By Thursday I’d had enough. During my lunch break, instead of retreating to the archives and studying case files the way I had done up until now, I left the office. I drove my car all the way to the other side of town even though the trip would cost me double in petrol. The gates to Mouse’s workshop were open – as always – and I parked in front of the office.
Mouse came out, looking tattered. He wiped his hands on a cloth that did nothing to remove the grime from his skin.
“Having some car trouble again?” he asked, nodding to the car.
I shook my head. “No. I was hoping you could help me find Drake? I don’t have a contact number or anything.”
Mouse nodded. “Yeah, sure.” He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. I could hear the phone ringing on the other end of the line all the way where I was standing and a moment later a deep voice answered.
“Where you at?” Mouse asked.
Drake mumbled something on the other side of the line. Mouse nodded and hung up.
“He’s at home,” he said to me.
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.
“I don’t know where that is.”
Mouse grinned. “I’ll be right back,” he said and disappeared back into his office. A moment later he returned with an address scribbled on a piece of paper. I took it from him and glanced at it. It was in town, somewhere.
“Thank you,” I said to Mouse and walked back to my car.
It took almost half an hour for me to get back into town. I found the address and parked against the curb. The apartment building looked clean and neat. I pressed the buzzer with Drake’s name on it and waited.
“Mouse,” Drake answered. Right. He was expecting his buddy.
“Uh, it’s me,” I said. “Joanna.” Just in case he didn’t know who I was. There was a short silence on the line and then the door buzzed open.
I climbed the stairs to the third floor and walked down the corridor. Drake leaned against the wall just outside the third door, arms folded, cigarette hanging from his mouth.
“What do you want?” he asked, the same way I had when he’d come to me. It wasn’t with the same tone, though. His voice was soft, almost welcoming.
I took a deep breath. “I want stability,” I said. “I want a promise of a future. I want to know that everything will work out. But that doesn’t always happen.”
I paused. Drake nodded at me so I carried on.
“So, after your speech the other day, and the fact that I can’t get you off my mind, either, I was thinking I’ll take you up on your offer. If it still stands.”
I swallowed hard. Drake’s face was impossible to read. He could tell me to go to hell the same way I had. He was quiet for long enough I was starting to feel like it might have been a mistake.
“Does it still stand?” I asked when he said nothing.
Drake grinned at me. “Darling,” he said, speaking around the cigarette, “why do you think I’m still here?”
He took the cigarette from his lips and reached just inside the door, getting rid of it. He stepped closer, pulling me against him. He smelled like smoke and cologne and I choked on memories of our relationship. We stood like that for the longest time.
Finally, he leaned down and kissed me.
It was different than before. Drake had always been assertive and forward, but now he kissed me like he was scared I was just an apparition, that I would evaporate again and he would be left with nothing.
When I didn’t stop him, he broke the kiss and took my hand, leading me into the apartment. I went with him.
I didn’t have time to look around before he kissed me again. I had the feeling the apartment was neat, though, and decorated well. It felt so different than the Drake I used to know. Maybe he really had changed. He said he would prove it to me. Maybe he deserved a chance.
I didn’t have time to keep thinking. His hands were in my hair, his hips gyrating against mine and I felt his urgency, his eagerness. The length of him pushed against my hip bone and my muscles clenched at my core. My lust for him had never gone away. There was something ridiculously attractive about Drake, something irresistible.
And there was no reason to say no, this time. Everything I’d been waiting for was right here in front of me.
Drake kissed his way down my neck, his hands running over my back and then my ass as he worked his way down to my chest. He used one hand to unbutton my shirt, removing the bra with it. He kissed my bare breast. His stubble was rough on my soft skin and it made me shiver.
He returned to my mouth. I fiddled with his belt buckle. I wanted him to know I was okay with where it was headed. I undid the buckle, the button, and the zipper before I pulled up his shirt. Drake lifted his arms to help me peel it from his muscles and pull it over his head. Without a shirt, he was a vision.
He was a god. I put my hands on his chest, fingers in the light dusting of chest hair. He was Adonis, and I wanted to be his Damsel in distress.
Just like it had been all those years ago. This time, though, I trusted that Drake would stay. It was all I could do. With the way he looked at me, I believed that this time he wouldn’t let me down.
His eyes traveled down to my breasts and he stared at them like he’d never seen a naked woman before. He reached for me, placing his hands on my tits. He kneaded and massages me, his thumbs running over my nipples. I gasped, the sensations arousing me.
I lifted the elastic of Drake’s boxers over his erection before pulling it down with his jeans and he sprung free. He was hungry for me, lust oozing from the tip.
