HIDING: Book 5, The Stranger Stand Alone Series, A Dark Romantic Suspense

by N. M. Catalano

  “Where are her things? We’re leaving.”

  “I’ll show you,” my grandmother comes forward. “It’s about damn time you showed up,” she grumbles as she waddles toward the back office.

  “If she wasn’t so damn stubborn and taken my calls, I’d have been here the whole time,” Rico snaps, following her and pulling me with him.

  “Hrrmmph, tell me about it,” she snorts.

  “Hellooo, I’m right here. I can hear everything you’re saying,” I comment sarcastically.

  “WE KNOW,” they reply simultaneously.

  Asssholes.

  Once inside the office, she points with the huge industrial spoon she’s still got clutched in her hand to my purse sitting on the desk.

  I think she always carries it around with her to intimidate people because we know very well she’s not afraid to use it.

  “That one, the big one.”

  “Alright, enough, I can walk.” I yank my arm free.

  I walk over to the desk and pick up my things. When I turn, Rico’s imposing figure is filling the doorway. He’s as sleek as a Black Hawk chopper, just as powerful, and just as quick, swooping in and taking me away. His stare pummels me like the rotors, without a touch, but just as efficient, and just as strong.

  He’s not keeping me in.

  But keeping anyone out.

  The hurricane of his look blasts everything else out of the small room.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumble.

  He takes a step closer.

  “I am too.”

  I lower my gaze. I can’t look into his eyes framed by the tense black slashes of his eyebrows. I feel so badly because of how I treated him.

  “I was such a bitch.”

  He tucks a finger under my chin and tilts my head up. The intensity hasn’t left his gaze and it penetrates me, blowing away the turmoil that had gripped me for days. For months.

  “Hey, no, don’t. You were angry. You had every right to be. Hell, I was too. I still am. But we’re going to get through this. I’ve got you, kitten.”

  Whoosh! He’s just destroyed the last lingering vestiges of my nightmare. At least for a little while.

  He cups my cheek with one hand as he slides his other arm around me and pulls me to him, closing me into the shelter of his big, black, machine.

  “I’m taking you home.”

  I stare up into his eyes. Eyes that can destroy you, or save you.

  It sends a shiver up my spine.

  “I’m going to kiss you now, Maria, then I’m taking you home and tying you to my bed.”

  My heart stops, then explodes. I’m speechless.

  He slips his hand to the nape of my neck and draws me nearer as his look pulls me in. My heart is pounding in chorus with the thwump, thwump, thwump of his power, obliterating everything else. His hand grips a little tighter and he holds me a little harder. His mouth closes over mine, owning me, taking me, as his tongue sweeps deep into my mouth and strokes mine, pulling me into the ferocious vortex swirling within him.

  Yes, yes, yes, take me, tie me, use me, make me forget everything else…

  Maria

  CHAPTER 16

  We’d ridden in silence. But the air was full of all the things we hadn’t said to each other. The sorry’s, the questions, the answers both of us wanted to give, but for some reason couldn’t.

  “Why don’t you go and take a hot shower to relax?” Rico asks me when we enter his house with a kiss on the forehead.

  He’s got me pressed tight to his body, his arms around me, with his lips lingering in the kiss on my skin.

  I don’t want to let him go.

  It’s been the longest three days. The nightmare had sprung to life and became my reality as if it never had even ended.

  This, right now, is the fantasy.

  I’m going to relish every minute of it.

  “I will.”

  He smiles at me. He’s still tense, it’s written all over his face, and in the tautness of his body. And in the gun he’s got in the shoulder holster he’s wearing.

  The reminder of who and what he is.

  It’s a double-edged sword. One side righteousness, the other assassin.

  It’s an unsettling comfort.

  A lot like him.

  “Good. Have you eaten anything? You look thinner.” He narrows his eyes at me.

  The truth is, I haven’t had much of an appetite the past few days.

  Worrying somebody’s going to kill you will do that to you.

  “I did.”

