Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Seven days later…
“I’m bored out of my ever-loving mind.” She slammed the fancy office door shut behind her for dramatic effect. After all, sometimes, dramatics were needed in order to get a point across. This was, indeed, one of those times.
Marley stared across the massive office space and watched as Declan slowly closed the laptop in front of him. The Chicago skyline waited behind him. Of course, Declan’s office would be on the top floor of the high-rise building. Not like she had a fear of heights or anything.
Oh, wait. I do.
After her shooting, he’d whisked her out of Georgia. He’d used the pretense of saying that he had to return to Chicago on business and that, as his PI, she had to come with him.
Not like she’d wanted her client to be jetting off without her, so she’d boarded his private plane. She’d thought that he would be giving her a glimpse into his life. Letting her meet his employees. Talking to her about business rivals. Providing her with an all-access pass into his world so that she could snoop her heart out and find the perp who’d abducted him.
Only…nope. None of that had happened. Not one single thing had gone as she’d envisioned. Instead, she’d been put in a swanky room at his freaking mansion, she’d been told to rest…and she’d been pampered and waited on by his staff like she was some kind of long-lost princess.
Sure, normally, that sounded like one fun way to spend a few vacation days. Being waited on? Living the lifestyle of the rich and privileged? Hello, sweet joy.
But this was not a normal situation. It was no dream vacation. She had a job to do. And Declan was stopping her from doing her work.
His fingers steepled beneath his chin as he studied her. “How did the doctor’s appointment go?”
And that was another thing. The man was obsessed with her small scratch. Stupid bullet. He’d never let her hear the end of that incident. “The stitches are gone. I’m all good. Better than good.” She put her hands on her hips and marched forward. “In fact, I’m in a fighting mood.”
His gaze swept over her. “I was getting that impression.”
Her hands slammed down on his gleaming, too perfect desk.
His hazel eyes immediately dropped to her hands. One dark brow quirked.
“Declan.”
He leaned back in his chair and gazed up at her. “Marley.”
“I thought I was your PI.”
“You are my PI.”
“Bullshit.” She called it exactly as she saw it. “I’m your pampered princess. You lied to me.”
His face tensed.
“You brought me here so that you could sideline me.” Her hands lifted, and she paced around the desk. The better to close in on her prey.
He rolled his chair back, the wheels not so much as squeaking. As if they would dare. His gaze had gone hooded as he studied her.
She pointed at him. No, pointing wasn’t good enough. Her index finger stabbed him in the chest. “I will not,” another jab of her index finger, “be sidelined.” Fury pumped through her. “I knew telling you about Sebastian Glass was a mistake. Now you think I’m some fragile, wilting flower.” Or, even worse… a victim who needed shielding from the world.
He cleared his throat. “You were shot.”
“A scratch.”
“Your blood soaked my limo.”
“I was only bleeding because I’d saved your ass!” How could he forget that important point? And how could he do this to her? “You’re putting me on the sidelines because you think I’m weak.”
A slow shake of his head as he gazed up at her. “I don’t think any part of you is weak.”
“You think I can’t handle danger and I—wait, what did you say?” Her mouth hung open in surprise, so she hurriedly snapped it closed.
“I said…” His hand rose so that his fingers could curl around her wrist as she continued to stab him in the chest with her index finger. “I don’t think any part of you is weak. I think you’re strong. Determined. Brave. Too brave in fact. You definitely dip into the foolishly brave category far too much.”
He’d praised her and insulted her, all within the span of a few seconds. Typical Declan.
“I also think you’re gorgeous. Probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”
She snorted. Crap. Not the sound of a beautiful woman, was it? Oh, well. “You’ve dated supermodels. I’ve seen your press stories. Don’t try your tired lines with me. I’m not gonna fall for them.” Hopefully, she would not. But she had caught herself preening a bit when he said she was strong. And determined.
Nicest compliments ever. Then he had to ruin things by calling me foolishly brave. Like that’s a thing.
“Can’t help but notice, sweetheart, you call me a liar quite a lot.”
She hadn’t actually called him a liar. Just super heavily implied it. But… liar. She was not in the same category as his supermodel exes.
“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.” His hand lifted her wrist. His fingers curled along the outside, and his mouth pressed to her inner wrist, right over the racing pulse. “The bravest. The most selfless. And the most stubborn.”
Her knees got a wee bit shaky when she felt the lick of his tongue along her wrist.
“I sidelined you, as you say, not because I don’t think you’re capable, but because I wanted you to heal.”
“A scratch.”
