DISCOVERY (Esquire Black Duet Book 1) Read online

  It looks completely abandoned. I pull out my paperwork and notice that it was only purchased three months ago.

  Maybe he’s flipping houses?

  Shaking my head, I decide that Curtis Dunning does not seem like the house flipper type of man. He’s more like Lucas, all suits and offices, and less hammer and nails.

  Biting my bottom lip, I decide to make my way toward one of the houses in a better neighborhood. Plugging the next address into my GPS, as soon as I’ve started my route, the phone rings.

  Glancing down before I shift the car into drive, I see that it’s Lucas. There is a no handheld phone ordinance in California, so I decide if he asks me, I’ll have to tell him that I was driving.

  He’ll probably be pissed off, no matter what I say since I’m not there to spread my legs for him, so it doesn’t really matter.

  Pulling onto the block, I suck in a breath. It’s not just a nice neighborhood. This is a nice neighborhood. I make my way down the street until I arrive at the home that Curtis owns.

  It looks kept up, the lawn lovely, lush and green. It’s actually in perfect shape from the outside.

  I bite the inside of my cheek as I glance around. I really want to get out and take a closer look, but I’m kind of scared at the same time.

  My phone rings again, causing me to practically jump out of my skin. He’s not going to stop calling me, so I decide to answer it while I contemplate what I’m going to do about this investigation of mine. One that I definitely should not be conducting, especially alone.

  “Lucas,” I state after I press answer.

  I can feel his anger coming through the phone. It practically oozes from the speaker. “Where in the fuck are you?” he grinds out.

  “I’m working. I had to check on some things.”

  “You’re working. You’re not at your office. Kay said you took her car. Please explain to me how you being alone in a car, driving around to God knows where, is what we talked about? First off, you aren’t supposed to be alone anywhere, which is why we’ve been living at each other’s houses for the past few weeks. Secondly, you were supposed to go to lunch with me today.”

  He’s so pissed off, so angry, and yet my own anger bubbles from within me.

  I lose it.

  I completely lose it.

  I never asked him to live with me. I never asked to move in with him. The pompous ass.

  “You know what, Lucas? Fuck you. We didn’t have a lunch date so much as ‘a you wanted a fuck appointment.’ I don’t feel like fucking you on my lunch break. I’d rather... I don’t know… eat. You made all of these rules, not me. I don’t have to follow a damn thing.”

  I end the call, not wishing to hear anything else from him. I’m sure what we had is now over, but right now, I don’t really care.

  I was falling too deeply for him, anyway. He was consuming me, all of me, and I know without a doubt that he was going to destroy me.

  Distance is better.

  Distance will save my heart from being obliterated.

  Distance is exactly what I need.

  Opening Kay’s car door, I step outside and start to make my way up to the steps of the house.

  There’s music playing inside, it’s loud enough that I can hear it from the walkway, and I’m surprised.

  I jump when someone opens the door and staggers out. He stops in front of me.

  He’s about my height, dark hair, wearing a suit and tie. He’d be handsome if he didn’t look completely trashed.

  I can smell the booze and cigar smoke pouring from his body.

  “Hope you brought your money. They fucked me over in there,” he states. His eyes quickly scan my body before he grins. “You probably won’t need money, though. You can pay with your body.”

  I jerk back slightly from his words as he laughs and starts to walk away.

  “Wait,” I call out, not wishing to walk inside. He’s talkative and I think he might give me what I want, then I can leave as quickly and quietly as I came. “What’s in there exactly?”

  He sways as his eyes take me in from head to toe again but more slowly this time, then back to my head. He grins, continuing to sway before he answers me.

  “It’s a slaphouse,” he announces before he spins around and takes off.

  I watch him walk away, confused by his proclamation for a moment. A slaphouse? I have no clue what that means, but I have no desire to find out firsthand, either.

  Turning from the house, I hurry back to Kay’s car, start the engine, and get the hell out of there. My phone rings a few times as I drive, but I completely ignore it, knowing it’s Lucas.

