7. Accuracy Makes All the Difference
THIS WAS A terrible fucking idea.
I know I need to let her go. Need to walk out now. If for no other reason than my own sanity.
But I can”t. Not yet.
I have to do what I came here to do. Walking away will only let Julieanne see the power she holds over me. But standing here with her soft skin under my hands, dick so hard it”s aching where it presses against the curve of her belly, isn’t much better of an option.
So I’ve got to make this quick. Got to do what needs done and then get the fuck away from her before I go too far.
”I”m not hiring you.” It”s easier to say than I expect. Probably because it”s true regardless of how I look at the situation. It”s clearer than ever that I can”t be around this woman. Not in any capacity.
Julieanne’s brows pinch together, her dark gaze still fixed on mine. ”Then why are you here?”
Her pulse is racing under my thumb, beating as wildly as my own. But she”s not struggling or pushing me away, so it”s not fear driving her skyrocketing heart rate.
I should pretend I don”t know what’s affecting her, but I do. Because it’s the same thing affecting me. I”ve been fighting it since the first time I saw her face. Pretending she didn”t pull me in. Even when I fucked my fist to the memory of her voice, I convinced myself it wasn”t happening.
But standing here, pressed against her softness, I can”t ignore how much I want her. How desperate I am to have another of her smiles directed my way.
”I should have come here to kill you. No one gets away with doing what you did.” It’s not a full-on lie. Technically no one”s ever accomplished what she did, so there”s been no precedent set. And it wouldn’t matter if there was. I”m still clinging to the hope I can scare her. Change the way she”s looking at me. So I can walk away without looking back.
”If you were going to kill me, you would have already.” Her words are husky and soft. ”So if you”re not going to kill me, and you”re not going to hire me, why are you still here?”
My hand flexes where it grips her hip, testing the plushness of her perfect body. ”I”m here to make you understand that you fucked up. To make sure you don”t do it again.”
Julieanne’s tongue darts between her lips, wetting the lower one in a quick pass that nearly makes me groan. How many times have I imagined that same tongue against my skin?
Too many to fucking count, but none that I’ll admit to.
Her pupils dilate as they gaze up at me. ”How are you going to do that? Make me think contacting you was a mistake?”
”I guess I”m going to have to show you just how scary someone like me can be.” I keep my words hard. Sharp. It”s the only hope I have left. That I can still somehow make Julieanne see me for what I am.
When her hands come to my chest, I think I’ve finally accomplished it, and I’m filled with a combination of relief and misery. But instead of pushing me away, her fingers curl into the heavy weight of my coat, gripping tight. ”But you don”t scare me, Vincent.”
Fuck. What in the hell is wrong with this woman? I can”t believe she”s survived this long. ”You should be.”
The hands in my coat grip tighter. ”Why?”
”Do you have any idea what I’m capable of? How many men I”ve killed?” It”s a sobering number. One even I”m not comfortable thinking about.
But Julieanne doesn”t seem put off. ”Yes, I do. I spent six months researching you and your company.” She swallows, her throat working under my palm. ”That”s why I also know how many people you’ve saved. I also know that you continue to anonymously send money to the families of the men you”ve lost over the years.” Her eyes move over my face. ”So yes, I know what you”re capable of. Good and bad.”
”It wasn’t enough for you to know all my secrets? You had to track me too?” I want to be pissed that she”s invaded my privacy the way she has. That she”s run down every rabbit hole in my life. But then I’d have to admit that my own actions more than toed the line.
Julieanne’s lips press together, thinning into a flat line. ”You hacked into my work computer.” She continues to stand tall under my glare. ”And you broke into my house.”
I snort. ”I feel like you”re being a little hypocritical, Angel Face. Considering you did the same to me.”
Her eyes narrow, and, for the first time, Julieanne looks angry. ”You stole my vibrator.”
Now she’s not the only one who”s angry. All it takes is the reminder of what she did last night in front of God and everybody and my blood starts to boil. ”Only to make sure you wouldn”t put yourself on display for anybody with eyes to see again.”
Her breath catches and I think I might finally be starting to scare her. ”Why do you care?”
