Boiling Point (Crossing the Line #3) Read online

  It wouldn’t teach him the lesson she’d been tasked with delivering. She didn’t know if the delicious responsibility was a product of Austin’s guilt and her disapproval, only knew they would remain unfulfilled without her following through. And God, she didn’t have a choice. Her blood pumped; her hands felt weighted. He sat before her looking like a scorching-hot sacrifice. All for her.

  Polly floated to the space between his legs, twisting her body in a slow dance, running light fingertips down her rib cage. “I’ve been waking up with the same problem. All…wet and needing to be filled up.” She pinched the sides of her lace panties and peeled them just below her damp center, gasping when Austin jerked in the chair. “You think we were touching ourselves at the same time?”

  “I’ve thought about it.” His chest rose and shuddered back down. “I’ve thought about it all while abusing my dick to your image.”

  God. She let the panties fall to her ankles, nudging them aside with one foot, before planting her hands on Austin’s shoulders and leaning in to speak inches from his mouth. “Be a good boy and tell me your favorite thing to think about.”

  His gaze was trained on her breasts, so close to his mouth. So close. Polly eased nearer, letting her nipples hover just within reach, but when he tried to close his mouth around her, she moved back. Austin followed, the action sending the silk coiling tighter around his erection, ripping a vile curse past his lips. “Fuck. Fucking Christ.” Sweat broke out along his upper lip. “M-my favorite is flipping you upside down in one of those skirts. Bathing your pussy with my tongue while you attempt to choke me down. Your hands are on my ass, pulling me closer…and when you come for my mouth, I feel the reaction in your throat. Then—”

  Thighs clenched together, Polly couldn’t get a proper breath, swaying on her feet under the impact of Austin’s vivid description of his fantasy. “Then?”

  “Coming in your mouth used to finish me. But there’s more now that I know what you need. Now…you don’t let me come. Until I turn you back over and fuck you again.” His eyes squeezed shut on a groan, his arousal growing between them. “Again. And again. Hard. Slow. Doggy. Until I need to come so bad, I can’t move without my tip dripping. Then you finally give me permission and it’s so goddamn good.”

  Polly didn’t realize she’d started touching herself between her legs until Austin opened his eyes and started to shake his head, a frantic movement so unlike him.

  “No. No.” His right hand reached for her, resulting in a shout of pain when the silk tightened at the root of his erection. It took him a moment to speak again, voice shaking when he managed it. “Your pleasure belongs to me. We agreed.”

  “Did we?” Polly breathed, using her index and middle fingers to massage her sensitive nub with painstaking slowness. “I don’t recall agreeing to that.”

  His gaze started to lose its glazed quality, sharpening now where her fingers worked. “Don’t do this to me,” he grated. “I’ll beg. Is that what you want? Please. Please let me, Polly. Climb up on my shoulders and let me eat you. Anything you want.”

  She didn’t want to be affected by the abject misery in his voice, but it wrapped around her throat in a stranglehold, even as her desire grew. Conflicting emotions that packed a power punch. Hearing him beg, while reaching the point where she felt the need to beg for him as well, started a vicious churning for relief. An insistent inner voice urged her to push, though. Just a little more. The payoff would be worth it for the both of them. She had no choice but to trust that intuition.

  “Stop touching what’s mine immediately, Polly.” When she dipped her middle finger inside herself, Austin’s gaze went wild. His neck and chest muscles stood out, biceps flexing as he pulled on the rope. “Give me my hands. Give them to me now.”

  “No.” Polly draped her legs over his strong thighs, seating herself on his lap. The position caused each stroke of her hand to nudge his rampant erection, earning her a shouted denial from his mouth.

  “It’s all I have to offer you.” His voice was raw, urgent. “It’s all I’ve got. Please.”

  His pain slammed her in the chest. Breaking point. This was Austin. The real man she’d seen only in glimpses. She couldn’t explain what propelled her forward, seeking his mouth with her own. Only knew that if she didn’t have the anchor of his kiss, she’d implode with the sensations careering through her system, puncturing the fabric of her being. Austin made a gruff, broken noise, mouth returning the kiss with frantic brutality. Teeth dug into lips, tongues slipped together as nonsensical words transferred from one mouth to the other. Polly had no consciousness of when she stopped touching herself and clung to Austin, giving and receiving the kiss she never wanted to end.

