Switch (Black Ties Book 2)

by Brynn Ford

  But that's not why I stomped into Law's apartment with intent on confrontation that day.

  That day, he'd decided he should overstep his boundaries and send Ris a text, probably with yet another mixed message, further halting my efforts in consoling her and getting that damn crown straightened out on her head.

  It was early evening when I let myself in and he was exactly where I expected him to be, knowing his routines as well as I did. Law was standing in his kitchen having a cup of coffee while scrolling through his phone.

  "You," I said, completely forgetting my well-rehearsed speech the moment I stepped inside to see him smiling that damn, charming smile at me over his coffee cup.

  "Hey, sweetheart. To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence this evening?"

  "You know what. What did you say to her?"

  "To whom?"

  "Ris. What did your text say? I know you texted her."

  He cocked his head, "How do you know that?"

  "Because she told me."

  "And what did she tell you it said?"

  I hesitated, "She didn't."

  "And you're mad because…"

  "Well," I paused, "Because she told me you texted her and I'd better come over here and give you a piece of my mind. Okay, so she didn’t say I should give you a piece of my mind. But that’s what I intend to do."

  He laughed, "Oh, really?"

  I sat down across from him at the large kitchen island on a bar stool, "Seriously, though, why are you texting her? Are you sending her mixed messages again?"

  He set his coffee down on the countertop and leaned forward on his crossed forearms, “No, I promise I'm not. I wouldn’t have texted her at all if it weren’t necessary."

  "Right,” I rolled my eyes.

  He sat back, straightened to his full height, "I don't recall letting you out of any contract, Blue. Be respectful."

  "The contract is null and void. Ris no longer plays a part in it, so it's done. That was Vaughn’s caveat and you know that.”

  "Yes, I know that. I wrote it. Are you going to tell me why you're so snippy?"

  I tilted my head at him, annoyed, "No, I don't think I will."

  "Then I'll guess. You think I'm overstepping my boundaries with her."

  I raised an eyebrow at him.

  "You think I'm going to barge back into her life making demands on our relationship."

  "What relationship is that, Law?"

  He swallowed, "You think I'm going to text her, call her, show up on her doorstep unexpectedly. You think I'm going to make it all worse."

  "Yes. I do think you'll make it worse," I sighed, "Please don't text her. Please. She's in a tougher spot right now than I can tell you. She can't let her emotions out with you around like she can with me. She's been through hell. If you come back into the picture right now, I just worry she'll backtrack. She just, you know, she needs to be a strong, independent woman right now. She needs to be Ris, on her own. And if she wants to be the 'Luscious Lawyer' or the 'Ample Attorney' or whatever bullshit their calling her on social media today, she's got to come back to that lifestyle on her own, you know? And her terms aren't going to be your terms, Law. They're not."

  His smile was sad, but it was a smile nonetheless, "I know you’re right. I hate that it’s true because I’d give anything to see her, but I get it,” he paused, “I'm really proud of you."

  "Why?”

  He chuckled, "I think you're finally growing into yourself."

  "You know you sound like a creepy old man when you say stuff like that to me, right?"

  I couldn't help but bite my lip.

  His smile broadened, "There's a whole game we could play with that, sweetheart."

  Don't tempt me, dammit.

  “If you were really interested in playing that game, you would’ve moved onto a new sub already and played it. I saw your email open on your laptop the other day. Tons of messages. Tons."

  He grinned, "Yeah, I've seen them. I'm not interested.”

  "I know you’re not interested because you're in love with Ris,” I blurted.

  He stared me down as I returned a broad grin of my own.

  "Tell me I'm wrong," I challenged him.

  "Why were you on my laptop? I should punish the shit out of you for that."

  Oh, my God.

  He’s totally deflecting.

  Is it true?

  My eyes went wide, "I was just teasing about you being in love, but…shit. I'm right, aren't I?"

  He placed his palms down flat on the countertop, leaning forward.

