She tries to hedge, moving away from me, but I catch her by the hips so she can’t move an inch. Her glare doesn’t deter me, and I hold her there until she bites her lip and shifts from foot to foot. Either she can start to trust me—even if I don’t deserve it—or we can keep this dance of blades until one of us falters.
I have time, either way.
My fingers tighten on her skin, and I force myself to gentle. I won’t push her in this. No, I want her to come to me. To give this piece to me.
“I’ve been looking—” She pauses, gulps, then takes a deep breath. “I’ve been looking into my mother’s death. I know it wasn’t an accident.”
That’s my girl. “And you think Devin had something to do with it?”
Her lips twist. “Broussard, he’s not my adviser.”
“He’s not,” I say with deadly calm.
“He’s a private investigator.”
“A private investigator.”
“Are you just going to repeat everything I say?” She tries to put her hands on her hips and realizes I’m still holding her, then crosses her arms over her tits. I frown at their loss. “We havereason to believe Devin was present the night she died and lied about it, among other things.”
“I knew I was right when I put a tracker in your ring. Devin probably followed you straight to him the day he was shot.”
“You put a tracker in my ring?” she shrieks. “When?”
“You’re damn fucking right, I did. The day after they put him into the hospital. And apparently for good reason. Running off, putting yourself into trouble. It’s a full-time job just keeping you alive.”
“There are so many things wrong with what you just said, I don’t know where to start.”
Before she can work herself into a lather, I distract her with, “What would his motive be?”
She sends me a scathing look when she’s unable to jerk free of my grasp. If she’s not careful, she’s going to wind up with bruises peppering her thighs.
It sidetracks me for a moment of blazing-hot need. Catriona has a body that’s stolen so many hours of sleep, I’d wondered if I could die from it. Unique in every aspect, her curves, freckles, dimples, and skin are so soft, all I could think about is seeing it blushing red and bruised from my punishing hands.
Because oh, how I wanted to see her painted in my marks. Mottled with my whorls and loops. Necklaces and bracelets gifted on her skin, semi-permanent, tender and aching. A reminder for the next time she tries to sneak away from me like she did that night.
“I don’tknow, that’s what I’ve been trying to figure out with Broussard,” she says, when I’m able to focus on her. “I found my mother’s phone at the estate during Halloween and?—”
“You sneaky little witch.That’swhy you were there that night? I could have killed you when I found you.”
“I didn’t have another choice. There were no other leads. The police were stonewalling me. My father wouldn’t hear anything Ihad to say, and Elizabeth pretends it never happened. What else did you expect me to do?”
“Stop risking your life, for one.”
She waves this away. “I knew it was the last place her phone could be, and I was right. I found it. Broussard has been helping me go through it to find leads.”
“I’m sure.” I’m not jealous of an ancient old man. I’m not.
Catriona levels a look at me, and I don’t know if she realizes it, but she’s shifted closer. Her nipples are close enough that I could wrap my lips around one. “Now tell me what happened. Did he go home?”
No man could withstand these circumstances. With a hand on her spine, I pull her forward, take one nipple between my teeth, groaning as fire shoots through me. I lave her nipple with gentle flicks, teasing with my teeth, until she knots her fingers in my hair and exerts inexorable pressure until I release her so I don’t cause her harm.
She tilts my head back. “Don’t distract me, Aiden O’Connor. Be a good husband and tell me what happened.”
Fuck. She ruins me.
I crack a smile. “Husband. I like it when you call me that.” Her fingers twist, and I wince. “Fuck, fine, woman. I had him out back with a gun to his head when someone came out of nowhere with the knife. I got knocked into the wall and passed out. They were gone by the time I woke up.”
The fingers in my hair go slack. “They could have killed you. You were passed out with no one there to protect you, and they could have fucking killed you. You go on and on about me having bodyguards and threatening to put a tracker on me, yet you walk around with all these people after you.”
