CHAPTER TEN
I gave Skye the same dopey grin I gave Marco, like I didn’t believe the situation for a minute, but this time my gaze held a message in it.
It seemed my ace in the hole turned up on time...just as planned.
Because like Skye, Archer gave me a different mission. I just hadn’t realised how in depth hers was...or how personal.
Skye stalled, her breath shortening as she watched me, and swept a hand across her back and came up empty. That didn’t come as a surprise; I didn’t expect her to be packing in the dress she wore.
The way the asshole had his hands on her, however...that did need addressing.
The ring on her finger might be fake but the intention wasn’t. She mine to love, and I’d protect her like she was, even if she decided otherwise the minute we were out of here and the man all too familiar with her sexy as fuck body. I Kept that stupid ass expression on as I loosened the handcuffs around my wrists. A pro of having a boss who was an ex-cop for many decades before he switched services. That man taught us all sorts of little tricks, and right now I was damn glad of that one.
My helping hand shifted behind Marco. Thanks to Skye’s breasts suddenly pressed to his chest and the paw she allowed to grope her ass, he didn’t notice the speed a big man can move at, or the gun pressed to the back of his head. Brodie nodded to me and disappeared back into the shadows. It seemed that was the man’s natural habitat.
Right now, this was my rodeo. If I fucked up, he was there to clean up the mess–not save my ass.
“Let the pretty girl go, and we only have a small problem.” I dangled the handcuffs in front of Marco”s face.
Skye huffed a laugh. “Give me those.” She jumped for them and Marco spun, his hand on her waist and his other in his pocket.
I didn’t think twice. I fired.
He stood before me, a blank look on his face before his body crumpled, a hole decorating his temple.
“Born and bred in Texas,” I said softly.
My gaze caught and held Skye’s as someone cheered behind us. I didn’t hear anything else while Brodie worked crowd control. I had no idea if I was headed for jail but the concept of not seeing Skye again hurt more than anything else.
Ignoring any threat around us, I reached for her and for once, she came to me without a fight, letting me claim her mouth in a kiss bred by pure desperation on a party night at Love Beach.
****
Three hours later and with a lot of repetition on our respective stories, Skye and I were back in our pink as fuck apartment at Garden House. Brodie pulled rank, which sat well with the FBI agent who also lurked on the yacht, and things moved quickly after that.
Apparently Archer had a deal with an undercover cop and slipped us into an ongoing investigation on Marco Torrino...with slightly unexpected results. No one planned for more than an arrest to take place, but Skye became the wild card Marco apparently obsessed about for years once they split. And now I was left with a shaking girl who refused to talk or do anything else than let me hold and kiss her.
Hey, it was a start. I’d take that, considering I just killed the last man she was with on any permanent basis, from what she said to the local cops But she didn’t say anything else to me. At least, not yet.
Skye shifted in my arms, burrowing closer. “Winungging?” she asked into my shirt.
I’d go with it, needing the skin to skin contact, but I didn’t think she’d appreciate that after the way her ex mauled at her.
“Say that again?” I asked softly, stroking her hair.
“I said,” –she came up for air– “why aren’t you running all the way back to Texas without me?”
I frowned, still playing with her hair. Soft curls twirled around my finger and I gave an experiment tug, drawing her closer. “Why would I run?”
“Because I’m toxic to everything I touch.” She frowned back at me. “You saw me with Marco. I haven’t apologised. But you saved my life and I’m...”
“In shock,” I supplied, keeping my voice low and tucking her body into mine. “Right now, all I want is my girl safe. If that means not talking, then I’ll wait until you want to.” If she wanted to talk. There was no guarantee and no way I’d push her before she was ready.
Archer gave me that tip back in his office, and it was a damn fine one.
“Why are you so nice,” she asked desperately, reaching up to trace her fingers along my jaw.
The light caress was the sweetest thing I’d ever experienced. It didn’t take long before she arched up, offering me her mouth as consolation for the words that weren”t coming out. I took that second prize and ran with it.
Pink bear rug be damned, I rolled her onto her back, stretching my body along hers and kissed her until she softened beneath me. My mind was full of conflict, the need to say something–anything–about what happened on the boat killing me but the moment I opened my mouth she shut it for me.
“Not now. Not yet,” she whispered. “Just...forgot. Everything.”
“Not you,” I whispered, cupping her jaw and sliding my tongue into her mouth.
Her legs curled around my hips, her heels urging me to rub against her, but that need from before to have skin on skin contact drew me back. I shucked my shirt onto the floor, trailing my fingers along the terry toweling robe she threw on seconds after entering the apartment, barely letting go of my hand to rip the dress off and throwing it into a corner of the room.
“I want you closer,” I murmured, staring down at her.
My girl was hurting and I”d give her anything she wanted, but right now I also needed to know I wasn’t pushing her past limits she’d regret in the morning.
Like fucking the man who killed her ex. Her smarmy ex, a crook, and all the things that went along with that downward spiral, but her ex all the same.
“Inside me,” she begged softly. “Please, Hudson. Just...for now. I need to.”
My heart ached at the pain lacing her words, and what she wasn’t saying.
This thing wouldn’t be permanent. I got that from the desperation in her eyes. But I wanted her so damn bad that temporary would do.
For now.
I’d work on a future version of us after I cleaned the fear and tension and pain from her face, the shadows that lingered behind her eyes.
Before she crumpled on me, I worked my fingers through the knot on her towel, pulled her robe open and dipped my head to lick her breasts. Sucked on them. Marked her in ways that wouldn’t easily fade.
She let me.
There’s hope.
Her finger curled through my hair, tugging my head up.
“You want me to stop, princess?” I rolled her nipple between my thumb and forefinger until she moaned, and slid lower, kissing along her stomach. “Tell me to stop, Skye.” Before I fall head over fucking heels for you.
Too late.
I watched her face as I licked her gushing hot slit, loving the way her hips rolled up with every touch. Her head flung back, and she knotted her hands in my hair, riding my face. My cock strained in my jeans, but now had to be about calming her, not satisfying a need that was never going to pass whether she let me fuck her now or any other time.
She was my girl. My one. My California and Texan hearts slammed together in my chest as her thighs clamped around my head. She came hard on my tongue, gushing hot cream on my lips. I cleaned her slowly, letting her come down and raised my head to find her fingers out of my hair and tangled in my own.
I raised them over her head gently, catching both with one hand. Hers were so much smaller, so fragile though I knew she’d hate to hear it.
“Is this okay?” I hesitated before crossing her wrists and pressing down to hold her in place while I worked on my belt.
“It is with you.” I swore her eyes glowed as she gazed up at me, her lips parted.
“Fuck,” I muttered, leaning down to kiss her hard and pinned her in place. “You tell me it’s too much and I’ll–”
“It’s not. Promise, she whispered, reaching to touch me and guide my cock between her legs.
Her heat enveloped me and my groan answered hers as I slid inside her, not stopping until I was balls deep and aching to fill her with my seed.
“Don’t promise what you can’t control,” I said roughly, slamming my hips down again and again.
She didn’t fight me once, arching up to match me. Her heels dug into my ass as I worked her over, urging me deep, harder.
Rougher.
Sweat beaded between us as I obeyed, taking us to a place where no one else existed, where nothing could hurt her. And when she screamed into my chest she took me with her, her sweet pussy milking me endlessly.
I followed willingly to the woman I fell for back in a beach in another town and chased across the country for a second chance at love on a beach.