Authors: Brenda Jackson
Jesse flinched. His son’s cherubic face loomed in his mind. After seeing Craig, his own flesh and blood, he couldn’t imagine such a thing, and a part of him was profoundly grateful that Carla hadn’t taken that route.
“I’m going downstairs and browse the gift shop for a new razor. I’ll check you out later,” Mike said. And as he closed the door behind him he hoped that he had left Jesse with something to think about.
Chapter 23
G
rey hung up the phone after talking with his friend at the Bureau in D.C. Ahandwriting analysis hadconfirmedwhatGreyhad suspected for a while. There was an eighty percent chance that the messages had been written by a female not a male. Now with this most recent information, he needed to go back down the list and check out every female whose name he had recorded, starting with Brandy’s secretary.
He rubbed a hand across his face. Today had almost been a nightmare with all those people checking into the hotel for the Florida Classic. It had been hard as hell to keep up with Brandy and on a few occasions he’d had to depend on his backup to make sure she was being covered. She had been forced to make several last-minute changes to her schedule and no doubt she would be doing the same thing again tomorrow, which meant he needed to bring this to an end and soon.
He glanced up when Brandy came out of the bedroom and his gaze immediately locked on hers. His throat tightened and the palms of his hands suddenly felt warm. Dressed in a long flowing white silk robe, she was a sight to behold and his sharply male gaze held her within its scope, tight. This was a woman made for loving a man, he thought as his body became unbearably hard. He began to ache all over, especially in certain parts and when he breathed in and his nostrils pulled in her
scent, he knew he had to have her.
Now.
Brandy stopped walking when she saw how Grey was staring at her. The heat of his gaze trailed fire all across her body, starting with her breasts then slowly moved downward. When she began feeling this ferocious burning sensation between her legs, she almost gasped out loud. His raw need was reaching out to her, pulling her within its clutches and arousing her in a way she had never been aroused before.
He was going to make love to her again.
That had been a foregone conclusion when she’d awakened that morning in his arms after having spent the better part of the night and predawn hours making love. She had thought about him most of the day when she should have been busy getting ready for the coming week’s festivities. But all she’d been able to think about was Grey and how he had found pleasure in her body and had given her pleasure in return. He hadn’t lied when he’d said he had three years to make up for, and it seemed he would continue making up for it again tonight.
He stood and the hunger she saw in his eyes excited her as well as incited her. Without waiting, without being asked, she untied her robe and let it fall to her feet. His eyes widened when he saw that she’d been completely naked underneath. He slowly crossed the room and when he stopped before her, she inhaled gently, as if letting the aroma of an aroused man fill her senses.
He reached out and his hand automatically went to her breasts, which seemed to come alive with his touch. His fingers gently tugged at her nipple before leaning forward and taking it into his mouth, sucking and making her arch her back to give him more. Without breaking contact with her breasts, his hand automatically went between her legs and found her wet, ready. He hadn’t used a condom and hadn’t given much thought to using one since he had remembered her conversation with her mother that day confirming she was on the pill. For some reason he had needed to come inside of her, ejaculate as much as he could. He had needed to know his release was actually filling her and not a piece of latex. The thought quickly flashed through his mind that his obsession had been extreme and one he’d never encountered with a woman before. Unprotected sex had never been the norm for him. That thought startled him, but not enough for him to put on a condom now. He wanted to feel himself come inside of her again.
Brandy suddenly found herself swept into his arms as he took her back into the bedroom. He gently placed on her the bed and stepped back, almost tearing off his shirt and quickly stepping out of his pants. Moments later he was just as naked as she and just as she had last night, Brandy marveled how beautifully made he was, with his sleek shoulders, broad chest, and firm, flat stomach. His skin was a dark brown and glowed from the moonlight flowing in through the window. But what really held her interest more so than anything was his aroused body part, large, thick, and muscular as it boldly and proudly jutted from the apex of his thighs. He was a man who was made to bring a woman pleasure, and as he took a step forward she knew that like last night, she would be the recipient.
Brandy’s breathing quickened when he got in bed with her, moved his body over hers, began licking her neck and gliding his body tormentingly slowly over hers. He wanted her to feel just what he had for her, what he planned to give her.
In a surprise move he lifted up his body to turn her over, pulling her hips back against him. He wanted her this way and his body slowly pressed against her, seeking her entry. She arched her back, strained back against him, letting him know she wanted it this way as much as he did. And when he entered her, going through the wet folds of her swollen, hot flesh, she moaned, and the sound sent tremors through his body.
He ran his hand over the delectable curves of her backside before firmly gripping her hips and stroking her deeply, moving in and out while he clenched his teeth to stop from screaming his pleasure.
Brandy had no such intentions. She thought, the hell with it, they had an entire floor to themselves and she planned to scream until she couldn’t scream anymore.
And she did. The moment she felt him come inside of her, drenching her insides with his release, she tightened her muscles, pulling more, wanting more and getting her wish when he continued to buck against her, smacking his thighs against her backside penetrating deeper, holding her body pressed close to his, allowing her to take everything his body was giving her, sweeping her off into ecstasy while a feeling of intense pleasure filled her, illustrating and demonstrating just how much he had wanted her and needed her.
When there was nothing left in him to give, when she had literally taken everything, he locked his arms around her and pulled her down to him, keeping their bodies connected and savoring in the moments they had just shared.
Grey slowly opened his eyes, feeling totally depleted of strength. He had never taken a woman with such urgency before. Never before had reaching a climax been so powerful, so gut wrenching satisfying. Even now while holding her against him spoon-style, his body still locked to hers, he felt himself getting hard inside of her all over again.
He needed more.
Slowly lifting her leg over his he saw the minute she became awake and realized what he was about to do. He leaned over and kissed her, elated with the passion he could evoke in her so quickly. And when she began returning his kiss, he began moving inside of her, in and out, making love to her all over again. This woman he now claimed as
his
in every way a man could claim a woman.
His woman.
That revelation made pleasure rip through his body; joy filled his soul and love overflowed in his heart.
Love?
No, he refused to surrender to the power of love ever again. And when the crushing waves of ecstasy came crashing down on them, he deepened the kiss and somewhere in the back of his mind, the only thing he could think about was that he would not be another Masters who let a Bennett get under his skin. He wouldn’t go there.
His head came up sharply and his gaze narrowed on her face. She had fallen asleep with a satiated smile on her lips. His gut clenched.
Too late,
he thought. He was gone.
“Tell me about Jolene Bradford.”
Brandy raised a brow over her cup of coffee. She looked at him as if surprised he had brought up the name.
After she and Grey had made love for three solid hours, they had showered together and then while she’d slipped into a nightgown, he’d made a pot of coffee and said he needed to talk with her. She frowned. Jolene was not someone she wanted to talk about.
“Brandy?”
She met Grey’s gaze. “What made you think of her?”
Drawing a deep breath he said, “As I lay there holding you in my arms and thinking what a damn fool Lorenzo Ballentine had to be, I couldn’t help remembering what he did. Then it occurred to me I hadn’t checked Jolene Bradford out, as closely as maybe I should have. So tell me what you know about her.”
Brandy sighed. “There’s nothing to tell other than she was a woman I had considered my closest friend until I found out she’d been screwing my fiané behind my back.”
Grey nodded. “How did the two of you meet?”
“We became professors at Howard about the same time and hit it off. I never thought of her as a threat or someone I could not trust with my man. After all, she had her own boyfriend, a very handsome guy with a promising career in politics.”
Grey nodded again. “Why do you think she went after your fiané?”
Brandy chuckled. “I’m not absolutely sure she went after him, Grey. It might have been the other way around. Lorenzo may have gone after her and she was too weak to resist. The reason I say that is because after my divorce, Alexia confided that Lorenzo had tried hitting on her while we were engaged.”
Grey leaned back in his chair. “So you don’t blame Jolene for not being able to keep her legs closed?”
Brandy shook her head and studied the contents of her coffee. “I blame Jolene for betraying my trust.”
Grey took a sip of his coffee. “Do you think she knew she was being videotaped?”
She lifted her gaze to his. “No. I may be wrong but I really don’t think she knew. She tried to talk to me afterwards but I refused to talk to her. And then when copies of that videotape surfaced on the Howard campus, she resigned, completely humiliated.”
“Copies of the videotape surfaced?”
“Yes. I don’t know exactly who was responsible for that. I made only two copies: one for my attorney and the other to give to my brother, since he’d been so taken with Jolene. Victor Junior swears he knows nothing about the copies that started being distributed. If he told me the truth then I can only assume the guy who coordinated my wedding decided to take advantage of what he saw as a good thing. Copies of that videotape began spreading like wildfire.”
Grey set his coffee cup down. “Final question.”
“What?”
“Do you know where she is now?”
“Yes. After she left Howard she got a teaching job at Bethune Cook-man College.”
Jolene Bradford was not teaching at BCC, Grey discovered later after Brandy had gone to bed. With a promise to join her later, he had made a call to a friend in DC to run Jolene Bradford’s social security number through the system. The report indicated that Jolene had been asked to leave a year and a half ago when copies of the videotape began circulating on BCC’s campus. After leaving BCC she worked at the University of Central Florida here in Orlando, but only for a few months. The report did not provide a reason as to why she left, but it did indicate that she had not used her social security number since leaving UCF.
Grey couldn’t help wondering if Jolene was still living in Orlando and if she was employed, then where?
He was determined to find out everything there was to know about the woman.
Chapter 24
U
nable to sleep, Cord slipped out of bed and pulled on his jeans. It was way past midnight and he felt restless, agitated, and horny. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this intense about having a woman. Even now his body throbbed just thinking about Amber.
Dev and Briana’s visit had somehow relieved some of his edginess, but only temporarily. He had enjoyed spending time with them and could tell that Amber had enjoyed their visit as well. She had seen Dev in a less professional light and by the end of the evening she was no longer calling him Dr. Phillips.
Amber and Briana had hit it off, too. They had talked for hours about various books they had read, movies they had seen, and places they had shopped, while he and Dev had gotten engrossed in a football game on the tube.
Knowing his way around the apartment in the dark, Cord strolled down the hall and through the living room—his destination was the terrace. Opening the glass sliding door, he stepped out and inhaled the scent of orange blossoms and realized that it was Amber’s scent that filled his nostrils.
He leaned against the wall and watched as a full moon lit the predawn sky. Satisfaction filled him that the woman he’d been thinking about for the past three weeks, literally nonstop, was sharing his home, asleep in his guest room. And she had agreed to get to know him.
But for some reason he felt as if he had known her for years and the next two weeks of getting to know her were just a formality. There was something between them and whatever it was, it bound them together. If he had his way he would be in bed with her this very minute, between her legs, planted firmly inside of her, thrusting in and out until—
“Cord, are you all right?”
Her voice startled him. He hadn’t heard her approach. He half-turned to find her standing in the doorway wearing a full-length robe. The moonlight reflected the smooth curves of her voluptuous figure and his body hardened even more. “Yes, I’m fine. I couldn’t sleep.”
She walked toward him and when she stopped in front of him, her incredible amber-colored eyes scanned him from head to toe while a concerned frown touched her brows. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Oh, yeah, I’m okay, but this hard-on is something of a nuisance,
he thought, but instead he said, “Yes, I’m fine. Like I said, I couldn’t sleep.”
She worried her lips nervously. “I shouldn’t have let you kiss me. You were already exhausted and needed your rest.”
He reached out and took hold of her hand and a heated sensation tore through him, but he refused to let her hand go. “Hey, we said no regrets, remember?”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts, Amber. I wanted that kiss. Hell, I needed that kiss. If anything that kiss relaxed me in a way bed rest never could have.”
She searched his face uncertainly. “You mean it?”
He smiled. “Yes, I mean it. Come here.” Before she could stop him he pulled her into his arms, needing to hold her.
She tipped her head back, her expression guarded. “I’m usually a very level-headed person.”
Cord smiled. “And you think being here with me means that you’re not?”
“I really don’t know you.”
“And I don’t know you and that’s why we’ve agreed to get to know each other. But in a way I think that we do know each other, Amber. We know each other in a way that truly matters right now, and one thing I do know is that you cared enough for a virtual stranger to be here with him to make sure he got well, and to me that says a lot.”
She frowned and stepped back from him, pulling herself from his embrace. She had to be completely honest with him. “I’m not here out of the goodness of my heart, Cord. I’m here because I want you. The woman in me is attracted to you. I haven’t been with a man for over two years. I guess you can say I’m about at the end of my rope.”
Cord stiffened in surprise. He wasn’t shocked at the fact that she wanted him, he’d picked up on that, but he was surprised that she hadn’t been with a man in over two years. “Why?”
She arched a brow. “Why what?”
“Why haven’t you been with someone in over two years? Weren’t you lonely? Didn’t you date any after your divorce?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Amber leaned back against the railing and rubbed her arms. “Mainly because I didn’t want to. I needed time to get my head on straight and once I moved here I got caught up in getting my business up and running.”
He nodded, remembering the number of hours he had spent in those early days getting his business off the ground. But still he had dated. Spending time with the opposite sex was something a person made time to do. “Men asked you out?” He was pretty sure that they had. Men didn’t routinely ignore women who looked like Amber.
“Yes, guys asked me out.”
“And you turned them down?”
“Yes. Like I said, I wasn’t ready to devote the time it took to build a relationship with a man.”
His gaze narrowed on her face. “And do you have the time to build a relationship with a man now, Amber?”
She met his gaze and again decided to be honest. “No.”
Cord’s body tensed. “So being here is only about sex to you, is that it? You need someone to take off that two-year edge?”
The tone of his voice had gone as cold as ice. Amber looked at him steadily. “I thought so in the beginning but now I don’t know. I’m confused. I guess you can tell that I’m not good at any type of a casual relationship.”
Cord let out a silent sigh of relief. He was glad she wasn’t. It appeared she was just as confused about what was happening between them. Initially, the thought that she’d intended to use him just for sexual pleasure had made him angry, but now he saw hope.
What he saw was a chance to show her that there was more between them than sex, although as fiercely drawn as he was to her, he’d do just about anything to get her into his bed now. But he was willing to wait it out and let that part come later. He wanted to get to know her in all the ways a man got to know a woman. He would take things slow with her, build her trust then capture her heart, the way he could now admit she was beginning to capture his.
“So you agree that getting to know each other is the best approach, no matter what our hormones are saying?” he asked hoarsely, reaching out and covering her hands with his. He waited for her response. Every muscle in his body tensed.
Amber pulled in a deep breath. Should she even think about pursuing a serious relationship with Cord like he wanted, instead of something more casual? She had been so wrong about Gary and had put her heart and pride on the line. Could she do so again? For the past year she had been living under the concept of “conditional growth.” One of the principles for that growth was to grow and work on yourself as long as you remained in your comfort zone. Getting seriously involved with Cord would take her out of the comfort zone she’d been in for over two years. Maybe it was time for her to realize that when you grow conditionally, you run the risk of robbing yourself of many opportunities and blessings.
She didn’t want that. She had to believe that all growth and accomplishments involved taking risks. Sometimes it meant finding the courage to leap into the unknown. Hadn’t she done that when she’d left Nashville and moved to Orlando, and again when she’d taken out a small business loan to open her bookstore?
She met Cord’s gaze and finally gave him her response. “Yes, Cord. I agree.”