His lashes—stupid long for a man, now that she stared closely at them—flickered. Okay, fine, they are not stupid at all. They are sexy. I find way too much about this man to be sexy.
A man who’d confessed to murder when he’d thought she couldn’t hear him.
In the week that had passed, he hadn’t mentioned the confession again. Neither had she. But she’d certainly been digging. And the man who’d been more than happy to help her dig and send case files that should have been closed and confidential? Detective Parker Ellis.
He’d emailed the information to her five minutes after she’d contacted him.
Information that proved Declan had been abused by his father for years. That if he hadn’t stopped his father that long ago night, Declan would have been the dead one.
At least, that was what the cops had concluded at the time. No charges had been filed. Declan had been able to walk away while his father had been buried in the ground.
Declan’s mouth pressed to her wrist again. When the rough, wet edge of his tongue slid over her, she jolted.
“You’re healed,” he murmured.
Her breath came way too fast. “My scratch—those stitches—they are the reason you’ve been avoiding me and locking me away in the haunted castle?” Her nickname for his home. It was big and intimidating and heavily Gothic and she loved it. Not that she’d told Declan that she adored the monstrosity that was his mansion. And, besides, he’d been avoiding her. Basically, saying she needed to sit with her damn feet up while he disappeared for hours at a time. “You left me with Alfred.”
His hold tightened on her wrist. “Who the fuck is Alfred?”
“Really?” A long-suffering sigh. One that she hoped hid the fact that her breathing had definitely become more erratic thanks to the wicked licks of his tongue on her skin. And what was up with that sexy licking? He’d been super platonic all week. She’d entertained the fantasy of him slipping into her bed late one night. Of him saying he couldn’t make it without her any longer. That he had to have her.
Only he’d never said those words.
He’d been the perfect gentleman. Damn him. Well, almost perfect. There was one thing that he’d done?—
“Alfred.” Gritted out from Declan. “Who is he?”
“Batman? Robin? Ring any bells?” She tugged on her wrist. He did not let go. “Seriously, you have to see the similarities. You basically live in Wayne Manor.” Though I prefer to think of it as your haunted castle.
“I live in my own damn manor. Not Wayne anything.”
“Yeah, fine, you’re missing the point.” He had to know who Alfred was. “You can’t tell me that you weren’t superhero obsessed when you were a kid. Every guy I know was obsessed with Batman at one point or another. My brothers wanted to be him when they were younger. Come on, you must know?—”
“I know who fucking Batman is.” A growl.
A very Batman-like growl, but she didn’t point out that fact. Instead, she did a very soft, lady-like clearing of her throat. “Anyway…James is your Alfred.”
“James isn’t my damn butler! He did not secretly train me in martial arts and help me track down the Penguin and the Riddler.”
She nodded, pleased. “Ah. So you do know Batman.”
He let her go. “I used to have comics. When I was eleven, my father took them all and burned them in front of me.”
Her mouth dropped open. What a horrible thing to do to a child. “Why would he do that?”
“Because he didn’t want me wasting my time with things that weren’t real. He wanted to show me that shit like that didn’t matter.”
Her heart squeezed in her chest. “And in his mind, what did matter?”
Declan’s eyes glittered as he stared up at her. “Money. Power. Breaking his enemies and pretty much leaving as much devastation as possible in his wake.”
From what she’d learned of his father, yes, he had seemed to leave a lot of devastation behind. She could almost see some of that devastation in Declan’s eyes. Then he blinked, and she could see nothing at all but a cold stare—no, an icy one—peering back at her.
“You shouldn’t have burst into my office,” Declan told her. All emotion had left his voice.
She rolled her eyes.
He blinked.
“ You shouldn’t be working this late,” she tossed out. “It’s eight p.m. I’m sure the movers and shakers are all gone home for the night.”
“Not those in a different time zone.”
Seriously? “You’ve been avoiding me. I’d decided that I’d had enough. Told Alfred to kiss my ass when he tried to stop me from leaving the haunted castle. And here I am.”
His lips thinned.
“You have been avoiding me.” Softer.
“I’ve been trying not to fuck you, sweetheart. There’s a difference between avoiding someone and trying not to absolutely devour the person.” His hands went to grab the armrests on his chair. “You were injured.”
He’d been staying away so he wouldn’t fuck her? Well, well, well. Now she was most definitely intrigued.
“With your stitches, it seemed…best to stay away.” A little gruff. “And if I sidelined you?—”
“If?” Marley interrupted. Oh, there had been no if. There had been serious sidelining.
