That time had long come and gone.
After a while of strictly tongue action, Salim broke the kiss and nipped her jaw and neck. McKenna arched, riding the ridge poking her ass through her tights and his pants.
“I’ll have to cancel our date,” Salim murmured against her throat.
“No!” She leaned into him, arms wrapped around his neck and pouted. “I need you.” Brushing her lips over his ear, McKenna closed her eyes and sent up a silent prayer. Thank fuck.
“It can’t be helped.” Salim lifted his mouth off her skin and smiled up at her. She stared down into his black, bottomless eyes. “I have a meeting that can’t be canceled or rescheduled.”
She pursed her lips. “Okay.” She moved off his lap and took a seat opposite. “When do I get to see you?” Never came to mind, but her luck didn’t run that way.
“I should be home later tonight.” He brushed his knuckles down her cheek. “I’ll send for you.”
There went her plans for an uneventful night’s sleep, but she nodded silently. She couldn’t come off too eager, but she also didn’t have the option of not caring.
His eyes glittered and a familiar smile curved his full lips. At one time she’d loved that smile. Now she knew better. Shit. Only one thing made him smile like that.
“Take your pants off,” he said softly. “Climb onto the seat with your back to me, legs spread.”
McKenna shrugged off her jacket and kicked off her boots without a word. She kept her eyes on her task, ignoring Salim, the two bodyguards also in the car, and the driver up front who hadn’t bothered to put up the partition. With her lower half bare, she turned and got onto the seat, knees spread wide as she waited.
Modesty was nonexistent with Salim. He liked an audience, liked to show off his prowess. Liked for his men to see him take her, use her. He wanted them envious, jealous of what he had. What he owned.
Which at the moment was her.
McKenna got it. She got him. She didn’t have to like it, but she got it.
A warm palm smoothed over her ass. She moved with the touch then hissed when Salim’s touch went from soft to rough in a heartbeat. He pinched her on each cheek then slapped her. Hard. Over and over.
She bit her lip to stifle the sounds falling from her lips, but that didn’t work too good. Salim didn’t touch her to give pleasure. He was a taker, but in the beginning, he’d taken care with her body, and there were times when her body remembered.
Like now.
The slaps and pinches hurt. Tears of pain burned her eyes. Her body pulsed for him. Her pussy got wet for him. Her body liked the way he played it, so well and familiar, but her mind knew better and tried to shy away from the physical pleasure.
As quickly as the slaps and pinches came, they stopped. She held herself still, tense. Two fingers plunged into her, digging deep, and she cried out, knees shaking. He hooked his digits, pressed against her, and McKenna found herself rocking back, riding the wave of pleasure.
They were so few and far between nowadays.
The only sounds in the stifling confined space were her hungry cries and the harsh breaths from the men around her, all watching, witnessing her struggle to stave off the climax and lose. Big time. She came hard, clenching around Salim’s fingers. She couldn’t stop shaking, couldn’t silence the gasping breaths. Her chest burned and heaved. Sweat rolled down her spine and itched on her skin.
Finally, finally, Salim removed his fingers and she fell face forward into the black leather seat. She struggled onto her back and faced the men. They all watched her; furious hunger in the eyes of the bodyguards, smug pleasure on Salim’s face as he brought the two fingers coated with her cream to his mouth and sucked them.
She swallowed then offered him a grin. “To tide you over until later?”
He nodded. “Until later.” He nodded to the two men who hadn’t taken their eyes off her yet. “Get dressed. The guys will take you home.”
McKenna did as told, righting herself under the men’s heavy scrutiny. She finger-combed her hair then gave Salim one last kiss before exiting the car. They hadn’t moved from in front the spa the entire time, but with Salim that wasn’t unexpected. He liked to get his wherever, whenever. It took her a long time to get used to having people watch her during sex, to having men openly eye-fuck her while Salim did her.
Outdoors, in cars, public bathroom stalls.
He didn’t discriminate. Being vulnerable didn’t sit well. It never would, but she’d learned to go with the flow. She had no other choice at the moment.
