“I want you to make love to me, Zach,” I demanded as I popped open my jeans and lowered my zipper. For some reason in my head I thought this would be the easiest way to soften the blow, when I give him the bad news.
“What?” he asked unbelievingly. I sighed. He was just so straight forward. Boring. He is boring. You need excitement. You need Adrian. I ignored the voice inside me and began to unbutton his fly. “Tynice…What are you doing?” he caught my hands.
“What does it look like, Zach? I said I want you to make love to me. Right here.”
“Baby, we can go back to my room where it’s more comfortable.” He said, looking around the messy counters. Adrian wouldn’t have cared about being comfortable. Oh shut up for hell’s sake, I mentally yelled.
“Fine. Room. Take me there.” I didn’t wait for him. I just dragged him along.
“Uh…Tynice, are you okay? You seem a bit jumpy today,” he said as he closed the door behind him. He is closing the door and asking you if you are okay because you are asking him to make love to you? I snarled at my subconscious. She just wouldn’t shut up.
I pulled my shirt off and started towards Zach. I relieved him of his shirt and led him to his bed. He kissed me carefully, moving his lips along mine. I tried to deepen the kiss just like Adrian had done but before I knew, his mouth was gone from mine. He was down on my breasts playing with them. He moaned in appreciation and no voice left my mouth.
With Adrian, I had been screaming my lungs out. Zach lowered my jeans until they were down to my knees. He slipped his finger inside my panties and brushed slightly. Adrian had eaten me until I had come all over his mouth. Adrian’s finger had climaxed me. His attention to my nipples had given me pleasure which I couldn’t receive with Zach making love with me a thousand times.
Zach nuzzled my navel as he undid his jeans. I stole a peek and saw him rubbing his length to get himself ready. Damn. It hit me like a hurricane. I couldn’t do this with Zach. Not after I had done it with Adrian. What was I thinking? This whole situation was making me crazy! I wanted Adrian. I wanted my best friend. I wanted the cowboy. I repositioned my bra and pulled up my jeans. “Baby, what’s wrong? You wanted me, right?” he asked as I put my shirt back on. He struggled with his jeans himself. “I'm sorry, Zach. I have to go. I can’t do this anymore. It's over. I'll explain later.” I rushed out of his apartment.
I had come here to forget Adrian and I ended up comparing him to Zach. I was a total mess. I wasn’t myself. Not at work, not anywhere.
* * *
“Damn it, Johnson! How are we gonna do this when you look like shit?” David snapped at me. It was just four days from the hearing and we hadn’t done much because I couldn’t get myself out of the blues of my messed up love life. I needed to sort my shit out before it could get the better of me. I had to talk things out with Adrian. And I certainly needed to give Zach an answer. I couldn’t be with him while all I think was of comparing him to Adrian. And for that answer I had to straighten things out with Adrian.
“I'm going to Springfield,” I said to David.
“What? We aren’t supposed to fly down until Wednesday,” he said as I picked my stuff up.
“I know dammit, I know. But I need to go there or I’ll keep looking and acting like shit! Call Nancy and get a hold of her maid Margaret. She knows something. Grill her. Jason’s death has something to do with William. Get the doctor’s report, CCTV footage, whatever the hell you can find about William’s visits to Jason in his last days. There is some connection. I’ll see what I can find there,” I said to him and then left the office.
All through my flight I ran over the things I needed him to answer. Things he needed to say to me so that I can get on with my life normally. As soon as I touched down in Springfield, I hired a cab and gave him the address of Adrian’s ranch. It was time for us to talk.
Adrian
June 2014, Williamsville, Illinois
Eleven days and I was fucking out of my mind. Tynice Johnson had ruined me for life this time. I couldn’t think straight. I was boiling with rage. With anger. With ferocity.
Because I am in a relationship
I have a boyfriend
Who loves me
Her words echoed in my head like a hammer. I was losing it. I knew I was losing it. The only thing that was holding me back was her parting words: “If you have any respect for the friendship we had, you won’t come for me. “How could she say that after what we shared?
I was totally confident that we had something more when I made love to her. For the first time in my life I was willing to hold onto a physical relationship. She was Tynice. My Tynice. How could she say she was someone else’s? She belonged to me. Her being with someone else made me want to murder him.
In these past eleven days all I could think was that while I was here with the horses, she was back in Seattle in the arms of her boyfriend, like she had been in mine. Would she ride him like she rode me? Would she give out those extremely sexy cries when he would make her cum?
Would she squirm under him like she did under me? Damn that man. I wanted to be that man. I wanted her to be here with me. I kept thinking and kept chopping wood. My rage was making its way out on the workers which wasn’t good so I was working it out on the wood. My heart was hurting for my Tynice. My heart called. I raised the axe higher. Just when I was about to hit it down, a sight appeared. Tynice was coming out of the cab.
Damn, I was hallucinating her now. She was walking towards me. I narrowed my eyes to see if it would go. But no. she kept walking towards me. Okay so it was real. She was here. Tynice was here.
