The Law of Desire

by Gwyneth Bolton

  She pursed her lips. He covered her mouth with his again, using his tongue, his lips and even his teeth to get her to see the light. As he nipped, nibbled, sucked, and feasted on her lusciousness, he couldn’t help but acknowledge that he really could go on kissing her forever. He stopped only when he had gotten his fill.

  Taking a deep breath he slanted his eye. “We clear, Minerva?”

  “Crystal,” she panted her response.

  “Good. I’m going to do some work in the study. The sooner, we figure out who is trying to kill you, the sooner I can really focus all my attention on making you admit how much you need me, how much you need us.”

  He pulled her close and kissed her again, slowly, deliberately. Her tongue swirled and danced in his mouth. He picked up his pace joining her in their ever-growing passion. Her hands traveled up and down his chest and it made him curse the shirt he wore. He wanted those soft fingers on his skin. He groaned from deep in this gut. If he didn’t want to take her right then and there in the kitchen, then he needed to stop.

  Pulling away, he studied her as best as he could with his hooded gaze. The lust threatened to consume him whole as he took in her passion-blushed cheeks and kiss-swollen lips. Another feeling also bubbled up in him and it made him reach out and caress her face.

  Gazing up at him with her big bright eyes, she purred sexily, “I think I’m going to like your methods, Detective.” And then she giggled as she tried to wiggle away from his embrace. “I have to say that it might take a little more to convince me…”

  He held her steady not wanting to let her go.

  “You haven’t seen anything yet. Us Hightower men can be very persuasive when it comes to getting the woman we want.” And if that other feeling bubbling up in his heart was what he thought it was then “want” couldn’t even begin to describe how important this woman was to him.

  When her cell phone rang, she jumped. It hadn’t rung in so long, she’d almost forgotten she had the thing. She’d attached the charger to the phone and kept it plugged into a socket in her bedroom. The only person who had called the phone David had given her was David, and she hadn’t heard from him in a while.

  She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was him.

  “Hey, David.”

  “Where the hell are you?”

  Taken aback by his nasty tone, she paused while her mouth literally gapped open.

  “Where are you, Thena?” his words seemed to be compressed and coming from between clenched teeth. “Hello? I asked you a question.”

  “Timmy and Tommy were murdered and I had—”

  “I know they were murdered. That’s why I’ve been trying to find you. Where are you?”

  “I’m fine. But the people who killed them haven’t been caught. I’m safe and I’m trying to lay low. I don’t want them to get me, too.”

  She heard him hiss. He sounded almost disgusted.

  What the hell was wrong with him?

  “Look, I think whoever killed Timmy and Tommy and maybe even my brother might be the same people. They even tried to snatch me. Luckily, there was a cop there and he saved me…”

  “Are you with the cop now? I told you to stay away from the cops. Do you want to get killed? Or do you want the folks who took out your brother and my cousins to take out this cop, too? How many people are you willing to get killed for you?” His voice sounded harsh and ugly to her ears, unlike anything she’d ever heard from him.

  She shook her head. He was probably just upset about Timmy’s and Tommy’s deaths. They were his cousins, after all, and he might even blame himself and her a little for their deaths. If he hadn’t sent her there, they would still be alive. The pang of guilt that had been threatening to overtake her since she walked into the apartment and found the twins murdered exploded in her chest and she bit back a gasp.

  “I don’t want anyone else to die. Including you, David. That’s why I think it’s best if I just stay away for a while…”

  “Just tell me where the hell you are. I’ll come and get you and we’ll find someplace safe for you.”

  “I’m safe now. I’m good…” She thought she heard Lawrence in the hall and realized that if she was really going to repay David and keep him out of the mess her life had become, she’d better get off the phone. “I have to go, David. I’ll be in touch when it’s safe to do so. I’m really sorry about Timmy and Tommy. I’d just die if something happened to you, too—”

  “And what about whoever you’re with? Would you just die if something happened to him? Because the person you’re messing with doesn’t play. You need to tell me where you are before someone else ends up dead!” His voice sounded almost threatening and she figured he really must blame her for his cousins’ deaths.

  “I can’t do that. I’m sorry. ’Bye.” She hung up the phone and then turned off the ringer. David’s tone of voice was ridiculous. Even if he was worried about her or blamed her, he had no business snapping at her like that. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, she also knew that she had been very close to telling him off.

  Yes, it was best to just turn off the ringer.

  A few days later Lawrence leaned back in the office chair and rubbed his head as he listened on the phone to Kendall relaying the latest from the home front. He wanted to be in the action. Even though he was having the most exhilarating time of his life getting to know Minerva, sitting in the Poconos, while his colleagues were trying to find out who killed the McKnights and who was after Minerva, went against every fiber of his being.

  “So apparently the person who’s after her is from California and he might have some ties with the drug cartel that is trying to set up shop in the Fourth Ward. The McKnights were supposed to be instrumental in that, but you shut that down when you sent them to jail five years ago. It looks like they weren’t willing to play their positions when they got out of jail and that might have gotten them killed.”

  “So how does Minerva fit into this? Is she involved with drugs? The cartel?” She couldn’t be involved with drugs. She just couldn’t be.

