Those dark eyes of his—the ones so full of warmth and desire nine short weeks ago—are like black ice now.

  “Don’t hurt me.” The plea slips out.

  If anything, his eyes turn colder. “Where’s your phone?”

  My last lifeline to 9-1-1 and the outside world? “I-I don’t have it.”

  Mouth pressing into a grim line, Ridge yanks the strap of my purse off my shoulders, rifles through my bag, finds the device, and powers it down before pocketing it. “I’m sorry.”

  Terror grips my throat. “What are you going to do to me?”

  He doesn’t answer, which only terrifies me more. Then the elevator dings.

  Eighth floor.

  The doors open to a shadowy, dank hallway. It’s outdated. It smells musty.

  I grab on to the safety rail in the elevator for dear life. I’m not letting go until Ridge gives me some answers. “Why are you bringing me here?”

  He lifts me again, bracing me against his chest and carrying me away from my last line of escape without remorse. “So we can…talk.”

  The way he says it? I don’t think that’s all we’ll be doing.

  A team of maintenance men work on doorknobs up and down the hall. A few others pour into open hotel rooms with drawn drapes, hastily made beds, and…are they stringing up surveillance equipment?

  Ridge finds an older guy wearing a hard hat with a belly that says he likes beer. “Are you finishing all these tonight?”

  He nods. “Boss’s orders.”

  Cursing, Ridge regards the maintenance worker. “Are any rooms complete yet?”

  “Most of them. We’ll be finished in ten minutes. Audio will have to wait until morning, due to parts. But video is done along this hallway.” The older guy gestures from here to the grimy window.

  Ridge doesn’t look pleased. “Active?”

  Does he want to know if the rooms are already under video surveillance?

  “If they’re not yet, they will be soon. Boss was in a hurry. Why? Got plans?” He flicks his gaze over to me, stare roaming my body with a dirty smile that makes me want a shower.

  Ridge doesn’t answer. “I’ll be in the last door on the right. Tell your guys not to disturb me.”

  The maintenance worker gives him a two-fingered salute. “You got it. Have fun.”

  Without another word, Ridge forges full steam ahead into the room in question. Outside the door, he flicks the lock open.

  Why does it lock from the hallway?

  Then the door slams shut. He carries me to the center of the room, at the foot of a king-size bed, and sets me on my feet. “Why are you here?”

  “Why should I answer you?”

  Those black eyes sharpen. “You better listen to me, Little Red.”

  I gasp. That’s what he called me when we met on New Year’s Eve, the night he spent in my hotel room with my body under his, giving me hours of the kind of pleasure that made me sure every other person staying on our floor heard me, too.

  Here we are again. A different hotel room and a different situation—one way more terrifying, but…

  “You remember?” It’s the wrong question to ask. It’s definitely the wrong time to ask it. But him using that nickname fills me with hope. It’s stupid. But it makes me feel better.

  “You’re fucking right, I do,” he growls in my ear. “And now you’re in the middle of this shit, where I’d never want you.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  He sighs. “Long-ass story. But you better follow my lead—to the letter—if you want to live.”

  Ridge

  Predictably, Kristi’s eyes widen with horror. Her pale skin goes even paler. “W-would you really kill me?”

  What a damn clusterfuck this night has turned into. I need to tell her. Everything. After I walked away from her at the start of the New Year without explanation, I didn’t dare look back. Of course she doesn’t trust me anymore. I don’t blame her. If nothing else, she must be confused. The me she sees now isn’t the me she met when my brother married her best friend. Coming clean is the only chance I have of getting her to trust me enough to follow my lead.

  That’s the only way we both get out of here alive.

  “No.”

  But now comes the tough part. We’re being watched, and I have to make this look good.

  I hope like fuck Kristi forgives me someday…but I’m prepared for the fact she may not.

  Wrapping my fist in her long red tresses—the hair I still dream of wrapping around my fingers while I fuck her hoarse—I shove her back to the bed. She lands with a startled oomph. I follow her down, covering her body with mine, spreading her legs with my knees and making myself at home.

