Then I fucked her until my balls drew tight.
No condom, ready to explode inside her and give her what she fucking asked for, I made a crucial mistake. I looked into her eyes.
My world collapsed.
I loved her.
I fucking loved her.
Pain, sharp and ruthless, crushed me from the inside out.
“Jesus,” I choked, grabbing her face. “Siren.” My knees buckled, my arms shook and it took everything I had not to let us fall to the ground. Burying my face in her neck, I felt her tight pussy spasm then clench around me as she came. Bracing myself with my forearms against the wall, I thrust two more times and simply let go.
I pulsed and pulsed inside her.
Breathing heavy, sweat running down my back, I couldn’t look at her. “You okay?” I asked, my voice hoarse.
Her fingers feathered across my shoulders and down my arms. “Yes.”
I hated myself.
Her soft lips touched my neck and her hand landed on my heart.
I jerked back and pulled out. Zipping my jeans up, I told myself this changed nothing.
“Talon?”
Fuck fuck fuck. “Yeah?” I buckled my belt with a shaking hand.
“Please look at me.” Breathless, worried, her voice put a vise grip on my heart.
Inhaling, I schooled my features and looked up.
Fuck.
Worried blue eyes met mine. “What just happened?”
“We fucked.” My voice sounded off.
“I meant after.”
I stepped back from her. “I need to get inside.”
She grabbed my hand and searched my face. “I felt that. I know you did, too.”
I said the first asshole thing that popped into my head that’d take the heat off me. “You should be worryin’ about your daughter, not me.”
Her expression shut down. “I am worried about her. I’ve worried about her for every second of every day for the past six months. I’ve worried myself until I got so sick, I couldn’t breathe. I live with an ache in my heart you can’t begin to imagine. But I can’t let that break me. If I did, what kind of a mother would I be? I have to be strong. I have to keep fighting. For her and for me.”
“Jesus fuck.” I rubbed a hand over my face. I really didn’t deserve this woman. She was a thousand times stronger than I’d ever be. “C’mon, let’s go find her.” I turned to go inside.
“I also worry about you,” she said quietly.
My head spinning, wondering how the fuck she flipped the tables like that on me, I walked into the house.
KENDALL SMIRKED AND ANDRÉ SMILED when I walked through the glass slider. Roark looked preoccupied like he always did and Neil studied me. Siren came in after me and she was either oblivious or ignoring the uncomfortable silence in the room. She excused herself and went to the guest room.
Kendall waited till her door closed then looked at me. “Guess someone kissed and made up. Or should I say fucked?”
I glared at her. “Take a walk, Kendall.”
“Jeez, not even sex calms the savage beast.” She rolled her eyes and disappeared into the other guest room.
André watched her ass the whole way then pulled a laptop out of his bag and sat at the dining table. “Okay, here’s what we got, which isn’t much.” Neil sat down but he was on his phone and Roark started unzipping the duffels. “I told you about the hit on Maddie’s social security number in Kentucky,” André continued. “I’m hoping it isn’t identity theft. Since there’s been no other activity, I’m going to assume it’s not. Nicole also told me that the day Stone took Maddie, he wasn’t alone and it got me thinking.”
“Hold up, how did Stone get at the kid in the first place?”
André frowned. “She didn’t tell you?”
I was an asshole. “I forgot to ask.”
He looked at me like I was on crack then shook his head and explained. “Randy was on his last deployment, Nicole was alone and Stone started coming around, offering help. He’d watch the kid, buy groceries, help her with shit around the house.”
“Doesn’t sound like Stone.”
“No kidding but she was a new mom and she was vulnerable. About a week before Randy came home, Stone came over and said he’d watch the kid so Nicole could run errands. Except when she got home, Stone was alone. He told Nicole if she called the cops, she’d never see Maddie again but if she was quiet and if Randy took care of some business for him when he got home, she’d get her back. Then he walked out. Nicole was so freaked, she tore the apartment apart and a neighbor called nine-one-one. Nicole was held for a seventy-two-hour psych evaluation at the hospital. Randy was notified and the Marines let him come home early but by then, Maddie was gone.”