by Shayla Black
“I need time to think about this.”
Stone shook his head before she even finished speaking. “That’s one thing we don’t have. We have to shut Canton down now. He’s about to declare his candidacy for governor of California. So unless you want him in charge of the whole state and its population . . .”
Shock pelted Lily. She couldn’t breathe. Her feet almost went numb beneath her. “That can’t be. Everyone from the neighborhood knows he’s a violent drug dealer and a crook.”
“Well, he’s never been convicted of anything, so with the right spin doctors, his past looks like police bullying and smear tactics from his opponents, both political and otherwise.” He sent her a cynical smile.
Feeling dizzy and cold, she clapped a hand over her mouth at the thought of someone like Timothy Canton being in charge of laws, taxes . . . and children.
As she reached out to steady herself, she stumbled. Stone was right there to catch her. “Together, we can put him down.”
She turned to him, incredulity dropping her jaw. “Why are you bothering?”
“You’ve asked me this question.”
“I still don’t understand the answer.”
“Let me make myself clear.”
Stone pulled her body against his and grabbed her cheeks. He stared, his expression delving deep. She felt the zing and jolt of their connection. With his gaze, it seemed as if he willed her to understand that he wanted her in every way and refused to accept anything less.
Lily’s heart began to thrum. Her blood heated and charged through her veins. Her breasts tightened, and she really didn’t want to think about why she could feel the soft ache blooming lower again. She waited, suspended, anticipation racing over her skin. Yes, she should push him away.
Somehow, she couldn’t.
He bent to her, swooping down, looming closer. Right or wrong, good or bad—it didn’t matter. Lily rose to meet him, clutching his hard shoulders with desperate fingers and pressing herself against him with a gasp as he captured her lips.
Just like the first time, he didn’t hesitate or test his welcome. No, he cupped her jaw in his big hands and tilted her head to his satisfaction before he devoured her as if he’d been dying for her taste.
Their breaths mingled, and she sank against his solid warmth. What was this chemical reaction to him that she couldn’t seem to fight? Why did her will to resist always evaporate as soon as he touched her? In that moment, he felt not only like someone who could protect her from everything bad in the world but like the man who could bring her body—maybe even her soul—to life.
Lily clung to the taut bulges of his biceps and opened to him eagerly. Later she’d worry about what she’d do if Stone wasn’t all he claimed. She’d had so little pleasure in her life, and Lily wanted to drown in the bliss he gave her now.
Suddenly, he wrenched away, breathing hard and staring, as if he needed to affirm that she found their kiss every bit as mind-blowing as he did. She didn’t answer with words, just gripped him tighter, unable to hide the desire jetting through her in a hot whirl. The rush of it was scary as hell but new, exhilarating. A white-knuckled thrill. She wasn’t ready to let him go.
“Lily,” he breathed before he cocked his head and descended again. Their lips fused together once more. Their tongues collided. And she melted in his arms. No, she unraveled completely as he took her mouth in an urgent press, claiming her while utterly dismantling her resistance.
When she felt limp and breathless and willing to do anything for more, he backed away. “Are we on the same page now?”
“You can have sex with anyone,” she blurted.
“But when I’m with someone else, I can’t have sex with you. Besides, it’s about more than that. I don’t like to see you hurt or afraid. When you smile, I find myself doing the same. I have a crazy, maybe irrational need to pursue you. I’m not fighting it, and I wish like hell you wouldn’t.”
Weirdly, she understood exactly what he meant. Her need to be with him seemed crazy and irrational to her, too. But that didn’t make it any less real.
She slumped against him. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m not sure we’re meant to understand, baby. Just deal.”
Maybe he was right. Whatever she felt wasn’t something she could analyze or control but . . .
“It’s all happening too fast. Us, this thing with Canton . . .”
“If you drag your feet, you may be too late to save yourself or anyone else. Haven’t you kept his secrets long enough? Why should you bear everything alone? I can help you.” He brushed his knuckles along her cheek. “I want to help you. You just have to let me.”
Lily blinked back at him. How many times had she felt the weight of the ugly past pressing down on her chest until she couldn’t breathe? How often had she wished that she could share all the fears and wretched guilt with at least one person who would understand?
“If I tell you what you want to know, I don’t have any proof. How could we possibly take him down?”
“If I know where to look through his records, I can unearth his secrets. We can turn them over to the police. Jack would help. So would the Edgington brothers. I’ll bet Sean Mackenzie would use his resources, too.”
“The FBI?” The thought of getting tangled up with the feds scared the hell out of Lily. Would they punish her for withholding the truth for so long?
On the other hand, hadn’t she earned it?
Stone nodded. “Some branch of law enforcement with teeth is going to have to go after him.”
She frowned. Somehow she’d imagined that an ex-con would advocate a more vigilante form of justice, like flat-out killing Canton himself, but if he wasn’t a violent criminal, she supposed his involving cops or agents made sense.
“I’m scared,” she whispered, barely hearing herself over the whoosh of the air conditioner kicking in to combat the heat.
“I know.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I’m going to help you, but I need more details. How did you come into contact with Canton?”
