by S. K. Lessly
I didn’t wait for her reply; I turned away from her and headed back to the house. I needed to make sure I was calm by the time I got there or I would be cornered by my mother, ordered to give her the 411 on me and Casey and I didn’t want to do that. Besides, I had someone else I needed to get to before she got the wrong idea and left.
I felt her warm body shift on top of me, bringing me out of my thoughts and into the present. I squeezed her sexy body tight before I let her go. She slid off me and I turned on my side to face her, resting my head in my hand.
Before I had a chance to talk to her at my brother's house, I received a call from Junior to meet him at a parking lot of a restaurant about thirty-five minutes from Ocean City. He wanted to show me something that couldn’t wait until Monday about this assassin, Perchenko and the ex-CIA agent Diane.
Junior didn’t take long to show me what he had. He was already there when I pulled up, his laptop open on the hood of his car. The second I walked up to him, he was already turning the screen for me to see. It was security feed showing the lobby of our building. The female face he zoomed in on had my heart stopping, especially when the woman followed my sister-in-law out of the building to her car. When I met Junior's troubled gaze, I gave him a nod.
“Tell me what you know.”
The meeting with Junior took longer than I expected and by the end of my meeting, I had him put a call out to the team that we were meeting Monday morning with the CIA. We couldn’t hold this off any longer. While Junior spoke to what sounded like Malcolm, I brought Josh's security detail up to speed by sending them the picture of the person hunting for my brother.
Emily fucking Parsons.
I couldn't believe that shit. Misty had told me that she was involved in this. Even my informant told me about a female assassin belonging to Perchenko. I just didn’t believe that one; the assassin would be Emily, and two, that she had gotten very close to killing Sweets.
The question running through my mind was why didn’t she kill her? Emily could have kidnapped her, shot her, stabbed her, anything she wanted and no one would have been the wiser.
Sweets didn’t recognize her. I could see her reaction and body language in the video. Sweets looked as if she was in a hurry, but that didn’t give me cause for concern. She had no clue how close she was to death.
“Where did Sweets go and did Emily follow her?” I had asked Junior.
I was staring at the features of the crazy bitch responsible for shooting my brother that I almost missed the hesitation in Junior’s voice. However, I didn’t miss the quiver in his voice.
“Y-yes, she did.”
I sat up and looked at him.
“Where did Sweets go?”
I narrowed my eyes on the young man before me, studying him, watching for the tell-tale signs of a lie. I had to hand it to Junior he was thinking about lying. I saw the battle surge in his brown eyes. Consequently, he didn’t lie to me. He did however bring up a lot of questions I needed to find answers to.
One simple answer that would change the course of this case and expose a plot right underneath my very nose.
Junior didn’t hold my heavy gaze, but he did answer me.
“She went to Hell.”
“God, you are insatiable. Do you know that?” Misty moaned softly, again bringing me back to her.
I thought about telling her everything that Junior told me about Emily and how close she had gotten to Sweets. I also wanted to question her story about both her and Sweets going to Hell together. It was possible they didn’t ride together, that they met up. Either way, Misty was an operative. She would have discovered a tale, found out that Emily was following them and I would have had a body on my hands. None of that happened, which again posed a lot of questions I needed answered. However, I decided not to get into it tonight. Instead, I focused on the naked woman next to me.
A grin spread along my face as I replied, “Hey, I didn’t wake up and attack you. You attacked me.”
It was true. I was knocked out, dreaming about putting a bullet between Perchenko’s eyes when I felt her hand wrap around my shaft. She started stroking me, waking me from my dream to a feeling of heaven. The minute I felt her lips wrap around my cock, I was awake and ready.
“Are you complaining then?” she smirked.
I laughed. “Absolutely not.” I leaned in and kissed her. I could feel my body heating up again but I didn’t deepen our kiss. I needed to have some type of control.
“Well, it’s your fault I attacked you. I wasn’t like this before you came along,” she admitted then stopped talking abruptly as if she just revealed some hidden secret about herself.
I smiled at that and brushed my knuckles along her cheeks. “I’ll take that blame gladly.”
We fell into a comfortable silence. I continued to run my hands along her smooth skin, reveling in the feel of her. I watched her close her eyes, enjoying the feel of my touch as well.
When I had arrived at her place, she almost didn’t let me inside, which surprised me. I had been unsure where the hostility came from. She seemed okay when she stepped outside with Sweets, after she took my piece of cheesecake. However, when I had made it to her place, she looked as if she wanted to murder me.
“Are you going to let me in?” I asked her standing at her doorway.
She held onto the door and continued to watch me, her eyes narrowed on me.
“Why?” she said finally and the edge in her voice took me by surprise.
I played it off and shrugged my shoulders. “Because I hadn’t seen you in hours and I've missed you.” I went to touch her face and she stepped back from my touch.
I frowned, pushed her back from the door and stepped inside her house. “What’s going on, King?” I asked closing and locking the door behind me.
Misty folded her arms in front of her chest and continued to shoot daggers at me. “I don’t know Cooper, why don’t you tell me?”
I sighed. “Can we dispense with the games? What’s up?”
“You fuck her?”
