Compared to Victor’s suit, I’d already felt bummy in my too-much-fabric-for-ninety-eight-degrees outfit of jeans and flannel, but I felt like a complete slob once we stepped foot into Stone Capital. It was one thing to abstractly know someone was rich, but it was another to see evidence of it.
The place had marble floors—or at least floors shined to a marble finish—windows with stained glass, giant paintings with golden frames, and all the furniture was plush and velvety. It was also completely silent except for the receptionist. I felt skeptical that real people worked in these opulent conditions. I’d constantly worry about messing something up.
I ran a hand over my hair, glancing around as Victor spoke to the receptionist, and was glad the place seemed so vacant as we were led to a small conference room. It looked like a hotel room but minus a bed and plus a giant wooden table.
“Let me talk to him first,” I said once we were sitting side by side. “I’m not staying for long.”
Victor shook his head. “You’re being dumb.”
He was right, but I still glared at him until he resumed his close observation of the room. Back in the day, I’d wonder if he was scoping the place to see what he could steal. Now, I just wondered if he was picturing himself working for a man who had an office like this. I honestly couldn’t see it, but Victor had only been back for a few days, and my most vivid memories of him involved violence against my friends, and him hanging out with people who were now sitting in Rikers. As I studied the tattoos climbing up his thick neck, and the face that looked far younger when not gnarled into a glare, I wondered how many of those same friends could have changed for the better had they had the same chance Steph and her uncle had given Victor.
“Stop looking at me,” he griped.
I snorted, which was when the door opened. I got to my feet and Victor followed half a beat later. Kenneth entered with a gorgeous woman with mahogany skin and a close-cropped haircut.
“Good morning,” he said, looking between us. “This is Shonda, my lifeline.”
“His executive assistant,” Shonda said, sitting down with a tablet. She was all business in a way I appreciated, and now I wondered if that was why Kenneth had kept smiling and nodding at me during our first meeting. I had the same kind of no-nonsense lack of interest in wasting time with pleasantries. “I only had Quinones down for this meeting.”
“I only came to ask Mr. Stone a couple of questions,” I said. “If that’s okay? I’ll set up a separate meeting at another time.”
“We can set it up now.” Shonda set a small portable keyboard in front of the tablet and clacked at the keys. “I have an opening for—”
“Thanks, but I haven’t made a decision on what I want to do yet, so I’d rather wait.”
Shonda pursed her lips and said nothing.
Internally cringing at how tacky I was being, I looked over at Kenneth. “Can I have two minutes of your time? Separately?”
He stone-faced me, and I couldn’t blame him for it. I’d party crashed hard, and I was making Victor’s preliminary meeting about me. Grimacing, I shot Victor a look.
“Sorry, Vic.”
He raised his hands, and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Yeah, he’d changed.
“Two minutes, Sergeant Maldonado,” Kenneth said, and turned to step into the hall. I thought he would lead me to his office or somewhere more discreet, but he simply crossed his arms over his chest. “Speak.”
“Do you know which precinct Meredith is meeting the investigator at?”
His head jerked back enough to betray his surprise, but he just as quickly shifted to staring down his pointy nose at me. “That’s what you wanted to discuss?”
“That’s most of it.” Nerves shot through me, spreading beneath my skin, but I held his gaze and kept my chin up. I’d bet he was used to people who feared going toe to toe with a billionaire hedge fund manager in a sharp suit, but that was before he’d faced off with a Maldonado. “She should have someone with her besides a bodyguard. She’s tough, but that was scary shit, and she needs support. That doesn’t make her weak.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
“You’re not saying much of anything.” My words were flinging at him, bullets full of bad attitude and impatience, so I tried to dial it back. Put myself in his shoes and think of how I’d react if I were him, and some punk-ass twenty-seven-year-old in ripped-up jeans had stormed my office, interrupted a meeting, and was now demanding answers. If I were him, I’d have thrown my ass out. I rolled my shoulders and adjusted my stance. “I’d be very grateful if you helped me to support Meredith. We’d planned to go together, and I’d like to follow through.”
“Why didn’t you call her?”
“I don’t have her number.”
“Even though you—” Kenneth stopped and looked close to clutching his pearls. He cleared his throat. “Is this why you’re debating not taking my offer? Because you want to have a relationship with Meredith?”
