A Real Bad Boy(41)

"What do you mean?" His face fell. "I have a cleaning lady come every other day."

"Right, it's clean. Too clean. Do you actually live here?"

"I'm not home much," he admitted and shrugged.

"So why are we here?" I asked.

"I have some things I need to pick up," he said.

I walked to a set of large industrial style windows, the kind with many  panes, and looked out over the city. It wasn't a harbor view. No, this  looked out over homes and through the hills. We were a good bit north of  the inner harbor. It was so different that it almost felt like an  entirely different world.

"Why this place?" I asked. "It looks like it was an old factory."

"It was a mill, actually. They used to make textiles here. I own the  building. One of my investments. A long time ago, when immigrants were  first coming over, my great-grandmother, who was only twelve, got a job  here. She worked here until she died, and my grandmother worked here  when she was old enough. My mom moved to Glenburnie when she married my  dad, but this place. It's a part of my history. So, when it came up on  the market, I knew I had to turn it into something." He shrugged. "I  figured it was the kind of building that would appeal to young  professionals. A bohemian experience at a bourgeoisie price point."                       
       
           



       

I'd never realized that he was more than just the mob, that he had his own businesses and side projects.

"You're able to do that?"

"What? Yeah, almost all of us have our own properties and fledgling  businesses. Your brother owns half of Glenburnie, your father the other  half. Well, I own some, too." He winked at me. "Investment properties  and hedge funds. Got to make our money somehow."

Somewhere along the line I forgot that it wasn't all stolen from other businesses.

I wasn't sure if it was the moonlight, or if it was this new discovery,  but I looked at him differently. He wasn't just some scoundrel in my  eyes anymore, but he had legitimacy. That only made him sexier.

I hadn't made a mistake. I knew I hadn't. I walked across the space  between us and looked up at him. "Tell me you are more than just a  murderer," I said.

He furrowed his brow and looked down into my eyes. "Is that what you think of me?" he asked.

"I don't want to, but I know too much," I answered. I knew the way they  worked. The way the operated. I'd seen it with my own eyes. With my  father.

The images in my head haunted me.

"Kathryn, you have to know that we are more than just the family  business. You have to know that." He stared at me intently then reached  up and threaded his finger through my hair. "We do what we do to protect  the people we love."

"You do what you do because it is profitable," I countered. But my  argument fell on deaf ears. He was staring at me so intently. "I know  how dangerous you are."

"And you still seduced me," he said, a small smile on his face. No, it  was a smirk. He was a smug bastard. I still wanted to kiss him.

"This is dangerous," I said as I looked into his eyes. He knew exactly  what I was talking about. This entire thing, all of it. It could lead to  so much pain.

"Does that mean you don't want it?" he asked. He already knew the answer to that question. It was written all over my face.

So, he bent down and made the decision for me. He kissed me hard, his arms wrapping around my torso and pulling me to him.

I folded immediately. I'd started this, and I knew that there was no way  to stop it now. We both had a lot to lose if we got caught, but I  didn't care. I wanted him.

"Janson," I murmured as I broke our kiss. He wasn't having it, though.  He swooped down for another. This time, I wrapped my arms around his  neck and I let him take me there. I was hungry for him. It had been  several days of just doing what I was told. Of making sure that I was  the girl everyone wanted me to be. But when he kissed me, when he saw  me, and I mean really saw me, it was then that I felt free.

He'd been so cold and distant, I'd thought he changed his mind.

"I don't think this is a good idea, and I don't care," he finally said. "I have to have you. My way."

What that meant, I wasn't sure, but I knew when he started pulling off  my shirt that it was happening here and now. I didn't resist, though.  Instead, I went along for the ride, pulling his jacket off and working  on the buttons.

"You have no idea what you are getting into," he said.

"You keep saying that, but I don't know if I believe it." I grinned and  stepped out of my heels. It felt good to lose a few inches and realize  the true height of him. He was hulking over me.

It was intimidating, but a part of me got a real charge out of it. I  liked to think of how strong he was, and how in control he was. I wanted  to give it all over to him.

He had me out of my blouse and skirt, and I was wearing nothing but my panties and bra.

"Come with me."

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Does it matter?" he answered as we walked through his kitchen and out the back door onto the rooftop deck.

It was gorgeous. We could see the entire cityscape from here.

But it was also so exposed.

"Janson," I said as I turned towards the door.

"No one can see you here, but I want you. Under the moonlight."

"But what if they can?"

"So what? They get a free show. I want you out here in the summer  night." He pulled me back into him. "I want to experience all of you.  Don't make me tie you to the guard rail so I can have my way with you."

"You wouldn't," I said as I sucked in a breath, but I had to admit, it was an intriguing idea.

"Oh, but I would," he said as he kissed down my jaw and to my neck,  where he nibbled. I still had a small bruise in that exact spot from his  bites.





Chapter Six



Kathryn



I could feel his cock hard against the fabric of my panties as I sat in  his lap. The fabric of his pants and my panties were the only things  keeping him from me. I should savor it, I knew that, but I wanted more. I  ground against it, teasing him before I turned. I kissed him again and  again, losing myself in him entirely. Removing his pants was easy, and I  liked how vulnerable it made him. His boxer briefs tight against his  caged cock, his shirt unable to mask the mass of musculature under it.                       
       
           



       

He was truly a wonder. I'd never seen a man that was so well defined. He  was such a large, barrel-chested man, I knew that he must work hard to  look that big. That menacing.

Part of me wondered how many men he'd killed with those arms, but I willed the thought aside.

"Kathryn-" he started, but I shut him up with a kiss. We both knew this  was dangerous. We both knew this could have disastrous consequences, but  it was our choice. Our rebellion.

And I wanted it.

The stars shone down on us, and I looked around. The chaise was gorgeous, wide and thick. Like a bed out under the stairs.

Janson grabbed me and rolled with me so that he was on top of me, my  body powerless under him. I loved the way it made me feel. Like all the  walls I put up and all the hard ass shit I did meant nothing to him. I  was delicate compared to him. He was so much stronger than me.

"What is it that you want?" he asked, kissing my chin, the length of my  jaw leading to my neck where he flicked his tongue over my flesh. Fuck.  He was so powerful that it was hard to resist.

"All of you," I admitted.

"Kat, what do you really want?" he asked. Janson's eyes bore through me. It was a question I wasn't prepared for.

"I want to be free." My breaths came out raw. It was the truth. I'd been  running for so long that I forgot why I was running. I forgot what was  important to me. Janson reminded me of everything I was and everything I  wanted to be. He was the one thing that kept my eyes focused on what I  truly wanted.

Freedom from this life. But I wanted to be with him. I knew that no  matter how hard I tried, I wasn't going to be able to turn off my  feelings. I was glad I was feeling something.

I'd spent so long being numb to everything.

He was dangerous, a murderous monster. One of them. But the only time I  felt human was when I was with him. It was a sickness. I knew it.

But I loved it.

"Freedom is what I'm after, too, Kathryn. It's been so long since I felt  anything. Your skin, your hair, your touch, it's so intoxicating." He  maneuvered himself down my body.

Janson made quick work of my bra, leaving my top bare before him.

I didn't dare tell him that he was the first, the first to see me like  this. Or what he'd taken the first time was my first time. He was the  only man who'd even laid his hands on me.