Sly (15 page)

She made the decision easy. She thrust her hips up; writhing and undulating, she invited me to watch as her sweet pussy grew wet and swollen before my eyes. She pulled at the bindings and I could see how much it turned her on. Her skin flushed near her breasts. Her breath hitched. She spread her legs even wider.  I climbed onto the bed and settled myself between them. I pressed her knees flat and leaned down. She smelled as sweet as a peach and she shuddered as she felt my breath on her sensitive little bud.  I ran my tongue up the creamy smooth skin of her thigh and settled myself to the task of driving her mad.
 

I licked and nipped at her folds, teasing my way around her throbbing clit. She sighed and cried out, thrusting and twisting, trying to get my tongue where she wanted it. But I wasn’t going to give into her that easily. It was too much fun to see how far I could take her. I liked to think I could do this all night. But as much as I played like I was in control, the sight of her like this, the way she moved her body, I was as much bound to her as she was for me.
 

I gave her a quick, teasing flick on the tip of her clit then sat back. She shuddered and moaned. I tapped her there with my index finger. She pumped up and down, trying to get the friction she wanted. I lifted my finger away and she sighed.
 

“I said I want you to stay,” I whispered, my voice dropping low. “Would you like it if I kept you here like this? I want to, you know. You have no idea how fucking hot you look right now.”
 

“Sly,” she gasped. “Stop teasing.”
 

“Oh, I’m just getting started, baby. Are you going to stay?”
 

“Please!”
 

I licked her again. Her sweet juices coated her thighs and as much as I enjoyed torturing her to pleasure, this was just as much torture for me. It took everything in me not to plunge into
her and ride her to ecstasy. But I wanted so much more from her. I wanted to possess her, claim her, body and soul, and this was just the beginning.
 

“Yes,” she cried out. “Yes, I’ll stay. I promise.”
 

I let out a wicked laugh. “That was almost too easy.”
 

She arched her back and pressed her knees flat against the bed, offering herself to me completely. As much as I wanted to draw her out, I didn’t have the strength myself to hold back. I set my mouth on her and sucked her. She rewarded me with moans and gasps. She was soaked for me. Her clit throbbed. It grew long and hard as I swirled my tongue around her. I slid a finger into her slick folds and she bucked and strained against the ropes. I slid in another finger and her body began to vibrate with the power of her rising need. And I wanted to feel it. I wanted to taste her as she exploded around my fingers and offered herself up to me in total surrender. It was her orgasm but it was mine too.
 

I slid a third finger into her and her walls clenched around me, a rhythmic pulse at first that quickly became erratic as she pumped and grinded against me. I feathered her little nub with the tip of my tongue and she bucked and shuddered, unable to control herself any longer. Then I fastened my lips around her and drew her out while I pumped my fingers in and out of her. She gyrated along with the pace I set.
 

She curved her body upward, her head thrown back. As I thrust my fingers in and out of her, I sucked her, drawing her to just the place I wanted her. It shattered her. She quaked against me as I lapped and sucked, trying to keep up with her. She screamed my name and I spread her lips wide. I wanted to see her as she came apart for me. I reached up and took one of her nipples between my fingers; it pebbled into a hard point. In that moment, I owned her completely. I relished every inch of her, every shuddering breath she took as she rode out the pleasure I gave her.  She came deep and hard, clenching around my fingers. Beads of sweat coated her neck, her breasts and all along the flat planes of her stomach.
 

My own rising need was becoming close to unbearable. My balls felt heavy and full against my leg, my erection like a steel rod. In the midst of it, she opened one eye and saw the state I was in.
 

“Sly,” she gasped. “Fuck me. Please. I’ll do anything.”
 

Music to my ears. I grabbed my cock at the base and guided myself into her. I’d come so close to my own release just from watching her, I almost didn’t make it. She was velvet heat, her juices pouring over me. I fucked her strong and hard. She got her long legs up around my waist, holding me in a vise-like grip. I’d demanded she make a promise to stay but in that moment I knew I was the one who couldn’t leave.  
 

