“I did a lot of research. I was getting desperate.”
“You did some good research. I’ll see you tomorrow at four.”
“Thanks.”
Joyce stared at her. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, that was Kimbra.” She related the conversation.
“That’s good, right?”
“I hope so.” She’d never really seriously thought about an alternate career. Maybe she could one day go back to school.
She’d have to hit the lottery first, though.
* * * *
Walt brought groceries with him when he showed up at Holly’s house Monday evening. “Hope you like shrimp,” he said, “because they had peel and eat shrimp on sale.”
“I love it.” She held something up, a little side trip she’d made on the way home. “I bought something for you.”
He did a double-take when he realized what it was. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I want you to have one. No one else has a key to my place. Which is stupid, come to think about it. Something happens to me, no one would probably look for me. Well, Joyce might, now that we patched things up this morning. And hopefully you would.”
He pulled her in for a kiss. “Thank you, sweetheart. I need to give you a key to my place.”
“I wasn’t expecting reciprocation. I only want one if you want to give me one.”
He arched an eyebrow at her.
“Sir,” she added, feeling a little silly after the fact about her protest.
“Kimbra has a key to my place, but you should have one. Besides, my house is closer to your work than yours. You ever feel really bad, you can always go to my place and lie down.”
“There you go, logic-ing me again.”
He grinned. “I try.”
* * * *
Tuesday afternoon, Holly didn’t even have to wait in the reception area when she arrived. The woman manning the front desk sent her straight back to Kimbra’s office.
Kimbra was just finishing up a phone call, but waved Holly in when she saw her in the doorway. Once she was finished, she got up and gave Holly a careful hug.
“Thanks for coming.” Kimbra shut the office door. “This won’t take long.” She had a couple of things she wanted to question Holly on, case citations that Holly had noted, and her reasoning for them.
Once they finished working through them, Holly had to ask. “So how does his case look?”
“Good. Real good. I’m still going through everything, so it’s going to take me a while. A lot of forensics reports to sift through. There’s so much it looks like his first attorney didn’t even bother to do or bring up, stuff they should have challenged.” She waved her hand at a pile of boxes in a corner. “By the time I get this in front of the judge, I’m going to have a trial’s worth of procedural points to challenge.”
“So you’re feeling confident?”
Kimbra smiled. “Sugar, I left confident in the dust a long time ago. There aren’t any slam-dunks, but if I have to take this case up to SCOTUS, I will. It won’t get to that, though. When I lay this out before the trial judge—and I checked, he’s still seated—he’ll probably vacate the conviction.”
Finally, Holly had hope. “Thank you so much for this. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
“Well, you can do something for me.”
“Anything.”
Kimbra smiled as she leaned forward. “Keep that man happy. I can tell he’s crazy about you. I haven’t seen him like this in…well, since me. I hope this doesn’t come off as weird, but he deserves to be happy, and I really think you two have a good shot together.”
Holly wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say. “Thank you.”
“And Momma asked when you two are coming over again for dinner. So you might as well accept assimilation into the Luzon family.” Another playful grin. “Papi loved the chocolate bars you gave him.”
“I thought Momma hid them from him?”
“I managed to sneak a couple out and pass them to him.” She pressed a finger to her lips. “Don’t tell Momma. She’ll skin me alive.”
* * * *
Walt drove Holly to her appointment with Nate Wednesday evening. She definitely needed it, because the effects from their weekend play had started to wear off despite him helping her with the TENS unit every night.
And after the appointment, when Holly asked Cherise about paying the bill—while Walt was in the bathroom—Cherise confirmed it was already paid.
She also confirmed Walt had left explicit orders not to let Holly pay for the appointments, and that he was to be given the bill.
I surrender.
Maybe this was what love felt like. It was scary in the good way, and felt right.
She’d had damned little in the way of personal relationships since what had happened to her, so she was way out of practice.
Why am I fighting this again?
They were good in bed, they were even better out of bed, and best yet, she knew he was someone she could be friends with for life even if this didn’t work out.
On the other hand, her brain was quickly coming to see that it looked like this was going to be for life, if Walt had his way.
The man’s own ex-wife was championing them. That had to be a good sign, right?
That was also the good kind of scary to her.
Once they were back in his truck and heading home to her place, she said it. “Thank you.”
“I told you, sweetheart, I’m happy to do it.”
“I mean for everything.” She stared at him. “Everything. I want this. I want to try this. With you. I want to stop being scared, I want to live. You’re right, Louis wouldn’t want me to put my life on hold.”
He reached over and patted her thigh. “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart. I promise.”
Chapter Nineteen
The next Saturday morning, with Walt driving Holly’s car, they picked up Kimbra and headed toward Hardee County. He was happy to drive them, even though he couldn’t actually go in and visit with Louis.
He wanted to be there for Holly, to keep showing her he meant what he said.
