Partners in Crime (Gambling on Love Book 4)

by M Andrews

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  Nora

  “OH SWEETIE, WHAT happened?” Zoe asks, seeing my tear stained face standing at her door.

  “I saw Hank with another woman.” I sniffle. This has been one of the worst days of my life. I barely made it out of the house before I broke down in tears again. I’m surprised the neighbors couldn’t hear me crying in my car as I was driving away. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but it was the right thing. I can’t go through the heartache and lies again.

  Zoe takes the suitcase from my hand and leads me inside her apartment. She leaves my bag by the door then walks into the kitchen and grabs a bottle of wine and two glasses. “Sit down and tell me everything that happened.”

  I take a seat on the couch. Zoe hands me a glass of red wine and sits down next to me. I twist the stem of the glass between my fingers, staring down at the crimson liquid rippling inside the glass. “I went to meet Hank for lunch this afternoon, and, when I got there, he was sitting at the table with another woman. She had her hands on him and then . . .” My voice cracks and the image of her kissing his cheek flashes in my head.

  “Then what?” she asks from behind her glass.

  “She kissed him.” As the words come out my heart breaks a little more.

  “That bitch kissed him, like straight up put her tongue down his throat?” She slams her glass down on the coffee table. “I’ll cut the bitch,” she growls.

  “She didn’t put her tongue down his throat. She kissed him on the cheek.”

  Zoe’s face turns from angry to confused. “She just kissed him on the cheek. That seems pretty platonic. What did Hank say about it?”

  “I didn’t give him the chance to lie to me,” I reply.

  “This doesn’t make sense, Nora. He knew you were coming to meet him for lunch, so why would he risk getting caught if he was cheating on you?” she asks.

  “Charlie openly flirted with women when I was standing right next to him.”

  “Nora, I love you and will always support you, but do you think you are overreacting to all of this? Hank doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would ask a woman to marry him then turn around a day later and cheat on her.”

  “Zoe, I saw what I saw, and I’m not going to risk giving my heart to another man only to have him tear it apart again.” How dare she tell me I’m overreacting, she saw first-hand what Charlie did to me. She was the first person to tell me what he was doing behind my back. Now here she is defending another cheat.

  “If you keep running away from guys who talk to other women, then you are going to spend the rest of your life alone. You need to give Hank a chance to explain what happened. I don’t think it’s as bad as you think it is,” she says.

  “Why are you defending him?” I snap.

  “With Charlie I could tell with one look that he was a cheat and he would always be one. I look at Hank and I see a man who loves and adores you. That man worships the ground you walk on. Don’t let what that asshat Charlie did to you keep you from getting the man of your dreams. Just give Hank the chance to explain his side of the story. For all you know, that woman could have been someone he helped at the precinct and she was just thanking him.”

  “I don’t know. I just need some time to clear my head.” I let out a sigh. She might be right. It could have been an innocent kiss on the cheek. I will never know if I don’t give Hank the chance to explain.

  “Stay here as long as you need.” Just then, there is a knock on the door. “Who the hell could that be?” Zoe gets up from the couch and walks over to the door. “Oh shit, Hank.”

  My head snaps toward the door just as Hank pushes his way inside. My glass of wine falls out of my hand as I stumble up from the couch in surprise. “Hank, what the hell are you doing here?” He barrels straight for me with an intense, dark, possessive look in his eyes. He grabs me by the hand and lifts me off the ground, throwing me over his shoulder. “Hank, put me down right now,” I shout.

  “Nope, I am taking you back home. You can kick and scream all you want, it won’t make a difference. You’re mine, and I’m taking back what’s mine,” he says with a possessive growl as he carries me toward the door.

  I look up and see Zoe giggling at my current situation. “Zoe, are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me?”

  “Sorry sis, you’re on your own.” She waves at me. “I’ll drop your stuff off tomorrow,” she shouts as we walk out into the hallway.

  “Hank, seriously, put me down. I promise I won’t run away.” Where would I run? Obviously, he can find me no matter where I go.

