“Yeah. That’s it,” he said, watching and feeling sorry for her. Then he remembered that he probably should feel sorry for himself, too. Kadir reached over and stroked the back of her head. “It’s going to be all right,” he assured her. “We’ll figure something out.”
Abrianna pulled her head from between her legs and cocked it toward him. “Yeah? Like what?”
Maybe it was the way that the moonlight streaming through the large windows illuminated her face that caused his heart to skip. She looked small—vulnerable. The need to protect her flooded his entire system. She was scared and struggling not to let it show. He was late in realizing that she was waiting for an answer—so he kept it real. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”
“Then how do you know that things are going be all right?” she asked, her tone hardening.
“Because hope is all we have right now,” he said. “It’s our starting point.”
She laughed. “You can’t be for real.”
Now that she said it, Kadir did feel a bit like a cornball.
“Shit don’t work out all the time,” Abrianna added. “But people keep shoving their heads into the clouds, praying to an invisible God who don’t give a shit about none of us. War. Famine. Capitalism on crack. It’s all engineered to destroy us all, but people keep dropping to their knees to pray, hoping that He’ll swoop in and save the day.”
A lone tear leapt over Abrianna’s lashes and skipped down her face. “I used to be like you. I was much younger though,” she added softly as her gaze drifted away from him. “I used to pray that my father would stop coming into my bedroom at night. God didn’t stop that. God was too busy to stop that too. Then I discovered that I wasn’t the only one in the house that he was abusing. My little brother . . .”
Kadir’s gut tightened.
“He was so small,” Abrianna whispered. “He needed someone to protect him. It should have been me . . . but I started praying instead—for him.”
Kadir’s eyes stung with acidic tears while his throat constricted. “What happened?”
“Exactly what I should’ve known would happen: nothing—except my father’s sickness killed my baby brother.”
The empty salon suddenly was like a mausoleum, cold and empty.
“I’m sorry,” Kadir said. “I didn’t know.”
“How could you?” She swiped her eyes. “But my whole point was that, in my life, things never work out. The worst always happens.”
Kadir let her words drift around the room while he thought about it. His track record of things eventually working out was pretty bad, too. However, he didn’t mention it because it wasn’t a pissing contest.
“Maybe I should just turn myself in,” Abrianna said. “Let them do whatever the hell they’re going to do.”
“That’s an option,” he acknowledged slowly. “Not that it’s a good one, but it’s an option.”
Her gaze slid back toward him.
“Have you ever been arrested?” he asked.
“No. But given the country’s statistics, it’s really just a matter of time.”
Kadir chuckled. “You’re probably right.”
They sighed at the same time and then cut each other sheepish grins.
“Well, take my word for it, the federal government is not an organization one risks their freedom with casually.” When he realized what he’d said, he laughed.
“What’s so funny?” she asked cautiously.
“Only that I’d thought to turn myself in too.”
“So you’re one of those ‘do as I say, not as I do’ people?”
“No. It’s just that I think they have far more evidence to lock you up than they do me.”
“Except for the part where you’re aiding and abetting a wanted criminal.”
“Shit.”
“Hadn’t thought about that one, huh?”
He shook his head and allowed the house’s silence to wash over them once again. “Well, I guess that means that we better get busy proving that you didn’t kill that guy. Huh?”
“So you believe me?” Shock swept across her upturned face.
He smiled, nodded, but then couldn’t pull his gaze away. “You really are beautiful,” he said before thinking better of it. But if he hadn’t said it, he would’ve missed the blush that darkened her cheeks.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
Kadir didn’t plan his next move either. He simply leaned over and kissed her. Surprised and pleased that she hadn’t socked him, he deepened the kiss and didn’t give a damn that he’d been the first one to moan. Slowly, he curled toward her, leaning her back until she lay flat against the deep-piled carpeting. With the moonlight splashed over her body, she looked like an artist’s masterpiece. From that moment on, he couldn’t stop kissing and touching her.
Kadir was instantly addicted to the taste and touch of her. He couldn’t keep up with the sensations swarming him. For one thing, there were too many to name and he was certain that he hadn’t experienced all of them at the same time before. However, he wasn’t the only who was eager.
Abrianna ignored the warning bells inside her head and pulled and yanked at his shirt until she’d hauled it up over his head before attacking the button and zipper on his jeans.
He got busy getting her out of her clothes as well, stopping only a few times when he got anywhere near her bandaged shoulder. Once the frenzy of getting naked was over, Kadir stretched his tawny body over her golden-brown one to take his time allowing his hands to roam and his mouth to taste every inch of her. She was sweet and intoxicating.
Lost in the magic Kadir’s mouth created, Abrianna shoved the lone voice in her head to the deep recesses of her mind. All she wanted was for Kadir to keep doing what he was doing. Damn the consequences. She needed this—bad.
Kadir’s lips abandoned hers, and a pang of disappointment hit the center of her chest. However, his lips didn’t stay away for too long, as they soon planted feather-light kisses down the column of her neck and then across her collarbone.
