In a Bad Way

by Karin Tabke

  “I explained my reasons why I did what I did, Isa. None of that has changed. Get it through that pink and blond head of yours: On this particular matter, there is nothing to discuss. You’re not going to back to the club. You’re not going to have any contact with anyone associated with it. End of story.”

  “Not end of story! It’s the most important part. The part that only I can pull off. I’m the only one who can give the drive to Boris and you know it.”

  He grabbed her upper arms. “Listen to me: I don’t give a fuck about the damn drive or Boris. I give a fuck about you. You’re not one of Justin’s disposable informants. He’s either going to hope he gets something off the device you slipped Bushnik, or find another UC, because you’re retired.”

  Izzy stood her ground. She heard him loud and clear. He was afraid. Got it. But she was determined to bring that Russian scumbag and his cronies down. “Flynn, I understand your fear. I’m afraid, too. But I need to do this, for my sister, for all the women who have suffered and who will suffer. For myself. If I don’t, I know in my gut I’ll never see my sister again.”

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  Placing her hand on his bare chest, she almost lost focus. He was warm, and hard. Their sex scent clung to him and it smelled good.

  “I’m not asking you for permission to do this, Flynn.”

  His jaw tightened.

  “I have to.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “I do, and you need to understand that this is nonnegotiable. We’re going to hear Maddox out. As much as I don’t want contact with Boris, I’ll make it, to give him the flash drive. A simple means to an end.”

  Flynn swiped his hand across his chin and stared up at the ceiling. A muscle twitched along the left side of his jaw. Finally he looked down at her. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then trust me when I tell you, if you go back into that club in any capacity, you’re going to get hurt. I can’t protect you if I’m not with you, and if you show up with me they won’t buy what you’re selling. See how that works?”

  “I think I might have an idea that could work. Call Maddox and arrange a meeting.”

  “I’ll call him on one condition.”

  Izzy was about to tell him the only condition was hers, but she let him speak.

  “If I don’t like it, and I’m telling you up front that I won’t, then you don’t go in.”

  Izzy smiled despite the seriousness of their argument. Understanding Flynn’s possessive nature came a little easier knowing that once he calmed down and thought past his fear, he would, albeit reluctantly, do what had to be done because there were no other options. He wasn’t being selfish, he was being protective. It worked both ways, though, because while she would do the same for him, she was also doing what had to be done for her sister.

  Standing so close to his hot naked body was distracting. His anger had his color up and something else was on the rise. “So noted.”

  He pulled her against him, his fingers digging into her arms. “Don’t do this,” he said huskily, his lips brushing across hers.

  “Don’t use sex to force me into compliance, Flynn.”

  He fisted the hem of the T-shirt, pulling it up and exposing her backside. He smacked her right cheek.

  “Ow!” she cried out, more surprised than from pain.

  His palm soothed the warm flesh. Damn if she wasn’t getting wet.

  “I would never use sex to force you into anything, Isa.”

  He spanked her left cheek, immediately smoothing his big palm over it. A deep tremor quaked through her body in anticipation of where this shameless sexual adventurer was going to take her this time.

  “But I will use it to make you scream my name.”

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Flynn nipped at her bottom lip and spanked her again. “And I’ll use it to make you come.” She moaned against his lips. “Multiple times.”

  His words stirred the whirlpool of heat churning in her belly.

  “I don’t like to be told no, Isa,” he said roughly.

  “Me either.”

  A low growl rumbled from his chest. “I want to turn you over my knee and spank your pretty little ass, pink.”

  “Go ahead,” she said, challenging him.

  He yanked her into his arms and strode with her to the formal living room down the hall. Sitting down on a studded gray leather ottoman, with her on his lap, he grasped the back of her neck and repositioned her so that she was belly-down across his lap.

  “Grab the legs and don’t let go,” he commanded.

