The Writers' Circle

Warning: Please don't read if erotic romance is offensive to you. Thanks! Formatting is correct. If it appears otherwise, it's a result of transfering a word document into another structure. Thoughts should show as italics, but it doesn't format in this program. Copyrighted. Enjoy only. :)

CHAPTER 1

Bless Karma's little heart. She loved destroying dreams.
No one turned down an opportunity to attend the Conference on Criminal Profiling. Not if working in Vice was their dream. Liberty had no choice. Not really.
"You're going Liberty."
Liberty smiled, laced her fingers with her mom's frailer ones. The conviction on her mom's face that she seize this opportunity underlined the depth of her character, of her love.
"You know the doctor told us a week ago I've still got a couple of months. There is no reason you shouldn't attend."
Liberty frowned, hesitate to voice her thoughts. "It's two weeks mom. I don't want to take the chance..."
".you won't be here when I die? I feel like I've got at least three months in me," she said with a light laugh. "Besides, you know it's not about the last breath. It's all the memories and journeys in between."
She leaned forward, her eyes dogged with determination. "I don't want you to put your life on hold any longer, Liberty. I'll be here when you come home. And you can tell me all about it. Please go, honey."
Her mom rose from her chair and came around the table. Kissed her on the forehead.
"What about Sadie? Dad hates her."
"Liberty."
She looked up, caught the twinkle in her mom's eyes.
"You're right," her mom admitted, and burst out laughing.
Liberty grinned. "I know I am."
"When I brought Sadie home for you twelve years ago your dad was livid. The first words out of his mouth were, 'You know parrots live fifty or sixty years, don't you? That damn bird will outlive me.' She paused. "She'll be fine Liberty. Your dad will feed her for me. No more excuses. You're going to the conference."
Her mom's assertion her dad would feed Sadie rang true. He would feed Sadie because he loved her mom. So much he'd never adjusted to her unexpected arrival in their cozy twosome.
Liberty stood, hugged her mom. "I'll go if it's what you want."
Sucks to be you karma.
A smile curved her mom's lips. "It is Liberty."
"And don't you dare call to check on me. Because I won't answer the phone. Just go, and have fun."
Liberty nodded. Excitement coiled in her belly. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt free. Free to just let go and let life happen.

When the FBI's renowned expert on criminal profiling strode to the podium, Liberty stared, mesmerized by his air of command, the illusion he controlled the space around him.
She noted his square chin, classical cheekbones and ripe sensuous lips. Eyes a startling shade of amber were framed by long sooty lashes. Lashes that bestowed a false sense of softness to a masculine face. A face that could pose with an AK-47, and sport a grin. Or flaunt innate sexiness for the fashion world by shooting a somber stare into the camera.
Jack Anderson possessed a look every man would respect. Liberty glanced around her. He owned a face, a body, every woman in the room longed to taste.
She smiled. She'd start at his navel.and wander with deliberate subtlety down a frame honed to fight. Or indulge a woman in ways some might consider offensive.
Stop right now.
Liberty would have stopped if special agent Anderson hadn't chosen that moment to counter her perusal of him with an outrageous appraisal of his own. He captured her brazen stare, and a grin crinkled his eyes, ran with stealth across lips created to tease and conquer. Liberty glanced behind her, amazed the woman sitting there couldn't taste the sexual heat simmering in the air. Liberty ran the tip of her tongue over dry lips. She could.
It'd been way too long since she'd had sex.
She hungered for the pressure, the untamed movement of this man's lips. She craved the wet heat of his tongue. To feel it tease the crease of her lips. And to resist, then surrender to his demand to slip his tongue inside. Joust with him while he explored her with primitive savagery.
The raw passion in his eyes answered her unspoken plea and her breasts tightened, begged for his tongue to lathe their nipples. When he winked at her, teased his lower lip with the tip of his tongue, hot lava meandered with torrid precision to her sex. Soaked her thong.
This guy could make a woman beg to be taken. The very least kissed until her lips wept with joy.
