All Tied Up (Business of Love Book 2)

by Ali Parker

  I handed her the maple syrup, and as per usual, she poured entirely too much all over her pancakes. I didn’t have the heart to tell her not to overdo it. Instead, I watched as she pushed a small piece of bacon around in her maple syrup soup before she popped it in her mouth. Bits of syrup drizzled down her chin and stayed there as she cut into her pancakes. Chocolate oozed out of them and turned the syrup on her plate a rich brown color.

  Chessie watched me while she chewed. Her cheeks were puffed up like a chipmunk, and she tried to ask me a question, but it came out as merely an incoherent mumble.

  She washed her bite down with a great gulp of water and tried again. “Where do you have to go today, Daddy?”

  “I’m going to see Kim.”

  “What for?”

  “I owe her a little something for everything she did for us. And I know she won’t accept it unless it’s in person, so I’m going to drive down and give it to her. Then I’ll be back this evening for our movie night, like we planned. Sound good?”

  Chessie stuck out her tongue and tried to lick the syrup off her chin. She failed. “Sounds good.”

  I used my napkin to clean her up a bit and chuckled to myself. “One of these days, you’ll be wiping the dribble off my chin,” I said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Never mind.”

  Chessie proceeded to devour her meal. When she looked like she was wearing chocolate lipstick, she slumped back in her chair, her little belly sticking out a little more than it had when she first got up this morning, and let out a long sigh. “That was so good.”

  Chuckling, I stood and collected our plates. “I’m glad you liked it. You ate enough to satisfy a horse.”

  “I’m a growing girl, Daddy.”

  “Growing indeed. Just a few months ago, you could hardly eat two pancakes. Now you’re up to three. You’re going to out-eat me one of these days.”

  Chessie slid off her chair and grabbed her cup of water, which she followed me into the kitchen with so she could load it in the dishwasher. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat that much food.”

  I arched an eyebrow and stared down at her as she put her cup in the machine. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “That you can eat a lot. And you’re all done growing.”

  I lifted my right arm, rolled up the sleeve of my T-shirt to my shoulder, and flexed my bicep. “There’s always more growing to do, kiddo. See that? That needs protein and—”

  “Put your bicep away, Daddy. There’s nobody here to impress.”

  I blinked. Was my seven-year-old tiring of my antics this early? Was I going to have to find new humorous material to use on her? She always giggled when I showed off my muscles. I couldn’t explain it but it worked.

  Usually.

  I pulled my sleeve down. “Well now I’m going to emotionally eat more pancakes because my baby girl doesn’t appreciate me anymore.”

  Chessie rolled her eyes at me. “Verity used to like that joke a lot more than me for some reason.”

  Yes. For some reason.

  The mention of Verity’s name took all the joy out of me. I rinsed our plates under the sink to rid them of the sticky maple syrup and dried chocolate from Chessie’s pancakes, and I passed the washed plates to her to put in the dishwasher.

  “You make a fair point,” I said.

  Chessie closed the dishwasher once it was loaded and I picked her up and set her on the counter so she could wash her hands in the sink. I knew she was staring at me as I pumped lavender-scented soap into her palm. I grabbed her hands and vigorously rubbed them together until she started to giggle.

  You’ve still got it.

  As I patted her hands dry, Chessie gently tapped her foot against my thigh. “Are you still sad, Daddy?”

  I braced myself against the counter with a hand on either side of her. I searched her eyes and saw deep concern there. Verity bailing on the wedding hadn’t only hurt me. It had hurt Chessie, too. She couldn’t understand why Verity would change her mind at the last minute and not want to be part of our family, and no matter what way I tried to explain it to her, she kept coming back with the same thing: she didn’t understand how Verity couldn’t love me enough to want to marry me.

  I love you enough, Chessie had told me when I first explained to her that the wedding was over. I love you more than anything.

