Valentine (Cupid #2)

by Jade Eby

  “Yes.” He gritted his teeth. “But not because I want you to. Only because you’re forcing my hand.”

  Her eyes widened. “So you’ll agree to me not being caged?”

  “Well, the island is still a place—”

  “Asher, I’m a grown woman.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m not a bird.”

  “But—”

  “You try to cage me, and you’ll end up ruining it all.” She moved away from him. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

  He stared at the ground. “Yes.”

  “And your killing—”

  “I think we should handle one thing at a time.” He lifted his gaze to her and considered tearing away that beautiful sundress. “You want your freedom to feel better about exploring us. I’ll do that for you. Maybe, I was a bit extreme. But this is me trusting you now, to not only keep my identity a secret, but to...”

  “What?”

  He sighed. “Don’t leave me.”

  Her voice came out in a low whisper. “Asher.”

  “Please, don’t leave me. I don’t have anyone else... not anyone that would understand me.”

  “Your life.” She shook her head from side to side as if the movement could help her brain get it together and make sense of things. “I don’t know how much I would be able to take.”

  “Then we’ll see. We’ll do it like you said, earlier. We’ll date. We’ll take our time.”

  “This is crazy.”

  “I give you freedom.” Asher extended his hand for her to shake. “You give me hope.”

  “What is this, a deal?”

  “Yes, I give you freedom. You give me hope. We try, and see what happens, then come together, talk about it, and try again.”

  “I don’t know if this could even work.”

  “Freedom and hope.” He nudged her hand with his fingertips. “And really phenomenal sex. Don’t forget that one.

  She gave him her hand. “Fine, freedom and hope. And really good sex.”

  “Let’s just see where that takes us for the next couple of weeks.”

  “And then after that?”

  “I don’t know, Diana. I’ve never been in love before.” He kissed her. “I’ve never loved anybody this much.” He sucked on her bottom lip and then let it go. “I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you... not even myself. But there’s no one else I would rather sacrifice or compromise for than you.”

  Fourteen

  Diana

  They spent the rest of the day in Key West, racing around the tiny streets, snapping pictures of the funny people who strolled down the pavements—people dressed in costumes, others decorated in only body art. There’d been some sort of fantasy festival happening down there that week. The streets had been crowded, and in every hand someone carried a bright colored cup full of something intoxicatingly good.

  They visited Ernest Hemingway’s house because Asher had never seen it. It was such an elegant place—the famous author’s paintings hung on the walls, the small details of architectural beauty that managed to last after his death, and even the secret treasures he’d filled his home with. Everything had been preserved as if he’d just left his place to go on a nice little walk. He’d been an avid collector of Spanish 17th century furniture.

  All through the house the famous Hemingway six-toed cats yawned, lounged, and prowled about. There were at least twenty of them Diana had counted. Apparently, the author had been given his first six-toed cat by a ship captain. He named her, Snow White. He’d continued to get more of these little creatures, naming them all after famous stars as each one found their home with him.

  The writer had an in-ground pool that had been dug out through solid coral. It was twenty-four feet wide and sixty-feet long. The whole time Asher and Diana walked by it, he whispered in Diana’s ear on how he wished he could fuck her in that massive pool.

  Due to Asher’s confession, they’d veered off from the tour group and ducked into the shadows of Hemingway’s garden. He fingered her amidst the crimson hibiscus and blushing pink and white bleeding heart flowers that hung low like angels in the sunlight.

  Back on the yacht, Diana couldn’t deny that she’d needed that break with him, needed that moment to breathe far away from Ovid Island.

  Sparkling turquoise waves stretched for miles beyond Diana’s vision. They’d traveled around the Keys and made it to the southern west side of Florida to see the sunset. She’d been to the Keys, but she couldn’t remember ever seeing the way the sun dripped yellow and orange streaks of glory into the Atlantic Ocean.

  She leaned against the yacht railing, the breeze whipping her hair around and stared out into the vast abyss of water.

  “Incredible, isn’t it?” Asher wrapped his arms around her waist and she felt the heat of his chest through her paper-thin dress.

  They stood there in silence, letting the waves, seagulls, and their breaths do the talking.

  Diana spun around and nuzzled into Asher’s neck. “Did you mean it?”

  Asher lifted her chin. “What?”

  “Do you love me?”

  He swept a black curl away from her hair, only to have it fall right back in place. He kissed her forehead and sighed. “I can’t be certain I know what true love is, Diana. I don’t know that I’m… capable. But whatever is going on between us is close enough to the love I’ve always heard described. The love that is preserved in ivory and black ink. So, I say, yes. I love you.”

  Diana shivered in his arms. Her heart pumping out the rhythm of her spiked desire. There wasn’t a single part of Diana that doubted Asher’s confession. Whatever he was capable of feeling, he felt it with her.

  And despite the dreams,

  the murders,

  the need for control,

  she loved him too.

  In a way that she believed mirrored his. She couldn’t be sure he had the capacity to love like others. She was, after all, wrapped up in a killer’s arms. But that was just it—she didn’t want to be anywhere else.

