Chapter 16
Elise startled awake at the soft groan of the front door hinges.
Her breath caught until she heard the low voices of Blake and Rook.
She tried to listen, but their voices carried low, a murmur of men who didn’t need full sentences.
Then the door closed again. A few moments later, the sound of a car engine started before it drove away.
That meant Rook was gone, leaving Blake in his place.
A smile spread across her face. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Rook, but being alone with Blake was a prize she’d take.
She listened as Blake moved around downstairs and glanced at the window.
The predawn light had started to lessen the darkness.
Rook was right. Blake had been gone all night.
She yawned and stretched. Her life had changed so drastically since he’d come into her life.
If he hadn’t, she’d probably be dead. That thought chased every last vestige of sleep from her mind.
The deepfake video he’d shown her was so vivid in her mind.
If that was shown to any juror, she’d be convicted of murder without a doubt.
She listened as his boots dropped, one and then the other.
Blake had to be exhausted. She sat up, getting ready to go downstairs, when she heard his heavy steps coming up the stairs.
He avoided every creak in the stairs, but she could still make out his steps.
When Blake stepped into the bedroom, a bit of light from the hall caught the edge of his jaw.
His shirt clung damp to his shoulders, and his pants were wet as well.
Tension ran through every line of him. He carried the weight of the night, but when his gaze found hers, the hardness softened.
“Did you fall into the lake?” she asked as she stood up. “You need to get out of those clothes. You’ll catch your death.”
He stopped her hands from unbuttoning his shirt by grabbing them both in one of his. “I’ll take a shower. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine. Rook made me go to bed instead of waiting up for you.”
“Then I’ll shower and be back in a minute.”
She nodded, and he leaned in for a kiss, which was when she caught the scent. She backed up and her nose scrunched as her eyes watered. “What did you fall into?”
Chuckling, he pulled her back and kissed her hard. When he lifted, he said, “Stagnant water.” Then he stepped out of the bedroom and headed to the bathroom.
“Are you sure it wasn’t sewage?” She followed him and used two fingers to pick up the clothes he’d taken off, placing them in a pile.
“Maybe at one time,” Blake said as he stepped under the water and grabbed a bar of soap.
“What on earth possessed you to get doused in that kind of water?” She grabbed her towel and wrapped his clothes in it so they wouldn’t touch her. “Oh, this is disgusting.” She coughed, and her stomach turned a somersault.
“Curiosity, I guess.”
She drew away from the clothes because her eyes were watering. “What?”
He pulled the shower curtain back. “You asked what possessed me to jump into the water. I said curiosity.”
“Have you ever heard the saying curiosity killed the cat?”
His laugh was all the response she got. Holding her breath, she picked up the pile before she sped downstairs to the clothes washer in the kitchen. She started it using extra detergent and went back upstairs after washing her hands. Twice.
She glanced at the fireplace that had dwindled down to coals.
She should probably put wood in to keep it going, but the shower turned off.
The bed was much more appealing. She trotted up the stairs and dove into the bed, her teeth chattering from the chill of the house.
Blake appeared in the doorway. A towel draped low around his hips.
The muscles of his abs formed a delicious V heading down below the terry cloth of the towel.
The fabric of the towel drying his hair flapped.
My God, his arms are bigger than my legs.
She admired the way the ropes of muscle under his skin moved.
He was beautiful in the most masculine way possible.
He stopped drying his hair and shook his head.
The hair settled in tossed perfection. She knew what he wanted the second he looked at her.
The towel at his waist flexed as his cock filled.
She licked her bottom lip and tucked it between her teeth before she lifted the covers. An invitation.
He crossed the room in two strides, stripped of restraint and words, and claimed her with a kiss that stole her breath.
He stripped her nightgown in quick, impatient motions.
His mouth trailed fire down her skin, his hands strong and certain, as if he needed to assure himself she was there and alive.
Oh, she was there, with him. She was more than alive.
Her body, moments ago chilled, was now on fire as his body molded against hers.
Elise clung to him as he took control of her, and she loved every second.
The man dominated her, pinning her arms above her head with one hand while kissing her so thoroughly she couldn’t breathe.
His free hand pinched and rolled her nipple as his knee spread her legs.
She abandoned any attempt to keep up and arched under him, wanting more.
More of him, more of the sensation of being his entire focus.
The feeling deep inside her grew to an ache.
She gasped as he released her hands and trailed kisses and bites down her neck to her breasts.
The little nips stung until his tongue lapped over the same skin, stirring a desire and need so deep within her that tears came to her eyes.
What was it about the way he took her that made her feel so free?
She writhed under him, needing to feel him inside her.
But he didn’t oblige her. Instead, his lips traveled farther down her body.
He kissed the top of her core and then settled his big shoulders between her legs.
He wrapped his arms around her legs and held her down.
Looking up, he smiled at her. “I may be here a while.”
He dropped down, and she damn near came off the bed and probably would have if he wasn’t holding her down.
Her hands snapped to his hair, and she gripped the dark length in her hands.
She jolted and gasped with each new sensation.
Her legs trembled, and her body bucked, not because she was telling it to but because Blake knew how to make her feel …
so damn good. The first orgasm broke hard.
