Beneath These Lies (Beneath, #5)(66)

I took a sip, willing my hand not to shake as he slid a finger inside me.

Oh God. I tightened my grip on the glass as he teased me, thrusting his finger in and pulling it out.

“Is that right?” I murmured, trying to sound saucy, when what I was truly doing was fighting to keep my hips from grinding into his touch.

“That’s right. I’m gonna have you biting that lip as you come, trying to keep from crying out, before you finish that drink.”

That’s when Rix’s thumb joined the action, finding my clit.

All the noise in the bar was drowned out by the blood pulsing in my ears. My field of vision shrank to only Rix, and every sensation swirling through my body centered on his touch. My orgasm was quick, intense, and blinding.

I squeezed my eyes shut, slammed my glass to the bar, and gripped his arm. My nails dug in, but I couldn’t loosen my hold. My lip stung as my teeth pressed down. I willed myself not to cry out, and almost lost the battle when he thrust again and pressed.

Pleasure licking at every inch of my insides, I tugged at his arm, a silent plea that I’d had enough and any more would make me a public spectacle. Rix mercifully pulled his hand free from between my legs. In the shafts of neon coming from the club lights in the ceiling, the skin of his fingertips glistened. From me.

Instead of wiping it away, Rix sucked his finger and thumb clean.

“You ready?” he asked, as if I hadn’t just watched one of the most erotic acts of my life.

All I could do was nod. I’d come in ready to play, and the game had been turned on me in the best way possible.

Rix led me out of the bar, his hand on my lower back. Johnny was parked on a side street two blocks away in the Escalade. When Rix opened the door and then followed me inside, the SUV rolled forward. Around and around we drove until apparently Johnny was sure there was no one following us. This time, he pulled alongside the curb in front of my house.

I looked to Rix, and the expression on his face told me he wasn’t coming inside.

“I got some work to finish up and I’ll be back.”

“What kind of work?” The question was out before I could stop it. I knew I wasn’t getting an answer. Heck, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted an answer.

Rix’s expression was guarded. “Just work. I’ll be back when I can.”

“I interrupted you.” Guilt lanced through me, but I wouldn’t give back this last hour for anything.

“You’re never an interruption.” His words were clearly a lie.

“Why did you come if you were busy? You didn’t need to.”

Rix lifted a hand to my face. “If my woman says she’s drinking alone, I’m not the kind of man to leave her to it.”

“Still—”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be back soon.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips before reaching past me and opening the door. “Don’t wait up.”

“Be safe,” I whispered, pressing my lips to his cheek. I had no idea what he was going out to do, but I was sure of one thing. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t.”

I could only hope he was right.





DRUGS. MONEY. GUNS. THEY’D BEEN my world for years, but I was ready to get out. Valentina wasn’t the kind of woman I could keep while doing what I did, and I wasn’t willing to let her go. What I could let go of was drugs, money, and guns. But when you were as bound up in the game as I was, nothing was ever simple.

Johnny and I rolled on the warehouse where I had a meet set up. Hennessy was still sniffing around, looking for evidence that his brother wasn’t dirty. I’d offered up a reward for the wire tape, and wouldn’t you know it, money talked.

I was getting my hands on it today, from another employee of the NOPD, ironically enough. In this world, no one and nothing were ever what or who they seemed to be. The good guys weren’t all good and the bad guys weren’t all bad. Just one more lesson about life.

And why the f*ck was I getting philosophical? I was here to get something Hennessy wanted, and then I was going to warn him off Valentina once and for all.

The warehouse was dark and quiet when I walked in. Abandoned twenty years ago after a main Mardi Gras parade route change, the old brick building still held random pieces of broken floats that had never been moved. It was very NOLA.

Gregory Herman waited inside, arms crossed, wearing thick-rimmed glasses that magnified his eyes. From the way he was jumping at every sound, he had to be hopped up on something, because there was no way he could be that nervous. Could he? A tech nerd at the precinct for less than a year, according to my sources, he didn’t do much fieldwork, but he was a savant when it came to computers and surveillance and all that shit.

Johnny was at my back as I approached Herman. “You alone?” I asked. I hadn’t taken the time to search the building, but that was the other thing that could have him so jumpy. “Because if you ain’t, you and whoever you brought are going to have a rather unpleasant evening.”

He shook his head violently, almost dislodging his glasses. Resettling them on his nose, he stuttered, “N-n-no, sir. Just me. I didn’t want anyone to know what I was doing.”

“Because you’re breaking the law and could end up in jail for doing this yourself.”

I wanted to make sure the consequences were clear to him before I handed over the money. I didn’t get the set-up vibe from him either.