Complete Innocence Boxset

by Stasia Black

  His hips shifted, effectively thrusting him several inches deeper. She smiled around him. What sort of dream was he having? It had better be about her.

  She applied suction and bobbed up and down several times before bottoming out as far as she could take him down her throat.

  Marcus groaned. He shot up to a sitting position, his hand going to her head and tangling in her hair. “Fuck the Fates, you’re real. You are actually here.”

  A wicked smile curled her mouth as she looked up his stomach to his face. “You bet your ass I am, baby.”

  “Alright.” Sweat beaded a little on his forehead as his hips raised up involuntarily and he forced them back down to lie passively under her. He fell back to his pillow.

  She pulled off of him and he closed his eyes as a muscle jerked in his cheek. She took him in her hand, working him slowly up and down. “You like that?”

  He groaned. “I love it.”

  “I’ve missed this,” she spoke to his dick, wet with her saliva. “I dreamt about it at night. I felt it in me.”

  She dropped her mouth back to the head of his cock and gave it a little suck, flicking her tongue along the slit the way he liked.

  “Look at me,” she ordered, and was thrilled when he obeyed.

  Marcus hands fisted in the sheets. She didn’t take her eyes off his gray ones, knowing he was promising her retribution.

  She opened her mouth and took him as far as she could go.

  “Fuck,” Marcus squeezed out, his head thrown back. He was too thick for her to take all the way down, but she slid her mouth up and back, trying her best to go deeper.

  “You’re going to kill me,” he groaned.

  She came off with a pop, still holding him at the base. “Where do you want to come?”

  “Inside you.”

  “Inside my mouth? Or inside my pussy?”

  “Inside your pussy. I have plans for that mouth.”

  Turning so she faced his feet, she slid down on his cock, sighing with satisfaction. She canted her ass up and down, looking back at him with a sexy tilt of her mouth. “Like the view?”

  “Oh yes.” His hips were moving opposite hers and she could hear herself squelching around him.

  “I’m so wet for you.” She ground down.

  “Yes, you are, baby.” He gripped her hips, steadying her. “Ready for me?”

  She tipped herself forward, steadying herself on her hands between his legs. “Ready, Daddy.”

  He drove his cock up into her and she lurched forward at the vehemence of his thrusts, shouting her pleasure to the ceiling when her climax hit.

  It was over quickly; he came and pushed himself up hard, then fell back, breathing hard. He pulled her back to him, lifting her sweaty hair from her neck to kiss it. They lay together quietly, his hands stroking her pale breasts and belly.

  She half thought he’d fallen back asleep when he finally asked, “Well, Mrs. Ubeli, where do we go from here?”

  Cora spiraled back into reality. “I have questions,” she said. “Can you answer them for me, with total honesty?”

  Even as she asked it, she felt her chest tighten. Are you going to give him total honesty in return?

  Marcus thought they’d cleared the air of what had happened the night she’d run. But he still had no clue what had set all the events into motion.

  Her.

  Her actions. Making the deal with AJ, leaving the Estate, trying to rescue Iris with the help of the cops. How all of it had blown up in her face and resulted in his shipment being confiscated by the cops.

  Marcus sighed. “I can. For you, I can. I’ll tell you when there’s something that might not be good for you to know. But if you want, I’ll tell you everything.” He tugged her hair gently. “You gonna return the favor? Are you gonna talk to me?”

  There it was. He was asking her straight out.

  And instead of giving him a straight answer, she curved her hand around his face. “I missed you,” she whispered. “I saw that man in the penthouse pool, dead, and I thought it was you.”

  There. That was the truth.

  “Babe, you gotta be honest with me. You can’t hold this all in.” He stroked her hair and she closed her eyes, it felt so good. Being with him, in his arms, it all felt so good. Was it wrong of her to want to hold onto it for just a little longer? “You’re going to keep getting bad dreams.”

  “I know,” she whispered. Her brow furrowed. “Where’s Slim?”

