“I’m not going to be able to let you go, Ivy.” He paused a few inches in and glanced up at her, his voice barely audible. Despite the fact that she was mostly naked under him and all he’d done was unzip his jeans to take himself out, she didn’t feel vulnerable or exposed. He felt it, she knew he felt it, whatever this was between them.

  She lifted her knees up, opening herself up further. “Then don’t.”

  As soon as she lifted her knees, pressing them high against the side of his chest, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight to him as he pushed in with one thrust.

  “Fucking hell.” He stilled. “You’re so tight.”

  And he was so big but the fullness wasn’t overwhelming. It was perfect.

  “It’s been a while,” she gasped before moaning as he pulled out and pushed in again. He wasn’t soft. He didn’t treat her like a doll that would break under his meaty hands.

  Instead, he took what he wanted, giving her everything in return.

  They started to move, their bodies jolting together, desperately trying to consume each other, barely staying balanced on the couch, now seemingly small compared to their fused rutting bodies.

  Ivy’s arms wrapped around his neck and she held on as she started to peak. She clenched around him and his movements sped up, either in an attempt to come with her or because he couldn’t help himself. Either way, Ivy cried out his name as she came and a few thrusts later, he was panting over her, his eyes glazed, his cock swelling even more before releasing into her with a growl.

  Far too quickly, he slipped out of her, causing her to whimper. She wanted him to stay in her, on top of her. And now it was the beginning of the end, or so she thought.

  Instead, Lawson whipped off the condom and unceremoniously dropped it on the floor, before pulling her up to standing. Silently, he tugged her dress off that had bunched up around her waist. He then slipped her thong down her legs, and dropped them on the floor too, before picking her up and carrying her to his bedroom.

  For the rest of the night he proceeded to take more and more of her, giving her as much as she could take and then some. And it was all that she’d imagined, standing in the kitchen that evening, pretending that life could be as simple as a man and woman losing themselves in each other.

  Until the next morning when she’d woken up to a different, withdrawn Lawson.

  Ivy could hear him on the phone when she slipped out of bed and put on one of his t-shirts. It was huge on her, hanging off one shoulder, looking like just one wrong move and it would slip off and give him a good shot of what he’d had last night.

  She’d slept over and not in a clingy way but in a Lawson-fell-asleep-spooning-her-naked-with-his-arms-wrapped-around-her-so-tightly-she-though-he-wanted-her-to-stay kind of way. But standing in the doorframe of his bedroom, watching him talk on the phone in a hushed voice, she knew something was wrong. His naked back muscles were bunched up and his shoulders were tense as he spoke into the phone.

  “Yeah, I got it. I know what the plan is. I’m not a fucking idiot, Ray. I’ll see you later.” He hung up, slamming his phone so hard on the kitchen counter top, she was sure it was broken.

  Ivy cleared her throat; suddenly wishing she’d slipped out and gone home, instead of trying for more. Lawson whipped around. The anger in his body didn’t dissipate as she’d hoped it would when he saw her. It was just that now she could see his face and he wasn’t angry. He was furious.

  “You’re up. Finally.” He barked out the statement as if she’d slept all morning. It was only eight o’clock and as far as she knew, both of them had the day off work. Making a conscious decision to try and figure this situation out with as much pride as possible, despite where this train-wreck of a-morning-after was clearly going, Ivy gave him one of her big smiles.

  “Yup, I’m up!” she gave him to the count of five to answer her and give her a clue as to how he wanted to play this. After all, he was angry before he saw her, she reminded herself. But when he said nothing, she took that for what it clearly meant and gingerly stepped forward to pick up her dress, broken bra, and panties from the couch, where he’d neatly piled them up at some point. Bending down as gracefully as possible, without giving Lawson a money-shot, Ivy grabbed her shoes that were lined up at the end of the coffee table, noting that again, neatly aligning her shoes was an oddly considerate thing to do, especially since he was clearly waiting for her to leave.

