Body of the Crime (Blackest Gold Series Book 2)

by R. Scarlett

  Her wet eyes blinked back at him and he caved. He’d do anything for her. He leaned down and kissed Lex’s temple before leaving the room.

  On the way, Tensley stopped in the kitchen and had a sandwich and salad made to bring her in case she was hungry.

  Tensley carried the tray of food down the hallway and stood outside his office door, calming himself. His beast still raged, determined to heal its injured, brave mate.

  With a deep breath, he opened the door, marched inside, and found her standing by the window.

  She turned when she heard the door and smiled softly, but he still saw the bruises lining her jaw and a few scratches on her cheeks and button nose. His beast roared.

  When he felt the heat of his eyes turning black, he hissed out a breath and balled his hands, reining himself in.

  “Come here, dolcezza.” He moved forward and grasped her by the shoulders, drawing her closer.

  She settled against his frame, sighing into his chest. “How’s Lex?”

  He hummed. “She’ll be okay, just needs rest.” He paused, his thumb rubbing along Molly’s spine. “You saved her, Molly.”

  Molly shook her head gently. After a long silence, she said, “You brought me food?”

  When she giggled, he laughed, their bodies vibrating together. “I’m going to take care of you.”

  “I like the idea of you taking care of me,” she whispered, toying with his shirt buttons like a calming, nervous habit.

  He definitely liked the idea of taking care of her, providing for her, protecting her, and giving her everything she wanted.

  “You need to eat, darling,” he said, kissing her bruised temple. “Come on.” He let go and moved to his desk, setting the tray down on top of a few files. “So do I.”

  When he looked down, he saw Molly studying him, a feral, desirous glint in her gorgeous eyes.

  Molly wanted the man before he—not just because of his seductive eyes and bee-stung lips, his strong, muscular build, or his husky, accented voice.

  She knew how tender the beast could be, just how savage the man could be—and she wanted both sides.

  Tensley placed the tray of food on his desk, moving a few things so they could sit and eat.

  But she ached to quell a different hunger first.

  “Tensley?” Molly said, grinning as he looked over his shoulder. She played with the first few buttons of her blouse, popping each one open as his eyes slid there.

  “Molly, as much as I want you right now, it’s not a good idea. I need to heal your wounds first,” he told her, steeling his features.

  “You can do it at the same time,” Molly said, gliding nearer.

  “Molly,” Tensley started, but she pressed herself against his form and lifted two fingers to touch his bottom lip.

  “Shh,” she whispered, stealing a soft kiss from his parted mouth. After another peck, he kissed her back.

  “You have too much control over me,” he muttered as he cupped her hips, bringing them flush against each other. He kissed her mouth, traveling upward behind her ear, down her pulsing jugular. “I’ll be gentle.”

  She shook her head. “You’re not going to hurt me. I’m fine.”

  He kissed her again, sucking in her bottom lip.

  She pressed her hands to his chest, halting him. “I want to taste you first,” she said, one hand clumsily stroking his hardness through his suit pants.

  His calloused fingers slid along her smooth, ivory cheek and back into her blonde hair. “Is that so?”

  She tugged him by the lapels of his jacket and sat down on his leather sofa. As her hand went for his belt, he tsked. He moved his hand around to the back of her head, knitting his fingers through her blonde hair as he took hold. Then the pressure started as he pushed downward, his free hand going to his waist to undo the zipper of his pants.

  One dainty hand on his thigh, the other going for his length as he let the thick, growing shaft loose.

  Her breathing grew more labored, but she licked her full lips and then licked the tip of his crown, her eyes flitting up to his as she did so. She wrapped her mouth around the head and sucked before slowly teasing her way down to the two heavy sacs below. He grew rock solid in no time, and his cock swelled to stretch her lips raw. It hurt, but she wasn’t giving up. She began to work him with her mouth, setting her own pace as she acclimated to his size. Molly grinned around his cock when she heard his throaty groan of appreciation.

  “That’s a good girl,” Tensley said, guiding her up and down as his breathing quickened.

