Then he went even harder.
It didn’t take long for her to break apart around him after that. Her breath hitched, muscles tightened, and her expression pinched. For a single moment in time, she hung, suspended on the highest peak of pleasure before she screamed his name and shuddered, coming beautifully against his fingers until the only thing helping her stand was his hand in her hair and his fingers deep in her quivering sex.
Lost in her all the same, he gave her the minute she needed to recover.
When she finally reopened her eyes, giving him a sexy smile, he withdrew his hand from her panties.
“Your turn.” She pressed against his chest, sending him walking backward until she had him in the bedroom. When his legs met the bed, he sat, and she pushed harder until he was lying down. “But first, I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“I don’t need a surprise.” He leaned up on one arm. “I want you.” Her cheeks flushed pink and her mouth parted. He remembered how much he liked that turned-on look on her. “Get over here.”
Her smile was pure temptation. “You’ll like the surprise. Promise.” She turned away before he could object again.
He glanced down at his painfully hard erection pressing against the zipper of his jeans while she retreated to the bathroom just off to the right. He anticipated the wet tightness of her sex, hearing those moans she gave get louder.
When the bathroom door finally clicked open again, he found her looking like an succubus in her black lingerie for all the control she wielded over him. He would have given her anything right then as long as she let him have her. She leaned against the doorframe and gave him a devilish smile. “So, Rowan, I’ve got a question for you.”
“Anything, luv.”
She stepped away from the door, and suddenly, he was staring down the barrel of the gun as she said, “What do you want from me?”
And just like that, he realized—more than a little annoyingly—he’d been expertly played. Not only was she smart enough to know he had a motive for sitting next to her in the bar, but she was smart enough to get an orgasm out of him before she called him out. “You don’t want to do this,” he warned.
She smiled again. This time, her smile was deadly.
In that very second, he lurched forward, and in the same moment, he watched her finger squeeze the trigger.
CHAPTER 2
WELL, SHIT.
Three days ago, Alex left behind her routine life in San Francisco and her boss, Ryder Blackwood, who owned Blackwood Security, one of the top private security detail companies in North America, for a well-deserved vacation. Ryder had operatives working all over the world for top government officials, diplomats, and celebrities, but Alex did all the dirty hacking back at headquarters. She worked very much in the gray space between the law. Sure, she loved running down clues, hacking into systems no one else could get into, and helping Ryder make the world a better place, but watching him get married last year reminded her that she had no personal life. All she did was work or sleep. Both the CIA and the FBI owned her. Her job owned her. There had to be more to life than working all the time, but after Lena, her younger sister, died when they were teenagers, Alex kept her nose stuck in her laptop. A therapist likely would have told her she was avoiding her emotions by keeping herself busy, but she never went to a therapist. And she didn’t want to deal with that pain.
Still, a lot of time had gone by since Lena passed away. While she missed her sister, it didn’t consume her every waking minute any longer. And as she healed more every day, Alex realized she was lacking a personal life. She needed to find that happiness she felt as a new hacker, the excitement that brought a serious high. Lately, everything just felt dull. She was bored out of her mind.
Truth was, excelling at her job had some serious drawbacks, including having everyone always want something from her. Always. Her vacation was supposed to be her time to figure out next steps for her life.
That’s precisely why after the last case she worked alongside Ryder involving a celebrity and a sex tape, Alex requested some time off. She landed in JFK airport, met one of Ryder’s team members, who gave her what Ryder called a survival kit to keep her safe when she was in New York City, which included weapons, rope, handcuffs, throwaway phones, and laptops. That kit only confirmed she needed to be a normal person for a while, whatever that even was.
She’d come to New York City for the Broadway shows, for Times Square, and for the New York-style pizza and cheesecake. The Big Apple had always been on her bucket list, and she was determined to start living life again—once she figured out how to do that—instead of sitting behind her laptop letting time whiz by. But, and this may have been the biggest but of her life, the very last thing she expected to find on her vacation was the man who had given her the hottest week of her life and made her feel things no man had ever made her feel.
Rowan Hawke.
A dirty-blond, scruffy-faced man of mystery.
And the only man that ever got close to her heart.
She never could forget how he smelled like sin and sandalwood and something even more addictive than that—lust. Rowan had enough bulk to show he worked out without being obsessive about it. And those delicious muscles were currently on full display as he sat on the chair. His head was bowed, and his legs and arms expertly bound, just as Ryder had once taught her. With each sleepy breath he drew in, his square chest covered with light soft hair lifted. Her gaze roamed down over his six-pack to his jeans. God, this man was a dream.
He was also the most dangerous man she’d ever known. Not because he was lethal and could kill in a second. The danger lay within her heart. Five years ago, she’d known if she stayed with him any longer, leaving would have been impossible. She’d grown more attached to him in a week than she had after years with Ryder. And that was scary as hell.
The fear was a side effect of having a deadbeat father and a drug addict mother who eventually overdosed and died, as well as the pain of losing her sister. She couldn’t trust a CIA agent who lived a life full of secrets. Especially with her heart. Those seven days with Rowan made her feel weak, fragile even.
