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  She shut me up with a tender press of her mouth to mine that ended too soon. “I can’t say I’m not scared too, Kip.” She nuzzled my nose. Normally, I hated being called by that shortened version of my last name; Devolin using it, however, I found that I loved it. “But what I can say is that for tonight, I want your arms around me.” Punctuating the latter with a quick peck, she continued, “Your lips on me.” Another peck. “Maybe a few less articles of clothing.” Another. “And some heavy petting?” she whispered the last over my lips before pulling back, her eyes hopeful.

  “Christ, woman, you’re a wet dream come to life,” escaped in one long breath before I leaned forward, snagging her mouth with mine.

  Chapter 20

  Devolin

  Oh. My. God.

  Dalton’s hands were on my ass! Over my underwear, but they were on my ass nonetheless, clutching the cheeks I always thought were too round and jiggly. Grinding our pelvises together, a delicious shiver ran through my body the moment he nipped where my neck met my shoulder.

  “Mmm,” I moaned.

  It was the only thing I could muster. Words were no longer part of my vocabulary. I was reduced to moans, groans, and other unintelligible nonsense, much like a caveman, and I didn’t give two shits about it. It felt too good to care. Dalton felt good. Amazing!

  That’s when I decided to give him some of the same in return.

  Grinding down on him, I rubbed my chest against his like a cat in heat. My hands wandered down his pecs, journeying their way to his waist, and I proceeded to hitch up his t-shirt.

  “Off,” I grunted with my effort, the shirt having snagged behind his back.

  The man’s laugh rumbled in his chest as I leaned back to give him enough room while he leaned forward. He reached behind his neck and ripped the shirt from his body, chucking it to land somewhere behind the couch.

  Not for the first time, I wondered how his hard to my soft would feel against my skin. The urge was so strong that with no hesitation, I reached up to the top button of my blouse and released it from its eyelet, rushing to the next. Dalton’s larger hands put my smaller, much daintier ones to a halt.

  My head snapped up and found Dalton’s smile—not to mention his fiery gaze—on me.

  “Let me.” He leaned in and kissed my lips gently. His mouth then moved to kiss the expanse of skin that I’d just bared before meeting my eyes.

  My nod was hurried, my breath choppy. “O-okay.”

  With each subsequently released button, Dalton proceeded to kiss and lick the newly exposed flesh of my front, until he couldn’t bend further. That didn’t mean that his fingers stopped though. He pulled on the hem of my shirt, finished undoing the garment, then proceeded with pushing it off my shoulders, aiding me with the sleeves, all the while nibbling on my shoulders.

  Pulling at my bra strap with his teeth, he released it to snap against my skin, the pinch a sweet kind of pain.

  As soon as I was divested of my top, Dalton’s hands skimmed up the skin of my arms. Goosebumps broke out over my heated flesh. His nose nuzzled just below my ear, his breath coming out in warm gusts feathering down my chest. His palms stopped on either side of my neck, his eyes ensnaring me when he pulled back slightly.

  “You’re exquisite, baby,” he whispered. The reverence in his voice caused me to melt further into him.

  If I wasn’t careful, I could lose more than myself in this man. I could lose my heart. My soul.

  I couldn’t let that happen. At least not yet. Not until he knew my deepest secret.

  It hadn’t been my fault that I hadn’t shared that part of myself just yet. We’d gotten a little sidetracked with our earlier exploration.

  And now… Well, now wasn’t the time for it either.

  Talk about a mood killer.

  The feel of Dalton’s mouth blowing a heated breath over my left nipple, through the white lace of my bra, had me snapping back to reality on a moan.

  “Where’d you go just now?” he mumbled against my breast. The nip he gave me there caused me to yelp on a shudder.

  “Please,” I begged.

  He gave me a devilish grin. “You like that?”

  “Uh-huh.” On a vehement nod, I proved my point further by gripping the back of his head and urging him closer.

