“Hank was about to take you to the station,” she reminded gently.
“Oh. Right. Well, he didn't. He decided to straighten me out instead, and after a while, I decided to let him do it. I was just smart enough to realize that there wasn't much of a future in my lifestyle.”
“Yes?” she prompted. “So?”
“It's a long story, but basically he just bullied me and hassled me into getting my GED. Then he bullied and hassled some more until I ended up in the Army. Hank was an Army man.”
God, it had been so long since he let himself think about all this stuff. His brain was churning out memories all on its own, like watching an old movie. He could actually hear Hank's gruff voice.
He shook himself again. This weird inability to concentrate was pissing him off. “Where the hell was I?” he snapped.
“The Army,” she reminded him.
“Oh. The Army. Yeah, they made me take all the tests, and figured out that I actually had a brain underneath all that attitude. They sent me to Rangers school, and I ended up in the 75th Rangers regiment. And bam, I was hooked. I did my time investigating threats to national security. Counter-intelligence, antiterrorism, antiespionage, you name it The discipline was pure hell on earth, but I knew if I was a good boy they would let me play with their toys. It was actually worth it to me. So I stuck with it.”
“Good for you.” She kissed his forehead.
He grabbed her wrists, gripping them hard enough to make her squeak. “Get this straight, Raine. Fm not telling you about my childhood to make you feel sorry for me, because I don't feel sorry for myself. I'm telling you for two reasons. The first is because lying is a big waste of time.”
She hesitated. “I agree.”
“Good. I'm real glad we're on the same page with that one. The second reason I'm telling you my life story is because, if I understood correctly, you won't have sex with me again until I do. And I want to have sex with you again. Soon. Right here, in fact. You cool with that?”
A tremor went through her body, but she didn't pull away. “Um, yes,” she said softly.
“OK,” he muttered. He let go of her hands and seized her waist again. “I wanted that to be perfectly clear. No more misunderstandings.”
“Crystal clear.” She gave him an encouraging nod. “Go on.”
His hands slid down and settled on the swell of her hip. “So to make a boring story short, I ended up serving part time in the Reserves. I enrolled at UCLA on the GI bill. Got some scholarships, scraped together the tuition somehow. Got a degree in electronic engineering, teamed up with some other egghead geeks, and Mackey Security Systems Design was born. My status as an ex-thief gives me a unique edge when it comes to designing surveillance and countersurveillance systems security, but I don't tell potential clients that. I play up the Rangers angle instead. It tends to inspire more confidence. So I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself.”
Her shadowy, appreciative smile made his cock pulse and throb painfully. He had to wrap this up and get back to seducing her before he exploded. 'There it is, babe,” he concluded. “My life story. I'm damaged goods, but I can fake it when I have to. Money covers up a lot of warts.”
She cuddled up against him. “You're very cynical.”
He snorted. “Yeah.” He splayed his hands wide and gripped the warm, smooth cheeks of her beautiful bare ass. “So? Anything else you need to know about me before I make you come again?”
She twisted in his arms, and her soft breasts pressed against his chest as she hugged him, kissing his jaw. “I'm so sorry about your mother,” she murmured, her voice catching.
He turned his face away from her soft kisses. “Don't feel sorry for me, because I'll take advantage of it, I promise you,” he said roughly. “I'm an opportunistic bastard, and don't you ever forget it.”
She leaned her forehead against his, and shook with a whispery little laugh. “If you're so opportunistic, then why are you warning me?” “Damned if I know” he muttered. “somebody’s got to, I guess.”
She was so intent on her questions that she barely noticed that he'd tugged her leggings completely off and was peeling off her socks. “Are you still in touch with Hank?” she asked.
“Hank died five years ago. Liver cancer.” He tossed her discarded clothes to the floor.
“I'm sorry” she said. “So now—isn't there any family out there for you? An aunt, or uncle, a grandparent? Nobody?”
He hesitated. “No.”
“But... there did used to be someone?” Her voice trailed off into a questioning silence.
His split-second hesitation had been a mistake. She was quick and smart, and listening so carefully that she had sensed the ragged black hole inside him where Jesse used to be. The one place he was utterly unwilling to go.
Diversion time.
He seized her ankles and placed them on the seat, pushing her back until she was crouched in front of him, thighs splayed He leaned against her, pressing her thighs even wider. “Story time is over for today, sweetheart.”
Her head fell back against the seat with a breathless gasp. She lifted her hips, offering herself to him. His leather coat creaked in the hushed darkness as he hunched over to suckle her breasts. She reached up and clutched his jacket, gasping as he slid his finger tenderly inside her, stretching and opening her. “Are you sore?” he asked. “I was pretty rough on you yesterday.”
“I'm all right.” Raine gripped the front of his sweater and moved herself against his hand. “I love what you do to me. Please don't stop.”
“How about my offer?” He played with her sensitive folds, in sync with the eager movements of her hips, spreading her moisture tenderly around. “You going to blow off Lazar and come away with me?”
Subtle sounds were loud in the stillness of the can unbuckling his belt, the buttons popping open on his jeans, the rustle as he ripped open a condom and fitted it over himself.
Her fists were trembling, clenching hard onto his sweater. “I don't need a protector, Seth,” she whispered. “I can take care of myself.”
She let out a sharp sigh at the first blunt, probing contact of his cock. He nudged the head of his shaft tenderly up and down her cleft in a slow, controlled caress. “That's not how it looks to me, sweetheart.”
Her hips pulsed against him, but he held her still, pinning her against the seat, circling his penis around her swollen clit Making her squirm and whimper and wait, until they were both sure she wanted it as much as he did. He wanted there to be absolutely no doubt.
“It sounds like you're saying I should be protected from you.” She let out a nervous little laugh as he lifted her into position.
He nudged his cock slightly deeper as he captured her mouth in a hot, demanding kiss. He bit her lush lower lip, and slid his tongue into her mouth, mimicking the shallow, teasing thrusts he was making with his hips. “Yeah, you probably should be protected from the likes of me,” he said, not even bothering to hide the dark triumph in his voice. “But you're not, Raine. And you know what?”
“What?” she begged, pulling at him, her eyes dazed. “What?”
“That's just your tough luck, babe.”
He thrust himself inside her with one deep, hard lunge.
She almost screamed. He was so thick and hard and hot, the rough penetration both exciting and painful. He'd been right, she was sore from yesterday's encounter, but so aroused that she hadn't wanted to risk him stopping, or slowing, or holding back in any way.
She wanted all of him, everything. She needed it, now and forever. Only Seth had the power to drive away her fears. Only this white-hot blaze of pure desire would do the job.
She grasped his upper arms, but they were too thick with muscle and slippery with stiff leather to get a good grip, so she seized fistfuls of his sweater again. First she was upright, pinned between him and the sweat-
