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by Lea Griffith

She was once again left so vulnerable as to defy description, her bare ass and pussy on full display for her Dom.

  He struck without mercy and it wasn’t the floggers now, rather something long and only slightly flexible—a crop.

  The burn was immediate and she hissed, almost losing control of her position in the air.

  “If you fall back, I will leave you until you can hold position, sub,” he said in a very determined voice.

  She shook her head and lowered it, twining her hands in the vertical straps and holding on for dear life.

  Another fall of the crop on her ass and the burn was so intense her eyes watered.

  Tobias said nothing. His breathing was even, but in the air around her was his joy. It would have been impossible to define how connected she was to him in that moment. But with each fall of the crop he took her higher and higher, the burn fading to an amazing heat that defined pleasure shooting straight through to ecstasy.

  The crop fell faster, easier, or maybe Ruthie’s flesh had grown used to it. Then the clatter of the crop on the ground and Tobias’s nails were scraping over her ass, and then around to score the insides of her thighs.

  Then his mouth was at her pussy and Ruthie was lost.

  “You taste so good, sub. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve tasted rapture?”

  Ruthie didn’t, but even had she, her mind was blank except for what he was visiting on her. More, more, more, she chanted silently in her head.

  She wanted more. She wanted to come. She wanted his tongue deeper. No wait, she wanted his cock tunneling into her channel and taking her over.

  Then he stopped and she was left…bereft.

  “How much more can you take, Ruthie? Can you handle more tonight? Or should I take us both where we want to go?”

  She remained silent, her mind already shattered, her heart already bruised from the force of his loving. Intense didn’t describe her mental space right now.

  He grabbed her hands and untangled them from the straps. She fell gently back into a sitting position and between one breath and the next, Tobias pushed her away slightly, and when she swung back toward him he impaled her with a single thrust.

  She screamed his name, the intrusion unexpected but so damn hot she lost herself. She knew then he was the one in control. The swing allowed him to manipulate the speed of their joining.

  She bounced off his cock countless times and mourned every loss, only to rejoice every time he reentered her. Over and over she cried out and finally, as the colors burst in her mind, Tobias groaned with her and they both came in a rush.

  The sparkles finally faded but the golds, blues, greens, and silvers remained burned on her blind retinas. Those were the colors of the pleasure Tobias gave her.

  She knew he was unstrapping her but couldn’t be bothered with it. She was floating in a space all her own—one that Tobias had created especially for her. She’d need a sign that read Ruthie’s Subspace—Do Not Enter.

  He carried her to the bedroom and she felt him wipe her down, no part of her body left to know the sweat of their endeavors. Then he applied Tiger Balm to her inner thighs, kissing along each mark and reminding Ruthie what he’d done to her—how high he’d made her fly.

  “I touched the sun,” she whispered.

  “Drink, baby,” Tobias ordered gruffly, holding a bottle to her lips.

  She drank the entire bottle and smiled. “I love you, Tobias. I’m angry, though,” she muttered as he turned her over and began applying the Tiger Balm to her ass.

  “Why?”

  “Because had I known that’s what your dominance entailed, I would never have left. I would have done something drastic to ensure you gave it all to me three years ago.”

  “Goddamn, Ruthie. You’ll undo me.”

  “I keep telling you I’ll put you right back together. It’s the least this sub can do for her Dom.”

  “You’re going to bruise, Ruthie,” he said with no small amount of regret.

  “They’re your marks. I hope I do bruise so I can feel them longer,” she murmured.

  He pulled the covers up and over her body. “Sleep, baby.”

  “With me,” she mumbled.

  “Always,” he said.

  She fell asleep with a smile on her face and joy in her heart.

  She couldn’t wait to do it all over again.

  Chapter 18

  “You can’t kill him if you can’t find him,” Dante Shaw said in a voice heavy with fatigue.

  “Not enough rocks being kicked over. He’s hiding, like a goddamn snake he’s hiding under a rock somewhere, waiting and watching for me to mess up. I want his head, Dante, and I want it today,” Tobias muttered.

  Shaw sighed and sat on the edge of Tobias’s desk. “Where’s your lady cop?”

