The Sinner's Bargain (Contracts & Deceptions #2) (23 page)

THERE WEREN’T MANY attendees at Anna’s funeral, a somber smattering of black-clothed mourners scattered through the sanctuary. Amara was with him, along with Amir, Vlady and his wife Genevieve, and Anna’s old housekeeper who couldn’t keep it together long enough to stick around. It was a sorrowful morning, standing over the hole that would soon become Anna’s permanent residence. Colin’s heart felt heavy as he stood beside Amara, a constant surprise with the level of the strength she exhibited. She’d cried a lot the night before as they lay in bed together, but once the tears stopped, the laughter began as they recalled fun times they’d shared with her mother. The Halloween parties, the barbeques, the boring business people they quietly snuck away from, only to find Anna also hiding out at the top of the stairs. “Just taking a breather,” she’d say with a smile, but they’d known she was exhausted. She’d been sick for a long time, but only those who knew her well were aware of the severity of her condition. Fire ran through Anna’s veins, and Colin was sure it was something she’d handed down to her daughter.

Colin’s eyes met hers when she looked up at him, offering a small smile as if to let him know that she was okay. He stared at her for a long moment, lost in the amber eyes that had put a spell on him so many years ago. Amara had spent the morning curling her hair into loose waves and painting that beautiful face of hers to “look good enough for her last goodbye to the woman who taught her everything she knew.” Colin didn’t argue with her—not because he didn’t think she looked perfect without all of that goop on her face—but because he knew how big Anna had been about her daughter always looking presentable. Colin turned to follow Amara’s gaze when a look of surprise passed over her face. He turned in time to see Nancy Wolfe making her way to them.

“You okay?” he asked in a low voice when Amara’s grip on his hand tightened.

“You’re mom’s here.”

“I know.”

“You knew she was coming?” she asked, looking up at him wide-eyed.

“I figured she would. They were friends.”

“Yeah but…”

His mother reached them before she could finish her sentence. She wore a black, knee length dress, very like the one she’d worn to his dad’s funeral. The blonde bob on her head always looked perfect, unlike Colin’s artfully messy mop of hair.

“Amara, I am so sorry for your loss,” Nancy said, reaching over to hug her. Colin smiled when Amara dropped her hand from his and hugged his mother back, shooting a look of gratitude and confusion over her shoulder. It was only then that he realized Amara had probably been worried that Nancy was mad at her for the canceled wedding fiasco, and damn him for not clarifying that nobody was upset with her. It was him that Nancy had an issue with, and he was okay with that.

“Thank you for being here,” Amara said in a whisper as she pulled away.

“Of course, doll, and if you need anything please let me know.”

Nancy looked at her son and could tell his mother was still upset with him, but she shook her head and leaned in for a kiss from him as well. She wouldn’t ignore him out in public. She was his mother, after all.

The pastor, an older balding man with a substantial belly, stopped by and asked if anyone wanted to say a few words. Amara shook her head quickly and downcast her gaze, pretending to swipe muck off of her shoe in the grass, but Colin knew her better. He smiled at his mom and reached out to Amara, pulling her back to his side where she belonged. The pastor said a few words and before they knew it, they were lowering the casket into the ground. He felt Amara shiver and rubbed his hand briskly along her naked arm. He hated knowing this hurt her. When the service was over, they said their goodbyes and waited for the crowd to disperse before saying a private farewell to Anna Maloof.

Once they were alone with Anna’s final resting place in front of them, Colin shrugged off his jacket and put it on the ground. As he knelt, he pulled Amara with him, dropping a kiss on her shoulder. They sat in silence, staring at the grave.

“It’s just weird, you know,” Amara said in a raspy whisper. He knew what she meant. To no longer be able to see someone you love so much—to have to leave them forever in a hole in the ground—it was sad. It was weird. It was terrible.

