Insatiable (37 page)

"Thank you. I feel stunning, and this is going to be a very fun night, she whispered in his ear.

"Indeed it is," he whispered back.

Aurora had never wanted the New Year to start as much as she wanted to this night. Not only was it going to be out with the old and in with the new, but she couldn’t wait to get Liam alone and in her bed.  There was no doubt that she was having a wonderful time with her friends, and dinner had been amazing, but now it was almost time to ring in the new year, and after that, she planned on taking Liam to her bed and keeping him there for the entire weekend.

"Happy New Year, again baby," he grinned and raised his glass of champagne. They were alone now and Aurora stood gazing out the window. Liam reached out to her, and Aurora gladly stepped into his arms. Soft music played in the background as they danced slowly.

"I had a wonderful time tonight," she whispered in his ear.

"I did too."

His hands went to the small of her back and he held her close. Their kiss seemed to last forever. They lost themselves in the moment. She focused on his lips. They were soft and when they weren't on her own, they were nibbling on her ear or down the side of her neck.

"I want you to make love to me Liam."

After he slowly undressed her, Liam led her to the bed where she spread her legs with shameless abandon. His smile was devilish and proud when he cupped her. "You're so hot inside."

For every word that he murmured in her ear, he stroked her. Hot, languid touches made her want more than just his fingers inside of her, more than his breath on her skin. His fingers mimicked that slow, erotic pace of each kiss as they traced along her clit and delved deeper. He made a low sound of masculine pleasure as he tested her arousal.  For a moment, everything stopped, then in a flurry of frantic movement, Liam couldn’t get undressed fast enough. His clothes quickly landed on the floor and a conspiratorial laugh filled the air as they continued to kiss. Raw male lust burned inside of him and he could wait no more. He started a steady rhythm of long, deep strokes, each one igniting a million nerve endings the length of her pussy. He kept his eyes on her, and they were hot enough to burn. Their breathing was becoming faster, more shallow. She dug her nails into his shoulders, and when he picked up the pace, moving fast and hard, her vision blurred with pleasure. She moved with him, matching him stroke for stroke.  She felt his body still, then her own tightened.  Her body shuddered as Liam’s did, and they soon found their release.     

Hours later, Liam lay awake, Aurora snuggled up against him. She breathed deeply in her sleep. She'd been asleep for some time, but as for him, sleep seemed to elude him. It was a new year and he was in love with Aurora Collins. She was all that ruled his thoughts now. He'd gotten to know more and more about her and the things that he'd learned only made him fall deeper in love with her. He hoped that by the same time next year they would be engaged. This was it for him, and had Aurora not been so headstrong, he would have asked her to marry him already.

He was sure by all accounts that she would tell him no. She'd tell him that it was too soon, and she'd probably be right, but something was telling him that she was the one. Had the decision been totally up to him he would have ignored the fact that it was too soon. He smiled to himself, thinking that somehow, from beyond the grave, his mom was sending him a message that she would approve. He watched as Aurora mumbled something in her sleep, and then brought her tight against his side, and with his arms around her, he fell fast asleep.

When Liam awoke, Aurora was not in bed. He lingered a moment and thought about how wonderful it had been making love to her last night. She'd never asked him to make love to her before, last night she'd been vulnerable and had needed him. He loved that about her. She had a way of showing him just how much she needed him. When he left the bedroom, he could see Aurora sitting in the kitchen. She was talking to someone on her cell phone. She motioned towards him and caught his hand.

"We'll be there in a couple of hours. Yes, I've got the address, see you soon." She hung up the phone. Her gaze fixed on him.

"Good morning," she said and kissed him full on the lips.

"Good morning, everything alright?" He glanced at the notepad she held in her hand.

"Everything is fine. Feel like taking a drive to Connecticut?" Her expression was one he couldn’t quite read.

"Connecticut? Sure, but why?"

"Deena's run into a bit of trouble and needs to talk."

"And I suppose that talking on the phone is not an option?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Not with what she needs to say, no. Plus she wants me to meet her parents, but if you don’t want to go, I can always go alone," she smirked.

