You Know My Name (BWWM Romance) (The Good Girls and Bad Boys Series Book 1)

by Stacy-Deanne

“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.” He looked at her. “Osana, do you love me?”

  She turned her back to him. “That’s not a word I throw out easily.” She whispered to herself, “Even if it’s true.”

  “I could shout I love you from the rooftops all day.”

  “That’s you.” She faced him. “I’m different.”

  “You gotta let go of these abandonment issues.” He sighed. “You’re never gonna be happy if you don’t.”

  “Really?” She faked a laugh and walked across the mosaic rug, stopping beside the fine art on her walls. “I think my money would disagree with your statement.”

  “I have billions of dollars, Osana. But, I can tell you firsthand that money only pacifies pain. Humans need love and companionship to survive.”

  “I have no issue with companionship.” She straightened the portrait of a French countryside. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be than in your arms.”

  “You’re talking about sex.” He put his hand on his chest. “I’m talking about emotion.”

  “Sex is an emotion.” She sashayed to the middle of the room.

  “Let me in. I could give you everything you could ever want.”

  “Give me what I want?” She gripped her pronounced hip, snickering. “I run a billion dollar software computer company. I have more money than the freakin’ Queen of England. When I walk into a room even the furniture asks, ‘How high.’”

  Shad scoffed.

  “I can have anything and anyone I want.” She flicked her hair off her shoulder. “Trust me, Shad. There is nothing you can give me I can’t give myself.”

  “Wow. I think that’s the most self-centered thing I’ve ever heard.”

  She shrugged one shoulder. “I tell it like it is. You claim that’s one thing you like about me.”

  “Except you can’t buy everything you want. You can’t buy love, but I guess you don’t want it.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want it—”

  “You want it on your terms.” He scratched the back of his head. “And, it doesn’t work that way. There’s one reason you’re like this. Your father.”

  “My father was a wonderful man.” She twisted the gold ring on her right hand. “Anthony Spears was the only person who was there for me. When he died, a part of me died too. He loved me enough to leave the company in my hands and taught me everything about running the business.”

  “First off, I’ve been there for you. Secondly, I’m not talking about your stepfather. I’m talking about your real father. The one who ran out on you when you were a kid.”

  “Never think of the man.” Her voice cracked.

  “Osana, he’s the reason you can’t trust men.”

  “It’s not just him. Every man I’ve cared for has disappointed me.” She held her head high. “And you will too.”

  “That’s right I will.” He nodded. “Because that’s life, Osana. People are human and they will disappoint you and hurt you all the time. It doesn’t mean love isn’t worth it. That’s what you don’t understand. You want love to be perfect and it’ll never be that way.”

  “My terms, Shad. I’ve said how it’s gonna be.”

  “You need help, Osana.”

  She laughed. “This therapy shit again?”

  “Yes. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “I don’t need therapy darling but maybe you do. You’re no better than me. Besides whatever this is we got going, when’s the last time you had a serious relationship, Shad?”

  The muscles in his face tightened.

  “You’ve had more women than Weight Watchers, and you’re gonna lecture me?”

  “But, there’s a difference. I knew those women meant nothing. I just needed warmth between the sheets. You’re the only woman I’ve loved in years. I’ve wanted you before I even approached. I’m begging you, Osana. Please, let me in. I can give you what you need.”

  “I need to be held.” She walked to him and touched his face. “I need you to make love to me and to stop bugging me all the time. I wanna get to that place, Shad. But, I have to do it when I’m ready.”

  “Will you ever be ready?”

  “Don’t you want me?” She gave him a soft kiss. “What’s wrong with sex?” She kissed him harder. “The sex is great, isn’t it?”

  He closed his eyes.

  “When we’re making love, I’m giving you my all. Can’t you accept that?” She hugged him, sniffing his neck. “I need you, Shad. Please make love to me.”

  “Sex isn’t love.” He stroked her back, and she felt how hard he fought not to give in to her. “Fuck, I hate this.”

  She pulled away. “What?”

  “How I can’t stop wanting you no matter how much I try.” He stood, hoisted her into his arms, and took her upstairs.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Ooh.” Shad moaned, his chest heaving as Osana grinded her naked pelvis against his. “Yes. Osana, oh.”

  “When you’re inside me…” Her pussy clenched against his dick. “I want you even more.”

  “God.” He gripped her sweaty breasts, tickling her tight nipples with his thumb.

  “It feels so good, Shad.” She leaned back, planting both hands into the bed. “I love being in your arms.” Pleasure mounted within her pussy. “When you’re inside me I know everything will be okay.”

  “Oh, right there, darling.” He raised up on his elbows, rocking underneath her. “I love you so much, Osana. I wanna come inside you.” He flipped her over and got on top. “Oh god, yes.” He pumped so fast the headboard almost fell off the bed.

  “Wait.” She held onto his shoulders as his drenched body slapped against hers. “Don’t come…” She pressed her fingernails into his reddening skin. “Shad.”

  He lifted her leg higher. “I’m almost there.” Sweat drained from his forehead. “Hold on, baby.”

  “No, wait.” She clawed at his chest. “Shad, don’t.”

