Devil You Know Read online

  I wasn’t watching the movie and I suspected he wasn’t either. He then did exactly what I had hoped he would do all those years ago. He shifted us, pulling me under his big body. Our gazes locked.

  “Do you know how badly I wanted to do just this that day?”

  The words got stuck in my throat hearing he had been feeling what I had even then. “I wanted that too.”

  His head lowered and my breath caught as his lips came down to mine. His hands framed my face as he took the kiss even deeper. I lost his mouth right before his forehead touched mine.

  “Tell me to stop. You’ve got to tell me to stop because I can’t.”

  “Please don’t stop.”

  The look that transformed his features I would never forget. Damian—disciplined and controlled—gave in to his own wants for the first time in his life and it was a beautiful and deeply arousing sight. His hands moved down my body before he lifted my tank up and over my head. His eyes followed his hands on their journey back down my body, taking his time to cup my breasts, swiping his thumbs over my nipples. He yanked my shorts down my legs then reached for the back of his tee and pulled it off before he dropped his running pants. I whimpered. He was large and hard everywhere. His hands moved to my thighs where he spread me like some offering before he knelt between them.

  He thumbed my clit, his other thumb slipping inside me, my hips lifted as a moan pulled from my throat. He watched his hands as I watched him. His eyes grew dark, the tip of his cock glistened. I wanted him inside me, but he lowered his head and touched my clit with just the tip of his tongue and yet my entire body shook from the pleasure. He took his time tasting, moving lower until his tongue replaced his thumb. I cried out as my body braced for the orgasm and knowing how close I was he gripped my thighs and yanked me to him as he thrust into me. The scream ripped from my throat, my back arched as the most intense pleasure rippled down my spine.

  “Cup your breasts,” he demanded in a gruff voice as his hips continued their assault, drawing out the orgasm.

  They were heavy in my hand and felt so good.

  “Do you feel how perfect they are? I’m going to spend hours on just them, my tongue, my teeth, my cock buried between them.”

  His words triggered another orgasm, less intense and still magnificent.

  His body stilled, his eyes closed and I was gifted to the beautiful sight of him finding his own release.

  His voice was sexy as hell when he said, “Let’s move this to the bedroom.”

  Damian had me pressed tight to his body, I listened to his heart beating, the strong even beat.

  “Do you remember the first time you came to my house, the night I cut your meatball? You must have thought I was a nut.”

  I felt him chuckle.

  Resting my chin on his chest, I asked, “You did think I was crazy, didn’t you?”

  “No.”

  “I didn’t make a very good first impression that night.”

  “That night wasn’t your first impression.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The first time I saw you was a picture in Cam’s wallet. He lent me money and when he opened his wallet I saw you. All hair and limbs but it was the smile on your face. You were fucking glowing and all you were doing was getting your picture taken. My home life was shit and there’s this picture of you so happy. I wondered for weeks what could make someone that radiant? Then Cam invited me to dinner. I said yes because I wanted to see you. I wanted to see if you were really as vivacious as that picture made you seem. I had never met anyone like you.”

  “I didn’t know that.” I loved knowing this.

  “Cutting my meatball...I fell a little bit in love with you that night.”

  He touched my cheek to wipe the tear that rolled down it. “The day you stepped in when I was getting taunted. Do you remember that?”

  He answered by mirroring what he had done that day and took a curl between his fingers.

  “I fell a little in love with you after your silent rescue.”

  “I wasn’t going to enlist. I had been looking for a job closer to you at NYU, but my plans changed the day of the graduation party after a call from my mother.”

  She was dead, she couldn’t hurt him any more, and still dread moved through me. Her fucking legacy. “What happened?”

  “It was a typical call, trying to get me to do shit for her by being a manipulative bitch. But it was the comment she made about my feelings for you. She twisted what I felt, had me questioning if what I felt was healthy or the sick shit she called love. The idea that one day you and I would end the way my parents did. I never wanted to see that day.”

  My heart ached. “That’s why you didn’t just leave, you ended us.”

  “Leaving you was the hardest thing I have ever done. I didn’t know at the time that it would be so long before our lives finally got back in sync.”

  “And now? You have been very determined to avoid just this.”

  “I’m only fucking human and you’re right, there aren’t enough cookies in the world.” He stroked my cheek. “What were you smiling at in that picture?”

  I knew the exact one he spoke of and I wanted to lie because it was a profound moment for him, but the reality was far from profound. “You’re going to be very disappointed.”

  “How so?”

  “Mom had made her coconut cake and she had called to say it was done right before Dad took the picture.”

  He dipped his chin down, I tipped mine back and we just stared for a beat or two before he laughed, a deep rich sound that was glorious to hear.

  “I’m not disappointed at all, that sounds exactly like you.” His smile faded and his voice pitched deeper. “One look and I was a goner.”

  I woke in the middle of the night to Damian’s mouth on my neck, his hand between my legs. He moved over me and framed my face with his hands as he joined us, slowly, almost lazily, and so very sweetly. We moved together finding that perfect rhythm, and after, he wrapped me in his arms.

  “I need to talk to you about Guy Harnett.”

