Dirty Little Secrets: Romantic Suspense Series (Dirty Deeds Book 2)

by AJ Nuest

  Son of a bitch. The money she’d given Lydia.

  Every muscle in his body tensed, and at the same time the respect he’d always held for her plowed through his body on a wave of adrenaline that pinged in his ears.

  His hand to God, the woman was enough to make a sane man drop to his knees and spout every dark sin he’d ever committed.

  What she’d done for Ellis, risking everything to save that little boy’s life…

  She wasn’t just a guardian angel.

  Charlie McGovern was a goddamned saint.

  “As for who’s after me, I honestly have no idea.” She tossed her hands in the air and they hit the back of the couch with a slap. “Not sure about you but, to me, Ryan doesn’t seem like the type who would want to get his hands dirty, regardless of how many crooked politicians he’s paid off. I mean, think about it, Xander.” Stepping forward, she pointed toward the front door. “He’s got too much at stake to get caught messing with someone like me. If he knows I stole the laptop, why not just call the police and have me arrested? Or better yet, why not simply write it down again? If he’s the one who created the formula, what’s stopping him from releasing it like he originally planned?”

  A brilliant saint who’d thought through every angle to the most logical conclusion. Xander squinted. But whatever Ryan’s plan, he wasn’t about to dismiss the obvious. Not after Charlie had gone the distance to help her friend.

  From the very beginning, the only thing she’d wanted was to set the scales back in balance. To follow protocol the way she’d been trained and give Ellis the fair shot he deserved. And if his curvy blond goddess had decided her best bet was to head straight for the source, then who was he or anyone else to argue her methods?

  “Could be the Feds, I guess.” She nodded toward the forgotten laptop in his hands. “I’m sure they’d be thrilled to have that preemptive strike in their back pocket. Stop Ryan cold before he has another chance to flood the market with whatever he’s got up his sleeve.”

  Right again. Xander glanced at the screen, backed out of the windows and shut down the device. Which meant their first priority was to secure the proof someplace safe, exactly like she had to begin with, followed by Xander placing a long overdue call to his contact at the Justice Department.

  He removed the drive and yanked the plug from the wall, winding up the cord as he retraced his steps into Malcolm’s office. Until they could figure out Ryan’s hold up, possibly get a set of expert eyes on the formula to determine what it contained, it was critical everything they had be locked down tight. Someplace close enough for easy access, yet available to only those select few he and Charlie could trust.

  Good thing Xander had just the place.

  He hit the office and skirted the desk for the far-left corner, flipped back the frame on Malcolm’s stamp-sized Renoir and punched the seven digits into the keypad.

  And as for the FBI? Xander smirked. If those suited pricks had been tracking Charlie, they’d better be ready to cough up a damn good reason for the tail. If not, their anti-cyber terrorism task force was about to experience an act of hacktivism the likes of which would make their eyes bleed.

  The concealed door to Malcolm’s safe room retracted from the wall with an audible hiss, and Xander dipped his chin. Good. He swung the door back and entered, centering the laptop on the metal counter running the length of the room.

  No one within the city limits knew of this location, and no one ever would. Force of habit had him flicking on the bank of six monitors pre-set to record any activity picked up by the surveillance cameras around the property. Not without getting through him first.

  “So, that’s it then?”

  He glanced over his shoulder to find Charlie standing near the side of Malcolm’s desk, arms crossed and one of her eyebrows raised in a death glare. “You’re taking over without a single word, huh? Happy to pat me on the head and send me packing.”

  Jerking upright, he scowled at her through the door. “What are you talking about?”

  “Stop it.” She flipped up a big ol’ talk to the hand. “You know exactly what I mean so just stop. I told you from the beginning I wouldn’t stand for being left out. That we were in this together and you’d need to discuss everything with me before making a move.” She aimed a sharp finger at the ground. “Well, that sure got flushed straight down the crapper. I mean, come on, Xander. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice you changed your mind? That I hadn’t called this very thing would happen? Backing out of our friendship is one thing, but this?” She recrossed her arms with a hard bounce. “I expected more than to be shoved aside. Especially from you. Goddamn it, we had an agreement.”

