What They Don't Know (Won't Hurt Them Trilogy #1) (31 page)

“Holy shit, Lisa. Are
you serious? You should have led with that.” I get up and open my
door to listen. Sure as shit, I can hear the faint voice of a female.

“Lisa, you are not
supposed to be here this early.”

“Dammit, Bria, I'm
not supposed to be here at all. I had to complete a few details on
that Brunswick deal. I knew it was only going to take me an hour or
so. I just thought in early, get it done, and get out.

“Okay, listen, Lisa.
You heard nothing; you saw nothing.”

“He's done this
before?”

I don't answer her.

“Bria, you have to
tell me.”

“Lisa, this man is
powerful.”

“Bria, I know.”

“So, you know that if
he knows you know, the consequences of that.”

“Shit, Bria, it
doesn't matter. I'm toast anyway.”

I look at her confused
because I hope she isn’t trying to pry information from me for
leverage regarding her job.

“He knows about
ladies’ night, Bria; he knows how wild I am.”

“Lisa, who cares
about that as long as you're successful here? Mr. Wilke doesn't give
a flying hockey puck what you do outside this place.” I have to
assure her of this. She looks like she's lost most of the color in
her face. I can't believe she's worried about ladies’ night. My
boss is in his office, having very early morning sex. My biggest
concern is who exits that office with him.

“So has he done this
before?” she asks in her softer voice.

I nod. “But if you
say anything to anyone. I swear and promise I'll pull your tongue out
and feed it back to you.” She winces and nods.

“Who is it?” she
asks.

“What do you mean?”
I play the role.

“Who's the female?”

“Oh, my God, it's his
wife, Lisa.” I pray that his wife comes out of that office. Mr.
Wilke doesn't play like that, unless it is absolutely after hours. He
knew there would be a few people in today. He wouldn't risk it. It’s
too dangerous.

As I think about how
I'm going to play this with Lisa, there’s a knock on my door.

“Come in.” I
wide-eye Lisa and shrug my shoulders.

“Hi-yee, love, how
are you?” Mrs. Wilke comes into my office while Lisa is sitting on
a chair near the window.

“Lisa, how are you?”
she says.

“Fine, Mrs. Wilke,
and you?”

“I'm fine now; hubby
tried to get away from me this morning. I had to show him who’s the
boss.”

My cheeks flush red and
Lisa coughs a laugh.

“I know you girls got
an earful this morning. Ladies, we are close to forty; we are still
very active.” Mrs. Wilke shares this bit of info and I flush from
head to toe. “Well, ladies, I have a few things to get done today.
I've already accomplished one. Check!” She hand motions a check
mark on her hand. I laugh and shake my head. “Bria, I've sent a few
details to you for my husband.” She glares at me as if I know what
she is referring to.

“Okay, I'll take a
look at them and send everything back to you to confirm.”

“Well done, love.
Make sure the mister leaves here within an hour.”

“Will do, Mrs.
Wilke.”

“Nice to see you
again, Lisa.”

“Same here, Mrs.
Wilke.”

“Ladies.” She
closes my door then Lisa and I bust a gut laughing.

“Surprisingly, it's
not disgusting,” Lisa says.

“No, it's not. They
are both very sexy people.”

“Especially Mr.
Wilke,” Lisa reveals. “He could definitely get it.”

“Lisa!”

“What, Bria? You know
that man can get all up in you.”

“Lisa!” I laugh out
to her.

She laughs. “If it
wasn't occupied by Cruz, Bryant, Cruz, Cruz.”

“Shut up, Lisa.”

She continues to laugh.
“Girlfriend, you have two gorgeous men wanting that P. What do you
have in those panties? Shit, I want one.”

I laugh at her antics
about me. “You are too much, Lis.”

She gets up from the
chair. “Let me finish up this deal and I'm out of here before I
encounter anything else.”

“Okay, chickie, I'll
call you tonight.”

“All right, Bria,
later.”

