Ceasefire

by Black, Scarlett

  Another two ladies, a younger couple, and that was it. Good. I’d be able to get a table. Ten minutes to myself to relax, to breathe, to enjoy my coffee and ease into the day. I needed it. I deserved it, damn it.

  Five minutes later, I sat with the largest cup of house coffee that I could order. I’d graduated beyond sweetened, frothy drinks filled with whipped cream and shots of flavoring. Nothing but the hard stuff for me, thank you very much. Straight black, no chaser.

  I tried not to think about everything I needed to get done that day. I wanted to clear my mind, maybe do a little caffeine meditation. All I wanted, seriously, was to stare off into space and not think for a change.

  The jingling bell over the door snapped me out of my blissful, mindless reverie. I glanced over, irritated at this stranger who had dared to interrupt me with their own need for manufactured energy.

  When I realized who it was, I gulped, burnt my tongue, and choked as the scalding liquid raced down my throat.

  Finn.

  My God. Of all the chance encounters, he had to walk in right then? I looked like I’d crawled out of the woods after having been lost in the wilderness for weeks. I’d resigned to wearing sweatpants and tossing my hair up into a ponytail because it was the quickest and easiest way to get myself out the door in the morning. I wasn’t even sure the sweats I had on had been washed in recent memory.

  I pulled my jacket zipper higher to hide my stained t-shirt. It occurred to me that I could afford a housekeeper and to drop my laundry off with a service, but when would I ever find time to set up an appointment?

  Finn paused at the entrance, said goodbye into his cell phone, and then walked straight to the counter without looking at me.

  I sat glued to my chair. I didn’t know what to say. What would be the best opening line after all this time? Would a simple, “Hi, remember me?” suffice, or should I go for shock value? “Hey, you never called, so I became a prostitute.” He’d think it was a joke, of course, but would he run away when I told him the truth?

  Don’t be an idiot, Kim, I thought. That’s a stupid idea and you know it. Just say hi.

  My heartbeat jackhammered inside my chest. He was more gorgeous than I remembered. His hair was shorter, trimmed close to his head on the sides and spiked with gel on top. (In the smooth, hot, metro GQ way, not the kind employed by popped-collar boys who try too hard.) He wore a dark suit with a cream shirt, unbuttoned at the neck, and no tie. His laptop bag, hip but expensive at the same time, hung over his shoulders.

  Really, it’s no exaggeration to suggest that this delicious treat could’ve come to life and stepped right off the pages of a magazine.

  And there I sat, looking like a frazzled, exhausted, frump of a mess.

  Finn paid for his coffee and turned around, searching for an empty table.

  I waited for him to notice me.

  We locked eyes. His welcoming grin made it easy to smile back.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  He strolled over to my table, never taking his eyes off me. God, how I missed those eyes. It was just one morning, ages ago, but I still remembered how they made me feel on what had been one of the worst days of my life. My professional life, I should say. Dreama was responsible for nearly all of them in my personal life.

  “My God, where have you been?” he said, stopping behind the chair.

  “Around,” I answered, playing coy. “It’s good to see you again.”

  “You don’t even know, Kim. Mind if I sit with you?”

  He remembered my name. I could’ve fainted. I tried not to sound too eager. “Oh, yeah, of course.”

  Finn lowered his laptop bag to the floor, took off his suit coat and then draped it around the chair. When he sat and scooted closer, I got the slightest whiff of the most delectable aftershave. I could’ve licked him.

  We sort of stared at each other for about ten seconds. Sure, it was the slightest bit awkward, but I don’t think either one of us knew what to say. I had an urge, about the size of an atom, to yell at him for never calling me back. I let it go. I was so enamored that I would’ve believed whatever he told me.

  “So,” he said, giving me a shy grin that had hints of embarrassment hidden underneath it. “It’s been awhile, huh?”

  “Too long,” I said. “Everything going okay with you?”

  We were both dancing around the obvious and we knew it.

  He did this cute thing where he nodded and shook his head at the same time, like he wasn’t sure of his response. “Yeah, couldn’t be better. Couldn’t be better. You?”

