Oshun’s stomach churned as she thought about their next moves. Masaki was beside her, preparing for battle, and still unaware of who the villain in disguise was.

Keeping the truth from him weighed on her. There were only four people who knew the location of the hideout that was hit. Only Oshun and her father knew it was a decoy. Assuming Masaki didn’t try to have his own mother killed, it meant she and her father had figured out who was behind their attempted murders.

For three days, while they were stowed away in a seedy hotel in Queens, hiding from their enemies until it was time to act, she’d held this knowledge. She could lie to herself and say it was because she didn’t want to upset Masaki further. But, she knew that wasn’t the reason.

When Masaki discovered the person chasing them, and for what reason, he would go on a bloody rampage. She held no compassion for the low life that had set these events in motion. She just didn’t want Masaki to go off half-cocked and get sloppy, leaving blood on his hands.

If they did things her way, their devil in the dark would get what was coming to him. And, Masaki’s hands would be clean when it happened. She texted Heart a single name after their clandestine meeting on Flatlands Avenue. A returned message this morning filled with a laundry list of details confirmed Oshun’s suspicions. The person who’d organized her shooting was no longer a mystery. Well, not to her anyway.

Oshun stretched her shoulders, trying to release the tension they seemed to carry by repeatedly reminding herself of the plan. If everything went accordingly, and Masaki was safe, she’d deal with the fallout of her keeping secrets from him again later. Right now, her plan was to focus on getting things ready for tonight.

“What are you worried about?”

The sound of Masaki’s voice invading her thoughts pulled her roaming mind back into the room. He was standing behind her by the time she was fully present, placing gentle but firm hands on her shoulders, rubbing the stiffness there away.

“I know what you’re standing here worrying about,” he whispered in her ear as he pulled her closer, surrounding her in his embrace.

“Really?” The one-word question, as well as the jovial tone she’d added to it were meant to deflect as well as garner information. She was certain Masaki had no clue what was going on in her head. But better to find out specifically what he meant, than spilling the beans earlier than they needed to be. “Well if you know so much, Masaki, why don’t you share?”

“Nothing is going to happen to me tonight, Oshun. We’ve been over the details with Captain Searlington. By nightfall, we’ll have the info we need to exact revenge against our enemies. What better protection for me to have than a police captain and her squadron of heavy hitters who are in my lady’s back pocket?”

Oshun chuckled at the idea of Heart Searlington being in anyone’s back pocket. That woman would pull through tonight for one reason alone, to keep her streets safe from a gang war she knew would erupt if Oshun and Masaki didn’t get a handle on this situation.

“Heart will do her best to keep you safe,” Oshun commented. “She barely tolerates me as a friend, but she certainly doesn't want me as an enemy. Fucking up where your safety is concerned is the quickest way to getting on my bad side these days.”

She turned around in his arms, and pulled his mouth down to hers for a kiss. With the world about to explode around them, the simple gesture felt heavy and meaningful in ways that both shook and comforted Oshun. The delicious taste of him was slightly tainted by the fear permeating all her senses.

She felt the uncontrolled shiver pass through her body and hoped Masaki wouldn’t notice it. But when he pulled her tighter to him, breaking the kiss, and wrapping himself around her, she knew very well he’d noticed.

“Hey,” he whispered. The warmth of his breath caressed the side of her face as he spoke. “Nothing is going to happen to me. I’m coming back to you.”

Oshun took a deep breath and stilled the chaos in her mind. She put on a soft smile, and stepped back to look at him. “You’d better,” she commanded as she placed firm fingers in his hair, and pulled his mouth just above her own. “Because you and the captain will have hell to pay if you don’t.”

Masaki smiled, playfully pulling away from her and looking at his watch. “We’ve got a few hours before things get started. Maybe we should make the most of it.”

“I’d like nothing more,” she countered. She placed a hard and dirty kiss on his lips, taking her fill of him, demanding everything he had to give. When she was satisfied, she lifted the hem of his t-shirt and raised it until it was over his head, letting it drop to the floor when he was free of it.

Taking only a moment to admire the carved muscular beauty of his torso, she tackled his belt, undoing his buckle, and pulling it from the loops of his jeans as she did. A quick flick of her wrist and his jeans were undone. She unzipped them slowly, too afraid her eagerness might damage the very thing she was so desperate to get to.

She kneeled to the floor, letting her hand slide down his leg until it reached his workman’s boot. With a knowing glance, he understood her intent, and lifted his foot so she could pull his boot and then sock off. After they’d completed the same process on the other foot, she moved back to his pants, hooking her fingers inside the band of his boxer-briefs, simultaneously removing his underwear and his jeans at the same time.

She watched the powerful muscles of his thighs tense as he lifted one leg and then the other to free himself of the pooled clothing at his feet. Her mouth watered at the site of him standing naked in the middle of that room. He was beautiful, strong, sexy, and most of all, hers.

She stood up, quickly removing her clothes. When she was naked, she extended her hand, allowing it to caress his already hard cock. Gently tugging on it with one hand, she used the other to point at the sofa a few feet away.

