Two hours later, dinner in the formal dining room was over and everyone had gathered outside on the patio. He was still pissed that his aunts and uncles, along with their children and guests, hadn’t stayed away after lunch. Instead, everyone had gone home to shower, change, and had returned for dinner. At one point he’d grumbled to the lot of them, “Why are you all still here? Didn’t I feed you leeches enough for the day?”
No one took him seriously. They all laughed it off and assumed he was only being antisocial. They had no idea that he was deadly serious and wanted those boys away from Imani before he put a bullet into one of their asses.
“How are you holding up?” Justin approached him, drink in hand, with that same worried expression as before.
“When are you fuckers going home?” Colt glared at him. Now that he’d decided to slow things down with Imani, he wanted one last time with her before he let her go. He still wasn’t sure if he could do it, but he was certainly going to try. He’d already made a few phone calls to have the bedrooms on the east restored. Imani wasn’t going to like it, but he had to be strong enough for them both.
Justin laughed. “Don’t worry, man. We all have work tomorrow. I’ll start dropping hints that it’s time to go and leave you and ya girl to it, but just remember you’ll owe me one.”
Colt grunted and went back to brooding and nursing the glass of scotch in his hand as he watched everyone interact from his spot in a darkened corner of the patio. The young people were sitting around the pool. The women had taken off their shoes and had their feet dangling in the water as they sat on the tiled edge of the pool. He wondered what they were talking about. Imani didn’t seem to be participating in the conversation much. She only responded when someone asked her a question directly. Was she still upset with what Sarah had said in his office?
When he saw Sarah coming toward him with his cousin Mike’s son in tow, and Imani looking on from the background, Colt braced for the usual question of all young people. He stiffened his spine and felt the onset of a headache coming on. He honestly had no idea how he could watch Imani go with them. This was exactly why he had to give her space.
“Colt, Martin knows this great nightclub that’s only thirty minutes away from here.” Sarah smiled up at him as though she hadn’t just caused bile to churn in his stomach.
Colt only grunted.
“So, we’re gonna go now,” she continued and ignored the scowl on his face. “I promise we’ll be back before two.”
Colt could still not bring himself to respond, and this time he couldn’t even manage a grunt. He teeth were clenched tight to prevent the roar of “no” from escaping his mouth.
“Colt? You heard me, right?”
He gave a curt nod.
As the young people started to gather their things and prepare to leave, he had to remove himself from the scene. There was no way in hell he could watch her go. He held himself stiffly, willing himself to not give in to the need to hold on to her and keep her with him always. He walked back into the house and went to his in-home office.
It was almost midnight when he heard footsteps approaching his office door. He’d remained in his office trying to pretend that he wasn’t bothered that Imani was out there shaking her ass in time with some young guy. He had to tell himself that it didn’t mean anything, that Imani would eventually come home. He’d told his security team at the gate to call him immediately when the girls returned. He stopped himself from sending someone to watch her. So now, hearing the footsteps outside the door, he wondered if it was one of his men coming to check on him. However, the soldier in him immediately became cautious. He placed his gun in easy reach on his lap.
There was a light knock on the door. And on his acquiescence to enter, the door was pushed opened.
“Are you coming to bed tonight?”
Colt was stunned by the sight of Imani in a black lace teddy with a matching robe, opened to reveal the sexy garment beneath. “You’re back from the nightclub?” he asked inanely.
She cocked her head to the side and frowned at him. “You do know that I hate nightclubs, right?” She came into the room and closed the door carefully behind her. “Why do you think Sarah had that party at our apartment? I would never go to those things otherwise.”
Colt was almost lightheaded with relief and the fact that all the blood from his body seemed to have pooled to his cock. The sight of her in that teddy was doing nothing to encourage coherent thinking. “No, I didn’t know that you hated nightclubs or that you hadn’t gone with Sarah.”
Imani smiled. “So, is that why you looked as though you’d lost your best friend when Sarah told you that they were going out?” She came around his desk and straddled him.
He groaned at the feel of her soft skin and lush curves.
“You were willing to let me go to a nightclub with four men who are not related to me?”
He closed his eyes as a blistering sensation engulfed him. “I didn’t seem to have a choice,” he mumbled absently.
She trailed kisses down the side of his stubbled jawline.
“How progressive of you,” she teased. “Was it only this morning you threatened those same men that if they touched me, you’d fuck ‘em up? So, how come they get to take me miles away and grind on me in some seedy nightclub?”
“Damn, when you put it like that, what the fuck was I thinkin’?” he asked dryly.
Imani giggled.
“You shouldn’t laugh at a man’s attempt at generosity,” he muttered.
She kissed the corner of his lips. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t have been so generous. No way in hell would I have been okay with you going to a nightclub with a bunch of single women.”
“I’m a bit too old for nightclubs, sweetheart.”
“Well shit, where do you old people go to have fun anyway? Bingo game night? I won’t be okay with that either. Those eighty-year-olds can be such hussies.”
