Indiscretions (22 page)

Abramson flipped open the court calendar, then looked up, pushing his wire-rimmed glasses up on his bulbous nose. “Trial date is set for six weeks from today at nine a.m.” He banged the gavel. “Next case.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

It had grown dark. All of the tenants had left for the evening. It was quiet. The perfect atmosphere for the painstaking work that needed to be done. The jury had been selected and the trial was only days away. Yet, she was no closer to discovering the truth than she was when she began.

Khendra turned on the desk lamp and continued sorting through the stack of material in front of her. She rented desk space from an old school friend who leased an office on a monthly basis. The arrangement would work out perfectly, she assured herself as she pored over detailed accounts of the arresting officers and the officers at the scene. She leaned back from the desk and massaged her temples. Once this case was over, she would leave Atlanta for good.

Over. It sounded so final. Would it ever really be over between her and Sean? Would her disillusionment with love ever be over? It didn't really matter anymore, did it? She had made her decision. Love wasn't for her. She had her career to think about, and a case that was more important to her than any she had ever handled.

The awareness shook her. Was it because it was Sean? She didn't want to hear the answer that danced in her head. She wouldn't listen. She didn't want to give in to the shivery sensations that rippled through her when she remembered his touch, his lips, his scent lingering on her long after their explosive lovemaking. She wouldn't give in to the heated fluid that sought release. She couldn't risk it. Not now. Not again.

Instead, she compelled herself to go over the list of tenants who were questioned and the evidence that the D.A.'s office had compiled against Sean.

She frowned. It didn't look good. Everything pointed to his guilt. Essentially, there was circumstantial motive, opportunity, and most damaging, there were witnesses who not only heard the violent quarrel, but who saw him enter and leave the building. Along with his own admission of being at the scene. But there had to be something she was overlooking. There had to be.

The one question that nipped at her mind was why had the firm refused to defend one of their own? The only conclusion she could come up with was Alex.

He was the impetus behind everything at MC&P. Just the thought of him resurfaced the burning anger and resentment that hovered on the edges of her stability.

She shook her shoulders as if to rid herself of an unseen weight. Concentrating on Alex would not serve any purpose other than to get her agitated again and distract her from the task at hand.

She drew her attention back to her notes and Sean's statements, but something still didn't quite fit. And her continual and pulsing thoughts of Sean did little to help her concentration.

He thought spending sleepless nights in jail was the ultimate test of his endurance. But this was worse. She was so close. Barely a heartbeat away, yet she wouldn't allow him within spitting distance unless it had something to do with the case.

There was so much that lay unsaid between them. Things that it was time she knew: why he had really come to Atlanta, and what he was on the brink of discovering before…

Before. If only he could go back and put the pieces together. Now he was no better than a pariah. Even the powers that be who sent him to Atlanta acted like he didn't exist. And all because Carol was the daughter of a judge. Bradford was probably behind his ostracism—his own last attempt at restitution for his daughter's misdeeds, even at his ex-son-in-law's expense. He almost laughed.

Then, heaving a frustrated sigh, he rose from the rumpled bed. Leaning against the window frame, he looked out into the starlit sky, and immediately images of Khendra lying in his arms loomed before him. His arousal at just thinking of her was hard and swift, leaving him hungry with desire, startling him with its urgency. Never had a woman been able to capture not only his body, but his spirit, his every waking emotion.

His heart pumped. He had to see her, to touch her, if only for a moment, just long enough to wipe out the nightmare from which he seemed unable to awaken.

The bathroom was still steamy from the shower she had taken, and was filled with the heady aroma of the jasmine-scented shower gel she had rubbed into her skin.

Wrapping her freshly washed hair in a towel, she stepped out of the shower and padded through the small apartment. She had wanted to stay with Charisse, but Charisse's late hours and assortment of men were too distracting. Much to Charisse's displeasure, she had fortunately found a reasonable sublet that would carry her through the period of the trial.

Temporary.
The transient thought rippled through her brain. It seemed that everything in her life was temporary. No matter how hard she tried. Her success, her career, her life, everything. Temporary.

Maybe that's the way things should be, she thought, trying to make sense out of the senseless. But didn't she deserve more than that? She had tried so hard, she thought, the ache of loneliness taking hold as she stroked her body with her favorite cream. She glided her hands over her long legs up to her thighs and across her firm belly.

Closing her eyes, she envisioned Sean's hands as they caressed her, heated her, loved her, and the tears began to fall. One by one, they slid down her high cheekbones, dripping across her full breasts in a silent stream. All of the humiliation and heartache fought for release.

Soundless sobs shook her body as her hands instinctively sought to soothe the ache within her. Tender words of passion spouted in her ears, a voice so lovingly low and thrilling it sent shivers of dreamy desire surging within her.

Sean.
His name involuntarily slipped through her lips willing his presence, electrifying her with its sound. Then her eyes fluttered open as an insistent buzzing pierced her erotic thought. Rising, as if from a dream, she pulled on her robe and went to the door.

Sean! It must be an apparition, she thought through the haze of her fantasy.

