Liv wasn’t sure whether it was that look or the touch itself, but that was all she needed to send her careening over the edge and right to orgasmic bliss. Slade held her as the tremors rocked through her, and once they started to subside, he began to pull her pants and panties off her.
She was still limp as he moved off her just long enough to kick off his jeans. And then he was back on top of her, his face right over hers and his cock pressed at her entrance. Somehow, even though she’d just had one of the most mind-blowing orgasms of her life, she was already hungry for more. Hungry for him to slide home and take her right back over that ledge again.
But he didn’t. Instead, he stayed still, not giving her a damn thing. She arched her back, pressing him closer to her and sucking in a breath at the friction of the head of his cock pressed right where she wanted him. Slade wasn’t neutral, either. He let out a curse and bent his head into the crook of her shoulder, holding her impossibly close, but still giving her nothing.
“What’s wrong?” she breathed, willing to give anything for him to just move.
“I—” He took another breath. “I don’t have any condoms.”
She blinked in shock. The thought of safety had never even occurred to her. God, she was such an idiot. “Um... I’m on the pill. And, I mean, I don’t do this a lot. I’m safe. Are you....” This conversation would be so much easier if she weren’t naked and impossibly horny.
He leaned forward and kissed her. “A hundred percent,” he said. And before she could express any sort of relief, he pressed into her. She was so wet and ready that even with his considerable size, he slid right in, as though they were designed to go together. As though it was perfect.
She bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He was so big and alien to her, but at the same time, everything about this just felt right. And even though it had been years since she’d been with anyone, her body knew exactly what to do and how to move to keep time with his.
They started slow, but the demanding, primal rhythm led them faster and harder, until she was sure there was nothing left. Not even the bed. They must be levitating, because the only sensation she felt was his touch and his mouth and his length, and then even that fell away as another climax hit her and all she could do was cling to him as she fell apart.
He stiffened on top of her and let out a guttural moan as his own orgasm hit, and then they were coming down together.
Once she caught her breath, she ran her hands up and down Slade’s back. He was going to move any minute now and then she’d be left alone with her thoughts. Left alone to replay all the reasons she shouldn’t have just done that.
But he didn’t get off her. Instead, he let his head fall into the crook of her shoulder and he kissed her neck once more before he seemed to go limp. Except he wasn’t crushing her, so he had to be holding some of his weight, right?
“What, um, what are we doing?” she asked softly.
“Sleeping,” he said, his breath warm against her neck.
She opened her mouth to ask more questions, but he reached up to set a finger over her lips. “I’m going to let you go. Eventually. But for right now, as long as possible, I don’t want to ever move from this position. I never want to let you go, Liv.”
Well... she supposed a little cuddling never hurt anyone. He still held a finger over her lips, so she responded by running her hands along his back. Okay. She’d ask questions tomorrow. For now, she’d just savor the moment.
She stared up at the ceiling as doubts already started to swirl in her mind. Yeah. This was going to be a long night.
Slade looked over at Liv, but she was noticeably not making eye contact with him as she worked diligently on making French toast for everyone. The guys were all happy to be getting breakfast. They didn’t always eat this well on jobs.
Slade wanted to be happy, but he couldn’t help but feel as though Liv was using this as an excuse not to deal with him this morning.
He could tell that she’d pulled away from him last night. It wasn’t as though the sex wasn’t good for her. He knew the signs that she’d enjoyed herself. Something else was bothering her, and if he was honest, he knew there were a thousand good reasons for her to be bothered. Part of him wanted to comfort her and assure her that everything was going to be okay, but the other part of him knew that was naive. What kind of assurance could he really give her?
“So what’s the plan?” she asked all the while staring intently at the French toast she carefully lifted out of the skillet to put on the empty serving tray. The tray that remained full for a good ten seconds before Hunter snatched up the fresh piece and started to put some butter and syrup on it.
