The mood in the waiting room changes an hour later. Ripley returned to Eden’s room, and Dax is here. I can smell his cologne even though I haven’t looked his way once.
“I think you’re right,” Selene says. “That guy is here, and he’s been here a few times.” I don’t answer my cousin. I should have listened to her and Eden and dropped my investigation into this guy. Now, I’ve kicked a hornet’s nest, and I’m about to get stung. “I have to leave soon, so I’m going to go see Eden.”
“I’ll be gone by the time you get back. I’ll return after work and check on her.” By then, Eden’s family won’t be here, and Ripley will let me sit in the room with them for a few minutes.
After saying goodbye to the Roses, I leave without a word. Right on cue, he follows me, but I’m thankful he doesn’t have that horrible dog with him today.
He slides into the elevator just as the door is about to close. Once he’s inside, he stops it. Without a word, he pins me to the wall and kisses the breath out of me.
It must be the stress that allows me to wrap my arms around him and kiss him back as if my life depends on it. He lifts me off my feet, and I wrap my legs around him.
“Let me take you home,” he whispers.
I don’t have it in me to fight him today. “Okay.”
We enter my apartment not ten minutes later. Once the door closes, he helps me remove my jacket and lifts my shirt over my head. I’m in an old bra with a small hole on the side, but he either doesn’t mind or doesn’t notice.
He undresses me completely before carrying me to the bedroom. Once we’re in there, he puts me on the bed and undresses himself.
His body is that of a god. He’s chiseled without being bulky. His brown skin is like butter under my fingertips. He joins me on the bed, and instead of climbing on top of me, we positionourselves on our sides. Daxton Hunt kisses me until I’m breathless. I toss my leg over him, allowing him to get closer to me.
His large dick is rigid, and the moist tip touches my stomach. I groan when his hands massage my back. I want to get closer to him. If I could, I would climb inside of him and let him absorb my fear and my stress.
He finally puts me on my back. When he climbs on top of me, I spread my legs like a greedy slut. He slides inside, and instead of fucking me until I go blind, he makes love to me until I call out his name.
“She’s going to be okay.” I have my head on his shoulder while his fingertips glide on my hip. “Ripley will make sure of it. I don’t know your friend, but I know she’s got to be tough to be with Rip.”
“Only she doesn’t have to be because he makes her feel safe and secure. But you’re right. She’s going to be okay because anything else is unacceptable.”
Chapter 16
Dax
“What the fuck do you mean you lost her?” I growl into the phone. I check the tracker, and it shows her in Widow’s Peak, the next town over, but it doesn’t tell me exactly where she is or who she is with. The entire fucking point of hiring the private eye was so I could know these things. “Fuck it. You’re fired.” I end the call, toss it onto the passenger seat, and sigh in frustration. The phone buzzes again immediately, and I snatch it, ready to tell this woman off, but it’s my mother.
“Yes.”
“Boy, don’t take that tone with me.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Did you find a woman yet? Bring her over to the house for dinner tomorrow.”
I stare at the ceiling and shake my head. When exactly was I supposed to find a woman that I’ve known long enough to bring to her house for dinner?
“Mom, now is not a good time, but I’ll be over tomorrow. Alone.” I stress out the last part. “If the deal falls through, it falls through. I’m not going to choose a wife like I’m choosing a new pair of pants. I have to go.”
I end the call before she can respond, and I already know she’s going to tear into me tomorrow for my attitude, but I can’t deal with this shit right now. Tomorrow, I will tell her that I will not go along with her plan.
This is the last fucking thing I need to do. I’d rather be in Shadow Cove and with Cori, but I have to do damage control instead.
Rip’s girlfriend’s accident was no accident. It was revenge, and it happened because I ended a working relationship prematurely. There are certain things we don’t touch in our business. We don’t work with any human traffickers. We don’t deal with drug dealers either. At least not anymore. I did when I was new and desperate for money, but that’s no longer the case. Our main customers deal with illegal guns.
Reed and Chandler Brennan passed our vetting, but they brought their brother Jack in afterward. Unbeknownst to Reed and Chandler, their little brother was up to all kinds of nefarious shit, using their importing business to get it done.
Jack Brennan broke the most important rule. He trafficked women, but that wasn’t his only misdeed. He got involved with the daughter of a drug kingpin and put his filthy hands on her. We also found child porn on his computer. That was the end of our working relationship, and in retaliation, he tried to kill Rip’s girlfriend.
Thankfully, she survived and is on the road to recovery.
