Brotherhood (3 page)

The bastard had followed his orders to the letter.

Melissa remained still. She had no way of knowing if the other guy was still around, or if he was still in the room. She strained to hear something—anything—to let her know just what the hell was going on. A million different scenarios flashed through her head, each one worse than the last. Twice she thought she felt a hand touch her, but realized that it was only her mind playing tricks on her. After what seemed like an eternity, Asher’s voice came from the distance.

"You can go now," Asher said, and Melissa heard the fumbling steps of the guy as he left. She was struck by how calm and collected he sounded—utterly unlike the insane criminal that all the reports described him as.
No wonder he never got convicted once.
Asher had this indescribable presence that effortlessly
demanded
obedience. He didn’t even have to raise his voice. Yet it The door clicked shut slowly, and Melissa heard Asher’s footsteps slowly pacing closer to the bed. "Now, Agent Fuller. What shall I do with you tonight?"

CHAPTER 3

She should be angry. She was the equivalent of a captive. She was nearly naked and tied to a bed of a highly dangerous criminal. Her life was—based on all her training instincts—in danger. She should be livid. But she wasn’t. Not when she heard Asher’s voice.

Fuller wondered what the fuck was going on with her body. Why wasn't she tense? Why wasn't she in survival mode? Why in the god damn hell was she turned on? Hanging on for his next word?
What the hell kind of punishment is he talking about?
She wondered about his motives. His toys. His punishments.

And suddenly she felt a familiar wetness pooling between her panties.
Fuck.

Her own body was betraying her.
Double fuck
. She knew better than to go so damn long without. She had needs and they were coming out to bite her in the ass. They always did, just not typically to this degree. She had to keep her head straight. It would help her get through these urges. She had to remind herself of what Asher was. A criminal. A thug. A very bad guy. No matter how many urges she felt, she couldn’t succumb to them.

She was always the one in charge. She was the one that called the shots. No way in hell had her desire for sex ever led to her in handcuffs and ropes. But something about the feel of the metal against her skin; the way the ropes rubbed her ankles; the knowledge that this man was standing above her and looking at her body. All of it made her want more. And that was simply unacceptable, inappropriate, and unprofessional.

"I wonder what’s beneath that bra," Asher spoke and the sound of his voice sent small trembles through Melissa’s body. She had to concede that he had a damn sexy voice—one that excited her even more now that she was lying on his bed. "I bet those nipples are hard as rocks right now," he teased. She found herself enjoying the game. The teasing. The fun.

She tensed slightly, trying to convince herself that she wasn't waiting eagerly to see if he did just that. Melissa was not hoping his hands would slip the fabric off and show him that his assumption was correct.

Within a few moments she felt the gag pulled from between her lips. Following that she felt the blindfold slip off. Something wouldn’t allow her to look up at him. She didn’t want him to be able to see what was on her mind. She knew that if he could see the arousal in her eyes, then she’d already lost.

“I’ll require your undivided attention, Agent Fuller.” His words were gentler than his tone. She obeyed instinctively.

Their eyes met and she felt something twitch deep inside her. Something she didn’t want to feel. She tried to focus on detail instead of emotion. His eyes. They were dark. Darker than brown, yet lighter than black. A flicker of light was evident in the corners. Almost like a twinkle. It surprised her and she lost her focus again.

“Better,” he smiled. She watched his lips spread into a grin and noticed how soft and full they were. A light shade of pink set against his dark skin. She couldn’t see his teeth, but she imagined they were bright white and perfect.

His hair fell further down his forehead than she’d seen in pictures. In fact, a tendril fell right into his eye as he looked directly at her. His entire appearance was not what she’d expected. Even after looking at hundreds of photographs, she felt as though she didn’t recognize him.

Her stomach was flip-flopping as he continued to smile at her.

“Do you prefer Melissa or Agent Fuller?” he asked in a softer tone than he’d previously spoken to her.

“Call me whatever you like, scumbag.” She answered honestly. At that point she didn’t feel like she cared. She just wanted him to continue talking.

She was having an internal battle with herself. Good and evil. The desire to capture him. The desire to touch him. They were fighting it out and she wasn’t sure which side was going to win. Mostly, she wasn’t sure which side she wanted to win. But in that moment, lying there looking up at him, she kind of wished she’d listened to Logan’s original plan. Damn that man.

“You don’t like Asher Hudson, Agent Fuller, but you can’t get enough of me.” He leaned closer until those dark eyes were all that she could see. Until she saw herself reflected in them, and there was no denying how
horny
she looked.

He was close enough to kiss. “Am I right?”

She nodded. Something in her automatically did as he asked. It confused her. She was the law. She should be in charge. She was trying to capture him. Yet, she couldn’t even ignore a question. She couldn’t even fucking lie.

There was a part of her screaming that this was a dangerous man. He was on the other side of the law. A criminal. A high profile thug who ought to be locked away for a long time.

But the throb between her thighs told a different story. One of attraction. Desire. Longing. She tried to blow it off to lack of sex for the foreseeable past, but something inside her said it was the man and not the moment.

“Why don’t you like Asher Hudson? Did he do something to you?” he looked deep into her eyes and she knew there was nothing she could hide from him. The stare pierced her, peeled away her defenses layer by layer until the only thing left was raw naked desire. And the whole time, he remained just out of reach from her lips.

“You are a criminal,” she answered in a whisper. “You do bad things. It’s my job to take bad people out of business.”

“I wish you wouldn’t judge me like that.” He smiled at her. “I’m not the bad guy you think I am. Except for when you want me to be.” His wink sent a chill through her body.

