by Ella Miles
“Stop offering yourself in exchange for saving me. I can save myself.”
I scoff. “You would be dead if it weren’t for me.”
“I know,” his voice is serious, his eyes wide. “But I don’t need your help anymore, just like you don’t need mine.”
I nod.
“Stop saving me,” he says.
“I’ll stop saving you.”
“No more kissing other men.”
I nod, agreeing.
“No more going on dates.”
I nod.
“No more spreading your legs for anyone but me.”
I nod slower, agreeing.
Finally, his mouth devours mine, a sweeping kiss to remind me I’m his even if he never says the words. What he said was close enough. We get the physical part of each other for as long as we are together. Which, in our line of work, could mean only a day. But if it is meant to only be a day, I’ll make it the best damn day.
I roll us over again, to be on top and in control.
“Trust me,” I say, trust me with this. I haven’t fucked any man but him. I’m clean. We don’t need a condom.
He starts to nod but then stops, his eyes revealing a sliver of pain again.
“You haven’t fucked Hugo, but did Julian ever…” he can’t finish the sentence, but the pain in his eyes tells me everything. Did Julian ever force me to have sex with him? Was I ever raped?
I shake my head.
“Say it,” he says, his voice desperate. He’s right; I need to say it. I can lie with a head shake, but not with my words.
“I’ve never been raped. Julian has never forced me into sex. I’ve never fucked him. Since we’ve started fucking, it’s only been you.”
“Thank fuck.”
His hips buck as I slide down on top of him, his cock filling me completely in one thrust.
I grip his shoulders as the fullness consumes me.
Zeke stops thrusting, waiting for me to adjust to his girth.
But I don’t want this to stop.
I start rocking over him.
He grabs my hips, helping me move, but keeping our rhythm slow and steady.
“Faster,” I cry. We’ve gone so slowly, I’m going to explode before ever getting to the good part.
He laughs low and deep. “Slow down or this is going to be over way too fast.”
I nip at his lip. “That’s what seconds are for.” I move faster, and his pained breath tells me he isn’t in control anymore.
His hands on my hips slide me faster over his cock, no longer holding back.
I ride him hard, needing the release more than I need to breathe. It’s been too long since I’ve felt this man. I shouldn’t go a single day without him, not weeks like it’s been.
I shouldn’t ever have to worry I won’t get to fuck him again, but that’s exactly what’s going through my head. Even though we promised each other our fidelity, we didn’t promise each other forever. This can all end at any time. While it lasts, we are only with each other.
“Siren,” Zeke’s voice is deep and breathy. But it does what it was intended. His voice brings me back to him.
I smile timidly as I move back in rhythm with him.
Zeke’s hands slide up my hips to my breasts bouncing over him. He flicks each nipple, making it harder to control myself. He’s driving me wild, and I’m going to come from him playing with my nipples alone.
Not yet; I’m not ready. I want us to go at the same time, and Zeke is still a bit away from his impending orgasm.
I grab his hands and push them back, pinning his hands to the bed as I ride him.
Our fingers interlock, along with our eyes, and at least my heart. This moment is so much more intimate than a simple romp in the sheets.
Zeke seems to understand the change, but when I try to pull my hands free from his, he holds them tighter, not letting me go.
I’m so screwed.
I blink back the tears at all the intense emotions pulsing through me. I can do this. Just sex. No emotion.
The task is impossible, though, with the intensity of Zeke staring back at me.
Focus on the mechanics—hips rolling, legs rocking, lick my lips sexily, rub my clit against his steel core.
But the mechanics all go to hell when his voice strains, his eyes roll back in his head, and his orgasm begins.
The effect my body has on his pushes me to my orgasm as well. We both come in an explosive way. A way that’s far too big for emotions to not get tangled in.
But I bury those emotions deep within myself as I cry out from the bang of the orgasm racking my body.
My breath is quick and fast, even after my orgasm rolls through.
Suddenly, I realize Zeke is staring at me calmly. Not like I just rocked his world. But like he’s studying for a school test he’s not sure how to pass.
I frown. “I can do better…” I start. What am I doing? Admitting the sex wasn’t the greatest of my life? Just because it wasn’t great for Zeke, doesn’t mean it wasn’t great sex.
Zeke slowly untangles our fingers, and then one hand cups my head, while the other pushes at my hips.
And then I’m lying back on the bed, and Zeke is over me, staring at me like I’m the most impossible woman.
“What?” I ask tentatively.
He smirks. “If you think that wasn’t the best sex of my life, you’re crazy, Siren.”
Then he’s spreading my legs with his hands.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Showing my appreciation for the sex and giving my cock a moment’s rest before I fuck you again.”
His head dips between my legs, and he begins licking me sultry and slowly, a complete one-eighty from what just happened.
My gasp takes me by surprise. My hands go to his hair, unable to decide between pushing his head deeper into my folds or pulling him back from the intensity of the pleasure.
Then his fingers are inside me, finding that delicious spot and curling around it. I hate to admit it, but I come hard and fast, letting him know exactly what his lips are capable of doing to me—controlling me completely.