“Maybe.” I looked around, lowering my voice. “And maybe I want you to tell me why I should work for a man who has such a bad relationship with someone I might want a future with.”
The condescending down-the-nose stare returned. “If this is your approach to a job—”
“It’s not. Trust me on that. But this isn’t exactly a normal situation, Stone. You came by my house unexpected to make an offer after I got out of bed with your daughter. And she proceeded to walk the hell out of my apartment like I’d told her I was considering a job as a necrophiliac gravedigger.” His lips twitched, and I moved closer, dropping my voice again. “Look, I don’t know why you want me on your staff—”
“You’re a decorated Marine who served multiple tours in Afghanistan. You earned a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for heroism in combat. There were stories about it in the news. And as I said before . . .” He glanced at the door to the conference room before returning his steady stare to me. “Meredith’s judgment says a lot about a person.”
“So, does that mean I shouldn’t take the job because she hates you?”
Judging by the clench of his jaw, Kenneth wasn’t used to people coming at him hard and direct. He blinked at me slowly, pursing his lips and then obviously trying to relax his face before speaking again. “My relationship with my children is, to be blunt, fucked. I saw them as miniature versions of me and was frustrated when that turned out not to be the case. It wasn’t until very recently that I realized I was wrong.” When I continued to watch him, he added, “I don’t talk about my family with anyone, let alone strangers, so that should show you how invested I am in acquiring you.”
“But why me?” I demanded. “There’s a bunch of former Marines looking for a job.”
He exhaled through his nose, resembling a pissed-off bull. “After I looked into your background, following my viewing of the surveillance tape, I realized you identified as queer. Then I realized you’re connected to my son’s . . .” I watched him struggle to describe who Chris was to Aiden, and relished every moment, “my son’s other significant other.” His nostrils flared again. He didn’t have the vocab or the understanding, and I could not help but privately enjoy his struggle even though I appreciated his effort. “I specifically want a set of guards who my children would be comfortable with, so Shonda suggested I look for people who are, as she put it, queer. I took the suggestion in the hopes that Caleb and Meredith would accept my assistance.”
“What about Aiden?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Don’t you want him and his fam to be safe too?”
“Yes, but his husband actually speaks to me. We get along perfectly well.”
My eyebrows shot up but instead of asking how the hell he had a good relationship with Jace, of all people, I said, “If you’re still looking for new people, there’s a guy I work with at Redline who might interest you. Also former military and openly gay. His name is Stavros.”
“Thank you for the recommendation, but am I now pursuing him instead of you?”
I shrugged, still torn on the answer, even though the idea of being hired to personally provide protection to people who mattered to me sounded pretty fucking great.
“I’ll let you know. Now, do you know what precinct she’s at?”
I left his office in midtown and practically flew to the R train to Brooklyn. The train came quickly, but I still couldn’t seem to get to the precinct fast enough. Realistically, I knew Meredith would be fine. I knew it was entirely possible that she’d glare at me and ask why I’d bothered to show up at all, or maybe even be confused at my mixed signals. But it was also possible that she’d been serious that night, and that she’d actually felt safe with me. Some people didn’t value their word, but I’d grown up knowing it was all I had.
After shoving my way through the crowded subway and sprinting up the stairs two at a time, I stripped off my flannel shirt, balled it in my hand, and ran to the station without once stopping for air. I knew it was ridiculous, I was being really extra in a way that was cringeworthy as hell, but I tended to have a sense about these things. Right now that sense was telling me to haul ass so I could see the girl who might someday be my girl.
I stopped in front of the precinct, breathing hard, and looked around. There were cops lingering on the steps, but there were also paparazzi snapping pictures across the street. It wasn’t the kind of side show that would have gone down if Ashton had been the one inside giving a statement, and I was glad for it. I had no idea how that kid functioned when there was always a camera up his ass.
I climbed the steps, steeling myself to go into a place that usually put me on edge, and nearly barreled into Meredith as she stepped out. She dropped her purse, eyes going wide, and reared back.
“Holy shit!”
“Sorry,” I said quickly, picking up her bag. “My fault.”
“No, it’s fine.” She put a hand to her heart and took a deep breath. “I’m just being ridiculous and jumpy.”
“You’re not being ridiculous. You have a right to be jumpy.”
