Rise of the Notorious by Katie Jennings

before, of how his words had shattered through her steel heart and revealed the stunning, bleeding mess within, had her breath catching in her throat. Dizzying emotions whirled through her like a firestorm, whipping up every past fear and desperate longing. She paused before the cracked open door, needing to center herself, to regain some measure of control. It felt as though the world were crumbling down upon her very head.
    Wyatt Bailey had done it again. He’d reopened her wounds and made her remember loving him, what it had felt like, been like. She couldn’t help but despise him for it.
    When she felt him come up behind her, she fought back the instantaneous desire to take a violent swipe at him.
    “Can’t you see I’m trying to leave?” she snarled, whirling around to face him just as he pushed the door shut behind her.
    “I can see that.” A grin twitched over his mouth as he folded his arms over his bare chest, his legs covered with jeans, lazily unbuttoned.
    She rolled her eyes in an attempt to avoid looking at him. To avoid remembering the enjoyment she had gotten running her hands over his body after all these years. “I have to get home.”
    Instead of answering her, he pushed her up against the door and kissed her, needing to feel her yielding to him. He had to feel her give in, just as she did the night before…
    “What’s your hurry, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice thick with need as he ran his hands down her sides, taking her in with all of his senses.
    “I have to work.” Her eyes fluttered closed as she felt her knees giving out, her heart thudding with vivid hot pain and desire at his touch. She felt her anger building to match the passion and used it as she shoved him purposefully away from her. “Stop it.”
    He glared at her, a dark shadow haunting his face as he realized they were falling back into the same old game. It came as naturally to them as breathing did. “I’m not going away this time. You can count on that.”
    She stared into his eyes, wanting to believe him and yet still so wary. He was virtually a stranger to her…what did she really know of his intentions? He got off on toying with people, on manipulating and twisting circumstances to suit his own needs. She knew that because she did it herself. But when two people of that same, carelessly cruel nature came together…well, it was quite simply volatile.
    And damn it all if she didn’t get off on that, too.
    She smiled slowly as she changed tactics, stepping toward him and reaching up to grab the back of his neck and yank his mouth down to hers. She kissed him wildly, pouring all of the dark, vivid emotions she felt into the act, knowing it would unsettle him. Knowing it was the one thing he could not overcome, could not resist.
    As she broke the kiss and backed away, the light caught her eyes, disarming him and nearly knocking the very breath from his lungs.
    There she was, the same girl he’d met at his blackjack table in Vegas, the vixen with those glorious honeyed eyes. The memory of it hit him like a crushing wave, and the misery it brought stifled him.
    Oblivious to his pain, she smiled and patted his cheek. “It’s been fun, darling.”
    She turned on her heel and strolled from the room, swiftly shutting the door at her back. Wyatt stared after her, his blood a furiously raging river in his veins.
    Somehow, in the years since he had last seen her, she had learned how to always leave with the upper hand.
    He didn’t know whether to be proud or alarmed by that fact.

    Linc was on edge, his movements erratic and his mind clearly distracted. Grant walked beside him as they strolled down the block to the restaurant where Shaw had agreed to meet them.
    Even with his brother’s presence, Linc couldn’t shake the uneasiness he felt. The hostility.
    The man had threatened his family, after all. And potential future father-in-law or not, Linc wasn’t going to let Shaw get away with words of ominous violence, even