He willingly followed her, sitting down and eagerly spreading his legs in anticipation of what she had in store. She wasted no time taking him into her mouth. Tonight wasn't a time for slow seduction. There was a very real threat waiting in the darkness and they both knew tomorrow wasn't promised to either of them. If they couldn't be sure of tomorrow, Oshun would make certain they had tonight to satisfy their need for one another.

She slid her mouth and hand up and down his length, her clit throbbing every time the involuntary suckling sounds she made rumbled in her chest.

Masaki may have been on the receiving end of what was proving to be a glorious blow job in her estimation, but the work she was putting in had her juices flowing, running a streak of warm, clear fluid from her cunt down her inner thigh.

She heard his moans become deeper and louder above her head. She felt him tangle his fingers in her locs, tightening until it was almost too painful to move. He applied enough pressure to keep her head still, and began a rhythmic up and down motion of his hips.

“Fuck woman,” he hissed through closed teeth. “You think you're slick. You think I'm gonna lose my nut after a few swipes of your talented tongue.”

The pace and force he was using was punishing, but with each snap of his hips, she was that much closer to her own release. He hadn't touched her. But the way he was using her mouth, it felt dirty, decadent, and made every nerve ending she possessed spark with need.

“I was easy on you in the mountains,” he hissed “But, here, I'm coming the way I always do.” He continued as he leveled a few more strokes. “Buried deep inside my pussy.”

He pulled free of her mouth, taking a few breaths to regain his strength, then he stood up and gathered his jeans that were on the floor, pulling a foil packet out of one of his pockets.

He laid the unopened condom on the side table and laid down against the length of the sofa, his head resting against the cushioned armrest.

He looked down to where she sat on the floor and curled his finger. “Come here and sit on my face.”

God, the power in his voice made her quiver with need. She closed her eyes, a feeble attempt to prepare for the onslaught she knew was coming. Between the deep rumble of his voice and the sinister look in his half-closed eyes, she realized she was in trouble.

When Oshun opened her eyes, he was slowly stroking himself from root to tip, his finger slowly rubbing a circular pattern at the tip. When she licked her lips, he passed his thumb through the dew drop of desire at his slit and offered it to her.

She moved quickly on shaky hands and knees until she reached his side. She latched onto his offered finger with the desperation of a starving woman, moaning when his strong yet sweet flavor spread across her tongue. It was just a taste. A small taste at that, and it made her burn with a fresh wave of desire.

She stood up, bending one knee at the side of his head, and extending her other leg so that her foot was firmly on the floor. Her stance left her feeling exposed and needy as she straddled him. She was certain that was exactly the way Masaki wanted her now. He positioned himself directly under her, burying his face between her swollen labia, lapping at her clit, sending electric shocks of fire through her system with each pass of his tongue, each suckle of his lips.

“Mas, please,” she cried. “I'm almost there.”

He'd been eating her pussy for all of five-point-six seconds, and already the familiar tightening of her muscles just before she climaxed was now within her reach. Together less than six months and he knew her body well enough to make her drip with desire in moments.

It could be that practice made perfect. In fact, that's what she'd always believed; they'd sexed so much and so hard, he knew how to make her body sing with pleasure. But now, after all they'd been through, she understood that the pleasure he gave her had little to do with his remarkable sexual abilities, and more to do with his heart.

Masaki gave her everything when they made love. From the very first, he'd poured his soul into the only avenue she'd allotted him to express what he felt, what was in his heart.

The two fingers he inserted in her opening caused her walls to tighten again and become slicker, begging for more of the tantalizing friction they delivered. A few more strokes, and Oshun was bearing down on those fingers, riding the lightning bolt of electric need as she squirted the first wave of her release over his face. She tried to shield him from the next spurt she felt coming, but he grabbed her hand, cupped his tongue, and drank her desire like a thirsty man in a desert.

She collapsed in bliss, completely ruined by this man’s ability to bend her body to his will. She felt him move from beneath her, until he was free from her legs and still-dripping cunt.

“Ass in the air, baby,” he commanded. Oshun complied as much as her loopy brain would allow her. She assumed she'd followed his command satisfactorily when she felt him slide between her swollen nether lips and push until his sheathed cock was stretching her walls.

“That's right, take it,” he hissed. “I want to be balls deep in my pussy when I blow this nut.”

She was still sensitive from her first orgasm, but could already feel the next one clawing at her. His deep strokes were pouring more gasoline onto the simmering embers of her last climax. He changed the angle of his next stroke, his cap rubbing just the right spot, and she tipped over into oblivion as she came apart for him again.

“That's it, come on my cock. I want it all.”

His request was almost comical. She couldn't have held back if she wanted, her body had ceased listening to her the moment he'd touched her. Whatever he wanted was his, and for the first time since this crazy ordeal began, she was completely fine with that.

As the last wave of her orgasm crested then ebbed, she felt his frantic need as he drove into her again. His hands planted on her shoulders to keep steady as his powerful, but uncoordinated strokes expertly battered her walls, bringing her to another debilitating climax. When her muscles seized in pleasure, he gave up the last vestiges of his control and spilled over into his bliss with a load roar.

He collapsed against her back, leaving delicate kisses where his fingers had held her in a bruising grip on her shoulders, and held her until his breathing slowed.

“If for no other reason than I could never willingly give this up, know I'll return,” he whispered to her. “I love you, Oshun. No one is ever taking that, or you, away from me.”