My brows furrowed, confused. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Misty grabbed something off the table next to her and threw it at my head. Completely shocked as shit, I ducked just in time.
“You know what the fuck I’m talking about!” she growled at me. “Did you fuck her? Is that what took you so long coming here? You took that bitch home so you could fuck her? You two back together again?”
I stood there stunned into silence and I watched Misty start to pace in front of me. Her eyes were wide and full of… shit… every emotion I could think of, fear, rage, pain, confusion, despair. I tried to say something to address her questions, but she started talking to herself as if I wasn’t in the room.
“I can’t believe I was so stupid. I should have cut him off a long time ago. I knew this would happen. I knew the second I could feel him getting closer to me, he would crush me like a fucking bug…”
Uh what?
“Misty,” I called to her but she started speaking in Spanish. I had no idea what the fuck she was saying. Then she switched to gotdamn Mandarin. I knew she was studying it, but damn, I hadn’t thought she was this far along. She sounded like a native.
“Grace!” I called loud this time, using her real name this time, something that I’ve been doing more and more, and moved in her direction.
Bad move.
She went on attack the second I touched her arm. She placed a precise palm strike to my wrist sending pain up my arm. I stepped back shaking out my arm and narrowed my eyes on her.
“Is this how you want to play it?” I asked her, and fuck if she didn’t crack her neck, roll her head side to side, and narrow her eyes.
My eyes darted up and down her body, taking in her state of dress. She wore a black tank top and short shorts. Her feet were bare and her hair was up in a ponytail. Not ideal for what she had in mind, but I was game.
I pulled off my shirt, revealing my tank-style tee, and kicked my
shoes off my feet. I pulled off my socks, stuffed them inside my shoes and placed the them by the door.
“I don’t know what has gotten into you, but I can surely give you an ass kicking to help you work through your shit. Then if there’s anything left, I’ll fuck it—”
She cut me off with a roundhouse kick to the side of my head. I leaned away from her strike and well, shit got real very quickly.
Needless to say, she and I made a bit of a mess in her living room. The television was smashed, end tables broken, picture frames were shattered and littered her floor.
We both had some bumps and bruises, however, that didn’t stop us. No, what did was me getting the best of my woman.
She nailed me with a kidney punch, then did some shit with her legs around my neck and I found myself on my back, her end table breaking my fall. Breath escaped my lungs and she pounced on top of me ready to drill me, but I managed to grip her wrist to stop the assault. I hefted her in the air and dropped her onto her out of place coffee table.
An “Umph” fell from her lips and she groaned. I took advantage of her temporary breather before I struck. I turned over, grabbed her wrists and hauled her to me, her body sliding across the smooth surface of her floor. At the same time, I twisted her body so I could pin her underneath me with my body weight. Misty wrapped her legs around my waist, in an attempt to hit me with the heels of her feet, but she found she couldn’t do what she wanted. She still struggled, which caused me to trap her arms above her head with one hand and the other had her face in my grasp.
“Enough!” I growled out, breaths coming in pants. She continued to fight me, but all she did was make my dick hard. I grinded myself against her and she stilled, her eyes wide in shock and lust.
We didn’t move. We took this time to catch out breaths. We both needed it.
“Let me go,” she finally said, panting her requests between breaths.
“Not on your fucking life. Not until you tell me, what the fuck happened? What has you pissed at me?”
She wiggled again and I growled and circled my now straining dick against her.
“I swear woman, just…”
She pushed up against me and I let out a frustrated groan and pressed up against her harder. I leaned close to her, turning her face away from me and whispered in her ear. “Baby, I am so fucking pissed and turned on it isn’t funny. I’m seconds from ripping your panties off and fucking you hard on this floor. Tell me what the fuck is bothering you so we can get down to business. Who told you I left to fuck someone?”
Misty started to get agitated again but I pressed harder against her, stopping her movements. “Uh-uh, tell me.”
“Fine!” she bit out through gritted teeth. “I heard Hoover Vac Barbie tell Malcolm that Malibu Barbie caught an Uber home to meet you. She said that you two talked it out and in fact, you kissed and made up. Apparently, you left early to pick up some wine and that you two made plans to meet her at her house.”
I sat up and looked down at her. I narrowed my eyes and let go of her chin. “And you fucking believed that shit?”
Misty’s eyes took on a defiant glare as she fixed me with a frigid stare. “What do you expect me to think? You left with her to talk about what I have no idea, but I thought everything was cool until you left again without saying a word to me and you haven’t answered any of my gotdamn text messages. Now, get the fuck off me and get out!”
She bucked up trying to get me off her, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She was jealous. She wouldn’t say it outright, but I saw it laced in those beautiful eyes of hers. Fuck me…
I risked letting her wrists go and grabbed her by the back of her head. I sat up pulling her with me and sat down on my ass.
She didn’t fight me, which I thanked my lucky stars for the reprieve. I had shit-else left to ward her off if she did.
I cupped her face with my hands and caressed her cheeks with my thumbs. I was trying to find the right words for this situation as I continued to look upon her stunning gorgeous face. Damn, I… I had nothing. Well I had something but shit, I wasn’t sure if she was ready to hear what I had to say.
