“I’ve missed you,” I tell her honestly, heart fucking wrenching in my chest at how torturous the last couple of weeks have been.
The little sound she makes wrings it even further. “I’ve missed you, too. More than you could possibly understand.”
Fuck my life.
Eyes clamped shut, I take in a deep breath, willing myself to keep it together. I can’t lose my shit here, especially when—
Voices and laughter resound outside the bathroom door.
I’m panicking in seconds, slamming my palm down on the handle to flush the toilet.
“I’ve gotta go. Half hour, my place. I’ll see you there.” Ending the call, I shove the phone into my pocket and make my way out of the bathroom, right into Santos, Ramos, and Lee.
“Damn, Quinn—you’re sweating up a storm there, bro. Nasty shit?” Santos asks.
Ramos and Lee share a quick chuckle that leaves me eyeing them both, Lee especially.
“Something like that,” I answer, stepping around them.
On any other day, the comment would likely irritate me, but all I can think about is wrapping up what little remains of my day and getting home.
The first thing I notice after making it back to my desk is that, not only is Ruby gone, Blackstone is, too. Which explains why Lee was trailing behind Santos and Ramos. He never mingles with anyone else unless his buttbuddy is unavailable.
But what’s Ruby’s excuse?
Goddammit.
This is why I went to Porter.
As wrong as that was.
I would hope she’s not stupid enough to be doing what I think she’s doing, but they were both here when I left my desk, and now . . .
Well, you know.
Shoving it to the back of my head, I grab my shit and rush out to my car. As consumed as I am with getting to Kiera, I haven’t forgotten my mother. I dial her number and bring the phone up to my ear.
“Maverick?”
“Hi, Ma. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, son. Resting.”
Turning the ignition, I switch over to my Bluetooth. “Any pain?”
“No, son. I promised you I would let you know if I did feel worse.”
“Well, Ma. You can be a little stubborn.” I look over my shoulder as I reverse out of my current spot. “Do you need anything?” It’s a sad, sad fact that I’m actually praying she declines my offer.
“No. You got me more than enough yesterday.”
“Okay, Ma. I’m glad to hear it. But don’t forget to call me if anything, anything, comes up.” I floor the gas, cruising past the light that just changed to red.
“I will, Maverick. How is work?”
“It’s fine. They’re actually sending me to interview a witness now. Working OT. I’ll call you once I’m done but don’t forget to let me know if you need anything. Talk to you later. Love you.” I wait long enough for her to say it back, then I drop the call, guilt churning in my gut.
Yet Kiera is waiting for me. After all this time of near radio silence.
Driving like a hellbent maniac, I blow past another four lights, making it home in nearly half the time I usually do. Finding a parking spot isn’t difficult in this neighborhood and I breathe a sigh of relief when I locate one on the same block as my condo.
Leaving my stuff in the back to get later, I hurry to my building. As soon as I’m on the steps leading up to the small porch, I notice that the glass door leading in has been left ajar.
I stop right before it, eyeing the one inch space.
Weird. In all my years of living here, that’s never happened before. Someone must’ve been in an even bigger rush than I am.
Fuck it. Need to at least get inside before Kiera arrives.
Pushing my way in, I make sure the door is closed this time and pound my way up to the second floor. Seconds later, I’m within my condo, shrugging off my blazer, rolling up my sleeves and—
My doorbell rings, announcing her arrival.
Right behind me.
Damn. That revs me up.
Spine straightening, blood pounding, I spin toward the intercom and buzz her in.
I open my door, one hand braced against the wooden jam; gripping it for sheer life, is more like it. My body fights me, dying to propel itself back down those stairs and meet her half—
The top of her head is the first thing that comes into view. The sound of her running steps registers next. When she makes it up to the landing and runs around it, her expression hits me dead center in the chest.
Desperation.
Yearning.
Need.
A slightly unhinged madness.
Every goddamned thing twisting viciously within my own chest.
“Maverick.”
Responding her isn’t a choice. It’s a compulsion I can’t fight. “Kiera—get the fuck over here.”
No telling her twice.
Dropping her overnight bag on the floor of my hallway, she all but flies at me, climbing me like a tree.
As always, I’m right there with her. Arms wrapped tight. Face pressed feverishly into the crook of her neck.
Blindly, I feel for her overnight on the floor with my foot and kick it into my apartment. Using my entire frame, I slam shut the door, both of us hugging each other so tight that it’s not fucking natural.
And yet it is.
It really is.
She was always meant to be like this. Here. Mine. In my arms. With nowhere to escape.
I won’t give her the option this time. I won’t. The second she eases back, I’m tossing her onto my kitchen counter and diving in for a kiss, a brutal one at that. Hands trapping her beautiful face, I deliver my point with each swipe of my lips. Every single thing I’ve felt since I last saw her goes into it, pouring out from the deepest, darkest depths of my depraved soul.
If the little moans and mewls she’s making are any indication, it’s all sinking in.
Good.
“Never again,” I mumble against her lips as I lift her off the counter and stalk to my room. “Don’t you ever distance yourself from me again, you hear me? Do. You. Hear. Me?”
