Chapter Seven WHEN Stone woke just after six a.m. with his arms all full of Lily, he wanted so badly to wake her with a kiss, then roll her onto her back and bury himself inside her. For now, he found himself equally content to hold her close. Through the gray fingers of light filtering through the bedroom’s lone window, he watched her sleep. She looked young and so innocent that it hurt. Nestled against his body, she’d relaxed utterly, giving him her trust, even if temporarily and unconsciously. But if he lay with her much longer, he would wake her up in a way guaranteed to freak her out and earn him a kick in the balls. Besides, he had work to do if he wanted them both to be free. Stone crept from the bed and brewed a cup of coffee. No doubt, he needed the liquid brainpower before starting this day. He’d barely swallowed his first sip when Jack Cole strode through the door, carrying a few bags, which he set on the kitchen table. “Morning.” “Hey. Lily is still sleeping.” “Perfect. How did you two get on last night?” Not half as well as he would have liked, but she wasn’t ready for any of the million and one sexual thoughts burning behind his retinas. “She’s wound tight. Like we suspected, trust is going to be a huge issue. Another woman might soften up enough to tell me something that resembles the truth about her past in the next two weeks, but I’m not sure about this one. I can’t afford to chip away at her slowly.” “Nope,” Jack agreed, grabbing a cup of coffee for himself. “I’ve been devising a plan to cut through her subterfuge about her name and past. I just need to gather more research. Shouldn’t be hard. Then we’ll get the truth on the table so we can start dealing with it.” “Is this plan going to set you back in the trust department?” “Probably, but not for long. I just don’t see a more expedient way to start talking about the truth.” “You work on that. In the meantime, I have some information for you. The press says that Canton and his wife are headed to an undisclosed location for a lovely vacation off the grid before what’s expected to be his announcement to join the race to the governorship.” Jack sneered. “That’s a tall tale, from what I’m hearing. His wife is in rehab—again—and he’s supposedly gone camping with a couple of his aides somewhere in Texas near the coast.” “In August? In the heat?” Stone shook his head as they sat at the kitchen table. “That’s bullshit. This time of year, the mosquito population there is in the millions. If he’s staying in a tent, they’ll eat him alive.” “He would know that since he spent his summers as a kid with his grandparents who lived near Galveston.” “On the other hand, it wouldn’t take him too long to drive from Galveston to Dallas . . . or wherever Lily might travel. I assume he brought the aides along to do his dirty work? After all, a guy like that has people.” “Unless Lily is personal enough for him to risk everything, yes.” Jack shrugged. Yeah, they could speculate about the plans of this violent asshole all day and still be wrong. Stone didn’t want to waste the time or energy now. “Thanks.” “Everything else good?” At Stone’s nod, he went on. “We’ve finally got decent cell service out here recently, so that should make communicating easy. I’ve brought you a few more groceries. Holler if you need anything else. I’m going to keep drilling down on Canton’s location.” “If that son of a bitch is close, I need to know.” “You do.” Jack sighed and looked as if he knew something he didn’t want to impart. “I have some other news. Somehow Axel got wind of Lily’s exploding car. He’s heading home on a flight to Dallas this afternoon.” That was all Stone needed, for Axel to come racing out here and undermine what little progress he’d made with Lily. If she had someone to rely on that she trusted more, Stone knew she’d never look to him. “Fuck.” “Exactly. Thorpe will try to hold him off for a few days. I’ll do my best to embroil Axel in something else but . . . I can’t make any promises.” “Thorpe still doesn’t want to tell Axel that ‘Misty’ isn’t real?” Jack shook his head. “He thinks it will only suck Axel deeper into the situation. I’ve known the guy for a long time. He’s got a hell of a protective streak. He’ll take that girl under his wing again. Probably insist on hiding her, too. And maybe she would let him. I think she’d rather go on pretending that Lily Taylor no longer exists.” “I agree.” And Stone intended to absolve her of that notion this morning. “Thanks for everything.” He and Jack worked well together, and it was nice to have an ally in his corner right now. They almost felt like friends. Stupid because Stone knew he was no