I swallowed hard, still trying to keep my cool. “Well, how about you and that tasty tongue of yours rip me away from my mind, then?”
With the sweetest smile I’d ever seen in my life, she pressed herself onto her tiptoes. With her arms snaked around my neck, her mouth fell against my own. And it was on like fucking Donkey Kong. I cloaked her back with my arms, devouring her mouth, her tongue, and her lips. I let my tongue fall against the roof of her mouth, stroking ever so softly as her body melded against my own. She bent to my every whim. She molded herself to me. And with every soft sigh and moan that escaped down the back of my throat from her own, it filled me with a power I needed to release.
With her.
As we sank back to the blanket, my mind spun with so many different things. I needed to figure out Chains. I needed to figure out where the hell Skeleton was and what the fuck that man was doing. There were so many loose ends to tie up and here I was, thoroughly enjoying this woman as I kissed down her dainty little neck.
Nibbling at her pulse points while she writhed beneath me.
“Oh, Sly. Holy shit.”
I chuckled against her skin. “Such a dirty mouth for a beautiful woman.”
She gripped her hands in my hair. “Please, don’t stop.”
I pushed her dress up. “Trust me, I have to plan to stop.”
The second the smell of her womanhood hit me, that beast rattled around. And the chains on him almost broke. I needed to keep him intact, though. I needed to take things slow. The fetishes, kinks, and desires I had needed to stay right where they were unless I wanted to scare this woman off. And I didn’t want to. I couldn't. She was much too important to what we were doing. She was my only way in to figuring out Chains.
She’s my only chance at redemption.
I pushed away my thoughts and kissed down her clothed tits. Her clothed stomach. Her entire clothed torso. Then, I got to her legs. Her smooth, shining, glorious legs. Her thighs were toned, with just a dollop of excess right at the crooks beside her pussy lips. I settled between her legs as her skin flushed for me. As if it were preparing my meal right in front of my very eyes. The scent of her juices grew stronger as I watched her cotton panties darken just a little from the arousal I rose up within her.
It was almost too much to bear, watching her react to me.
I’d never had a woman react to me the way she did.
As I slid her legs over my shoulders, my lips kissed those dollops of excess. I nibbled them and softly bit around until they were nice, tender, and dark red for me. I licked at them and suckled them until her cotton panties were almost useless. Then, my fingertips slowly pulled them off to the side.
Revealing her trimmed lower lips that were dripping wet and ready for the taking.
“Jesus fuck,” I growled.
“Sly, please,” Tara whispered.
I swallowed hard. “Let me just—just taste.”
Her hands fisted my hair. “I want you to do more than taste.”
I peeled her hands away from my hair and pinned them down on either side of her body. Then, I used my nose to nuzzle those panties away from her luscious pussy lips. I lapped at her slowly. Gingerly. Feeling her tremble and watching her back arch as she tried to wiggle away from me.
I wouldn’t let her go, though.
Not unless she explicitly told me to let her go.
“Sly, holy fuck.”
I growled. “You taste just like my favorite dessert.”
She gasped. “Please. I need more.”
And I knew I’d never be able to resist her begging.
But just as I was about to dive into my dessert and eat my fill until she cried out for me to stop, I heard something in the distance. Something that rumbled. Something that roared. And quickly, I stood to my feet. My eyes darted around the edges of the forest that surrounded us as the sun slowly sank away. And it wasn’t until she yelled at me that I turned my attention back to her.
“Sly!”
I whipped around. “Get up.”
Her face was still flushed. “But—but what? Did I do something—”
“Someone’s coming. Get up and get behind me.”
“What?”
I growled. “Just do it.”
She wasted no time in scrambling to her feet. I saw her from the corner of my eye rearranging her clothes, jamming her hand right between her legs to fix her panties. It made me grin, but it didn’t rip my concentration away from that growing noise.
From the growing sound that quickly became familiar.
It’s a bike.
Once I pinpointed where the sound came from, I slipped Tara behind me. With my hand on the butt of my gun on my hip, I poised myself, readying for a fight. If this was Skeleton coming out of the woodworks, I’d be ready. I’d be ready to put a bullet between his eyes before he even explained what the fuck he was doing out here.
I never should have brought her out here.
“Sly? I’m getting worried. What’s going on?”
Now, she’s caught in the middle.
Her hand gripped the back of my shirt. “Sly, are we going to be okay?”
All I wanted was to enjoy my time with her, and now look at it.
She sniffled. “Sly, please answer me.”
My focus was supposed to be her! Not some bullshit bike!
I cleared my throat. “Stay behind me and you’ll be just fine. All right?”
When I saw the shadow of the figure on that bike tear into the field, I pulled my gun. I aimed it at the tires, readying myself to blow them out. I thought it was odd that there was only one bike. Especially if this was Skeleton attempting to get the one-up on me.
But when I saw the lack of a leather jacket, it gave me pause.
Until his face became clear. “Tara. Get the fuck on my bike. And don’t say a word.”
