Always in My Heart Read online

  Eva took a deep breath and released it slowly.

  “I was so excited when I found a job at a sport’s bar, waiting tables. The tips were good and the best part was that the manager had an apartment on the upper level of the building. She let me move in there with Makai. Two years later, Kenya, she was the manager at the sport’s bar, got an offer for the job at TEASE. She told me it was in Manhattan and how much money she would be making and she asked me to come with her. Even though we’d long since moved out of Ms. Ruby’s place, she was still making noises about possibly trying to get Makai back in her custody. I knew it was just so that she could get that state check once more, but I didn’t feel like trying to fight her. So, since I had two mouths to feed and every time I heard from Ms. Ruby I became nervous about being able to keep my freedom, we moved.”

  “Where did you live before?” Rico asked her, feeling as if he wanted to either shake Ms. Ruby, or have her ass arrested himself.

  “Hartford, Connecticut,” she replied.

  He nodded. “Not that far from me. I live in Greenwich.”

  That meant that for a while she’d lived very close to him. He wondered what would have happened if he’d met her before now, under different circumstances. Eva didn’t look like that information made any difference to her.

  She let out a breath and shrugged. “So that’s how I got Makai and that’s how I started working at TEASE.”

  “You wanted to take care of your little brother, I get it,” he said.

  Eva shook her head. “I had to take care of my little brother. It’s the way my parents would have wanted it. Getting a good education and good jobs was important to them. They always taught us to study hard. So I made sure Makai studied hard and had everything he needed to get a good education. I was making so much at TEASE that I was able to send him to a private school for the middle and high school years. And then when it was time for college, he received a partial scholarship, but he didn’t have to worry because I made enough money to pay for the rest. He’s a junior now at Columbia, majoring in business. He’s already getting offers for internships at big companies, so he’s going to graduate and make something of himself.”

  “While you continue to show strangers your tits and pick up dollar bills from the floor,” he said quietly. “I’m almost positive that’s not the life your parents had planned for you.”

  “You don’t know that, Rico. You don’t know anything about them, or me for that matter. Just because I told you all this about my past doesn’t mean squat. You’re still who you are and I’m still me. You come from a rich and fancy house in Greenwich while there were days I wondered where our next meal would come from and if or when the power company was going to realize I’d given them a bad check.”

  There was a moment of silence, when the wind blew around them and the years of their pasts between them. Rico admired her in that moment. He respected the young girl who had taken a tremendous responsibility on her shoulders and made it work. He also valued the woman that stood before him with absolutely no shame in the decisions she’d made. Just as he’d always been certain that everything he’d done in his life was the right choice, Eva had no doubts or recriminations about her life and with her fierce confidence, dared anyone else to feel any for her.

  “You wanna know something, Eva? I don’t think any of that matters,” Rico told her honestly. “I know people say you should get to know someone, date a person, and find out who they really are before you make any commitments or any long term plans. And at another time I’m sure I would have believed that wholeheartedly. But not here, not now. And not with you.”

  She sighed.

  “There’s nothing here for us, Rico. You live in your world and I live in mine. It’s that simple,” she told him.

  “I want you, Eva,” he replied, taking a step closer to her. “I know that right at this very moment, I want you more than I want air. The tips of my fingers are tingling with the urge to run them across your silken smooth skin. My tongue is moist and ready to lick along the inside of your thigh and that thin string of the fire engine red thong you’re wearing. That’s what I know, Eva and dammit, that’s simple too.”

  He was standing right in front of her, the cool pelting of the first raindrops splattering against his face as they began to fall. Rico ignored them, reaching out to yank the belt of her coat free. He pushed the lapels open, his bare hands touching the searing skin of her waist as he pulled her closer to him.

  She came into his arms willingly, her lips parted as she blinked against the rain. “I watched you while I danced,” she told him.

  Rico’s body hardened, his erection pressing painfully against the zipper of his pants. He lowered his head to kiss her, but she avoided the contact.

  “When I first started working at TEASE, Kenya told me to find one person in the room and imagine I was dancing for that person alone, instead of an entire room of horny men.”

  Her words were a whisper against the damp air, her lips so close to his he groaned as they moved.

  “I never did that. Instead I danced for myself. In my mind there was only me and the music and I danced until the music stopped, not looking at any one person, or even caring that they were there. But tonight,” she said and took a breath. “Tonight, it was all for you. I don’t know why.”

  “I don’t care why,” he said, touching his lips urgently to hers. He sucked the bottom one into his mouth, then licked the top one, alternating, until she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

  She took over from there, kissing him with unfettered hunger, working his mouth as expertly as she’d worked that pole. Rico’s hands went to her ass, gripping each globe as his eyes closed and he remembered the way they’d bounced as she’d moved on stage. The strip of rhinestone-covered red silk glistened through her cheeks and his mouth had watered at the thought of licking her there. For now he sucked her tongue into his mouth, loving the moan this act solicited from her.

