Arrested by Love

by Virna DePaul

  The room had cleared out; only three other people remained. He’d hurriedly washed off in the dingy adjoining bathroom, but shock still reverberated through his system. Claire stared back at him with a mixture of defiance and fear. And yes, even though she was obviously trying to hide it, arousal was there, too. It was as if she knew he’d been thinking of her when he’d come. He’d bet his pension that she was wet, and for a brief moment he actually forgot the fucked-up situation they were in. His mouth watered at the thought of spearing her flesh with his tongue and lapping her sweet womanly juice. Meanwhile, his dick jerked at the realization that seeing him being blown by another woman had turned her on. He’d suspected Claire had a kinky side when they’d met, but she’d been so determined not to lose control, he’d convinced himself he’d imagined it. Now he knew he hadn’t.

  With extreme effort, he broke eye contact with her to face Jed. He cocked a brow and leaned farther back in his chair, knees splayed wide. “So what’s this about? I was just getting started,” he grumbled.

  Jed grinned. “I’m giving you an initiation bonus. She’s yours.”

  Ty didn’t so much as glance at Claire, but he couldn’t help it—his cock hardened even more at the thought of her being “his.” Of being able to do anything and everything he wanted to her—like give her a screaming orgasm no matter how much she fought it. Forcing her to lose control and give him everything she had, just as he’d urged her on that night. Everything she was. The good and the bad. Her soft, clean innocence as well as her dark, sultry, down-and-dirty side that he’d instinctively known was there.

  Immediately, his mind zoomed back to the night three months ago when he’d walked her to her door and kissed her goodnight. Hell, he’d done more than just kiss her lips. He’d dived straight into heaven for a hot-and-heavy make-out session that had haunted his dreams. He’d acquainted himself with her body—her lush curves, her slick secrets, the hitch in her breath and the pitch of her moans when he hit a particularly sensitive spot.

  She’d especially liked it when he talked to her. His voice in her ear had had the power to make her pussy clench around his fingers as if it was trying to suck him inside her. When he’d started to talk dirty, she’d clawed his back in her excitement—right until she’d booted him out.

  He hadn’t seen her since.

  Now here she was, obviously under duress, a prisoner of the very gang Luke and Ty and every other cop in the city were trying to bring down.

  Given the circumstances, his hard-on should have made him feel like shit, but he had more important things to worry about right now.

  Like surviving the mess this sting had become.

  Like making sure Claire survived unscathed.

  And rerouting the blood from his dick back to the other parts of his body before it busted through the zipper of his jeans and leaped in her direction. For a second, he stared at her. Considered giving her what she so clearly craved—the cover of duress so she could lose herself in her desires without any guilt.

  But he couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t. There was no way he could be absolutely certain it was what she wanted, and even if it was, she’d use it to push him away afterward. He’d already vowed to see her again after this sting was over. He wasn’t going to give her any ammo to keep him at arm’s length.

  Standing, he strode to Jed, his movements smooth and unconcerned. “I didn’t realize the terms of my initiation had changed.”

  Jed clasped a hand on his shoulder and nodded. “You’re going to be one of us, brother. Provided you do what has to be done. Tonight.”

  Ty’s stomach tightened at the way Jed’s gaze moved over his shoulder, landing on Claire in an appreciative glance that suddenly had his nerves dancing a jig.

  Shit.

  He tried to look bored instead of grim. “So who the fuck is she?”

  “A reporter who was warned to stop sticking her nose into Guardian business. She didn’t listen. So now it’s your turn to persuade her. By being friendly, of course.”

  Ty smirked and nodded despite the turmoil inside him.

  There’s nothing friendly about rape, you motherfucker.

  Nothing he’d read or seen about Jed indicated he’d allow an unconsenting woman—even one who’d stuck her nose into Guardian business—to be raped in his presence. In fact, something about the man’s affiliation with the gang seemed off. He and Luke had even considered approaching Jed to turn state’s witness, but had decided the move was premature. Obviously, that had been the wise choice, given where Jed seemed to be heading.

