Take the Heat: A Criminal Romance Anthology Read online

  He pulled me back against him, and I could feel his cock, pressing hard into my ass. He groaned again, a deep rumble that reverberated through my body. He undid his fly and pushed his pants down and pressed against me, closer still. His heated flesh warmed me through the thin material of my panties. He tucked his fingers in the waistband and slipped them farther down my legs and the wetness seeped from my pussy.

  Royal placed his pulsing cock between my legs, abrading my wet lips. He yanked me hard against his body, arms trapping me. “Ivy, when it comes to you, I apparently can’t control myself. If you don’t want this, I suggest you say something now, or I won’t be able to stop.” He chuckled without humor. “Hell, I’m not even sure I could stop now. All I can think about is being inside you.

  “Do you want to stop me?”

  Did I? I did on some level, but I couldn’t make myself speak up. The only answer I could give was rubbing against him, letting his cock slide between my slickened folds.

  He howled then, bending me over a bit so he could thrust in earnest. “I. Am. Not. Going. To. Last. Long,” he said, punctuating each word with a thrust that robbed me of breath. The position caused the thick head to graze my clit. I reached between my legs as he pushed into me, and played with myself as he circled my opening. With a wail, I came. As soon as I did, he slammed his cock inside me. My hands fell to the coffee table, and I gritted my teeth as he fucked me hard. With a groan he came, spilling himself inside me again and again. Filling me with his seed.

  When it was over, he carried me to the bed and wrapped me in his arms. I was left staring at the ceiling, thoughts racing. I was cuddled in bed with a fugitive. A convicted felon. A murderer, for pity’s sake. What had I just allowed to happen? There had been no doubt. I hadn’t even pretended to not be interested. I’d wanted him. I’d tacitly agreed to it. Hell, I’d provoked it. But I was too good of a person to break bad at this point in my life. So what did it mean?

  “You are so quiet over there,” he whispered.

  “Just thinking,” I mumbled.

  “I know.” He kissed my forehead. “I can practically hear the wheel’s turning in that formidable brain of yours. I know any moment now the recriminations are going to come, and I can’t tolerate it. I just want to lie here in the dark with you snuggled up in my arms. Hear your heartbeat next to mine, and I’m truly sorry for what I’m about to do.” Once again, I felt the sharp sting of the needle.

  The bastard drugged me. Again.

  * * *

  I woke once more to discover my hands cuffed above my head. I was lying on the queen-size bed, wearing my lacy pink panties and my white button-down shirt buttoned to my navel.

  Royal must have dressed me after he’d knocked my ass out. Speak of the evil sandman. He cleared his throat from across the room. He was fully dressed, including a leather jacket.

  “How long was I out for this time?”

  “Only twelve hours. I gave you a much smaller dose.”

  “Aren’t you a gentleman?” I narrowed my eyes. “Do that again and I won’t be the only one knocked out cold.”

  His lips twitched. “Understood, ma’am.”

  I nodded to his outfit. “Going out for a stroll?”

  “Police reports said they are starting to search the forest. Apparently my brothers stupidly ditched the van not too far from the woods. It’s time to go.” Since I was trussed half-naked to a bed, I bet he meant to go alone, without me.

  “I see.”

  “No, I don’t think you do, Ivy.” Before I could blink, he was on me, hand sliding down the length of my body, neck to knees. My nipples pebbled in response, and when he rested his hand between my legs, playing with the lace, I could feel my pussy become liquid. Readying for his touch. For his inevitable invasion. “I can’t take you with me now. Too much heat and you would only draw more, but I am coming back for you. I realized it when we made love. This…obsession I have with you isn’t going anywhere. It’s only going to get deeper.”

  I blinked. “That’s crazy. We…well, I’m not sure what we did last night, but that is done and over. What I really am is your hostage.”