“The plan is to make our presence known,” said Scott from where he leaned against the back wall of the kitchen next to Toni. They weren’t holding hands or anything, but the couple had this way of always maintaining contact of some sort with each other. The brush of a shoulder or the subtle touch of the back of their hands. It was a stark contrast to the distance Liv was keeping from him.
“You don’t want to try to use the element of surprise?” asked Liv skeptically.
“We blew that already,” said Toni. “My little laser trick with Tiger made him think that we’re a badass force. So now we’re going to keep that image up.”
“No one calls him Tiger,” pointed out Liv as she put another piece of French toast in the pan, where it immediately started to sizzle.
“That’s because Tiger is a stupid name, and I take great joy in calling him Tiger. I mean, you know his mother didn’t give him that name. He was thinking to himself, ‘What sounds badass? Tigers! Tigers are badass. That’s my new name! Tiger!’”
Liv stared at Toni for a moment, speechless. Then she let out a little laugh and turned back to cooking. “As long as you know what you’re getting into,” she muttered.
“We do,” said Slade. “And you said you could help.”
She stiffened but didn’t look at him. “I know more than most about Thurrond’s people. His right-hand guy, Siennon, and Trevor are easy to find. They have lunch almost every day at Dusty’s Grill. It’s where they take care of business and vet meetings for Thurrond. If you want a meeting with Thurrond, you have to go through them. Then all the lower-level lackeys are the ones who do the dirty work. They collect money from tenants and work with the trafficking rounds. Most of the money these days comes from working with the cartels out of South America to get drugs up. Once they’re over the border, Thurrond gets them distributed from coast to coast and takes a cut of the profit.”
Everyone was silent as they listened to her. Slade was happy she could help them and also horrified that she knew so much. Because if she knew that much, then when he said he used to work for Thurrond, she knew exactly what he’d done. And that was only the tip of the iceberg compared to what he’d done for Sterling.
“We’ll start with Siennon and Trevor then,” said Slade. “He’s seen Hart, Toni, and me, so Hunter and Tristan, you’re up. Have Liv take you there and point them out. Be subtle about it, okay?”
Tristan raised a brow and Hunter nodded. “You got it.”
Slade wasn’t sure whether Tristan was questioning the subtle order or whether he was wondering why he was sending Liv with them. They didn’t need her to point anyone out. They had gone into worse jobs blind. But Slade needed to get some other stuff ready, and with everyone here, the house felt protected and safe. But as they split up, the house seemed more like a target. Liv would be safer with them, especially considering Thurrond didn’t know their faces yet.
Tristan and Hunter knew better than to put any civilian in danger. And because he was sure all of his men were smart enough to figure out what he had been doing in Liv’s bedroom last night, they knew exactly how high priority Liv was now.
There were so many priorities now. Josh. Melissa. Liv. Just a week ago, Slade had almost no priorities. His guys, maybe. Sure as hell wasn’t Sterling and not himse
lf. Everything was different.
“What are you going to do?” Liv flipped the toast over.
“Get things ready. We’ll end this tonight.”
Liv looked out at Dusty’s. It was somewhere between a bar and family restaurant. Dusty himself had never had a head for business. He’d wanted to cook, so he opened up a restaurant with no mind for branding or accounting. But damn if Dusty couldn’t cook a good burger, and between that and his strong network of friends, his odd little diner had never wanted for customers.
But those good burgers had attracted all sorts of customers. When Thurrond’s guys started to use Dusty’s as a secondary base, he made it very clear he wasn’t going to get in the middle of any dangerous politics. His job was to cook damn good burgers for anyone willing to pay for it and that was what he did.
One of the first times she’d ever come to Laurie Falls had been to Dusty’s. That had been before Melissa and Josh ever came into her life. Back then, she’d just been a young kid on a date with her bad-boy boyfriend. She’d been so young and excited that someone like Trevor had been so in love with her.
