now. A killer that had taken the lives of five women, leaving their naked bodies bound and displayed like they were a disturbing piece of art. A killer that still had three more women in his grips.
But first, he needed Alex on his side. He needed her to want to help him, instead of flipping him off and telling him to find someone else. Which was exactly what he deserved.
Determined to reconnect and put his plan into action, he yanked her lithe body up against his and ravished her with his mouth, pleased when she kissed him back with equal fervor.
But soon that wasn’t enough. He needed…more.
With every bit of clothing he removed from her body, he was getting himself deeper in this. Touching her reminded him of the exact reasons he’d run. She felt too good…too real…too dangerous. But there was no turning back now, not with lives on the line.
He lived his life in the shadows. He’d spent so much time pretending to be other people to catch criminals, he couldn’t even remember the man he was meant to be. Until Alex. And that rich sensation of home that she pulled out of him would not wait. He wanted her. Every goddamn perfect inch of her.
With each kiss, her mouth molded to his. Her body bent to his will, reacting to every one of his touches, urging him on like a drug he couldn’t get enough of. He wanted her like he hadn’t wanted anything for a long time. She tasted sweet yet sinful, and he ached to drink her in. Every brush of her lips, swirl of her tongue, only made him thirstier. She held his T-shirt tightly, yanking him closer, until she removed his shirt and pushed him away a moment with a gasp.
He met her lust-filled eyes, and his cock pressed painfully against the zipper of his jeans. “Still so dangerously sexy, I see,” he told her huskily.
She licked her lips. “Likewise, Hawke.”
His muscles felt rigid beneath his skin as he scanned over her creamy flesh to her black-lace bra covering a perfect handful of breasts.
“Don’t get any ideas about this,” she said, drawing his focus back to her face. She kicked off her red high heels. “We’ve got tonight, then you forget me again.”
That seemed to be their thing. When someone saw the darkness that lurked beneath people’s skin, that’s all they saw. Trust came hard after that. “I’ll take tonight.” He stalked toward her. His target. “But you won’t get any agreement from me that I won’t want more or that I’ll forget you.”
When he reached her, he grasped her hip. She gasped when he yanked her against him, her face flushing beautifully. He pinned her arms behind her, dropping his head into her neck, inhaling the sweetness of her flowery perfume. He kissed at her flesh roughly, encouraged by her unleashed moan. Hot and hard and ready to give them both a release, he backed her up against the wall. She draped her leg across his thigh, and he took that as an invitation. He ground his throbbing cock against the junction between her thighs, moving his mouth to hers again. Then he devoured her.
Every moan, he drank in.
Each one of her shivers, he owned.
Desperate to have her, he leaned away to drag his fingers over the curve of her breasts and damn near salivated. “Exquisite,” he murmured.
“No, Hawke,” she said, and he lifted his gaze up to her smoldering eyes as she took his hand and placed it between her thighs. “In case you forgot, here is where I’m really exquisite.”
He felt her heat through the denim, and he grinned at the challenge, not minding a little power play between them. He could always give the illusion of control, knowing in the end, he’d always get it back. He flicked the button of her jeans open then yanked them down to below her ass. With his free hand, he slid his fingers into the soft strands of her hair until he held her tightly, right where he wanted her. When he fisted his fingers, her hooded eyes met his. Only then did he slide his other hand into the front of her panties. He met trimmed pubic hair and a soaking wet sex. “I’ve never forgotten, Alex. Not a single thing.” Her taste, her smell, how beautiful she looked when she fell apart, all of it had remained cemented in his mind. He stroked the silkiness of her folds, bringing her arousal to her clit where he circled the bud.
She moaned, her eyes fluttering as she dropped her head back against the wall. “Don’t stop.”
He leaned in, bringing his mouth close to hers, tasting the passion in the air between them. “Tell me what you want,” he ordered, nipping at her jawline.
She opened her rich, seductive eyes. “Make me come, Rowan.”
His muscles quivered at his name on her tongue. A tongue he wanted back in his mouth and later on his cock. But it was the heady lust in the single word that drove him to give her what she wanted. He easily inserted one finger into her drenched heat then another.
Her eyes fluttered. “Fuck, yes…”
Captivated by how sensual and free she was, he tightened his fingers in her hair, seeing the swell of desire rushing across her face. Needing to get his cock where his fingers were, he didn’t drag this out. He settled his fingers in deep, played with a few different moves to learn her tells again, and he quickly found his rhythm. He thrust his fingers fast and hard, working her pleasure until he had full control of her body.
Then he went even harder.
It didn’t take long for her to break apart around him after that. Her breath hitched, muscles tightened, and her expression pinched. For a single moment in time, she hung, suspended on the highest peak of pleasure before she screamed his name and shuddered, coming beautifully against his fingers until the only thing helping her stand was his hand in her hair and his fingers deep in her quivering sex.
Lost in her all the same, he gave her the minute she needed to recover.
When she finally reopened her eyes, giving him a sexy smile, he withdrew his hand from her panties.
“Your turn.” She pressed against his chest, sending him walking backward until she had him in the bedroom. When his legs met the bed, he sat, and she pushed harder until he was lying down. “But first, I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“I don’t need a surprise.” He leaned up on one arm. “I want you.” Her cheeks flushed pink and her mouth parted. He remembered how much he liked that turned-on look on her. “Get over here.”
Her smile was pure temptation. “You’ll like the surprise. Promise.” She turned away before he could object again.
He glanced down at his painfully hard erection pressing against the zipper of his jeans while she retreated to the bathroom just off to the right. He anticipated the wet tightness of her sex, hearing those moans she gave get louder.
When the bathroom door finally clicked open again, he found her looking like a succubus in her black lingerie for all the control she wielded over him. He would have given her anything right then as long as she let him have her. She leaned against the doorframe and gave him a devilish smile. “So, Rowan, I’ve got a question for you.”
“Anything, luv.”
She stepped away from the door, and suddenly, he was staring down the barrel of a gun as she said, “What do you want from me?”
And just like that, he realized—more than a little annoyingly—he’d been expertly played. Not only was she smart enough to know he had a motive for sitting next to her in the bar, but she was smart enough to get an orgasm out of him before she called him out. “You don’t want to do this,” he warned.
She smiled again. This time, it was deadly.
In that very second, he lurched forward, and at the same moment, he watched her finger squeeze the trigger.