Читать книгу If Only for Tonight - Sherelle Green - Страница 11

Chapter 2

Seductive moans swarmed around in Shawn’s memory as he recalled every delicate feature of Cydney’s curves. He should have been paying attention to the current topic of discussion at his weekly meeting, but he couldn’t get his mind off her. For months, he’d dreamed about the unbelievable sex he’d had with his exotic lover, and this past weekend he’d sampled her sweetness again.

When he’d learned her identity a month ago, he’d wanted to contact her right away but he didn’t think she’d respond well, since like him, she assumed they’d never see each other again.

I wonder what brought her to Anguilla eight months ago. He’d planned to ask her after they were formally introduced. But when he saw her, the only thing on his mind was getting her out of her dress. She’d looked even sexier than he remembered and he wasn’t done with her yet. Far from it.

An undercover FBI assignment had led him to Chicago and he was definitely going to make the most of his time here after he solved the case. He’d need a good distraction after the upcoming months he faced, anyway. This case was one of the biggest of his career and for personal reasons, it was one of the most important.

“That’s all for now, folks,” said Chicago senior supervisory special agent Larry Wolfe as the meeting came to a close. “Shawn, can you follow me to my office?”

“Yes sir,” Shawn said, putting his thoughts of Cydney on hold. When they arrived at the office, Shawn took a seat close to a window.

“Shawn, I wanted to talk to you about the assignment in a little more detail,” Agent Wolfe said as he sat in a large desk chair opposite Shawn. “I’m sure I don’t have to remind you how important this case is. The DEA and Chicago P.D. will be working closely with us. I know you’ve researched all the current employees for the Peter Vallant Company, but as acting chief information security officer, you need to be debriefed on all the new employees and volunteers for the company.”

Agent Wolfe opened the top shelf of his file cabinet and pulled out a manila file folder. “I need you to go over everything in this file. As you know, Mr. Peter Vallant is the owner of the Peter Vallant Company, one of the top real estate firms in the nation. Mr. Vallant is throwing a series of customer appreciation events in Illinois and Indiana to thank all of the company’s supporters and contributors who participated in their Rebuild Your Community program initiative. You’ll be attending every event and Mr. Vallant is aware that you are undercover. He has agreed to assist you with any additional information you need while attending the events. I trust that your team is prepared.”

“Yes, sir. My top four security guards are aware of the situation and will provide extra sets of eyes during the tour for any suspicious activity. The rest of my security team will stay in Chicago and were told to be alert as they are with every security matter we handle.” In addition to working with the FBI, Shawn had spent the past year building his own high-level security firm. He hadn’t decided on a city to headquarter his company, but he had hired a top-notch security team of former members of the FBI, CIA, P.D. and U.S. military.

“Good. They leave on the appreciation tour later this week.”

“I’ll be ready,” Shawn said as he stood from his seat.

“Oh, and, Shawn,” Agent Wolfe called.

“Yes,” Shawn said as he turned his head over his shoulder.

“Can you handle this?”

Shawn knew why he was asking and appreciated the concern. But there was no way he was giving up the opportunity to work on this case. He stood to lose too much and he knew that solving the case would bring him some closure. “Is there anything I can’t handle?” he said sarcastically, demeaning the seriousness of the situation.

“Just making sure,” Agent Wolfe said with a slight laugh.

Shawn then walked out of the office and into the busy hallway buzzing with agents and other personnel ready to start their Monday. Using his thumb to flip through the pages in the file, Shawn familiarized himself with a few new faces he hadn’t originally researched as he shuffled around people walking past him.

When he was halfway through glancing at the pages in the file, Shawn stopped short. “What are the odds,” he said surprisingly as he studied the beautiful brown eyes of the woman who’d been sneaking into his thoughts way too frequently.

“Cydney Rayne, Elite Events, Incorporated. Lead planner for the appreciation series of events,” Shawn said aloud as he read the headline on the page. “Damn.” Yes, he was anxious to see her and continue what they’d started in the closet, but he didn’t mix business with pleasure. When it came to his work, nothing and no one stood in his way, and he couldn’t afford to compromise this case.

