by Lucian Bane
If Winter warred with the same turmoil, she defeated it. Getting to that heaven as fast as possible was her goal and fuck if Bones could fight her on it. He let her set the pace, pressing his body into the eager arch of hers, obeying the vicious tug of her fingers on his hips, faster, deeper, harder. He wanted to see her, feel her but the meshing of their bodies suddenly surpassed his usual appetite and he entered that place, gasping in her neck as he thrust. Her tormented cries stabbed his mind and turned his strokes long and deep. He rolled his pelvis against hers, a hard, slow lick against her clit.
“Don’t stop!” she shrieked, raking her nails down his back.
Bones grunted and gasped, working his arms under her shoulders and locking her in his grip. That storm was barreling down, coming to tear him to pieces and he had to hold on to her. “Oh fuck,” he shot out, keeping his hips locked hard to hers. Bones bucked and flicked, forcing a steady friction on her pretty clit. She came apart in his arms, her frantic cries ordering Bones to follow her over that edge. He changed his strokes to fast and furious. Every slam of his cock jolted her right into his hands and he shoved her back down to meet the next slam. She pulled his hair and he went over that cliff with those roars struggling to tear out of him. He buried his mouth on her shoulder, filling it with her taut muscle. He bit down, hard enough to show her what the fuck she did to him and she answered with a growling scream. It was the perfect sound of opposites—shocked and victorious. He’d want to hear that again and again and again.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
Winter slowly became aware of a soft stroking on her arm. The heavy drape of Bones leg on hers came next then the feel of his cock on her thigh.
Judging by the weight on her eyelids, she’d only dozed. At realizing he was writing on her arm with his finger, she smiled. “Mmmm.”
“I’m writing you a love note while you sleep.”
“I feel that,” she smiled, turning toward him. “What is it?”
“Almost done.”
She smiled more as he drew on her skin. She focused on the design trying to figure it out. Felt like… an X.
Winter bolted up with a gasp, staring into dark eyes. “Oh God,” she whispered, suddenly shaking.
“You seem… not happy to see me,” he muttered, his eyes going somehow darker.
“I-I-I.” She swallowed at his slow head shaking. “Here I am in this gorgeous room. With my naked, Pretty Winter and her gorgeous, naked pussy all over my body and…” he gave her a confused brow “I don’t fucking remember it?”
Winter stared at him, her heart beginning to hammer at the civilized fury in his tone. She caught the sight of blood on his hand and gasped. The same second she became aware of burning. She jerked her fingers to the side of her neck, finding it sticky. “W-what…”
“I wanted to make my mark on you. It’s just a paper cut,” he dismissed. “I needed to establish some boundaries. Bones needs to know he’s not the only cock-blocker in town now.”
Terror made her breathless. “I-I thought you didn’t want him knowing?” She fingered her neck for any blood flow while he gave her a slow smile.
“I didn’t. But now that you’re here and able to help me get more accomplished, I don’t think it actually matters if he knows. Especially now that he seems to have ‘come’ around. Turned a corner with you. Went from hating the fuck out of you to this, in the span of eight hours.”
Her brain raced for escape routes should she need to. She didn’t move her gaze from his. He was like a predator, watching her eyes. She needed to put out his fire.
Ever so slowly she squinted her eyes at him. “Are you fucking for real?” she asked, touching along her neck. “Is there a dog collar here that makes me your slave? You don’t own me. And I’ll tell you something else,” she pointed at him. “You fucking ever cut me again, I will have your fucking ass tied nice and TIGHT when you wake up from your little nap.” She fought to hold her cool while staring him down, going for the kill. “Bones and I had a nice little talk,” she said with a nod. “And we damn well made amends.”
He launched at her so fast she didn’t have time to think, slamming her face down into the mattress. “It’d be hard to tie me up if you didn’t wake up in the morning, wouldn’t it?” he grit at her ear, his knee on her spine.
She struggled to breathe, fighting her panic. “You kill me and Bones will have himself committed to a grave,” she strained. “Eternal lock down for you then.”
“Ohhhh,” he said lustily, sliding his hand down her ass and yanking her leg open. She resisted her instincts to fight, knowing it would hurt more if he forced her. “That’s heavy,” he whispered, sliding her open with his knees and moving her arms above her head, holding them with iron fingers. “And to think I had missed you. Thought you and I were going to get along.”
She clenched her eyes and jaw at the idea he’d dare force her like this. “So did I,” she grunted. “But you fucked that up by waking me up the wrong way!” she spat into the bed.
Her heart hammered as she braced for what he’d do. His finger toyed at her entrance. “Still wet, I see.” He thrust in deep and she gasped. “Nice tight grip,” he said as though assessing his effect on her.
“Reflexes you bastard,” she seethed, jerking and screaming against his hold, not caring if it hurt now. The tension in his body began to gradually lessen. He put his mouth on her ear. “You’re right,” he whispered. “How ill-fucking-mannered.” The lament sounded agonized as he inserted another finger in her as he slid his mouth along her face. “Can I confess… that waking up and seeing you so happily fucked by another… made me insane with jealousy?”