hero. But that didn’t seem to matter to the man who sat across the table, sipping a cup of joe. “No problem. Oh . . .” Jack stood and fished into his pocket and retrieved a key. “I forgot. If you want to use the playroom, you’ll need this.” He dropped the little slice of precisely formed metal into Stone’s palm. No one had said that he should begin earning Lily’s trust through sex or romance . . . but they clearly weren’t against it. Stone leashed his excitement as he pocketed the key. “Perfect. I’ll touch base if there are any developments here. Call me if you’ve got news.” “Will do.” The second Jack left, Stone headed down the hall toward the locked playroom door. He may not have started his sex life as a Dominant, but he couldn’t deny that he liked being in control. As he passed the bedroom, he spotted Lily’s luggage and grimaced. Getting his cover story straight came first, so he shoved the key back in his jeans and dragged the pieces of her luggage into the living room. One by one, he opened them. Once he found the details he needed and her past was out in the open . . . Well, that key was burning a hole in his pocket. He didn’t intend to let it smolder there too long. For now, he crawled back into bed with her. Within moments, she curled around him. Her softness and scent aroused him as if she’d stroked her hand up his cock. But Stone resolved to savor every moment of the delicious hell until she woke.
* * *
LILY woke cozy-warm and wrapped in Stone’s arms. At some point, she’d laid her head on his chest and simply dropped into slumber. In the past, she’d only ever done that with Axel, and it had taken him months to coax the necessary trust from her. Stone had broken down that barrier in next to no time. Oh my god. She jerked out of his arms and jackknifed up, staring out the window that was covered in gauzy black drapes. Sunlight streamed from high in the sky. She hadn’t just slept through the night; she’d conked out and snoozed through most of the morning, too. Staring down at the muscled, mostly naked ex-con, Lily wasn’t sure she wanted to know why she’d trusted him on any level so readily and easily. “You don’t have to jump up. We have nowhere to go,” he said lazily, his eyes still closed. She swallowed hard and tried to breathe. So much intimacy . . . Their bodies were nearly plastered together. The sheets smelled like him, woodsy, musky. Intoxicating. Detrimental to her mental health. “I-I should get up.” When Lily tried to crawl from the bed, Stone clamped a hand around her wrist, not hard enough to hurt her but tight enough to make certain she knew he didn’t want her to leave. “We’re going to talk.” Meaning he planned to ask her all the questions she’d refused to answer last night. “I’ve already talked as much as I intend to.” She yanked her arm, but he didn’t give an inch. “Let go.” He cracked his eyes open, and his dark expression told her that he wasn’t in the mood for pushback. “Here’s what’s going to happen: You have ten minutes in the bathroom. Brush your teeth, wash your face, change your clothes—whatever you need to do. Then you’ll come back here and listen to some things I have to say.” Lily didn’t want to agree, but it would give her a reason to escape the dizzying masculinity of his presence and let her collect her wits again. “Fine.” When he released her, she escaped and took every second of those ten minutes in the bathroom, plus another few to steady herself. Finally, he pounded on the bathroom door. “Time’s up. And I have coffee.” When she emerged, she found him in yesterday’s clothes. He’d obviously cleaned up somewhere. Kitchen? More important, he held two mugs of steaming brew. “Follow me.” He cocked his head to the bedroom. “Sit.” Warily, she perched on the edge of the bed. He rewarded her by handing her a mug of liquid caffeine. Stone sat on the other side and sipped his coffee, staring at her over the rim. “Did you sleep well?” She flushed. “You know I did since it appears I slept all over you.” He frowned. “That bothers you. Why?” “Because I don’t trust you.” But that wasn’t entirely true. Some part of her registered him as nonthreatening to her physical safety or she would never have slept five minutes beside him, much less ten hours. “Maybe I don’t trust you, either.” “What does that mean?” She frowned. “It’s not like I’m going to rape you.” He set his coffee down on the nightstand beside him. “And I’m not going to rape you. If I’d wanted to last night, it would have been damn easy,” he pointed out with an acerbic smile. “But as it happens, I don’t want you any way except willing, panting, and begging.” A wave of heat rolled through her body at