Is she serious? ”Do you know how many fucking lunatics there are in this world? How many men would see something like that and take it as an invitation? Convince themselves that anything that happened after that you brought on yourself?” I push against her harder, lifting the hand on her throat to brace against her jaw so she keeps looking at me. ”No one needs to fucking look at you like that.”
Julieanne shifts on her feet, the move rubbing her beautiful body against mine. ”Does that include you?”
My anger flares hotter. ”Why would you ask me that?”
”Well,” she takes a shaky breath before continuing, “if you”re not here to hire me and you not here to kill me, then I thought maybe you were here for something else.”
I grit my teeth, refusing to fully process what she”s saying. ”I am here for something else. I”m here to scare you into acting right.”
Julieanne swallows again, hands still fisted tight in my coat, heart still racing. ”And we”ve established that isn”t going to happen because I”m not afraid of you.”
This is spinning out of control. I am spinning out of control. That”s the only explanation I can think of for what comes out of my mouth next. ”So you”re saying if I”m not here to hire you or kill you, and I can”t scare you, then I should fuck you?”
The air rushes from Julieanne’s lungs, carrying a whispered ‘oh shit’ along with it.
I start to smirk, choosing to focus on the fact that what I”m saying to her is finally sinking in instead of the raging hard on in my pants.
But then she pulls in a breath, her full tits pressing against my chest with the movement. ”I think that”s exactly what I”m saying.”
The ease with which she says it only makes me angrier. ”Did you ask that prick from last night to fuck you?” The thought of someone else—someone like the ass who couldn’t even be bothered to show up on time—having this body under his hands brings on a snarl I can”t control. ”Because I swear to God—”
Her lip curls. “No. I wouldn’t fuck him with someone else’s pussy.” Another swipe of that sinful tongue across her lip. ”I’ve only asked you.”
It sounds like the truth, but that does nothing to calm the rage skating over my skin. I lean into her ear, using the grip I have just below her jaw to angle her head. ”You shouldn”t proposition men like me, Angel Face. Because men like me will take you up on it.”
She wobbles a little, and for a second I feel like I”m supporting more of her weight than I was. But then Julieanne slides her eyes my way, not even trying to fight the hold I have on her. ”Maybe that”s why I said it.”
She”s baiting me. Pushing back against everything I say and do. No one does this to me. No one makes me question my own motives and actions.
Except her.
Somehow, this woman claws under my skin, burrowing into the deepest darkest parts of me before twisting them into knots. Managing to turn me against myself. To turn me into someone I learned long ago not to be. She makes me fucking weak. Makes me need things I wouldn’t let myself need. Want things I refused to want.
And what I want, is her. It’s fucking maddening and uncontrollable.
”Just remember, Angel Face, I tried to warn you.”
Releasing her hip, I drag up the hem of her dress before roughly shoving my hand into her panties. I suck in a sharp breath when my fingers glide against wet, heated flesh. It”s yet another thing I don”t expect, and it snaps something inside me. Something I”ve had in place for so long I don”t remember what it”s like to live without it.
I kick one boot between her feet, using my leg to shove them farther apart. I want to reach more of her. Want to show her exactly what she”s done.
Julieanne”s head drops back against the drywall, her eyes rolling closed as my fingers find her clit. ”Oh thank God.”
I drag my face against hers, my beard rubbing against her soft cheek as I press my lips to her ear. ”It”s too late to pray, Angel Face.”
Her body starts to tremble, breath coming in short pants. Her soft thighs clench against my hand as I bring her right to the edge before pulling my hand away, leaving her hanging.
The sound she makes is filled with desperation and shock. I keep my knee wedged between her legs so she can”t rub them together in an effort to come.
”Remember what I said, Julieanne. I”m a bad man.” Using the hand that was between her thighs, I fight the front of my pants open, pulling my dick free. ”After everything you’ve done, I shouldn”t let you come at all.”
