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  ILLICIT

  CONTACT

  Shatterproof (vol. 2)

  JORDAN BURKE

  Copyright © 2014 by Jordan Burke

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written consent of the Author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter One – Catherine

  For the first time in my life, I woke up next to a man.

  Watts was still asleep. Or should I say Daniel?

  No, he was Watts to me. That’s how I’d gotten to know him and that’s who he would always be. The Watts who responded to my first email about books, the Watts who intrigued and excited me with his words, and the Watts who lived up to his promise of giving me a mind-blowing sexual experience.

  After eating the Chinese food last night, we again went to my bedroom. We had already had sex twice, but there was that third condom he’d brought. It was sitting on my nightstand, within arm’s reach, ready when we were.

  But the rest of the night turned out to be short and sweet, with a little idle talking, followed quickly by me falling asleep.

  I woke in the middle of the night to find him asleep, but his arms were still snugly wrapped around me. There’s always a little light in my room. I can’t stand total darkness, so I solve it by leaving on my laptop screensaver, a collage of relaxing photos.

  We were facing each other, just inches apart, so close I could feel his breath on my shoulders. My leg was hooked over his. I didn’t remember going to sleep that way, so I must have done it during the night.

  I studied his face in the light from my laptop as it increased and decreased.

  He was only twenty-nine, close to turning thirty, so I didn’t expect to see the lines in his brow. Or the ones at the corners of his mouth. They were faint, but they were there, just below the stubble of his one- or two-day beard.

  Was that kind of thing inherited? If so, I would have no idea what I was in for. Or were they from stress? A hard life?

  I knew Watts had his secrets, and even though he never gave me the slightest hint about them, I had long ago wondered if he’d been through something terrible. Probably not something exactly like my childhood, but maybe something close? Something that caused him to live a secluded life like mine, something that made him wary of sharing his name, something that drew those lines on his face.

  I eventually fell back to sleep, lulled by his gentle breathing.

  A few hours later, I woke up next to a man for the second time in my life.

  I was proud of myself. I felt truly safe with another human being.

  But, dammit, I had to pee. I didn’t want to remove myself from Watts’s arms. I wanted to stay there all day. Into the night. Into forever, if it were possible. I also didn’t want to disturb him and rouse him from what was clearly a deep sleep.

  When I tried to move, though, he woke immediately.

  I lowered my head back down on the pillow. “Sorry.”

  He raised his hand to my face and touched my cheek. “Going somewhere?”

  I shook my head no, then thought better of it. “Actually, yeah. The bathroom.”

  “Go,” he said. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen. Do you have any coffee?”

  I started to get out of the bed. “Crap, no. Sorry.”

  “We can go…Jesus, Catherine, I don’t even know if you drink coffee.”

  I had stepped into the bathroom and turned before closing the door. “I do. I’m just out.” I almost closed the door, but something occurred to me. “We really have a lot to learn about each other.”

  . . . . .

  We took a quick shower, during which we were able to pull off the miraculous feat of not having sex. It was an intimate shower, no doubt. We washed each other’s bodies, an opportunity to explore his more than I had been able to so far. Same for Watts. He took an unusually long time soaping up my breasts.

  “I think they’re clean enough now,” I said, smiling.

  “Just making sure.”

  He washed my hair. It was something I’d never had a man do before, and there was something mind-bogglingly sexy about it.

  After getting dressed, we headed out for coffee. It turned out that Watts and I were the kind of people who couldn’t function without a cup of coffee in the morning. Yet another thing we had in common.

  I had suggested that we take it back to my place, but Watts had other ideas.

  “Do you have any plans today?”

  I said, “You know I don’t.”

  “Just checking,” he said, keeping his eyes straight ahead as he drove. “Even if you did, I was going to tell you that you needed to cancel them.”

  His facial expression didn’t change and he didn’t cut his eyes at me and grin. He was serious. “Is that so?”

  He nodded, sipping his coffee. “I have something to show you.”

  I didn’t ask what, or where, and he didn’t volunteer any of the information. He wanted to surprise me, and I wanted to be surprised. Although, I did get a little anxious when I noticed we were on our way to Baltimore.

  The ride was quiet. He didn’t say much, and I was perfectly content to just be along for the ride. I was happy to be doing something so exciting on a Saturday. The way my life had been going, anything would have been exciting, but taking off on a day-trip with Watts was the best thing I could imagine.

  I hadn’t been to Baltimore before, so I looked out the window and took in the scenery. It wasn’t long before he pulled into a spot along the side of the street.

  I looked up at the storefront. “We’re going to a bookstore? Is this your favorite place or something?”

  Watts turned the car off and as he was getting out, he said, “Or something.”