Shawn had a reputation as being one of the best undercover special agents in the bureau. A lot of agents were surprised to learn he ultimately wanted to leave the FBI and start his own company. But those who knew his story weren’t surprised by his decision at all. For the past few years he’d tried to avoid coming back to Chicago, the second city he was assigned to when he joined the FBI. But a few months ago, he’d known he had to return and finish what he’d started. It was a miracle he even got on this case in the first place. Agent Wolfe was more than his supervisor. He was more like family. Shawn hadn’t had the pleasure of knowing his biological parents and although he had great guardians, Agent Wolfe had been key in his development from boy to man. Agent Wolfe knew what Shawn stood to lose if he didn’t solve the case, and since he cared about him, Agent Wolfe had appointed Shawn as the undercover agent despite the personal conflict. But Shawn wasn’t too sure how Agent Wolfe would react if he knew about his relationship with Cydney.

“Miss Rayne, Miss Rayne. It seems I have a bigger issue than I thought,” Shawn said as he continued to stare intently at her picture. Since their relationship had been purely physical, he hadn’t told her what he did for a living. He would have given her a fake job, anyway, but that would have further complicated the situation, so he was glad that he had kept his mouth shut. Cydney wouldn’t like the fact that she would be working so closely with him, so she’d probably maintain her distance. At least that was what Shawn was hoping would be the case. He had a feeling that Cydney could be unpredictable at times and that could definitely pose a problem.

He looked from her eyes to her lips as he studied her picture one last time. For his sake, he hoped she would decide to keep her distance because if she didn’t, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to resist her.

“Stay focused,” he said to himself as he tried to reinforce his thoughts before leaving her page to finish scanning the rest of the documents in the file.

* * *

Cyd chanted Beyoncé’s recent hit as she poured herself a cup of coffee and waited for her partners to arrive to the conference room. The song had been playing in her head all weekend and she was feeling good. Even better than good—she was feeling great. She wanted to ignore the fact that Shawn was the cause of her happiness, but she couldn’t. The man had sexed her in a much needed way and she’d been on a high ever since.

After adding the perfect amount of cream and sugar to her coffee, she took a sip and savored the bitter yet sweet taste. She walked to a nearby window to enjoy the brilliant colors of the fall leaves, taking two more sips of the warm deliciousness. Each taste was better than the last.

“Hmm,” she said aloud, not noticing that her partners had walked into the conference room. “Amazing.”

“Okay,” her sister Imani said, disrupting her enjoyable moment. “Who are you and what have you done with the real Cydney Rayne?”

“Very funny,” Cyd replied. “I haven’t been that bad.”

Imani looked at Mya and Lex before turning her head back to Cyd. “You’re joking, right? Do you even remember how you’ve been acting lately?”

“Well, let us remind you,” Lex chimed in. “You’ve been tense over the past few months even though you’ve tried to hide it behind your usual sarcasm. To make matters worse, you missed the bridesmaids’ group dance and the maid-of-honor toast on Imani’s wedding day.”

Whoops! Cyd had definitely forgotten about those last couple details. “Hey, I gave my maid-of-honor toast.”

“Yeah, about thirty minutes late!” Mya replied. “And you disappeared for almost an hour. We couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“So true,” Imani added. “Even though I refused to get upset on the most important day of my life, I honestly can’t believe you pulled a stunt like that on my wedding day.”

Cyd dropped her head backward and stared at the ceiling. She was slightly irritated that she was receiving the third degree, although part of her knew she deserved it. As she twisted her head to crack her neck, she immediately thought about Shawn placing soft kisses along her collarbone. She could still visualize every single moment of their sexual escapade in the closet.

“And you have the nerve to be smiling right now,” Imani said, interrupting her thoughts. “Oh, man, you are so lucky that I leave for my honeymoon in a few days because I could strangle you! But I refuse to get arrested and miss my vacation with my new husband!”

“Sorry,” Cyd said as she sat down at the conference table and thought about how her sister must feel. “If it’s any consolation, I have a very good explanation.”

All three women joined her at the table as they waited intently for her to finish.

