Crash Into Me

by L. A. Fiore

  “Evening, Detective.”

  I closed my eyes, enjoying the tingles that moved down my body from that voice, before I turned to face my host. Dressed in all black, he blended into the night. He’d taken his mask off, but still, I felt a bit like Little Red, at the mercy of the wolf, and wondered if he’d done it on purpose.

  My voice was a bit breathy when I said, “Good evening, Mr. Wakefield.”

  “Kade,” he said, those gray eyes locked on mine.

  I felt the warmth on my cheeks, and with how fast my heart was beating, I was surprised I wasn’t as red as my dress. His lips tipped up slightly on the one side.

  I touched the skirt and said, “It’s the most beautiful dress. Thank you.”

  “It suits you.”

  The man was dangerous.

  “Why did you invite me?” I surprised myself that I asked, but it was a question that had sat in the back of my mind, since receiving his invitation.

  He could be so still; his hands weren’t in his pockets or crossed over his chest. He stood almost like a statue, even breathing seemed to be done sparingly. I wasn’t sure if I was seeing things, and considering our surroundings I could be, or if this man did everything deliberately. It wasn’t just my heart that pulsed thinking about him letting go, watching as everything he held under such tight control was freed. It would be an unbelievable sight.

  “I suspect you spend so much time giving a voice to those who no longer have one that you forget your own,” he said softly. “And I saw that dress and knew I needed to see you in it.” Those words said as if they were dragged over sandpaper. I drew my lower lip into my mouth because I was so fucking turned on.

  His gaze dropped to my mouth, heat flashing in his eyes, before they lifted back to mine.

  “You make me forget where I am,” I whispered.

  Never in my life had someone looked at me like he was. He wasn’t so still now, as he fisted his hands. His features sharpened as that control, he kept under tight rein, was pushing at the cage to break free. “You make me want to forget,” he rasped, and though he didn’t move, it was like being surrounded by him, when he added, “But I’m not a prince, I’m the villain.” And for a second, I saw just how much he believed that, before he finished, “Enjoy your evening. Levy will see you home when you’re ready.”

  He turned to go, and the words tumbled out of my mouth. “I didn’t think you were a prince, but I do think you’re beautiful.” He looked back, that knot at his jaw as he clenched it was the only visible reaction to my words. I wanted to kiss him, but my feet wouldn’t move, held spellbound by that dark gaze. Seconds passed before he broke the connection and walked away, the night closing around him, until he blended into it. Took me much longer to follow after him because I thought he was fascinating before, but now…what skeletons hid in his closet? I didn’t go back to the party but out the front door. Levy was waiting for me, and somehow, I knew he would be because Kade Wakefield read me like a book, the first person who ever did. Settling back on the seat, I watched the scenery change, but my thoughts were on Kade, learning his story and wanting it to be him to tell me.

  I stood at the corner by my apartment on Saturday and wasn’t sure how to get back into real life. Last night, even not lasting as long as I would have liked, had been every bit as magical as I’d hoped. I hadn’t been able to pull my thoughts from Kade because he felt it, too. He didn’t want to feel it, that was pretty clear, but he did. What was in his past that was so terrible he thought himself a villain? I had no doubt that to accomplish all he had so young, he’d had to cross the line, but the man he was now was no villain, and I doubted he ever had been.

  I was edgy, had a constant humming in my blood, knowing that man was out there and was as curious about me as I was about him. I hit Fifth Avenue and saw Amar, my gyro connection. It was almost without thought when I ordered two. I wasn’t even sure that Kade was working, but I caught a cab to his building. By the time I reached his floor, I was having second thoughts and then I saw the woman. She looked to be in her fifties, dressed in jeans and a tee. But she was working, which meant he was, too. I got butterflies in my stomach. Never in my life had someone stirred that feeling in me, but around Kade, I had them all the time.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “I was hoping to see Kade, if he has time.”

  “Miss Donahue, yes?”