  She’s not in the sparkling red dress she wore the night we met. She’s also not wearing sky-high heels, spangly bracelets, that spicy-floral perfume that drove me mad, the makeup that accentuated her blue eyes, or the soft curls that swished around her shoulders. Tonight, she’s in jeans, tennis shoes, and a khaki long-sleeved T-shirt. She’s not wearing any jewelry and almost no makeup. Her hair hangs free in gentle waves. And instead of flirtatious, she looks terrified.

  I’ve missed her. And I want her more now than I did the first time I laid eyes on her.

  It’s not a helpful fucking development.

  Also unsurprisingly, she fights me, bucking and screeching, pushing and shoving at me. “Get off!”

  I take her wrists in my grip and flatten them against the mattress at the same time I use my legs to pin her immobile beneath me. Fuck, she looks pretty and feels so good, but I have to focus.

  “No. You’re mine now, whether you wish otherwise or not. Give me your fucking mouth.”

  Her eyes widen, indignant. “I will not. I’m—”

  I cut her off by crushing her lips under mine and pushing my way inside. As I surge deep, she stiffens and writhes, doing her damnedest to buck me off. But she’s got nowhere to go. After thirty seconds, she realizes that terrible reality and turns limp underneath me. Another few seconds later, and she’s almost kissing me back.

  “Good girl,” I whisper against her lips.

  “Fuck you.”

  So Kristi has backbone? The night we met at Rand and Sophie’s wedding, she was shy and sweet. I loved the hell out of coaxing her, unwrapping her, worshipping her…and her surrendering completely to me. But this side of my girl with fight? I like it. We’re going to need it.

  “We’ll do a lot of that tonight, Little Red. I’m going to wear out that pussy. When you’re sore and tired and wrung out, I’m just going to fuck you again.”

  “No! You can’t—”

  “I can. Don’t you get it yet? There’s no stopping this now. Whether it goes down easy or hard is up to you.”

  I expect a couple of reactions. More fighting. Maybe some mudslinging or name calling. What I don’t expect is Kristi to burst into tears.

  Aw, fuck.

  When she does her best to buck me off again, I grab fistfuls of her fiery hair and force her to meet my stare. “What the hell?”

  “Why are you doing this to me?”

  Tightening my grip, I lower my lips to murmur in her ear. “I need you to listen carefully and understand what I’m about to tell you. Or we’re both dead. There are video cameras in this room, and they’re probably set to record. It’s why I scared you, so you’d keep fighting. But I’m not who you have to worry about. I would never hurt you, Little Red. I’ve missed you way too fucking much.”

  A gasp escapes her lips. “What are you saying? You’re in danger, too?”

  “I will be if I can’t convince the mobsters watching us that I’m one of them.”

  “But you’re not?”

  The note of hope in her voice gives me a reason to believe I can get through to her. “I’m undercover, trying to break open their sex ring. You walked into the middle of it, and I have to figure out how to get you the fuck out of it.”

  “My cousin Sammie disappeared from this casino last night. Her mother called me frantically this morning and asked me to come help find her. She’s barely eighteen.”

  Oh, shit.

  “I think I know where she is.” Well, where she was. When I leave here, I’ll have to find out if she’s still in her cage in the third-level basement, been moved to a room on this floor…or in the bed of the man who paid to have her abducted and brought to him like a sacrifice.

  “You do?” She grips me tighter, finally looking at me like I’m not a monster.

  “About five feet tall? Wavy, dark hair?”

  Kristi nods frantically. “Yes. Where is she? What will happen to her?”

  If I tell Kristi now, she’ll only freak. “Let me deal with that.”

  “No. I need answers so I can call my aunt. Give me back my phone.”

  I shake my head. “I’ve told you all I can. You’ll have to trust me for now.”

  “How can I?”

  “What are your more appealing options?”

  And we’ve been talking too long. Anyone watching this footage will wonder what the fuck is happening. Why isn’t this new captive fighting me more? And why haven’t I ripped off her clothes and forced my cock between her legs? Donzelli thinks I’m discerning, and that will work in my favor. But he won’t respect me allowing anyone, especially someone trying to blow apart our operation, any kind of leverage.