He gathered her in his arms. "Fat chance of that happening, I'm still not ready to let you out of my sight."

Aurora nodded happily. "Just let me get myself together and we'll head out."

By the time they'd made it to Enfield, Aurora was a bundle of nerves. She'd sensed that something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Liam told her that she was probably feeling that way because she still associated Deena with Benjamin. "I bet when we get there and you see her, you'll be less apprehensive about things."

"I hope so," she said and took in the surroundings. The house where Deena lived was located on a cul-de –sac. The houses were neatly decorated, and Aurora couldn't help but feel a sense of community while glancing at the small neighborhood.

Looks like we're here," she said and pointed nervously towards the house.

Liam looked at her before turning off the car. "You don’t have to do this, you know."

"Liam, it's because of me that she got into this mess. I mean if Benjamin didn’t come into the picture, our paths would have never crossed and Deena would have never gotten abducted and raped. So yes, I need to do this." She got out and slammed the door.

Before they could make it to the front door, Deena and her parents came out and welcomed them into their home. After the usual salutations, Deena hugged Aurora and began apologizing profusely. The mere sight of Aurora made her feel guilty.

"Can you please forgive me?" Deena questioned her. Her eyes were bright, but they held a sorrow behind them.

Aurora looked around before answering, things felt awkward, and she didn’t know where to begin.

"Mom, dad, would you excuse us? I need to talk to Aurora alone. Dad, could you take Liam into the den? Maybe you two could watch the game?" Aurora could tell that the young woman was anxious to get her alone, and she wondered what she wanted to talk about. After all, they were strangers, and besides being assaulted by Benjamin, they had nothing else in common. Aurora gave Liam a reassuring look before heading into the kitchen with Deena.

An hour later, Aurora was wrung out, emotionally and physically. Deena too showed signs of fatigue. "I'm sorry; Deena, but I don’t know what to tell you. This is a difficult decision at best, and the choice is entirely up to you, but one thing I can tell you is that your parents seem like good people. You should sit them down and tell them, talk to them about it. They may provide you with the answers that you need."

Deena slumped down in her chair, her face was flushed and in her eyes, it was clear that she was lost in her own thoughts. Aurora noticed that even though her eyes were striking, they were searching and they were sad. She was moved by the contrast of Deena's deep sense of sorrow and her youthful beauty. "You've got a tough decision to make Deena and although I appreciate you wanting to talk to me about it, I'm not sure that I can be of any help. What can I do?"

Deena shrugged her shoulders. "I don’t know. I guess I was hoping that you'd help me come up with some kind of solution. You're the only one that I feel I can talk to about this. Isn’t that funny?" She chuckled softly.

"I mean, a lunatic brought us together, and we barely know one another. Okay let me re-phrase that, we don’t know one another from Adam, but those times that he made me call you, I felt something Aurora, I felt a sort of connection to you. You were so gentle and nice when we spoke on the phone, and I could sense that it wasn’t just your job, but that you were genuine, the real deal, and that is something that's hard to come by these days. I guess I just needed someone to talk to again." She smiled and took hold of her hand. All of a sudden, her eyes widened with excitement and her voice fell away to a low whisper as she spoke. "Maybe you could stay here with me while I tell my parents?"

Aurora nodded her head, it was the least that she could do. She did feel responsible for what happened to the poor girl, and if nothing else, she could at least provide moral support. Deena was in an awful situation, and Aurora knew that no matter what choice Deena made, her life would never be the same.

"Thank you," she said and drew in a deep breath. "Okay, here goes nothing," she said, and pushed her chair away from the table. "You wait here; I'll go get my parents."

"Alright, and would you mind telling Liam to hang tight in the den? He doesn’t need to be in here for this."

Deena nodded her head in agreement before shuffling off into the other room.

She sat nervously as she heard the muffled voice of Deena asking Liam if he wouldn’t mind watching the game alone for a bit while she stole her dad away to the kitchen. There was something important that she needed to talk to her parents about. Aurora smiled when she heard Liam, tell her that it was not a problem, he'd be right there when they were finished talking.

After they were all seated at the kitchen table, an uncomfortable silence fell upon the room.

