Chapter Six
Raven
Remy’s words reverberate in my head. You don’t need to protect me. I’m not Emily and I’ll be damned if I let you deal with that psychopath on your own.
I didn’t come here for sex but I can’t deny the need to find an escape in his arms. I no longer want to think about Lance or the fact that my time for feeling safe is limited.
Knowing Remy has my back helps calm my nerves and I can’t deny my relief as every muscle in my body relaxes at his insistence I stay.
He might live to regret his decision but for tonight, I’m taking him at his word.
“Thank you,” I say, my shoulders sagging with relief. I meet his gaze, hoping I’m conveying the appreciation I feel toward him but also the desire.
I want him. I’ve always wanted him.
I just know better than to think we could have more than short term. Life rarely graces me with my deepest desires. Not for long.
Gazing into his golden eyes, I reach up and touch his cheek with my hand. “You’re amazing, Remy. And I don’t know whether to hug you or kiss you.”
His lips lift in a sexy grin. “I can answer that one easily.” He steps closer, bracing his hands on my hips as he lowers his head toward mine. “Kiss me, Raven.”
“Okay, but this isn’t about gratitude. It’s about need,” I say, wanting him to know my feelings.
Then I rise onto my tiptoes and our lips meet, desire exploding between us. He lifts me and I wrap my legs around his waist, our mouths still fused as he walks us to his bedroom and deposits me on the ultra-high mattress.
He stands by the bed, staring down at me with heat in his eyes. “Strip for me,” he says, his voice huskier than it’s been all evening.
I unbutton my jeans and pull them down my legs, then move on to other pieces of clothing, bra and panties included. All the while, watching as he undresses at the same time, revealing muscles that can only be the result of regular workouts and an erection that has my sex pulsing with desire.
He opens his nightstand drawer and pulls out a condom, tossing the packet next to me on the bed. Before I can shift positions and get comfortable, he grasps my ankles and pulls me toward him.
“Eek!” I let out a surprised squeak that quickly turns to a moan when his large hands spread my legs wide. And when I glance up and see the hungry look in his eyes, I’m more than ready for whatever comes next.
“You have no idea how often I’ve dreamed of tasting you.”
His fingers press into my skin so deeply I think I’ll have his marks on me. That thought turns me on even more.
Before I can think or reply, he dips his head and his tongue slides through my folds. I moan, arching my hips and giving him better access. He takes it, diving in like a starving man aiming to prove his words. His tongue is as talented as the man is relentless.
With every swipe and lick of his skilled tongue, he takes me higher.
Warmth and a delicious sense of need take hold and I rock my sex against his mouth.
His hands grip my hips hard and hold on as he continues his assault.
It doesn’t take long before I’m soaring, waves of pleasure taking me up and over, my climax bigger than any I’ve had before.
His licks gentle as I come down from the high. He lifts his head and I’m still dazed. I feel him lift his head from my thighs and place a small kiss on my skin. When I finally open my eyes, he’s kneeling on the bed, condom already on, and positioned between my spread thighs.
My gaze meets his.
As if he’s been waiting for my awareness, he buries himself deep in my body, filling me like he’s meant to be there. Every part of me in tune to him, from the buzzing in my ears to the tingling in my breasts, to the way my inner walls contract around his large cock.
“Remy.” His name comes out on a harsh breath.
“No one else, sweetheart. Just me.”
Oh, this man is smooth, I think, unable to withhold a grin at his cockiness. “Show me what you’ve got, then.”
My words free his restraint and he begins to move, thrusting in and out, each drive into me harder than the last. I love how he doesn’t hold back. My body begins to awaken after the last orgasm and I begin the climb toward ecstasy once more.
“More,” I insist, curling my fingers into the skin on his shoulders. If I’m going to have his marks, I intend to leave some of my own.
His golden-brown eyes blaze with desire and he complies. Soon we have a rhythm of our own. He fucks me hard and yet when I let myself look into his eyes and take in his expression, though taut, in that moment, he’s completely mine.
And that scares me.
But when he slides a hand between us, gliding his fingertip over my slick folds and settling the pad over my clit, I arch my back and begin to soar.
“Oh God. Remy, I’m coming.” I scream then, barely aware of him releasing himself at the same time but somehow knowing we’re coming together.
* * *
Remy
No sooner have I pulled out of Raven, gone to the bathroom to take care of the condom, and returned to clean her up, she falls fast asleep. I’m not normally a cuddler with the women in my past, but I like having Raven’s head on my chest, her body splayed half across mine.
As I listen to her breathing, I’d like to sleep too, but my mind whirs with the information she gave me about her brother.
That son of a bitch tortured and tormented her for years as a child, then did the unspeakable as an adult.
He failed with Raven but succeeded with her friend, leaving Raven with scars of guilt and trauma.
Though I know nothing about Lance Kane, I’ve arrested men like him, and I’m sure the bastard intends to finish what he started years ago.