his words. She’d say he was thinking wishfully, but when she had awakened all plastered against him, her rational mind had nearly panicked while her body hadn’t wanted to let go. If she didn’t steel herself against him, would all that needing and whimpering he’d described come next? Trashing the thought, she shook her head. “You keep dreaming big.” Stone sent her a smile of supreme confidence. His expression set her off. “Wipe that smarmy look off your face. Or are you so convinced you’re god’s gift to women and that, of course, I’m going to fall all over myself to get your pants off and jump on your penis?” He burst out laughing. “No, baby. I’m convinced the heat between us can’t be denied. But you’re funny, which is a point in your favor. Because I also know you’re lying to me, which isn’t.” “Lying?” A chill ran through her, leaching out all the heat she’d felt only moments before. “What do you mean?” Stone reached behind him. She thought he meant to grab his mug and swig the coffee, but he turned back around with an all-too-familiar black tome in hand and dumped it on the bed between them. She gasped. “You had no right . . .” When she reached for her yearbook, he grabbed her wrist. “Lily Alexandra Taylor. That’s who you really are. You lied to me, Thorpe, Axel . . . everyone. And you did it for years. Don’t deny it. Once I saw this name embossed on the front of the cover, I looked up the corresponding picture. Imagine my surprise to find out that Misty isn’t your name at all. A few Internet searches gave me a whole lot of information about you, like the fact that you’re considered a teen runaway.” Lily shook her head, already trying to spin more tales to throw Stone off track. But his dark stare ripped away her composure, warning her that he already knew every story she’d concoct now would be bullshit. “You’re getting yourself into something you don’t understand. Please don’t do this.” “You think I don’t get a man like Timothy Canton?” He scoffed. Hearing Stone say that monster’s name made Lily freeze from head to toe. She gaped at him. “You . . .” “Figured out the name of the guy tormenting you? Not too tough. The police questioned you about him. You disappeared less than a week later. I can put two and two together. He’s just a thug who put a little spit and polish on his street cred and figured out how to morph his drug money into political power. He’s not hard to understand.” Stone had guessed the truth so quickly and accurately. If he could figure out all that in a night, what else could he divine during the next few days? Weeks? “So now that your big secret is out, why don’t you tell me what happened so we can start working together to take him down?” She scrambled off the bed, shoving her mug on the little nightstand and shaking her head frantically. “There is no taking him down. You’re insane.” Stone climbed off the bed and blocked her path to the door. “You’re insane if you’d rather keep running than try.” “I know what he’s capable of. There’s no way I can stop him.” “If not you, then who? You make him sound bigger than Godzilla, like he’s defeated everyone else who’s ever come up against him.” “Yes!” She didn’t know how else to make him understand. “Unless you want him to keep destroying other innocent lives and killing, it sounds as if you’re the only one who can make sure he gets what he deserves.” That gave Lily pause. She’d considered that before, but she lacked the deviousness and the might to vanquish him alone. Yet if she died, some of his worst secrets died with her. Then no one would ever know the terrible truth. The thought of doing nothing to stop him from killing someone else’s loved ones and destroying their families slashed her more than a vague sense of shame. She dropped her face in her hands. Tears didn’t come. Of course, it couldn’t be that easy. Why should she be allowed to purge all this grief and guilt and move on? “So let’s start at the beginning.” His voice had gone gentle, but she didn’t mistake the steel beneath. “How did you come into contact with this fucker?” Was she going to answer that question and put him at risk, too? But if she didn’t, wouldn’t she be leaving other unsuspecting people in danger? God, she didn’t see a right answer. “I need time to think about this.” Stone shook his head before she even finished speaking. “That’s one thing we don’t have. We have to shut Canton down now. He’s about to declare his candidacy for governor of California. So unless you want him in charge of the whole state and its population . . .” Shock pelted Lily. She couldn’t breathe. Her feet almost went numb beneath her. “That can’t be. Everyone from