For the Love of Chocolat Read online

  She continued to hold and kiss him until he forced their passion to come to a stop.

  “So he made you an offer?” Lee asked with her pressed to his chest.

  She kissed and then licked, his flat rosy-pink nipple. “Yes,” she mumbled, her tongue stroking it.

  “Were you tempted?”

  “I saw a man die, Lee.” She tipped her head up to look at him. “You can’t possibly think that’s what I wanted.”

  “Yes, but the offer was to be free of me. Were you tempted for that?”

  She maintained his stare, refusing to lie to him. There were already enough lies between them. “Yes, I was. I can’t help but be tempted by the choice of freedom. Look at us. Look at our life.”

  “Why can’t you love me? You did once without question. Why not now?”

  “I was a kid then. I’ve seen too much, Lee. Done too much to believe in the kind of love you want. It’s fleeting. People like us don’t deserve it.”

  Michelle left the bathroom as Lee snatched up his pants. She could hear his zipper rip up. She hoped he’d leave. She craved solitude. The day had exhausted her, just like sex drained her both emotionally and physically. Her heart and mind were at war with each other. More tenderness from him and she was certain the victor would be her foolish heart. Michelle dropped on the bed. Within seconds he was behind her, again with his arm draped heavily over her.

  “I love you,” he said.

  “It’s not love. It’s a new obsession. The taste of the forbidden. Soon it’ll pass.” She yawned.

  “Why? Is obsession a bad thing?”

  “For you and me, yes. You take risks you shouldn’t. You’re convinced you have this…entitlement. You’re using my sister, all of it, to keep me. It’s not love. You can’t continue to hold on to me with empty promises. Besides the lies and games between us, sex is all we got.”

  “Babe, my love for you is real. One day you’ll know it. You’ll believe it.”

  He pushed off the bed and walked into the bathroom, dejected. He disappeared behind the door. Michelle closed her eyes. It didn’t matter if what he said was true. She had to do what she had to. It was up to her to survive.

  Chapter Four

  Six Days Later

  Michelle took a breath. The cool enamel of the banister chilled the inside of her palm. She held on tightly. Careful of her steps, she descended the stairs. Her foot wasn’t bandaged anymore. She could balance her stride. Lost in her thoughts, she considered what would come tomorrow. Everything hinged on tomorrow.

  She was ready. But Lee wasn’t. Three days of fighting and three days of his absence had shredded the binds she’d woven to control him. How does one tame a rattler? Lee’s feelings for her made him unpredictable, unstable. He’d needed to escape her for the past days to get clarity. But what did that mean? Of course, she told herself it didn’t matter. His obsessive love would always turn things in her favor. Yet his absence was more strongly felt than she cared to admit. She missed him in her bed. She missed being in his arms.

  Lee’s Dobermans, beautiful animals with thick diamond collars and shiny black coats that felt and looked like velvet, met her at the foot of the steps. He’d named them Evita and Lupe—both females. His girls were very territorial. The meanest bitches in the house, next to her. If they were near then that meant he was close. She smiled as one licked her fingers.

  “Where’s Daddy?” she asked, hopeful.

  Evita walked off. Michelle and Lupe followed. The house was still. The late hour left shadows in every corner. Her steps echoed her lonely stroll. The long hem of her gypsy skirt rippled with the natural stir of air at her ankles.

  Six days ago, Sasha and Kumar had moved in. They kept to themselves. Only when working on the plans for Briscol did she have their company. Being trapped in Lee’s palace without him had become unbearable. She shouldn’t have dismissed his feelings or pretended she didn’t share in them. She did, she had, for many, many years. She needed to find a way to accept the good and the bad in her man.

  Rounding a corner, she stopped at the agitation in Lee’s voice.

  “I don’t like it.”

  Michelle could hear Lee pacing. She crept to the edge of the door and angled herself so she could see inside.

  Abahti stood there, silent and watchful.

  Lee tightened his hands into white-knuckled fists. His face was darkly flushed and contorted with stress. “My gut, Abahti. It’s my gut I’m talking about here.” He slapped his chest. “It tells me we shouldn’t go through with it. It’s too risky. I should have never agreed to it.”

