“Take care,” I say knowing that this is likely the last time I will be seeing her.
“Foxx!” I hear Mr. Meyer call from outside his office.
“Yes, sir,” Garrett is at his door moments later.
“Please take Ms. Murphy home,” he requests.
“Yes, sir,” Garrett agrees.
I catch his glance and shrug, knowing this was far from the plan when the day started only a couple of hours ago. Just as I’m folding the last of the bathroom towels, Suzanna comes out of her room carrying a small overnight bag and walks down the stairs. I see her glance towards Mr. Meyer’s office door but she follows Garrett to the elevator where he takes her bag.
“I’m going to the office, Ms. Williams,” Mr. Meyer announces as he enters the kitchen a short time later.
“Would you like me to prepare you a lunch to take with you?” I ask.
“No, I will have someone order me something there, thank you.” He leaves the kitchen without another word.
A few minutes later I hear the elevator ding indicating that Mr. Meyer has left. I grab a bottle of disinfectant and head into his office. Papers from his desk and soil spilled from a plant that was knocked off the corner table are all over the floor and once again a condom wrapper lays in the midst of it all. I disinfect as many of the surfaces as I can, not wanting to think about what went on in this room earlier and where it might have occurred. I pick up the various pieces of paper that are thrown about, placing them in a neat pile on the desk.
“Where is he?” Garrett’s voice startles me as I’m finishing up.
“He went to the office.” I’m confused because I assumed he would have told Garrett.
“Un-fucking-believable!” he screams. “What the fuck is the point in security if he completely disregards me every chance he gets?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly.
“If he isn’t careful eventually something is going to happen and he’s going to realize why he hired security in the first place,” he grumbles. “I’m going to go to his office, I’ll see you tonight.”
“Bye.” I kiss him quickly before he heads back to the elevator.
A couple of hours go by before I hear from Garrett again; it’s nearly dinner when I finally do. In fact, I’m finishing Mr. Meyer’s dinner when a text from him comes through.
Garrett: He is in a horrible mood, screaming at everyone.
Hope: I don’t think we will be seeing her again
Garrett: Doubt it
The next few days are long for Garrett as Mr. Meyer is going into the office earlier and coming back much later than normal. By the time Garrett and I finally eat dinner it’s usually after eight. He says that Mr. Meyer has fired at least three staff this week and has sent several people running from his office in tears. I don’t know what it was that happened between Mr. Meyer and Suzanna, but ever since the day she left his office he has been in a horrible mood.
“He’s doing it again.” Garrett slams his stuff on the counter just as I’m about to start our dinner.
“Doing what?” I ask.
“He’s going away for another weekend and won’t let me accompany him.” He takes a large gulp of beer.
“Have you talked to Luke again yet?” I ask. Garrett mentioned he spoke with his boss previously about Mr. Meyer disappearing, but of course didn’t tell me any specifics about the call.
“We’re going to talk this weekend, he was out of the office in a meeting today when I called the office.”
“His brother’s again?” I ask.
“Yes. He asked me to request that you have a bag ready for him, he is going to be leaving after breakfast tomorrow morning.”
“Interesting,” I say.
“What?” he asks.
“It’s seems he runs there whenever things end with him and someone he has seen several times,” I point out. “He went there after things ended between him and Toni and now that things have ended with Suzanna he is heading back there.”
“I still don’t like that he goes without security,” he argues.
“He probably just wants privacy to deal with whatever he is feeling,” I counter. “Although I don’t know how he can be so surprised that the woman don’t stay given how he treats them.”
“Maybe she doesn’t think she deserves better,” he suggests.
“Probably not, but no one deserves to be treated the way he treats women,” I sigh knowing that he is probably right about her low self-esteem.
Chapter 23
Garrett
“At least let me drive you, sir,” I request as Mr. Meyer steps out of his office.
“It’s not necessary, Foxx.” His voice is harsh and impatient.
“Are you planning on going anywhere other than your brother’s place?”
“I don’t know.” He has the balls to roll his eyes as if what I’m asking is so trivial.
“Please let me know if you decide to go somewhere so I can at least check the place out,” I request, not that it’ll do any good because we both know he won’t call me.
“Fine.”
“Thank you.”
“Ms. Williams,” Mr. Meyer calls.
I immediately turn around to find Hope walking toward us.
“Seeing as though I won’t be here the remainder of the day, you may have the rest of the day off,” Mr. Meyer says.
“Thank you sir.” Hope gestures behind him. “Your bag is at the front coat closet with enough clothes for you to last through the weekend.”
“Very well.” Without another word Mr. Meyer grabs his bag, steps into the elevator and is once again gone for the weekend.
Hope and I head into our apartment; on one hand I’m glad we’re both finished early today because it means we get to spend more time together. This week has been killer: I’ve been gone for at least twelve hours each day, if not more. I’ve told her over and over again that she doesn’t need to wait for me, but Hope always does. I love that we have dinner together each night and love even more when she falls asleep in my arms. I’ve lucked out and only had one nightmare since we started sleeping together, but I don’t think she noticed.