  Right now, his temper tantrum about me not doing exactly what he wants, doesn’t matter, it’s the least of my worries. I have to find out just what the hell Curtis Dunning is into.

  Driving back to my office, I cringe every time my phone rings. I know exactly who it is, and I can’t imagine how many missed calls I have by now, fifteen, twenty, maybe more.

  The man who keeps blowing up my phone is an over six-foot-tall, black-haired, green-eyed, gorgeous pissed off sex god, but I won’t ever tell him the sex god part.

  I’m being immature, I know that I am. But I’m also not feeling the best about how we left things. In other words, I’m pissed off too.

  Guiding Kay’s car back into her regular spot, I grab my bags before I exit and lock the door.

  I’m not paying attention to my surroundings. I’m completely focused on my mission, my research that’s ahead of me, and trying to find out just what in the hell a slaphouse is when I run into something hard.

  I almost fall back on my ass, but a warm hand presses against my back to steady me.

  Lifting my eyes, I’m met with those green, pissed off ones that I had been trying to avoid.

  He’s vibrating with raw uncontrolled anger, he’s never looked sexier.

  “Hey,” I whisper.

  His eyebrows tug together, and he scowls. Scratch being pissed off, he’s more like livid.

  “Hey?” he asks his voice cool and calm. “You ignore me all afternoon and you greet me with, ‘hey?’”

  “I’ve been working,” I shrug.

  His scowl deepens and he shakes his head once. “We need to have a little talk,” he practically hisses.

  “I know you’re pissed or whatever, but Lucas, I have to do some research. I can’t sit on this. It’s about the Dunning case,” I practically plead.

  His fingers flex against my back, and he pulls me a little closer. He dips his chin, leaning down so his nose gently slides against mine.

  My knees actually weaken, they knock together, and this is why I can’t be around him—I’m a slut for him, plain and simple.

  “I could give a fuck about that case or any case, Brooklyn. You made yourself vulnerable today, and I’m not even going to discuss how you talked to me earlier.”

  My head jerks as if he’s slapped me, I suddenly feel like a scolded child.

  Perhaps I was wrong, no, I was wrong.

  I know that I was, but he is not blameless. I shouldn’t have talked to him the way I did. However, I’m not his child—in fact, I’m not really his anything.

  Coming to terms with that realization makes my chest ache. What I had hoped would possibly grow between us, the sad fact is that it’s not growing. He sees me as nothing, absolutely nothing.

  “We can talk after work,” I mumble, refusing to look away from his green eyes, attempting to stand my ground.

  Because I am a masochist, I’m enjoying how close he is to me right now.

  I can smell his aftershave and his clean soapy scent. I’m well aware that I like him. I like him way too much for this to be healthy.

  He keeps making it clear that we’re only fucking, and I’ve gone and let my heart hope for more. He sighs before I feel his lips brush my cheek.

  “You’re off for the day. We’re discussing it now,” he rasps in my ear.

  My entire body shivers as it always does any time he touc
hes me or whispers to me.

  I want to tell him to fuck off, to leave me alone, but I’m just not strong enough. I’m so damn weak.

  “As long as I can work on this research,” I concede.

  I’m so damn easy, it’s pathetic. He lifts his head and gives me that fucking smirk—that one that I want to slap off of his gorgeous face.

  “Just let me return Kay’s keys,” I sigh in defeat.

  Turning away from him, he releases me as I hurry back into the office and hand Kay her keys.

  She gives me a sideways glance but doesn’t say anything, especially when I tell her that I’m going to head out for the day.

  I’m almost home free when I feel a hand wrap around my forearm. I stop and turn around to see Aaron is the one who has me in his grasp.

  “Mr. McDonald,” I greet, attempting to wriggle my arm from his grasp.

  His eyes are focused on my cleavage, and I curse myself for not changing just as Lucas had suggested. My stomach rolls as he licks his lips. I try a little harder to free my arm, but I’m unsuccessful.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he asks in a warning tone.

