Kenton rose. “That’s not really what I was hoping to hear.” But a grin softened his face as he hurried off to find Monica.
Hyde’s gaze slipped to the frame on his desk. Such a beautiful smile there. One he only saw in pictures now. In memories that faded too fast. “You should be,” he whispered again, the laughter gone.
Because Kenton knew, like he did, that there was evil in the world. Evil that waited to steal away the light and the moments of joy.
Hyde’s fingers slid over the edge of the frame. They hadn’t found Heather’s body, and he knew they never would. His daughter would never be coming home.
Sam took Max to her place. Techs were still working at his apartment as they searched for evidence.
Two guards were stationed at her door—agents from the Violent Crimes Division who’d been sent over as backup. She knew a similar team was watching Weatherly. Ramirez had been relieved, and he was back to following leads on Donnelley.
The door shut behind them with a soft click. Sam cleared her throat. “You can make yourself at home.” Max hadn’t spoken on the ride over, just seemed lost in thought. “I’ve got plenty of food in the fridge, so I can make some lunch….”
“I’m not hungry for food.”
She put her gun on the table and met his gaze. “Max.”
He shook his head. “Everything’s gone to hell, hasn’t it?”
Yes.
“Quinlan’s not answering his cell; the cops can’t find him.” He shook his head. “It’s a waiting game, and it’s driving me crazy.”
The waiting was hell, but what was coming—it would be even worse. She took off her coat then walked toward him.
But his scorching look froze her mid-stride. “I’m not in an easy mood, baby,” he warned.
Had she asked for easy? Ever?
“I need you,” Max said gruffly, “so damn bad, but—”
She kept walking. When she reached him, Sam put her fingers against his lips. “I need you, too.” More than she could say. Sam was desperate for him. She needed to feel him against her, in her, needed to be certain he was safe. Alive.
Hers again.
Because that was how she thought of him. Mine.
Her hands went to the top of his jeans. His eyes never left her face. She caught the button, popped it free, and lowered his zipper with a soft hiss.
“Samantha…”
His cock spilled into her hand. Long, thick, and heavy with arousal. Her fingers wrapped around him, then squeezed tight. She worked his flesh, one long, hard pump, from base to tip.
So warm and hard.
She eased onto her knees before him and took the head of his erection into her mouth.
“Fuck!” His shaft jerked at the touch of her tongue.
Salty. Rich. She licked the pre-cum on his cock. Didn’t think I’d have him again. So scared.
Her mouth widened, and she took him in deeper. Her hand slid down her body and pressed against the hard ache of need between her legs.
Wanted him. Always want him.
His hands tangled in her hair. “You’re so… beautiful…” He growled.
Her cheeks hollowed as she sucked him. She wanted to feel his control shatter as he came for her.
Her hand pressed harder against her sex. Her mouth tightened around him, and his cock swelled even more in her mouth.
“No!”
His growl had her pulling back. Max’s eyes glittered down at her. “Told you, baby,” his voice was so gravelly, so rough, “I wasn’t feeling easy.” His hands moved to her shoulders, and he pushed her back, down onto the thick carpet.
Max yanked off her jeans and panties, taking her shoes with them, and he tossed everything into a pile in the corner. His hands—with slightly callused, rough fingers—closed around her thighs, and he spread her legs as he opened her wide to him.
“You’re wet for me.” Hunger and dark lust flavored the words.
One touch, and she’d been wet. Just as he was hard for her. She twisted beneath him, needing more. “Come inside me now.”
“I get my turn first.” His stubble pricked her thighs as he moved in closer. His breath blew against the light covering of hair that shielded her sex. Max’s fingers slid up, parted her folds, and found her clit.
Her breath choked out. There.
Then his mouth was on her. Those lips, that tongue, licking, sucking, making the need tighten and the hunger flare so hot.
Her hips slammed up against his mouth, and her nails raked his back. She wasn’t feeling easy, either.
Desperate.
