Cherry Bomb (14 page)

I froze still at the sound. I had no idea who
the voice belonged to but I knew it was no one I wanted to see. I
pulled Cherry tightly to my side before turning around. I saw her
fidgeting with the bracelet, and I hoped it brought her the
confidence she was who I wanted to be with.

Oh hell,
a girl with nothing but a
bikini top and a pair of daisy dukes was walking up to us, and for
the life of me, I had not a fucking clue who she was.

She placed her hand on my chest. I promptly
removed it. “Don’t touch me,” I barked and let my dominant side
radiate to the surface. As I grew colder, Cherry flinched.

The girl’s hand dropped to her side as she
lowered her head.
Oh, no, I’m not playing with you ever
again.

“Sorry, Sir, I just have missed you,” she
said.

The expression on her face said she was
totally willing to do my bidding. I only hoped that was true so she
would hurry and leave.

“I think it is time you leave.” The cold
hardness in my voice startled even me.

I had to calm down because Cherry was not
ready to see how cruel I really was.

I let out a puff of air when she quickly
walked away without a backwards glance.

“Who was that?” Cherry asked me but kept her
eyes firmly on the bracelet.

I hooked my finger around her chin, forcing
her to look at me. “I truly have no idea.” I kissed the tip of her
nose. “And honestly, I don’t care either.”

She nodded, and I knew she was letting the
whole scene go.

“Thank you so much for the bracelet.” She
reached up to touch my cheek. “It means a lot.”

I felt like the king of the universe.

Being with Cherry was one of the best times I
remember having . . . well ever. I didn’t feel like an old man in a
young man’s body when I was with her. I was carefree and alive.
With each second I spent with her, the stress of my past faded away
to a small dribble only playing with my mind.

I held her hand tighter and jerked her arm
until she was leaning against me. I was at peace when she was near.
A concept I knew very little about. She raised her head and smiled
then adjusted the bracelet on her arm, and I couldn’t help but
wonder what her views on a slave collar was.
Whoa, where in the
hell did that come from?

Her stomach growled profusely, reminding me
that she needed to eat.

Less than twenty minutes later, we were
walking into a small country diner, when I laughed at Cherry for
pulling up the sweatpants I wore when I did track and field in
college. She stumbled, ducked her head, and adorably started
chewing on that bottom lip.

“Do you have any idea how cute you are?”

Her nose scrunched up like a bunny, I kissed
it. “The most fucking adorable person ever.”

A frown marred her beautiful face.
Why,
baby?

“What’s wrong?” I took both her hands in
mine. “You don’t want to be cute?”

She shook her head but didn’t look at me.
“No, because.” She bit harder on the corner of her lip. “Cute is
not your thing.”

“Well enlightened me then. What is my thing?”
Because I happen to know it is you.

“Hot, Sexy. That’s your thing,” she answered
and finally looked up at me.

My heart shattered at the misery in her eyes.
James had told her for so long how undesirable she was that she
couldn’t see how very fucking sexy I knew she was.

“You’re right. I love sexy. And hot. It is
definitely in my top five.” As hard as I tried I couldn’t keep the
corner of my mouth into turning up into a smirk. “And you are so
damn sexy my body aches just to be near you. I only have two vices
in this world, sex and green-eyed angels name Cherry.”

I took her hand and led her to a corner table
without another word. I wanted her to process those words and
understand I meant every one of them. Sometimes something hurts so
bad you quit feeling at all until someone comes around and makes
you feel again. I so wanted to be that person for Cherry because
she had done that for me.
I can’t fall for you, Cherry . . . I’m
falling for you, Cherry.

She remained silent as she pretended to study
the laminated menu.

“I’ve never had fried liver before. Is that
really edible?” Cherry finally broke the silence and asked.

“Yeah, babe, it is. But I prefer the country
fried steak.”

Old fashion soul food.

“There specialty are pinto beans and collard
greens. My dad swears that the place has better cooking than his
Mimi’s.”

