by Sylvia Day
Colin shook his head and looked at her, then back to the road. “The obvious aside, why you?”
Sophia smiled at the compliment. “The Gilletti family needed a front to launder their dirty money. My father’s investment firm was the perfect foil.”
“You’re a brave daughter, Sophia. How did your folks take the news?”
“It was one of those ‘should I jump with joy or cry in misery?’ moments. It didn’t matter. While my father vacillated about taking a bullet for me, I didn’t. They died last year within three months of each other. So with no worries Angelo would hurt them, I took off. Little did I know, I could never really leave.”
“You did leave, and I swear to you, he won’t get near you ever again.”
“Because of me, that poor man in Placerville is most likely dead. The maid has a broken nose, and God only knows what will happen to Ruby.”
Colin grinned. “My money’s on Ruby. She’s got a shotgun under that counter aimed right at their balls.”
“Why was she so helpful?” Sophia asked, hating herself for sounding jealous.
Colin grinned. “Oh, I had something she wanted and she had something I wanted.”
“You did not!”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Not that. I told her I could fix things. Turns out she has a son with some legal issues. I’ll see what I can do when we get back.”
“But we’re in California.”
“The long arm of the law knows no boundaries.” He pointed to the floor in front of her seat. “Reach under there and see what she left me.”
Sophia felt under the seat and found a cloth bag. It was heavy when she pulled it out. “Open it,” he said. She did and withdrew a handgun and two boxes of ammo and several loaded magazines.
“Nice job, Ruby. I owe you big-time.”
“I can imagine what she really wanted in trade,” Sophia sniffed, putting the gun and ammo back into the bag, then under the seat.
“Jealous?” he asked, smiling.
“Pfft. I hardly know you.”
“I feel like I know you.” He looked at her with a smile. “Maybe a different life?”
Sophia’s blood warmed. She almost told him they had more than met but she hesitated. She wanted him to tell her the truth about who he really was before she came clean with him. “What about you? Where did you grow up?”
“Never knew my dad, and my mom—she had a few issues. She died when I was nine. Oddly, life got better. I grew up in several foster homes, mostly in Queens. They were stable. I tried to stay out of trouble. But the dye had been cast. I was used to moving around, a different adventure, good or bad, each day.”
“Where did you go to school?”
“I started in public schools, but my get-out-of-jail-free card was my athleticism. By the time I hit high school, the local catholic high school was looking to build their sports programs. I knew if I didn’t hunker down and stay put, my luck was going to run out. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I graduated from St. John’s Prep in Astoria.”
Sophia swallowed hard. It was the night he graduated that she had cut him from the herd and had her way with him.
“Did you go to college?”
He shook his head and grinned. “Nope, school never was my thing. The day after I graduated, I shipped out to Parris Island and gave the USMC the next six years of my life. Then went to work for the NYPD.”
“You said you were part of a task force.”
“That came later. But, yes. We do good work. Putting your husband away is going to be a crown jewel.”
Sophia sat silent for a long time, processing over and over in her brain the fact that he’d shipped off to boot camp the morning after he’d changed her world forever. He hadn’t written or called, but was it because he hadn’t been able to, as opposed to didn’t want to? He hadn’t even known her as Sophia. In high school, she went by Maria. Maria Castavettes. Sophia was her middle name. Angelo said Maria made him think of his mother, so he started calling her Sophia. And she had been a brunette. She’d gone blond years ago, hoping to make Angelo happy. He said she looked like a two-bit whore. Out of spite, she went two shades lighter.
“Have you ever been married?” she asked, wishing as soon as the words left her mouth she could take them back.
“Hell no!”
Her back stiffened. “What’s wrong with marriage?”
“First of all, you’re the last person I would expect defending that institution, but in answer to your question, my work doesn’t allow for that kind of commitment.”
“Bull! You’re just using that as an excuse.”
He grinned at her. “I’m not good at planting roots. I move around.”
“Another excuse. What’s the real reason?”
“I like variety.”
“The spice of life. I should give it a try. But I’ll never marry again.”
