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  “You’re a devil in Avengers boxer shorts.”

  “Oh, how the tables have turned.” He motioned toward the party. “Ready to go back in?”

  “I’m not getting paid enough for this.” I brushed my hair over my shoulder.

  “You did well with the SquirtingSarah issue. I think you can handle whatever these debutantes throw at you. If we leave here without talking up my book, Linda will lose her shit.”

  I wrinkled my nose.

  “Just half an hour more. How about that?”

  “Can I at least steal something to take the edge off?”

  He glowered. “No.”

  “Just a little something? Like maybe a bracelet or a money clip.” I got up on my tiptoes and whispered in his ear. “Please?”

  He grabbed my upper arms and pressed me close to him. “Who’s the devil now?”

  I nipped at his earlobe. “Guilty as charged.”

  “One thing.” He shook his head as he said it. “Just one, klepto, and don’t get caught.”

  “Done.” I dropped back onto my heels, pleased with myself.

  He smacked my ass as I turned to head back to the party. “Let’s get to work.”

  17

  Scarlet

  I turned the bracelet around and around on my wrist as shots rang out across Jason’s enormous living room. His TV was bigger than my entire living room in Jersey City.

  “Are you even watching?” Willis squeezed my arm.

  I lay on my side, my head on a pillow in his lap. “Yeah. They shot Marlon Brando, and that Fredo is looking shadier than Christian Grey.”

  Jason sat on a couch at a right angle to us, a girl under each arm. “Shit’s about to get real.”

  “So who bribed Fredo to set up his own father?”

  Jason arched an eyebrow as Sienna, the girl on his right, pressed kisses to his neck. “You sure you’ve never seen this?”

  “Never seen it. I suspect that Barzini guy, though.”

  “How?” Willis gawked at me.

  I shrugged. “I can read people. That’s why I do what I do.”

  Jason nodded. “Yeah, reading people is important for advice, I guess.”

  More important for pickpocketing and cons. I smiled. It was almost cute that Jason had bought into our story that I was the real Scarlet and Willis was my assistant. I waved my hand at the screen.

  “Like I was saying, Barzini showed up at the wedding, acting cool. Then he was trying to play peacekeeper it seemed like. Red flags. He was hiding his true intentions. Everyone else was telegraphing theirs. If this movie is as good as you say, then the real villain has to be someone hidden in plain sight. That means Barzini.”

  “You could run your own spoiler website instead of relationship advice.” Jason pulled Jessica into his lap, neither of them giving a damn that two relative strangers were watching their canoodling.

  “You could.” Willis ran his fingers along my upper arm. “You could do so many things that don’t involve…well, you know.”

  “But I like ‘you know.’” I spun the bracelet around on my wrist, the stones sparkling in the low light from the TV. Selling it would add to my paltry stash of money for Pauly. But I was nowhere near the $50,000 Hannah owed.

  “You can go legit.” Willis kept rubbing my arm, sending goosebumps erupting all over me. “You’re one hell of an actress.”

  “You act?” Jason gripped Jessica’s ass and pulled her so she straddled him.

  “Not really.” I focused on the TV.

  “She does,” Willis piped up. “Just no major roles yet.”

  “Yeah, now that you mention it, you sort of have that charisma, you know? It would translate on stage or screen.” Jason continued squeezing Jessica’s ass and kissed Sienna, who was draped along the side of him.

  “Use your people-reading magic for good instead of evil.” Willis kept his eyes forward, though there was no way to miss the threesome ratcheting up on Jason’s couch.

  I sat up. “I should go.”

  Jason came up for air. “The movie’s not over yet.”

  “That’s okay. I already figured it out.”

  “No, stay.” Jason rose and pulled the girls up with him. “We’re going to my room. You two stay as long as you want. Snacks and drinks are in the kitchen. There’s spare bedrooms down that hall.” He pointed. “My room’s right over here if you need anything.”

  “Thanks.” Willis coughed into his fist as Sienna and Jessica started making out.

