At that moment, I hear a pan crashing to the floor and a string of curse words following it.
And just like that, the smile is back on my face.
I pull on a pair of sleep pants and make my way down to my kitchen. And as I turn the corner I’m greeted with the sight of Amanda’s round, firm, and unbelievable ass sticking straight up in the air. No panties.
I have to adjust myself again at the sight.
“Hey babe. Whatcha doin’?”
The sound of my voice startles her even more, making her jump from her bent over position, dropping the frying pan once again. I can’t help but laugh.
“Shit! You scared the crap out of me!” she says, picking up the pan again. “What I was trying to do, but apparently failing epically at, was cook you breakfast. Obviously, that’s not going very well.”
I don’t know how my smile can get bigger, but somehow it does. A frazzled Amanda wearing nothing but my shirt wanting to cook me breakfast? It is, without a doubt, the best way to start a day.
And I can’t help but think how much I want to start more days like this.
I walk over to her, taking the frying pan out of her hand, before wrapping her in my arms. I lean down, giving her the good morning kiss I’ve wanted to since I woke up.
Her frustration seems to melt as she sinks into the kiss. And just like last night, our bodies and mouths are connecting in ways that I can’t fathom. How does she know that I love it when she rubs her hands through my hair like she is doing right now? How do I know that she would love it when I nibbled on her bottom lip?
I don’t have an answer. All I know is that it’s right.
What began as a quick, good morning kiss is on the verge of losing control. Her hands are no longer in my hair, now exploring lower, feeling my hard cock through the thin material of my pants. Needing to feel more of her against me, I take her ass in my hands and lift her to a stool at my breakfast bar. She instinctively wraps her legs around my waist, grinding her hot center into my throbbing cock.
My lips leave hers, leaving a trail down her neck to her chest. My shirt is big enough on her that I have no problem finding exposed skin, though I do feel like she, and I, are wearing too many clothes right now.
“Ben…” My name comes from her mouth in a mixture of a groan and a plea. Nothing has ever sounded sexier.
I discard my shirt from her, my lips immediately finding her sensitive and peaked nipples, just waiting for my attention. I suck on one while making sure to pay attention to the other. The dual action is driving her crazy and next thing I know, her hand is down my pants, stroking my hard length. Her feet are at the top of my pants and she’s sliding my pants down my legs.
“Fuck…” At least that’s what I’m pretty sure I said. Between how she tastes and how it feels when she touches me, I lose all brainpower.
“Fuck me, Ben. Fuck me right now.”
Her words are a command, one I don’t want to disobey. This is what I learned last night. We both have dominant tendencies in bed, but we both know when to let the other take control.
It’s an intoxicating combination.
“Hold on, I don’t have a condom.”
I go to break away, but she pulls me back in, crushing a kiss against my lips as she wraps her legs around my hips.
“I’m clean and get the shot. I trust you.”
Her words are all I need to hear. I push into her, hard enough that she almost falls off the stool. If it hurts her she doesn’t say. Instead, she’s already meeting me thrust for thrust. Our bodies crashing together like we only have minutes to share this experience with each other.
“More Ben… give me more.”
I exit her channel just enough to bring her to her feet, spinning her around before pushing her down so her hands are now on the stool. With her ass in the air and her wet pussy calling to me, this isn’t going to last long.
But damn is it going to be amazing.
I pick up her leg, allowing me better access as I push back into her. Between the position and the angle, it’s only seconds before her screams are becoming louder, her center tightening around my cock like a vice.
“Amanda… come… come with me… now.”
Our bodies listen to my words, responding to my demand in an explosion. Both too weak to stand, we collapse to my kitchen floor, surrounded by our clothes and the remnants of our connection.
I let out a breath, still wrapping my brain around how a simple kiss could turn into that.
“That was…”
“Yeah…”
I don’t have the words to describe it, but judging by her silence, neither does she.
Chapter 14
Amanda
I have learned many things about being a detective these last six years. And while I’m always busy, especially in a city like Chicago, I’ve learned that when it rains, it pours.
And right now I’ve gone through three umbrellas trying to stay dry.
I swear, the criminals of Chicago all come together at some sort of secret meeting and decide when to ramp up their nefarious ways, making our jobs a living hell trying to keep up.
This morning I began my day talking to a few informants who are trying to help me bust up a gang trying to move semiautomatic guns. When I came back, I was given another case involving a gang that I’d arrested some members of before. That one shouldn’t be too hard. I know which members have loose lips.
But it was the last case I opened that sent a shiver up my spine -- supposed money laundering and racketeering based out of the Southside.
And all of a sudden, I’m taken back six years ago, because the more I read this file, the more I can’t help but draw comparisons from that case to this one.
There were differences of course. Instead of money going through a grocery store, this time it’s a pizza shop, one that I had frequented many times in my childhood. Mr. Abruzzi was a good person and would never get involved with the mob. But his son? He was a piece of shit who I kicked in the balls more than a few times back in the day. He would get dirty with the bad guys in a heartbeat.
