by Katie Reus
Dipping his head between her legs, he flicked his tongue against her slick folds and nearly lost his mind. She was so damn wet and he knew it was all for him.
That alone made him feel powerful in a way he’d never imagined. He loved that he turned her on like this, that she was soaked for him and him alone. Because he was completely rock-hard for her. No woman had ever affected him like this. He’d been doing undercover work for so long and had seen the shittiest people in the world. And monsters didn’t always look scary on the outside. If anything, they blended in. And pretty women were a dime a dozen, but Arianna was beautiful on the inside too.
Inside and out, Arianna was this bright star he would do anything to protect.
She rolled her hips against his face with an increasing urgency so he dipped two fingers inside her. Her inner walls tightened around him with surprising force.
His cock kicked against his pants as he imagined sliding deep inside her. But she had to come first. He felt crazed with the need to make her climax against his face even as he imagined how incredible it would feel to have her wrapped around his cock.
“I want you in me now.” The raw words were torn from her mouth and when he looked up the length of her body, there was a riot of emotions in her green eyes.
He wanted the same thing too. God, did he ever. And he knew this one time wouldn’t be enough. Not tonight. Not ever.
Moving lightning fast, he ripped off his jeans and put on a condom. As he settled between her thighs, just letting the head of his cock tease against her slick folds, he groaned.
He softly nuzzled his nose against hers once as they watched each other, needing even more contact. Her breathing was erratic as she looked up at him, her fingers digging into his back.
“You set the pace,” he whispered. He wanted everything about this to be perfect for her, and just being able to touch her and be inside her was all he needed.
She smiled before brushing her mouth over his and her sweet kiss quickly turned frantic. Fuuucck. He nearly lost it as she rolled her hips upward again—at the same time he thrust forward.
She sucked in a ragged breath. It was too much and not enough.
She was so tight around him, and before he could ask if she was okay, she grabbed onto his ass.
“Start moving.” Her words were raw emotion and pure demand. And he loved it.
Arianna had never felt so full and wonderful in her life. And as Ellis started thrusting inside her, she let out a moan of pleasure. She’d been so worried, wondering if she could have normal sex again, and until right now she hadn’t realized that the key wasn’t just about the physical act. It was about who she was with. And her complete trust in Ellis made this special.
She would give anything to be able to stay with him but knew it wasn’t possible. So at least they had tonight, at least they had the next few hours. Because one time wouldn’t be enough. Not for her anyway.
As he thrust inside her, over and over, she met him stroke for stroke, power surging through her. When he was on top of her like this, she felt protected and safe, a completely foreign feeling she wanted to soak up.
She clutched onto his back, digging her fingers into his skin. She didn’t have to worry about hurting him, not a man like Ellis.
When he reached between their bodies and teased her clit, she surged into orgasm. She hadn’t been expecting it so quickly but the pressure on her sensitive bundle of nerves, combined with his thick erection filling her, set her off.
“Ellis,” she cried out as she arched into him, holding on to him as if her life depended on it.
He growled out her name as he buried his face against her neck. She loved the way he said “Arianna,” like a desperate prayer.
He came with her in long, hard strokes, his big body shuddering with the force of it.
It seemed to go on forever, until they were both trembling with the aftermath of their orgasms.
Breathing hard, she gently brushed some of the hair that had fallen across his forehead.
He smiled down at her with a lazy, sated expression. But there was nothing smug about it. He looked satisfied and happy.
A mirror of how she felt.
“We have to do that a couple more times before tomorrow,” she murmured.
A darkness flickered in his gaze as if he didn’t want to acknowledge that tomorrow would come, but he nodded. “Definitely. I’m not remotely done with you yet.”
* * *
Time was slipping away far too fast, like water through her fingers. Arianna was desperate to slow the clock down, but the more she wanted it to, the faster it seemed to go.
The last few hours with Ellis had been incredible, even if it wasn’t nearly enough time. She trailed her fingers up Ellis’s bare chest, soothed by his steady heartbeat and solid presence. She thought about not telling him her deepest secret before they parted ways, but she wanted to.
Because he’d given her back a part of herself she thought had died. And she trusted him with this. “I want to tell you something personal about me. Something I don’t think you found in your files.”
He stiffened slightly under her but didn’t stop rubbing her back.
Light was peeking in through the windows as the sun started to rise. Time, just slipping away right in front of her.
Throat tight, she said, “When I was in college, at the start of my senior year, I was assaulted… No. I was raped. It’s hard to say the words sometimes, even now.”
All his muscles had gone tight underneath her but she kept going. She stayed where she was, with her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest as she curled into him. He wasn’t going anywhere and she felt grounded where she was.
