Talon hooked his fingers around my bra and yanked it off me. Before he could close his hands over my bare breasts, I wrenched at his T-shirt. He tossed it aside, and I took in the expanse of black and gray lines. Intricately woven tattoos covered his chest and his broad shoulders. It was an utter masterpiece of guns, bones, and military tags, shaded to a terrifying perfection, mesmerizing and beautiful.
No, beautiful wasn’t the right word for the grandeur of Talon’s naked torso.
He was a mountain of sculpted scars and tattoos, muscles bulging through all of them and tanned skin weaving it all together. His body was a fine piece of art. From the ragged scar poking up from his hip to the small, thin lines that ran across his biceps, he stood as a living, mesmerizing sculpture.
That masterpiece lifted me onto a clear section of the weight rack and peeled off my pants and panties with one swift gesture that left me even wetter than before. As he dropped his own pants, I couldn’t take my eyes off the thick, corded length of his cock.
He smoothed the condom over the hard shaft and then pinned my arms over my head again. I arched my back instinctively, and he looked over my entire exposed body—every small scar and curve.
He lowered his head to suck one and then the other nipple into his mouth, tugging with his teeth on the release. A gasp tumbled out of me at the shock of combined pain and pleasure. Then he lined himself up and thrust into me, balls deep.
With that motion, he fulfilled my request. He made me scream. The sound reverberated through me alongside the electric burst of bliss. No sensation I’d ever been able to produce with my hand had come close to this.
Talon hesitated, examining my features, and a prickle of panic rose up again. I hissed through my teeth. “Fuck me hard.”
Something flared in his eyes. He pulled back and thrust into me again, dipping his head to reclaim the peak of one of my breasts in tandem. Each roll of his hips brought a delicious burn between my thighs that spread all through my torso.
He was big, but I’d been so wet and ready I could take him. The stretch was nothing short of paradise.
Talon could still have hurt me if he’d been too rough about it. I could tell he restrained himself just slightly, adding a little twist here, shifting his angle there, in ways that made me moan. But through it all the force of his thrusts and the scrape of his teeth against my skin kept all sensation except enjoyment at bay.
As he found his rhythm and saw what I could handle, he picked up his pace to a brutal speed. I bucked into him, riding the surge of sensations, gasping at the pleasure that shot through me every time he buried himself inside me. It washed through every inch of my body, every part of my soul. And then, with one final plunge, he shattered me.
Ecstasy tore through my body, leaving me shaking and clenching around him. A cry burst from my throat. Talon continued his relentless rhythm, drawing every ounce of writhing lust from me.
He didn’t take long to follow, tipping his head back when the orgasm swept through his body. He let go of my wrists and gripped both of my hips, his thrusts growing sporadic as he finished his release. Then he bowed over me.
We stared at each other, damp with not just our own sweat but each other’s now. Talon’s face remained as impenetrable as ever. I couldn’t even tell whether he was happy we’d crashed into each other like this or upset. Or whether he really didn’t care at all.
“Well, that was one way to keep ourselves occupied,” I said in a rough attempt at a joke, playing off his earlier comment.
Talon didn’t even acknowledge my words. He withdrew and touched me only enough to help me down from the rack. “I’d better shower,” was all he said. Then he picked up his clothes and walked out.
Okay, then. I sat down on my cot, hugging myself. Had I made a mistake?
It hadn’t felt like a mistake at the time. Remembering the way he’d hammered into me, the feel of his hands and his teeth, I bit my bottom lip. My sex was already throbbing at the idea of having another go.
If it’d been a mistake, then it was one I wasn’t sure I could avoid repeating. I’d had no idea—I mean, obviously sex had to feel pretty good if people bothered at all, but for it to be that amazing…
I shook off those thoughts and grabbed my own clothes. As fantastic as it’d been, it obviously wasn’t happening again today. Possibly not ever again with Talon, depending on what was going on in his head right now.
As I pulled on my shirt, a faint rattling sound reached my ears. What was that?
Then it hit me. The phone. I’d left it on vibrate.
I dashed over to the trunk where I’d stashed it and tugged it out from behind. Thank God it hadn’t gone off while Talon was here. I flipped it open in my hand—and then just stared at the text message that had popped up on the screen.
This is Noelle. When you see this, respond immediately.
That was it. No expression of concern or acknowledgment of the horror I’d witnessed in the mansion, no curiosity about where I might be. Just a simple demand.
Something about it made my hackles rise. Was it even Noelle? Scarlett hadn’t known who’d left the phone for her, or at least that’s what she’d claimed. She hadn’t acted as if it was someone she trusted.
And—Noelle was dead, wasn’t she? I’d seen that woman with the right sort of hair and build in the middle of the massacre…
But of course, the corpse’s face had been too mutilated to identify. I wasn’t sure it’d been my trainer.
Where would she have been if not at the household, though?
Too many questions cluttered my head. If I even confirmed that I’d gotten the phone, would I be alerting someone I didn’t actually want to tangle with, at least not yet? Maybe this was some kind of trap arranged by the same people who’d rampaged through the mansion.
Whether it was them or it really was Noelle, I’d find out. I could use this connection. I just needed a day or two to think to be sure I made the right decision. I was running this mission on my own, making the calls. When I’d acted hastily before, I’d nearly screwed myself over.
Taking a deep breath and ignoring the tension clamped around my stomach, I turned off the phone and shoved it back into its hiding place.