Page 10 of Sins of Seduction
“They’re going to start letting people go home soon. The ones that have given their statement. Right now it looks like the issue has only been in that one room, but they’re going to do a sweep anyway and check what happened with the lights.”
Business, all business. Gone was the man who had looked at her with consuming hunger and opened himself up to desire he desperately tried to deny and in his place stood the rigid detective who didn’t understand there was a world that existed outside of the rules in his mind.
“I thought you said you weren’t a detective anymore?” The question slipped before Raven could swallow it. What he did with his life was no longer her concern, no matter if she could still feel the fullness of his cock inside of her.
Jax flinched. “I quit about a year ago, but certain things are so engraved in my system, it becomes like breathing for me.” His fingertips brushed her leg, and she wondered if he was talking about her or his upbringing. He’d been coming to Lush for a year now, and she wanted to laugh, though there was nothing funny about him upending his life to come play in the one place that had been a sore spot in their relationship.
Raven let her head fall into her hands, trying to massage away the headache that was coming at her like a freight train to the middle of her skull. She knew better than to let herself hope for a different outcome. It didn’t matter that for a brief moment in that room they both had been on the same page—free and tasting what life had to offer together. She knew once the lights came back on, they would retreat back to their separate corners—return to their separate lives; her flying free and him content to keep his feet on the ground.
“Ms. Wright, I have the number you—oh, Detective Pierce. I didn’t realize you were working the case here.” Danielle Cunningham, Raven’s assistant, and friend pulled up short when she saw Jax kneeling in front of her. Danielle had known enough about Raven’s past with him that it wasn’t much of a stretch to see the concerned and shocked look on Danielle’s face, even if they both knew he’d been coming here faithfully for a year. It was one thing to see his name in the system, it was a whole other thing to see him in person.
Raven held out her hand, and Danielle gave her the paperwork from the contractor Raven hired to check some of the wiring and the HVAC system. She handed the paper to Jax, ignoring the way his fingers brushed alongside hers. “This is the contractor I used. They were here all last week, but I don’t think they had anything to do with this.”
Jax took it and stood to his full height, towering over her. From her seated position, she had to crane her neck to fully take him in. She had forgotten how massive and menacing Jax could appear when he wanted to. At six five, he had shoulders like a linebacker that tapered off to muscled abs, with the little V lines that Raven hadn’t spent nearly enough time touching with her tongue. Jax was a brute of a man with a gentle touch when it came to her.
His gaze rolled over her, caressing her bare skin, and Raven found herself leaning into the imaginary touch. She quickly shook herself and shot to her feet, wondering what invisible cord tethered them together and how she could cut it. They always found their way back to each other, falling easily into each other as involuntary as it was to breathe, but they were always pulled apart by the same thing.
Rinse and repeat.
Until she walked away that last time, convinced it would be the last time.
And yet, here he is again and as open as he had your cunt, your heart will quickly follow.
Raven scowled, annoyed with herself and this night. She needed to go home and put some distance between her and the enigma that was Jax.
“Can you find out—”
“Jax Pierce? No shit. What are you doing here?” Raven and Jax flinched at the sound of Daniel Cruz’s voice.
Raven watched how quickly Jax slipped an impassive mask over his face as he turned to face his ex-partner and longtime friend—one Raven couldn’t stand and, going by the look Daniel was giving her, the feeling was still mutual.
Such a pretty little Raven
All eyes are on you.
But it’s no longer temptation
That taunts them,
It’s suspicion.
My pretty little Raven
Your cunt won’t save you
And one by one,
They will all fall
Till they see you for what you really are.
The wolf in sheep’s clothing
The fake damsel in distress
My pretty little Raven
The ties that bind you will break you