  Her nails dug deep into his thigh and an airy moan escaped her.

  She watched him tug at his bottom lip, biting back another moan.

  “Just starting, sweetheart,” he said with a husky roar, grasping her by her shoulders. With a grunt and a lift, he maneuvered them to his desk and spread her legs so he could stand between them.

  “Tensley,” she panted, yanking at his belt.

  When his fingers found her wet sex, he glanced up at her. “You’re not wearing panties,” he hissed, and she smiled back at him. “Fuck!” He cursed again and spread her lips, bending his legs to take her again.

  Right there.

  On his desk.

  He cupped her mouth when she grew too loud, penetrating her with his gaze as he slowly moved within her.

  “Do you want me, Molly? All of me, man and beast?” he asked gruffly.

  She nodded against his palm, rotated her hips against his. “Yes.”

  Tensley squeezed his eyes shut and leaned down to latch his mouth onto her neck, to taste her flesh and his mark, his collar. She gasped when he hit a tender spot that made her back bend slightly to his will then hooked her arms around his neck. “You’re mine.” He crushed his lips together.

  He moved deep, swiveling in slow, tortuous circles. Every moan she released, he ate, devoured and swallowed, his speed increasing as she fed him.

  “You make me so strong,” he hissed, and she couldn’t deny it. The change in his physical form, the dominating presence that grew when she gave him a kiss, a touch, herself—she was his power, his cure, his poison, and it thrilled her.

  She hoped no one could hear her sighs, his grunts, or the banging of the desk out in the hallway.

  “Fuck!” His fingers bit into her hips, halting her from moving. “Don’t move or I’ll come inside you.”

  “I’m on the pill, remember?”

  “Are you sure?” he asked, his eyes piercing hers. He wouldn’t put her in harm’s way. He’d protect her.

  “I’m sure. It’s safe,” she whispered.

  He plunged deep, slow and powerful, his hands rubbing into her hot skin. His stormy eyes focused on where they were connected, slowly moving up to her bouncing breasts, to her flushed face. Those hungry eyes didn’t part from hers. He placed damp kisses along her chest and face, and she could feel his energy rising, heightening to a power she’d never felt from him before.

  She wanted to be his strength.

  She wanted to be his cure.

  At that single thought, she reached out, tracing the left side of his chest so she might feel the rhythmic thump beneath her hand.

  She wanted all of him.

  Including his iron heart.

  She stole a glance at him, breathless and full, and his eyes transformed to a thrilling obsidian as he struck, hard—over and over and over—until she fell into his beautiful hell.

  Molly’s back curved as her walls constricted around his massive, throbbing length, pulling him in deeper. His forehead met hers and soon he tensed, baring his teeth.

  “Fuck, sweetheart,” he hissed as he exploded, coming undone around her. She felt the warm ropes deep within her. She shook, watching him come undone. For a moment, he hovered over her, staring at her rosy cheeks.

  “Um…” Molly smiled. “Do you have a towel?”

  A smile cracked his lips. “I quite like this,” he said, skimming where his fluids streamed down her inner thigh. He stood up, grabbi
ng the tissue box from his desk and helping her stand to clean up.

  “Thanks,” she said when they were done, rolling her skirt down and accidentally knocking some files to the floor. “Oops, sorry about that,” she said, bending to pick up the scattered papers.

  “No worries.” He zipped his pants and crouched to help her gather them, but when Molly picked up a photo of a familiar-looking man with strawberry blond hair, she stilled.

  She stood on wobbly legs and gripped his desk.

  “Molly?” Tensley’s warm hand stroked her chilled cheek again, but it didn’t bring comfort. All the blood left her head and rushed to restart her heart.

  “Who is that?” she asked, gripping the photograph so tightly it creased.

  Tensley’s brow wrinkled. “Gabel Eastwood—he’s a member of Scorpios. I grew up with him, and we were close as boys. He’s gone missing. We think the hunters got him, too.”

  Molly squeezed her eyes shut in pain. She could see it vividly, the dark tattoo stretched across his forearm—a scorpion, arched for battle, stinger posed.

