Moses got up the instant the door shut behind Johari. His breathing came in quick, harsh pants as if he’d just finished his daily five mile jog instead of leaving bed. He squeezed his fists, his jaw clenched tight as he summoned every bit of willpower on hand to stop himself from going after her.
“She seemed to take that well. Well, better than I would have,” Lilly Sumter noted, turning onto her stomach as she lounged amidst the tousled bed linens.
“That’s how she is,” Moses explained absently. His thoughts were wholly focused on Johari. He made a mental picture of her-the extraordinary sterling wide stare, the light brown freckles that sprinkled across her nose and the incredible sandy red mane that brushed past her shoulders.
“Maybe if she’d walked in on us…you know? Doin’ the do? Might’ve gotten a bigger reaction.” Lilly suggested, her eyes trailing Moses’ powerful toned framed. Clearly, she’d been disappointed at not having the chance to fully bed the dark, mysterious Ramsey.
“This way is better,” he told her, already moving off the bed to slip on a pair of nylon sweats. “Seeing us…like that,” he gave a quick, distasteful glance toward the bed. “It’d hurt more. She’ll never forget seeing us that way.”
“And why would you want her to see us like that?” Lilly probed, desperate to know the motivation behind the staged post seduction scene.
Moses reached for an old pair of Nikes. “It’s best she not be around me. She’s better off,” he decided, slipping into the worn sneakers as he spoke.
“But why-“
“Lilly look, thanks for helpin’ me out with this. I really appreciate it,” Moses said suddenly and reached for the wad of hundreds on his nightstand. He pressed the bills into Lilly’s hand.
Clutching the money, Lilly kept the sheet pressed against her chest and pulled Moses down to kiss his cheek. “So serious,” she noted. “If the two of you are meant to be, this will all work out, you know? Nothing you do or say could change that,” she encouraged.
Moses managed a smile. “Thanks Lilly,” he said, knowing the words were useless hopes. “Listen, I’m goin’ for a run,” he said, moving to stand. “Take your time getting ready.”
“Thanks,” she whispered, then gave him a saucy wink. “Don’t be such a stranger at Legs, okay?” she said, referring to the club where she worked as a dancer. “Your brother and cousins are my best tippers,” she added.
Moses grinned. “I’ll be sure to tell them,” he promised, and then left the young woman alone in the room. On his way down the hall, Johari’s image re-emerged in his mind.
SECOND PROLOGUE
London, England~ 15 years later…
Damn, she’d gotten stronger since college, Moses thought while stroking the side of his face. His cheek still stung from the slap she’d planted against it. “May I come in now?” he asked in a soft, matter-of-fact tone.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Johari demanded, her sparkling gaze searching every inch of his face. The sound of his voice and his features-sharper and even more intensely beautiful threatened to remove what little strength remained in her legs.
Moses focused on his hands while massaging one within the other. “Let me in and I’ll tell you,” he bartered.
“Please!” Jo snapped, uttering a short bout of laughter at his nerve. Her expression was one of humor and disbelief as she stood surveying him leaning against the jamb at the front door. “What do you want?” she asked slowly, her humor beginning to wane eventually.
“I told you, we need to talk.”
Jo folded her arms across the front of the embroidered empire waist top she wore. “About?” she challenged.
Smiling devilishly, Moses only raised his long sleek brows and refused to elaborate. “Let me in,” he requested once more.
“Jackass,” she hissed, taking a step closer. “Don’t you think it’s a bit late for apologies?”
“I didn’t come to apologize.”
Ouch! He’d returned her slap with a blow of his own.
“Course you didn’t,” she sang. “The Ramseys never apologize for a damn thing,” she reminded herself and tried to ignore the flutter in her chest when Moses suddenly pushed off the doorjamb and rose to his full height. God, he was more incredible than she remembered. Clearly, he was destined to be a man who only grew sexier as the years went by. Another attribute of the Ramsey men-how lovely.
