Half Empty (First Wives Series Book 2)

by Catherine Bybee

  Ice.

  Cold.

  Aunt Mavis.

  Jesus, he needed to get this together.

  He sucked in a breath and slowed everything down.

  Trina sighed with him; her fingernails ran up his back and tugged at his shirt.

  Wade captured her lips and tasted the mint of her morning toothpaste before he let them go. She lifted her chin, and he kissed her neck until her shirt stopped him.

  The smooth texture of her waist was warm against his palm as he inched higher. He was about to ask if she wanted this when she leaned forward and helped him remove her shirt.

  She wore a plain white bra, her olive skin a stunning contrast he could sample forever.

  “Sorry,” she muttered. “I wasn’t planning . . .”

  He kissed the top of one breast, silencing her protest; his thumb traced the edges of her bra.

  “Oh, God.”

  Her head fell back.

  He was kissing her, caressing her, and already she was lost . . . he felt like the God she was calling out to and wanted desperately to deliver everything she needed . . . wanted.

  Wade pushed her nipple from her bra and pulled it between his teeth until the hardness resembled a large nut.

  “Wade,” she called and her hips jolted.

  Ice.

  Winter.

  Texas was hot in the winter.

  Her hands found his ass and squeezed.

  The moisture at the top of his cock told him to slow down.

  Wade captured her hands and pulled them above her head, holding them there. “Stay,” he demanded.

  His eyes met the golden depths of hers. “Please,” he added.

  Her hips surged, but her hands stayed.

  Wade used his lips and tongue to trail a way to her pleasure.

  She was wearing cotton pants that slid off easily when she lifted her hips. Wade tossed them to the floor, along with his shirt, as he kicked off the sneakers he didn’t normally wear. He was never so happy to not be fighting with a pair of tight boots when he returned his tongue and lips to Trina’s hip.

  “Sorry,” Trina said, her hips reacting to his touch.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about.” He could sense her need as his own.

  “Granny panties. I didn’t think . . .”

  Wade wanted to laugh, didn’t dare. Plain white, nothing special, yet everything he could ever want. “Hello, Nana.”

  Trina chuckled and relaxed once he shifted her undies aside and said hello with his tongue.

  He liked this part, and yet seldom had the opportunity to linger for long . . . until now. She tasted like honey. As much as he knew that was a metaphor, he couldn’t help but think it was true. Trina opened to him, her back arched, her foot pressed into his spine as he searched for the part of her that drove the sadness from her eyes. When he found it, he worked it, ignoring his own body until long after her nails left marks, and her honey changed and tasted like sangria. She pulled his hair, forcing him away.

  Even as she caught her breath, her hand searched him out.

  “Please,” she breathed. “It’s been too long.”

  Artic.

  Ice.

  Her hand cupped him through his jeans.

  It took two seconds to kick them off and feel her beautiful fingers taking in the length of him.

  She chuckled. “Do they grow everything big in Texas?”

  He used her laughter to slow things down as he buried his head in her shoulder. “That’s a line.”

  “Guilty,” she said as she bucked her hips and rolled him onto his back.

  The levity was his short reprieve before he felt her hair cascade against his thigh.

  He was smiling, confident, and then the warmth of her mouth covered him, and Wade’s eyes rolled to the back of his head.

  Yes . . .

  He was going to lose it . . .

  Ice.

  Aunt freakin’ Mavis has a really warm . . . oh, God.

  He pushed her away. “Not yet.”

  Trina chuckled as she crawled up his frame and straddled her hips with his.

  “Wade?”

  He opened his eyes.

  The heat of her hovered over the length of him.

  “I have an IUD. I’m clean since—”

  He broke off her words with his lips.

  Wade pushed her away when she started to melt. “I have a condom in my wallet.”

  “Are you not . . . ?”

  “I’m good, darlin’. I just don’t want you to worry.”

  Even though the shift in thought dampened the mood, Wade twisted Trina to the side and rolled out of bed.

  He grabbed his forgotten jeans off the floor to find them devoid of his wallet before he remembered the fumbling of the room key.

  Trina lay sprawled on the bed in the middle of the day, one leg bent in a pose worthy of any skin magazine he’d ever used as a kid, while Wade scrambled from the room to the front of their suite in search of his wallet.

  He half expected her to be asleep when he returned.

  Instead, she sat up on her elbows like a goddess, with her granny panties half on and half off the bed, the sparkle in her eyes.

  What a beautiful goddess she was.

  Trina’s gaze washed him up and down, lingering briefly at his cock.

  “I want to taste you again.”

  He twitched and all but jumped into bed.

  They were arms and legs . . . lips and tongues, and no sooner did he manage to open the condom and cover the length of him than Trina was pulling him home.

  She was tight. Snowdrifts on the Alps or he was going to explode tight.

  She moaned, long and slow. Then, and only then, did she slow down and let him catch up.

  Wade set the pace, his hips and hands . . . lips and tongue, everything moved in slow motion. “I have you,” he told her, no longer having to think about Alaska to give this woman what she wanted. All he had to think of was her.

