Kiss From a Rose

by Bella Fontaine

  Lifting my hips, I met his thrusts, and my body quaked when he rammed in deeper and started pounding into me. All promises of slow and feasting were out the window because this was something else. Not sex, not making love. It was wild and animalistic. Hot and primal fucking that made us both cry out from his relentless plundering.

  Each thrust sent me reeling, and still I wanted more, even as he hammered into me with a pure, hot rush of need.

  I was stretched to the limit, and my inner walls rippled against him.

  There were no words, just sounds of passion and the sounds of sweat-slicked flesh slapping against each other echoing through the room as we grunted and gasped.

  I knew when we’d reached our climax. We reached it together. It felt good to feel his cock harden and expand inside me. Passion burst where we were joined, and our bodies shuddered against the blast that pummeled us over the edge.

  I felt myself falling, but he caught me. Literally caught me, wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me against his chest.

  We lowered our bodies together, collapsing onto the sofa in a tangle, and I pressed my head against him, relishing the deep connection we just shared.

  I turned so I could see his face. His expression was what caught my attention.

  It was contemplative, but his adoration of me was alive in his eyes.

  I wondered if he felt it too. That wild energy we’d just shared.

  He pressed his forehead to mine and stroked my face, holding me close to his wild beating heart.

  It was then that I truly felt like his.

  Chapter 15

  Anya

  Today felt like there was something new about the day. It was the kind of feeling you experienced when you just woke up and had something to look forward to.

  The wild sex we had this morning felt like that. But it was different, and I wasn’t sure that calling it sex was the right word.

  How long had I been with Caine? A few weeks, and I felt like this. Like I could fly, like I had everything.

  I looked at him as he talked to Aunt Halle about the work he had done at the motel. It was nice to see her react so well to him.

  She looked better, and strong even though Dr. Fernandez had just given us the rundown of the plans for her surgery. He was positive, so that made us all positive.

  Halle was scheduled for a coronary artery bypass graft next Friday. The aim was to bypass the blocked portion of her coronary artery. It didn’t feel like we had enough time, but I guessed with anything like this, the quicker we acted the better.

  He said that would be the best option for her because of the level of damage that had been done to her heart. He seemed positive that with the right after care, medication, and diet, she’d be okay.

  Although it was a worry to have surgery of that degree and severity, it was better than hearing she might need a heart transplant.

  The most important thing was, she looked happy, and she seemed ready for it.

  And what was more important than that was her angel standing next to her, talking like an excited little boy.

  Her angel and mine, who was footing all the expenses and had taken it upon himself to be here for both of us. Her big time, but me too.

  I didn’t want to think about what I would have done if he hadn’t come to our rescue.

  What would I have done without him?

  What in the world would I have done? I couldn’t even take out a loan. Not a loan this big anyway.

  Caine had rescued her heart, but in the same breath had stolen mine.

  Caine had stolen my heart, and I was becoming steadily aware that I was losing the grip on my feelings for him.

  “Caine, sugar, can you be a dear and ask the nurses for a cup of tea for me, please?” Halle asked him. She glanced quickly my way, then back to him. “And one of those butter rolls they serve at breakfast.”

  “I’ll do better than that. I’ll run to Starbucks and get you that hot chocolate you like with the hazelnut syrup, and I’ll get some sugar buns.” Caine nodded.

  “Boy, you are too much. Thank you, but that might give me diabetes while I’m here.”

  “Okay, I’ll lose the buns and grab you the rolls. The hot chocolate is a must though.”

  “Okay, Lieutenant, who am I to disagree with the powers that be?” She laughed that deep, hearty laugh that was infectious.

  Caine left her side and came over to me. I noticed straight away the look Halle gave us, and the spark of curiosity in her large brown eyes.

  We hadn’t told her anything about us, but I got the feeling we might not need to. Halle was the kind of woman who just knew something without the need to be told.

  “Frog-free hot chocolate?” He leaned close, maybe too close if he was trying to hide that we were together.

  “Sounds good. Thank you.”

  A spark flickered in his eyes, and he surprised me by leaning in closer to kiss my forehead before he left.

  He’d walked out casually and coolly, as if we did that all the time and like it was the most natural thing to do in front of Halle. To me, it was no different than as if he’d kissed my lips.

  Of course, when I turned to face Halle, I was met with her penetrative, suspicious-as-hell and amused stare.

  I couldn’t even try not to smile because the damn smile had tipped the corners of my mouth the minute Caine kissed me.

  “Baby girl, don’t you even try to tell me there’s nothing going on between you two. It’s as clear as glass.” She wagged her pointer at me, and the wavy ends of her hair brushed over her shoulders.

  I opened my mouth to respond but froze as I thought of what to say.

  “What makes you think that something’s going on?” It was a poor attempt at trying. I was thinking more along the lines of maybe talking to Caine first before telling Halle anything about us.

  She smirked and rolled her eyes at me. “Child, please, I wasn’t born yesterday. I know him. I’ve looked after that boy since he was five days old. I know when something’s up, and my dear niece, I know you. I think you forget how well I know you.”

