She smiles at me, tells me something about a cat—Horatio, she says. She left her cat behind. So she’ll pet me instead. She’d like to keep me.

Yes, Goddammit, yes. Please keep me. Hold me.

Suck me, baby.

She licks her lips and bends over me, taking my cock into her mouth. Hot. So hot. My hips buck, and she sucks me in deeper, her tongue massaging the head.

So fucking good. So tight. My dick twitches and jerks, and my balls lift. So close. So fucking close, and…

My eyes fly open.

The girl is right there, between my legs, sucking on my cock. Pretty. Smoking hot, with those dark hair and sultry eyes that get me every time, looking up at me.

Raylin. It’s Raylin.

And she’s sucking. On. My. Dick.

Whoa.

My sleep-addled brain is slow and fuzzy. My thoughts trip over one another, and when she swirls her tongue on the underside of my dick, the pleasure goes off the fucking charts, blowing my mind. I actually see bright spots exploding in my vision.

Then she takes me deeper in her mouth, and my body jerks, as if touched by a live wire. She drags her lips up and down, her tongue pressing underneath, licking at my dick like a lollipop.

“Ungh.” My brain is sparkling, imploding. My body tightens and clenches, the pressure in my balls reaching critical mass. I’m about to explode, and she’s still looking at me, her sweet mouth wrapped around my cock. My fingers are in her hair, holding on tight. I try to push her off me. “Fuck, I’m gonna…”

She moans deep in her throat, the vibrations hitting me like a sonic blast, and there’s no holding back anymore. No way in hell. My stomach contracts, and I bow over her, my balls clenching and dick surging in her mouth, jerking and erupting in scorching jets.

“Goddamn…” I grit my teeth, riding another swell of pleasure as it rises. I come and come in the velvet vise of her mouth, and she swallows it all.

Fuck me, that’s hot. So hot I can’t seem to stop coming. The muscles in my thighs tremble when I finally slump back, thumping my skull on the headboard and barely feeling it.

Jesus F. Christ.

She releases my limp dick and wipes a hand over her mouth. In a daze, I reach for her, worried she might bolt, that she didn’t enjoy it after all.

“Come here,” I croak, and she smiles at me, all pleased and shit, like the cat who ate the cream. A fitting image, one that brings back flashes of her mouth around me and has my cock trying—in vain—to stir again.

Yeah. No chance in hell.

Then she lies down next and presses her awesome curves to me, and all bets are off. I lean in and kiss her, tasting myself on her tongue, and damn if need doesn’t curl in my gut again, tightening my balls.

I moan, arousal hammering my insides. Yeah, just gimme a minute.

She cups my face, grinning in the kiss, and I’m gone. A goner. I can only breathe her in, taste her, hold on to her. She makes me smile. All the fucking time. I can’t remember smiling so much in years.

What the fuck’s happening to me? The weird funk I’ve been in is weakening its hold on me. I could spend years in this bed with her, I think, and my dick gives an enthusiastic twitch at the thought.

But she breaks the kiss and draws back. Before I can protest, she puts a hand over my mouth. “Storm, we need to talk.”

Not exactly what was on my mind, but she has a determined glint in her eye, and I remind myself I want to know more.

I tell my dick to suck it up and wait.

“Okay,” I say against her fingers, and she shivers. “Talk.”

“You may kick me out when I tell you,” she whispers, and some of the steel leaves her gaze. Now she looks apprehensive. “See, things are a lot worse than I let on.”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “I figured that.” I mock-bite her fingers, and she puts her hand down on my chest. “I also figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”

“It wasn’t my fault.”

“I told you I believe you.” And I do, for some strange reason. Maybe it’s because she can’t lie to save her life. Her face is an open book. And she’s telling me the truth.

“Why aren’t you running yet, Storm?” She sounds intrigued and a little put out at my lack of reaction.

So I tell her the truth. My truth.

“Baby, I’ve seen lot of bad in my life, and you aren’t it. Even before I left home and crashed into the underworld, I saw plenty of that going down—dirty deals and blackmailing, backstabbing, takeovers that destroyed lives and agreements that tore families apart. It’s a tough world. I saw people go to jail for deeds they didn’t commit. Why do you think I left? Corruption, greed, power. These things turn people crazy. And compared to all that…”

I shake my head and look straight into her eyes, letting her see I’m being honest. “You’re gold, Ray. You’re clean. You’re funny, and sexy, and goddamn pretty, but above all, you’re a good person. You think I didn’t notice how you barely used anything in the house you broke into? That you didn’t steal and sell anything? That you went out in the storm to save me, and that you want to protect me?”

She bites her lip and breaks her gaze, staring down at her hand that’s splayed over my heart.

“You really mean that,” she says, and yeah, I do.

And then the oddest thing happens. Her eyes fill up. Bright, glittering tears that spill over her flushed cheeks, and fuck me, she’s breaking me. Shattering me.

“Damn well I do.” I wipe her tears with my thumb, and more spill out. I let them soak into my skin and then lift my hand to my mouth and taste their saltiness. “And I’d rather lose trying to win you, rather than let you go without a fight.”

There you go. This is my truth. This girl will be the death of me, and I don’t fucking care.

Chapter Seven

RAYLIN

What’s happening to me? I’m strong. I’m tough. Nothing has managed to break me, not my crappy family, not the dangerous men sent after me, not even leaving everything and everyone behind, time after time.

So why did his words make me cry?

Not just his words, I remind myself. The faith behind them. The faith in me.

Damn this guy. He hasn’t just pulled down my walls, he has crushed them and stomped on them. Ridiculous. I barely know him. I may know how he tastes and what sounds he makes as he comes, how he looks naked and aroused, or relaxed in sleep, but that’s not…

Yeah, that’s not enough, right? Not enough for me to fall head over heels for Storm, and yet I have. This can’t end well…

No relationship in my life has lasted. None of the good ones, anyway. God knows my dad’s ghost is after me every single day as I run and hide.

See, I just never learn. And it doesn’t matter. I’m going to tell him everything, even as he tastes my tears and holds me close. Comforting me, as I’m about to drop a bomb on him.

“Storm…” I’m getting to love his name. Never knew anyone called Storm before. “Listen. This is bad.”

He takes my hand off his chest and kisses the center of my palm. “I’m so scared.”

“You should be.” I roll my eyes at his grin. “I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

God, this guy… So cute, but he doesn’t realize just how bad this is. “My family owes a lot of money. My dad and my brother, they’ve always worked together. Petty conmen, rounding up their victims in bars and rundown dives, rigging card games and spewing lies to clean everyone’s pockets. Nothing too big. It worked well. We moved from town to town for years, and nobody ever knew who we were.”

I close my eyes, trying to hide from this. His hand is under my chin, tilting it up. Forcing me to look at him as I speak.

“Then what changed?”

“Everything changed.” I swallow hard, my mouth dry. “One of his victims wasn’t as stupid as the others. Pissed as hell, he tracked us down and came at us with a gun. Mom got in the way. He shot her down. She died on the spot.”