Hunting Her Box Set

“Don’t say my name again,” I murmur.

She nods, biting her lower lip, her lids heavy, her cheeks flushed.

I inch back, my cock leaving her heat, a trail of cum following in its wake.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

“I’m sorry.” I place her down on the bed and run a hand over my mouth. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

She frowns up at me, then awareness dawns and her eyes flare. “Jesus. Fuck.”

“You wanted a distraction, right?” I drawl.

Her glower is a great indication that this situation isn’t something we can joke about.

“Why is everything a complete disaster with you?” she accuses. “Everything falls to shit. Every single time.”

It isn’t sunshine and rainbows for me either. Sarah has brought me nothing but trouble and mind-numbing lust.

“Why the hell are we still doing this?” She pushes to her elbows and looks up at me as if I have the answer.

I don’t.

I have no clue.

“I wish I knew.” I pull up my jeans to cover my ass and stalk from the room, returning moments later with a damp washcloth.

She flops back onto the mattress and rests an arm over her face as I slide a hand between her thighs. I wipe the slickness from her legs, her mound, her slit.

My dick throbs with the possibility of round two. That greedy motherfucker.

“I’ll deal with the morning-after pill tomorrow,” she murmurs.

“Right.” What if I don’t want her to deal with it? Fuck. Am I really that desperate to have her locked in my life?

I place the cloth on her bedside table and turn off the light. She crawls across the mattress then pulls back the covers, her movements visible with the slight illumination from the living room.

I ditch my shoes and clothes to climb naked onto the mattress. I don’t offer to give her privacy or space. She won’t get either from me. No matter how hellish this is, I can’t drag myself away.

I want her. Not just her body or her secrets. I want her trust. I want more. I want everything. Every touch. Every breath. I want to know she’s mine, and I won’t stop until I’m successful.

I slide in beside her and place my palm on her stomach, my lips on her shoulder.

I listen to her breathing and feel her stomach rise and fall. Every so often she sniffs, and it’s the most vulnerable, emotional sound I’ve ever heard. She’s caged all her anguish inside, not letting it break free.

“Why did you keep turning the camera around?” she whispers into the darkness. “Was it a hint to tell me I was disclosing my location?”

She turns to face me, and I briefly close my eyes to bite back the bliss of her snuggling into my chest.

I’ve never had this. Not the woman in my home. Not the cuddling or the after-sex conversation.

“It wasn’t that at all.”

“Then what was it?”

I remember my vow of honesty and bite back the need to lie as I meet her gaze. “I had to see you. Those hours before you woke were all I had.”

She lowers her attention to focus on my chest. There’s no other reaction. She isn’t happy for my weakness. She isn’t latching her claws in, scrambling for more. “Why didn’t you interrogate me for the name of the informant?”

“Because I know you don’t have it. After the funeral, Decker filled me in on what he’d dug up on you now that we have the names from the headstones in Seattle. I read about your family, which led to Jacob. There was a photo of him with Dan in your apartment.” I glance over my shoulder to the room. “It’s around here somewhere.”

I turn back to her sad eyes and lazy appraisal. My mind tells me to cut and run, but my lungs ache for more. It’s a constant fight between want and need. It has been for weeks. I think it will be for a long time to come.

She’s hypnotizing. Mesmerizing. She’s a damn dream, or maybe she’s a nightmare. Either way, I’m not ready to wake up.

She burrows into me, resting her cheek to my chest. “You never kissed me again. Not after that first night.”

My pulse thunders. “Did you want me to?”

Her head shakes the slightest bit. “No.”

She stabs me through the ribs with that one word, creating a hole where my self-respect should be.

“But no matter how much I told myself I didn’t want it,” she whispers, “I needed it more than anything.”