  Behind him, Ty heard Claire’s renewed struggle in objection to Jed’s words. Suddenly, she gasped and stopped fighting. Obviously Tom, the big brute restraining her, had something to do with that.

  Where the hell was Luke? If things got ugly, he’d need his partner to back him up. It would mean both their covers would be blown, but together they’d have a better chance of actually getting Claire out of here safely.

  Deliberately, he kept his gaze off her. Off Tom, the man whose fingers he wanted to break one by one for daring to touch her. “I made my choice, and Brea’s been doing just fine.”

  Jed scowled. “This one will be more fun to watch.”

  Imagining Claire bare and beneath him while others watched would have been a turn-on under different circumstances; imagining it here, with these men watching and with real fear darkening her eyes, made nausea roll through Ty’s stomach. “No,” he gritted out.

  “You’re refusing a senior member’s orders?”

  A tense silence stretched between them and Ty bit back a curse. He forced himself to turn and meet Claire’s gaze directly.

  He’d already shown Jed he wasn’t a man to kowtow to others, but they were talking about his initiation into one of the city’s biggest, baddest, and most elusive gangs. To get inside, to be able to stop the insidious drug crimes the gang perpetrated, and to avenge his friend Paul, who’d been killed during a drug raid gone bad, Ty had sacrificed months of his life. Hell, he’d even let them tat him with an obnoxious fire-encased skull and crossbones on his left forearm.

  And yes, he was okay with screwing a willing woman in front of the gang and letting a brother or two join in. He wasn’t, however, going to let that woman be Claire. No chance in hell. Especially because the fear in her eyes was now overshadowing any hint of excitement. Claire might get turned on watching sex play, but obviously the idea of her being the evening’s entertainment for a bunch of gang members didn’t have the same effect. He turned back to Jed. “To prove my loyalty to the gang, I was ordered, by Brad, to shoot my seed inside a female of my choice in front of the brothers. I did it. I’m in. Your attempt to change the terms now is an insult. If you want, I’m more than happy to let Brea have another go.”

  Whatever Tom had done to restrain Claire minutes earlier still allowed her small gasp to be heard. Was Ty imagining hurt in the sound? Jealousy?

  “C’mon, man. What’s wrong with you? This bitch is hot.”

  Ty turned to face her again, but this time ran his gaze up and down her body. Hot was an understatement. With the bountiful curves of a ’50s pinup model, the bone structure of a goddess, and the lips of a porn star, she was a wet dream whether it was morning, noon, or night. Her breasts were heavy globes topped with what he knew were dark nipples that fit perfectly inside his mouth. She was also a workaholic with obviously more guts than good sense, and her tailored, buttoned-up clothes definitely screamed “repressed.”

  “She looks like she hasn’t been laid in a few years. I want to enjoy my initiation, not give a sex ed lesson.”

  That elicited a sound of fury from her. “You bastard—” Her response was cut off when Tom laughed and slapped his beefy hand over her mouth. Above it, however, her light green eyes lasered into him with the promise of retribution.

  He mentally shrugged. If she felt insulted, he’d accomplished his goal, but he’d still spoken the truth. She had admitted it had been a long time for her, and he hadn’t
doubted her. He still didn’t. The same wasn’t true for her reason for dumping him—their incompatible personalities and her busy work schedule. When he’d persisted, she’d told him his job was a turnoff for her. It was all bullshit. If the situation weren’t such a damn dangerous one, he would’ve actually enjoyed how the tables had turned.

  Knowing it was expected of him, he moved closer until he towered over her. Tom took his hand away from her mouth. Ty brushed his fingers across her cheek and leaned down until his nose touched hers. “Sorry if it disappoints you, baby, but I don’t do women who look like they don’t swallow let alone suck dick with expertise.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, then pressed her lips tightly together as if to hold back her retort. Too bad. He would have loved to hear her response. He had no doubt that when Claire Fullerton let herself go, she was a sight to behold—in bed and out.

