A Gangster and a Gentleman Read online

  Her moans and his growls bounced around the bathroom’s walls to the point where it sounded like there was a whole group of people in there fucking. Add on the long strokes shortening to quick, rapid fires and her ass slapping against his balls and thighs, it sounded like an audience was applauding their performance.

  In no time at all, she hurled toward an orgasm that had her speaking in tongues. Two seconds later, Elijah roared like a lion and she could feel his hot seed explode.

  Blake didn’t know how long they stood there. Him clinging to the back of her and her death gripping the countertop, but at long last Elijah offered, “Let me help clean you up.”

  She said nothing when he slid out of her pussy and turned to retrieve a few hand towels from the linen closet. She remained mute even when he soaped up one towel, set her on the counter, and proceeded to clean her. It might have something to do with the fact that he was looking in her face and watching for her reaction.

  After a couple washes and rinses, she thought he was about to pick her up and zip her back into her dress, but instead he rolled her thong completely off, hooked her legs over his shoulders, and then moved his face in for some blackberry pie dessert. The instant his silky tongue glided in beneath her clit, her eyes closed and every ounce of air seeped out of her lungs.

  Blake’s head fell back and banged against the mirror. She couldn’t care less if she fucked up the hair bun that had taken her over an hour to create. All that mattered in the world was how delicious his tongue felt twirling around inside her pussy. In no time at all, she slid her hand down in between her legs and then locked them behind Eli’s head. She wanted to bathe him with her juices.

  Licking and slurping, Elijah wasted no time popping off orgasm two, three, and four. When he removed his glistening lips, every muscle in her body had liquidized. He could pour her ass into a glass and finish her off.

  “That was delicious,” he boasted, puffing out his chest.

  “I don’t know what the fuck I’m going to do with you,” she said, shaking her head, but she knew the muthafucka wasn’t working right.

  Eli smiled. “Well, I could take you to the bed and finish having my way with you.”

  As tempting as that shit sounded, reality seeped back into her brain and she knew she had to get back to her job. “Can’t,” Blake whined, poking out her bottom lip. “I have to work.”

  His sexy lips curled into a smile. “Gotta admire a woman dedicated to stacking her paper.” He climbed off the floor, cleaned her up again, and then zipped her back into the dress.

  An hour later, Blake and Elijah climbed out of the rented limousine and entered Warner Bro’s after party. Elijah was never more than two feet from her side while she did her thing to inflate egos and make impossible promises. The only hitch that kept throwing her off was how many people assumed that she and her GQ bodyguard were an item. Somewhere between the first party and the second one, she stopped correcting them.

  “You two look good together,” Perri whispered, easing up to her side.

  Blake gave her the don’t-be-ridiculous look, but Perri ignored it. When Elijah had started coming around the office, Perri had tiptoed around the place with her purse always clutched under her arm.

  “You can’t fool me. I know a thug when I see one,” Perri kept saying. But tonight, her assistant looked at Eli with new eyes. “Talk about a diamond in the rough,” Perri said, sneaking another look. “Now I see why you’ve been giving up the panties.”

  “What?”

  Perri rolled her eyes. “Honey, everyone on our office floor has been complaining about the noise you two keep up in your office, the conference room, the kitchen . . . and the men’s bathroom. ” She shook her head. “You might want to invest in a ball and gag. You’re definitely a screamer.”

  Blake’s mouth dropped open and her entire face burned with embarrassment.

  Perri elbowed her. “Don’t be embarrassed. Besides Denzel’s wife, you’re one of the luckiest women here.” She winked and then strolled off.

  Eli moved up next to her. “What was all that about?”

  “N-nothing.” Blake shook off the conversation and downed the rest of her champagne. The whole floor has heard us? So much for keeping shit professional.

  At the third party, she just went through the motions. More air kisses, fake laughter, and empty congratulations. What surprised her was when people engaged Elijah into conversation. Suddenly his ass sounded like a Harvard alumni with a double major in economics and political science. He effortlessly stopped dropping all his Gs and kept all his subject and verb agreements on point.

  Who is this brother?

  In the deepest throes of her admiration, Blake stopped watching where she was going and bumped into Ajet Austin.

  “Should have known that our worlds would collide sooner or later,” he said with all the warmth of a Popsicle.

  Blake smiled. “Aw. Don’t tell me that you’re still sore about that tiny little incident a while back?”

  His brows climbed to the middle of his forehead. “Little?”

  “Well, considering you tried to kill me, I think a simple ass-whooping is getting off easy.”

  Elijah stepped forward and slid a protective arm around her waist. “Problem?”

  Ajet’s face turned every shade of red imaginable. “N-no. There’s no problem. We were just . . .”

  “Talking,” she filled in for him. “Ajet was telling me that he has a good part for one of my clients in his studio’s next picture. Weren’t you, Ajet?”

  His gums bumped wordlessly for a few seconds—until Eli cocked his head and mean-mugged him.

  “Yes! Actually, I was just thinking that we could have Jasmin Tyler come in for an audition.”