I didn’t like the way he glared at her, but when I felt her move, I stepped back in front of her.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked.
Chains narrowed his eyes. “Are you preventing my sister from getting to me?”
“No. I’m trying to figure out what the hell you’re doing out here when you should be with the guys. I know what you’re supposed to be up to today.”
“Yeah. And I’m done. So, give me my sister and we’ll be on our way.”
Tara stepped out from around me. “I’m staying, B—Chains.”
His eyes slowly found their way to hers. “On the bike, and not a word.”
I shook my head. “I can take her home. It’s fine.”
Chains glared at me. “You're not taking her anywhere ever again. You got that?”
I snickered. “Pretty sure your sister’s a grown-ass woman, Chains.”
“How did you know she was my sister?”
I shrugged. “Not like you two don’t bear a resemblance. It was easy to put together.”
Chains looked directly at Tara. “We need to talk. Get on my bike and come on. I can make us some coffee.”
Tara took my hand within hers. “Sly can give me a ride home. We’re fine.”
Chains shook his head. “Nope. So long as you’re living with me, you’re living under my rules. Get on my bike or get your stuff and find somewhere else to dwell until you can find a job.”
She scoffed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m not kidding one damn bit,” he said as he eyes turned to mine, “and I figured family would’ve been sacred since I’m rushing your fucking crew, but I guess not. Maybe I’ll have to rethink my pledge.”
I grinned. “Maybe you should, B’Chains.”
It was the one slip-up I needed in order to figure out who the hell this guy was, and he didn’t even make the mistake. Tara did. And while part of me felt guilty for how I had dragged her into all of this, she had given me the smallest lead I needed.
Then, Tara’s voice rose from beside me. “I’m a grown woman, Chains. And if you think for one second that you can boss me around and threat
en the roof you willingly gave me until I could transition into another job? Then, you can be that person if you so choose. But you won’t control me or my actions. Understood?”
Chains’ face hardened. “I think we’ll have a better conversation about this exact topic at home. Alone. Over some sobering coffee, don’t you think?”
She shook her head. “Sly can get me home.”
“Or you can come home to your stuff outside the front door. And if you want to test me, Tara, you go right on ahead. But I highly doubt your hook-up date here is going to take you in and give you somewhere to go. Isn’t that right, Sly?”
He stared me down, and I knew I had to make a choice: stand up for Tara or keep Chains on our side so we could figure out exactly what the fuck was going on.
And right now? We had worked way too hard to let Chains go.
“He’s right, Tara,” I said.
She looked up at me with wide eyes. “What?”
I sighed. “You need to go with your brother. I’ll see you soon.”
Chains scoffed. “Over my dead body.”
Tara didn’t even look at him. “I can arrange that, if you want me to.”
I smiled deviously. “I like your sass.”
She giggled. “And I like your face.”
I like your face, too. “Go with him. Smooth things over. We’ll talk later, okay?”
She sighed. “Do I have to, though?”
She even gave me the puppy dog eyes and the pouty lip, which was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen in my life. It didn’t change my mind, though. I couldn't let it.
“Yes, you do,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. But you owe me.”
I leaned my lips to her ear. “Trust me, I’ll cash in when we’re alone again.”
And after I watched goosebumps prickle against the nape of her neck, I relinquished her to her brother. Watching them ride off into the distance as the sun set beyond the trees.
Leaving me in darkness to clean up what could have been had B’Chains not been such a cock-block.
6
Tara
I did my best not to touch Ben at all until we were back at the apartment. I didn’t want to hold onto him for stability or grip his shirt to keep myself level with the movements of the bike. All I wanted was to be as far away from him as possible, by any means necessary. I was infuriated with him for crashing my date like that. He had absolutely no fucking right to do as such.
Plus, I had no clue how the hell he found us.
“Are you out of your damn mind?” Ben asked as he parked the bike.
I hopped off and made my way up the steps quickly until I shouldered my way into his apartment. I made a beeline for my room, ready to close the door and lock it. But Ben had always moved quicker than me. He had always been stronger and much more agile, since he was the gym rat and I was more of a binge-watching television kind of person.
So, the second I went to close my door, his hand stopped it. And he invaded my room without a second thought.
“I asked you a question, Tara.”
I snickered. “Doesn’t mean I have to answer.”
“You will if you want to stay here with me.”
I glared up at him. “Or what? You’ll toss me out onto the street like some common beggar? Is that what you’re going to do if I don’t follow your every rule? And you wonder why you can’t keep a fucking girlfriend.”
He pointed in my face. “That’s because my job has me traveling so damn much.”
I slapped it out of the way. “Or maybe it’s because you’re a controlling, demanding, bull-headed human being that no woman can stand.”
His nostrils flared. “What the hell were you doing out there with him? You know he’s dangerous.”
I narrowed my eyes. “How did you find us anyway?”
His eye twitched. “What?”
My back stiffened. “We were out there for two or three hours before you found us. How did you find us, Ben?”
