I turned to see her squatting near her end of the rug, and I moved to the other side.
Before I could squat, a hand was on my shoulder. “I got it,” Tor said.
The man was at least six foot seven and three hundred something pounds. He was wide and muscled, and if I didn’tknow better, I’d say his name should’ve been Thor the Avenger rather than Toronto Haley. I’d asked his full name as well as Stanley Newsome’s because if these guys were gonna be hanging out with me everywhere I went I wanted to know who they were. Considering my life in the past year and a half, it was ironic that I generally didn’t tolerate secrets.
“I got it,” he said, then moved to the center of the rug log. “You move back, too.” That was directed at Moira.
“And who are you, sir?” Moira asked. “Whoever you are, your name is not on my paycheck.”
“I’m also not the man that’s gonna stand by and watch two women carry this big ass rug out of the house,” he shot back without waiting for Moira to do as he instructed. Instead, he lifted that rug, tucked it up onto his shoulder, and walked out of the room without another word to either of us.
For a few seconds, there was silence, then I laughed. “I guess he told us.”
Moira rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I don’t like him.”
Yet her gaze had stayed locked on his ass in the black slacks he wore with a black button-down shirt as he left us.
“Luckily for you and your paycheck, you don’t have to,” I told her. “Now, come on let’s get the supplies so we can be out of here in the next twenty minutes.”
Ahmet, the owner of Excelsior Investigations, which was really the fix-it company for celebrities, politicians and whoever was rich enough to pay for their protection, required a report within the hour. I was never late with reports, and he was never late with payments. It was a perfect business partnership.
Forty-eight minutes later, I was at my desk reading the last paragraph of my report. My half-finished caramel macchiato was in reaching distance, and one of my favorite R&B playlists came from the computer’s speakers at a low volume. Beneath mydesk, I crossed my ankles, feet free of the work clogs I’d slipped on this morning.
My phone buzzed and I glanced over to where it sat on my desk plugged into the charger. It was a notification. I would get to it as soon as I finished this report. Turning my attention back to the screen I read the next sentence. My phone buzzed again and again, until I glanced over at it once more. The screen stayed black but with each buzz a white text box appeared.
After hurriedly finishing the last sentence, I hit send and reached for the phone. Notifications were still coming in, and I quickly pressed my finger to the screen to unlock it. Ten social media notifications and three texts. The tiny numbers kept rising as the phone continued buzzing. Before I could answer any of them, Emily came running into my office, a frown marring her face while she held her phone up for me to see.
“Holy shit! You’re sleeping with Fury Mathias?”
CHAPTER 12
FURY
Early morning meetings weren’t my thing. At least not on the mornings when I woke up next to my wife. I planned to make that known to Sonya as soon as this marketing meeting was over because Dakota sleeping next to me every night until the end of time was non-negotiable.
I got the call yesterday afternoon that she’d sent the movers away without packing up a thing at her house, and since I was seeing her for dinner, I hadn’t immediately sent them back. It had been my intention to discuss it last night during dinner, but her questions once I arrived and the mood that followed shifted my plans. My top priority would always be her well-being. She wasn’t acting like herself when I arrived.
I mean, yeah, she looked amazing standing in that kitchen preparing our meal while dressed in a silk robe and her bare feet. She looked sexy and edible as fuck so understandably, my mind had quickly strayed from the serious conversation of where we would live together … because there was no doubt that would be our future arrangement. Timers and the looming possibilityof burnt rolls interrupted a very promising welcome home interlude, then her demeanor changed.
Her eyes took on that look of trepidation I’d seen before but had been either too love struck, or too intent on making the most of the time we were together to delve into its meaning. I wasn’t ignoring it again. I also had no idea that the thing she was so worried about was how I would react to knowing she’d shot a man. Three men to be exact.
Me? Fury Mathias, who caught my first body when I was twelve and who was now well into the double digits of deaths by my hand. From day one Dakota had known exactly who I was and what I did, the fact that me judging her had been a weight on her mind was still wild to me. I was dead fuckin’ serious when I told her that shit turned me on. Not her suffering or the obvious distress in her tone as she told the story, but the vision of her standing over the muthafucka that pointed a gun to her brother’s head and shooting him in the chest had my dick rock hard. That shit could only be attractive to a like-minded person … a killer.
“With two big rollouts this year, Blackbond is primed for success. Keeping our primary focus on quality luxury vehicles and bikes, we are routinely meeting our goals. So, as we begin to gear up for the L.A. Auto Show and World Car Awards, then the AMA’s my team and I have developed two brand specific, high-energy presentations that will once again set the tone for the industry.”
Isabella Gabriel, my Chief Marketing Officer, spoke above the light chatter that had been buzzing around me as I sat at the head of the table in one of the large conference rooms. Her intro speech meant everyone had arrived and the meeting was officially started. I’d been in my head since coming in and taking my seat, but now I sat up straighter and attempted to give her my full attention.
All department heads from the two branches of Blackbond Automotive were in attendance. KC and his team on the automotive side were on the left of me, while my team which focused on the bikes were to my right. Isabella stood at the front of the room, black-framed glasses perched on her nose, glossy black hair falling in waves over her shoulders.
Fifteen minutes in, when the lights dimmed and the presentation began, my mind once again drifted to Dakota.
She felt so good in my arms this morning. Not just while we lay in bed, but as I stepped behind her as she stood at the sink performing her skincare routine. Her beauty was natural. From her flawless skin to her vibrant hazel eyes, those high cheekbones, and that spot just beneath her ear that I loved to bite, I adored everything about this woman. I couldn’t keep my hands off her and immediately wrapped my arms around her waist, gripping her breasts as I pulled her back against me.
Of course, that meant it was another forty minutes before we finally made it downstairs. She was wrapped in a longer black silk robe this morning, not that sexy ass short one from last night. I was in a maroon jogger set and tennis shoes that I grabbed from the closet she’d assigned me at her house. I thought I had suits there for work, but I was wrong and would have to run home to change. Still, I took the time to pull her into me again as we stood at the door.
I absolutely loved hugging Dakota.
I loved the way her scent filled my nostrils the second my arms closed around her. The way her breasts pressed into my chest and her ass filled my hands. And when she wrapped her arms tightly around my waist, snuggling her face into me, my heart stopped for a second. Like it was waiting for precisely this moment to resume beating in a pattern that matched hers.
