“She has?”
“Yes.” He wondered why he’d told her that. He never discussed his mother with anyone. And it was only on rare occasions that her name came up with Terrence and Olivia.
Kim was sitting close to him, practically in his lap. He felt his desire for her on the rise again and hoped the cab arrived at the airport before he was tempted to do something that could make headlines in the Chicago Sun-Times.
“The last I saw her,” he said, “she was contemplating husband number five. But that was six years ago. She might have made it to number ten by now.”
Kim gave him an odd look. “You’re joking, aren’t you?”
His expression was unreadable when he said, “I never joke when it comes to the woman who birthed me.”
There was an edge of steel in his voice and Kim figured the subject of his mother’s desertion was a sore one with him, just like her mother’s obsession with finding the perfect man was with her.
The perfect man.
Such a man didn’t exist. But that was her mother’s dream and Kim knew all about chasing dreams. Just like she understood her mother’s desire to see her only child married. Wynona thought she’d failed in both the mother and wife departments. Neither was true, but until mother and daughter were happily married, she would always believe that.
The backseat of the cab got quiet, as if Duan was allowing her time to think, and then he asked, “When is the wedding?”
She rubbed a hand down her face. “They want to marry in three weeks, which will put me in more hot water because of a lie I’ve told.”
“What lie?”
“That I’m engaged.”
At his surprised look, she said, “Okay, I’ll admit that was a big one, but I had a reason for lying in this case. Mom and her sister, my aunt Gertrude, believe my exposure to my parents’ relationship for all those years is the reason I’m not in what they call a healthy relationship with a man.”
He shrugged. “That’s probably true. At least I know it is for me. I’m not sure I can fully trust a woman after what my mother did to my dad. I know all women aren’t the same, like I’m sure you know all men aren’t the same. But still, it’s understandable for anyone who’s witnessed all that to want to protect their heart.”
Kim nodded. What he said made sense. Her parents’ marriage had influenced her way of thinking.
“But I don’t want Mom to beat herself up about it and worry unnecessarily. I’m happy with my marital status, and I think Mom would ease off if it wasn’t for Aunt Gert. She’s a bona fide romantic. She’s also a reality TV junkie. A couple of months ago, without me knowing, she submitted my name and bio to How to Find a Good Man. Believe it or not, I was the one selected to go on a televised scavenger hunt to find a good man.”
Duan chuckled. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Trust me, I kid you not. Anyway, they wanted to surprise me, and they sure did when the film crew showed up at the hospital. The only way I could get out of it was to lie and say I’d gotten engaged after Aunt Gert had submitted my personal info.”
She shook her head. “That made everyone happy and I was left alone. And to this day, no one has asked me the name of my fiancé. But just like Sherri warned, the lie has caught up with me. Now Mom wants to meet him. I can’t put it off any longer.”
“Just tell them the truth.”
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t know my family, especially Aunt Gert. I would go so far as to tell her to butt out of my business, but I know she means well, so I can’t. When I go home next week I not only have to meet what could be my fourth stepfather, but also take a man with me to Shreveport as my fiancé. A fake one at least.”
Duan thought it might be wise for her to just fess up and tell her family the truth. But if she didn’t do that and took a man home…a part of him didn’t like the thought of that for some reason. He knew what she did was her business. But still…
“You have any prospects?” he asked, looking down at her. Not for the first time he thought how gorgeous her brown eyes were. He could recall staring into them while climaxing. Several times.
She lifted an arched brow. “Prospects?”
“You know. Guys willing to play the part of your fiancé.”
Kim shrugged. She immediately thought of Winslow Breaker. He was a surgeon at the hospital who’d been after her for months. The only problem was that she could just imagine what good old Winslow would expect in return. And she just wasn’t feeling it with Winslow. Never had.
“Possibly,” she heard herself say.
Duan cursed under his breath, wondering why he even gave a damn. Like he’d thought earlier, what she did was her business.
He noticed the huge marker that indicated the airport was less than ten miles away and knew what he wanted to do before they parted ways.
Shifting in the seat, he reached out and ran the tip of his finger down the side of her face, his gaze fastened on her lips. “Sounds like you have a plan and I’m sure things are going to work out in your favor. In the meantime—” his voice dipped a little lower, became throatier “—I appreciate being with you this weekend.”
And then he lowered his mouth to hers.
DUAN HAD THOUGHT her taste was sweet before, but after thrusting his tongue between her parted lips and greedily drinking in her flavor, he realized she was the most alluring woman he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing. Definitely the tastiest.
Their tongues met, melded, mated and were stirring waves of pleasure inside him. And then there was the passion she returned wantonly and flagrantly each and every time they kissed. He would take charge of the kiss, she would follow, and then she would turn the tables and stake her control.
It was while savoring the wet heat and hunger of her sizzling passion that he yielded to full awareness of what being with her entailed. With Kim there was no sensual limit, no restricted areas and no borders to guard. There was just this—absolute surrender and a yearning for more.
“You did say you were flying out on Delta, right, mister?”
