Wilde Edge (11 page)

“We’re going to live on cold pizza,
beer, and sex? I’m game.”

“And that proves my theory that you’re
the perfect woman for me.”

“Show me,” she grinned up at him,
amazed by the joy that shimmered through her soul as he leaned in to kiss her.
Lips slanted across hers as he withdrew from her body until only the tip of his
shaft hovered just inside her passage. When he reclaimed her, it was with a
slow, powerful thrust that moved her a half inch up the mattress. She drew her
legs up until her knees were nearly level with his hips, and he groaned as the
angle of their bodies changed with her shifting position.

He pushed himself high above her,
arms locked and muscles standing out in relief as he withdrew and then
reclaimed her body again and again. His hips pumped at an ever increasing rate
until he was pounding into her, flesh slapping and both of them working in
breathless concert, seeking release.

Every stroke stretched and filled
her, showing her a world of pleasure Jo had never imagined existed. She had
never known that passion could really ignite like living flame, or that
pleasure could be intoxicating. She clung to him, fingers curved into his
shoulders as he lowered himself down atop her again, his last few strokes
slowing as his big body shuddered with the force of his orgasm. He groaned her
name and kissed her, his cock pulsing deep in her core and sending her over the
edge into a third release.

When she came back to her senses,
his lips were brushing her cheek, kissing away the tears she hadn’t known were
there.

“So beautiful,” he whispered before
withdrawing from her body. He moved away from her for a moment, but then he was
back again, strong arms wrapping around her and drawing her up against his
chest as he pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose.

“I’m glad your brother sent you
over to talk to me that day,” she said and snuggled in close, relishing the
warm comfort of his embrace.

“So am I, angel. Just don’t say
anything to him, okay? His ego doesn’t need the help.”

“I noticed that none of you Wilde
boys seems to suffer from an excess of humility. Of course, that might be
because you’re all so damned good looking,” she said, then giggled as he
lightly smacked her ass in response.

His voice was full of mock outrage
as he scolded her. “You’re going to pay for that, brat. I am the best looking
of all my brothers, thank you. The rest of them are beneath your notice, and if
I catch you noticing them again, I’ll…fuck, that’s not playing fair.” His
threat trailed off into a curse as she reached between them to stroke his cock,
exploring the rapidly hardening length with her fingertips.

“I’m sorry, you were saying
something?” She didn’t quite manage to keep the laughter out of her voice as
she looked up and fluttered her lashes at him. She’d never been very good at
flirting, but with Tag, it came easily. Just like the laughter that flowed
between them.

“I was saying something…but it’s
gone now. If you don’t want me to remember, I suggest you keep doing what
you’re doing, angel.”

“Oh, I have no plans on stopping.”

Her heart started beating faster as
he started slowly kissing his way up the side of her neck. “That’s good,
because neither do I.”

Chapter Eight

Tag came awake with disorienting
speed. He sat up in bed and looked around without any idea what had disturbed
him, sensing only that something wasn’t right. It took his sleep-fuddled brain
a few more seconds to register the belligerent shouting coming from outside.

“Fucking bitch!
Get out here and talk to me. You owe me that much!”

Beside him,
Jolena
curled into a ball and whimpered in her sleep as the shouting continued.
“
Jolena
!
Wake up and get out here!
I’m not going away until you do!”

It had to be Greg.

Tag was out of bed before the last
words were out of the bastard’s mouth. He pulled on his jeans and was halfway
to the hall when
Jolena
called softly.

“It’s my ex, and he’s drunk. He’s
nasty when he’s like this, Tag. Just ignore him and he’ll go away eventually.
He usually does.”

“This has happened before?” Tag
turned to look at her, and his heart ached at the shadows that darkened his
angel’s sweet face.

“A couple of
times when we first split up.
He’s just angry I screwed up his real
estate deal.”

“That is no reason to come to your
house and scream obscenities and insults. I’m going to tell him you’re not
home, and when I get back here you and I are going to talk about Orders of
Protection and your safety.”

