Lace and Sin (Sinners Series Book 1)

by Aneta Quinn

  He narrows his eyes at me but then just winks, “Okay okay…so here’s the down-low from a guy’s perspective. If he messages you from his car to say he’s here, then you’re just a booty call. But if he actually takes the time to come inside to get you, he might actually like you.”

  “Why do you say might?”

  “I don’t know you can be a real bitch sometimes” he laughs again. Me, a bitch? Never.

  “There’s three more couch pillows here Alek, don’t make me miss you and hit your crap all over the table.”

  He laughs so hard he ends up holding onto his sides, just as there’s a knock on the door. He instantly shuts up and loudly whispers, “Looks like you’re not just a booty call, Bunny.”

  I quickly get off the couch – almost falling flat on my face in the process. I fix up the loose black sweater that slightly hangs off my shoulder, and hurry to open the door.

  As soon as I open it, a cool rush of air hits my face and I shiver – Jesus it’s freezing out there. I take a quick look at Carter, his cheeks flushed a little from the cold air outside, and thankfully he still hasn’t shaved so he’s got the stubble across his jaw. I realise that he’s actually a lot taller than me which is a nice change, I like having to look up to see his eyes clearly.

  His dark hair is a mess as he pulls his beanie off, and I take in his bad boy biker vibe – black jeans, plain white t-shirt with leather jacket over the top, and his black biker boots that are slightly untied and hanging open. The longer I look at him the more I realise he somewhat looks like Justin Theroux, and I’d be lying if I said he didn’t look good.

  “What?” he asks, confused by my non hello welcome, until he realises I’m staring at him lustfully.

  “You just look good that’s all” I finally say and open the door wider for him to come in.

  I walk back to the living room to get my shoes, and hear him shut the door behind him. He walks into the room as he’s running his fingers through his hair, messing it up further.

  “Hey” he says to Alek, to which he gets the manly nod and a grin in response.

  I quickly pull on my shoes, which are nude, high heel military style ankle boots, over my black skinny jeans. I pull the sweater back over my exposed shoulder again, and grab my black leather jacket off the back of the couch. I wave to Alek, and we make our way outside to Carter’s car.

  “You really do look good Carter” I grin at him as he unlocks his car. As soon as we’re inside he cranks the heater, and I stick my hands in front of the vents to thaw out my fingers.

  “You don’t look so bad yourself” he laughs as he pulls away from the curb. We drive for a few minutes, and I’m reminded of the first time we drove together during the mini down pour of rain. At least I look reasonable this time.

  “So where are you taking me on this so called date” I ask curiously.

  “It’s a surprise” he grins and keeps his eyes on the road, probably because it’s starting to snow, just faintly but enough to make the roads a little slick.

  “I’m not a huge fan of surprises. I mean I don’t mind them if I don’t know there is one until it’s happened. I just don’t like the time in between finding out there’s a surprise, and actually knowing what it is. Does that make sense?”

  He stares at me for a few seconds and then looks back to the road. I realise that I’ve just mumbled a whole lot because I’m nervous. What is with me tonight?

  “Do you realise that’s the most information you’ve voluntarily told me about yourself, without me having to fish for it?” he grins as if this is the best thing ever.

  “Don’t get your hopes up, I guess I’m just nervous” I say truthfully, biting on my lip a little.

  “Why? It’s just me Kayla. Don’t even think of this as a date, just us hanging out, talking shit. If it makes you feel any better, I still plan on getting you naked later” he laughs - his perfect white teeth appearing, even though it’s only a half cheeky looking smile.

  After we drive for a little bit longer, I realise we’re pulling in the car park of the Mikhalov building - odd choice of location for a first date.

  “Why are we going to work?” I ask, a little uneasy. Is this some sort of trap? Is Abram going to be here? Jesus I really need to calm myself down.

  “Surprise, remember?”

  “Remember the part where I said I don’t like surprises?” I ask, sliding my teeth across my bottom lip.

  Instead of answering, he pulls into the car park and hops out of the car, waiting for me to get out. I realise that I complained about guys opening car doors for girls, so I pull my jacket a little tighter around me and get out of the car.

  Luckily being in the underground car park it’s not as cold down here, still cold but at least no wind. Carter locks the car and takes my hand, leading me towards the elevators. I grin, because that’s kind of where it all started, right here in this very same elevator. He turns to me with a perceptive smile, obviously thinking the exact same thing I was.

  He removes a swipe card from his back pocket and swipes it through the elevator access slot, then presses the roof top button. Why are we going to the roof?

  We stand in the elevator side by side still holding hands, as the elevator slowly takes us to the top, one floor at a time. The numbers slowly increasing as we go higher and higher - level five, level six, level seven. I turn my face and watch him staring at the closed elevator doors, and then up to check what floor we’re on.

  “Stop looking at me like that” he chuckles.

