“Waymon Cole?” Clarissa spoke the man’s name in a hooked manner. “Ray, are you saying—”
“I’m only asking if you’ve looked at this from all directions.” Rayelle cast a quick glance over her shoulder. “If something shady was going on, Miss Jaz would have only kept it quiet from those closest to her for a couple reasons. Either she didn’t think there was any reason to get them upset or there was someone she couldn’t trust.”
* * *
“Good timing.” Barker laughed into his phone’s tiny receiver. “I was just about to call and ask if we could meet.”
“Had I known I’d be free tonight, I would have suggested it.” Elias’s voice came through the line.
“Yeah, I saw your girl having dinner. Her dinner date’s way more incredible looking than you are, kid.”
“Humph, I’m surprised you haven’t already introduced yourself to Ray.”
“Aah...so you already knew about her dinner plans?” Barker sounded impressed. “Is it like that now? You guys keeping each other in the loop about every move you make?”
“What can I say?” Eli conceded.
“Is it serious?”
“I want it to be.” Eli followed the admission with an agitated groan as if the words had floored him. “Am I crazy?”
Barker chuckled. “Certifiable.”
“Then what I’m about to say next won’t sound too out of place.”
“Shoot.”
“If all the women on this list have cops for husbands, all live in towns where there are Jazzy B’s and all are Cleve Echols’s investors who for some unknown reason decided to hitch their sails to Waymon Cole’s ship, what the hell kind of weird connection does all that suggest?”
Barker was undeniably suspicious. His voice of reason told him that something was amiss. As it was the voice that he often hated listening to, he guessed the suggestion was that all Elias’s connections added up to something pretty ugly.
“Do you think Clarissa knows anything?” Barker asked.
“I doubt it,” Eli said after a beat. “I get the feeling Jaz Beaumont tried to keep her niece out of the loop on things that had the potential to make her look bad. Last thing she needs is me of all people coming to her with any more negatives about the woman.”
“Even if the negatives are founded?”
Eli’s responding sigh was mixed with a more guttural sound. “If it’s founded, that spells a bigger problem, especially for Clarissa.”
“It’d mean her aunt was a criminal, E.”
“On top of everything else.”
“We’ll figure it out, man.” Barker didn’t need to be face-to-face with Eli to know that the man was beyond tense. “I’m on it, all right?”
“I hear you. Look, I’m gonna let you go, okay?”
“What the hell...?” Barker murmured spotting Detective Sophia Hail shaking hands with Clarissa and Rayelle.
“Bar? What’s up?” Eli was asking over the phone.
“Not sure. Sophie Hail’s here about to sit down with your girl.”
“Official capacity?”
“Hard to say.”
“Could be a girl’s night,” Eli reasoned.
“What was it you were saying about weird connections?”
“Right...so what’s one more?”
“Right.” Barker’s trademark scowl had returned.
“I need somethin’ concrete before I go to Cleve Echols, Bar. Before this stuff affects Clarissa.”
“I need whatever you have on this, E.”
“Sending it now.”
The call ended and Barker paid his check. He spent a few additional minutes watching the three women talking intensely before he left.
* * *
Later that night, Clarissa was back at Jazmina’s house and on the phone with event planner Dave Blackmon. The topic of their discussion was a dinner party she wanted to have before the Humanitarian gathering for her aunt.
“This a celebration dinner for the award?” Dave was asking.
“No, nothing related to that, just something I want to do for the girls.”
The doorbell rang and Eli’s name registered in Clarissa’s head. She headed down from her bedroom, recalling their plans for coffee and dessert. She was still going back and forth with Dave over the particulars for the proposed event, when she pulled open the front door.
Elias’s expression changed to one of sensual shock, his blue stare charting a repetitive path along the length of her. Clarissa paid little attention to his approval. She pulled him across the threshold, brushed her lips over his jaw and continued her discussion with Dave.
Elias, meanwhile, was still surveying her attire. The chemise-styled gown just brushed her midthigh. Although she wore an ankle-length chiffon robe with it, the garment only enhanced the appeal of her barely there nightie.
“I’ve got some things I want to discuss with the girls...newer directions for the club.” Clarissa was still focused on the phone conversation and not on how closely Eli trailed her as they took the stairs back to the second floor.
“I’m trying to get their opinion on my ideas and I want to keep the night flowing with food and drinks.”
Dave chuckled over the phone line. “Clarissa, Clarissa...are you tryin’ to bribe your employees?”
“Dave...” She laughed. “You know me, ’course I am.”
Elias had been following Clarissa up the staircase like an obedient puppy. He blinked as though waking from a heavy sleep when he heard her addressing Dave. He paused at the door of the bedroom suite she occupied instead of following her inside.
There he took time to observe the room and how her presence seemed to cling to it. His focus however was quickly returned to Clarissa when she sat in an armchair and began to lotion her legs. He waited until she’d finished the task and then he crossed the room and pulled her from the chair.
Claiming her spot, Eli tugged her down to straddle his lap. He pulled the tie on the chemise nightie and, loosening the bodice, allowed her breasts to protrude a bit more from the opening.