  She thought about telling him to forget the deal. That she didn’t need her space. But she refrained.

  Being alone for a few weeks… having a chance to breathe her own apartment air and sort out her jumbled feelings—she needed that. Even if her desire told her otherwise.

  She leaned up and nibbled on his bottom lip. He pulled her in tighter. As Diana snaked an arm around the back of his neck and then ran her fingers through Asher’s blonde curls, he carried her to the deck sofa and laid her down gently.

  Lust laced his words. “Have you ever been fucked on top of a yacht?”

  “No,” she whispered.

  “Well there’s a first time for everything.” He peeled away her clothing, stitch by slow stitch until her chocolate skin shone against the setting sun.

  Her voice came out a few octaves lower than normal. “Your turn.”

  Desire flooded her.

  When Asher touched Diana, grazed his fingertips along her smooth skin, the rest of her thoughts dissipated. Vanished as if they never existed.

  Asher was an alchemist with his touch, and she was a victim of his chemistry.

  She quivered when he blew soft air on her puckered nipple. She ached for him then. She wanted him everywhere. To feel her breasts enveloped by his mouth, his hands tracing circles down her torso, thighs, and ass. She desperately wanted to feel his cock buried in her soft folds and his tongue massaging her clit.

  Calm the hell down. I have nothing but time to let Asher explore me. Or do I?

  She arched her back as he suckled on her nipple–hard, then soft, with a quick bite.

  When he cupped her other breast with his hand, she guided his free hand down to her pussy. Made him insert a digit to see how wet she was for him.

  “See what you do to me?” She whispered.

  He let out a groan and smashed his lips into hers. “I’ll be doing a lot more to you in a minute.”

  Asher kissed a path from her lip
s through the valley of her breasts, down her taut belly until he reached the spot above her clit. He gave it one strong lick and looked up at her as if asking for permission.

  Diana’s pulse quickened and her clit throbbed. She raised her hips, closing the gap between Asher’s mouth and her pussy.

  “Oh you want this?” He asked pointing to his tongue. “You want me to fuck you with my tongue? Do you want to feel a quake in your bones as I run my tongue over your clit, nice and slow? Would you like me to burrow myself in your sweet, rosy pussy so I can eat you out the way you deserve to—”

  “Asher. Just fucking do it already.”

  “Someone’s impatient.”

  She pushed his head down and nearly passed out with the first dig of his tongue. He spread her open wider, exploring her with gusto. He massaged the rim of her asshole before teasing his finger in and out. The double penetration created a flurry of tingles in the base of Diana’s stomach.

  She moaned but it came out ragged, her breath catching in her throat. She was already at the edge, but she didn’t want to go. Too soon.

  Diana pushed Asher off of her and gave him a ‘come hither’ finger.

  He crawled over to her, kissing her neck, earlobe and then her lips.

  “I want your dick in my mouth.” She looked down at his rock-solid cock. “Right. Now.”

  His smirk filled Diana with entirely too much desire to wait. She pushed his hands out of the way and pulled his thickness into her mouth.

  She licked him from base to tip, fast,

  fast,

  slow,

  slow,

  until he moaned her name.

  She used her hands as a weapon between cradling his balls, tracing lines on the flesh of his inner thighs and alternating the way she sucked him off.

  Sex had always been good with Asher, but this? It was explosive. Intense. And they hadn’t even gotten to the main event yet.

  “Diana stop, I’m close,” Asher whispered.

  She shook her head.

  He lifted her chin up. “Yes. I’m not done with you yet,” and then he flipped her onto her back, swiftly, as if he’d done it so many times before.

  Diana lost a little breath in the quickness, but panted as her chest rose and fell.

  Asher assaulted her throat with light, airy breaths. All around her neck he blew softly as she shivered. He moved lower until he had one of her breasts in sight. Tender kisses fell upon her right breast and just as quickly as the tenderness began, Asher turned hungry. Sucking on that nipple, biting playfully.

  Dear God. A few more of those and I’ll come undone.

  He moved to her left breast and she dug her nails into Asher’s back, clenching her oncoming orgasm.

  “Let it go,” Asher said breathlessly into her chest.

  “No. I won’t come unless you do.”

  “I think I can arrange that,” he said, smiling. And with that, he slid his cock into her throbbing pussy and thrust slowly.

  She drew in a sharp breath and cried out when he began to plow into her.

  Diana opened her eyes and through her lust-haze she watched Asher’s muscles constrict and contract. His blonde tendrils swaying with his thrusts. With his eyes closed, and his peachy skin layered in sweat, he looked like the painted Gods in one of Diana’s Mythology textbooks from college. Even if she wasn’t filled with crazy feelings for him, she’d never be able to deny his beauty.

  He opened his eyes and stared right into hers. “Diana?”

  “Yes?”

  “Close your eyes. I’m going to fuck you senseless now.”

  She smiled as her eyes drifted shut.

  “Okay,” she mumbled and melted into the shocks and tingles coursing through her body as Asher pinned her arms above her head and buried himself deep inside of her. His moans filled her ears and she quivered with numbing muscles.

  She felt drowsy.

  Fulfilled.