Meredith’s mouth tipped up, and her gaze skated over my sweaty outfit. She wet her lips and looked away, squinting down at the car waiting on the curb. It was a black Lincoln with tinted windows, and I bet one of her dad’s people was inside. It was confirmed when she grimaced a little.
“I guess you have a ride,” I said dryly. “Sorry. I wanted to be there for you and dropped the ball.”
“You didn’t. I was the one—” She broke off and glanced at the cops lingering nearby. They had mostly stopped talking, and I wondered if they were actually all up in our business instead of talking about whatever cops talked about. “I was the one who didn’t answer you. I was being childish, I know.”
“No. Well, maybe.”
Meredith smirked and pressed the tips of her fingers against my shoulder. “Gotta love the brutal honesty.”
“It’s one of my best qualities,” I deadpanned.
“I agree.” Meredith walked farther down the stairs, hesitated, and grabbed my hand. “Is that invitation to talk still open?”
“Of course.”
A giant soundless exhale escaped her, and she beamed like it was Christmas morning. It was so bright and infectious I couldn’t help returning her smile, or pulling her to me to brush my lips to her cheek, photographers be damned.
“Your car or my, uh, subway?” I asked in her ear.
“I could ask Chester to drive us to Queens?”
My mouth ticked up. “We can go to your place, Meredith. Unless you don’t want to for a reason besides trying to placate me.”
“God, I can’t get away with shit with you.”
She dragged me to the town car and practically threw me into the back. Only when she got in behind me did I notice the bright-yellow, and incredibly thin, dress she was wearing with her big boots.
“Chester, can you take us to South Jamaica?”
Chester glanced in the rearview mirror. He looked at me, seemed confused, and then frowned. “Where in South Jamaica?”
“Um . . . wherever the F train stops on Sutphin Boulevard?”
“Just drop us by the civil courthouse on Sutphin,” I said. “We can walk from there.”
He gave me another skeptical stare, and I knew for damn sure he wasn’t going to just let us wander away. Meredith seemed to know too, because her well-formed mouth sank into a frown. I didn’t know what part of this was getting to her, but I assumed it was having to be shadowed by someone who already wasn’t too thrilled with driving her around. He was also looking at me like I’d just busted into the car thinking it was a dollar cab.
“I thought you said these guys were nice.”
She shrugged. “They were when I was little. Now, my father is forcing them to be my chauffeur and they’re salty.”
In the front seat, Chester rolled his eyes without responding. Either he knew Meredith well enough to know engaging in a petty argument would get him nowhere, or he’d known her long enough to let her comments roll off his back.
“I guess that’s why my father is trying to hire more staff.” Mere nudged me with her knee. “Anyway, I’m just irritated in general. I do wish you’d been in there with me, because I kept forgetting shit. Maybe they’ll talk to you next?”
“Probably. Or we can go back together.”
Her hand found mine, fingers sliding together. “They didn’t tell me all the details because they’re still investigating, but the second guy was picked up at his house in Staten Island.”
I scoffed. “Figures.”
“I know, right?” Meredith shook her head. “The cop, Detective Henson, didn’t say it outright, but I think the guy’s friend had to have turned him in, unless they identified him some other way.”
“If they tracked him through surveillance cameras to a car or something, they could have. But I know literally nothing about criminal investigations and something like that would probably take longer than two days.”
She nodded. “Yeah. But he’s in jail. I identified him and gave the investigator all the details. I don’t know how long they’ll be locked up, because they could get bonded or whatever, but . . . there’s an actual investigation and everything, which makes me happy.”
I nodded, forcing a smile for her even as my brain sprinted ten steps ahead to a thousand what-if scenarios. What if someone else decided to use that information to target her? What if someone else decided to rob her or her house now that her address had been made public? What if those dude’s friends decided to avenge their now-jailed buddies?
What if people decided to lash out at Chris, who’d found the evidence on the guy’s laptop? Or Mere’s brothers? Or Jace—the dreamy-eyed guy who looked like an anime character?
“Hey, what are you thinking?” Mere leaned in, concern creasing her face. “You got that serious mean mug again.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I can just tell you’re not exactly walking on sunshine at the news.”
“That’s because I’m a cynic with a huge chip on my shoulder.” One glance up front at Chester showed he was driving, eyes on the road, but something about his body language made it clear he was all up in our convo. “How long are you going to have this guy driving you around? I’m sure he was taken off some other kind of duty, right?”
