“We’re stopping? Here?” She looks confused, and it only makes him smile harder.
He reaches for the blanket and retrieves the chilled bottle of wine he has packed as a surprise. Then he takes her hand and pulls her around the rustic, old barn. The look on her face when she sees the field of dandelions out back is priceless. She even stops moving and covers her mouth with her free hand.
“Oh my gosh!”
“You like it?”
“It’s beautiful.” She peeks up at him, smiling between the cracks of her fingers.
He smiles too, appreciating the whimsical feeling in the air as they transcend the patch of dandelions and leave any reservations about their relationship behind. Aliah lets go of his hand and runs into the field. She kicks at the dandelions, like a carefree child. Some of the older ones blast their seeds into the wind, making it look like Aliah’s trapped in a magical snow globe.
She lifts her hands in the air and closes her eyes, smiling up at the sun.
Harley comes up behind her, and brings his chin over her shoulder to drop a wet kiss on her cheek. He nuzzles his nose behind her ear, and then whispers to her. “You’re beautiful.”
She presses her butt backwards, to knock him away from her. “You don’t have to say shit like that.” Aliah tries to muddle the moment, acknowledging how intimate it is, but he won’t let her.
“It’s okay to take a compliment, Ally.”
“I know. But I don’t want you saying things just because you think you’re supposed to. You know?”
“Yeah, I do. But do you think I actually do what I’m supposed to do?”
Aliah’s smile grows three sizes.
“I say what I want to say. And right now, I want to say that you look beautiful. Is that okay with you?”
She presses her lips together, but she can’t supress her grin. “I guess so.”
“Good.” He lifts up the blanket and a breeze catches it, throwing it in his face.
Aliah starts laughing, but she’s wearing a friendly smile. “Need a hand, honey?” she teases.
“I might be a little out of practice here. I can’t say I’ve ever had to lay out a blanket before. Is that a bad thing?”
“It’s okay. You’re making up for lost time.”
The cheesy smile on her face makes him feel good. “I try.” He sits on the blanket and leans over, until he’s on his side, resting on an elbow.
Aliah drops to her knees in front of him and leans forward, on all fours. He can see right down her shirt, but he forces himself to keep his eyes off.
“You really are trying, aren’t you?” She cups his cheek and he closes his eyes. Aliah has never been so soft with him. Though he enjoys her snappy comebacks, he’s really liking this side of her.
Her thumb brushes over his lips, so he kisses it. He’s shocked when she brings her lips to his and initiates a kiss. She kissed him! And it’s not just any kiss. It’s the most amazing kiss he’s ever had. The kind where you have to stop because you can’t help but smile.
After taking what he can, he cups her face with a palm.
“You’re kissing me now?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “If you’re going to such an effort, I thought I should give it a try too. Is that okay with you?” she mocks.
“Come here,” he says, not letting her go. He pulls her over top of him, until he’s on his back and she’s straddling his hips. Their lips are attached, in a slow, sensual kiss that he feels in his gut.
She parts those beautiful lips for him, so he can sink is lower lip in between them. When he does, she grinds her lower body against him and flattens her breasts against his chest. He weaves his fingers into her hair, his other hand skimming over her hip to stroke her behind. The way she delivers a provocative lick with each smooch, he knows she’s thinking what he is.
Time seems to stand still. Then when he speaks, it’s like he’s trying to verbally seduce her all over again. He plans to keep on doing that too, until she believes every last word of it.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Two weeks pass and not a single night goes by that they don’t spend together. Harley will not let anything happen to her, but he thinks it’s safe to spring a surprise on her.
“I’m taking you out tonight.”
Aliah hands Harley her helmet and smiles. “You don’t have to do that.”
When she opens the front door of her house and turns back to him, he mesmerizes her with a glance. “I want to. So quit acting like you aren’t worth it and go throw something nice on. I’ve already made the reservations.”
“What if I’d said no?” Aliah can’t help but smirk as she closes the door behind him.
“You didn’t. Now go.”
She hurries ahead of him and rushes up her stairs with a smile gracing her lips. It hasn’t taken them very long at all to get back on good terms. After weeks of Harley begging her for forgiveness, and showering her with love and honesty, she’s finally given it to him. But she doesn’t plan to tell him that. She likes this new thing they have going on. Harley aims to please her. She’s been enjoying that very much.
Aliah’s already smiled more today than she has in the past four weeks combined. She peers back at the man who is responsible for her upturned lips. “Where in this City are you taking me that requires reservations?”
“Armandos,” he states. “And you’re not getting out of it this time, so don’t even try.”
She spins away and slips into her bedroom. She doesn’t realize Harley’s kept up with her, but when she goes to close her door, his hand grabs onto it.
“Don’t even think about closing that door. I plan to watch this time; make sure you don’t stand me up again.”
Aliah lifts her brows. She finds the idea of him watching her dress rather intriguing. “I’m not going anywhere. What about you? You can’t go dressed like that,” she says, as she shrugs off her top.
She loves the way he looks in those jeans with a simple t-shirt strapped across his chest, but they’ll throw him out looking like that. At least they can try.
