Garrett (Dark Water Security Book 2)

by Madison Quinn

  “Wow, really? That’s a huge move.”

  “I don’t know the entire story,” not that I’ve asked because it’s really none of my business, “but apparently they knew each other when they were younger. I get the feeling they went through some shit together and then got separated.”

  “And then they found each other again?” she asks.

  “Sort of like we did.” I take her hand in mine over the table. “Luke and Alec want to stay on this coast which works out great for me.”

  We spend the next hour talking, mostly about my family but every so often Hope will add in a little something about her past. In every story she tells, it’s obvious how close she was with her dad. I have more of an understanding after today about why she was in such a dark spot after his death than I did before. I can’t imagine losing either one of my parents, but the idea of facing that loss alone without the love and support of my siblings would be terrifying. I just can’t imagine how she went through all of that on her own.

  “Where did you want to head next?” Once again Hope manages to pull me from my thoughts.

  “It’s up to you, was there something specific you were looking for today?”

  “Not really,” she answers. “Abby’s birthday is in a couple weeks, I’d like to get her something but I don’t know what yet.”

  “What if I try to get a reservation at Clary’s? She had mentioned that she always wanted to go there and it seems like she and Chris are still hitting it off so perhaps the four of us could go?” I suggest.

  “She would love that!” Hope exclaims. “Do you think you could get a reservation on such short notice though?”

  “I’m sure I can,” I assure her. “My mother hosts so many events there that I swear they get half of their new customers just from her events alone. They practically bend over backwards to accommodate her, so it won’t be a problem. I’ll call them when we get back to the apartment.”

  “Great!” She grabs my hand as we reach the sidewalk. “Now to find a gift for her.”

  We visit several stores trying to find something, but I don’t mind, because it’s an excuse to spend more time with her. Eventually, we end up at another small boutique where she finds a unique necklace with Abby’s birthstone in the center of a dove. It’s simple, yet elegant and since it’s handmade, it’s highly unlikely that anyone she knows would have the exact same one. She adds in a hand-sewn scarf before declaring that she’s done shopping for her friend. We head back to the apartment with our bags in tow.

  “I’m exhausted.” She collapses on the couch as soon as we get back.

  “Me too.” I plop down next to her.

  We both sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying the quietness of our small apartment.

  “I don’t want to cook,” she whines when her stomach lets out a soft growl.

  “Do you want to order something and have it delivered?” I suggest.

  “Nah, I think there’s stuff in the freezer we can throw in the oven,” she starts to get up from the couch.

  “Stay here, I’ll get something started.” I pull her back down.

  “Do you even know how to turn the oven on?” she jokes.

  “No, but I’m sure there’s an on button somewhere right?” I can’t remember the last time I cooked, let alone used an oven, but it can’t be that hard.

  “You pick something out of the freezer, I’ll get the oven started.” When I look at her I realize she’s barely holding back a laugh.

  After dinner, we sit close to each other on the couch watching a movie that neither of us had seen yet. My arm is wrapped around her and her head rests on my shoulder as we watch the movie. As we sit here, I can’t help but think how things have changed between us since my first dinner with Mr. Meyer. I had no idea what to expect for my first live-in position, but when Hope walked into the room, the only thing I thought of is that there was no way in hell I would turn down the position, no matter what he required.

  Hope’s been trying to convince me that we should tell Mr. Meyer about our relationship, but I don’t think we need to since it’s none of his business what we do in our apartment. She thinks we owe it to him as a courtesy, but I don’t see it that way. For now, we’ve agreed to disagree but at the same time not notify Mr. Meyer of anything.

  “I think I’m ready to go to sleep,” Hope says as the movie we were watching ends.

  “Me too,” I agree.

  After getting changed in my room, I softly knock before entering her room. I slip into her bed and wait for her to finish in the bathroom. A few minutes later she comes out, a soft smile on her face at seeing me waiting for her.

  “Come here,” I request when she turns off the light and slides into bed next to me, putting far too much distance between us.

  She moves closer so she’s lying next to me; we’re facing each other, our bodies less than a couple inches apart. She’s still too far away for my liking, so I move even closer to her, eliminating any space between us. She immediately relaxes into my touch.

  “Night, Hope,” I whisper just before I lean in and kiss her.

  The kiss starts off innocently as I try to hold back what I desperately want to do to her. When I start to pull away from her beautiful lips she surprises me by gripping my hair and pulling me back to her. I gasp against her lips, surprised by her boldness. Following her lead and hoping I’m not misreading this, I work my way to her hardened nipples, teasing her until she moans.

  “Hope,” I beg against her lips as I tug the shirt up needing to feel her bare skin. She helps me tug the thin tank top off before she once again finds my lips.

  I move so I’m leaning over her and kiss my way down to her perky breasts. I suck and nibble on them, giving them both my full attention as she moans and moves against me. She tugs at my hair when I try to move, pulling me back to where she wants me. In that moment I’m reminded of the Hope that I spent that night with two and a half years ago. Even though she was a virgin that night, she wasn’t afraid to let me know what she wanted. I kiss my way down her beautiful body, pausing briefly at the scars on her stomach that are a constant reminder of the worst night of her life.

