I surfaced, inhaled a long, slow breath…and felt like I’d been hit by a truck. Flickers of memories filtered in.
The bar…the bottle.
Her.
I cracked open my eyes to find a fist shoved against my cheek. Vivienne was asleep beside me. Arms raised over her head, her wild hair was a fan on the lavender Egyptian cotton sheets. All breathtaking and serene, her eyes closed, those full lips parted. The faint freckles across her nose made my throat clench. I blinked and forced myself to focus. Christ, she was beautiful.
My heart gave a boom at the sight. My breath got trapped somewhere in my chest, held down by that floating feeling. No, not floating…goddamn falling.
Don’t you make me fall for you, kitten. My own prophecy came roaring back to bite me in the ass.
Fucking fall?
Who the hell was I kidding?
I tore my gaze away and slipped quietly from the bed. The first peeks of sunlight filtered through her window. I scanned the mess at my feet, grabbed my trousers, boxers, and shoes and quietly left the room. Heat rushed to my cheeks the moment I stepped outside her door and I glanced toward the sons’ room as I made my way down to my floor naked.
Colt pushed into my mind as I slipped into my room. I cast my clothes on the neatly made bed and dropped my boots beside it. The son was falling for her, if he hadn’t already plunged headfirst into the same goddamn abyss I stared at.
I strode into the bathroom, hit the faucets, and stepped under the spray. But not Colt, not yet. I closed my eyes as the hot water pummeled me, and remembered the footage from the monitor room, where Carven had pressed his forehead against her shoulder as she fucked his brother.
Carven was feeling something for her, which gave me hope. If anything happened to me, he’d protect her. I washed, then leaned backwards and let the soap sluice away. He’d protect her. Right now, that’s all I cared about.
My thoughts turned to Hale’s threats.
I’ve tamed the wildness out of her…maybe I could help with yours?
Hate shivered inside me as I ended the spray and stepped out. I’d kill the bastard before I let him put his hands on her, then I’d kill them all, every single vile person associated with that place. I dried and dressed in navy blue pants and a white shirt and deep blue tie before I headed downstairs.
Guild lifted his gaze as I headed into the kitchen. I glanced at his damn lip, then looked away.
“London…” he started before I lifted a hand to cut him off.
“Don’t.” I shook my head as I rounded the counter. “I was out of line. I’m sorry. Forgive me.”
His eyes widened with a look of surprise. “Who are you and what have you done with my friend?”
I gave a chuckle, but it died just as quick, leaving me to reach out a hand. “I promise.”
“Then I accept.” He took my hand in his. “And I’ll promise not to let the damn woman get a jump on me. She’s one…one…”
“I know.” I nodded as he released my hold. “Believe me, I know.”
“How about a coffee?” Guild asked, turning to the machine that took up real estate on my kitchen counter. “Triple shot, strong enough to wake up the dead?”
“Coffee sounds good,” I answered, then stilled.
He sensed it instantly, stopped, and turned around to meet my gaze. “What is it?”
“Harper and the team, are they still around?”
“Harper? Yeah, they’re around. Why?”
A plan had been brewing in the back of my mind, a dangerous plan with a predator on one side and the Devil himself on the other. One I hadn’t wanted to entertain, yet here I was…
“London,” he said quietly. “Careful there, brother.”
I gave a nod, then glanced at the coffee machine. The last thing I wanted was to step back into the past. It was dangerous enough escaping the last time.
“Believe me, I am,” I answered carefully, then turned and made my way to the study
Being careful was all I thought about. But that wouldn’t get me out of the damn corner I found myself in. No, this wasn’t a time for careful moves. This was a time to be bold, to be forceful, and make the kind of play that could start a war. As long as that war wasn’t aimed at us.
I strode into the study and closed the door behind me. Hale knew about the recording now and he also knew Killion had been waiting for his blackmailer to show. But what he didn’t know was that there had been no blackmail, not really. All there’d been was vengeance of the most brutal kind.
Vengeance I’d help orchestrate to get Ryth and her stepbrothers where I needed them to be.
And that was owing their lives to me.
I pulled out my phone as I rounded my desk and pressed a number I didn’t think I’d ever call again. The call wasn’t answered. Instead, it went to a voicemail. “I’m calling about my midnight black Chevy Impala,” I spoke carefully. “You can call me back at….”
I gave my number and hung up, then booted up my computer and logged in. No more than five seconds later, my phone rang again and a deep familiar drawl came. “The Impala is gone.”
“The Impala needs a little work done to it.”
Silence. Then. “What kind of work?”
“Some scratches and dents, nothing major.”
“Then, I’ll give you a number you can call.”
I memorized the number he gave before he hung up. The number was to a secure line. Untraceable. Undetected, created by the best of the best. I should know, I’d worked with them for over ten years. They were as careful as you could get. But I didn’t call right away. Instead, I stared across the study and weighed up all the options I had. If there was another way out of this, I’d take it. But there wasn’t, I knew that, and if I failed to act, then this would all have been for nothing.
