"Sure, I can," I lied. My resolve withered with every passing second. "I don't want to hurt you."

"I don't care how broken I am. Every minute inside you is pure pleasure. And that's all I'm going to feel. I can guarantee that."

"But the doctor..."

"The doctor says I'm clean as a whistle." His touch slipped past the edge of my panties, grazing the sensitive skin there. "I want you bare, Vanessa."

My breathing sped up along with my heartbeat. I wanted that too...

He'd never asked before, but the question had lingered unanswered between us. Darren's past was plentiful, and I couldn't take anything for granted, no matter how much I loved him. But knowing we were safe to take this next step and the thought of removing that barrier between us was intoxicating. Intimate on a whole new level.

"Come on, red. Live a little." He palmed my breast and gave my nipple a gentle squeeze through my shirt.

The doctor wouldn't approve of what we were about to do, but Darren didn't give a damn. He was bad and impulsive, and I loved that about him.

Fueled with the crazy passion only he could ignite in me, I rose off the bed. "Don't make me regret this."

"I can promise you won't."

He caught his lip between his teeth as I undressed, slowly, drawing out every precious second. I pushed my panties over my hips, and they fell to the floor, leaving me naked except for his beautiful gift. My skin felt hot under his hungry gaze.

Under the sheet, he was already hard. I went to him and straddled his legs. I kissed his chest, licking lightly over the dark disks of his nipples. Then I went lower, and the sheet slipped away, revealing his beautiful thick cock.

I'd never thought the male anatomy was especially beautiful, but the prize between Darren's legs matched the rest of his physique. Hard flesh beneath velvety soft skin, jutting out confidently from his groin. I trailed a finger down his length and softly cupped his balls. One quick glance up revealed just how wound up he already was. His eyes were dark. His jaw was set tight, and his chest heaved under shallow breaths.

I held his cock in my hand and guided the tip to my lips. There I taunted him with tiny, lazy licks around the sensitive tip, all the way down to the base and back up where I took more of him.

His eyelids fell, and a low sound rumbled from his chest.

I shifted over him, trying to take as much of his length as I could. I licked and sucked, punctuating each stroke with the blunt pressure of the back of my throat. We moaned in unison, and I reveled in his pleasure. I wanted to give him all the pleasure he'd given me so many times.

I was already wet, aching for the feel of him thick inside me. My thoughts circled around how he'd feel bare. The simple act of our bodies joining had brought me toe-curling ecstasy time and again. No one else had made love to me as he had, arresting my heart and mind as he claimed my body.

"Enough," he rasped. "Come here."

I let him slip from my lips and crawled up his body, praying that this was more pleasure than pain for him. He rested his wounded hand on my hip and used the other to guide his cock to my pussy. He notched there and squeezed my hip tight before pulling me down.

"Slow and deep, baby. I want to feel every beautiful inch of you coming down on me. All the way down."

Anticipation hummed through me. I wanted to drop down and take all of him inside me. But, like him, I also wanted to treasure this new experience between us. Make it last as long as we could.

His hooded gaze was riveted where our bodies joined, his lips apart as we became one. I sheathed him completely, stretched and tight around him. His cock buried in the deepest part of me.

He licked his thumb, wetting it before bringing it to my clit and stroking gently over the taut bundle of nerves. I inhaled sharply as the sensation shot through me. I could have come right then. I pulsed around him, craving friction and release.

He gazed up at me, heat and hunger raw in those beautiful brown depths. And in that fiery warmth, I saw love. Adoration. Wonder. All the things that kindled in my heart when I was with him.

His dark olive skin tightened over his muscles, like a thin veil of control over the mass of man before me who was capable of so much strength, so much passion... Sifting his fingers through my hair, he brought me to him. Our lips melted together, soft and then rough. He nipped at my lower lip and slid his tongue over the sting. I fluttered around him, craving more of him. More sensation. More heat.

"This"-he thrust his hips up gently-"is the way it was always supposed to be. And this is how it'll always be."

I closed my eyes, feeling light and heavy at once.

"Now ride me, sweetheart."

I was almost too overwhelmed in that moment to follow through on his demand, but the promise of the pleasure launched me into action. I found the edge of the headboard behind him. Using it for leverage, I rose and dropped down.

He groaned against my lips. "Fuck."

Whether that was a compliment or an order, I had no plans to stop. I rode him, taking him deeper, over and over. Breathless, I climbed to that place where we could fall apart together.

A fever slid over my skin, radiating from my heart as it beat a wild tempo in my chest. I was slick around him, taking him to the root with ease.

His fingertips dug into my flesh, marking me with the pressure of his touch. I welcomed it. I wanted memories of this moment.

"Now hard, Vanessa."

The reality of his injuries sobered me a moment. "I don't want to hurt you."

A grin curved his lips. "I promise you that in this moment I can feel no pain. Now ride me hard until I tell you to come."

That quickly I was back in the moment, ready to fuck him breathless. My muscles trembled, but I chased the pleasure. I did what he wanted, taking him fast and hard until I was so close to the edge I could scream.

"You feel so good," I whimpered.

His jaw was tight, an agonizing strain on his features. "Going to feel so good to come inside you, baby. But I need you first. Come for me, Vanessa. Let me feel you let go."

His thumb came back to my clit. My head fell back with a cry. I gripped him and the friction took me over. The world went white. Shards of pleasure shot through me like flashes of lightning.

In a single moment, Darren, our pleasure, and this love overwhelmed every one of my senses. I soared, flying into a thousand pieces. He followed me, a rough cry echoing off the bedroom walls as he came.

VANESSA.

I thought I'd be meeting Cheryl at her penthouse, but her assistant assured me that most days she could be found at one of the charity's offices making her rounds.

