by Danae Ayusso
Despite her irritation, a smile filled her face and tears flooded her eyes; only he could turn her from a strong, confident Officer to a smiling, tearful young woman without a care in the world. She set the velvet box housing her medal down on the table then picked up the rose and inhaled its soft, floral scent, the velvety texture caressed her nose, and it caused a moan to build in her chest.
Akia opened the card and smiled; it simply read Proud of you. She hastily wiped away the tear that had rolled down her cheek.
“I am.”
She nodded and inhaled the rose’s velvety petals again, not turning to regard him as he watched her from the base of the suspended staircase on the side wall behind her.
“It was suggested,” he started, taking his time to join her, his eyes moving over her figure from behind appreciatively; toned legs, gentle swell of the hips and slightly rounded backside, long back, arms and feminine neck, and slightly curly hair rolling midway down her back like a silken curtain of brown-ribboned-hazelnut. Never had she looked more feminine and beautiful than she did that night, and it had taken self-control that he didn’t know he was capable of to keep from handcuffing her to the bed instead of allowing her out of the house looking so breathtaking.
“Yes?” Akia purred, prompting him to continue.
He stepped up behind her then wrapped his strong arms around her waist and pulled the woman he loved into him, and held her tight. “That those with an amazing ass and look this good are either all gay or assholes,” he mused.
Akia smiled. “You forgot that they apparently have their short hairs in a twist,” she amusingly added.
He rolled his eyes. “For being the walking embodiment of femininity at the moment, you truly sound like one of the guys,” he complained.
“And yet your impressive cock is fully hard and apparently trying to check to see if I wore panties this evening,” she purred, tilting her head to the side some, making eye contact with him. “In case you forgot: I didn’t.”
Softly he growled under his breath. “Yes, I am well aware you didn’t. And that fact wasn’t missed by any of those disgusting, vile pieces of shit that were undressing you with their eyes,” he venomously reminded her.
Akia hated that he was ridiculously jealous, but at the same time he constantly reminded her that she was just as jealous when it came to women checking him out or hinting that they might ask him out after work. She turned in his arms and rested her hands over his bare chest. His muscular physique and velvety skin effortlessly aroused her, but when she looked up at him, the four inch height difference between them giving her the opportunity to look up through her lashes to gaze upon his sapphire eyes, and when locked in their depths, she turned to putty in his skilled hands. “You know that I wore this purely for your benefit,” she seductively reminded him before moistening her lips with her tongue.
He gave her a look, well aware that she was trying to play.
“And I think it was the perfect punishment for not telling me about my promotion, Captain,” she said, cocking an eyebrow.
Damian smirked. “It was supposed to be a surprise, Lieutenant,” he smugly informed her, so she smacked him with the rose. “Hey! I’m trying to be romantic here, since apparently you don’t think I have a romantic bone in my body.”
Akia trailed her hand down his chest and along his rippling abdominal muscles, her eyes fluttering when he flexed them and they hardened under her touch, before the backs of her fingers caressed the sizeable bulge in the front of his slacks and she fought to keep from moaning. “Oh you have a romantic bone,” she mused, teasingly rubbing his straining erection. “A rather sizable one that I wouldn’t mind playing with,” she said in a singsong tone, one that was unimaginably arousing.
The brilliant white smile, that only she got to see behind closed doors, filled his face before he captured her mouth with his. One of his large hands grabbed Akia’s backside, and he effortlessly pulled her up off of her feet then turned them towards the stairs; champagne and fruit could wait till breakfast.
Damian and Akia didn’t slow their passionate battle of wills as he carried her to the bedroom before setting her down at the foot of the bed. His hands caressed up her toned thighs and slid under her short dress, and when the heat emanating from between her legs washed over his bare stomach, an animalistic growl rolled from the base of his throat, and he pushed her dress up before dropping to his knees on the floor.