  "Listen. I don't know what I feel for Christine, but you'd better believe she's going to be the first one to know when I figure it out. Not you."

  I covered my mouth with my hand, "Holy, fucking hell. You're in love with her. What did you text her about? What did it say?"

  I could hear my voice bursting with elation, my pitch tightening with excitement.

  "It had nothing to do with any of that. Actually, I texted her about you."

  "About me?"

  "Desi," he shook his head, "Why do you think she told you to come over here? So you could yell at me for sending a text?"

  "Well, no. I don't know."

  He walked around the island and came over to me, grasping my hips and spinning me on the stool to face him.

  "There's a surprise for you. Upstairs."

  "You've got my birthday wrong.”

  He smiled, leaning toward me and tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, "Better than a birthday present."

  My eyebrows creased, "Okay. Well, what is it?"

  "You'll have to go see for yourself."

  "I'm not finished interrogating you yet."

  "Oh, believe me, sweetheart, you're finished. You need to get your ass upstairs."

  I realized just then that this whole conversation, I'd been listening to a familiar sound. A sound so normal in the lives of normal people that I hadn't even registered it as abnormal. Shower water running. But then suddenly it cut off.

  "Blue," Law snapped back into command mode, "Get your butt up those stairs and in your room like your life depends on it."

  I inhaled a sharp breath, taking in the seriousness of his demeanor. He meant it. And I suddenly had the gut instinct that something completely unexpected was about to happen.

  "Yes, Sir," I said on reflex.

  I swiveled to grab my purse and keys, but he shoved at them before my hands were on them, knocking them to the floor at the end of the island.

  "Go. Now. Run."

  He was so insistent, as if there were a surprise party in my room that had to begin at the exact right moment. Regardless of the odd way this conversation had gone, I trusted Law, and I knew he needed me to listen, so I did. I fast walked toward the spiral staircase and could hear him huff as I reached the bottom step.

  "Faster, Blue!" he shouted at me.

  I jogged up the winding steps at a comfortable pace and turned left to go into my bedroom. The door was shut and locked, as I'd left it. I went to the railing at the landing and leaned over to shout down to Law.

  "It's locked and you threw my keys on the floor! Sir!"

  "Just fucking knock, Blue," he pinched the bridge of his nose.

  "What the fuck is even happening?"

  I went back to my room and raised my fist to knock on my own damn door. I rolled my eyes when nothing happened. I was about to turn and go back downstairs when the door flung open from the inside.

  I was caught off-guard by the sight of someone on the inside of my room and the bright light flooding in through the windows behind him. I blinked, literally having to convince myself that I wasn't dreaming, that I was really standing here, that this was really happening, that Vaughn was really in front of me, wrapped in a white towel, tattoo covered muscles glistening with droplets fresh from the shower, here.

  He’s here.

  "Vaughn?" my voice came out small.

  I knew he was real and in front of me when his grin broadened, w
rinkling the corners of his perfect, honey colored eyes.

  "Baby," he said, "I'm home."

  “You’re…what are you…how are you…”

  “Overcrowding and good behavior got me home to you early. Surprise.”

  I didn’t think.

  I launched forward, colliding forcefully with his brick wall chest.

  Vaughn’s chest.

  His arms closed around me, lifting me off my feet.

  Vaughn’s arms.

  We spun and it felt like the whole world started revolving around the sun again, for the first time since he had been taken away from me. He halted, still as a statue, just squeezing me tight, holding me close, breathing me in.

  My breath caught in my throat as I inhaled his evergreen fresh scent and my brain caught up.

  Vaughn’s home.

  Vaughn’s here.

  He’s free and he’s with me again.

  I’ll never let him go.

  Hunger exploded in my belly, radiating passionate need for every part of him through every part of me. I lifted my legs, hitching myself higher to settle on his hips as I wrapped my ankles tightly around his waist. He held me strongly in his tattooed arms as I grabbed his cheeks with both hands.

  “Kiss me,” I bit my lip.

