Page 7 of Trapped Truth

The kiss is a rough, aggressive collision of teeth and tongues. I greedily smack our lips together, pushing my tongue into his mouth to lay claim to the territory once and for all.

Blaine willingly takes the assault, returning my passion with equal fervour. He sucks on the tip of my tongue, teeth nipping in a playful tease that unspools molten heat in my centre. The cold bite of his piercing only adds to the assault.

My hands rise to fist in his T-shirt, borrowed from a stack of clothing lent to us when we arrived. I can feel the hard planes of his pectorals underneath the fabric, chest rapidly pumping in an attempt to suck oxygen into his lungs.

When short nails scrape over my clavicles and breastbone, I know he’s going for my throat. His hand closes around the slope in a light cinch, just enough to offer him a modicum of control.

The possessive hold on my neck allows Blaine to tilt my head and deepen the kiss, gaining full authority over my now-tingling lips. His tongue massages mine in domineering strokes, leaving me dizzy and breathless.

I can feel the porch’s railing digging into my spine when he walks me backwards to push his body up against mine. He’s slender but muscular, carved from a lifetime of battle-hardened ferocity. Every inch of his body fits to mine like it was made to be.

A groan vibrates in the back of my throat when his foot nudges between mine to guide my legs open, allowing his pelvis to grind into my core. The friction makes me clench internally, nerves singing for much-needed attention.

“I’d take you right here, right now, even if your teammates held a gun to my head for doing so,” he growls into my lips.

“Then why don’t you?” I murmur throatily.

“Because once we cross that line, all bets are off, sweetheart. And I’m still learning how to share what’s mine with those Sabre bastards.”

“Technically, they’re your teammates too, you know.”

“Technically,” Blaine grunts.

“You still don’t believe that, do you?”

Sighing, he rests his head against mine. “I’m not sure what to believe anymore.”

“You’ve earned your place on this team. Even the guys would admit that. Because of you, that poor child was freed from the warehouse and returned to his parents. That was all you.”

At the mention of the trafficking victim we rescued from Nolan Madden’s entrapment, his whole body stiffens with palpable tension. I deflate when Blaine takes a measured step backwards.

“My father finished what he started under my nose in that warehouse.” His tone is laced with enough venom to melt epithelial tissue. “Until every inch of his operation is abolished, I can’t rest easy.”

“We were successful in Estonia.”

“It’s still not enough.”

He watches me close the distance between us but doesn’t try to retreat again.

“Blaine… You are not your father.” I reach up to cup his jaw, my thumb mapping the bottom quadrant of his scar. “And you don’t owe the world anything, including retribution or whatever this is.”

“What if…?” Tongue darting out to flick his piercing, Blaine trails off. I’ve never once seen him unable to form words. Not my cocky, confident smooth talker with the silver tongue of hell’s finest devil.

“What if?” I whisper, circling his puckered skin.

“Never mind.”

“Say it. You know you can trust me.”

“What if I need to do it for her?” His formal accent dips to a low octave. “That kid… it could’ve been my mother in a cage. Perhaps that’s all she ever knew. Only no one came to free her from him.”

The fissures that crack open his loaded stare reveal delicate flecks of navy, swirling like the distant reaches of deep space, peppered with deadly debris that could threaten life as we know it. Still, I find myself leaning in.

“Then we do it together. Just like you said.”

“I won’t watch him get arrested, Ember. Not like I was. This fight only ends one way for me.”

“After what happened in Estonia, I doubt a single member of the team would deny you that right.”