Red watched Cali sleep and wondered why it had taken them so long to get here. After they’d left Morgan’s house the night before, they’d dropped Uncle Cal off at the hotel and had come back to his place. Waking up with her nuzzled up against him was as close to perfection as he could ever hope to touch.
He couldn’t get enough of her and he’d proven that multiple times, even waking her in the middle of the night to make love again. As he took in her plentiful curves, her pouty mouth swollen from his kisses, her hair fanned out against his pillow, the smell of her skin, he thought he was the luckiest man in the world.
When she’d finally admitted that she loved him, it had felt surreal. He’d known that she loved him, but neither of them had gone into this expecting to leave their hearts with the other. Her eyes opened and he brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Good morning.” He kissed her.
She covered her face as a blush crept up the back of her neck. “Oh my God, did this really happen?”
He lay back, peering up at the ceiling, and pulled her into his side. “Yes it did. Any regrets?”
She grinned up at him. “Not a one—right now anyway. You know me.”
He smacked her butt playfully. “Stop. We are really doing this.”
They settled into a comfortable silence, his fingers intertwined with hers, their breathing in tune with each other’s. He ran his thumb over her palm and brought it up to his mouth and kissed it.
“Truthfully, I can’t even believe I’m here,” she said softly. “Over the past few weeks we were on different pages. I don’t know how you put up with me.”
He laughed quietly. “Lots of patience.”
She gaped at him, feigning offense. “Be quiet.”
“It’s okay, though, because there are a lot of things that impress me about you. Everything evens out.”
With eyebrows raised, she asked, “What impresses you?”
“I think I’ll keep that to myself.” He smoothed a hand up and down her back. “Don’t want you to let it go to your head.”
“You know you’re wrong, right?” She draped her leg over him snuggled closer.
“I can only be me.”
Casting a glance at him, she bit her bottom lip. “So I’m not sure what happens next. I haven’t been in a real relationship in years.”
“That one doesn’t count, because he was more of an asshole than I could ever be,” Red said frankly. “Liars who hide the fact that they’re married with children cannot be included in your relationship history, so let’s scratch that one off the books.”
“I guess that means crazy bitches who try to kill you don’t count either?” she countered, with a wink and a wide grin. Her body quaked with laughter.
“Ouch.” He barked out a laugh. He’d missed their back and forth banter. Not too many people could deliver a zinger like Cali. “Good one. But Nia was never my girlfriend, so I’d agree with you that she doesn’t count. How about we nix this entire conversation and say that this is a first for both of us?”
“Agreed.” She rested her head on his chest, her fingers flitting over his skin. “I don’t mean to sound all sappy, but last night was everything—like a dream come true.”
“And to think it wasn’t even a hard dream to attain,” he quipped.
She pinched his nipple and he winced in pain. “I’m serious.”
“I’m serious, too,” he told her, tilting her chin up to meet her gaze. “Seems to me that an actual conversation was all we needed to get it together. History has proven that communication is the key. If we do anything, I think we should promise to always listen to each other.”
“Deal.” She pressed her lips against his. Drumming her fingers over his chest, she pulled back. “I think I want to get in the shower. Better yet, a soak in the tub since my body is so sore.”
He smacked her ass softly. “Okay. I have some bath gel under the sink.”
She sat up and smirked at him over her shoulder. “I’m going to run the water. I expect your ass in there within the next five minutes.”
“No doubt.” His phone buzzed on the table next to the bed. He rolled over and picked it up. “Jared Williams,” he answered.
“Red?”
Red sat up, recognizing the voice immediately. “Nia. Where the hell are you?” he roared. He opened the drawer and felt around for a pen.
“I need your help,” she said. “We need to talk.”
“If you’re not calling to tell me where my fucking daughter is, you don’t have anything to say that I want to hear.”
“Your daughter is safe and that’s all that matters,” she snapped.
Furious, he slammed the drawer. “Like hell,” he growled. “Where the hell do you get off asking me for anything? You told me that I had a daughter and vanished before I even met her. Your crazy ass is really on one if you think I’m going to help you do anything.”
“Listen, I’m in trouble. I need some money.”
“You’re serious?” he asked incredulously. “Where are you?”
“I’m in jail,” she replied.
“What?” he shouted. “Where is Corrine?”
His mind immediately raced with all the possibilities. His daughter could be anywhere. Was she scared? Alone? He wanted to throttle Nia. He bit the inside of his cheek in an effort to calm his nerves.
“She’s with a friend,” Nia said.
“Nia, don’t play with me,” he warned. “What the hell did you do?”
“Don’t worry about that. Pay my bail and I’ll make sure you see Corrine.”
Red contemplated her request. Nia had always been nuts, from the moment he laid eyes on her. Syd and everyone had warned him about her from the beginning. It wasn’t until she tried to stab him with a fork—and ended up stabbing Morgan instead—that he’d actually started listening. Syd had hauled off and clocked her, which ended the farce of a relationship.
Ending their fling wasn’t as easy as he thought, though. She hadn’t gone away as quickly as he’d hoped and eventually she’d tried to run him off the road. Then there was the time she’d slashed all of his tires and tried to bash him in the head with a bat. He’d had to take out a Personal Protection Order. He’d thought he was in the clear when she up and left town out of the blue.
She didn’t show up until years later, when she tried to insert herself back into his life by revealing that they had a child.
“Red?” she called, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Answer me. Are you going to help me or not?”
“Nia, where is my daughter?” He heard the water turn on in the bathroom. “You tell me that and maybe I’ll help you.”
“I’m not stupid, Red,” she said. “I’m not going to tell you where she is so you can come and take her from me. I don’t have anyone else to call. I know you want Corrine to be safe. If I’m not with her, how can I guarantee that?”
