Much later, after they’d come back from the hotel, Iris felt restless.

Washing off her makeup and taking a shower hadn’t helped, nor when she tried to get more recent articles on Spader. No matter what she did, nothing kept her attention. She didn’t understand why it had been so easy before—easily forgetting his existence—but now, more than ever, she wanted to seek him out.

There was work to be done and that didn’t include getting distracted by attractive mercenaries—especially one like Synek, who would just as easily hurt her as he would fuck her.

Needing something to do to get her mind off who it shouldn’t have been on in the first place, Iris headed downstairs to the kitchen, thinking of the cake she’d ordered the night before, but as she rounded the corner, the very man she was trying to avoid suddenly appeared, blocking her path.

It was easier to ignore the tension between them and the way he looked at her sometimes when he thought she wasn’t paying attention when he was gone. But at the moment, it looked like she was the only thing he wanted to see

Though they had only been in the safe house for little more than a week, he had grown comfortable enough to walk around in nothing more than a pair of gray sweatpants that should have been illegal.

Then again, it was entirely her fault that she could possibly find anything about him attractive considering who he was and even what she’d seen him do tonight.

Her hands flew up before she collided with his chest, her fingers instinctively spanning over the scarred skin.

Her first instinct was to push away, put more distance between them, but he seemed to know what she was thinking as he captured her wrists, keeping her exactly where she was.

She couldn’t bring herself to mind.

Iris didn’t have to guess which parent she’d inherited that from. Her mother has always liked courting danger. She’d loved to seek it out for the adrenaline rush it provided.

That had been the reason she’d walked away all those years ago. She’d wanted excitement and adventure—something, she said, she couldn’t get from a police detective.

Iris thought she wanted straight and narrow, someone infallible—someone she could come home to that she could count on. Synek didn’t seem like he was any of those things.

Yet she wanted him all the same.

She was an idiot.

She also didn’t care.

“Looking for me?” he asked in a voice that made her acutely aware of how close they were standing.

Yes, her thoughts said. “No,” her mouth said. “Dessert, actually.”

The rebuttal was meant to get rid of whatever thought was shining in the dark depths of his eyes, but while he released his hold on her, he didn’t move away from her.

“Why don’t I believe that?”

The question was asked with a knowing smile, his gaze traveling down the front of her body until he landed on the tiny shorts she was wearing.

She tried to tell herself it wasn’t a conscious decision—that she hadn’t thought about him as she got dressed to come down here, but what other answer was there.

She couldn’t even deny it to herself.

“I didn’t think you’d be down here,” she said, which was only partially the truth.

She’d hoped.

“Were you looking for me?”

“Yeah, I was.”

Her heart tripped over itself. “Why?”

“You owe me a night,” he answered after a moment, his voice holding a trace of something that sent heat racing up her spine.

“A night?”

“That was the agreement, remember?”

Back at the Hall.

He’d said he could give her one night even as he’d kissed the breath out of her, something she had wholeheartedly agreed to, though she hadn’t been thinking clearly then.

Iris wasn’t sure if she even was now. “It was part of the job,” she reminded him, not sure who she was trying to convince. Him … or herself. “You were just a job.”

“Mmm, I’m not so sure. See, I watched you tonight with Ricky. He was a job, but I wasn’t.”

Iris cleared her throat, taking a step back, but it didn’t help matters when he stepped toward her. “It was one kiss.”

“But you kissed me,” he reminded her unnecessarily. She remembered that little fact all too well. “And it wasn’t the only one, was it? Or do you need me to remind you, is that it?”

There was no chance of her formulating a response to that, even if she wanted to. She felt those words in some deep, buried part of her that made rational thought click off inside her, just as it had that night.

“Syn …” she whispered his name, needing to say something, if only to get him to back off, but that only drew him in.

It was wrong for so many reasons, her wanting him and even his wanting her, but she couldn’t deny the thing that passed between them. She couldn’t deny it was there.

“Is that what you’re going to sound like when I get inside you—all breathless and eager? Go on,” he said as his hands rested on the wall on either side of her. “Say it again.”