  He screwed up his face in a grimace. Changed his mind about what? And what the hell did she mean, backing out of their friendship? He’d never said any such thing.

  In fact, he hadn’t said anything since…

  He slumped, but that didn’t stop him from hitting rewind and replaying the last few minutes through her eyes.

  Dammit, the woman had him dead to rights. And the really awesome part? God, the irony was so thick, he nearly laughed.

  She wouldn’t have been anywhere near as upset unless she cared. And worried, somewhere deep inside, he was about to break her heart.

  Jesus, would he never learn? All these years, and he was still standing silent in the sidelines, watching as her world fell apart, making the same stupid mistakes he had as a kid. “You misunderstood. I’m not sending you anywhere. And I’m sure as shit not shoving you aside.”

  “Then say something!” She held her arms to the sides, but the crushing hurt on her face told the real story. Even though she probably would’ve chosen a slow torturous death over admitting how scared she was. “God, Xander, give me at least one thing to hold on to that makes sense.”

  But never again.

  He threw the portable drive down on the laptop and left the safe room, swinging the door closed behind him. Once he got them through this, he was never keeping secrets from her again.

  Three long strides to the desk, and he scooped her into his arms. “You want something to hold on to?” She smacked her palms against his chest, but he didn’t care. “Something that makes sense?” Holding her cheek, he urged her close and brought his forehead to hers. “In all the pain from our past, whatever bullshit life might toss into our future, out of everything we’ve been through, the two of us together is the one thing that makes sense.” Her eyes softened near the corners. A tear tumbled over her lashes, and slipped past the tip of his thumb. “So if you’re looking for something to hold on to, you hold on to me. Hold on tight, beautiful. Because I don’t ever plan on letting go.”

  Her arms circled his shoulders. Her full breasts met his chest. Fingers tangling in her hair, he angled her head and closed in.

  But she got there faster, and he jolted on his heels as her sweet, soft lips captured his.

  Holy hell. Did the woman have any idea what she’d just done?

  Her sultry flavor detonated across his taste buds as he sipped and nibbled, meeting each hungry stroke of her tongue. A whimper caught in her throat, and something between a euphoric high and full-blown ecstasy flooded every nerve-ending on his skin.

  She’d kissed him first.

  Reaching behind her, he shoved whatever met his hands off the desk.

  A real kiss that didn’t have anything to do with faking someone out or causing a distraction.

  Leather hit his palm, and a cup of pens clattered and sailed through the air. A sweep of his arm, and the desk lamp tipped off-kilter, somersaulting to the rug with a metal clang.

  A kiss that matched his urgency to be buried balls deep inside her, filled with the same gut-fisting pull he’d kept hidden away to stay with her the rest of his life.

  Plastic hit the ground with a loud crack, and Charlie flinched, breaking off from him mid-lick. “Oh, shit.”

  No. His growl warmed the air between them as he grabbed the side of her neck and brought her back
to his lips. Her muffled squeak of surprise faded into the quiet as she tangled her tongue with his.

  Grabbing her knee, he wrapped her leg around his hip and hitched her onto the desk. “Um, I think we broke your laptop.”

  “Fuck it. I’ll buy a new one.” He skimmed a kiss down her neck and her head fell back. A moan slipped from her throat as he drove against the warm giving cradle of her sex.

  Christ, the woman redefined the meaning of lust. He drove against her a second time, pressing deep as she shimmed back and forth. Moisture darkened the thin strip between her legs, and he groaned as her heat doused the pulsing head of his cock.

  Every craving he’d denied himself, every tendency he’d kept suppressed was nothing compared to the way she writhed against him.

  One hand bracing the small of her back, he lowered her to the blotter and slipped the buttons running down the center of her chest.