  “Save it for me, ladies.” Jason took their hands and pulled them across the wide penthouse, the sparkling lights of New York serving as the backdrop for their illicit romp.

  His bedroom door closed, and some music started pumping lightly as the movie continued to play.

  “That was, um”—Willis drummed his fingers on the arm of the black leather sofa—“not something you see every day.”

  “I’m going to grab a water and get going.” I rose and strode to the kitchen. One side of Jason’s fridge was bigger than my fridge/freezer combo at my place. I pulled it open and grabbed a bottle of water.

  More gunshots rang out from the TV along with screeching tires.

  “You could stay a little longer.” Willis leaned against the dark marble kitchen island. “When else are we going to get a chance to hang out in a penthouse next to Central Park?”

  I took a drink of the water, supposedly straight from Fiji, and walked over to the wide windows looking out onto the trees. “This is definitely some view.”

  Willis followed and stood behind me, his hands resting on my hips. “It sure is.”

  I knew what he meant, but I wasn’t going to go down that road. “That was cheesy.”

  “Since when is complimenting you cheesy?”

  The never-ending traffic flickered on the streets far below. The park still bustled with life even at night. But my home lay across the river, and a wolf was at my door.

  “Look, Sparky, we can’t keep doing this.”

  “Doing what?” He moved closer, his chest brushing my back, and his heat warming away the chill of worry.

  “Pretending we’re in a sitcom where you and I could be something more.”

  “You’re doing it again.” He nuzzled into my hair.

  “What?”

  “Hiding from your feelings and from me.”

  “I’m not.”

  “You are.” He wrapped his arms around my waist, a hint of his cologne tickling my nose. “It’s okay to be scared.”

  “Scared of you?”

  “Of us.”

  “You don’t understand.” I sighed. “We aren’t the same.”

  “That would be weird. Imagine the sex. I’d always want to top, but then if you were me, you’d complain about having to bottom, because you’d want to top, and then—”

  I snorted. “You are ridiculous.”

  He squeezed gently. “Stop running from me.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  “I want to. Doesn’t that mean something to you?”

  “You don’t understand what you’re asking.” I imagined the lies on top of lies I’d told over the last year, the stealing, the cons—all so I could erase Hannah’s debt. He wouldn’t understand. And he couldn’t help, not in the way he wanted. If I couldn’t scrape up enough money to completely pay Pauly, I’d have to finish my con on Willis. It wouldn’t end well.

  “Give me a chance.” He turned me around so I faced him, the city lights reflecting in the deep pools of his eyes.

  The feels, in all their sticky glory, bubbled inside me. He was so earnest, his heart open in a way I’d never seen before.

  He pressed his palm to my face and rubbed his thumb across my cheek. “Don’t be scared.” His mouth met mine, tasting me with a softness that seduced all my rough edges. More naked in that moment than I had been in my entire life, I fell into the safety of his arms.

  Scooping me up, he carried me through the luxe dining room and into a hallway with several doors. Th
e first was open, and a wide bed with a black duvet beckoned. Walking inside, he kicked the door closed behind us and laid me on the bed.

  My hands shook as they roved his shoulders. He kissed me again, sweetly, reverently. I relaxed into the soft comforter, letting myself go. Our mouths tasted and teased for endless moments, every sweep of his tongue stoking the fire that burned inside me until I was scissoring my legs to quell the buzz.

  He rose and unbuttoned his shirt. Sliding it from his smooth skin, he tossed the fabric to the floor. I reached for the hem of my dress.

  “Slowly.” The deep rumble of his voice promised all sorts of pleasure.

  I sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed so I was sitting in front of him. He unbuckled his belt, but his eyes stayed on me as I eased my dress up and over my head. My breasts felt heavy and tingly as the cool air brushed over them.

  His breath hitched, and he knelt between my thighs. “Pretty.” He kissed my right nipple. “Exquisite.” He kissed my left, then looked lower. “Unforgettable.”

