Beneath These Lies

by Meghan March

  Which left me sitting at an empty table in the window when Rhett Hennessy had been walking by. Sometimes, New Orleans really was the smallest town on the planet.

  “I could’ve sworn you’d said you were busy tonight,” Rhett had commented as soon as he helped himself to the seat across from me without asking for an invitation.

  “The opening was a success, and I came to celebrate with one of my employees. But he had something come up unexpectedly.”

  “Then I guess it’s my lucky night.”

  Rhett was persistent; I could give him that. And he was a nice guy. But all I could think about while I was sitting there was the promise I’d made to Rix, and the plan to let him down easily the girl posse had helped me concoct. The words formed on my tongue dozens of times, but I hadn’t been able to find the right moment to get them out.

  My conversational skills were decidedly subpar as the server brought food, which also coincided with Rhett’s phone receiving a barrage of text messages.

  Pulling it from his pocket, he frowned.

  “Something wrong?” I asked.

  He didn’t reply until after he tapped out a response. “A neighbor of mine called in a prowler around my house. Local units are headed that way.”

  A prowler? That sounded bad. “Shouldn’t you go and check it out?”

  “You trying to get rid of me? You pick the other guy?”

  His direct questions threw me off, and I choked on the sip of water I was currently taking. “Excuse me?”

  “You said you were dating someone else. I want to know if I’m fighting a losing battle.”

  This was my opening. “Well—”

  His phone went off with another text. “Fuck.” His tone was low and disbelieving. When he looked up, his expression was hard. “I gotta go.” He rose, pulled his wallet out, and tossed some bills on the table before he cupped my chin.

  I met his piercing green eyes.

  “Losing battle or not, you’re worth the fight. I’m not giving up.” He leaned down and pressed a hard kiss to my lips.

  The intensity flowing from Rhett was impossible to ignore. He released his hold on my chin and I opened my mouth to respond, but he was already heading for the door.

  Are you serious right now? How can I not break up with this guy that I’m not even trying to date? This was becoming ridiculous.

  I finished my dinner alone, wishing the man I was trying to choose was able to sit across from me. But that wasn’t going to happen. The impossibility of the situation killed my appetite for dessert.

  “YOU GOT BALLS THE SIZE of fucking boulders to break into my house,” the cop yelled as he slammed the door and walked into his living room.

  “Worried someone’s going to think you’re a dirty cop like your brother was accused of being?” I asked.

  “Fuck you, Rix.”

  “That ain’t why I’m here. I’m here to deliver a message, one I thought might get lost in translation.” I shoved up out of Hennessy’s recliner and stalked toward him. “Valentina Noble is off-limits.”

  Hennessy’s expression twisted with shock. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re staking a claim on her? She’s so far out of your league, you must be trippin’ on whatever shit’s runnin’ the streets lately.”

  I stopped a foot from him, and even though we were evenly matched in size and weight, I could take him. I had rage on my side. And a little duchess who had questions to answer.

  “She’s off the menu. Find someone else.”

  Hennessy shook his head. “No. Fucking. Way. I’m not bowing out of this when we both know you can’t have her.”

  His vehemence pissed me right the fuck off. She was already mine.

  “You still want help proving your brother wasn’t dirty, or not?”

  Hennessy stilled. “So it’s like that.”

  “Take it or leave it. I got nothing to gain by helping you on this one, so a little extra motivation is in order.”

  And when it came to Detective Hennessy, I knew there wasn’t much he wouldn’t give up to prove that his brother wasn’t a dirty cop. His reputation had been blackened by the suspicions, and his pops had retired because of it. The whole family of die-hard cops had suffered a serious blow the day the older Hennessy brother had been killed when a bust went bad.

  When Hennessy didn’t respond at first, I wondered if I’d miscalculated how deep his fascination with Valentina ran. Didn’t fucking matter. She was mine. He might be the better man, but I didn’t care. I’d laid my claim, and I wouldn’t give her up for anything or anyone. Not even a cop who could sit across from her at a restaurant in a window where my guy saw him and reported back to me.

