Jewels and Panties (Book, Seven): Dark Diary

by Brooke Kinsley

  "Please do," I said.

  She pushed me against the headboard, her strength surprising me.

  "Woah."

  "Lie down."

  She straddled me, the heat from her thighs penetrating my sides. From below, I watched as her body formed the perfect hourglass. I reached up and cupped her breasts and she pushed my hands away.

  "No. You need to earn it," she said, her teeth pressing into her lower lips as her adorable dimples formed in her cheeks.

  She slid herself down onto me and rocked back and forth, her waist a mesmerizing curve.

  "Ah... fuck."

  She licked her lips and bent down to kiss me. Then fell still.

  "Don't stop."

  She remained still, her wetness encapsulating me, making me feel as though I was losing my mind.

  "Don’t stop!"

  Chapter Three

  ETTA

  "You're killing me," he cried and slapped his hands on my ass, desperate to feel me lower myself down. "Please... Don't stop."

  I kept him waiting. Then, when it looked like his face couldn't grow any redder, I kept him waiting a moment longer.

  "Fuck."

  He clamped his eyes shut and gripped his hands around my waist.

  It was the most excruciating, sweetest torture, the both of us lingering in the liminal moment between pure ecstasy and collapse. It was like dying, like being reborn, like the whole world around you floated away and left nothing but heat, love, pleasure.

  I watched his chest rise and fall as he breathed, a single bead of sweat falling down the space between his pecs. I leaned down and caught it with my lips and felt the divine saltiness of his skin.

  Then, making sure to take as long as I could, not wasting a single inch of his length, I lowered myself down on him.

  "Aaargh!"

  He lost control, wrapped his arms around me and held me close as he thrust inside of me, both our bodies shaking as we came.

  The knot of tension that had lain deep inside my body for so long began to unfurl as it unraveled itself from the strangle hold it had maintained around my core.

  I was becoming free. I was able to think again, feel pleasure once again, look in to his eyes and know that everything would be okay.

  We fell away from one another, struggling to breathe with our sweat quickly cooling on our bodies. The air around us had changed. Everything had changed. We were together again. Everything was going to be alright.

  "I love you," I gasped as every muscle in my body relaxed.

  "I love you too."

  He lay an arm over my stomach and kissed my shoulder.

  "That was... That was..."

  He scrunched up his eyes as though he was still recovering and struggling to find the right words.

  "Intense?" I offered.

  "Fuck yeah."

  I rolled over to face him and pressed a hand against his chest to feel his heart beat wildly from deep within him.

  "Are we really going to Venice?"

  "Absolutely. I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be."

  "Have you been before?"

  "I've been everywhere."

  Of course he had.

  There were times when there were no differences between us. We were simply two people in love. Yet there were times like this when the differences between us formed a rift. I'd never experienced most of the things someone as rich as him had. He'd travelled the world, met the most extraordinary people and achieved things I couldn't comprehend.

  When it came down to it, I was just a nurse. He was a billionaire. Almost a superhero.

  "What's up?" he asked, sensing my unease.

  "Nothing."

  "Tell me."

  He pressed his palm into mine and shivered before pulling the covers back up around us.

  "We're just... so different," I tried to explain.

  "Different?"

  "You've done so much. You've been everywhere. I'm just..."

  "Don't you dare say it.”

  "Just a nurse."

  "You're my soulmate," he said. "That's all that matters and I’m going to make sure there isn't a corner of the world you haven't explored."

  I couldn't help but smile but there was still a sadness in me, a feeling of insecurity that he would find someone that was better suited to him. Someone who was just as wealthy and educated.

  "Seriously," he said. "We're in this together now."

  From the look in his eyes, I knew he meant it.

  "We've experienced things that class and money doesn't even relate to. It's the two of us against the world."

  There were tears prickling at the backs of my eyes. Despite everything we'd survived, I'd never been happier. It was a new start for us.

  "So when are we leaving?" I asked. "I wanna get outta this freaking town as soon as possible."

  He sat up and ran a hand through his hair as he reached for his phone.

  "Start packing," he said. "I'll have the jet ready ASAP. We can be in the air by dinner time and wake up tomorrow watching the sun rise over the Doge's Palace. How does that sound?"

  "Amazing," I said and planted a kiss on his cheek.

  Jumping up, I reached for my clothes but before I could pick up my jeans, his hand was on my shoulder.

  "Wait."

  I knew there had to be acatch. It sounded too good to be true.

  "Something wrong?"

  "Wrong? No, of course not. I got you something. I'd been waiting for the best time to give it to you and... this is the perfect moment, right?"

  He reached over to the bedside cabinet and slid open the top drawer.

  "Okay, listen. This isn't just a random present, something sparkly I saw in a shop window and thought you'd like. This really means something."

  He lifted out a small, black bag with velvet straps. As he handed it over, I felt how light it was. It was so delicate it felt like holding a feather.

  "What's in it?"

  I reached for the straps and pulled the bag open. Nestled inside a cluster of golden tissue paper lay a box.

  "Wait," he reached a hand out to my wrist. "There's something you need to know before you see it."

