FORTY
MOVIE ONE FINISHED. Somewhere in the second movie, she lost the battle against sleep. Something roused her, a touch, a tingle, a special kind of zip between her thighs.
“Mmm,” she murmured, moving with the caress of the mouth on her breasts, the hand sliding across her hip to— “Darroch.” Instantly awake, she tossed back the covers to find him there, all innocence and arousal. “Darroch! What are you doing?”
“Give me a minute and it will all make sense.”
“Get up here,” she said, grabbing for him. “You are not doing that.”
“You’re awake now.” Kissing her once, and twice, brushing his lips across hers, to her jaw, her throat. “Now I can really astound you.”
“Stop,” she said. All he did was peek up from her cleavage, darkness drew them closer. “You’re not allowed to do that.”
“I’m your guy.”
“My head injury guy.” Pushing him away, she got him onto his back. “You’re supposed to be resting, not… not resting.”
“New rule…”
“Rule?”
“We spend every night together. Here, at my mom’s, at a hotel, I don’t care, but we sleep next to each other every night.” He must’ve read the question in her expression. “Then we don’t have to worry about each other or lose track. We’ll always know where each other is. Give me your phone.”
She rolled away to grab it. “It’s probably too late to call your mom.”
“Not calling Mom,” he said, typing into her phone. After a second, another ring razed the air, but it died quickly. “Now you have my number.”
“You called your phone from mine?” she asked, and he nodded while handing it back. “I didn’t mean to pressure you into—”
“No, you’re right. It’s ridiculous that I don’t have a way to contact you. We never would’ve fought earlier if I’d just called to tell you what was going on.”
That was true.
When she settled, he was quick to pull her into his arms to start the kissing again. “You’re still in recovery.”
“I’m fine. The docs are overprotective.”
Smart that he put it on the doctors and not her and Alice. “We’re supposed to be watching a movie.”
Though the room was dark, TV off.
“You fell asleep and I don’t care about the movie.”
“No?” she asked, hitching her playful chin. “What do you care about?”
“This woman in my bed,” he said, rolling them over to put himself on top again. “It’s never felt like this, Cherry. Tell me I’m crazy.”
“Folie à deux.”
“Damn, I hope so.”
When he tried for a kiss, she laughed and ducked away. “Kissing isn’t part of your rehab.”
“Feels so good, it’ll cure me.”
“Your momma told you to behave.”
“Yeah, and my woman ordered me to bed. I’ve got to keep her happy. No brothers here to interrupt.”
“Okay,” she said, laughing as he went left and right countering her avoidance of his kiss. “Lie down.”
“Huh?”
“Lie on your back,” she said, planting her hands on his shoulders and moving with him as he complied.
“I’m liking this,” he said, running his hands up her back as she straddled him. “What comes next?” She unhooked her bra and tossed it away. “I’m the luckiest guy alive.”
Her fingertips met his lips before she sank forward to replace them with her own. “Your luck is directly linked to your ability to control your smart mouth.”
“You’re not the first woman to tell me that,” he said. Her switch of head angle provoked a different smile. “But you will be the last. My last. Ever.”
Damn right, because she wasn’t getting into this for the short-term. He’d been hurt. Alone. And she knew what that felt like. Despite their differences, something in them called to the other. What other explanation could there be for how they were drawn to each other. Fate, it could only be destiny.
Running her hands across his body, up, down, her fingers danced in each muscular valley. Why was it she got to feast on such an incredible guy?
Her exploration descended and descended. She wanted to be able to say her lips had touched every part of him, every pore and freckle. Learning him, earning him, would become her new hobby.
It helped that as she kissed and licked, her body rubbed on his, on a specific part of him pleased by her attention.
Her lips grazed his navel, traced the line of hair descending to his groin and—
A phone rang.
Startled, she rose, not much, enough to make him gasp.
“Ignore it, it’ll stop.”
“It might be important.”
“It’s too late for Mom.”
“What if Tripp needs a ride?”
“He can afford a cab,” he said, his hand landing on her head with a reluctant pressure that eased and returned like he wasn’t quite sure what to do.
The ringing stopped and she relaxed against him. His cotton covered cock found sanctuary between her breasts.
When it seemed he’d stalled, uncertain what to do next, she rested her mouth on his torso.
“You don’t disappoint, Mr. Breckenridge. Am I disappointing you?”
“Baby, you keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll blow my pride right here. You want to see it?”
“No,” she whispered, surging up to kiss his lips. “I want to taste it.”
His arms came around her fast, but she sat straight, thwarting his effort to take the lead.
“Baby—”
“If I’m not pleasing you, I’ll stop,” she teased, arching her back to grind against him. “You want me to stop?”
“I want you to marry me.”
She kissed him again. “One thing at a time.”
Their next kiss was longer, slower, more learning? Sure. But it helped they were skin to skin and neither of their hands missed the opportunity to explore.
Sometime, whenever, eventually, his phone rang again.
Again, she broke their kiss. Their eyes questioned, begged, worried.
He exhaled, stroking her hair, tempting her mouth back to his. “Leave it.”
“It could be important.”
If they didn’t understand the value of being present and available, they hadn’t learned anything in recent days. He groaned as she wriggled from his arms and down the bed.
“More likely it’s Caber or Ward messing with me.”
“Messing with you how?”
“They’ve met my girlfriend,” he said as she leaned off the end of the bed to snag his hoodie. “And they know we’re doing this.”
“How do they know we’re doing this?”
