by Zoe Blake
“You’ll have to catch me first!”
Mirage bolted out of the vault. The sudden movement set off the alarm.
Paine laughed as he gave chase.
It was part of their plan to set the alarm off. They wanted The Syndicate to know of the theft as soon as possible. The sooner they knew they were comprised, the sooner they would be willing to call off the hit and negotiate with Paine and Mirage.
They didn’t even return to the small apartment. Hopping in a car they had staged a few blocks away just outside the Diamond District, they were already making their way through the labyrinth of old streets before they even heard the first police siren. Hours later when they were far outside of the city on a dark country road, Paine pulled the car over.
“Why are we stopping?” asked Mirage as she turned to look out the back window for any sign of trouble before turning back to Paine.
He held up a tube of crimson red lipstick. “We did it, baby. Time to celebrate.”
Giving him a seductive laugh, Mirage whipped off her t-shirt before leaning in to kiss him.
Chapter 12
Istanbul, Turkey - Three months later
Walking from the cool interior of the villa into the bright sunshine, Mirage lowered her sunglasses over her eyes and scanned the pool area for Paine. The cedar wood patio felt warm beneath her feet as she made her way to the northern corner which was shaded by the dark green leaves of several hazelnut trees.
“Coffee.” Mirage handed him a warm mug before settling onto the thick cushions of the lounge chair next to him.
“Thanks, love.”
Turning her head to the side, she glimpsed at the laptop open on the small table between them.
“Still reviewing the Turkish coup files?”
“I still find it hard to believe The Syndicate was actually involved in that mess. Makes sense now why they sent you to basically gather any evidence of their involvement.”
“Told you I didn’t start the coup,” joked Mirage.
Paine smiled, leaning over to push an errant, glossy blonde curl behind her ear as he always liked to do before returning to the computer.
Mirage stretched and tilted her head back to catch the warmth from the sun. Her thoughts wandered over the whirlwind events of the last three months. They were barely out of Antwerp before The Syndicate reached out to them. Mirage informed them that in the event of the death of either her or Paine, the flash drives would immediately be distributed to every major government head and corporation around the globe. The Syndicate would be completely exposed. Ruined.
The Syndicate immediately changed their tune, apologizing for the miscommunication regarding the kill contract. Stating it was the ill-advised, over-zealous efforts of a low level employee. Whether they were a mastermind criminal organization or a big public corporation, companies were all the same. Pass the buck and deflect blame.
Once the threat of a bullet to the head was gone, Mirage went about fixing the damage she had wrought. Since they were already in Belgium, the first thing they did was break into the museum in Brussels and steal back the fake Vermeer. She then arranged to have the original stolen one, which she had tucked away in one of her flats in London, returned to Paine’s client. After that, the rest was just a matter of a well-placed word here and little money there and Paine’s reputation was restored.
Curiously, Mirage was surprised how much she enjoyed working with Paine. She’d always thought she had to work alone to stay in complete control. Through Paine she was learning to loosen the reins a bit, that life was more fun when you let in a little chaos. Oh, she still pushed his buttons. Still loved to make him angry. She was addicted to the adrenaline rush of pleasure and pain that came from making him chase her. The feel of his hands when he forced her down on the bed, ruthlessly pushing her legs open wide so he could drive into her. Oh yes, that part of their relationship would never change.
The harsh ring of Paine’s cell interrupted her seductive train of thought.
“Hey, Logan.”
“Hello, Logan,” chimed in Mirage.
“Mirage says hello.”
“Tell the black widow I say hello back,” offered Logan.
“What’s up?”
“Well, they’ve doubled their offer. They’re willing to split the take fifty-fifty if you and Mirage agree to do the job together.”
The Syndicate had been contacting them endlessly over the last few months. There were few thieves who had Paine’s special set of skills or Mirage’s abilities, and they were having a hard time filling the void. As with most things, money forgave all ills. The Syndicate wanted them back in the field. In an amusingly ironic way, the fact that they had successfully broken into one of the most secure vaults in the world, actually put them in higher esteem with The Syndicate, despite the fact that it was their vault Paine and Mirage had robbed.
Mirage sat up and started to nod her head. Their time at the pretty, yellow stucco villa in the hills of Istanbul had been lovely, but she was anxious to get back to the excitement of planning their next heist.
Paine laughed. “Well, it looks like the answer is yes. We’ll head back to London by the end of next week.”
“Now that business is out of the way, I heard you popped the question to the black widow. Chloe wants to know if you got down on one knee like a gentleman?” asked an amused Logan.
“No. I told her she was mine, and I wanted to make it official,” responded Paine gruffly as he tried to turn his shoulders away from Mirage so she wouldn’t hear his response.
She heard.
Mirage hopped up. “That’s not at all the way it happened!”
Snatching the phone from Paine’s grasp, she said, “Logan? He’s lying to you. He got down on one knee. There were tears in his eyes when he told me how much he loved me!”
