Tequila & Lace

by Kimberly Knight

  But before I could utter anything she spoke as she reached the front door.

  “Everything I ever told you, everything I ever felt for you, was real. You’re the only man I’ve ever loved and on my seventeenth birthday my mother not only sold my virginity, but I ran away from home and left my eight year old brother behind. Today the man I arrested was my brother. After everything that happened today, I’m staying undercover because he’s only the middle man. I’ll have the bureau retrieve my stuff in the morning. Take care of yourself, Paul.” Before I could get to her, she was in her car and backing out of the driveway.

  And I was too drunk to chase after her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Joselyn

  The green light blurred as I stared at it behind my tears. It was as if it was raining and my windshield was covered with raindrops, but it was my eyes. I hadn’t cried so hard since—ever.

  The night of my seventeenth birthday I’d cried, but my tears weren’t all at once. And just the other night when I’d almost gotten raped … but it wasn’t nearly as painful. After this, I might as well just throw my heart out the window and run it over with my car.

  I was done.

  There was no point to living anymore.

  Bryce was alive. He was going to help the FBI bring down Tony. My mother was dead, and Paul had just taken my heart and smashed it with the fucking tequila bottle he was currently drowning in, repeatedly slicing it with the shattered glass.

  The car honked behind me and I took off. My phone in my purse buzzed. I knew who was calling. Only a handful of people had the number, so I didn’t bother to pick it up. There was no point in answering. I didn’t want to fight with him anymore. I’d said what I needed to say. I was going to a hotel for the night, and in the morning I would let the bureau know I needed a new place to live.

  It was better off we ended because we couldn’t work out. I was getting deeper into this investigation. For me, it was all about taking down criminals. For Paul, it was all about the money and having fun. I didn’t think my heart could take knowing Paul went on dates with other women anymore.

  I was going to go back to my life where it was nothing but work. That was where I thrived. If I hadn’t mixed business with pleasure, I’d probably have been more prepared on my date with the john who tried to rape me and also the one with Bryce. Paul was clouding my judgment and I needed to focus on the reason I came to Vegas.

  But I still loved him …

  Fuck, I still loved him.

  Maybe after the investigation things would be different. I needed time. Time to do my job.

  I drove to the south end of town to get a hotel. I didn’t have any clothes or toiletries, but I’d been in this situation before. Funny thing was, I was dressed like a hooker again.

  The next morning I called the secure line and told them I needed a new place to live. For the next two days, I stayed with Leah. I told her that things got weird with my roommate and she didn’t ask many questions. Paul tried calling me a few times, but I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. I couldn’t hear his voice because I was certain I would die inside. He texted me a few times, telling me he loved me and to come home, but I didn’t text back.

  My stuff was moved into a new house in two days. We worked fast at the FBI apparently and there was always a vacant house in Vegas. By day three I was in my own three bedroom house—lonely and missing Paul like crazy.

  The following Monday, I was brought into the local Vegas division for a meeting with Eric and Agent Reigles about where we wanted the case to go. I wasn’t happy about being undercover still. I wanted to go back to D.C. I missed Seth and I couldn’t wait to see him again. It felt like ages since I’d last seen him or even heard his voice.

  Knowing that Bryce was the middle man who was going to help us take down Tony was the only thing keeping me strong in this entire shit show.

  While I sipped on my coffee, waiting for Eric to show, my cell rang again. It was Paul. I wanted to talk to him, but I couldn’t. This was for the best. One day we’d both move on. I’d go back to D.C. and everything would return to normal.

  Normal.

  Unhappy, but normal.

  “It’s good to see you again.” Eric smiled, walking into the boardroom and bringing me out of my thoughts.

  I nodded with a tight smile. “You, too, Eric.” Agent Reigles followed him in and the three of us sat around the wood table with our notepads, sipping coffee. “Good work, by the way.”

  I blushed. “Thank you.”

