When we got inside, she didn’t whirl on me the way I expected her to. Instead, she sat on the couch and clasped her hands between her knees. I told myself to stop thinking about the stockings she was wearing.
“What happens when this is over? I mean, I know it has to be over eventually—I just didn’t know it could happen at any moment.”
Ouch. That was the last thing I had expected to hear. I thought she was going to blow up over being abandoned or over Pax’s selfishness, however she chose to spin it. Instead, she was hitting me where it hurt. She looked up at me, expecting an answer. What was I supposed to say?
I ran a hand through my hair and leaned against the closed door. “You want the honest truth?”
“Not a good start, but yes.”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.” I shrugged, palms up. “That’s the truth. I haven’t been thinking past later today, or tonight, or tomorrow morning. And even that might be a little too much. You know?”
“Yeah. I guess I do.”
“That’s as straight as I can be.”
“I get it, and I appreciate that.” Her voice was a whisper, barely audible.
“So why do I feel like I just said the worst possible thing?”
“It’s not exactly flattering—though I wasn’t asking for you to flatter me. I’m only wondering what’ll happen to me when this is over. Even if things go well, which they have to,” she said with a determined grimace, “I might still lose out. I’ll be alone. Right?”
“I don’t know. It’s something we should talk about, for sure, but at this very moment? I don’t know what you want, I don’t know what any of this means.” All I wanted to do on leaving the bank was strip her down until she was wearing nothing but her bra and those stockings and garters, then take her in every way imaginable. I should’ve waited to talk things through. Stupid mistake.
“You’re right. Of course. I don’t even know what I want yet. It’s just…everything’s happening so fast. This is fun.” She motioned from me to herself and back again. “This thing we have.”
“Yeah, it is,” I grinned.
“But it’s also very convenient.”
“You’re right.” I wouldn’t add the part where some of my fellow agents had developed long-term relationships with their clients. I wouldn’t do that to her, getting her hopes up and complicating things for myself in the long run.
“So I guess we should just try to enjoy it while we can?”
She was back on the right track, and I felt hopeful for the first time since I brought up the topic in the car. “I can get behind that idea.”
She grinned wickedly. “Come here. Out of sight of the cameras.” I followed her into the bedroom and tried to look casual as I did. Not like it mattered. The people I worked with would form their own opinions.
She turned to face me once she reached her bed. “Now. I think there was something we already talked about this afternoon, but it deserves a little more exploration.”
“I like that word,” I murmured. She gave me another wicked smile as she unbuttoned her blouse and tossed it off to the side, then unzipped her skirt. I held my breath and waited for it to fall to the floor. When it did, I got a look at the full package. A white lace bra and matching panties, white garter belt and sheer stockings. Funny how I usually went for women in black lingerie but the sight of her in white did something totally different for me. She was the sexiest thing I had ever seen.
Even sexier when she sank to her knees in front of me. “What are you doing?” I murmured.
“What do you think?” She undid my belt, then unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans without ever breaking eye contact. “You’re always so good to me and so generous, I thought I would be generous, too.”
She was like a fantasy come to life, on her knees in front of me. Tousled waves of thick, black hair hung over her shoulders and down her back. Her full lips were parted just slightly and shiny with gloss. And her eyes—the look in them told me there was nothing she would rather be doing at that moment than what she was doing then. Getting ready to suck my cock. I surged to life in response to that look.
My jeans slid to my ankles, and I kicked off my shoes before kicking off the pants. She hooked her fingers under the waistband of my shorts and eased them down over my straining length. I sprung free, and she licked her lips at the sight. I couldn’t have gotten harder if I tried.
“I love your cock,” she whispered before taking me into her mouth.
“Whoa,” I groaned. “What got into you?” Instead of closing my eyes, the way I was dying to do, I looked down to watch her work.
She looked up at me as she sucked and winked, then went back to sending me straight to heaven. She was unreal—the sweetest thing in public, but nasty and hot in bed. The perfect woman. I was so sure for so long that there was no such thing as a perfect woman—not even a perfect woman for me—but there she was. On her knees, with me in her mouth.
“Mm…” she moaned as she sucked, and the vibration from her mouth drove me crazy. I ran my hands through her hair as pleasure spread through me. I wanted so much to let go in her mouth, but instead pulled myself away before I passed the point of no return.
“You’re insane,” I groaned as I pulled her to her feet and kissed her. She melted against me, winding her arms around my neck.
“You bring it out in me,” she whispered as I lowered her onto the bed. Then she moaned as my fingers found her slick pussy, and everything else went away for a while.
Chapter Eighteen – Lauren
“You’re a bad influence on me.”
He leaned back a little, looking down at me. “How?”
I lifted my head off his bare chest. “I’m that person who’s always running out the door at the end of the day, just so I can get home to this.”
He chuckled. “I know what you mean. I just want the day to be over, so I can get back to you.”
I practically glowed. “So a few quick kisses in the security room isn’t quite enough to hold you over?”
“That was more than a few quick kisses today,” he growled. The hand that had been stroking my back slowed, reached a little lower on every pass. I shivered as goosebumps rose on my skin. “You made it damn near impossible not to bend you over the desk and take you. Hard. I mean, those stockings alone were worth a quickie.”