  “Like what?”

  “Like you wanna fuck me right here in this elevator, darlin.”

  “Oh…sorry, I didn’t realise that’s how I was lo-….”he cuts me off before I can finish the sentence though by pulling my arm to get me closer, and practically slamming his lips to mine.

  We fumble around trying to get a hold of each other wherever and everywhere we can. Bodies pressed together, frozen lips and tongues working with one another, but as soon as I slip my hands under his shirt, he groans and pulls away from me.

  “Holy shit your hands are freezing. I think this was a bad idea” he says.

  What was a bad idea…taking me on a date?

  “What?” is all I manage to get out, still slightly breathless, as we finally reach the rooftop level.

  “Bringing you to a rooftop when it’s starting to snow” he smirks and takes my hand again, giving my fingers a gentle squeeze. As soon as the doors open you can already feel the cold harsh air, even before you get outside.

  We walk through the doors and out onto the rooftop terrace, which I’m assuming not everyone has access to. I notice that on one side there are blankets, pillows, and some drinks lying perfectly under the night sky. The view, I can’t even begin to describe how serene and amazing the view is - the stars shining brighter up here somehow.

  He releases my hand and takes off his beanie, then surprises me by sliding it on my head instead. Then he places both palms on either side of my face, and gives my lips a soft kiss. His hands are warm, his lips are warm, and everything is warming me up from both inside and out. I'm finding myself falling for all his sweet gestures, and this certain charm he has about him. Who would have thought?

  “You look cute” he says, no humor in his voice. He almost looks like he’s debating something in his own head as he moves towards the blankets, leading me behind him.

  He squats down and pulls one of the blankets out so we can sit on it, then once we’re both sitting down he pulls another one over us, and pulls me closer against him. This is surprisingly nice, and yes, I admit I’m actually enjoying being looked after a little.

  We lean against some of the pillows and just lay there against each other, looking up at the sky. He puts his free arm behind his head, while the other is wrapped around my shoulder, holding me close, rubbing my arm gently to make me warmer. I try to stop myself from staring at him too much, but eventually end up looking up at his face anyway. I know he notices because every time I look, no
matter how subtly, he smirks a little.

  “So tell me something about you that not everyone knows” I finally ask. Not sure why I asked that, because if he shares then I’ll feel obligated to share.

  As if reading my mind he answers with, “Only if you tell me something too.”

  “Okay…” I say timidly.

  “Okay?” he asks, head turning towards me questioningly.

  “Okay” I say again, and smile reassuringly this time.

  He’s quiet for a moment, probably thinking of what to tell me, and then completely shocks me by telling me something ridiculously personal and colossal.

  “My mum died when she gave birth to me, complications or something, and I guess my dad didn’t want to raise a kid on his own so…he gave me up. Thomas Monroe, that owned the company you now work for, he’s the only father I’ve ever known or needed - didn’t care too much in meeting my real dad.”

  “Wow, that’s…very deep and meaningful for a first date. I thought you’d tell me you accidently killed your goldfish when you were little or something” I try to say playfully, and hopefully avoid having to say something equally personal.

  “I know what you’re doing” he says, obviously realising I’m trying to avoid saying anything. But he just grins and keeps running his fingers up and down my arm – it feels amazing, even this soft gentle touch.

  “Do you hate it?” I ask.

  “Hate that I’m adopted? Not at all. My dad – Tom, was probably one of the best people I could have ended up with. I had a lot growing up and sometimes I took that for granted” he shakes his head a little as if annoyed with himself. I realise that tiny detail of his life wasn’t written in his records, which is highly surprising.

  “My mum and dad died when I was eleven” I blurt out, feeling like if I tell him that, he might not feel guilty for taking things in his life for granted.

  He sits up a little, “I’m sorry, Kayla.” He pulls me a little closer so now my head is resting against his chest, which I’m thankful for because if I cry I don’t want him to see me like that, to see me weak. I shouldn’t even be the one crying, I mean he literally just lost his dad a few months ago. I understand what he might be going through.

  “Don’t be sorry, Carter” I smile softly, not that he can see anyway, “I learned to live with it, focused on something else instead of sorrow and misery, you know?”

  He’s quiet for a moment and I can only imagine the questions he wants to ask – how did they die? Why? Who did it (when I tell him they were murdered). Instead, he asks, “What did you focus on instead?”

  Again all I answer with is “Vengeance”, the same thing I said when he asked what I wanted from Abram. I feel it the moment he puts the two together, because his fingers freeze mid movement of playing with the ends of my hair.

  I slowly sit up to face him, to see his reaction, and for the first time in literally ever, I want to tell someone the truth. To tell them everything that’s happened, and everything I’ve got planned.

