Page 25 of Treachery

And he’d fucked it up.

He pressed another kiss to her head, and asked, “What did you do about the jar?”

She huffed, her breasts rubbing against his chest, driving his blood right down to his cock. Now wasn't the time for getting inside her. She needed him to be a good man for her in that moment, and good men didn’t fuck sad women.

Right?

It didn’t help that she was wearing ass hugging jeans and a t-shirt that was so worn from wash and wear, he could see her purple bra right through the fabric. She called it one of her lazy tees, because she only ever wore them at home when she wanted to be comfortable.

“I asked him what he was doing, and he told me there was a little sister tax, and he was collecting it. I was thirteen not five, so I knew he was talking bullshit…but I was so shocked, so heartbroken that I let it go. I didn’t tell Jack or my mom about it; I bought him a New York Giants bottle opener for Christmas—he used it every day, unlike a tie.”

Locust chuckled, and she laughed a little, too.

After a few moments, their laughter faded, and she sighed heavily, still wrapped in his arms where she belonged. She didn’t tense up, didn’t pull back, but he could tell she was thinking. Hard. It was in the way her nose scrunched up once more, and how her brow got that wrinkle right between her eyes. He wanted to kiss that wrinkle away, and then fuck her until she couldn’t think anymore. At least until tomorrow.

Breaking the spell, Nadia finally put her hand against his chest and pushed. He sighed this time and gave her some space, leaning back. He didn’t drop his arms, though. He needed to hold her, just a little longer.

“I just wish he’d talk to me. I don’t hate him, I don’t wish any ill upon him, I just don’t want to be wrapped up in his drama—I just want to be his sister.”

Locust grunted, shaking his head at her like she was speaking foolishness. The woman was all heart, even to people who’d fucked her over, which made him a bigger asshole than her brother, because he planned to use that forgiving heart of hers to get her back.

“Your brother is in deep with dangerous people, baby. He got himself into a lot of trouble. The last thing he’s doing his thinking rationally. He probably figured that he’s just pop in here, grab the burner cell, and leave you out of it—the path of least resistance for a man who knew you’d ask questions.”

Rolling her eyes, she admitted, “And I would have. I haven’t seen him in three years or heard from him since he texted asking for money. I didn’t know what the money was for, but because he sounded so desperate….”

Locust cupped her face gently, his gaze on hers, his eyes taking in the face he loved on the woman he’d give anything to see every morning. The need to lean down and press a kiss to her nose, her eyelids, her forehead, and then her mouth was like a surge of hunger after weeks of starvation. He held back, but just. “You’re too good for him, baby,” he murmured, his voice thick from things unspoken. He swallowed. Leaning in, he pressed a kiss against her forehead. “You’re too good for me, too….”

He could hear it…the sincerity in his own voice was hedged by aching regret…and he didn’t know what to do about it.

ELEVEN

She closedher eyes against the flood of emotion. God, despite how deeply he’d hurt her, she wanted to comfort him, to rid him of that hitch in his voice that told her he was feeling regret. He regretted what he’d done to her…that’s what it seemed like, anyway. Dammit! How could she let someone who literally fucked her for information back into her life? He’d stolen her self-worth, made her feel like garbage, like she was something he could throw away because she meant nothing to him?—

But he came when he didn’t have to…that has to mean something!It was definitely more than Joe had done when they’d dated; he would have told her to call the cops, then asked her to stop by the liquor store for his favorite,expensivebrandy, and then the post office to pick up his latest order from Neiman Marcus; a new suit…that she’d paid for, of course.

When she was dating Joe, all the red flags were there, but she’d ignored them because she was so hard up for companionship.

You were so needy you willfully ignored all the signs…but James, he never asked you for anything, he paid for everything, and always came when you needed him. Like today.

Hell, there was that voice again, that winged-haloed creature on her shoulder pointing out all the non-asshole-ish things James had done.

Maybe you should let him explain….Yeah, she’d overheard what he’d said to Cluster, and Frost had all but revealed the truth to her, but…she hadn’t let Locust—James—explain things to her. Was she being an easy bitch, thinking his thoughtful Chinese dinner, and riding to her rescue were sign enough that he actually cared about her? She’d read thousands of romance novels over the years, and she always loved the push and pull, and angst of the “he wronged her, he grovels” trope. But…she always hated how the heroine made the hero grovel so hard he lost a part of what made her love him in the first place.

Was that what she wanted with Locust? Did she want him to prove his love and grovel until his knees bled, or did she want to just leave him in her past, and hope her heart healed one day?

She had no idea what to think…what to do, and in that moment she felt so conflicted, she could only focus on the now.

Fighting the urge to reassure him, to tell him that the man she met almost six months agowasgood enough for her, she stepped away from his hand. He didn’t drop it, though. He reached out, looping his fingers in her hair, twisting the end of a lock around his fingers. The blonde hair looked good sliding through his tanned fingers.

She shuddered, remembering too well how good it felt to have those same fingers making a fist around her hair.

He hummed, and the sound made her nipples hard, and she trembled at the sensation. Nothing, in all her life, felt as good as when Locust touched her, poured all his focus on making her light up, fill up, then empty out—satiated.

Tension pulsed between them, her breath catching as he growled low in his throat. The fingers in her hair dropped in herchin, holding her in place, while his other hand fell to her waist, gripping her tightly.

Locust leaned down, his dark blue gaze pinning her in place, peering through her, to the deepest parts of her, the parts that still wanted him desperately.

“I need to taste you, my Nadia…I’ve missed your mouth, baby,” he rasped, his warm breath drifting over lips that ached for his.

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