Desired Too (4 page)

As I watched him from across the club, I wondered if I had enough self-control to withstand him. We were great together. The chemistry we had was something couples spent a lifetime to achieve.

I figured maybe I could just talk to the man. It would be rude of me if I didn’t, right? After all, we went way back. We hadn’t seen each other for a few years and were in a public place. What could go wrong?

Shit, did he just give me his panty-dropping smile?

I closed my eyes and shivered.

Yes, I could handle this. I’d changed since he’d seen me last. I was a grown ass woman, capable of keeping my shit in check. Actually, I could probably play around with him a little too. Get my feet wet or rather my kitty-kat stroked a bit. I just needed to stay vigilant and in control.

I smiled suddenly to myself.
Yes, I could make this happen and just have some fun
.

I just couldn’t allow him to kiss me. If he got his addictive lips on me, game over.

I decided to put aside the fact that he’d been eyeing me for a few minutes now, and he hadn’t made his way over to me, nor did he act as if he knew me. He just looked at me, or through me, rather. Well, maybe he just needed a reminder of just who I was.

I stood to make my way over to him when some busty girl came up to him grinning. He eyed her up and down and grinned from ear to ear.

My eyebrows furrowed as I watched her cozy up to him, putting her fake tits in his face.

Okay, so I know I shouldn’t be pissed. I really don’t have a right to be, but here I stood pissed as shit! I’m not angry with the broad. Who can blame her for putting her girls in a guy like Angel’s face? No, I was pissed at
him
as his focus went completely to her. I didn’t like being ignored. He knew who I was. There’s no doubt about it. He used to come to my house all the time.

My pride be damned
.

Those nights we had together was memorable on its own. I refused let my ego believe that he didn’t remember who I was. No, he knew
exactly
who I was, and he was just going to sit there and ignore me?

See how I almost fucked up?

Yeah, it’s time for me to go.
I started to signal the bartender again, when some guy walked up to me smiling.

I looked up at him and noticed instantly how dark his eyes were. His hair was black and slicked back. His skin was as pale as the moon. He was attractive and rugged looking. However, the way he looked at me made me nervous. It was as if he was ready to have me for breakfast, lunch and dinner right here at the bar.

What is wrong with guys nowadays?

“Wow, I noticed you from across the bar, but I didn’t imagine you would be this beautiful up close. Hi, I’m Dirk.”

He reached out his hand to me, and I took it. “Raquel,” I replied, a bit hesitant.

He slowly brought my hand to his lips, never taking his eyes off mine.

“Raquel, it is very nice to meet you.” His wet lips touched my hand as a seductive gaze graced his face, and I felt…nothing.

I stared up at him and smiled as a thought suddenly popped into my head.

Two can play this game, Angel.

I gave him my best smile. “It’s nice to meet you too, Dirk.”

I could tell Dirk was thinking that he had me hook, line and sinker; a blind man could see that, so I know Angel could see it too.

I hope he chokes on it.

Dirk leaned into me, ready to either say something inappropriate or corny in my ear, when a rather large man, decked out in a dark gray suit, came up to my right.

Both Dirk and I looked at him, and this man’s brown eyes were solely on me.

“Excuse me, Ms. Waters.”

What the…?

I swallowed and looked over at Angel. Angel still wasn’t looking at me. In fact, I saw him walking away with the blonde chick.

So much for my plan.

I looked back and up at the large man. “Do I know you?”

The big guy shook his head. “No, ma’am. My name is Darrell. I work for Mr. Leonetti. He has asked that you not leave the bar area until he returns.”

Again, I thought,
What the…?

I narrowed my eyes, glanced over to the direction where Angel had disappeared from, then back at Darrell. “Come again?”

Darrell, seeming a bit nervous, repeated what he’d said to me.

I literally laughed.
The nerve of that son of a bitch
.

He really thought, after the way he just ignored me that I would wait right here like a good little girl for him to finally notice me? Huh? I think not!