I wondered if Cherry cooked. What it would be
like to come home at night and set around the table to eat a home
cooked meal with her.
Stop it, Drake.
The last place she
would ever be found is around a table with me when she learns what
my job truly entailed.
Good thing I can cook, because I don’t
get the family and home cooking. I only get the sex.

Cherry reached for my hand but I swiftly
scooted my chair closer to her, placing a hand on her knee.

“What’s wrong with that side of the
table?”

She laughed and those small lines appeared
around her eyes. Damn, they were sexy. I might have to tickle her
one night until she orgasmed around my cock. It is not easily done
but fuck, they say it’s a very intense orgasm.

“You’re not on that side.” I crawled my
fingers up her thigh until I reached the bundle of nerves at her
opening. Circling my thumb over the material separating my hand
from her clit, she clenched her knees together. “That’s mine.”

“No, not here,” she pleaded.

I gulped back the beer I was drinking and
looked at the far wall. I was horny as hell. No one had ever told
me no. If I wanted to finger fuck them in the middle of Grand
Central Station I would. But she said no, and I had never been so
turned on.

“Are you mad?” she sounded breathless and
fearful.

My heart quivered in my chest. I didn’t want
her scared.

“Not mad.” I nuzzled my nose in her hair and
whispered, “My dick is so hard right now, I want to scream but only
after I pound it over and over again in your pussy.”

"Oh." She sipped on her wine, and the fact
was we needed to stop our present line of thoughts, for the both of
our sanities.

After we ordered, Cherry slipped off to the
restroom to freshen up. I sent a text to Billy, letting him know to
go ahead with the check on James Webb. I might not get to keep her
but I wouldn’t let that bastard hurt her ever again.

I didn’t notice she had returned until I
looked up and caught her watching me. I would give anything to know
what she was thinking. Maybe that was her appeal on me, she was the
first woman I couldn’t read and calculate her every move.

I stood and politely pulled back the chair
for her.

“Good looking and a gentleman too,” she said
and set down.

“My dad taught me a lot, and one of the
lessons was treating a lady like a lady.”

“Can’t picture you pulling chairs out for the
women at your club.”

“Never met a lady there but you. Matter of
fact, you’re the first lady I have ever come across.”

The waitress interrupted us at just the right
moment. I loved surprising her with words I knew would work on her
subconscious then giving her the time to process them.

She picked up the salt in sprinkled it over
her potatoes. “I . . .” she started to say but stopped herself and
stirred the salt around in the potatoes.

“I think they are already dead,” I said and
pointed to the mound of potatoes she had whipped into a frenzy.

“Oh,” she said and laughed.
Her laugh
infected me like a warm hug on a cold winter morning.
She
popped a fried okra in her mouth.

An hour later, I tossed one more okra in my
mouth and pushed the plate away.

“Finished?” Drake asked.

I nodded and patted my stomach. Drake dived
in and devoured up what was left of my plate. It baffled me how a
man so built and muscular could eat enough food in one setting to
furnish a small army.

“Please tell me you spend hours in the gym to
have that body?”

He laughed and ran a hand over a tight
t-shirt that covered his flawless chest and six-pack. “A lot of
hours in the gym and even more having sex,” he answered then took a
bite of the homemade biscuit.

At least he’s honest, sex is his thing not
dating. But he’s dating me, or I think that’s what this is.

“How many women?” I asked, and took a swig of
my beer.

“Do you really want to know how many women
I’ve been with?” he asked, pulling the bottle from my lips. He
leaned forward with an unreadable, stoic look in his eyes. “Why
don't you ask me how many women I’ve held all night and cuddled?
How many women I would allow to question me?”

“How many?” I asked.

“One. You.”

I couldn’t suppress the satisfying smile
threatening to split open my face. “Why me?”

“I wish I could answer that myself.” He
sneered a smug smile at the thought. “How many men have you been
with?”

I slammed the glass I was holding onto the
table. “Three, the guy I dated all through high school, James, and
you.”