  Vaughn groaned and slammed his lips down hard on mine, parting my lips with his eager tongue. I moaned at the taste of him, the feel of his full lips bruising mine. My tongue met his with ferocity, gratitude, longing, and desperation, swirling with his to feed him a thousand feelings I didn’t know any other way to express.

  I knew he felt it, too, the overwhelming soul burn of it all. We both whimpered and moaned at the feeling of connection we had been waiting so long to feel.

  Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Vaughn’s tears came first. I felt the droplets touch my hands on his cheeks. It cracked my protective shell, the thin layer I had built to protect myself from the loss of him since he’d been arrested. As soon as the shell cracked, my own tears broke free, but escaped me in a sob that inadvertently broke our kiss.

  We paused, pressing our foreheads together as we let the release of heartache and loneliness purge itself from our bodies. I caressed his cheeks with my thumbs, brushing his tears away.

  “You’re really here?” my voice was a whisper, “It’s all over? They’re not going to make you go back? I don’t understand.”

  He smiled, looking up at me from beneath his lashes, “I’m really here and it’s all over, baby. This nightmare is over. No one’s taking me back there, away from you. I won’t let that happen ever again.”

  “So, this is real?”

  “It’s real, Holly Blue. I promise I’ll tell you everything later. But first,” he reluctantly, slowly, lowered me to my feet, “I’m gonna need you to close that door.”

  My grin threatened to rip my face in half and I stepped backward deliberately, reaching behind me for the door. The moment my fingers grazed the wood, I slammed it hard behind me and moved backward against it before turning the lock.

  Vaughn pulled his towel free from his hips, revealing his strong erection that I knew he had since the moment he laid eyes on me after opening the door. He tossed it aside as his eyes sparked with need.

  "I'm not gonna last very long once I sink inside you, baby," he rushed forward, pressing himself against me, trapping me against the door, "But I need it now."

  "I'm all yours, V."

  His fingers tickled my skin as they slipped beneath the hemline of the oversized hoodie I wore. It was his hoodie, one he'd bought himself the day we met on my college campus, the day I nearly tripped over him giving a tour, the day he got accepted to the Architecture Master's degree program.

  That day, he'd snuck in to join the high school tour group I was leading after catching my ass midair as I fell over him, bent down, tying his shoe. He followed my tour all the way to the end to the college bookstore. He used buying a new sweatshirt as an excuse to flirt with me. Our lives were intertwined together from that point forward. It felt like magic that I was wearing that same hoodie now.

  All the same, I was anxious for it to be discarded, frantic to be bare and to feel his skin against my skin.

  He peeled the sweatshirt from my body, tossing it aside, and reached down to unbutton the fly of my jeans. I reached behind me to unclasp my bra, taking it off as he stripped my jeans and panties away. I was already panting by the time I was naked in front of him.

  Vaughn stepped back to look at me, his eyes skimming from head to toes, regarding me with longing and love that sparked heat from deep within my core.

  "My eyes have been starving for this. To see you, Desi, all of you. Fuck, you're beautiful."

  I opened my arms to beckon him and he obliged, invading my space so fully that I felt completely overwhelmed by it all. He buried his face in the side of my neck as he cupped my cheek with one hand, the other slipping down my side and reaching in between my legs. He nipped at the tender flesh of my neck as his fingers found my clit and rested, just rested there, trembling and waiting for me.

  "I need you inside me. Please. Fill me, Vaughn. Fuck me. Fuck me hard. Then make love to me all night long."

  "Fuck," he groaned and his finger moved lower, grazing my opening and finding just how wet I was for him, "You're ready for me?"

  I smiled, "I've been ready for you since you left."

  He grabbed my hips with both hands and looked at me with devilish eyes and a smirk, "Up."

  He lifted and I hopped, wrapping my legs around him. I leaned back against the door to give him leverage, adjusting my hips as he positioned his cock at my opening. As soon as he was in place, I lowered my weight, sliding onto his erection.

