I’d never been so damn ready in my life.
She cried out again, stiffening and then pulling away slightly as she came, and I wasted no time in standing, picking her back up, and slamming inside of her still quivering body. She came again, squeezing my cock deliciously, and I quickened my pace this time, needing the same release I’d given her. When I found it, she was there with me, crying out my name and scratching her nails down my back. I’d never felt so good, so…
Alive.
Dropping my head on the wall next to hers, I listened to her irregular breathing and closed my eyes, not wanting this moment to end. There was something about the way she clung to me, not letting go as her body melded to mine perfectly, that just felt right.
She kissed my shoulder and wiggled in my arms, signaling that she, unlike me, was ready to move. “So, we’re good, right?” she asked breathlessly.
I shook my head and pulled back. “Yeah, we’re good, but stay away from him from now on. I don’t like the way he looks at you.”
“Aw, jealous?” she teased, bopping me on the nose like I was a kindergartener on a career day visit to the precinct.
Her doing that, with my cock still hard inside her, was utterly ridiculous. “I don’t get jealous.”
“If you say so,” she said, shrugging.
I stepped back, letting her feet hit the floor, and held on to her until she was steady. She waded to the bathroom barefoot and naked, her ass swinging with my fingerprints still there in hues of red and pink. If ever I was going to get jealous over a woman…
It would be Marie.
16
Marie
I stared at Joseph intently, watching for any signs of weakness. His face was steady, calm and deadly, even though if he made one wrong move, he’d be a goner. He showed no signs of nerves, no tics that would suggest he was holding back on me, or about to pounce.
He had the world’s best poker face.
“I’ll take three,” he said slowly, sliding three cards into the space between us on the neatly made bed. It was my turn to be the dealer, so I dealt him three cards face down.
“Three,” I echoed.
There was a big gala downstairs we were supposed to be attending for the free booze and food, but we’d decided instead to order in, and bring a bottle of champagne to our room. Turns out, I was better than I thought at strip poker, and Joseph was down to his boxer briefs and one lonely black sock.
Best. Decision. Ever.
His abs teased me, distracted me, and every time he smiled at me with his brown eyes shining, it took all of my self-control not to throw my cards aside and climb into his lap. And I knew if I did that, if I were to climb into his lap at any given time, I would be one hundred percent welcome. He’d close me in his arms, hold me tight, not letting go until I was ready.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready for that.
Surprisingly, that didn’t send me running like it usually would.
There was just something about him that made me forget everything I’d always held—most of all, my heart—close to my chest. Around him, I wasn’t so worried about that.
I trusted him.
It was a freeing feeling.
“Dealer takes one,” I announced, setting down a seven of spades.
He nodded. “Bold move.”
“Bold, or logical.” I stared at my hand, fighting to keep the grin from lighting up my face. He was about to lose another sock. “Show your hand, detective.”
He splayed his cards on the bed. “Full house.”
“Nice.”
He grinned. “Time to lose an article of clothing. I say you take off your—”
“Not so fast.” I slowly lowered my cards, showing him what I had. “Four of a kind, which I believe beats a full house?”
“Son of a bitch.”
I laughed and pointed at his left foot. “I’ll be nice. Lose the sock.”
Grumbling, he took it off and tossed it over his shoulder with the rest of his clothing. “How are you still wearing your dress?”
“Winning, that’s how.”
“I think we need to up the ante,” he suggested, taking the cards out of the pile we’d made and shuffling them. “Feeling daring?”
“What did you have in mind?” I asked hesitantly.
He separated the cards and shuffled again. “Next round, the winner gets to ask the loser anything they want—the more personal, the better.”
“Like truth or dare.”
“But without the dare. No escape.” He shrugged. “You lose, you answer a question.”
My heart skipped a beat. This could be dangerous, but I could ask him anything I wanted… “You just want to keep your boxers on.”
Standing up, he tugged his boxers off. I’d seen him, tasted him, felt him. I mean, come on, I’d even washed him in the shower after we made love earlier against the wall, an experience I was never going to forget. And yet…
I couldn’t take my eyes off him, and how frigging beautiful he was.
He sat back down as if he hadn’t just stripped down to nothing in front of me, and crossed his legs. “You in, or out?”
“I’m in,” I managed to say from my swollen throat. “Deal the cards.”
He did as ordered, slowly counting out five for each of us. As I picked up my cards, my heart dropped because I had a whole lot of nothing. Of course this would happen now when the stakes were so much higher than a lost article of clothing. “Three, please.”
He handed me three new cards, then contemplated his. I watched him instead of looking at my new cards because I wanted to see his reaction to his hand. His face showed nothing.
Stinking police training.
“Dealer also takes three,” he announced, setting his discards down and making a show out of picking three new cards off the top of the pile.
As he glanced at his new hand, his face remained impassive.
I glanced at my own hand, struggling to keep mine just as unreadable.
“What do you have?” he prodded.
“Patience, Pookie.”