“We can’t,” she said, her best attempt at denying him. She needed to get away from him before she did something she would regret.

“Why not?”

“Because you hate me,” she reminded him.

Synek shrugged, the movement making the snarling wolf head on his chest look a little crueler. “I don’t have to like you to fuck you.”

No, of course he wouldn’t. “Well, I do. I prefer not to sleep with men who’ll try to kill me once my guard is down. And in case you’ve forgotten, you have. Twice.”

“Then we’ll call a truce,” he said a moment later, his gaze raking over her body in blatant perusal. “Because I couldn’t give a shit about that right now.”

No, he was making it abundantly clear that the only thing on his mind was getting her naked. God, that look—as if he had never seen anything he’d wanted half as bad.

She couldn’t help but think of how easy it would be to say yes. To let him do whatever dark fantasies he had of her that she could see swimming in his eyes.

The smart thing would have been to keep her mouth shut, to give him—and herself—enough time to consider why this would be a mistake.

But he didn’t give her a chance to reconsider before he was invading her space, so close that it was hard to take a breath without smelling his scent as well.

Before she could deny him, he cupped her jaw, tilting her face up to meet his as he claimed her mouth. She couldn’t resist him even if she wanted to.

The moment of contact was just too good to deny.

His kiss alternated from demanding to gentle, like he wanted to devour her while simultaneously learning the shape of her mouth.

It was too much.

It wasn’t enough.

He broke away, his eyes dark and intense. “Iris.”

It was the first time he’d said he name since he’d taken her from her apartment earlier—the first time he’d said it without malice.

If only for that reason, he had her undivided attention.

“Say yes.”

Iris had every reason in the world to say no, to make the smart decision and break away from him now. He wouldn’t force her, of that she had no doubt, so the only thing left to do now was push him away, go to her room, and close the door.

That would be the end of it.

And he probably wouldn’t try again.

But she had never been smart when it came to Synek—not since the very beginning.

There was no other thing to say than, “Yes.”

He didn’t give her a chance to change her mind.

Synek tightened his hold on her as he turned, carrying her backward into the living room. With one booted foot, he shoved the coffee table from the middle of the carpet, laying her down with a gentleness she hadn’t expected. One minute he could go be domineering and controlling and fucking terrifying, but then there were moments like these when she saw another side of him that made her wonder which side of him was real.

But at the moment, she didn’t care which part of him she had. She was just glad to have him.

Lifting, she helped him work her shirt off, barely paying attention to it as she stared up at him with wide eyes. Seeing him now—shirt long gone, muscles rippling, his belt and top button of his jeans coming undone—she was captivated.

Her hand swept down her own body, just brushing past her lower abdomen when he caught her hand, shoving it away.

“First one’s mine.”

If it was possible to escape her own body, she would have at that moment. The words were like an audio aphrodisiac, and the way he was staring down at her only heightened the feeling.

It would be easy, too easy to get lost in him and the sinful promise radiating off him.

He gripped the back of her knees, shoving her legs wide even as he came down. He didn’t even give her a chance to take a breath before his tongue was sweeping over her pussy, drawing a breathless cry that sounded like his name.

Her fingers delved into his hair, gripping tight, never wanting it to end. “Syn, please.”

The only answer he gave to that was a muted groan she felt down to her toes.

He hooked her leg over his shoulder, using his free hand to sweep up her body and cup her breast, squeezing tight, then kneading until he pinched her nipple hard enough to elicit a cry she hoped the neighbors couldn’t hear.

But what sent heat racing down her spine to pool in her lower half was the sounds he made—as if he couldn’t get enough. Like she was the only thing he wanted.

The thought was intoxicating even as she knew it couldn’t be true.

But fuck if he didn’t make her believe it.

He was too into it—from the harsh grip he had on her thighs, to the way he kissed and licked and bit at her until she was shaking and begging in broken syllables for him to make her come.

It was there, just out of reach, but not for long.

He needed only to suck her clit hard into his mouth and she was done.

