Soulmate: Feel My Heart Beat Book 1

by Delmire Hart

  “Oh hell no. There’s no way I’m agreeing to that.” William just chuckled and watched as Daniel tried and failed to get out of bed, his legs wobbled and he collapsed back down onto the bed with a groan. “I don’t like you. You’re awful.” He got a full-blown laugh at that. Daniel huffed and gave up, curling back up into the sheets vowing to not move for the rest of the day.

  Chapter Ten: Kitten

  “WILLIAM!”

  That voice. Filled with unrestrained lust, sobbing pleasure, and just a tinge of blurred pain. Perfect. William was sure that the final cry Daniel made before passing out after coming dry last night would haunt his dreams in the most pleasurable way possible for a long time to come. It had been truly exquisite. His bright, innocent-seeming little soulmate responded beautifully to his touch. Drowned in pleasure beyond what he had ever experienced, Daniel surrendered to William and gave himself over to his ministrations. The little mewls had quickly found a louder volume but retained their constant quality.

  William felt his body stirring at the memory. While he had been expecting a pleasurable evening, it had been far beyond his wildest expectations. The moans, the arching back, the blue eyes nearly black with want. Perfect.

  He looked down at the tuft of blond hair sticking out of the blankets. Daniel had been rather determined to make good on his promise of refusing to move for the rest of the day. After William helped him to the bathroom and then back to bed, Daniel had burrowed himself under the blankets, snagged William’s pillow and almost immediately fallen back to sleep. It was a little cute. He could hear the occasional snuffle, muffled by the blankets, and couldn’t help a small smile. He wouldn’t mind waking up to Daniel’s attention every morning. Having done so for the last two mornings had William feeling spoiled and he endeavoured to return the favour both times.

  He had woken up with lovers in the past, although generally they didn’t stay the night and never got invited back to the penthouse, but never had he been at the receiving end of such innocent affections. Not until the last two mornings at least. His past lovers always wanted something; money, power, or pleasure. Daniel wanted nothing but him. William had been looking for a deeper motive, some hidden agenda throughout their first meeting but the boy couldn’t lie to save himself. Every single expression flashed over his face, every thought open to be read, and there had been no greed there. Uncertainty in the beginning, then curiosity, and finally a childlike exuberance and enthusiasm.

  He had seen him embarrassed, determined, and irritated but the one thing that had blown him away once he realised what it was, was trust. The kind of implicit trust that was given and only taken back if you gave a reason to be untrustworthy. The complete opposite of William himself, who trusted few, and it had to be earned beyond any doubt. In Daniel’s shoes, William would not have trusted himself and yet Daniel was freely giving it without thought. A trait that seemed to run in the family.

  Soulmate.

  His other half was a very intriguing creature.

  William reached out from where he was sitting at the edge of the bed and carefully ran his fingers through the few visible blond strands sticking out of the blankets. He didn’t think he had ever been so confused until Daniel came barrelling into his life. Everything was always controlled and accounted for, even the slightest possibility of a soulmate had been completely dismissed from his mind. He didn’t deserve one. He honestly thought that stepping into the darkness removed any possibility for finding the light of a true lover. He took that step years ago and built an empire out of blood and sin and forsook any chance of finding a higher happiness.

  Or so he had thought.

  Apparently, he had been wrong because there was a golden little angel in his bed who could somehow be as cute and innocent as he was and yet sink into the dark pleasure William gave only to emerge from the depths just as bright and shining as before.

  William’s grandmother held onto the old beliefs about soulmates, ones that no science could ever prove. You only found your soulmate if you needed them. There was no chance about it, just the universe giving help to those in need. He wasn’t prone to superstition but something about her beliefs had always lingered at the back of his mind. Did William need a soulmate? He wasn’t lacking for anything. If anything, he was going to be dragging the poor kid down into hell with him. And there was nothing he could give Daniel that he would need or want. He needed a good, strong role model and stability, neither of which William could offer him.

  Daniel had already declined the one thing William was able to give; that being money. He declined it often and loudly. The only times he would accept were times that William gave him no choice. It’s like he deserved this potential happiness. Deserving was not a word he associated with himself. He worked for what he had, be it legally or illegally, but he was not so entitled to think that the universe owed him something. But now that he had this feisty little kitten, William would not be letting go. No, this bright little thing was his and his alone even if it meant dragging Daniel into the darkness alongside him.

  ***

  William maneuvered through the bedroom door with the large tray in his hands. He had spent the last few hours in his home office catching up on his paperwork and making calls. He had left the doors open so he could hear if Daniel got up but it had been quiet, not something he associated with him while he was awake. It was after lunch now but he had one of his men fetch them breakfast, figuring Daniel would prefer that when he first woke up rather than a heavier meal. He put the tray down on the bedside table then sat down on the bed. He reached over to give the Daniel-shaped lump a shake.

  “Time to wake up, kitten.”

  An unhappy sounding groan answered him and the lump shuffled around, the blond hair disappearing under the blanket. William tugged the blanket down and forcibly rolled the photographer onto his back. Dazed blue eyes blinked sleepily at him and Daniel tried to bury himself back into the pillow. Unable to resist the opportunity, William pinned his little soulmate in place and kissed him. It didn’t take long for Daniel to respond and he deepened the kiss, continuing until he wrenched a breathless moan from the blond. When he finally pulled back he was met with a scowl.

