A Necessary Sin (The Sin Trilogy, #1)(39)

I let up lightly. “The good news is that your throat is going to open again in about ten seconds. The bad news is that I’m cutting off your air supply and you won’t be able to breathe even when your trachea stops spasming.”

He’s fighting against me but I have a death grip on him. “I’m going to ask one more time. Who sent you?”

He bucks backward and hits his skull against my cheek. He isn’t talking and if I let him up, he’s going to kill me. It’s kill or be killed. Of that, I have no doubt so I squeeze until he stops fighting.

I’m physically spent and shaking so badly I can’t get up from the floor. I manage to reach over to feel for a pulse and confirm there’s nothing. I lie there motionless for a moment because my muscles are too weak to carry me anywhere.

Shit. The room is in a shambles and there’s a dead body lying in Sin’s bedroom. I’m not really sure what he’s going to say when he returns from his kill and finds that I’ve done the same thing—inside his home.

I sit and wait because there’s nothing else to be done.

As promised, it’s morning before Sin returns. I’m sitting in the chair when he comes into the bedroom. He sees the body on the floor and looks more like a frightened animal than the untouchable organized crime boss he’s destined to become. “I was lying in bed when he attacked me from behind. Sorry about the room.”

He strides across and pulls me from the chair. He holds me in his arms and squeezes tightly. “Are you hurt?”

“You can’t hurt a steel magnolia.”

He embraces me for a while before taking his phone from his pocket to make a call. “There’s been an incident at my flat. I need a cleanup immediately.”

I guess this is how they do it. No authority. No crime scene investigation. No evidence.

“I want you to take your things into the guest room and have a long, hot shower. Clear your thoughts and when you’ve finished, go into my office and wait for me. I’ll come to you after this is taken care of.”

He’s protecting me. He doesn’t want anyone to know I’m here or that I did this. “Okay.”

I take my time in the shower because I know that mess won’t be clear anytime soon. I stand under the falling water and wish the memories of the night would wash away, but it isn’t possible.

I’ve killed before. It too wasn’t by choice. I know all too well that the feelings to follow won’t go away with the snap of a finger—or a shower.

I go into Sin’s office after my shower per his instruction. His music library is open on his computer, so I scroll through his tunes and find a song titled “A Little Death” by The Neighbourhood. It seems a fitting song for the situation. It’s slow and seductive, nothing as I expected. I like it.

I’m sitting on Sin’s desk with my back to the door when I hear it close. I turn and watch him come toward me. I recognize that hungry look again. He stops, standing between my parted knees. He puts his hands on the outer sides of my bare thighs beneath my simple cotton dress and glides his palms upward.

He’s showered. His hair is wet and he smells of cologne. I wonder if his cleansing cleared his mind of the things he did last night. Mine certainly didn’t.

His eyes trail down my neck and he lowers his mouth to place a kiss there. “These bruises will disappear with time and it will be as though it never happened. I’ve taken care of everything. This will never come back to you.”

He’s made the night’s unfortunate events disappear. I’m not certain if his motive is to protect me or himself, but I’m inclined to think all of this is directly related to the feelings he’s developing for me.

“I like the way this feels—you shielding me from harm.”

“I promised you I would protect you.” He strokes his thumb over my cheekbone, the one my attacker hit when he slammed his head against my face. There was a large purple bruise developing beneath the skin when I examined myself earlier.

I’m surprised by how arousing it is for him to take care of me. “I’d like to withdraw a pledge I made. I once said I would never allow anyone to f*ck me across a desk, but I think this is a very different kind of circumstance. I’d like it very much if you’d have me right here and now.”

He grasps my hips and slides me closer to the edge of the desk. He presses his body into mine and I feel how hard he already is. “Ask and you shall receive.”

I glide my hands up his arms as his mouth meets mine. He holds the backs of my knees and bends them, bringing my legs to wrap around his waist. He presses his groin against me, hard.

His mouth abandons mine to move down my neck as he palms one of my breasts in a circular motion. My nipples grow hard.

I really want to be out of this dress. It’s in the way so I grab the bottom and drag it over my head, throwing it onto Sin’s office chair. He echoes my motion by removing his shirt. I slide my panties down as he pushes his trousers to the floor. I unfasten my bra while he gets out of his pants. It’s perfect timing on both of our parts.

He pats the desk. “I want you right here.”

I scoot back onto my assigned seating, legs dangling. He sits in his chair and rolls toward me. “This is my office and I’m a busy man, Miss MacAllister. I have a lot of work to do.” He puts his hand between my breasts and drags it down my chest and stomach until his fingers threaten to touch me, but don’t.