Duan released Kim’s mouth and inclined his head to look at the taxi driver, who had turned around to stare at them with a silly grin on his face. Understandably so, since he and Kim had been caught in a heated kiss. And he had managed to pull her onto his lap and drape her body across his.
“Yes, I’m flying out on Delta.” Then ignoring the man, he leaned up and brushed his lips across hers once more to whisper, “Have a safe trip back to Key West, Kim.”
Reluctantly he eased her off his lap. Something pulled inside Duan at the thought that this was where he went his way and she went hers. When the driver brought the taxi to a stop, Duan opened the door and made a move to get out. He then looked back at Kim.
At that moment, something pushed him to say, “I have some free time coming up, so how about adding me to your list of prospects?”
He smiled at the stunned look on her face. “You’re serious? You would consider doing that for me?”
“Yes, I would.” He reached for her hand, lifted it to his lips and placed a kiss on her knuckles. Immediately he felt the sizzling between them.
Releasing her hand, he shifted and turned to get out of the taxi.
“Don’t be surprised if I decide to take you up on your offer, Duan,” she warned. “Then all I’ll have to concentrate on is making sure Mom knows what she’s doing with Edward Villarosas.”
Duan turned back, gave her his full attention. Fighting to keep the frown off his face, he repeated, “Edward Villarosas?”
She nodded. “Yes. He’s the man my mother plans to marry.”
DUAN PULLED OUT his cell phone the moment he cleared security. He wasted no time dialing the number to his office. Landon Chestnut, one of the private investigators who worked with him at the Peachtree Private Investigative Firm, usually came into the office on Sunday afternoons. There were three other guys in the firm—Antron Blair, Brett Newman and Chevis Fleming.
“Hey, man, how
was the wedding?” Landon asked, answering on the third ring.
“Real nice. The newlyweds should have reached Paris by now.” Duan paused and then asked, “Ready for a blast from the past?”
“About what?”
“It’s not what, Landon, but who. Edward Villarosas.”
Duan heard his friend’s expletives and understood why. Landon had always felt Villarosas was the one he’d let get away when he was still a detective with the force. Duan had already left the department and was working to start his own P.I. business when the Villarosas case had fallen into Landon’s lap.
The guy’s two wives had come up missing, five years apart, but nothing could be found to connect him with their disappearance. To this day, Duan could recall the frustration and grief Landon had gone through every time he hit a dead end during his investigation. There had been plenty of dead ends but no dead bodies. If Villarosas was guilty, he had covered his tracks well. Landon’s failure with the case was one of the reasons he’d left the force to join Duan’s P.I. firm.
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget him,” Landon finally said.
“Well, if it’s the same Edward Villarosas, and I have a hunch that it is, he’s about to remarry,” Duan told him, taking a seat near his designated gate.
“Is it to anyone you know?” Landon asked.
“Not directly. The intended bride is the mother of Terrence’s wife’s best friend. She mentioned it a few moments ago in a cab ride we shared to the airport. Seems he’s living in Louisiana now.”
“I heard he’d moved from Atlanta. Do you think he told his future bride that on two occasions he was suspected of bumping off his previous wives?”
“I doubt it,” Duan said.
“I would have to agree. I’d love to reopen those cases to see if there’s anything I missed the first time. The man did have ironclad alibis, but there was something about him that didn’t sit well with me. In the end, there was nothing solid that we could use to move the case from missing persons to homicide. He claimed they left him for other men.”
“I might have the opportunity to gather more information if I’m invited to the wedding in three weeks. Kimani Cannon needs a date, and I’m figuring since she’ll be meeting Villarosas for the first time, she might want to go to Shreveport a little early.”
“The opportunity to spend even a week with Villarosas might trip him up to reveal something that he didn’t five years ago,” Landon said. “During the investigation he had his stories together. Another plus is that he wouldn’t recognize you since you had already left the force.”
Duan knew Landon was right; he did have an advantage. But he wasn’t absolutely certain Kim would ask him to go with her.
“When will you know if you’ll be Ms. Cannon’s escort?”
“Possibly early next week. I’ll give her a call to remind her that I’m available.”
“Will you tell her what’s going on?”
He considered Landon’s question for a moment. If he were to tell Kim, she definitely wouldn’t let her mother go through with the wedding. Besides, as much as he might think otherwise, the former cop in him had to remember the man was innocent until proven guilty. And although Villarosas had been a prime suspect in Landon’s book, he was never charged with any crime.
“No, I won’t tell her yet,” he said.
He ended his connection with Landon, and a short while later when the announcer called his flight, he knew that he couldn’t waste any time putting a plan into place to make sure he was the man Kim took home to Shreveport with her.
4
KIM WOKE UP MONDAY morning in her own bed with her hormones overacting. And all because of last night’s dream, which basically reenacted those moments she’d spent in bed with Duan over the weekend.
