“That’s right, my little hellcat. Feel that. Feel us.”
Oh she did, she felt it everywhere, from the spikes of her hair to the tips of her toes. Her body trembled in response as he continued to work her.
“Feel me and no other,” he murmured, his lips close to her ear. “No other. Ever!”
His words were dominant and insistent. She heard them with different ears, not of the woman, but of something else, and she roared, turning her head slightly to nip at his lips.
He took her mouth, thrusting his tongue as deep as his dick and fingers still were in her. She returned his fervor, their tongues dueling even as he worked her sex until she threatened to come again.
When he tore his lips from hers she made a sound of protest and thought she saw him bare his teeth— sharp teeth that then sank into her shoulder. The contact was instantly painful, mixing beautifully with the pleasure soaring through her from her sexual release.
He pumped harder, faster, then roared himself, his tongue licking over the spot where he’d bit her.
“My companheiro,” she thought she heard him whisper before pulling them both down onto the bed.
Kalina didn’t know what that meant but it couldn’t be bad because Rome wrapped her in his arms, holding her tightly against him. And she lay there, not wanting to move or question or even think about what sleeping with a half man, half cat would do to her.
Chapter 24
“Tell me something,” he asked when they’d lain in silence for too long.
“Hmm,” she murmured, her cheek against his naked chest, her bare legs entangled with his.
“Is this a part of your investigation?”
She stiffened.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the investigation the DEA has you conducting on me. Is sleeping with me going into the reports?”
She tried to get up, to move away in lieu of answering, but Rome held her tight. His arms had been wrapped around her. She’d cooed as he pulled her closer after their mutual release. Now she wanted to bolt. Well, that was just too damn bad.
“Was sleeping with me the next step since you couldn’t break into my computer?”
Kalina remained silent, her heartbeat thumping wildly against his chest. She was thinking of a response. It wouldn’t be a lie; he didn’t pick up that rancid stench. She would tell the truth, but he sensed she wasn’t going to enjoy doing so.
“This wasn’t how it was supposed to turn out,” she said, her voice almost too quiet for him to hear.
“What was your plan? Find the incriminating evidence on my computer then have me arrested? You’d receive accolades, maybe a promotion, be the biggest, baddest female cop on the force because you’d brought down the infamous Roman Reynolds.” He couldn’t help the edge his voice had taken on. Since learning of her betrayal, he’d been on a roller coaster of emotions trying to figure out what his reaction should and would be.
On the ride over to her place, he was unable to think of anything but the possible danger she might be in. Once he had her safely in his grasp, he couldn’t think past fucking her. Now, sated and secure in her safety, he was pissed the hell off.
She tried to break free of his hold again and this time he let her. Running wasn’t going to help, he could guarantee that.
Pulling some of the sheet with her, she wrapped her naked body and slid a few inches away from him. The fact that she didn’t get off the bed and head for the door instantly told him a lot about her. That spunk he’d seen in her that night in his office was full-blown confidence now. The way she lifted her head and squared her chin said she had no regrets and he’d probably not be hearing an apology fall from her still-kiss-swollen lips.
“The DEA planted me at your firm to find out who you’re sending money to in Brazil.”
“Who do they think I’m sending it to?”
“A drug cartel. They don’t know which one.”
“Did you find the evidence you needed?”
She sighed, smoothing a hand over the back of her hair. “No.”
“Really? I would have thought that sleeping with me and doing as good a job of it as you did, you’d have the keys to my safe and personal access to all my accounts by now. Tell me, did how many times I made you come make it into your report?”
“Don’t be crass. It’s so beneath you,” she said, turning to toss him a cold glare over her shoulder. “To answer your question, even though I don’t know why I should since I clearly was not the only one lying in this … whatever you call what we’re doing. Anyway, I did not plan this. Sleeping with you was not on my agenda.”
Rome didn’t even breathe a sigh of relief, because he’d known that all along. Kalina was not the type of woman who would do anything she didn’t absolutely want to. And judging by all the sex toys he’d spied in the bedroom at her apartment, she wasn’t missing any sexual fulfillment by not being with a man. No, Rome was positive she’d wanted him, right from the start. She hadn’t liked that idea, not one bit. Now he knew she had reason to be resistant. Still, the idea that the feds were attempting to investigate him for something as ridiculous as drug trafficking still grated on his nerves.
“Why didn’t you just tell me when I caught you trying to break into my computer?”
“Oh I don’t know, probably the same reason you didn’t rush to tell me you were a human shape shifter.”
“Not the same,” he replied, quickly folding his arms behind his head as he watched her. “So if you don’t close this case, you don’t get the big promotion?”
“How did you know about the promotion? How did you find out I’m a cop? Or used to be one. After this, who knows what I’ll end up doing. Maybe flipping burgers right beside the high school kids.”
“You graduated from high school and went right into the academy. From there you started out as a beat cop, tumbled onto a few dealers who turned state’s evidence and gave you their big boss. Moved up to narcotics about five years ago. You were working a case to bring down one of the Cortez Cartel’s biggest street hustlers when the sting went bad and you were attacked in that alley.”
Somewhere around his second sentence she’d turned and looked at him. “Thorough background check your firm does on its employees, huh.”
Rome shook his head. “I’m a Faction Leader for the shifters.”
“What does that mean?”
“I guess you could say I’m the leader of all the stateside shifters on the East Coast. That means I’m privy to a lot of classified information, especially when it threatens us.”
“I’m not a threat to you,” she said. “Not anymore. I mean—” Taking a deep breath, she let it out in a quick whoosh. “I don’t have any evidence to convict you. My report will say that. I’ll go back to the MPD and you can go back to whatever it is you really are doing in South America.”
“I help support my people in the rain forest. The money I send buys supplies and food and weapons so they can defend themselves and our secret.”
“Then why do they think you’re supporting a drug cartel instead?”
Rome figured it might have something to do with the meetings his father had with an associate of Raul Cortez. But even Rome didn’t know what had transpired at that meeting. He didn’t know what his father had told that man or what was supposed to come of the meeting. Bingham had only given him Cortez’s name, nothing more. The old man simply didn’t know any more, and Rome accepted that. If his father didn’t tell him, Baxter, or even his mother what he was doing, the odds that he’d tell his lawyer were slim. So it looked like whatever had transpired years ago was about to come to light and the shifters would be the ones dealing with the repercussions. Not if he could help it.
“I don’t know” was his reply, because until he had more to go on than a name and an appointment in a journal he wasn’t talking about this situation, especially not with a cop.
Kalina waited a beat and figured she’d just been lied to. But that was fair, she figured; she was now the