  I was excited for about two seconds and then remembered she had seen Zac and me into Kade’s office that first day. Working for a man like Kade, knowing names was likely a job requirement.

  “Yes, Molly.”

  “One second,” she said, then stood and disappeared behind the double doors. I wasn’t waiting long before she stepped out and held the door for me.

  “Thank you,” I said, my focus turning to Kade, as soon as I entered. He was also dressed in jeans and a tee, standing behind his massive desk with the New York skyline behind him.

  “Detective.”

  “Molly,” I said, and witnessed just the slightest softening around his eyes. I crossed the room to him. “I brought you lunch,” I offered, pulling a gyro from the bag but stopped. “Have you eaten?”

  “No.”

  “Oh good. A gyro. I didn’t get anything fancy because, honestly, the spices that Amar uses are enough.”

  He walked around his desk to the sideboard and got two bottles of water and more napkins, but instead of sitting across from me, he took the chair next to me. He handed me a bottle of water, and I handed him the gyro. He waited for me to take a bite before he did, the man had impeccable manners, but when he did, he smiled. “You’re right, the spices are enough.”

  I took another bite. “I could live on this.”

  “Have you ever been to Greece?” he asked.

  “No, I’ve never left the States, but it is on my bucket list.”

  “Bucket list?” He studied me a second before he asked, “What else is on your bucket list?”

  For the amount of nerves the man stirred in me, talking to him was surprisingly easy, natural even. “Swimming with sharks. I know most want to swim with dolphins, but I’d love to swim with sharks.” I reached for my water. “And skydiving, that moment of freefalling sounds terrifying, but I imagine, it’s life altering. Seeing the pyramids, looking up from the bottom, something that is so old and yet still standing, still a reminder that we aren’t the first and won’t be the last.”

  He finished his gyro, reached for his bottle and leaned back in his chair. “What else?”

  “I’d love to attend the Academy Awards, walking down the red carpet, getting all dressed up. I have absolutely no reason to be there, but I’d love to experience Hollywood on her special night. Staying in a castle in Ireland or Scotland, or really anywhere in Europe. And believe it or not, I’ve always wanted to attend a masquerade ball, so thank you for allowing me to scratch that off my list.”

  “Is that all?” he asked.

  I had a new item, and it was to kiss him, but I wasn’t going to share that. “Yeah. What about you?”

  “I’ve never thought about it.”

  “Okay, well think about it.”

  He looked thoughtful, before he offered, “Drive in Nascar.”

  I placed my water on his desk, sat back and said, “Oh, that’s a good one.”

  “Dive a sunken pirate ship off the Caribbean.”

  “I’d like to do that, too.”

  “Build a yacht with my own hands.”

  My focus shifted to his hands. Lucky yacht. He took a drink, my gaze moved to the line of his throat, and even that was sexy. He knew what I was thinking, by the way his eyes turned darker. “Eat a gyro in my office with a detective I can’t seem to get out of my head.” I went numb, but in the best possible way. He leaned closer, dropped his voice when he added, “Thank you for allowing me to scratch that off my list.” I almos
t kissed him. My knuckles were white with how hard I was gripping the chair, so I didn’t act on the one thing in that moment I wanted more than anything. The answering fire I saw burning behind his eyes hypnotized me. “Are you busy tomorrow?” he asked.

  It took me a minute to break out of the trance. Busy? If it I were, I would cancel. “No.”

  “I’ll come for you at ten. Dress casual and wear sneakers.”

  I answered a little too quickly. “Okay.”

  His lips tipped up on the one side. “Don’t you want to know what we’ll be doing?”

  I answered honestly. “It doesn’t matter.”

  The sexiest sound rumbled up his throat. “I’m not good for you,” he said, but it sounded as if he was trying to convince himself of that as much as me.

  “I don’t agree.”

  His gaze moved to my mouth, lingered, before he lifted it back to mine. “Thank you for lunch.”

