Chapter 1
Sean
Birds chirp in the canopy above me, flitting from branch to branch.
I tilt my head back against the rough bark of the tree and stare up at the viridescent foliage and the sunlight that filters through.
The bright orb in the sky smiles down on this tropical paradise, tempting my lips into a grin.
It’s as if the sky is practically begging the earth and all its inhabitants to be happy.
I’m a traitor, a defector, a criminal, an enemy of the state; yet I’m not nearly as upset about that as I should be. I suppose there’s no harm in admitting that now that Louhi has unlocked the darker parts of myself. I’m where I belong: with her.
The government owned me, but not anymore. I’m only under one person’s thumb, and she’s tucked safely in my arms. I need to keep her safe. No one else will hurt her again. That privilege is mine, and mine alone.
Ex-I has a lot of shit to hide, so I don’t know if this will become a public spectacle. While I regret not being able to warn my family, I trust that Jace will find a way to get in touch with them if this news is leaked.
I’ve lost it all except Louhi, and I’ve never been luckier. Joy sparks like fireworks in my chest… She’s free. We’re free.
Glancing down at the magnificent, formidable woman curled in my lap, I glide my fingers through her onyx hair, the sunlight highlighting the dirt beneath my nails.
She stirs but doesn’t wake as my fingers delve into the strands.
Realization dawns on me like a punch to the face, how safe she must’ve felt to truly fall asleep with me.
Another few minutes pass before her eyelids flutter. Her dark eyelashes part as her chocolate-drenched eyes flick to mine. Her lips curl into a feline simper, and she looks every bit the predator she is as she stretches.
I’m certain that we’re about to be in for the fight of our lives. I hope she’s prepared for us to go up against an enemy with more arms than an abnormal octopus. I hope I am.
Between my forefinger and thumb, I continue to roll the unlit cigarette I’ve been fiddling with for the last several hours and tuck it behind Lou’s ear like a fucking flower.
Her alluring features light up as her pouty, plump lips spread into a bright smile, showing off her straight teeth.
As I brush her obsidian hair away from her face, her eyes sparkle in the speckled, dancing sunlight.
Her cheeks sink in slightly—likely due to malnutrition—further defining her striking bone structure.
She’s so damn attractive that it almost hurts to look at her.
As I stare down at her beauty, the air stalls in my lungs. Last night, Lou said something about me making her days end more brightly than they began. Am I worthy of that?
I suppose that same sentiment is true for me, which says a lot because it’s hard to think today could get more radiant than it already is.
“Sean,” she murmurs cautiously, and my heart trips over itself at the sound of my name on her lips. The way she says my name with the sugary lilt of her British accent threatens to make this entire situation even more worth it.
She’s worth more than my life. The honest words I spoke to Jace on the beach haunt me like a lovesick apparition.
“Yeah, Lou?” I sound like I gargled volcanic rock all night.
A beat passes before she sits up fully and faces me.
Before she slipped into slumber last night—or early this morning, depending on how you look at it—she changed into the stolen cutoff denim shorts and neon orange sweater I stole from the teenagers swimming at the beach.
The boys’ clothes I took for myself didn’t come close to fitting my massive frame, so I’m still in my tactical army uniform, though I’m thinking that could be advantageous.
“This is going to be fun!” Lifting her Glock, she studies it, her playful smirk shapeshifting into an infinitesimal grin. “I’m itching to pull the trigger again today.”
I chuckle. “You literally shot people last night.”
“So?” She shrugs. “I have five months of murder and mayhem to catch up on.”
Huffing, I shake my head and pull her into my lap sideways.
I weld our mouths together, savoring the feel of her hand on my face, bathing my mind in the feel of her lips on mine.
Wrapping myself tightly in the moment, I memorize every second so I can drag this memory down to the depths of hell with me whenever I go.
I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I realized I loved this woman, but my heart softened toward her more every day until it became downright mushy.
I’ve never experienced anything remotely akin to the stirring in my chest that happens every time I look at Lou, but the comforting tranquility that accompanies it confirms that my mom was right when she told me I could trust this beating organ.
My hands thread into the tangled strands at her scalp as she deepens the kiss.
