His other hand rose to tease her nipple. To squeeze and pluck.

  Sensation took over. A flood of pleasure as her whole body tightened in anticipation. She was on a tightrope of desire. At any moment, that rope was going to snap. She’d fall, but oh, that fall was going to be good.

  His tongue lashed against her clit. Over and over and over and the rope snapped. Emerson was falling. Surging down hard, and she choked out his name as she came. The orgasm blasted through her entire body. Not some brief flash of pleasure, but a hard, surging wave that battered at her as the pleasure seemed to completely envelop her. Emerson could hear her own gasps and moans as she thrashed against the bedding and against Gray, and he kept right on lashing her with that wicked, ever-so-wonderful tongue of his.

  And then…

  The drumming of her heartbeat slowly eased. Her lashes lifted. She was pretty sure she’d squeezed her eyes shut when she came. Now she looked down at Gray. He slowly raised his head even as he remained crouched between her spread legs as they hung off the side of his bed.

  “Sweetheart.” He licked his lips, as if savoring her. “I am a man of my word.”

  She should form some kind of response. Have some actual speech.

  “Less than two minutes.”

  Holy crap, it had been.

  “You were utterly wasted on Nathaniel Hadaway.” His hands curled around her thighs as his face darkened. “You’d be wasted on anyone but me. That’s why I am going to fuck you until you can’t think of anyone but⁠—”

  The ringing of a doorbell cut through his words.

  His teeth snapped together. He lifted his left hand. Glared at the stainless-steel watch around his wrist as he—what? Looked at the time? “Fuck,” he breathed.

  Someone was at his door? Then? “Why…” Emerson stopped. Wet her lips. Her voice was way husky. Probably from all the gasping and moaning and, potentially, screaming. She was a little hazy on the details. Had she screamed? Maybe. Possibly. Probably.

  I wasn’t thinking. Just feeling.

  Something that she didn’t usually do. Gray was certainly correct on that score. Usually, she couldn’t shut off her thoughts. But with Gray, she’d let go. She’d trusted him enough to let go.

  She swallowed and tried speaking again. “Why is someone always interrupting us?”

  His gaze had been on the juncture of her legs. Slowly, that burning stare rose. Lifted. “Fate doesn’t want me taking what I want.” His fingers curled possessively around her. Pushed against her clit. One finger even dipped into her.

  Her breath heaved.

  “But I’ll have you.” His hand pulled back. He rose. Grabbed the cover from the foot of the bed and yanked it up and over her. “Do not leave this room.”

  “What? Gray, wait!”

  He’d already turned to leave her. “I’ll have him gone in a blink. You stay here.”

  The bedding covered her from shoulder to ankle.

  While Gray stood there, dressed in his fancy shirt and his expensive pants, and barely had a hair out of place. He looked cool and confident, slightly pissed.

  “We will finish what we started.” With that, Gray stalked out of the bedroom. He pulled the door shut behind him. Click.

  Her heart still raced. Her body still trembled. In her core, she could feel aftershocks of pleasure still reverberating through her body. All from his mouth. That wonderful, sexy mouth.

  That had been incredible. She’d like more, please. So much more.

  She’d also definitely, one hundred percent, been missing out over the years.

  Emerson stared up at the ceiling. At the light on the ceiling. Goosebumps rose onto her skin, and she felt pretty wild and decadent sprawled in his bed, completely naked beneath the comforter.

  Gray is going to come back. We are going to wreck this bed. She’d never wrecked a bed in her entire life, but Emerson was super looking forward to the task.

  And then she heard, very distinctly, from Gray…

  His angry voice snarled, “I’m going to kill you.”

  She clamped the comforter to her chest and leapt out of the bed.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Why do I hunt killers? Someone has to do it. I’m good at the job. And maybe…maybe I like hunting them. Guess that makes me just as much of a predator, huh?”

  – Gray Stone

  Gray shut the front door and glared at the man who’d just entered his home. “I’m going to kill you,” he told him, the words coming out as an angry snarl.

  Cassius Striker quirked a brow. “Is that any way to talk to family?”

