Chapter 7
7
N atalya sat numbly on the sofa in Rogan’s living room, her gaze fixated on the large television across from her. A phone rang, and someone spoke quietly into it. Someone else coughed. A door opened and shut. She blocked out all these sounds as she concentrated on the news reporter standing in front of Lake Medina.
“It looks like the remains found in Lake Medina are, in fact, human. The police divers have been searching Lake Medina for a small boy who was supposedly sighted near the lake yesterday morning.”
“Do they think the remains are the child?” the newsreader asked.
“No, the initial reports we’ve received indicate that these remains are most likely an adult and have been there for years. Police are not releasing any more facts at this stage. Divers will continue searching, but it is increasingly unlikely they will find the missing boy. So far, there have been no missing persons reports matching the child’s description.”
“Thank you, Susie,” the newsreader said.
Rogan turned off the television.
“Mateo wasn’t there,” she whispered.
“No, it doesn’t appear that he was.” Tanner sat in an armchair next to her. “The police still have to finish checking the lake, but it looks like the woman who reported seeing Mateo there lied.”
Aedan walked into the room, she hadn’t even noticed him leave, and handed her a mug of hot chocolate. “Here, baby. Drink.”
She took the mug, but just held it between her hands, warming them.
“What do we do now?” she asked. “I feel like I’ve been thrown completely off course. I’m so relieved that I can’t even seem to process it. But, at the same time, it feels like we’re getting nowhere.”
“My people haven’t stopped searching for Mateo. We’re following up on every lead we have. Stanton is trying to track down your cousin. We will find something soon.”
And if they didn’t? She was too scared to voice the words aloud in case that gave them strength.
“Stanton just faxed through a sketch of the guy your cousin was seen with.” Levi brought it over to her.
“Do you recognize him?” Tanner asked her.
She stared down at the man, praying she’d know him. But his face meant nothing to her.
Natalya shook her head, too upset to even speak. Rogan came up behind her, looking over her shoulder.
“What about this?” Another piece of paper was shoved in front of her. “The witness saw part of a tattoo on his neck. This is our artist’s interpretation of what she remembered.”
“It looks like . . . ”
“An ELO tattoo,” Rogan said grimly. “It’s a dragon’s head on a serpent’s body.”
“The ELO were aligned with the Fuerte Cartel,” she explained to Tanner, Aedan, and Levi. “But then, about two years ago, they had a huge falling out. They’ve been at odds ever since. I don’t know exactly what happened, but it was the only time I’ve ever seen Diego lose his temper. I think some of his men died. Do you think the ELO could have had something to do with Mateo going missing?”
“Could be their way of getting revenge,” Tanner guessed.
“But how did they find us? I’ve been using my mother’s maiden name, Diego isn’t on Mateo’s birth certificate, and I never met anyone associated with the ELO! Besides, it’s been two years since they fell out with the Fuerte Cartel. Why come after us now?”
“How they found you isn’t important. The fact that we have a lead is,” Rogan told her. “It’s looking increasingly likely that Diego didn’t take Mateo.”
Which wasn’t good. It had been the one thing keeping her sane, the thought that surely Diego wouldn’t hurt his own son. But the ELO wouldn’t care about Mateo.
Panic clawed at her, threatening to overwhelm her. “I need to do something. I’m going crazy just waiting.” She clenched her hands on the mug she still held to stop herself from yelling. She was tired of crying and feeling useless. Her pain and her fear had to go somewhere, and it was morphing into a deep, burning rage. How dare someone take her baby? How dare they do this to her?
When she found them . . .
“I want them to pay.” She scanned the room. “When we find them, I want them to suffer like I have been. I want them to feel just an ounce of the terror and fear I’m going through. Can you give me that?” She could hear the challenge in her voice as she glared at Tanner.
Tanner raised an eyebrow and stared at her for a long moment. “I’m sure something can be arranged. In the meantime, we just have to wait?—”
“I am sick of goddamn waiting!” she yelled. Everyone around her paused and stared. Yeah, that’s right. She had a temper. She’d been waiting, she’d been patient, but she’d reached the end of her limit. The hours she’d spent thinking that Mateo was in that lake, that her baby was gone for good, they’d been too much. It was more than someone should have to bear.
“I can’t just sit here and wait! Give me something to do, or I’ll damn well go out there and start searching for him on my own.”
Tanner glanced first at Aedan, then at Rogan, as though expecting them to step in.
