Page 16 of Whips and Chains (Saint View Murder Squad #2)

VIOLET

I opened my mouth to scream in the man’s face.

Only to realize it was X’s brown eyes I was staring into.

The scream disappeared instantly, the fear replaced by relief it was him and not someone I needed to be afraid of.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had my arms around his neck and my lips against his. I fell into his warm arms, pressed myself against the strength of his chest, and let myself be devoured by the safety he represented in my terrified brain.

Except he didn’t kiss me back.

He pulled back, his brows drawn together in confusion. “Violet?”

I just needed him to kiss me. I tried again, forcing my lips to his, but he backed off once more. “Hang on. Something’s wrong. Talk to me.”

Hot embarrassment slammed through me, and I jerked away from him.

It wasn’t a good combination, mixing with the fear and grief.

All of it was too much. And the last thing I wanted to do was admit to him I was so damn weak I couldn’t take care of myself.

That I was now scared of every man. Of every shadow.

That I was so jumpy I’d thought I was being kidnapped when a simple look at a map would have told me my fears were running off with my brain and I was actually perfectly safe.

I didn’t feel safe. It felt like danger lurked everywhere I went, and I could no longer trust anyone.

Except him.

But now I was throwing myself at him like a desperate maiden, and I couldn’t take the embarrassment of yet another rejection. I spun on my heel, storming away, out of the alley and toward the lineup of people waiting to get inside Psychos.

“Violet.”

I kept going. I just had to get inside, and then I could lose him in the crowd. Or at least pretend I was working. The club probably actually wasn’t big enough to lose anyone, especially not someone like X, who seemed to have the nose of a bloodhound when it came to tracking me down.

“Violet.”

I kept going.

“Dammit, Violet!”

He grabbed my wrist, spinning me around so we were face-to-face.

I glared up at him, my fear and embarrassment turning into anger because the alternative was tears, and I had too much pride for that.

His mouth slammed down on mine.

For a long moment I didn’t move. It took that long to register he was kissing me.

But once my body realized what was going on, there was no stopping it.

I wrapped my arms around his neck again, drawing him close. He deepened the kiss, slanting his head, his lips soft but demanding, his tongue licking his way into my mouth.

I moaned unashamedly as he pushed me up against the wall of the club, his big body crushing mine onto the bricks. Every inch of him was hard, from his leanly muscled arms to his abs, to his dick, instantly alert and nudging into the softness of my lower belly.

He brought one hand up to the side of my face, cupping me there, holding me in place, while the other caged me in, palm pressed to the wall.

I was well aware there was a line of people just feet ahead of us, and Scythe or Vincent would be at the head of it, letting people in or turning them away.

But all I could feel was X. All I could see and taste and smell was this man who I had wanted to kiss me like this for the longest time, even if my brain knew better.

Screw my brain. Screw everything rational it knew about him.

When I’d been trapped in the back of the car, it was him I’d called. Him I’d wanted.

Him I’d needed.

X kissed me like I was the air fueling his lungs. His tongue swept away any reservation I might have had, and his body on mine lit up every pleasurable part of me, each one demanding I do a whole lot more than just kiss this man.

His lips trailed off my mouth and down my neck. He fumbled with my knee-length jacket, unbuttoning the top of it with one hand to give himself better access to my throat and cleavage.

He caught a glimpse of the lacy corset-style top I’d bought, and he groaned, licking and kissing his way across the swell of my tits until he dragged his mouth back up to mine.

“Fucking hell, Violet. What the hell are you wearing under that jacket?”

Except he didn’t give me a chance to answer him. Because his mouth was back on mine, claiming me, branding me, his kisses spinning my head until I had no idea where we were.

His hand slid from the side of my face to my throat, and wetness pooled between my thighs. My knees went weak, pleasure exploding all through my body at every touch.

With a sharp groan of need, he stepped back, his eyes unfocused, his expression tortured.

And then he was dragging me past the waiting line of people and inside the club. He didn’t even stop to acknowledge Scythe or Vincent on the door, I wasn’t sure which because X didn’t slow even for a second. He towed me inside, people instantly surrounding us.

Performers had already taken to the cages, the gold glittering beneath spotlights that lit up the bronzed, sweaty bodies of the people dancing, kissing, or fucking inside them.

