PAYBACK (A Bad Boy Romance) (22 page)

All I could do was feel.

I came back to my senses with reluctance, my eyelids fluttering groggily, registering slowly.

Jameson rolled me to my stomach and pulled my hips up, framing my behind with his hands.

“You have a perfect ass,” he murmured, right before slapping a cheek soundly.

I yelped at the shock of it but when his tongue returned to my folds, lapping up my juices as if it were the sweetest nectar, I couldn’t help but want more of whatever he was dishing out.

I felt the head of Jameson’s erection pressing against my folds, breaching the tight space between my thighs and I cried out with pleasure as he stretched me inch by inch.

“Jameson,” I cried out, gasping as he slowly filled me with his entire length. There was so much of him inside me that I didn’t know how it was possible that it all fit.

But the intense sensation of being completely filled was intoxicating.

Oh God, why was it such exquisite torture?

“This is my pussy,” he grunted as he pushed against me, rocking my body with each thrust, grinding against me without mercy. “It’ll always be mine, baby girl.”

I couldn’t argue. I didn’t have the wherewithal to try. All I could do was brace myself against the onslaught of pleasure that rippled throughout my body with each hard thrust.

Tears burned behind my eyes. He was right. There would never be another who could obliterate his memory no matter how much time passed.

I belonged to Jameson.

He had forcefully awakened a sleeping beast inside me, one that demanded this fierce pleasure, one that wasn’t satisfied with anything soft and yielding.

That familiar pressure began to build again, inexplicably quick and I struggled to fend it off but I couldn’t stop what was coming.

Jameson’s thrusts became wild, shaking the entire bed, slamming the headboard against the wall as he came with a shout that probably woke the neighborhood.

But I came seconds later and my cries were nearly as loud.

When I finally opened my eyes again, I saw Jameson lying beside me, his arm flung over his face, breathing hard.

He was such a physically beautiful man even if his heart was black.

Everything about him was distinctly masculine.

Every ridge of muscle cording his arms and belly, to the rough scruff on his chin that said,
I don’t fucking care what you think about me
.

Jameson opened his eyes and rolled to his side to gently remove the panty hose imprisoning my hands.

And then he shocked me by smearing the seed that was slowly dripping out of me all over my mound, as if rubbing it into my skin.

Without words, he was saying quite clearly that I belonged to him.

His touch was seared into my skin, part of my DNA structure and there was nothing that would ever free me from his mark on my soul.

My breath hitched as he held my gaze, wordlessly exchanging a deeper understanding of what flowed between us.

He’d never leave me alone.

Jameson Reed was going to be the death of me.

I
hadn’t meant
to stay the night.

But then I hadn’t meant to fuck her repeatedly either.

My baby girl was exhausted.

Yeah, she’s mine. Get over it.

Her blond hair was in a tangle as she slept, her mouth slightly open, oblivious to the world.

Ivy’s naked body was sprawled across the bed. The scent of sex filled the room.

As it should.

We fucked well into the night without cleaning up.

There was something I couldn’t get enough of when it came to her.

She was an enigma to me. Unlike any woman I’d ever known.

Fierce yet soft; naive yet worldly.

And so damn loyal.

As much as I wanted to close the Cobalt Viper case, a part of me had wanted her to refuse my offer.

To tell me to “go fuck myself” for asking such a thing of her to save her brother.

But she’d do anything to save Frankie.

Did that piece of shit understand what a gift he had in his sister? I’d never had even an ounce of that kind of loyalty in my entire life.

No one had cared about me.

My jackwad father was too busy repopulating the world to care about the kids he spread around and my mom? Hell, she was a drug addict whore without the benefit of getting paid for spreading her legs.

The only loyalty I’d ever known was from myself.

Even my partner Hank was out for himself and that didn’t bother me because I understand it.

And now I was sending Ivy into the lion’s den, knowing full well that she might not come out.

Something tightened inside me as a growl threatened to pop from my mouth.

I’d fucking kill anyone who touched her.

Like that kid.

I nearly broke him for daring to touch my girl.

The marks he’d left behind ignited fresh rage that was hard to smother.

The only recourse I had was to find other victims so that kid could look forward to a nice long stay behind bars, taking it up the ass like the prison bitch he was.