Max’s tongue drove into her sex. She came against his mouth. A hot, hard explosion. And he kept licking her.
Her eyes squeezed shut as the waves of release blasted her. So good, so good, but not enough. “Max…” Her lashes lifted.
His head rose at her throaty cry. His gaze—the pupils so big his eyes looked black—locked on her face. He licked his lips, and she knew he still tasted her.
He grabbed for his wallet and took out a condom. She rose onto her knees, wanting to help him, but he had his cock sheathed in seconds. Then he ordered, “Get on your knees.”
The sensual command had her breath heaving out.
Not easy.
Sam’s hands slapped against the floor. Her gaze hit the brown carpet as she brought her knees down, lifting her ass.
“You’re fucking…” his fingers trailed over her ass and down to her cleft, “perfect.”
No, she wasn’t. Far from it.
His cock nudged at the entrance to her body. The head probed against her opening. Sam’s fingers dug into the carpet.
Not easy.
The first hard plunge had her gasping, then driving her hips back against Max as she tried to take more of him. More.
His hand circled her hip, then slid over to push at the front of her sensitive flesh. His thumb rubbed her sex even as he retreated, then thrust deeper, harder, into her.
She arched, turning her head, and he was there, rising with her. His mouth took hers even as his hands and cock took her body. His tongue thrust deep, and his cock retreated. Thrust, withdraw. Again and again.
A second release swelled closer. Her hips rocked against him, the rhythm wild and too fast. She was so wet that her cream coated him.
Another thrust. One that rocked her entire body, and she came, exploding around him, on a wave of white-hot pleasure that stole her breath.
Max shuddered behind her, around her, in her. Her name tore from his lips, and his cock surged inside of her as he erupted.
When Sam’s breathing slowed down, when her heart stopped racing, he still filled her.
Her knees ached. Her sex quivered, and her throat seemed bone-dry.
Not easy. But exactly what she’d wanted.
“Mine.” And when she heard the whisper, she wasn’t sure if it had been hers, or his.
Sam and Max watched the press conference together. Max’s arms were loose around her, but she felt the tension that hit his body when Kenton announced Quinlan’s name.
“Dammit.”
Sam turned toward him, barely hearing Kenton’s words now. She knew that Hyde had called Kenton back in on the case so the guy could soothe the reporters. When it came to the press, Kenton had a perfect touch.
Kenton had left the SSD after he’d fallen hard for Lora Spade, a firefighter he’d met during the hunt for a serial arsonist. They’d both almost died, but in the end, they’d come through hell, stronger. Together. Kenton had left the SSD to be with her.
What would it be like to have someone love you so much he’d sacrifice everything?
“How did this happen?” Max demanded. “Quinlan—shit, there has to be an explanation.” He pushed away from her and shoved to his feet. “I’m not just going to sit here while he’s hunted down.”
“Max, wait!” But he was already heading for the door. Sam hurried after him. “You don’t even know where to look!”
He glanced back at her. “Everyo
ne is hunting him. If he did this—” a deep, gulping breath, “don’t you think somebody might shoot first and question him later? Don’t you?”
If Quinlan came out armed, yes.
“I can get him to turn himself in. Whatever’s happened, whatever twisted mess he’s involved in, I can help him.”
Sam could only shake her head. Max was willing to risk everything for Quinlan. Family—a bond that wouldn’t break.
“What if you can’t?” She grabbed his arm and held on tight. “They tried to kill you, don’t you understand that? The dose they gave you—”
“Donnelley gave me—”
“Was too strong!” She nearly shouted at him, her fingers digging into his. “Your heart nearly stopped beating! Jesus, Max, you almost died! If I hadn’t found you and got you to the hospital…” No, no, she wouldn’t go there, wouldn’t. “They left you to die.”
His body stiffened. “All along, every damn step of the way, you’ve suspected him, haven’t you?”
