Crime & Punishment 2: Master Delacroix

by Trista Ann Michaels

  The pink stripes he’d given her with his flogger were visible in the dim light of the room, and he slowly ran his finger over one, causing her to stir. If he didn’t stop touching her, he would renege on the decision to let her sleep.

  Sighing, he dropped his hand and decided to step outside and check on the patio and see if some fresh air would help to get the remnants of that vision out of his head.

  He climbed from the bed and walked naked out the front door. The warm night air blew across his skin, cooling his overheated flesh. Too many bad visions and not enough sleep. He really needed to figure this out.

  He glanced around the now spotless pool deck, always surprised at just how well his cleaning crew took care of things. There was no sign of a party at all. Those people needed yet another raise.

  Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge behind the pool bar, he decided to sit in one of the cushioned lounge chairs. As he did, he tried to replay the image through his mind. What was he seeing? A gun. A flash of light. This time he definitely heard a woman scream. There was also the blood on his hand again.

  He took a sip of the water as he stared up at the stars. What the hell did it all mean? Whose blood was it? And more importantly, was it Connelly he heard screaming?

  That thought did not sit well with him. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt, but damned if, after last night, he could stay away. The connection he had with her was unlike anything he’d experienced, and in some ways it scared the hell out of him. Just what kind of connection was this? And how long would it last?

  Was it there for a reason? And what reason would that be?

  He drew in a deep breath as he ran his hand down his face and growing beard. He needed to trim it later. Otherwise, it would start to itch. He had so many questions he needed answered and no idea how to figure it out. The things he’d seen in the past were much easier to decipher. This one, he didn’t have a clue.

  “Nathan? Are you okay?”

  Connelly’s soft voice spoken from just a few feet away surprised him. He’d been so deep in thought over his vision he hadn’t even heard her come outside. She stood there looking quite sexy in the shirt he’d left lying across the back of the chair earlier when he’d changed for the party. The moonlight made her fair skin glow and her eyes sparkle. Damn, she looked stunning.

  He held his hand out to her. “Hey, pet. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

  She moved forward and placed her hand in his, allowing him to pull her onto his lap, straddling his thighs. “I heard you get up but thought you were going to the bathroom. When you didn’t return, I worried.”

  Nathan smiled as he brushed a stubborn curl behind her ear. “I’m fine, pet. Just a bad dream.”

  Her brow creased, and Nathan used the tip of his finger to smooth it out. He hated to see a worried frown on her pretty face.

  “Do you have those often?” she asked.

  “Sometimes. I’m afraid I’m not very good at forgetting some of the things I’ve seen over the years.”

  “I know the feeling,” she whispered.

  Nathan slid his hand down the shirt she wore and popped the button loose. “Do you have bad dreams, Connelly? About what happened to you?”

  “I haven’t in a while,” she murmured.

  Nathan could feel her desire, her understanding, even the heat of her pussy. She wasn’t close enough. He grabbed her hips and pulled her up so her pussy rested right over his cock.

  “Mmm,” he purred. “That’s better. Now, what were we talking about?”

  Her lips twitched. “Nightmares.”

  “Oh, yeah,” he purred as he rocked her over his shaft. “Nightmares.” His gaze dropped to the partially open shirt. “Undo the rest of the buttons, pet. Then cup your breasts for me.”

  Connelly slowly worked the buttons free one by one. Nathan narrowed his eyes and growled at how long she was taking.

  “Now who’s impatient?” she said with a grin.

  Spreading the shirt open, she cupped her breasts and gave them a squeeze.

  “Pinch your nipples,” he ordered.

  She did and then tugged at them. Nathan moaned in approval at the sight of her touching herself. Damn, that was hot—her small hands massaging her breasts, her pink nails pulling at her rosy nipples. He was getting hard already, and he knew she was aroused. He could feel it.

  “Touch yourself,” he whispered. “See if you’re wet.”

  Hell, he already knew she was. He could feel her cream against his cock. He just wanted to see her do it.

  Keeping her gaze on his, she lowered her hands slowly to her mound. She moved her fingers over and between her labia, teasing herself just as Nathan had teased her. She looked hot with her face flushed and her eyes half-open. Even her lips were parted as she sighed in pleasure.

  “That’s hot as hell,” he said with a sideways grin, his nightmare temporarily forgotten.

  She removed her hand and placed her wet fingers before his lips. He pulled them into his mouth, licking her sweet taste from her knuckles.

  “Very nice,” he whispered, then bit the tip of her finger.

  “What else would you like for me to do?” she asked in a sexy voice Nathan wasn’t sure he’d heard before, but he definitely liked.

  “Take me inside you,” he replied. “All of me.”

  Connelly rested her hands on his shoulders as she lifted her hips. Nathan gripped her waist and settled her opening over the tip of his shaft. His cock jerked in anticipation of her heat engulfing him, and he really had to struggle to continue to let her keep the pace. All he wanted to do was tug her down on his length and fill her full.

  She lowered herself partway, and Nathan gritted his teeth at how tight she was. She moaned and pulled back before pushing down again. This time, she went most of the way before stopping and pulling back once more. She struggled to take him with one stroke.

