The problem was so engrossing that Horacio looked up and found that he’d stayed half an hour past the time he was scheduled to leave. He hustled to change into the swim trunks he brought with him and fairly sprinted to his truck. Throwing what was left of his paperwork into the floorboard, he gunned the engine and sped from the parking lot.

The complex Steve and Connie lived in was nicer than most government housing, but it was still government housing. All the units looked so identical that the first time he visited for dinner, he had to check the number beside the door twice before he knocked.

Sounds of voices drifted from the pool nestled in the courtyard. He ducked through the fencing and circled around to the back of the building. The smell of charcoal and chlorine hit him before he turned the corner. Steve and Javier were sitting on the side of the pool with their legs in the water. Connie and Eva were lounging on pool chairs in the partial shade of an umbrella.

His gaze caught on Eva’s legs as they stretched out in front of her. Sun-drenched and shining, her skin was the embodiment of temptation. The cherry red bathing suit did nothing to conceal the curves and valleys of her body—curves and valleys that he’d spent many, many hours worshiping in the last few weeks. In her hand was a bottle of beer, the condensation dripping slowly to the concrete below. His mouth went dry as he watched her bring the bottle to her lips to take a sip.

Sitting down on the lounge next to her, Horacio tried not to stare at the little mole on her thigh. He’d laid many kisses on that spot, usually on his way to a more intimate type of kiss. The image of going down on her blazed through his mind with dizzying intensity.

He could feel the tremble of her thighs over his shoulders, hear the way she called his name. As much as he was looking forward to a day by the pool, Horacio began to craft an excuse to get her back to her apartment as soon as possible. The time for the pool closure was posted on a nearby sign. He didn’t know how he was going to make it through the next few hours.

Eva opened her eyes, “Hey.”

Horacio gave himself a mental shake.

“Hey.”

“You get anything done at work?” she asked as she sat up.

He wished he hadn’t. Horacio wished that he’d never looked at that stupid file. He wished he’d left work early so that he could spend more time with his half naked girlfriend by the pool—even with the knowledge that he could look, but couldn’t touch her.

“Got some paperwork in the truck I need to finish. I parked at your place, I hope you don’t mind.”

Eva made a dismissive motion with her hand, “That’s no problem, you park there most of the time, anyways.” Then, “Did you eat?”

He nodded, “Since its a Saturday, we order take out for the guys.”

She reached out to touch him and he flinched, “There are a lot of eyes here.”

Her mouth opened and then shut around her disappointment. As bad as he felt about enforcing certain rules in their relationship, Horacio had to keep doing it. She was right when she proclaimed that he was minor celebrity. Horacio had the unwanted distinction of a bounty on his head and he would never forgive himself if Eva became collateral damage in his pursuit of the cartel.

“Did you go home to change or did you wear this to the office?”

Glad for the change in subject, he gave her a sardonic look, “What do you think?”

Another dismissive gesture, “I know, I know. God forbid you show up anything less than immaculate.” She pointed at the cooler, “Go get yourself a beer. Relax for two seconds.”

Horacio got a beer. Horacio relaxed.

They talked for a while, carefully avoiding the subject of work. It was a bright, sunny day. And, in the little bubble of the courtyard, the stress of the office could be momentarily forgotten. They were just people enjoying each other’s company.

The cooler quickly emptied and Eva got up to retrieve the reserves. He stood with her, knowing that it would take an extra pair of hands to carry everything back. It was a bonus that helping Eva get the alcohol from the fridge back to the patio chairs would give him a moment alone with her.

Eva’s hair was still damp from the pool. It swung in counterpoint to her swaying hips. He watched a drop of water fall over her shoulder, biting down on the urge to follow it with his fingertips. All this self control couldn’t keep him from staring as she moved or breathing deeper to get a little more of a scent that was touched with chlorine and sun block.

Eva stepped inside and headed for the fridge, “You know, there’s going to come a time when I’ll be able to out drink Connie, but today is not going to be that day.”

Even though she wasn’t looking at him, he could hear the smile in her voice. It was the same smile she flashed at him when they were sharing a joke that was only between the two of them. There were more and more of those smiles lately. He coveted every single one.

Unable to resist, Horacio moved close enough that she bumped right into him as she turned around. Without a word, he took the bottle from her hand and set it next to the orange juice and beer. Then, he gave in to the urge that had been riding him all day.

Her mouth was soft and yielding to a kiss that was a touch too hard. Horacio expected that being able to kiss her for a few seconds might unwind the coil want that had been twisting inside him. If anything, the kiss only tightened it further. His hands wandered greedily over exposed skin, soaking in the heat of her body.

He pulled away, saying, “I’ve been meaning to do that since I got here.”

Eva wrapped her arms around his shoulders, “I think we’ve discussed that you’re free to kiss me whenever you want.”

They had discussed it. In an alley. Against the wall of a building.

He shook those thoughts away, “Not always.”

Her chin dipped, “Still, offer’s on the table.”

“Noted,” he replied as he kissed her again, running his tongue over the pillowy flesh of her lower lip, “Have I told you how much I like kissing you?”

She smiled, her fingers ruffling his hair, “The feeling is mutual.”

Horacio would be grateful for that fact every moment it was true. He certainly didn’t deserve her, but he was far too selfish to let her go. Eva was his now and that was all there was to it.

In the back of his mind, Horacio wondered when he became so possessive. It certainly hadn’t been a conscious decision. Like most things where Eva was concerned, the feeling sat near enough to be felt, but so still that it went unnoticed unless he was looking at it directly.

“Have I told you how much I like this suit?” he asked as his hands flexed on her body. Then, to himself, “So much skin.”

Eva loosed a kind of embarrassed laugh, “You’ve seen me in less.”

He had. He definitely had. Still…

“Usually, I can touch you.”

With a bit of a sly grin, she pointed out, “You’re touching me now, Big Guy.”

Eva had stopped using his last name whenever she was shy or trying to distance herself from him. She’d picked up this moniker, instead. ‘Big Guy’ was just as unacceptable as ‘Carrillo’. He wanted to hear her say his name, preferably while coming.

Crowding her, Horacio trailed kisses up her neck and jaw until he reached her mouth. He kept his kiss soft and lazy, uncaring that there might be people waiting on them. It had been hours since he’d kissed her and it would be hours before he could do so again.

She lifted up on her toes to deepen the kiss and her hips tilted towards him. Eva might try to hide behind flippant jokes and sarcasm, but her body never lied. She molded herself to him, cleaved to him. Knowing that she wanted him as much as he wanted her was a heady feeling that often left him breathless.

Pushing a knee between her legs, Horacio trapped her against the counter. His fingers dug into her hair, pulling her head back to expose the long column of her throat. He breathed deeply. The scent of her called to him, taunted him, begged him to stoke the fire between them to an inferno.

Horacio couldn’t do this here. But later…

“As soon as we get back to your apartment.”

He stared at her intently, until he knew she grasped his meaning. Then, he grabbed the orange juice and six pack before he did something stupid like drag her into the nearby pantry—he wouldn’t have to drag. Horacio could turn around right now and Eva would let him—

Physically shaking his head, Horacio made himself focus on the concrete, on the all too bright sunshine. He could barely see the next step in front of him, his mind awash with images of Eva’s body rising and falling over his.

Horacio couldn’t concentrate on the conversation. With Eva next to him, it took all his effort to pay attention. He was inundated with her scent, could feel her body heat. His hand kept moving to reach for her, to pull her closer, and he resented the moment when Eva urged Connie to standing and they tumbled into the pool.

She teased him from the water, which only made it worse. He dove in, was halfway to picking her up and throwing her across the pool just to hear her excited scream before he remembered that he was in public. Dropping beneath the surface, he ran his hands over his face in a failed attempt to calm down.

Eva remained near the wall, but her eyes kept straying to him. He could feel the weight of her gaze, but couldn’t meet it. The more he looked at her, the more he wanted her. For the first time in his life, Horacio wished he chose another career. He wished he worked at a grocery store or a bank or something equally as innocuous. He wished he could be leaning against the side of the pool next to her, his arm around her waist, her laugh in his ear.

Her hands on his skin.

Their time at the pool was interrupted by the security for the building. The pool was closing. Finally. Swimming to the edge, Horacio pushed himself out of the pool and stood. He leaned down to take Eva’s hands to help her up in an easy lift. She stumbled as her feet hit the concrete and wrapping an arm around her waist was more a reflex than a conscious action.

Eva leaned into him, a challenge flashing in her eyes.

Horacio’s hands tightened into fists, “Don’t.”

The single word was low and firm. If she pushed him, he would break. Horacio was almost through this. He just had to make it back to her apartment and then he could tug aside the material of her bathing suit and sink deep.

Letting Eva go, Horacio followed the group inside. Steve was just hanging up the phone and Horacio felt a wave of disappointment fall over him as he realized that he would have to go into the office the next morning. There would be no sleeping in next to Eva, no coffee on the couch, no lazy kisses that would lead to an afternoon spent in bed.

He was seriously reconsidering his choice of employment.

Eva walked ahead of him as they headed down the street. Her gait was uneven and her eyes were looking towards the stars. Her scent trailed along behind her, inviting him to follow. The material of her cover up was sheer enough that he could see the red outline of her suit beneath.

“That was really fun,” she breathed as she looked back at him. Then, “When was the last time you actually spent an afternoon not attached to your desk doing paperwork?”

He caught up with her, “Its been a long time.”

She eyes drifted forward, “You should do things for fun more often.”

Like go down on you in the bed of my truck?

The thought whizzed past him, tugging along an image so clear and heart pounding that Horacio was already reaching for his keys so that he could unlock the tailgate.

He swallowed hard, “I assume you have ideas.”

“I might,” came her coy voice. Eva spun and face him, walking backwards, “There’s apparently some beautiful scenery, here. We could go hiking.”

They could be alone. In a tent. With no one for miles to interrupt them.

His mouth lifted a fraction, “We could do that.”

Eva nodded once, “Alright. Its decided, then. We’ll go hiking when you get some time off.”

When he got some time off…

So never, then.

Horacio’s desk was growing more and more cluttered with files—murders, drugs, trafficking, and every other terrible thing that happened in his jurisdiction. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he trained his unit, no matter what protocols he put in place, nothing seemed to stem the flow.

Not even Eva.

They keyed into her apartment.

As soon as the door was closed behind him, Horacio was grasping Eva’s arm and pulling her in so that he could kiss her the way he’d been wanting to all day. He took advantage of her surprised gasp, licking into her mouth and groaning at the taste. His hands rucked up the thin fabric that kept him from caressing soft, heated skin.

He was going to fuck her in the living room. There was no way he was going to make it to the bed. He had to get inside her as soon as possible. It felt like he might die if he didn’t. Horacio was already calculating the height of the back of the couch when Eva pulled away.

“I have to get this chlorine out of my hair. You want to join me?”

New plan.

He was going to fuck her in the bathroom. Counter. Couch. It didn’t matter. As long as he got inside her. Impatient, he maneuvered her into the bathroom, planting kisses along the way.

With the spray of the shower warming, he stripped the damp suit from Eva’s body. His fingers barely brushed her folds when she pulled away a second time. He went along with it only because she was tugging off his clothes and less clothes meant more skin.

His mouth ran over her shoulders as his hands kneaded her breasts. He plucked at her nipples, sucking one into his mouth. Eva’s moan echoed off the tile, the sound going straight to his cock. He closed his eyes, wishing that their stash of condoms wasn’t in the nightstand by the bed.

New plan.

Shower. Bed. Sex.

Later, he would relocate a box of condoms to the drawer where he kept his razor.

With perfunctory movements, Horacio washed her hair and body. As soap and water sluiced down towards the drain, he focused on regaining his bearings. He might want her more than he wanted his next breath, but Horacio could still make sure he saw to her needs.

Sort of.

The hard on between his legs was so insistent that Horacio didn’t think he would be able to last more than a few seconds once he was seated in her heat. Every errant brush of skin, even the water running down his body, felt like too much stimulation.

It set him back on his heels when Eva returned the favor. Her hands cleaned the day’s sun and salt from his body with soft, careful caresses. They worked their way down until she knelt at his feet and, for one white hot moment, he thought she might take him in her mouth.

He couldn’t let her.

Eva deserved better than that. Alphas didn’t put omegas on their knees.

She stood, reaching for the shampoo, and then her hands were in his hair again, scratching lightly at his scalp. It felt so good that he had to kiss her. As she’d done before, Eva rolled her hips into his. Between them, his cock slid against her stomach. He felt like he’d been hard for hours, felt like any little touch would set him off. And then her fingers brushed the tip and her thumb hooked beneath it, squeezing gently.

Fucking yes, please...

She pumped him steadily and he had to give his instincts a full body tackle so that he didn’t push her against the wall and fuck her against the tile. When he went to cup her mound, Eva stopped him with a hand on his wrist. Horacio grunted in disappointment and tried to pull free. To his frustration, Eva held tight.

Her other hand kept moving. Stroking.

Horacio had just enough brain cells to grab her ass and slot his thigh between her legs. Her name oozed from his lips as Eva widened her stance, put pressure on her folds. She was burning against his thigh. It was a heat that he matched, his body moving against his will. He couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t push through the tight circle of her fist hard enough to assuage the need burning low in his gut.

The water turned cold.

He hissed loudly, spinning so that he could turn off the taps. The laughter on her lips died when he turned back to her. Horacio could feel the intensity in his expression, knew that he looked two inches away from feral. He couldn’t find it in himself to care. He helped her out of the tub and, because she wasn’t moving as quickly as he wanted, tossed her over his shoulder so that he could take the five steps to the bed and throw her down.

He was on her in the next instant, taking deep, intense kisses as he arranged her how he wanted. Then, he got to his knees and leaned over to open the bedside table. His fingers ran eagerly over the rough interior of the drawer as his mind slowly figured out why it was empty.

“What’s wrong?”

Horacio’s eyes closed in defeat, “We’re out.”

She squinted at him in confusion, “Out?”

“Of condoms,” he clarified, “We’re out.”

Why hadn’t he gone to the drug store on the way over? Because he was running late. Because he had no idea they would be out of condoms. Because he’d been too caught up in how God damn amazing it felt to fall into Eva’s bed to pay attention to how many they had left.

Below him, Eva giggled.

“I’m glad you’re amused,” he drawled through half a smile.

She pulled him down with a soft, “C’mere.”

He should get up. Horacio didn’t have to leave, but he couldn’t lay naked with her, not with the way his body was trembling with restraint as he caged her in. Between one breath and the next, he knew that he wasn’t going to get up. He wasn’t going to put on some clothes, and he certainly wasn’t going to deny Eva what she so clearly wanted.

Her name was a warning as he rolled to lay beside her.

She shut him up with a kiss, her hands stroking over his chest and arms. He smiled into it, lulled by the taste of her and the way their scents mingled in the sheets. His arms enfolded her as he eased onto his back, hauling one of her legs of his.

New plan.

Hands on her hips, he encouraged her to move as he had in the shower. Eva’s head tilted back with a low moan as she ground her pussy against him. Horacio watched her with hooded eyes as she bit down on her lower lip. Her brows furrowed first in concentration and then in frustration.

Without warning, she was rising up to straddle him. His cock slotted into the cradle between her thighs with dizzying friction. And, fuck, she was soaking. He couldn’t stop rubbing her thighs, her sides, couldn’t stop pushing her to move faster.

Body bowing up, he planted kiss after kiss everywhere he could reach. His muscles began to burn. Sweat beaded at his temples and where her knees were pressed against his sides. Eva leaned her weight into him, legs spreading further.

He was going to come. It was too good, the feeling of her riding him, the sight of her body above. The way his cock kept catching at her opening. And, the way she gasped when it did.

Leveraging his greater weight, Horacio rolled her to her back. Moving quickly, he grabbed her ass and hauled her up and so that he could rut against her. He hoped it would be enough, hoped he could make her come before he did. Close. He was so close. But, his body wasn’t letting him get there. Horacio remained frustratingly on the edge of it despite every effort.