  Izzy grabbed the wide wooden legs and held her breath. Her T-shirt had bunched up past her breasts and her exposed bottom was still warm and sensitive from his slaps. She knew she was soaking wet and—he spanked her right cheek, his hand instantly caressing the sensitive skin, soothing the sting and stirring her desire. Izzy gasped in pleasured surprise.

  Running a wide fingertip along her wet seam, Flynn said, “You never cease to amaze me, Isa.”

  She made an embarrassingly needy mewling sound as he dipped his finger into her.

  Her muscles clenched possessively around him. “Such a greedy little pussy,” he whispered as he bent over her and pressed his lips to the sensitive place he had just spanked.

  Izzy had never felt more exposed or more carnal than she did at the moment. One minute they were fighting over her sister, and the next, Flynn was making her forget everything except him.

  “I don’t want to fight, Isa.” Flynn said, his voice low. “I need to feel you like this. Alive and safe.”

  His words stirred her more deeply than his touch. How would she feel knowing he was going into a dangerous situation? Terrified. She’d hold on so tight he would suffocate. She got it. They would always battle when it came to the other’s safety. But they would always work it out, too.

  “Flynn,” she whispered, “I don’t want to fight either. But—you can’t control me or use sex to change the subject.”

  Flynn’s finger slid tortuously slowly, in and out of her. Good God, he was fiendish! He understood the sexual power he wielded over her. How right now, she’d capitulate to anything just to have him to spank her again.

  When he brushed his thumb along the rosebud of her anus, Izzy squeezed her eyes shut. Was there any boundary he wouldn’t push? She prayed not.

  “I would never use sex to change the subject,” Flynn said. “But I would never hesitate to use it as a reminder how good it is between us.”

  He spanked her again. Thrashing her head back, Izzy hissed, digging her pubis into his lap. “That’s for leaving the bed.” He brushed his palm along the sensitive flesh. He dipped a second finger into her burning pussy.

  “Ahhh,” she exhaled. That felt so good. Using her wetness as lubricant, he rubbed his thumb along her anus again.

  Another slap. “That’s for driving me crazy.” His palm soothed the sting. She got wetter.

  He spanked her other cheek. “That’s because each time I spank you, you cream.”

  Izzy bit her bottom lip to keep from sobbing. What he did to her was brazen, audacious and utterly shameless, and she loved every part of it.

  When he slid his hand beneath her waist and hiked her bottom up, he spread her thighs. “Your pussy is soaking wet, Isa,” he said roughly. “So pink and tight.” He withdrew his fingers and then slowly spread her nether lips. “I want to taste you.”

  A squeak slipped out of her mouth. When his lips caught her there and the bottom part of her clit and slowly sucked her into his mouth like a raw oyster, the tension she’d managed to hold in up to that point released in a long throaty moan.

  Everywhere he touched her had the same effect. The obsessive need for more overtook her. He gave her more. Holding her up with one arm, his free hand teased her clit as his tongue tunneled deep inside her.

  Despite the odd angle of her body across his, the angle of his mouth was perfect and dear God, she bit her bottom lip as an
orgasm flashed, then ripped through her. Just as she was coming down from it, he spanked her hard. Another orgasm tore out of her along with a scream.

  A wet writhing mass of flesh, she shook in his arms, the orgasm continuing into another one. Flynn pulled her up and with her back to him, he set her down on his waiting cock.

  “Oh, God, Flynn, that’s so deep.”

  “Don’t move,” he rasped against her ear. The swell of him pulsing inside her sensitive flesh went beyond sublime.

  Breathing so heavily, she couldn’t help her body’s inherent movement, Flynn’s body tightened steel hard.

  He was so close. On the edge. She felt it in his heartbeat, in his hot breath against her neck and in the rigid throb of him inside her. Instinctually, her body clamped and unclamped around him, milking him with a will of its own. “Ah, damn,” he cursed. Grasping her hips, he held her still as he thrust up into her, his orgasm like lightning striking them both.

  Izzy’s body jerked and shuddered as it was racked with one intense surge after another. Her nails dug into Flynn’s thighs as she thrashed, impaled in his lap.