“I only did it because I was trying to keep you safe.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That’s the whole reason you whisked me to Chicago as soon as I got out of the hospital, isn’t it? Because you’re trying to protect me. You’re trying to protect the PI who is supposed to be solving your case.” Like she hadn’t figured this out. “The two men who put you in the van are dead. The bartender who helped drug you is dead. Three dead bodies. Add to that pileup the fact that someone trashed my place right after I saved you…” Only one conclusion could be drawn. “You think he’s coming after me next.”
Declan didn’t blink.
“You think the man behind all of this is going to target me. Maybe he thinks I saw something that can lead the authorities—or you—to him. Or maybe he’s just pissed as all hell that I interfered in whatever sick game he was playing with you.” She forced a shrug. “Either way, you’ve decided I’m next on his hit list. You installed me at Wayne Manor?—”
“Marley…”
“Fine! You installed me at the haunted castle.”
His brows beetled.
“You put me behind the best security that money can buy. You think I’ll stay hidden while you hire someone else to hunt him.” She leaned forward. Her hands curled around his shoulders. “Think again.”
His head tipped back even more as he stared up at her.
His legs were spread. She was standing between them and…Marley lifted her left leg. She put her knee down on his chair. Right between his spread thighs. Very, very close to his dick. A dick that she’d taken a quick peek at and realized…
Declan wants me. Right here. Right now. The hard, heavy length of his cock shoved up against the front of his very expensive trousers.
“You were trying not to fuck me.” Her voice had gone all husky.
His hands clamped around her waist. Did he mean to push her away? Or maybe wildly, eagerly pull her closer?
Um, he did neither. Just held her tightly. Was he still trying to hold back? If so, he needed to stop that nonsense. Stat.
“How do you even know that I want to fuck you?’ she breathed. “What if I’m not interested?” She was interested, of course. Very, very interested.
“Marley…” A dark rumble.
Her head bent. Her lips brushed over his. An open-mouthed, not nearly enough kiss. Then against his lips, she whispered, “You snuck into my room every single night.” Into the room, but not her bed. I wanted you in my bed.
“I was making sure you were okay. And how the fuck do you know that I was there?”
“Because I could feel you.” Another soft kiss. “I wanted you to do more than sneak inside the room and stand near the doorway.”
Now…he pushed her away. Such the wrong response. “You don’t want me.” Adamant. “Marley, I am not the man you want to fuck with.”
“Actually, you are.” A firm nod. “You are exactly the man I want to fuck. No one else will do for me. And I don’t have stitches any longer, so what excuse are you gonna use now to deny us both what we want?”
“I can’t…” A muscle jerked along his jaw. “I can’t take you once, then watch you turn away.”
But he was the one turning away. Literally turning his face away from her and staring toward the city lights.
Since he’d turned his head, she just let her lips feather over the scar that marked him.
Instantly, his whole body tensed. “Marley, no.”
“Declan, yes. ”
His hands flexed against her. “I’m trying to do the right thing here.” Grated. A little desperate.
She’d like him a lot more desperate. She’d get him that way, too. “Just what is it that you think is ‘right’ to do? To deny us what we both want? How can that possibly be right?”
He sucked in a sharp breath.
“Because I want you, Declan Flynn. I’m not the type to sleep with just any guy, FYI. I have a particular set of standards.” Another gentle kiss to his scar before she eased back a bit. “I tend to like really dominating bastards who are megalomaniacs and enjoy ordering other people around.”
“ What ?” His head swung toward her. His eyes blazed.
Laughter spilled from her. “Couldn’t help myself.” He was so tense. Almost…afraid. Of her? Of them being together? Why? “What do you think will happen to me, if I’m with you?”
He swallowed. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t believe that you could.” Yet even as she said the words, Marley feared they were a lie. He’s not looking for happily ever after and forever. If you’re not careful, he will break your heart as no one else ever has before. “Physically, I know you’d never hurt me.”
“There are other kinds of pain.”
She knew he was speaking from experience. “Your father was a real bastard. He made your life hell.”
His fingers tightened on her just the littlest bit. “I don’t talk about him. Not with anyone.”
Such a liar. He’d talked with her, when Declan thought she couldn’t hear him. A confession in the darkness was still a confession. “He hurt you.” She wasn’t going to back away on this. “He made you think you weren’t good enough, didn’t he?”
“Good didn’t enter the equation. He made sure I could never be good. And someone like me shouldn’t be with you.” He rose and lifted her at the same time. When he put her down, he stepped back. His hands fisted at his sides. “I’m controlling myself.”
She frowned. Did it look like she wanted control?