  Ivy gave him a glance over her shoulder as she made her retreat back to the bedroom. Despite everything they’d done last night, the thought of getting dressed in front of him now was too much to take.

  Not giving herself a chance to even begin to think about how stupid and naïve she was, Ivy quickly dressed. She wasn’t going to worry about the fact that she had to work with Lawson almost every day. They didn’t need to interact that much at work and it would be easy enough to stay out of the staff room when he was there.

  To say she’d misjudged Lawson’s expectations was putting it mildly. This was a one-night stand, nothing else. Whatever connection she thought they had, whatever she’d seen when she looked into his eyes, it was gone now. Or maybe it was never even there. Maybe she was so desperate to feel something with someone else that she’d read too much into Lawson’s action.

  Running her hands through her hair, she grabbed her broken bra, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the bedroom, making a beeline for her bag that was, unfortunately, on the floor near the kitchen counter where Lawson was still standing. Slipping the strap over her shoulder, she shoved the bra in the bag, before she met his gaze. It was still as dark as it had been five minutes ago.

  “Well, thanks for a lovely dinner.” He nodded in acknowledgement but kept his mouth shut. “Okay, I’ll see you on Monday then.”

  Giving him a little wave, because as awkward as that was, she didn’t know what else to do. Shake his hand? High-five him? Less than seven hours ago, he’d had his cock in her and was telling her he wouldn’t be able to let her go. Now he couldn’t even bring himself to verbally good-bye.

  As she opened the front door, barely able to keep the tears at bay, she heard him approach her from behind.

  “Are you going to be all right getting home?” he roughly asked.

  Ivy turned to face him, because that was the polite thing to do. And she was polite. Slightly heartbroken and embarrassed but polite nonetheless.

  She patted her bag. “Yup, I’ve got my trusty bus pass, so I’m good.”

  “The bus?” he echoed with disdain. Shaking his head, he yanked his wallet out of his jeans and pulled out a few bills. “Get a cab home,” he held the money out in front of him.

  She stared at him, her jaw dropping open. What the hell was this? Was he worried about her waiting for the bus in his sketchy neighborhood? Or was this payment for services rendered? Either way, she wasn’t prepared to take the money and make him feel better about his behavior.

  “You know what? I’m good with my bus pass so you can just keep that,” she pointed at the cash.

  “Ivy, come on, do me a favor and just take a cab home.” He waved the cash in front of her again.

  “Do you a favor? No thanks. Like I said, I’m good.” She made to leave when Lawson lunged forward. Whatever irritation he felt about her being here this morning was now spilling out of him.

  “Jesus Christ, just take the goddamn money!” He grabbed her bag and yanked it open, before shoving the cash into it and aggressively pushing the strap back onto her shoulder. The second he’d moved toward her, she’d stood still and even now as he stepped back and ran his hands over his face, she remained motionless. “I just need you to take the money.” He voice was shaky and he took a few steps back, like he couldn’t even stand to be near her. Knowing better than to wave a red cape in front of a bull, Ivy acquiesced.

  “Sure thing, Lawson,” she quietly said, keeping her voice neutral. She felt him watching her as she turned slowly and opened the apartment door. Closing it carefully behind her, she didn’t exhale until she was in the stairwell.

  Her hands were shaking and she took a few deep breaths, drawing the air far into her lungs and tried to calm down. It’s not that she thought Lawson was going to hurt her, but whatever was going on with him was more than morning-after guilt and for some reason, she’d been the recipient of it.

  As she walked through the dingy lobby of his apartment building, she spied the row of mailboxes. Finding Lawson’s, Ivy quickly folded the money up and slid it into the box. To make it worse, she saw that he’d given her $200. This wasn’t cab money. This definitely fell into payment for services rendered. If she hadn’t felt cheap enough upstairs, braless, holding a wad of cash, after being made to feel less than welcome, she certainly did now.

