Mick nodded, her curls bobbing wildly. “It’s time for someone else to give the place new memories- it deserves that.”
Dusk was approaching when the couple pulled into the brick horseshoe drive. They made quick work of bringing in the bags. Michaela had already put in a call to the realtor before they left for Switzerland. As the woman was scheduled to stop by sometime before lunch the next day, the Ramseys decided to make it a simple evening. Quest ordered out for Pizza while Mick made a quick visit to the market for a few other things they’d need.
***
A dark scowl was beginning to mar Quest’s gorgeous features as his clicks to the remote’s down arrow grew increasingly harsh.
Mick sat curled on the opposite end of the sofa and bit down on her thumbnail while attempting to stifle a grin. “Sorry,” she muttered innocently when he uttered a frustrated curse.
“We’ve got almost fifty movie channels here- over ten that feature all action- all the time and you’ve seen every single one.”
Michaela’s shrug was a gesture of both contentment and pride. “What can I say? I love action movies.”
“So do I and some of these even I’ve never heard of.”
Mick snuggled down on the sofa. “And therein lies your real frustration- how could anyone know more than Quest Ramsey?”
“Stow it.” He ordered, his brows drawing closer. He was determined to find something neither of them had seen.
Mick stretched out her legs and curled her toes into the soft fleece of his sweatpants. “We’ve also got a ton of stations that feature all porn- all the time.” She sent him a naughty wink when he looked her way and she wiggled her toes against his thigh. “Let’s find somethin’ there and forget action.”
Quest shook his head, tossed aside the remote and grabbed her ankle to tug her close. “I’ll show you action.”
His face was hidden deep in a wealth of cleavage when the doorbell chimed. Mick was torn between stripping off her top and seeing to the door when her stomach growled.
“Hopefully it’s the pizza.” She said when he grinned up at her.
“Forget it.” His head dipped again. A hand curved about her thigh and his thumb skirted the edge of the cutoffs she wore. His fingers were mere inches from the lacy middle of her panties when she clutched his wrist. “We’ll eat later,” he growled into her bosom while maneuvering out of her wrist- clutch.
“I’m hungry now.” She added a bit of whine to her voice for emphasis.
“Then, it’s your dime.” Quest eased back with playful challenge filling his hazy gaze.
Mick brows rose. “Shameful.” She chastised watching as he shrugged and returned his attention to her chest.
The doorbell rang again.
“So you’ll only pay if I put out?”
“Course. What do you think this is?” His tongue outlined the swell of one breast. “I’d even planned to spring for soda and those cinnamon sticks for dessert.”
Mick’s laughter filled the living room then. “Well since the pizza guy’s here already and probably getting more pissed off by the second, how about I promise to fulfill your every sexual desire by night’s end no later?”
“I’ll take what I can get.” He decided, supplying her with the money for their dinner just as the bell sounded a third time.
Mick kissed his cheek and was prepared to scoot off the sofa when his hand wound into her curls and he kissed her hand.
“You’ll have to make up for this with interest, you know?”
Her lashes almost fluttered over sheer anticipation at his words. “I’ve got no doubt.”
~~~
“Coming!” Mick sang as she sprinted through the foyer once ring number four had silenced. She pulled open the door while counting the money Quest had given her. “Sorry about that, we-”
The explanation quelled on her tongue. The hand holding the money now dangled at her side. The man on the other side of the door had definitely not come bearing pizza and drinks. He was almost as black as the night surrounding him with the exception of the bronzed face and gleaming grin that appeared as dangerous as the rest of him.
Instinct kicked in, making the fine hair along Mick’s neck stand up and take notice. She wouldn’t step back and openly admit to her unease but was ready to bolt at the slightest move the visitor made. She’d met with enough of the dangerous and unsavory in her lifetime to recognize one in her presence regardless of how much his looks overshadowed the fact.
She did at last manage to locate her voice. “Yes?”
“Quest Ramsey.”