* * *
LILY bowed her head and looked as if she was gathering her courage. Stone didn’t think she intended to say anything for a long moment, and he tried to sort through other arguments he might use to persuade her.
“Canton was the local drug lord,” she began hesitantly. “He ran an entire neighborhood with a tightfisted rule and enforced it with absolute violence. He tried to appear upstanding, but everyone who knew him knew the truth. My friend Erin—her brother, Corey, was one of his street dealers. Their dad had run off and left them with no money. Their mom was a binge drinker. Corey was just trying to feed himself and his younger sister, keep a roof over their heads. They had it rough. But then, the whole neighborhood did.”
“So what happened?”
She dragged in a jagged breath. “Corey got arrested. At the time, his mom was in jail for driving while intoxicated. He was worried about his sister. Erin was my best friend, only fifteen. I’m guessing he didn’t want child protective services coming to get her. I’m sure he didn’t like jail, either. For whatever reason, he gave the police information about Canton’s operations. They dragged the scum in for questioning but could never prove anything, so he got off. While my bestie’s big brother was trying to lie low, Canton decided he’d make an example of Corey’s family.” Wringing her hands, she paused, shutting her eyes as she gathered her fortitude. “He and some of his thugs raped and killed Erin.”
“A fifteen-year-old girl?” Motherfucker. Stone had known that, but hearing the anguish in her voice somehow made it more real. “And you saw?”
She nodded, tears pooling in her eyes. “Yeah. He did it simply because Corey was trying to be brave and escape his life of crime.”
“Canton knows you saw the incident?”
“Yes.”
“He let you
go afterward?”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
Her answer didn’t make sense.
“Why?” Stone scowled and tried to dissect her with a glance.
When Lily shrugged and bowed her head, unable to look at him, it confirmed his instincts and made his guts clench. He needed to keep digging.
“Why would a careful bastard like Canton let someone who could both identify him and turn witness walk free after a crime so heinous?”
“I-I don’t know.”
Stone didn’t believe her for an instant. “I’m not stupid. Try again.”
“I guess Canton wanted me to tell Corey everything that happened so that he’d know better than to testify.”
Maybe, but that still sounded off. “Why didn’t Canton just kill Corey? Why would he leave you to tell the guy and potentially create another enemy?”
“I don’t know why Canton didn’t just off him. I can’t read his mind. Maybe because no one could find Corey.”
“No one? Not even you?”
Lily shook her head. “I never saw or heard from him again.”
“So you never had the chance to tell Corey what happened to his sister?”
“No.”
Stone heard a wealth of guilt in that one word. She’d been tearing herself up about this for years. Because she hadn’t been able to save Erin Gutierrez? Because Lily had survived and her friend hadn’t? “Did you tell the police anything after you witnessed your friend’s murder?”
“I wanted to, but I didn’t dare.” Lily had gone ghostly white and he sensed her terror, even after all these years. “But somehow, the cops found out I saw or knew something. They dragged me in and asked me a lot of questions.” She stopped and wrapped her arms around her middle, staring resolutely at the far wall and looking so fragile. “I can’t talk about this anymore right now.”
Stone studied her and scrubbed a hand over his chin. He suspected this was when Canton had killed her mother and little brother. As badly as he wanted to press her for details, Stone feared she would break. What she’d endured had been a lot for anyone to handle, much less a child. “We’ll leave it here for now.”
She closed her eyes wearily. “I’m even scared to talk about it. When I was a teenager, Canton had eyes and ears all over the neighborhood. Just like then, I’m afraid he’s lurking around a corner now, waiting to kill me. For the past few days, I’d been feeling as if someone was watching me. Now I know I was right.”
Stone jolted. “Who did you think was watching you?”
“I don’t know. I ran into this guy a couple of times around town over the past few days. I only noticed him because he stared a lot.”
“You’re sexy, baby.”
She dismissed that immediately. “He didn’t look at me like he wanted me. He stared a hole through me.”
That set off Stone’s protective instincts. “Had you seen him anywhere before?”
“Not that I remember.”
“Did you get a good look at him? How tall? Race? Distinguishing marks or tattoos?”
“He was probably five foot ten. White or light Hispanic. He wore a baseball cap, so I really didn’t get a good look at his face.” She shrugged. “The first time I saw him I just thought he was creepy. When I spotted him the next day, I wanted to flee.”
Unfortunately, her description sounded like a lot of men and wasn’t enough to help him narrow down an identity. “Did you tell anyone?”
“No.”
Of course not. She’d been believing for years that she was trapped in this hell alone.
“From now on, you tell me.”
“Stone . . .” She glanced his way, her chocolate eyes pleading with him to drop the questioning.
“No arguing about this. I’m going to take care of you. Together, we’re going to fix this.”
“But—”
He cut her off with a gentle press of his lips to hers. No matter how badly he wanted to, Stone didn’t nudge her mouth open and taste her again. He didn’t try to peel her clothes away and lower her to the bed. He merely told her without words that he was there for her.
Slowly, she stopped trembling. Their breathing synced up. She relaxed against him with a sigh. “You know, you confuse me.”
“How’s that?”