“We’d been friends. Or I thought we had been, because clearly we were not. But I’d had a couple drinks at a party—not too much, just enough that I knew I shouldn’t drive. Instead of taking an Uber, he said he’d drive and I had no reason to say no. We’d hung out in the same social circle for years and he’d never given off a creepy vibe. I’m not going to give you all the details because they don’t matter, but it was violent and it happened in my apartment. My roommate came home early and called the police as he ran. There was no doubt that he’d done it, though he tried to say I wanted it.” She let out a bitter-sounding laugh with no humor even as anger bubbled up inside her. “As if I asked to have my head bashed into a wall so hard I needed stitches.”
She pushed back all the fear and haziness that threatened to invade her as she talked about this. She hadn’t talked about her attack in years, not since she’d told her sponsor everything.
“It would’ve gone to trial because his family is wealthy and he would have fought it. But he died in a very violent carjacking not long after. My mom had breast cancer at the time, and as you know, she and my brother died close together. All of that happened at the same time. It’s when my drinking started spiraling out of control. I went from having too many at a college party but not being blitzed, to being completely out of control. I have no idea if I would have become an alcoholic if all of this hadn’t happened. But I think I would have. Alcohol releases something in my brain, changes the way I act and think—it’s my brain chemistry, I guess. And I swear I am getting to a point.” She realized she’d balled her hand into a fist against his chest and made herself release it, to take a deep breath.
He remained quiet, listening intently as he continued to rub her back. Which she was grateful for because she needed to be able to talk, to get all this out at one time. Then she didn’t want to talk about it again.
“Before you, I hadn’t had sex in three years. After I joined AA, for those first six months, a couple times I woke up in some random guy’s bed, hungover, having completely blacked out the night before. And before that…I never had sober sex after what he did. I was on the pill back then but I’m just grateful I never got an STD or worse.”
Now she looked up to find him watching her with compassion in those blue eyes. It threatened to shred her las
t vestiges of control.
“I just wanted to tell you that being able to share last night—and this morning—with you, has meant everything to me. You mean a lot to me.” Her words didn’t seem like enough in the face of what they’d shared, because she wanted to convey to him exactly how much he’d given her. But she was afraid that if she did, she’d start blubbering all over him.
Thankfully he seemed to be the perfect man because he cupped her cheek and leaned forward to brush his lips against hers. “Thank you for sharing that with me. I’m so sorry you went through that.”
She sidled closer to him as his grip on her tightened. The fact that he’d simply listened meant everything to her. For a moment she thought about telling him that she suspected Vitaly had ordered the killing of her rapist, but didn’t want to talk about him anymore. She just wanted to be here in the moment with Ellis.
Sighing, she laid her head back on his chest, treasuring the quiet for as long as they had it. Walking away from him was going to carve a hole in her chest.
Still, she wouldn’t have given up a moment of their time to spare herself the pain she was about to endure.
Chapter 19
“Arianna, you need to see this,” Ellis called out from the living room.
She hurried in from the kitchen, wearing jeans and a fitted T-shirt with her college’s logo on it. “What?”
In response he turned up the volume on the flat-screen television.
On-screen a woman with auburn hair and a serious expression spoke somberly. “Authorities have confirmed that Leonid Berezin was found murdered in his home. Someone set fire to it as well…”
Arianna’s eyes widened as she looked over at him. “What does this mean?”
“Looks like Vitaly made his move and killed Berezin,” he murmured.
Feeling ill, she sat on the edge of the couch as the woman kept speaking. Ellis had told her that this would likely happen. “Okay, well what does this mean for me and you?”
“It’s actually better for you.”
That felt weird, considering that Berezin was dead, but she was going to move past that. She hadn’t known the man, but according to Ellis he’d been a violent psychopath. “Explain, please.”
He turned the volume down but didn’t sit. Instead he crossed his arms over his chest and looked a bit like a caged tiger. His muscles flexed slightly with his movements. “Vitaly has now made his big move by killing Berezin, which means he’s in a position to take over. Or he’s certain he is. From what I can tell he’s been slowly eliminating Berezin’s men for years. Even though I think he still needs that money—he’d been saving it for a reason—me kidnapping you and stealing the money moved that timeline up. But I don’t think he’d have killed Berezin unless he had a solid plan in place to begin with. And I guarantee my former boss helped him. So our plan for you stays the same. There’s no need for any of that to change.”
She rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms. “Okay, I guess.”
He was in front of her in an instant, crouching down. “Look, I wouldn’t let you go with the detective if I didn’t trust him one hundred percent.”
She and Ellis had come up with a plan where she would be found in an abandoned SUV by one of his detective friends. Or acquaintances, she was a little unclear on the relationship. Ellis wanted her in police custody so there was a record of the kidnapping and because the police would be looking a lot closer at her—which meant her stepfather wouldn’t do anything to her. Vitaly wouldn’t want to bring any more heat than necessary on himself. It was either that or she stayed in hiding with Ellis, and that wasn’t an option for too many reasons.
“I know you trust him. I just… My record with cops isn’t great.” She’d told him that before, but she needed to give him more details. “After I was raped, the cops who arrived on scene were…assholes. It shattered something in me. Something I’d believed in before. And I know not all cops are like that. Trust me, I do. Some of my friends at work are married to cops, but…I still have a hard time with them.”