Tall Bodyguard drove them back to her house, only about ten blocks away from the spa. She stood outside in the doorway while they went into her place to make sure no one lurked in the closet or under the bed. She shook her head. If they’d done that last night, Psycho Guy wouldn’t have had the opportunity to fuck with her concentration all day.
The men came back out moments later and waved her in.
“Bye, gentlemen.” She slammed the door in their faces and headed straight for her bathroom, stripping, dropping clothes in her wake as she went. The time had come to wash away Salim’s touch, drop the mask for the time being, and reevaluate her options.
In the shower she washed her hair, inhaling the piña colada-scented shampoo with a moan. Her shoulders ached as she scrubbed her scalp, maybe a warning that she had the entire world on her shoulders and the time drew near when she’d have to make choices.
Tough choices.
Her eyes burned. Could have been the shampoo, could have been tears.
This wasn’t her longest con, not by a long shot. By the time she’d been old enough to talk, to fake supermarket slip and falls, and bat her lashes at the men who came to the door looking for their stolen belongings, she’d always had a partner in crime. When she set her eyes on Salim, she’d had her partner by her side.
But her mother’s luck ran out. One too many lies. One too many fake names, fake sob stories, fake everything. One metal baseball bat to the head later, she’d lost a mother, a mentor. The only stable and true thing in her entire existence. And what had her mother lost?
Her ability to speak, to think, to rationalize. She’d become a shell, unable to recognize her own daughter. McKenna had lost control then, the only time she could remember doing so. She’d abandoned the plan, the carefully constructed plan, and spent all her time taking care of her mother.
There would be no justice. The authorities required the truth and McKenna sure as hell couldn’t share that. She didn’t even know her mother’s birth name. She doubted she ever had. The woman who gave birth to her had been at the game long before McKenna was born. In fact, McKenna had been a con, a deliberate pinprick in a condom to ferret hush money from a wealthy married man somewhere in the Deep South.
She was known now as Marilyn Lacey to her caretakers in the nursing home, but she’d been Helena, Marie, Lucy, Diane. Too many names and stories to keep straight.
McKenna dipped her head under the spray of water, eyes screwed shut. She was tired, had been tired of always being on the move for over twenty-five years. She’d been ready to give it up, abandon the groundwork she’d laid with Salim and walk away from it all when her mother got hurt, but reality crashed in quick. The money they’d stashed away disappeared almost overnight under the weight of her mother’s medical bills and McKenna had to make choices.
Before her world fell down around her, she’d worked damn hard to get into Salim’s bed. The plan was to be his woman, gain access to his bank accounts, and bleed him dry at the first opportunity. She’d had no idea what being in Salim’s bed truly meant. What being dependent on him meant.
Until she’d been well and truly caught in the web.
She needed the money he provided her to take care of her mother. If it wasn’t for that, McKenna could tell him to fuck off and go about her merry way…except he had her. Dead to rights. He knew who she really was. Knew that her mother was wanted in over ten states.
If she walked away,
the cops would come knocking, and she couldn’t have her mother die in a prison. Locked up somewhere without sunlight. McKenna figured she could take whatever Salim felt like dishing out, but her mother was another story.
One that wasn’t up for debate.
She ended her shower and stepped out after wrapping a towel around her wet body. She used another towel to dry her hair as she walked into the bedroom. Her stomach growled, but she didn’t have the will to eat anything. Instead, she pulled on some underwear and crawled into bed. Her damp hair spread across the pillow and the material was cold under her cheek, but McKenna curled onto her side and pulled the blanket up over her head.
Maybe she could get some sleep before Salim showed up to take even more from her.
****
She couldn’t say for sure what pulled her from the restless sleep, but McKenna came awake on a gasping breath. Night had fallen and her bedroom was cold, cloaked in darkness. Nothing moved, but she felt it on her skin.
A rustle. A presence. She sat up slowly, one hand reaching out gingerly to turn on the lamp on her bedside table.