Chester nodded without speaking, and Meredith inclined her head. “Caleb wants all of the QFindr execs to have full-time security until this situation dies down. Right now we have an entire forum of trolls plotting against us, trolls who have our personal information and addresses, and the situation is close to spiraling. So . . .” She looked down, eyelashes shading her eyes. “Caleb and Aiden both agreed that using Dad’s team is for the best.”
“Do you agree?”
She raised a shoulder slightly. “I guess. I don’t like him, but this is for the best, right?”
I watched her cautiously. “You tell me what’s best. This is about your life.”
Meredith rubbed her thumb over my knuckles as if she was trying to massage the scar tissue away. “I think we should be safe. Especially now. And that my personal feelings about my father aside, utilizing his force is smart. And . . .” She cleared her throat and looked up, meeting my stare. “And I think, if you want to, you should consider that job.”
“Why the change of heart?”
“Because I was having a kneejerk reaction, a series of them, without really thinking it through. It’s not like you’ll be golfing with the man,” she said, causing me to snort. “Besides, I’d love it if you were my guard.”
“Uh, no. Not gonna happen.” I shook my head empathetically. “This isn’t a Whitney Houston movie, ma. No blurring the lines at work.”
“But we’d get to spend so much time together, plus so much sex.”
“Right, plus me being distracted by wanting to fuck you nonstop when I’m not wanting to go homicidal on the next fool who looks at you wrong.”
Meredith batted her eyelashes at me. “That was so romantic.”
“Yeah, that’s as much as you’re gonna get from me, so I’m glad it touched your heart.”
She laughed, and upfront even Chester snorted. I pulled her in for a half hug, relief fanning out over me in an unfamiliar way. I hadn’t been this emotionally invested in a girl in a while. Then again, I hadn’t had someone look at me the way Meredith looked at me in a while. She wasn’t deterred by my hard-ass exterior, sneers, or cold attempts to drive her off. She somehow bypassed all that in a way that no one else had ever done, or tried to do, before. I didn’t know why I was so special to her, or why she was so special to me, but all of this special shit had to lead somewhere good, right?
“I want to kiss you.”
“So do it,” she said. “Right here in front of Chester.” I kissed her forehead, and she scowled. “That’s it?”
“Until you fully explain your change of heart, yeah.”
“Fine. But let’s wait until we’re at your place.” Meredith tilted her head onto my shoulder and curled against me. I was all hard angles, but she acted like I was the most cuddly person in the world. “Unless Angel and Victor are there . . .”
“Shouldn’t be.”
“Good. We can talk, but then I want makeup sex.”
Upfront, Chester sighed. I just laughed.
Thankfully, Angel really wasn’t home when we got there. His day tended to depend on cancellations and emergency visits for technician support, and I did not have the mental capacity for an audience. There were few times when I could interact openly without my guard up if there were people watching.
There was a difference between talking to people and talking in a way that ripped me open and left me bare, and I’d never been good at that. Even as a kid, the idea of answering a question when called on in class had fucking paralyzed me. The idea of being wrong, and being ridiculed for being wrong, had been terrifying. Why would I open myself up to that? Why would I open myself up to anyone but people I trusted one hundred percent?
I flipped the locks and tossed my keys on the counter.
“You want anything?”
Meredith shook her head. “Can we go to your room?”
“You sure? It’s not the most visually stimulating.”
She snorted. “I’m not here for a light show, T.”
Shaking my head, I kicked off my shoes by the door and led her to my room. The bed was still unmade, and she hesitated at the foot of it. Her long fingers trailed along the messy sheet, and I wondered if she could remember our night together as vividly as I could.
Judging by the hazy way she looked at me, with her teeth catching on her lower lip, she did.
I grabbed the front of her dress in my hand and tugged her to me, loving how she came with no resistance at all. I loved it even more when she slanted her mouth for me and let my tongue in to play, lashing at her in hot wet strokes as she pressed her body to mine. My hand found its way into her hair, my other one shooting up her dress to clutch her ass, but she did nothing more than hang onto me as I tongued her breathless.
As a teenager, I must have kissed hundreds of girls as I’d claimed my status as one of the few out studs of our high school. Kisses should not have had the ability to power through my body armor and explode through my nerves, but these did. Because these were kisses I’d fantasized about for a fucking year. Even when I’d resented her and hated myself for fixating on her, I’d wanted it so bad.