Clarissa’s voice went faint in the middle of her phone discussion. “Dave? Let me get back to you, all right?”
“Dave?” Elias questioned when the call ended. His nose outlined the lush fragrant flesh that bubbled past the lacy chemise.
Clarissa was at once overwrought by his touch. When he gave a warning squeeze to her thigh, she recalled his question.
“He’s a, um...party, event planner...I wanted to have a dinner here at the house for the girls—mmm...” She cherished the stroke of his thumb across a nipple that appeared half in, half out of the bodice. “Wanted to talk to them about changes...at the club.”
“Nice of you...” Eli had already retasked his focus to the sensitive flesh below her earlobe. At the same time, his hands slid beneath the hem of the gown until he was cradling her bottom in his wide palms. He worked her into his groin and the stiff proof of his arousal.
They kissed until Clarissa’s incessant gasping in response to his fondling prevented her from fully taking part in the duel between their tongues.
Elias chuckled arrogantly over her response and thrust his tongue deep into her open mouth. Intermittently, he raked his tongue across her teeth and outlined her lips. He was attacked by a groan when she started to rotate her hips which caused his erection to throb in a mixture of pleasure and pain.
Clarissa finished undoing the ties of her chemise gown. She’d barely parted the material when Eli’s gorgeous face was hidden in the almond-brown swells of her bosom.
His hand left her butt to grope a breast while he luxuriated in the satin feel of the other by grazing his whisker-roughened cheek along it. Clarissa was concentrating on opening the denim shirt he wore outside cream-colored jeans. Desper
ation to see his awesome chest fueled her actions.
Eli was suckling madly on the breast he held. Clarissa was pulling apart his shirt and going to work on his jean fastening. His hand tightened again on her derriere and she knew that he meant to carry her to the bed.
In silent refusal, Clarissa closed her hands tight over the chair arms and resisted the move. She initiated the next kiss while freeing him from his jeans and boxer shorts. Once she held him and began to work her hand along the rigid length of his shaft, Eli seemed to melt into the chair.
“Please, Clari.”
She felt her confidence grow over his tortured request. He didn’t ask her to stop and she had no intention of doing so. Leaning back again, she used her free hand to take a condom packet from her robe. Raising it to her mouth, she ripped into the casing.
Eli’s sex flared against her palm in response and anticipation. Clarissa moved again, to tease his sleek chest with faint grazes from her nipples. She began to suckle his earlobe while setting their protection in place.
Clarissa had barely completed the task when Elias took her hips captive and settled her down with an aching sweetness. She let her head fall back while Eli moved forward to feast on her breasts. All the while, he directed her moves. Clarissa held on to the chair arms and she was on the verge of orgasm less than a minute later.
It was her turn to please then. She’d wanted to maintain control that time. She might have been a virgin, but she wasn’t completely clueless. She wanted to please him as he had her and was more than a little eager to prove that she could.
“This was for you...” She moaned while absorbing the sensation his deep penetration stirred within her. “I wanted to please you.” She heard Eli laugh then and she frowned slightly in irritation even as she gasped over his manipulation of her body.
Eli’s laughter sounded rather faint but it was definitely humor filled. “You are without a doubt pleasing me, Clari.”
She was breathless. “You aren’t letting me do anything...”
“Are you serious?” The blue-green of his stare sharpened a bit when he winced. Pleasure was lancing through him at a relentless pace. The feel of it made him rest his head back on the chair and watch her in helpless wonder.
“Do you feel that?” he managed to ask.
“Yes...”
“Do you know what that is?” He gave her a “punishing” thrust when she didn’t answer fast enough.
“That’s you, Eli.” She bit her lip.
“And how do I feel, Clarissa? How do I feel inside you?”
“Mmm...”
“Answer me...”
“Mmm...stiff...hard...good...”
“Look at me.” He waited for her to comply. “You do that. You do that to me every time I see you. Every time...” The words carried on a whisper seconds before they indulged in another kiss.
Chapter 13
“Don’t even think I forgot about it.” Clarissa’s words slurred. She tried and failed to keep her eyes open while accusing Elias of taking her mind off the dessert he had promised her last night.
Eli chuckled while nuzzling his face into the preferred resting spot on her chest. “You’re a hard woman to please. How about dinner tonight?”
“I only asked for dessert.”
“You should know by now how much I hate doing things half-assed.”
“Dinner it is. Will you cook?”
“Just be ready by seven.”
The couple cherished the act of simple lounging and caressing. Moments passed in an unhurried blur until the unique sound of a vibrating phone filled the air.
Clarissa sighed irritably. “When do you have to go?”
“You have a lot to learn about being a boss.” Eli grinned and flipped Clarissa to her back. “I go when I want.”
“You speak like a boss who doesn’t run a club,” she told him when he let her up for air following a thorough kiss. “Running a club is a whole different world. Literally.”
The last word captured Eli’s attention and he cocked his head. “Does this have anything to do with these changes you’re talking about?”