The sun was out and warmed my skin as Maya walked beside me. After I explained the whole Reilly money-laundering debacle, she'd insisted on coming with me for moral support.

"I was reading up about this place online," she said. "Seems like it's a pretty big operation."

"It's been doing well. I guess despite all the things Reilly was doing wrong, between him and Cheryl, they must have done something right."

"Hopefully it can survive when all this news comes to light."

I had worried about the same thing. With Reilly at the wheel, the charity would survive as long as he needed a front for his creative money management. When all his wrongdoing was out in the open, the damage could be irreparable. Regardless, I had no choice. Reilly was stealing from Cheryl and the charity he touted as his most cherished cause. It had to stop.

Maya caressed the little bump that showed through her T-shirt. Suddenly she stopped short, her hand on her belly.

"Oh, wow," she said. Her big brown eyes were wide as saucers.

I stopped. "Is everything okay?"

She nodded quickly. "I think the baby kicked."

"Oh my God!" I squealed and might have danced in place a little.

She grabbed my hand and pressed it firmly to her belly. We stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, waiting for what felt like several minutes. We didn't say a word. We just breathed. Then finally, the tiniest little movement fluttered under my fingers. I sucked in a breath.

Maya beamed. "Did you feel it?"

Tears welled in my eyes, and I nodded. I had listened to Maya's pregnancy milestones and complaints these past several weeks with no small amount of envy. There was no denying it-I wanted babies one day. Maybe my biological clock was ticking. Maybe I'd finally met someone who I could see forever with, and suddenly I was eager to see that future realized with a family.

Darren and I were a long way from having that conversation, but he was the one I wanted to take that journey with. I'd almost lost him. I wasn't letting him go again. I could only hope the next chapter of my life away from Reilly would give us the space to even consider it.

"That was amazing," I whispered.

"It's a good sign." She smiled broadly.

Suddenly I was too excited about Maya's little miracle kick to worry about what the next few hours would bring. Life was too short, too precious to waste it the way I had been.

Reilly had made a mess of his career and mine, but I was so blessed to be able to move on. Even if things were about to get messy.

The Brooklyn office of the NYC Youth Arts Initiative resided in an old storefront, a commercial space in a neighborhood that was on the cusp of being revitalized. We walked into the office's open floor plan. Student artwork covered every available wall space. Charcoal faces, bright-colored abstracts, and three-dimensional pieces that came off the wall and into the room.

A young girl sat at a desk near the entrance. "Can I help you?"

"Is Cheryl here?"

She pointed to an area in the back where several children were gathered around a table. I spotted Cheryl talking to another young girl who looked like a student volunteer.

"Thanks."

I walked over, and Cheryl waved when she noticed me. She said something to the volunteer and came my way, meeting me and Maya as we approached.

"Vanessa. What brings you in? Does David need something?"

"No, but I was hoping we could talk if you had some time."

"Sure." She gazed over to Maya.

"This is my friend Maya Jacobs."

"Bridge," Maya corrected with a small smile. "I'm Maya Bridge."

Cheryl shook her hand. "Any relation to Frank and Diane Bridge?"

"They're my in-laws actually. You know them?"

"We have some mutual friends, yes. Small world. Are you interested in the initiative?"

Maya lifted a shoulder and looked around the big room. "Maybe. I've been seeing events advertised in the neighborhood. You have some great things going here."

"Maya's a writer," I added.

Maya's cheeks turned pink, but she didn't deny it. Not long after she'd left Wall Street, she had opened up to me about wanting to get into writing more. She'd been writing poetry for years but never took it seriously until Cameron started pushing her to do something more with her creativity.

"That's wonderful!" Cheryl smiled. "As you can see, we have some great visual arts programs, but we have a poetry program that we started this past fall also. We work with local high schoolers who put together poetry pieces, usually free verse. Then we organize monthly slam competitions. It gives the kids a chance to perform, but it also attracts new participants."

Maya's eyes lit up. "That sounds incredible. I would love to know more."

Cheryl pointed toward the reception desks that we'd passed. "You passed Casey on your way in. She can tell you all about it."

"Perfect. I'll go explore and let you two chat."

Maya walked off, and I was left alone with Cheryl.

"Do you want to chat in the courtyard? It's a beautiful day."

"Sure." I followed Cheryl through a door in the back that led to a large courtyard. Several older students were gathered around different tables and benches. Some talking, some working in notebooks by themselves.

Cheryl and I settled at a wrought iron table.

"I'm sorry for showing up out of the blue, Cheryl, but I had to talk to you about something that's kind of time sensitive."

But the words were lodged in my throat, unwilling to come out. This was going to sound awful. All of it.

"I'm sorry. I don't know where to start."

"I don't know what David's told you about me, but I'm not the wicked ex-wife he probably makes me out to be. Whatever it is, just tell me."

I inhaled a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and began. "David has been using the nonprofit to funnel money to himself and his friends. Long story, but I found a trail of paperwork that implicates him and a lot of others around him."

"How much money are we talking about?"

"Over twenty million dollars. Half of that should have been yours, or the charity's really, since you'd both agreed to put that much into it over the course of your marriage."

"You have proof of all this?"

"I have all of it. Invoices, the LLC he set up to feed money into, and statements for an offshore account that the bulk of the money was transferred to."

To her credit, she didn't show an inkling of emotion. She could have been made of stone for the lack of a reaction. She looked away, over to the group of school-age children that were sitting in a circle around their leader.

She took a deep breath and returned her focus to me. "Why would you bring this to me? You work for him. Your loyalty should be to him."

"Well...I..." I struggled for the best answer. In the end, though, the answer was simple. "It was the right thing to do."

"Even with your job on the line?"

"Let's just say that David's given me a lot of reasons to question my loyalty to him. And for the record, I hated my job. You had his nights, so you know how it was. I had his days."