The wet sound of skin sliding against skin was loud in his ears. He made the mistake of looking down, of watching his cock slide through her folds. The bulbous head was shining with slick, peeking out from wet, hot, skin. She met him thrust for thrust, hands pulling at his hips and sides. Her thighs spread wide in a clear invitation that he had him fighting against his own need.

Dropping to an elbow, he ground out, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you have to stop trying to fuck me, Eva.”

His fingers found her chin as he tried to put as much meaning into the words so that she would stop pressing the tip of his erection against her opening. He bit down on a moan, searching desperately for every ounce of control. She was right fucking there.

And then she started begging.

Horacio wasn’t immune to the occasional plea from his lovers, could sometimes be inclined to demand it. But this...hearing her tell him how much she loved fucking him. Hearing her tell him how much she wanted it.

Who was he to deny her?

New plan.

Horacio gave her a plea of his own, “I’m gonna… you need to listen. When I tell you, you need to let me pull out.”

He was insane.

It was the only explanation Horacio had for why he was considering fucking her without a condom. For risking emptying himself inside her without thought or care for the consequences. On the best days, he struggled with holding back his orgasm long enough to get her off. Now, with an entire day of keeping his hands to himself amidst the tease of a body he couldn’t touch, he had absolutely no chance.

Horacio was insane, but fuck fuck fuck he didn’t care.

He lined himself up and tilted his hips forward. By now, he knew that she would need a couple thrusts before he could bottom out, but this… Her cunt was squeezing him so tight—tighter than it ever had. His eyes fell to the place where they were connected, a frisson of something dark and possessive walking up his spine as he took in the way her lips were stretched around him.

And, he was only an inch or so in.

“Fuck, Eva,” he breathed harshly against her neck, “You have to let me in.”

“I’m trying,” came her whining response.

“Try harder,” Horacio demanded, pulling back for another slow push.

“Maybe if you,” she panted, “if I...if you let me on top.”

Absolutely not.

He was already at his limit and watching her sink down on him would be the end of it. Full stop.

“No. No—feels too good when you ride me,” he admitted mindlessly.

She cupped his jaw with a giggle, “Its supposed to feel good.”

Mouth open, breathing hard, Horacio replied, “Too good. Come too fast.” Then, “How are you still so fucking tight?”

He had to stop for a second. Just for a second. Horacio hadn’t even bottomed out and he had the tendrils of his willpower in a stranglehold. Every muscle in his body shook as he relentlessly pushed back a bone deep instinct.

Her little hands curled around his sides, using him to hold her steady while she rotated her hips in a circle. Even that small touch was too much. Horacio grasped her by the wrists and held them down on the bed.

Eva kept moving despite Horacio’s warnings. She kept arching up against him, kept taking him deeper and deeper. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Was mesmerized by every inch of soft, sweat-laden skin.

“There you go. Take what you need. Take it from me.”

Having reached the end of his restraint, Horacio snapped his hips against her. A sharp, high pitched gasp came from her throat, but no sound of pain. He did it again, and words began to fall from her lips that told him he was giving her exactly what she needed.

He would never get used to the way it felt for her to come around him. He would never get used to the way her body desperately clutched at his cock, as if to keep him right where she wanted him for as long as possible.

Riding her through as much of it as he could, Horacio pulled out swiftly and fisted his cock hard. She watched him with wide eyes until he spilled across her stomach. The bottom dropped out of him. Blinding pleasure.

Chest heaving, Horacio’s jaw clenched as he realized that it hadn’t been enough. He wanted more. His body was demanding more. Knowing that he didn’t have the strength to pull out a second time, he shimmied down between her legs. Mouth encircling her clit, Horacio licked another orgasm from her while his hips rolled against the mattress until he was coming along with her.

It took a long time for him to come back to himself. Horacio laid his head on her thigh as the black spots in his vision faded away. Then, unsteady, he rose and warmed a cloth in the sink so that he could clean his spend from her skin.

Uncaring that it was still damp, he threw the cloth in the direction of the bathroom and laid down next to her. Despite the fact that he’d just come twice. Despite the fact that Eva was clearly worn out, Horacio began to argue with himself about turning her over and sinking back into her heat.

His dick was making a hell of a case for it.

Though he should be exhausted, Horacio’s body was restless. He could get up, go for a run, but the early meeting loomed with a sunrise that was going to be there soon. He settled into the mattress and kissed Eva’s shoulder, running his hand up her side and briefly cupping her breast. She snuggled into him, barely awake.

Horacio failed to catch Escobar even though he had relatively good information from a reliable source. A week holed up in a tent with his men, no running water, and inhospitable weather—wasted.

He didn’t know who tipped them off that Horacio was closing in on the hidden processing center and it was unlikely that he would ever find out. It had to be someone from the department, one of the people he was supposed to be trusting with his life. A damned, stinking, mole.

He wanted to shoot something.

He wanted to get in a fight—a knock down, drag out fight.

He wanted bruised knuckles and blood under his nails.

Dripping, Horacio reached for his towel and swiped it over his limbs carelessly. He should call Eva. It wasn’t too late and it might do him some good to lay down with her tonight.

No.

Not a good idea.

Horacio was too on edge right now to be with her—had been too on edge even before he’d left her apartment. The drive to work after their last night together was agony. It took ten minutes of sitting in the parking lot to convince himself to walk inside for the meeting. And, once he realized that he wasn’t going to make it back to her, Horacio closed himself up in his office and sat with his head in his hands until he could make the call to tell Eva.

His thoughts over the last week were so focused on her that it bordered on obsessive. If he wasn’t actively working on the mission, Horacio was going over one of their many nights together, or thinking about what she might be doing at that moment, or calculating the number of minutes until he could see her again. He spent endless hours fantasizing about the way her hands tugged at his hair when she came.

And, he couldn’t do anything about it.

Not one. Damn. Thing.

Every second of every day, Horacio was surrounded by his unit. He slept next to them, ate next to them, pissed in the same bushes. Under normal circumstance, he wouldn’t think twice about it. But, Horacio was so keyed up he could barely function.

There was once a time when Horacio would sneer at alphas that couldn’t stand to be away from their omegas for too long. A man used to his privacy, he could hardly imagine wanting to be around someone all day, every day. Living with another person was unthinkable once he could afford to pay his bills on his own. The women he dated rarely stayed more than a day or two at a time at his place.

It was the way Horacio liked it.

Now, he understood what those alphas were going through.

God help him, he understood.

After dressing, Horacio gathered up his sweat and dirt stained clothing before heading back to his office. There would be some forms to fill out before the debriefing next week. He could get a start on them so that he wasn’t behind come Monday morning. Tomorrow, he would call Eva. Maybe he would take her out to dinner as an apology for leaving so abruptly.

He spotted her long before he got to the door of his office. She was leaning over his desk, mumbling to herself. Dressed in a soft yellow sundress that clung to her hips and flared around her knees, Eva’s hair concealed her face. Her scent billowed out from the room, both calming and inflaming him as he approached.

Startled by the scuff of his shoe, Eva spun around, saying, “Hey.”

Her skin was glowing under the unforgiving lights. Her lips spread in an inviting smile that had him clenching the clothes in his hands. The neckline of her dress was low enough that he could see the soft swell of her breasts. Horacio was so struck by how pretty she was that he was slow to respond.

The word, ‘hi’, came out all wrong.

Her smile faltered, “I brought you something to eat. I figured you’re only been eating MREs for the last week and you might like some food.”

She brought him food.

He leaves for a week with no contact and she brought him food. The twisting restlessness from a mission going awry shifted into a need that he knew wasn’t going to be denied a moment longer.

Setting down the bundle of clothes, Horacio closed the door, thumb flicking down over the lock. There weren’t many of his men left in the building, but he didn’t want any possibility of one of them interrupting him. Not until he’d had his fill.

Head canted down, Horacio approached slowly. The smell of savory food wafted towards him along with the warm spice of Eva. She watched him silently as he moved closer, lips parted. The image of her upturned face tugged hard at his instincts, made him want get a good grip and hold tight.

When he reached her, Horacio threaded his arms around her waist and hauled her into his chest. He pushed his face into her neck and breathed deeply. He missed her. Had missed her all week. Eva gasped as her head fell back and it pleased him that she offered him access so easily.

“I missed you,” he said aloud.

Her arms were heavy on his shoulders, her weight leaned into him, “I missed you, too.”

Horacio’s body pleaded with him for more contact, ablaze with every touch. He inhaled through his mouth, letting her scent roll over his tongue. Eyes falling on the desk behind her, he considered urging her back onto it and hiking up her skirt so that he could plant kisses up her thighs.

“How did the mission go? Did you catch him?”

All the air went out of him as he was reminded how he’d fallen short, “No, we didn’t. We did get a few key players, but that’s it.”

Eva’s hands ran soothingly over his arms to the nape of his neck where she kneaded lightly, “I’m sorry.”

He touched his forehead to hers, “Not your fault.”

“I know, but I’m sorry all the same.”

Her hands kept moving, loosening some of the stress he was carrying. Horacio groaned as she pressed against a particularly tough knot and rubbed in circles.

“I want to kiss you,” he murmured without thought, “Can I?”

She smiled, as if he didn’t even need to ask, “Yes.”

Not sure of how he would react, Horacio started with a small kiss. He was so stupid to think he could handle it. Not when he just went through a week of yearning for her. Horacio leaned down to press his lips to hers properly. His arms tightened around her waist, pulling her to her toes. All of his attention narrowed to the way bowed arched forward and the feeling of her breasts pushing into his chest.

“I want to touch you.”

The words were almost a rasp and very quiet. He guided Eva to the couch where he sat down so that he could pull her into his lap. Then, because she hadn’t told him it was okay, he waited. The hesitation cost him, sharpened the need inside his body until he thought it might cut him wide open from within.

Eva blinked rapidly, as if she had forgotten the question. Then, “Yes.”

He kissed her fervently and with no finesse. He wasn’t so much seeking to seduce as he was attempting to satisfy the urgent demand to get at more of her. Hands moving up her thighs, he reached under her dress only to be stopped short by the cinched waistband. Loosing a frustrated growl, he yanked down the zipper and pulled down the bodice.

Palming her breasts, Horacio took half a second to appreciate the sheer fabric of her bra. Her nipples puckered beneath his thumbs, drawing him down so that he could roll his tongue over them. When he dragged his teeth over one, Eva keened, low and throaty.

Her body dropped heavily onto him and her hips moved in a stilted rhythm. Horacio could smell his own hormones as they coalesced into searing arousal. All the pent up anger from half an hour previous working itself up into a hard, driving hunger.

Eva’s lips encircled his scent gland, sucking hard. He gave a strangled sound, hips lifting so that he could grind his cock into her. Her answering whine made him card his fingers into her hair and pull. She groaned loudly—loud enough that someone might hear.

“Hush,” he breathed, even though he could not give a single fuck who heard them, “Have to be quiet, Eva. There’s still others here.” He kissed her, his next sentence coming out in a cajoling tone, “Do you want me to stop?”

Eva shook her head. Her hair fell over her shoulders and her scent washed over him, anew. His sweet, beautiful omega. It had been too long since they were together, too long since he could drown himself in her.

“I want to be inside you.”

The words were urgent. Honest. Forced from his mouth even though he knew better than to tempt himself like this.

“Yes!”

He nipped at her, one hand working on his belt. Eva’s hands fisted in his shirt as he pushed the waistband down far enough to free his erection. It bobbed between them, swollen and already leaking. Eva took no time at all to pull her panties aside and sink down.

She dropped all the way to the base in a smooth, fluid movement that Horacio had never, never, experienced before. Pleasure rocketed up from his balls all the way to the tip of his cock and back down again. His face scrunched with the effort it took to keep from yelling. Eva threw back her head, biting down on a sigh that wanted to become a moan.

“Fuck,” he breathed, staring at where they were joined. He pulled her down for a kiss, speaking words against her mouth, “I thought about you every day. Woke up hard for you. Couldn’t even get myself off because there was no fucking privacy.”

The early mornings were the most difficult. Horacio would lay there, hard and aching to come, thinking about waking up next to her. Thinking about sliding down between the sheets and bringing her off while she was somewhere between sleep and consciousness.

Eva started moving, twisting her hips the way she knew he liked. Horacio met her, bracing his feet against the floor so that he could fuck up into her hard and fast.

“I want—,” he cut off the end of that sentence. This was going too far, too fast. He had to slow down. His body refused to obey the orders of his mind. He couldn’t stop moving, pushing towards an orgasm that had been long denied.

She cupped his jaw, forced him to look at her, “What do you want?”

He couldn’t ask for that. Horacio could not ask for that.

Her hips slowed as she waited. He buried face in her neck to get away from her entreating eyes. Horacio fought with himself, fought to keep from fucking her the way his body was demanding of him.

It was a kind of torture that he couldn’t resist, “I want…”

Eva made him look at her, “Tell me what you want.” She kissed him softly, “Tell me.”

Horacio lost the battle. He never even had a chance, “I want to come inside you.”

Just saying the words made him feel like he was half a second away from coming. The thought of coating her walls with his spend, of how she would walk around afterwards with it dripping out of her, was irresistible.

Her next words shocked the hell out of him, “Yes, alpha.”

Eyes flying open, every muscle in his body flew into action. Horacio wrapped his arms around Eva and held her immobile as he stared at her, “Say it again.”

He needed to hear it again. Needed to know that it was real.

Eva repeated it with a gasp, followed by, “Please, alpha.”

Ah, fuck.

He snarled, rotating so that he could push her down on the couch beside him. Crawling over her, Horacio reached under her dress and yanked off her panties, throwing them to the side. He dropped his hips and shoved back inside where he belonged.

“Feel so good,” he grunted, “So fucking good.”

Horacio wasn’t sure what, exactly, he said after that, but he knew what he was doing. His hands held her still so that he could thrust hard into her heat. She gripped him tight, but the angle wasn’t right. His cock could get much, much deeper. He grit his teeth—needed more leverage. Reaching up, he grabbed the arm of the couch, using it to ground his movements.

The pace was frantic, and it was a God damn miracle that she came before he did. The feeling of her bearing down on him made Horacio want to suck bruises all over her chest and neck so that anyone who saw her would know exactly what they’d done.

Sweet fucking omega.

He poured a week’s worth of come into her, holding his hips hard against her so that not a single drop would be wasted. And, when he could see again, Horacio nosed along her neck, scenting her satisfaction before licking the sweat from her skin.

It took serious willpower to pull out, and he only accomplished it by telling himself that he needed to see her pussy coated in his spend. And, fuck, was it a pretty, pretty sight. He ran two fingers up her slit, gathering some of the slick and pushing it back inside.

Eva breathed a shuddering breath as he stirred his fingers inside her. She grabbed his forearm, her jaw dropping as he proceeded to lick them clean. The taste of her made him want to start all over again.

A bit dizzy, Horacio tucked himself back into his uniform and buckled his belt. Then, he helped her to ease the bodice of her dress back up over her shoulders. Kneeling at her feet, his eyes caught on the thin fabric of her panties. He picked them up with one hand, the other pushing her knees wide so that he could have another look at her.

Just the sight of her pussy made his mouth water. How had he lasted this long without it? He dove down and swiped his tongue over hot flesh. Sweet, sweet omega. Leaning into her curls, Horacio sucked lovingly on her clit, eliciting a hiss. He swirled his tongue over her as his hand tightened on her panties.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

He wanted her again. His cock was already hardening behind his fly. Lifting away, Horacio palmed himself as he cast her a desperate look. He’d just come and he knew he could go again right fucking now. Horacio hadn’t been able to go two rounds back to back for years.

His mind flashed to the night before he left. He assumed that it was the tension of being able to see Eva dressed in nothing but a bathing suit and not being able to touch her that made him act against his better judgment. But, here he was, fucking her in his office—wanting more than anything to fuck her again.

He needed a minute. He needed an inch of space so that he could think clearly.

Rising, Horacio paced away, trying to understand his thoughts, “Did you mean it?”

