Curtis (24 page)

“The new program does well with spell
check, but it matters little if it’s not the correct word.”

“There are times when I wish I had
something to tell me when I use the incorrect word. You’ve no idea how many
times I get to a business meeting and realize that instead of putting ‘your’ I
should have used ‘you’re.’” Curtis leaned back in the chair and tried to think
of what to tell her and how.

“Your brother called. He said that you
and he had a long meeting. That I wasn’t to think you were having a torrid
affair with some woman.” She smiled. “I told him that I knew you weren’t. I
said that I keep you pretty well worn out.”

Curtis laughed. It was sudden and loud. She’d
caught him off guard once again with her wit and humor. He took her hand and
kissed it. “The notebooks were right where Michelle said they’d be. All of them
including the primer.” He pulled out the small piece of paper that Jesse had
given him. “This is an accounting of what they figured out in the hour they
looked them over. Mostly we looked over the later ones and it looks like
McKnight is going away for a very long time.”

She got up and poured him a glass of tea
and handed him a cookie jar. He opened it to find not only his favorite
chocolate chip, but caramel crunch too. He ate one as she sat down and took one
herself.

“You’ll feel a lot better if you just
tell me, Curtis. This beating around the bush is annoying and time consuming. Just
tell me.” She put her cookie down. “There was nothing there but the books, wasn’t
there?”

He nodded then shook his head. “There
were several boxes of jewels. From the first look, there was nothing on the
list that they had so most of that will be ours. I tried to contact Michelle to
let her know what was there and she said she didn’t care. She told me again
that whatever is there, I could do whatever I wanted with it.” She nodded as he
continued. “The bags at the Washington building have been taken. As of five o’clock
the building is a crime scene. Jesse made a deal with the Feds on what happens
to that.” He got up to pace and talk. “The money is going to go to insurance
company. All of it. The company said that there would be a reward, but he didn’t
know how long it would take before the company finalized it so it might be
awhile. The reward will be about fifty thousand.”

“That’s a tidy sum.”

He looked at her to see if she was
kidding and he knew that she wasn’t. Her voice seemed relieved. Curtis sat back
down. “There was money in the safe at the house. According to the claim made by
Jesse on our behalf, we get that all, the entire amount. And the jewels that no
one claims.” She nodded at him. “There’s more than anyone thought.”

“So will it be enough to fund the
building? Will we have to borrow to bring it up to code? I know that you said
you have the funds, but I’d really like to make this happen with donations and
money from all this. My dad would have liked that.”

He nodded again and smiled.

“So there’s enough?”

“I think there will be plenty. In
addition to the money and jewels, we get the bearer bonds as well. Some of them
that Jesse has had a chance to look at will be enough to do whatever we want.”

She looked confused. Kylie opened her
mouth twice to say something then closed it. When she finally spoke, he nearly
burst out laughing. She was going to kill him.

“So just how much was there? You know I
hope you’re not like this at Christmas. I hate all the secrecy.”

Chapter 20

The building was set to unveil in the
morning. Kylie couldn’t sleep. And every time she rolled over, Curtis would
pull her back into his arms and snuggle into her. She was too tense to enjoy
him, so she got up. Going to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea, she
realized that the unveiling was today in about four hours, not tomorrow.

The phone ringing startled her and she
picked up the receiver with a shaky hand. “Oh good,” Annamarie said in way of
greeting. “I was afraid you’d be asleep and I wanted to talk to you.”

“This is Kylie, Annamarie. If you want
Curtis, I can go and wake him up for you. I couldn’t sleep. Nerves, I guess.” She
realized she was babbling and snapped her mouth closed.

“I was calling you, dear. I knew that he
wouldn’t be awake. I’ve never seen a boy that when he was tired could sleep
through a bomb going off. No, I hoped to speak to you. What are you calling the
building?”

They’d been going around about this for
several weeks. It started at her father’s funeral and had been an ongoing
question since then. Kylie smiled. She hadn’t told anyone what the name was
going to be, not even Curtis. “The name will be revealed today. Are you going
to be there?” Kylie giggled when Annamarie cursed. “What would your sons say if
they heard you right now?”

“They’d not say a word if they knew what
was good for them. Why won’t you tell me? I tried to bribe that young man at
the printer shop and all he told me was that you wouldn’t pay for his college
if he told. That’s terribly unfair of you, young lady.” She huffed. “If you’ve
named it something ridiculous then I’m not ever going to speak to you again.”

Kylie smiled and didn’t say a word. After
a minute or two, Annamarie huffed again. “I’ve never met a more stubborn girl
in my life.”

“I’m sure you have. Have you peeked in
the mirror today?” Kylie laughed harder. She hadn’t realized how much she
needed this. “Annamarie, I promise you that you and the others won’t be
disappointed. I’ve given a great deal of thought to this building and I want it
to be a success.”

As they were leaving the house she
looked at Curtis, suddenly nervous. Today was the big day. She stopped right
outside the car and took several deep breaths. He came around the car and held
her.

“You’ll do fine. I swear to you that no
one will laugh at you.” She glared at him. “I’m kidding, love. You’re going to
be fine, like I said. And when this is over I’m going to bring you back here
and break in our new mattress.”

Kylie snorted. “We broke it in five
times already. Twice last night. If ever a mattress was broken in, you did it.”
She took another deep breath. “All that money.”

Over forty million dollars had been what
they had ended up with. That didn’t even include the jewels. She looked down at
the ring he’d given her yesterday and watched it sparkle off the sunlight.

“All that and more. And the way it’s
working for the building, downtown will help a great many people. You should be
very proud of yourself.”

