“Okay. I think you should still hear their offer, because you should always know exactly what you’re turning down. But if it’s not for you, just tell them no. I’ll support you whatever you want to do.” He stroked over the thin line on my temple where the gash used to be. There was a slight scar, but you probably wouldn’t see it unless you were looking for it. My injuries had all healed so the cast was gone, thank God. It had been damn annoying.

“Thank you. Your support is appreciated.” I kissed him. “Now stop looking at the scar. It only pisses you off.”

“What happened marked you. I hate that. And I hate that you have that reminder whenever you look in the mirror.”

I gently grazed his jaw with my nails. “It doesn’t bother me as much as you seem to think it does. What bothers me is that you still feel that you hold some blame in what happened.” Only Ricky and Reed bore the blame. Neither had made bail, and their trials would begin soon. I’d have to testify, which I wasn’t looking forward to, but I’d do what needed to be done to ensure those assholes didn’t walk. “You said you’d stop feeling guilty if I gracefully accepted the new G80. You’re not living up to your end of the bargain.”

A smile tugged at Blake’s mouth. “You’re right. I’ll stop.”

“I have news that might lift your mood.”

He raised a brow. “Oh?”

As it didn’t yet feel like the right moment to tell him, I instead said, “Cade moved in with Kerri.”

Blake’s mouth twitched the tiniest bit. “Why would that interest me?” he asked, feigning aloofness.

I snorted. “Because it’s proof that he’s not pining away for me.”

Blake snorted right back at me. “He’d leave her for you in a fucking heartbeat.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “I give up. You’re beyond help at this point.”

Chuckling, he kissed the hollow beneath my ear and then inhaled deeply. “I love your smell. I’d know it anywhere.”

“Would you now?” Hearing my cell phone chiming, I groaned. I’d assigned that particular ringtone to Bastien, who only ever called me when he couldn’t locate Sarah after they’d argued. “Looks like there’s trouble in paradise. Again.”

Blake sighed. “I told him to keep you out of it.”

“You know he panics when he can’t find her. And she’s a master at hiding.” When it came to Sarah and Bastien, it was like watching one of those melodramatic yet somehow addictive soap operas—you shouldn’t find the angst and drama in the least bit entertaining, but you did.

The funny thing was … they were actually tighter than ever. They were fully committed to each other, and she’d even moved in with him. Hell, they’d even bought a puppy together—a puppy she took with her whenever she went into hiding. But Bastien was one of those people who needed a lot of room to mess up, and Sarah was one of those people who did not tolerate any bullshit, so they bickered a lot.

After he’d lied about having coffee with his mother, Sarah had made him suffer for weeks before she’d agreed to hear him out. When he’d revealed that the reason he met with Tara at the coffeehouse that day was to tell her that he wanted out of the project, ready to start a life with Sarah that didn’t include having one foot stuck in his past, Sarah had forgiven him. But since Reed hadn’t been lying and Liza was now in fact dead, the whole thing was irrelevant anyway.

As for Tara … well, she’d apologized to everyone and had so far behaved herself. Now that there was no longer a project that bound her, Blake, and Bastien together, they never actually saw much of her. She seemed to spend a lot of time with Chase, one of Emma’s PIs, these days.

Joshua, too, had behaved himself lately. I’d seen a little of him, due to the investigation, and he’d always been civil. Which I was sure secretly pissed Blake off, because he no longer had an excuse to punch him.

I hadn’t told my mother what Joshua revealed about Maxwell, since it would mean throwing into question everything she believed about him. It would upset her little world, and she never did well with that. Besides, Maxwell had long ago ceased to matter to her. She had the people she truly cared for in her life, so she was happy.

Speaking of the people in my mother’s life … Michael kept asking to meet Blake. Like that would ever happen. Nothing productive would come of it, and I didn’t want Michael anywhere near him … because Blake was my good thing, just like I was his.

“About damn time,” Blake muttered when my cell finally stopped ringing. “I’ll be having a word with Bastien for bugging you. While we’re on the subject of assholes … how’s your ass?”

“It’s still a little sore from last night.” When I’d finally let him have it. “That shouldn’t make you smile.”

“If I thought you were in real pain, it wouldn’t. But knowing that when you move or sit you can still feel the sting enough to remember how it felt to have my cock in your ass—that I like. I like it a lot.” He stroked his hand over my leg. “So smooth.” That same hand then cupped my pussy gently. “But not quite as smooth as here.”

Earlier, he’d watched me shave my legs like it was the most riveting thing he’d ever seen. Then he’d asked if he could shave my pussy for me. I’d let him, trusting him to be careful, and it was actually kind of hot—especially with the dark, territorial gleam in his eyes as he’d locked his gaze on my pussy like it was all that existed.

“I liked shaving you.” He closed his mouth around my nipple and sucked hard as his fingers fluttered and swirled over my swollen folds. “I’ll be the only one who does it from now on.”

“Is that so?” The question came out kind of raspy, since he chose that moment to leave a suckling bite on the side of my breast.

“That’s so.” He licked over his mark and then draped himself over me, settling his hard cock right over my pussy. “I want in you.”

“Then take what you want.” My body automatically curved into him, like he was a magnet. That elemental draw had been there from day one, and I hadn’t stood a chance against it. Like he often said, I’d just been fighting the inevitable.

I ran my fingers along his back as he whispered soft, butterfly kisses over my face. All the while, he gently thrust his hips; sliding his cock back and forth over my clit. It felt so good my toes actually curled. Molten lust flooded me, seeming to fill me all the way to my fingertips and toes.

With a moan, I spread my thighs wider, hinting for him to come inside me. But he didn’t. Instead, he kissed me. Took and devastated my mouth with an urgency that had my hips bucking and my nails digging into his back in demand. He ignored that demand, softly playing his fingers through my hair and tracing the shell of my ear.

“Blake …”

Mouth lingering on mine, he hummed and gave me a knowing smirk. “I know what you want. You can have it soon.” He dipped two fingers inside me and swirled them around, kindling the tingles from the series of mind-blowing orgasms he’d given me earlier. “Fuck them,” he ordered.

Clinging to his back, I lifted my hips and began impaling myself on his fingers.

“Slow and easy. That’s it, good girl.”