by C. J. Thomas
I rooted my hands into the counter and leaned closer to the mirror. Quietly, I asked myself, “Did she really find it like she said?” My eyes narrowed. “Or was she just saying that?”
I didn’t have the answer.
But I sure as hell was going to find out.
I pulled the hand towel off the rack and dabbed my face dry.
Dex Ross was the man I really needed to speak with. He was the one who seemed to know everything. That was what others thought of him. From costume to Ted Fields, every trail led back to Ross.
Alex was just playing—like I was when I stole her panties. And the way she did it so well, it was impossible to go two minutes without thinking of her. I wondered if I’d finally met my match with this one.
I chuckled.
Because the way she controlled my emotions and could keep up, stride for stride, was simply unlike anything I’d seen before. Alex Grace had stamina and style.
And, yes, she was mine.
I liked this game we had going. There was enough mystery swirling around her to make me keep coming back. I didn’t want to know everything about her in one night. I wanted this excitement to last and let it unfold over time.
It was no secret, I wanted to know more.
Plus, she could really fuck. I mean, really fuck, like it was her profession. And I liked that about her, too.
I hung the towel and ran my fingers through my hair.
There was something to be said about her needs, because I knew from personal experience that not every woman could keep up with my demands.
I twisted the door handle and pushed the door open.
I moved through the apartment and found Alex in the exact spot I’d left her. She was fully clothed and staring into her compact mirror, reapplying her makeup.
My feet glided across the floor as I found myself behind her, inhaling her incredible scent.
Since I’d left, she’d pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail and it made her look like she did the first day I laid my eyes on her—beautiful and curvy and confident. The exact recipe that sparked my initial attraction. Silently, I wondered if she really was the one for me.
“Here.” I tossed the envelope of money back onto the counter when she stole a glance in my direction. “Take it. I don’t want it.”
She dropped her mirror and gave me a questioning look.
“You can live here rent free.” I rolled my sleeves up past my wrists.
“No, Nash.” She pushed the envelope back over to me. “I can’t do that.”
“Fine.” I took the envelope back, opened it, and plucked a one hundred dollar bill free from the stack. “Rent’s now reduced.” I closed it back up and slid the stack back to her, minus the single bill.
She clucked her tongue, gave me a look, and tossed her mirror back into her purse.
I leaned against the counter next to her, folded the Benjamin Franklin in half, and tucked it away in my outside shirt pocket before crossing my arms over my chest. “Thank you for paying on time.” I winked.
She licked her lips and giggled.
I was happy to take it. I needed at least one. Especially if I did end up finding the entire batch of missing loot. Now I had something to compare it to.
She slipped one foot into a heel. “Don’t think that this changes anything between us.”
I arched a brow.
God, she smelled amazing. A concoction of lavender and orange and great fuck-me-wild sex. That last scent was my favorite. But only because I helped to create it. The combination of the three was already sending enough blood to my dick, giving it false hope that we could go another round before I left.
“I won’t allow you to hold this over my head, Nash.” She slammed her foot back to the ground and pushed her toes to the sharp point in her heel.
She was dead serious.
My eyes hooded over as I moved to stand behind her. I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing them tight, before hooking my thumbs in the front of her shorts. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“You would, and you know it.” She angled her head so I could feel her breath tickle the hairs on my face.
“Is that right?”
“Yes.” She reached behind her head and ran her fingers through my hair. “You’re such a control freak.”
“And you like it that way.” I kissed her cheek.
She angled her head to look at me. “Because I’ll pay rent.”
My tongue flicked over her neck as I peppered it with open-mouthed kisses. “See you around, babe.” I pushed off her, slapping her ass as I walked away.
“Whatever.” She shook her head.
The door to her apartment closed behind me and I knew it was time I finally had that face-to-face meeting with Dex Ross.
43
Alex
“KNOCK, KNOCK. HOUSEKEEPING.”
I stood behind the kitchen island. “Oh, hey.”
Kendra took a couple baby steps inside the apartment and let her head fall back between her shoulders as she took in the cathedral ceiling. “I brought a couple boxes from your old place.”
“You can set them over here.” I cleared the cleaning supplies I had stacking up on the counter and made room for her to set the boxes down.
“Nice couch.” She nodded a quick approval before gliding across the room and setting down the boxes. “Did it come with the place? I don’t remember it being here.” She hurried back over to the leather couch, falling into its cushions.
“Yeah.” My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “A house warming gift.”
She flipped around so fast her hair flung over her shoulder and across her chest. “From Nash?”
I gave her a weak smile.
Her mouth dropped open as she gasped. “You’re bad.”
“He was here earlier,” I admitted.
“You’re a super bad girl, Alex.” She rubbed her throat.
“Quit it.” I waved my hand at her. “It was nothing. Thanks for bringing my things over for me.” I leaned across the countertop and opened the box on top.
