Solitude (Cunningham Security Book 4) Read online

  Ava took off with the girls from work and I turned back to Lorenzo.

  I was in big trouble.

  That dress.

  Why was she wearing that dress?

  When I showed up at Carter’s tonight, I honestly had no idea what I was doing. This wasn’t my scene.

  But for five months, I’d struggled not to think about her.

  And then a few days ago, I saw her again. Ever since I dropped her off at home that night, I hadn’t been able to get her off my mind.

  Coming out tonight, I thought I might be able to find a way to distract myself from her.

  Evidently, I was wrong.

  Because now she was here and her friend had just shared some very personal information with me. Information that, if I was being honest, I didn’t mind knowing when I didn’t know who her friend was. Of course, now knowing that information, knowing it was Jolie who hadn’t been with a man in a long time and seeing her in that dress, I couldn’t get the images of her pleasuring herself out of my brain.

  She stood there scolding her friend, I assumed, for approaching me without her prior knowledge. And I couldn’t do anything but watch her and fight the urge to go over, scoop her up in my arms, and carry her out of here.

  Her friend and a few other girls who arrived walked off and she looked over at me. She wanted to come over and talk, but I knew she was struggling to move. I jerked my head to the stool next to me, and she finally walked over and sat down next to me.

  “I’m sorry,” she lamented. “My friend’s heart was in the right place, but she doesn’t know when it’s too much sometimes.”

  She was talking and I could just barely pay attention to what she was saying. Jolie’s scent overpowered me, and she looked amazing. If there was ever a girl perfect for me, it was her. She was tall, with legs that went on for days. Long dark hair, a gorgeous ass, and full round breasts were some of her greatest assets. A man would consider himself lucky to have a woman with just one of her physical features, but she had all that and something else.

  Something even better.

  A smile, marked with one beautiful dimple, that when she blessed you with the sight of it, you couldn’t help but be mesmerized by it. Her personality was the opposite of mine. I’d been around her a few times now, and it was not lost on me that she wore her heart on her sleeve.

  Snapping myself out of my thoughts, I assured her, “No need for an apology. Your friend said you were here for a work thing?”

  I figured it was best to redirect the conversation to something else.

  She nodded. “Yeah, we do this once every couple of months. All of us get together outside of work for a bonding experience, if you will. Half of them have already arrived, I expect the rest will be here soon.”

  Jolie got dressed up like she was now at least once every couple of months and came out to a place like this to bond with co-workers?

  When too much time had passed and I hadn’t responded, she asked, “What are you doing here?”

  Trying to distract myself from you, I thought.

  “I haven’t been out in a long time. Figured I’d get out for a bit,” I answered.

  Her eyes moved back and forth like she was trying to figure something out. “Well, I hope you have a good time then. And please ignore whatever my friend told you.”

  I wish I could.

  Jolie continued, “She didn’t know that we already knew each other or that…well, just ignore whatever she said. I already know where I stand.”

  She uncrossed her legs and stood from the stool. I didn’t like what she said. It was the second time she indicated to me that she had a clear misunderstanding of things.

  “Jolie,” I called before she could walk away.

  “Yeah?”

  I wanted to tell her.

  Instead, I shook my head and ended, “Nothing. Just…take care of yourself.”

  She lifted her chin slightly, curiosity washing over her face. If she had a question, she never asked it.

  Then, she turned and walked over to her co-workers, and I watched her legs and ass the entire way.

  I might have made decisions about how I’d live my life, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate beauty when I saw it.

  And Jolie Moore was sheer beauty.

  “Just great,” Jennifer sneered. “The douche canoe has arrived.”

  We all turned our heads to look and, sure enough, Samuel was walking over to the group.

  “Time to dance,” Michaela announced, attempting to diffuse the situation before it even had the opportunity to get out of control. She knew that Jennifer mixed with a bit of alcohol would result in a bit more than her usual amount of snark.

  At that, about half of the girls got up to dance.

  I was one of them.

  Samuel was the last of our group to arrive and in the time that I joined my co-workers after my conversation with Lorenzo and now, I’d successfully downed another two drinks. As a result, I was feeling good.

  Truthfully, I was feeling as good as anyone who had four drinks in them would feel. It was my only option, though. Taking the time to ponder the millions of thoughts I had about Lorenzo would not have likely ended well, so dancing was a nice distraction.

  When I first joined the group after my talk with Lorenzo, Ava tried to get the scoop from me. Next to my sister, Ava was my closest friend. I’d give her the details, but I wasn’t going to do it tonight. To set her mind at ease, though, I explained that Lorenzo worked with Dom at Cunningham Security and that he wasn’t some psychotic ex-lover or anything like that.

  Over the next few hours, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with my co-workers. We danced, we sang, we drank, and we had a whole lot of laughs. Throughout the night, I did steal glances at Lorenzo. Occasionally, I’d catch him looking in my direction. That made me feel good, but also very frustrated. I couldn’t begin to understand why someone would give off the vibes that he did and not want to pursue anything, especially considering I’d made it very clear that I was interested in him.

