Too Much: A Loveswept Contemporary Erotic Romance (All or Nothing)

by Lea Griffith

  “And now you can’t even answer me. Is it because you don’t know, or are you still the same Daly as before?”

  She pulled back as if he’d struck her. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “You acted like a child. My brother’s life was on the line and instead of trusting me, you ran when all of my time and attention weren’t on you,” he bit out.

  It was her turn to feel the prick of anger. “Wait a damn second. I loved you. Gave up my family for you and spent most of my time at your beck and call. And now you want to act like I was selfish?”

  “A spade is a spade, Daly,” he said in a horrible voice. “And giving up Heyward Edwards was no great loss.”

  She pushed his hands away and stood. He let her. She was crazy as hell, but his reluctance to pull her back actually hurt.

  “Whether losing my family was a great loss in your eyes is irrelevant. I left everything I knew to be with you. I dealt with stares from people, people talking about me behind my back so I could be with you!”

  His face went blank and she drew in a rough breath. Daly rubbed her arms to chase away the sudden chill.

  Jeremiah stood and began to stalk her. “Stares? People talking about you? Oh, yes, Daly, you gave up so much to be with poor Jeremiah Copeland, the bad-boy criminal. Tell me, did I soil your lily-white reputation so badly? Is that why you left?”

  This entire conversation was spiraling out of control. “I never said that! Stop putting words in my mouth,” she said in a nasty voice.

  He backed her against her door, his big body a furnace blasting away the chill of hers. “You never said anything—that’s the fucking problem. You walked out and didn’t look back.”

  “Don’t make this something it isn’t, Jeremiah. You know damn good and well that isn’t what I meant. I loved you, damn it. I loved you with everything in me and you turned toward something I couldn’t compete with.” She pointed a finger in his chest, and then it was him backing up and her advancing. “I used to lie in bed and wish it was another woman, because then I could have moved on. But no! It was your brother and a life of crime that stole you from me!”

  She turned away, and the only thing she heard was the sound of her heart breaking. Again.

  “I did what I had to do to protect my family, Daly.” His voice was at her ear and she shivered.

  “I still love you and I don’t know why I can’t stop,” she practically wailed.

  His arms came around her and she shook with her pain, sobs rolling out of her chest. She was both appalled and relieved.

  “Your tears rip me up, Daly. Please stop,” he whispered.

  He turned her then and sipped at her cheeks, drinking those bitter drops of salty water and kissing her lips, stealing more pieces of the heart he’d cracked wide open.

  “I don’t want to love you, Jeremiah.” He winced, but it didn’t stop the flow of her words. “But I do. My body needs yours. My heart craves you. And my soul flies when you’re with me. But I hate you for hurting me.”

  “You weren’t the only one hurt, Day,” he reminded her, pulling her into his body and holding her next to his heat.

  “You know you never once said the words to me, Jeremiah,” Daly said bitterly.

  He lifted her face. “What words?”

  “If I have to tell you, it’s a moot point.”

  “Between us words aren’t the most important thing. My body tells you everything, Daly.” He flattened her hand over his heart. “Do you feel that? It beats faster for you.” He lowered her hand to his cock. “And this? It gets hard only for you.” He tilted her head back, forcing her to meet his gaze.

  The pieces of her broken heart, the ones he hadn’t already stolen, melted under his gaze.

  “You can’t see my soul but it’s wrapped around yours. You carried it with you when you left.”

  Her knees buckled and he grabbed her up, laying her back on the bed and coming over her gently to lie beside her. She turned in to him. His words undid her and if he didn’t pull her close, she’d likely scatter and never be found again.

  “I need the words, Jeremiah. I will always need the words,” she said at his neck. “Like you need the words when we play, I need them when we don’t.”

  He didn’t say anything else, just stroked her back and hair and held her close. Daly had no idea what tomorrow would bring, but she knew she couldn’t handle anymore tonight. The day had been a bitch, then she’d been woken up in fear. They had so much unresolved between them, but she needed to sleep.

