“Brett? One of the guys in your firm?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Brett is our computer and technical expert and he’s developed this high-tech network. All he has to do is scan in this guy’s picture and it’ll be distributed to all his databases. It goes to probably every law enforcement agency in the country, as well as the FBI’s database. I’ll give him less than forty-eight hours to find out the identity of the man.”
“But like you said, it’s been ten years,” she reminded him.
“Yes, and the beauty of the equipment Brett has developed is that it can do an age enhancement. If we know what he looked like then, you can be certain we’ll know what he looks like now. Brett has had quite a few successes.”
“Wow.”
Duan chuckled. “Yes, now we’re getting somewhere.”
He shifted his head to look out the windshield. It was dark and they were on a two-lane road with cars in front and back of them, all at a standstill. “Hell, how long is that train? It seems like we’ve been stopped for a while.”
“Not sure. I told you to go this way because it’s a short cut back to the hotel. I forgot about the train crossing.”
He glanced back over at her and grinned. “Are you anxious to get back to the hotel?”
“Aren’t you?”
Duan leaned back in his seat. “Yes.”
“Why? You can’t be hungry since my mother fed you plenty. What’s the rush?”
The smile on his lips widened. “I’m surprised you have to ask, and it’s probably the same reason as yours,” he said throatily.
“You think?”
“I know. This is our third weekend together, Kim.”
She was surprised he remembered. She thought only women recalled things like that. “And you want to celebrate?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
She released her seat belt and edged closer to him on the bench seat. “Why wait until we get back to the hotel? We can start things right here.”
“There is the matter of all these cars,” he pointed out.
“Yes, but no one is beside us and it’s dark. It will be like this for a while. So to my way of thinking we don’t have to wait until we get back to the hotel to do certain things.”
He swallowed deeply as she reached across his lap to push the button that slid their seats back.
He raised a brow. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”
“You’ll see.”
He watched as her fingers pulled his zipper down. He had started getting hard the moment she mentioned them getting back to the hotel room.
“Kim, don’t you think—”
“Shh. I don’t think, Duan, and I don’t want you to think, either. I just want you to relax and enjoy. And be a little daring.”
And while she had been saying those words, she had slowly worked his shaft from his jeans. It was standing straight up and almost hitting the steering wheel.
“Gosh, you’re an impressive man,” she said, licking her lips while working her hands over his erection. And then before he could stop her, she dipped her head to his lap and took him into the warmth of her mouth.
“Kim!”
He called out her name but by now stopping her was a lost cause. He watched her head bob up and down and his entire groin ached at the feel of her mouth on him.
He felt hot, ready to explode, from the head of his penis all the way to his balls. Every lick of her tongue was pushing him slowly and deliciously over the edge. And every long, slow suck was almost causing him to come. He was tempted … boy, was he tempted, to fill her mouth with his release. If only she knew what she did to him. All the pleasure she was lavishing on him. Not just with her mouth, but with every part of her.
He let out a deep groan, thinking if he had to get stuck in traffic, then this was the best way to pass the time. The woman was definitely something else. He almost cursed when he saw the train’s flashing last car, which meant they would be moving again soon.
“Kim?”
She didn’t answer but continued feasting on him as if it were her last meal. She kept licking and went right on sucking and then he couldn’t hold back.
“Kim!”
He came hard. Busting a nut had never been so spectacular, so damn fantastic. He tried to get a grip but it was too late. His body exploded and every nerve erupted. He tightened his hand on the steering wheel as electricity rushed through every part of him, and through it all her mouth did not let go of him. She kept it locked down on him as white fire spread through him, touching every cell in his body.
He moved a hand from the steering wheel to rub through the curls on her head, gently tugging, trying to pull her away from him. But she wouldn’t let up, so he let her have her way as intoxicating sensations continued to rush through him. She had a way of satisfying every needy bone in his body and her sense of giving overwhelmed him.
When he had nothing left to give and she kept her mouth on him anyway, he whispered in a hoarse voice, “Kim, sweetheart, the train’s gone by. You have to stop. The cars will start moving in a minute.”
She lifted her head and looked up at him, holding his rod just mere inches from her wet lips. “You sure that’s it?”
She was amazing. “For now. But when I get you back to the hotel …”
“What are you going to do?”
“You’ll see.” The blasting of a horn behind them signaled it was time to put the car in gear and move forward.
After tucking his shaft back inside and zipping his jeans, she returned to her seat, all the while licking her lips. “That was good.”
“Mercy,” he said, putting the car in gear and easing on the gas pedal. He was grateful to hit a traffic light. He needed to get his senses back in control. His shaft was still throbbing, but he knew that had to have been the most marvelous thing he’d ever experienced.
He glanced over at her. “I’m going to get you for that, Kim,” he warned in a husky voice that rumbled deep from his gut.
She smiled at him sweetly. “You were going to get me anyway, weren’t you, Duan?”
What she’d said was true, and the mere thought of it increased the throbbing in his groin. This was crazy. You would think after what she’d just done to him, his shaft would be satisfied for days.