Abrianna’s entire body sighed in relief. Mindlessly, she ran her hand through his soft hair and then down his steely shoulders and then along the hard planes of his back. She marveled at his incredible body. However, that pleasure was nothing compared to the pleasure she felt when his mouth honed in on a puckered nipple.
She squirmed beneath him while an ache intensified between her legs. Kadir’s slow but exquisite lovemaking had the potential to drive her mad. When she realized that it was his intent to make her ask or even beg for what she wanted right now, Abrianna wasted no time, shoving her pride and ego aside.
“Please . . . fuck me.”
She felt his smile against her belly button, since he was in the middle of heading south. “Not yet, baby.”
So the torture continued. The weird flopping in her belly stopped, and what felt like a million butterflies lifted off in perfect unison.
Still, it was a sweet torture as he peeled open her legs and praised the beauty of her small nest of curls. A smile glided across his lips as she watched lust fill his eyes. She was wet before, but now she was flooded with her body’s clear honey. His next kiss silenced the buzzing inside of her head and nearly melted the pain and tension from her body.
“Oh my God,” Abrianna cried as she tossed her head from side to side and naturally arched her body to receive more. She wanted—needed more.
But Kadir moved at his own pace. Lapping her honey and putting the perfect polish on her pink pearl. The kissing continued even as he slid a finger into her pussy and then a second one. When it set a rhythm of pumping and twirling while his mouth worked its magic, Abrianna started inching her body away from the building climax.
Kadir grinned as he followed her inch for inch. When it was clear that he wasn’t going to let her escape, her hands returned to his head and hair. She would caress it for a few strokes and then grab huge tufts of it in an attempt to pull him away whenever a tongue stroke caused her to float too high. Eve
n in that, he resisted her.
Soon, her long, silky legs started trembling all around his head. He listened as her breath turned choppy.
“Oh my God,” she moaned as her eyes damn near rolled to the back of her head.
Kadir’s dedication to the job continued.
Abrianna gasped, her hips lifting off the floor. “I’m coming,” she panted, unable to catch her breath. The pressure that was building at her core was huge, and she was a little fearful of the climax—that it could overwhelm her and make her lose control. Control was something that she clung to, what little that remained anyway.
“Wait. Wait,” she begged.
Kadir ignored her and continued to drive her closer to the cliff.
She tried to lower her hips, but for each stroke of his fingers, they went back up. The roller-coaster ride kept her dizzy. Tears surfaced and then leaked out of the corners of her eyes as she shuddered in delight.
Approaching delirium, Abrianna’s hips surged and rotated while her breathing thinned to the point that she couldn’t tell whether she was coming or going into cardiac arrest. Finally, Kadir’s tongue hit the lining of her pussy and Bree’s entire body vibrated. Whatever self-control she’d held on to was tossed out of the window.
Still, Kadir’s tongue refused to relent. She inched up the carpet and tried to push his head away, but with her locked knees, her efforts were rendered useless.
“I—I can’t breathe,” she gasped, but even that declaration failed to get her any mercy. A second orgasm started building at the base of her clit, and before she could prepare herself, Kadir hit the detonation button and her body gushed more honey.
Satisfied that she was primed and ready, Kadir reached behind his head and pulled her legs open. He climbed up her body and pressed a kiss against her lips so he could share her sweet taste.
But Abrianna had waited long enough and shoved Kadir over onto his back, so the moonlight now painted his nicely sculpted body. Clearly, prison does a body good.
Then her gaze swept toward his cock and stopped. Her imagination had failed to do Kadir justice. His smooth, thick cock had to be the prettiest thing she’d ever seen. Its full mushroom head with its cute curve toward his body told her that she was in for the ride of her life.
When she touched him, Kadir sucked in a breath that made his dick jump in her hands. But when her hands wrapped around his thick shaft and began to slide up and down, his body experienced its own spike in temperature. He moved closer, giving her room and an opportunity to glide her hand all the way down to the base of his cock and then up around his purpling head.
When his gaze returned to her face, he loved the way she seemed fascinated by what she was doing. The look of raw desire sparkling in her eyes was what turned him on.
“Come here, you,” he whispered. He pulled her over to him, but there was no need. Abrianna saddled up with ease, her body’s wet lips parted, and eased his steel rod in with no problem.
She sighed and he moaned when she rolled her hips.
Kadir hissed as his face contorted with pleasure, but as good as she felt, he really got off watching her enraptured face. She was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Entranced himself, he reached up to caress and squeeze her full breasts. But then he longed for the taste of her again and pulled her upper body down so that her jiggling breasts rocked against his chest while he devoured her lips again.
Their rhythm quickened. Soon, his low, deep moans blended with her whimpering sighs to make their own unique music. Soon after, the inevitable approached.
“Come for me, baby,” he pleaded.
Abrianna’s lips found his just as they took that final leap and cried out. Her voice echoed throughout the large mansion as she collapsed against his chest.
49
“Wow,” Kadir sighed into the dark. “That was . . . wow.”
Abrianna giggled and then slapped a hand over her mouth when she realized what she had done. She never giggled. Ever.
Kadir laughed.
