by Fast
She didn’t respond, but simply covered her head.
Carmen lost the thin line of control she’d been relying on.
She gripped the Glock in both hands, the safety released and her finger poised to pull the trigger.
“Carmen.” Don’s voice shattered the icy space behind her, splitting the deafening silence. “It’s not worth it.” He moved up behind her, reaching around to take her weapon.
“Back off, Genonese.” She elbowed him for emphasis. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“You’re an officer of the law, Redstone.” He kept his weapon trained on the man wielding the knife. “He’s scum. See the difference?”
Carmen heard the words and knew he told the truth, yet rage toward the beast near her mother wouldn’t be so easily quelled. “I can’t let him get off with a slap on the wrist.”
She set the safety on her weapon and placed it on the bookcase by the door. The bravado had left the intruder’s voice when he stared at the wall of police officers blocking his escape.
“Whatcha got on your mind, cunt?” He licked his lips and jabbed the knife in her direction.
“Kicking your ass, deviate.” Carmen clenched her teeth, trying to pull her arm free of Don’s restraining hand. “Come on prick, you and me. You like hurting women. Come on! Get your jollies.”
Out of options and realizing he was finished, the trapped man gestured to Don who still had his weapon leveled on him. “Aw, hell, I ain’t fightin’ this bitch with half the fucking police department standing behind her.” He tossed the knife aside and leered at her. “You ain’t got nothing on me. I have rights.”
Don’s calming voice kept Carmen sane. “Put the bracelets on him, Redstone.” He pulled his cuffs from his belt and pressed them into her hand. “Secure your prisoner, Captain.”
She took dark pleasure from the fear in the man’s eyes when she crossed the room and punched him in the shoulder. “Turn around, freak.”
The steel bracelets were small payment for the abuse he’d inflicted here tonight, but his cry of pain when she squeezed the cuffs tight as possible sounded sweet to Carmen. She jerked his arms up until he yelped again before she shoved him toward the wall of blue uniforms.
“Momma, are you hurt bad?” Carmen knelt on the floor checking her for injury. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”
To her amazement, she heard her mother laugh. “You are my angel girl.” She stroked Carmen’s cheek. “I’m fine, just a bruise here and there. He wasn’t tough at all.” Tears filled Carmen’s eyes.
Sitting still for the quick check up by several EMT’s must have taken a hell of a lot of restraint on her mother’s part. Carmen stood close by, needing assurance her mother would be okay. She read impatience and a good amount of resentment on her mother’s face during the examination.
After the crew left, Carmen breathed easier, letting the tension drift away. She hugged the woman that had given her life, thankful the episode hadn’t dulled her humor. “Okay, if you won’t go to the emergency room, you’re coming home with me.”
“This is my home, Carmen.” Her mother held a hand up to Don after he gave custody of the intruder to the other officers to be escorted to a paddy wagon. He gently helped her to her feet. “What would happen if I left here? My friends would be worried, and my customers wouldn’t know where to find me.” She looked from Carmen to Don and nodded. “This is your bumble bee.”
Flustered by her mother’s reference to something private, Carmen hugged Ruby close, whispering in her ear. “He doesn’t know that yet, momma.”
“What’s going on, ladies?” Don watched them with a perplexed smile. “Is something wrong?”
Carmen kissed Ruby’s cheek and shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong. She just wants to get her place straightened up.” That had been weak, but she didn’t want to include him in the family secrets yet.
He glanced around the sitting room, his all-seeing gaze settling on Ruby.
“If you want someone to stay here tonight, that can be arranged.”
Ruby waved her hand, bending down to pick up an overturned table lamp. “That won’t be necessary.” She smiled at Carmen and patted her cheek. “I’ll reset the alarm and lock the doors. I can take care of myself.”
“Momma.” Carmen huffed with concerned impatience. “I have paper work to do, and when I finish, I’ll come back.” At Ruby’s look of parental disapproval, Carmen picked up her weapon and dropped it into her holster.