  Tobias threw the other man a get-real look. “She was never mine. I didn’t want that and neither did she. She got your panties in a wad that fast, man?”

  “Fuck you,” Shaw bit out.

  “Didn’t know you swung that way, Shaw,” Savannah Cavanaugh said from the doorway.

  Tobias glanced over at her, nodded, and motioned her to have a seat. She shook her head and leaned against the wall instead. That was Savannah—all cocky posturing and defiant demeanor. It’s what made her submission so unbelievable. How could a woman who’d sacrificed so much to make it in a man’s profession come across as a submissive? Tobias hadn’t believed it until he’d seen it.

  She not only came across, she sprinted, the change in her so drastic it was as if two separate people lived inside her skin. Shaw had noticed. Hell, he was continuing to notice, because his gaze hadn’t strayed from her since she’d appeared.

  “I think we both know which way I swing, Officer Cavanaugh,” Dante said slyly.

  “Fuck you, Shaw,” Savannah replied, acid dripping from her tone. “And it’s Detective Cavanaugh.” She turned her arctic gaze to Tobias. “I’ve got news.”

  Dante snorted but didn’t say anything. Wise decision on his part, Tobias thought. Savvy looked about ready to take his head off.

  “What have you found out?”

  Tobias was itching to find Gallo. It had been nearly a week since he’d attacked Ruthie and then gone on to murder a prostitute in northeast Atlanta. Tobias couldn’t shake the feeling shit was about to go down. He spent his days kicking over rocks as he watched over Ruthie and his nights chasing the snake that was Gallo. Hoenig had pretty much moved into Tobias’s house. If Tobias wasn’t with Ruthie, Hoenig was.

  Candace and Finch had gone home, though they were set to return in a day or so. The weekend was approaching and Tobias just felt better with more protection around the woman who’d stolen his heart. Jeremiah and Daly were on high alert and his best friend never left Daly’s side.

  “Yo, Edwards! You with me?” Savannah asked. Impatience rang in her tone.

  Tobias’s gaze met hers. “Yeah, I’m here.” He got his head back in the game.

  “Another prostitute turned up on the south end of town yesterday. Medical examiner says she’s been dead a couple of days. Your boy has quite a way with a blade, doesn’t he, Tobias?” Her gaze zeroed in on his scar.

  Tobias waited, but she said nothing.

  “Anyway, there were prints left at this scene and they trace back to a career criminal, a Vessi Gallo, who has dual Italian and American citizenships. He visits New York, and there are several murders there attributed to Mr. Gallo, who also”—she glanced at Dante Shaw now—“has ties to the Sicilian Mafia. It’s getting a bit crowded in Atlanta, huh, boys?”

  Dante shrugged as if her words meant nothing to him. Tobias knew Savvy and knew damn good and well she’d made some connection between the Sicilian Mafia and the Dixie Mafia. It wasn’t a hard leap, and if she pushed deeper, questioned the right people, she’d find herself right in the middle of Mafia business.

  Tobias hoped she and Dante weren’t lovers yet. No matter what Savvy had done in the past, the women she’d pissed off,
the poor decisions she’d made in lovers, nobody deserved to be smack dab in the middle of Mafia business. Acciai would crush her beneath the heel of his expensive Ferragamos and keep it moving. Tobias wondered if Shaw would let that happen.

  “I just want to know where the fuck he is. Are your people looking for him?” Tobias asked harshly. He was riding a fine line between calm and rage.

  He needed to see Ruthie, to feel her skin, to sink deep inside her and forget everything that threatened them both.

  Savvy was the one throwing disbelieving looks now. “Are you fucking kidding me? He’s killed two women and you’re my only goddamn link to him. You two are like vaults, keeping your secrets—which by the way, can kill—and you’re asking me if we’re looking for him? Of-goddamn-course we’re looking for him, Tobias,” Savannah responded angrily.

  Dante turned his seat to face her. “If you have nothing to offer on his whereabouts, why are you here, Detective Cavanaugh?”

  “I want to know what you’re involved in, Shaw, and I want that information now,” she demanded.