  Maybe there she could find peace. As her eyes drifted shut and her mind started to wing away to darkness, she thought she heard him whisper, “I love you.”

  And it was enough.

  * * *

  Being with her was the toughest thing Copeland had ever done. The emotions in his chest were a gauntlet he ran every time he saw her, but the payout was well worth it. He didn’t feel whole unless he was touching her. Nothing clicked for Copeland like being with Daly.

  She had hurt him when she left. She’d taken everything worthwhile with her when she walked out. It had taken him years to get himself on track, and then he’d slipped easily back into her.

  But all of that was okay. Daly was worth the risk of having his heart battered again. He could say it a hundred times and it made it no more nor less true: Daly completed him. Her submission was the glue that held him together. But her heart, her love, was what woke him up and laid him down every night.

  The last three years without her, Copeland felt he’d never slept. When he was able to close his eyes, his dreams taunted him. Always it had been Daly.

  Now she said she wanted all of him. But she should know what she was getting. He smiled in the growing darkness. The candles he’d lit when they came back into the bedroom were dying out. Her warm body was curved into his, her hand over his heart and her breath on his neck. But it wasn’t what it should be, because she had yet to give him her trust.

  She was hiding something from him. When he’d found her locks changed and her alarm code reworked, he’d known. She had lowered her eyes earlier when he’d asked about the reason behind the change—she had avoided his question, which to Copeland was a lie.

  He recognized that it stemmed from her lack of trust in him. He’d made a huge mistake by not telling her the truth about the situation with David all those years ago. But it had been to protect her. Because nobody, not even Toby, knew the entire truth of that night.

  There were only two people who had full knowledge—Copeland and the man who had really killed Juan DeLeon. That night, the who of it hadn’t mattered at all. DeLeon had needed to be eliminated. Copeland, ready to do whatever was necessary to protect David, had left DeLeon alive, though a bit worse for wear. Copeland had known that DeLeon’s subordinates were closing in for the kill—they wanted his empire and DeLeon was in the way. He’d returned only when he’d received a phone call, and that was when he’d found DeLeon. A bullet to the head had ended the man’s life, but that same bullet had set Copeland on a precarious path.

  The man who’d killed DeLeon was powerful. Copeland had not been at that time. Oh, he’d been feared, but not quite powerful enough to overcome a suspicion of murder should the real killer decide to deflect it his way.

  And now there were more murky circumstances. Yes, those circumstances led Daly back into his life, but they could just as easily remove her from it. The picture was slowly coming together for Copeland, and how he handled this would determine the rest of his life. He had to handle the situation damn near perfectly or he’d fuck up and lose her for good.

  Daly shifted, and the delicious curves of her body called to him. He ran a hand over her back, down to the crease of her ass, and palmed the flesh of one globe. She murmured his name and Copeland smiled. Her skin was smooth, her long brown hair silky, and she smelled like a mixture of him and her. His mouth watered, but she was sleeping so hard he didn’t have the heart to wake her up for round three.

  His cock flexed
, demanding and insistent, but he pulled her closer into his body. He could sleep with a hard-on. He could not sleep without her.

  Chapter 21

  Sunday had come and gone with no word from Jeremiah. He’d left before she’d woken and not left a note or any indication of when she’d see or hear from him again. As Daly walked into work Monday, there was a message from her friend Candace. Her stomach dropped, but she dialed Candace’s number.

  “You were right!” a young girl said when the line was answered.

  Daly smiled and felt like the sun had come out inside the building. Carrie.

  “No Death Row?” she asked the young teen.

  “Not even close,” Carrie answered with a giggle. “Hey, I think Ms. Candace wants to talk to you—hold on,” she said before she covered the mouthpiece and yelled, “MISS CANDACE!” The crazy teen then laughed and said to Daly, “So, player, what about Mr. H-A-W-T?”

  Daly threw back her head and laughed so loud her boss cleared his throat.

  Out of the mouths of babes. “What about him, PITA?”