  Warm. He palmed her breasts, fingers curled to cup their full weight. So fucking perfect. She locked her calves around his thighs and he widened his stance, wanting her spread for him. Open and ready. She wriggled up and down the side of his cock and his ass clenched as the scent of her arousal unfurled in the room.

  Jesus, he was never going to last. He swept her tight nipples with his thumbs. Leaned down to taste that soft skin. Sucking and licking, he flicked the pointed tip with his tongue.

  Her spine bowed off the desk. The angle forced her harder against him and a dangerous pressure built at the base of his spine. His thighs tensed, balls heavy and tight. Traveling her belly with his fingertips, he eased his hand under the elastic and brushed a slow circle over the distended nub jutting from her folds.

  She gasped and he bit back a curse as she bucked, seizing his wrist. He slid his index finger along her damp heat and she whimpered and squirmed, thrusting into his touch.

  Dammit, there was no way he could walk away from her. He ground his molars as his cock flexed, the skin so damn tight a mounting surge prepped for release. Not with every synapse begging him to sink and pump inside her until he’d eased the hot ache.

  “Fuck, you’re beautiful.” He stroked and tapped. A shudder wound through her body, and he mentally kicked his own ass for pulling the biggest bone-headed move in history. “But shit, Charlie. I left the condoms upstairs.”

  She slowed. One of her hands coasted down his back. Her legs fell from around his thighs, and he grunted as the ticklish sweep of her fingers slipped around his ribs to tug the drawstring of his sleeping pants.

  Frowning, he pushed up from the desk. The cotton crept down his legs, and he hissed as his cock sprang into the air, the cold air rushing his over-heated skin.

  “You don’t need one.” Hooking her thumbs on the top edge of her panties, she bent one knee and shoved them past her ankles. “I’m clean, Xander, and on the Pill.”

  His brow twitched as the repercussions of that statement penetrated the haze of his need with all the concrete-busting finesse of a wrecking ball.

  “Believe it or not, I trust you.” She reached between them and a moan heaved up from the pit of his stomach as her nimble fingers centered him at the doorway to heaven. Her wet folds nestled the head of his cock, and he fisted his hands against the demanding urge to plunge deep.

  “With more than just my secrets.” A clever smile hinted at her lips. “And even if you haven’t told me yours.”

  Christ in Heaven, give him strength.

  He searched her face, so damn keyed up that shimmer in her eyes was lost on him. But he wasn’t far gone enough to miss what she meant.

  She knew.

  He gradually came forward, forearm braced over her shoulder, the tension in her sex like a slick band sliding down his cock. A shiver wracked her body, and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head as the after-shocks vibrated straight into his shaft.

  Shit, she was the perfect fit. Slippery and giving. The rush of skin on skin contact better than any buzz known to man.

  She bit her bottom lip as he sank another blessed inch. Ecstasy throbbed through his engorged veins as she clutched his ass and eased him all the way home.

  Heat doused his skin, his chest rumbling as any misguided concept he’d had of love was blown to hell and back. It was anyone’s guess when she’d realized he was keeping his own damn secrets but, to her, his silence didn’t matter.

  She’d still offered him everything she had.

  For no other reason than because he’d asked.

  Jamming one hand under her waist, he wrenched her to his chest and drank in the generous sweep of her mouth. The woman owned him in a way that didn’t make sense.

  Her internal walls grew tight, and he rotated his hips, stretching her to fill every inch. Sink as deep as possible. The head of his cock bumped resistance, and he groaned as she clamped down like a vise, her silky sex milking him from rim to base.

  Each time he thought he’d fallen for her as hard as he could, she somehow proved he didn’t have the first fucking clue.

  Fingers gripping the top of her shoulder, he withdrew and rammed them together. Wriggling and panting, she dug her heels into his ass and he gritted his teeth, holding on to let her ride him as long as she wanted.

