Melissa And The Cowboy (Western Night Series 1)

by Rosie Harper

  “Thank you,” she responded her gaze focused on the lips that pulled her in.

  He got up abruptly from the seat he had taken beside her and pulled the envelope she had tossed at him earlier. His henchman came back into his office and handed him a paper which he perused before looking back at her.

  “I see you are currently out of a job,” he said and again she did not answer him so he continued. “I will let your little weasel of a brother off the hook if you come work for me as my accountant.”

  Her breath caught in her throat at the offer, and her eyes widened when he told her how much he would pay her and that she could take back the money she had brought. It was all a little surreal and she looked at him suspiciously.

  “What’s the catch?” she asked him.

  He again smiled at her as if he was pleased by what she said. “You have to work for me for two years.”

  “Why two years? Why so specific?”

  His eyes flashed with a warning that she should not question him and she slowly sank back in her chair. “I need to think about it,” she said.

  “You have fifteen minutes.”

  Simone took that to mean she could leave and quickly made her way down to the front where she had left Cara waiting. Her friend was nowhere to be seen. She began to panic as she asked the receptionist who stared at her with contempt, where her friend had gone. The woman reluctantly directed her to the library around the corner.

  The building known as New Horizons was home to one of the fastest growing businesses in Chicago and she had always passed it and marvel at its design. Being on the inside today she was definitely wowed by it and the library she entered to find children from the south side milling around, was heartwarming. She had heard some time ago that Joshua was trying to build up the project where he had grown up, and back then she had thought it ironic that he sold drugs on the same streets he was trying to make better. But her father had once told her that sometimes you had to take a step backward in order to move forward, and it was not until now that she had realized how true it was. She had never grown up in the projects, but her mother told her stories of how that was. This library and the free day care she passed on the way to it, where testament to something new and uplifting. God knows the community needed it.

  Ok, now you are idolizing a drug dealer, stop it! She admonished herself, but truth be told she knew she was going to take the job before she found Cara with legs curled comfortably in the library lounge reading a book. She explained what had transpired and her friend made it clear that she had very little choice. Simone left her there and went back to his office only ten minutes later.

  “Okay, I will take it,” she said, and his smile this time was a bit more joyful than she knew he wanted to show.

  “You start now,” he said, and she didn’t object to the fact that it was Saturday. “Jae will show you around and find you an office. Welcome aboard Simone,” he finished and handed her the envelope with money. Her father was on the well to do side, hence the availability of this much cash, but she had always told herself she would make her own. Especially after he had cut her baby brother off. This was a good start in that direction provided Joshua’s illegal business did not get her in trouble. She looked at his face with urbane good looks and the languid elegance with which he poured himself another drink. He defied all the stereotypes of drug Kingpins, but she was not stupid, she knew that if she made the smallest mistake, he would put a bullet in her head and bury her in the middle of nowhere.

  That didn’t stop the stirrings of lust that crept into her tummy, in fact that just made her want him some more.

  You are an idiot, she thought to herself and sent Cara a text to let her know what was up. Her friend would no doubt stay in the library reading all afternoon and a confirmation text came back saying as much.

  Chapter 4

  “Today must be my lucky day, or I am being haunted by the ghost of sexy women past,” Cara heard a familiar voice directed at her. She had been so far buried in the book she was reading that she was almost certain it was the Casanova character she was reading about that had spoken. But when she lifted her head, her blood ran cold and then the anger crept up her spine.

  “Go away!” she said to the man who had beat Michael in the alley. He smiled down at her and she remembered that he was now Simone’s boss, so she stilled the words that were about to creep out of her mouth.

  “You are in my building and my library, so if you don’t want to see me then you should leave,” he said sitting beside her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked him apprehensive of his closeness as he lifted a brow at her.

  “Sitting in the same spot I sit in every day at this time to think, so please be quiet,” he said.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t do that.”

  He looked at her and she felt oddly endeared to the confused look that crept into his face. “Do what?” he asked

  “Think. You might hurt yourself,” she said and moved from the chair. She walked to the other side of the room and she could feel his eyes following her. She wanted to send Simone a message that she had just met her evil boss but she didn’t want to bother her, and so she climbed the ledge to a window with cushions and made herself comfortable while she read. She loved this library, and she had a feeling that she would visit it often. It was the kind of space that made you feel like you were transported to a different world and she needed to escape her reality every so often.

  She was not sure how long she had been seated there, but the next thing she knew was that the librarian was telling her she had to go, because they were closing up. She lifted her head from her book to see the fading evening light and tried her best not to let her sadness show.

  “It’s okay Cynthia,” Josh said from behind the woman. “She is waiting on her friend so she can stay with me,” he said and the woman nodded her head as she walked pass him.

  “No eating in my library,” Cynthia said eyeing the food he carried. “I don’t care if you own it.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Josh responded with a laughed as the woman left them. It was only then that Cara noticed how quite the library had gotten.

  “A woman who reads is a dangerous woman,” he said to her.