  The tongue-tied, stilted conversation wasn’t what I expected, or what I’d fantasized about for so long. It sucks when reality gets in the way of fantasy. And I couldn’t tell him the truth, which would completely burst the dream-bubble. There was no way for me to predict how he’d react. It was better to continue the mindless small talk until we were able to slog through. “About the same,” I lied.

  He sipped his coffee, nodded. Damn, even the way he lifted a mug was sexy. “You look great,” he said.

  “Please,” I scoffed.

  “I’m serious.”

  I giggled. “I look like shit, and you know it. But, you…you look—” I couldn’t find the right words. Amazing? Fantastic? Lickable? “—I love your hair like that.”

  Smooth, Kim, real smooth.

  “Thanks.” Finn swallowed and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m just gonna come right out and say it…and ignore me if I’m being conceited here, but I should probably explain why I never called.”

  I shrugged, trying, and likely failing, to sound disinterested. “The thought crossed my mind.”

  “I want you to know, I had the most amazing time with you that morning—”

  “But you’re married? Involved? Secretly wanted by the FBI?”

  “What? No, no, nothing like that. It’s just that—this seems too unbelievable to even bother telling you.”

  “Did you get kidnapped or locked in some Vietnamese prison?” I was joking, but I can’t say that these fantastical possibilities hadn’t wriggled their way through my head on countless occasions.

  “Not exactly. Listen, here’s the truth—I got called to a meeting in New York that afternoon. Total last minute deal for a client and I had to hop a red-eye because they wanted me to fix their screw-ups in person. Anyway, the craziest thing was, I got mugged five feet from my hotel door the next morning. Some guy held a knife up to my cheek.”

  “Oh no,” I said, concerned for him, but thrilled that he’d walked away without any scars. Who, other than a criminal, would want to ruin that beautiful face? “Are you serious?”

  “True story. The guy got my watch, my wallet, and my phone. And since I didn’t have it written down or stored in my head, your number went with him. Poof. Gone.”

  The complete and total disbelief fluttered around inside my stomach like a bunch of slithering snakes that had been doused in acid. I believed Finn’s story—my anger raged at the mugger. He’d not only robbed Finn, he’d robbed me of a year or more of my life.

  He’d stolen What Could Have Been. I wanted to vomit. I wanted to find the man who did it and step on his balls with a pair of diamond-encrusted pumps.

  The most I could manage to say was, “That’s awful. Did they catch the guy?”

  “Nope. Just some thug that disappeared into the crowd. I reported it to the police, but my stolen stuff wasn’t very high on their list of priorities.”

  “That sucks,” I said. In so many ways. “I can’t believe he got away with it.”

  “Eh, it’s just stuff. The worst part was, I didn’t have any way to get in touch with you. I mean, seriously, I’ve looked—do you know how many Kims there are on Facebook within a fifty-mile radius?”

  “Oh my God, that’s right. I only gave you my first name, didn’t I?”

  “Yep. And you wanna know what I did? Or, well, what I’ve been doing for the past year?”

  I leaned forward on my elbows. “What’s that?
”

  Finn waved a hand around the café in a big, sweeping gesture. “You’re looking at it.”

  “Drinking coffee?”

  “I’ve been in here every morning I could possibly make it, hoping that I’d run into you again, because it was the only chance I thought I might have.” He reached across the table and took my hand. I felt that familiar shot of excited electricity shooting across my skin and the tingling sensation in all the right spots. “And finally, Jesus, here you are. I was so close to giving up.”

  My eyes began to water. Small tears collected in the corners, waiting to drip and roll down my cheeks if I would let them. “You came here looking for me?”

  I couldn’t believe it. So much could’ve been avoided. Had I thought to come back to the café, in the same way that Finn had, maybe we would’ve reconnected months earlier, if not a year or more.

  Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

  What would my life have been like?

  I could have saved myself from so much pain.

  I should have been here looking for him every day, too.