I wanted this woman more than any I’d ever known. I didn’t understand what her hold over me was. Just that I’d do anything to keep her here. Anything to tear her walls down and let me inside. For now, I had to be satisfied with filling her body. And it felt oh so good.
 

Scarlett was mine. Whatever I had to do to make her want me back, I knew then that I would. She was perfect for me. Strong. Mysterious. Beautiful and tortured. We
did
fit like two halves of a puzzle.
 

Whatever it was that held her back, whatever made her scared, I meant to drive it away for good. As I spilled my seed inside her I knew it was the only way this could end. She was the woman I’d been waiting for and I hadn’t even known it.
 

Scarlett. My Scarlett.
 

As she arched her back and cried out my name, it was as if it was the only truth in the world.  Scarlett was mine and I was hers. No matter what I had to do to make her understand.
 

Chapter Fourteen

Scarlett
 

Sly and I were both in the throes of a sex hangover the next morning when I finally convinced him to drive me back to the hotel. I rested my head against his shoulder in the front seat. When he pulled into the parking space nearest my room, I groaned. I didn’t want the bubble we’d been in to burst. The minute I stepped out of this car, it had to. He knew it too even if he didn’t understand both of our lives were at stake.
 

“I’ve got to deal with some club business I’ve been putting off,” he said. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Then we can pick up where we left off.”
 

I sat up. “I’ve got some business I’ve got to take care of too. Why don’t you let me just call you when I’m free.”
 

He twisted in his seat so he was facing me. “You planning on leaving town?”
 

I knew if I hesitated too long, he’d know I was thinking about it. Vanishing into thin air would be the easy way out. But just for me. Kagan would still want Sly dead. If I went AWOL, then there’d be a price on both of our heads.
 

He wanted answers from me I had no idea how to give. He was better off far away from me and up until now, I’d been avoiding thinking about any of it. It was too intense with Sly. He made me feel things I’d never dreamed of.  He made me feel good. I hadn’t counted on that. Almost every word I’d said to him had been a lie. But my feelings were the truth. The way my body responded to his was the truth and he knew it. Except it would be the death of both of us if I couldn’t figure out what to do about Kagan.
 

“I won’t leave,” I said. “Not tonight. Promise.” That at least was the truth. For now. “But you’ve got to give me a little breathing room too. I told you, I have my own business to run. I’ve got to make some calls and some other arrangements and then I’ll call you. I promise.”
 

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m not trying to come on too strong. I get it. And anything you have to do to clear your schedule to spend more time with me, I’m all for. That is, if you want to.”
 

I took his face in my hands. This man had me in knots. My life was turned upside down. He was fierce and strong. Bold and dangerous. But when he looked at me with those wide, blue eyes, I saw the little boy he must have been too. Alone and scared, everyone he’d loved and trusted abandoning him before he was twelve. I didn’t want to hurt him like they did.
 

And I’d been hurt too. Maybe not with cigarette burns and late-night beatings, but I’d lost the same people he had. We’d both made hard choices and chosen paths
normal
people might never understand. We weren’t normal, Sly and I. We were survivors. Though the one thing we might not survive was each other.
 

The simple truth was, I was falling in love with him, even though I was too scared to say it out loud yet. I loved him and I’d been sent here to kill him. It was unthinkable. I could never hurt Sly now. Whatever else happened, the contract was off. I’d do what I had to do to protect
this man. But that was a different thing than agreeing to stay with him. It was a fairytale to think I could do both.
 

“It scares me too,” I said, and I knew it was one of the first honest things I’d admitted to him. “How much I’m starting to care about you. I didn’t plan it and I told you, it’s probably the worst thing for both of us. I’m a train wreck when it comes to men and relationships.”
 