  “Oh, she’ll swallow,” Jed said. “Suck, swallow, and any other damn thing we want her to do.”

  With one last piercing stare into Claire’s wide eyes, one he hoped but doubted would reassure her, Ty straightened. “Get her the hell out of here. I don’t want her.”

  He turned and started to walk away.

  “Then I’ll have her for myself. The bitch needs to be taught a lesson.”

  Ty froze at Jed’s words and closed his eyes. Fuck.

  This was bad. Very bad.

  Because no way was he letting anyone—be it Jed or the town’s most law-abiding citizen—touch her.

  He clenched his fists, wondering how he was going to take Tom and Jed down while keeping her out of harm’s way. He—

  “I don’t want you. I want him,” he heard from behind him.

  Claire.

  In disbelief, he slowly turned around.

  A wide grin split Tom’s face. With a side look at Jed, he shoved her toward Ty, who caught her as she stumbled into him, his fingers gently wrapping around her soft skin to steady her. “Don’t …” he muttered, wanting to warn her. Explain. Something.

  Claire swallowed hard, but the knowledge was already there in her eyes. Knowledge and determination. She knew what was going on. What was about to go down.

  He didn’t want her, however. Not like this.

  “I want you,” she whispered, her fingers suddenly lowering to the fly of his jeans. “Not him. Not—” Her voice broke. Her face was flushed, partially obscured by her fall of honey brown hair, and she was staring at his throat rather than his eyes. Her fingers were shaking, but she licked her lips and seemingly forced herself to say, “Please. I’ll do anything you want me to. Anything.” Slipping her hand inside his pants, she cupped him, rubbing through the material of his briefs. “J-just please don’t hurt me.”

  His eyes widened and his brain seemed to short circuit.

  Her plea at the end had sounded convincing, but the fear that had overwhelmed her minutes ago had ebbed. Her expression radiated desire and anticipation.

  And, damn, it blew his mind.

  It was like every fantasy he’d ever had come to life. He loved Claire’s prissy side. Her femininity. Ambition. Kindness. But to have all that and this, too? To know she wanted him so much that the danger of the situation wasn’t enough to dampen her arousal? His dick swelled to painful proportions, eagerly announcing it was ready, willing, and don’t-hold-me-back eager to give her what she wanted. She must have felt it, because her eyes dropped lower, and with a small whimper, she pushed her hand past the front placket of his briefs and gripped his cock.

  He closed his eyes and bit back a groan.

  In a flash, he envisioned her long bare legs wrapped around his hips. Her nipples in his mouth. His dick shoved deep inside her.

  His blood boiled and surged to his cock, making him grind his teeth at the combined pleasure and pain.

  Her breath hitched, causing his eyes to fly open.

  She was still looking down, and his gaze followed. Her small fingers didn’t quite fit around him. The pale, delicate digits contrasted so beautifully with his heavily-veined blood-infused organ that he wanted to get on his knees and beg her to never let go.

  Impossibly, she must have read his thoughts.

  That, or she’d decided in the face of his silence to press her advantage. Because as he stood there, so stunned that his brain had virtually shut down, she whispered, for his ears alone, “I want you to come in my mouth this time. Mine.”

  And then she fell to her knees before him.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Claire’s world had turned into a forbidden fantasy, one she’d never thought to make reality. The other men in the room vanished. Staring up into Ty’s shuttered brown eyes, she tried to see the real him underneath the trappings of his undercover disguise. Three months had brought many changes—all deliberate, of course. Whereas he’d always been clean-shaven, his jaw was now shadowed with stubble, his hair almost touching his shoulders. And instead of the pants and sweater he’d worn on their date, his jeans were decidedly more worn and his white tank revealed pumped muscles and a new tattoo that surprised her by its … obviousness.

  It was nothing like the Celtic knot on his biceps, which she’d loved the moment she’d seen it. Yet, the skull and crossbones definitely made him look overtly dangerous. Unlike Randall or the other man—who she was sure had left bruises on her arms—the air of danger only enhanced his good looks rather than make her leery of him.

