Chapter 15 #3
Smiling, he continued, “Brunson proposed to you in front of the Howard University School of Law building, but it ultimately didn’t work out because the two of you wanted different things.
He preferred systems. You preferred people.
This is where you clashed, and over time, you realized it wasn’t just ideological.
It was a fundamental difference in how you two saw the world.
Plus, your family wasn’t too fond of him.
They didn’t like the way you were changing to accommodate the image he wanted, and he always seemed uncomfortable with giving you space to talk about Raven. ”
I raised both eyebrows. “Holy shit. All of that was in my file? I guess, if the assignment was coming from the White House, they had to be thorough.”
He flicked a glance at me. “Uh…yeah. Exactly.”
I polished off my cheese.
He removed the cork from the bottle of wine and took a swig.
I reached for the bottle, but he held it up to my mouth.
Then, he watched as I took a mouthful, and when a dribble escaped down my chin, he bent to lick away the droplet.
I used the opportunity to steal a kiss and allowed myself to indulge in the fruity notes on his tongue left behind by the wine.
We let up for air.
It took me a minute to open my eyes.
And, unsurprisingly, he was looking right at me.
“You knew the people would have decided not to intervene, didn’t you?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No, I didn’t know.”
“But you believed that’s where they’d lean.”
“Yeah, but I don’t have your heart. I lean more toward cynicism and disappointment. I’m wired that way. I don’t expect good things or kindness. I hope for them, but I don’t expect them.”
“Yet, you supported me anyhow.”
“You’re talking to a guy with a high school diploma. You have a law degree, and you got into that DOJ Honors program, which is competitive as hell, and that basically fast-tracked your career to the U.S. Attorney’s office.”
The stinging returned, and my words came out harsher than intended.
“Which means what?”
“That we don’t have to be on the same page about how people might or might not react to something,” he said. “You’re fucking brilliant. I trust you and your judgment.”
“You’re fucking brilliant too.”
“Yeah, but without the military—”
“You would have found a different way to defy the odds,” I argued. “You’re an amazing, accomplished man, Dez. Amazing. Don’t put me on a pedestal unless you’re prepared to be up there with me.”
My voice broke, and the first tear fell. I tried for the words, but they remained lodged in my throat.
Dez kissed me again, this kiss more tender than the last. “Want to hear something funny?” he prefaced. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for months, and now, I get to. It’s crazy how that works. I should’ve made my move so much earlier.”
I swiped at one eye. “How are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Stabbing me in the heart.”
He set the wine bottle aside and took my hand. “Larke, you’re not the first person to make it out of Sanitation, but you’re the first person to use your escape to benefit them.”
“They were trying.”
“They were making moves, yeah. And I’m not saying that anyone in Sanitation deserves their circumstances, but what if this isn’t your fight to lead?
Babe, you keep jumping to the front of the line.
At this point, I think you go into action on autopilot, but you’ve become so accustomed to protecting that I don’t think you realize what it’s costing you.
And yes, many times, you get shit done, but when you look around, are there more people standing next to you or behind you? ”
He kissed my forehead.
My eyes automatically closed.
“And here’s the even more fucked up part,” he added. “I don’t think there’s anyone standing in front of you. No one’s taking those bullets, those blows. Most of the time, they are behind you. Sometimes, they’re beside you—”
“But never in front,” I finished. “Until you came along.”
“I’ll take the bullets, the hits, the cuts, the slashes. Then, once the danger’s gone, I’ll move out of the way. Let you do your thing.”
“Don’t men get clowned for that? For letting their woman ‘lead’ them?”
“Do I seem like the type to care what the fuck other men think about our relationship?”
“No.”
“All right, then.”
I opened my eyes, searched his. “What if I did all this, and I only made things worse? Cerner and Neal are going to think all of Sanitation’s causing a stir.”
“I’ll handle Neal.”
“And Cerner?”
He paused. “Yeah, him too. But what if we go to Sanitation and ask them the question we never did: if you had to choose between Totten and the unknown world outside the walls, which would you pick? Because there are things we can do here to make things better, but we’ll never make it good.
So, if they want to come with us, they have that option. ”
“I’d stay if you wanted to stay,” I said. “That’s the part that scares me—what I would do for you. Anything. Everything.”
“And if you wanted to stay, I’d suck it up and wear this fucking uniform day in and day out.
I’d pay your ‘rent’ until they allowed me to marry you and move you into Woodhaven.
I’d find you roses even if I had to plant them myself.
Jesus…” He smiled. “Do you see what love’s turned me into? I don’t recognize myself anymore.”
I laughed.
“And I love the sound of your laugh.”
“Baby, you really are a sap in love,” I teased.
“Did you know tree sap is basically tree blood?”
“So wait, maple syrup…are we spreading tree blood on our pancakes?”
“There’s a vampire joke in there somewhere,” we both said at the same time.
He tucked one hand behind my head. I’d kissed this man plenty of times by this point, but my stomach still pulled whenever he looked into my eyes. My heart still slammed against my chest whenever he touched me.
“Still can’t believe I get to kiss you…”
His voice trailed off as his lips met mine.
All the despair I’d harbored earlier disappeared, and my body felt as though I’d taken flight. I gripped the backs of his arms and held on. Ten days or one hundred years no longer mattered. I wanted him for however long I could have him.
“Do you still trust me?” he asked again, sucking on my bottom lip and gently tugging on a twist dangling behind my ear. “Lie down for me.”
