Sinner Hunted (Sinner Security Book 1)

by Raven Gale

“Anyway, think about it. I hope we can be friends,” she calls back over her shoulder as she walks away and out the door. Ruby doesn’t know what to say or even if she could say anything. Stunned into silence. Mark would’ve said it was impossible.

  “Erik asked me to stay.” She jumps when Colin speaks so close to her ear. She hadn’t heard him. In fact, she had thought he was gone. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “I thought you had all left.”

  “I wouldn’t leave without saying thank you. Or without saying goodbye.” His voice is soft.

  “I’m glad.”

  “I saw you talking to Ember, so please ignore anything she says.” He says it good heartedly, but she can tell he hopes Ember hasn’t told her any of his secrets.

  “Oh, really. What if she said I should do like she did with her husband?” Ruby smiles, her eyes filled with interest, and it takes his breath.

  Bot knows all about how Ember and Carter got together. Carter hadn’t told him the details, but he got the picture of how wild those first few meetings were. He swallows, unsure of what he should do. She’s sexy as hell, and he’d like nothing more than to take her to bed. But he’s more broken than Carter ever was. She doesn’t need to be dragged into his nightmare of a life, his violence, or the ugliness of his job.

  He’s still thinking of how to let her down gently when she turns and her lips caress over his. Soft like silk, warm like the sun, and sweet like honey; all those things run through his mind as she deepens the kiss. He balls his fists at his sides to keep from grabbing her.

  She breaks away from him, and they both fight to draw a breath. “I’m not a good man, Ruby.”

  “I don’t believe that, but does it matter today? Right this moment?” She bites at her lip. “You are alone. I am alone. Couldn’t we find comfort in each other?”

  She feels bold and almost desperate. She didn’t tell him she was tired of being alone. That she, too, has ghosts she wants to forget for at least a little while in his arms.

  Erik had been telling her about the man he had been working with. She had donated money and gotten others to donate to a charity he had suggested, one she suspects Ember runs with Colin’s technical help.

  She sees the minute his resolve to leave her alone breaks.

  He leans in to kiss her, teasing at the seam of her lips until she opens. He plunges his tongue deep within the heat of her mouth. She pulls back and nibbles at his lips before sucking his full lower one in between her teeth, tugging at it. He groans and his hands run up her bare arms.

  Colin knows he shouldn’t, but her boldness mixed with the hint of desperation that so matches his own calls to him. He wants to comfort her and maybe in the process, exorcise his own demons for a short while.

  She slides her hand down his arm and links their fingers before turning and leading him up the stairs. They go past the rooms she had given him and the others to a set of double doors at the end of the long hall. She pushes the slightly cracked door open with her other hand, and he smiles at the delicate pink polish on her nails. It doesn’t seem to match her personality at all.

  The room is decadent, and he gets a feel of her true nature here in her actual domain.

  “It was my parents, but I had it redone to suit me after I moved into it.” She looks at him, judging his reaction.

  “It suits you.” She smiles at his words.

  “The rest of the house I’ve kept basically the same way it’s been for a hundred years, but this one room, I wanted it to be me. Really me, not the me everyone sees.”

  Colin understands she is giving him something special by letting him in here. It would be like him taking her to his basement, which he realizes sounds completely serial killer-ish and is why he doesn’t say it out loud.

  Instead, he remains silent as he lets her lead him across to the huge bed draped in midnight-blue fabrics. They are just a slight bit darker than the panels on the walls, which are framed by gold trim. The rest of the walls are so dark, they look almost black, but he can tell they are more like rich chocolate. Decadent. Sinful.

  Crystal wall sconces bathe the room in dim golden light, and a velvet couch is against one wall. A chair that matches it is on the other side of the room, but it is the matching bench at the foot of her bed that gives him ideas. An image of her draped over it on her stomach, bared to him, makes his dick even harder than it already was.

  As if Ruby could read his mind, she sits on that bench and leans back. The motion causes her back to arch and her breast to push up, begging for his attention.