  He sucked his bottom lip, in an obvious daze. “I’m gonna come.”

  “No!” She pushed him away.

  He came on her thighs as he pulled out. “Ah!”

  “Damn it,” Osana snapped. “Look what you did.”

  “Why the fuck you stop me?” He kicked the air in anger. “What’s wrong with you?”

  She got the hand towel from beside the bed and wiped his gooey gift off her legs. “I didn’t want you coming inside me.”

  He shook sweat from his face. “Bullshit, I do it all the time.”

  “Look at this mess.” The more she wiped, the more the cum spread.

  “What difference does it make if I come inside? You’re on the pill any damn way.” He propped on his elbows. “You think I’m stupid? How come when we’re together you always love to be on top then when I’m on top you freak out?”

  “Ugh.” She tossed the soppy towel on the floor.

  “My god. You gotta be in control during sex too?”

  “This isn’t about control.” She pulled the sheet over her. “You should’ve stopped when I asked.”

  “I did,” he said with a disgusted expression.

  “No, you didn’t! You were being selfish. All you thought about was your needs.”

  “Woman, you got a problem.” His sweat fell onto the sheets. “You’re taking this way out of proportion. Don’t act like I was doing something you didn’t want. You were riding me like a donkey but the minute I called the shots you got scared. It’s the same narrative with you.”

  “Then get out.” She kicked him out the bed. “And don’t come back.”

  “You need help.” He put on his pants. “This isn’t normal, Osana. You’re completely irrational.”

  “Get out of my face, Shad.” She lay against the headboard with her eyes closed.

  “If that’s the way you want it.” He put on his shoes and grabbed his shirt from the floor. “That’s a wish I’ll gladly keep.” He left, slamming the door.

  “And don’t be slamming my damn door!”

 
****

  The tall, thin blonde hopped out of the chair by Shad’s desk when he entered his office after lunch the next day. “Hey.” Gloria Kinard’s lime-green eyes flashed when she smiled.

  “Hey there.” Shad set his doggie bag on the desk and hugged her. “Hm.” Her hair smelled of citrus, and he remembered the shampoo she loved to use. “How are you holding up?”

  “As best as expected.” Her straw-yellow hair ran past her shoulders in loose layers, framing her diamond-shaped face. “Preston was the only immediate family I had left.”

  “You don’t have to go through this alone.” He touched her hair. “I meant what I said. I’ll always be there for you.”

  “That’s why I’m here.” She stared at him, her eyes becoming brighter. “I can’t believe it’s been ten years since we were together.”

  He nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets.

  “We were thirty-one then.” She smiled. “How time flies. I feel so old sometimes.”

  “You don’t look a day over twenty-five.”

  She blushed. “Neither do you. Seems like only yesterday everything ended.” She tangled her hand in her purse strap. “Shad, I’ve regretted nothing like I do calling off our engagement.”

  “Gloria.” He touched her shoulder. “That’s old news. You have more important things to worry about.”

  “I feel guilty for thinking about you with what happened, but I can’t help it.” She leaned her butt on his desk. “I miss you and what we had.”

  “And, it took ten years to tell me that? We live in the same city.”

  “How could I say it?” She played with the end of her hair. “After all this time?”

  He dropped his head, grinning.

  “What?”

  “You always tugged on your hair. Back in the day it drove me crazy.”

  “Everything about you drove me crazy,” she crooned.

  “Yeah, well.” He tore his gaze from hers and walked behind his desk. “I have a meeting in a few minutes. Is there something you needed?”

  “A detective asked me questions about Preston.” She touched his pencil sharpener. “He asked if I knew anyone who’d want to kill him.”

  Shad sat in his chair, remembering what Osana said concerning secrets.

  “Preston was a wonderful person.” Gloria’s small, pointed mouth always made her look like she was pouting even when she wasn’t.” Why would someone want to hurt him?”

  “Could he have been hiding something?”

  “Preston and I were close.” She shook her head. “He was my big brother. We didn’t hide things from each other.”

  “Siblings can be close and still not tell each other everything.”

  “What are you saying?” She batted her long lashes. “That something he hid got him killed?”

  “Preston was a successful business man.” Shad crossed his legs, resting his hands in his lap. “He was rich and had a lot of contacts.”

  “So?”

  “Maybe those contacts weren’t good ones, and he didn’t realize it.”

  “No, that’s not it.”

  “How do you know that?” He licked the corner of his mouth. “Aren’t there things about you Preston didn’t know?”

  “Not anything bad or serious.”

  “No one knows every detail about anyone, Gloria.” He propped his elbows on the desk and pressed his locked hands to his mouth. “Sometimes people keep secrets even when they don’t intend to.”

  ****

  “Ms. Royal?” Clarice, Osana’s secretary, spoke through the speaker on Osana’s office phone. “You have a call from Max Ace.”

  Shit.

  Osana almost dropped the cup of vanilla bean, iced coffee on her lap. She pressed the button on the phone. “Put him through.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Osana chewed on her straw, wiggling her leg.

  “Princess,” that slimy voice said. “How’s your day going?”

  “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from me?”

  “You never said I couldn’t call you again.”