“Could I please come in, Khen? I…I had to see you.”

She knew it was wrong, knew that this would only lead to her own undoing, but she seemed to lose all her own will when she looked into his eyes and relented to the throbbing sound of his voice.

She stepped away from the door and let him in.

He moved past her, and the manly scent of him rushed through her veins, quaking her heart.

He turned around to face her, and all of his good intentions flew out the window. She looked so vulnerable, soft, so hurt and uncertain. And the painful reality was that it was his fault. He had allowed his superego to overshadow his reason, and he had lost the one person who meant more than anything else in the world to him. He took a cautious step toward her.

She flinched, pulling her robe tightly around her as if to ward off some unseen danger. But she didn't move away. Her heart raced.
Please don't. I don't have the strength to resist you. I need you so much…please stay away—

He stepped closer, compelled by a force more powerful than any he had known. And in the next breath, he gathered her into his arms, pulling her to him, his hungry lips brushing across hers in a feather-soft kiss that denied the unbelievable urgency that whipped through his body.

Then with infinite care, he applied more pressure, stroking her cheek with a gentle caress. He felt her tremble, and he pulled her closer, now demanding that her lips relinquish all resistance and melt the icy wall that had formed between them.

Her mouth slowly opened, hesitantly accepting his probing tongue. So sweet, she thought, the last vestiges of reason blowing away.

He reached up and loosened the towel that held her hair, and it dropped to the floor, as her still-damp hair cascaded through his fingers. A ragged groan eased from her opened mouth, as his hands slid down her back, tingling her spine, caressing her round buttocks, He pulled her closer, his hard masculine body thrust against hers, igniting the passion that throbbed within her.

She felt her knees weaken, her heart slam against her breasts as his agile fingers expertly released the belt that held her robe. His fiery hands eased beneath the fabric, stroking flamed skin that seemed to scorch his fingers. A shudder ran up his back, and he choked out her name, his hands moving along the curves of her perfect breasts. She moaned when he massaged them with the pads of his thumbs. Her own fingers instinctively ran up his back, feeling the taut muscles that rippled up and down his spine. His tongue probed deeply into her mouth, dancing, taunting, arousing, moving in a penetrating, ritualistic rhythm. Her own mouth competed with his, craving the blinding sensations that engulfed her.

This was wrong, she thought dizzily, a moment of rationale struggling for control. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Her thoughts swam in uneven currents. Too much had happened, too many lies.

His hand deftly roamed her body, sliding to the core of her womanhood.

She gasped.
I can't let this happen.
I want him. “I love you, Khen,” he whispered roughly against her mouth. “I've never stopped loving you.”

I love you, too. Heaven help me, I love you too.
He lifted her from the floor, his eyes burning into her with a desire she had never before witnessed, frightening her with its intensity. His mouth closed over hers, stifling any words of uncertainty as he carried her into the bedroom.

Standing above her, he watched her still form, every muscle cord in his body straining. He wanted her so desperately he couldn't think clearly. He knew that if touched her, at this very moment, it would be over. And he wanted to take his time. He wanted to take forever.

She watched him remove his clothes, dropping them on the floor item by item, his strong chocolate-coated body shouting his virility.

She did not utter a word, but her eyes never left his face, as though searching for some explanation for the ethereal passion that flamed between them.

He lowered himself onto the bed, bracing himself above her on muscled arms. His eyes searched her face, saying all the words that raged within his heart. He lowered his head, his lips touching hers in shivery delight.

She stretched up her arms and pulled his head closer, crushing his mouth against her own. She flicked her tongue across his lips, searing them, gaining easy access to the depths within.

He moaned, as the flames rose within him.

Reason fled as he spread her satiny thighs with a well-placed knee, stroking her curves with unconcealed tenacity. His hot, wet lips wandered across her face, her throat, and down to her jutting breasts. She thrust her breasts against him, forcing them deeper into his heat-filled mouth.

The sensation was explosive as a myriad of brilliant lights danced and erupted before her eyes. Her fingers ran up and down his back, her ankles locking around his narrow hips, urging him downward.

She let her body succumb to the electrifying sensations that ripped throughout her being, forgetting the promises she had made, only wanting him, needing him, loving him at this moment with all of her being.

He wanted to devour her, hold her captive in this wonderland of bliss, make her forget the past, forgive him his indiscretions and love him as he knew he loved her. He drank of her as a child draws on its mother for nourishment, relishing in the exquisite, bittersweet taste of her, relieving himself of all reason other than satisfying her as before. This is how it should be, he thought through the cloud of tempestuous awakening. And it always would.

Slowly he raised his head, looking upward to her face, seeing her enchanting face completely consumed in the throes of passion, which only intensified his own. His mouth spontaneously covered hers, capturing the outcry of his name as he locked them together as one, sweeping them away, demanding her accompaniment, extinguishing all barriers.

She clung to him as one sweet sensation after another rocketed through her supple body. She felt as if she were on a precipice, ready to fall off, the thrill of floating in the air, the danger of falling making her heart race in an uncontrollable rhythm. But she knew he would be there to catch her.