  She had killed him.

  She had killed Tensley’s friend.

  Oh god.

  “Molly.” He slid his palms up to her face, forcing her to meet his narrowed eyes. “What is it? Tell me.”

  If she did tell him, what would he do? Everything they’d worked through might be destroyed. Her hand shot to his chest, roaming over that iron heart. It was so close she could hold it. She did hold it.

  She couldn’t, wouldn’t lie to him. She wouldn’t hide this from him. He deserved to hear the truth, because this had been his friend.

  She would tell him, even if she knew it would feel like she was stabbing him all over again, losing his trust completely.

  Her hands shook; he had to understand who she’d been at the time, how lost and confusing it had all felt in the beginning.

  Her throat grew painfully tight as she choked on the words, vision blurring.

  Please forgive me.

  “I killed him.”

  Tensley stared at the blonde vixen, her bottom lip trembling as his entire body stiffened at her words.

  She.

  Killed.

  Gabel.

  Tensley’s entire world came to a screeching halt. She… He couldn’t believe it. This couldn’t be. It had to be a mistake.

  He broke eye contact. If he spoke too soon, he’d regret it. He dropped his hands and stepped back, glaring at the scattered confidential papers she had seen. He zipped his pants up and tucked his white shirt back in.

  He took a painful breath. “Did he threaten you?” he finally asked, dragging his gaze up to meet hers, the words so cold, they felt like ice as they scratched their way up his throat.

  Molly’s throat bobbed deeply. “He attacked me.”

  Tensley frowned; Gabel would never do such a thing. “Why?”

  “The hunters had him,” she answered, voice so soft he could barely hear it.

  The hunters had taken Gabel—back when she was still part of their group.

  “Tensley.” Her voice wobbled, and so did his world. “Say something! That was before—I’m not like that anymore, you saw!”

  Shock ate at him.

  No. She couldn’t have.

  The woman who stood before him couldn’t have wronged him again. She couldn’t have wronged Scorpios—his family, his loyalty, his blood.

  “Anything.” Molly’s voice sounded painful. “Please.”

  Control. Control. Control.

  Fuck. This was why he had kept her at a distance, to prevent something like this. To protect himself from indulging in a fantasy of intimacy beyond the body.

  Remember, she is the same fucking woman who plunged a dagger in your back.

  He shook his head once. He couldn’t think straight, not with her there, not with her voice calling to him like a damn siren.

  He steeled himself and Molly’s shoulders inched up, her eyes widening, a wall forming between him and the daemon, his demon side coming to the forefront.

  He was sending off a warning to her body, releasing aggressive pheromones that sent her fight-or-flight response racing.

  “I think it’s best if you leave,” Tensley said thickly.

  She huffed out a long, pained breath laced with unwept tears and ache, rubbing her hands together anxiously. He saw her eye him, could see her fingers rubbing together, wanting to fight, to argue, to say something.

  “It was self-defense, Tensley,” she said, her powerful eyes challenging his.

  “Then tell me what happened,” he hissed out, the pheromones beating against her skin so much that he saw her wince and instantly regretted his uncontrollable rage. “Convince me, because I want to believe you were justified.”

  She stiffened, but didn’t back down. “I was with the hunters.”

  He growled.

  “They were showing me what they did and he—Gabel—” She cringed at the name. “He’d been in a tomb for weeks, and they released him to chase. It was a game to them, sick, but I thought he was going to kill me! He looked like he was going to kill me!”

  He saw red. His hands shook. “But were you sure? Were you sure he was going to?”

  Molly stared at him, her vivid eyes glowing. “No, I’m not sure, but it was self-defense. He wasn’t acting right.”

  “Because they’d been torturing him!” Tensley said, his ragged breaths filling the room. “They were torturing him, cutting off his only source of strength, letting him to get to the point of insanity so they could hunt him like a beast.”

  “I regret killing him,” she whispered, her powerful eyes downcast. “But I don’t regret defending myself.”