  Finally, he broke away, his forehead now shining with perspiration. “Hands. Hands.” Polly’s nod was jerky, breath coming in staccato bursts as she fumbled with the knots at his wrists. “Come on, come on, come on,” he growled against her lips. “I’m going to fuck the life out of you, cruel girl. Sit beside another man? Deny me the privilege of being the one who makes you come? Your lesson was lost in my jealousy. Untie me so I can take it out on your pussy.”

  Austin’s body went rigid as she uncoiled the silk rope from his hard length, so swollen with need, she felt a rush of sympathy. But it was obliterated by excitement when he rose in one abrupt movement, Polly’s legs still wrapped in an unbreakable hold around his waist. He stooped down to retrieve a foil packet from his discarded pants before striding across the room, breath rasping in her ear. They entered the dark bathroom. Her backside hit the marble vanity mere seconds before his thickness impaled her, sliding her back on the hard surface, forcing a raw, echoing scream from her throat.

  Demanding hands found her bottom, dragging her back for more, holding her still as Austin drove deep. Deep, deep, deeper. There was none of his usual finesse or calculation, just hot, ruthless fucking. The sweat she’d inspired dripped from his forehead to her belly and breasts, trickling down to where their bodies joined. Polly’s hands scrambled for something to hold on to, but no sooner did she seek purchase than Austin shoved both hands behind her back, keeping them prisoner with one of his own.

  “I’m not your good boy right now, am I?” He reared back and slammed into her, their damp skin striking together. Polly’s knees dug into his sides, a quickening taking hold, intensifying with each repeated movement. “Or maybe I am. Getting sweeter with every push of my cock, aren’t you?” His words were punctuated by quick pumps of his hips, effectively rolling Polly’s eyes to the back of her head. “Tight, tight, tight, aren’t we, pretty thing? Go on and soak me. I earned every drop.”

  It wasn’t mere relief but salvation that overrode all semblance of thought, pulling muscles taut she’d never been aware of, racking her in shudders. She had a vague awareness of Austin lifting her ankles and grinding into her, his groans splitting the air around them. Holy shit, holy shit. She attempted to drag in oxygen to replenish her empty lungs, but screamed instead.

  Austin caught her before she could fall back against the bathroom mirror, pulling her forward into the heat of his chest. He kissed her forehead with a tenderness that belied his unforgiving length, still wedged to the hilt inside her. “You think you could have done that with your fingers?” The utter arrogance of the question was tempered by the catch of vulnerability in his tone, making her recall what he’d said while still bound by the rope. It’s all I have to offer you.

  Polly shook her head.

  His eyes drifted closed a moment, before his eyelids lifted to reveal sexual intention so concentrated, Polly trembled in awe. And perhaps a small amount of fear that he could see everything. All of the chinks in her armor, strengths in her arsenal. The same way she saw all of him in that moment. Her heart started to thrum in the hopes that he would move inside her again—she craved more, more—but Austin withdrew from her body with a wince. He whipped her off the sink and for one terrified beat, she thought he would punish her for what happened in the chair by n
ot finding his own release. Until he spun her around, pushed her forward onto the vanity and rammed his thick inches inside her, eliciting a loud sob of his name. It was so dark in the bathroom, she couldn’t see his face, only the outline of him in the mirror. But she’d never felt more like she was looking directly at someone.

  His chest meshed with her back, and the contact was electric. “That first time was for making me jealous, so I made it sting a little.” He dragged her earlobe between his teeth before stopping to lay a kiss against her neck. “But this time is for cutting your fingernails and kissing me with your eyes closed so tight.” She felt the column of his throat work against her shoulder. “Okay, Polly?”

  “Yes,” she whispered, shaken. Austin afforded her no time to overanalyze, trailing his hands down her hips and yanking her back. He didn’t thrust, giving only smooth undulations of his body as he fucked her back onto his erection, giving her control of the angle at which he slanted into her. “Oh God…stay right there,” she gasped. “Just like that.”

