Solitude (Cunningham Security Book 4)

by A. K. Evans

  “Is he single?”

  I scrunched up my nose. “I’m not sure if he’s single, but I can tell you he’s pretty freaking handsome.”

  “I was only half-kidding, but I’d be up for a good time. You need to find out if he’s single and hook a girl up,” she ordered.

  “Noted, but you aren’t much of a hockey fan, are you?”

  She shook her head. “Not exactly. Isn’t it violent?”

  I laughed. Hockey wasn’t like it used to be and it was clear Ava didn’t watch. “It’s not that bad. The guys who play are tough and sometimes they’ll throw down their gloves, but it’s all good. And it’s kind of hot, to be honest.”

  “Why are you even talking to me about hockey?”

  I shook my head, ridding the unnecessary thoughts from my head. “Gosh, it’s so easy for me to get sidetracked. I was mentioning hockey because Lorenzo’s brother plays for the Wyoming Summits. His name is Rocco, but the fans call him Rocky.”

  “Oh, that’s kind of hot.”

  “I’ll look into it and see what I can find out. I’m sure a simple internet search might tell us what we need to know, but it’s not always trustworthy. I’ll talk to Lorenzo,” I said as I started picking up my mess. “I’ve got to get back out there. I’ve got four more clients lined up for today.”

  “Yeah, I was in later this morning, so I’m here until closing tonight. I’ll see you before you leave, though.”

  At that, I walked out of the break room and made my way to my room to prepare for my next client.

  Five hours later, I was on my way home.

  When I got back, I changed into my workout gear and did a quick workout of some squats and light stretching before I hopped in the shower. After I made myself some dinner, I climbed into bed and flipped on the television.

  There wasn’t a hockey game on, but I found reruns of one of my favorite sitcoms on, so I watched that. Twenty minutes later, my phone rang.

  “Hey, boss,” I greeted him.

  “You sound like you’re a mix of sleepy and happy,” he returned.

  I giggled and confirmed, “That’s because I am. I’m snuggled up in my bed watching sitcom reruns. You sound alert and focused.”

  “I’m working a case with the guys still, but wanted to take a minute to call you before you drifted.”

  I didn’t respond. I loved all of the sweet, little gestures he did. And on one hand, it pained me to think that he’d been holding himself back from having a relationship with someone because he thought he could be like his father. Of course, on the other hand, I was comforted by the fact that when he finally decided to take a chance, he chose to take it with me. I knew it worried him that things could go sour down the road, but I truly believed he was a gentleman.

  “You there?” he cut into my thoughts.

  “Yeah, I’m here. Sorry, I was just thinking about how great you are,” I replied.

  He laughed at me and wondered, “And you’re apologizing for thinking that about me?”

  “Well, I’m sorry for ignoring you to do it,” I clarified. After a beat of silence, I shared, “I miss you.”

  “Miss you too, baby.”

  Pulling the blanket around me tighter, I smiled. “Wish you were here,” I added.

  “Me too. Unfortunately, Pierce and Holden just heard me tell you I missed you and now they want to know who I’m talking to.”

  “Oh no,” I worried. “Dom introduced me to Pierce once a long time ago, but I’ve never officially met Holden. I know all the guys came to the wedding, but I didn’t get to meet everyone. If you tell them it’s me on the phone, won’t they have some moral obligation to uphold and tell Dom?”

  He burst out laughing, “No, they don’t. Even still, I’m not giving them your name until you’re ready for that. Of course, in saying that they’ll know you’re connected here somehow.”

  “Crap.”

  “Don’t worry,” he tried reassuring me. “I promise it’s fine.”

  I took in a deep breath. When I let it out, I gave in. “Okay, I’m putting my faith in you on this one.”

  “Good.”

  “Is your brother single?” I blurted.

  “Come again?”

  “Is Rocco dating anyone?”

  He stayed quiet a minute. Then, he asked, “Can you tell me why you’re asking that?”