“It’s not going to take me long to figure out what jail you’re in.” He tapped the tip of his pen on his knee. “Your best bet is to just tell me where she is.”
“Why are you so cold to me?” she whined in her grating voice. “We had a relationship. I loved you.”
As with every conversation with Nia, Red felt like he had whiplash. How did the conversation go from “help bail me out” to “I loved you”? She was incapable of forming linear thoughts. Her mind constantly jumped from one thing to the next, very rarely making sense. He wondered what had possessed him to do anything with her.
“You should have thought about that before you took my daughter away from me, sweetheart,” he said sarcastically, running a hand over his face and massaging his temple. “That’s neither here nor there, anyway. You know we never had anything more than sex.”
“You’re going to regret this,” she threatened, once again switching gears. If she wasn’t a mental case, he didn’t know who was. “I’ll make you pay.”
“The only person with regrets will be your ass when I find you and make sure whatever charges they have on you stick,” he sneered. “The simple fact that you called me to ask me to help you proves that your ass is crazy. You have no business raising any child, let alone mine.”
The next sound was the click of her hanging up. For an instant, Red wished he hadn’t let his temper get the best of him. He should have played her game and told her what she wanted to hear. But he was done playing with her. Red pounded a fist onto the night table. Punching in the number to a friend in the police department who had been doing some investigative work for him as a favor, he waited. When the officer picked up, he told him everything.
After he ended the phone call, he walked into the bathroom. The phone call from Nia was still running through his mind. He was still angry, and wondered if he should wait until he calmed down to talk to Cali about it. At the same time he was concerned that telling her would somehow stop what was happening between them.
The sight of her soaking in the oversized tub immediately put him at ease. Bubbles covered her body, and her eyes were closed. Soft jazz played on the stereo dock on the sink. The urge to be with her seemed to take over.
She opened one eye. “I was wondering when you were going to join me.”
Dropping his pants, he climbed into the tub behind her and she leaned back into him. He ran his hands over her knees. He traced her ear with his tongue, enjoying her quick intake of breath. The feel of her body against his calmed him and he wanted to revel in that peace for a minute. She ran her fingernails through the hair on his legs.
“Something wrong?” she asked eventually.
He swirled a finger around one of her nipples until it hardened into a stiff peak. Then he dipped his other hand into the water and cupped her, moving one finger over her slit. Tilting her head up to his, he kissed her deeply, running his tongue over hers. He continued to ply her with his fingers until she screamed out his name.
With hooded eyes, she peered at him. “That feels good,” she whispered with a hint of a smile.
Looking into her eyes, seeing her feelings shining back at him, made him want to share everything with her—even if it made him vulnerable. “I have something I want to tell you.”
Her body went stiff in his arms. “Is everything okay?” She shifted so she could face him, concern shining in her brown eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nia called me.”
She frowned. “Today?”
“I just got off the phone with her,” he said. After the night and morning they’d had, he hated to throw a damper on their time together. But if they were going to be together, Cali had to know.
“What did she want?” she asked.
“To ask me to bail her out of jail.”
Her eyes widened. “Seriously?” she asked. “Where’s… where’s Corrine?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. I called my friend at the police department and he’s going to search the Vinelink database to see if he can get some arrest information. In the meantime, she called me from a restricted phone number, but it’s possible he can get the call information from my provider.”
“Wow. She’s… I can’t even believe she’s playing these games,” she said, her nostrils flaring. “Why wouldn’t she just tell you where she was?”
Red, surprised at Cali’s reaction, answered her, “I asked multiple times, but she refused. Then I threatened her.”
“I would’ve threatened her, too.” She shook her fist into the air.
It felt good to know that she had his back. Not that he thought she wouldn’t. But as he listened to her swear under her breath and call Nia a few choice words, his heart swelled. “I swear, Cali. I have to check myself every time I think about her. Part of me wants to…”
“Don’t say it,” she said, holding her hand against his mouth. “You’re not even that type of man. But believe me, if I ever see her, I’ll take care of that for you.”
Red smiled at his feisty Cali. While Syd wasn’t the type to beat someone down, Cali wasn’t afraid of a fight. She’d had more than a few scrapes growing up with her uncle and even during their time in college. He’d never want to put her in that position, though. Nia was a nut on her best day and he’d never want Cali in harm’s way.
“Do you think she’s in the state?” she asked.
“I’m not sure.” He knew she had family in Ohio and Mississippi. He’d been checking with contacts in both of those states for a while now. “Every time I get a lead, the trail turns cold. It seems she’s always one step ahead of me. My gut is telling me that she’s close, though.”
“Actually, I agree with you,” she said, relaxing her back against him again. “It would be just like her to hide in some small town where you’ll least expect her to go. Somewhere like Hell or even Boyne Mountains.”
He snickered and rubbed his thumb over her belly button. “That would be a stupid move on her part. But it makes sense to me. Hopefully, he can find something. This has gone on for far too long.”
“I hope you get some answers,” she said. “I feel for that little girl. She doesn’t deserve to be used as a pawn. It’s not fair to her.” The water sloshed as she turned around and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Or you. I’m so sorry, Red.”
Their lips met again in a passionate kiss. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her to him. Her concern for him—and Corrine—made him feel like they’d get through anything together.
“Baby, I could definitely get used to this.” He took one of her nipples into his mouth and suckled on it before kissing his way to the other one and giving it the same attention.
“Oh,” she moaned, “me too.”
Grabbing her hips and moving her over his hardening erection, he asked, “Why don’t you hop on that and fuck me like you mean it?”
The corners of her mouth turned upward in a grin. “It would be my pleasure.”