“I wouldn’t if I were you.”
“Fuck!” Her heart slammed against her ribcage. The voice was familiar and close, too close. She turned the tiny black knob, flooding the room with a warm yellow glow.
He sat on the floor near the doorway, his legs stretched out in front of him, hoodie pulled up. His head was angled in such a way she only saw half of his face. The other remained shadowed.
“Hello again, McKenna.”
That voice was like cut glass, jagged and sharp and lethal how it scraped across her skin. Who was this guy? She pulled her knees up to her chest and crossed her arms as she squinted down at him. “I take it this is a regular thing with you? The breaking and entering?”
“Believe it or not, this is my first time.” His tone held no humor, dry as a fucking desert wasteland.
“Not believing it.” She tried sliding her fingers through her hair, but winced when they got caught in all the tangles. Shit. “I’d like you to remove your carcass off my bedroom floor and leave the same way you came, whoever the fuck you are. Now.”
He didn’t budge, didn’t blink, didn’t give any indication he’d heard her. “You can call me RJ.”
McKenna clutched the red comforter to her chest. “No. See, I don’t want to call you anything.” She snatched her phone from under her pillow. “Who I will call is Salim Najal if you don’t make yourself scarce.” She hit the contacts icon on her phone but didn’t get the chance to see the screen change. He was on her, his bulk covering her body as he pressed her into the bed.
McKenna blinked up at him, at the white scar bisecting his right cheek and brow and the dark patch covering his right eye. His exposed eye was green, a sort of mint color with flecks of amber and gold. He held her down with one hand, not an easy feat when she kicked and lashed out, trying to claw his face.
“Keep calm.” His voice had no inflections, nothing to indicate their current position. “I’m not here to hurt you, McKenna. I’d have already done it while you slept.”
“Yeah?” She lifted her head off the pillow, coming inches from his nose. “So what? Maybe you like your victims to fight back. You strike me as the type.”
He didn’t rise to the bait. Instead he pried the phone from her fingers with infinite slowness and pocketed it in his ragged jeans. Task finished, he moved away from her, got off the bed, and went to stand in the bedroom doorway.
“My job is to make Salim Najal pay for the things he’s done,” he said sternly. “The crimes he’s committed. I need your help to do it.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No, you don’t. Go to the cops. Take that shit up with someone else. Leave me out.” Her hands trembled, and she quickly hid them under the blankets. Her help. No way was she helping anyone to anything.
The man—RJ—regarded her silently. The longer he stared at her, the more pronounced her tremors grew until she had no hope of hiding them.
“Don’t you know better than to get emotionally involved with your trick?” This time disgust dripped from his words and shone from his one visible eye. He clearly didn’t think much of her, and McKenna couldn’t say that she gave a flying fuck. He thought she loved Salim, and that she could work with.
She bared her teeth at him. “Don’t you know better than to show up where you’re not wanted? You’re liable to lose your other eye there, Patches.”
His nostrils flared, the only sign of any facial expression since he’d made himself known. Unshakeable, that one. His sandy-blond hair was cut almost to the scalp, severe, matching the hard angles of his face. She swore his eye glowed in the dark.
“You’re not who you appear to be.” He spoke the words low, as if to himself, and McKenna’s stomach flipped.
“Whatever. Get out.” She waved her hand and a phone rang. Salim’s ringtone. “That’s Salim, and if I don’t answer, he’ll be coming in.”
“Can’t have that.” He pulled the phone from his pocket. “Let’s keep my presence a secret, hmm? Otherwise I’ll have to rescind my earlier promise not to hurt you.” He winked and threw the phone at her. “And him.”
McKenna rolled her eyes as she answered Salim. “Hi, baby.”
“The boys will be there in twenty minutes to get you. Don’t be late.”
“I’ll be ready.” She hung up and raised an eyebrow. “I’ve got a hot date so I hope you don’t mind if we cut this tête-à-tête short?”