“This is about Zara,” he said.
Johari pulled her eyes away from his shaved head and focused on his mouth. “What did you-“
“Zara.”
As though he’d uttered the words “Open Sesame”, Johari moved aside and let him into her parent’s home located in the Sussex area of London. The door closed with little more than a whisper and Jo followed him into the sitting room. Her bare feet would carry her no farther than the doorway.
“Zara,” she whispered her sister’s name. “What about Zara?”
Moses turned and had to order himself to focus on the matter at hand. This was no time to dwell on the memories of how she felt against him so long ago.
“Moses?” Jo called in an expectant manner.
Clearing his throat, Moses stroked the back of his neck. “I don’t know how much your cousin told you but-“
“Oh Melina told me everything,” Jo snapped, her anger resurfacing quickly. “All about your sick family and in case you were wondering, I hate the Ramseys more now than I ever did,” she shook her head and fixed him with a scathing silver glare. “How my cousin could involve herself with them again is beyond my comprehension.”
Moses eased one hand into the front pocket of his sagging indigo blue jeans. “She loves my brother,” he reminded her.
Jo rolled her eyes, “Love. Hmph,” was all she said before heading on into the room.
Moses watched as she walked towards the bar. Then, a curious light flashed in his tilted onyx stare when she backed away as though the liquids in the gold decanter were poison.
Jo caught him staring and ran a hand through her thick tresses. “So I guess you’re here to convince me not to say anything?” she said, deciding to lean in heavily on her anger. “What? Trying to protect those sons of bitches in your family Moses?”
He couldn’t speak. He was absolutely silent and only watched her through an incredulous stare. He’d never seen her angry before, he realized. After the stunt he’d pulled years earlier, Johari had promptly vanished. From what he’d managed to persuade her parents to tell him, she’d decided to finish her schooling elsewhere. Moses felt it best he not try to acquire more details-knowing he’d follow if he had the slightest idea where she was. Her attitude now, however, was more than anger. It was hate and it was all for him.
“Save it,” she told him, pacing the comfortable room like a caged tigress. Her hands clenched and unclenched into fists as though she were aching to hit something-someone.
Moses’ smoldering gaze was helplessly fixed on Johari’s hair; which now fell to the middle of her back in a glossy sandy red wave. Wincing, he stroked his jaw and reminded himself once more what he was there for.
“And the only reason I’m even being stupid enough to keep my mouth shut is because of Mel,” Jo was still ranting, paying no attention to Moses’ silence. “The girl actually believes Marc can be found and brought to justice. And after all the years he’s gotten away with this, that is truly a load of crap,” she took a moment to inhale deeply before continuing. “Mel’s my cousin though and I’ll do what I can to help her,” she said, before turning to pin Moses with a knowing glare. “But if you think you can come here and request the same, I’ll be on the phone to the cops in less than a minute. Mel would damn well forgive me.”
“Now will you let me tell you why I’m here?” he asked in a soft, adorably polite tone.
Johari responded with her most scathing look. “Go to hell,” she whispered, the natural arch of her brows rising in challenge.
Smirking as though he’d already anticipated her reaction, Mos
es decided the pleasantries had no place there. Sadly, he accepted the fact that they never had considering the way things had ended between them. With that in mind, he closed the distance between them.
Jo braced herself, preparing for the confrontation. Nothing however, prepared her for the next quiet statement he uttered.
“I found her, Twig.”
Frowning at first, Johari acknowledged that she’d misunderstood and quickly asked that he repeat himself.
“I found Zara.”
Brain send strength to legs, Jo ordered, knowing the request would not be filled before she crumpled to the floor in shock. Her sparkling stare searched Moses dark one for almost a full minute. While she gathered her words, he savored the chance to study her.
