When the doorbell rings at about three in the afternoon, I jump, dropping the Ritz and cheese that I’m trying to eat to calm my nerves.

Sarah, who’s been a great calming presence since coming home, gathers up a few dishes that still have food on them. “Hey, Carsen, let’s go watch a movie upstairs while your dad talks to the police officer. ‘Kay?”

Carsen goes without complaint, and Keith answers the door after checking that one of the guards is with him. “Hello, Officer. Please come in.”

I don’t know what it is, but as soon as the guy walks through the door, everything about him screams ‘cop.’ He’s in his mid-forties, and he’s got on a pretty decent suit, but I think it’s his eyes that make the difference. They say he’s seen some shit, and that despite Keith’s celebrity status, there’s a lot of other things he’d rather be doing on a Monday afternoon.

It makes me like him, relaxing some. If he’d come in starry-eyed and asking for Keith’s autograph, I know I wouldn’t trust his ability to handle a case like this. But his air of professional indifference and just-the-facts seriousness seems like a bigger help. He offers a hand to Keith, then me, shaking them in turn. “Detective Morrison. Nice to meet you, Mr. Perkins . . . Miss Warner.”

Keith directs Detective Morrison to the living room, and we sit on the couch next to each other, holding hands.

Detective Morrison pulls out a small notepad and pen, along with a voice recorder, and begins. “I’ve already seen the interview you did this morning. Just for my records, I’ll need you to confirm everything. You said the threat was over your daughter. Is that correct?”

Keith nods, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees. “Yes, and that I’m dating Elise. The threat was to publish both of those things.”

“Can you tell me how the threat was made?”

With a large sigh, Keith starts telling Detective Morrison about the suspicious phone call and our late-night meeting with Donnie and Francesca.

Detective Morrison writes in his notebook as Keith talks, but he looks up sharply when the $3.5 million blackmail is mentioned. He seems to search Keith’s face for a moment, then motions for him to proceed.

As Keith wraps up his retelling with the Monday five o’clock deadline, Morrison hums. “And what happened then? Did you approach him in any way? Touch him at all?”

“No. I was furious and I damn sure wanted to. But in that moment, I was just thinking about keeping everything quiet for Carsen’s sake. As mad as I was, I needed to figure out my play, not rush in hot-headed and make things worse. So we left.”

Detective Morrison turns to me. “Miss Warner, you were there to witness these events? Anything you’d like to add?”

I shake my head, wondering what Morrison’s hinting at. “No, that’s exactly what happened. Maybe add in there that Francesca and Donnie are sleeping together? Not sure it’s relevant, but I’m not covering up anything for them.”

“Okay. Mr. Perkins, so after leaving, where did you go?”

“Why? Do I need an alibi?” Keith says, getting a little pissed. “I’m the one getting blackmailed here, for fuck’s sake. No, I was here at home, and nobody was here with me. But there are cameras. The feed is recorded so there’s video of me coming in. No person to really confirm, but video of the whole house for the whole night.”

Detective Morrison scribbles something down and then turns to me. “So, Miss Warner, you weren’t here that night? Where were you?”

Keith sighs, his anger evaporating as he looks ashamed for the first time. I squeeze his hand. “Well, we had a bit of an argument about the whole thing, so Keith dropped me off at home. Later, I went to see a friend to help me figure out what we could do. I went to the club where she waits tables, and we talked while everyone cleaned and closed up. Lots of people saw me there.”

He nods his head once, his eyes skimming his notes. “Okay, I will need the video from the cameras and the names of the people who saw you that night.”

Keith and I nod, still not sure what that has to do with Donnie’s blackmail. “I’m feeling like I’m being charged with something here when Donnie is the one who committed a crime. What’s going on?”

Detective Morrison looks at us, and it feels like he’s scanning us for mistruths or misdeeds, like he’s a living lie detector.

Finally, he caps his pen and puts it back in his suit pocket. “Mr. Perkins, I believe you and your accounting of what happened. That’s important for you to understand because I don’t think you’re going to like what I say next. We received a phone call this morning, shortly after you went on-air, in fact, from Donald Jardine. He reported that you came to his office two nights ago, angry about an article he was publishing. He stated that you were violent, aggressive, pushing him against the wall and breaking things throughout his office. He said you then punched him several times, in the abdomen and across his cheek. I went to see him at the hospital this morning.”

“That son of a bitch!” Keith seethes, getting to his feet. “I never laid a hand on him! I wanted to, but I didn’t.”

Detective Morrison doesn’t even flinch. He’s stone cold as he gestures back to the couch. “Please sit down, Mr. Perkins. Remember how I said I believe you?”