  “You’re so beautiful.” I kiss each of the scars before continuing to my destination.

  I sit back and gently tug her pajama pants down, she lifts her hips off the bed to assist me. With my eyes on hers, I follow the same process with her lace panties. I may have doubted she was ready earlier, but as I look at her now I realize just how wrong I was. Her lust-filled eyes never leave mine as I kiss each part of her body.

  “So beautiful.” I kiss the burn scars on her hip and upper thigh left by the monster who attacked her that night. I can only imagine how self-conscious she must be about them, but I need her to know that they don’t define her. If anything they prove just how strong she truly is.

  “Garrett!” she gasps when I kiss the juncture between her legs. I lie down on the bed and hold her open to me as I lick from her clit to her entrance. Her fists grab at the sheets as I repeat the move. It doesn’t take long for her to start moving against me, her fists once again in my hair as she tugs me closer to her. When I slip a finger into her wet center, I nearly come right there in my pants at the realization of just how turned on she is right now. With my mouth on her clit, I easily slide a second finger into her and immediately she calls out my name as the release hits her.

  I kiss my way back up, following the same path I did on the way down, but this time I don’t remove my fingers from her still throbbing center. Instead, I slowly move them within her, loving how she’s gripping me as if she doesn’t want to let me go.

  “Wow…that was…” she pants.

  “I’ve been wondering since the first night we met how you would taste,” I admit the only thing I ever regretted from that night. I regretted taking things too quickly with her and not spending the time to worship her like I should have. Unfortunately, we were both so worked up from the constant dancing and kissing
during the reception that the only thing we were focused on that night was the main event.

  I gently slip my fingers from her warm body and tug her closer to me. I have no expectations of anything further happening tonight and am perfectly content with simply holding her in my arms as she falls asleep, hopefully keeping the nightmares away. I know she feels my hard dick pressed against her legs, but I’m sure she’ll just ignore it.

  But then she looks up and presses her lips firmly against mine, running her tongue along them until I open to her. I moan when a second later she reaches between us and takes me in her warm hand. I can’t help but push against her hand as she purposefully strokes me. She urges me onto my back and shocks me even further by moving down my body just as I did to her moments ago. She cautiously pushes my pants and underwear down, freeing my throbbing dick.

  “Hope…” I moan the moment I feel her lips on me.

  She begins to take more of me into her mouth, taking me deeper each time. It takes everything in me not the thrust and come insider her warm mouth in that moment. I’m so worked up, so on edge, that I know I’m not going to last, especially not with her soft, wet mouth against me. I tangle my fingers in her hair, not because I want or need to guide her, but because I can’t not touch her. When she reaches between my legs and cups my balls in her hand, I’m done.

  “Hope…Oh God…I’m going come. If you don’t want—” I warn.

  She doesn’t stop, if fact I swear she starts sucking me harder and faster than before. My groan is the only other warning she has before I empty myself in her warm mouth. She swallows, taking everything I have, while slowly bringing me back to reality.

  “Come here.” I gently tug her up to me urging until we’re once again lying next to each other. “That was absolutely incredible.”

  She blushes at my words before burying her face on my shoulder.

  “I like sleeping with you,” I lean in and kiss the top of her head.

  “Me too.” She laughs probably at my choice of words given what just happened between us.

  We both use the bathroom and put our clothes back together before returning to Hope’s bed. I pull her close to me, spooning her from behind. The lights are once again turned off as we both lie in comfortable silence.

  “Good night.” I kiss her one last time before pulling the blankets over both of us.

  “Night, Garrett.”

  Chapter 22

  Hope

  Garrett and I have fallen into a very comfortable routine and I find myself caring more about him each day. It’s the little things that he does that make me realize that he might care as much about me as I do about him. He texts me a couple times a day, always updating me as to when I should expect him home. We have dinner together most nights and spend more time just getting to know each other outside of our jobs. The biggest thing that has changed between us is that we are sleeping together every night. It has been weeks since I’ve had a nightmare and so far Garrett hasn’t had one either. I don’t understand it but have decided to stop trying to figure out the reason the nightmares have stopped and instead enjoy the fact that I am now able to sleep through.

  Mr. Meyer’s weekend guests continue, and much to my surprise Suzanna has come back to spend two weekends with him since her initial visit. He doesn’t hide his weekend activities; we often hear them from our apartment, however, now they’ve just become a background noise that I rarely stop to notice. Suzanna tends to be a little more thoughtful than some of his previous guests; she always cleans up the spare room before she leaves, never leaving out their “toys” or condom wrappers which I’m thankful for.

  “Good morning, Ms. Williams,” Mr. Meyer comes into the kitchen just as I’m finishing up making breakfast.

  “Morning, Mr. Meyer.” I hand him his cup of coffee.

  “Good morning, Ms. Williams.” Suzanna comes into the kitchen surprising me. Normally his guests are gone by Sunday night; I don’t recall one ever staying until a Monday.

  “Good morning, Ms. Murphy.” I nod. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

  “Please.” She stands next to Mr. Meyer.