She didn’t do fragile. And it took a good month to feel like herself again after she came back from Paris. Tonight, when Rowan first slid on that stool next to her, she thought this was her chance to take back the key to her heart that she’d gave him. To show herself that anything she felt that week was all due to being Paris, the city of love and romance.
Of course, until she realized his intentions weren’t good.
The sudden ringing on her computer snapped her focus back to her monitor. She sat with her laptop on her lap on the comfy chair in the sitting area of the expensive hotel that was part of her indulgence on this trip. She clicked the answer button of the chat program that she’d created for Ryder that was secure and untraceable. “Hi,” she said when Ryder’s face appeared on the screen.
Ryder’s wise, stern green eyes came as an instant relief. He was bulkier than Rowan, with muscle he gained from his time in the Army Rangers. His typical dirty-blond buzz cut was longer than he ever had it, being a little shaggy around his ears. “What’s wrong?” he asked, voice firm.
Alex spun the monitor to show Rowan, still sleeping. When she turned the screen back to face her, Ryder was frowning. “I’ve got a problem,” she told him.
“I take it this isn’t some kinky play,” he said with a hint of a smile. Ryder was a Dominant. He knew all about kinky play. Alex did not. If anyone tried to make her submit, she’d knock their teeth out faster than they could say, kneel for me. All she wanted was some good old-fashioned dirty sex.
And if she were being honest with herself, she still wanted Rowan in a big, bad way, even now.
“Sadly, this isn’t a game,” she explained, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks. “I shot him with a tranquilizer.” She pushed the embarrassment away, knowing she’d gotten herself into something and needed Ryder as backup in case anything went sideways. “T
his is Rowan Hawke. He’s the CIA agent I worked with five years ago on that case in Paris.” Not that she had a choice. That had been part of her plea bargain. When either the CIA or the FBI needed her hacking expertise, she’d come on board. In the past ten years, she’d worked maybe six cases for them. For free.
“I remember that case,” Ryder said tightly. He was at home. The abstract painting that his wife Hadley had picked up at a local art show was hung up behind him. “Is this the guy you shacked up with there?”
Alex nodded. “The very one.” She’d told Ryder all about Rowan when she got back, not willingly, of course. Ryder had pressed her when she came home feeling like she’d left half of her heart in Paris.
Ryder studied her a moment, probably gauging her mood, which was about as bad as it could get, before he addressed her again. “All right, want to explain how he ended up shot with a tranq?”
She exhaled a long, deep breath before answering him. “Hawke showed up at a bar where I was having a drink. My arriving in New York City set off some alarms, which we already knew it would.”
Ryder agreed with a nod. “Expected, yes.”
“Well, that spark that started in Paris”—she cleared her throat—“let’s just say it hasn’t diminished. We came back here, and everything was going fine until he stared at my laptop and his expression changed. It got…I don’t know…intense. I saw that look on his face in Paris. He wants something from me.”
Ryder’s mouth twitched. “So, instead of asking him what he wants, you shot him with a tranq?”
“Damn right I did,” Alex retorted with no shame. “He’s up to something. Why is he not going through normal channels to get me to work with the CIA? Something isn’t right.”
Ryder cocked his head, his eyebrows tightening over his intense eyes. “I’m not going to argue with you. It is…odd.”
She gave a quick nod and then studied Rowan, not feeling a bit bad about knocking him out cold either. Knowing he was CIA and didn’t go through the right channels to speak to her only made her more suspicious. Maybe he felt burned by her. This was all some type of revenge plan when she landed in New York City.
“Can you ask around about him?” she asked, turning her attention back onto Ryder. “See if he’s no longer CIA, anything like that?” Ryder had contacts in every nook and cranny in the government and law enforcement agencies.
“Yeah, I can do that,” Ryder said with a firm nod. A baby began crying in the background, and Ryder’s gaze flicked up, obviously wanting to go to his newborn son, Colton, and his wife. “Do you need me to send someone to you?” he asked, looking at Alex again.
One word from Alex and the room would be full of ex-military that now worked for Ryder and did things that Alex probably didn’t even want to think about. “I’m okay for now,” she said. “I’ve got him tied up good. He won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. I don’t…” She paused, making sure she trusted her judgment. “I don’t necessarily feel threatened by him.” But she wouldn’t rule that out quite yet. “Let me chat with him to find out what in the hell he wants from me.”
“All right.” Ryder paused, considered her, and then his gaze firmed. “Do not do anything risky, Alex. Get your gun, the one with bullets, and aim it at him. If he moves when you don’t ask him to, shoot him in both legs. Call an ambulance, and I’ll come down there to the police station to get you. You hear me?”
Ryder took on a ton of government contract work. He also gained friends in high places. When needed, he called in favors, and he used those favors wisely. She smiled. They had such an unusual but perfect friendship. They met when she hacked his system and he’d caught her. There had been something so instant when they’d met. A bond she’d never felt with anyone. It hadn’t been sexual; it had been protective, and he had always felt very brotherly toward her. Ryder was the very reason she got out of a life of living in crappy apartments and working cases that would only have landed her in jail. And he was the only person she trusted. “I will. Promise.”