  Michelle couldn’t stand it a minute longer. She stepped inside, and Lee’s head went up immediately. “Abahti, can you give us a moment?” she asked.

  “I don’t take orders from you,” Abahti said coolly, not even bothering to turn to acknowledge her arrival. Evita growled low in her throat at Abhati, which seemed to shock the tall African. The girls loved him, but their rigid stance indicated they loved Michelle more.

  “Leave,” Lee ordered, nearly shouting the words at his confidant.

  The loyal, dark-skinned giant turned on his heel at once. He shot her a malevolent look of contempt as he passed. His dislike of her was becoming more and more apparent with Lee’s unraveling. She understood. Lee was masterful at what he did. Now he was a man in love, and that put their empire at risk.

  Well, she had one mean gangster to deal with. She didn’t care for the tantrum of another. With a cool head, she turned and drew the doors to his office shut, then locked them inside.

  “What are you doing up so late?” Lee asked.

  “You’ve been avoiding me.”

  “I’m working. I do have a business to run!” he snapped.

  “No, Lee, it’s been three days since you’ve returned to my bed. You’re avoiding me,” she said. She started to approach but he walked away. She stared on in disappointment. He never turned away from her. He was so twisted over what he believed could happen; he’d jeopardize the heist for control. It was killing him. He hadn’t shaved. His eyes were red-rimmed, and his suit worn and wrinkled, as if he’d slept in it. Had he eaten?

  Lee dropped his hands into his pockets and finally met her stare. Piercing, it burned with a volcanic eruption that threatened to incinerate her on the spot. But it didn’t deter her.

  “I know you’re worried.”

  “I’m not worried. I’ve decided. We’re calling it off.”

  “Lee, please.”

  “I’ve decided. You aren’t ready.”

  “We went over this.”

  “I make the calls, Michelle Dixon, not you! Not you! I’ve decided.” He hit his chest. “You will not do it!” His command boomed off the walls. The Dobermans looked at him curiously, then padded over to their favorite corner to observe. The coil of frustration twisting her stomach muscles tightened. She crossed the room and stopped before him. She reached out to touch him, then hesitated.

  “I-I need your support now, Lee. I need a little faith.” She stepped closer. “I need you to believe in me, baby.”

  “Do you understand its madness out there now? Pops got his wish. We are killing each other in the streets. There is no more loyalty, just a mess. I can’t let you out in the midst of this.” Lee cradled her face between his large palms and forced her head to remain still. “Don’t you see? I can’t. I can’t guarantee I can protect you. I can’t risk losing you.”

  “I understand.”

  “Do you?” His voice was husky with desire. “You’re punishing me, Michelle. I deserve it. I should have never brought you and Sasha back into this world. I can’t change my bad choices now. I’m lost. All I want is you. Not the Chalice. I’ll give it up.”

  “No, you won’t, Lee,” she replied. “With everything there is risk. It’s the nature of the business, even the nature of our love. That’s why you chose to give in, and give me your heart. You wanted to take the risk. Now calm down and think on this rationally. You’ve seen me work. You know Pops
trained me for this. No one can get to the Chalice but me. It’s my risk to take.”

  “It’s too soon. It’s too messy. Wait until things cool off. Escobar’s calling for a truce. The other men might follow suit. I’ve already put in a call to Monk Eastman to unload the Jesus Stones. Let me get things under control.”

  “I can’t. The time is now. Kumar says they change the locking patterns every two weeks. Tomorrow is the last day. We lose all of the work we’ve done. I can do it. For you. For us. For Pops.”

  Lee dropped his forehead to hers. He stroked the side of her face, running his hand down the length of her neck. The pressure relaxed on her face, but not her heart. “I can go in with you...help you.”

  “Shhh.” She tilted her head upward to kiss his lips softly as she moved his hands behind her to feel her below. “I’ll be okay,” she whispered through a kiss. “Relax, baby.”

