Darkening Skye (Under Covers Book 1) Read online

  It had to be about that. It was the only thing we had in common. I had hoped that the Dvorak case was well and truly buried. I didn't want to know any more about it. Even as I said it, I would do anything in my power to keep either of those monsters in jail. And if they needed me to talk to them for some reason, I would do that, too.

  "It's not. It's not professional."

  This time I heard a tremble. I did not know that particular inflection of his voice.

  "Skye, I'm trying to ask you out."

  My breath caught in my throat. This couldn't be true. It sounded nothing like what I had practiced. He was the one asking me out. And he wasn't playing games, he was willing to fly to LA for a date. A date and sex, of course. Because even if going out with him was my worst date ever, I would make sure it ended in sex hot enough to melt my brain.

  "Umm," I said very cleverly and swallowed a knot. There I was, on the verge of getting what I wanted, and I was unable to find the right words.

  "It's ok to say no," he said. His voice sounded so warm and peaceful.

  "No. I mean no. Damn. I'm not saying no."

  "So, it's not a no?" he said.

  The amusement in his voice helped unwind me a little. After three Martinis on an empty stomach, where was that liquid courage I needed?

  "I'm not in LA," I said.

  "Oh?"

  The tone was no longer amused. I could feel him retreating again. I had to say something before he said that we'd talk some other time.

  "I'm still in New York."

  He took a long time to speak. Whatever was going through his mind, I was unable to do anything about it. Funny quips, corny lines, pathetic pleas, dozens of words zipped through my mind, but nothing came out. My mouth seemed disconnected from my brain.

  "Do you want to meet tomorrow?" he asked eventually.

  "No."

  My brain broke through the paralysis of my vocal chords.

  "Are you saying no this time?" he asked, sounding amused and weary at the same time.

  "No."

  What was wrong with me?

  "I mean not tomorrow." I took in a deep breath. "I don't want to wait."

  The silence between us was shorter this time.

  "Where do you want to meet?"

  "Are you at home?"

  "Yes."

  I felt I had gone too far. He said he wanted to go out with me. Even if we did end up in bed, it had to be his choice. I tried desperately to find something to say that wasn't a whiny sounding "can I come over like right now?" but the silence was punctuated by a beep. When I looked at my phone I saw that he had sent me his address.

  "I'll be there in twenty minutes," I said and ended the call.

  The doubts came knocking as soon as I gave the cab driver his address. I kept my eyes on the phone for a second message telling me he had changed his mind. I kept checking it when I walked from the pavement to his house door. I stood in front of his door without knocking, still staring at the screen. The door opened.

  "Hi," he said and stepped aside. "Come on in."

  Chapter 25 Darkening Skye

  Nicholas

  The whole time I waited for her I went over our conversation. I couldn't help wondering if she had actually wanted to come over before I sent her my address. She just asked if I was at home.

  I looked at my house trying to see what someone coming for the first time would see. Everything looked fine, not that there was any time to get untidy considering that I only came home to sleep. Lately I was leaving the Police Station later and later. That day I had left at 2 am. I was still in my work clothes when I called her. I had time to take a shower but not shave my two-month beard or do anything about how long my hair had grown since I last visited a barber. No point in dwelling on my appearance. That was the real me and I wanted her to see it.

  After the shower, I went to the window, waiting for her as I used to do every morning she went running with Leo Dvorak. I didn't know what I expected when she said she would come over. I didn't dare to hope that we would go back to where we left it off the night before the Manetti trial.

  She walked to my door with her eyes on the phone like the bratty teenager who pretended to be my daughter, but that was where the resemblance ended. Even in the poor yellow light of the street lamp, she looked different. Just like inside her cage in Evidence, her walk made me think of a wild animal. It reminded me of the panther I saw at the zoo with my nephew the month before.

