Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
I scrabbled at Jacques’s belt, half expecting to hear a number. His mouth was too busy plundering mine to deliver.
The belt came free, making the most delicious sound clattering to the floor. “I won’t leave, Jacques,” I gasped. “I’ll never leave you again.”
A deep, feral noise rumbled in his chest. “That wasn’t an option.” Slipping under my thong strap, he tore it clean off me. Heat prickled my skin anticipating what was coming next.
Roan, Legend, Cairo, and Arsenio had their way with me often and every chance they got, but Jacques and I were together one time, and that time I drove him over the edge—basically making it clear he wasn’t leaving the living room without ending the tease.
It was right that our second time would be as myself. Jacques was there when I needed to heal. Now he’d be mine as I rose from the ashes, and burned everything else down around me.
“Is my kiss different, Jacques?” I slid between his waistband. “Are my hands?”
Fisting his cock, I stroked him quick and rough—ripping the yummiest groans from those deceptively soft lips.
“Is this different, baby?” Freeing him, I positioned him at my entrance.
Jacques looked almost dazed. Glassy pools reflected my swollen lips and red cheeks. I sensed his internal war of mind and body. Logic said I wasn’t the woman he fell for, but this woman had the same wet pussy and firm breasts, and his body wanted that bad.
“Don’t hold back, Jacques—”
Thud!
“Isn’t this nice?”
My neck snapped in half, looking upside down to see our new arrival.
“My father’s been taken by a death cult who is conspiring to take over our town, but at least the imposter is keeping my best friend’s dick wet.”
We didn’t spring apart like two sixteen-year-olds caught under their parents’ coats. That was for people who felt shame, and I felt none for being with my boyfriend in front of my other boyfriend.
“That’s not what this is, Cairo.”
“Oh?” There was more ferality in his snarl than normal. “You telling me you two were consoling each other out of worry? Or more likely celebrating”—he narrowed on me—“because the man you hate most is likely dead.”
“Neither,” I said, swallowing my disappointment as Jacques climbed off me and picked up his belt. “Why would I want your father dead before I get the answers I’ve been waiting years for? I want to help you find him, Cairo. Were you able to find anything out? Where were you?”
I wished the state of him gave me a sign. Besides the red rimming his eyes, giving away that he hadn’t slept, he looked no different than he did the night before when he deposited me at Paris’s house. No scratches, blood, or swollen knuckles, so my love hadn’t gone out and picked a fight. Or he picked a fight that he won.
“You first. You’re giving a great impression of someone who cares. What did you find out about our missing sheriff?” He flicked to my fallen clothes. “Before you turned your attention to making sure we keep you around.”
I bristled. “Is my leaving an option? Because I told Jacques the same thing I’ll tell you. If you want me gone, say the word. I’ll pack my stuff and be out tonight. Consider us broken up.”
His face changed, making me shoot to my feet. I was wrong... this was the most feral I’d ever seen Cairo Sharpe.
He stalked toward me, handsome face in mine. “This isn’t the time to test me, de Souza. You’re not going anywhere.”
“Glad to hear it.” I reached for his temples and he was out of reach in the space of a blink. I dropped my hands. That reaction wasn’t a surprise, even if it still stung.
Cairo abandoned me and tugged Jacques into the kitchen. I listened in on their conversation while I dressed.
“—asked Andres where Dad went after his shift. He said he told him he was going home, so they must’ve grabbed him on the walk. Spent all fucking day asking everyone in the stores and houses along that route if they saw something last night. Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Jacques said. “The man is six feet tall, over two hundred pounds, and trained law enforcement carrying a weapon. He didn’t go anywhere quietly.”
I inched closer.
“Doesn’t make any sense,” Cairo agreed. “Someone should’ve seen or heard something. I’m thinking he didn’t go home like he told Andres. He was lured somewhere.”
“On foot?”
“Andres said Davidson left the same time as Dad.”
They shared a look that said everything I was thinking. The sheriff’s traitorous deputy had his grimy hands all over this disappearance.
“We have to pick Davidson up. An hour with me, he’ll spill everything.”
“Why tell me? Why aren’t you out there chasing after him?”
Cairo swore, punching the cabinet. “Bastard called out sick today. Why do you think I was able to have that chat with Andres uninterrupted? I swung by his place but no one’s there. Sat in front for hours until I busted in around the back.”