I sure as hell never counted on you, Lily.Atlas’s plan had been to eventually eliminate the serial working onhisturf.He’d never counted on getting knocked out and waking up cuffed to his new fantasy.
Instead of saying all of that, Atlas extended one palm toward her.“You wanted to interview me.You wanted my secrets.Like I said, I think you’ve earned an all-access pass into my life, but that pass will come with a few conditions.”
She didn’t take his hand.“If it’s all-access, how can it have conditions?”
She was going to be so much fun.
“You have nine scars on your chest,” Lily noted without even batting one long eyelash.“Nine victims were linked to your father.Did he put those marks on you, or did you carve them into your skin yourself?”
“So you checked out my chest.Good to know.I’ve been checking out yours, too.”But his smile slowly faded.Perhaps she would not be as fun as he’d anticipated.“My scars have nothing to do with my father’s victims.”Now he was disappointed because he’d hoped for more from her?—
“Do they have to do with your victims?”
His heartbeat kicked up.Did she know what he’d been doing?His extracurricular activities?Or was that just a stab in the dark?“Call me crazy, but I am pretty sure you said I was hero material when we were in the basement.Do heroes typically have victims?”
Her lips parted.Lovely lips.
“Also thought you said you were wrong about me,” he murmured.“Pretty sure I remember that, too, but, then again, I do have a concussion so…”
“In my experience, people are rarely just one thing in this world.Take my mother, for example.She was my room mom in school.The leader of the neighborhood watch group.She sat on the board for two area homeless shelters.”A shrug.“She also killed men who pissed her off.”
“Do you think I kill people who piss me off?”Dammit, this was not the place or the time for this talk.“Hold the thought.”Because he didn’t want anyone else barging in on them.For all he knew, the besotted Dr.Phillip Owen would be coming to get another look at Lily.“You need to get dressed.I’ll wait outside while you do.”He’d block the door so no one would get to her.“As far as the pass into my life is concerned, I’ll tell you about my conditions once we are in my limo.”
She stared straight at him, then nodded.
Unease had his gut tightening.He couldn’t predict Lily’s actions, and that worried him.The woman could be very dangerous to him, he knew that.She was smart and far too much of an expert when it came to killers.
What will she do when she sees my full darkness?
As he stared at her, her hands darted behind her back.
“Lily—”
She dropped the hospital gown.The paper gown fell, and Lily stood before him wearing only a white pair of panties and a white bra that cupped her breasts ever so wonderfully.
What in the sweet fuck is happening right now?Why was Lily stripping for him?Not that he was complaining.Oh, hell no, he was not.If she wanted to strip completely, that was totally the woman’s prerogative.She could go right ahead.
“I kept my underwear on for my physical exam with Dr.Owen,” she said.“No sense in ditching them.”One eyebrow quirked at him.“And I thought one scar sharing deserved another.”
A long, twisting scar cut across her stomach.It had taken him a moment to notice the scar.Sue him, he’d been distracted by her breasts.
“My mother didn’t give me this, of course.”Her fingers fluttered along the scar.“She never used knives.She preferred poison.A more delicate method of death.At least, that’s what she always said.But when you’ve seen people vomiting blood and screaming in pain, and you watched their whole bodies lurch forward and heave as they fight for survival, well, I personally don’t think there is anything delicate about that method of death.I think it is quite brutal.”
His dick was saluting.Her breasts spilled forward against the bra she wore.The panties—bikini cut.Hugging her hips.Leaving far too little to the imagination.Desire poured through his veins.He wanted to grab her, lift her up, put her on that exam table, and fuck her until she screamed his name.
But…
Rage twisted in him.A dangerous, seething beast.And when Atlas stepped forward, lust wasn’t controlling him.That rage was.His hand lifted and touched the twisting scar on her stomach.Not red and angry.White, faded.Old.“Who the hell did this to you?Who put a knife in your skin?”
A name was all he needed.Once he had the name, he had enough power to easily find the individual.Then death would come.
Because you did not take a fucking knife to Lily.
“It was my first interview with a serial.Well, with a serial who wasn’t my own mother.”Her hand reached down, and her fingers curled around his.“Take a breath, Atlas.It’s okay, I promise.It doesn’t hurt me any longer.”Softer.“You don’t have to be so careful with me.”
But he thought that he did.“James Hadley.”He knew the first serial she’d interviewed.Madman Hadley.She’d interviewed him back when she’d been a resident and on her journey to becoming a psychiatrist.
“Youhavebeen researching me.Consider me impressed.”