Horacio hadn’t forgotten for one second that she’d called him ‘alpha’. Eva had never used his designation before, had never even hinted at the word. He needed to know that she meant it, that it hadn’t been something said in the heat of the moment.

To distract himself while he waited for her answer, Horacio ran a shaking hand over his hair and pocketed her panties. Her scent was on him, coating his clothes and skin. It set him dangerously on edge.

Her breath was audible, “Yes.”

That settled it.

Moving quickly, Horacio circled his desk and dug in the middle drawer. Finding what he needed, he stepped back around the desk and sat next to her on the couch.

“This is the spare key to my house,” he said as he put it in her hand, “I’ve got some things I need to wrap up here, but when I come home, I want to find you in my bed—naked.”

She stared at him with a kind of dazed lust.

Running his hand up her thigh, Horacio continued, “This is mine tonight. Do you understand?”

His fingers traced the sensitive edge of her opening as she nodded. Eva swayed when he put pressure on it. He wrapped an arm around her and spread his fingers, rubbing firmly on either side.

“Can I…?”

She trailed off and he had to prompt her to continue with a wordless hum.

“Can I get my overnight bag from the apartment?”

The thought of her deviating from his orders made him bite back a growl, “What would you do if I said no?”

She blinked, “I wouldn’t go get it.”

Good omega.

Pleased, Horacio kissed her temple and lifted his hand from her so that he could right her skirt, “Go get your bag. I’ll be home soon.”

She scurried away, leaving the scent of warm, satisfied omega in her wake. Horacio watched her go, holding onto the desk so that he didn’t follow her. He did have paperwork he needed to do—especially if he wanted to spend the rest of the weekend hearing her call him ‘alpha’ as he made her come.

Horacio sat heavily in his chair, eyes snagging on the food still sitting on the edge of the desk. He reached for it, smiling when he saw a familiar logo on the take out box. He dug in, slurping sauce and meat and dough hungrily until his stomach protested its fullness. Leaning back, he threw down his napkin and sighed.

He couldn’t afford to wait much longer to get started on filling out the debriefing forms and accident reports. It was already getting late and he had plans for when he got home.

Tossing the empty container in the trash, Horacio opened up a folder and grabbed a pen. He filled out form after form, some of them in duplicate, until it felt like his eyes would cross.

It was difficult to keep focused when Eva’s scent remained in the room. More than once, Horacio’s eyes flicked up to the couch and the cushions that still held the imprint of their bodies. He could feel Eva beneath him, could hear her cries in his ear.

Rubbing his hands over his face, Horacio stared at the ceiling as he tried to calm his racing heart. The arousal inside him was banked back, but only just. A single thought about what would be waiting for him when he finally got done with work was all it took to bring it back to a raging fire.

He groaned, pushing the heels of his palms into his eyes. Horacio was fully grown man. He should be able to handle himself for a few hours until he could get his work finished. Looking down at the erection tenting his fly, he was forced to concede that it wasn’t going to happen.

Was he seriously going to do this?

He’d already broken one of his own unwritten rules and fucked a woman in his office. This tiny transgression was mild by comparison. The door was closed, the building was mostly empty. If he was quiet, he could take care of it and get back to the forms.

Working quickly, Horacio unbuckled his belt and slipped open the button of his fly. The sound of the zipper sliding down was loud in the silent room and he bit his lip as his eyes glanced at the door.

Sighing with relief, Horacio pushed down the waistband of his pants for the second time that night. He grasped his shaft, hissing as the startlingly acute feeling that radiated outward. Giving himself a slow pump, he ran his thumb over the bulbous head, smearing precome. His free hand dug into his pocket and pulled out Eva’s panties. They were still damp and gloriously fragrant. He balled them in his fist and brought them to his nose, inhaling deeply.

A curse whispered from his mouth in one long syllable.

Horacio was so busy trying to come inside her that he didn’t take the time to eat her out. It was a mistake he was going to rectify when he got home. If he could control himself long enough, he wanted her slick dripping all over his face and hands. He wanted her so flushed with pleasure that she could barely move.

Mouth open, chest heaving, Horacio drew the fabric he was holding into his mouth. The taste paled in comparison to what it was like to drink it from the source, but it was enough to elicit a pained moan.

Quiet, his mind reminded him. He had to be quiet. Horacio bit down on the fabric in his hands. His jaw clenched around the sounds he wanted to make. Every breath was too loud. Every squeak of his chair echoed back to him as a blaring alarm that gave away what he was doing.

He was close, already. Too close. Too fast.

Wide eyes stared down at the way he was fucking his own hand, widening further as he caught sight of the engorged flesh near the base. It was not nearly the size it would be when Eva went into heat, but it was impossible to deny.

Hips rising, Horacio pushed into his fist in a slow grind. His body wanted to knot, wanted to lock itself into Eva. The fact that he couldn’t have her at that exact moment left him grunting beneath his breath in frustration. Eyes closing, he thought about what she felt like less than half an hour ago. Hot. Wet. Delicious.

Horacio barely remembered to cover himself as he came so that he didn’t make a mess of his pants. He bowed forward and moaned softly, ruining the sheer fabric. His other hand slipped down and squeezed the barely formed knot. He hissed through his teeth as a final, electrifying pulse went through him.

Slowing his breath took a long time. It was still longer before he could open his eyes again. Chin against his chest, Horacio blinked rapidly as he returned to sanity. He felt good. Really good.

It would be a short reprieve.

Horacio didn’t know how long his body had been working its way into a rut, but that wasn’t as important as what that might mean for him and for Eva. She probably wouldn’t care, might even welcome it. He had to talk to her about it, first. He had to be sure that it was what she wanted.

Righting his clothing, he tucked Eva’s panties back into his pocket and grabbed his keys. The rest of the paperwork could wait. He had to get to the drug store and get home before the next wave hit him so that he could have something close to a rational conversation about it.

Horacio hated to know he was wrong, but Eva was right. Despite the extra security, despite every precaution he might take, this job was going to kill him one day. There was a time not so long ago that such a realization wouldn’t bother him so much. Now, it was almost all he could think about.

Pulling the length of the tie through the knot, Horacio turned to a mirror and tightened it so that it hung down the middle of this chest. He took one step to the side and grabbed his coat, pulling it around his shoulders.

“Amorcita,” he called out, “Are you ready?”

Eva called out that she was, her heels tapping down the hall. He loved that sound, loved to hear her hurried approach, as if she couldn’t wait to get to him. It pained him to think   that he might lose that sound some day. Especially if it was a result of his own decisions.

She was wearing a dress that he recognized—red, fitted through the hips. He took in her curled hair, her slow smile, the way she slowed her stride so that he could keep looking. He reached for her, leaned down so that he could give a soft kiss. As usual, it was far too short and left him wanting.

“Maybe we should stay in,” he suggested as he nuzzled her neck.

How long had it been since he’d been inside her? The answer came to him without thought—far too long.

She squeezed his shoulders, “You promised me a night out.”

At the time, Horacio thought a night out was fantastic idea, but that was before he got to see her in this dress. Now, he was trying to come up with a way to convince her to stay. Almost immediately, he changed his mind. They had been talking about going out—just them—for weeks. The truth of the matter was that they both needed it.

“I did make a promise.”

“You did,” she replied with a sharp nod.

“Then, we should go before I decide to break that promise.”

Grinning wide, Eva followed him out to his truck. He helped her into the passenger’s seat and slipped behind the wheel. The drive was quiet, mostly because Horacio didn’t quite know where he was going. He focused on the street signs as they went by, the directions long since memorized.

Eventually, he found the place. It was small and high end. The patrons were visibly wealthy and the staff moved discreetly around the room. Unseen, unheard, unless they were needed. Horacio followed a waiter to a table, guiding Eva with a hand at the small of her back. He helped her to sit and picked up a menu.

Instinct had him scanning the crowd. They might be out on a date, but that wouldn’t stop an eager sicario from taking a shot at him. He clocked the emergency exit and the entrance to the storage room. If necessary, he could pull Eva from her seat and get her through the side door and into the truck in about half a minute. In the worst case, he could flip the table and use it as a shield for them both.

It wasn’t as if it would be the first time. He almost smiled when he recalled how they tumbled down to the floor of the bar with music and gunshots blaring all around. In retrospect, that was probably the night that sealed Horacio’s fate with her. He would never find another woman willing to throw herself atop him to save his life, nor would he ever find someone who could and would toss a lit bottle of liquor at a gunman.

Their order was brought to them quickly, two tumblers of whiskey swirling around a single cube of ice. He took the glass that was offered and slipped the tip into the waiter’s hand in the same movement.

“If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?”

The question brought him back to the present. Eva was turning the glass between her hands, her expression guarded. He realized that he hadn’t said anything since they left the house and silently reprimanded himself for neglecting his date.

“I liked Spain,” he replied, “when I was assigned there.”

This was true. Spain was different from Colombia. A welcome difference, despite the fact that it took him away from the work he was so passionate about.

“Oh?” came her reply.

He nodded, “It was quieter there.”

“Quiet is good.”

Horacio didn’t fully agree, “Quiet is different. But, the work was steady and I didn’t get shot at half as much.”

Eva’s lips pursed in a knowing smile, “Half as much?”

He found himself smiling along with her, “At all. I didn’t get shot at, at all.”

She crossed her legs and the hem of her skirt lifted a bit to expose the soft skin of her thigh, “That’s a nice change of pace.”

It was.

“What about you?” he asked, with sincerity.

Eva didn’t even hesitate, “I’m right where I want to be.”

Startled, Horacio could only stare at her as he processed what she said. After everything that happened between them, Eva could have—probably should have—run away. She shouldn’t have even made it past that first meeting in the conference room.

And, here she sat.

He had no words to tell her how much he felt for her, so Horacio simply reached over and took her hand. They listened to the band for a while until he stood and tugged her along with him to the dance floor so that he could finally, finally, dance with her. The music was slow and sultry. He held Eva close, swaying from side to side.

She kissed him, her hands slipping beneath his jacket where they paused against the holster that secured a pair of guns on either side of his body. Horacio didn’t go out anywhere, not even to the mailbox, without them. After Zero, he made a silent promise that he wouldn’t be caught off guard again.

“Do you think you’ll need this?”

He did.

“This is a new location for me. I wanted to be safe.”

I wanted to keep you safe.

She seemed to think about it, then said, “Okay.”

Horacio couldn’t hold her gaze, but he wouldn’t apologize for it. No matter what happened, Eva’s safety was always going to be his top priority.

They danced until the end of the song and Horacio began to lead her back to their table only to find it occupied. His jaw clenched in annoyance. He didn’t want to make a scene in such a nice place, but their empty glasses were sitting right there. Eva must have sensed it because her hands were redirecting him towards the bar with a meaningful look.

Horacio went reluctantly with her, ordering for them when the bartender noticed their approach. Eva leaned into him, her fingers gliding up his arm and running over the buttons of his jacket. The firm touch was doing a remarkable job of distracting him from sending a stern glare in the direction of their table.

She was just this side of tipsy and he could faintly scent her excitement. Her hands lingered on his chest, caressing down to rest above his belt. He rested a forearm on the bar, glad to let Eva do as she liked.

It was still a new experience for him to let her touch him so openly. Horacio never thought he would like it so much. There wasn’t a single person in the room that didn’t know they were together. And, if they got close enough, the evidence of their nearly completed bond would be clear as day.

Casting his eyes around the room, he oriented himself once more to the closest exits and potential cover. The threat in the room was low, but the memory of Eva laying unconscious on the floor was still fresh enough that he couldn’t rule it out completely.

His attention narrowed when she laughed and drained her glass.

“What?” he asked.

Frustratingly, she shook her head, “Nothing, just a thought.”

Horacio leveled a look at her that he sometimes used during interrogations. It was at the same time patient and amused. A look that he could rely on to get the answers he wanted.

Eva shifted on her feet, moving close enough that their thighs brushed against one another, “I’ve been getting a few looks tonight. That’s all.”

What looks? He thought irritably.

Craning his neck, Horacio glanced around at the people nearby. None of them were paying much attention to them, too engrossed in their own conversations.

She caught his chin in the webbing between her thumb and forefinger, “Its fine. They’re not bad looks.”

His head cocked to the side in confusion, “What kind of looks are they?”

Biting her lip, she answered, “Envy, mostly.”

Confused further, Horacio frowned at her. Eva scoffed lightly and reached up to run the pad of her finger over the skin between his brows. He pulled away with a light laugh, the smile holding as she lifted onto her toes and kissed his cheek.

“You’re hot, sweetie. I’m bound to get a few evil eyes now and again.”

Oh.

Huffing, Horacio tried to hide his abashment with a quick retort, “Thank you, but I think you’re maybe just a little biased.”

She rolled her eyes, “I might be biased, but that doesn’t mean I can’t see that you’re objectively gorgeous.”

It was his turn to roll his eyes, “I think ‘gorgeous’ might be going a little far.”

Her expression sobered and her eyes narrowed. Horacio felt the slightest frisson of apprehension rattle his composure. He’d stepped right into a topic Eva was passionate about and it looked like she was prepared to defend her position.

“Should I describe it to you?” she asked, not waiting for his obvious refusal, “I’m gonna start at the top, okay?”

He froze. Only his eyes could move as she lifted a hand to touch his hair. The way she described his curls and how much she loved them was entirely new to him. As was the way she described his eyes. Horacio had never been told he had ‘expressive’ eyes.

Her fingers drifted down and over his scent gland. He swallowed down a soft groan she told him how affected she was by the way he smelled. No previous lover had ever talked about it in such frank terms. It left him wordless and vaguely panicked.

Horacio’s hands tightened on her waist, pulling her closer. He wanted a kiss—not just to kiss her, but also to stop the words spilling from her lips. The things she was saying and the way she was touching him made Horacio feel exposed. Vulnerable. As if he were stripped naked.

Every word Eva was saying went straight into the core of him. Each sentence was a physical caress that followed the long planes of his body—and that body was all too eager to respond.

They were in public.

Horacio berated himself silently. He couldn’t walk around with a hard on because his girlfriend gave him a compliment or two.

Eva dodged his lips easily, “And, let’s not even talk about this mouth. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come just thinking about how deeply you kiss me—and where you kiss me.”

Inhaling sharply, Horacio’s blood raced through his veins, heating him through and through. He could hear the way she whined when her body was too sensitive to go on, could almost taste the slick that would cover his face and hand.

Eva traced the line of his throat and over his shoulders as she told him how much she loved it when he held her down and, suddenly, the memory of his rut was rushing forward. She’d said that same thing that night, too. Begged him to squeeze tighter.

He began to tremble, knew that Eva would go as far as he let her. Already, he was half hard, images of what he wanted to do to her weaving through his hazy thoughts. The room around him dimmed, all his focus on the omega standing in front of him.

When he said her name in warning, Eva made a soft hushing sound. With a complete disregard for where they were, she angled herself in front of him and cupped her palm over the fly of his slacks. His body arched forward even as his hand caught her wrist to keep her still.

Undeterred, Eva looped an arm around his waist, “Big Guy, all I have to do is look at you and I want to feel this inside me. I can guarantee that anyone who looks at you is going to feel the same way.”

God fucking damn it.

They were leaving. Right now.

Horacio grabbed her hand and strode quickly out of the restaurant. Eva skipped alongside him, all too proud of herself. He was going to make her regret baiting him, make her come so hard she wouldn’t be able to walk afterwards. She loved it when he held her down? He could do that. She loved it when he kissed her pussy? He could do that, too.

The trip home was equally as quiet as the trip to the bar. Horacio was glad for it—if she kept talking like she did in the bar, he might find an empty alley and live out the fantasy of fucking her in his truck. With a hand on her knee, he kept a tight grip on his actions so that he could focus on the road.

That grip loosened entirely the second he got her through the front door. He shoved her against it and kissed her hard. Teeth scraping, he drew her lower lip into his mouth as his hands began to work her dress up her sides with a singular intent. Balling the fabric in one fist, his fingers met heated skin.