  I furrow my brows and try to shake free of his grasp, again, but he only tightens his fingers around my arm. It hurts, but I hold my protest and whimper inside.

  “I have some research to do, and I didn’t get a lunch break. I thought I would leave a little early,” I state.

  I’ve done it before. Hell, everybody in the office has. Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, this place is practically empty as it is.

  The office will be closed tomorrow, and most people have just taken an extra-long weekend.

  “Beautiful, what’s taking so long?” Lucas asks from behind me.

  His voice is almost hard as nails, I can feel him inching closer to me, along with his anger building with each step he takes. Aaron still hasn’t let go of my arm.

  At this point, Lucas is so irritated with me, I have no doubt he’s going to turn that onto my boss, and I have no desire to lose my job today.

  “Is there a reason your hand is not only on my woman but your subordinate?” Lucas asks, keeping his voice cool and calm.

  I suck in a breath, then hear Kay gasp somewhere in the background before Aaron finally releases me. Silently, I stand there for at least thirty seconds waiting for shit to blow up. When nobody speaks, I decide to say something.

  “Well, guess I’ll be going. See everyone Monday,” I shout happily and take a step back, crashing against Lucas’ firm chest, but he doesn’t move.

  LUCAS

  I watch as the little weasel backs down. He’s a fucking weirdo, always has been, and right now he’s a weirdo that had his hands on Brooklyn. I don’t fucking like it.

  I’m taken back to that dinner she was having with him, and I wonder just how many times he’s tried to get in there with her over the past year.

  The prick.

  “She doesn’t have my permission to leave for the day,” he sniffs, trying to stand a little taller.

  I almost laugh in his face. The only person Brooklyn needs permission from, to do anything, is me. He thinks that he has a say in anything, that he’s the alpha around here.

  What he doesn’t understand is that no matter where I am, I am always the alpha.

  “I think she’s good to leave for the day. It’s an hour until the office is closed, she didn’t take her lunch and she’s taking work home with her. All things she’s probably already informed you of, McDonald.”

  His eyes flash, and that’s when I know I’m right. I gently wrap my hand around Brooklyn’s other bicep and tug her into my side. Turning us around, I start to walk out of her building. I’m not waiting for a reply from that fat fuck.

  I don’t speak as I guide her toward my car. Opening the door, I try not to throw her ass inside.

  Wisely she quickly sits in the seat. Once her feet and body are arranged inside, I slam the door before jogging over to my side to slip into the driver’s seat.

  Thankfully, she doesn’t speak as I make my way out onto the roadway, then the highway.

  Once we’re cruising toward my place, she finally opens her pretty, plump lips.

  “You’re acting like we’re together-together, Lucas. I know we aren’t. Can you please stop doing that shit?” she asks, turning to look out of her window.

  “I haven’t had anybody else in my bed, or my life, since you walked in,” I announce.

  I continue to drive, inching closer toward my turn off and wait for her to respond. She doesn’t say anything until I’m pulling into my garage.

  “I don’t feel like I’m your anything, other than a plaything,” she says as she turns to face me.

  Maybe I should assure her that she is anything but a plaything. I’m sure that she wants to hear me tell her that I’ve fallen for her, but I can’t and, more importantly, I won’t.

  I’m aware of how fucked up that I am, that this is. It doesn’t matter, she’s mine and that’s the end of it. There’s no reason to dig into anything deeper at all.

  Reaching for her, I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and tug her a little closer to me.

  My eyes meet hers, and I let out a breath. I give her a little bit, a little crumb of assurance, that she’s more than a just what’s between her legs to me.

  “Kitten, if I was just fucking you and didn’t give a shit about you, you wouldn’t be here with me. What do I have to do?”

  She sucks in a breath and tries to pull away, but I don’t let her go. I hold onto her, shifting my hand so that it’s tangled in the back of her soft brown hair.

  I hate that her hair is up in a bun, and it isn’t down so that I can firmly grip her strands.