“And you are?” She tried to match the level of steel in her voice with that of the man who requested her husband.
Quest rounded the corner of the foyer before either Michaela or the mystery guest could speak. Immediately, his gaze narrowed in recognition and obvious suspicion. Without sparing Mick a glance, he headed for the door and tugged her behind him with he got there.
The man’s grin broadened, adding an increased danger to his expression. “Jesus, Q,” he breathed then and tilted his head to scan Mick’s face and body with a look of unmasked appreciation.
Quest smiled then but his pitch stare remained focused and probing. “Mick, this is Hilliam Tesano. Hill, my wife Michaela.”
Hill nodded his smile and expression taking on a less intimidating current. “Pleasure Michaela,” he extended a hand.
She accepted. “Call me Mick.”
“And I insist you call me Hill.” He waited for her nod, then released her hand and waved his own behind him toward the night. “Q? Can we talk?”
Quest nodded and watched Hill move off into the shadows. His expression softened and he turned back to Mick who held the hem of his T-shirt in a death grip.
“It’s alright.”
“Like hell.” She spat, her instincts on full alert as she frowned out into the blackness beyond her door.
“I’ll scream if I need you to come save me,” he promised and brushed his mouth across her forehead.
“Quest-”
“Shh…go on inside. I’ll be there in minute. Go on.” He tapped her bottom to send her on her way and followed the gesture with a sly wink.
Mick allowed herself to be bustled off like a good little wife but refused to leave the foyer when the door closed at her husband’s back. She took a seat on the stairway and waited.
“Runnin’ late, aren’t you? I scrapped weapons a few weeks ago.” Quest noted when he and Hill were leaning against opposing tree trunks in the front yard.
“Weapons, Q?” Hill stroked his jaw; his tone of voice bordered on laughter. “Such talk for old friends. Could it be I came to congratulate you on your marriage since I was unable to come to the wedding?” He reached into a back pocket on his sagging denims and extracted a pack of Black and Milds. “To this day, I still can’t figure how my invite got lost in the mail.”
“Cut the bullshit. What the fuck are you doin’ here- come to talk me into changin’ my mind?” Quest tacked on when he glimpsed Hill’s smile in the firelight as he struck a match for his cigarette.
After a few deep drags, Hill rested his head back against the trunk. “Not at all. If anything, I came to talk you into not changing your mind.”
Quest’s silence was instruction enough for Hill to continue his explanation.
“Your rep for being a goody two shoes in business has finally pushed quite a few folk over the teetering edge into full blown dislike of you.”
Quest pushed off the trunk. “I got enough friends.”
“And your new enemies are aware of that.” Hill took another drag from the long brown stick of nicotine. “That doesn’t mean they won’t seek ways to…encourage you to reconsider your decision.”
Quest had strolled a ways off from the trees but turned at Hill’s last words.
“What I’m saying is that you got a lot of folks scramblin’ to find a new home for weapons manufacture, storage, research…folks in my family especially might get sloppy.” Th
ere was a lengthier drag from the Black and Mild. “We’re actually counting on it.”
“We?”
“This could be just the in we need to start bringin’ down the whole fuckin’ mess.”
“We, Hill?”
He cast a look across his shoulder toward the house and then stepped closer to Quest. “No one knows Caiphus and I are trying to do this.”
“Caiphus?” Quest recognized the name of the youngest son of Roman and Imani Tesano.”
Hill walked to the curb and tossed the cigarette butt to the street. “Pike and Smoak think we’re scum and they need to keep on thinkin’ that.” He flattened the butt beneath the heel of his Timberland. “They need to think we’re in league with them up to our damn foreheads, Q.”
“Why?” Quest breathed, now standing on the curb as well.
“They just do.”
“Why’d you come here to tell me this, Hill? House calls aren’t your style.”
