My lips were deliciously swollen from how hard Kelly kissed me.

I was on fire and feeling great about the day. After rewarding him for his incredible efforts last night, I jumped in the shower to allow him time to finish up his work. And though we didn’t discuss what it was he was working on, I’d seen the notes.

Twirling across the floor, I stepped into the large walk-in closet and began rifling through my wardrobe. The choices seemed endless as my selection grew daily. Mainly because Kelly couldn’t go without adding to it. And now that he knew my size and had developed a sense of my taste, he purchased things and put them here without even telling me. Over half the options still had their tags on them. Not that I was complaining. I loved it. It just made it so hard to know what to wear.

Pulling my hair up onto my head, I jumped when Kelly surprised me from behind. His hands firmly cupped my breasts, giving them a quick squeeze before nipping at the soft spot behind my ear.

I moaned and giggled, loving his playful nature. I knew today was going to be a good day. It just had to be. We’d been having too many days that weren’t and deserved to finally take a break from all that negativity swirling around our feet.

“Did you finish your work?” I asked.

“Just going over some notes.”

Twisting inside his arms, I turned to face him. His bottom half was dressed in freshly pressed slacks and an expensive brown belt. And though he had his arms through the sleeves of a white button-down, it hung open allowing me access to roam my hands over his sculpted chest.

“Let’s not talk about work today.”

Flicking my gaze up to him, I nodded. Having already decided that was my plan as well, it was easy to agree to his idea. “Then help me decide what to wear.”

Ironing my hands up and down his sides and over his rippled abs, I couldn’t get enough of him. For whatever reason, today I felt closer to him than before. Perhaps it was the way he’d taken me out of this universe last night, or the continual buzz I still felt after having gone through what he did to me. Either way, I knew that he always had my best interests in mind and listened to my concerns with skill and precision. And that alone made him worthy of stealing my heart like none that came before him.

“I like what you have on.” His warm breath swirled in my ear, keeping me hot and bothered.

I snickered, knowing that I couldn’t go out of the house wearing only the skimpy bra and thong I wore. “I’m debating between these two dresses.” I reached behind Kelly and spread them out on the rack for him to see.

“They’re both lovely,” he said.

“Of course you’d say that. You bought them for me.” I smiled. “But which is right for the occasion?”

“Forget what I said earlier.” His fingers clamped around my waist as his mouth peppered hot opened-mouth kisses over my neck. “We should visit my private pool and waste the day away in only our bathing suits.”

Closing my eyes, I imagined laying on a lawn chair beneath the hot sun, working on my tan while Kelly massaged my feet. “That sounds amazing,” I whispered. Then I opened my eyes. “But I wouldn’t mind getting something to eat first.”

“Starved, are you?”

“You had me sweating.” I stood on my toes and kissed him.

He slid his tongue into my mouth and I sucked on it like I couldn’t get enough. “Then we better make it sexy casual,” he said, choosing the dress for me.

“My choice exactly.” I nipped at his lips.

“I’m going to go finish getting ready,” Kelly said as his hands left my body.

I slipped into the paisley print mini-dress and turned to the mirror to admire my flattering silhouette. I looked marvelous and knew Kelly would think so, too.

Giggling, I fixed my hair and couldn’t stop thinking about how Kelly was so skilled at bringing women to orgasm. I didn’t care to know how he learned his tricks, was just thankful that he blessed me with his skill. That was reason enough to be with a man of his experience, because I glowed.

And not just the I got laid kind of glow. I was floating through his apartment, free from the weight of the world holding me down. Because of him, colors were more vibrant and my mind was crystal clear.

A half-hour later I found him waiting in the living room.

He had his hands hidden inside his pockets, gently resting his tailbone over the back of the couch. With his forehead wrinkled, I knew that he was thinking over the case files he was looking at when I’d first woken up. And though he would never say it, I knew it was eating at him.

Slowly, I moved in his direction.

He turned and caught my gaze.

Smiling, I held my hands out and he took them. Helping him to his feet, he lowered his mouth and welcomed me with another incredible kiss. “Sorry to make you wait.”

Letting his hands come to rest on my ass, he said, “If you keep kissing me like that, I’ll wait for you forever.”

“C’mon, lover boy.” I tugged on his fingers. “My stomach is empty and needs to be filled.”

