My brother has hit gold.
That thought ran through Duan Jeffries's mind while he stood
on the sidelines and watched Terrence "Holy Terror"
Jeffries escort his bride, Sherri Griffin Jeffries, around
the huge ballroom as they thanked the numerous guests for
attending their wedding.
From the moment Duan had met Sherri, he'd known she was the
one woman who could make his younger brother happy. Just
being in their presence was to feel the love radiating
between them. And even though he was a downright cynical
bastard when it came to the notion of true love, the two of
them had made him somewhat of a believer.
The same held true for his sister, Olivia, and the man she'd
married last year, Senator Reggie Westmoreland. That was
definitely another love match. So okay, two cases weren't
bad. He shifted his glance across the room to his father and
the woman by his side and chuckled inwardly. All right, he
would make that three cases. His father had finally married
his devoted administrative assistant a few months back. Duan
didn't know any man who deserved the love of a good woman
more than Orin Jeffries, especially after all the hell the
mother of his three offspring put him through.
Not wanting to think about the woman who'd given birth to
him, the same one who'd deserted her husband and three
children when Duan was twelve, Terrence ten and Libby three,
he glanced at his watch, feeling tired and edgy. He had
arrived in Chicago yesterday and come straight from the
airport to the church, just in time to make the rehearsal
dinner.
A private investigator, for the past three months he'd been
working practically around the clock trying to gather enough
evidence to hand over to an attorney friend who was
convinced a man he was representing had been wrongfully
accused of murder. It had been a hard case to crack and even
harder to deliver the news that it was the man's wife who'd
set him up. With the evidence needed to clear the man of all
charges, Duan had taken off from Atlanta on a direct flight
to Chicago.
He glanced at his watch. He had another hour or so before
the wedded couple headed for O'Hare and a two-week honeymoon
in Paris. After they departed he would go up to his hotel
room, get out of his tux and change into something more
comfortable and…
Do what?
He didn't have any immediate plans. Word had gotten around
that some of Reggie's brothers and cousins were hosting a
card game later tonight in one of their rooms. He wasn't
surprised. He had known most of the Westmorelands from his
high-school years in Atlanta and had rekindled friendships
with them since Reggie had married Libby. The one thing he
knew about them was that they liked to gamble, and their
game of choice was poker.
Duan decided to pass after remembering what happened the
last time he'd played with them. When the game ended he'd
been three hundred dollars poorer.
If not poker, then what else was there to do?
He shifted his gaze to the woman standing across the room
talking to the bride's parents. Immediately, he felt a
primitive thrumming heat run through him. Kimani Cannon. He
would definitely love to
do her.
She was the best friend of the bride and he had been
attracted to her from the first moment they'd been
introduced a few months ago at Terrence and Sherri's
engagement party in the Keys. He had immediately picked up
on the strong sexual chemistry flowing between them, and the
look Kimani had given him promised that they would hook up
later to wear out somebody's sheets. But before they could
make that happen, he'd received an important tip on a case
he was working and had to leave.
She was definitely nice to look at with her dark, sultry
eyes, a cute pixie nose and full and shapely lips. He
particularly liked the mass of dark brown spiral curls that
crowned her creamy cocoa-colored face.
She was downright sexy from the top of her head past those
shapely curves and gorgeous legs to the soles of her feet.
And speaking of feet, he had a weakness when it came to
women in high heels, especially if they had the legs for
them, which she did. And the strapless satin baby-blue
maid-of-honor dress that hit below the knees looked damn
good on her, but he'd much prefer seeing her naked. He
wanted to find out if his dreams came close to the real thing.
He took a sip of his drink and continued to watch her. Lust
after her was more like it. And it wasn't helping matters
when all kind of wicked fantasies danced around in his head.
He could envision doing something hot, naughty and X-rated
with her—like locking himself between her legs and
staying there until there wasn't anything left to give or take.
His fingers tightened on the stem of the wineglass, not sure
what part of her he enjoyed staring at the most, and quickly
decided he liked everything about her. Even from across the
room she stirred his blood, fired his senses and made him
think about hot sex under silken sheets.
He dragged in a deep breath and reached up to loosen his
tie, which suddenly felt tight. Hell, even his briefs were
restricting. And the rumble deep in his gut, trickling down
toward his groin, could only mean one thing. After a
six-month abstinence, he needed to get laid. And he wondered
if the woman across the room would in any way be accommodating.
No sooner had that thought worked its way into his mind then
she glanced over in his direction. Their gazes locked and
the chemistry flowing between them thickened, stirred and
escalated. Heat shimmered in the air and then she broke eye
contact with him. Placing her wineglass on the tray of a
passing waiter, she headed out of the ballroom. He watched,
mesmerized by the sway of her hips and those gorgeous legs
in high heels.
Suddenly, he felt his feet moving to follow her.
Kim released a deep breath as she walked down the hall that
led to the room the bridesmaids had used earlier to dress
in. She heard footsteps behind her and didn't have to turn
around to know the identity of the person following her.
Duan Jeffries.
There was something about him that made her immediately
think of sex, sex and plenty more sex. In that brief moment
they'd made eye contact in the ballroom, she had detected
the raw hunger within him, a need that was both possessive
and magnetic, and it had drawn her to him, filled her with a
desire to take him on right now.
Due to budget cuts at the hospital where she worked as an
E.R. nurse, she hadn't had much of a social life lately.
Seeing Duan made her realize just how much she longed for
some skin-to-skin contact. Licking him from head to toe
would be a good start, but she figured they wouldn't have
enough time for that. A quickie would have to do.