  “Still trying to figure that out. These clowns claim they don’t know. They just know that the guy who paid them wanted her badly. Maybe it’s a boyfriend? Lover?”

  “Nah, he’s not a lover.” He only thought to halt his words after they had already fallen out of his mouth.

  “How do you know?”

  “He’s not her lover. Leave it at that.”

  He could see Kendall shaking his head without even being in the same room with him. He could tell by the sigh and rueful chuckle coming across the phone lines.

  “I don’t even want to know. But I will say this…Be careful.” Kendall paused. “Anyway…we’re still working on these guys and asking questions around town. One name that came up when we spoke with LAPD about her brother’s murder investigation and checked out the living relatives for the McKnights is David Sims. Apparently, he was the fourth member of their little crew and the four of them grew up together. He doesn’t have a record but the LAPD has been watching him for a while. They just can’t get anything to stick. Detective Morales just came across some evidence that allowed them to put a warrant out for his arrest. I still haven’t spoken to Morales himself yet. He may be out looking for this Sims guy. But if the guy from California that hired the white van folks and Sims are the same person, then I definitely need to chat with Morales.”

  “David Sims, huh? I’ll ask her about him.”

  “Yeah, you do that.”

  “Listen, I’m thinking I need to come and get involved with this investigation myself. We need to find a safe house for her.”

  “We can do that, Lawrence. Are you sure you would be cool with trusting her safety to others?”

  Hell, no.

  He paused. “Maybe we can hang out here for the rest of the week. But, y’all need to find out what’s what with this one soon. I can’t sit here doing nothing much longer.”

  “Soup’s on…” A sweet voice beckoned to him
from the doorway.

  He looked up to find Minerva standing there looking sexy and waved her in. “I’ll call you back later.”

  Kendall chuckled. “Yeah. You do that.”

  He hung up the phone and turned his attention to Minerva. Delightful smells had been wafting through the house, and he’d wondered what she had been up to in the kitchen.

  “It smells great. What did you cook?”

  “Spaghetti and meatballs.”

  “We had spaghetti sauce?”

  “No. I used those tomatoes that were in the freezer and made some sauce from scratch. I hope that was okay…”

  “It’s fine, my mom has so many tomatoes from her garden that we all have them in our freezers and she stores some here and home. Trust me there are plenty more tomatoes left somewhere in a Hightower household. But look at you making not only pancakes from scratch, but sauce, too. Most women I know use that jar stuff.”

  Awed, he just stared at her.

  She brushed a stray curl out of her eyes. “I’m not saying I won’t use a jar, because I will. But if I have time and beautiful tomatoes like the ones from your mom’s garden, I’m making my own. So come on. Let’s eat before it gets cold.”

  “Come here first.” He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the desk.

  She hesitated at first but then stepped into the room and walked over. “What’s up? I know you don’t want the food getting cold.”

  “Italian food always tastes good reheated.” He pulled her into his arms and swooped down for a kiss.

  She tasted like the most decadent dessert he’d ever savored. She gave new meaning to the phrase “give me some sugar.” Her mouth epitomized confection sublime. Allowing his tongue to outline her lips and then sweep through her delectable mouth, he knew he would never get enough of kissing her. He wanted more.

  Stopping the kiss went against every fiber of his being. But in order to do what he wanted to do, no, what he needed to do, he had to get those bothersome clothes off her. He made quick work of the offending objects and then spun her around so that she was leaning against the large mahogany desk where he had been only moments ago.

  Bending his head, he feasted on her nipples first. He couldn’t hold back his groans as he traveled farther down her body and ended up on his knees in front of her. He continued trailing kisses until his tongue reached her core. Then, he suckled and lapped in and all around her velvet folds. Time seemed to stand still and all he could hear was her labored breath. All he could feel was her shuddering pulse. It seemed to echo and vibrate all around him. Her soft pants and shaking thighs were the only things that gave a hint that he wasn’t dreaming. He really was suckling on the greatest nectar known to man.

  A moan escaped her lips and she squirmed. The pleasure must have been getting too intense for her, but he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t let her go. Soon she screamed loud and long. It could have been music if it wasn’t so raw and filled with need. She wanted more. He could tell. He stood and turned her to face the desk. Pushing the papers and knickknacks onto the floor, he bent her over the desk.

  “You’re beautiful, Minerva.”

  She whimpered.

  He didn’t have time to get fully undressed himself. He needed to be in her. With mind-shattering quickness, he unzipped his pants, pulled out a condom and protected them before he tunneled deep inside her, not stopping until he reached the hilt.

  Minerva cried out for what had to be the fifth or sixth time in a matter of minutes. How did he do it? How did he manage to make her body literally hum? His thrusts were powerful and all-consuming.

  “I need you. I want you so bad, it might just drive me crazy.”

  “Mmm…” She couldn’t talk in the midst of this. How was he able to talk? Didn’t he feel the earth moving beneath them? Wasn’t the emotion overload causing him to short-circuit? Was she the only one in the room who had to conserve enough energy to scream?