“We’re listening,” Imani said impatiently when Cyd didn’t jump right in with excuses. Cyd had planned on telling them about Shawn, but she was hoping they would be a little less tense if she waited until Monday. Times like this made working with her sister, cousin and friend really complicated. They were a large part of one another’s lives and were also founders of a very successful business. Although she loved them dearly, sometimes she wished she could have a day or two to relax and take a step back from the family and business chaos. Luckily, a series of upcoming events would help her do just that.

Taking a deep breath, Cyd put on her big-girl pants and prepared to explain what happened.

“Do you guys remember meeting Shawn at the wedding?”

“Daman’s friend?” Imani asked.

“Yes,” Cyd replied as she watched each of her partner’s eyes open wide with interest. “Well, something happened between us during the wedding.”

“And what exactly might that be?” Mya inquired.

Cyd scrunched her nose as she thought about the right way to tell them. Slightly closing her eyes, she chose to be blunt about it. “We sneaked off to the grand walk-in closet in the foyer...and had sex.” There, she’d said it.

As she fully opened her eyes, she laughed when she noticed all three women had their mouths hanging open.

Imani was the first to speak. “You mean to tell me that while I was wondering why on earth my sister and maid of honor had missed our group dance and the time for her speech, you were getting freaky in a closet?”

“Um...yes,” Cyd said a little unknowingly, since she couldn’t tell if her sister’s high-pitched squeal and the fact that she was now standing was a good or bad thing.

Imani’s face went from surprise to excitement in a matter of seconds. “Well, judging how fine Shawn is, I’d say you did well, little sis.”

Cyd threw her head back and laughed. She should have known her sister would react that way.

“I shouldn’t even have to ask based off that look you had a few minutes ago, but was the sex good?”

Cyd gripped her Starbucks mug a little tighter and took another sip of her coffee. “It was way better than good. Y’all saw how the man looked that day. I could barely control myself when we were introduced.” No need to disclose the fact that it had actually been their second time meeting each other. She’d keep that bit of information to herself.

“He had to be good,” Lex interjected. “I never remember you actually giving a man credit for being better than good in the bedroom.”

“Or admit to not being able to control yourself,” Imani added. “So I’m guessing he had a lot of qualities off your list?”

Instead of answering Imani’s question, Cyd’s mind drifted back to the night she was with Shawn in Anguilla. She had spent a week with Imani, Lex and Mya in Barbados before meeting her college girlfriends in Anguilla. Lex and Mya had been on a quest to find sexy islanders in Barbados and had succeeded. But nothing could have prepared her for the likes of Shawn Miles when she landed in Anguilla. As shallow as it sounded, Cyd always knew the men she entertained weren’t up to her standard. The men who she believed were a great match were often too nervous to approach her, further proving her point that he wasn’t “Mr. Right” in the first place. So she settled for a bunch of “Mr. Right Nows,” waiting for a man who would sweep her off her feet.

Imani cleared her throat, zapping Cyd back to reality. “No,” Cyd slightly lied. “He doesn’t have a lot of qualities on my love list, but he does have almost every quality off my lust list.”

“Maybe you should create a ‘you’re full of it’ list,” Mya said with a laugh, her comment receiving snickers from Imani and Lex, as well. Cyd knew they thought her lists were stupid, but she didn’t care. In her mind, her lists were a necessity.

“Don’t we have business to discuss?” Cyd said, directing her question to Imani since it was her turn to lead the meeting. Imani gave her a look insinuating that she wanted to say something else, but luckily she dropped it.

“Okay, since Cyd will have her hands tied with the series of appreciation events for the Peter Vallant Company, we will need to make sure we plan efficiently and not overbook ourselves.”

“Agreed,” Mya said. “Let’s make sure that we remind our assistants to constantly check our calendars.”

“How much traveling is required?” Lex asked Cyd.

“Since the events are all in Illinois or Indiana, I will be living in and out of a hotel for the next month or so, but I don’t mind. I’ll find out more when I meet with Mr. Vallant in a couple days.” Cyd loved to travel, and although small towns in the Midwest weren’t exactly her idea of a good time, she’d enjoy herself nonetheless.

“Great. How about we go around the table and give an update on what we’re working on,” Imani suggested. “I’ll go first.”