I stand in the doorway to the bedroom at one in the morning that night and stare out at Angelo. He looks back and neither of us says anything for a long moment until he gets up from the couch. “Do you want a drink?” he asks.
I shake my head. “Can’t sleep.”
And it’s true. I’ve been tossing and turning all night and I’m finally at my breaking point.
“Then let’s fix that,” he says with a smile.
I hold up a hand. “No jokes. No comments. Just… sleep. Okay?”
I turn and hurry back to bed. Angelo follows me, undresses, and climbs in on the other side.
We lie there in silence.
I’ve been so good. I’ve gone days without inviting Angelo into this room even though most nights I want to feel his body next to mine, but this case is really getting to me. Even though I know letting Angelo get this close is a huge mistake, he’s also an enormous comfort and I need to balance keeping sane with keeping far away from him.
“I keep thinking about Detective Vance,” I say quietly and I know he’s listening. The sound of his breathing is a slow, steady drone. “She looked so young. And so afraid.”
“Afraid?”
“I saw it the second I told her that I’m a lawyer. She was freaking terrified, Angelo.”
He’s quiet for a moment. My head’s a spinning wreck. I can’t stop seeing that moment of terror in her eyes and it can only mean one thing.
She knows someone’s out to make sure the truth about this case never gets out, and whoever it is scares the hell out of her.
“You think she knows something,” he whispers. “More than she’s letting on.”
“I think she steered us in the right direction without actually coming out and doing it. And I think she’s afraid that if she does any more, she’ll end up dead like those cartel guys.”
“That’s a lot of assumptions based on a short conversation.”
“But I’m right. I’m absolutely sure I’m right.”
He’s shifts until he’s looking at me. “Assuming you are, what do we do with that information? You want to turn around and back off?”
I shake my head, startled. “No, that’s not it.”
“What then? We keep going forward? Even though a detective thinks we should be terrified?”
“I don’t know,” I admit.
“I can keep you safe from most people, Sara. But I’m not invincible.”
“I realize that.”
“Do you?” He comes closer. God, I knew this would happen, the moment I asked him to come in here, I knew it would happen.
And I did it anyway, because it’s what I want.
For days now, everything I do, he’s lurking underneath it all. His kiss, his touch, god, that orgasm. He’s so much worse than I ever imagined, so much more vital, so much more present. I thought he’d be a pain in my ass, but it’s infinitely painful.
I want him. Just like the wedding. Just like a few days ago.
And now, lying in this bed.
I want him so badly it hurts, but getting involved with this man is a massive mistake.
“You don’t have to watch over me. You’re not my bodyguard.”
“But that’s exactly what I am.”
“Angelo, I mean it. We’re trying to figure out who’s framing Nicolas. That’s all we’re doing.”
He nods slightly and his hand moves over toward my body. I let him touch me—gently. His fingers graze across my belly and I shiver. I’m in shorts and a thin t-shirt, nothing underneath.
“I’m also trying to decide what your deal is, ice queen.”
“My deal? I don’t have a deal.”
“Something’s driving you. Something’s pushing you.”
“Angelo. I don’t want to be analyzed.”
“No? What do you want?”
“I want to know why Misty Vance is so afraid.”
“I don’t think that’s it.” He moves closer. His body is big and hard and gorgeous. “You’ve been ignoring me for days. Why invite me into bed tonight?”
“Because I’m afraid. Don’t make me feel stupid.”
“I’m trying to get you to be honest.”
“That’s the truth.”
He sighs and his mouth brushes against mine. Excitement quivers down into my extremities, and I need to stop this, but I’m not going to.
“Every time something bad happens, you think about me, don’t you?”
“Angelo—”
“Stop it, Sara. No more denying, no more bullshit.” He kisses my neck and I let out a little moan, so soft and mortifying and, yes, god, yes, this is what it want. “You need comfort. You need me.”
“You’re not some fucking safety blanket.”
“No, I’m most definitely not. I’m way more dangerous than that.”
“So tell me why I shouldn’t kick you back out of this bed and pretend like this never happened.”
“Because you want to feel my cock sink deep between your legs and you’ve been desperate for it for days now. And you can’t take it anymore.”
His mouth finds mine in the dark and I kiss him back. God, he’s right, and it’s mortifying, it’s absolutely embarrassing, but I want this. I need this so badly it kills me.
I push him back and straddle him. His hands explore my body, take off my shirt, cup my bare breasts. He sits up and takes off his own top, and I kiss his neck as he kisses mine until he rolls me back over and pins me down, hands up above my head. He teases my breasts, sucks my nipples, bites them and licks them before chewing on my lip, and slowly he takes off my shorts.