Keith takes a big breath, obviously steadying himself, and sits down. “Sorry. I didn’t lay a hand on him,” he says more calmly.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, learned a few things along the way. One of which is how to read people. Mr. Jardine doesn’t particularly strike me as an honest character, just based on his storytelling. It was full of sensationalism that made sense with his particular profession. I took pictures of his injuries. I visited his office too, took some evidence shots there as well. My gut tells me he saw you on TV this morning, concocted this story, and went so far as to have someone punch him to give the story credibility.”

I blurt out in shock and frustration. “So what do we do?”

“Stay right here at home, get me the tapes and the names of your alibi witnesses, and wait for me to write up this report.”

“That’s it? I’m just supposed to sit here and wait?” Keith growls. “My family’s being threatened, and I’m supposed to sit on my ass?”

“Yes, exactly that. And leave your cameras on and recording just in case. I think this will be pretty quick once the alibis check out, but if Mr. Jardine is willing to blackmail you, and I suspect intentionally injure himself to make you seem violent, he might be willing to play hardball in other ways too. Just stay put and I’ll be in touch.”

Keith shows Detective Morrison out and comes back to sit next to me before pulling me into his lap to straddle him. He holds me tight, pressing his cheek to my breasts, breathing heavily as he calms down. “This is so fucked up. I can’t believe he’s saying I beat him.”

I scratch my fingers along his jaw, letting the scruff tickle my fingers, letting my man know that I’m here for him. “It’ll be okay. Detective Morrison seems to be on our side and will check everything out. Donnie’s a media pro with strategies and manipulations at his fingertips, and this is his move in response to our going public. He wants to create drama and questions about your character to save his own skin. But we know the truth, and that’s enough.”

“You know as well as I do that sometimes the truth isn’t what people want to hear,” Keith says, pulling back and looking up into my eyes. “They want scandalous secrets and dirty laundry, told with dramatic flair. It makes them feel better about their small lives. Most folks don’t get that a small life, just you and the people you love living simply, is the best thing to have. They want for more when they have the best thing a person can wish for.”

I lean back, marveling at the wisdom he spouts off so easily. “You’re a good man, Keith Perkins. I love you.”

“I love you too, Elise,” Keith rumbles, looking at me with desire as the mood changes. There’s still anger, but it’s against something we can’t change right now . . . but we can celebrate us and what we have.

He grabs my hair and the back of my neck, and I eagerly go to him, opening up as he plunges his tongue in to twist with mine. He cups my breast through my t-shirt, letting his thumb trace back and forth across the already pebbled nub.

Gasping, I push back, even as my body betrays me and my hips grind in Keith’s lap, knowing what it wants. “Keith, we can’t . . . Sarah and Carsen . . .”

He grins evilly, not even glancing in the direction of where they went. “Are watching a movie upstairs. I’m in charge here, Elise. And we need this . . . something normal, something that feels right.”

He waits for me to protest, but he’s right. I need this as much as he does, to let the drama outside our doors disappear and get lost in each other’s bodies for a moment. I nod, and his grin widens as he lifts me off his lap. “Get on your knees. Suck my cock between those pretty lips, looking in my eyes like you know I love.”

As I move to the floor between his legs, unbuckling his jeans, he runs the pad of his thumb over my lips and I suck it into my mouth, teasing his pad with my tongue. “Mmm . . . like that?”

Keith’s eyes are locked on my lips, watching his thumb disappear and reappear from my mouth. “Yes, just like that. Suck it like a good girl.”

When I finally manage to get his jeans open and boxer briefs pulled down, his cock springs free, thick and hard. There’s already a drop of precum at the tip, and I lean forward, keeping eye contact as I lick the delicious drop, moaning at his sweet masculine taste. “God, I love your fucking cock.”

Keith gathers my hair in his fist, keeping it out of my face as he looks down at me like a king. “I need to see. I want to see every inch of my cock disappearing into your hot little mouth. You can take it, Elise. Show me . . .”

With every beat of love in my racing heart, I take him to the root in one motion, holding him deep in my throat as I press my nose into the soft hairs at the base of his cock. I hold my breath as long as I can, hollowing my cheeks against his shaft and massaging the head of his cock with my throat, swallowing again and again before lifting back up, gasping for air.

I do it again and again, both of us getting more aroused with every thrust. With just the head of his thick cock in my mouth, I look up at Keith through my lashes like he wants, knowing the sight of my lust, my love on my face as I suck him does wondrous things to him. “Like that?”

