JoshuasMistake Read online

  Joshua took the phone and gave a nod. “Thanks.”

  Trip sauntered away, his gait fluid and composed. He didn’t look as if he was moving quickly, but a moment later he was gone.

  “Now what?” Tessa asked.

  A loud, impassioned cry emanated from the bed. He looked over. “Let’s get out of here. I need to make a phone call and then I want you to myself.”

  “Oh?”

  Someone else on the bed came even more loudly than the first. Tessa’s pussy was wet and ready for whatever Joshua had in mind.

  He must have known how titillated she was. When he pulled her up from the low chair he brought his hands around, gripped her ass and pulled her tight against his hard cock.

  The desperate sigh that escaped her lips had been building since they’d gotten to The Silk Stocking. She would have let him fuck her right there on the roof if he’d asked. Everything she felt was out of character for her normally serious, stoic disposition. Of course, everything that had happened to her since the desert attack had thrown her world into utter chaos. Meeting Joshua Lakeland and having him be interested in her was the icing on the cake of things that would have never happened.

  He dipped his head, kissed her neck and up to her sensitive lobe. “Come on.”

  They climbed up to the main rooftop club and then down to the street. Once they were off the main strip and walking toward the pickup truck Joshua took the phone out of his pocket. He held her hand and dialed with the other.

  “Hey,” Joshua said.

  Tessa could only hear a mumbled reply from inside the phone.

  “I’m going to need some help.”

  There was a short pause.

  “No, just you. You should put them someplace safe for a while.”

  Another pause.

  “Do me a favor? You know who I’m with? Check on a couple living in Ohio. Make sure they’re safe.”

  The mumbling inside the phone went on for a few minutes. Tessa’s heart pounded and her stomach tightened. He was sending his brother to check on her parents. She couldn’t even believe he’d remembered she had family let alone that he would want to make sure they were safe. She wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

  Joshua said, “Yeah, I’m at Will’s place. And Kane, I’m pretty sure it’s Banta.”

  A string of loud mumbling made its way out of the phone. Joshua pulled it away from his ear. “I’ll be there in a few hours.”

  Tessa heard the last words before Joshua said goodbye to his brother and hit the End button on the phone and tossed it into a nearby garbage can.

  “He’s upset,” Joshua said.

  “I gathered that.”

  “Banta hurt his wife pretty badly.”

  “I’m looking forward to meeting your brother.”

  He smiled. “You may be the first. Kane’s a little rough around the edges.”

  “Now I’m intrigued.” She imagined his brother was similar to him, polished and in control. This new information was interesting.

  “Did he mention the Flacks?” she asked.

  Joshua nodded. “They’re both fine. The house was completely trashed, but the bomb shelter is deep enough no one ever sensed them. Kane and Lena went over and got them out that afternoon. Peggy was pretty upset about the house, but otherwise they’re fine and Kane took them back to their place until this is over.”

  “I’m glad to hear they’re all right.”

  He took her hand and kissed it. She had no idea why he looked so pleased, but she enjoyed the attention.

  “You didn’t have to send him to check on my parents.” She was trembling and she had to make an effort to stop the flow of giddy adrenaline coursing through her body.

  He cocked his head to one side. “I assumed you’d want to check on them.”

  “I do, but…”

  He stopped walking and pulled her around to face him. “Look, I get it, you’re not used to people doing things for you. To be honest neither am I. Your parents might be in danger, probably not, but it’s possible. I know you’ll be more at ease if you know they’re safe. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to them. Kane is not far from Ohio. He’ll make a quick stop, check on them, let them know you’re safe and then he’ll come down here.”

  He was right, she wasn’t used to anyone doing things for her. She was used to being self-sufficient and taking care of herself. Suddenly she needed someone and the crazy part was she didn’t mind. What was happening between them? It had been a surprise to see the great Joshua Lakeland was jealous that afternoon. Not that he had any reason to be jealous. She’d never had any interest in Jess. He was a great agent and a good friend and maybe a long time ago Jess would have liked it to be more. But she had always known for Jess it would have been just sex and would only complicate their working relationship. As a result they had become good friends and Jess had stopped making passes. Maybe he also saw the benefits of not complicating their relationship.

  She’d expected questions from Joshua about Jess, but once she’d taken his hand all the worry and jealousy had gone.

  The most amazing thing was that little Tessa Clark had so much power over the most powerful Psi Agent in the world. The notion made her a little nervous as they headed back to Will’s.

  Once he parked back at the small airport he tugged her toward a smaller building that looked as if it was a storage shed. He slid open the barn-style door and flipped a light switch to reveal an authentic dojo. Brown beams separated opaque Asian-style windows she imagined let natural light in during the day but kept the glare down and the place cool. The ceiling was the same off white with the dark-brown beams while the floor was covered with white padding to keep injuries down. At one end were three small poufs that were low to the ground and she guessed were used for meditation.

  “This is really something.” Kicking off her heels, she stepped all the way inside and heard the door slide shut behind her. The matted floor was warm under her feet and she curled her toes into the foam.

