by Violet Paige
“We can sit and have turkey. Do you want turkey today? I can make that happen. I will order a huge turkey for you. Is twenty pounds enough? What about mashed potatoes?”
I laughed. “It’s not about turkey or potatoes.”
The sun sparkled on the horizon. I didn’t think I had ever seen water this blue before. There were sailboats with tall white sails billowing over the waves. This vacation had been a complete picture of paradise. Vaughn had spared no expense. Our tickets were first class. Our bungalow was ocean front. We had fresh fruit and chilled champagne in the room twenty-four seven. I was living out an unbelievable fantasy with an unbelievable man.
“If it’s not about the turkey, what is it, Em?”
“Will I ever take you home for the holidays? Will we ever have that awkward first night at my mom’s house when she gets all weird about us staying in the same room together? Will I ever meet your football obsessed family?” I looked at him. “Do we ever get to have any of that?”
“I don’t know how to answer that.” He reached across the chair and placed his hand on my thigh. “I can tell you that this is only the beginning.”
I put my hand on his. “The beginning?”
“The beginning of us.”
I leaned into the chaise. God, I loved how that sounded, even more because Vaughn was the one saying it.
One of the waiters passed by our cabana and Vaughn stopped him to place an order.
“Can you bring us two coconut mojitos?”
The kid ran back to the bar to put in the drink order.
“Are we celebrating our turkey day with cocktails instead?” I teased.
He pulled the aviators down. “No, we’re celebrating that I have a drop to pick up.”
“A drop?” I barely knew what that meant. “What? Now? So soon? I thought we were going to be on vacation for a while.”
We stopped talking when the young waiter returned. I had to admit the drinks looked delicious. Bits of coconut and mint floated in the crushed ice. For a second I had forgotten Vaughn had told me he had a mission to steal something.
“Cheers.” Vaughn toasted my glass.
“Cheers.” I took a sip. “Where are you going?” I whispered.
“I pick up the file tomorrow.”
I gulped the drink. “Where? Where do you pick it up?”
“Have you ever been to France?” He raised his eyebrows.
“Holy shit. This is happening.” I finished the drink in another few swallows.
“It’s going to be ok, sweetheart. Trust me. I’ve got this.” He sat back in the chair and held his drink.
It was pointless to ask him what the assignment would be. He wouldn’t know until he received the drop. I had to resist the urge to pry for answers. What if it was something that endangered the United States? What if it put him in danger to get it?
I pulled the brim of my sun hat over my face and closed my eyes. The sun warmed my body. Vaughn’s hand slipped further up my thigh. I didn’t think he could help it. I focused on his touch instead of the moral apocalypse happening in my soul. It wasn’t the first time I had done it since we left DC.
I wondered how long it would take for everyone to figure out I was gone. I had told my mom I had to stay and work a case. I had left messages for everyone at school and in the office that I had gone home for longer than expected. Greer had no idea I was on a tropical island with Vaughn or that I had let him back in.
I couldn’t compare it to her reconciliation with Preston. And she wouldn’t understand.
Agent Kenneth would know. When I didn’t show up for our continued conversation, he would know exactly what had happened. I had a week at most before the search began. Before I was labeled a criminal. An outlaw.
And just like I had gone through the details with Agent Kenneth, I had to replay my bureau conversations with Vaughn. If they thought they were close to apprehending him, we had to stay one step ahead. Because now I was aiding and traveling with a fugitive. Most of that time I had been in a fog, but I did my best to remember the questions. To remember the points Agent Kenneth harped on the most. There had to be a pattern. Something Vaughn could use.
The good girl had turned bad.
Today I was Vanessa Thorne. I didn’t know who I would be when we reached France. I couldn’t call Vaughn by a different name. I had tried to say Jeremy or West, but it didn’t feel right on my tongue. And when we were in bed, I belonged to Vaughn Hunter. So I was only going to belong to Vaughn Hunter.
“I don’t think I can sleep out here in this heat.” He stretched his arms overhead and sat forward. “Want to head inside with me?”
I looked at my book and at my insanely hot boyfriend. A man shrouded in mystery and darkness. A man I loved despite the law. Despite morals and ethics. Despite my broken heart. I loved him desperately.
“Depends. Are you going to let me read?” I clutched the book to my chest. “I want to see if they make it out with the diamonds.”
“Is it a love story?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Then they do.”
“You don’t know that. I have to keep reading to find out,” I protested.
He laughed. “If you think you can tell me no once we get inside, I’ll let you read. You read as much as you want.”
“I think that’s a challenge I’m willing to accept.” I pulled a sarong off the back of my chair and tied it to my waist.
I ran ahead of him, my feet kicking up sand as I squealed. Vaughn was right behind me, trying to catch me.
I reached our ocean side cottage, just as he spun me and pressed me against the door. His mouth caught mine, turning it upward for a kiss.
I dropped the book on the ground next to our feet. It hit the wooden porch with a thud.
“Already done reading?” He lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he kicked the door open.
I nodded. “So done.”
He grinned. “Good. Because I’m just getting started.”