  “All right, let’s get down to business. It’s my understanding this Martinez guy wants a plea.” I nodded. “Are we certain we can trust him? Are your leads good?”

  I stared at him for a moment, trying to remember codes and procedures in my head as I came up with a plan on the fly. This was my brother. I still had that instinct to protect him. I knew once everything was said and done, he would go to jail—probably for a long time, but if I was able to do anything to help him, I was going to try.

  “Joss?”

  I shook my head as if I had cobwebs in it. “Sorry.” I flicked my gaze to Agent Reigles and then back to Agent Green. They were both about to know me a whole lot better. “Eric, you’ve known me for how long?” He shook his head as though he couldn’t remember.

  “Three … four years?” I asked.

  “About that.”

  “There’s something you need to know about me. Please let me finish before you stop me because I have a plan.”

  “Okay.” He nodded.

  “Agent Reigles, this may sound familiar, but please let me finish.” She nodded as well.

  I took a deep breath, took a sip of coffee, and then another deep breath before I began. “When I was seventeen, my mother sold my virginity …” My gaze flicked to Agent Reigles as she gasped.

  I proceeded to tell them the entire story up until Bryce wanted the plea deal. “There’s no one more determined than I am to bring this asshole Tony down. To answer your question, we can trust him. He’s my brother, but I didn’t find out until the day I arrested him. I didn’t even know it was him until I arrested him.” They stared at me as I continued talking. “I was thinking that the only way for this to really work is to partner me up this time. Send me with someone I can trust. But not with a female. We need a male.”

  “A male?” Eric asked.

  “Yeah, I want you to bring in someone for a special unit. Seth McKenna is a detective with the DCPD. I trust him with my life. I want him as my partner.”

  “We can provide you with a partner, Joss,” Agent Reigles stated.

  “I know, but he also knows Bryce. If you want this case to be solved, it’s in your best interest to put the two people on it who would want it solved the most.”

  Eric thought for a few seconds. I knew that the FBI partnered other agencies with different tasks forces all the time. It wasn’t unheard of to bring in outside help. Seth had the credentials to have been able to become FBI before I did. He just liked solving murders and working the streets. I knew going undercover and helping me with Bryce wouldn’t be a hesitation.

  “All right. Let’s get him out here.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Paul

  She’d left and walked out the door with my heart.

  I knew I’d been a complete asshole the moment I woke up on the couch, my head pounding and the tequila bottle staring me in the face. I’d tried calling her over and over and over, but she never picked up the phone.

  Rolling off the couch, I stood and walked down the hall to her empty room. I half expected her to be in there, but she wasn’t. I’d seriously fucked up. If it weren’t for my fucking mouth, she’d be sleeping in our bed and I’d be making us breakfast. So what if her name was Joselyn and not Andi—at least Joselyn’s a girl’s name. A gorgeous name; as gorgeous as she was. And she worked for the FBI. Well, If she didn’t, we would have never met. I was a fucking idiot. I’d let the best thing that had ever happen to me walk out the door. An
d worst of all, I had no one to talk to about it.

  I kept trying her cell over and over, but she never picked up. I just wanted to tell her I was sorry. We’d had a fight. People fight. We’d had a fucked up, crazy day and we needed to be with each other—I needed her.

  She never answered. Instead, like she’d said, a moving company came and took her stuff. They packed up her room as if none of it mattered. As if we hadn’t matter.

  Well, fuck that shit.

  If what she’d said was true and everything we had together was real, then she wasn’t getting away that easy. I refused to love for this reason, and now that I’d opened my heart to love again, I wasn’t going to lose it—again.

  I wanted what Gabe and Autumn had. I wanted to feel what I saw on their faces—the love they felt when everything around them didn’t matter because they had each other. I wanted to know what it felt like to have the family I’d always wanted. To have the child I’d once lost.