  Lee drew her tightly into his arms. He ran his tongue over hers and kissed her deeply. Michelle allowed his passion. Even now. After all the nights in his arms, she didn’t understand him. Why he burned so desperately for her, yet caused her such pain.

  “So beautiful. So beautiful, and you’re killing me,” he whispered, running his hand over her body. “I can’t get enough of you,” he mumbled to himself under budding excitement. She stepped back to pull her peasant top over her head and cast it aside. She worked down her gypsy skirt from her hips and stood there nude. She placed her hands on her breasts then massaged them, plucking her nipples the way she knew he liked. His breathing deepened as those eyes of his lowered with renewed interest.

  “It’s okay, I’ve only wanted you. You know that. Only you.” She toyed with his desire. She reached down to touch it and give herself relief.

  “Don’t. Don’t,” he ordered.

  She came in to kiss him but he drew his head back an inch. “We do this job, you better come back to me.”

  “Yes,” she moaned, wanting his touch. She hated him for delaying it a moment longer. Teasing her. Three days and he hadn’t touched her. Their nights were the only thing that made what she believed to be captivity bearable. He was punishing her because he couldn’t control her. And it was working. God help her, but it was working. She pushed her body over his, inhaling his musk. He smelled of cigar smoke and whiskey, and the clean sweat scent of those moments where he drove her to the height of passion.

  “Then prove it.” Lee pushed gently at her abdomen. He turned and swiped his hand over his desk, sending away thin sheaves of paper, a coffee mug, and desk lamp. Michelle watched him, concerned. He looked at her and gestured to the desk. Without hesitation, she approached it.

  When she sat, her thighs parted. Lee was there. His hands went between and forced them wider as she eased back over the cool wood, exposing her glistening pink inner lips. His middle finger rubbed her wet slit and a jolt of sensation exploded like Fourth-of-July fireworks through her cunt. Every muscle constricted; the beat of her heart hit an all-time high. “I need to hear you say it, Michelle. Just once. I need to hear it and then—”

  She opened her eyes. “Then you will stop fighting me? You’ll trust me?”

  “Yes.” He inserted his finger, and she nipped her bottom lip, then with her tongue, laved the sting it brought. He removed his finger, wet with her essence, and rubbed it over her bottom lip. Her lips open at his sinful touch.

  “I love you,” she whispered. The three words were a valve, releasing pleasure and desire into her heart.

  “Yes, baby. I love you, too,” Lee stammered.

  Together, they were raw emotion and starved for passion. These were the moments when Lee could believe his heart and trust hers. He kissed her softly. His tongue grazed her bottom lip, sampling the taste of her. With a hand cupping the back of her neck, he maintained their connection and moved closer to the desk. Michelle sighed and moaned deep within their kiss. Her hands went to his shirt buttons, undoing them as she returned his passion. He helped, not once breaking from her lips. Shrugging the shirt off, her hands on his bare chest as he unfastened his belt were like heat pads stroking the flames burned under his skin. They traveled over his chest as though soaking in the warmth. She pinched his nipples hard, rubbing the tiny nubs. He moaned against her mouth.

  “That’s right, babe…I do. I love you,” she responded before he claimed her mouth once more.

  Lee’s trousers were freed, whether by her hands or his, he wasn’t sure. Michelle gripped the edge of the desk, opening her legs wider.

  “Mmm, so good,” he whispered against her ear before going lower. She heaved a deep sigh when he bent her knee and squeezed it, pushing her leg upward and out.

  “Yes, Lee, more.”

  Again he obliged. Licking and kissing her pussy then sucking her hard, he eased a finger in and out with frenzied strokes. She climaxed hard.

  “More!” she nearly choked on her scream.

  Lee chuckled.

  Tormented by his tease, she responded the way he desired. Michelle smashed her pussy against his mouth, and he sucked and teased her clit with relentless determination. It wasn’t enough for her. She whimpered in agony. “Please…more.”