  At one point during the evening, I’d looked over and saw a woman had walked up and sat next to him. She started talking to him and I felt a wave of jealousy run through me. That feeling made me angry because while I’d grown accustomed to guys not liking my outgoing personality or my willingness to always just say what’s on my mind, I didn’t like how it felt knowing that Lorenzo was one of those guys. I didn’t like that I felt such a strong attraction to him and he, without ever really getting to know me, had written me off.

  I saw the woman that was talking to him lean in a little closer and put her hand on his arm. I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned away and looked at Ava.

  “I think I’m ready to head out,” I told her.

  “Really?” she asked. “We’re having such a good time, though.”

  “I know, but I’m just not feeling it anymore. I think I’m destined to live the rest of my life alone,” I pouted.

  Yes, I was pouting.

  Just then, Ava’s eyes looked behind me and grew wide as I felt a hand settle low on my back. I tensed briefly as I turned to the side.

  Standing beside me was a very handsome man. He was tall. Tall enough to meet my height requirements. And he had dark hair. He wasn’t nearly as built as Lorenzo, but he was certainly in great shape.

  “I just wanted to tell you that I think you look really pretty,” he started. “I know that probably makes me sound like I’m totally hitting on you, which if I said I wasn’t, I’d be lying. But in all honesty, this color looks amazing on you. I thought you should know.”

  At least he cut to the chase and didn’t try to cover up his motives.

  I offered a friendly smile and returned, “Thank you.”

  He held his hand out to me. “I’m Colin.”

  “Jolie,” I replied, putting my hand in his.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Jolie.”

  He was silent a beat before he asked, “If I asked you to dance with me, would you turn
me down?”

  My eyes moved to the side where I had a clear shot to where Lorenzo was sitting. I found that he was no longer at the bar. Neither was the woman that had been talking to him.

  I glanced back at Ava, a few of the girls from work, and all of the guys. They all had encouraging looks on their faces.

  “I’d love to dance,” I finally answered.

  Colin grinned and escorted me away from my friends and out onto the dance floor. I had a great time and he wasn’t a total creep. He kept a reasonable distance and allowed me to be the one to close the gap between us. It was nice to have a guy be respectful.

  As the night began to wind down and some of my co-workers left, Colin pulled me off to the side.

  He had moved us toward a dark corner of the room and I suddenly didn’t have good feelings about it. Initially, his back was against the wall and he had pulled me close to him with his arm around my waist.

  Using my hands to push against his chest, I said, “Let me go. I’d like to go back over with my friends.”

  “Oh, come on,” he began, a smirk spreading across his face before he turned and pressed my back against the wall. “We’re just getting started.”

  “No,” I stated firmly, pushing harder against him again. “Please move and let me go.”

  Colin shifted and pushed his forearm into my throat, pinning me tighter to the wall, forcing me to struggle to breathe. He lowered his head and just before he put his mouth on my chest, I lifted one leg off the floor and sent my knee up, right between his legs.

  Instantly, he removed his arm from my neck as he doubled over in pain. It took me a second to catch my breath. I got about two steps past him when my head jerked back and I heard him yell, “You bitch!”

  He was pulling my hair, yanking me backward toward him when suddenly he stopped and released my hair. I turned around and saw Lorenzo with his hand at Colin’s throat, squeezing.

  “If you ever put your hands on her or any other woman again, I will make it my life’s mission to see to it that you spend the rest of your life breathing through a tube,” he clipped. “Do I make myself clear?”

  Lorenzo’s hold on Colin had to be tight because Colin’s face had started turning red. He held his hands up and croaked out, “Yeah, man.”

  A second later, Colin dropped to the floor like a ragdoll. Lorenzo turned to me and asked, “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, thank you for helping me.”

  “Did you drive here?”

  I shook my head. “No, my friend did.”

  “Good. I’m taking you home now, Jolie,” he advised.

  I blinked my eyes in surprise. “What?”

  Lorenzo didn’t respond with words. His face got angry, but he stayed silent. Even in his silence, I realized he meant business. Considering he’d just helped me out of a scary situation, I figured it was best to let him take me home.

  So, I spun on my heels and found my friends. When they saw me and, more accurately, Lorenzo standing beside me, conversations came to a halt and they stared at us.

  “Hey, guys, I’m calling it a night,” I announced through the awkward silence.

  Ava immediately walked over to me and pulled me into a hug. With her mouth at my ear, she whispered, “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine, I promise. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  She gave me a squeeze before she let me go. I said goodbye to the rest of the group before I turned and walked toward the front door. Once we were outside, Lorenzo put his hand to the middle of my back and guided me through the lot to his truck. He opened the passenger side door for me and helped me in.

  The entire ride back to my condo was filled with silence. The anger rolling off the man next to me was so palpable. I was going to say something but thought it would be best to give him some time to cool off instead.

  When he pulled up outside my place and put the truck in park, I turned toward him and said, “Thank you for the ride.”

  “No,” he stated before he got out of the truck, leaving me stunned and in shock.

  What was going on with him?

  He came around to my side and opened my door. After I stepped out of the vehicle, he closed the door, beeped the locks, and walked alongside me to my front door.