  "Jesus, Linx, the anticipation is killing me!"

  His fingers tigthened around me.

  "It's special. Really it is and I don't mean because it's expensive. It’s important to me that you have it."

  We both stared down into the bag. Now I was desperate to know what it was.

  "Can I open it now?"

  He let go of my wrist.

  "Go ahead."

  With intrepid fingers, I pulled apart the paper and plucked out the box. It was even ligther and smaller than I realized. For a second, I just held it in my hand and tried to guess what could be inside.

  An engagement ring?I thought. Is he proposing to me?

  No. Of course he's not. I could never be that lucky.

  Flipping open the box, I saw a silver tulip pendant on the edge of a fragile chain. In the center lay a diamond, sparkling in the low light of the bedroom like a dying star.

  “Oh, my God.Linx! It’s gorgeous!”

  I turned my back to him so he could fasten it around my neck.

  “It’s not just a pretty flower,” he explained as his nimble fingers moved along my back. “Eleventh century Europeans believed the dark, velvety center at the bottom of a tulip’s petals symbolized the darkness of a lover’s heart.”

  “The darkness? Isn’t that supposed to be a bad thing?”

  I hurried to the mirror to see what it looked like resting against my collarbone. It was small and dainty, just how I felt.

  “They believed it was a darkness created by erotic passion,” he said. “But I thought it meant something else.”

  He held me from behind and kissed my ear lobe, a rush of goose flesh flying down my arm.

  “I thought it was the darkness you and I share,” he said. “A darkness that comes from sharing a dangerous secret.”

  I turned to kiss him a
nd felt a rush of love inside me.

  “There have been so many secrets,” I said as I pressed my head to his chest. “But I don’t want there to be anymore.”

  He held me tight and kissed the top of my head.

  “It’s all over,” he assured me, taking the pendant in between his fingers. “Did you see the diamond?”

  “Of course I did!”

  “Not just a diamond.”

  “A symbol too?”

  “The Roman’s used to think they were splinters from falling stars but the Greek’s thought they were tears that had fallen from the Gods. There have been so many tears but I wanted to turn them into something beautiful.”

  “I love you so much,” was all I could say, too overcome with emotion.

  “Come on, let’s get packing. We’ve got an exciting day ahead of us.”

  “I can’t wait to get away from here!” I beamed. “Just think. This time tomorrow we’ll be on the other side of the world.”

  “With nothing and no one to get in our way.”

  It sounded so perfect I could cry.

  “I’ll gather my things,” I said. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

  “Sure. Just…”

  “What?”

  He hesitated and shuffled away.

  “There’s just one last thing I want to do before we leave. I need to see Berger. The hospital’s on the way to the airport. Not Normont International. The private one on the south side.”

  “This city has a private airport?”

  “This city has a lot of things.”

  “I’m gradually getting to find that out. You think Berger’s woken up yet?”

  He pulled on his clothes and spritzed himself in a haze of cologne.

  “I hope so,” he said. “No doubt he’ll be asked to testify and I need to know whose side he’s on.”

  Chapter Four

  Lincoln

  The sounds and smells of the hospital soothed me as soon as we stepped through the sliding doors. At first, I thought it would be the last place I wanted to be but now I was here, it felt like I was on home ground. This entire building depended on me and all the people in here loved me. It wasn't ego that was driving me down the sterile corridors with a smile, it was a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

  Berger was on the third floor on a ward and given who he was and the sensitive state he was in, he was kept near the nurses station on the neurology ward.

  As soon as we entered, there was a rustle of gossip from the nurses, hushed voices and young girls talking from behind their clipboards.

  "You must be here to see the detective," said one of them as she came forward.

  Her rosy cheeks and green eyes were still filled with the eagerness of youth.

  "He's right here," she said. "You've made it just in time."

  Just in time?

  Shit...

  I thought the worst. Was I about to say goodbye to him? Not that long ago we were adversaries but now we were bonded whether we liked it or not.

  "Just in time?" echoed Etta.

  "Yep!" smiled the nurse. "He woke up this morning."

  She held the door to his room open, keeping an eye on Etta the whole time.

  "You used to work here, right?"

  "Erm... I suppose I still do."

  "You're coming back?"

  The nurse's gaze switched from me to Etta and back again. Nurses were always fishing for gossip but right now I had little time for them or their childish needs.

  "Thanks," I said and waved a hand to dismiss her. "We'll be fine from here."

  I stared at her until she scurried away back to the nurse's station.

  "You son of a bitch. You made it."

  A raspy voice came from the bed. Berger lay with his head bandaged and bloody. His usually stylish stubble was now a full grown beard.

  "Jesus, Berger, you look like you just rode into battle."

  "I feel like it," he grunted. "Those bastards knocked me out real good when they crashed into your house."

  "I watched you for hours," I said. "Was sure you were dead. You just.... lay there."

  He gave us a weak smile and reached his hand through the bars to touch Etta's hand.

  "Hey, you're not here to knock me out again, are you?" he said with a twinkle in his eye.

