by Lisa Hughey
Hells yeah. They were going to be a couple.
Two
Keisha checked her silhouette in the mirror. She’d bought the slinky black cocktail dress for a trip to Las Vegas with her old boyfriend. But he’d bailed at the last minute.
She looked damned fine in the tight, short dress. Her red lace, push up bra created cleavage that gave her interesting shadows in the keyhole cutout, and the little bit of spandex in the dress caused it to cling to her well-apportioned ass. While she always thought she was a little too round, guys had yet to complain about the size of her butt.
And what the hell was she doing thinking about her assets in this dress? Her heart beat in triple time against her ribcage as she thought about the upcoming assignment. Tonight was just to lay the groundwork. She and Shane were supposed to go and cement their cover as a wealthy, philanthropic couple looking for a new cause to support.
The plan was to get an invite to visit the actual warehouse, hopefully tomorrow, and check out the security and see if they could set up a place for surveillance so they could catch whoever was covertly delivering the produce in the act.
She was one part excited about spending time with Shane, and one part annoyed with herself for being excited about spending time with Shane. But she couldn’t deny that just being in the same space as the hot, big man raised her awareness of both him and her own body.
Her nipples tightened and her sex tingled as she thought about having to pretend to be Shane’s wife. He was going to have to touch her. Of course, it wouldn’t be anything too intimate but she was going to have to steel herself for the feel of his rough, callused hands against her skin.
She slipped her feet into the four inch heels with gladiator straps and a zipper up the back and admired the sleek shimmer of the body lotion on her legs and arms. The light spicy fragrance enveloped her and gave her confidence a much needed boost.
Shane Washington was a player.
She knew it. And she needed to keep that fact front and center in her mind.
A heavy pounding startled her out of her thoughts. She’d wanted to meet Shane at the restaurant where the event was being held, but he’d argued that they were a couple and would logically drive together. She’d relented but she hated the idea of having Shane in her home, fearing once he’d been in her space, she and it would never be the same.
Shane Washington banged on the door of the nondescript condo. He was pumped about this small assignment for several reasons. One, he’d been restless lately. A little action was welcome. Two, he was looking forward to spending time with Keisha Johnson. Usually he avoided any kind of interaction with women he worked with. Besides the fact that the no fraternization policy pretty much worked, he tried to keep things with women light and easy. He wasn’t a long term prospect and he had no wish to piss off people, women especially, that he worked with. But ever since last November, Keisha Johnson had been on his mind.
A strange exhilaration gripped him. He couldn’t wait to spend time with her. The rush of adrenaline and thrill of anticipation was the same as when he was about to lift off the runway. And he began sporting wood at the thought. Fantastic. She was going to answer the door and see his hard on.
All his life, all he’d ever wanted to do was fly. Nothing had even come close to the high he got from being thousands of feet in the air. But standing on Keisha Johnson’s front porch had just come a close second.
She yanked the door open and Shane couldn’t say a word.
Her curves were amply displayed in a skintight black dress. The neckline of the dress was a wide band of shiny gold and circled her neck demurely, but then her dress had some sort of cut out that showed her cleavage, revealing the mounds of her breasts and enticing shadows that he wanted to explore with his tongue. He was almost desperate to see if she tasted as good as she looked. The dip in her waist was tiny compared to her gorgeous breasts and her fantastically grabbable hips.
Shane could imagine her on top of him riding him like a freaking bronco as he gripped her hips and pounded up into her. Suddenly his heart was racing and sweat blossomed on his face. God damn, he wanted her.
Wanted to explore every lush inch of her Nubian body. Wanted to bury his cock in her hot slick pussy. Wanted to explode into the tight clench of her sex as she orgasmed around his cock.
She propped her fist on her hip and tilted her head.
Shane cleared his throat. “You look fantastic.”
“Let’s go.”
“We can’t yet. We need to get comfortable with each other.” He knew they needed to practice touching each other in a non-sexual way. He definitely needed some pre-work if just looking at her caused his body to react so intensely.
