Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable Book 7) Read online

  The wall was cold against my overheated flesh, but Archie was already hauling me upward as I wrapped my hand around the heavy weight of his dick. The faint curve to it was so familiar, and I gave him a couple of warm pumps before he made a sound that was half-groan, half-growl as he sucked a stinging hickey onto my neck.

  My core clenched around the emptiness as I began to tease the crown of his cock along my slit. I was already soaking. I had been since that first kiss in the bed. Lifting his head, he locked his gaze on me, and the naked desire in his eyes had the tension coiling in my stomach pulling taut.

  “Do you remember what I said about all the ways I wanted to fuck you, babe?” he asked, his voice all dark, breathy, and hot.

  “You wanted to fuck me from behind,” I answered, stroking his tip back and forth until he was as damp as I was. “You wanted to see my tits bouncing as I rode you.”

  A slow smile widened his mouth. “Yes, and I want those things, just like I want to feel you come on my cock as you scream out your orgasm. I want to go down on you and eat you until you can’t feel anything else. I want to come between those puffy, kiss swollen lips as tears run down your face ’cause I’m fucking your throat.”

  He shifted my weight, and in a move, pushed upward as his cock thrust into me, and we both let out a groan. I released his dick to grasp his shoulders as he buried himself in me.

  “I plan to fuck your ass until I’m all you think about.” Then his mouth was on mine, and his hips began to piston. I couldn’t think of anything else. Just Archie and the way he filled me as he ran that illegal mouth of his. “I want to fuck you all the time, Frankie. I want to make love to you. I want to fuck you. I want to just touch you. Everything with you, babe. Fucking everything.”

  Then his mouth locked over mine, and between gasping, panting breaths, we tangled our tongues and I dug my nails into his shoulders. The friction of his chest to my breasts had me shaking, and the orgasm that struck caught me off-guard. I clamped down around him as a scream ripped out of my throat, but he didn’t slow down.

  Instead, he pulled out, and at my whimper, nipped my lower lip. “I have you, babe, I promise.” Then I was facing the wall, the chill against my breasts a whole new sensation storming over me, and he pulled my ass back and gripped my hips, then he pushed into my pussy from the back, and I slammed a hand against the wall. The only pause came when he pressed his lips to my shoulder, and I damn well knew he was kissing his name on my tattoo. My heart sped up. It was like being too full, especially when he curved a hand around to tease my clit. Every thrust and rub combo had me seeing sparks, and I swore I came at the speed of light.

  His fingers tightened against my hip as he shifted the angle of his thrusts, and we both cried out with that one. “I’m going to come,” he warned me. “I’m going to fill you up because you’re mine.” He punctuated every single word with a thrust. “Mine. Mine. Mine.”

  Then his hips stuttered, but he didn’t let go. He pulled me back against him and worked those magic fingers against my clit until I damn near sobbed because I didn’t think I could come again when I was still spasming so hard, but I did, and then he gave a shout as he released.

  I would have fallen if he wasn’t holding me up. He sagged back against the wall, cradling me, my back to his chest. His cock softened slowly, but the pound of my heart seemed to echo in the silence. The warmth of his cum trickled down my thighs as he rubbed a hand against my abdomen slowly and then up to my breasts. It was all soothing caresses, and his breath was hot against my ear.

  “Mine, Frankie, say you’re mine.”

  “I’m yours,” I promised. “I’m yours.”

  I swore I felt tears on his cheeks when I reached a hand back, but when I pulled forward to turn around, he seized me in another kiss. A minute later, he had me sprawled on my bed and his mouth was between my thighs.

  “You’re coming again,” he told me like it was an order, and holy crap, he was right. I was a damn puddle by the time he finished, and when he played with my ass this time, working his fingers in and out while he sucked on my clit, I made a promise that he’d get that wish.

  He’d get every damn one he wanted.

  If we hadn’t had the appointment, I don’t know that we’d ever have made it out of bed. My legs were still jelly and my insides were quivering. My lips were definitely puffy, and I couldn’t shake the trembling or the way my pussy clenched as it remembered the feel of him. I’d actually begged him to take my ass before he was done, and he told me next time.

  But only because he wanted to take his time. Yet some of the darkness in his eyes had receded, and his smile had softened again. We managed showers, still playing with each other, and I did get to suck him off, though I swore he never once let go of my gaze as he fucked my mouth. The desperation and need in every touch weren’t lost on me.

  We ended up taking our coffee in travel mugs, which we finished before we stopped and grabbed breakfast with real coffee along the way. The lab was a private one, and it took us a bit to get there. We had an appointment and were shown in immediately. I really had no idea how to explain what we needed, but Archie didn’t miss a beat.

  “We’re doing genetic matching for an assignment at school,” he told him. “We need to do a full profile on both of us, demonstrating how we are not siblings.”

  I could have kissed him all over again. That was the most plausible explanation ever. I did not want to have to tell someone that I needed to prove that my boyfriend wasn’t my brother. I just…couldn’t make myself say those words.

  “We can do buccal swabs and we can do blood. Do you have a preference?” The technician didn’t seem to give a damn one way or the other.