  “Audition?” Blake twisted her face. “I don’t think an audition is necessary. She’s perfect for the lead.”

  “The lead?” Ajet’s face purpled.

  “I believe that’s what the lady said,” Elijah pressed, and then took a threatening step forward.

  “You got it.” Ajet’s hands shot up. “The lead it is. I, um, will have someone fax over an offer on Monday.” He backed away and then turned and raced off.

  She threw a look at Eli, and his plump lips spread into a smile.

  “Nice guy,” he joked.

  Blake cracked up.

  13

  An hour later, they were back at her place, and Eli was unzipping her dress before she could even get the key into the door. “I thought that we would never get out of there,” he complained while nibbling on her shoulder.

  “What? You don’t like hobnobbing with the rich and famous?” Blake tossed her keys and clutch onto the foyer table. A second later, her dress slid off her shoulders and hit the marble floor.

  “The only thing I like doing is you.”

  “Is that right?”

  Elijah wrapped his arms around her, and she hopped up and locked her legs around him and kissed him feverishly while he climbed the steps. It felt like they had been doing this since the dawn of time. He’d become the very air that she breathed.

  Blake’s mother was probably rolling around in her grave. Nothing good could come from anything having to do with Mafia Don, but there she was, walking a tightrope in Louboutin heels.

  She sighed when her body was pressed into her Egyptian cotton and gold threaded sheets. Next, Blake squirmed with anticipation while she watched him rip out of his suit in a time that would have made an Olympian proud.

  You’re in love with this man.

  The realization stunned her, and she immediately told herself that she was being foolish. But the minute their lips and bodies connected, the truth was undeniable.

  His touch burned and soothed her in places that most people would be ashamed or embarrassed to mention. But she found herself wanting and needing to do everything that pleased him.

  Stationary, on top, reverse cowgirl, they did it all, and an hour later their skin was glossy with sweat and the sheets were musky. Bl
ake lacked the strength to pop up for a quick shower and instead curled under his arm and snuggled.

  “How you feelin’, baby girl?”

  “Ah, the gangsta returns.” She chuckled.

  “What do you mean?” He laughed.

  She inched closer. “C’mon. Tonight, you were all suave and proper—and speaking the King’s English.”

  “Aw. Surprised that a brother like me can just flip the script, huh?”

  “Something like that.” She made lazy circles across his chest before asking the question that she’d been dying to ask. “Did you really get these bullet wounds when you were eight years old?” The energy in the room shifted, and she wished that she could take the question back.

  “Yes.”

  She sensed that he didn’t want to talk about it, but her curiosity got the best of her. “What happened?”

  A long pause filled the room, but she waited him out.

  “A blackout,” he said solemnly.

  Shock raced down her spine. When their eyes connected again, she saw so much pain in his eyes. Blake brushed her fingers across his lips.

  He grabbed hold of her hands and kissed her fingertips.

  “It’s all right. It was a long time ago.”

  But it wasn’t all right. “Who?”

  He hesitated. “Midnight.”

  The surprises kept coming. “The same Midnight that my father thinks will come after me?”

  Elijah nodded.

  “But . . . why?”

  “To this day, I’m still not really sure. The streets have a lot of conflicting theories, none that I’ve ever been able to nail down. My father had a lot of enemies.”

  “Was your father . . . ?”

  “A gangster?” he supplied.

  She bobbed her head.

  Elijah shrugged. “He was a man who provided for his family the best way he knew how. Does that answer your question?”

  Another brother fighting against the Man.

  “Don’t do that,” he warned.

  “Do what?”

  “That judgmental thing that you always do. You didn’t know my father, or my mother, sister, or twin brother.”

  She swallowed a huge knot in the center of her throat. “Are they all . . . ?”

  “Dead?” He nodded. “I’m supposed to be dead too. If it hadn’t been for Mafia Don, I probably would be. He showed up that night and plucked me out of the carnage.”

  Tears swelled and then leaked down her face. Elijah gave her a small smile and then wiped them away with the pads of his fingers. “So you can see how when a blackout was ordered on the don’s family, he found a willing protector in me.”

  What the hell am I supposed to say to that? “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  She didn’t know. It was the only thing that came to mind. “I’m sorry that you even had to go through something like that. I can’t imagine . . .” She shook her head. “I guess I’m glad that my father did this for you.”

  “You think that maybe you’ve misjudged him?”

  Blake hesitated, not sure if she could go that far with it.

  Elijah laughed at her struggle. “That’s all right. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

  “You really think I should allow him into my life?”

  “It’s not about what I think.”

  She couldn’t help but wonder if she was being too hard on Mafia Don. But then all her mother’s warnings about the man rang in her head, and she couldn’t allow herself to go there.

  Eli kissed the top of her head. For the first time in her life, an invisible cloak of protection wrapped around her. Nothing and no one could harm her.

  She wished that had always been the case.

  “Whatchu thinkin’ so hard about?” Elijah asked minutes later, pressing another kiss against the side of her head.

  “Nothing.”

  “Liar.”

  Blake laughed and lightly punched his chest. “Stop that.”

