Lady Killer (Tangled Desires Book 2) (14 page)

“Of course, but I don’t like that she’s intent on keeping secrets. I’m figuring it’s something major for her not to have said anything when she told you about Santiago. Just wanted you to know that.” Shoving off the counter, he claps me on the shoulder as he makes his way past.

Gem

I pace the length of the room. My things are already packed on the bed, my keys in my hand. I overheard a little of what Mace said to Tom, and he’s right. I am keeping secrets. It’s not that I want to keep them any longer, but they’re dangerous secrets. The kind that can get a person killed for knowing them.

I don’t want to put them in any more danger than I already have. I’ve tried to remind myself not to get involved. Told myself over and over to keep running. I’ve known for a while that I’ve been off Santiago’s radar.

I got good at hiding. But now?

I should have been smarter. Being around Tom was only going to lead to me slipping up. Those photos will be seen. They’ll be in some magazine or newspaper, or on gossip sites. It’s a matter of time before they work out where I am.

My heart races, my feet itching to get on the road. I should have been gone straight away. I shouldn’t still be here. I’ve screwed up worse than I ever thought possible because whether I run now, or later, I’m going to hurt Tom.

I can’t believe I’m even considering not running.

The sound of footsteps in the hallway has me halting in my tracks. My breath hitches as they pass, stop, and come back to the door. I know it’s him on the other side. My entire body reacts to him, not just my lady bits. It’s an electrical buzz on my skin, and I find myself rushing to open the door before he ambles away.

He’s standing there, and I’m standing inside the door, and we’re both just standing there, not saying anything. Simply staring at each other. His shirt’s rumpled, his blue eyes dark, and I have never seen anything sexier. I should be… I don’t remember, because all I can think is I may never get another chance. So I jump him. Literally.

And he catches me. His hands squeezing my ass while he licks into my mouth, possessive with each sure stroke of his tongue against mine.

“Stay with me?” I’m kind of shocked by my own words, but I mean them. I want to be his, even if it can only be temporary. The idea of having to leave him does odd things to my insides, squeezing my organs until I can barely breathe.

“Scared, princess?” He’s staring at my mouth, his gaze flickering lower to where my pulse beats erratically.

Yeah, I’m scared.
Terrified, actually, that I’m so far past the point of not interested in him. Every minute I spend in this town, in his life, make me want to stay, but I don’t believe I have that option. My voice quavers. “I want you inside me.”

“Are you sure about that?” he says. “There are no takebacks in this house.”

He’s staring into me, his hands tense on my ass, pressing me tight against his hardness. My mouth waters, and I can barely swallow, let alone speak, with how much I want him. “It’s all I can think about.”

“Fuck,” he says, surging into the room, his foot catching the door and sending it flying into the frame with a thud. Then he sets me on my feet and strips me from my jumpsuit, leaving me standing in front of him in my bra and panties.

He takes a moment to undo the buttons on his shirt and shed it, before he undoes the hooks on my bra with a flick of his fingers and sets his mouth on my breasts. Licking and sucking, he pulls each nipple between his teeth until they’re marble hard peaks, aching from his attention. My entire body is a mass of arousal and pleasure, ravenous for him.

“Take your panties off,” he growls into my mouth.

I reach for the elastic, fumble as I draw them down over my hips, but I’m not fast enough. He tucks his thumb into the front, yanking them down until they pool in a puddle at my feet.

“I want you naked. I want to see you, pretty girl, where you want me.” He falls to his knees. “Spread your legs and show me.”

And I do, because I’m desperate for him to take me and stamp himself all over my body, inside and out. He runs his palms up the inside of my thighs from my knees to just below where I ache for him. “Drenched, aren’t you? All swollen and slick.”

Biting my lip, I nod as his fingers slip through the wetness dripping down my thighs. My eyes close, my breath getting sharp with each slow stroke of his fingers, and he isn’t even touching where I need him most.

“Touch yourself. Show me where you want me.”

I skim a hand between my legs, touching my clit, rolling my finger over it again and again.