The smug smile was replaced with a shocked,
thoughtful jaw drop. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You never asked,” I said, drinking the last
drop of my wine.

“How about going with me to the bathroom.
Because I’m hard as steel now and my cock only answers to you
nowadays.”

I playfully punched his arms.

“If only. But if we got caught, I would have
no idea how to tell the kids?”

“Fair enough, but one day soon, I will have
you in a public bathroom. It's kind of a fantasy of mine. But
speaking of your kids, I need to get you home before the bastard
brings them back.”

How did he know that James was a
bastard?

Cherry: Going to bed with nothing on but your
bracelet.

This was my favorite part of the day, having
a text war with Cherry.

Me: You look exquisite than. Quite possibly
the most beautiful woman in the world.

Cherry: You don’t know that. You’re not
watching me are you?

Me: Not this time ;) but I have already seen
all of you. So I don’t have to be looking at you to know you are
perfection in motion.

Cherry: Flattery will get you everywhere.
Need to tuck the boys in for the night then I’ll call you.
XOXOX

Me: You can come tuck me in.

I set the phone on the bar and poured myself
a glass of whiskey. Cherry and I have spent the last week texting
throughout the day then a single phone call every night. The
flirting was fun, but what I loved the most were the texts where
she talked about life. I wanted to hear every detail about her
life, her day. I wanted to tell her mine too. But my business would
always keep her at arm’s length.

I sunk down on the sofa and switched on the
television when I heard my cell ring.
My Cherry Pie
lit up
on the screen.

Fuck, I was smiling again. I picked up the
phone. “Hey, beautiful. That didn’t take long.”

“Had an important phone call to make,” she
said, putting a fire in the pit of my stomach.

“That call will have to wait. You’re mine for
a little while longer.”
Or forever, if I have my say. Damn, stop
that line of thinking now, Drake Hart.

“Crawling into bed, so you have my undivided
attention. How’s your day been?”

“Worked on a case, had a woman beg me to tie
her up, visited with my sister. Just a regular day.”

She laughed, getting my weird sense of humor.
She hadn’t questioned me again since she asked how many women I had
been with. That question terrified me. I didn’t have a clear
answer. I wasn’t sure myself. But there had only been one, I cared
to talk to the next day and she was on the phone with me at the
moment.

“Leave that woman alone, she’s a whore. I’ll
let you tie me up next weekend if you hold out for me,” she said,
breaking through my thoughts.

“Didn’t have any rope on me today.”
Or the
will to tie her up.
“But since you put it that way, I will
gladly wait. Can I see you this weekend?”

“I have the kids. Their dad is in North
Carolina.”

I wouldn’t argue with her, but I would find a
way to see her. No way in hell would I go two weeks without having
her near me.

She yawned loud enough that I heard it
through the phone. “Tired, baby?”

I hated to think of her being worn down. She
was raising three kids on her own and dealing with an ass that she
was married too. I wanted to make her smile, and forget life for a
little while. I told her every detail of my day I thought she would
find amusing and recapped the last episode of The Walking Dead she
missed while attending Noah’s baseball game.

With each small laugh I caused, my insides
came alive with anticipation and joy.

“Night, babe, dream of me because I sure as
hell will be thinking of you.”

“Always,” she said and clicked the phone
off.

“Really, Mom, you’re being unreasonable.
Maybe if you acted like Dad and found a man and had a good screw
you would be happier,” Ruby barked out, before stomping off and
into her room.

I dropped the glass I was washing in the sink
and took a deep breath, trying my damnedest not to laugh when I
heard her slam the bedroom door.

I have found someone, sweet pea,
I
thought and stroked over the leather bracelet I was still unable to
take off.

I shouldn’t allow Ruby to talk to me like
that but she was lost. She was with me when I walked in on her dad
and the woman she had always viewed as her aunt. It was hard trying
to raise a teenager with values and morals when her dad acted like
a teenager with a hormone overload.