  “Can you ever keep your hands to yourself?”

  “Why should I when I have such a delicious morsel in my bed?” William drawled in reply to Daniel’s indignant question.

  “Argh, you better not have woken me up just for this you bastard, because my ass is off limits today.”

  “As tempting as that is, I woke you up for breakfast.” William had to chuckle as Daniel perked up and tried to wiggle his way out from underneath him.

  “Oi, move! I want food.” He sat back reluctantly, allowing Daniel to sit up as well before leaning over to grab the tray.

  “You don’t want me to feed you?”

  “What?!” Daniel threw him an incredulous look. “I can feed myself thanks. What time is it?”

  “That’s a shame. It’s nearly 2pm.”

  “Ugh.” Daniel scrubbed his hands over his face as he groaned. “I have a stakeout in a few hours and I need to get home and grab my stuff.” William picked up a morsel of food and held it out for Daniel to eat. He scowled at him but surprisingly accepted the food.

  “There are clothes here in the wardrobe for you. I had them deliver extras from the store yesterday so you can keep some spares here.” Daniel groaned dramatically in reply.

  “I bet they are ridiculously expensive too. I’ll stick with my jeans thanks.”

  “I have something else for you too, kitten.”

  “Would you stop with the kitten thing already?” Daniel demanded, glowering as he helped himself to more food. “It’s ridiculous.”

  “Oh?” William could feel his lips curling up uncontrollably into a smirk. There was a faint hint of pink in Daniel’s cheeks. “Would you prefer something else? Hmm, baby?” Daniel looked positively horrified. “No?” His smirk widened and he leaned in close to a now spluttering Daniel. “How about an
gel?”

  “Oh, hell no! Don’t you dare! Why can’t you just call me Dan like everyone else?!” Ah, that lovely shade of red was back.

  “Because everyone else calls you that.”

  “Of course, you have to be special and call me by something else, don’t you?” Daniel huffed and crossed his arms while he fixed William with a glare that was rendered rather ineffectual by the ever-increasing blush.

  “Don’t I get to call my partner by a pet name?” Now that threw him off. Daniel’s scowl vanished and he looked taken aback.

  “P-partner?” He looked off to the side as he fidgeted with the sheet pooling around his waist. “That still doesn’t mean you have to call me something so ridiculous.”

  “I thought it was quite apt,” William replied as he reached a hand out and took Daniel by the chin, bringing his head back around and running his thumb over his bottom lip. “My cute little kitten. You were certainly purring for me last night.”

  The embarrassed glare came back and Daniel opened his mouth to bite down on his thumb. It was just hard enough to have a slight sting but was probably not intended to have the effect it did. William’s body stirred at pressure and the feeling of the warm, wet tongue sliding across the pad of his thumb. The fiery eyes challenging him just made it that much better.

  “See, and this is the little wildcat with its sharp little claws and spitting determination.” William leaned forward and lowered his voice to drawl out, “I would let you bite me somewhere else.” Daniel quickly released his thumb and backed up a little.

  “Hey, you perv, let me finish my breakfast.”

  “You’re the one who bit me.” William moved back and pulled the tray up closer to them both. “Now I did actually have something for you.”

  “Yeah?”

  William reached into the pocket of his bathrobe and pulled out a key. He passed it over to Daniel. “It’s for the penthouse.”

  “I’m not moving in,” Daniel said flatly, no room for debate, and William had to chuckle at his stubbornness.

  “I know. You’ve been very clear about that. It’s so you can come over anytime. It’s a good location and with you having clothes here sometimes it might be more convenient for you to come here instead of home.”

  “You just want to not always have to drag me back here, don’t you?”

  “I confess I wouldn’t mind coming home to a little kitten curled up in my bed.”

  Daniel snorted before replying, “And I suppose you want mine in return?”

  “I already have it.”

  “What?!” Daniel froze with food halfway to his mouth. “How the hell did you get that?”

  “Your landlady was nice enough to give it to me after I assured her that your rent would always be on time from now on.” William leaned forward to grab Daniel’s hand and ate the morsel off his fork.

  “Can’t you ever do things like a normal person and just ask?! And what do you mean my rent will always be on time? What have you got to do with it?”

  “I gave her Ken’s number, if the rent is a day late she is to call him and he’ll take care of it.”

  “You can’t do that! I told you I could look after myself!”

  “And I won’t interfere unless that happens to not be the case. So as long as you pay your rent on time what’s the problem? And if for some reason you can’t, then you don’t have to worry, it’ll be taken care of.” Daniel spluttered indignantly. “Speaking of which you were behind. You are now paid up until the end of the month.”

  “You-! Argh!” Daniel threw his hands up in the air and crawled off the bed. “You need to keep out of my business when I tell you to!” He stormed out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind himself. William knew he would not be happy about the arrangement but he was still a little taken by surprise over the outburst. He could just picture Daniel as the kitten he’s taken to calling him, fur standing on end, hissing and spitting and trying to be all fierce, completely unaware how cute he looks while doing so.

