Lie to Me (11 page)

“I’m slapping you with that,” she said, in an icy voice, “until you discipline him
my
way. Why don’t you let Damian and Miles develop a relationship? He’s not going to stay here forever anyways. Why worry about something that won’t happen?” As she spit out the words, they saddened her. It was true. Damian would leave, and she’d never recover, but she couldn’t concentrate on that now.

“I want him gone yesterday.” Sam narrowed his eyes.

Casey felt a wave of uneasiness. Her fists balled at her sides. “Yeah, well, he won’t leave until he’s ready.”

Sam flashed a cold smile. “I predict it’ll happen soon.”

“I think he’ll stay a while. He really wants to make things up to Miles.”

“And you.”

“No. Not me.” She wished!

Sam put his arm around Fly’s shoulders. “I’m sure Damian will screw up and have to leave sooner than he plans. He can stay a few weeks to make Miles feel better and then see Miles a few times a year—take the kid for short vacations—but, in the long run, Damian will run away from here in disgrace, just like the last time.”

Casey felt an eerie sensation of dread that she rarely experienced from Sam.
Is he going to try to expedite Damian’s departure?
“I think you’re wrong,” she said, her voice hard.

“I’ll be watching him,” George Fly said. “He’d better act like a fit father.”

Casey wished her own father, Congressman Riske, would take her side against this vile George Fly, but he didn’t trust Damian either. Still, she boldly said, “I should talk to my dad about a possible job opening in Child Protective Services.”

“Don’t bluff, Casey,” Sam said, slapping George on the back. “The only person who trusts Damian is you.”

“And your father.” She got the sharp dig in.

Sam’s face turned red. “In the end, he’ll see I was right.”

She felt a wave of satisfaction. “Alex trusts him too,” she reminded him.

Sam frowned. “Sure he does; he’s his twin. But he’ll disappoint all of you.” He stared at her with a gaze that sliced the tense air. “The best thing you can do for yourself and Miles is to marry me and get Damian out of your head. He’s no good! He’s a drunken, cowardly dirtball, and he’ll never be any good!”

Finally stressed beyond her frustration level, she slapped him across the face, her palm stinging, although Sam refused to put his hand to his cheek. “
You’re
no good!” she shot at him. “Look at what you and your father have done to this town!
How many people are hungry because of your layoffs? Damian should run the mill! He would care about the workers! He has compassion!
”

Sam had managed to straighten up and retain a measure of dignity, even after she’d slapped and yelled at him. “A business doesn’t run on compassion. His damn compassion would slice our profits.”

Suddenly Casey felt oxygen-deprived, as if Sam were taking all of the air and leaving her to gasp for breath. “I have to go back to work,” she said, turning and grabbing the door handle.

Before she could storm inside, she felt Sam’s cold, hard grip on her shoulder. “The marriage offer is always open.”

She backhanded him, not sure where she’d stricken him, and then flounced inside the store, her vision blurred by tears of rage.

Chapter Seven

As Damian stood outside the squat, tan, brick, school building, feeling at home among the other parents, his cell phone rang. Glancing at his watch he saw that the bell wouldn’t ring for five more minutes, and he answered his phone.

“Hi there,” a pleasant southern female voice said, causing him to smile a little. Reese always emitted happy feelings—images of hearths, puffy clouds, and sunshine. If she had a smell it would be freshly baked bread. Their lukewarm dating arrangement had been compatible, no arguments. No real sparks either on his part, but he liked and appreciated her. She’d saved his ass more than once. He reached up and unconsciously touched the scar on his neck.

“Hi, darlin’. Checking up on me again?” He spoke in a teasing voice with an exaggerated drawl.

“Of course. I always like to make sure you’re all right.”

“I went to AA.” That’s what she meant.

“That’s great.” She sounded relieved. “What else?”

He quickly ran through everything, leaving off his lovemaking sessions with Casey. When he finished, the bell had rung. “Miles will be out in a minute.”

“I’m glad everything is going well between you and Miles—”

“So far.”