RJ walked over to her, footsteps silent for such a big guy. He stopped next to the bed and looked down at her. His hard features were once again smooth, betraying nothing when he said, “Salim is on my hit list. It’s not someplace you want to be, McKenna. Choose a side. And soon.”
Twisting her fingers in the blanket, McKenna stared up at him. “What is the big deal? Why can’t you take whatever you think Salim did to the cops?” Why involve her, for God’s sake?
“The woman he had before you was the daughter of a friend of mine,” RJ said. “She disappeared after indicating she wanted to end things with Salim. We don’t know if he killed her outright, or if he handed her over to the many shady men he deals with. Either way, there’s been no trace of her for years.”
McKenna swallowed. Jesus. She didn’t want to hear the words, didn’t want to know.
“Salim has diplomatic immunity. That means no matter what he does, who he hurts, all the US can and will do is put him on a plane to his home country.” He shook his head slightly. “That is unacceptable.”
“What do you want then?” she asked. “From me, what do you want from me?” She was scared to hear what he wanted. Something told her she’d have a hard time refusing once he spelled it out.
“I’d like to kill him.” He smiled, a genuine, honest-to-goodness smile that transformed his face into a more lethal façade. “Until I know what happened three years ago, I can’t. I need answers.”
McKenna choked. “I’m supposed to find them?”
“I want you to put some listening devices in his place.” He shrugged. “Obviously I can’t get in to do it.”
What the hell? “Are you trying to get me killed, is that it?” She jerked upright and swung her legs off the bed, pulling the towel tight around her body. RJ moved out of her way smoothly, his gaze never leaving her face.
“Salim trusts you.”
“Salim doesn’t trust anyone but Salim, fool.” Goddamn it. Goddamn it. This was what it boiled down to? Being a pawn to use in someone else’s game of chess?
“Still, you’re on the inside.”
McKenna stared at him. “I can’t even…I can’t deal with this right now.” She padded over to her closet. “Show yourself out. I have to be someplace.” She didn’t look to see if he complied.
“Think about it, McKenna.”
She didn’t like how he said her name. Like it was something sweet, to be savored. She put her head down and chose her clothes. When she finally turned around, he was gone. A wh
ite business card sat on her dresser. She walked over and picked it up.
A phone number with no name.
Goddamn it.
Chapter Three
“She’s not who she appears to be.” RJ stroked his chin with a finger as he stared at a photo of McKenna Lacey with her arms around Salim, her face alight with laughter as she stared up at him. They were out at a black tie event to raise money for God knew what. They looked good together, a very beautiful couple, but that was a façade.
He knew that much.
“What makes you say that?”
RJ looked up at Carter. He’d forgotten his brother sat opposite him on the ratty sofa in the cold warehouse. Carter’s interest was well peaked, one of his eyebrows raised as he gazed expectantly at RJ.
Bringing his attention back to the image of Salim and McKenna, RJ shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it, but I know that”—he waved at the computer screen—“that is a lie.” There was no way McKenna was in love with Salim.
“What are you talking about?”
He didn’t have to look at Carter to see the confused frown on his face. “Are we looking at the same images? Because from what I see, she is completely in love with dude.”
“That’s it.” RJ jumped to his feet with a snap of his fingers. “It’s what we see, and we see a woman in love with a powerful man. At least that’s what she wants us to see.”
Carter shook his head. “I’m lost, man.”
“She’s pretending.” RJ grinned when Carter gasped. Pretense. Why didn’t that surprise him? “It’s a game, but to what end?” Was McKenna in on the entire thing with Salim? Had she known the true nature of the man she bedded from the beginning?
“A game?” Carter narrowed his eyes. “How can that be faked?” He nodded to the seemingly happy couple. “And why?”
RJ laughed and clapped his brother on the shoulder. “That’s the question we have to answer.” He bent and peered at McKenna, staring into her eyes crinkled at the corners from her smile. “Once we have the answers, we’ll have her.” He was sure of it because no one went to that much trouble to play masquerade unless they had something to hide.
Coming Undone Page 2