Pierce might be a lot of things, but he’d never struck me as the kind of man who wouldn’t own up to what he did. In fact, he seemed the opposite. The kind of man to relish in his indiscretions, no matter what the cost.
As I stood there in my tiny apartment, my mind warred against itself. I knew I shouldn’t let him in, but a huge part of me wanted to let him explain himself. Listening to him didn’t mean I had to believe him. It was only fair to give him a chance to explain his side of the situation.
With a deep breath, I crossed the room and unlocked the door. A moment later, Pierce pushed it open, and I backed up instinctively, still not one hundred percent sure this was a particularly great idea. My eyes drank him in, and I stiffened. Heat flooded my cheeks. He looked good. Really good.
His dark suit fit his muscular frame so well that I could see the outline of his biceps through the sleek material. He’d styled his hair so that it swept back from his face, highlighting his ruggedly handsome features. His eyes caught mine, and his lips quirked, as if he could read my thoughts. I took another step back, barely daring to breathe.
“You shouldn’t be doing shots of cheap rum by yourself.” He snatched the bottle from my hands and deposited it on the table by the door. “You’ll only end up with a terrible hangover in the morning.”
“You’re seriously going to lecture me on drinking right now?” I shook my head and took another step back, though my body wanted to do the opposite.
“Don’t argue with me, Emma.” He shut the door behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. “I came over here to explain the file you found, and you should know that I’m not one to explain myself to anyone.”
“And I’m supposed to feel special about that?” I asked, mimicking him and crossing my arms.
“Yes, you should.” He sighed. “I don’t owe you an explanation. I could turn around right now and walk away from this. But I want you to be safe, and I don’t think you’ll let me protect you unless you understand the truth.”
“I don’t need your protection.” I took another step back and pressed my sweaty palms against my skirt. “Just like Alison Meadows didn’t need your protection either.”
He sighed and clenched his jaw, making his chiseled chin ripple like a wave. “Emma. I’ve never met Alison Meadows in my life. I had nothing to do with what happened to her in the alley that night. Whoever told you otherwise was lying to you.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” I shook my head and continued my slow walk away from him. “It was in the police database. It said you confessed and paid her a settlement fee.”
“I paid a settlement fee because it was the only way to make the problem go away.” Pierce reached out and took my hand in his. I almost ripped my fingers from his grasp, but I found I was too enthralled by his words to pull away. “The police file didn’t include the full story. Because I made it go away. Someone had to take the fall, and I made sure it was me instead of who it really was. When you have money, you can do that kind of thing. Tell me you understand what I’m saying.”
I blinked, my mouth dropping open. “You’re saying you bribed the cops to delete the real file from the database. And you want me to trust you? After hearing that?”
“I was protecting someone, Emma.” He squeezed my hands, his eyes pleading with mine to understand. “Someone very important to me. I took the fall in order to save his life.”
I stared at Pierce. Every word that came out of his mouth made me more and more confused. He’d paid the police to delete the real record from their database. And he’d done it in order to save someone, or so he said. Pierce didn’t seem like the kind of man to care about anyone. He was number one. The man on top. No friends, no family, no life.
“Who?” I asked, my voice rising along with my frustration. “Who would you go to that kind of lengths for?”
His face clouded over, and he glanced away. “I can’t tell you that.”
“You can’t tell me that.” I shook my head and spat out a laugh. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Emma,” Pierce said in a growl. “I don’t like that you don’t trust me.”
Something skittered along my skin at his words. Fear, excitement, and a little bit of lust. I shook my head at myself. I needed to get a grip. Nothing Pierce said to me made any sense. He’d said he wanted to give me an explanation for what I’d found out today, but this was as far from an explanation as he could get. It only brought up more questions and nothing close to an answer.
“And I don’t like that you’re not telling me the entire story,” I said. “How am I supposed to trust you when you won’t?”
“Because I said so.” He took slow, methodical steps toward me. A part of my brain told me to back up and get out of his way, but I couldn’t. My body betrayed my mind. It stood frozen there, chest heaving and cheeks warm. The way his eyes raked across every inch of me made me realize I was doomed. Even though I knew I shouldn’t trust him, it wouldn’t help me stay strong. I would give into his needs, the moment he told me what he wanted from me.
And with the way his eyes sparked with desire, I knew that would be soon.
“Emma.” Every time he said my name, I felt a little piece of my resistance chip away and fall to the dingy carpet around my bare feet. “Everything I’m telling you is true. You have to believe me when I tell you I can’t give you the name of the man I’m protecting. It’s the only thing in the world you can never have from me.”
I swallowed hard, my whole body growing hotter than a scorching desert. “The only thing? I find that hard to believe.”
Pierce frowned and moved in close, the front of his suit brushing against my shirt. My nipples hardened just from that slightest touch. He reached out and slipped my hair behind my shoulder, and his hand trailed down my arm. Every touch lit a fire along my skin.
“You sound as if you still don’t trust me.” He leaned down and brushed his lips against my earlobe, and my entire body began to tremble from the sensation of his mouth on my skin. I could remember exactly how his lips felt kissing my breasts, my thighs, my neck. I wanted to feel it all again. I wanted him to lick every part of me until nothing else existed but the feel of his tongue against my hot skin.
