Page 143 of Freeing Denver

She sighs. “Yep. We shouldn’t commit crimes. No meetings, no shipments … no keeping illegal goods in the basement of our café.”

Oh, fuck.

I twist a strand of her hair, opting for the ignorant approach. “You’re pretty.”

She swats my chest. “Hypocrite!”

“That was different; I didn’t get paid! I bet Alistair compensated you very nicely, didn’t he?”

She huffs. “You held illegal goods as a favor? Not a single pound or dollar was exchanged? Bullshit, Colt Harland. You got paid. Tell me.” I can’t help my gaze dropping to the diamond necklace around her neck. She swats me again. “You told me you picked this for me!”

“I did! I got paid in the diamonds.”

“Oh, you …” She points at me. “Okay, we’ve been honest. It’s all out on the table now. No more lies.”

“None.”

She plays with my tie. “Also … my name may or may not be on a shell corporation in the Maldives.”

I somehow keep my annoyance in check as I step forward, crowding her. “How many corporations?”

“One …” She keeps backing away, her cheeks flushed. “… Three.”

Fuck. My cock is hardening, and it really shouldn’t, not when she’s put herself at risk like this and lied about it. But my skin is on fire, my breath quick with every confession.

“That’s dangerous,” I say, my gaze dropping to her lips. “Reckless.”

“Very reckless,” she says, her voice low as she bumps into the bedroom wall.

“I put a man in the hospital for ripping me off on a coffee delivery,” I say, gripping her thighs, lifting, and wrapping her legs around my waist. “I told you he went out of business, but he left the county.”

“Fuck,” she breathes before crashing her lips against mine. I slide my hands up her thighs, gripping her underwear and snapping it. Her tongue sweeps into my mouth, and she tangles her fingers into my hair as I unbuckle my belt, freeing my dick. “I visit a gun range once a month.”

I groan against her lips. “Me too.”

She cries out when I slide my cock into her slick heat. Her head drops back against the wall, and I bury my face in her neck, my fingers pressing into the flesh of her ass as I steady myself.

Our sex life has always been great. It’s more difficult to find the time now we have three kids, but we do. Even if it means closing the café early so I can bend her over the counter, or she can ride me on the stockroom floor. But now feels different.

Her perfume smells sweeter. Her skin feels softer. Her breathy sighs as I pull back and ease back in send goose bumps across my shoulders and down my back. Maybe it’s the allure of easing back into being people we’d once tried so hard not to be—a glimpse into Deluxe and Ghost.

“You’re my bad girl,” I whisper in her ear, and this time when I pull out, I slam into her. I kiss down her neck, biting into her skin. “Aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she whimpers as I pick up my pace, her pussy squeezing my cock as I bury each inch into her again and again.

“Are you going to come for me?” I demand, my hips pistoning into her. She nods, her eyes squeezed closed.

“Yes, Ghost.”

“Fuck.” I slam into her hard and fast until she’s moaning so loudly, I have to cover her mouth. “Come for me, Deluxe.”

Her eyes fly open and she tightens around me in strong, beautiful pulses that have me coming, too.

I remain buried in her as we catch our breath, and when I uncover her mouth, she kisses me. “I’m sorry I lied.”

“Me too. Maybe we haven’t changed as much as we hoped.”

She shrugs gently. “It’s hard to shake the habit, I guess. But no more, right?” I nod and place her on her feet. I snatch some tissues from a box on the nightstand and clean her up, and she bites her lip as she smiles at me.