by Jennifer Ann
Until I was finally able to distract him with my body, I was afraid that he was going to ask me to quit Spinner’s and this undercover mission. To be honest, I probably would’ve caved in and agreed. I can’t begin to imagine how much it pained him to see me dressed like that, parading around other men. Especially when we’ve both been looking forward to the day when we’d finally see each other outside of that dreadful prison. I’d give anything to go back in time and ensure our reunion took place under different circumstances.
I tried my best to convey my feelings for him with something more meaningful than words. But as much as I wanted to make the night all about making him feel good, I ended up getting lost in the way he pleasured me, and found myself having three orgasms. I’ve never had that many in one night. Then again, I’ve never experienced a highly charged emotional bond with any of the men I’ve slept with until Michael.
Since my parents abandoned me, I’ve met hundreds of people through school, work, the military, and the foster care system. Many of them were nice enough to be considered a casual friend even if they weren’t someone I could fully lean on for support. None of them were there to save me from my cruel stepparents, or the men they forced me to sleep with.
After I got my life back together and started college, I messed around with a few guys here and there, but none of them stuck. None of them were worth the effort required to sustain a relationship. None of them were someone I could count on.
Tatum is the only one who feels remotely close to real family. But even she doesn’t touch my soul the way Michael does. Ever since I laid eyes on him in the club the night before, I’ve embraced the fact that he’s the real deal. The last man I’ll ever sleep with. The one who will forever hold my heart.
Flashes from the long, sweaty night of love-making return, sending a thrilling shiver down my spine. Without having to move, I can already feel a delicious ache between my legs from Michael slamming into me. Every one of his touches and caresses was aggressive, as if he was desperate to make up for lost time. It’s a good thing I don’t have to be to work until five, because I doubt I could properly shake my ass for hours.
All at once he’s moving behind me, gently pressing his stiff cock into my back. I snuggle into him more, humming.
“Good morning, baby girl.” His voice is gruff and cracked, making the sexiest noise I’ve ever heard aside from when he was roaring my name in the dark. His arms flex around me for a delightful moment, and he presses a kiss to the back of my head. “Did you get any sleep?”
“The best of my life. I could sleep all day wrapped up in you like this.” Yawning, I stroke my fingertips over his thick bicep. “But I am kinda hungry. What do you want to eat?”
“Besides you?” His deep chuckle tickles my ear with a delightful sound that has me all achy for him to touch me. “Word has it my girl’s a shitty cook, so I’m making her something. You lay here and rest that sexy ass a little longer so you’re ready to go another round.”
I twist around in his hold so I can look into his beautiful eyes, finding him grinning like a cat that just devoured a canary.
“You cook?” I ask.
“I had to teach myself since my old man was always at the club and my mom wasn’t around much.” A brief cloud of anger passes through his eyes as he looks away, as if pained by the past. Then he looks back at me and chuckles. “It’s a good thing I was a fast learner, because Jack couldn’t heat a bowl of soup if his life depended on it.”
“Thank God. I was worried we’d spend the rest of our lives racking up restaurant bills. I’ve been able to provide for myself pretty well up to this point, but with two of us—”
“I’m getting a job,” he growls, suddenly scowling. “No way in hell I’m mooching off you. I’m not some fucking freeloader.”
I brush my lips over his, desperate to erase his sour mood. “Hey, there’ll be none of that this morning. I didn’t mean it to sound that way. I just meant until we’re situated somewhere safe.”
Exhaling a deep breath, his eyes close. “Jesus, I don’t mean to sound like an asshole. But when I discovered that you wanted me to hide under the government’s protection like some kind of coward, it really got under my skin.”
“I only wanted you to be safe,” I whisper, dusting my fingertips over his thick jaw.