  Had he not held her so tightly against his chest, she would have launched herself right off him. He bit the tender flesh of her neck, his hips grinding madly into her from beneath. His one arm was banded so tightly beneath her breasts, Izzy could scarce breathe, the other low on her belly, his fingers pressed firmly against her arousal.

  Held a virtual prisoner to his thrust, Izzy cried out, unable to control the wild wanton shock waves crashing through her body.

  It was too much and God help her, her ravaged body wanted more even before it had calmed from the lightning strikes still pulsing through her.

  Hanging like a rag doll in his lap, Izzy was sweaty, sticky, breathless, and hyperaware of every inch of Flynn’s body in and around her.

  “I think,” she said breathlessly, “that I like make-up sex.”

  Nuzzling his nose against her neck where he had bitten her, Flynn asked, “Did I hurt you?”

  “Mmm, no.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “I told you at the beach that I wanted to push the envelope with you.”

  “I never knew a spanking could be so sexy.”

  “If I push too far, Isa, you have to tell me.”

  “I will.”

  “With you, things have gone to a whole different level.”

  “You’ve never spanked a woman before?”

  “None have pushed my buttons like you have.”

  She was insanely happy to be that woman in Flynn’s life. “So you did it to punish me?”

  “No, punishment hurts. I think it was a control thing, and maybe I wanted to see if you got off on it.” His hand slid down her belly to her slickness. “You really did.”

  “I know. I—” She hesitated, feeling a little embarrassed by the truth. Was what they just did normal?

  “You what?”

  “It was sexy, bad, and you did it just right. I liked it a lot, does that make me a sex freak?”

  He hugged her slick body to him and said, “As long as it feels good and we’re both good with it, it makes you hotter than hell in my book.”

  Izzy smiled. “Good, because you are the devil.”

  “You’ve worn me out, baby. The sun’s up and I haven’t slept more than a few hours in the last forty-eight. Let’s take a shower and get some sleep. I have a feeling you’re going to earn a few more spankings before the end of the day.” He kissed her neck. “I need to be prepared.”

  Izzy giggled, but then was suddenly sober. “I need to go back to the club tonight, Flynn. I’m scheduled to work. I think I should just show up like nothing happened and go from there.”

  “And have the giant take another shot at you? I don’t think so.”

  “Andre won’t touch me once he knows I have the drive.”

  Flynn didn’t immediately respond. Izzy could see the wheels turning in his head as he processed what she’d just said and the probability of its accuracy. “We’ll see,” he said, then gently slid her off his lap before picking her up, and lovingly, as if she were a newborn baby, carried her up to his bed.

  “It’s a lock, Flynn,” Maddox insisted. “We’ve got the go-ahead to use the drive, and we’ve got Bushnik confirming his meet with Sorlov at the club tonight. The key players under one roof. The only piece missing is Isadora. Only she can give Sorlov the drive.”

  “Do you think after last night, the giant is going to trust her?” Flynn asked, not liking where this conversation was headed.

  “He will if I tell him we got into a huge fight because of what you did and that I kicked you to the curb,” Pink said, coming into the kitchen where Flynn sat with Maddox and Justin. All three men stood as she entered the room. Flynn’s jaw tightened. She was wearing one of his black ribbed workout T-shirts and a pair of his running shorts. Both garments were too big for her tiny body, but damn if she didn’t look fuckable just the same.

  Her hair was mussed, her hooded eyes still sleepy and—his gaze raked her from head to toe—she looked like a sexy little kitten looking for some loving. Sheepishly she smiled, running her fingers through her hair, and said in that breathless voice of hers that never failed to shoot straight to his groin, “Hi guys.”

  “Hi,” Maddox said, his lips quirking.

  “How are you, Miss Fuentes?” Justin asked.

  “Hungry, anxious, wishing this was all behind me.”

  “It will be soon. I promise,” Justin assured her.

  “And then will you tell me where my sister is?”

  Justin looked down at his shoes, then back to Pink. “I don’t know where she is.”