  Gray grabbed him. Shoved him against the nearest wall. “Watch it.”

  Cassius—Cass—blinked. Then his brown eyes narrowed. That sharp stare swept over Gray’s features. Then he smiled. “Sneaky SOB, am I interrupting you, again?” Laughter hummed beneath the words. “Are you busy with that hot new partner of yours?”

  Gray heard the faint click of a door opening. His bedroom door. Hell. His eyes closed for just a moment. “She can’t follow orders for shit.” He didn’t let go of Cass just yet. “Watch what you say with her.”

  “Why? Don’t think the sexy partner can handle some painful truths?”

  Gray shoved him harder against the wall. “First, she can handle anything. Second, you don’t get to notice that she’s sexy.”

  “When she comes down the hallway naked, I sure as hell do.”

  Naked? No, no, no, no. Gray let him go and whipped around because he had, indeed, left Emerson naked in the bedroom. If she was walking toward him naked, if Cass was seeing every beautiful inch of her⁠—

  Cass burst into laughter.

  And Emerson crept forward. Fully dressed once again, minus her high heels, but sexily disheveled as she stared at Gray and gripped—holy hell, Emerson had his back-up weapon in her hand. The weapon he’d left in his top nightstand drawer.

  “Heard you threatening to kill someone,” Emerson announced as she sent a frown toward the laughing Cass. “Thought you might need backup.”

  Cass’s laughter stopped. Probably because he’d just spotted the gun that she held. “Uh, Gray?” He cleared his throat. “How about tell her that I’m not here as a threat? Get the pretty lady to put down the big gun.”

  Gray pursed his lips. Maybe he should let Cass sweat it out a bit.

  “I forgot that the two of you had plans to meet tonight.” Emerson’s brisk voice. “What with everything else that happened, I let that slip my mind. I should have realized when your doorbell rang that he was coming to follow up on that chat in the alley.”

  “You told her I was coming?” Cass’s surprise was clear.

  “No, I damn well didn’t.” Gray advanced on Emerson. “What do you mean, you forgot? I didn’t tell you anything about our meeting.”

  She lowered the gun. Carefully placed it on a nearby table. Her hair wasn’t in its normal smooth style. Instead, it was tousled. Her cheeks held a hint of color. Her lips were still swollen from his mouth. Dead sexy. He wanted to punch Cass for even staring at her.

  But her words had distracted him, for the moment.

  “You know sign language,” Emerson said. She put her hands behind her back. Rocked forward. Didn’t add anything else.

  He waited.

  There was still nothing else added. “And…?” Gray prompted.

  She shrugged. “And I’ve been watching your hands extra closely since I realized that important fact. Sign language is a great way for you to communicate with others if you want to send a message but make certain you don’t leave a verbal trail. But while you can’t overhear sign language, you can see it, if you’re paying close enough attention.”

  “I didn’t sign anything with Cass.” He was certain of that fact.

  “No.” Her gaze slid past him, to a Cass who was still standing near the front wall. “But he did. Didn’t know what the movement meant at first. Had to look it up on my phone.” Then she mimicked the quick sign that Cass had made near O’Sullivan’s, bringing her hands up with her index fingers extended. “‘Meet,’ right? ‘Meet me,’ perhaps? You didn’t have the sign for ‘later’ included, but I figured that part was understood. You told Gray that you intended to meet up with him later. And it’s later.”

  Cass gave a low whistle.

  “He looks like you,” Emerson mused as she cocked her head slightly to the right. “Same jawline. Hair has the same texture, even if the color is a bit different. Eyes are different, too, but the cheekbones are the same. The resemblance is probably why he felt so familiar to me. Guessing he’s a relative? Not a motorcycle gang leader, after all?”

  It took a lot to surprise Gray in this world. But Emerson just ticking off her facts when he’d kept this particular secret for ages? Shit. Am I just sloppy where she is concerned? Was he not on his guard enough?

  But it had been Cass’s mistake. Hadn’t it?

  Hell.

  Cass ambled toward her while Gray remained rooted to the spot. Cass stopped about a foot away from Emerson. Took her measure. “Sweetness…”

  She stiffened. “Trust me, I am not your sweetness.”