  That I didn’t go up in flames was amazing because my blood was on fire. “Duke’s sandwiches are next,” I whispered.

  He held my gaze. “Looking forward to it.”

  He walked me to the elevators, pushed his hands into his pockets, and why I had the sense he did that so he didn’t reach for me, I couldn’t say. But I wished he’d reach for me. “See you tomorrow at ten,” he said.

  Before I could respond, the doors closed. I leaned against the wall, worked on slowing my heart, but I was smiling because I was seeing him again tomorrow.

  I didn’t go right home. I stopped at my favorite store and spent an hour trying on jeans and blouses. I bought low-rise jeans that hugged my figure and a blouse that knotted closed, with a deep v neckline and open at the belly. And I didn’t care if people judged. I was going out with the sexiest man I’d ever met, damn straight I wanted to look hot as hell. That was why I stopped at the salon after. I never did much with my hair besides cut the bottom, but I had the stylist actually give me a style with long layers and balayage highlights: a sun-kissed version of ombré. When she turned me to the mirror after she was done, it was me but sexier. I absolutely loved it. He would know I had it done for him, but that didn’t bother me. I wondered where he was taking me, but didn’t really care because I’d be with him, but the thought kept me up for most of the night.

  In the morning, I was tying up my sneakers when the doorbell rang. I jumped up, but then forced myself to slow down, took a deep breath and pulled the door open. It wasn’t Kade. It was Ethan. His mouth opened then closed, as his gaze moved from my head down to my toes.

  “Damn, Molly, you look hot.”

  A tingle moved through me because that had been the goal. “Thanks.”

  “Where are you off to looking all…” He leaned against the doorjamb. “Sexy.”

  “I’m not sure,” I said honestly. “Want to come in?” He followed me in. “There’s coffee,” I offered.

  “What do you mean you don’t know?”

  I turned to him. “The man who sent me Bergdorfs is taking me somewhere.”

  He poured some coffee into a mug. “I wondered what happened to him.” His eyes found mine. “What did happen with him?”

  “I’m captivated, Ethan.”

  He was about to make a joke but took a good look at me and said, “You’re serious.”

  “I am.” I knew there were obstacles, the least of which being the man thought he was a villain, but someone who made me feel like he did was worth taking a chance on. “I never saw him coming, and I really don’t know him, but I want to.”

  He leaned against the counter, took a sip of coffee, his eyes moving behind me. “He the one responsible for your new look.”

  I held his stare and answered truthfully. “Yeah.”

  “Lucky man.”

  It was then I felt the heat move down my spine and turned to see Kade in the doorway. And like he had the night of the ball, he held me hostage with nothing more than his hot gaze.

  Ethan walked from the kitchen, stepped up to my side and kissed my cheek, before he headed to the door. “Have fun.”

  Kade and I didn’t acknowledge him, and when Kade finally did speak, he said, “I am.”

  When his words finally registered, I asked, “You are what?”

  “A lucky man.” His gaze drifted down my body. “You’re beautiful.” Looking at me the way he was made me feel beautiful. “Are you ready?”

  I so was. I grabbed my purse and keys; he waited for me to lock up, before he touched the small of my back and led me to the waiting car.

  Once we pulled into traffic, I’d gotten some of my senses back and asked, “So where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.” He touched a strand of hair that fell over my shoulder. “Beautiful.” His gaze dropped, heat stirred. “You should have that shirt in every color.”

  I needed to change the conversation because what I wanted to do was crawl onto his lap, straddle him, kiss him, shit, I wanted to do a hell of a lot more than kiss him. “Do you always work on the weekends?”

  I was sure he knew what was going through my head, but he took mercy on me. “Usually. I imagine you do, too.”

  “More than I like, and not that I mind working on the weekends, but…”

  “It means someone’s died.”

  “Exactly.”

  “How’s the case?”

  I didn’t want to think about it because the case gave me a headache. “Complicated. Not that murder isn’t always complicated, but the more we investigate, the less we know.”