  He rose. Now she sat before him, her chest heaving, her face covered in tiny beads of sweat. The sexy fragrance of her desire filled the room, sending the blood rushing to his thickening dick. She nearly pleaded for him to give her what she’d been denied. Like a junkie in need of a fix, he ached desperately for his overgrown cock to oblige. But there was a small part of him that resented her for chaining his heart to hers, for making him so weak.

  The battle was soon over. His desire and love for her won out. Finally, he came forward. The head of his penis rubbed at her opening, and Michelle lowered herself to the cool surface of the desk. Lee dragged her by the hips toward him until more than half of her ass was off the desk and her thighs hooked over the crease in his arms. Michelle rubbed her breasts, her lashes parting enough for him to see desire in her smoky-brown eyes.

  “Do me, Lee…now,” she demanded. He thrust forward giving her several inches at first and she gasped, arching her back. He pretended at not being unaffected as well, but his heart fluttered wildly in his chest. With another powerful thrust, he was fully seated inside her. She froze and Lee’s senses leapt to life. He could feel the slow roll of her hips and the tightening of her channel on his shaft to his core. He freed his arms, and she hooked her long legs around his hips. Balancing one hand on the desk, he reached down with the other and applied pressure to her clit to end his torment and begin hers. It worked. She was his again. The pump action he put down on her pussy kept going harder and harder until he felt her inner walls quiver. Tremors ran through her legs as they held tight to him.

  Michelle cried out. “Harder!”

  When she looked up at him in her weakened state, Lee’s heart surged. He fell on her, pressing her into the desk, swallowing her cries with a passionate yet demanding kisses, pumping, grinding, ramming his cock in and out of her hot channel until he shuddered all over for release. He grabbed her hands and pulled them over her head, intertwining their fingers. “I love you…I love this pussy, I love….” He wheezed, kissing her face while she smiled and sighed.

  A new rotation of her hips stirred warm, silky heat. The loud moans escaping her mouth announced her impending climax. He followed her, his own cries swallowed by her kiss as she turned her face back to his. He released the last of himself then collapsed. Michelle kissed the top of his head and ran her fingers over his soft, dark locks.

  “Lee. If…if things had been different. If we were different people—”

  “We aren’t,” he panted, resting on her breast, refusing to rise or withdraw.

  “Okay.” She sighed beneath him. “You’re right. We aren’t.”

  ***

  Michelle woke. Her cheeks were raw and hot under the sunlight pouring through the blinds. She ached all over, her back and legs mostly. It felt glorious. When she rolled to her side, she wasn’t the least bit s
urprised to find he had already risen. He could barely look at her. And though she gave in to his passion all through the night, the day was here. And there was no turning back.

  With the toss of the sheet, she escaped the comfort and warmth of their bed. She quietly padded through the room over the fluffed carpeting, and stepped into the shower before it fully warmed. Michelle went through the grooming process methodically, calmly, then dressed. But when she left her room in search of her sister, she found Abahti at the end of the hall instead.

  “Can we talk.” He stated rather than asked.

  She nodded then followed him down the stairs and out on the veranda. “Where’s Lee?”

  “Gone. Rawhead’s body was pulled out of Lake Michigan last night.”

  “He’s meeting with Escobar and—”

  “The others,” Abahti affirmed.

  Michelle sighed. She knew that meant trouble. If they blamed Lee, his bartering for peace would be undone. Yet Abahti was there. “Why aren’t you with him? He could be in danger.”

  “He’s more concerned with your safety than his own, which is why we must speak.”

  She crossed her arms. “He’s a grown man, Abahti.”

  “He’s focused on you rather than the business.” Abahti glared. “Be honest, Chocolat. You don’t care about Lee or this organization. You’re in it for yourself. You’re in it by force.”

  Michelle smirked. “Honest? It always amazes me how you and Lee can toss that word around. What do either of you know about honesty?”

  “I know I can help.”

  “Help?”

  “You want something. Not just the Chalice. What is it?”

  “Go to hell.” She turned, heading back.

  “Chocolat!”

  She stopped.

  “If it involves freedom, you and I both know Lee will never let you walk out. You need help. I can be very useful.”

  “Lee would kill you if he knew you even made the suggestion.”