  “After I got off the phone with you this afternoon, Ava walked into the break room. I was telling her how great you are and she jokingly asked if you had a brother. It dawned on me that I didn’t know if he was with anyone, so I thought I’d find out.”

  “He’s got a girl he’s been with for quite a while now.”

  “Bummer for Ava, but it’s okay. I’m glad he’s got somebody, and she really isn’t looking for a serious thing right now anyway. I figured if they were both single and looking for some fun, why not, right?”

  Lorenzo chuckled. “I guess so.”

  “Yeah, okay, I’m coming,” Lorenzo called out to someone. “Baby?” he returned his attention to me.

  “You have to go?”

  “Sorry,” he lamented. “I’ll make it up to you on Saturday morning, okay?”

  “Donuts and orgasms before pumpkin picking,” I advised.

  “I can do that,” he assured me. Then, his voice got quiet when he whispered, “Good night, Jolie.”

  “Good night, Lorenzo.”

  We disconnected, and ten minutes later, I fell asleep smiling.

  My doorbell rang.

  I was so tired and when I peeled one eye open, I saw that it was still dark outside. Reaching out to my nightstand, I lifted up my phone and saw that it was a quarter after six in the morning.

  I rolled out of bed and made my way downstairs.

  “Who is it?” I called out.

  “Me,” a familiar voice said.

  I quickly disarmed my alarm and opened the door.

  Lorenzo held out a box of donuts. “These are for later,” he stated as he gave me a closed-mouth kiss on the lips. “Go put them in the kitchen while I lock up.”

  I went out into the kitchen and put the donuts on the counter. Just as I turned to go back and meet him, I collided with his solid body. Lorenzo managed to lock up and remove his jacket and shoes in the time it took me to walk to the kitchen.

  He wrapped an arm around my waist and put a hand to my bottom as he lifted me clean off the floor. My ankles crossed behind his back while my arms did the same around his neck.

  Lorenzo moved to the stairs and carried me up. Seconds later, we were in the bed and he wasn’t wasting any more time. We hadn’t seen each other since last Sunday, so it had been a while.

  Lorenzo and I were tearing at each other’s clothing, desperate for the skin-to-skin contact. His shirt was tossed aside before mine floated through the air. He brought his mouth to my breasts and instantly sucked, pulling one nipple in. As he lavished one breast and then the other, he brought his hands to the waistband of my panties. Lorenzo tore his mouth from me only so he could watch as he pulled my panties down my legs.

  My hands shot out to his jeans and I worked to open the fly. I couldn’t get them off him fast enough. Lorenzo noted my frustration and took over. As he removed his pants, I sat up in the bed, shifted to my knees, and began kissing his torso. He managed to get his pants pushed down to his knees when I had the sudden urge to take him in my mouth.

  “Can I be in charge this time?” I asked as I moved my mouth up over his chest and began sliding my hand down his abdomen.

  “Kiss me first,” he ordered.

  I kissed him as my hand reached the prize. While I stroked his length, Lorenzo groaned into my mouth and squeezed my ass. He effortlessly turned our bodies and lowered his back to the bed, taking me with him.

  Disconnecting my mouth from his, I lifted my body from his, removed his boxer briefs, and crawled back up along his outer thigh. With my body positioned beside his hip, I leaned over and went to work. As I worked his length with my lips and tongue, I use
d both hands to pump along the base.

  “Jolie,” he growled. “So wild.”

  I wasn’t one to brag, but I had to agree. And Lorenzo made me that much more enthusiastic. I craved being able to make him feel good. Lucky for me, he never seemed to want to let me go at it alone. So, while I eagerly sucked him into my mouth, his hand drifted from my hip and over my ass.

  “Shift toward me,” he got out through his groans.

  Never allowing him to leave my mouth, I shifted myself in the bed, giving him a better angle.

  Within seconds, my mouth full of him, I had to drop my hands from his length. One shot to his hip, the other to his thigh. He’d plunged two fingers inside me, leaving his thumb free to tease and torture my clit.

  As he used his hand to pleasure me, I sucked him harder into my mouth.

