Dearly Beloved by Jackie Ivie Read Free Book Online Page A

tightening and then going limp, and still he filled her, giving absolute pleasure, and total satisfaction, and then it changed. Dominick turned into a churning monster of motion, shoving into her with hard thrusts that kept rhythm with the deep grunts that accompanied them, and then he moved his head, speared her with a dark look that completely stole her heart, and dropped his head.
    This kiss stole. And it stunned. And then it warped, changing her entire reality as he went ram-rod stiff, his loins pulsing against her as he emptied into her. He shook, moving her with it. She wasn’t just tasting life fluid; she was slavering in it, sucking and licking, and for the first time in her life Courtney knew absolute and complete fulfillment. His movements slowed, stilled, and then he sank into the embrace she’d kept on him the entire time.
    His weight was crippling but she wouldn’t change a thing. One hand lazily stroked at his lower back, and then his buttocks, following hills and valleys of skin-covered sculpture. Wow. She’d never felt like this. Ever.
    And then a loud alarm thing went off, making them both jump.
     

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    “Looks like I’m interrupting.”
    Amusement colored the words. Dominick didn’t move his eyes from a screen that showed a shadowed desk fronting a stone fireplace. Nothing more.
    “I’d apologize but that’s just not my style. Aside from which, you’ve been ignoring my messages. I only use the alarm when I need to.”
    “State your business. I am busy,” Dom finally replied.
    “Wrong answer, St. Guis.”
    Dominick pulled his hair back and circled the tail with a band, taking his time. Waiting. Then he smoothed down his shirt. Wonderful material. Didn’t wrinkle. The same couldn’t be said of his pants. Definite crease marks showed where they’d lain crumpled on the floor. For what hadn’t felt like hours, but must have been. He didn’t take his eyes off the screen the entire time.
    “What do you wish of me?” he finally asked.
    “What? No pleasantries? No inquiries to my health?”
    “I pity the fool who worries over your health, Akron.”
    “Hmm. You? Pity anyone? Never. You want to tell me what happened?”
    Dominick pursed his lips and waited. Such a question had too many answers, all of them meant to entrap. It was Akron’s usual method. And Dominick didn’t waste words if he didn’t have to.
    “You want me to fill in the gaps?”
    “You are the one calling this meeting.”
    “I’ve got a problem. It deals with you. And that means, you’ve got a problem. Me.”
    Dom nodded and waited again. Akron finally sighed.
    “It’s about a little thing called media attention. I avoid it at all costs. I thought we were in accord about it.”
    “We are.”
    “Well, we’ve got a lot of it now. Messages circling the globe. Speculation. Investigation. Inquiry. Rampant publicity. A soon-to-be-recognized widow who is very annoyed and not leery of texting over it. Using her toss-away, untraceable cell-phone to my unlisted and now vacated number. Silly woman. Everything leaves traces and I don’t give refunds.”
    “You have woman troubles?”
    “We’re not discussing me.”
    Dominick grunted a reply.
    “There’s been a vessel lost at sea. A rather large yacht belonging to a fairly prominent and wealthy man. Happened during a pleasure cruise. Disappeared without a trace sometime last night.”
    “So?”
    “The search is on. They’re using all resources. Military. Civilian. Mercenaries. All sorts of riff-raff looking for an opportunity to cash in on the publicity…
Hunters
.”
    Dom stiffened without meaning to.
    “Taking a kill this close to your home was a risk. Taking the entire crew was even more so.”
    “It was an accident. I was not responsible.”
    “You take an assignment. It gets screwed up. You’re responsible. Got it?”
    Dom nodded.
    “This gives me a very nice conundrum. I now have to waste time watching as they widen their search. Perhaps close