Tangled Fates (16 page)

how a man could make a woman’s body shake with exquisite pleasure.

Cohen brought his lips to hers and moaned. Her lips were silky and full, and they moved

over his with hesitancy. He gently parted them with his tongue, and she gasped.

She ran her long, slim fingers through his hair and caressed the sides of his face. He

pulled back, his breath heavy. Hesitantly, she let her hands slide down his neck to his shoulders

and across his chest.

“I want to touch your skin,” she said.

He quickly whipped off his T-shirt and tossed it to the floor.

“I’d like to touch yours as well,” he said, his voice hoarse.

Slowly, she removed her shirt. A rose-colored bra housed her breasts. He brought his

hand up and traced a finger down one of the straps. Annis closed her eyes and shivered at his

touch. Carefully, he palmed her breasts, his thumbs caressing her nipples through the silk into

tight peaks.

He moved a little closer to her and reached around her back, unclasping the bra. It fell

from her shoulders, and he set it on the ground.

Pulling her close, he held her as he lay back on the couch, the leather cool on his skin. He

let his hands wander over her bare back, loving the ridges and grooves of her spine and muscles.

“Kiss me again,” she whispered, her eyes still shut.

If that’s what the lady wanted, that’s what she got.

As Cohen kissed her and explored her body, he trembled as her fingers traced up his arm,

down the sides of his torso, to his thigh. Good God, he needed to get rid of these pants.

Mia was but a distant thought, and Cohen opened his eyes expecting to see her. When he

didn’t, he wanted to give a fist pump, but that would definitely ruin the mood they had going on.

Their mouths moved with more urgency, and Cohen couldn’t take it anymore. Standing

with Annis pressed against him, he pulled the string of his pajama bottoms, letting them pool the

floor, his sex springing out between them. Annis gasped, then looked up at him, a sly look on her

face.

She pressed herself against him and tilted her head up for another kiss, his cock

sandwiched between them. It felt so good to be in contact with another being, to share intimacy.

He’d been alone for ten months now, and sharing this experience with Annis almost brought him

to his knees with gratitude.

He stepped back and brought them back down to the couch. His body roared with desire,

the passion he felt for Annis consuming him. Sitting up so that she straddled his sex, she looked

at him. Her eyes glowed their gorgeous golden color, the pink-rose dot in the center of them

getting larger. She took him in her hand and slid down so that he was buried within her. For

someone who was a little uncertain when they had started this, she was moving things right

along.

Closing her eyes she began rocking, her hands down by her sides. The beads on the end

of her hair swayed in time with her breasts, and Cohen couldn’t stop staring at the incredible

sexy image in front of him. As far as he was concerned, he was the luckiest male on Earth right

at that second.

He lifted his hands to her breasts and teased the nipples with his forefinger and thumb.

“Love me, Cohen,” she said in her normal voice as she rocked, picking up speed.

“Yes,” he said, his voice husky.

She opened her eyes and looked down at him. The pink dot in the middle had grown so

that it covered three quarters of her eyes.

“Let it go,” she said in the higher voice.

A moment later, again in her regular voice, Annis said, “Love me.”

It became a chant of “love me, let it go” as she rocked, and the red-rose color in her eyes

got brighter and brighter, eventually consuming the gold.

Oh, God. He was about to orgasm, but what the hell was going on with her eyes?

“Mia?” he whispered. No, this wasn’t happening. He was making love to Annis.

“Let. It. Go.” Annis said in the high voice, her eyes now fully Mia’s SR44 color.

“Mia, I—”

The orgasm tackled him from behind.

Cohen woke, covered in sweat, his body bucking in the throngs of a full-fledged orgasm.

He cried out, and when his body quieted, he stared at the ceiling.

What did the dream mean?

Obviously, he wanted Annis. That part was clear. But Mia? Mia was now haunting his

dreams, telling him to “let it go.”

Let go of what? His lust for Annis?

That had to be it. She was telling him to honor his oath to her.

He got out of bed and went to the bathroom. After a quick shower, he crawled back

between the sheets and curled on his side.

