Billowsofsteampoured through the crack in the bathroom door as I pushed it open. I left behind my fogged reflection in the mirror as I stepped out into the room, pulling my jeans button closed.
The AC dried up the droplets of water left riding on my chest, and I slapped my towel over the rising goosebumps. Whoever thought it was a brilliant idea to have hotel rooms always set to freezing was an idiot.
A spot of flaming red drew my eye, standing out stark against the white sheets. Scarlett was a drop of blood in a sea of clouds, her head buried beneath not one, but two pillows. My stare traveled up to the chain around her hand, holding her arm over her head as she slept.
Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?
She fought with me for over an hour after I cuffed her, but as I was beginning to learn with her, she winded herself of insults eventually and nodded off to sleep. She’d been out cold ever since.
Looking at her now, her lips still painted like cherries from yesterday and her face unbound of any winding ideas or smartass remarks, she didn’t look like the kind of woman who could send a man to his grave with just a glance.
That foul mouth of hers was a relaxed pout instead of a machine of non-stop gutter spew.
Her skin looked soft, and her hair was a wild, thick mess against the sheets. She looked like a fucking angel in bed if I had to admit it, but an angel that came straight from the mouth of hell—signed, sealed, and delivered to personally torture me.
Last night was all the proof I needed of that.
Pulling one of the shirts I bought yesterday over my head, sleeping Scarlett gave a little moan and wriggled her small body against the sheets. My focus pulled to her neck where the noise came from, pictures of my hand around it cropping in behind my eyes.
Well-known squalls of imprudent darkness ambushed my senses until I could practically taste her lavender need on my tongue just like last night. Until all I could see was black closing in around a cherry-kissed mouth that begged for my demons.
I’d slipped last night, and Scarlett Avery was the one who pushed me.
Less than a day together, and she’d dissected me down to the wires that made me tick. She toyed with them, wrapped her painted fingernails around my haywire triggers just to see what would happen if she pulled.
The woman lying so innocently in her bed made a game out of my anger, fanning it and damn near getting exactly what she begged for with those fucking shameless lips and deliberate eyes. I’d nearly lost myself and tightened my grip around her throat last night, blood stirring south as I imagined her eyes rolling back and her pretty mouth contorted to the formation of my name.
There were two things that stopped me, both really fucking important.
One: I only choked for pleasure, to make a woman climax so hard she started speaking in tongues. When I felt Scarlett's heart last night, there was nothing exhilarated about it. She was calm. Eerily unflinching. Not like any of the women I’d bedded who’d been needy for that kind of treatment.
And two: I only fucked women who were not my boss’s daughter.
Pulsing vibrations pulled my attention from the sleeping hellion to my phone. It danced along the nightstand, and I swiped it up, glancing at the caller ID.
Speaking of the boss...
“Sir,” I answered, keeping my voice low.
“Reyes.” Special Agent Avery’s voice came through curt and booming. “How’s Scarlett? She giving you any trouble?”
Right to the point, and fuck yeah. She’s giving me hell, but I’m sure you already knew that.
“She’s fine, sir. Sleeping. I’ve planned out our route for today, and we’ll be in Texas by tonight.”
A hesitant pause tethered between the line.
“There’s been a slight change of plans.”
This road trip you have me on is already a ‘slight’ change of plansran across my mind but stayed tightly sealed up behind my flattening lips.
“Reports say a few of the prominent members of the Vitalis family might be in your area,” he continued.
Like a bomb, familiar pain spidered out from the center of my chest as soon as I heard that name.
That fucking name was acid to me like Scarlett’s last name was to her. I stumbled into the wall next to me, reaching out and holding myself up against it.
Breathe. Breathe. For fuck’s sake, breathe.