“I don’t trust you,” I whispered, somehow knowing those were the right words to keep him close. And because they were mostly true. Even though my body was drawn to him, I knew it shouldn’t be. I just didn’t feel capable of staying strong enough to turn him away. I didn’t want to be strong enough. I just wanted his hands all over me until I cried out his name over and over again as he took me hard anywhere and everywhere inside this tiny apartment.
Pierce must have read the desire in my eyes because his hand snaked around my back and gripped me in close to his chest. His scent filled my nose. Warm and musky and strong, just like him. He growled as he nipped my ear, sending shockwaves of pure lust through my body. My eyelids fluttered shut, and I fought against the moan that threatened to escape through my parted lips.
“I don’t like it when you don’t trust me, Emma,” he said again, this time so low I could barely hear his words. “I’m going to have to show you what happens when you don’t trust me, aren’t I?”
My knees went weak, and his arm tightened around me to hold me steady against his chest. “Yes.”
“That’s what I thought.” When he pulled back, all I could see was his dark, smoldering eyes. “Get on your knees.”
I gasped, but I did as he commanded, lowering myself to the floor, my knees brushing against the rough carpet. He unzipped his pants and pulled out his length. He was already hard, and it sent thrills of satisfaction through me. All I had to do was be near him, and I could turn him on. I’d never felt more desired in my life.
“Take me in your mouth,” he said.
I leaned forward and slipped my lips around his cock. He filled up my mouth, his length already straining with the need for release. I began to move against him, and his groans filled my ears, his hands gripped my hai
r, and his cock hit the back of my throat. My thighs grew wet as his lust increased, my pussy aching with my own desire.
Just when I thought he would come in my mouth, Pierce pulled back and grabbed me roughly from the floor. He twisted me around and yanked down my skirt. Before I could catch my breath, he was thrusting inside me and his cock slipped in and out of my wet sex. I clenched around him, desire pulsing through me. God, he felt so good.
He thrusted harder and faster until the only thing inside my mind was the way he felt inside me, hard and big and long. His grunts turned into low growls, and my moans rose into sharp cries. He was being so rough with me, giving me exactly what I wanted, needed, and deserved. It was his punishment for my disobedience, and being naughty had never felt so good.
“I want you to come now, Emma,” he said as his thrusts went even deeper inside me. His words sent a thrill through my body, and I couldn’t help but obey his newest command. My orgasm crashed through me, wave after wave of pure pleasure, lasting what felt like hours, the longest and deepest I’d ever had.
Panting, I pressed my hands against the rough walls and kept my legs spread open for him as he reached his own climax. He grunted and gripped my hair even tighter in his fists. Moments later, he relaxed against me, reaching his arm around to squeeze my breast.
“Now you know what happens when you’re a bad girl.”
I stiffened, heart rocketing into super speed. His words echoed and echoed in my brain, words that I’d heard only once before in my life. From that woman on the phone. Rachel Donovan’s warning rang out loud. Chills swept along my skin, and I yanked myself out of Pierce’s touch. When I whirled around, the scowl on his face only amplified my fear.
“You’re still pulling away from me like that after I just fucked you?” He shook his head, his eyes almost showing a hint of hurt, but I didn’t believe for one second that he was anything but pleased I’d given into his bullshit.
“Rachel told me you’d say that. I never should have believed a word you said.” I pointed a shaky finger at the door. “Get out.”
Sweet Emma Berry and her slick, gorgeous thighs. I had no choice but to leave her in her apartment to stew over what had just happened between us. Apparently Rachel Donovan had given her a call that morning. That had been how Emma had gotten onto the whole Alison Meadows situation in the first place. And she’d told her a line she knew I’d used before. I never should have said it to Emma. It almost felt wrong now that I’d said something to her that I’d used on others, but the words had felt so right at the time.
My lips set into a straight line as I eased out of Emma’s apartment building and headed straight toward my private limo idling on the curb. I knew Rachel’s game. She was turning Emma against me, just as I had turned my brother against her. It was her payback for the photos.
She was using Emma to get to me, and I had to stop her from taking it any further.
Once inside the car, I punched Rachel’s number into my phone and braced myself for the conversation to come. She had to know she was fighting fire with fire, and I wouldn’t take any move against me lying down. If she’d wanted to get my attention, well then she’d certainly gotten her wish.
“Pierce.” Rachel’s harsh voice rang through the phone. “I had a feeling I’d be hearing from you today.”
“I got your message loud and clear, Rachel,” I said, discarding any pretence. “Leave Emma Berry out of this.”
“You’re the one who brought her into it,” she said. “I know she was the one who took those photographs of me and Michael Astor that night.”
So my brother had shown Rachel the photographs. That was both good and bad news to my ears. If he’d shown her, that meant he was done with her bullshit. But if she knew they existed and she knew Emma had been the photographer, there was no telling how else Rachel would retaliate, especially since I was one hundred percent certain she’d been the one to kill the man who’d been with her that night.
“Just tell me what you want, Rachel,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
“I think this is a conversation better left for a one-on-one meeting,” she said. “I know how you like to have your phone conversations recorded.”