“Mm…” I closed my eyes and let the feeling of his touch wash over me. “I wouldn’t have minded very much at the time.”
“I didn’t think you would.”His hand suddenly stopped moving, and my eyes opened in surprise. “How do you not know how beautiful you are?” he asked.
“What?” I pushed myself up on my elbow to look at his face. “Where did that come from?”
“It’s just that you act like you have no idea. Like you’re just some normal girl, when you’re not. Don’t you see yourself? Any man would give his right arm to be with you.”
I felt my cheeks flushing. “You’re just saying that.”
“I’m not, and I don’t have to. You’ve already let me in your panties, right?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, true.”
“So? What’s the deal? Are you just pretending not to know you’re gorgeous?”
I looked down at his chest. “I was pretty unfortunate when I was growing up.”
“Bullshit.”
“Ouch.” I looked into his eyes. “That’s really mean. You say mean things sometimes.”
“I didn’t want to be mean.”
“I know. Which is why I’m not kicking you out of my bed.”
He rubbed my back. “I’m really sorry. Keep going. I’ll shut up.”
I nodded and took a deep breath. “I was really overweight until I hit thirteen. That was when my parents sent me to a fat camp one summer. I lost the weight over the following year. Meanwhile, my teeth were a mess until I got braces, and I had to wear them for five years. We’re talking serious issues here. I had acne and thick glasses. I was a mess. And I got made fun of
every single day, like you’d imagine somebody like me would.” The memory of that bullying haunted me sometimes, even years later.
“I’m so sorry. Kids suck.”
“They do—but they taught me something, too. They taught me how to be compassionate. They taught me to be nice to people no matter what they look like. They probably gave me my need to be a people pleaser, too, just so people will like me. I don’t know. So it’s really hard for me not to see that girl when I look in the mirror. It took years for me to accept that men were attracted to me. I dated a guy over a year ago for a short time and he was a jerk, and that hurt my self-esteem a lot, too.” I chuckled drily. “It’s amazing what hindsight will give you. At the time, I was crushed. Just like my childhood and early teen years crushed me. Now? I can be philosophical about it.”
His lips on my forehead were like balm for my soul. I had never told another man about my painful past—much more painful than I was willing to let on. There were memories I couldn’t speak of. Speaking of them would bring it all back. The tears and pain, both physical and emotional. Still, if I ever found the strength, it would be Marcus I would want to share with.
He’d been stroking my back throughout my story, and his touch slowly turned more sensual after I finished. He caressed the swell of my hip, the curve of my butt. I gasped softly. It was unreal, the way the slightest touch from him started a fire deep inside me. One second everything was normal,the next I was almost panting with need for more. We had already done it once when we got home, but I was ready for more. It was like all the time I’d spent alone, all the pent-up frustration, was dynamite. He knew how to light the fuse.
When he rolled over, taking me with him until his body was over mine, I didn’t resist. Something inside me sang. This was it. All that mattered. In my room, in the dark, there was only the two of us. I could pretend all that existed was us.
I hooked a leg around his hips and pulled his body close to mine. I needed to feel him, all of him. I closed my eyes and let my head fall back as his mouth skimmed my throat, little whimpers coming out of my mouth as his tongue swirled over my skin. My fingers ran through his hair, pulling a little even as I pressed his head closer, holding him in place. “Yes…” I whispered. I needed him to know what he was doing to me. His hips drove forward, driving his already hard dick into my belly. All it did was make me respond with a rush of warm wetness.
His shoulders and back flexed as he held himself over me, and I ran my hands over hard yet forgiving muscle. My fingertips dug into those muscles and he grunted against me while his hips drove into me again. He was barely holding himself back and I didn’t want him to. I wanted him to take me.
He had better control than I did, or else he wanted to make it last as long as possible, because he didn’t plunge right in even though we were both ready. Instead, he moved down my body, leaning on one arm so the other hand could slide over my hip, then down my thigh as his tongue traced circles around my nipple. It hardened instantly, and he lapped slowly at it. I gasped and groaned, writhing, lifting my hips, begging for contact as the heat grew until my clit ached for his touch. He teased me, building me slowly, not giving me what I wanted. Not just yet.
“So sweet,” he whispered before sucking on one breast, then the other, flicking and nibbling, driving me crazy. My head rolled from side to side. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t do anything but feel. My entire body was alive, on fire, arms and legs sliding across the sheets, across him, touching and stroking everything I could reach. His little grunts and moans only made me want more, more.
“Touch me!” I gasped, beyond the point of losing control by then.
“I am touching you,” he chuckled. His hand was still on my leg, caressing me from hip to ankle and back again.
“Please…” I begged, writhing, straining. Everything in the world centered on that one aching, pulsing spot between my thighs. If he didn’t touch me there, I would die. I was sure of it. And when his fingers made their journey back up my leg, then around to the inside of my thigh, I went rigid, breathless, waiting for it.
“Yes!” I cried out when he dipped into my folds, finding my button, stroking and coaxing me into complete bliss. I lost all sense of time and place. All that was left was exquisite pleasure and I melted into it, gasping, shuddering, whispering his name.
