When she comes slowly down the stairs, her eyes on mine and the grin on her face growing, and murmurs quietly, “Fucking Christ am I glad to see you.I hear you’ve got me for the night,” I don’t bother to answer her.
I just take her, turn, and get to my car as quickly as possible.
Before Dom changes his mind about letting me have her for the night...or defending her against the man who wants to kill her for having shot a bunch of men.
***
By the time we get to the hotel I’ve rented for the night, I’m jumping out of my skin with the need to touch the girl.I drag her into the lobby, which is deserted, and then up the stairs.This is one of those very posh hotels that has only two levels and ten rooms, which makes it feel incredibly classy, and the decor reflects that.No cheap chain decorations here.The carpet is a plush and very deep burgundy, the woodwork dark and highly polished.The crystal chandeliers above us do very little to light the building, leaving us in a smoky, shadowed sort of haze as we move up the stairs.
“Where the fuck is everyone?”Brooks asks loudly.“Why are we the only people in here?”
She’s trying to make a joke, but I can hear the nerves in her voice that tell me she doesn’t trust anything about anything right now.God, the lack of people around us probably makes this feel more like a trap than anything else.
She’s been undercover for too long.
Around her father too much.
“I rented out the entire building to make sure we’re secure,” I mutter, pulling her along behind me.
“The entire building?”
I grind my teeth together, already tired of talking.“Yes.My men have been through every room to sweep it for bugs or traps and they’re surrounding the building as we speak.”
I turn impatiently and press her to wall, my body hard against hers and my hands wrapping themselves in her hair.“We’re safe.I promise.”
When her eyes turn to me, they’re wide and vulnerable, and for the first time since she was a teenager, I think I might be able to see all the way to her soul.
That’s not the Brooks I know.That’s certainly not the girl I fingered on the balcony of her father’s mansion.What thefuckhas been going on in her father’s house?
The barely contained aggression that’s been running through my veins dissipates so quickly it leaves me breathless, and I brush my fingers down her cheek.“Brooks,” I whisper.
She stares at me if with brittle, breakable eyes full of ice and shattered glass, and for a moment, just a moment, I think she’s going to break.My strong, brave, reckless girl looks like she’s seen things that have crept into her heart and broken her in ways she can’t understand.
And Christ, I want to rip every man who’s hurt her limb from limb and send them to hell without an ounce of their body left.I want to kill her father and his men for what they’ve done, and I’ll burn the city down getting it done.
Then she blinks and it’s gone.My Brooks is back, all cocky attitude and false bravado, and she smirks.
“What, Lucien?”she says, lifting one eyebrow in challenge.
I don’t know if I want to laugh at the sudden change or put my fist through the wall next to her head, just to get a reaction.I want to rip her dress off and fuck her right here in the hallway, just to prove I own her.Lift her and impale her on my cock without warning.Make her scream at how I’ll fill her.
And I want to take her in my arms and hold her, tell her that I’m here and that we’ll fix whatever she’s not telling me.Shush her and comfort her, even as she fights the emotions I know she doesn’t want to show me.
I’m so torn between the two that I can’t decide on either, and instead of answering her I step back quickly and use her hair to drag her into the first room.I have no idea if this is the one I reserved but I don’t care.
I need a bed and I need Brooks’ dress off, now.I don’t give a fuck which room it happens in, but I’m not going to fucking do it in the hallway.My men are right outside and I’ll be well and truly damned if I’m going to let any of them see Brooks naked–or watch what I’m about to do to her.
Of course the moment I get her into the room, she decides it’s time to start talking.
“Lucien, I have to talk to you,” she says, yanking her hair out of my hands and stepping back.“There are whole warehouses full of girls.The underground rooms aren’t the only ones.And they’ve got–”
I clap a hand over her mouth, shove her back against the wall, and rip her dress right down the middle.
“Brooks, I don’t give a single fuck about the girls in warehouses right now,” I growl.“I’ve spent the last two days terrified that you’d done something stupid enough that you’d been killed.I want my hands on your body and your legs wrapped around me.I want to feel every inch of you until I’m convinced you’re still alive.Then you can tell me about the trouble you’ve been causing.”
“Ilikedthat dress,” she gasps.
I slam my mouth over hers to shut her up, claiming her mouth like I have every right to do it, and to her credit, she gives in quickly, opening up to me and letting me in.The kiss doesn’t have anything delicate or patient about it.I’m too angry, too demanding, to care about being soft.I tear into her, lips and teeth and tongue, and her nails go right to my arms, scratching and pleading.I wrap one hand around her neck to hold her still, then drag my other hand down between her breasts and over her stomach, spreading the remains of the dress to give me better access.She’s wearing lace lingerie, and part of my brain wonders where the fuck she got that, but immediately finds better distraction.
