Heated (15 page)

Bianca bit her lip as she looked to the moon as if she was counting to ten. “Are you done?” she asked, sounding a little irritable.

“Hell no,” he said with emphasis, starting to pace in his bare feet. “I’ve been waiting a week to get this off my chest.”

Bianca released a heavy breath and moved to sit down on the top step of his stairs. “I know damn well you didn’t break into my apartment today. Just like I know you didn’t have anything to do with the equipment that was stolen. But I’m gone cop a squat. Looks like you got a lot to say.”

And just like that he felt foolish, which made him angry. “Bianca, what… what the hell you want, huh?
Wh–wh–what–what?”

Bianca leaned back against the porch rail and looked up at him. “I’m sorry. I was wrong. I made a mistake. I picked the wrong box. I took the wrong road at the fork. I chose the wrong hand.
Damn,
Kahron.
I f’ed up, okay. I get it. If you can’t forgive me for looking out for me, first and foremost, and taking a pause to make sure I wasn’t getting played, then that’s fine, but right now I need your help.”

Kahron braced his hands on the rail, leaning forward. “You weren’t there when they broke in, we’re you?” he asked, unable to fight the concern he felt for her.

Bianca rose, moving to stand beside him. “No, I wasn’t, but they tore it up pretty good.”

Kahron looked down at her. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt, B,” he said in a low voice.

“Me too, which is why I want to get on the offense and not the defense. Maybe if we sort this mess out together we can both benefit.”

Kahron nodded. “I was thinking along the same lines. The sooner we find just who the hell is behind all this the sooner I know you’ll be safe and I can prove to the police that I’m innocent.”

They fell silent, but Kahron’s eyes saw the defeat in Bianca’s shoulders and just a touch of that old sadness about her eyes. She turned as if she felt his eyes on her, and he couldn’t look away from those amazing hazel eyes to save his life.

He saw the same hunger he felt for her and he knew that all he had to do was to pull Bianca into his arms and she would be back in his life. Just like that.

But he didn’t reach for her.

Bianca blinked rapidly.

“You’re not going back to Walterboro tonight are
you?” he asked.

“Oh no. I’m not sleeping in that place until I get some sturdier locks that more than a hard shoulder can outdo.”

Kahron smiled at her ability to find any humor in the

situation. “You’re welcome to stay here,” he offered.

“That wasn’t my intention in coming here tonight.”

He nodded. “I know.”

Bianca stepped closer to him. “But I’ll be honest.”

Kahron’s heart raced as Bianca raised her hand to lovingly stroke his chin. One simple touch and his body betrayed him as he inhaled deeply of her scent—one he knew so well.

“I want my man back. My friend back. My lover back. My heart and soul back,” Bianca whispered. “Now
that
is my intention.”

Kahron resolve was undone. He raised his own hands to lightly grasp Bianca’s smooth cinnamon face. “Can I be honest?”

“Please.”

“I’m glad you’re not as stubborn as me.”

Their bodies melted against one another with ease. Arms encased bodies. Pelvis pressed together. Moans mingled. Tongues dances as they kissed first passionately and then feverishly. Their hearts beat with a unified rhythm.

Hershey circled them where they stood, the sound of her breathing mingling with their moans of pleasure.

“I think your bitch is jealous,” Bianca teased softly against his softly bearded cheek.

Kahron laughed, his body shaking as he held her closer.

Sometimes in life the mind locks away a minute
detail. Something so seemingly insignificant that it’s almost forgotten. Just when its least expected a light bulb brightens, the key to that locked door of the brain clicks open. As that door opens other snippets of seemingly innocent comments or events are recalled with a domino effect. One leads to the other and other and the other. Sometimes the “click” happens for no reason at all, and other times there’s an event or a person that nudges the door open.

It happened for Bianca somewhere around 2
A
.
M
. that morning. Naked and sated by the physical and emotional reunion with Kahron, Bianca was sitting in the window pane of his bedroom when she saw a lone figure limp across the front yard and enter the bunkhouse.

A lone and familiar figure.

And just like that…
click
.

1
5

“I never thought I would be playing Mouse to your Easy Rawlins, B.”

