The stranger reached down, disappearing from her line of sight for a moment. He returned, holding something she couldn’t identify in the dark. He pressed a button, and after a click, a short, sharp blade gleamed in the inky air between them.
Her eyes widened, and she gasped. “I-I told you, I’m not into pain. Or blood. Or death.”
“Me, either. But a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do…”
The intruder lowered the blade to her torso, beneath her tank top. Brenna’s heart pumped frantically in her chest, and she could barely hear his words over the roar of blood in her head. She tried to thrash away but every limb was too secure. If she kept that up, she wasn’t going anywhere—except to see Saint Peter.
He fitted the blade under the cotton and made his first cut—into the shirt, not her flesh.
“To see great tits,” he finished with a laugh.
The asshole! He’d been toying with her, enjoying her distress, knowing all the while he had no intention of killing her.
Relief and anger poured through her at once,
flooding her system with something dark and unfamiliar. He yanked up with his arm, his biceps bunching and bulging. The fabric of her shirt began to rip, a little more each time he sawed at it with his imposing strength. Finally, the blade sliced its way through the bottom of her shirt and the cool air teased her bare nipples.
“Holy shit.” He dropped the knife beside her on the bed and stared at her in the muted moonlight. His gaze was almost reverent as he cupped the breast the detective had abused earlier that day. “Cam pinched this nipple, didn’t he? Hard.”
Brenna gave him a shaky nod.
“How hard?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything that painful, especially the second time.”
“He did it more than once?” Incredulity colored the intruder’s voice, then he smiled.
Brenna was confused. Cam, he’d called the detective, as if he knew the guy. Did he? And why did he care about the way Cam had touched her?
“Were you even a little bit aroused?”
What an odd question. Was there a right or wrong answer? Did he want to know that Cam had turned her on? Under normal circumstances, she didn’t think any man wanted to know that another had aroused her. But with this stranger, she got the distinct impression that knowing Cam had affected her would please him.
“When he just touched me, before he pinched…yes.” In fact, in the moments before he’d delivered the pain, she’d thought his touch was one of the most pleasurable ever.
The intruder laughed. She’d didn’t get the joke, but didn’t think it was smart to ask him let her in on it.
“He touched you first? Tell me how.”
“H-how? Ah…well, he put his hand on my breast.”
“Just walked up to you and did this?” The stranger enveloped her sore breast in his palm.
“No. He grabbed my arm and spun me around, so his front covered my back. I…I could feel his hard breaths on my neck and every ripple of his chest when he exhaled. He reached around me and…”
“And you liked it.”
That wasn’t a question. Brenna didn’t reply.
“You’ve been helpful already.”
He bent down and placed a kiss on her abdomen, then his tongue stole into her navel. Unexpected tingles darted down low, and her belly quivered. Her womb clenched.
“Hmm. Responsive,” he whispered on her skin. “I like that in a woman. Let’s see just how much.”
Already he’d gotten more out of her than some guys had after a whole hour of sex, but that hardly meant he was going to be the man to incite her orgasm.
He kissed and nipped his way up her torso then laved her abused nipple. Blood filled it in a rush so quick, it was almost painful…but a sweet sort of pain. She gasped.
“Nice. Very responsive.”
Before she could absolve him of that notion, he laved her other nipple. As if grateful to finally get some attention, it stood straight up almost the instant his tongue touched it. His thumb came behind him and provided enough delicious friction to make her catch her breath.
“Stop. This has gone far enough.” Brenna tried to sound authoritative. Instead, she sounded like a quivering, half-aroused headcase.
“Unless you have very sensitive nipples, I can’t make you come like this. We have a deal. You reneging?”
“I-I… You can’t just…” She sighed in frustration. “It’s not a real agreement.”
“The hell it isn’t. The chance to make you come in exchange for information. Or to get rid of me if I fail. Those were the terms.”
“You can’t mean to hold me to it.”
“Why not? First, it’s a great score to see you completely naked. I have every inch of you to myself. Second, it’s the only way you’re getting me out this door before I have what I want.”
And tied down to the bed she wasn’t in any position to refute him.
Getting rid of him wasn’t what her body wanted, but what would be best for Curtis and her own self-preservation? As much as she didn’t want her gorgeous intruder to know that she was a freak who couldn’t come like a “normal” girl, she wanted him gone more.
“Why do you want Curtis so badly, that you’d seduce an unknown woman in the middle of the night?”
“Believe me, honey, you’re no hardship.”
“You’re not answering me.”
“It’s not something you need to worry about. We have unfinished business, Curtis and I.”
“His business is dangerous. Do you know what he’s been up to? Are you involved?”
“Yes and no, in that order.”
“I certainly didn’t know before I read it in this morning’s paper, and none of this makes sense! Who are you?”
“It’s not important.”
“I can’t come for someone whose name I don’t know. Mental block.”
That wasn’t the only thing that would mentally block her from orgasm, but she had a feeling he was one stubborn man who would insist on finding that out for himself, no matter what.
The intruder paused. “Thorn.”
She frowned. “Is that a first name or a last?”
“What do you need, my full name, social security number and blood type? This is simple—you either tell me where Curtis is or…I make you come and then you tell me.”
Brenna sighed. “I swear, I don’t know anything.”
“We’ve been over this, babe. Besides…” He dedicated both hands to touching her breasts and toying with her nipples. “I’m enjoying the hell out of this. Cam’s hard-on after his visit here makes a shitload of sense.”
It shouldn’t matter if she’d made the detective hard. He was potentially the enemy and she wasn’t likely to see too much of him in the future. But knowing she got to him…well, it did something for her feminine pride. Detective Martinez was a major hottie.
Then again, from what she could see of her intruder, Thorn was easy on the eyes too.
“I’ve got one myself,” he added.
Oh, hell. Like she needed to know that he had an erection. A curl of thrill cut through her belly. Stupid…but it wasn’t like she had a lot of control over the sensation.
“And I’m dying to know what you’ve got down south,” he murmured in the dark.
Before she could protest, Thorn jerked the sheet away from her waist, past her hips, down her legs, then he ripped away the wisp of lace around her hips. Thanks to her bound and spread ankles, he had instant access to everything.
Thorn didn’t hesitate, didn’t work up to his next touch. He cupped the mound of her sex, fingers dipping just inside her lips to test. He slid right over slick, sensitive tissues, his fingers covering the quivering button of her clit.
He flashed her another smile in the dark. “Wet and bare, my favorite kind of pussy. It’s going to be my pleasure to find out how many ways I can make you come.”
“I don’t think…”
He circled his fingers over her clit and bent to take that sore nipple in his mouth. At that point, thinking wasn’t happening. She bucked and arched as sensation tore through her. A burning ache broiled between her legs. A line of tingles zinged