  A roar built in his ears. Spasms rippled down his cock. The last of his restraint snapped, and he threw his head back as his orgasm hit like a tidal wave. Her ass rose off the desk, and he pumped into her. Again and again. Stroking faster and harder until she convulsed and went rigid in his arms.

  Love? Collapsing forward, he covered her with his body, kissing her lips, her eyelids, the tip of her nose. A weak chuckle worked through her chest, but she kept her arms draped around his neck, combing her nails through his hair. She was more to him than that word could ever mean. So much more that love barely scratched the surface.

  She was his addiction. A high that kept him jonesing.

  And a sweet, sweet habit he never planned to quit.

  Chapter 14

  The muted squeal of rubber burning pavement tore through the fabric of his dreams, and Xander jerked onto his elbows. Sunlight pierced his face through the crack in his bedroom drapes and he winced, eyes watering as he canted his head left then right.

  Farther off, an engine revved. Another tire-shredding screech peeled what had to be two inches of tread along the street, and he frowned as the roar of a fuel-injected carburetor faded into the distance.

  A moment later, the only thing to hit his ears was the noisy chatter of birds outside the windows, their shadows darting across the strip of light warming his stomach and chest.

  What the hell? He collapsed onto his back. Whoever had been in such a damn hurry needed a good ass kicking. For a second there, he’d thought someone had broken in and triggered the alarm.

  A wide yawn cracked his jaw. The bed frame groaned under his weight as he stretched, forearms braced against the headboard and his heels pressing the wooden rungs beneath his feet.

  Damn, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept so well. He slumped, releasing the tension in his muscles. Apparently, the two nights he’d spent prowling around wide awake had finally caught up with him, and falling asleep with the woman he loved curled up beside him had been the perfect cure for his insomnia.

  Not that he was surprised. Sitting up, he swung his feet to the floor and scuffed his hand through his hair. Being anywhere near Charlie had always done an excellent job of eradicating any bugs that had crawled into his system. Affix three mind-blowing orgasms to the end of that programming, and he’d been down for the count.

  And speaking of which, where the hell had she gone off to? He glanced over his shoulder at the rumpled blankets on her side of the bed. Hadn’t the woman gotten it through her head that leaving his sight without first telling him where she was going was bound to throw him into cardiac arrest?

  Pushing to his feet, he listened into the quiet of the house. Anxiety needled his skin as he stood silent, his breathing stalled.

  In fact, it was too damn quiet.

/>   Fifty CCs of adrenaline hit his veins with a hard push, and he snatched his cell off the dresser and rushed from the room.

  “Charlie!” His shout echoed off the rafters in the front hall as he loped down the stairs two at a time to the bottom. But no answer came back except the uninterested drone of a late Tuesday morning, his heightened pulse and determined steps as he hurried toward the living room.

  But she was here. She had to be. Probably ignoring the rule just like she had when she’d gone down into the garage with Trey.

  Goddamn it, once Xander got his hands on her, he was gonna swat her ass for not listening. The stubborn woman knew better than to pull this shit.

  Discarded carry-on lying on the floor. Toiletries strewn over the couch. No Charlie.

  Fuck.

  “Charlie!” Dread seized him in its icy grip as he raced toward Malcolm’s office. Empty. Striding for the bathroom, he straight-armed the door and the knob flew back, planting in the wall with a harsh crack of plaster.

  No. Unacceptable. She had to be here. He’d only been upstairs, dammit. A cold sweat broke over his skin. Asleep upstairs.

  “Charlie!” The thump of his feet pounded through his head as he jogged for the library. Nothing. Pivoting on his heel, he sprinted for the kitchen, burst through the door and—

  No. The mirror of his world splintered.

  Broken dishes littered the floor. A silver butter knife spun a lazy circle on the stack of plates occupying the butcher block island. An open carton of eggs sat smashed on the counter, the yolks bleeding down the cabinets with a soft drip.

  This couldn’t be happening. A loud whine screamed in his ears, and Xander shoved his hand into his hair. Goddamn it, this could not be happening!