Pink Neon Dreams (30 page)

“You’ll be in the small bedroom, my office,” Luz
said. “Cecily and Daniel are across from me.”

Her calm acceptance of their intimacy pleased
Daniel.
 
After stifling a yawn, he nudged
Cecily who hadn’t said a thing in fifteen minutes.
 
She stirred and when she spoke her voice
sounded sleepy. “What is it?”

“Bedtime,
querida,
”
he said. “You’re asleep already.”

“I’m not,” she protested.
 

He laughed. “Don’t make me carry you to bed in front
of Mama.”

His remark roused her enough to rise, stop off in
the bathroom, and then make it into the bedroom.
 
Luz announced she’d retire too and Daniel
kissed his mother’s cheek, a good-night ritual from the past.
 
He lingered in the living room and spent a
few minutes one on one with his brother.
 
Although they’d been a little awkward earlier, the strangeness vanished
and beneath the collegiate veneer, Daniel discovered the man his little brother
had become.
 
And he liked him.
 
Michael came across as intelligent and yet
somehow tough. He hadn’t lost the edge growing up in north Fort Worth provided.

Demonstrating a deep insight, Michael said, “How
much trouble is she in?”

“Cecily?”
Daniel replied as if it could be anyone else.
“She’s potentially in deep shit if we can’t prove who’s really responsible for
her husband’s death and some major theft.”

“How will all of it affect your career?” his brother
asked.
 
A faint frown line marred his
forehead.

Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe very badly. It
depends on how it ends.
 
If we can
connect the man Cecily believes responsible with credible evidence, then all my
awards and accolades won’t be wasted. If not, who knows?”

“I like your woman,” Michael said. “Is she worth
it?”

“
Si
,” he said.
“She’s worth that and so much more.”

Michael studied him as if seeking to understand,
then nodded as if he did. “I’m happy for you, Daniel, and I hope things work
out for the best.
 
If I can do anything,
say the word and I’m happy to help you.
 
I planned to drive home tomorrow, but I have several weeks until the
semester begins so I can stay as long as I’m needed.”

Moved by his brother’s offer, Daniel clasped his
brother’s hand. “Thank you.
 
Right now, I
don’t know what you could do, but if it changes, I may take you up on your
offer.
 
Right now, do you think Mama
might have some tequila around?”

“I don’t know,” Michael said. “But we can find
out.
 
I know where to look.”

A few shots of tequila later, Daniel enjoyed the
buzz it provided.
 
His college professor
kid brother matched him drink for drink and although neither were drunk, he
couldn’t deny they’d been affected.
 
Thunder grumbled low and ominous far off in the distance.
 
When he heard it, he thought of Cecily’s
fears. “Is it supposed to storm?”

“Yeah, it’s a ninety percent chance.
 
Let’s go watch it move in.”

As children, they often watched wicked weather
approach Fort Worth and with a boyish exhilaration fueled at least in part by
tequila Daniel jumped up. “Yeah, sounds great.”

They sat on the small porch steps and gazed toward
the mountains.
 
Lightning illuminated the
sky with its unholy fire and the thunder growls moved closer like an animal
prowling.
 
Just as a sharp wind portended
the storm’s arrival, Cecily poked her head out of the front door.
 
A modest nightgown covered her from shoulder
to knee, a cotton print peasant style gown.
 
Daniel didn’t remember it and realized she’d always slept in the buff
beside him.
 
He appreciated her
concession to decency in his mother’s home, but he missed the view as well.

“Is it storming?” she asked as he stumbled to his
feet.

“It will, soon,” Daniel said. “Did the thunder wake
you?”

“I think so,” Cecily said.

He
studied her face but she didn’t look scared at the moment, no more than a bit
nervous.
 
“Are you okay?” he asked.
 

A
grin lit her face, bright and brief as the lightning.
 
Cecily nodded. “Yeah, sugar, just a little
anxious. I’m not as afraid of storms when I’m not out in the middle of one and
I’m inside.
 
Are you coming in?”

Aware she wanted him to, he nodded.
 
“Yeah,
chica
,
I am.
 
Buenos Noches
, Michael.”

“’Night,” his brother said.

With his arm slung across Cecily’s shoulders, Daniel
went inside and down the short hallway.
 
As he’d waited long hours to do, he shut the door and faced her.
 
One finger traced the fine curve of her cheek
then outlined her lips. “
Te amo, querida,
”
he whispered. “Are you too sleepy to love me?”

“Uh-uh,” she said.
“Thought you’d
never ask.”

Daniel stripped away his shirt and stepped out of
his jeans.
 
He paused long enough to open
the window in the stuffy room and cool, fresh air poured into the space.
 
Contrast between the temperatures created
goose pimples across his skin and heightened his senses.
 
Maybe the tequila played a small role, but
the major game changer stood before him, nude and lovely.
 
She’d removed her gown while he turned to the
window and now she put her arms around him.
 
Her braids trailed across his arm and he shivered.
 
Then he took her face between his hands and
put his mouth down onto hers.

Her lips were hot and tasted sweet as they met his
and clung in place.
 
He kissed her long
and deep, enough to cause his breath to come short.
 
Desire spun out between them, full-bodied and
heady as wine.
 
Daniel wrapped one arm
around her to bring her closer and with his free hand he stroked her nipples
until they blossomed like June roses.
 
His fingers moved with a light, easy touch, reverent and yet needy.
 
Last time they made love, he’d called out his
feelings, but he never dreamed she’d understand what he’d said. Things were
different now. Aware of their shared love, Daniel wanted to make each caress
and every stroke matter.

