17. Chapter 17

seventeen

Lucas

I counted to three loud enough that I knew she could hear me before I did exactly as I promised and kicked the front door in. I knew from previous visits that there was just a shitty old deadbolt and chain, but even so I had to hope it wasn’t locked. I wasn’t one of those ridiculously overprepared SWAT officers who carried a battering ram in my car, but I was past caring about being polite. I needed in that fucking door as quickly as possible.

My luck held. The door burst open, revealing Athena just a couple feet in front of me, turning into the foyer on her way to answer the door.

“Hands where I can see them!” I demanded. She held her hands up, eyes wide, while she backed up several paces into her living room.

I slammed the door closed behind me and took out my handcuffs, gesturing for her to turn around so I could cuff her. Only then did the fire return to her eyes.

“I don’t fucking think so!” she shouted, lowering her arms and folding them across her chest. “What are the charges?”

“Obstruction of justice,” I growled, following her retreat as she rounded first her little coffee table then the couch, me the hunter and her the prey. “Lying to a federal agent with intent to interfere with an official investigation. Tampering with evidence. Annoying the shit out of me. Take your pick.”

“I doubt you have a warrant for that last charge,” she challenged.

“I have reasonable suspicion that you’re frustrating as fuck, and I don’t need a warrant to enter and do what I need to with reasonable suspicion or risk of imminent danger,” I returned, shaking the cuffs in front of her face. “Give me your wrists.”

“I told you before, Lucas.” Why did the way she said my name make my stomach feel hot, my dick start to harden? Arresting a criminal shouldn’t turn me on, but I couldn’t remember her ever using my first name before. “There’s only one place I let a man give me orders, and certainly only one way I’d ever let him put handcuffs on me.”

I fought to keep in the groan. I’d like that, her being completely under my power, naked except for the metal of the handcuffs. I could imagine it with such clarity.

“I don’t care about your kinks,” I lied. “You’re under arrest, and when you’re my responsibility and under my control, you’re going to wear these cuffs like a good girl. I don’t want to deal with any more of your Krav Maga bullshit while we’re processing you down at the station. ”

She scoffed, continuing to circle around the room until she was in front of some sort of whiteboard display, the couch and coffee table between us.

“Come on, Athena. Be a good girl for me,” I cajoled, fully expecting that to piss her off. Maybe the anger would be enough to keep me focused on what was important: bringing Athena in for questioning. “Do you want to put on the handcuffs for me or do I have to make you?”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Then we can add resisting arrest to the list of charges against you.”

I vaulted over the back of the couch, then stepped from the cushions to the coffee table until I was right in front of her, her body tensed for a fight. Good. I was primed and ready for it, aching to let some of this built up tension out.

“I don’t think you have it in you to actually arrest me,” she taunted. No matter what she said, she was waiting for it, ready for me to come at her. She was rolling her neck, shaking her head to flip her wavy hair back behind her shoulders. The brunette strands were really starting to curl again in some places, leaving her looking unkempt, a little rumpled, like she just slithered out of her bed again.

“Last chance, Athena. Turn around, put your hands against the wall, and spread your legs for me while I check you for weapons.” I wouldn’t be surprised if she hid a knife or ninja throwing stars or some shit on her person. Looking at her skimpy house clothes, I let my imagination wander as I imaged where she'd hide something. I could just see her splayed against the wall, back arching and ass sticking out of those tiny little shorts with a knife holster strapped to her spine, or to each of her thighs Lara Croft-style.

But she hadn’t moved an inch during my moment of daydreaming, so I spoke again.

“Now, Athena,” I said, meeting her fiery gaze dead on.

She narrowed those eyes at me. “I swear if you put your hands on me you’ll get so much more than you bargained for.” Was it just me or were her nipples just so fucking hard as they pebbled against her top?

“I’m counting on it. Go ahead. Assault me. I’m ready to throw the book at you, baby.” I held my hands out palms up in a come-and-get-it motion, urging her to come at me. I learned my lesson from the airport. She needed to make the first move if I wanted that last charge of assaulting a federal officer to stick.

Her eyes blazed, thinking hard. She was a smart woman and knew what I was waiting for, but still lifted one hand, placing it against my shoulder to give me a firm shove backward. “Back the fuck off of me and get the hell out of my house, Lucas.”

Lucas. The way she said my name still sizzled down my spine. I thought I was alert before, but that one word had enough passion and intensity to keep me going for the rest of my life.

But she made the first move, so what I did from here on out could be classified as justifiable force as she resisted arrest.

I grabbed the wrist connected to the hand that shoved me, but she broke free from my grip before I even had a proper hold, twisting around so she had my arm locked behind my back instead.

“Did you take Krav Maga and martial arts classes for self-defense for five years?” she taunted playfully in my ear. “Because I did. You won’t pin me unless I want to be pinned.”

“Not true,” I grunted. “I could always fight dirty.”

I threw my head back. She dodged the hit like I knew she would, but I still made contact with her clavicle. I didn’t have much momentum with the hit, so it probably surprised her more than hurt her, but she let go of me, backing up a few paces.

