by Marie Carnay
His appreciation came out in a groan. The woman was a piece of heaven. The closest he would ever get.
He grabbed her leg with one hand and hooked it over his shoulder. Fuck, yes.
Slicked and swollen and so damn ready for him, her pussy begged to be licked. Suckled. Fucking adored. He leaned in and lapped across her clit. Her hands flew over his short hair.
Gorging himself on her sweet cream, Damien came undone. He wasn’t a hitman on the run anymore. She wasn’t the good girl he’d tried to sell. They were more than themselves in that moment. They were bliss and magic.
Over and around he swirled her clit, teasing her higher, drawing an orgasm out of her with every stroke and swipe and lap of his tongue.
Mia shuddered into his mouth, her body pleading with him for more. He slipped a finger inside her. Christ. Her body gripped him as she moaned.
Her fingers tugged on his scalp. “Please, Damien. I need you inside me.” Her voice was breathless and raspy, but he couldn’t say yes.
He spoke through laps of her clit. “Come for me, Mia. Come right now.”
As he sucked her clit into his mouth, Mia obeyed. Her whole body convulsed, her fingers jumped across his head, and she sagged against him.
Nothing could ever be better than this moment. Mia fell into his arms and he lifted her as he stood. A beautiful woman was in his arms, delirious with pleasure he’d given. They were safe, alone, and had all night to drown in ecstasy.
Damien laid her on the bed and kissed her still-quivering stomach.
“Tell me this is going to work out.”
He stilled.
She tugged at his arms. “Tell me we’ll find a way back to the light.”
Damien kissed the spot between her breasts. “I live in the dark, Mia. It’s who I am.”
She gripped his face and pulled him up. What he saw in her eyes was more deadly than any of his bullets. “Promise me you won’t give up. Promise me you’ll fight for a future.”
“Dead men make promises.”
He wrapped her up in his inked arms, his tats disappearing beneath her perfect flesh. He wanted to give her everything she asked for. Promises, hope, even love. But love got you killed. Love got you hurt.
Love took your soul and shredded it.
He couldn’t let her go down that road. When a bullet took his life, Mia wouldn’t be there to see it. He was man enough to go it alone.
15
MIA
Why can’t I break through? Why won’t he let me in? She saw it in Damien’s eyes. The feelings he had for her simmered just below the surface.
But he fought it every step of the way.
Every time she found a way in, Damien shoved her back out. Damn it. Didn’t he see what he did to her? Didn’t he feel it, too?
His hands tore up her skin. His fingers dug into the lace of her bra. Hell yes, he felt it.
Every touch of his lips. Every flick of his tongue. They proved it. He wanted more of Mia than her body, but if that’s all he could give her in return, she’d take it. She would surrender to Damien’s rough hands and hard thrusts and show him what they could have.
Together.
Her hands tangled up in his shirt and he tugged it off. She scrambled for his jeans and they landed on the floor. He unhooked her bra and threw it somewhere.
No barriers. No space. Nothing between them but sweat and sin and this feeling she didn’t dare name.
It couldn’t be love. Not now. Not with him.
She slid to the floor. Just the sight of his cock, thick and hard and pointing straight at her lips, sent another wave of pleasure through her body. She licked her lips and opened wide.
Damien shuddered as Mia raked her tongue along the underside of his shaft. She could drown in his taste, smother herself in his body. She wanted him to know what he did to her. How he shattered her with every orgasm. How he wedged himself in her heart with every thrust.
He wove his fingers through her hair as she slid down, her lips tight around his cock. His velvet head bumped the back of her throat and she tilted her head to take him deeper. Oh, God.
Mia’s whole sex throbbed with need.
Never in her life had giving head been this sexy, this empowering. But there she was on her knees in a hotel room feeling ten feet tall. Damien groaned as she lapped at his shaft and toyed with his ridge.
