“I . . . maybe a little.” I’d heard Stark sound a lot of ways but unsure wasn’t one of them. I had no idea how he could doubt I wanted him when I was the one chasing after him.

I wanted to reassure him that this was exactly what was supposed to be happening between us. I gave him my truth and he gave me his. Both were messed up, ugly, and hard to hear, but we were still standing. His past was darker than mine, cloudier and convoluted, but somehow even with all those shadows in the way, we managed to see each other. We managed to find the only other person in the world who would believe, the only one who would trust. I couldn’t say anything because his finger was pumping in and out of my soaking center and his thumb was stroking my clit relentlessly. All I could do was throw my head back and ride the wave of pleasure that was crashing through me. It rushed around me, coating his fingers and leaving me shaken and breathless in his hold. His tongue traced along the line of my neck and I could feel his appreciative sigh against my skin as my body tugged and quaked uncontrollably around him. His fingers dragged wetness across my skin when he pulled from my body. I thought I was going to come again when he lifted them to his mouth and flicked his tongue across the shiny surface. His eyebrows arched and that sound that wasn’t close to human rumbled out of his chest again.

I knew it wasn’t going to take much. A little bit of Stark went a long way.

My legs fell weakly from his hips and I slumped backwards so I was sprawled bonelessly across the top of the counter. My chest was heaving and my heart was thudding, but I’d never felt better. I couldn’t remember when having a man’s hand on me had ever felt as right, as destined, and as perfect as his did.

I could still feel his erection throbbing between my legs. Before I could offer to do something about it, he stepped away, pulled off his glasses, and rubbed his hand over his face.

“Like I said, distracting. I like the way you come, Noe.” His voice wasn’t exactly steady, thrilling the secret, soft part of me that I liked to pretend I didn’t have. “We need to talk about what our next step with Goddard is before we get interrupted . . . or distracted again.”

I stared up at the ceiling wondering how he could ignore the electric heat that was still swirling around us like a living, breathing thing. I heaved a sigh and pushed myself to a sitting position. He moved a couple of steps away but I could still clearly see the outline of his cock behind the taut line of his zipper.

“Goddard will still be there after I suck your cock, Snowden.” I really wanted to know how he tasted, how he looked when he finally lost control. I hopped off the counter and started to move toward him.

His eyes widened and then narrowed as he held up a hand and took another step away from me. His jaw tightened and I saw his cheek twitch as he told me harshly, “I need to think. I need to plan. I need to keep you safe, and I can’t do any of that if all I’m thinking about is how your lips would look wrapped around my dick. I’m going to take care of you, Noe.”

I paused mid-step and cocked my head to the side so I could consider his words without losing my shit. I didn’t need him to take care of me. I was just fine taking care of myself in most things, but in this one instance, I really wanted him to have a hand in it. I didn’t want to take care of the hollow ache between my legs by myself, and I didn’t want him to touch the seriously impressive length that was making the front of his jeans obscenely tight. That was all mine. I understood his reluctance wasn’t about rejection. It was about him having to prove something. He wasn’t going to budge. I could see it in every stiff line of his big body. and I had to admit it sent a different kind of thrill shooting through me when I realized he really meant what he said. He was going to take care of me.

“Maybe you are part robot after all. No man I’ve ever come across would rather talk strategy than get his dick sucked.” I sounded a little petulant. I really wanted to show him I could make him feel as good as he made me feel. I wanted him to realize I was a woman who knew exactly what to do with him in the bedroom and out of it.

I could handle Snowden Stark. The part of him who was a tortured genius and the part of him who was a broken brother.

“Getting my dick sucked won’t keep you alive. Strategy will.” He huffed out a breath and rolled his heavy shoulders. “Can we stop talking about my dick? I’m trying to think.”

I snorted out a laugh and turned to walk to my spot in the kitchen. “As long as you realize I reserve the right to bring your dick back up at a more opportune time.” I wiggled my eyebrows at the sly play on words.