“You’d hit a girl?” Her look of shock was over-dramatized as she tried to hide a smirk. She was clearly enjoying this as much as I was.

“I don’t think of you as just any girl, Athena. I think you’re a very bad girl and I need to teach you the consequences of your actions.”

I stepped into her circle again and she swiped out with her leg. I let it make contact with me, ready for the inevitable loss of balance as I was knocked toward the floor, but I was prepared, tensing my back to take the brunt of the fall so I could use both hands to grab her bare thigh on the way down, my fingers gripping her smooth skin to pull her down to the carpet with me.

I knew I’d never get past her guard, but here on the ground I had the superior strength—assuming she didn’t have an empty glass to smash into my skull.

So we grappled on the floor, legs flying and her fists swinging until I had her on her stomach. I grasped one of her wrists, trying to hold on tight while she bucked under me, trying to topple me. I looked around for my handcuffs, not sure where I lost them in the struggle, but that was the only opening she needed. She managed to turn her body over and got one leg out from under me and folded up against her chest. Too late I realized what was happening as her kick to my abdomen sent me flying back into one of the whiteboards. I went crashing to the floor, the big board tipping over under me.

I took a moment to gather my wits again before moving. Athena was on the ground a couple feet in front of me, half-sitting as she leaned back on her elbows. Her hair was a mess, her chest heaving with each breath. Her eyes were wild, lips were quirked up in a triumphant grin.

I was sprawled less gracefully on my back across the fallen whiteboard. My shoulder blade was crushing something hard. I sat up awkwardly and looked. A little baggy of cassette tapes? I sat up fully, seeing various pieces of paper ripped and crumpled under me. The words splashed across the top were partially wiped off, but still clearly visible: Trail of Evidence.

What the hell? I looked up at the two boards that remained standing. The one to my right was labeled “Adversaries” and had pictures of my adversaries: the Morellis and their little peons. The board to my left said “Good Guys” and had information on me and Mark and a couple other men I didn’t recognize but were labeled as cops.

“What the hell is going on here?” I asked, truly bewildered.

Her exasperated sigh was less annoying than I would have thought. “Maybe if you’d been asking that from the start you wouldn’t have a bruised ass.” But she still got up, holding a hand out to me. I took it, letting her help me up to a standing position .

“This is my investigation into my mom’s death,” she said. “When I was packing up her things I found evidence that the Morellis killed her and made it look like an accident because she asked too many questions.”

I nodded, already looking through the different documents on display. I hauled the whiteboard back upright, experiencing another bought of surprise when the board rotated to the other side and a whole ass timeline was printed there in marker, ready for me to peruse.

Jesus. Athena was working for our side the entire time.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” I asked.

“Why didn’t you trust me in the first place?” she challenged back.

“Why did you lie to me when I asked you flat out what you knew about the Morellis?”

“Why did you assume I knew anything to begin with?”

“Are you always this infuriating, or is it only with me?”

“Do you distrust all women, or only the ones who stand up to you?”

I grunted in frustration, tearing my gaze away from her. If I wanted her to answer my questions I had to answer hers. “I don’t distrust women as a rule, I just don’t have the luxury of trusting anyone I don’t know. Trust gives someone the opportunity to betray you.”

“It’s only you.”

I paused, stopping to meet her gaze. “What’s only me?”

“It’s only you, Lucas,” she practically whispered, her voice lowering along with her eyelashes as she looked up at me. Without any shoes on I was a couple inches taller than her, but I felt like a giant when she looked up at me like that. “You’re the only one who makes me act like this.”

Her eyes held mine, only leaving to flick to my lips before meeting my gaze again dead on.

“Are you going to be good and cooperate with me now?”

“Am I still under arrest for being so bad?”

“You need to stop that or I’m going to have to give you a spanking.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

It was just like when she pushed me—it had to be her choice to move forward with this. I wouldn’t make the first move; I wouldn’t force something on her, but I needed to put it all on the line for her.

“Come on, Athena. You can be a big, bad warrior goddess and kick me across the room, but you won’t just say what you want and kiss me? Are you suddenly chicken?”

“I’m not chicken. Maybe I just don’t want to kiss you. You ever think of that?”

No, actually, not even as she said the words. Her face was still getting closer and closer to mine. I could taste the sweet tea on her breath. Did she always drink that? I just raised an eyebrow at her in response.

“Aren’t you worried about fraternizing with a person of interest in your investigation?”

“Not really. I have other things on my mind.”

“Could you get in trouble for fucking me?”

“Maybe. But some rules are meant to be broken. And I believe with every fiber of my being that I’m meant to be bending you over that couch and feeling every inch of your body while deep inside you until you scream.”

“Is that so? What else are you meant to be doing?”

The idea of her under my power and at my mercy brought my control back in reach. If this woman wanted me to do all sorts of dirty things to her, I would be more than happy to oblige.

“You want me to show you? Say the word.”

“Word.”