Never Just Friends by Katerina Winters

Chapter 2

 

 

"Baby, where have you been?" Victor asked as she pulled off her thick coat in the entryway.

 

Flakes of snow still dusted Maritzia’s hair and her face felt tingly from the apartment's warm heat.

 

"I was out at Flannegan's having drinks with Cade after we got back from county processing," she explained with a tired smile, leaning in to give him a kiss. "I'm sorry for being late. I didn't want to talk and drive."

 

Taking a left from the entry hallway, she walked past the guest bathroom and into the master bedroom. She could feel Victor following close at her heels. Unclipping her badge and gun holster from her belt, Maritzia placed them both on her nightstand before sitting at the edge of the bed to unlace her boots.

 

"You work with the guy all day. Why the hell do you guys need to have drinks afterward?" Victor grumbled as he reached for her other foot and braced it against his leg to undo the laces. His hands paused at her laces and he looked up at her in question. "Bad case?"

 

"No, not at all actually," she answered, relieved they were not going to go down the topic of Cade like they did each and every time she spent an extra minute of her time with her partner and friend. "The woman we questioned about the break-ins started to catch a major attitude. Probably because she knew that we knew who was behind both break-ins at her cousin's bodegas and didn't want to cooperate. One missed punch at me, and Cade and I had her on the floor with her hands cuffed behind her back a few minutes later. Stupid bitch," she murmured still little incensed at the woman's actions. That could have gone down completely differently today. She could have just answered their damn questions, or hell, not answered the questions. But trying to punch her was a big goddamn mistake. "No, I went out because Cade broke up with Bethany," she added, purposely standing up from the bed and grabbing her boots to ignore Victor's inevitable reaction.

 

The room was silent around her and her stomach tightened with apprehension.

 

She had known Victor ever since she got out of the academy. With her uncle's influence as chief of the forty-eighth precinct, she had gotten assigned immediately to that station and met the cute officer working the equipment room. With his arm in a sling, from breaking his wrist in a fight with a suspect, she had stopped by to tease the cute officer daily about how exactly was he handing out equipment with just one arm. A little taller than herself, Victor Ortega was the perfect Dominican boy her mother probably envisioned her being with. With a perfectly edged beard that gave his boyish face a sexy scruff and his curly black hair, Victor reminded her of a sweet-faced model for The GAP.

 

Ignoring the notable silence in the room, she walked into the bathroom and began pulling off her clothes until she was standing in front of the sink in her underwear.

 

Finally, Victor found his words as he stepped up behind her. "What do you mean broke up? A fight or…" he let the words hang in the air.

 

Brushing out her hair, Maritzia took the hair-tie she held between her lips and pulled her curling man into a ball at the top of her head, meeting at his intent gaze in the mirror.

 

"Like a real break up, like as in he let her have the apartment and he is moving in with Carlos or has already moved in with him, actually," she corrected. She needed to text Carlos later, she reminded herself. She knew her serial dater brother was probably a little annoyed by the new company taking up his guest room. "So, I took him out to celebrate."

 

"Why?! I thought they were good together."

 

She gave him a questioning look, noting the seriousness on his face. "Where in the hell did you hear that? I know not from me." She raised her brows in a questioning look before stepping past him to reach into the large walk-in shower and turn on the hot water. "I told you all they did was fight. God, how I hated her."

 

She was reaching for the clasp of her bra when she felt his presence closer at her back. Warm fingers brushed her fingers to the side as he pulled and unhooked her clasp.

 

"Yes, well, your opinion is biased since you used to be in love with him."

 

His words stunned her like a sudden bolt of electricity through her system. Holding her bra in place, Maritzia whirled around on her heel and stared at Victor, her eyes narrowed with anger.

 

"I was not in love." The hot vehemence in her voice and warning look made Victor back up. She could see the regret in his eyes for going down this path, but that only made her angrier. She knew he truly believed his words and did not regret their meaning, only that he said them aloud. "I told you I had a crush on him when I was thirteen, for god's sake. Why do you make me regret that I ever told you that? Every time, you bring that up as if—"

 

Wrapping his arms around her, Victor cut off her words, pressing her tightly against his firm chest. "Shh I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Ok, baby, I'm sorry. I'm just shocked, ok," his lips moved in her hair as he spoke, but Maritzia remained stiff in his hold, still too angry to just let it go.