They might be opposites when it came to the outside world, but inside a hotel room, they were made for each other. If only they could stay inside this fantasy land forever.
Mia moaned as she bobbed her head and Damien’s hands twisted in her hair. His thighs shook and she dug her fingers into the taut muscle.
“Mia, you don’t…I’m…” Damien gritted out his warning, but Mia wasn’t stopping. Not now.
He’d just made her delirious with pleasure, knocked the air right out of her lungs with his tongue. She was damn well going to return the favor.
With another flick of her tongue, she took him deeper, ramming his spongy tip against the back of her throat over and over. Damn, it felt good. Right.
She didn’t know what it all meant or what would happen to them in the morning, but she couldn’t imagine her life without him. It would be so empty. So…barren.
Mia lapped at his shaft, adding her hand to stroke what she couldn’t lick, and sucked with all her might. A groan tumbled from Damien’s lips and his cock hardened inside her mouth. Mmm, that’s it. Come for me.
Another stroke of her hand and a tremor cascaded up his shaft. Mia moaned as the first burst of salty goodness hit her tongue. She swallowed as Damien thrust in shallow bursts into her mouth and rode his orgasm all the way out.
At last, he staggered back and Mia wiped her mouth with her hand.
“Damn, Mia. I’ve never…you’re…”
She smiled. “That’s good, right?”
He groaned and bent down to scoop her up in his arms. “Way better than good.” He walked them over to the bed and laid her down on the soft mattress.
It could have been a dingy motel with never washed sheets or a car on the side of the road. Mia wouldn’t have cared. She would have gone with him anywhere right then. He reached beneath her and tugged the comforter down.
“I don’t know who I am when I’m with you.” His words slid through her haze of pleasure and Mia smiled.
“Don’t think about it. Just live it.” She pulled him toward her and he paused to lick a nipple into his mouth.
He cupped her other breast in his hand and stroked until she whimpered. “You have beautiful tits, Mia. I could play with them for days.”
His fingers flicked back and forth and Mia squirmed. “But there’s something else you want, am I right?”
How did he know her so well? How did he get inside her head and inside her heart? Damn it to hell, but Mia couldn’t deny it. She could run from his body and try and escape a million different ways, but it was too late.
His ropes were already wrapped around her heart.
Before she could say a word, Damien rose up, hooking his arm beneath her leg. He crushed her thigh to her chest and his cock nudged at her entrance. Oh, yes. Take me right now.
She would never get enough of this high. His lips landed on hers and she arched her body, begging him to fuck her. But he held back, his cock toying with her slick heat, the velvet head bumping against her clit as he thrust his tongue inside her mouth.
Mia reached to run her hands over his body, but Damien grabbed them and pulled them high over her head. She was trapped. Between his arm holding her leg and his hand holding her wrists, she couldn’t move.
But she was done running away from this man. She was done fighting. He wanted her pinned beneath him? He wanted to hold her down as he broke their kiss to lap at her breast?
She’d arch her back and give it to him. Damien moaned around her nipple, flicking and lapping at the tight bud until it stood high and proud. God, she’d go with him straight to the depths of hell if it meant they could be like t
his.
He let her wrists go to fondle her other breast and Mia reached between their bodies. Her hands found his cock, still tacky with her spit. It throbbed in her hand and need hit her like a drug. Guiding him to her aching sex, she lifted her hips and begged. “Take me, Damien. Please.”
He moaned in response, crushing her body and nudging against her entrance. The weight of him sent all her senses into overdrive. His musky scent. His muscles bulging against her warm skin. His gray eyes so bright as he stared at her.
As Damien’s cock finally claimed her, Mia cried out. He filled her up, stretched her taut, made her come alive. The cold, sterile world of her old life was gone. Damien was fire and heat. Darkness and sin. The worst kind of man.
And she loved him.
He worked into a rhythm. Harder, faster, deeper. His hips slammed into hers and she sank into the mattress. Over and over he thrust, his cock going deeper than ever before. His arm bulged against her thigh and sweat broke out on his forehead.