  “I’m not going to be able to hold out much longer, baby. You feel so damn good.” He moved his hips faster, as if that were possible, and he worked her like a strong, well-oiled piston.

  “Does it feel good to you, baby? Let me know. I will stay here all night to please you.”

  “Mmm…mmm…mmm-hmm.” Her grunts channeled into moans and gasps. Her nerve endings refused to lie dormant. Every inch of her body sizzled and popped with desire. She felt the waves of heat travel from the pit of her stomach to her core and tears trailed down her eyes.

  She couldn’t believe the man was making her feel so good it made her cry. Where was the rhyme or reason in that? Her heart thumped so loudly it rang in her ears. A sweet lump swelled in her chest and traveled to her throat. Emotions she didn’t dare name overwhelmed her as she bit back a sob.

  She loved him.

  She had never been in love before, but she knew without a doubt that she loved Lawrence Hightower.

  Shaking her head, she resolved to clear her thoughts and enjoy the moment.

  His hand reached around her body and slowly caressed her pleasure point. Each circular motion coincided with a thrust of his hips. He’d at least stopped talking, but the scandalous torture remained.

  “Lawrence…” She couldn’t take much more. And no sooner did she think it than her body shook and convulsed.

  She lost control of herself. She couldn’t think. She could only feel.

  He pulled out, scooped her from the desk and into his arms and carried her over to the sofa. Within seconds, she was on the comfy chocolate-brown sofa and he was in her again, sending her into orbit until they both found release together.

  I love you. She wanted to say the words out loud, to scream them to the mountains surrounding them. But she couldn’t. Not yet, maybe not ever.

  When he came back from disposing of the protection, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her toward the bedrooms.

  “Hey, what about dinner?” She squeaked out the question as her stomach dipped and tingles overtook her body.

  “It can wait. I need to finish teaching you your lesson for keeping yourself away from me all day.” He had a wickedly sexy gleam in his eyes and a sultry smile on his face.

  She grinned. “Who knew being bad would make me feel so good?”

  Chapter 12

  After enjoying their meal together and having Lawrence shower her with praise for her culinary talents, she realized she could have listened to him rave about her cooking for the rest of her life. They could pull her feminist card if they wanted to, but she even let herself imagine preparing meals for handsome little boys who looked just like him as they all sat around a big table in a cute little house with a white picket fence.

  Yes, she had it that bad.

  And spending the rest of the evening in his arms having him make love to her with such passion and desire didn’t help. Her body would never be the same. Her heart was lost forever.

  And she had to leave him.

  She bit her lip and wrung her hands as she watched him sleep.

  David’s harsh words reverberated in her head. If something were to happen to Lawrence because of her, she knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it. It’s bad enough that the McKnights were dead because they offered her a place of refuge. Lawrence couldn’t die, too.

  She thought about the two boyfriends who had ended up badly beaten. She remembered her brother with a hole in the middle of his forehead. Timmy and Tommy the same way. And then she imagined walking into the house and finding Lawrence shot, that handsome face drained of life, all because he tried to help her.

  She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to dispel the ugly image. A tear escaped and she wiped it away. He was too amazing a spirit to lose his life because of some foolishness she’d brought to his door.

  She eased out of the bed, got dressed, grabbed his keys, wrote a brief note and left.

  It was for the best in the end.

  Lawrence rolled over and reached for Minerva. He was filled with so much need he thought he mi
ght burst. He realized he would probably never get enough of this sweet and sexy woman. He couldn’t stop thinking about her; she had his mind. He couldn’t stop desiring her; she had his body. He couldn’t stop caring about her and wanting to keep her safe; she had his heart.

  He slapped the cold empty space on the bed where her warm succulent body had been. Squinting at the clock, he saw that it was about 1:00 a.m. Where was she? He got out of bed in search of her and only started to get antsy when he reached the kitchen and saw the note on the refrigerator.

  The note read Sorry, Lawrence, but it’s time for me to go. I’ll leave the keys in the car for you in town at the bus station. Sorry…Minerva.

  His eyes narrowed into a sliver and his blood boiled to a steam.

  She played me!

  Picking up the phone, he dialed the town sheriff. He might not ever hear the end of this from Dale, the sheriff, or Jed his deputy. But he needed help catching Minerva before she got too far. And when he caught her, that would be it. He was taking her back to Paterson and handing her over. Let the department handle the little conniving woman.

  The phone rang several times at the town’s police station before anyone answered. He recognized Jed’s voice right away and silently cursed his luck. If either of the two men were more prone to making sure Lawrence never forgot how the big-city detective needed the help of the small-town sheriff, it was Jed.

  “Hey, Jed. This is Lawrence Hightower—”

  “Hey, Hightower, I heard you were up at your family’s place. Dale said you wanted us to look out for a white van. We haven’t seen anything. A bit early in the season for you, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah. I’m actually here on business. We needed a safe house for a potential witness. That’s the reason I’m calling. The witness is running scared. She actually took my truck and left a note saying she would leave the keys with it in town. I’m assuming she headed to the bus station. I can’t let her get away.”

  “So you’re saying you need us small-town officers to help you apprehend a potential witness that got away by taking your vehicle?”