I decided to explain to her what happened. It was all I could do. “Grace, I pulled Casey to the side to talk to her. That’s all. She was acting like we were still together and in front of my family at that. She knew about you and I going to dinner and tried to give me shit. Baby, all I did was check her. We had it out once and for all, she got closure, or so it seemed and that’s it. While you were outside with Sweets, I got a call from Junior and left to meet up with him. That’s where I’ve been, baby.
“I have no clue where Amanda got that I was meeting up with Casey. She probably knew you were there and spewed that shit to get to you. There is no way I want to get back with Casey. No fucking way. I told you. You’re who I want.” I pulled her closer to me until our lips were inches from each other. I threaded my fingers through her tangled hair and brought our foreheads together. “You’re what I need, baby. No one else. When are you going to get that?” I pulled back and studied her. “You’re it for me.”
I could see tears welling in her eyes and I knew any second she was going to pull away from me, fight what I was making her feel, and I couldn’t let that happen. I quickly pulled her close and brought her lips to mine. I kissed away the doubt and fear and feeling of rejection from her mind, and from her heart. She pulled away on a gasp, my name but a whisper on her lips.
That was all I needed. I stood, keeping her wrapped around me, moved to her bedroom and fucked my woman until she understood just how much I wanted no one else but her, how much I couldn’t live without her and how god damn much I loved her. I would bleed for this woman. I’d kill for her. I’d die for her.
“Grace…” I opened my eyes and laid them on the sexy-as-shit woman lying next to me.
“Hmmm?”
I could hear the sleepiness in her voice. I stayed quiet until she opened her eyes and met mine. I caressed her cheeks with the backs of my fingers.
“Have dinner with me tonight?”
My finger traced along the contours of her face as she looked at me.
“Do you want to go to some overpriced restaurant again?”
I laughed lightly. “No, nothing like that. I want you to come to my place. Let me cook for you.”
Misty tilted her head away from me skeptically. “You want to cook for me?”
“Yes, and don’t look at me like that. I do know how to cook. So, what do you say?”
Misty’s eyes darted left and right, but she remained quiet for a spell. I didn’t take it to mean anything but her contemplating if she could handle that type of setting.
It had been a while since she and I had gone out. I wanted to spend every waking second with the woman I had fallen for. I needed it…needed her more than I needed to breathe.
Finally, she breathed out a sigh and smiled softly. Shit, that gesture damn near had me confessing my inner most feelings to her right then. The look in her eyes had my heart in my throat. The sound of her voice had me choking on said heart too.
“Okay, that sounds like a plan.”
My smile grew wide and I gave her a quick peck.
“Don’t look so nervous. It’s just dinner.”
“I know it is. I was just thinking about what time I would need to leave in the morning for work from my parents’ house. At least they live close to work.”
“Ahhh, and why do you think after dinner you’ll be leaving my apartment?”
She frowned at me and actually looked confused. “What do you mean? After hanging out with you until God knows when, I’m not going to feel like driving back to my place in the middle of the night. I’d then have to turn right back around and fight through traffic to get back to the city. I might as well stay in the city at my parents’ house.”
I shook my head at her naiveté. “Sweetheart, please believe when I say that after dinner, I will be having you for dessert. T
here’s no telling how long I’ll feast on your gorgeous body before I’m full. Why don’t you pack a bag and leave from my place in the morning?”
Her eyes widened. “You want me to spend the night?”
I laughed. “Baby, it’s not like we haven’t done it before.”
“I know but—”
“Look, bring an overnight bag.” Hell, bring all your shit, popped into my head and I shivered at the thought. Not that it was a bad idea, but at the mere truth behind my words.
I cleared my throat and added, “I have soap, towels, washcloths, toothpaste, and a toothbrush if you forget yours. Whatever you need, I have.”
She gave me that skeptical look again. “So, you want me to like spend the night, wake up with you, have breakfast, coffee, and ride to work together?”
I shrugged. “Pretty much. I mean if you don’t want to ride together that’s fine. You can drive yourself, but the rest of it, yes.” I could see she was on the fence, so I gave her a little push. “Either that or after dinner I ride with you to your parents’ and figure out how to sneak up to your bedroom.”
She laughed and shook her head at me. She had no idea how serious I was with that declaration. I wanted her in my arms where she belonged as much as humanly possible. I didn’t care where she went. I would be right by her side.
“Shane, you know that sounds crazy, you trying to stay with me at my parents’ house. My father would kill you."
“Then I guess it’s settled.” I kissed her forehead and lightly kissed her nose. “You’ll be staying with me.”
Misty stayed quiet. I wasn’t sure what was running through her mind. I could tell you what was running through mine. Remember, my goal was to break down her barriers. I wanted her to feel relaxed with me, as easy as breathing. I believed I was achieving that and this was the test. If she said yes, I knew I had her right where I wanted her. If she said no, I’d have to figure out a plan B.
My future suddenly gave me this earth-shattering smile. She pushed against my chest, shifting our positions, my back meeting her over-worked mattress. She climbed on top of me and angled her pussy right up against my dick.