Lies in Love (24 page)

A third climax was on the
horizon and Talia found herself grasping for something, anything to
keep from crumbling into a million pieces. She gasped for air when
the sensation was too much and she cried out his name once again.
“Oh, Landon.”

Her words sent him crashing
into her one last time as he fell over the precipice and came inside
her. She watched the pleasure spread across his face as he laid
against her, meeting her eyes in the mirror.

Talia’s legs collapsed
beneath her, too weak to hold her own weight. She tried to stand but
faltered, and Landon instantly swooped in, picking her up to carry
her to the bed. She clung to his sweat-drenched body, and was
immediately glad she’d never made the bed when he dropped her
to the rumpled sheets. When she reached to pull the sheet over her
body, Landon’s hand grasped hers.

“I’m not done
with you yet.” He began kissing the blue rose on her ribcage,
moving across her body and down. “Not even close.” He
buried his head between her legs and began to ravage her again.

“Good morning,
sleepyhead.” Landon’s head nuzzled against Talia’s
throat.

Talia groaned, “What
time is it?” She stretched her legs, feeling that delightful
ache between her legs where Landon had spent most of the night
before.

“It’s seven.”
He suckled at her ear lobe. “I think I heard one of the girls
come in a few minutes ago.”

Talia sat up in bed, pulling
the sheet over her bare breasts. “I should get down there. I
need to help Sara with inventory.” Any other day she’d be
frantic for sleeping late, but she felt so sated and rested that she
couldn’t make herself care. As her mind started to waken and
thoughts began to form, she remembered the argument she had with her
sister. Her thoughts were immediately interrupted by Landon’s
resilient hands brushing across her waist, pulling her back down onto
the bed. “I really should get to work.”

He pressed her hand down his
body, resting it over his impressive erection. “By all means.”
He smirked at her and her hand began its work.

With fervor, she twisted and
stroked, listening to his moans next to her. When her grip gently
tightened, he bucked beneath her and she pulled at him once more
before crawling down the bed, stopping when her face hovered over his
remarkable length. Her eyes met his briefly before she placed his tip
in her mouth and softly sucked.

Looking up at him, she saw
him resting his head on his muscular bicep, leisurely watching as her
mouth took him in gradually, inch by inch. As she moved her tongue
along him, she could see the frenzy building in his eyes. His brows
grew closer and his breathing was erratic as she continued to move up
and down his member. With eagerness, she continued, broadening her
jaw so that she could feel him against the back of her throat. Seeing
the pleasure growing on his face, she quickened her movements,
pulling at his tip with her tongue. With her hand, she cradled his
sack, feeling its fullness and massaging it as she continued her
efforts, repeatedly filling her mouth to its capacity.

She watched his every breath
as she worked, only closing her eyes once when his hands fisted in
her hair and tugged, triggering slight pain. His hand began to
control the rhythm, forcing him deeper still. He moaned, struggling
not to move as he pushed her down his length one last time before she
felt his seed spilling down her throat. With great pride, she wiped
at her mouth and rose from the bed, smiling all the while.

“God, I’ll never
get enough of you,” she heard him growl as she grabbed her
clothes from the floor. “Never.”

“Well, I really have
to get to work now. I’m definitely late.” She dropped her
clothes in the dirty hamper on the way to her closet. Digging for
clothes, she realized it had been far too long since she’d done
laundry. She had matched an apricot chunky sweater with brown
leggings when Landon entered the closet.

“Should I come back
this evening?” He had his arms wrapped around her in an
instant.

“I have a better
idea.” She turned in his arms, placing her hands along his
biceps. “Why don’t you stay?” When Landon stared at
her, bemused, she continued, “I mean, you were a real asset
yesterday. I don’t think we would’ve made it through the
day without you, and quite honestly, we’ve been short staffed
for months. We could really use your help…” She bit the
inside of her lip, trying to calm the overwhelming nerves she was
feeling. “Full time.”

“You’re
serious?” He stared at her like she’d grown a second
head.

“Yes, I’m
serious. Is the idea so absurd?”

“No, it’s great.
I just thought, well…” He was fumbling. “I just
didn’t want to rush things.”

“Oh.” Talia
stepped out of his grasp. Were they rushing things? As comfortable as
she’d become with him, the thought hadn’t crossed her
mind.

“No, no, no.”
His hands started to stroke her arms. “I just meant that I
didn’t want to scare you off.” He pulled her closer and
kissed her forehead. “I’m honestly happy with the speed
we’re moving.” After another soft kiss he added, “And
I’d love to work for you,” he lifted her gaze to his,
“full time.”

Ecstatic, Talia threw her
arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “You won’t
regret it, I promise.”

“I’m sure I
won’t, Petal.” He kissed the top of her head and left the
closet.

“Where are you going?”
She followed him out, enjoying the sight of his glutes working as he
walked.

“I’m going to
run home and change. I need to look presentable for my new boss.”

Talia giggled. She liked the
sound of it …
boss.
“I’d
better get to work.” She moved to press a chaste kiss to his
lips, but he pulled her close and deepened the kiss briefly before
pushing her away.

“See you later,
boss
.”
He swatted her butt when she turned to walk away.

The morning was off to a
great start and she only hoped it would get better.

