Chapter Fourteen
MERCS
On the plane, most of the crew and Swift Division are already aboard. With my hand resting on the small of Effa’s back, I guide her down the aisle toward the rear, where a red curtain separates the first class section.
As we walk past Jett, his eyes track her like a fucking hawk.
“Hey, cupcake,” he calls, cocky as ever. “Sit with me and keep me company?”
Effa doesn’t even slow down, but she answers with, “Jett, take it down a notch,” she snaps, not bothering to look back.
I smirk to myself and lead her through the curtain. We slip into two plush leather seats side-by-side, and I reach over to fasten her seatbelt.
She quirks a brow, a hint of amusement in her eyes. “I could have done that myself.”
“I know,” I murmur.
Amanda, the flight attendant, pokes her head through the curtain. “Sorry to bug you guys, but can you turn all your devices to flight mode now? We’re about to take off.”
“Thanks, Amanda,” Effa replies.
“I’ll be back once we’re in the air with refreshments.” Amanda disappears again, giving us the privacy I’ve been craving.
I lean back, ready to dive in. “I’m just going to put it out there… why the hell was Jett Jones in your room this morning while you were practically naked?”
Effa exhales sharply, her shoulders slumping.
“To answer that, I need to ask you something first. Why did you leave in the middle of the night? I woke up, and you were gone. No note. No nothing. After what we shared, after how you had your hands on me and then left me hanging? You don’t think that screwed with my head a little? ”
Fuck.
That’s on me.
I should have known better.
“I didn’t leave in the middle of the night,” I say, keeping my voice low and controlled.
“I left early this morning to pack. You were finally sleeping soundly, and I didn’t want to wake you.
I never meant for you to think I bailed.
I should’ve left a note. But don’t ever think I would walk out on you like that, not after what we shared. Not after I got a taste of you.”
Her eyes soften, but there’s still a hint of fire behind them.
“I thought you’d disappeared. I was pissed.
Hurt. So yeah… when there was a knock on the door, I hoped it was you.
I didn’t care what I was wearing, or not wearing, I answered it.
And unfortunately, it was Jett. I didn’t invite him in to make you jealous or anything like that. I just… I was in a place, Mercs.”
I reach over and take her hand in mine. My thumb glides over her soft skin, and I lock eyes with her. “I should’ve done better. But I’m not sorry for what happened when I walked back in and saw that ass holding your bra.” My jaw ticks. “He needed a reminder of where the fuck he stands.”
A laugh escapes her lips, breathy and laced with something darker. “I’m not sorry about that either. Honestly? It was hot watching you go all caveman on him. I just hate that I doubted you. That’s on me.”
The jet shudders as we ascend, the rumble vibrating through us and only adding to the electric tension crackling between us.
“Don’t do that,” I mutter. “Don’t blame yourself.
I said I needed time, but I’ve had it. And now, Effa…
” I lean in, tightening my grip on her hand.
“You’re mine. I’m going to make sure you never think of another man again.
Not Jett. Not anyone. I’m going to be the only one you crave.
The only one who gets to see you fall apart. ”
Her lips part, a soft gasp escaping as my words hit.
“I won’t doubt you again,” she whispers. “Not if you keep looking at me like that.”
“The seatbelt sign’s off.” I smirk, my voice dropping. “Go to the bathroom. Now.”
Her eyes widen, a flicker of excitement flashing in their depths. She unbuckles slowly and rises to her feet, brushing past me with a sway in her hips that makes my cock ache. I adjust myself in my jeans and count the damn seconds that feel like hours.
I give her five minutes.
Let the anticipation build.
Let her squirm.
Let her think about the last time I touched her and pulled away before she could come.
Let her remember exactly how desperate I left her.
Then I follow.
The private jet’s bathroom isn’t like any I’ve ever seen. It is more like a miniature hotel ensuite, spacious, luxurious, and currently holding the only woman who can bring me to my goddamn knees.
As soon as I step inside, Effa launches at me—legs around my waist, mouth on mine, arms locked tight.
I spin us around, pinning her to the marble counter. My hand fists in her hair as I pull her head back. “You let Jett into your room. You were practically naked.” My voice is a growl against her throat.
She whimpers, her hips grinding against my cock.
“Don’t ever do that again.”
“I won’t,” she pants.
“I said I’d make you forget him. I said I’d make you forget them all.” I drag my lips down her neck, licking and biting until she’s squirming. “And I fucking meant it.”