Tilting his head into my touch, his eyelids open to reveal an intense gaze. “You already did more than enough by getting me out of that shit-hole, baby girl. Now it’s my turn to take care of you.” He begins tracing my spine with his fingers as a timid smile appears on his lips. “I have a decent savings account set aside. I was thinking maybe we could use it on a down payment for a place somewhere. It doesn’t have to be in southern Florida. We could start wherever we want. I’m willing to go anywhere in the world so long as you’re with me.”
My heart flutters excitedly with the idea of starting somewhere new. It’d be hard as hell to move away from Tatum, especially when we’ve made a habit of seeing each other almost every day. But purchasing a little house where I’d have Michael all to myself is the closest I’ve ever come to living out a fairytale ending. Of any kind. After going through a childhood feeling used and unwanted, having a good man ask me to settle down with him seems overwhelming.
“What if we went into the Witness Protection program together? If they aren’t able to pin this trafficking ring on Dryden—”
“Either way I’m not going to spend the rest of my life in hiding. It’d be like I never left prison. That’s not the kind of future I want to plan with you. We’ll nail that fucker to the wall, then we’ll be free to live our own version of happily ever after.”
My insides become all melty with every new declaration he makes. I don’t want to live in hiding either, but I don’t want to spend every day fearing that Dryden will be coming for him. Or me.
“Okay,” I concede with tears thick in my throat. “Once this is over, I’ll go with you wherever you want.”
Joy flashes in Michael’s eyes as he bends in for a long, hard kiss. Eventually he pulls away, breathing heavily and giving me one hell of a tempting smile. “I’m going to spend every minute of the rest of our lives making you happy, baby girl.”
As he kisses me again, there’s not a single doubt in my mind that he will make good on his promise. But no matter how many times I tell myself this is real—Michael’s love for me is real—I can’t shake the feeling that nothing good in my life ever lasts.
After calling Tatum to fill her in on the party at the warehouse and review the plans we made when this kind of opportunity finally came, I soak in a blissfully long, hot bath that loosens my muscles and makes me feel halfway human again. My body has been sore and broken countless times in the past, but with Michael, it’s different. With Michael everything is different.
When I’m as shriveled as a hundred year old woman, I slip into my robe before following the heavenly aroma of baked bread. Discovering Michael’s tight, naked ass cheeks exposed in the shitty little kitchen has me teetering on a narrow ledge of wanting to either laugh hysterically or drag him back into the bedroom. The most amusing part is the white apron he wears over his naked body, tied at his waist and neck. Since I’ve never owned one, it must be a staple provided by the safe house.
I observe him for a minute as he pours white gravy into a pan of cooked sausage beside a tray of golden biscuits, joyfully whistling what I think to be an old Aerosmith song. It was enough simply to discover this gorgeous man, but now that I know he has a big heart and he’s domesticated? If this is a dream, someone better pinch me. Hard.
“Oh, I definitely could get used to this,” I say, leaning against the doorframe. “Where did you find all that stuff? I haven’t bought much for groceries since I moved in.”
Michael tosses me a sexy grin over his shoulder. “So I noticed. There wasn’t a whole lot I could do with Pop-Tarts and crackers, so I made a quick run to the market.”
“I hope no one saw you. Especially if that’s
all you were wearing.”
“Relax, gorgeous. I learned a thing or two about watching my back while in the Corps.” Chuckling, he moves over to the cupboards beside the sink and starts pulling doors open. “Any plates in this place?”
I move in next to him, brushing my hip against his as I open the next door to grab a couple of plastic plates. He spins into me with a predatory look that takes my breath away. I almost drop the plates. All at once his hands are on my hips, tossing me up to the countertop, and he’s wedging himself in between my thighs.
“You’re sexy as fuck with wet hair, baby girl.” He cups my face with one hand, growling. “How am I expected to keep my hands off you?”
“Says the one parading around the kitchen with the world’s hottest ass on display.”