A rough sound escaped him as he discovered that she was bare beneath her dress. He pushed his face into her neck, biting into his cheek as he gently massaged her folds. She was already wet—had she been so wet at the bar? His eyes closed against that thought. Horacio didn’t know what he would have done if he knew she was so deliciously slick in a crowd of people.

Her nails dug into his forearm, hips lifting to encourage him to move faster. Even after the way she teased him, Eva was unwilling to allow Horacio to do the same. Greedy, greedy omega. His kiss was a punishment. Adding pressure, Horacio eased his fingers inside her. Then, He began a hard rhythm that had her whining in his ear.

It didn’t take long for her to come with a hoarse shout. Her legs shook as they struggled to take her weight and, for a moment, he was afraid she would fall. Horacio didn’t want her to fall. Not yet. He wanted Eva standing so that he could wring another orgasm or two out of her.

“Good,” he praised when she held herself upright, “That’s good.”

When it looked like she keep her balance without his support, Horacio dropped to his knees and licked up the inside of her thigh. His nose brushed against her clit as he breathed in the scent of her arousal.

Yes.

He wanted one more from her. Maybe two. He wanted to drink from her for an hour. For the rest of the night. He wanted to know that it was his mouth that was bringing her over the edge again and again.

Looking up at her through his lashes, Horacio said, “If you hit the floor, I’ll fuck you on it.”

He’d meant it to be a warning, but Eva obviously took it as encouragement. She fell into his lap with a delighted laugh. Not even his frustrated growl could stop her from giggling as he rolled onto his back.

New plan.

Hands hooked around the back of her thighs, Horacio urged her forward until she was straddling his face. Then, without hesitation, he ran the flat of his tongue up her slit. Behind his closed lids, his eyes rolled back in pleasure. Eva keened, curling forward onto him.

He worked her open, sucking noisily. Turning his head from side to side, Horacio pushed his tongue deeper, curling it within her folds. His hands gripped her thighs, felt them begin to shake as he nosed over her clit.

The material of her dress partially obscured his view—which was probably for the best. Horacio had a hard enough time watching her when she was perched atop his cock. The sight of her grinding down onto his face would have ended him then and there.

When she tried to lift away, he reached up and hooked his fingers between the cups of her bra and pulled her down against his mouth. There was no way he was going to let her escape that easily. Eva started this whole thing and he was determined to finish it.

Her hips rolled, urging him on. Mouth open, he focused on her clit and listened for the sound that meant he had hit a particularly sensitive spot. He would gladly spend the rest of his life just like this, would willingly suffocate if it meant he could sip this sweet honey from her lips.

Eva’s whole body shuddered above him. A weak sound caught in her throat. Incensed, Horacio doubled his efforts, wringing just that little bit more out of her until she made another attempt to rise up. Not yet. He wanted more. He needed more. Horacio’s arms flexed, keeping her right where he wanted her.

With a growl that rumbled in his chest, he pushed her knees wider and worked three fingers inside her. Pumping slow and steady, it took next to nothing to draw her into another orgasm that had the thighs on either side of his head squeezing him tight.

Eva swayed, weak. Horacio took her weight gladly as he licked long stripes over her folds. Eventually, she rolled to her side and he followed.

“Good?”

He didn’t need to ask, but his ego couldn’t help the little jab at the way she was staring, dazed, at the ceiling. She nodded, then scoffed when she noticed his self-satisfied expression. He caught the hand that swatted at him, kissing her wrist.

Her smiled dropped, replaced by a look of wonder that caught him off guard. Eva was staring at him as if he were the only thing in the world, as if he was all that mattered. No one had ever looked at him quite like that.

He couldn’t take it.

Horacio leaned over and kissed away that look. Arching up to meet him, Eva began to push his jacket down over his shoulders. Horacio shrugged the offending material off and went back in for a deep kiss.

Her hands were at his belt and she had his fly open faster than he anticipated. Blindly, he reached for the jacket he’d just thrown away, digging in the pocket for a condom. It took far too long for him to get it rolled over his cock, his hands shaking with the need that was boiling inside him.

Horacio forced himself to go slow, slower than he ever had with her. His body felt too keyed up, too sensitive. If he wasn’t careful, he wouldn’t make it thirty seconds before he came and Horacio wanted this to last. Carefully, he lined himself up and pushed forward.

Ah, fuck.

Sweat formed at his temples and neck. His hips began to move faster, grinding against her in the hopes of pulling Eva along with him. She grabbed his biceps, her face scrunching as she braced her feet on the floor and used that leverage to get him deeper.

She’d done this before—that night after the pool—took more than he was giving her. And, just like that night, it drove him crazy. He grunted loudly and grabbed her thigh, pulling it high. It gave him the room he needed to sink deep, to make sure she felt every inch of him.

Eva gasped, her expression shocked. The words ‘I love you’ spilled out like water.

Horacio gave her a knowing grin, “Good. I love you, Eva.”

Her eyes welled with happy tears. It was impossible to resist kissing her sweetly. Eva’s hands fisted his collar and she deepened the kiss with a roll of her hips. Horacio moaned, body moving faster and harder. There was no finesse to it. Just raw, animal hunger. Pushing up with both hands, he drove into Eva, the orgasm coming from somewhere bone deep. It shocked him in its intensity, made his arms collapse beneath him.

He breathed hard into her neck for long second, until the darkness cleared from his eyes. Lazily, he eased his weight off her and sighed. After seeing to the condom, Horacio laid on his back next to Eva. He was looking at the ceiling. She was looking at him.

“You know, we haven’t packed yet for our flight.”

He laughed, “Its a three day turnaround. We won’t need much.”

Though he wasn’t looking at her, Horacio could hear her rolling her eyes, “Oh, yeah. I’ll just show up to the offices in my underwear.”

Casting her a sidelong glance, Horacio replied, “I wouldn’t complain.”

He definitely would complain.

Eva called him out on it, “You would. What you wouldn’t do is let me out of the hotel room.”

Yet again, Eva was right.

She was right about something else, as well.

Horacio knew that he was going to have to do something very soon to change to trajectory of his life. It wasn’t everyday that people fell in love. The feeling came to him slowly, sneaking past his defenses. It was already deeply rooted before he even know it existed. And, Horacio wouldn’t change it for anything, not even his career.

The decision was made as he helped Eva to stand on shaky legs. It was confirmed when, for the second time, she told him that she loved him.

He would have a talk with his superior as soon as he could schedule a meeting.

Later, as he stared at the ceiling, Horacio was reminded of a word that followed him all those months ago. He glanced at the slumbering woman draped over his body, grateful for her love.

Horacio breathed deeply.

Warm Vanilla. Fried dough. Cinnamon.

Omega.

Zero’s gaze was laser focused on Horacio. In his hand was a statue of the Virgin Mary. Horacio’s mother would pitch a hell of a fit if it was broken. He could see that the paint was already smudged with blood that would need to be carefully cleaned away before the statue could be placed back on the shelf next Horacio’s graduation picture.

Using the heel of his palm, Horacio hit Zero hard in the diaphragm. The move both knocked Zero back and produced a satisfying wheezing sound from the man’s chest. It also gave Horacio enough time to get to his feet.

Stepping over the bags, Horacio slid easily past Zero into the living room so that he would have more space to move. In his periphery, he saw Eva’s body sprawled near the door leading to the basement. His eyes narrowed and his pain dimmed as furious rage settled low in his gut. Horacio hoped, for Zero’s sake, that Eva was still alive.

Eva warned him that Zero was smart. She warned him that he would pick the best moment to strike. And, that’s exactly what Zero did. He picked his moment when Eva’s best source of protection was both distracted and distant. If any of his men had executed a similar strategy, he’d probably give them a medal.

He squared up with the man and raised his fists.

Smiling, Zero threw the statue down and mirrored him, “Need a good fight.” Then, with a widening grin, “Eva went down too easy.”

It was bait. Horacio knew it was bait. Didn’t stop him from taking it.

He threw a punch. Then another. Ducked a hook and caught Zero in the side with an uppercut. Dancing back a pace or two, Horacio looked for his next opening. Zero adjusted his stance, dodged Horacio’s fist, then caught him just to the side of his wound.

Horacio’s vision blurred and fire throbbed outwards from the strike. A fresh wave of blood flowed down his cheek. He swiped at it, his hand coming away red and sticky. Zero hit him again, sending him to his knee. Horacio blocked the third punch, using Zero’s momentum to grapple him.

Rolling, Horacio tried to get his arms around Zero’s neck, tried to choke the air out of him. The other man slipped his hold in a move that Horacio had never seen before, let alone could counter. Less than a second later, it was Horacio who was on the floor, Zero’s surprisingly strong hands cutting off his air. His upper body was lifted and thrown down so that his head hit hard against the floor. Again. Again. Again.

Black spots dotted his vision as he struggled against Zero’s hands. His periphery closed in on him. The pain intensified until he lost consciousness. His last thought before the blackness took him was Eva’s final warning: Zero would make this personal. A quick kill wouldn’t satisfy the assassin. He might be down, but it was only the first round.

Horacio woke to the thump of a body being dragged down the stairs. His wrists and ankles were bound with handcuffs—one for each leg of the chair he sat on. He turned his head as Zero cleared the stairwell with Eva in tow. She was limp, unconscious, but breathing.

His eyes followed Zero as he dropped Eva next to a support beam and cuffed her wrists behind it. Eva swayed to one side, caught by Zero’s hands. He shifted her weight until she was upright, her chin against her chest. There was a careful quality to the way Zero handled her. A tenderness that set Horacio’s teeth on edge.

Then, he stood up and admired his work, “She’s so pretty when she’s asleep.” Then, to Horacio, “Yes?”

Horacio’s only response was a low, angry growl.

One side of Zero’s mouth quirked, “You look like shit.” From his pocket, he produced a handkerchief, “Let me help you.”

Horacio sneered as he tried to turn his head away from Zero, but his chin was grabbed by unforgiving fingers and held still. Face a mask of concentration, Zero dabbed at Horacio’s temple. The dull ache sparked with renewed pain that cleared away any lingering fog from being knocked out.

“Its not as bad as it looks,” he said, “Head wounds always bleed a lot. The good news is its already clotting.”

Tossing the handkerchief away, Zero took a step back and turned his attention to Eva, “She’ll sleep a little while longer, I think.” Followed by, “I’ve got to make a call. I’ll be right back.”

Horacio waited for Zero to close the upstairs door behind him before he moved an inch. Meanwhile, he looked around the room and got his bearings. There was a handgun laying on a nearby table along with several unmarked syringes. He recognized the weapon, cursed himself for not having it holstered at his hip when he went to collect the shipment. The chair he sat in was the one his mother used to sit on while she folded clothes that she’d unpinned from the old drying line they no longer used. There were a few two by fours collected at the far end of the room along with cardboard boxes.

Conclusion: He needed to get his hands on the gun.

A low sound from Eva cut into his thoughts. He said her name twice before she lifted her head and blinked blearily at him. Horacio was relieved that she appeared to be uninjured.

“Did he hurt you?” she asked.

If his head wasn’t pounding so hard, Horacio might have laughed. Of the two of them, she was in worse shape. His fault.

“I should be asking you that question,” he replied as he navigated his own guilt.

She shook her head, “I’m fine. A little woozy and my head hurts, but he hasn’t started in on me yet.”

Horacio didn’t want to think about what might have happened between the time Zero made his move and Horacio returned to the house. The man, as she described to him, was cold, calculating, and patient. Whatever Zero had on the agenda was guaranteed to hurt in a very specific way.

“You know him, Eva,” he prompted, “What is he going to do?”

They needed to work on a strategy—quickly, before Zero put his plan into motion.

“Could go a few ways,” she answered after some thought, “He could torture you in front of me—he already knows I have feelings for you. Or, we could go the other way, work on me while you watch.”

He swallowed hard as he tried to fight against his own memory of what the other omegas looked like when Zero was done with them. Horacio was absolutely sure that the assassin was to blame for the various unsolved murders—practice for when Zero could finally go after the real target.

“I’m sorry,” Eva croaked as her eyes filled with tears.

Horacio hated how it felt to see her cry. He shook his head, “I should have taken you to the beach with me. I let my guard down.”

This was his fault. He’d gotten too comfortable as they settled into a daily routine together. The microcosm of domesticity that they were creating distracted Horacio from his primary goal—to keep Eva safe.

“No,” she argued lowly, “This isn’t your fault. He wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for me.”

Horacio’s firm ‘that’s not true’ was cut off by the door above them opening. Zero stomped heavily down the stairs one at a time. He was smiling when he circled Horacio and it made him want to clock the man hard across the face.

Eva’s expression was hard and stony. Her tears dried almost instantly. Horacio couldn’t be more proud of the way she looked Zero in the eye.

“I’m so glad you’re awake. I thought I was going to have to pass the time by removing his fingers.”

It was a joke.

Probably.

But, it had the effect Zero so obviously wanted, but not from the person he wanted it from. Horacio spewed venom at him, calling him names and telling him how much he was going to enjoy fucking him up once he got free. Zero listened intently, comprehending every word despite the fact that Horacio had slipped into his mother tongue.

Then, with very little affect, he replied in slightly accented Spanish, “I’m going to pour her blood down your throat.”

Then, he laughed and patted Horacio’s face condescendingly. Lips pulled back, Horacio snapped his teeth at him, missing entirely.

Eva’s voice was low and calm, “We both know you’re not going to kill me any time soon. You’re too arrogant for that. So, why don’t you tell me what the plan is, Alexei. And then I can get on with telling you to go fuck yourself.”

Horacio had to amend his earlier statement. His pride in Eva grew a bit more at she maintained her poise. If it were any other criminal in any other situation, he words might have thrown them off. But, with Zero, it only produced a deep bellied laugh.

“I missed you,” Zero pronounced, with levity.

Eva sneered, “Wish I could say the feeling was mutual.”

Having been largely forgotten by the other two people in the room, Horacio took the opportunity to test the bonds of his cuffs. They were on pretty tight, giving him no room to slip through. Slowly, he rocked his weight forward and back. The chair might break, if he put enough force on it.

When he came back to the conversation, Eva was asking Zero how long it had been since he took the bounty. His reply of five years was astounding. Horacio didn’t know any contractor who would wait that long for a pay day, nor could he conceive of someone letting five years pass before their target was killed. Most people who hired a hitman wanted a fast turn around.

“But, as for my plans,” Zero sighed as he stood next to her, “I thought I would indulge myself, just this once. The family perfected the serum. It will go to market in about two years, once the clinical trials are complete.”

Horacio searched his memory for the one time Eva mentioned her late husband’s work. At the time, he was so overwhelmed by the first contact with her scent that he hadn’t considered the fact that her ex’s family might still be in the pharmaceutical business.

Zero continued, “You remember what your heats were like with Joshua, don’t you? He used to tell me about how he’d leave you tied to the bed for hours, crying to be fucked.”

Was the serum one of the aphrodisiacs Eva mentioned? The look in Eva’s eye told him that it was likely.

“I am not Joshua,” Zero crooned, with pity, “and I will not leave you in such a way. In fact, my plan, since you want to know, is to knot you in front of the alpha you’ve claimed as yours. I’ll break the bond, I will break you, and then I will kill you both—as a mercy, you see.”

There was nothing about that plan that was merciful. Horacio once witnessed the effects of a broken bond. Just once. It led to the hospitalization of both parties and he wasn’t sure either fully recovered. That his bond with Eva hadn’t been completed wouldn’t matter in the least. What was coming would be incredibly painful if Zero managed to succeed. He could not let Zero succeed.

“I’m on a limited time schedule, Birdie. I think I’ll give you the first dose now.”

Horacio had never felt so impotent in his entire life. He watched helplessly as Zero plucked a syringe from the bunch and knelt next to Eva. She kicked out, but the needle pierced her skin, anyways. After pushing down the plunger, Zero pulled it free and replaced the cap.

“This’ll start the hormonal reactions. I’ll give you the other two doses in about ten minutes, okay?”

