Page 48 of Cruel Ice

She’d like him a lot more desperate. She’d get him that way, too. “Just what is it that you think is ‘right’ to do? To deny us what we both want? How can that possibly be right?”

He sucked in a sharp breath.

“Because I want you, Declan Flynn. I’m not the type to sleep with just any guy, FYI. I have a particular set of standards.” Another gentle kiss to his scar before she eased back a bit. “I tend to like really dominating bastards who are megalomaniacs and enjoy ordering other people around.”

“What?” His head swung toward her. His eyes blazed.

Laughter spilled from her. “Couldn’t help myself.” He was so tense. Almost…afraid. Of her? Of them being together? Why? “What do you think will happen to me, if I’m with you?”

He swallowed. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t believe that you could.” Yet even as she said the words, Marley feared they were a lie.He’s not looking for happily ever after and forever. If you’re not careful, he will break your heart as no one else ever has before.“Physically, I know you’d never hurt me.”

“There are other kinds of pain.”

She knew he was speaking from experience. “Your father was a real bastard. He made your life hell.”

His fingers tightened on her just the littlest bit. “I don’t talk about him. Not with anyone.”

Such a liar.He’d talked with her, when Declan thought she couldn’t hear him. A confession in the darkness was still a confession. “He hurt you.” She wasn’t going to back away on this. “He made you think you weren’t good enough, didn’t he?”

“Good didn’t enter the equation. He made sure I could never be good. And someone like me shouldn’t be with you.” He rose and lifted her at the same time. When he put her down, he stepped back. His hands fisted at his sides. “I’m controlling myself.”

She frowned. Did it look like she wanted control?

He stood there, all tense and towering, all sexy and dark and brooding, and rasped, “But it’s the hardest thing I’ve done in my life. I want to strip you. I want to lift you onto the desk. And I want to fuck you here and now. So turn around, walk out of this office, and go back to damn Wayne Manor or the haunted castle or whatever the hell you want to call my home.”

She wore a long, black dress. Flat ballerina shoes.

He wore his expensive, I-cost-more-than-a-month’s-rent pants and a tailored, white shirt. The first few buttons of the shirt had been undone. A light coating of stubble covered his jaw. The glower remained on his face. But his eyes? Feverish intensity had slipped back into them. Lust. Hunger. So much need. For her.

Marley took a breath and a chance. “I stormed over here to tell you that I willnotbe sidelined. The cops in Augusta have made zero progress on your case. As far as they know, the mastermind of your abduction—and the person who likely committed those three murders—the perp is in the wind. He could be anywhere.” A fun conversation with Parker had brought forth this unfortunate news. The cops had jack and shit to go on in their investigation. Seven days and already, the case seemed cold. Zero leads. Zero suspects.

I need the Ice Breakers on this.

Her shoulders straightened. Technically, they’d already been straight. They straightened more. “I’m not going to play pampered princess while he hunts you again. He went to all that trouble to target you. He won’t give up. Hewillcome again.”

And Declan? He just shrugged. As if having a killer stalk him was a normal occurrence.

Suspicion had her gaze narrowing. “Is that another reason why you came back to Chicago? Because you knew he was hunting you?”

His eyes gleamed at her. Then he slowly smiled. The smile was the cold grin a shark offered his prey right before his mouth opened and he took a big, lethal bite.

“This is my turf,” he said. “My guards are everywhere. My security—everywhere. I have contacts that stretch all over this city. Good, bad, and everything in between. If he’s coming after me, this isn’t territory that he can control. This is where I will absolutely annihilate him.”

Her heart thudded hard in her chest. “Planning to, uh, catch him and turn him over to the proper authorities?”

That smile of his was chilling. “If it helps you to think that, sure. Let’s say that’s what I’m planning to do.”

“Declan!” She grabbed his arms. His hands were still fisted. His body rock hard. “You arenottaking matters into your own hands. You can’t hunt this guy down and get vigilante justice.” Seriously, could he be more Bruce Wayne?Stop it, Declan. Stop.

“If he’s coming at me, if he’s coming after you…then I will do whatever it takes to stop him.” A tense pause. “Touching me right now is probably not the best idea you’ve ever had. Might want to let go. Back away. Head out of my office.”

Oh, was that what she should do? She gave him her own smile. Not a shark about to attack. Something sweet. Sweet enough to kill.Kill him with kindness.She gave him that smile, then she let him go. Stepped back. She made her way around his desk. Her dress swirled around her ankles. Her steps were slow and certain as she headed for the door. She pulled it open. Popped her head outside. “Pierre?” Marley called to the assistant she’d met earlier. The man she’d had to fight to get past.

His head whipped up. He clutched a phone to his ear. Glared.

Oh, had she interrupted his phone call? No wonder he looked extra pissed. “Declan is done for the day. He apologizes for keeping you so late. He hopes you have a wonderful night.”

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