But rape victims were notoriously unreliable. Most didn’t report the crime and others were too afraid to testify.

If I had it my way, I’d just shoot the bastards in the nuts and bill their family for the bullet. Seemed fair.

But apparently, the bleeding hearts had a stranglehold on the voting public.

No shooting perps. Must follow due-process.

That’s why I enjoyed undercover work.

Rules were bendable.

I returned my focus to Ivy.

She looked like a captured princess.

I’d never seen a more beautiful woman.

I wanted to hold her, protect her, fuck her senseless.

And I wanted to shake the shit out of her for her undying loyalty to her brother.

It was Frankie’s fault she was in my bed.

If Frankie hadn’t been a total loser, I wouldn’t have arrested him and then she wouldn’t have walked into the precinct to bail him out.

And I wouldn’t have set the course.

All things being true, there was no denying that path of reason but I wasn’t being reasonable anymore.

She brought out a beast in me that I couldn’t control.

I wanted her all the time.

This wasn’t a passing diversion — a hot piece of ass to whet my appetite until the next course — this was consuming.

And that scared the ever-loving shit out of me.

What the hell did I hope would happen between us?

Marriage? Kids? The house in the ‘burbs?

Fuck that.

Fuck that sidewise with a rusty blade.

Ivy whimpered in her sleep and I immediately drew her into my arms. She settled instantly with a soft sigh.

What are you doing to me, baby girl?

Ruining me, that’s what.

I couldn’t think straight anymore.

Even though I wanted nothing more than to hold her, I forced myself to release her and climb silently from the bed.

I dressed quickly and left without looking back.

I wasn’t about to play house.

Ivy was a pit-stop, not a destination.

It wasn’t my fault that her brother had put her in harm’s way.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

I scowled at the voice in my head, mocking me.

Shut the fuck up.

There’s work to be done.

H
e was gone
when I woke.

I should’ve been relieved.

But I was disappointed.

My inner thighs ached, reminding me of how thoroughly Jameson had taken me. I smiled, even though I knew I shouldn’t.

I shouldn’t enjoy what he did to me.

I shouldn’t crave more.

What was wrong with me that I felt giddy whenever I thought of that intense look on Jameson’s face when he saw me?

In that one look I saw desire, hunger, need, yearning, want, ferocity, possession — and it was all directed toward me.

When he looked at me…I know he saw
only
me.

I’d known it from the first moment we met.

Our eyes had locked and something had seared into both of us, determining our fate before we even realized it.

I was tied to him and he to me.

Whether we liked it or not.

And it was frightening.

I’d protected my virginity for so long, pushed away men who’d gotten too close out of fear that I might succumb, but with Jameson…there’d been no choices.

It was as if I’d been protecting my virginity for him all this time.

I didn’t like that way of thinking.

But I couldn’t deny that being filled by Jameson was the most intoxicating feeling in the world.

He was rough, hard, possessive…and yet…I sensed a softness in him for me that was confounding and made no sense.

The way he caressed my cheek.

The way his gaze narrowed with rage when he saw the marks on my face.

The way, even when he was pounding into me, he was careful to avoid aggravating the bruised areas on my body.

I was so confused.

I climbed from my bed, wincing as fresh aches and pains bloomed in my body and went to start the shower but then thought better of it and instead, ran a bath.

Usually, I didn’t care for baths but I needed to soak my bones and stop my brain from overthinking what was happening.

Jameson needed me for this case. Once the case was over, Jameson would disappear from my life.

A sharp pang pierced my chest at the thought, irritating me.

That’s what I wanted, right? For Jameson to get the hell out of my life.

Yes.

Life was simpler before Jameson crashed into my sphere.

But it’d also been pretty dull.

Jameson added the spice.

I slipped into the water, sighing as the hot water sluiced over my body.

The bruises on my face were turning purple and yellow but at least the swelling had gone down.

The horror of nearly being raped returned and I shuddered as I wiped away tears. Jameson had saved me yet he was ruining me, too.

I shouldn’t be surprised that I was strongly attracted to the wrong type of guy.

My childhood was a textbook for abandonment issues.

Of course, I would be attracted to a guy who was, ultimately, destined to abandon me as everyone but Frankie had in my life.

