Page 94 of Unexpected Redemption

All I want is to remind her how completely she owns me.

With our lips intertwined, her hands roam across my shoulders, settling at my nape. Mine find their way to her hips, locking her close to me where she belongs. Safe and in my arms.

Before I know what I’m doing, I find myself crawling on top of her. Her thighs spread to surround my hips and welcome me home.

No, no.Can’t do that now.

Reluctantly as fuck, I pull my lips off hers. With our foreheads resting together, I tell her, “Easy there, sugar.”

Her lips thin with a wide grin, dripping in sex appeal. “Sorry. It’s hard to control myself when it comes to you. You’ve created a monster.”

“A sex monster.” I tilt my head to the side. “What kink is that?”

Her blue eyes dazzle like a starry night sky. “A Tomer kink.”

Fuck. I want to spend all day and night inside her body, wrapped in her arms, and doing nothing but loving her.

But I can’t have my third thing until I fix the first two.

A half hour later,Mia’s brows shoot to the ceiling when Lettie and I breeze into the lair.“Hey, you two.” Her green eyes bounce between sugar bear and me. “Didn’t think I’d see you again today, Lettie. Are you feeling better?”

Lettie pulses her hand over mine before letting go. “Yep. Much better. In fact . . .” She glances up at me briefly, holding me captive under her spell. “I’msogood that I forced him to tell me about Sue’s theory. And then I convinced him to bring me up here so I could discuss it with you. I want to help.” Her shoulders bounce with her eagerness.

Mia and Klein fling their gazes at me, a mix of concerned and amused glances. Interestingly enough, those are the same two emotions I’ve been battling since Lettie pinched my nipples and wouldn’t let go until I promised to bring her up here.

I regret teaching her that trick.

It wasn’t the nipple torture that had me caving, though. She genuinely wants to help solve the case. And I get it. There’s no worse feeling than helplessness. Being a prisoner to circumstance, powerless to change the outcome.

That’s one of the last things I want for her.

She got a taste of how good it felt earlier today when she helped us unravel the Russian doll mystery. If it makes her happy to contribute, I’ll eagerly let her do anything she thinks she can handle. And I believe her when she says something else triggered her episode.

Mia’s mouth crumples in an impressed pucker. “Welp, considering how freaking helpful she was with the other riddle today, I’ll happily take all the assistance little miss ma’am herewants to bless us with.”Without waiting, she bolts from the desk and grabs Lettie’s hand, leading her to the whiteboard.

As she goes, Lettie tosses a borderline maniacal look at me over her shoulder. I read it loud and clear.I told you they’d be happy to have my help.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mia leads Lettie to the table and then drags over the easel Sue scribbled her notes on earlier. Whether we liked it or not, we got a crash course in Greek mythology.

“You guys get started,” I tell them, edging toward my workstation. “I’ll listen from here while I catch up.”

They wave me off and start recapping the main players in the story. Meanwhile, I pull up my chat program and send a private message to Boss.

Me:

What did you have Lettie working on this afternoon after lunch?

While I waitfor his response, I clear out a few emails and scan over the dashboard of Big Brother, our server monitoring program.

Boss:

I heard she had a panic attack. Is she okay?

Me:

She’s good now. What was she working on? Trying to figure out what could have triggered her.

---