All This Time (38 page)

Chapter
Seventy-Three

Lacing
our fingers together, Blues draws my hand up to his warm lips and kisses the
back reverently. “Sam, I love you and I have been in love with you for a while.”
He looks me in the eyes, communicating genuineness beyond the depths of blue
shades. “There are some things you need to know and I’m sorry I couldn’t
explain it all to you before. But I’m here now and I’m not leaving. That’s all
that matters.” His eyes lower to my lips and he leans in placing a tender kiss
to them before looking back into my eyes again. “I’m sorry about your friend.”
I blink rapidly praying that I can hold onto my composure at the mention of
Kris. I don’t want to cry again. “I would have done anything to save her for
you. I didn’t even know she was there, Doll.”

I
shake my head. “Not now, please,” I beg.

“Ok,
Love,” he says sweetly and then he smiles proudly. “I didn’t get fired from the
police department after getting caught stealing from a shipment. It was all a
cover to get me inside the X’kapz and closer to Nelson.” Tilting my head, I
watch his eyes begin to sparkle. “Sam, just like you, at the time, I was
working undercover to disband them, but for a different reason.”

“What?”
I ask hopefulness taking over my voice. A part of me prays that he is telling
me the truth.

“I
was working with Jude,” his voice is thick with emotion, but he pushes through.
“We were assigned to infiltrate the cartel and find out what we could about the
plane crash that killed my parents and the other former members so that we
could convict Nelson of their murders. I wanted to get here sooner, to tell you
everything, but I couldn’t break cover until last week.” He sighs, “And you
refused to listen to RD when he tried explaining what was going on. You’re
stubborn as hell, love.”
Shit
, I shouldn’t have ignored Russ’ and
Granddad’s attempts to talk with me about Blues.

“This
is the truth?” My voice is barely a whisper and I nod my head hoping that he
will mimic me to confirm it.

“Yes,”
he says smiling and nodding. “I’m still a cop.”

“I’m
sorry,” I whisper wrapping my arms around his neck tightly.

“Why
are you apologizing?” he asks pulling my chin up to look at him.

Shaking
my head, I whisper, “For so much. I couldn’t tell you the truth about me and I
wanted to
so badly
. The night on the beach nearly ripped my heart out
when you were sharing about your family. I’m sorry that I ran away from you
after…after you told me that you loved me. For letting you think I was with
Decks and Russ.
I..I..”
I inhale and exhale trying to
calm myself, but it isn’t doing a damn bit of good. Tears streak down my face
and he wipes them away with his thumb. His hands come up to frame my face. My
mind is reeling. Blues is good. He’s a cop, a good guy and he is
mine
!
“I love you, Blues!” I grab him and kiss him hard. Grasping the back of his
head snuggly, I put everything into this kiss. This man! This man is
my everything
. He loves me.
Oh god he wants to marry me
?
I pull away from him and stare into my favorite set of dark blue eyes.

“You
want to marry me?” I ask sniffling back the tears.

“Oh
god, yes,” he growls. “I’ve been dreaming about you every night since you left
me at the beach house. I can’t be without you, Doll. I will go fucking mad if I
have to spend one more day away from you.” He kisses me violently. Our mouths
move together like assailants struggling to beat the hell out of each other. I
gasp when his hand drops to my breast and he squeezes hard. “Let me love you,”
he moans against my mouth like he is petitioning to the creator for approval.

“Yes!”
I groan, needing and wanting the love of my life to love me like no one ever
has before him.

Blues
assists me with standing and then lifts me into his arms. “Which way?” he demands
impatiently. I point toward my bedroom down the hallway. He carries me and
places me down onto my feet at the side of the bed. “Before we do this promise
me one thing.” I’m so on fire for him that I’ll do anything he asks. Staring
into his heated eyes filled with seriousness I nod while biting down hard on my
bottom lip. “Keep your eyes open. And
please
for the love of God face me
when we make love this time. I
need
to see you.” I smile shyly feeling
the redness stain my cheeks from my embarrassment. He knew what I was up to the
whole time, but he let me get away with it.
Oh God I love this man
.

Self-consciously,
I mumble, “I hate being in control in the bedroom.”