  But he resisted. “Baby…”

  “It’s nothing, Kip. Just something I forgot to do, but I’ll take care of it later.”

  His brows furrowed, his lips thinned with evident frustration. For a minute, I thought he’d read through my lie, but the man’s expression changed to one of challenge.

  “I must really be doing this all wrong if you have time to think of other things.”

  “No!” I shook my head from side to side. “Please don’t stop, Dalton.”

  This caused him to smile. “Then stay with me,” he whispered, lowering his head down to my breast again, this time, flicking its rigid tip with his tongue before giving me one of his little nips again.

  “Fuck!” My eyes closed and my head fell back onto my shoulders.

  The man’s deep timber of a laugh vibrated from my nipple, straight to my core, causing a spasm. I gasped at the sensation and wriggled to grind harder against his jean-clad length.

  “Christ you’re a firecracker,” he mumbled, switching breasts, his hand working the one he’d just left. Pulling the lace down to expose my chest with his free hand, he went straight to the bared tip and growled. “Fucking delicious.”

  The moment his mouth sealed itself to that tip, I felt as if the top of my head blew off. Stars exploded in my vision.

  I heard a long keening moan from somewhere in the distance along with Dalton’s, “Holy fuck!” Lost to all that was Dalton, I collapsed against his chest.

  Was that me moaning like that? Shit! I thought the sound was something exaggerated from the few porn videos I’d seen during late night TV. I didn’t think that women truly made that noise in real life. Yet I had.

  “Dev?” Dalton kissed my temple. “Baby?” His lips met my forehead. “Sweetheart?”

  “What the fuck was that?” I mumbled against his neck before pulling back, feeling a little unsteady, not to mention, embarrassed by the inner hussy that had clearly taken over my body.

  “Baby, I just made you come for me with my hands and mouth on your tits.” He looked like the cat that ate the cream.

  I groaned and let my head drop down to Dalton’s chest at my analogy. Not because of its tackiness. More because the mere thought of the word cream made my sex clench and need flood me once more. Visions of Dalton, and his sinful mouth, exploring my other intimate parts, testing me, forcing more of those keening wails I’d just emitted assaulted me.

  “Nope, coming with nipple stimulation alone is definitely not a myth.” I felt my face heat, thankful that I was able to hide my blush against Dalton’s now vibrating body.

  “I’m about to debunk the shit out of everything you might think a myth, baby,” he said on a chuckle, then kissed the top of my head. “Just you wait and see.”

  I thought I had quenched my inner hussy’s thirst earlier, but the bitch reared up again, the glutton for more of Dalton’s attentions that she was.

  Giving her what she wanted, I snuck my hand between us and cupped his rather impressive bulge. “By all means, Kip, don’t leave me hanging.”

  Chapter 21

  Dalton

  “Welcome to Jacksonville, folks! The current time is nine-oh-five p.m., the temperature is at a balmy…” I drowned out the captain’s voice as our flight made its final descent toward the tarmac.

  It had been a charged couple of days, filled with meetings with Canadian agencies that had me jumping through hoops due to their red tape processes. One thing I had to hand to our northern neighbors was that they sure knew how to run a tight ship. Where they failed however, was that their government was unable to send anyone into a foreign territory to investigate. They had informants within the
Juan Cartel, just simply not in Enrique Ortiz’s pocket. I now saw why Wentworth needed an external source to help him out.

  With that said, I had another set of worries on my hands, thanks to Brycen and what he’d informed me of this morning, right before take-off.

  To say I was incensed would be an understatement. I wanted this plane of ours to land like yesterday so I could give my woman a piece of my mind.

  As soon as the plane had circled the runway, parked at the gate, and the seatbelt sign light turned off, I was up on my feet, making my way toward the exit.

  Thirty minutes later, I was at Devolin’s apartment building, being let in by what I surmised as one of the place’s residents, and on my way up the elevator.

  When I got there, however, no amount of loud banging on her door made her answer, which now had me more worried than pissed off.