  When I opened the door and she looked up at me I could see even more changes. Gone the chipmunk cheeks. Gone were the cute curves of her hips. It wasn't just the leather outfit which sharpened her features. She was noticeably thinner. Her face looked downright gaunt. In the months since our mission, I had put on another ten pounds at least and she looked like she had lost as much. She looked as tired as I felt.

  "Can I get you a coffee?"

  "No, Dad, I'm not drunk," she said.

  The words came out so fast she almost flinched. Her voice also sounded strange. She had reacted to a perceived insult but she surprised by her own reaction.

  "Sorry," she said immediately. "I, I…" She took in a deep breath to get herself together. "I'm sorry. I guess I could use a coffee. Thank you."

  She followed me to the kitchen, and in that harsh light her features seemed razor-sharp. She took off her coat and I saw the muscle definition in her upper arms. Apparently, we had worked out our frustrations very differently. I buried myself in work and stopped caring about my health, and she went to the gym. I wished I could say that her new look made me desire her less.

  She liked my French press coffee so I turned on the electric kettle and added a heaping tablespoon of coffee to the pot. Her presence changed the whole feel of the room, making me feel like an intruder in my own kitchen. I could feel her eyes burning into my back.

  "Why did you call me?"

  The kettle beeped that the water reached the right temperature. I poured it slowly over the coffee and covered it. I turned around to look at her when I answered.

  "I'm attracted to you."

  It was so much more than that, but I couldn't risk scaring her away. She was a cop, she was going to fall back on a familiar routine. An interrogatory. She was going to get all the answers she wanted from me.

  "You said you wanted to ask me out, but you thought I was in LA when you called. How did you expect us to go out?"

  "I didn't think that far."

  She snorted inelegantly.

  "Oh, please. You're the most overthinking guy I ever met."

  "Yes," he admitted. "That's why it took me so long to call."

  "What do you want from me, Woods?" she asked, sounding tired and almost defeated.

  "Call me Nick."

  "Or Daddy, right?"

  Again, the reply had come so fast it surprised her. Her eyes widened and her cheeks reddened. My body responded to the word more intensely than I wished.

  "It looks like I really need that coffee," she said eventually.

  The time was right, so I pressed the plunger slowly and then poured the coffee in two cups. She seemed relieved when I looked at her again, grateful that I let it slide. She even dared to look me in the eye when I handed her the cup.

  "You're right, baby. You can call me Daddy."

  Every word was soft, my voice was deliberately low, it touched all those secret parts of her that belonged only to me. She dropped the cup. It smashed onto the tiles, spraying our feet with scalding hot coffee. I stepped on the shards of porcelain, crowding her into the island in the middle of the room. She tried to look away but I brought her face up to mine with two fingers under her chin. I needed to read her eyes. The dark of the pupils conquered the soft brown of her irises.

  "What I want from you?" I said lowering my head.

  She nodded, but I couldn't answer. I wanted too many things, too complex to put into words. I leaned in all the way and kissed her. It was far gentler than our first kiss. A simple brush of my lips over hers, our bodies
close without touching one another. I heard a soft moan of surrender and waited for her to make the next move. She didn't disappoint. Her hand went into my hair and she clutched at it while she pulled me closer. She opened her mouth and I deepened the kiss. For weeks I had told myself it was a fluke, I was remembering wrong, there couldn't have been so much pleasure in just kissing her. I had lied to myself that I made up the sensations, driven to distraction by the curve of her pillowy lips.

  Her kiss was drugging, demanding, devastating. Her mouth was hungry for mine and I forgot myself into that kiss. I lifted her off the floor and sat her on the island to have easier access to her mouth. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around my waist. I couldn't help grounding into her, already half hard just from kissing her. She moaned and arched her back. Before I could think about it, I tore off her white top and pulled her bra down under her breasts, releasing their creamy beauty. My mouth closed around her swollen nipple and I flicked my tongue over it. The pressure of her thighs around my waist increased so much it was hard to breathe. I kept suckling at her breast for as long as I could and when I felt I was running out of air I released it. She relaxed her thighs. I took a deep breath. I picked her up in my arms with the intention to take her to my bedroom.