“Don’t look at them,” she said. “Look at me. You’re trying to handle me, and I don’t like it.”
“Listen, I know it’s difficult for you?—”
“Do you? Really?” she snapped at him.
Tanner’s gaze grew glacial as he stared back at her. “Actually, I do.”
Natalya froze. His voice was filled with pain. Had Tanner been through something traumatic? Shame filled her at the way she was acting.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m just over being terrified, and my next natural reaction was fury.”
“I know. No need to apologize. That’s what I’m here for, to take the hits.” Tanner smiled wryly.
She shook her head. “I shouldn’t be yelling at you, and I don’t want to make your job any harder. You’re doing this wonderful thing for me, and I’m acting like a total bitch. It’s just that I have to do something, or I will go insane!”
“Can you use a computer?” Samantha asked from behind her computer screen. It was the first time Natalya had heard her speak unless she was answering a direct question.
“I’ve got some experience,” she answered dryly. “I worked in IT when I lived in San Antonio years ago.”
“So you’re rusty,” Samantha replied. “I’ll put you on the easy stuff.”
Calm. Breathe. Ignore her rudeness. You don’t need to rise to the bait.
“Well? Stop moaning and get over here. I’ll show you what to do.”
I did ask for something to do.
Natalya rose, pausing as her cell phone rang. It was sitting on the bookshelf, charging. She raced over and snatched it up.
“Unknown number.” She glanced around nervously. Could it be the kidnappers?
“Put your phone on speaker,” Tanner decreed, waving his arm around to quieten everyone.
Shaking, she placed the phone down and hit the speaker button.
“Natalya!” Diego’s voice blasted on the phone, making her jolt. He was always so calm and disciplined. But the anger in his voice was unmistakable. “What the hell is going on?”
“Diego? Where are you? I’ve been trying to call you. Do you know where Mateo is?” She held herself back from grabbing her phone and screaming at him.
“That’s why I’m calling you!” he snapped back. “I just listened to your voicemail. I had that phone switched off. What the hell is going on? He’s missing?”
She sat back in her seat, her legs turning to jelly. “So you truly don’t have him?” she whispered.
“What? I can hardly hear you. Am I on speakerphone? Who’s there with you?”
She grabbed the phone, switched it off speakerphone, and moved over to the corner of the room. If Diego didn’t have Mateo, then this phone call was no one else’s business.
Jealousy threatened to rear its ugly head at how she’d shut him out and was now hunched over her phone, talking to her ex. It pulled at his insecurities, but he also recognized that his judgment was clouded by their past. Aedan took a deep breath, trying to ease the tightness in his gut, pushing the jealousy away.
She peered over at him. He smiled at her reassuringly, and some of the tension in her shoulders visibly dissipated. Maybe her relationship with Diego wasn’t something he could, or should, be involved in, but he could be there for her.
But I can’t fully trust her. Not yet.
Natalya watched as Aedan walked from the room. There had been a look on his face that worried her, but now wasn’t the time to figure it out.
“Natalya?” Diego growled. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Someone took Mateo. I thought it was you.”
“What?” There was genuine shock in his voice. “Why would you think it was me?”
She told him everything, from her cousin supposedly spotting him by the day care to Stanton’s team taking the case pro bono. Diego was silent the whole time, just listening.
“What leads do they have?”
“There have been a few reports of a boy matching Mateo’s description, but so far, nothing has panned out. Someone reported seeing a little boy fall into Lake Medina, but we think she was paid to lie about that as a distraction. Also, my cousin has disappeared. We have a sketch of the man she was seen leaving with. His tattoo . . . Diego, it looks like he could be a member of the ELO.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Take a photo of the sketch and text it to me,” he demanded. “Listen, you can’t go to the cops, understand?”
“Yeah, I know,” she said with a hint of bitterness.
“Good. I’ve got to go. I have business to attend to.”
“Wait!”
“Yes?” he asked impatiently.
“I . . . we . . . ” she swallowed heavily. “We have to find him.”
Diego laughed humorlessly. “He’s your son. It’s up to you to find him.”
Even though he’d always been distant, she’d never thought he’d be so disinterested. So cruel.
“But he was probably taken because of you,” she pointed out.
“If that turns out to be the case, let me know. Otherwise, I’m out.”
He hung up, and she just stood there for the longest time, listening . . . waiting for something . . . anything.
“Natalya? Natalya?”