  “Stop what? Reading you like a book? I can’t help it when you make it so easy for me.”

  “Please. If it was so easy, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

  “And where is that exactly?”

  She watched while he rolled one finger down the curve of her hip, amazed at how her skin tingled in its wake.

  “Baby?”

  “Hmm?” She had gotten distracted. “Oh. I . . . um . . . well, you know, I run my own agency in one of the most competitive markets there is, and I make damn good money.”

  “And that’s what you call success?”

  Her head jerked up to meet his probing gaze. “Damn right it is. I’ve proven that I don’t need to depend on a man to put a good roof over my head or a car in the driveway, and I don’t have to beg for an allowance—only to be stuck on stupid when a younger bitch comes along and snatches everything from up under me.”

  “Ah. The independent woman’s anthem.” Eli chuckled and rolled his eyes.

  “Call it what the fuck you want, but don’t act like you don’t see that shit happening every day. Men take, take, take, and the minute they get our asses to rely on them, they’re out the damn door. Then we’re standing there like Boo-Boo the Fool with our youth gone and stretch marks all over the place, and turning tricks and calling it dating just to get by.”

  “Damn.”

  “You can front all you want, but you probably got four or five baby mamas your damn self.”

  “All right. Now you’re just playing yourself. I don’t have any crumb-snatchers running around out there.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I’m serious. You got the wrong player if you think that shit. I don’t get down like that.”

  “Says the man who has used a condom with me maybe two times during all our hookups,” she charged back.

  Eli nodded. “You’re right. And don’t think there hasn’t been a day I don’t ask myself what in the hell I’m doin’.”

  Blake frowned. “You want me to believe that I’m the first woman you’ve never used protection with?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” He reached down and brushed a strand of hair from her face. His touch was so gentle and caring that for a moment, she believed his ass.

  “What makes me so special?” she tested. As she waited for his answer, she became aware that she held her breath.

  After his eyes roamed over her face, a small smile eased across his lips. “So far, I think, just about everything.”

  The tears that sprang to her eyes caught her off guard.

  Elijah curled toward her, tilted up her head, and laid a kiss on her that erased all fear and doubt from her mind. When he entered her yet again, it was like a homecoming to their souls. She didn’t know any other way to describe it. All she knew was that we were no longer fucking but making love.

  It was the first time in her entire life.

  14

  BOOM!

  Elijah’s eyes sprang open in the dead of night.

  For a few seconds, he strained his ears to verify that his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him. He didn’t hear anything, but that disturbing feeling that twisted in his gut wouldn’t go away.

  Lightning lit up the bedroom, and then the next second everything plunged back into darkness. His heart hammered as his eyes darted around. Something was wrong.

  Glancing to his left, Blake was tucked neatly under his arm and was doing that soft snoring that made her adorable.

  BOOM! BOOM!

  She didn’t move.

  He kissed her upturned nose and eased his arm from beneath her. She moaned, but he climbed out of bed and grabbed his gat from the nightstand without waking her.

  As he eased toward the door, he snatched up his drawers. Nobody liked banging with their dick swinging. However, when his hand landed on the knob, Blake popped up from the tangled sheets.

  “Where are you going?” she whispered, alarmed.

  He placed a finger against his lips and alerted her to keep her voice down.
“I heard something.”

  “What?” She scrambled out of bed. “Is someone in the house?”

  “Shhh. I’m not sure.” He held up his gun so she could see that he was going to check things out.

  “Well, what did you hear?”

  “I don’t know. Something.”

  BOOM!

  Eli jumped at the sudden clap of thunder. Shortly after, the large windows rattled violently. The next flash of lightning blinded him temporarily. A second later, the sky opened and rain pounded on the glass like a million hammers.

  Déjà vu.

  “Are you sure that it’s not just the storm?” she asked, grabbing her .38 out of the opposite nightstand drawer.

  BOOM! BOOM!

  “No. It was inside the house.”

  “Then I’m coming with you.”

  He wanted to tell her that the shit wasn’t necessary, but the truth of the matter was that he didn’t know what waited on the other side of the door. All he could do was hope that she knew how to handle her gun better than what she’d demonstrated in the car a couple of months back.

  Before he knew it, she’d slipped on a robe and took the other side of the door. They looked like a black Bonnie and Clyde.

  Lightning flashed and he swore he saw his eight-year-old twin brother, Easy, standing next to Blake.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to hide?” he asked him.

  He blinked and shook the vision from his head.

  “Are you all right?”

  When he opened his eyes, Blake was frowning at him. “I’m fine,” he said. Pushing that shit to the side, he turned back toward the door and pulled it open. He ducked his head out for a quick look before sliding out into the hallway.

  BOOM! BOOM!

  “Where do you think you’re goin’, lil nigga?” a deep, raspy voice echoed so loud from his past that he jerked his head around and expected to see that muthafucka who slaughtered his family.

  But no one was there.

  “Eli.” Blake grabbed his free hand and rattled him back to reality. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “Nothing,” he blurted.

  Concentrate on what the fuck you’re doing. He nodded to the command in his head and then continued his creep down the hallway.