CHAPTER 15

Brock

“Brock.” Something shook my shoulder. I cracked an eye open to find Amanda shoving her hand into my arm.

“It won’t stop ringing. Make it stop.”

I took the phone and laughed at her annoyed face. She spent too many years sleeping way into the afternoons, only to be up all night. Then again, we hadn’t done much outside of the bed once we’d arrived home from my parents’ house. After round one we grabbed some food, then went back to bed for more. We ended up spending the whole night fucking. No other woman was as satisfying as Amanda, and with her newfound control streak, she made sex into an almost Olympic event.

Things with my parents had gone better than expected. Their acceptance of Amanda’s situation and denial of her fault in any of it went a long way to relieving the tension she’d built up over the last couple of days. We’d ended up staying through dinner, giving them all time to catch up and even talk about the future. I had a feeling my mother was hoping to see Amanda in a permanent position in my life. Not that I thought either one of us were ready to make a decision like that. 

I glanced at the caller ID and saw Malcolm’s number. Sitting up on the side of the bed, I ran a hand over my face. “’Ello?” My voice was still thick with sleep.

“I need you to come to the dealership today.”

I glanced over at Amanda, who’d curled back into her pillow for more sleep. “Can you give me two hours? I need to take care of something before I head over to the dealership.”

Amanda sat up, listening to the conversation intently. I didn’t have to say anything more. Malcolm would assume I’d brought a woman home like so many times before. He didn’t know what woman currently occupied my bed.

“Don’t be too long and don’t leave her hanging.”

I laughed at his assumption. Amanda clutching the sheet to her chest only added to my amusement. He’d read the situation perfectly. If I had to get up and go to work, I planned on taking Amanda into the shower with me.

“I won’t. I’ll be there soon.” I hung up the phone. “I have to head into the dealership.”

“I heard. Do you think he knows about me?”

I took hold of the sheet held tightly in her fingers. “Probably, but only that no one knows where you are. Let’s not worry about that right now. I’m sure there are more pleasurable things we can do in the shower.”

“Mmm . . . that does sound like a better idea.”

I bent over, taking her lips with mine. I pulled the sheet from her body, exposing the most perfect breasts in existence. The little pebbled tips seemed to be reaching for me. I crawled over her and hooked her legs around my waist. The shower would give me a chance to get ready and still have time to savor Amanda.

With her still in my arms, I reached down and flicked the water on. It wouldn’t be long before steam filled the room. I seized her lips, loving the feel of all that naked flesh pressed against me. Once steam filled the room, I climbed into the shower, letting her down, her skin sliding along mine. I’d never been more thankful for the raised bench I’d had built into the shower than I was at that moment.

With my lips still pressed to hers, I glided my hands up her ribs, taking her nipples between my thumbs and forefingers. She’d always been so responsive to her nipples being played with and now was no different. She thrust her chest closer to me, her tight buds scraping across my skin. I dropped one of my hands down between her legs, circling her clit, mercilessly avoiding direct contact.

“You’re a goddamn tease,” she moaned as I barely brushed over her sensitive nub.

“You don’t want me to tease you?” I moved my fingers to lightly toy with her pussy.

“No,” she panted out.

“No? Then what do you want?” My voice was deep and husky.

She wrapped her hand around my nape and forced my mouth to hers. After a savage kiss she pulled back. “I want you to bend me over this bench and fuck the hell out of me.”

I took hold of her arms and spun her away from me, pushing down on her shoulders until her ass was in direct contact with my dick. Something was missing. I pushed the back of her thigh up, planting her foot on the bench.

Perfect.

Her pussy was on full display for my eyes and my dick. “Your wish is my command.” I thrust hard into her, her whole body shooting forward. There was no doubt she’d have marks on her hips from my grip by the time we were done.

Over and over, I slammed into her, making her call out my name. Her body coiled like a snake ready to pounce.

“Brock,” she begged.

I reached around and pinched her clit. The effect was immediate. Her thighs quivered and I felt the way she tightened around me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hold off the orgasm. Our breathing slowed and we were finally able to stand. Not for the first time since Amanda had come back into my life did I realize how insignificant all my other sexual conquests were compared to her. Everything about Amanda wanted to make me risk things I’d sworn I never would.

 

***

 

I arrived at the dealership not long before my two-hour deadline. The front showroom was bustling with customers, all looking at the impressive selection of cars Malcolm kept there. I passed through the shiny new cars and went straight for the back hall where the offices were. I didn’t bother stopping at Miller’s. If Miller wasn’t in the room I’d say hello on my way out, but I didn’t want to leave Malcolm waiting any longer. I knocked and waited for him to tell me to enter. The moment the door shut behind me he started.