  He cocks an eyebrow at me, ducking his chin.

  “I did, really. You go and eat something, I’ll be fine,” I turn him and nudge him toward the kitchen.

  “Alright. I’m going to join you in a minute. I have a couple of calls to make as well,” he peers at me over his shoulder. “When I’m finished, you’re all mine.” His expression tells me everything.

  Beneath his steely armor of darkness and danger, what lies beneath is so much more powerful. It’s bridled fury, restrained control, and a cataclysm waiting to be unleashed.

  And it’s coming for me.

  My insides clamp down with the promise as the first lick of molten desire strokes me.

  I silently turn and make my way to the master bath, my heart pounding.

  I enter, turn the water on to let it heat up, and look, really look.

  The room envelopes me in his fresh masculine scent, that alone is my aphrodisiac. Gliding my finger along the polished stone surface of the sink, I see the private Rico with a fresh set of eyes. He uses a cup and brush when he shaves, a bar of Khiel’s soap sits in a wooden dish next to the same brand shave cream between the double basins. And everything is meticulous, but welcoming, crisp and without clutter.

  Just like the rest of the house.

  Just like him.

  I strip, fold my clothes, and place them on the end of the counter, then step under the cascade of hot water, closing my eyes to the burning sting. My tense muscles begin to loosen with the welcoming heat as it permeates me.

  I might be able to hide here for a few hours, but I can’t escape my mind.

  Rico’s a cop, catching the bad guys is what he does.

  Who used to be in a gang.

  He killed for them. For himself.

  I have a nagging suspicion there’s a whole lot more to his story. His confession had been half-truths, crumbs of information meant to give a skimpy line drawing of an intricate map.

  Information I have a feeling would connect all the dots and fill in the empty spaces.

  As I tilt my head back under the spray, I hear the door click open.

  Despite the questions in my head, my body responds instinctually, my skin tingles in anticipation, and all my erogenous zones awaken, even ones I didn’t know I had.

  The rustle of clothing.

  My breath quickens.

  The sound of a zipper.

  My loins clench.

  The shower door opening.

  My heart pounds.

  He is perfection in flesh, a melding of sin and absolution, temptation and fulfillment, wrong and right.

  Tonight he is my escape.

  But first I need some answers.

  RICO

  I don’t know how we got here.

  She was only a challenge.

  I had rules.

  I have secrets.

  I’ve lived in secrets for so long, they were my cloak, my refuge. I wasn’t alive there, but the existence was bearable. The truth is, and had been for a long time, I didn’t want to live. So, I’d found the refuge my soul needed in secrets and in the dark. There, at least, I’d survived. Even if I didn’t want to.

  It was a game.

  She was a distraction.

  An interesting, intriguing, deviation from the shit I live in.

  She had secrets.

  Secrets have a life of their own. They grow, and grow, and if you’re not careful, they’ll kill off everything else and leave nothing left.r />
  Her secrets became me.

  My secrets lived in her.

  She became more.

  I wanted more.

  And more.

  “Come here, kitten.” I step into the shower, pull the door closed behind me, and wrap my arms around her.

  Fuck, I’ve missed her.

  I’m torn between needing to bury myself inside her, and just hold her all night.

  Her body melts against mine as her small hands slide down my back and around my waist. Her breasts are pressed against my chest and my erection grows between us.

  “Rico, I need to ask you something.” I can hear the slight hesitancy in her voice.

  Whatever it is, I know I’m not going to like it.

  She deserves answers,

  She deserves the truth.

  “Okay,” I whisper against her hair.

  Seconds drag by in the space. Finally, the one thing, the one skeleton I never wanted to drag out of the closet again, Maria pulls out and thrusts in front of me.

  “Who was killed that day?”

  Suddenly, there are too many people with us in the small space of the shower. Isabelle’s there, and Alex, the five fucking gang members. And Ivan. Sneering at me, taunting me.

  Maybe we should see which one of us she likes more…

  I hold her tighter and breathe deep.