  “What you are, Ivy, is mine, and don’t you forget it.” With that pronouncement, he plunged two fingers deep inside me. “You belong to me. We both felt that last night, and no one will keep us apart, not even the federal government.” He leaned down and kissed each of my nipples in turn, punished each with a little bite. Then he claimed my mouth with his, stealing my air and causing me to undulate against his questing fingers.

  He finally drew back, his breath labored. He very deliberately licked my juices from his fingertips. “I need to go before they get too close.”

  He buttoned my shirt, set my panties to rights, and covered my bare legs with the blankets. “I’m going to leave, Ivy, and when I’m safely away, I will leave an anonymous tip as to your whereabouts. Don’t worry. You won’t be here long. I would untie you, but I know you are still coming to terms with our relationship.” He paused, searching my eyes. “Unless you can tell me, Ivy.”

  “Tell you what?” I gasped.

  “That you belong to me.” His dark gaze pinned me.

  I opened my mouth to speak. To deny it, but somehow I couldn’t say the words, nor could I say what he wanted me to. I shut my mouth, shook my head.

  “That’s okay. You aren’t ready yet. I am a patient man, and one night in the not too distant future, you are going to wake up in my arms.” He walked to the door. “See you soon, my love.” And with that, he was gone.

  The trouble was? I believed him. I’m just not sure whether that news filled me with dread. Or joy. Perhaps a bit of both.

  This Might Hurt a Bit

  Shoshanna Evers

  Courtney couldn’t help watching the clock. It was almost closing time—almost eleven PM. The little sex shop she’d bought three years ago was practically her whole life, and she had even more work to do when she got home. Somehow she had to dig herself out of the mess she’d gotten into. Her new kinky calendar didn’t exist, but she’d sold over a thousand copies of it online—on preorder—so yeah, she was officially screwed.

  Stupid fucking boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. After everything she’d done for him, to just up and leave her like that? The main reason people went to her website was—unlike most other online sex-toy shops—hers was a high-quality pornographic experience. Enter the site, and not only did customers see the toys, they saw them in action, in all those pics of herself and Travis. No wonder everyone was excited to order her calendar, even if it hadn’t been shot yet. Travis was hot. She had to give him that. He was also a grade-A asshole for leaving her in the lurch.

  How was she supposed to produce her own porn calendar, completely exclusive to Courtney’s Kink Adult Shop, without Travis?

  Using stock photos wasn’t an option—she had to organize her own shoot to utilize her products and specialty toys. But finding a hot guy willing to do all sorts of kinky things for the camera was not easy out in their truck-stop town in the middle of nowhere. She’d be the woman in the calendar, no problem.

  Still, she couldn’t afford a professional male model. Her budget to shoot the calendar was, at max, three hundred bucks. Almost all of the money from the preorders had already gone to pay her medical bills from when she spent a month in the hospital with meningitis (and no insurance) two years ago.

  What hot guy (other than Travis because he “loved” her, or pretended to so he could use her bank account) was going to pose nude doing naughty things for three hundred bucks? The only men who’d answered her ad on craigslist were not exactly what she’d call appealing.

  “Come on,” she murmured at the clock under her breath. As if that would make time move faster.

  Fuck it. She’d close up early. She made most of her money online anyway. So the real-life customers could suck it for the next half hour.

  Courtney got up from her stool behind the counter and stretched, then came around to the front of the shop to do her ni
ghtly walk-through. It only took a few moments to make sure the sexy lingerie was all hanging properly¸ that the costumes were in the appropriate spots, and that none of the sex toys had been messed with.

  Everything looked fine, save for a couple of butt plugs that had been put back in the wrong place.

  The bell on the front door rang, and she paused, butt plug in hand, and pasted a smile on her face. It was a guy, by himself, (a really good-looking guy! Wonder of wonders.) which probably meant he’d go straight to the DVD section with some excuse about a bachelor party, or a gag gift (yeah right). Why did they even have a DVD section anymore, anyways? All the best porn was online; everyone knew that. Hell, some of it was even on her own site.

  “Welcome to Courtney’s Kink Adult Shop,” she said.