Epilogue
The moonlight was bright on the waves. My elbows sank into the wooden railing of the balcony. I looked over my shoulder into the room. Emily slept. Her naked body wrapped in a sheet.
It was after midnight. The bungalows were quiet on this part of the beach.
I had given her paradise today. I didn’t know what I could give her tomorrow.
There was a weight on my chest. Pushing into my lungs and pressing on my heart. I had brought her with me because the thought of leaving her behind was enough to cripple me.
It wasn’t an option.
I looked for the moment. I searched for the night I didn’t dream about her. I begged for the morning I didn’t wake up missing her. They never came. They never fucking showed up.
I turned my back on the ocean and watched her sleep from a distance. I was in love with every damn thing about her. The soft lines of her body. The silkiness of her golden hair. The light in her laugh. The brilliance of her mind. The sadness in her eyes when she talked about her family. The entire fucking package. That girl had me on my knees the first night. And she hadn’t let up. Not once.
Walking away from her had been the hardest thing I had ever done. I would take a knife to my chest before I ever faced that again.
I had convinced myself she was the job. The mark. If I got some distance from her, the infection would heal. But it didn’t. It grew until all I could picture was her. I closed my eyes and I saw her hover over me. I remembered what it felt like to fuck her. The sexy sounds she moaned in my ear. What it felt like to be the kind of man she wanted. To see how she saw me in her eyes.
How she felt under my hands. Under my body. Her hand in mine. The moments she was wild. The minutes she was tender and vulnerable. She trusted me.
I took a step from the porch. The white curtains flapped in the breeze when I crossed into the room.
There was a price. There was always a price with Blackwing. I had given Emily my soul, but they owned it.
She wanted a life together. For now we had that. But those Thanksgivings she dreamed about. Kids. Whatever else was going on in that smart and pretty head of hers—well, I couldn’t give her a timeline. I couldn’t promise any of it. This might be the best I had to offer her.
And that scared the shit out of me. Was this going to be enough?
The covers moved. Her eyes opened.
“Everything ok?” she whispered.
I strolled to the bed. “Yeah. Checking out the moon. It’s full.”
“Really?” She edged up. The sheet fell from her shoulder, exposing her breast.
I growled. She killed me. She made me feel drunk. Unsteady. Out of control.
I pounced on the bed. Emily squealed.
I pinned her hands over her head. “Ever been fucked under the moonlight?”
She shook her head. “I hope I’m about to.”
I dragged my lips over hers. Our tongues twisted. I wanted to tie her up now and make love to her. The kind of love that was rough and primal. Searing my body into hers. I wanted her so fucking badly.
“Bed or balcony?” I asked, wagging my eyebrows.
“But people could see us.” I saw the alarm in her eyes.
“I don’t think so.” I kissed her throat. “Your choice.” There was a wide hedge of tropical plants and flowers. Someone would have to go out of their way to see what was happening on the porch.
“Balcony.” She breathed.
I grinned. She was perfect. I lifted her into my arms. I hated that she was smaller than when I left. I knew it was my fault. The hollow lines on her stomach. The bones on her hips. But I’d love her back whole. I would take care of her. And I’d never leave.
My mouth covered hers. I couldn’t get enough. I never would.
I wasn’t built to love. I wasn’t that kind of man. I didn’t get attached. I didn’t make memories and relish moments. I was never that man.
Until I met Emily Charles.
I spun her in my arms, so that her hands were planted on the railing.
Her back rubbed against my chest, while I stroked her breasts. Her nipples hardened at my touch.
“Ohh,” she moaned.
I couldn’t take it. She drove me wild.
My hands slid over her back, pushing her forward, hiking her hips toward me. I pushed my cock between her legs. As she jutted her ass higher I slid into her heat, wanting to bury myself inside her. Needing her warmth. Craving her pussy. She clenched and tugged around me.
I pumped hard. Drove into her. She called my name with ragged breaths.
“Vaughn, tell me,” she begged.
And that’s who I was. I was Vaughn Hunter to her. That was the man she loved. The one she needed. I would be him.
“I love you,” I moaned. “I love you, Em.”
“Oh, God.” She rocked into me so I plunged deep to her core. “I love you too.”
We scaled a sexual peak in record time. My spine gripped with tension just as I released inside her. She screamed my name as her own orgasm hit.
“Fuck, Em. Fucking insane,” I groaned.
I held her while her body jolted with pleasure. Bursts of electric sensation.
Her forehead rested on the railing, but I scooped her in my arms and carried her back to bed.
I kissed her as she nuzzled against my chest.
“There’s your moonlight sex,” I joked. I felt drunk off her. Drunk enough to fuck her again. All night. Every night.
“We have to leave tomorrow?” she asked. “I like the islands.”
“We can come back.”
“When?” She propped up on her elbows.
“Depends on how long the France job takes. And if there is one right after. I’ll bring you back, though.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. I knew she was thinking of another question. She never had only one.
“If you don’t like it will you tell them no?”
I exhaled. “It’s not like that. I don’t make those kind of calls.”
