His dick hardened against my core, grinding into me in a way that made me shiver with heady desire. But instead of taking it further and fucking me right then and there, he backed off. His kisses eased in intensity, and he gave a frustrated sigh.
“The phone was a decoy,” he told me in a husky voice. “It was a load of encrypted bullshit. Recipes, mostly. But nothing, I mean nothing , useful.”
Words failed me as I stiffened in shock.
Leon kissed my lips again quickly, then let me down to my feet. “It gets worse. Someone is trying to hack the Guild personnel files, and coding signatures suggest it’s Ares’s team.”
I swallowed hard. It was a decoy phone. All that … for a decoy phone. For nothing. I should have fucking killed him when I had the opportunity. Then again, the gun probably wasn’t even loaded.
“I need to get back to my computer and boot them out, but I just…” Leon looked down at me with a blazing gaze. “I needed this.”
He kissed me again, harsh and hungry, stealing the breath from my lungs and leaving me trembling all over. Then he was gone, stomping back into his tech cave with determination.
“What the fuck ,” I muttered, continuing into the gym. Suddenly I was feeling an extreme need to punch the crap out of a boxing bag. That fucking phone had been a decoy, and now they were trying to hack the Guild files? To find me?
“Shit.” I breathed the curse on an exhale and grabbed Leon’s boxing gloves to protect my hands.
For the next hour, I threw all my anger and frustration into the bag, hitting it until my shoulders burned and my breath came in rough gasps. I was coated in sweat and felt no better for it. Kai just kept screwing me over. And I’d bet he was so fucking smug right now, genuinely thinking he could have knocked me up. It hadn’t been enough for me to fail my mission by bringing back a decoy phone and for allowing him and his team to live. No, he wanted to really twist the knife by leaving me pregnant too?
Luckily for me, that was a physical impossibility. Small mercies, I supposed.
Ripping off the gloves, I tossed them aside and stomped back to Leon’s bedroom. His attached bathroom was the sort of thing I’d only ever seen in travel magazines, and it was exactly where I wanted to be right now.
I pressed the button to fill the tub—if it could even be called a tub—and steaming hot water started gushing from three dozen hidden jets to fill the enormous space quickly.
Trying really fucking hard to control my own raging emotions, I stripped out of the clothes I’d borrowed from Leon’s wardrobe and waded into the deep tub. It was more of a plunge pool than a bath, but the part I liked the most was that it was partially outdoors.
When the water was deep enough, I held my breath and dove under water, pushing through the plastic flap that led to the outdoors. When I surfaced again, the sharp bite of the mountain air stole the breath from my lungs, and I shivered despite the near scalding water I’d filled the pool with.
The edge of the pool was high up, above the frozen lake, and I braced my arms on the cool ledge. Silently, I made a promise to myself. The next time I laid eyes on that lying bastard Malachi Arden, I wouldn’t hesitate. If he wanted to come looking for me, then he was sealing his own fate.
I’d kill him and not feel an ounce of regret over it.
38
I took my time, leaning on the edge of the pool and letting my legs float behind me as I systematically packed away all the memories, all the lingering emotions of fake-Danny. I’d foolishly held onto them without even realizing that’s what I’d done. But enough was enough.
Eventually, when I inhaled the freezing air, I felt like me again. Danielle the bank teller was dead .
The water shifted around my body, and I smiled when Leon popped up beside me.
“Did you kick them out?” I murmured, referring to Kai’s team’s hack.
Leon flashed a toothy grin. “Sent them packing, along with a virus to seriously fuck up their systems for a while.” He folded his strongly muscled arms on the edge of the pool beside me. “Do you mind the company?”
I leaned my cheek on my cold arms, my face tipped toward Leon. “I’m glad for it, actually.”
He stared back at me a long time, his gaze searching my face for something. “You look less conflicted,” he commented eventually, “more determined.”
“I think your house has magical properties, Leon. Can I stay here forever?” I meant it as a joke, but there was no mistaking the hungry, possessive look that crossed his face.
Before I could really examine that passionate response, his mouth was on mine. This kiss echoed the one he’d given me in the hallway earlier. It was hot and demanding, utterly consuming, the kind of kiss that made my whole body light up with arousal.
“Danny,” he sighed against my lips. “You have no idea…” Whatever he was saying, he trailed it off in kisses down my throat. I tipped my head back, giving him free access as he floated around behind me in the hot water of the pool.
His hands placed mine back on the edge, the instruction dead clear as he stroked his hands up my arms while his chest pressed to my back. Was he naked, too? It hadn’t even crossed my mind to put on a swimsuit to get in this pool. It was just a big bath, after all.
Leon kissed my neck, and I sighed in delight as his hands found my breasts under the water. He gave a small groan when I dropped my head back to rest on his shoulder, pushing my chest into his hands in encouragement. This was exactly what I needed. What I’d been craving from him for far too long.
His strong fingers toyed with my nipples, rolling and pinching, and his hardness pressed against my ass in the water. He was naked, too. That made me smile.
“Leon,” I moaned as his teeth teased the skin of my neck. “I want you so bad.”
His lips caught my earlobe, sucking it into his mouth, then tugging with his teeth. One of his hands drifted from my breast and danced over my belly, making my abs contract as excitement rippled through me. He cupped my pussy with a confident grip, just the tip of one finger dipping inside, and I gasped. My hips rocked, my body begging for more, but he gave a frustrated sound.
“Danny,” he said in a husky voice, “this is a terrible idea.”
I pushed harder into his hand, and he responded by slipping two fingers inside my cunt. “Why?” I asked on a groan, tensing around his fingers, “because we’re technically still working together?”
He muttered a response that I couldn’t make out, his thumb finding my clit and making me quake. His body pressed tight against my back, pushing me into the wall of the pool as his fingers pumped harder. I moaned and trembled, but I wanted more than just his hand.
“Leon,” I whispered, reaching beneath the water and grasping his hip. “Please…”
“Please what , DeLuna?” he teased, nipping my neck with a bite. He pushed a third finger inside me, stretching my pussy in a way that made me moan loudly.
“Please ,” I begged, reaching between us in search of his cock. It was hard against my butt, not difficult to find, but I sucked a sharp breath when my questing fingers touched metal studded through his tip. “Holy fuck, Leon, if you don’t put this inside me, I swear—”
My threats were unnecessary. He shifted his hands to my hips, then he was filling me up with one hard, tight thrust of his pierced dick. I cried out in satisfaction, my hands returning to grip the edge of the pool for balance. He didn’t pause to wait for my pussy to adjust around him, either. He just pumped hard beneath the water, fucking me fast and frenzied, like I’d just opened a flood gate.