  “I can’t offer more than this. Today. Tonight.” He gives her one more chance to kick him out of her house and her life.

  She doesn’t know him and is entirely too good for him but she just smiles.

  “Who say I want more, Colin? My life is complicated.” She sighs a bit as she waits for him to make his decision once more.

  Her blouse, like her pants, is a muted color, something deemed appropriate by the people in her social circle. To help him along, Ruby reaches up, takes the tiny pearl button of her very proper blouse, and slips it through the hole. Then she does the next and the next.

  In seconds, as she watches his eyes flare with lust, what she hides underneath those proper clothes begins to be revealed. Bordeaux-colored lace cups her full breasts, the sheerness revealing the duskiness of her nipples. She keeps going until the silk of the blouse slides from her shoulders.

  He knows exactly what he’s going to do but continues to hold himself still, muscles taut, just watching. He’s been to strip clubs, but this is the fucking sexiest thing he’s ever seen. She stops as the blouse falls off of her creamy skin.

  “The rest.” A command. A demand. His voice is guttural, thick with desire. Her eyes flare open, then her lids drift half closed, and she watches him as she complies.

  She stands and reaches down to her hip, unzipping her trousers. Turning and giving him her back, she pushes them down over her hips. Her boldness surprises her some, making her glance back. The growl that rumbled in his chest is her reward for that boldness.

  “Goddamn, Ruby.” That’s it, just those two words, but they mean everything to her in that moment. She bends at the waist and shows him even more as she pushes the pants all the way down, then straightens and steps out of them. It leaves her standing in her bra, panties, and a pair of black Louboutins. She waits.

  His hand on the middle of her back causes her to flinch, startled, for he hadn’t made a sound as he moved close to her. She draws a deep breath, taking him into her lungs. He smells of sweat and forest.

  “You are so fucking sexy.” His finger runs straight down her spine to the edge of the satin covering her ass, sort of. These panties had a keyhole design, and she swallows hard when that same finger continues down to skim over that bare part of her ass.

  Ruby closes her eyes at the rush of sensations. She stays still, eyes closed, as her body comes alive with need. She had wanted him as soon as she saw him, probably even before that, if she was honest, but to feel him touching her feels primal.

  It’s scary because it is still just one finger skating over her skin. Suddenly, she feels his breath blow over her ear and his voice is low as he whispers to her.

  “We have this one day, and I’m going to take my time.”

  Shit. Her muscles clench, causing a rush of damp heat, and she moans, at a loss for words. Then his touch is gone, and she starts to turn.

  “No.” He stops her and she freezes, waiting. “Kneel on the bench.”

  Her breaths become gasps as she moves to comply. He steps in close, forcing her to place her knees wide, opening her. Then his heat is gone once again. Her eyelids flutter as she listens, trying to figure out where he has gone. She hears the sound of clothes being removed, and her heart begins to pound.

  Colin tosses his clothes aside, his hand gripping himself tightly as she stands waiting for his touch. Her body trembles, but she stays exactly where she was told. Something about that makes
him even hungrier for her. He moves in close again, reaching out and running his palm over the curve of her ass, letting his fingers curl as he drags them down her thighs. She sucks in a breath when he pushes against her thighs, widening them even more, baring even more of her to him.

  Goosebumps rush over her skin when he replaces his hands with his jaw, letting his stubble rub over the tender flesh roughly. He plans to take his time, learn every inch of her, every secret hollow and each place that makes her moan.

  His hands slide around her thighs and they slip up until his fingers feather over the lace-covered mound at the junction of those luscious thighs. One hand comes back around, flares out over her narrow waist, and then comes to rest on the small of her back.

  He licks the smooth skin right at the bottom of her butt cheek as he applies pressure on her back.

  Ruby bends even while her body trembles. As she lays her head against her comforter, she has a crystal clear thought. She will be forever changed after this.

  She will be craving him for years to come.