Lily frowned, looking as if she was having a tough time putting her thoughts into words. “A lot of crap happened when I was sixteen. People I’d known my whole life backed away from me. They didn’t want to get involved because they were terrified of Canton. My mother threw me out of the house. One of the janitors let me sleep at school for a while, but eventually he told me I couldn’t stay. Neighbors wouldn’t take me in. My boyfriend broke up with me. I’d been working at a diner, but when I missed a few days, they fired me. Overnight, everyone I’d ever relied on was gone.”
What had that done to her trust in people? Stone could only imagine how a girl would have processed such violence followed by that kind of betrayal.
“Baby, I’m here.”
“It seems that way.” Her eyes looked suspiciously full with tears, but they never spilled. He wouldn’t have blamed her if she boohooed her eyes out after that tale. Instead, she sucked it up. “I barely know you, and you’ve been understanding and helpful and kind of perfect every time I’ve turned around. Thanks.”
Stone knew damn well that if she had any idea that he needed her to testify, she’d take every one of those words back. But after hearing her story—at least the parts she wanted to tell him—how could he not want to help her get her life back?
“You’re welcome.” He tried to swallow his guilt and turn on the charm. “I know one way you can repay me.”
“I’m not having sex with you as a way of saying thanks. Trust me, I’m doing you a favor,” she assured.
He wanted to tell her that she must be completely wrong. With her hair gathered into a ponytail away from her naked face, she looked so earnest and innocent, yet still sexy. Sure, he liked the mysterious cat eyes she created with all that black eyeliner and her bloodred lips, the stockings that showcased her slender legs, and the figure-hugging clothes she wore that were often decorated with polka dots or bows. But who she was under all that intrigued him even more.
When he’d first met her, Stone thought she’d been a pretty mouse, too shy to come out of her hole and too afraid to testify, even though justice really needed to be served. Now he saw how incredibly strong she was to simply have survived all that as a teenager and then start her life over again.
“No, you’re going to have sex with me eventually because we both want it and you don’t want to say no anymore. And I’m going to prove to you that you’re an incredible woman both in and out of bed.” He kissed her forehead and released her. He didn’t want to do anything that would press Lily for more before she was ready. “What I want now is something I can’t do for myself. So you see, I’m not perfect, kind of or otherwise. So would you put me out of my misery and make me some breakfast?”
Chapter Eight
THE day passed. After a dinner of simple chicken and rice, Stone did the dishes while Lily filled the tub in the bathroom on the other side of the kitchen wall. As he stuck his hands in sudsy water, he tried to focus on cleaning plates. That was like trying to think of Grandma during sex to stave off orgasm—annoying and ineffectual.
After he’d slipped back into bed that morning with Lily and waited for her to wake, she’d curled up against him, one thigh thrown over his. It had felt like the longest hour of his life. Warm and soft and smelling so female, she’d driven him crazy. It had been all Stone could do to resist finding out for himself whether she was wearing underwear. But he’d been a good boy and hadn’t copped a cheap feel to answer his question.
When he’d confronted her with her true identity, Lily had retreated into her shell, obviously trying to get her bearings again
. Besides tidying up the cabin, she had read a book from the shelf in the living room about Cajun history. The place didn’t have any TV, so she’d watched a movie on his phone and caught up on her favorite pop culture sites. Dinner had been almost silent. He’d willed her to say something when he’d tried to engage her. She’d only spoken once.
“Who else knows my real name?” she’d asked as she picked at her rice.
“Thorpe and Sean.”
“Which means Callie knows.” A flash of anger crossed her face. “You’re putting them in danger.”
“Don’t you think they have a right to know who they’re harboring so they can be prepared in case Canton shows up?”
Her guilty expression told him that she saw his point and hadn’t considered it in that light.
“They won’t cast you out,” he reassured, taking her hand. “Jack Cole knows, too. He’s helping me. We’re trying to track down Canton’s whereabouts now and see if we can figure out where he’s been and what he’s been up to lately. I hacked into his system. All I can see is that he doesn’t like to do much on his computer besides play fantasy football and watch porn. If I didn’t know better, his Google searches would convince me he’s a fourteen-year-old.”
“I didn’t say he was smart or sophisticated,” she drawled. “Just that he had a sharp criminal mind.”
“I’ll start looking at his staff and buddies next.”
She nodded absently, then withdrew her hand. “Did Thorpe tell Axel about me?”
That possibility seemed to disturb her to the core. Stone tried to understand that her former protector had been her pillar, and she would have an abiding instinct not to disappoint the man. But Stone wished like hell that she wouldn’t dwell on her former lover and his feelings.
That would stop tonight, as soon as he could understand her attachment to Axel well enough to discern how to work around it.
Stone wasn’t stupid enough to fixate on his urge to slide Lily’s naked body against his and fill her with his aching cock when they had important catch-a-killer things to do. But while he waited on Jack and others to investigate Canton’s location and plots, he and Lily had so little diversion in the swamp. He found it hard to think about much other than her. Besides, Axel was due to land in Dallas in a few hours. If the guy was flying home from another continent because he worried about “his” Sweet Pea, Stone doubted that Axel was going to let little things like a long ride in the car or a state line stop him from reaching Lily.