Tempted by a Dangerous Man (16 page)

I locked my knees. Corbin began fucking me, moving so fast that I threw back my head, my cries filling the room. Holy fucking hell, the slapping of his thighs against the bottoms of my buttocks sounded so dirty.
 

“Yeah,” he groaned. My breasts jiggled despite his iron hold on my nipples, and each little painful bounce added to my spiraling pleasure.
 

I tried to tell him how good it felt, but I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t do anything but sit on him, my ass and breasts pushed out while he proved that girl-on-top could be every bit as submissive as when I was on my back, my ankles over my head.

The rhythm slowed, then stopped, and I settled lower on him. I could feel his cock pulsing inside me. He was so swollen and hard that I realized he must have stopped to avoid coming.
 

And that made me smile.

“Smug, are you? Hell, you should be. You get to me, and I have no excuse except that you’re too sexy.” He smiled, drew one of his fingers across my cheek. Instead of moving my face away, I turned my mouth toward him with a whimper, wanting to suck him.

His finger tugged at the corner of my lips, then he flipped me over, sprawling on top of me, his muscular legs pinning mine down, his cock throbbing hot inside me.

He began to pump slowly, eyes fixed on mine. His chest, arms and shoulders bulged as he held his upper body still. Just his hips moved, swinging slowly, sometimes adding a small twist when he was deepest inside me.

I felt like I was drowning in his eyes, that I had somehow lost myself. It wasn’t just the orgasm that waited impatiently in the wings. It was something else.
 

I loved him. I had lied about it, and he didn’t deserve that. This despite everything he had done for me… he was right to question my trust in him.

If I trusted him, I should tell him the truth.
 

But I was terrified.
 

With everything that had happened, I was wound too tight. My sudden tears weren’t a delicate misting of the eyes. My face crumpled, and my mouth opened in a distraught cry. I covered my face with my hands.
 

“Audrey?” Corbin gently moved my hands away, though when I turned my face, he didn’t force me to look at him.

“I’m fine,” I gasped. “Don’t stop. Please.” I undulated slightly under him. “Don’t stop.”

“I want to give you your privacy, baby, but I need to see you so I can be sure I’m not harming you.” He continued to gently rock his hips as he spoke. “What’s going on?”

“I lied,” I bawled, suddenly unable to contain it.
 

He stopped then and forced my head straight, made me look at him. “Lied?”

I covered my mouth with both my hands, and I felt my eyebrows knotting together. Tears blurred the sight of Corbin’s baffled—and very concerned—face.

“I love you,” I said. “I’m in love with you. I’m sorry I lied. I do trust you.”

How much of that he heard was uncertain, because my hands muffled the words, but he surely got the gist.
 

“Baby,” he said, smoothing a damp curl away from my face, which, like the rest of my body, was now completely drenched in panicked sweat.

I clamped my hand over his mouth, terrified he would say he didn’t love me and that he never could.

Rather than pull away, he pressed a kiss into my palm. His eyes closed briefly, then he looked right at me. Into me.

“Thank you,” he said.
 

His words were full of gratitude, and they were sincere. He meant it.
 

But they weren’t what I wanted to hear. Corbin didn’t look conflicted, and he didn’t seem like he was hiding something. If he had felt the same way, he would have said it.

So he didn’t love me. Oh, I knew he was fond of me, that he cared about me, but that wasn’t the same as love. And why should he? Love was something that developed over time, at least for normal people who didn’t fall for the first man they dated seriously.
 

It might have been the most awkward moment of my life. But Corbin didn’t seem uncomfortable, and seconds later, when he began fucking me harder, I was so relieved. Because sex with him… I knew how to do that.
 

But when I came, my fingers dug into his lower back, and I held onto him, desperately, greedily.

He flung his head back and groaned as his cock spasmed inside of me, and I bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood.
 

He collapsed over me, and I hid my face in the shadow between his neck and chest. The faint smell of his aftershave almost made me get teary again. I dug my fingers into his back, wanting to keep him close.

We fell asleep tangled together like that.