“But shouldn’t you? What if it threatens someone’s life? What if it threatens a country?”
“Slow down.”
She was up on her knees. “I can’t help but think about the defense contracts you stole. Who did they go to?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“How could you not ask?”
I sat up. “I’m a soldier. I was trained to take orders. That’s part of my DNA.”
“And I’m an attorney. I was trained to be curious. To pursue the truth. To ask questions.”
“And I’d like to add you’re excellent at it.”
Her lips were pouty. “Vaughn. This is serious.”
“I can’t be more serious. You and Blackwing have nothing to do with each other. Nothing. You aren’t going to get involved with my assignments. No questions. No moral compass shit. Do you understand?”
“But Blackwing knows about me?”
I nodded. “They do.” I wished like hell they didn’t. “And that’s where things end. Stay out of this, Em. If it helps go back to pretending I’m in investments. I’ll have a new identity in France anyway. A new career you can bug me about. But not this one. Not Blackwing.”
“Have you thought about leaving?”
“Emily.” My voice was stern.
“You have millions, right? Why can’t we just disappear? Maybe here on the island? I like it here.” She curled her hands around my torso. I felt the fire from her touch.
The danger we were in was mine to bear. The deal I had made.
“Babe, we need to get some sleep. We have to fly to France tomorrow.” I leaned up to kiss her. “You’ll see how things work. I’m going to take care of all it.”
She lowered herself to my chest. “Your heart is beating so fast,” she whispered.
I stroked her hair. “Moonlight sex,” I lied.
I swore I wouldn’t keep secrets from her. I promised I would answer her questions whenever she asked. But there was a limit. A limit that Blackwing had given me.
I never wanted to lose her again. It would break us both.
The only thing that could tear us apart was keeping her safe. Because there was nothing I wouldn’t do to make sure Emily always had tomorrow. Nothing.
Keep reading for a preview of Book 2:
There was screaming. It was loud. Deafening. I realized it was coming from me. The more I struggled to find my breath, the harder it was for my lungs to work. I felt as if I were drowning. I kicked wildly. My arms were pinned to my side, keeping me from moving.
“Em, it’s ok. You’re ok. I’ve got you.” I heard the warmth of his voice.
I opened my eyes. I had squeezed them shut in my sleep. “Vaughn?”
“Yeah. You were having a nightmare. I think it was a nightmare?” He looked lost. Worried. “I’ve been trying to wake you.”
I pulled my knees into my chest. I was still rattled from the dream. It had been vivid. So tangible I could still feel the pain. There was a thin layer of perspiration across my skin.
“What scared you like that?” he asked.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to tell him. I didn’t want to admit a dream had affected me like that. “I can’t remember. It’s foggy.”
“Do you think you can fall back asleep?”
He pulled me against his chest, sliding us under the covers so that his arm enveloped my waist in a tight hold. I didn’t mind how warm he was.
I nodded, glad he couldn’t see my face. My eyes would give it away. He would be able to see the fear coursing through me.
“Get some sleep.”
It wasn’t long before his chest rose with the natural rhythm of his breathing. It was easy for him to fall asleep. I couldn’t close my eyes.
I carefully lifted his arm, peeling it away from my hip as I rolled to the side and put my feet on the floor. I closed the door to the bedroom and sat by the window overlooking the city.
It was our first night in Paris. My first time ever in the city.
; Tomorrow Vaughn would get his assignment.
The bubble we had created would be gone. Vaughn couldn’t create a sphere strong enough to keep his job from invading our life. I was worried. I was paranoid. I was distracted beyond reason.
How did I move forward, knowing he was stealing? That he was plotting and scheming to take something that didn’t belong to Blackwing.
I buried my head in my hands.
How could I tell him that doubts had surfaced? How could I admit to him that as soon as we’d left the Bahamas there was a pit in my stomach that had done nothing but grow until I could barely breathe? How could I tell him about the dream?
I wasn’t a psychic. I didn’t believe in that crap. But the dream had seemed like a prediction of our future. I knew it was my fears playing out in my subconscious. That didn’t make it feel any less terrifying though.
What if it haunted me every day? What if this is what our nights were going be like? Sex that shattered me to my soul. A nightmare that claimed it.
I tucked my feet under me, sitting as curled as a cat. My eyes scanned the lights in front of me, still in disbelief that just this morning I had been looking at the ocean and now I was only miles away from Montmarte.
“Babe, what are you doing?”
I jumped when I heard Vaughn’s voice over my shoulder.
I spun to face him. “I thought you were asleep.”
“I was.”
“It’s the time change. I can’t sleep,” I couldn’t believe I lied again.
He strolled toward me. His chiseled chest cased in shadows from the hotel suite.
The sight of his body brought everything back. I was drawn to him. Bound to him. He moved me in a way that defied logic and love. This man consumed me. He kneeled in front of the chair. The lights from the window splintered across his face.
“Why can’t you sleep? The truth this time.”
My resistance faltered. I didn’t know if I was weak for wanting him to take away the fear. Or if I was tired from trying to sort through everything myself.