  No, she fucking belongs to me.

  Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Where in the hell had that savagely possessive thought just come from? Because she was his partner?

  Uh, nah. Gray’s chin lifted even as Cass cut him a quick glance. It came from the fact that I just had her coming against my mouth. “Not yours,” Gray repeated flatly.

  “Someone sounds possessive. Which is new. And vaguely concerning.” Cass’s brows climbed. “Gray, come on, man. It’s me. You and I both know that you are not about to bare all with her. I mean, sure, you’ll fuck her. So I guess you’ll be baring all that way. But you won’t take her into your confidence. Partner or not.” He motioned dismissively toward Emerson. “So how about you direct your partner back to the bedroom and then we can get down to confidential business?”

  Gray focused on Emerson. Her face had gone doll blank. All emotion gone, but he knew Cass’s words had hurt her.

  Cass could be an asshole.

  It was a family trait.

  He elbowed Cass out of the way. Cass, who was Gray’s size. Who had his same build and temperament but had gone down a different path in life.

  “By the way, new partner,” Cass rasped, “I can be both family and a gang leader. Haven’t you ever heard of a family’s black sheep?”

  Her eyes weren’t on Cass. They were on Gray. He could see that she’d shielded herself. As if she expected him to take Cass’s side. To tell her that this was not her affair, even after he’d had her coming beneath him moments before.

  “I came out to protect you,” she told Gray with careful dignity.

  His chest ached. “I appreciate that.” His head inclined toward her. “Thank you, Emerson.”

  “You think I don’t ever follow orders.”

  Could she be more adorable? “I know you don’t.”

  “Tell me to walk away. I will.”

  “Yeah,” Cass muttered. “I need to get down to business. Don’t have all night. Time’s ticking. My bike is stashed around the corner, and I had to sneak around to make sure no nosy neighbors spotted me.”

  Gray caught Emerson’s hand. Rubbed his fingers over her knuckles. “Emerson, don’t you dare walk away. You stay with me.”

  Her eyes widened.

  Maybe that was a bit too intense. Screw it. Her taste was still on his tongue, and if his annoying visitor hadn’t been there, he would be buried so deep in her that they’d both be lost to paradise. “Cass is my cousin.”

  “What the hell?” Cass exploded. “Look, man, there is her guessing, and then there is you confessing. Big difference.”

  He kept staring into Emerson’s eyes. Those incredible eyes. Had he ever told her how bewitching he thought they were? “He’s also a gang leader, so, yeah, just know that family or not, he’s trouble. Dangerous to his core.”

  “Aw, thanks for that,” Cass told him. “I’m flattered. Means the world coming from you.” A brief pause. “Why are we over sharing with her? Want to explain that?”

  He already had. Gray tugged Emerson closer. “Because she’s my partner.”

  “Yeah, got that.”

  He angled his body a bit toward Cass. “She’s going undercover with me on the case you insisted that I take.”

  “Again, got that. Still doesn’t mean you give out secrets to her that you haven’t shared with anyone else. I mean, the next thing I know, you’ll be sharing with her about—” But he broke off. Because there were lines Cass would never cross, and Gray knew it.

  So Gray crossed the lines for him. “Sharing with her about my bastard father? Been there, done that.”

  “Oh, shit.” Cass’s gaze swung to Emerson, and he was suddenly looking at her in a way different light. “Partner.”

  “Right,” Gray told him grimly. “Now why the hell are you here? This meeting is unnecessary.” And a bit reckless. Especially after the public showing outside of O’Sullivan’s. “I told you already, I’m taking the case. I’ll find out who killed Anzo and Kim. I will make the perp pay.”

  Cass was still staring at Emerson, though now he eyed her more like she was a bug under a microscope.

  Gray waved his fingers in front of Cass. “Yo.”

  Cass slanted him a frown.

  “There more intel you want to give me? That why you showed up tonight?”

  “Wanted to meet tonight…” He rolled back his shoulders. “Because this bastard can’t just go free, Gray.”

