I turn my head and mutter, “Coming here was a mistake.”
“By all means, go. But if you want answers, I’m prepared to give them to you.”
“Really? Just like that?”
A dark fire blazes in his eyes. “Not quite. I’m offering an exchange. For every orgasm you give me, I’ll answer a question.”
I choke on my own breath. “You’re joking.”
“I assure you, I am not. You want answers. I want your orgasms. This way, we both get everything we want.”
I don’t know what the fuck to say, so I blurt, “Why?”
He tilts his head in silent question.
“Why would you want this?”
He looks nonplussed, as if no one usually questions his motives. And why would they? He’s rich. What he wants, he gets. “Because I want to scene with you.”
My flesh should be crawling. Instead, heat floods through me. “You don’t need to go through all this to get a scene. You could have anyone.”
“I don’t want anyone but you.”
My stomach swoops like it’s untethered to my body. I stare until I realize I’ve fallen into his dark eyes.
Evil. Wicked. Murderer.I need to remember to hate him. “You could just force me.”
His thick brows rise. “Do you want me to?”
I ignore that, along with my quickening breath. “You’ve got almost a foot of height and a hundred pounds on me.”
“Quite a bit more than that, I’d say.” He looks me up and down. “But when it comes to you, little bird, I need every advantage.”
I’ve been hunching my shoulders, burrowing into my coat, but I make myself straighten. “I’m not your adversary.”
“No? Haven’t you been threatening to bring me down in your role as the long arm of the law?”
“That’s justice.”
“Is it? You have your brand of justice. I have mine.”
“Is that why you dumped a dead body on my doorstep?”
A shadow darkens his expression. His expression grows colder, and he looms over me. Suddenly, I’m staring down a warrior.
But when he cups my cheek, his touch is gentle. “He hurt you.” His thumb brushes my bruised cheek. “No one touches you and lives.”
I’m burning up in my winter coat. His touch is so soft and perfect.
I step back, reaching for my professionalism and my anger to hide the way his touch makes me shake. “You left the body on my front stoop. Like a welcome mat.”
Rex just looks at me. The heat in his eyes melts me and turns my core to liquid. I’ve never had anyone look at me like he does. I’ve never had anyone go to such lengths to protect me.
But it doesn’t matter. I can’t succumb to this. To him.
“I’m now a top suspect in the investigation. They should be looking for you. Instead, I have to convince them I didn’t go hunting down a random guy after he bumped into me.”
“He did more than bump into you. He meant to do you violence. And his friend called you a bitch.”