There had been something about his touch that was different from any other man’s. She chuckled when she recalled Dr. Allen Perry, one of the hospital’s prized surgeons, who thought his hands, both in and out of the operating room, were extraordinary. But those hands had nothing on Duan’s. The way his fingers had glided across her skin, stroking her in certain areas, especially between her legs, stirring longings in her that she’d never felt before.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Since she was off work today, she could grab another hour or so of sleep, to relive those naughty moments in Duan’s arms. She wasn’t due back at the hospital until tomorrow, and then she needed to clear her calendar for next week to go home to Shreveport.
She smiled as she remembered growing up in Shreveport among family before her father had convinced her mother to move to New Orleans in search of better job opportunities. That was when the beatings began, and no matter how much Kim had tried, she could not convince her mother to leave him and return home to her family.
The sound of the phone ringing ended any hope of further sleep. Opening her eyes, she leaned up and reached for her cell phone, not recognizing the caller and hoping it was a wrong number. “Hello.”
“I’m sitting here at my desk and remembering an incredible weekend.”
She smiled, recognizing the deep, husky voice immediately. There was no need to ask how he got her number since she had given it to him before they’d departed the hotel. She’d figured he would look her up the next time he was in the Keys visiting Terrence. She didn’t have a problem with him doing that. She had enjoyed his company and his bedroom manners had been perfect.
Kim was also smart enough to know that when a man called to compliment you on how much he enjoyed his time with you, he was probably about to hit you up again for a repeat.
“Can you believe I’m doing the same thing,” she said, not feeling the least awkward in admitting it.
“Glad to hear it. And I was wondering…”
A smile of anticipation touched her lips. “Wondering what, Duan?”
“I promised Terrence I’d check on things at his place while he was gone this week. Seems he and Sherri ordered a new bedroom suite and it’s to arrive on Friday. I told him I’d be glad to fly to the Keys to make sure it’s delivered okay.”
A soft chuckle escaped Kim’s lips. The new bedroom suite had been Sherri’s idea. Her best friend preferred not seeing all those notches on Terrence’s bedpost.
“And I was wondering if I could see you again while I’m in town,” Duan was saying.
Kim pulled herself up in bed, propped her back against the pillow. There was nothing wrong with enjoying herself as long as she knew what side of the bread was getting buttered. And the one thing she did know was that any affair with Duan would be a safe one since he wasn’t any more interested in a serious relationship than she was.
Personally, she didn’t have the time or inclination for anything serious. Like she’d told Duan, she couldn’t fully trust a man because of her dad. And now she had been given the opportunity to pursue the dream that had gotten waylaid for a number of years. She was back on track and there was no man alive who would get her off. Besides, she’d made a decision not to get involved in a long-distance relationship ever again.
And she knew he wasn’t interested in anything serious because he’d pretty much made that clear during the cab ride to the airport. He’d stated that he could never fully trust a woman because of his mother.
“I’d love to see you again.” And because she knew exactly what this call was about, she added, “To spend time between the sheets with you.”
There was no need to be coy, and when it came to sex she had no qualms about taking the driver’s seat if she had to, especially if it meant getting where she wanted to go.
There was a slight pause on the line and then he asked, “I love the way you think, Kimani Cannon. How does your schedule look this weekend? Terrence left me the use of his boat and I was thinking about taking it out on Saturday to get in some fishing. Would you like to come along?”
She knew Terrence owned a real forty-foot luxury miniyacht. “Sounds great and I’d love to,” she said, thinking of all the possibilities. Acco
rding to Sherri, Terrence’s yacht had a cabin with a comfy bed. Kim doubted they would be doing much fishing, which was fine since she’d never made love on a boat before.
“Wonderful. I’ll pick you up at your place Saturday morning around eight. What’s the address?”
She rattled it off to him and then they ended the call.
There was no denying it. She was definitely looking forward to this weekend.
DUAN CLICKED OFF the phone and eased back in his chair. He was helpless against the rapid thumping in his chest at the prospect of spending the weekend with Kim again. And deep down he knew that even without the issue of accompanying her to Louisiana, he would still want to spend time with her. The woman had that kind of effect on him, something he still didn’t quite understand.
He’d had sexual encounters of the most intense kind before, but what he’d shared this past weekend with Kim had been so incredible that even now he could barely breathe just thinking about it.
There was nothing like waking up to a hot feminine body next to his, an early morning hard-on poking between a pair of curvaceous buttocks.
His mouth had traveled every inch of her and he remembered how she would shiver with awareness all the way to her toes when he licked certain parts of her. He didn’t know of a more responsive woman.
But a part of him knew it had been more than just the sex. He’d enjoyed talking to her, and because she’d had issues with one of her parents while growing up, she’d known exactly how he felt regarding his mother.
He glanced up at the knock on his door and wasn’t surprised when the four men walked in. Landon Chestnut. Chevis Fleming. Brett Newman. Antron Blair. Due to the number of cases they handled and the traveling involved, it was unusual for all five of them to be in the same place at the same time.
Duan had met the four while working as a cop in Atlanta. They had started the academy together and had eventually gotten promoted to detectives. He had been the first to venture out on his own and Landon followed. Within another year, Brett and Chevis had joined them as partners.
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