STORY EXCERPT

“Excuse me. I’m looking for Sam Bennett. Can you point him out to me?”

Sam looked up, way up, at the man standing in front of the reception desk. He was tall, close to six foot three, she’d wager, with black hair layered past his ears in soft curls. He looked like a kid, a big kid, but still. Couldn’t Carter find an adult partner? Maybe he wasn’t from the security company.

“Who are you?”

“Zack Weatherly. Sam spoke to my receptionist a few minutes ago, said he had an emergency.”

So gum popper was his now?

He stepped closer and offered his hand across the desk. “And you are?”

Blue eyes flashed and a slow grin formed under his dark mustache as she stood and took his hand.

“Samantha Bennett.”

He shook her hand and his head, murmuring something about having a chat with Donna when he got back to the office. Then he set his shoulders and asked, “What can I do for you, Miss Bennett?”

Sam headed for her office, waving him along, and stopped at the threshold. “Be my guest.”

He paused, giving her a gentlemanly look of confusion before entering ahead of her. Once inside, he couldn’t miss the detective and crime scene tech. Or the knife in the chair. It didn’t take long for Sam to hear his response.

“What the fuck happened here?”

Both police officers in the room turned on him, staring the man down until Sam stepped forward.

“Guys, meet Harry Carter’s new partner, Zack Weatherly, wasn’t it?”

Weatherly gave her a long look and fired off a few questions of his own to the detective. In a matter of minutes, he knew everything they could surmise from what they’d seen so far and the note was in a protective evidence bag. Zack held it up and Samantha got a good look at it, for all the good that did. She still had no idea who would want to do this.

You put a knife in my heart

I put one in yours

He handed it back to the tech and crouched by her chair to look at the knife standing up in the cushion. “Nice. I bought a set just like it from a warehouse store last month.”

“Should we be checking your kitchen to see if one’s missing?” Sam asked.

“We just met, lady. Don’t know if I’ll want to kill you yet.” His smile to the other men in the room brought out a chuckle she could appreciate. Most of the men on the force wondered from day to day if they wanted to kill her. She had the best acquittal rate in the county.

“We’re finishing up, Ms. Bennett. Should be out of your way in fifteen.”

“Great. Can I get this stuff off my desk now?”

They nodded and she went across the hall to get the big trash bin they took to the curb every Tuesday. Everything on the desk that could be salvaged she laid out on the floor to dry. The rest was swept into the can along with the entire roll of paper towels she’d used to wipe down the desk.

When the cops were finished, so was she. “Let’s go.”

Sam grabbed her box and all four of them went out her front door. The men waited until the lock was set before walking away.

“Hold up, Weasley. I’m engaging your services as of half an hour ago. You’re with me.”

He stopped and she watched his shoulders twitch at the name and the snarky tone she used. It got her a helluva lot of attention at the police department, but she kept it out of her voice in court, judges being as particular as they were. When he turned, he wasn’t as irritated as she expected. Instead, he smiled.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Sam got close enough to touch but not be touched. Sort of. “When I need Harry, he’s here for me. Not my fault he went to Vegas with some chickie and left you to deal with his clients.”

He gave her a once-over, his eyes lingering on her feet and her purse instead of the assets most men checked out on her. Maybe he wasn’t into women, but she didn’t care, as long as he was into guns and good at it. She shoved the half-empty box into his hands.

“You want me to babysit? Sure, but you have to tell me what you want, Ms. Bennett. Understand, once we get in my car, I’m going to need to see that piece.”

“What?” she asked. The “No Parking” sign next to her vibrated and a strange pinging sound echoed about the time Weatherly grabbed her hand and started running, cussing like a sailor.

They ended up in the bookstore next door.

“What are we doing here?” she asked, her chest burning from the quick sprint. Weatherly, on the other hand, looked like he’d been strolling through a park. Damn it. He set her box of papers on the floor and turned to face her. The long line of his jaw hardened along with his lips.

“Someone is shooting at you, Bennett. Didn’t you see the sign bounce?”

