Page 10 of The Secrets We Bury

“Your father contacted me a few months ago, not long after you came to Public.” The words shoot out of his mouth in a rush.I dip my head again and smile. He’s getting it now. The more he talks, the further I’ll go.

“He swears up and down that he’s not responsible for the embezzlement. He sent me information, contacts, and I started looking into all of the evidence the courts seem to have.”

I lick a path from the throbbing muscle in his jaw to his collarbone. His breathing picks up speed.

“It was pretty easy to determine that everything he said was bullshit.”

If Lex is surprised by my lack of a flinch at his words, he doesn’t show it. I am, however. My entire focus is on him and how his body is reacting to every little thing I do. When I nip at his skin, sinking my teeth into his flesh, his hips jolt upward and his cock grinds against my core.

“Until it wasn’t.”

“It wasn’t?” I reward his continued good behavior with a delicate kiss to the opposite side of his neck. Then I open my mouth and suck, pulling on his skin and then releasing it with an audiblepop. The light red circle of a hickey is reflected back at me. A marking of my own.

“It’s clear someone spent a lot of time and money to make it look like Allen Donovan embezzled millions of dollars in funds from Donovan-Calloway.” Lex practically pants through the words. I work my way higher, to just beneath his ear.

“It wastoogood, though,” he continues.

I lift up and gaze down at the man slowly rocking and grinding into me. His eyes are glossy with desire, his lips parted and shining as he swipes his tongue over the fuller lower half.

“No one who actually embezzled that much money would be so obvious about it,” Lex says. “I think he was set up.”

My desire ebbs at this news. “Is there proof?”

Lex winces and then sighs. “There’s nothing definitive, but I’m looking into finding your mother. I find it odd that she leftso quickly and even her family on the West Coast hasn’t seen her since. She came from money and even if she couldn’t live in Silverwood, it would make sense that she’d go back to her family for support. Then, there’s you…”

“What about me?”

His hands move, dragging me forward over the hard length of him. Sparks of fire swell in my belly, burning through me. My hands land on his shoulders and latch on.

“Everything revolves around you,” Lex says.

A frown takes over as his words bat away the sensations rising in my body. “What do you mean?”

Back I go, his hands pushing me down his thighs and then lifting me and dragging me forward again. Right. Over. His. Dick.

“Fuck!” My nails sink into his shoulders, digging in until I’m sure I might cut through the fabric of his shirt entirely to enter his flesh.

“Think about it,” he whispers, drawing my head forward as he brushes my mouth with his lightly. Side to side, not quite making it a kiss. The tables have turned on me, but oh, what sweet trickery. “You are the center of everything that’s happened. Who is affected by it all?”

“My family—” I start, but Lex merely shakes his head.

“Your family wasn’t around when your apartment burned down,” he reminds me. “And Gio—those men that attacked him mentioned you. Then, tonight…”

My spine goes stiff and his hands shift, sliding towards it and smoothing upward. His lashes flutter as he stares at my mouth. Hunger is reflected in the dark pools of his gaze. I focus on that, on him.

I find now that I’ve made the decision, trusting him becomes easier with each passing breath between us. Slowly, but surely, I fall into him, letting him take on the weight of my body, hold itagainst his. It isn’t until he speaks again that I realize he’d done it all for a reason.

“Nolan has a name.”

The soothing sensations evaporate and I sit up straight. “Who?”

“Baby…”

With a snarl, I wrap my hand around his throat. It’s far too thick for me to completely surround, but I grip and squeeze with all of my strength. Red-hot, pulsing fury rages through my system.

“Who?” I repeat the word, a demand.

Lex gazes back at me, unyielding. He doesn’t hide from my anger. He accepts it, even going so far as to lean into my hold. It has to be hard for him to breathe, but he doesn’t even flinch.