He was fixing his jeans.

“What are you doing?” She frowned. “You’re not finished.”

Alex had to grin at that demanding tone. A virgin she damned sure was, but she wasn’t going to be one for long.

“I’m not fucking you in this truck, sweetheart.”

Her lips parted at the endearment; pleasure filled her face. She loved it. And he loved that look on her face.

“Why not?” She stretched, arched, and he almost took her then.

“Minx.” His chuckle was rough, strained. “Sit up. You’ll be lucky if I can get us back to your place before I’m buried inside you.”

“I could handle that,” she promised with a smile, though she sat up.

He cupped her face, because he saw the edge of worry in her eyes, the hint of vulnerability.

“I want room, baby. Room to touch you. To suck those sweet nipples, to taste that pretty pussy again.

Room to watch as I take you. I want that really bad, darlin’. I want to watch my dick stretch you open and take what no one else has a chance of touching. I can’t do that in this fucking truck.”

That glazed look of hunger and need filled her eyes, and he almost took her anyway.

“I can handle that,” she whispered.

“Hell, let’s hope I can handle it,” he groaned, sliding behind the steering wheel and readjusting his seat.

“You just might be the end of me. Because touching you, Janey, is hotter than hell.”

He dragged her to his side and attached the middle seat belt around her rather than let her slide into the passenger seat. He wanted her against him. Wanted her right by his side, heating him, close to him.

He turned the truck around and headed back to the apartment, moving a little faster than he probably should have. He was definitely pushing the speed limit.

Driving with one hand, he tucked the other beneath Janey’s leg, holding her close as her head lay on his shoulder. Fuck. This was insane, but he couldn’t let her go. He hadn’t done this since he was a hormone-crazed teenager with more dick than good sense.

And he swore, tonight, he was in just as bad shape as he had been then. More dick than good sense.

Because tonight, he was taking her. All fucking night long. Because he had a feeling it would take a hell of a lot longer than he’d imagined to ever sate the hunger he felt for her.

He was suddenly worried he would never sate that hunger.

NINE

She had waited so long. Sometimes the need for touch, in the middle of the night, had nearly driven her insane over the past years. The need for Alex had dug sharp claws inside her, twisted into her womb and left her aching at the oddest times.

But at night. It had always been worse at night, whether in Somerset or at school. Huddled in her bed, staring into the dark, that need had been like a fever, an ache that built, night by night and, until six months ago, had left her sobbing with the need to be held.

There had always been something about Alex. He was sexy all over, but his arms had always drawn her.

The powerful biceps, the strength that seemed to infuse them. If she just had his arms around her, she sometimes thought, then she could sleep rather than toss and turn. She could think rather than fight the fear.

Alex was the embodiment of strength to Janey.

As they drove through town, her head pillowed on one of those hard arms, his hand holding her close to his side, she almost regretted the miles the truck ate so quickly. She wanted to be home, because she wanted to feel him over her, inside her. But she didn’t want to lose this. This feeling of security, of complete male power enveloping her.

It would end all too soon anyway. The night would be over, and come dawn, Alex would slip from the apartment, as he always did. She would put her mask back on and she would face the world again.

Could she do it, knowing everything she couldn’t have?

She would, because she had to. But she had a feeling it would be harder. Because she wanted to hold on to this feeling right now. The feeling that she was normal, plain Jane. Not the traitor’s daughter. Not a responsibility he had to look after. Just Janey, Alex’s lover.

“You’re quiet.” His voice was a stroke of midnight across her flesh.

“I’m coming down.” She grinned, a bit smugly perhaps, because her body was still humming with pleasure.

“Don’t come down too far,” he warned her. “I want you hot and ready for me, Janey. Trust me, sweetheart, once I get inside you, I’m not going to stop fucking you for a while.”

He called her sweetheart. He called her baby. And he said it gently. Like he meant it.

How immature of her, she thought. She was worse than a silly teenager, but the sound of those endearments had her heart clenching with pleasure.

“Who says you have to stop?” She watched him take the turn that led to the apartment. “I bet I can keep up with you.”

She looked up at him, watching his jaw tighten, the look of brooding lust he shot her from the corner of his eye.

“Oh, I have no doubt you’ll keep up,” he promised her with a wicked smile as he pulled into her driveway.

Pulling to a stop, he slid the truck into park and turned off the ignition. Then he surprised her. He didn’t just get out of the truck. He cupped her neck in that way that sent tingles of pleasure racing through her, made her feel feminine and sexy, and lowered his lips to hers.

His kiss wasn’t hard and deep. It was gentle, and hungry. His lips worked over hers, slanted over them, while his tongue pushed into her mouth and stroked against hers.

And oh God, it was so hot she felt blistered. She felt need shoot through her system like an intravenous drug, straight to her heart, then between her thighs, filling her sex with melting warmth.

“Christ, you make me hot,” he growled into the kiss. “If I make it up those stairs without fucking you, it’s going to be a damned miracle.”

Then he surprised her again. He moved from the truck, pulled her across the seat, and lifted her against his chest.