“Don’t you worry about me.” His eyes remain locked in place, taking in every naked inch of flesh as she removes her clothes and replaces them with a sophisticated pair of slacks and a feminine top. He watches her choose her sexiest black heels that hike her a good five inches off the floor. At first glance, the shoes look a simple black, but the blood red soles make her feel like a sexy deviant.
She touches up her makeup and returns to the bedroom. “Now you,” she says, then dashes for the front door before he rids her of her freshly pressed clothes and decides to dine in for the evening. He chuckles as he slowly follows her out the door.
Harley is ready within minutes after pulling into his driveway. Despite the length of time it has taken him to dress, he still looks stunning. This man’s body sure knows how to wear a suit. He looks perfect, from his angled smile to his shiny black shoes. He drops a kiss on her lips and then takes her hand. He opens the door for her, like a complete gentleman, and escorts her to the restaurant.
Dinner is amazing. And Aliah spends the comfortable silences wondering why she’d ever stood Harley up in the first place. She never had a really good reason, except that she was scared of what might come of it.
Although he’d lied in to her in the beginning, she if anyone can understand the importance of client confidentiality. Her heart does not lie. Their desire is not something that can be imitated. It has taken her this long to recognize that her greatest fears have been realized.
Despite her best efforts to avoid love and all the other emotions that go along with it, she knows she’s toast. Not only has she fallen, but it’s like she’s been slammed over the head with it. She wouldn’t be surprised if others could see little cupids spinning around her head or little heart-shaped bubbles bursting from her eyes every time she glances at Harley.
She chews on her lip after dinner, wondering if he has it half as bad for her. Harley rescues her battered lip, b
y leaning in close and softly tugging it into a kiss.
“Thank you for coming to dinner with me,” he growls.
The entire night has felt incredibly intimate, but that moment trumps it all. He doesn’t wait for her to respond and, since he’s already paid, he pulls her to the exit. While walking down the sidewalk back toward his SUV, Harley has her giggling, and she allows her her mind to drift from any serious conversation.
She doesn’t even notice that there’s anyone behind them, until she sees the look on Harley’s face. He doesn’t seem to know who it is, just that maybe he should. It feels like someone knifes her in the stomach. Has Brandie come back to finish her off? She spins around and finds Hunter and Maddie standing there.
Yes, cheating ex-boyfriend, Hunter, and slutty bitch-who-stole-him, Maddie; each of them with a snot-nosed kid in their arms.
“Oh, it’s just you.” A breath of air releases from her lungs.
“Hey, Aliah. How are you doing?” Hunter looks really interested in the subject.
The stabbing pain in her gut eases slightly. “Really good, actually,” she answers, surprised by how true it is. She glances up at Harley and smiles.
“You look good,” Hunter admits.
Maddie’s elbow comes jabbing out and lands against Hunter’s side. She tries to keep a straight face, but fails miserably. Her eyes bug out of her head and her lips pucker in distress.
“Thanks,” Aliah answers.
Harley smirks and covers his mouth with a hand, trying to hide his amusement. His forehead wrinkles as he glances at the ground. He looks incredibly sexy.
Maddie huffs as she puts her squirming little girl down. The toddler instantly takes off toward the street. “Oh!”
Aliah grabs onto the little girl’s hand before she makes it two steps away. Then she crouches close to the ground to pay her a visit on her level. “Careful, sweetheart.”
“Melody Rae,” Maddie snaps. “Her name is Melody Rae.”
“Ah, yes. How could I forget,” Aliah mumbles, remembering how painful it was the day they’d named their children.
Maddie scoops her troublemaking child away from Aliah, who manages to smile softly at the overreaction.
“And this is Darien,” Hunter informs her.
The introduction seems to upset the boy. He instantly starts to whine and throws his toy phone onto the ground. Hunter tries to rock him, but he looks very sleepy and refuses to stop crying. His wails grow more impatient by the second.
When Maddie doesn’t move to pick up the toy, Aliah does, crouching down at the same time as Harley. Their eyes meet and he holds her gaze.
“I’ve got it.” Harley takes the toy phone from Aliah’s hand and flashes it to the little boy, effectively stealing Darien’s attention.
Harley hands the phone to Hunter’s boy. The little guy promptly throws it back on the ground wearing an oversized smile.
“Oh, I see how this goes,” Harley says with a chuckle, as he retrieves the phone again. This time, after he hands it to the boy, he finds a smiling Darien reaching the colorful toy back out to him.
“Is it for me?” Harley asks him.
The boy’s smile is adorable.
Harley glances at Aliah, then shrugs a shoulder, taking the toy phone from the kid. No matter how big and bad Harley looks, even this little dude can see how sweet he is under that hard exterior.
“Hello?” he answers.
The kid is pleased. His father? Not so much. Hunter rips the phone out of Harley’s hand and forces it into Darien’s. It’s promptly tossed onto the ground and the boy resumes screaming.
When Darien is handed to his mother, he quiets down oh so slightly, but starts to make an attempt to wiggle out of Maddie’s arms. With her arms now full, she struggles to keep them from poking each other’s eyes out.
