He was supposed to buy that the guy was just letting him walk? “Nothing in this world is free,” Ethan said, giving Victor those same words back.
Victor looked toward the open cell door, then back at Ethan.
Ethan knew more was going on there—a whole lot that he didn’t understand. He would, though, soon enough. For that moment…
He was getting his ass out of there.
Ethan took his time walking out of the holding area and through the station. Victor even gave him street clothes to change into—something damn else that he’d owe the guy for at a later date. And as he finally made his way through the bullpen, some cops stopped what they were doing and glanced his way.
That’s right, boys and girls…the criminal walks.
Only they weren’t looking at him with anger.
And Ethan got uncomfortable as he headed toward the door.
He stepped out into the New York night…
“I swear, your tab just keeps growing with me,” Sophie Sarantos told him.
He turned to the side. She’d been standing in the shadows. Now she stepped forward into the light cast by a street lamp and waved her fingers at him. “Hi, there, Trouble.”
“You got me out.” Sophie was one of his oldest friends. And Victor had been right—one hell of a lawyer.
Sophie and Faith were opposites—he’d always thought so. Faith played down her attractiveness, but Sophie, well, she used it ruthlessly. Right then, she was dressed in a tight pencil skirt and a low cut top. Her dark hair tumbled over her shoulders and her golden skin—courtesy of her Greek ancestry—gave her an exotic flare beneath the harsh lights.
“I worked a little magic.” She put her hand on his shoulder and steered him toward the waiting car. When he climbed inside, he wasn’t particularly surprised to see Sophie’s lover, Lex Jensen, behind the wheel. Lex glanced back at him, giving Ethan a long, unreadable stare.
Ethan sighed and leaned back against the leather seat. “You’re not just going to drive me to some remote spot and dump my body, are you, Lex?” He closed his eyes, feeling weariness pull at him. But, instantly, Carly’s face flashed in his mind’s eye. Her face—her fear, her horror. Dammit.
“Tempting,” Lex muttered. “But I think that’s more your style.”
True enough.
A car door slammed. “I heard that Lex,” Sophie scolded. “I told you, play nice.”
Ethan laughed. Lex might look like the typical American good-boy with his blond hair and pretty-boy face, but that guy could be as hard core as he wanted to be. Lex was part of VJS Protection, Inc., and that fellow played plenty rough when he wanted.
That roughness was why Ethan was glad the guy had wound up with Sophie. Ethan liked to know that his friend was safe, and with a fighter like Lex ready to destroy anyone who so much as looked the wrong way at her, well, Sophie was certainly safe.
The car accelerated as Lex took them to—well, wherever the hell they were going.
“Aren’t you going to ask about her?” Sophie asked.
His jaw locked. “How did you find out I was locked up?”
“A trusted source.”
“Your BFF—Faith, right?” Figured. Opposites with their clothes, but down deep, where it mattered—just alike. Fighters. And both with hearts that were too damn big. Hearts that could get them into trouble. No wonder they met weekly for their chat time—like I don’t know about that. He made it a point to know everything that went down in D.C. And one thing he definitely realized—those two women got each other.
“Leave my BFF out of this.” A light note had entered Sophie’s voice. Odd, Sophie wasn’t given to a lot of humor. Especially not on nights like this one. He cracked open one eye. They were moving fast through the city, and her face was in the shadows. “Ethan.” The lightness faded from her tone. “Why aren’t you asking about Carly?”
Because it hurts. “All I need to know…” Did he sound choked up? Hell, he did. He cleared his throat. Coughed. “I just need to know that she’s somewhere safe.”
Silence.
“Sophie…”
“She’s safe, Ethan.”
He nodded.
“What were you going to do?” Sophie wanted to know. “Trade your crimes—for her life? Offer a deal to the FBI?”
“It wasn’t a bad plan.”
“No, but not a good one, either. Speaking as your lawyer, it seriously sucked.”
“Not if it got her safety in return.”
They traveled more in silence.
“I’ve got you a room at a hotel,” Sophie finally said. “The presidential suite, because I know how you like your comfort.”
After living in squalor, yeah, he’d learned to appreciate fucking comfort. “When you have nothing,” he said, knowing he was revealing too much with Lex there, but so what? Sophie had been with Ethan when he’d been in the gutter. “You want it all.”
Only…what would he trade to have another chance with Carly? To have her not look at him as if he were a freak?
Worse…
A killer.
I am what I am.
Sophie pressed a keycard in his hand. “Floor thirty-six,” she told him. “Get some sleep tonight, and I’ll meet you in the lobby first thing tomorrow. The place has excellent security—”
“I made sure of that,” Lex added.
“So you can rest without worrying. In the morning, we’ll talk and I’ll tell you everything I discussed with the cops.”
The car had pulled to a stop. Weary now, Ethan just shook his head. “As long as you didn’t sell my soul to them for my get-out-of-jail free card, I don’t really care what you discussed with them.”
He climbed from the car. She didn’t follow him, but Sophie did reach out and grab his wrist. “I thought you’d lost your soul a long time ago.”
He smiled at her. “I did. I gave it to a seventeen-year-old girl…a beautiful girl who was willing do to anything in order to save my sorry ass.”