  I sighed. “Kiddo, adult relationships are very complicated. And I still don’t quite understand what went wrong myself. All I know is we will be okay. I will be okay. We don’t need Verity to be a whole family. We are enough. Just the two of us. Right?”

  She smiled. “Right.”

  “Good girl.” I kissed the tip of her nose before setting her down on the floor. I ruffled her hair and told her to have a shower so she was ready for the day when Jennifer arrived. I watched Chessie run off up the stairs, her heels pounding on each step, and disappear into her bedroom on the second-story.

  I sighed and leaned up against the counter with my arms crossed in front of my chest. I knew all the right things to say when it came to my daughter, but just because they were the right words didn’t mean they made me feel any less empty.

  Like someone had reached down into the depths of my soul, closed their fist around my spirit, and pulled it back out through my mouth.

  You’re just lonely, I thought sharply as I moved to the kitchen table to clear away the butter dish and maple syrup. That’s all. And that will pass. Just like it did before with Chessie’s mother. Just give it time.

  I put my car in park at the curb outside a modest, ten-story apartment building in Historic Edgefield, a safe and rather affordable neighborhood in Nashville. The building was old, probably sixty or so years, but it had been recently polished up with a coat of white paint on the brick exterior and black trim around the windows. Flower boxes lined the lower levels, providing privacy for the ground-level suites, and several of the balconies boasted flowers of their own as well as strung-up patio lights, bright patio sets, and all sorts of bird feeders.

  It seemed like a pleasant place to live, and the address matched the one scrawled on the envelope folded up in my cup holder. It had been a letter from Kim, sent to my place well over eight months ago containing mine and Verity’s first wedding invitation sample of at least three dozen. I’d been able to find it in the messy storage container of all the wedding documents Verity promised to go through after we were married, stored in my home-office closet.

  Without it, I never would have found where Kim lived.

  I got out of my car and walked across the nicely maintained lawn in front of the building. At the front doors, I found the list of residents attached to the buzzer. Kim’s name was near the bottom. Eighth floor.

  I cleared my throat and pressed the button.

  Less than five seconds later, Kim’s voice filled the shitty-quality speaker. “Hello?”

  “Kim. Hi, it’s Rick.”

  A moment’s pause. “Rick? What are you doing here?”

  “I have something for you. I was in the area so I thought I’d swing by. I hope it’s not an inconvenience.”

  “No, not at all. Hang on. I’ll buzz you up. The front door is delayed. After you hear the buzz, it will take another five or so seconds to open.”

  Kim was right. The door was delayed. After she buzzed me in, I crossed the small foyer. It was nearly the same size as the foyer in my house and this apartment served at least fifty units. There were two black leather sofas in the lobby. There were fresh-cut flowers on the table between them as well as a few out-of-date magazines. There was a small bookshelf beside the elevator and the whole lobby smelled like an old library.

  I rode the elevator up to the eighth floor, stepped off, and looked both ways down the hall. I spotted Kim at the far end on my right, standing half outside her apartment, waving at me.

  She looked good. As usual.

  She was wearing a pair of dark jeans. They weren’t tight and they ended above her ankle, ex
posing a dainty gold chain on her right ankle. She was barefoot and her toes were painted white. She crossed one ankle over the other and smirked at me when I got closer.

  “In the neighborhood, huh?” she asked, planting one hand on her hip. A bit of midriff was showing between her jeans and the cropped white sweatshirt she wore. Even just from that inch of exposed skin, I could tell she was fit, not that I hadn’t noticed in that tight little number she wore at the wedding. “What on earth could a guy like you be doing in Edgefield?”

  I grinned. “All right, I lied. I wasn’t in the area. I came specifically to give you this.” I reached into the front pocket of my sports jacket and pulled out an envelope. “It’s the remaining amount of what I owe you for the wedding.”

  Kim looked from the envelope to me. “Rick, I can’t accept this. It’s in my contract that if for some reason the wedding doesn’t go ahead, I don’t receive the full payment. It wouldn’t be right.”