"Everything okay?" Her father asked.

"Everything is fine dad."

"You always were a horrible liar," her mother fussed nervously.

"Whatever it is sweetheart, you can tell us, and whatever it is, we'll get through it together."

Aurora reached for Deena's hand and gave it a light squeeze. "See, it's alright. Go ahead, Deena, tell them."

Deena pursed her lips and squeezed her eyes shut as she told her parents that she was pregnant.

Her father clenched his fists and slammed them against the table. "I knew it!" He shouted. "I knew something like this was going to happen. Lucky that son of a bitch is dead!"

"Now, everybody just calm down," her mother's voice was one of reason.

Her mother got up from the table and took her daughter in a warm embrace. "Honey, everything will be alright. We'll figure something out, this isn’t the worst thing that could happen. And you'll do fine to remember and think about that William Coombs," she scolded her husband.

"Margaret, might I remind you that this man was not a boyfriend of hers, he was a killer who raped and beat her. How can anything be worse than that?" He asked his wife.

Margaret Coombs turned and glared at her husband. "I am very well aware of what happened to our baby, William, and I was not being insensitive to her assault, I was simply referring to the child that she is carrying. There could be worse things than carrying a child that is what I meant. You understand what I'm trying to say, don’t you sweetheart?"

"I do mom, but dad is right, he was a killer, and now I'm carrying a killer's child.  What am I going to do?" She began to sob uncontrollably now, and Aurora shifted uncomfortably in her chair. At the moment, she felt like an intruder, and wanted to leave in the worse way.

"Deena, maybe I should get going."

"No, not yet. Please help us," Margaret pleaded with her. Aurora couldn’t say no, so she told them to sit back down, and together they began to go over any and all options. Another hour went by and Liam popped his head in the kitchen. "Just checking in." He gave Aurora a quizzical look.

She'd forgotten that he'd been patiently waiting in the den.

"So sorry Liam, here, have a beer," her father said and handed him a cold one. Liam, who was grateful for the beverage, winked at Aurora and made his way back into the den. He was beginning to feel as if he were a part of the Coombs family, a neglected relative perhaps.

He'd caught bits and pieces of the conversation, and what he could make out so far was that Deena was pregnant and had no idea of what to do. He wondered what was going through Aurora's head.
Would she tell Deena to get rid of it, or to give the child up for adoption?  Adoption…hmmm, no,
he thought to himself.
Get the idea out of your head, Liam. Aurora isn’t ready for that, and as a matter of fact, neither are you. For god's sake, quit jumping the gun. You haven’t heard the whole story yet.

They'd had coffee and talked, Liam was finally invited into the kitchen, and they had lunch and they talked some more.  A cold wind billowed at the windows, a fire snapped in the grate and the sound of a ticking clock clicked the hours away. By the time they rose to leave, they'd spent over six and half hours with the Coombs family.

"After exchanging addresses and telephone numbers, Aurora and Liam thanked their hosts and made the trip back to Rhode Island.

Deena and her family had given them plenty to think about on the ride home. Margaret had been the one who suggested it first. She never actually came right out and said it, but the innuendos had been all too clear.  Deena didn’t want to get rid of the baby, but she didn’t want to be the one to care for it after it was born either.

Aurora broke through the silence.

"Can we do this Liam? Should I do this?" She stressed the word
I.

She'd noticed that once Margaret laid the foundation, Liam all but built the entire house. He was grinning from ear to ear when they'd left, and she had to admit, she felt a twinge of excitement as well. But things were still up in the air, way up in the air. And there were doubts, lots of doubts.

"We'd have to get an attorney, draw up papers."

"Let's rewind back to the part where you asked if
you
should do it. I thought we were in this together Aurora?"

"Liam it's not as if we're married or anything. Things could change between you and I. No offense, but I need to make this decision on my own. I have a lot to think about, and like it or not, the decision is ultimately mine. You can have a say in it, yes, but only because we are in a relationship, and so this decision would affect you too. However, what if things change and we split up? Where does that leave me? It'll leave me with a child, that's where. One that you will not be responsible for."