Page 47 of Renegade (The Santini Assassins #2)

Someone had rear-ended her. It wasn’t strong enough to set off her airbag, but she’d banged her head against the headrest. She glanced in the mirror. A woman got out. Caroline joined her at the rear of her SUV.

“Whatdidja stop for?” asked the woman.

“Are you hurt?” Caroline asked.

“I dunno, maybe.” She glared at Caroline. “Depends.”

Caroline didn’t have the time or the patience for this. She glanced at her bumper. No damage, but when she ran her fingers over the surface, she felt an indentation.

Great .

“You know, you shoulda kept going,” the woman said. “The light was yellow, not red. If I didn’t have excellent reflexes, it woulda been a lot worse.”

As the cars slow-rolled by, someone hurried into the street. “Everything okay?”

Caroline swung her attention toward him. It was Stan from Lost Souls, dressed in street clothes.

“Caroline, is that you?” he walked closer. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“This chick stopped on a yellow.” The woman stared at her completely untouched bumper. “I think I’ve got damage.”

Caroline turned on her phone’s flashlight. “Your car is fine.”

She remembered that the ALPHA vehicles weren’t registered with the Motor Vehicle Administration. Since the damage to her bumper was so minimal, she just needed to move on.

“But my neck.” The woman gripped the back of her neck. “I’m injured. Let me get your contact info?—”

“Look,” Stan interjected, “you’re fine. Are you trying to scam this woman?”

“Excuse me?” barked the stranger. “She stopped short, my fast reflexes are the reason we’re not hurt. This coulda been a lot worse.” She eyed Caroline. “Yeeesh, a lot worse.”

“I need to go.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Stan asked.

“What about me?” the woman pushed back.

Stan regarded Caroline. “I’ll follow you home to make sure you get there safely.”

Caroline didn’t need an escort. “No. Don’t.”

She climbed into her SUV, checked before pulling into traffic, and drove away.

Even though she wasn’t hurt, she started trembling. “It’s good,” she said. “I’m fine. I can check the SUV again when I get home.”

She drove to her condo building, parked beneath the well-lit covered entryway, and got out. The back hatch worked, the vehicle wasn’t making any weird sounds, but she had no idea if that fender bender had caused structural damage. As she was closing the back hatch, Stan pulled up alongside her.

Not again.

“Just checking on you,” he said. “There’s been a bunch of accidents like yours where scammers pretend like they’re hurt.”

“I’m good.”

“Yay. I mean, we were once lovers, so there is that.”

She winced.

Lovers? Ohgod, he’s blown this up.

He glanced toward the lobby. “Is there a restroom in there?”

A vehicle drove in, parked behind her. She glanced over and her pulse kicked up. Grey got out, eyed Stan.

“What’s goin’ on?” Grey asked.

“I was in a fender bender on the way home,” Caroline said. “Stan, from Lost Souls, showed up at the accident, then followed me home.”

As Grey eyed Stan, a shadow fell over his eyes and his fingers curled into fists.

“I was walking by and wanted to make sure Caroline was okay, you know, whiplash and all.” Stan adjusted his glasses.

Grey shifted toward her. “Are you hurt?”

“No. The vehicle has a minor ding.”

“I’m glad you’re okay. I should get going.” Stan hurried to his car.

Grey pulled her close and held her against him. She wrapped her arms around him, breathed him in, and released a long sigh.

As Caroline broke away, she glanced toward the street. Instead of driving away, Stan had parked near the entrance. “Hmm.”

Grey followed her gaze. “What?”

“That was stalker Stan from Lost Souls. Tonight, some rando tapped my bumper at a yellow light? —

“And he showed up?” Grey growled.

“Coincidence?”

“No.” Grey flicked his gaze from her to Stan. “Do you want the police?”

“For the accident?”

“For a restraining order.”

She looked for Stan’s car, but he’d left. “Let’s go inside. I’m so over this.”

“Where’s your weapon?”

“Locked in my glovebox. Addison and Hawk have kids.”

After he checked the SUV’s bumper, he followed her underground.

She pulled her weapon, tucked it into the back of her pants.

