His eyes hold me captive as his palm gently brushes my jaw, his fingers wrapping around my neck as his lips meet mine. Logic vanishes. The kiss is not chaste or gentle; his tongue dips between my lips, and the patchwork dam I’ve erected to control my need for him collapses.
Wrapping his other hand around my waist, he pulls me flush to his front, his chest and stomach are hard against me.
Lifting my hands, I grab his stony biceps and press as much of my body as I can against his; every part of me craves him. A small moan crosses my lips as he slips his fingers through the hair at my nape, fisting the strands to pull my head back and deepen the kiss. It’s the hottest kiss I’ve ever experienced.
Lifting his head, his grip in my hair doesn’t loosen, and he locks eyes with me. His eyelids are heavy with desire. “Did you think I would let you go that easy?”
His breath tickles my cheek, and some of the anxiety crawls back up my spine. Tears sting my eyes as they volley between his.I don’t want to say it out loud, but I have to. “I got an email, I think he’s here.”
The lines on his face harden. “What did it say?”
Clearing my throat, I take a breath. “Found you.”
“That’s all?”
I nod.
Pressing his lips into a tight line, he grazes his thumb across my bottom lip as he nods. “He’s in Tulsa.”
Confusion pulls my eyebrows down, and I’m stunned silent for a moment. I try to pull away, but his arm tightens around my waist. “You know?”
Hazel eyes bounce back and forth between mine as he nods.
A small part of me feels betrayed in a way; he was looking into Matt, but he had to look into me to do that. Why? Setting my palms on his chest, I lean away until my head touches the wall. His arm doesn’t loosen around my waist even a little. “Did you not trust me to be honest with you?”
Tilting his head, his face softens. “Sugar, I don’t believe you have a dishonest bone in your body. But just from what I heard, I knew he needed to be investigated. My gut told me he’s much worse than you think.” He slides his fingertips across my cheek and pushes my hair behind my ear as he takes a hesitant breath. “He’s done some pretty bad things, some of them in your name.”
My stomach drops, and I wonder what other false charges he’s pinned on me. Everything just keeps getting worse. What fresh hell has he brought to me now? I can feel the blood drain from my face, and I breathe the question, “What has he done?”
He looks around the room and lets me go to grab my hand. “Sit with me.” He pulls me to the bay window.
The fringe on my suede skirt swishes around my legs as I walk around the bed and sit next to him. He urges me to sit on his right side, and he keeps his left leg straight in front of him.
When I cross my leg over the other and the fringe of my skirt falls to the side, exposing my thighs, his eyes drop to my legs and the heat in them from earlier comes back. I’ve always been self-conscious that I don’t have a thigh gap, it was something that was pointed out a few times, but the way he is looking at me right now makes me forget all about that.
Lifting his eyes back to mine, he blinks, and the heat dissipates as he turns his body to face me, setting his hand on my knee. This can’t be good.
Clearing my throat, I twist the ring on my finger. “Tuck, you’re scaring me.”
Setting his other hand on my fidgeting hands, he says, “Tell me about the papers your ex asked you to sign every few months.”
How can he even know about that? Then I remember Allison and Kinley telling me he was some kind of big shot in the military. Apparently, the kind that has connections.
“Well, he said some of them were for the bank accounts we shared, some were for some stocks he said were attached to some of them. He said we both had to sign because they were connected to our bank accounts for deposits. Why?”
“We’ll get to that; bear with me so I can get a better picture. How long have you been signing them?”
My face flushes in embarrassment; I don’t really want to talk about my ex with him. Lowering my eyes, I clear my throat. “Right after I moved in with him after I graduated three years ago.” I also don’t want to repeat all the things I just followed blindly. None of this shines a very flattering light on my decisions.
His finger taps under my chin, and he tilts my head up, genuine warmth looking at me. “Don’t hide from me, sugar.”
Wrapping my fingers around his wrist, I suck in a small breath. “I didn’t know not to trust him. He was clean-cut, hehad a good job, he was nice in the beginning. I know from the outside, I look stupid, and I just don’t want you to think less of me.”
He cups my face in his hands, his eyes locked on mine. “He took advantage of you because you trusted him. I could never think less of you, sugar. But because you signed those documents, it’s put you in some pretty hot water.”
“I read the documents the first few times I signed them, but they were always the same, and it became a routine to just sign on the signature line next to the little arrow stickers that said ‘sign here’. What did he have me sign?”
He takes my hands in his, and a small wince blends with his signature squint. “I just found out that your ex and his brother are involved in insider trading through a shell company in your name. It’sallin your name, sugar.”