You're here for a conference. The free spirit in her chuckled, piped up in a sing-song voice. It would be amazing.
He finally looked away. Shuffled his notes, and took a drink of water. Tried to nonchalantly adjust his erection. Ease its cramped position.
Failed if his slight grimace was any indication. Glanced down, and looked her way. Liberty didn't even try to mask the amusement lurking in her eyes.
His eyes laughed back.
Liberty sighed, leaned back in her seat. At least she wasn't the only one tormented by frustration that bordered on unbearable.
He turned away and addressed the room full of eager attendees. Liberty focused her concentration on the wealth of insight he had into the psyche of individuals with deviant and borderline personalities. Took copious notes to add to the syllabus she'd been given.
When the meeting broke for lunch, Liberty jumped from her seat, intent on making a beeline for the bathroom. She was tempted to take her thong off and toss it. Every time she'd moved in her seat, the slick strip of cloth had slid provocatively through her swollen lips, broken her focus, made her want to moan.
Or move faster so she could get off. But an orgasm pulled a scream from her every time. She'd had to nip that thought in the bud.
She picked up her purse, turned and found her path blocked by none other than Jack.
"Tell me now if you don't want to pursue the sexual tension between us."
Liberty stared at him dumbstruck. His eyes glowed with an intensity she could never have been prepared for.
A faint smile curled his lips. "Is your silence a yes or a no?"
Just let go.
Sexual promise burned in his eyes. Liberty glanced at his crotch and her eyes flew back to his. She tilted her chin. "It's a definite yes," she answered boldly.
"I'll make sure you're satisfied," he promised his voice husky.
"You do that."
He grinned outright. Her stomach rumbled.
"Grab a bite to eat? We've got an hour, and if we stand we're going to get hungrier." He paused. "In more ways than one." A wicked grin shared the amusement in his eyes.
She nodded. "I'm starving. But I do need to use the ladies room first."
The thong had to go. Honest to God, Liberty was afraid she would orgasm walking beside him if she didn't remove it. Pardon me, Jack. Could we stop for a moment? I'm about to come. I'll try not to scream. But I'll loose control and do it anyway.
Wouldn't that be a sight for him to see. Why yes Liberty, it would.
He stepped to the side so she could pass. "I'm with you."
When Liberty stepped out of the restroom moments later, Jack waited for her. He masked the fire in his eyes, but not before she felt its effect like he'd sucked her nipple through her shirt. Left it wet and wanting.
"Cold?"
No. Just hormonally challenged.
Liberty pulsed at the same moment she tried to smile. It had to be a weird look. "A little," she lied, running her tongue over lips gone desert dry.
Jack blocked her from the view of others passing by. "Would it help if I admitted I want you with a desperation I'm not proud of?" he murmured. "That how you taste, the sounds that would escape from your throat when I thrust inside you.when you come.these questions have been teasing my thoughts, my errant body, the last three hours," he glanced at his watch, "and forty two minutes?"
Liberty was afraid to look down. Scared she'd find a puddle on the floor beneath her feet. She bit back a nervous laugh. Going without a man for months just wasn't healthy. Especially when confronted with a guy so masculine, so testosterone driven, both he and his weapon fell under armed and dangerous.
He reached, tucked her hair behind her ear. "Are you involved with anyone?"
Only you. Liberty held his gaze without wavering. "No. What about you?"
"No. And so you're aware, I wouldn't ask you if I was."
His thumb traced the erratic pulse inside her wrist, sent need straight to her groin. How she swallowed the moan the rose from her chest, Liberty had no idea.
"I'm free to pursue whatever you want. Whatever you decide."
"Whatever I decide?" she echoed. This big sinful man was allowing her to decide? She met eyes bright with amusement. "What's the catch?"
He tried not to grin. Failed. It was an intoxicating assault on her remaining functional brain cells. He put his arm across her lower back and Liberty took the hint, headed toward the exit of the building.
"No catch. You need to be in control of what we do-at least at first. I read that. And I want you-bad-so I'm putting myself in your hands."