  He pulls gently at the lace and satin that hides her core from him, sliding the red fabric down over her ass, leaving it at her knees. Colin rocks back on his heels, just staring at her. Smooth and wet, begging for his touch. Begging him to taste, to devour.

  Ruby shifts just a little, nerves stretching tight. The anticipation is eating at her.

  Colin feels his control snap with that tiny twist of her hips. She cries out as he lowers his head, licking through her cleft. His tongue strokes over her most sensitive spot, teasing and torturing until her breath is coming in gasps. He backs off, refusing to let her come so quickly.

  Ruby cries out, her hips shifting backwards. Seeking more from him. Craving more from him. Demanding more from him.

  He moves closer, his lips feathering over her spine as he slides himself over her wetness, teasing her and himself. One hand braces him over her as the other slides around and cups her ample breast, rubbing the nipple through the lace.

  She arches her back, thrusting her core back and her breast down into his hand. He pinches that nipple harder in response, and she moans. Still, he doesn’t enter her. He wants her begging.

  She knows what he wants but she isn’t one to beg. She tries to force him into her body, rolling her hips while pushing back. His swollen cock rubs over and over her nub, and she can feel her climax building. Her hips move faster and faster, and she starts to pant.

  Colin moves back once again.

  “Dammit, Colin, please.” She closes her eyes at the plea. Damn him.

  Just as the thought slides through her mind, he slams into her. He buries himself so deep that she feels stretched. Her muscles grip at him as he pulls back. The motion is repeated over and over. He straightens and one hand grabs her hip to hold her still for his pounding while the other slides up her spine. He buries his fingers in her fiery hair and jerks her head back, forcing her back to arch even more.

  She screams in ecstasy as he sets a punishing pace. The pleasure skitters toward pain, it builds at a furious pace, and when her orgasm crashes through her, she begs again.

  She begs for more and for less as another orgasm begins to build immediately. He jerks free of her clenching muscles and flips her over, wanting to see her pleasure, wanting to taste her pleasure.

  She is shocked when he lowers his head. His tongue strokes over her, a long deep caress before he sucks on her, swallowing her aftershocks. She cries out and nearly comes off the bed. Her fingers grasp at midnight fabric as she looks down at him staring up her body. Primal lust is etched on his gorgeous face; it is almost sinful how sexy the man looks to her.

  Just like that, she is addicted, just like she knew she would be.

  He crawls up her body until he is poised over her, his cock nudging at her entrance. She raises up and licks over his lips, and he growls in response. She tastes herself there before he deepens the kiss, devouring her. His hands catch at her hips and lift her, opening her. She locks her eyes on his; his eyes are almost the color of her comforter, dark, almost black with his desire for her. He plunges into her, driving through the swollen muscles, lodging against her womb, once again stretching her as pleasure washes through her.

  Colin sets a fast tempo, and the orgasm begins at his feet, burning a fiery path up his legs until it reaches his cock. Her body clamps down on him, and his release erupts, filling her with his seed as her muscles clamp down on him and she screams out her pleasure.

  They both struggle to catch their breath as he collapses over her, their body’s slick with sweat. He rolls to his side and she stares at the ceiling, unsure what to do now.

  She’s never done this, never had sex with a man she didn’t really know.

  “Ruby?” She turns her head to find him watching her. “Do you… Are you…” Colin stops, unsure how to ask.

  “It was amazing. More than amazing. I just didn’t know if you’d …” She chuckles. “Jesus, we both suck at this.”

  He laughs with her. “Come here.” He pulls at her, and she rolls into his arms.

  Chapter Nine

  He had held her through the night, waking her a couple times to take her again, and now he lays in the dark, staring at the ceiling, afraid to sleep. Afraid to wake her with screams and flailing arms. His eyes had closed earlier, but the images were there, just like always.

  He sighs and slides slowly out from under her arms and the leg she has thrown over him. He stops once he’s on his feet and turns to look down at her. Subtle darkness shows under her eyes from her tiredness.

