Page 59 of Ranger's Justice

He’s standing with his hands braced on the floor of the cargo area, his head bowed, his breath coming hard and uneven. The desert air is cool against my heated skin, but my body is burning, flushed from the argument that hasn’t even started yet.

I stop a few feet away. “You want to talk about it?”

He lets out a short, humorless laugh. “No.”

“Too bad,” I say, stepping closer and crossing my arms. “Rush, I…”

“I don’t want to hear whatever it is you think you need to say, Cassidy.” He turns, leveling me with those storm-gray eyes, dark with something I can’t name. “Not right now.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat, but I don’t back down. “I’m not going to pretend this doesn’t change things. What I saw…”

“What you saw doesn’t change shit.” His voice is low, rough, vibrating with the same barely leashed intensity that has my stomach tightening. “You knew what I was.”

“Seeing you take on one guy is one thing,” I snarl. “But you and the others, you killed those men. No arrest, no trial, just execution.”

“They deserved worse.”

I know that. I know that. And still…

I drag in a shaky breath. “You weren’t just defending those poor girls or serving justice. You hunted them down so you could kill all of them.”

His lips curl, the corner of his mouth lifting in something that isn’t quite a smirk. “We let one live.”

I won’t tell him how much it turned me on.

Instead, I ball my fists—furious at myself, at him, at whatever this is between us. “Damn it, Rush. You don’t even care, do you? You don’t care that you and your men will never be normal. I just don’t know if I can…”

He moves before I can finish, closing the space between us in an instant, his hands gripping my hips, his body pressing into mine until my back is flush against the SUV.

Heat floods through me, a sharp, blistering wave of desire that I have no business feeling.

Rush’s voice is a dark rasp against my ear. “Say it.”

My breath stutters. “Say what?”

“That you don’t want me.” His hands tighten on my hips, dragging me against the hard length of his body, making me feel exactly how much he wants me. “Say you don’t need this.”

I can’t, and damn him, he knows that.

My nails dig into his arms, my head tipping back as his mouth skims along the curve of my jaw, his stubble scraping against my skin, sending a violent shudder through me.

“This shouldn’t be happening,” I whisper, even as I tilt my hips, even as my body betrays me.

He growls low in his throat. “Say it.” He hesitates. “Too late for that.”

His mouth crashes against mine, hot and demanding, stealing every last ounce of fight I had left. My arms go around his neck, dragging him closer, and then it’s all heat and desperation, all clashing teeth and tangled tongues and mine, mine, mine.

Rush strips pants from my body, grips my thighs, lifting me onto the edge of the cargo area, spreading my legs to settle between them. My hands fumble with his belt, yanking at the leather, shoving his jeans down just enough. He reaches between us, tearing my panties aside, and then…

Oh, God.

He thrusts into me in one deep, unrelenting stroke, filling me so completely I forget how to breathe. I cry out against his mouth, my fingers curling into his hair, pulling, clawing, needing more, needing him.

He groans, his forehead dropping to mine, his breath ragged. “I tried, Cassidy.” His voice is raw, breaking. “I tried to let you go, but I can’t.”

I wrap my legs around his waist, rocking against him, taking him deeper. “Please, don’t let me go.”

Something in him snaps. He grips my hips, holding me still as he starts to move, slowly at first, then harder, faster, each thrust sending fire licking up my spine.

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