Freya tapped her chin with a scowl. “And I don’t mean to be the Abe of the group, but my colleagues are out here necking when we only have the biggest case of our lives to solve.”
Abe’s valiant effort not to laugh dissolved—and his husky morning laughter curled my toes.
I stood, dragging Abe with me. “Come now, Mr. Royal. It’s a beautiful day to right the scales of justice.”
42
Abe
7:01 p.m., and I was out of the shower, slicking my hair back and studying the face of a man whose criminal obsession was finally—maybe—coming true tonight.
The auction began at 8:00, and the six of us were set to leave for our various positions in twenty-nine minutes. Henry, in disguise, would stake out Mycroft’s Pub, which allowed him to watch Adler’s. Sloane and I were playing a fancy couple out on the town, strolling past 221B Baker Street. Delilah was attending the auction tonight—at this point, she was the only Codex member who didn’t have the potential to be recognized.
Freya and Sam would be hiding out in the parking lot at the Kensley Auction House, waiting to grab people or call the cops or chase down suspects. It wasn’t a perfect plan by any means, but the six of us would be covering as many hot spots as we could to cast the biggest net we were able.
I knew now that Sloane and I would have never pulled this off on our own. The team was necessary. Always.
As usual, Codex had sprung into quick action after we’d gorged ourselves on breakfast and coffee. The relaxed laughter and conversation as we ate was a necessary balm to my spiky nerves. As was seeing Sloane open for them the way she had for me. I behaved and kept my hands off of her all day. I still took enormous pleasure and strength from the smiles she’d flash me like bolts of heat lightning. The euphoric rush was the same.
Call me when you get him.
I scrubbed my face down the towel, accepting I was going to be a nervous goddamn wreck the entire night. Heart hammering, chest tight, I tied the towel around my waist and walked out of the bathroom—only to be killed dead on the spot by the goddess.
“You’ll certainly stand out in that,” I managed.
Sloane turned slowly, lipstick raised, and smiled like a pin-up model. “You told me to dress nicely. This is nice.”
“You and I must have varying definitions of nice.”
She stood completely naked in front of the dresser mirror in nothing but silver stiletto heels, bent close to apply a scarlet color to her lips. Her body was a display of shadow and light, full curves and strong muscle, mysteries and secrets. All that raven hair was secured in a bun, revealing her profile, baring her neck. I had no choice but to drink in her astonishing beauty, to fall prey, yet again, to her captivating spirit.
“How much time do we have before we need to leave?” she asked.
“Twenty-seven minutes.”
Her lingering perusal of my mostly naked body made it obvious why she was asking. Tonight was no night for distraction. She and I both knew that in our bones.
“Pity,” she said. Her widening smile was less flirtatious and much, much more emotional.
Can’t you feel it?
I let my towel drop, enjoyed her hungry perusal as I pulled on black briefs over my extremely obvious erection. Sloane reached for a long chain necklace and moved to drop it over her head.
“Wait,” I said. I walked until I stood directly behind her, our eyes meeting and holding in the mirror. “Allow me.”
With precision, I dropped the chain between her naked breasts, dragged it along her skin before finally clasping it at the nape of her neck. My fingers gripped the back of her neck possessively, squeezing once.
“Thank you,” she said, voice extra smoky.
I curled my fingers in the lacy fabric of her underwear. Holding them up, I said, “May I?”
“Please,” she replied, turning around to face me. I was back on my knees again for Sloane, staring at her in complete and total adoration. She stepped carefully into the fabric, and I slowly slid it past her ankles, along her calves, past her knees. My fingers lingered, stroked as they moved higher. Higher still. If I gave into temptation and pressed my face to her cunt, we’d never leave this room. But I did press a fairly filthy kiss to the inside of her thigh as I finally positioned her underwear where they were supposed to be. I exhaled, feathered my breath across her stomach, dragging my mouth along her hip bones. Her fingers roamed my hair, sifting the still-wet strands.
“Now you,” she said, nodding at my pants. With a wolfish grin, I stood and slipped them on. Sloane hooked her fingers in the belt loops and yanked me over, zipping my pants with her own feline smirk.
“Are suits the only thing you wear, Mr. Royal?” she asked. Her fingers traced down my chest, danced along my ribcage.
“One of the many things past girlfriends have been annoyed by,” I said. I selected a bracelet from the dresser, grabbed her wrist. “I believe the actual charges against me were ‘never has fun.’” I draped the silver over her skin, clasped it. Raised her wrist to my mouth to kiss it. “Letting go is hard for me. The only way I survived what happened with my mother was by exacting a precise control. Fun will exist once I’m done fixing all the wrong in this world.”
Sloane held out my crisp white shirt. The hotel had gone above and beyond laundering and drying our soaked clothing. As I slid my arms into the sleeves, she pulled the material up my shoulders. Smoothed her hand down the strip of chest and stomach still bare.
“Control feels safer,” she said. “I get it.”
I knew she did.
She closed each button with deliberate movements, midnight eyes glued to mine. “How often do you indulge in sex with strangers?”
I caressed the side of her face with my fingers. “When needed. How about you?”
“When needed,” she repeated. Smiled. Shirt closed, I tucked it in, handed her my belt. The confident way she handled the leather gave me too many erotic fantasies.
“Tie,” she said, palm outstretched. I placed the silk material between her fingers, allowed a mostly naked Sloane to knot my tie. Again.
“Do you dress the men you sleep with?” I asked—a bite of rare jealousy in my words.
“That would imply I was there long enough to do anything except get what I came for and then leave,” she said. Tie fixed, she stepped back to examine its precision. I looped my arm around her waist and yanked her back into me.
“Why do it for me?” I asked, mouth lingering near hers.
Her lips curved seductively—the color of a poisoned apple, delicious and sinful in equal measure. “Because it’s you.”
The fortress around my heart wouldn’t be able to take such a skilled dismantling much longer.
She handed me the hanger from which a long red dress hung. I dropped to my knees again, and her hands landed on my shoulders as she stepped inside the pool of scarlet fabric. Her expression was stripped bare of anything but raw honesty. “I find it interesting that the two of us crave control. But whatever is happening between us is pure fucking chaos. And fun.”
I laughed softly, nuzzled my cheek against her leg. “You’re having fun with me?”
“The most fun I’ve ever had,” she said. “Aren’t you?”