  Yet, what did that mean for my future? I didn’t want to lie to him, now that we’d found each other again. I didn’t want things to start out that way. How was I supposed to explain who I’d been, what I’d done? Would that change his opinion of me? Would it scare him away? And my business that I’d worked so hard to build—what would he think of that? Essentially, I was an upper-class madam, or would be. That wasn’t something I could readily admit.

  Could I close the doors and forget it ever happened? No. I had employees to consider. Women that had taken huge risks to leave Roman and come under my roof. I couldn’t let them down, not so soon, not after the massive gambles they’d taken with their livelihoods.

  I didn’t see a way around it.

  Not unless…

  Finn shook his head and chuckled. “Sometimes I was here more than once a day.”

  “Wow, you were dedicated,” I said, dabbing at my eyes with a napkin.

  He squeezed my hand. “What can I say? I needed to find something.”

  “You found me. Now what?” I bit my bottom lip, waiting on his response.

  “Well, you could tell me what you’ve been up to for the past year, or we could get some breakfast, or…”

  “Are you busy right now?”

  Finn checked his watch. “My first meeting isn’t until ten o’clock. Plenty of time to—uh, to…whatever.”

  I knew we were both thinking the same thing. There was a glint in his eye that he desperately tried to hide. He was too shy to admit it, and I’d waited too long for him to waste time working up the courage.

  Was it too soon? Some would say yes, but they would be wrong. It wasn’t too soon. We were a year too late.

  I said, “How does breakfast at your place sound?”

  “That sounds like the best idea I’ve ever heard.”

  ***

  Finn’s house was two miles away, nestled into a quiet little neighborhood where there were white picket fences and bike lanes. Trees lining the sidewalks. Birdbaths and fountains. Minivans and a calm sense of coziness.

  His place was smaller than the rest; a little bungalow with white siding and sky blue shutters. A motorcycle rested underneath an overhang off to the right side. The daring nature of the crotch rocket contrasted sharply against the eco-friendly Prius that he drove. Fast and powerful versus Earth-conscious and practical. It made me wonder about the dichotomy of his nature. Which was he? I’d take either.

  I parked on the street and all but skipped up the driveway to join him. He put a hand on my lower back and guided me up to the front door and inside. I barely had time to notice the modern design of his furniture and the large, flat-screen television mounted on the wall. His living room had “bachelor” written all over it.

  There wasn’t time to analyze further. Finn spun me around, planted his lips on mine, and we stumbled backward into the wall. His tongue darted in and out of my mouth as I grabbed his waist, pulling him closer, lifting one leg to wrap it around him. He pulled away and slowly traced his tongue around my lips. The desperate aching between my legs became a roaring fire that needed quenching. I wanted him inside me. I’d waited so long for it.

  He slung off his jacket. I grabbed his shirt, yanked it free from his trousers and then up and over his head.

  I caught my breath. Finn was absolute perfection. Tight muscles carved into his chest. Abs that you could count by sight. He was thin, but solid. Muscular, but not freakish. I wanted him to melt in my mouth. “Goddamn, look at you,” I said.

  “Your turn,” he said, helping me lift off my coat and top. My sports bra disappeared with them. He softly caressed both breasts. “Beautiful.”

  “More?” I asked, pulling at my waistband, teasing him.

  He nodded, the growing lust in his eyes taking in every inch of me.

  I slipped everything off below the waist.

  Finn smiled.

  I hadn’t kept up with the pristine conditions downstairs like I used to—again, time was the issue—and I hoped he wouldn’t be turned off. I said, “Okay if I worry about taming the jungle later?”

  He answered by dropping to his knees, leaning forward, and kissing me where I’d dreamed of having his mouth for so long.

  I thrust my hips forward, allowing him access, closing my eyes and gasping for air. It felt amazing. Unbelievable. Thrilling. My legs went numb as the rippling pleasure raced throughout my body. I grabbed his head, running my fingers through his hair, guiding him, the ache for release building…building, his tongue darting here and there, finding all the right spots, as my eyes rolled back into my head.