A tear rolled down Eva’s cheek as she watched Zero turn and head up the stairs. Her jaw trembled as she fought not to cry. Horacio felt for her, but the window for their escape was small and they had to get to work.

“Eva,” he urged, “I’m going to try to break this chair. When I tell you, I need you to scream. Scream loud.”

He threw his weight around while she wailed, but the chair held. He tried again. And again. Horacio cursed lowly. His mother’s penchant for selecting furniture more for durability than aesthetic was not working out for him.

Too soon, Zero was returning with his fucking annoying smile, “I see we’re getting along quite well.” Horrified, Horacio watched him reach for another syringe, “But, you, Birdie, you’re not quite where you should be. Far too alert.”

“Maybe your shit doesn’t work.”

Eyes trained on Eva, Horacio let himself feel the wild hope that she was right. Eva was sweating, but she was also focused and reactive. He inhaled slowly, picking apart her scent. Stress. Anger. Anxiety. Nothing that told him she was in the beginning stages of a heat.

Zero took two steps forward and grabbed Eva’s leg, sticking her quickly, “Let’s see how that does, hmmm?”

Horacio eyed the place where he’d stabbed Eva, “Does that make you feel like an alpha, Zero? Hurting women?”

The look Zero sent him was amused, “No, it doesn’t. Killing them, yes. But, hurting them, not in the least.” He paused dramatically, “Do you want to know how I’ll do it?”

“You’re not going to get that far,” Horacio spit out, not bothering to hide his derision.

He was going to tear him apart with his bare hands. Soak the concrete below with Zero’s blood. He was going to rip out his eyes for even looking at Eva. He was going to rip off his hands for touching her. He’d leave Zero’s tongue just to hear him beg.

Ignoring him completely, Zero stood and grabbed Horacio’s firearm, “I’m going to shoot her with your gun. Lucky for Eva, I don’t have time to use my knives, so the gun will have to do. I’ll shoot her, and then I’ll shoot you. Simple.”

Horacio maintained his point. Zero was not going to get that far. It didn’t matter what happened to him, Horacio was going to get Eva out of this basement—alive. Zero had no chance of survival.

From Eva came a strangled sound.

Zero looked over at her, “Looks like we have a winner. How are you feeling?”

Did this fucker just skip?

Her expression was murderous, “Like I’m going to kill you.”

Good, omega.

Zero laughed, “You haven’t changed at all, Birdie. But, unlike your late husband, I don’t have the luxury of underestimating you.” He leered at Eva, “Now that you’re cooperative, let’s get you into position.”

He manhandled her onto her belly. The sound of the handcuffs locking into place hit Horacio like another blow to the head. His arms pulled at the restraints once more, hoping that they would loosen.

“I’m going upstairs to freshen up. You wait here, I’ll be right back.”

Horacio remained silent until the door to the upper floor was closed. Then, he started scooting his chair closer to Eva. She hadn’t moved from where Zero left her, and her stillness made him anxious.

“Eva,” he called out softly, “Eva, can you hear me?” When she didn’t move, he continued, “I’m gonna get us out of this. I’m gonna figure out how to break this chair and then I’m going to fire an entire clip into Zero. Just hold on.”

From the floor, Eva blew out a hard breath. Her scent was shifting so wildly that he struggled to keep track of it. Fear. Frustration. Anger. Excitement. Disgust. It all coalesced together into something that was strange and unnatural.

Her body shivered as she pulled her knees up and underneath her. The cuffs scraped against the wood inch by inch. Eva worked slowly to pull herself to standing and it looked like it was taking every ounce of energy. Her breaths were heavy and strained, as if she was barely holding it together. Every tremble, every helpless sound, made Horacio’s heart break.

It was here that she paused. Sweat dripped down her temple and neck. She swayed and Horacio caught the first true sign of her internal struggle in the way Eva’s arousal wafted towards him. She was losing focus.

He couldn’t let that happen.

“Fight through it, Eva,” Horacio ordered.

His tone was that of an alpha commanding an omega. It had the intended effect. Eva’s spine straightened and she began to search for a way to loosen the cuffs. He watched, unable to speak, as she found a nail sticking out of the beam and—blindly—picked the lock on the handcuffs.

Very good, omega. Very, very good.

Before Horacio could give a single word of praise, the door above opened. Eva squeaked and shimmied around the pole so that she could hide the fact that she’d gotten free.

“I honestly can’t believe you’re standing,” he said as he reached the landing, “Really, I’m impressed. You are a treasure, Birdie.” When all Eva did was snarl in response, he continued, “Nonetheless, in a few minutes you’re going to be prime for a knot. It won’t matter whose cock you have in you, you’ll be begging for it.”

Vision going red, Horacio slammed his feet on the floor hard enough that the chair lifted an inch or two. The joints cracked loudly. He wouldn’t need more than a few more seconds before he could body slam this motherfucker into the concrete.

All that effort turned out to be unnecessary. A fleshy squish brought Horacio’s attention back to Eva. She was standing in front of Zero,  halfway through the motion of  striking the butt of her hand into one end of the handcuff that was embedded in Zero’s jaw. His mouth opened in shock as she grabbed Zero’s shoulder and yanked hard enough that Zero’s jaw dislocated. Then, thinking quickly, she got her hands on Horacio’s gun and fired a shot into Zero’s head.

Quick. Efficient. Final.

He shifted in the chair, vaguely uncomfortable with how turned on he was watching her dispatch an opponent despite every disadvantage.

“Eva,” Horacio breathed, “get the keys from his pocket.”

She did as he asked, and soon his own cuffs fell away. He had to touch her, to kiss her, assure himself that she was alright. Horacio was so in awe of her that he could hardly believe it. His smart, cunning, determined omega.

There was still a dead body in the room.

“I need to take care of him, and I need to get you to a medic.”

Although Eva looked okay on the outside, Horacio had no idea what was actually in those shots. He wasn’t willing to take any risks with her health, not after all they just went through. Once he got her to a hospital, he would demand every test available before he would accept that she was alright.

He led her upstairs and helped her to lay on the bed. Then, making sure that she was watching him, he opened the panic room, “If you need to, go in here. It locks from the inside.”

Not waiting for her response, Horacio strode quickly from the room and down to the basement. Dragging Zero’s body up the stairs from the basement was difficult. Despite the man’s lanky frame, he was surprisingly dense with muscle. It was only through an enormous amount of spite and sheer force of will that he got the body to the yard.

Wiping his brow, he debated what he was going to do with the dead assassin. He couldn’t drag the corpse to the main road and he certainly didn’t want to dig a grave. With a deep sigh, Horacio looked around him.

The ocean.

It was a long trip down a short trail, but Horacio got Zero down to the shore and rolled him into a small row boat anchored next to the dock. He rowed past the sea shelf and pulled the oars into the boat. Then, he simply shoved Zero’s body into the water and watched him sink.

Let the fish eat him.

Rowing back to the dock was easier with the added help of the occasional wave. He anchored the boat and tied it off, then hoisted himself onto the dock and headed back to the house.

When he cleared the front door, Eva screamed.

Sprinting up the stairs, Horacio rushed into the bedroom, “What happened? Are you alright?”

She reached for him and there was nothing in the world that could keep him from going to her. The room was thick with the scent of her stress and arousal, a mixture that burned his nose.

“Amorcita,” he crooned, “tell me you’re alright.” When she nodded, he added, “I need to get you to a medic.”

All kinds of possibilities flew through his mind, none of them good. She could have a seizure, a heart attack, fall into a coma. With help so far away, there would be nothing he could do if their situation became critical.

Eva huffed, “Its a mile hike to the road and several hours’ drive. I won’t make it.”

As right as she was, Horacio had to try, “I can get you there. I can.”

It was his failure that put her into Zero’s hands. Horacio would not fail her a second time. He could do this. He could.

Her kiss was chaste, “You can’t. I don’t think I can even walk.”

His eyes dropped to her legs. They were shining with sweat, the muscles twitching sporadically. Horacio debated whether or not he could carry her the whole way back to the city. It would take all day. Possibly into the night.

“Its gonna get worse before it gets better,” Eva’s voice was rough as she asked, “How long has it been?”

He checked his watch, “About an hour and a half.”

It certainly hadn’t felt like an hour and a half had passed. Every second of that afternoon felt lightning fast, zooming by him despite every attempt to slow it down.

Eva flinched, her hand touching her belly, “I’m on the upswing. Usually, I’d say I’ve got about two to four hours until full heat, but I honestly have no fucking clue.” She bowed forward, whining, “I think its accelerating.”

His worry for her was a physical pain, and yet it was surmounted by the sweetness of her arousal as it bloomed before his eyes. It didn’t matter that it was synthetic. If Eva needed him, he was going to respond. Dazed, he felt her kiss his cheek, his jaw, forehead, and lips. Chest rumbling with a groan, Horacio gripped the back of her neck and deepened the kiss.

She pushed her hands into his hair, leaning heavily into him. He savored her weight, her taste. His hands pushed under her shirt to lay against her skin. It was too hot, too fevered. That realization jerked him back from the sharp edge of his arousal.

“Eva, stop.”

Fuck, the way she keened. He had to end this fast, while he still had the strength. Already, his body was readying for her.

“Stop,” he said again, desperation touching his tone, “I can’t do this.”

“Why?”

“You’ve been drugged, Eva. I watched him inject you with—I,” his words began to fail him, “You’re drugged. I can’t do this to you while you’re drugged.”

Her hands wandered up his arms, “Its fine.”

No, it wasn’t.

Horacio caught her hands, “Its not fine.”

He couldn’t be here any longer. He couldn’t sit next to Eva while her body was crying out that it needed him. Horacio got up and started towards the door. Every step was painful, but he made himself keep going.

Eva’s voice cut at him like a knife, “Please. Please don’t leave me here alone. Please don’t make me go through this alone.”

This was an impossible situation. This was an impossible fucking situation.

Against his will, Horacio turned and looked at her for a long time, trying to come up with some kind of compromise. Jaw working, he looked around the room. His eyes fell on a nearby armchair. With perfunctory movements, he pulled it from the corner and angled it towards the bed.

Sitting, Horacio rested his arms on his thighs, saying, “I’m going to sit right here. You're going to stay on the bed. Understand?” When she nodded, he added, “You do what you need to do. Whatever you need. I’ll be right here with you.”

Her mouth opened slightly in shock, “You want me to…”

He hummed, “Just like you did a few weeks ago.”

Eva’s tongue ran across her lips, “I don’t know…”

Horacio would never get over the sudden bout of shyness that came over her. Eva’s lashes lowered and her shoulders turned coyly. It was as enthralling as it was endearing that she might need a little of his guidance. Whatever she needed, he would give. Gladly. For as long as she needed him.

Gesturing with one hand, he urged her to lay back. She obeyed almost immediately, eager to please. The sight of her, the way she yielded to him, was almost enough to break his resolve. His fingers curled into the arms of the chair fiercely. He would see this through.

Her hands drifted over her stomach to unsnap the button of her shorts and shove them down to the floor along with her underwear. They landed whisper soft on the carpet. Her knees parted to give him the first look at her folds.

Flushed.

Wanting.

Leaning back in his chair, Horacio spread his legs to relieve some of the pressure on his swollen cock. His body was already trying to fight him, demanding that he get his ass up and over to the bed so he could bury his face between her legs. With the way she was reacting to her own touch, Horacio thought he could get her off in less than a minute.

He’d said it before and he would say it until the day he died. Eva had to prettiest pussy he’d ever laid eyes on. Wet, puffy lips parted between her fingers as she massaged gently for a moment before moving in tight, fast circles. Her other hand joined the first, pushing three fingers inside.

Horacio gripped the arms of the chair tighter, needing the physical restraint to keep him immobile. He licked his lips, wanting desperately to taste her. His mind starting working on compromises, little ways he could skirt around his conscience and give them both what they wanted.

Maybe he could scoot the chair next to the bed. And then, he could swipe his fingers through her dripping folds, gather enough to suck into his mouth. She could get a good grip on his hair, guide him how she wanted. He would be a willing tool, do whatever she wanted.

No. No. If he got even another inch closer, Horacio would end up balls deep in her before he could think twice about it.

A sob caught his attention. Eva was writhing on her hand, telling him that she couldn’t get there. He assured her that she could in a voice that didn’t sound like his own. It wouldn’t take much longer, she could do it. His name sounded in a soft, erotic tone that had him closing his eyes against the image of open thighs and soaking folds. He had to do something. And, quickly.

“What do you need?” he asked urgently, “Did you bring your toy?”

He would be jealous of the thing for pushing into the place where he wanted to be, but Horacio was willing to let it go if it meant Eva would get through this.

“No,” she whined, “I didn’t think I would need it.”

Her tone was both desperate and annoyed. Which was adorable.

Against his will, Horacio laughed, “What do you need?”

She sat up so suddenly that he flinched back into the chair, afraid that she would break their agreement and leave the bed. He might be hanging on by the skin of his teeth, but he was hanging on.

“Give me your shirt.”

This was a new tone from her—firm, almost angry. It was so direct that Horacio couldn’t move. Eva stared at him with her hand outstretched.

“Your shirt, Horacio.”

Spurred into action, Horacio reached back and tugged off his shirt, tossing it over to her. Eva caught it and held it to her nose, eyes rolling back as she fell onto the bed. Horacio loosed a low growl as he watched her turn to her stomach and bury her face in fabric that definitely smelled like him. He couldn’t help but to be a bit smug that it was his scent that she craved above all.

Eva inhaled loudly as she grabbed a pillow and pulled it between her legs so that she sat astride it. Holding his shirt to her nose, she began to move. Horacio couldn’t look away if his life depended on it. Her hips rolled in the same way they did when she was atop him. And, from this angle, he could see every bend and curve of her lower body, every flex of muscle.

Entranced by the display, Horacio adjusted himself carefully. He refused to let the touch of his hand linger more than a second or two. This was not for him. Eva, however, seemed to have other ideas. She looked at him from over her shoulder, their gazes locking. She gave a yelp, the motion of her body stuttering in what was an unmistakable orgasm.

Breathing hard, Horacio kept up the fight against his own needs, forcing himself to watch as the pleasure washed over her. His nails dug into the wooden arms of the chair, scraping painfully. He took that pain into himself, used it to bolster his control.

Eva rolled to her back, dragging his shirt across her body and pushing the fabric down between her legs. Horacio’s mouth turned down as he was denied a view that he coveted more than anything in recent memory. She made it up to him by coming three more times, soaking the shirt clean through.

She passed out a little while after that, leaving Horacio alone with his thoughts. Inundated with her scent and the spectacular sight of his omega laying sated before him, he let himself think about how he was going to make it up to her.

He rested his hand on his fist. The false heat hadn’t broken their bond—he could still feel it stirring around inside him. He was relieved, more than relieved. Horacio didn’t know what he would do with himself if something happened to it. Even contemplating the loss made him want to tear at his hair in anger.

It was a strike that came too close to home. For Horacio, Eva’s first real heat could not come soon enough. Only then would he feel safe that the bond would hold against anything that their lives threw at them. Until that day, he would do whatever it took to protect it.

Eva made a soft sound as she woke. She stared at him blearily, trying to speak. Her voice was full of gravel, the words lost. Rising, Horacio went to the bathroom and poured a cup of water for her from the tap. Returning, he helped her to drink slowly.

Half leaned against the headboard, Eva said, “I think its over. I feel...I think its over.”

He inhaled lightly, noting that her scent had mellowed tremendously. Her skin felt cooler, as well. Sitting, he pulled off his shoes and socks, then climbed into the bed so that he could hold her against his chest. Then, because the light of the day was dying, he turned on the bedside lamp.

Eva laid against him for a moment before she made a sound of disgust and yanked off her t shirt and bra. Skin to skin, Horacio struggled to maintain his distance from her. Against his will, his hands brushed down her sides, barely avoiding the places that might tempt him.

Turning in his arms, Eva kissed his jaw, scraping her teeth over the sensitive skin. Horacio murmured her name as he pulled away, his already strained control stretched even more thin. Her hands caressed his arms, tracing down to his hands. With firm pressure, Eva pressed them in opposite directions until one hand cupped her breast and the other sank into the warm cradle between her hips.