“That was—”

“Yes. A bullet hitting the metal sign.”

“Oh, God.” Sam stared up at Harry’s partner. What was his name? She should know it by now. And why was he holding her so close?

ADULT EXCERPT

“I can show you pleasure beyond your imagination,” he said Her ass wiggled against his dick and the arm wrapped around her back caught the subtle increase in respirations. He pulled her closer until she leaned against him and her ear beckoned. A nuzzle. A nibble. A nervous whimper in reply.

His hand slid inexorably toward the center of her body, from fabric to skin until his fingers hovered at the edge of the leather square covering her sex. Against his chest, her breathing accelerated. His fingers delved into her opening to find the source of the slick cream coating the inside of her thighs. He pressed a kiss to the soft skin beneath her ear while his fingers drew damp circles on her inner thighs and she whimpered.

“Do you want more, buttercup?”

Sam hummed, but it wasn’t an answer. “Tell me, or I’ll stop.”

More incoherent murmurs rose between them before she gave him what he wanted. “Yes,” she whispered softly, “yes.”

His fingers moved a little bit deeper into her pussy but not enough to make her happy. He wanted submission, not collusion. Everyone must know she was his, especially Samantha herself.

“Not enough, buttercup. I need to hear ‘yes, Master.’”

The hiccup in her breathing made him smile. Sam’s sense of personal strength objected to her calling him by his title, but he wouldn’t let her slide. He needed her submission. To encourage her participation, he moved his roving fingers farther from the goal.

A flat, dry exhalation came first, then her words. “Yes, Master.”

“Good girl.” His simple praise elicited a soft moan and he shifted his fingers higher along her thighs, working slowly closer to her pussy.

Across the aisle, the other couple had changed position. The woman was bent over the back of a chair while her partner worked into her body from behind and his friend offered her mouth another cock. Sam’s gaze flicked to them and from her mewl, her need rose exponentially. Watching them while he touched her put her closer to climax.

For now, he’d let her go whenever she reached that point. Later, he’d work on sustaining the near-release until the need to come burned hot and hard.

Drawing her attention to her own body, he flicked at the little nub of her clit and then circled it with a slick finger. She twisted in his lap, needing more, and he slid a wet finger deep into her, slipped it out, and added another.

Tight. So tight he could feel the muscles twitching around his fingers while her arousal built. His own need reared its head and he mentally mapped the walk from where they sat to his private room. She was close to the edge, the room just a few steps short of where he needed it to be for her climax to be private.

He pulled out of her, sure his cock would be there soon, and found her hard nubbin with his thumb and forefinger. He rolled the sensitive bud between them, increasing pressure until her head fell back on his shoulder and her ragged moan merged with the other sounds in the room.

His mouth found hers and his tongue swept inside, invading while his hand slid away from her core. Her head turned and she tried to find a way to complain, but he gave her no options, keeping her mouth filled. When she finally accepted his control, Zack’s fingers returned to her clit and he eased his possession of her lips.

Eyes glazed with passion, she whimpered with need and he gave her small doses of what she needed, touching her body just enough to keep the embers building but not quite enough for orgasm.

A quick glance up confirmed that the threesome across the aisle had finished and were now the audience.

Hot, needy fingers inched down her belly to the wet center of her and when he made contact with the open folds of her sex, she cried out and begged for more in a rough, barely recognizable voice.

He teased.

She begged.

He pressed his fingers together around her clit and her hips bucked with the lack of completion.

Zack slipped his hand out of her body and slipped an arm under her thighs as he got to his feet. She panted in his arms while he made fast time to the room he leased at the club. His own private dungeon awaited them. One swipe of his card and they were in.

With no hesitation, he sat her on the bed and stripped the dress from her. Body still twitching, she said his name and reached up to kiss him.

“Soon,” he murmured, spreading her out on the bed and pulling the leather handcuffs from the headboard.

“What are you—?”

“Trust me, Samantha. You won’t be sorry.”