Joey gave him a tiny smile.

Pleasing me actually makes her happy. A heady sense of power swept in and forced him to test the unchartered waters. "I want you to take me in your mouth."

Her head jerked up, and she stared at him with eyes as round as bowling balls.

"Now."

She blinked and rubbed his thighs.

His heart knocked against his ribs. Is she really going to do this?

Leaning forward, she flicked her tongue at the sensitive spot under his tip.

He buried his fingers in her hair as she swallowed him into her mouth. "That's it, baby, better get Daddy off fast. We don't want to get caught, do we?"

"Uh, uh," she hummed around him, sending tendrils of fire throughout his body. The powerful suction of her mouth and the magic of her strokes in time sent him straight toward bliss. It had been too long since he had that talented mouth of hers at work on him. "I'm going to fuck that pretty mouth of yours and come down your throat."

Joey moaned, and he pushed her head down. She took him deep, gagging as she adjusted to his girth. He'd never been this rough, but the submission did something funny to him. To see this strong, independent woman willingly give her power over to him for safekeeping blew his mind. She hummed, and he released the load he'd been holding in for over a week.

Chapter Five.

"Are we really going back to the scene of the crime?" Hilary said.

"Crime? I met my future husband here." Juliette shoved her lightly and she laughed.

"I kid, I kid." Hil held her hand up in surrender, and Joey shook her head.

Lunch hadn't worked out with Evonne's schedule, so they decided to ease the path to ambush with cocktails and dancing.

"Where is the ball and chain? I'm shocked he let you out of his sight," Joey teased with a wink.

"Are we talking about me or you? You and Moose were holed up the entire week," Juliette retorted.

"He was gone for a while." Joey shrugged.

"A whole week," Hil repeated.

"Someone's got it bad," Juliette taunted.

"Shut up," Joey mumbled, putting on a finishing coat of red lip gloss. "I declare myself beautified and ready to party my ass off. You still playing DD, Hil?"

"Yeah, I have no desires to lose my inhibition. Lord knows I'd end up a sobbing, mascara-smeared mess." Hil shook her head.

"'Rents still playing tug-o-war?" Joey asked, wrapping an arm to give her friend a quick hug.

"Yes, which is stupid. I mean, it's not like I have to choose one of them to live with." Hil rolled her eyes. "I understand my mom feels betrayed and Dad royally fucked up. But he's still my dad. I can't just cut him out completely." Hil sighed. "I'm also not ready to cozy up to his home-wrecking hussy either. I mean how cliche, the secretary? It's insane how I look at them now and think maybe I never knew them. Because if they were the golden couple they appeared to be on the surface, how the hell could this be going on?" She tucked a few curls behind her ears. "Makes me doubt my ability to judge people, and I don't even know what I think about true love now. They were always my example...ugh." She shook her head. "This isn't where I want my head to be tonight."

Juliette added a hug of her own. "There's no way you could've known if your mother didn't. Some people are good at playing a role, and your dad's job took him away a lot. It made it easier."

"I know that logically. But since when do emotions follow logic?" Hil concluded.

"Never, that's why they fucking suck," Joey said.

Juliette laughed. "Oh yeah, Moose is rubbing off on you. Any minute now, you'll be hitting us with an eh."

"Oh fuck you." Joey gave them the middle finger, and they laughed. She didn't mind being the butt of the joke when comic relief was needed.

"Evonne should be getting here soon, shouldn't she?" Juliette wondered. Her brows drew together.

Joey frowned. "What's up, Jul, you look worried."

"Nothing, I've just been thinking about our last conversation a lot recently. I want to meet this guy, and I want to hear her side of it. If I even get the hint something's wrong..."

"We go to operation lockdown," Hil said. The determination in her voice left no room for argument.

"Operation, what?" Joey asked. "Did I miss something, because I know of no such plan?"

"Not a plan, just a concept," Juliette said.

"Well, she's a grown-ass woman, so I don't know how we'd make her do anything." Joey said. "I don't want her to feel like she walked into the Spanish Inquisition. If we make her feel cornered, it could push her even closer to him."

"I don't care if we cock-block her ass to death and dodge her every move. We have to look out for each other. Besides, with Gadget's skills it wouldn't be hard," Hil said.

Joey exchanged a surprised look with Juliette. "Whoa, we're on favors territory?" Joey asked.

"Do we have another Mayhem love connection?" Jul said.

"No, nothing like that. He's a great reference for my books," Hil said, delivering a dismissive wave of her hand.

Juliette huffed, rolling her eyes.

Joey laughed. "Of course, what were we thinking?" she said.

The doorbell rang. Showtime.

"Don't bum-rush her, we're going to ply her with drinks first, remember," Hilary said.

"You know you're starting to get scary with the plotting and cloak and dagger bit. We need to get you away from your computer more," Joey said.

They made their way downstairs, and Joey opened the front door to reveal a woman she almost didn't recognize. Evonne could only be described as radiant. Her skin glowed, her eyes sparkled, and her outfit was on point. The little black dress hugged her full hips, showed off her slender waist and accented her large breasts.

"Who are you and what have you done with my friend?" Joey asked.

