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The flicker in me intensifies, along with this eerie feeling that I could track my girl by instinct alone, as if she’s in my blood—though obviously, she isn’t. “She turned right up ahead, and Clive’s already trailing her… hold up…” Seamus makes another call on the burner, and I listen, smoking as I walk up the street. The crowd thins as I turn right. “He thinks she’s heading to Gantry Plaza State Park.”

“Got it.”

“Y’know,” Seamus adds, “if you’d let us take care of her, you wouldn’t have to. As Mam always says, measure?—”

“That doesn’t apply,eejit. And I just saved the girl. Why the fuck would I let you kill her?”

“We have things to do tonight.”

And I have something planned, too—a burning idea that’s been pulsing in my veins since I caught sight of those long legs and that body. It lit something in me that I can’t—and don’t want to—extinguish.

My blood burns and I pick up the pace. Long fucking slender legs. Fuck, I saved those legs, that sweet pussy between them. I risked everything to rescue her ungrateful ass from being shot.

I came to this fucking club to touch her, see her, decide what to do with her. And now… she’s more than just a passing thought in my head. She’s a pulse of fire, an electric charge that races from her cocky defiance straight to my obsessive brain. And when I finally get her, I’m going to have my fun.

And this chase? It’s all part of that dark and twisted fun.

“You have your job of keeping an ear on all feeds, and I moved us into a prime bargaining place with de Rosa. I’m taking a little break,” I announce.

“Oh, Jesus. Are you stalking her just to get your fucking rocks off?” comes the reply.

“Probably. I’m just keeping an eye on her,” I say.

Seamus starts to speak and then switches to a muffled conversation with Clive before turning back in to me. I finish my cigarette and cross the road. “She entered the park,” he informs me, “and seems to be heading to the side with that Pepsi sign.”

“After dark? When it’s shut? She’s just asking for trouble.” I smile.

I can see the park from here, so I hang up, cross the street, and enter from a darkened corner. Joy’s probably using it as a shortcut. She’s not poor—nothing about her indicates that—so I’m betting she doesn’t want her ride to know where she’s been. Or that she knows me.

I stand in the shade, breathing in the scent of grass and damp earth beneath my feet. Now where would she be?

The thrill of the chase thrums in my veins. I’m a hunter by nature—occasionally unhinged when I want to be—and with the pulse of New York City and the beat of Queens in my ears, I search for those long legs, reddish hair, a hat, and a mask.

There.

Taking her time as she picks her way over uneven ground stained red by neon reflections, she moves in and out of light and shadow among the trees. Perfect.

I walk over, sliding silently behind her until I’m ahead. Then I wait. The moment comes when she steps within my reach. I grab her.

“What the—” she exclaims.

“I warned you once about speaking,” I say, careful to keep the Irish brogue out of my voice as I back her up against a tree. Our eyes lock, and as she parts her lips, I slide my thighbetween her legs. The heat of her pussy presses against my leg, and it takes every ounce of self-control not to feel her up.

“I’ll scream.”

“Go on,” I say, moving closer. “I dare you.”

Her eyes narrow and glitter with defiance—the bloodied, masked girl clearly loves a challenge. It only makes her that much more fucking sexy, heightening our electrifying standoff.

She takes a breath, parts her lips a bit more, and fuck it.

My lips lift into a smirk before I kiss her—hard.

FOUR

lucie

His lipson mine are warm and soft, even as the kiss grows hard and greedy. Suddenly, everything inside of me bursts into carnal flames—I can’t think, I can’t even breathe. All I can do is let him take over.