  We kept kissing, and her little moans of pleasure worked me up until I was hard enough to hurt.

  "We're not going to make it to bed, baby," I said.

  "That's ok, Daddy. I don't want wait."

  I sat her slowly on the couch. She threw away the shreds of her top and her bra and she looked expectantly at me.

  "Be a good girl and get my dick out," I said.

  It looked like that was what she was waiting for. She undid my belt and unzipped my pants. She ran her finger over the underwear, tracing my raging erection.

  "Come on, baby. Take it out and play with it."

  "Yes, Daddy."

  It twitched under her fingers when she said the magic word. She pulled down my pants and underwear. My growing erection bobbed in front of her mouth.

  "Daddy?" she said without taking her eyes off my cock.

  It twitched again at the sound of the word. She swiped her tongue over the tip and wrapped her hand around it. I grew harder and bigger in her hand. Being in her mouth was more intense than I remembered. I had been abstinent for too long and I didn't want to come in her mouth.

  "Yeah, baby, daddy's here. Now lay down on your back and let daddy make you feel good."

  She shimmied out of her jeans and I found my way between her strong thighs. I spread them apart to make room for my shoulders and began kissing her. It didn't take long to map out where and how she liked to be touched. Soon she quivered under my ministrations. On the brink of her orgasm she kept my head still while I was sucking her clit. She lifted her pussy and kept saying the same words over and over again as her whole body shuddered, ravaged by the powerful orgasm.

  "Yes, daddy, please. Yes, yes, daddy."

  Her pleasure was so intense and so uninhibitedly displayed that it brought me to the brink of orgasm, too. Her body relaxed after the climax and as her muscles loosened I was released from her hold.

  Chapter 26 Bittersweet

  Skye

  Random aftershocks coursed through me. I remained splayed on his couch while he left the room pulling his pants up. I couldn't think at the moment, but it didn't feel like a rejection. He came back with a condom in his teeth. He tore it open and rolled it on his thick hard cock that poked out of his unzipped pants.

  "Are you ready for Daddy?" he asked.

  Was I ever? But even if I hadn't been, just the sight of him would have put me in the mood. Add to that the husky tone and the word Daddy, and I was a quivering mess. I nodded and barely squeaked out a yes. He loomed over me, still mostly clothed. I didn't care about touching him at that moment, I only wanted one thing and that was pointing boldly at me. He looked at me from head to toe and suddenly I was ashamed to be there, naked on his couch. I snapped my legs closed and my hands flew over my breasts.

  "No," he said firmly. "Spread them."

  I wished I could obey but I was frozen. Reality was creeping in, I came at his house for a booty call. He worked on knee between my legs and forced them open. I wasn't fighting him with all the might of my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training. I wanted him to bend me to his will. He was between my thighs, the tip of his hard cock sliding up and down my pussy, coating itself in my juices and coaxing even more honey out of me.

  "It's ok, baby," he said soothingly. "I'm here now. It's just us. Don't you want me to make you feel good?"

  "Mhm," I tried to answer, biting my lips to keep from speaking or moaning. I had no idea what I was holding back, why my whole body had tensed up when I was about to have what I desired the most.

  His massive body covered mine without pressing me into the couch. He was still supporting his weight on his knees and forearms. It felt like he was keeping a distance from me. Slowly, I spread my legs wider, brushing my feet against his thighs as I went up, and up until I could lock them around his waist. He groaned loudly and made himself more comfortable on top of me, allowing some of his weight to rest on my body. I liked to feel him heavy on top of me. He positioned himself at the entrance, the enormous tip of his manhood barely resting against my throbbing muscles. I wanted to hold back, but my body demanded release again. I tried to push my hips up to get more of him inside me. I moaned and dug my nails in his back when he pulled away. I was about to cry in frustration but before the tears rolled out, he slammed his hips forward. Wet though I was and hard though he pushed, he only made it about half way inside. He was too thick to slide all the way inside me. I tried to relax my inner muscles to let more of him in, but waves of orgasm already made me contract around him.

