Sinful (The Sin Duet Book 3)

by M. Malone

  At my scream, the figure in black whirled toward me. A beat later, she snatched the black mask off her face. “Your friends? Your friends held you hostage and put you in the middle of a shoot-out?”

  Matthias had staggered to his feet, and he approached, his gun still trained on the intruder.

  I sighed, knowing that this explanation was going to take quite a while. “It’s complicated.”

  She smiled. “Isn’t it always? Christy was worried. She hadn’t heard from you in weeks. I knew you were on a mission, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to check in on things. It looks like it’s a good thing I checked up on you. You’ve always managed to find ways to land in trouble.”

  I winced at the reminder that I had neglected to call my other mom since before this mission started. Many ORUS agents went months or even years without contact with family. But Andromeda always told me that there were ways around rules if you were creative enough. I’d always left messages for Christy so she’d know that I was okay each month. I hated the thought of her worrying about me.

  “Whatever the case, it’s good to see you, baby girl.”

  I opened my arms for a hug. “It’s good to see you too, Mom.”

  Oskar’s head had been bouncing between us like he was watching a tennis match. But when he heard that, his mouth fell open. “Mom?” Then he turned to Andromeda with a look of respect. “Damn, that’s one hot mama.”

  “Okay, ew. Stop that.” I punched him until he dropped the pervy look he was aiming at my mother.

  Matthias sheathed his gun. “I should have known who you were as soon as you handed me my ass. Your file is impressive, Agent Andromeda.”

  She winked at him. “You bet your ass it is. Now will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Suddenly something crossed her face that looked almost like regret. “And I suppose I should say sorry about the all-American sweetheart that I drop-kicked on my way in. He’s still in the hallway. I’m sure he’ll wake up soon.”

  Matthias

  The next hour was more pleasant that I would have thought it could be. Andromeda was brash but sincere, and although she was brutal in her interrogation of each of us, it was obviously because she was worried about her daughter.

  That was something I could understand.

  After all, I worried about Gemma all the time too.

  By that time, Noah and Rafe had joined us and were engaged in a conversation with Andromeda about some of the older agents that I never met. They all had stories about the good old days, and I couldn’t help teasing them about being old-timers.

  “Just wait, kid. One day you’ll be the one who’s reminiscing about the past.” Noah chuckled.

  Suddenly Andromeda put her hand to her ear. Then she stood up. “I hate to kick ass and run, but you guys have a visitor.”

  Gemma looked pained. “You don’t have to leave just because someone’s coming. Stay. We can tell them to come back later.”

  I could tell that Gemma didn’t want her mom to leave. It was going to be a major priority for me to make sure that she had time with her parents. Not having any myself, I understood better than most how important it was to keep those close family bonds. As I looked around at the guys, I amended the thought. I had a family now. I was lucky enough to see them every day.

  Andromeda pulled her daughter in for a hug. “Don’t you worry. I’ll be back. This is one visitor who won’t be denied.”

  Gemma walked her to the elevator, but Andromeda put her finger to her ear again as if listening. “I think I’ll take the stairs.” She pulled open the door to the stairwell and then with one final hug she was gone.

  “That was weird,” Oskar commented.

  He’d been strangely quiet ever since getting kicked in the head. If I’d known that was all it would take to shut him up I would’ve done it years ago. Although I suspect that pure sexual intoxication had addled his brain. I couldn’t exactly fault his taste. Andromeda was a hell of a woman. And I was just as head over heels for her daughter.

  The elevator dinged and then the doors opened. Ian stepped out, his eyes moving around in that careful, watchful way that all agents had.

  Suddenly Andromeda’s quick departure made total sense.

  “We need to talk,” he said when he saw Noah.

  Noah nodded. Then he approached, and when he was about two feet from Ian, he pulled back his arm and punched him in the face.

  “What the fuck?” Ian’s eyes promised retribution as he held his fingers to his lip.

