Crime & Punishment 2: Master Delacroix (20 page)

“Get that mind out of the gutter,” he drawled as he settled in behind her.

“I can’t help it,” she said, completely diminishing the fact he always seemed to know what she was thinking. “Your body just instantly brings to mind dirty sex.”

Nathan laughed as he pulled her back against his chest, his legs positioned on either side of her hips. It felt so comforting being cradled in his arms like this. She never wanted to leave.

He softly kissed her temple and massaged her shoulders, working his hands down her arms.

“That feels good,” she said, her voice slurring slightly. She lifted her glass and took another sip of wine. “Do you think he’ll find us here?” she asked.

“It’s doubtful, but if he does, you have the three of us to protect you.”

“But who’s protecting you?”

“I’ll be fine, but this bath was supposed to get your mind off this, not worry you more.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ve written about this sort of thing but can’t say as I’ve ever experienced it. They didn’t put me in protective custody the first time. I was in the hospital for a while, then my husband’s burial; his family was livid that it had taken so long. By the time things settled down, they’d caught him. Or rather you did, I guess.”

“Do you miss your husband?” Nathan asked softly.

“Sometimes. He was a good man; he just wasn’t very adventurous.”

“Meaning?”

She tilted her head back and grinned. “Boring sex.”

“Poor Connelly,” Nathan said, his lips twitching slightly. “Good thing you ran across me.”

“No kidding,” Connelly replied as she turned her face back to the front and leaned it against Nathan’s chest. “When I first came up with the idea for the book, I didn’t realize my muse was thinking more about my interests than the heroine’s.”

Nathan brushed the tips of his fingers softly down her left arm, and she sighed at the gentle sweep of his touch. “I’d tried so many times to get him to spank me or pinch me. Something. I knew what I got wasn’t enough but couldn’t quite put my finger on what I needed. Until, that is, I had sex with you. Now I know exactly what I need.” She took another sip of wine, then frowned at the empty glass. “I think I’ve had enough. I’m talking way too freely.”

Nathan chuckled. “I like listening to you talk.”

“You like that I’m telling you things I probably shouldn’t.”

“Most of which I already knew,” he whispered in her ear and sent goose bumps along her exposed skin.

“Which brings us to my next question. How do you know?”

“I’m just good at reading people.”

“Yeah, but…I swear sometimes I think you read my mind.”

Nathan didn’t say anything, which should’ve made the warning flags in her brain fly, but the wine had apparently muddled her thinking, so instead of asking him more questions about how he read people, her thoughts went immediately to sex and the humming she could feel in her womb.

“Can you read my mind now?” she asked, grinning.

“I can read your body.”

“How so?”

“Well, right now, you’re moving just a little, arching your back and sliding one hand along my thigh. You’re aroused.”

“Maybe a little,” she murmured.

Nathan kissed her cheek. “A little, huh?”

“Okay, maybe a lot. It’s the wine and watching you undress.”

He kissed the side of her neck at her pulse point. He sucked gently before scraping his teeth along her throat. She gasped at the tightening in her lower stomach. “And maybe that,” she whispered. “So you see. It’s all your fault.”

He reached around and cupped her breasts, then gave them a squeeze. Connelly moaned and pressed her breasts tighter against his palms. Nathan squeezed them harder, giving her exactly what she wanted and sending a hot current of need straight to the walls of her pussy.

She set the glass on the side of the tub, then reached around with both hands, burying her fingers in his soft hair.

“You’re strung awfully tight, pet,” Nathan murmured as he slid one hand lower.

Oh, yes. She was definitely strung up.

“Keep your hands where they are, and let me take care of that for you.”

He didn’t wait for her to reply, just slid his hand between her legs and cupped her sex. Connelly bit her lip and moved her pussy against his hand. His touch was light and teasing as he slid his fingers through the cream coating her opening. He spread it between her labia, moving his fingers in slow, tantalizing circles, coming so close to her clit but never touching.

She moaned and tried to move her hips so he would at least graze the bud, but he would always slide away, keeping her teetering on the edge.

