Blaze (Deceit and Desire Book 6) Read online

  Without any conscious thought, I started to move on him, rocking against him, riding the hard muscle and chasing that tight feeling as it spread throughout me.

  Lane muttered something against my neck.

  The words didn’t make any sense.

  But I didn’t care.

  All that mattered was that moment, his hand gripping my hip and the pressure as it built in my lower body, growing tighter, hotter – then exploding.

  Lane covered my mouth just as I cried out, swallowing down the noise as he caught my thighs and shoved them wide, stepping between them so he could move against me.

  The friction only added to the sweet, sweet heat that had started to explode through me. It started all over again, the climax never really fading and every pump of his hips, every rub of his tongue against mine added to the build-up of heat.

  The room spun around me and then I was lying on the bed, Lane coming down on me. He pressed another bruising kiss to my mouth then started on a burning path down my body.

  I whimpered as he closed his lips around my left nipple, sucking it between his teeth, biting down lightly, then drawing it into the wet cavern of his mouth. He circled it with his tongue, drew it out with his teeth, each touch designed to drive me insane.

  I wiggled and twisted under him, straining to get closer. Shoving my hands into his hair, I pulled him to me.

  He caught my wrists and pinned them to my sides, all without breaking contact with my nipple.

  He moved to the other, letting go of my hands. I reached for him again, but this time, he didn’t stop me.

  I found out why just a few seconds later as he wrestled me out of my tights and tennis shoes.

  I was naked in front of him so fast, it left my head spinning. I scrabbled at his shoulders, pulling him toward me, but he shook his head and caught my thighs, shoving them wide.

  I sucked in a breath as he dove for my pussy, his mouth connecting with the core of me.

  I cried out, stunned and startled. There was no room to process anything else because he was using his mouth in ways I’d never considered. I felt his teeth, his tongue, his lips. He stabbed at my clitoris with his tongue, then licked it and sucked on it, and before I even had a chance to process what he was doing to me, I was already flying high, whimpering as another climax rocked me.

  Still breathing hard from the orgasm, I lay there, boneless as he climbed up my body and settled down on me. He wedged his hips between mine, and I felt the rough material of his jeans scrape against my thighs. He shoved away from me, and I groaned, reaching for him.

  But all he did was tear at the opening of his jeans.

  I stared at him as his cock sprang free.

  The last time we’d been together, I’d had no chance to really see him. Now, staring at him, I decided maybe that was a good thing. If I’d realized the size of the thing he was putting in me, I might have freaked out. He cupped my face as he settled back over me. “Look at me,” he said, voice gruff. “Look at me, Trice.”

  I met his eyes, trying to banish the trepidation I now felt.

  The head of his cock pushed against me. I was slippery wet, and he slid against me as he sought my entrance.

  “Kiss me, Trice,” he demanded, pushing my chin up.

  I gasped as I felt the head of him pressing against me.

  He took advantage of it, pushing his tongue into my mouth, hungry and demanding.

  He didn’t enter me, using the kiss to tease and taunt me.

  At the same time, he rocked back and forth, barely nudging me.

  Soon, I was rocking up to meet him, needing more of him, needing him deeper.

  As if he had been trained in the art of reading me, Lane responded, sinking a little deeper, then going back to kissing me, as if he had all the time in the world to teach me to take him.

  By the time he was fully seated in me, I was sweating, my body trembling, and I was all but begging him for more.

  He kissed me and smoothed my hair back from my face. “Easy,” he murmured. “Easy…”

  “Lane!”

  He circled his hips against mine, and I gasped, arching under him. That had the head of his cock rubbing right against a place deep inside me, and I shuddered, gripping his forearms, my nails biting into his skin.

  He moved higher on me, and I felt it again, him bumping against me right there.

  I cried out, tightening around him. His cock jerked inside me.

  Staring up into his pale, beautiful eyes, I felt all the pieces of myself start to dissolve. I was going to come apart.

  I knew it.

  “Come for me, Trice,” he murmured, lowering his mouth to mine. “Come for me…”

  Coming…was that what this was?

  I felt like I was shattering.

  He rocked against me again, and again, and I edged closer and closer to the point of shattering.

  He nipped my lower lip, his hand squeezing my ass.

  “Trice…”

  I didn’t know what sent me flying over. The flexing of his hand on my butt, the way his cock rubbed against me just right, or the unsteady, rough way he whispered my name. But the orgasm started, hitting me hard and fast.

  It gripped me, dragged me up, lifting me higher and higher.

  I was helpless against it.

  He lay against me, spooning me from behind, his arm thrown around my waist.

  I dragged in a breath, my heart still racing.

  His chest moved up and down rapidly, and he had his face buried against the nape of my neck.

  My hair lay in a sticky, tangled mess between us.

  We were a sticky, tangled mess.

  But I had no desire to move.

  Exhaustion lay heavy on me, like a cloud, and my eyes grew heavier with every second.

  “Trice,” Lane said behind me, his voice low and soft.

  “Um?”

  He said something else.

  But my eyes were heavier, and my heart was thudding heavy and slow.

  I didn’t even hear him when he said my name again.