She blinked and saw Rogan standing in front of her, concern on his face. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t think so.” She peered around him. “Where’s Aedan?” She needed him. Desperately.
You’re getting too dependent on him.
“I’m not sure. Why don’t we go get a drink in my study?” Rogan didn’t wait for a reply, just steered her out of the room, glaring at Tanner when he tried to intervene.
Rogan settled her on a sofa in his office and poured two glasses of whiskey. She took one gratefully, taking a large sip. It burned her throat, and she choked, spluttering.
“Sorry,” she said hoarsely.
“It’s better to sip than gulp,” he told her mildly.
“Could you teach me that skill?”
“How to sip whiskey?” he asked, looking startled.
“No, how to get rid of someone with one look. It would have taken me ten minutes to get away from Tanner.”
“That’s because you’re nice.”
“What?” she asked, puzzled.
“You’re nice. I’m not. You care about other people’s feelings, about what they think about you. I don’t.”
“You’re nicer than Diego.”
“Was that a compliment or an insult?” he asked dryly.
“I know you’re only helping me because of Aedan, but I want you to know I will be forever grateful.”
“I don’t need your gratitude,” Rogan replied dismissively.
“But you do need something?” she asked, sensing he had something to ask her.
“I need you to take Aedan back.”
She stared at him in shock. “What do you mean?”
“The only time I’ve seen him truly happy was when he was with you. I decided to help you because I want the two of you to get back together.”
“I hurt him.”
“So, fix it.”
“It’s not that easy,” she insisted. He no longer trusted her, and she didn’t know how to fix that.
“Ahh, so that wasn’t the two of you I heard fucking earlier?” he asked.
She sat back, unclenching her tightly fisted hands. She took a deep breath in, then let it slowly out.
“Your control over your temper has improved over the years.”
“I never wanted to give Diego a reason to get angry at me or Mateo.”
“Because you thought he might hit you?” His voice was a thundercloud, dark and threatening.
“No, at least I don’t think so.” She sighed. “Have you ever felt like you’ve been close to someone for years, and yet, you never really knew them?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“Well, that’s how I feel about Diego. I’m starting to see that I never knew him at all. Just like I never let myself get to know you.” Her fault. “Because I refused to. I was wrong.”
“Maybe.” He glanced away. “You’re a good person. Good people shouldn’t be around me.”
“Oh, stop being a martyr,” she told him grumpily.
“Excuse me?” He gave her an ‘ are you insane’ look. Backing down probably would have been the wisest choice, but her son had been kidnapped, her ex was an asshole, and her lover was who knew where. She didn’t have time to pander to Rogan.
“You’re acting like a pariah, but you’re not. You care about people; you just don’t want to admit it. You love Aedan. So stop acting like you’re the Devil!”
“I only want him to take you back, so he’ll stop dating every slut out there. Do you know the last one had the gall to proposition me while he was in the bathroom?”
Natalya shook her head. “Shocking. I mean, who would want you when they could have Aedan?”
Rogan growled, looking slightly disgruntled.
“Have you ever been in love?”
His face closed down. “Yes,” he admitted surprising her.
“What happened?”
His gaze was cold, detached, and she wondered what emotions he was hiding from her. “She thought it was all a game. That our life would be like one of those Mafia movies. She wanted me to intimidate and bully people, so she could get what she wanted.”
“Wow, she sounds like a real catch. You seriously loved her?”
He shrugged. “Maybe love’s too strong a word. I really enjoyed fucking her, though.”
Natalya gaped at him for a long moment. Then he winked, and she grinned, rolling her eyes.
She hoped that one day he’d find a woman he could truly love, and she’d love him just as much. Rogan was a man who tried to take care of everyone around him, even though he’d deny that he cared. The woman he fell in love with would be the most protected in the city, but she would also have to teach him that there was a fine line between protective and smothering.
“Diego’s an asshole,” she blurted out.
“I have no doubt. What did he want?”
Natalya told him everything. “I can’t believe that he really doesn’t care about Mateo. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but how can you not love your own son?”
“I don’t know, but plenty of parents seem to manage it.”
Had Rogan’s father been distant? She realized she didn’t know much about his life. When she’d been with Aedan before, she hadn’t cared. All she’d seen was what Rogan did, not who he was.
She took another small sip of whiskey. She felt light-headed. Drinking on a nearly empty stomach was probably not the best idea, but the warmth that filled her was welcome. It felt like she’d been freezing since Mateo had been taken.