“I’m sorry, Mia,” he whispered into the dark. “I’m so sorry.”

Chapter 23

Cohen paced the floor in the kitchen, sipping a tall glass of Captain Morgan, still feeling

unhinged from his dream the night before. He had on his monkey suit, as did Jovan and Noah,

and all three were waiting for the females to make an appearance.

Tonight they would be going to the statewide police gala held smack in the city center of

Phoenix so that Noah could broaden his contact base in Arizona.

It all seemed a little ridiculous to Cohen. They had gotten along just fine with one contact

for a number of years, and he didn’t see a reason to cultivate anymore. But whatever; he wasn’t

in charge.

He took a long drink of the good old Captain and pulled at the black bowtie.

“How can you drink that crap?” Noah asked.

Cohen looked at his glass; the rum was definitely not crap. “What do you mean? This shit

is primo.”

“Not really,” Noah said, sipping his Lagavulin whiskey.

Cohen considered the stuff in Noah’s glass pretty nasty. “I guess it’s a case of each to his

own.”

Noah shrugged. “Whatever you say, man. I say that’s some gross stuff. You think—”

“What the hell takes females so long to get ready?” Jovan asked, interrupting the

mundane conversation and also pulling at his collar. “I feel like I’m about to choke out.”

Noah grinned. “Now you fuckers know why I get so cranky before I have to go one of

these formal good-time get-togethers. Here’s some advice a somewhat wise male gave to me:

suck it up, quit pulling at your knot, and make sure your fly is zipped. As for the females, who

knows. I don’t understand half of what goes through Abby’s head.”

“I’m with you on that one, Noah,” Jovan said. “Liberty can be a mystery to me as well. I

mean, just the other night—”

Jovan was interrupted by the elevator ding announcing the arrival of the females. All

three males turned.

Abby stepped out first in a long, white, full-length strapless evening gown, her hair up

with tendrils whispering against her cheeks and neck. Liberty was right behind her in a tight,

pink, leather dress that hung to her knees, her hair perfectly framing her face in tight ringlets, the

diamonds in her ears and the small stud in her nose gleaming in the light.

It was then Cohen realized that he and Annis were going to be dates. Wasn’t he just

brilliant.

Annis hesitantly stepped out of the elevator, and his breath caught. There she stood in a

long-sleeved gold gown that caressed her figure. The collar dipped just below her collarbone,

and there was a slit up the dress that landed mid-thigh. With every step she took, he was privy to

a gorgeous, chocolate, muscular leg, and a high-heeled gold shoe.

Yeah, she looked amazing with that hard body moving beneath the gold, but what caught

his eye was her hair.

Gone were the braids and beads, and instead there were soft, feminine, flowing waves of

black silk. Feeling as though someone had kicked him in the gut, he took a step back, his SR44

male raging with desire. The word
goddess
was the only thing that came to his mind. She simply

stunned him into silence.

As she met his gaze, her irises were black, and her eyes were outlined with a soft golden

color. Obviously, she had the contacts in to mute the glow of her SR44 being. Abby or Liberty,

or most likely both, and talked her into the restrained makeup. He never thought she could be

more beautiful, yet here she stood, a living, breathing goddess.

He looked around the room at Noah and Abby and Jovan and Liberty, all who were

studiously ignoring him and Annis, and wondered if this had all been planned and why he had

been stupid enough to overlook it.

While the other two couples talked quietly, Annis and Cohen stared at each other

awkwardly.

Cohen finally came out of his reverie. “Hey,” he said. Casanova, he was not.

“Hello, Cohen.”

Her gaze flittered from him to the ground. “You look amazing,” he said, taking a step

toward her.

She gave a small smile. “Coming from you, I’m not sure if that is sarcasm or truth. But

you look nice as well.”

Jesus, he’d been such an asshole to her. “It’s truth, Annis. I don’t think I’ve ever seen

such a stunning—”

He couldn’t finish his sentence as Mia shimmered to life beside Annis, and he took a step

back, remembering his dream. He had to let his lust for Annis go.