Every muscle in his body locked up, “Its not over.”

Eva smiled knowingly, “Its is.”

“No,” the word was torn from his throat even as his hips lifted against her ass, “You’re still...fuck, you’re still…”

He couldn’t even get the words out. His hands fisted the sheets as he tried to come up with a way to get some space. Horacio was far past any hope of maintaining his composure. How could this keep happening?

“Do you want me to stop?”

Hadn’t he said something similar to her not long ago? Had it been such a tease at the time?

“No,” he admitted reluctantly, “No, you can keep—just don’t...don’t touch me. I won’t be able to stop myself if you touch me.”

That was the fucking truth. Horacio stood on the precipice of a need that felt like it cut through the very core of him.

With lithe, graceful movements, Eva draped her legs over his thighs. Her hands dropped down to her fragrant, deliciously wet pussy. Horacio arched over her so that he could watch.

“I wouldn’t have done it.”

Distracted by the undulating pressure of her body as it moved against him, Horacio hissed, “Done what?”

“Begged for it,” Eva answered, “He said I’d beg for him. I wouldn’t have.”

Horacio’s eyes closed against the anger that rose up from that memory. He wanted to kill Zero all over again. He wanted to kill him a thousand times in a thousand different ways.

“Yours is the only cock I would have begged for,” Eva continued, “He could have shot me full of ten syringes and I’d still only want you to knot me.”

That was it.

That was all it took.

Coming hard, Horacio threw back his head and yelled towards the ceiling. He was distantly aware of Eva following him, her cry muffled by the blood rushing in his ears. Horacio was simultaneously deeply rooted in his body and somewhere outside of it. The feeling was so disorienting that he laid against the headboard for long minutes. It took even longer to get her to the bathroom so that he could draw a bath for them.

“I’m not walking into any bar!” Eva yelled as she straightened.

“Well, that’s a shame.”

They hadn’t discussed the exact details of their plans for the night, but going to a bar wasn’t out of the question. His smile held as he waited for her to react.

Eva spun and let out a breath, “Hey. I’m just gonna...finish packing up.”

He glanced around. Javier looked annoyed. Steve looked like he was trying not to laugh. Horacio lifted his brows at them, “What’s going on?”

Steve gave him the run down, explaining that they got a lead on a shipment and they thought Eva might be able to find out where it was being stored. Just like the church. Horacio might be a little more excited about the lead if it wasn’t getting in the way of his date.

The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on him. Far too many of his exes had felt what he was feeling right now—disappointed and frustrated that the job was cutting into the relationship. Horacio now understood why he got the occasional cold shoulder after a long shift that turned into a three day sting operation.

Eva chimed in, “So, basically they want me to do their job for them.”

She wasn’t wrong.

Javier ran his hand over his face, “That’s not what we’re asking you to do.”

It was exactly what they were asking her to do, and Eva had every right to be angry about it. Horacio knew how sensitive Eva was about her contract. It was the ultimate leverage for good behavior—do what we want or go back to prison.

Every time he thought about it, his gut told him that something wasn’t right. He’d learned a long time ago to trust that instinct, so he put out a few inquiries to people who owed him a favor. For the sake of Eva’s nerves, he hadn’t told her about it. He alleviated the minor guilt he felt at keeping something from her by telling himself that, if he found anything worth sharing, he would be up front about it.

“You are good at it,” he said, knowing that it would rile her.

Eva glared at him, “You’re on their side?”

Horacio held up a hand, “I’m not on sides, just stating facts.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “Okay, listen. Eva, you just go in, look around, leave. You don’t even have to order a drink. Half an hour, tops.”

Feeling further irritated that their date was being interrupted by something Eva could do on literally any other night, Horacio casually put on his jacket and said, “Half an hour. And, she gets the day off tomorrow. Javi, you’ll cover for her. Tell them you sent files to her apartment or something.”

Javier nodded quickly, “Done.”

Pleased that he wasn’t going to have to negotiate further, he moved closer to Eva and reached for her hand, “Good, what’s the address?”

Horacio knew the bar, had been there a few times. It was in a good neighborhood. He rarely had to send anyone out to keep the peace. To be honest, he was surprised the place had been taken over. The owner was a real son of a bitch, and possessive of his property.

To keep Javi from adding onto the assignment, he grabbed Eva’s purse and guided her out of the office without another word. Eva went willingly, her heels clicking alongside him. She didn’t speak until they climbed into his truck.

“Did you just negotiate a paid day off for me?”

He definitely had.

“You need it. They’re working you too hard.”

She scoffed, “You’re one to talk about working too hard.”

Eva was right. Horacio wasn’t going to try to argue. His work consumed almost all of his waking life. It had been his top priority for so long that Horacio didn’t know if he would ever be able to change. He worked nights, evenings, weekends, holidays. He worked in his office, in his truck, in his home. There was very little room for anything else.

He looked over at Eva, noting the way she fiddled with the strap of her purse. Horacio was trying to make room for her, but every time he turned around there was something in the way. A lead. A suspect. A murder.

“Point taken.”

Horacio pulled into the parking lot and chose a space far enough away from the door that the staff wouldn’t know Eva was with him. Despite the fact that he wasn’t in uniform, Horacio knew that his truck was recognizable to most members of the cartel. If this place really was a drop site, they’d be looking for police presence.

Eva’s hand touched his arm, “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. I was frustrated that I keep getting pulled into these things, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

Taking her hand, Horacio kissed the back of it lightly, “You’re fine. And, you should be frustrated because you’re right. You’re doing their leg work.”

She looked through the window at the bar, “I don’t actually mind doing a little reconnaissance, but I’m supposed to be spending time with someone I like, not warding off advances from drunk assholes while I try to figure out where the drugs are coming in at.”

The image she painted didn’t sit well with him. Horacio did not want to think of himself as a jealous man, but the idea of someone else putting their hands on her made something ugly inside him twist. It demanded that he do something about it.

“I think I can help with that,” he asserted in a low voice.

Her expression was sly, “Yeah?”

Words stuck in his throat so that all he could do was hum in the affirmative. He turned her hand over and brought it to his mouth. Her skin was warm as he pressed his lips to it.   His tongue traced along after his mouth, swirling.

He lifted his eyes to gauge her reaction. She wasn’t breathing. Her pupils were blown wide and her scent had sharpened with the first blush of arousal. Encouraged, he reached for her other hand, giving it the same tantalizing kiss.

Eva shivered as her mouth parted with a soft moan. Horacio stared at lips he swore he could already taste. She leaned forward and kissed him. It wasn’t a particularly elegant kiss, too unrestrained, too rough. He took it willingly, was all too happy to sit there and let her roll her tongue against his. When she moved take her seat again, his hand tightened on her wrist.

“Half an hour. After that, I’m coming in after you.”

Her smile was all tease, “Won’t that be a little suspicious? Me coming in, looking around, and leaving with the police. You’re like a minor celebrity here, you know.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“I’ll make it look like an arrest.”

Eva laughed, tossing her hair, “You just want to see if I can still get out of the cuffs. Admit it.”

Again, she wasn’t wrong.

Eva was getting a lot of things right lately.

“I admit that I really want to know how you learned to do it.”

Opening the door, Eva tossed the next sentence over her shoulder, “I’ll never tell.”

“We’ll see about that,” he replied as she closed the door.

Horacio couldn’t stop staring at her ass as she walked to the entrance. Her hips swung naturally from side to side, the fabric of her skirt stretched over her body. His teeth sank into his bottom lip as he recalled just how he felt about it. The skirt was the subject of many late nights and more than one shower. His imagination was keen to know what was underneath.

He shifted in his seat and tried to relax. The attempt lasted about six seconds before he scoffed and ran a hand down his face. Eva’s scent was all over his palm. He pressed it against his face and inhaled sharply.

What had he just done?

Horacio knew why he’d done it, but he he didn’t know what would happen because of it. He’d fucking marked her. Just like that. Without talking about it, without asking about it. And, she’d let him.

Eyes on the door of the bar, Horacio tried to work through his own emotions. He couldn’t find it in himself to regret it. Knowing that she was walking around with his scent on her made him feel something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. In any case, he felt it, whatever it was. And, it felt good.

Their dates were infrequent, but he loved every second of them. He loved watching her eat, devouring food like she may never have another meal. He loved listening to her ramble about the things she was passionate about. He loved that she was embarrassed of that passion. He loved kissing her.

Horacio sighed as he thought about how much he loved kissing her. Eva kissed in the same way she enjoyed a meal. She was never satisfied by quick pecks to her lips. Eva wanted deep and hard and passionate.

He wondered if she’d be the same way in bed.

Every time Horacio touched her, it was an exercise in will. He’d gotten better at not losing himself in the feeling of being so close to such an exquisite woman, but he was far from perfect. It didn’t seem likely that he would ever actually achieve perfect. He might be as close as he was ever going to get.

It was good enough.

It had to be good enough.

Horacio didn’t know how much longer he could resist her. When she was near, he wanted to kiss her. When he kissed her, he wanted to touch her. When he touched her, he wanted to fuck her. Marking Eva only made all his wanting more intense. It burned through his veins and settled low in his belly. The arousal he felt was a constant companion. It primed his body to be ready if Eva gave him even the slightest hint that she wanted him.

Speaking of which…

Eva was walking towards the car, looking proud. She must have found something. He watched her traipse through the parking lot at an even pace, her purse slung over her shoulder and a smile on her lips.

She definitely found something.

Horacio’s chest expanded with pride. Whoever was supervising Eva clearly didn’t know what they had. She was being wasted as a data analyst when she could make much more of a difference in the field.  As she opened the door to the truck, he briefly considered poaching her to his side of things.

When she climbed in, he asked, “You see anything interesting?”

She nodded, “Let’s maybe get a few blocks from here before I start explaining.”

He turned the engine over, “Javier and Steve are not too far away.”

“Good. They can write up the report.”

Her voice was hoarse. She sounded tired. She was rubbing at her eyes.

He glanced at her sidelong, “You okay?”

Eva blinked rapidly, “Yeah, I’m okay. Allergies.”

Horacio didn’t believe her, but he kept driving. They pulled into an outdoor cafe where Steve and Javier were already drinking, a bucket with more bottles in front of them. Horacio sat next to Eva, handing a beer to her and taking one for himself.

Eva took it wordlessly, drinking deep. The table sat in silence, waiting for her to speak. While Steve looked patient and relaxed, Javi was fiddling with his cigarettes. His shoulders were rolled forward and there was a crease between his brows. Both of them were staring at Eva.

When she finally noticed, she muttered, “Oh, right.” Then, “I mean, pretty simple operation. They’ve got a false door behind the window in the back by the picture of the dog. They’re putting the product in ice to conceal the smell, although I don’t know that it would fool a trained dog. Back room is where they melt it down, probably where they weigh it, too.”

She really was good at this. Horacio leaned forward into the table, surprised by how turned on he was as he listened to her talk.

“That’s it?” Javier asked.

Eva’s eyes narrowed dangerously in a look he hadn’t seen before, “I’m sorry, has it escaped your notice that I’ve now found two caches of illegal substances? I know you were looking for coke and not pot, but ‘That’s it?’ Seriously?”

Horacio looked across the parking lot as he drank his beer. Eva could be pretty sarcastic from time to time. And, she wasn’t above cutting words. But, there was something truly angry about the way she was talking to Javier. Had something happened in the bar? If so, why hadn’t she told him?

His attention came back to the conversation when Javier mentioned a raid. Almost as soon as he said it, Eva started laughing. He looked at her curiously both bemused and baffled by her odd behavior. Her head was in her hands and her laughter was near hysterical.

Eva took a breath, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ve just had the worst case of déjà vu.”

Horacio looked at Javier, wondering what the fuck she was talking about. The other man gave him a subtle shrug, one hand reaching for a pack of cigarettes that sat on the table in front of him.

“You want to share with the class?” Steve prompted.

“Nope.”

A single word. Just one. It was an angry word. Horacio couldn’t figure out why she’d be angry after such a success. His eyes narrowed at her as she continued to hide her face in her hands.

What happened in there?

Javier changed the subject, “You want to make the call?”

He did want to make the call. Another bust so soon after his last one would definitely help him expand the unit, even if his boss might object. With more men under his purview, Horacio might have a fighting chance at taking down his real target.

He looked at Eva. She was staring down at the bottle in her hands and she’d gone very still. Suddenly the raid didn’t seem so appealing.

“I’m off tonight. It’ll be there tomorrow.”

Javier, unhappy, threw back his beer and walked away.

Steve stood to follow his partner, “We’ll call you in the morning to work it out. Thanks, Eva.”

Eva gave a limp wave, “No problem.” Then, to him, “I think you pissed him off.”

“I’m not wrong. It will be there tomorrow.”

She was eyeing him closely, “I didn’t say you were wrong. But, I am surprised by it.”

Horacio pushed from the table and offered her his hand, “Which part?”

Eva hummed in question as he guided her to the truck. Horacio scanned the street, looking to anyone who might be watching. There were a few people on an outdoor patio, a few more talking on a doorstep. None of them looked very much like a threat.

“What part are you surprised by?”

Turning, she leaned against the truck and looked him over, “You’re a get up and go kind of guy. You don’t put things off until tomorrow.”

Horacio lifted a brow, “You’re right. I don’t. In the interest of not putting things off, do you want to tell me what that was back there?”

She was embarrassed again. Her eyes dropped and she tried (and failed) to hide a smile. It was cute, but unhelpful.

He stepped forward and grasped her chin, “No. Don’t start doing that. Is it an inside thought?”

Eva giggled, “No. Its not an inside thought.”

“Then, what?” he cajoled, trying to catch her eye, “Tell me.”

She huffed, “They had a lot of pot in there. I mean, a metric fuck ton.”

He wasn’t following, but Horacio enjoyed the way she wriggled beneath his stare, “I haven’t seen you this flustered since that meeting in the conference room. Its cute.”

Her jaw clenched, “Oh, don’t call me cute.” Her ire dissolved into giggles, “I’m sorry, I really am.”

Horacio gathered her to his chest, chin resting on her head as he waited for her to continue. Her hands ran down his arms and her fingers caught his, linking. The act of holding her hand shouldn’t have felt so grounding. It was, though. Grounding. Anchoring.

“Promise you won’t laugh.”

“I promise,” he lied.

Her voice was small and shy as she explained how much smoke was wafting around while she was scoping out the bar. The end of her sentences rose up, as if in question rather than a statement. About five or six words in, Horacio started to struggle with keeping a straight face. Eva was high. And, it was fucking adorable.

Horacio tried really hard. He did. He put in so much effort to keep from doing exactly what she’d told him not to do.

He tried.

He failed.

“I knew it,” she cried in dismay, “I knew you would laugh. I have a contact high and you’re laughing at me.”

“I’m not laughing,” he said as he laughed.

“You are,” Eva shot back, crossing her arms.

Horacio cupped her cheeks, saying, “Don’t pout.”

To assuage her ire, he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss. It was difficult to do around the smile. Her teeth caught his lower lip sharply, the pain soothed by her tongue. She tried to deepen it, but Horacio pulled back enough that their lips were barely touching. He couldn’t risk falling too deeply into the kiss—couldn’t risk being seen making out with her like a teenager.

“Its late. Let me take you home.”

Eva went quiet on the drive. He spent a couple blocks debating on whether or not he wanted to point it out. The night wasn’t exactly going well, but they weren’t fighting. He hesitated to draw her into a conversation she might not want to have yet. But, Horacio’s need for answers eventually overcame any sense of caution.

“I can hear you thinking over there,” he said as he pulled to a stop at a red light.

She ducked her head, “Yes, I’m thinking.”

“What about?”

In the space left by her hesitation, Horacio watched the light turn green. His foot remained on the brake.

“Um,” she hedged, “I was thinking that sooner or later we should probably acknowledge the obvious.”

So, they were having this conversation. That was fine with him. Horacio was ready for it. He leaned a forearm on the console between them, “What is that?”