“I boast.” Her flat expression prompted his laugh. “I’m kidding, Cherry. I’m kidding. They know you’re hot and we’re spending the night together. If we weren’t doing this, I’d have to hand back my Man Card.”
The phone stopped ringing as she dug it from his pocket and turned to walk on her knees up the bed on her own side.
“Angie,” she said, stopping halfway up. “Two missed calls from her and—” She frowned. “I thought you phoned your phone from mine. There’s only one other missed call and it’s from Anna.”
“Babe, forget the phone,” he said and tried to grab it, but she held it out of reach. “Come here.”
“Just a second.” Dialing her number, it was weird that the glitch erased her number and no one else’s. Except when she pressed call, the phone on her nightstand lit up. And there it was on his screen again: Anna. He had her number saved in his phone under Anna for… the answer came in the two smaller pale gray letters beneath the name. LD. Lighting Darkness. Anna. Lighting Darkness and…
“Baby—”
“Oh my God,” she whispered and threw the phone to her pillow as both hands flew to her mouth. “Oh my—”
“Let me explain.”
“You’re nineteen oh eight. You’re… you’re Jacob.”
“Baby—”
“No, no, no—” Scrambling off the bed, her hands still stifled her words. “No, it can’t—I can’t—”
“Listen to me.” Throwing back the covers, he was on his feet in an instant. “Baby, it wasn’t a—”
Maybe he was still talking, saying words or… One man, two men, no, one man, listening to her secrets, asking her to bare her soul, telling her she was safe, and all the time—
She swept his clothes from the floor and dumped them on the bed. “Get out.”
“No!” His adamance might mean something to him, but it changed nothing. “I’m sorry, Cherry—”
“Stop it!” Squeezing her eyes closed, she scrunched her hair in her fists at her temples. “No more. No more! God, I was an—the things I’ve said—the things I—” Words blocked her throat. There he was, at the side of her bed, standing there in his underwear like… “I don’t know who you are.”
“Yes, you do. You do.”
When he tried to approach, she leaped back. “Please don’t make me call the cops.”
“Call them, I don’t give a shit, I’m not going anywhere.”
And they wouldn’t make him. Who would law enforcement send? Someone who owed the Breckenridges? Someone close to the family with their own agenda? Safety didn’t even exist in those paid to protect.
“Was it some kind of sick game? Another bet? Another deal?” This time as her eyes closed, her head went right. “Why did I ignore my instincts? God, I’m such a fucking fool. I deserve everything I get.”
“You’re not a fool and it was not a bet. Everything between us was real, is real—”
“Don’t insult me,” she growled, her jaw so tight her lips hardly moved. “You got your kicks, now get dressed, and get out of here.”
“Cherry—”
“Get out! Get out! I don’t want you here! I don’t want you near me!” Tears burned hot like acid fueled by fury. Swiping up his hoodie, she threw it at him. “Take your shit!” Next was the tee-shirt, everything there, of his, his clothes, was thrown at him one after another. “Get out of my apartment! Out of my life! Take your money and your flirting and your goddamn—get out of my house, Breckenridge! Now!”
“Ba—”
“Everything! I want it gone! You gone! Take your cars and your drivers! Take your brothers! Your family! Your private dining! Get the fuck out of my life! I never want to see you again! Never want to see—”
“Savvy—”
“Do not call me that like you have any idea who I am,” she spat.
Except he did. He knew more of her than most people alive. He’d been twice the presence, the real, the oral, the physical, he’d had two sides to her. Reluctant to corner herself, she had no choice because she had to get her phone from the bed. Then it was three digits, she typed and turned the phone to show him.
“Get out,” she said again, showing certainty with her composure. “Or I will call the cops. I’ll call the media. I’ll call the goddamn—”
But no, she wouldn’t wait for him to acquiesce. His access, his money, it gave him rights and privileges not afforded to people like her. Opening her nightstand, she grabbed sweats to pull them on.
“What are you doing?”
“You don’t have to go anywhere, I get it, your power gives you—” She snatched a tee-shirt from a drawer. After putting it on, she picked up her purse from the floor. “I’ll never have access or freedom in the way a Breckenridge—”
“This is your place.” Was it really? It didn’t feel that way. When she stood, he opened his hands. “Okay, wait, I’ll go.” And that would be it. Over. “I get you need time to process this.” Was he really going to talk to her like that? Snagging a hair tie from the lamp, she put her hair up. “No…” He started to dress. “I’m getting changed, I’m leaving. Baby, I need you to understand, to know what I—”
“I don’t have to do anything,” she said, numb as she went to the stairs. “Get dressed and get out. Take the car, Ferguson, everything, I don’t want anything Breckenridge anywhere near me.”
And, God, she already owed them so much. Descending the stairs, she went through the door to the left, the bathroom, and locked the door. She couldn’t lose it, wouldn’t lose it, not until he was gone, until it was over. Over. They’d been promising each other forever not so long ago. Now it was… over. Resting against the vanity, she listened to his movement above, down the stairs.
Eyes closed again, breath held, she waited.
“I love you, Savanna Mayden,” his solemn voice came from the other side of the door. “Believe it or don’t, but I never meant to hurt you. I wanted you and I couldn’t give you up. I love you, Cherry.” Silence. Still, she didn’t breathe. “You know how to find me.”
Not that she would need to. His footsteps faded and the front door closed. Her knees buckled and she went to the floor with a wail. Over. Forever. Oh, God, what was left of her this time?