“Ethan…”
“Good night, Sophie. And don’t worry, I’ll pay you back for this.”
He pulled away from her.
“No, Ethan, you won’t. This time, I’m paying you back. We both know I owe you, far more than can be repaid.”
Sophie—she’d always had a good heart. Lex had better treat her like the princess she fucking was.
Ethan headed into the swanky hotel. At this hour, the lobby was deserted. Good. Since the place was empty, no one gave him a second glance as he strode around the swank hotel in his loaner jeans and T-shirt.
He rode the elevator up. Stared at his bedraggled expression in the glass. Huh. How about that? He was definitely looking like more of a monster these days.
The elevator dinged when it hit the top floor. The lush carpet swallowed the sound of his footsteps. He used the keycard to enter the suite. It was dark inside. Not pitch black, though, because lights from the skyline spilled in from the floor to ceiling windows.
Those lights spilled in…and spilled on her.
Carly rose from the couch. She was wearing a light blue gown. She took a step toward him, her hands outstretched—
Ethan shook his head.
Carly froze.
“You aren’t here.” He shut the door behind him. Locked it. “You’re some place safe. Sophie told me…you were safe.”
Hesitantly, she advanced toward him. Her feet were bare and her hair slid over her shoulders. “I am safe, Ethan,” she said. “I’m always safe with you.”
She was less than a foot away. He could reach out and touch her. Instead, his hands balled into fists. “I tried to do one good thing. I tried again—for you.”
“What did you try?” Her voice was soft. Husky. Tempting. He hadn’t looked directly into her eyes, not yet. He was afraid of what he’d see.
“I tried to let you go.” His voice was a stark contrast to hers. Rough and grating, and he wanted so badly to touch her. “Like before, I was going to stand back…you were going to w
alk away.”
“But that’s not what I want.”
He stared over her shoulder. He couldn’t look into her eyes, not then. “I saw, baby. Your fear and pain and—”
“I saw, too, Ethan. I saw that you’d do anything for me. Just as I would do anything for you. And I finally realized something I should have known long ago. I saw the truth that I missed before.”
Don’t look in her eyes, don’t… “What was that?”
“You love me.”
His gaze shot to hers. To her beautiful eyes. So deep. Deep enough that, hell, yes, he’d lost his soul to her years ago. His soul. His heart. Everything good.
“That’s why you sent me away before, isn’t it?” Carly asked.
He could be a coward and deny it. Or… “Yes.” He wasn’t a fucking coward.
“And that’s why you were going to let me go again?”
“Yes.” More a growl than anything else.
“I’d like to hear the words, Ethan.”
“And I would like to strip you and fuck you right here.” Each breath seemed to burn his lungs. “You know what I am. I’m not good. Not some fucking hero. I’m a killer. I’ve lied, I’ve stolen, and I’ve done anything and everything necessary for survival. But the worst part of me…it’s the part that is so desperate for you. I see you, and I want. I want to take. I want to consume. I want to possess you forever. And that right there tells me that what I feel for you, it’s all twisted up. It’s wrong. It’s not what you deserve and—”
“I would like to strip you and fuck you right here, too,” Carly confessed, voice husky.
His heartbeat drummed, too fast. Too hard.
“And we will get to that,” Carly promised. “But first, I want the words, Ethan,” she said again. “I need to hear them.”
Fuck it. “I love you.”
Silence.
He should have said them…softer. Not snarled them. Or growled them or whatever the hell it had been that he’d done.
But—
Carly threw her body against his. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. “Again,” she said.
His hands curled around her and he lifted her up, holding her easily as she locked her legs around his hips. “I love you.”
She laughed, and it was a beautiful sound. So happy and free and he wanted to hear Carly laugh like that forever.
His heart was hurting. Beating too fast. Seeming to swell in his chest. Yes, dammit, yes, he did love her. Twisted and bent and as warped as he was, Carly was the one he loved.
Always.
Always had.
Always would.
He kissed her.
Chapter Ten
Her hands locked around Ethan’s neck, and she pulled him closer. Carly put her mouth on Ethan’s, so desperate for his kiss. She’d been waiting for him, sitting in the dark, each moment ticking by so slowly. Victor had advised her to stay away from the police station and when Sophie had appeared—she’d been adamant that Carly would be safer at the hotel’s luxury suite. Apparently, the place had some kickass security that the staff used for those who stayed in that VIP area.
Carly had met Sophie, years ago. She’d always liked and respected the other woman, and she’d known that, if anyone could get Ethan out of police custody, it would be that lawyer.
“I…I’m not in control…” Ethan’s voice was ragged. He took two steps and her back hit the wall. “Give me…moment…”
No, she’d waited long enough. She could feel the long, hard edge of his arousal pressing to her sex. He was kissing her now, frantically, and she met him eagerly. There would be no moment. There was just now. This. Them.
His hands were digging into her hips. Her breasts were aching, the nipples tight and hard as they thrust against his chest. The thin gown she wore provided very little coverage. When she’d wrapped her legs around him, the gown had hiked up and she could feel the air on her thighs.