  Marcus matched her grim expression, but didn’t answer right away. “We’re looking.”

  “He’s not dead?”

  Marcus pulled her back close and stroked her hair, a sweet, gentle act that belied their dark conversation.

  “We have reason to believe Waters is holding him.” The way they were positioned, she couldn’t see Marcus’s face. But she could feel the tension in his body beneath hers.

  “Why?”

  “Power play. Maybe thinks he can turn Slim against me, or wants some collateral when we next go to talk.”

  “You’re going to talk to him?”

  A sharp shake of his dark head told her everything he felt about the subject.

  “But…I thought you needed to ally with him. I thought it was the only way you could win a fight against the Titans.” She lifted off of him so she could look him in the face, but he was staring off into the distance. “You can’t let them win.”

  When he finally turned his attention back to her, his gray eyes looked straight through her, and she knew he was seeing something else.

  “Marcus,” she said, and he snapped out of it.

  “We can get through this, you and me,” he said, changing the subject. “No matter what is ahead. I was taught that being married is for life, and you gotta control yourself, be faithful. But being married means you have each other’s back, for all time.”

  “You may not feel like it,” his eyes searched hers, “but I’ll always, always have your best interest in mind. I’m not perfect, I’ll make mistakes. So will you. We’ll make them together and we’ll talk them through.”

  “Okay, Marcus,” she said.

  “You going to run from me?”

  “Only if you chase me.” She smiled, remembering the time he’d chased her at the art museum.

  “Oh, I’ll chase you,” he growled, and smacked her ass lightly. “We’ll play. We have two months of play to catch up on.” He leaned in close and slid his nose along hers. “But right now, I need to hear it from you straight.”

  She froze. Did he know? Was this a test?

  “I need to know that you meant what you said last night. No more running?”

  She let out a breath of relief. “I’m done running. I think I was running from myself as much as you.”

  “Alright, babe.” He kissed her lips. “How about we get some food?”

  “Can we go to the hospital? I want to check up on Anna.”

  Cora would tell him everything. She would. She just wanted to soak in this happiness for a little while longer. A little while longer. Then she’d come clean.

  “As long as you’re doing it with me,” he smiled at her, dimple appearing in a rare show, “we can do whatever you want, babe.”

  Twenty-Nine

  “Who’s that?” Anna craned her head after greeting Cora, obviously having caught sight of Marcus, or at least the shape of him through the hallway window. Cora’s shy smile must have told her the rest. “Marcus. You two back together?”

  Cora nodded, and lifted a bag. “Fresh t-shirt, jeans, underwear, the works.” She rummaged around and held up a bright yellow makeup bag.

  “Thank you,” Anna sighed.

  “When are you getting out?”

  “Soon. Today. My producer friend is actually coming by to pick me up.”

  Cora nodded. “So everything’s still okay with the movie? Even though you’ll have to go back to work with—”

  “Max Mars,” Anna grimaced. “Don’t remind me. He’s been calling and texting non
stop.”

  Cora glowered. “If he’s not getting the message, Marcus can—”

  Anna waved her hand. “No, it’s fine. I can handle him.”

  “And your attacker? What did the police say is happening to him?”

  “He’s still in lockup.” Shadows played across Anna’s bruised face. “Apparently Max pulled some strings so he’s not getting out on bail. It’s something, anyway. They say he could serve up to five years for assault and battery.”

  Swallowing hard, Cora took her friend’s hand. The bastard deserved worse than five years. She couldn’t think of anything more despicable than a man hitting a woman or child. “And the movie? What do you want to do?”

  “I’ve wanted to be an actress all my life. I dragged my mom around to auditions, practiced for hours in front of a mirror. It’s all I ever dreamed about.” Anna closed her eyes, her forehead creasing.

  “There are other movies, other directors.”

  “Other asshole actors?” Anna grimaced, shaking her head. “Not for me. You don’t get it, Cora. There’s a time limit to my success. I need to break out now, while I’m young, and beautiful enough to let my looks make up for my lack of experience.”

