Slow Heat (26 page)

Maggie stood with her back to the door. As he watched she began walking away. He straightened, immediately turning the locks to unlock his front door.

Let her go. You know what will happen if you let her in.

He moved faster, unlocking the door. Micah ignored the argument that feelings for Maggie would destroy everything he’d worked so hard to become. It was a dangerous neighborhood and not a place for her to be at this hour.

Maggie was in the middle of his yard and turned around when he opened the door. She was dressed down quite a bit and still looked hot as hell. Pale yellow sweats were pushed up her legs and bunched together just under her knees. She wore cloth tennis shoes with no socks. Her bare legs from knee to ankle looked smooth as silk. Her tank top was the same color as her sweats, and she was definitely not wearing a bra. Her nipples were hard and pointy and instantly he wanted them in his mouth.

“I thought I’d see if you were still up,” she offered, her tone flat. She raised one shoulder as she spoke then dropped it. “If I’m bothering you, it’s no big deal, I can come back later.”

Micah imagined she’d probably gotten herself wired on coffee while sobering up. More than likely she had then dealt with the humiliation from her family for getting drunk. None of this was his problem and he shouldn’t care how any of these events affected her. They weren’t part of finding who was behind the Club Paradise ordeal.

Maggie fidgeted as he stared at her, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. His brain was instantly full of ideas on how to help her burn off all that energy.

Micah stepped to the side, opening his door farther. “Come in.”

Her relief was noticeable as she hurried to him and into his house.

“I’m sorry, Micah. I know it’s way too late,” she began as she entered. Maggie turned in his living room, not looking around at anything but focusing on him. “Tonight was a nightmare. Getting drunk didn’t fix a thing. Sobering up sucked. I had to be there for my younger sister as she faced Mom for the first time in two years. I fought with my older sister until finally she left for work. My dad and older brother confronted me about you and everything that has happened with Club Paradise. I sat with Annalisa after she tried for a couple hours to get Mom to talk to her. Mom announced her youngest daughter would always be able to stay in her home but until she went to confession Mom had nothing to say to her. It really tore Annalisa up. Nothing any of us said would convince Mom otherwise. She’s the most stubborn—”

Maggie took a breath then threw her hands up in the air. Exhaustion created lines around her eyes, which were still bloodshot but much more coherent than earlier.

“I’m sorry, Micah. This is hell,” she continued, then without warning ran into his arms.

Micah wrapped his arms around her. His hands easily slipped under her tank top. She didn’t stiffen or straighten when he began caressing her bare back. He rested his cheek on the top of her head as she clung to him.

“It’s all just too much, Micah, you know? There are too many emotions going around in my brain and I just can’t handle it anymore. If I could just quit feeling, I know it would be so much easier to cope with all of this.” She sobbed and sucked in a choked breath. “Part of my brain says the smart thing would be to just get the hell out of here and start over. If I left town and moved far away to some small town no one has ever heard of, then nothing going on here could touch me. I’d be just fine.”

God, she was voicing his thoughts.

“Is that what you want to do?”

Maggie raised her head. “No, yes, hell, I don’t know.”

She let go of him and backed out of his arms. “But I just can’t deal with all of my family’s drama and having people try to kill me. It’s too much.”

Micah noticed she didn’t mention trying to cope with any feelings toward him. Maybe these new feelings for her were one-sided. Or maybe she already understood what it felt like to care for someone so it didn’t bother her. He watched her walk away from him and over to his kitchen table. She ran her finger along the edge of the table. Part of her was shrouded in darkness but it only helped accentuate his view.

Sweatpants had never made a woman’s ass look better. The elastic was snug against her waist. Her sweatpants weren’t tight on her but were far from baggy. The material was thick but still hugged her just enough that her curves and firm, tight ass were nicely displayed. Micah found himself staring between the top of her legs and imagining the many things he could do to her right there.