  The glory of being the one to make her call his name stroked his ego in ways he hadn’t felt before. When she moved faster, her nails digging deep, he kept his own tide back until the gentle squeeze of her pulsated and made him lose control one final time.

  They were a heap of hot, sweaty, gasping flesh in the middle of the afternoon.

  Wade held her tight and wrapped a free leg around her as he came to rest at her side. He’d like to say he hadn’t had so many encounters in his sexual life to compare this one to the next . . . but he’d be lying. This one left him dazed. World-changing and life-altering dazed.

  “Wade,” Trina said, her breath slow and hot on his chest.

  “Yeah, darlin’?”

  “Was that—?”

  He pulled the comforter over the two of them, felt his body slip from hers. “It sure was, hon.”

  She snuggled in, and God bless America, Trina fell asleep before he could close his eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The glow of the setting sun spilled through the floor to ceiling windows of the penthouse suite. Trina’s eyes fluttered open and reality seeped in. She wasn’t alone. Wade slept soundly beside her, his arm was her pillow, her leg draped over his.

  She smiled.

  The memory of their lovemaking swirled like a hurricane in her head. She’d attacked him, flat-out threw him against the wall, and didn’t let up until she was done . . . twice.

  God, she felt good. Although she should be embarrassed by her behavior, she couldn’t bring herself to care. She’d been reckless, and Wade had been responsible. She would have gladly accepted him into her body without protection, which was stupid when she stopped to think about it now, but he resisted.

  What had he said again? Oh, yeah, so she wouldn’t worry. And she would have. Wade “Country Star” Thomas had the opportunity to sleep with beautiful women all over the world. While he didn’t seem the type to take advantage of that every night, she’d be crazy to think he didn’t dip often.

  Thanks to him, she
wasn’t worried. Besides, condomless sex was reserved for exclusive relationships. That wasn’t something on the table this early in the dance.

  She couldn’t expect it of him, even though she knew there wasn’t anyone else in her life.

  Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since the hospital cafeteria hard-boiled eggs and orange juice. She twisted her head far enough to read the clock. It was closing in on six thirty. They’d slept for three hours.

  Room service was a phone call away.

  Trina slowly disengaged her leg from Wade’s to keep from waking him. Just when she thought she’d managed the hardest part, Wade wrapped the arm she was using for a pillow around her.

  “Hmmm,” he hummed.

  “You’re pretending to be asleep.”

  He shifted to his side, kept his eyes closed as he wrapped a leg over her hips. “I’m still dreaming.”

  She gave up trying to sneak away.

  “Is it a good dream?”

  His free hand traced the side of her waist as he spoke. “Action packed with a happy ending.”

  Trina relaxed her head and stared.

  His eyes fluttered open and focused on her. “Hello,” he whispered.

  “Hi.” She smiled.

  “I have so many things I wanna say to you right now, but they all sound like lines in my head.”

  “Are they good lines?”

  “Cheesy, giddy lines of Holy cow, that was beyond the stars and back.”

  Her chest rumbled next to his.

  “I told you they were cheesy.”

  She rested her hand on his bare chest and played with the smooth, sculptured skin she found. “We were pretty spectacular.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “More than spectacular. Monumental. Epic. I think I wrote three new songs while you orgasmed.”

  “Three?”

  “At least.”

  She liked the sound of that. She trailed her hand down his chest.

  His eyes widened when he realized where she was going.

  “Maybe we can write another three before we get out of bed.”

  He stopped her hand.

  “Darlin’, I’m out of condoms. Something I will fix within the hour.”

  Trina couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

  “I just came off my tour and I’m not a saint. But as soon as I’m home, I’ll have my doctor check everything out, and you can have your way with me anytime you please, latex or not.”

  Her smile widened. “That sounds awful exclusive, Mr. Thomas.”

  He traced her jaw, his smile grew more serious. “The desire to even think about another woman hasn’t entered my head since we met.”

  “It hasn’t been that long.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I know what I want.”

  “That’s sweet.”

  “I’m serious.”

  She lifted her head to stare into his eyes to see if he was. What she saw chilled her. “If what you want changes, you have to tell me. I’ll understand—”

  He placed a finger over her lips. “I don’t want to give you that option, but I know it’s too soon. So I’ll make that deal. If something changes, I’ll be honest, but I want the same from you.”

  He leaned up on his elbow and dropped his hand to her shoulder.

  “I can do that.”

  Wade sealed their deal with a kiss that didn’t go beyond a handshake with their lips. When he let her go, she turned to climb out of bed and paused. “What just happened here?” she asked more to herself than to him.

  “You just told me you’re going to be my girlfriend.”

  She glanced over her shoulder, her long hair falling over her bare breast.

  “That’s bound to tick off your mother.”

  Wade winced. “Do not bring my mother into this conversation, with you sittin’ there naked and tempting.”

  Trina giggled when Wade leaned forward and took the back of her head in his hand and kissed her again. When she opened her lips to accept more, he moaned and broke it off. With a slight shove, he pushed her from the bed and patted her naked butt when she stood.

  “You order food. I’m going to find a drugstore.”

  Trina smiled all the way to the shower.