“After what you’ve endured, I can’t blame you.”
“It doesn’t mean that I’m opposed to a relationship, just all on my terms.”
He shivered. “The dreaded R word.”
“So it’s sex to go for you?”
He turned those deep blue eyes on her and smiled a sizzling smile. “Very good sex to go.”
“Hmm, you seem pretty cocky.”
“You saw how cocky I am.”
Sophia’s face reddened. He smiled again. “I like it when you blush like that. Not enough women do.”
Damn him. He was reeling her in so easily she hadn’t realized he’d hooked her. And suddenly it didn’t matter. What mattered was the here and now. Because with her luck and Angelo’s cunning there wasn’t going to be a tomorrow. “I’m going to take a page from your spice book. I want to live before I die,” she said softly. Then with more conviction, “I want to live today like there’s no tomorrow.” She turned in the seat and looked directly at him. “Do you find me attractive?”
“You know I do.” He turned that lethal smile on her. “Do you find me attractive?”
“Very much so. So much so, I want to have sex with you.” Colin coughed and looked at her like she had just sprouted a third eye. “Would you have sex with me?” she asked him as if she were asking him to pass the peas.
He coughed again and looked at her, this time his face reddened. “What?”
“I didn’t stutter.”
“I—No. No! Not because I don’t want to, but—because, I’m on the job here.”
“So?”
He shook his head. “I can’t. I would feel like I was taking advantage of you in a vulnerable state.”
Sophia laughed so hard her cheeks hurt. She laughed even harder when he narrowed his eyes. She doubled over, unable to control herself. “I can’t believe that the Lucky Irishman just said that.”
He stiffened. “Where did you hear that name?”
Sophia hiccoughed and shook her head. “I went to St John’s too. I watched you walk all over campus with a different girl every day, sometimes two or three different ones in the same day. So don’t lay that guilt bull on me.”
“Take it any way you want it.”
“I will.” She sat back smiling, playing off the most embarrassing rejection of her life. “No big deal. I’ll find someone else.”
“For what?” he asked incredulously.
“For spicy sex.” Though the thought of sex with anyone other than Colin held no interest.
“We’re on the run here. Why do you want sex all of a sudden? And why with anyone who’ll oblige you?”
“It’s not all of a sudden. And not just any random guy with a willing penis will do. Before my husband, there was only one man. It was”—her voice choked—“perfect. I want that again. For more than ten years I have lived in a prison with a sadistic jailer. Now, while I’m free, I want to live like I was dying, which in effect, I am. I want sex on my terms before I head up to the big cloud in the sky.”
“You’re not going to die!”
“We all die, Colin.”
/> He gritted his teeth and looked sideways at her. “You’re not going to die on my watch.”
She shrugged. “You don’t know that for sure.”
“I haven’t lost one yet. You’re not going to be the first.”
“I’m just a job.” She bit her lip, hating that she had just said that. Of course, she was just a job. Why would she be more? He didn’t remember her, and even if he did, so what? They had sex, once, over a decade ago.
“I take my job very seriously.”
“I can see that.”
For the next hour, they drove in silence. “I’m hungry,” she said.
He pulled off at the next exit and drove through a fast-food joint and ordered enough food to feed five people. And they were off again. They hit the San Francisco airport and switched cars without incident. They did the same in San Jose, but hit a snag. A chopper would not be available for the distance they wanted to travel until early the next morning.
Sophia could barely keep her eyes open and Colin was showing signs of fatigue as well. “Let’s get a room, then come back in the morning.”
He pulled into a much nicer hotel chain. Still one bed, but she didn’t care. Sophia fell flat on her face on the king-sized bed and there she lay until her bladder woke her several hours later.
Chapter 4
After waking to a full bladder and very naughty thoughts of what she would like to do to the man sleeping next to her, Sophia hurried into the bathroom and stripped. The cold shower didn’t help cool her physically or mentally. There was only one thing that would do that, and that specific provider wasn’t interested. Yet. She smiled and turned the water to hot.