“I think you know.” A sliver of moonlight illuminated the grin that crinkled the corner of Hill’s very deep gaze. “Everyone looks to you to get things gone. Everyone aspires to be like Q Ramsey. Hell if I weren’t so content on bein’ a scoundrel I’d try it myself.” He took a moment to chuckle then turned serious again. “Listen, I don’t know what Pike knows but I know Smoak has somethin’ brewin. I can’t have my brothers’ good deeds getting in the way here. They wouldn’t exactly approve of the way Caiphus and I…handle things.”
Quest’s expression sharpened with a dangerous intensity. “You expect me to report to you?”
“I expect you to do what has to be done to shut down Ramsey Weapons and quickly. I also expect-hope- you’ll trust me as it may eventually pertain to certain… treasures.”
Crystal clarity hit Quest then and he tilted his head back. This time, it was him who cast a quick glance across his shoulder at the house in the distance. “I’ll tell you what I told your brother- one hair- one harmed on their heads and I go after all four of you. To hell with any Tesano family revenge plots y’all got goin’.”
Hill’s nod was solemn. “They’re safe, Q.”
“Hmph, you’ll forgive me if the word of a Tesano means less than shit to me where my cousins are concerned. One hair, Hill. I mean if a bird so much as swoops down and swipes a fuckin’ lock, it’s your ass.”
As his word meant less than shit, Hill offered no verbal response. Instead, he extended his hand and offered a grim smile when Quest accepted the shake.
***
At last, they were enjoying a delicious pizza feast (with soda and cinnamon bread sticks) as well as a six pack of Red Stripe between them. They ate in the den and finally decided to watch a political thriller on one of the movie channels. They were relaxed, full and drowsy on the sofa by the time the movie credits began to roll.
Mick wiggled her toes and tried to stretch as best she could with Quest smothering her by his weight.
“Ready for bed?”
Mick could only grunt her confirmation.
Quest eased up over her and began to nibble her lower lip. Mick’s lashes fluttered open in time to spot something serious flash across his face.
“What?” She tried to stifle a yawn.
“You look worn out.”
A lazy smile curved her mouth. “Not as young as I used to be- that fantastic trip of yours wore me completely out.”
Quest dipped his head. “You sound happy about it.” His nose trailed a gauzy strap of the black and white Babydoll tee she wore.
“It was good. I could sleep for a week but I know that’s foolish talk.”
Quest smiled and brushed his thumb across the mole above her mouth. “I miss her too,” he said in reference to their daughter.
Mick smoothed her hands over his bare chest and linked them behind his neck. “So now it’s my turn to ask what’s wrong with you?” She asked and spotted the guilt flash in his eyes before he could mask it. “Hey?” She caught his face in her palms before he could turn away. “What is it? You look almost terrified.” She laughed at how little sense that made. “Is this about Hill Tesano’s visit?” She had to ask anyway.
“Not a bit. Hill Tesano doesn’t visit, so his dropping by caught me off guard is all.”
Mick lowered her gaze. “Wanna discuss it?”
“Not at all. Not ever.”
Mick knew that was the end of things. She’d have to do some pretty nifty prying to get anything out of him about what they’d talked about in her front yard. Worthy of pursuit, Mick admitted she was just too dog tired to focus on it now. Still, her husband’s mood- which she’d noticed long before the Tesano house call- was mounting her concern. She said so to her husband and watched as he tried to shrug it off and move away. Mick was having none of that.
“I’ve watched you like this for a while now. When we started the trip you seemed to snap out of it but now it’s back.”
Finally Quest allowed her to see the full intensity of his emotions. “There’s something I need to tell you.” Frustrated, he rubbed his fingers across the rich waves of his close cut hair. “I can see you need to rest though and we can talk in the morning.”
“I’m fine to talk now.” She spoke amidst another yawn.
“In the morning, alright?” He smoothed back a curl that hugged her ear.
It was Michaela’s turn to look uneasy then. “You know um…there was something you said the night before we left for the trip. When we were…on the patio.”