“For the greater good,” I murmured, picked up my phone, and entered the number I’d been given.
“London,” Harper Renolt answered carefully. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear from you again.”
“I didn’t think I’d have to call again.”
“Yet, here we are.”
“Yeah, here we are.”
The study door opened, drawing my gaze, then it froze as Vivienne walked in carrying two small cups of steaming coffee. I froze at the sight of her wearing my shirt…my crumpled shirt from last night that now hung mid-thigh on her.
Hands…my voice resounded.
The memory came roaring back, the arms of my shirt wound around her wrists. Her hands held high…just like they’d had been when I woke up. Had she been dreaming of us? My cock came alive instantly with the thought as I dragged my gaze over the same damn shirt she wore now. Jesus.
“You there?” Harper muttered.
“Yeah,” I answered, my gaze trailing down her long, bare thighs as she strode around the desk toward me. “I’m here. I need you to adjust some records, swap out one IP address for another.”
“Reroute specialist information. Do you have the details?”
“Yes,” I murmured as Vivienne placed a coffee cup on the desk in front of me, her gaze fixed on mine. “Dates and times.”
“Sounds easy enough. When do you need it?”
She perched her ass on the desk in front of me and casually lifted her foot and placed it on my seat between my thighs, her toes brushing my cock. “Yesterday,” I answered, as I met her gaze.
Her hair was tied up in a messy bun and strands had escaped to float to her shoulders. She looked at me so goddamn innocently as she sipped her coffee while her toes curled and massaged my cock. Jesus, the woman was insanity in its most erotically stunning form.
“And this IP you’re wanting me to switch to is someone dangerous?”
“Very,” I murmured as she continued to stroke and rub.
“Number?”
I forced my gaze away from her and reached over to punch in the details on the keyboard which brought up Benjamin Rossi’s personal IP address. I gave the number to Harper as I licked my lips and turned back to her, knowing full well I was staring at the vixen while I orchestrated a war between Haeletrom Hale and the Stidda Mafia.
I could’ve been jotting down a grocery list for all I cared…because all I saw was her.
“Fuck, you know who this is, right?” Harper snarled.
“I do.”
“And you’re prepared for the fallout of this?”
Vivienne licked the rim of her cup, chased the bead of coffee, and stared at me as she kneaded my cock, until I couldn’t take it a second longer. I lashed out, grasped her ankle, and lifted her foot.
“Exactly how deep are you in here, brother?” Harper questioned and for a second, I forgot he was even there.
I lowered my head and kissed the inside of her knee, but was careful to keep the phone to my ear. “So deep I can’t see the light.”
I gripped her ankle and stroked the diamonds before I moved higher and pushed my shirt out of the way.
“I don’t have a choice,” I murmured, which confessed more than I wanted to, and froze when I found the black-strapped, crotchless panties. The corner of her mouth curled as I lifted my gaze to hers. She knew what she was doing…
Fuck.
“Then I’ll get this set up and contact you for details. Does this mean you’re back in?” Harper asked on the other end of the line.
But I had already lowered my head and pushed her backwards with the phone still in my grasp.
“London?” The faint sound of his voice tried to push in as I curled my hand under her knee and parted her thighs.
She smelled like us…
She smelled like us.
I closed my eyes and inhaled the deep, musky scent. Hunger took over. I wasn’t a man making moves anymore. I was a man too far gone to care, a man pushed past the point of no return. A touch came at my temple, making me open my eyes as she spread her fingers through my hair and cupped the back of my neck.
No words were spoken.
But the desire in her eyes said all there was to say.
It was useless to fight this…
Because no matter how hard I tried, I knew I’d never win.
It was always going to be her. Always going to be this.
With a growl, I lowered my head and kissed the soft flesh inside her thigh, then moved upwards to lick her slit. The woman never missed a beat, just cupped my head and tilted backwards, the coffee cup still in her other hand.
“London?” Harper’s voice barely reached my ears.
But her moan pushed in as I sucked her clit. That sound was all I fixed on, all I wanted. I wanted that sound. I craved that sound. I curled my arm tighter under her knee and pulled her ass toward me, forcing her back even more. A clink came when she placed her cup on the desk as I released her leg, let it fall, and slid my finger down her slit.
“It’s about time you wore the clothes I bought you, woman.”
“And it’s about time you made it worth my while.” She lifted her head, meeting my gaze.
“You smell like us,” I groaned. “Taste like us, too.”
“Us,” she whispered, and the word rocked me. “I like the sound of that. Are you just going to stop, London?”
I scowled.
“Use your words,” she reprimanded, and a gleam of amusement shone in her eyes.
“I’ll show you goddamn words,” I growled, and lowered my head to lick her. “How about Jesus Christ?”
“Gotta earn that,” she moaned as I slipped my fingers inside and fucked her. “Oh, fuck yes, you gotta earn that.”
It was my turn to smile.