  As soon as I had my key in my hand, I tried again. “Thanks for walking me to the door.”

  “In,” he ordered.

  I raised my eyebrows and replied, “Yes, boss.”

  I heard him growl as I unlocked and opened the door, disabled the alarm my brother had installed a few years ago when I moved in and turned on the lights. Lorenzo had come in behind me but stood just inside the door. I hadn’t invited him in, so if he had something he wanted to discuss he was going to have to start talking.

  “Did you know that guy?”

  “I just met him tonight,” I answered.

  Lorenzo’s hands were balled in fists at his sides. Evidently, the silent drive did little to help with the rage he was feeling.

  “I thought you were supposed to be bonding with your co-workers,” he pointed out.

  “I was, we were,” I huffed.

  “So why was that guy anywhere near you?”

  I jerked my head back. “What do you care?”

  “If I pick up the phone right now and call your brother, I can guarantee you that he’ll not be happy hearing what I just witnessed.”

  “You wouldn’t do that,” I dared him.

  “No?” he countered. “Then how about you tell me why the hell a woman as smart and beautiful as you, who’s been getting herself off with a vibrator or her own damn hands for more than a year now, suddenly decides to find a man tonight? What were you thinking?”

  He thought I was smart and beautiful?

  I tried to ignore the fact that he’d paid me those compliments.

  I also made a mental note to kill Ava for sharing such personal information with him.

  “What was I thinking?” I shouted. “I was thinking I went out tonight to have a good time. I was thinking that for the first time in a long time a guy actually had something nice to say about me. I was thinking it felt good to not be judged. And I was thinking I needed to find a way to distract myself from the fact that you want absolutely nothing to do with me, but you had no problem leaving Carter’s with that woman who sat next to you, talked to you, and touched your arm.”

  I gasped.

  I hadn’t meant for that last part to come out.

  Lorenzo’s face changed, but I only had a second to register the look before he was moving toward me. He framed my face with his hands.

  “I didn’t leave with anyone,” he whispered. “And you’re wrong about me wanting nothing to do with you, Jolie. I want you so bad I haven’t been able to think straight for the last five months.”

  My eyes rounded at his admission. “What?” I rasped.

  Lorenzo didn’t answer.

  At least, not with words.

  He leaned forward and crushed his lips to mine. I was stunned, so I opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside. The moment I tasted him, I let go of the shock. It was replaced by burning hot desire for him.

  The minute I moaned into his mouth, Lorenzo’s control slipped a bit. One of his hands wrapped around the back of my head while the other went around my back and shifted me forward, closer to him. My tongue tangled with his as we took the kiss deeper.

  Then, we were in a frenzy. My hands were at his shoulders, my fingernails digging in. His hands moved again, one at my hip and the other at my neck. Lorenzo’s mouth left mine and his lips began trailing desperate kisses along my jaw and down the side of my throat.

  I dropped my hands to his waist, bunched his shirt up, and finally touched my fingers to warm skin. His body was solid and powerful, but the warmth coming from him made him feel inviting. I pushed the shirt up his body until I could go no higher and Lorenzo disconnected his mouth from me to pull the shirt over his head.

>   I barely had a moment to take in the beautiful sight of his bare chest and abdomen when he distracted me.

  “This fucking dress,” he muttered, bringing his mouth to mine again while his hands went to the dress at my legs.

  His fingers touched my thighs, pressing in only briefly, just before he began sliding my dress up. He got it up over my ass and my breasts, pulled his mouth from mine and tore the dress off over my head.

  Wasting not a single second, he lifted me off the ground, one hand catching me under my bottom, the other at my thigh. My legs instinctively wrapped around his waist as my shoes fell from my feet to the floor. I lowered my head and pressed my lips to his neck, my tongue darting out to taste him. I couldn’t get enough.

  “Bedroom, Jolie. Which way?”

  “Upstairs,” I panted. “Second door on the right.”

  I felt him moving but didn’t pay attention to where he was going. All I could concentrate on was the utter pleasure I already felt having my skin touching his and how I knew it was about to get a whole lot better. As he climbed the stairs, I continued to taste him while I ran my hands along his shoulders.

  Seconds later, he lowered me to my back in the bed and stepped back to look at me. Never taking his intense eyes from me, he worked to kick off his shoes as he pulled his wallet from his back pocket. He tossed the wallet to my nightstand before removing his jeans.

  The moment they were off, his body was over mine, his hands were everywhere, and his mouth roamed to cover every inch of my exposed body. The palms of Lorenzo’s hands were rough, and I loved the way they felt against my skin. One hand came up, tugged down the material covering one of my breasts, and his mouth clamped down over my nipple. My back arched as I moaned in response.

  “Lorenzo,” I rasped.

  He shifted his body to the side and took me with him. With his back to the bed, his hands came up behind me, unhooked my bra, and tossed it to the side. Then he rolled us so I was on my back again.

  He had turned his body toward mine but didn’t come to settle over me. Instead, propped up on his elbow, he lowered his mouth to mine again and let his free hand trail down my abdomen until it reached the edge of my panties. He slid his fingers under the fabric and instantly moved them through my wetness.