Riskier Business (Crossing the Line 0.5)(20)

“Troy!” Her body shuddered violently. “Please, more. Please.”

His answering growl vibrated through her system. “Christ. How long has it been since I’ve gone down on you? Three days? Four? That’s a f*cking sin.” He scooped his hands beneath her bottom and hauled her hips toward his mouth. “Let me get a fix, baby.”

The suction of his mouth robbed her of rational thought. With a strangled moan, she fell back on her restrained hands, legs falling open as if boneless. His skilled mouth moved over her as if for the first time. He couldn’t get close enough, even lifting her bottom clear off the table to get a better angle to perform his blissful torture. Every time she felt the orgasm tightening her belly, tingling in her limbs, he took her higher. Held her back. And each time her release loomed brighter, more intense, until finally he had mercy on her. The tip of his tongue placed firm pressure over her clitoris, rubbing back and forth rapidly, easing and strengthening until her world caved in around her. In the distance, she heard herself yelling, but the exquisite squeezing of her sex overpowered everything else.

Troy slammed into her while she was still midorgasm, sending her senses reeling. The sudden fullness inside her clenching center pushed her over the edge again immediately. Her hips were lifted off the desk, supported by Troy’s strong forearm as he brought her down hard on his erection, over and over. When their mouths fused together in a kiss, the blistering contact cut off screams she hadn’t even been aware of issuing. The only sound left was wet, slapping flesh and Troy’s loud grunts of pleasure.

He tore away with a curse and worked his hips faster. “Hot, slippery girl.” Her ass hit the desk, giving Troy more leverage. At an angle, he drove deep, giving her a swift, accurate pounding. “Did you need Officer Bennett to come by and give you a nice hard ride?” Without pausing in his assault, he wrenched her thighs wider. “Well? How the f*ck am I doing?”

Ruby shuddered as his words tempted another release. “Fucking amazing. Perfect. Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop.”

“Go on, baby. Tighten up and come again.” He pressed their foreheads together, locking his gaze with hers. “As soon as you do, I’m going to sink all the way in, to the back of your *. I’m going to do what only I have the privilege of doing. And you’re going to take my seed and love it.”

Ruby’s eyes went blind; her head fell back. Dizzying heat and relief raced through her veins as Troy followed through on his promise. His hoarse cries against her neck only prolonged the moment as she came down from the highest peak she’d ever known.

Suddenly, the feelings were too much to bear. Her emotions felt battered. She was drowning in them and needed something to hold on to, to ground herself, but her hands were cuffed behind her back. Uselessly, she pulled at the restraints, metal clanking loudly on the desk. A loud, frustrated sob racked her chest.

Troy pulled back, horror dawning on his face. “Ruby. Baby, what’s wrong…did I—”

“Uncuff me,” she croaked.

Quickly, he drew the keys from his pants pocket. When her wrists slipped free, she sucked in a relieved breath, but it released on a shaky cry. The events of the last week blasted her like a tidal wave. Her father returning, fighting with Troy, dealing with deeply buried emotions concerning her mother. She’d been keeping it firmly tucked beneath the surface, but the dam had finally burst. Tears she couldn’t control poured down her cheeks.

Troy moved in front of her, taking her face in his hands. He looked tortured, ripped apart by her unexplained grief. “Talk to me. I’m dying here.” She looked up into the eyes of the man she loved beyond reason and knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was her anchor. No matter what happened, no matter how they fought, he would be there, standing firmly in her corner. Without giving herself a chance to second-guess, she threw her arms around Troy and pulled him close. With an unsteady exhale, he held her tight against his chest, rocking her back and forth.

“I love you,” she whispered. “No matter what happens.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you,” he responded fiercely.

She swallowed hard. “The match is tomorrow night.”

Troy stiffened slightly, telling her he hadn’t known. Her father must have sensed the temporary weakness in their bond the other night and cut him out of the loop. “Are you going to let me come with you or do I have to—”

“Go behind my back?” Troy didn’t respond and Ruby sighed. “Come with me. You’ll show up either way.”

“Damn right.”

She pulled back to meet his eyes. “Whatever is going on between us…I won’t let you get hurt. Not because of me. Remember that.”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but wisely didn’t address her cryptic remark. “Tomorrow night. I’ll pick you up. We walk in together.”

She nodded, wondering if they would walk out the same way.





Chapter Seven


Troy positioned himself between Ruby and the group of four men scrutinizing them from across the dim pool hall. His first instinct upon seeing where the match would take place had been to break the speed limit driving her back to Manhattan. Located in a section of Jersey City that hadn’t yet seen the same revitalization as neighboring areas, Mancuso’s didn’t even have a proper sign or entrance. Around the back of an out-of-business furniture store, Mancuso’s was painted sloppily over a dented metal door that let out into an alleyway, where Troy had parked his car. Pool hall was honestly a loose description for what was in reality a basement directly beneath the old furniture store. None of the pool tables matched, and the wooden bar looked so distinctly out of place, Troy had a hunch it had been “borrowed” from somewhere else.