Keith growls, nodding slightly. I return to my task with a gusto, bobbing up and down on his cock as I keep my eyes on him, my panties getting wetter with every stroke of his cock over my tongue. I don’t go deep throat every time, but I give him all I can, licking and worshipping his cock with all that I am.

Keith groans above me, running a soft hand on my cheek as our locked gazes tell me to stop. I pause, circling his head with my tongue and waiting for his command. “Your hips are bucking the whole time you’re sucking me. Is your pussy nice and wet for me, baby? Are you getting off on having my cock fill your mouth?”

I nod, pulling off his cock but still pumping him with my right hand as I answer. “Fuck, yes. I’m soaked from your taste, from having you in my throat. I fucking love it.”

Keith smiles down at me, his cock jumping in my fist as he hears me return his dirty words and thoughts. “That’s a good girl. Slip your jeans down a bit. I want you to touch your clit while I fuck your face. You don’t come until I’m splashing down your throat and over that beautiful face of yours though. You hear me?”

I nod, hurriedly shoving my jeans and panties down my thighs. Sitting back on my heels, I spread my legs as wide as I can and slip my fingers into my folds. I moan at the slickness I find there, and Keith leans forward, looking down at me. “Is this what you want?”

“Fuck, yes,” Keith says, his voice rough and deep. “Just like that. God, your pussy is perfect.”

He watches for a moment, taking his cock in his own hand and stroking himself in time to my movements against my clit. We build together slowly, his fist pumping his cock while I slip another finger into my pussy, pushing them in and out in sync with his hand until we’re both moaning, my chest flushing as I feel the orgasm build within me. Suddenly, Keith reaches for me, grabbing my hair again and pulling me forward. “Give me your fingers. I want your taste on my tongue when I come.”

I move my honey-coated fingers to his mouth, and he sucks them in, licking them clean before pushing them back between my legs. I’m watching his hand move up and down right in front of me, and I see him squeeze himself hard just behind the head, milking a drop of precum out.

“May I?” I beg, opening my mouth for him, sticking my tongue out, wanting that drop so badly.

Keith taps his head to my tongue, and his taste bursts across my tongue again and I can’t help but lick and lap at him for more. He moans, guiding his cock back into my mouth. “Mmm, fuck. Take me in your mouth again and rub that clit. I want to feel your moans all the way to my balls.”

I take him in deep again, holding him there and humming, and Keith growls as he starts to fuck my mouth, his hips jerking as he fully takes over. “Dammit, Elise. I can’t hold back. You feel too fucking good. Get there, because I’m about to come down your throat. I want you choking out your orgasm around my cock as I fill you.”

I moan in happiness at his compliment as I speed up my fingers, blurring across my clit, moans and gasps coming from us both as we get closer to the edge. Keith lets out a grunt, trying to be quiet but failing spectacularly. I can feel his balls tighten and his cock swell even as he chokes out his order. “Come. Now.”

As soon as I feel the first hot jet of his cum splash the back of my throat, I shatter into a million pieces. I’m slurping to catch every drop as Keith keeps pumping his hips, driving his cock into my mouth, crying out in a strangled gasp as his climax overcomes him and he throws his head back, filling my throat with his cream.

My clit is pulsing as my pussy clenches around nothing, hungry for Keith’s cock. I’m floating, darkness surrounding me as flashes of white spark across my vision behind my closed eyes as I feast on his sweetness, both of us so caught up that he doesn’t pull out but instead stays inside me for every pulsing release.

Finally, I collapse, laying my head on Keith’s hip and humming out in satisfaction. Nuzzling his cock, I lick at the softening skin, mewling in pleasure and contentment. Thinking he’s laid back on the couch too, I’m surprised when he speaks up, his voice still full of heat and desire. “Elise, I need to taste that orgasm. Give it to me.”

I smile, reaching down between my legs again and rubbing gently across my sensitive pussy, coating my fingers. “For you.”

I look up, keeping my head on his thigh as I offer my fingers to him once again. He holds my hand, drawing the essence of my scent deep inside him, searing it into his mind and soul before sticking his tongue out for a long, lapping lick along their length. “Mmm, so fucking good. Come here. Taste . . .”

He pulls me up from under my arms, depositing me sideways in his lap, and takes my mouth in a kiss. As our tongues slowly tangle, I can taste myself on his tongue, and I know he must taste himself on mine too. Somehow, it feels filthy and dirty, but at the same time it doesn’t. It’s the joining of two souls, mingling as one and making something new, something better. It couldn’t be more perfect.

He was right. That was just what we needed.