  Lorenzo’s fingers were relentless, and it didn’t take long for him to build me up. Knowing it was about to hit, I released his cock from my mouth and breathed, “Lorenzo…babe…don’t stop.”

  He moved faster.

  I kept myself steady with one hand on his hip and wrapped the other around his hardened length. The closer I got to my orgasm, the faster my fist pumped. Lorenzo’s thumb pressed hard, circled, and I exploded.

  My orgasm tore through me, the pleasure searing through my limbs as I rode his fingers through it.

  I’d barely just come down when his hand left my body, wrapped around my wrist, and he began sheathing himself. Seconds later, he hauled me up his body, where I straddled his hips and positioned him. I slid down over him and threw my head back on a moan.

  When my head dropped forward, Lorenzo rasped, “Missed you so much, baby.”

  “Same, boss.”

  “I need you to move, Jolie.”

  I did as he requested and began moving. His hands were everywhere—at my thighs, my ass, and my breasts. My palms were planted on his chest as I moved my hips over him.

  The buildup began, coming quick. I leaned forward, arched my back a bit, and moved faster. I was on the verge again and just before I shattered, Lorenzo urged, “Bring it home.”

  I tried.

  And just as it began feeling the pleasure splinter across my body, I could no longer move my hips. I dropped my chest to his. Lorenzo wrapped his arm around my waist and drove the other into my hair, clamping his mouth tight to mine, as he took over and thrust his hips up.

  Lorenzo brought it home, drawing out my pleasure as he sought and found his own.

  Collapsed on his chest like a ragdoll, I sighed, “I was not expecting a wakeup call like that today. It was totally worth being woken up for.”

  Lorenzo laughed and claimed, “It’s funny how that works.”

  “What?”

  “You’re talking about a wakeup call. I’m feeling like I’ve just been hit with a tranquilizer shot and hoping for an hour or two of sleep beside you.”

  I lifted my head from his chest and shared, “I’m completely alright with that, too.”

  “Let me take care of this condom and we’ll get to it.”

  “Okay.”

  Once we were in the bed together again, Lorenzo curled up behind me, pressed a kiss to my shoulder, and draped his arm over my side, where he held my breast in his hand possessively. It felt so good having him next to me, and combining that with the fact that I was utterly spent from our morning romp, I quickly drifted.

  It was just before nine when Lorenzo and I woke up.

  “So, what made you ring my bell, both literally and figuratively, at six fifteen this morning?” I wondered.

  “My options were to stay awake, alone in my bed, where I couldn’t sleep because all I wanted to do was be next to you or get up, get your donuts, and come here. I chose option two.”

  “You made a good choice,” I assured him.

  He gave me a squeeze in response.

  “You know, you never answered my question yesterday,” I pointed out.

  “What question?”

  “Can you draw?”

  He shook his head. “Not exactly.”

  “So our pumpkins will look hideous?”

  “I can’t draw, but I’m good with a drill, baby.”

  I lifted my head and cocked an eyebrow. “A drill? For pumpkins?”

  “Trust me.”

  My reply to that came from my stomach, which had rumbled so loudly I shoved my face into the pillow, completely embarrassed.

  Lorenzo curled his body over my back. “Hungry?”

  “Nope,” I lied.

  I felt movement in the bed but refused to lift my head to see what was going on. The next thing I knew, I was being lifted in Lorenzo’s arms.

  I screeched, “What are you doing?”

  “Taking you downstairs to feed you.”

  “I’m naked!”

  “The shirt over my shoulder is for you,” he declared.

  I looked to his shoulder and saw the shirt he was wearing when he walked in early this morning resting there.

  “Yes!” I cheered.

  We made it to the kitchen a moment later. Lorenzo got me steady on my feet, handed me his shirt, and asked, “What are you so excited about?”

  After slipping my hands through the armholes and pulling the shirt down over my head, I explained, “We’ve just reached a crucial point in our relationship, boss. I’m wearing my man’s shirt.”

