Page 49 of Sweet Deception

Obviously, the woman is a vault. I just need her to open up. Not much. Just enough to determine that I don’t have to kill her.

She shifts to face me. Even with the shadows, I can see the visible exhaustion in every muscle of her body.

“I already told you the truth,” she insists. “Lucy is my friend’s sister. She disappeared after a modeling audition. Somebody abducted herand nearly killed Maya when she tried to stop it. Turns out other women were taken the same way.”

The reservation in her tone is impossible to miss. She only offers me what I already know, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s holding something back. Maybe she’s testing me, curious to see how I’ll react to the information she’s concealed.

“What does Lucy’s abduction have to do with why you hacked my phone?”

She shrugs and rolls her lips together. Guess I’m back to being stonewalled.

“Do you work with Troy Sullivan?”

Veronika stiffens. “I have absolutely no idea who this Troy Sullivan is or why he and his men were shooting at us at my apartment.”

“Did he tell you to say that if you got caught?” I gravitate toward her as though some invisible force is pulling me.

Veronika shakes her head, but her hardened eyes are unyielding.

She could still be lying. Despite her reticence, though, something in my gut tells me that whenever she does speak, it’s the truth. She’s not exactly forthcoming, but neither am I.

We’re both out on the same wire, doing our individual best to balance and keep from tumbling to our deaths.

As I continue my advance, a grim smile props up my face. “Neither of us knows if we can trust the other, huh?”

I place the laptop on the dresser and glide into her space.

Right now, I’m like a snake, closing in on her body heat and preparing to strike. She backs away, an instinctual and self-protective impulse. Her back hits the wall behind her, and now, I’m a wall in front of her.

Standing inches away, I do something that surprises even me. I lift my hand and gently trace the side of her face.

She tips her head back at my touch like she wants more.

Fuck, the riot in my chest definitely wants more of this too…

“Kind of exhausting, isn’t it?” Her voice is low and raspy.

I can tell that being this close is a struggle for us both.

I nod, the muscles in my back flexing. My whole body’s raring to go at her. “I know one thing for certain.” If I let my eyes slip down from hers, I can see her trembling beneath the oversize t-shirt she’s draped in.

“What’s that?”

“I want to fuck you again.” My whole body vibrates with sexual energy. This woman drives me crazy. I drop my head to her ear and murmur the rest. “That’s what you want, too, isn’t it?”

When I raise my head, despite the shadows, I glimpse her eyelids sinking down to half-mast and lust coloring her expression. Her breath shudders, and she whispers an almost unintelligible, “yes.”

I hear it loud and clear.

My hungry lips descend on hers and draw the truth straight from her beautiful, lying mouth.

Chapter Eighteen

Bozhe moy, not again…

Darren’s mouth on mine obliterates whatever self-control I was desperately clinging to. As his lithe fingers tangle in my hair, my hands fly to his chest. I mean to push him back, but he’s so close, so intent on this kiss, and the testosterone emitting from him in heady waves intoxicates me. Any restraint I may have stored up flies right out of those barred windows.

The first moan escapes me when he deepens the kiss, dipping his fluid tongue into my open mouth. He groans back in reply, his hands sliding down my back and squeezing me against him until there’s no moonlight between the line of our bodies.