I didn’t have an immediate reason to believe they were connected more than a few circumstances, but I couldn’t help but think back to that first case. Six years ago it wasn’t the son of the owner of the grocery store that was involved, it was the brother. Mr. O’Shay was the sweetest old man in the world and I felt bad the day I asked him for a job under false pretenses. But I was trying to help him, that’s what I kept telling myself each day I walked into that store wearing a wire.
The shitty thing was that I had to save him from his own blood. Daniel O’Shay was as slimy as they came, and he used his brother’s shop to move money for the Irish mob. And it wasn’t just him, he used his son as the muscle. I never really knew between the two of them who were the brains behind the operation, but I do know that Daniel was the one who blew it for them. He got lazy and careless, making my job almost too easy. Note to future criminals: don’t openly say you’re carrying $10,000 worth of drug money when you enter a store.
It looks like the present-day case isn’t related to the Irish, who I will admit have been lying pretty low as of late. I might have to send them a thank you card for that.
No, this time it looks like the pizza shop is a front for an illegal gambling ring, or at least, that’s where the evidence points. Except that most gambling is now legal in the state. But there is something about this that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. And that usually means there is something there that I can’t see. Yet. A piece of the puzzle I have to find.
As I pour over the file, a text message pops up on my phone, and I can’t help but smile.
Ben: Arrest anyone yet?
His daily question always makes me smile. I know he sends it because he doesn’t want to put pressure on me, but now I must admit, it’s become a thing I look forward to every day.
Damn that Ben and his sweetness.
Me: Not yet, though I got a very interesting case today. My b
rain is already going a million miles an hour on it. You making anyone money?
Ben: In fact, I did. The market is having a good day and a few of my clients are reaping the benefits.
Me: That’s great. Speaking of having a good day… I didn’t get a chance to thank you for starting my morning off right. =)
Ben: No need to thank me. A man has to eat breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day *winking face*
When Ben and I started this whole thing, I thought I knew him fairly well. But holy shit I had no clue this man was a bonafide freak. It’s like under that financial planner Clark Kent costume is a sex-crazed Superman.
Not that I’m complaining. Especially when my morning starts with his face between my legs.
“What are you smiling at?” Christopher, my partner, looks over his desk at me. I’d like to think that I’m not smiling like the Cheshire Cat at Ben’s text. But I know I am. And this isn’t the first time Christopher has called me out on it.
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I hurry up and tell Ben I’ll see him tonight for dinner.
We gather up our files, heading to the conference room for a daily debrief.
A lot of cops don’t get lucky with their partners, but I hit the jackpot when it came to Christopher. We came up through the academy together, but he didn’t become a detective for a few years after I did. After my first partner retired, Christopher and I were paired together and I can’t imagine anyone else having my back.
He’s never looked at me differently because I’m a woman. And I’ve never looked at him different because he’s gay. We are damn good at our jobs and fuck anyone who thinks because of who we are it’s any different.
“When am I going to get to meet this guy?” Christopher asks.
“What guy? Who said there was a guy?”
The look he gives me lets me know he’s not buying my crap. “Amanda, I have known you for the better part of a decade. You have never, and I mean never, smiled like that. And there is only one thing that can make a woman smile the way you have been every day this week.”
I smile, but don’t say anything, not wanting to get into this five minutes before our captain will start our meeting.
“Really? That’s what you’re going to go with. You’re not going to give me anything? Some kind of friend you are.”
I chuckle as the room began to fill up. I feel my pocket vibrate, and I know it’s a text from Ben. Hopefully telling me something he wants to do with, or to, me later.
“I’ll tell you one thing,” I whisper, Christopher coming closer. “The man is hungry. Always… very… hungry.”
I sit back and smile as I watch Christopher’s jaw hit the table. I wish I could laugh, but our captain calls the meeting to order.
“I officially hate you,” Christopher whispers. “But I’m so damn happy for you.”
Happy. That’s what I am. I thought I was happy before Ben. But I wasn’t. Whatever we have going is absolutely perfect. And I wouldn’t want to change a thing.
Chapter 15
Ben
I don’t care how old I am or how long I’ve lived on my own... when my mom calls and tells me it’s corned beef and cabbage day, I will drop everything I’m doing and make a visit to my parents’ house for dinner.
Now granted Amanda had to work late tonight, so that made my decision pretty easy. But even if she wasn’t, I’m pretty sure I would have figured out a way to be in two places at the same time.
She keeps insisting that we aren’t dating. That we aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. And every time I nod my head, agreeing with her. I don’t think she’s realized that I change the subject each time with a kiss that I hope makes her forget what she was thinking.
We have spent more nights together than apart these past weeks. We talk every day. I bought her tampons. We have a couple costume planned for Halloween this weekend.
If that isn’t a relationship then I don’t know what is.
But the second I bring up the conversation about making this exclusive, I see the panic in her eye. So I let it go. For now.
