“Don’t laugh.”
“I won’t.”
“I want to teach high school.”
“Teenagers?” I ask, incredulous. “You must hate life.”
She laughs into my neck. “What do you know about teenagers?”
“I was a late in life child for my parents, the very last. My siblings have them. I don’t recommend them.”
“Your nieces and nephews can’t be that bad.”
“I’m just talking about the smell.”
She laughs again, and I love how unfettered it sounds. I trace my fingertip down her arm, goose bumps are left in my wake. “I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.”
She turns her face to look at me. “You’re going back to school?”
“I’m considering it. I’m too old for dancing. Never really picked up a skill after I abandoned my English degree.”
“English?”
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
She falls silent then smiles. “You’d make one hell of an erotica author. Your mind is dirty enough.”
I think about it. “I could wear a smoking jacket, sip whiskey before noon and call it artistic temperament.”
A shadow passes over her expression. “But will you be able to? Will you be free?”
I didn’t know, not for sure. “I’m not going to worry about that today.”
She puts her face back into my neck. “All right. Give me thirty minutes to nap.”
I let her, and creep on her, watching how soft she is when she’s asleep. I would have stayed that way, but my phone rings. Since I know the ringtone, I put space between myself and her before I answer.
“Is this an update, Duke?” I press my palm to the bay window and hope for the best.
“Do you want the fucked-up news or the bad news?”
My stomach clenches. “None of it good?”
“That’s part of the news. Tomorrow they want you to come in. You need to sign a statement to the effect that you were the one to find the phone, how you found it, etc. etc. You walk away a free man never to break the law again or they’ll own you from now until eternity.”
I frown. “Is that the bad or the fucked-up news?”
“The bad. The fucked up is they are aware of…um, the maid at the hotel. My contact at the department says they are thinking of recruiting her as an informant.”
“Shit.” I’d told Duke about Hayley since he’d told me to come clean about everything. “Is it because of me?”
“They had you followed and they saw your exchange outside the library. I have no doubt they’ve dug up everything about her and will be watching to see if she’s safe to approach. Now she’s not my client, but if you can get in touch with her, I can maybe give her some advice.”
“Consider her your client. I don’t want her involved in this.”
Duke is quiet. “Do you want to elaborate?”
“Send any invoices directly to me?”
My attorney laughs. “I see. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at nine. Dress professionally. Have my new client call me ASAP.”
I end the call and remain standing in front of the bay window. My guts churn. I put Hayley in the crosshairs of the FBI because I lost my cool. This is my fault. I’m going to have to tell her. I glance at her sleeping form. It can wait. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be free. I can pick my life up where I left it when I decided stripping wasn’t enough.
And honestly I don’t know what I’m going to do. All I know is that I want at least one more taste of Hayley.
CHAPTER 7
DAVIS
I can feel the weight of time as I slide back into bed with Hayley. She moans, already reaching for me. “Is it thirty minutes already?” she whispers, her voice raspy with sleep.
I shift my forearm to remain upright so I can watch her slowly wake. It’s a bit of a show with her hair both curly and tangled along the pillow. Her lips are swollen. She doesn’t look guarded. I want to commit her to memory like this. “It’s been an hour.”
That makes her eyes pop open. “You should—”
“You looked good sleeping in my bed, smelling like me and sex.”
Her hooded gaze fixes on mine. “Are you about to ask for permission for something else?”
“Depends. Do you want the good news or bad news?”
“I don’t want any bad news today.”
“Hayley—”
“Whatever it is, it can wait.”
Could it? It had taken weeks after purchasing my house for Bryson to come knocking at my door. And there was a world of difference between the FBI being aware of Hayley, and approaching her. “Are you sure?”
“Has someone died?”
“No.”
“It can wait.”
“Then we should talk about the fact I get tested every two weeks and I always use protection.”
She blinks and her eyes widen. “Okay.”
“I can pull up my results on my phone.” She says okay again and I try not to laugh. “If you’re clean, then I can put my mouth on you the way I want.”
“Oh. I see. I am. Do you want to see my results? They’re about…three months old.”
“You haven’t had sex in three months? Why?”
“Intrusive question, but I’ve been busy trying to take down corrupt individuals. Sex kind of got pushed down the to-do list. And aren’t you the one to talk? When was the last time for you?”
“This is what I get for teasing you.” I sigh and consider all the ways I can distract her without confessing this truth, but it feels right to tell her, to share this with her. “Two years.”
Her mouth drops open. “What?”
“I could say I was juggling a lot of clients, but that’s a lie. I…lost interest in sex outside of work.”
Her brows knit. “But that’s…”
“Nothing like making a passion a job to kill the passion.”
She laughs. “I can see that.” She pauses. “Yes, you can put your mouth on me the way you want to.”
Since I know there’s no way we can find the lube from earlier, not in the rumpled sheets or comforter, I head back to my bag of tricks in the dresser drawer. I keep plenty on hand, a habit.
