Page 3 of Carved Obsession

I can feel him in my bones. The crushing force of this moment threatens to bring me to my knees. It’s devastating, filled with cravings and potential desires.

Yet, there he is—unaffected.

With tightening fists I tear myself away from his heat. He has a job to do, and I’m invested in it now. The corner of my lip twitches in the grin that froze with his attention on me, and I break that treacherous gaze, looking down at the other man.

His gaze burns into my flesh like it wants to melt away each layer until he finds the answer to a question he will never ask. This feeling, this searing, is so new, so unfamiliar. It threatens to become addictive.

Fuck.

It will . . . it will become addictive.

My eyes widen when the man on the ground scrambles to rise, his gaze wild with fear, and the heat is gone abruptly; my skin turns cold. A split moment passes. A muffled pop pierces the silence just as the man’s head whips back, and he hits the concrete with a thuddingcrack.

Before the bullet split his skull, the brief realization of the coming death tore through his gaze. The light left his eyes, and his consciousness with it. And right there, in that moment, I found it. That feeling I’ve been craving with my entire soul. It’s raw. A heady mix of violence, fear, and unyielding satisfaction. But something new snakes through—pleasure. Shuddering, spine-tingling fervor. And it’s utterly terrifying.

My cheeks ache with the wide tug of my grin. I can’t help it. The sensation is electrifying. Even as the shooter’s shadow moves toward me, I’m unfazed.

This vengeance wasn’t mine, but for one sweet, violent moment, I felt it. It soothed my need for retribution. I’m energized. Alive.

I give myself one more heartbeat before I focus on the handsome stranger again. On his high, carved cheekbones, and the deep shadows in the hollows beneath them. On his short, perfectly straight nose and chiseled, square jaw. And on the defined lips, neither thin nor plump, but enticingly full, nonetheless.

Enticingly full... Oh my god. What is happening with me?

A stray strand of hair falls from the backswept mass atop his head and brushes against his thick, slightly curved eyebrows.

I don’t dare follow my exploration lower than his tattooed neck—the distraction far too great now—but I don’t need to see more to know that this six-foot-something hunk of a man is as gorgeous as he is dangerous.

He takes one more step, and the nerves around my spine pull me to straighten all at once. I should be scared, but anticipation and exhilaration prevail, and fear seems to be the last thing on my mind. At least, not the self-preserving kind of fear. There’s a sizzle in the air, and I find it impossible to keep still as I shift my weight from one leg to the other. This man’s eerie silence doesn’t help.

“Did he really...traffic children?” I had to say something to cut this tension.

Plus, I have to stall. Judging from the chilling look he’s gracing me with, escaping might be my only chance at survival.

“Yes.”

His answer startles me.

I nod once, barely remembering the question. “Are there more?”

“More of...?” His brow shifts slightly, and I feel like he’s a teacher correcting my grammar.

“Children.”

“Yes.”

“He didn’t suffer . . .” I sigh.

“No, he did not. It was quick.” He speaks those words too abruptly, the sudden change in tone telling me he mistook my words for relief.

“Shame.” I shrug. “You should have made him suffer. Shoot the knees first.” I gesture toward the man on the ground. “Stomach after. I hear it hurts like hell. Dying from a stomach wound, that is. People like him don’t deserve a quick death. Make the next ones suffer.”

I look up in time to catch the slight twitch at the corner of his lips. No way was he about to smile. Somehow the expression would look foreign on his stern features.

“The next ones?” His low, slightly gravelly voice warms me as he bows his head, his gaze running up and down my body. He lingers on certain areas, sending a debilitating shiver through my flesh.

What the hell is wrong with you, Scarlet? This man is probably gonna kill you in the next two minutes!

“You spoke of an entire operation. So, there are more where he came from.”