Her body torpedoed into bliss so quickly it took her breath away.

But Synek didn’t stop, not until she practically had to push his head away for a reprieve. He wasn’t done with her yet, though.

His intent was clear in his eyes as he reared up, shoving at his jeans and boxer briefs until his cock sprung free.

But once he had his hand wrapped around the thick root of it, he paused. His gaze skimmed over her, lingering in places that might have made her blush if she wasn’t already flushed.

She wasn’t a virgin by any means, but no one had ever looked at her the way Synek did. Like she was perfect, and he needed a moment to drink it all in.

“Ask me for it.”

If he hadn’t been kneeling between her legs, she might have pressed her thighs together at those words. Heat raced down her spine, pooling in the place where his eyes were glued.

She reached for him without meaning to. She knew how it looked. How desperate she suddenly seemed for him, but she couldn't think of anything she wanted more at that moment than him.

So she gave him what he wanted.

“Syn, please.”

She could see what those words did to him, how they spurred him into action. Iris didn't think before she was repeating them over and over, lost in the moment with him.

The anticipation was killing her as she watched him pull the condom out of the back pocket of his jeans and rip the foil with his teeth. He wasn’t in any rush to roll the latex down his cock and managed to draw out every single second.

His fingers coasted over her thigh before he eased them open wider. He whispered words she couldn't understand, but the look on his face captivated her.

“What did you say?”

“I said you’re beautiful,” he answered, rubbing his latex covered cock over her. “But there’s not gonna be anything pretty about the way I fuck you.”

Jesus.

He didn’t give her a chance to process those words before he gripped his cock and eased inside her.

There was no rush.

No haste.

Like he wanted her to feel every inch.

“Jesus fuck.”

How he could make those two words sound like a prayer and a curse, she didn’t know, but she knew what he was feeling.

She felt it too.

Never in her wildest dreams had she thought it would feel like this. That he could make her crave every dark bit of him.

He was trying to go slow. She could tell from the way his muscles had bunched and tightened—how his eyes had closed as he sucked in a breath.

But it was only once he was seated fully inside her that her eyes closed, and her head tipped back. She was full. Impossibly full.

And God, the stretch was better than she could have ever imagined.

He was perfect.

Everything about him was perfect.

This time, it was her rearing up to kiss him.

She needed to anchor herself. She needed more of him.

The kiss seemed to wake up whatever primal urges he’d denied himself because at the next moment, he drew his hips back and slammed back into her.

Hard.

Jagged.

Iris was a goner.

“Say it,” he demanded once he dragged himself away from her mouth, though he never stopped thrusting into her.

“Say my name,” he whispered in her ear, his hand coming up to wrap in her hair.

Later, she would be embarrassed by how quickly she gave him what he wanted.

Now, she just wanted to please him.

The first time she said his name, his strokes became jagged. The second, the hand on her ass squeezed tighter as he fucked her harder.

The third, he bit her. Right at the tender spot on her neck. And even as she knew he was leaving a mark—claiming her—she couldn't bring herself to care.

Right then, at that moment, he owned her.

She turned away, the sight of him nearly as overwhelming as the way he was fucking her, but Synek didn’t let her run for long.

He turned her back to face him, his hand gripping her face before he kissed her.

It started as a tremor, the feeling too good to ignore. He coaxed it forward, though, taking her higher and higher until—

“Just like that. Fuck, come on my cock.”

And it was as if those words were the only thing left she needed.

She shattered, hard and fast, riding the wave until he gave another thrust then stilled.

Perfect, she thought again as she came down. Everything about him was perfect.

She could feel his wild heartbeat beneath her palm, see the glistening sweat on his chest, as she came down, the high making her float. She could already tell she would be sore in the morning, but it almost felt worth it as she caught her breath and met his gaze.

Almost, because the moment didn’t last.

Almost, because Synek’s entire expression shut down as he eased free of her and grabbed his shirt where he’d carelessly tossed it before.

Then, without a word, he got to his feet and walked away, leaving her sprawled on the carpet, her face flaming with humiliation.