Page 16 of Memphis

“So, you just wake up with an attitude?”

“When I’m dealing with you? Hell yes.”

He chuckled in that stupid-ass, sexy way he always did, making me roll my eyes and clench my thighs. I hated the erotic muscle memory my body had for this man.

After moving my hair and kissing my shoulder, he backed away from me and smacked my ass. “Hurry back.”

Moments later, I’d emptied my bladder and was at the sink washing my hands when something hit me, a weird, unfamiliar sensation that settled over me. Trying to shake the feeling off, I dried my hands and had moved toward the door when the room began to spin. I stumbled into the closed door, sliding to the floor, silently begging the bathroom to stop moving around me.

“King! King, you all right in there?!” Bo’s voice sounded hollow and distant to me as I sat there with my eyes tightly shut, my hands on my head in an attempt to steady it.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine!” I tried to shout but my voice sounded weak in my own ears.

“You don’t sound right. Open the door,” he demanded, his voice almost shrill.

“I’m fine! Shit! I’ll be out in a minute. Go back to bed.”

I heard him mumble something about my ass being mean, and then nothing else from him.

I sat there for about thirty minutes before I felt steady enough to stand, and when I opened the door, Bo was posted on the other side of it. His eyes surveyed me as he grasped my chin.

“What’s going on, King? What’s wrong?” His voice was so soft and tender that I almost mistook him for a human.

“You.You’rewhat’s wrong. You and your refusal to leave me the fuck alone,” I snarled as I pushed past him, heading back to his bed.

“I receivedsome new intel from The Agency.The client has shared that the target, Senator Murray, will be traveling to a vacation home in rural Mexico in two weeks. Looks like this is our best shot. The area is supposed to be damn near desolate,” I advised.

“Wow. So, the closed southern border, anti-immigration senator owns property in Mexico? What a fucking hypocrite!” Montana boomed into my ear.

“Don’t forget their ties to human trafficking. I’d put money on the spot in Mexico being connected to that. I’m glad you’re taking care of this piece of shit,” Jerryn said.

I nodded even though neither of them could see me through the phone. “Me, too. Jerryn, you know what I need from you.”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure this is doable logistically, find out if there are any booby traps, and figure out travel.”

“Good. Looks like we got a plan. I’ll be back in touch with you two,” I said, ending the call and looking up to find Bo staring at me with this puppy dog look on his face.

With a frown, I barked, “What?!”

He blinked and grinned.

Ugh.

“You usually plan hits naked and in a man’s bed?” he queried.

“You usually kidnap assassins?”

Smiling, he crawled from his seat on the foot of the massive bed to where I sat up against the headboard, his knees on either side of my thighs as he cradled my face in his hands and kissed me. His exposed, hard dick brushed against my stomach, and I fucking melted because there was honestly nothing better than him being inside me. There was nothing better than his lips on mine, his arms around me, his skin against mine. All of that always reminded me of the past—us when we were much younger, before he broke my fucking heart. I was so enamored with Bo Pierce back then. I used to feel safe with him. Now I felt weak, powerless, and beholden to unwanted desires.

As he dropped his lips to my neck, I closed my eyes and reclined my head against the headboard. I didn’t try to resist. Hell, Icouldn’t. Instead, I reached between us and stroked him, hearing his breath hitch when my hand made contact with the silken skin of his shaft. Bo was in his fifties, but I swear his dick hadn’t aged in the nearly thirty years since I first made its acquaintance.

He lifted his head, his eyes meeting mine before dropping to watch me stroke him, his chest heaving. He’d never stopped wanting me. I knew that. I felt it, too, but my bully had backed away when I demanded it of him all those years ago. Little did I know he was just biding his time, waiting for a slightly ajar door or inadvertently opened window, an entry point, and it came in the form of a hit on my little sister, Lilith. I’d do anything for her or Umber, includinghim. So, there I was, my mouth on him now. Not forced, not coerced, but voluntary because not only did I love the feel of him, I also loved the taste of him. I loved having him in my mouth as he fell apart. I loved hearing the anguish in his moans. I loved having him at my complete mercy. I loved…him. There, I admitted it. I’d loved him since I was twenty-two years old. Now, I was forty-seven. This shit was hopeless.Iwas hopeless. I tried for damn near three decades to purge himfrom my heart. Tried and failed, but while I could admit my true feelings for him to myself, I’d never admit it to him. Not that he was unaware, but I knew the power I’d be handing him in the form of a verbal admission, and I housed just enough animosity for him inside me to deny him that power.

I loved him.

I hated him.

And as he melted in my mouth…I knew Iownedhim. In all his cruelty and evilness, he was a kitten in my hands.

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