by Em Petrova
Insides fluttering, she stepped aside. “Come in.”
When he stepped in, it slammed her anew—the guy was huge. Tall, broad and muscled. He smelled of leather, and her nipples hardened under the silk nightie.
He looked over her head…to her right…to her left. Anywhere but at her.
Seeing him in the flesh and blood while she was in a state of undress—and now arousal—had her going from slow burn to fast simmer in a blink.
“Titus.” His name came out as a wisp.
His stare riveted on her, and everything she’d ever been told about bad boys being bad for her faded to black. Because fact was, if Titus wanted her, she’d wrap her thighs around his waist before the man could utter the words.
His throat worked, the Adam’s apple seeming to stick in the middle before dropping. “I’m lookin’ for Rio.”
“He’s not home. I thought it was him at the door and he forgot his key.”
Blade’s eyes sharpened. “You didn’t know it was me? And you opened the door anyway? Dressed in that?”
Nerves made her pull her robe shut at her middle. “Did something happen? Why do you need Rio?”
“I need to go,” he said faintly instead of answering her questions.
He didn’t budge, and her feet were glued to the floor.
He started to turn, and she reached out, latching her hand on his steely arm. “Titus, stop. What’s going on?”
Frozen, he looked down at her fingers splayed over his muscle. So warm, hard and enticing. The urge to slide her hand upward and learn more about the contours of his body had her insides quivering.
Her breaths came faster, and she flicked her stare up to his.
He pulled away from her.
“Don’t go! I mean…you can wait for Rio. I’m sure he’ll be home soon.”
“I can’t stay.” Blade swung toward the door again.
She hurried to put her body between him and the exit. “What’s happening?”
Again, he avoided her eyes.
Ducking to catch his gaze, she said, “Talk to me.”
A low noise sounded from his chest, a rumble on steroids. Every hair on her body stood on end at the sexually-charged sound.
She moved a step closer to him, and he stiffened even more, his spine ramrod straight and fists clenching at his sides.
“Juliette.” Why did that sound like a warning? What was he warning her against?
“You’ve been best friends with my brother for years. Why can’t you trust me too?”
When he lifted his eyes to hers, she saw the battle taking place in the deep brown depths. Black spikes of pain and fury mingled with that electric gleam of interest she saw from him each time he looked her way in the clubhouse.
“Titus, tell me why you need Rio. Are you in trouble?” Concern punched her to the pit of her soul.
Desperation crossed his face, and up until this moment, she had never felt true fear. When she was six and chased by the neighbor’s vicious dog, she was afraid. At seventeen when she got T-boned while driving and the car flipped on its side, she’d been scared and shaken.
Neither of those events compared to now.
Adrenaline kicking in, she squared herself in front of Blade. Whatever he saw in her face—determination, the refusal to take no for an answer—broke the words free from his locked lips.
“I need him to help me end something.”
Her heart slammed into her ribs and felt as if it stopped completely. Then she dragged in a breath, and it kickstarted.
“Rio’s been staying out all night,” she told him.
His brows lowered. “You’ve been here alone?”
She blinked. “Yes. I’m fine.”
“Why is he staying out all night?” Titus asked.
“I suspect he has a woman, but he’s private. If you need someone to help you—”
“No. I’ll figure it out.” He moved past her.
She threw herself in front of him again. Palms up, she came within millimeters of touching his sculpted chest. How would that warm cotton of his T-shirt feel under her fingers? On the back of his bike, she’d only touched cool leather hugging his body.
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
He dragged his dark eyes over her face, leaving her body prickling with desire. “Like hell. No way in hell.”
Tipping her head, she gave him a hard look. “I’m coming. Let me change.”
Chapter Three
He should turn around right now and leave before Juliette came out.
Blade looked at the ceiling. His blood pounded in his veins. Knowing Juliette was in the other room—steps from him and naked—had him about to climb the walls. And seeing her in that skimpy slip of silk…how it contoured to all her curves and left nothing to the imagination…had him instantly hard.
Aching for her.
His lungs felt hot and tight, but each time he drew breath, he smelled her. If she smelled so sweet from paces away, how would it be to bury his nose against her fragrant throat and inhale?
Like the breath of life.
She appeared, wearing all black—as far from a kindergarten teacher imaginable. Her blonde hair was pulled in a tight ponytail on her nape, and she held a black hat in her hands.
His gaze shot to hers. Was he seriously considering making her drive the getaway car for him? Jesus Christ, he’d lost his mind.
He jerked a hand. “I changed my mind. You’re not coming.”
Raising her chin, she said, “I’m pretty sure you never said I was coming in the first place—I did. And I’m coming.” She slipped the black knit hat over her gleaming locks as gold as the gates of Heaven must be.
“Why do you own so much black anyway?”
“I don’t—this is Rio’s shirt and hat.” She cocked a sculpted brow at him. “Are we doing this or not?”
Hell, she sounded as if she aided criminals in her spare time every day, but he knew better. She was a good girl, and he couldn’t taint her.