  The rain was coming down harder now, but Rico barely felt it. He was burning for her, his hands moving over as much of her flesh as he could manage to touch, until pushing the coat over her shoulders was a necessity. She wore only the bra and thong she’d had on when they’d left the club, the long curly tresses, now straight and hanging down the center of her back as Rico arched over her so that he could lick and suckle her neck.

  It was Eva who pulled herself upright, pushing him back as she walked. “You said you want me, now,” she told him as they moved. “I want you, too.”

  “Here I am,” he replied. “Take what you want.”

  He hadn’t expected her to push him until he fell back onto one of the two cushioned couches that decorated the rooftop deck.

  “That’s exactly what I plan to do,” she said before reaching around him and into his back pocket for his wallet.

  She removed the foil packet then tossed the leather pouch to the side as she ripped it open. Rico was already working the buckle and zipper of his pants, releasing his rigid length, hissing as the cool drops of rain fell onto his heated flesh. Her hands moved quickly, efficiently, grasping him at the base, holding him as she deftly slid the latex down and over his length. Then she was straddling him, reaching up to grab the wet strands of her hair and toss them back over her shoulders once more.

  Rico gripped her hips, loving the sight of water running in seductive rivulets between her breasts and down her torso. Leaning forward he licked them, the salty and sweet taste sending punches of lust straight to his dick. She came over him then, her legs open wide as he guided her down slowly. She’d gripped his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin. The second his tip touched the warm opening of her center, Rico’s gaze jerked up to find hers. She was staring directly at him, biting her bottom lip as she lowered inch by delicious inch, down his shaft.

  He groaned, holding her still when he was completely impaled. Kissing the rise of her breasts over the bra she wore Rico began to suck the skin. There would be a mark when
he was finished and he didn’t give a damn. Actually, that’s what he wanted. To mark her. Claim her. Make her his forever.

  She moved then, rising up until he was almost completely out of her, then slamming down again. Up and down, up and down, she rotated her hips and moved over him, while the rain poured down around them. It was chilly and then it was scorching. His hands held her tightly as she bounced over him. Hers held him tightly as if she couldn’t bear to let go. Somewhere in the distance there may have been thunder, but all Rico could hear was the blood pounding through his veins.

  He’d told her that he wanted her and she was giving him her all. She arched backward, her head falling back. Rain slapped against her skin leaving her heaving flesh saturated as she continued to work him. Rico held her tightly, thrusting upward to meet her rhythmic strokes. With his hold firm on her, he came to his feet and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his back. His thrusts came faster, in and out he slammed into her, holding her as she continued to arch, moaning and writhing with his every stroke.

  The slapping sound of their skin meeting was almost drowned out by the persistent patter of the rain. Rico didn’t care. He had no thoughts about being outside while at the same time buried deep inside of her. All he could think of was how good her hot walls felt clamping around his dick. How wonderful her warm skin felt beneath his hands. She was beautiful as she rode him, like some warrior goddess on a mission to conquer.

  Well she could have him, she could wield her powers around him and wrap him in the delicious passion that enveloped them now. Anything, that’s what he would give her at this moment, any damn thing she wanted.

  “Rico!” she yelled his name as her thighs tightened around him.

  “Yes, baby, yes,” he murmured, his fingers digging into her hips the same way hers were holding onto his shoulders.

  They came together, on the rooftop deck, in the rain.

  #

  He’d carried her into the room when they were done, stopping at the bathroom where he watched her walk in. She went straight to the mirror, stripping off her coat, the bra and the thong that had been twisted with their previous actions. Without looking over to him, she reached up her hands and pulled out pins that he figured held the now wet and stringy wig in place. After removing it, her blunt-tipped fingers ran through the short curls of her natural hair and then she turned on the water at the sink.

  “You’re beautiful without the wigs,” he told her.

  She’d taken one of the cloths from the basket on the side of the sink and used it to wipe the rain and some of the make-up from her face. Turning to look at him, she smiled. “Thanks. Eva Romaine needs the hair. It adds to the show.”

  Rico nodded. He could see that. It was sexy as hell to see those long strands of hair rubbing over her breasts, then scraping over her bare back as he watched her ass gyrating. “I like Eva Miller much better.”

  She didn’t look at him that time, but kicked her shoes off and headed for the shower. After she’d stepped beneath the spray of water and didn’t close the stall door, Rico figured she was inviting him in.

  They didn’t speak while she lathered another cloth and ran it slowly over his chest. Eva had never bathed a man before, but she wanted her hands on Rico, there was no more denying that. Kenya had been right, he was lean and tall and yummy! And he was standing naked in a shower with her. Never in a million years would she have ever imagined being with a man this way. She’d never even allowed herself to think along the lines of a relationship and now…well, this wasn’t exactly a relationship. But it felt damn good, just the same.

  She rubbed over his shoulders, down his arms, over abs that she swore looked like they should be on the cover of a fitness magazine. That’s when she saw it, the small tattoo just beneath his right arm. It was a heart with a skull in its center. Curious now, she lifted his other arm and saw another tat, this one was of a snake, winding its way around a bulging bicep. He didn’t say a word as she assessed his body art, even when she turned him around so that she could see his back. There, a little larger than the other two, but not so big that it would ever be seen if he wore a tank top, was another one. Her soapy fingers ran along the letter “B” with all the vines moving in and out of it, twirling together, until just beneath the design it read “Family. Love. Forever.”