“You think so, do you?” Akia said with a moan, anticipation causing her breathing to labor slightly and pupils to dilate, tingles raced across her skin, and it felt as if her blood was starting to boil.
He smirked but didn’t say anything, then split her knees before burying his face between her legs.
Content, Akia leaned back in the water and made herself comfortable against the strong, muscular body behind her, and closed her eyes. After hours of making passionate love before collapsing in a sweaty, semiconscious tangle of flesh, Damian decided that the bathtub was the perfect place to watch the sunrise. The oversized claw foot tub sat towards the middle of the second story master bath with a large window that overlooked Old Harbor and offered amazing views of the sunrise.
Absently Damian caressed along the sides of Akia’s thighs under the water, his head resting against hers, as he enjoyed the serenity of the moment with the woman he loved in his arms.
For the past five years Damian Nikas had risked everything—career, family, birthright, and life—for the woman that entered his life when he couldn’t afford for her to. After a heated argument with his father, the young, just announced, Police Captain was trying to drown his problems in bourbon, something he hadn’t done since he was a teenager, before finding himself in the arms of a woman he didn’t know. Damian had never had a one night stand before, and he was honestly ashamed of himself for it, but the sex was beyond words, by far the best he’d ever had, and that helped to push the guilt far from his mind as the night of raw, aggressive and almost primal sex continued for hours until he could no longer remember his name or feel his body before collapsing in exhaustion.
When he woke in a strange apartment in a retirement complex, with a young woman that looked barely eighteen years old, sprawled out naked across his chest, he panicked. Once he slid out from under the sleeping woman and got dressed, he tiptoed towards the door, trying to make his great escape, but when he reached for the handle he was flooded with guilt. A war within him raged, something he had never experienced before, and he wasn’t sure what to do. Since he hadn’t woken up in a stranger’s bed before, he wasn’t entirely sure of the protocol for such lewd actions, so he figured he’d be a gentleman and leave a thank you note. That, he hoped, would curb the guilt flooding him and sate the suddenly flaring possessive, animalistic side that wanted to crawl back into bed and wake the stranger with his thickening cock.
A thank you note for sex with a stranger?! he silently questioned.
The idea was completely ludicrous, so instead of a note he folded up the piece of paper he found by the phone into an origami praying mantis with a penciled in smiley face and left it on the pillow he had used before slipping out of the door, making sure it was locked behind him.
In a daze he returned home, not entirely sure how he got there or if he remembered to get his change from the cabbie, and questioned last night, struggling to fill in the chunks of time that were apparently missing from his memory that coincided with each head spinning orgasm. For hours, the primal side of him had been kicking himself in the ass over not sticking around, for leaving a mate eating praying mantis of all things behind as a thank you for the night of amazing sex, for not offering to get coffee with the stranger… Hell, he would have even settled for her name!
But he hadn’t.
The rational side was furious for letting his guard slip, for being so weak, for allowing a stranger to seduce him as effortlessly as she apparently had. The taste of her mouth, the feeling of her tight, heated body around his cock, even her scent, regard
less of scrubbing his skin and brushing his teeth for over an hour, haunted him, and he couldn’t shake the haunting images of their night of carnal intimacy that flooded his mind. The moment he tasted her, it was as if he was obeying an instinct he hadn’t known he possessed, and that instinct was to own the woman controlling him in ways he had never been controlled before.
But that was no longer an option. He ran from her, like a coward, and all that remained were a handful of images, and the scent and taste he couldn’t shake.
I didn’t even get her name, he had reminded himself more than once.
When he arrived to the precinct thirty minutes late for his first day as Captain, he decided that he didn’t want to think of her or have anything to do with the drunken whore because she was obviously nothing but trouble. Causing him to be late was proof of that, and never had he lost control of the animalistic side within him before, and the fact that the drunken whore effortlessly brought that side out in him left the usually levelheaded and put together man annoyed and disquieted.