  In this moment, he understands why Carter fought so hard to stay away from Ember; he also understands why Carter found himself in foreign cities with her. The peace found in Ruby’s arms is the ultimate temptation, but just like his boss, he can’t saddle her with his demons.

  He walks on silent feet as he picks his clothes up and then makes his way down the hall. Closing the door to the room she had given him just the night before, he heads into the bathroom attached to it, showering quickly so he can make his getaway.

  Ruby held her breath until he got down the hall, and then it escaped with a woosh. She had dozed throughout the night, happy to be awakened by his need and desire. Her body is sore but she will hold the twinges of pain to her as a way to savor him. She had known the last time he took her that he would be gone when she woke. It was why she had fought sleep. She brings her fingers to her swollen lips and touches them lightly, determined not to cry, not in regret or heartache.

  Biting her lip, she forces herself to remain quiet and frozen when the bedroom door opens again down the hall. She can see him, the light from the front windows highlighting him like some avenging angel. He stares at her for one minute then two as she watches him fight his own need. He takes a step forward before spinning away and practically running down her stairs.

  “Goodbye, Colin.” The words are whispered, her throat tight as she rolls to where he had lain and pulls the covers to her face, dragging in the scent of him. “So stupid, Ruby.”

  Colin stands with his back against the door, molars grinding together. He wants to punch something, no kill something. What had he been thinking? Even after the shower, he can smell her, taste her. Ruby will just be another ghost to haunt his dreams now. He shakes his head before pushing off the door and stalking through her garden. The sun is up once again, and the morning is turning to day as he steps clear of the vine-covered arch. He shakes his head when he sees Joe standing across the street.

  “What are you doing here?” He demands as he stops in front of his friend.

  “Nothing.” Joe shrugs.

  “Nothing?” Colin feels his anger start to spark to life. “You’re just standing across the street from Ruby’s house for no fucking reason?”

  “Just waiting on you, kid.” It was the truth. Joe knew Colin would run, for they all do it. Carter did, but lucky for that asshole, Ember ran him to ground. Joe wonders if the same is about to happen here. He wonders if Ruby is the
kind of woman that faces the demons and tames the fuckers.

  Ember seemed to think so; that’s why she had him standing here all damn night, calling in hourly reports. It’s also why she was currently having an early lunch with Erik. Well that, and they are discussing the kids that were rescued, figuring out how to get them all home and the help they will need. But Joe isn’t fooled; he saw the look Ember gave Ruby yesterday.

  He can't blame her for her hope. She saved Carter and she believes they can all be saved. He might not agree but he does think Colin can be and because of that reason, he stood here and watched. He watched as she kissed him and led him up the stairs. So, maybe she is strong enough to help him.

  “You’re waiting on me?” Colin’s eyes narrow.

  “Yep, all night.” He grins at the younger man. “You have fun?”

  “None of your fucking business,” Colin growls as he turns and stalks down the street.

  Joe falls into step beside him. “So...”

  Colin keeps his eyes forward and doesn’t take the bait. He knows Joe has been worried and he also knows Joe has something on his mind. But everyone at Veil Security knows you can’t rush Joe; as a matter of fact, if you push him, he will shift even slower.

  They walk in silence until they come to a cafe. “Coffee?”

  Joe nods and pulls open the door. They order and then sit at a table. Joe lets Colin have the chair in the corner, putting himself between Colin and the small crowd. The entire team needs the safety of it. Joe is no exception but he always lets the others have the security of it. Colin believes it’s because Magic isn’t just his call sign, it’s something he has. Some of the shots Joe made in the war were impossible but he did it. He also handles all the shit they did before so much better.

  They all self-medicated -- some with drugs, others with other things like sex or the danger of their job. They all had days that the demons and ghosts won, all except Joe. He was steady. Level. Bot didn’t understand how he did it.

  If he asked, Joe would tell him all those assumptions and thoughts were complete bullshit. He’s not better than the rest of them. Hell, he’s probably worse because he hides his shit too well. Joe learned at the hands of his daddy to lock that shit down tight. To hide all your private feelings away.