Her speech came in excited gasps as she was running around the pool trying to avoid Paine’s clutches. Mirage stuck her tongue out at him as she tossed the phone in the air and then jumped in the pool right as he was about to catch her.
Snatching the phone out of midair, Paine said an abrupt, “Gotta go. I have to teach a bad kitten a lesson.” He hung up the phone and tossed it aside before diving into the pool after her.
Mirage gave out a shout of frightened excitement as she tried to swim away.
Paine grabbed her around the waist, forcing her legs to straddle him as they floated in the clear, blue water.
Mirage leaned back and tried to splash him. “Let me go, you villain!” she said with dramatic flourish.
“Never.” His mouth descended, capturing her lips for his own.
How the proposal really happened…
Mirage awoke to a warm breeze floating over her bare skin. The breeze ruffled the white gauze curtains which led to the balcony overlooking the Arno River in Florence. She stretched her arms above her head, smiling when she saw the crimson silk tie still wrapped around her wrist from the night before. Shifting her hips, she grimaced slightly at the soreness between her legs. No doubt she had bruises on her hips too from where his strong hands held her down while he thrust into her from behind. She loved the ruthless violence of his lovemaking. It was so unrestrained and passionate, so unlike the rigid control of her former, now forgotten existence.
As she moved, she felt something shift between her breasts. Sitting up, she lifted the gorgeous, princess cut pink diamond which now dangled from a silver chain around her neck. As she did so, she noticed a matching large pink diamond on her ring finger.
“Do you like them, kitten?”
Mirage looked up to see Paine leaning against the balcony door. He was dressed in only a pair of blue silk pajama bottoms. His muscular chest with the swirls of hair on full, enticing display. So were the crescent moon bite marks she had left on his shoulder.
“The Raj Pink diamond?”
Paine stepped into the room to sit on the edge of the bed. With the back of one knuckle, he traced the slope of her breast before picking up the d
iamond pendant. “There was no way I was going to sell it. I decided to have it cut into a ring and necklace for you.”
Mirage held up her left hand, shifting it to and fro to catch the early morning sunlight, sending rainbows of crystal color dancing across the ring. She bit her lip. “Does this mean you…”
Paine placed a finger under her chin and forced her gaze to meet his. “You’re mine, Miranda. If I have to chase you around the world proving that fact to you, then I will, but I would much prefer to prove it to you here in bed.”
Paine pulled on her hips till she was lying flat, then placed the warm weight of his body over hers. Digging his fingers into her hair, he brushed his lips against her neck. “Who’s your daddy?” he asked playfully as he shifted lower, scraping his teeth against her pert nipple.
Giving him a wicked grin, she said, “Bite me, Daddy.”
Closing his teeth painfully on her flesh, he gladly accommodated her.
Mirage arched her hips and groaned before placing a hand along the rough stubble of his jaw, she said, “I’m yours, Paine.”
“Do you love me?” he asked.
“I do,” she responded without hesitation.
“Good. Remember those two little words because you will be saying them again soon,” he teased as he nibbled and licked the smooth skin of her neck.
“I don’t remember you actually asking me to marry you.” Mirage’s eyes sparkled with humor. She loved bantering with him.
Paine lifted up to straddle her hips. Grabbing her wrists, he stretched them above her head. Using the tie which was still around her left wrist, he secured them both to the headboard before running his hands over her breasts and down her stomach. Then placing his hands on either side of her head, he leaned down to darkly rasp against her lips, “I’m a thief. I never ask. I take what I want.”
Mirage moaned as she tilted her hips upward. “Take me, Paine.” Then, with a seductive twist to her lips, she whispered, “Make it hurt.”
The End
About Zoe Blake
USA TODAY Bestselling Author in Dark Romance
We are all attracted to the forbidden. Addicted to the rush we get from reading something naughty...something kinky. We love to lose ourselves in the fantasy. The powerful lord who sweeps the lady away to his remote estate to ravish her. The cowboy who takes the sassy city girl over his knee to teach her a lesson. The devilishly charming pirate who seduces his beautiful captive.
I write those dark fantasies.
Check out Zoe’s website here!
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My Wantonly Wicked Reads
Papa’s Prey
Trapped in a world of dark decadence, the innocent Corinne is now bound to obey her new husband’s every depraved desire.
Broken Doll
I am his captive. No one is coming to save me.
Dangerous Daddy Series
Fight Me, Daddy
Subjecting her to pain and punishment, he won't relent, not even when she submits and calls him Daddy.
Own Me, Daddy
The harder Phoebe fights him, the more determined Michael
becomes to bend her to his will.
Bite Me, Daddy
He will have her on her knees, begging for forgiveness. It's time she learned why they call him, Paine
For more of my books check out my Amazon Page!
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Fight Me, Daddy Teaser
Chapter One
Chloe
How deep does a grave have to be?
Wasn’t there something about animals?
