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But Hunter didn’t stop. He’d waited too long for her to stop.

He erupted into her, pleasure pouring through every cell of his body. A release so powerful that his muscles shook. He held her tight, not ever wanting to let her go. Not fucking ever.

His heartbeat drummed in his ears. His breath sawed in and out.

And—

“Police! Open the damn door or I break it down!” Hard pounding against the suite’s main door. A loud, bellowing voice that reached them in the bedroom.

Shelby sucked in a deep breath. She fumbled. Grabbed her hearing aid and slid it in place. “Did I just hear…?”

Hunter’s head lifted. He met her stare. I’m still in her. Can feel her squeezing me. He wanted nothing more than to fuck her again. And again.

But that freaking cop…

Hunter withdrew from her. Shelby gasped, and his gaze shot to hers.

No pain on her face.

Good.

I will be fucking her again. And again.

He pulled all the way out of Shelby. With tight, angry movements, Hunter ditched the condom and hauled on his sweats. Rage poured through him. The cop wanted to talk, now? He’d just interrupted the absolute best moment of Hunter’s life. That asshole would be on Hunter’s shit-list going forward. Forever.

His gaze caught Shelby’s. “Stay here.”

She’d pulled the ripped sheets up to her chest.

Hunter jerked the bedroom door closed behind him. With heavy, hard steps, he marched through the small den and kitchenette area, and he shoved his eye against the peephole on the main door.

Jonah Campbell stood in the hallway, with one of the hotel staff at his side. The cop seemed to be urging the staff member to open the hotel room door.

Screw that.

Hunter hauled the door open. “Something you want?” he demanded. Was he pissed? Hell, yes. He’d been in paradise. Balls deep in paradise. And this jackass had just torn him straight from heaven.

Jonah glared at him. “Shelby!”

You want her? Like Hunter hadn’t already realized that crap. At the crime scene, the cop had been far too focused on Shelby and not on the dead woman who’d been right there. “She’s in bed. Unless there is some emergency⁠—”

“I think I heard her scream,” Jonah snarled.

Oh, right. She had needed to muffle her scream, hadn’t she? But which scream was the cop referring to? The one from her first orgasm or her second? Maybe Hunter should ask for the sake of clarification.

“I knocked over and over,” Jonah raged as one hand went to his hip, far too close to the guy’s holster. Jonah didn’t wear a uniform. He wasn’t a beat cop any longer. In fact, he’d moved his way up to detective, as Rochelle had said. Even before arriving in Hathaway, though, Hunter had learned that bit of info. When Jonah had raced to the scene at the fountain, he’d been in plainclothes. He still was, but Jonah currently had his badge pinned to his shirt pocket. “I knocked and no one came to the damn door!”

“I’m here now. Sorry.” Hunter was not, in fact, sorry. “We were otherwise occupied.” I was fucking Shelby into the best orgasm she’d ever had. And if that didn’t warm a guy’s heart, what could? Warm his heart, inflate his ego, make him want to keep Shelby and give her endless, powerful orgasms. Give her pleasure again and again to make up for all the pain she’d felt in the past.

The man wearing the blue hotel uniform edged back a step. “Detective Campbell was asking me to unlock the door. He said it was an emergency.”

“No emergency here,” Hunter returned, voice tight. “Just two people who were in bed, until someone started banging on our door in a very rude fashion.” He glanced beyond the two men and down the hallway. A few other guests were peeking out. Hunter gave them a quick wave. “Hi, there.” Whoops. Did Jonah’s pounding wake them? Or was it the pounding of the bed into the wall? Or maybe Shelby’s cries of pleasure? His bad. “We have an audience.”

“Shit.” Jonah spun toward the guests. “Nothing to see! Go back inside.” When the guests shut their doors, he turned around and his attention focused on Hunter again. “I’m not leaving until I see Shelby.” The faint lines near his mouth deepened. “I heard her scream. I know I did.”

Hunter held his stare. “Shelby is in no danger from me. I’m the man who will always keep her safe.” That was a vow that went soul deep.

“Screw this, I want⁠—”