She rose to meet him as best she could. Angling her hips, digging her fingers into his ass as he ravaged her. She needed everything he could give. Every last drop.
As his lips landed on hers, another orgasm built inside her. It rose with every lap of his tongue and crush of his body on top of her. She moaned into his lips and he let her leg go to shove his hand between their bodies.
His thumb hit her clit and Mia exploded. Blinding light and Technicolor flashes. Shooting arcs of pleasure and so much more. Her body gripped Damien in a vise and he came with her, groaning and shuddering above her as he emptied himself inside her.
At last, he collapsed on top of her, his arms wrapping around her head like a shield. Mia hooked her legs around his waist and her arms around his back and held on as sleep threatened to overwhelm her.
She never wanted to let go of this moment.
It was right there, in a hotel room with nothing but a handful of clothes and a wanted man, that Mia touched heaven.
16
DAMIEN
Mia rolled over and took the covers with her. Mmm. He loved the soft swell of her ass. The gentle curve that rose from her leg practically begged him to follow.
He chewed on his lip as he watched her sleep. He needed to end it. Deep down, he knew that. But the past three weeks had been the best of his life.
Sure they’d been watching their backs, driving through town after town in a quest to stay off the cartel’s radar. But that meant hours alone. Talking. Laughing. Fucking.
Never had he let anyone in this deep before. His life was too gritty. Too deadly.
It was no place for a woman like her. But out on the road, they could pretend. It was a fucking fairy tale. Bad guy meets good girl. They fall in love. Everything was sunshine and roses.
Yeah, right.
They couldn’t be on the run forever. Sooner or later they would slip up and Marcelo’s men would find them. Or Mia would wake up one day and want to go home.
The crazy rollercoaster they were on would do a three-sixty and Mia would see him for who he really was. A murderer, not a forever.
Damien slipped out of bed without making a sound. He tugged on his jeans and pulled a shirt over his head before grabbing his phone. He had promised Detective Johnson a phone call weeks ago. Instead, he’d been ignoring it.
If Rick could help keep Mia safe, then she didn’t need him anymore. There would be no reason to keep running. No more nights with her body snuggled tightly against him. No mornings of orgasms and light.
Damien would lose the only good thing in his life since his sister died. But he couldn’t put it off. The longer it stretched out, the harder it would be.
Time to rip the Band-Aid off.
He dialed the number.
“Detective Johnson.”
“It’s Damien.”
Rick was silent for a moment. “Thought maybe Marcelo had found you. It’s been a while.”
“We’ve been on the run.” Damien exhaled. “Got anything for me?”
“Nothing you’ll want to hear.”
“Just spit it out.”
“Not on the phone.”
“I can’t come back and you know it.”
“I’ll meet you somewhere. What direction are you in?”
“South.”
Rick thought it over. “How about Hastings? It’s far enough away from the city. There’s one of those giant malls there, it’s got everything.”
“Fine. But she’s not coming.”
“Don’t need her. This is about you, not the woman.”
Damien nailed down the details with the detective and hung up. Unease didn’t do his feelings justice. If Rick had something he couldn’t discuss over the phone, it was serious. Had Marcelo gotten to the department? Were the cops out for his blood now, too?
Whatever it was, he needed to deal with it and keep Mia safe.
“Who were you talking to?” Her voice came out sweet and thick like real maple syrup and Damien ground his teeth together.
“No one.”
“You’re lying.”
He glanced up and the sight of her naked body wrapped up in white sheets had him cursing himself. He never should have let it get this far.
He sat down on the edge of the chair. “Have you ever had maple syrup, you know, the good stuff?”
Mia tucked a pillow beneath her and gave him a funny smile. “Of course. What else do you put on pancakes?”
“I was nineteen the first time I tried it.” Damien tried to swallow, but his mouth turned to sandpaper and his tongue to wood. “Marcelo had given me a job.”