Already busy putting her home back in order, Ruby nodded. “If it will make you feel better.” She paused as if taking silent inventory of Don’s worth. “Come with me, Mister Bumble Bee. I make good coffee.”
Carmen met Don’s amused gaze and shrugged. “There’s no reason we can’t do our reports at the kitchen table.”
They trailed after her tricky mother, Carmen jumping in surprise when Don’s palm smacked her ass. She looked back to glare a silent warning to keep his hands to himself.
He caught her arm and pulled her back to lean against him. “Let’s go talk about that bumble bee thing.”
“You go out and get those report forms and forget what she said.” Carmen wasn’t secure enough about his feelings for her to discuss something so private. If only her mother would keep quiet. “Maybe we should go downtown and fill them out.”
He inhaled roughly, and she sensed his irritation.
“I won’t cause any trouble, babe.” He touched her bottom lip with his thumb. “I’ll get the forms from the patrolman outside. I’ll leave as soon as we’ve finished them. Okay?”
He read her too well for comfort. What bothered her? His wanting to know more about her or the fact she knew very little about him?
“You don’t have to run off.” She heard her mother humming and the clink of the coffee pot being filled with water at the tap. “Momma does make great coffee.”
“I’ll be good.” He gave her a quick kiss.
Carmen waited until he’d closed the screen door to caution her mother. “Momma, please don’t discuss what we say in private.”
Ruby arched her fine brows and shook her head. “I’m not wrong. He’s a good man, rosebud.”
“Don’t say that in front of him. He’ll think I’ve been talking sweet about him.” Thinking hare-brained romantic crap about him was different than saying it. She didn’t want to set herself up for his ridicule again. “Promise, Momma.”
“I won’t say a word.” Ruby whispered. “He already knows how you feel about him.”
* * * *
Don sipped his coffee and tried to concentrate on the paperwork in front of him. Damn near impossible while he observed Carmen and her mother interact. He’d never seen such love between a parent and child.
His gaze lingered on Carmen who seemed to have lost her fighting tiger personality as she easily laughed and joked with her mother.
Looking at the women with the same beautiful, sun-kissed skin tone and shining dark hair, he couldn’t imagine anyone brutalizing them. Especially Carmen.
His gut clenched at the thought of her being abused and frightened. He now knew where she got her toughness and uncompromising character. He forced his attention back to the report, listening to the two women discuss jewelry and the flower garden out back. Their female chatter sounded great.
Carmen glanced his way, and of course he’d been eyeballing her. He emptied his cup and cleared his throat. “You finished, Carm?”
“About thirty minutes ago.” Her beautiful lips parted in soft smile. She’d taken her hair down, letting it fall in a soft shimmer about her shoulders. “You need help with yours?”
“I finished twenty minutes ago.”
She took his cup and rinsed it out at the sink. “It’s two o’clock. You’d better get some sleep.”
Her sexy smile tempted him to pull her into his arms and kiss her until she crawled all over him. He mentally shook himself back to reality.
Ruby took off her apron and hung it on a hook near the back
door. She’d yawned several times, obviously hinting for him to leave. “Come back when you can, Don. Carmen will have to show you her baby pictures sometime.”
He heard teasing in her voice and grinned at her. “It’s a date, Ruby. Try to get some rest. Both of you.”
Carmen grabbed her report and handed it to him. “Why don’t you take these downtown right now? You seem to be no worse for wear.”
He took the rolled up papers she poked at his chest. “Come outside with me, Carm.”
“Why?”
“I have something to say.”
She led the way to the front door and out onto the shadowed porch, turning to look at him as he caught her hand. “What do you want to say, Genonese?”
He knew the words by heart, yet saying them out loud, speaking of the racing excitement and passion in his soul stuck on the back of his tongue. He settled for something more immediate.
“I’ll come by your place tomorrow.” He pulled her close, trying to take a part of her scented warmth with him, to keep her close. “Is that okay?”