 

Victor continued. "I'm shocked to hear that the man my girlfriend used to have a crush on, who works with her every day for eight-plus hours, sometimes more, and who is accepted into your family more than me—is now suddenly single. It's fucking frustrating."

 

Softening a little at his confession, Maritzia tilted her head up in his hold and looked up at him. "I told you my family loves you, though."

 

Nodding, Victor smiled. Maritzia could feel his hands move against her body. Sliding up her bare back, he caught hold of the straps of her bra and stepped back, pulling them down her arms until he was able to drop the bra on the floor. Bending to one knee, he hooked his thumbs into the hem of her panties and pulled them down.

 

Feeling herself calm a little, she watched as he stood back up and met her eyes.

 

"Yes," he finally answered, guiding her by the shoulders to enter the shower. "I just wished they loved me as much as they did that guy, I guess."

 

"They will in time. We've only been together a couple of years now," she reminded him soothingly, guilt lacing around her heart. Standing at the edge of the open shower door, she could feel the spray of the hot water on the back of her legs and backside and reached for the hem of his shirt as her thoughts drifted to her family.

 

It was true, her family did adore Cade. Ever since he had moved into their apartment building years ago, her family had adopted the boy and his mother into their own. His mom, a pretty brunette from France, had married a black American soldier and spent fifteen years going from base to base all over the world with her husband and their son. After Cade's father died of cancer, Cade's mom was forced to move to New York for work; Maritzia's parents had taken one look at them and practically adopted them. Cade was like a son to her mother and father; they would no doubt be just as relieved to hear Bethany was finally out of Cade's life. They might just plan a party, she thought, knowing her Dominican family would use anything for an excuse to have a large get-together.

 

Taking off the last of his clothes with her help, Victor gave her a sensuous smile, completely unaware of her wandering thoughts. Feeling guilty, Maritzia reigned in her attention and smiled invitingly back at Victor and stepped backward into the spray so that he could follow her in.

 

When they finally got into the bed, Maritzia yawned for what felt like the tenth time. After some heavy petting and lots of kissing, they finally moved past the topic of Cade. Earlier, after their shower, they had sat down for a light dinner and she forced herself to stay attentive and actively listen as Victor recounted the latest gossip. All tidbits he had picked up from his position in the equipment room, a position they were both surprised he kept for as long as he has. At long last his stories had wound down and she was finally able to crawl into the cool sheets of her bed with a contented sigh.

 

It was the kiss at the back of her neck that jolted her senses, and Maritzia stilled as she felt Victor's questing hands beneath the sheets. She was too tired for this, she inwardly groaned. She felt the collar of her sleep shirt being pushed to the side and Victor’s lips trail a line up to her ear just as she felt him shifting closer into her, pressing his firm arousal against her backside. She wanted to tell him no but she kept her lips sealed as he pulled her onto her back. In the low light of their room, she could see the glimmer of urgency in his eyes, a desperate need she had not seen with him before. Guilt turned her stomach and she found herself opening herself to him, the spark of triumph burning brighter in his dark eyes at her acceptance. With subdued movements, she reciprocated the love he needed as her mind gravitated back to Cade. She had always sensed a little bit of jealousy from Victor when it came to Cade, even before they started officially dating. Cade had moved up at the department with unnatural speed, everyone knowing it was because of her uncle, the chief, who had also happened to be dating his mom for the past few years. After only a few years in uniform, both she and Cade were moved to a quasi-detective position handling simple break-ins, missing persons, and all the other menial cases that tended to stack up. But like the two kids that sat eagerly and watched crime documentaries and whodunnits all weekend growing up, they had accepted the position with enthusiasm. She could understand Victor's jealousy, she really could. Here was Cade, an army veteran who got along with practically everyone he met with his dimpled smile and god-like sculpted, six-foot-six body, just comes out of nowhere and takes up a coveted position not only at work but with her family. Accepting Victor's kiss, Maritzia forced herself to return some of his enthusiasm even as she blindly reached over to her nightstand and grabbed her lube from the drawer. She didn't want him to feel insecure—she truly loved him.

 

Cade was just a childhood crush. Cade was just family. He was not the man that secretly broke her heart when he finally came back to New York with a girlfriend in tow. Cade was her partner and best friend, nothing more.