“It’s past their bed time,” Hunter says, trying to explain their bad behavior.
Darien breaks free from his mother’s arms and runs for the street.
“Darien,” Maddie shrieks.
Aliah swiftly scoops the boy into her arms, just sparing him from the curb. The boy looks her right in the eye, shocked by her closeness. It stuns her too, when she notices the dark hair and hazel eyes. There is no doubt that this little boy is Hunter’s kid.
Hunter instantly grabs Darien and lifts him onto his hip. “Since when did you like kids?” He looks suddenly angry with her, even though she’s done nothing wrong.
Darien instantly starts screaming again, sparing her a response.
Aliah presses her lips together. “He wants to go, I think.”
Maddie lowers her wiggly daughter to the ground again, but refuses to release her hand. Neither of them look very happy at the moment.
“Yes. Go. We should,” Hunter admits, looking awkwardly between Aliah and his baby momma.
Aliah nods, feeling only half as awkward as him. She watches Hunter lift his daughter onto his only free hip and smirks when she notices how Hunter lifts his chin in an attempt to match the height of Aliah’s bigger, buffer new man when he passes him. As he walks off, both of his kids start wailing.
Maddie looks exhausted, but she doesn’t speak a word of it. Nor does she follow after Hunter to give him a hand.
“Aliah? Can I ask you something?” Maddie starts.
“Go for it.”
Maddie delivers a pointed glare and her tone turns glacial. “Alone.”
Aliah glances at Harley, who’s now a spectacle among them.
“I’ll just be over here if you need me,” he says, without needing to be told. He strolls farther down the sidewalk, glad to put some distance between him and the noisy kids.
“Who’s your new friend?” she asks expectantly.
Now Aliah feels incredibly rude. “Oh! This is my… Harley,” she says, stumbling over her words. She still hasn’t said it, even though they’ve played around with words all day.
“Oh. I thought he looked like someone else I know.” Maddie points at the nearest bus stop where Harley’s service guarantee is plastered next to his handsome face.”
“Oh. Right. Yeah, that’s him. Harley is his middle name,” she admits, not even a little embarrassed by the size of his advertisement.
“I’m being serious here,” Maddie says, leaning into Aliah to keep their conversation somewhat private. “Tell me why you would want to date a manipulative old man like him when you’re still young and beautiful.”
Funny. She had never looked at him that way. Harley has never made her do anything she didn’t want to and, to be frank, he takes quite good care of himself. Hunter has put a little weight on himself, and she’d wager that Harley is a good deal more buff than him, with a strong angular jaw and a face that oozes masculinity. She thinks of Harley like a fine wine. He only seems to get better with age.
Maddie must be jealous!
Aliah can’t help but smirk, as Maddie tries to hide her assessment of Harley’s fine ass. Aliah checks it out too. She really loves his ass; two round globes of muscle that look even better naked. She can’t wait to get him naked.
“I’ve always had a thing for older men,” Aliah admits, with a smirk. It’s more of a joke than anything. There is no excuse necessary. Harley is an incredibly attractive man. He exudes sex appeal and even his gaze is dangerously sexy. He’s like sex on a stick. A really tall, handsome, dangerous stick.
Just as she says it, Harley turns and meets her eyes, scorching her with a glance. She can’t stop smiling, but just as quickly, he glances down at the ground. He’s trying really hard to mind his own business.
“He makes me happy,” Aliah admits softly, still staring at him with a smile covering her face.
Aliah can’t believe she’s just said that out loud, let alone to big-mouthed Maddie. The two of them lock eyes. Maddie looks just as surprised as her. She hopes no one else has heard her. With another glance at Harley, she can tell that he hasn’t.
Maddie smiles. “Your secret is safe with me.”
T
hat would be a first.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
As the days pass, Harley grows more frustrated by the fact that he can’t solve the mystery of who is following Aliah and why. He’s slowed down and cut back his efforts on Aliah’s case so he can work on others, but he’s afraid it’s only giving the criminals a chance to regroup.
No concrete evidence has surfaced and the crazy lady has outright denied it was her. Brandee Hawkins now claims that her problem was solved the day Harley pulled Aliah away from Cavanagh’s bar. Harley isn’t too quick to believe such nonsense.
He takes a drink from his mug, as the front door chimes at the Thorncliffe Café. Aliah is late. She must have had a busy day at work. She hurries to where he’s sitting and leans into him for a kiss.
“Hey. Sorry I’m late. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
Harley scratches at his head. “I’ve been thinking about what you said about Jillian.”
“You mean, how I think she’s a total nut job?”
“You never said that.”
“Oh, right.” Aliah smiles.
“I have noticed she’s been acting kind of odd ever since I’ve taken on your case. When I told her that we’re – you know – together, she didn’t seem very happy about it.” Harley pauses, in thought. “Maybe I should see what she’s up to.”
“I like the sound of that idea. Thank you.”
“What did you just say?” The shock on his face is priceless.
“Thank you,” she mumbles, again.
He’s not going to let this one pass so easily. “I didn’t quite hear you. You’re going to have to speak up.”
Twisted Desire (The Twisted Series) Page 20