“What is it about you?” I rasped against her lips. “I’ve been wanting this since that fucking cruise, and every time I touch you, I just want more and more. And I don’t think I’ll ever get enough. You have no idea how weird this is for me.”
She panted against me, hands sliding up to curve over my shoulders. “What? How ridiculously intense every little touch is between us?”
“Yeah.” I jerked her harder against me and flicked my tongue at her lower lip. “That.”
Meredith rubbed her breasts against me, undulating like a ridiculously sexy wave. “I think they call it being totally infatuated and in love at first sight. People just don’t usually simmer over it for a year the way we did, Sergeant.”
My body clenched up at the use of my title, from my abs to my pussy. My fingers became clawed in her soft skin, eyelids lowering.
“Fuck, I like that.”
Her lips curled up, gaze full of knowing. “What else would you like, Sergeant Maldonado? You know I’ll follow any order.”
Damn it, this wasn’t what this little jaunt to my apartment was supposed to turn into. We were supposed to be having serious conversations to avoid repeats of earlier bouts of anger and silent treatment, but all I wanted right then was to bend her over and play with her until she came all over that cute little dress. I didn’t want her to just say my name. I wanted her to scream it. To sob it. To fall apart while her body opened for me and got wet for me, as she begged her sergeant not to stop.
“Keep the dress on,” I whispered. “I want to see how badly I can ruin some more of your clothing.”
An actual shiver went through her, and then her eyes opened wide like she’d just had a revelation. “Few people can get me wet from words alone.”
“Then you’ve been screwing the wrong people.”
I pushed her down onto the bed, nodding to indicate she should scoot back. She did, which was when I realized she was still wearing her boots. She hadn’t taken them off at the door. The picture of her sitting against the headboard with a soft cotton dress up around her waist and old chunky boots still on her feet was something I wanted ingrained in my mind—her looking like a biker someone had forced into an Easter dress.
“You’re gorgeous.” Her rosy skin turned a deeper shade of pink, and I couldn’t help another smile. They weren’t so rare around her. “People must tell you that all the time.”
“Those people aren’t you.”
“What’s the difference?”
She thudded her head against the headboard. “You only say things when they have an actual meaning. Most people give compliments because they think they’re supposed to, or because they want something from the person on the receiving end.”
“Bleak,” I noted, kneeling on the edge of the bed and inching closer to her. “Maybe I’m saying it because I want to lick your pussy.”
“It already belongs to you, Sergeant.” One of those cocky smiles appeared, but there was no resenting it, because she knew exactly what to say to set my blood on fire. “Like I said, you could do whatever you want to me. I want you to do whatever you want.”
I walked my fingers up her legs, watching the way her thighs automatically inched wider apart.
“Funny, because on Saturday it seemed like you’d ghost on me if I did something you didn’t want.”
Meredith jolted upright just a little, even as I continued my slow investigation of her smooth skin. “Do we need to talk about that now?”
“Yeah. We do.”
“Why?” she whined a little, pillowy lower lip pushing out in a charming pout. “Serious conversations are one of the leading causes of vaginal droughts.”
I twisted my mouth to the side to avoid laughing, but she caught the motion and winked.
“It’s like this.” I crawled forward again, not stopping until I was kneeling between her legs and forcing them to remain splayed around me. “I want to touch you. All over. Know every inch of that body you spend so much time shining to a polish. And I can’t be that close to you, and know you that thoroughly, when there’s a big. Fucking. Problem. Looming just over the horizon of our orgasms.”
“Holy shit, a Marine and a poet.” Meredith put a hand over her heart, but then flopped to the side in a heap of willowy limbs. “Okay, fine. I’m sorry. I have a tendency to want to skip straight to pretending nothing unfortunate ever happened.”
“I get that, and in some cases that’s probably okay. For example, if we start dating and I get pissed at you for leaving your hair all up in my drain, I might bitch one time without needing a thorough discussion a few days later.”
Meredith put her hands on my hips. “So dating and sleepovers are in our future.”
“If we can get through this convo, I sure as hell hope so.” I leaned in for another quick kiss, because her mouth seriously was irresistible. When she pushed herself against me, parting her lips for a brief hint of tongue, it was a struggle to sit back on my haunches again. “I know it seemed like I took your past with your father lightly, and that was a dick thing to do.”