When I pull away from her silken lips, I tug on her short braid gently as I stare into her face.
She wraps her fingers around my left forearm and drags them down until she’s gripping my wrist and turning it so that she’s looking into the face of my digital watch.
“We still have a few hours before Viktor’s plane arrives,” she informs me before adding, “Want to get some sleep? You look knackered.”
As tired as I am, sleep isn’t exactly an option; not until we’re safe. “I’m not going to sleep.” I shake my head, a smirk hitching my lips as I tease, “But I’m not too tired for you to ride my cock.”
Fuck sleep. I want her, need her, and I don’t want to have to wait until we get to Russia to have her.
Cupping her cheek, I admire her beautiful face, needing her warm skin under my palm like I need breath in my lungs.
“I can’t think of a better way to pass the time…sir,” she taunts, and my cock twitches in my pants, straining against the zipper.
Slipping beneath her sweater, my hand skates gently over the cuts and bruises littering her smooth skin until I reach her breast. Tweaking her nipple and rolling it roughly between my thumb and forefinger, I soak in the way she subtly thrusts her chest toward me, silently begging for more.
Desperate for her, I want nothing more than to rip her sweater down the middle, leaving it in tatters. Though, when I consider how much more difficult stealing more women’s clothing would be in broad daylight, I reach for the hem and tug it over her head.
As if she knew that I just resisted the urge to tear off her clothes, a light, bubbly sound floats from her lips.
I hate that we’ve been wrapped up in a tornado of motherfucking shit for so long that she hasn’t had many reasons to laugh.
There’s something so pure and enchanting about it, and I want to make her giggle like that every damn day of the rest of our lives.
Getting off this island is the next step. We’ve come too fucking far—both individually and together—to lose it all now.
Wedging my fingers inside her shorts that are a couple sizes too big, I find her wet. I groan, and she chews on her lip. “Between you and the bloodthirst, I’m horny.”
She reclines amid the foliage and leafy vegetation, and I rapidly strip her naked. After shoving my own pants down to my thighs, I line myself up with her entrance and grip her by the hips. “Brace yourself. I won’t be gentle.”
“When are you ever?” she mutters as I thrust inside her unceremoniously. When she grunts at the jarring intrusion, a dark smile creeps across my face.
Inside Lou is the place I want to live and die. She’s already crawled into my chest, taking up permanent residence there, and I want our bodies connected at every chance.
Staring down at her, I devour her with my gaze, leaning down to brush a kiss on the head of the tattooed serpent poised to strike over her heart. She’s gorgeous spread out like this for me, her tight cunt squeezing the life out of me as I glide in and out of her.
While this environment isn’t conducive to having her the way I truly desire, I toss one of her legs over my shoulder so I can drive in deeper and harder.
She claws at the tree roots above her head with her unbroken fingers, tossing her head from side to side on the forest floor as I assault her pussy.
Her heel digs into my shoulder blade while the other presses against my kidney while she writhes beneath me.
Her guttural scream resonates like sex and sin rolled into one, and I clamp a hand over her mouth to keep her from giving away our location.
Thankfully, it’s early enough that likely no one will be around to hear us.
I slap her pussy hard, my blow landing directly on her clit, spurred on by the noises exploding from her.
Fluent in the language of brutality, Lou gave me permission to speak it into existence.
It’s a method of communication few understand, but we do.
Violence thrums through our veins, swims in our bone marrow, consumes us.
Her endorsement to unleash myself was the greatest gift I’ve been given.
“Sean, more…ah, more,” she garbles against my palm.
I power into her tight cunt harder before reaching up and squeezing her breasts roughly, pinching her nipples until she shrieks into my palm.
“You were made to be fucked by me.”
We were made for each other.
As my orgasm builds, spreading out from my chest until it seizes even my toes, I attempt to memorize every second of this: our skin damp from the humidity and exertion, the leaves embedded in her hair that’s coming loose from its braid, my huge hand likely leaving bruises on her body.
Moving a hand down to her clit, I stroke her until she falls apart with a squeal of ecstasy. As she squeezes the life out of my cock, I dig my fingers into her flesh and fuck her through her release.
“Goddamn, Lou, you’re so perfect.”