He collapses on top of me, his cock beginning to stir against my thigh, promising more after a quick nap.
I close my eyes and let the gentle pull of sleep drift me away as Zeke’s naked body keeps me warm. The difference between lust and love eats at me.
This is just lust, not love. At least it’s just lust for Zeke. He loves Lucy. He wants Lucy. This is just sex. Something for him to pass the time until he gets the woman he loves back.
But it’s hard to distinguish the difference when he starts playing gently with my hair, doing more to my senses than his cock ever could. For Zeke, this may be lust, but for me, it’s all love.
“You’re mine, Siren,” Zeke says.
I smile and feel settled for the first time all night. It may not be forever, but for now, I’m his. And that’s enough.
18
Zeke
We fucked two more times last night, but it wasn’t enough to satiate either of us. At some point, she fell asleep against my shoulder, and I couldn’t stand to wake her up. She needs her rest for what is coming today. I loved how she felt buried in the crook of my arm; our bodies melding together perfectly.
Has any woman’s body ever felt so perfect in my arms?
Not that I can remember. Maybe it’s just been so long since I’ve fucked another woman. It will remain that way, though, because I plan on fucking Siren in every position and place I can come up with while I’m in Julian’s debt.
I say ‘debt’ because I refuse to be trapped here. I refuse to be a hostage. I’m here because I decided to be here. I want to know everything about him, so when my deal with him is over, Enzo and I will enjoy squashing him like the cockroach he is.
Julian thinks he outsmarted me by having a man monitor Lucy, but Siren gave me the advantage back. I need to talk to her about the details of keeping Lucy safe. I may trust that Siren thinks
she made a deal with Julian, but I don’t trust either of them fully. I need to hide Lucy myself.
You trusted Siren last night when you put your dick in her without a condom.
That’s different.
How?
I don’t know. It just felt different.
But when Siren wakes, her coldness makes it feel like nothing has changed. We don’t talk to each other; we ice each other out. We move around each other like we aren’t sharing the same space. Like we didn’t explore every inch of each other last night.
I decide to leave it. Eventually, we will have to talk. I shower. I get dressed. I pack a bag full of the essentials I’ll need.
“Did you pack a suit?” Siren asks, leaning against the doorframe of my bedroom.
“Do I look like the type of man who owns a suit? Especially when I live on an island?”
She smiles. “We’ll get you one when we get to France.”
I nod, I don’t know why I’ll be needing a suit, but I’m guessing Siren has a plan. Right now doesn’t seem like the best time to argue.
“I also thought you’d want this,” Siren walks forward and holds out a piece of paper to me.
I take it hesitantly and unfold it to read a Seattle address with a phone number underneath it.
Lucy.
My heart beats quickly. More for Siren than for Lucy, but Siren definitely misinterprets why, and I don’t correct her. I’m not letting Siren anywhere near my heart again. This is just sexual tension between us, nothing more.
“Thank you,” I say, holding up the note and memorizing it before I shred it into tiny pieces. I have no doubt Siren has already committed everything on the note to memory, and so has Julian, but I want that address in as few people’s heads as possible.
“I’m going to need to move her,” I say, not saying Lucy’s name.
“I know.”
“And I can’t tell you where I hide her,” I say. I can’t trust her with someone as precious as Lucy.
“I know,” Siren answers sadly.
“It’s time to go, you two!” Nora hollers from the hallway, ending the tension between us.
I lift my bag, and Siren starts walking toward the door. “Where did Nora sleep last night, anyway?”
Siren blushes. “Um…”
“Siren, where did Nora sleep?”
“When I first got back, she went out on the back deck to give us some privacy. But it got cold, so she slept on the couch,” Siren blushes.
“She heard everything?”
Siren nods.
Fuck, I owe Nora all the coffee at the airport for keeping her up last night.
When I walk into the living room where Nora is waiting with her bags, she drags her eyes over my body.
“So how did everyone sleep?” she winks at me.
Fuck. I run my hand through my hair, ruffling it. I need to put it up in a bun, so I don’t keep nervously playing with it.
Fuck it. Everyone already knows what Siren and I did last night. I’m the kind of man that owns his mistakes. Or, in this case, the one fucking thing I did right.
I grab Siren and dip her as I kiss her good morning, surprising the hell out of her.
Nora squeals. “I knew you two would end up together! If only you had actually bet me, I’d be rich right now.”
“You’re already rich, Nora,” Siren says when I release her lips. The smile on her face immediately drops as her brain starts working. “But Zeke and I aren’t—”
I kiss her again to shut her up. We aren’t together. We are only fucking. But no need to shout it to the world. No need for Nora or anyone else to know our relationship. I’m sure we will have to play the happy couple enough in France. It will be more believable if Nora plays along.
There is no way I’m letting Siren out of my sight. She’s mine. Pretending to be a couple is the best way to fend off other men. She won’t be flirting with other men to steal the money, if that’s her plan. Siren seems to understand because she doesn’t bring it up again.
Siren picks up her bag, so I pick up mine and Nora’s, and we head to my truck.
I flick Siren the keys to my truck, knowing she will feel safer if she drives. However, I get a scowl in return as I get in the passenger seat.