  When he did it, he just shoved hard, forcing his way past her tight walls. She enjoyed the pain of it as he stretched her. But it was a little different when she was doing it to herself.

  “Too much, pet?” he whispered.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  This time when she went down, she took all of him. Nathan sighed as her walls quivered around him, settling around his girth like a hot glove. Connelly let her head fall back as she moaned in pleasure. He knew the sound, the way her hips jerked with the beating of her heart.

  She dug her nails into his shoulders, and he gently pulled her hips forward, allowing her to sink a little farther. She gasped and jerked her hips, making Nathan groan in delight.

  “Damn, you feel good,” he growled.

  While her head was back, Nathan leaned forward and placed biting kisses along the column of her throat. Connelly murmured incoherently as he continued to nibble her neck. She smelled like a mixture of coconut and the cologne that lingered on his shirt, and he inhaled her scent, wanting to drag her into him.

  He cupped her breasts and rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers before pinching them harshly. He watched Connelly’s face in fascination as she sighed in pleasure. When he twisted them, her pussy clenched his length.

  Connelly began to rock faster, grinding her clit against his groin. He didn’t mind if she came. He could get her to come again. He knew how she liked it and what made her scream. When she exploded around him, he smiled and watched her ride out the waves. Her walls vibrated around him, milking him of what felt like his very soul.

  What had this little slip of a redhead done to him?

  She sighed and sagged against him as the last of her throbs began to die. Nathan ran his hands slowly up and down her back in a soothing pattern, enjoying the feel of her skin beneath his touch.

  “We’re not done yet, pet,” he whispered.

  Connelly sat up and looked at him with big eyes that left him breathless. He loved that soft look of trepidation in her eyes. It set his blood racing.

  He cupped her cheek and pulled her
face down to his for a kiss. “I plan on fucking this hot little pussy till you beg me to stop.”

  He made her come three more times before finally finding his own release deep in her tight walls.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Connelly staggered in the front door of her house and winced at how weak and bruised she felt. God, the man was incredible, but if they kept this up, she’d be raw inside.

  She’d left while he was still sleeping. Hopefully he wouldn’t be upset at that, but she hadn’t gone with the intent to spend the night, and she had a lot of things she needed to do today. One of which was meet her editor for dinner, since she was in Atlanta for the Romance Writers of America conference, which Connelly had already been read the riot act for not attending.

  Next year, she’d promised. Maybe.

  Her editor had cut her some slack after what had happened and not pushed her, but eventually she would insist. Every one of her books had made the New York Times list, so there was no way they’d let her get away with this for too much longer. Connelly dreaded the arrival of that day.

  She loved her readers and always answered e-mails herself; she just hated attending something she and her late husband had always done together. It was a shame he hadn’t been more adventurous when it came to sex. If he had been, they would’ve had the perfect marriage.

  After showering and changing her clothes, she walked into her office and saw the note taped to her computer screen right away. It was from Peter letting her know he was running errands and would be back later. He also expected details, so she better be forthcoming.

  With a grin, she tossed it to the side and hit the space bar, bringing her computer out of sleep mode. She’d check e-mails first. Peter always left the fan ones for her. Once done with that, she’d finish up the last part of her book, and it would be ready for her beta readers to make their initial go through. They always had great input; she just hoped they liked the sexier story line.

  She answered the e-mails quickly, then closed down the Internet. Time to get started. It had taken her much longer to get through everything because her mind kept shifting to Nathan and how much she’d enjoyed sleeping in his arms.

  Shaking her head, she tried to focus. “It’s just sex, just sex, just sex. That’s all. Don’t get attached.”

  With a deep breath, she turned her focus to her story. Four pages into the next scene, a noise toward the back of the house caught her attention. She froze and listened. She was used to the sounds in her house. As an older home she’d restored, it often made settling noises, but this sounded different.

  “Peter?” she called, although she doubted it was him. He always used the front door, not the back.

  When she didn’t get an answer, she pushed back from her desk and stood. She thought about grabbing the gun she kept in the drawer, but changed her mind. It was probably just a new settling noise she hadn’t heard yet. Besides, no one would break into her house in broad daylight. Her neighbors were too close and the streets too heavily patrolled.

  Steeling her spine, she walked down the main hall toward the great room in the back. This room was the newest with a wall of windows that overlooked the garden and fountains. She’d fallen in love with this house the second she’d seen it, and her husband had bought it for her, despite his belief that it should be torn down. Because of its condition, they’d gotten an amazing deal and spent a fortune bringing it back to life. Once finished, he’d been forced to admit the process had been well worth it.

  She glanced around the room trying to determine where the noise had come from. Nothing appeared out of place, yet a chill still worked its way up her spine that made her shiver. She wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to ward it off.

  “You’re hearing things, Connelly,” she mumbled to herself.

  She turned to head back to her office but stopped dead in her tracks at a sight that made her blood run cold.

  Andre Lenox.

  * * * *

  “Nathan, get up!”