“I’m going to change.” She heads into her room while I walk into mine to take care of something on the computer.
“I’ve changed the security codes again,” I tell her when she pokes her head into my room.
“Wonder how long these will last,” she jokes knowing that I have to change them each time a new guest is escorted from the apartment.
“I’m sure he’ll have someone else here by next weekend.” I shake my head.
“Probably.”
My phone ringing cuts our conversation short.
“Sorry, I have to get this—it’s my mom,” I say after glancing at the caller ID. Hope nods and quietly closes the door when she leaves the room.
I talk to my mom for a few minutes; I don’t know how she knew but for once our schedules aligned and we both have the night free. When she suggests I come home for dinner, I don’t hesitate in accepting and letting her know that I’ll be bringing Hope along. Heading back into our apartment I find her bent over the washing machine in the kitchen. She jumps when I wrap my arms around her waist and step into her.
“You scared me!” She laughs.
“Hmmmmm,” I groan as I place a kiss against her neck, my mind immediately going to places it shouldn’t when I just accepted an invitation to my parents’ house for dinner.
“If you keep doing that I’ll never get the laundry done,” she says.
“My mom wanted to invite us over for dinner tonight.” Knowing she’s right, I step back and lean against the wall next to her.
“Us?” Her surprised eyes find mine.
“Yes, us,” I confirm. “Do you want to go? It’s nothing big, just my parents, brother and sister.”
“Sure, I don’t see why not,” she surprises me by agreeing.
“Great.”
“Garrett,” she takes my hand in hers, �
��we should talk.”
“Okay?” I’m lost, two seconds ago everything was fine and now she wants to talk. No good has ever come from those three words before. I rack my brain, trying to figure out what she might want to talk about. I thought she got along well with my parents at the charity event so I can’t imagine it’s that. Besides if she didn’t want to go, she could have just said so or made some excuse to get out of it. I follow her over to the couch, waiting for her to say that “things are moving too fast between us” because it’s the only thing I can think of that she wants to talk about. I’m preparing an argument in my head, especially since we’re already living together. Now that I found her again, there’s no way in hell I’m letting her go.
“The night of the charity dinner wasn’t the first time I met your mother,” she says what I least expected.
“It wasn’t?”
“She was one of the nurses in the ER who treated me that…that night,” and the bomb is dropped.
“She’s a pediatric surgical nurse, why was she treating you?” I ask even more confused.
“I…I was in, I guess, a state of shock when they brought me to the emergency room,” I explain. “I just remember being very frightened. I wouldn’t let anyone touch me or examine me. I think on some level I thought they would hurt me again.”
“I can’t imagine how scared you must have been.” I take her hand in mine, squeezing it slightly.
“I remember…the doctor or nurse walking into the exam room with your mom.” She takes a deep breath and lets it out. “Your mom kicked everyone out of the exam room as soon as she came in. She sat on the floor in front of me and held my hand, talking to me. I don’t know how long she sat there until I finally agreed to let her examine me. She held my hand when they did a rape kit—”
“WHAT?! You weren’t…he didn’t…?”
“Calm down,” she pleads. “No, thank god. But since I had passed out your mom convinced me that I needed to have a rape kit done just in case. It was so embarrassing…I had to let them know that I had sex earlier in the day, but thankfully they said there were no signs that I had been raped.”
“Thank God,” I mumble and immediately feel the tension leave my body.
“She held my hand until the moment they wheeled me into surgery,” she continues. “She called Abby for me because I just couldn’t…I don’t remember much after the surgery, but Abby says your mom checked in on me almost every day.”
“She is an amazing woman,” I make a mental note to give her a tighter hug when we get there tonight and find a way to somehow thank her for being there for Hope when I couldn’t.
“She is. Even though she wasn’t my nurse anymore she continued to check on me and then even sat with me…in my dad’s room. She helped me understand what was happening to him and what the doctors were doing for him.”
“She sometimes gets pretty attached to her patients.” We always knew when she lost a patient at work because she would come home in tears. Of course we never knew the specifics, but I can remember countless nights of watching my dad hold her as she cried. “So you hadn’t seen her since—until the night of the charity dinner?”
“No,” she answers.
“So that’s why you stepped away so suddenly,” I realize.
“I panicked,” she admits. “My first thought was that she was going to tell you…about that night.”
“She wouldn’t,” I interrupt.
“I know that now,” She nods. “Your mom followed me into the ladies room and we talked. She assured me that she would never tell you or anyone else about how she knows me. I should have known she wouldn’t but the moment I saw her I just panicked. I knew eventually I would…have to tell you about it, but I didn’t want it to come out there.”
“I’m so glad you’ve told me what happened.” I pull her closer to me, wrapping my arm around her back. “And I’m glad my mother was there to help you that night.”
“Me too.” She leans against me, her head on my shoulder and simply lets me hold her.
Chapter 24
Hope
Dinner with Garrett’s family last night was amazing; they made me feel so welcomed that it was as if I had known them for years. Garrett and I were both shocked to walk in and find Abby there, having not expected Chris to invite her. Garrett later told me she was the first girl that he brought to a family dinner.