  I whipped out my phone.

  Me: Where are you?

  I saw the bubbles indicating that she was writing something, which filled me with relief. It was late enough that I knew she wouldn’t be at the office, but where else could she be? She was supposed to be having dinner with Skylar.

  Pulling up my sister’s contact information, I typed away.

  Me: You still with Dev?

  I flicked back to my text to Devolin, only to find nothing and the bubbles had disappeared.

  Sky: Why?

  Me: Because I’m at her place, no one’s here like you said you would be. It’s Wednesday, is it not?

  A few seconds later…

  Sky: McAskill’s.

  Fuck!

  Me: What do you mean McAskill’s? You two were supposed to be here!

  Seconds later, I got a message notification from Devolin herself.

  Devolin: I’m fine. Glad you’re back. I’ll see you tomorrow.

  She was fine? She was glad I was back? She’d see me tomorrow?

  What in the ever-loving fuck?

  I could tan her sweet, innocent ass right now. Maybe that’s what I would do when I found her.

  Turning from her door, I headed for the stairs. I had to work off my frustrations before I saw the woman, or I’d be liable to do some serious damage.

  Locating the two women as soon as I arrived at McAskill’s hadn’t been a hard task. All I had to do was sniff out the testosterone.

  Loud whooping could be heard as some preppy guy, who looked like he was still in college, walked out from the gathering, shoulders hunched.

  “Right! Now which one of you’s next?” I’d recognize that voice anywhere. The you was slurred, but it had come from none other than Tamara, one of Skylar’s friends. I groaned. If Tamara was part of the pack, I smelled trouble.

  Nudging some of the men to the side, I made my way to the front of the group, sticking my fingers in my mouth and blowing a shrill whistle.

  Three female heads turned to face me, making me smirk at their startled expressions. It was the shocked one on Devolin’s face, however, that humored me the most.

  “I’ll play.”

  “Brother—” Skylar started, but I lifted my hand to silence her as I made my way to Devolin, whose gaze was fused to mine. A twinkle of fear mixed with a spark of defiance shone in them. Some of the male population cleared out and went back to what they’d been doing.

  “Get me a beer, will ya, sis?” Without looking her way, I took the cue from my half-sister’s hands, my gaze never straying from Devolin’s now wide-eyed one.

  “Kip,” she breathed. If it hadn’t been for the subtle glaze in her eyes, I’d have said she was now completely stone cold sober. “I—”

  “You’re in deep shit already, sweetheart.” I pecked her nose because I simply couldn’t help myself. “But after I school you in this game, I’m taking you home, and we’re having a little chat about what you’ve been up to these last few days.”

  Brows furrowing, eyes narrowed, her expression turned to one I’d recognize anywhere: sheer pissed off female with a bone to pick.

  “Who do you think—?”

  I grabbed onto the finger she was poking me in the chest with and stared her down. “I wouldn’t push me if I were you,” I warned. “You’ve already earned yourself five. You want to earn yourself ten, or even fifteen, that’s fine by me. My hand can go all night, babe.”

  Her mouth snapped shut, her face grew red, then she schooled her features, set her cue on the table’s edge and proceeded to rack the balls mumbling, “Neanderthal”. She might have thought that she’d said it low enough not to be heard over the music; she was wrong.

  I snorted my annoyance. “I can always take you home now.”

  “You’re not taking me anywhere.” She kept on shoving balls in the rack violently without looking at me. “Not tonight.” Ball shoved. “Not tomorrow.” More balls shoved. “Not any time until you tell me what the fuck crawled up your ass and died!”

  Chapter 22

  Devolin

  I felt the heat of his fury before his body made contact with the back of mine.

  As much as he was pissing me off, part of me wanted to turn, plaster myself to him, and beg him to take me home and explore me the way he had a few short nights ago. Plus those spankings he was alluding to.

  “Does Hewitt ring a bell, sweetheart?” His breath fanned over my ear and down my neck, making goosebumps rise onto my skin.

