“Tasha Silvertin isn’t my “mom,” Ajana hissed behind him. “She’s a gold digger that my father wed and is too dumb to see his mistake.
“What makes you think she’s a gold digger?” He questioned, placing the last utensil on the table. “She might actually be in love with your father.”
Placing the dirty knife in the sink Ajana pivoted, then gave him a ‘you-got-to-be kidding me look’. “What twenty five year old girl is really in love with a fifty two year old man?”
Ryan opened his mouth to speak but all his words had left him.
He hated to admit it but Ajana did have a point.
Chapter Eight
“How long have you not gotten along with Tasha?” Ryan inquired turning off the grill. He took the steaks off then placed them on the plates and carried them over to the breakfast nook. “Was it an instant hate?” He glanced around and noticed that he had left the steak sauce on the island. “Ajana, can you bring the steak sauce with you when you come?”
Having dinner with Ajana was wrong on so many levels, but he wanted to get to know more about her. Maybe she would let something slip and he might be able to figure out if she was really telling him the truth. He couldn’t deny the attraction between them. It was sizzling up the room and he was worried how much longer it would be until he kissed her lip-gloss covered lips.
He wasn’t a monk and never claimed to be; but out of all the women in his past, none of them made him wish for one night that he wasn’t a cop the way Ajana had him wishing that he wasn’t one. Somehow or someway she had gained his trust, which was a hard thing to do.
When he was on the undercover case that involved Syleena, all his thoughts were about protecting her. With Ajana, all he could think about was different ways to entice her into his bed and keeping her there.
His penis twitched in his jeans as he watched how her sweater stretched across her chest as she moved across his kitchen as if she owned it. How was he going to get through the night, not to mention however how long it took to prove Ajana’s innocence? Turning sideways he adjusted himself so that Ajana wouldn’t see the effect she was having on his body.
“Where do you want it?” Ajana asked picking up the steak sauce with her left hand and the salad bowl with her right.
Anywhere you want to give it to me, he thought as his ultimate temptation sauntered toward him. “Anywhere on the table is fine with me,” Ryan answered pulling out a chair so Ajana could sit down.
“Well…aren’t you the gentleman,” she replied placing the items on the table then taking her seat. “I don’t know what to make of you, Ryan.”
He waited until Ajana sat down before he whispered in her ear. “What do you mean by that?” He made sure his lips brushed the back of her earlobe before he moved away. He smiled when Ajana spun around in the chair and pressed her hand to her ear.
“What are you doing?” She inquired dropping her hand back into her lap.
Plastering a blank look on his face, Ryan sat down at the table and grabbed the steak sauce. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He busied himself opening the bottle, and then proceeded to pour a nice amount on his steak before placing it back on the table.
“Are you going to lie and tell me your mouth didn’t brush my ear?”
* * * *
Why was he doing this to her? She was trying so hard to be good and not jump across this table and plant a hot kiss on Ryan’s generous mouth. Sitting back she allowed herself time to study the man in front of her; it wasn’t like Ryan was going to stop her. His features were classically handsome, but below the neck the rest of him was hours, hours and double overtime hours of sex waiting to happen. Lord help her, she wanted to know how many rounds Ryan could go before her body got covered in his sweat.
When he had joked around with her earlier, she had noticed there were touches of humor lines around his mouth eyes that gave him a playful look. She wanted to do something to see that side of him again.
“I know you heard my question. Are you going to answer me?”
“It all depends.” Ryan cut into his steak and placed a nice size piece into his mouth.
“On what?” She answered slicing into her own food before she took a bite.
“If you’re going to answer my question about your stepmother. You left me hanging for an answer.” Ryan voiced.
Swallowing her food, Ajana wiped her mouth with a napkin then placed it back on the table. “Can I have something to drink first?”
Ryan smiled at her, his teeth amazingly white against his tanned face. “Sorry, I forget about that. What would you like?” He asked getting up from the table. “I have beer, wine, soda and water.”
“A beer sounds wonderful.” Ajana answered then ate another piece of the tender meat.
“Coming right up.”
“Here you go. I’m shocked you wanted beer and not wine.” Ryan was only gone seconds when an open can of beer was set in front of her.
Taking a sip of the liquor she let it slide down her mouth and savored the flavor before addressing Ryan’s comment. “Why? Don’t I look like a beer girl to you?”
“No, honestly you don’t.” Ryan confessed. “I’m enjoying all the different sides to you Miss Bennett. I can’t wait until I uncover more.”
“I know you can’t handle what I have hidden away,” she teased back.
“Don’t tease me or I might have to go against the rules and take you up on that.” Ryan flirted.
“Enough of the flirting, I’m supposed to tell you why I don’t like Tasha.”
“Good, I can’t wait to hear this. I don’t like my stepfather, but I sense you despise your stepmother.”