  “I like you right where you are.” He tightens his grip around my legs.

  The elevator doors open and I can hear people inside chuckle at the sight of us, and what a sight we must be. Thank God I chose to wear pants and not a dress today.

  Hank comes to a stop in the parking garage. I hear the car door open, and the next thing I know, I’m in the back of Hank’s police car. “Seriously Hank, your squad car? I’m not a criminal.” He thought of everything.

  “You already ran from me once, and I didn’t want to take any chances. You are going to sit back there and listen to what I have to say.” The engine roars to life and, as Hank pulls out into traffic, I accept my fate. I will give him the chance to explain himself, I owe him that much.

  “The woman you saw me with was my cousin, Lucy. She’s my mother’s niece, and the only one in my family, other than my mom, that I like and respect. I helped Lucy and her daughter after her husband passed away. My mom gave her the startup capital to open her coffee shop, Lucy’s Books and Coffee.” As the words come out, I feel like a gigantic idiot. “I wanted her to meet you and what you saw was her congratulating me on finding you. You know, the woman I love. THE only woman I love. I will admit, I should have given you fair warning about what you were walking into, and I am sorry for that.” He looks up at me through the rear view mirror. “I love you, Nora, and when I promised you that I would never do anything to hurt you, I was telling you the truth.”

  I am a fool, a fool who almost let the most amazing man slip through her fingers. “Hank, stop the car,” I demand. I need out of the back of this car. I need to hold him, tell him what an idiot I’ve been.

  “I’m not going to let you run from me again, Nora.”

  “Just let me out of the fucking car Hank.” I slam my hand against the bulletproof glass divider. Hank brings the car to a stop in an alley and climbs out of the driver’s seat. He reluctantly opens the door, and I leap out into his arms.

  “I’m so so sorry. I let my past with Charlie cloud my judgement.” I sob into his shoulder.

  “I should have told you we were meeting with Lucy. It was stupid of me, especially after everything that went down with that asshole.” He holds me tight in his arms and I feel safe again.

  “I was so scared, and all I wanted to do was run to protect myself. Except, I was running away from the one thing in this world that makes feel safe. I don’t like feeling this way. I saw you with a strange woman and I freaked out. I should have talked to you.”

  “I don’t want you running every time I talk to women, it’s kind of a part of my job. If you start to feel like running, I want you to come to me and we will work it out together. We’re a team now Nora, and we need to work together if we are going to make this work,” he says. He tracked me down, carried me out of my sister’s apartment, and locked me in the back of his police car. If that doesn’t scream love, I don’t know what does.

  “I promise, no more running. Can we go home now?”

  “God yes. There is a little girl anxiously awaiting your return.” I didn’t just hurt Hank by leaving, I hurt Colby. I promised her I was going to be her new mommy. She had one mother leave her at the hospital when she was a baby, and just when she opens up to the possibility of a new mom, I run. I hope she will be able to forgive me.

  * * *

  I stand outside Colby’s bedroom door with my stomach i
n knots and my palms sweating at my sides. I thought facing Hank was going to be hard, but this has nothing on that. “Colby, it’s Nora, can I come in?” I ask through the wooden door.

  The door slowly creaks open, and Colby’s head appears through the opening. My heart sinks knowing how much I hurt her. I drop to me knees and take a deep breath. “Colby, I’m so sorry for leaving the way I did. I was really sad and that is no excuse for what I did. Adults make stupid decisions sometimes. I promise you, I will never leave you again. Will you forgive me?” I ask, holding my breath. I wouldn’t blame her if she hates me forever.

  Colby steps out of her room and stands in front of me. I can’t get a read from her face. “Did Daddy say he was sorry for hurting your feelings?” she asks.

  “He did, but it wasn’t all his fault. I was being silly and left before we could talk. We worked everything out and I’m not going anywhere,” I promise. I’m never leaving Hank and Colby again. They are my family, and I can’t let my fears take me from them again.

  “Are you still going to be my mommy?”

  “I want to be your mommy, if you will still have me.”

