Chapter 24 #2
He merely tightened his grip. “Keep working on the security footage from Benedict’s house, would you, Desmond? And let me know if you find anything that rings an alarm for you.” Atlas’s own internal alarms had been ringing all morning.
But Desmond was shaking his head. “Screw that. I’ll delegate the task. Someone else can look through the footage. I’ll be the one riding behind you and covering your ass in case the prick you are hunting decides to come after you.”
“Didn’t you hear?” Atlas kept his hold on Lily. Why did you flinch, sweets? Don’t you know what you are to me? “Our perp is either in New Orleans or Oklahoma City. That means I should be completely safe right now.”
Desmond’s dark eyes narrowed. “That what you really believe?”
“I believe…that I’m going hunting.”
“I’m…not wrong about the targets.” Lily’s halting words as they pulled away from his estate.
He glanced through the window, his gaze drawn to the crowd of reporters. Oh, what shock. Dr. Phillip Owen had paused to speak with them. “Profile him.”
“What?”
His legs stretched out in front of him. Carl was driving, the privacy screen was up, and Atlas lounged in the seat across from Lily. “The ER doc who showed up on our doorstep today.” The our part of that sentence just slipped out. Felt natural as hell to say. “Profile him for me.”
She hesitated. “I’m not part of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.”
“Nah. You’re probably better than them all. That’s why Gage used you, isn’t it? The dick.” He really did not like that jerk. Then again, he liked few people. I just dislike him a little bit extra. “He knew you understood killers, and he used your talent to advance his own career.”
Her head turned. As the silence stretched in the back of the limo, she looked at the reporters. At Dr. Phillip Owen. “Do you want to know if I think he could be a threat? If he could be our killer?”
“That guy is no killer. He’s a glory hound, a narcissist, but I don’t know that he has the killer instinct in him.
” Atlas scraped a hand over his jaw. He hadn’t bothered to shave that morning, unlike Phillip Owen, and the stubble pricked against his fingers.
“If he was going to kill, it would be far more subtle, like deliberately screwing up during a surgery. Slicing a patient where and when he shouldn’t.
Letting them bleed out right in front of him even as he faked trying to save the poor vic. ”
“Sounds like you’re pretty good at profiling, Atlas.”
He’d had to learn what made others tick. Learning that helped him to manipulate them better. “Give me your take on him.”
“Narcissist. Yes. I agree with you on that one. I would also wager that he has low self-esteem. He wants to be admired by his peers and by women, in particular, but he struggles in that aspect. He didn’t achieve his dream of being a psychiatrist, and I think that eats at him.
He feels he would have been incredibly successful in that field, if…
well, I would suspect he blames others for his life not working out quite as he wanted. ”
“He’s a doctor. Isn’t that successful enough for him?” That would certainly be a huge measure of success for a whole lot of people.
“He’s currently surrounded by a flock of reporters, and he’s grinning from ear to ear. Does that seem like the kind of man who is happy working in a crowded ER? Not sure his current job is the success story he wanted.”
So the doc wanted more fawning attention, check. Wanted to be a celebrity. The star of the show. “You didn’t say whether or not you thought Phillip Owen could kill.”
“I don’t think he’s a physical killer. Not sure that makes sense, but I suppose I mean that I don’t really see him dragging you through that cabin.
It takes physical strength to do that. Not sure he has that.
” Her hands pressed to her thighs. “I’d even wondered before if it might have taken two people to move you, but I only recalled one attacker. ”
He snapped to attention. “You didn’t mention this important point before.” Two attackers? Since when?
“I didn’t mention it because I have no proof.
One person could have done the job. One could drag me, then you.
Absolutely, it could be done. Two just would have made the job easier.
With the other attacks in Dallas, there was never any indication of a second perpetrator, so that idea is probably wrong. ”
Probably.
“So, again, I didn’t see the point in mentioning it if I was just going to be wrong.”
His fingers drummed on the leather seat. “You don’t want me to be your soulmate.”
She flinched. “Excuse me?”
Atlas allowed a slow, taunting smile to curve his lips. “Soulmate.”
She sucked in a breath. “What are you doing? I-I thought we were talking about Dr. Owen.”
They had been. Now they were talking about soulmates. They’d left the reporters and the annoying doctor behind. “What am I doing?” He’d be honest. “Playing with you.” His head tilted. “Baiting you.” And, oddly enough, hurting myself. But he kept his smile in place. “Why are you afraid?”
“I’m not afraid of you.” Certainty.
“You’re afraid that you belong to me. With me.” Did she think he didn’t see it? “You wanted to study the children of serials because you were trying to figure out how to stop that darkness inside yourself. Only now you’re fucking me, and…do you like the dark, Lily?”
“I just told you that I wasn’t afraid. Not of you. And, no, I’m not afraid of the dark.”