  The guy nodded, leaning back against the door so it shut all the way. She’d never seen him before—maybe he was from the next town over, or maybe he was on a road trip. Who knows. He looked around the shop but kept his black hoodie on his head, his shaggy dark hair falling over one eye.

  “You alone here?” he asked.

  Instantly her smile faltered. Why the hell did he ask that?

  Chill out, Court. Maybe he’s just embarrassed.

  “We’re closing up soon, so let me know if you need help finding something,” she said, ignoring his question.

  “Who’s ‘we’?” he asked, stepping closer to her.

  He was tall, way taller than she was, and the width of his shoulders implied that he had some muscles under that hoodie of his.

  Courtney’s gut instinct was that something wasn’t right. Even as her friendly, helpful retail-sales persona tried to combat that feeling, it was too strong to ignore.

  She didn’t answer his question, and stepped back behind the counter again, closing and locking the little gate that separated the counter from the store. Not that it would stop him from jumping over the damn thing, considering it was only waist-high, but it was a start.

  I’m overreacting! No, no I’m not. He’s up to something.

  Her purse was under the register, and she smiled as she grabbed it and unzipped it, reaching inside. With her fake smile still on her face, she looked at the guy, closing her hand around the cool metal of her gun.

  “You know what, man?” she said, keeping her hand on the gun, hidden below the counter. “We’re closed. So you should come back another time.”

  If she wasn’t so unnerved, she’d find him really appealing. He looked like he was in his early twenties, maybe, with a handsome face and good teeth, which meant he probably wasn’t a meth head or anything. So why was he being so…scary?

  Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m being too paranoid.

  “I haven’t gotten what I came here for,” he said. He didn’t smile back at her, which in itself was unnerving.

  “What do you need?” She swallowed hard, and hoped he didn’t notice he was scaring the shit out of her.

  He nodded up to the security camera, which displayed its image on a tiny TV above the register, facing out so customers could see they were being recorded.

  “Turn that off,” he ordered. He was close now, too close, his body pressed up against the counter, his cool blue eyes staring into hers.

  Fuck. Hell no, hell no.

  “I can’t do that. Get out.”

  “It wasn’t a fuckin’ request,” he said.

  She took a shaky breath. “What. Do. You. Want.”

  If she pulled her gun on him, she’d better be prepared to shoot. Not exactly how she’d envisioned her evening playing out.

  The guy reached across the counter and grabbed her wrist—the one attached to the hand holding her hidden gun. His grip was iron on the small bones in her wrist, and she cried out but didn’t move.

  “Get the fuck off me,” she whispered. She’d meant to shout it, but fear took her breath away.

  “Goddamn it,” he said, and without letting her go, he reached up—close enough so she could catch a whiff of his masculine scent—and turned the camera off. The TV monitor went to static.

  Oh God, she’d only bought the stupid gun because she thought having it would be like Murphy’s Law protection against ever needing the damn thing. She didn’t want to shoot the kid.

  Not a kid. A dangerous man. He was probably less than a decade younger than her, since she had recently turned thirty-three.

  But if she pulled the gun out now, she’d have to pull the trigger immediately or he’d just grab it out of her hand. He was bigger and stronger.

  “Let me go,” she said, forcing herself to sound calm, even as her adrenaline spiked. “And I’ll give you all the money in the register, okay? Then you leave.”

  The guy released her wrist but didn’t step back.

  “Gimme some space, man,” she said.

  To her surprise, he stepped back a bit. Interesting.

  “My name’s Courtney.” She wanted to make him see her as a real person, because she’d heard that was good to do.

  “I don’t want to do this, Courtney,” he said. “But I have to. I need the money from the register, but I also need everything you keep in the safe.”

  “I don’t have a safe,” she lied.

  She did have a safe. The store was a million times more secure than her shitty apartment, and she always kept enough cash in the safe to pay all of her expenses for three months, in case the shit hit the fan. Ever since that time her PayPal account had been suspended for selling adult products online—and all the money in her account with them had been frozen—she’d kept cash on hand. Yes, she had a regular bank account, too—half-empty thanks to her shit-bag ex. But cash was king.

