Beneath the Secrets, Part Two (Tall, Dark & Deadly) (5 page)

The way he said the words, like he
had to own her, like he did own her, shook her to the core. She’d
never wanted to be owned. She never considered that any man could
own her, but she feared this one could, and would, if she let him.
“You can’t have everything.”

He answered by leaning in, his
mouth slanting over hers, his tongue delving past her teeth, doing
a sensual slide into her mouth that sent a wave of heat through her
body. “What you tell me stays with me,” he vowed. “Trust me,
Kara.”

Her chest tightened uncomfortably,
emotion welling inside her. Trust him? Was he serious? And why why
why did she want to? This was how people got killed in this world.
They fell for this kind of man, these kinds of promises. “I barely
know you.”

He settled his cheek against hers,
his lips against her ear. “You know me,” he said. “I see it in your
eyes when you look at me.” He palmed her breasts and molded them
together, teasing her nipples with his thumbs, and her thighs
burned, the urge to clamp them around his hips impossible to
suppress. “And I feel it in the way you respond to me.”

His gaze raked her breasts, a hot
stroke like his hand, before they lifted back to her face, and she
felt the familiar punch of connection captivate her. He captivated
her. He leaned in and kissed her again, a deep, sensual slide of
his tongue against hers that seduced and drugged. And when his
mouth moved to her breast, oh God, the hot suction of his mouth on
her nipple was driving her crazy, driving her absolutely insane.
She arched into him and his hand curved under her backside,
shifting her weight, fitting the V of her body against his thick
erection, the proof he wanted her as badly as she did
him.

“You want me inside you?” he
demanded against her mouth.

Yes. Please. “I want out of these
cuffs,” she panted instead. “I hate not being able to
move.”

”I like you in them,” he countered.
“I like me in you.”

Yes, she thought again. Him inside
her. He wouldn’t be asking questions. He wouldn’t be teasing her.
“Then what are you waiting for?”

“Your secrets, baby.” He moved
then, dragging his palms down her sides in a seductive path over
her ribs, to her hips, until he pressed his mouth to her stomach,
his hair tickling her breasts, her skin. And when his chocolate
brown eyes lifted to hers, he didn’t push her, or torment her like
she thought he was going to. He took his declaration someplace
completely unexpected and erotic. “I want to discover them all,
every sweet spot you own.”

His fingers slid between her
thighs, and she gasped as he delved into the wet, sensitive flesh,
his shoulders pressing her thighs apart, his breath a hot tease,
promising all kinds of pleasures to follow. And then his fingers
were inside her, and his mouth closed down over her swollen,
sensitive clit.

Her eyes fell shut, every nerve
ending in her body alive with the feel of his mouth, his fingers,
his tongue…oh God, his tongue…he was licking her now, driving her
crazy. Licking and pumping his fingers. She jerked against the
cuffs, trying to reach for him, frustrated when she couldn’t. Her
legs lifted, and she wrapped his shoulders, trying to hold him in
place, trying to make sure he didn’t stop too soon. She was close.
So very close to release.

“Not yet,” he said, and his mouth
was gone from where she wanted him most, his fingers too, his lips
trailing up her inner thigh.

She glowered at him, the ache
between her thighs and in her nipples, too much to take. “You’re
killing me. You know you’re killing me.”

A wicked smile touched his lips and
he licked her clit and then slid up her body and kissed her.
“Killing you with pleasure. Remember that.”

He pushed off the bed, reaching for
his boots, and Kara quickly scooted away from him, sitting up and
leaning against the bed, her knees to her chest. Protecting herself
from another attack of pleasure turned to pain. But there was no
protecting her from the impact of him sliding down his jeans and
boxers, his erection jutting forward, thick with his desire and
with the promise of the satisfaction he’d denied her.

He tugged a condom from his pocket
but didn’t put it on. She wanted him to put it on, she wanted him
inside her, and yet, she wanted to escape before she did something
foolish and trusted this man.

His knees hit the mattress and he
crawled toward her, and she had the impression of a wild, wicked
beast in pursuit of what was his. Right then, she wanted to be his.
She wanted everything else not to matter, to just disappear. The
hunger in him washed over her, the possessiveness, and her body
responded, the slick heat of arousal glossing her thighs. His hands
came down on her knees. He kissed one and then the
other.

“Open for me, Kara.” And his eyes
met hers and she saw what was there, the demand she give him more
than her body. The certainty she would if she wasn’t careful, if
she didn’t do something to stop where this was going. She couldn’t
afford to be weak. She couldn’t let herself give into the
temptation to trust him.

“No,” she whispered. “I
can’t.”

“You can.”

She wished she could touch him,
that her hands were free. “You want too much.”

“I want everything. I told you
that.”

“Everything is too
much.”

He reached for her legs, easing
them down, and pulling her beneath him. And she let him. She didn’t
have it in her to fight what she felt for him, not like this, naked
and pressed close to him. Not with his cock thick between her legs,
and him hard everywhere she was soft, right where everything else
felt wrong.

He stroked hair from her face,
staring down at her, and she saw that raw vulnerability in him
she’d first seen in Denver, that pain he lived with, that made her
ache with him. That she somehow knew he let few people see, but he
let her. He surprised her then, reaching up and releasing one cuff
and then the next, then cupping her face. “Everything is
definitely
not too
much.”

The way he said those words reached
inside her and grabbed hold. She was falling for this man and
falling hard and in that moment she couldn’t seem to care why that
was so wrong. “Blake,” she whispered; a plea for some invisible
perfection only he could give her.