I stood, and when the bartender came to me with my card, Darrell offered quickly, “Mr. Leonetti has taken care of your tab tonight.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Oh is that right? You said your name is Darrell, right?” He didn’t reply, but I kept going. “Darrell, please inform your boss for me that I don’t need him paying for my drinks. I’m more than capable of doing that myself. You can also tell him that just because he paid for my drinks doesn’t give him the right to tell me what to do. No one tells me what to do, understand? I’m a grown ass woman with a mind of my own, and I be damned if anyone tries to control me. He has lost his damn mind if he thinks I’m just going to sit here while he disappears with some floozy to do who knows what. He has another thing coming. Tell him he can kiss my scrumptious, beautiful black ass! I’m leaving with Dirk.”

Now, I really wasn’t leaving with Dirk, but Angel didn’t need to know that.

I smiled up at Dirk and laced my arm through his.

“Ms. Waters…” Darrell started, and I think he even contemplated touching me, but the look on my face told him there would be serious hell to pay if he even dared to put his hands on me. I kept walking pulling Dirk with me towards the exit of the club.

I bet he won’t ignore me again.

This must be what hell is like!

As I took back the fourth shot of the night, I tried to breathe deeply. I needed to calm down. I was two seconds from losing it. The way he was touching her soft as silk chocolate skin, the look on his face; he’s enjoying the shit way too much.

I shifted in my chair, trying to count to ten as I watched her sexy ass move while she danced with someone other than me.

I should go over there. I should beat the shit out of that fucker and watch his ass bleed to death on the dance floor.

But I couldn’t. Lincoln would be pissed as shit if I dropped a body in his club, and Georgia would fucking kill me.

I needed a diversion.

I turned away from the dance floor and tried to concentrate on something other than
her
. Instead of imagining what his blood would feel like flowing through my fingers, the satisfaction of watching the life leave his eyes, I took my eyes off her and observed my surroundings. Hell, that’s what I was there to do to begin with.

Georgia asked me one day if I would keep an eye on her club for her until she had the baby and returned to work. I wanted to tell her that she would never see the inside of this place again unless it’s social. There’s no way Lincoln was going to let her work in here again. I knew my cousin, and he would lose his shit. Honestly, I wasn’t about to let her work here either so I agreed.

I looked around the club admiring the setup. This place was packed. Georgia did an excellent job designing this place and of course, with Lincoln’s name in the business, it was only going to flourish.

This place wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small either. It was just the right size to give you an intimate setting without losing your personal space. It had a club feel with a lounge-type atmosphere, and this city was eating it up. The DJ was actually good, but tonight, I wasn’t feeling it.

Tonight, as with every night, I was trying to reign in my anger. My patience was being put to the test, and I was starting to lose the battle of control. I was resorting back to my old ways, before Lincoln arrived on our doorstep.

Speaking of the Devil, Lincoln and I hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since Miami. I’d been trying to give the man his space. I knew how he felt, believe me, and there was really nothing I could do to make this shit better. I had to let him deal with this in his own way.

I had called periodically to check on him. So far, he hadn’t taken any of my calls or returned them. Georgia and I talked all the time, though. I’d call her to see if she needed anything or have her send me pictures of the baby.

It was crazy that even though Lincoln was missing in action, he hadn’t stopped Georgia from being with our family; mainly our grandmother and his aunt, my mom. Those three women together were trouble of the worst kind. Hell, I’d seen more of Georgia and her pregnant belly than I had of Lincoln. Now that the baby was here, she hadn’t been around as often. No one saw Lincoln unless in passing or while he was sitting in his car when he picked her up from my parent’s home.

I understood why Lincoln was in love with that woman. You couldn’t help but to love Georgia and protect her. She has a heart of gold and an honesty that was refreshing. She’d told me on many occasions, “My husband is a fucking idiot, but he loves you like a brother. Hell, like more than a brother because he hates his real one. He’ll come around, Angel, just give him time.”

I would just smile at her, not really wanting to crush her dreams. Again, I knew my cousin, and he’d come around when hell froze over.