  He was intrigued, but he didn’t press.

  “You’re very good at that.” His brow rose. “Reading people.”

  “So are you,” he countered.

  “I don’t read you so well,” I confessed.

  “I think you do.” When I said nothing, he leaned closer, his scent filling my nose. I might have moaned. His voice turned into a rough whisper. “Right now, I want to untie that fucking knot, cup your breasts and kiss your lip gloss off.” Our eyes met, then he grinned. “See, you read me better than you think.”

  Oh my God. I didn’t realize I said that out loud until his grin turned into a smile, and my eyes dropped to his mouth. “I definitely am buying this shirt in every color.”

  He laughed, and I thought his intense stares were my undoing, but holy shit. “You should do that more.”

  He ran his thumb over my lower lip, and though he said nothing, he didn’t have to.

  “Maybe we should think this through,” I said, when we arrived at our destination.

  He glanced back. “You can scratch it off your list.”

  I could. “You’re going, too?”

  “Absolutely.”

  I inhaled, letting it out slowly. “Okay.”

  A half an hour later, we were thirteen thousand feet up. “You can go separately or together,” the instructor said.

  “We’ll go together,” Kade answered. That was when I realized he’d done this before.

  “This isn’t your first time.”

  “No, Sweetheart.” He touched my cheek. “I’ve got you.”

  He so did. He totally had me, and I hardly knew him.

  He then threaded his fingers through my hair. I couldn’t stop the moan. “We need to braid this.” His voice was seductively soft. This man was going to be my undoing. He’d thought ahead when he pulled an elastic tie from his pocket.

  His strong fingers twisted my hair; his touch lingered on my neck, like he was enjoying the moment as much as me. I was so wet and all he was doing was braiding my hair. The thought of his mouth on me had an ache accompanying the wet heat. He tugged lightly on my hair, but the thought of him pulling my head back for his kiss, caused more heat to pool between my legs. It was official, I had no control around him, and I fucking loved it.

  I was then strapped to him, my back pressed against his front.
If this didn’t end well, I would die a very happy and extremely turned on woman.

  His breath brushed across my ear when he asked, “Are you ready?”

  I wasn’t sure if my heart was pounding because I was so close to him or because we were going to be jumping out of an airplane or both, but I was ready. Very ready. “Yes.”

  We moved to the open door of the plane; staring out, it was a good kind of fear, liberating…freeing. And then we jumped. That feeling you get on a rollercoaster when you’re going down a steep slope, but you don’t scream, that’s what I felt. And then I screamed, but not in terror. It was amazing. The world rushing past us, tethered to this man; it was the most amazing moment of my life. He wrapped an arm around my stomach, the signal he was going to pull the chute, and then my stomach dropped, the air rushed from my lungs and an entirely different sensation moved through me, gliding down to earth, watching as everything grew bigger. Kade nailed the landing, and for the first few seconds, when my legs struggled to hold me up, he did. His lips touched my ear. “Worth it?”

  I wanted him. Life endangering moments stirred your libido and already wanting this man, I wanted to feel his cock inside me, hard and rough, right here, right now. It was pure lust in my voice, when I whispered raggedly, “Yes.”

  His hold on me tightened, for just a second, before he released me. He unstrapped us, but before I could move away, he was untwisting my hair. I closed my eyes, never imagining something as simple as unbraiding my hair could be so erotic. I heard the car, just as he turned me to him. He felt it, too, his eyes almost black with want. If he didn’t make a move, I was so totally jumping him in the car. He read my thoughts; his thumb touched the corner of my mouth, moved slowly along my lips, then pressed in, so I’d part them, my tongue touching his thumb, but wishing it was his cock. He brought that thumb to his mouth, his tongue touching where mine already had. Fuck, but he looked like the villain in that moment. I was completely at his mercy. He could do with me what he wanted. And then his phone rang. I watched as the mask slipped back into place, his hand moved, reaching into his pocket for his phone.