Kendra planted her feet on the floor and pranced over to me. “Yeah. Of course. But I’m afraid these will be the only boxes I can bring.” She frowned. “With the new job and all.”
“How’s it going, anyway?” I sprayed down the stovetop. “You still like it?”
She picked up a bottle of bleach like she’d never seen anything like it before. “Love it. But it does come with some downsides.”
“What job doesn’t?” I wiped down the area I just lightly scrubbed. Nash had the place professionally cleaned, but I always liked to do my own cleaning whenever moving into a new place.
“Yeah.” She drummed her fingernails on the black granite countertops. “Nothing I can’t handle. Just super busy is all.”
“Tell me about it. Between school, moving, and the internship, I’m barely keeping my head above water.” Suddenly I felt light-headed.
She browsed through my things and it wasn’t long before she found the envelope of money. “Miss Grace, what did I tell you about leaving your piggy bank out for others to see?” She opened up the envelope and fanned through the thick stack of money. “Damn, sugar, is this how much he’s paying you to spread your legs?”
I peeled my fingers free from the rubber gloves I was wearing and tossed them at her.
She ducked before getting hit. “You know what they’d call me if I was in the mafia?”
“What?” My cheeks glowed.
“Sticky fingers.” She belted out a laugh. “That’s how much I love cash.”
It was impossible not to laugh along with her. Even if I didn’t want her to count my money. I should had never left it out. But it was too late for that. She already had the stack out of the envelope, and I nervously watched as she began counting it.
I knew she was going to ask questions about it. I didn’t want her to, because I didn’t have an answer prepared.
“The way it feels pinched between my fingers.” She glanced up
at me. “Nothing is better.” She kept counting and her eyes sparkled like diamonds when she rounded past the first thousand dollars. “Not even sex.”
Don’t ask me where it came from, because I don’t know.
Her words slowed when she got to two thousand and she was dead silent at the third. Her knees nearly gave out after the fourth. “Wow. And here I thought I was on the path to riches by studying law.”
Alex. Change the subject before she asks.
I moved to the couch and sat in the corner, hugging my knees to my chest, trying to hide my nerves, not wanting her to know I had so much money sitting around in cash. “He was here waiting for me,” I said, light as a feather, wondering if she’d even heard me.
“That’s creepy, dude.” She paused to stare at me. “I don’t care how hung he is. That’s not cool. Unless you invited him?”
Success.
I spun the wheel and made a U-turn, but the empty feeling in the pit in my stomach was still there. “No. I didn’t invite him.” I shrugged. “I can’t think straight when he’s around.” I glanced in her direction. “I think I really like him.”
“A man who swings his stick like you’ve said Nash does can do that to a woman.”
“We had sex.” I loosened my hold on my knees. “Not too long before you arrived, actually.”
“No shit. You’re making my head spin. Please continue.” She moved to sit next to me.
I was lost somewhere inside my head, thinking how much I actually liked Nash.
“Then why that sour puss look on your face?”
“I don’t know.” I stared straight ahead but my focus was all inside. “He’s the one who told me to buy new clothes.”
“And to shave your snatch.” Kendra giggled.
A glimmer of satisfaction glossed over my eyes. “Yes, that too. And now he’s my landlord.”
“He’s seems to know an awful lot about you.” Her brows drew tight.
“He does, doesn’t he?” I glanced at her.
“What do you know about him?”
“Besides that he’s an incredible director and knows how to swing his stick?” I paused. “Not much else.”
“We know he has a daughter.”
“There’s that, too.”
“But what about other girlfriends?” Her face tightened up and got serious like the lawyer she was.
I thought about how I made him commit to my one rule—exclusivity. “He promised I would be his only one.”
She huffed a disbelieving laugh.
“What?”
“A notorious playboy promised you that you were his only one?” Sarcasm coated her words.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Is that so hard to believe?” The moment I said it, I knew it was. It was really hard to believe that he’d stop being the man everyone knew him to be.
“You see?” She craned her neck and nodded.
“Should I not believe him?” I rubbed the back of my neck.
Her brows lifted as she angled her face to the floor. “Hell, I wouldn’t.”
“So what would you do?”
Her lips curved at the corners as she grinned. “Spy on him.”
44
Nash
HE LIT the damn thing even after my request for him not to.
“We’re sitting outside.” He shrugged. “It’ll be fine.” He pulled the round cigar from his lips, showed me his palms, and smiled like it was no big deal.
Except it was. And I didn’t like it.
Dex Ross was a man of integrity. At least under normal circumstances. That was the reputation he had built for himself over the years and even my own experience had taught me that. So him being caught up in all this drama that swirled around the missing money . . . well, it was straight up confusing, to say the least.
“Why’d you bring me here, Nash?” He bit down on the end of his cigar and smiled.
I tossed him the black trash bag I had down at my feet.
He wrapped his lips around his smoke and caught the bag in his lap. “What’s this?”
“Open it up.” I leaned back and played it cool.
He untied the knot at the top and peered inside.