His other hand pinched her nipple and rolled it roughly between his thumb and forefinger, working those fingers in the same slow pattern as the one between her legs. It drove her crazy, made her hot, made her frustrated. She wanted to come. She needed to. Unfortunately, Nathan moved at his own pace and refused to be swayed by her no matter how much she moved her hips or murmured her distress.

Begging probably wouldn’t do any good either, but it would certainly be worth a try.

“Please,” she breathed. “Master, please.”

“I like how you beg and say master,” he whispered in her ear. “Tell me what you want.”

She moaned and undulated her body against him. “I want you to touch me more. Make me come. I want you to pinch me hard.”

He did, and the pinch sent her closer to that blissful edge. She cried out as the pain morphed into blinding pleasure that made the walls of her vagina quiver in need. “Oh, yes!”

Nathan’s wicked chuckle against her neck added to the sensations working their way through her limbs only to end up right back where they’d started, deep in the heart of her womb.

“More,” she pleaded.

He pinched her again, and she groaned. The first stirrings of her climax were rippling just below the surface, just out of her reach.

“Oh, God. Please,” she whined.

Nathan gave her what she wanted, and brushed his finger over the top of her swollen clit. The touch sent her careening over the edge, screaming as every pulse slammed through her like a wrecking ball. Nathan murmured soft words, which she barely heard as she slowly floated back to reality.

The last thing she remembered was a thick towel padding her tired body and a deep voice rumbling close to her ear, “Time for bed, pet.”

Chapter Twenty

Nathan sat at the kitchen table with Daniel and Josh, his aggravation with both growing by the second. Neither one of them wanted him to connect with Lenox. Granted, Nathan didn’t exactly want to either. The first time it had happened was bad enough, but did they really have a choice?

“You’re both being ridiculous,” Nathan snarled. “This is the only way, and you know it.”

Josh shook his head. “If you were to connect with him, could you tell me where he was?”

Nathan sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Then we don’t do it.”

“Josh—”

“I’m serious, Nathan. We do not do this. Let the FBI do its job.”

“What are the three of you arguing about?”

Nathan turned to see Connelly standing just inside the kitchen, looking delectable in her jeans and tank top. The color complemented her fair skin, her red hair hung in soft, curly tendrils around her shoulders, and her blue eyes were full of concern that warmed Nathan’s heart.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Daniel said. “Or rather afternoon. Are you hungry?”

“Actually, coffee would be better. I don’t normally sleep this late, and now I’ve got a caffeine headache.”

Josh chuckled. “You sound like Nathan. I can remember several mornings when we worked together where he would be an ass without his coffee.”

“Nathan can be an ass even with coffee,” Daniel murmured as he poured Connelly a cup and handed it to her.

“Thanks.”

Nathan, she noticed, lifted his second finger to scratch at his nose, which made Daniel snicker. “Cute. We did that when we were ten.”

“And we’re still doing it at forty.”

Daniel lifted his finger in the air at Nathan. “Speak for yourself.”

“Wow, and the two of you are forty, you said?” Connelly purred as she walked to the table to join them.

Josh looked down at the table and laughed. “They’ve been like this all morning.”

“Something tells me they’re always like this,” Connelly replied as she lifted her cup to take a sip. “Is this what the arguing was about? Or is that a need-to-know thing?”

“Nathan wants to do something stupid,” Daniel said as he gave his brother a pointed look.

“Does it have to do with Lenox?” Connelly asked as she set her cup down and stared at Nathan. “Nathan?”

He glared at the other two men. “Don’t think you can use her to talk me out of this.”

“Out of what?” she asked with growing alarm.

Nathan sighed. “I want to set a trap for Lenox.”

“How?”

Although her voice was soft, he could see the worry in her eyes.

“I’m not sure yet.”

What he wanted to do was tell her the truth. That he could knock down that wall he’d built blocking the connection he had with Lenox, but how would she handle that? Would she believe him, or would she think he was nuts? Nathan just wasn’t sure.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t do anything. Like Josh said, let the FBI do its job,” she argued.

“It’s not that simple.”

“How is it not that simple?”