I wasn’t cold in Aedan’s arms.
“Where’s Aedan?” she asked, yawning.
“I’ll find him. Why don’t you lie back and go to sleep?”
“Can’t. I’ve got to tell Tanner what Diego said.” But the sofa looked awfully inviting. Maybe she’d just rest her eyes for a minute.
“Sleep,” Rogan told her. “I’ll talk to Tanner.”
Aedan knocked on Rogan’s door, entering as the other man called out.
“Hey, have you seen Natalya?”
Rogan nodded over at his sofa. “Keep your voice down. Although I doubt a locomotive would wake her right now.”
Aedan spotted Natalya sleeping on the wide leather sofa. A navy blue wool blanket covered her.
“Is she all right?” he asked.
“Shattered. Stressed. She was asking for you. Where did you go?”
“I needed some fresh air. To clear my head.”
“Yeah?” Rogan asked. “Are things clearer now?”
“Yes, I just needed some space.” He couldn’t expect that issues from the past wouldn’t raise their head now and then, but he needed to make his position clear to her. Make her understand where he stood. “Can I have a moment?”
“Take all the time you need. I’ll leave you guys alone.” Rogan stood and left the room.
Her lush lashes were inky against her pale skin as she slept. Her full breasts rose and fell with each breath.
Aedan couldn’t bear to wake her, so instead he sat in an armchair across from her and just watched her sleep.
Twenty minutes later, she stirred and rubbed her eyes. Blinking rapidly, she stared at him for a long moment.
He smiled down at her. “You always were slow to wake.”
“Aedan? Where am I?” She sat up, looking around in confusion.
“Rogan’s study.”
“Oh no, I fell asleep?”
“This might have had something to do with that,” he said with a grin, nodding at her empty glass. “You’ve always been a lightweight.
A chagrined look crossed her face. “What was I thinking?”
Her self-reproach was clear, but he wasn’t about to allow her to wallow in guilt.
“Hush,” he told her firmly. “You’re near collapse. You needed a break and some rest. I ought to put you to bed and make you stay there.”
She raised her eyebrows. “And how would you manage that?”
He grinned. “By fucking you into submission.”
Natalya glared at him, but there was desire in her gaze. He sat next to her, taking her mouth in a kiss that sizzled and burned.
“Later,” he whispered, then brushed her hair back. He’d love nothing more than to take her to bed, but now wasn’t the time. “Tell me what Diego said.”
Worried about her, he pulled her onto his lap, listening closely as she told him about the phone call. Fuck. She was so slight. He really had to work on feeding her more.
“Diego’s an idiot, you know,” he told her, barely able to keep the rage out of his voice. The other man didn’t deserve Natalya or Mateo.
“I know,” she agreed, but pain in her voice was unmistakable. “I should be grateful that he wants nothing to do with us.”
“But I guess it still hurts when he’s Mateo’s father. You need to think about the positive.”
She stared up at him questioningly.
“You can move on with your life without worrying about him interfering. You can cut ties completely.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“Come on, you need some proper sleep. I’ll walk you upstairs.”
What would she do without him? A wash of gratefulness swamped her as he helped her up and placed his arm around her. She leaned into him.
“You were always the most dependable person in my life, you know,” she told him as they walked up the stairs and into her bedroom.
“Jesus, that makes me sound boring.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she protested, sitting on the bed. Aedan bent down and removed her shoes.
Diego would never have removed her shoes for her. He’d never have kneeled in front of her. He’d have seen that as beneath him.
Aedan just saw it as taking care of her. “I just meant that you’ve never let me down. You’ve always been there for me when I needed you.”
Although her life had become more stable after her mother married Stan Murphy, she’d never felt like she had a home until she’d moved in with Aedan. If he said he would do something, then he always followed through.
“Then why did you always expect me to leave you?” he asked as he helped her strip off her sweatshirt.
What?
“What do you mean?”
He helped her stand and pull off her pants.
“You always had one foot out the door, Natalya. You just seemed to be waiting for me to take off and abandon you.”
“That’s not true,” she protested. But maybe it was. She thought about it for a long moment. Had she been waiting for him to leave her the entire time they’d been together?
“Well, I didn’t do it consciously.”
He smiled gently at her as he pulled back the bed’s covers. “No, maybe not consciously. I understand why. Everyone else in your life abandoned you at some time; it’s only to be expected that you’d let that color any relationship you had.”