  Placing his palm on my flushed chest, he pushed me back on the bed, then hooked his fingers in my panties. Pulling them slowly down my legs, he kissed my inner thighs down to my knees. Anticipation sent my blood raging through my heart, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

  “I already know what you like.” He kissed my pussy, then ran his tongue lower, pressing it inside me.

  “Willis.”

  “Mmm, keep saying my name.” He buried his face in my pussy, his mouth covering me as his tongue worked my clit, then dipped inside me in an erotic kiss.

  I dug my heels into his back as he worked me with ease, each stroke drawing me tighter as I hurtled toward bliss. My legs began to shake in time with his tongue. His palms spread me wider than I thought possible, pressing me open as he devoured me.

  Reaching up, I pinched my nipples. His growl against my skin told me he enjoyed the sight. I twisted them, staring down at his dark eyes.

  “Close.” I barely managed to get the word out before my orgasm came from nowhere, swallowing me up as my back arched and all the breath left my body.

  He kept licking my clit, sending me higher until he’d wrung every bit of pleasure from me. When my lower back finally hit the bed again, he kissed up my stomach to my breasts. Claiming one nipple in his mouth, he sucked, twirling his tongue around it in his expert way, then switching to the other. When he released the stiff peak and nuzzled against my breast, I gasped as I felt his teeth leaving his mark on me. If I hadn’t already been wet, the sting of pain would have definitely done the trick.

  He grinned up at me. “Told you I was into biting.”

  Standing again, he shucked his pants and his Deadpool boxers. His cock stood at attention, thick and hard.

  “Fuck.” He grimaced.

  “What?”

  “No condom.”

  “Oh.” I wanted him, needed to feel him surging inside me. What was more, I trusted him. More than I’d ever trusted anyone. “I’m clean. Are you?”

  “Yeah. Birth control?”

  “Yeah.” I moved into the middle of the bed.

  “I’ve never.” He moved between my legs and propped himself above me on his elbows.

  “Never what?”

  “Had sex without a condom.”

  “Me neither. You’re my first.”

  “I like the sound of that.” He smiled and kissed me, transferring his happiness to me.

  I kissed back, wrapping my arms around his neck as he settled between my thighs. When his cock head brushed my folds, I hissed at the delicious feel of him.

  “God.” He kissed to my throat as he moved his hips, sliding his cock up and down against me.

  I moved with him, relishing every bit of friction between us. My nipples against his hard chest, and the weight of him on top of me. All of it created an intoxicating mix of the two of us. Together, moving as one toward our mutual pleasure.

  “Ready?” He breathed against my throat, then sucked my flesh into his mouth. The sting of his teeth had me digging my nails into his scalp.

  “Yes.”

  He bit me again, and I cried out with need for him. For more. For all. The pressure of his cock had me spreading my legs wider.

  He grunted as he pushed inside. “Fuck. You feel amazing.”

  I pushed down on his cock, sliding his thick shaft deeper as I clung to him. No words formed on my tongue, but the fiery need for more was all I could think.

  Pushing deeper, he groaned and rested his forehead against my shoulder. “Fucking hell.”

  “I want it all.” I reached down and grabbed his ass, urging him forward.

  He seated himself all the way inside me, stretching me to the point of pain.

  “God, yes.” I backed my hips off, then returned, my wetness easing his intrusion. “That’s it.”

  “I need you.” He pulled back and plunged forward.

  A strangled cry erupted from my throat as he did it again. Fucking me hard and deep, leaving marks on my skin and in secret places no one had ever touched before.

  He maintained a steady rhythm, and I rose to meet each delicious impact. Our skin slapping bounced back to my ears, and pure animal pleasure washed over me.

  “Harder.” I dug my nails into his back.

  “Fuck yes.” He slammed into me, shaking the bed with each punishing thrust.

  Every stroke drove him wilder, and he claimed my mouth in a rough kiss. Taking my hands, he pinned them above me, leveraging his body against mine as he pistoned into me. Our sweat-slicked bodies slid against each other, my nipples aching and tingling with each touch of his chest.