A scrap of lace—her panties—was in the way. Her panties. His jeans. She needed those barriers gone so that Ethan could sink deep into her.
But he pulled his mouth away from hers. His breath sawed out in heavy pants. “Need…time…”
And she needed to be very, very clear with him. “I want you.” She’d said that before. What was the guy missing?
But he gave a grim shake of his head. “You need care. Gentleness—”
Her nails raked down his back.
He hissed out a breath.
It wasn’t going to work if he kept treating her like a victim—they weren’t going to work. She wanted to kiss the past goodbye and move forward, full speed ahead. The best way to do that? Throw away the kid gloves. “Rip my panties out of the way, Ethan.”
She felt his whole body stiffen.
“You said before that I had to tell you what I wanted.” Her voice had gone husky. Could he hear her desire? She wanted him so badly. “I’m telling you. I want you to rip those panties out of the way.”
Do it. Do…
His right hand slid around her hip. Down, down. She felt his fingers brush over her sex, caressing her through the lace of those panties. That one touch singed her, burning her whole body and making her ache even more for him.
“Rip—”
She heard the sound of those panties tearing, and then his fingers were on her. Stroking her sex. And she got wet for him, so very fast. Maybe she’d been wet and ready from the moment he started kissing her. He eased two fingers into her and Carly’s eyes squeezed shut. Yes, yes!
But she didn’t just want his fingers. “Un…unzip your jeans.” She barely got those words out. Speech was about to be way beyond her.
His hand slid away and she heard the hiss of his zipper.
Then she felt the tip of his cock pushing into her. She gasped at the contact, and he stilled.
“Baby…”
Her eyes opened. She stared straight at him. “I’m not afraid. I want you. Don’t hold back. Don’t.”
This wasn’t Quincy. This wasn’t the past. This was their moment.
He sank into her and she moaned because he was what she’d needed. Exactly what she’d wanted so badly. Ethan withdrew, then thrust back into her. Her heels dug into his ass as she arched against him. Pinned between Ethan and the door, he controlled the thrusts, but she was squeezing him with her sex, arching, taking, and going insane with pleasure.
Skin to skin. There was no condom between them, and she loved feeling him that way. So hot and full. Each thrust sent him sliding over her clit and deep, deep into her. She put her mouth to his throat. Licked. Suck. Bit.
Her control was gone, and she wanted him just as desperate.
But…he was still holding back. Still trying to be so careful…
“Baby, protection, you need…”
She bit him again. “I’m covered and I’m clean.”
“I-I’m clean, too. Don’t take risks.” His words were growled. “Never, but with you…fuck, with you…I need more control. I should—”
“You should fuck me harder.” She clenched her sex around him. “Make me only think of you.” And not blood or death or fear. No desperate worries that Ethan would be locked up and she’d never see him again. She didn’t want to think about any of that. She just wanted him. Always, him.
He gave a ragged groan, and then his control did seem to break away. He drove into her even harder. Even deeper. Fast, strong thrusts. And he was kissing her neck now. Licking her. Giving her a light bite as her head tipped back against the wall. Pleasure rolled within her, rolling and rolling and—
Exploding. Igniting. Taking her over and all she could do was hold on tight for that wild ride with him. Hold on as the world spun out of control all around her.
Then she felt him—a hot splash inside of her as he came, and his body shuddered against hers.
She kissed him, wanting to taste his pleasure. Wanting to make the moment last just a little longer. Because when they were together like this—it truly was just them. Their own w
orld. No one else.
Nothing else.
She heard the drumming of a heartbeat. Fast and deep. Hers? His? It didn’t matter.
Her eyes opened, and Ethan was staring down at her. He was still in her, and her legs still had their death grip around his hips. Without a word, he started walking, holding her easily, staying buried inside of her, as he maneuvered through the suite.
“First door…” She licked her lips. Tasted him. “First door is the master bedroom.”
And that door was conveniently open. He carried her inside. But he didn’t head toward the bed. Instead, he went straight to the bathroom, and he lowered her to the tiled floor right in front of the massive, claw-foot tub. Her toes curled against the tile as he bent and a flick of his hand sent the hot water pouring into the tub. Steam rose a few moments later, and then Ethan stepped into the tub. He offered her his hand.
Her fingers curled around his, and she climbed in, too. They sank into the water, and he was behind her. Her back slid against his stomach, and the warm water surrounded her.
His arms wrapped around her. And he just—held her there.
Carly didn’t think she’d ever felt safer in her life.
***
“Where is Ethan Barclay?”
Victor turned at the question. He was at the hospital, had just dropped by that morning to check in with Charles. But Charles’s very fierce cousin had been on patrol, and Faith had only let him stay a few moments before telling him that visiting time was over—and that Charles needed his rest.
Apparently, Victor’s FBI badge hadn’t impressed the woman very much.
“Agent Monroe, where is Ethan Barclay?”
Victor’s gaze sharpened on the man approaching him. Dr. Keith Nelson. Looking awfully hale and hearty, but still wearing a hospital ID bracelet, even though he was dressed in normal street clothes.
“Is he in custody?” Keith asked. “Have you arrested him for what he did to me?”