“She’s gone. I mean, I know she’s gone, but this is it…this is permanent. She’s really gone.” She was talking so low Colin could barely hear her. He wrapped his arms around her tiny body and dipped his face into her neck, breathing her in, the scent of jasmine—of Amara—that always eased his mind for the moment. He didn’t say anything, because there was nothing to say, but he knew his presence was enough for her. It was what he wished he’d had when his father died. His father’s funeral was a circus show; there were people everywhere with cameras, taking photos of him, of his mom, of the guests as they arrived. Everybody was going up to him and offering their condolences and the entire time the only thing Colin needed was Amara, who was in Paris, working in Méchant of all places. He was over it though; he had to get past it. He loved her too much not to.

Colin’s face was still tucked into her neck, his eyes closed, when Amara’s gasp made him yank his head up. His stomach rocked with uneasiness when his eyes found Philip standing on the other side of the cemetery, watching them. The guy was a fucking creep.

“I’ll handle this,” Colin said to Amara as he scooted her from between his crossed legs.

“No,” she said, grabbing his arm. He shot her a bewildered look. “I just… I don’t care. I just want a couple more minutes in peace. Let’s just ignore him.”

Begrudgingly, he sat back down and settled her into his lap again, though he spent the rest of the time glaring in Philip’s general direction until he left. Fucking weirdo. Amara had already let it slip that he liked to watch the girls at Méchant have sex with their clients, and the idea that Amara had been one of them made him want to rip him apart.

Philip wasn’t the type of man that walked around by himself. It was like he carried an invisible army around him that appeared when he needed them. Colin knew that first hand. He’d been out to lunch with Samuel, and his uncle Benjamin, when they ran into Philip. Samuel and Philip got into an escalated argument and suddenly two heavily muscled men appeared at his side. Samuel laughed at the time and ridiculed Philip for always depending on his men. Curious, Colin had asked Samuel questions about it, which Samuel hadn’t really appreciated. Samuel treated Philip the way you treat a brother you don’t get along with, you talk shit about him, make fun of him, but when an outsider does the same thing, you put a stop to it real quick, because it’s your brother, not theirs.

Their relationship was definitely something Colin didn’t understand. Amara shifted on his lap and he met her gaze, then let his eyes fall to her lips, full and soft. He pressed his lips against hers. It was a slow, comforting kiss. Any time he was around Amara, Colin could feel the explosiveness of their attraction for one another, even in a cemetery, apparently. He pulled away with a groan and watched with hooded eyes as she licked her lips slowly and stood. He followed suit and picked up his jacket, shaking the grass off.

“What did you mean the other day when you told Philip you had information on him?” Amara asked, grabbing the hand he offered. All things considered, he was surprised she remembered him saying that. Colin wasn’t going to keep anything from her. Anything she asked, he would tell her. A part of him hoped she didn’t ask too much though, for her own sake.

“The companies he owns are his and his brother’s, and Philip likes to use what he makes to invest in smaller companies—mainly to have something to show off with—but for the past two years he’s been taking a lot more than his cut. I doubt his brother knows.”

“I didn’t even know he had a brother.”

Colin shrugged.

“So what does he do with the money?”

“Puts it in Méchant.”

“Why would he do that?” she asked, confusion clear in her voice.

“Méchant’s a shell company. The investors just use it to clean their money.”

Amara dropped her hand from his as they reached his car, and he stopped in front of the passenger seat to face her. “Does that mean you’re laundering money?”

“I’m not… they are.”

“Can’t you get in trouble for that?”

“Nobody knows my dad was a Méchant investor. I still haven’t signed any papers to take his place in it.”

“But you—”

Colin shook his head and placed a finger on her mouth. “I haven’t signed the papers. I just got all of the information I needed to get in there. I have my dad’s access to everything, but my name isn’t on it.”

“If the company goes down though,” Amara began, pulling his hand away from her mouth. “You’ll be in trouble, Colin. They can take you down with them.”

He opened the car door for her and walked to the other side. Once he’d put on his seat belt he looked at her. She was staring at him impatiently.

“I’ll be fine, Amara,” he said, his voice steady and convincing.

“What if you’re not? Who else invests in Méchant?”

“Philip and Samuel, but they do it through Vivienne; they were smart about it, my father included. So if anybody goes down, it’s her.”

