Page 9 of Desperate Needs

I thought Steve was different from all that potent masculinity I’d grown up with. Turned out that yeah, he was different, and a fuckton more toxic.

Little prick was a master manipulator, and he had me believing him, too. Maybe that was why I’d shied away from men for the past few years.

More fool me.

Watching Michaela and Liam and seeing their happiness and obvious devotion seemed to light a fire in me. I wanted what my cousin had. I wanted love, a husband, a family, and a home of my own.

I wasn’t saying Connor was the guy to do all that.

But he was definitely a good place to start. I needed to be proactive about waking up my slumbering libido.

I mean, holy fuck, the man was fine as hell. Everything about him caught my eye, from his fantastic taste in clothes and his tattooed body, especially those hands. He oozed power. His quiet demeanor commanded attention, as did his six foot plus frame.

He was big. And that stare of his?

I could just kiss my panties goodbye every time I caught his onyx gaze land in my direction.

Swoon.

He probably had a girlfriend.

Or two.

Besides, I really wasn’t half as nervy as I’d pretended to be, handing him that line to text me. Like I was a Bond girl or something.

Yeah, right.

I excused myself, planning to say goodbye to my parents before I left.

Only when I exited the restroom, there was someone waiting in the corridor.

Gulp.

Chapter 4-Connor

Anticipation tightened around my chest, and each breath felt strained as I struggled to pull in oxygen.

Unfortunately, it seemed like my entire supply had headed straight to my cock as I walked away from her. I adjusted myself unobtrusively as I headed to the door, stopping to congratulate Liam and his wife once more before I left.

The bite of cold air did nothing to stave off the inferno building inside me at the thought of finally having her right where I wanted her.

With me.

I’ve spent the better part of the last year surveilling Clementine Aziz.

She was my mark.

The means to which I was going to achieve my goal. The woman I planned to use to get what I wanted most in the world—to return my family to its place in the world.

For months, I’d laid all my plans out carefully. I’d catalogued her comings and goings, compiled documents on her routine and schedules.

Hell, I knew what she liked to eat, what she wore to bed, and when she got her period.

Hacking her medical files proved easy compared to accessing her personal laptop. Sigma International, the security firm her father ran, where Clementine worked, wasn’t the best in the business for nothing.

No, breaking into her computer was something I needed to do in person.

So, I switched tactics. The focus of my reconnaissance moved from the periphery of her life to the insides and outsides of this woman.

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