“Nathan can—”

“Josh,” Nathan snarled, sending his old partner a look of warning.

“She needs to know, Nathan,” Josh said.

Connelly looked from Nathan to Josh, then back again. He could sense her growing alarm, her confusion. Her anger. She was getting pissed. If he didn’t come clean soon, she was going to get the wrong idea.

“Damn it, Josh,” Nathan snapped.

Daniel stood and motioned for Josh to stand as well. “Why don’t you take Connelly to the roof deck and talk to her? Josh and I will get lunch going.”

Nathan nodded, then glanced at Connelly. She looked almost pale and most definitely worried. How would she take this? Suddenly her understanding and faith meant more to him than he could’ve imagined. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she turned her back on him.

“How do we get to the roof?” she asked.

Nathan stood and held his hand out. “There’re stairs at the end of the hall toward the other two bedrooms.”

Connelly stood as well, but she didn’t take his hand. Instead, she walked around him and headed toward the hallway. They passed Daniel’s bedroom as well as his dad’s home office, then the third bedroom that Josh occupied. At the end of the hall was a set of stairs that led to the roof.

She jogged up them, Nathan close behind, and opened the door to the deck. The sun was bright, and she squinted against the rays as she spun, taking in the rattan furniture, outdoor kitchen, and a variety of potted plants.

“Wow,” she said.

Nathan silently agreed with her. This deck was his favorite spot in the whole house. He’d spent many summer evenings out here enjoying the sunset views. Nathan walked to the bar and grabbed two bottled waters. He set one on the counter for her and waited as she walked over and sat down on one of the stools.

“Okay,” she said as she studied the bottle. “At least it’s not so bad that it had to be alcohol.”

Nathan’s lips twitched. “I don’t know. It might go down better with alcohol.”

“Just spit it out, Nathan.”

“First let me say that no, I’m not married.”

She frowned. “I didn’t ask that.”

“Not out loud.”

She tilted her head as her fingers pulled at the paper around the bottle. A nervous reaction perhaps?

“Are you going to try and tell me my body language gave that away?”

“No. Your thoughts did.”

She sighed and dropped her hands away from the bottle. “What are you getting at?”

“Think of a word. Any word. Don’t say it out loud; just think it.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“Fine.” She took a deep breath and waited.

“Ridiculous.” At her frown, he added, “Do another.”

She watched him warily but gave a nod. After a second, Nathan whispered, “Freaked out.”

He looked at her through his lashes. He could sense her growing unease, and it was like a punch to his gut.

“I was born with a very weird ability to read people—”

“You can read my mind?” she asked softly.

“Sort of but not really.”

She shook her head and began to push away from the bar. “I don’t understand.”

“Neither did I, for a long time. It doesn’t happen with everyone, and it’s not always the same. Some people I get just soft impressions. Like the submissives at the club. I can almost always read them and will hone in on them during a scene.”

He picked up her discomfort at hearing him talk about other women, so he changed direction. “Some people, the connection runs a little deeper, and I get impressions. Visions from their past, things that are heavy on their mind. When I first met you, I immediately heard the words ‘holy shit’ in my head.”

Her eyes went wide.

“That was your first thought when you saw me. I don’t know why I heard it, but I did. The more time I spend with you, the stronger the connection gets. I feel everything you do. Right now I feel your fear and anger. Last night I felt your need to come, and when you did, I felt it too.”

She shook her head quickly. “That’s insane.”

“Tell me about it,” he agreed.

“What does all this have to do with Lenox?” she asked skeptically.

“I’m connected to him as well. I’ve learned to block him out, though, and this morning I wanted to lower that block and reconnect with him in an effort to find him.”

“Would that be bad for you?” she asked.

“My last connection with him took a toll on me. The man is insane, and I could feel that insanity like a noose around my neck, which affected my own sanity. I changed when I was connected to him. I became more…”

“Like him?”

“For lack of a better explanation…yes.”

She shook her head again. “Then don’t do it.”

“Why?” he asked softly.

She snorted and jumped down from the stool. “I don’t know why you even bothered to ask me that when you can sense it.”