  Valentina had some explaining to do, after I took it out on her luscious ass. I could see my rules hadn’t quite sunk in as well as I’d thought they had. But she would learn. I didn’t share.

  “Yes or no, Detective,” I prompted. “I ain’t got all night. I got another stop to make.”

  Hennessy glared at me. “You’re fucking her, aren’t you?”

  I smirked. “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”

  “Fuck you, Rix. You’ve never been a gentleman.”

  “Yeah, well, neither have you. Now, make your call, and know that if you pick her, you’re choosing the losing side on every front. Then you’ll have no help proving your brother’s innocence, and you’re not getting the girl.” When he still didn’t answer, I shook my head and backed up the way I’d come in. “Don’t be stupid. You know how to find me when you’ve made your choice.”

  I had my hand on the doorknob, and still he didn’t speak. The house was silent as I slipped out into the night.

  I had another stop to make.

  FACE WASHED, LOTION SLATHERED, AND eyes drooping, I climbed into my bed. I’d wondered if Rix would be waiting at my house tonight, and had tried to ignore the shaft of disappointment when he wasn’t.

  I’d decided. I’d made my choice. But was it really even a choice? Could I even have Rix? I was ready to lay it out and see what our options were. Maybe he could get out of this life and have a fresh start somewhere?

  And you’re an idealistic and naive idiot because he’s a criminal.

  I also needed to shed the guilt that was weighing me down. Rationally, I knew it wasn’t my fault that Rhett had decided to join me. It wasn’t like I could be rude and tell him no, right? I had a feeling that excuse wasn’t going to fly.

  I lay awake for long minutes, watching the numbers of my bedside clock change before I finally drifted off.

  Hands.

  Decadent hands.

  Clever fingers.

  Everywhere.

  Teasing, touching.

  And the lips . . . tasting, sucking, kissing.

  The sensations were too real to be a dream. My body heated and my eyes fluttered open. There was no fear when I realized I was no longer alone in bed. There was nothing but need.

  Rix knelt over me, hands pressing my legs apart as his mouth lowered to my center.

  “Oh God, yes. Please.”

  His head lifted and his gaze shot up to mine, flashing in the dim light of the room. “You’re gonna have to do better than that, duchess, if you want my mouth on this pretty cunt.”

  “What?” The word came out on a breath, and my inner muscles clenched at the possession in his eyes.

  “You left me hanging, and if you want yours this time, you’re gonna beg.”

  “Beg?”

  He nodded slowly, lowering his mouth to hover over my clit.

  “Please, just . . . please.”

  “What are you gonna do for me? Gonna leave me stroking my own cock, thinking of you, while you’re letting another man put his mouth on you?”

  “No. I’m going to tell him. I swear.” I lifted my hips, trying to reach him, but Rix’s hands clamped over my thighs and held me down.

  “I feel like we keep having the same conversation over and over again. This is the last time.”

  “Okay. Now, pl
ease.”

  “Please, what?”

  “Please make me come.”

  His eyes flashed again, and his lips curled into a satisfied smile before he lowered his mouth to my pussy.

  My palms found their way to his buzzed head, and it took all of my self-control not to shove his face between my legs. A plea left my lips and he began to devour me. Like with everything else, Rix followed no one’s rules when it came to the bedroom. He licked and tongued and sucked at my clit until I was arching up and writhing against him. And when one finger slid inside me, I knew I couldn’t wait long before he filled me.

  I needed. I wanted. And I might combust if I didn’t get it.

  An orgasm slammed into me when his teeth closed around my clit and tugged. Or maybe it was the finger pressing against the entrance no one had ever breached.

  Either way, I lost my grip on reality as pleasure rolled through me.

  “Please. I need—”

  Rix lifted his head and stared down at me. “Me, duchess. You need me. I’m the only man eating this pussy. I’m the only man sliding inside you. I’m the only man you’re ever gonna feel this way for. Get me?”