“There hasn’t been a word made in the English language to describe how I feel about that heifer.” Ajana snapped shoving her plate away from her.
“This slut worked at the nursing home my dying mother was a patient at. My dad went there everyday to visit my mother and Tasha made sure she was always in the room with them.”
“Why was she always there?” Ryan tossed a large helping of salad on his plate.
Ajana sighed at Ryan. Surely he couldn’t be that stupid and not understand what Tasha’s game was.
“Money…. why else?” She shot back. “Tasha was smart enough not to flirt with Dad inside my mom’s room, playing the concerned friend; but when he left the room, she was all over him.” Ajana grabbed a small bite of salad for herself and then shoved a forkful into her mouth.
“Were you there when all of this happened?”
She swallowed the food in her mouth then answered Ryan. “Yes and I couldn’t believe Dad was falling for it. I tried to tell him but he wouldn’t listen. I think it was because Tasha found a way to sleep with him before my mom had passed.” She gave a dry laugh at the thought. “Can you believe while my mom was slowly slipping away, my dad was in the bed with that slut?” She could barely keep from calling Tasha the name she wanted to.
“I can’t comprehend that your dad wasn’t there for your mom in her time of need. Had they not gotten along before she got sick?”
Ryan was asking her questions that she didn’t want to get into. Talking about her family was a hard situation for her. “Yes and no,” she continued to explain to him. ”My parents loved each other. I never been around a happier or more loving couple; however, after mom started getting sick Dad changed. He became distant from us.”
“I don’t think he wanted to come to terms that the love of his life was dying right before his eyes, and that there wasn’t anything that he could do about it,” she confessed placing her hands on the table.
“That still doesn’t excuse him for being an asshole in her last days,” Ryan verbalized running his thumbs across the back of her knuckles. The light gesture was sweet and a little soothing to her nerves. “Your father should have been by her side until she died, not trying to get to home base with Tasha.”
Ajana couldn’t let Ryan shove all the blame on her father. Part
of what happened with her dad was her fault. She hadn’t been there for him so he found comfort and understanding somewhere else.
She eased her hands away from Ryan’s and placed them back into her lap. “Why the sudden interest in my family. How is any of it going to prove my innocence? My dad isn’t the ones on the videotapes and Tasha is too lazy to plot a jewel heist. All she has to do is spend Daddy’s money.”
“Knowing the background of the suspect always comes in handy when a major case is still under investigation. Against my better judgment I have agreed to help you, but I need to know all about the skeletons in your closet.” Ryan commented gathering up the plates from the table.
How dare he insult her like that? Why did she have to be the one with skeletons in her closet? Ryan needed to stop acting like a Boy Scout and toss out some of his own skeletons.
Ryan had to be hiding something in his closet because a man as fine as he was didn’t have a guilt free past and she was going to be the woman who found out what his secrets were. She’ll make sure of that.
Chapter Nine
What is she thinking about now? Ryan wondered as he wiped his hands on the dishtowel and folded it over the faucet. The entire time he did the dishes, he felt Ajana’s eyes burning a hole into the back of his head. He felt uneasy because he never knew what she was plotting. Ajana had a lot going for her: looks, a pinup body, and a wicked sense of humor, but what he liked the most about her was her quick mind. Nothing went over her head when they talked to each other.
A mind like that could hurt her or help her in the end. He prayed that it was the latter and not the former. Ajana didn’t need to get into any more trouble. He sensed that she didn’t completely trust him; he needed to find a way to make her understand that he wasn’t out to hurt her.
“You know that we have a huge problem here,” He turned around to face her.
She might have tricked him on Halloween night, but before this case was over Ajana’s Bennett was going to be his treat. Now I just have to think of a plan to make that happen.
“What kind of problem?”
“Where you are going to sleep tonight,” he smirked as Ajana’s beautiful brown eyes shot him a withering glance then narrowed suspiciously.
“I’m not sharing a bed with you if that what’s you’re thinking.” She answered quickly. “I didn’t seek you out to gain a lover.”
Ajana had no clue how sensuous her voice sounded to him. Didn’t she realize that it was out of her hands now? He had been craving a taste of her lips since he laid eyes on her picture. She wasn’t going to deny him that pleasure.
“There’s only one bed in this house so where do you think you’re going to sleep,” Ryan exclaimed pushing his body away from the sink, “I don’t trust you enough let you out of my sight, you might sneak out during the night.”
“You should offer me the bed and you take the couch.” Ajana insisted leaning back in the chair, as he got closer to her.
He gave his head a quick shake. “No, I don’t think I’m going to sleep on the floor the first night of my vacation.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were vacation before now?” Ajana snapped. “How are you going to help me if you don’t have access to the police database?”