  “Oh, no, you did not just call me a pain in the ass! I’m telling Ms. Candace and then she’ll tell—aww, let me talk to her,” Carrie wailed as the phone was pulled away. “I was totally giving her shit.”

  “Watch your mouth, young lady. Lanier Home for Misplaced Girls. This is Candace, can I help you?”

  Daly snorted and wiped her eyes. “She’s a handful, I take it?”

  “You owe me so much, you’ll never be able to repay it,” Candace murmured into the phone. “Hold on a second, D.” There was a rustling, then, “Go do your chores, you little imp. I’ll let you talk to her when I’m through.” More rustling and, “Okay, I’m back. Where were we?”

  “I think you were thanking me for sending Carrie Jeannette Broaddus your way,” Daly said around a laugh.

  “Your thoughts are way skewed. Oh yeah, we were talking about how much you owe me,” Candace said, but there was a smile in her voice.

  Daly knew then that everything was going to be okay for Carrie. Once Candace took a girl under her wing, that girl had no choice but to come out on top of her game. Daly’s heart high-fived her. “Wait, I’m pretty sure you were saying thank you.”

  “Your brain’s scrambled and your ears need to be checked. So listen, I got a call the other day from an old friend of yours.”

  Daly sat back in her chair, a crazy feeling of foreboding shooting through her gut. “Who would that be?”

  “Detective Savannah Cavanaugh.”

  “Huh,” Daly said while that crazy feeling solidified into something even nastier. “Said she was my friend, did she?”

  “Yeah, she said you and her went way back and she needed some information on you,” Candace said, but there was concern in her voice now. Silence settled over the line. “She’s not your friend, is she?”

  “Not even close. What did she want?” Daly asked in a hard voice.

  “Wanted to know how long I’d known you. If you were seeing anyone, just stuff like that,” Candace replied.

  “And what did you tell her?”

  Candace grunted. “I didn’t tell her a damn thing. Told her if she was such good friends with you she should know all that information. Now what’s going on, D? Tell me you aren’t involved with Jeremiah again.”

  Daly rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I could tell you that, Candace, but I’d be lying.”

  “When she called, her voice was pretty sly. She was fishing, but I knew when she started asking questions and throwing around her Detective title it would have something to do with him. What the hell are you thinking?”

  Daly sighed. “I’m not, obviously.”

  “I’m going to tell you something I never wanted to tell you before. You were in the thick of things then, and after you left him you were pretty adamant about not discussing Jeremiah at all. You ready to hear what I have to say?”

  Daly’s stomach dropped like she was riding a roller coaster. Was she ready? Probably not. Make that a big, fat hell no. “Go ahead.”

  “You never gave Jeremiah a chance, D. Remember that time he bought you that chain for your piercings? You asked him where he got the money for something that expensive. You didn’t see his face when you asked him the question—it fell. You’d hurt him and never even realized it. He’d gone legitimate by then and had scraped and saved to buy you that chain. But you automatically thought he’d done something illegal to get the money to buy it. It crushed him.” Candace took a breath and then started right back in. “Then when David got in trouble, you automatically assumed the worst again.”

  “What was I supposed to think? He admitted to doing something illegal to save him,” Daly said in a low voice. Gloria had just walked in, and the last thing Daly needed was her getting in on things.

  “To save his brother, Daly. He didn’t kill anybody, for cripe’s sake. And the bottom line is you never gave him a chance to explain. You assumed the worst based on his past and never gave him an opportunity to confirm or deny. It was always like that with you. Not overt things, and I don’t think they were intentional on your part. In fact, I think you were protecting him to a certain degree—which is funny, considering he’s your Dom.”

  “Candace, what are you saying?” Her heart had sunk to her shoes now. Daly rubbed her chest to ease the sudden sting there.

