Chapter Ten
CADE
Nikki had disappeared into the bathroom, and I lay sprawled on her bed, my hands tucked behind my head as I stared at the ceiling.
She had been everything I craved and more, her tight pussy stretching around me, taking every fucking inch.
My cock twitched against my leg as I replayed the entire scene in my head. Looks like I’d met my match.
There was a satisfied humming drifting from the bathroom, an unrecognizable tune as the tap ran freely, water splashing into the porcelain sink. Rolling my head to the side, the handcuffs’ key glinted in the light from the window and caught my eye.
Fuck.
The key!
I didn’t think to grab the key when I’d stolen the replacement cuffs.
Oh shit.
Nikki was practically bouncing as she emerged from the bathroom, that slight pink flush on her cheeks enunciating the freckles against her otherwise pale skin.
She looked even more like an angel with her hair around her shoulders and her naked body lit up in the sunlight, her pale nipples alert above a smattering of goose bumps as the cooling air moved across her skin.
My cock twitched again.
I’d need her again soon.
I wanted her right now.
“Shall we get back to searching?” she asked.
“Back to implies we started in the first place.”
“Weren’t you looking while I got us drinks?”
I watched her as she sat on the edge of the bed, folding one leg neatly under the other. “Maybe,” I said, allowing myself a leisurely gaze over her body, “… or maybe I was watching your ass.”
She smirked. “Well, watch my ass as I get dressed, then come help me look.”
Lifting myself into a sitting position, I did exactly that, and memorized the lines of her body as she pulled on some clothes she had lying around, her others having been discarded in the living room earlier.
The black tank and baggy three-quarter shorts did nothing to dim how hot she was.
I knew what she looked like under those clothes now, and the image of her writhing underneath me, her lips pouted, and a small frown as she adjusted to my size was forever imprinted in my mind.
Sighing, I rolled off the bed and pulled my pants back on, not bothering with anything else. Something told me it wouldn’t be long before I’d be taking them off again. I followed her back down the hall into the living room, where Nikki immediately bent over to adjust a pile of books.
I couldn’t help myself.
Approaching, I grabbed her hips as she bent at the waist, her ass in the air.
Pushing against her, I knew she’d be able to feel my cock through our clothes, and she moaned and wiggled as I ground against her, rubbing my cock along her pussy and between her ass cheeks.
When she stood, her cheeks were flushed, and she grinned at me, dragging her teeth across her lip.
“Well…” I said, flexing my fingers on her hips, “… aren’t we going to search for the cuffs?”
She glared at me, unsure what game I was playing.
When she bent again, I slid my hand down the back of her shorts, and she giggled until I cupped her cheek in my palm and pushed my middle finger into her ass.
Nikki jumped away from me like a shot, and if possible, her cheeks were even redder.
“You’re not going to find them in there! ”
My lips lifted into a smirk. Her eyes were wide, but it wasn’t anger I saw there.
Arousal and curiosity.
Good to know. Store that information for later.
Nikki stared at me for a moment, and I waited for her to protest further.
But she closed the gap between us, and when I snaked my arms around her waist, she didn’t stop me.
She was so warm against me, a little fireball, and she ignited every part of me.
A strangled cry was torn from me when she gripped my cock through my pants. Hard.
“You ready to help?” She smirked at me.
“Yeah,” I choked out.
Nikki’s grip tightened, and I gritted my teeth, the pain so sweet. “Yes, what?” she crooned.
Oh, fuck no.
My hand was around her throat, and she sucked air in sharply as I tightened my grip.
My other hand grabbed her wrist until she was forced to release her grip on me, which had increased.
“That’s not going to work on me, angel,” I said, a growl I couldn’t control rumbling deep in my chest. “I’m the boss in that department. ”
Her eyes flashed with disobedience, and she grinned. “We’ll see about that.”
Letting her go, we stared at each other for a moment longer, the challenge I had laid out hung heavy in the air between us.
I debated if I should throw her over my lap and spank her or toss her over the couch and fuck her again.
Then she bent, slowly and purposefully, turning back and smirking when she saw my gaze on her ass as if I had any chance of resisting.