Her body tightened, her core clenched, her muscles contracted in an intense wringing that shattered into repeating pulses of small releases and deep clenching.
When the pulses stopped, she opened her eyes to see Blake was over her.
“My God, you’re beautiful.” He dropped and took her mouth hard.
Elise wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed as he slipped into her.
As she lifted her hips, his length settled deep inside her.
He released her mouth and pushed up to his knees.
He lifted her legs over his shoulders and dropped down again before he started a hard, fast pace that jarred her into holding onto his wrists to keep from hitting the headboard of the bed.
Their eyes locked. Somehow, she knew he was holding back.
There was something in his gaze. Something she wanted to see snap.
“More. Don’t hold back.”
He paused. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
He pulled out, flipped her over, and pulled her back onto her knees.
He entered her, and one of his hands circled her throat, holding her with a tight grip.
She leaned her head back onto his shoulder and surrendered to whatever he wanted.
The other hand slid down her body to her clit.
He split his fingers around the nub and moved.
The pressure from inside and on her clit was intense and fucking amazing.
When he withdrew and snapped his hips forward, she gasped, and his hand tightened ever so slightly on her neck.
“Shhh,” he whispered in her ear before snapping his hips harder.
The thrill of knowing how vulnerable she was heightened her senses.
She felt everything on another level. The flex of his muscles behind her, the feel of his shaft inside her, the constant pressure on her clit, and the grasp around her neck.
She reached behind her and planted her hands on his back.
She could feel his power, his immense strength under her hands, inside her, and all around her.
He held her tight, and she let him anchor her even as the storm of his need consumed them both.
When her orgasm hit, she exploded. Red and white splotches behind her tightly closed eyes displayed the fireworks her insides were experiencing.
The intensity of the crest was something she’d never experienced before.
She felt Blake come inside her, and then they both dropped to the bed.
Sweat slicked skin and gasps for air were the first things she sensed after she finished the reverberations of the best orgasm of her life.
Blake pulled her close, his chest rising and falling against her cheek. His hand threaded through her hair in slow, calming strokes, gentling the wild urgency that had gripped both of them. He flipped the blanket over them, and for a long while, neither spoke.
Then his voice came, quiet and certain. “Guardian will send you everything you need for your article tomorrow. All the proof. Every name, company, evidence.”
Elise’s pulse kicked, and she tipped her face up to his. “And then?”
“You publish it. I assume you have an editor who’s willing to weather the storm the article will cause?”
“I, ahh …” She thought of the men to whom she’d submitted other articles, and then her mind settled on étienne’s publisher. She’d send it with a note stating it was what he’d been working on when he’d been killed. “Yes. I think I know someone. But …
“There’s still a warrant out for you.” His thumb brushed her cheekbone, steady despite the shadow in his eyes. “That doesn’t vanish overnight. Until it does, you can’t go back.”
Her throat tightened. “So, I’m supposed to hide?”
“Yes and no.” His mouth curved faintly. “I’ve got a cabin in the States. Not unlike this one. On a lake. Quiet. Isolated. We can stay there until Guardian clears your name.”
Elise swallowed hard. “And if they don’t?”
“They will. I’ve never seen them fail.” His gaze was steady, unwavering.
“On things that matter to them. I don’t. Matter I mean. I’m a nobody.”
Blake tucked her against him again. His voice rumbled under her ear. “You’re important to them because you’re important to me.”
“Ah,” she sighed. “That’s nice, but it doesn’t answer my question. What if they don’t clear my name?”
“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Don’t borrow trouble.”
She pushed up on one elbow, refusing the easy reassurance. “I don’t want to wait to cross that bridge, Blake. What if they never clear me? What if someone decides I’m more useful as a fugitive than a journalist?”
He sighed, fingers tightening lightly in her hair. “You’re not a fugitive. You’re a witness. Guardian is working it.”
“That’s not an answer.” Her voice sharpened, frustration from somewhere deep inside her spilling through. “What happens if this doesn’t resolve? What happens to me then?”
Blake’s jaw flexed, and he didn’t speak for a moment.
She knew he was weighing what to tell her, as he always did, considering the truth against what he could say without violating some company policy.
Finally, he met her eyes. “Then we disappear. Off grid. New names. New lives. Guardian can do it, and I can make it stick. They’ll be looking in the wrong places while we live in the right one. ”
Her chest tightened at the certainty in his voice. He wasn’t offering comfort. He was offering a plan. He was offering her a future with him.
“You’d give all of this up? You’d walk away from Guardian?” she whispered.
Blake’s hand framed her jaw, his thumb pressing lightly beneath her chin until she held his gaze. “I told you not to borrow trouble. But if trouble comes, Elise … I won’t let you fight alone.”
Her breath hitched. The truth of it wrapped around her ribs and squeezed until she couldn’t breathe. He meant it. Every word.
When his eyes finally slid closed, exhaustion dragging him under, Elise lay awake, staring at the rafters. The sound of his heartbeat still pulsed under her ear, strong and steady.
He said not to borrow trouble. But she already had. Trouble was lying in her bed, holding her as if she belonged to him. And the worst part wasn’t the warrant or the danger or the shadows that seemed to surround them.
The worst part was the terrifying realization that not only had she borrowed trouble, but he was lying beside her, and she might also be falling in love with him.