Page 106 of When He Plays

“I have what I want most.”

Right. He had power. Wealth. He had⁠—

“I have you.”

Those words pierced through Charlotte. “What?”

Another soft kiss on her shoulder. “But after you, I’d like revenge. That’s pretty important to me, too.”

She stiffened. “Revenge?” Not at all what she’d expected to hear from him.

“Um. That’s why I understand Jezebel so well. I tend to be the eye-for-an-eye type, too. You take something that is mine, you hurt something that is mine, and I’ll take your fucking eye right out of your head.”

Chilling words delivered in a deep, warm rumble.

“Jezebel has spent a lifetime working to get criminals locked away.” His voice turned musing as they curled together in the dark. “Bet it was quite a shock for her when she realized how badly she wanted to torture and kill a man in order to avenge her niece. Probably thought she’d take the high road if ever confronted with a vicious choice like this one. But that high road? Sometimes, it’s just not the path meant for everyone.”

“Why do you want revenge?” No, more than that. “Who do you want to hurt, Logan?” She couldn’t believe he was just sharing this part of himself with her. Absolute honesty. It was staggering and terrifying at the same time.

Terrifying because he was truly trusting her with his darkest secrets.

“I want revenge because I don’t think a killer should get away with murdering my parents and completely destroying the family I had. I happened to like that life. I liked my mother’s homemade cinnamon rolls. I liked my dog. I liked going to baseball games with my dad and catching foul balls and eating popcorn and…” His breath blew lightly over her shoulder as he exhaled. “My mom didn’t die quickly, baby. Not sure if that part was in the reports that the CIA created on me. She lingered for six hours. My mother fought to live. To stay in this world with me. But her wounds were too severe.”

“Logan.” Her hand curled around the arm that pressed to her stomach. There was pain and rage echoing in his voice.

He’d helped to take her pain away. He’d replaced it with pleasure. She wanted to help him, too. To soothe. To comfort. To give him so much more than pain.

“I’ve been hunting this particular individual for a long time. Closing in. Like you, I have my suspect list. I didn’t rush into my vengeance. Had to be sure, you know. Not like I want the wrong person to suffer.” A long pause. “I’m all about keeping my friends close, but I like for my enemies to be even closer.”

“You invite your enemies to your card games,” she said. Because he did. Ares, Pierre⁠—

Soft laughter. “Now you’re catching on.”

She thought about the players at his games. “Logan?” Charlotte could barely choke out his name as she centered in on one strong possibility. Someone who’d known his family. Someone who had been around when his father and mother still lived. “Is it⁠—”

“Do you think that you could ever love me, knowing what a cold-blooded monster I truly am?”

“You are not.” A hot flash of anger spiked in her blood. “You’re not a monster, so don’t ever say that, understand me? Do not.”

Silence from behind her.

“You didn’t answer the question, sweetheart. You sort of just focused on something else.”

She had. Her eyes squeezed closed in the dark.

“I could be charming,” he murmured. His hand slid down her body. Dipped between her legs. Her legs were already spread because his leg was between them. So when his fingers trailed down her body, he went right to her core.

Stroked her clit as he curled around her.

“I could say all the right things. I could act like I wasn’t bad. I could put the world at your feet. Give you anything your heart desired.” One finger thrust into her. “Say what you want, and I would give it to you in an instant.”

She wanted him. He was what she wanted.

A second finger pushed into her. Her hips arched back against him.

Their pose hadn’t been sexual two minutes ago.

But now…