LUST (A STEPBROTHER ROMANCE)

“You could have told the police,” I countered. “We could have…”

“You could have what, Sandra? Sent police to the far side of the planet to stop those assholes from killing dozens of women? The only chance those women have is on that ship! If there’s even a hint of police involvement, that crate will end up right where the last one did. The Chinese expect prompt receipt and delivery. If that ship deviates from the schedule, you know exactly what will happen. You’ve seen it.”

I considered his words. They made perfect sense. Damn. Why couldn’t the bad guys all wear black hats and twirl their mustaches? “What are you planning, Nathan?”

“I’m not lacking in connections or money to pay for the right kind of help. I’m going to take delivery of the crate, and I’m going to shelter those girls while they apply for asylum. With Wallace out of the picture, there are no more payments, no more shipments, and no more problems,” he said, his eyes sweeping back and locking with my own. “Nobody was supposed to know about this. How exactly did you find out about the shipment?”

“What do you know about computers?” I asked quietly.

“Not much. But what does that matter? Didn’t you hear what I just said? How do you know about the shipment?”

“I didn’t come here to be with you, Nathan. I came here because Captain Pierce wants access to your computer. He knew about the shipment. He thinks you’re still involved with the Irish mob.”

It was all out in the open now. No more secrets. Captain Pierce was building a case. He was setting Nathan up for a fall, and I was just one of the pawns.

I closed my eyes for a moment, letting that realization set in. I believed every word Nathan had said thus far. There was too much that just didn’t add up on Captain Pierce’s side of things, too many questions he didn’t have answers for.

Part of me felt relieved. Nathan wasn’t a sex trafficker. He hadn’t lied to me—not in the way I’d thought, at least. But another part of me felt sick all over again. Captain Pierce and God knows who else in the department had a connection with the Irish mob. That meant they were complicit in murdering thirty-six women and children and trafficking countless others. My whole world was crumbling around me. The cops were supposed to be the good guys…

And clearly, I didn’t know Nathan as well as I’d thought. Maybe he was trying to do the right thing, but he’d had no qualms about hiding it from me. What exactly was his game plan, anyway—to disappear from my life, to hide out in this safe house until the threat passed, and then just waltz back up to me once it as all over?

I needed to be careful around him. Despite how much he had changed, it was obvious that he still thought of himself first and everyone else second.

I looked down to the floor, and almost embarrassed feeling rolling through me for not seeing this sooner. I was a detective. I should have seen this coming, asked more questions, demanded more answers. After all of this, Pierce was just setting me up as collateral damage.

“Sandra, if Captain Pierce is involved, this whole thing might go deeper than even I suspected. I knew Mr. Wallace had men on the inside, but I never would have guessed the good captain was one of them. If he gets access to my computer…”

“What is on the computer, Nathan?”

“Leverage.”

I snarled. I was tired of his cryptic bullshit, his “cover my ass” attitude. “What the hell do you mean?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said evasively. “Look, we have to stop him,” he continued, reaching out and laying his hand on top of mine. His skin was soft and warm, and it felt nice to connect like this.

I shook my head. That was hardly an answer, but he was right. Time might be of the essence.

“How do we do that?” I asked softly, staring back at him.

“We give him what he wants,” Nathan replied, lifting the t22 transmitter into the air and smiling. “We give him exactly what he wants.”

13

If I was going to make this believable, I had to play my part. That meant spending a lot of time around Mr. Hale for the next few days and reporting back to Captain Pierce on my progress at getting him computer access.

On the plus side, this gave us plenty of time to explore each other’s wild sides.

Some people deal with stress by drinking, some do it by smoking, and I was dealing with stress by riding Nathaniel Hale’s incredible cock. His hands gripped my luscious hips and rocked me softly as I straddled him, bringing our flesh together. Everything about it was primal, animal, beyond the scope of human control. It was just what I needed: less thinking, more doing.

There was something to be said about living like this. Nathan rarely had to leave the house, choosing to do most of his work via his computer, and although we were holed up here in his mansion for a few days, it wasn’t like we were lacking for things to do, or places where we could have a little fun.

For one, there was the indoor pool. And the hot tub. And the sauna. And the kitchen…

Okay, maybe that last one was a little impromptu. Turns out, granite countertops are cold, and it’s not nearly as fun as it sounds to be propped up on top of one.

“I can’t hold out, baby…” Nathan whispered beneath me, my body bouncing on him ever so softly. We weren’t fucking right now. This was love making, the oldest and purest thing in all the world. Nathan had once pushed my limits, drawn out the experience with such delicious agony that I’d almost lost my damn mind right there in his arms. Now I wanted to return the favor.

“You’re vibrating…” Nathan said. I laughed, throwing my head back and riding him faster.

“I’m good, but I’m not that good, Nathan,” I replied with a sultry voice. Lowering my eyes back to his, I saw that he’d grabbed the phone from my pants, still strewn across the bed.

“No—vibrating,” he replied, his voice straining.

I didn’t even stop, lifting the phone to my ear as I bore down even faster on Nathan, rocking my hips wildly. Was it wrong to mix a little business with pleasure this way? Probably.

I found myself suddenly frozen in place as I realized who was on the other end of the line, though. Why the hell was Captain Pierce calling me at one in the morning?

“Captain, it’s early” I whispered, clamping down on the cock inside me, trying to curb Nathan’s little thrusts of his hips from beneath me. I didn’t want him to

spill into me with the captain on the phone. I wanted to enjoy his release just as much as he did, and I couldn’t do that while talking to the enemy.

“It’s time, Detective. That container ship is twenty-four hours out, and I need access to that computer. Have you managed to get your hands on the key?”

“I’m still working on it. You need to give me more time.”

“There is no more fucking time, Sandra. That asshole is going to be responsible for a whole container of little girls hitting that dock, and you know exactly what’s going to happen to them. Now, either you provide me with some fucking results, or I’m pulling you off this case and doing this the hard way.”

Inside I was seething, but I couldn’t let him know that just yet. I took my frustration out on Nathan instead, rotating my hips in little figure-eights that made his eyes roll back into his skull. “Twelve hours, Captain. Give me twelve hours.”

“Don’t fuck this up, Detective.”

I hung up the phone, looking down at Nathan’s twisted and sex-hungry face. “Well… where were we?”

“I think I was about to fuck this pussy into submission,” Nathan said, smiling up at me.

“From where I’m sitting, it looks like I’m in charge this time around, Mr. Hale,” I replied teasingly.

“Maybe you should be paying better attention,” he said, smirking as he reached down and lifted one of my wrists. One of my pairs of handcuffs was locked onto the wrist, the other cuff open and dangling as Nathan thrust upward into my willful depths, lifting me up and rolling us with his cock still firmly planted within me.

“Oh, God,” I gasped as he threw my arm toward the headboard, swinging the chain of the handcuffs around one of the thick metal posts and grabbing at my free hand, dragging it up and slapping the other cuff on it even as he fucked me mercilessly. I lost all control, squealing and moaning as he drove deep, but he stopped just before I was sent off the cliff, my body crying out for the ultimate release.