  We all had our flaws, and I didn’t care about Joselyn’s. I knew she worried that I cared about her past, but I still loved her. Her past didn’t define her future. It was how she’d overcome it that made her who she was now.

  I just had to prove it.

  As the moving truck pulled away, I followed it. Joselyn said she was staying undercover. I didn’t know if that meant in Vegas, but I had an idea. It also involved me quitting S&R and stat.

  Add stalking to my resume. Or creeper—whatever. Joselyn was either going to arrest me after what I was about to do, or have hot monkey sex with me. I was obviously hoping for the latter. I wasn’t used to the whole dating for real thing, so if this went south, Gabe was going to need to bail me out of jail.

  After I’d followed the truck, I wrote down the address. It was a house still in Vegas so I knew Joselyn was staying in town. I called Mark on my way to the jewelry store where I was going to buy her the biggest diamond I could afford. I didn’t care we were broken up and she’d moved out. I loved her.

  Mark was pissed he was losing another one of his escorts. In fact, he’d said he was losing his best escort. What could I say—I knew how to fuck. Joselyn hadn’t seen my best moves yet because she was only getting into her groove, but if she said yes … oh, if she said yes, she’d know why I’d had so many dates and repeat clients.

  After the jewelry store, I went home to pack and wait.

  That was the worst part.

  Waiting for the right time to make my move felt like torture.

  My entire house was packed in boxes and my Jeep held my suitcase. I told Mark that I’d be out by the end of the month. If what I was about to do didn’t work out, then I would find a place of my own.

  I was sitting out front of the house that I’d seen the moving truck deliver all of Joselyn’s belongings to and I was beginning to get nervous.

  I was starting to second guess my plan.

  I wanted this.

  I wanted her.

  I wanted her more than anything in the world.

  But what if she didn’t want me?

  Taking a deep breath, I opened the Jeep door and got out. I needed to find out my fate. My heart was racing, my palms were sweaty, and the damn velvet box with the two-carat, solitaire cushion diamond on a platinum band was burning a hole in my jeans pocket. I’d never been so nervous in my life. War wasn’t this nerve racking and that was crazy to think about. Going into combat, you had no time to over-think, but the last few days, that’s all I’d done.

  I walked up to the front door, my suitcase in tow, and rang the doorbell. I hadn’t seen her for almost a week and it had been the longest week of my entire life. I hadn’t eaten. I’d canceled my classes at the gym. Gabe and Autumn had tried to see me, but I’d told them I was sick. I didn’t want to see anyone until I knew what the future held for me and the girl who’d come into my life like a wrecking ball.

  She opened the door with a smile spread across her face and then it fell—so did mine along with my heart.

  “Are you going to let me in or are you going to leave me standing on the porch?” It was the same line she’d said to me the first time we’d met. It was my only saving grace.

  She looked down at my suitcase and didn’t say anything, so I moved to the next part of the plan and just walked in. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m barging into your life, gorgeous, just like you barged into mine. You don’t get to walk out of mine when we have a fight.”

  “We had more than a fight.” She closed the door, but I was on the inside. This was a good sign.

  “Did we?”

  She nodded. “We broke up.”

  “Why?”

  She stared at me. “Because you didn’t think that I really loved you.”

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out the ring box and got down on one knee. “This will answer my question once and for all now, won’t it?”

  Her eyes became huge and her hand covered her mouth. Tears pricked her eyes and she uttered the words I didn’t want her to say. “Stop.”

  “What?”

  She removed her hand. “Stop,” she whispered.

  My head hung. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. I’d thought her tears were tears of joy and she was on the verge of saying yes. I had no idea that her tears were because she wanted me to stop. I started to stand, but it was no use; I had no energy. All of it was consumed by everything in me trying not to break down and cry. No one had ever seen me weak and no one ever would—not even Joselyn. She didn’t deserve it. I stuffed the ring back into my pocket and stayed on my knees.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to marry you,” she continued, “but I can’t.” My head shot up. She knelt down to my level and we were eye-to-eye. “I’m undercover. I can’t get married. Plus, how would it look when two escorts got married?”

