With her he didn’t have to hide this part of him. The darker, feral man inside who spoke with his fists hadn’t even earned a batted eye from her. More, she’d dug it. Begged for more.

What else in life could measure up to someone who accepted the darkest parts of you and wanted more?

He was so, so very close and each little gaspy breath she made pulled him even closer.

“Hands are full of gorgeous woman. Gonna need you to make yourself come in my stead,” he managed to say.

Her laugh was equally shaky. But she obeyed and he loved it. Loved the feel of her between them, her fingers on her clit, playing with it. Making herself come because he told her to.

“Hurry,” he urged.

She made a sound, a frustrated little grunt, and then the muscles in her forearm corded and her pussy tightened all around him as she began to come.

That was all he needed, pleasure making him blind as he thrust in so deep his vision grayed at the edges for a moment as climax hit.

“I’m beginning to feel like I should pull a chair into the entry or something,” he said. “If we can’t get any further than the front hall, we might need something comfortable sometimes.”

He put her to her feet and she began to gather her clothes, still smiling. “Sometimes a little pain makes the pleasure all the sweeter.”

Talk about hidden depths.

“Let’s go get your dog. She saw you pull up through the front window so she’s going to be mad.”

Carmella snorted. “At you.”

“What? Why me?”

“Because she loves me. She just has a crush on you. It’s cool, you don’t need to come with me. I’ll grab Ginger while you shower.”

“I want to come with you.” He opened the door and they spilled out onto the porch.

“Your pants are unzipped, and you don’t have on a shirt or shoes.”

“You liked that just fine a few minutes ago.”

She paused to give him an affectionately annoyed face.

“What? Am I lying?”

Carmella snorted and headed to her front porch, snatching something off the door quickly.

“Is that the lawn aeration people again? They leave so much shit on my door I want to hunt them down and drown them in it all.”

“Wow, that’s um … okay then.” She unlocked and Ginger waited for them. Just like Carmella had said, after a brief sniff of annoyance at her human, she gave in and let Carmella pet her and give her love. Duke got the doggie version of side-eye.

“We weren’t ignoring you. We had human stuff to handle,” Duke told Ginger. “I have treats for you so maybe you can find it in your heart to forgive my wanting your human all to myself for a few minutes.”

“The cookies will do it. She’s not that complicated.” Carmella straightened. And then stopped, cocking her head, and then she rushed through the house into the kitchen.

Duke didn’t know what was up, but he followed her.

The window over the sink had been pried open.

“No.” She started to move to her bedroom and he grabbed her arm to stop her. “Someone could be in there!” she exclaimed.

“I know, which is why I’m going first. You stay back and figure out why your dog isn’t barking.”

She cursed, which meant she hadn’t even thought of that, which worried him.

Her bedroom was empty, but it was a mess and he knew immediately someone had been there, looking for something. She’d never leave her house outside of an emergency if it looked this way.

“Holy shit!” She bumped up against his back where he’d blocked her access.

“Wait. We need to call the police.”

“I know who did this.”

He turned, flipping on the hall light to see her pull something from her pocket. The thing from her front door. Only it clearly wasn’t lawn care or Jesus spam.

“Damn it.” She crumpled the paper and he held out his hand. She shook her head. “No. It’s nothing.”

“What the hell is going on? You know who did this?”

“It’s my goddamn ex-husband. He left a note saying he borrowed some stuff and would get it back to me.”

Duke plucked the wad of paper from her hand and read it.

Came by but you were out. Had to borrow a few things from inside. I’ll get them all back to you soon. A big business opportunity has just presented itself. We’re going to be rolling in it. C

Jealousy warred with offense that this guy would rip her off this way.

“We’ll go to his house right now if you won’t call the cops. Trust me when I say we’ll get your stuff back,” Duke told her.

She walked past him into her bedroom and took a look to see what was missing. “I don’t know where he’s at. That ratfaced goatfucker broke into my house!”

So surprised, Duke couldn’t stop the guffaw at her words. “Can’t you call him? If you won’t call the cops …”

“Oh, I’m calling the cops all right. I just wanted to look at the note to make sure it was him.”

Oh. Well, that was good. “How’d he know where you live? You never were here with a guy, not one you saw for more than a few weeks at a time. Okay, so maybe that sounded a little creepy.”

“You thought I was going to protect that scumbag? My mother told him where I lived. Because she’s … well, I told you what she is. Anyway. In a moment of weakness, one you saw, I might add, I let him inside the house and then, I was”—she sighed—“horny. Lonely. God, I’m so embarrassed. Anyway, we got down. That’s how he knew the layout to my house. He’d never been inside until that day.”