Not always. “He had a lot of debt. He knew all the victims.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“No, it doesn’t.” Circumstantial. “But he was there when Donnelley drugged you. Right there, and he left you on the floor to die.”
Their gazes held, and she saw the horrible struggle in his gaze. He didn’t want to believe it, didn’t want to think his stepbrother could be a killer. But she also saw that part of him—yes, part of him could see the darkness in Quinlan. Part of him suspected the truth, had suspected for a while now.
“The SSD will find him,” she promised. They’d found her. “They’re searching all of your stepfather’s properties now and all of the properties linked to the victims. Any place you can think of, they’ve searched.” Her shoulders straightened. This was the hard part. Hell, it was all hard. “And I can’t let you get in the way of the investigation.”
His eyes narrowed at that.
Sam wouldn’t back down. Not even for him. “My assignment is to watch you, to protect you, and to make sure you don’t hinder the investigation.” By tipping off your brother.
“Is that why you brought me here?” he demanded, and there was a bite to his words that she hadn’t heard before, at least not directed toward her. “To keep me busy so I wouldn’t get in anyone’s way?”
Anger boiled inside her. “I didn’t make love with you because I needed to keep you distracted.”
“Oh? Then why did you?” And then he was grabbing her, his hands hard on her arms as he lifted her up on her toes. “Why the first night? Why me?”
Because you’d been the most dangerous, go to hell-looking man in the room. “I needed you.”
“You didn’t know me.”
And that had been one of the reasons why. Someone who didn’t know her. Didn’t know her past.
“You were running scared,” he said, voice deeper, “and you ran to me.”
Then. She didn’t deny his words. Maybe that was answer enough for him.
“Why now, baby? I know your secrets.” A rough smile twisted his lips. “Is it the case? Because Hyde orders you to—”
She wrenched away from him. “Hyde doesn’t order me to screw anyone.” Stay close to him.
“He said to stay close though, right? Dante gave that order to you the first day in my house. And you’ve been staying close… because you want to show ’em you can handle the job? Handle anything that comes at you when—”
“No, dammit!” Her voice tore across his. “I’ve been staying because I wanted to be with you!”
Time to stop being afraid. “Max, I’m not with you because of the case. I’m with you because you’re the only man I want.” A stranger to satisfy the dark need—at first. But then he’d become so much more.
“You know me,” Sam told him. “Inside and out, you know me, like no one else ever has before.” All the dark places, the fears. He knew it all, and still wanted her.
Not a victim. Not with him. And she’d be damned if she’d be one ever again.
His phone rang then, a low vibration. She wet her lips. “Max, I just…”
He yanked the phone out of his back pocket and glanced down at the screen. “Donnelley.”
CHAPTER Seventeen
Do you want to see your brother again?” The voice was a rasp, surrounded by a crackle of static.
“Donnelley, you bastard, what do you want?” Max’s fingers tightened around the phone.
A laugh. “Everything.”
Samantha had her phone out. She’d moved away from him, and he heard her whispering urgently to someone.
“Where’s Quinlan?”
Another husky laugh. “Your agents think he’s a killer, don’t they?”
Isn’t he? “The two of you drugged me.”
“Did we?”
“The FBI is after you, and you’d better pray they find you first!” Because Max wanted to rip the asshole’s head off. Rage had his whole body tightening.
“If they find me, I promise…” still that low, rough whisper, “they’ll never find Quinlan. Not until it’s too late.”
Another game. “Quinlan’s been killing with you.” That was what Samantha thought and what he feared. How? How had things gone so wrong? Could I have stopped this? Saved him?
His mother’s image flashed before him. W-Watch him.
Max’s teeth clenched. Dammit. To just go back—
“I went to Quinlan’s room before I dosed you…” Whispered. “And you don’t remember me dragging him out, do you? The cameras saw what I wanted them to see… and no one saw him.”
Samantha was back. She’d grabbed her gun and holstered it at her side.
“How much is he worth?” The voice taunted. “How much will you pay? What will you do? After all, you’re the one who ruined everything—you and your whore.”