the neighborhood knows he’s a violent drug dealer and a crook.” “Well, he’s never been convicted of anything, so with the right spin doctors, his past looks like police bullying and smear tactics from his opponents, both political and otherwise.” He sent her a cynical smile. Feeling dizzy and cold, she clapped a hand over her mouth at the thought of someone like Timothy Canton being in charge of laws, taxes . . . and children. As she reached out to steady herself, she stumbled. Stone was right there to catch her. “Together, we can put him down.” She turned to him, incredulity dropping her jaw. “Why are you bothering?” “You’ve asked me this question.” “I still don’t understand the answer.” “Let me make myself clear.” Stone pulled her body against his and grabbed her cheeks. He stared, his expression delving deep. She felt the zing and jolt of their connection. With his gaze, it seemed as if he willed her to understand that he wanted her in every way and refused to accept anything less. Lily’s heart began to thrum. Her blood heated and charged through her veins. Her breasts tightened, and she really didn’t want to think about why she could feel the soft ache blooming lower again. She waited, suspended, anticipation racing over her skin. Yes, she should push him away. Somehow, she couldn’t. He bent to her, swooping down, looming closer. Right or wrong, good or bad—it didn’t matter. Lily rose to meet him, clutching his hard shoulders with desperate fingers and pressing herself against him with a gasp as he captured her lips. Just like the first time, he didn’t hesitate or test his welcome. No, he cupped her jaw in his big hands and tilted her head to his satisfaction before he devoured her as if he’d been dying for her taste. Their breaths mingled, and she sank against his solid warmth. What was this chemical reaction to him that she couldn’t seem to fight? Why did her will to resist always evaporate as soon as he touched her? In that moment, he felt not only like someone who could protect her from everything bad in the world but like the man who could bring her body—maybe even her soul—to life. Lily clung to the taut bulges of his biceps and opened to him eagerly. Later she’d worry about what she’d do if Stone wasn’t all he claimed. She’d had so little pleasure in her life, and Lily wanted to drown in the bliss he gave her now. Suddenly, he wrenched away, breathing hard and staring, as if he needed to affirm that she found their kiss every bit as mind-blowing as he did. She didn’t answer with words, just gripped him tighter, unable to hide the desire jetting through her in a hot whirl. The rush of it was scary as hell but new, exhilarating. A white-knuckled thrill. She wasn’t ready to let him go. “Lily,” he breathed before he cocked his head and descended again. Their lips fused together once more. Their tongues collided. And she melted in his arms. No, she unraveled completely as he took her mouth in an urgent press, claiming her while utterly dismantling her resistance. When she felt limp and breathless and willing to do anything for more, he backed away. “Are we on the same page now?” “You can have sex with anyone,” she blurted. “But when I’m with someone else, I can’t have sex with you. Besides, it’s about more than that. I don’t like to see you hurt or afraid. When you smile, I find myself doing the same. I have a crazy, maybe irrational need to pursue you. I’m not fighting it, and I wish like hell you wouldn’t.” Weirdly, she understood exactly what he meant. Her need to be with him seemed crazy and irrational to her, too. But that didn’t make it any less real. She slumped against him. “I don’t understand.” “I’m not sure we’re meant to understand, baby. Just deal.” Maybe he was right. Whatever she felt wasn’t something she could analyze or control but . . . “It’s all happening too fast. Us, this thing with Canton . . .” “If you drag your feet, you may be too late to save yourself or anyone else. Haven’t you kept his secrets long enough? Why should you bear everything alone? I can help you.” He brushed his knuckles along her cheek. “I want to help you. You just have to let me.” Lily blinked back at him. How many times had she felt the weight of the ugly past pressing down on her chest until she couldn’t breathe? How often had she wished that she could share all the fears and wretched guilt with at least one person who would understand? “If I tell you what you want to know, I don’t have any proof. How could we possibly take him down?” “If I know where to look through his records, I can unearth his secrets. We can turn them over to the police. Jack would help. So would the Edgington