She slid her hands into his pants pockets, sending a line of fire through his body, and murmured her acceptance of his question.
“Only if you bring a change of clothes.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Now you have to suck it.” Carmen tightened her grip on Don’s hair, smacking his cheek to emphasize her command. “Get busy, baby.”
She loved his quick grin and the glint of desire in his dark eyes. And oh, his compliance to her lusty order. He lapped at the wine pooled in her belly button, moving down to suck on her clit until she squeezed her knees against his head. He’d brought her to climax completely and often in the last three hours, and always putting his needs aside while she’d exploded into a million joyous pieces.
Sprawled in the luxurious afterglow of amazing sex, Carmen sighed, watching him move up to lie beside her. His fingertips worked miracles, tracing small circles up her inner thigh to her throbbing pussy.
He squeezed her breast, gently nibbling the nipple. How long he could hold out with a hard on like he had now. His erection lay against her thigh, hot and heavy, revving up her need to have him completely.
“Fuck me, Genonese.” Her breath caught in her throat as he braced himself over her, the tip of his cock pressing to her wet slit. “You do it so good.”
The muscles of his back tensed, and she sensed he held back. To help him decide on now or later, she lifted her hips to take the first inch in, quickly wrapping her legs around his waist to pull him down.
He scored a deep hit, plunging to her the deepest part, groaning against her lips. “My God, Carmen. I think I’m going to come already.”
His laugh had the texture of blue, cool smoke on a hot summer night. She clenched her pussy around his cock and lightly spanked his hard ass. “Give me what you’ve got fast and hard. I know you’re good for another ride.”
His kiss, like his slow push into her, went deep and tantalizing. She swallowed a scream as the overwhelming heat of passion threatened to lift her off the bed. He tasted her mouth, sucking her lower lip, inciting her to delicious madness as he drove into her with the power of a man hell bent on pleasuring a woman. A storm of awareness swept over her. He gave his all to her.
In a frenzy of orgasm too strong to hold down, Carmen tightened her legs around his hips and bucked to meet his thrusts, biting her lip to quiet the scream that defied her effort. It burst out, and she fell back in utter exhaustion as he came with a hard shudder and groan.
He calmed her heart rate by holding her in his arms, softly kissing her neck and shoulders until she could breathe normally. “Redstone, you’re the best.” He moved the bottle of wine off the bed to the nightstand. “I think…”
She’s never known him to be at a loss for words. “You think what?” She rolled over to lie across his waist. “Tell me.”
He played with a strand of her hair, obviously searching for words. “Rumor has it Gentry and Wells are engaged.”
Not too happy to be discussing other people’s nuptials, Carmen laughed dryly. “They deserve each other.”
He didn’t laugh or make further comment on the subject. He did pull her down to look into her eyes, his touch gentle as if he considered something she wouldn’t like. Taming her, he’d called it once.
“We have one hour to check in at work.” His mood changed back to teasing. “Maybe I’ll call in sick. Woman, you have worn me thin.”
Work. He’d made her forget where and who she had been before their sex marathon.
“Okay, get up and get the shower going.” She didn’t want to go to work, not with Don so close she could see the throb of a pulse in his temple. She looked out the window and sighed. “It’s raining. That means wrecks and bums coming into the station for a place to dry out.”
He got off the bed and picked up his clean clothes, and headed for the bathroom. “I’ll get the water going, babe. Hurry and we can knock off another piece while we soap up each other.”
His crude remark stung. Where had the sweet talking guy gone to? Carmen didn’t understand her sudden desire to be wooed by the man she knew wasn’t interested in her past a fast and easy fuck.
She bit back her disappointment and hurried to join him.
* * * *
Too tense too stay in her office, she got in her patrol car and cruised around the district, pleased with the lack of activity on the streets. A steady rain had slowed traffic to a decent level, and she relaxed.