  His eyes shot to mine and a serious look washed over his face.

  Seeing it, I second-guessed my choice of words. Perhaps we hadn’t reached a crucial point in our relationship.

  “Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say,” I murmured.

  He still said nothing.

  “Lorenzo, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean anything by it,” I insisted.

  “You did.”

  My eyes dropped to the ground. “Well, yeah. I mean, I think things have been going great between us. I realize it hasn’t been that long, but I just assumed that we were on the same page regarding exclusivity. If you don’t want that—”

  “We’re exclusive,” Lorenzo stressed with a low tone, cutting me off.

  That was a relief. I didn’t think he was with anyone else and he had been very attentive. He’d call just to check in or he’d buy me donuts at six in the morning so he could come over early and cuddle with me.

  “I don’t understand what’s wrong then?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing. You caught me off guard by saying that.”

  “Oh. I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable. If you aren’t looking to make it official between us yet, I understand. It was a silly comment,” I tried brushing it off as I tore my eyes from him and looked to the side.

  I tried taking a few settling breaths to stop myself from losing it. The truth is, I had assumed, considering the conversation we’d had previously about the two of us seeing where this could go, that we already made it official.

  Lorenzo’s palm cupped my cheek and gently turned it toward him. “Jolie, I’m not upset. And it wasn’t just a silly comment. It caught me off guard; I wasn’t expecting it. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t like hearing you say it.”

  My head dropped to his bare chest as my hands went to his hips. His arms came around me and he got out a strained, “It’s okay. I’m really not upset.”

  I tipped my head back and looked up at him. My eyes were filled with unshed tears and his face changed. He looked genuinely troubled. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop the tears from escaping and rolling down my cheeks.

  “Baby, you’re killing me here. Please don’t cry,” he pleaded with me as he wiped away the tears.

  “Feed me donuts and I promise to turn it around.”

  On that, he lifted me up and set me on the counter where he opened the box of donuts and let me go crazy.

  A few hours later, we went searching for pumpkins.

  “Wait!” I cried. “I’m not ready yet!”

  “Jolie,” Lorenzo huffed, his dwindling patience evident in his tone.

>   “I promise this is it,” I began. “Look how cute they are. I just need two of them.”

  His eyes looked about ready to pop out of his head. “You already have four pumpkins picked out. Why do you need more?”

  I batted my eyes at him and declared, “For Hank and Gracie. They’re too small yet to really get into the fun of Halloween, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t each have their very own pumpkin.”

  Lorenzo’s face softened and I knew I had him. I directed my attention back to the baby pumpkins and spent the next five minutes trying to find the perfect ones for my two favorite kids. Truthfully, I could have spent another ten minutes looking at them, but Lorenzo had evidently had enough.

  “Alright, I’m ready,” I finally said, pulling myself away from the bin.

  “Are you sure? I mean, they’ve got so much other stuff here you could buy.”

  I squinted up at him and asked, “Are you giving me a hard time?”

  “Baby, I had two donuts for breakfast about a million hours ago. We came here and the second you saw all they had to offer, this became something other than just a pumpkin-picking event. We had to go put quarters in a machine so you could get food to feed the goats. Then, you insisted on going in that corn maze. I’d have had us in and out of that in five minutes, but you swore you knew the way to go. We were lost in there for an extra hour because of it. After that, you finally agreed to go get the pumpkins, but I’m inclined to believe it was only because they gave you a hayride out to the patch. At this point, it’s been hours and I need to eat.”

  I gave him a curt nod. “Right, boss. You’re a hangry private investigator. Let me just pay for my pumpkins and we’ll go.”

  Lorenzo picked up the three large pumpkins while I grabbed the fourth and smallest of them along with the two for my niece and nephew. We set the large pumpkins down on the scale and I placed the two smaller ones on the counter.

  “Forty-seven twenty-five,” the girl behind the counter declared.

  I pulled my wallet out of my purse and fished through for a fifty. Just as I held my hand out with the bill in it, the girl was putting change in Lorenzo’s hand.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him.