“Have you checked to see if anything is missing?” The cop was tall and thin. His face had a childlike look to it, and if Angel had seen him in street clothes instead of his uniform, she wouldn’t have ever guessed he was old enough to be a cop. He and his partner had shown up with two crime scene techs that were currently dusting the apartment for prints. None of them had shown any indication that they knew who she was or what she was doing in Hartford, which was a good thing.

“The laptop that I just bought is gone. Otherwise, nothing that I can tell.”

“Do you normally keep anything on the computer or in your apartment that you might think someone would want to steal?”

“Angel?” The door was still ajar and the partner of the young officer was standing just inside of it. He turned quickly when Dax stepped up behind him.

“Sorry, sir, this is a crime scene, you can’t come in here.”

Looking over his head and ignoring him completely, Dax said, “Angel, what happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Dax. Someone broke into my apartment when I was gone.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” He started to push past the officer, who put himself directly in front of Dax. Dax finally looked down at him and the look on his face made Angel slightly nervous. He looked like he was on the verge of getting really pissed off, and Angel knew that wasn’t going to be a good thing for anyone.

“Sir…” the cop at the door began.

“He’s my boyfriend,” Angel said to the officer that she’d been talking to.

“Manny, let him through.”

“Manny” hesitated several long seconds before finally stepping back and letting Dax pass. Dax didn’t wait until he was completely out of the way. He brushed past the cop, almost knocking him back into the wall. The officer looked pissed and Angel knew they were in a potentially volatile situation. As soon as Dax was close enough, she took hold of his arm. She could feel how tense he was in his muscles. She wondered if it was the situation, or simply being in the presence of the cops.

“Dax, this is officer Walker. Officer Walker, this is Dax Marshall.”

“What happened here?” Dax asked, completely disregarding Walker’s outstretched hand.

“Looks like someone jimmied open the front door and took a little time going through things. Miss Gonzalez thinks her laptop is the only thing missing.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” Dax asked her. He looked almost hurt that she hadn’t thought of that right away.

“I’m sorry. I was going to. I’ve just been busy with the police and…”

He took her by the arm and pulled her into the kitchen while the young cop stood there looking slightly stunned. “We don’t call the police,” he said.

“We don’t?”

“No. Once they’re involved in one part of your life they think the rest is free game. We don’t want them poking around the ranch or our business…”

“And what exactly is ‘our’ business?”

Dax looked over his shoulder at the cop and then back at Angel. “Never mind that. Just listen to me…”

“No.” He looked shocked but Angel went on. “I’m not sure what kind of women you’re used to dealing with…or maybe I am…but the point is, I’m not them. I’m not someone who needs to be told what to do and how to do it. I’d happily take suggestions if you’d like to offer them as such, and I’ll happily share with you if you share with me in return.”

“Miss Gonzalez?” the officer called out to her.

“Yes, officer, I’ll be right there—I’m sorry.” She looked at Dax, who looked like he had more to say and said, “We can talk about this later. Right now, I need to deal with my business.” She was shaking as she walked away from him. She’d hoped that his attraction to her was partially thanks to the fact that she did have a mind of her own, but she couldn’t help worrying that she’d just blown the whole thing. She finished with the cop while Dax sat in the kitchen, smoldering or sulking or whatever it was he was doing. A half an hour or so later the techs left, leaving behind clouds of black and silver dust. When they were alone at last she took a deep breath, and walked into the kitchen. Dax was holding a beer bottle between his hands and staring down at it. “Dax?”

He looked up at her with his eyes smoldering. She braced herself for a fight and when he stood up and came toward her she flinched. He stopped in his tracks and looked at her face. “You think I’m going to hurt you?”

“No,” she whispered. She stood still as he took another step toward her. He stopped when he was so close that there was barely room for air to pass between them, and he looked down at her face.

“Good,” he said. “Because I’m not going to hurt you, Angel…ever.” He grinned then and she was the one who was confused. “At least not unless you need a spanking. You’re perilously close to that tonight.”

She tried not to smile but as she looked up at his gorgeous face and sexy smile it was impossible not to. “You think so?”

He put his hand on the side of her face and brought his mouth down until it was just a fraction of an inch away from hers. “I think so,” he said before pressing his lips to hers and then grabbing her up and pressing her body into his. He kissed her passionately, hungrily, possessively. She was glad that he was holding onto her because her legs were shaking so hard that she was sure they wouldn’t hold her up. She felt him picking her up higher off the floor, and he held her tighter as he turned toward the granite countertop and then lifted her up and sat her down on it, never breaking the kiss. Angel’s hands came to the front of his shirt and she started clawing at the buttons on it. He broke the kiss and took a step back and she sat on the smooth, cold granite and watched as he stripped off his shirt. Her mouth was watering as all that hot, sexy muscle and tattoo was revealed a piece at a time. He didn’t stop there. He kicked off his boots one at a time and then his hands went to the button on his jeans. She licked her lips as he slowly peeled them down his muscular legs and then kicked them off too. The front of his shorts was tented, evidence of how badly he wanted her.

