11. Chapter 11
eleven
Mark
I didn’t know if it was my insecurities or actual worry, but I was afraid Bee would change her mind if I took too long to find a place to pull over. I would survive if she did, but I really wanted to feel her body against mine while she shook from an orgasm and moaned into my neck.
I took it as a sign of growth that I was aware enough to know I could be my own worst nightmare sometimes, overthinking and overreacting. Still, I had to make sure this wouldn’t be a mistake, that she was just as eager to pull back the barriers and finally be together again.
“Bee, can I feel you?” Explicit consent is essential, ladies and gentlemen.
We were on the 101, passing over the bay into Sausalito and Bee—shy, modest, sweet Bee—whipped her shirt off, leaving her hair and the ever-present flower pin in it in a disarray as she sat half naked in just her bra and skirt in the front seat. “Yes, please.”
I was getting hard already and we hadn’t even made contact yet. I wanted her to feel what I was feeling: goosebumps raising up in anticipation, blood pumping through veins, the warmth and tightening of muscles that almost felt like discomfort for half a second before that ache morphed into desire.
The sky was growing darker, only a few cars on the road. I looked over at Bianca, her nipples hard against her pretty lavender bra, a little black bow taunting me between her breasts. I took my hand off the gearshift and reached over to palm first one breast then the other. The way Bee’s breath caught did more for my hard-on than anything else ever had.
“Are you already turned on, sweetheart?” I asked, rubbing my thumb over a nipple. She nodded with a small feminine moan, arching her back as she held my hand against her.
I wanted to touch her more intimately, to feel how wet I could make her with my hands alone, but I was still a police officer with a badge, and I knew better than to further distract myself while driving. Instead, I pressed harder against the accelerator, caressing and massaging and fondling her tits with one hand until I saw a sign for a small intersection ahead. I grabbed the wheel with both hands, making a hasty turn down a secluded county road. Nobody would head this way this late.
She squealed as my fingers left her, one hand holding onto the handle above the window as I took the turn just a little too fast, but we made it, heading down the tree-lined road, the only light coming from the headlights of her car. I pulled the car over into one of the turnouts, cutting the engine and killing the lights.
I looked over at Bee, just barely able to discern her features as my eyes adjusted to the darkness.
“Do you want to just make out?” I felt like a teenager asking, but I wanted to give her an out. She’d been pretty clear—on multiple occasions—that we shouldn’t and wouldn’t be together again.
“Can’t we do both?” Oh man, the temptress was coming out in her, and I was loving it. One of her hands found my jawline in the dark, the other scratching across my stomach.
“I don’t have a condom,” I warned her, holding her hands still. I had to make sure she had every opportunity to change her mind, while still praying to God that she wouldn’t.
“Isn’t that kind of the point?”
I groaned, and she pulled the hand on my stomach free, resting it on my hard cock through my slacks.
“Bee, I really need you to focus for a minute.” I could see her silhouette nod, but her hands kept stroking me through my pants. “Do you want to have dirty, hot, messy unprotected sex with me right here in your car where someone could see and discover us at any moment?”
“Laying it on thick, aren’t you? You had me at throw me in the backseat and fuck you bareback. ”
I laughed, settling my hand over hers on my dick, putting more pressure against eager little Henry Cavill—I felt like I could call him that again after I got confirmation of the good time had by all six weeks ago—standing up straight and tall against my slacks.
“Do you want me to pull out?” I needed to confirm the plan. What was dirty talk and what was real.
“You know what I want. I’m making a choice and I want to live with the consequences of it.”
I smirked, leaning forward. “You want hot sex that ends with me knocking you up so you’re forced to marry me?”
“Never forced. It’s what I want.”
“Wanna drive over the mountains and get hitched in Reno after this?” I was half-joking because my Ma would kill me if I eloped without her, but I was all in with Bee. Whatever she wanted, I was more than happy to oblige.
“I want you to kiss me first.”
“Your wish is my command.”
I unbuckled and leaned over the center console, fingers reaching out to the little wisps of hair at the nape of her neck and thumb stroking her cheek. She looked at me with so much fire, so much affection, I almost couldn’t breathe. Her eyes pulled me in until my lips met hers.
It was like no time passed between this kiss and that first one six weeks ago. My lips remembered hers, my tongue knew just what hers would taste like, and my eyes closed instinctively as her mouth yielded to mine.
She released her own seatbelt in a hurry to meet me halfway, her lace-clad breasts pushing against my shirt. Dear god, she felt so good pressed against me. I wrapped one arm around her back to hold her close, and the other hand pushed her skirt up her thighs, making room so I could feel how turned on she was.
