Lust spiked in her system, and when she moaned, her lips parted, and he took full advantage, sliding his tongue into her mouth. It was as if she’d been drugged. She was high on him, and immediately wanted more. Malco forced her back, pinning her against the door, his erection contained by his jeans pushing against her belly. If she hadn’t been wet before, she was certainly drenched now. The man was a menace to her senses and her sanity, destroying all her defenses.
When his hips pushed against her, Frida didn’t recognize her reaction; she was ready to tear both their clothes off, with no regard to the people beyond the door.
“Hey, Malco, let me know which car you’re taking. I fueled all of them last night.”
The knock and Cain’s booming voice on the other side of the door were like being thrown in an ice bath. Her brain forced her to move back and step aside.
“That was inappropriate.” Her heaving, flushed body contradicted her words, and she must have blushed from it. Malco was as undone as she was, his body revealing the same reaction as hers.
Once more, he approached her, not giving her any way to escape. His face so close, she expected him to kiss her again, half hoped he would but instead, he offered her a half-smile.
“I think you’ve found a way to blank your mind. I’ll wait for you outside.”
And with a gleam that reminded her of a hungry predator, he left her alone, her body alight and her mind blank.
Chapter Five
As Malco drove down the long narrow driveway to his secluded home, he wondered what Frida would make of the place he called home. It was a two-story structure with a modern, sleek design. He’d designed most of it himself with the help of a local architect. But it wasn’t the design he was unsure of; it was the questions she might have when she saw the security features on the property.
Even surrounded by the likes of Shane and Nick, he realized his security measures were, to say the least, excessive. He knew it, but he didn’t care. He’d never be caught unawares again. The thought made him frown as memories assailed him for a second before he shut them down.
An electric fence that was almost invisible to the naked eye ran the entire circumference of the property line. Motion detectors and lights picking up anything heavier than a rabbit made sure he was always aware.
People who didn’t know better would assume he was a prepper, but that wasn’t the case. He just wanted to know that his home, his haven, was secure from the predators that would attack given a chance.
He stopped the car and turned to find Frida fast asleep in the passenger seat. Her face was relaxed in rest, and he noticed the lines of exhaustion on her exotically beautiful features. She really was exquisite to look at, the calm controlled lawyer, the fiercely independent woman, the caring employer, all of them intrigued Malco more than he cared to admit.
He debated whether to wake her or carry her inside and decided that as she struggled to sleep, it was wise to let her while she could. He reached in and lifted her sleeping form from the car, his lips curving into a smile when she nestled closer to his chest and sighed in her sleep.
Adjusting her weight, he carried her to the side door leading to the garage and hit the opener to turn off the alarm. Her weight was negligible in his arms as he opened the door and secured it again, before walking up the stairs to the spare bedroom, taking care not to jostle the sleeping woman in his arms.
The temptation to take her to his room to see all her gorgeous silky hair splayed across his pillow was strong, but he resisted. If the woman in his arms ever ended up in his bed, it would be because she didn’t want to be anywhere else, not because he had tricked her. He was, however, going to do everything in his power to make sure that happened though, because the connection they’d developed in the last twenty-four hours was not something to be denied or rushed.
Malco lay her on the guest bedroom’s bed and bent down to gently tug off her shoes, taking care not to hurt her abused feet. Satisfied the bandages were clean, he pulled the cover over her and left the room quietly, closing the door but leaving enough of a gap that when she woke, she wouldn’t be too disoriented.
Moving back down the stairs, he went outside and drove the car around the side to the garage and parked inside. Making sure the house was once again secure, Malco headed to his room and sat on the queen-sized bed. The cotton of the sheet was cool on his skin as he stripped to his boxers and removed his prosthetic, massaging the aching limb and checking for any signs of skin breakdown. Satisfied all was as okay as it ever would be, he lay on his back and tucked his arm behind his head.
Today had unwittingly opened a lot of old wounds for him, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. On the one hand, he absolutely wanted to help Frida with this case. On the other, he was being faced with demons which had almost destroyed him. Could he go there again and come out with his soul intact, or would the scars that he lived with every day destroy the peace he had found at Alliance?
He didn’t know, but a reckoning was coming, he felt it