His jaw clenched and he opened his mouth to say something but stopped.
“What?”
“I want to hunt them down and bash their faces in for breaking your trust. And I’m sorry if that scares you.”
She gave him a ghost of a smile, touched at his need to defend her. The man had an honorable streak so wide it was incredible that anyone he worked with believed that he’d killed his partner. She’d known him not even a week and she knew what type of man he was. The kind who had your back no matter what. “Tell me more about this detective.” He’d given her basics but she wanted more.
“Well to start, his former partner works for Red Stone Security, and the woman whose name I told you to forget…she knows Detective Duarte personally. And she’s been helping us for no reason other than she is a good person. I would never, ever put you in harm’s way. Duarte is happily married, fights to protect those weaker than him, and my sister says he’s a good one. I trust her judgment more than most.”
Arianna cupped his cheek with one hand as she pushed her fears back. “Okay. I trust you. I just don’t want to leave you.” He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch and that pretty much just melted her right then and there. “You better get out of this mess,” she ordered.
His eyes snapped open. “I will. Whatever it takes.”
She certainly hoped so because she didn’t want to imagine a future without him.
He took her hands in his and stood. “Ready?”
She snorted softly and wrapped her arms around him. “No. But let’s go.”
* * *
Ellis drove slowly to the designated spot. They’d set all this up over the last few hours, and even though he knew this was the best way to get Arianna into the right hands, he hated that he was leaving her. “How are you doing back there?” he asked.
“I’m good.” Arianna was in the back of the SUV, her hands bound in front of her.
As soon as he parked the fully wiped-down SUV, he was going to leave and call in a tip about a kidnapped woman. Duarte had already confirmed he would be on standby, ready to take the call when it came in. He was nearby and it would take him five minutes max to get to her. And Ellis wasn’t leaving his hiding spot until she was safe with Duarte.
From there she would go in to make a statement and Ellis had no doubt that her stepfather would immediately come to see her. He also had no doubt that Vitaly would check the 911 call and see if he could get a match on Ellis’s voice. A man like that would cover different angles. Every step Ellis took mattered, because it affected Arianna’s life.
This was the only way he could protect her. He wished he could just keep her with him, but the longer he did, the more questions would come out later. This gave her the best option of returning to her life as seamlessly as possible.
She was going to tell the police that some random guy had kidnapped her and demanded a ransom from her stepfather. She would leave out the details about the bank account and trip to Grand Cayman, but planned to talk to her stepfather about it privately later. She was going to tell Vitaly she didn’t trust the cops with that information because she wasn’t sure how it would look for her—and act confused about how an account like that was in her name.
She’d wanted to wear a wire in the hopes of getting her stepfather to admit something, but no way would Ellis let that happen. He couldn’t risk Vitaly discovering a listening device because he wouldn’t be there to protect her from that monster. Ellis had no doubt that Vitaly would kill her if he thought she’d betrayed him. As it was, Vitaly had no reason to hurt Arianna at all as long as he believed she had been a victim. He gained nothing from it.
And while Ellis hated the guy, he knew that Vitaly didn’t go around killing random women or abusing them. He cared about making money above all but he wasn’t a violent psychopath, not like his predecessor Berezin. No, he treated his employees better and paid them better. Which was probably why so many had stepped in to work fo
r him as opposed to the now dead Berezin. Those old-school ways of ruling with fear and violence definitely had their place, but so did better pay and fair treatment. And Vitaly had capitalized on that.
“I’m going to be able to see the vehicle the whole time,” he said again. They’d gone over this, but he wanted to keep reassuring her. “As soon as Duarte arrives, I’ll leave.”
“Okay. And as soon as I make my statement, I’m going to head to an AA meeting. I’ll contact my stepfather but I’ll make sure to stay in public places.”
“Good. You sure you have my burner phone number memorized?” He had an extra burner he’d never used. Now he was going to use it as his emergency number for Arianna should she need him.
She recited the number, easing some of the tension inside him.
“We’re here.” His heart rate kicked up as he pulled into the Starbucks parking lot. It was a decent neighborhood and he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone messing with the vehicle for the few minutes he left her alone. “I’m parking now. There are a few vehicles in the parking lot, but it’s mostly empty. I’m going to get out like we discussed, and make the call. Countdown five minutes.”
“Okay.”
“Stick to the script. Don’t deviate from anything. As long as you stick to it, the police will believe you and your stepfather will as well.”
“I know what to do… Take care of yourself.” Her voice was sad and she might as well have punched him in the face.
“You too.” It took every ounce of self-control he had to walk away. With gloved hands, he took the keys out of the ignition and tucked them into his pocket even as he pulled out one of his burner phones.
“911, how may I help?” the operator asked.
“There’s a tied-up woman in the back of a black SUV at the Starbucks on…” He gave the address, speaking clearly so the dispatcher would have all the information. “She’s been kidnapped, but I’m letting her go.”
“Sir, can you repeat—”