The traffic light changed and the car moved forward. He couldn’t wait to get her back to the hotel.
12
“YOU DO KNOW this is the third weekend straight that we’ve shared Sunday-morning breakfast in bed,” Duan said, glancing over at Kim as he took a sip of his coffee.
Wearing a bathrobe, Kim sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed. She smiled over at him. “If we keep this up it might become one of those hard habits to break.”
Duan placed his cup aside and leaned over to kiss her with a passion that Kim felt all the way to her toes.
After he pulled away she stared at him for long moments before saying, “Mom is going to call us when she and Edward are ready to head over to the county fair. In the meantime, what do you think we should do while we’re waiting?”
He shook his head and chuckled. “Get the hell out of this room before we kill ourselves. I’ve had more sex with you in the past twenty-four hours than I’ve had all year.”
She glanced away, nervously fiddling with the belt around her bathrobe. There was that word again. Sex. Was that all they’d been sharing for the past three weeks? When did a man stop thinking of it as nothing more than sex?
Evidently for Duan, it wouldn’t be any time soon. But then, why should it? Just because she had started dealing with a bunch of crazy emotions was no reason to think he was doing the same.
Of their own accord her eyes skimmed down the muscular plane of his chest, reminding her how much she liked rubbing her fingers over it.
Kim forced herself to look at his face. “Is that what you want to do? Get out of the room?” she asked nervously, her tongue licking her top lip.
&
nbsp; He stared at her. “No. Especially not when you do something like that with your tongue,” he said in a voice so deep and sexy it made her shiver.
And then, as if he intended to make her do more than shiver, he raked his gaze from her lips down the rest of her body, taking in everything in his path, making her feel naked even while wearing her robe. The look in his eyes hinted at more than lust; it showed a hunger so hot that parts of her felt as if she were on fire.
Duan was about to lean forward to cop another kiss when his cell phone went off. He reached over toward the nightstand. “Whatever thoughts you were thinking, hold them until after I take this call.”
He answered the phone. “This is Duan.”
“Hey. Brett’s been busy.”
Duan smiled. That could only mean one thing. “What did he find?”
“Our man.”
“Who is he?”
“His name is Stein Green and at the moment he’s serving time in a Florida prison for armed robbery that involved the death of a police officer. It’s pretty safe to say that Green will be behind bars for a while—he’s serving a life sentence with no chance of parole. Chevis is on his way to Florida as we speak.”
Duan nodded. “Let me know when Chevis finds out anything.”
Moments later, he hung up the phone and glanced over at Kim. She looked gorgeous, even when she was sitting there staring at him expectantly.
“That was Landon,” he said. “Brett has ID’d that guy—the one in the photos.”
She nodded. “And?”
“And he’s serving time for armed robbery in a jail in Florida. Chevis is on his way to pay him a visit.”
Kim propped herself against one of the pillows. That was his favorite position. Well … one of his favorites. He much preferred seeing her on her back.
“That’s good news,” she said. “Do you think he’ll tell him anything?”
“It depends. But I do know if there’s one man who can get information out of someone, it’s Chevis.”
He eased off the bed. “Now is a good time for us to go over those case files since you’ve read both reports.”
Kim watched him move across the room to get the reports from the table. He was only wearing a pair of briefs and she couldn’t help thinking, not for the first time, that the man was built. Her gaze traveled up his sturdy long legs, flat tummy and broad chest. And his tush could make a woman drool, especially when he was wearing tight jeans.
She glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. Her mother had gone to church and they would be getting together with her and Edward to go to the county fair around two.
Kim sighed. They had spent the entire day with her mother and the family yesterday, and intended to do the same for the remaining days she would be in Shreveport.
The thought of Wynona spending any time alone with Edward still bothered her, but she couldn’t make a flap about it or it might push her mother even deeper into the man’s arms. Edward Villarosas was certainly a charmer, or at least he tried to be.
She was supposed to leave next Sunday. She hoped, if nothing else, she could convince her mother to postpone her wedding plans for a while. She certainly intended to try.
KIM STEPPED AWAY from the car and glanced around. She recalled how each year when a county fair came to New Orleans, she’d looked forward to going. That was the only time her father actually acted like a normal human being.
He had enjoyed taking her and her mother, and before their eyes he would transform into another person. It was as if he’d needed—if only for a little while—the chance to act like a kid again. He would head for the roller coasters first, which was probably the reason she’d inherited a fondness for the daring rides.
Her mother, who’d come to stand beside her, smiled and then leaned down and kissed her cheek. As if she knew what she’d been thinking, Wynona said, “I know you don’t want to hear this, Kimani, but your father wasn’t all bad.”
Kim rolled her eyes. Her mother was right; she really didn’t want to hear it. She glanced over and saw Duan and Edward standing by the car talking. The conversation appeared to be going well. She turned back to her mom. It wasn’t the first time Wynona had tried convincing her of her father’s goodness, so it wouldn’t be the first time she’d had a problem believing it.
“Your father had a rough childhood,” her mother went on to say.