  Content.

  Maybe the love-making corpses had it right all along.

  * * *

  Diana woke up as the yacht docked in Ovid Island’s marina.

  Why are we back here?

  The sky was a blanket of darkness and stars. She looked around and saw Asher talking to one of his staff.

  He met her eye and dismissed the man.

  “You’re up.” Asher walked closer. “We’re back at Ovid.”

  Diana wrapped her arms around herself. The air had gotten unusually chilly. “I thought we were spending a few days at sea?”

  Asher shook his head. “I changed my mind. Our little chat has inspired me to do something I’m not sure I should do, but I’m going to do it anyway.”

  “What?”

  “How serious are you about your freedom?”

  “Very serious.”

  “Could you love me, Diana? Could you accept the man that I really am?”

  “You mean... the fact that you kill?”

  He grimaced and then nodded.

  Diana’s eyebrow rose. “What are you planning?”

  “After we made love, I realized that if I lost you, it would destroy me. You’re perfect. You’re nothing like any woman I’ve met before. You’re nothing like my mother. Maybe, she’s why I kept that wall up when it came to my heart. Maybe that’s why I never got close to anyone. But, you’re not like her.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “I want you to be in my life.”

  “I... I think I want that too.”

  “Why don’t you know now?”

  “Because, Asher, so much has happened, and I need time, before making a serious decision about it.”

  “And with this time, you’ll need your freedom?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking too. The sooner you get your freedom and realize what you’re missing—the sooner you’ll be back in my arms.”

  “Back in your arms?”

  “Yes, back with me. Clipping a bird’s wings does not mean they won’t fly—it just means they will find another way to escape.”

  “And now I’m a bird again?”

  “At least you’re not—

  “If you say Don Quixote, I swear I will punch you.”

  Chuckling, Asher leaned down and kissed Diana on the forehead. “You’ll always be my bird, Diana.”

  “A bird with clipped wings?”

  Sighing, he kissed her again. “I’ll have my driver return you to your apartment in the city. I’ll have your belongings brought over tomorrow.”

  He dropped his head and turned to leave. This was painful. He was using all the strength in his body to fight against what he really wanted to say to her. She knew him too well already to know the difference. He didn’t want her to leave. He didn’t want to let her go.

  She grabbed his arm. “Just like that?”

  He ran his thumb down the side of her cheek. “Just like that. You’ve got your freedom and time to think about whether you truly can be with me. Then come to me, when you’re done.”

  And she let him go.

  Being without Asher, it was something she had to do. Otherwise she’d never know for sure if it was love or fear that kept her by his side.

  And she so desperately wanted it to be love.

  * * *

  Three days. She’d been in her apartment alone for three whole days and she was consumed. By missing this independent part of her life, missing Asher, but mostly from the shocking details that had been reported in the news.

  Theresa, Maxwell’s assistant had been given his entire estate in her boss’s will. She’d now put up a million dollar reward for any information on Cupid’s identity. All of Miami and now the rest of the country had their eyes on Ovid Island and the amazing CNN-coined Valentine Killings.

  For hours, she stuffed her mouth with popcorn, sat on the couch, and watched every sordid detail of the prior murders. They’d looked up all the things she’d discovered, and even cited some of her old articles in the news reports.

  “What’
s surprising is that the latest victim does not seem to fit the personality of the other ones.” The news correspondent stared into the camera. “Although Maxwell Grayson had held charity events on Ovid Island for several years. He’d just moved to the island a month ago.”

  The correspondent turned to a screen behind her that showed Theresa sitting in a chair with a bow on top of her head. “Today, we have Mr. Grayson’s personal assistant here, who’d been managing his foster home for all the years during his absence.”

  “Wait a minute. Theresa managed the foster home, while Maxwell was away from the island?” Something hard plopped into Diana’s gut.

  “How close was Mr. Grayson to his foster kids?” the correspondent asked.

  “He didn’t have much time to come visit, and only was able to make some of the charity events.” Theresa touched her bow, froze as if realizing she’d did it on national TV, and then sniffled. “Maxwell... I mea... Mr. Grayson didn’t spend much time with the children. Not like I did.”

  A chill ran down Diana’s back.

  Not like you did? How much time did you spend with them?

  The memory of that night with Theresa flashed in Diana’s mind. The little woman had been skilled with the rope, and had bound Diana to that chair with ease. If she was the one that truly managed the foster home, then she’d probably been the one to get the sound proof walls installed.

  “You, yourself, grew up in the Grayson Foster Home?” the correspondent asked.

  “Yes. I’d been in another home in Miami, called Holy Trinity. It wasn’t a good one. Not a good one at all.” Theresa touched the end of her bow and sniffled again. “The Grayson family saved me. They took me out of there, due to several reports of abuse, and quickly opened up a place in their foster home, where I was loved and protected.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  “I don’t know why someone would kill Maxwell.”

  “Do you have any idea who it could be?”

  “None. Maxwell wasn’t perfect, but he was never worthy of this monster Cupid’s judgments.” Theresa wiped at tears that fell from her eyes. “I don’t know about his other victims.”