Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(39)

Before she could catch her breath, his hand fisted her hair, and his mouth was on hers, ravaging her with a kiss that turned her body liquid. Her bag and boot fell to the floor as his tongue plundered her mouth. Fierce and hard, he took everything she gave him, and demanded more.

“Bare yourself to me,” he demanded against her mouth as he pushed up her shirt.

Mia unfastened her bra, freeing her breasts from their restraint. Nico gave a low feral growl and shoved a thick thigh between her legs, pushing her up so he could wrap his hot mouth around her nipple.

This was what she fantasized about at night, alone in her bed. A man who knew what he wanted. A man who could take control. A man who feared nothing and would never yield. A man who would never hurt her.

Need coiled deep in her lower belly as he sucked her nipple into his warm mouth. She squirmed against him, her pussy slick with want. But there was no escape. He had her pinned, his body hot and hard against her, his rock hard shaft branded into her hips.

“Don’t move.” He turned his attention to her other breast as his hands dropped to her ass, fingers digging into her flesh as he rocked her over his thigh, teasing her clit with small jolts of pleasure.

Through the partially open door in the hallway below, she could hear the murmur of voices, laughter, the clack of pool balls, and the faint strains of Hozier’s “Take Me to Church,” But in the dark, secluded stairwell she could only hear the rasp of their combined breaths as they moved against each other, and the thunder of her pulse in her ears.

“We should go inside,” she whispered.

He lowered her to ground, but instead of releasing her, he tugged at the button on her jeans.

“Nico!”

His hand slid into her panties, over her soft curls, stroking through her labia, slick with her juices.

Mia moaned softly, and Nico captured her clit between two thick fingers, fuzzing her brain with need.

“They wanted you,” he said roughly. “If you’d walked out of the pool hall alone, they would have followed.”

She rubbed against him, her hips twisting and grinding for the climax he held just out of reach. “I can take care of myself.”

“You don’t have to take care of yourself when you’re with me.” He pushed his fingers inside her, curled them to rub against her sensitive inner tissue. His powerful body surrounded her, pinned her, his muscled chest blocking her view of everything but him.

Mia tried to fight the orgasm that was rising fast, unstoppable. But he was relentless, his fingers working her without mercy until her climax hit her in a rush of white-hot heat. She bit his shoulder to muffle her cries as her hips jerked against him, and an exquisite wave of pleasure crashed over her senses.

He continued to stroke her, drawing out her orgasm until she sagged against him, panting her breaths. “Well…” She rested her forehead against his shoulder. “I guess we don’t need to go inside.”

Nico tipped her chin up, and she saw the answer in the darkness of his eyes.

Her heart skipped an excited beat. “Maybe we do.”

Hand shaking, she opened the lock, and willed herself to calm. That had been incredible, but unsettling just the same. Some primitive part of her liked the idea of being chased, caught and ravished by a man so dominating, so utterly in command of himself and the people around him, that he had only to lift a finger to have them do his bidding. And yet giving up her control went against everything she had fought for with her family—recognition of her worth, a status equal to her brother. Respect. An end to the violence that had overshadowed her life.

She needed to regain some control of the situation. Make sure she wasn’t making the biggest mistake of her life by giving in to the chemistry that burned between them.

The lock opened with a click, and Mia walked inside and turned on all the lights. “How about I show you around?”

*

Nico let out one slow, ragged breath after another as Mia showed him around her office. Although he tried to pay attention, his mind wasn’t on the exposed brick walls or the finished pine floors. He needed to pull it way back, calm the fuck down. Never had he been so aggressive in his pursuit of a woman. Never had he come so close to losing control. But hell, when she appeared in the pool hall, his plans to drop off her boot went out the window. She was the most sensually alluring woman he had ever met—beautiful, brave and strong—and he wanted her, wanted to touch her more than he needed to breathe.

What was it about her that turned him inside out? It was more than her physical attributes that got to him. So much more. And that made her dangerous.

For reasons other than the obvious, he needed to stay away from her. It wasn’t just because she was the daughter of his enemy or because she distracted him from his goal, but because she reminded him that he had a heart. After watching his father die in his arms, he’d locked that part of himself up tight. He’d lost both parents and he wasn’t prepared to go through that kind of pain again.

“So this is where Jules and Chris, my two on-site staff, work,” she said, unaware he was only half-listening. “I have six online hackers who help me as well from remote locations.”

“Where do you work?”

“Over here.” Mia walked into an office, hidden behind a sheet of frosted glass. Nico followed her and listened patiently as she described her set-up with four screens and three hard drives as well as the bits and pieces she had picked up over the years.