Passing His Guard

His fingers teased near her opening, but before they could enter and become Rya

“What’s my name, Aiden?” Rya

Aiden tensed against her, as if just now sensing this was heading somewhere he might not want to go. But oh, he was good, and he wasn’t a quitter. No, not this fighter. Slipping a finger deep inside her, he teased her clit with his thumb. A helpless moan escaped her lips, so close to defeat, so close to coming . . . He sucked the flesh of her throat covering her traitorous, thundering pulse that gave away just how close she was to saying Fuck it and letting him take her to the moon.

Through her lust-filled haze, she realized he’d yet to answer her question, and that was all the push she needed to steel her resolve. “Aiden, stop. This isn’t why I’m here.”

Slowly, with deliberate ease, he pulled his hand from beneath her panties and she nearly cried out at the loss of his touch. Never before had a man made her feel like this. Never before had a man so masterfully played her body like he knew it better than she did. His lips hovered beside her ear, his breath hot, ragged exhales.

“Then why are you here?” His seductive growl held a hint of suspicion and was laced with an undertone of unease that sent a prickle of goose bumps racing up her arms.

Perhaps this was not the smartest thing she’d ever done, locking herself away with a fighter she truly knew nothing about. There was no one to hear her scream—in pleasure or in terror. But now that she had his attention, there was no going back. This was why she was here. She had a job to do, and the sooner she got it done, the better for the both of them. “Your mother sent me.”

He tensed against her. When his head snapped up, sparks of golden fury shone in his eyes, boring into hers with nothing short of cold, hard rage. “Get out,” he snarled.

Her heart missed a beat as it dropped into her stomach and then promptly began thundering wildly, making her nauseous. He couldn’t be serious. But Aiden didn’t even give her a chance to explain as she stood there frozen in shock at the complete one-eighty this man had pulled on her in a matter of seconds. With the speed of a striking viper, he slammed his fist into the door beside her head. She closed her eyes and flinched, knowing her first moment of true fear since meeting this cage fighter.

“I’m serious, Rya

He knew her name. The realization was so irrelevant in light of his outburst, and yet it resonated somewhere deep inside her. But how . . . ? He hadn’t asked her, and she certainly hadn’t offered, yet he’d taken the time to discover it. Regan, she realized. Had Aiden sent him over to talk to her tonight? What had his friend told him and why had Aiden cared enough to find out?

Before she could think on it any longer, he reached for her skirt, still bunched around her hips, and jerked it back into place before grabbing her arm. Rya

Seconds passed and then something crashed inside his room as Aiden roared. “Fuck!”

Rya

As the shock began to fade, a prominent emotion quickly began to take root deep in her gut—indignant anger. How dare that presumptuous prick bring her up here and just assume she was going to sleep with him? That took a lot of fucking nerve. Maybe she should have reminded him he was engaged while she was at it. As Rya

“I found him,” she a

“And?” Madeline responded impatiently.

“You were right. He isn’t going to cooperate. Send me the package.”

Rya

Damn Aiden Kruze and his witch of a mother. Because of those two, she was about to commit her first felony.

CHAPTER

5

That lying, manipulative bitch! His gut had been right. Rya

“Fuck!”

He slapped his hand over the wound, but the blood oozed between his fingers, ru

“What’s wrong?” Coach demanded in way of a greeting.

“Who said anything was wrong?”

“I know you, Aiden, and if you’re calling me instead of being buried balls deep in some cage banger, something’s wrong.”

“Shit . . .” He sighed, dragging his hand through his hair. “She sent another one, Coach. This time it was a woman.”

Silence—then, “Oh, Jesus . . . Aiden, what did you do? The last one spent two weeks in the hospital.”

Yeah, he kinda felt bad about that, but he’d warned the man to keep his hands off him. Dammit, that woman just would not give it a rest. He was past the point of hoping she’d quit doing his father’s bidding. Did she have any idea how deep his father’s treachery ran? What he was involved in? He doubted it would matter at this point. The closer they got to the wedding, the more tenacious his bitch of a mother became. He wouldn’t put anything past her, or her hired whore.

“I, uhh . . . need a ride to the hospital. I’ve been drinking too much to drive myself.”

“What happened?”

“I cut my arm on a piece of glass.”

Marcus cursed under his breath, and Aiden could hear the click of a bedside lamp and the rustling of bed covers.

“How bad?”

“Bad enough that it needs stitches, but it’ll be fine.”