  “I’m saying whatever is going on, whatever you’re involved in with Jeremiah, give him a chance. Trust him this time. If he let you back in, don’t throw that chance away. He’s a good man, Daly. He was a good boy back in the day; he just had to do things to survive. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “I think so. I don’t know why you felt the need to say it now, but yeah, I think so,” Daly responded in a dull voice.

  “It’s obvious you’re involved again. I spoke to Jeremiah the other day and he sounded … lighter. I’ve only ever heard him sound that way when he was with you. Give him your trust—you won’t hand it to a stronger man, D.”

  Daly didn’t know what to say. Her mind was a chaotic mess of emotions and conflicting thoughts. Her heart said to trust him. Her eyes said “not so quick.” Something was definitely going on, but he’d yet to clue her in and she still had those pictures … Carson had put her off until the end of the month. That was two weeks away. She could tap into other sources, but her instincts said not to pull anyone else into this.

  “I hear you, Candace. I can only do what I can.”

  “If you need me I’m here, okay? Oh, and I told your Detective Cavanaugh to go fuck herself. Wanna talk to Carrie?”

  The laugh tripped out of Daly. “Nah, if she needs me she can call me.”

  “All right. You need me, I’m here,” Candace said again, and they disconnected.

  Candace and Jeremiah’s sister, Ruthie, had been her friends when everyone besides Jeremiah and Toby had left her. Candace was Jeremiah’s age, had grown up on the streets with him. Jeremiah had urged Daly to form a friendship with her, and that friendship had blossomed as Daly’s relationship with Jeremiah ventured into new territory. Candace and her husband were heavy into the D/s life, and it was Candace who’d helped Daly to understand her inherent need to submit.

  But only to Jeremiah. He’d been her other half, the only one she’d ever give her submission to.

  And now Candace had dropped a bomb on her, forcing her to see what she’d been so blind to. She’d cut Jeremiah short. Allowed his past to flavor her view of almost everything he did, including in their BDSM play. She didn’t want to think about that now.

  Her heart spiraled back into her chest, settling with a click.

  “Boss?”

  “Yeah?” he yelled.

  “I need today off.”

  “Yep.”

  And just that quickly, Daly found herself with an entire day off.

  She grabbed her purse and phone and headed out the door of her office, dialing the number he’d plugged in the other day.

  “Copeland,�
� he answered in a clipped voice.

  “Hi.”

  “Hey,” he responded, and his voice lowered to a near growl.

  She went liquid. “I think my panties are wet now,” she said softly into the phone.

  “Goddamn, Daly, what the hell are you trying to do? Break me?” Definitely a growl now.

  She laughed, and even to her own ears it was husky. “Nope. I for sure don’t want to break you. Make wild, passionate love with you maybe, but not break you.”

  “Where are you?”

  Daly almost had to ask him to repeat the question, his voice was so deep and guttural. Her stomach was taking a pounding today and had risen to her throat. How had she ever thought she could hold this man? How had she walked away from him? He was everything she’d ever dreamed of and so much more.

  “I’m leaving work. Where are you?” she asked impishly.

  “Leaving work? Didn’t you just get there?”

  “Yep. But now I’m leaving and I’m really hoping you don’t have set-in-stone plans for the day,” she said as she headed out of the building.

  “Yeah? Why’s that?” Was he purring now? God help her, she was going to melt into a puddle of goo.

  “Because I want you. With me. On top of me. Inside me. I want you any way I can get you, Jeremiah Copeland. So what do you say to that?”

  “Turn around,” he ordered. And it was an order, no two ways about it.

  “Huh?” she asked, confusion stopping her in her tracks.

  “Turn around, little sub.”

  She turned slowly, prepared for anything but what she got. Jeremiah, fifteen feet away from her, looking so big and beautiful he was the only thing she could focus on. He wore his patented pinstripe gray suit, white dress shirt, and electric-blue tie. It set his tanned skin off really well and made his normally light gray eyes darker, stormier. His short black hair, which had a tendency to curl ever so slightly, was brushed just right.

  He was so fine, she could have come right then and there.

  “Hi,” she whispered, though she was too far away for him to hear.