Edge of Midnight (McClouds & Friends #4)(117)

“You think you know me?” His voice was a hiss of menace. “You have no idea of the shit I’ve done, the men I’ve killed, the women I’ve screwed, the things I’ve been paid to do. I f*cked your brains out, so you think that means you know me? I’ve f*cked a lot of girls’ brains out. They’d run screaming if they knew me.”

She shook her head. “It’s not working. All I hear is blah di dah. Sean’s having a tantrum. Freaking out because he can’t get his way.”

He shook his head, unbelieving. “Can’t get my way,” he repeated. “What are you going to do, Liv? Give me a lollipop to shut me up?”

“That’s what Tam suggested,” she said.

“The day you take Tam’s advice will be a scary day for you, babe.”

“I’m getting used to scary days. They’re the new norm.” She grabbed her skirt, and tugged it up, high enough to see her nakedness. The puff of hair between her thighs. “Want a lollipop, Sean?”

Sean stared at her body. His hand reached out, as if of its own volition, cupping her. His finger pressed against the damp, hot seam hidden in the silky curls. “Might work,” he said hoarsely, fingers curling to grip her mound. “But don’t jerk me around. My sense of humor’s gone AWOL.”

“Then don’t set yourself up for it,” she retorted. “Silly jerk.”

The liquid rush of her arousal moistened his hand. His growl vibrated through her body as he thrust his fingers inside her. “Fine, babe.” His breath was hot against her throat as he wrenched open his jeans and hoisted her against the wall. “Don’t come crying to me if you don’t like it. You begged for it. You drove me to it.”

“I’ll beg. I’ll do what I have to do. Take what I have to take.”

He drove inside. She knew that some part of him wanted to punish her, but his body wouldn’t let him. They were too attuned to each other, every clutch and stroke, every thrill of pleasure. He couldn’t make good on his foolish threats. He could do nothing but pleasure her. She wrapped her arms around him.

Hell and heaven broke loose together.

She clung to him, digging her nails into his shoulders. The jolting rhythm might have seemed violent if it hadn’t been precisely what her body craved, to drive her to that magic place where boundaries melted, where lies became meaningless. She felt his need, his desperation, his fear. She wanted to soothe him, heal him, but all she could do was cling to him, offer up all her yielding sweetness.

His climax wrenched through him. She could not distinguish his pleasure from her own. It melted her down. She knew the second Sean registered her weeping, and the next second, when he misinterpreted it.

He pulled out, stepped away. She slid down the wall and thudded onto her bottom, stockinged legs splayed wide. She curled her legs up.

It shattered her, how huge this feeling was. How small she felt in its grip. How completely her happiness hung on the thinnest of threads.

He tilted her face up. “When I get these guys, and rip their guts out, you’ll be free to leave. Until then, you stay where I put you. Nod if you understand me.”

She nodded. He got to his feet, and headed for the door.

“I’m not a ch-china doll, Sean,” she forced out, voice shaking.

He paused. “That doesn’t mean you’re not breakable.”

The door closed. His footsteps faded down the stairs.





Chapter 23



“R un it all by me one more time,” Sean said, tapping his fingers against the armrest console in a frantic staccato rhythm. “Pay attention. Don’t make me repeat myself like a f*cking idiot,” Davy growled. “And stop the finger drumming thing. Drives me nuts.” “He had a fight with his girlfriend,” Miles said laconically.

“He must have gone without sex for more than twelve hours,” Con said. “Didn’t she take Tam’s advice and show you her muff last night?”

Sean’s hand shot out, fastened over Con’s throat, bonking his brother’s head back against the car window, hard. “Ow! Jesus, Sean!”

“Talk about her like that, and I’ll break your bad leg. Again.”

Con blinked, wide eyed. “You’d do that to a pathetic crip who spent the night driving all over Seattle looking for Erin’s goofy sister?”

“Try me,” Sean said, pitiless.

He took his hand away, ignoring as his brothers whistled and exchanged glances. He rubbed his sore neck, stiff from a night on a cheap motel mattress, to say nothing of the bruises and contusions.

“Sorry,” Con said, sounding anything but. “It’s just a shock. You never minded me going off about your babe du jour before, so I—”

“She’s not my babe du jour. I don’t want to discuss my woman problems. I want to talk about this investigation. If you don’t mind.”

“Huh. You’re starting to sound like Dad. Humor-challenged.”

“Bite your tongue,” Sean said. “Tell me about Charles Parrish.”

Miles spoke up. “All I could find out last night was that he rose in the ranks of Flaxon Industries for a few years, then left and formed the Helix Group. Pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, nanotechnology, what have you.”

“Corporate headquarters are in Olympia. We squeeze Beck, and then drive down there,” Davy said. “We have an appointment at noon.”