King of Morgan Park

by Karen D Bradley

  “On the inside of the wrist.” Daron admired the lion, with flames as the mane, centered inside three circles. Between the last two circles were nine spearheads. Simple yet stunning. “JD drew it for me.”

  “Nice. I’ll give my cousin a hard time about that later since he claims he’s too busy to do anything for me.” She lowered herself onto a seat, then put the items back. “You need to rethink a couple of things. Maybe have a way it can be turned off and quickly turned back on in case of emergency.”

  “Why? When it pulses, the person would just turn it off.” Daron flipped his wrist up to show the one he’d been testing.

  “Because if I’m feeling frisky, push you onto a bed and hold you down by the wrist.” Cameron stood and grabbed his wrist, pinning it against the countertop.

  The pulse was immediate and not only on his wrist.

  She lowered those luscious lips to his, her tongue exploring the inside of his mouth. Her body skimmed his, electrifying his senses. Daron slid his free hand over her round ass, deepening the kiss. He pulled her into his chest as she attempted to move away. With one arm, he cleared some space before lifting her onto the tabletop. The cell’s alarm blared, reminding him it was time for them to leave.

  She chuckled, her lips curled into a mischievous grin. “See, this time I don’t think your mind was on your tracker.”

  Daron rested his forehead on hers. “Point taken.”

  * * *

  Forty minutes later, Daron and Cameron were at Mastro’s Steakhouse in the heart of Chicago sipping whiskey mules and waiting for the arrival of a Porterhouse steak and Lobster Tails. His cell chimed with an image of Levi. The picture was of a man no darker than a piece of toffee with piercing eyes and a nick in the left eyebrow. The same man who was across the room staring at him. The tattoos on both his arms peeked out from under the cuff of the crisp white shirt he wore.

  “What’s wrong?” Cameron discreetly glanced over her shoulder.

  “It seems I have a new admirer.” Daron watched as a muscular man, draped in an expensive light-blue suit, rose to his full six feet as two men at the tables near him did the same.

  Levi motioned to his men to remain seated as he made his way to Daron’s table.

  “Daron Kincaid, I’m Levi Diesel. I’ve seen you around the Morgan Park area,” Levi lied without missing a beat. “I thought I’d introduce myself.”

  Daron shook the extended hand noticing the robot mechanism tattoo on the back of it and didn’t miss the way Levi angled his body to reveal the weapon under his jacket.

  “Is this beautiful woman your wife?” Levi focused on Cameron with lust instantly flaring in his eyes. “I see we can’t be business partners because I already know I want what you have.”

  Levi lifted Cameron’s hand from the table toward his mouth. Before it made contact, she snatched her hand back, giving an evil sneer that only seemed to draw Levi in more. “Dude, I don’t think so.” Cameron shot him an evil glare. “I only hang with men who have decorum, that was a classless move right there.”

  Levi’s demeanor shifted from charming to combative.

  “It’s time for you to return to your table.” Daron stood, towering over the man by three inches.

  Levi leaned toward Daron and whispered, “Be prepared to lose everything.” He smiled, focusing on Cameron, who didn’t look away. “Pleasure meeting you, gorgeous.”

  CHAPTER 5

  The last few weeks reminded Cameron exactly how fragile her world was. Saving a missing girl had been the first domino to fall. More had gone down since then. The Levi situation led to an argument about the garage incident. Daron had tried to send her to the car while he handled the three men who followed them from the restaurant into the parking structure.

  Daron is no longer acting like a retired man.

  His body language had been off, more like The Warden. While he’d been honest about the Levi character, up until then, Daron had been side-stepping questions and was vague about even the simple things. Something big was going on. She could feel it in her bones.

  After taking off the wig and the brown contacts in Daron’s master bathroom, she padded barefoot into the living room and joined him on a black leather couch.

  “What was in Bishop’s envelope?” Cameron asked snapping a picture of Daron as he slipped off his tie, not only because he looked devastatingly handsome but because she felt the need to capture an image of this version of him before he completely reverted to being The Warden. All signs pointed to that possibility.

  “I haven’t read it.” He unleashed a sexy grin as he loosened several shirt buttons, opening them to reveal his muscular frame. “After the file he left me spoke to your positive achievements, I figured the letter was to let me know who you were.”

  Cameron mulled that over a moment. “Why would he give you the letter?” She placed her cell on the ottoman next to the remote.

  “Bishop’s my godfather,” Daron admitted, staring at her intensely as though trying to gauge her reaction to that piece of news.

  “Whoa.” She was floored but now everything made sense. “When were you going to tell me that tidbit of information?”

  “I figured it would come up naturally as we got to know each other.” Daron shrugged off his jacket, laying it over the arm of the couch. His cell chimed and he glanced at the display, quickly silencing the sound.

  Cameron stared at him without hiding her displeasure. She couldn’t believe he waited until now to reveal something that important and that she had to prod him into doing so. “What other information are you keeping from me?”