  The angle made it a tight fit, probably made worse by the fact that I hadn't been penetrated by anything near as large as Vaughn's cock in months. I let him push into me forcefully, pressing his length fully inside me and stretching me until he was buried to the hilt.

  The feel of it was excruciating, maddening ecstasy.

  My man was home.

  "Vaughn," I moaned and he started to move.

  He pulled out and pushed back in hard. Quick, shallow bursts took me roughly as he got lost in the blissful feeling of being inside me. I hadn't even thought about it before, but the way he took me so quickly, his desperation for release written all over his face, I suddenly wondered if he'd had any private moments to force release for himself while locked up. The agony of that build-up coupled with the pain of being apart was apparent in the way his facial features tightened and strained. He wanted me to enjoy this, but he also needed to let go. He had been released from jail, but he hadn't felt it yet. I could give him that release. I would give him the encouragement he needed to feel that release.

  "I need you to come inside me, Vaughn. Come inside me. Take me. Claim me. Don't make me wait. Don't make me wait to feel how good it is to be filled by you. Come. Now, V."

  I squeezed my legs tighter around him and could feel his cock pulsing and throbbing inside of me. He was close. The feel of it made me hot, wet, overcome with need for him to take back ownership of my body.

  "My pussy is yours, V. It belongs to you. I want your come dripping down my legs, remind me it's all for you."

  "Shit, Desi. Fuck, yes," he groaned and fucked me faster, harder, the door creaking on its hinges at my back, "Yes, fuck, fuck, Desi. God, yes!"

  He groaned and grunted out a deliciously sated breath of pure relief as he spilled inside me, his body slumping, his weight leaning heavily on mine.

  "Yes, baby," I told him, moving my hands from his shoulders to wrap around him in a tight embrace as I kissed his cheek, his jawline, his lips, "You're home, baby. You're safe inside me. I missed you. I missed you so much."

  He lifted his head to look at me, huffing. Relief softened his features, but tension still resided there, keeping them taut.

  "I love you, Desi. I love you. Always."

  "I love you, too. Always."

  He caught his breath
and slowly lowered me to my feet, sliding his arms around my waist and holding me.

  “Sorry for coming so fast. That’s not how I pictured making love to you the first time out.”

  I lowered my hands to his chest as I looked up at him, smiling.

  “I thought it was perfect. I missed you, the way you need me with such urgency. It reminds me that I’m loved by you and I’ve missed it so fucking much.”

  He was grinning down at me, perfect brightness, perfect white teeth, beaming just to be in front of me. It tugged my heartstrings, forcing my heart to beat harder against my ribcage. I bit my lip.

  “I want you in bed. You and me. The rest of the day. Marathon fucking.”

  I grinned, “You had me at…well,” I cocked my head, “You had me the moment you opened that door.”

  “You had me a long damn time ago, Mrs. Cooper.”

  Chapter 22

  Vaughn

  “Holy hell, I missed your hands,” my beautiful wife said with a satisfied chuckle.

  She was lying next to me in her bed at Law’s apartment, on her back, legs spread. She was panting, her perfect tits rising and falling quickly in the afterglow of the pleasure I gave her with three thick fingers.

  “And they missed you, I promise,” I smirked at her from where I lay on my side next to her.

  Propping my elbow on her pillow, I held myself up to take in the sight of her as the hand I’d used to make her come splayed across her belly. Desi turned her head to look at me.

  “Tell me what happened. How did you get out?”

  I sighed, starting to trace circles around her belly button, “I don’t know all the behind-the-scenes details, but it’s pretty straightforward, I guess. They had too many inmates in the facility as it was and couldn’t keep the newbies in holding for any longer. I’m guessing they were probably pushing the timeline there and had to make some decisions. The COs told me they were letting me out for good behavior, which was probably the only reason they were allowed to tell me. But I could see how overcrowded the holding tanks were when they were processing my discharge. And honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit to find out that the press surrounding Asher’s case bumped me up on that early release list.”