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“Fromeverything.”
The words were like shards of glass leaving his mouth. The last thing he wanted was to let Jason off the hook, to leave Nico high and dry in Vegas. But he would do it if it meant Abby feelingsafe.
He would do anything if it meant Abby feeling — being —safe.
“I don’t want to walk away.” Her eyes flashed. “I’m not letting Jason win, not after everything he’s done. The time for that has past. He has to pay, and you’re the only one with a personal interest in seeing it done. Besides, I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to run. This is our town. We might have shared it with Jason once, but notanymore.”
He ran the back of his knuckles against her cheek. “Then this is what has to bedone.”
“I understand that,” she said. “But don’t ask me to go shopping or have my nails done or sleep until it’s all over. I’m not asking to bethere— ”
“It’s a good fucking thingbecause— ”
He didn’t get the rest of the words out before she held two fingers to hismouth.
“I’m not asking to be there, but let me help where I can. Let me feel useful. Let me feel like I’m fighting too, even if it’s just by telling you what I know.” She smiled. “And there’s a satisfying irony in it, isn’tthere?”
“Inwhat?”
“In using everything I know about the Tangier — about Jason — againsthim.”
Max shook his head. “You’re pretty devious underneath it all, aren’tyou?”
She sighed. “I just want some control, Max. Over something.Anything.”
He kissed her tenderly on the lips. He’d been careful with her since her father’s death, not wanting to push her, wanting to give her plenty of time and space to grieve. He’d showered her with every comfort he could think of — baths and warm clothes and home-cooked meals and her favorite takeout and holding her when she fell asleep on the sofa and when she cried herself to sleep — and had avoided touching her in an even remotely sexualway.
But the slick heat of her mouth opening under his lit the kindling in his body that was always waiting for the match of her kiss. It had been days since he’d felt her naked skin slide against his, since he’d explored her body with histongue.
He wasn’t the only one who had missed it. He felt her urgency in the way she ran her hands up his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck. The way she pressed her body against his when she slipped her tongue into his mouth, making it clear that this time, she wasn’t looking for a foot massage or a comforting peck on theforehead.
It felt like forever since he’d explored her mouth so thoroughly, since he’d sunk into the softness of her body, felt her silken skin against hispalms.
He’d expected to take it slow, but the demands of her mouth made it clear she wasn’t interested inslow.
Nottonight.
His cock was so hard it was painful when she finally broke away, breathless, from theirkiss.
She stepped back and started for thehall.
“Where are you going?” Max said behindher.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she said. “Are youcoming?”
He heard the words she’d spoken earlier in theirconversation.
I just want some control, Max. Over something.Anything.
He started after her. “I’m definitelycoming.”
If it was control she wanted, it was control she wouldget.