“Legs around me,” he groaned as he wrapped one arm beneath her ass and held her to him. “Hell. If I don’t at least feel you, I won’t make it.”

Her legs wrapped around his waist. His hard abs flexed between her thighs as he slammed the truck door closed and moved for the stairs.

“People will see your truck in the morning,” she reminded him.

“Fuck ’em.”

A surge of emotion at the words caught her off guard. He wasn’t worried that others would know . . .

“Zeke and his deputy are picking up the truck later anyway.” She crashed. Like a balloon slowly deflating, Janey felt the joy that had surged inside her recede.

She was so stupid. How insane to let herself believe anything but the truth. She buried her head against his neck, though, her lips moving on his flesh until, before she knew it, Alex pushed her against the side of the building, halfway up the steps, groaning.

Only then did she realize she was biting him. Biting his neck, sucking at it, marking him as the pain rose inside her like a tidal wave threatening to destroy her.

She marked him as he gripped her hips and thrust against her almost violently. The wedge of his cock beneath his jeans was hard and thick, pressing into her as she cried out against the tough skin of his neck.

His hand held her head to him. His breathing was hard, fast, his hips grinding against her as she held on to him.

She couldn’t let him go. She had to hold him. Needed to draw a part of him into her, to leave a part of herself that he could never be rid of.

“You’re killing me.” He bent his neck for her, giving her what she needed for long moments before pulling her head back and glowering down at her. “If I end up fucking you on these stairs, I’ll spank your ass for pushing me that far.”

“Be careful, Alex. I might enjoy it.” She stared back at him fiercely. “We could try it and see.”

He turned, holding her against him, and moved up the stairs fast. He was one raging hard-on. His dick was the only thing that mattered at this point, and it was demanding, desperate.

If he didn’t get inside her, he just might end up coming in his jeans, and if that happened, then he was

definitely going to spank her.

He shoved the key into the lock, only barely noticing that the cat wasn’t around. It must have eaten its fill earlier. Then he pushed into the apartment and came to a hard stop.

Violent fury poured through him.

Turning, sheltering Janey, he ducked back out the door, slamming it behind them.

“Alex?” There was fear in her voice as he held her to him and all but ran back down the steps and to the truck.

“Get in.” He shoved her back into the truck as he tore his cell phone off his hip and dug into the backseat for the Glock he carried.

He checked the clip quickly before snapping it back in place.

“Zeke.” For the second time that night the sheriff answered his call.

“Get to Janey’s apartment. There’s been a break-in and there’s a note on her kitchen table. Nothing was touched by us. I walked in, then pulled back.”

“On my way,” Zeke informed him. “I’m calling the Mackays, Alex. Sorry, man, they’ll kill me if I don’t.”

“Hell,” he swore. “And they can’t seem to keep their wives at home. It’s like calling the farce squad.”

Zeke’s hard laugh was amused and dangerous at the same time. “I’m heading your way. Stay covered.

You should see my lights in seconds.”

Zeke disconnected as Alex flipped the phone closed and leaned his head against the frame of the truck.

He felt like pounding his forehead into the metal.

“We’re in trouble.” Janey sighed.

Alex lifted his head and stared back at her quizzically.

“I just left the hickey from hell on your neck, Alex; there’s no way Natches can miss it. There’s no way anyone could miss it.” And she sounded damned pleased over it.

It still burned. His dick still pounded with the burn.

Hell, he should have just fucked her in the truck. At least then, when Natches killed him, he’d deserve it.

Or at least, deserve it more.

Grinning, he arched his brow and drawled, “You’re next.”

But it didn’t ease the fear from her eyes, or the rage burning in his gut. A second later the flashing lights of the sheriff’s cruiser and two of the city’s finest pulled into the parking lot.

Zeke and four officers exited the vehicles. The four officers, weapons drawn, started around the building as Zeke moved up to him.

“Dawg called in. They left the girls with Ray. The boys are heading in, though. We’ll wait for them before we head up to the apartment.”

“Her alarm hadn’t been tripped,” Alex told him, noticing the glance Zeke made to his neck, the slight widening of his eyes. “Don’t start, Zeke.”

“Fuck. I hope those boys ain’t armed.” Zeke shook his head as he glanced in the cab of the truck.

Alex had felt Janey move into the driver’s seat; he could feel her against his back, peeping over his shoulder to watch the sheriff.

“I might have branded him, Zeke.” There was a smile in her voice, despite the tension.

Alex could hear the fear in her tone as well. She was trying to cover it, to push it back, and that just pissed him off more. She shouldn’t have to feel the need to hide her emotions, her fears. She should be safe, secure.

“Yes, ma’am, you did.” Zeke nodded. “Do you think I can keep Natches from shooting him long enough to search that apartment upstairs?”

The joking was light, a tension easer, an attempt to still the fear Alex knew Zeke could see in her face.

“Sure. Natches isn’t stupid. He just likes to play dumb sometimes.”

Alex turned to her at the hint of tears in her voice.