Bianca smile was cloaked by the darkness of the woods where she and Kahron sat on one of his four wheelers in the grove of trees. “We planted the trap yesterday now let’s just see who falls into it.”

“I understand that, but there’s a thousand other things we could doing,” he said throatily near her ear from behind her as his hands rose from her hips to deeply squeeze her breasts.

“Focus, Strong,” she told him dryly.

Kahron rolled her nipples between his fingers. “Trust me, I’m focused.”

Bianca laughed and tried half-heartedly to brush his tempting fingers away. “Don’t start something we can’t finish.”

Kahron nuzzled her nape. “This four wheeler is sturdy. We can finish.”

Twin lights suddenly beamed from the head of the long road.

Kahron’s hand fell away and Bianca felt his heart
thunder against her back, mirroring her own.

Bianca eyes locked on a small break in the trunk of the towering trees. “Here we go.”

Trishon sprayed her favorite perfume, Pleasures by Estee Lauder, over every inch of her nude body before slipping on a sheer ivory robe that concealed nothing… just the way she wanted.

She was just heading down the stairs when the doorbell sounded. She smiled and it was like that of a kitten being stroked or of a kitten about to be stroked. She peeked out the window before opening the door wide.

“Hi lover,” she purred, enjoying the way his eyes traveled up and down her nude frame.

Dante pulled her into arms, kissing her deeply as he kicked the door closed with his foot. “How’s my Kitten?” he asked.

“Better now that you’re here.”

Dante was the man that gave Trishon the sexual satisfaction that she craved. Her appetite was strong, and Hank King had long since stopped sating her.

Trishon made him release her and dropped to unbutton his pants and release his tool, she licked her lips greedily before taking him deeply into her mouth and throat with skill and ease as she squatted before him.

“Damn,” he swore, throwing his head back as his hand tightly held a fistful of her hair.

Trishon didn’t stop until she felt his thighs quiver and his member stiffen. Soon his seed filled her mouth and she swallowed it greedily, loving the pleasure she gave him, but more importantly the control she had over him.

Sex conquered all.

She looked up at him and released him with one final lick. “That’s for all your help these weeks. Without you none of this would’ve worked.”

Dante fell back against the wall, nearly tripping from his pants being down around his ankles. He said nothing as his member hung limp and drained between his thighs.

Trishon eyes squinted as she rose. “You know this has to stay our secret, don’t you, Dante?” she asked.

He jerked his pants up around his waist and looked at her. “You think I want to go to jail for the all this shit I did for you?” he asked roughly. “Burning that barn is arson. Bianca’s car. The stolen equipment I planted. All of that shit adds up to a lot of jail time I ain’t even feeling. For
all
of us.”

“Yes, but it worked, and we couldn’t have done it without you.”

Bianca and Kahron had left the four wheeler behind and made their way to the front of the grove of trees. They were just moving across the front yard to near the house when a twin pool of light shown from the head of the road again. They dashed to the side of the house, letting the darkness cloak them as they bent down.

Bianca was in the front and she leaned to the side just enough to see who drove the second vehicle. They hadn’t been expecting anyone else and everything could be ruined.

She frowned at the crimson red of the truck.

Trishon and Dante froze as the headlights flashed against the wall. Dante peeked out the front window.

“What the hell is he doing here?” he asked, anger lacing
his voice.

Trishon moved beside him and peeked out the window as well. “Oh shit. He can’t find you here.”

“Are you fucking him?” he asked, grabbing her wrist.

Trishon rolled her eyes heavenward. “Don’t be silly. What I want with his old ass? Putting up with Hank is more than enough.”

Dante gripped her chin tightly. “You better not be lying to me Trishon,” he warned, his eyes angry and dangerous. “I didn’t risk my ass for you behind no bullshit.”

“Trust me, baby.”

The grip on her chin slackened.

“Where did you park?”

“Behind the house.”

Trishon pushed him towards the kitchen. “Go out that way and be careful.”

The doorbell rang just as Dante slid out the side entrance to the kitchen.