  I have to make everyone believe I’m shutting her down and taking over. Now. It will look a shitload more realistic if Kristi believes it, too.

  “Apparently none, and you’re enjoying that,” she hurls at me.

  Not really. But I smile for the cameras as I grip both of her wrists in my hand, pin her to the dusty duvet, then work my free hand beneath her baggy T-shirt to curl my fingers around her ribs.

  She stiffens. “Don’t touch me until you help Sammie!”

  Ignoring her demand, I push the khaki shirt up her torso, revealing her beige bra. It’s not meant to be sexy. Modest lace trims the underwires with a little pink bow in between. But the cups only cover half her lush tits, and the thin straps at her shoulders have a hell of a time restraining the bounty God gave her.

  It’s both predictable and horrible fucking timing, but I get harder. My head swims in her scent. “Red…”

  “Stop it!” She wriggles and fights.

  But I’ve got her pinned too well. She’s not going anywhere, and she uses up most of her strength over the next few minutes figuring that out before falling limply to the bed again.

  “You done?” I demand.

  “I hate you.” She sniffles.

  Yeah, I figured. That shouldn’t bother me as much as it does. But I’ll have to sort that out later.

  Now my hand has a mind of its own, wandering up to the band of her bra…before cupping one of her mouthwateringly full tits. “God. I’ve missed touching these.”

  I’ve missed licking them, too. I bend and string kisses across her swell before burying my face in her cleavage.

  Holy shit, I loved these the night I spent paying homage to their beauty and perfection. I’d almost swear they’ve gotten bigger since then, but I’m sure that’s because I’ve missed them so damn much.

  “Don’t!” She wriggles, trying to work free.

  I snap. I know I should let her struggle for the camera, but it’s bugging the hell out of me. “I’m trying to help you.”

  “By mauling me?”

  “By marking you as mine. Unless you want me to leave you to the mercy of Sal, Rudy, and Paulie, none of whom will hesitate to rape you? Your call. Me or them.”

  She swallows and searches my face, her blue eyes dilated with fear. I see the pulse beating at her neck. “They’re really mobsters?”

  “Yep. And they’re really running a sex ring that you and your cousin are about to get swept into, unless you play along.”

  She hesitates, searching my face like she’s looking for answers. “I still don’t like you. And I still don’t trust you.”

  “But better the devil you know?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Excellent. So we’re on the same page? We’re going to fuck now. For the cameras.” That’s not the only reason…but best not to mention that.

  “Fine.” She grumbles. “But be quick.”

  Good thing I have a healthy ego, but I still can’t help needling her. “You don’t sound too happy. Why? You liked it a lot before.”

  In fact, Ransom was in the room next to hers that night, and he complained the following morning that Kristi had been too loud for him to get a lick of sleep.

  “Because you’re an arrogant, dismissive, assholish—”

  “I get the picture. Tell you what. Why don’t you just take your anger out on me? You should enjoy that, and it will look convincing for whoever’s watching.” Then I’ll leave here and make it clear to everyone that Kristi is mine while I look for Sammie and search Paulie’s room in the basement. But even if I find Kristi’s cousin, I have to figure out how I’ll get the two of them out of the hotel without blowing my cover or losing all the goodwill I’ve spent years earning from Donzelli.

  “There’s no way I’m just going to roll over and give you my…”

  “Pussy?”

  Her lips purse. “Among other things. I’m going to fight every minute of this.”

  “You do that.” And I’ll do what I need to.

  I slide one hand under her and find the thin strap bisecting her back and the lone clasp doing the yeoman’s work of securing her luscious breasts in their cups. With a flick of my fingers, I unhook it.

  She gasps. Obviously, she wasn’t expecting that.

  And as much as I hate to share her with any of the perverts watching us on camera, I don’t see a way around it. So I ignore the surveillance and focus on my woman.

  She glares at me. “You’re way too good at that.”

  That’s not why she’s mad. “Are you pissed at me because I didn’t call you after that night? Or because you decided to hate me in the last nine weeks, but your body didn’t get the memo?” I shove her bra up, exposing her tits, and drag my thumb across the dead giveaway of her stiff nipple.