  “If Max doesn’t back off or if he gives you a hard time in any way—”

  “I’ve been taking care of myself a long time. I promise I’ll be fine.”

  “But if you aren’t, we can—”

  “I said I’ll be fine.”

  Cora backed off at Anna’s sharp words, not wanting to upset her any more. But no way was she letting her deal with this alone. She was family now.

  Anna set her jaw and even bruised, her face was still lovely in a cold, untouchable way. When she spoke, Cora had to listen hard to hear. “I’m going to do it. I’ll do the movie and make my career. And then…”

  “And then?” Cora prompted. Even though she was looking straight at her friend, she saw a totally different woman.

  “No one will ever touch me again.”

  A nurse stopped in, and the burning intensity in Anna’s eyes disappeared as she smiled and spoke charmingly to the woman.

  When Cora left the hospital room, she found Marcus standing in the hall.

  “All good, babe?”

  Crossing the hall to him, she leaned close and took a deep breath.

  “Babe?”

  “Can your guys keep an eye on Max Mars? And…maybe send him a message to leave Anna alone?”

  Marcus nodded. “He bothering her?”

  “She broke up with him after what happened. But he’s having a hard time taking no for an answer.” She hurriedly added. “But he needs his face for the movie. So…”

  “Got it.” She thought she could see the ghost of a smile hovering around his mouth. “Anything else?”

  “No.” She came forward, put her arms around his suit-clad body, and pressed her cheek to his strong chest. He held her, while a few orderlies passed by and averted their eyes.

  “Love you, babe.”

  She sighed, so content it hardly felt real. “I love you too.”

  “Well, if it isn’t the two love birds. Marriage ain’t killed your romance yet?”

  Cora jerked her head around to see a familiar figure in a dirty coat.

  Pete. The cop who’d betrayed her.

  He approached slowly, at a slight angle, as if he expected Marcus to attack if he came at them straight on.

  Which was exactly what he’d done when Cora had last called him—he’d come in sideways and found Marcus’s weak spot—her. Pete had played her. And let a woman die so he could make his big bust. She wanted to claw his eyes out but she held back. Marcus didn’t know and he couldn’t find out, not this way.

  Pete slouched against the wall, tilting his shaved head towards them. “What’d you get her for an anniversary, Ubeli? The rest of AJ’s dead body? I hear his head showed up in a gang zone in Metropolis. Right on the Titan’s doorstep, so to speak.”

  Cora couldn’t help it; she gasped, and Marcus’s arms got tighter. “Let’s go,” he muttered.

  “Aww, what’s the matter? No respect for the man who busted ya?” Pete flashed his badge and smirked. “How ‘bout you, Cora? Haven’t heard from you in a while.”

  “I’ll thank you not to address my wife informally,” Marcus said to the man over her head. “Or at all.”

  “Let’s go,” Cora said, ducking her head as her husband steered her away.

  Pete loped along next to them, keeping his distance but staying close enough that Cora could hear him plainly. “Last conversation I had with her, she was real friendly.”

  Marcus stopped dead, but Cora stepped between him and the detective. “You’re despicable,” she snapped.

  “Your friends get in a bind again, you can always call me.” Pete gave a mirthless smile and Cora realized he was almost as tall as her husband.

  Whirling, she tucked herself into Marcus’s side and marched with him down the hall. Marcus’s arms squeezed her a bit tighter, but other than that, he didn’t acknowledge the man watching them retreat.

  Cora slid into the backseat of the car, feeling sick to her stomach. The nerve of the detective, after he didn’t offer any backup. He didn’t care about the women in need, about Iris dying on his watch, just his own career enhancement.

  It took a while to realize there was stony silence coming from the other side of the back seat.

  “Marcus?”

  Her husband stared out the window. “How does that dick know you?” he asked, voice deceptively quiet.

