Exposed (10 page)

“Damn, Mystique,” he moaned against her chest, and she didn’t care that he was calling her by a name she’d disowned long ago. She
wanted
to be her—intensely erotic, uninhibited, removed from the act of betrayal she was committing against the man she loved.

As she closed her eyes and threw back her head, she could already feel the pressure of another orgasm building in her stomach and thighs. She picked up the pace, breasts bouncing as she slammed her pussy walls up and down the length of Dominic’s cock. She rode him like she was a jockey and he was her champion Thoroughbred.

“Fuck, woman,” he panted, his hard grip tightening on her butt cheeks. His heart was beating as fast and furious as her own.“You got some serious skills. I don’t think … I’m gonna last much longer.”

Tamia laughed, a lusty, triumphant laugh.“Go for yours.”

He grabbed her ass and slammed her hips down onto his shaft one more time, then came with a loud roar. She joined him a few moments later.

From the bed they moved to the floor, the wall and the dresser, then back to the bed again. Tamia came until Dominic’s dick was coated with her juices, and so slick and wet it kept sliding out of her body. She came until her throat was raw from screaming and her pussy felt sore and swollen.

She came until she’d purged the pain of Brandon’s rejection from her mind, if not her soul.

When the erotic encounter was over, nearly four hours had passed.

She was exhausted, and sorely tempted to curl up in her lover’s arms and sleep till noon. But she forced herself to rise from the damp, rumpled bed and slip on her lingerie.

“Where you going?” Dominic mumbled drowsily from the bed.

“Home.”

“Why?”

She smiled.“Because that’s where I live.”

“But—”

She reached over and placed her finger against his lips, silencing his protest. Soft candlelight flickered over his face, revealing the confusion in his eyes.

“I have to go to work in the morning,” she told him. “If you want more of this sublime pussy, you know how to reach me.”

He eyed her for a long moment, looking like he wanted to beg her to stay before he came to his senses. “I’ll walk you out,” he offered.

“No, that’s all right. I can see myself out.” She smiled coyly. “You look like you can’t move anyway.”

He propped his head in his hand and watched as she sauntered from the bedroom, hips undulating, round butt cheeks rising and falling with each sensual step.

When she heard a muffled groan behind her, she smiled with wicked satisfaction.

For the first time since Dominic had invaded her life, she felt empowered, like the balance of power had tipped in her favor.

She’d enjoy the feeling while she could, because somehow she knew it wouldn’t last for long.

Brandon had always prided himself on being a good judge of character. He made a living cross-examining witnesses, separating fact from fiction, discerning truth from lies.

The young mother facing him across the small table was telling the truth. She hadn’t committed the crime she’d been charged with. Despite the incriminating evidence against her, Brandon knew deep in his gut that Amber Sealy hadn’t stabbed her cheating boyfriend in the heat of passion. But he also knew that proving her innocence would be no easy feat.

Since her arrest, she’d been held at the Joe Corley Detention Facility while she awaited arraignment. Her boyfriend, who’d sustained multiple stab wounds during the vicious attack, remained in critical condition at a local hospital. If he died, the charges against Amber would be upgraded to first-degree murder. It wasn’t looking very good for either of them.

“I’m glad you contacted an attorney before your first court date,” Brandon told her, making notations on his legal pad. “You’d be surprised how many people wait until after they’ve entered a guilty plea.”

“Does this mean you’ll take my case?”Amber asked.

He glanced up, meeting her hopeful gaze. “Yes. I’ll take your case.”

Tears welled in her green eyes.“Thank you, Mr. Chambers. Thank you
so much.
”

Touched by her gratitude, Brandon said gruffly, “Don’t thank me just yet. We’ve got our work cut out for us. For starters, you consented to have your home searched and you spoke to the police without an attorney present.”

“I’m sorry,” she said anxiously.“I didn’t know any better.”

“I know,” Brandon grimly agreed.“And they took full advantage of that. From now on, you’ll do exactly as I tell you. No ifs, ands, or buts. Do you understand?”

She nodded vigorously.“Yes, sir, I understand.”

“Do
not
discuss your case with anyone—family, friends, your cell mate, or your priest. Absolutely
no one,
no matter how caring or sympathetic they seem to be. If you need to get something off your chest, you call me. Got that?”