His name barely left her lips when
his mouth came down on hers, his tongue stroking into her mouth,
claiming her, tasting her. She moaned and passion exploded between
them. Wicked, wonderful passion that made everything else fade.
There was something happening between them, something she couldn’t
escape. She was lost in him, lost in everything that could be, if
only they were two different people. If only things were different.
But they weren’t—and yet, they were. When they arched into each
other, kissing, touching, hungering for one another, it wasn’t
fucking. It was making love, and that’s what would make the moment
harder when it was over. The moment they lay there, bodies sweaty
and sated, wrapped in each other’s arms. Because in that moment,
she knew she still had to do what she had to do. She tried to
comfort herself by telling herself he’d do the same to her, that he
was probably planning to do just that. It didn’t make it any easier
though to face the facts.

She’d made love to him and now she
had to fuck him over.

***

Blake’s eyes snapped open from
where he laid on the bed, on his stomach, playing as if he were
asleep. The mattress had shifted and he could hear Kara dressing.
He’d rolled off of her not long after they’d…fucked. Or whatever
that had been. He refused to let it be more when she was clearly
not done lying to him. What a damn fool he’d been to think he could
break through her walls and get her to trust him. To hope she
wasn’t trouble, but someone in trouble. Hell, he still wanted to
believe that and he dreaded what he knew was before him…the
truth.

The sound of her tiptoeing away and
then taking the stairs ground along his nerve endings and he didn’t
even wait for the door to open and shut before he sat up and
reached for his phone to dial Kyle.

“I tagged the truck with a tracking
device,” Kyle answered.

“She took my truck?”

“Yep. Smart girl, that one. Left
you without the means to follow.”

Blake grimaced and ended the call,
dressing and then making his way to the rental in front of the
building where Kyle was waiting on him. He was done playing games
with Kara. She was going to find that out fast.

Chapter Five

Blake stood in the shadows of the
building where Tami Wright, the blond waitress who worked for
Eduardo, lived, watching her load her car with suitcases, with Kara
by her side. What the fuck was she up to? Was she involved in the
drug theft along with this Tami chick, and trying to cover it
up?

Once the bags were in the trunk,
Kara handed Tami an envelope and then hugged her, stepping back and
watching as the other woman climbed into her beat-up Volkswagen and
drove away. Blake let Tami go, knowing Kyle would follow her and
track her destination.

Kara eyed a small piece of paper in
her hand and started to walk unknowingly toward him and the side of
the building where she’d parked the truck, but she hesitated as she
neared the dark enclave where he was waiting. Secretary, his ass,
he thought for the millionth time. She was trained and trained
well, her instincts on high alert. She cut to her left, away from
him, and he stepped out from the darkness.

“Kara.”

She stilled and turned back to him,
her face washed of the shock he sensed in her, her body stiff with
discomfort she didn’t hide as well. “Blake.”

“You didn’t really think you could
sneak out that easily, did you?”

“I can explain.”

“I’m sure you can.” He motioned the
direction where she’d parked. “In my truck.”

She shook her head. “No. That
doesn’t seem like a smart idea, because—”

“I’m not going to kill you,” he
said, grabbing her arm and pulling her with him, irritated he could
read her thoughts and that’s where her head was at. “And damn it, I
wish you’d stop saying I am. It’s starting to get on my
nerves.”

“I could scream,” she threatened,
all but making him drag her.

“And risk your identity being
exposed by the police? I doubt it.” He glared at her. “I told you.
I’m not going to kill you. Turn you over my knee and spank your
pretty little ass, most likely. That I’d enjoy.”

She gaped. “You
wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t I?” They were at the
truck, and he pressed her against the door, trapping her there, his
hands by her head. “What are you doing with Eduardo’s
employee?”

“I plead the fifth.”

He ground his teeth, studying her
in the beam of the high moon above. “Why are you here, Kara?
Because it looks bad. It looks like you’re involved in the
thefts.”

Her eyes went wide. “No. I’m not.
That’s not it. ” She crossed her arms in front of her. “It’s…it’s
something completely different.”

“I’m listening.”

“Tami was in trouble. I was helping
her.”

“What kind of trouble?” he
pressed.

“I couldn’t just stand by and let
her be one of the girls they’re selling to the highest bidder. I
couldn’t bear to let it happen.” She inhaled and let it out. “I
just couldn’t.” She raised her hands. “Whatever that means happens
to me, then it happens.”

“What the hell are you talking
about? What girls being sold to the highest bidder? By
who?”

She studied him, looking baffled.
“You don’t know?”

“Fuck no, I don’t know. What girls
being sold to whom, Kara?”

“I’m not completely sure. I just
know there have been girls disappearing, and they work at that
restaurant. I overheard Eduardo telling Tami that she was going to
be sold off if she didn’t deliver this other girl he wanted to
him.”

Blake scrubbed his jaw and cursed
under his breath. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You work for Mendez, Blake. I know
you say you’re a contractor, but—”

“I damn sure don’t support selling
off woman, Kara. That’s some fucked-up shit.” He lowered his voice.
“When I told you that you could trust me, I meant it.”

“I don’t trust anyone involved with
Mendez.”

“And yet you’re involved with
Mendez.”

“I told you. I have to be or I
wouldn’t be.”

“For the money.”

“No. Yes. For my family. We can’t
do this now. The other woman Eduardo wanted. She has no family and
he’s cleared her records in some way and intends to make her
disappear. I have to get to her and get her out of
town.”

“You have her address?”

“Yes.” She held up the piece of
paper.

He took it from her and he glanced
down at the address. “Give me my keys.”

She fished them from her purse and
he motioned her inside the truck. Once they were inside, he started
the engine. “Where’s Tami going?”