She blinked at me and her hands tightened around me. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Why not? It’s true. If someone had ever tried to brush off my shit with my parents and act like it was no big deal, I would have flipped on them.”
“Maybe so . . . but it’s a different situation. I can admit that.” Meredith shrugged and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. “The stuff with my parents is complicated, but it’s not— I don’t hate them. I really don’t. I just hate how cold they are. But the older I get, the more I realize they don’t know any other way to be, so they couldn’t even learn from each other when they were together.”
I resumed rubbing her thighs, liking the way she almost always shivered just a bit under my palms. For someone who looked so delicate, she enjoyed a bit of roughness. The thought spurred me to press down harder, slide my hands up higher.
“Keep talking,” I said softly.
“Stop distracting me,” she said with a smile. “A couple of years ago, I realized I’d almost started to become like them. Judgmental and heartless.”
“Yeah? What changed?”
“The company I kept.” She looked down then, eyelashes shading her big blue eyes. “I spent more time with Oli, Aiden, and Caleb. Then I befriended Jace and reconnected with Ashton. And oh God, Charles and Stephanie. I love her. And she calls me out so much, which I need.”
I could see that. Easily. My lip curled up at the mental image.
“You never fucked my homegirl, did you?”
“No.” Meredith made an offended face, then smiled. “She wouldn’t let me.”
I couldn’t help it—I laughed. For as much as her smug entitled attitude had pissed me off, I loved how honest she was about who she was and what she wanted.
“But anyway, my father—I just hated the idea of him being in my life any kind of way without me choosing it. And then I talked with Stephanie, and she reminded me that he would be in your life. Not mine. And that was your choice. Not mine. And that me putting the weight of my grudge on you wasn’t fair.”
“Right, so you couldn’t figure that shit out yourself?”
Meredith thwacked my side. “Come on. I’m just now recovering from being a prima donna asshole. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I’m not the center of the world. Eventually, I’ll be better at consistently checking myself.” All traces of joking left her expression, and she pushed herself up onto her elbows. “I swear I’ll be better.”
“I’m sure you will, if you were already trying to improve yourself before meeting me. I’d have some doubts if it was just to get in my pants.”
She snorted. “I don’t just want to get in your pants. I want to get in your bed. And your shower so I can clog it with my hair.”
This time I didn’t fight my laugh, and I didn’t stop myself from leaning in for a longer, slower kiss. One that let me taste every inch of her mouth and draw out soft little sounds that translated to restless shifts of her hips. I kissed down, dragging my lips over her chin before making my way to her throat, all while covering her hands with my own to hold them in place.
“I love the way you touch me, Sergeant Maldonado.” Her breath hitched when I eased down, sliding my mouth over her dress and between her breasts. “I used to fantasize about it. Try to figure out how you’d be in bed.”
I laced our fingers together and pulled until she was flat on her back, and smiled at her gasp. She bent her knees, causing the dress to slide up her thighs and expose the light-gray underwear she wore beneath.
“And how’d you think I’d be?”
“Just—” She gasped again, louder this time, when I pressed my mouth against her pussy through the thin fabric covering it. “Just like this.”
“You haven’t seen shit yet, ma.”
Her hips lifted, thighs spreading wider. I took the offering and traced every inch of her with the tip of my tongue. The folds hiding her clit and the outline of her lips with the same painstaking slowness. She jutted her hips up again, seeking more, so I gave in just a little by pressing my tongue down harder.
She arched her back, moaning beautifully for me, and I pulled back with a smile. I loved how flushed she got, pink turning to red when she was turned on. Not to mention the way her nipples poked through her dress.
“Don’t stop,” she said, pleading and firm at once.
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
I rubbed two fingers over her slit and moved them up and down. Slow, then, at the first hint of dampness through the fabric, I sped up. Another noise tore out of her, a deeper moan. Wanting to hear more, I rubbed faster, teasing her clit on each upward slide.
“Yes,” she whispered, breathy and already sounding far gone.
I looked up, expecting her to be watching, but found her head tipped back and her hands busy. She’d yanked the dress up so it had caught near her neck and was toying with her nipples. Rubbing them at the same pace as my fingers. When I moved faster, so did she, and soon she was writhing on the bed and twisting them.
My body throbbed in response, and the sensation intensified once I returned my attention to her sex and realized her light-gray underwear was soaked through.
“I love how wet you get.”
