Another deep groan. “Did you want to feel my displeasure?” Derek’s fingers brushed down her naked stomach, inched slightly lower. Ginger was grateful for the near-darkness. She knew her face was flushed, her ni**les pouting from their need to be touched.

“Yes. I want to feel your displeasure now.”

His hand circled her wrist, unrelenting as steel. Before she could judge his intention, he pulled her from the living room and down a hallway, his stride sure and purposeful. He led her into a dim room. A home office, Ginger registered absently, then she could think no more. Derek whirled her around and his mouth came down on hers. His lips, tongue, and breath were familiar counterpoints to her own that had become vital to her survival. She immediately went under a tidal wave of hot, unrelenting desire. Even with uncertainty swirling around them, his touch grounded her immediately. She resented it even as she let it consume her. Drag her into its depths.

She sucked in a breath when his hands gripped her bottom and hitched her high on his body. Craving contact with him, Ginger locked her legs at the small of his back, crying out when he set her down on a low file cabinet and ground himself against her in a rough, urgent move. Her thin panties were almost nonexistent as they encountered the stiff material of his uniform pants, molded around his erection.

“How hard do you want to be f**ked?”

Letting her thighs fall open, she whimpered. “No holding back this time. I don’t want your mouth or your fingers. Not like last time. Give me what I deserve.”

His green eyes lit with a dangerous fire. Ginger knew she’d found his limit. Not only had she told him he’d left her unfulfilled in their bed in his absence, she’d implied their last encounter hadn’t satisfied her. It wasn’t the truth, not remotely, but he reacted in the way she wanted. Needed. In one swift movement, he yanked her off the cabinet, whirled her around and bent her over. Her panties turned to rags in his hand as he rent them from her body. She threw her head back in reckless anticipation as his palm came down hard on her ass in a serious of stinging blows. Each time his hand connected with her backside, a groan issued from his throat, driving her wild in the knowledge that his need matched her own.

“Enjoy it, baby. You f**king begged for it, didn’t you? Do you enjoy wielding your power over me? You like turning me into an animal? Crazed to f**k?”

“Yes,” she moaned.

“Good. Except now it’s my turn.” Slap. Slap. “And you’ve put me in a bad motherfucking mood, Ginger. I’m not going to stop pounding until the shape of my c**k permanently exists inside of you. Until you can’t move an inch without feeling me. Now, say my goddamn name.”

He thrust into her with such force, Ginger screamed his name at the top of her lungs. Thankfully, the music drowned out her cries, because they didn’t cease. Derek drove into her, relentless in his assault. Beneath her, the file cabinet scraped along the ground, propelling them forward until it wedged securely against the wall. Shameless, desperate, she spread her legs, lifted her ass. Her forehead connected with the wall and pressed into its dense surface, eyes squeezed tightly shut as the exquisite pressure built.

“Did you miss me?” He drove deep and held until she writhed and moaned. “You’re supposed to miss me. You’re supposed to crave me. If I’m not the last goddamn thought in your head before you fall asleep, I haven’t been f**king you good enough.” He brought his hand down in a loud smack of her right buttock. “And I think we both know that’s not the case, don’t we?”

When she didn’t answer, he repeated the question more harshly. “Yes!”

“Yes, what?”

“It’s…you…”

“I satisfy you every f**king time.”

“Yes. Yes.”

“And so do you.” Derek braced himself on the wall above them and changed the pace of his thrusts. Deepening them. Prolonging them. “You think I haven’t been miserable at the idea of you alone in our bed? Soft, warm, and tight? I’ve been crazed, baby. I can’t concentrate. I’ve been starved.”

“Then why?” Orgasm looming so close, the words tore from her throat. She couldn’t think past the onslaught of sensation, even though his words didn’t make sense. This was the end, right? Yes. It was. Savor it. It’ll never be this way again.

“Ginger. Ginger.” Her name became a chant on his lips, matching the forward drives of his hips. The file cabinet slammed against the wall with each rough push. She absorbed his need, let it mesh with her own until the force of it buried her in an avalanche of fire and ice, radiant pleasure, a maelstrom of mixed emotions. Knowing it could be the last of its kind, she let the climax flay her, leave her revealed as she collapsed onto the metal cabinet, hearing Derek growl his release before he followed.

His heart pounded against her back, a feeling she used to adore, but now every beat sent pain lancing through her chest. When his lips moved in her hair, nuzzling, laying soft kisses, she pushed herself off the cabinet purely in the name of self-preservation. Ginger couldn’t take a second more. She was horrified to find tears clouding her vision as she backed away from him. They were accompanied by a buzzing in her head. Disgusted with herself, her inability to maintain her composure long enough to accept the inevitable, she dragged in a shuddering breath. When he came toward her, worry and confusion in his eyes, it only made her more determined.

“Goddamn you, Derek.” Fingers shaking, she pulled her panties back into place and smoothed her skirt. Just for the sake of something to occupy her vision. Looking at him hurt too much. “Do it. Say the words and get it over with.”

She sensed Derek go very still. “Do what, exactly? Explain yourself. Now.”

At the soft, dangerous quality to his voice, Ginger’s gaze snapped to his. “You know.” She whispered the words, finally unable to stop the flow of tears.

Loud voices shouted Derek’s name in the hallway. Neither of them moved, but very slowly, his eyes closed and he cursed under his breath as if he’d been expecting the interruption. In a few quick, efficient movements, he repaired his state of undress. He took Ginger by the wrist and pulled her behind him as he opened the door.

“Lieutenant. There you are.” Alvarez. “Let’s roll. We’ve got a time and location. I’ve made the calls, but we’ve got to move. Less than an hour to go.”

“I need a minute.” His voice was deadly quiet.

“Boss, Lazio isn’t going to wait—“

“A minute.”

Lazio. Ginger’s spine straightened, mind racing. She knew the name well. The case Derek had such a difficult time discussing, even with her. He’d lost a man, taken it hard. Of course he had. That was Derek. A leader. A protector. What was happening involving Lazio? In the living room, she heard a commotion, men talking in codes into their police radios. Everything she’d experienced during the week, everything she’d seen since walking into the party, suddenly took on a completely different quality. Tension among the officers, Derek working long hours. Something big was about to go down. Her terror outweighed her earlier pain so extremely then, it nearly doubled her over.

“Derek, what’s going on?”

Leaving the door open a crack, he turned to her, strain showing on his face. He studied her intensely. “When you told me to get it over with, what were you talking about?”