Page 50 of Edge of Midnight

But it fucking never was.

Liv’s arms were looped around his back. Soft hands petting him.

The princess, soothing her lusty love slave after he serviced her. An approving pat pat pat on his sweaty, heaving shoulders.Excellent fucking. Good boy. Off you go, back to the stable. Ta ta. Be good.

This could reduce him to a begging, pleading dick-for-brains who deserved no better than to get stomped to pulp beneath her feet.

He forced his throat to stop shaking. Pulled out, turned away without looking at her. He could hear her rustling around as he fished the bag out of the trash and pried it open to dispose of his condom.

“Sean? Are you, ah, OK?” Her voice was whispery soft.

He shrugged. “I’m great,” he said thickly. “You’re a fabulous lay, princess.” He escaped into her bathroom, and splashed water into his hot, staring eyes until the inconvenient, embarrassing tears eased off.

He braced himself before going out into her bedroom. Pulled on his jeans, careful not to look at her. Strapped on the knife, the gun. Put on his shoes, his shirt, without a word or a glance. She stood silently, swathed tightly in her robe. “Sean?” Her voice had gotten even smaller.

He ignored her as he grabbed her cell phone off the dresser.

“What are you doing with that?” she asked.

“Programming my number into it,” he said. “If you get the whim, just text me with a time and place. I’ll be there. At the ready.”

“Why are you being so cold?” she whispered.

He glanced at her, frowning. “What, wasn’t the sex hot enough?”

“That’s not what I…oh. I see. You’re doing that metamorphosis thing again. You’re being the cruel, horrible Sean now, right?”

He shrugged. “Whichever Sean I am, my dick will always be hard for you. Look under B for boy toy in your contacts list.” He tossed it on the dresser, and flung open the door. To the right was the third floor stairs, the crawl space, the window, the tree. His covert entry route.

The left led to the grand staircase down to the main hall. He turned left.

Liv lunged out the door after him. “Hey! What are you doing?” she hissed. “Have you gone nuts?”

“Why not? If they killed me now, I’d die happy. And slithering on your belly is undignified. Have a nice evening, beautiful.”

As luck would have it, Amelia Endicott was at the foot of the stairs, whispering with that steaming turd, Blair Madden. Gack.

Sean’s tongue adhered to the roof of his mouth. He abruptly reconsidered the wisdom of his impulse to walk out the front door.

Slithering on his belly sounded real good right now.

Liv’s mom turned at his deliberately clumping footsteps, and let out a shrill shriek. Her hand flew to cover her thin red mouth.

Blair jumped and put himself in front of her, puffing out his chest like a toad. “How did you get in? What have you done with Liv?”

“Nothing,” Liv said softly from behind him. “I’m fine.”

So the princess had taken pity on him. He allowed himself one last look over his shoulder. She was still in her sheer, sexy robe, flushed and damp and gorgeous. Like a woman who’d just had fabulous sex.

Sean did not like for Blair Madden to see her like that.

“I was testing your security,” he said. “Needless to say, it’s inadequate.” He dug into his pocket, and pulled out a scrap of paper. “Here’s a list of the best security companies in the area. Private cell phone numbers included. You could call them right now. In my name.”

“Thanks for the unsolicited advice.” Blair yanked the door open.

Sean stared at the other man as he sauntered down the stairs. Madden inched backwards, a muscle twitching in his face.

“The police are right outside, McCloud.”

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