Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Her taste drove him insane. His hold on her waist was probably too tight, but Tyler couldn’t let go. Just like he couldn’t stop licking her. Taking more and more of her. Her hands flew over his shoulders even as she arched her hips against him. Not to get away. To get closer.
Then she screamed his name. He could swear he tasted her pleasure as she came for him. Against his lips and tongue. He didn’t stop. Just lapped her up greedily because he wanted every fucking drop of her bliss.
Esme is mine.
It was time for her to realize that.
“Tyler?” Soft. Broken.
He’d never have her broken. One more lick—one that made her shiver—and his head rose.
“I’m not…still dreaming, am I?” Her breath panted in and out. “Because I don’t usually have sex dreams that are this good.”
It felt like a dream to him. The most erotic of his life. But it wasn’t. “I’m going to fuck you until you scream my name again. ”
“Promises, promises…”
Yeah, it was a promise.
He stood. Backed away. Then he hit the light on the lamp beside the bed. Immediately, a soft glow of illumination spilled onto Esme.
She blinked, and her hand flew out to grab one of the tangled sheets. She yanked it over her body.
Why the hell would she do something like that? His hands had gone to the waist of his jeans. At her move, though, he stilled. “Shy, Esme? Now?”
She clutched the sheet tighter. Then, slowly, she let it go. As she did, he saw the scar on her stomach. A line that stretched and twisted.
She’d walked toward the bed and tempted him earlier, showing him her perfect ass. But he realized that she’d hidden her scar from him. Odd. Damn unnecessary, too. “Thought you didn’t mind scars.”
“I don’t mind your scars.” A hitch in her breathing. “But I?—”
He kissed her scar. Pressed his mouth to the line that marked her and tried not to remember the day she’d gotten that scar. The way she’d been so still in his arms. Her body so limp. Never again.
“Tyler.”
His head lifted.
“What’s changed?” A soft question from Esme.
Everything. He straightened once more. Then he opened the nightstand drawer. He’d put his weapon in that drawer earlier. His weapon. His phone. His wallet. Now he pulled out the condom that had been tucked into his wallet. He dropped it onto the top of the nightstand. His gaze slid back to Esme, and he found her eyes on the condom.
“Tell me no if you don’t want this. Us.” He didn’t move. “ It can end now, Esme.” But once they crossed this line, it would be too late.
“I don’t want it to end now.” She moved to her knees before him. Her hand pressed to his chest. “You kissed my scar. Do I get to kiss yours?”
“Esme…”
Too late. She was kissing them. Brushing her lips over wounds that had stopped hurting long ago. Using such care. Tenderness. When was the last time he’d had tenderness? There wasn’t a hell of a lot of that in his world.
There was violence. There was punishment. There was evil.
Tenderness? That just came with Esme.
Her fingers went to the top of his jeans. Unhooked the snap. Pulled down the zipper.
His hand closed around her wrist. “I don’t have scars down there.”
“I should check, just in case.” She leaned down. Her mouth feathered over his dick. Her breath blew lightly against the sensitive head.
He was fully erect. So hard he hurt. All he wanted to do was shove deep and hard into her core and make her scream for him again.
Then she took his dick into her mouth.
He locked his legs. Stared down at the sexiest sight in the world and tried to not come right then and there. But seeing his dick slide past her plump lips, seeing her take him inside shredded his control.
So. Fucking. Hot.
“Esme.”
Her tongue rolled over him.
He was done. He pushed her back onto the bed. A light, sexy laugh spilled from her. No laughter came from him. Tyler was too far gone, and he knew it. He ditched his jeans and kicked them away. He grabbed the condom. Rolled it on. No words came from him. Not like he could manage speech. Though he probably did growl as he came down on top of her.
Esme reached for him eagerly. A mistake, that. Because her eagerness just made him want her all the more. Her legs were parted, and he went right between them. He put the tip of his dick against her straining core. Her hands grabbed his shoulders, and her nails bit lightly into his skin.
He should ask if she was ready. If she could take him.
“Don’t make me wait any longer,” Esme breathed.
Yeah, right. Like he could. He thrust deep into her. Hard and deep and… fucking fuck. She was tight. Squeezing all along the length of his dick and it was all he could do not to come right the hell then. She felt like a hot, tight paradise. Heaven. Clamping along every single inch of his dick and making him lose his mind.
She’d gone still beneath him. Tense.
Too tense.
“Esme,” he snarled her name. Snarls and growls and grunts were all he could manage.
Her eyes opened. Her breath came out in quick heaves.
Had he hurt her? Can’t hurt Esme. Never her.
“Give me just a sec.” A quick, nervous smile came and went. Her smile made his heart feel funny. “Been a while. And you are…way big.”
He growled.
Her eyes widened. “Did you just get bigger? ”
Yeah. For her. Every instinct he had demanded that he withdraw, then plunge again. Thrust frantically toward a savage, brutal release that would rock them both.
But she wasn’t ready .
She’s not ready. If Esme wasn’t with him, he would take no pleasure. One hand maneuvered between their bodies. He pushed down to her clit. Rubbed. Stroked. Kept his hips absolutely still. Do not thrust. Do not withdraw. Fuck me, she feels too good.
The tenseness slowly fled from her body. Esme sighed out his name. Her legs wrapped around his hips. “Give me everything,” she tempted.
He did.
A chain seemed to break inside of him. Tyler withdrew, then thrust. Over and over. His thrusts lifted her off the bed, and she just moaned with pleasure. He grabbed her legs. Threw them over his shoulders so he could get in her even more. So that he could take and take and she was completely open to him.