I leaned down just enough to touch my lips to the patch of fabric, sucking on everything I could, My body clenched at her taste. I was rewarded with another of those throaty groans, so I pressed her legs up and back until her sweet spot was perfectly displayed and positioned for me to devour. After one last glance up at her—just to see the utter delight of Meredith watching me with keen desperation, biting her lower lip as she gripped one knee to her chest and continued to toy with her breasts with the other—I moved her underwear to the side.
Goddamn, what a sight. She’d opened up for me, and she was drenched, clit swollen. I gave it a light slap with my fingers, and she released a huffed giggle.
“No laughing,” I said from between her legs.
“Oh, this is serious business. Yes, you’re right.”
“Super fucking serious.”
I showed how critical this situation was by sliding two of my fingers into her hole and leaning up to latch my mouth on to her nipple.
“Fuck.”
Her cry had to have transcended the ceiling and broken through the walls, but she got louder as I steadily slid my fingers in and out, up to the knuckle. With my fingers in deep, my thumb swiping over her clit in a circle, and my lips sucking her nipple into my mouth with pressure that was likely close to painful, her agonized moans turned to ecstatic shouts.
Meredith arched her back, trying to ride my fingers, and clenched around them tight. With a soundless gasp, her body jackknifed up and she came as I kept fucking her, the wet sound of my plunging fingers and rubbing thumb deliciously obscene in the quiet room.
I grinned wickedly when she collapsed on the bed, gasping for breath with her eyes squeezed shut. The cocky part of me expected her to give me a dazed smile, but Meredith’s eyes snapped open and she fumbled her way to a sitting position. With slightly uncoordinated determination, she pushed me onto my back and crawled to the edge of the bed.
“Jeans off, Sergeant.” She licked her lips, eyes ablaze. “And can I use your harness?”
My stomach flipped and my hands stilled on my belt. “Fuck yeah, you can.”
She grinned but kept studying me. “Why’d you look surprised?”
“Because the girls I bring home usually want me to fuck their brains out and assume I have no interest in getting in return.”
“Well, those people live in a narrow world filled with stupidity, stereotypes, and assumptions leading to bad fucking.”
“Hey now. My fucking is never bad.”
“Uh, duh. But clearly they weren’t giving you everything you wanted in return.”
Meredith hopped off the bed and removed her dress, tossing it to the side so she was standing in the middle of my bedroom in nothing but underwear that had been reduced to a wet rag, and a bra that looked more lace than solid fabric. She went to my closet, clearly remembering where I stored my harness and assortment of toys from our marathon sex session a few nights before.
There was something indescribably sexy about watching her slide into the harness and adjust it. She bit her lower lip when I began slowly rubbing my clit.
She prowled toward me, cupid’s bow lips turned up into a filthy grin, and climbed onto the bed. She caught my legs under the knees, dragging me closer to her, and rocked forward to drag the tip of the dildo along my slit. I watched with rapt fascination, unable to stop myself from jerking my hips closer to her. When she angled the tip to my slicked entrance and slid slowly inside, I fought the urge to close my eyes.
I wanted to see her fuck me, hips flexing forward and hair hanging around her as she moved faster and jerked her hips with more intensity. I loved watching the veiny silicone slide into my pussy and come out coated in my wetness. It wasn’t even the act of being penetrated that turned me on so much—it was all those details.
I dropped a hand to my clit again, and rubbed hard. No teasing, no drawing it out, I moved my fingers over my clit so fast that my elbow pinged from the angle.
“You’re so beautiful.” Meredith was breathing erratically as she fucked in and out of me, sweat trickling down the sides of her face and dampening her hair in the now-humid room. “You said I was wet, but you’re making a total mess, baby.”
“Oh fuck.” My back arched, hips slamming onto the dildo. I grit my teeth, eyebrows hiking up, but kept watching. “Don’t stop.”
She said something else after that, something dirty and fond, but it was lost to the roar in my ears. A sound exploded out of my throat, half-panicked and half-overwhelmed, and I planted my feet onto the mattress harder. The orgasm hit me so fast, and with so much power, that I couldn’t stop crying out. A continuous series of hoarse shouts escaped my mouth, and I didn’t stop rubbing myself until the pressure against my swollen clit was almost painful.