She would be nothing but trouble, he tried to convince himself as he eyed his wristwatch and the mother of pearl display and moon dial that was seemingly mocking him, reminding him that he was late for work for the first time in his life.
Nothing but trouble.
And he was right.
When the newly named Superintendent brought three transfers from traffic enforcement to the precinct, the stone face exterior of the young Captain nearly betrayed him. His sapphire eyes snapped to the ocean blue eyes glaring at him.
Superintendent Manning smiled. “Captain, I’m glad that you could join us,” he teased. “May I introduce you to three of the finest from District A-1; Officer Jason Grimes, Officer Sammy Henderson, and Special Operations Officer Akia de Wolfe.”
“Sir,” they said in unison and saluted.
Captain Nikas nodded and gave a half-ass salute in return; it wasn’t a practice he was overly found of.
The three officers stood at attention as he continued to eye them, but his attention always returned to the woman he was more than confident was the sexually insatiable drunken whore that he spent the night with.
“Is there a problem?” Manning asked.
“No, Sir,” he responded.
“Good!” the older man beamed. “I’ll let you get acquainted. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with them, especially de Wolfe. She is a very impressive Officer.”
That was putting it mildly.
“Your uncanny ability to read people has always been admirable,” Captain Nikas said, getting a chuckle from Manning in return. “Welcome to District C-11. Grimes, may I speak with you?” he said, waving the first Officer into his office.
The other two waited their turn.
Captain Nikas asked the nervous Officer generalized questions, trying to read him, to find the reason why Manning had specifically picked Grimes to be part of C-11. After ten minutes, the office door opened and Captain Nikas shook his hand and motioned down a side hall. “CACU is the last door on the right. Sanderson will be your superior and show you around, and get you acclimated to the system.”
Grimes saluted with a face-consuming smile before hurrying down the hallway. He joined the force solely to be able to help children, so the Crimes Against Children Unit was a perfect fit for him.
Captain Nikas repeated the procedure with Henderson, but his eyes kept flickering to the stone faced woman standing at attention outside his office, her face as hard and unreadable as stone, ocean blue eyes narrowed in irritation, and the hard set of her jaw slightly amused him because he looked the same when he was betrayed.
After ten minutes, Captain Nikas nodded and stood then motioned towards the door. “Smith in the FAS won’t be expecting you, but he’ll get over it. Firearms Analysis Section needs help, especially with the backlog of cases we have. If he gives you grief, tell him to come see me.”
Henderson saluted. “Thank you, Sir,” he barked out, in typical military fashion, which was to be expected since he was an honorably discharged Marine that served three tours in Iraq, then hurried off towards the basement.
“Officer de Wolfe,” Captain Nikas said, motioning towards his office.
Akia stood tall and with her shoulders back and head held high and walked past him and stood at attention, ignoring his offer when he motioned for her to take a seat.
Stubborn and proud, two things I can respect and find sexy as hell… Damn it, he silently berated himself.
“I don’t want to talk about myself,” Akia said when he opened his mouth. “I heard the small talk you had with the other two, and I have no interest in bothering with the inconsequential.”
Captain Nikas nodded. “Fair enough,” he said. “Will this be a problem?”
“Whatever are you inferring to?” she scathingly sneered. “Since I’m nothing more than a mate head devouring praying mantis, you’ll have to be a bit more specific.”
And that was exactly what he wanted to hear.
“Will this,” Captain Nikas said, looking up at her from his desk, “be a problem? Because if it is, I’ll request a reassignment,” he said before he could stop the words from leaving his lips.
Akia’s small nostrils flared, and her ocean blue eyes darkened considerably. “I worked my ass off to get this beat,” she hissed, struggling to keep her composure. “And if you think I’m going to simply give it up, to go to some smaller populous beat simply because you can’t stomach looking at the woman you got shit faced and fucked, then snuck out of her bed like a coward, you have another thing coming. You mean nothing to me, and what we did means nothing to me, so no, it won’t be a problem-”
“For me,” he explained. “Not a transfer for you, but for me.”