Thankfully, Jo took no heed of the intensity in his eyes. His hands felt weak, aching to take hold of her. He restrained himself, knowing she was still trying to process his earlier confession. Every move she made-from bringing her hand up to her mouth to trailing both hands through her hair, stirred the cocoa and mango fragrance of her perfume. She’d not changed it since they’d dated and the memories of the places on her body where he’d smelled it almost rendered him mad with desire.
“She-she’s alive? She’s really alive?” Jo was asking, once she finally found her voice. When Moses nodded, her legs promptly discontinued communication with her brain and she slumped against him.
Moses felt his heart plummet to his stomach. He knew they were both on the verge of passing out: she from shock, he from arousal. Ridding himself of such selfish thoughts, he held her close. In the middle of the room, he stood rocking her slow while she breathed heavily against the cobalt blue shirt he wore outside his jeans. Softly, he urged her to calm, closing his eyes as he pressed his face into her hair.
“How? How could this be?” Jo asked, her voice nothing more than a whisper. “I don’t understand.”
Moses reigned in his thundering hormones and urged her to settle down on one of the sofas in the room. He’d planned to move to another chair, but Jo clutched his hand and pulled him down next to her. She inched close in an almost absent manner, her arms moving to encircle his neck. She was shivering terribly and Moses decided to try calming her before going into the rest of the story.
Of course, the decision was as much for his benefit as for hers. How many nights-days had he dreamed of having her in his arms again? Reluctantly, he had to acknowledge the fact that this…contact had nothing to do with them. She needed closeness and he was there.
“Where is she? How…?” Johari trailed away.
Moses decided talking was definitely best. He shook his head once to rid his mind of the fantasy image of him taking her on the sofa in the middle of her parent’s sitting room.
“We um, we found a house. Has Mel told you about Fernando’s fiancée Contessa?” he asked, watching her nod.
“The publisher,” Jo said. “Mel said it was she and Fernando who found this ship?”
Moses nodded. “Contessa spoke with a young woman who mentioned a house in Nice, France,” he shrugged. “It was a long shot that Zara was even there.”
“But she was?” Jo added closing her eyes as another shudder shook her body. “So what about this ship?”
Moses nodded again. “We suspected it was being used as a security measure-open water and limited authority.”
Jo’s luminous gaze was searching Moses’ face. “We?” she probed.
“Carlos and I.”
“Carlos? Carlos McPherson?” she breathed.
“He’s been my right hand for years.”
Johari blinked. “He never even mentioned being in touch with you,” she noted almost to herself. It was then that she took stock of her closeness to Moses. Only silently, would she admit how good it felt.
Weak! A voice hissed in the back of her head and sent her moving quickly off the sofa. “Mel said your father was responsible for all this,” she told him.
Again, Moses nodded. “She was right.”
“He’s in jail?”
“We lost him.”
“I’m stunned.”
Moses smirked at her sarcasm. “It’s true.”
“True? What the hell do you know about truth?” she snapped, closing her eyes to gain control before saying any more. “So you’ve really got no proof that he’s involved in this at all?”
“We’ve got papers transferring his part of the ship to Fern,” Moses announced referring to his brother once again.
“But that only implicates Fernando, doesn’t it?”
Moses leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. “We’ve got Houston’s confession.”
“Hmph,” Johari gestured, a clear indication of how much stock she put in that.
“And we’ve got Zara.”
“Are you serious?” Jo retorted, turning to glare down at him. “You can’t possibly expect her to testify after what she’s been through. Besides…from the letter she wrote to Melina it sounded like she’d…grown accustomed to it. She may be unwilling to testify.”
“Well, if need be, I’ll testify,” Moses decided as he moved to stand as well.
Johari laughed. “With what?” she blurted.
“The house in Nice,” Moses returned, folding his arms across his shirt. “I saw him there with my own eyes.”
“And still he got away. How convenient.”
“More like shock.”
“Shock?” Jo parroted, tilting her head to one side. “Why? Because daddy likes his girls young?”
“No because daddy was in bed with your sister when I found him.”
