The words hit her just as hard…dammit,harder…than the kiss had.
He inched close enough that her senses reeled from the brush of his body heat. “You didn’t have any trouble getting the upper hand with that dealer, did you?”
She avoided his gaze.
“As your partner, I need to know how much training you have.”
A breath trickled past her lips. “Enough.”
“You’ve encountered that kind of danger before.”
Her chest tightened as memories she’d suppressed for years surfaced. “I…didn’t always live in the best places.”
Her mind flooded with memories of men with rasping voices and violent tempers who wouldn’t just kill her father for turning on them, but kill Opal and her mom too.
She’d never been able to shake the fear of who was after her, and often woke from nightmares of bikers in leather jackets breaking down the motel room door and aiming guns at her.
Witness protection hadn’t alleviated that fear. It just moved her from one bad situation to another where men lurking around the motel were too eager to prey on a young girl.
Thanks to Smith, she’d been able to protect herself, but it left scars on her very bones.
How could she ever explain Smith? There were no words for how the man had taught her that a frightening world could be controlled if she came out on top. Today in that alley, she took control.
The faint scent of shaving cream filled her nose, drawing her to the present. Sinner’s stare burned down into hers, probing far deeper than anyone ever had before.
She started to twist away, but he caught her by the arm and swung her back to him.
Swung her into his arms.
His mouth crushed over hers again, hard and soft at the same time, and good…oh god, so damn good. She swallowed a moan as he teased his tongue against the seam of her lips.
What could come of kissing her partner? This wasn’t their rules of engagement.
As if he heard her thoughts, he dropped his arms. He shook his head once, and the thick lock of hair tumbled across his forehead. “I shouldn’t have crossed that line.”
She balled her fists against the almost irresistible urge to brush that lock away. Because she could do better than Sinner, even when it came to making a move they’d both regret, she closed the gap between them. “Maybe I wanted you to.”
A bad-boy smile quirked the corner of his lips, but vanished in a blink when she knotted his shirt in her hands, went on tiptoe and kissed him again.
She felt his surprise for a half a heartbeat before he found her waist and pulled her flush against him. The low sound he made was a soothing balm and a prick of desire all at once.
Neither of them was gentle as the kiss spiraled to another level. She nipped at his hard bottom lip, making demands that ripped a growl from his throat. He plunged his tongue into her mouth, stroking, taking her whimpers and feeding her deep groans that made her shiver.
His muscles coiled under her hands, and she sagged against him, trusting him to hold her up if her knees gave out.
A long, spiraling minute later, she let her hand slip from the hard mountain of his shoulder to his sculpted chest. The beat of his heart anchored her in a way she didn’t know she needed until now.
“You’re right,” she whispered. “There are things you need to know.”
He slid his hands down her arms to tuck her hands in his callused palms. “I’m listening.”
She drew away enough to see his face. “On the call…I rambled about my mom.”
“You did.” He was a man who didn’t waste words, and she liked that about him.
“I don’t know how much is…safe…to say.” She let a breath trickle out.
“Let’s start with some questions.”