I woke when Corbin rolled away. He checked the time, then fell back on the bed. Groggy, I sat up and checked the clock. This was it. One more hour before he had to leave.

He pulled me into his arms. I lay on his chest, and I could hear and feel the steady thumping of his heart. He squeezed me closer, pressed a kiss to the top of my head. Then he gently slid away.

His hands coasted down my body, stopping only to spread my legs. He stared at my pussy.
 

“That’s something to keep a man warm at night,” he said. “You’re so full of me that you’re dripping.” He edged a finger to my entrance, and I felt a gush of his come spill out of me.

He inhaled sharply. “Wish I had time to fuck you. Come for me,” he said as he moved his hand north.

I was already tensing, muscles clenching, rolling waves of bliss radiating out from between my legs. He shoved a finger into my pussy and groaned. “So damned wet,” he said.

His other hand rubbed my clit, and I fisted my hands in the sheets as my hips bucked. And thank God, no more confessions poured from my trembling lips.

As soon as the last of the orgasm subsided, my eyes closed. Even though I knew I had to get up in a few seconds, I couldn’t bear to watch him get ready to leave.

~~~

Corbin pulled the SUV over and put it into park. I looked at him, surprised, because we most certainly weren’t at the airport.

“I’ll get out here,” he said. He leaned over, stared into my eyes. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll be in touch when I can.”
 

“One month isn’t so long.”

He nodded. “Then I have two months free.” His smile was too gorgeous, and it broke my heart—which I wisely endured in silence. “Doing what I can,” he said. “They know I want out. If I’m lucky, this is the last time.”

I wondered what it meant for the revenge he sought. If this was his chance to get the men who had eluded him, or if he’d decided to choose a different life. I assumed the latter, but I didn’t know for sure.

He drew me close, kissed me deeply. And I wondered if it mattered that my feelings weren’t reciprocated. Maybe, after everything that had happened, he wasn’t capable of love.
 

“Hey,” he whispered. “Positive thoughts, ok? If you get into trouble, call me, and I’ll do what I can, though it may not be much. Just remember that there is nothing that can tie you to Zachary. You saw him, you left. That’s it.”

I nodded, swallowed the lump in my throat.

He twisted in his seat and grabbed a duffel bag that looked half empty. One final kiss, then he opened the door.

He walked across the street to where a taxi was waiting and got in. His mouth didn’t move—he didn’t tell the driver anything.

The car pulled into the light traffic, and Corbin looked at me. I knew he couldn’t see inside the SUV, not with the dark window tint, but I waved.

He nodded slightly. Then he was gone, and it was like someone had excavated an enormous crater in my soul. For the first time, I had doubts about my ability to handle all of this. My father. Henry, who would be out for blood. Corbin gone. I had no money.
 

I slid into the driver’s seat, put on the seatbelt. I hated driving this thing. It was too large, and I felt like a fool. I was more of a small, zippy car kind of woman. Not to mention that the gas was going to burn through my meager savings. But I was glad I had it.
 

As I drove toward the hospital, my worries shifted from losing Corbin to the problem of Henry.
 

My phone rang, and the SUV read out the number. I was so surprised that I swerved. Luckily, no one was on the road near me. “Shall I answer?” the vehicle prodded.

“Uh, yeah. Yes.”
 

“Hello, I’m looking for Audrey Stroop,” a man said.

My heart thudded. It was too soon for Dad to be out of surgery, so if the hospital was calling already… I slowed and looked for a place to pull over.

“Hello?” the man asked.

“Yes,” I whispered.
 

“We’re at your apartment now, and we wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything you don’t want packed.”

“What?”

“A mutual friend asked us to pack your apartment. We need to know—”

“No,” I said quickly. I started breathing again, so relieved. “Pack it all up.” After a moment’s reflection, I gave him Rob’s address and told him where to find Rob’s spare key in my kitchen. If Corbin had called these people, then I knew they were trustworthy. I also knew they probably didn’t usually move apartments, and I wondered if everything would end up in leakproof plastic bags.

“How long do you think it will take?” I asked.

“Two hours to pack, an hour to drive it over and unload it. We’ll also be moving your car.”

And well, that was that. Life went so much smoother when you could just get other people to take care of the distasteful tasks.
 

I pulled into the hospital garage and climbed into the back of the truck, exhausted. Might as well get some sleep.