Colt laughed. He didn’t ever recall laughing when he was about to fuck a woman, but Imani had the ability to make him feel all kinds of things.
She giggled as he spanked her bottom with a heavy palm.
He swooped down and kissed her with the all-consuming despair he’d been feeling since he realized he had to let her go. She seemed to sense his desperation and returned it with absolute tenderness. She was trying to tame the beast, but nothing was going to calm him now.
Releasing her lips, he trailed his lips down her neck.
She hissed as he sucked the fragrant skin into his mouth. “I can think of someplace else that sucking would be most welcomed right now.”
Colt wanted to laugh, and that made him love her even more. Thinking of having to live without this after only just finding her, and finding out that he could love like this, he was desperate with the need to be buried in her one more time. He grabbed a hold of the teddy at its laced V-neck and tore it in two.
“Easy,” she gasped in shock.
He cupped her naked breast before pulling the hard peak into his mouth and then alternating between each pebbled bud.
“Damn,” she hissed. “Okay, maybe not so easy.”
He chuckled but didn’t release his prize.
She swerved her hips urgently along his granite pole.
With a hand gripping her ass, he held her still. The last thing he wanted was to come inside his pants, and the way she was going at him, he felt as though he was ready to blow at any second. He grabbed her hand and placed it on the zipper of his pants. He was in pain and needed to be released.
As she worked on loosening his belt, the fastening at the waist, and then lowering the zipper, he spread his knees beneath her and forced her thighs open. Her wet pussy was completely opened to him, and he eagerly took advantage.
However, before he could blink, she had his massive cock in her palm.
It was too much. He’d waited too long to have her again. He felt feral, out of control, and wanted in her now!
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br /> He stood, picked her up by her waist, and spread her on his desk, pushing everything off and out of the way, not caring in the least as glass, papers, computer, everything went crashing to the floor. He impatiently pushed his pants and boxes down, gripped her thighs, and forced them apart until she was spread-eagle before him. He powered up into her.
“Oh shit!” She was coming before he did two strokes into her.
“Fuck yeah,” he growled as her silky walls closed around his cock like a fist. He pulled out of her heat and immediately drove back into her again. He gazed down at her through hooded eyes, her breasts, jiggling with each swerve of his hips, sat high on her chest with dark berry-colored tips that were beaded, begging to be sucked. He couldn’t resist. He sucked the sweet morsels onto his tongue while pounding up into her.
“Colt!” she wailed and writhed around wildly, twisting her head side to side in passionate surrender.
Primal need curled up his spine and clouded his mind in a thick fog of red-hot lust. He was balls deep into her, and still it wasn’t enough. Fusing their lips, he felt an overload of emotion as her sweet taste exploded on his tongue and her inner walls seemed to suck him in deeper. He had no purchase on reality. The sensations were too much as white stars erupted in the dark fog that was his brain. His roar of release shook the walls around them.
Imani started trembling violently as she climaxed again, and her muscles squeezed his cock, making him come again.
When he came to his senses a few minutes later, Imani looked like a sexy mess beneath him, and to his chagrin, he grew hard all over again.
She widened her eyes, stunned by the swiftness and intensity of his still pulsing length inside of her.
Feeling slightly less desperate, he picked her up from the desk, and even while still buried deep in her, he sat in his chair. Holding her by the waist, he gently rocked up into her for a much slower loving. He kissed her tenderly as he slowly pulled her on and off his cock. Soon, she picked up the rhythm and started moving her hips in time with his. He took his time petting and loving her, letting her set the pace, and showing her how much he loved her. There was no place on her body he didn’t kiss, caress, or taste. He was storing up for the emptiness ahead.
When she finally climaxed, she cried silent tears, but she was smiling.
Wrapping her in her tiny lace robe, he carried her up to her room at almost four. He left her curled up in a content ball, completely oblivious to his decision about their future. She didn’t even question him taking her to the tiny bedroom in the west wing.
Chapter Nine
Imani stared at the state-of-the-art home office Colt had installed for her with a mixture of hope and despair. Not only had he given her the office but he’d also decorated a bedroom for her that was fit for a queen. She was in awe of both rooms and would have loved them if they were not all in the east wing of the house. She would never forget waking up late in the afternoon following the intense loving between them in his office and thinking she was the happiest woman in the world.
I love him so much! she’d thought.
And then Sarah had strolled into her room as though she couldn’t believe her friend’s good fortune. For a full minute Imani had thought Sarah was in on their secret, until Sarah had excitedly told of the restoration of a room in the east wing for her.
At first, Imani had had no idea what to think. Had she imagined how in sync they had been the night before? Had she misread the caring she saw in his gaze? Was this just a reprieve to ensure no one realized what was happening between them? What?
Colt was nowhere to be found for answers. In fact, Sarah told her that he’d gone into the city to his office because he had a big case coming up and would probably be out a few days. Don’t worry, she’d said. He was working out the misunderstanding with the Pentagon and they had to sit tight until he gave the all clear. She couldn’t take her anger out on Sarah. She’d reserve all that shit for Colt. She was so upset over Colt she didn’t even have time to still be pissed at Sarah for her careless words from the day before. She never invited Sarah to Chicago, and if the bitch wasn’t happy there, she should move the fuck on.