“There?” he asks, and I nod, unable to speak as he puts his mouth on the spot where my finger is, flicking his tongue over my swollen, tingling flesh until my knees buckle. “Is that really where you want me?”

I shake my head, my entire body trembling as I slide my fingers along my slit, dip inside to the spot where I’m aching for him. “Here. I want you to make me cum on your cock.”

“Deeper,” he says. “Stroke yourself for me.”

I push as far in as I can, stroking my most sensitive spots as he licks around my fingers, flicking his tongue over my clit. I’m grinding against his mouth, against my fingers, on the verge of cumming, heat licking up my insides.

“So fucking hot.” He slips a finger along mine, caressing me in a way that is so intimate. “You’re going to feel so damn perfect on my cock.”

I’ve never experienced anything like it. His fingers fucking with mine, his tongue licking at the wetness that slides down our joined hands until I cum. Then he pulls my fingers out of the way, and devours me with his mouth. His tongue everywhere; inside me, eating me up, while surge after surge of pleasure rockets through me until I cry out.

Shifting to his feet, he scoops me into his arms. I’m practically jelly as he lays me down and strips out of his pants, grabbing a condom and rolling it over his erection. Then he settles between my legs, his cock nudging at my over sensitized clit, making me whimper.

His mouth on mine, he claims me as his. I want that, for tonight.

And a hell of a lot longer.

I should be keeping my wits around me. Remembering that this isn’t permanent. At some point I’m going to have to leave him, but when he pushes the head of his cock inside me, he blocks those thoughts from my mind. It’s all I can do not to impale myself on him, clenching so tightly around him while he stretches me slowly.

“You’re so tight.” He murmurs, his heavily hooded gaze focused on me while his palms scrape along my damp skin. “It’s fucking heaven.”

He strokes my sensitive spots with the tip over and over until I’m taking him into me, my hips rocking to pull him deeper. There’s a delicious sting to the pleasure of being so full of him, something so sweet and torturous that hits against erogenous zones I didn’t know I had.

“More,” I whimper. “Fuck me.”

Groaning into my mouth, he pulls all the way out and surges into me over and over. “I want you to cum on me. I want your sweet pussy clenched tight around my cock.”

Spots burst in front of my eyes, with each deep plunge, until I’m arching off the bed, my head thrown back. Immersed in pleasure, and the sensation of him tight inside me. My nails digging into his ass, I whimper. I’m so close to cumming, ready to fall apart around him.

Then he slides his palm down to my calf and lifts it onto his shoulder. The angle pushes him deeper, intensifying everything. “I want to hear my name on your lips, pretty girl. I want to hear you cry for me while I watch you cum.”

And I do. Oh my God, I do.

While he’s thrusting deep inside me, my body is racked with pleasure that tears me apart inside, until I’m nothing but a boneless mess of twitching nerve endings. Then he follows me over, his cock pulsing with his release.

When we finally disentangle our sweaty limbs, he flops onto his back beside me.

“Is that all?” I ask, not sure what to say, but pretty sure he knows why he has his reputation. My muscles are still jerking, my clit pulsing, as I continue to come down. I’ve never done drugs, but I have a feeling the man could make an addict out of me.

“Not a fucking chance.” He chuckles, hooking me into his arms and pressing his lips to my hair. “We’re only finished when you say we’re finished.”

There are not enough hours in the night, but we make the best of them. Whispering silly little stories about our lives, while he touches me everywhere. His mouth finds my ticklish spots, and I stroke him until he cums in my hand. Afterward, he takes me from behind while we lie on our sides, exploring my skin with his mouth. He holds me against him, his fingers rubbing my clit, until I cum again. I’ve never felt so utterly satisfied, or so protected in my life, and I don’t want it to end. When he pulls me on top of him, I ride him like I was born to be his. Then we fall asleep, my cheek mashed to his chest, his hand in my hair.