What boggled my mind was that the infamous Drake Lincoln was married with a kid. When I thought about it more, I couldn’t believe he met a phenomenal woman like Georgia, the woman that had him by his balls, in a damn club. You couldn’t write a better script for one of those sappy chick flicks. That shit doesn’t happen in real life, but, for him it had, so maybe hell had frozen over.

I motioned for Darrell, who was standing a few feet from me, to bring me a beer from the bar. Out of my peripheral, I suddenly caught sight of
her
walking from the back of the club to the large bar I was sitting closer to.

Shit, my dick feels like a damn brick and I’m only looking at her.

As always, just watching her was driving me crazy. It made me contemplate murder in cold blood with witnesses, as she flowed through the place with every male’s eyes on her ass.

It had been a long time since I’d seen her and she looked just as beautiful now as she did back then.

How long has it actually been?

I thought when I first saw her that she didn’t remember me, but as her brown, almond-shaped eyes met mine from across the bar, I saw the look come over her. I felt the heat radiate from her eyes, even from this distance and in this lighting. I would know her desires for me if I were fucking blind. My body never reacted to any woman the way it had for her.

It took three nights, three fucking nights exploring her body, tasting her pleasures, for that woman to be embedded in my memory forever. Those nights were by far the most erotic nights of my existence.

She was my… Damn, I can’t say that shit.

I’ll just say that she’d affected me in ways no other woman has ever managed to do.

Shit, she’d grown up since she’d been gone. The curves of her spectacular body just deepened with hills and valleys that I wanted to explore and reacquaint my hands with perfection.

I’d had my fair share of beautiful women, not as much as Lincoln would accuse me of, but enough to know when I’ve experienced paradise. Let me put it to you like this: there was one woman that I have given myself to, one woman that I’ve let my guard down with, who I craved to touch, who I desired like no other, the only woman that I would bleed for, and she was now sitting directly across from me.

I felt my tongue imperceptibly sweep across my hungry lips.

I wonder if she tastes better now than she did back then.
Yeah, I know she tastes better now. I can feel it.

She smiled at some fucker as he sat down at the bar next to her, her face lighting up the way I remembered. My heart suddenly started to beat as if it was going to burst out of my chest. My lungs began to work double time to replenish the breath that I was losing every second that I watched her. This shouldn’t have been a shock to me. She’d always had that kind of effect on me with just a simple look, smile, and the slightest touch.

I know you want to know who this woman is, but give me a minute.
I just needed to relish in her beauty.
Damn
, she was beautiful, and that’s putting it mildly. She was stunning as hell, and I wanted nothing more than to sink into her heaven and confess all my sins, but I didn’t move. Yeah, even though I missed the shit out of her, and I wanted her desperately, I couldn’t forget the fact that she left. I showed her what it would be like if she stayed with me, but she left anyway. She didn’t call, didn’t write; so fuck it. I refuse to bow down to her because I was horny as fuck. Therefore, no matter how hard I was at the moment, I refused to take my horny ass over there to be reacquainted with her taste.

It’s about the principle or some shit, right?

A smile abruptly creased my face as the memory of her taste quickly flooded my mind.

Oh hell, principle my ass. I couldn’t wait to drink her dry!

I smiled in spite of myself.

I turned away from my temptation, about to go and claim what was mine, when I saw one of my “sometimes” walk towards me. Rigo, one of my men, looked at me for approval
after
the fucking fact. I don’t let people close to me, especially in public. You never know what someone was capable of, and I was too much of a target to be complacent. I knew none of my men would let anyone close to me without checking them first, and I knew if it was any other night, if
she
wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be pissed that he let this woman come over to me, so I let it go.

Once the “sometimes” got to my table, she leaned into me, reproach be damned, and put her tits on my arm. Of course, I welcomed the distraction. It allowed me to calm the hell down.

She said to me, “You’ve been sitting here by yourself for a while now.”

Now, of course, I didn’t remember her damn name, but hell what’s in a name, right? Besides, I could bet you my life she didn’t give a shit if I remembered her name or not.

I gave her the biggest smile that I could as I leaned into her a little. “And your reason for coming over here is?”