  “You didn’t think I’d forgotten you sent an active ORUS agent into my house, did you?” Noah asked.

  Ian’s eyes still spat fire, but he looked slightly less murderous than before. “You get a pass. Once.”

  The elevator dinged again, and the doors opened to reveal Jonas and JJ pulling several wheeled suitcases.

  When JJ caught sight of them standing around, she paused. Then her eyes fell on Ian’s bloody mouth. “Ooh, is this a good time to use my new gun?”

  As usual the next few minutes were a round of chaos, which was par for the course whenever JJ was around. Lucia had been in the back feeding the baby but came rushing out when she heard JJ’s voice. Squealing and talking a mile minute, the two women went into hyperdrive when Gemma asked to see pictures. JJ yanked out her phone and started showing pictures of the honeymoon, including several naked shots that I was pretty sure Jonas had never intended anyone else to see.

  “Good to see that marriage hasn’t changed her at all,” Oskar laughed. “I was worried for a minute there.”

  Jonas’s cheeks were red, but he shrugged it off. Something I was sure he’d become an expert at since hooking up with JJ. You couldn’t hang around that woman and have a shy bone in your body. In fact, Gemma was starting to look like a deer in the headlights, so I waited until I caught her eye and then glanced meaningfully down the hallway toward our room.

  I could tell she got my meaning when she yawned loudly a few minutes later and announced that she needed a nap.

  JJ pursed her lips. “A nap? Is that what we’re calling it these days? Girl, you’re one of the family now. Just say you and Matthias want to bone and stop playing around.”

  Gemma’s cheeks went red, but she gave JJ a high five. “Well, can you blame me? I mean, look at him.”

  While the girls were awww’ing and talking about how sweet it was, behind their backs Oskar pantomimed puking. Ryan almost choked laughing next to him. Not that I cared. Gemma walked into my outstretched arms. I put both my middle fingers up behind her back.

  Those guys were just jealous.

  Eat your hearts out, fellas.

  19

  Gemma

  I could still hear the sound of the other girls giggling and catcalling as Matthias picked me up and carried me from the room. But none of that could compete with the feeling of being in his arms. I buried my face in his shoulder and breathed in deep, taking in his scent.

  I still couldn’t believe we’d made it. After everything that happened, we were together. The universe may have beaten us down, but it also brought us back together again, and all I could feel was gratitude.

  When we reached our room, Matthias kicked the door shut and put me down gently, allowing my body to slide along his until my feet touched the ground.

  “Are you really tired?” he asked in between desperate kisses to my cheek, ears, and neck.

  Shivers rolled through me as his tongue grazed the spot on my collarbone, right below where my pulse pounded.

  “Not a chance,” I huffed before my fingers tangled in his hair. “We’re going to bed but we’re definitely not sleeping.”

  Matthias’s soft chuckle vibrated in my ear. “Thank God. I wasn’t sure if you’d actually gotten my secret signal or not.”

  “Oh, I got the signal. The very big signal.” My fingers walked their way down his taut abdomen before cupping his cock through his jeans.

  I wasn’t exaggerating either. Based on the size of the bulge in his pants,
Matthias was just as desperate to get me alone as I’d been feeling all day.

  His loud groan reverberated through the room and I felt a rush of power at being able to strip him of his control. The man didn’t even know how much control he had over me, and it was a relief and a thrill to know that I had that same power over him.

  My hand hadn’t stopped moving, stroking, and teasing him beneath his jeans. Suddenly he picked me up and carried me to the bed.

  “Someone’s impatient.”

  “I’ve been waiting for this all day,” he gritted out between clenched teeth.

  Our lips met in a clash of need, sucking and biting at each other like we couldn’t get close enough. That’s what it always felt like with him, like I could never get enough.

  Honestly, I hoped I never did get enough. I never wanted to know what it was like again to walk through this life without Matthias by my side.

