But the past had to be dealt with first.

  The three of them talked quietly while Rae napped, and within an hour the detectives had released them to get some rest. There would be more follow-up later, but for now he could focus on Rae. He drove them to his downtown apartment, where they showered and ate, and then it was on to JCL’s downtown offices for the meeting with Jack.

  “So this is where you usually spend your days—you know, tracking down women, kicking bad-guy ass, stuff like that.”

  He laughed. “Like cops, it’s mostly paperwork, not excitement.”

  “I heard you helped break down a baby-selling ring just a few weeks ago.”

  Saint groaned. “King must have been talking. But that’s the exception, not the rule.” Lately there had been a lot of exceptions, but he seriously hoped their lives would all get back to normal soon. Although he doubted Dain and Olivia would ever get back to normal, not with their baby coming any day.

  They moved through Lori’s reception area, empty this early in the morning, and down the hall toward Jack’s conference room. King, Elliot, and Dain were already inside, raiding the coffee station alongside Jack, Con, and another man Saint didn’t recognize at first. When he turned from filling an extra-large cup with black coffee and straightened to his full six-and-a-half-foot height, Saint realized he was the new team lead Jack had introduced at the Halloween party a few weeks ago.

  Rae made a sound beside him. He glanced her way to see her eyes wide as they focused on the new guy. “What is it?”

  Rae leaned close, her voice barely above a whisper. “That is the biggest, coldest, most terrifying man I’ve ever seen.”

  “You can’t remember half the men you’ve seen, remember?” Elliot whispered in a drive-by.

  Rae stuck her tongue out at Elliot’s back. “I don’t have to remember every woman I’ve seen to know you’re the smallest—except King’s fiancée, I guess—and also the scariest.”

  Elliot pulled out a chair at the conference table, snickering.

  “Care to share with the class?” Dain asked in his best Daddy team-lead voice.

  “The class wouldn’t appreciate it.”

  Saint swore Dain almost stuck his tongue out at their little brat too, but Jack chose that moment to interrupt.

  “If we can all take a seat…” Once they did, he said, “Ms. Conté—”

  “Rae, please. Or Raegan.”

  Jack smiled. “Rae, then. I’d like to introduce my partner, Conlan James.”

  Con nodded across the table, a smile softening the hard lines of his face. “Good morning.”

  “Hello.”

  “And this”—Jack gestured to the newcomer—“is Luka Sokolov. He’s new to JCL. I hope you don’t mind him joining us.”

  “Ms. Conté.”

  Saint noticed Rae didn’t correct Sokolov with her first name. He didn’t blame her; he wasn’t sure he would have had the nerve to correct the man, not with that cold Russian accent and stern stare. The man could freeze hell with that stare.

  “Mr. Sokolov. Of course I don’t mind.” Rae slipped the hand not holding her coffee into Saint’s under the table.

  Saint frowned across the table at Sokolov. The man stared back, unfazed.

  “I can see Saint is wondering, so I’ll explain,” Jack said. “It seems to me that the next logical step is for you to head to Maine.”

  Saint straightened quickly. “Shouldn’t Rae be the one to decide that?”

  “I’ll concede that. Rae?”

  A long pause settled over the table. Saint squeezed Rae’s hand. “Just be honest. Whatever you think you can handle right now.”

  Rae cleared her throat. “Honestly, I was thinking the same thing on the way here,” she said. Her voice was subdued, almost too quiet to hear. She’d been through something terrifying, and now she would be forced to face her past before she was fully recovered. Anger stirred in Saint, and for a moment he wished he could kill the four men all over again, especially Lonergan. “Ready or not, I think we’re out of other options. Nothing else has worked. And with the mafia or cartel or whatever they are now probably seriously pissed, not just about whatever they’re trying to find but about the loss of their men, I also think we’ve run out of time to wait for my brain to figure this out on its own. They’ll come after me even harder now, and with no idea what they are after, I don’t have any way to stop this. Going back to the ‘scene of the crime’ is the last possibility I can think of.”

