Page 38 of Burn With Me

His lips landed softly on mine. I shuddered and moaned into his mouth as he kissed me like there weren’t twenty people working a few feet away. The kiss was almost as demanding as the man as he pushed closer into my body. His arm wrapped around my waist and my hands instinctively went to his chest. He didn’t push me away, and I melted into his hold.

I felt heady as he trailed his lips across my cheek to my ear. “You make me want to fuck you everywhere in every position possible,” Asher whispered. “I’d even take you right now in front of all these people.”

My heart jackhammered in my chest, my blood whooshing loudly in my ears at his words.

“That would certainly get people talking,” I said, my words hitching as he laid his lips against my neck.

“Trust me, they already are, but I don’t fucking care.” He pulled back, and all I could picture was getting on his lap and letting him follow through on his idea.

“Inspector Clarke?”

Jerking away from him, I glanced up at the blushing tech. “I, uhm…I’m sorry to interrupt, but we found something,” the tech said.

“Duty calls.” Standing, I stretched, trying to ignore my own embarrassment. I couldn’t help feeling Asher’s eyes on my body.

“Want me to stick around and help?”

“I think it’s safer if you didn’t.” I smiled as I took a step away. “But I’ll give you a call.” I held up the cup he’d given me. “Thanks again for the coffee.”

I loved the look on his face. He seemed very torn, and keeping him off balance for once was nice considering he pushed me over the ledge of sanity every time he came around. Dating Asher West? The thought of being alone with him in the bedroom…whew. What exactly would he do? Nervous anticipation swept through my body.

This was going to be interesting.

Sometimes people surprised me, and Asher had done just that. I could see him walking away and as he turned to look back I gave him a smile and a wink.

What the hell was I getting myself into?

Derek

I stared down at the woman that was tied at my feet, my shadow casting a long line across her face. Even in the dim light, I could see her terrified eyes clearly as they filled with big, fat tears. Watching them spill over and leave long black lines on her face was fascinating. Her makeup ran as surely, as she wished she could. I wanted more of her tears.

Crouching down, she made little whimpering noises as she tried to move away. She pushed with her tied feet at the unyielding concrete, her feet kept slipping, so she kept trying. I had to give her credit. She was putting up more of a fight than I expected. It was kind of a shame that her only crime was being an idiot. Well, that and dating my brother.

Reaching out, I snatched her ankles and yanked her close, reducing her hard work to nothing. She tried to scream, and her muffled cries were decadent on my tongue. The tank top she was wearing traveled up her body, displaying her smooth stomach and the glint of a tiny stone along with a brand-new tattoo that said, ‘bad bitch.’ I could admit she was beautiful, my brother had good taste, and if I’d been a sick kind of killer, I would’ve taken this opportunity to enjoy the kill differently.

Luckily for her, I only planned on killing her to make a statement. So far, all the little clues I’d left behind for Asher were either ignored or my brother never saw them. This…her…well, that he couldn’t ignore. I waited until he was on the night shift and picked this spot in his area on purpose. I wanted him to be the first to find her and finally understand my pain.

“Well, I guess, Bad Bitch, it wasn’t so smart to walk around alone at night?”

Her body was shaking. The ripe scent of her fear was strong in my nose. I half expected her to piss herself before the night was through. I leaned over and gripped her hair into a ball, the long strands wrapping around my fist. She tried to cry out through the wide tape covering her mouth as I twisted her neck painfully to sniff at her skin.

“So young. What are you, twenty? No. You’re twenty-one because you did the whole cruise party live. You stood on the deck and howled at the moon while you waved a glass of champagne around.” I took another deep breath, and my body convulsed with the thought of how she was going to smell burning.

Releasing her hair, I rested my arms on my knees. “Look at me.”

She flicked her big doe eyes up to meet my gaze. Unable to hear the words properly, I still knew she was begging for her life.

“You know what I did for my twenty-first birthday?” I asked. She shook her head slightly. “I sat alone in solitary and then was drugged and dragged to a room where I was tortured for hours. Happy fucking birthday to me. Yours looked like a lot more fun.”

I rolled out my shoulders.

“I was practically able to live it right along with you.” I waved my gloved hand in the air dramatically. “You know this is the problem with this new generation,” I said. “Not that I’m that much older than you, but I’m old enough to know what it was like not to have everyone know what you eat or when you shit. Now, you all show every detail online and think that you are invincible.”

I held up a finger, and her eyes followed the black leather gloves as they creaked in the otherwise silent warehouse.

“It’s like the world has gone stupid. Do you think that people like me don’t watch you? Are you really so naive to think that someone isn’t watching your little dancing video and jerking off to it? Or do you not care? Then again maybe that’s what you want.”

I chuckled, and the sound bounced off the cavernous space. She wiggled a few inches away and kept looking around as if a magic door would appear. Too bad for her that the only magic in this world was inside books.