  “A few years ago my family was threatened by a lunatic that not only wanted to take down our company, but also tried to hurt us physically,” he said, his hands planted flat on the clear glass wall of the shower.

  Eva continued to rub her hands over his back, down to his taut buttocks, and then back up the sides where she knew the other two tats were.

  He answered, without her even having to ask.

  “Other execs at the company weren’t happy when I waltzed in, fresh out of grad school to take the top financial position in the company. Never mind that my father had built the company or that I’d graduated in the top five percent of my class in undergrad and grad school. I wasn’t good enough. Until I had to show them just how good I was for the position. They tried lots of things behind my back, but in the end, I was able to weed out the snakes and rise as the victor,” he told her, his voice calm, level.

  He took a deep breath and she watched as his muscles contracted, the strength in his body on full display even as it rippled through her fingers.

  “I dated this girl in college. I thought she was really nice. I trusted her. She was also dating a guy on the basketball team. Trying to weigh her options, I suppose. When he announced he was heading into the NBA draft, she was right beside him, declaring him the love of her life.” He shrugged. “The rest is history I guess.”

  “These aren’t the normal spots for a tattoo,” she said when he’d turned to face her again.

  “Doesn’t look good for an executive to walk into the office with tats showing. Nobody in my family even knows I have them. It’s just my thing.”

  Eva nodded, figuring out something she wasn’t sure Rico would have ever said to her or to anyone else for that matter. “You don’t want anyone to know that you’ve ever had a weakness, do you?”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” he replied.

  “You wouldn’t because that’s not the right thing to say. Do you always do the right thing, Rico? Are you so perfect that having a broken heart, or needing to prove yourself to someone, or even being afraid of losing your family has to be kept a secret?”

  “I don’t keep secrets,” he told her, moving so that she had no choice but to back up against the shower wall.

  “But you don’t share your feelings with anyone either,” she said, her hands still moving along his warm skin.

  “You want to know what I’m feeling right now?” he asked, pressing closer so that his rigid length tapped her lower belly.

  The reaction was instant and potent, desire shooting through her like a burst of fireworks.

  “I think I can figure it out,” she whispered, her fingers already kneading his muscled biceps.

  It didn’t take long, maybe a second or two for him to cup her ass, lifting her until her legs were wrapping around his waist. He slipped into her so surely and deeply that she gasped and then she simply held on. The feel of him so deep and thick inside of her was intense and never failed to make Eva forget any and everything else that was going on around them. Hell, she’d just had sex with him outside in the rain, for crying out loud. And now, here they were again, and he felt just as good—no, better—than he had before.

  How could he know just how to move, just which angle to drive to make her heart beat faster and her thighs quiver? She was so wet and slick for him, each and every time. The feel of him going in and out, slow and then fast and then slow again, she could barely catch her breath. Then he was moaning, his face buried in the nape of her neck as he held her close. She held him tightly, loving the feel of holding this complex man in her arms. It didn’t matter if he never admitted any feelings for her, or if she ever saw him again, right now was all that counted.
That’s what she tried to tell herself, even when she climaxed, whispering his name and then feeling his deeper thrusts when he joined her in release.

  It didn’t matter.

  And yet, it did.

  #

  “Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy that,” Rico said.

  They’d managed to finish their shower and made it all the way to the bedroom before reality kicked in. Eva was now, walking out of the bedroom, wearing the skirt and blouse she’d had on yesterday at the gallery. Rico followed her.

  “That would be lying and like you Rico, that’s not really my thing,” she replied.

  “Then I don’t get it. What’s the problem? Why can’t you spend the night with me?”

  She’d picked up her jacket and was now pushing her arms into it. “And then what? What happens in the morning?”

  “Well, for starters, you go to the meeting with Monica and Karena to see about getting your paintings out to the public,” he told her.

  “I’ve already thanked you for taking me to the gallery. If something comes of that meeting, I’ll thank you for that as well,” she quipped and grabbed her purse. “But that’s it, Rico. There’s nothing else for us. You don’t even live in this state.”

  “I don’t live in another country,” he countered. “Location is something we can work with. I can come here for weekends. Once you start selling your paintings, you could even move to Greenwich. You said Makai’s majoring in business, I’m sure I could find him a job at my company if you’re worried about leaving him. We can make this work, Eva.”

  She looked at him incredulously.

  “I feel like I have to keep telling you that I’m not a prostitute,” she said in a quiet voice.

  “And I feel like I have to continuously remind you that I’ve never called you, or treated you like one,” he said, anger bubbling in his gut as she moved closer to the door, that duffle bag now on her shoulder. “You’re the one that keeps bringing that up. I’m trying to tell you that we can do this. We can find time to spend with each other if it’s what we really want. Hell, I’ll pay for the apartment for you and for Makai. I’ll give you whatever you want.”