Play Me to Infinity (The Broken Men Chronicles Book 3) (17 page)

Nicole was at home with Danica who dropped by with the babies while Jake was out on business.  With nothing to wear but the clothes on her back, which had been borrowed from my sister, I told the ladies to keep the windows and doors locked, along with the security alarm activated, and left them for some overdue girl time.

I had a plan.

After a busy afternoon wandering about downtown, the back of my car was filled with an added something that was sure to brighten Nicole’s day, along with my other treasures.

I got home to find a police cruiser in the driveway and rushed in with as
many, but not all, of my parcels.

Had something gone wrong?

Storming through the entrance I called out to Nicole.

The woman in question came out from the living room to greet me with baby Marco in her arms and her jaw dropped.  “What’s this?”

My body went slack with relief and I gave her a sheepish look.  Shrugging my shoulders, I said, “I just thought I’d pick you up a few things while I was out.  What’s going on?  Did something happen while I was out?”

She shook her head.  “It’s arson, Mike.”

“We have reason to believe that the arsonist may be trying to get to you through Nicole,” Detective Mercer supplied.  “Can you think of anyone you might have done business with, maybe someone disgruntled enough to go to extremes?  It could be a previously dismissed employee, a client…”

The cops were trying to cover every possible angle, that was for sure.  For a second time in as many days, I was questioned within an inch of my sanity.

“This isn’t the first time that Nicole’s been a target,” I said after Mercer was done with his questions.  “If you talk to Detective Shane Peters, he’s the one who’s heading the investigation for her car.”

The man nodded.  “All right.  Miss Baxter, you’ve mentioned your exes have been back in the picture recently.”  Nicole nodded.  “We’ll start looking at the few names you’ve both managed to provide.  In the meantime, I need to wait on the arson unit to finish up with their investigation.  I’ll keep you posted if any other leads turn up from canvassing your neighborhood.  No one’s come forth yet, but it doesn’t mean that there isn’t someone out there who’s noticed something suspicious.”

“Thank you, Detective,” I said, squeezing Nicole’s shoulder as she still held my nephew, tucked against her chest.

The cop sighed.  “If something else comes to mind, you have questions, or if anything happens that you think is related to this case, call me immediately.”  Mercer extended his hand which I shook.

The man turned toward Nicole and offered her a sympathetic smile.  “We’ll find this guy, Miss Baxter.”

Nicole nodded.  “Thank you.”

After the man left, I turned from shutting the door, and Nicole pointed over her shoulder with her thumb.
“So about those.”

“Go check them out.” I took a fussing Marco from her and sat myself on the couch beside my sister, who was bouncing Gabby on her knee.

“What did you do?” Danica asked me.
 

We watched as Nicole rushed to the bags I had left beside the couch.  My sister’s breath came out in a whoosh when Nicole pulled out a few items of clothing.  “Oh
no!  You didn’t!”  Nicole looked at me.  “I have money to do that, you know.”

“I know.  I was only going to buy a few things at first, but then…”  I gestured to the bags.  Yeah, I’d gone a little overboard.

Danica giggled.  “Since when does a few things translate to a whole new wardrobe?”

“What?” I laughed.  “I think I’m going to enjoy watching her wear what I got her.”

“You’re going to make my ears bleed with that kind of talk.”  My sister turned to her best friend, squealed her excitement and plopped Gabby on my lap beside her twin.  “Let me see!”

Nicole reached for the Victoria’s Secret bags and started pulling out pieces of lace, satin and silk.  She turned to me with an arched brow.  “Is there anything you didn’t get?”

“I’m not sure.  Oh!  Hold that thought, I left something in the car.”

The women looked at each other and after helping me put each baby down in their car seats, I rushed toward the front door.  They were giggling over the sound of rustling tissue paper and crinkling of shopping bags when I exited the house.  I never realized, until then, how much I’d missed hearing the sounds of joy and excitement in my home.

I got to the trunk of my car, popped it open and pulled out the large parcel.

With one foot in the door, I said, “Close your eyes.” I entered the house, shutting the front door behind me.  “Dani, make sure she listens, and I don’t want to hear anything from your mouth either.”

Danica giggled.  “Scouts honor.  This should be good.”

I walked into the room and Danica began to bounce on the couch when she saw my parcel.  Nicole squirmed in her seat as I sat on the coffee table in front of her.

“Open your eyes, honey.”

The look on her face when she saw what I held was priceless.  “You didn’t!”  Her voice was breathless.  I nodded.  “But why?”

“Because I know you’re happiest when you’re playing.”  She reached to open the case and pulled out the guitar, her fingers skimming its surface reverently.  “I can’t have you living here and not have your music.  You’d be miserable, and I’d miss hearing you.”

“I could have paid for all of this,” she repeated her earlier words and strummed the chords on the acoustic, her nose scrunching up, most likely because the instrument wasn’t tuned, “but I love you so much more for doing it.”

I helped Danica get the babies into her car and waited until I saw my sister’s tail lights round the corner before heading inside, finding Nicole strumming away on her new baby.

Leaning on the wall, I watched her for a short while before moving toward her.  She smiled at me and set the guitar down on the coffee table when I crouched to sit beside her.

“I don’t deserve this.”  She shook her
head, but her grin remained.

“You deserve so much more.” She shifted to her knees and straddled my lap as I leaned back to look at her.  “That smile of yours,” I ran my fingers through her hair, “it makes you look even more beautiful.”

“You need to stop that.  You’re already getting lucky.”

I laughed.  “That wasn’t my intention, but it is one hell of a payoff.”

Her fingers grazed the stubble on my jaw, which I had yet to shave off.  “Let’s get you to bed.  You look beyond exhausted.”