  "Please. Harder. I want-"

  He pulled back a little only to thrust again even harder than the first time. I gasped and everything tightened, my legs around his waist, my hands gripping his shoulders, my inner walls around the intrusion. I wanted to relax but it was impossible. Every sensation he summoned in me threatened to unravel me. He began moving again, and I matched his movements, welcoming him. There was no grace in the way we moved, just intense pleasure covering desperate raw need. A long almost painful orgasm shook me and I started to apologize.

  "Sorry…" but the words died on my lips when I felt his explosive release.

  He roared and panted and kept pounding into me. I came apart, allowing my body to enjoy the sensations. I couldn't imagine I could ever feel anything as intense and yet with one word, he made everything burn even brighter in me.

  "Skye."

  My eyes swam in tears. I hadn't realized how important it was to hear my name on his lips. Considering that I was about to leave on a dangerous mission, this was a very untimely revelation, but I couldn't lie to myself any longer. I liked playing with Daddy, but I was in love with Nick.

  He stayed buried inside me for a few moments after the last thrust. His beard scratched my neck but I loved the warmth of his cheek, the smell of his skin, the lingering feeling of intimacy. I kissed his cheek relishing the tingling of bristles on my lips when I said.

  "Thank you, Nick."

  A shiver went through him at the sound of his name. He stood up slowly, his joints were stiff and he seemed to move with difficulty. His clothes looked like he'd been through a hurricane. He zipped up his pants and he looked suddenly awkward. I stood up and looked for my jeans. I hated wearing jeans without panties, but the scrap of black lace was soaking wet.

  "You don't have to get dressed on my account."

  He was behind me, his massive body radiating heat. His low smoky voice turned my knees to jelly. All traces of awkwardness were gone from his posture. Whatever moment of weakness he had after the orgasm, it was gone. He was in control of himself again. I stepped out of my jeans and turned to him. His eyes roamed from my face to my body, pausing a little on the redness on my neck where his beard had rasped my skin.

  In a few steps I was nex
t to him, my nipples touching his rumpled shirt. He swooped in for a kiss that made my skin tingle from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. I wrapped a leg around him and knotted my arms behind his neck.

  "And I thought we might make it to the bedroom for round two," I said between kisses.

  "Is that a complaint?"

  "No, Daddy," I answered without thinking.

  "Come on, let's get you in bed, baby."

  I whimpered when he broke the kiss. He took me by the hand and walked me through the dark house. In his bedroom, light filtered through the shades to reveal a narrow bed, with snow white linen sheets. My heart shrunk to know that he chose to sleep alone. To be alone. I had a pull out couch in my studio by necessity, not by choice. This was his home, inherited from his parents. And yet he chose a single bed. Like he had some vow of eternal loneliness. I hugged him tightly but what started like an empathetic embrace turned sexual. I searched for his skin and I stayed on tip toes to latch my mouth onto his neck. I loved feeling under my lips the blood pumped out by his heart on its way up to his beautiful brain.

  He laid me down and got in bed with me. He held me tight to chest, squashing my breasts and he kept kissing me.

  "You know round two will have to wait, right?" he asked.

  I was surprised to hear that. His kisses were hungry and his hands were busy exploring my body. I stopped short of checking his erection. He chuckled at my confusion.

  "I'm flattered that you think the old man has it in him," he said. "But as much as I want you, I need a few hours."

  I tried not to look disappointed but it was his fault that he turned me on again.

  "Why were you at a club when I called?"

  "I didn't say I was at a club."

  "Your clothes. The make-up," he said as an explanation.

  "The drinking," I finished the enumeration for him.

  "The smoke smell," he corrected me.

  I tried to break from the embrace but he didn't let me go. He kissed me again, gently and passionately.

  "Why?" he asked again, and kissed his way down my neck.