  And despite the dread building inside him, Saint knew she was right. Still…

  “I’d like Leah Marrone to weigh in on this before we make a final decision,” he said. “She helped treat Rae in the hospital, and she can tell us if traveling would be safe.”

  “Good idea,” Jack agreed, “especially since you’ll be flying.”

  The room erupted in surprise. “Flying?”

  “Of course.” That was from Luka. His deep voice cut through the chaos. “I have a private jet, and we might as well use it. Better than a twenty-hour drive.”

  Before Saint could question that logic, Dain added, “I won’t be going with you, so Luka will be taking my place.”

  “Dain…”

  “No.” Dain held up his hand. “I would be there for you if I could, but Livie is simply too close to delivery. I promised her no out-of-town trips, and I’m keeping my word. But I won’t leave my team shorthanded either.”

  “Luka is new to the company, and we’d like him to get some time in with various teams before he begins running his own,” Con added. The big, dark-haired man could have been Jack’s brother, and for as close as the two of them were, that was probably how they saw each other. Jack was the one who handled Saint’s team, so he hadn’t spent much time with Con, but the man seemed firm on this point. Saint had to admit he could see the logic.

  “Only if Leah okays the flying. You can’t be too careful with head injuries.”

  “Agreed,” Sokolov said. “I’ve had plenty.”

  Sokolov didn’t break a smile when he said that, so…not joking, presumably. Saint wondered just how many head injuries the man’d had, what exactly they’d done to him, and what the hell they were getting themselves into with him.

  Whatever it was, he had no doubt the man could pull his weight in a fight. And a fight might very well be what they faced in Maine.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “There’s something wrong with that man,” Rae murmured as Saint swiped the key card to open the door of their hotel room. King and Elliot were in the room to their left, and Luka Sokolov had just walked into the room to their right. They’d landed at the Portland International Airport midafternoon, and a short run north on I295 would take them to New Portsmouth after dark. In the meantime, between their interrupted night and an expected long night ahead, he and Rae needed sleep.

  Saint led the way inside. “You mean Sokolov?”

  “Obviously.” She headed straight for the bed, telling him exactly how tired she was. “He barely speaks, just stands there and stares.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as if she was chilled. “And that stare… it’s not natural. Your team can be dangerous—I knew that when we first met—but Luka is definitely more…”

  “Overt about it?”

  “Yes. As if he couldn’t hide it even if he tried, so he just doesn’t.” A shiver shook her. “Scary.”

  “Good thing he’s on our side.”

  “No kidding.”

  Saint set their duffel bag on the bench at the end of the king-size bed and sat beside it to take off his boots and socks. “King is waiting for a call from our local PI with any further news. It’s Sunday, so the warehouse is closed, but Murphy will keep an eye out, make sure the coast is clear for our visit tonight.” He glanced at his watch. “We have time for a nap before dinner.”

  A tiny pause, then, “Just a nap?”

  He glanced toward the bed and found Rae sitting up, in the middle of pulling her sweatshirt over her head. Her breasts were framed in black lace that he knew matched the panties she wore beneath her jeans—he’d watched her put them on this morning. Had refused to let himself think about them all day. When he did, he got hard, and there’d been too much going on to stop for even a few minutes alone, no matter how much he’d wanted it. No matter how much he needed to reaffirm that Rae was here, with him.

  His.

  Alive.

  But now…

  He stood to face her. Slowly, deliberately, he drew his shirt up and off and crossed his arms over his bare chest. Rae’s focus dropped to his bulging muscles.

  “Come here.”

  His voice was gravel-rough, the effect on Rae instantaneous: her eyelids lowered to half-mast at the command, and then she was rounding the bed, one slow step at a time, her hips taking on a sultry sway that sent blood pounding into his cock. When she was a foot away, she stopped. “Did you need something?”