That he would stand by her.
Kimbra had opted to ride in the backseat so she could spread out files and work during the trip. “Walt, you realize you can’t go in, right? Seems like I told you that.”
“I know. I brought my Kindle.”
“It could be a couple of hours,” Holly warned.
He smiled. “That’s fine.”
“We’ll make sure when we see him that he put the form in to add you to his visitor list,” Holly told him.
“It’s all right. I’m a big boy. Don’t worry.”
“Hmm. Now that’s interesting,” Kimbra said from the back.
“What?” they both asked.
“Did you know Jason had been ordered to seek anger management and alcohol addiction treatment while he was in the military?”
Holly turned. “No. I never heard about that.”
Kimbra was thumbing through a file. “I just got this yesterday. Hadn’t had a chance to go through it yet. Holy cow, this is like a smoking gun.” She rooted through her papers to find something else. “That fits with everything else I found out, but it’s hard proof, not just hearsay. One more brick.”
He glanced in the rear view mirror and caught Kimbra’s glance. He wasn’t just worried about Holly’s state of mind. He could see how personal Kimbra had made this case.
After they arrived and found a parking spot, he settled in to wait as Holly and Kimbra headed inside the facility.
Three hours later, he was still patiently waiting when they emerged, Kimbra’s arm around Holly.
And Holly looked like she’d been crying.
He got out and met them.
“She’s okay,” Kimbra said. “Just emotional. She couldn’t keep it in anymore once we left.”
Walt helped her back to the car, holding her. “We’ll get him out, sweetheart.”
r /> “I hate seeing him there. He doesn’t belong in there.”
Kimbra opened the back door. “I’m not gonna stop,” she promised Holly. “We’ll get him home.”
Walt caught her gaze. “Thank you,” he silently mouthed at her.
Kimbra nodded before climbing in.
* * * *
While visiting Louis had emotionally drained Holly, Kimbra’s faith in her abilities to free him had at least kept the normal depression Holly always felt following one of these visits at bay.
Or, maybe that was due to Walt’s presence.
By the time they returned to Sarasota, Holly felt exhausted and she didn’t want to spend the night alone.
“Can I sleep at your house tonight, Sir?” she asked after they’d dropped Kimbra off. “Maybe we can order pizza or something and stay in?”
“Of course you can, and absolutely we can. Let’s go by your place and get what you need.”
Less than an hour later, they were back at Walt’s, and he’d put her into a tub of hot water and Epsom salts to soak for a little while. When she finished that, he hooked her TENS unit up for her and then snuggled in bed with a movie channel on.
It wasn’t even five o’clock in the evening yet, and she felt wiped out.
“Sorry I don’t feel like going out tonight.”
He rolled onto his side, propped up on one arm. “What’d we talk about with apologies for stuff like this?”
“Sorry.”
He let out a sarcastic sigh. “Are you trying to earn a spanking? Because all you have to do is ask for one, you know.”
“Sor—” But when Walt started laughing, she knew he wasn’t upset with her.
He sat up, picked up her right foot, and grinned. “I think someone needs a torturing.” He found the pressure point inside her big toe and pulled a loud screech from her. “Hold still, sweetheart.”
He had her alternately laughing and crying by the time he finished torturing her feet about twenty minutes later.
And yes, she’d even felt herself dropping into subspace.
And now she was horny.
Walt noticed. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
She rolled onto her side and draped a leg over his. “Maybe I have a little energy.”
“Maybe, huh?”
She nodded.
“Hmm.” A wicked grin slowly filled his face. “I wonder if I could condition you to get really horny when you wear your TENS unit.”
She wasn’t sure if she should feel scared…or excited.
He plucked the controller from her hands and made her roll onto her back. Sitting up, he changed positions so he could lie between her legs, his mouth on her pussy.
Holly didn’t miss that he was sporting a rock-hard erection.
She didn’t have time to contemplate that, though, because his talented tongue swiped along the length of her clit and made her moan. Tonight, he was really going to make her beg to come, apparently, because he was in no hurry to get her off, and she was begging her heart out.
Then she gasped as she realized he was slowly increasing the strength of the TENS unit setting. But every time he raised it, he increased his efforts, paying even more attention to her clit until she was once again begging him to get her off.
Back and forth, a vicious cycle, her body rewarded with pleasure for taking the good kind of pain. She didn’t know how long he kept her hovering like that, until he finally bumped up the TENS unit setting again, making her climax as he did.
He reduced the setting as she was recovering from that, a pleased smile on his face as he lay there, staring at the controller.
“That was fun,” he said, setting it aside. “That’s even better than what I wanted to do to you with the violet wand.”
“Huh?”
He climbed back up the bed to stretch out next to her. “I wanted to see if I could condition you by using the violet wand, but this is even better. Far easier to do.”