  “Probably the same amount as you, Babe.” Daron smiled and shot her a “get over it” glare. “Even if we did a data dump of our history right now, we’d probably still forget to tell each other something.”

  She wanted to disagree but he had a point. “When you open the letter, I’d like to know the contents.”

  Daron shifted his gaze to her with one raised eyebrow. “Is there something specific you think’s in there? I can get it from the safe now.”

  She placed a hand on his thigh as he attempted to move away, then shook her head. “In the last few years, Bishop had the team working more jobs at once. Almost as if he was trying to keep us distracted.”

  Daron reclaimed his space and his hold on her. “Finding out he had an incurable disease probably upped the ante for him.”

  She stiffened at the mention of her criminal mastermind boss’s fatal condition.

  As he shifted to place an arm over the back of the couch, Daron’s gaze seared into her. “Maybe he was tying up loose ends and getting things done that he’d put off for too long.”

  “Maybe, but nothing’s ever that simple when it comes to Bishop.” Cameron had been spending so much time getting her new gym facility up and running and hanging out with Daron, she hadn’t handled the file Bishop had left her.

  Cameron wished their connection was purely sexual, but Daron Kincaid had a hold on her heart. She snuggled into his side and didn’t miss his derisive glance at her feet before he pretended to check the button on the television remote. Normally the high heels stayed on her feet until Daron removed them but the disagreement changed all of that.

  Daron selected a channel, dropped the remote next to him, grabbed her legs and situated them in his lap. He slowly stroked her legs, causing ripples of desire to shoot through her body. Evidently, Daron had already moved past their earlier tiff. He picked up the two containers with cake they grabbed from a bakery on the way home, handing her one with a fork. “Have you figured out what’s going on with your dad?”

  Cameron looked up at him, wondering at the shift in conversation. “Trenton’s been following Jake. He’s visiting a lot of doctors’ offices. Sometimes he seems to have an appointment. Other times, he seems to follow them.”

  “Is it possible that he doesn’t want to go under their care until he’s sure they have no connection to any of his old cases?” He moved his lemon cake to the side and
slid a fork into her amaretto dessert.

  “While I was at my mom’s, I snuck into his office,” Cameron took a few bites before he thought she didn’t want it at all. His sweet tooth was legendary. “I managed to find a list of doctors in a file he had in the hidden compartment in his desk. There are doctors from New York and the DC area as well.” She hadn’t had time to get into his locked cabinet before hearing her mom forced her to race back to the living room. That way, the petite woman didn’t have to pretend not to know Cameron was snooping.

  “Could this be connected to one of your brothers’ cases?” Daron asked, switching out her empty container for the remainder of the lemon cake.

  “I can’t find that out without having Trent do some hacking.” She wouldn’t ask that of him unless she thought it was unavoidable.

  Daron kissed her neck, causing her breath to quicken. “If you need me to, I can call in some favors that don’t require him to come out of retirement.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Cameron shifted playfully, blocking his fork as he went for a piece of cake. He always had a voracious appetite for food, life and her. “We’ll follow him a little while longer. Trenton was compiling a list of facts to help figure out the common factor that could give me a clue what Jake is into.”

  “Did I tell you how beautiful you looked tonight?” Daron cupped his hand around her ass and shifted her on his lap.

  “Maybe once or twice.” She slipped an arm around his neck.

  Daron’s finger traced the curve of her breast while he leaned in to deliver a sensual and steamy kiss. His left hand slipped over the top of her legs, then rested on the side of her thighs. Every nerve in her body tingled with excitement. Daron’s hand slid under her dress, cupping her bare behind before traveling up her back and pulling down the zipper.

  She slipped her arms out the straps of the dress as his touch increased the throbbing need building inside her.

  Daron cupped her breasts, lowering his mouth and swirling his tongue around each nipple.

  Cameron situated herself on his lap and slowly rocked her hips against his growing erection as she unbuttoned his shirt. She braced herself on his knees then arched and rolled her hips as he alternated between massaging one breast as he sucked and nibbled at the other.

  “Damn, Cam.” He brought his lips to hers.

  Placing both hands on his shoulders, she removed his shirt. Her fingers traced the muscles as he worked to erase any lingering thoughts about their earlier disagreement. They would address it some other time. Daron shifted and laid her on the couch.

  “I’m a very lucky man,” Daron said in a voice that was deep and low as he tugged the dress completely off.

  “That you are,” she replied in a seductive tone as her eyes wandered over his sculpted body.

  His lips made a trail from the inner ankle, up the calf to the thigh. Each kiss sent tingling sensations shooting through her body. Cameron’s breath caught as his mouth hovered over her throbbing center, teasing her with a flick of the tongue then moving to the other leg.

  She gently guided him back between her thighs, feeling the heat of his breath as he chuckled.