  “If it pleases you.” His voice had become a dark scrape of sound, caressing her shoulders and neck. When she felt his gaze on her bottom, she put an extra twist in her movements, sparks of light blooming behind her eyelids at the resulting friction. “You’re making it very hard not to hammer you into the fucking sink.”

  “Why don’t you?” she moaned.

  “I’ll come, goddammit,” he growled with a powerful buck of his hips, holding himself deep, his abdomen shuddering against her backside. “You have me ready to spill, you dirty little lap dancer. It’s not supposed to happen this fast, but you. It’s you. Feels too good.” He withdrew and pushed back inside her with a guttural groan. “I’ve got so much here for you, it’s going to fill this condom and drip down those fucking legs.”

  Polly’s mouth fell open. He’d been waiting for permission, and she’d been unaware or gotten lost in the unbelievable way he made her feel. This unselfish man was not the Austin she’d known. Or thought she’d known. Right then, in the dark, he was only her lover, and she’d inflicted him with pain. “You have permiss—”

  She broke off on a scream when he found her clit with two fingers, rubbing in maddening circles as he started to pound, each thrust of his hips accompanied by a frantic growl. Slam, slam, slam. The force of his pounds pushed her facedown on the sink, fingernails scraping at the hard surface. Her flesh was already sensitized from her first climax, and it took her no time for the wave of oblivion to crest over her, holding her entire body in a vibrating grip that was only extended when Austin’s shout echoed in the dark. Words made beautiful by their honesty spoke of untold relief that called to something deep inside Polly. His pleasure is mine.

  “Tightened up all around me like a sweet girl. You feel all that heat I’m pouring inside you? Take it.” His mouth moved in her hair, laying frantic kisses. “Never want anything else. Nothing else. Just this. Between your legs where it feels right. I’ll give you everything, just don’t take yourself away.”

  Polly’s vocal cords squeezed so tight, she could only nod. And although she didn’t have words for what agreement was made between them, she suspected it was unbreakable.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Austin leaned against the side of newspaper dispenser, hat pulled low over his eyes as he pretended to read the sports section. Disguising himself hadn’t been necessary for this particular trip, but Reitman’s presence in town demanded caution. And damn it all if he didn’t feel the need to cover up after his epic reveal this morning in the hotel room with Polly. I’ll give you everything, just don’t take yourself away.

  He’d even taken himself off guard, demanding promises. Promises were long-term matters, and his life until now had been all about cutting and running at the first sign of routine.

  Perhaps he hadn’t expected her to agree, so he’d unburdened himself to her, the same way she’d unburdened his body. She’d made him more than someone who was kept around to provide satisfaction. An object. A whore who stole his payment. He’d been more than an illusionist for the first time in his life, because he’d needed to be more for Polly. There had been no damming the demand for promises, because with exhilaration flooding his body, his filter had slipped away in the current.

  But then she’d nodded. She’d nodded.

  Austin had been so stunned by her acquiescence, he’d found himself back in the freezing-cold hotel room without remembering leaving the bathroom. As if some manner of fight or flight instinct had kicked in, telling him he’d been made. His cover had been blown. In the way that mattered most, it bloody well had. To Polly. To himself. His pursuit of her had never been solely about sex—or providing a desirable woman with pleasure, rather, since sex had never yielded such gratification for him until now. No, he’d wanted more since their first goddamn argument after the initial squad meeting. Since then, he’d been lying to himself and believing it, the con’s affliction that had been prophesized by Charles. He’d been unable to tell truth from fabrication. And the truth was, he’d been in love with Polly since they’d sat across from each other in that conference room at Chicago PD headquarters.

  Austin turned the page of his Chicago Tribune too hard, ripping a corner free. The sound reminded him of how the delicate fabric of his and Polly’s relationship had been torn down the middle by his actions this morning. As soon as his fucking head had gotten back in the game and he realized he’d abandoned Polly in the bathroom, he’d all but lunged for the dark doorway, intent on—what? Not a sodding clue. He hadn’t been given the chance to find out what spontaneous action he might have taken when Polly emerged from the bathroom, chin lifted as if she were wearing a ball gown made of sewn-together diamonds instead of a towel.