brothers. I’ll bet Sean Mackenzie would use his resources, too.” “The FBI?” The thought of getting tangled up with the feds scared the hell out of Lily. Would they punish her for withholding the truth for so long? On the other hand, hadn’t she earned it? Stone nodded. “Some branch of law enforcement with teeth is going to have to go after him.” She frowned. Somehow she’d imagined that an ex-con would advocate a more vigilante form of justice, like flat-out killing Canton himself, but if he wasn’t a violent criminal, she supposed his involving cops or agents made sense. “I’m scared,” she whispered, barely hearing herself over the whoosh of the air conditioner kicking in to combat the heat. “I know.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I’m going to help you, but I need more details. How did you come into contact with Canton?”
* * *
LILY bowed her head and looked as if she was gathering her courage. Stone didn’t think she intended to say anything for a long moment, and he tried to sort through other arguments he might use to persuade her. “Canton was the local drug lord,” she began hesitantly. “He ran an entire neighborhood with a tightfisted rule and enforced it with absolute violence. He tried to appear upstanding, but everyone who knew him knew the truth. My friend Erin—her brother, Corey, was one of his street dealers. Their dad had run off and left them with no money. Their mom was a binge drinker. Corey was just trying to feed himself and his younger sister, keep a roof over their heads. They had it rough. But then, the whole neighborhood did.” “So what happened?” She dragged in a jagged breath. “Corey got arrested. At the time, his mom was in jail for driving while intoxicated. He was worried about his sister. Erin was my best friend, only fifteen. I’m guessing he didn’t want child protective services coming to get her. I’m sure he didn’t like jail, either. For whatever reason, he gave the police information about Canton’s operations. They dragged the scum in for questioning but could never prove anything, so he got off. While my bestie’s big brother was trying to lie low, Canton decided he’d make an example of Corey’s family.” Wringing her hands, she paused, shutting her eyes as she gathered her fortitude. “He and some of his thugs raped and killed Erin.” “A fifteen-year-old girl?” Motherfucker. Stone had known that, but hearing the anguish in her voice somehow made it more real. “And you saw?” She nodded, tears pooling in her eyes. “Yeah. He did it simply because Corey was trying to be brave and escape his life of crime.” “Canton knows you saw the incident?” “Yes.” “He let you go afterward?” She hesitated. “Yes.” Her answer didn’t make sense. “Why?” Stone scowled and tried to dissect her with a glance. When Lily shrugged and bowed her head, unable to look at him, it confirmed his instincts and made his guts clench. He needed to keep digging. “Why would a careful bastard like Canton let someone who could both identify him and turn witness walk free after a crime so heinous?” “I-I don’t know.” Stone didn’t believe her for an instant. “I’m not stupid. Try again.” “I guess Canton wanted me to tell Corey everything that happened so that he’d know better than to testify.” Maybe, but that still sounded off. “Why didn’t Canton just kill Corey? Why would he leave you to tell the guy and potentially create another enemy?” “I don’t know why Canton didn’t just off him. I can’t read his mind. Maybe because no one could find Corey.” “No one? Not even you?” Lily shook her head. “I never saw or heard from him again.” “So you never had the chance to tell Corey what happened to his sister?” “No.” Stone heard a wealth of guilt in that one word. She’d been tearing herself up about this for years. Because she hadn’t been able to save Erin Gutierrez? Because Lily had survived and her friend hadn’t? “Did you tell the police anything after you witnessed your friend’s murder?” “I wanted to, but I didn’t dare.” Lily had gone ghostly white and he sensed her terror, even after all these years. “But somehow, the cops found out I saw or knew something. They dragged me in and asked me a lot of questions.” She stopped and wrapped her arms around her middle, staring resolutely at the far wall and looking so fragile. “I can’t talk about this anymore right now.” Stone studied her and scrubbed a hand over his chin. He suspected this was when Canton had killed her mother and little brother. As badly as he wanted to press her for details, Stone feared she would break. What she’d endured had been a lot for anyone to handle, much less a child. “We’ll leave it here for now.” She closed her eyes