She fought the overwhelming feel of his fingers, ramming deep and fast, the wet sounds and the eager press of his cock on her leg. She clenched the covers tight, growling in fury.
He suddenly lifted off of her and flopped onto his back on the bed with a huff. Like they’d just had a little spat and he was annoyed.
Winter barely lifted her head, glancing at the clearly unstable threat, laying there while her heart hammered in fear and her body screamed in response to what he’d done. Thank God it wasn’t arousal, it was more of a numb buzzing. She reminded herself that this was Bones. A part of him. A very angry part of him? This was X. And X was a large piece to the puzzle.
She slowly turned onto her side and propped her hand on her head, fighting to strike the same casual disposition. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be doing this with you two?”
“None,” he said, staring at the ceiling.
“And you don’t care, clearly.” She rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling with him.
“I have my agenda, Pretty Winter. Forgive me for seeming… detached,” he muttered, sounding mildly pissed still.
She turned her head to him. “You know X, there’s detached… and then there’s being an ass. And then there’s being a psycho,” she said before looking back at the ceiling. “I want to help but a little sensitivity to my own shit would be nice. You don’t know what I’ve been through,” she finished in a mutter.
“I need a fucking cigarette,” he mumbled with another sigh.
She glanced at him. “You smoke?”
“I smoke, I drink, I pop pills, I snort, I shoot, you name it, I do it only I don’t.”
She raised her brows. “That’s a lot of nasty habits. That you do but don’t do.”
He rolled his eyes before angling them at her. “I guess it’s time you fucking meet Z,” he said, sounding not happy about that.
Winter waited for him to elaborate while wondering who or what the hell was Z. When he didn’t go on, she probed. “And Z is…the name of your right hook? The pipe you use to kill people? Your pet?”
X turned on his side and faced her with a grin. “Now see… then you say things like that and… it makes me want to kill Bones.”
Her heart hammered at how he possibly could and how casually he said it. “Why?”
“To have you all to myself,” h
e cried lightly, like she was being dense. “He can’t possibly appreciate you like I would.”
She bit her tongue on how different Bones was and how he didn’t know him like he thought. “You and I have business and you need to accept that Bones is in the picture.”
He stared at her until she slowly tensed. He returned to lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. “Z is a friend. Who funds my operations. Ensures that any messes I might make get cleaned up.”
She fought to remain casual at that news and angled her head at him. “And?”
“And he’ll know what I need to do with you.”
“With me.”
“How to kill you and properly dispose of the evidence.” He turned his head to her and busted out laughing. “God your face,” he muttered back to staring at the ceiling. “I would never hurt you,” he added, sounding almost offended that she would think that. “Beyond a paper cut.”
Something tugged inside her chest at hearing it. Sadness? Longing?
Great. Either might be harder to deal with than psychotic rage. She wasn’t convinced he wasn’t lying right to her face either.
Maybe once she figured out where X came from, she’d know how to dismantle the ticking time bomb he seemed to represent. She realized something he’d said. “So are you telling me you want Bones to know about you?”
“Fuck, I don’t care,” he muttered.
“What if he does something to prevent… whatever you need to do?”
“He won’t,” he said way too confidently before glancing at her. “Because you won’t let him,” he said, seeing she waited for him to explain.
“What if he doesn’t listen?”
“He will.”
She got on her side now, getting nervous as she considered how Bones would react. “Do you realize that Bones may be as jealous as you are?”
“Not possible,” he muttered.
“Ohhh,” she sat up, realizing her mistake when his gaze locked on her breasts. “He is worse, maybe.” It was like her breasts had hypnotized him. She crossed her arms over them. “Hello, this is important.”
His brows drew together. “No fucking way.”
“I’m telling you, he is.”
“I mean your breasts are far more important than Bonesy’s tantrums. Let me see them.”
“X. I thought we were going to talk business?”
“And then you sat up.”
She laid back down, pulling the sheet over her.
He rolled, putting his leg over her body and grinning down at her. “Just one taste.”
“You won’t stop at one taste!” she cried, getting breathless and worried about where this was going.
“I will do my best, honest to God,” he assured, like that was enough.
“What happened to our deal? One clue, one…” She watched his smile fill his face as she worked herself into a corner.
“Favor for favor.”
“I don’t think that was the deal,” she argued, holding the sheet tighter when his gaze lowered to her chest.
“I remember it clearly. Did I mention I have a photographic memory?”
“That’s Bones!”
“Yes,” he laughed lightly, aiming those dark eyes at her. “And me.”
She fought her panic as she searched her memory about their agreement, her body running into all the wrong ones. “You didn’t tell me that.”
He stared down into her eyes. “I didn’t tell you so many things, Pretty Winter. But what I said to you, that night when we struck our deal? Went exactly like this. I’ll start where I whispered right next to your mouth. ‘I can see what they like about you. Would you suck my cock for information? To help them?’
And you said, ‘Oh God,’” he smiled biting his lower lip. “So fucking sexy the way you whimpered that. And then your mind got busy, turning all the possibilities around before you gave me the exact answer I wanted. The one that decided everything. You said, ‘Probably.’