  All the sweet feelings fled and my body went cold. He wanted to talk about Guy? “Why?”

  “Cam has been following the money, something your dad started. Money from dummy accounts set up for Salvatore Federico to pay off the low-level enforcers and informants he has around the city. One of Salvatore’s moles is Miguel Dobbs. We know he acted as hired muscle for Salvatore, we also know he recruited from within his precinct.”

  “You’re saying he recruited Uncle Guy.”

  “He’s not on the books, like some of the others, but a look at his financials shows he is floating more money than he reports to the IRS.”

  I needed to move, I jerked from his hold, pulled his t-shirt on and started to pace. Uncle Guy was dirty. Dad’s friend, his partner was dirty. I didn’t know what I felt more of; rage, betrayal or gut deep sadness. Uncle, he was no fucking uncle to me. “How did you see his financials?”

  “Not important.”

  I snapped my head in his direction. He was out of bed and had pulled on his jeans, but he stayed on the other side of the room because he knew I needed space. “Illegally. That will impact the case when it goes to trial”

  “Not if the arrests aren’t made off the illegally obtained information and at this point Cam is focused on the cops he can prove were taking bribes, which includes Dobbs. Here is the interesting part. Salvatore cut ties with Dobbs as soon as he learned of Cam’s investigation.”

  “Understandable.”

  “But why? Dobbs is a very small fish and Salvatore is well protected. A small fish isn’t taking him out and still he erases every connection to Dobbs, every paper trail.”

  “He’s not worried about Dobbs, but someone Dobbs’ services were used for.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And Guy?”

  “Anton had a sit down with Federico. He confirmed that he’s been partnering with Hartnett, scratching each other’s back as it were. Dobb
s isn’t the ringleader, he’s the puppet.”

  Pain ripped right through me. We trusted him, loved him and he was deceiving us the whole time.

  “Why would Guy do it?”

  “Around the time of his cash infusion, his son and wife were getting treated by a very expensive fertility specialist. It would seem Hartnett and Federico struck up a deal. Guy keeps legal shit from landing on Federico and his minions and Federico throws him some moonlighting opportunities.”

  “Oh my God. Guy’s family loved Dad, Trevor especially. How’s he going to feel when he learns of this, looks at his child knowing his son cost a man his life. Why would Guy do that to him?”

  Damian didn’t answer that, but he did say, “He’s dirty, but we’re having trouble pinning anything on him.”

  “So what happens now?”

  “Cam is working with the DA to build the cases against Dobbs and the other dirty cops. He expects warrants to be issued within the week.”

  “And Guy?”

  “He is still trying to build a case against him. We can’t count on Federico’s testimony so we have to keep digging.”

  I did move then, right to Damian and pressed my cheek to his chest. “He knew. Dad knew he was playing with fire and planned for the worst case scenario by sending Cam copies of his files.”

  “Yeah it looks that way. You okay?”

  My heart ached so I did what I always did. My arms went around him and I borrowed some of his strength as I allowed the full impact of what he shared to settle over me. Dad’s former partner, one of his best friends, played a part in his death.

  It wasn’t yet morning, but I was awake. I was angry, so fucking angry, and sad and hurt. I thought about the night of the charity function and how Guy had been so solicitous, and sitting in the kitchen with my mom being all friendly, and yet he had a hand in Dad’s death.

  “Are you okay?”

  My attention jerked to Damian to see he was awake and watching me.

  “I don’t know what to do with the rage and the anger.” I climbed from the bed. I needed air. I yanked open the balcony door and stepped outside. I was just settling in the chair when Damian joined me. He stepped to the railing, checking the scene I was sure. Even now he was watching and protecting. I studied his tattoo until he turned, leaned up against the railing and pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

  “Talk to me.”

  “He was like family. His family was an extension of ours. He had been a pallbearer at Dad’s funeral, he’s Cam’s godfather, and if he wasn’t the one to kill dad, he played a part. How do I process that?”

  “I wish I could answer that. He won’t get away with it. I can promise you that.”

  I stood, feeling too restless to sit. “Can I see your tattoo?” But I didn’t wait for a response. I walked to him and traced the devil on his back. It was beautiful. “Your Mom was wrong to call you the devil. People like Guy are devils. He was my father’s best friend and he threw it all away for money. I don’t care why he needed it. The price he paid to get it was too fucking high. You’re nothing like that.” I kissed him right in the center of his back. “This tattoo shouldn’t be an albatross; it should be a talisman to your strength, your character, your integrity and your beauty because you are beautiful, Damian, inside and out.”

  I pressed my forehead to his back, wrapped my arms around his waist. “Do you think he knew? Dad? Do you think he knew it was his friend, his brother that betrayed him? The one he had walked the beat with, the one who had his back as much as he had his? The man who stood up with him at his wedding, promised to care for his children if something should happen to him. Do you think he knew?”

  Damian turned into me, his voice harsh. “Don’t do that to yourself.”

  “I don’t just want him to get caught, I want him to hurt. I want him to know we know and I want him to hurt. What kind of person does that make me?”

  “Human.”