“Look at you,” he whispers, sitting back on his knees and admiring my skin. I try to cover myself with my arms but he shoves them back. “Don’t you dare.”
“Angelo.”
“I want to look at you.” He spreads my legs roughly and teases my pussy with his fingers. “I know you’re scared. I know you don’t understand why you want this so badly. But you’ve been living your life hidden away from the world, a little ice queen in her frozen fortress, and I’m finally breaking you free. I’m finally making you see that pleasure isn’t so bad.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“Liar.” He grabs my wrists, both of them, and holds them to my sides as his mouth dives between my legs. Liar, liar, liar, I’m a freaking liar and he knows it. Every time I call him an asshole, every time I tell him I don’t want him, every time I pretend like he’s getting on my nerves, I’m a liar.
Because I want this. His tongue on my pussy and his mouth on my clit.
I want this. I want more. His mouth on mine, my taste on my lips. His hard cock in my hands. I take off his sweats and stroke him and he kneels beside me as I open my mouth and take his tip between my lips. I taste precum, skin, I suck him deeply, listen to his moans and love them. He pulls my hair as I suck his cock and when I think he’s going to fill my throat, he pulls me back and shoves me down again.
“I need you,” he says and I believe him as he spreads my legs wide. His cock presses against my dripping pussy and I’m begging for him now, begging for him to fuck me.
“Please,” I whisper, fingers digging into his ass. “I want this.”
“And I need this, princess. God, I’ve been thinking about this tight pussy for days, ever since I first tasted you. Do you even understand what it’s like, being around you? All this anger, all this distance, and all I want to do is tear down your walls and fuck you savage and deep and make you fucking scream. God damn, Sara, you drive me insane.”
He grabs my wrists and pins them above my head again and kisses me as his cock drives deep between my legs.
I moan into his mouth. He’s ripping me in half and I love every inch of him. I need more, and more, and more, and he starts to slowly grind as I work my hips against him, driving him deeper and deeper, thrusting slow but hard. I moan and moan against his lips, his teeth, and I’m controlled and held down, and I’ve never felt so helpless and so alive in my life.
Never, ever, ever have I let a man have this much of me.
And never, ever, ever has it felt so good before.
But he fucks me, deep and slow, and looks into my eyes. He looks at me like he’s seeing heaven. He fucks me faster, still deep, groaning his own pleasure into my ear.
“You feel better than I ever imagined,” he whispers and takes me. He bites a nipple, kisses my neck, and his hands explore my skin like he can’t stop touching me. “You taste like fresh air and feel like heaven. I don’t know how you do this to me, princess, but I need to fuck you, I need to see that skin flush pink and listen to you moan as you come on my thick cock. Tell me you want it, Sara. Tell me you fucking want it.”
“I want it,” I gasp as my back arches and he goes faster. We grind together in a frenzy, a wild and stupid frenzy, desire ringing through my body with each rough thrust. I’m closer, closer, and he doesn’t stop, he’s an animal fucking me now, taking what he wants, taking my body, and I moan into his ear and whisper to him, telling him over and over that I want it, that I need it, and finally, fuck, finally, my core clenches down hard—
And I come in a massive explosive cascade. It rushes down my spine, into my toes, curling them as my back arches. I come and come and he keeps up his pace, moaning in my ear, and I feel him finish between my legs, hot and warm and thick. It pushes me to another level and he doesn’t stop until I can’t moan anymore and I lie there, twitching and spent and grinning like an idiot.
“Beautiful,” he whispers and brushes my hair from my face. “Good girl. Such a good girl.” He kisses me softly and his arms wrap around my body.
“That’s not what I pictured when I invited you to sleep with me, you know.”
“I’m sure it isn’t.”
“Really. It’s not.” I wiggle my hips, grinding my ass against his still-hard cock. “I just needed—”
“Comfort.” His voice is soft. “I get it. I know how this goes.”
I roll away from him. He’s staring back at me and I’m not sure what I see reflected in his eyes—sadness? Anger? But what’s a guy like Angelo have to be angry about?
“That’s all this can be,” I whisper, and he nods in response.
“I know that.”
“So why—”
He comes close and kisses me. “All I want is to stay in this bed tonight. That’s all.”
I bite my lip and nod. “If that’s what you want.” I shift closer again and let him wrap his arms around me. Another mistake, another stupid, stupid mistake, but if mistakes can feel like this then I need to make a million more.