“Please, Mom, give me a break. The man used to beat the crap out of you all the time.”
“Yes, but only after he’d been drinking,” her mother said defensively.
“Then that was almost every Friday night,” Kim said. She really wasn’t in the mood to rehash this bit of family history.
“Please remember those other days when he would be the fun, caring husband that I married.”
Kim didn’t say anything but a tightness in her stomach pushed her to ask, “Do you know where he is and do you ever hear from him?”
From the look on her mother’s face Kim knew the answer. “You do know where he is and you do hear from him, don’t you?” she asked in what she knew was an accusing voice.
Her mother didn’t back down. “Yes to both, and the only reason he hasn’t contacted you is because he’s afraid you wouldn’t accept him, and that would truly break his heart.”
Kim frowned. “And I’m supposed to care about breaking his heart?”
Instead of answering, her mother rushed on, “He’s your father and he has gotten help over the years.”
“Good for him.”
“Kim, listen, we—”
“No, Mom,” she whispered so her voice wouldn’t carry to the men. “When it comes to my father, there is no we. I don’t hate him. I won’t waste that much energy. He has to come to terms with how he treated you. Treated us.”
“He never hit you.”
“No, Mom, he didn’t have to. He had you for his punching bag.”
“But he’s gotten better over the years. He’s even in the church now.”
Kim twirled her finger in the air and simultaneously rolled her eyes. “Whoop-de-do.”
“Kim.”
“Just what do you want from me, Mom?”
“I want you to find it in your heart to forgive your father. You’ve made the first step by finding a man to love, but before you can really move on you’re going to have to forgive him. I had to do so and that’s why I can get on with my life. He’s a part of my past that I won’t repeat. I’ve found someone who wants to make me happy.”
“You sure of that?”
“Yes. Edward is a good man.”
Kim bit down on her lower lip so she would not respond. A part of her hoped and prayed Duan and his partners were wrong about Edward and that he was a good man like her mother assumed. But she wasn’t holding out for that. Duan had gone over the cases with her earlier, and she had a good idea how an investigator’s mind worked. No stone would be left uncovered this time around.
She and her mother ended the conversation when they saw Edward and Duan approaching. “Looks like we’re going to have a lot of fun today,” Edward said, excitement in his voice. For a split second he reminded Kim of her father and that wasn’t a good thing.
“I can’t wait,” Wynona responded, a huge smile on her face.
Kim glanced over at Duan. He reached out and took her hand in his, then leaned over and brushed a kiss across her lips. It was as if he’d read her emotions and knew she was bothered by something.
“Well, you guys,” Edward announced, grabbing Wynona’s hand, “I’m going to take my lady and we’re heading for the Scorpion and from there to the Ferris wheel.”
“See you guys later,” Wynona called over her shoulder, increasing her pace to keep up with Edward.
Duan glanced over at her and tightened his hand on hers. “You okay?”
She saw concern in the depths of his eyes. “Yes, I’m fine. I just had one of those ‘daddy’ moments.”
“Come on, let’s walk,” he said, keeping her hand in his. �
��Want to tell me about it?”
For some reason she didn’t mind airing the family’s dirty laundry to Duan. She’d done it before. “Fairs used to be one of my daddy’s favorite places. When he took us it would be one of the few times he was normal. He would actually stay sober for a few weeks after visiting a fair. After that, it was every Friday night as usual. He would get off work and head for the nearest bar with his homies. Luckily there was always someone in the group who would bring him home later and not let him drive.”
She grimaced. “It would have been better if they’d checked him in to a hotel to let him sleep it off instead of bringing him home. That would have spared Mom the beatings once he got there.”
A bitter smile formed on her lips. “He would sleep late on Saturdays while I was bandaging up Mom’s wounds. Then he would wake up around noon and see her bruises and become all apologetic, asking her forgiveness and telling her it wouldn’t happen again. He’d become the loving husband and father, and Mom was eager to believe the best so she’d eventually forgive him. I lived to regret Fridays, Duan. Most kids in school looked forward to the weekends, but I wasn’t one of them since I knew what would happen at my house.”
“I’m sorry, Kim.” Duan’s voice was gentle. “That kind of life must have been hell to endure each week.”
“It was. Because of my father I’ve endured a lot of hell. Forgiving doesn’t come easy for me, and Mom can’t seem to understand that.”
“And all this time I’ve been the one hosting a pity party thinking the Jeffrieses were the family with all the garbage.” Duane shook his head. “When my mom left, I was angry, madder than hell. I was the oldest and I had Terrence to deal with. He was a holy terror even back in the day. And then there was Olivia, who tried to take Mom’s place. It’s still hard to believe how a woman could leave her husband and family without looking back.”
He stopped walking and so did she. He met her gaze. “I have one hell of a father, and I can’t tell him enough how much I appreciate him. He had to step in and do both roles as a parent and he did it. I’m sure it wasn’t easy, yet he never complained. I admire him for what he did, and I’m not sure that I could have done the same if I’d been in his place.”
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