She was, but no less nervous. When he
pulled her back and kissed her she slipped into the car and buckled in. It was
time. She had to face those people, her new family included, and see if they
would accept her.

There were nearly twice as many people
as there were chairs. And because of that they moved everything to the outside.
The parking lot was filled with cars, people, and news crews. She looked at
Curtis when he came to sit beside her.

“You should know that someone put
several buckets for extra donations around the parking lot. And whoever it was put
an armed guard at each one. Last I heard, they’d had to replace them all at
least three times. It’s going to be well funded from now on.”

She nodded. The money that they’d used
to renovate the building had come from the money that had been what had gotten
her father killed. They had hoped that donations as well as grants would keep
it up from now on. When it was her turn to stand up and speak she nearly
tripped over the wires running along the floor. She smiled at the people when
she looked out over the crowd.

“My father once told me that you can get
more people to listen to you if you simply get to the point. That’s the way he
ran his paper and his life. So if you all will give me just one minute, I’ll
get to the unveiling.” She turned to the man at the ropes and nodded. He yanked
once then twice before he had to get on a ladder to see if the sheet would come
down that way. She turned back to the crowd. “He didn’t say it would be easy,
he just said to get to the point.”

There was a great deal of laughter. She
turned back in time to see the large sheet slip from the sign. It was more
beautiful than she’d imagined it would be. She stepped back up to the
microphone and smiled as she brushed away the tears.

“This building is named for two
remarkable men. One of them was my father, Jon Philip Washington and for Royce
Daniel Hunter, my future husband’s father. Both men gave their lives for
something they believed in. What, you ask? They gave it for love.” She turned
back to the building as she continued. “And this is their love back to you. Please
welcome the first of many educational mentorships for teenagers, The Hunter
Washington Guidance Center.”

She stepped away from the microphone and
toward Curtis. It wasn’t until she was in his arms that she realized people
were clapping. Curtis led her back to the mike and held her hand above her
head. They loved it. They loved the building.

By the time the reception was over she
was exhausted. Curtis had stayed beside her all night and when she’d yawned for
the tenth time in as many minutes, he picked her up and took her to the car. She
was nearly asleep when she felt the seat under her. By the time they were home,
she knew that he’d taken her shoes off and her stockings. She was beyond
caring. Yawning again, she rolled over in the bed as soon as she was in it and
closed her eyes. Not a single thought entered her head as she tumbled into a
deep sleep.

~~~

Curtis wanted to wake her, but knew that
she had been so tired the night before that he kept telling himself she needed
this. What he really wanted to do was to wake her with his mouth, but wasn’t
sure she’d be receptive of that yet. Smiling, he thought about learning all
sorts of things about his future wife. If she ever woke up. Finally, at ten-thirty,
he kissed her shoulder.

“Babe. You have to get up. We have to
leave here soon.” She growled at him and rolled over. “If you don’t get up, I’m
going to take you and put you in the shower myself.”

“Go ‘way. Tired.”

He grinned again.

“Tired.”

“I know, honey, but the limo is going to
be here in forty-five minutes and you’re not dressed yet.” She didn’t stir so
he kissed her again. “You did remember that we’re getting married today, right?”

Her head came up so quickly that she
caught him in the chin. If he hadn’t been moving back, she might have made him bite
his tongue. As it was, he only saw a few stars. She tossed the covers off and
hopped out of bed so quickly that he’d not had time get to steal a small kiss
from her.

“Why didn’t you wake me up? Damn it,
Curtis, we’re supposed to meet your mom at the courthouse early. What’s she
going to think if we show up late?” She was tossing things around the room. “Where
is my dress?”

He pointed to the closet, glad now that
he’d set every clock in this room two hours ahead. He watched as she took out
the dress she’d picked out and laid it across the bed. When she went to the
shower, he waited until the water turned on before he stood up and stripped
down. He was going to wash her back. And anything else she’d let him.

The water was steaming up the mirror
when he walked in. Sliding back the door, he stepped in behind her just as she
was pulling the bottle of shampoo off the shelf. He took the bottle from her as
he turned her in his arms.

Her mouth was hot. Trying to set the
bottle back on the shelf as he pressed her to the wall, he heard it hit the
tile floor and forgot about it. He had a lot more things in mind than
showering.

“We don’t have time for this.” He kissed
her again to shut her up. But she pulled her head back. “Curtis, seriously, we
have to hurry.”

“I gave us plenty of time. I know how
you are about getting somewhere on time. I set the clocks ahead for us.” He
lowered his head to her nipple and took the tip into his mouth. “Hum, just what
I needed to start my day.”

“I should be upset with—oh yes, Curtis,
again.”

He slid his finger into her heat and
pinched her clit.

“Please make me come.”

“Not yet. I want to drink from you when
you do.” Dropping to his knees, he turned her so that she could sit on the seat
in the stall. “You should know that it was my plan to do this last night, but
you were sleeping so soundly that I couldn’t wake you.”

“Less talking and more sex.” She leaned
back and looked at him through hooded eyes. “Please.”

He opened her thighs wider and kissed
her gently. He pulled her forward on the bench seat until she was on the very
edge. Water slid down his back and he wondered how much hotter it had gotten
since they’d entered here.

Lowering his head, he slid his fingers
into her again. She was wet and hot, tight and hard. Suckling her clit, he
brought her to her first of what he hoped was many quick climaxes this morning.

Her nectar was sweet and spicy and he
lapped greedily at her. When she started to rise up to try and get more from
him he pulled her closer to him and ate at her. Christ, she was coming around
his tongue. The more he ate at her clit and pussy, the wetter she became and
her climaxes were getting stronger as well.