  “This is too fast. I have to slow down,” he muttered.

  I put my hands on his face until he looked at me. “It’s not too fast. It’s not too anything. It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”

  “Don’t want to hurt you,” he insisted.

  I could hear the desperation in his voice but even as he said it, his hands were clawing at my clothes, tugging and pulling each piece until I was completely bare. Only then did he calm, his frantic strokes slowing to soft caresses.

  Then he was inside me, stretching and filling every empty space, every void. My head fell back on a gasp at the sudden invasion before I was overcome with pure pleasure. This was perfect. Being filled with Matthias, both body and heart.

  When I opened my eyes, I was riveted by the look on Matthias’s face. His eyes were closed, and he looked like he’d finally calmed.

  Maybe after everything we’d been through, he was finally at peace. Finally at home.

  With me.

  “I love you so much, Gemma. It’s too much for me to even comprehend that you’re mine now.”

  His words filled me with a tremulous kind of hope. That everything really was going to be okay. That the future we’d never dared to dream of would actually come true

  “Make love to me, Matthias. Make me believe it.”

  The erotic dare seemed to spur him to action. His lips pulled into that quirky grin I loved before he thrust his hips, reminding me of where he was. It was amazing how just a slight change in angle could make it feel like he was touching places inside he’d never reached before. But every time we were together it was like the first time all over again. New sensations, new places to explore.

  I would never tire of discovering the heights my body could reach in his arms.

  “You want me to prove it to you?” he growled. The low, sexy cadence of his voice instantly turned me on all over again. “Need me to tell you just how hot this pussy makes me?”

  I panted as his dirty words ignited a new level of need. This would always be my definition of hot, Matthias growling in my ear as he rode me hard.

  “Oh my God!” I couldn’t control my response and forgot completely that all of our friends could probably hear us. In that moment, nothing else mattered other than the incredible feeling of taking him so deeply.

  His hand came up and cradled my head as he pounded into me, and it brought a startlingly erotic component to things. I felt so safe and protected, a heady feeling for someone like me who was used to kicking ass and taking names on my own. There was a part of me that let go in a way I never had before. And I knew I could do it because it was Matthias and I knew that he loved me. It was a powerful feeling and just the thought set off an orgasm unlike anything I’d ever experienced.

  I couldn’t even speak, just shook violently as my pussy spasmed around him.

  “Fucking hell, Gem. You feel so bloody perfect.” Matthias squeezed me tighter, losing even more of his control as he followed over the abyss.

  I opened my eyes in time to catch the anguished look on his face as he came, too. Exhausted and wrung out, I forced my eyes to stay open so I wouldn’t miss the view. Seeing him come apart was quickly becoming my new favorite sight.

  “Jesus, Gemma. I won’t be able to walk for a week. Bloody woman.”

  I dissolved into giggles at how affronted he sounded. His accent thickened when he was emotional, another thing that I loved because I knew that I was one of the few people to bring it out in him.

  “It’s okay. I don’t plan on us walking anytime soon,” I finally managed to say before pulling him down into a kiss.

  We had plenty of time. Forever, if I had anything to say about it.

  Matthias

  Resting on my back, I willed my heart to slow down. But it was still racing even after getting up to go to the bathroom and clean up. Even after climbing back into bed and pulling Gemma back into my arms.

  It was just racing. Maybe I had to accept that this was my new normal. My heart would be in a constant state of agitation. Gemma had me on hyperdrive.

  That was love for you.

  “I think I’m addicted to you,” I whispered against her hair, taking in the soft scent that was uniquely hers. It was impossible for me to be this close to her and not touch her. My fingers were just drawn to her skin. That was an addiction, right?

  Love was like an illness. One I’d happily succumbed to.

  “If you are, then so am I.” Gemma grinned up at me, her impish smile doing things to me that I still couldn’t explain.

  How was it possible that just seeing her face could make me so happy?

