“Why, Alec Peterson,” she said in a playful, faint shock. “You used your clout as an agent to have a secret meeting with you lover.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said with a mischievous smirk.
She smiled. “So, what is so important that you had to talk to me in person?”
“Who said I needed to talk to you?” His lips came down on hers as his arms encircled her waist. He started pushing her backward toward the couch.
She breathlessly broke the kiss. “Wait, you want to have sex?”
Alec started pulling her shirt out of the waistband of her skirt. “I don’t mind if I do,” he teased.
“We can’t have sex here,” she stated with shock.
“Look, we don’t have time to go back to my place, and besides, he isn’t going to know if we’re not too loud.” He continued to pull her shirt out of her waistband.
“I don’t know about this,” she said with worry.
“It’s not like we’re in the great outdoors, but maybe we can do that some other time.” He removed her glasses and then his. He placed them on top of a stack of paper boxes.
“Alec, I–”
He quieted her with a kiss that took her breath away. Her reservations melted as she dropped her purse and moved her hands up his suit jacket. Layla felt her body being lowered onto the hideous green couch. He rose up enough to shrug out of his jacket. She reached up and loosened his tie and unbuttoned the first two buttons of his light-blue dress shirt.
Rock music started to play over the speaker in the ceiling.
Alec lifted her shirt, exposing her thin, white, lacey bra. He placed his mouth over her nipple and suckled it through the lace. He lightly bit it, making her coo. Then he suckled it again. Moving over to the other, he was more aggressive, putting the other dark, throbbing lobe in his mouth, nipping and sucking it until it budded.
His hands smoothed down her sides until he reached the hem of her skirt. When he exposed her white thong panties, he rolled his eyes. “Underwear again?”
“It’s a short skirt,” she said with pouty lips. She lifted her legs up and over him as he pulled them off. Then she reached down to unzip his pants. He wasn’t wearing any boxers, making it easy for her to pull out his hardness.
Alec stuck his two middle fingers into his mouth, wetting them. He shoved them inside of her. Layla didn’t need the help because she was plenty moist already from his suckling.
“Mmm,” she moaned as his fingers worked in and out of her, stretching her out.
“You know I hate to rush, but we need to get down to business. I don’t have long, and I’ve been thinking about you all morning,” he said in a gravely tone as he pulled his fingers out of her. He nuzzled his hips between her legs as he guided his manhood to where they both wanted it to be. He stilled in her as he exhaled with relief.
They started moving together; she wiggled her hips as he grinded in her. Alec lifted up the hand he fingered her with and held himself with as he entered her. He tapped her lips with his two middle fingers. She opened her mouth, letting the fingers inside. Closing her eyes, she relished the taste of their sex in her mouth. A deep, hungry groan escaped from Alec as he watched her suck his fingers.
Taking his fingers out of her warm mouth, he began to give her hard thrusts that bounced her breasts. He stopped thrusting and grinded in her again, and then he went back to thrusting. He kept repeating the pattern, teasing her, making her beg for more. This time, when he went into his hard pumps, he kept it up. Layla grabbed the back of his shirt and held on as spasms of pleasure shot in her. Her moaning got louder.
“Shh, cupcake,” he whispered in her ear. “You don’t want to be louder than the music.”
Layla tried to keep it down, but she was failing.
Alec lifted his head and stuck his fingers back in her mouth, muffling her cries. Then he buried his face in her neck as he began to groan.
Her walls clamped around him as a hot rush swept her into ecstasy. She bit down on his fingers as she loudly mumbled gibberish against him.
“Ah!” Alec quickly pressed his lips against her shoulder, trying to be quiet.
A rush of liquid heat poured into her.
Alec raised his head. Sweat had dampened the edges of his hair. They breathlessly sealed their escapade with a kiss. Then he slowly raised his wrist. After he looked at his watch, he frowned. “I would love to lie here with you a bit longer, but it is almost twenty till one. I have a meeting at one-thirty,” he breathed.
“I understand. I should be going, too,” she said with regret. “I need to run some errands and then get home.”
They put their clothes back in order. As Alec was straightening his suit jacket, Layla was reapplying her lipstick.
“What kind of errands do you need to run?” he asked as he picked up his sunglasses.
She stood and grabbed her sunglasses. “I need to go to the bank and then I need to stop by the liquor store to pick up a gift for a friend, and if I have time, I’m going to the gun range. I don’t have to do too much for dinner since we have leftovers from Thanksgiving.”
His eyebrow cocked up. “Gun range, huh? How’s your shooting?”
“Good,” she said nonchalantly.
“When is your next therapy appointment? “
“Next Thursday.”
He approached her and placed his hands on her waist. “You want to get together again next Friday? If nothing pressing comes up, I can leave the office early and make up the time on Saturday. I would prefer seeing you before then, but I’m training a new guy next week, Monday through Thursday.”
“I don’t know. I’ll be able to know for sure by Thursday morning,” she said.
“All right,” he said and kissed her cheek.
Chapter 28
It took Layla half the therapy session to tell Victoria what had transpired since her last session. She was hesitant to mention that she and Alec had made love and now she was seeing him on the side. But in the spirit of being transparent, she opened herself up to be judged.