My eyes wavered between partially open and fully closed. “Down here?”
“Yes. If we try to go anywhere else, we won’t make it.”
He took my hand and placed it on the bulge in his pants.
“I see your point. Yes, I still trust you.”
“Thank you.”
I smiled against his mouth and lay down on the blanket.
He removed my shoes, pulled the dress off over my head, unhooked my bra, and tossed the clothing somewhere in the shadows.
Then, he dipped his head, taking a nipple into his mouth.
As he sucked, he massaged my other nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
My hips rocked against him, and he groaned before either punishing or rewarding me with a hard suck that arched my back up off the flat surface.
“I have a plan I’m trying to stick to, and you’re making that difficult,” he said, kissing his way to the space between my breasts.
I gripped his hair. “And what’s your plan?”
“To make you drip down my chin, Tapley.”
Lately, he’d been alternating between Larke and Tapley, but there was something about tacking my last name onto the end of that particular sentence that made me dizzy.
“You know, here at Totten, I have access to some sort of maintenance,” I pointed out. “It might not be Tatiana, but it’s something. Out there, however…”
“Tatiana from Nova Terra?” he asked, kissing his way down my body. “The one who did your waxes, right?”
“How’d you know her name? You stayed in the waiting room.”
“Because I’m good at my job.” He slid the panties down my legs and tossed those as well. “Plus, Mae helped me get a job at an Ace Hardware store the summer before I left for the Navy.”
I eyed the top of his head. “I’m almost afraid to ask where this is going.”
“The first thing I sold was a Dewalt twenty-volt, battery-operated weed whacker.”
I let the information saturate.
Then, I laughed.
I laughed until my lungs rattled.
He grinned. “I’m certified, baby.”
I continued to laugh, coughing into my elbow and reveling in his smile until his tongue found its mark.
The first flick was soft.
So soft.
As if unsatisfied with how little of me he had access to, he hooked my legs over his shoulders and sucked on my lips before dipping his tongue between them. My hips rose again, and soon I was riding his face, sliding my clit along his tongue.
He groaned a deep, “Mmm,” and then an even deeper, “Mm-hmm” when I tangled my fingers in his hair. My gasps echoed and stretched, and our bodies created shadows against the bare walls in the dancing candlelight.
He pulled away, sucking on his wet bottom lip, and entered me with two fingers. “Drive me crazy,” he said, so low that I was sure he was talking to himself. “Juicy fucking pussy.”
He sucked on my clit.
My eyes rolled back.
He continued, sucking and licking and thrusting his fingers. And I fisted his hair with both hands, rocking against him until my body seized. My muscles squeezed his fingers, my body arching further and further with every wave of the orgasm.
The movements of his tongue slowed.
Then, after one last lick that left me shuddering, he eased back to undress. I watched, wanting to help him, but I was nothing but a pile of spent limbs. So, I took in the show, took in the solid lines of his frame until he was completely naked, his dick hard and beading with fluid.
I started to turn over, but he grabbed my hip.
“No, stay like this.” He spread my legs wider and climbed over me. “Yes, I love fucking you from behind, but I want you to stay just like this.”
He gripped the base of his shaft, and I reached between us to guide him inside me. When his head slid past my entrance, he moaned a deep, “Fuck” and finished the thrust in a slow, steady motion.
“It’s so damn sexy when you do that,” I said, out of breath.
He planted his hands on either side of my head and fucked me in deep, rhythmic strokes. I sank my fingers into the muscles in his ass and pulled him deeper than I could take him, but I loved the way he felt, thick and hard and pulsing against my walls.
At times, he seemed to be looking at me. Others, he seemed to be searching my face, my eyes, before his gaze took possession of mine again.
“Is this why you wanted me on my back?” I teased. “To see what you do to me?”
He smiled with a slight shake of his head. “Enjoying yourself?”
“With you? Always.”
He used one hand to angle my hips, and if my eyes rolled back one more time, I was sure I’d spend the rest of my life looking at my optic nerve.
“Oh, is that your spot, baby?” He leaned down and nipped my bottom lip. “So sorry. Didn’t mean to hit it.”
And he kept hitting it.
Repeatedly.
My pussy creamed around his shaft. I’d never had a man make love to me this intently, placing my desire and enjoyment front and center. Making my pleasure essential.
“Dez...” I squeezed my nipples, pressure building between my legs. “Oh my god.”
The pressure burst.
I spasmed.
He thrust harder and faster, groaning my name until his body went stiff and I felt him release inside me. I locked my legs around his waist, my orgasmic high cascading in ripples.
“Stay like this for a minute,” I said, gasping, and I didn’t care that I sounded like I was pleading. “Please stay like this for a minute.”
He kissed the side of my face. “With pleasure.”
A few hours later—at least—I woke up with the second blanket from the hamper strewn over my nude body. I didn’t ache from my nap on the hard floor as much as I expected, my muscles warming as I stretched my arms above my head.
After a quick scan of the alcove, I spotted Dez standing in the opening, wearing only his uniform pants and staring down the corridor. I started to call out to him, but he placed one finger on his lips and tipped his head toward the dark passageway.
I joined him, securing the blanket around my nakedness, and peered around the corner just in time to see Leigh pass by.
Then LaSalle.
A tall man with low-cut hair brought up the rear. However, instead of following the pair, he stopped and turned. I’d heard him referred to as Ronan, but I didn’t know much about him other than the fact that he was also a Class One Elite Protector.
Ronan started toward us.
Dez stepped in front of me.