Page 91 of Forbidden Want

What a tease. “Thought you didn’t want to go upstairs,” she said, freeing her hand and twisting it around to slide it south, massaging him through his pants. “So why are you seducing me?”

“Is that what I’m doing?” he asked, gathering her skirt in his fist. “Being in you clears a guy’s head.”

“You need your head cleared, baby?”

“Gotta do without your pussy all day.”

A laugh left her lips. “It’s easier to work when you know it’s upstairs waiting?”

“Open all hours.”

“For you,” she said, opening his pants to slip her hand inside.

“Wall or floor?”

“Do me on the counter,” she said, draping her arms around his neck. Foregoing the sling had been a good decision. “Every time I walk by, I’ll think of you.”

He picked her up to carry her around to the counter. The closed shutter concealed them from the hallway. The metal wasn’t exactly military grade, and the guys out there had ears, but that wouldn’t stop them. As he rolled on the condom, she wriggled out of her panties. She’d woken up lonely, but definitely wasn’t alone.

THIRTY-TWO

“I SHOULD GIVE you gas money,” she said to Strat in the driving seat. “You’re quiet this morning.”

“Didn’t think I’d ever hear you like that,” he said, his lips curling. “The boss makes you happy, huh?”

“We both need the distraction right now.”

“I guess you came into each other’s lives at the right time…” She was still trying to decipher the undercurrent when her friend spoke again. “Don’t let yourself be manipulated, Scamp.”

“Who’s manipulating me?”

“I don’t know. Your father maybe. Your boyfriend… you’ve known your daddy and his rules your whole life. Don’t give up on him ‘cause the guy of the minute doubts him.”

“I asked Conn not to write him off. You’ve got to admit it would be a helluva coincidence, my father wants the same information I’m beaten for a day later.”

“You think your father would let that happen? Your dad’s an asshole. I get that. But no father would stand by and do nothing while that happened to his daughter.”

The lens of experience tainted perspectives. Despite their differences, Strat was a father, just like hers, with a son and a daughter. Unlike hers, Strat valued his children, loved them the way they were. No matter what, Strat would go to war for his little girl. Nothing would get in the way of him protecting her. Whether her own father was the same on that score remained to be seen.

Still, her dad deserved the benefit of the doubt. “I don’t know that he knew.” About the attack, as Connel called it. Why couldn’t she see it that clearly? “There are a lot of unknowns.”

“Think they have something on him?”

“Maybe.”

“You going to talk to the cop about it?”

“Lachlan?” In any other circumstance, he’d be who she went to for clarity and logic. Not this time. “What good would it do? I would love to get his take. But if I put it on him, he’ll see it as his responsibility to find out the truth.”

“It is his responsibility. He’s a cop. Cops investigate shit.”

“Their own fathers? The man they’ve worshipped their whole lives? It’ll break him if it’s true. Just demolish him.”

“And you don’t think it will come out eventually? I don’t know about this deal they’ve got going on—”

“It’s under control,” she said. “Someone will win, Conn will win.”

“And then what? Your father walks away clean?” His snicker was dubious. “Sorry to tell you, Scamp, shit don’t work like that. If your father’s on the hook, he’s on the hook until he goes to jail or dies. Guys like Connel McDade don’t give up an asset for free.”

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