“I had one. An Order of Protection
I mean. I let it lapse... He wasn’t bothering me anymore…”

“Well, he’s bothering you now.” Tag
grabbed his cell phone off the dresser and tossed it to her. Call 9-1-1. Tell
them what’s going on. And no matter what, you don’t leave the house. Do you
hear me? You stay inside and out of sight.”

“Please, be careful. He’s
dangerous.”

Tag’s lip curled up into a dark
smile. “So am I.”

Heavy footsteps were staggering up
the stairs by the time Tag got to the door, and he yanked it open in a hurry.
He wanted to get this son of a bitch away from the house and
Jolena
.

“Jo-Jo!
Get your fat ass out here! I know you’re home. You’re always at home because
you’re too pathetic to have a social life. That’s why you’re fucking up my
life, isn’t it!
Because your own is so goddamned sad.
Why the fuck won’t you just do this deal and make us both rich?”

“Hey, buddy, people are trying to
sleep,” Tag called up to the vile piece of trash teetering at the top of the
stairs. The sleet was hissing down around him as he walked out into the yard to
get a better look at their unwanted visitor. The glow of the streetlights
painted everything a sickly orange, but it was bright enough for Tag to see
that Greg was definitely drunk.

“So? I’m trying to talk to my wife.
Fucking cow.
She needs to answer the goddamned door!”
Greg brayed, flailing one hand toward the locked front door of
Jolena’s
home.

Barefoot and shirtless, Tag should
have been freezing, but he was so angry that he couldn’t feel the cold. It was
all he could do not to run up the steps and pound this asshole bloody. He
wanted to, but that wasn’t going to help
Jolena
get
this bastard out of her life. “If you mean
Jolena
,
then she’s not home.”

“Who the fuck are you, and why do
you know if my wife’s home?”

“I live downstairs.” Tag pointed to
the garden suite.

“So where’s my wife, mister
downstairs?” Greg was slurring his words, and Tag could barely understand what
he’d said.

“She went out earlier. I don’t know
when she’ll be back.”

“You’re lying. Her car’s in the
garage. I saw it. So where the fuck is she?”

“She’s with her boyfriend,” Tag
said with a shrug.

“Boyfriend?
What sorry fool would go out with her?” Greg staggered back down the stairs,
and part of Tag’s brain was hoping the bastard would trip and break his damned
neck. This was
Jolena’s
ex-husband? He wasn’t good
enough to breathe the same air as her.

“It’s late––
Jolena’s
probably not coming back home tonight. You should go.” Tag’s hands fisted at
his sides as Greg stood, swaying, just a few feet away.

“You
gonna
make me?”

“If you don’t go quietly, then I’ll
call the cops and tell them you’re here, harassing your
ex
-wife and her tenant. Go home and sleep it off, man.”

“Just want to talk to her. Need to
explain this deal is golden for us.
Both of us.
She’s
gotta
see that. No need to call the fucking cops.” Greg was
talking quietly now, but Tag could see he was a man on the edge. Unshaven, his
shirt rumpled and his clothes reeking of stale booze and smoke,
Jolena’s
ex was a rank, unstable mess.

“Go home.” Was all Tag said,
pointing toward the
sidewalk.

“You tell her I was here. Tell her
to fucking answer my goddamned calls next time, or I’ll come back here and
teach her a lesson. You tell her for me!”

The moment Greg threatened
Jolena
, Tag saw red. His fists rose to his chest and he
snarled at the piece of shit swaying in front of him. “Get the hell out of here
and don’t come back. Don’t call her, don’t email her, and don’t send her a
fucking smoke signal. Do you hear me? Stay away from
Jolena
or I will end you.”

Harsh brays of laughter echoed off
the houses and faded off into the distance like some maniacal clown had fled
into the night. “You got to be
shittin
’ me.
You?
With my ex?
You one of those
freaks who actually likes fat chicks?”

“Shut.
Your.
Mouth.”
Tag ground out each syllable from between
clenched teeth.

