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I nod.

  "He had to remember and see that his father was not who he thought he was," she said. "He found out something about his father that made Justin understand and know him better. It was huge, Justin's entire life was based on a belief, and finding the truth changed him completely."

  Lena pauses, staring at me as the girls finish the wraps. She searches my soul with her eyes, because the next thing out of her mouth couldn't be taken back.

  "Nicolette Sumpter," she whispers.

  What the hell it's that?

  "Who is she?" I ask.

  "Justin's mother. And everything he knows about her might just be wrong."

  EPILOGUE

  I can't believe how wonderfully tired I am today. Hey, if a girl's going to be tired, it should be because her man had her up all night.

  My sensitive parts are still pleasantly sore, reminding me how they got that way, as if I could forget. There's even a pink line still circling around each wrist, and I'm sure my ankles, from the silk ribbons that had fastened me to the bed. A familiar throb went off between my legs when I remember what he did to me. I smile right in the middle of my walk, not caring who is around me.

  The air is warm, not as much as earlier when the sun was still up, but comfortable for a late September evening. The nights are cooling quickly. A few more weeks and fall will be in mid-swing. I love the fall, but I'm always sad at the passing of summer. I like being out in the air on my walks, feeling the sun on my skin.

  Sweat is beading around the bottom of my neck and dripping down my heaving chest, making my shirt stick to me. It might be one of the last times this year for my shorts, so I'm enjoying it, sweat and all.

  I'm usually done by this time of the night, but I had a late start. The park looks like a completely different place with all the black corners and heavy shadows. I know where I am, but it even feels foreign and strange.

  Maybe I should be paying more attention, but I'm so happy right now. Everything is falling into place, and I'm so in love that I don't have words for it. It doesn't happen for everyone, to have both love and passion. When you find it, when you have it and can depend on it, it has to be cherished.

  An older couple appears in the path coming toward me. Their hands are woven together and they're smiling. He leans to her and whispers something in her ear that makes her laugh hard, and I hope that is me in the future. I imagine his words were lustful. That's the way it should always be, without care for age. What could bring them into the park at this time? Hopefully it was passion.

  My stomping legs bring me past them quickly. I consider turning around now. Ahead, there is a particularly dark area, dark even in the day, buried in the undergrowth and boulders, and I don't see anyone else around now. It was probably not safe, not a good idea to go there.

  I'll go just a bit further.

  Last night, as soon as we got home from a dinner with friends, he pushed me up against a wall and pressed his mouth to mine, filling it with his tongue. I breathed him in, his scent igniting the heat between my legs. His hands slid down my body, pulling the bottom of my shirt free from my pants so that he could feel the skin of my waist.

  My urges erupted, hips rocking against him uncontrollably. I hooked my left leg around the back of his and pulled him closer. I wanted more. His hand forced itself under my pants into the familiar hot folds between my legs, testing my wetness. Unapologetically, his fingers rammed into me, first one, and then another and a third. My legs were already shaking as my juices ran down his hand.

  He pulled his lips partially away from mine. "I love you," he growled.

  "I love—"

  He cut my words off with his tongue. The taste of his mouth fueled me. I had both hands holding onto the hair on the back of his head, holding his face close.

  "Get in the room," he demanded. "I want to make love to you. I've waited all night, and I won't wait a moment longer."

  In the room, he wouldn't let me do a thing, not even undress myself. He removed my shoes and clothes and had me lay down on our bed. I don't have a clue where he got the silk ribbons, but he had them ready. It was a mix of hot and tender. He took care tying each limb, so much so that I had no idea how successfully he'd done it until my flailing orgasm a bit later.

  He took his time kissing my legs. There is a short stubble starting on his chin that is teasing its way up my thighs. I can't wait for it to crush into my secret wetness with his hands pulling my thighs open for him. I fight the urge to grind his face. His tongue dips inside my heat, sampling my taste.

  I am in a bad spot before I realize it. My mind had drifted as I thought about last night, and now I was into the dark area of my walk that I was going to avoid. The hair stood up on my neck, but I can easily turn around before going too deep.

  The clap off my sneakers on the ground slows and stops while I turn. It should have been silent in this moment, but it isn't. I hear shuffling feet and a man's voice trying to be quiet, whispering. There are several shadowy figures in the path back the way I had just come.

  Going back is not an option. I turn around yet again, and pick up my pace. Now I am alert and listening. They've sped up as well, so I move even faster.

  I hear their laughter not too far behind me. They're not even trying to be careful now. They have me where they want me.

  Right now, I feel like a rabbit that's crawled under a box in the instant before the stick is pulled and the trap is complete. I release. The only thing faster than my feet is my heart.

  Yet they gain.

  I hear screaming now, and I'm vaguely aware that it's me. I sound like a pig, a baby pig being chased by the farmer's brat kid with a stick.

  They're still laughing.

  Bastards!

  Fucking bastards!

  This can't happen now. Things are so good. Not me, anyway. Not me!

  "Slow down, Bitch!" one barks.

  "Yeah, you ain't going nowhere," another agreed.

  They're just kids. Their voices are so young, but they're full of evil.

  I keep moving. There’s nothing else I can do now but try to outrun them. They just keep gaining on me.

  I don't stop.

  I don't quit.

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  See the next page to read the opening excerpt from Charity’s Secrets, the second novel in the Charity series by Maya James.

  Charity’s Secrets

  By Maya James

  PROLOGUE

  "The way I see it, you have two choices. You can live with it, or you can live without it." John looks at me, and I can already see the sarcastic smile in his eyes. "And I don't believe for a second that you can really live without her, now that you found her."