“What are you talking about?” She was all tough attitude and snark. But he’d seen the softer side of Keisha when they’d protected Maria Torres a few months ago. That had been an eye-opener. And ever since he’d seen that inner marshmallow, she’d been on his mind. He couldn’t get her sweet side out of his head.
“We’re supposed to be a married couple.” Shane’s body reacted again. And he wanted to touch her the way he’d been obsessing about for the last two months. But instead, a tame, informal hand on her face was all he could allow himself. Shane slowly brought his palm up to cup her cheek. Even with his cautious movement, she flinched when their skin touched.
“See,” Shane said unnecessarily.
She shoved his forearm away from her body. But she didn’t step back. Didn’t make a move to put more distance between them. “That means nothing.”
Shane leaned nearer, their bodies so close, their chests were almost touching. The scent of patchouli and lemon wafted from her heated skin. As he looked into her striking eyes, hazel swirled with gold, he saw her answering response to him.
Her eyes were brighter, her lungs expanded and contracted faster, and her nipples had sharpened to points. If he took a deep breath, his pecs would make contact with her breasts.
Her mouth was slicked with siren red and her tongue peeked out to wet her lips.
Shane groaned. How could he resist that unconscious invitation?
He dipped his head, stared into her wide startled gaze, giving her plenty of time to avoid what was coming. But she didn’t move. Didn’t breathe if her absolute stillness was any indication.
“This is a monumentally bad idea,” she whispered against the slow, soft brush of his lips.
“Hell no.” He pressed a chaste kiss against the corner of her mouth, swiped his tongue against the seam of her lips, then nipped with his teeth, softly demanding entrance. “Best. Idea. Ever.”
And then he kissed her. Really kissed her. Fully engaged, lips, tongue, teeth, devouring her mouth as if he’d die if he didn’t taste her.
Keisha melted.
There was no other word for it. She sank against his larger, harder body. Her fingers lightly clasped his biceps and she tilted her head to give him better access. His cock brushed her slightly-rounded belly between her hipbones, and they both moaned.
Slow, slow, slow. He gently held her hips and rubbed against her. He could feel the hard contraction of her womb as her stomach tightened against his cock. Her response was uninhibited, genuine, and sexy as hell.
Keisha slid her hands up his muscled arms until her palms rested on his shoulders. He shivered at the sensual stroke of her fingers against the back of his neck.
His cock swelled. Shane whirled them around and pushed her up against the wall next to her front door.
Keisha was sandwiched between the hard press of his thick muscular chest and the unforgiving wall behind her. With her shoes on she was tall enough that the sculpted planes of his pecs rubbed sensuously over her stiff nipples.
Somnolent, sultry heat rose between them as he leaned closer and rubbed his nose along the surprisingly sensitive curve of her ear. His body dwarfed hers, his beefy thigh was wedged between her legs. A curious dizziness assailed her and Keisha swayed toward the magnetic draw of his sex appeal.
Shane lifted her up and she whimpered. Holy shit. She was a solidly built woman and he’d lifted her up as if she were a stick thin model. He scraped his tongue down the side of her throat and nipped at the rounded curve of her shoulder. Then he opened his mouth over her neck and suckled.
His bulk towered over her, surrounding Keisha in a sexual haze. Her dress was tight enough that she couldn’t wrap her legs around his waist. But then Shane cupped her ass in his large palms, and rubbed the ridge of her pubis against the pole in his pants. She moaned again as the slight friction stimulated her clit.
“Shit woman. You’re like A-1 jet fuel at flashpoint.” Shane let her down easily until the tips of her shoes touched the floor. He rested his head against the wall over her shoulder, his chest heaving and his fingers trembling as he smoothed his palm over the curve of her hip.
Keisha knew she needed to put her armor back in place. Put up that wall that kept people at a distance and protected her from heartbreak. In a second.
Right now she just savored him. It had been far longer than she’d like to admit since she’d had a man. And she’d never had anyone as masculine or as sheerly dominating as Shane. She could admit, if only just to herself, that he made her totally weak in the knees.
