Page 31 of Sour Layer

Chapter 17

The guy described by the psychic could have fit Clark or any of a hundred thousand men just like him. The badge had been spot-on. The eyes, the height. Hell, even the chemistry was off the charts. My heart had revved into overdrive with one touch of his hand. Maybe I’d been just missing physical touch for far too long.

I tightened my hold on his hand, trying to memorize the feeling. My heart thundered in my chest. Was Clark the only man in the world I couldn’t read?

We stopped in front of my door, and he lifted our hands and kissed my knuckles again. “I guess it’s rare to be touched without visions of death.”

“You have no idea.” My answer was breathless and soft between us.

He let go of my hand and touched my cheek, his gaze boring deep into mine and holding me in place. He slowly leaned in as if giving me a chance to stop him.

I pulled him closer until my back hit the door and kissed his lips. There was nothing slow or gentle about it. I took what he was willing to give.

He pressed the hard lines of his body against my curves. There was no question I aroused him. His hard length pressed into my belly. He slipped his hand up my neck. His fingers rested on my hair, tilting my head for better access, and it was then that I handed over the reins, willing to let him lead.

And thank God I had.

He lifted me into his arms, walking farther down the hall, where he opened his door and kicked it closed with his boot. I slid down his body, and he broke the kiss. His deep breath was erratic and matched my own as he held my gaze.

“Mercy?” My name was the question giving me my last chance to back out.

“I want this,” I answered without letting him finish the question. “It’s been a while since I’ve been touched.”

“I plan to touch you everywhere.”

It was a frenzy of clothes being discarded. Our tongues dueled as the heat between us grew stronger. We never even made it to the bed. He lifted me into his arms and trailed a length of kisses down my neck to my chest. My head thudded against the wall as my fingers slid through his hair, holding him to my breast as he sucked my nipple into his mouth. Need and desire heated me through my core. I craved him in a way I’d never needed anyone, and it had nothing to do with the emotional connection we were starting to form.

This was carnage. This was hot. This was sex.

He slid me down his shaft, and I moaned at the feel.

He held my gaze. “You good?”

I dug my nails into his arms. “Fast now. Slower later.”

His breath came out ragged as determination settled onto his face. The muscles of his jaw tightened as he pegged me against the wall and took me hard and fast until we were both left sweaty.

Three more times that night he took me to new heights. He touched me in all the right places. He’d been gentle, and he’d been hard, and I’d needed it all. He rekindled that human connection that I’d been lacking for most of my life.

I’d fallen asleep in his arms, cocooned by his body. Every piece of him touching every piece of me. It should have been a foreign feeling, but it felt like he was the missing piece to my puzzle. The pieces were almost all in place.

****

A sound pulled me from my slumber, and I turned, reaching for Clark across the bed. I came away clutching his pillow.

I slowly opened my eyes. Moonlight shown through the curtains. Clark was getting dressed.

“I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep,” Clark said, grabbing his boots. He sat down on the edge of the bed and laced them up.

“Where are you going?”

“Brandon did a background check and found a hunting cabin owned by Lynnfield. While Dexter and his other brothers are making arrangements for Milly and Charlotte, Walker, Brandon, and I are going to check it out,” Clark said.

“Let me get dressed, and I’ll go with you.”

He leaned over and pressed a heated kiss to my lips. “I’d rather you stay here where it’s safe and warm. I’ll try and be back before breakfast so we can eat together. You have to believe me that the last thing I’d intended to do was run out on you this morning.”

“It’s fine,” I said, sitting up and holding the comforter to my chest. “You need to find him.”

He stuffed his gun into his holster and clipped his badge to his belt. He opened the drawer next to the bed. “Lynnfield saw you. There’s no telling where his mind is at.” Clark pulled out a gun from the bedside table. “You carry this with you until we catch him.”

I nodded, even though it was going right back in that drawer when he walked out. It wasn’t that I was afraid of guns. I wasn’t. I’d shot my share growing up. Grams had insisted that all us girls knew how to defend ourselves. Good thing she had. Maybe she knew something we didn’t.

I leaned back against the pillows and touched my lips where he’d kissed me. I smiled as the walls around my heart had started to crack. I just had to keep him alive to explore where we were headed. I knew one place it wasn’t. I shoved the gun back into the drawer.

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