Colin began the drive home and looked over at Amara, who was quiet and thoughtful.

“Why are you smiling?” she asked in an accusatory tone.

“Because you’re worried about me. It’s cute.”

“It’s not cute, you moron. You could go to jail for this.”

“Would you bring me baked cookies?” he asked, chuckling when she crossed her arms and looked out her window. Much to Colin’s amusement, Amara still wasn’t talking to him when they got out of the car. In the elevator, she spoke to another tenant about his English bulldog, but refused to meet Colin’s eyes. She stood so far away from him that clearly the owner of the dog didn’t think they were together. His eyes were clued to Amara’s cleavage every time she bent over to pet the slobbery dog.

“Are you done being mad at me?” Colin asked her as they reached the door to the apartment.

“No.”

He bit the middle of his lip to keep from laughing as she slipped off her shoes and sashayed toward the bedroom.

“Does this mean I’m in the dog house?”

“Yes,” she said over her shoulder as she bit back her own smile. Her dark curls cascaded down her shoulder as she tugged on the zipper of her dress. Colin strode over to her and unzipped the dress slowly. As he exposed her soft skin, he tucked his hands inside the dress and caressed her back in a slow massage. Colin’s dick pumped in his slacks as Amara threw her head back and answered him with a low moan

“What can I do to get out of the dog house?” he whispered in her ear.

“Keep moving your hands.”

He unsnapped her bra and pulled the straps over her shoulders. Trailing his hands down her arms, he pushed the bra and Amara’s dress off of her wrists until the dress fluttered to the floor. Colin hooked his thumbs in the band of her thong and began to shimmy it off of her hips slowly, kissing the length of her spine as he did so— kiss, suck, kiss, nip, until his lips reached the dimple of her lower back. He let her step out of her thong before bringing the his hands back to her ass and palming her cheeks gently at first and increasing his grip as she hissed at him for more pressure.

Colin nudged Amara face down onto the bed and groaned at the sight of her. He loved the way her long hair fanned across her back and pooled on his bed, blending in with the black sheets. Her pert ass looked so good, Colin had to lean in and bite it.

“Ouch! Colin!” Amara protested, looking over her shoulder. He grinned, not sorry at all for what he’d done. If it were up to him, he’d bite every inch of her, not to mark her for every other man to see, but because he wanted to devour her. He wanted to consume her so completely that he’d become second skin to her, as she was part of him.

Amara rolled to her back, exposing her breasts and bringing one knee out to the side, treating him to a great view of the thin landing strip of dark hair between her legs. Colin undressed slowly, knowing how impatient she would become. She surprised him by not urging him to hurry. Instead, she pulled her legs open wider and began running her hand up and down between her breasts in a slow caress. He swallowed loudly, keeping the moan that threatened to escape from doing so, wanting to tease her into thinking he wasn’t as affected as he was. Amara added her other hand to the mix, palming both of her breasts and tweaking her nipples gently. Colin picked up the pace and pulled off his shirt. As he unbuckled his belt and pulled down his pants and boxer briefs, Amara’s hand dipped between her legs to find her clit. The moment her fingers reached her folds, Colin was on her, his tongue taking the place of her finger as his hands held her thighs apart. Amara moaned and pulled on his hair, bucking on the bed as she came hard and fast, saying his name over and over, just the way he liked it. His mouth moved along the inside of her thighs as he waited for her to regain her breath and then his fingers were in the spot his mouth had just worshipped.

Two of his fingers glided inside of her while his thumb grazed her clit in slow circles. Colin moved up on the bed kissed his way up her body until he reached her breasts, where he licked and sucked until her skin was pink. He didn’t talk as he normally did when they had sex. He stayed silent to enjoy the jagged sound of her uneven breathing and the way her body shimmied beneath him. When Amara came again with a loud, “Oh my…” Colin slid his fingers out and licked them slowly as she watched, her long lashes heavy as she blinked up at him in a fascinated, and sated. He positioned his cock between her wet folds and rubbed, groaning at the way it felt to wet himself with her juices.