Now here she was with a new bad boy. And somehow this one seemed worse. Slade was a leg up from petty crime and following orders. She’d met his men now. Met the people he surrounded himself with. Each one of them seemed fearsome in their own, sometimes charming, right. And Slade was the one who gave them orders.
She pushed her sweaty palm against her legs bared by the shorts she wore, but all she could see was Slade’s hands running along her legs. Her stomach. Other parts....
She let out a deep breath and let her head fall against the backseat of Tristan’s SUV, grateful she was alone back here. She didn’t think she was giving too much away, but thinking all those dirty thoughts—no, memories—about Slade made her feel as if everyone knew exactly what she’d done.
“You’re sure he’s in there?” asked Hunter from the front seat.
Liv nodded before she remembered that they couldn’t see her. “This is the restaurant I’ve avoided like the plague ever since I moved here, and that’s his car in the lot, so I’m sure Trevor is here.”
“What about the other guy?”
“Siennon is always with Trevor. If he isn’t, I’d be shocked, but I don’t know what his car looks like.”
“All right,” said Tristan. “Let’s go then.”
“Go? I thought Slade said to be subtle.”
“I’m going to be subtle. Trust me.” Tristan then climbed out of the car without waiting for her and she was left torn between staying in the relative safety of the car or making sure he didn’t do anything foolish.
“Why do I have the feeling I shouldn’t trust him?” she muttered.
“Because every word out of his mouth is a lie,” said Hunter, not making her feel better at all.
Liv snorted. “How can you be friends with someone like that?”
Hunter shrugged. “You get used to it. Learn to see the truth between the lines. Besides, it keeps you on your toes.” He looked over his shoulder at her. “Because the sooner you realize that everyone lies, the sooner you can see the truth.”
The grim warning hit her too close to home, and she found herself replaying the previous night once more. Slade hadn’t made her any promises. There had been no lies or time for her to read too much into anything. It should be a good thing. She didn’t need anything long-term with a man like that. Men like that brought nothing but pain and heartbreak.
And she sure as hell didn’t need any lies from him.
She looked over to see Tristan disappearing into the bar and could only imagine the things he would be doing in there. “I should go keep an eye on him,” she muttered.
“Probably a good idea.”
It really didn’t make her feel better that Hunter was agreeing that Tristan needed supervision. She kicked up her steps and ran across the street until she reached the entrance for Dusty’s. Except when she stepped inside, she didn’t see Tristan anywhere. Somehow, she ended up making eye contact with Trevor almost immediately.
Shit. Her first instinct was to run the in other direction, but she had a feeling that would draw a hell of a lot more attention that she didn’t want.
But all she ended up doing was standing in place like a deer in the headlights. As Trevor got up and approached her, all she could think about was how grateful she was that Slade wasn’t there to see how she crumbled under pressure. He wouldn’t freeze. He’d already have a plan B and plan C and find some way to skillfully avoid his ex.
But this wasn’t just an ex. This was a guy who worked for Thurrond. Was he the one who had fired the bullets into Armstrong’s last night? Was it Trevor himself who had tried to kill her?
“Hey Liv,” he said cautiously as he approached.
Well, that wasn’t the tone she would expect from someone who just tried to fill her with bullets. “Hello,” she said in a short, clipped voice. She wanted to scream at him or maybe give him a solid punch to the face for all the hell his boss had put her through, but she was well aware that Trevor had six inches and over fifty pounds of muscle on her. And she was sure he was armed. She had to swallow down her anger.
“I heard about last night. I’m really glad you’re okay.”
Did he hear about it through town gossip or did he get a memo on the gangster email chain? “Does that mean you’ll come to the police station with me and give a statement?”
He clenched his jaw and she knew she’d landed a blow. Good. He deserved to hurt. “Liv, I’m sorry—”
“Don’t.” She cut him off. “Don’t say you’re sorry for something you’re going to continue to do. It rings with insincerity.”