I know she says that it’s her job that makes her stay away from relationships, but I have to think it’s more than that. Do I hate that she’s likely casing the streets of Chicago tonight trying to catch the bad guys? Absolutely. I know every day she puts herself in danger, and that does scare the shit out of me.
But not enough for me to not see where this goes. Life is too short to not go after what you want.
Me: Be safe tonight. Call me later if you get done early and want to come by.
I don’t expect her to answer, but I wanted her to know that despite whatever is going through her mind, that I’m here for her.
“Benjamin Jameson you know better than to use your phone at dinner,” my mom says, placing the platters of food around the table.
“Technically dinner hadn’t started yet, so I’m in the clear,” I say, pressing a kiss to her cheek as she sits next to me, my father sitting across from her at the dining table.
“This looks wonderful Cathleen,” my dad says, taking a large helping onto his plate.
“I could cook literal garbage and you’d say it looks good.”
It’s true. I’ve never heard my dad complain once about anything my mom cooked. Now mind you, she is a phenomenal cook, but even the best have some mishaps every once in a while. One time, I remember when I was about 14, and she tried a casserole that just… well let’s just say every time I smell rosemary I run the other way. My dad ate every bite. When I asked him after dinner how he could do it, he simply said, “Because your mother cooked it. I love her. So I love it.”
I’m so glad that my father came into my mother’s life. Aside from the fact that I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t, he saved her in more ways than one.
She had never married Aiden’s father, which was a blessing in disguise. They were childhood sweethearts, both having grown up in the same neighborhood in Chicago. She had Aiden when she was 19, and though he said he would marry her, being in and out of jail for most of Aiden’s younger years didn’t exactly make that easy.
It also meant he wasn’t helping her financially, so she got a job in the school cafeteria. My dad, Frank, was a teacher. They worked in the same public school for two years before my dad even went up and introduced himself to her, though she already knew who he was. He likes to joke after that she started giving him extra french fries every day.
My mom says the day my dad asked her out was the day a lot of things came into perspective for her. Apparently, Aiden’s dad had just got arrested, again, on a drug charge before she went to work that day. His last words to her when the police took him away was that it was her fault for not hiding his stash.
A few hours later my dad realized she looked sad, and he asked her out for coffee. They talked for hours, or so I’ve been told. She said at that moment she realized there was more out there than the revolving door that was Aiden’s father.
And the rest they say is history. A few years later, they got married, had me, and soon after he got a job at a school in Naperville. So yes, I was technically born in the city, but I have no memory of that life.
My childhood was here. In this house. With two people who love each other more and more every day.
“So what’s new?” my mom asks, which is code for “Am I seeing anyone?”
“Not much. Had a few good weeks at work. I went and saw Aiden a few weeks ago…”
I let my statement trail off because I never know how she’s going to react after my monthly visits. She knows I go, but she rarely asks me about him. But I always want to give her the chance to.
“That’s nice. Didn’t you say you had a date last time you were here? How did that go?”
Yup. Not going to ask anything else concerning Aiden. Maybe next time.
“It went… it was not good.”
Thinking of how that not good date with Jacqueline began my time with Amanda makes me smile, something Cathleen
Jameson picks up on right away.
“Why did you say not good but then smile? Benjamin what are you holding back from me?”
“Why does smiling require you to ask me the question using my full name?”
“You’re lucky I don’t bust out your middle name. Now spill.”
“Tell your mother Ben. You’ll just make it easier on all of us,” my dad says in between bites of cabbage.
Do I tell her about Amanda? If she’s freaking out over labels, there’s no way she’d agree to dinner here. And if I tell my mother about her, she’ll cook corned beef and cabbage everyday until I cave and bring her over.
“It’s nothing Mom. It’s nothing at all.”
Except it is. It so much is.
Chapter 16
Amanda
I’ve heard about being fucked senseless, but apparently whatever Ben is doing to my vagina is also fucking with my brain. That’s the only thing I can think of as to why I would agree to this.
I didn’t even dress up for Halloween when I was single. Heck, I barely did it as a kid. I was always the one who just threw a sheet over my head and declared myself a ghost.
So why in the world did I agree to dress up in a couples costume with Ben?
Oh. Right. Because he asked me right before he ate me out and at that point, I would have said yes to anything.
Hence why I’m at the bar in a denim floor-length, skin-tight dress with my boobs threatening to spill over, my blonde hair teased out more than it ever has been.
“You two looking freaking amazing!” Annabelle says, dressed in her white Wilma dress, Jaxson standing behind her dressed as Fred from “The Flintstones.”
“I think so too,” Ben says, putting his denim-clad arm around me.
Yes. We are Britney and Justin in the matching denim outfits from the VMAs.
Yes. It was Ben’s idea.
Yes. I had to have been fucked senseless.
“Where in the world did you find a denim cowboy hat?” asks a scantily clad Tori. In no surprise at all, she and Kalum are dressed up as Hugh Hefner and a Playboy bunny.
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