She jerked and heaved beneath him. Screamed his name. Her hands clawed down his arms.
He kept thrusting. His orgasm bore down on him with feverish intensity, but he didn’t want to stop thrusting. She felt too good. Fit him too perfectly. Tight. Hot. Esme.
“Esme!” The orgasm barreled into him, and Tyler exploded in her.
“Who is the first target?” The man stared at the two photos that had been placed before him. “The lady or the bastard?”
Jorlan hunched his shoulders. It had been damn fucking hard to arrange this meeting. The guy in front of him was a shadow. A whisper. One of the freaking scary stories that you hoped wasn’t real .
He’s real. I paid too much for this meeting. He’d better be real.
“You’re to take out the man first. Then bring the woman to me. I need her alive.”
Rusty laughter answered his order, and that laughter was somehow scary. Odd because Jorlan was very rarely scared.
“That’s gonna be a problem.” Cold, mocking words. “Because I’ve been told I can get a cool seven million if I take her out. The bounty is on her being dead, not alive.”
“The plan has changed.” He could feel his heart slamming into his chest. “But don’t worry, I’m giving you a tip that other hunters won’t have. You’ll be at an advantage.”
The hunter stared back at him.
Jorlan waved toward Tyler Barrett’s picture. “No one else knows that she’s currently with him. You find the man, and you’ll find her, too.”
A gloved hand touched the picture of Esme. “How do you know that she is with him?”
“Because he vanished. Right after she did. No fucking coincidence. He’s hiding her, and if you know him, you can find her.” A pause. “You know him, don’t you?”
Icy blue eyes met his stare.
Yes, you know him. I have my own intel that says you do. That was the reason he’d fought so hard to get this meeting arranged in such a short time. “You can hunt Tyler Barrett. You can take him out. He’s the only thing standing between her and me.” Tyler was the real threat. Jorlan should have put the pieces together sooner. As soon as the prick showed up asking for an invitation to his party and acting like he was there to help. Such bullshit. “Get rid of him and give her to me. Alive. I just need Esme. ”
Jorlan had two men at his back. Two men armed with guns. He should have felt safe with them right there. But as he peered into that arctic blue stare, a shiver skated down his spine. He knew death when he saw it.
Jorlan licked his lips. “I’ve offered you a great deal of money. I’m giving you a tip that none of the other hunters have. Are you going to take the deal or not?”
“I’m confused.” But he didn’t sound confused. He seemed vaguely intrigued. Maybe a little bored. “Why put the bounty on her head originally if you just want her alive now? Something change? And you don’t know how to call back the hounds so you’re trying to use me to do the dirty work for you?”
“I never said I was the one who put the original hit on her.” Sweat soaked his back. “The seven-million-dollar hit, if you recall, is for the death of the Fox.”
“Esme Laurent is the Fox.”
“Is she?”
Unblinking blue eyes stared back at Jorlan. “You want to add more on that or just be all suspenseful-like?”
No, he didn’t want to add more. He just wanted to get his hands on Esme. “You in or out?”
If the bastard was out, the prick was dead. Jorlan had already given orders for his men to shoot him. Immediately. He couldn’t afford any other loose ends. Jorlan held his breath.
“I’m in.”
Yes.
The bastard in front of him was supposed to be the best tracker there was. Tracker, killer.
“I’ll get rid of him.” A cold smile curved the hunter’s lips. “Then bring her to you alive. When you’re done with her, I’ll kill her right in front of you.” A pause. “And I’ll be taking that big seven-million-dollar payday while her blood is still warm.”
“Nice visual,” Jorlan muttered. You won’t be taking any money. Because I’ll kill you as soon as I have Esme. He extended his hand. “Do we have a deal?”
The gloved hand closed around his. “Absolutely.”
He walked into hell. Fire raged. Smoke billowed around him. Screams seemed to echo, but were those real screams or the sounds of the old building as it groaned and shifted around him?
“ We have to get out!” A cry from his friend. “ Place is gonna collapse!”
It was. They had to go.
But…
He saw her arm. Saw her. Trapped beneath what appeared to be half a freaking wall. His heart raced as he ran to her. He heaved and shoved and got her free. Her head fell back, like a flower on a broken stem.
So much smoke. Ash? Hard to see. He scooped her into his arms even as his friend roared for him to flee. The screams weren’t from the survivors—it was the building screaming. Falling down around them. He held the woman tighter in his arms. They burst out just as the remainder of the café seemed to collapse behind them. Tyler stumbled forward, and he held tightly to the woman in his arms.
Her long hair fanned around her as he hurtled toward the pavement. So much blood. It covered her face. Trickled from her ears. And…
Her white shirt was covered in red.
She wasn’t moving. Was far too still. Her eyes were closed, and no breath came from her pale lips. “Help!” Tyler roared.
Ambulance sirens wailed.
“Help!” Tyler staggered back to his feet. He lumbered toward the ambulance. “Victim!”
“Alive or dead?” A fast retort from the man in uniform.
“ Alive.” She had to be alive.
The EMT took her. Shook his head. “No, she’s dead.”
“No! No, put her in the fucking ambulance— she’s alive!”
But the EMT lowered her to the pavement. He shook his head again. “Can’t you see her?”
He could. She was all he could see. The blood on her face. In her hair. He should have seen it sooner. It was Esme. His Esme.
“She’s already dead. You just don’t know it.”
What?
“Already dead?—”
“Esme!”