Again she dutifully bobbed her head.“I understand.”

Brandon’s expression softened.“I’ll send someone to check on your daughter and let you know how she’s doing.”

“Thank you,” Amber whispered earnestly. “Thank you
so
much.”

Brandon concluded the visit and stood as his new client was escorted away by a corrections officer.

He left the small room and headed back through the main visiting area. Along the way he passed several people who were visiting loved ones. One young inmate with a mocha complexion and long, cornrowed hair bore such a strong resemblance to Tamia that Brandon did a double take.

The woman glanced up and met his stunned gaze. Mistaking his attention for flirtatiousness, she winked at him. Her visitor, a young brotha sporting dreads, turned and glared menacingly at Brandon.

Chuckling and shaking his head, Brandon continued on his way out of the building.

He told himself that his mind was playing tricks on him, superimposing Tamia’s image over the faces of perfect strangers because he missed her like hell, and he felt guilty about the way things had gone down between them on Thursday night. Since then, he’d been calling her every day to apologize and explain himself, but she was ignoring his phone calls. And he couldn’t really blame her.

They’d been dating for seven months, and he had yet to tell his parents about her. He knew that they wouldn’t approve of his relationship with Tamia because she didn’t have the right pedigree. She didn’t come from an upper-crust, socially connected family. Her obscure, middle-class roots would never pass the stringent standards set by four generations of Chamberses. She couldn’t boast of an Ivy League or HBCU education; she’d graduated from the University of Houston after completing two years of community college. And the sexy, street-savvy edge that Brandon considered one of her many strengths would be disparaged by his parents as “ghetto tendencies.”

He loved Bernard and Gwen Chambers dearly, but as their son, he’d be the first to admit that they were two of the most bourgeois Negroes he’d ever known. He’d seen firsthand how they dismantled people who weren’t “on their level,” and it wasn’t pretty. The last thing he wanted was to subject Tamia to a hostile interrogation about her background. On the other hand, he knew he couldn’t keep delaying an introduction between her and his parents.

He had to make things right with her. Even before last week’s heated confrontation, he’d sensed a growing distance between them, sensed that she was retreating from him. Now he knew why. She thought he was just using her for sex, and she felt taken for granted.

He couldn’t have that.

So he’d give her a few more hours to return his last phone call. If he didn’t hear from her by then, he’d drive to her house and camp out in her front yard, if need be, until she agreed to a truce.

And he knew just how to ensure that she would.

Tamia closed her eyes and groaned as Dominic pummeled her with deep, powerful thrusts that rattled the headboard and sent her mind orbiting into outer space.

“Ohhh …,” she moaned, digging her fingernails into his back, scraping skin.“Oooh, yes …
yesss!
”

“Watch me,” he commanded, his low, guttural voice sending delicious shivers through her. “Know who’s fucking you like you never been fucked before.”

She opened her heavy-lidded eyes and stared up at him, this stranger who was indeed taking her body to heights of ecstasy she’d never imagined. Her enemy. Her lover. Her blackmailer. Her obsession. The lines had become blurred, blending so seamlessly she could no longer separate one from the other. Like their joined bodies.

She couldn’t get enough of him. His musky scent, the heat of his body, the taste of him that lingered on her tongue.

“Fuck, baby,” he breathed. His copper-toned muscles were gleaming with sweat, his hips pistoning relentlessly as he worked her over.“This shit is outta this world.”

Tamia couldn’t agree more. Tightening her thighs around his waist, she raked her hands down his back and grabbed his flexing ass, pushing him deeper into her pussy. He groaned and
thrust even faster, harder, pounding his dick inside her until she came, screaming like a banshee.

Seconds later he jerked out of her and peeled off the condom, splashing off on her breasts and stomach. She quivered with delight as he rubbed his hot cream into her skin, marking his territory. Holding his gaze, she took his sticky fingers into her mouth and sucked them clean.

He groaned, collapsing on the bed beside her and pulling her into his arms. She snuggled against him, heartbeat slowing as a feeling of relaxed contentment washed over her. She waited for shame and guilt to follow. But her conscience remained silent, as if it, too, had been seduced into submission.