“She’s missing. Where could that bitch possibly be?”

I didn’t have to ask what ‘she’ he was talking about. He’d figured that ‘Isobel Marcello’ was missing. I took a seat in the chair across from his desk. “How’d you find out she was missing?”

“Marcello’s people spent yesterday torturing people trying to figure out where the two of them are. Why wouldn’t she have gone home? Did you see any sign of her when you left with Marcello?”

Acid burned the back of my throat at the thought of lying to Malcolm, but I’d realized last night that talking to him first was a bad idea. Telling Ashton and Miller was the better plan. They’d know how to deal with Malcolm so he didn’t kill Amanda on sight.

“No. Marcello was home alone.”

“That bitch is up to something and I won’t let her come after my family.”

If only he knew that Amanda was happy they’d taken care of Marcello for her. “Who’s running the show?”

“It seems as if Jimmy Delgado has taken over for now. I’m sure once Isobel reappears he’ll either bend to her will or she’ll dispose of him.”

“Are we sure she didn’t run?” Maybe giving him other options would make it easier for him to accept the truth about Amanda later.

“Someone like her wouldn’t run. She’s somewhere plotting her next move.”

I did my best to keep my features schooled and my face blank. “What do you want done?”

“I want you to figure out where that bitch is.”

I swallowed back my revulsion at my next words. “Dead or alive?” There’d be no way I’d be able to carry out a hit on Amanda. Hopefully he just wanted to watch her. Malcolm didn’t normally do things without a rational reason. Attacking Isobel Marcello when she had yet to commit a crime against his family would cross that line.

“Alive. Until she makes a move, I want to know what she’s up to. If she attempts revenge for Marcello’s death, I’ll deal with it then. Most likely, the bitch is happy the narcissistic bastard is gone and she can have all the power.”

“Could be we did her a favor.” The weight on my chest lessened with the word alive.

“We’ll see. But I still want you to find her. I want to know what the fuck she’s up to instead of being blindsided with a call from the hospital.”

“What about Jimmy? Want me to watch him?”

“Yeah, he’s a shady fucker. Who knows what he’s got up his sleeve. For all I know the bastard got rid of her when he found the present Dean left for him.”

“I’m on it. I’ll check in tomorrow.”

“Good.” I stood to go when Malcolm continued. “Faith wants you to come to dinner one night.”

“That sounds good. I love Faith’s cooking.”

“I’ll warn you. Now that Ashton and Miller are taken, she and Elena have their sights set on finding you someone.”

“Good to know.”

Soon enough I’d be able to tell all of them that I’d found someone. At least I thought I did. For the first time I believed I had a woman in my bed who could handle my job and would glorify it. Were either of us ready for forever? Probably not, but I also wasn’t ready to kick her out of my bed anytime soon. There was still the nagging at the back of my mind that she’d eventually disappear again. I’d just have to wait and see. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I left the office. Malcolm had already gone back to the paperwork on his desk. He’d turned a good portion of the business over to Miller, but with Miller being out to take care of Tess, Malcolm was back to meeting with new clients. Using the dealership to launder the money meant Malcolm had to personally oversee any of the service orders where no car was dropped off. Most of the people who worked at the dealership thought it was a legitimate business, and for all intents and purposes it was. The garage attached to the dealership was where all of the actual money was made.

When I reached Miller’s door, I rapped my knuckles against it.

“Come in,” Miller’s voice called from the other side.

I opened the door. “Glad to see you back.”

“What’s up, Brock?” Miller set his pen down and leaned back in the chair.

“Nothing. I was meeting with your dad. Figured I’d stop by and check in and see how Tess was doing.”

Miller groaned. “Much better, but now that Marcello’s dead she wants me to ditch the protection.”

“I’m assuming you told her no?” Shit if I knew how he felt. If Amanda would let me, I’d hire round-the-clock protection for her. Once the rest of the Hawes family knew the truth, I planned to do exactly that. With her hiding out in my house, she was safe from anyone finding her.

“Yes, but that didn’t get me anywhere but a fucking argument. I can’t figure out why she needs to be so difficult about this shit.”

I chuckled. “It took Elena a while to get used to being followed. Tess will get there.”

“God, I fucking hope so, before I end up prematurely gray because of her. At least she’ll be with Elena Thursday night at the show, and Elena’s protection will still be there.”

“It’ll work out in the end. You look like you’ve got enough to catch up on. Let me get out of your hair.”