I fell back on the bed much the way Meredith had earlier, and finally shut my eyes. It burned to breathe, likely because I’d been holding my breath, and it took a long moment for me to get myself together. She was right—I was a mess. Wet and probably flushed, chest heaving, but I also felt turned inside out from the intensity of my orgasm. In the past, I’d have stumbled out of the bed to get myself together in the bathroom. Now, I just exhaled slowly and blindly reached for her.
“That was really gorgeous,” she whispered in my ear, raining kisses all over my face. “Like, the prettiest orgasm I’ve ever seen.”
I shook my head at the absurdity. “There’s something wrong with you.”
“It’s so true. I’m pretty sure I look like I’m in my death throes when I come.”
The laugh that burst out of me bordered on hysterical, and I couldn’t tamp down on it the way I usually could. My shoulders shook as she cuddled up to me, still trailing kisses all over me.
“Stop making me laugh,” I groused, wiping dampness from my eyes with my forearm. “You’re ruining my style.”
“I ruined your vagina too. Might have to go inspect it later.”
“Meredith.”
She snickered and pressed her face against my neck. “Okay, I’ll stop being goofy. I’m just ridiculously happy right now. And kind of hoping I get to spend the night.”
I wrapped an arm around her, tightening her against me. “You absolutely get to spend the night.”
“Mmm.” Meredith kissed me, gentle at first and then deeper. When our tongues touched, I had to pull back or we’d end up fucking again right now. “You know, if I spend enough nights, Chester could go do whatever Chester usually does since I’d be staying with my bodyguard on the regular.”
I swatted her ass. “I’m not going to be your bodyguard. It’s a conflict of interest.”
“Oh?”
“Yes.”
“Because you want me to be your . . . girlfriend?”
She’d said it teasingly, but I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“‘Maybe,’ she says.” Meredith sighed tragically, but judging from the acceleration of her heartbeat against my sweat-damp chest, those two syllables had made her happier than the orgasms.
“Fine,” I said. “I want you to be my girlfriend.” Her response was a huge smile, but I kept talking before she could interrupt. “But I’m really not going to be your bodyguard. Seriously, Meredith.”
“Okay, I get that.” She propped herself up with her face against her hand, still beaming. “But you’re going to be someone’s bodyguard at QFindr. You’re taking the job for sure?”
I rolled onto my side so I could fully face her, putting a hand on her hip and stroking it with my thumb. “I’m strongly considering it.”
Meredith held my gaze and nodded without a flicker of resentment or bitterness in that lovely face. “If my father’s an ass to you, I’ll murder him.”
Snorting, I smoothed my hand up to the small of her back. “Thanks, but I think I can handle it. I kind of got in his face today, demanded to know why I should work for someone whose own kids can’t stand him.”
Meredith’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
“Uh-huh. I expected him to kick me out on my ass, but he fucking explained himself to me. He was obviously pissed off about it, but he said he’d been wrong for being a shitty dad.” She continued to gape. If we were in a cartoon, her mouth would have slid down to the floor. “He also said the reason he wants to hire me is because his hot assistant, Shonda, suggested maybe folks at QFindr would feel more comfortable having other queer people constantly shadowing them.”
“I’m sorry—” Meredith shook her head. “I’m, like, mind blown. He admitted to a fault?”
“Yeah, but considering he hasn’t said it to any of you, let’s not get too excited. He’s still an ass in my book.”
“I know. But, Jesus, at least he’s aware of it. Wow.” Meredith settled onto the bed, eyes still round. “I have to tell Caleb.”
I jerked her closer to me. “Later.”
A smile curved onto her face again. “Later, huh? Does Sergeant Maldonado want to cuddle?”
“Don’t ruin the vibe, Meredith.”
“Okay, no vibe ruining, but on one condition.”
I waited, watching her make a serious face, and fighting the desire to kiss it off her.
“No calling other women hot.”
“Oh my God.” I laughed again, burying my face in her neck. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I will fight someone,” she said. “With fists.”
“Instead of dueling pistols?”
“Exactly.”
“No need for all that. You have no competition.” I wrapped my arms around her, and she stilled against me, curling against me like she belonged. The fan swooshed above us, stirring the warm air and adding to the drowsiness settling into my bones. My eyes grew heavy, but I didn’t fall asleep before saying, “I haven’t wanted anyone to be my girlfriend in a while.”
“So I’m special,” she murmured.
“Special,” I confirmed. “And mine.”