I didn’t like to think that was a statistic but it was hard to deny facts when they were staring at you in the face.

Jameson was the worst kind of man for me.

And yet…here I was…replaying the memory of last night with a dreamy sigh.

Pathetic.

This whole time I’d thought I was smarter than that.

Turns out…I wasn’t.

Maybe Jameson was right in one regard — Frankie had been dragging me into situations for far too long and it needed to stop.

Where did it end?

Frankie had been serious about wanting me to sell my car for him.

He knew I needed my car to get to work.

But sometimes Frankie was incredibly selfish.

And I’d always made excuses for him because he was my big brother and he’d always protected me when I was a kid.

How long was I supposed to forgive his stupid mistakes?

We weren’t kids anymore.

Frankie needed to get his shit together or else…I couldn’t help him out anymore.

Just thinking that made me want to cry.

Frankie was my only family.

He was a good man — but he had fucked up priorities.

What about Jameson?

Was he a good man, deep down?

Like,
way
deep down.

Was I trying to push a square peg into a round hole by searching for qualities that weren’t there?

Maybe.

I didn’t know what I was doing. Jameson had turned my world upside down and I didn’t know which end was up anymore.

I closed my eyes and let the water close over me. I just wanted someone to tell me what to do because I sure as hell didn’t know what the right direction was anymore.

I
walked
into the precinct and went to my desk where Hank was just finishing up a phone call.

He grinned when he saw me. “Good timing. That was the phone call we’ve been needing.”

“Yeah?” I was instantly interested. “What call?”

“I’ve just found a way to get our girl into Rodrigo’s universe without arousing suspicion.”

I didn’t like Hank calling Ivy ‘our girl’ but I let it slide. “How?”

“Rodrigo frequents this club downtown, real seedy place, called Chester’s. And Chester’s needs a new waitress. Guess who’s qualified to fill that position?”

I knew of the joint. Chester’s was disgusting. The floors were always sticky — and not just from spilled drinks.

“She’s not going there,” I said, causing Hank to scowl. “We’ll find another way.”

“Fuck that. This is an easy way in. Ivy Callen is hot. Chester’s uniform is nothing short of a few sequins covering the tits and ass and Rodrigo is bound to notice her.”

Yeah, I knew that. But I didn’t want fucking Rodrigo thinking he could put his hands on Ivy.

“I said no.”

“Why not?”

I didn’t want to explain myself but if I didn’t find a reason, Hank would make assumptions that I didn’t want to explain either.

“Captain isn’t going to approve of us putting a civilian into harm’s way.”

“Who said anything about telling Cap about the details,” Hank returned with a puzzled look. “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. And since when do
you
care about using a civilian?”

Shit, I was sinking fast. “I don’t like the paperwork when things go wrong,” I said, which wasn’t a lie.

That Hank could understand and nodded. “I get you. But nothing’s going to go wrong. Frankie will be there to protect his sister and we’ll be around the corner in a surveillance van in case anything goes sidewise. Trust me, she’ll be as protected as a kitten in a box.”

It wasn’t good enough but I knew I couldn’t keep throwing up road blocks. Hank was right, it was a perfect opportunity to embed a CI into the scene without red-flagging Rodrigo.

“Fine,” I finally agreed with a forced shrug. “But if anything happens, it’s on you, not me.”

“I’ll take that responsibility,” Hank said. “But it’s going to be fine.”

I had a sick feeling in my gut but what could I do? The whole point of messing with Ivy was to gain an advantage and if I didn’t use that advantage then I was a sucker.

“Let’s go pick up Ivy and tell her how this is going to work,” Hank said but I stopped him.

“You deal with Frankie. I’ll deal with Ivy.”

Hank grinned and punched me in the arm. “You fucking dog. Always running after the fine ass pussy.”

“Fuck off,” I groused but Hank assumed I was joking and just chuckled as he headed out to start the release paperwork for Frankie.

The fact was, and what I was loathe to admit, Ivy was more than a fine pussy. I mean, hell yes, she was the finest woman I’d ever fucked, but I wanted more than her body.

I wanted everything and more.

And if anything happened to Ivy…there wouldn’t be enough bullets to go around.