My cock twitched, but she began making a new pile of books next to the fireplace, moving and grabbing books and magazines from around the room systematically.
Steering clear of where I planted the stolen cuffs, I followed suit.
Fear began to tug at my chest as I kneeled next to the couch, stacking up papers that were on the small table, covering the base of a lamp that looked to be antique but may have simply been designed to appear that way.
I followed Nikki’s lead and built a pile of files next to the fireplace, my curiosity getting the better of me as the pile increased.
Everything I pulled from the table, the couch, and under the couch was the same—folders full of notes and photographs, dodgy pictures that were so blurred and skewed they must’ve been copies of copies, and Post-it notes with questions scrawled across them.
It took me longer than it should have, distracted by my selfish thoughts of waiting to be caught out for bringing back the wrong handcuffs to realize these were Nikki’s investigations into her father’s death.
I began to skim-read a few as I gathered them, aware that I was probably crossing a line into what was acceptable prying but unable to stop myself.
She’d followed the money—always a good start.
But the ownership of the buildings which were once her father’s had changed and became complicated, being switched between private businesses, trusts, and names of people who didn’t exist, until she was going around in circles and ending up nowhere.
Images of the buildings she either knew or suspected to have been her father’s were surrounded by notes in her scrawled writing, every slanted letter joined to the next and barely a space between words.
It looked like no one was willing to talk to her, whether she tried to use her uniform to get through the door or not.
A file was snatched from my hand, and I looked up to meet her eyes, expecting to see anger but instead finding embarrassment and shame.
“I’m taking a break from investigating,” Nikki said, turning away from me.
Thank God. “Why’s that?”
Nikki sighed, adding the file to the stack I had already created.
“I don’t think he’d want me to wile my life away trying to find his killer.
” Before I could respond, she’d spun around to face me, her cheeks flaming again.
“But I’m not giving up, not now, not ever.
I’ll let things settle down at work, make them think I’ve stopped, and then I’ll keep going.
” Her gaze dropped to the floor, and her jaw worked as she tensed and released like she was grinding her teeth. “I won’t give up on him.”
She was never going to stop.
As though I didn’t know that already, she had already proven herself to me as stubborn and headstrong.
If she wasn’t willing to relinquish the smallest amount of control with me, how far would she go to avenge someone she loved?
To the ends of the earth and until her last breath, I imagined she wouldn’t stop searching.
I had to help if only to ease her mind so she could move on.
But I couldn’t tell her what I knew. I’d had to find some other way to help.
Maybe if I could solve it for her.
“Aha!”
I was snapped back to reality as Nikki straightened, holding the handcuffs I had planted under the coffee table. She strolled to the bedroom and came back with the key, and I held my breath as she pressed the key into the cuff and sighed as it clicked and released.
A universal key.
Or specific by police station, perhaps.
Either way, I’d gotten away with it.
Barely.
“So what happens now?” I asked, leaning against the back of the couch.
She glanced at the cheap plastic clock on the wall. “Tomorrow I’ll go drop them at the station, and then… sit on my ass for four weeks.”
My demon stirred. “You could sit on my face if you prefer.”
Nikki’s skin flushed, and her mouth dropped open at my words.
I couldn’t help it. Despite the conflicting emotions that stirred in me, I’d had her now, and I knew I’d never get enough of her.
My guilt was easy to quash when faced with her so long as I didn’t look too deeply into her eyes and the pain that was constantly there—pain which she blamed herself for.
She wasn’t responsible for the person her father was.
He met his death because of his own doing, I was certain of it. Nikki was too loyal for her own good.
But all of this I could push to the side because she was fucking incredible, and her touch burned against me like no other had before. I loved her defiance, her humor, and simply her company. I’d had her body once, and it would never be enough now.
Already my length was straining against my pants, and I stalked toward her, backing her against the stone of the fireplace and leaning in until my lips were next to her neck, breathing in the scent of her.
Nikki shuddered, and the scent of her arousal flooded the air between us, settling around me like embers ready to ignite me again, and my senses spiked.
“Got any plans tonight?” I whispered.