  He walked around to my side, opened the door, and I stood. I looked at the door and saw the sign. “It’s closed.”

  “Yep.” He was moving toward the door, and it was then that I noticed he was fumbling with his key ring.

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” I said. “You own this place?”

  He unlocked the door and swung it open. “Sure do.”

  “Sales. You always told me sales. You sell books.”

  “And buy,” he said.

  An old woman approached the door holding a plastic shopping bag full of what appeared to be paperbacks.

  “Sorry,” Watts told her. “Closed for the day. We’ll be open Monday.”

  The old woman huffed and shuffled away.

  “That wasn’t nice,” I said.

  He turned on the lights. “Today, this is all yours.”

  I looked around. Aisle after aisle of books. Mostly paperbacks, some hardbacks. All older looking, definitely used. All meticulously lined up on the shelves. A maze of shelves I could see myself getting lost in for hours.

  Aside from that, the first thing I noticed was how cold it was. “Does this place double as a walk-in freezer?”

  Watts smiled. “Air conditioning helps keep the humidity down. Any kind of moisture can ruin a book, especially older ones. You know, your eyes ar
e very big right now, and you’re not blinking. Should I rent a U-Haul for the drive back?”

  I started toward the first aisle. “Very funny.”

  “Go ahead,” he said, “look around. Take whatever you want.”

  I took my time browsing. Watts followed me throughout the store as if he were security and I was a suspected thief. But I knew what he was really up to—he enjoyed watching me get a thrill out of finding books that interested me. And after the way things had been going since last night, I didn’t want him far away at all, anyway.

  But after a little while, Watts told me to browse around and he’d come find me.

  It would have been very easy to lose control and let myself become greedy. So many books. I imagined them on my shelves, perched up there waiting for me, worlds of new places to visit and people to meet.

  I spent about thirty minutes browsing. As I looked around I thought about how wonderful it would be to have a job like this and how lucky Watts was to have it. He loved reading just as much as I did, and I could only imagine the enjoyment he got from being surrounded by books all day.

  I selected a few titles, ones I’d been looking for online but couldn’t find. I decided to stop with what I had and a few minutes later I found Watts behind the counter, looking at something on the desktop computer.

  “What are those?” I asked, startling him. “Oh, sorry.”

  “What are what?” he asked, looking a little confused.

  I pointed at the books behind the counter. There must have been at least fifty of them, all in a locked glass case.

  “Rare books.” He spun around on his stool and unlocked the glass door, taking out one of the books. “This is a first edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” He put it on the counter between us.

  “Wow, where did you get this?”

  The book had been facing Watts, but he spun it around toward me as he answered. “A guy came in about…two years ago, I think. And I bought it from him for eight-thousand. I can probably get ten for it.”

  “Holy shit, are you serious?”

  Watts chuckled. “That’s nothing.” He picked up the book and placed it back in the case. Turning to face me, he said, “Those are actually the inexpensive rare books. I have others in a safe in the back.”

  I was fascinated by what he was telling me, but I was also doing a quick inventory of my own books, wondering if I had any that were worth some good money. The next thing he said broke me out of that short-lived daydream, though.

  “I’ll let you in on a little secret. I have a first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that’s worth about twenty-thousand, and a first edition of War And Peace that could probably sell for over thirty-five grand.”

  “So that’s where the store really makes its money?”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s from the smaller sales. The big ones don’t happen very often.”

  I noticed a vase with flowers on the counter and it brought back a memory: the rose I had found on my doorstep that night he had left so suddenly from the hotel room. I knew he hadn’t left it for me, and I had already reasoned the other possibilities, but it made me wish it had been from him.

  He finally noticed the books I was holding. “Are you finished browsing?”

  I nodded, looking at the few books in my arms.

  His brow furrowed. “That’s it?”

  “For now,” I said, hoping that I’d find myself in this store many times in the future. I reached into my purse. “Let me pay you for these.”

  Watts just shook his head.

  “I can’t just take them.”

  His eyes had gone back to the computer screen. In a flat, matter-of-fact tone he asked, “Why not?”

  I looked at the ones I’d picked out. “These have to be at least, what, thirty dollars?”

  He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You want them, they’re yours. I take whatever I want. It’s a perk of the job and I’m extending it to you.”

  “A friends and family discount thing?” I smiled at him, thinking I’d made a pretty decent joke.

  He looked up from the screen but his expression didn’t change. “Is that what we are?”

  “What, friends?”

  “Either one.”

  We certainly weren’t family, so I didn’t know what he meant by that. But were we friends? I guess that could have been the case. Yes, we’d had sex a few times, and while I wished our relationship was more than just friends, the truth was that friends did that all the time.