  Hell. He’d feared this. “Cass, I’m going to get him dead to rights. He won’t be seeing the light of day again.” But he worried that wouldn’t be enough to satisfy Cass. Cass had been walking deeper and deeper into the darkness lately.

  “You alert me when you have him in your sights. I can handle things after that. I just need his location.” Cass smiled, all innocence. Except Cass had never done innocence particularly well.

  Then again, neither had Gray.

  “There’s playing a role,” Gray reminded him flatly, “and there is sinking straight into the dark and never surfacing again. Don’t forget who you are.”

  Cass backed up a step. “You really are sharing all with her, aren’t you?” He jerked a thumb toward Emerson. “You might trust her to keep your confidences, but I don’t trust her with mine.”

  “You’re working undercover. You’re probably walking a very delicate balancing act.” Emerson’s statement was mild. “I’m not going to spill your secrets to anyone.”

  “I don’t know you, lady, and you don’t know me.”

  “Actually…” Gray couldn’t help but smile as he delivered this taunt. Cass had it coming, after all. Poor timing, cuz. Poor timing. “Emerson’s specialty is understanding killers. So she probably understands you perfectly.”

  Cass flipped him off. He also took another step away from them. “Psychopaths, huh? That’s her thing? Totally makes sense then that she’s sleeping with you.”

  Not yet, she wasn’t. But it was on the agenda.

  “I wouldn’t say that psychopaths are my thing,” Emerson’s measured response. “But I do like profiling. By the way, not all psychopaths are killers, just as all killers are certainly not psychopaths.”

  “Great. Thanks for sharing that.” Cass swung away and headed for the door. “I get enough of that psychological bullshit from him. And, FYI, I do not need you profiling me, too.”

  “You’re highly protective,” Emerson noted.

  “Hell.” Cass froze in his tracks. “She’s profiling me. Didn’t I just say I did not need this in my life?”

  “You defend those that you believe belong to you. You’re an eye-for-an-eye type. Someone hurt—someone killed an individual that you believe belongs to you. And whether you are just pretending to be some hardened criminal or if you’ve crossed the line and done things you regret, this Anzo was still one of yours. You won’t rest until his killer has been punished.”

  He looked over his shoulder. “I’m not pretending to be a hardened criminal.” His smile showed way too many teeth. “You don’t get to be the leader without proving yourself. There are some sins that will never vanish.”

  Gray’s fingers slid over Emerson’s knuckles once more. Then he let her go. “I can get you out,” he told Cass. It was an argument they’d had before. “You know I can. I can make it all go away.”

  “Sure. If I die. If I lose the life I have.” He snapped his fingers. “It will all go away, just like that, and what? I’ll become some farmer in Wisconsin? Get a new life as a computer programmer in Denver? Nah. Not enough adrenaline for me, but thanks.” His hand fell back to his side. “I’ll just let you two get back to…business, shall I?” He took another step toward the door.

  “Wait!”

  He stilled at Gray’s bark. “What, now?”

  “Did you really see someone approaching us—a would-be mugger—when we were near O’Sullivan’s?”

  “You know that I don’t lie to you, Gray.” Cass turned toward him. “Just to the rest of the world.”

  Right. “Describe him.”

  “Hard to do. Only saw him for a second, and it was from the back. Probably a few inches shorter than us. Male. Dressed in black, probably because the dick wanted to hide in the dark.” His lips pulled down. “Knife was gripped in his right hand. So, right-handed attacker.”

  A tremble slid over Emerson’s body.

  “He was intent on sneaking right up behind Gray. Gray, Gray, Gray.” He clicked his tongue. “Try to be less distracted by your partner in the future, would you? I can’t always save your ass from muggers.”

  He didn’t think it had been a mugger. O’Sullivan’s was well known as a cop and Fed hangout. Most muggers avoided the place because they were trying not to get their asses tossed in jail. He was surprised Cass had just ridden straight in with his crew. But then again, Cass was typically never afraid of anyone.

  Another trait they shared.

  He decided to lay a few more cards on the table because he was gonna need Cass’s help. “Emerson had a break-in at her place tonight.”

  A slight hardening of Cass’s jaw. “But you were there. No harm came to her.”