“Your cunt was made for me, Chloe,” he drones, slowly—ever so fucking slowly—thrusting his hips back and forth. I’m expanding, the size of him ripping me open in blissful passes as my nails dig into his shoulders.
I’m still getting used to him using my first name at all, so used to him calling meStark, but the way he says it now, like it’s the sweetest name he’s ever tasted, like each letter on his tongue is a prayer he’s forgotten to send to the heavens each night,it fuels me. It brings me alive in ways I never thought I could live, and I angle my hips toward him, desperate for depth.
Hiking my leg into the bend of his elbow, he gives me exactly what I need, hitting a spot inside me that I don’t think has ever been touched before. Or maybe a spot inside me that was meant only for him to find. He buries his face in my neck as he fucks me, moaning and groaning and whispering sweet-everythings against my skin while his thumb finds my clit and swirls in smooth, slick movements. “Every time I followed you, touched you, this is what I thought about. What it would be like to wrap your pretty little pussy around my cock.”
My nipples sharpen against the fabric of my dress, achingly sensitive with each taut stretch of the thin cotton. “That sounds like a conflict of interest, detective,” I tease. My words come choppy and breathy, but they seem to drive him. His pace turns punishing, and that scratchy bark against my back? I can feel it now. Every drag against my skin brings my orgasm closer and closer as Colin winds his hand up into my hair and forces my forehead forward against his.
“Look at me while I make you come,” he demands. He jerks my head when my eyes roll back. “Look at me, baby, and come apart all over my cock like a good girl.”
And oh my God, I fucking do. When my orgasm blasts through me, I can’t prevent my eyes from squeezing shut or the scream from barreling out of my throat. The birds in the trees around us flap away, startled, and Colin keeps his hand gripped in my hair as he releases on a final moan that spirals so fast and tight through my eardrums, I can feel it buzzing in the pit of my stomach.
I feel every inch of him inside me as my pussy seizes around his length.
And when my feet finally touch the ground again, I crush my lips to his.
That settles it. This man is going to make me come for the rest of my life.
23
Colin
“Have a nice honeymoon?”
“My mother is doing well, thanks for asking.” A flash of red crawls up my captain’s neck, but it’s gone just as quickly.
“Sorry, Colin.” He shifts in his seat uncomfortably. “How is she?”
I decide to cut him some slack, because I know I stress him the fuck out and that’s why he’s being an asshole. Clearing my throat, I nod and say, “She’s…okay.”
I can’t bring myself to say she’s doing great. I also can’t bring myself to say she’snotdoing so great, because what kind of son would I have been to walk away from her again? To lay eyes on her and see that something was off, and still turn around and leave her there? It’s needling at the lining of my stomach, the edges of my lungs, pinching me in places I never knew I could feel pain.
The whole trip kind of felt like a domino effect ofshit.
Except…where Chloe is concerned. She made everything feel…better. More bearable.
I was on edge after learning about the recent death at my mother’s apartment complex. It was a punch to the gut, the reminder that she could be gone tomorrow or need my help in some way, and it would take me an hour to get to her. But Chloe, she sensed my energy shift, the tension that was carrying my footsteps to my mother’s unit with worry and fear drowning out any excitement at laying eyes on her. And Chloe had been right—my mother would have noticed.Or would she have?Because when I finally laid eyes on her and felt the tightness in my chest release at the confirmation she was at least alive, it twisted up again at her state of mind, at her lifeless eyes and ghostly appearance.
Then that fucking nurse,Vera. Wasn’t she busy? Didn’t she have medications to deliver and charts to update all over the place? So why was she so keen on waiting until Chloe and I were gone to administer my mother’s medications? It only vaguely piqued my instincts, because I was so focused on Chloe and my mother and their curious interactions.
And then Chloe went allMama Bearonmy mother,and as caught off guard by her interrupting Vera’s work as I was, it sharply attuned me to the unease blanketing the air. Chloe’s body had gone rigid. I could see her pulse thumping in her neck. Vera’s demeanor had gone from friendly and agreeable to prickly and cold. And my mother…
Chloe’s idea to bring her closer to me has bounced around my brain since we’ve been back in Devil’s Peak. I already made a call to her doctor this morning to ask about that new medication the nurse was trying to give her, and she was as confused as I’d been. Said she’d look into it, and that did not make me feel any better.
“So, where are we with the trafficking case?” I ask Captain Barrett. It’s comical, that when I returned to town, returned to the department, he was adamant I wasn’t active on the case. He didn’t grip that demand very hard because I’ve been quite involved, and he’s not done much but give me flack about it.
He leans back in his chair, settling his elbows on the arms and eyeing me in defeat.
“Max has been released on bail,” he says slowly, knowing the words would be like a match to gasoline.
The anger flushes hot and fast through my chest, and I’m certain my skin is red and hot to the touch. “Released?He was arrested onmurder charges. What do you mean he’s been released?”
“On bail,” my captain repeats, as if it matters. He’s still out in the wild and a danger to Chloe. “He has a good lawyer, Colin. And a clean record with strong ties to a very active non-profit organization.”
“And his DNA was found at two murder scenes.”
“He doesn’t deny knowing Richard and Grayson. St. Michael’s has them on their payroll records as consultants.”
I scoff so hard my breath hitches. “Human trafficking consultants?”