Sara took inventory of the
place, trying to get caught up on her monthly duties in the shop. She
was still fuming from her argument with Talia the night before, but
she couldn’t fault her sister for making the big decisions. She
only wished it wasn’t with the escort that Camey brought into
their life. Everything about Landon was simply a recipe for disaster
and she didn’t know how to get rid of him now that he had
rooted his way in. Her sister really seemed happy with him, but the
thought made Sara’s stomach turn. Talia was falling for a
gigolo, for God’s sake.

At the moment, she was
thankful for the peace and quiet in the shop since Talia hadn’t
made it down to help with inventory yet. When she was going through
the flowers in the cooler, disposing of the wilted and scheduling
orders, she heard the back door to the shop open. She set down her
clipboard and stuck her head out of the cooler door to find Reina
entering the backroom. “If it isn’t the walking dead,”
Sara laughed, but there was no humor in Reina’s face.

“I
feel
like the walking dead. I really shouldn’t have offered to come
in today, but after Camey called me and told me how insane yesterday
was, I wanted to make it up to Talia so I offered to come help with
inventory.”

“That explains why she
hasn’t been down yet.” Sara got back to work as Reina
joined her in the cooler.

“Whose bike is that
out back?”

Sara looked up from her task
and rolled her eyes. She was becoming too much like her sister and
she needed to stop. “That’s Landon’s. He spent the
night and get this…” Sara crept to the cooler door and
looked out in the shop to make sure Talia hadn’t come down.
“Talia wants Landon to work here. She suggested he be our
delivery driver since Brandy quit.”

“What?” Reina
shrieked, sending Sara’s finger in front of her lips, trying to
quiet her.

“Yeah, he filled in
yesterday while you were out and after she closed up last night, she
mentioned that he was a good fit. I tried to talk her out of it, but
she told me to shove it up my ass because
she
makes the decisions.
”
Sara whipped a wilted hydrangea out of one of the pots and its stem
broke as her arm flailed through the air. “How can she not see
what a sleaze he is?”

“Dios mio!”
Reina began sifting through the flowers, removing several wilted ones
and adding them to the trash. “Does Camey know?”

“Not yet. I thought
about calling her last night, but I decided to wait until I had
another chance to talk to Talia. I’m hoping I can talk her out
of this insane decision.” Reina nodded and left the cooler,
leaving Sara to inventory the flowers alone. She had to find some way
to bring Talia to her senses. Surely she could help Talia see reason
and not make such a hasty decision. When Sara heard the cooler door
open again, she said, “Did you decide to help me in here after
all?” She turned around to find that it wasn’t Reina
standing in the cooler, but Talia.

“I wanted to talk to
you about Landon again. I want you to reconsider. I realize I said I
could make the decision without you, but I really want you on board
with this. It means a lot to me that everyone in the shop be happy
with this decision.”

A ridiculous smile was on
Talia’s face and Sara had to look away. She couldn’t
stand the thought that Landon was the cause for that foolish grin.
She focused on the flowers, pulling out the wilted and counting those
that would be usable come Monday morning.

“Sara, please.”
Talia moved closer, but Sara continued to focus on the task at hand.

“What? What do you
want from me? I’m fairly certain you’ve already made your
decision. You don’t need my approval, remember?”

“No, I don’t.
But I would like it. I don’t want any hostility in the
workplace.”

“That didn’t
seem to bother you a few weeks ago when you were in a constant state
of bitchy.” Sara looked up from her clipboard at her sister. “I
don’t know why you are so determined to bring him in here and
mess up the good thing we have, but if you are so adamant about it,
then fine, bring him in. I’ll be civil.”

“Sara, please. I don’t
just want you to be civil. I want you completely on board. I’ll
need your help in convincing the girls that having him here is a good
idea.” Talia’s smile was lost. Sara could tell that the
strain between them was truly hurting Talia, but she just couldn’t
accept Landon in their lives.

“No way. I’m not
helping you convince them. If you want him here, that’s on you.
I’ll tolerate the decision; I’ll make things easy on him,
but you, well that’s another story.” Sara knew she was
being unreasonable, but she just couldn’t support her sister’s
decision, not when she knew what he really was. Talia stomped her
foot like she did when they were girls. Sara knew her sister hated
not getting her way.

Repressing a giggle, she
recalled all of Talia’s outbursts as a little girl. “Throw
all the tantrums you want, Talia, but you won’t change my mind.
If you want the girls’ approval, you’ll get it yourself.
End of story.” She returned to the flowers, hearing Talia leave
the cooler. While she was looking through a container of gerbera
daisies, she heard the sound of Talia’s angry footsteps heading
back upstairs.

Monday morning, Landon woke
alone. After a rather uncomfortable day of inventory at the shop, he
decided it was best if he started his first full day of work arriving
from his own apartment. He’d hoped it would ease some of the
tension the girls were feeling, but waking without Talia was a truly
lonely feeling. In just two nights, he’d grown accustomed to
waking next to her. It was a feeling he wasn’t familiar with,
but he wanted to get used to. He loved the warmth he felt holding her
in his arms. He loved listening to the sound of her soft, even
breaths when she first fell asleep. He loved the little moans she
made when she was deep in dreams. Being around her was changing him
into someone he no longer recognized, but he liked this new man he
was becoming.