  Nathan jerked awake and stared in shock at his old FBI partner, Josh Barnes, standing over his bed. “Josh? What the hell?” He brushed his hair back from his face and looked around the bed for Connelly.

  “She’s not here,” Josh said as he tossed a cell phone onto the mattress beside him. “You better take a look at that.”

  With a frown, Nathan picked it up and stared at the screen. On it was a picture of him and Connelly having sex on the patio. She was wearing his shirt, so it must’ve been taken after everyone had left.

  “What the hell is this?” Nathan asked.

  “It was left outside your door,” Josh said. “Listen, Nathan. We need the name of that girl.”

  Nathan set the phone down as a sick feeling worked its way through his stomach. “What’s going on?”

  Josh sighed and put his hands on his hips. “Lenox escaped. As of right now, you and that girl are under protective custody.”

  “He what?” Nathan snapped.

  “And we might want to include your brother, since he looks so damn much like you.”

  “Josh!” Nathan bellowed. “How the hell did he escape?”

  “We don’t know yet. But we do know he’s after you.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Nathan said as he threw the covers off his legs and swung his feet to the floor. “Her name is Connelly James. Somebody get to her before he does!”

  * * * *

  Connelly stood frozen in fear. Not ten feet away was the man who’d murdered her husband and left her for dead. He tilted his head, studying her. “You look familiar,” he murmured.

  “You killed my husband and almost killed me, you son of a bitch,” she snarled.

  His lips lifted into a purely evil smile that had her shuddering under her summer sweater.

  “I remember you,” he murmured. “How lucky I am that you’re the one who was with Nathan last night. Now I get to kill two birds with one stone. Get back at the prick and finish something I started.”

  Connelly gasped and tried to run. Lenox caught up with her easily. He grabbed a handful of hair and jerked her head back. Connelly almost lost her balance, but his hold on her hair kept her from falling to the ground.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Lenox snarled.

  Anger rushed through her with the speed of a bullet train. She refused to die like this. Not at his hands. She fisted her fingers and swung as hard as she could and caught him in the nose. He loosened his hold enough that she could break free. His curses followed her down the hall as she rushed toward her office and the gun she had hidden there.

  He caught up with her again and, grabbing her elbow, literally slung her against the wall. She hit so hard it knocked the wind from her chest, leaving her gasping for air.

  She looked up and winced at his bloody face and awkwardly bent nose. She’d broken it and would most likely pay for it too. And not in a good way. She put her hands against the wall, using them for support as she pushed herself up. If he was going to kill her, she was going to go out fighting.

  Lenox reared his hand back and slapped her hard across the face. Her lips split, and blood filled her mouth, making her want to gag, but to her shock, she remained standing. Using the element of surprise, she again fisted her hand and swung, this time catching him in the jaw.

  Pain raced through her hand and arm when it made contact with his face, but she ignored it as she tried to skirt around him and head up the stairs. Lenox caught her foot, tripping her. She landed flat on her hands and face. Pain exploded behind her eyes as blood trickled out her nose and into her mouth.

  Fighting dizziness, she kicked out with her free leg until he let go of hers. Nausea rolled through her stomach as she struggled to her feet and continued up the stairs.

  * * * *

  Nathan paced his office as he waited for the team of agents who had been sent to retrieve his brother as well as Connelly. This was what the vision had to do with. Lenox. But whose death was he seeing? His own? His brother’s
? Connelly’s?

  He rubbed nervously at the back of his neck. “What’s taking them so damn long?”

  “Connelly doesn’t live close, and your brother wasn’t at home.”

  “Damn it. Did you try his cell?”

  “No answer,” Josh replied.

  “Shit,” Nathan growled. “He may have gone home with one of the submissives from the party last night.”

  “Which one?” Josh asked.

  “I don’t know,” Nathan snapped. “I left the party early with Connelly.”

  “Nathan, relax and stop pacing for a minute. You’re wearing me out just watching you.”

  “I can’t relax.” He was worried. If anything happened to her…

  “What the hell is going on?” Daniel asked as he stepped into his brother’s office. “My phone went dead last night, and when I unplugged it from the charger in my car, I had fifteen missed calls from you.”

  At least some of Nathan’s concern lessened. Unfortunately, they still didn’t have Connelly.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Nathan snapped.

  “I helped clean up, then slept on the couch in your office before heading out early this morning for breakfast. You want to tell me what’s got you in such a snit and who the hell all the suits are?”

  “Andre Lenox escaped prison and is after Nathan,” Josh said as he stepped forward and extended a hand. “I’m his old FBI partner, Josh Barnes.”

  Daniel took his hand. “Yeah, I remember you. Who’s Andre Lenox?”

  Josh glanced at Nathan over his shoulder. “Man, you need to talk to your family more.” Nathan curled his lip and continued to pace as Josh turned back to Daniel. “Lenox is the serial killer Nathan helped put away. He’s also the one who killed Trish.”

  Daniel frowned. “And you think he’s after Nathan?”

  “We know he is. Lenox had a shrine to Nathan in his cell.”

  “How did he get out?” Daniel asked.

  “We don’t know, but we think he may have bribed someone on the inside.”

  “Wow, that’s comforting.”