“Mama never left me. Well, not on purpose.”
He raised his eyebrows as he pushed her into bed. “She worked long hours, though. Leaving you alone a lot.”
“Or with Río.”
“Someone else who abandoned you,” he pointed out.
“I get your point.” She sat on the bed and curled her legs against her chest, staring at him pensively. “I guess I wasn’t the easiest of girlfriends, huh? Judgmental, temperamental, emotionally stunted.”
“I wouldn’t say stunted, maybe backward.”
“Backward? That sounds worse!”
He grinned, and she rolled her eyes. “When I first met you, you seemed to think everything was a joke.”
“And you were way too serious, Lovely.”
“Guess we’ve both changed, huh?”
“Change isn’t always a bad thing, Natalya,” he told her gently, cupping her face. “Sometimes it can be very, very good.”
“Can you ever trust me again, Aedan? Or is this just sex?”
He was silent for a long moment.
“It’s not just about sex. We need to build some trust between us again. Now isn’t the time to make big decisions. But after this is over, you have to consider whether you can truly give me all of you. Because if you can’t, then all that will be between us is sex. And we’ll have to go our separate ways.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but he leaned over and kissed her. “I want you to think about it. Truly think about it because I will demand all of you. I don’t want to own or control you, but I do want all of you. Just like you’ll have all of me.” He pushed her gently so she lay on her back. Then he kissed his way down her body, undoing the front clasp of her bra and pushing the cups aside before swirling his tongue around each rosy-red nipple. “I’m not the same person I was. Neither are you. We need to get to know each other again, and these aren’t the best circumstances to do that in. If you decide you want to try this again, if you can give me everything I demand, then after this is over, we’ll talk again. I will not allow you to hold back, Natalya, and I will be damned if you try to protect me again. If you treat me as though I’m weak or useless, I will walk away without a backward glance.”
Is that what he thought? That she believed he was weak?
Natalya attempted to sit up, gripped by the need to make him understand. As soon as she moved, he drew back, staring at her sternly. “Did I say you could move?”
The dominance in his tone was like nothing she’d heard from him before. His voice was pure steel, the look on his face unbendable. Compelled by him, she found herself lying back and staring up at him in surprise.
“I need to know that you trust me to keep you safe, Natalya. That you need me for more than just sex and my bank account.”
She gasped, outraged. “I was never with you for your bank account! You had no money before.”
He grinned, showing his more carefree side. “Ahh, so you were with me for the sex?”
“Aedan! This is a horrible time for this conversation.”
“Actually, I think it’s perfect. I have you right where I want you. No more trying to do it all on your own. No more trying to protect me. It makes me feel like less of a man. It makes me feel like my love for you meant less than your feelings for me.”
“Oh, Aedan.” Damn, he sure knew how to make her feel like a complete ass.
“We’ve both changed.” He kissed the top of her mound. “We need to rediscover each other.” He fingered the top of her panties. “I think I should ban panties from your wardrobe. They’re constantly in my way.”
She glared up at him and he chuckled. “Yes, I think that’s a great idea.” He slipped his fingers beneath her panties, circling her entrance with the tip of his finger. Then he pulled her panties off, returning to twirl his tongue around her swollen clit.
“What does this all mean?”
“It means that for the time being, I’m going to look after you, and I’m going to do whatever is necessary to find Mateo. Plus, I’m going to fuck you.”
Aedan pushed two fingers deep into her pussy. “Here.” Drawing them out and bringing them up to her face, he brushed her juices on her lips until she opened her mouth and sucked his fingers inside. “Here.” Withdrawing his fingers from her mouth, he held her gaze with his as he lowered his fingers to her back passage, moving them between her plump cheeks. “And here.” He pushed his wet fingers against her asshole.
Natalya stiffened. “Aedan, I don’t know if I can . . .”
“Hush, not tonight. But eventually. For now, just lay back and let me take care of you.”
When he was this determined, there was no point in arguing.
Not that she really wanted to, anyway.
Aedan kissed his way around her areola. Then he licked her nipple with light, teasing laps of his tongue.
Grabbing both legs under the knees, he pushed them back toward her chest. “Hold your legs there,” he instructed. Reaching down, he pulled the lips of her pussy apart, blowing slightly on her moist flesh.
Natalya groaned. It wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. She wanted him to touch her, to consume her.