“That’s not a yes,” she whispered.
“And then,” he went on, holding up a finger. “I kissed you. And I told you that I liked you. I then demonstrated my appreciation by giving you your first interesting bit of information.”
“Which was lousy.”
“We already covered the technical definition of a clue,” he countered. “And then I asked if I could finger you while I told you. And you answered…” his brows drew together as his eyes rolled closed in agony. “You answered ‘yes’ with those whimpers.”
“That’s not a yes,” she gasped, fighting her body from reliving the fucking moment.
“And then I reached under the covers,” he went on, ruthless. “I said ‘Yes or no?’ giving you a chance to say no. And what did you say as I pushed your legs open and stroked your dripping slit? What did you say when I thrust my finger deep inside you? You fucking moaned and met my finger with an eager push. And I said, ‘that’s a definite yes.” To which you gave more of those yes moans. I fingered you with one finger, then two, then three. I scratched your wet clit and you… opened… wider for me.” He gave a long, low, hiss. “You were silently screaming for it and I was there. Answering you. Not Jesus, not Bones, not Reginald. Me. X. That’s who fingered your pussy till you came so fucking perfectly. Remember? Now,” he said, evenly. “I’m ready for you to honor that agreement.”
She gripped the sheet tighter as he pulled at it. “Fine, I’ll give you names and information.”
“Good, I love when you talk during orgasm.”
“X,” she gasped. “L-let me at least shower.”
“Perfect.” He hopped up on his knees and held his hand out to her. “Shower, fuck, and talk. Three birds with one stone.”
God she was burying herself! “Not in the shower!”
“Why?” he wondered, exasperation hinting.
“Because… I…”
His face turned instantly pissed. “Why the fuck are you fighting me? Is it not bad enough I have to share you with another man who has you all day? Who treated you like shit, I might add and don’t you dare defend him, so help me God,” he grit, pointing at her.
His cock swung in her peripheral vision and she blinked rapidly against the need to lower her eyes.
“I wasn’t going to,” she said, sitting up and holding the sheet to her.
“I’ll give you any answer to a question you ask, no clues. Solid answer,” he swore.
God, he wasn’t going to give up.
Her mind raced, feeling like she was in another fucking chess game again, one move away from checkmate. There had to be a way to avoid this. Something. Maybe she could say you’ll have to rape it from me. Rape wouldn’t be her fault. Except asking for it made her guilty. “A… solid answer?”
“So fucking rock hard solid,” he assured, grabbing his cock in both hands like it were his toy sword. “I’ll even let you pick how I make you orgasm.”
“God, stop,” she whispered, rubbing her temples and trying to think. She snatched the sheet when it began to fall.
He grinned. “I know how hard it is to focus when your body is remembering what I did to you last time. On the desk? Fuck, I’ll never forget it.”
She shot up from the bed, yanking the sheet with her. “I can’t think!” she cried exasperated. Bones would hate her. No doubt about it. Could she reason with him? That was it. “Let me talk to him first. Reason with him. Explain our arrangement?”
He shot out a laugh, still holding his cock with both hands. “He’s finding out anyway. Z had plans to call him. Eventually.”
He was hiding something about that. She saw it. “Why is he calling?”
“Well eventually, he’ll need to be clued in on the operation. And I doubt me leaving him notes is a way to obtain his cooperation.”
“Cooperation with what?”
“Not your concern,” he reminded lightly.
“But it is,” she said. “I’m guessing my cooperation will be needed as well?”
Both his shoulders raised with cl
ueless wide eyes. “Hell if I know, I work for Z. I trust him to handle the protocol particulars.”
“All I know is Bones is going to flip when he learns about you and our arrangement!”
He slowly angled suspicious eyes on her. “Didn’t you think of that before? What did you tell yourself the first time around when you agreed to our arrangement?”
She thought about that with her mouth hanging open. “I… was thinking…” He rolled his hands, urging it out of her. Shit! She’d thought whatever it took to help him. “That was before we made up, I had nothing to lose!”
He drew back, faking confusion. “So… you didn’t really want to help him, you just wanted him?”
“No,” she shot out, “I did. Do. Still do, just… I have to protect him too; he’s put his trust in me. I didn’t have that before. If I violate that, he’ll hate me and be crushed. God, you want that!” she realized.
He threw his head back and laughed, clapping. “Look at you. Catching on.”
She couldn’t do it. Panic began to creep in at the edges of her mind. Because worse than Bones hating her was how hurt and betrayed he’d feel. She considered running. She was naked. So fucking what? It was better than the alternative. She considered the bathroom. Could he bust that door down? Would he? What else could she stall with? What question could she ask to make this worth crushing Bones? Not a damn one!
She pressed the heel of her hand to her eyes. “Great!” she gasped.
“What?” he asked, guarded.
“You’ve brought on one of my fucking migraines. I need my medicine.”
“Ohhhh, Pretty Winter,” he warned lowly. “Don’t. Fuck. With me.”
The threat in his tone was real. “I’m not lying.”
“God are you fucking kidding me?” he asked, pissed. “You like him that much you’d fake a migraine?”