  "I'm... I'm sorry."

  "Water under the bridge," he replied. "Besides, I bet you get called a knockout all the time."

  "You dog," I laughed. "Just woken up from a coma and you're coming onto my lady already."

  He laughed, a great big throaty chortle that erupted into a cough.

  "Hey, get me outta this room, will ya?"

  "You need to rest," I insisted and tried to push him back down but he was stronger than I thought and tried to climb past me. "Seriously, Berger. Lie down. You need to relax."

  "I need a god damn cigarette."

  He stopped struggling for a second as a nurse walked past the window and he smiled.

  "I guess there are some perks around here," he said with the smile still on his lips.

  "You're a total cad," I laughed. "Right, well I suppose I can't begrudge a man a cigarette."

  ~

  The Zen garden was built on the roof as a place where people could take a break from the mechanical, unfeeling machines of the wards where everything smelled like bleach and sickness overwhelmed each room. Up here, you'd never guess you were in a hospital at all were it not for the occasional person in their gowns shuffling along the grass in the slippers.

  Berger joined them, his IV drip wheeled along beside him as his bare ass was exposed to the high winds that drifted over the top of the building.

  He was struggling with his ligther, unable to light his cigarette as his gown flapped open.

  "I think I should start paying you," I joked. "You've flashed your dick at me three times in the last two minutes."

  "Don't count yourself lucky," he said. "I do that to everyone."

  "You really know how to make a guy feel special."

  We both laughed and he slapped me on the back. At last, the end of his cigarette was ablaze and a ribbon of grey smoke billowed over the tops of the nearby ferns.

  "Nice place this. Would make a nice beer garden."

  He was talking to me but looking at Etta. I knew what he was thinking. She was gorgeous. The most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Even though she smashed a vase into the side of his face.

  "Your kitchen was busted up," he said. "Those fuckers in the helicopter really did a number on your windows."

  "Ah, it's cool. I kinda wanted to redecorate anyway."

  The three of us fell silent and stared out over the railing to where the mountains lay in the distance like sleeping giants.

  Now that I was here, I found that I didn't know what to say. I shifted in my seat and took Etta's hand in mine.

  "So... What areyou gonna do when you get out of here?" I asked.

  "Think I'm gonna take early retirement."

  "What? But you lived for your job!"

  "Yeah, and it almost cost me my life. Anyway, I'm not really feeling it anymore. Lost the trust I had for the force. Lost the joy I used to get from holding my badge."

  "You can get that back," I insisted. "Don't let a few bad eggs ruin it for all the good people. You areone of the good ones, Berger. You know that, don't you?"

  He sucked on his cigarette and winced in pain.

  "I thought I was."

  "You still are. Don't quit," I insisted. "The force needs more people like you."

  He gave me a sly smile and shook his head.

  "Well look at you. Not that long ago you hated my guts and now you're being all nice. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy."

  He was trying to joke his way through his misery.

  “I suppose I could get one of those jobs cops get when they quit early. Go into security or drive a taxi.”

  We fell silent again and he tossed his cigarette butt over the side of the railing. He watched it drop unti
l it was out of sight, carried away on the wind like so many words I wanted to say.

  “Look, I just wanted to come see that you were okay and-“

  “Know if I’m gonna tell everyone you were the Normont Ripper all along?”

  He laughed, for real this time before coughing into his fist.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Your secret’s safe but I’d get rid of that laboratory of yours soon. Never know when someone’s gonna come crashing into the side of your house again.”

  He stood up and wrapped his gown around him tight in an attempt to maintain his modesty.

  “Seriously. I won’t tell a soul. I know you were one of the good guys. Even if your methods were a little, how do I put it, unorthodox.”

  Etta stood up and slapped her thighs.

  “Well, it’s all over now. We can all start sleeping again.”

  She looked down at me, her hand tigthening around mine in a not so subtle hint that we had to leave.

  “We’re going to Venice,” I blurted out to Berger. “Wanted to see you before we left.”

  “The pleasure’s mine. I guess.”

  We shook hands like men are supposed to before making our way back down to the ward, the metallic clank of his drip stand the only sound between us until we departed.

  “I’ll come visit when we’re back. You’ll look after yourself, won’t you?”

  As soon as we were back and he was out of hospital, I was writing him a hefty check that would make sure he’d not only be able to live in comfort for the rest of his life but would almost ensure he’d keep his mouth shut.

  “I will,” he assured me. “Ride a Gondola for me.”

  He winked at Etta before sliding back into bed.

  “See ya later, doc.”

  “Bye detective. Take it easy on the nurses.”

  “Hey! It’s theother way round. With a beard like this they’re queueing up to get in here!”

  I waved through the window one last time before striding away, hearing the nurses’ whispers all the way to the elevator as I dreamed of Venice.

  ~

  We were halfway across the parking lot when a voice boomed in my ear and a hand slapped my shoulder.

  "Bosworth! Jesus, where have you been? I've been hearing all these stories about you!"

  I spun round to see Harold, still in his scrubs with his usual gray hoodie hanging loose from his skinny frame.