  Her words were sweet, and there was a sentiment to them that meant a lot to me. I liked that she knew me. It was nice to have that kind of relationship with her.

  I missed that with my mom, but we never really got to have these talks.

  “It’s…”

  Halle looked concerned at my hesitation. “What? What is it? While he’s been so excited he can’t stop talking, you’ve been quiet. Really quiet.”

  “I worried about your surgery. It’s a big deal.”

  She held out her hands to me, and I moved closer to take them. “It’s natural to be worried about me like that. But I can see there’s more on your mind. Guy worries.” She raised a brow.

  “It’s not going to be serious between us, Halle.” I pulled in a deep breath and continued. “He doesn’t want a relationship.”

  “Has he told you that?”

  I chuckled. “Yes, that’s the thing. It’s like that little analogy you told me. Picking up a snake and expecting it to change into something else. But you knew it was a snake when you picked it up. So, what should I expect other than what is to be expected?”

  The light humor in her expression faltered, and she gave my hands a gentle squeeze.

  “Sometimes it takes a while to see what you really want.”

  “Yeah, but what does that mean I should do? I don’t tend to get involved with guys who don’t want me, or the ones I don’t want.”

  “Don’t worry about it too much. That’s the best advice I can give you. I was never married, and I know you know I never really gave anyone the time of day, but I know that’s true.”

  “Why, Halle? Why did you never marry?”

  She shook her head. “I think I was… I was focused on other things. My mission was the motel. I wanted to break out of that prison on being the help.”

  Prison. I’d never heard her describe it like that before. I knew it couldn’t have
been easy to work for the Donoghues, but just now, she’d made it sound worse than she’d previously described.

  “I get it.”

  “Yes, but I fear that I turned down a few potentials along the way.”

  “We’ll get you back on your feet and dating.” I giggled.

  “I’m nearly sixty, girl. Who’ll want me?” She shook her head and laughed.

  “Aunt Halle, you’re beautiful. Anyone would want you.”

  She smiled and lifted my hands higher. “You too, Anya, but I think you definitely found one guy who truly adores you.”

  It was a nice thought. I knew Caine probably did adore me, but that would be it. I guess there would be a point when this crazy sexual train we were riding would burn out of steam, and he’d tell me just that in his typical Caine manner.

  I had the choice. I could hop off the train and save myself the grief, or I could stay.

  Maybe a sensible person would jump off at the next stop, but my heart was… screaming, yearning for him. It made me love’s fool.

  So, like a fool, I’d ride it out and wait to get hurt.

  Caine

  “That is messed up, Caine.” Lopez leaned down onto his elbows and gazed ahead at the sea as the waves washed over the shore.

  I looked out too and sighed. “It’s messed up. I need to find out who this friend is.”

  I hadn’t meant for our meetup to be all business talk. I got to his place half an hour earlier than the others, and we talked about what was going on.

  The guys came, and it was great catching up with them because I hadn’t seen them in forever, but the problems weighed heavily on my mind.

  Today was also the first that I’d left Anya’s side. I wasn’t the paranoid type, but damn, it worried me that something could happen to her. There was nothing to stop those assholes from taking her if they wanted to. They could just to get to me. Then what?

  I wasn’t scared for myself. It was her. She meant so much to me it scared me, because I didn’t think it was possible for me to meet anyone I would feel this way about.

  I didn’t do relationships because I didn’t know how. The other day, I’d realized that it wasn’t something you learned. It was the feelings behind it. Wanting to be with that person and getting to know what you could about them to make them happy.

  But then… I’d seen the ugly side to being involved with someone. My parents were the ugly side. Both of them.

  Dad shouldn’t have cheated on Mom, and when Mom found out, she should have just left his ass. She didn’t have to leave the world. She didn’t have to leave me.

  I blinked to regain my focus.

  I planned to leave in half an hour and go straight to Anya. I liked having her at my place. It was perfect for us both, not that Halle’s place wasn’t.

  She just felt more like mine in my own place.

  Lopez returned his gaze to me and smirked. “You know that now that I know about this and you’re my friend, I can’t just let you wander off doing God knows what.”

  “And you know I’m going to do something, right?” I hoped he wasn’t going to try and stop me.

  Lopez was a great friend to me, but I wouldn’t be listening if that was what he was going to tell me.

  “I know, man, cool off. I’m just saying I can’t let you do something crazy by yourself. Plus, as a cop, it’s my duty to check these things out. What they’re doing is entirely illegal. I just have to get the evidence together. It does sound like there’s something more at work here. So far, we have threats and the unreasonable requests, but we don’t want this to turn uglier than it already is, and we don’t want to bring a law suit yet because those things take time. These people love time, and we can’t give them that.”

  “We can’t give them that at all. And thanks, I appreciate the help.” Having a cop with me would be good because I didn’t know what was going to happen, and if one of those guys did something crazy, I would be even crazier and retaliate a hundred-fold.