She smiled and leaned in closer to me. “I figured I’d come over and see if you wanted some company.”

I took that moment to look at what she had for me. Her tits were big and beautifully put on display for all to see. Very impressive. See, I’m an ass and tits man. I like my women to have both, with one woman being my only exception. Believe it or not, through surgical assistance, my “sometimes” met my requirements, and tonight had the potential to get interesting, if I wanted it to, but I didn’t.

Right before I sent this girl on her way, Hugo suddenly approached me from my left. As he moved closer to me, I noticed some Casper-looking fuck with his eyes on Raquel.

Yeah, that’s who
she
is; Raquel.

“Casper” was dressed in all black. His hair was slicked back looking like fucking Count Dracula. I watched as his eyes raked over her body - shit,
my body
- as if he wanted to drink her blood.

“Boss,” Hugo interjected. “Tiko just called. It seems your brother has gotten to Lester, and Lester has decided he wants to pick sides.”

I looked up at Hugo to make sure that I understood him correctly. Lester ran a part of the docks that we used to ship some of our merchandise that wasn’t so favorable in the law’s eyes.

“He’s taking sides?” I questioned. “What do you mean my brother has gotten to him?”

I knew that Hugo didn’t know, and when he shrugged, it only fueled me even more. I sighed deeply and closed my eyes. As I mentioned before, my temper and my attitude had been the story ever since I came home from Miami. Lucy and Worm hadn’t been the only victims of my wrath. I’d consistently taken out my frustration, anger and temper on everyone around me. I’d tried not to let this happen, but as I said before, I was being tested. As I looked back at Raquel, it was confirmed that shit was not going to end well for me.

I looked over at Darrell and pointed at Raquel.

“Go over there and tell Ms. Waters not to move from that fucking spot. I need to make a call to Tiko about some shit that’s going down with Lester. When I get back, her ass better be right where she is, understood?”

“Yes, boss.”

Darrell moved quickly to the other side of the bar just as Casper approached Raquel.

I looked at my “sometimes.” I gave her my signature grin… Yes, I have one… and said, “Listen, darling, I have some business to take care of. While I appreciate you checking up on me, I’m going to have to pass on your offer.” I stood and leaned closer to her ear. “What I will do, though, is set you up with your drinks for the night. Come on, let’s head to the bar in the back.”

I placed my hand on the lower part of her back to hurry her along. Once we got to the back of the club, I told the bartenders that her drinks were on me. Then I moved to the door that led to the office upstairs.

I pulled my cell out and dialed Tiko as I entered the room. Tiko and another one of my soldiers, Stretch, had been with me for almost as long as Darrell and Hugo. They were associates brought to me by Russo, one of my father’s Capos. Trust and loyalty are important in my world, so I didn’t have anyone around me that I don’t trust. Tiko and Stretch had been loyal to me and worked their asses off over the years, making a name for themselves. I trusted them with most things, which is a foot for me. If I couldn’t trust the men around me, what good are they?

Tiko answered on the second ring.

“What’s going on?” I asked him.

“Not sure boss. I came here, as I always do, to pay the pissant, and, at first, he told me he couldn’t take your money. Then he sat straighter up in his chair and said he
wouldn’t
take your money. He said he doesn’t work for you anymore and that he has the backing of the real Leonetti in charge.”

“And you…” I started, but my men know me so well, so he knew what I was getting at.

“Yeah, I clarified,” Tiko added. “He wasn’t talking about your father. He was talking about Eddie.”

I smiled
. So it begins
.

Lester had worked for me for years. He first started taking orders from my father; now it was me. I’d paid the little fucker handsomely over the years and looked out for his family anytime he needed. For him to betray me like this, to talk to my men the way he had, was a violation.

“Okay, before I go insane, find out if my brother has been talking to anyone else working for us on the docks in Philly and New Jersey. Then call me back and let me know. I need to know the damage and how much repairs are going to cost.”

“Yes, sir.” Tiko hung up. I was heading for the door to the office when my cell rang. It was Darrell.