“The doctor did tell you to take it easy.  I’ll go lay down if you come with me.”

“I think I can swing that.” Her lips brushed against mine and she pulled away before I could deepen the kiss.  “It’s not like I plan on going anywhere.  I have no house and my boss won’t let me work until next Monday.  That’s more than a week off, you know.”

“I like the fact that you’re staying here.”  I nuzzled her nose. “And I’m not reneging on you going back to work sooner.  They were doctor’s orders more than mine, but you won’t hear any complaints from me.”

“But you’re going to fall
behind.” She got up and pulled me to my feet.

“Honey, I love that you worry about
me, but you have enough to worry about with the fire, the insurance, and the investigation right now.”  She sighed deep and I turned her around to face me at the bottom of the staircase.  “How’s this?” I squeezed her hands in mine. “I’ll let you take care of my schedule and emails, but that’s it, and it’ll be done from here.”  She gifted me with a beaming smile.  “Happy now?”

“Very.”  And she led me up the stairs.

The door to my en suite opened and I was blessed with a vision of Nicole wearing a satin number that I had purchased for her.

“I think someone has an aversion to traditional
jammies.” She giggled.

My gaze was slow in its appraisal.  “Wow!”  I swiveled my ass so I sat on the edge of the mattress, motioning for her to come closer.

Nicole sauntered over with a lascivious smile.  “You like?”

“Very much.”  I pulled her down so she straddled me and gave her a deep kiss.  “How are you feeling?”

“Good.”  She pecked my chin.  “Great, actually.”

I ran my hands over the back of her thighs, over her ass until they met the satin covering her back.  Her lips met mine and trailed a path of liquid fire down to my neck.

“Honey…”

“Shh.”  She nipped my lower lip.  “Let me.”

“I don’t think so.”  I flipped her so she lay under me, holding on to the back of her head so not to jostle her too much, seeing as quick movements still made her dizzy and intensified the pounding in her head.

Crashing my lips to hers, her hands found their way up the back of my shirt.  I retreated enough to let her pull the garment over my head.  With one arm supporting me over her, I used my other hand to skim the flesh of her leg and halted when it reached her ass.

I heard the buzzing of my phone on the bedside table and Nicole hesitated.  “You should get that, it could be work.”

I groaned.  “It can wait.”  Whatever it was, Danica would be able to handle it for today.  She’d said as much before leaving earlier.

The next morning, I smiled at the sight before me.

“Good morning, handsome.” Nicole’s lips quirked upward, her eyes clouded with the remnants of sleep.

“Hi, beautiful, been up long?”

A wicked grin was present on that delectable mouth of hers.  “Long enough for a few ideas to come to mind.”

“Is that so?”  I rolled her onto her back and hovered above her.

She nodded.

Her lips met mine in a feverish kiss.

I trailed my hand down her side and rested it on her hip.  My lips glided down her neck, over her collarbone and onto her shoulder.

A groan escaped when her hand met my engorged cock.

“I need you, Mike.”

I snorted.  “Try and keep me away.  I plan on spending the next hour making sure you know I need you just as much.”

Kneeling back, I pushed my underwear down from my hips.  My desire for her was so extreme that I didn’t give a shit about her panties, pushing the material to the side and plunging into her depths.

Her legs came up to wrap around my hips and her arms surrounded my neck, holding me close.

Arching her hips into mine, we found a rhythm that took us to heights unknown.  Our bodies hummed in the delight we were able to provide one another.

Following our escapades, Nicole and I ate an early lunch and headed in to the office.  I wanted a status report on a few ongoing projects prior to our grocery store run.

Upon our return, we managed to get the perishables stowed
away, as our conversation steered toward the previous day, and Nicole’s and Tracey’s altercation in the very room we were in.

She grinned.  “You liked that, huh?”

“Hell, yeah!” I kissed her cheek as I put away a can of soup in the pantry.  “Watching you put that woman in her place had me wanting to do all kinds of things to you.”

With a wry grin, Nicole retreated toward the kitchen table and leaned back on it.  “Like what?”

“How about I show you?”  I pounced.

My lips crushed hers as I held her face between my palms.

When her arms came around my neck, I lowered my hands to undo my pants.  They dropped to the floor as I pushed up the skirt of her dress.

She reclined enough until she was lying down on the tabletop, wrapping her legs around me.

“Hold on,” I guided myself to her heat, “this is going to be a hard one.”

I grabbed the edge of the table with both hands, up by her head, and began to ram her like a man starved.

“Oh, God, Mike!”  I could feel her throbbing around my cock almost immediately, as I thrust up to hit that sweet spot of hers.

Her moans grew to cries, and when she clenched down on me with her climax, I felt her teeth biting into my shoulder.

Edging on the side of pain, the sensation spurred me on, rather than making me pull away.

I sent her reeling into her second orgasm within seconds.

“God, don’t stop!”  Nicole’s eyes opened and her head lifted to catch my lower lip between her teeth and she sucked it into her mouth.

She was so intoxicating that it was impossible not to give her what she wanted.

And so I lost myself in her.  Completely.

When the tremors ebbed, I collapsed over her.  She cradled my head in her cleavage.

“Oh hell, Mike!”  Her chest heaved. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to walk after that.”

Her laugh grew hearty and I joined her.

“That right?”

“Hmm.”

We shared a soft kiss and I pulled back to look at her.  “It won’t pain me one bit to have to carry you around.”

“You might have to.”

My house phone rang, jarring us from the moment.

Who the hell can that be?

“I’ll get it.”

Pulling away and yanking my pants up, I grabbed the cordless phone that sat on the kitchen island.

I read
Ben
on the display.