Drake (Men of Versteck Valley Book 3) Read online

  “I know what it means,” Harold snapped. “It means nothing.”

  “It means you cannot be anywhere near her or you’ll go to jail. It’s important that you understand you’re in jail now for vandalism not the restraining order,” Detective Bronson said.

  Harold stared at the Detective a few moments. His color normalized, and he seemed to relax. “So, she’s not here.”

  “I didn’t say that,” Bronson said. “This arrest is for vandalism not violating a restraining order.”

  Harold frowned. “She’s here?”

  “Look. I’m not addressing the restraining order at all, that’s what I’m telling you. Now about the window. What was the reason for breaking the glass?” Bronson looked at Harold.

  “I wanted to go inside and search for Audrey. I told you that already. I came here to find her and assumed she was with that woman.” Harold waved his hand dismissively as if he saw Faith on the other side of the wall.

  “You planned to go inside and search for her?” Bronson asked.

  “I went inside, but I didn’t get far before alarms went off. I waited to see if Audrey would come out, the noise had to bother her, you know. But she left another way, and I didn’t see her. When I tried to go back to search for her, those animals attacked me. I want their names. My lawyer will sue,” Harold said.

  “This wasn’t just vandalism but breaking and entering to conduct an illegal search as well,” Bronson said watching Harold.

  “Whatever. If you’re done, I need to contact my lawyer to get me a flight back home. She may have returned to Atlanta by now while I’ve been sitting here wasting time.” Harold tried to stand and couldn’t. “Will you take these chains off my legs?” he sounded like a petulant child.

  “You’re under arrest and going to jail,” Bronson said in that neutral voice.

  Harold stared across the table at him for several seconds. He looked as if he suddenly realized where he was. “Arrested? For?” He didn’t sound anything like the cocky man moments before.

  “Breaking and entering to conduct an illegal search, and vandalism. Someone was in the copy room when you threw the brick through the glass. Once we learn the extent of her injuries, if any, we’ll add a few more charges,” Bronson said.

  “I see.” Harold inhaled deeply. “I need to contact my attorney and have nothing else to say.”

  Bronson closed his file. “Interview over.” He left the room.

  The other man took Harold out moments later.

  Harold Sessions was crazy. What if his father was just as irrational? Faith hoped Audrey remained safe wherever she was.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Two days later, Faith was more concerned over Francesca’s health and the fact the woman’s condition hadn’t changed. Both days, the doctor placed headphones on Francesca so Faith could talk to her. Yesterday, Faith had read the latest Sorority newsletter, news articles on current events, talked about Harold Sessions weird obsession and read three chapters from a romance novel. By the time she finished, Faith needed a nap. The whole ordeal was draining her.

  Paul had stepped in to handle calls and route messages while watching her office. He did a better job than Zelda had. When the call from Davina Bloom came to the office, Paul contacted Faith for instructions. Surprised the Senator’s wife would call her, Faith had Paul tell the woman she was in a meeting and she could call back in an hour or Faith would call her at her earliest convenience.

  Davina said she would call back.

  Faith, Drake, Asher, and Gavin engaged in a conference call regarding the Senator’s wife calling. “I don’t like it,” Faith said. “She’s fishing, searching for information.” In truth, Faith was biased and would never trust a woman who vacationed with her husband and his lover. Faith could never do it. Why remain married? Money? She had seen the Senator’s financials, he wasn’t ultra-rich. Not like Davina’s father or Oliver Hart.

  Bloom wasn’t handsome, not really. He looked like an average white guy with sad eyes. He could take a page out of Drake’s book and sit in the sun for a little color.

  “Faith, they have an open relationship. It’s possible she and Francesca were friends,” Gavin said.

  Ignoring his words, she looked at the desk so he wouldn’t see her rolling her eyes through the monitor. Men. They didn’t understand women at all. It would be impossible to be close friends with someone who was held in high esteem in society while being seen with the man you loved. If Francesca could be with the Senator in public, maybe…but since she couldn’t, there was no way she and Davina would ever be really close. Faith didn’t believe it was possible.

