Fighter in Lingerie (Lingerie 14)

I needed to be straightened out.

She broke the silence. “How was work?”

I slowly turned around and let the water hit my back. “It was work.” My hands slid around her soapy waist, and I looked down into her beautiful face, seeing the clean skin from the lack of makeup. Her eyes were full of sleepiness but also excitement since I was finally home.

“Anything different?”

“The men are serious around me. A little more afraid. Have a little more respect.”

“That sounds like a good thing.”

“It is. I suspect no one will break the law for a while, not when that memory is fresh in their minds.”

She rested her face against my chest and held me under the water. She wanted to touch me so much that she couldn’t wait until I joined her in bed. She preferred to get wet with me then wait until I was dry. “You should try the day shift.”

I chuckled. “No such thing, Beautiful.”

“Well, you should come home earlier. Three in the morning is rough.”

I couldn’t change my hours, not even for her. I needed to make appearances often, to maintain the power over the floor. My schedule was never predictable, so it was impossible for men to plot against me. “You could just go to sleep. Let me wake you when I get home.”

“You think I haven’t tried?” she asked with a weak laugh. “I just lie there, tossing and turning.”

I loved knowing she needed me so much. It was better than listening to one of my lovers beg me to fuck them. “Why is that?”

“I’m not sure,” she said quietly. “I guess it’s everything. I’m freezing cold without you beside me to keep me warm. I don’t feel as safe without you, even if there are twenty-four men in the lobby. I’m worried that you’re okay, being surrounded by all those murderers. And I’m used to listening to you breathe when I fall asleep. The sound of the TV isn’t nearly as similar, but it’s the next best thing.”

It was the sexiest confession I’d ever heard. She’d told me she didn’t need a man for anything, but she’d just poured her heart out to me, basically admitted that she was helpless without me. She needed me by her side just to sleep. It was the strongest form of dependency.

She stared at me as her fingers trickled down my arm, like she expected me to say something.

“All I ever wanted was for you to give me a chance—and you did.”

I made love to her in my bed, moving slowly between her legs until I made her thighs squeeze around my hips in pleasure. Her hair was spread across the pillow, and she moaned in my face as her pussy squeezed me like a boa constrictor. Her fingers dug into my hair, and she bucked against me, her green eyes bright like they were on fire.

I moved deep inside her as I came, pumping my seed into her where it would remain all night long. We were skin on skin, and feeling her warm, wet flesh was the most erotic experience of my life. I couldn’t wear a condom again, not with her. Releasing inside her was the most intimate experience I’d ever felt. There was only one woman I would do it with—Carmen Barsetti.

When I finished, she immediately went to sleep. Feeling safe and satisfied, she finally let her mind slip away. The sheets were pulled to her shoulder, and her lips immediately parted with her deep breathing.

I kissed the back of her shoulder and got comfortable in preparation to drift away, but then my phone rang on the nightstand. No one would call me at this hour unless it was important, so I grabbed the phone and walked down the hallway. The screen showed Drake’s name, the head of my security team. I took the call. “What is it?” I’d just slaughtered The Butcher, so I didn’t expect to have any issues for a while.

Drake didn’t waste my time and got right to the point. “I think there’s something you should know. We’ve been keeping a close eye on him, and I’m certain he doesn’t know we’re following him. I have ten guys on him right now, so if you want us to pull the trigger, we will.”

This sounded like bad news. “Who?”

“Bones.”

I stopped in the center of the living room, hearing his name loud and clear. I hadn’t given him much thought after Carmen and I became more serious. Her family had never been an issue because she kept our secret so well. But the second I heard his name, I knew there would be a problem.

“What’s he doing?”

“He went to Carmen’s flower shop yesterday. Stopped outside for a while even though it was closed. Then he went to her apartment, broke the lock, and went inside. He was in there for a while before he left, then checked her mailbox. He didn’t take anything. Then he made a call.”