  She heard him move half a second before he swept her leg and she crashed to the mat she had just been admiring. Instinct took over and she popped back to her feet, spinning in his direction.

  “I noticed in the kitchen you have some skills.” He circled to the right and stood in the middle of the dojo.

  She ignored the fact she was not dressed for a fight and took her stance a few feet in front of him, but out of range of his arms or legs. “I can hold my own.”

  “We’ll see.” He came forward and threw a series of punches she easily blocked, right to the face, left to the gut, right to the gut, left to the face.

  She kept her eyes focused on his before spinning back out of range. She couldn’t beat him with force. He was bigger and stronger. She would have to outmaneuver him. When he came forward again she ducked into a low kick that took his right foot out and sent him to the mat with a loud thud. She should have gone in for the kill while he was on the ground. He’d been surprised. She had the time. Instead she reached behind her back, pulled the zipper at her waist, reached the back of her neck, tugged the bow there and let the red silk dress fall to the ground.

  In just her white thong she reached her hand down to offer him help up.

  His eyes were still on her body when he took the offered hand and jumped to his feet. His hands came up in a fighting stance. “Are we continuing or are you taking the match in a new direction?”

  “You started this.” She was already in her stance and ready when he stalked forward and threw two quick punches, which she blocked before throwing one of her own that connected though it did little damage to his shoulder.

  She tried for his legs again, but he was ready this time and countered the sweep, putting her on the mat before she had time to rebalance. His body pinned hers to the floor.

  “I think I’ve had enough fighting. You don’t play fair.” He looked toward the red dress puddled on the stark white floor.

  “Does that mean I win?” His thigh spread her legs
and pressed deliciously against her pussy. She didn’t want to fight either, but she surely didn’t want to stop.

  “Do you think you could get up from your current circumstance?” His smile was wicked.

  She assessed her situation. She could possibly knee him in the groin. That was likely her best bet. “You wouldn’t like how I’d do it, but yeah, I could get up if I needed to.”

  His smile never dimmed. “Then you win, beautiful.”

  His lips covered hers and his tongue warmed her mouth, sending shocks of sensation to all her nerve endings. He was still fully dressed as he broke the kiss and moved lower, showering her with a trail of kisses that ended at the elastic of her panties. “Remind me to tell Will he has good taste.”

  She giggled. “A little too good if you asked me.”

  He shrugged and slid his fingers under the tiny confection, tugging it down her long legs and tossing it in the general direction of her discarded dress.

  Completely naked in the center of the dojo floor she should have felt exposed, but he was on his knees looking down at her and she loved every wondrous expression that crossed his face. She looked down the length of her body to where he took her right foot in his hand and kissed the ankle and then the calf. His lips and tongue tickled as he spread his kisses in a chain along the inside of her leg to her thigh. He continued until her thigh was hanging over his shoulder and he pushed her left leg into a similar position on the other side of his head.

  Their eyes met. Her body quivered with desire as he lowered his head and lightly kissed the skin just north of her mound.

  Lightning struck between her legs and she gasped. She tried to keep watching but as his tongue licked her clit her head fell back against the mat. He was a master of relentless manipulation. He licked and sucked slowly at first. Her head thrashed from side to side with nothing for her arms to cling to. In a bed she would have gripped the sheets or the mattress to gain some kind of stability. In the dojo there was nothing and her sensations heightened with the lack of release.

  His warm tongue slid inside her and then licked up her slit as if she were a sweet confection. Her body jerked and as he passed over her clit she moaned. She wanted more but he was just teasing the spot where she needed him most.

  Tessa remember the stripper whose perfect, round ass had pressed against her clit and the scent of her pretty hair. The encounter had made her wet. She opened her mind and shared the memory with Joshua.

  The vibration of his moan rocked her and he sucked her clit hard, making her buck off the mat and wrap her legs around his shoulders with her feet on the small of his back. She gripped with her thighs and pulled him in tight as he devoured her.

  One finger slid inside her and then a second. She pumped against his face as her excitement lifted her higher and higher.

  “Joshua.” She hadn’t meant to beg but that was exactly what she was doing. She wanted more. She wanted something only he could give her.

  Bringing the memory of the rooftop bed to her mind, she imagined the two of them entwined with the other couples and this too she sent to Joshua’s mind.

  He growled against her clit, and his teeth stung her flesh as he bit her. It was exquisite.

  He sucked her clit softly and then harder. His fingers slid in and out of her pussy over and over again. And then he did it. He opened his mind to her.

  Her excitement had him rigid to the point of discomfort yet he wanted her to come. His desire to feel her come consumed him. She let down the last of her walls and relaxed into the orgasm that pulsed around them both. He pressed his cock to the dojo floor and he held back his need. It was the most sensual thing she had ever experienced. She knew his need was as great as hers, but he waited, wanted her pleasure first. Her gift was she could share the shuddering explosion with him. Her body quaked in the ebb and flow of it.

  He pressed his face tight against her pussy and lapped up every drop of her juices until the last quiver passed.

