Page 60 of Master of Lies

“Maybe Mickey tried to tell you who has that flash drive, after all,” she said. “Maybe it’s Boer’s surgeon. And maybe that’s Joe Grifo. Where was Mickey based before prison?”

“Portland,” I said. “Oregon. He had a place there. Adriani, the mob boss, was based in Las Vegas, but Mickey went home to Portland whenever he could.”

“Oregon,” she said. “That explains the OR. Try cross-referencing exclusive, high end cosmetic surgeons named Joseph Grifo. Start in Oregon.”

I slid out of bed and went straight to the laptop in the living room, stark naked. I ran a search, and found him on the first page. Madden, Grifo, Clark, and Burns, a cosmetic surgery practice in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Grifo’s first name was Joseph. There were other Grifo doctors, a James, an Angelo, a Giovanni, a Micheal, all of them with different specialties. But a Joe Grifo, in Oregon, in cosmetic surgery…that search yielded just one, single guy.

Well, fuck me.

Freya leaned over my shoulder, gorgeously smooth and warm and fragrant. “Did you find him?”

“I found someone,” I said. “Doesn’t mean it’s him.”

“Well.” She shrugged. “It’s a place to start. A door to knock on. Hey, look at that. Madden, Grifo, Clark and Burns are participating in the organization fundraising gala for the New Day, New Hope Foundation, a charitable foundation which seeks to improve the lives of individuals in need of reconstructive surgery, blah blah. That’s happening in just a couple of days. Interesting. I wonder if our guy will be there.”

In retrospect, it looked so obvious, I wish I’d figured it out for myself. But no, it had to be handed to me on a platter by a hot naked girl. Shane and Ethan always dazzled me with their big brains, too, but the sexy naked girl element gave it a special twist.

But fuck it. We couldn’t all be rocket scientists. There was a place for everyone in the grand scheme of things. The world needed its grunting meatheads, too.

Like Freya had needed me today. I had made myself useful, beyond a doubt.

She gave me that incandescent Sandee smile, and tossed up her mop of wild, touseled hair, stretching for me, arching, putting on a show. Then cupped her own breasts, sliding her fingertips down, down, down. “I think, Jed, that our work here is done for now,” she said, her voice silky. “And now you should come with me into the bedroom and make up for being a jerk in that special way only you can.”

She turned around and sashayed back toward the bedroom, hips swaying.

Wow. This woman was something else. Figuring out my next move by parsing my stress nightmares? She had superpowers. Like a sexy, dangerous sorceress.

And that didn’t dampen down my hard-on. Oh, no. On the contrary.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for me. I walked in and stood there, waiting for a cue. Something immistakable, like grabbing my dick.

She did me one better, grabbing my ass with one hand, my cock with the other, sucking me tenderly into her mouth. I gasped at the intense sensation. Slow, teasing little licks and trills and swirls, taking me deeper into that hot well, caressing me with her clever tongue. She clamped her fingers around the base of my cock, squeezing tenderly while she took me in. A slow, pulsing rhythm.

I’ve never not liked a blowjob. What wasn’t to like? But this was next level. Another universe. Life-changing, mind blowing, brain melting. I wanted to fuse with her, kiss her, fuck her. Feel her come around my dick, bathing me with her balm.

But it was so hard to stop this perfection. Only the thundering imminent orgasm made me draw back. I wanted to be inside her when I came.

I reached down, beyond speech, nudging and maneuvering her until she scooted back onto the bed, and opened her legs, holding up her arms to me.

My chest expanded, like a supernova as I entered her. So sweet and yeilding, bathing me with her hot lube at every stroke. Staring at each other. I’d never felt so completely seen, known. It felt incredible.

We clutched each other, heaving and crying out in that frantic crescendo, and then the energy blasted me open from the inside. Light was flooding into the ruins.

I was open to the brilliant, endless sky.

After my heart calmed down and I came to my senses, fear came flooding back.

This was stupid. The more attached to her I got, the more dangerous it was for both of us. I’m doubling my load and cutting my effectiveness in half. Or worse.

I couldn’t wallow in all the tender fucking feelings if I wanted Freya to survive. I admired her courage and nerve, but my first priority was keeping her safe, not indulging her ego. I had to pass her over to the Drakes and have them deliver her to Ethan. Protecting and controlling her should be her brother’s problem. Not mine.

I was getting swept up into the stratosphere. Which was great while I was riding the giddy updraft, but I knew it couldn’t last. Gravity always had its way in the end.

And it was a long, long way back down.

CHAPTER23

Freya

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