He stood there, all tense and towering, all sexy and dark and brooding, and rasped, “But it’s the hardest thing I’ve done in my life. I want to strip you. I want to lift you onto the desk. And I want to fuck you here and now. So turn around, walk out of this office, and go back to damn Wayne Manor or the haunted castle or whatever the hell you want to call my home.”
She wore a long, black dress. Flat ballerina shoes.
He wore his expensive, I-cost-more-than-a-month’s-rent pants and a tailored, white shirt. The first few buttons of the shirt had been undone. A light coating of stubble covered his jaw. The glower remained on his face. But his eyes? Feverish intensity had slipped back into them. Lust. Hunger. So much need. For her.
Marley took a breath and a chance. “I stormed over here to tell you that I will not be sidelined. The cops in Augusta have made zero progress on your case. As far as they know, the mastermind of your abduction—and the person who likely committed those three murders—the perp is in the wind. He could be anywhere.” A fun conversation with Parker had brought forth this unfortunate news. The cops had jack and shit to go on in their investigation. Seven days and already, the case seemed cold. Zero leads. Zero suspects.
I need the Ice Breakers on this.
Her shoulders straightened. Technically, they’d already been straight. They straightened more. “I’m not going to play pampered princess while he hunts you again. He went to all that trouble to target you. He won’t give up. He will come again.”
And Declan? He just shrugged. As if having a killer stalk him was a normal occurrence.
Suspicion had her gaze narrowing. “Is that another reason why you came back to Chicago? Because you knew he was hunting you?”
His eyes gleamed at her. Then he slowly smiled. The smile was the cold grin a shark offered his prey right before his mouth opened and he took a big, lethal bite.
“This is my turf,” he said. “My guards are everywhere. My security—everywhere. I have contacts that stretch all over this city. Good, bad, and everything in between. If he’s coming after me, this isn’t territory that he can control. This is where I will absolutely annihilate him.”
Her heart thudded hard in her chest. “Planning to, uh, catch him and turn him over to the proper authorities?”
That smile of his was chilling. “If it helps you to think that, sure. Let’s say that’s what I’m planning to do.”
“Declan!” She grabbed his arms. His hands were still fisted. His body rock hard. “You are not taking matters into your own hands. You can’t hunt this guy down and get vigilante justice.” Seriously, could he be more Bruce Wayne? Stop it, Declan. Stop.
“If he’s coming at me, if he’s coming after you…then I will do whatever it takes to stop him.” A tense pause. “Touching me right now is probably not the best idea you’ve ever had. Might want to let go. Back away. Head out of my office.”
Oh, was that what she should do? She gave him her own smile. Not a shark about to attack. Something sweet. Sweet enough to kill. Kill him with kindness. She gave him that smile, then she let him go. Stepped back. She made her way around his desk. Her dress swirled around her ankles. Her steps were slow and certain as she headed for the door. She pulled it open. Popped her head outside. “Pierre?” Marley called to the assistant she’d met earlier. The man she’d had to fight to get past.
His head whipped up. He clutched a phone to his ear. Glared.
Oh, had she interrupted his phone call? No wonder he looked extra pissed. “Declan is done for the day. He apologizes for keeping you so late. He hopes you have a wonderful night.”
Pierre jumped to his feet. He also hung up the phone and shoved it into his pocket. “Declan never apologizes.”
“We’ll be working on that flaw.” She waved. “Good night. Great meeting you.” Especially when he’d tried to physically stop her from getting to her goal. So much fun. Not. The man had truly tried using his five-foot-two-inch, super slender self to block her path. As if he could have stopped her.
While Pierre continued to gape, she very firmly shut the door. Then she locked it. “I listened to your idea,” she announced without glancing back at Declan. “But I have a way better one.” She spun to face him, and, as she did, Marley caught the naked longing on his face. Her breath shuddered out because no one had ever looked at her that way. Like he needed her more than anything. Like he had to have her. Like?—
And it was gone. The longing vanished. His face became hard and unreadable.
Declan certainly excelled at hiding behind a mask.
But he’d slipped up.
She sent him her sweet smile again. All innocence. He still stood behind his desk, with the chair rolled back near him. She headed toward him. Her steps were slow and certain. Just as they’d been when she strolled for the door. Deliberate. Pausing beside him, she trailed her fingers down his chest.
“Don’t play with me, Marley.”