  Dante rubbed his chin thoughtfully and sat back, eyeing her. “I don’t like demands. I don’t respond well to them. Maybe if you asked nicely?”

  Tobias didn’t have time for this shit. “You know he’s DM, Savannah. But his shit doesn’t play into this. Gallo is a murderer gunning for me and willing to use Ruthie to see his endgame met. I only brought you in because I thought if there were more eyes looking for him, we’d find him sooner.”

  Savannah pushed off the wall, outrage riding the lines of her body. “And what will you do if you find him before I do?”

  Tobias shrugged casually. “Don’t ask and I won’t tell.”

  “Goddamn it, Edwards, this is Atlanta Police business now. You find him, you call me or I’ll haul your ass downtown and put you in a cell!”

  He was in her face seconds later. “Then you’ll have to divulge how you got the information initially, won’t you, Savvy? And don’t you dare goddamn threaten me. Know who you’re fucking with before you make the attempt next time. I’ve whipped you, flogged you, and helped you do things not many others would—you owe me.”

  Her face paled, and Tobias experienced an unexpected moment of regret. He didn’t have them often, and one of the only ones he’d ever had was over Ruthie. But the look on her face, the horror dogging her eyes and the fear surrounding her like a shroud, had him experiencing it again.

  He could feel Dante Shaw’s gaze like a brand at the back of his neck. Fuck him. In fact, fuck them both. They were both insane, and the truth was if they weren’t able to help him find Gallo, they were no help at all.

  “Get your shit together, Edwards. If you find him, you call me. Don’t kill a man. You can’t handle that on your conscience,” Savannah said in a soft voice.

  “You have no idea what my conscience can and has handled,” Tobias replied, and stepped back.

  “Mr. Shaw?” Savannah asked politely.

  “Yes, Detective Cavanaugh?” There was a smile in his voice that Tobias knew would piss Savvy off.

  “I’m watching you,” she said to him. To Tobias she said, “I’ll keep you posted.”

  Tobias nodded. It was more than he’d expected after all but promising to kill Gallo. Savannah knew about revenge and she must have read Tobias’s need for his own brand. She was a good cop. A solid detective. But even the good ones bent the rules sometimes. Tobias was hoping this would be one of those times.

  “Detective Cavanaugh?” Dante called out. She stopped but didn’t turn. “You might be watching me, but please know, I’ve been watching you much longer.”

  Savannah’s spine straightened like she’d been electrocuted. She huffed and walked out.

  Dante chuckled. Tobias winced.

  “My grandfather’s men are looking for Gallo as well. He received a message from his former underboss this morning,” Dante said in a dead voice.

  Shock rushed through Tobias, leaving him cold. “You didn’t think this was important to tell me when you walked through the door?”

  Dante shrugged, and Tobias thought he could get real sick and fucking tired of the man’s casual disregard for what anyone else wanted or needed. “I needed to know what the police had first. Since they have exactly nothing, well, it’s prudent to give you what I have now.”

  “So generous. Tell me, Shaw, what does Gallo have to do with the product you want to ship via Copeland Shipping?”

  Shaw’s face blanked and Tobias knew he’d tapped a nail on the head. What nail he didn’t know, but Shaw was ice cold now.

  “You don’t know the depth of the water you’re dipping your toe into, Tobias. Stay out of my business. You agreed to ship my product because I’m opening up the Naples port for you and Jeremiah. Free and clear, Tobias, but if you press this, I’ll revoke those rights and you’ll be back at square one. I can find someone else to ship my product—maybe not as cheap, but I can do it.”

  Tobias said nothing. He was becoming more and more convinced that whatever Shaw was shipping was directly related to Vessi Gallo and the Sicilian Mafia. On one hand he wanted to know. On the other, he wanted as far away from the knowledge as he could get.

  “If Gallo hurts my woman and the information you’re withholding could have stopped him, I will come for you, Shaw. History or no history, I will come for you,” Tobias promised the other man.

  Dante nodded. “I would expect it.”

  “What did he send the Axe Man?”

  “A head,” Dante said plainly.

  “Whose?”

  “The head of one of the Five Families based in New York. Luca Lucchese—one of my grandfather’s oldest friends and leader of the Lucchese Family.”