  Chapter Two

  Lawson

  From his window, he watched her walk down the sidewalk, annoyed as hell that she was making no effort to hail a cab. He hated the thought of her waiting for the bus, especially in that goddamn dress that did nothing to hide her luscious body, and especially with no goddamn bra on. And despite acting like a fucking lunatic and shoving the money in her bag, Lawson knew she wasn’t going to use it. In fact, wouldn’t be surprised if she returned it to him on Monday morning.

  It was meant to be a job. It was meant to be the last job. Looking back over the past fifteen years of his life, Lawson had nothing to show for it. They say crime doesn’t pay and they were right. Despite all the robberies he’d done, he had nothing real, nothing substantial in his life. Once the stash was split and the celebrations were over, there was never much left. At least not enough to warrant the risk he took each time.

  Lawson had managed to save some cash in the past few years, just enough to start over. It had almost been a subconscious decision, probably knowing that he was getting sick of this shit: always looking his shoulder, never trusting the guys he worked with. The messed up part was that these were guys he’d known since he was a kid. But they weren’t friends. They weren’t a band of brothers. They were criminals. And they looked out for themselves, not each other.

  But walking away from them wasn’t going to be so easy. Lawson knew too much, he’d seen too much. That only gave him one option: run. Normally, he wasn’t the kind of man who ran but he knew that it was either run or end up behind bars. And that was an easy choice. But he was stuck with this one last job. Thankfully it was simple, clean. Nothing he couldn’t handle easily.

  Until he saw Ivy.

  Until she gave him her big smile on his first day as the security guard for the jewelry joint that was the target. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a neat bun on the top of her head, a few strands had fallen out and they framed her face perfectly. Her big brown eyes brightened as she smiled and he held his breath as she told him her name with a soft voice that matched her delicate features. Except for that mouth. That mouth was meant for sin and he couldn’t stop staring it at it. Pink lush lips that seemed to be almost artificially plump.

  And he knew he was screwed.

  Lawson had to make her his.

  It was that small tattoo that did it. Up until then he’d kept an acceptable distance. She flirted with him, nothing too tacky or aggressive, but he knew she wanted him. After she shared her cinnamon roll with her and he had to suffer through watching her eat it and resist blowing a nut in his boxers, he knew he needed to stay away from her. Then he saw her washing her hands and that was it.

  The tattoo was nothing more than a simple thin black band that wrapped around the ring finger of her left hand. Watching her graceful hands move under the water, the tattoo caught his eye and something came over him. He touched her, for the first time. And like a fucking idiot, he went home and stalked her online to see what else he could find out and then invited her to dinner the next day.

  It drove him crazy that the tattoo didn’t match the rest of her. She showed up to work in her uniform: a fitted white blouse and tight black pencil skirt, plain but sexy heels that made her ass look fantastically squeezable. Her makeup was simple and nothing about her screamed rebel.

  In fact she was almost wholesome, with her damn hippy homemade lunches and inspirational quotes about love and happiness that she was always telling customers when she closed a sale. Whether it was an engagement ring or a graduation bracelet, she always had something to say to make the moment special. Coming from anyone else it would have sounded cheesy but she was so damn sincere, it just sounded right. So fucking wholesome.

  Except she wasn’t. At all. And it wasn’t just those lips that belonged on a porn star and that tattoo. There was the other side to her—a dark side, something evasive and odd about her.

  He’d done a background check on her, found out about her growing up in foster care. Ever since she turned eighteen, she’d moved around a lot and didn’t seem to have any connection to any place or person. She was friendly with the other sales girls but Lawson could see she kept a wall up.

  He tried to ignore it. He told himself that he didn’t need to know, that she didn’t need saving, especially not by someone as messed up as him. The tattoo, her flirting and yet guarded behavior. It was too compelling. She didn’t stand a chance with him.

  But then reality came crashing down the morning after he slept with her. He’d completely lost it, ripped her bra off like some caveman and told her all his dirty dreams about her. Lawson liked his sex a bit rough but it was always just sex—a means to an end. He had no problems using women to get what he needed. Until her.