Asher slowly slipped the cuffs and ties off of her wrists and ankles. The freedom surprised her and she wanted to ask. But she kept quiet and waited. Something inside her told her that she shouldn’t speak.

“Are you surprised I set you loose?” He looked back at Melissa and she nodded. “I’m not the monster you think I am.” he grinned. “Yes, I plan to punish you for violating my privacy. But that’s only because I know you want me to.”

His words made her tingle. Punishment she wanted? That sounded appealing. Melissa watched him walk across the room to pour himself a drink. She watched as he silently put the glass to his lips and sipped. Her tongue ran across her own lips at the sight. She wasn’t sure if it was the drink or the man she was thirsting for.

“Don’t get me wrong, Agent Fuller,” he kept his back to her. “You aren’t leaving. I’m not that kind.” She heard a small chuckle. “I can’t risk my livelihood. I have a business to run.” He took another long sip. “Letting you go is the equivalent of turning myself to the authorities and asking to be handcuffed.” He took another sip and her body ached a little more. “Unfortunately, I don’t look nearly as sexy in cuffs as you do.”

The words were left dangling in the air as he kept his back to her and continued with his drink. She could move and yet she couldn’t. Everything inside of her longed to walk over and touch this man. See if he was real. If the ache for him was real. But her brain kept interjecting with the obligations of her job.
Catch him. Put him away
.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he turned to face her again and she tried to hide the fact she’d been watching him. “I want to see you bound and gagged.” Melissa shivered as he spoke with the same control he’d shown earlier. “Nothing would excite me more.”

“I would never ask for…” Fuller managed to find her voice and stick to the plan. He was the enemy. “Never!” she said the final word with more power than she’d intended. It made her wonder who she was trying to convince.

“Of course,” Asher conceded without so much as a facial expression. He turned to pour another drink.

“Can I get dressed?” She asked angrily. Something about his calm demeanor annoyed her. His lack of emotion. It was infuriating.

“If you insist,” he spoke softly. “But if I had to guess.” He turned to her with a smile. “I don’t think you really want to.”

She lost her breath and her ability to speak, and huffed as if she were appalled at the idea. Inside she felt the words. She wanted to scream them.
Get me my clothes, asshole.
But each time she opened her mouth, the words refused to come. He wasn’t someone that she was supposed to want. Period. But she also knew that had she met him under different circumstances, had she met him outside of the line of duty and him without the attached stigma.

Asher’s eyes watched her as she made a slight motion towards her clothes piled in a heap on the floor.
Melissa felt the power of his gaze and her hands began to shake slightly.

“It’s a shame to hide a body like that.” His calm voice echoed in her head and her legs rubbed together at its sound. “Especially in such unattractive clothing.” Hudson’s voice trailed off and she wished he’d say more.

“Sorry to disappoint,” she rolled her eyes but he couldn’t see. “Sexy attire isn’t very suitable for my line of work.” She reached out and grabbed the fabric of her top. The rumpled shirt hid how much her hands were shaking.

“There’s always the option of nude,” he chuckled at the statement.

“Satisfying your perversions isn’t exactly the reason I came here,” Melissa hoped like hell her voice didn’t show how jumbled her mind was at that moment.

She noticed as she was picking at the top that she was taking a lot longer than normal to dress. On any given day she could go from just out of bed to out the door in less than fifteen minutes. Yet she’d spent a good chunk of that amount of time sitting there picking at one piece of clothing. The hard part was convincing herself that she wasn’t prolonging it because she knew it turned him on.

“I was more interested in satisfying your perversions, Agent Fuller.”

The words shocked her enough that she dropped the clothing from her hand. It was an accident but she could almost feel his smirk as she did.

“Seems that the idea appeals to you,” He walked up behind her and heat crept into her face.

“Unless you are offering to let me handcuff you and take you downtown with me, I highly doubt I’m going to be satisfied.” Melissa finished as if nothing had happened.

She wanted to bend over and pick up the clothing she’d dropped but she wasn’t certain how close he was behind her. It made her feel vulnerable. Part of that excited her. But the agent inside of her screamed that it was dangerous. As were the feelings her body was having.

“I told you,” suddenly Hudson was in front of her. He stood close enough to kiss. “I don’t look quite as sexy in handcuffs.” His smile increased the ache inside of her.

Fuller stood perfectly still as Asher bent at the knee in front of her. His mouth was only inches from the triangle of her panties as his arm reached for her clothing. She could feel the heat from his breath as he knelt before her. The throb underneath the fabric increased as she wondered what it would feel like to have those lips against her skin.

“Besides.” She could feel the words vibrate against her midsection and wondered how long it took to grab two items. “Is that really the position you’d put me in?” Hudson’s question brought on many thoughts, most of which she couldn’t admit even to herself in that moment.

Fuller’s legs got wobbly as she waited on him to rise. A sharp intake of air escaped her lips as she felt his hands grasp her thighs.

“Careful now,” he cooed as he squeezed gently. “You were about to fall.”

“I…I’m fine.” She managed to stutter. “Take your hands off of me.” The words didn’t even sound genuine.

“Of course.” His hands released her thighs and he stood back up to face her, holding his top in his hand.

In one smooth motion, Asher lifted the top over Melissa’s head and opened the bottom to allow her to slip her arms inside.

“I don’t need help. Don’t try and get your rocks off on dressing me.” She snatched the top from his hand and fumbled again with it.

“Oh,” he dragged out the word for as long as he could. “I’d much prefer undressing you.”

Melissa stumbled backwards slightly at the words. She wanted to come back with a retort that would make him leave her alone, but the words wouldn’t come out.