Page 43 of Rise of the King (Checkmate 5)

I remember back to a time before I was hurt and cocaine was kicking my ass, when my nights were hazy, broken, and filled with bad choices, and my days were made up of too much nicotine, too much alcohol, and too many naps to combat my bad choices and good memory.

I remember sitting in my car more than twelve hundred yards from a roadside diner where I watched my brother and his girlfriend through a scope. Smiling, I watched him palm this blonde’s ass beneath her dress, make out with her in public, and almost get them both arrested for public indecency.

My world was falling down around me because I was an addict who couldn’t walk away, and my career had officially taken a turn from undercover agentpretendingto be a thug, to straight up being a thug who committed crimes far more often than I solved them.

But Jessie and Kane sat in that diner in the middle of the morning and made out like a couple kids on spring break. His world was just as shitty as mine, but in the dark, he was able to find love.

He showed me our world under Abel Hayes’ reign wasn’t the end.

I watched him smile and joke with Jess. He made her quiver under his touch, and when he turned his back, and another woman stepped up and gave Jess sass, that blonde spitfire went rank and showed her spine the way Soph barks at me.

What can I say? Bishop men are attracted to psychos.

“Hey!” Soph tosses a tennis ball at my head and beans me just below my scar. “I said I’m hungry.”

“So come over here and eat my cock. That oughtta fill you up.”

Pursing her lips, she stands from her desk and stretches her back until her spine pops and a groan escapes her throat. “I’d be super grateful if you could get food and bring it back.” Walking around the couch and stopping in front of me, she drops down into a crouch and meets my eyes. “Pretty please?”

“Call something in for delivery. Then I don’t have to put my boots on.”

“But I want a burger from Ginnie’s.” Leaning forward, she drops a teasing kiss on my lips and a fast swipe of her palm over my dick. “Ginnie doesn’t deliver. Pretty,prettyplease?”

I never used to be a guy who’d hang out with one chick. I don’t stay in their apartments, watch their TVs, stroke their hair for the six hours a night they sleep and I lay awake. And I definitely don’t fetch food on request.

But…“Take a break and come down with me.” I pull her into my lap and smile when her hot core brushes over the cock she made hard. She makes me hard just by existing. And if I thought my appetite for sex was a weird anomaly, or something noonewoman could keep up with, then I was wrong. If Soph isn’t working, eating, or sleeping, she’s bringing me pleasure and making it so other women don’t even enter my mind. Wondrously, she’senough, and I didn’t think any single woman could do that. Sliding my hand under her sweater, I palm her bare breast and grin when her bottom lip drops into a sexy pout. “You haven’t stopped all day. Come with me, then come with me.”

“I can’t…” Her eyes close as she drops her head back and enjoys my fingers on her nipple. “Jay…” Despite herself, she moves in my lap, slides her pussy over my thigh, and leans against my chest. She’s so responsive. She’s as hungry as I am. Ridiculously, I had to go and find the one woman on the planet who eats as much as I do, then fucks off her energy and still has some left over for later. “Jay, stop. I don’t have time to stop working. You knew this about me.”

“Just an hour?”

“Last time you asked for an hour, you practically moved in and haven’t left yet. I don’t have time for you right now.”

Leaning forward, I take her thick bottom lip between my teeth and bite until she hisses. “That was rude and unwelcoming.”

Laughing, she smacks my chest and grunts when I don’t let her go. “I never said I wasn’t rude. I also said I didn’t want you here. Which part of that gave you the impression I was welcoming?”

“Your hot pussy was kinda welcoming.” I tweak her nipple and groan when she grinds down over my cock. “Let’s fuck first, beautiful Sophia, then dinner, then you can get back to work.”

“No!” Pushing my hand out of her top, she bounds out of my lap and cups her pussy. “You’re not allowed to touch right now. I have work to do, Jay. Really important work. And to be able to do that work, I need food. I have a mooch living on my couch, a mooch who claims he has a few days off from his bullshit fridge job, so either leave and go back to your apartment, or go get me food and help me keep my job, which, by the way, pays for the heat and food you so love to mooch.”

“You’re so bossy.” Huffing, I stand and fix my shorts around my still-hard cock. Walking across the room and snatching up my wallet and phone, I turn back and point. “I paid for every meal since I got here, just so you know. I’m not a complete mooch. I pay my way.”

“I never said you were cheap, just that you’re a pest when I’m trying to work. Please bring me food. I’d truly appreciate it. When you get back, after I’m done working, we can fuck and your hurt pride will feel all better.”

“Don’t think I’m letting you forget that, Sophia. I’m gonna fuck you till you apologize for being rude.”

“Suits me.” She turns away with a dismissive shrug and drops back into her desk chair. “I like when you angry fuck, anyway. I get to come more often when you’re pissed.”

Stalking forward with a thundering heart, I stop behind her chair and lean in. Biting her neck, I don’t let go until she throws an elbow back and cries out. “Asshole.” She spins and rubs her neck. “That hurt, jerk.”

“Good. That means even when I walk out that door, you’ll still feel me.” Grabbing her jaw, I pull her up and press my lips to hers. It’s noisy, dry, and ends with her huff of impatience. “Back soon, Tiny Dancer. Work fast; we have personal shit to take care of.”

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