Chapter 22 Monroe
MONROE
The sun started to peek through the window and I shifted around in bed. My body was sore. Aching and throbbing in places I’d never felt before. My eyes fluttered open as I drew in a deep breath, trying to get my bearings as to where I was.
But the moment my eyes fell on Knox, everything came crashing back to me.
The conversation on the porch. The shattered wine glass. The encounter on his lap.
The words that fell from both of us.
I nuzzled into him mindlessly as I recounted our actions from last night.
How he’s effortlessly picked me up and shuffled us back into my apartment.
How he’d bent me over the couch and pinned me to my wall.
How he devoured my pussy as my toes curled into his back.
How messy we’d made my sheets and how wet my bed had become by the time we fell asleep in one another’s arms.
But my body still buzzed for him.
My heart still thundered with want for him.
I placed my lips against his chest and he groaned. Bruised crescent marks where I’d marked him the night before were staring me in the face. I kissed down his chest, my hands playing with the grooves of his abs as he drew in a deep breath.
“Mmm, good mornin’ to you, too.”
The sleep in his voice made his low tones gravelly.
Like an eighteen-wheeler coming up a gravel walkway.
I slid on top of him and planted kisses down his chest, slithering between his legs.
I felt his cock pulsing. His hand came up and curled into the knotted tresses of my hair.
He pushed me down to where he wanted me to be, taking command of my body in a way that shivered my entire being.
I wrapped my mouth around his massive cock, taking it all the way back as he groaned.
“Good… fuckin’... mornin’.”
His hips were already rising off the bed.
I wrapped my arms around his thighs, pulling him closer to me.
My jaw was already sore, trying to adjust to the girth of him.
Spit was pooling on his skin as I hollowed out my cheeks.
I relaxed and guided him down the back of my throat, holding him there as I nuzzled into the trimmed curls of his body.
I could feel his muscles contracting, ready to explode at a moment’s notice.
A phone rang out into the room and I tried to ignore it. I sucked on Knox’s cock, my eyes fluttering up to him. I watched his eyes whip open as his head turned to the nightstand, watching as the phone lit up.
“Hold on. Hold on, hold on… shit, Monroe. Ugh. Hold on. It’s yours.”
I sighed as I pulled his cock from between my lips, settling my chin against his chiseled stomach. I reached for the phone he was handing me and my eyes widened. Rose was calling. On a Saturday.
Why the hell was she calling me on a weekend?
“This is Monroe.”
“Wherever you are, you need to get into the office.”
“Rose, what’s wrong?” I asked.
Knox sat up in bed as I pulled the comforter around my naked body.
“That RICO case you said you’d keep an eye on. You weren’t doing a very good job. The assistant U.S. attorney is moving forward with it and we need to start preparing. Now.”
“When did you figure this out?” I asked. “I checked on the status of that thing just before dinner last night.”
“It came in early this morning. Around five. You don’t have to look pretty, but you have to be alert. It’ll take us all day to prepare for this thing. And they’re coming down hard.”
“Who else should we be notifying of this?” I asked.
I looked over at Knox as he cocked his head at me.
“No one, for now. But if it gets sticky, I’ll handle notifying the parties involved. Right now, our goal is to make sure they don’t have to get involved. It’s why they pay us the money they do. Now stop wasting time and get in here. Bradley and I are getting in the car now.”
I hung up the phone and quickly slid from bed. I could feel Knox’s eyes on me as I ran into the bathroom. I wet a washcloth and tried to clean myself down. Between my legs. Underneath my arms. My face. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t graceful, but things had just gotten serious.
Very, very serious.
“I take it you’re not staying,” Knox said.
I looked up at his reflection in the mirror as he leaned against the doorway. His body was beautiful. He was beautiful. Throbbing muscles and protruding veins and a piercing stare that weakened my knees even now.
“I can’t. Something’s come up at work,” I said.
“Figured as much. Can ya talk about it?”
“Not now, but I figured you would understand that.”
“Yep. But that’s fine. I gotta get back to my club anyway,” he said.
“You heard Rose on the phone, didn’t you?”
Our eyes connected before I whipped around.
I still didn’t know what I was doing with him.
What I was doing with a criminal who ran with a gang of biker outlaws.
So we bonded last night. Over broken families and bullshit fathers.
Plenty of people came from broken homes.
That didn’t make us one and the same. And yes, I loved him.
I don’t know how it happened or when it happened, but it happened.
And I was woman enough to own up to that.
But I was a lawyer and he was a criminal. A known criminal. Who I’d met in jail several weeks ago when he was being framed for murder.
At a crime scene he had been at.
“We’re gonna have to draw lines and do… fuck… so much talking,” I said as I pushed past him. “But for now, just… try to not-”
“Get you in trouble? Never, Monroe.”
It was the way he said it that stopped me in my tracks. I slowly looked back at him and watched as his eyes took me in. He walked over to me and took me in his arms, pulling me closely into him.
Then his lips dipped delicately to mine, pressing the softest kiss I could’ve ever imagined against my skin.
“Never,” he said lowly.
“I have to get dressed,” I said with a whisper.
“Such a shame. Your body’s beautiful.”
“I could say the same about yours. And your bruises are almost healed.”
“They’re topical now. No pain,” he said.
“Good,” I said as I patted his chest. “That’s… really good.”
The two of us danced around one another as we got ready to leave. It felt natural to have him there. To get ready with him and rush out the door. I tossed him an apple before I grabbed one for myself, and he chuckled at me as we walked out the door.
“Breakfast?” Knox asked.
“Take it or leave it. Didn’t have time to cook anything.”
“Oh, so you cook, too?”
“Only for those who deserve it,” I said.
Without thinking, I kissed him goodbye when we got down the stairs.
I looked up into his eyes, watching as the slightest bit of shock rolled over his face.
I didn’t have time to talk about it now.
And part of me didn’t want to. Things had been so perfect between the two of us last night and I didn’t want to ruin it with my stupid questions.
“I’ll call you,” Knox said. “When the dust settles.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “I’ll uh… be waiting?”
“You sure about that?”
“I think?” I asked.
“We can talk about that later. Drive safe.”
“You’re the one on the bike with your entire body exposed. You be careful.”
What I wanted to tell him was that I’d already seen him in one hospital bed, and I couldn’t stomach seeing him in another one.
I watched him ride off into the rising sun before I hopped behind the wheel of my car.
I took a bite out of my apple as I raced to the office, my jeans and t-shirt covering the marks Knox had left on my body.
My hair was up in a bun and I had my glasses on, and that was the best I could do under the time constraints.
I look one last look in the mirror, making sure all of my marks were covered before I went inside.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched.