There must have been something in my expression I failed to hide because his back straightened, and his expression went hard. “What business do you have with the FBI?” he questioned like he had the damn right. I was debating on how to answer without my fists when I heard her soft voice behind me.
“Dante?”
I turned around, the tightness in my chest immediately loosening at seeing her face. I gave her a smirk. “Hey, Parker. I thought you could use a break. Have lunch with me?”
She looked at her phone, clutched in her hand, then blinked back up at the time. “Wow, I didn’t realize it was past noon already.” She looked up at me with a smile. “I’d love to,” then she paused, looking next to her at the man who was trying to look like he wasn’t furious as he did a half-hearted attempt at holding back a glare as he eyed me. “SSA Walker, I know you ordered lunch for the team to be brought in, but do you mind if I skip it?”
“Who is this man?” he demanded instead of answering. I took a step forward at his tone. Before I could say a word, demanding he show her some fucking respect, she answered instead.
“He’s a friend of mine.” She was choosing not to react to his obvious display of aggression. There were signs written in his body language and tone as he leaned towards her, signs of ownership. This fucker was daring to claim Cherish right in front of me.
I glanced back at her to see how she responded to his claim. Was she playing us? Did she already have a man that she was in a relationship with? I thought of how she had been cherry-picked straight from the academy to join his team. I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d known him before becoming an agent. Thatcould be how she managed to get on a field assignment so soon after joining.
I raised an eyebrow as her expression stayed calm and carefully blank. I snorted. Fucking figures. Women were all alike, using men to their advantage. It was all about what they could gain from one man while using another to step on to get ahead.
“Never mind,” I huffed out, a half laugh escaping that couldn’t conceal my contempt. What a fucking joke to think that Parker was any different. I walked past the two of them, ignoring the surprised hurt that flickered over her face.
“Dante, wait,” she called out as I hit the door with extra force, letting myself back out into the sunshine. I didn’t bother looking back. The doors closed behind me as I heard her start to say something to the prick, blocking her words. Whatever.
I limped down the stairs and moved quickly back to my truck. I’d thought I could take Cherish to lunch, just the two of us, but I was glad I’d found her true colors before I’d sunk deeper into her web of deceit and lies.
I heard footsteps racing to catch up to me, then Cherish was beside me, keeping pace easily with my long strides. “What’s wrong, Dante?” she asked, her tone full of confusion.
“Nothing,” I replied, my voice more gruff than I’d like, not wanting to show her that she affected me at all. I never wanted to show another woman that she could ever have any effect on me again. “Go back to your lover. Wouldn’t want to hurt your future FBI career by pissing off your sugar daddy.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, Dante?” she demanded, grabbing my arm and yanking me to a stop. The sudden jerky stop had my leg screaming, but I refused to show weakness, so I clenched my teeth to hold back the wince of pain. “I don’t have a sugar daddy! That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” She looked glorious with the sun making herlight brown hair shine like gold, and her two different colored irises looked like sea glass, so clear and bright as they shot angry daggers at me. I couldn’t help but admire her beauty as I smirked down at her with a twisted, mocking smile.
“Isn’t that what you would call someone who gives you benefits in exchange for your body? How else would you explain it?”
The slap came so suddenly, I couldn’t stop it, not that I would have. I wanted her anger. I wanted to feel her claws aimed at me so I could walk away from her without a backward glance and no regrets.
“How dare you?” she fumed, her chest rising and falling in glorious rage. “You know I was a virgin last night.”
I cocked my head as I leered down at her, begging for more, needing her to hate me. “Do I? It’s not that hard to fake. I don’t recall seeing any blood on those sheets,Cherish.”
She took a step back while shaking her head, hurt written all over her face. My heart clenched inside my chest as I watched her retreat from me before I ignored it. I told myself that’s what I wanted, her looking at me like she hated me. But as I stared into her eyes, there wasn’t hate, there was pain. I started to lift my hand, needing to soothe her, but clenched my fist, holding it tight to my side instead.
“I don’t know what just happened,” she began slowly, “but whatever it is, it isn’t because of me.”
I stared at her, my eyebrows furrowing at her words. Of course, it was because of her. She had been playing us while using her boss to advance her career. There was no other explanation.
“She did this to you,” Cherish whispered, staring up at me. Tears filled her eyes, making those sea-glass colors look even brighter. “I’m so sorry, Dante.”
I blinked, my body draining of all anger. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t bring it back to the surface. What was this woman doing to me? I dug deep for the pain, the fury I’d felt when I saw the man all but claiming her without saying the actual words, but it wouldn’t come. No words came to me as I watched her expression soften at my struggle.
Cherish stepped forward then, straight into my space and stepped onto her toes to raise herself as high as she could. Still unable to reach me, she gripped my neck with one hand, forcing my face to meet hers.
As soon as our lips met, I felt all my earlier resentment and resistance fade away like dust on the wind. My arms went around her, yanking her to me. I pressed our bodies close, and just like the other night, I sank myself into her, kissing her as if she were my lifeline, my saving grace.
The pull to her had been magnetic from the first time I saw her. I’d fought every tug, every draw. When I’d caught her naked next door, I’d tried to block it out; instead, I’d drowned in the memory of it until I’d tugged my cock raw. After leaving her to her bath last night with Ry, I went to my cabin. I lay in bed for hours, falling asleep only after exhaustion took me, and my cock was too sore to handle any longer. Even then, I’d still been hard when I woke up.
I held her even closer as I devoured every inch of her mouth, tangling my tongue with hers until we couldn’t breathe. There wasn’t an inch of space between us, and I only wanted her even closer. If we weren’t in the middle of a police parking lot, I would have gladly stripped her bare and taken her right then, the threat of jail be damned.
Only when the need for oxygen demanded it did we finally pull apart, both of us sucking air into our lungs. I stared down at her, taking in her swollen lips and flushed face, and kneweverything in my life, my future as I knew it, was over. I was hers. I would follow her wherever she went for the rest of my life.
She lifted her hand and brushed a soft finger over my jaw, her eyes looking at me as if I were her god and she needed me as much as I needed her. It had my chest filling with an emotion so warm and tender that I knew I’d never felt like this for my ex. What we’d had was such a pale comparison it nearly made me laugh.
“I’m not her, Dante,” she whispered.
