He glanced over at Natasha, and Emma was right. She was avoiding him.
That was the last thing he wanted.
Chris was in over his head, and he needed help ASAP.
“I’m scared,” he admitted, as he held Emma in his arms while they danced.
Emma suspected as much. She’d rather be rubbing against her sexy pirate, but she could see the issues from across the tent and was compelled to step in.
She stared up and into his eyes.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on, Christopher? You know I’ll help you if I can.”
“What does love feel like? You know…real love.”
Emma figured this had to do with what he’d started with Natasha. The man wasn’t easily rattled, but this time…yeah, he was a hot mess.
“You can’t breathe. When you see that person, you want to do anything you can to be with them, to love them, and to be part of them. They make you really happy.”
Natasha did all of that.
“She’s not Denise,” Emma admitted. “I know that’s what has you so freaked out, but she wouldn’t do that to you.”
“How do you know?”
Emma gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Let’s call it my gut, and the fact she was raised right. Dimitri is a tough man to live with, and his sisters have manners, they believe in treating people fairly, and they were both hurt.”
He got that.
“The fear…”
“It’s got you by the balls.”
“Yeah, it really does.”
“I can tell you she won’t hurt you all I want, and it’s not going to make you believe me, Chris. You have to look at her, believe she’s the one, and go for it.”
“What if she’s not the one?”
“What if she is?”
She had a point.
“What if I hurt her?”
“What if you heal her?”
“You realize that you’re being a pain in my ass, right?” he asked.
Emma laughed. “What are sisters for? Besides, you’re looking at this with blinders on. I see the whole picture. Does she make you happy?”
He didn’t have to think about it.
“God! Yes!”
“When you’re with her, are you thinking about the past and what happened?”
“Never.”
“Then that’s a good sign that she’s perfect for you. How’s the sex?” she asked.
He opened his mouth and then closed it. “Yeah, that’s never going to happen.”
Emma started laughing.
She’d almost gotten him to break.
Almost.
“You once told me that Denise didn’t fulfill things in your life. What were they?”
“She nagged every day.”
“Does Nat nag?”
“No.”
“What else?”
“Sex was always boring?”
“Was the sex boring? Oh, and by the way, you have a hickey on your neck.”
His hand went there.
“I do not! You’re a brat.”
She snorted. “Yeah, I know. I can’t help myself, Christopher. You make it way too easy.”
He laughed.
“She’s easy to be around, like you are, Em.”
She smiled. “Well, then she’s definitely not Denise.”
“I need someone who will teach me how to be impetuous all over again. That was beat out of me by the ex.”
“Then let her be her, and go from there.”
The song ended.
“Thank you for letting me talk this out. I’m going to get some booze. Want some?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, I’ll pass. I have to molest my husband later, and that takes great skill.”
He snorted. “I don’t want to know.”
“Good, because if you’re not sharing, neither am I.”
Chris headed away, and Emma knew what she had to do. It was time to help the couple work their way through this. Emma loved Chris, and she loved Natasha.
She knew they needed a little push.
Well, that she could do.
Heading toward the woman, she worked out the plan in her head. It would be perfect, if Chris loosened up.
“Is he mad at me?” Natasha asked, when Emma got close enough.
“No, but here’s what you need to do.”
“What?”
Emma told her.
“Will that really work?”
She grinned. Oh, Emma knew the way to a man’s heart, and it was right through his penis.
“It’ll work, Nat. Now go. Rock his world.”
The woman headed off.
Emma was proud of herself.
“Meddling again?” Greyson asked, puffing on a cigar. “Is that wise?”
She winked at him. “Yes, and yes, and I need a favor.”
“What?”
“Get him to follow her.”
“Emma.”
“If you do, I’ll make it worth your while.”
Well, since she put it that way.
Greyson couldn’t say no.
He wasn’t crazy.
Chapter Twenty-One
C hris was worried. When Greyson found him at the bar, he told him Natasha was upset. He hoped it wasn’t something he’d done. All Chris could think about was what Emma had said. What if he’d caused it?
After all, he’d had the cranky face on.
He wasn’t upset with her, but instead, puzzled with what to do. He needed a sign from the universe that she was the one, and if he got it, he’d be okay.
Chris would trust the powers that be. So far, they led him to an amazing family, good friends, and a chance in life to be a hero. They were making a difference in Vegas, and that mattered.
Now he needed the woman he was falling for to fit into place. Would she?
He hoped.
As of that moment, he wasn’t sure if she would be able to give him that one thing he was missing. Chris needed someone to erase the years of destruction by Hurricane Denise, and that was going to be one hell of a task.
