“I get my turn first.” His stubble pricked her thighs as he moved in closer. His breath blew against the light covering of hair that shielded her sex. Max’s fingers slid up, parted her folds, and found her clit.
Her breath choked out. There.
Then his mouth was on her. Those lips, that tongue, licking, sucking, making the need tighten and the hunger flare so hot.
Her hips slammed up against his mouth, and her nails raked his back. She wasn’t feeling easy, either.
Desperate.
Max’s tongue drove into her sex. She came against his mouth. A hot, hard explosion. And he kept licking her.
Her eyes squeezed shut as the waves of release blasted her. So good, so good, but not enough. “Max…” Her lashes lifted.
His head rose at her throaty cry. His gaze—the pupils so big his eyes looked black—locked on her face. He licked his lips, and she knew he still tasted her.
He grabbed for his wallet and took out a condom. She rose onto her knees, wanting to help him, but he had his c**k sheathed in seconds. Then he ordered, “Get on your knees.”
The sensual command had her breath heaving out.
Not easy.
Sam’s hands slapped against the floor. Her gaze hit the brown carpet as she brought her knees down, lifting her ass.
“You’re f**king…” his fingers trailed over her ass and down to her cleft, “perfect.”
No, she wasn’t. Far from it.
His c**k nudged at the entrance to her body. The head probed against her opening. Sam’s fingers dug into the carpet.
Not easy.
The first hard plunge had her gasping, then driving her hips back against Max as she tried to take more of him. More.
His hand circled her hip, then slid over to push at the front of her sensitive flesh. His thumb rubbed her sex even as he retreated, then thrust deeper, harder, into her.
She arched, turning her head, and he was there, rising with her. His mouth took hers even as his hands and c**k took her body. His tongue thrust deep, and his c**k retreated. Thrust, withdraw. Again and again.
A second release swelled closer. Her hips rocked against him, the rhythm wild and too fast. She was so wet that her cream coated him.
Another thrust. One that rocked her entire body, and she came, exploding around him, on a wave of white-hot pleasure that stole her breath.
Max shuddered behind her, around her, in her. Her name tore from his lips, and his c**k surged inside of her as he erupted.
When Sam’s breathing slowed down, when her heart stopped racing, he still filled her.
Her knees ached. Her sex quivered, and her throat seemed bone-dry.
Not easy. But exactly what she’d wanted.
“Mine.” And when she heard the whisper, she wasn’t sure if it had been hers, or his.
Sam and Max watched the press conference together. Max’s arms were loose around her, but she felt the tension that hit his body when Kenton announced Quinlan’s name.
“Dammit.”
Sam turned toward him, barely hearing Kenton’s words now. She knew that Hyde had called Kenton back in on the case so the guy could soothe the reporters. When it came to the press, Kenton had a perfect touch.
Kenton had left the SSD after he’d fallen hard for Lora Spade, a firefighter he’d met during the hunt for a serial arsonist. They’d both almost died, but in the end, they’d come through hell, stronger. Together. Kenton had left the SSD to be with her.
What would it be like to have someone love you so much he’d sacrifice everything?
“How did this happen?” Max demanded. “Quinlan—shit, there has to be an explanation.” He pushed away from her and shoved to his feet. “I’m not just going to sit here while he’s hunted down.”
“Max, wait!” But he was already heading for the door. Sam hurried after him. “You don’t even know where to look!”
He glanced back at her. “Everyone is hunting him. If he did this—” a deep, gulping breath, “don’t you think somebody might shoot first and question him later? Don’t you?”
If Quinlan came out armed, yes.
“I can get him to turn himself in. Whatever’s happened, whatever twisted mess he’s involved in, I can help him.”
Sam could only shake her head. Max was willing to risk everything for Quinlan. Family—a bond that wouldn’t break.
“What if you can’t?” She grabbed his arm and held on tight. “They tried to kill you, don’t you understand that? The dose they gave you—”
“Donnelley gave me—”
“Was too strong!” She nearly shouted at him, her fingers digging into his. “Your heart nearly stopped beating! Jesus, Max, you almost died! If I hadn’t found you and got you to the hospital…” No, no, she wouldn’t go there, wouldn’t. “They left you to die.”
His body stiffened. “All along, every damn step of the way, you’ve suspected him, haven’t you?”
Not always. “He had a lot of debt. He knew all the victims.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“No, it doesn’t.” Circumstantial. “But he was there when Donnelley drugged you. Right there, and he left you on the floor to die.”
Their gazes held, and she saw the horrible struggle in his gaze. He didn’t want to believe it, didn’t want to think his stepbrother could be a killer. But she also saw that part of him—yes, part of him could see the darkness in Quinlan. Part of him suspected the truth, had suspected for a while now.
“The SSD will find him,” she promised. They’d found her. “They’re searching all of your stepfather’s properties now and all of the properties linked to the victims. Any place you can think of, they’ve searched.” Her shoulders straightened. This was the hard part. Hell, it was all hard. “And I can’t let you get in the way of the investigation.”
His eyes narrowed at that.
Sam wouldn’t back down. Not even for him. “My assignment is to watch you, to protect you, and to make sure you don’t hinder the investigation.” By tipping off your brother.
“Is that why you brought me here?” he demanded, and there was a bite to his words that she hadn’t heard before, at least not directed toward her. “To keep me busy so I wouldn’t get in anyone’s way?”
Anger boiled inside her. “I didn’t make love with you because I needed to keep you distracted.”
“Oh? Then why did you?” And then he was grabbing her, his hands hard on her arms as he lifted her up on her toes. “Why the first night? Why me?”