  Sleep came on me that fast.

  Three

  Trice

  I woke to feel a hand smoothing across my belly, while Lane ran his lips down my neck.

  I already knew the smell of him, the feel of him, and waking like this with him was enough to put a smile on my face in the early moments before my brain really kickstarted itself into awareness.

  Once that happened, though, I sat up.

  A quick look at the clock told me we’d slept through the evening and all through the night.

  I gaped at the time. I’d missed work. Suria had to be sick with worry.

  Lane went to stroke a hand down my back, but I pulled away from him, climbing off the bed and striding toward the door that led to the bathroom. “I need to…” I glanced back at him just as he was sitting up. The sheets puddled around his waist and my brain threatened to melt down on me, so I clamped my mouth shut and just shook my head.

  Locking myself in the bathroom, I leaned back against the door and closed my eyes.

  I’d gone and lost my mind.

  That’s just all there was to it.

  Beyond the door, I could hear Lane moving around, and I quickly locked the door, although I doubted he’d come barging in here. Climbing into the shower, I turned on the water, letting the cool water blast away the fog in my brain.

  I needed to wash up.

  I needed to wake up.

  I needed to get him to take me back home. Hopefully, I could salvage my job, but I at least needed to make sure Suria knew I was okay.

  I came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around my body, another wrapped around my hair.

  Lane looked up from the desk where he sat and cast me a long, leisurely look, then he gestured at the bed. “There’s some clothes for you.”

  I came up short at the sight of them, more than a little uneasy for some reason.

  “You didn’t have to buy me any clothe
s. I can just wear what I had on.’

  He shrugged and went back to what he was doing. He had a laptop in front of him and was tapping away at it, so I grabbed the bag and looked inside.

  It was from a local big-box department store, and I saw what looked like a dress, a pack of panties and a bra and some deodorant. Frowning, I took the bag into the bathroom and dumped everything on the counter. The dress was shorter than anything I’d normally wear, but it was cute and comfortable. The panties and bra both fit. I used some of the complimentary lotion, slicking it on my skin before unwrapping my hair and attempting to finger comb it into submission.

  Once I was dressed, I slid out into the main room.

  “I need you to take me home.”

  He went still. After a few seconds, he closed the laptop and looked over at me. “I can’t do that.”

  Tightening my jaw, I asked, “You want to tell me why not?”

  “I already told you why yesterday. You’re in danger.”

  “If I am in danger, then my family could be in danger,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Fuck them. You’re my concern.” He came out of the chair and stormed over to me, reaching out and cupping my shoulders in his hands.

  I knocked his hands off. “Fuck them? My cousins are the only people who’ve ever given a damn about me. I’m not just going to leave them to worry about me and not tell them that they might be in trouble too!” I glared at him.

  He opened his mouth, then closed it. “Croft probably won’t bother them. It’s you he’s after.”

  “Croft?” My throat went dry. “He’s the reason I’m in danger?”

  I remembered what I’d seen the night of the party and the bottom of my stomach dropped out.

  “Yeah.” Lane’s eyes narrowed, and he gave me a thorough study. “Why doesn’t that seem to surprise you?”

  Warily, I backed away from him, circling around the room. I came to sit on the edge of the bed, plucking at the material of the skirt nervously. “I was at a party the other day. A Halloween party,” I said as my heart hammered away inside my chest. “I saw him with somebody – I think it was a drug deal. I tried to get away before he could see me, but I wasn’t fast enough.”

  Lane swore, spinning away. His hands came up, and he scrubbed at his face.

  “Were your cousins with you?” he demanded over his shoulder.

  “What? No. It was just me.”

  He gave a short nod and continued to stand there, his gaze locked on something I couldn’t see. “You didn’t tell them about Croft, did you?”

  “No. I’m not stupid,” I said caustically.

  Lane turned back to me, his face set in hard, carved lines. “Save me the petulant comebacks, Trice. I’m trying to think, okay?”

  “Can you do it on the drive back home?” I demanded. Worry for Suria and Joelle rose inside me, and I climbed off the bed, wrapping my arms around my middle. “I need to let them know I’m in trouble. That they might be in trouble.”

  Lane cut in front of me. “You’re not leaving here,” he said shortly. “I’m not letting you out of my sight until I’ve figured out how to handle Croft.”

  Fury broke through me, and I shoved at his chest.

  He didn’t move so much as an inch.

  “I have to warn my cousins, damn it!” I shouted. When he didn’t budge, when he didn’t speak, I slammed my hands against his chest, glaring up at him. “Are you made of stone? Don’t you understand me?”

  “I understand you just fine. But you are the one in trouble. You are the one Croft saw. You are the one he’s going to come after.”

  “Can you promise me that my family will be safe?” I demanded.

  He opened his mouth. But I saw the answer in his eyes.

  “Don’t,” I said, shaking my head as I backed away. “Don’t you lie to me about this. Do you not get it? My family is all I’ve got. I can’t let Suria just worry about me, and I can’t just stay here without saying anything to them.”

  “I’m not taking you back,” he said, his voice flat.

  Fine. I’d just have to get back on my own.

  But I didn’t tell him that.