Her straight auburn hair hid her face as she continued focusing on the edge of his table. Something deep in his gut encouraged him to walk over to her, assure her everything would be okay, because he would see to it. He couldn’t make promises to her that he didn’t know if he could keep. He dug himself in where he was standing and stuffed his hands in his jean pockets. His fingers still itched to touch her again.

“There’s something I don’t understand.” She spoke so softly she was hard to hear.

Micah remained rooted where he was. He didn’t say a word. There was a hell of a lot he didn’t understand. Making his feelings for her go away would solve everything. Then it wouldn’t matter if he understood or not.

Maggie turned her head and swatted hair from her face. Her hazel eyes burned into his soul, calling him out despite his efforts to remain immune to her.

“Why is it so easy to come over here and talk to you?” she asked him.

Micah was a pro when it came to plotting out a kill. There had been times when acting fast on his feet and coming up with a smooth, convincing argument had been necessary. He told himself this was just one more of those times.

He opened his mouth, certain a convincing, noncommittal answer would put her mind at ease. “Because you’ve hired me to find whoever wants you dead.”

“Wants me dead?” Her expression turned horrified.

Micah had surmised that the person, or people, behind the money laundering at Club Paradise were convinced Maggie knew more than she did. They’d rather kill her than risk her taking the knowledge they believed she had somewhere where it would cause them more damage.

Her laughter sounded more like a choking sound. “You aren’t helping me forget all my problems,” she said shakily.

Micah cleared the distance between them before he realized what he’d done. Grabbing her by each side of her head, he tangled his fingers in her hair and forced her head back. She stared up at him but didn’t fight him.

“Do you want to forget all of your problems?” he asked, his voice a rough whisper.

“Yes,” she said.

He pulled her into his arms then lifted her, stepping forward until her back hit the wall. Maggie gasped and looked up at him wide-eyed. Micah didn’t wait for understanding to appear on her face. He attacked her mouth as a fever exploded inside him.

All of his efforts to convince himself he was better off getting her out of his system backfired. Instead of clearing his head of Maggie, he wanted her more than ever. If there was any turning back he wasn’t sure which direction that would be at the moment.

“Is this why you came over?” he asked when he ended the kiss. He still had her pinned to the wall, but she was relaxed. She trusted him.
God, she trusted him.
No one trusted the assassin. They needed him but they never trusted him.

“Well, I—”

“What do you want, Maggie?”

He started a trail of kisses from her cheekbone to her neck, loving how she tasted. When she opened her eyes and stared at him instead of answering right away, Micah swore he saw the same turmoil eating her alive that was in him.

His dick was hard as steel. Blood burned in his veins. Throughout the evening he’d used every argument imaginable as to how his life would be better off if he left Maggie alone. Now he couldn’t get enough of her.

Micah would argue women were a complicated species. Now he was a firm advocate that they made a man insane. He was out of his head with need for her, built up by trying not to need her.

“Do you not know what you want?” he asked. Micah needed to hear her admit she came running over here because of this. He might not know anything about relationships, but he knew a thing or two about women. Maggie’s breath was coming hard; her nipples were puckered points torturing his chest. He would bet she was thoroughly soaked.

He understood physical need. Hell, he had it all the time. If she said she came over to fuck him and not because she needed
him,
maybe that would help stop the annoying desire he had to be with her all the time.

“I came over to see you, but—” Again she didn’t finish her sentence.

Maybe he was better off forcing Maggie out of his system. Micah took a step backward. His body screamed in protest. The anguish that raked over his flesh, tightened his balls so he could barely move, and left his dick swollen and throbbing was worse than any pain he’d ever endured in the past.

“But what?” he growled.

“No,” she whimpered, leaning against his wall yet reaching for him.

More than anything he wanted to take her back in his arms. “No, what?”

She had to give him something. If Micah was this close to the edge he wanted to know Maggie was right there with him.

“Don’t stop,” she pleaded.

If he was too rough, he was beyond controlling his actions. Micah had never been blind with lust before. Not once had a woman spun something so intense inside him that not even he could unweave it. He grabbed her tank top, bunching it in his fist between her breasts. Then, pulling her closer by her shirt, he lifted it at the same time. Micah yanked it off her and tossed it somewhere in his living room before she could put her arms down.