At this point, he wasn’t sure anyone could do that.
Heading into the house, he wasn’t sure where she’d gone. He asked the staff, tried to find her, and finally the chef said she was heading toward the laundry room.
He didn’t get why.
Maybe she spilled something on her dress and needed to get it out.
When he went to the room, he stepped in, only to have the door close behind him, and a woman jump him.
He stumbled but managed to stay on his feet.
“Natasha,” he said, as she began opening his shirt while her mouth worked its way over his.
Chris couldn’t think.
He was trapped in the storm.
As she riled him up, she knew what advice Emma had given, and she opted to go with it. Nat hoped she didn’t screw this up.
“I’m sorry, but I missed you. I needed to be with you.”
She assaulted his mouth again, as Chris leaned against the wall, bracing them from falling.
“Don’t apologize,” he muttered between oral assaults.
Really.
No man ever wanted a woman to say sorry for some good ol’ fashion molestation.
The blood was draining lower, and honestly, he couldn’t think.
Natasha’s hands were now working on his belt and fly.
He could only hope…
Then she stroked him.
Chris moaned.
“I want you, Christopher. Even after all night, I need more of you. I want you more than I want to breathe,” she admitted, sliding down his body to find her place on her knees in front of him.
Chris couldn’t think.
It had been a long time since he’d seen this visual. Oral sex wasn’t something he’d ever really got in his marriage. Denise hated it, and he’d…he’d given up.
Natasha pulled him from his boxers and ran her hand up and down his erection. As he got harder, she s
tared up at him.
“I want to learn how to please you. Tell me if I do it wrong.”
Then she began.
Do it wrong?
Chris was pretty sure that when he watched his erection slide into the wet warmth of her mouth, there was nothing in the world this woman could do wrong.
Nothing.
At this point, he couldn’t even breathe.
That was a sure sign she was doing it right.
Natasha loved touching him. She began worshipping him, first tentatively, until he began moaning, and then with a ton of enthusiasm. She was picking up speed, figuring out her technique, and working on pushing Chris over the edge.
He had to admit that it was amazing.
When she slid him out of her mouth, he finally opened his eyes.
“Am I doing this right? I’ve never done it before.”
He laughed. “You can’t really do it wrong.”
“Do you want me to continue?” she asked.
“Do you want to?”
Natasha smiled until she could see the worry in his eyes. Something was chasing the captain.
Natasha wanted to heal him like he’d healed her.
“I want to do this every day for the rest of our lives,” she admitted. “I love when you’re feeling pleasure. You look so handsome.”
Chris didn’t know what to say.
Before he could string a sentence together. Natasha was back at it, and working him even harder. If this was her first blowjob, she was a natural. Already, he was getting ready to cum.
His body was tightening.
His balls were aching.
He knew he wasn’t going to last much longer.
When Natasha added her hand, stroking, squeezing, and sucking, Chris was doomed. It had been so damn long, and all he wanted was to explode.
“I’m going to cum, Natasha. You had better…”
She refused to stop.
As she worked him harder, he shook, and she wanted that feeling of power, control, and love. She wanted to share this with the only man she’d ever love.
This was intimacy.
This was special.
Chris moaned, his eyes closed, and he dropped his head back to pray for any control.
He found none.
When she stroked him, sucked his erection down her throat, and accidentally got him with her teeth, he couldn’t hold out.
He came, and came hard.
Chris exploded down Natasha’s throat, his guttural moan was the only sound in the laundry room. When he opened his eyes, she was staring up at him from her knees.
His heart skipped.
She looked so sweet, so happy, and so pure.
“Natasha.”
She set him free, and left a kiss on the top of his dick. “I hope I can do that again.”
He didn’t know what to say.
“Why?”
“I wanted to show you how much you mean to me. I love that intimacy. I’ve never gotten to share it with anyone else.”
“We could have had sex.”
She smiled as he helped her up. Gently, Natasha tucked him back into his boxers, zipped him up, and then rested against him. “Later we will. I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you.”
She nuzzled his shirt with her cheek.
“See you outside, Captain.”
With that, she headed out, closed the door, and left him standing there.
Chris didn’t expect it.
He was tripped up.
Natasha was overwhelming him, and he knew one thing.
He couldn’t give it up.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Detective Henderson had all of his files.
He was ready to head to the meeting with the Crofts at ‘Aquarius’. To say he was nervous would be an understatement.
What he was risking was huge.
By even going there, he was putting his trust in two people he didn’t know. Yes, he had done his research.
Other than the cops calling them corrupt and the commissioner, too, they were basically good people.
He’d interviewed some of the people they’d helped get justice. Everyone said they were doing it pro-bono.
