Hard Pursuit

by Sheryl Nantus

  Ally stared at the phone, digesting the information.

  Vincent’s alive.

  Her legs felt weak, Jessie’s words reverberating through her system.

  He’s alive and healthy.

  Trey took the phone out of her hand and slipped it into his pocket. “We’re going. Now.” He put his hand around her waist, pulling her close. “Just hold on to me. We’ll be fine.”

  He led her through the crowd, smiling as they made their way to the entrance.

  The hot evening air hit her as they stepped out onto the street, the shock bringing her back around.

  “He’s alive.” The imaginary weight lifted from her chest. “Thank God.”

  “Thank Jessie.” Trey gestured at the valet to flag a cab for them. “She’s damned good at what she does.”

  “That’s true.” She pressed against him, thankful for his presence.

  Vincent’s back.

  The relief fought against the annoyance building up inside her at all the punishment her brother had put her through for the past week.

  She slumped against Trey as they sped back to the hotel.

  “Now what do I do?” One hand went to her eyes, rubbing them with weak strokes. “I don’t even know where to start.”

  “Well,” he said. “After he gets cleaned up, you can ask him about the money.”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “Thank God she was able to save some of it. I’m not sure I want to know how much he has left.”

  “Important thing is that he’s got some.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “He can’t keep on doing this—it’ll destroy you and the company.”

  “I know, I know.” She closed her eyes tight. “I’m an awful woman.”

  “Why?” The cab pulled up at the hotel. The doorman approached them, ready to open the door.

  “Because I was beginning to enjoy not having him around.” Ally leaned against him, closing her eyes. “I really was. And I hate myself for it.”

  He put his arm around her. She sighed, relishing the simple contact.

  After tonight, everything was going to change for both of them.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Edgar opened the door on the first knock. He frowned, obviously taken aback by their early return. His gaze fell on Ally, taking in the shocked woman’s expression, and he took a deep breath.

  Trey realized the veteran thought they’d received bad news—Ally’s reaction might fit both categories.

  “Jessie found Vincent.” Trey guided her through the door past Edgar and into the living room, straight to the sofa. “He’ll be back tomorrow morning.”

  “He’s alive,” Edgar said, almost as a prayer.

  “Yep. Ticked off as hell, according to Jessie.” Trey settled beside Ally on the sofa.

  The older man’s forehead furrowed. “Will she be able to handle him?”

  “Of that I’m sure.” Trey nodded. “She’ll have him here tomorrow, one way or another.”

  Edgar moved to stand near Ally as she sat. “Excellent news.” His tone was neutral, the canned response rolling out.

  “Yes. Yes, it is.” Ally replied.

  He looked at Trey, raising an eyebrow.

  Trey didn’t say anything.

  She cleared her throat. “It’ll be tight, but we can make the meeting. Just over a week should be enough for him to clean up and get his act together.” She brushed imaginary dust off her knees and turned to Edgar. “You need to prepare the room for Vincent’s return.” She drew a shaky breath. “Let’s take everything breakable out so we don’t end up paying the hotel extra. Make sure there’s plenty of water in the fridge.” The sadness in her voice made Trey’s heart ache. “The usual.”

  Edgar nodded before turning to Trey. “I’ll bring your personal items out here, into the main room.”

  “Sure,” Trey said. “No problem at all.” He rolled his shoulders back. “I guess my business is done here.”

  “I guess so,” Ally said. She entwined her fingers before pulling them apart and entwining them again. “Yes. I believe your official duties are pretty well over.”

  The older man looked at Ally, a trace of a smile on his thin lips. “I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ll be busy in the other suite for the rest of the night, probably stay there until Vincent’s return.” He nodded at the pair. “See you tomorrow.”

  Before either of them could reply, the veteran had left the room, closing the door behind him.

  “So. Vincent’s going to be back in the morning,” Trey said.