  “Yes.”

  “I see you again with that cop, and I’m going to tie you up and tease you until you’re about to come—over and over—but not let you, even when you’re dying for it. And then I’ll spank that ass of yours red. My woman. I don’t share. You need a lesson. I’m here to deliver it.”

  Caveman.

  Realization sank in. He knew about me having dinner with Rhett again? Was he having me watched?

  But as much as I wanted to protest that I was not the kind of woman who would ever allow herself to be spanked, all I could do was nod, because his thumb pressed to my clit and another orgasm broke free. My fingers curled into the sheets of the bed as I bucked and rode it out. How he could play my body so easily, I didn’t know, and I didn’t actually care. I just wanted more. Everything else could wait.

  Rix was rolling a condom down his cock, and that was exactly the more I wanted. Needed.

  He pressed the head to my entrance but went no further.

  “Wha—”

  One hand shot out and Rix grasped my nipple between his thumb and index finger, increasing the pressure with every passing second. Shards of pleasure-laced pain clawed through me. My eyes cut to his, another question on my lips.

  “You want to know what? You remember last time we got this far and you decided you’d had enough?”

  A tendril of fear twisted around the pleasure and pain as he rolled my nipple, his silver gaze burning with intensity.

  I nodded.

  “Good. Because that shit don’t fly with me. You’re gonna beg for this—” He nudged his cock against me, making my inner muscles clench with need. “Before I give it to you.”

  Beg? A frown tugged my lips downward, but Rix increased the pressure on my nipples and gave me another teasing push with his cock.

  God, I want him. Now. I was already begging in my head, and the words would soon be on my lips.

  Rix raised an eyebrow. “You want this?” He thrust an inch before pulling out completely, never letting go of his hold on my nipple.

  “Yes. Please. I need it,” I whispered. “Please—”

  A slow smile spread over his face. “Then say it, duchess.”

  I shook my head, confused about anything beyond the pleasure he was withholding from me. I’d begged. What else did he want from me?

  He pressed his cock to my entrance once more and I raised my hips, trying to take more. Shaking his head, Rix tsk-tsked.

  “Not until you say it. Or I walk.”

  “Say what?” I demanded, frustration edging my words. I needed him inside me. Now.

  “You’re mine.”

  He spoke the words like a vow, and I could do nothing but give the words back to him. Because they were the truth.

  “I’m yours.”

  He slammed home with one thrust and I arched into his lean, muscled body. It was beautiful. A perfect blend of pain and pleasure, and I wanted both from this man.

  “Fucking perfect. Everything I knew you would be.” The words were a low growl. He gripped my calves and lifted my legs until they rested on his shoulders. “Gonna take everything I need from you, but you’ll get what you need too.”

  And that was the last he spoke before he began to pound into me. Over and over. Readjusting the angle and my position so he could get deeper and, oh Jesus, he found my G-spot.

  My vision blurred as he worked his hips and never slowed his pace. An orgasm like I’d never experienced before gathered inside me, building with every thrust until I teetered on the edge, detonation imminent.

  Rix never stopped. He pushed me over the edge mercilessly, sliding his hand between my legs and pressing his thumb over my clit.

  My scream might have woken the neighbors, but I didn’t care.

  It. Was. Glorious.

  I rode out the orgasm as Rix continued to take me with decadent intensity. His own roar sounded as his hips stilled and his cock pulsed inside me.

  Sweat dripped from his face, and my own skin was slick. I didn’t know if it had come from him or me, but it didn’t matter.

  I think I can check “fuck of a lifetime” off my bucket list.

  A small giggle escaped from my lips and Rix’s gaze snapped to mine. “Now is not the time to be laughing, duchess.”

  I covered my mouth, my smile growing larger. “I can’t help it. I think my brain quit working. I’m blaming you.”

  His lips curved upward into a genuine smile, and the expression on his face relaxed. “Guess I can handle that.”