Which means I need to dig into the man and be ahead of his next move. I carefully slide Raven’s head onto the pillow and move away, stilling as she moans and shifts, as if aware I’ve left her. Or so I’d like to think.
I now know some of Raven’s past but sense there’s even more she hasn’t shared. We need time and I intend to make sure she’s alive and safe in order to figure out what could be between us.
I rise and pull on a pair of sweats, then make my way to my office and turn on my computer.
I was a tech geek in high school and met Zach at Columbia, where we bonded over coding and hacking.
Zach was looking for his high school girlfriend whose entire family disappeared overnight, while I was seeking a way to avoid thinking about my mother’s death.
Or how things could have been different had I been home the night she died.
Unfortunately, we were caught hacking into a federal database while looking for Zach’s ex-girlfriend, and in exchange for no charges being filed, we were hired by the federal government to test systems and prevent other hackers from accomplishing what we nearly had.
The deal we made with the feds meant I was able to continue on my career path in law enforcement.
Otherwise, I would have been kicked out of school and worse, served time.
That career path was important to me because I hoped it would allow me to catch criminals like the dirtbag who blamed my father for his stock market losses and killed my mother in retribution.
I blink, realizing that while I was thinking about the past, my fingers were flying over the keyboard, digging into information on Raven’s brother. Though I’d normally pull Zach in on a deep dive like this, my friend is on his honeymoon with his new wife, and I won’t disturb him.
Instead, I send a few emails to friends in the right places. Now I need to wait. It doesn’t take long for my mail to ding and a reply to come through. I didn’t expect Sean Andrews, my friend in the FBI who recently helped out Hadley, to be awake but I got lucky.
I open the email and stare at the battered and bruised photos of Emily Devlin, taken in the hospital as evidence against Lance.
One look at the pictures and my protective instincts kick into high gear. No way will this son of a bitch lay a finger on Raven. Not while I’m around.
“Knock knock.”
Raven’s voice startles me but I immediately click out of the mail program and hit the off button, shutting the computer down.
“I’m sorry I passed out on you,” she says in a sleep-roughened, husky voice.
I shake my head. “It’s fine. I wore you out.” I wink, enjoying the flush that rises to her cheeks. “I couldn’t sleep so I caught up on some work.”
I glance at her, realizing she’s wearing one of my T-shirts that hangs to her knees and a rush of possessiveness washes over me. Her hair is tousled and falls around her shoulders in sexy disarray. It’s all I can do not to grab her and take her on my desk.
Instructing myself to rein it back because Raven wouldn’t welcome my proprietary act, I keep things light. “Are you hungry?”
She shakes her head. “No. I should get home, though.”
“Or you could stay.” So much for keeping it light, I think.
Her eyes open wide. The wariness I was trying to avoid has returned.
“Remy,” she says in a warning tone.
“Raven,” I mimic back.
She strides over to where I sit. I turn the large, leather-cushioned office chair to the side. Wrapping one arm around her waist, I pull her onto my lap. “Ladies first. What’s on your mind? Why would staying be so bad?”
“It wouldn’t. Not if we set parameters.” She pulls her lush lower lip between her teeth and releases it with a pop. “I was thinking, we’re both adults, right?”
I raise an eyebrow. “I sure as hell hope so, considering what we recently did together.”
She lets out an unexpected chuckle. “You know what I mean. Anyway, since we obviously both want each other—”
Understatement of the year, I think. “Yes?”
“Well, I agree, you’re not Emily and you can take care of yourself… and me. And now that you know about Lance, you’re not going to let me run.”
Damn right. I tighten my arm around her waist.
“So I thought we could have an arrangement.”
“Such as?”
“I’ve seen you in occasional relationships through the years… well, not relationships exactly, but you tend to have flings.”
I wince because she has a point. Until Raven, I’ve never considered something serious.
“So I figured, we could be… you know, friends with benefits. At the bar, you’re my boss, and there are boundaries, but other times when we’re alone… we’d have the benefits. Would that be good for you?”
Fuck no, I think. I want so much more. But that’s the caveman in me talking. The rational, understanding human inside me knows I can’t have all of Raven without slowly winning her trust. Which means giving her what she needs. Time. Space.
I place my finger on her moist lower lip, running the pad over her flesh. “If that works for you, it does for me,” I say in a gruff voice.
Her shoulders sag in what must be relief and my heart squeezes as I realize what it must take for her to hold herself together. She’s wound so tight and pressing down so much fear. Something has to give. I want to be her safe place.
“So we’re good?” she asks.
Meanwhile, as she sighs and wriggles on my lap, my dick grows hard and I grit my teeth against the desire I won’t be acting on.
“We’re good,” I assure her.
She hugs me, placing her head on my shoulder and her chest against mine, as she breathes against my neck. “Thank you, Remy. I feel safe with you.”
And those words both solidify my decision to go slow and cause a warm feeling in my chest, and my heart beats in time with hers.
When she decides to go home anyway, I understand, and let her go.