Secret Sins (23 page)

He would be there, and he’d kill them.

Staring at her a moment longer, he closed the bedroom door, then propped his hands
on his hips and watched as Anna tossed clothes from the closet to the recliner in
the corner.

The pretty summer dresses he’d hoped to get to see her in, a few rather short skirts
he’d wondered if he could bear to let her out in public in.

Those skirts would have made his dick harder than hell. Just the thought of her wearing
those skirts and what it would do for those fine legs made his dick harder than hell.

To get a chance to see her in those skirts, though, he was going to have to keep her
safe. And he was going to have to keep her with him.

With him, or with someone he knew who could protect her even better than he and Crowe
had arranged to protect her.

The large black suitcase she’d gotten at Goodwill was thrown from the closet next,
winging its way several feet past the closet door. That surprised him, considering
its size. He wouldn’t have expected it to go quite so far.

But enough was enough. She wasn’t going anywhere, and he wasn’t about to let her fool
herself into believing she might actually make it out of the house.

That just didn’t seem exactly fair for some reason.

“You’re not leaving, Anna. You know damned good and well it’s not safe, just as you
know the protective measures we have in place aren’t going to work near as well if
you’re living anywhere else. Stop pretending otherwise.”

“I wasn’t the one pretending!” Outrage and hurt filled her voice, but they also filled
her wounded green eyes as she turned back to glare at him with hurt-filled anger.

Son of a bitch, those expressive, sea-green eyes just never failed to make him feel
like a bastard or a god among men, whichever mood she happened be in, or however he’d
managed to prick her delicate feminine feelings.

Not that he’d ever meant to prick her feelings, but he’d also not known she believed
herself to be in love with him.

It had been a crush, he’d always told himself. A schoolgirl’s crush, nothing more,
and nothing to worry about. She would get over it.

She was moving for the chest now. It was time to put a stop to this crap before she
threw out all that silk and lace she called panties and bras.

Striding across the room, he picked up the suitcase, jerked the closet door open,
and shoved it back inside amid an outrageous amount of sneakers, sandals, and wicked
high heels.

That was the only thing he’d seen her splurge on. That damned yard sale she’d heard
of and had to attend the evening before. He swore she’d bought every pair of shoes
there that she could wear.

“Twenty damned pairs of shoes might be about eighteen too many, don’t you think?”
he growled, damned hesitant to broach the war he knew he was getting ready to face.

As John had stated before, she was damned stubborn and too determined whenever she
set her mind to something. If she was determined to leave, then the only way to make
her stay would be to attempt to make her promise not to leave.

Fat chance, considering the mood she was in now.

Keeping his back to the bed, Archer was determined to keep his gaze away from the
very inviting mattress and his thoughts away from what they could be doing there.
He didn’t need any distractions right now, and letting himself remember the pleasure
he could experience with her there would definitely be a distraction.

“It’s too damned dangerous for you if I stay,” she raged as she jerked the closet
door open and pulled the suitcase out again. “And don’t worry about my damned shoes.
They’re about to be the least of your problems.”

“They’re already the least of my problems,” he assured her with a harsh grumble as
he grabbed the suitcase out of her hand, shoved it back into the closet, then slammed
the door closed.

Turning back to her, Archer placed himself in front of the door before crossing his
arms over his chest and glaring down at her.

“Oh, and don’t you just look so damned arrogant and commanding,” she mocked, but despite
the anger, he could see a hint of tears in her eyes.

Damn, he wasn’t about to lie to her, period. But right now he almost wished he’d been
able to lie to her. To tell her he would have come for her. To tell her he wouldn’t
have let her stay away much longer. Or would it have been a lie?

“We’re going to talk about this, Anna—”

“We’re not talking about a damned thing,” she informed him furiously. “I don’t have
to have all my clothes to leave, Archer. I can easily just wear what I have on.” She
brushed her hand down the front of the T-shirt she’d stolen from him before flipping
her fingers toward him contemptuously.

His dick was hardening.

Dammit.

He needed a clear head, not one burning with lust.