  One single clap of his thunderous laughter echoed in the room while I kept my eyes fixed on Sylvester. The Panther hologram bared its teeth at John, and I wanted to thank it for its impeccable timing.

  I hate that he's right!

  "I know what the problem is," John continued. "You're too used to reading everyone. You know what people are going to do before they know it, but not her. It's one of the things you love about her. You can't read her for shit. The more you love her, the more you can't read her, which makes you love her more."

  Fuck!

  "Get used to it, JP. It's called love, and she's the real deal." With that, he walked out of my office and closed the door behind him.

  Of course, everything he said was right. These months with Charity have been the best of my life, and somehow I love her more now than when we started. I cannot get enough of her. There needs to be more hours in a day so that I can spend them with her.

  At this point I live to make her happy. She could not smile or laugh too much. I could never see her too much, especially undressed. Making her happy fills my heart. Making her cum fills my hunger. Charity is all I will ever need.

  I understand my father more now. If he
felt for my mother anything close to what I feel for Charity—I would rather be dead than without her!

  Having these emotions is scary as hell for me. I'm on a completely new ground, and it's near impossible to know for sure what is real and what is fantasy. More importantly—what parts are paranoia?

  I wish my father was here for advice. I could really use him right now.

  Maybe it's normal, but when I'm not with her I'm a complete wreck, worried about her, worried about what she's doing. I mentioned that to John, hence his wonderful advice before leaving my office. There's more to it than that, but after John's reaction, I'm not about to tell him the rest.

  I track her when we're not together. It sounds worse than it is, like I'm some stalker, but it's only to know she's safe. What I do, my group, it's dangerous. I never gave a shit about that before, but with Charity in my life I can't be so careless.

  I don't know what I'd do if she got hurt because of me!

  She has consumed my heart. John was right, she is the real deal. Most people never find it, but we have, and I need to protect it. Doing that might be driving me insane, though.

  There are times when Charity drops off my grid, and I have no idea why. Once or twice, I wouldn't think about it, but this is more often than that. And I can't ask Lena to help, because sometimes Lena is with her when it happens. Part of me thinks they are up to something.

  Fucking paranoid!

  Any other time I could tell you exactly what was going on, but, honestly, I don't have a fucking clue.

  It's not another man. I'm confident about that. We are way too into each other, and Lena would never be a part of something like that. Could be that I'm just too used to dealing with people that have something to hide. Maybe now I just look for it everywhere.

  Sylvester suddenly looks over at me as if to tell me to grow a pair. C'mon Man, if it was anything important, they would hide it better— especially Lena!

  They are at Silk putting cucumbers on their eyes and smearing avocado all over their bodies, or some shit like that. They're not planning a corporate takeover for Christ's sake!

  It shouldn't be about what they're doing. It's about protecting them. It's about who can see them when I can't!

  And that sends a chill to my core. In no uncertain terms, I would throw myself in front of a bullet save her, but you have to be there when the gun is fired for that to work.

  This business with Scott Lewis, it's going to get heated, and every one of us will be at some risk. The moment Senator Wilkins "resigned," the governor was forced to apoint a temporary replacement. Of course that was Scott Lewis, the result of the right pressure in the right places. Since this was temporary, it wasn't as hard as it could have been. With the normal election term still almost two years away, we have a much better opportunity. If it were sooner, the temporary replacement would sit until the general election, and we would be facing the normal election process. Because it wasn't close, it has to be decided by special election—much easier to fix.

  It's going to happen in three days, and it's going to happen our way, but not everyone is happy about it. One of the members in this particular group of clients was approached about starting a new group of controllers looking to get behind a different candidate. Of course, they have no idea he's already affiliated, and that he came straight to the group with the information. We know about them, but they don't know about us, at least not who we are—not yet.

  I'm not worried, not for the special election. They don't have the time to form and unravel everything in place. They must know that, though, so why are they still forming?

  They're thinking long term, and we need to start doing the same.

  A fight is coming our way. We need to start getting ready for it, and that means Charity and Lena can't be just dropping off radar whenever they want to.

  In my mind, I easily remember watching Charity's ex sitting in the driver's seat of his car, his face lit up white in our headlights as he decided his next move. Charity was right behind him, defenseless. I could see her, we all could.

  His eyes told me exactly what he was going to do. There was nothing I could do to stop him—no time. It was less than a second, but it took an eternity, still does when I think about it.

  It was his smile that told me. Then his right arm jerked. There was muzzle flare and smoke, and a hole in the sheet wrapped tightly around Charity while the gunshot was still echoing into the empty night.

  Christ! The look in her eyes!

  Something happened that I never told anyone about, not then, and still not now. It what was instinctive. I hadn't even realized I'd done it until I was making my decision.

  In that moment, I had thought I lost her, that he'd killed her, my love, right in front of me. I quickly realized she might survive this, and I wanted to see him die if she didn't—but that was not before first deciding that I couldn't live without her and finding that I already had my gun shoved under my own chin.

  Everyone was firing already, they knew what to do. No one saw how close to killing myself I had come.

  And that's why I have to keep her safe now. Her life controls both of our fates.

  I have to watch her, everything she does, because I adore her. Without Charity, there would be nothing left in this life to adore. She's all I have and all I want, and I have to protect her.

  Even if it’s from myself!

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER VI

  CHAPTER VII

  CHAPTER VIII

  CHAPTER IX

  CHAPTER X

  EPILOGUE

  PROLOGUE