  “How did she know to call me? What do we have in common? What would make her think I’d share any information with her? She knows the law, knows about attorney-privilege and still, she calls. Either she’s checking up on her husband, or she’s trying to find Francesca. In an open marriage she shouldn’t be doing either,” Faith said.

  “You have a good point,” Asher said. “I don’t like her contacting you so soon after the Senator visited. I’ve talked to Pinger, owner of the security company that handled his detail to see you. That trip to visit you was hush, hush. No one was supposed to know he left town. In fact, they went through a lot of trouble to make it appear he was still there.”

  “My contact on Capitol Hill swears the Senator hasn’t left the building, so you have a point,” Gavin said.

  “Do we know what this is really about, yet?” she asked. “Why was Francesca attacked and left for dead? Money? To get back at the Senator? What?” She tried to hide the frustration in her voice, but they were coming to the end of the first week since she hired Asher’s company and were into the second week of Francesca’s coma. Faith wanted answers.

  “I don’t have concrete answers, Faith,” Asher said. “I’ve ruled out money. Francesca was comfortably wealthy but not overly so. Neither is the Senator. What the Senator has is power. He’s the minority chair of a powerful committee with oversight abilities. I have a team researching things from that angle. There are a lot of people who would love to have Senator Bloom in their pocket. But that’s just one possibility. We’re also looking deep into his family, his parents, siblings and extended family. He has no children, but he does have nieces and nephews. Not all of them are law-abiding and have gotten in trouble which could present a problem.”

  “What about Edward Kipling?” Drake asked. “He was in the red until five years ago. Something happened to restore his fortune. Hart invested money for the old man and Davina. Where did they get their seed money? Laundering?”

  “That’s the word I got,” Asher said. “Aiden Ramsey is a lot harder to get to now than he was back then. He’s got solid connections with some unsavory people and is untouchable to the Feds. He’s the sole owner of Francesca’s old restaurants. Quite a rag to riches story which plays well in brochures and PR pieces. Francesca helped build that image by taking photos with him and saying good things about him personally.”

  “She’s not dumb. She knew he was operating a criminal activity from her place,” Faith said.

  “I’m sure she did. Once the Senator’s name was linked to the restaurants and possible money laundering, she remained until the dust settled and quietly sold the business to Hart, Ramsey, and Kipling?” Drake said.

  “Not Ramsey. He didn’t have the money. Someone else put up his money, a silent partner who bought Hart and Kipling out and turned everything over to Aiden. They covered their tracks pretty good, took Mercer a little longer than he planned to discover Aiden hadn’t been in on the original deal,” Asher said.

  “Would any of them want to kill Francesca?” Faith wanted to know who was after her friend and why so they could stop them before Francesca returned home.

  “Right now I don’t see a connection, but we aren’t done going through Hart or Kipling’s accounts,” Asher said.

  Faith closed her eyes, counted to 10 and took a deep breath. “Do I talk to Davina? Yes or no?”


  “I don’t see how you get around talking to her,” Gavin said.

  Faith snorted. “I just won’t take her calls or return them. I don’t have to talk to her.”

  “True. What I meant was, as a legal professional who is in the process of building her client list … I don’t see how you can get around talking to her. Francesca is one client. Granted, she’s taking a lot of your time and resources right now, but you have to be mindful of the future when this case is done. She could wake and decide to change attorneys. Don’t place your practice in jeopardy for one client, that’s all I’m suggesting,” Gavin said.

  “I don’t like you,” she said in a small voice.

  Gavin, Asher, and Drake laughed.

  “You love me. I know that and the feeling’s mutual. Just looking out for you as you’ve done for me,” Gavin said.

  In Faith’s mind, the scales of who helped who were tipped to the extreme in his favor. Despite what he said, there’s no way the things she had done for him compared to him handling this huge debacle. His foresight saved her father, brother, and her life. How could she ever do anything to repay him for that?