“Good,” he said. “Call me once you know more. And I’ll check into him on my end.”
She nodded. “Now go to your sweet baby and give Hadley a hug from me.”
“Will do. Be safe.” Ryder’s smile warmed before the screen went black. He’d been in baby mode for the past few months. While mothers nested, Ryder went into full protective mode over his wife. He shadowed her, and Hadley hated every minute of it. Alex found it all sweet and just a bit amusing to watch a big tough guy turn to mush.
Coming from a house that never resembled a home, with two shitty parents, didn’t leave much room to believe in lasting love. Ryder and Hadley had Alex questioning that a bit as of late and wondering if she was missing out on something.
A low groan caused her to lift her gaze, and she found Rowan beginning to stir. She reached for her real weapon from the coffee table and shut her laptop. Her legs were crossed beneath her hotel-provided robe. Her body still hummed from the incredible orgasm Rowan had given her, and that was another thing she didn’t feel bad about. Hell, he ruined her vacation. That was the least he could do for her.
She stayed perfectly silent and still, letting him wake up. When he finally came to his senses, his narrowed gray eyes met hers. “That was rude.”
“So is trying to play me.” She grinned.
He closed his eyes a moment and shook his head, obviously clearing the drug from his system. It took another minute for him to look at her again. This time, he stared at her with mild amusement.
She lifted her eyebrows. “Something funny?”
“Funny?” He slowly shook his head again, then said, “I’m just trying to decide if it was brilliant that you got an orgasm before shooting me with the dart, or cold, or downright evil.”
She couldn’t help herself and laughed a little. “Probably a bit of all three, if we’re being honest.”
Beneath his arm bindings, he stretched out his fingers, clearly becoming aware that there wasn’t a chance in hell he was getting out of there, unless he attacked her while he was still bound in the chair.
She shook the gun at him. “Make any move and I hurt you. That’s how this works.”
His gaze flicked to the weapon aimed in his direction before he looked her in the eye again. “What gave me away?”
“You didn’t go through the right channels, and you looked intently at my laptop, and I know this is not just about sex.” She kept herself sharp in case he got stupid. “You’re up to something, and I want to know what it is.”
“Still so fucking clever,” he said, sitting up a little straighter now.
Heat flooded her at the very sight of him. Rowan was gorgeous. All muscle. Pure sex. Totally masculine. And even now, Alex felt the quivers low in her body to move to him and demand more of those incredible kisses he gave to her earlier. Sex with Rowan was better than any drug. In Paris, she never got enough. Even though his dishonesty was simply a harsh reminder that she could never trust a CIA agent, not completely, she had to fight herself from climbing right back on his lap.
Something he clearly knew since intense desire burned in his eyes, darkening the gray like a stormy sky. “You can put the gun away,” he said gently. “You know I won’t hurt you.”
“Yeah, right,” she replied with a loud snort, ignoring those eyes of his. “I make the rules here. You told me tonight that when you heard I’d come into New York, you wanted to see me. Now we both know that’s a lie, so what do you want from me?”
“It’s not a total lie. I definitely wanted to see you again.” His mouth pinched but then relaxed with his heavy sigh. “I also need your help on a case.”
She scoffed. “And you thought this was the way to get it?”
He regarded her for a long moment before his lips thinned. “Total transparency: I thought reconnecting with you first might get you on my side to help me with a case.”
Of all the things she expected him to say, that definitely wasn’t it. “You could have acted like a normal
person and just asked for my help.”
“I wasn’t sure you’d even talk to me,” he stated then shrugged. “Let alone help me. I figured if I reminded you there was a lot of good between us before I left you high and dry in Paris, then you’d be more willing to help me.”
She stared at him for a full minute, her mind racing with a million different thoughts. She finally blinked. “I really hate to break it to you, but I left in Paris.”
He frowned. “No, when you went into the bathroom, I took off.”
She tried to hold it together. She did, but a burst of laughter bubbled up. “Well, when I went into the bathroom, I went out through the window.”
A beat. Then his mouth twitched. “Honestly?”
She nodded. “That conversation we should have had…yeah, I didn’t want to have it.”
“I only agreed to that conversation because I thought you wanted to have it.”
She shook her head. “I only suggested it in the first place because I thought you wouldn’t fuck me again otherwise. But I don’t do relationships. Let alone with a CIA agent.”
Heat blazed in his eyes. “But you’ll fuck me?”
A responding heat flushed through her, but she held the gun firmly aimed in his direction. “That is what we did best.”
“What we do best,” he pointed out. He glanced at his bindings. “Is this really necessary?”
“Yes,” she said adamantly, lifting her gun a little higher. “Keep talking.”
He frowned at her weapon and then drew in a long, deep breath before addressing her again. “I’m working the Casanova Sadist case.”
The name registered. She’d seen the five murders all over the news since she’d arrived in New York City and knew more women were missing.
Sexy Liar Page 2