I didn’t get a chance to take it all in though, because X knew exactly what he wanted.

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Whip and Levi moving toward us but then I was being led down a hallway, private rooms behind closed doors, though that didn’t stop a crowd from forming around them.

Some of the rooms had glass viewing windows. Some people just used the hallway as a dark, quieter place to have sex.

The scent of it was already thick in the air, the club barely open, but everyone here for one thing, and nobody was wasting any time.

X was one of them. He ushered me into an empty room, closing the door behind us.

For a long moment, I couldn’t work out why this room was here. The other ones I’d seen when Levi and I had been here cleaning were full of kink equipment and toys or had peepholes so you could fuck while being watched.

This room had none of that. It seemed completely private.

I couldn’t work it out, but then X pushed me up against a wall, his fingers around my throat once more, his lips at my ears. “I want to fuck you, Violet. I want you naked, riding my cock, and screaming my name when you come.”

Oh God. This man. He was so goofy and silly and ridiculous…until it came to sex.

Then it was like a different side of him showed up. One that was a whole lot darker than anything I’d ever experienced.

One that scared me, just a little.

But there was no denying the effect he had on my body.

A few words from him, and I was already undoing the rest of the buttons on my jacket, the one he’d already started taking off outside.

My clit tingled with anticipation, and my core clenched, desperate with need for him because my body remembered how good it felt when he was inside me.

“I want you,” I mumbled to him, my jacket hitting the floor at my feet so he could see the outfit I’d bought for him.

No, not for him. I’d bought it for myself. So I could try to fit in with the other women who worked here, all of them owning their sexuality and their bodies, no matter the size of them.

And it was working. Because standing there in a corset and panties with X staring at me like I’d just unwrapped a present tailor-made for him, was the biggest confidence boost I’d ever had.

His gaze burned a trail across my skin, and the way he grabbed the back of my neck, hauling me in so he could claim my mouth would live rent-free in my head for the rest of my life.

He devoured my lips like he wanted to own them, only pulling back to tongue my ear, his stubbled jaw scratching perfectly across the sensitive skin there. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me right now, Violet. No fucking idea how bad I want my dick inside you.”

“Do it,” I panted. “I want it.”

“I’m going to. But you need to know there’s people watching us. This is a camera room.”

I paused, peeping over his shoulder.

There were indeed cameras in the corners of the room, a tiny red light blinking from each of them, telling me they were on.

Every doubt I’d ever had about my body rushed back in. It was one thing for X to stare at me like I was a meal on a plate that he wanted to eat every night for the rest of his life, but it was another thing altogether to realize there were any number of strangers watching us.

I wanted him so badly.

But I wasn’t sure I could do this.

His fingers found my chin, and he grasped it, tilting my head so I was focused on him again. “I need them. I can’t be alone with you.” He kissed me again. “I’m scared I’ll hurt you.”

I shook my head. “You won’t.”

But his eyes were full of a fear I’d never seen in them. Not when he’d killed a man in cold blood. Not when he’d found me sitting in a pool of it.

I’d never seen him scared.

Until now.

No, that wasn’t true. I’d seen it one other time. When we’d been in the shower and he’d run out.

I suddenly understood that night a whole lot better.

His tongue trailed up my neck. “You’ve barely seen glimpses of the monster I am, Violet. You want them watching us.”

His voice somehow managed to send chills of both fear and pleasure through my body all at once.

My brain said to say no.

Said to walk right out of this room and not look back, because clearly this man was dangerous.

And yet I couldn’t force my feet to budge.

Because even though he was warning me away, all I saw was the man who’d killed my attacker. The man who’d caught a duck for me just because I’d said I’d liked them. A man who would only touch me in public because his need to keep me safe outweighed everything else.

I reached behind me and tugged at the ribbon on my corset.

It didn’t undo easily. X turned me around so I was facing the wall. He brushed my fingers aside, taking over the job of tugging the laces free one at a time, while he kissed my neck in alternating sucks and gentle bites.

Pleasure coursed through me, starting from every place he touched me. His lips and tongue burned a hot trail across my skin, which was only heightened by the glide of his fingers and the silky corset ribbon that danced along with them.