“That I am an omega and that you are an alpha,” she hesitated a beat, “That just about any time I spend with you drives me absolutely crazy.”

The feeling was mutual. It was so fucking mutual.

“Is this good or bad?”

She smiled, “Good, very good. At least I think so.”

His brows lowered, “Then, why would we need to acknowledge it?”

Eva refused to take the bait, “You marked me today, Horacio. You knew what you were doing when you did it.”

There was no sense in denying it. So, he didn’t. Horacio freely admitted what he’d done, his tone heavily implying that he had no regrets.

Her expression closed off a bit, “I was brought up to believe that...meant something.”

So was he.

“Is this the weed talking?”

Eva laughed. The sound was bright in the silence of the car, “No, no. It just got me thinking, that’s all.”

Horacio could see an offer of escape when it was presented to him. He didn’t feel like taking it, “Eva, do you remember what I said when we met at the church? That I couldn’t breathe when I first met you?” When she nodded, he continued, “Do you know what I also felt? When you were telling us about your husband?”

He described the rage that took over. The hot, incandescent anger that boiled his blood and made him want to lash out at a dead man. He told her that about how delicious she was, how he couldn’t stand for another person to lay hands on her. Horacio had never said so much about what he was feeling to another person. And, once he got started, he couldn’t seem to stop.

“And when you said you’d killed him for it, I thought to myself, ‘she doesn’t need protection’,” Horacio admitted, “But, I wanted to give it to you, anyways.”

The light turned green and he took his foot off the brake.

Eva’s face was confused, “Really?”

He nodded, “Then, you saved my ass in the bar fight.”

The image of her throwing a flaming bottle of liquor was something Horacio would never forget. Her face would be forever lit with fire and determination. Others might think Eva was weak, but Horacio knew better. He could see the fighter underneath despite all her attempts to hide it.

She smiled, “I think that was more of a gunfight.”

“It was both,” he conceded, “You still kept me from getting shot.”

“I also threw a Molotov cocktail and set the place on fire,” Eva shot back with a smug little grin.

Horacio gave in to the urge to laugh, “That was inventive.”

She shrugged off the compliment, “I wouldn’t have done it if I thought the table would hold.”

The table was shit, and he said as much. Pulling the truck to a stop, Horacio cut the engine and got out. He circled the front of it and took her hand as she slid from the passenger’s seat. He held that hand until they reached her door.

Eva pulled her keys from her purse, “Do you want to come in?”

Yes, he fucking did. He just had to be sure that this was what she wanted. Taking her chin in his hand, Horacio looked her over carefully for any signs that she might still be intoxicated. Eva’s brows came together for a moment, then her eyes narrowed as she jerked her chin away.

“I’m fine. I was the smallest bit high for, like, fifteen minutes. I’ve got full control over my faculties.” Her mouth twisted wryly, “Well, as much control as I ever do around you.”

Horacio continued to look. He had to be sure.

Her hand touched his chest, her eyes wide and entreating, “Listen, if you don’t want to, I understand.”

Horrified that she might think he didn’t want her, Horacio gripped her wrist, “I’ve told you before that you shouldn’t mistake restraint for lack of want.”

It was a testament to the strength of Horacio’s resolve that Eva would think he might not want her. All his need so suppressed that it manifested in vivid dreams that left him hard and wanting.

Eva released a shuddering, relieved breath, “Okay. So, are you going to follow through on that want?”

Yes, he fucking was.

Course set, Horacio pushed her into the apartment and closed the door behind him. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders as she accepted a kiss. He reveled in the taste of her, the way her body pressed against him. His hands followed the length of her spine and down to the ass that had been distracting him all night. As she had so many times before, Eva melted.

The need inside him, a need that he had been holding at bay for far too long, bloomed wide and hot. There were so many things that he wanted to do, so many options to touch and taste and feel, that he was struggling to decide which he wanted to start with.

She arched into him with a soft whine that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He was going to hear a lot more of that, and soon.

Knowing that he had to set the most important ground rule before she dragged him under, he pulled back and said, “One thing: I need you to let me lead. I’ll make you feel good, but let me set the pace.”

He knew how she would want it. Knew that she’d push him to take her hard and fast. Greedy. If he wasn’t careful, that was exactly what he’d do. Horacio would bend her over the nearest flat surface and fuck her until they were both too tired to move. He could already feel his hands curling into soft flesh, could already sense how his body rested on the sharp edge of desire.

Eva’s lips parted, “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

Horacio almost didn’t believe her, but he wanted her too badly to argue. If she pushed him too hard, he would check her and hope that he had the strength to hold the line. If not, he might not get another chance to gorge himself on her—because that was what he was going to do. Gorge himself. He was going to swallow down every moan, every cry, every drop of her come until he was satisfied.

Eva’s body went lax against him as he led her slowly backwards towards her bedroom. Their kisses were sweet and slow, their steps small. It wasn’t how his body wanted it. It wasn’t nearly enough to pacify the alpha inside him. Prowling at the very back of his mind, it snarled behind the cage he’d put it in.

He pulled her blouse from her skirt and pushed his hands beneath it. The fabric of her bra was silken against his fingers, the curve of her breasts fitting into his palms. He ran his thumbs over puckered nipples, listening to her groan as he led her into the bedroom.

Eyeing her skirt, Horacio’s voice was hoarse as he said, “You’ve worn this skirt before. I’ve had dreams about this skirt.”

All those dreams, all those fantasies couldn’t compare to the reality of tugging down the zipper and letting the material fall to the floor. He bit down on his lip as he took in the shape of her thighs, the little mole just below the crease of her hip. He would have gone to his knees to nuzzle that tiny mark if Eva hadn’t tried to pull his shirt up and over his head.

Amused by her frustrated little whine, he reached back and pulled off the polo, dropping it to the ground. He felt his chest swell as she looked him over, her mouth open and her eyes wandering. All those long runs, all those days lifting weights and sweating in the heat of the gym were all worth it to see the desire written so clearly in her eyes.

It would be so easy to get lost in that desire, to let her draw him into the circle of her arms. He could almost feel the ecstasy of handing Eva the reigns and letting her do whatever she wanted with him. So, so easy.

No.

He needed to keep things slow. He needed to see to her first.

Horacio helped Eva to lay down on the mattress, instructing her to lean back. On his knees, he ran his palms up her calves, her sides, and around to her back where he unsnapped her bra. His mouth trailed over her stomach as he pulled down her underwear, leaving her completely naked before him.

He licked his lips as he stared. Between her thighs he could just make out the wet folds of her pussy, could already scent her arousal. It clung to her like perfume, made it impossible not to taste. Widening his stance, Horacio started to lean down when her knees flinched together.

She was not going to keep this from him.

Chin lowered, he looked at her and spoke a single word in censure, “No.”

Horacio had used this tone with her just once before, right after she’d passed out in the back of the truck. Then, he’d been worried for her safety. Now, he was worried for his sanity. He was so close to getting what he’d been dreaming about for weeks and he didn’t know what he would do if she wouldn’t let him get his mouth on her.

The breath he was holding whooshed out of him as her hips relaxed and her legs fell open. He adjusted his grip on her thighs and buried his face into her folds. Tongue flat against her, he licked slowly from bottom to top.

He knew it

He fucking knew it.

Eva was as sweet as she smelled.

Sweeter.

Hotter.

I’m gonna lose my fucking mind, he thought as he gently sucked on her clit.

Her fingers pushed into his hair as her hips tilted towards his mouth in a wordless plea. He let her guide him, let her tell him exactly what she wanted. Her slick dripped down his chin, easing the way for him to thrust two fingers inside.

Horacio massaged her opening, spreading his fingers to help prepare her before he added a third, smirking at the way she whimpered with the additional pressure. His cock was already pushing against the fly of his pants, heavy and thick. He resisted the urge to palm himself, hoping that the lack of stimulation would give him the control he needed to see this through to the end. She was already breathing hard, moaning loudly, and every inch she got closer to coming on his face made it that much more difficult to keep from yanking down his zipper and pulling her into his lap.

Eva’s heels were digging into his back. Her hands were tugging sharply at his hair. He watched her eyes roll back as he swirled his tongue around her clit. Her cry was hoarse, as if he’d reached into her throat and pulled it out of her. Around his fingers, her body contracted hard and he swallowed the fresh wave of slick that rolled into his palm.

As she came down, Horacio helped her further onto the bed. He kissed up her stomach, her chest, her throat until his lips rested over her scent gland. With gentle pressure, he sucked a kiss to it. She was sweet, here, too.

Eva curled against him, moaning. He shushed her, giving more kisses as he trailed the backs of his fingers down the center of her chest and over her mound. Here, he circled them gently. Eva hissed and grabbed at his neck. Her body arched into him, breasts pushing into into his chest.

Horacio was so distracted by how soft her skin was that he didn’t catch how she got his belt open until it was almost too late. He panicked as he grabbed her hands. Not yet. Not yet.

He wasn’t ready. He needed more time. The feeling inside him was still too wild. Too forceful. It railed at him loudly, tore at his composure.

“I told you that you needed to let me lead, Eva.”

Her expression was hesitant, as if she thought he might get up and walk away. Eva’s eyes watched him carefully as her body began to lean back. The tight coil of panic inside him began to ease.

Pushing the hair from her face, he tried to reassure her, “I’m going to get you ready, okay?”

She laughed, telling him that she’d just come and that she thought she was ready. Horacio was already shaking his head before she even finished her sentence. She didn’t understand, but he could fix that. He guided one of her hands down, pressing it into the shape of his erection.

Letting her hand rest there, Horacio waited for her to make a decision. It would not be the first time a woman expressed some form of hesitation when he got them into bed. His cock was, he supposed, proportional with the rest of his body—thick enough to make anyone think twice.

Eva’s mapped him carefully, eyes widening with surprise. Then, her expression turned into a mask of determination as she opened his fly and slipped her hand inside. He sucked in a harsh breath as her fingers circled his length. She gripped him firmly in a single stroke that made it difficult to think.

“Do you understand why I need to lead this?” he murmured breathlessly near her ear, “I need to make sure you’re ready.”

Thankfully, Eva let him push her hand away, let him work his fingers back inside her. Head tipped back, she groaned softly, her tongue licking at dry lips. Encouraged by the roll of her hips, Horacio quickened his pace, rubbed his thumb over her clit in tight circles. If she came again, she might be wet enough to take him. Even then, he knew he would have to go slowly.

Her hands grabbed at his forearms, her chest rising and falling rapidly. He marveled at the way her lips pulled back from her teeth, the way she writhed beneath his touch. Sweat pooled over her chest and in the hollows of her hips, her heart hammered against his chest. His fingers were covered in so much slick that he envied them.

A high pitched moan preceded the first spasm of orgasm. Her scent sharpened, the doughy vanilla sparking into something hot and fiery. Eva’s body bowed with a blistering heat that was searing. It was a small miracle that Horacio was still wearing his pants—if he was any fucking closer to her, if they were skin to skin, he might have come all over himself.

“Good?” he asked, not surprised when she nodded.

Recovering far too quickly, Eva hooked her fingers into the waistband of his khakis. Knowing that he’d put her off for long enough, Horacio shucked them to the floor. Eva leaned into his side, kissing and touching him lightly. Hot hands caressed down his chest and kneaded his thighs, everywhere but the one place that was begging for it. When she thumbed the elastic of his briefs, Horacio shifted his weight and rolled Eva to her back.

Settled between her thighs, he kissed her, “Condom?”

She nodded and pointed to the nightstand. He opened the drawer, pulled out a little foil packet and went to work getting naked and rolling it on. It gave him a few precious moments to recenter himself, to make sure he was ready to be inside her for the first time.

Don’t fuck this up, repeated on a loop in his head.

Eva rose, running her hands over his thighs, skimming his hips and the flat of his stomach. Even that light touch was too much. He cupped her neck, kissing her mouth as he urged her to lay back.

“Slow. We go slow.”

Horacio wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself or to Eva—it didn’t matter. For good measure, he said it again as he lined himself up.

Ah, fuck me, he thought as her heat surrounded him. She was plenty wet, but so fucking tight. It took every ounce of his will to inch inside, to let her have time to adjust to his size. He would not fuck this up.

Hips rolling excruciatingly slow, Horacio pushed forward. A soft sound of distress hit his ears like a ten pound hammer. Horacio stopped and looked up at her, clocked the pain in her eyes. This wasn’t going to work.

New strategy.

He pulled out and rolled to his back, “C’mere.”

Eva climbed atop him, guided by his hands. She rose up and shifted her hips down, her body enveloping him one inch at a time. Eva’s breaths were loud as she rocked up and down, occasionally rotating to get a better angle. Horacio forced himself to remain still while she moved despite the way his body was screaming at him to tighten his grip on her hips and pull.

After the first few shallow thrusts, Eva whined, “I don’t think I can.”

Horacio was going to die if she stopped. His body was going to come apart with the force of being denied what he so desperately wanted. It screamed at him to roll her back over and sink deep, to lose himself in her wet, burning heat.

Instead, he sat up and wrapped his arms around her, “You can. You can.”

Murmuring encouragement, Horacio took the weight of the motion.. He moved with her. Up and down. A little more. A little more. Eva’s nails dug into his skin. The small pain was nothing compared to how fucking good it felt when her hips started to roll against him—how her body eased open. Lulled by the steady, even rhythm, Horacio began to think that he just might get through this without hurting her.

Suddenly, she dropped down until her ass was sitting flush against his thighs.

It shouldn’t have shocked him that he fit so perfectly inside her. Every nerve in his body was firing at once, sending frazzled messages to his brain that there was a fucking perfect omega sitting astride him and that he needed her to fuck him.

Horacio checked in with her one more time, satisfied with the breathy, ‘I’m good. So good.’ And then he let Eva take over. She widened her stance, taking him to the base and grinding down. Horacio’s eyes squeezed shut as he tightened his arms around her, desperate to stunt her movements so that he could clear the stars from his vision. Already, he could feel the familiar sizzle of an orgasm pushing its way from his balls all the way to the tip of his cock.

She fought him, hips shimmying, little whimpers of need falling from her lips. He braced his feet on the bed, tried to find an anchor against the rising tide of pleasure.

“I’m so full,” Eva moaned into his ear, “You fill me up.”

He could fill her more.

The image of just how he could do that flashed so suddenly across his mind’s eye that it caught him off guard. His hips snapped up before he could catch them, grinding hard in an effort to fit a non-existent knot into her. Gritting his teeth, Horacio berated himself. There was no way he hadn’t hurt her with the force of that thrust. He stilled, waiting for the sound of pain, for her to end it.

Eva made no such sound. In fact, she was telling him just the opposite. Telling him just how good it felt to be riding him between whines and moans and sloppy kisses. Her words, all that praise, made him think that he could be rougher with her. That she would like it.

He had to stop her mouth. He couldn’t fucking focus if she kept talking like that.

Kissing her hard, Horacio braced one hand on the mattress and let his hips arch off the bed. She moved with him, driving a hard rhythm that pushed him far, far too close to coming. He tried to tell her to slow down, could barely get the words out. If she kept going, if she kept—

She took pity on him.

Eva kissed him sweetly as he laid back and Horacio breathed an audible sigh of relief. He worked his way back from the edge, blinking rapidly to clear his vision. Beneath her, he held her hips, watching her body rise up again.

She was so beautiful. Sitting astride him, Eva looked as if she belonged there. Her hands braced on his chest as she rocked forward and then back. Forward and back. He caught his breath, lulled by the fluid motion of her hips.

Almost as soon as she started, Eva was dropping right back into the hard and fast pace he’d just interrupted. Horacio didn’t have the strength to stop her a second time. All of the fight went out of him as he let her do as she wanted.

His head tipped back and his hips arched up to thrust hard against her. Heat dripped down his spine, pulling every muscle tight until he couldn’t hold on a second longer. Rough, needy sounds scraped against the back of his throat as he came.

Eva rode him through it, her eyes shining with pride.