Sighing, I closed my eyes. The one problem with battling against someone who knows you well is they happen to know all of your tricks. Of course Rachel would be aware I record every phone conversation I ever have. It was the best way to gather evidence against any crook who tried to screw me over. Most people who want to take you down are stupid enough to admit to it on the phone. They like to take credit while they watch you burn.
Unfortunately, it looked like Rachel was too smart for that. I’d have to find some other way to trap her in whatever game she was trying to play.
“Fine. Meet me tonight at Roxy Club. Ten o’clock at my usual table. Come alone.”
When Cynthia got home from work, I was still pacing around the apartment like some kind of wild animal. I’d had a few more shots of her rum, but when she walked in the door and saw me standing there with the bottle, she didn’t seem to mind that I’d snatched her booze without permission. Instead, she just raised her eyebrows and took a shot herself.
“Rough day?” she asked after taking a long swig. “Why aren’t you with Pierce? I thought you were staying with him until that weird case he hired you for was over. Didn’t he say you might not be safe?”
“Something weird has happened,” I said, pressing one hand against the counter to hold my wavering body steady. The floor was starting to look a little too much like a spinning top for my tastes.
“What kind of weird?” she asked, hanging her coat up on the rack by the door. Her eyes trailed down to my rumpled skirt, and my cheeks flamed. Surely she could tell what must have happened. I felt like I had Pierce’s touch branded into my skin for all the world to see. “How long have you been here drinking?”
“I don’t know.” I sagged against the kitchen counter. “I think I might need something to eat.”
“I’ll order us some pizza, and then you can tell me exactly what happened.” Cynthia gave a nod and disappeared out of the kitchen to make the order. She was a good roommate, I decided. Not everyone would be quite that sweet if they walked in and found their roommate home from work and drunk on their booze. I’d probably never be able to replace her bottle of rum. Since I’d skipped out on work, I doubted I’d have a job come Monday. No money, no job, no friends. Maybe it was time for another shot.
Cynthia walked back into the kitchen just as I was reaching for the bottle. She laughed and held it just out of my reach, shaking her head. “I think you’ve had enough.”
“You’re probably right,” I said with a sigh. “Is the pizza on the way?”
“A large Hawaiian for us to share.” She gave me a gentle smile. “Your favorite.”
“You’re too nice to me,” I said, pointing at the bottle. “I drank almost all of what’s left of your rum.”
“It’s okay, it’s just rum,” she said, gently grabbing my elbow and leading me over to the living room couch. “Now sit down and tell me what the hell has you in this kind of state.”
“Pierce Donovan,” I mumbled, casting my eyes away from her. I wasn’t sure what she would think of me when she found out what I’d done. With that kind of man. In our kitchen. “Surprise, surprise.”
“I had a feeling it might have something to do with him.” She frowned. “What did he do? Am I going to have to kick his ass?”
“He might be a pretty terrible guy,” I said with a sigh. “But he claims he isn’t. And I don’t know whether or not I should believe him. Logic says I should stay as far away from him as possible, but the second I see him, I just…”
“That’s because logic goes right out the window whenever someone is falling for a hot guy,” Cynthia said with a nod.
“Falling for him?” I snorted. “I can’t be falling for him. It’s just all about the sex for him. You’ve heard how he is. The one night stand guy who likes BDSM. No one in h
er right mind would fall for a guy like that. She’d only get hurt when he got tired of her. Which would definitely happen. You’ve read all the stories on the news. He’s never had a long-term relationship in his life.”
“Methinks she doth protest too much.” Cynthia gave me a wicked grin. “Something tells me you two had some more sexy times last night when he was ‘keeping you safe’ in his apartment.”
Cynthia didn’t know the full story about why I went to stay with Pierce the night before. We’d told her I’d gotten into a little hot water because of a private investigator case and that I needed to stay with him for a few days until it all blew over. She didn’t know I’d witnessed the last moments just before the murder on the news, though she could probably put two and two together if she gave it some thought. Pierce thought she’d be safer if she didn’t have the full story on her hands, though now I was doubting every word he’d said.
“Something last night,” I said with a wince. “And something today, too.”
“It sounds like he can’t keep his hands off you,” she said. “And it definitely sounds like he doesn’t see you as just another one of his one night stands. By my count, you’re a fourth or fifth stand at this point. Maybe he’s falling for you, too.”
I shook my head, trying to get my mind back to what really mattered. Pierce wasn’t falling for me, but even if he was, it didn’t change the fact that he might be a dangerous guy. I’d seen the report. Maybe he was covering for someone else, but I found that really hard to believe. “But none of that matters if he’s the kind of guy I think he might be.”
“And what kind of guy is that?” she asked.
Something creaked in the apartment, and I stiffened. Cynthia’s eyes widened as she met my gaze. She’d heard it, too. It hadn’t just been me. We both sat there frozen on the couch, listening hard. Maybe it was only the neighbors upstairs, I tried to tell myself. But I knew that couldn’t be right. Despite the age and state of the building, we’d never heard the tiniest noise from whoever lived in the apartment above ours.
Deadly Desire Page 8