His
hands skim under my shirt, lifting it up and over my head. Warm fingers tickle around
my back to unclasp my bra strap, slipping it off of my body. He smirks
wickedly, “Oh, but you’re so good at it.” Thick, powerful hands belonging to
the man I love with all of my heart cups my breast and he hisses from the
contact. “Fuck, I missed you.” I throw my head back and close my eyes at the
sensations and he sweeps me into his arms. “You belong in my bed.” Placing me
in the center of the bed, he stands and peels off his clothes hastily before
reaching over and removing the remainder of mine. “I wanted to tear them off of
you again,” he admits with a sly grin, twirling my lacy thong around his
finger. “But I like peeling them off of you too.” Crawling onto the bed, he
spreads my thighs wide and settles between them. “Mmm,
my
sexy little
strip,” he growls looking down at my hot entrance, before placing a kiss onto
the top of my slit. So begins my ascension into my sex induced Blues’ haze once
again. “I’m out of my mind in euphoria every time I taste you, baby.” I glance
down at him devouring me and pant like a mad woman when his eyes flutter open
to look back at me. “Those gorgeous gray eyes have held me captive from the
first moment you looked at me.” He’s so fucking erotic and sexy.

“Fuck,
Blues, that feels so good,” I moan wildly while staring straight into his eyes
and he smiles against my heat. My build up comes quickly, and as much as I want
to explode, I stop him. “Come here,” I beg. He licks me more before lifting his
body and edging his way up the bed. “Make love to me, Blues.” He lifts his hand
to my face, tucking a feathery strand behind my ears.

“I
will for the rest of my life, Sam,” he promises before kissing me devotedly.

Automatically,
my eyes drift closed from the amazing feelings and just from getting lost in
the moment, but his deep growl brings me out of it quickly. I flick my eyes
open to find him staring adoringly at me. The twitch of his hard erection
nudges against the inside of my thigh.

“I’m
taking you deliciously hard the first time and then I’ll take you decadently
softer each time after that until we are both utterly spent,” he groans against
the dip at the base of my neck and then trails kisses down to my tight nipple.
He bites it hard while grinding his cock savagely against my center.

“Blues,
oh God yes,” I beg needing him to take me now.

Rising
up on his knees, he grabs my left leg and wraps it around his hip. He snatches
the pillow from under my head before arching my ass up off the bed and tucking
it beneath me.

“No
condom tonight,” I whisper stroking my hand tenderly along his jaw line. His
eyes, previously looking down at my heat, flash up to mine and a small, yet
proud grin spreads across his lips.

“That
is my fucking dream come true, Doll.”

A
ferocious roar rips from his throat as he slams hard into me. My insides clench
with satisfaction devouring him greedily. Piece by piece my heart soars into a
boundless utopia. His caress sizzles making me breathless. He slides out slowly
before growling and thrusting deeper. Both hands cup my ass lifting me up
higher as his rhythm become frenzied. Pushing, diving, and swirling his hips
against my core sends my cravings into a wild vortex of rapture. His breathing
is ragged while he holds me prisoner with his demanding stare. His longing for
me during our year apart is revealed through his carnal consumption of me.

“Fucking
come for me, Sam,” he demands with raw heat and need. I implode with my eyes
boring into his and his next sound is completely and utterly barbaric. He
viciously cries out, “Oh fuck, baby, fuck yes!” His mouth crushes down onto my
lips with a force that could shatter diamonds. The rawness of his desire mixes
with his wild moans as he thrusts through the last of his orgasm brings me over
the edge once again. I scream out for him as my body clings to his. “Sam,” he
breathes my name into the crook of my neck in the most angelic voice. “Sam, I
love you.”

Epilogue

After
two fierce days of sexual decadence, Blues and I find that all we can do now is
talk. The strength for moving anything except for our mouths is being reserved
for later sensual playfulness.

“God,
these sexy gray eyes,” he whispers, kissing my eyelids, “They claimed me the
first night you were at Holidays.”

“Mmm,”
I moan softly. “I love your eyes too. I think about them all the time.”

“Tell
me, the night in the hot tub, what exactly caused the bruise on your side and
the swelling on this luscious pout?” he asks touching his kiss tenderly to my
lips.

“Lt.
Stark at the training center handed me my ass that day. I couldn’t tell you,
and I hated that you thought Russ did it.” I snort, “Because of your reaction,
I thought that you were so mesmerized by me that you were the one who alerted
the police about the transport and had him busted.”

“I
wanted to kill that little bastard for hurting you.” he chuckles, “
Actually,
I wanted to kill all the bastards that constantly
swarmed around you like honey. But, that last day when I saw you with Decks,
caring for him in his bedroom after you walked away from me in Seaside, totally
shredded my heart.”

“What?”
I ask feeling my own heart crush remembering how his body slumped when he left
me with nursing Decks back to health.

“Yeah,”
he chuckles softly. “Attacus arrived in town just after I left you there and
dragged my ass out for a drink. I stopped counting after six.”