  His body tightened at the question. He reached out, let one rough fingertip trail along the edges of the lace that cupped her full breasts. His heartbeat began a hard pounding, shifting from his chest to his throat. “I need you, Rae.”

  Her mouth opened on a small gasp, whether at his words or his touch, he didn’t know. And didn’t care, because suddenly it wasn’t just his cock aching, it was his chest, and he had to get what was inside him out now, before they risked everything to get the Di Angelo cartel off her back. Rae might not be around tomorrow. Hell, he might not either if something happened tonight, and he wasn’t going to waste another fucking second without her knowing how he felt.

  “I love you, Rae.”

  She covered her mouth, and the ache in his chest tripled when he saw tears gathering in her eyes.

  “Hey, don’t cry.” Stepping closer, he gathered her face in his hands and tilted until her mouth was beneath his, open, ready. He delved inside, and Rae met him halfway, her tongue gliding along his, her lips closing around him to suck gently. The pressure had his cock thumping against his zipper, demanding attention, but he ignored it. This moment was too precious to hurry, too important to rush.

  When Rae drew back, he was grateful to see the tears had dried, but she still didn’t look happy. Not like he’d hoped she would to hear that he loved her. “What is it?”

  “Saint, I’m still not healed.”

  He frowned, rubbing his thumbs along her jawline. “You think I don’t know that?”

  She traced the stubble gracing his cheek. “I know you do.” A deep breath. “What I mean is, I can’t promise you anything. I don’t know what my life here is like, not really. I don’t know what my plans and ambitions were. I don’t know what my future will hold.”

  “If there’s room for me in it, I don’t care what it holds.”

  He didn’t realize the truth was there until it left his mouth. He’d never imagined leaving his team behind, his home, his family. But wherever Rae was, that was where he needed to be. The rest could figure itself out later.

  “Saint—”

  Reluctance laced her voice, but he didn’t think it was reluctance to be with him.

  “No, Rae.” He slid his hands down her neck, savoring the caress of her skin, along her chest, over the full mounds, all the way down to the curves of her waist. “I’m a big boy, and I can make up my own mind. I don’t care where we are as long as you’re mine. I want you to be mine.” His hands clenched. “I need you to be mine more than I need anything else in this world.”

  She stared a moment longer, and he wondered if she realized her hands had migrated to his biceps, holding on to him as hard as he was holding on to her. And then her grip relaxed and she moved them to his chest, right over his straining nipples. The light rub of her palms pulled a shaky gasp from him.

  “I want you to be mine too,” she finally whispered, the words shaky, almost afraid. She leaned in, her breath warming his skin before she planted a kiss between her palms. “Is it possible for that to go both ways?”

  “What?” he croaked.

  “The ‘being mine.’”

  “Not only possible, but essential.” The last word was half groaned as her tongue flicked out to taste him.

  Despite his grip on her waist, Rae slid lower, planting a kiss at his navel on the way to her knees. Her fingers got busy with the catch to his fatigues, but it was her solemn stare that held his attention. “I think I’m falling in love with you too, Saint.”

  He didn’t quibble over the think—she could think as long as she wanted to, given her circumstances, but in his heart he knew the truth. Rae was his woman. They’d figure out the future later.

  His zipper slid down, and Rae pulled his fatigues and boxers to the floor together. His cock, stiff and aching, pointed the way home. Rae opened her mouth and took him in.

  “Holy fuck!” His eyes closed and his head fell back and he dug his fingers into Rae’s hair. The wet warmth of her mouth was heaven on his swollen head. A tiny burst of precum left him, and she moaned as she sucked it away. “Rae! Christ, mi amor…”

  She let him pop from her mouth. “I love it when you speak Spanish with me.”

  His chuckle was strained. “Get your mouth back on me and I’ll do it some more.”