“Your turn,” he said in that deep, sexy voice. She pushed against the counter and started to get down. “Nope, do it up there. Stand up on that counter and strip for me, sexy.”

Angel hesitated, but only for a second. She kicked off her shoes and then pushed back on the counter far enough so that she could fold her legs underneath her and she pushed up to her knees. He pushed his shorts down as she unbuttoned her shirt. His huge erection was pulsating as he watched her, and she felt a rush of fluid between her legs as he reached down and grabbed it in his own hand. He began stroking it, slowly, as he watched her. She peeled off her shirt and then pushed up to her feet. He stroked himself a little faster as she unbuttoned her pants and pushed them down. She could see the little satiny bead of fluid on the fat head of his cock and she ran her tongue across her lips as she imagined licking it off. She tossed her jeans aside and then stood there in front of him on the kitchen counter in only her panties and bra. Micah would never do something like this. They rarely made love anywhere other than the bedroom and although it was never bad…it sure as hell didn’t excite her the way she was excited at that moment. Dax masturbated as she reached back and unhooked her bra, letting it slide down her arms and all the way to the floor. Then she went for her panties, and that was where he stopped her.

“Not yet,” he said in a hoarse voice. “Sit back down on the counter and spread those sexy thighs open.” She didn’t hesitate that time. She sat down and did as he asked. His grip on his throbbing cock tightened and he stroked faster as he told her, “Put your hand in your panties. Feel that wet pussy for me.”

She slid her hand down her stomach and slipped it the front of her panties. She found her clit and began to massage it. She was soaking wet. Her clit was swollen and hard as a rock. She reached down with the other hand and pulled the crotch of her panties to the side so that he could see the pink lips of her pussy as she masturbated. It was so fucking erotic…the most erotic thing she’d ever experienced…a memory she already looked forward to having. At that moment, in the midst of all that lust, a frightening thought popped into her head,

“I’m falling in love with him. God help me, I’m falling in love with a criminal…and I don’t want to stop.”

Dax watched her like a predator stalking his prey. She manipulated her clit as she leaned her head back and watched him jack himself off through slotted eyes. She could feel herself already racing toward an orgasm. Her body began to tighten and she brought her free hand up and grabbed one of her breasts and massaged it as she worked her own pussy into a frenzy. Dax suddenly stopped what he was doing and stepped toward her. His hands were on her waist and he dipped his head down and sucked one of her breasts into his mouth without warning. He put a lot of pressure on it with his mouth, holding it in place while he used his tongue to flick back and forth across her nipple, hardening it into a fine point that he then rolled around in his mouth. Her head fell back and her mouth fell open and she felt the rush of warm liquid as it soaked her fingers and the crotch of the panties she was still wearing. There was so much of it that she was sure the counter was even wet underneath her.

He let go of the breast he was sucking and nibbling on and stood up straight, grinning down at her. He rested his hands on her thighs and leaned in and kissed her lips before pushing her thighs open and dropping those sexy lips from her breast down to her lips…her soaking wet pussy lips. He let his tongue come out and lick her up and down and she shuddered as he passed over her clit and then did it again and again. Finally, he brought his tongue up and flattened it against her clit, putting pressure on it and wiggling it back and forth. Her hands were twisted up in his long hair, pushing his face in deeper. Her hips wiggled against the slick, granite countertop. He was driving her wild and right back toward another orgasm. He brought one hand up and as he sucked her clit into his mouth he slid a finger up inside of her to the knuckle and then crooked it in half and began moving it around while he sucked her engorged button. It only took seconds of that before she had another earth-shattering orgasm, one that took every ounce of energy and breath in her body.

Dax licked her softly until she stopped shaking and then he stood upright, put his hands behind her on her ass and pulled her to the edge of the counter so her soft body was against his hard one. He reached down and took his cock, which was as hard as the granite counter, into his hand. He let the head of it push against her panties and rub up and down between her thighs. He leaned down and with his face right next to hers he whispered, “Taste your pussy. Lick it off me.”

Like a hungry cat, Angel began licking his face. She licked all around the outside of his mouth while he rocked into her, still not putting more than the head of his cock into her pussy. Then she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and licked that. The taste of herself on those plump, sexy lips was driving her crazy and she lapped at them until they were clean. Then she shoved her tongue into his mouth and used it to clean his off. When they broke the kiss, he used his left hand to twist the thin fabric of her panties around his hand and rip them off while almost simultaneously shoving his long, thick, raging-hard cock into her hot, wet pussy. He pushed himself all the way inside of her, filling her up to capacity and not stopping until he hit bottom. He growled out her name and then, gripping her ass tighter, he began to move back and forth, in and out, pounding her like a drum in a rhythm that was so beautiful it could have been choreographed. He was grunting and she was moaning and whimpering, and just about the time she felt the swell of his cock inside of her, she felt her third orgasm approaching. It hit her like a ton of cement bricks and she cried out almost at the same time he did. A flood of fluids raced out of them both as Dax lifted her off the counter and laid her down on the cold tile floor. He lay down next to her and with his back against the floor he pulled her up on top of him and she rested her head against his hard, warm chest and wondered…how could she ever give this up?