  “I can’t believe we found our way back to each other after all this time. I’m lucky to have found you again.” Her arm that was wrapped around my waist tightened. A mini hug.

  “I’m lucky Noah got me out. I can now focus on my future and not my past.”

  Gemma pulled back slightly and looked up at me. “One question: just how did Noah get you out?”

  It wasn’t something I spent much time ruminating on lately, but it was true. Noah was uncomfortable with any expression of gratitude on my part and I was, quite frankly, uncomfortable with it, too. I didn’t want to talk about our feelings and hug it out. I’d always felt that proving my loyalty to him by being a reliable source of information or backup when he needed it was the kind of thanks a guy like Noah could really appreciate.

  But now that I had something more to live for, something to call my own, it occurred to me that a proper thank you wouldn’t be out of place. Or maybe that was just the post-sex high talking. But I did feel a rush of gratitude for my friend and for everything he’d risked to save me. Maybe it was time I stopped running from everything and faced it all.

  “That’s a story the whole family should probably hear. The doc says I need to work on being more open and trusting.”

  Her smile was gentle as she rubbed my chest. “I know they would love to hear anything you want to tell them. And I’ll be there with you. No matter what.”

  It did help to hear her say it. Because it was easy to say that I should tell the whole story, but actually doing it, well, that would be a whole different ballgame.

  As if she could sense my inner turmoil, Gemma leaned up and kissed me on the cheek. “I’m not trying to push you into doing anything you’re not ready for. If you don’t want to talk about that, then we won’t. If you want to tell me the story, then I’ll take notes and put anyone who crossed you on my hit list.”

  That made me smile. “So bloodthirsty.”

  Her evil grin made my cock stir. “You know you love it.”

  I flipped her over in a sudden move that left her squealing with laughter. It warmed my heart to see how easy and open things were between us. Despite all the evil I’d done and the things she’d seen me do recently, Gemma wasn’t afraid of me. She didn’t see the monster that my background molded me into. She saw who I really was underneath it all and accepted me completely.

  It made it so much easier to do what I needed to do.

  “After our nap is over, I think we should call a family meet
ing. Get everyone together and talk it out once and for all. I’ll never be truly free until I put all this shit in my past. I don’t want ORUS to have any hold on me ever again. Not even in my own memories.”

  She nodded and held a hand against my cheek. “This may sound strange, but I’m proud of you, Matthias.”

  The pleasure I felt at hearing those words was so profound that I couldn’t even maintain eye contact. She would never know what it meant to me to hear those words and feel their truth. My mother and grandmother were the only ones in my past who had ever believed in me and loved me. Over the years, I’d operated to please only myself. The approval of others wasn’t something I thought I needed. It was something I’d become accustomed to living without.

  But just like in every other way, Gemma was the exception.

  “Thank you, baby. I didn’t even know I needed that.”

  She curled her legs up around my hips. “You’re welcome. But as for this nap business, does that mean that we aren’t done sleeping?”

  Her playful tone displayed the slight melancholy that had come over us both. There was a time and place for discussing such emotionally heavy things but in that moment, I just wanted to enjoy being with my love.

  “No, we’re definitely not done sleeping.”

  Then I made damn sure everybody in the penthouse could hear just how “awake” we were.

  20

  Matthias

  Everyone was staring. Telling my new family about my past seemed like a good idea an hour ago. Now? Not so much.

  Then Gemma reached over and took my hand. The simple gesture calmed my roiling stomach and brought me back to what was important. I could do this.

  I cleared my throat. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve called this meeting.”

  Oskar shifted in his seat, and I smiled, knowing he was trying to decide if he wanted to make a smart comment or not. Noah was next to him with Lucia cuddled against his side. JJ and Jonas were in the armchair, for once being quiet and not bickering. Rafe and Diana were sitting on the floor next to the armchair. I’d asked for everyone to be there, so Ryan and Dylan stood behind the couch, looking uncomfortable as hell.