Page 31 of Built for Mercy
“I promise you, I will get you the truth. Then, vengeance will be yours. Okay?”
She sighed, pausing for a moment before unfolding her legs from under the blanket and rising to her feet. She paced across the terrace, pausing at the railing and looking out over the city. I let her have a moment before I joined her.
“I have no real reason to trust you or believe you, but I’m choosing to. Don’t you dare let me down, Maverick, or I swear to God, I’ll serve your own balls to you on a silver platter.”
Laughing, I tapped my glass against hers and took a sip. “I have absolutely no doubt, Detective.”
Sophie’s hair fluttered in the cool breeze. She took a deep breath before saying, “I’m not going to lie. That was a lot more than I expected to hear, but I always suspected there was more to the story. And more so, I think I knew he was involved in some fucked-up shit. What I didn’t expect is to still want to be here with you, even if we’re on opposite sides of the law.” My stupid fucking heart flipped at the last sentence. “Like calls to like or some shit like that,” she added quietly.
I grabbed both of our glasses and set them on the railing. I felt the need to self-destruct, seeing as she seemed to accept what I feared she wouldn’t. But now that she had, I was afraid she’d find another reason to run for the hills. “I told you before that I’m not a good man. I mean it. Just because I’ve been honest with you doesn’t mean I’m some knight in shining armor.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “I’m not some princess in need of saving, Mav, but I do appreciate your honesty.”
“I should terrify you,” I grumbled.
She snorted. “You think because you’re some six-foot-something brooding asshole with tattoos that you’rescary?”
I boxed her in, pressing her into to the railing. My hand found her throat, applying just enough pressure to make her eyes widen, and I loomed over her, pushing her until her back was arched over the railing and her head was upside down.
“I could kill you in the blink of an eye,” I growled.
She gasped, her throat working against my hand. The wind whipped her long hair all around, and her hands white-knuckled the railing like a life support.
“But I’m also a different kind of scary, Sophie. I’m the kind of scary that makes your heart race, your pussy drip, and your mind question everything.” My blood heated with lust, when I saw the battle raging in her eyes, somewhere between revulsion and arousal.
I leaned over her, my free hand braced on the railing beside hers. Her feet lifted off the ground, a small shriek escaping her throat.
Death. She was terrified of it, right? Her life had been surrounded by it. Her father. Her job. Now me.
But I didn’t fear death. I fearedliving.I feared feeling too much, especially with her around, because she made me feel alive. Scared and alive, much like she was feeling right now.
“What’s more terrifying than my control, Sophie, is your desire. The way you can’t resist me, even when you try to fight it. That’s the kind of scary I am.” My grip on her throat tightened just enough to make her gasp for air.
She tried to speak, but her voice was weak, her pulse hammering against my palm. “You’re right. I can’t fight it. It’s like… a drug.”
I leaned in so close our lips nearly touched. My voice was low and gravelly, filled with longing and a hint of a warning. “Do you really want to be with me, Sophie?” I asked, barely able to choke out the words as the force of the wind swirled around us. “Do you know what you’re getting yourself into? I’ll swallow you whole, and you’ll fucking love it.”
Sophie’s hands left the railing to curl into my shirt, tugging slightly, as if I wasn’t the only thing preventing both of us from plummeting to our deaths. Her eyes held a new kind of glow. “Yes,” she whispered. “I want to be with you. I want you to swallow me whole. I want to feel every inch of you against me.”
Magic words.
I righted her abruptly, my hands moving to the sides of her neck. The second her feet touched the ground, she fell against me. Her hair was windswept and tangled, her eyes crazed and wild with lust, her chest heaved. Her chaos was utterly fucking breathtaking.
Grasping the back of her neck, I crushed my lips to hers. The fire that had been simmering between us since we first met exploded. With everything out in the open now, there was nothing holding us back.
Our tongues met, and we moaned simultaneously, on the same wavelength as our bodies moved in perfect harmony. I gripped her hips, moving her against my already hard cock. Her fingers entwined in my hair, trailed down my cheeks, touching me everywhere and lighting me up in ways I didn’t know were possible.
Suddenly she tore her mouth from mine. “I want you, Maverick. Don’t make me wait any longer.”
Grinning wickedly, I rose to my feet and threw her over my shoulder. “Baby, you have no idea what’s in store for you.”
“Mav, there’s no need to act like a caveman! I’m going to let you fuck me regardless!” There was laughter in her voice as she hung upside down.
I snickered and slapped her ass as I carried her inside and down the hall toward my bedroom. I set her on her feet and kicked the door shut behind us. Moonlight slashed across the room, catching the rise and fall of her chest, the way her pulse fluttered at her throat. I let my fingers drag up, over the soft fabric of her dress, tracing the strap before yanking it down, baring more of her to me. I wasn’t patient. Not tonight.
“Take your dress off,” I commanded.
She swallowed, jutting her chin out defiantly. “You don’t want to do it?”