“I didn’t ask if you were afraid of the dark. I asked if you liked the dark.”
Her chin inched up. “I don’t see the point of these questions.”
Oh, there was a point. “You don’t want to belong to me.”
“Is that what you think?” She wasn’t staring directly at him. Her attention was focused on the window near him.
“I think you’re scared of yourself, and you’re scared of me.”
“I told you, I’m not scared of you.” Her gaze jumped to collide with his.
“Prove it.” A taunt.
“Fine.” Then she—she leapt across the small distance that had separated them. Lily jumped toward him. On him. She straddled him as he reclined on the seat, her knees pushing down into the leather on either side of him. Her hands pressed to his cheeks, and her mouth crashed down on his.
Well, well, well…
She wasn’t kissing him like she was afraid. She was kissing him like she was hungry, desperate, aroused, and her response was the last thing he’d expected.
His hands curled around her hips. Then, he grabbed the material of her dress—soft fabric, but not as silken as her skin—and he hiked it up. Up, up, and his fingers were sliding over her thighs. Then higher.
Her mouth pulled from his. “I was wrong about you.”
He’d touched her panties. He had not intended to fuck Lily in the limo. Had not. Had—
“You can’t profile for shit, Atlas Bennett.”
Atlas opened his eyes. He found Lily staring down at him. Her hands had moved to clamp over his shoulders.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she told him. “You’re dead wrong on that.”
His fingers slid under the edge of her panties. Stroked over her clit.
She sucked in a sharp breath. Her hands clamped harder around his shoulders.
He slid a finger into her. Tight. So tight. His thumb played with her clit. “You afraid of yourself, sweets?” She was getting wetter. Hotter.
“I’m afraid…I’m afraid I-I want you too much.”
“Too much? Not a thing.” He needed her mouth on him again. Needed his dick in her.
“I’m scared…” Breathy. Husky.
Ah, there it was…
He pulled his hand away from his perfect heaven. “What are you afraid of? Tell me.”
“I’m scared that you’ll see all of me, and that you’ll turn away.
Soulmates aren’t real. That doesn’t happen.
They are a dream. Nothing more. They aren’t real.
Especially not for someone like me.” She licked her lips.
“Or at least, that’s what I thought. I didn’t count on you.
I didn’t think—didn’t believe I’d feel this way. Ever.”
Both of his hands were on her hips now. Holding far too tightly. “Feel what way?”
“I think I’m falling in love with you. It scares me because I don’t want to feel like I’ve finally found my home, just to lose it all. To lose you.”
His heart drummed too hard. His muscles were too stiff. And his control—obliterated.
“Atlas?” Worry.
She could not worry.
Or…maybe she should worry. “I’m fucking you.” Guttural.
A fast lick of her tongue over her lower lip. “I was going to fuck you.”
His breath heaved. His chest burned. “Ditch the panties or I’ll yank them off you.”
“What?”
Too late. The panties were gone. Yanked away. Tossed on the floor of the limo. Her shoes fell off with them.
He had warned her. As for Lily…
I think I’m falling in love…
He jerked open his pants. Thrust his boxers out of the way, and his thick, eager dick sprang out. Then he was shoving up her dress even more. She still straddled him, and the wide, aching head of his dick pushed into her.
“Atlas!” Her fingers were on his shoulders. So tight.
She’s tight. Tight and hot and I’m going into her bare. I’m taking her bare.
Bare.
Bare.
His teeth snapped together.
“I’m on birth control,” she whispered.
He’d always been afraid of having a child. Afraid the blood in his veins was too tainted. But Lily…his Lily…
What if we did have a kid together? Angel, devil…
Lily’s baby…her daughter would be my precious angel. I’d put the world at her feet.
And Lily would love her son. She’d never abandon him. Never cast him out because she feared what he was. Lily…
I think I’m falling in love…
An inhuman growl tore from him, and he drove into her. He lifted her up and down, their bodies slapping together. Need ripping past every other thought. Primal lust consumed and burned away everything else, and he was pounding into her even as he kept that too fierce hold on her waist.
Up and down. Up and down. Frantic. Hard. His jaw locked. His eyes were on her. On her face every single moment.
Pleasure. Give her pleasure.
One hand left her waist. Shoved between their heaving bodies. Mercilessly, he stroked her. She was stretched around his dick. So tight. He strummed her clit. Worked it again and again with his fingers. Faster. Harder.
His hips pounded.
She gave a little shriek, her body collapsing on him.
He wasn’t done. Not even close. He twisted, putting her half beneath him on the seat, and he pounded into her with a fury. Bare skin. Hot sex. His Lily.
I think I’m falling in love…
In and out. Deeper. Savage growls. Possessive touches. Hands marking and branding. Mouth on her throat. Her lips.
Falling in love…
His release roared through him.
With you.