With one tug on my robe’s belt, he’s exposed my breasts. He takes one in his hot mouth while caressing the other. I set the plates down at my side and arch into him, tangling my hands in his soft hair. My breaths come out in hot, heavy bursts. It’s unbelievable how much I missed this man and his skilled touches.
When he slips a couple of fingers between my legs, carefully stroking me until I’m slick and beyond ready, my quickened pulse throbs against my throat. I’m always ready for Michael, even when he isn’t touching me, taunting me to come. My body responds with the mere sound of his deep voice, or the intensity in his gaze. I spread my thighs wider, inviting him home.
Without warning, his fingers are replaced with the warm, wet rasp of his tongue. Eyes rolling back into my head, I get lost in the blissful feeling of Michael’s mouth orchestrating my body like a fine instrument, coaxing it to play for him. He sucks and licks with a determination unmatched by any of my past sexual experiences. There’s already so much to love about Michael Harrison, but the fact that he can take me to a total euphoric high I’ve never known before takes the cake.
Then his finger and thumb clamp down on a nipple, and an explosion bursts behind my eyelids. But just as suddenly, his touch is gone. Once I’m past the jarring feeling of being stopped mid-orgasm, I register the sound of a phone ringing.
I open my eyes as Michael reluctantly reaches for the flip phone he bought from a drug store on his way to Spinner’s. He had programmed his number into my burner phone in between our sex marathon, making me promise to call him right away if anything were to go wrong while I was at the club’s warehouse.
Eyes swirling with lust fix on me. “Jack and Tatum are the only ones who know this number.” After he answers with a gruff “hello,” he says, “Hey, Jack. What’s up?”
With a resigned sigh, I slip from the countertop and cover myself up before dishing two plates of biscuits and gravy. Michael slips in behind me, nuzzling his face into my hair and grinding up against me, getting my motor running all over again.
Then I feel his body tense. “What? When?”
I turn around to watch the muscles in his face twitch as he listens to Jack carry on. Even before I touch his chest I know he’s burning with anger. The veins in his neck strain, and his eyebrows pull down so low that I can hardly see his eyes.
He jerks away from me, the warmth of his presence instantly replaced with a cold, alarming unease as he pulls the phone away from his head and curses loudly.
Once he seems to have gained control of his fit, he barks into the phone, “Hold tight, I’m on my way,” before snapping the phone shut. Something’s off when he turns back to me. It’s like my Michael has been replaced with someone else.
“I’m sorry, baby girl, I have to go.”
“You’re not going to tell me what that was about?” I say in a playful tone.
“Jack heard Kerissa’s back in town.”
Terror squeezes my windpipe. He didn’t have much to say about their breakup. Would he take her back? Jealousy flutters in my chest as I’m plagued with the one question that refuses to go away. “Do you still…I mean….would you take her back?”
“No fucking way,” he growls, pulling me into his arms. “When I was with her, I never felt anything even remotely close to how I feel about you. I never wanted to buy her a house. I never wanted her to have my babies.” His clear green eyes begin to water with unshed tears. “She wasn’t The One, baby girl. You’re the only one I can see my future with. You’re the only one I want.”
Lost in his beautiful gaze, my breath hitches with the mention of his babies. The idea of starting a family hadn’t crossed my mind until now. Honestly, I hadn’t given the idea of having children in general much thought, even before Michael came along. I could never put another human through what my parents did to me, discarding me and throwing me into a broken system. Could I let go of my worst fears to have Michael’s baby?
A sudden warmth flutters through my stomach, resonating with the truth. Hell yes.
“Then why do you care that she’s back?” I whisper.
“She’s not…she shouldn’t be here. And I don’t trust her. She’s…unstable.” He comes at me, slipping his hand inside my hair to rub my neck. The sudden stone-cold intensity of his gaze has my stomach flipping over itself. “There are some things I need to tell you…things I should’ve admitted to you straight up before we ever decided to get involved. I’ve always tried to do the right thing, but sometimes I have a hard time controlling my temper. Sometimes the need to make things right makes me do stupid shit.”