Drake did the same for me, helping me get rid of my pants. We were both naked and still in his living room. Drake leaned forward, wrapping his arms around my thighs just below my ass and picked me up. I squealed, putting my legs around his body. He held me up like I weighed nothing and I felt beautiful. He kissed me again, tipping his head up.
He walked us to the bedroom like that and laid me down on his bed. When he crawled over me my thighs fell open for him. He placed himself at my entrance and I gasped. I knew what was going to come. I shivered.
“I’ve dreamed about this for a long time,” Drake whispered.
I nodded. I had too, if I had to be honest. I would never admit it to anyone, of course.
Drake pressed himself harder against my pussy and my body welcomed him. Slowly he slid into me. I gasped as my body yielded and stretched to accommodate him.
When he was in all the way to the hilt he looked at me. His eyes were a deep blue, the color of the ocean, and I could drown in them. He kept his eyes on me as he pulled out almost all the way. He pushed in again and repeated it again and again, faster each time.
Drake picked up the pace and I gasped. He put one hand on my breast, balancing himself on the other hand next to my head. His hips bucked faster and faster against mine and I whimpered. He stirred up an orgasm at my core and I closed my eyes and tipped back my head, letting the sensations take over. Drake’s hand disappeared from my breast and a moment later his lips landed on my neck. He kissed and sucked on the skin, keeping up his rhythm between my legs.
The orgasm built, filling me up like hot water. If he kept going I was going to spill over.
Drake alternated his rhythm, dropping speed and picking it up again, keeping me on the edge. I was frustrated and aroused all at the same time. I wanted to climax. I wanted a release.
As I thought it Drake picked up the pace again. He hammered into me and my body rocked beneath him. I moaned. Our skin was slick where we touched. Drake had abandoned my neck and his breath was hot and heavy in my ear now.
A moment later, the orgasm took over. A wave of ecstasy washed over me and I cried out. My muscles clenched and I curled around Drake’s body, nails biting into his shoulders, my mouth open in a silent scream. I rode out the orgasm with Drake hard and still inside me.
When I finally relaxed, the climax fading, I opened my eyes. Drake was smiling.
“What?” I asked, suddenly self-conscious.
“You’re beautiful when you do that,” he said.
I blushed scarlet. But there was no need to feel shy. Drake started moving inside me again and this time it was for himself. My body was sensitive after orgasming, the muscles clenching down around his cock. I felt every movement and as he rocked harder and faster, echoes of my own orgasm returned.
Instinct took over and Drake pumped into me even faster, his strokes shortening until he pushed into me all the way and his body jerked. I felt him twitch inside me as he released. He claimed every inch of me again and again until, finally, it was over.
Drake collapsed on top of me, breathing hard. We were both wet with sweat and our sex. My heart hammered against my chest, against his. When he lifted his head his hair was wet around his hairline and his cheeks were flushed. He looked like he’d escaped from a GQ magazine.
He pulled out of me, already going soft, and rolled onto his side next to me. He pulled me closer. I lay on my back. He kissed me on my forehead, my nose, and then a peck on my mouth.
“You know I love you, right?” he asked.
I nodded. “You said,” I whispered.
“And I’m not going anywhere.”
I nodded and rolled onto my side, my back to him. He pulled me against his body, curling around me like a question mark and it felt, for the first time since we were kids, like I was home again.
He said he loved me. He said he wouldn’t leave.
And this time, I believed him.
THE END
Dangerous Proposal
Chapter 1
BROOKE
Honk!
Beep!
Honnnnk!
The lovely sound of traffic filled my ears. I had been stuck in it for the past hour, crawling forward a few inches before I was forced into a standstill, my bumper nearly grazing the car in front of me.
“Ugh.” I tinkered with the AC controls, hoping for some kind of miracle, but no such luck came my way. I had been meaning to recharge the unit, but I simply didn’t have the time or energy to go down to the local car part store and bat my eyelashes until some guy was smitten enough to help me.
The window was open, but all I got was a stale breeze that rolled in every once in a while. Oh, and the lovely smell of exhaust gas. I grabbed my ice coffee and took a sip, but it was watered down. I had paid four bucks for this thing…
I readjusted my grip on the wheel, trying to keep my cool. I took a few deep breaths through my nose. Eventually, I glanced down at the time.
6:46 P.M.
I was supposed to be at the piano bar at 8:00 and I still needed to get dressed…
Seeing that the slow lane was actually moving much faster than all the others, I aggressively moved over.
Beep!