Again, Jo shuddered. This time, she clutched her chest which felt as though a weight ball had hit it dead center. Then, she felt the bile rise in her throat and her fist clenched. Enraged, she charged for Moses and began to pound his unyielding torso.
“Son of a bitch!” she cried, tears of anger wetting her cheeks. “Sick bunch of bastards! Why in hell my cousin wants to involve herself with you crooks again, I can’t fathom,” she continued, slapping the tears from her face. “And here you stand telling me that you’d testify against your jackass of a father? Right!”
Moses took Johari’s shoulders, locking her in a close unbreakable hold. “I swear I mean every word,” he told her, giving her a little shake.
“Why?” she murmured.
He shrugged. “He’s a sick bastard, remember?”
“Pig,” Jo hissed, wrenching away from him then. “Don’t even stand there and act like your father is the only sex maniac in the family. Remember college, Moses? Hmm? I barely made it to class on time because we were always in bed and then I let myself-” She gasped, looking away when the words get pregnant almost slipped past her lips. Instead, she hugged herself and did her best to maintain eye contact with Moses. “Where is my sister now?” she asked.
“On her way back to Seattle,” he said, “Mel wanted her close and neither of us wanted your parents having to take the brunt of that responsibility over here alone. I apologize for overstepping,” he added in a softer tone.
Johari only shook her head. Silently, she acknowledged that it was probably for the best. “My parents are in New York for a few days, actually,” she informed him. “They had plans to head out to Seattle before coming back. I’m only here because Mel and Yohan thought it’d be safer…Guess I’ll be heading out to Seattle now too.”
“I can take you back when you’re ready,” Moses offered.
“No,” Jo promptly declined then waved her hand. “I can get there on my own,” she decided to add.
Moses didn’t argue. Again, he contented himself with watching her and wanting nothing more than to stay.
Johari felt the same, but shook her head again before that disapproving voice hissed the word ‘weak’ for a second time. Resolvedly, she headed for the front of the house, feeling Moses following behind her. Just as she pulled open the door, it slammed before her face. Jo felt her breathing turn more rapid, but she forced herself to turn, face him and
order him to go. She was only granted a moment to turn and a few brief seconds to study his magnificent dark face before his mouth smothered her own.
Once more, Johari ordered her brain to rush strength to her legs-a truckload that time. She told the hissing voice to shut the hell up. Moaning helplessly, she felt everything weaken at once. Of course, she managed to kiss Moses back with equal desire. Their tongues thrust madly over and under re-discovering taste, feel and the sweetest friction.
Johari’s cries of pleasure were muffled and soft beneath Moses’ savage growls of need and satisfaction. She felt a stream of moisture flood the cotton crotch of her panties and moaned louder in response. She molded her hands to his shaved dark head and reveled at the hard smoothness against her palms.
The breathless, feminine moans and the arching of her body against his; drove Moses half out of his mind. He was lost in a sea of arousal and thoughts of how much he’d missed her.
The scene continued, growing more heated in the process. Moses hoisted Johari high against the front door, his big hands cupping her hips in an iron grasp. His mouth glided along her neck and he deeply inhaled the cocoa mango scent clinging to her café au lait skin. His tongue trailed a devilish trail across her collarbone, before his face delved into the square bodice of her top. He’d gone truly insane and believed he’d been thoroughly drugged by her mesmerizing scent and the feel of her body pliant in his arms.
Moses shut his eyes tightly then and tried to imagine the last several years hadn’t happened. Well…they’d happened, but with them together and in love, not separate and wallowing in hate and remorse. With that in mind, his kisses lost some of their intensity and Jo cooled a bit as well. Eventually, her hands fell away from his shoulders and he let her slide down the length of the door.
Smoothing a glossy sandy red lock behind her ear, Johari inched away from Moses’ towering frame. She could almost feel the tension searing from his body and prayed he’d leave without further… communication.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you?”
The Ramseys Boxed Set Page 87