Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“I’m going to worship you all night,” I tell her, and she moans. “Until you know to your bones how I feel.”
A shy smile curves on her lips. “You love me.”
“Yes.” I let her sit up and touch my cheeks with tentative fingers. “You love me,” she whispers in wonder. “My king.”
My cock jerks painfully, but I don’t move. I don’t want this moment to end.
There’s a harsh rapping at the door. Inara flinches, twisting away.
“No. . .” I reach for her, and she grabs my wrists. “Rex—”
More knocking. Whoever is at the door is insistent.
They’re going to have to get a fucking battering ram. I’ve got my little bird naked under me, calling me her king, and I’m going to give her the royal treatment.
“Sir, I need to talk to you,” the person at the door calls.
Inara stills. “Is that Hamish?”
It is Hamish. “Go away,” I call.
Inara shakes her head. “We should talk to him.”
“It’s urgent,” Hamish says. He’s no longer knocking, and there’s a sound I don’t want to hear—the beep of an electronic keypad. Of course Hamish has the master key to any door in my own hotel. “I’m coming in.”
“No—” I bark, but Inara shrieks and rolls away before I can grab her. I watch her gorgeous backside as she runs and disappears into the bathroom.
The door opens, and I rise to my feet to face Hamish. If he’s surprised that I’m giving him the full Monty, he doesn’t show it. His stone face doesn’t crack.
I cross my arms over my chest. Hamish wanted to see me, so now he can see all of me. “What?”
“You’re alive.”
“And well.”
He shuts the door behind him. I shift on my feet, willing my dick to soften faster. I was excited to be with Inara, but this is weird.
“The news is reporting an explosion.”
“I sent you a message that we’re fine.” I had Alfie do it, but still, I gave him an update.
“Both of you?”
“Thank the gods.” Now he does look relieved. “I had to see it with my own eyes.”
“Well, now you have.” I spread my hands as if to say, “Here I am.” All of me.
I cross to the closet and pull out something for Inara to wear, grabbing a pair of slacks while I’m at it.
Inara opens the bathroom door enough for me to hand her the lounge set, thanking me. I grunt. My dick perks up at the sight of her but withers again when I turn back to Hamish.
“Does anyone else know Inara is alive?” Hamish is intent on something, but I’m not sure what.
“Just Atticus. I had him check us over a few hours ago. But no one else has seen us.” No one in the hotel would have spotted us entering because we used the private elevator. My car has tinted windows, so no one could see us from the street.
“Thank the gods,” he mutters again, and I raise a brow. He’s not particularly religious.
“What’s going on?” Inara emerges, looking calm in a loose black sweater and joggers. Her hair’s freshly combed back from her face. I can’t stop myself from reaching for her and pulling her to my side. She lets me, and we face Hamish together.
“What’s going on is that a major explosion rocked the warehouse district, and you were reported to be on site. Not to mention, your partner, Detective Burgess, is now dead.”
“By my hand,” I say.
Hamish’s brows rise. “Perhaps you’d better tell me the whole story.”
I give him the highlights. I trust him with the truth, and he’ll need it to spin this story to the police and the press the way we want it.
“Does anyone know Rex killed Burgess?” Inara asks as she chews on her lip.
“No, he’s presumed dead from the explosion,” Hamish says. “The police will investigate, but they have no reason to suspect his betrayal. Meanwhile, we’ve already looked into Burgess’s accounts and found three equal payments of twenty grand. That’s all it took to turn him.”
Disgust turns my stomach. Burgess got what was coming to him. “Any luck tracing the payments?” I ask.
“Not yet. The payments were made in cash. Burgess deposited them in his personal checking.” Hamish doesn’t outright call Burgess a fool, but his tone suggests it.
“He didn’t expect to get caught,” Inara says.
I drape an arm over her shoulder, inhaling her floral scent. It calms and arouses me at the same time.
“The Bondage Killer was behind this. I know it. Burgess said as much.” Inara stares into the distance, her detective mind working on the case.
I wish I could take her far away from New Rome, hide her away to keep her safe. But she’d never forgive me.
“Has he ever used explosive material before?” I ask.
“The warehouse fire that supposedly claimed his life,” Hamish says. “There were traces of accelerant, but it was thought to be a coincidence.”