“I’m
so thankful for what you both did that night, but don’t ever show up on a hot
scene, hostage or otherwise shitfaced again.”

“Don’t
let me find you in the bed with Decks again and we’re good,” he says seriously
studying me with narrowed eyes.

I
laugh. “What are you talking about? I’ll never see the bastard again.”

“I
wanted to tell you later, but now
is
better. Decks
is
under
my
protection,” he states calmly and the
pulse in my neck thumps hard.

“What?
You’re lying,” I shout pulling away from him, but he stops me by wrapping his
leg over my hip.

“So
Decks is in witness protection, yeah?” he says nuzzling against my shoulder,
trapping me underneath his heavy frame. “A wrench was thrown into the whole damn
scenario of moving his ass into a safe place,” He glances up at me after
placing a kiss to my shoulder and adds, “The agent that got tapped as the
babysitter...” he points at himself with a frown bending on his lips, “He’s now
my
kid brother and he moved here with me.”

“What?”
I screech while shaking my head wildly. “You’ve got to be fucking joking. This
is destiny’s way of torturing me.” Decks here can’t be good. I have a feeling
that he will make our lives a living hell–especially if he finds out that I’m
with Blues.

Encasing
me in his powerful arms, he presses his lips to my hair and whispers, “Ssh, I’m
sorry, Doll. Knowing that we’re doing this together makes me feel like destiny
is on our side instead of fucking with us.”

“We
are doing it together, aren’t we?”

“I
can’t face destiny without you, Doll.”

“And
I don’t ever want to know what a future without you is like either, Blues.”

My
man is right. Destiny
is
what brought us together. How can I be so
pissed off at the only thing that could give me the love of my life? Yes, I
lost a lot on my pathway toward finding true love, but I can’t dwell on the
negatives or I would stay in a constant state of pain. Instead, I remember the
good times and focus on the love I’ve experience through this crazy journey. I
had a plan once, a solid future without anyone or anything so essentially
important to travel with before him.

A
tiny fortune cookie slip, I found tucked away in the ratty old backpack I used
while undercover, reminded me that there is something greater controlling
things, and He certainly doesn’t need Samantha Walker’s instructions on how to
do his job. And apparently with rebels like me always stirring things up, He
never gets a day off from saving my ass.
Divine intervention reprieves for
no one when restoration is essential
, Gran’s recent words of wisdom drift
through my mind, settling within my soul–feeling like a warm ray of sun on a
frigid winter day.

Talking
for the remainder of the night, Blues and I find that not only do we reveal
things about ourselves easily with each other, but we literally can’t keep our
hands to ourselves. The sex is spectacular, but our tender caresses mean so
much more. His acceptance of all my darkness, where the ugly demons thrive,
makes me love him even more. He has even agreed to never calling me perfect
again.

Speaking
of fucked up, my new commander, Rhys Bentley…yeah, he’s Blues. You guessed it.
He is the not-so-lucky federal agent who got stuck with Decks, I mean Tyle
Bentley, Rhys’ kid brother. They’re in witness protection for Decks, but Rhys
was chosen to lead our small drug task force team in the hopes that we can end
the debauchery of this new super-drug staking its claim on society.

Unfortunately
for me and Rhys, with our roles in the DTF and their strict nepotism policy, we
aren’t allowed to work together if we’re in a relationship. Being a couple
around Kole and Marcus is forbidden.
But what they don’t know won’t hurt
them
. I hate lying to my brother, but Marcus needs to think that Rhys and I
used to have a relationship, explaining away the attraction so vivid between
us.

Working
together as a team with the backing we’re getting deep within the government,
we’re all but assured a successful end to Dr. A and his poison. Hopefully, it
will come one day very soon. Our first challenge is devising a plan to locate
the crafty bastard before too many innocents fall victim to his destruction. I
pray fate is on our side during this epic battle.

One
week later…

“Sam?”
Rhys calls from the bedroom.

“Yes,
my love?” I reply while shoving my laptop into the leather case.

He
strolls out of the bedroom wearing a charcoal pinstripe suit with a silver
button down and white tie. My mouth waters at the intoxicating sight of my man
and I quirk up my eyebrow completely puzzled.

“Babe,”
I pant lustfully and then pull myself together before asking, “Did you forget
to tell me something?”

“What?”
he asks nervously, his eyes growing wide like he’s scared.

I
laugh and say, “Either I’m a little under dressed for some secret rendezvous you
have planned or you’re way overdressed for someone who is supposed to be going
to get the title for my new motorcycle, which I love by the way.
Thank you babe.”