  He squeezed my hip before he lowered my legs and slid out from between them. The loss of his fullness wasn’t welcome. I wasn’t ready to let him go. But instead of saying those ridiculous things out loud, I watched as he crossed to the bathroom and disappeared inside.

  I pulled the sheet up around my cooling body and curled onto my side, facing the bathroom.

  I can’t believe that just happened.

  Being woken from a dead sleep on the brink of the best orgasms of my life was a new experience for me. And I was happy to repeat it anytime.

  Rix came back into view within moments, his attention skimming over my body as he moved toward the bed.

  He didn’t speak as he lifted the sheet and slid under it. He also didn’t speak as he rolled me over and pulled me back into his big, warm body. His arm wrapped around me, pinning me against him, and I didn’t protest. I’d never really spooned with anyone before, and he would have been the last person I would have expected it from. But I couldn’t stop myself from snuggling back into him, soaking up his warmth.

  His lips found my ear, and the words he growled into it left no doubt as to how much had truly changed in the space of the last hour.

  “You sleep in my arms. Come on my cock. Reach for me in the night. That’s how it’s gonna go from here on out, duchess. That’s just the beginning of being mine.”

  I didn’t know how to respond. A simple okay seemed weak. But I didn’t have any declarations of my own to add to it. I was completely okay with everything he said, but I also wondered what followed just the beginning of being mine.

  “Now, turn your head and kiss your man. Because I’m beat, and we need to catch some sleep.”

  I twisted my head to meet his eyes. “I guess this means you’re mine too, right?”

  Rix gave me a sharp nod. “Damn right.”

  “I can work with that.” I pressed my lips to his and turned to get comfortable again.

  I felt his lips on my hair, and as I drifted off, I thought I heard him say, “Yeah, you’ll work with that.”

  I WOKE ALONE, AND IF not for the messy bed and the definite soreness between my legs, I would have thought I’d dreamed the whole thing. But it had happened. I replayed every memory as I let the hot water of my shower cascade over me.

  Give your man a kiss.

  My man was a cri
minal. My father was a judge. And very soon, I had to tell the cop who said he wasn’t giving up the fight that he’d already lost.

  How had my quiet life become this unrecognizable tangle of craziness?

  Toweling dry my hair, I stared at the rumpled sheets of the bed. How had I not woken up when he’d left? Probably because I’d slept better than I had in recent memory while in his arms. Not something I expected in the least.

  You sleep in my arms.

  Did that mean he was planning on sleeping here every night? Was I even okay with that? The memories kept replaying on a constant loop as I brushed my teeth, put on makeup, and blow-dried my hair.

  Apparently getting lost in the thoughts of amazing sex from the night before wasn’t good for my punctuality, because I arrived at the gallery five minutes after I should have been open. But it wasn’t like there was a line of customers out the door, so no one would ever know.

  As I walked inside, a wave of frustration and helplessness washed over me. Trinity should be here today. She should be working with me, and arguing about how to rearrange at least one wall. Instead, I was trusting in Rix that she was safe and he was getting her back. Even though it seemed to be taking a ridiculous amount of time. That’s the funny thing with faith, you don’t get to question if you were going to believe. And if I was believing Rix, I’d have her back soon.

  I did. I believed him. I had faith.

  And then the front window of my gallery shattered.

  Dropping to my knees, I crouched on the floor, covering my face and waiting for the sound of gunshots or screams. But when none came, I blinked open my eyes slowly and turned my head toward the front window. Broken glass covered the old wood floor, and in the middle of it was a brick.

  Once I’d pushed up to my feet, I walked on unsteady legs toward it. A piece of paper was wrapped around it, but the writing wasn’t visible. I wanted to touch it, but thoughts of all the cop shows I’d seen over the years stopped me before I reached for it.

  Fingerprints. Maybe there were some. I needed a cop.

  Obviously, Rhett was the first one to come to mind. The saying kill two birds with one stone came to mind, but it seemed less than ideal considering the brick I was staring at.