I squeezed that sexy round ass once, relishing in her moan, and let my fingers continue around her hip and across her mound to her slit. Her panties were soft, perhaps a matching lace pattern, but I had no urge to stop what we were doing to turn on a light and confirm. I pulled the material to the side, but paused to check in with her.
“Are you sure you want this?” I asked again.
Her gaze was steady, her eyes alight with love for me of all people. But then she spoke again.
“Take me to the back and make me see stars, Mark.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I had my hands on her waist to hoist her up when I saw a pair of headlights moving down the road until they paused behind our car. I hesitated, waiting for the car to pass.
Then I saw red and blue lights flashing through the back window and knew we were busted.
“Shit!” I exclaimed. I tried to hold in the laugh while I looked for where Bee threw her shirt. There . It was near her feet.
“I thought getting caught was part of the attraction for you?” she giggled, taking the tee from my hands.
“Ha ha,” I laughed sarcastically, feeling her tits in the dark, making sure she was covered up. Thank god I never took my dick out because it would be hell to try to shove him back in my pants again.
When the expected tap came on the window, we were both sitting up demurely. I readily rolled down the window to address the officer.
“You kids having car trouble?” asked the officer, doing a double take when he saw we were in fact adults. “Ah, well then.”
Nothing to see here, sir. Bee was fully dressed and I had my hands folded over my fucking erection.
“No sir,” I said instead. “The missus was just feeling a little carsick so we thought we’d pull over and relax until she felt better.”
“Missus, huh? Most of the time you bring the missus home to engage in these activities, and you bring the mistress out to deserted roads to hide what you’re doing.”
“I’m not sure what you’re implying officer, and I’m fairly sure you can’t prove we’re doing anything illegal. Now we’ll be on our way as soon as the lady is feeling up to it—”
“We can go now,” Bee interrupted, placing a hand on my arm. “I’m okay.”
I put my hand over hers, squeezing gently. “You sure honey? I don’t want you to get sick again,” I said, putting a hand on her stomach. Damn, we were so close…
“I’m sure. We can get going if you don’t want us on the side of the road, officer,” she pleaded with him, and he stared hard at her, eyes moving from head to toe while he took in her gentle tone and my careful hand on her.
“Yeah, I guess so. No more pulling over, no more detours, Inspector,” he told me, nodding at the badge displayed along my belt. Great. I hoped he couldn’t see my badge number from there. “This the first baby?” he asked, nodding to where Bee sat delicately in the seat, hand still resting on her stomach.
Almost, I wanted to pout. We were going to make a solid attempt before he interrupted.
“Yes,” I said, giving him the easy answer.
“Congrats,” he said, offering me a hand to shake. “That morning sickness doesn’t just come in the mornings. Sorry for giving you a hard time.”
“It’s all good,” I waved him off, even if it wasn’t.
“Can I get a selfie? My Lieutenant will get a kick out of this: me thinking I was pulling over a couple kids banging in the backseat and it’s an Inspector and his pregnant girl trying not to puke.”
“Sure,” I said, unbuckling. Anything to get out of here.
I climbed out—erection thankfully subsided at this point—and rounded the car to stand in front of Bee’s window, still cognizant of the fact there shouldn’t be photographic evidence of us together. Officer AssFace leaned in close to me, pulling a face and making a peace sign. Idiot kid. I held in the eye roll and smiled for the camera, shaking his hand one more time before he drove off, popping his siren in a quick goodbye. I rounded the car, climbing back into the driver’s seat and turning toward Bee.
Her eyes were wide, lip trembling as she tried to hold the laughter in. “Go ahead, honey, let it out.”
She shook her head, fighting to keep the giggles at bay.
“Come on, now’s your chance to laugh it out: take it or leaf it.”
And that terrible pun did it, an unexpectedly high-pitched peal of laughter taking me by surprise so I couldn’t help but join in with her. I leaned toward her, one hand going to the back of her head.
“You can’t tell me you won’t look at this car and smile now, right?”
“Right,” she grinned, looking toward the backseat again. “I’m guessing we’ve tempted fate enough tonight. We should probably go home.”
I smiled ruefully at her. Her lips were pinker than usual and kiss-swollen, her hands soft as they caressed my arm. Yup. Definitely enough temptation.
“We still need to talk,” I reminded her.
“I know,” she sighed, the smile dropping a little. “This was a nice distraction for a while, though. Thank you.”