He
swallows audibly, but then chuckles while slipping into his coat. “I love
seeing you wrapped around that little kitten. And I made reservations for
dinner afterward.” He smirks while waggling his eyebrows. “Put on that sexy
little number that gets me hot.” His smirk shifts to a wicked smile before
drawing me in for a scorching kiss.

“Hmm,”
I moan against his mouth. “Or we could just stay here…and stay naked.”

“Yeah,”
he groans happily stroking his tongue with mine. His eyes pop open, he covers
his mouth to cough and clear his throat, and then rushes to correct himself,
“No, no, we have to go.
Now
.”

I
sigh. “Okay, I’ll go, but I need at least ten minutes.”

“I’m
feeling generous today,” he bites down on his bottom lip and smacks my ass
playfully before I walk into the bedroom, “You can have twenty.”

Arriving
at the municipal building in downtown Willow thirty minutes later, Rhys parks
under a shade tree and as he turns off the ignition I notice a slight tremble
in his hand. A siren wails in my head while a warning punches my gut. Anxiety
brushes lightly against my instincts and I know adding everything together
something is off.

I
reach over capturing his hand into mine. “Goddammit, I can’t take it another
minute. Something has you rattled. Tell me whatever the fuck it is, now!”

Gradually,
he turns facing me and his trademark I-am-sexy-as-fuck smirk flashes across his
dark delicious lips before he says, “Get your sweet ass out of this car.”

My
mouth hangs open.
“Really?”
He actually expects me,
Samantha Walker, to accept no answer as an answer. “Huh, I don’t think so,
Rhys.”

“Doll,
we’re going to be late if you don’t stop sulking because I’m going to bite that
pouty lip and then do bad things to you in this parking lot.” He chuckles when
I blush and then for good measure he adds, “We may even go to jail.” He waggles
his eyebrows playfully.

I
laugh at his silliness and ask, “Is everything okay then?”

“Get
out,” he repeats stepping out of the vehicle and walking around to my door. I
glare up at him and then reluctantly accept his hand. Approaching the front
steps of the courthouse, Rhys stops abruptly. “Wait,” he says in a shaky voice
that sets my nerves on edge, his eyes taking on a far off look like he’s not
here with me anymore. I glance back toward the parking lot searching for
anything appearing out of place or suspicious.

“What’s
wrong?” I ask wrapping my arms around my waist protectively.

“Your
love called to me,” He faces me and his eyes latch onto mine. He pauses and I
tilt my head, curious about why he is telling me this now. “I felt it like a
solid beat on a base drum.” He pats his hand rhythmically over his heart while
his lashes flutter and halt, spreading into a crescent against his tan cheeks.
“I closed my eyes and something like a whisper in the air made me look up,
where I saw
only
you.” Blazing sapphire pierces into my eyes, and I
become breathless when he replaces my hand with his, continuing our steady
rhythm against his chest. “This is what
you
do. You keep me alive with
your melodic soul, Sam. It soothes me and makes every next breath sweeter.”
Lifting a hand to my face, his thumb strokes tenderly over my bottom lip and he
sighs. “You, my love, are my time signature.” Ironically, at this very moment
my heart skips a beat. “A magnificent symphony of need, want and love reverberates
us, Sam, for eternity.” He steps close, drops his lips to brush against mine
and whispers, “No one re-echoes me except for you.” His words are beautiful,
perfect
even, but something about this whole scene still has my nerves going berserk.

“Rhys,
what’s going on?” I lick my lips nervously, staring at his sexy mouth before
glancing back up to his eyes that are locked fiercely onto mine.

“All
this time, it has been you.”

“All
this time,” I repeat softly and a little disbelievingly. Nodding, he presses his
tender lips against mine pulling a passionate kiss that makes my legs grow weak
and I wobble into him.

Softly
building from somewhere in the distance All Blues by Miles Davis hums on the
breeze. Reluctantly, I pull only my lips away from this amazing man, who
somehow managed to steal away my heart, turning my head in the direction where
the music is coming from. On the top steps of the courthouse a couple stands,
waiting.

Inhaling
sharply, I ask almost inaudibly, “Rhys, why are my grandparents here?”

He
pulls me tightly against his chest once again, his hand lifting and wrapping
around the back of my neck while his thumb strokes erotically against my now
erratic pulse. His heady scent slams into me moments before he presses another
enthralling kiss to my lips. Touching his forehead to mine, Rhys’ eyes glisten
with utter devotion and then he sighs so sweetly.

“We
need witnesses, Doll.”

The End