The anger visibly left her and her head tilted to the side as if confused. “Huh?” she asked, dumbfounded. It was common knowledge that the most sought after command was District C-11. It was the most populated district, had the largest force, those in command rose in the ranks rapidly from that precinct, and they interviewed many for the coveted Captain’s spot. And yet the stranger she literally stumbled across, bought drinks for, then took back to her place for the most amazing, passionate sex she’d ever had, was offering to abandon his post, simply because of a drunken hook up?
That didn’t make sense to Akia in the least.
Captain Nikas folded his hands together on his desk and continued to maintain eye contact with her in an attempt to keep the memories that were suddenly no longer fuzzy from last night and the raw, primal mating, and to ignore the longing within him that was apparently clouding his better judgment, from his mind. He licked his lips before he spoke, and Akia’s eyes snapped to his mouth then she struggled to swallow the lump that suddenly formed in her throat from watching the involuntary action. Never had a mouth spent so much time worshipping her body, and she didn’t nearly get enough of it. “I will,” he said, speaking in a low voice that caused Akia’s pupils to dilate, “request reassignment to another precinct in order to continue what was started last night, without alcohol this time, and without the inadvertent comparison to a chewing the head off of a mate praying mantis.”
Akia’s eyes widened and mouth fell open with a soft popping sound. She had to be hung over still, that was the only thing she could think of, because there was no way he just said, just offered that, to her.
“The comparison,” he said with a small chuckle, “was unintentional. I was trying to make a crane or Bird of Paradise, but the only thing I could remember how to make at that moment was the praying mantis. My apologies,” he said with a sheepish smile; the ridges of his high cheekbones were flushed in rose, a small dimple recessed deeply on one cheek, and his features had somehow softened.
Absently Akia shook her head before she could stop herself. She wanted to rip his designer suit off and throw him on the desk at that very moment, be damned who else saw, and pick up where they left off earlier that morning.
A smile filled his face
before it quickly dropped. “Very well,” he said, leaning back in his chair, resuming the role of Captain. “Which department did you want? I asked the others questions in order to find out which they wanted since, in my experience, when you ask they simply blurt out wherever I feel would be best for them or where there is need-”
“Homicide,” Akia interrupted.
He cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Promise of our first date or is that where you want to set roots in C-11?”
Akia cocked an eyebrow and smirked in return. “Both,” she purred.
Later that night Damian knocked on her front door with a flower in hand, and when she opened the door she didn’t give him a chance to say anything and pulled him inside then ripped his dress shirt open, ruining it in the process, and hours later they eventually made it to the bed.
And that was how the first year of their relationship was.
Either he knocked on her door or she knocked on his, and they eventually made it to the bed. After the first few months they talked between marathon sex sessions, and somehow, before they realized it had happened, they were in a committed relationship. They kept up appearances at work—Akia kept to herself and said very little of her personal life, and Damian had a framed picture of a woman on his desk; no one knew it was his dead roommate from college that died of ovarian cancer their junior year—and fearing that Internal Affairs might find out about their relationship, they went to extreme measures to keep the force and everyone else out of it. Each still had their apartment in the city for appearance sake, but they lived together in an industrial warehouse turned loft space in the shipping district that the two had renovated together. They filed taxes separately, the loft space was owned by a shell trust located in the Caymans, their phones were encrypted and a redirected number was stored for when they called or texted the other, that way no one would question why there were so many calls between the Captain and someone under his command. They didn’t arrive to work at the same time, didn’t lunch at the same time, and didn’t leave at the same time. Some days Akia worked all night at the precinct, and other times Damian had out of town family matters that he had to address, sometimes taking him an entire weekend to resolve. He didn’t ask questions of her, and she didn’t ask them of him; they unconditionally trusted the other, something that neither had with another before.