  “Yes.” She rubbed her hands together. “Edgar’s used to having to whip him into shape. The meeting… I’ve got the entire script memorized—I’ll be there to prompt him.” She shrugged off her jacket and unbuttoned the top of her blouse, taking long, deep breaths. “We’ll manage.”

  She turned and locked eyes with him. “Now I’ve got to deal with you.”

  He blinked, taken aback by her strong words.

  “He’s done something awful, and you’re here to confront him. We spoke about it before, at dinner. You wouldn’t tell me then, remember?” Her eyes met his. “I want you to promise you won’t hurt him. Do what you want legally—sue the hell out of him, drag his name through the mud—but my family already had to deal with losing my parents.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You think I’d kill him?”

  “I know you could.” It came out as a whisper. “I saw how you dealt with those men.”

  “I won’t. That’s not what I believe in.” It wasn’t a lie. One of the first things Dylan had impressed on them all when he formed the Brotherhood was the need to skirt the law but not break it—and taking it into their own hands by killing was wrong. “But I have to see him, talk to him. I need to confirm it’s him.”

  “I understand.”

  He looked into her eyes and saw that she did. It wasn’t everything he wanted, but it’d be enough for now.

  “I want you to know—I didn’t set out to have any of this happen.” He reached out and touched her bare arm, stroking the soft skin. “When I first saw you at the bar, I didn’t know who you were. Then Dylan and Jessie introduced us, and I wanted to keep it professional, keep it by the rules. But the way you looked, the way you felt… That thought went off the tracks before we left my office.” He drew a long, controlled breath to steady himself. “I never felt the need to grow, sitting in my room with my monitors and my computer toys. Finding you was like someone yanking me out into the sunlight. I realized I needed to get out of the darkness to survive.”

  She let out a soft gasp, her lips parting just slightly.

  He kept talking, afraid to stop. “I can’t stop thinking about you, I can’t stop wanting to be with you.”

  “You stopped me before, saying we couldn’t do anything until Vincent was found. Was that the truth?” she whispered, holding him at bay.

  “Yes.”

  Her lips twisted up into a sad smile. “Damn it, this is my one night not having to worry about where he is and what he’s doing, my last night of freedom before I go back to being his keeper. I want to spend it with you doing things I’ve only dreamed of.”

  “But…” He didn’t believe he was saying it. “This can only be for tonight. Tomorrow it’s all going to change.” The words stuck in his throat. “I can’t walk away. I need you to know that. I have to finish this with Vincent.”

  “I don’t care. You promised you won’t kill him, and that’s all I need to know. That’s all I want to know. Right now, I want to forget tomorrow even exists—there’s only us, here and now. Tomorrow you can tell me everything, all the ugly details, and I’ll deal with it then, along with Vincent.” She stared into his eyes. “Give this night to me, Trey. Tomorrow can take care of itself.”

  Trey licked his lips, suddenly unable to find the right words. He leaned in and kissed her hard, pulling her into his lap with his hands tight on her ass.

  She didn’t fight him, didn’t try to pull away. Her hands went to his shoulders as she kisse
d him back, shifting against the arousal pressed almost painfully against the front of his dress pants.

  “You asked me about this bow tie.” He squeezed her ass, watching her attention drop to the black scrap of fabric. “Allow me to demonstrate what else it can be used for.”

  He picked her up and carried her to the door of her suite.

  Ally laughed and opened the door, allowing him to carry her through. She pushed it shut behind them, closing out the rest of the world.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  She didn’t know what it felt like to be drunk, but she suspected it was this same sort of feeling, the giddiness breaking free with a loud laugh as Trey carried her to the bed.

  “Tell me what you want,” he prompted as he laid her down and stood back.

  She dragged her eyes over his tight white shirt and the tuxedo jacket snug on his broad shoulders.

  “Everything.” She surprised herself with the low, hungry tone in her words. “Everything you can think of.”

