Page 58 of When He Protects

She’s not ready.If Esme wasn’t with him, he would take no pleasure. One hand maneuvered between their bodies. He pushed down to her clit. Rubbed. Stroked. Kept his hips absolutely still.Do not thrust. Do not withdraw. Fuck me, she feels too good.

The tenseness slowly fled from her body. Esme sighed out his name. Her legs wrapped around his hips. “Give me everything,” she tempted.

He did.

A chain seemed to break inside of him. Tyler withdrew, then thrust. Over and over. His thrusts lifted her off the bed, and she just moaned with pleasure. He grabbed her legs. Threw them over his shoulders so he could get in her even more. So that he could take and take and she was completely open to him.

She jerked and heaved beneath him. Screamed his name. Her hands clawed down his arms.

He kept thrusting. His orgasm bore down on him with feverish intensity, but he didn’t want to stop thrusting. She felt too good. Fit him too perfectly. Tight. Hot. Esme.

“Esme!”The orgasm barreled into him, and Tyler exploded in her.

“Who is the first target?”The man stared at the two photos that had been placed before him. “The lady or the bastard?”

Jorlan hunched his shoulders. It had been damn fucking hard to arrange this meeting. The guy in front of him was a shadow. A whisper. One of the freaking scary stories that you hoped wasn’t real.

He’s real. I paid too much for this meeting. He’d better be real.

“You’re to take out the man first. Then bring the woman to me. I need her alive.”

Rusty laughter answered his order, and that laughter was somehow scary. Odd because Jorlan was very rarely scared.

“That’s gonna be a problem.” Cold, mocking words. “Because I’ve been told I can get a cool seven million if I takeherout. The bounty is on her being dead, not alive.”

“The plan has changed.” He could feel his heart slamming into his chest. “But don’t worry, I’m giving you a tip that other hunters won’t have. You’ll be at an advantage.”

The hunter stared back at him.

Jorlan waved toward Tyler Barrett’s picture. “No one else knows that she’s currently with him. You find the man, and you’ll find her, too.”

A gloved hand touched the picture of Esme. “How doyouknow that she is with him?”

“Because he vanished. Right after she did. No fucking coincidence. He’s hiding her, and if you know him, you can find her.” A pause. “Youknowhim, don’t you?”

Icy blue eyes met his stare.

Yes, you know him. I have my own intel that says you do.That was the reason he’d fought so hard to get this meeting arranged in such a short time.“You can hunt Tyler Barrett. You can take him out. He’s the only thing standing between her and me.” Tyler was the real threat. Jorlan should have put the pieces together sooner. As soon as the prick showed up asking for an invitation to his party and acting like he was there tohelp.Such bullshit. “Get rid of him and give her to me.Alive.I just need Esme.”

Jorlan had two men at his back. Two men armed with guns. He should have felt safe with them right there. But as he peered into that arctic blue stare, a shiver skated down his spine. He knew death when he saw it.

Jorlan licked his lips. “I’ve offered you a great deal of money. I’m giving you a tip that none of the other hunters have. Are you going to take the deal or not?”

“I’m confused.” But he didn’t sound confused. He seemed vaguely intrigued. Maybe a little bored. “Why put the bounty on her head originally if you just want her alive now? Something change? And you don’t know how to call back the hounds so you’re trying to use me to do the dirty work for you?”

“I never said I was the one who put the original hit on her.” Sweat soaked his back. “The seven-million-dollar hit, if you recall, is for the death of the Fox.”

“Esme Laurent is the Fox.”

“Is she?”

Unblinking blue eyes stared back at Jorlan. “You want to add more on that or just be all suspenseful-like?”

No, he didn’t want to add more. He just wanted to get his hands on Esme. “You in or out?”

If the bastard was out, the prick was dead. Jorlan had already given orders for his men to shoot him. Immediately. He couldn’t afford any other loose ends. Jorlan held his breath.

“I’m in.”

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