“I really don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Someone tried to hurt Josh, Trevor. Someone almost shot me. I might not be bleeding, but I’m already hurt.”
To his credit, he looked guilty. Funny, she had spent so much time avoiding him that she thought Trevor was some cocky, smartass gangster. She wasn’t expecting to see guilt. It didn’t make her happy in any way to know he was guilty. If he was truly guilty, he would never be doing what he was doing. When he was younger, it was easier to justify. He needed money. He had a rough childhood and deserved some of the finer things. But that was a decade ago. He was no longer the kid just trying to get into better circumstances. He was part of the problem he needed escaping from.
Trevor put a hand on her arm and she stared at it in disgust. He’d lost the right to touch her long ago. But that didn’t stop him from guiding her deeper into Dusty’s and pulling out a chair for her.
She was about to tell him exactly where he could go shove that chair when she saw a familiar flash of dark hair toward the back of the restaurant. Tristan lifted a glass of amber liquid and tilted it to her in a silent cheers. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she didn’t want to draw attention to him, so she fell into the chair and looked between Trevor and Siennon. “What’s up?” she said with a cracking voice.
If they noticed the drastic change in her tone, they didn’t show it. “We heard you’ve met the newcomer in town. Peter Slade.”
She glared at Trevor. Son of a bitch had gone from apologizing to interrogating pretty damn quick. She wanted to remind him about the insincere apology just a few seconds ago but knew it would do no good. “He’s Josh’s father. Of course we’ve met.”
“He’s a dangerous man.” Trevor leaned over and took her hand in his.
Liv jerked her hand away, not willing to humor Trevor’s false protectiveness. “What are you really asking?”
Siennon and Trevor exchanged a look over the table. “We’re worried about Peter. He doesn’t seem quite stable.”
“I don’t want him to hurt you,” said Trevor, his words dripping with false sincerity.
“Thurrond tried to kidnap his son,” she pointed out, staring both of them down. “Do you really expect him to be stable after that? Thurrond knew exactly what he was doing and he did it anyway. He just didn’t know w
hat he was getting into.”
Trevor was about to say something when the waitress walked over with two plates in hand. “Special treat today.” She set two slices of apple pie down.
Liv raised a brow at the unexpected treat. She had a hard time imagining these two badasses sitting down and talking over a slice of pie.
“We didn’t order this,” said Siennon, confirming Liv’s doubts.
“I know,” said the waitress. “The nice guy at the bar ordered it for you.”
Liv let her head fall into her hands as the guys both craned their necks to get a better view of Tristan. So much for being subtle.
Except it got worse. When she opened her eyes to see what was happening, she saw Tristan approaching the table. Subtle! Be subtle!
She looked over her shoulder, hoping to make eye contact with Hunter through the picture windows in the front of the restaurant, but all she saw was an empty SUV. Where the hell—
“Afternoon, gentlemen,” said Tristan as he reached the table.
“Do we know you?” asked Trevor, with the edge that said he was well aware that the two had never met.
“Not sure,” said Tristan. “I’ve met a lot of assholes. They all start looking alike after a while.”
Oh my God. She was going to kill Tristan—if Trevor didn’t get to him first.
Siennon stood up, his chair falling back and the clattering noise filling the restaurant. Everyone went silent as the two men stared each other down. “Who the fuck are you?” asked Siennon.
“My name won’t mean anything to you. But my boss’s might. I work for a guy named Slade. He wanted me to send his regards.”
Both Siennon and Trevor reached for their guns. Liv knew she couldn’t stay in the middle of this any longer and pushed away from the table.
“I would love to see you try,” warned Tristan. “But if you think I didn’t come in here with a plan, you’re dead wrong.”
A boom vibrated through Dusty’s, and the glow of a fireball shot up from outside the window, casting the entire room in a bright-orange light before darkness covered the room as black smoke billowed outside.
The Vengeful Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 5) Page 12