  “What does that mean to me?”

  Dante stood and crossed his arms over his chest. “It means there’s a war brewing, Tobias. Gallo has started a war.”

  “What the fuck, Dante? How does one man, an underboss, start a war in the Sicilian Mafia?”

  “We’d be here all day if I tried to explain. Vessi Gallo wanted revenge on my grandfather. After Gallo spent a week torturing but failing to kill you, he became slightly crazed. My grandfather hadn’t sanctioned what Gallo had done to you. You were simply trying to acquire access to the port, but Gallo took it personally because my grandfather was going to allow it. That port has been controlled by Gallo’s family for generations. Yes, they controlled it for my grandfather, but it was their pride.”

  Dante took a deep breath, then spoke in a deep voice that resonated through Tobias’s office. “When the Axe Man discovered what he’d done to you, he cut Gallo off. This meant his entire family was considered il nemico…the enemy. You don’t piss off the Axe Man and think you can just say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry’—that’s just not the way shit works. He didn’t kill Gallo, and even my grandfather will tell you that was his first mistake. Gallo was, however, cut off by his entire family in their bid to placate the Axe Man. It hasn’t worked, because ultimately, that port belongs to me and it was never theirs to rule anyway. They were gatekeepers, at best, once my grandfather took control fifty years ago. Gallo has taken none of this well. His hope since Grandfather cut him out was to hurt him. This war could very well destroy the entire structure of the Five Families and the Sicilian Mafia. There will be a power vacuum now.”

  “Where do you fall into this, Dante?” Tobias asked warily.

  “Right in the middle,” Dante responded softly.

  “Goddamn it. He’s one crazy motherfucker. All the more reason for us to find him and dispose of him,” Tobias murmured.

  “You aren’t listening to me, Tobias. Gallo is the type of crazy that you cannot hunt. You have to hunker down and let him come for you. If you go after him, he will go deeper than you can imagine and he is perfectly content waiting years to enact his revenge—an MO we didn’t anticipate. Of course, we didn’t think he’d kill the head of one of the Five Families, either. You’ll need to hole up somewhere, protecting yourself and your wo
man, and you’ll have to wait for him. There’s no other way,” Dante said simply.

  “Fuck me,” Tobias whispered.

  How would he explain all of this to Ruthie? How would he keep her safe? This was his greatest fear—the very reason he’d pushed her away. He was poison. Nothing good came from her association with him, and now her very life was in danger.

  Tobias’s gut churned, the need for retribution a taste in his mouth. But on the heels of his fury was a deeper, more poignant realization that when this was over, he was going to have to push her away again. He wasn’t good for her. It was something he’d always known but tried to deny when she returned for him. Yet it didn’t matter that she was his reason for breathing, that she settled everything turbulent in his soul. He was going to have to let her go.

  Because if Gallo could happen, anything could, and he wouldn’t put her through this again. It would kill him. Hell, either way it was going to destroy him. Not be able to taste her every day for the rest of his life? He would rather die. Not be able to mark her flesh with his dominance? He would rather walk through hell. Not be able to love her and feel her loving him back? He’d rather feel Gallo’s knife every second of every day for the rest of his days.

  But it was better she was safe than dead or living in constant fear.

  He pushed his pain deep, took a deep breath, and got down to business. His first call was to Jeremiah. Tobias filled him in on everything and they planned. Jeremiah was going to take Daly up to Gainesville to hang out with Candace, and Finch was coming back to Atlanta with Jeremiah. Hoenig had agreed to do whatever was needed and Stanton was on board as well, wanting his own piece of payback. So it would be Hoenig, Stanton, Finch, Jeremiah, and Tobias protecting Ruthie and waiting for Gallo.

  Tobias was going to do exactly as Dante suggested. But he was damn well going to surround himself with armor as he sat and waited for the devil to show.

  Then he was going to kill him.

  Chapter 19

  Ruthie felt him long before he said anything. She’d been listening to an audiobook, one of her favorite romances, as she struggled to quiet her mind. She’d spent the entire day indoors, not painting, not doing much of anything except waiting for him to get home.