That had surprised him.
They weren’t out to make money. Riley liked to do his own research. He liked to make up his own mind, based strictly on facts.
And he’d come to one conclusion.
They could help him.
Still, if they outed him or mentioned that he was meeting with them, then his career in Vegas was done.
Riley was a damn good cop.
He started on the streets in LA, and got sick of how inept he felt. The crime was winning there, and he knew he’d never get to move up the ladder unless he played politics.
That soured him to the job there.
So, he took a chance and headed to Vegas.
Once he’d earned his gold shield there, he knew he was home.
He loved the place.
It was unpredictable, the cases were less standard, and Riley could use his brain.
Then he’d been dropped into the shit mess called the LVPD homicide division.
Holy Hell!
It was a freaking nightmare.
The place was so corrupt, it made LA look like kindergarten. Boy, fate had different plans for him. He went from the frying pan right into the fire.
When it came down to making a decision, Riley knew he couldn’t run again, so instead he began searching for the truth.
There were always two sides to every story.
He found it hard to believe that Emma Croft was the enemy. Only, when he studied her cases, watched her work, and listened to the few good cops left, he thought otherwise.
Riley always listened to his gut.
Always.
And right now, it was telling him there was so much more to this than what he was seeing. That’s why he wanted to meet with the Crofts.
He wanted to hear their side of the story and see if maybe, they could team up and make a difference.
That’s all he ever wanted to do in life. He’d become a cop to change the world.
He couldn’t give up hope.
Riley needed the world to be a good place, and the way to do that was helping people.
Now he was going to hope the Crofts felt the same way.
If they were clean, like he believed, he was going to help them bring down the crime in Vegas.
It would start with the LVPD.
Someone had to do it.
And he was the man for the job.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Aquarius
Sunday
Nine P.M.
To say that they were wary would be an understatement. They were really concerned that this was going to blow up in their faces and they’d regret it.
They were inviting the enemy to their own turf. By allowing a cop into ‘Aquarius’, it was like giving the fox access to their henhouse.
Could they trust him?
Would he come in wired?
Time would tell.
For Greyson, it was all strategy. To gain an ally on the inside would give them a tactical advantage over the enemy. It would give them a look into the places they could no longer go.
Granted, Dimitri had a cop on the payroll, but they hadn’t been able to get a detective inside in the Homicide Division.
It had been too tricky.
But now…
So, they prepped for it.
Background checks were run.
Intel was gathered.
And Dimitri was packing every electronic device he could find to block, distort, or kill signals.
They were ready.
There was tension in the air.
Greyson kept Emma to his one side, away from the detective. For all he knew, the man was on some sick kamikaze suicide mission to take them out.
He wouldn’t put it past Thomas Christ.
It would be right up h
is alley.
“Are we ready?” Greyson asked.
Dimitri was.
“I’ll check him for weapons when he arrives, and then I’ll remove them.”
Emma laughed. “If he doesn’t come carrying six guns, I’ll be shocked. I wouldn’t meet with us unarmed, and I know we’re basically not going to kill anyone.”
Dimitri grinned.
“That’s not a compliment,” she clarified.
That made him laugh.
“To me it was.”
Emma shook her head. “You are a sick man, my friend. I don’t have words.”
“We all have our jobs. His is to be cranky and suspicious, yours is to play nice—because you always do, and I’m here to make sure if he pulls anything, he’s dead before he hits the doorway.”
Greyson agreed.
Emma stared at him.
“DO NOT encourage him.”
Greyson was about to make a point when there was a knock on the door to the private lounge.
One of the waitresses peeked her head in.
“Your guest has arrived, sir. What would you like me to do?”
“Send him in, Velma.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dimitri headed toward the door to meet the detective. The man wouldn’t make it past him if he was a danger to Greyson and Emma. They were his family.
This was their sanctuary.
When the man entered the room, he looked around. It was easy to tell that Riley Henderson was nervous.
No.
That didn’t cover it.
He looked like he was ready to bolt.
That piqued Dimitri’s curiosity. Was it because of the company or his mission? He’d faced many killers, mercenaries, and terrorists, and they all had self-assurance in their mission.
This was different.
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Croft.”
They acknowledged him.
“Before we start,” Greyson began, “would you mind if my security checked you for wires or weapons?” he asked. “With my wife being here, I’d like to keep her safe.”
“He can, but I promise you I’m clean. If it matters, I don’t go after cops, or ex-cops. Your wife is perfectly safe around me.”
He only wished all the cops in Vegas thought that.
“Call it a precaution.”
The man shrugged.
Lost Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 2) Page 36