The kitchen door opened and Kahron dashed behind the back of the house, pulling Bianca with him. He swore when he saw the work truck parked there. He motioned for Bianca to be quiet and move further back. He rose and pressed his body to the house right at the corner

Seconds later Dante tipped around the corner.

Under the dim light from the moon, Bianca saw his eyes round at the sight of Kahron standing there.

Kahron didn’t give him change to speak, knocking him first in the stomach so hard that his body curved upward and then with an upper cut to his chin that sent him flying backwards.

Dante rose unsteadily and came lumbering back at
Kahron.

Hoping to get help to subdue Dante she dashed around the house.

Trishon opened the door wide and smiled up at Papa Doc. “Hi lover,” she said huskily, still dressed in nothing but her sheer robe, the taste of Dante’s semen still heavy on her breath.

He smiled broadly, his gold tooth flashing against his broad teeth as he used one arm to jerk her naked body against him.

She kissed him, perversely thrilled that he had no idea that he tasted of her other lover’s seed as he suckled her tongue.

Her attraction to Papa Doc was his money, but it was not nearly enough to compete with Hank’s wealth when they first wed. Wealth he no longer had. Wealth she had no right to if they divorced. Wealth he would regain if he sold the ranch for the millions of dollars it was worth. Money she couldn’t wait to spend.

Of course, she would never leave Hank, not for Dante nor Papa Doc—her husband’s so called best friend. She couldn’t afford to. But Papa Doc didn’t care. He needed some of that money just as badly as she did, and she didn’t mind sharing as long as he did what she told him. He was another of her pawns controlled by her sex.

The whole scheme to hire Dante to help “convince” Hank to sell had been her idea, but Papa Doc was her willing accomplice.

The first time she stroked his thigh under the dining room table and she felt his swift hardness against her
hands, she knew he was hers.

Men were so stupid.

Bianca blinked away the tears at knowing her father had been betrayed by his wife and his best friend as she made her way back to Kahron.

“Where’s Papa Doc?” Kahron asked as he wrestled a battered Dante to his feet and held him securely by his forearms behind his back.

“He’s in on it. I saw them at the front door kissing.”

“Who?” Kahron and Dante asked in unison.

“Papa Doc and Trishon,” she told them.

“I’ll kill that bitch,” Dante swore, trying to break free of Kahron’s strong grasp and failing.

“Mad your partner in this b-s getting some of her stankness, too?” Bianca bitterly, fighting the urge to slap him.

“Call the police, B,” Kahron said, still holding Dante’s arms as he pushed him forward.

“I got it,” she said, her heart still racing with adrenaline as she dialed the number she now knew by heart.

Papa Doc had his pants down around his pale ankles as he stood behind Trishon, his member planted deeply within her walls as she clutched the stairs.

“Harder, Daddy. Harder,” she screamed curving her back as she wiggled her buttocks against him.

A cold draft breezed against his buttocks and the back of his thighs.

He turned and his eyes widened to f ind Bianca, Kahron, a bruised Dante, and two police officers stand
ing in the doorway.

He jumped back, his member sliding out of Trishon as he jerked his pants up.

“What you doing, Daddy?” Trishon purred, wiggling her bottom as she looked back over her shoulder.

Bianca stepped forward and lifted her foot to press against Trishon’s behind before anyone could stop her.

Twenty minutes later, the police had everyone in Hank King’s office as they tried to make heads or tails of the whole situation Bianca and Kahron laid out for them.

“So let me get this straight,” Officer Kandor asked, looking down at his notes. “Mrs. King and Louis Red-ding—also known as Papa Doc—convinced Dante to vandalize her husband’s ranch—including burning of the barn—so that he would sell his land to Mr. Kahron Strong here because the King business was failing and if she left him she would get nothing because of the prenuptial she signed.”

He stopped and looked up at Kahron and Bianca who both sat on opposite edges of the desk. Each nodded.

“We just discovered Mr. Redding’s involvement with Trishon tonight. Honestly, I don’t know how deeply he’s into it all. He could be a criminal or just a low-life son-of-a-bitch who was willing to stab his best friend in the back for a tramp.” Bianca’s anger at Papa Doc was clear.

“Your Mama’s a tramp, trick,” Trishon spat at her, her revealing nightgown covered by one of the police officer’s blankets.