  Lawson had wrapped himself around her, not even giving her the option to think about getting up and leaving his bed. He’d watched her sleep, like some stalker, pushing her hair away from her face so he could memorize her features.

  Ivy was the first and only woman who’d ever made him see red at the thought of another guy touching her. Just the thought of some other man seeing her braless tits, swaying through her thin dress, drove him crazy.

  There was something about her though, that made him want to take and take and take from her until there was nothing left. He wanted her to give him every last piece of herself. He wanted to make her weak with lust and then fuck her until she begged him to stop. He wanted to see her body dripping with his sweat and cum, knowing that she’d craved, begged, and yearned to end up like that.

  And for that one night, he ignored the reality that he would have to cut her loose despite their night together. Despite the fact that she’d let him take her, let him break her open and he couldn’t get enough. He’d never get enough.

  His phone woke him and it was Ray, wanting to talk about meeting up. They only had two weeks left and still so much shit to go over. Especially on Lawson’s end. After all, he was planning on making a break after this, not that Ray knew that, but instead of focusing on the job, he was standing in his kitchen, still smelling her scent on him, listening to fucking Ray jabber on in his ear about the heist. And Lawson knew he couldn’t keep her.

  So he was a prick and made it clear he wanted her gone, watched her clench her hands in his t-shirt she’d pulled on, waiting for him to say something, anything to wipe the look of disappointment and shame off her face as he made no effort to reassure her that he hadn’t just been stringing her alone, that he hadn’t just been using her. He watched her try and keep it together as he shoved that money at her. She tried so hard to not cry and he couldn’t blame her.

  He’d claimed her last night, there was no question about that. And now he was acting like he couldn’t even stand the sight of her. It took everything in him not to reach out to her, to tell her everything and beg for forgiveness.

  The next two weeks were hell. Lawson ignored her the best he could. And in the end he tried to keep her safe. He made sure she wasn’t working that day in case something went wrong. But there she was standing behind the display case. Ivy whispered his name, recognizing him despite the mask and Ray panicked and dragged her into the back of the van.

  Now Lawson was staring down at the woman he’d do pretty much anything for, listening to the guys talk about how they wanted to have a taste of her before getting rid of her. Lawson wouldn’t last much longer before he flipped.

  The best thing about being a moody prick is that people think you’re unpredictable. Despite always being in control, Lawson gave the impression of being a crazy asshole and it scared the guys he worked with. Not much scared them, but he did. And that was the only thing he had going for him now.

  As he felt the van pull up to the run-down motel where he’d arranged to be dropped, Lawson crouched down and undid Ivy’s hands and took off the gag. She didn’t move, except to rub her wrists a bit.

  “What the hell are you doing? I don’t want to have to deal with the bitch untied, man!” Lawson ignored Ray and stayed focused on Ivy, keeping his voice low.

  “I’m going to get out and lift you out of the van. You’re going to walk with me into the motel room and not make a fucking sound. You scream, try to get attention, try to run? I’ll throw you right back in here and let them have you. Got it?” Her eyes widened but then she quickly nodded and rose up on to her knees, adjusting her clothes.

  “What the hell? You can’t fucking take her!” Lawson spun around and faced Ray, he was the only he’d have to deal with, the rest of the men were too gutless to try and face Lawson down.

  “Can’t I? It’s me she recognized. You think I’m going to put my future in your hands? You think for a second I’d trust you to deal with this?” Ray opened his mouth to speak but Lawson didn’t give him the chance to respond. This wasn’t a negotiation. He didn’t need to hear what Ray had to say. “No, this is a minor glitch. One that I’m going to deal with since I’m the one she’ll name if she gets away. Now sit the fuck down and shut up.”

  Lawson stared at him and for once, Ray acted smart and obeyed. But of course, Ray wasn’t smart or else he would have realized that it didn’t make any difference that Ivy had recognized Lawson.