tiny bit. There’s something magical in her skin.
“It’s a nice night,” she says softly. “The moon and stars are really bright tonight. It’s beautiful.”
The night is beautiful, but Cici is prettier than all of it, she’s amazing. She’s churning my insides, making my heart dance, she’s turning me into some mushy ass guy that I’m really not. It’s an intense feeling.
“Yeah, and it’s about to get much better too.” I grab her shoulders and spin her around to see. “Look.”
Once we reach the top of the hill, I turn Cici towards the direction where I know there’s a firework display about to happen. It arose suspicion in our office, one of the people involved is on our radar, so the DEA men on duty will be there watching just in case there’s something going on underneath the surface that we need to know about. It’s not something that we’re certain is linked to Kingpin, but we have to on top form. The way that things are at the moment, we need to check out every single lead just in case. I hope they get something.
Or do I? I’m not so sure anymore. Now that I’m so deeply embedded in this case I kinda want it to be me. But I’m not so egotistical that I wouldn’t be happy if we got some kind of breakthrough. If they get something, great, I’ll be happy. If they get him, I’ll be silently fucking furious while outwardly happy. It has to be me, I’m sure of it. The more that this case goes on, the more I feel like everything is a personal attack.
Or maybe I’m nuts. Perhaps my ego really is off the scale and I’ll getting out of control. Who knows?
“Oh my God!” Cici squeals as the fireworks light up the sky. “How did you know this would happen?”
I lean into her, wrapping my arms around her back and resting them on her torso. I snuggle my face into her neck, breathing in the wonderful scent of her hair while we watch. “See? I told you it would be worth it.”
“Oh yeah.” Cici nods enthusiastically. “Totally worth it. If you’d told me then I would’ve gone faster.”
“But then it wouldn’t have been a surprise.”
“Oh yeah, that’s true.” She rocks her hips back into me. “The shock factor was pretty cool.”
We watch the rest of the fireworks display in silence, with my arms clinging to her the entire time. Even when I heard about the fireworks, I didn’t think I’d bring her up to it, but now that me and Cici are here it feels right. I don’t even mind that I’m up here with her rather than down there with my colleagues sniffing out the next clue. Well, not much. Maybe there’s a small part of me itching to get down there, but it isn’t strong enough to drag me away, and that’s really something. That’s enough to make me realize that this is something truly special.
Chapter Nine – Cici
I feel like my body is flaming as we go into Will’s apartment. This isn’t somewhere I ever thought I’d end up again, but I’m glad that I am. I’m also pleased I didn’t let Michelle’s words freak me out. Maybe she’s dated bad boys who she wanted to change and failed, but that isn’t what’s happening here. There really is something between me and Will, something that’ll easily overcome anything from the past. He didn’t even know me then, how can I pass judgement on his behavior before I came into his life, can I?
“I don’t know if I showed you around last time, did I?” Will asks me, with his hand still looped through mine. “We kinda just rushed from room to room, didn’t we? Do you want to see the place?”
I nod while a heat creeps through me. “Sure, that sounds good. Show me everything, I want to see it all.”
Will takes me through his apartment, showing me everything. Not that I noticed too much last time, but today it’s definitely a lot tidier. I wonder if he’s put all that effort in to making it nice for me. Just a perfect end to a seriously awesome date. Being out with Will wasn’t like being with anyone else. His date was different. Even the standard having dinner part, because I was with him and we have this intense chemistry, it was better. Sure, it was a little odd in the beginning, there was some definite awkwardness, but we got over that pretty sharpish.
Then there were the fireworks. Maybe if it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t be here now. I’d try to pretend that this was a real first date and I wouldn’t want to have sex the very first date, but the fireworks ignited that spark within me. Plus, we have already had sex anyway, so it isn’t like I’m trying to maintain anything. We’ve overstepped that boundary so I’m free to behave however the hell I want to. And I want to be here right now.
“You don’t have any photographs,” I muse thoughtfully as we move around his home. “Like, at all?”
“Hmm, no I suppose not.” He claps his hand to his forehead. “I guess I’m just not a picture person.”
On impulse, I grab him and I tug my cell phone out of my bag and I take a quick selfie of the pair of us. “There. Now you have a picture.” I stick my tongue out at him. “That’s one for the wall, isn’t it?”
A little part of me expects him to freak out. I wait for him to warn me not to overreact and start reading into things that aren’t there. We had sex once and now we’re on our first date, I shouldn’t try and infiltrate his home, but shockingly I get none of that. He shrugs and smiles at me. “Sure. Sounds good, print it out.”
“Really?” I laugh. “Are you sure? I can’t do it now, but I will. I’ll get a frame for it too.”
Will senses my challenge and he rises to it. “Oh, you better, and I’ll put it on the mantlepiece.”
Weirdly, I hope he does. That would solidify what I’m pretty sure is going on between us. There’s something underlying, building, growing. I can’t wait to find out more about what it is.
Aside from the lack of photographs and the new cleanliness, the other thing I spot are the books. He has books everywhere, all kinds as well. He must like his reading. I like it too, but this is on another level. His dining table has about six books on it and no sign of food. Does he read and not eat? What’s the deal with that?
I’m just about to ask him something about it, but before I get the chance Will makes his move. He grabs onto me and he kisses me with even more passion that the last time that we were together. His lips pretty much strip my breath away. I fall against him, instantly giving myself over to him at the very first opportunity.
“I have been wanting to kiss you all night long,” he murmurs as he pushes me back against the table. “Those fucking lips of yours are something else. Mmm, I’ve been dreaming about them all week.”
Maybe this is a line. I’m well aware that he’s been a player, but there’s something about them that feel real. I can almost picture him lying on his bed, thinking about me the way I have been him. It’s awesome to think of us both pining for one another, waiting for the moment that we can finally be together again.