  “Here you go,” I hand her a cup with cream and sugar on the side since I don’t know how she takes it.

  “Sit down,” Mr. Meyer says sternly.

  I see her wince and hold her breath just before she sits down on the stool; I cringe at the image going through my head that likely caused her to wince. I know far too much about my boss’ sex life.

  “What can I get you for breakfast, Ms. Murphy?” I ask.

  “She will have a yogurt and fresh fruit,” Mr. Meyer answers for her.

  “Of course.” I gather the items he requested for her as I finish cooking Mr. Meyer’s omelet.

  “We will have breakfast in the dining room when it’s ready, Ms. Williams.” Mr. Meyer pulls Suzanna by the hand as they leave the room.

  I finish making their breakfast and place it on the serving tray before double checking that I have everything they might need and take it into the dining room. Suzanna and Mr. Meyer are sitting very close to one another despite the large dining room table that has more than ten chairs available. Suzanna’s face is flushed and she doesn’t make eye contact with me, even when I put the plate in front of her. Mr. Meyer’s hand is below the table while the other holds his coffee mug; I don’t even want to think about what he must be doing to cause her face to be so flushed.

  “Will either of you be needing anything else?” I’m eager to get out of here and leave these two to whatever they are doing.

  “I don’t think so. Suzanna?” Mr. Meyer inquires.

  “No…I’m…good,” she pants.

  I leave the dining room and return to the kitchen so I can clean up the breakfast dishes. Thankfully I don’t hear any sounds coming from the dining room which I had expected given what I’m pretty sure I just walked in on.

  “Please inform Mr. Foxx that I will be working from home today,” Mr. Meyer announces as he walks into the kitchen.

  “Of course,” I agree. “What time will you and Ms. Murphy be having lunch today?”

  “Around one should be fine.” He leaves the room.

  I bring their breakfast dishes to the kitchen and load them into the dishwasher before going to our apartment.

  “Mr. Meyer asked me to let you know he is working from home today,” I let Garrett know as soon as I walk into our apartment. The timing looks like it was perfect since he’s already preparing his usual to-go cup of coffee.

  “Really?” He looks surprised by the obvious change in plans. “He has several meetings on his schedule today.”

  “All he said was that he will be working from home today,” I repeat. “Oh and Suzanna is still here.”

  “Interesting,” he mumbles.

  “You don’t like the idea?” I ask.

  “Something just doesn’t seem right about the whole situation. He won’t tell me how they met or how they know each other. Emily hasn’t been able to find the connection either.”

  “Nothing showed up on Emily’s background report?” I remember him saying that she was running a basic one.

  “No, but I asked her to look into Suzanna a little more. Something isn’t sitting right with me about her and how secretive he’s being about how they met.”

  “Well, he’s an adult. If he wants to play hooky from work he will have to deal with the consequences.”

  “You’re right.” He chuckles and leans in to kiss me.

  “I have to get to work. I’ll stop by later.”

  “Maybe we can have lunch together later?” he asks.

  “I’ll come back after I make their lunch so we can eat together,” I confirm.

  I mentally rearrange my schedule for the week; since Suzanna is still here, I avoid the guest room and Mr. Meyer’s office, focusing instead on the other areas of the condo that need my attention. The master bedroom requires minimal attention as usual, I make the bed and toss the couple towels from the bathroom into the ha
mper. I can tell his weekend guests do not sleep in his room; in fact, I doubt they have ever been in here with him. Only one side of the bed is ever made and there’s never been women’s clothing in here, at least not since I started.

  “Owwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!” I hear Suzanna scream from behind Mr. Meyer’s office door as I’m sweeping the foyer.

  “If you can’t be quiet like I told you to, maybe this will keep you quiet!” he commands.

  I hear her whimper and sob; her voice is muffled for the next several minutes.

  “That’s it…take it like a good little bitch,” he tells her and I hear her muffled voice again, but can’t make out what she said.

  “You’re going to miss this aren’t you?” he says. “You’re going to come crying back to me, begging me to take control over your body like I am right now. You won’t be satisfied with someone who can’t fuck you the way I can. Someone who can’t make you come the way I can. Someone who doesn’t understand your darkest desires.”

  “MMMMMMMMMMMMM,” she scream out, the pain obvious in her voice.

  “FUCK…Ohhhhhhh FUCK,” he pants. “Take it all, you little fucking slut.”

  I quickly finish sweeping the foyer and the stairs, tossing everything into the garbage before moving onto the next room. If it were up to me, I would run back to our apartment and hide out there for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, my job doesn’t stop simply because my boss likes to have kinky sex in his office. I need this job, at least for now. So I carry on, focusing on my chores rather than what he’s doing behind the closed door. I’m doing laundry when I see Suzanna carefully walking upstairs to the guest room. Her face is pained, but I can’t tell if it’s more physical or emotional pain that has her so close to tears right now. I fight the urge to ask if her if she needs to talk, knowing that this is not my place here.

  “Can I get you anything?” I ask.

  “No.” She pauses. “I’ll be leaving shortly, thank you for…breakfast earlier.”