“Don’t make me tear that shirt off you, Anna,” he warned her with the utmost gentleness,
determined to remain calm.

“Don’t make you tear it off me?” Incredulity filled those wounded green eyes as she
stared back at him, as though he were a slug that had crawled out from under a rock.

He felt like a slug, too.

“Who the hell do you think you are to believe you can dictate to me so cavalierly?”

He gave a low snort. “Cavalierly? Honey, don’t use that word too often in Sweetrock.
Folks might think you’re beginning to get a little above your raisin’.”

*   *   *

She was going to go ballistic. Anna could feel the rage, pain, and fear growing inside
her, and couldn’t seem to stem her response to the powerful dominance he was facing
her with.

“You can’t make me stay here.” She was shaking with anger. But at least with the anger
she didn’t have to face the pain any longer.

“No,” he agreed. “But if you make the mistake of stepping out the door I will ask
Ivan Resnova to abduct you himself and make damned certain you don’t escape until
all this is over.”

It wasn’t a threat. It was a declaration of intent, pure and simple, and Anna recognized
it for what it was.

Archer didn’t deal in threats. They required effort, he’d once said. No, he simply
stated what he would do, then acted accordingly.

In this case, she simply couldn’t see it happening, though.

“I highly doubt Mr. Resnova asks how high when you say jump.” Her fingers curled into
fists as she ached to strike out.

Anywhere.

At anyone.

Oh God, she couldn’t bear this.

She had the feeling that if she just disappeared, no one would really miss her.

Sure, her family had tried to protect her over the years. They didn’t know her; they
had no idea who she was. They wouldn’t miss who she was, because they had no idea
who she was.

“No, he doesn’t ask how high,” Archer agreed. “Ivan runs a favor tab, sweetheart.
And he believes he owes me for allowing him to continue to butt his nose into my investigations
here. Trust me, he would do far more than abduct you if it meant he could continue
to do so.”

“You honestly believe you can force me into giving in to you, simply because you know
some damned Russian hoodlum with more money than good sense?”

“I do.” He nodded somberly, sending outrage surging through her. “Leave this house
without my express permission, and, before the Slasher has a chance to even consider
grabbing you, I’ll have Resnova’s men come for you. Before you can process the trip,
you’ll be hidden so deep inside Mother Russia that even Resnova himself couldn’t find
you without the Slashers’ heads on stakes to prove your continued safety. Do we understand
each other?”

He wouldn’t dare.

Resnova wouldn’t dare.

No man had that kind of power to display.

Did they?

“You have no right to do this.” She was on the verge of stomping her foot, and that
would only piss her off further. “Damn you, Archer, you
can’t
do this. It’s illegal.”

His smile was cold and filled with bitterness. “So are rape and murder, but someone
in this County has been getting away with it for more than twelve years. I’ll be damned
if I’ll allow them to add you to their list of victims.”

“And to thank you for keeping me alive I’m supposed to just spread my thighs for you
and fuck you whenever you please now?” Heat was engulfing her, and it wasn’t just
from the anger.

His grin was slightly less cool and without the bitterness. “Well, now that you mention
it, that would be quite nice of you, Anna,” he replied with the utmost seriousness.
“It will definitely make the time go by quicker, don’t you think?”

Eyes widening, her lips parting in shock, Anna could only stare back at him, certain
he wasn’t as serious as he sounded.

“I absolutely refuse to deal with you any further,” she bit out furiously. Incredulous
disbelief filled her. “Go ahead and call your buddy Resnova, Archer, because I’m not
staying with you a moment longer.”

“Because you believe I had sex with you to draw the Slasher out?” he shot back at
her as his eyes narrowed, his entire body tensing. “Anna, you know better than that.”

If only that were the reason. She wished she could say that was the only reason she
was pissed. It wasn’t. It was the knowledge that, once again, she was pushing herself
in somewhere she hadn’t been wanted.

Just as she had with her parents.

“Go to hell,” she snapped, the ragged, tear-thick sound of her voice another humiliation
for her to bear.

