Fear For Me (For Me #2)(25)

“I won’t let him get to you.”

“You can’t be my shield twenty-four hours a day.”

No, but he’d like to be.

He brushed her hair back. The bed carried her sweet scent, tempting him. No, she tempted. Always her.

“You ran to the rescue,” she murmured. “But that door’s gonna cost you.”

Screw the door.

His fingers slid down her arm. Her shoulders were bare. What was she wearing beneath the sheet?

“When we were alone”—the words came from him, growling out as tension and need hardened his body even more—“you always burned so hot.”

Her skin was like silk beneath his fingers. He bent his head and pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

“Tony…”

That was it. The breathy catch in her voice. The way she said his name with need shaking in the one word. “I missed that.”

His fingers rose. Slid through the softness of her hair so that he could turn her head toward him. “I missed you.” A guttural truth.

They were alone. No prying eyes.

She always burned so hot when they were alone…

“You said that before,” she whispered. “Am I really supposed to believe you? You stayed away—for five years.”

No, he hadn’t stayed away. He’d come back. Had to see her.

She’d been with someone else.

Anger coiled within him, but he kept a death grip on his control. “Believe this.” Then his mouth was on hers. Finally. Fucking finally.

She tasted just like he remembered. Soft, rich, sweet wine with an edge of spice that made him feel drunk almost from the first taste.

Drunk, and wild for her.

Five years.

His mouth hardened on hers. His tongue thrust past her lips, desperate for more of her taste. She was kissing him back. Instead of grabbing the sheet, she was grabbing him. Her nails raked over his shoulders as she pulled him closer.

Closer was exactly where he wanted to be.

His cock was hard, full for her. Just looking at her made him hard. Touching her, kissing her—that made him feel like a volcano. He burned for her, needed her more than anyone or anything else.

The sheet was in his way. He yanked it aside so that he could caress more of her, and he immediately discovered she wasn’t wearing anything beneath the sheet.

Christ, not a damn thing.

The longing hit him like a blow. Anthony pushed her back on the bed. The sheets were tangled around them, and he didn’t care. He wanted her tangled around him. He wanted to thrust into her so deeply that the rest of the world melted away.

Only her.

Sex had never been the problem between them. It had been part of his addiction.

His hands slid to her breasts. Perfect breasts. Full, round, with pink tips that he loved to have in his mouth. When he kissed them, when he sucked them, she went wild for him.

In so many ways, no one knew her better than he did.

So many.

He tore his mouth from hers. Began to kiss her neck. Right there, over her pulse. Her heart was racing so fast, pounding and pounding in a frantic beat that matched his own desperate heart. He had her back where he wanted her. Beneath him, in bed. With him.

This was where she belonged.

His fingers slid over her breasts. Stroking the nipples.

This was—

“I—I can’t…”

Her voice. The husky timbre rolled right through him, but her words…his back teeth clenched as he glanced up at her face.

Her breath came in fast pants. Her nipples were tight with arousal, but the woman was saying—

“Let me go, Anthony.”

No. Never.

That wasn’t what the good guy was supposed to do. His eyes closed and he gulped in deep breaths. Then he forced himself to let her go. To bend and pull the sheet up, over her, concealing the flesh he wanted so very badly.

The sound of his heaving breaths seemed far too loud in the small hotel room. Lauren was too close, but she’d never seemed farther away.

“I won’t apologize.” Not for kissing her. Touching her. He caught her blue gaze. So damn blue. “You wanted me, too. Want me.” It wasn’t past tense, not for either of them.

“Just because you want something…” She shook her head, sending her hair feathering over her shoulders. “It doesn’t mean it’s good for you.”

No, they’d never been good for each other. Too hot. Too intense.

“I’m not ready to get hurt again by you.”

Her words sliced right through him. Was that what she thought? That he’d hurt her?

“Maybe I should find somewhere else to stay.” She tucked the sheet under her arms, making sure to keep her breasts covered. “Until the team is done with my house, I can stay—”

“You’re not staying with the cop.” The words were snarled. His nostrils flared as he drank in her scent.

She stared at him, then whispered, “No.”

He shouldn’t ask. He shouldn’t. “You had sex with him.” It wasn’t asking. It was confirming. The jealousy was back, knifing him in the gut.

She flinched. She was there, naked, everything he’d ever wanted just inches away. But he couldn’t touch her.

Lauren had said no.

“What I do…who I do it with, that’s my business.”