Something about the playfully smug look on his face started her laughing. He pulled her against him, burying his face in her hair. “I warned you about being tricky. You’re in sooo much trouble, now that I know I can do that to you. You realize that, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Well? How did it feel?”
“Holy cow.” She stared into his eyes. “It was like every time you bumped it up, it made it harder to come until my body got used to it. When I finally did, it was even better than you usually are.”
“Thanks. I think.”
She playfully poked him. “You know what I mean.”
The grin returned. “I do.” He pretended to buff his nails against his chest.
She rolled over on top of him. “So can I take care of something for Sir?”
He laced his fingers behind his head. “Be my guest, sweetheart.”
Careful not to get tangled in the wires for her TENS unit, Holly changed position while Walt spread his legs to make room for her. She loved going down on his cock, especially the sexy noises he made while she did.
Circling her fingers around the base of his cock, she went down on him, heat flaring deep within her as he softly moaned. He brought one hand down, playing with her hair, not pushing or forcing, just the hint of control.
More than enough for her.
“Oh, baby,” he whispered as she slowly sucked him, working her mouth up and down his shaft. Laving her tongue around the head, she traced the slit with the tip of her tongue before slowly engulfing his shaft with her mouth. She cupped his balls in her other hand, drawing more moans from him.
Even this felt perfect between them, after only two weeks. It felt like the two of them belonged together.
It felt like something worth fighting for.
For the first time in her life, she felt like someone was fighting with and for her.
It was also fun figuring things out, whether it was how he liked her to lick and suck his cock, or him taking his time to learn his way around her body. The world disappeared when they were together like this, her soul at ease, the problems with her pain temporarily kept at bay while they played and loved.
His salty pre-cum rolled over her taste buds. When his body tensed, she felt his other hand settle on top of her head. Then he let out a sexy groan she felt to the soles of her own feet before she was swallowing the load of hot cum pumped from his balls.
“Come here, baby.” He held his hand out to her, guiding her back up into his arms.
She kissed him. “Good?”
“Excellent.” He snuggled her tightly against him. “Let’s rest, then pizza.”
“That sounds good, Sir.”
* * * *
“Pizza, baby?” Holly awoke to Walt standing there, in shorts and holding a pizza box.
“Did I fall asleep?”
“Yep. So did I. You fucked me sleepy.” He sat the pizza box on the bed and handed her a roll of paper towels. “What can I get you to drink?”
“Shouldn’t I be getting you something to drink?”
“Answer the question, sweetheart.”
“Water, please, Sir.”
He leaned in to kiss her. “Good girl.” He returned with their drinks and they ate while a goofy comedy movie played on the TV.
It was perfect.
Far more perfect than she ever thought she’d feel in her life.
“What are you thinking about, sweetheart?”
“This is good.”
“The pizza?”
“You. Everything. This is really good.”
He leaned in and tucked her hair behind her ear. She loved it when he did that, and right now she didn’t have her glasses on, so everything was a little fuzzy and softly unfocused, including him.
“I think it’s really good, too,” he said.
* * * *
Holly had drifted to sleep draped across Walt after they’d made love a second time. That’s why she didn’t understand what the hell that annoying noise was.
“Is that your ph
one, sweetheart?” Walt mumbled.
Sleep fled her system, her worst fears jumping up and screaming hello as she fumbled for her phone on the nightstand and answered without bothering to find her glasses first to be able to read the screen.
A call in the middle of the night was never good, and she always worried it’d be the prison calling her to tell her Louis had been killed.
But it was a woman’s trembling voice who spoke. “Holly? I…I need help. Please?”
Holly couldn’t place the voice at first. She had to pull the phone away from her face and squint really hard to make out the caller ID. “Joyce? What’s going on?”
“What?” Walt asked, now sounding a little more awake.
“I…I did something really stupid. I met a guy and…things went really wrong.”
“Really wrong how? Where are you?”
Walt sat up and took the phone from Holly before she could hear Joyce’s response.
“Joyce? This is Walt. What’s going on?” He sounded far more awake now. She spoke for a moment before he asked, “Where are you? Right now? Okay, are you safe?” He got out of bed and headed for the bedroom doorway, still talking with her.
Holly finally untangled herself from the covers and followed him. He’d flipped on the kitchen light and was scribbling something on a notepad.
“Okay. You stay there, inside. I’ll be there in about thirty minutes. Call back immediately if he shows up, and have the store call 911 if he does, okay? All right.” He hung up and headed back toward the bedroom before Holly could even ask.
“I need to go get her,” he said.
“Wait, what?”
He didn’t stop, turning on a light in the bedroom and grabbing clothes. “She met some guy on Craigslist and went home with him. She didn’t take her own car, and after she got there, things apparently went downhill. She started crying really hard and I think she was talking about drugs or something.”
Holly reached for her clothes. “I’ll go with you.”
“Sweetheart, you don’t need to—”