* * *

The private
investigator arrives early. I explain to him what I need and how
discretion is important. We both come to an agreement; he signs a few
disclosures as I do. We sign each other’s contracts; his says I
agree to employ him for one year, flat rate fee.

Mine says, I agree to
employ him under the agreement that all information sought is only
for me, the employer, and cannot be sold to third parties. His fee is
as stated in his contract as one said flat fee for one year. I fax
over all documents to Mr. Wilke's lawyer to verify while we confirm
other paperwork that needs to be signed.

I ask Mr. Tripp a few
questions just to get familiar with him. “Is there anything you
want to know, Mr. Tripp?”

“No, I've already
completed a background check on you,” he admits.

“Wow... really?”

He tilts his head to
the side. “Yeah, Bria Watts, I have.”

I nod. “You are the
only employee of mine who knows my full name.”

“Do you prefer to be
called B?”

“Only around the
others, if you don't mind.”

“That's cool.”

“What's your first
name?” I ask him.

“Marcus.”

“So you were in law
enforcement?

“Yes, twelve years
fresh out of college.”

“That makes you
thirty-three or thirty-four?”

“Yep, thirty-three,”
he answers.

Marcus is probably of
an interracial ethnicity. I know for sure he's part Black American,
but I can't detect what other race he might be.

I'm illiterate to race.
I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'd rather admit it than to think I know
and be completely wrong, I see black or white. If you're Puerto Rican
or Mexican, you’re Hispanic to me. If you're Chinese, Japanese, or
Vietnamese, to me you’re Asian. Arabic, Hindu, Pakistani, or
Palestinian... um, Indian I think. Not of Indian descent or tribal,
that's me.

He's definitely mixed
with something. He's fine too; I really don't need to surround myself
with all of these gorgeous people. It will begin to be distracting
and dangerous. My lower lady is mistreated enough; she doesn't need
false arousal.

“So what about you,
Bria; why this line of business?”

I chuckle because I've
been asked this question before.

“It's a booming
business; it's legal this way. It's not just sex; it's companionship,
fantasies, and events. Some of my clients don't request sex at all.”

“Oh,” he says.

“Yeah, it's all total
discretion and I'm paid well; so are my guys.” He nods. “Can I
ask you a question, Mr. Tripp?”

“You can call me
Tripp; my friends do.” He smiles.

“Okay, Tripp, can I
ask what your nationality is?”

“I'm Black American
and Seminole Indian.”

“Get out! You are
not!”

“I am and so are you,
Bria.” I wide-eye him.

“I'm a bit nervous,”
I say aloud. He laughs.

“No need to be
alarmed. Remember, I did perform a background check on you; but I
didn't find that out until today. I have your picture, and I saw it
in your cheekbones. I dug a little deeper and discovered that we
could be related. I'll get that information later.”

“No way!”

“Yep.” He nods.

“I'm excited to
know.”

“That will definitely
change things here,” Tripp comments.

“Really, why?”

“I'll have to protect
you as family not an employer; it's a deeper bond.”

“I understand.” And
I do. We tend to protect our own before we protect someone random. My
email sends me a notification and I quickly read it.

“Everything seems to
check out fine, Tripp.”

“You were worried
they wouldn’t?”

“Oh no, I was fine
with the contracts. I just needed a certified lawyer’s eye.”

“Cool beans,” he
says. I laugh.

“What?” he asks.

“We're related,” I
say, nodding, laughing again.

“What? You use that
term also?”

“Absolutely,” I
say.

He laughs and nods.
“Yep.”

Tripp and I get things
settled as he performs background checks on my current employees.
Along with all of my clients that Mr. Wilke turned over to me, I have
to check Mr. Morgan’s background. I hate to do it, but it has to be
done. I also have him run a check on Cruz, as well as two other
prospects. One I only have initials for. He questions my method of
finding employees but soon understands why I hired him. He also
reveals this is a small town; he knows one of my recent new hires. He
says that he's a decent guy. It's good to know my choice is a good
choice.