When I turn to head back to the bed, Hayley’s assumed the position. I could love this woman. I could love this woman because even though her legs are spread, she’s put her hand over her mound, a blush staining her cheeks. She’s biting the side of her lip. I’m not sure if it’s to hide her wicked smile or to tempt me to taste her there first, but I take the unspoken invitation.
I wish we’d talked about protection earlier. I could have tasted myself on her mouth. I could have tasted us. But, shit, I’ll take it. She melts into the mattress, already moaning.
Supplication. Fuck. I’ve. Missed. This.
She pulls away. “I’m a head case, Davis.”
She’s naked, I have to touch her, but as I do I ask, “What do you mean?” I gently tug at her nipples then pinch the tips just to see the dark buds pucker.
“You go two years and then…it’s me. Why?”
I place a kiss in the valley of her breasts. “You never judged me.” I lick my way down to her navel. “You make me laugh.”
I leave open mouthed kisses along her pelvis then her inner thighs. Her hips arch up. I shift on one elbow, and just take in her scent. I press my face into her. There’s no scent of powder or citrus, just pussy. I lean back so I don’t eat her up then and there.
“Sometimes you’d look at me,” I say, “and I could feel how much you wanted me.”
I slide my thumb between her folds, dipping it into her entrance. She moans. I trace her cream along her clit. So swollen. “I saw the way you were with other guests. Even the assholes were treated like they were old friends to you.”
I keep drawing circles around her clit. She gets slippery and impatient, trying to fuck my finger by grinding her hips into my hand.
I smile. “Do you know how many times
I wanted to invite you to have lunch with me, just so I could hear you laugh?”
“Davis, you’re driving me crazy.”
I meet her gaze and lick the taste of her from my thumb. “Then I guess you can call us even.”
I close my lips over her clit and get to work. I learn a few things about Hayley. She likes being sucked over licked. She prefers my tongue to my fingers working inside her. She tastes fucking incredible when she comes.
I look up at her to see her flushed skin and hooded lids and smile. “Test run. Ready for the big leagues?”
She pushes my head back down and I laugh then rub my mouth over the hard nub. She trembles, inching back from me. I make my kisses softer, suck her lips a little more gently until she’s rubbing herself against my face. I suck on her clit and roll it between my lips and tongue. Her fingers slide down to my nape, her nails scraping the sensitive skin. I groan.
“Davis, I want you in my mouth while you do this to me.”
I let my fingers replace my mouth. “Top or bottom?”
“Top.”
I roll onto my back and wait for her to climb over me. I hiss when her hand closes around me. I can do nothing but close my eyes for a few seconds as her tongue slides over my slit. Then it’s just her mouth.
“Fuck.” I open my eyes, my hands following my gaze to cup her ass and spread her open for me. Her thighs are the best ear warmers, soft and damp from her come. I open my mouth and suck all of her in.
Her moan works up my spine and then my cock is past her lips, her tongue. My hips jerk up on their own.
“Sorry. Shit. Fuck.”
I feel her laugh more than I hear then I’m fucking lost. She hadn’t lied. I do go down her throat with ease when her pussy is played with. Her nose is pressed against my balls and sound has stopped penetrating my brain. My legs are shaking because I’m forcing myself to stay still, to not grab her head to keep her there for all eternity.
She comes up for air. I can concentrate on what I’m supposed to do again for five seconds. She shifts, purring at me. “Just like that. I’m so close.”
Her legs tense against my head and I just keep sucking her, softly then harder until she swallows me. And again. I don’t have to see to know the blow job is messy. Her saliva drips down, but her hand is there to catch it, to massage the moisture into my balls only to have to do it again.
“Can I—” I ask.
“Yes,” she says.
I wrap one arm around her hips and reach down with the other to grip her hair, to hold heaven against me. Then all I can do is reward her with my tongue and lips. I black out from pleasure. Every inch of me buzzes and twitches from it. I’m not making firm plans for the future, I’m not. But if we were to become a couple, we would only ever do oral like this.
I don’t know how many times I get her off, because my dick pulses so deep and so hard I have to turn my face into her thigh to let out a shout. My face is a mess, but I can’t move. I doubt hers is because she swallowed every drop of me.
We just lay there. Her face rests on my hip and I’ve only turned my head another inch to keep from suffocating. Not a bad death if I had to choose, but I want to do this again when my brain cells regenerate.
She laughs. “Davis, you okay back there?”
“No,” I rasp.
She places a kiss on my dick. I shudder. She laughs again. “How long do you think you need? I want to do that one more time before I have to go to school.”
I grin. Yeah. I can fucking fall in love with this woman.
CHAPTER 8
HAYLEY
I ’m still smiling by the time I walk out of class, and that’s been my mood since I left a half-dead Davis in his hotel room. To be honest, I could barely pay attention as my world history professor talked about the Tang Dynasty. My head is in that post-sex-honeymoon-of-a-possible-relationship cloud.
It’s why I don’t see the blonde woman until she stands in front of me. She’s smiling, but I’ve learned how to size someone up in seconds. She’s a shark under that girl-next-door appearance. It’s only highlighted by the pencil skirt and white blouse tucked in.
