“I’m never giving her up, so I’m finding ways to keep her occupied so she doesn’t think about trying to leave me.”
He was growing right there in her mouth, and the sensation was so good. She closed her eyes, no longer hearing more than their voices off in some distance. She decided the first step was to want to give him the best experience of his life, so good he wouldn’t be able to talk or even think, and to do that, she had to drown out everything but him. She concentrated on the shape of him, the taste and texture of him. She simply worshipped him. She loved him with everything she was. She lavished attention on him, using every technique she knew aroused him the most.
Next, she had to make this so good for him that he could no longer see or hear anything but her and her mouth and what she was doing to him. She knew he had gone beyond the point of no return when he groaned. His fist tightened in her hair and he began to talk dirty to her. His hips thrust deep, and she forced herself to relax. He let her breathe and then surged forward again.
“Look at me, princess. I want to see your eyes.”
She loved that. She loved when he looked into her eyes. She lifted her lashes to all that startling blue and saw what she was doing to him—shattering him. So perfect. She lashed him with her tongue and took him deeper.
His strangled cry was the sound of ecstasy to her ears. She loved that sound and wanted to hear it again and again. It helped to keep her from panicking when her air was cut off and she thought he might not let her breathe. Even then, she felt him pulsing on her tongue, his heart beating against the roof of her mouth. She forced her throat to relax as he pushed even deeper. Then he was helpless, emptying himself into her, groaning deeply, mindless because she gave that to him. She took her time making certain he was clean before she let him help her up. She had done exactly what she’d wanted to do, and she’d never been happier. She loved him with every breath in her body. With every beat of her heart. She chose this man, and she was determined to be happy and confident in herself as his woman and just as confident in their relationship.
SEVENTEEN
Czar lay on the rooftop of the apartment building across the street from their target. His honor, the renowned judge Bonner James, one of the main members of the con ring, had his elegant luxury condo facing the ocean so he could have his view. The back side of his condo faced the apartments were Czar had positioned himself so he could direct his pack.
The judge had a visitor tonight. His bedroom was in the back of the house, and he kept his curtains open. Never a good thing for a judge who sat on the bench and wanted an impeccable reputation. Most likely his proclivity of having Mistress Scarlet visit him was what had gotten him in trouble in the first place. Czar had never understood why others gave a damn about what a man or woman preferred in the bedroom, but apparently society liked to pass judgment. As far as he was concerned, that was what was wrong with half the world.
They’d have to wait until Mistress Scarlet finished collecting her tools of the trade and left. She was very businesslike, patting the judge’s face as she unstrapped him and gathered everything up, including the money on the bedside table. They exchanged a few words and then she breezed out of the condo.
The judge wrapped himself in a short silk robe and went to the small bar he kept in his bedroom to pour himself a nightcap.
He’s alone. Awake. Move in.
In answer to his command, Transporter rappelled from the roof to the front of the condo and knelt by the door. Around him, the rest of the team dropped from the roof, spread out, staying still; it was always the unexpected that got one in trouble.
He’s turned on his stereo and appears to be settling. He’s in bed, Czar told his team.
That was good. They could hear the music. Classical. The judge liked it loud. Hopefully the neighbors were used to it.
Transporter had the door unlocked and he cautiously pushed it open. Ice took lead, entering first. The room, as expected, was empty. He was a little shocked that the judge didn’t have a better security system than the crappy one they’d found and disabled. It was more for show than real, probably because the judge didn’t want to take a chance that anyone might be able to get a shot of him on camera doing what he loved best, so he’d bought a security system off the Internet rather than having one installed by an actual company.
Ice moved into the room, padding across the floor, careful not to touch anything. They had Winston’s prints and a few hair follicles they’d gotten from a brush in his bathroom. They had decided that Winston would take the blame for the deaths of the other members of the con ring. It was known that he had a bad temper, and when he was angry, he was clearly capable of murder. More than once he’d been seen yelling at a couple of the others. Ice had been in his home several times in the last week, collecting everything they would need.
The story had broken in the news, and it had been huge. The missing heiress was married to a biker. That was exactly the kind of news that seemed to appeal to everyone. Winston had insisted she was ill, and her marrying a biker only proved his point. He wanted her seen by a doctor and remanded to his custody. He had been very specific about which doctor she was to see. Dr. Cyrus Mills had to be involved with the con artist ring, and when Code looked closer into his financials, it was very clear that he was.
Ice had been shocked at how many upstanding citizens were involved. Code began to go back several years and found more than fifteen women who had died under what he considered suspicious circumstances, and that was just in the Northern California area. Perhaps if they’d all been married to the same man, their deaths would have raised an alarm, but only a few times had the same man been widowed there in California. Code said the pattern was repeated in other places.
Winston had wanted in on the scheme, and he’d been given his chance. No one was very happy with him. Now, he had drawn attention to them. Even if they got Soleil back, it wasn’t as if they could just kill her right away, unless they could make it look like a suicide.
Ice and Storm crossed the room to the hallway. Czar sent Mechanic and Transporter to check the other rooms while Savage walked boldly into the bedroom, the twins behind him, immediately spreading out. Absinthe followed them in.
The judge had his eyes closed but, sensing the menace, opened them and tried to grab for his phone. Savage yanked it from him. He didn’t say anything, just put the phone in his pocket and stepped back.
Ice smiled at him. “Good evening, Judge. I’m so glad you had a nice relaxing evening with Mistress Scarlet. I always like to know a man’s last night is a happy one.”
The judge put his sternest face on. “What do you want?”
“You had to know, sooner or later, your lifestyle was going to catch up to you, and I don’t mean the lovely Mistress Scarlett. Your friends have been murdering women for several years now, and you help them do it.”
The judge shook his head and pulled back, looking innocent. “No. No. Absolutely not. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”