Chloe gripped the small heart charm which hung about her neck, taking solace as the metal warmed beneath her hand. The blue-white beam of her flashlight bounced off dark tree trunks and the thick bed of wet leaves and twigs which covered the ground.
Would the rain make digging easier or harder she wondered?
The sound of crunching gravel alerted her to a car traveling up the long driveway even before she saw the headlights. Turning off her flashlight, she ran back towards the cabin, tripping over a half-buried log in her haste. Throwing open the rough wooden gate that separated the forest from the clearing, she raced across the yard, ignoring the ice cold water that seeped into her sneakers as her feet sank into the rain-soaked grass. Cringing at the loud squeak the back screen door made as she carefully opened it, Chloe crouched low as she crossed the study into the kitchen. Keeping her head down, she reached up and turned off the small lamp she always kept lit on her kitchen table. Without the soft warm glow, the cabin felt cold and still.
Chloe held her breath, straining to hear the sound of any movement outside. A car door. The sound of an engine turning off. If there was a god, the sound of gravel as the car turned around and left.
Silence.
The anxiety of not knowing was too much. Chloe crawled across the linoleum, around the kitchen island. She paused and listened.
Still nothing.
Trying to calm her pounding heart, she crept closer to the front door. Her knees ached from crawling on the hard floor. Her damp jeans chafed and clung to her hips with every movement. She could feel mud squishing between her toes inside her sneakers. All she wanted was to take a hot shower and forget this night ever happened. But that wasn’t possible…she could never wash away the horror of this night.
Grimacing as small pebbles, tracked inside from the driveway, cut into the palms of her hands, Chloe slowly crept into the mud room. The front door was straight ahead. It had an open window pane, so she kept low and to the shadows. Just beyond was the small porch and the gravel drive. Leaning against the wall to the right of the door, Chloe tilted her head and listened.
More silence.
Her heartbeat finally slowed.
It must have been a neighbor driving by.
“Chloe. Open the door.”
Throwing her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream, Chloe scurried farther back along the wall, staring at the closed door with wild eyes.
There was another long, excruciating pause.
Then.
“I know you are in there. I need you to open the door.”
The dark command of his voice almost had her obeying. How did he know her name? Who was he? The police? She would have welcomed the police. An hour ago. But not now. Now it was too late. Maybe he was a friend of his. Just another reason why she couldn’t open the door. The cabin was dark. The doors locked. Her car was parked in the garage with the door closed. There was no real way for him to know she was inside. Maybe if she stayed quiet, he would give up and leave?
“Baby, I’m losing my patience. Trust me. You don’t want that.”
The deep tone of the stranger’s voice was getting harsher. Did she dare continue to defy him?
She moved her hand over the low shelf that ran along the wall at her back, encountering bug candles, rubber boots, and fishing tackle. Nothing that could be used as a weapon. There were her late uncle’s hunting rifles in the gun cabinet in the living room, but she would have to crawl back through the kitchen. The cabin was dark, but there was no way he would not see the outline of her movements through the front door window now that he was standing just on the other side. The door wasn’t even secured with a deadbolt, just a simple key lock. She lived in a cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere in upstate Michigan where all the neighbors knew one another. There wasn’t a need for extraneous locks and deadbolts.
“I’m giving you one last chance to open this door, babygirl,” the stranger growled.
Chloe knew the old door with its old lock would not hold. She needed to make a decision.
The door handle rattled violently.
She was out of time.
Rising up, Chloe bolted back through the kitchen.
The sickening sound of splintering wood and shattering glass reverberated throughout the cabin.
Chloe’s wet soles skidded along the floor as she sharply turned right down the narrow hallway to the living room. The gun cabinet was just over the threshold. Her trembling hand closed over the brass handle. The guns weren’t loaded, but hopefully the stranger wouldn’t get close enough to notice. Wrenching the handle upwards, Chloe threw open the cabinet door and blindly reached in, feeling for the cold barrel of the rifle she knew was there.
A hand closed over her shoulder, spinning her about and slamming her against the wall. She had no chance to even scream. That same hand wrapped around her throat, the long fingers easily encircling the slender column till her jaw was pushed upwards, her head crushed painfully against the wall.
The sharp angles of the stranger’s face came into focus. His angry, lowered brow. Dark, unreadable eyes.
His full lips lifted in a sneer. “I warned you, baby.”
Chloe tried to rise up on her toes to ease the pressure on her throat. Desperately, she clawed at the man’s t-shirt. A garbled scream escaped her lips.
“Shhh…all that will do is piss me off more than I already am, and we don’t want that do we?” He’d leaned in close to whisper the ominous threat, his lips skimming along her jaw. The scrape of his stubble rubbed against the soft skin of her cheek.
She tried to shake her head no, but his grip on her throat would not allow it.
He spread his legs wide before leaning his hips forward, pressing into her body. He was a large beast of a man. Both his size and voice were frightening…intimidating.
He ran the back of his knuckles down her cheek. “Now, you are going to be a good girl and obey me.”
