Page 125 of Carnal Games

Why is his tall height both menacing and such a turn-on? Barefoot, I can never reach his mouth unless he bends down and meets me halfway.

It’s a dangerous position we’re suspended in, especially so soon after the almost-kiss.

Scorching awareness sinks into his harsh features, making my toes curl. A shudder racks my limbs, swaying me and causing his palms to slide to my waist.

“Were you hurt?” he huskily asks, betraying how he isn’t as immune to me as he pretends. I feel victorious that I chipped away at the first layer of his walls.

“I’m fine,” I rasp. I frown when he roughly inhales, staring past my throat. I gaze down and freeze, seeing my hand centimeters away from his cock. Hisslowly hardeningcock. I have no memory of trailing it low. I snatch it back and mumble, “So sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

Releasing me abruptly, he steps back and runs a hand through his cropped hair. Looking anywhere but at me while I try to get my breathing under control, he tightly says, “I’ve put your phone and purse on the nightstand. I’m in my office upstairs, if you need me.”

I barely utter a thank-you before he’s out the door.

Shutting the bathroom door, I press my head against the wood and let go of the towel. His touch burns my skin and I can’t stop myself from slipping my hand between my thighs. Wetness coats my fingers as I dip them inside my slit. Circling my clit, I flick it hard and fast until stars erupt behind my eyes while I cry out Kian’s name over and over.

The stolen orgasm doesn’t come close to as satisfying as basking in the dark lust that lurked beneath his eyes on the couch.

Dragging myself under the showerhead, I switch it on. The warm water is sublime on my sore body. The tension is leaving inch by inch, until my head clears. After I’m done, I notice my phone on the nightstand and realize I haven’t checked it since yesterday.

My mom and I talk daily at night. She’ll be worried I didn’t pick up her call last night. Hurrying across the room and unlocking the screen, several notifications and two missed calls from my mom are waiting for me.

I text her first, saying I accidentally turned my phone to silent and fell asleep and hoping she believes me because it’s out of character for me to never pick up her call. I’ll make it up to her when I call tonight.

As I’m pulling out of my messages, I notice a text from an unknown number received around ten in the evening yesterday.

I swipe over it and feel the color drain out of my face as I read it.

UNKNOWN: Stop looking. Or it won’t be a beating you suffer next.

The accident… it wasn’t a coincidence? Someone purposely attacked me. Not just to harm, but to silence me. Why, though?

Stop looking??

I rack my brain, going through everything I did that day.

“Oh no!” I heave, my chest constricting with dread.

The missing girls! That’s who he’s talking about. How did I not connect the dots? The very day I ask about the victims, the same evening I get assaulted.

Was it Vicky, Suhana, or Yukta? They’re the ones I chatted with.

Or did someone else eavesdrop on our conversation? It could be anyone in the company. It’s as hard as searching for a needle in a haystack.

Whoever it was, they’re deadly.

And I painted myself as their neon target.

Worse, I can’t tell Kian about it. My cover will be blown. He’ll kick me out of his life for spying on his corporation. Of that,I have no doubt. I hear my heart cracking open at the thought of never seeing him again.

I have to fix this mess on my own.

Because losing Kian will hurt worse than losing a limb.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Kian

“Another employee of mine was targeted yesterday,” I tell Zenith, who’s sitting across from me in my office at The Mirage.