He didn’t move—too busy staring at me like he’d never seen me before. “You do remember this is the chick who held you at gunpoint yesterday , right?” “Hey, those were extenuating circumstances!” Sadie pulled back far enough to wrap the towel around her front. She clung to it with both hands, blushing furiously. “I’m not proud of what I did, but Davian was kind enough to for give me.” We both stared at her . She thought I was kind ? This girl was single-handedly wrecking the r eputation I’d spent years building. Vince shook off his surprise first, looking unimpressed. “And I’m sure you mounting him at the first opportunity had nothing to do with earning that for giveness?” “Vince,” I snapped over Sadie’ s gasp. He had no business baiting her . But Vince never knew when to shut up. “It’s just convenient your mongrel goes missing, and now you’re shacking up with Reed here,” he taunted Sadie, crossing his arms. “Almost like you planned this.” I snorted at his ridiculousness, while Sadie stiffened on my lap with a scowl. “What did I tell you about calling Bear names?” She moved to jump off my lap, but I pulled her back down. I didn’t need Sadie starting a brawl with Vince. “He won’t do it again,” I promised her, ke eping my hands on her hips in case she tried to launch herself at him again. I eyed my oldest friend. He wouldn’ t still be out here unless something was wrong. “What happened?” He glowered at Sadie before answering. “Y ou’re needed inside.” “Something you can’ t take care of?” That was new . He sent a meaningful glance at Sadie before clearing his throat. “The rat problem is worse than we thought.” The towel bunched in my fist. Lorenzo . “You guys have rats here?” Sadie perked up, oblivious to the double meaning. “Have you looked into getting a cat? We used to have mice at the shelter. The dogs were scared of them, so we brought in a cat to hunt the mice. Cleared up the problem in a day .”
Some of my frustration melted into amusement at that visual. “You let a cat loose in a dog shelter? That must’ve gone over well.” “Oh, the dogs loved Artemis.” She frowned. “A little too much, actually . They mistook her for a squeaky toy too many times, so we couldn’t ke ep her long term.” She reached underneath the towel, adjusting her panties, and I swallowed a groan. All talk of cats was for gotten. “I’ll meet you inside,” I told Vince, not taking my eyes of f Sadie. Her gaze met mine in disbelief as the door shut behind Vince. “You’re leaving ?” She squirmed on my lap. I tightened my grip on her hips to hold her still. “ Now? ” The slight whine in her voice made me grin. “I’m sorry.” Apologies were rare and usually tasted like sandpaper on my tongue, but I meant this one. “I’ll make it up to you later .” Her eyes dropped to my mouth, cheeks reddening. “Deal.” “There’ s something I need to take care of. I won’t be long.” I stood and set her on her feet. Her flushed face and kiss-swollen lips filled me with satisfaction, and I pressed a kiss to her forehead. I would’ve rather placed a claiming one to her lips, but lingering wasn’t an option. “Don’t have too much fun without me.” Then, not one to waste a good meal, I took the fingers that’d been inside her and held Sadie’ s gaze as I sucked the taste of her from them. That was a mistake. The moment my tongue got a taste, I wanted to spread her out on the table and feast. Sadie squeaked, her eyes growing comically wide. Her reaction made it far too tempting to stay, so I turned away before I ended up blowing of f work for the rest of the day . I made it three st eps before a splash echoed behind me, and I looked over my shoulder . Sadie’s head popped out of the de ep end of the pool. Her hands wiped the water from her face. She smiled she epishly . “I needed to cool of f.” Her smile almost melted my frustration at Vince interrupting us. Almost . Sadie’s towel lay forgotten by the edge of the pool. Her shoulders bobbed above the surface, and water lapped the top of her breasts. Not taking my eyes off her, I allowed myself a brief moment to fantasize about strangling Vince for bar ging out here when he had.
It was safer than fantasizing about what I wanted to do to Sadie. But now I had to go clean up Lorenzo’ s mess while Sadie swam naked in my pool, and the prospect of eradicating this “rat problem” with my bare hands was more appealing by the minute. I turned to leave before she could mistake my annoyance as directed at her. “Put the shirt back on, Sadie,” I called over my shoulder , earning a laugh from her . Each st ep back to the house was a test of my crumbling willpower .
S a d i e Sadie’s Guide to Hostage-T aking Being T aken Hostage Forming a Partnership with Y our Hostage Embracing the Hostage Lifestyle, T ip #15: In the event you’r e a voluntary hostage at your ex-hostage’ s mafia fortr ess, I recommend taking time to explor e the layout and befriend the staff. Who knows when it might come in handy? I was in de eper trouble than I’d thought. Sharing a couple kisses in an ice cream parlor? Those could be excused as celebration of a successful rescue mission. Grinding on my hostage’ s lap in the backseat of an SUV? Still easily written of f as temporary insanity . Getting hot and heavy on the highly visible patio of his backyar d where any passerby or foreign satellite could see us? There was only one possible explanation: I’d been possessed by a horny, mafia prince-obsessed demon who wouldn’ t rest until they got what they wanted. And they wanted Davian. ... I wanted Davian. Which had led to me putting on a show in the backyard, and all because my hostage-turned-partner -turned-avenger -slash-jailor made me lose all rational thought.