  A thought had fury slipping to fear. “What about Mom? She has to be told something? What if Guy makes a play for her? She won’t know.”

  “Your mom and Mrs. Cooke were moved to Mrs. Cooke’s home in Westchester.”

  “They were?”

  “As soon as Cam learned of Guy’s involvement. Kimber and Ryder are being watched, if necessary they’ll be joining them.”

  “I’ve never felt this kind of blinding rage before. I’ve never wanted to come out of my own skin from fury. I want to hit something, hurt something.” Tears filled my eyes as I looked pleadingly into his. “Please make it go away.”

  Without a word, he pulled me close and kissed me deeply. My hands sought him, fury turning to passion. I couldn’t touch or taste him enough. I wanted him, every part all at once. My mouth moved over his shoulder, my tongue darted out to taste the salt on his skin. He tasted good, so fucking good. My hands started a journey down his chest, my mouth following. The hunger for him grew to the point that I bit him, right on the pec and hard enough that I drew blood. I froze. I had never in my life bitten a person and certainly not during sex. His hand wrapped around mine and brought it to his cock that was straining the denim. “Do that again and I’m coming on you not in you.”

  He carried me to the bed and lowered me to my feet before yanking the tee over my head. He dropped his jeans, hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me down onto the bed.

  His hands slid down my back to my ass where he squeezed, separating my cheeks as his cock pushed between my legs and he rubbed himself in the spot I wanted him to take.

  “Please.”

  “What do you need, baby.”

  “You—hard, fast…I want it to hurt in a good way.”

  He flipped me and pressed my chest into the mattress while holding my hips up high.

  “If I’m too rough, say.”

  He couldn’t ever be too rough.

  “Thea?”

  “Okay.”

  The tip off his cock moved between my ass cheeks to my core that was already starting to spasm. I cried out when he rammed into me, filling me so completely it hurt to accommodate him.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Please don’t stop.”

  He pulled out, my body desperate to hold him inside and then he was thrusting forward again. In and out, over and over, he slammed into me until the pain and pleasure blended into one life-changing orgasm. My limbs went weak, my mind emptied, but Damian wasn’t done. He pulled from me and settled on the edge of the bed.

  “You fuck me now.”

  I crawled to him, threw my leg around his waist and straddled him, holding myself just out of reach for a second before I sank down on his cock. His mouth found my breast, sucking hard as his tongue swirled around my nipple. I didn’t think I’d come again, but my muscles tensed, my body making the climb until I went off like a firecracker. His hands on my hips kept me moving as he found his release. The growl that rolled up his throat was the sexiest sound I’d ever heard.

  My head dropped on his shoulder, his arms came around me. “Better?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry.”

  “Best fucking sex of my life. You better not be sorry.”

  “I’m not really.”

  He stood, carrying me since I was still wrapped around him, and climbed under the covers. I fell asleep. My body spent, my mind overwhelmed, but the one light in the darkness that my life seemed to have been plunged into held me as tightly as I held him.

  I’m leaving for New York tomorrow.” Damian dropped on me at dinner the following night.

  “What? New York? Why?”

  “The late night phone calls you received were tracked back to Chris McKay.”

  I’m sure I looked confused because I sure as hell felt it. “Chris McKay?”

  “It’s a piece that doesn’t fit. I had someone on him, but he’s disappeared.”

  “What do you mean he’s disappeared?”

  “He’s gone under and well enough that I can’t find him. That says to me someone forced him to go u
nder. I want to know who and why?”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “He was harassing you because of his daughter’s case and your link to Timothy Gallagher. My guess, he was doing similarly to Timothy Gallagher, but he has clients that would not be thrilled to have someone nosing around.”

  “Are you saying you think he’s dead? What about his grandkids?”

  “They’re staying with a distant relative. He hasn’t been to see them in several weeks. It’s more than likely that he isn’t tied to Cam’s investigation, but with his link to you I want to know exactly what his involvement is. I’ve gotten a lead on a possible direction as to who is pulling his strings.”

  “And you have to go?”

  “Everyone else is working on other things. Besides, he harassed you. That makes it personal for me.”

  “How do you do that?”

  He lifted his brow in question.

  “Make me want to smile even when I’m feeling slightly terrified.”

  He brushed his thumb over my lower lip. “Terrified?”

  “For you.”

  It was his turn to smile. “I love that you’re concerned for me, but I’m good, babe. And you will be too. You’re covered.”

  “I’m covered?” I was slightly distracted from his smile.

  “Yeah.”

  “Mic?”

  “And Razor.”

  It took effort to keep my jaw from hitting the table. Razor worked for Damian. “Razor?”

  He was enjoying my befuddlement.

  “I can’t believe I didn’t see that.”

  “One of them will stay at the cottage with you while I’m gone.”

  “What about work? I don’t imagine Janice wants me in the bar?”

  “She doesn’t have a say.”

  “Seriously?”

  He didn’t answer but I didn’t expect one. And then a thought turned me cold. “Are you not coming back?”

  That earned me an exasperated glare. “I’ll be back in three or four days. The timing sucks, but I have to go.”

  “So, you’re not running?”