Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
Sinner pulled back just enough to see her face—flushed, wet-cheeked, vulnerable in a way that made his chest ache.
“You good?” His voice rough.
She nodded then seemed to change her mind and shook her head. “I don’t know. I feel—” She broke off, frustration tightening her features. “I don’t know what I feel.”
“Let me show you.” He caught her jaw, tilting her face up. “Let me make you feel something you can name.”
Her eyes glimmered. “Caius—”
“That’s right, sweetheart. Say my name when I’m inside you.” He slid his hand down her throat, feeling her pulse hammer against his palm. “Say it when you come apart.”
Her breath hitched. “You’re…bossy.”
“You like it when I’m bossy.” He dragged his thumb across her lower lip. “You like it when I tell you exactly what I’m going to do to you.”
“Maybe.” But her voice had gone breathy, and her thighs pressed together.
He leaned in, lips brushing the shell of her ear. “I’m going to strip you down. I’m going to taste every inch of you until you forget everything but my name. And then I’m going to fuck you until the only thing you feel is me.”
A shiver rolled through her body.
“Sound good?” he murmured against the spot where her pulse fluttered in her throat.
“Yes.” The word came out strangled.
He kissed her—slow and deep, claiming her mouth the way he was about to claim the rest of her. She melted into him, her hands fisting in his shirt.
When he pulled back, her lips were swollen and her eyes burned with need.
“On your back,” he ordered softly.
She obeyed without hesitation, stretching out on the bed. The trust in that simple movement—the way she gave herself over to him—made something primal and possessive roar to life in his chest.
He stripped off his shirt and reached for hers.
“Wait. I’ll set the pace.” Her hand shot out, fingers wrapping around his wrist. “I need—I need to stay in control of something.”
He went still, reading the tension in her jaw. She’d just survived an attack. She’d just found out the most dangerous man alive had targeted her. Of course she needed control.
He took a moment to give her breathing room and applied a bandage over her new ink. She watched him with raw desire plain on her face. When he finished, she settled a hand on his chest.
“I want you.”
Hearing those words fanned the inferno of his own desire for Opal. He’d never loved anyone like this. And the need to claim her forever nearly blinded him.
“You take the lead,” he managed to say. “You tell me what you want.”
Her throat worked with a swallow. “I want you to make me stop thinking.”
“I can do that.” He ran his hand up her thigh, stopping just below the fresh tattoo. “But I’m still going to be the one in charge. You just get to tell me when to start and when to stop.”
Relief flickered across her face. “Okay.”
“Safe word?”
“Orange sherbet.”
His mouth curved. “Perfect.” He hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties. “Can I take these off?”
“Yes.”
He stripped her slowly, dragging the fabric down her legs and tossing the garment aside. Next her shirt, her bra and the thong that strapped her knife around her thigh, until she was bare except for the small bandage covering her new ink.
She met his gaze head-on, jaw set with that stubborn courage that made him want to worship and ruin her in equal measure.
“You’re so fucking beautiful it hurts to look at you,” he grated out.
Color flooded her cheeks. “Caius—”
“Let me.” He settled between her legs, spreading them wide. “Let me take care of you.”
He pressed kisses to her inner thigh, slowly working his way up. She trembled beneath him, her breathing going shallow and fast.
When he finally put his mouth on her, she arched off the bed with a choked sound.
He took his time—licking, sucking, learning exactly what made her shake. Every gasp and moan fueled the fire burning through him, but he forced himself to go slow.
She threaded her fingers through his hair, not pulling, just holding on. “Caius! I—”
“Let go,” he murmured against her. “I’ve got you.”
Her body went taut…and shattered. She came with his name on her lips and her thighs clamping around his head.
He worked her through it, gentling his touch until she went limp.
When he pulled back, her eyes were glassy and unfocused.
“Still with me?” he asked.
“Barely.” She reached for him, tugging him up. “I need you inside me. Now.”
He stripped out of his clothes. His cock throbbed with a hard surge, and he wrapped his fist around the length to stave off his release. Just looking at this amazing, courageous woman made his hands shake from the sheer force of need pounding through his veins.
When he settled over her, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him close.
“I love you,” she said, the words fierce and raw. “I don’t know how to do this, but I love you.”
His chest cracked open. “I love you too, sweetheart. And I’m going to prove it to you every single day.”