He cupped her breasts and bent to kiss each one,
then the hollow between.
 
His lips
trailed upward to the base of her throat and lingered.
 
Daniel kissed her throat and worked back to
her lips. He then delivered a long, slow smooch, one reverberating to his toes.
 
If Cecily’s response, a loud gasp and her
hands tightening around his shoulders were an indication, it lit her fires,
too.

Daniel rubbed the flat of her belly and dropped his
hand lower to her mound.
 
He caressed the
fine hair there and used one finger to probe her pussy.
 
Wet warmth greeted his explorations and he
massaged with the rest of his hand, finger touching back to fondle her
clit.
 
She moaned with a low, deep sound
of pleasure which inspired him to increase the friction.

His cock, already stiff, hardened more in response
and almost hurt with need.
 
He wanted to
play it out, though, make the intense desire last longer.
 
If he could hold out, the release would be
greater, so he steeled himself to wait.
 

Cecily almost brought things to swift closure when
she nibbled his neck, her teeth sharp and yet somehow tender.
 
Her lips suckled his skin and he knew he’d
end up with a purple love bite, but he didn’t mind.
 
The sensation sent electric shocks through
his body and caused his dick to throb with want.

Cecily cupped his balls in her hand next and then
wrapped one hand around his swollen prick.
 
A groan escaped his lips and it took all he had not to come in her
grasp.
 
Gasping, he backed her toward the
bed and she caught on to what he wanted.
 
She sprawled onto her back with her legs open wide for his assault, her
hands clutching the bedspread tight and taut into bunches.

“Oh, sugar,” she said. “Come on, take me all the
way.”

By then he didn’t need an invitation.
 
His dick refused to wait any longer so when
she wrapped her legs around his body, Daniel entered her.
 
He slid into her pussy without
difficulty.
 
Cecily’s body embraced and
welcomed him.
 
The walls of her cunt
wrapped his shaft with warmth and squeezed.
 
Thrills rocketed through him and he worked back and forth.
 
Cecily managed to rub his back,
then
used her nails to scratch with tantalizing sensation.
 
They rocked together, her small moans
punctuating his occasional groan of pleasure and then everything began to shift
toward release.

Rising pressure delivered intense pleasure, close to
pain and then as fever heat enveloped Daniel, he knew he’d come soon.
 
“Ride it with me,” he told Cecily.

“Oh, yeah, sugar,” she gasped.
 
The explosion began in his dick and burst
outward with wild delicious sensations.
 
His body spasmed with erotic delight and their bodies in the final
moments were one orgasm.

When the thrill subsided Daniel collapsed beside
her, drained yet filled with emotion for this woman. “I love you,
querida,”
he said, one hand stroking
lazy circles over her skin.

“Oh, God, I love you, too,” Cecily said and curled
her head against his chest.
 
Her cornrows
tickled his arm as they tumbled in disarray.
 
He liked the sensation.
  
Sated,
content, and tired, Daniel relaxed and listened as her breath drifted into a
slower pattern.

Outside rain fell steady and the sound lulled him to
sleep.
 
Just before he drifted off Daniel
heard Cecily’s cell phone ring, but he didn’t try to catch the call.
 
Whatever
Nia wants, it can wait until morning.

But instead he woke some time later to the sound of Cecily’s
voice.
 
Daniel sat up and rubbed his
eyes.
 
Listening to her end of the
conversation, he caught enough information to realize it might be a serious development
and came fully awake with speed.

Cecily’s brown sugar voice cut through the dark room
as she finished the call, seated on the edge of the bed with her back toward
him. “Keep me updated, you hear? And don’t take any chances, Nia.”

Tension strung her voice thin as barbed wire.
 
Daniel touched her shoulder. “What is it?”

“Nia,” she said with a sigh. “She said she’s been
trying to call, but I never heard the phone ‘till now.
 
She thought she saw Johnson Hamilton in
Branson, outside Pink Neon when she closed last night.
 
It spooked her—and she doesn’t even know what
we suspect.”

“I can see where it would,” he said. “From what
you’ve said, he’s not a nice guy.”

“No, he’s not.” His bubble of contentment evaporated
into the ether. “He must be looking for you.”

Her laugh lacked humor and rattled like dry leaves
in a November gutter. “Yeah, I’d say he must be, sugar. And any reasons I can
think of why aren’t good ones.”

“Me either.” Everything he could figure involved a
final and fatal silence.
 

“So what do we do?” Cecily hugged her torso with her
arms as if she had chills or a tummy ache.

Good question but he didn’t have an instant answer.
“Nothing, yet,” he said after consideration. “I planned to do some research on
the bastard’s whereabouts tomorrow, see if we could trace where he’s been since
Willard got killed, but if he’s in Branson, it puts a different slant on
things.
 
We need to find something to tie
him to the murder and theft, something solid.
 
If we could nail him with the jewels or get a confession with witnesses,
it’d clear anything against you and put him away where he won’t be a problem.”

She made an odd, wordless distress cry. Daniel moved
so he sat beside her on the edge of the bed and put his arm around her. “I’ll
keep you safe,
querida
,” he said.
“And we’ll see this thing through.”

“I don’t want anything to happen to Nia,” she said,
her voice as fragile as shattered glass. “I shouldn’t have asked her to come to
Branson.”

Daniel wanted to assure her nothing bad could befall
her cousin, but he couldn’t.
 
So he dug
for confirmation instead. “She’s sure it was Hamilton? She knows him?”