“Refrain from the profanity ladies,” the officer by the door added.

Bianca help up her hand. “Sorry.”

“Whatever,” Trishon said with attitude.

Officer Kandor shifted his eyes back to his notepad. “Now Mr. King—who is in a rehab facility for alcoholism—called his daughter from Atlanta for help, and this throws a wrench in the plans because you, Miss King, started to turn the business around and Mr. King had no desire to sell. So to get rid of you, Mrs. King and Papa Doc hired Dante Mitchell to vandalize your car, steal the equipment and plant it at Mr. Strong’s ranch—whom he works for—and break into your apartment.”

“Yes,” Kahron said. “Bianca was at my house and saw Dante returning to the bunkhouse early in the morning. She recognized his figure from the night of her assault. Once she suspected him she put it together that Dante was involved with Trishon.”

“I saw a figure in the yard late one night before. Trishon told me it was her brother but everyone knows she has nothing at all to do with her family—including her own mother. It was Dante that night as well, wasn’t it Trishon?”

Bianca and Trishon shared hateful glares.

Office Kandor nodded. “So you both let Mr. Mitchell and Mrs. King think you had returned to Atlanta and had no intention of returning or helping with the ranch.”

“Yes,” Kahron and Bianca said in unison.

“Now where are the tapes you told the dispatcher about?” Officer Kandor asked, sliding his notebook into the front pocket of his uniform.

Until then Trishon, Dante, and Papa Doc had looked bored and insolent.

“What tapes?” Trishon asked, her eyes burning with hatred as she glared at Bianca.

Bianca rose and smiled with sweet satisfaction. “When I came to the house for the last time a couple of days ago I planted little voice-activated tape recorders. Five in all. I’ll get them.”

She reached under the ledge of the desk and handed the small device taped there to the police officer. “That’s one.”

Bianca left the office and retrieved the others from the kitchen, the master bedroom, the porch, and lastly the foyer. She walked into the office and handed them all to Officer Kandor. “There must be something on one of these implicating them, especially this one from the foyer.”

Office Kandor rewound the recorder and then pushed play.

Dante dropped his head as his voice clearly played as he admitted to burning the barn and the other incidents.

The officer fast forwarded through the sounds of their sex play as Papa Doc looked at Trishon is disbelief. She just stared ahead stoically.

“Hank called me like you said he would, but that bastard still won’t sell the ranch even after I lined up a helluva deal with that rancher from Greenville. But at least Dante ran Bianca’s ass off, and trust me Hank will have everything so f ’ed up again he’ll be begging to sell. He’ll be back drinking if I have to pour it down his throat.”

Bianca’s eyes shifted to Papa Doc as his own words of betrayal and culpability echoed in the room.

She didn’t hear the rest of his words—she didn’t have to.

“You three are the biggest idiots I have ever seen because this is the dumbest scheme I’ve heard cooked up,” Bianca told them as the police jerked them all to their feet and began to handcuff them. “But believe me, no weapons formed against my father shall prosper because he has me watching his damn back and at least now he can brush the dirt he called his wife and his best
friend off his shoulder. Ya’ll are pathetic.”

“What a day,” Kahron said, yawning as he climbed into his bed beside Bianca.

“I still can’t believe people can be so conniving and so treacherous,” Bianca sighed, curling her body along the length of Kahron’s.

“How did your Dad take it?”

Bianca licked her lips. “I talked to his counselor and he suggested that I be upfront with him and tell him in person, so I’m driving down tomorrow.”

“Honesty is always the best policy,” Kahron admitted as he played with her finger. “Can I be honest with you?”

Bianca smiled. “Always.”

“I love you.”

Bianca tilted her head up to look up at him and meet his eyes with her own. “Tell me something I don’t know,” she told him softly.

Kahron rolled her onto her back and lay atop her between her open thighs. “You don’t have to say it, B. It’s written all over your face.”

“Oh, please, that’s gas,” she teased, even as she stroked his beard lovingly.

Kahron tickled her until tears filled Bianca’s eyes and she let out her hog like snort. “Okay, okay… okay.”

He paused.