“Or what, pretty
boy?
You’ll mess me up? I don’t fucking think so.” Greg stepped closer
and took an ineffectual swing at Tag, missing his target by half a foot. The force
of the swing pulled the drunken idiot off balance, and he stumbled forward,
right into Tag.

That was the move Tag had been
waiting for. He took half a step backward and leaned to one side, letting Greg
careen past him. He swept the drunken fool’s feet out from under him, and the
other man dropped to the ground with all the grace of a sack of soggy potatoes.
Tag dropped on top of him, lodging his good knee firmly between Greg’s shoulder
blades and pinning him to the ground. Despite the fact his face was mashed
against the wet pavement, Greg continued to bellow threats and curses, but he
wasn’t going anywhere.

 
“Bastard!
I’m fucking
charging you with assault.”

It all felt painfully familiar, and
Tag caught himself automatically reaching for the handcuffs he no longer
carried. He missed this, missed being part of the thin blue line that stood
between victim and villain. He had been part of something, a brotherhood that
worked for the greater good, and then it had been taken away from him. Kneeling
there in the cold, and the dark, Tag felt the loss of what had been, like a
knife blade twisting in his heart.

Then he caught a flicker of
movement in his front window and saw
Jolena
. Her eyes
were wide with worry and he cheeks were ashen. She had one hand pressed flat
against the glass, and in that moment he found a new purpose. He wasn’t a cop
anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make a difference. He no longer
served, but there were people who still needed protection, starting with the
angel standing in his window.

****

Jo had called 9-1-1, throwing on a
pair of jeans and Tag’s discarded T-shirt as she frantically gave the operator
all the information she could. The second she was dressed she bolted for the
front of the suite and the window. She had to see, had to know what was
happening. If anything happened to Tag because of her…

Greg was ranting loud enough she
could hear every demeaning, insulting word that came out of his mouth, but they
held no power to hurt her, not anymore. He could go to hell for all she cared.
The only person that mattered was her battle-scarred warrior, Tag. She pulled
back the curtains just enough to peer out and saw him looking like some kind of
avenging god as he stood, blocking Greg from coming any closer to the house.

The icy rain was falling in
wind-driven sheets now, plastering Tag’s long hair to his head and making his
bare skin gleam as he stood his ground. His hands were clenched into fists, the
muscles of his shoulders and back tensed as he exchanged more words with the abusive
asshole she’d once been married to. Seeing them together, Jo could only wonder
what she’d ever seen in Greg. Tag was everything her ex would never be, could
never be, because Greg was a weak, vicious coward while Tag was her knight in
shining armor.

Despite her fear, Jo’s lips
twitched with laughter.

Well,
maybe not shining armor…dark and slightly dented would suit him better.

She stayed at the window until the
police finally arrived. When she started to leave the window to greet them, Tag
shook his head and gestured for her to remain inside. It wasn’t until Greg was
cuffed and being walked to the cruiser that Tag raised a hand in her direction
and nodded, inviting her to join him.
 

She was outside in a flash, her
bare feet splashing through the cold puddles as she made her way to Tag. She’d
grabbed a blanket off the back of one of his chairs on her way to the door, and
when she got close enough she held it out to him. He took it gratefully,
wrapping it around his shoulders and then drawing her in close beside him so
could wrap the other half of it around her.

“Are you okay?” she asked, ignoring
the officer standing with them as she snuggled into Tag’s side, her hands
stroking over his body, checking for injury.

“I’m fine. Fucking freezing, but
that’s all. And you, where are your shoes, angel?”

“Sitting beside yours, back here,”
Jo said, turning and pointing at the door to his suite. “I was more worried
about you than I was of catching a cold.”

“The two of you can go back inside.
Detectives will be here soon and they’re going to want to talk to you both. You
know the drill, Wilde.”

Tag nodded. “I know it, just never
been on this end of an investigation before. I think I liked it better when I
was the one with the gun.”

The officer smiled and shook his
head. “From what I saw, you didn’t need a gun or a badge to do the right thing
tonight. I’ll see you at Leo’s sometime soon and we’ll catch up. For now, get
out of this weather. Good night.” The officer nodded to Jo and then took his
leave.