  “You need to remember that,” she spat back at him.

  “Ok enough,” he said to her resting the boxes of food that smelt like fried chicken and chips. Her stomach grumbled but the steel in his voice was enough to distract her from her hunger for a moment. “Michael and I had business and he went against the plan and cost me money yet again.”

  “Well, your mistake was rehiring him after he had failed the first time,” she shot back.

  He glared at her and she found his stare provocative. His eyes narrowed and he loosened his tie then the top two buttons of his shirt. “Forgive me for being a man who had faith that if he could make some money after his father cut him off then he would be snorting drugs.”

  “Drugs you sell,” she answered.

  “Be very careful Cara Wright,” he said staring at her and whatever calm he had shown before was replaced with the ominous warning he gave her.

  “His family pushed him to the edge and I just tried to bring him back. Now you can hate me for punishing him when he crossed me, or you can leave it alone, eat the damn food I brought you and wait on Simone for as long as you like.”

  She looked at him and when he huffed, she couldn’t help but laugh, realizing how insane she must seem.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked her.

  “You,” she said taking the food he handed her. “Your legend is more intimidating than you actually are.”

  “Yeah, well fucking sue me!” he shot back and sat to eat his food. They ate in silence the only conversation being the odd question about her and the books she read. By the time the food was done, she had figured out a bit of his story that was rarely heard in the streets. He was much more than just the man who she knew ordered hits and smuggled drugs. For the first time she was s
eeing the kingpin as an actual person, and she liked him.

  “Come let me show you my favorite collection,” he said moments later, pulling her up from her perch. She followed him admiring the way his ass moved in his pants, and when they got to the rear section of the library, he stood before the isle with his arms open in pride. “This is my paradise.”

  She walked passed him, her bare forearm brushing his and the volt of electricity that passed between them was undeniable.

  Stop it! She warned herself, but she had been feeling the rising attraction since he had sat beside her hours before and now in the thin space of the isle she could not deny it. She ran her fingers along the spine of the books as she walked, realizing she was looking at a collection of very old African American literature and Greek mythology. The former she wished she could afford school to study and the latter was something of interest ever since she had read a Sherelyn Kenyon novel.

  “A man after my own heart,” she said taking a book from the shelf as he closed the space between them. She was distractingly aware of his breath caressing her neck as she ran her fingers across the old parchment paper of one of the Greek books and realized it was an antique collection.

  “Beautiful,” she whispered.

  “Yes, you are,” he responded from behind her and she felt his lips brush against the skin of her bare shoulder. It sent shivers through her body and goose bumps followed suit. She turned slowly; feeling like she was outside her body watching the scene unfold and no matter how much she told herself to walked away she could not help but lean into his kiss when he lowered his lips to hers.

  He is a drug dealer, Cara! One demon shouted.

  But he loves books and he is hot! The other countered.

  He nearly killed Michael and almost choked you to death! Her demon shouted.

  Semantics! He is hot! Countered the other as Josh’s hand lifted to cup her face as he breathed out into the kiss and Cara knew fighting it was lost. His hand moved from her face to the exposed skin on her shoulder and as much as she tried to fight it her empty hand came up to clutch his shirt. He angled is head to deepen the kiss and pull her into him. She couldn’t fathom how any woman on the face of the earth could resist the erotic masculinity of him and she sure as hell knew that as much as she despised what he had done, there was no way she could walk away from this moment.

  His fingers slowly lifted the hem of her shorts and the sheer pleasure of his warm hands touching the sensitive skin of her stomach caused her to pull away and gasp for breath. Her senses that had left the room slowly did the walk of shame back in and she stepped away from him.

  “I can’t,” she whispered turning to put the book back on the shelf and stepping away.

  “Sorry,” he said to her and she could hear the remorse in his voice. It stopped her in her tracks and he walked up to her again. “I didn’t mean to,” he said. He sounded as if he were about to say something else but she didn’t give him the chance. As his thumb ran across her lips in sweet apology, she roughly pulled him back into her and forgot all sense of modesty and time. She pulled his shirt from the waist band of his jeans and bit down on his lower lip as her fingers played across his bare chest, touching, petting and shaping his defined torso and enjoying the muscles that twitched beneath her ministrations.

  His fingers slowly made their way down to the hem of the skirt she had hauled on that morning, and as he slowly moved it up her leg, her hand found his erect cock through his pants and squeezed him.

  “Mmm,” he moaned into her mouth as she slipped his zipper down and pulled his manhood free. This was not the slow sweet love making of lovers. This was just her wanting to feel the strength of him inside her and as his fingers found her wet and dripping slit, they slipped into the folds of her pussy and she broke the kiss to throw her head back as he found her clitoris and gently massaged it. She moaned out loud, happy the library was empty, and she slowly stroked him, enjoying the feel of him thickening and pulsating in her palm.

  “Fuck me,” she whispered as he lowered his lips to her taunt nipples, poking through the thin fabric of the bra and shirt she had pulled on that day. His wet mouth soaked through the material as he wrapped his fingers around her slender thighs and lifted her.