“I’m Gwen. I know this is probably a bad time but my boss was adamant.”
“Your boss?”
The woman frowns then takes in the crowd that’s still spilling out into the hallways. “It’s probably best if we talk about this in a more private space.”
If this isn’t stranger danger then I don’t know what is. “Who is your boss?”
“Duke Alexander.”
My phone buzzes with a text from Davis. Call me.
I type back fast. What did you do?
To Gwen I say, “I don’t know why he would need to talk to me.”
Her frown deepens. “You’re his client now.”
My phone buzzes this time with a call. I hold up my finger to the woman and answer. “Let me guess, you wanted to tell me I’m now a client of Duke Alexander?”
“That was the bad news I wanted to tell you earlier.”
“For a man who prides himself on getting consent every step of the way, this is…” I can’t find the right word. “I didn’t ask you to do this.”
“It’s a safeguard. Listen, where are you?”
His tone is coaxing, and I can almost feel myself giving in to it. “No. That’s not how we’re going to play this. You’re not going to talk to me in calm overtones when you completely overstepped here.”
“The FBI knows about you.”
My heart stops. That’s not an exaggeration. It stops, right there. All these months I’ve been careful. I know nothing is foolproof, but how did they find out about me? “When? How?”
His sigh fills the silence. “They were following me.”
“The library,” I say without needing to phrase it as a question.
The FBI found out about me when he’d hunted me down, let me steep in my own fear to find out whether or not he was fucked. Anger sinks into my bones, both at myself and him. “I can’t afford, Duke.”
“I’m footing the bill since this is all on me.”
“Yes, it is.”
He goes silent at that. “Hayley—”
“His…” I try to think of a good description since I don’t actually know what the woman is. “…his minion is here to talk to me. I’m going to, because I can’t get pulled in. I’ve just put my life back on track and I can’t have another detour.”
“Hayley—”
“Bye, Davis.”
I end the call and close my eyes to try and rein in the low simmer of rage. Once again Davis was worried about his own neck first. Yeah, I told him I didn’t want to hear any bad news, but this is huge. This was the FBI breathing down my neck, because Davis and I weren’t the same. We weren’t on the same side at all. I was fighting for a better life for my co-workers, my neighbors, my aunts, cousins. He’d been saving his own ass all these months.
“Hayley?” The woman’s voice is softer than before, kinder.
I put a smile on my face and turn to her. “The canteen should still be open this time of night. We can go there.”
“Are you sure? My boss can be pretty insistent, but I can hold him off if you need some time.”
I’m already shaking my head before she finishes. “I just want to put this whole thing behind me.”
I’m not sure if that means cutting ties with my hacker just yet. It’s probably for the best, especially now I’m not invisible anymore, and it’s Davis’s fault.
CHAPTER 9
DAVIS
Duke and I step out of the nondescript FBI building and I breathe, deeply. Duke though looks like a hard-ass with his dark hair, his darker gaze and at the moment he looks vaguely irritated with me.
“You know you fucked up, right?”
I frown. “I’m not going to jail and I don’t have to be an informant anymore. How is that fucking up?”
He waves that away. “With Hayley.”
My brows go up. I didn’t take him for the touchy-f
eely type. “Hayley?” I ask again to be sure.
He tilts his head then laughs. “The one you’re footing the bill for.”
The sarcasm cuts through me. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Depends on your definition. Gwen talked to her last night then I got a chance to this morning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a client so defeated when she is quite innocent.”
My gut tightens at that. She hadn’t answered any of my texts and I had worried she would look a gift horse in the mouth. I should have known. Hayley’s smart. Too smart to forgive me a second time. I’m trouble. Always have been when it came to women. Yet she knew that and had thrown caution to the wind. What did she get in return? She lost her ability to keep fighting the fight the best way she knew how. I fucked it up to save myself.
“I know,” I say, scrubbing a hand down my face.
“That’s half the battle. I’ll be kind and not charge you for that advice.” With that, he walks off leaving me on the steps.
I’m a free man. I can do whatever the hell I want. I can pack up all my shit and move. I can find the nearest strip joint and get back into the game.
All I want to do is figure out a way to help Hayley. To help Hayley help the people.
HOURS later I understood why Hayley chose to leak information about the hotel guests. I dug up the Indivisible blog, and it was pages and pages of ways to resist against various corruption both locally and globally in government. It all seemed a bit overwhelming. I was completely unqualified to do most of it. So that’s where I am, hours later on my patio—home again after almost two weeks of being gone—and thinking about what actual matters to me. Not in a selfish way, but when I was younger what would have helped me? What steps could have been taken on my behalf so I would have never known what it was like to face possible jail time?
The sad part, there’s nothing. I did this to myself. I made one stupid ass decision after another, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t help people who shaped me. I am who I am because of my parents, specifically my father. He went off to war and came back a little broken. Shit, the same happened with my old friend, Nate. He went into service. An IUD ripped through parts of him and he came back…different.
Rogue Desire: A Romance Anthology (The Rogue Series) Page 11