  She steps closer to me, filling the space between us and slings her arms around my neck. “I wuv you, Miss Nora.”

  “I love you, too, my sweet girl,” I say then kiss her cheek.

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  Hank

  IT’S MOVING DAY again, except this time we are moving Nora into my room. I gaze at the mountains of fabric piled up on Nora’s bed, wondering where the hell she stored it all in this tiny room. “You know, we could turn this room into your sewing room,” I suggest. More so because I don’t want to move it all out of here.

  “It would be nice to have a bigger space to work in, especially since I’m thinking about selling my costumes and dresses,” she says, tossing the contents of her underwear drawer into a box.

  “I think you will sell the hell out of your designs.” I walk around the bed and slide an arm around her waist. “I will help you any way I can. I don’t want to brag, but I can sew on a button like a boss.”

  “Well then you, my friend, just got promoted to manager of the button department.” She giggles. “Let’s finish moving my stuff to our room.” She rises to her tiptoes and kisses my cheek.

  “What did your parents say when you told them about us?” I’m nervous as fuck about meeting Nora’s family. After the confusion that happened with my cousin, and the fact that I’ve never been the kind of guy you would take home to meet the parents, I’m basically scared shitless. This is what Nora wants before we get married, so I will suck it up and do it to make her happy.

  “You make me happy, so they are excited to meet you. They already adore Colby,” she replies.

  “She’s an adorable kid, so what’s not to love. They aren’t concerned about us getting married so fast?” I know for me, if Colby came to me and said she was getting married to some guy she’d only known a couple of months, I would be like, no fucking away is that happening. I don’t have to worry about that because she is not allowed to date until I’m cold in the ground. Even then, I would haunt her boyfriends.

  “My parents got married three days after meeting. They understand, when it feels right, there is no waiting.” She gives me another kiss before she goes back to cleaning out her dresser.

  “If I was a smarter man I wouldn’t have waited two months to stake my claim on you.”

  “I’m kind of glad we had some time to get to know each other before you went all caveman on me.” She giggles.

  “Caveman, huh? I’ll show you caveman.” I grab her by the wrist and spin her around. Lifting her up with ease, I throw her over my shoulder and give her ass a hard smack. “Mine,” I grunt as I carry her out to the hallway. Nora squeals and wiggles all the way.

  I turn and Colby is standing in the hall with a puzzled look on her face. “Daddy, what are you doing with Miss Nora?”

  “She was really tired, and I was just carrying her to bed.”

  Colby cocks an eyebrow up at me. “Daddy, you’re crazy.”

  “Busted.” Nora snickers. “I think it’s time for Miss Colby’s bath.”

  I set Nora back down on her feet. “I will go take my crazy self down to the basement and burn off some of this extra energy.”

  Nora leans into my ear and whispers, “Don’t burn off too much, you’re going to need it later.” She kisses my cheek while her hand squeezes my ass. Goddamn, I love this woman.

  * * *

  The door to the gym opens and in walks Nora in the tiniest pair of workout shorts I have ever seen and blue sports bra. She looks so fucking sexy I almost drop the weights in my hands. She flashes me a sly grin through the mirror as she saunters over to the elliptical.

  “What are you doing, beautiful?”

  “I thought I would come and workout with my man while Colby is distracted with a movie,” she replies with a sexy grin.

  I try to regain focus and move to doing squats, but my eyes soon wander back to Nora. She watches my every move, biting her lip as she watches my ass. I move to a deeper squat and that sends her stumbling on the elliptical. This brings a grin to my face. She steadies herself and starts back again. My eyes are glued to her tits as they bounce and sway with her movements. I’m so distracted, I lose count and do so many squats my legs are on fire. Get it together Ross.

  I set the weights back on the rack. Nora’s eyes follow me as I move through the room over to the stretching mats. Now to give her a real show. I lower myself down to a pushup position. After a few warm up reps, I move my left arm off the ground and rest it on my back to do some one arm pushups.

  “Sweet Mother of God,” Nora pants.