Jack stopped, turned to face her. His cheeks were flushed, his pupils dilated.
"Ah hell," he murmured, his voice rough. "What a picture."
Her mercurial breathing lifted her breasts to him in silent invitation. "Yes, it's quite an image," she finally managed to whisper. Licked her dry lips.
"No more," he said huskily. "Every time you draw attention to those luscious lips of ours.let's just say I have a lot of creative ideas."
Liberty cast a surreptitious glance at his crotch. Her eyes widened. He touched her cheek and she felt a faint tremor in his fingertips. His nostrils flared.
He turned, walked out the door.
Liberty followed at a slower pace. Jack's fingers slowly teased their way down her arm when she reached him. His thumb stroked the center of her palm in a hypnotic rhythm. Cruel it what it was.
His arm guided her from behind. "Let's eat. I need to take my mind off tonight," he said with a lop-sided smile.
Liberty glanced sideways. Peeked through her lashes. "I need to get my mind off how long it's going to be until tonight."
Jack took her forearm, pulled her into a deserted corner of a building they had passed. Slanting his lips across hers, he teased the crease of her lips, tried to seduce her to open, the tip of his tongue darting, his teeth nipping at her lower lip.
"Get a room."
Jack pulled back, gave her a slow smile that teased the corners of his eyes. "We've got that covered," he whispered. "You know you have me on the edge of sanity."
The eyes that stared into hers shimmered with banked heat, the pupils dilated, the amber a slender ring around the protracted black. He leaned his forehead against hers.
"And we didn't even kiss. Not really. I underestimated the power of your allure," he murmured. "A dangerous mistake."
"Truly dangerous," Liberty whispered. Watched his head jerk back at her words.
Sensual amusement shimmered in his gaze. "It's going to be one hell of a long afternoon."
Liberty left the deli with not much more in her stomach than she went in with. Her stomach churned the whole time. Sexual tension had dangled in the air, taunted with coercive force. Jack had done much better, but she'd seen him clench his jaw when he didn't think she was watching. He carried the conversation, funny, teasing, but his eyes had burned with banked arousal.
Before they returned to the lecture hall, Jack wrote his cell number on the back of his card, asked for her number, and entered it into his list of contacts on his blackberry.
He captured, held her gaze. "We're on for tonight."
Her own words came back to her. "Just let go and let life happen." Liberty nodded, excited and nervous, but not turning back.
Their agreement to sleep together took possession of her mind, but Liberty continued to take detailed notes throughout the afternoon, despite the arousal in her body that never faded. The information Jack presented fascinated her.
When he turned to leave the podium at the end of the day, his eyes caught, held hers. He winked and a big grin spread across his face. He lipped one word. Finally.
Liberty watched a man in a suit cross the stage. Watched Jack's jaw tighten. He nodded, and as the guy walked away, sent her a text. "I've been informed I'm dining with the police commissioner. I don't know how late it will run. Tomorrow?"
Disappointment landed on her chest like a drunken elephant. "Not a problem. Maybe it's not meant to be," she texted back. Fate could be a real jerk sometimes.
Jack stopped in mid-stride, frowned at her, and fired a text back.
"YOU'RE WRONG."
Liberty shrugged her shoulders, strode out of the building, eager to get back to her hotel, to run a relaxing bath. As the hot water seeped into her muscles, her lids closed. Jack strode into her mind, his eyes hot and intense, his hand reaching for his belt.
Her hand slid down her belly to the V of her thighs, and her breath hitched as she teased the engorged nub begging for so much more than she could provide. When her climax hit, her hips bucked, desperate to feel the thrust of Jack inside while her muscles convulsed.
Afterwards, she read in bed, waited to feel sleepy. It didn't happen. She cut off the light, her sexual appetite unsatisfied. Her fingers sought a hungry nipple, pinched it. Jack was totally kick-ass fantasy material. But her fantasies left her aching to feel the hard length of him inside.
If he bailed on her tomorrow, she'd tell him to go straight to hell.