Tynice
June 2014, Williamsville, Illinois
I walked towards him with my steps confident and calculated. Adrian was right there in the middle of the field. He had an axe in his hand which was halfway up in the air. He lowered his hand as I came closer. His T shirt was all soaked in sweat and draped around his body. Do not get distracted. Do what you are here for. I looked at him. His brow was furrowed as he saw me coming. “I want to talk to you,” I said when there was gap of five feet between us.
His eyes narrowed and then he shifted the axe into his other hand and let it fall against the plank he was chopping. He folded his arms across his chest making his biceps contract, distracting me, and then said, “If that’s what you’re here for, start talking then.”Yeah right, talk, that’s what I was here for.
“I…” There, my mind went blank. He waited. His eyes never left mine. My heart was beating like the hooves of one of his stallions as I took in his sight. He was so perfect. So familiar. So mine. Yes, that’s who he was. Mine. Adrian West was mine. That was why I had been miserable for last eleven days. He was the missing part in me. Just being near him made all the misery vanish.
“I'm still waiting for you to talk, Tynice.” Tynice. I love him calling me that. And that was the reason why I hated any other endearment given to me. All I wanted all this time was to be called Tynice by this very delectable mouth that was owned by the person whom I trust.
Whom I love. Love? Love. I loved him. I loved him since when I had known nothing about love and I love him now when I still know nothing about love. I closed the gap between us and cupped his face and pulled him down until our mouths met and I kissed him. Flat and square, no reservations kept. He was taken aback at first. Yeah I was doing that a lot lately. But then his hands covered my hips and pulled me against his gorgeous hard body. My man was certainly well-built. He kissed me back, both of us trying to get what one could get.
I broke the kiss first when I had no more oxygen left in me. Wow. I really put all my energy into that one kiss. I fell against his chest as I gained my breath back. He held me close as we both recovered. Moments later, he tilted my face up. “Tell me you broke upwith that asshole.” I knew who he was referring to.
“He is not an asshole,” I defended Zach.
“Tell me, Tynice. Tell me you are here for me. Tell me you have left him,” he demanded. His ey
es were earnest and his face hard.
“Yes,” I said in a low voice.
“Yes what?”
“Yes, I am here for you.” His face softened. I continued. “Yes, I left him.” I knew I was putting myself in a dangerous position here. I was giving him the power to hurt me. But I just couldn’t think of anything but him. “I left him because I just can’t stop thinking about you,” I confessed.
“Oh, baby. Me neither,” he said in a low husky voice as he buried his face in my neck and hugged me close. I let myself breathe in his utterly mesmerizing smell and cling to him. “I want you so much. I wanted to follow you to Seattle and break your ex’s jaw for ever coming close to you. I swear I would have.
It was your words that held me back,” he said kissing and biting my shoulder. I moaned. “Just the thought of anyone else touching you makes me see red,” he said as he held my face and looked into my eyes. “You are mine. Just mine. You know it, right?” I nodded as my heart swelled from the love I felt for this man. He kissed me and then swept me into his arms as he led me inside to his room. We started from where we had left off earlier.
* * *
Adrian was a man with undying stamina and unstoppable passion. As I sat in his shirt, on his couch, eating Chinese takeout with my feet in his lap, I was sated and happy like I had never been in years. Nothing was equivalent to this moment. “I want to taste yours,” he said and then pulled my feet and I came to him like a lightweight pillow. He took my hand with chopsticks and ate.
“Hmm. I bet you taste better. I should try putting it on you and then taste it again. Maybe it will improve,” he suggested thoughtfully and I giggled. He pressed a kiss on my lips. “I love it when you laugh. “And I love you. All of you.
* * *
I paced along the porch as I talked to David. Since I hadn't been myself for more than a week, I had to catch back up with the Parker’s case and that was what I was doing since morning. Adrian had made sweet, passionate, hot and knee melting love to me when I had woken up and then had served me breakfast while I sat and admired him walking around in just pair of jeans.
But after all the pampering and love, I had gotten into work while he had gone to see to his own work. When David told me that Margaret was unreachable, it had me worried. We had to get her to tell us what she knew. And with her sudden disappearance, we could do nothing. She could be our key witness. I told David to take care of other things while I decided to make a trip to Springfield to pay a visit to Nancy Parker. Maybe she would help find her old maid.
As I placed my tablet in the bag, a big body covered my back and a hand snaked around my stomach. “Hey, pretty.” Adrian’s thick voice whispered in my ear as he placed a very lingering wet kiss just below my ear. I laid my head back and turned it so I could kiss his gruff cheek.
“Hey, cowboy.” I grinned at him and he gave me his sexy crooked smile, making me kiss the corner of his mouth again.
“Kiss me again and I’ll take you from behind right against this table,” he murmured huskily.
“Hmm tempting, but I have to go.”
“Go? Where?” He immediately tore himself from me and then turned me so I was facing him. His face had gone all serious. He thought I was running away.
“A woman’s gotta work for living,” I said to him with a smile.