Listening to his rumbling chest while she still lay on top of him managed to erase her embarrassment and planted a smile on her face. What was wrong with her? She even liked the man’s laugh.
“I, uh, hadn’t planned on doing that,” Kadir confessed. “But, boy, am I sure glad that I did.”
“Yeah. It was nice,” she admitted.
For the next few minutes, they allowed the house’s silence to cloak them.
A list of questions scrolled through Abrianna’s head. Of course, she realized that she should have asked them before they screwed each other’s brains out. But she was most certainly not the first person to put the cart before the horse.
“You have a girl?” she settled on asking first.
“No,” he answered, lazily stroking her back.
Abrianna caught both the brief hesitation and the note of sadness in his voice.
“You?” he countered.
“No. I just got out of a long relationship.”
“Oh? How long were you guys together?”
“Four months.”
Kadir’s chest rumbled again. “Four months? That’s a long time to you?”
“Oh God, yes.” Abrianna lifted her head to look up at him through the moonlight. The man really was gorgeous. “What about you? What was the longest relationship that you’ve been in?”
“Fifteen years.”
“Fifteen?” Her eyes bugged. “How old are you?”
“How old do I look?” he asked.
Abrianna looked at him, cocking her head to one side and then the other. When she couldn’t settle on a number, she stroked her chin. “Hmmm.”
“C’mon. You’re starting to scare me.”
“I’m thinking. I’m thinking. Don’t rush me.”
He chuckled. “All right. Take your time.”
“Forty-five?”
“Forty-what?” His brows crashed together over his incredulous expression.
“What? Are you older?” she asked innocently.
“Hell no!” He shifted to being indignant. “I’m thirty-one.”
“Oooh. I was off, huh?” She could no longer keep a straight face and started laughing.
“Ah. I get it now. You got jokes,” Kadir accused before chuckling himself. “Ha. Ha. Very funny.” He curled a finger under her chin while he lifted his upper body so that he could press a kiss to the tip of her nose. “You’re amazing. You know that?”
“Amazing?” she echoed. “First time I heard that one.”
“So you’re going to pull my other leg now?” he asked before sharing another laugh. But then it petered out and the silence returned. Abrianna searched for a topic to fill it, and Kadir beat her to it.
“Tell me about yourself,” Kadir said.
Abrianna tensed and then tried to climb off of him.
Kadir’s arm wrapped around her and held her in place. “There’s not much to tell.”
“You said you grew up on the streets,” he plowed on. “Is that literal or . . .”
Reflexively, Abrianna attempted to climb off again, but Kadir held firm.
“What’s with you? Why are you so scared to share just a little more about yourself?”
Tension coursed throughout her body until she finally forced herself to break Kadir’s hold so that she could finally roll off of him. “Look. I’m not looking to get into anything really serious. We can just skip the pillow talk.”
“Wow.” He rolled over onto his side and propped up his head. “You got some pretty thick walls around you, don’t you?”
She shook her head. “What do you want from me? I’m just a survivor. I survive one catastrophe after another. That’s it. And so far, I’m finding out that I’m pretty good at it.”
“With a little help.”
Deciding not to dig her heels in, Abrianna relented. “With a little help. Do you want me to thank you again?”
“Nah. The one time is enough.” He gazed up at her illuminated face and saw her nake
d vulnerability. “Look. I’m not going to push you. Clearly, you’re not comfortable talking about your past. I can respect that.”
Her gaze found his again before she mumbled, “Thank you.”
“Besides, it gives me more time to talk about myself. I’m shameless that way.”
She smiled and then allowed him to pull her back down so that she could curl up beside him.
“So what do you want to know?”
Abrianna shrugged, not feeling right about asking for anything that she wasn’t willing to give herself.
No worries. Kadir chose the topic himself.
“You asked me about my longest relationship,” he started off. “I have to say that it was sort of my longest and only real relationship.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“No.” He shook his head. “She was the love of my life.”
That caught Abrianna’s attention. “Really? What happened?”
Kadir pulled a deep sigh and then told her everything.
At a slight noise, Abrianna’s eyes flew open. Moonlight remained pooled around her while she lay against Kadir’s chest on the floor of Madam Nevaeh’s empty salon. She waited to hear the noise again, but all she could pick up was Kadir’s steady heartbeat.
“Go back to sleep,” Kadir said, surprising her that he was even awake. “It’s nothing.”
Abrianna started to respond when she finally heard the noise again. She sat up. “What was that?”
Kadir sat up as well. “Don’t know. I’ll go check it out.”
Quickly, Abrianna scrambled across the floor to gather her clothes.
The only thing that Kadir snatched up was the gun before creeping toward the front door. If it had been any other time, Abrianna would’ve taken a moment to appreciate how hot and dangerous he looked, but as it stood, the entire United States military could be right outside of the house, ready to take them down, and they had just one gun between them.
Her heart hammered as she hopped into her panties and just grabbed her shirt before rushing on her tiptoes to catch up with Kadir. Halfway up the hallway, it was clear that the noise was someone wiggling a key into the front lock.
Madam Nevaeh?
Conspiracy Page 26