Quest nodded lowering his head to gnaw her shoulder while memories of the erotic scene replayed in his mind.
“You said everything you do is for me- that you’d never hurt me.”
“You’re my life.” Quest raised his head. “I’d give mine for yours-no question- no hesitation.”
Mick pressed her lips together and prayed her eyes weren’t shimmering with tears. “I guess that means you’re not going to tell me you’re having an affair, huh?”
The somberness left Quest’s soulful hazy stare and was replaced by humor. Laughter soon followed resonating from the depths of his chest. Propping his elbow on the sofa cushion, he braced his forehead against his fingers while his eyes traced every inch of her face.
“Don’t you know by now that I’m no good for anyone else?”
Before Michaela could answer, she moaned feeling the stiff extent of his sex against the heart of her.
“That doesn’t happen for anyone but you whether you’re right in front of me or an image in my head. You’re everything to me.”
Mick’s lashes fluttered again. “I’m sorry.” She shuddered.
“It’s okay,” Quest dropped a kiss to her temple. “You’re entitled to say something stupid every other week or so. Now shut up so I can have my way with you.”
“I thought I needed rest.”
“Later.”
Her mouth was captured then in a swift deep kiss. His tongue mimicked the thrusting motions of his hips. Mick wrapped her legs around his lean waist ready to take all he wanted to give.
“No please…” she moaned her disappointment when he broke the kiss and pulled her from the sofa. “Quest-”
“Shh…”
“What are you doing?” She braced against his hold upon her wrist. She wasn’t at all certain she could wait until they travelled upstairs to her bedroom.
Muttering a low curse, Quest picked her up and deposited her on the futon some twenty feet from the sofa.
Realization rushed forth. Memories of the first time she saw Quest Ramsey standing in her den- memories of needing him to take her anyway he wanted on the very futon she sat upon.
“Since you’re selling the place, I guess we better go on and break this thing in, right?”
She nodded obediently. “Right.”
Quest’s left dimple sparked in response to her giggling once he’d angled his bare foot beneath the front of the futon and pulled in into the flat position.
Eagerly, Mick moved to loosen the ties at the bodice of the black and w
hite floral print Babydoll. Quest stopped her, preferring to remove the naughty piece of lingerie himself. Removing it however, seemed to be the last thing on his mind. His kisses seared her body through the satiny material. She arched fiercely when his lips grazed past the flyaway cut of the garment to touch her skin.
Quest wound his fingers around the waistband of her matching bikinis but chose to leave them in place at her hips. Mick was practically out of her mind with desire and sobbed when she felt his tongue invade her sex through the crotch-less underwear. Every part of her trembled and only served to stroke his ego. Several times, he raised his head to savor the display of emotion on her lovely dark face. She could barely gasp his name when he held her bottom snug in his palms and fed upon her as though he were starved.
He pleasured her to a devastating orgasm and continued to drive his tongue deep inside her even as she quivered beneath him and begged him to wait. Mick didn’t even realize he’d stripped her of her things until her eyes fluttered open and she caught sight of the lingerie tossed carelessly on the floor.
He gave her no time to recover from the exquisite climax. He flipped her to her stomach to lavish her back and bottom with the same erotic attention from his tongue. She was thoroughly limp with desire and pliable to his hands. He pulled her up and back next to his chest then. He didn’t bother with fully removing his loose black cotton sweats and only took time to free himself and plunge his shaft into the part of her that he; and he alone, commanded.
Burying his face in her fragrant curls, Quest took her from behind. Mick squeezed his hands as his fingers manipulated her firm nipples. The entire lower level of the house was alive with the sounds of their pleasure.
Much later, in the midst of a smattering of clothes, the lovers dozed content and completely satisfied.
~CHAPTER TEN~
Michaela took a moment to get her bearings when she woke the next morning. She lay on her stomach raking her fingers through her curls and smiling as the memories replayed from the previous evening spent breaking in the futon she rested on.
The Ramseys Boxed Set Page 133
