asked me to stay behind. He confronted me about the email asking for a raise for you ladies, and then we started talking about you in particular.”

“About me?”

“Yeah. He knew we were dating. Knew about Billy.”

“But how?” I ask in surprise. Not that it’s a bad thing, I’m just surprised a man of his standing would even care to know something about one of his employees so low on the totem pole.

“He’s a smart man. Did his homework once he got the email. Christian Rutherford told him you and I were dating, and well…I think he likes helping out couples or something.”

I laugh at that. It’s ridiculous, but Erik just gives me a patient smile before he says, “He loaned his jet to Bishop to go after Brooke.”

“Oh,” I whisper, my insides going a little gooey. That’s really, really romantic. I grin at Erik. “Is he married?”

He gives me a stern look with one eyebrow raised before continuing. “At any rate, we talked. I told him about the life insurance issue and he’s going to have his attorneys take over from mine. He didn’t make any guarantees, but Blue…my gut says you’re going to be getting that insurance money sooner rather than later.”

I blink at him, trying to process what he just said. He stares back at me, eyes alight with happiness.

For me.

“You think that I’ll get the insurance money?” I ask him, needing him to repeat that which would be my greatest dream come true right now. I could afford to put Billy in a different home where the care is more devoted. Where the medical personnel are better trained.

“I think whatever Dominik Carlson wants, he pretty much makes happen,” Erik tells me, pulling me into his arms. I embrace him hard in return, pushing my face into his chest for a moment.

I let the weight of what just happened settle into me.

A lot of my financial woes—which aren’t really mine but Billy’s—just got alleviated. And yes, Dominik Carlson is a wonderful man to do what he did and what he’s doing, but none of that would have come about without Erik bringing it to his attention.

Thinking about me…caring enough about me, to approach the general manager of the Vengeance and ask for help.

My tears come fast and hot, so I push my face harder into Erik’s chest. He wraps his arms tighter around me, and I concentrate on the beat of his heart against my cheekbone.

I have no idea why this is happening to me. Why Erik was brought back into my life.

But if I didn’t believe it before, I sort of believe there’s something to the notion of destiny now. It’s the only explanation that makes sense to me.