  “Is there something that you want, Beautiful?” Daron taunted. His tongue twirled and danced over the bundle of nerves at her core, which made it difficult to speak.

  “That,” she managed to say as he slid a thigh over one shoulder. Daron’s masterful tongue awakened a ravenous desire that had her grinding into him until her entire body quivered.

  His long, tapered fingers slid into her center as his lips blazed a path up her torso. He pinched, sucked and teased her breasts as his strokes left her breathless and shaking uncontrollably.

  He unbuttoned his slacks letting them and the boxers fall away, then sheathed himself and entered her in one powerful thrust. “What do you want tonight?” His rhythm remained steady. “Slow and gentle or fast and hard?”

  “Fast and hard,” she replied.

  Daron gripped her behind and pounded into her like a man who just ended a thirty-year vow of celibacy.

  “Yes.” Cameron lifted her hips to meet each stroke.

  He pulled out, easily maneuvered her to both knees as if they were in a bed and not on a couch. Her breasts bounced as he impaled her from behind. She slammed her ass into him, bracing herself on the arm of the couch, barely keeping her left leg on the cushion. His name slipped from her lips repeatedly as his smooth, quick powerful strokes brought that electrifying ecstasy which kept her craving him constantly.

  “It’s time for you to get what you want.” In one swift motion, Daron lifted her and positioned her to straddle him backward. He squeezed her bosom as she rode him hard.

  Cameron couldn’t see Daron’s face but felt the tremors in his hands every once in a while, as they roamed her body. When his fingers glided over her thighs and stroked her center, the only one trembling was her.

  Daron held her close, sliding a hand in her long hair, kissing her neck and gently massaging her breast. “Now, are you ready to give me slow and sweet?”

  Cameron recovered then straddled him once again, sliding both arms around his neck. “Let’s do this.” She slowly lifted up then slammed down, rolling her hips and making her breasts brush against his chest before repeating the process then lowering her lips to his.

  “Yes.” His voice was breathy.

  She lowered her lips to his, exploring, tasting, and enjoying the sight of his eyes rolling when she made certain moves.

  “Let’s take this to the bedroom,” Daron said, as he lifted her from the couch.

  Cameron wrapped her legs around his waist, returning her lips to his. He made it as far the wall near the door before he pinned her against it, taking her with a fiery voracity that left them soaked in bliss and barely standing.

  She could feel his heart hammering against her chest. They remained there until the rapid breathing in her ears slowed and her body stopped trembling against his.

  Daron carried her to the bed where they began a slow and intense mind-blowing exploration of each other’s body until they had nothing left to give.

  CHAPTER 6

  Daron fumed as he read a text from Cameron stating Levi made an unwanted appearance at her self-defense class. He quickly replied to the message. BABE BE CAREFUL. He’s a dangerous man.

  While he wasn’t happy about Levi stalking his woman, at least he could warn and talk to her about it, unlike the situation with Marquise. Daron had to make time to visit and figure out who brought down the Castle’s security system.

  “Our first group of young men are almost out the door,” Pedro Garcia stated. The psychologist and educational specialist powered on a laptop before glancing at Daron for a reaction.

  Daron hoped Levi wouldn’t discover that Amarion had witnessed the murder before Pedro could finalize all the arrangements to get him set up and his mother safely settled with the grandmother. “We gave them the tools to change but their resolve is already being tested. They have to really want it.”

  The conversation made Daron think of the audio file Red sent over. He slid in a pair of earbuds then pulled it up to listen while he and Pedro waited in the basement of the kickback house for the young men to arrive. The recording began to play as he reviewed the work schedule Calvin emailed to make sure he didn’t have any conflicts.

  “Midas,” Red said in a low but clear voice. “I have a mutual interest in knowing whether Levi is aware that you were in the room when he killed that man.”

  “That little kid is out here being a snitch,” Midas growled.

  Dammit. Daron was hoping Midas hadn’t seen Amarion.

  “No,” Red quickly supplied. “I’m here to make sure Levi never knows that either of you were in the room.”

  “As long as the kid keeps his mouth shut, you ain’t got to worry about me.” Midas paused then said, “I got my hands full trying to make sure I don’t end up like my partner.”

  “I have an associate looking to shut Levi down,
so if you get any information that can do that, give this number a call.”

  The alarm sensors beeped and Daron pressed stop and took out the earbuds, grateful that he had confirmation Levi was unaware Amarion was in the building at the time of the murder. He peered at the tablet to confirm the identities of the young men, who were various hues of brown but every bit African-American, before unlocking the doors.

  Reese and Amarion walked in together laughing and talking with Cedric trailing behind them. Cedric, a hacker with the potential to earn a living developing games or creating the next big social media platform instead of taking jobs off the dark web, quietly entered the room slowing when he reached Daron.

  “Whazzup, Mr. Dee,” Amarion asked as Reese gave him a slight nod.