Willows, Jennifer - Lust for Life [The Moreland Brothers 2] (Siren Publishing Allure) (16 page)

Deven just wanted the opportunity to have her in his future, whatever they made of it. But he knew she was too prickly for any sentiments, so he pulled her close and just held her. What could he say? Moments like this made him wish he was more like Marq. His brother Marques would know what to say, the words of comfort that could make the moment less awkward. He burned with questions but knew enough to let her tell him in her own time once she was more comfortable with him.

“Tell me about your first love.” Deven was curious, wondered who had been given the opportunity to touch her heart before. He saw she was pensive and uncomfortable about acknowledging the query just as he was for blatantly asking. They both needed a diversion. He wanted to take her mind off track, get her back in the correct headspace. By the time she began responding, he was already thinking of ways to distract his tricky woman.

* * * *

“Deven, I’ve never been in love. Not much use for it when you’re a hustler. I sold for many years and history showed me that most men are either disgusted with your chosen field or jealous that a woman can do better than they could at it.” Charli smiled, wondering who Deven had given his heart to. “You?”

“Actually I’ve never been in love myself. Never found a woman who was worth that much to me or was that irreplaceable.” Deven propped his chin on Charli’s head and she could feel him, smiling against her scalp.

Charli laughed at that. Really, Deven took himself too seriously. She told him as much. “Deven, you are crazy. There’s no way that you could be damn near forty and have never cared deep down for a woman.”

“There’s been one woman that I think I could love, if she gave me enough of a chance to do it.” Deven sounded serious about her. Charli wasn’t trying to hear that, and she changed the subject quickly, hoping to distract him from the emotionally laden minefield he’d lobbed into their discussion.

“So, Dev,” Charli began, “made a decision what you want for your win yesterday? I haven’t forgotten I owe you.” The tone of the words was nonchalant, even as she shook inside.

“Yep. I think I want to join the Mile High Club.” Deven grinned.

“Okay, I think I could make that happen. But do you have any special stipulations? Such as where are we going? And when are we going to do it? Am I required to feed your big behind the whole trip?”

“I can see you’re losing the point of the fantasy. First off, we would go for one day and night and I would like at least three hours in the air. The rest is up to you.”

Charli had no idea where to even start. She personally didn’t fly much, and the few times she boarded a flight didn’t seem conducive to fantasy sex.

She needed to get her thinking cap on. “Can we go after Christmas? The holiday is probably going to be busy for both of us.”

Deven agreed with her request. “The weeks before Christmas tend to be busy. Most investors like to socking money in before end of the fiscal year, it allows them to cram in last-minute tax deductions and credits. But the office is closed for two weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year’s, and going away for a few days at that point should work nicely.”

“Now that’s all settled, let’s find something to watch on TV.” Charli just wanted some quiet time, filled with the white noise of any random show. Hopefully she could find something with enough sound to leave her with her thoughts and not enough to distract her.

“Since you requested dancing, I’m taking you out tonight.” Deven’s words came out of the blue, scant minutes after she had started channel surfing in the hopes of having her interest piqued.

“Mmm okay? Where to then?” Charli wondered what he would choose. There wasn’t too much in town proper, unless one went downtown.

“Can you salsa? I would love to see that tonight.”

“Is white on rice?” Charli was excited, she loved salsa dancing. She wasn’t a pro, not by any means, but she was familiar with the motions. Then she thought about how awkward the height situation would be. He was a foot taller than her, but if she put on her tallest pair of heels, she could meet some of the gap. Her next thought was that she’d have to go back home to get the stilettos. Plus, she needed another dress.

“I need to hit my house up first. The one outfit I brought isn’t gonna cut it.”

“Not a problem, you can take the car and come back.”

“The Tesla?”

“Yeah, unless you want the Challenger. The Ducati’s off-limits… at least until you get a cycle endorsement.” Deven’s accompanying smirk let her know he liked the thought of her on back of his bike.

Charli felt a shiver of anticipation at the thought of the Superbike in between her thighs. She grabbed a few things from her bag and changed, opting for a simple jean and beater topped with a sweatshirt. Deven handed her the keys and unplugged the car from the driveway outlet. He conscientiously checked the gauge, making sure she would have enough mileage for her round trip.

She pulled off, thrilled with the silence of the engine. The motor was quiet, she barely heard the car with only the heater letting her know that the vehicle was on and running. The sports car moved like a dream, and she was home in no time.

As she walked to her door, she grabbed her paper and yesterday’s mail from the box. Seeing the postmark Charli realized her neighbor and friend from her old job at Southern Wireless Jamie must have gotten some by mistake, found it when she came back from the film festival yesterday and slipped it in her box.
 
Once inside, she quickly toed her shoes off and walked to the bedroom. She was trying to picture what she would wear, when it came to her.

She tugged out some of the leather she’d bought at the outlet on Black Friday. She looked over the whole outfit. It was too much, and she would burn up while dancing. She needed just the bustier. It was built similar to a corset, black, and butter soft. The item would fit as a second skin, exposing a three-inch ribbon of spine. She could pair it with her metallic-bronze leggings and a pair of leather heels.

Climbing on a stool, she pulled the pair from her top shelf and looked at the shoes. She wore them dancing plenty of times. Charli was pretty sure if she could dance reggaeton in them, they would work for a salsa. As the shoes were six-inch pumps, she would be hurting by the end of the night. But it would be worth it to see Deven dance.