She’d combusted in his arms. Probably like every other woman he’d had.
Player, she reminded herself. She needed to subdue her yearning, and get them back on track and out the door.
“Quit wasting time.” She dismissed the earthquake worthy kiss as nothing more than a platonic peck on the cheek. “We met. We got married. We want to give money to a worthy cause. The end.”
Three
Shane nearly swallowed his tongue as Keisha sauntered toward the restaurant, her hips swinging provocatively. All he could do was follow behind her.
He’d been infatuated with Keisha over the last few months, and he figured he’d exaggerated her sex appeal in his mind. But after that amazing, intense kiss in her entryway, he acknowledged he’d been way off fucking base.
She was hot.
Scorching, crazy hot. And their kiss had been even hotter. If he hadn’t promised Jack he would investigate this problem for the food bank, Shane would have stripped off her sexy dress and taken her against the wall.
Now he watched hungrily as she entered the wine and dine event like she owned it. The small restaurant had exposed brick walls, a thick-beamed ceiling, rustic copper accents, and a large flagstone fireplace. The hearth was decorated with red hearts and wine bottles tied with white and red bows.
Shane hustled up behind her and placed his palm on her bare shoulder. “Hold up, babe.” His voice was even lower than normal as he suppressed the desire to run his hand over her smooth, soft skin.
She turned her head and gave him a ‘cold as a glacier ice cap’ smile while her eyes shot sparks that told him he’d pushed the intimate touch just a little too far. Her curls brushed her shoulder and the curve of her neck. Shane’s eyes widened when he saw the faint mark from his kiss. Holy hell, he’d given her a hickey.
“Uh, Keish.”
Before he could confess, a well-preserved white woman approached them. She was in her early sixties with a cap of silver hair that curled around her face, blue eyes that sparkled as brightly as the giant diamonds in her ears, and dressed in a traditional suit in a pale purple.
“Welcome to the Food for Life fundraiser,” she extended her right hand to Keisha and smiled eagerly.
“Keisha Washington.” The slight rasp of Keisha’s voice scraped over his nerve endings, and all Shane could think about was listening to that husky rasp while he thrust inside her. “And this is my husband,” Keisha stumbled over the intimate word, “Shane.”
“I’m Monica Peterson, on the board at Food for Life. It’s a pleasure to meet both of you.” Monica said, “Can I get you a glass of wine?”
“None for me.” Shane passed. He was driving.
“I’d love one.”
“Great. Come with me and I’ll tell you all about our organization.”
Keisha tried to make it look like she was sorry to be deserting Shane but he caught the glee in her hazel gaze as she tried to stay in character as a loving, adoring wife. He was pretty sure she pulled it off, unless you looked closely, you couldn’t see the edge in her eyes. “You going to be okay?”
“Babe. Enjoy yourself.” He brushed his knuckles along her cheekbone and then kissed her forehead. And damn, she smelled good. What started as a teasing gesture, turned into something more as he inhaled her unique scent.
Shane knew he was going to pay for that touch later. So he might as well go all the way. He smiled indulgently and put his hand on her butt and pushed gently.
Her gaze narrowed. “Oh, believe me, I will.” Her natural sass shone through the words.
Shane grinned. “You do that.”
While Monica Peterson lead Keisha toward a bar set up in the far corner, Shane glanced around the restaurant. They were closed to the public. Some of the tables had been removed leaving a large open area in the center of the room. Couples mingled in groups of mostly two and four. Waiters in black pants, white shirts, and black bow ties served mini-sliders and crab cakes on silver platters. He headed toward the bar, in the opposite direction of the one that Keisha had taken, to get a glass of water. Before he could take more than a few steps, a man with a name tag that identified him as Bob Michaels, the Chair of the Food for Life Board of Directors, intercepted him. “Mr. Washington?”