Showing her to the bedroom had come first, and Sarah had helped her move her meager belongings to the new room. She hadn’t been able to reach Colt by phone to ask what was going on, and when he didn’t return home for dinner, she had no choice but to bide her time.
The next day her home office was ready. He’d thought of everything. The office was almost the size of a studio loft, and the company had allowed him to transport the projects she’d been building to the ranch. She wondered how many favors he’d had to call in to achieve that because no one had called her for her agreement. These projects were top secret, and she was shocked that her boss, Marcus, had allowed it with no discussion with her. When she’d spoken to him later that day, Marcus had still been livid at Colt’s highhandedness. Apparently, Colt had gone over his head to the COO of the company to get his way. Speaking with the COO later, Imani realized that the COO assumed that this was all done under Imani’s agreement and instruction.
Instead of trying to work remotely, Sarah took a leave of absence from work, and Colt seemed to have taken advantage of that by getting her involved in running the ranch a few days later. Sarah clearly loved it, and Imani remembered her confession to Colt on Sunday. Sarah had no idea that she’d heard her, and Imani used the opportunity to get her to admit her deception. “So are you remaining here and not returning to Chicago?”
“What? And lose my best friend?” Sarah looked at her with a huge smile.
Imani couldn’t believe the continued deception. Sarah must really think she was an idiot. Imani had to admit that, yes, she was an idiot for listening to Sarah’s bullshit for all these years.
“Girl, you’re the first friend I’ve ever had who couldn’t care less how rich I was, what my family background was, or what I look like. You don’t judge me, try to compete with me, or try to steal my boyfriends. I don’t think you realize what a rare friend you are.”
Imani really wanted to smack the crap out of her then. She was barely able to restrain herself from giving Sarah an eye roll of disgust. “You’re a rare friend too,” Imani said dryly. She no longer felt guilty about deceiving her “friend.” Sarah can kiss my ass. Imani smiled at her sweetly.
By Friday of that week, Imani was no longer confused or patiently waiting for Colt to call her or come home. She wanted blood, preferably his. Her daily text messages of Good morning, I hope all is going well with your case. Call me when you can was replaced with, Call me.
With Sarah busy somewhere on the four-hundred-thousand-acre ranch, it was relatively easy for her to syphon Colt’s gleaming black Ferrari from the garage and drive into the city. Because she knew the security Colt had put in place to watch the ranch and protect her and Sarah would immediately call him to alert him of her action, Imani took great pains to explain to the men that she was going into the city for some much-needed shopping and meeting a friend for lunch.
Imani went to Lakeline Mall first and made sure that her security detail followed her in. She wasn’t stupid enough to try losing them. She had no idea where Colt was on smoothing things over with the Pentagon, and she wasn’t trying to get taken in by them. She simply didn’t want Colt to think he got to dictate what she did or that she was moping at home because of his defection.
She had pre-ordered the white jumpsuit that was cinched at the waist with a silver chain-linked belt to accentuate her fit but curvy figure. She changed into it for her lunch date with her boss who had flown in to talk about her progress on their project. Imani knew that he could’ve achieved the same thing in a conference call. However, he’d always had a thing for her, and Imani didn’t dissuade him as she usually did when he insisted on coming out to see her. She’d, however, nixed the request for him to visit the ranch in order to personally review what she was working on. Besides, she needed to teach Colt a lesson.
She knew she looked amazing, and the amount of male attention she received as she entered the restaurant where she was meeting Marcus told her that she was rockin’ the hell out of her jumpsuit. Embracing her newly found sexy feminine power, she was in a full-confidence stride with a little extra swing in her hips when a male voice called her name. Imani was initially puzzled, thinking that she knew no one in Austin and this was her first time in the city, when she met Justin’s surprised gaze.
She was about to approach his table, where he was seated with five other people, clearly on a business lunch, when Marcus walked up to her and embraced her in the middle of the restaurant as though they were long-lost friends. Imani immediately pulled out of his embrace, as his hands were just a little too low on her hips, almost on her ass.
Before she could ask, “What the hell,” Justin had crossed over to them, snaked his arm around her waist, and pulled her against him. Frowning fiercely, he kept his glare on Marcus as he spoke to Imani. “Does my brother know you’re here?” he bit out.
“As I haven’t seen or spoken to your brother all week, I have no idea what he knows or doesn’t know,” Imani answered him sweetly.
“Introduce us,” Justin growled.
Imani wanted to laugh at Justin’s belligerent attitude, but she didn’t dare. Justin almost sounded like Colt at that moment and made her ache for him even more acute. Every time she tried to pull away from him, his arm tightened around her waist and he refused to let her move.
“Justin, we’re in the middle of a restaurant, and you’re embarrassing me,” she hissed.
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