"How many people know about the wedding?" Steele asked, changing the subject.
"Uh, not many right now. But pretty soon it'll be everywhere. Archer sent it in to the Shadow Grove Gazette for the engagements section." I cringed as I said that. Not that I had a problem with being fake-engaged to Archer D'Ath, but because it was going to put us all under the public magnifying glass. I'd been pretty publicly involved with both Kody and Steele in recent months, and now I was announcing my "engagement" to Archer? Yeah, there would be questions. Lots of questions.
Steele gave a soft laugh. "No, I meant how many people know about the real plan? Does Sampson and his team know?"
I shook my head. "No, no one. Just us and Bree."
"Dallas?"
"Nope. Bree won't tell him either, not unless we want her to."
Steele nodded, thoughtful. "Good. I think it should stay that way."
"Well, except for whoever Archer is arranging our backup through? I sort of assumed that was going to be Sampson and his guys." I frowned, wondering what was on Steele's mind.
"No, not this time," he replied, seeming confident. "I need to talk to the boys, but I think they're of the same mindset as me on this. Someone on our security team is leaking info to your stalker. The less we tell them right now, the better."
My brows shot up, and my pulse raced. These guys were supposed to be fully vetted, one hundred percent trustworthy. Weren't they?
"Besides," Steele continued, "Arch won't trust anyone but the best on this job. He'll call in a favor with Hades and the Timberwolves."
Anxiety pricked at me. "What if they decide to double-cross us?"
"They won't. Hades quite literally owes Archer a life debt. Besides, it'd just be a shitty business decision." Steele reached out again, weaving his fingers through my hair and pulling me in close for another kiss.
When the seemingly innocent kiss took a heated turn, his tongue stud coming out to play, I groaned and pulled away with gargantuan effort.
"Max Steele," I scolded teasingly. "You just got discharged from the hospital today."
"So?" he replied, challenging my resolve. "Discharged means they decided I was fine to resume daily life."
"You were shot in the freaking chest two weeks ago," I reminded him with a small scowl. But really, I was more trying to remind myself why it was a bad idea to let things go further.
He pulled me back to his lips for another kiss, this time holding me tighter as I squirmed. "Two and a half weeks," he corrected me, releasing my mouth only long enough to say those words, then kissing me again.
With a groan, I pried myself out of his grip and sat up. "Exactly! Two and a half weeks ago you nearly died, Max!"
He pouted, rolling onto his back to look up at me with the biggest fucking puppy dog eyes. Bastard. "Does that mean you won't take those panties off and let me fuck you in just my Vanth T-shirt?"
I gave him a stern glare. "Absolutely not. It means you're just gonna have to lie back and let me do all the work." I shot him a wink, then pushed the covers back so I could straddle his waist.
"Well," he murmured, then swiped his tongue across his lower lip, flashing that metal stud at me and reminding me what he had waiting further south of the border. "I'd hate to go against medical advice."
I smirked, leaning down to kiss him but not letting him get too carried away. My mouth had other places it needed to be.
I shifted backwards, sliding down his body until my breasts rested on his thighs and my fingertips curled under the waistband of his light gray sweats. We both knew he didn't have anything underneath, so it was just that one layer of cloth doing a terrible job of hiding how hard he was.
"Hellcat..." Steele groaned as I tugged his sweats out of the way and wrapped my hand around his rigid, pierced shaft. "You're seriously going to torture me like this?"
Humming an agreement, I circled his tip with my tongue, then looked up to meet his hooded gaze. "Don't give me that face, Max Steele." My fist stroked down his length, and I watched as his lashes fluttered in response. "You love the torture."
He made a pained noise as I took him in my mouth, but when his hands gripped my head, it wasn't to pull me away. Quite the opposite.
"Fuck," he breathed as I relaxed my throat, taking him deeper, as his tight grip was begging me to do. "Fuck, I do. Holy shit..." The rest of his sentence faded into groans as I let him pull at my hair and still did what I wanted anyway. He wasn't in control this time. I was.
Using my tongue, I explored every one of his new piercings and tested his limits, tugging them gently with my teeth. It wasn't until Steele's hands were firmly fisted in my hair and his hips bucking up to meet my lips that I decided I wanted to torture him a little more.
"What—" he started as I pulled away with a teasing lick down his ladder. "Hellcat, what are—" His words cut off again with a sharp inhale as I wiggled out of my panties and straddled him.
"Shush," I teased, lining him up with my aching core and sinking down onto him ever so carefully. "Just lie back and take it, remember?" My snarky comment was ruined by the whimper that escaped my throat as his hips bucked up and fully seated his dick inside me.
His grin was wicked, but I braced my hands on his abs to remind him that I was running this fucking show. Okay, fine. I might have been on top, but there was no way I was in charge. As I started to move, riding him with my knees planted on either side of his hips, he just smirked an evil smile.
He reached out, his hands finding my ass cheeks and grabbing on tight as his pelvis rocked up, taking my control away and increasing the pace until my breathing was ragged and my cunt was pulsing with the start of an orgasm already.
"Steele," I moaned in weak protest as his eight shaft piercings tortured me as surely as I'd just tortured him.
His only response was to sit up in a half ab curl and seize my lips in a bruising kiss that somehow ended with me flat on my back with Steele on top.
"What the—" My startled protest was cut short by his bruising kiss once more.
His hips surged, his cock filling me over and over, drawing my orgasm closer with every damn thrust.
"Shh," he chuckled, kissing down the line of my neck and sucking the skin over my thundering pulse. "Just lie back and take it, Hellcat."
I groaned long and low as he fucked me senseless, my well-intentioned protest about his health dissolving into a scream as I came. He followed me just a few thrusts later, grunting with each strike, then letting his breath rush out as he finished.
"You're in so much trouble," I mumbled, my head still swimming and my breathing quick. He was semi-collapsed on top of me, his lips still kissing and nibbling at my neck and his cock still buried inside my pussy.
He chuckled and rolled to the side with a pained groan. "Worth it, though." He turned his head, facing me. "I love you, Hellcat."
I groaned, covering my face with my hands to hide the rush of fucking feelings that he’d just caused. But then I gave myself a stern mental word about making smart choices and swiped my palms up to my tangled hair.
"I love you, Max Steele," I whispered back, meeting his eyes and fucking owning that statement. Because I did.