She was fighting to keep her eyes dry, to keep from sobbing with the pain and fear
she couldn’t seem to get a handle on.

“Or is it because I couldn’t tell you I was going to come tearing to California or
France like some white knight, and declare my undying love?”

Hell, just declaring his undying need would have been nice.

It hurt. It tore a gaping wound into her heart and she had no idea how to repair it.

Anna turned away from him quickly to hide the overwhelming pain from his too-sharp
gaze, to keep it to herself before she found herself dying of humiliation.

She wasn’t a child who believed in fairy tales, and she wasn’t waiting for Prince
Charming to ride in on a white steed. But neither of those were love. And Anna knew
she had loved Archer for most of her life. Loved him so much that she had no desire
for another man’s touch, or another man’s kiss.

She’d waited for Archer, and now she wondered if the fairy tale had been believing
that Archer was a man who even wanted to be loved.

“Leave me alone.” The demand was all she had left. “Just get the hell away from me,
Archer.”

He could have at least allowed her the chance to run.

Before she could guess his intent, he gripped her arm, swung her around, then pulled
her to him.

“The hell I will.” One hand buried in her hair, pulling her head back as his head
lowered, his nose nearly touching hers, so close she could see the fiery sparks of
fury deep in the predatory golden brown gaze now locked with hers. “You gave yourself
to me, Anna. There’s no turning back. No turning back and no taking it back. Now I’ll
be damned if I restrain myself from what I know we both want. And I’ll be damned if
I let you leave.”

Anna didn’t have a chance to argue. She wasn’t even certain she could argue. As Archer’s
lips pressed against hers heatedly, parting them, his tongue licking inside, Anna
fought him and the pleasure. She knew, even as she did so, that she was fighting a
losing battle.

Struggling against him, pushing at his shoulders, she struck out at him with her fists,
and still her lips parted for him. Her tongue met his, and as he lifted her with his
free arm beneath her rear, Anna lifted her knees and gripped his hips tight.

With the hard wedge of his cock centered on her sensitive pussy, Anna couldn’t help
but move against him. Whimpering with pleasure and rising need she rode the iron-hard
erection her body craved, torturing them both with the hunger.

“Not yet,” she cried out as he broke the kiss, but then she moved with him eagerly,
helping him to dispose of their clothes, stripping, tossing them aside with a hunger
that seemed to possess her.

The second they were both naked, his head lowered, lips parting and covering the tight,
aching peak of her breast.

“God I love these pretty tits,” he groaned, cupping one with each hand, pressing them
together, then licking and suckling at each tip until she was certain the pleasure
would burn her alive.

He was destroying her with his touch. He always did. There was no way to fight it,
no way to resist it.

It was so good. The pleasure-and-pain sensations were impossible to resist. They kept
her on such a sharp edge she couldn’t fight them.

She didn’t want to fight them.

“I won’t let you go. Did you really think I would?” he growled.

She needed him far too much to deny him now. She would figure the rest of it out later.
Right now, all she wanted was his possession and the release she could only find in
his arms.

“Don’t make me wait, please, Archer,” she cried out, the melting ache in the depths
of her vagina demanding the hard thrusts of his cock.

“Don’t make you wait?” he growled. “Don’t make you wait for what? For me to fuck you
until we’re both dying of pleasure? For the release you know you’ll only find in my
arms? Oh, baby, don’t worry, I’m all yours now.”

He was all hers for this moment. His tomorrows weren’t hers, but she was more than
willing to give him all her tomorrows. And even amidst the blinding pleasure, she
could feel the anger from that knowledge.

“Damn you, Archer, fuck me now. Fuck me like you mean it.”

“Oh, baby, I already mean it; every stroke, every cry I pull from your pretty lips,
I mean every bit of it.”

And just as he had before, he pushed her to her stomach on the bed.

It was almost déjà vu as his hard hands gripped her hips and pulled her to her knees.
With one hard knee he pressed her legs further apart before moving in behind her,
his harder, stronger body completely dominating hers.