  “Thanks, I really appreciate how you snatch me back to earth to see reality. This whole ordeal is taking longer than I, in my limited imagination, thought it would. Patience has never been my strong suit,” she admitted as she looked at Drake from the corner of her eye.

  Every night since her return from her father, they slept in the same bed, getting very little sleep. Nightly, Drake took her on a sensual journey, exposing her to things she had read about and wanted to try. She didn’t like getting spanked. There was nothing sexy about it, and they wouldn’t be adding that to the basket of sexual goodies to indulge in. She did enjoy watching them in the mirror which surprised her. There was something breathlessly erotic seeing his dick disappear between her thighs. Just thinking about it made her core throb. Hair pulling? No. She didn’t like it. Dirty talk? Sometimes but no name calling. Hearing certain words snapped her from euphoric bliss, and they’d made more adjustments.

  Foreplay had been interesting. Before Drake, she loved a lot of foreplay. Now, he gave her a certain look, or when she saw him hard and leaking, her body responded so fast she was ready to go. Kissing and the other stuff had been relegated to the after-orgasm column.

  Drake leaned forward and whispered near her ear as he blanked the monitor. “What are you thinking about?”

  Her face heated as she placed her hand on his crotch. “Just trying to figure out who’s behind all of this.” She licked her lips while staring at his. “You? What are you thinking about?” She squeezed his hardness once and leaned back in her chair. His heated gaze slid from her lips to her breasts before meeting her eyes.

  “You.”

  “Something happened to your monitor, Faith. It went dark,” Gavin said.

  Asher snorted.

  Faith took a deep breath to compose herself. “Fix it,” she mouthed to Drake.

  Drake left the room.

  Smiling, Faith reconnected to the monitor. “Sorry about that, I don’t know what happened.”

  “No problem. I’ve got a meeting in five. Drake left?” Gavin asked.

  “Yes. He had to take care of something,” Faith said without looking at Asher who wore a knowing look. “I’ll talk to Davina, but I’m not telling her anything about Francesca.”

  “Earlier, I was saying I’m not comfortable with the Senator’s wife contacting you so soon after the Senator’s visit. I’m moving Francesca today for safe-keeping. You and Drake should make arrangements to come here in a few days,” Asher said.

  “We’re at that point?” Gavin asked.

  “Yes. Yes, we are,” Asher said.

  “Alright. You’re the expert. If you need anything, let me know. Faith take care of yourself and please don’t go off on your own. I hope you and Drake are getting along better now than at first,” Gavin said watching her.

  “We get along fine. After what they did to Alex and how they came after me on the highway, don’t worry about me going anywhere on my own. I know these people aren’t playing,” she said, seriously.

  “Good.” Gavin disconnected.

  “I’m expecting to hear Hart’s interview before Davina calls you back. It’d be good to know what Hart has to say about the open marriage and everything,” Asher said. “Be available to go over the interview.” He looked at her with a knowing gaze.

  Faith fought back a frown. Her immediate plans had been to go search for Drake and jump him. “When? How long?”

  “At any moment, so don’t disappear and be in a place or position that’ll make you unavailable. It’s important to hear this before talking to Davina,” Asher stressed. “I’m trying to get you those answers you want.”

  She frowned at him. “All I asked for was a time frame for this information to come in.”

  “I said any minute. The time zones are different, it was an early meeting. Once Hart learned Francesca had been hurt, he had a lot to say. If you want to wait until after you talk to Davina, we can. It’s up to you,” Asher said with a knowing grin.

  Faith cursed herself for teasing Drake and firing up her own libido. Now she had to sit around in wet panties while trying to focus on Hart’s interview. Maybe she’d have time to shower and change. If she had time for that, they could get in a quickie, just a little something to hold them until later.

  “Alright, give me a few moments to grab some food. What time are you moving her?” Faith asked.

  “Right now.”