The driver I had just cut in front of pegged me off, leaning into his windshield and yelling something I couldn’t hear. I ignored him and followed the long chain of cars, taking the next exit, hoping that the city route would be faster.
Luckily, it was.
I was home by 7:08.
Quickly, I tossed all my stuff onto the couch before I ran into the bathroom, already shrugging off my itchy uniform. I worked as a secretary downtown, for a lawyer who was very full of himself and thought it was a good idea to keep me overtime when I had places to go and people to see.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but I really did have somewhere to go. Every weekend, I went down to this fancy piano bar and worked as entertainment. In high school, I had learned how to play the piano, absolutely falling in love with the instrument. When I moved into my own apartment, however, I didn’t have the space to have one of my own. So, this was my only option. I got to practice my skills and got paid for it all at the same time.
In the bathroom, I unbuttoned my blouse and tossed it in the hamper, which was currently overflowing with laundry I kept putting off. I then unzipped my skirt and pushed it over my wide hips, tossing it into the pile. Dressed in nothing more than panties and a bra, I took down my hair, letting the blonde trusses run over my shoulders and down my back in soft ringlets.
Finally, I took off the rest of my clothes and stepped into the shower, turning on the water. I sighed in satisfaction, feeling the warm stream run over my body, easing away the built-up stress of my life.
As I closed my eyes, I imagined someone different. Much different:
I was in Las Vegas. In front of me, thousands of people sat down in red upholstered seats, dressed in the finest clothes money could buy. Some women in the back held up fancy theater binoculars against their eyes so they could see me better.
A bright spotlight shone down on me, creating a halo effect. I ran my fingers along the ivory keys of my piano, taking a deep breath as I prepared myself for the biggest moment of my career.
“Ladies and Gentlemen…” A flamboyant host came onto the stage wearing a dark suit, a microphone in hand. “It is my great pleasure and honor to introduce you all to Miss Brooke Aguiar! She is a stunning pianist from the small town of Bedford. She started playing when she was in high school and in a matter of a few short years, she learned she was truly a piano prodigy! I hope you all enjoy her lovely music. I know I will.” With that, he bowed and left the stage.
I took my cue, slowly running my fingers along the keys, building up the tempo. As I warmed up, my long, lithe fingers started their natural dance, spinning together a beautiful melody.
My every emotion went into the composition. From sadness and happiness to horror and even some humor. My heart was beating fast, my ears tuned into the music, looking out for any mistakes, but so far, everything was going smoothly.
I reached the crescendo, my fingers flying from one end of the piano to the other. The crowd was silent, completely mesmerized by my work, but I could barely notice them as I got to the hardest part of my piece. If I messed this up now, I would ruin everything.
Pushing myself to the limit, I played even faster, the tempo dramatic and frightening before I brought it back to a sweet melody, ending on a high note.
My fingers finally left the keys and rested on my knees.
At first, nothing happened.
I was worried.
Had they not liked it? Had I not played as good as I thought?
And then, an explosion of applause.
People started to stand up, the whole room thunderous with the sound.
I beamed with pride, slowly standing up and taking a deep bow. Some people threw roses onto the stage, calling my name, trying to get my attention.
My daydream faded as the hot water quickly turned frigid. Luckily, I had just finished washing my hair.
I turned off the shower and got out, quickly toweling myself dry before I walked into my bedroom, grabbing my shimmering black dress. I wore it every week, not because it was the most gorgeous dress in the world, but because I simply didn’t have the money to afford another.
The dress, however, did fit me perfectly, accentuating my hourglass figure. When I was younger, I had been a little on the chunkier side, my love of food making it hard for me to ever properly slim down, but in the last few years, I had worked hard to curb my appetite and make a solid effort at working out. And it seemed to be working. Of course, I still had some problem areas to work on, but the dress did wonders to smooth all of them out.
Knowing I didn’t have much time to waste, I dried my hair into large, bouncy curls before I put on some dramatic makeup, matching the look of the long black gown.
Feeling ready, I grabbed my clutch and headed out the door.
If I had the money, I’d be leaving this place in a shiny black limo, but unfortunately, my Vegas career was still nothing more than a dream…
***
Soon, I arrived at the piano bar. It was still relatively empty since most clients came later in the night. The owner nodded at me, smiling kindly. She had been a pianist herself, bu
t she now suffered from arthritis and could no longer play.
I settled myself behind the grand piano. It was truly a work of art. Light-colored rosewood with intricately carved detailing. The tune was perfect. The range of expression exquisite. I had no doubt that such an instrument must have cost more than I made in a year in my lousy nine-to-five job.
Bad Boys Rule Page 4