“Jaz wanted out of the strip club business.”
“She was retiring?”
Clarissa shook her head over Eli’s guess. “Wanted to turn the place into a dance studio.”
“What?” His expression was a melding of disbelief and amusement. “Are you considering that?”
“Depends on the girls.”
“And Waymon Cole.” Eli frowned at Clarissa’s nonchalant shrug. “He was your aunt’s business manager.”
“The club belongs to me and I’m loyal only to the girls.”
“Who’ve you told about this?”
“Just Ray, and the girls will know soon.”
Eli nodded. “Keep it that way, all right?”
The warning roused Clarissa’s suspicions but she had no chance to question him. The phone was buzzing again. Elias took the call. Clarissa snuggled into the covers, but studied him curiously when he groaned over whatever the caller had to say before he hung up.
She was of a mind to question his vague comment regarding her upcoming talk with the dancers, but her intentions were thwarted. When she opened her mouth, he filled it with his tongue. All too soon however, he was telling her that he had to go.
“No...stay...”
As if to appease her, Eli kissed his way down her body, spending considerable time where she yearned most for him. He left her unsated, though.
“Be ready by seven.” He spoke the words into her inner thigh and then left the bed.
Clarissa responded by aiming a pillow and throwing it dead center against his back.
* * *
“Couldn’t this wait?” Eli’s caramel-kissed features were contorted into a full-blown glare.
“We thought you’d like knowing how your money’s being spent.” Linus swiveled his desk chair that matched the walnut-brown trousers he wore. “But if not, me and Tigo have no problems cookin’ the books and runnin’ off to Tahiti.”
Eli grunted a laugh and massaged his thumb into a patch of skin between his sleek brows. “I always had a feelin’ about you two.”
“Come on, man, be serious. We’re tryin’ to give you some kind of hint,” Tigo said while pushing up the sleeves of a black crew shirt.
Eli cleared his throat and waited.
“You’ve been very un-workaholic-like lately,” Linus noted.
Tigo followed with a solemn nod. “Probably don’t even know where your phone is.”
Pacing Linus’s office, Eli smoothed both hands across the dark close-cut waves covering his head.
“You fallin’ for her, Eli?”
“Very hard,” Eli replied to Tigo’s question without hesitation. “I haven’t even known her that long.”
Linus and Tigo exchanged looks. Tigo’s inquiry had been intentionally vague yet Eli’s quick response told both men that their partner had only one thing—one woman—on his mind.
“We’re gonna have to arrange a new meeting with the architects before we can start making the trips out to the sites.” Eli took a seat on the arm of a cream-colored leather sofa near the door. “Clarissa’s got some things she needs to discuss with them. Can’t wait.”
“Not a problem,” Tigo said. “They aren’t set to leave town for another few days.”
“All right then,” Eli bowed his head to stroke his goatee for a few seconds. He then tugged his shirt cuffs and stood. “Can we finish this later? Got some calls to make.”
“No prob.” Linus waved, and then grinned at Tigo when the door closed at Eli’s back.
“Damn fool’s in love,” Tigo said.
Linus could only chuckle.
* * *
“Do you think the girls will be on board with this? Last thing I need is to have their worlds turned upside down.” Clarissa raked her fingers through her glossy cropped hair and then held her head in her hands.
Rayelle idly stirred her coffee. “I think there’s a good chance for success, Clay. I mean, a lot of the girls that come here do have aspirations of being serious dancers. That business though...” She sighed. “It’s a tough one to break into.”
“This is gonna hit their pocketbooks pretty hard. Some harder than others maybe.”
Rayelle knew what Clarissa was referring to. “There’s a chance that none of them had any involvement in that.”
“Still...” Clarissa pushed back from the table. “Aren’t many big tips exchanging hands at a dance studio. That is, if the cops don’t shut the whole place down.”
“There’s a chance Sophie won’t find anything.”
“Do you really believe that?”
Ray blew a tuft of hair from her eyes. “So what are we gonna do?”
“Make the changes that Jaz wanted.”
“And the consequences?”
“We’ll worry about them when, if the time comes.”
“Impressive.” Ray’s neat line of brows raised a notch. “Could a certain turquoise-eyed brotha have anything to do with your...laid-back attitude?”
Clarissa merely shrugged and wrapped herself tighter into the black linen robe she wore. Her easy expression harbored an all-too-concerned tinge moments later.
“Ray, I’ve questioned and second-guessed myself more in the last two weeks than I ever have in my life.”
“Understandable.” Ray tapped her spoon to the cup absently. “Especially when you’ve spent your entire life doing what others expect of you. You’re finally living and that’s what Jaz wanted.”
“Yeah...” Clarissa toyed with a sheaf of paper napkins at the breakfast nook. “I don’t know if she meant for it to go this fast—this soon.”
“Only thing that matters is how it feels. How does it feel?”
Clarissa stretched out her arms across the table. “I’d say ‘phenomenal’ but who am I to know what phenomenal feels like?”
Provocative Territory Page 13