  She knew she was in serious trouble. His body still called to hers, making her respond and long for his touch even more than before. It was why she’d ended things before they’d barely begun. She’d known how addictive he could become to her—how essential—and he was an honorable cop who dealt with darkness on the job. He didn’t need to deal with the dark, twisted needs that sometimes caused her to seek sex with … more …

  More danger.

  More thrills.

  Just … more.

  When she’d been younger, she’d let guilt guide her actions. She’d catered to the opinions of others, especially those of her first lover, who’d enjoyed ridiculing her for her desires or calling her a “bad girl” while he punished her in ways that hadn’t been arousing at all, but rather humiliating and painful. She’d learned her lesson. Knew that in order to protect herself and still satisfy her sexual needs, she had to keep her sexual assignations brief and casual.

  With Ty, she’d known immediately he wouldn’t settle for brief or casual. As for her part, she was too leery of the power he held over her to trust in anything long-term. Her feelings for him and their possible ramifications had seemed too complicated. So she’d run. Now here she was, literally thrust into his arms, with the perfect once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have him exactly the way she’d wanted him but had been too embarrassed to admit.

  His fingers wrapped gently around her arms to pull her up. Then he tried to push her away.

  No! She couldn’t let that happen. It didn’t matter how titillating it had been watching Randall screw the woman outside. She wouldn’t risk Randall touching her. It was Ty she wanted. And, she added honestly, she wouldn’t risk letting another woman touch him again. She wouldn’t give up this chance.

  Not even if it meant nothing to him. Not even if it was just a way for him to keep the gang’s trust. Reluctantly abandoning the straining flesh in his pants, she wrapped her arms around his neck and desperately mashed her lips against his mouth.

  His lips remained hard. Closed. She licked the seam, begging him to allow her entry, breathing in his scent as she did so. “Please,” she whispered when he remained motionless. “Kiss me.”

  This time, as she pressed her lips against his, he groaned and the hands holding her arms lowered to cup her hips, pulling her into his bulging erection. She rejoiced in his response. He’d been going to reject her out of a misplaced sense of honor, but his body couldn’t lie. He still wanted her.

  Yet this kiss was no gentle seduction. No heated claiming either. It was a show for those watching. And possibly a message for her. Because
with his hands still gripping her hips, he backed her up to slam her against a wall, pressing his body into hers while his mouth ate at her and his hips thrust crudely. She didn’t fight him, just tried to hold on for dear life. He ripped his mouth from hers. “So you want me to fuck you while my brothers watch? Are you that hard up?”

  “I—I want you,” she whispered, trying to get through to him.

  “Well, I don’t want you.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “The bulge against my stomach tells me different.”

  The men in the room hooted.

  He lowered his head to kiss her throat and nip her ear, whispering, “Stop this. I’ll get you out.” She gasped when he nipped her ear again. Harder.

  Her gaze sought his, but then she shook her head. “Get me off instead,” she whispered.

  He looked surprised.

  “Looks like she’ll give you what you want, brother. What’s your answer?” Randall pressed. “Is she going to get you, or am I going to give her what she deserves?”

  In the periphery, she sensed bodies reentering the room. Claire kept her gaze steady, her sole focus on him and him alone.

  “Fine,” he finally said. “I’ll give her what she’s got coming to her. And a whole lot more.”

  Even though she’d had her hands all over him, even though she’d been begging him, Ty was still surprised that he’d given in. He told himself that this couldn’t be happening. That Claire didn’t really want to go down on him in this trashy warehouse with a bunch of druggies and parolees watching it happen. That she was just scared. Afraid he wouldn’t help her because she’d—

  He hissed when her fingers dragged down his jeans, his briefs along with them. Her gaze immediately honed in on his cock, which bobbed in front of her face with the enthusiasm of a stallion at a racetrack starting gate. A drop of pre-cum oozed out of the slit as he watched and—damn!—she ran the tip of her tongue over her lips as if her mouth was watering to lick it off.