“Does it matter?”
I shoved his chest. “Yes, it matters.”
He stumbled back toward the doorway. “Put your hands on me again and see what happens.”
I looked him dead in his eyes and shoved him again, pushing him out into the hallway.
“What? You gonna beat me up? Huh?” I asked.
I went to shove him again, but he stood his ground. He refused to be moved, and the blow-back from my own shove forced me to the ground. And all he did was stand there, hovering over me. Looking down on me, like I was another common criminal he was chasing.
“I used your phone’s GPS to track you. I was worried when I got home from work and you weren’t here. Disappeared without so much as a note.”
I snickered as I stood up. “Can you blame me? I mean look at how you’re reacting right now.”
“And how do you think Mom and Dad would react to you being on a damn date in the middle of nowhere with a man who has killed people?”
“Sly hasn’t killed anyone.”
“You want to bet on that?”
I paused. “He hasn’t killed anyone, has he?”
He sighed, placing his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll talk with my boss and see if I can’t get this man’s file unclassified long enough for you to take a look. Because if you’re really hellbent on seeing this guy? You need to know exactly who he is and exactly what he’s done. Because it’s not good, Tara. Sly is easily the nastiest of that crew, and you have to stay away from him. For your own safety, okay?”
I giggled bitterly. “Out of this entire evening? With you and him? I felt the safest with him.”
He clicked his tongue. “If that’s how you feel, then that’s fine. But just because you don’t like what I did doesn’t mean I won’t do everything in my power to make sure you stay alive and you stay safe. Even if that means putting you up in an apartment somewhere else.”
“Somewhere else?”
“Somewhere out of state.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “Even if you did that, I still wouldn’t go.”
“If I went to my boss right now and told him what you just pulled, he’d insist you be put into a protection program. All it takes is my honesty, and you’re out of this town.”
I blinked up at him. “Why are you doing this?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Because you’ve got no idea what the hell these guys are into. And if you knew—”
“Then tell me, Ben.”
“I can’t. It’s confidential.”
“Then, I’m seeing Sly again.”
“You can’t do that, Tara.”
I shrugged. “Then, tell me what they’re into.”
“Something that could get you killed, that’s what.”
“I mean are they smuggling drugs?”
He shook his head. “No.”
I scoffed. “Well, are they aiding and abetting the mob somehow?”
“No.”
“Are they robbing stores? Banks? Hopping from town to town and burning places to the ground?”
His eyes leveled with my own. “They’re involved in a massive human sex trafficking ring. We’re here to bust them and lock them up for good so we can backtrack who started the ring in the first place and get them all off the street.”
It felt like all of the wind had been knocked out of my chest. Sly—the romantic man I had just been with—was involved in a sex trafficking ring? The thought made me sick to my stomach.
“Oh my god,” I whispered.
Ben put his hands on my shoulders. “That’s why you can’t see him any longer. And you can’t say a word. I could get fired for you knowing that information, but I have to protect you. Okay?”
Tears rushed my eyes. “Holy shit.”
“Come here. I got you.”
“Oh, my god, Ben.”
He pulled me into his chest. “Shh-shh-shh-shh, it’s okay. I never should’ve gotten you wrapped up into this in the first place. It won’t happen again
. I swear, okay?”
And as I sobbed against my brother’s chest, the only thing I felt was stupid.
Stupid for not seeing through Sly’s lies, and stupid for not keeping my distance when I knew damn good and well my brother was investigating them for a reason.
I thought Sly was such a good guy.
I guess every man’s a snake in my world.
7
Sly
“Hello! You have reached Tara Langley. Leave a message after the—”
“God damn it!” I roared.
I barely resisted the urge to throw my phone against the wall and, instead, threw it against the mattress of my bed. For days, I had tried calling her. For days, I had attempted to get in touch with her after that dumbass picnic gone wrong. But our date had been on Saturday, and it was now in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon.
“Something’s wrong,” I murmured to myself.
I gathered my things and shouldered myself out the front door, ready to take on the world. I didn’t know what the hell had happened to me on that date, but I had to figure it out. That woman had snaked her way into my mind and occupied every free square inch I had up there. And that wasn’t good. I was the backbone of this group right now. I was the only one thinking straight because I was the only one not dick-deep in some chick I claimed to love.
I couldn’t go down like them.
I needed to know what the fuck this woman did to me.
“Tara!” I exclaimed.
I didn’t remember the drive over or even parking downstairs. I didn’t remember charging up all of those flights of steps just to get to that apartment door. But as my fist banged against it, I heard rustling in the background.
Quick rustling.
Before Chains swung the door wide open.
“What?” he asked.
I pinned him with a look. “Where is she?”
“Who’s she?”
“Tara, you asshole! Where is she? I need to speak with her.”
He snickered. “You’re not getting anywhere near her. I know you’ve been trying to call her. Badgering her. Pestering her.”
“And I take it you're the reason why she’s not answering.”
Sly (Dragon Riders MC Book 5) Page 4