When I came out of the haze he put me in, he was kissing my chest, my stomach, rubbing his stubbled cheeks over my skin. I ran my hands through his hair, over his shoulders, then pulled him up to kiss him. He groaned into my mouth, his tongue darting out to touch mine, as I slid one hand between us and stroked his hard, hot length. He thrusted into my hand, grunting, kissing me so hard it almost hurt.
He broke the kiss and pushed himself up to look down at me with half-closed eyes. “I need you,” he panted. He reached over to the nightstand for a condom and I waited with a pounding heart as he got ready. His breathing was short and rasping as he lowered himself over my body.
His arms slid underneath me as mine slid around him and we held each other tight as he drove his dick into me. I gasped as he filled me.
There was something different about it. I couldn’t figure out what had shifted, but something had. There was a tenderness I hadn’t felt before. I loved the feeling of being wrapped up in him, while my arms and legs held him close. I kissed his shoulder and neck and held the back of his head and whispered into his ear how good it felt when he moved inside me.
“So good,” he grunted against my neck. I loved knowing I could make him feel good, too. It made me feel powerful.
I dug my fingers into his butt cheeks. “Come with me,” I whispered when I felt my orgasm building, then licked along the outside of his ear and bit down on the lobe. He growled and strengthened his thrusts. I jerked my hips upward to meet him and we both groaned as we reached the end.
“Yes, Marcus! Yes!” I closed my eyes and let out one more cry as wave after wave of bliss washed over me. Somewhere in the middle of it I heard him groaning as he came, too. There was power in that as well, listening as he gave in to what I had built up in him.
Also in the middle of everything was the sound of his phone ringing.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding,” he groaned, still on top of me with his face against my neck.
“Do you have to get it?” I whispered. I didn’t want to let him go, ever.
“Yeah. If it’s Pax, he’ll have my ass.” He pushed himself up and away from me, then fumbled around on the table. “It’s Ricardo.”
He might as well have said it was Dad. I sat up, pulling the sheets around me like the man was in the room with us. “Yeah?” he answered. “Oh. Okay.”
He hung up and looked at me. “He’s, like, getting in the elevator. He said it’s important.”
“Shit.” I hurried around the room, pulling on jeans and the closest t-shirt I could find. I didn’t have time to find a bra, so I grabbed a zippered sweatshirt and threw that on over top.
“Why do I feel like he’s catching us doing something bad?” Marcus asked as he pulled his shirt over his head.
“Because he sort of is. I mean, not really, but sort of. I don’t want him thinking I, like, seduced you or anything so I could get you to do what I want.” That would be the last thing I needed. I dashed out to the living room in time to open the door.
“Hi!” I realized I was way too out of breath. The bemused expression on Ricardo’s face told me he thought so, too.
“Hi. Can I come in? I have something to talk over with you.” Not a trace of a smile on his face. No friendliness in his voice, either. I braced myself for what I was about to hear.
“Is everything all right? Has there been a development?” I stepped aside to let him into the apartment.
“Yes, a big one.” He nodded to Marcus, who had materialized behind me. At least he’d managed to get his clothes back together.
“Oh, God.” I wrapped the sweatshirt tight around me. He looked and sounded so serious, like he was about to drop a
bombshell. What did I think a sweatshirt would do to protect me from what he had to say? Then again, what did a child think huddling under a blanket would do to protect them from things that go bump in the night?
He looked at Marcus, then at me. “We’re taking a new approach to the case—or, rather, we’re taking the approach we should’ve taken all along. I wanted to warn you beforehand so it didn’t come on too suddenly.”
I blinked, silent, not understanding yet. “Okay. What approach are you taking now?”
“We’re going back to the beginning and looking at all possible suspects. Including you.”
I looked to Marcus for answers, but he was just as surprised as me. “What are you saying? You still think I did it, even after all this time?”
He managed to look sorry, at least. “It doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is the fact that we have no leads, and only one witness who still has nothing to tell us.”
I made it to the couch before my knees went out. “I don’t understand. I’ve done nothing but cooperate with you all this time.”
“Have you, though? Have you really?” He sat down on the other end, facing me. “You’ve told us nothing.”
“I…I was unconscious! I mean, I woke up on the floor!”
“Alone. With no memory of how you got there and no injury from anything other than a fall on the floor. At first, I thought you were lucky you weren’t attacked. Now I have people all around me asking if it’s not a little too convenient that you were so lucky. How many times do you see a witness to a bank robbery with nothing but a self-inflicted wound?”
“I wouldn’t know,” I whispered. It couldn’t be true. It was a bad dream. That was it. I was having a bad dream and I would wake up because I was a good person. I never did anything to hurt anybody. Good people didn’t end up accused of crimes they didn’t commit, did it? Even as I thought it, I knew how juvenile I was.
“Let me tell you, it’s highly irregular.” His sigh was heavy. “Because of that, and your lack of recall, the higher-ups have agreed it’s time we reassess the case, which means starting from step one. I hate to do it—it’s a lot of manpower, a lot of time spent, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
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