She’d just have to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Colin Daniels may not want to satisfy her for his noble reasons, which she thought was an admirable trait in a man, but damn if she cared about them at the moment. Her body ached for him. Every female part of her had been simmering since she walked out of the shower last night. She was more than capable of satisfying herself, and doing it in front of Colin would be the ultimate erotic high. She looked down at the dark, downy triangle between her thighs and decided to get with the times. She grabbed his razor from the vanity and got to work. A half hour later, wrapped in a thick terry cloth hotel robe, she emerged from the bathroom squeaky clean, with her hair dried and a body as smooth as a baby’s butt.
Her breath hitched in her chest to find Colin’s hooded blue eyes fixed on her. He lay on his back with his hands locked beneath his head. He wore only black boxer briefs and either he had a morning erection or he was happy to see her. Sophia ignored it. As much as she would like to straddle the impressive stud, she had other plans. Besides, she would not beg him for sex, and even if he changed his mind, she had her pride. But she wasn’t above making him regret it.
She smiled. Holding his stare, she slowly pulled one end of the robe tie loose. His left brow rose in interest. She responded by letting the belt fall away. The robe opened slightly, exposing the fact she wasn’t wearing her bra or panties. His other brow cocked. Sophia’s smile deepened as she shrugged off the robe. It fell in a muffled heap around her ankles. Colin’s sharp intake of breath followed it.
With one foot, she kicked the robe away. His hot gaze raked her from head to toe and then back again. Heat infused every inch of her.
“You don’t fight fair, Sophia,” he said hoarsely.
Acting as if she had not heard him, she ran her fingers through her long hair and shook it, then lay down beside Colin. She rolled over onto her belly, propped her chin on her hands, gazed deeply into his eyes, and asked, “So, is room service an option?”
His cobalt eyes burned hotly. He reached out to touch her but fisted his hand and retracted. Sophia smiled inwardly. She was just getting started. Languidly, she rolled over onto her back, and her breasts bobbed just under his nose. His breath hitched.
Innocently turning to look at him, trying to quell the shimmers of desire running through her, Sophia said, “So, Colin, if you didn’t feel so guilty, and hypothetically, let’s say you took me up on my offer, what would you do to me?”
She felt him swell beside her. She stuck her right index finger into her mouth and sucked, then traced the moist tip down the hard path of his six-pack abs, stopping just above the elastic band of his briefs. “Hypothetically speaking, would you just take me like Tarzan or”—she cocked her head to the side and smiled at his obvious discomfort—“or would you make slow, sweet love to me?”
He rolled over and moved into her, but not close enough that their bodies touched. “Hypothetically? The first thing I’d do is spank that smart little ass of yours just for thinking of looking for another man to satisfy you.” This time her breath hitched. He lowered his lips above a tight nipple and blew. Sophia squirmed so that the sensitive tip brushed his chin. Body parts began to melt. She squeezed her eyes shut, then slowly opened them.
He kept talking. “Then I’d start at your toes, and lick, suck, and kiss my way up your legs, to your thighs . . .” He closed his eyes and inhaled. “Mmm, yes, then to that sweet, smooth pussy of yours.” He moved slowly down her body, his hot breath singeing her in its wake. He stopped above her shaved mons. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. “Did you do that just for me, Sophia?”
She swallowed and nodded, wondering when she had lost control.
“Thank you,” he breathed against her lips. “Spread your legs.”
She did before he finished his sentence.
“God, you are gorgeous,” he said roughly. He dipped his nose lower. “And so wet for me.”
His breath caressed her sensitive folds. Sophia closed her eyes, parted her lips, and grabbed the sheets, twisting the fabric in her fists until she hurt. The tension in her body was so thick she was afraid she would snap in half.
“Hypothetically”—he breathed—“ before I sunk my cock into this sweet, wet pussy, I’d make you beg for it, Sophia. Beg until you couldn’t stand it.” He traced his lips along the curve of her hip. Sophia expelled a long breath, as her body rose off the sheets.
She swallowed hard and rasped, “No touching . . .”