  She doesn’t press me, only waits for me to come to grips with my pain. She handed me the goddam shovel to dig up my past, she’s giving me time.

  “My girlfriend,” the words burn as they slip past my lips.

  She rubs her face against my chest and squeezes me tighter.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispers.

  Part of me wants to push her from me and get as far away as possible. The need to get lost in my secrets is overwhelming. I didn’t feel there. Nothing touched me there.

  The other part, the man who ached from watching Maria suffer, who knows the monsters that are hunting her, that man turns her face to look up at him and kisses her.

  Isabelle’s death was a tragedy. There’s nothing I can do that can change that.

  Maria can be saved.

  That’s exactly what I intend to do.

  But first I’m going to enjoy her.

  Grabbing the soap, I pass it over the length of her body until she’s covered. When I’m satisfied, I replace it on the holder, then begin to move my hands over her. They glide over her flesh, slick with the soap, beginning at her neck. My fingers wrap around the back as my thumbs glide up and down the front of her throat and over the line of her jaw. Her head tips back as her lips separate. I trace my tongue over them before pulling one, then the other into my mouth. I kiss her slowly, my eyes never leaving her face, as my hands slide down her sternum to cup her breasts in my palms. I love how they feel, the weight, the plumpness, the softness. Holding them, I graze my thumbs over the already hardened peaks as I watch her face. Pleasure and desire flush her cheeks. Her mouth silently opens a little more as her body moves into mine. Keeping one hand on her breast, the other moves down her stomach, over one hip, and up the soft inside of her thigh.

  “Rico…,” she whispers.

  Clasping her nipple between finger and thumb, I pinch it.

  “I want to hear you purr, kitten,” I whisper into her ear.

  She moans, it’s the sweetest fucking sound.

  The water has washed most of the soap away by the time I cup her mound and circle my thumb around her clit.

  I push her back gently. “Lean against the wall, and spread your legs.”

  When she’s just like I want her, spread open, arms at her sides, palms flat on the ceramic tile, I lower my face and suck her other nipple into my mouth, teasing it with my tongue, the other one still held by my fingers.

  “Please…,” she whimpers.

  “Purr for me, kitten.”

  I need her orgasm.

  Gently, so fucking gently, I begin to rub her clit.

  I want her to come.

  But I want it not to be enough.

  Her breathing is quick, her body is rigid, restrained by the sensations.

  My tongue flicks over the peak nonstop as I mimic the motion with the tip of my thumb on her nub.

  “RICO PLEASE…”

  Grasping her nipples tightly with my lips and fingers, I press down on her clit and rub hard.

  “Now. Come for me.”

  Her body goes stiff as she rises up on her tiptoes.

  And she screams.

  Closing my mouth over hers, I swallow every sound she makes.

  When her body finally begins to relax, I promise her, “That’s the first of many tonight.”

  She lifts her hands to my shoulders and wraps her arms around my neck. “Take me to bed.”

  I grin at her. “I intend to.”

  I reach over and turn off the water and clasp her hand to lead her out of the stall. I wrap a towel around my waist before I get one to dry her off and tuck around her. I want to worship her tonight, leave no space on her body I haven’t been. I want every inch of her tingling and remembering my touch, my tongue, my mark.

  In the bedroom, her steps falter when she sees what I’ve got waiting.

  “I told you I was going to tie you to my bed. I wasn’t kidding.”

  From each corner of the bed, there are black satin ties waiting to restrain her spread open like a fucking banquet for me. And one more to blindfold her with.

  As she stands silently staring at the bed, I come up behind her, my front molding to her back, and wrap my arms around her. “I’m going to adore your body tonight. Get on the bed, kitten.”

  She peers at me from hooded eyes. It doesn’t hide the yearning and lust in them. Slowly, I peel the thick cotton from her, drop it on the floor, and guide her to the bed. I nudge her until she crawls on and I follow behind her.

  “On your back,” I quietly say.

  She complies.

