my dress and pulls it up, but only to allow me to crawl up his body and wrap my thighs around his waist. Unrelenting chemistry isn’t fueling this. Unrelenting feelings are. Feelings neither of us have felt before.
Danny turns and walks us out of his office, his palm on the back of my head directing it to rest on his shoulder. No one has held me like this before. Like I’m the beginning and the end of the world for them. My mind is somewhat fuzzy with alcohol, but I will remember this moment, crystal clear, for as long as I live. It’s a whole new world for me.
The sound of the front door opening up ahead doesn’t prompt me to lift my head and look. I’m too calm. Settled. Heavy with drunkenness, but at peace with myself and the decision I have made. I choose him.
Danny stops, and I hear Brad. “She’s still here?” There’s no mistaking the shock in his voice.
“She didn’t tip anyone off.”
“But—”
“It wasn’t her,” Danny grates, his voice quiet but lethal. “We’ll talk in the morning.”
“What the hell am I supposed to tell the Russians until then?”
“Tell them I’m busy. We’ll rearrange,” he calls as he takes us up the stairs. I smile sleepily into his shoulder, using what energy I have left to hold him tighter. I don’t open my eyes until he’s laid me on the bed. Quietly and slowly, he strips me out of the red dress and then rips it apart at the seams, throwing it aside and crawling into bed with me. I’m pushed onto my side, he curls his body around mine, and tugs me back into his warmth. “No one has stood in your shoes before,” he murmurs once he’s settled around me. “No one has experienced me like you’re experiencing me. No one has seen what you’re seeing. No one has felt what you’re feeling. No one has touched what you’re touching.” He kisses the back of my head gently. “I’m yours, baby. All yours.” Warm breath coats my hair and spreads across every inch of my skin. “I love you. Because no one has ever loved me like you do.”
When I wake, I momentarily panic that I dreamed everything. It’s like Danny knew that might happen, so he’s placed himself right in front of me to make sure he’s the first thing I see when my eyes open. Bright, sleepy blues meet mine, his head on my pillow, the tip of his nose brushing mine. His breath is my breath. As every second of last night trickles into my brain, reminding me of where we’re at, I sigh, each minute of my memory enhancing the peace. I reach for his face, framing his scarred cheek with my palm as my eyes dance across his beauty. This wicked, brutal killer is mine. I bite my lip as a soft smile creeps up on me, and he takes my hand from his face, kissing the tip of each finger.
“Come here,” he orders, rolling to his back. I crawl my way onto his front and spread myself the length of him, my face finding his neck. He smells like man and freedom. He smells like he’s mine.
“I love you,” I mumble, nuzzling deeper into him, relishing the feel of his dangerous, rough hands working across my back.
“Are you still drunk?”
I nudge him and let the sound of his soft laugh wash over me. “Are you?” I’m moving, being pushed to my back, swapping positions with Danny. Framing my head with his strong, hard arms, he kisses me. “Only on you,” he whispers, and for the first time in my life, I swoon. Danny Black made me swoon. The merciless, cold-hearted killer made me swoon. “We need to talk,” he says around a nibble of my ear.
I fold, knowing it was coming and is needed, but expecting something doesn’t make it any easier to tackle. “I don’t know where to start,” I admit, feeling his soft, chaste pecks of my neck easing me into a needed sense of security.
“Start from the beginning.” He goes to pull out of my neck, but my hand on the back of his head pushes him down again.
“Stay there,” I order quietly, needing him all over me, reminding me of why I’m doing this. Reminding me of why I’ve chosen this road. He returns to kissing my neck, each compression of his lips to my flesh injecting me with the strength I need to share