  A moment later he grabbed her by the waist and rolled her over onto her stomach before pulling her up onto her hands and knees. She was so sated she just allowed him to manhandle her and she enjoyed the moment of someone else taking the decision-making out of her hands.

  She had no idea when he’d removed his clothes, but when she looked over her shoulder Joshua was gloriously naked and tearing open a foil pack to produce a condom.

  He gripped her hips and she reached beneath them and guided him inside. He left his walls down and she felt both the sensation of being stretched and the rapture of her channel encasing his sensitive cock.

  There was no emotion to describe it and no words could do it justice. Her entire world had narrowed to the place where she and Joshua Lakeland were joined.

  As he pulled back a sense of relief passed through her. She lowered her head and raised her ass in the air. As he plunged back inside her the penetration was deeper. He groaned loudly, echoing her cry.

  She would never have known how intense a sexual experience could be if he hadn’t given her this gift. As he pulled back she rocked forward then back as they crashed together and he filled her completely. Her own pleasure built and merged with his. She didn’t know where her body ended and his began. Every sensation that had once been her own now combined with Joshua’s and they were one writhing, pounding sexual being.

  She wanted to come, but she couldn’t have completion without him. Thrust after thrust brought them both higher.

  He reached around her hip and found her clit with two fingers. He worried the bud to the point of madness, and she screamed his name again and may have called out for a deity or two.

  Intense pressure was building. It was an awareness she had never known before. It was difficult to separate his feelings from her own, but she knew the moment he was going to come. He exploded with sensation that took her over the edge, rocketing her with an orgasm even stronger than her first. She quivered as he grunted out the last of his ecstasy. Colors flashed behind her tightly squeezed eyelids.

  She screamed until her throat hurt and collapsed forward. He covered her before rolling to the side.

  They both panted as if they were animals after a long run. A moment later his breathing regulated and he gently closed off his mind.

  She felt as if someone had lopped off her arm. Instantly she missed his feelings swirling with hers. Rolling onto her back, she reached out for his hand. “Don’t.”

  He lifted her hand and kissed the fingers. “I can’t think straight with you fully in my head. We have a lot to think about. Someday maybe I’ll get used to it enough and I can keep my mind completely open to you, but for now I need my wits about me. I’ll keep you on the periphery, but please try to understand.”

  She moved so she was up on one elbow looking down at him. Her heart was still racing from the sex and what she was about to ask. “Does that mean you might want to continue our relationship after this Banta mess is over with?”

  He leaned up on the elbow facing her and took her hand. “Can you trust me to show you something?”

  “Yes.” Even though she’d agreed she still feared what he could be talking about. This was the great Joshua Lakeland. He could crush her with a thought if he wanted to.

  He took her hand and placed it alongside his temple. She was still wide open with no barriers to restrict him. Then she felt it. It started as a low hum as if she was standing in a room charged with electricity. She closed her eyes and let the rhythm of the hum flow over her. The sound was pleasant, relaxing.

  “This is your psychic vibration. It’s the aura you give off every minute of every day. It’s what your psi abilities flow through. It’s the power that connects you to the Earth and it’s the Earth that generates your abilities.”

  In an instant the sound was gone only to be replaced by a faster more variable sound. This sound rolled and flowed. At first the beat seemed erratic, but then she sensed the pattern in the wildness. It was exciting, dangerous and thrilling.

  “This is me
. Can you hear the difference?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is the two of us together.”

  When her low rolling vibrations merged with his seemingly irregular tone the effect was breathtakingly beautiful. It was as if the most accomplished symphony in the world played in her head. What had seemed so rough on its own fused with her more sedate steadiness and a pattern emerged that was perfect.

  “My God!”

  He pulled her hand away and the symphony ceased. When she opened her eyes he was watching her so intensely she could not have looked away. The universe was reflected in the deep blue of his eyes and she was mesmerized.

  “That is how I perceive you. You transform my chaos into perfection. I’m certain this is why we are so intensely connected, why the blocker back in New Jersey couldn’t sever our connection. Nothing and no one has ever affected me the way you do, Tessa Clark. So, yes, if we live I want you in my life.” His eyes dimmed slightly and she thought she detected fear.

  Could he actually be scared she would reject him? No. He’d been in her head, he must know how she felt. At the very least he should know she was sexually attracted to him.

  She touched his cheek. “I want to be with you, Joshua. I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted anything as much.”

  His grin spread across his face and went directly to her pussy. He was beautiful.

  “Our timing kind of sucks though,” she said.

  He pulled himself up to a sitting position and grabbed his trousers. “That’s the truth, beautiful.”

  Chapter Eight

  Sleep was a long time coming and didn’t last long. Even Tessa’s steady breathing didn’t lull him back to sleep. The shit was about to hit the fan. He’d finally found the woman he was meant to spend his life with and they were likely going to be killed in the next twenty-four hours.

  That was just his luck.

  He kissed her bare shoulder, pulled on his shorts and got out of bed.

  The lights were on in the main room of the house. Will was standing in the kitchen in front of the open refrigerator.