  Let him think he’d won. For now.

  Spinning on my heel, I went over to where he’d folded my clothes and put my phone. I was tempted to pick it up, see if Suria had called. She must have, although I hadn’t heard the phone ring. Had he turned it off? Silenced it? I didn’t know. Instead of looking at the phone to get an answer though, I took my things and carried them over to the second bed, laying them on the pillow, then stretching on the floral comforter.

  I sensed him coming up behind me, and in a lethal tone, I said, “Don’t you even think about touching me.”

  “Trice…”

  “I mean it. You want me to abandon my cousins, knowing that they could be in danger?” I shot him a fulminating look. “You touch me, and I’ll scream bloody murder.”

  He fell back a step and sighed, his eyes closing.

  There was a look of defeat on his face.

  It didn’t make me feel any better.

  But in that moment, not much of anything could have.

  I waited until he slid into the bathroom.

  I’d been feigning sleep, although how he thought I could sleep, I had no idea.

  The minutes stretched out for what felt like forever although I had no idea how much time had passed. It could have been ten minutes or an hour.

  Finally, though, I heard the door close behind him quietly, and I knew he was trying to make as little noise as possible.

  I did the same as I slid from the bed, sliding my feet into my tennis shoes. I didn’t bother with socks. I had no idea how much time I had. Once my shoes were on, I grabbed my phone and made my way to the door.

  Flipping the extra security lock free, I eased it open.

  It didn’t make any noise.

  At least, not until I closed it.

  Then it clicked – and the sound seemed as loud as a shot from a gun.

  I took off running, bypassing the elevator and heading straight for the stairwell. I made it down the first flight before I heard the door open, and Lane booming my name.

  I ran harder, pumping my legs as quickly as I dared as I ran down the stairs.

  But he wasn’t even bothering to run.

  He leaped down them, and as I whirled to take the next flight, he caught me up against him, hauling me against his chest and holding me easily as he started back up the stairs.

  “Let me go!” I shouted. Maybe somebody would hear me.

  Maybe somebody would–

  He clamped his hand over my mouth. “Be quiet,” he warned me. “Don’t make me gag you.”

  I bit him. Hard. But he still didn’t take his hand away.

  It took him no time to get me back in the room, and after he’d wrestled me onto the bed, he took my shoes. He wrenched my phone from my hand despite my struggles to hold onto it.

  Feeling helpless, I watched, gaping at him, as he carried them over to the closet.

  When I saw the safe there, I closed my eyes, feeling helpless.

  Unable to stop the sob that welled in my throat, I drew my knees to my chest and pressed my face to them, giving into the burn of tears.

  “Trice…”

  Lane’s voice sounded tortured.

  I cringed away from him as he touched my shoulder. “Don’t touch me,” I whispered. “Don’t!”

  But he didn’t listen.

  He pulled me into his lap, and I curled into an even tighter ball, refusing to lean against him.

  “You’re safe with me here,” he whispered, his voice almost pleading.

  “I’m not worried about me!” I half-shouted in a voice thick with tears. “I’m worried about my cousins! About Suria and Joelle. Why can’t you get that? They’re like my sisters, and you’re not going to let me do anything to warn them. You’re a bastard!”

  He was silent for a long moment. Finally, he said, “If I let you
call them, will that help?”

  He stood watch over me the entire time.

  I had to make the call from a phone he gave me, a simple little flip phone that looked about as generic as it could be.

  I had to dial Suria’s phone from memory, and it took two tries to get it right.

  She answered on the first ring and the sound of her voice, tight with worry, only added to the frustration I felt.

  “Suri, it’s me.”

  “Trice! Thank God. Where are you? Are you okay?”

  “I’m…fine. Mostly. Pissed off, but fine.” I watched Lane from the corner of my eye as I furiously thought through what I had to say, how much I could say. “Listen, I don’t have a lot of time–”

  She cut me off. “Where are you? Why did you disappear like that?”

  “I can’t tell you where I am. I’m safe enough. Ephraim didn’t grab me or anything. But…I could be in trouble. That’s why I’m calling you.”

  “I didn’t figure you disappeared to go on a shoe-shopping spree!”

  “Suri, please…like I said, I don’t have much time. I just…I saw something a few days ago that might get me in trouble, and a friend of mine is helping me out until he can deal with the problem, okay? I wanted to call you and warn you. You and Joelle could be in trouble too. Just…if anybody calls or comes looking for me, you haven’t heard from me. You don’t know where I am.”

  “I don’t know where you are,” she snapped.

  “And that’s better for you. You two should be okay, but…for now? Make sure Kian drives Joelle to school and picks her up. Keep an eye on her, okay? On both of you.”

  “Is this about the clan? You said you weren’t with Ephraim, but–”

  “No.” Swallowing, I tore my eyes from Lane. “It’s not about the clan. I hope I can explain later. I love you, Suri.”

  “I love you too, Trice. Listen, just help me out–”

  Lane took the phone and disconnected.

  I wanted to hit him.

  Instead, I went back to the bed and laid down. This time, when I started to cry, he didn’t say anything, and he didn’t try to touch me, either.