I make quick work of her top, buttons popping one by one as my tongue follows, until her chest is exposed, her breasts wrapped in delicate pink lace.
She shrugs out of her shirt, and I reach behind to unclasp her bra with one hand.
It falls between us, and I toss it aside as I pull her head back by the hair, baring her throat to me.
I latch onto one nipple with my teeth, flicking my tongue over the hardened bud.
She bucks her hips into mine, chasing friction.
I fucking love how responsive my woman is. How badly she wants me.
“Touch me, Kaden,” she pleads, voice breathless.
I smirk against her skin. “I plan to.”
But not like last time.
This time, she’s going to remember everything.
I drop to my knees, yanking her shorts and panties down in one swift move. Her boots follow. She spreads her legs for me, panting, her lips parted.
But when she reaches for my belt, I stop her.
“Not yet.” My voice is low, commanding. “You first. I want to feel you come undone before I even think about being inside you.”
I pin her wrist behind her back, watching her eyes flare with excitement. My fingers trail down her belly, over her slit, teasing her clit with slow, deliberate strokes.
She moans, already trembling.
Sliding two fingers inside her, I curl them just right, pressing my thumb against her clit as I watch her fall apart. She rocks her hips, chasing it, her breath coming faster, her body wound so tight…
Then I pull away.
Her eyes shoot open, furious. “Kaden—”
“No,” I growl. “Not yet. You don’t get to come just because you want to. You come when I say.”
My hand fists in her hair as I force her to look at me. I hold her gaze, dark and unyielding, and I don’t look away. Not even for a second. Because she needs to understand what she did, and she needs to understand it right now.
“You let Jett into your room.” I growl, my voice low and lethal. “You were practically naked for him.”
The image of him standing at her door, that smug smile on his face while she stood there in barely anything, is burned into the back of my skull. It’s been eating me alive for the last two hours, coiling through me like something feral and rabid, and I’ve run out of patience for holding it back.
I tug her hair harder, dragging a whimper from her throat as I grind my cock into her pussy, letting her feel exactly what she’s provoking.
Exactly what she does to me just by existing.
The whimper that falls from her lips only makes it worse—makes it better—and I hate how badly I want to hear it again.
“Don’t ever do that again, Effa,” I warn, my voice rough. “Your body isn’t for his fucking eyes.”
She opens her mouth, because she always has something to say, my girl, she never goes quietly, but I roll my hips again and the words dissolve into a sharp, breathless sound that isn’t quite a moan and isn’t quite a gasp.
Something right in the middle.
Something that’s mine.
Her hips roll against mine in answer, desperate and unashamed.
That’s it.
That’s all I needed.
“I told you,” I mutter into her ear, my lips brushing the shell of it as I speak. “I’d make you forget him. I’m going to fuck you so hard you won’t remember any of them ever touching your thoughts.”
My mouth moves to her throat, my teeth scraping, my lips sucking as I kiss down her neck.
Her skin is soft and addictive. She smells like something warm and sweet, something that gets inside me and won’t leave, and I drag my tongue in a slow stripe down to her collarbone as her chest heaves, her breasts thrusting forward like she’s offering herself up.
Like she knows exactly what she’s doing to me.
She probably does.
Effa has never not known her own power.
“Look at you,” I murmur against her skin. “Already begging without saying a word.”
“Kaden—”
“Shh.” I press my lips to her collarbone, sucking hard enough to mark her, and she presses closer, her body arching into mine.
The anger between us isn’t gone—it never burns out clean—but it shifts, curling down into something wilder, something reckless that neither of us has any interest in stopping.
My cock throbs harder at the sight of her taut nipples, straining toward me like they know where they want to be.
I flick my eyes up to hers. She’s flushed, pupils blown wide, breathing like she’s already wrecked and I’ve barely started. Good. That’s exactly where I want her.
I yank her hair again, pulling her head back until her throat arches long and exposed, and something possessive and primal rises in my chest at the sight of it.
Mine.
“That’s it,” I say low. “Show me what’s mine.”
Effa groans as I latch onto her nipple, teeth grazing the sensitive peak before my tongue circles and flicks.
Her fingers find my hair, nails dragging lightly against my scalp as she grinds harder against me, and I hiss at the friction, hot and relentless, my balls drawing tight with need that borders on painful.