  I bit my lip. I had purposefully omitted that particular tidbit of information in our many phone calls while he’d been away, knowing all too well that he wouldn’t be happy with me. Had he approached me like any normal person and asked, instead of storming into the place and telling me that we’d be having words later, I probably would have come clean.

  Instead of fessing up and explaining, I snapped. “That doesn’t concern you.”

  “Baby, when you’re my woman, it does.” He nipped my lobe.

  My knees felt like they were about to give out. Ignoring the fact that my reaction was more about the overbearing dickhead standing too close to me, I chose to blame my reaction on the booze I’d consumed.

  “Here you go, D.”

  Saved by the best friend and her sidekick.

  When Tamara had called to invite Skylar out, I hadn’t been too sure about coming along. From what Skylar had told me about her, the woman was apparently a magnet for trouble. After meeting the woman in the flesh though, I saw exactly why Skylar was a friend of hers. Although a pathological flirt, Tamara was sweet, caring, and funny as all hell. She was the perfect addition to the evening. A distraction from what had happened earlier, while Skylar and I had been picking up pizza for our originally planned quiet night in.

  Without a word, Dalton backed away from me, effectively knocking me out of my musings and back to reality. Grabbing his beer from Skylar, then meeting my gaze, he proceeded to chug the entire bottle before slamming it down on the table we’d been using for our drinks throughout the night. “I’m going to need a fresh one.”

  “Got you covered.” Tamara turned to Skylar. “I told you he’d do that. You should have ignored him.”

  Dalton’s short laugh lacked humor.

  “He deserves what he’s about to get,” Skylar muttered, and met her brother’s gaze, folding her arms across her chest with that we’re-gonna-have-a-talk look on her face.

  Huffing as I reached for my margarita, I sucked up the dregs of my drink. “Can we get to playing already so he,” I pointed at Dalton, “can go home?”

  “I’m not going home without you,” he growled.

  “We’ll see.” Motioning toward the felt-covered table with a jut of my chin, I said, “Your break.”

  I cleaned his clock, three out of four times. Skylar and Tamara had laughed themselves practically sick while Dalton and I had played, taunting the man, cheering in my corner. It was hard to ignore, and I felt a little pride in myself, that Dalton seemed surprised and impressed by my pool skills.

  Within seconds of our final game ending, Dalton grabbed
my arm at the elbow and started ushering me toward the exit.

  “Time to go home.”

  “D—” Skylar tried to interrupt, distracting him enough so I could wrench my arm out of his grip.

  “I’m not going home with you.” Venom laced my words.

  His gaze was fused to mine, heated and irritated. “Like hell you’re not. We’ve got shit to discuss and—”

  As he reached for me again, I jumped back. “And like I said, we’ll talk tomorrow. If you don’t mind, I’m out with the girls tonight, all thanks to you, and I’d very much like to enjoy my outing without you ruining my buzz.” I punctuated this with a feeble push of both hands to Dalton’s chest. “Go home, Dalton.”

  The man didn’t budge.

  Refusing to let his gaze go, I stood my ground until I simply couldn’t anymore. A favorite song of mine chose that moment to start blaring through the pub’s speakers. My mood instantly perking up. Turning from the infuriating man in front of me, I grabbed onto Skylar and Tamara’s hands, tugging them toward the small clearing in the middle of the bar that served as a dance floor.

  “Let’s dance!”

  He could leave.

  He could stay.

  I didn’t give one good goddamn what he did. I was there to drown my sorrows and forget about the clusterfuck I’d put myself in with Dalton. That other woman could have him.

  Chapter 23

  Dalton

  I was in no way leaving without her.

  Sitting alone in the nearest corner by the dance floor, I watched the three women getting down to the latest mash-up of new versus old tunes that had furthered my woman’s endeavor of ignoring me.

  Fuck, she could move. And I hadn’t been the only one to notice either.