My thoughts fell away as his hand skimmed up my body to cup my breast and toy with the nipple. Heat once against pooled between my legs, and I lifted my hips to press against him.

I needed him. Inside me. Now.

I opened my mouth to say something—anything—that would get me what I craved, but Lucas was ahead of me. His lips dragged down my chest, down the slope of my breast to catch my nipple and tug before he knelt and grabbed the condom. With quick, efficient movements, he ripped open the package and rolled the condom on before lowering a knee between my legs and pressing my thighs apart.

His fingers found my center, slipped through my slickness, and plunged inside. Those clever fingers—and thumb—brought me to the edge before his other knee slid between my legs and he positioned himself above me, his cock nudging against my entrance.

Lucas’s eyes met mine as he slowly, inch by delicious inch, slid inside.

He consumed me. With every thrust and retreat, he unraveled me. My mind was hazy, recognizing nothing but the pleasure ripping through my body as his fingers found my clit.

“I’m—” I couldn’t even get the words out before the coils holding me together snapped and my orgasm broke free.

Lucas kept his steady rhythm, using his cock and fingers, until I couldn’t take it anymore. His groan broke the silence of the room as he emptied himself inside me. Falling to his forearms above me, he breathed into my ear.

“Nothing is impossible, my gorgeous girl.”

His meaning hit me, and I couldn’t raise the energy to respond. Drunk with the aftermath of my orgasm, I lay there, my mind blank for a few minutes longer.

When Lucas pulled away and headed to the bathroom to dispose of the condom, reality once again intruded. But the tears stayed away. I might be a little ragged around the edges, but I no longer felt like I was going to shatter into tiny pieces.

Had Lucas Titan just comforted me?

His words echoed in my mind. Let me hold you together.

Had he really meant it?

I yawned, exhaustion enveloping me. Maybe I’ll take a quick nap . . .

My eyes slid closed as the heaviness of sleep dragged me under moments later.

HANDS BRACED ON THE COUNTER in my guest bathroom, I stared at myself in the mirror.

What was I doing? I handled everything that came my way, but I didn’t insert myself into someone’s life and try to fix it. But I wanted to fix it all for Yve, even though she’d never let me.

What did I do with her now? That was the question. I’d walked out of a meeting when Jerome had called and said she’d finally answered her phone. A meeting I shouldn’t have walked out of and needed to return to in order to deal with the aftermath. An empire like mine didn’t run itself.

But I didn’t go. Instead, I’d sent Jerome to find Yve some clothes and handle Dirty Dog. Hennessy had told us that there was nothing left of her apartment, and I’d seen it for myself when I’d sped over there immediately afterward to discover Yve was nowhere to be found. I’d known she’d be taken somewhere by the Red Cross, but no one knew where. Rather than scour the neighborhood, I’d gone to the office and commenced calling her a ridiculous number of times.

Why did I do that? I wasn’t sure.

Probably because she was the most stubborn woman I’d ever met, and if I were right, she wouldn’t ask for help. She’d find her own way through a situation that no one should have to deal with on her own.

My phone buzzed in the pile of clothes on the floor, and I bent to fish it out. Hennessy again.

I’d gotten to know the detective when I’d been chasing after Vanessa Frost, and by chasing after I meant blackmailing. It had been expedient at the time, but hadn’t ended the way I’d planned.

Before I answered, I glanced into the bedroom. Yve was tucked under the blanket, her eyes closed. Her chest rose and fell in a slow and even rhythm.

I could’ve lost her today. That was unacceptable—as was the helplessness it dredged up inside me. No one would take her from me.

I closed the bathroom door and answered the call. “What else do you know?”

Hennessy didn’t miss a beat at my lack of greeting. “My buddy in arson says the dogs didn’t pick up any traces of accelerants around the exterior, but they won’t know more until the cause-and-origin guys get in there. Structure is still too hot to get inside and check it out. Still, even though the dogs didn’t find anything, he says he doesn’t usually see this kind of destruction from a simple gas leak. This is more along the lines of a major leak or an intentional leak. It definitely came from the downstairs unit that’s been empty a few days while the lady was on vacation.”

Not Yve’s place.

Relief came hard and fast until Hennessy added, “But the weird thing is that the lady whose apartment it was? She says she won the ticket to go visit her sister in a radio giveaway . . . from a station that doesn’t exist. No record of it. The ticket was couriered to her house the same day she won it and had to be used within forty-eight hours, which doesn’t sound like any radio giveaway I’ve ever heard of.”

“Hell no, it doesn’t.”

“What it sounds like is someone trying to make sure the place would be empty to potentially rig the stove and cause the explosion.”

“What about the other tenant? What did she have to say? Did she have any enemies?”

“From what I’ve been told, she worked at the postal service until she retired a couple months ago. Got bored and decided to take a job working third shift a couple weeks back. I need more time to dig, but from what she told me, she lives a pretty quiet life. So, the question is . . . what about Yve?”

“Have you started digging?”

“You know this isn’t my case, right? I’m just telling you what I’ve gotten from my contacts.”

“Come on, Hennessy. You can’t tell me you’re not curious now.”

“Sure I am, but I’ve got a ton of other shit on my desk that is my job that needs to get done today.”

“Fine. I’ll ask her myself.”

“Let me know what you find out.”

“Yeah, I will.”

We hung up, and I wondered if Yve would tell me any more than she’d told me last time, that night in my study after I’d found her in my pool.

Now that her life could have been the price, the time for bullshit answers had passed. This all felt way too planned, and Yve’s fear made her the most likely target.