Spent, Horacio helped her to lay beside him while he dealt with the condom. Then, he leaned his weight on his elbow and tucked her hair behind her ear. She smiled and looked away in a shy gesture that seemed out of place in the moment.

Adorable.

Gathering her to his chest, Horacio asked if she was sore. And, to his great relief, she proclaimed that she was fine. He hadn’t fucked it up, after all.

Later, they showered.

In the hot spray of water, he couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her, didn’t want to let her go for even a second. He kissed her soft skin. He nuzzled her neck. He traced her curves as far as he could reach.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut, then pressed the fingers of both hands into the muscle between his neck and shoulders. Horacio knew he’d been working too hard, spending more time at the office than he did at his own house. It was a habit that couldn’t go on much longer. He was sleeping better, which helped. But, even Horacio knew that he had his limits.

It was the faces of the victims that pushed him to keep going. Innocent women brutalized and killed only to be molded into doll-like corpses. Horacio was by turns both sickened and curious. What kind of person worked like this? And, how many more omegas would they find before he caught up with them?

A knock at the door broke him from his thoughts. He looked up, saying Eva’s name with a smile.

Eva returned that smile as she approached, “Hi. I brought pictures from the church. Steve said you’d want them as evidence.”

She handed the folder to him, and he leafed through the contents one by one. Steve was good at capturing the moment in sterile clarity. This particular moment was a priest being handcuffed in his own church.

They’d made a good catch that day, with Eva’s help. According to Javier, she just walked in, wandered around, and found the drugs. Horacio still wasn’t sure if he believed the story, but what he did believe in was the kilos he’d taken off the street. How he got them was irrelevant.

“You look exhausted.”

His eyes lifted from the photos, “Its been a difficult week.”

Eva’s response was touched with sarcasm, “I’m sure. Catching criminals is hard work. Take it from someone who used to be one.”

She joked about it so casually that it was easy to forget the life Eva led so long ago. Her confident smiles and congenial nature made trusting her effortless. Horacio struggled to keep his guard up when he talked with her. It was even more difficult after that moment in the records room. And then, there was the aftermath of the bombing.

His body wanted to lean into her space. He had to make himself take a step or two back from her when they talked about her reports. More than once, he’d reached out to touch her hand or her shoulder only to curl his fingers into the palm of his hand and squeeze. Eva didn’t seem to notice his constant internal struggle—which, Horacio supposed, was a relief.

Still, he couldn’t help but to goad her, “Were you difficult to catch?”

“Oh, I was the worst,” she assured him, “Had to eventually turn myself in, just so the justice system could get a win.”

There was such sincerity in her tone that Horacio let out a surprised laugh. He set the photos down and tried to stand, wincing as the movement sent pain down his neck and spine.

“Are you hurt?” Eva asked, her brow furrowed.

Horacio shook his head carefully, “No, just slept on my neck wrong.”

The joys of being over forty.

Her inhale was audible. Horacio caught the flash of uncertainty on her face before she turned away. He watched her close the door with brows raised. They hadn’t had a moment to talk—not really—since he’d built her a nest in her apartment and now they were standing in a closed room together. The act, itself, was superficially meant to see to her comfort.. Deep down, Horacio knew that it was far more revealing than just simple comfort.

He had the brief worry that she might be about to tell him that they should keep their relationship professional. If that was what she wanted, he could back off. He would be disappointed, but he wouldn’t go where he wasn’t wanted.

“I can help, if you’re okay with that.”

Relief washed over him. She wasn’t going to reject him. He tilted his head to the side and said, “I’m okay with that.”

She smirked, moving towards him with an exaggerated swing in her hips, “You don’t even know what I’ll do.”

The implication was clear to him. She was a convicted murderer and they were alone. It didn’t matter that he could easily overpower her—he was not going to think about thoughts that provoked. Horacio had seen stronger men brought down by weaker opponents than Eva.

“I’m relatively certain that you’re not going to hurt me. And, I’m armed.”

Her eyes dropped to the gun holstered to his side and she visibly conceded the point. Looking around, Eva grabbed a nearby stool and set it firmly in front of her. She gestured for him to sit.

Horacio moved around his desk and sat with his back to her. It was awkward, not being able to see what she was doing. But, he folded his hands in his lap and waited.

“Where does it hurt?”

Huffing, he turned his head to look at her over his shoulder, “Is everywhere a good answer?”

The movement aggravated his already sore muscles. Pain radiated down his neck and into his arm to his elbow where it flared with heat. Not wanting to exacerbate an already sore muscle group, he looked ahead once more as he listened for her answer.

“Let’s start with your neck. Is it upper or lower?”

“Both.”

“Is it okay if I touch you?”

Does the Pope wear a funny dress?, he thought to himself.

Instead of voicing the obvious, he simply nodded. Her hands drifted from his neck to his shoulders. The motion was meant to be soothing, but he could feel his body tightening with awareness.

She touched him more intimately in the back of the truck. And again in her apartment. The hands on his shoulders gripped him tight, held him still so that she could—fuck, he should not be thinking about the way her tongue rolled over his skin. Or, how hard it was for him to walk away from her as she settled into the nest he built for her.

“I’m going to push a little. It might hurt.”

Horacio drew in a deep breath in preparation before two of her fingers dug in. The low groan from his lips was involuntary. Lancing heat radiated down his spine in a way that made his back want to bow away from her. With two fingers, she’d made a man twice her size want to collapse on the floor in pain.

He grit his teeth, vowing to remain quiet while she did her work. Her fingers circled, first wider, then smaller. She loosened muscle after muscle with firm, rhythmic strokes. Her method varied over the long minutes.  Sometimes she used the palm of her hand, sometimes she rolled a knuckle into a particularly deep knot. It hurt, but Horacio didn’t much care as long as she kept touching him.

His head hung forward. His shoulders dropped. Slow breaths moved in and out of his lungs. The discomfort waned to a dull ache and then sweet relaxation. Her thumbs pressed into the space where his spine met his skull. A fresh wave of sharp pain shot through him and he gasped. Eva’s thumbs let up a bit, but she kept kneading.

Horacio let out a long breath. If he set aside the fact that she was pushing on all the places where his muscles were the tightest, he could focus on the pleasure of being touched by her. Up until the moment in the van, Eva was very careful in how she touched him. Hesitant hands would lay on his chest or rest against his palms.

Except when they kissed.

When their lips touched, it was as if something inside Eva broke open. All her anxiety, all her apprehension, melted away. It left behind a woman who unashamedly took what she wanted. And, Horacio was happy to be taken by her. He relished the deep kisses and the way her arms folded over his shoulders to keep him close. Encouraged her to scrape her teeth over his bottom lip or tug on his hair.

Too soon, Eva’s hands lifted. It took him a few seconds to realize that she’d stopped and his head lifted so that he could look at her with half closed eyes, “Thank you.”

Eva smiled, “You’re welcome.”

Horacio realized that she was probably going to head back to the Embassy soon. He didn’t want her to go. He’d been so busy lately that he couldn’t find time to sit with her and talk, nevermind anything more intimate. Quickly, he searched for a reason to keep her with him.

“Are you hungry?”

Her smile widened, “The answer to that question is always ‘yes’.”

“Good,” he said, a little too happy with himself that he found an opening, “Come to lunch with me.”

It was little too early for it, but Horacio didn’t have any meetings until later in the afternoon and he didn’t know when they would get another opening to spend time with one another.

“Okay.”

Horacio circled his desk, feeling smug. While far from the fantasy of dinner and dancing that he planned once he knew her a little better, it was at least a meal. He could be patient until there was a time where their schedules would allow space for an actual date.

“Where are we going?” Eva asked as they crossed the parking lot.

“There’s a place not far from here. Good food. No bombs.”

Even as he said it, Horacio felt an internal flinch. He didn’t know how she felt about the fact that she’d almost died, and he was afraid that joking about it might put her off.

“Well, that’s a relief,” she replied, “The last place I went to was crawling with them. I didn’t even stay long enough for a drink.”

Horacio smiled as he climbed into the car and turned over the ignition. Backing out of the parking spot, he was aware that she was watching him. Horacio wasn’t exactly surprised. She’d studied him in the past, attention following him as he moved around the room. He would be a hypocrite to say that he hadn’t done much the same.

“What?” he asked, eyes on the road.

She shook her head, “Nothing. I’m just, you know, trying to figure you out.”

You and me, both, he thought.

What he said was, “What have you figured out so far?”

Eva bit her lip, thinking, “You’ve got one foot in the darkness.”

Horacio had heard a lot of people tell him about himself. Sometimes he listened, sometimes he didn’t. What Eva had just said was so odd that he had to make an effort.

“What does that mean?”

Her words were rushed, her speech pressured. Horacio let her go a while, hoping that she’d make her way to her point. It was kind of cute to see her ramble when she was always so guarded with her words. When she stumbled a few too many times over her explanation, he lifted the hand that had been resting on the gear shift and touched her knee.

“You want to try again?”

Eva swallowed audibly, “I know that you sometimes have to do things that aren’t strictly above board. Believe me, I know. But, its hard to get out of once you’ve got both feet in.”

His hand flexed on the wheel as he thought about what she’d said, “I hear you.”

And, he did hear her. The job was not an easy one. It required him to do things that weren’t purely lawful, made him resort to a violence that sometimes felt too good. In the early years, Horacio considered quitting many times. Mostly after a particularly difficult case that led to no justice. And then, he got promoted. Got promoted again. In his new position, he was able to make some changes, burn away some of the corruption in his unit. Nowadays, Horacio settled for hoping that the good things he did would outweigh the bad that came along with it.

“Good. Maybe take my advice on this.”

There wasn’t much conversation after that. Eva wouldn’t meet his gaze, looking out the window at the passing scenery. Horacio brooded about his life choices. Halfway to the restaurant, he wondered if he made a mistake in trying to draw her out.

Things got better when they arrived at the restaurant. The dimly lit room was down a flight of stairs and brick on all sides. The white table cloths offset the atmosphere, bright spots that dotted the floor. They sat and the wait staff handed them a menu. Eva picked it up and looked it over while Horacio tried not to stare at her.

“You know what?” she said more than asked, “You order for me.”

Horacio peered at her from over the menu, “What do you like?”

Eva rested her head on her palm, blinking slowly at him, “I’m pretty easy to please.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he murmured absently.

The waitress arrived and asked for their order. Horacio considered his options and settled on something fried and savory. He also ordered bourbon. It felt like they both might need a drink.

Said bourbon arrived a few moments later. Eva picked up the glass and sniffed it delicately, “You know, I’m not supposed to be drinking while I’m working.”

Not supposed to do field work.

Not supposed to drink.

There was a lot of ‘not supposed to’ in Eva’s life.

“Is that in the contract?” he asked, a sharp quality to his voice.

Eva’s reply was lighthearted, “Yes, actually. Page two, I think. No illicit substances while on the clock.”

For every rule, there was a loophole and Horacio was good at finding them, “But, you’re not on the clock. You’re at lunch.”

For half a second, Horacio thought she might decline. Instead, she tipped the glass back and sipped. Her eyes squinted as she coughed, turning her head to the side. He knew the fire in the drink he’d ordered, had done much the same when he’d first tasted it. Horacio fought to keep the smirk off his face while he sipped from his glass.

When she gathered herself, Eva said, “I’m going to have to be on a one drink limit with that. I still have to read through last month’s reports and I’d like to not fall asleep at my desk.”

“That boring?”

Eva gave an exaggerated sigh, “Dear God, yes. You’d think they’d, I don’t know, put a little spin on it, add a little flair. Make it interesting for people like me who have to read them over and over.”

The woman had a point, which he allowed easily, “At its core, this is pretty boring work.”

Horacio couldn’t hope to count the number of nights he’d spent trying to stay awake while sitting in a car across the street from a suspect’s house. Filling out the reports never got any better, either. What most people thought was cloak and dagger ended out being more pen and paper.

She lifted a brow, “It doesn’t have to be. I can think of, like, ten ways to make it more fun off the top of my head.”

He wasn’t sure that they had the same definition of ‘fun’, but he was curious enough to say, “Okay, I’ll bite. Tell me one way it can be more fun.”

Eva’s shoulders turned coyly as she pretended to think about it, “Alright. First off, you could get a little inventive with the sting operations.”

A smile threatened to form on his lips, “Inventive?”

“Yeah,” she replied with a dismissive gesture, as if it were obvious, “Throw in a flame thrower or two.”

The suggestion was so outlandish that he couldn’t help but to laugh, “A flame thrower? You think we have the budget for a flame thrower?”

His department couldn’t even afford to fix their shitty fax machine and she was talking about purchasing heavy machinery. To be fair, he had to admit that it would be fun to use during a take down. His men would get a kick out of it—if they didn’t end out setting one or more of their fellow soldiers aflame. Horacio didn’t even want to think about how much paperwork he would have to do if that happened.

“You could probably get one second hand. I’m sure some of my old contacts are still in business if you need a reference.”

She had contacts? She had contacts that could get their hands on a flame thrower? A not so small part of him seriously considered taking down their information, just in case. Another part of him wanted to know what other kinds of contacts Eva had.

The waitress brought their plates as he said ‘a flame thrower’ with a kind of thoughtful tone. He kept thinking about it as she complimented the food and dug in. Eva ate in large bites. One hand held her fork and the other rested with her forefinger and thumb on the edge of the plate, as if someone would come by and swipe it from her.

She talked about her bad cooking and her secret stash of candy in a quick, rolling cadence. The words tumbled out of her mouth almost unwillingly. Horacio didn’t have to say a word, and when the waitress returned to the table, he ordered them another round of drinks. His next meeting wasn’t for another hour or so and he wanted to know what other thoughts were rolling around in that brain of hers.

Horacio could tell when she was particularly passionate about something. There was a glint in her eyes and her hands (normally folded demurely in front of her) would move in sweeping arches as she talked. Eva was at her most attractive when she was ranting about how hard it was to negotiate with people who didn’t have a moral code.

Later, as he was walking with her back to the car, Horacio gave into the urge to kiss her. It was a simple move to lean into her center of gravity and back her against the wall in the alley. That Eva bent to his will easily made what should have been a simple kiss into something more than he intended.

She sighed against his mouth, arms wrapping around his shoulders. Her hands pulled him closer, urging him to lean more of his weight into her so that she was held between his body and the brick of the building. Horacio obliged her, but only a little.

He let himself move closer, let himself drag his teeth over her lower lip. His hands wanted glide down her sides and hike up the material of her skirt. They flexed on her hips, half way through the motion before Horacio could stop them. Eva exhaled and her arms tightened. She arched into his touch with a small, needy sound.

Knowing how easily he might get carried away, he broke the kiss, “I’ve been wanting to do that since you came into my office.”

Her smile was shy, “You’re welcome to any time you like.”

The idea of being able to lean down and brush his lips against hers at will was far too tempting, “Any time?”

Her hand traced from the crown of his head to his neck in a motion similar to the one she’d used in his office. Earlier, it had calmed him. Now, it sent frissons of pleasure down his spine. A wash of images flowed across his mind, touched with heat.

Mouth near her ear, Horacio grated, “You should be careful what you offer me. I will take it.”

He would take and take and take until there was nothing left to give. He knew it. He knew it. If Eva would let him, Horacio would consume her. Body and soul.

“I wouldn’t offer it if I didn’t want to give it to you.”

His hands curled into the meat of her hips as he took a deep Eva-scented breath. It wasn’t just what she’d said. It was the way she said it. All sweetness. All sincerity. With her chin dipping down and her eyes watching his reaction carefully.

His watch beeped, telling him that he was going to be late for his next meeting. He could call and cancel it. Reschedule. He could take Eva back to his car and make the turn towards his house. He could find out how much she wanted to give him.

Not yet, came a voice from his conscience.

It was too new, and he needed to be sure his control would hold firm when he took her to bed. The thought of hurting her during… he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

“I need to get back.”

Eva’s expression was dazed as she said, “Sure, sure.”

“Let me take you out.”

“Like, a date?” she asked as they walked back to his truck.

“Yes.”