“I won’t stop, darling,” he promised her and took her by the waist.

He didn’t have a plan. His brain was on fire. Micah turned her around, tugged down her sweatpants, and exposed that adorable ass of hers. He thrust his hand between her legs and his eyes rolled back in his head.

“You’re soaked.” His voice was raspy, and he wasn’t seeing straight.

Maggie moaned and twisted in front of him when she tried looking at him over her shoulder.

“Don’t move,” he ordered, pressing one hand into the small of her back while he undid his jeans with his other.

The moment his cock sprang free her body was like a magnet, pulling him into her heat. Micah didn’t remember closing his eyes any more than he did entering her. But when her velvety flesh constricted around his dick, pulling him into the depths of her heat, everything around him faded so that there was only Maggie. He plummeted deep inside her pussy, grabbing her hips and holding her in place so he could fuck her hard and fast.

“Micah!” Maggie cried his name and he heard her pleasure at the same time he felt her explode around him. “God, yes! Fuck me as hard as you can.”

“What my lady wants,” he growled, and tightened his grip on her soft, smooth flesh.

His dick slid deep inside her until he filled her with every inch he had. Already his balls were too tight. The pressure had built up to a boiling point too fast. Slowing down wouldn’t change matters.

The moment Micah realized he was going to come, it also hit him with frightening clarity that he wasn’t wearing a condom. If it had hurt him trying to make himself believe Maggie didn’t mean anything to him, it hurt ten times as much pulling out of her soaked heat before he emptied himself inside her.

He watched his come drip over her rear end and wished he could enjoy the sight better. “I’ll get you a towel,” he said, and heard the bitter edge to his words.

Maggie kicked off her shoes, pushed her sweatpants to her ankles, and stepped out of them. His come still clung to her ass when she faced him, stark naked.

“How about a shower instead?” she asked, and the glow on her face soothed some of the shame he felt. “I guess we overdid it a bit, huh?”

He wasn’t sure exactly what she meant and wasn’t going to guess. When she smiled and touched his chest, Micah could almost believe he had no reason to be ashamed. Maggie looked up at him as if it were perfectly normal for a man who was almost thirty to come after a lousy fucking minute of sex.

“We’re not done,” he informed her and led her to his bathroom.

“Oh my God!” Maggie cried out when Micah stripped out of his shirt.

He turned and caught a glimpse of himself in the small mirror over the medicine cabinet. “Oh, that.”

“Oh, that?” Already she was at him, her fingers nimbly working around the adhesive tape Haley had secured the gauze bandage with. “What happened? Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”

“Honestly, I forgot.” He’d had a hell of a lot more important matters on his mind.

“You forgot you were hurt?” she asked, disbelieving.

“I guess I should take it off to shower.” He looked from her fingers to her face as Maggie began peeling away the bandages.

Maggie glanced up, and there was sincere concern in her eyes. “What happened? Will you tell me?” she asked softly.

Micah shrugged. “Taking down a client at work,” he told her without hesitating. There was no reason to keep any aspect of this life a secret from her. “I don’t think he took too kindly to being caught. He thought he had a pretty good hiding place. And it was pretty damn crafty.” He’d seen some doozeys in his time. Those were stories he could never share with Maggie.

“What did he do to you?” she asked, and removed the bandage. She had to tiptoe to see the top of his arm by his shoulder where the bullet had grazed over his skin. “What happened?” she whispered.

“I was shot.”

Her jaw dropped and she stared up at him, wide-eyed. Her expression was comical.

“With a gun,” he added, and fought a smirk.

“You were shot?” she gasped. “With a gun?”

Micah watched the color drain out of her face and caught her before she fell backward into the shower curtain. “Maggie, it’s what I do.” He got her to sit on the toilet lid and waited for her color to return.

She was slapping at him before he backed away from her. Maggie’s breasts bounced and her nipples were hardened beacons as she punched at his chest and arms.