“Don’t you say—”
“You want to be the hero? The one who saves Quinlan? Then you’ll fucking do exactly what I tell you to do.”
Sonofabitch.
“Bring the bitch with you, get in the car, and I’ll tell you where to go.” A rush of static on the line. “You can trade your life for his. Quinlan can walk away.”
Fucking liar.
“You’re dead,” Max said and meant it.
“One of us will be.” More static crackled. “Now move. If you let that bitch bring in the Feds, Quinlan will be the one who is dead. I’ll slice him apart, and his death will be on you, big brother.”
“Sam called.” Kim announced as she rushed into Hyde’s office. “Donnelley’s cell number just popped up on Max’s phone. She said it sounded like he was making a demand, something about Quinlan.”
Hyde leapt to his feet. Monica had been sitting across from him, but she jumped up too.
“Did you order a trace lock on Donnelley’s phone?” Hyde asked.
“Yeah, we’re triangulating the signal now. We should have the doctor’s general location in just a few more minutes.”
Monica fired a hard stare at Hyde. “If the doctor’s on the line, then where’s Quinlan?”
She’d just gone through her entire profile with Hyde. As far as Monica was concerned, Donnelley wasn’t the key player. Too weak. Too disorganized.
Hyde’s jaw clenched. “We’re going to damn well find out.”
The call ended with a soft click. Max swore and raced for the door, wrenching the knob.
“Max?”
Max didn’t look back. “Don’t come with me, baby.”
But her steps hurried after him. Then her hand was on his arm as she tried to turn him back to face her. “What did he say? What’s happening?”
Your life for his.
“I have to go alone.” He shook his head. “He could be watching. I have to go alone.” Because he wasn’t going to risk her.
“No, you can’t.” Snapped out.
He faced her and saw the tears glistening in her eyes.
Samantha shook her head. “No, do you hear me? This is some kind of s
etup. You can’t—”
“Give me your gun.”
Her eyes widened. “I-I can’t. You know I can’t!”
He held out his hand. “How much is family worth?”
She flinched at that. “You know… you know what’s going to happen.”
He grabbed her and kissed her with the desperate rage that pumped through his veins. He kissed her even as his hands swept down her body and took her gun.
No, he took the gun because she let him have it. Max’s head lifted, and he stepped back.
Sam stood before him, her lips trembling, red and swollen from his kiss. “Max, what did he say?”
“He wants me to come to him.”
“Where? Just tell me—”
“I don’t know.” But the bastard wanted her. Max had put Samantha in his sights. He won’t touch her. “He hasn’t told me yet.” Hurry; no time to waste. “Remember,” he said, “he always knew every move we made.” Just as he’d know now, because he was close.
Watching.
“Max.”
There was no choice, not for either of them. “Some things are worth too much,” he said quietly.
And he left her.
Sam stood for a moment with her shoulders hunched and her heart racing too fast. She watched Max leave because there was no other choice. If the kidnapper had told him to get into the car alone, then she’d make sure he went alone.
But I won’t leave you alone.
She’d given him her weapon, but she had a backup. And no way would she let him face the hell that was coming on his own.
Sam reached for her phone. The other agents would need to stand down and not interfere, yet. Max would take them right to their prey, and she’d be there to make sure he didn’t end up like Frank.
I’m coming.
“We’ve got Donnelley.” Excitement had Kim’s voice rising. “The cell signal was traced to the four-hundred block of New Curtis.” She looked up. “He’s in a motel room.”
“Get over there,” Hyde ordered, crossing his arms over his chest. “You and Dante, go.”
“Already going, sir,” Dante called out as they ran for the door.
Monica stepped forward. Hyde saw the worry on her face. The attachment between her and Dante grew stronger every day. She’d told Hyde the news about their engagement, and while he was damn happy for Monica—about time she had a life outside the SSD—he couldn’t have married agents working together in his unit.