  When she’s lying beneath me, I pick up the blindfold and bend, pressing bare chest to bare chest, and my face an inch away from hers.

  “This is for your eyes. You’ll only focus on what I’m doing to you, feel it more, get lost in it.” I search her face and look for fear. “Do you trust me, kitten?”

  She wets her lips before pulling the bottom one between her teeth.

  “Yes.”

  She’s a fucking warrior.

  “Good,” I whisper huskily and kiss her.

  I make love to her mouth, my adoration beginning now, stroking and caressing her mouth and tongue with mine as I place the black strip over her eyes and tie it at the back of her head. I can feel her heartbeat quicken, her breaths coming deeper and faster.

  I’m going to take my time with you, savor every inch of you.

  Dragging my lips down her neck, I lift my body from hers to stand.

  “I’m going to tie you now.”

  My dick is like fucking stone, I’m so hard. It doesn’t matter. I’m not getting off until I’ve made her come at least three more times. As I shift off the bed and move to restrain each wrist and each ankle, I’m constantly touching her. With my hands, my mouth, my tongue, I never break the contact. She follows me, turning her head and tracking my movements, even though she can’t see me.

  Not for long, soon she’ll be so lost in pleasure to not even care.

  Once I’ve got her open wide, her legs spread with her beautiful pussy begging me to come to her, and her arms open out to the sides saying, ‘Take me,’ I do just that.

  I lick, kiss, and nibble every inch of her flesh, from her feet to her head. I take long languid strokes with my tongue, I fill my mouth with the meaty flesh, sucking it in and leaving a mark, I kiss her on her most sensitive areas, and make her shiver. I want to embed her flavor into my taste buds, I need to burn the memory of her scent into my mind, I have to imprint her into my soul.

  I need to consume her, devour her completely.

  Even that’s not enough.

  She’s writhing beneath me, me
wling and moaning softly.

  Until I lower my face between her thighs.

  And lick.

  Her back arches off the bed as her body gets strung tight.

  She’s panting hard as her back flattens and pulls on the bindings.

  “Rico…”

  I smile. Then point my tongue and circle it around her swollen clit.

  “Patience, kitten,” I murmur against her, my lips brushing along her wetness. “I’m just getting started.”

  Going lower, I plunge into her tightness.

  “OhGodohGodohGod…”

  I glide my tongue up and flick her clit.

  “Just feel, kitten. Nothing else exists.”

  She takes a deep breath, then exhales. Her body deflates as she lets go.

  Her taste is exquisite, her sounds are the fucking choirs from heaven, I can’t get enough.

  I suck her hard into my mouth, I explore every fold, every crease with my tongue, I delve into her depths demanding every last drop.

  I don’t penetrate her, not yet, that’s coming.

  When she pushes herself into my mouth, begging for more, I give it to her, but only a little.

  Clutching her clit between my lips, I suck it, flick it, twist it, until she comes all over me.

  As I lick her clean, I reach down and unfasten each ankle before sliding up her body.

  Taking her face in my hands, I wipe her wetness all over her mouth, then tongue it all off.

  “I want you on your knees now, kitten,” I tell her as I free her wrists.

  My voice is deep and raspy.

  “Rico, I need…,” the words are breathy.

  I nip her jaw.

  “I know what you need. Ass in the air, baby.”

  She turns to her stomach as I follow with my tongue from her tits to her back. My hands slide down as I trace the art with my tongue, then down, down, further between her cheeks as I lift her hips.

  It’s time to explore her sex with my fingers.

  I don’t rush.

  It’s too fucking beautiful to.

  I watch everything as my fingers dip and glide, slip inside, then circle, in then out.

  She’s a masterpiece, and I want to memorize every. Single. Detail.

  When she starts rocking back into me, asking for more, I slide my thumb inside and get it nice and coated with her juices. I glide that hand up her hip to rest on her lower back. Bringing my other hand around and down her stomach, gliding it lower to her mound, I find her sensitive nub.