Chapter 007

Thane

"How long have you been standing there?"

I let my gaze drag over her slowly, water still tracing the line of her throat, the towel doing a shit job of covering the rest. My cock twitched hard against my zipper.

"Long enough to decide the glass needs to be thinner," I said, voice rough. "Keep moving like that and I'm going to stop waiting for the wedding night."

She ignored me completely. Turned her back as if I were furniture and reached for another towel, drying her hair with long, unhurried strokes. Arms raised. The first towel slipped lower on her thick hips. I watched a drop of water slide down the curve of her spine and disappear between the cheeks of her ass, and the image hit me like a fist.

I imagined her bent over the marble counter, that same drop of water under my tongue while I pushed into her from behind, slow and deep until she forgot how to breathe. Two days. That was all that stood between me and the right to take every inch of her. Two days and the contract would be signed, the ring on her finger, and then I could finally map every scar, every soft place, every sound she made when she came. I forced the thought down before it turned into something I couldn't control in this bathroom.

"You went digging again," I said.

Emily's hands stilled in her hair. "You went through my laptop."

"Didn't need to touch it." I stepped fully into the steam, letting the door frame take my weight. "The second you left my network and started searching old fire reports and posting bounties on the dark web, I saw every keystroke. Jake's name and his detailed description. The price you put on information. I must say, it's the first time I've seen you act reckless."

She turned, eyes sharp with real surprise. "You're monitoring my devices already?"

"I've been monitoring them since the night I found you in that alley, covered in blood with a dead body that needed disposal." I kept my voice even, almost bored, while my pulse hammered. "Every search. Every late-night text and calls you've received. You're not as careful as you think you are Emily, especially when something threatens to drag you back to the ashes."

Color rose high on her cheeks. "That past is dead. I made sure of it."

"And yet here you are, putting money on a ghost and risking the only identity that has kept you breathing." I pushed off the wall and closed the distance until the heat of her wet skin reached me. "Someone already sent you a package promising to resurrect that life. Someone's tried to kill you more than once. I'm not interested in watching you hand them the matches."

She clutched the towel tighter, knuckles white. "I needed to know if anyone survived. If Jake-"

"Jake is either dead or smart enough to stay buried," I cut in. "The bounty comes down tonight. You don't dig without me. You don't chase shadows without me. You don't even fucking breathe without me knowing about it until the vows are said and you're mine."

Her chin lifted, stubborn even while half-naked and dripping on my floor. "Or what?"

I closed the last inch between us before I could stop myself. One hand braced against the marble beside her head, the other fisted in the towel at her waist and yanked her forward until her wet body was flush against mine. The heat of her skin burned through my shirt. I could feel every soft curve, the quick rise of her chest, the way her breath caught when my thigh slid between hers. My mouth dropped to the hinge of her jaw, not quite kissing, just breathing her in like I was starving.

"Or I stop being patient," I growled against her skin, "and I take what's already mine two days early."

My free hand slid up her side, under the edge of the towel, palm spanning the bare skin of her ribs. I felt the frantic beat of her heart. Felt the way she shivered when my thumb brushed the underside of her breast. For one dangerous second I almost kept going...almost dragged the towel the rest of the way off, lifted her onto the counter, and buried myself inside the only woman who had ever made me this reckless.

Emily's hands came up hard against my chest.

"Thane. Stop."

The word was quiet, but it cut clean through the haze. I froze, forehead pressed to her temple, breathing like I'd run miles. My hand was still under the towel. My cock was a steel line against her hip. I could taste how close I'd come to ruining the only leverage I had left.

Slowly, carefully, I pulled my hand free and stepped back just enough that air could move between us again. The towel stayed clutched to her body. Her eyes were wide, pupils blown, but the refusal in them was absolute.

I exhaled through my teeth, forcing the last of the hunger down where it belonged.

"Two days," I said, voice low and rough.

I turned and walked out before I would loose control.