Evonne laughed. "You like it? Levi bought it for me on our trip. I wasn't going to wear it, but then, I thought, what the hell? We promised each other we'd live a little." She stepped inside and exchanged hugs and greetings with Juliette and Hil.

"Now, we're all here, we ready to head out?" Joey said.

A chorus of yeses made her laugh.

Three drinks in, the girls were outside on the patio for air, a fresh set of margaritas in assorted flavors in everyone's hands, except for Hil, who had water.

"It's crowded tonight," Juliette said.

"Yeah, this place hasn't lost any of its popularity," Hil said.

"Funny thing. I swore I saw some bikers," Joey said shaking her head.

"You would." Evonne rolled her eyes.

"Shut up. I have my man." Joey nudged her playfully.

"Speaking of that. I need to be filled in pronto," Evonne demanded, turning to face Joey.

"Only if you do me the same favor," Joey said, quickly taking the opening.

"Deal, but mine's a hell of a lot less interesting, I'll wager," Evonne said.

I'm not so sure about that. "I don't know about that. Moose and I are dating," Joey said.

"Since when? How did this happen?" Evonne said.

"A little bit after we got named best man and maid of honor. I kept it to myself because I wasn't sure if it was worth mentioning," Joey said.

"And now?" Evonne arched her eyebrow.

"It's official, so I figured it was time to come clean because this won't be over for a while," Joey said.

"How serious is this?" Evonne asked.

"We're having a good time and we like where we are. That's all we really care about. You know I was never one for labels," Joey said with a shrug.

"True, wow. Congrats, girl," Evonne said. She smiled, and the tension ran from Joey's body. She had another supporter in her corner. Hilary might not be on team Moose and Joey yet, but she had time to come around.

"Thank you, now dish. Who is this mystery man who's kept you away from us and remains shrouded in shadows?" Joey said.

"Okay, I expected that sentence to come from, Hil, not you." Evonne chuckled.

"Ditto," Hil said.

"You can't blame us for wondering what the hell is going on. It's not like you to be so closed off," Juliette said.

"I know, and I'm sorry for that. I was too busy arguing with myself to bring my relationship with Levi to the table," Evonne said. She swirled her margarita and peered into the glass.

"Why? What's going on?" Juliette said as she placed a hand on Evonne's arm.

"He's rich. Sickeningly so, old money, blue blood, trust accounts that he could live off for the rest of his life without working," Evonne said. She ran a hand through her hair and frowned.

Red flags waved in Joey's mind, and alarm bells went off. It couldn't be a coincidence, a guy like that coming around after Peter. Joey glanced around at her friends. None of them looked overly concerned. Maybe I'm paranoid.

"And that's a bad thing, why?" Hil said, eager to defend her friend if she put herself down.

"Because it made me wonder what the hell his game was. I mean what would he want with me? I'm sure his future wife has been picked out since he was born," Evonne explained in a subdued voice, tinged with uncertainty.

"You should've told us. We would have reminded you how intelligent, independent and sexy as hell you are," Joey said. She wanted to offer her friend support. Even if everything in her said Evonne should approach the situation with extreme caution.

Evonne laughed. "I knew that, but I wasn't ready to hear it, so I sort of dodged all of you. He called me out. We talked about things openly and I decided to give things a chance." Evonne glanced down bashfully.

Joey smiled. Technically it all made sense. They had their explanation for why she'd been so secretive. It should take the sinister tone away from the situation, but she couldn't shake the feeling of unease that had settled in her bones.

"I'm happy for you. You deserve this, E!" Hil said as they all hugged her.

"When can we meet him?" Juliette asked.

Joey glanced at Juliette, and saw the concern in her eyes. So I'm not the only one still worried.

"As soon as we can sync our schedules. Truth is, I'm lucky if I see him once a week between the two of us working so much," Evonne said.

"Leave it to you to find another workaholic," Hil said.

"Hey, go with what you know, right? I did a pros and cons list before I agreed to do this, you know?" Evonne said.

Joey laughed. Their friend was doing just fine, regardless of how this played out.

The familiar electronically altered voice floated outside, and Joey quickly downed the last of her strawberry margarita. "This is my song, guys. We have to get out there." Swaying her hips to the beat, Joey closed her eyes as Take It Off by Kesha drifted to her ears.

Like a child enthralled by a pied piper, Joey danced her way through the people to the center of the dance floor. Arms held above her head, she lost herself to the syncopated beat. She rocked her body down to the floor popping her chest as the freedom only music could bring flooded her. A warm, muscular body sidled up next to her, and she did the practiced spin and the smile all girls mastered in their club days. The sight that greeted her made her snicker. Like attracts like, I suppose.

The golden-skinned warrior had a tattoo sleeve, a broad forehead, and a face that would make you think twice about trying him. The leather cut he wore boasted a yellow-and-black emblem she didn't recognize.

"Sorry, friend, I'm very taken," she said over the music.

"I don't see a ring, pretty lady."

She rolled her eyes. "We both know that doesn't mean anything."

Joey saw the others approach and danced away, gesturing to them. They formed a protective wall, flanking her as they moved deeper into the crowd.

"What was that about?" Juliette yelled over the music.

Joey shrugged. "Barking up the wrong tree."