She’d left work early that afternoon, complaining that she didn’t feel well. Instead of driving home and crawling into bed—as she’d claimed she was going to do—she’d rushed straight over to Dominic’s penthouse. After Thursday’s erotic sexcapade, he hadn’t waited several days to contact her again. She’d heard from him the very next day. At the end of the night she hadn’t even bothered to leave, voluntarily spending the entire weekend with him.

Sighing with satisfaction, she stared across the large bedroom suite. Night had drawn a black veil over the windows, which overlooked the glittering downtown skyline. A lamp glowed softly on the nightstand. She’d lost track of time hours ago, but she assumed it was well past six. Oddly enough, there wasn’t a clock in sight.

Stirring, Dominic reached for a blunt on the nightstand and lit up. Tamia swore he kept a stash of weed in every corner of his penthouse.

“If the police ever raided your crib,” she teased,“you’d be in deep shit.”

He grinned.“Now why would they raid my home? I’m a legitimate businessman.”

“Sure, that’s what they
all
say. Ever heard of Bernie Madoff?”

They both laughed.

After several moments, Tamia ventured casually, “By the way, you never did tell me …” She trailed off uncertainly.

Dominic toked on the blunt. “Tell you what?” His post-coital voice was deeper and lazier, his accent more pronounced.

She hesitated.“Did you see Brandon on Saturday night?”

Dominic blew a smooth stream of smoke through his nos-trils.“Sure did.”

Tamia chewed on her lower lip. She’d been caught off-guard when he casually mentioned to her that he’d been invited to the mayor’s fund-raiser dinner. The thought of her boyfriend and her lover socializing at the same event had struck sheer terror in her heart. When Dominic invited her to accompany him, she’d briefly entertained the idea, if for no other reason than to keep Dominic far away from Brandon. But there was no way she could have explained attending the function with another man, let alone someone who was only supposed to be her client.

“Did you speak to him?” she asked cautiously.

“Of course,” Dominic drawled. “I told him that I’d spent the past two nights fucking his woman, and you and your sublime pussy would be waiting for me when I got home.”

Tamia stared at him, torn between disbelief and dread. He was so crazy, so unpredictable, that she wouldn’t put anything past him.“Please tell me you’re joking.”

He chuckled softly. “Relax. I said hello to the brotha and kept it moving.”

Inwardly breathing a sigh of relief, she swiped the blunt from between his fingers, took a long drag, then blew out the smoke.“Was he … alone?”

“Uh-uh. I’m not tellin’ you.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not your spy. If you wanted to keep tabs on your man, you shoulda gone with me like I asked you to.”

She grimaced, passing the blunt back to him. “I couldn’t
show up at the dinner with you. How would that have looked? You’re supposed to be my client.”

“And this other woman, the one you’re so worried about, is supposed to be Brandon’s colleague. Right?”

“Supposed to be,”Tamia mumbled sourly.

Dominic eyed her for a moment.“Do you trust him?”

She frowned, recognizing the hypocrisy of contemplating such a question while lying in another man’s bed, his cum still drying on her chest.

She sighed heavily.“Before last week I would have said yes, I trust Brandon completely. But after seeing him and that woman together, I’m not so sure anymore. The way they were teasing and flirting with each other really got under my skin. And when she bent over his desk to get something, he went out of his way
not
to stare at her ass. It was like he really wanted to look, but he knew he’d get cut if he even dared.”

Dominic chuckled, shaking his head at her.“Even if he
had
looked, that wouldn’t have proved anything. Looking and fucking are two different things.”

“Of course
you’d
say that,” Tamia grumbled darkly. “Men always defend one another’s actions.”

Dominic gave her a pointed look. “Do you fuck every dude you find attractive?”

She hesitated.“No,” she grudgingly admitted.

“Okay then.” He stubbed out his blunt in an ashtray on the nightstand.“I know what your problem is.”

“
My
problem?”

“Yeah.” He met her wary gaze.“You feel guilty about what we’ve been doing. So to make yourself feel better, you’re trying like hell to convince yourself that Brandon is cheating on you. If you’re both sneaking around on each other, then two wrongs must make a right.”