  They were at a standstill. He wanted to protect her, but he had to protect his people, his Scorpios, and his blood. All the trust formed between him and Molly was fractured. He couldn’t trust her. She had stabbed him in the back and now she had killed one of his men. Would he be able to sleep next to someone who could possibly do it again?

  “Goddammit, Molly,” Tensley cried out, a coldness creeping from his chest and radiating out to his extremities.

  Her lips parted, a breath puncturing the air, but she sucked it back and turned.

  When the door shut, Tensley stood behind his desk. A heavy pain weighed in his chest, his stomach and arms—a coldness that crept from nowhere and left him numb.

  “Molly,” he hissed. “Goddammit!”

  His fists curled and his nostrils flared.

  If anyone found out, if anyone from Scorpios found out what she’d done…they might kill her for treason.

  MOLLY COULDN’T STOP moving. For the past four days, she’d kept busy every moment—reading her books for the semester, brushing up on her French, putting all her time and effort into the museum—anything to avoid thinking about Tensley’s broken gaze watching her, the way his voice had broken and grown harsh the next instant, to avoid replaying what she’d done to his dear friend a month ago.

  You killed his friend.

  In self-defense, the tiny voice whispered back.

  Molly cringed as she walked alongside one of her own friends, someone Tensley had helped to save. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on Molly; she was a “good” human girl who’d murdered his friend in cold blood, while he was a demon who’d saved those dearest to her on multiple occasions.

  “Having a nice lunch will make you feel better,” Stella said as she knocked on Tina’s townhouse door. She turned to face Molly. “Whatever happened between you and Tensley will blow over. You’ll be nailing him come Sunday.”

  “I’m not sure about that,” Molly mumbled. Stella didn’t know the truth, of course, the extent of Molly’s betrayal.

  Tina’s iron door swung open and both of them laid eyes on the last person they expected to see there.

  “Pearce?” Molly seethed.

  Stella took a step behind Molly, gawking at the large man.

  Pearce pursed his lips. “Huh, the girl said friends wer
e coming. Just didn’t expect you.” He winked at Molly. “The daemon.”

  “The what?” Stella asked from behind her.

  “Baby—oh hey!” Tina appeared around Pearce, a shaky smile coming to her lips at the sight of her two friends. “I thought you guys were coming at noon.”

  “You know how Molly is,” Stella said, her voice cool and dull. “Always punctual.”

  “Ahh,” Tina said, wringing her hands. “He was just leaving.”

  “Oh c’mon, sweetcheeks,” Pearce sung, the snap of him smacking her ass ringing in the air. Molly gritted her teeth as Tina gasped, jumping slightly. “I can help you host.”

  Pearce stroked her cheek and she slowly turned to face him. It was then that Molly caught the tingle in the air, the scent of pheromones—pheromones Pearce was using to manipulate Tina.

  “Pearce,” Molly said in a tone laced with warning.

  Pearce glanced at Molly with a lifted brow. “Hmm?”

  “A word.” She nodded her head to the sidewalk and spun, listening to make sure his heavy footfalls followed.

  When they were a good distance from the girls, Molly faced him. She wanted to shove Pearce, to use the full force of her powers on him, but her friends were watching.

  “Stay away from those girls,” she hissed, eyes taking on a daemon glow.

  Pearce lost his cocky smile but remained calm. “I’m a demon, sweetcheeks. We take what we want, when we want—like I’m sure Tensley did with you.”

  She ached to slap that smug look off his face. “I’m warning you, Pearce. I may seem innocent, but I’ll make you regret ever having met me if you hurt her.”

  A dangerous glint lit behind his eyes. “You know how many powerful hands would love to squeeze you?”

  Molly’s hands fisted, but she made sure to keep her expression impassive. “And I’ll break every single finger of those powerful hands if they try anything.”

  Pearce laughed heartily. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, daemon.” He brushed past her and she drank in deep, even breaths before approaching Tina’s brownstone and meeting the girls on the steps.

  “What did you say to him?” Tina asked as Molly moved into the front entry.

  “I told him to stay away,” she admitted.