  And then I pulled away, just in time. “Not yet,” I whispered, struggling to breathe. Knees shaky and ready to collapse. “Bedroom?”

  He smiled. “That’s too far,” he said, picking me up, turning, and with two steps, he dropped me on the couch. His pants hit the floor before I could offer to help and then he was inside, filling me, as I pulled him close to my chest, digging my fingernails into his back and pulling. Grunting, moaning, commanding him to go deeper, harder, and faster.

  I’d wanted it for so long. It was pure, raw need. Ecstasy like I’d never felt before.

  He stared into my eyes. I got lost in his. I could think of nothing else.

  I lifted my hips higher, pulling at the back of my knees, spreading myself as far as I could go, and allowing him to thrust as deep as possible. I bit his bottom lip, softly, but with unbridled craving, aching to let myself go. I was close, so close, but I waited.

  I waited on him. We were in perfect rhythm. We were a union of two souls in lustful harmony. I felt his muscles clench and his body go rigid as I squeezed around him and came, unable to control myself any longer, crying out his name as my body shook and quivered.

  Finn bent forward and hungrily kissed me as he tensed, tensed, and then released himself inside me, falling forward, collapsing onto my chest. He kissed me again—gently this time—and then whispered through exhausted breaths, “Amazing…I don’t even have the words.”

  “I do,” I said, caressing his cheek, feeling him softening inside.

  “What are they?”

  “It’s about time.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  We never made it to breakfast. Five minutes of afterglow was all we got to experience, blissfully wrapped in each other’s arms, before my cell rang and ruined the moment.

  “Damn,” I hissed. “I should’ve turned that thing off.”

  “Don’t answer it,” he mumbled into my ear, nuzzling against my neck. “I’ve waited a year for this.”

  “God, me too, but I need to get it. It’s probably Michelle and she’s worried that I’m not in the office yet. I’ll never hear the end of it if I don’t let her know I’m fine.”

  He chuckled as he rolled away and sat up on the couch. “I hope you’re more than fine.”

  “Absolutely.” I gave him a peck on the cheek and scampered ov
er to my purse, naked and still slick from before. I didn’t care. My modesty had disappeared long ago. And besides, it was kind of fun to give him a little show. I glanced at the display and saw that I’d been right. I answered, “Hey, Mish, I’m on my way.”

  “Where are you?” Her voice sounded desperate, frantic. Too urgent for me being only thirty minutes late, according to the clock on Finn’s wall.

  “You’re never going to guess who I ran into.” I winked at Finn, then continued, “I’ll tell you about it later, but what’s wrong? Everything okay?”

  “Get here fast. Like ten minutes ago fast.”

  “What happened?” Dread seeped into my stomach. It’s that fear of the unknown that gets me. What could’ve gone wrong? Computer failure? Leaky faucets? An unhappy client? The possibilities were endless. Finn raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged.

  Michelle’s words flew out of her mouth in a jumbled, panicked mess. “I’ll explain when you get here, but for now, please, for God’s sake, just hurry up and get your ass to the office, like I said, like ten minutes ago, okay? I don’t know what to do and I’m freaking the hell out. Hurry.”

  “Okay, okay, take a deep breath. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine.”

  “It’s definitely not fine.” One harsh click, and she hung up.

  I stared at my phone, wondering what just happened. “Um, I—I think I have to go.”

  Finn stood, pulling his pants up as he went, hooking the button and fastening his belt. “What was that all about?”

  “I have no clue. Shit!” I glanced around at my feet and found my crumpled mass of clothes. “I’m sorry,” I said, as I hurriedly got dressed, “but Michelle’s freaking out and I don’t have the slightest clue what’s going on.”

  “Is it serious? And, who’s Michelle?”

  “Best friend. Business partner. Whatever it is, I’ll tell you about it later, but this sounds like a five-alarm emergency.” I fumbled around in my purse, found a pen, and tore a scrap of paper off an old envelope. “Here’s my number. Do not lose it this time.” I dashed over, shoved it in his hand, and then kissed his soft, magnificent lips.

  “When should I call?”