  “I’m not aroused. It’s cold in here.”

  “Bullshit.” It’s been pushing eighty degrees in Vegas most of the week, and there’s no air conditioning piping into these eighth-floor rooms. “You like it.”

  “I don’t.”

  “You like me.” I pinch the hard tip.

  Her body jolts and her breath catches. “You’re wrong.”

  “And I think you’re a liar.” I let go of her pinned wrists just long enough to grab her shirt and bra in my fists, then jerk them over her head, leaving her bare from the waist up. “God, you’re as fucking pretty as I remember.”

  Kristi shoves at my shoulders. “Don’t touch me.”

  This again? “The night we met, Soph told me you were sweet and shy. She didn’t tell me you’re stubborn as hell.”

  “I’m only that way with you.”

  I grin. “So I bring out your good side?”

  “You don’t bring out anything but my temper. We shouldn’t be wasting time fooling around when Sammie—”

  “Have you spent the last three years with these animals? I have,” I growl. “Do you know what they’re capable of? What they’ve got planned? How far they’re willing to go for power? I do. Paulie thinks he gunned down Ransom in a parking lot tonight. He was celebrating with champagne and a laugh. So I’m telling you right now that, unless I give them a reason not to, these animals will think nothing of using you and Sammie for their fun, then pumping you full of bullets before digging you a shallow grave in the desert for the coyotes to find.”

  Kristi goes mute in horror. Good. I can’t be any more stark and clear about the stakes. She needs to stop being angry with me for all the wrong reasons and focus.

  “Finally got your attention?”

  She nods miserably. “Bastard.”

  Yeah, yeah. “Like I’ve never heard that before. What’s going to make you feel better, Little Red? You want to hear that I hated leaving you that morning? I did. I resented the shit out of this assignment when I had to tiptoe out on you at five a.m. on New Year’s Day. Want to know if I’ve thought of you since then? All the goddamn time. I expected to want you that night, but I didn’t expect to fall for you. I certainly didn’t expect to come back to Vegas, determined to wrap up this multi-year op so I could find you again because I’m not fucking interested in anyone else. Just you.”

  She swallows, then sends me a suspicious scowl. “You’re just saying that to get me to cooperate.”

  Of course she thinks that. In her shoes, I would, too. “I’m not. Now shut up. I’m going to make you scream. I know you’re going to be pissed at me for a while, but try not to hate me, huh? It’s going to make our next fifty years together really rough.”

  As far as I’m concerned, more conversation is somewhere between pointless and dangerous. Besides, Fate has given me another night with Kristi well before I thought I’d have one again. Better believe I’m going to take it and make sure that, despite this fucked-up op, she knows she’s mine.

  Kristi

  Ridge Garrison is the most frustrating, confusing, difficult, macho, annoying man I’ve ever met. I’d love to keep hating him, but I’ve got three problems.

  First, when he dips his head and covers my lips with his, he reminds me that he’s amazing in bed. Since the morning he left me, my body has literally ached for him every single day. I can’t masturbate the need away. I tried. And so far, I haven’t felt even a smidgeon of interest for another man. I’m worried the damn bastard ruined me.

  Second, he knows where to find Sammie. Well, he says he does. I don’t know for sure that he’s being honest…but despite the fact he’s horrible boyfriend material, Sophie and Rand swear Ridge is one of the good guys. That has to mean something, right? Maybe that’s wishful thinking, but it makes me feel better because…

  Third, it pains me to admit it—and I’m seriously questioning my judgement—but I think I fell for the cocky bastard. The night we met was magical—in every sense of the word. I became every princess when I was with him. Ariel at first because he tongue-tied me so much I couldn’t find my voice. Once I did, I was Cinderella. We danced and danced until midnight. Then we kissed as the clock struck twelve, and I lost a shoe—not kidding—as I ran to my room. He chased me and returned it, slipping it on, only to slip it—and everything else I wore—off as soon as we were alone. Then I was Sleeping Beauty because after the first three times we had sex, I fell into an exhausted slumber. But he awakened me again with what I fear was true love’s kiss. We had sex again, too, rather than saved a kingdom, but it was still the most enchanting night of my life.