“Such a sweet pussy. I don’t think I studied it enough before. I was always too eager to get inside you to really appreciate its beauty.”
“God, Aedan.”
“Have you ever watched yourself come, Natalya?” he asked.
“No,” she told him. Surely he wouldn’t, would he?
Standing, Aedan picked her up and carried her over to the mirrored wardrobe doors. He set her down on the floor.
“Aedan, I’m not sure . . . ”
He turned her around to face him. “I would never harm or humiliate you. Trust me?”
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate. There was no other answer.
“Then sit on the floor with your legs apart.”
Despite knowing that she was blushing hot enough to fry eggs on her cheeks, she did as he ordered.
“Bend your knees. Bring them back toward your chest. Look at yourself.” He kneeled behind her, placing his legs on either side of her hips as he leaned her back against him. Reaching around her, he cupped her breasts, holding them up. “See how stunning you are?”
He was the one worth looking at. She could feel his taut, toned body behind her. The heat of his skin against hers. The scent of his cologne teased her senses.
“Don’t watch me,” he ordered, giving her a light tap on the thigh. “Or I’ll have you watch while I redden your ass.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would.” He studied her closely before grinning. “I think that turned you on. Shall we check?” The strength and surety in his hands held her gaze mesmerized as he slid them down her stomach to her pussy.
“What happened to the curls?” he asked.
“I shaved them off.” Now she wished she’d left herself with some sort of cover. Something to shield herself with.
“So now there’s nothing between us.”
“ Dios mío ,” she muttered as he split the lips of her pussy apart. The pink folds were swollen and slick with dew.
“Ahh, someone is very turned on. Do you like looking at yourself, Lovely?”
“No,” she groaned.
Aedan rolled her onto one hip, then gave her two sharp smacks on the ass. “No lying.”
Oh, hell.
All those slaps did was turn her on more. And she bet he knew that.
“I’m turned on from being so close to you, from looking at your gorgeous, sexy body. I want you inside me. Please.”
She wasn’t above begging.
“Not yet.” He let her go, and she instinctively closed her legs.
Aedan raised his eyebrows as he stared at her in the mirror. “Uh-uh, no hiding yourself. Spread those legs wide for me. Be a good girl.”
She scowled at him but parted her legs.
Chuckling as he parted her lower lips with two fingers, he swirled a finger from his other hand through her juices. Then he tapped her clit. Circled it. Tapped it again. She shifted restlessly against him as he nibbled his way down her neck. Each graze of his teeth against her skin made her shiver with delight.
“Shh, stay still. Just let it happen. Watch yourself come. Don’t look away, or we’ll have to start this all over again. And next time, I might just watch as you make yourself come. Hmm, I might do that sometime anyway.”
He was killing her!
As he slipped one thick finger deep inside her, she shuddered. Watching his tanned fingers play with the delicate folds of her pussy shouldn’t be so arousing, but she couldn’t deny the pleasure flowing through her, twisting and turning, tying her up into knots. Coils of desire drew tighter and tighter.
“That’s it, baby. Come for me. Come hard. Watch yourself.”
She could barely comprehend that the wild-looking woman in the mirror was her. That woman had abandoned all propriety. That woman was someone who knew how to live life to the fullest. Someone who wouldn’t let anything stand between her and happiness.
Pleasure peaked. She crashed, crying out, barely feeling him move behind her. He lifted her, placing her on her knees before driving his cock deep inside her.
Natalya’s breath sobbed in and out. She stared into the mirror. There was a savageness to him. The lust that burned between them grew harder, hotter.
“Watch. Watch yourself,” he demanded.
Like she could do anything else. His cock might have joined them physically, but it was the possession in his eyes that held them together. He was hers.
Her breasts bobbed with each pounding thrust. Sweat coated both of their bodies. Their loud pants filled the room.
Aedan reached down, gently pinching her clit. Sensation so intense it stung and burst through her.
“No, I can’t.” She shook her head.
“You can. And you will.” There was no leniency in his gaze. But his touch lightened as he brushed her clit with his finger.
“Come, Lovely. Come with me.”
Release slammed into her, catching her breath. She tightened her hold on him as she shook her way through the mind-stealing orgasm. Aedan stiffened behind her, burying his face against her shoulder as he came.
“I can’t move,” he groaned.
Somehow, she found the energy to laugh. “This was your idea.”
“Are you complaining?”
“No.”
Never.