He put his glasses back on and looked up at the ceiling like he was looking for help from the heavens. “Fine. Once Goddard is gone, we can talk about my dick whenever you want, but right now I want to talk about the first part of taking the Mayor down. I need to get into his computer. I need a backdoor so we have access to everything we need.”

I rested my elbow on the marble next to my laptop, his laptop, resting my chin in my hand. I lifted an eyebrow back at him. “How do you plan to get close enough to install the software you need? It’s not like you can waltz into his office in City Hall. You’re pretty memorable.” He was too big and too tattooed to forget.

“I can’t walk in and I’m not letting you get anywhere near him, but I know someone who can get close without any questions.”

I smirked at him. “For a guy who claims to be bad with people, you sure have a lot of them willing to help you out.”

He blinked at me while assessing my words. I wondered if he was so fixated on what he’d lost that he couldn’t see what he had standing right in front of him.

I gave him a grin and waved a hand in the air. “Go ahead and dazzle me with your mind, Stark, but don’t think for a second that you didn’t dazzle me with your hands or your mouth a minute ago.”

I wasn’t sure, but I could have sworn he breathed a sigh of relief.

I wanted Snowden Stark. However, the moment I listened to him talk about the methodical, meticulous way he planned to destroy Jonathan Goddard, I realized I never wanted him as an enemy.

Stark

In a perfect world, which this was not, I would have been able to get all my ducks in a row and have everything moving forward as soon as I got my wayward body under control and tamped down the overwhelming need to possess, to own . . . to conquer what Noe Lee sent spiraling through me. As it was, it took longer to get my head back in the game than I thought, and Nassir called wanting an update on the situation with his girl.

Since I owed him more than I would ever be able to repay, I spent the rest of the afternoon tracking down the information he wanted instead of destroying the Mayor. The hooker was clean. She didn’t show any influx of sudden income in her accounts and the messages to his wife hadn’t come from her but rather a burner phone that was untraceable. Upon further examination, I was slightly surprised to find that the man’s wife was hemorrhaging money. She had an unhealthy addiction to online gambling and was a lot smarter than her husband gave her credit for. She was well aware of his standing date with Nassir’s girl, and instead of being pissed about it, she was the one blackmailing him for the twenty grand. It looked like she had drained their kid’s college fund and was desperate to replace the money before graduation. She wasn’t very sneaky, leaving proof of her addiction all over the family’s home computer. I wasn’t surprised the site she used to waste her money was one that Race ran. The man was crafty when it came to robbing people blind, and he made sure the house always won. The poor woman didn’t stand a chance, so it was no wonder she resorted to both revenge and blackmail. I was just glad Nassir’s girl was in the clear because it made me uncomfortable to think about how things would have worked out for her if she had violated the Devil’s standing orders. Nassir didn’t tolerate insubordination. He didn’t tolerate much of anything.

The second hurdle was Titus being a stubborn asshole. I’d called him three times and each and every time, he’d hung up on me before I could explain exactly why I needed him to march into Goddard’s office and plug a loaded USB into the man’s computer. I also wanted him to sync my phone to the Mayor’s, but that might be a reach since Titus was flat-out refusing to help. He was the only person who could walk into City Hall without drawing suspicion. No one would question why a decorated detective, who was as tough on crime as the Mayor claimed to be, wanted to meet with the corrupt bastard. Plus, there was the dead, dirty cop in the water off the docks. It wouldn’t seem suspicious if Titus wanted to talk to the Mayor about that. Titus wasn’t budging.

He told me he refused to get caught up in any of Nassir’s games, and that even though his girl worked for the man, he did his best to keep clear of anything the Devil deemed worth his time. He repeated over and over again there was no report of sexual abuse from the stepdaughter, no proof Noe had been kidnapped, because the tapes only showed the dirty cop hauling her to that shipping container and in this town, that could mean anything. He needed something solid if he was going knocking on the Mayor’s door. That’s the way things worked. I tried to explain that I needed his help for me and not for anything to do with Nassir, that he didn’t have the entire story, but Titus shut me down by telling me, “You can judge a man by the company he keeps.”