  I cross my legs in front of me as I face him, my thigh still leaning against his side - liking the contact between us too much. His warmth and his presence give me this ease and reassurance, for what...I don’t exactly know, but I like the feeling. I reach out a little and absently start tracing patterns on his stomach with my fingers, just lightly touching over his shirt. I can’t seem to look him in the eyes though, it’s starting to seem kind of difficult with what I'm about to tell him.

  He places his warm hand over the top of mine as I look up at the night sky, and notice it’s starting to snow a little again. Not much to stick, but enough for us to be able to see each snowflake slowly floating down towards the ground and stick in my hair.

  “Kayla… you don’t have to tell me more. I’m sorry for saying anything at all” he tries to apologise, but I shake my head at him. He has nothing to be apologising for, and I think that's one of the things I seem to be starting to adore about him. He doesn't push me when he knows I don't want to be pushed, but other times he knows what and how much I can handle.

  “It’s okay. Being up here on this roof is kind of like a safe zone or something – does that sound stupid?” I shrug and grin at him, feeling slightly insane.

  “Not at all. That’s why I took you up here, because even though it’s in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world, it’s like there’s nothing around but you and your thoughts up here. I come up here all the time.”

  “If I tell you this Carter, if I share this huge part of my life with you, I want to know I can trust you” I ask, and keep running my fingers against him. He takes my hand and twists his fingers through mine, instantly warming up my frozen hand. He gently pulls on my arm so that I lay back down against him but I make sure I can see his face to see his reaction. I lean up on my elbow so we’re facing each other, and he releases my hand, reaches out and lightly skims his fingers along my cheek.

  There he goes, being all sweet again.

  “You can trust me…I promise” he answers simply, so I nod with acceptance.

  “My parents were…let’s just say not in a very legal profession. They made a mistake of asking the wrong person for help and when they wanted out, well…that person wasn’t too happy to let his best go so easily.”

  “Is this wrong person Abram by any chance?” he asks, almost a whisper.

  I nod once and shut my eyes, picturing the whole night. My parents practically bursting through the door in a panic yelling at me to hide, telling me they love me, telling me that no matter what I see and no matter what they say to never come out.

  “I watched Abram through the crack in the wall I was hiding in. I watched as he tried to teach my parents a lesson for something they didn’t do” my words start to flow out of me angrily, and I think he notices because he gives my hand a gentle squeeze.

  “I watched as he cleaned his stupid, fancy gun after he was done, showing no remorse the whole time after he killed them” I finish, clenching my hand into a fist around the bullet on my chain.

  “So what are you going to do then?” he asks, and I’m glad he’s not apologising for my loss, being all sympathetic and making me feel weak, because I’m not. In fact, he sounds very accepting of the things I’ve told him about Abram; as if he knows exactly the type of things he’s capable of.

  “Well…Firstly, I’m going to take away the things he loves the most, the only thing really…which is his money.”

  He grins at me and nods for me to go on.

  “And then…I’m going to kill him.”

  I realise I said that with a lot more courage than I actually feel, and surprisingly Carter doesn’t seem to even flicker with any emotion at that revelation. I watch as his mouth pulls into a grin, which strikes me as an odd thing to do, considering he just heard someone else admit to wanting to murder somebody.

  “We have a lot more in common than I first thought Kayla” he says and pulls me on top of him.

  “Why are you grinning at me?” I ask and can’t help the smile that crosses my face in response. I think it just feels liberating to have told someone that, and on top of it all, he didn’t freak out like I thought he would.

  “Because he fucked with my family, so your plan sounds kind of perfect to me, except the killing…Not sure you’ve got a killer in you” he says and taps my nose with his finger.

  “Excuse me?”

  He sighs, and starts to run his hand up and down my spine as I lay comfortably on top of him. His body heat is overwhelmingly welcome up here on this freezing rooftop.

  “You remember Jimmy? Well we weren’t exactly outstanding role models when we were a bit younger. My dad worked for Abram for as long as I can remember, and Jimmy and I wanted to be just as important, just as bad. So we did things, stupid things, for Abram.”

  “The older we got, the more we wanted out just like your mum and dad. We didn’t agree with a lot of things he did. Abram wanted my dad’s entire company too, and I think my dad had something on Abra
m to get him out of the picture. Next thing I know…he’s gone” he finishes and looks up into my eyes.

  Holy. Fucking. Shit.

  “Are you telling me, that you worked for Abram just like your dad, and Abram killed him?” I ask shocked.

  “Yeah…well, I can’t prove it just yet but I know it was him. My dad was the healthiest fucking guy in New York he wouldn’t just drop dead out of nowhere.”

  “Is this the reason why anything I did didn’t scare you off?”

  He grins and nods at me, sliding his warm hands up my sides. I pull the blanket over us so that we’re almost completely covered from head to toe, and gently lean down and kiss his lips. We’re literally cocooned up in the blanket, away from the falling snowflakes, and I’m finding myself getting warmer by the second with his hands all over me.