  Rae went back to what she was doing with enthusiasm, and he did as promised, murmuring endearments and curse words and flat-out pleas with every passing second. He did all that he could to stave off his orgasm, until he was sweating and panting and his fingers felt permanently tangled in Rae’s curls. When his crumbling control couldn’t take a moment more, he drew her away, bending at the waist to kiss her with every ounce of hunger burning inside him.

  “On the bed, beautiful.”

  A sexy, self-satisfied grin curved her lips as she complied. Along the way, her jeans were pushed down and kicked off, as well as her socks. Her panties followed, and Saint nearly swallowed his tongue when she bent over in front of him to tug them off. That ass… He couldn’t resist a firm smack to one round cheek. A yelp escaped Rae’s mouth before she climbed onto the bed, the dusky pink folds between her legs peeking back at him. He gripped the base of his cock and squeezed hard, willing the rising need to climax back as Rae unclasped her bra, turned to lay on her back, and drew the fabric from her body.

  For the longest moment, all he could do was stare. He was a damn lucky man.

  With a firm stroke along his length, he growled down at his woman, “You are the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, cariño.”

  “Then we’re a good match, since I feel the same way about you. Bring that sexy ass over here, Saint.”

  She opened her arms and legs to him, and he grabbed a condom from his pants, tore it open, and went willingly, desperate for the feel of her bare skin against his. Wishing he could feel it everywhere even has he protected her. After rolling on the latex, he settled over her, notching their sexes together, his rock-hard cock sliding sweetly between her creamy folds, and they both moaned at how good it felt, like two pieces of a puzzle finally coming together after too long apart. Saint couldn’t resist thrusting, enjoying the slick glide up, then back down to tease her clit with the head of his cock.

  Rae clutched at his back, her words a long groan. “Saint, please…” Her legs folded over his ass, her ankles crossed behind him. “Saint!”

  She pulled his head down and guided him to one taut, chocolate-brown nipple. His mouth watered as he took her inside.

  “Yes, yes! That’s so good.”

  He tunneled one arm beneath them, forcing her pelvis harder against his, and the other circled beneath her shoulder, bracing her body for his thrusts. Time lost all meaning as Rae took over his world—the taste of her, the scent of her skin, her sex, the sound of her pleasure ringing in his ears. His mind spun out the years ahead, an eternity to be consumed with this one woman, and his soul sent out a resounding yes in response. He no longer needed anyone but Rae, and as he bit down gently on the rigid nub in his mouth and notched his cock at her opening, eager to drive inside, her cries told him she felt the same.

  Her body opened reluctantly to the push of his thick sex. “Every time, Rae,” he rasped against her breast. “Every damn time feels like the first time.” He pulled back, then entered her again, this time fast and hard. “It feels like heaven.”

  She drove her fingers into his hair and pulled his mouth up to meet hers. “This is heaven,” she gasped. “I need more.”

  He sat up, planting his fists on either side of her body as he drove his knees beneath hers. “I can give you more.” Staring down at where they were joined, he began to piston inside her. “Touch yourself, Rae. Let me see you give yourself pleasure.”

  Shyly at first, then with a hint of desperation, she set her fingers to her clit and began to circle the tender bud. His name was a breathless cry on her lips as she arched up to meet every thrust. Her free hand went to her breast and pinched down on her swollen nipple.

  “That’s it, beautiful. Play with that nipple. Let me see how good it feels. You’re drowning me here, Rae. All that cream. It feels so good.” He grunted as their bodies slapped together.

  “Saint! Oh God, I’m coming, I’m—” Her back bowed until only her shoulders touched the bed, pinning her on his cock, and a high scream escaped.

  A tingle hit Saint in the small of his back, shooting down to his balls, and he knew he couldn’t hold out much longer. When he felt the first clench of Rae’s body around his cock, he let himself go. His orgasm slammed him forward, and he shot hard inside her, over and over and over, until he could no longer breathe and collapsed over Rae’s heaving body.

  His woman. She was his, and he was never letting her go.