Her breath hitched. “Please.”
Axel couldn’t stand it another moment; he had to touch her. He caressed his way down her shoulder, then skated his palm toward her breast, cupping the mound covered only by thin cotton. Her nipple tightened.
He brushed his thumb over the sensitive peak, his whole body tensing with need when it hardened even more. “I want this in my mouth.”
With a little moan, she slid her head back, as if granting him access to her neck, her chest. Hell, giving her whole body to him. She was the most gorgeous creature. He’d tried like hell not to notice it when he’d rescued her from Death Valley. She’d still looked a bit like a girl then. Now that she was clearly all woman . . . Jesus, this need was eviscerating his restraint.
“Axel,” she pleaded.
“We don’t have time now, damn it. But soon,” he muttered, his voice thick. “I just need to know one more thing . . .”
He shouldn’t do this now, not with Heath returning soon. But Axel intended to take every opportunity possible to touch Mystery. So he dropped his hand down her body again, gliding his palm over the curve of her hip until he reached the hem of her short nightgown. Tucking his fingers under the frilly trim, he skated his knuckle up the soft skin of her thigh until he reached her pussy and burrowed between her folds. Sweet, bare, and so damn wet for him.
Axel let out a low groan. “I can’t wait to get this off you and shove my aching cock into you again . . .”
A clinking noise at the door alerted him that they wouldn’t be alone for long. With a frustrated curse, Axel pulled his fingers away from her cunt. After the sound of a retracting door handle, Heath barged inside and looked at them as if he knew exactly what had been going on.
Someone get the genius a prize.
“Now that everyone is gone, we should discuss our exit strategy,” Heath said, not taking his eyes off the two of them.
Axel couldn’t seem to stop himself from wrapping an arm around her waist. Heath glared his way.
“On the way out, we’ll tell the hotel manager we’ve had a change of heart about that suite, and Mystery will be flying back to London right away. It’s the same story we’re floating on Twitter,” Axel pointed out. “If whoever is threatening her thinks they’ve won for now, it should buy us some time to get her to safety.” And figure out who the fuck kept ripping her sense of security to shreds. “I’ll walk the two of you to the parking garage with your luggage, then you’ll follow me. I’ll be on my bike. I have a location in mind. If someone tries to follow you, we’ll do our best to lose them.”
Heath didn’t look as if he liked the plan—or maybe just Axel—but he conceded. “You live in this city and know it better, so I’ll let you lead on this. How long?”
“Can we head out in ten?”
Heath nodded. The gray just beginning to lace his dark hair, along with the impeccable dark suit, made him look somewhere between distinguished and dangerous. After an hour or two with him, Axel wanted to believe the man had Mystery’s best interests at heart. But he was pretty sure Heath’s concept of her ideal future didn’t include Axel at all.
“Great.” Still, he hedged his bets. “If you don’t stay with the plan, if you put her in any sort of danger, there won’t be a hole small enough for you to climb in. I will find you. And I will kill you.”
* * *
AFTER walking Mystery and Heath to the parking garage, Axel hopped on his bike and waited on the side street for her bodyguard to bring the car around. The Brit better not stab him in the back. The warning he’d given in the suite might have been overkill, but he’d bet it was effective.
He plucked his phone from his pocket and texted Stone, advising that if he wanted to meet Sweet Pea, it had to be tonight and to get his ass moving since the drive would take about five hours. The man replied with a quick affirmative.
Then Axel sighed. He had to make a call he really didn’t want to, but he didn’t see a way around it.
Mitchell Thorpe, Club Dominion’s owner, answered on the third ring. “What part of ‘a day off’ isn’t computing for you?”
“Pretty much all of it. I’ve got a . . . situation. I need your help.”
Thorpe sobered instantly. “What’s up?”
Axel explained Mystery’s danger, then hesitated. “I want to bring her to the club, to keep her safe until we get her to her aunt’s house.”
“Is letting her visit the woman at all wise?”
“No, but she won’t be talked out of it. She’s argued with her father, Heath, and me. Apparently, she promised the woman, and I get that. I don’t love Mystery’s insistence, but it’s not my decision to make.” Yet.
“She’s a grown woman, and you can only direct her so much. I know someone else very much like that. Yes, I’m talking to you, pet.” Thorpe obviously teased Callie. She was the only one he spoke to in that voice filled with love, affection, and pride.
“They are a lot alike. They’re definitely both survivors. I know with Callie’s pregnancy you probably don’t want me to bring danger to your door. But it’s the safest place I can think of for Mystery until we arrange a charter to take her to Kansas tomorrow.”
Thorpe paused. “I’m not thrilled, but you’re right that Ms. Mullins can’t stay at the hotel. I’ll make sure Sean takes our girl home and away from any potential threat.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“You helped me a lot with Sean and Callie. I owe you.”
Axel hadn’t done much more than track down the former fed’s place and threaten to beat the shit out of him when Thorpe had believed Sean was a threat to Callie, but if the club owner wanted to consider this calling in a favor, fine. “We should be there in less than thirty minutes.”
“Good. I’ll get everything here moving accordingly. Have any of you had dinner?”
Mystery had never gotten to eat her room service with the police and hotel security crawling everywhere. Axel hadn’t even thought of food. “No.”
“I’ll ask Callie to order something good before she leaves.” Thorpe hesitated. “Does Ms. Mullins know where you’re bringing her?”
“I haven’t mentioned it.” He should probably tell her she would be staying in an active BDSM club where, almost every night, Doms and subs pushed themselves to their mental, physical, and emotional limits. But he lacked the privacy to have a personal conversation with her now. Besides, the perverse side of him wanted to see her undoctored reaction to Club Dominion. He ached to know now if she could fit into his life.
Then, maybe, he could try to figure out if he fit into hers, because right now, trailer park upbringing and all, he didn’t see himself letting her go.
* * *
BESIDE Mystery, Heath remained quiet as they raced down dark Dallas side streets, winding their way toward their destination.
“Do you know where we’re going?” she asked.
Heath’s mouth tightened. “I don’t.”
And he didn’t like it. That went without saying. She’d sensed the tension between the two men, and it worried her. They were supposed to be on the same team, wanting the same outcome. Why wouldn’t they get along?
“He’s actually a really wonderful guy,” she began.
“Pardon me, but from where I’m standing, he was paid handsomely to rescue you, then abandoned you the minute you reached safety. He didn’t call you to follow up or check in to find out if you were all right, did he?”
“No, but—”
“He earned his paycheck. Nothing more. He clearly didn’t care a whit about you. If he had, he would never have turned his back on you after that terrible abduction.”
“I propositioned him before we were rescued.” She felt heat flare across her cheeks. “He turned me down flat.”
Heath gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “You were barely more than a child and had been through a terrible ordeal. I would hope he was a gentleman and refused. But the fact that you felt the need to disguise yourself so utterly in order to persuade him to appreciate your beauty, inside and out, chafes me. And you’re continuing to let him touch you, even though you had to deceive him to catch his attention. He doesn’t want you for you, sweetheart. I don’t know what he wants precisely. More money probably, and I can’t—”