Shane raised his eyebrows. “Yes.” He wasn’t sure if he should be offended by the assumption that he was Shane Washington, but when he’d taken in the fairly small crowd, there were very few black men in the room.
“Jack told me you were built like a linebacker with the smile of a little kid.” He stuck out his hand to shake Shane’s.
“Jack’s gonna get his ass kicked.” But Shane laughed.
Jack came up behind Shane. “Not if I kick yours first.” Of course, Shane’d known Jack was going to be there. That was part of the cover. Jack was introducing Shane and Keisha to the food bank opportunity.
“Nice to meet you.” Bob Michaels leaned closer. “If you have any specific questions, let me know.”
More attendees entered the circle surrounding Shane, Jack, and Bob Michaels and welcomed him to the Food for Life wine and dine. The press of people made him slightly uncomfortable. He preferred not to be the center of attention. He was more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. It came from his days growing up where drawing attention to yourself was the last thing an African-American kid in his neighborhood needed to be doing.
Keisha pretended to wander back toward Shane but if anyone had been paying particular attention, they would have seen that she made it to his side in record time. The older man talking to Shane seemed innocuous enough but she recognized the tension in Shane’s shoulders. What surprised her even more was her intuitiveness about Shane. She wasn’t even sure how she knew to read his body language. It was definitely subtle but she’d identified his unease immediately. How? She had no idea.
Keisha wondered what caused his tension and set off her worry meter. Shane could handle himself and this assignment was far from dangerous, so why was he tense?
She stepped up to the cluster of people just as the older man declared, “Mr. Washington is considering a sizable donation to our organization, but only after he observes how we run our business.”
“My wife and I would like to hear more about your operation,” Shane said. He wrapped his arm lightly around her waist, and she was thankful for the fact that he had made them practice touching. Otherwise she’d have likely shot through the roof at the arc of electricity that zipped up her spine.
Shane inclined his head. She placed a manicured hand on his forearm. The muscled strength beneath her fingers caused a flutter of weakness through her limbs.
Day-am, even his forearms were ripped.
She had a totally inappropriate mind
scatter, as she imagined for a moment, what Shane would look like without his shirt on.
“Don Wallaston.” A pompous husky gentleman in a bowtie with a mane of white hair combed artlessly away from his red face shoved out his hand. “What’s your business?”
“Washington Aviation,” Shane replied, his voice a mere rumble as he shook the older man’s hand.
“Your thirty thousand dollars would be put to very good use.” Another older woman dripping in diamonds, with a wrinkled neck that didn’t match her too smooth face, a little too much Botox perhaps, smiled and leaned into Shane’s arm after introducing herself as Jane Pavlov.
Keisha fought the urge to growl. She did not like that woman’s hand on her man’s body. Anywhere.
Oh, good God, Shane was not her man.
But then their words registered. Thirty thousand dollars. Maybe that’s what Shane was tense about. Besides the chairman who asked Stone Consulting to look into the strange clandestine deliveries, everyone else thought Shane and Keisha would be donating a cool 30K to the food bank.
“And this is Keisha, Shane’s lovely wife.” Jack laid it on a little too thick in Keisha’s opinion.
Damn Jack for not thinking this through. Keisha would make sure that the Stone family ponied up the money. She gave Jack a death stare. She hated having to subdue her acerbic personality.
Don, the older dude, leered at Keisha, his laser focus on her neck. “Are you newlyweds?”
Shane slid his palm up her arm and circled her shoulders. His thick bulky bicep felt fantastic against her back. She tilted her head on Shane’s arm and smiled at the old man. “Fairly newlywed.” As in this morning. Not that it was any of his business and Keisha fought the urge to say that.
Another man smirked, and the older woman who’d been subtly coming on to Shane, frowned at Keisha.
Shane tensed again. Poor guy.
“Practically still on our honeymoon.” He nuzzled her ear and whispered, “Sorry.”
It was Keisha’s turn to stiffen. What the heck was he talking about? But then their embrace in her doorway flashed in her mind, the tight, hard suction of his gorgeous lips against her neck.