  The constant blush was really quite perfect.

  ***

  William had barely made it into the office when a rather flustered Ken burst through the door with his chief of security in tow. That wasn’t something you saw every day. Ken was normally very composed and William could see a little line of worry creasing even Demetrius’s forehead.

  “What’s happened?”

  “Sir, its Miller. He left the penthouse about half an hour ago and his security detail just reported in saying they lost him.” William sighed and pulled out a cigarette.

  “They only had him for 30 minutes?” He asked, flicking open his lighter and taking a long drag.

  “Yes, sir.”

  William slowly exhaled and let the nicotine hit his system. Why wasn’t he surprised? Honestly, the brat was a loose cannon. He fished his phone out of his pocket and selected the contact labelled ‘kitten’. The line was picked up after only a few rings.

  “Yo.”

  “Daniel, where are you?”

  “Ahh, so those were your men,” the young man replied sounding slightly out of breath.

  “They were and you slipping away defeats the point of having them.”

  “Hey! I didn’t know they were yours. I only knew I had somebody on my tail and I have a stakeout to get to.”

  “And you didn’t think to call and check?”

  “Nah, figured you’d call if they were yours. You should have told me, though.”

  “I would have if you had stopped complaining about the wardrobe for even a minute,” William retorted with a small shake of his head. Trying to get Daniel to accept gifts was like pulling teeth.

  “How can you expect me to wear clothes that cost more than my rent out of the house, let alone on a stakeout? You need to take them back. I don’t want them.”

  William sighed. This was not going to get them anywhere. “They are yours and they are staying there. Now what did you do? Climb up a building to get away from the guards?” There was a pause. “That’s exactly what you did, wasn’t it?” He could almost hear the grin in Daniel’s reply.

  “Yep! I used to do a lot of parkour stuff with my friends, really came in handy with my stakeout work so I kept it up.”

  “Kitten.” He saw Ken’s eyebrows jump out of the corner of his eye. “Where are you?”

  “Look, I’m on a stakeout, I can’t be given away or I’ll lose my target. I’ll let you know when I’m home.”

  “The whole point of guards is to keep you safe, they can’t do that if you’ve lost them.”

  “I can look after myself.”

  “You’ve already been targeted once. Don’t make me GPS tag you.”

  “What am I? Your pet? You can’t tag me.”

  “Oh? I’m sure we can pick you out a pretty collar while we microchip you.”

  “Seriously, I’m not a dog.”

  “I know, a dog would be waiting back at the penthouse for me like a good boy.”

  “Didn’t you tell me earlier that you like feisty little cats?” Daniel said with a snicker. “Anyways, I gotta split. Nice chat!”

  “Dani-” The line went dead. “The little punk hung up on me.”

  William took another deep drag of his cigarette to calm his nerves before looked up at his shocked subordinates. It was a look he didn’t get to see very often.

  “I want you to research into something called ‘parkour’, apparently that is how he got away. We are going to have to look into hiring a different type of guard to be able to keep him in check if they lost him that quickly. In the meantime, keep the guards searching and find him.”

  Both Ken and Demetrius gave a bow and made a hasty retreat. William got up to pour himself a drink, he got the distinct feeling that this was only the beginning of their security woes and if so, he would need the alcohol. Soulmate, huh? Had he finally found someone who could challenge him? He certainly seemed to have given his staff a run for their money far too easily. Little kitten indeed. W
illiam’s lips curved up into a smile.

  Soulmate.

  Mine.

  Chapter Eleven: Parkour

  Hastily exiting the boss’s office alongside Ken, Demetrius had the distinct feeling that this was only the beginning of the drama they would face dealing with one Daniel Miller. He had never heard his boss refer to a lover by a pet name in the nearly eight years he had been working for him. Even more perplexing was while he sounded both irritated and amused of all things by him losing his guards, William seemed unconvinced that they could locate the kid. In the past, a lover showing such blatant insolence would have found themselves forcibly removed from William’s life but this soulmate changed everything. He glanced over to Ken who paused beside him.

  “I’m not quite sure what to make of all this.” The secretary looked over at him in askance. “I mean, I’ve never heard the boss speak like that. He called the kid kitten.” Ken gave a small, sad smile and pushed up his glasses.

  “It’s been a long time.” He only shook his head when Demetrius gestured for him to continue before getting straight back down to business. “I get the impression we aren’t about to have an easy time with Miller. It’s clear that even in such a short time this brat means a lot to the boss, I guess that’s part of the soulmate thing. But that just means it’s even more imperative we keep him safe. It’s only a matter of time before his relationship with William is known and we will not be able to play it down. Which guards did you have on him?”

  “Ueda, Kareem, and Adams.” They moved towards Ken’s office and the man himself sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

  “Those three all cycle through William’s personal guard, don’t they?” Demetrius nodded in response. They were his personal picks from the best they had.

  “They are all good at what they do and have each proven so more than once. I think Miller getting away has more to do with them not expecting him to run them than incompetence. Ueda in particular is hard to pull one over, but if the kid’s climbing up buildings that’s another story.”