  I didn’t have an answer. I was kind of hoping he would provide one. So I stood there silently.

  Finally, after a long ten seconds or so, he spoke. “We don’t have to answer that right now. All that matters is that you’re here. I’m glad you are.”

  He stood and came around the counter to stand in front of me. He put his hand to my cheek and held my face still as he began kissing me slowly and softly, his tongue feathering across my lips.

  He stopped, resting his forehead against mine.

  “What’s wrong?” I said, wanting him to kiss me again. Wanting him to kiss me forever, actually.

  “I have to stop.” Our eyes were just inches apart, locked in an unblinking stare, and I was terrified by what he might say next. “If I don’t stop, then this...” he tugged on my shirt, “is going come off, and these…” his hand dropped down to the front of my pants and he grabbed the button, “are going to be off, and you…” he kissed my mouth hard, greedily, then gently took my lower lip between his teeth before letting it go and saying, “you are going to be perched on this countertop with your gorgeous legs spread and with my cock inside you.”

  Chapter Two – Watts

  My intention wasn’t to stop at all. I wanted to see her reaction to my stopping and to my words. And I got just what I was looking for.

  It was that look in her eyes that I’d seen that night in the hotel, and that I’d seen again last night. It was a longing look of wanting me, needing me. It was a look I had deliberately tried to evoke with my words just moments ago, knowing all too well what it would lead to.

  I wouldn’t be able to leave that store without fucking her.

  I can’t say it was a spontaneous thought. I’d been thinking about it all day, ever since we woke up and I decided I would bring her to my store. As we’d gotten dressed earlier, I’d grabbed that third condom off her nightstand and put it in my pocket.

  Catherine looked surprised when I produced it. She had been placing her handful of books down on the counter, and she did a double-take when she saw me holding it up.

  “You didn’t think I’d be unprepared, did you?”

  The corner of her mouth turned up in a knowing grin. “I would never…”

  I lifted her up and put her on the counter, grabbing her leg and wrapping it around the backs of my thighs. “I don’t think I can get enough of you.”

  She put her hands on my chest and pushed when I tried to lean in to kiss her.

  “Wait,” she said. “Do you remember that email you wrote about how you liked to watch a woman’s reaction?”

  She didn’t get any more specific than that. She didn’t have to. “Of course.”

  Catherine moved off the counter and stood, looking up at me. “I want that. I want you to see my reaction.”

  We were standing less than a foot apart. Without breaking eye-contact, I reached for her wrist and brought her hand to the front of my pants. Her eyebrows moved slightly up her forehead and her lips parted.

  “That’s a good first reaction.”

  She bit her lip and I thought I saw the hint of a blush taking over her face.

  I stepped around her, went behind the counter and removed the seat cushion from the chair, before leaning back on my counter, ankles crossed. “I can’t see your reaction until you start.” I dropped the cushion on the floor before me.

  She stepped toward me, putting her face against my chest. “I want to do it how you like it.” I felt her hands start to unbuckle my belt, and I
stopped her.

  “Just the zipper,” I said.

  My pulse picked up as I was curious to see how she did it, what her technique was. All women do it differently. Some better than others. But there’s no such thing as a bad blowjob.

  She kissed me as she worked the zipper down and freed my cock. I grew hard and heavy in her hands as our tongues twisted wildly together.

  Catherine knelt on the cushion, stroking me and watching her hand as it moved back and forth along the length of my shaft.

  I watched her hand, too, but mostly I watched her face as she played with me. Her lips were pressed tightly together, as if teasing me, making me wonder how long they’d stay so firmly closed.

  I reached down and took my cock from her, gripping it at the base. My other hand went to the top of her head, and I guided her head closer to me with my fingertips on her scalp.

  Those lips—pretty and pouty—weren’t opening for me yet, so I touched them with the head of my cock. I moved it back and forth across her mouth, painting her with the little bead of moisture that had formed at the tip when she was playing with me.

  After a few moments like this, she looked up and her lips parted beautifully for me. Her tongue touched the tip of my cock as she held eye contact. Opening wider, she drew the head into her mouth, and I dropped my hand to my side. I felt the warmth close around me as she sucked a little, using her tongue to tease the very tip.

  Her hand moved to the base of my cock, not stroking, but holding with just the right amount of pressure.

  The visuals are always what push me over the edge. Yes, the physical pleasure is integral, but there’s nothing like the sight of a woman wrapping her lips around my cock and taking her time as she surrenders her mouth to me.

  Which is exactly what Catherine was doing now—opening her mouth a little more, taking more of me, encasing my cock with the growing heat and wetness of her mouth.

  I reached down and took her wrist, moving her hand away.

  “Let me have the other one,” I said, and she raised her arm.