He watched as Annis’s face fell, then turned into a mask of strength.

“Please, Cohen. Just stop. Let’s just get through this night.”

Cohen noted the glimmer of tears in Annis’s eyes. Grabbing her arm, he said, “Come

here. Let’s go talk a minute in private.”

Annis yanked her arm away. “Stop it. Whatever you’re trying to do, just stop. I don’t

wish to talk to you.”

“Look, I get it that I’ve been—”

“We’re ready to blow,” Jovan said, his eyes narrowing on Cohen as he hugged Liberty to

his side.

“Excellent,” Annis said, turning as she swiped at her eyes. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 24

Annis sat at a table with Abby, Noah, Jovan, and Liberty. Cohen had excused himself a

few minutes ago.

They had just finished dinner consisting of chicken breasts, a vegetable melody, and a

salad. They were waiting to be served dessert, and Annis realized that she was totally spoiled by

Hudson’s cooking. She had picked at the food and decided the whole meal was lacking. In fact,

she felt like cardboard with a little salt and pepper would be more satisfying.

A blond, balding man about thirty-five years of age approached the table and clasped

Noah on the back. “Hey, Noah, good to see you.”

Noah turned, smiled, then stood up and shook the man’s hand. Annis marveled at how

much Noah towered over him. “Nice to see you too, Jim. How’re things going?”

“Good, good.”

“Let me introduce you to some of my team and our . . . spouses.”

Annis hid a smile, as she knew Noah had almost said “mates.”

After the introductions were made and the small talk was over, Jim leaned in to Noah and

spoke in tones so low, Annis had to strain to hear what was being said.

“We started combing through the file you gave me, and the Intel is good, Noah. Really

good. We’re starting to coordinate with the other states involved in this child trafficking ring,

and we’re going to bring the bastards down.”

Noah nodded. “Glad to hear it, Jim. But I’ve got to ask, what file?”

Jim laughed and cupped Noah on the shoulder again. “Right. Don’t worry, you’re secret

is safe with me.” Jim gave a quick glance around the room and waved at someone. Turning back

to Noah, he said, “Now come with me. I want you to meet a couple of detectives from Tucson.”

Noah stood, took Abby’s hand, and they followed Jim through the crowd.

“Let’s dance, Jovan,” Liberty said.

“I don’t dance,” Jovan said, taking a long drink of his whiskey.

“Jovan, please.”

The tone in Liberty’s voice wasn’t pleading, but held a hint of demand instead.

Jovan studied her for a moment, then a sly grin played across his face. “All right, but

you’ll have to make it up to me. It’s going to cost you.”

“And how shall I do that, Jovan?”

Jovan leaned in and whispered something to Liberty. She blushed and giggled, and

slapped him in the arm. “Jovan!” she said.

“If you don’t like that, I can come up with something else,” Jovan said with a grin. Annis

could see the love for Liberty shining in his eyes.

“You’re awful!”

Liberty giggled as Jovan stood up and led her over to the dance floor. Annis was happy

her friend was so content with her life.

Alone at the table, Annis looked around the room. It was decorated in reds and blues, and

she watched as policemen in uniforms and tuxedos mingled with women in lovely dresses. She

even noticed a few of the women were in uniform, and she felt a bond with them. They wore the

uniform of a warrior, which was what she should be wearing, not this silly dress and shoes she

could barely walk in.

The band played soft jazz, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

“Chardonnay, right?”

Annis turned to see Cohen behind her holding two glasses. He gave her a slight smile.

“Yes.”

“Can I sit with you?”

She really just wanted him to drop her wine and go away, but she didn’t say anything.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes,” he said, sitting in the chair next to her.

“You should have taken it as a no,” she said.

Cohen shrugged. “I’m an optimist.”

Annis snorted. “You could have fooled me.”

They sat sipping their drinks, watching the people around them.

“You do look really pretty tonight, Annis.”

She turned to study his face. He seemed to be telling the truth. The fact of the matter was