Any way he looked at his plan, though, he came to the same conclusion—he required a driver. She could do that without being told his reasons for why he planned to break into a house and steal the evidence the Engers compiled against his cousin.
He glanced down. Hell, those tight black pants hugged her hips to perfection.
He couldn’t be distracted. Turning to avoid looking at her, he grunted, “C’mon.”
He walked out of her house, searching the street. At this hour of night, the small town of Mersey was quiet. Nobody walked their dogs or jogged at this late hour, which meant they wouldn’t see Juliette climbing behind the wheel of the old beater car he drove here.
Holding out a set of keys to her, he tried not to meet her wide blue stare. Not only was he an asshole for coming here to ask Rio for help, but he should be banned from his friends and the Dark Falcons for asking Juliette to go with him.
She accepted the keys and looked up and down the street. “What am I driving?”
He pointed to the nondescript tan car.
Once seated in the vehicle, she sent him a look. When she opened her mouth to speak, he cut over her.
“Don’t ask questions, because I won’t tell you. I’ll only give you directions and I’m asking you to follow them. All right?”
Her delicate throat moved in a hard swallow, and she nodded. She started the car and he told her which road to take. Only the whir of tires on pavement filled the space, but damn if he didn’t believe in some way he could hear her heart pounding. He knew if he reached out and encircled her wrist, he’d feel her pulse beneath his fingers, fluttering fast.
Too fast.
She was scared—and he’d done that to her.
“Take a right at the intersection.”
Night closed in on them, with only the yellow beams of the headlights illuminating the road leading out of Mersey. When they passed the fairgrounds, everything there was dark too, all the rides closed down and the Ferris wheel so many tourists flocked to unmo
ving.
A deer leaped into the middle of the road, and Juliette issued a gasp as she braked. The raspy sound burrowed under his skin. Could he make her sound that way if he slipped his tongue into the wet folds of her pussy? Or buried his cock in her tight heat?
His cock swelled behind his fly, and he battled his need to adjust it. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself. Bad enough he dragged her into this mess.
After another twenty minutes of driving, they reached the big homes outside town. The ones with scenic views of the Smokies, big swimming pools and iron gates barring the front from the world. They were also guarded by surveillance systems, but his years of running wild in his youth taught him ways to get around those.
He rubbed his thumb over the scar on his hand, and Juliette stared at the action before returning her attention to the road.
“The place on the right. Big lights in front.” As they approached, he withdrew his phone, hit a button, and the lights shut off.
“How did you do that?” she whispered.
He couldn’t look at her, because if he did, he’d cup her nape and pull her mouth to his. The urge to touch her, taste her, had him burning up. But he needed to focus on what he was about to do.
“When I tell you to stop, stop and let me out. Count to three hundred and circle the block. Stop in front of that next house, and I’ll be there.”
She bit her lower lip. He stared at the mesmerizing sight in the dim lights of the dashboard.
Turning her head, she looked at him. “What are we doing?”
“You’re just driving. I’m not doing anything. Stop here.”
He opened the door, stepped out and hit the ground running. Behind him, he heard the car tires as she drove off. Darting around trees, he made his way to the house settled off the road. The multiple peaked roofs stood out against the deep navy of the night sky. Not a single light shone in the windows. According to his sources, the occupants would be out for another hour.
What he needed was inside, and he intended to get it.
When they attacked his cousin, both he and Creed thought they intended to kill him. But then the events revealed that they wanted his DNA in order to frame him for a crime one of the Engers committed.
To them, life in prison was worse than the swift mercy of death, and they wanted another Bancroft to suffer. Then they’d turn to another member of Blade’s family and do the same to them until one by one, the Bancrofts were broken.
He pulled out a small tool and in seconds picked the lock. According to the housekeeper he interrogated—and paid generously for her honesty—the items he needed were kept in the office down the hall and to the left.
He pushed open the office door and rushed across the thick Oriental rug. Hitting his knees, he reached beneath the desk for the box. It was exactly where the housekeeper told him it would be.
Blade had a grip on his heart rate and breathing. He only required seconds to retrieve what he’d come for and get out.
Right now, Juliette would be counting down, circling the big block.
Inside the box sat a plastic bag containing the evidence. He swiped the bag and shoved the empty box back under the desk.
In twenty seconds flat, he exited through the back door, locked it too, and ran for the road.
As he sprinted from the pines, he spotted the taillights of the car ahead. Seconds later, he whipped the door open. Juliette snapped around.
He leaped into the passenger seat and ordered, “Drive. Don’t go fast.”
She hit the gas before he even closed the passenger door.
“What did you get?” She gripped the wheel, her fingers already tingling from clenching them so hard while he was inside the house, doing whatever he was doing.
Her pulse still hammered. Sweat trickled between her breasts, a direct result of her adrenaline.
He didn’t respond to her in any way, or even look at her.
