Page 37 of Savage Protector

And I would give it to her. I would give her everything she could take. My teeth grazed her sensitive flesh, making her whine in approval. “Just like that. You’re so good…” Her breathing matched mine as I tasted and played, finding what she liked and giving it to her until her movements sped up, lost in their rhythm. She rode hard and fast, bouncing until the bed squeaked and our bodies slapped together.

And I went with it, jerking my hips upward to meet her. She was determined to make me lose control this morning.

I was fine with it. I wanted to.

“A little more… so close…” Finally, she threw her head back with a broken cry, a flush covering her body as her pussy began to milk me.

I gladly gave in, my balls draining and leaving me trembling in relief. Yet somehow, that did nothing to deplete me of my desire for her. By the time she rolled off me with a soft groan, I wanted her again.

This was becoming a problem.

Yet when she asked before I left for the morning if I was coming back later, I gave her the only answer that made sense. “You bet. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way.” There was no denying her.

My first stop this morning would be the precinct where Jack and I had first made each other’s acquaintance.

I would have to tell Scarlet about this later, walking in for the first time after Jack’s murder. The world looked a little different. I hadn’t thought about it until now, what it would mean to walk into the building where he decided, for some crazy reason, I was worth investing time in. I would tell her about it, she would understand, and I would fall a little deeper into the habit of no longer keeping everything locked inside me. There was something addictive about feeling safe to get things off my chest.

Somehow, when I wasn’t looking, she had worked her way into my soul and now refused to leave me alone. She haunted me, pushed me forward, insisted on driving my actions. Like she’d pointed out the first night back in town, nobody was paying me to do this. I’d made a choice, and I was seeing it through because of her.

Before long, I sat with two detectives who’d worked with Jack for years and respected the hell out of him. They weren’t the only ones, either—the atmosphere around the station was dark and tense. Everyone worked with their heads down, not bothering with the usual conversations around the coffeemaker or questions shouted across the room.

“We have contacts in several of the rival families,” Detective Cameron explained, perched on the corner of his desk with his hands shoved into his pockets. His office was sparsely decorated except for a few family photos on the filing cabinets—pretty wife, cute kids—the sort of family neither Jack nor I had ever given much thought to. “Of course, it’s all a matter of gaining trust and making it worthwhile for these losers to offer up info. We’re in the middle of trying to work out deals with the District Attorney, so we’ll have something to bring to the table, but it’s slow going.”

“And he’s much too smart to take risks, especially now,” Detective Nelson added, blowing out a sigh. She was closer to my age than her middle-aged partner—early thirties at most—but she wore a practiced scowl after years of witnessing the worst of humanity. “He has to know we’re paying closer attention now that he decided to blow one of our own away.”

“So there’s no question he was behind it? I mean, he told me,” I reminded them, my chest tightening when I recalled the conversation. “But you have proof?”

“Unfortunately, no proof,” Cameron admitted. “But word spreads. All it takes is a single leak. It’s an open secret in mob circles.”

“And the other families are none too happy,” Nelson added with a grim smile. “They don’t like that kind of heat. We made it a point to bring a lot of them in for questioning on the case, just to rattle them.”

I could appreciate their tactics mainly because I knew how these guys thought. The more pissed they were at Dominic, the stickier shit got for him. Maybe we’d all get lucky, and some boss or another would decide he was a sick pup who needed to be put down. While I craved the pleasure of watching the life drain from him, I couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Dead was dead, and it was how he needed to be.

In the middle of all of this was the occasional buzzing from my phone. It reminded me of what this was all about, keeping me from going over the edge into total darkness. As it turned out, Scarlet was a prolific texter, and she managed to pull me back into the light. The messages she sent throughout the day brought a few much-needed smiles. While grabbing a cup of coffee, I read her latest.

Scarlet: I’m pretty sure the housekeeping staff thinks I’m a hopeless slut.

Snorting to myself, I replied.

Me: What makes you think that?

Her response came quickly.

Scarlet: I meant to make up the bed before they got up here instead of leaving it all messy like we just had sex, but I completely passed out after you left, and I was naked in bed when they showed up.

I couldn’t pretend the mental image wasn’t fun to consider.

Me: What a shame I wasn’t the one who walked in.

Scarlet: I’m serious! I was so embarrassed.

Me: Scarlet, this is a hotel. In Vegas. I’d bet good money finding a naked woman in bed is a treat compared to what they might find.

As an afterthought, I added.

Me: If it’ll give you peace of mind, no more morning sex.

Her response was a single word.