  “One escort,” I clarified.

  “One?”

  “I quit.”

  “You quit?”

  I nodded. “I don’t want any of that anymore, gorgeous. I just want you.”

  She looked up at the ceiling not saying anything for a long time. “Then we’ll figure something out because I want you, too.”

  “Is that a yes then? Will you marry me?”

  She smiled and nodded, more tears in her eyes. “Yes!”

  I acted fast, scooping her up off the floor. It had been over a week since I’d tasted her skin. I was about to find out what this new house was made of because I wasn’t going to be able to contain myself once I was buried deep inside my fiancé.

  A frame shattered on the wood floor as I pushed her back against the wall. Our mouths didn’t break from savoring each other at the crash. I missed the feel of our lips together, of our tongue mixing and of her—just her.

  I brought her T-shirt over her head and tossed it onto the floor then cupped her breast in my hand roughly. Maybe too roughly; I wasn’t sure. I was on fire.

  “I missed you so fucking much,” I confessed against her lips.

  “I missed you, too,” she panted.

  My hand slipped down into the waistband of her shorts and straight into her panties. She was dripping wet. “Jesus, baby.”

  I slid and dropped to my knees, unbuttoned her jean shorts, and pulled them and her panties down her legs. I could smell her arousal and my mouth watered. Hooking one leg over my shoulder, I spread her pussy and she glistened. I groaned as she moaned and tilted her head back.

  I took my first swipe of her sweetness. Her legs shook as my tongue licked and swirled, causing her thighs to clench. My fingers pumped in and out of her as she came apart above me. She reached down, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and hung on for dear life.

  Not giving her a lot of time to come down from her climax, I sprung to my feet, grabbed her ass and lifted her so she could wrap her legs around my waist. “Where the fuck is your bedroom?”

  She pointed upstairs, still panting. Once we were in her room, I kicked the door shut, spun around and slammed her into the back of the door.
I stripped her of her bra and kissed her from her head to her tits, all the way to her toes and then back up to her pussy where I made her scream again.

  When I stood up, Joselyn reached for my belt buckle and started to palm me through my jeans. My dick was hard enough to pound nails. I needed inside her. It had been a week too long and I wasn’t waiting another fucking minute.

  I placed my hand over hers that was stroking me and stopped her. In something that sounded like a groan, I partially begged, “You gotta stop, gorgeous. I want your tight pussy gripping me when I come.” I reached into the back pocket of my jeans and grabbed a condom—hey, what could I say? I’d had high hopes shit would go down like this.

  After rolling the rubber down myself, I slammed my mouth back onto hers and sucked her tongue into my mouth. Her hands returned to my hair and she started climbing up my body.

  Nothing else existed. I had my girl naked with her legs wrapped around my hips, grinding her hot, sopping wet pussy hard on my dick. When I felt her body start to tremble, I knew she was getting ready to explode again, so I grabbed her hips and pulled her down a little harder, making sure the head of my cock hit just the right spot.

  “Fuck, Paul!”

  As she hit her peak, I reached between us, grabbed the base of my shaft, and slammed home. Shifting one arm at a time, I hooked my elbows under both her knees and pumped hard again.

  Heaven.

  Pure fucking heaven.

  I had to stop or I was gonna blow way too fucking quick. After taking a breath, I leaned in again to suck the skin between her collarbone and her neck, when she started to moaned. “Still the best fucking sound, ever.”

  I started moving my hips in long, hard, deep thrusts using the back of the door as leverage. When she lifted her hand to find her own leverage against the nearest wall, it lined the tight pink nipple right up to my mouth. A little flick and suck was all it took. Joselyn had one hand holding the wall, and the other attempting to tug at the hair on the back of my head to keep my mouth on her tit. She turned her face up and screamed my name, the best sound that beat out all others.