Chapter 19
C assie
Shade stilled. At the same second, Riordan fisted my shirt at my lower back and held it, something very telling in his hidden grip.
I’d pissed him off.
Good.
Riordan’s problem was that he was a lone wolf. Not by choice. He was alone in the world with few who cared about him. Obviously Genevieve did, and maybe Everly, but beyond them he had no tribe. I could give that to him. Help him see that people were ready and willing to help if he was prepared to trust.
More importantly, this way, he wouldn’t die in the process of getting his revenge.
I wasn’t wrong.
Shade looked between us. Something in his gaze told me he was weighing up Riordan’s claim above his own, just as I’d anticipated. The mayor had hurt Everly. But Riordan was the man’s son. His neglected, overlooked child. For all Shade wanted the right to avenge the woman he loved, he operated on an honour code. All the men here did.
Some kind of decision resolved, and he tapped the table, moving to the door. “Do what ye like, but keep it subtle and don’t kill the fucker. Not yet. Talk to me if ye need help.”
He directed us outside. “Share any results, aye?”
Shade strode away. I breathed out and squinted up at Riordan. My stomach tightened at his scowl. Other parts of me did, too.
“On a scale of one to nuclear explosion, how unhappy are ye with me right now?” I asked.
Riordan swung around and stalked away. At the lift, he stabbed in the code to open the door then propelled me inside, his touch light but his intention anything but.
I skittered along, excited at his mood swing.
I liked him grumpy. It was very possibly my favourite side of him because it helped him break out of his restraints. He let his passions lead where he otherwise wouldn’t go.
When he stabbed the button for the fifth floor, I smiled more, because that passion was directing him to the bedroom I’d secured here.
My pulse picked up, my skin coming alive with anticipation. I was wet for him. Ready for everything. This was day one of our official time together, and I didn’t want to waste a second.
On the cam girls’ floor, we fast walked to the end of the corridor. I unlocked the door and let us in, cursing myself for not having done more to make the place comfortable. It had been a functional little nest for me, holding my clothes on a rail and my detective map on the wall. I’d do better for the rest of our time.
I tossed my coat to the corner. Turned to face him. “I know you’re angry that I told Shade our plan.”
“My plan. Told to you in confidence.”
I settled on the bed, rested back on my elbows, and regarded him. “It was Arran ye didn’t want to know, and this is ours now. I own it, too. I get that ye dislike Shade, but I trust him and I know he’ll have our back. You’ve made the claim on the mayor, and it’s greater than his. He won’t stop ye, but we can do the decent thing and clue him in. We can let him help.”
He stalked closer.
I readied myself for whatever was coming my way. “Ye also laid claim to me. Which was hot as fuck, by the way.”
Riordan set a hand down on the mattress beside me and bent so his face was right over mine. He forced me back to lying, his muscles taut. At the same second, his other hand went to the button of my jeans. I couldn’t read his expression. All I could do was follow his prompts. Lifting my arse, I let him strip me, my pulse quickening when he did the same to my top half, leaving me in just my bra and knickers.
It should’ve been sexy, but something was off in his clinical method. His touch didn’t linger. His gaze clung to me then jerked away.
A muscle ticked in his clenched jaw. “Get up the bed.”
I scooted to the pillows. My heart raced like his bike’s engine. He could do anything to me right now and I would let him.
Riordan knelt over me, still in his leather jacket. He gazed down at my breasts then stole one hand under my back, unclasping my bra. He swallowed and pulled it free from my arms, capturing both wrists as he came up.
In rapture, I stretched out my arms above my head, hooked on everything he was doing. I’d been almost naked in my bathroom in front of him. This was a step on. Something was going to happen.
I wanted him to look at me. To see me and want me.
From his tented jeans, he was already there.
Riordan dragged his gaze from my body to my outstretched hands. He placed them against the wrought-iron headboard, a fancy design used as a backdrop by the women who filmed themselves in front of cameras. I held them there, closing my eyes for a beat to let the sense of overwhelm wash over me.
This was it. Even though I’d pissed him off, it was still happening.
He was going to fuck me, and I was going to love it.
Movement at my hands had me springing my eyes open. Riordan tied off my bra. It was tangled around my wrists then secured to the headboard.
For fuck’s sake. He’d tied me up again. Fine. Maybe I deserved that.
I struggled against the constraint, trying not to get annoyed.
He tested the knot then sat back. “Remind me of the rules for our time together.”
His voice was a gravel pit.
I growled. “Ten days and nights. We sleep together, eat together, revenge together, and have sex every day. You’re mine and I’m yours.”
“That’s what you want, for me to fuck you now? Take the virginity you were ready to throw away.”
Wriggling my shoulders, I managed a nod.
He held my gaze then stripped his jacket, tossed it to the floor, and climbed off me. His skeleton crew t-shirt went next, giving me hard muscles and inkwork to stare at. Then the rest of his clothes followed, one by one in a slow, deliberate tease. His boxers were last, and he shoved those down, his rigid, thick dick swinging up.
Holy hell. Naked Riordan was a sight I’d never get over, but it was his dick that caught and held my attention. That was going to be inside me. I swallowed. My pussy pulsed in anticipation.
Riordan grasped my knee and crawled onto the bed, settling between my legs. For a moment, the cold exterior he’d assumed shook. Real emotion flashed in his eyes. Desperate need and a dozen others I couldn’t name.
He masked it. Drove his fingers up my thigh until he reached my underwear.
“Sure you want this?”
“Please.”
He hooked it aside then palmed his dick and took it to the juncture of my legs, running it up and down my soaking wet centre, his gaze avid but his chest rising and falling. Confusion broke over me. I’d expected to be kissed. To be built up. For us to play first and full sex to be a natural end to it.
Then again, I’d made him angry.
Holding my gaze, Riordan lifted my backside and at the same time, thrust inside me.
Fuck . I opened my mouth on a gasp, jerking to loosen my hands so I could take them to where he speared into me. But I couldn’t free myself. He’d tied me up too well.
With another jerk of his hips, he embedded himself deeper, then again and again until his body was flush against mine. That huge dick was inside me.
Cold panic mixed with strange pleasure.
I throbbed. Desire spread out from every place he touched me inside.
God, this was better than my vibrator.
Riordan lowered his face to mine, his jaw so tight it might crack. “I won’t let it be said that I don’t keep my word. But hear me now. If you want to keep this deal, you’ll never again make a decision for me. Ask me. Consult me. Involve me. Never, ever go over my head. Obey that, and maybe we can do this again.”
With a groan of pain, he pulled out of me and righted my underwear, tugging the quilt over my almost naked form. In angry moves, he got off the bed and dressed again.
Then he went to the door.
Finally, my brain re-engaged. I bucked against the constraint. “Don’t ye dare leave me like this.”
He curled his lip. “Enjoy missing Bronson’s moment in the sun.”
With that, he killed the overhead light and locked me in.