I tried to look away, but he shook me, making certain I wasn’t going anywhere. “Yes, because I’m a goddamn reporter. I didn’t readily provide any information to the cops from the interview I had with Lazor. I’m not stupid. It was stolen from my home. Someone broke inside and took it. I said some pretty shitty things about the Chicago mafia family, but nothing like what I heard from Lazor. I’d never planned on using it.”
“Who had access?”
“I have no idea. I hid where I lived. I used a different name. I was careful to pay attention that no one was following me.”
His eyes were wild as he absorbed what I was telling him.
“The truth is that I hate what you people do, but I did it because it’s my job. I need money. Okay? I’m not rich. My daddy doesn’t give me an allowance. I lost almost everything I had so I need to work. I assure you that I had no clue I was in some monster’s restaurant. I wanted to get something special for my mother, goddamn fucking eclairs. I don’t know what my brother does on his job and yes, my father is the commissioner. What you don’t understand is that I moved away from New York on purpose. I won’t return. Job offer or not. You don’t know me at all.”
“And you don’t know me.”
“Yeah, I do, Valentin. You’re a vicious criminal who never wants to care about anyone else. Right? You loved someone you lost. Danielle. That’s why you came here five years ago, spending time in a lonely room, pining away.”
His expression changed again, another volley of hatred and distrust, fury and indecision crowding his face. “How dare you.”
“How dare I what, care about you? You’re right. That’s the problem. I wanted to hate you, disgusted with you and what you did for a living, the family you were born into, but that’s impossible. I can’t. I just can’t.”
“Why, Cassidy? Tell me why you can’t hate the bastard who just whipped you with a switch? Tell me why you aren’t struggling to get out of my arms.”
I sputtered as I stared into his eyes, fighting with the intense urges, the kind of hunger that had already dragged me into hell. There was no denying him or the way I felt. It was a sin, one so awful I couldn’t stand myself, but nothing would ever replace the way I felt in his arms. “Because I’m falling in love with you.” The words were said without thinking, my mind a whirring blur of anxiety and anger toward myself.
The silence was deafening.
Then he crushed his mouth over mine, burying his fists into my hair and yanking me onto my toes. Everything about him was savage, more so than before, all the anxiety we’d both felt rushing to the surface. I wasn’t shocked by his roughness as he shoved and pinned me against the tree, pushing his heated body into mine. I craved the throbbing of his cock, the powerful moment as we were reduced to primal beasts incapable of sorting through right versus wrong.
As he yanked first one arm then the other over my head, our kiss became uncontrollable, fierce in every aspect. Every guttural sound he made only fueled the raging inferno that had erupted moments before. It wouldn’t matter if we were seen, and no one would dare interrupt us. We were lost in the moment, incapable of anything but fulfilling the desperate need.
He held my wrists in place with one hand, sliding the fingertips of his other down the length of my arm, moving to the underside of my breast, teasing me by rolling his finger back and forth. The kiss became a powerful tool, his tongue dominating mine. I could drink the man in for hours, doing nothing more than exploring the wetness of his mouth.
But I knew it wouldn’t last for long, his needs increasing every second. When he pinched my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, I arched my back, finally struggling in his hold. I wanted to touch him, to rip the tee shirt away, allowing me to touch his chiseled body. Yet what I needed more than anything was for him to press his body against mine.
Stars floated in front of my eyes as he twisted my hardened bud, enjoying the wash of pain even as my bottom continued to ache from the hard round of punishment. When he slid his hand down, pushing it between my legs, I wrapped one leg around him. The second he drove his fingers past my swollen folds into my tight channel, I managed to yank a hand free, ripping at his shirt.
He slapped his hand against the tree, breaking the moment of intimacy, growling as he stared into my eyes. “I’m going to fuck you, my sweet angel. Hard and fast. Is that what you want? Is that what you’ve been hungering for?”
“Yes.”
“Louder.”
I laughed, closing my eyes as I trailed his arms with my fingers.
“Tell me what you want. Tell me.”
God, I loved the deep gruffness of his voice, the tone sexy and dark.
“Fuck me, Valentin. Please, thrust your cock inside of me. I’ll do whatever you want. Just fuck me.”
“Be careful what you promise me, Cassidy. I’ll hold you to it.”
He wasted no time, wrenching his zipper, laughing darkly as he freed his shaft. I shoved my hands under his shirt, digging my fingers into his muscles as he yanked my other leg around his hips, impaling me with a single brutal plunge.
“Oh, God. Yes. Yes…” I lolled my head, gasping for air as he pulled all the way out, driving into me again.
And again.
I was forced to wrap my arms around his neck, intertwining my feet as the savage fucking continued. Never had a man filled me so completely, stretching my muscles until the ache turned into an explosion of sensations.
He was a wild animal, fucking me as if he’d never been allowed to experience the carnal need before. Every sound he made was a sweet orchestration, every thrust more incredible than the one before.