  Trey grinned. “I can do that.” He reached up and tugged the bowtie loose, stripping it out from around his neck. “First, let’s deal with this.”

  In a few seconds, he’d wrapped it around her wrists, the loose knot holding her hands together. He pushed them up over her head with her fingers touching the headboard.

  “I won’t tie you to the bed. Yet.”

  Desire drummed through her at his words and again as he leaned over her and began to undo each button on her blouse with exquisite slowness, dropping a light kiss on the exposed skin with each pop and release.

  His eyes widened as the black lacy bra came into sight. “Nice.”

  A flick of his fingers made it slide away, bringing a gasp out of her.

  “Don’t move, or I’ll stop.”

  The threat held her in place as he lowered his mouth to one breast, nipping and sucking as his hand caressed the other, giving equal attention to both.

  She wanted to move—she had to move. His fingers danced over her erect nipple, and a flash of heat surged through her. Combined that with the gentle but persistent laving of his tongue over her other breast, and she couldn’t keep still.

  He lifted his head and locked eyes with her. “Not yet.”

  It was as if he’d read her mind.

  She lay there, hands over her head, as he finished undoing her blouse.

  He pulled back and slid both hands along her exposed torso, letting out a whistle.

  “Your skin is so soft,” he murmured. “Like an angel’s.”

  “I’m no angel.”

  “Good.” He swooped in to capture her mouth again. “Because I want to do all sorts of devilish things to you.”

  He sat up and shucked off the tuxedo jacket.

  She itched to reach up, her fingers flexing as she watched him.

  Trey took hold of the front of his shirt, smirking.

  With one quick motion, he ripped the dress shirt off his shoulders, the buttons flying free.

  “Never cared much for fancy shirts, anyway,” he said as he tossed the fabric to one side.

  She took a long, slow, deep breath at the display, her eyes wandering over his body.

  He had scars; she remembered that from seeing him shirtless before. But now she saw them whole, the puckered skin standing out from his tanned and firm body.

  Trey looked down at himself. “Yeah, a bit of road rash here and there. But I held together.” He raised one eyebrow. “Want to touch?”

  She nodded.

  “Not yet.”

  She slid her lower lip out, bringing a laugh from him as he rose from the bed.

  “I can find better things for you to do with your mouth than pout. But you’re woefully overdressed for what I’m planning.”

  He undid each shoe, running his hand along her ankle and leg as he slipped the leather straps free.

  She writhed under his touch, unsure whether she could stand her voluntary bondage a second longer.

  Trey shook his head as he tossed each shoe aside. “Move those hands, and I stop. This is for you. This is all for you.” His voice softened. “You deserve it.”

  She bunched her fingers as he slid his hands along her legs, moving up to her hips.

  He undid her skirt and tugged it free, raising an eyebrow at her black lacy panties.

  “They came as a set,” she said.

  “Too bad.” He curled a finger under the thin fabric at her hip. “I hate breaking up a set.”

  He tore it away with a swift yank, dangling it in one hand before tossing the scrap of fabric after the shoes.

  Ally sucked in a breath, now fully exposed to him.

  He shifted, kicking off his own shoes, and she saw the telltale bulge in his pants.

  He followed her eyes down. “See something you like?”

  “Yes.” She waited until he looked back up at her, then she licked her lips, dragging her tongue out and over.

  He exhaled through gritted teeth. “Don’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I want this to last.”

  He knelt between her legs, drawing his hands along the sensitive skin as he began to kiss his way up from her knees. His hands went to her hips, holding her in place. “I can’t believe you would ever hide these under jeans. They deserve to be touched, to be worshiped.”

  She went to say something, but his mouth landed on the inside of her left thigh and delivered a light nip of his teeth.

  She tried to rise off the bed, but his hands kept her still.

  He kissed the spot again. “A souvenir.”

  She frowned for only a second before he moved up again to kiss her mouth, sliding alongside her to tangle their legs together. It felt so odd, her bare legs against the roughness of the dress pants.