  How the hell did he know about it, though?

  “You have a fucking safe, Courtney. You’ve got your own store—you’ve got all this money.” He glared at her. “Yeah, I’ve seen your fancy website. You don’t need that money like I do. So stop lying.”

  The robber made a move like he was going to grab her again, and Courtney jumped back with her bag, her back pressed against the wall. She was cornered.

  “I don’t want to shoot you,” she said, and finally pulled the gun out of her purse. “But I will. I will fucking shoot you.”

  His blue eyes widened in surprise. “You’re not supposed to have a gun.”

  Courtney raised her eyebrows. “And yet, I do. Weird, huh. Now get the fuck out of here before I call the cops.”

  “Look,” he said, “please don’t call the cops. I…my kid brother got himself into a mess, okay? They’re gonna hurt him if they don’t get their money. I need it, for him, okay? If I’m in jail I can’t help him.”

  “Should’ve thought of that before you held me up, asshole.”

  “Holy fuck.” The young man dropped his head into his hands and pushed his hoodie down. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  “I’m not rich, okay?” Courtney said, the gun still aimed at his chest. “I can’t give you money, even if it’s for your kid brother. Go get a loan. Pawn shit. Sell your car.”

  “You don’t think I’ve done all that?” he asked. “I’ve done everything I could. Everything. This was my last hope.” He stared at her gun. “Can you please put that down? I won’t hurt you. I just don’t want it to go off by accident.”

  Courtney slowly lowered the gun, keeping her finger outside the trigger guard like she’d been taught. But she wasn’t going to drop it or anything. Not until this guy was out of her store.

  “What makes you think I have a safe?” she asked.

  “I used to work at the place that sold it to you,” he mumbled. “Before they canned my ass.”

  “Smart of them.” Un-fucking-believable. At least now she knew he was probably from the city. He’d probably chosen her because her store was out of the way of prying eyes.

  “I’ll leave, okay?” he said finally. “I’m really sorry. I just thought…you’ve got such a hot fucking website, and the store, and a safe full of cash—”

  “Why do you think that
? That the safe has money in it?”

  He rolled his eyes. “The only reason to keep a safe in a store is to keep money in it, or a gun. I could use either, honestly.”

  “Well, I’ve got the gun, so good luck with that. Now get the fuck outta my sight before I shoot you for real.”

  “Please don’t call the cops,” he begged. “I’ll do anything. Please, Courtney.”

  “Call me ‘ma’am,’ asshole. Courtney was my name before I had the gun on you.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said immediately. “I’m sorry I tried to rob you—I really am. I’m sorry I scared you. I swear I’ll do anything to fix it.”

  He looked so anguished she almost felt bad for him. Almost.

  And then an idea came to her.

  “Anything, huh?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” He looked at her eagerly. “Anything, except give you money, ’cause I’ve got none. Name it.”

  “Tell me your name first.”

  “Fuck. Shane,” he whispered.

  “Shane what? I’m writing this down in case you skip out on me.” She picked up her pen and scrawled his name on the back of one of her store cards.

  Are you crazy? Get him out of here! But he was a hot guy, and he was desperate, which meant he actually fit the bill quite perfectly…for the all-new Courtney’s Kink Adult Shop Calendar.

  “Shane Taylor,” he mumbled. He winced when she pulled out her phone and snapped a quick pic of him.

  She held her phone for another moment. “That photo and your name just went to my friend. She’ll tell the cops if something goes bad, got it?”

  He nodded, his entire demeanor changed. No longer the scary criminal, now he looked positively sorry for himself.

  “Take off your hoodie, and take off your shirt,” she ordered, still keeping her back against the wall.

  Shane laughed nervously. “Is this a joke?”

  “Not a joke. I thought you said you’d do anything.”

  He stopped laughing. “All right.”

  “You mean, ‘yes, ma’am.’”