In her now-frantic state, hands tugging at my clothes, teeth clashing against my own, Kiera nods.
It’s not enough, though.
I want to hear it.
No, I need to hear it. Need the confirmation loud and clear, because I won’t survive that shit a second time. I’ll chain her to my fucking bed before I ever allow her to put either one of us through that again. So many unanswered questions remain between us, a dark void of despair just waiting to be unleashed.
Yet, for now, she’s getting the reprieve she sought with her distance.
A chance to escape my inquisition.
First, she needs to understand one very basic fact—she’s mine. She made sure of that. And the stunt she pulled is beyond unacceptable.
Dropping onto my bed with her in my lap, I grab her wrists and secure her arms behind her back, pushing her down onto my straining erection.
Forcing her still.
She mewls above me, desperate for a lick of friction, but I won’t give it to her until I hear the fucking words.
“Answer me,” I grit. “Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Yes what, Kiera? Say it.”
“Yes, I understand,” she moans, louder still when I grind into her.
“You understand what?”
“No more running, no distance. I get it, Mav—never again, I promise!”
Hallelujah.
It’s like music to my goddamn ears.
My face splits in two, drawing an equally elated smile from her lips. I do nothing but stare at her in awe. She’s so fucking beautiful, all the more so when she smiles.
How is that even possible when she’s so perfect already?
Draping herself over me once more, she initiates another mind-numbing kiss. Still ravenous and passionate, but not as erratic. I release her wrists from my grip and rake my
hands into her hair, kissing her back with everything I’ve got.
“I missed you so much, baby. Was going out my damn mind,” I admit.
“Me, too, Mav. I’m sorry. So sorry.” Her tongue meets my own again, sinfully circling. Gliding.
Hands on my shoulders, she eases back now that I’ve given her leeway, taking over. Hips writhing. Head falling back, baring that sexy neck.
She’s so fucking wet I can feel her heat through my slacks.
Her eyes lazily glide open, filled with luscious desire—
In the blink of an eye, her head jerks sideways toward the closet. Her entire body stills. The pulse on the side of her neck begins to beat harder.
It’d be easy to say it’s because of the lust, but her pale skin whitens to a dangerous degree.
Her gray eyes widen and in profile I can see the pupil of her right eye shrink with . . .
Is that fear in her gaze?
No, it’s more than fear. Seems to be bone-deep terror, a dread that’s suddenly consuming her from within.
“Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.” - Psalm 59:1
“What is it?” I ask her, but she’s gone.
Zoned out.
Gaze tracking every inch of my room.
What is she—
“Come on,” she says suddenly, crawling off my lap and leading me onto my feet.
I’m so utterly confused, head snapping around like a madman, trying to uncover whatever it is she saw. “Where are we going?”
Or maybe she didn’t see anything and I’m reading too much into her reaction?
“Shower.” That’s all she offers.
Once we’re in its pristine confines, she closes the door behind us and promptly secures the lock in place. Like a tornado, she whirls around me and turns on the shower, stripping free of her clothes in seconds.
Literal seconds.
She’s naked and I’m standing there, baffled, concerned. So fucking concerned it’s not even funny.
Especially when the look in her eyes goes from terrorized to seductive.
“Strip, Mav,” she demands, slithering up to me coyly.
I should question her—keyword here, should—but I don’t. I can’t. The memory of how she reacts to intense questioning—hell, any type of questioning—is still too fresh.
Obliging instead, I carefully unbutton my dress shirt as she fiddles with the buckle of my belt. When my pants hit the floor, she runs her small hands down the rigid planes of my torso and slowly retreats into the shower, flashing me another sultry look over her shoulder.
What the fuck is happening right now?
What the fuck happened out there?
“Mav?” she calls out quietly, leaving me no choice but to push those thoughts aside for the moment.
Not that it’s too hard. My dick is fucking aching, bobbing in her direction, the head slick with moisture from how bad I want her.
A deep breath and I’m inside, awed almost instantly.
Harder than a fucking rock.
She’s under the spray, soaking wet, rivulet after rivulet of water adorning her pale skin. The sight is better than any fantasy my mind has ever conjured, and just like that, any and all questions I have dissipate in entirety.
My focus is back on her and only her.
On the droplets slowly slithering their way down her luscious breasts with their perfect, tight nipples.
I’m on her in a breath, joining her under the spray. Cupping her face once more, I run my thumb along that beautiful mouth. “I need you on your knees, baby.” Sliding my thumb into her, I watch her suckle the digit. My eyes almost roll back from the shocking sensation of her hollowing her cheeks around my thumb.
Something sparks in the back of my mind.
A trickle of information.
Something too effervescent to fully grasp—
Fuck it. Now’s not the time. I need my cock between her perfect lips.
I try to urge her back down, but Kiera rips her mouth away from me and claws at my shoulders. “Next time, baby. I swear. My pussy’s aching for it. Want you coming so deep inside me.”
How can I say no to that?
Palming her ass, I practically drag her up the length of my body and slam her into the white tiled walls. “Do you know how many times I’ve imagined this?” I rumble in her ear.