“Do you recognize it?”
His eyes slowly moved away from the bag and he hid behind thick clouds of purple smoke.
I gave him a minute to gather his thoughts. He was going to need it. And while he did, I silently wondered where he went wrong.
He touched the duffel and I knew immediately that he recognized it. And knew why I was showing it to him.
There was a time, not so long ago, I could actually look him in the eye and trust the words that came out of his big mouth. But now I wasn’t so sure.
“No?” I shook my head as I eyed him. “Forget it. Don’t even waste your breath, because I already know the answer.”
He arched a brow, looked away and laughed.
“I know you were at my studio.”
Dex coughed through more laughter.
“You were seen.” My eyes narrowed. “I have witnesses.”
“Oh, witnesses.” He hung his shaking head, still laughing. “Witnesses.”
“What was inside, Dex?”
He calmed and caught his breath before returning to his smoking cigar. “You know, Nash, I like you.” He wagged his finger. “But I don’t like what you’re implying.”
“And what am I implying?” I rested one hand on top of the other.
“Look. You came to the wrong man.” He leaned back and that’s when I noticed the dark storm clouds building inside his eyes. “The man you should be bringing this bullshit to is Wesley Reid.”
My heart beat faster.
I leaned forward, stretching across the table to purposely invade his space and rested my weight on my elbows.
His gaze was unwavering—not intimidated by me at all.
“Whatever was inside belonged to him.” His hand made a fist on the edge of the table.
My mind drifted back to that night I was with Wes at his new restaurant bar, Mojito. The night he subtly accused me of taking the damn missing money myself. The night that put me on this war path to finding it first.
“So you do know about it.”
He wiped the sweat pellets off his forehead. “He had me pick it up.”
From the way he said it, I knew Wes didn’t give him a choice. He was telling the truth. The way one confessed their past sins.
The smoke from his cigar swirled into the air, putting off that musky smell I hated. “Wes had you pick it up?” My chin angled toward the sky.
He nodded.
The question was—who was lying? Wes or Dex? The timeframe of current events didn’t align. If what Dex was saying was true, then Wes already knew the money was there and he had Dex go pick it up.
Except that wasn’t how he’d presented it to me.
Unless—
They both planned to tell conflicting stories.
“Go talk to him.”
I finished my water and stood. “Maybe you should first.”
He cocked his head to the side and gave me a questioning look.
“Next time, get your fucking story straight with Wes.” I walked away, knowing there was someone else there that night at Mojito who might know more about this missing money than I cared to believe.
Alex.
45
Alex
I PEEKED MY HEAD INSIDE.
Nash was on the phone but he still waved me in.
I tiptoed around his office, letting my eyes drift casually across the walls. I’d never allowed myself to look too deep into all the photographs and plaques or awards he had filling the otherwise empty space. I took it upon myself to do so while I let him finish up on the phone.
Nash’s voice agreed with whoever was on the other end of the line every couple of seconds and I tuned him out.
I gripped the strap of my handbag and continued working the walls. There were many faces I recognized. All famous celebrities I assumed he had worked wit
h in the past.
My ears perked up when Nash started talking about something related to his current project—the film we were working on together.
A sudden coldness hit my core when I saw her face.
There, on the wall, Nash was framed inside the photo with his arm slung around the shoulders of the same lengthy brunette I’d seen him with at the boutique. The girl he said was his daughter.
I toed a step closer to get a better look.
Even now, I couldn’t believe she was his daughter. She was beautiful when I saw her in person, and even prettier here in the photo. She was elegant and looked much older than I was sure she was if she was his daughter. I hated myself for being jealous of her.
I tilted my head to the side and studied Nash’s body language. He seemed happy and proud, standing tall with his chin tipped back to the sun. He had a wide toothy grin that would light up anybody’s day.
Even now, as I stared at the photo, I found myself smiling because of him.
I knew what we currently had was only sex. But I wanted more. And he knew that, promised me that I’d be his only one.
The longer I waited, the easier it was for my eyes to drift off the photo and continue their search across the dozens of others. But I always found myself sneaking glances back at this one.
Kendra’s words were everywhere I looked. She was right; I didn’t know much about Nash, and the way our relationship started so intimately, I wondered if we could even backtrack and build the romance my heart desired. The last thing I wanted to do was spy on him.
I didn’t care that he had a daughter. Or that he had a reputation that Mom wouldn’t find palatable. But I knew, deep down, that what we had so far was unlike anything else I’d ever had. I would do anything to build off of this shaky foundation and make it into a solid house we could both call home. Something that could weather the toughest of storms.
And it all would begin with trusting what he said.
When I heard him end his call, I turned around and said, “You missed me already?”
It seemed as if we’d just seen each other, and yet here he was, calling me into his office to fulfill whatever desire he had.
He stood and flashed me that sexy smile that sent waves of pleasure over my mid-section and straight between my legs. Fuck him for being so darn handsome.