We headed back to my apartment, grabbing some Taco Bell on the way. Who didn’t love tacos? After parking and helping Bee out of the car, I checked on my own Taurus, seeing nothing amiss. I got her fixed up lickety-split after the incident yesterday morning, but you could never be too careful.
I escorted Bee into the building and onto the elevator. When we got inside the apartment, I put my gun in the safe by the door, my badge on the counter with my keys and wallet, and looked at Bee.
I’d eat some food with my girl, but then we couldn’t avoid it any longer. We needed to talk about how deeply her father betrayed her, and I intended to do that as a loved one, not a member of the SFPD.
“Just start from the beginning,” Bee said, laying back on the couch. I pulled her legs onto my lap and grabbed the blanket my mother insisted belonged on the back of the couch, tucking her in nice and cozy.
“Carlo has his fingers in a dozen different businesses across the bay.”
“Right. He and Angelo started investing, what, a dozen years ago? What about it?”
“One of the businesses is the phony law firm front,” I said, trying to feel out how much of this part she already knew. From the way she stiffened and sat up, I’d guess not much.
“My dad has an actual law degree from Columbia in New York. Why are you acting like nothing he does is legal?”
I didn’t expect her to defend him. Was it habit, or was she not as all-in with me as I thought? Were the two mutually exclusive?
“Calm down, honey, lower your hackles. He took the bar exam in New York, but never applied for bar reciprocity in California. He doesn’t practice law here, or if he does it’s not done legally.”
“Wow,” she sighed, reclining again, but her legs were still tense across my lap. “Even the most basic thing I knew about my father was a lie.” I sympathized, but that wasn’t the worst part by far. I had to keep going.
“From there he invested in a few small-to-mid-sized businesses. Temp agencies, blue-collar companies, staffing firms, probably so he could have his hand in just about every industry in the city. A hell of a lot of real estate, too, probably for the same reason—at least one building in every corner of the city. We saw investments in a clock company a couple years back—I assume that was yours before you settled on a new name?”
She nodded. “Busy Bee Timewear sounded too young for an antique place so I changed it after the first year in business.”
“He invests heavily in Silicon Valley startups, including a company that makes micro computer chips, customized to do basically anything you want. He bought the company out fully about a year and a half ago.”
“Micro computer chips with advanced technology…” I could see her putting the pieces together as her face slowly morphed from stoically neutral to devastated the more I spoke.
“His bank records also show that he spent about $20K at the jewelry counter of a fancy department store on three separate occasions in the past three months. We dug deeper, unearthed receipts, and saw that he spent the money on a variety of watches, all of which were to be individually wrapped and picked up by courier.”
She nodded. I figured she could guess what was coming next. “Does he also own the NoMoreCheaterz.com site?”
I smiled a little sadly. “Couldn’t confirm that quick enough for you. It’s owned by an offshore corporation, clearly hiding something, but I couldn’t trace it back to him or anyone else yet.”
She closed her eyes as she fought for that detached facade again, but she didn’t need to hide her feelings from me.
“Bee…” Her eyes popped open, anger flashing in their depths.
“He manufactured the whole thing. He tricked me into doing his dirty work, putting tracking devices on innocent people. Is there anything else?”
“Sorry. I know you told me not to look into the theft, but the paths crossed.”
She didn’t speak, but I saw the devastation on her face.
“Carlo works with a metalsmith who recreates popular items from history. You know, Marie Antoinette’s necklace, Princess Di’s ring, that ‘B’ necklace Anne Boleyn wore.”
“So this guy has the skills to create forgeries of the stuff in my shop,” I concluded. “How long has it been going on?”
“He’s been a consultant on the Morelli books for about five months. And your father was listed as the owner of several vintage pocket and wrist watches that have been sold at auction recently.”
“So he’s been using me to make his bugged watches so he could hurt people and he’s been stealing from me.”
Yes. “I’m sorry.”
“How did you even get all this information?”
“Most of it was already in our records from Claire Reynolds,” I said, true amusement finally returning. I watched her face for recognition to hit. There it was.
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Do I want to know what my old college roommate has to do with any of this?”
“It’s nothing too bad,” I assured her, rubbing a calf. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but she’s one of the good guys. Currently under police protection until everything in the case is resolved.”
“Police protection,” Bee repeated, smile dropping. She was getting this was serious business. These were dangerous waters.
“Bee…” I hesitated, not wanting to say the words. “Bianca, I understand if this is too much for you. It’s scary and dangerous and confusing. I get it if you want to change your mind about us.”
There. I gave her another out.
Would she take it?