She hugged the pillow tighter to her chest. He hated doing this to her.
“You mean a hit?”
“First one. Guy had been a pimp for a while, then a trafficker. Sadistic son of a bitch, if you ask me. The things he’d do to those girls…” Damien ran a hand over his hair. “Marcelo thought the guy was too cocky. Said the crew needed to be taught a lesson.”
“So you roughed him up?”
“I shot him in the head.”
Mia’s face slipped into a frown. “Why are you telling me this?”
Because you need to hear it. “After the job was done, I met Marcelo at this fancy restaurant.” Damien exhaled. He’d never told anyone the rest of it before. Not even Detective Johnson. But Mia deserved to know. She needed to know the truth about him.
He met her brown eyes, now wary as they looked at him. “I’d never been somewhere with white tablecloths before. All Melanie and I ever managed was a fast food joint or a dive bar.”
“Marcelo asked me to sit down, so I sat. He ordered me pancakes and when they arrived, he watched as I took a bite. The maple syrup lit up my tongue like sugar fireworks. I’ll never forget the taste of those pancakes.”
“Why?”
“Because the taste was still in my mouth when he told me my sister was dead.”
Mia’s mouth fell open and she scooted up to sit on the edge of the bed. “Why would he do such a thing?”
“If I hadn’t taken the job, Melanie wouldn’t have died. She overdosed while I was staking the guy out.”
“So Marcelo told you to what? Make you hate him?”
Damien shook his head. “You just don’t get it, do you? He told me so he’d own me. Melanie was all I had. She was the only thing in my life worth a damn. All those years when it was just the two of us…She kept me alive. She sacrificed herself over and over so I could eat.”
He pushed out of the chair and flexed his hands. “She let them…” God, it still made him sick. “She sold her soul for her little brother and I couldn’t even protect her when it mattered.”
The rage that always bubbled to the surface when he thought about Melanie coursed through his veins. If only he could punch something. Someone.
“It’s not your fault she died, Damien.”
He spun around. “Of course it is. All of it was my fault. If she hadn’t had a little brother to take care of, she wouldn’t have gone to
Marcelo in the first place.” He gripped the back of the chair. All of the anger he bottled up inside threatened to spill over.
“You were young. He took advantage.”
“I was old enough.” The chair shook in his hands. “After Melanie…I died inside. Whatever the job, I did it. Whatever the risk, I took it. There’s so much blood on my hands, Mia, they’ll never come clean.”
He let the wood go and the chair rocked back and forth on its legs. Damien turned away so he didn’t see her face.
“That’s not who you are; that’s the man Marcelo made.”
He heard the bed shift, but he couldn’t turn around. He couldn’t look in her eyes and see betrayal and hurt. Pity.
“There’s only one me. I’m a murderer, Mia. That’s all I’ll ever be.”
Her fingers landed like butterflies on his shoulders, so light and insubstantial. “You’re more than that. When you’re with me…I see the real you, Damien. The man beneath all the scars.”
“I’m no good for you, Mia. I’ll only end up hurting you.”
“Then that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
He spun around and grabbed her by the wrists. “What if I’m not?”
Her brown eyes flashed and she rose up on her tiptoes. “Then you’ll have to try a hell of a lot harder to get rid of me. I’m not afraid of you, Damien. Nothing you can say would change that.”
“We have to go back.”
Mia’s eyes went wide and she eased to the floor. “What?”
“A cop I know…He’s got something for me. Says Marcelo’s turned up the heat. He wouldn’t discuss it over the phone.”
“You said the cops were dirty.”
“Not this one.”
She tugged at her hands and Damien let her go. “Then I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
“Don’t shut me out.”
“Don’t risk your life. If you go back, Marcelo might find you.”
“Where are you meeting?”
Damien exhaled. “Some mall in Hastings. The food court.”