  “What wouldn’t be right is if I failed to compensate you fully. You did all the work, Kim. I saw how hard you worked. You busted your ass to make this wedding happen and to have it fall through at the last minute like that? Well, it doesn’t sit right with me that you don’t get what’s earned.”

  She stepped back when I extended the envelope to her. “No, Rick. I don’t want it.”

  “Take it.”

  “No,” she said firmly.

  “Kim. Please.”

  She shook her head. “Absolutely not. After everything that went down, I refuse to put you on the line for this. It’s not on you to make things right and I’ll be just—”

  “For fuck’s sake,” I growled. Then I grabbed her wrist, turned her hand, and slapped the envelope into her palm. “Just take it.”

  Kim swallowed.

  Damn it. “I’m sorry,” I said, releasing her. “I didn’t mean to get angry.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not. I’m just sick and tired of everyone treating me like I’m broken. I’m not. I’m fine. I can afford to pay this and I want to because it’s the right thing to do.”

  Kim’s eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “All right. Thank you.”

  Tension I didn’t realize I was carrying fell away from me and I let out a tired sigh. “You’re welcome.”

  “Is there anything else you want to do?” Kim asked.

  Her question left me grasping at straws as I searched her eyes. There was something there, burning just beneath the surface, an invitation to step over the line and rid myself of this hollow weight that had been growing inside me for weeks now.

  I wanted to go inside her apartment. I wanted to kiss those perfect lips of hers and explore every inch of her taut little body with my hands, lips, tongue, and cock. I wanted to lay her out and show her what it meant to be worshiped by a man like me.

  I wanted to make her scream my fucking name.

  Kim pinched her bottom lip between her teeth. “Rick?”

  My name on her lips was like someone had waved a red flag in front of my eyes. I stepped forward, grabbed her chin in one hand, and pulled her lips toward mine. As soon as I tasted her, citrus and sugar, I knew there would be no stopping us.

  Chapter 22

  Kimberly

  Rick had a vise grip on my jaw and my whole body turned to butter in his hands. His tongue slipped between my teeth and I yielded to him, letting him explore my mouth with a desperation I’d never felt before. He turned me around, pressed my back up against the frame of my apartment door, and leaned into me, pushing air out of my lungs and making me sigh for him.

  He nipped at my lips and bowed his head to trail kisses along my cheekbone, down to my jaw, along the side of my neck, and across my collarbone.

  I plunged my fingers into his hair and held him there as his free hand roamed up to cup my breast.

  What are we doing?

  So much had happened to him in the last few weeks that I couldn’t wrap my head around any scenario where this was the right move to make. He needed time to process and grieve the loss of what he thought was going to be a marriage. And I needed time to sort out how I truly felt about him.

  Bullshit. You know how you feel.

  The little voice inside my head screamed at me to pull him into my apartment and let him rip my clothes right off me. But another voice, a calmer voice, told me to slow down.

  Take a breath.

  I sucked in a ragged breath of air as Rick released my jaw to instead cup the back of my neck. I leaned against his touch, letting him cradle my head, and he descended upon my lips for more kisses that had my insides aching for more.

  For all of it.

  All of him.

  “What are we doing?” I muttered against his lips.

  “What I’ve wanted to do since the first time I saw you.”

  He was saying all the right things. Doing all the right things, too. His hands dropped to my hips and he pulled them up against him. I could feel his cock, rock hard and eager under his jeans. I wanted to reach down and caress him. I wanted to feel his size. But if I did, there would be no going back.

  Do you want to go back?

  I didn’t want to spoil this. What if we took things too far and then it all fell apart? What if he realized I wasn’t who he wanted? What if he went back to Verity? What if—

  Enough.

  I wrapped an arm behind his neck and pulled him down to me. He let out a soft groan against our kiss that snapped the last of my resolve, and I stepped into my apartment, pulling him inside with me. We were still attached at the lips when he pulled the door closed behind him and spun me around to pin me up against it. He turned the deadbolt and hooked a finger in the belt loop of my jeans. He used it to jerk me against him again, and his fingers worked to undo my fly.