“Happy about your father too. I’m sorry about Sam.”

“Yeah, well, we’ve always fought, but he used to like me anyways.” Watching for Miles, he couldn’t get worked up over Sam.

“I miss you.”

Damian felt a pang of guilt. “I miss you too,” he said, belatedly, wondering if he meant it. But he couldn’t hurt her and tell her that nobody, not even a great friend like her, could take Casey’s place in his life.

“You may not have to miss me for long. I’m thinking of coming to Wisconsin.”

Damian froze. No, damnit, she couldn’t. That could end the sweet passion he’d recaptured with his ex-wife. He never wanted it to end, but it would. In no way did he want to cut even a minute of it short, and Reese would demand his time. He thought about making love to Casey earlier in the day and his loins stirred. “You don’t have to. Your kids are in school, Reese. I’m fine.” He tried to swing his voice to a cheery note. “I don’t need a nursemaid, Florence Nightingale.”

“I know,” she said, and laughed. “That’s not why I’d come.”

No, of course not. She loved him and he knew it. “The kids need to stay in school.” That argument held weight and didn’t hurt her. And he didn’t want to hurt her. Ever.

“I wouldn’t bring them. They’d stay with Mom. Wouldn’t you like me to visit? We do keep a good eye on one another, and keep each other out of trouble.”

“We do.” He thought about a party they’d gone to where everyone started drinking and Reese had dragged him out. But it seemed so long ago. “I’m stronger now.”

“You were always strong.”

He smiled at her lie. At the same time, he saw Miles bursting out the door and running toward him.

“My son is here. I have to go, love. I’ll call you later.”

“Oh! Sure. Bye, Damian!”

Soon the little fireball jumped in his arms, in front of everyone, uncaring if his peers saw. Damian hugged him and laughed.

“Will you help me do my homework?” Miles asked, in an eager voice. His childish face quickly changed to a scowl. “I got a detention and I’m in a bad mood. Can you help me at least get this dumb homework finished?”

“A detention for what?”

He didn’t answer.

“You’ll tell me later, but you
will
tell me. Mom can help you with any homework. She’s smart.” He thought about his escapades earlier with Casey, and then Reese’s phone call. He had to stop the games with Casey. Shit, he knew he couldn’t stop.

“Please, Daddy?” He started to cry. “I want you to come home with me. I had such a bad day.”

As if he could say no to his boy. “I’ll come.”

Damian knew Casey’s moods and she seemed upset under her cheery veneer. He watched her as he helped her cook dinner and then as they both helped Miles with his homework. After his son had fallen asleep, he came out of his bedroom and found Casey seated on the sofa, not really seeing anything. The small nineteen-inch color television was on, but she seemed preoccupied. He stood to the side for a moment, watching as she chewed her thumbnail, a sure sign that she felt nervous.

When he reached the sofa and put his hand on top of the cushions, she didn’t seem to notice him. Feeling a wave of mischievousness he lunged at her and tickled her ribs.

She screamed in surprise, and then laughed as he wrestled her to the sofa, both of his hands pressing hers to the cushion. “Say uncle,” he said, “and tell me what’s on your mind.”

She pushed him away and laughed. “Nothing’s on my mind.”

“Liar.”

Casey lowered her gaze.

It hit him. “Shit. What did Sam do now?”

She massaged her forehead and shook her head.

“Tell me,” he said, sitting straight up. He pulled her up to him, his fingers closing completely around her slender wrists.

She looked at him warily.

“It’s best to know thy enemy.”

“It’s sad that your enemy is your brother.”

“Regardless. Tell me.”

So she told him, and he boiled with her every word. When she’d finished, her pretty face hard and grim, his mind raced.
What now? Visit the bastard? Confront him?
No, he couldn’t keep fighting with the asshole. That would only spur him on, and he could definitely be vicious.

“Damian?” she asked, as he tried to hold his temper in check.

“I’m fine. I’m just sorry that he bugged you.” That was putting it mildly. Sam had visited Casey because he knew he loved her and knew it would bother him. He needed to stay calm. He needed to remember that Sam couldn’t do anything to him if he behaved himself. And he planned on behaving.