  I smile to myself as I switch arms. “Do you think you could do pushups with me on your back?” Nora’s feet appear in front of me. My eyes follow up her long, lean legs to the cocky grin on her face.

  “Why don’t you hop on and find out,” I reply confidently. I brace both hands on the mat as she straddles my back and crosses her legs. With ease, I lower down then rise back up.

  “Good Lord, I’m marrying Superman.” Nora’s head falls back with laughter.

  “Your pussy is my kryptonite. It always brings me to my knees.”

  “I think it’s time you got on your knees right now.” The demanding tone in her voice makes me hard as steel. She climbs off my back and strides over to the bench press. Her shoes come off first, followed by her shorts. My tongue glides hungrily along my lower lip. She sits down on the edge of the bench, spreading her legs nice and wide, giving me the perfect view of her wet, pretty, pussy. Her hand raises and she beckons to me with her index finger. “Come here, I need your mouth on me.” Her voice is full of need.

  I slowly crawl over to her, like a lion stalking his prey. My lips start at her inner knee, softly kissing and licking my way up her thigh. I hold her in my gaze as I flatten my tongue and lick her sweet pussy.

  “MMMmmmm yes. Just like that.” Her words fade to a moan, and her head drops back while I lick and taste her. I spread her lips open and flick my tongue over her clit repeatedly. Her hips rock against my face. She tastes so fucking good. The beast takes over, plunging my tongue deep inside her tight cunt. With my head wiggling back and forth, I devour every last drop of her. My hands wrap around her thighs, holding her steady, as her body begins to shake with her release.

  “Give it to me Nora. Come all over my fucking tongue,” I growl before latching onto her clit and sucking hard as she comes.

  She screams my name and drenches my face in her sweet honey. “That’s my good girl.” I alternate between licks and kisses across her clit as she comes down from her high. When her body settles, I order her to lie back on the bench and put her hands above her head.

  I give her pussy one last kiss then climb up from the floor and walk over to the hooks lining the wall on the other side of the room. I grab the jump rope hanging from the hooks and return to where Nora is lying. She looks up at me then at
the rope in my hand. A flash of excitement brightens her eyes. I tie one of the ropes around her wrists and secure it to the weight bar above her head.

  I reach behind my head, pull off my shirt, and kick off my shoes. My cock springs free as my shorts drop to the floor. I grip the base of my hard length in my hand and rub the tip along her lips. “Open your mouth,” I order.

  Her lips part and her tongue swirls across my fat tip. “You want me to fuck your mouth, don’t you?”

  “Yes. Please let me suck your cock,” she pleads. Her lips wrap around me, head lifting to force me further inside her mouth. She is so fucking hungry for my dick. Who am I to deny my girl what she wants. I wrap my hand around her ponytail and push deep into her mouth until I hit the back of her throat. She relaxes and takes me even deeper. Fuck, her mouth feels damn good. She sucks and licks every inch of me, her moans vibrate to my core.

  I reach a hand between her legs, pushing three fingers inside her dripping, wet pussy. My cock throbs in her mouth when I realize she’s getting off on sucking my dick. She really is the perfect woman for me. My fingers thrust in rhythm with my hips. I want her coming while I’m coming in her mouth.

  Her teeth gently graze along my length, eliciting a deep primal roar from my throat. My hips snap wildly against her face. The fire rages deep inside me. I’m ready to fucking blow. My body tightens, cock throbbing and pulsating as I paint the back of her throat with cum. Nora releases me from her mouth and screams out her own release.

  I lick my fingers clean as I move down Nora’s body. She’s lying there breathless and at my mercy. “You look so fucking sexy.” I widen her legs with my knee. Just as I press the tip of my cock at her opening, a knock on the door stops me in my tracks.

  “Daddy, Miss Nora, my movie is over,” Colby calls out through the door.

  “We’ll be right there, Princess,” I say, shaking my head at her timing. The joys of having a kid and a new relationship. “I think tomorrow I’m going to teach Colby how to use the remote for the Apple TV.” I chuckle.