Chapter 18 #2
The song finally came to an end and I sent up a silent prayer that my friends got all the good they deserved.
Carl put his hand to my back and we started toward the bar when I caught sight of Harley Madison.
She was currently shooting me the evil eye as she roughly shoved through a group of people on her way back to the pool tables.
Carl must have spotted her too, because I felt him move in closer, almost protectively, like he was getting ready for a show down, just in case.
Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the fact that I was having an incredible night out with my friends and my man, or maybe it was just the fact that she hadn’t won after her attempt to humiliate me, but whatever the case, seeing her right then didn’t even faze me.
Lifting my hand, I smiled brightly and gave her a finger wave.
She looked ready to spit acid as she flipped her hair back and disappeared into the crowd.
“Christ, that woman’s somethin’ else,” Carl grumbled.
“I think the word you’re looking for is bitch. But I’m done letting her affect my life.”
“I get you, but women like that? They don’t stop, Tempie.”
“She wants to make her life miserable and keep up with her petty shit, that’s on her, but she’s not gonna get the reaction she wants out of me anymore.”
“Level-headed, beautiful, and can keep up with me on the dance floor.” I looked over at Carl to find him giving me a friendly smile. “Hayes is a lucky guy.”
I bumped my shoulder against his playfully. “Thanks, Carl. You know, you’re pretty amazing yourself. One of these days you’re gonna find a girl who’s actually worthy of you.”
He winked, and the fingers on my back pressed deeper. “Thanks, darlin’. Hope you’re right.”
“I totally am. Just you wait. I’m willing to bet come this time next year you’ll have met the love of your life and are looking to settle down.”
We reached the bar and I stepped away from Carl to move into Hayes’s side. He smiled up at me, and my heart swelled. “You about ready to get outta here?”
A shiver of anticipation worked its way down my spine, making my nipples hard before settling right between my thighs. “If your earlier promise for what’s to come still stands, then hell yeah.”
He turned and waved to get Rory’s attention. “Close us out, sweetheart.”
Damn, I loved my man.
“Mmm, Hayes.”
His fingers at my clit circled faster and the ones at my nipple pinched harder as his cock drove in and out.
I was on my side with Hayes’s big, strong body behind me, his arms circling me to hold me in place.
My top thigh was thrown over his, and he was fucking me so slow that I thought I might go insane.
“Say the words, baby.”
I didn’t need to ask what words he was talking about. “I love you,” I breathed as the pressure in my belly began to build.
We’d had the talk days ago and had decided to ditch the condoms since I was on the pill, so now there was nothing between us. I loved feeling him inside me with no barriers, just me and him, skin against skin, connected in the most intimate way. It was incredible.
I tilted my ass, taking him even deeper with each inward slide as the tension inside me grew to near overwhelming heights.
“Yeah, baby,” he grunted into my hair as his pace picked up, and I knew he was getting close too. “Fuck yeah, Tempie. Take all of me.”
A whimper crawled up my throat as I lifted one arm to reach around and slide my fingers into his soft hair. Digging my nails into his scalp, I twisted my head and pulled his lips to mine, driving my tongue against his as everything inside me came undone.
Hayes swallowed down every noise I made as I came around him. Wave after wave rushed over me until I had to jerk my lips away in order to breathe. It was the most exquisite torture.
He drove in three more times before planting himself to the root and burying his face in my neck, grunting and groaning as his cock twitched with his own release.
“Jesus. Fuck me,” he panted once it finally left both of us. “How the fuck is it that every single time with you is even better than the last?”
I let out an exhausted giggle and shook my head, looking at him from over my shoulder. “I don’t know. It just is what it is, I guess. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, honey.”
“My woman. So damn smart,” he said on a chuckle against my lips.
Seconds lapsed as we lay wrapped around each other, and the events of the night finally started to hit me. All that dancing and drinking, then the incredible sex had left me completely exhausted. It was late and all I wanted to do now was curl up with my man and sleep.
“I need to clean up,” I murmured, fighting back a yawn.
Hayes finally pulled out and let me go so I could climb from the bed.
I snatched my panties and nightgown from the floor and headed into the bathroom.
After cleaning up, I slipped my undies back into place and pulled the matching baby blue silk nightie over my head.
I moved to the sink, prepared to go through my nighttime ritual—exhausted or not—of washing and moisturizing my face and brushing my teeth, but when I caught my reflection in the mirror, I froze.
I barely recognized the woman staring back at me.
Pink cheeks, kiss-swollen lips, and wild sex hair.
But none of that was what caught and held my attention.
It was my eyes. The pale blue didn’t look the same, and as I leaned in for a closer examination, I realized what Carl had been talking about earlier, what it was that was so different.
For twenty-one years the eyes staring back at me in my reflection were empty, but they were so full of love and happiness now that the difference was night and day.
A smile pulled at my lips, and I shook my head in amazement before going back to my task of scrubbing the night’s makeup from my face. I was just about finished with my eye cream and moisturizer when the sound of Hayes’s cell phone ringing cut through the quiet.
Every muscle in my body strung tight as I stepped into the doorway of the bathroom and looked in his direction. His body was no longer loose and relaxed after having just made love. It was stiff and alert, just like mine.
I knew late-night calls were a part of his job, and I didn’t mind them at all. But hearing that phone ring well after midnight could only mean one thing. And it wasn’t good.
“Walker,” he said into the line, sitting up and throwing his legs over the side of the bed.
I couldn’t hear the person on the other end, but as soon as they started talking, Hayes’s intense vibe filled the room, and I struggled to breathe under the power of it.
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” Then “Shit. Okay.” He paused, listening to the person on the other end of the phone. “Yeah. Gimme ten.” Another pause. “Uh-huh. All right. I’m on my way.”
He hung up the phone and tossed it onto the nightstand at the same time he pushed to his feet and started moving around the bedroom, grabbing the clothes he’d discarded earlier.
“I-is every okay?” I asked, my voice shaky as he started pulling on his clothes with hard, jerky movements.
“No,” he grunted angrily, getting his jeans into place and finally turning to me once he had them buttoned. “I gotta go, angel.”
“What’s going on?”
He stopped, lifting a hand and raking it through his hair agitatedly. “Look, I don’t have time to get into it right now, but there’s been another murder.”
“Oh my God,” I gasped, my eyes going wide as I lifted a trembling hand to my lips.
He had his shirt on as he continued, “I need to get down there. I’ll probably be gone a while, so don’t wait up for me, but I want you to make sure every single window and door is locked, you got me? And keep the downstairs and outside lights on.”
“I—okay, yeah. I will.”
“I’m serious, Tempie. Lock up tight. And do not open that door, you got me? Cat and Stargazer don’t get fed ’til I’m back.”
“Hayes,” I whispered, “you’re scaring me.”
He came close, hooking his hand around the back of my neck and pulling me to him so he could rest his forehead against mine. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said softly. “I just need to get out there, but I can’t have my head in the game if I’m worried about you bein’ here all alone.”
As frightened as I was, I needed to do my job as the woman of a cop, and that was put his mind at ease as best as I could when he was out there hunting for a killer.
“I’ll make sure this place is like Fort Knox, honey.
I promise. I’ll keep the lights on, and I won’t even go near that door, no matter how pissed Cat gets that her meal’s delayed. ”
His chest rose on a deep inhale, and I knew I’d done what little I could for him during a time like this. I just hoped it would be enough.
“Thank you,” he returned pressing his lips against mine and pulling back. “Try and get some rest.”
“Yeah, okay.” That wasn’t going to happen. “Be safe out there, Hayes. I love you.”
“Love you too, angel,” he mumbled distractedly.
And a moment later, he was gone.