  His hands caressed her breasts again, drawing lightly over the skin and leaving goose bumps in their wake.

  She couldn’t take any more.

  She dropped her hands around his neck, pulling him close.

  Trey broke contact, moving to nip at her ear. “Bad girl.”

  “So punish me.”

  Another light nip as one hand moved to circle her damp folds, teasing as he skimmed the sensitive flesh.

  “I will.”

  She pulled back a moan as he slid his hand up one leg and down the other, intentionally avoiding the sweet spot between her legs.

  Her nails dug into his shoulders as she moaned into his ear, writhing to try and move his hand to where she wanted it to be.

  “Oh, no.” He chastised her, a touch of humor in his voice. “You broke the rules.”

  “Please.” She was begging and didn’t care.

  A gentle kiss on her ear signaled his forgiveness as a single finger moved, unerringly finding the tiny bundle of nerves and pressing on it.

  She rose to meet him, desperate for more. His hand moved lower, the finger now teasing her entrance. Finally, it moved inside, lazily pumping in and out of her as his mouth moved to her breast again, his tongue flicking over her nipple in perfect rhythm with his hand.

  She was dying. A long, ecstatic death, but she was dying.

  The one finger withdrew, returning with another. He didn’t miss a beat, his thumb pressing against her tiny nub as he continued to tease her nipple with his mouth.

  Her hands tangled in his short black hair as he moved up to kiss her again, his hot mouth and tongue imitating what his hand was doing.

  He pulled back, flushed and breathless. She felt him press against her side, hard as steel and straining against the fabric restraints.

  Trey licked his lips as he rolled atop her. “Don’t undo that tie,” he said in a hoarse voice as he began to slide down her front, dropping light kisses along the way.

  She kept her hands together, buried in his hair as she felt his hot breath rush over her skin, eventually reaching its destination.

  One heated touch of his tongue, and she was at the edge, small whimpers escaping from her throat as she rose to meet him, begging
for another.

  “Patience.” He lifted his head and smiled despite her grip tightening on his hair. “Patience.”

  The second swipe brought out a deep, rolling moan that dissolved into a series of soft cries as he applied himself wholeheartedly to the effort, fingers digging into her ass as he lifted her to give him easier access.

  He stared at her after an eternity, his dark eyes soft and inviting, and then nodded.

  She barely had time to register the move before he increased his pace, two fingers sliding in and out as his tongue slid back over the nub, pulling it into his mouth with a heat and ferocity she’d never known before.

  Her world drew together into a narrow tunnel before exploding into stars, her scream echoing off the walls as she let go.

  …

  He kissed her thighs, relishing not only the delicious taste of her, but the way she’d come, moaning and crying her release. It ran his arousal up to dangerous levels, the need to take her almost overwhelming.

  But he wasn’t going to rush anything. They had this night, this one night together before both their worlds changed, and he wouldn’t waste a second.

  He pulled back, saw the heated flush of her skin, and felt insanely proud.

  She still wore the remains of her blouse, the black lacy bra loose on her shoulders. Her hands had moved back over her head, still bound loosely with the bowtie. She licked her lips, swollen and wet from his kisses.

  His cock twitched, reacting to the image.

  It took the last of his restraint to not rip his pants off, but it was close. As he shucked his clothing, she opened her eyes and looked at him, her pupils wide and unfocused.

  A shake of her hands, and the bowtie fell to the floor.

  She reached for him, her fingers running over his chest as he settled against her.

  He gritted his teeth as she curled her legs around his, bringing him closer to heaven. It was pushing his self-control to the edge, the urge to plunge inside and release throwing him back in time to when he was a teenager, untested and unsure how this all worked.

  Now he knew.

  It still amazed the hell out of him every time.

  Ally kissed him hard, one hand traveling along his back to land on his butt cheek, nails digging in to give her purchase.