She slowed at the intersection near a deserted park, blinking in surprise when a patrol car pulled in behind her, lights in the grill convincing her to pull over. Where had he been hiding? She unclipped her weapon. Anyone could put lights in their grill.
Whoever drove the car didn’t get out right away. That made her nervous. She thought about the scum bags that had been hired to mess her up, and reached for her nightstick. She gripped it in her fist while keeping an eye on the car behind her. She didn’t want to call for back up, but common sense won out and her hand went to her radio. She checked her rearview mirror one more time.
The guy getting out of the car didn’t put on his hat or hesitate to stride toward her car. Her heart pounded with an adrenalin surge, and some fear. She flipped the switch of the searchlight on and directed it on him.
Genonese. She took a hard breath and dropped the nightstick. The beating of her heart now raced with excitement to see the man she loved. God, what a job.
She lowered her window and cooled her fight sensors by the time he tapped on the roof of her car.
“Okay, lady.” Genonese trained his flashlight on her chest. “Out of the car.”
She didn’t care that it had started pouring rain. She opened the door and slid out, standing still while he looked her over. “What’s the trouble, Officer?”
“Trouble is I’m crazy about you, Carmen Redstone.”
Why had he chosen now to say that? What the hell had gotten into him?
“Oh, I get it. You’re horny.” She swiped rain from his forehead. “I can’t have sex on the job.”
“Carmen, listen to me.” He gripped her shoulders, his words tripping over each other. “I want you for more than an occasional piece of ass.”
She squinted in the lights glare, trying to read his expression. “Then, what do you want?”
“You. I want you for now and the rest of my life.”
Soft thunder punctuated his words, covering her gulp. “I’m not going anywhere, Genonese. Are you okay?”
He pulled her into his arms, covering her mouth in a hard kiss before startling her with his sincerity. “I’ll never be okay until I hear you say you love me.” He squeezed her as if that would get the answer he wanted. “I love you, damn it. I loved you before you shot me in the ass, and it just gets stronger.”
Carmen had waited a long time to hear him say the words, and she couldn’t remember all the standard defense lines to cover hurt and disappointment. She didn’t need them anymore.
“I love you, Don Genonese.” It rained harder, and he held her tighter, the beat of his heart like a sweet touch of his hand. “Come by my apartment tonight. We’ll see if you feel the same in a warm dry bed.”
He hugged her hard, pulling her up on her tiptoes. “I’m spending every night at your place.” Passing cars slowed to rubberneck at the scene taking place between them. “Duty calls, babe. I’ll see you at home.”
She got into her car and leaned out to kiss him one more time. “Just because I love you, don’t think I won’t use the cuffs.”
“Use whatever turns you on, Carm.” He stepped back when she started the car. “When do you want to get married?”
Married.
She jumped out of the car and ran after him. “I have to know one thing, Genonese.” Damn it, why was she doing this? But she had to know. “Do think I’m fast and easy?”
“What a question.” He tossed the flashlight into his car. “Damn it, woman. It took a hell of a long time to get you in bed. That wasn’t fast or easy. Do you think I’m a prick?”
“I think you’re the bumble bee I’ve waited for.” She squeezed his hand, falling deeper in love with him with each drop of rain washing down her face.
“About that bumble bee thing.” Don tried to grab her hand as she turned to leave.
“Family secret, Genonese. I’ll tell you after we have a daughter.”
THE END
www.bettywomack.net
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I have always loved books. Reading was a passion early in my life. I read everything the famous and not so famous authors wrote. I was a die hard historical romance-only fan until I found contemporary to be just as satisfying to read. I began the rocky journey to publication, blind to all the rules and terribly afraid of rejection. With the help of patient critique partners and surviving more than a few disappointments, my first full-length novel was accepted for publication.
I live in the Midwest, and enjoy being near my two adult children and my wonderful wildflower garden. I will never stop being delighted by the notes sent by a reader commenting on my work. Hearing from readers is important to me. I want to write stories that stay with you for a long while. I do it all for you.