“Who’s playing?” She shoved his laptop aside and hopped onto the desk. That big, shiny, intimidating desk. Marley raised her dress’s skirt to her thighs. “I’m telling you my idea. My genius idea. I’m sure you heard that I told your assistant to go home. I also locked the door. It’s freaking Fort Knox impossible to get up to this level of your building, so I think we’re safe. No one is going to disturb us.” She wet her lips. “My idea…” Her heart drummed madly. Her stomach twisted. Nerves made her voice breathless as she explained, “My idea is that I don’t walk away. My idea is that I stay here with you. And you make love to me. Right here. Right now. On this desk. The desk where you work so very hard all the time.” She needed him to do something. To make a move. Don’t reject me. Don’t. “Because I came here to do two things. One, to tell you that I will not be sidelined…”
He surged toward her. Stepped between her spread legs. His hands flattened on either side of her body.
“And two…” She pulled in a deep breath. Far too late to turn back now. “I came here to tell you that I want you. I want to be with you. I want you to?—”
His mouth crashed onto hers.
The viper had returned to his den.
He hadn’t been surprised when Declan Flynn had gone running back to Chicago. Back to his protection and perceived power. Back to the cronies that jumped to do his bidding and the fools who shuddered with fear when his name was whispered in the dark.
Too many people were afraid of Declan Flynn. That was one of the reasons he’d needed to strike while Declan was in unfamiliar territory. The dumb muscle he’d hired to help him in Augusta hadn’t even realized who their target was.
And when they did discover his identity…
They were fucking terrified. Calling me and telling me they’d beg Declan for forgiveness. That they’d offer me up as the sacrificial lamb if I didn’t give them enough money to flee to Mexico.
He hadn’t given them anything but a bullet to the brain. Exactly what they deserved for their epic screwup. They should never have been tailed to that cabin. Certainly not by some amateur PI.
A PI that Declan had taken back home with him after a bullet had sliced over her arm.
Oh, yes, he now knew plenty about Marley Jones.
What an interesting past you have, Ms. Jones. One soaked in blood and fear. She should hate monsters just as much as he did. And yet…
Yet she’d saved Declan Flynn. Not just once. Twice.
At first, he’d just thought to eliminate her quickly. During her big rescue mission of Declan at the cabin, he couldn’t be sure she hadn’t overheard the two morons talking about things they shouldn’t. Things like me. Or that she hadn’t seen something that would lead her to him.
So, yes, a swift death had seemed fitting.
He’d sent the morons after her. She hadn’t been home. What had they done? Trashed her place. Reached an even higher level of stupidity. Because with the trashed house, Marley had known that she was now being hunted, too.
Then she’d done the unexpected. In the alley, she’d spotted him. A surprising feat for a junior PI. The guards with their fancy training hadn’t done jackshit to save their boss.
Instead, a delicate female had hurtled her body at him. She’d knocked Declan out of the line of fire. She’d taken a hit.
She’d allowed Declan to cheat death twice.
Do you think you’ve found yourself a good luck charm, Declan Flynn?
He’d decided to learn all he could about Declan’s new charm. And the deeper he’d dived into her life, the more intrigued he’d become by Marley Jones.
A woman who had long been fascinated by monsters. So fascinated that she’d spent years studying the behavior of psychopaths and sociopaths and deviant behavior. Until she’d become prey even as she’d been surrounded by guards and prison personnel.
She’d hidden after that. Retreated. He wondered what the attack had done to her…mentally. She’d stopped trying to understand the monsters. Ended her studies.
You can’t understand them. The only thing you can do is kill them. That makes the world a better place.
Some people belonged in the ground. It was a lesson he’d learned long ago. It was a lesson he would be teaching Declan Flynn.
But as he stared up at the Chicago skyline—and at one high-rise in particular—he wasn’t as focused on Declan Flynn as he had been in the past. Declan had been his mission for quite some time, but Marley…
What did the attack by Sebastian Glass do to you? Did you realize they can never be changed? That they are wild beasts who just live for blood?
But…something that nagged at him even more… Knowing how evil they are, why did you save Declan? He got the first save. Sure. Maybe she hadn’t realized who Declan was. It had been dark. She probably had only seen Declan from the back as he was forced into the van.
By all accounts, Marley was a good Samaritan type. Loved kids. Dogs. Volunteered. Helped those in need. Did the whole bit that he found utterly exhausting.
So maybe the first rescue had just been her. Her trying to help someone because she knew what it was like to be a victim. But the second rescue?
Why the fuck had she done that?
Didn’t she understand what Declan was?
Didn’t she see the monster that lived and breathed beneath his skin?
His hands drove into the pockets of his black peacoat. Marley was in the high-rise with the monster right then and there.
What were they doing?
And…
How can I show you what he really is?