wearily. “I’m even scared to talk about it. When I was a teenager, Canton had eyes and ears all over the neighborhood. Just like then, I’m afraid he’s lurking around a corner now, waiting to kill me. For the past few days, I’d been feeling as if someone was watching me. Now I know I was right.” Stone jolted. “Who did you think was watching you?” “I don’t know. I ran into this guy a couple of times around town over the past few days. I only noticed him because he stared a lot.” “You’re sexy, baby.” She dismissed that immediately. “He didn’t look at me like he wanted me. He stared a hole through me.” That set off Stone’s protective instincts. “Had you seen him anywhere before?” “Not that I remember.” “Did you get a good look at him? How tall? Race? Distinguishing marks or tattoos?” “He was probably five foot ten. White or light Hispanic. He wore a baseball cap, so I really didn’t get a good look at his face.” She shrugged. “The first time I saw him I just thought he was creepy. When I spotted him the next day, I wanted to flee.” Unfortunately, her description sounded like a lot of men and wasn’t enough to help him narrow down an identity. “Did you tell anyone?” “No.” Of course not. She’d been believing for years that she was trapped in this hell alone. “From now on, you tell me.” “Stone . . .” She glanced his way, her chocolate eyes pleading with him to drop the questioning. “No arguing about this. I’m going to take care of you. Together, we’re going to fix this.” “But—” He cut her off with a gentle press of his lips to hers. No matter how badly he wanted to, Stone didn’t nudge her mouth open and taste her again. He didn’t try to peel her clothes away and lower her to the bed. He merely told her without words that he was there for her. Slowly, she stopped trembling. Their breathing synced up. She relaxed against him with a sigh. “You know, you confuse me.” “How’s that?” Lily frowned, looking as if she was having a tough time putting her thoughts into words. “A lot of crap happened when I was sixteen. People I’d known my whole life backed away from me. They didn’t want to get involved because they were terrified of Canton. My mother threw me out of the house. One of the janitors let me sleep at school for a while, but eventually he told me I couldn’t stay. Neighbors wouldn’t take me in. My boyfriend broke up with me. I’d been working at a diner, but when I missed a few days, they fired me. Overnight, everyone I’d ever relied on was gone.” What had that done to her trust in people? Stone could only imagine how a girl would have processed such violence followed by that kind of betrayal. “Baby, I’m here.” “It seems that way.” Her eyes looked suspiciously full with tears, but they never spilled. He wouldn’t have blamed her if she boohooed her eyes out after that tale. Instead, she sucked it up. “I barely know you, and you’ve been understanding and helpful and kind of perfect every time I’ve turned around. Thanks.” Stone knew damn well that if she had any idea that he needed her to testify, she’d take every one of those words back. But after hearing her story—at least the parts she wanted to tell him—how could he not want to help her get her life back? “You’re welcome.” He tried to swallow his guilt and turn on the charm. “I know one way you can repay me.” “I’m not having sex with you as a way of saying thanks. Trust me, I’m doing you a favor,” she assured. He wanted to tell her that she must be completely wrong. With her hair gathered into a ponytail away from her naked face, she looked so earnest and innocent, yet still sexy. Sure, he liked the mysterious cat eyes she created with all that black eyeliner and her bloodred lips, the stockings that showcased her slender legs, and the figure-hugging clothes she wore that were often decorated with polka dots or bows. But who she was under all that intrigued him even more. When he’d first met her, Stone thought she’d been a pretty mouse, too shy to come out of her hole and too afraid to testify, even though justice really needed to be served. Now he saw how incredibly strong she was to simply have survived all that as a teenager and then start her life over again. “No, you’re going to have sex with me eventually because we both want it and you don’t want to say no anymore. And I’m going to prove to you that you’re an incredible woman both in and out of bed.” He kissed her forehead and released her. He didn’t want to do anything that would press Lily for more before she was ready. “What I want now is something I can’t do for myself. So you see, I’m not perfect, kind of or otherwise. So would you put me out of my misery and make me some breakfast?”