He rolled his eyes. “If you call me that one more—”
“I have three of a kind.” I laid out my cards, grinning not only because of his predictable reaction to my nickname for him but because of my impending win. “Kings.”
He nodded. “Nice.”
“Thanks.” When he didn’t move, I gestured at his hand. “And you?”
“Patience, Pookie,” he mimicked.
“We can’t both be Pookie. That’s just confusing.”
“I have three of a kind, as well.” He slowly lowered his cards to the comforter. “But Aces. What are the odds of that?”
“Almost non-existent.” I crossed my arms. “Ask your question.”
“Don’t pout, babe. I’ll be gentle…ish.”
“Don’t be, because I won’t.” I moved my hands in a rolling motion. “Go on.”
He rubbed his chin. “Have you ever been in love before? Like, really in love. The kind where you honestly believe that you can’t live without the other person.”
“Once, in high school. We were together from ninth grade through the week before graduation. Everyone thought we would be together forever.”
He leaned in. Even hunched over, his naked abs looked like they were made of steel. “What happened?”
“He got a ring, was going to ask me to marry him. My best friend at the time told me. At first, I was excited. I’d been with him for what felt like my whole life, but then I laid in my bed that night, thinking about it, and I realized…I’d been with him my whole life. I hadn’t dated a bad guy, fallen for the wrong man, gone to a party and had a random hookup. I wasn’t ready for a commitment like that, so I said no when he asked me, and he broke it off with me.” I shrugged, not meeting his eyes. “So then I did all of those things and more.”
He nodded and picked up the cards. “Do you regret saying no?”
“No way.” I bit my lip. “I wasn’t ready for
that kind of commitment. I’m not sure I ever will be.”
After handing me the deck of cards he’d gathered, his fingers lingered over mine. “I often have wondered the same thing about myself.”
I ducked my head.
He was looking at me as if he could see through me, and I wasn’t sure I wanted him to see what I was thinking right now. I dealt the cards in silence, but it wasn’t awkward.
It was…natural.
We picked up our hands and checked them out. After a few moments, he put down two cards. “Two, please.”
I handed him his, then put mine down. “Dealer takes three.”
“I have…” He splayed his cards out for me. “Nothing, ten high.”
Laughing, I set mine down for him to see. “Pair of two’s.”
“Ugh.” He tossed his down and rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you won with two’s.”
“Me either.” He collected the discarded cards and cocked a brow at me.
“What’s your biggest fear?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “My grandmother dying.”
I reached out and rested my hand on his knee.
“If she died, Meggie and Lynne would lose the closest thing they’ve ever had to a parent.” He paused in shuffling.
“Where would they go, if that happened?”
He flexed his jaw. “Well, to me, I guess. I certainly wouldn’t let Meggie get sent to a home, and Lynne would need somewhere to go during the summer,” he said, his voice hard. “But if that happened, everything would change. It wouldn’t just be me anymore, it would be the three of us, as a package. A readymade family of sorts, and I’d imagine that would make dating a little…harder.”
I hesitated. Was that his way of saying that he wouldn’t have me around that long, and he was already thinking about dating in the future? Or was it his careful way of trying to figure out how I’d react if that happened and it wasn't just him anymore? If it was the second option, I had no frigging clue. Having a kid around would complicate things, and we were both all too aware that I didn’t like complications. But it was Joseph. “You’re a good man. Anyone would be lucky to have you, whether you come with a grumpy teenager and a college student or not.”
We locked eyes, and for a second I thought he was going to ask me the question I most feared, but he must’ve changed his mind or I had been wrong, because instead, he said, “More champagne?”
17
Hernandez
“So you haven’t heard anything at all?” Marie asked as she climbed into my truck the next morning, the sun shining on her dark hair. If I looked close enough, I could see her blonde hair trying to grow back in. I kind of wished it would. I missed her sunny brightness.
I shook my head and closed her door, sliding my shades into place. As I climbed into my seat, I added, “Not yet, anyway.”
“But he was missing this morning.” She closed her door, too, and turned toward me. “What if they arrested him?”
“Then the asshole was guilty.”
She sighed. “I want to know, though.”
“I’ll hear something eventually. I think since I haven’t heard anything, nothing’s been decided yet, but who knows?” I tapped her empty seatbelt buckle. “Ahem.”
“Oh, right,” she muttered, fastening up. “Sorry, detective.”
“I love it when you call me that.” I closed the distance between us and caressed her chin before pressing my mouth to hers briefly. As I pulled back, I added, “It’s fucking hot.”
“Hm.” She grinned at me, her eyes shining brightly enough to pull me in and never let go. “Maybe I’ll call you that in bed next time.”
My cock hardened, but I was mostly hung up on what she’d said. Next time. “I like the sound of that.”
“Noted.” She smoothed her shorts over the tops of her thighs and fidgeted with the bottom of the seatbelt. “Do you want to come over tonight, or do you want a little time to yourself? A break from…” She hesitated, gesturing between us. “…from whatever we are.”
I ignored that last part. We were fucking, sure, and we liked one another, but she didn’t want anyone to know any of that, so I wasn’t sure what our label was.