Charli also knew she would need a jacket, and she had the perfect one. It was a trench coat, black and low in front. With the decorative buttons and the ruffled tail in back, it could serve as a dress, and the bustier would only peek out. The last thing was jewelry and her hair. She wanted something bouffant with lots of bounce to make her outfit chic and add spice to the ensemble. That only meant one thing, she was going to have to put in a weave. Her hair was too short to achieve the look she wanted, but the length would serve to make a great, hard wrap. Digging further back in the closet produced a shopping bag with several different packages of hair. Opting for the two packs of batik hair, she put the bag back in its place at the back of her closet.

She texted Deven and let him know she needed to do her hair and wouldn’t be back to him for a couple of hours. When she finished an hour later, she trimmed the hair to fit her face and hit it with a spray of argon oil. She took out a few bangles, necklace, and a pair of stud earrings to accessorize with. Her hairstyle was too much for anything more. She packed everything up and toeing her shoes back on, left.

* * * *

While Charli was away, Deven picked up his house from breakfast and made the bed with fresh sheets. He cleaned the tub and debated what he would wear. He decided on several different outfits as he wanted to complement his date. His preferred choice was a copper dress shirt that he could pair with some jeans and a suit jacket. But if need be, he could pull out a dress shirt in white and do the same.

Deven decided to spend the rest of the time he had left reviewing contracts from other projects. The Japan project was near completion, and there were a few smaller proposed projects that were going to break ground after the New Year. One in particular was for a pool of educators who wanted to invest in a private senior high school.

It was a new answer to education problems with the government system. They even prepped to have a scholarship set up for lower income families. Deven was personally sponsoring the first student, DeSean. His mother worked in his offices as the security guard by day and cleaned houses in the evening. She had two children, the eldest, Julius, was already in college. DeSean was a sophomore this year, but would attend the new academy when it opened next summer. By the time Deven finished reviewing the various budgets and contracts his brothers sent, he felt mentally exhausted and ready to let go of work. He checked the time. It was approaching five thirty, and the dance club started at eight. He had plenty enough time to shower and dress. If they left by six thirty, they could get to the club and catch a meal and dance until their legs gave out.

He decided to put together a quick late afternoon snack and, with some digging in his pantry, found his panini press. He layered sourdough bread, Havarti cheese, bacon, turkey, and spinach to produce two mammoth sandwiches. By the time he was seated at the table, Charli walked in.

Deven almost didn’t recognize her with the new
’
do. The woman in his house made him feel as if he were lusting for someone else. But the problem was he didn’t know if it was okay for him to want her.
 
Charli was a nimbus of curls, each no larger than his thumb, and the length cascaded to just a few inches below the shoulder from a center part. He liked the new look on her. It was ultrafeminine and more than a little sensual. He wondered if she would let him touch it, tug and pull it.

She sauntered over to the table and leaned inward, taking the last half sandwich from his hand. Charli took a bite of the crisp molten sandwich, cheese stringing from her teeth to bread. She smiled, and Deven couldn’t help himself, just dragged her onto his lap. He finally got a whiff of the hair oil, and took an audible inhalation.

Deven had to touch the hair, and without asking, tugged a stray curl south. He watched it spring back up into place. The texture of the hair was even softer than it looked, and he wanted to fist it in his hands as he fucked her from behind. But a glance at the clock had him revisiting that thought as there was no time even for a quickie.

“If we leave within an hour, we can get to Myrtle by eight.” Deven really wanted Charli, but he would have to be patient and wait.

“I can work with that, Dev. Are we eating at the salsa club?”

“Yes, they have an amazing fajita and a few other things you would love to taste.”

Deven had to kiss her, needed to get some kind of grasp on her to take control of himself. Before releasing her, he brushed his lips over hers once, only then allowing her to stand. They walked back to his bedroom and went their separate ways to get ready.

Deven was mostly dressed, only lacked shoes and jacket. He was fastening the front of his shirt when Charli walked out of the bathroom bare-breasted. She only wore the cloud of hair and skin tight metallic pants. His cock rose to the occasion, and he saw her mouth move but couldn’t fully understand her. The harder his cock grew, the less he could hear her and only his eyes worked. He had seen plenty of breasts before, but never as perfect as Charli’s. Dusky, dark-tipped nipples the size of fat pencil erasers crowned the areola. The nipple placement seemed divine as he looked down at them. He bit his lip. Surely they could make five minutes, he thought.

Charli cocked a brow at Dev and turned her back to him. She wrapped a leather band around her and waited for him to pull it taut. He promised himself that he would get around to the fastenings momentarily but first took the single step necessary to be directly behind her, cupping her pussy with the right hand, and thumbed over one of the perky nipples taunting him. Her freshly scrubbed skin pebbled in goose bumps at his touch. The new longer hair teased his skin where the shirt lay gaping open from lack of attention.

He smoothed his hands over her curves, from the crease of hip to the curve of buttock. Deven lingered over her, adoring the damp soft skin of her arm before he gained some control over himself and stepped back. Charli leaned back with him, following his heat. He stilled her and tugged on the ribbons up the back, tightening the top inch by inch. When he reached the bottom, he tied it off in a double-knotted bow. Once he finished, he turned her to face him and kissed her lips hungrily, taking his lust out on them. When her mouth was reddened and slightly bruised, he let her go.