I wake to a heavy weight across my legs and smile. Last night was perhaps the best night of my life. If I didn’t believe in unicorns before now, well, Tom’s sweet words and sensual caresses have me believing in their existence. Not that I’m willing to admit it out loud or anything. Not much point when I have to leave. I can’t keep putting him in danger. Maybe he will forgive me, but it doesn’t ease my burden.

It’s not Tom beside me.

Thud, thud, thud. Lucky beats her tail against the bed. Her massive head lifts, her muzzle forming that perma-grin which makes it seem like she’s saying hello.

I scratch her behind the ear. “Where’s your master?”

Her head sinks back onto the mattress, and she gazes at me with those wide brown eyes, as though to say she doesn’t know. The warm bubble that enveloped me when I woke gets a puncture.

Swinging my legs off the side of the bed, I throw on a pair of shorts and a tank. I quickly pull my hair into a ponytail, let Lucky out, and head to the kitchen. It’s so quiet. Either everyone is gone for the day or they’re still in bed. I pour a glass of milk and take it back to the bedroom. Tom’s door is ajar, and it calls to me, so I tread softly and push it open enough to peek inside.

He left me during the night to sleep in his own bed. I should have known he wouldn’t stay after the fact. I doubt he’s ever spent a full night with a woman in his bed before. The intimacy was probably too much. Or at least that was part of the rumors, that he was a wham bam thank you ma’am kind of guy. The women who stayed, slept alone, while he took the couch. Then he’d have them out of his apartment before they could thank him for the night.

But it’s a bit hard to get away from me when I’m staying in his house, I guess. So this was the best he could do. Lucky passes me and climbs up on the bed to settle beside him.

Well, at least he left her to protect me while I slept. It stings that he can’t break old patterns. That he was only interested as long as it took to seal the deal. I should be relieved, though. I can’t stay anyway.

“Do you normally stare at people while they sleep?” His groggy voice startles me.

“Sorry. Do you always race out as soon as you get a woman to sleep with you?” I spin around and head back to my own room. I didn’t mean to bite his head off. Okay, yes I did. What kind of douche puts so much effort into hurting a girl? Maybe it’s on me. I should have fought harder to maintain my disinterest. It’s just he has a way of tearing down my defenses.

“Hey.” He grabs my arm, and closes the door behind him. “Don’t assume because I slept in my own bed that I’m finished with you.”

“Maybe I’m finished with you,” I snap back. Even saying it stings, like I could ever be finished with him. The idea is a weight in my chest, that has me needing to get as close to him as I can.

The next thing I know he’s tackling me, sending me flying onto the bed, and trapping me beneath him. My God, he moves quick. He doesn’t let a girl catch her breath when making her fall for him. “Maybe you are and you don’t even know why yet. That’s why I slept in my own bed. I told you it was complicated. There were things I was going to tell you before we did what we did last night.” He heaves a sigh. “But I’m crazy for you. Absolutely fucking bat-shit crazy about you. You have to know that.”

“Tell me now.” I can feel him everywhere, pressed to me, hip to hip, chest to chest. He’s hard between my legs, and my body responds despite my confusion. The ache of need doubles as the sting of his earlier desertion wears off.

His mouth is on my collarbone, on my shoulder. Rasping along my throat. “I screwed up. I don’t know how or with who, but I fucked up something fierce.”

I don’t give a flying fuck what he did before me. I knew who he was, knew his reputation. I also knew there was more to him than his talent to string a hoard of women through his bed. I’m into him, anyway. Into the guy those women never got lucky enough to meet. I twine my fingers in his, arching into him. Mentally begging for his mouth to travel south, to suck and lick and tease me until I’m putty for him, but he needs to get this off his chest, so I ask. Despite myself, I ask what he wants me to ask. “What do you mean?”

I wish I hadn’t because he stops, rolling onto his back beside me while he stares at the ceiling. “There’s a slim possibility I’m going to be a dad. I might be having a baby. It could be nothing, some misguided attempt at blackmail or something, but I don’t know yet. Some woman sent me a pregnancy stick in the mail. No idea who. No return address. I’ve been trying to locate her.” He shakes his head. “It sounds fucking nuts.”