  “But she’s alive?”

  “Presumably.”

  “How can you presume she’s alive when you don’t know what happened to her or where she is?”

  “I—“ Justin looked to Flynn for some help, but Flynn stood with his arms crossed over his chest and shook his head.

  “In cases like this, a variety of information is culled from numerous sources,” Justin explained, “once we start matching the info we start to get a picture. Right now the info would strongly suggest she’s alive, likely still in the US, but we don’t know where.”

  “Or, as Flynn once told me, if you told me you’d have to shoot me?”

  Justin smiled. “I would never shoot you, but for your own protection and to maintain the integrity of the case, I can’t divulge any information.”

  “Then I won’t help you tonight.”

  Flynn choked back a laugh. She had moxie.

  “You have to,” Maddox said, looking at Flynn for help, receiving as much as Justin had. “Without you to hand over the drive, we’ll never get the leverage we need on Sorlov.”

  “Tell me how you know my sister’s alive and I’ll do it.”

  Maddox shook his head and stepped back, handing this complication over to his boss.

  “Miss Fuentes,” Justin started. “I need for you to try and consider the gravity of this case. It goes beyond Sorlov and Bushnik. They’re just the tip of the iceberg. When we get them, and we will with your cooperation, we gain access to their labyrinth of criminal activity that runs through the state and over its borders. I cannot by law divulge classified information to someone who doesn’t have the clearance, and even if you did, I wouldn’t. You’re emotionally involved and inexperienced. Your ignorance is bliss, trust me on that.” Justin looked at Flynn and Maddox to back him up.

  “I don’t care about your iceberg, I care about my sister!”

  Justin shook his head. “Unfortunately, in this case, one leads to the other.”

  Grudgingly, Flynn unlocked his arms, reached out for Pink and pulled her into the protective circle of his arms. He didn’t give a damn that Justin and Maddox’s eyebrows shot to their hairlines. If it wasn’t obvious that she was dressed in his clothes and that they were a couple, then both men needed to go back to the academy.

  Looking do
wn into her trusting eyes, Flynn’s heart lurched. With his fingertips, he smoothed her bangs away from her face and said, “You know my position on going back to the club. That being said, Justin’s reasoning is solid. There isn’t much to know, Isa, except that there is a high probability she’s alive. Only by wringing Sorlov and Bushnik dry will we get the info we need.”

  She nodded, and turning in his arms, she said, “What exactly can you tell me about tonight?”

  “Pink,” Flynn said. “Why don’t I take your bag up to the bedroom so you can change. You’re too damn distracting dressed the way you are. I’ll fix you some breakfast and while you’re eating, we can discuss strategy.”

  “I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed your shirt and shorts.”

  Clearing his throat, Flynn said, “I don’t mind.” He looked over her head and scowled at Justin and Maddox. From their grins, they didn’t mind either.

  “I can take my bag up,” Pink said. Before she did, she took her phone off his charger. Flynn had noticed her notification light flashing and heard the phone chirping regularly. It had taken an enormous amount of restraint not to look. Not that he didn’t trust her, but he had a strong suspicion it was Andre.

  Eyebrows creased, Pink scrolled through her texts. “Crazy ass Russian,” she said shaking her head.

  “What is it?” Flynn asked.

  “Andre. Screaming and yelling at me, but also begging me to come to work tonight.”

  Justin held out his hand. “May I?”

  Pink shrugged and handed him the phone. His face broke out into a smile as he scrolled through the numerous texts. “Perfect.” He looked at Pink and said, “I’d like to hear the voice mails he said he left.”

  Pink took the phone and tapped the voice mail icon, put her phone on speaker and hit Play. “Vilde Style in big trouble with Andre. Call back, now,” he shouted.

  The second one: “You don’t call me back now, I come find you.” His voice had lowered considerably. To menacing.

  The third message: “Okay, little girl, forget last night. Mr. Bushnik come back tonight and you dance for him. Private. Please, little girl. You dance. We live.”