  She nodded. “Please keep her safe. Nothing can happen to her.”

  “Nothing will happen to her, you have my word,” Asher said. “Go find my cousin and tell him to wait until after you guys listen to Hart’s interview and we make plans.” He disconnected before she could say anything.

  <<<<>>>>

  Drake waited in the hall for Faith. She had him twisted in knots. He never knew what to expect from her. One moment she wore her all business, Counselor hat. The next she was the angry sorority sister. Or sexy vixen that made him hard just thinking about the things he wanted to do with her. Sexually, they were still in the early stages of discovering what each other enjoyed. This morning she woke him up by taking him in her mouth. It would forever be his favorite memory of their time together. Faith’s talented mouth was good for more than talking or arguing her cases.

  She stepped out into the hall from her office with a weird look on her face. “Asher wants us to hang around here for a bit. One of his people interviewed Oliver Hart and is sending the audio so we can listen. He thinks it’s important to hear it…now as opposed to later.” She looked adorably disappointed that they wouldn’t finish what they started a few moments ago. Her grumpy disposition made him feel better.

  He forced back a smile and wrapped his arm around her. “Whatever you want to do.” On principle, he knew she would follow Asher’s advice. If for no other reason than to prove to herself she was still in control of this wildfire attraction engulfing them. He made sure to hold her sideways, so she didn’t feel his desire for her. The minx might squeeze him again just for the hell of it. If she did that, he would be obliged to pull down the front of her top and flick her nipples. Spanking was off the table, but she enjoyed light pain on her breasts.

  “Don’t tempt me.” She pulled away and walked toward the kitchen. “I’ll grab leftovers before Asher calls back and we start the next round.”

  Frozen in place by a need so strong his fingers twitched as he watched her perfect, firm globes sway sensually before she stopped, looked over her shoulder at him and winked.

  “You’re playing with fire,” he said in a voice deepened by the weight of his desire. They stared at each other for several moments, both breathing hard as if they’d run a race. He took a step toward her.

  Her eyes rounded as she held out her hand. “Stop right there.” Her words lacked command and contrasted with the look of longing stamped on her face.

  Drake ignored them.
Drawn by a deep-seated need to touch and taste her, his feet moved of their own volition. Assured of his welcome, he pulled her into a loose hug, leaned forward, and pressed his lips to hers, gently, sweetly, not asking for anything other than a simple touch.

  Her hands cradled his cheeks as she tiptoed slightly to meet him. Her lips were soft, the kiss playful. Despite being fully-clothed, he rubbed against her. Awash in memories of her naked, wet, willing and begging for more, he lost himself in the kiss. Swaying slightly, she tightened her arms around his neck.

  She made the sexiest sounds when she was turned on. Not quite a moan or grunt, something in-between. Something uniquely, Faith. The sound ignited the smoldering heat inside him. A part of him acknowledged the timing wasn’t right. Franco or another one of the guards could walk upon them at any moment. Not that the guys didn’t know he and Faith slept together, they knew that. But she wasn’t comfortable with public displays of affection. What they were doing crossed several of her lines.

  Step back. Give her room to breathe. Control yourself. No matter how harshly he spoke to himself, his big head had lost the battle with his smaller head. Faith placed teasing kisses over his face while grinding on his erection. A stronger man could resist. He wasn’t that strong.

  Drake captured her mouth with his and forgot about the case, forgot about their location, forgot about Faith’s dislike of PDA’s. He took his time tasting and kissing her, deepening the kiss when her probing tongue asked for more. This was the sweetest torture. He ached to be inside her.

  Placing his hands beneath her hips, he lifted her without breaking their connection. Her arms tightened around his neck as he held her against the wall, perfectly aligned to be taken hard and fast. He ground against her moist heat, swallowing her moans, as beads of sweat rolled down his back.

  They broke apart on a gasp. The drowsy, half-lidded look she gave him made him want to take her right then and there. Fortunately, he wasn’t that far gone. She would definitely hurt him later if he did that.