  Yes, it was safe to say he’d broken the spell they’d woven together. She’d had her laptop and portable printer out in under thirty seconds, documents spitting out onto the table he’d planned to fuck her on during round two. Round two so hadn’t happened, to the utter devastation of his cock, which seemed to require Polly around the clock, now that he’d gotten a glimpse of her brand of heaven.

  Instead…they’d worked. Briefly. His sexy mastermind had worked the laptop like a master pianist, handily providing the missing piece of his plan, which as it turned out was Henrik. Austin’s observation of the ex-cop had been spot on. It turned out the man was not only good with his fists, but an amateur boxer who might’ve had a career if he hadn’t chosen the police force instead. Those fighting skills and their usefulness were what brought Austin to Arcadia Terrace, waiting for the squad’s newest member, instead of giving head to Polly, where he’d love to be.

  That, and the annoying knowledge that Derek had given him a two-day window to accomplish something on the Reitman front.

  Austin’s thoughts returned to Polly like a snapped rubber band. Pleasuring her out of her mind wasn’t really an option at the moment, was it? As soon as she’d stacked the documents and placed them in his hand, she’d dressed and blown straight out of the hotel room like it was haunted by a three-headed rottweiler. He might have made a lucrative profession out of charming women until they waved good-bye to their common sense, but it appeared the biggest con of his life lay in convincing Polly he wasn’t a worthless shit bag.

  And of course, making her his…girlfriend.

  “Girlfriend,” Austin murmured, testing the word on his lips. “Be my girlfriend. I’d like you to be my girlfriend. Keep your hands off my girlfriend. Ah.” He liked that. If he and Polly were exclusive, he only had to state the fact out loud and she became off-limits. Like an invisible net that kept other dicks away.

  Henrik turned the corner at the south end of the block, grabbing Austin’s attention. Speaking of other dicks. That giant motherfucker would be the first to hear the news if Polly forgave his earlier panic attack and agreed to keep seeing him outside of work. As in, every single day and night, no questions asked. An eventuality he would be pulling out all stops to reach, preferably before Henrik attempted to s
it beside her at another meeting and Austin lost his very sanity.

  Austin lifted an eyebrow when Henrik paused outside the entrance to his building. He turned to scan the street under the guise of checking his cell phone, obviously sensing Austin’s presence. Was Henrik simply a good cop? Or had Austin really had a layer ripped away that morning?

  Austin rolled his shoulders in a restless movement. No sense in delaying what he’d come here to accomplish. He tipped his hat back with a quick finger flick and checked for oncoming traffic before crossing the street toward Henrik. The ex-cop turned to watch his approach with a mixture of irritation and curiosity.

  “Afternoon, mate,” Austin said, removing his hat completely in a sweeping gesture and executing a mocking bow.

  “I’m not your mate.”

  No, he wasn’t. And he’d be even less so by the time their visit ended. “I wouldn’t suggest pushing your luck after this morning.”

  Henrik rubbed his chin, as if to ponder Austin’s meaning. “This morning?”

  Austin tilted his head, smiling through the urge to coldcock the other man. “Do they teach passive-aggressiveness at the police academy?”

  “No.” A muscle jumped in Henrik’s cheek. “But they teach us how to spot a bullshit artist, and I was paying extra close attention that day.”

  “Bully for you.” Austin nodded toward the entrance. “Are you going to invite me in? Or should we discuss Ailish O’Kelly out here on the curb?”

  Henrik turned to stone. Something sharp and unpleasant made itself known in Austin’s gut. Imagine that. For the first time in his illustrious career, he was feeling a definite pang of regret. He didn’t like using another man’s love interest to put him in a corner, but in this case, it was all he and Polly had to work with. On the train ride over, he’d consoled himself with the fact that the O’Kelly girl would never be affected by what took place. She would, however, guarantee Henrik’s cooperation. If the disgraced cop had been willing to end his career to protect her, it stood to reason he wouldn’t change his stripes now.