  While he unzipped my jeans, I worked to get his jacket off his broad shoulders. Underneath, he wore a classic white button-up shirt tucked into his jeans. I fumbled with his belt buckle and only succeeded when Rick slipped a hand down the front of my pants and over my panties.

  His touch shot through me like a bolt of passionate heat. I felt it in the tips of my fingers and my knees and my chest, and it became downright impossible for me to keep my composure. I untucked his shirt with clumsy desperation and began popping open the buttons while he rubbed me in slow circles over my panties.

  Under his shirt, Rick had the body of a god. He was firm and full in all the right places. His chest was well-defined, the muscles pulled taut, and the length of his stomach was broken into sections of abs I could have used as a massage table. I traced the creases and folds of his muscled torso with the tips of my fingers while he pushed his tongue deep into my mouth and tasted me aggressively.

  I rolled my hips against his fingers. He smiled against my lips and tugged my panties to the side. I was dripping wet beneath his touch when he ran two fingers between my folds.

  A soft whimper escaped me and my eyes fluttered closed.

  Rick pinched the skin on my neck softly between his teeth. “Your pussy is swollen already, baby.”

  My words were clipped and breathless. “I’ve wanted you for a long time.”

  “How bad?”

  I opened my eyes. He was looking into my soul. I was sure he could see just how undone I’d become. My pussy ached against his fingers as they fell still. I rolled my hips and gripped his arm, encouraging him to keep going.

  “Find out for yourself,” I whispered.

  Rick’s eyes flashed with desire and he eased his fingers inside me, stretching me, forcing me to take his thick digits. I moaned and he silenced me with a kiss as he filled me up. My muscles strained against the intense pressure and he began fucking me nice and slow with his fingers. All the while, the inside of my jeans were growing wet with my juices.

  “You’re so tight,” Rick growled.

  “I’m a good girl.”

  His chuckle was a deep rumble in his chest. “Liar.”

  My giggle was cut short when he pulled out o
f me, grabbed me by the back of my neck, and spun me around. He walked me forward and bent me over my kitchen island. The countertop was cool against my cheek as he took a fistful of my hair and pinned me there while he roughly tore my jeans down over my ass and halfway down my thighs. He gave me a rough slap and I yelped. The sharp sting was delicious. I involuntarily arched my back and stretched to the tips of my toes.

  “Greedy girl.”

  I bit my bottom lip and wiggled my ass for him. He spanked me again. A soft sigh left me as he pulled my ass cheeks apart and patted my pussy with his palm. Four steady slaps had me aching in all the right places. I pushed back against his hand and he rewarded me with a finger. And then two.

  He pulled my head back by my hair and forced me to look at the ceiling while he fucked me hard and fast with his fingers until my come was running down the inside of my legs and it was all I could do not to scream from the pleasure.

  When he was done, I was a breathless mess. Rick pulled me up and rubbed my pussy with his free hand while he maintained his grip in my hair. He kissed me and teased my clit while I writhed in his grip.

  “Where’s the bedroom?” he muttered.

  My gaze flicked to the hallway decorated in framed pictures of me with my friends. The open door at the end of the hall led to my sunlit bedroom, and Rick stripped my jeans all the way off before releasing me and telling me to lead the way.

  I did, but it wasn’t easy on my wobbly legs.

  I hadn’t come like that in a long time. In fact, I didn’t usually come at all when I was with a man. They never knew how to treat me right. They were always too gentle. Too safe.

  And Rick was anything but.

  Rick was the man of my dreams.

  I spun to him when I stepped into the bedroom, and I pulled my sweatshirt over my head so I stood before him in nothing but my bra and panties. Rick shrugged out of his open shirt, stepped out of his shoes, and pulled his pants off so he was down to his skin-tight black boxers.