He glanced around his desk. “I’m glad Dad decided to hang around for a while to help take care of this mess. What’s he got you doing?”

“Checking up on Jimmy Delgado. Make sure he isn’t planning some kind of revenge.” I didn’t bother mentioning that he also wanted me to find Amanda. For now, I wanted to leave her out of as much as I could.

“It’s a good idea. My guess is Jimmy is more than happy we got rid of the narcissistic little shit. He’s probably been waiting for someone to do it so he could take over.”

“Most likely.”

“Why aren’t you following Isobel Marcello as well?” His voice took on a hard edge as her name left his lips.

“Still trying to figure out where she is.” Before Miller could say anything else, I stood from the chair. “Let me know if you need anything. I’m off to find Delgado and any sign of Isobel.”

“Good luck with that. I’m going to face the fact I’m not getting home for the next year.”

I laughed and left the office. With Malcolm only on the lookout for Amanda, I could focus all of my attention on Jimmy, the real threat to the Hawes family. I already knew where Amanda was and what her plans were. What I needed to find out was whether or not Jimmy planned any kind of revenge against the Hawes family.

After spending a large part of the morning and afternoon scoping out Marcello’s businesses, I finally found Jimmy having lunch with a few of Marcello’s clients. Not one of them looked uncomfortable to be there. Under normal circumstances, clients would be wary of someone new running the show. Seemed as if Jimmy had set this all up long ago. Most likely him sending people out to look for Amanda was for show.

Jimmy Delgado was officially running the Marcello organization.

 

***

 

For a week, I’d watched Delgado, hoping to find some indication he was after the Hawes family so we could end this. But I had nothing. The only highlight of the week was going home to Amanda each night. She didn’t seem to care one bit when I told her Jimmy had taken over the organization. She wanted nothing to do with it. She seemed more interested in spending time with me. There wasn’t a room in the house I hadn’t fucked her in at this point. It was as if we were making up for all the missing years. The only thing she did worry about was Malcolm and how he’d react when he figured out where she was. I tried to tell her repeatedly that Malcolm would accept her when he knew her story, but I knew she didn’t really believe me.

The phone on the seat next to me rang and I had a serious sense of déjà vu of when I’d been looking for Marcello and Malcolm had wanted an update.

“Hello,” I answered, a lead weight settling in my gut. I had a pretty good feeling what Malcolm wanted.

“Have you found her yet?” His tone was clipped.

“Nothing. She disappeared without a trace.”

“Nobody disappears without a trace,” he snapped. “I want her found and I want her found yesterday.”

The call disconnected and I knew we’d passed the time to tell the family about Amanda. If I wasn’t careful, Malcolm would get someone else to find her and this time he might not have a problem putting a hit on her head. The phone buzzed in my hand and I groaned.

 

Ashton: Want to catch a game tomorrow night? I got box seats.

 

Maybe that was the opening I needed. If I could talk to Ashton, he could give me advice on how to talk to his dad without Malcolm going on a rampage.

 

Me: Sure. I’ll meet you there.

 

There was no reason to keep watching Delgado for the day. He’d head over to the warehouses down by the river, and I’d have no way to hear or see anything going on inside. I started the car and drove back to my place. The minute the door swung open, the aroma of garlic and onion hit my nose. I shut the door and walked down the hall to the kitchen, where I froze in the doorway. Amanda stood in front of my stove, wearing only my T-shirt. Apparently, this was becoming a habit of hers. It looked like she hadn’t felt like getting dressed for the day. That or she enjoyed teasing the fuck out of me. God, how I wished she had. I was a tough motherfucker, but the sight of long, shapely legs peeking out beneath the hem of the shirt made my dick hard in seconds. And I had more problems to worry about at the moment than getting my hands on her.

How the fuck was I supposed to focus on what needed to be done if my cock had a different idea altogether? He was more interested in diving back into that soft, warm pussy than worrying about the consequences. I did my best to adjust myself, but the pants I was wearing did little to help hide the bulge.

Amanda’s head turned in my direction. “Planning to stand there all day?”

“No.”

Her eyes traveled down my chest to where my dick strained against my pants. I had to get out of there before I did something instead of talking to her about what had happened with Malcolm.

“Grabbing a shower.”

I ignored the slight pout to her lips and the way her eyes darted away. I hadn’t refused her advances for weeks. At least not since that first time. What I needed was one cold-ass shower. There was no reason to trust myself to keep it in my pants when she was dressed like that. At the moment, we had enough problems to deal with.