“Like what?” I ask, my voice pinched with worry. “What have you done?”
“Now’s not the time for this conversation. I promise I’ll tell you eventually, but…once you know the whole story, you might not look at me the same way. And I’m scared shitless that I’ll lose you, Alexa.”
I don’t like the way he flexes his jaw and hardly breathes as he stares down on me. I don’t like the fact that he’s keeping something big from me. I don’t like that he’s leaving. There isn’t a damn thing I like about the situation, or how it’s put me on the verge of tears.
I suck in a tight breath. Will there ever be a day when the sight of him doesn’t send my heart into a frenzy? For a moment I stand with my bottom lip wedged between my teeth, having no idea what to say to the man I love. Then I brush my lips across his before I whisper, “Whatever happens, I’m not going anywhere.”
He stands tall with a dark, broken look. “You might regret saying that.”
Fearful of whatever he’s hiding, for the first time since we kissed that fateful day in the prison, I’m truly afraid that I’ve made a mistake. My life has been hard enough without needing more complications. And I’m terrified whatever Michael’s keeping from me will shatter the life I spent years re-building.
Long after Michael leaves, I push my biscuits around with a fork, dreading the evening ahead. No matter what, I’ll still do whatever it takes to help those girls locked in the Four Brothers’ basement, because I know all too well the terrors they’re facing, and no one should have to endure that kind of abuse. But knowing Michael and I may not be together when it’s over because of whatever he’s done? My stomach curdles and I almost hurl all over my plate with the possibility.
While I’m getting dressed, the doorbell rings. Michael made me lock the doors after he left, so it could be him returning, although I doubt his “meeting” with Jack would’ve gone that quickly. I cross the living room to make sure my Beretta is still tucked inside my purse on the couch before peering out a window.
A short woman with long, dirty-blonde hair down to her perky breasts stands on the step, bouncing on the balls of her feet, glancing over her shoulder in a paranoid way that one would do when being chased.
Would Dryden send one of the dancers over to check up on me? I’ve never seen her at the club before. More than a little curious, I decide to answer the door. The girl’s dark eyes drag down my body before her plump lips bend with a shy smile. “Hey. You must be Brandi.”
Nodding, I pull on the belt holding my robe in place. “Who are you?”
“Kerissa. Sasha sent me. I’m…ah…supposed to take you to get
ready.”
I bite down on a surprised gasp. Michael’s words come back to me like a slug to the gut. “I don’t trust her. She’s…unstable.”
Shit. What’s she doing here?
Deciding to play dumb and see where this goes, I pull my eyebrows down. “Dryden told me I didn’t have to be at the club until five.”
She shrugs. “Change of plans.”
A ball of disappointment hits me square in the gut as I take a full minute to study her. Black T-shirt with an eagle print, cut off just above her flat belly, shorts that almost don’t cover her underwear, she could be around my age or even a little younger. When she sweeps a chunk of hair behind her ear, I’m given a full view of her striking features. With stunning, wide eyes and severe brows that demand attention, it’s suddenly like I’m in the presence of a movie star.
Of course Michael’s ex would be freaking gorgeous.
“Is everything okay?” she asks, pulling a sincere expression of concern.
Realizing that I’m scowling, I put on a bright smile. “It’s fine. I just need a minute to…uh…finish getting ready.”
“No problem. We have a little bit of extra time.” She tries to glance over my shoulder before throwing me another sincere smile. “Would it be okay if I wait inside?”
“Yeah, of course. Come on in.”
She slowly shuffles in past me, leaving behind a mystical cloud of tangerine and honey as she glances into the kitchen. “Something smells amazing. Did I interrupt your lunch?”
“No. I was expecting someone, but they had to cancel.”
Her dark brown eyes pop wide when she reaches the kitchen doorway. “Oh my God. Biscuits and gravy are my favorite. Did you make those from scratch?”