  Cora felt her heart drop out. “I—uh—met with him once. Well, twice. The first time, he cornered me with Anna. He knew her. The second time…I asked him to help me find Iris. The Orphan’s fiancée.” Cora could still see the picture of the lovely young woman and the angelic looking singer, both dead now. Two beautiful lives snuffed out.

  Her husband breathed in hard through his nose. “That all?”

  Cora breathed out as her eyes fell closed. Now or never. She couldn’t sit here and continue to lie to him. Honesty. He’d asked her for complete honesty only this morning and there was no more putting it off. “I may have called him before I went to find Anna and Iris.”

  “I see,” Marcus said.

  “I was trying to do the right thing. I never meant for any of it to—”

  Marcus raised a hand and she fell silent. He leaned forward and ordered the driver, “Crown Hotel. Now.”

  “Marcus, please—”

  “Enough.”

  Cora jumped at the barked word. They drove on in silence for five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen.

  Marcus stared out the window. Why wouldn’t he say anything else? What was he thinking? She wanted to explain it all. The words were tumbling inside her, spilling over one another to get out. If she could just explain it right, she could make him understand.

  Her stomach twisted in knots as they arrived at the Crown and Marcus took her elbow in a vice-like grip as he led her up to the penthouse.

  The whole time, she prayed silently. He had to forgive her. He had to.

  Finally, they were in the apartment and the door slammed behind them.

  Someone had removed the flowers that usually graced the foyer without bothering to replace them. Even though the place was clean, the shades were drawn over the tinted glass, making the place dim and stuffy, a shell instead of a home.

  Marcus went and poured a Scotch, neat, and now studied the amber liquid. “I think you better tell me what happened the night you ran. Starting with when I left, please.”

  Her eyes darted around the penthouse. She wanted to look anywhere but at him. Instead, she forced her gaze to meet his.

  The truth had weighed heavy as a lead ball in her stomach for months, stealing her sleep, sullying her dreams. She had to tell him everything and hold nothing back, even if, when she was done, he hated her.

  “You said you went to find Anna and Iris?”

  “Y-yes,” she whispered, hating the tremble in her voic
e. “AJ took them. Iris and Anna. He called me and said if I didn’t come with the ransom money right away, he’d kill them and—”

  Shit, she wasn’t explaining this right. “I wasn’t going to go like he ordered. I knew it was a trap. But Olivia had cracked Iris’s phone and we had his address. You were gone and I thought I could get ahead of AJ, surprise him at his safe house and have the police with me to bust him—” She broke off, hating how stupid and naïve she sounded. It had all seemed like such a brilliant plan at the time. Fail proof.

  She took a deep breath. If she didn’t get it all out now, she never would. “When I got there, I was supposed to go inside, to offer myself in exchange for Anna and Iris, and as soon I said the safe word, the cops were supposed to come in and bust AJ.”

  Marcus studied the empty glass in his hand. He still hadn’t looked at her, she realized, not since the car. “You gambled with your life.”

  “I knew AJ would be too afraid of you to hurt me. And the cops were right there,” she broke off, swallowing hard. She outlined what had happened when she reached AJ’s house.

  “But the cops didn’t come to the rescue?” Marcus was at the bar, refilling his drink. Cora still hadn’t moved from the small landing in front of the door.

  “They were listening in but when they heard AJ call you, they obviously decided they wanted a bigger bust. I used the safe word over and over but it didn’t matter.” Cora’s voice cracked. “They let her die. They left Iris to die, right in front of me.”

  “So let me get this straight. You left the Estate of your own volition. You called a cop, thinking he’d keep you safe from a psycho who’d already taken two women.”

  Cora licked her lips, staring at her husband’s dark silhouette.

  “Is that right?” Marcus prompted.

  “He had a SWAT team with him,” she offered weakly. “I tried to take as many precautions as I could.”

  “Except at no point did you tell me, your husband!” He put his glass down hard, not violent enough to break it, but she jumped when it clunked against the cabinet. “At no point did you share.”

  “You were busy with the shipment—”