“Layla, please keep in mind that I’m not judging you. It’s your life, and I’m not your mother. I’m your therapist who wants to help you recoup your memories and help you to live they best life possible afterward. With that being said, are you sure you know what you are doing with Alec?”
She nodded. “I am.”
“Are you in love with him?”
“I think I am falling in love with him. Some of the feelings I had for him in the past have resurfaced. I think about him when he’s not around. I worry about him being an FBI agent. It’s getting to the point I think about him more than Damien. Then again, I didn’t think or fantasize about Damien all the time the way I do Alec. It seems like Alec understands me better than my husband. If I tell Damien that I am going to the gun range and I have recalled my knowledge of firearms, it would freak him out.”
“That reminds me, when are you going to tell him about your mission to get your memories back? When are you going to tell him that you have remembered and learned things that have implicated that he lied about your name, your family, and possibly your relationship?”
“After the holidays.”
“Okay, why wait?”
“It’s the holidays. It’s supposed to be a joyous time, not a time of conflict and tears.”
“So, you’re not angry about him lying to you?”
“No, because I believe he saved my life by doing so. I had to have known him before the accident. Perhaps we talked in passing or became friends while I was with Carter. Maybe we flirted a little and had a mutual attraction.”
“That’s a possibility,” Victoria said.
“Yes, Alec said that I didn’t mention Damien by name when I turned Carter into the FBI, but maybe I was afraid to.”
“Why?”
“In case Alec got jealous and refused to help me. It’s obvious I had sex with Damien before I had turned Carter in. I was pregnant with Keisha when I woke up in the hospital.”
Victoria
nodded. “Okay. Let’s go back to Alec. Considering what you have told me, he is expecting to have a real relationship with you at some point. Are you going to leave Damien?”
Layla cleared her throat. “Eventually. I will always care for Damien. He’s Keisha’s father, but I don’t think I’m in love with him anymore. Actually, there are times I wonder if I ever really was. When Alec and I had made love at the safe house, my emotions were involved. I could have slept with Damien as a revenge tactic against Carter for something he did – or we could have been drunk,” she said as she shrugged her shoulders.
“Hmm, so what are your plans for the next seven days?” Victoria asked as she made notes.
“Well, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon we got loads of invitations in the mail to attend balls and private Christmas parties,” she said with a hint of excitement. Part of the reason she was looking forward to the Christmas season was because after months of effort, she had finally been inducted into the socialite wives club – not only on Sunset Boulevard, but in Tampa as a whole. Plus, she and Damien had finally received a coveted invitation to one of Katelyn Austin’s legendary dinner parties. She wanted her and Damien to enjoy the fruits of their labor before she dropped the bomb on him. “Also, I want to get a real Christmas tree this year. I want the house to smell like pine for my first Christmas party I’m going to host. You know, the way the invitations are flooding in, I better get a date down and send out my own invitations. Are we done for the day?”
Victoria seemed to be surprise by the question. “Um, just one more thing. Other than you calling him that one time, have you heard from Carter Mitchell?”
“No.” In truth, she hadn’t given another thought about Carter since she had slept with Alec the first time.
“You’re not afraid that he might . . . come after you?”
“No.”
“Why? You were four years ago.”
“For one thing, the FBI, who Alec works for, is keeping tabs on him. Second, I’m no longer a threat to him. Carter believes I have no memory of him. He’s not going to waste his time on me.”
Victoria nodded. “Well, I guess the only thing that is left is my suggestion about a Saturday appointment.”
“You want me to come in on a Saturday?”
“Yes, once in a while, I work Saturdays to catch up on paperwork. And sometimes I work patients in. I would like to take that session to put you under hypnosis again. Perhaps we can solve the mystery of how you and Damien really met and how you got involved with him?”
Victoria’s suggestion piqued her interest. She desperately wanted to do that. There was no reason to question Damien about it because he would tell her the same story he had for four years. He would lie, thinking it was best for her sanity. “I’m open to that. Damien will be at the hospital during the day. I’m sure I can get here without lying.”
“Well, it will be in my Tampa office.”
“I came to your Tampa office before. I can get away with one more time.”
“I’ll pencil you in.”
****
Alec had just got off the phone with Lana, and he wasn’t happy. Of course he didn’t let her know that. He had hoped to see her on Friday, but apparently, she had a lot to do. He understood that she had a child and she needed to keep finding her true self, but he had waited almost half a lifetime for her.
When they had broken up, he had tried to forget her with a string of women, from his junior year in college up until last year. Alec never did forget her, and he never found another woman like her. She was fun, exciting, sexy, and smart.
He also never forgot Carter Mitchell’s smug ass showing up at his part-time job at the restaurant stating that he knew that Lana had ended it with him, and he hoped he would take it like a man and let them live their life. Alec was more quick-tempered back then. He had punched Carter in the face. Carter had punched him back, sending Alec backward. Carter was older and he had more experience with fighting than Alec did back then. But Alec had gotten back up. They struggled against each other until they had knocked over a trash can in the alley. One of Carter’s associates and Alec’s co-workers split them up. Carter had a scratch on his cheek. Alec had a split lip. As blood had dripped from his mouth, he had told Carter that one day, Lana would see what he was. Carter had laughed and asked what made him think she didn’t already know.