  His cock rubbed against the V of her thigh and he humped back and forth driving her crazy. When she couldn’t take it anymore she reached between them and pulled her panty to the side. He took the opportunity to skin into her inch by slow glorious inch and they moaned against each other with the sheer pleasure of it.

  When he was buried to the hilt, he rested her against the book shelf and stared in her eyes. The emotions she saw there was unreadable but he waited as if begging her permission to fuck her. She felt him twitch inside her and lowered her lips to his as she thrust her hips on his cock. He took a hint and in slow long strokes he entered her and pulled out again and again. The fire between them built and neither one of them could stand in any more.

  As the waves of climax built and began to roll over her, his thrusts quickened and he plunged into her again and again. Her eyes rolled back in her head and moments later he threw his head back and groaned as he plunged into her one last time. She couldn’t think straight and out of the corner of her eyes she saw Simone looking at them slack jawed, but she couldn’t say anything. Her body shook to the core and she closed her eyes as the spasms of pleasure rolled over them.

  When they passed, Simone was gone and Josh slowly lowered her to her shaky feet and planted a kiss on her lips then her forehead. She smiled reveling in the moment as she rested her forehead on his chin.

  “I have to go,” she whispered.

  “What? No!” he said lifting her face to his.

  “Simone was just here,” she said and she saw the shock flash across his face. She didn’t need to explain anything else to him. When her eyes found his, she knew that he knew what her next few hours would be like. She gave him a lingering kiss and made her way out the door and headed after Simone.

  Chapter 5

  Simone looked down at her phone as it rang. She turned her car out on the road and threw it in the passenger seat beside her. She couldn’t believe Cara had been fucking the man who had nearly killed her brother. For all she knew they were both in on it. She quickly stopped at the hospital to check in on her brother and then thirty minutes later, still fuming, she made her way to her father’s house to find that he had decided to stop drinking long enough to get some work done. She ordered him some food and ignored his questions if she was alright and made her way back to her apartment.

  Her phone never stopped vibrating and each time she looked at it to find it was Cara.

  “Fuck you!” she said and threw the phone down on the chair as she drove. She should have known it would not have been that easy to get rid of her best friend though. As she climbed up the stairs in the early Chicago night, she found Cara sitting outside her apartment door.

  “Really?” she asked in anger.

  “You left me stranded after I followed you there?” Cara asked her in horror, but Simone didn’t much care if she had just broken some best friend code.

  “By the way things looked, if you needed a ride out of there he would have rode you all the way home,” she threw back at her friend and she could see Cara was taken aback by the insult. “He nearly killed my brother, Cara.”

  “But your brother was not innocent, and what does that have to do with me fucking him?”

  Simone was going to answer her just as some people made their way down from the third floor. She decided against airing her dirty laundry and stepped inside leaving the door for Cara to follow. She walked to her kitchen and took a bottle of water out of her fridge as Cara leaned against the kitchen counter and watched her.

  Simone knew she really had no reason to be upset, and if she were to be honest with herself she was not actually upset because Cara had fucked the man who was now her boss; she was actually upset because she had wanted to do the same thing.

 
She rolled a bottle of water to her friend and Cara took that as permission to speak. “Aren’t you going to ask me how it was?” she smiled at her friend.

  “Spare me the details,” Simone said and walked away from her. She knew that Cara knew her well enough to know she was more jealous than anything else.

  “Come on Si,” Cara said to her as she headed into her bathroom. “We are better than this.”

  Simone didn’t answer her, and she put music on her cell phone and spent a little over an hour in the tub, soaking away her anger. But as much as she tried to she just couldn’t remain angry and she couldn’t keep the memory of Cara being nailed against a bookshelf out of her mind. Her tummy was in a knot and her clitoris pulsed as the memory played over and over in her mind. Before she could stop herself she found her fingers falling below the surface of the water to play with her clitoris. She slipped a finger inside of her and used another to rub the hood of her clitoris. Her mouth forming a silent oh as she brought herself to a climax. It was still not as fulfilling as she wanted it to be, and she couldn’t help thinking how much more fun it would be if all three of them had a go at it. This was not the first time they had liked the same man, and they had always spoken about a threesome, it was just kind of ironic that the man she would love to be a part of it was the man who had nearly killed her brother. The same man that was one of Chicago’s biggest drug lords.

  There was going to be a special place waiting on her in hell.

  Don’t even go there, she told herself. But when she stepped out of her bathroom an hour later her jaws dropped to the floor.

  Seated in her living room was topless Joshua and a mischievous grin across Cara’s face told her that her friend had thought of the one thing she herself had spent an hour in the bathroom dreaming about. Cara walked over to where she stood rooted to the spot and Joshua followed. He had a twinkle in his eyes that spoke of the unadulterated things he wanted to do to her, and as he stepped around Cara and lowered his lips to hers without saying a word, she knew that tonight was the night one of her fantasies would play out.