“I'll get all these
files back in a few days. I suggest we scan everything I find and
store on a flash drive.”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, Bria, I will
stay in contact with you on whatever I find and also if I need any
other info.”

“Okay, Tripp, thanks
for all your help.”

He winks. “No
problem,” he says, as he smiles. I didn't notice at first, but he
has a very distinguished smile. He is very handsome. I really hope
we're related... because Mr. Marcus Tripp can definitely get it.

* * *

It's later than normal
when I make it home and I notice I have a text from Lisa.

I fire up my laptop
after my shower to check my emails. I have a couple responses from
posts I replied to. BP has replied, he wants to meet. I send him an
email back; although, I should wait until Tripp gets back to me with
the backgrounds.

It's no harm scheduling
an interview. If he turns up no good, I'll just cancel. Wait, he did
say it'll be a few days. I know, I'll send Ford a text to let him
know I'll need him soon. In the meantime, BP has emailed me to
confirm the date and time. So I send Ford the info to cover my
scheduling.

I wait for Ford to
confirm.

I finish checking
emails and close my laptop. I can hear a sound coming from my front
door. I try to distinguish the sound. It sounds like someone is
tapping on my door. I get up from the bed to see who it is. I peek
out of the door. Cruz is standing with his back turned. I open the
door; he turns around, and stares at me for a few seconds before he
rushes past me.

“Uh, excuse me,” I
scoff as I shut the door. He's heading toward my bedroom, but stops
at the security panel. He enters in the code but it doesn't work. He
looks at me as if that was the wrong thing to do. I hurry to the
panel to enter the correct code. He leans to the right of him to look
into my bedroom. He turns back to me; and without a word, he grabs my
oversized T-shirt to pull me to him. Cruz grabs the back of my neck
as he covers my mouth with his. I try to move away, but it's too
late. He thrusts his tongue into my mouth.

The kiss is forceful
but careful. His free hand yanks my shirt over my head. I'm standing
in the hall naked. Cruz is still fully clothed with his cold jacket
still on. It's pressing against my breasts making my nipples hard.
I'm not quite sure what to do with my hands. Well I do, I'm just
undecided whether to grab him to force his clothes off or to push him
away.

My lower lady has
awakened; she's against all things logical. I hate her; she causes
too many problems. Cruz hasn't made one sound; he's kissing me so
hard it's almost painful. I know he's aware of my kissing issues, but
that doesn't seem to stop him. He runs his hands down the sides of my
body. He grabs my waist with one hand, the other cups my ass to lift
me up. I wrap my legs around his waist as I hold on to his neck with
one hand. The other is forcing his jacket from his shoulders. It
finally falls to the floor. I pull his shirt up over his head so that
it's not quite off; he still has his arms in. His body is so smooth,
no tattoos, just clean and ripped.

He pulls away from my
lips only to remove his shirt completely. He looks into my eyes
before he takes my lips again; he does it gently this time. The
urgency in his kiss is still the same. This time my body has a
reaction that I don't recognize. I'm hot... like flushing hot. Cruz
dips his head to kiss my neck. I raise my head so he can gain better
access. My legs are helping me stay in place. He grabs my hands and
raises them above my head. He lifts me higher so he can play with my
breasts. His tongue is teasing my nipples as he switches between the
two before he latches on to one. I hiss in pleasure and he stops
without warning. He walks into my bedroom with me still attached to
him and our kisses get deeper. I've never felt my body like this
before. I feel like I'm having mini orgasms with Cruz's kisses. He
kneels down on the bed.

“Lie back, honey.”
I do as he says; but I'm nervous, almost scared. He hasn't said one
word to me until now. It makes me anxious. He’s over me with his
hands on either side of me so that I don't move. He does what I
should expect, but it catches me by surprise. He licks my lips
swiftly before he kisses down the center of my body.