As they rode the elevator, he pulled her close, kissed her so damn good that everything else fell away.

When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t miss the love in his ocean-blues.

“You make everything better,” she said, as they walked down the hall toward her condo.

“Same,” he replied.

In her apartment, she called out for her sister. Like earlier, Sydney wasn’t there. Grey set his computer bag on the chair at the breakfast bar.

“This isn’t like her,” Caroline said as she pulled out her phone.

“She left you a note.”

Caroline hadn’t seen it earlier because Sydney had left it on the breakfast bar.

Sis, out of town. Gone dark. Home in a week. Love you, Syd

“Looks like we’ve got the place to ourselves,” Caroline said as she strapped her arms around his neck.

He dipped down, kissed her. “What should we do? ”

She loved the playfulness in his voice. Loved that they would steal away, put each other first before they worked.

Caroline pulled the book Addison had loaned her. “I’m thinking I might like to read you a bedtime story.”

He chuffed out a laugh. “That’s a first.”

“Addison swears by this author.”

Grey glanced down at the cover and shrugged a shoulder. “Let’s go for it.”

She smiled. “I like that about you. You’re easy.”

“I’m with my woman, so I’m good.”

“I love that I’m yours.” She kissed him, held him close. “I need you, Grey.”

“I need you bad, baby.”

In the living room, she helped him tug off his sweater.

She pressed her lips to his ripped chest while hungry hands wrapped his shoulders.

Off came his shoes and pants. As she stripped him from his boxer briefs, she knelt before him and peered up.

Desire stole her thoughts, amped up the heat, but it was the fire in his eyes that sent a streak of adrenaline racing through her.

“I need your massive cock in my mouth, in my pussy.” Then she shot him a devilish smile. “In my anus.”

A throaty groan ripped from the depths of his chest. “My naughty Caroline.”

She ran her tongue over his shaft, appreciating the thickness of his massive cock.

When she took him in her mouth, wetness flooded her core, her eyes fluttered closed, and she gently ran her tongue over the head and the top of his shaft, exploring every curve, every detail.

Pleasuring him made her happy… in her soul.

For her, this was more than physical pleasure.

Grey was her destiny.

Pausing, she gazed up at him. “You taste good. I want you to explode in my mouth, your come choking me with your hot juices.”

“You are so fucking sexy,” he said squeezing her shoulders.

She ran her tongue over the head, around and around, while his excitement oozed out. “Mmmm.”

And then, she devoured him, taking as much as she could fit into her eager mouth.

Ravenous to get lost in everything Grey, she licked and sucked, while her insides throbbed with desire.

As her intensity grew, so did his growls.

Faster and faster she sucked, relaxing her jaw and pressing him against the back of her throat. ”

“Fuck, Caroline, I’m gonna come.”

She cradled his balls, gently caressing them as he roared through his orgasm, filling her with his sexy juices.

She loved how he gripped her shoulders while he poured himself into her.

When he finished, she slowly pulled off him and stood.

Her body was pulsating so hard, she could barely catch her breath, the small space between her legs desperate for a release, eager to take him inside her and ride him hard and fast, again and again until she surrendered to the ecstasy.

All the ecstasy only he could give her.

Using the kitchen towel, she dried her wet mouth and chin. When she turned back to him, he stood there, a pillar of strength and power, his heavy-lidded eyes black with lust. Instead of running to him, she stood there admiring him.

Was he the one? Was he the person she was meant to spend her life with? Travel the world with? Hunt down evil with? Maybe even have children with?

So many questions that she couldn’t answer now. All she cared about in this moment was letting herself go with the one man who could easily handle her.

In seconds, she kicked off her shoes, stripped off her shirt and pants before she jumped into his arms and wrapped herself around him.

They came together in an explosive kiss while she ground into him.

He held her in his arms while he tongued her with a ferocity that had her crying out with desire.

The harder he kissed her, the wetter she became.

“More, more,” she rasped out. “I gotta have you.”

He set her in the middle of the sofa, knelt between her legs, and tugged off her panties, then reached around and unhooked her bra, but he didn’t pull it away. Instead, he captured her face in his hands and dropped one more panty-searing kiss on her lips.