“I bet you taste as warm and sweet as you smell.” His nose lowered to her thighs and he inhaled. “I’d make you come with my lips, sucking your stiff little clit until it exploded in my mouth.” Sophia moaned and arched, pulling the sheet loose.
He blew on her pussy. Sophia moaned again and, unable to stop herself, she let go of the sheets and slid her fingers down to her sweltering mons.
Sophia clenched her jaw as her pussy clenched against her fingertips. Dear lord, he was making her forget—everything. She closed her eyes and lay back on the sheets, and imagined it was his hands on her.
“Oh, you are selfish, Sofia. So, so, selfish,” he crooned. “Keeping all of that sweetness for yourself.”
Slowly she stroked her stiffened clitoris. Thick waves of sensation caught her by surprise.
“If that were my hand, I’d slide my finger so deep into your dewy cunt, you would snap.”
Sophia’s breath caught in her throat. Her body was on fire. She wanted him to do everything he said he would do. And more. But she would not beg. She arched her back, spread her thighs, and slid her middle finger into her vagina. Her lips parted. “Ohhh—” she moaned.
His breath was warmer, harsher, faster against her thighs. “That’s it, Sophia,” he urged. “In and out, nice and slow. Imagine it’s me inside of you.” She thrashed against her hand, wishing it was him. Wanting it to be him. Her eyes opened as a wave of sensation crashed through her. He rose up and pressed his lips to hers, stifling her cries. Her body melted into a liquid pool of want.
Only his lips touched hers. He clasped the sheets beside her. Warm and soft, his hands pushed hers wide open, taking what he wanted with or without her permission. His tongue swirled across hers as he angled his head for maximum fit. She rose against him, wanting him to take all of her. His tongue slid and thrust against hers, mimicking the cadence of
her hand. He sucked her bottom lip into his mouth then thrust his tongue into her. Caught in a wild whirlwind of chaotic passion, it swirled around her in fragmented pieces, the connection the complete unity of their bodies.
She raised against him, pressing her breasts into his chest, her finger deeper inside, her cadence faster, harder. His tongue plundered her mouth in slow, tortuous thrusts.
She tore her lips from his, gasping for breath. “Colin,” she gasped. “Make the ache stop.”
“I want to watch you do it,” he said roughly, moving down between her thighs. He was on the end of the bed, looking up at her through her thighs. She wanted to throw her head back and close her eyes, but his gaze held hers. He blew on her. When she undulated, her hand touched his lips. “Do it, Sophie. Come while I watch.”
Between her fingers, Colin pressed his lips to her clit. And she launched. Like the space shuttle on liftoff, she hurtled through the air at eight hundred miles an hour, straight toward the moon and stars. She could not take her eyes off him. Off the erotic vision of him between her legs, his full lips glistening with her juice, lip-locked on her clitoris, savoring her as if she were a gourmet meal. Never had she experienced such exposure or such a raw, aching need for a man—no, not just any man, a need for this man—to finish what she had so shockingly started.
She dug her free hand into his thick hair, and arched. “Colin,” she gasped, as the first wave hit. His lips tightened, his tongue flicked. She thrashed her hips, pulled his hair, cried out for more. He gently shook his head, not releasing her swollen clit. Another wave slammed into her, followed by another, as his lips sucked, and pulled and sucked and pulled, pushing her higher and higher, and higher—until the waves hit so fiercely, they crashed into each other and she fell to pieces.
Colin could not remember witnessing anything as damn sexy as Sophia Gilletti coming on her hand and his mouth. Her long, tanned legs twitched, and her chest heaved as she tried unsuccessfully to catch her breath. Her hand was still pressed between her thighs, as if she could control the spasms that shivered through her. He kissed the top of it and crawled over her, careful not to touch. His gaze swept over her perky tits, the pink nipples puckered, begging him for attention. Unable to resist, he licked one. Sophia moaned. His heavy cock flinched against her thigh. She bit her bottom lip and moaned again. Her eyes were screwed shut, her pouty lips damp, her nostrils flared.