She'd known the instant she met him four months ago that
they would eventually get together. The vibes had been
strong and she was disappointed when he'd left the Keys
unexpectedly. The only reason she hadn't initiated jumping
his bones after the rehearsal dinner last night was because
she and Sherri had planned to hang out with her cousins one
last time in Sherri's hotel room.
A shiver of anticipation flowed through her body when she
came to a stop in front of the room. Without looking over
her shoulder, she turned the knob, pushed opened the door
and stepped inside.
It was only when she heard the sound of the door closing and
the lock clicking in place behind her that she turned to
stare up into what had to be the most gorgeous dark eyes any
man could possess. And then there were the perfect angles,
seamless planes and sensuous lines that made up an
impressive and sinfully handsome face.
He took a step closer and she sucked in a quick breath when
she felt his erection poke into her belly. She wasn't sure
who made the first move after that. It wasn't really
important. All that mattered was the mouth that swooped
down, taking hers with a hunger that she reciprocated.
When she met his tongue with her own, he deepened the kiss
and then it was on. Something frantic broke within her,
within them, and a need as raw as it could get took over.
She felt his hand lifting her dress. The sound of silk
rustling against silk inflamed her mind, and when those same
hands made contact with the apex of her thighs, not even her
panties were a barrier against the busy fingers that sought
and found an easy opening.
And then those fingers were moving through the curls, beyond
the folds, stirring her wetness and massaging her clit. She
moaned at the invasion as well as the pleasure, and
instinctively reached for his fly and eased down the zipper.
Quickly inserting her hand beneath the elastic waistband of
his briefs, she gripped the engorged hardness of his sex. He
pulled his mouth from hers and released a guttural groan,
and the primitive sound was something she understood and
identified with.
"Condom." He said that one word in a ragged breath
and she relinquished her hold on him so he could fish into
the pockets of his pants for his wallet. He pulled out a
square packet.
She shifted her gaze from the condom to his erection,
jutting proudly from a dark thatch of curls. The head of his
shaft was big and smooth, and the veins running along the
sides were thick.
Heat burning in every part of her body, she watched as he
sheathed himself with such ease and accuracy that she
figured he'd done this numerous times. When that task was
completed, he glanced up and the eyes that stared at her
nearly scorched her skin and made her regret they only had
time for a quickie. Leisurely savoring every inch of him was
something she would just love doing. But for now she would
take what she could get. Leaning up on tiptoe, she pressed
her moist lips against his.
His mouth immediately captured hers, kissing her hungrily,
and she felt him tug her dress up. She had a feeling this
mating would be a quickie like nothing she'd ever experienced.
He lifted her, cupping her hips in his hands, and she
instinctively wrapped her legs around him. Like radar his
engorged sex found its mark and he pushed forward, sliding
between her wet folds. The size of him stretched her, filled
her to capacity. And it seemed his erection got larger as he
delved deeper and deeper…pressing her back against
the wall.
He paused, as if he wanted to experience the feeling of
being embedded within her, and in protest her inner muscles
clamped down hard on him, then let go, repeating the process
a few times. He snatched his mouth from hers, threw his head
back and released a massive growl.
To her satisfaction he began moving, pounding in and out of
her in a rhythm that matched the beat of her heart. She
hoped and prayed the room on the other side of the wall was
empty. She would hate for anyone to want to investigate what
all the noise was about.
She felt his every thrust all the way to her toes—toes
that were curled around his waist at that very moment. His
erection was throbbing inside her with the intensity of a
volcano about to erupt.
He leaned down and imprisoned her mouth again, kissing her
hungrily. Was there anything this man couldn't do perfectly?
She moaned and worked her body against his, meeting him
stroke for stroke, thrust for thrust.
She pulled back from the kiss, needing to see him, to look
into his face, to know he was feeling the same things she
was. Pure feminine satisfaction poured through her at the
intense look on his features that told her he was. And if
that didn't convince her, then his thrusts did. They were
powerful, each one an accurate hit, centering on her G-spot
with clear-cut precision and a mastery that had her panting.
And still he thrust deeper, pounded harder.
And then she felt it, the first signs of the explosive
tension building inside her and inside him, as well. His
muscular thighs began quivering with an intensity that she
felt through his tuxedo pants. And then he let out a deep
moan followed by a release that triggered her own eruption,
and he clamped his mouth on hers to quell her scream.
Their tongues tangled once again and she was devoured by his
greedy mouth. Giving in to pent-up passion and bridled lust,
she wrapped her arms around him as he continued to rock into
her, as if taking her this way was his due. His every right.
And at that moment, it was.
Duan shoved his shirt into his pants as he glanced over at
Kimani. She was smoothing her dress over those luscious
curves. The woman was something else, and even now, while
aftershocks of his orgasm were still flitting through his
system, his body was aching for more. What was it about her
that made him into one greedy ass where her body was concerned?
He breathed in deeply. The scent of sex mingled with the
perfume she was wearing had to be filling her nostrils the
way it was his. He liked the aroma. When she reached up and
ran fingers through her curls to bring order back to her
hair, he thought she looked simply beautiful.
He shook his head. He'd just made out with the maid of honor
at his brother's wedding. Hell, they were right down the
hall from the reception.
"We need to move quickly if we want to be there when
Terrence and Sherri leave," she said, slipping into the
shoes she had discarded earlier. Those high heels he liked
so much.
He knew it was a stupid thought, but the only place he could
imagine being at the moment was right here with her.
"And just what will happen if we're not there? " he
asked.
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