  “I got your back. I think it’s wise to have someone on watch for Anya, just because she was mentioned.”

  I straightened and pressed my lips together. “She’ll freak out.”

  “We can do it covertly, just have someone around in case anything happens.”

  “Thank you.” That would make me feel better, but it also highlighted the seriousness of the situation.

  While nothing had happened for the last three days, that didn’t mean nothing was happening. I just couldn’t see it yet, but I didn’t doubt that there was activity going on in the background. Donny hadn’t called. That meant he hadn’t accepted my offer and things were still hanging in the air.

  The threat was still very much there.

  “Stakeout.” Lopez nodded. “We need a stakeout.”

  “Stakeout as in me and you.” It was more of a declaration than a question. The thing was, I’d already planned to do that. I planned that if Donny didn’t get back to me by yesterday, that was the very thing I’d do. I needed to find out who this friend was. That was the key.

  I figured the sum of what was going on behind the scenes was this. The friend found out that Halle went to these guys to get a loan, and they wanted the motel, so they’d offered these guys something of great value worth to get it. The hundred grand was what they were willing to accept as a minimum, so they would either take the friend’s offer or take the money.

  The fact that I was even thinking all this showed the situation was serious and these guys weren’t the kind to mess with.

  “You and me, pal.” Lopez nodded and chuckled.

  “Tomorrow night?” Tomorrow was Sunday. I wanted to strike while things were hot. There was also one thing I decided to do tomorrow. It was to see Dad.

  I was going to message him in the morning and meet him for lunch.

  I thought waiting until next week would be too long for me. So, tomorrow it was.

  “Tomorrow night, man. Bring some snacks.”

  I chuckled. Snacks. I got the feeling that with how shifty Quick and Easy Loans looked, we wouldn’t need snacks.

  But I didn’t care. As long as I found out who this friend was, I would wait forever.

  I just hoped he turned up.

  Chapter 16

  Caine

  I’d just sent the message to my father, and within five minutes he responded.

  It was ten a.m. In the past, I remembered him usually being up from about eight, reading the Sunday paper. One of the maids would bring it to him. When I was younger, that maid would be Halle.

  He’d make her bring it to him with a freshly squeezed glass of orange juice. Smooth.

  I frowned at the memory because memories like that didn’t have any good connotations for me.

  Mostly, I recalled the angst I’d felt sitting at the breakfast table wanting to tell him to get it himself, then I remembered when I did tell him to get it himself.

  I was fourteen and at that age where I was beginning to see that he treated his staff like shit. My other friends’ parents did not treat their staff like that. In fact, most of the staff looked happy, and they were all more like friends.

  A job was a job. It didn’t give anyone the right to treat you differently or like less of a person just because they worked for you. But my asshole of a father thought it did.

  That day, when I told him to get the drink and the paper his fucking self, he was shocked to shit that I spoke to him like that. And Halle… while she looked like she experienced some kind of triumph, she gave me a good telling off for using language like a sailor.

  The thing was, I’d always been a sailor in the making.

  Today, here I was, about to go see my father for the long awaited social visit.

  I gazed over Anya in my bed as she stirred.

  I was standing by the window bay seat. I watched her dainty body shuffle to the side, and I smiled when she reached for me in her sleep.

  She did that too. I did that. It was awful when I woke up and she was either in anot
her room of the house or gone. That last part was what I hated the most.

  I didn’t want her to leave ever. Maybe I was moving too fast. Maybe I should have taken things slow like she wanted, but I couldn’t. Not with her.

  She rolled onto her back, and the sheet slipped down, revealing her gorgeous caramel-tipped nipples on the peaks of her perky tits. With the sun beaming down on her and that hair spread out behind her, she looked like the goddess she was.

  Boy, did she ever.

  When she saw me, she sat up and pulled the sheet back over her breasts, taking away my view of that perfect part of her. A bright smile, radiant like the sun, lit up her face.

  It was a smile I could get used to. Forever. In that moment, as I watched her, I felt like I had everything.

  “Morning. It is still morning, right? God, I have such a busy day.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and chuckled.

  I moved over to her and sat on the edge of the bed.

  “It’s still morning, baby. What is my girl up to today? You know Halle would scold you for being busy on the sabbath.” Of course, that was a joke because I had a busy day too, and I hadn’t really shared what I was up to.

  “You are so funny.” She giggled. “I’m going to see Halle first, and then it’s motel duty. When do I get to see you today, mister?”

  “I’m going to be away for the day, and most of the night maybe.”

  Today was D-day, and I already hated that this was perhaps the most I’d get to see of her for the day.

  Lopez had arranged for two beat cops to keep watch on Anya starting today. I’d message them the minute I left here, and their watch would begin. It felt bad to do this behind her back, but it was best. When I knew what we were up against, I’d tell her. Hopefully, that would be tomorrow.

  Hopefully.

  “All day?” She looked concerned. “What are you up to? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want… I’m just curious.”

  I smiled and leaned in for a kiss. “I’m going to see my father.”