~~~

It was completely dark when I woke. I looked at my phone and saw that I had slept through several texts. Rob said he was heading back to the hospital. He’d sent it forty minutes earlier.

Nothing from Corbin. Not that I expected there to be, but I had hoped.

Nothing from Henry. Not a good sign.

I was so sick of worrying about him. Wished he would just go away.

Rob was waiting in a lounge. Dark circles ringed his eyes.
 

“Where’s Martha?” I asked.

“One of her friends took her to the cafeteria. She was getting dizzy from not eating.”

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who didn’t feel hungry lately. “Is it all right if I store my stuff in your garage for a bit?”

“Of course. When?”

I glanced at the phone. “A few hours ago.”

That made him laugh. “If I end up quitting, I can sell your furniture to pay my bills.”

“That backup plan won’t get you far.” I gnawed on my lip. “Corbin and Henry got into a fight.”

Rob’s jaw dropped.
 

“I take it you didn’t know?” I asked, my heart lifting. If Henry hadn’t come looking for me by now, maybe he wouldn’t.
 

A smile tugged at Rob’s lips, though I could tell he was trying to hide it. “I bet it was awesome.”

“If by ‘awesome’ you mean that Henry knows about Corbin and he already wanted to arrest me before and now actually has a reason to get me locked up, I guess it was.”

Rob’s smile melted away. “Damn. What are we going to do?”

“What am
I
going to do. This isn’t your problem.” I shrugged. “The plan right now is to think about it later.” All while hoping that Henry would stay far away.
 

Rob stood, stretched. “I’m going to the vending machine. Man, I wish I’d witnessed that firsthand.”

“Hey, you didn’t even ask how Corbin is.”

“I’ve seen him before. I don’t have to ask. Poor Henry.” Rob walked away, still shaking his head.

He returned with two candy bars and two root beers that he shared. “Thanks.” I twisted the top off of my bottle.

“What the hell happened to you, man?” Rob asked, looking past my shoulder.

I caught his hidden warning and immediately stood, ready to run even though I had hoped to stay. Henry’s arm was bandaged up, and he had a black eye and a broken nose.
 

“Why don’t you ask your sister?” Henry said. “Audrey, we need to talk. Let’s go to the atrium. I want you to meet some friends of mine.”

Nothing in his tone was overly menacing, which frightened me even more. But I couldn’t imagine what he might do to me in a public place, and if he planned to have me arrested, I couldn’t do much about it at this point. I handed my soda to Rob. “All yours.”

“You were never so sharing when we were kids,” he said with a shrug, but his attention was fixed on Henry. I got the impression that Rob was willing to blacken his other eye. “Don’t be more than five minutes,” he said.
 

“It won’t take that long, I’m sure.” Henry’s voice was rock steady.
 

Not good, not good.

“How’s your arm?” I asked as we walked down the corridor.

He didn’t bother answering that.
 

I followed him to a wide open area. There was a skylight several floors above, and four floors below was a water fountain. The sound of the spraying water echoed.
 

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Henry said. “Behind me are two of my very good buddies from the police force. At the moment, they don’t know what I know.” His brown eyes were hardened and emanated hatred. So I was surprised by what he said next. “I don’t want to see you behind bars, Audrey. I don’t believe you knew what you were getting into.”

My gaze darted to the side, and I saw two men who, while they might not have been officers, certainly gave off that vibe. I didn’t recognize them, but they could have been from another county. One man was stocky, the other tall and slender, but they had that haircut, that way of standing, that overall demeanor that I knew very well.
 

If I had happened to walk by them, I would have thought
cops
.

I licked my lips. “So what do you want from me?”

“Where is he?”

“Gone,” I said. “He would have to be an idiot to stick around after—” I nearly said
after beating your ass
, but I realized that probably wouldn’t go over well. “After getting on a bounty hunter’s radar.”