  “I’ll pay for both,” Archie told him. “We’ll also pay any rush fees required.”

  “It can take anywhere from forty-eight hours to two weeks to run the full panel. But if you want us to rush, I can try to get you full results in seventy-two hours.” He glanced from me to Archie. “That enough time for your assignment?”

  Three days?

  “Twenty-four would be better,” Archie said. “And I’ll pay whatever I need to to make it happen.”

  “Best case is forty-eight hours. But I’ll see what I can do.”

  It was the best we were going to get.

  So he used swabs to get the inside of our cheeks and marked the information down. “Can you tell me about the numbers on those?” Because our names weren’t on the tubes. There were numbers instead.

  “It’s patient privacy and to eliminate any possibility of mixing up names. Everything is done by number. Even your results will be logged by numbers. Then when the reports are sent to you, the computer will add the name and we can access it by name only with your permission. Otherwise, no one knows who the samples are.”

  I glanced at Archie.

  Great.

  The technician had changed his gloves and had Archie roll up his sleeve and took the blood sample from him first.

  “What if someone is submitting the samples?”

  “There are home collection kits you can run, but if they weren’t submitted by a physician or a technician, then they are generally only categorized by the information cards provided.”

  Information cards provided.

  “So I could do a sample and just say it was from anybody?”

  “Technically, although if you submitted several samples that were clearly different under the same name, that would probably raise flags. Then again, home collection kits don’t usually have legal standing, so…I suppose. We don’t process those here.”

  It wasn’t long before it was my turn. And he was quick and almost painless about getting his blood sample. Once again, everything was marked with numbers. Archie paid him privately and paid the clinic. I didn’t say anything as the technician promised to get the results within forty-eight hours or as close as he could.

  “Though if you want finer detail work for the assignment, you may need the final report after that.�
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  “That’s fine,” Archie said. “Just make sure you mark everything that proves we’re not siblings. That’ll be a great start for us.”

  Would it ever.

  Outside, it was still drizzling as we walked to the car.

  “Lunch and dress shopping?” he asked once we were in the Ferrari.

  “How much money are you planning to spend on this dress?”

  “Probably a lot. Then there are shoes and jewelry to go with it.” He grinned. “I can play the pity card to get you to let me do it, but I’d rather you just say yes, Frankie. Let’s go play for a while and let me spoil you.”

  “Dress shopping isn’t exactly spoiling me.”

  “Ha,” he said, and then his grin grew. “That’s because you’ve never gone dress shopping with me. And I know a challenge when I hear one.”

  Chapter Six

  I Have to Go Shopping Now

  The waiter stopped at our table with an entire side of flank steak that he began to cut and add to my plate. It was probably my third helping of this particular cut, and he made sure to slice the medium rare section. “Thank you,” I murmured as he offered the next cuts to Archie before moving on. “You know the boys are going to be annoyed with us.”

  “They won’t,” he said, then pressed a kiss to my bare shoulder. I’d shed my jacket when we’d been seated, and the sleeveless black top I’d worn was perfect for this place. No one would see anything I dropped on my shirt. “They’ll be annoyed with me.”

  I rolled my eyes, but in spite of it all, I hadn’t stopped smiling except to chew since we arrived at the Brazilian steakhouse. I think we’d come here the first time after Archie got his license. “That celebratory dinner for your license…that was a date, wasn’t it?”

  He chuckled. “Close, more just me stealing you away. Bubba got his license first, but he had to borrow his mom’s car, and Coop farted around about getting his—”

  “Because he went with me when I took my driver’s test.”

  “Yeah, but I knew Jake wouldn’t be so cavalier, so since I had a license and a car, I took full advantage of being able to steal you.” The smugness in his tone just made me laugh. “And you loved this place.”

  “They feed you nonstop,” I pointed out as the next waiter came by with bacon-wrapped chicken. There was a salad bar and plenty of vegetable sides, but I was here for the meat.

  “The perfect Frankie dining experience.” The playful look on his face softened the lines of tension that had tightened his expression at the lab. I reached over and traced a finger down his cheek. He caught my hand and kissed it. “Mine now.”

  “I thought it was yours before.”

  “Well, then too.” He winked.

  We kept the banter light as we ate. He graciously allowed me to borrow my hand back to cut my meat. It wasn’t until I finally flipped my card from green to red to signal no more to the waiters that I let out a sigh. “Archie…”

  “Babe, it’s going to be fine. I don’t give a flying fuck what those tests say. Seriously, I don’t. If you do, then I’m really hoping you’ll let me persuade you otherwise.”

  My heart skipped a little beat.

  “I mean it,” he said, holding my gaze captive. “I’m not giving up on us ever. If it takes me a week, a month, a year, or ten, I’m never giving up on us.”

  It was my turn to take his hand, and I threaded our fingers together. “Archie, I’m not giving up on us either. I promise. I know I’m dense and blind when it comes to that whole flirting and being asked out thing, but I know you want me and love me, and I’m not going anywhere. They aren’t us. Whatever this crap is, is between bad meatloaf. They aren’t us.”

  And he was right. I didn’t care.

  The relief that flickered across his face burned me a little. “Fuck I’m the worst girlfriend.”