He pushed inside her slowly, watching her face as she adjusted to him. Her eyes fluttered shut and her lips parted on a silent moan.
“Eyes on me,” he commanded.
She forced them open, meeting his gaze.
He pulled out and thrust back in, deeper this time. “Feel that? That’s me claiming you. That’s me making you mine.”
“Yours,” she breathed.
He set a steady rhythm—deep, deliberate, unrelenting. Every stroke pushed her higher, until she was clinging to him and gasping his name.
“Come for me again,” he ordered, his voice rough with strain. “Come on my cock!”
She splintered with a cry, her body clenching around him. The sensation dragged him over the edge, and he buried himself deep as he came, her name a prayer on his lips.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. After a heartbeat, she cupped his face, pulling him down for a kiss—soft and sweet and filled with everything they couldn’t say.
When they finally broke apart, she smiled. “You were right.”
“About?”
“I stopped thinking.”
He grinned and rolled to the side, pulling her against him. “Anytime you need me to shut your brain off, sweetheart, you just say the word.”
She laughed—quiet and genuine—and burrowed into his chest.
And for the first time in a long time, Sinner felt a sensation close to peace.
It wouldn’t last. Outside these walls, a storm was brewing.
But when it hit, he would be standing with the woman he would singlehandedly fight an entire army—or a deadly terrorist—for.
* * * * *
Sinner didn’t sleep.
He couldn’t—not with Opal’s body warm and trusting against his and the mental image of Cipher’s hands on her branded into his brain.
At 0500, he gave up pretending. He eased out of bed, grabbed his phone and walked out to the car for a moment of privacy.
As he strolled to the vehicle, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the bottle of pills. He shook a couple into his hand and swallowed them dry. He wasn’t sure if anyone was watching but he had to keep up the front.
After he slipped behind the wheel, he pulled out his phone. Dante answered on the first ring. “You’re up early.”
“Tell me about the scene of the stabbing.” His voice was gritty from lack of sleep and a hardcore need for answers.
“The FBI processed the office. They ran the blood spatter, fingerprints, the works. It’s him. Daniel Sheen. Cipher.”
The confirmation hit like a gut punch even though Sinner had already known. He’d fucking known the second Opal described the man.
“Son of a bitch.” He dragged a hand through his hair, his scalp prickling with foreboding.
“Con wants a call. He’s looping in the whole team.”
Sinner’s jaw locked. “Copy.”
“In the meantime, command is the same. She goes to work. Ash and Mason are already en route. They’ll watch over her.”
“Why not me, goddammit? She’s my partner,” he bit out.
“Con’s orders. You go to the job site and wait for the team call.”
His jaw locked down so hard he couldn’t respond. Con knew he was too close to this to keep a clear head. How could he? He couldn’t lose her.
He ended the call and stared at the phone in his hand. The urge to put his fist through the side window was so strong his knuckles itched.
He went back inside and found Opal getting ready for work.
She sliced a look at him. “What’s going on?”
“The FBI swept the scene.” He breezed to the small coffeemaker and filled it with coffee and water as if it was just any old Tuesday.
From the corner of his eye, he saw her fingers pause on the buttons of her blouse. After a heartbeat, they slowly continued.
“And?”
When he hesitated a beat too long, her only reaction was a series of jerky movements as she finished dressing and put on her boots. “It was Cipher. You don’t have to tell me. I already knew it.”
“I’m driving you to work.”
She was shaking her head before the sentence left his lips. “That’s not the directive. We stick to the plan, Sinner. If we vary the routine now, it’s going to wreck everything.”
He closed the gap between them and wrapped his fingers around her wrists. “I won’t have you endangered more than you already are.”
She wouldn’t meet his stare directly, her gaze hovering around his chest. “Danger is my way of life.”
He issued a growl. “Not anymore.”
With a tilt of her head, she studied him, softness playing around her eyes. “Caius. I’ve got this. You take the bus to the construction site, like always. I go into the office. I’ll see you tonight for check-in.”
His throat clamped tight, and he couldn’t force himself to tell her that he was expecting a call from the team any time. She would hate being left out of the loop, but they had their orders. Opal would go to the office.
After she grabbed some coffee, she headed out immediately. Sinner drifted to the window and cracked the blinds. He watched her climb into her car and drive away, the taillights a red blur in the gray morning.
The instant she was out the door, he had the tracker app pulled up and was monitoring her movements.