“Probably as many times as I have,” she breathes, bucking her hips. “Hence why I dragged you in here.”
Bullshit, my mind hisses, but I ignore it.
Drop her the teeniest bit to slide inside her.
“Fuuuck.” It’s a groan as my head falls back, eyes rolling.
She feels better than I remembered. Warmer. Tighter.
“Oh my God, I missed you,” Kiera mewls, locking her arms around my neck.
Bracing one hand on the wall, I cup her ass with the other. My own asscheeks tense and release as I fight the urge to thrust like a madman.
To come in an instant.
Dropping my head to the crook of her neck, I sink my teeth into the supple flesh, hissing, “God damn, woman. God. Damn.”
Her tongue slithers up the side of my neck. Along my jaw. She follows a fiery path straight to my ear, where her breath hits the sensitive shell seconds before her voice breaks on a sexy groan. Beneath my hand, her ass wriggles sensuously as she works herself on my cock, inner walls pulsing. “Yes. Yes. Holy fuck, you’re so deep. Give me more!”
Yup, definitely not going to last.
Turning in a one-eighty angle, I slam her into the other wall, twitching against her. “Hold on, baby. Hold on. Give me a sec—”
She silences me with a kiss, her tongue slipping inside. The wetness of her cunt caresses my length as her slick tongue plays with my own. Against my chest, her hard nipples slide up and down as she wiggles in my grip.
Too much. It’s always too much, but after the deprivation of our separation it feels like my fucking head is going to pop off from the pleasure.
Sliding my other hand down her slick back, I take hold of her ass in both hands and spread her wider. “I’m not going to last, baby.”
Hate having to give her that warning but it’s the truth.
She grinds on my dick, clit rubbing against my groin, pussy throbbing in tight, small bursts. Leaning back, she cups a tit and offers it up to me. “Lick it, baby. You don’t even have to move. Just lick me and let me—oh fuck yes!”
I hum around her nipple, balls tight with cum.
Kiera isn’t far behind, either. Her pussy’s practically deep-throating my cock right now—that’s how tight she’s squeezing me, taking me—
Slam!
We freeze at the loud, unexpected sound and share a glance, one that resurfaces the terror in her eyes.
That’s all it takes for me to move.
Setting her on her feet, I hustle out of the shower and grab a towel from the rack. Kiera’s peeking her head from behind the curtain, watching me dry off.
“Stay here,” I tell her, to which she nods wordlessly.
Wrapping the towel around my waist, I carefully crack open the door and take in the confines of my bedroom. Looks exactly the same as when we stormed in here, not a single thing out of place.
A few steps and I’m clearing the closet, then the hallway, the living room, and the kitchen.
But just like my room, there’s nothing
So what the fuck was that? By the way the sound echoed through to the bathroom, it sounded like my front door. I do note that the locks are undone, but I’m positive I didn’t secure them after hauling Kiera inside.
Curling my hand around the knob, I throw open the door and peer down both ends of the hallway. Silence greets me, almost desolately.
There’s not a soul in sight, not the tiniest sound to be heard.
Someone was here, though. My skin prickles with goosebumps.
I consider it for a moment, but no, it can’t be. There’s no way. I think I would’ve noticed s
omeone in my—
Would you, really? You were so busy mauling Kiera . . .
There’s no denying that. She came running up the stairs, ran straight into my arms, and that was it. The woman had me under her spell before I even buzzed her up.
Could there really have been someone in here?
What if it was the—
“Mav?” Kiera calls out from the bedroom. “Is everything okay out there?”
No, I want to say, but I don’t. Don’t want to worry her when she should feel nothing but safe when she’s with me.
With a quick hand, I close and lock the door, then amble back to the room.
Nearly trip over my own feet when I realize she’s laying on the edge of the bed, naked, those long shapely legs spread wide open—playing with herself.
“Everything okay?” she asks again, voice breathy.
“Yeah,” I croak, running a hand down the back of my neck. “Must’ve been one of the neighbors.”
She hums and clamps her eyes shut as her fingers continue circling her clit. “Good, means you can come finish me now. Still so wet for you . . .”
The mere mention of wet combined with the sight of her on my bed juts my dick back up at attention.
Problem is, my head isn’t on the same page, as terrible as that sounds.
I’m still working it out, not only the mysterious door slam, but whatever it was that triggered her to haul me into the shower.
“Mav, baby—please. My pussy needs you,” she moans, the slick soundtrack of her ministrations breaking through the haze.
My vision refocuses on her form.
Those gray irises are already on me, calling me.
No, they’re begging me, pleading with me to give her everything she wants and then some.
So I do. Despite the sirens and vivid red flags blaring in my mind, I stride over to my girl, slip my cock where it belongs, and give her everything I’ve got until her legs shake and my name fills the air.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” - 2 Timothy 3:16
Buzz. Buzz. Buzzzzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
That relentless sound penetrates the deep fog of my sleep. Within the darkness, I register the annoying vibration.
Coveted: Saint Cecilia Slayings Book Four Page 6