Secret lovers? Fuck buddies? Shit if I knew.
“I’ll come over,” I said, pulling forward out of the spot the valet had parked me in. “If you invite me somewhere, you can pretty much assume my answer is yes.”
She lowered her head, smiling. She looked so shy at that moment, so uncertain that I reached over and rested my hand on her thigh as I drove. Her skin was soft and warm. I still couldn’t get over the fact that I was allowed to touch it now. Encouraged to, even.
How had I gotten so damn lucky?
“It’ll be fun, sneaking around behind their backs.” She turned toward me again, her eyes hidden behind her shades now. “They always think they know everything, so it’ll be nice to prove them wrong, right?”
I stared straight ahead, watching the truck in front of us. It was another beer truck. If I was ever going to drive a truck, that’s the kind I’d want to drive. One loaded down with cold beer. “Right.”
“Text me before you come over, in case Carrie comes to see how it went. She was so sure we were going to hook up this weekend…”
I side-eyed her. “Guess she was right.”
“Like usual.” She crossed her arms. “Typical. She’s always right.”
I snorted. “I don’t think Finn would agree.”
“Of course he wouldn’t, but he’d be wrong.”
She picked up her coffee I’d gotten her. We’d been ten minutes late checking out because I’d realized we never did fun things in the hot tub like she’d teased me about when we checked in, so I’d made sure to fix that early this morning. And the things we had done…
I’d never look at a Jacuzzi tub the same way again.
The verdict was still out on whether that was a good or bad thing.
We drove in silence for a while, neither of us feeling the need to fill the empty space between us with silly words. That was one of the many beautiful things about being with Marie. We’d known each other long enough to be comfortable with silence. We’d skipped that awkward getting to know you stage that most people endured and went right to the friendship part.
My phone rang, and we glanced at the display together.
It was Finn.
I went to click the answer button on my steering wheel. She covered my hand, halting me. “Don’t do it.”
“What?” I glanced at her quickly before putting my attention back on the road. “Why not?”
“I don’t want reality to come into our lives yet. I want it to be just us, with no one interrupting, for a little while longer. Then, when we’re back home, they can ask us if we hooked up or not. Not now, while we’re still away.” She nibbled on her lower lip. “You know?”
I, too, was dreading the return to reality, though for different reasons. I wasn’t looking forward to lying to the people who meant the most to me about the woman who was beginning to mean even more in only a short weekend together.
“How do you think they’ll react when we tell them?” I asked.
“With a lot of ‘I told you so’ and a little bit of shrieking.” She shuddered. “If they ask us for details on how we hooked up, I’ll be out of there so fast you won’t even see me move.”
I pictured it in my head. Finn was grinning and clapping me on the back, and Carrie was dancing around the kitchen singing with joy. I probably wasn’t too far off from the truth. “Like The Flash.”
“Even faster.”
“Not possible.” Hesitating, I debated whether to voice one of my concerns or not. “What will your parents say, when they find out?”
Marie groaned and dropped her head back on the seat. “I don’t even want to think about that or them. My mom…ugh.”
So, she didn’t want to think about anything besides us, together, with no one knowing. Riiight. That reaction from her fed into my own doub
t about whether or not her wealthy mother would welcome an orphan like me into her home with open arms. “And if your mother isn’t happy?”
“Why wouldn’t she be happy?”
I shrugged, focusing on the road and only the road. “I’m not your typical boyfriend you bring home, in any sense of the word.”
“She doesn’t care what you look like, what you do, or where you’re from. And even if she did, I don't care.” She rested her hand over mine, which was still on her thigh. Funny, I hadn’t even noticed. I’d been too busy driving, and to be honest, my hand there on her skin felt so natural and comfortable that I’d forgotten I’d put it there in the first place. “All she’ll care about is that I’m not single. That’s all she ever cares about. Me, with a guy so I’m complete.”
Though I liked the idea of her feeling like I completed her, I knew she didn’t mean it in a good way, and neither did her mother. “I’m sure she cares about more than that.”
“She really doesn’t.”
The phone rang again. Finn. My finger hovered over the answer button since I never ignored my best friend. Hell, one time he’d called me and asked me if he could come over, and I almost didn’t answer it. That night, he showed up looking like hell and admitted that he’d almost committed suicide, and if I hadn’t picked up the phone...
Not that he was in that frame of mind anymore. He was happily married to the love of his life, the father of two children, and had been clean for years now…but still.
I didn’t like ignoring him.
Christ, I’d never forget the way he looked that night, as if he’d lost everything he cared about, including the will to live, and in a way he had. He’d lost his sobriety, his job, his father, and his girl all in one week. That was bound to make a man spiral. Seeing him like that had been part of the reason I didn’t want love in my life. It was great when you had it, sure, but when things went bad, and you lost it all, things went really bad, really quickly.
Why give someone that kind of power over me?
Her phone lit up, too, this time from Carrie. She rejected it instantly. “Why won’t they let us be? The second they hear our voices, they’ll somehow know. I guarantee it.”
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