The entire journey to the parking garage, Kelly kept a firm possessive hand on me. Whether it be firmly placed on the small of my back or threaded through my fingers, he was determined to never let me go far.

“Here you are, queen bee.” He winked when opening the car door.

“Queen bee?” I arched my brow, allowing him to guide me inside.

Kelly smirked.

“What does that make you then, a honey bear?”

He clawed his paws over my shoulder.

I slapped his hand away.

“Ouch.” His hands flew over his heart. “I just got stung.”

He shut the door as I rolled through a fit of laughter, watching him round the hood and come to sit behind the wheel. Kelly started the car and let the engine rev while wiggling his brows. Then we sped out of the parking garage, fast and furious with rubber squealing.

I couldn’t stop glancing in his direction. He had a magnetic pull, and though he was mere inches away, I still wanted to be closer.

With one hand firmly on the wheel and the other resting on my thigh, Kelly drove with confidence. Weaving in and out of traffic, we rolled the windows down and let the wind whip through our hair. The sun was shining and I didn’t feel the previous urge to ask about what our future would bring. The way he was treating me spoke for itself. He would kill for me.

“Where should we begin?” he said as he slowed to a stop at a red light.

“What were you thinking?”

“Start with some coffee, then move on to some shopping before breaking for lunch.” He pressed in the clutch and shifted to second as soon as the light turned green. “How does that sound?”

“It sounds per—” My brows pinched when I saw his eye catch something out my window.

I turned to find a crotch rocket speeding next to us, driving only inches away from my door. A second rider straddled the back, and when he lifted up a camera and began taking my picture I ducked my head and yelped.

“Hang on,” Kelly said under his breath as he opened up his engine.

My fingers gripped the door handle as I held on for dear life.

The motorcycle kept up its speed alongside ours, and I held my breath when I watched the traffic light turn from yellow to red.

Kelly made no move to slow down.

Instead, he pressed his foot down on the accelerator, swerved in the bike’s direction, and sped through the cross-street at a breakneck speed.

Nearly getting hit, I whipped my head around to the back window with my heart pounding, only to find the bike right on our tail. “They’re still there.”

The moment I turned back around, Kelly reached his arm over and pushed me back into the seat as he slammed on the brakes and took the first hard right.

With my adrenaline spiking, I kept twisting to the back window, waiting to see the bike emerge. But they never did. They were gone.

“What the fuck was that?” I asked, not meaning to yell. But I was so worked up, my palms sweaty, and I couldn’t calm down.

“Paparazzi.” Kelly’s jaw muscle ticked.

My body was tense, stuck in the fear of having just lived through the unexpected. Kelly never elaborated beyond just saying they were paparazzi. And, because of it, I knew that he was expecting this.

“No shit. But why?”

He shook his head, occasionally glancing in his mirrors. “I’m not sure.”

“Have you seen this before?”

He fixed his gaze on mine as he shook his head.

Before I knew it, Kelly had found a safe place to park. He opened his door but I couldn’t find it in me to follow. I was still coming to terms with what had just happened, and though I wanted to believe that it was a fluke, I knew it wasn’t. This had to be Sylvia and the story she was working on. There was no other reasonable explanation.

When Kelly’s hand landed on mine, I flinched. “C’mon,” he encouraged. “That coffee we both need is still calling.”

I forced a smile as he winked.

Once outside the vehicle, Kelly was quick to find my hand. We walked along the busy street past boutique stores and cafés. I held my head up high, hiding behind sunglasses, trying to act as normal as possible. Underneath, I was anything but.

“The coffee shop is just around the corner,” he said.

“Hey! Kelly Black!” a voice yelled from afar.

Kelly barely looked in the man’s direction. Instead, he picked up his pace and towed me along with him.

“Black, I just want to ask you a question about Tonya Craig.” The man quickly caught up to us. Kelly brushed him to the side but he kept on badgering. “Rumor has it you had something to do with her death. Is that true?”

“Keep it up and I’ll have the cops arrest you for libel,” Kelly barked to the man.

He dug his heels in and called after us. “This isn’t over. Everyone knows what you did.”

Kelly tightened his grip on my hand as we rounded the corner only to come face to face with another camera lens being pointed directly in our faces. The shutter clicked over several times before the lens dropped, revealing the man behind the camera.

My jaw dangled.

I blinked and shook my head, not believing what my eyes were seeing.

“Uncle Marvin?”