32. Aeris
Aeris
The warm water embraced me, and for those few precious minutes, everything else faded.
Selene’s constant threats. Caden’s consuming intensity.
No anger. No sorrow. No crushing weight of deception.
Just the steady rhythm of my own heartbeat.
Suspended. Weightless. Existing in nothing at all beneath the water.
Until my burning lungs dragged me back to the surface.
I came up slowly, the cooler air prickling against my wet skin.
Blinking my eyes open I found Caden leaning against the wall, his expression so callous it dropped the room’s temperature several degrees.
Shit.
“I’m sorry, you were in the main bathroom,” I explained.
It probably didn’t look great with me casually using the en-suite attached to the first bedroom I’d found, but he was the one that demanded I stay the night.
Besides, I needed to calm down, rebuild the walls he’d torn down so easily with nothing more than a look and a handful of precarious words.
He pushed off the wall and took a few slow steps forward. He’d changed into a pair of grey sweats and nothing else. My eyes betrayed me instantly, dragging across the bare, sculpted expanse of his chest.
He was a cold, devastating work of art.
The ocean swept its raging waves down his right arm, as if he’d caught a storm within his skin.
Another larger wave swept over his left pec, sweeping slightly up his throat in deep, turbulent blues and bruised greys.
It seemed to circle like a whirlpool, drawing my eye to the pale scar on his shoulder.
“Is Langdon okay?” I asked warily. I’d heard the shower running earlier, but Caden’s low, murmured words of comfort had been too quiet to catch.
I’d never seen him like that before. Not soft, exactly … but caring. Protective in a way that felt far too intimate for me to witness.
“Get out of the water,” Caden said, his deep voice rumbling through the small bathroom like low thunder. There was no warmth, just a monotonic calm that barely masked the rage simmering beneath it.
I stayed submerged a second longer, letting the warmth anchor me even as shivers rattled down my spine.
Caden took another step forward, his presence stealing all the surrounding oxygen. “Don’t make me repeat myself, Tempest.”
Caden
There was a devious glitter in her eyes, but she still stood and stepped out of the bath.
Water dripped lazily from her body, sliding over her curves, dips, and soft, pale skin. Her nipples were a dusky pink, puckering against the cold and my unapologetic gaze, while her dark-red hair clung around her shoulders in wet strands.
“I smelt smoke,” she said in that fucking voice, the husky tone wrapping around my cock like a caress. I could easily imagine men falling to their knees if she asked, killing themselves just for a taste.
I’m sure many had, considering she was built for sex and seduction.
“Langdon’s been planting explosives in all of Selene’s safehouses. One of the devices went off.” It was a malfunction, and Langdon had been caught up in the explosion.
A flash of surprise in her expression, as if she hadn’t expected me to share the information. “You were supposed to wait until you could hit everything all at once.”
I cocked my head, watching her stand there bare. I fucking hated that she’d witnessed Langdon like that. A man I saw as my brother, suffering right in front of the woman who sold secrets to our enemies. A woman I couldn’t hurt until everything was recovered and destroyed.
So I was going to use her instead. Punish her in such a way it satisfied this vicious craving.
“Get on your knees.”
I fucking loved her visceral reaction, the flash of defiance and heat in her eyes, the brief, stubborn pout of her lips even as she sank to the hard tile. She clearly liked me to make demands, even as she fought it.
“Crawl to me.”
A flush darkened her cheeks, sweeping over her heavy breasts before she went on all fours and slowly crawled to me. Slow and deliberate, her hips swayed with every movement as if she still held autonomy.
Fuck.
She sat back on her heels once she reached me, her pussy glistening as she met my gaze. Electricity shot through my veins, my cock twitching, aching to be released.
“Such a pretty slut.”
Her eyes never left mine as she reached for my waistband. Every inch of skin revealed only tightening the tension between us, like she was clawing back pieces of the control I’d taken.
“Take out my cock.”
She swallowed, determination in her expression as she slowly pulled down the fabric. Her eyes widened at my size, the thick head already leaking pre-cum at the visual of her on her knees. I took my heavy length in my hand, slowly stoking myself as she kneeled in submission.
“Open your mouth.”
She licked along her bottom lip, a smirk teasing her lips. “Make me.”
I wanted to smile at her continued bite, at the way she fought me even as arousal soaked her thighs. There was a sick, twisted satisfaction in knowing I could do this to her, turn the untouchable siren into a dripping, needy mess.
Fisting a hand in her hair, I yanked her head back sharply.
Her mouth opened on a gasp, and I took full advantage, pushing the head of my cock past her lips.
She immediately started sucking, hot and eager, and I groaned at the wet heat enveloping me.
My grip tightened, holding her exactly where I wanted as I rocked my hips forward, feeding her more.
“Such a good girl,” I rasped, “sucking my cock.”
Her eyes burned, her tongue pressing against the underside of my cock in a way that made my abs tighten and my pulse spike. Bratty even with her mouth full.
“You’re so much better when you have something stuffed in your mouth.” I thrust deeper, hitting the back of her throat until she choked around me. I wanted her aching. Overwhelmed. I wanted her to know exactly who she belonged to.
Allowing her to find a rhythm, I pulled out my burner phone with my free hand and dialled the last number saved.
“Caden,” Vivienne purred down the line, just as Aeris’s eyes snapped up to mine, bright with fury.
She tried to pull back, but I tightened my grip in her hair, holding her firmly in place.
“I didn’t expect you to call so soon. Keen, are we?”
“I wanted to know if you’re free next weekend for dinner,” I said, thrusting my hips faster.
Aeris choked, eyes watering as I pushed deeper. Her hands came up to grip my thighs, nails digging in hard.
“What’s that noise?”
I pulled back just enough to let Aeris gasp for air, saliva and pre-cum stringing from her swollen lips before I thrust back in, fucking her mouth with slow, deliberate strokes. “Nothing. The TV.”
Aeris glared up at me, tears spilling down her flushed cheeks, but she didn’t stop sucking. If anything, she took me deeper, her tongue working furiously along the underside of my shaft.
“Okay, then yeah, I’m definitely up for a date,” Vivienne giggled, the sound grating on my nerves.
“I’ll send you the details.”
“Okay I’ll—”
I hung up and tossed the phone into the sink with a clatter.
Aeris pulled off my cock with a wet gasp, lips shiny and swollen. “You fucking—”
I didn’t let her finish. I gripped her hair with both hands and drove back into her mouth, fucking her throat in deep, punishing strokes.
She gagged and choked around me, tears streaming freely now, but she took it, eyes locked on mine with a mixture of rage and desperate heat, and fuck if that wasn’t the hottest thing.
“That’s it,” I growled. “Take every fucking inch like the good little whore you are.”
Her throat fluttered and squeezed around me, the wet, obscene sounds filling the bathroom as I used her mouth harder, faster. The sight of her tears, spit, flushed skin, and those furious, glistening eyes pushing me right to the edge.
With a low, guttural groan, I buried myself deep and came hard down her throat, holding her there as she swallowed around me, milking every drop.
I wanted her to struggle, to panic and wonder whether I’d allow her the next breath.
Whether I’d finally kill her for everything she’d done.
I finally pulled out, and she gasped for air, a thin string of saliva and cum connecting her mouth to the head of my cock.
Aeris didn’t move as I used my thumb to scoop up some of the cum that had escaped and press it against her tongue.
“I told you,” I murmured, voice dark, “you’re really going to regret blackmailing me.”