  Wade had ducked out to follow up on the search for a value pack supply of condoms while Trina rinsed off.

  Wearing a bathrobe and toweling her hair dry, Trina stepped out of the oversize bathroom in search of a room service menu. The second she walked into the living room, her stomach caught up in her throat and her heart jolted with fear.

  Sitting at the dining room table was a long, lean woman dressed entirely in black. Her boot-clad feet were kicked up on an adjacent chair, and her right hand was playing with some kind of chain.

  Trina backed up into the wall and caught her breath.

  “Hello, Katrina.”

  “Who are you?” Trina took another step back, intending to run for the phone and call for help.

  “What does your boyfriend not understand about white on rice? He speaks English, doesn’t he?” The question unnerved her, especially since the woman spoke to Trina in Russian.

  “Who are you?” Trina asked again, switching languages. She felt for the door behind her.

  “I’m Sasha.” She dropped her feet to the floor but didn’t stand.

  The name rang a bell in Trina’s head, but she couldn’t place her.

  “Have we met?”

  She shook her head. “No. But I know you. We have a mutual acquaintance.”

  Trina waited.

  “Reed.”

  She felt her heartbeat start to slow. “You work with Reed?”

  Sasha shook her head and stood. Even from across the room, the woman intimidated. A single ponytail held her hair back, the spandex pants and heeled black boots looked like something Catwoman would wear. The only thing this woman was missing was a mask.

  “How did you get in here?” Trina wasn’t ready to let her guard down completely with only the mention of Reed’s name.

  “Your boyfriend has one job . . .” Sasha looked her up and down. “Maybe two.” The sly smile told Trina that Sasha guessed what she and Wade had been doing that afternoon. “I’m not here to hurt you, but the next guy will be.”

  Trina started breathing fast again. “What do you know?”

  Sasha pulled a key out of her back pocket and tossed it in the air.

  Trina dropped the towel she’d been holding to catch the key with both hands. “Interstate Bank on the corner of Penrose and Brooke outside of Houston, by the oil company’s main headquarters. It’s a safe deposit box in your name. I removed the contents from Fedor’s safe three months ago. Information I’m sure you don’t want to become public.” She held up her hand. “Before you ask, no. I had nothing to do with the cleaners. People I would have hired wouldn’t have trashed the place.”

  “Do you know who did?”

  “I can guess. You can, too, if you looked hard enough.”

  Trina held her robe tighter. “You need to talk to the police.”

  “The police just get in the way and jump to the wrong conclusions.”

  A watch on Sasha’s wrist made a noise. She glanced at it briefly and turned toward the door.

  “Wait.” Trina took a step forward.

  Sasha stopped.

  “Why are you helping me?”

  She didn’t answer. She shook her head and opened the door of the suite.

  To Trina’s surprise, Wade was standing there with a bag in one hand, the key to the room in another.

  His eyes widened in shock.

  Sasha walked right up to him and placed one manicured finger on his chest. “White on rice, Cowboy. Don’t fuck up again!” Then she was gone.

  “Who was that?” Wade asked as they watched her disappear down the hall.

  Trina pulled Wade inside, locked the door, and followed up with the inside latch.

  “I hope you bought a big box,” she told him as she reached for h
er purse to grab her cell phone. “Because that woman reminded me how easy it is to break into a hotel room.”

  Wade’s face turned to stone. “Did she threaten you?”

  “No. I need to call Reed.”

  “I’ll go after her,” Wade said.

  Trina grabbed his arm, stopping him. “She’s not the problem.”

  Reed picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”

  Trina stared at the key in her hand. “Who is Sasha?”

  By the time room service arrived, so had Reed and Lori from the hospital.

  Rick was stationed outside Avery’s room, and Jeb had taken up residence in the spare room in the suite.

  “I told you about Sasha last year, that’s probably why she sounded familiar,” Reed said.

  He’d asked her about the encounter over the phone but didn’t explain anything until they arrived at the hotel.

  “She worked for Alice . . . at least that’s what she told me.”

  “Alice is dead.”

  “Some people are on payroll beyond the grave.”

  Trina held on to a cup of tea while Wade stroked her back.

  “Do you know what she did for Alice?” Trina asked.

  Reed glanced at Wade, then back to her.

  “She was keeping an eye on you.”

  Trina’s chest tingled. “Why?”

  “I don’t have the details. My guess is Ruslan.”

  “Ruslan hasn’t been sighted in over a year,” Trina reminded him.

  “That doesn’t mean he isn’t out there,” Lori said.

  Wade spoke up. “Can y’all back up here a little bit? Alice is . . . ?”

  “My late mother-in-law,” Trina told him.

  “Ruslan is the nasty father-in-law.”

  “The first person everyone in this room thought of when the police asked if anyone had threatened you,” Lori said to Trina.

  “Distraught words of a man who lost his son. We haven’t heard anything from him or about him. Last time we checked, he was working on some new scheme in Munich, right, Reed?” Trina asked.

  “That’s what our intel told us.”

  “You have him being watched?” Wade asked.

  “Have your friends close and your enemies closer. He isn’t on a round-the-clock surveillance, but we do have people reporting in.”