Garrett had to run over to Mr. Meyer’s office today after receiving a call from the head of IT security at the company. Apparently, someone tried to hack into their system, which was all Garrett needed to hear before he was on the phone with Emily and out the door. It’s odd being in the apartment by myself.
I watch a little television, read a couple of articles on my iPad but become restless waiting for Garrett to come back. He’s been gone for more than four hours now; I contemplate calling him, but I don’t want to pull him away from whatever he’s working on at Mr. Meyer’s office. I pour myself a glass of wine and decide to take a hot bath while I wait for him. I turn the water on, letting it begin to fill the large soaking tub while I open an app on my iPad to play music. I undress, tossing the clothes in a pile in the corner of the bathroom before submerging myself in the hot water.
Soaking in the tub, I realize how much things have changed since the last time I was in here. It was before the charity dinner, when things were still uncertain between me and Garrett. Things have changed so much between us since then, but I feel that day marked the start of something more between us. As unsure as I was about complicating things between us then, now I am glad that we both decided to start seeing each other.
“Hope?” I hear Garrett call from my bedroom just as the water starts to become cool.
“In here,” I reply.
“Oh…” Garrett gasps in surprise when he walks into the bathroom and sees me in the tub.
“I’m just about done,” I blush.
“I’ll wait for you.” He steps out of the bathroom and closes the door behind him.
I towel off and return to my bedroom to get some pajamas. I blush when I see Garrett sitting on my bed waiting for me seeing that I’m still only in a towel. I had expected him to be in the living room, even though he’s spent every night for the last month in my bed.
“Hope,” in two quick steps Garrett is behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He gives me no chance to respond, his mouth is on mine and he takes full control of the kiss. He presses his lips hard against mine as he holds me firmly against him. His tongue is at my lips, demanding rather than requesting entry. I wrap my arms around his neck as best as I can in this position and give him the access he so desperately seems to want right now. He moans the moment his tongue touches mine; he turns us around without taking his lips off mine. He presses my back against the dresser behind me as he continues to dominate my mouth. I’m completely caught off guard by Garret right now; I’ve never seen him like this–so full of need and emotion.
I gasp when his hand slides between the folds of my towel, having completely forgotten that I’m standing in front of him nearly naked. His hand snakes around my bare waist, pulling me even closer to him. I feel overwhelmed with the impromptu make out session as my body begins responding to Garrett’s touch. He leads me to the bed, his lips never leaving mine even as we awkwardly crawl onto the bed.
He is leaning over me, his leg between mine and tugs at the towel roughly before it completely opens. I gasp when his fingers find my hardened nipple and arch toward him further. I slide my hand down until I find his firm ass and gently squeeze it, causing him to groan against my lips. I can feel his erection against my thigh telling me he wants me just as I want him right now. I reach between us, sliding my hand in his pants and wrapping my hand around him.
“I need you Hope…” His fingers move from my nipple to my damp sex. He teases my clit before sliding between my folds causing me to moan and grip him tighter.
“Hope.” His voice is shaky. Opening my eyes I find his full of need, desire
and something else that I can’t identify.
“Yes,” I whisper.
I push his pants down, freeing his erection, and he kicks them off in record time. I hear them fall to the floor next to the bed as he slides himself between my legs, placing his erection against my sex before his fingers return to teasing my nipple. I gently tug at his shirt trying to get him to take it off but it takes him a moment to figure out what I’m trying to do as his attention is entirely on me. Only seconds later the shirt joins his pants somewhere on the floor of my bedroom.
“Are you sure?” his eyes are begging me to say yes.
“Yes.”
He asked me the same question in the hotel room that night, something that I appreciated even though I knew in that moment that I was certain. Just like I am right now. We’ve been walking this line for long enough; I have no doubts that this is exactly what we both want.
“Mmmmmm,” I moan when he pushes himself into me, my body automatically moves against him. Unlike the first time we were together, there is no pain, just a little discomfort as my body tries to adapt to his large size.
“You okay?” He slowly moves within me.
“Don’t stop,” I whisper.
“You feel so good…” He moans against my lips as he thrusts deeply into me.
I wrap my legs around his waist, desperately needing to be even closer to him, if that’s even possible. His hand is gripping my hip tightly as he continues to slowly move within me; his mouth doesn’t leave mine as the need quickly rises between us. As our breathing increases he buries his face in my neck, sucking, kissing, and nibbling.
“Garrett,” I gasp as desire races through my body.
“Oh God….” He starts moving faster within me as his own need begins to take over.
My body arches against him as the dam breaks and I feel myself burst around him. I manage to pull one of my hands from his tight grasp, immediately reaching down to pull him deeper into me as I ride out the continued waves of my orgasm.
Garrett moans my name as I feel him empty himself into me seconds later. He collapses on top of me, breathing heavy into my ear as we both come down from our amazing orgasms. I enjoy his heavy weight against my chest, the fast beating of his heart that matches my own and the many emotions coursing through my body right now.
Garrett (Dark Water Security Book 2) Page 14