  She sensed him snickering over the phone.

  “Trust me, sweetheart,” he said. “You don’t wanna play this game. It’s best if you give in.”

  “You have nothing on me.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. Have you told the police you were at Preston’s the other night when he was killed?”

  She gasped, setting down the coffee. “What did you say?”

  “I knew that would get your attention.”

  “I wasn’t there.” Her breath caught in her throat.

  “Osana, please. Can it, all right? I told you my job is to find out information so when I say something happened it’s true. I saw you there.”

  “You’re lying!” She grabbed the phone. “I wasn’t there.”

  “Are you at your computer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Log online if you haven’t already. I’m emailing you something right now.”

  Osana checked her email, finding a new message with an attachment.

  “You open it yet?”

  Osana held her breath as she opened the message. “Yes.”

  “Click on the video.”

  With shaking hands, she loaded the video and enlarged it.

  The video showed Osana walking to the front door of Preston’s estate along with the time.

  “Oh my god.” She covered her mouth. “What is this?”

  “I have video of the time you left too. It wouldn’t be hard for the cops to pinpoint how long you were there.”

  “No,” she shrieked. “This can’t be happening.” She sobbed. “It can’t be.”

  “It is. I was waiting in my car outside when you visited Preston. I took the video on my cellphone.”

  “Oh god. It was you. You killed him.”

  “You hit him on the head.”

  “He wasn’t dead when I left!” She slapped the desk.

  He smacked his lips. “The cops won’t see it that way.”

  “I’m not letting you do this.”

  “You don’t have a choice. You’re gonna give me all the money I want, or this video goes to the cops. Decide fast because time’s running out.”

  She ended the call and laid her head face down on the desk. “Jesus, help me.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Stop worrying about me, Leslie,” Osana said into the speaker of her office phone that night. “I’ll be fine.”

  “You gotta be going crazy with this murder and all.”

  “Trust me, staying late and getting work done is taking my mind off things. I refuse to let it stress me out any more than it has.” Osana peered over her reading glasses as she typed. “I’m gonna type the rest of these reports for the next meeting then I’ll be home. Why don’t you treat yourself for once and go to a movie or something?”

  “Well, I have been waiting to see the new Vin Diesel flick.” Leslie grinned. “I love me some Vin.”

  “Yes, you do.” Osana smiled. “You never take time for yourself and always worrying about me. You deserve a life, Leslie.”

  “Am I complaining?”

  “Get off this phone and go spend two hours with Vin Diesel.”

  “Okay, see you later.”

  “You too.” Osana clicked off the call and caught a stinging pain in her left eye. “Ooh.” She batted. “Damn hair’s in my eye.” She took off the glasses and got out her mirror. A tiny hair lay on her tear duct. She brushed it away with a tissue and admired herself in the mirror. “You wear stress well, girl.” She chuckled, patting her hair.

  “You sure do.”

  She jumped, lowering the mirror.

  Max stood in the doorway in a black blazer and matching slim-legged slacks, that looked just like one of Shad’s Ralph Lauren suits.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Surprise.” Max sauntered inside the office and went straight to the window. “Beautiful night, huh?”

  “How did you get
in here? Security shouldn’t have let you in the building this time of night.”

  He pulled on the silk curtains. “You should get better security for this place. Lazy motherfuckers weren’t even down there.”

  She grabbed the receiver of the speaker phone. “I’m calling the police.”

  He flashed a sadistic smile. “No you’re not.”

  “Get out of my office!”

  “Or what?” He started toward her.

  “Don’t come near me.”

  “You’re a fascinating woman, Osana.” He whistled, wiggling his hands in his pockets. “I’ve made it my mission to learn as much about you as I can.”

  She held her breath. “Max—”

  “That mansion you live in is amazing. I’ve read about it online. How many rooms you have again? Sixty?” He whistled. “You got a home theater, right? And your housekeeper has her own apartment upstairs.”

  “Please leave.”

  “Your housekeeper’s named Leslie, right?” He licked the corner of his mouth. “Now she’s a foxy little thing. Just needs to fix herself up and get out those nun’s clothes, and she’d be hotter than fish grease.”

  “Get out!”

  “Now, now.” He strolled to the file cabinet and peeked into the first drawer. “You gotta be nice to me, Osana. If you know what’s good for you.”

  “You’ve wasted a trip.” She yanked her glasses off and stood. “I’m leaving.” She turned off her computer and grabbed her purse.

  “Not so fast.” He rushed toward her when she made it to the front of her desk. “God, you’re a beautiful woman.” He glanced at the door. “You realize we’re all alone.”

  She gulped, anxiety penetrating her veins.

  “Yep, we are.” He touched her cheek. “The security guards are way down there on the first floor and we’re way up here by ourselves. Anything could happen before they get up here.”

  She got ready to swing the purse at him. “You touch me and I’ll—”

  “What? You’ll hit me over the head like you did Preston?” He grabbed the purse. “I don’t think so.”

  “Asshole!” She slapped him.

  He rubbed the red spot on his cheek. “You like it rough, huh?” He threw her purse on the floor and locked his arms around her waist. “Huh? You like this, Osana?”

  “Let go of me!”