“Dammit, Titus. I was so scared for you. If something had happened to you—” She broke off before finishing the thought. If something happened to you before I got a chance to show you I want more with you…
While waiting for him, she’d succumbed to a fantasy about those hard, unsmiling lips and how she could make him happy. Then he jumped in and told her to drive.
She tossed him a look, but he stared straight ahead, shoulders set in a militant pose and whatever he procured from the house between his boots on the floor.
Lifting a hand, she pulled off her knit hat.
He reached out and snagged her by the wrist. “You’re shaking.”
She snapped her gaze to him. The heat of his rough fingers against her flesh didn’t calm as much as excite her.
Slowly, he slipped his fingertips over her wrist, across her pulse point and stroked up her palm. Her pussy squeezed with need from his touch even though it wasn’t remotely sexual.
When he closed his fingers around hers and held her hand between them, she clung to the lifeline.
“Titus…” Her voice tremored.
“Just drive, Juliette. Go to your place.”
Her breaths came too fast, and she focused on slowing them. Soon they passed the dark fairgrounds again. The Ferris wheel rocketed into the sky, and she thought of all the times she’d ridden it and looked out at the mountains.
“M-my kindergarteners love the Ferris wheel,” she said softly as she sped past.
He pressed her fingers.
“They can’t quit talking about it whenever they come to the fair. They…draw a lot of pictures of the ride.”
Though he didn’t speak, he made a deep rumble in his throat. She squeezed his hand and continued driving, her heart in one place and her mind in another.
Had she just driven the getaway car? Aided in a robbery?
Her brows puckered. She trusted Titus. She’d known him since he was a skinny, lanky kid with engine grease under his fingernails and wore his ball cap backward. He was a good friend to her brother.
He could be more to her, if he’d let her make the move.
A flutter over her knuckles jerked her gaze downward to see Titus stroking his thumb over her skin. He didn’t look her way and continued to stare out the window—as if he wasn’t aware of her hand in his or the tension zapping between them.
After she parked outside her home, she cut the ignition and turned to him. “Titus—”
“I’ll walk you in.” He climbed out, and she sat there a moment, wondering how to break through the fortified walls surrounding the man. He waited for her, so she got out and walked around the car.
She approached the front with him right behind. Her insides shook with shock at what she’d done tonight and much, much more. She touched her knuckles, still feeling the lingering heat of his touch on her skin.
Inside the house, he switched on the lamp, throwing him into a warm circle of light. She looked up into his eyes.
“What did we just do?”
“You just took a drive. You were restless and couldn’t sleep.”
“What did you take from the house?”
He stared straight into her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He spoke with enough conviction that he’d surely convince any judge or jury in a court of law.
She wet her lips, and he tracked the movement. “Will you stay and have something to drink?”
He stood rooted, but she felt the tension building in him. Coiling with all the power she knew a man like Titus was capable of.
“Please?”
Something shifted in his eyes. “One drink.”
She nodded and moved to the kitchen. Any other night, she’d reach for the teapot and a mug of warm chamomile. Tonight, she reached for the liquor.
When her fingers trembled too much to twist off the cap, Titus reached around her, placing a hand over hers.
She relinquished the bottle to him, and he opened it. Passing it back, his eyes burned down into hers.
She took the whiskey and raised it to her lips, not both
ering with a glass.
He watched her take a sip and then two. She shuddered at the blaze of alcohol slipping into her belly. When she offered it to him, he shook his head.
They faced each other, standing so close that she could lean forward and tip into his arms.
She inched closer.
“Jules,” he grated out.
“Titus, stay with me. I know you feel this too—whatever it is between us. Stay with me tonight.”
His eyelids dropped, shuttering his eyes from her so she couldn’t see what might be going on in the depths. “You need sleep, Jules.”
She’d never heard him call her Jules before, and now it felt like a caress, a soft stroke over her senses. “I can’t sleep. I won’t sleep. I…” She searched his face and found him staring at her. “Hold me.”
Chapter Four
Blade stepped up to Juliette. Gazing into those bright blue eyes as he cupped the curve of her cheek, he imagined this would be like going to Heaven. If he ever got the chance, that was.
Under his hand, her skin was smooth silk. She shivered.
The fantasy in his mind’s eye faded in the way smoke cleared, and he was left to look down at his fists clenched at his sides. He might not have actually touched her, but Juliette still looked at him the way he dreamed of.
She edged closer, her chests rising and falling with her quick breaths. “Why do you resist me?” Her murmur washed over him, and he tightened his fists to keep from touching her.
“I’ll stain you if I do.” Those freckles and eyes were too innocent.
Confusion creased her brows. “Why do you say that? What did you do?”
He didn’t move, breathe in her scent or lay a finger on her.
“Titus…” She rested her palms on his chest, and goddamn, she might as well have zapped his heart back to life.
He drew a sharp intake of air, fighting not to move or react to her pleas in any way.
She shifted onto tiptoe, lips upturned, seeking. She leaned in and scorched him with the heat of her body. When she brought her lips up to his, a dark growl of yearning lodged in his chest.