Page 58 of Hate Mates

“I know you, Celine Dumont. I may be the only person who does,” I say, studying every reaction that passes through her eyes. Her mouth opens as if to argue but she doesn’t say a single word. She pushes her head forward, and I feel the heartbeat stronger in my hand. That’s when I see the angry red marks left there earlier. It’s when I realize just how close she may have been to losing the fight against Lyle. Like Franny.

Abruptly, I step back, removing my hands from her. Removing myself from her space.

“How do you know that?”

“I bought my way in. I’m part of The Agency now. Not the position I wanted. I don’t have the power I hoped for. It’s something, though.”

“You’ve seen my file.” I’ve memorized it. I’ve read through it day after day. I’m obsessed with it. So I nod. “Then tell me what you know about me.”

“Everything. Where and when you were born, where you grew up. That your best friend in first grade was a neighbor named Laura, and you were distraught when she moved away the following year. You missed school because of it. Your father had a four-year affair with a co-worker, Mona, until your mother found out and threatened to leave him with you in tow. You lost your virginity at fifteen to a boy two years older than you. When you found out he had a girlfriend, you knocked him out before his state championship football game,” I rattle off. “I knoweverything.”

The slap she lays on me stings my cheek. I take it though.

“I didn’t know that about my father,” she spits.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her, honestly. Family means a lot to me; I don’t have much of it. Neither does she.

“If you know everything, then you know the kind of person I am. The kind I’ve always been.”

She shivers, her clothes drenched and the water cools. It dawns on me that she’s hurt. Not physically, though, she’s had a rough night there, too. Emotionally, I’ve caused her pain. I didn’t know I was capable.

Or maybe that’s not true. Because she’s right, I do know the kind of person she is. She’s the woman who even as a girl stood up for anyone she thought was being wronged. A protector at heart. Much like me. She’s loyal, she’s passionate, she’s feral when she feels she’s been wronged. I treat that like her sin when it’s anything but.

“You stole from me. I needed that money.” The words no longer hold any fire.

Beth…Celine turns her back to me and adjusts the water temperature. Then she removes her clothes. Her shoes land outside the shower with a wet thump. Every stitch she wore follows as I stare. Even bruised and beaten, she’s fucking beautiful. Her wet strands curtain around her pale, ample breasts. Matching freckles dot her cheeks and shoulders.

My cock takes notice and hardens, remembering what it was like to be inside her. Wanting it again.

Needing it.

Needingher.

“I would have given it back,” she says, stepping up to me. “I would have given you more. Whatever you needed. I would have given you everything. All you had to do was ask. You could have had a partner.”

Skin to skin, I breathe her in. Feel her and the words she speaks.

“You hate me,” I say.

“Only like you hate me.”

Which is to say not at all. I don’t hate her, I want to throttle her, but that isn’t really her fault. It’s mine.

“You’re a pain in my ass.”

“It’s a nice ass,” she says with a smirk before the fire of her temper returns. “We could be a team. We could have always been a team in this. Instead, you chose to be a stupid, stubborn, dumbass man, Andrew.”

I let that sink in. It’s not something I’ve ever thought about wanting, a teammate. I’d like to be able to rely on someone though. Truthfully, I always could on her. Even after we stole from each other, she never failed to show up on a job. She’s the best partner I’ve ever worked with, in that regard. Celine’s the most talented woman I know. Fuck, she’s more talented than any man I know.

“Franklin.”

“What?” She blinks in disbelief. “Frank? Your name is Frankie?”

“You can keep calling me Andrew,” I say, ignoring her teasing and lifting her up by her ass. “But only if you’re screaming it.”

She wraps her legs around my waist, grinding her core against my dick. Her hands cradle the back of my head, bringing us nose to nose. I rub mine against hers, press a kiss to the corner of her mouth, and nip at her chin.

I slide into her. So much better than I remember.

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