”Vincent, please.” She pulls at my coat, like she can drag me back where she wants me. ”I need—” The words end on a squeak when I yank the crotch of her panties to one side, ripping them in the process, before dragging my cock up her slit, the slickness of her cunt nearly making me groan. I know I shouldn”t be doing this, but for the first time in forever I’m out of control. Unable to talk myself down from the ledge.
And it”s her fucking fault.
With one swift shove of my hips, I push into her, but it’s not nearly enough. I grip one of her legs behind the knee, lifting it high so I can sink deeper. She’s so wet I can hear her body sucking mine in. Feel the heat as her cunt engulfs me, squeezing me tight as I set a punishing pace. One that has her tits bouncing, straining against the low cut of her dress with each merciless thrust.
”I don”t care what you need, Angel Face, because you didn”t care what I needed.” My hand is still at her throat, keeping her pinned in place as I slam into her. ”I needed you to leave me alone, but you just wouldn”t do it, would you?”
Julieanne sags against the wall, forcing me to grip the leg I’m holding tighter. “I did leave you alone.”
“Liar. You never left me alone.” My fingers sink into the softness of her thigh where it’s hooked against my hip. “You fucking haunted me every second of every hour of every fucking day.”
Julieanne’s hands flail around, releasing the front of my coat to grip at the shoulders instead. ”Don”t stop, Vincent. Don”t stop. Don”t stop.”
I couldn”t stop even if I wanted to. This building could fall down around my ears and I wouldn”t fucking know it.
I haven”t been with a woman in—fuck, I don”t even know how long—and when Julieanne starts chanting my name, the tight clench of her cunt fluttering as she teeters on the edge, I can”t hold back. Can”t control the tingle building at the base of my spine. And when her body stiffens against mine, I”m gone, coming along with her, hips rocking with each pulse of heat that spurts from my cock. It feels so fucking good I swear I black out for a second.
But when the second is over, the reality of what I”ve done comes crashing down.
I should”ve never come here. I should have found another way. But I wanted to think I was better than this. Needed to prove to myself she didn”t really have a hold on me.
But she does. And I can”t let it continue.
Gritting my teeth, I pull my still half-hard cock from the welcome warmth of her body, shoving it into my pants before fastening the waistband. Letting her leg slide to the floor, I back away, struggling to take my eyes off her. The curve of her tits. The slightly dazed look on her face. The soaked fabric of the panties I just ruined in more ways than one.
I need to get out of here.
Like the coward I am, I turn and practically run for the same door I came in through. The cold wind is a welcome distraction as I go over the end of the balcony, quickly sliding back to the ground. I don”t bother going to collect my gear from the hiding spot I intended to occupy most of the evening. I just go straight across the lot and into the apartment, slamming the door behind me.
What the fuck am I doing? What in the hell is happening to me?
For the first time, I let myself think maybe my team is right. Maybe all the things they”ve been whispering are true.
But it can”t be. I can”t—
I just can”t.
I”ve got to figure out another way to fix this. One that doesn”t involve Julieanne. I can”t see her ever again. I thought I”d be able to do this, but obviously I was as fucking wrong as it gets.
Fighting my coat off, I let it drop to the floor as I go to my desk, ready to spend the night figuring out my next move. And planning my return to Alaska. Hopefully Igor can have the plane here to get me by morning.
I wake my laptop up, intending to log into GHOST’s system so I can start sending emails, but instead of the normal screen, I”m greeted by her fucking face again. Julieanne smiles out at me, but this time the background is her office. Light still filters through the blinds so this must have been recorded earlier. She”s wearing the same dress I probably just ruined and her smile is bright and warm and it hits me like a punch to the gut.
”Since I’m getting the feeling you”re still not convinced I would be an asset to your team, I thought I”d try one last time to prove how valuable I can be.” She leans forward, giving me a conspiratorial wink. ”Let me know what you think.”
The screen goes black. Seconds later, lines of code blink across the darkness, slowly rising to fill the screen, continuing to populate so fast I can”t even begin to identify what it is.
But then my cell starts to ring and I realize what she”s done.
I connect Elias’s call, pressing the speaker to my ear, gritting my teeth as he tells me what I already know.
”Sir. She”s shut our whole system down.”