“What’s her problem?” I ask Nora before she climbs in back.
Nora shakes her head. “Men really are clueless, aren’t they?”
And women are cryptic.
We all climb in, and Siren drives us to the airport in silence.
When we get to the small airport terminal, I head inside to grab coffees while Siren and Nora head to the plane.
I want to grab a coffee for Siren, but since the last time I ordered one for her, I almost got my head chewed off, I decide against it. I just get one for myself and Nora.
“Here’s my sorry for keeping you up all night,” I say, handing the coffee to Nora, who is already in the cockpit.
She smiles at me as she takes it. Siren is sitting next to her. I don’t look at her. But I can feel her scowl, confusing me even more.
“I can sleep through anything. I only heard the beginning part. And knowing my friend was finally getting properly laid made the lack of sleep worth it.” Nora winks at me again.
I nod and then head back to my seat. Siren stays in the cockpit the whole flight. I continue to remain out of the mile-high club.
From the snooty, jealous look Siren gives me when we depart the plane in Miami, I think I played my cards very wrong.
“I screwed up somehow, didn’t I?” I ask Nora as she departs next.
“Yep,” she says, annoyed with me too.
“You going to clue me in as to what I did wrong or how to fix it?”
“Nope.”
Ugh.
But as we walk into the Miami airport, Siren becomes the least of my problems.
We are in Miami. The headquarters of Enzo Black’s organization. He, or some of his men, could be here in this very airport. Or this could all be a ruse to use me as bait to get Enzo.
But from the way Siren stalks off inside and Nora chases after, it seems that Siren’s focus is on whatever I did wrong and not on an elaborate scheme to take down my best friend.
I let out a calming breath, but nothing more. I need to stay on guard. This could all be a trick. Julian could be here.
I find Siren and Nora sitting at a bar—a whiskey in front of Siren and a margarita in front of Nora.
“Isn’t it early to be drinking?”
Siren ignores me and finishes her drink.
Nora gives me side-eye.
Apparently, I can’t do anything right.
“When does our flight board?” I ask.
“Twenty-minutes,” Nora answers when it’s clear that Siren won’t be answering me.
“I’ll meet you at the gate in twenty then,” I say.
Nora nods. Siren acts like I’m the plague.
I rub my neck as I walk away, trying to figure out why Siren is so pissed.
It hits me all at once. Jealousy.
Siren can pretend she’s not a flowers and chocolates girl all she wants, but she is when I’m the man she’s exclusively fucking.
I carried her friend’s bag.
I let her drive instead of taking care of her and driving myself.
I got her friend a coffee and didn’t get her one.
She wants me to do nice things for her, to court her. To act like she’s more than just the woman in my bed, even though that’s exactly what she is.
I shouldn’t treat her like my girlfriend. She can stew all she wants, but she’s told me time and time again—it’s not what she wants. And I’ve told her this is only sex.
But it doesn’t stop her jealousy.
It doesn’t stop me from wanting to hold her hand and buy her all the damn flowers.
I decide against the flowers. Instead, I get her a coffee, and a grilled cheese sandwich, and a cookie for dessert.
When I get to the gate, I don’t spot eith
er of them. Most of the plane has already boarded, so my guess is they are already on the plane.
I board and find Nora and Siren sitting together on one side of the aisle in first class, while there is an empty seat for me on the other side.
I give Nora a glare, demanding her seat.
She stands and gives me a protective snarl.
We dance around each other in the aisle until I’m free to take Nora’s spot next to Siren. Siren has put headphones in and is planning on tuning me out.
Not going to happen. I don’t plan on spending the flight ignoring each other. I plan on fixing this so the long flight can be much more enjoyable.
I lift her tray out of the armrest. This gets her attention.
Then I place her coffee on it. Then her sandwich. And last the cookie.
I look at her smugly, knowing I did the right thing.
“Wipe that smug smile off your face,” she says, reaching for the cookie first.
I smile larger. I wouldn’t have guessed she’s a dessert first kind of girl. Then again, with our jobs, if you don’t eat dessert first, you might never get to taste the best part of the meal before a gunfight breaks out.
“Why? This is what you wanted, right?” I reach out to take a bite from her cookie, and she slaps at my hand.
But she’s smiling as she eats, crumbs sticking to her lips, and falling into her lap.
Her eyes cut up to the flight attendant at the front, who has started the safety demonstration. Siren then looks at me with noticeably pink cheeks, and her eyelashes flirting with me.
“Want to finally join the mile-high club?” Siren asks.
I’m instantly hard.
The flight attendant walks by and says, “Seat belt, sir.”
My eyes meet hers, and her face is bright red after noticing my erection.
“How long is this flight?” I turn back to Siren.
“Nine hours.”
“I think we can handle becoming a member of the mile-high club at least twice on this flight.”
Siren licks her lips, teasing me with what I can’t have. If I could have her right this second, I would. The moment we are in the air—she’s mine. Fuck the fasten your seatbelt sign, or turbulence, or flight attendants. I can’t wait much longer than the five minutes it’s going to take us to get up in the air to have her.
