He watched a long moment, shifting in his chair as though his jeans were suddenly too tight.

Then he said, his voice deep and smooth, “Come.”

It was a simple command. I had never masturbated in front of anyone before. But the look on Reyes’s face, the desire shimmering in his eyes, convinced me I had absolutely nothing to lose.

I rubbed my clit with two fingers, watching as his erection grew more pronounced. As his hands clenched around my ankles. As his jaw flexed. When he reached up and slid my panties aside for a better view, arousal spiked inside me. My cunt was so swollen and sensitive at that point, the softest brush of his fingers would have pushed me over the edge, but he only watched.

He turned his head and sprinkled the inside of my knee with soft, feathery kisses. My skin was so tight, the endearments were almost painful. And I wanted more. I wanted his mouth on me. His cock in me.

But he only watched as I worked. At first. I’d started slow, but as the embers sparked to life and the fire spread, my fingers moved faster.

Unable to sit idly by, he stood between my legs, opened my shirt, and slipped my bra down, giving him access to my hardened nipples. He bent and seared first one, then the other with his mouth. His tongue scorched as he covered the crest and suckled.

The sensation was like a string pulling taut nipple to clitoris. One tugged at the other, and the pressure built. His audible breaths quickened with each stroke. I grabbed the side of the desk with my other hand and held on, shaking uncontrollably, until the familiar sting exploded low in my abdomen, so sharp it seized every muscle in my body, so hot it flooded every cell.

He wrapped an arm around the curve of my back and held me as I arched against him.

I had no idea if I’d been too loud, but when Reyes unfastened his jeans, I didn’t care if I’d screamed his name from the top of my lungs. He pushed between my legs, and his rock-hard erection slid easily inside me. The waves of orgasm were still pulsing in rhythm with my thundering heart, the aftermath exquisite, when his cock, so perfectly placed, coaxed a second one to rise and crest the instant he entered me, opening the floodgates again, spilling molten lava, sweet and hot and sensual, into my core, rewarding my body with the most delicious sensations on Earth.

But he didn’t move inside me. He held me tight against him, clamped down on me, rendered me immobile, and let the convulsions of my climax squeeze and massage his cock, milking him until he exploded. He grabbed a handful of hair. Pulled me tighter. Rocked against me. And groaned aloud. The combination so pleasurable, so ethereal, I almost came again.

We stayed locked together, riding the last of the waves down together, enjoying each other’s touch until the tremors subsided.

Reyes squeezed me to him again and whispered, “Fucking hell.”

I agreed. And I was not ready to let him go. Not just yet.

Instead of getting dressed, he lifted me off the desk and sat down with me still straddling him. With him still inside me.

“Kiss me,” he said, in yet another command I was willing to obey. But just this once.

I felt his smile behind the kiss as I pressed my mouth to his.

I pulled back and licked my lips. Then smacked them and licked them again. “You taste like cotton candy.”

He pleasured me again with a satiated grin. “Do I?”

“You do.”

He licked his own lips and put his head back in thought. “You taste like —”

“Pot roast?” I offered.

He chuckled.

“Chiles rellenos? Cinnamon rolls? Battery acid? I’ve got to stop eating those things.”

“Salt,” he said at last. “From the sea.”

“From Scotland?”

He nodded, and I burrowed closer.

“I can’t believe I’ve been to Scotland. Think about all the plane fare we’re going to save. Oh, I think we should name your penis the Vampire Lestat.”

“Really? I was thinking Angry Johnny.”

I stifled a giggle. “Maybe we should sleep on it.”

As we sat there, the door opened, just barely, and a hand slid inside and dropped a set of keys on a side table. My keys. Reyes must have had Garrett pick up Misery. That’d save me a trip.

“Thanks, Garrett!” I called out.

He gave me a thumbs-up and closed the door.

“How do you suppose he knew we were performing sexual favors on each other?” I asked, snuggling against my man again.

“Possibly because you screamed my name about seven times.”

I bolted upright and gaped at him.

He’d brought out his most wicked grin. “But that’s just a guess.”

11

I never said I’d die without coffee. I said other people would.

— MEME

After Cookie picked Amber up from school, she and I went over everything she’d found out so far about the Fosters before going home. She’d hit a brick wall, but apparently she had a friend on it. I didn’t know she had any friends.

But she did find out about the other two adoptions that the shady adoption agency, the Divine Intervention, filed paperwork for.

“Okay,” she said, handing me a sheet of paper, “they were both adopted in Albuquerque. One boy and one girl. The boy died a few years ago in a fire. The fire inspector ruled it arson, but they never found who did it.” She pointed to the other name. “And this one. The girl. She’s your age and still living here. Oh, and I also found whose name was on the lease for the building.”

She handed me that information as well.

“Thanks, Cook.”

She seemed tired, and that worried me. Cookie didn’t get tired.

“How is Uncle Bob?”