Merciless Love: A Dark Romance(65)

“I wasn't trying to eavesdrop. I was just worried. You haven't been upstairs since morning...”

Fuck it. There was no use fighting or yelling. Guess she deserved to stick her angelic nose where it didn't belong after the way I'd yanked her into the shadows.

“The asshole wants the new pictures I promised him last week. Tonight. If he doesn't have them, he'll hurt my son.”

Cassie blinked. An uneasy smile pulled at her lips, brightening the natural pink that always stood out on her pale face. Fuck, I knew I wasn't gonna like what came out of her mouth next.

“Let me do this simple thing, Evan. I can buy you time. I'll do it however you want. Make the man drool over what he can't have.”

Shit! Lightning shot to my cock as mad thunder rumbled in my head.

This would've been so much easier if she bowed up and slapped me across the face. I wanted her to fight. Not do me favors she didn't fucking owe.

Too bad I was at the end of my goddamned rope. Without sharing her sweetness over the lines, I was truly fucked. The odds of Borzia carving up my son tonight if he didn't see me cooperating were high.

Time to swallow my bitter pride and choke. Easier than getting Ty's fingers in the mail one-by-one.

“You're sure? I'm only giving you one chance to back out.”

She stepped forward, throwing her hands around my neck. Where the hell had she gotten that black fall dress with the jack-o-lantern colored stripes going through it? The girl was sexy, even when I didn't want her to be. Couldn't decide if she looked like embers turning over in a fire pit or some exotic spider ready to kill.

“I told you I'd do it. I want to help him come home safe. I want to help you.”

Black angel. I wondered if I'd done something to her head, inverting her innocence and purity, making her cling to me the way women in her old cult were supposed to relish their greasy old Prophet.

My cock bulged in my shorts. Nothing sounded better than unwrapping her, taking dirty pics, and then reminding us both who she really belonged to.

Yeah, the Mexican would have his pics, but he'd never have her body. I'd damned well make sure of that. My pitch black heart wasn't totally dead. I didn't have the cruelty to tell her about the new schedule.

Wasn't gonna do it until I figured out how to unfuck my promises. Keeping Cassie and Ty safe was like watching a slow motion car wreck, and I was the idiot traffic controller trying to keep shit apart before it smashed together and shattered lives.

“Come on. Let's get this over with.” I grabbed her wrist and pulled her along.

She didn't resist.

Sweet Cassie. So obedient, so sensitive, so submissive.

And so damned fucked if I don't screw my head on straight and save your perfect ass one more time.

I helped her pick out her clothes. Didn't have a clue about women's fashion, but I sure as shit wasn't inviting Izzy here to get involved.

She wouldn't understand the negotiations after the promises I made. She was doing her job to get Cassie's sister cleaned up and straight. Cassie herself was mine.

We rampaged through the huge wardrobe Izzy stocked for her training. It was the first time we were in the old slave room together since I rescued her. It was strange as hell to be back in here without her fighting me.

The dress she picked out accented her curves perfectly, all stark black without any orange hues this time. Then she picked out a pair of fishnets, spiky heels, and lacy lingerie to go under it. Simple shit that let her tits and ass do all the talking.

My cock agreed. Bastard jerked and pulled at my whole damned body when she actually stepped out of my master bathroom wearing it.

I would've flipped my shit and dropped the digital camera then and there if it wasn't so fucking sobering. Jenny used to come to me like this when I came home from bloody jobs.

My home was a refuge. It's not easy to turn your brain off after strangling, shooting, and stabbing depraved motherfuckers for weeks at a time. But the minute she disappeared at night and came out looking like a ten, she bleached death out of my brain, drowning macabre remorse in bright desire.

My heart thumped something fierce. I had to push my fingers to my eyes and rub them to believe what I was seeing.

Never thought I'd find another woman who knew exactly how to carry herself. Cassie walked less confidently than Jenny ever had on her new heels, but she was pure throbbing sex, slow and seductive with her lips slightly pursed.

“Fuck, babe! Where did you learn to dress like that? You look like a goddamned pinup.”

“You guessed it,” she purred, stopping just short of settling on my lap.

Damned good thing too. I would've started in and wouldn't have stopped 'til we were both a hot sticky mess. Then I'd need to clean her up and do this shit all over again for the bastard with his gun to my head.