“You. Are. Mine.”

Slowly, he pulled her bra off her shoulders, tossed it over his. “I want to fuck your perfect tits.”

“Pearl necklace,” she whispered.

She ached for him, desperate to feel him on her, in her, teasing the pleasure from her and taking her skillfully over the edge.

He kissed her again before anchoring his mouth on her nipple, pulling and nipping her tender flesh until the mewls she made ripped from her chest while her greedy fingers fisted his hair and stroked his defined back.

But when he placed his mouth between her legs, she arched off the sofa, eager for him to bury his tongue and his talented digits inside her.

Grey’s growl rumbled out of him and into her and she watched with great anticipation to what he’d do next.

Her gaze floated over his brows, his razor-straight nose, and across whiskered cheeks as he teased her clit with his talented tongue.

His thick fingers gently caressed the folds of her sex until she begged him to enter her. “Finger fuck me,” she pleaded.

As if they had nothing but time, he slid a finger inside. Pleasure had her spreading her legs wider, welcoming him inside. “Yesssss,” she hissed.

He took his time, the tease excruciatingly divine.

Teasing her clit with his tongue and then his thumb while he added a second, then a third finger.

His thrusting increased, the euphoria taking her higher and higher until she shook from the pure pleasure pounding through her.

Her thoughts faded away, only the stunningly beautiful man feasting on her mattered.

“Ohgod, yes, I’m gonna come.” The orgasm started deep inside her, billowing out like a tornado ripping through her. She cried out as the ecstasy overtook her. And then, it was over, and she was numb, and boneless, and in complete bliss.

After he extracted himself, he kissed her, then he lifted her into his arms, and carried her down the hallway. “Which one?”

“Huh?” She couldn’t stop staring at him, couldn’t soak up his handsome face enough. She was floating, floating, and she never, ever, wanted to return to earth.

He was her happy place.

After entering a bedroom, he asked, “Yours?”

She glanced over. “No.”

He walked to the end of the hall, entered her bedroom, and yanked back the comforter, sending pillows flying everywhere. After he deposited her on the soft linens, he planked over her and peered into her eyes.

“How’d I do?” he murmured.

“The crowd gives you a ten.”

“And you?”

“I give you a million.”

“So, I got the job?”

She smiled, the feeling returning to her body. “Absolutely. You could be the guy who sticks around for fifty years and gets a Rolex for his commitment to excellence.”

The laugh that burst from his guts, paired with the joy on his face, sent a series of mini-explosions flittering through her. She was hooked on him and, like an addict, she’d just gotten an injection of Greystone Santini. And she was happy.

“Big Daddy needs his little girl. ”

“Big Daddy can have me.”

While peering into her eyes, he dropped a tender kiss on her lips. “I gotta grab something.”

He pushed off the bed and left the room. Seconds later, he returned, and sat on the edge of the bed, his expression serious. Her chest tightened. Something felt off. Then, he held out a small, black jewelry box.

“For you.”

Oh, wow.

She sat up, took the box, and opened it. Inside were cushion-cut diamond stud earrings that sparkled, even in the low-lit bedroom.

She gasped. “Wow.” Then, she regarded him. “Seriously?”

“Try them on.”

Once in her ears, she launched herself at him, hugging him with such force, he almost fell off the bed. With a laugh, he pulled her hair away and studied them. “They look great on you.”

She scurried out of bed, admiring them in her floor-standing mirror. “Why?”

He pushed off the bed, stood behind her, and wrapped her in his arms. “Love.”

She smiled at his reflection. “The perfect answer.” She pivoted toward him, stroked his back, palmed his muscular ass. “How can I thank you?”

He dipped down, kissed her as he tugged on her hair. “Love me, Bella.”

She shot him a playful smile. “That’s the easy part.” Standing tall, she kissed him, letting her tongue tangle with his. When the delicious kiss ended, she broke away to pull the full-length mirror next to her bed.

“I want to watch you fuck me… or my tits. Your call.”

Grey’s raspy growl was his only reply.