“His threats bother me,” Casey said, in a grim voice.

“I’m not afraid of him.” He could feel his anger melting as the urge to calm her down superseded fuming over Sam’s gall. “Nothing will get in the way of my relationship with Miles. That includes Sam.”

“He’ll try hard. He proposed to me again, as if I’d ever consider it.” She let out a nervous laugh.

Damian kept a level head. He told himself not to run out and choke his brother. He stroked her cheek. “He’s always wanted what I have. Or had.” He felt a sad pang.

She managed a close-lipped smile. “He can be such a prick.”

“If he bothers you again, call me and I’ll kill him.”

“You’re not going to jail for him.” She slapped him lightly on his arm and he laughed, enamored by the way her entire face glowed when she grinned.

“I don’t think we ought to let Sam and his goon ruin our evening,” Damian said, as he felt his arousal. He couldn’t help grinning back at her.

Casey threw her arms around him and breathed into his neck, scorching his flesh. “I don’t want Sam to hurt you. Or Miles.”

He stroked her hair. “I’ll never allow it. As for Miles, Sam loves him. It’s me he doesn’t love so much.” He could feel his cock hardening as it filled with luscious sensations. The smell of her elusive, flowery cologne drove him mad. “Hey, we haven’t been intimate for—oh—five or six hours. We shouldn’t slack off.”

She laughed into his skin. “I can’t believe you’re taking this garbage with Sam so well.”

“You think I give a crap about Sam with you this close to me?” He basked in her soft, sweet, feminine aura.

Casey hugged him tighter.

His breath quickened and his skin crawled with desire.

The gentle brush of her hand against his cheek wiped any trace of Sam from his mind, at least for the time being. The burning need in his groin scorched his entire body and he buried his lips into her soft neck. Nibbling on her flesh fueled his flames and he assaulted her with vigor, his hands sliding down her blouse.

The blouse annoyed him. It was in the way.

Damian unbuttoned her top button, his fingers trembling. “You look too warm to be wearing this.”

“I
am
hot.” She batted her eyelashes at him.

He quickly unbuttoned the rest of her blouse and it slid to the sofa cushion. Next he unhooked her bra. He felt his heart and breath stop. His erection throbbed as he dragged her lacy bra off her delicate arms. Hard, pink nipples stared at him, almost blinding him, almost making him drool. He had to shut his eyes or it would happen too fast. He wanted to do something different. They hadn’t been together for so many years that now all they wanted to do was get their hands all over each over. That was fine with him, but he wanted to give her a little variety; do the fun things they’d done during their marriage.

He swept her into his arms, as he’d done earlier, and carried her into her room.

She clung to him with her head on his shoulder. He laid her on her back and looked down at her aroused body, his mouth watering.
Mine, damnit, she’s mine. At least for now.

While he daydreamed and stared at her, she grabbed for his hands, ready to pull him over her again. This time he stepped back with a deliberately stoic expression. “Nope.”

She sat up. “Get over here or I’ll—”

“You’ll do nothing. I have something planned.”

Understanding dawned in her eyes. “You’re up to something, aren’t you?”

“I’m going to sweeten things up a little.” He held in a smile that threatened to take over. “This should bring back a few memories.”

“That so?” She jumped to her feet; her bouncing breasts making him cross-eyed. She hugged him, pressing those soft breasts into him, and grabbing a chunk of his ass. Instantly, he claimed her lips and swept his tongue inside of her, while she returned the favor.

She finally pulled back and brushed the hair from his eyes and he wondered if his heart would explode from his chest…or his…no, he could control himself. Tapping her once on her adorable snub nose he said, “Don’t go anywhere.”

She broke into the sweetest and sexiest smile. “I’m not exactly going to try to escape from you.”

He backed up, feeling his grin stretching. “No, you won’t,” he said, backing up while his cock stirred in response to her pure unadulterated heat and femininity.
What a woman!