  “Don’t—”

  But I shook my head. “You’ve been so charge ahead, and all I’ve wanted to do was make it all right for you too and I had no idea how to do it, especially since I was the one who had to tell you.”

  “Babe, stop. Seriously. You’ve got balls that clank, especially considering I found out about their stupid affair and didn’t tell you, and you barely even slowed down to tell me something horrible.”

  I laughed “Oh my god, this is like some horrible Greek tragedy.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Not a tragedy. Tragedies end badly, we’re calling this a comedy. Bleak and dark as it might be, but a comedy, because someone told me that’s where the happy endings come from.”

  “Yeah…”

  “And you have been there for me,” he insisted. “I just get sick to death of them dragging you into their crap.”

  “And I hate how you are…left behind.”

  Stroking his thumb over my hand, he blew out a breath. “Honestly, the best thing they could do for both of us is to just forget us. I don’t give a damn about what Edward wants or doesn’t.”

  The knuckles of his hand were bruised. Had been since he got home from New York. I hadn’t asked about them other than to kiss them gently, and he’d just pulled me in for a hug.

  “I’m done with all of them,” he continued. “All three of them. I just want you out from under them or having to deal with them. Wittaker’s got that court date for you, so we sever you from Maddy and then you never have to deal with her again.”

  “Unless there’s something with that trust.” I made a face. “Wittaker left me a message about it, but I just can’t muster up the urge to go in and talk to him about this sudden trust that appears from nowhere. That was what I wanted to ask you about anyway.”

  “The trust?”

  “Sort of. Honestly, the idea that there’s some big ass money fund out there for me just makes me uncomfortable. Yours has terms and conditions, right? Why else would Maddy keep it a secret?”

  “Control.” He shrugged. “If you don’t know you have a lifeline, you’ll never reach for it.” The simple way he phrased it just made me angry at Maddy all over again. “And honestly, you don’t need that trust. You have me. You have you. You’re the most self-reliant person I know. But if there is something there that’s yours, you damn well get to decide whether you get it. Not her.”

  That fierceness was such a part of him. Educated, cultured, brilliant, determined, and absolutely ferocious in his dedication to what he cared about. “I’m really glad you love me,” I told him, and his sudden grin lit his whole face up.

  “Can’t possibly be more glad than I am that you love me.”

  “You might be right, you did shout it out to the whole world.”

  His laughter rolled over me and lit his whole face up, and for the first time since I’d had to tell him, the darkness was absent in his eyes. “And I’ll do it again, I can do it right here…”

  Oh. Shit.

  I clapped a hand over his mouth, and his eyes practically danced. “I will promise you anything, just…let’s not do that right now.”

  He kissed my palm and tugged my hand away as he repeated, “Anything?”

  Yeah, it was a dangerous promise. I really didn’t care. I meant it. I’d give them anything. Whatever they wanted. “Yes. Anything.”

  He closed his eyes as if he had to savor that for a moment. “Deal.” Then after a little satisfied sigh that had me half-amused, half-intrigued by what he had to be thinking, he said, “Was the trust the thing you were worried about, babe?”

  “A little bit, but more about the people who set it up. The Graysons.”

  The good humor drained away. “Them.”

  “You know them,” I said, and it wasn’t a question.

  He nodded. “Let’s get out of here and head to a couple of stores, and I’ll tell you what I know.”

  I waited until we were in the car and on the road before I said, “You don’t have to, you know…you don’t have to talk about them. I just—are they good people?”

  “I don’t know if I’d call them good or bad. They’re…stodgy,
old school, real ‘kids are seen and not heard,’ very stiff upper lip, and old money.”

  That sounded delightful.

  “And they’re Maddy’s parents?”

  He gave a little shrug. “Like I said, I don’t know them know them. I have met them a couple of times when I stayed with Grandpa and Nana. Clearly, if Edward and Maddy were engaged for three years, they all knew each other, but…I didn’t sense any kind of bad blood between them over the fact their kids didn’t get married.” His knuckles whited on the wheel for a moment. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t know they had any kids.”

  “Well,” I said slowly. “On the upside, that means I don’t have any aunts or uncles I don’t know about. Or cousins.”

  When he dropped a hand to my thigh and rubbed it, I leaned my head back against the seat. “I’m sorry, Frankie,” he murmured. “Do you want to meet them?”

  “Well I met her once,” I said. “Not that we really spoke and she was very…distant, I suppose is the polite word.” But I was curious now, except… “Archie, I didn’t want to know about my father before because I know who I am now, I didn’t need the past. That kind of applies to them too.”

  “Except?”

  I grunted, and he squeezed my thigh.

  “Babe, I know you. This is a bone you’ll worry at until you have all the information.”

  “Do you think I should meet them?”

  “Honestly?”

  “No,” I retorted. “I want you to lie to me.”

  His snort made me grin, and a moment later, we were both chuckling.

  “You know what, don’t answer that question. Let’s stick a pin in all of that. We’ve spent more time on discussing the past than I want to. This is about you and me.”

  “Okay,” he agreed slowly. “And I still have that ‘anything I want’ card to cash in.”

  “Yes you do.”