Years after that event, a glimmer of hope came. She had tracked him down, stating that he and her parents were right about Carter Mitchell. That she had played with fire, and she had gotten burned. He had nearly died himself when the agency had presumed Lana was dead.
The surveillance was supposed to get them enough physical evidence to get a warrant. Carter had to have known Lana had disappeared because he had stopped all operations. The only thing they had caught him doing was jaywalking. Since Lana was missing, possibly dead, the agency had to drop the case. They didn’t have enough evidence. Granted, she had told them everything she knew, but they needed her testimony in court to convict him.
Two days after his superior had made the decision to move on, Alec had approached Carter on the street in New York. The confrontation played back in his mind.
“Hey, Mitchell, remember me?” Alec said as he approached the scumbag in the New York cold.
Two goons stood between him and the bastard. “If you want to talk to the man, you need to take your hands out of your pockets and let us frisk you,” one of them said.
Alec slowly showed him his hands and allowed the one who spoke to frisk him – and yes, he had his piece on him. The goon had found his gun and his badge.
“Shit, he’s FBI,” the guy said with shock.
“I’d like my things back. Now that you know who I am, I’m not going to shoot Carter in the middle on the street.”
The man gave him back his badge and gun.
“What do you want?” Carter asked as he took a step toward him.
“I just wanted to see if you remembered me.”
Carter’s eyes squinted; he looked confused.
Alec spread his bottom lip with his tongue and pointed at the small line where Carter had split his lip years ago.
Carter’s dark eyes widened with recognition. “You!”
He smiled. “Yes, me.”
“I have to say, you’ve really bulked up since the last time I saw you,” Carter said. “What the hell do you want after all this time?”
“I just came to tell you that I know it was you that killed her, and I’m not going to stop until I prove it. If I can’t get you on that, I’ll get you for scamming federal agencies, robbing two banks, or drug smuggling.”
Carter laughed. “I have no idea what you are talking about. Either arrest me, or let me and my friends go about our way.”
Alec stepped aside.
Carter and his men walked past him and down the sidewalk.
One day you bastard, one day.
A knock on the door interrupted Alec’s thoughts.
“Yeah.”
Bruce opened the door and closed it behind him. “Hey, you got any plans this weekend?”
“Nope,” Alec said dryly.
“Ah, she can’t get away, huh?”
“That’s the short of it. Why?”
“I need a favor. I’m trying to get this bodacious dark-haired beauty to go out on a date with me on Saturday night. She is hot, divorced, and lonely. Ripe for the picking. But . . .”
“But?”
“She won’t go out with me unless I find a date for her friend, and we go double.”
“Oh, hell no, Bruce,” Alec complained as he sat up in his chair.
He approached the desk. “Come on, man. I would do it for you,” Bruce said with desperation in his voice.
“Ask one of the other guys.”
“What other guys? Victor turned fifty last year; he’s too old for her. Tommy and Troy are married with kids. Jack is gay, even though he says he’s not.”
“Hell, ask Allen. He’s single.”
&n
bsp; “I did. He’s still short-staffed. He has to supervise surveillance over the newbies on Saturday.”
“I’m not available. You know that.”
“Technically, you are the lover of a married woman.”
Alec narrowed his gaze on him.
“I’m not saying you have to make a lifetime commitment to this chick. You’ll be helping me out. And besides, you don’t think Lana is still fucking her husband?”
“No,” Alec snarled.
“Okay. Too far. I get it, but please do this for me. All you have to do is make sure this chick doesn’t feel like the third wheel.”
“Damn it, Bruce,” Alec grumbled with annoyance. “Just forget about her. You have a string of girls who are willing to hop in your bed whenever you ask.”
“Yeah, but I got to keep expanding. You know two or three get frustrated with me every year and move on to look for a guy who is willing to make a commitment.”
Alec sighed.
“I really need this one on my belt, man. She has the darkest eyes and the fullest lips. Bobbi swears her friend is pretty. At the very least, you won’t have to occupy someone that’s ugly. Come on, Alec,” Bruce pleaded.
“Bobbi? That’s an odd name for a lady.”
“It’s short for Roberta.”
“I see why she has a nickname,” Alec remarked.
“Two hours at the most. If I play my cards right, I’ll bang her after the date, and you’ll never have to see her friend again.”
“How bad do you want me to do this?”
“Really bad. Haven’t I demonstrated that?”
“Well, you haven’t gotten down on your knees yet,” Alec said jokingly.
To his shock, Bruce rounded the desk and got on his knees.
“I was kidding, Bruce,” Alec said seriously.
“Well, I’m not. What else do you want?” Bruce asked with stress. There was a bead of sweat in the corner of his hair next to his ear.
“You know what? I can’t stand to see you like this. I’ll do it.”
“Yes!” Bruce yelled like he had just scored a football goal as he jumped up. “I owe you, Alec.”
“Yes, you do,” Alec confirmed. “Two hours?”
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