“You're going back to Seattle?” He was still unsure. I sighed and curled my arms around his neck. My man needed assurance.
“No, Adrian. I'm not going back to Seattle. I have to go to the city to visit my client.” That had him relieved. He kissed me. It started off with just a light kiss but soon we were both hot and heavy.
“Do you really have to go, Tynice? Can’t I tempt you to stay? We can do things more interesting here, I promise.” I knew just how well he could keep that promise .I placed my forehead against his.
“Rain check? I really need to go right now. It’s important.” He let go of me reluctantly.
“Rain check then. I might levy some interest.”
“I am counting on it.” I grinned and then picked up my phone. “I need to call a cab and then get a rental too,” I said as I began dialing.
“I’ll drive you there,” Adrian said.
“No, you will not.” He raised his brow at my bossy tone. “You said you have some dealer coming here. You have to be here,” I reasoned.
“I have enough people to look after things.” He was stubborn.
“I’d hate to keep you waiting. I don’t know how long it’s going to take.”
“I wouldn’t mind waiting for you, Tynice.” He caressed my cheek. I stared at him. Did he mean he was waiting for me? All these years? My heart fluttered with excitement. Do not read too much into it. I listened to my inner voice.
“I want to go myself. I don’t want your work to suffer because I'm here.”
He finally gave in. “There is no need to call a cab. You can take my ride,” he said as I tried to call a cab again.
“You want me drive your truck?” I asked him, both of my brows shooting up. I was sure my feet wouldn’t reach the pedals if I tried.
He laughed at my expression. “No. I won’t let you anywhere near its driving seat, babe.”
“Then?”
“You can take my other ride.” He emphasized ride and then tugged my elbow. “Come.” He took me to the opposite side of his home. He opened a large warehouse kind of building and turned on the lights. I was breathless.
A black convertible Maserati Gran Turismo, a white Audi R8, a black Bugatti Veyron and a Harley Sportster were all sitting there. “Holy shit!” I had no idea Adrian had that kind of money, I was sure this all cost some kind of fortune. And not to mention, his ranch was magnificent.
“Take your pick, Tynice,” he said.
“I can’t,” I barely whispered. “What if I scratched the car or something?”
“I’ll get a new one,” he said and I snapped my head towards him.
“You didn’t just say that.”
He shrugged. “I did and I can,” he said as if it wasn’t a big deal. I had no idea how much money he made and he obviously didn’t inherit it because he and I went way back. I knew what his life was like back then. He certainly had built all this up on his own. Adrian wasn’t just words. He was actions and he achieved what he aimed for. “Stop over thinking. It’s just a car,” he said to me.
“A few very expensive ones,” I muttered. He unlocked the Veyron and opened its door for me. He made me sit despite all my protests. And soon I was on my way to Springfield. As conscious as I was about driving that beast, it was one hell of a fun drive.
* * *
Nancy had no idea where Margaret had gone. When I confronted Bree, Margaret’s daughter, she told me that her mother had told her that she was going to see her sister in Chicago. I immediately put my team on it. While they were at it, I used Nancy’s contacts to get in touch with the hospital where Jason was admitted last. I visited there and found out from the nursing staff that Jason was frequently visited by William.
On asking, the nurse who took care of Jason told me that he wasn’t very pleased to see his son, until he asked the hospital authority to cease his son’s visits. She also told me that she heard them talking, arguing about things. William had tried to access Jason even after being removed from the visitors’ list.
Having that information at hand, I had more evidence and witnesses against William Parker. I found out that Jason had been discharged a few days before his death and had gone to live in his house where Margaret had nursed him. Now all I wanted was Margaret to disclose what she knew.
By the time I left the hospital, it was seven. My phone buzzed and I took it out to see Adrian’s name flashing on it. A smile appeared on my face. “Hey, Cow Bae,” I answered his call as I got into the Bugatti.
“Cow Bae?” he gave out a throaty laugh. “Glad you are coming up with new names for me. Where are you? You're being missed here,” he said and my heart warmed. I missed him too. I remembere
d that whenever Zach said things like that, I never returned the words. Because I didn’t feel it. Calling him endearing titles or telling him that I missed him, didn't feel right. But with Adrian, I wished I didn’t have to drive all the way back to Williamsville. I wished to be by his side in the blink of an eye.
“Keep your hat on, Cow Bae. I am on my way back,” I said to him in a husky voice.
“It’s not my hat I'm worried about.” He had left the next words unsaid but I had a feeling they were it’s my heart I am worried for. Could he be feeling what I was feeling for him? Was he as deep in this relationship as I had fallen? I wanted to know.
Tynice
July 2014, Williamsville, Illinois
The Parker Will case took a 360 swing in the next couple of days. I had gone to Jason’s house and went through his things. I had gone there to see if I could find any clue about William’s role in Jason’s death. That was when I had found a few things. One of them was Jason’s phone. I had run through its photos and videos but couldn’t find anything related in it.
Her Designer Baby: (Loving Over 40 Book 1) Page 39