Passion! God he loved when a woman had a passionate side to her. Ajana was going to be a handful for him and he would relish every minute of it.
“What makes you think I can’t log on to the police database from my home computer? All I need is my password and the right access codes.”
“Can’t you get fired for doing stuff like that?”
Planting one of his hands face down on the table he used the other one to brush a piece of hair away from Ajana’s mouth. “No, Sergeant Webster gave me permission to work on this case while I was on leave.”
“I think your mind is more on finding a way to get me into bed than working on this case, Ryan,” Ajana whispered stroking her fingers across the hairs on the back of his hand.
Keep stroking me like that and I won’t be able to control my next reaction, he thought glancing down at her hand.
“Have you thought about it?”
“About what,” he asked capturing a pair of chocolate eyes that were beautiful and mysterious.
A pink tongue darted out and licked her full bottom lip. “What it would be like if we finally gave into this heat between us and kissed?”
Chapter Ten
Ryan didn’t give Ajana a chance to tease him anymore with her soft clear voice. Wrapping his hand around the back of her neck, he titled her face up to his and captured her lips with his, teasing her mouth more than kissing it.
He wanted to learn the texture and shape of it. For hours now, he had been dreaming of what it would feel like once they kissed and he would make Ajana enjoy every second of it.
A small hand balled up his t-shirt while a wet tongue licked at the corner of his mouth. All of his plans to take things slow ended with the first flick of Ajana’s tongue over his lips. Shit! Why was she always testing his control? He tried to take things slow, but she blew up his plans by using that cute tongue of hers.
“Mmm… steak isn’t the only meat that the steak sauce tastes good on.” She purred giving him mouth another quick swipe. “I could lick at you all night. Would you like that Ryan?”
His cock jerked once, then twice against the confines of his jeans at the vision of Ajana’s stroking that tongue of hers over parts of his body all night. Hell, if his little cat woman was good, he’ll return the enjoyable favor over and over again.
“Don’t promise things that you aren’t going to deliver,” Ryan growled. Picking Ajana up out of the chair by the waist, he spun around then sat down with her straddled across his lap. “Do you know that I shouldn’t be doing this with you?” He held a perfectly formed ass in his hands and moved Ajana’s body back and forth over his throbbing erection. However, if Sergeant Webster kicked the door down at this very moment and told him to stop he wouldn’t be able to.
“Why don’t you forget that you’re the cop and I’m the suspect? How about we see who can push the envelope the farthest? We can’t have sex tonight, but I don’t see why we can’t explore each other some more.” Ajana whispered sliding her hands under his sweaty t-shirt. All this talk about licking and exploring had already gotten him sweaty and hard as granite.
What was she talking about…. “No sex?”
Chapter Eleven
He waited; wanting to hear what Ajana was going to tell him next. She had given him a taste of what he had been wondering about for weeks and snatched it away in the same breath.
Grabbing her hips, he yanked her closer to his pelvis, “What do you mean ‘no sex?’ Do you mean you don’t want to know what it feels like to have me inside of you? Honey, I swear I’ll make it so good for that you’ll want a repeat performance.”
“I don’t doubt that, but…I’m not sure we should get that involved with each other.” She confessed in a voice so soft that he almost missed it.
“Okay, what are you having second thoughts about,” he sighed rubbing his hands over Ajana’s jeans clad thighs. This woman had one killer body and he hoped he got to see it before the night was over.
“Stop doing that,” Ajana scolded slapping at his hands. She tried to get off his lap, but he wrapped his arms around her waist holding her in place.
“Don’t move. I like how you feel on my body. I promise I won’t let my hand wander anymore.” Holding up his hands he placed them at the sides of the chair. “Now tell me what the big deal is about us sharing a bed tonight. You want me and I can’t hide how much I can’t wait to discover all the hidden treats on your wonderful body.”
“Sharing a bed with you will be a dangerous adventure,” Ajana groaned. “I can barely think straight now.
Ryan relished that her mind was cloudy with untapped desire because his was in the same turmoil. She shouldn’t be thinking about anything but how the magnetism between them was hot and heavy. He co
uld spend the rest of the night making her feel pleasure.
What was going on with him?
This mind set was so unlike him. He never thought about sleeping with a woman the first night until Ajana dropped into his life. She had him hard and aching the second she changed clothes and waltzed back into his living room. Couldn’t she see that it was fate that had brought them together? Now all that was left was for him to make her see it too; and the only way he could think of doing that was to prove her innocence. God, he hoped with everything in him that she wasn’t the cat burglar ripping off the Atlanta jeweler’s.
“For tonight, let us be ruled by our passion and nothing else. Who know, maybe the Halloween fairy can cast a spell on us. Have you thought that maybe all of your troubles was meant to happen so that we could have this moment?”
Marie Rochelle - Devilishy Yours Page 4