  “You’re so confusing,” she practically cries.

  “How’s that?”

  She rolls her eyes to the ceiling of the car, and I chuckle at her exasperated expression, waiting for her to continue.

  “I don’t know anything about you, nothing at all. You don’t act like you care to tell me anything, or learn about me or my life, either. It’s only sex and that’s the vibe you put off. Like you don’t want me to even try, so then I don’t.

  “Then, you do shit like you just did, and you make me think that there’s more to us, or that there could be. You’re so frustrating,” she rambles.

  I don’t respond. She’s absolutely correct. I give her just enough to keep her right where I want her.

  It’s about control, and although I actually do like her, I’m not sure how I want to play this. I honestly don’t think I could do monogamy the way she wants it.

  Instead of telling her any of that, I press my mouth to hers, sliding my tongue along the seam of her lips until she grants me entrance.

  Her mouth opens on a moan, tugging her hair a little harder as I angle her head to the side, I take more of her. I consume her as she, in turn, continues to consume me.

  Tasting her causes me to practically tremble. No other woman has made me feel this way before.

  I’m tired of pushing her away. She doesn’t deserve it. Even if this ends in complete disaster, at least I’ll have had her right where I want her.

  “I think it’s time for that spanking you earned,” I murmur against her lips.

  She lets out a gasp as she tries to back up. I watch her golden eyes darken as she licks her lips.

  “Go upstairs, strip completely. I want you in the middle of my bed, on your knees, your chest against the mattress and your beautiful ass in the air.”

  “Baby,” she exhales.

  If I slipped my hand between her legs, I’d find her pussy drenched and ready for me, I already know it.

  As much as she denies it, she loves my controlling, punishing acts as much as I do. I grin before I lean over and nip her bottom lip.

  “Get going, kitten.”

  “No, you know what?” she begins, her spine straightening with gorgeous defiance. I lift a brow waiting for her to continue. “Fuck you, Lucas. Fuck you and your pu
nishments and all this confusing shit. I’m done,” she huffs and opens the car door.

  I’m so taken aback by her outburst and watching her walk away from me that it takes a moment to register what’s happening. I sit back and watch her scramble out of my car and into my house.

  She leaves her purse and her laptop, so I gather her shit before I ease out of the vehicle as well. My heart is hammering against my chest.

  Getting myself together, I take her shit inside and set it down on the kitchen island.

  I don’t know where she is, but she couldn’t have gone far. I walk upstairs and go into my bedroom, but it’s empty.

  My master bathroom door is open and it’s dark in there as well, so I know she’s not there.

  Then I check the guest room. That’s where I find her. Brooklyn’s back is to me, she’s standing at the window, looking down at the yard below her.

  I make my way toward her, wrapping one of my hands around her stomach.

  “What do you want to know, kitten?” I ask, willing to give in to her a bit.

  She shakes her head and lets out a sigh. “You don’t get it and I’m too tired to explain it,” she states, sounding defeated.

  “I can’t know if you don’t tell me,” I urge.

  Brooklyn spins in my arms and presses her palms against my chest.

  “I want it all, Lucas. I want everything. I know you aren’t willing to give that to me, or maybe it’s not me, maybe you don’t want to give that to anyone. I don’t know. That’s the kicker—I don’t know fucking anything.

  “You don’t know anything about me, either. We’re just fucking, and maybe I could have been okay with that, but somewhere along the way I fell for you,” she admits.

  Her big eyes look up at me, and I want to tell her that I’ve fallen for her too. I want to tell her all of the pussified thoughts that are running through my mind, but I don’t—I can’t.

  I’ll never be able to open up the way that she wants me to. If she wants me, she’s going to have to take me as is. If she can’t, then we can’t be anything more than fuck buddies.

  “I don’t just want you for sex,” I say.

  She makes a noise in the back of her throat like a growl, or a whimper, I can’t quite tell. Clearing my throat, I inhale deeply before I exhale and continue.