  As if sensing my need, he bent his head to my chest and wrapped one arm beneath me. He lifted me, sucking and licking my nipples as he thrust up, impaling me with each stroke. I pulled closer to him, bouncing on his cock as I licked the salty sweat along his chest and left my own marks on his shoulder.

  He gripped my ass, squeezing hard as I bit his ear and kissed his neck. “Are you trying to make me come?”

  I responded between bursts of breath. “Not—until I—get mine.”

  “That’s my girl.” He slapped my ass, the sting rocketing through my veins like gasoline. A few more thrusts and he lay me down, then reached between us. When his thumb hit my clit, I moaned and arched.

  One hand on my shoulder pressing me down onto his surging cock, his other at my pussy, playing my clit with rising intensity, he stared down at me. “So fucking hot.”

  I gripped his wrist at my shoulder and ran my other down his slick chest. His muscles tensed with each thrust, his body moving like molten metal beneath my fingertips. I gulped in a breath and tried to slow my body down, to wait for him, but I couldn’t.

  I worked my hips along with the pressure on my clit. So full, so close to the edge. “Willis, I—”

  “Come. Make some noise. My name on your lips.” He pounded harder, leaving bruises in his wake as he owned me, body and soul.

  I tensed, shrinking into that throbbing ache between my legs until I burst outward, a fresh Big Bang, and went skittering across the stars. His name repeated on my tongue as my body rode on waves of bliss. Down one swell and up another, my pleasure consumed me until I fell silent, nothing left but the two of us, locked together as one.

  “Fuck. I can’t—” He pulled out, and hot spurts of come shot along my pussy and lower stomach. His masculine grunts spoke to the animal embedded deep in my DNA, and I wished he was still inside me, coating me with him. Even so, watching him come, the strain in his face, the deep notes of his voice, was beyond erotic.

  When he was finished, he leaned over me and pressed another kiss to my lips. “Thank you.”

  I smiled and just lay there, boneless from the amazing sex.

  “I’ll be right back.” He hurried to what looked like an en suite bathroom and came back with a warm washcloth.

  After cleaning us up, he drew back the covers and nestled me in the bed, then crawled in beside me. Floating on
a calm sea of contentment, we just lay next to each other for a few moments.

  Pulling me to his chest, he kissed my forehead. “You sort of rocked my world right then.”

  I snorted. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

  “No.” He smoothed a hand through my hair. “I don’t.”

  “Good.” I wrapped my arm around his middle and snuggled against him.

  “Possessive already?” He sounded more pleased than anything.

  “Get over yourself.”

  “I can’t. Not when I just had the best sex of my life with the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”

  My heart somersaulted and barely stuck the landing. I tried for some distance, though the effort was half-hearted: “Wow, you’re laying it on thick.”

  “I’m not laying anything on. Just telling the truth. Do we need to work on how to accept compliments? I’m pretty sure I did a blog post on that like two years ago. And Commander Reptilian actually had an issue where—”

  I pushed up and stopped his mouth with mine. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me another mind-melting kiss. When I scooted back down, he’d thankfully forgotten about his Commander Reptilian story.

  Slowly running his fingers through my hair, he said, “I just want you to know you’re special to me. This was special to me. Everything about our moments together since we met. Special. That’s all.”

  I hugged him and closed my eyes. Ignoring the sting of threatening tears, I told him the truth. “Me too.”

  18

  Willis

  Ketchup dripped down Elias’s chin. People walked past, the streets choked with tourists and native New Yorkers. We sat beneath a striped green and white awning, our small café table laden with fries, onion rings, and burgers.

  I scrolled through Jina’s latest article on Scarlet Rocket. This one was far more complimentary so, of course, it was only three paragraphs long. She found that Scarlet had proven herself capable of giving good advice, but Jina wasn’t entirely sure Scarlet belonged in the advice aristocracy. “Time, and the release of her upcoming novel, will tell.”