That slow smile lifted the corners of his mouth making me understand all over again how he got his nickname. That deep dimple. That twinkle in his eye. It was hard to think of serious things when he trained that look on me.
 

“I’ve never had a relationship with a woman that lasted longer than a month. The fact that I’m thinkin’ about it where you’re concerned is real progress.”
 

Sly leaned over and kissed me. It was hard, rough and took my breath away. The way he moved his hands over me had me quaking beneath them.  But we had to stop. We were out in the open in front of my hotel room. There was a real chance Kagan had someone set up to watch me. It was more than a chance, it was a certainty. For now, the best thing I could do to protect Sly was keep Kagan thinking I was still determined to carry out the hit. If he called in someone else, it would be a disaster for both of us.
 

“Call me tomorrow,” I said. I chanced a furtive glance around the parking lot. It was all but empty. The closest cars were parked in the diner across the street. Kagan’s men could be there. The sooner Sly got the hell away from me, the better.
 

He nodded and gave me a cockeyed grin that melted my heart. God, what was I doing? What was I thinking? How had I ever let it get this far? Being with him put both his and my life in real danger. And yet, the thought of ending it, of never seeing him again seemed to steal the air from my lungs.
 

I smiled back as I climbed out of the car and gave him a wave. He waited as I keyed myself into my hotel room. I hadn’t heard from Lewis but if he was still crashing in my room, I couldn’t take a chance Sly would see him. I closed the door quickly. I pressed my forehead against the door as I closed it and heard his engine rev as he backed out and pulled away.
 

I threw my keys on the side table and closed the curtains. I pulled my Glock out of my purse and checked under the bed and in the closet. The bathroom door was closed. I approached it, keeping my body flat against the wall. Letting a breath out, I turned the knob and pulled the door open.
 

“Lewis?”
 

The bathroom looked empty but I dropped low, waiting for someone to spring out from behind the shower curtain. When no one did, I lunged forward and pulled the curtain back ready to shoot. But it was empty. I was alone. If Kagan had sent someone to watch me, they were doing it from a distance.
 

Tucking my gun into my waistband, I pulled out my phone and punched in Lewis’s number. He answered on the fifth ring, just as I was about to hang up.
 

“Scarlett? Where the hell have you been?”
 

“Why do you always ask me that? You’re never going to get an answer. I’m working the job. That’s all you need to know. I just need to know from you where Kagan’s head’s at. Has he reached out to you again?”
 

“No. I haven’t heard shit.” Lewis slurred his words and let out a hard breath. A sure sign he had a bong in front of his face. This time, I decided that was a good thing. The more chilled out Lewis was, the less I’d have to manage.
 

“God, Lewis. Can you just keep your shit together for a few more days? Where the hell are you? This job is going a little sideways and I’m going to need more time. You tell him that when he calls in for a status report.”
 

Lewis sighed. “Scarlett, we need to get the hell out of this town. I’ve got three other jobs lined up for you. You need to put this one in the bag so we can get back to business.”
 

I pressed my phone against my forehead. “Lewis, you’re not listening to me. I said this was it. No more. I’m retired. Find someone else to work with if you want, or go it alone.”
 

“Yeah. You say that now. You haven’t heard what the terms are though. You’ll change your mind. Just like you always do. I’m coming over there in the morning so we can talk in person.”
 

“I can save you the trip. I’m not going to be here. And I have no interest in discussing any new jobs with you. You can save your breath.”
 

“Four o’clock,” he said, as if my last sentence hadn’t registered. “I’m gonna take care of some other stuff in the morning and then I’ll be over.”
 

I knew full well Lewis’s
other
stuff involved him sleeping off the previous day’s high then brewing up a new one. It never used to be this bad with him. My brother had been so much better at keeping Lewis focused and under control. Now he’d nearly bungled this job with his half-assed brake tampering. And he’d forced my hand. Kagan should have never known my name or my face. My need to make this my last job had overridden all the warning bells that should have made me run in the other direction.