Unfortunately, we don’t have time for that.
“Tell me what you know,” I gasp, moving against his fingers.
His lips curve against my skin, and when he answers his breath is butterfly wings against my throat.“I would take offense to the fact that you can think of such things when I’m buried up to my knuckles in you, Brooks, but this is one of the things I love about you.”He pauses at that, caught short by what he’s just said, then rushes on.
“We have a hacker getting into your father’s files.Things have changed.There are more piers than there used to be.More girls.”
“I’ve seen them,” I say, fighting to stay present while I grind against his fingers.“I’ve seen them in person.I have access to all the databases.”
It wasn’t what he was expecting and he breathes for a moment, no doubt upset at being one-upped.“Right.Of course you do.But now we’re working with the same information.There are too many girls, Brooks, and they’re moving some of them in weird ways.”
I listen as he goes through where Aislyn is–the fact that they’re moving her more than they should–and want to nod, want to add something, but my body is winding up tight now, too close to release for me to speak.
Lucien pauses to run his tongue up beneath my ear, and I nearly come undone.
“There’s more,” he whispers directly into my ear.He pushes his fingers further into me, curling them forward until they hit the spot he’s been looking for, and then bites my ear in warning.“Quiet,” he murmurs.“Because there’s more.We think we have forty-eight hours before they send out another shipment, and we think that shipment will include Aislyn Brennan.Worse, we have word that there are foreigners involved.”
“There were always foreigners involved,” I breathe, jerking against his finger as my climax starts to come on.I’m fighting to remain conscious and part of the conversation, but there’s a part of me that is furious at Lucien for teasing me at a time like this, and that part is tethering me to the ground, even as my body wants to fly.
“But this time they’re not buying the girls,” he mutters.
He begins to pump his fingers into my harder, his actions now desperate and intense, and I ride him like a woman possessed, my body screaming for both release and the foundation that is Lucien, my heart hammering with the need to keep him here with me while I have him.
Because in a few short moments, I know I’m going to lose him again.
I orgasm so suddenly that I’m not expecting it, and only Lucien’s hand over my mouth keeps me quiet.He fingers me through the orgasm, his body holding me against the wall when I try to sag, and once I’m finished, he moves his fingers to his mouth and sucks my juices off them, his dark eyes pinning me to the wall.
I nearly come again, just watching him.
And then I realize how much time has passed and start to panic.
I grab him and spin, pinninghimagainst the wall when he’s not paying attention.
“Okay, you’ve had your fun.Now tell me what the fuck you’re talking about.”
He takes the time to kiss me deeply, transferring my taste from his tongue to mine, and when he pulls away I can see that his eyes are serious again.Serious and very concerned.
“You’re not safe,” he says quickly.
I just snort at that.“And you’re wasting time stating the opposite.What else?”
He pauses a beat, then dives in.“The Russians are here.They’re involved in the ring.And you and I both know what that means.”
Now it’s my time to keep my mouth shut, because I do know what that means.The Russians have a big presence in New York and some of the other cities, but they don’t come to New Orleans.No one down here wants them and their brutish way of doing things.The only times they’ve come into town, they’ve ruined everything and killed so many people.
So if they’re here now...
“They’re transporting the girls,” I say, the pieces crashing together.The strangers La Petite Morte.The strange decor.The fact that the girls are being handled more roughly now.
And the transportation orders we can’t understand.
“And if they are, it means you’re even less safe than we thought,” Lucien says, his words clipped.“I need to get you out of here.You can’t stand with your father.”
He starts to push me like he thinks he’s just going to hustle me right off the balcony, but I stop him.“I can’t go anywhere.”
“What?”he asks, shocked.“I’m here to rescue you!”
“Well that’s very big of you,” I say, my voice full of sarcasm.“Because I’m obviously a girl that needs rescued.”
