Black Listed

by Shelly Bell

  “I didn’t become attached,” she explained on a whisper. “It was a job. Nothing more.” She captured his gaze, holding it hostage. “Not until you. When my father gave me your file and I saw your picture for the first time, I became obsessed. I read everything I could about you. I dreamed of you. I stalked you for weeks. I went above and beyond my normal preparation. Something about you called out to me, and it wasn’t your money.” She reached out and cupped his cheek. “It was the pain in your eyes. I wanted to ease it in any way I could. As your lover. As your slave. As your wife.”

  His throat worked over a swallow. “So I was more than your mark?”

  She sat up and laid her hands on the sides of his face, needing him to understand. “You were my everything.”

  He nodded, his eyes closing as if in pain before they opened again, shining with relief. If she had to spend the rest of her life proving it, she would; she never wanted him to doubt how much she loved him again.

  As if she was outside naked in a blizzard, her entire body shook violently, her teeth chattering. “At first, my instructions were to marry you, divorce you, and take you for as much money as I could without getting any attorneys involved. But my dad got greedier. He decided he wanted all of it. If you died, you would have been worth a lot more to me than you would as my ex-husband.”

  Her throat constricted, preventing her from speaking. It took her three tries before she could say it. The words were like razor blades, cutting her from the inside. “I was ordered to kill you.”

  He didn’t seem surprised.

  Pulling on the blanket, he wrapped it and his arms around her, enveloping her in warmth. “You should have told me.”

  Relief swept through her as she cried into his chest. The truth had never tasted so sweet. “I wanted to. Believe me, I wanted to. But if I didn’t do it, he would have. There was only one way to save you. He kept a book—he called it his black list—that logged every con he’d ever done. I stole it from him. I left a note telling him if anything happened to you I’d give it to the FBI. And then I ran.” She couldn’t stop crying, her tears soaking his skin.

  “Why didn’t you go to the FBI in the first place?” he asked softly. “I would’ve helped you. We could’ve stayed together.”

  “We would’ve been torn apart.” At least that’s what she’d thought then. Now, she wasn’t as certain. “Even if you forgave me, my father wasn’t the only one who had committed a crime. My brothers—Asa and Mitch—and I would have been sent to prison, as well. I couldn’t do that to them. And I was scared. Scared once you knew the real me, you’d hate me. Scared to spend the next twenty years in prison. Scared my father would find a way to kill you in retaliation. I didn’t see any other way.”

  He ran his hand over the stubble lining his rigid jaw. “I would’ve had my attorneys negotiate a plea deal for you so you’d do as little time as possible, if any at all. You didn’t trust me enough, you didn’t trust in our love enough, to take that risk.”

  He was right.

  But she’d given him all she had at the time. “I loved you as much as I knew how to love anyone.”

  A notch formed between his eyebrows. “If you had to do it all over again, would you make that same decision?”

  She’d asked herself that same question several times this week, and she still didn’t have an answer.

  She blew out a breath. “I don’t know. All I do know is I can’t change the past.”

  His eyes blazed with heat as he dragged his finger down her throat and hooked his finger in her silver collar. “Your father is dead. There’s nothing standing in our way anymore. Let’s break our damned agreement.”

  Her heart thundered as he stood from the bed and, in all his naked glory, strode across the room to where his pants were draped over a chair. He dug through his pockets, coming back with a closed fist. After shifting her so that her legs hung over the side of the bed, he kneeled on the carpet and opened his palm, revealing their wedding bands. “I don’t want a divorce. I just want you. My wife. My submissive. Forever and ever, until death do us part.”

  Her hand itched to snatch the ring and place it on her finger. But he needed to know the risks in being with her. “Someone wants you dead because of me.”

  He shrugged as if it was nothing. “Let me worry about that.”

  “I went to my office earlier today, before I went to Asa’s,” she said quickly, so she wouldn’t chicken out. “Someone had broken in and left me another note.”

  His face went stony. “You lied to me?”

  “I didn’t want you to follow me there.” She slid off the mattress onto her knees in front of him. “I was going to get the black list and give it to Asa so that I could move on with my life. With you.”

  His expression softened. “What did the note say?”

  “Next time it will be Sawyer. The note was attached to a dead squirrel. Whoever is doing this isn’t going to hurt me.” She placed her hand over his heart. “But he will hurt you.”

  “I’m not going to let anyone keep me from you ever again,” he vowed, as if he could stop death from claiming him.

  “If we stay together, we’ll be risking your life.”

  His heart began to beat a bit faster underneath her palm. “Love is always a risk. But we’ll find out who’s behind the threats. And then it will just be you and me with no more lies between us.”

  She wanted to believe it was possible more than anything. “If you died because of me, I would never forgive myself.”

  He covered her hand with his, trapping it against his chest. “I understand what that feels like. I’ve blamed myself for my parents’ deaths for years. But you were the one who allowed me to see that I could have done everything differently and the outcome would have been the same. We can’t predict when I’m going to die. There are some things even a Dominant like me can’t control. If it’s my time, then I’m going to go—whether it’s because some nutcase cuts the brakes on my car or I get hit by a bus walking across the street. I choose to live each day to the fullest. And that means living it with you. I choose you. What are you going to choose?”

  She realized then there had never been any choice to make. She’d known from the moment he’d breezed back into her life that she belonged to him.

  She unfolded his fingers from his closed hand and took the rings from his palm. With shaky but eager hands, she slipped his ring onto his fourth finger and then happily adorned her own finger with the symbol of their eternal love. “I choose a life where I finally get to be the real Annaliese. I choose you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  EVEN THOUGH SHE was asleep, she sensed that someone was watching her. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in Sawyer’s arms after consummating their vow to remain married. The details of where they’d live and how they’d keep her picture out of the press hadn’t been discussed, but it didn’t matter. She trusted they’d figure it out.

  Warm breath that smelled of oranges and vodka blew across her face. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”

  She shot up, holding the sheet against her chest to cover herself.

  Crouching by her side of the bed was a pleased-looking Oz. “No need to be modest. We’re all friends here. If you want, I’d be happy to lose my clothes, too.”

  “Get out, Oz, and let us sleep,” mumbled Sawyer, not opening his eyes.

  Oz chuckled as he stood. “No can do. We need to have a chat. I wouldn’t have broken into your suite if it wasn’t important. The guys are waiting in the other room.”

  Sawyer rolled over, opening his eyes. “Fuck. Give us five minutes.”

  Oz was still chuckling as he closed the door behind him.

  She got out of bed and started to dress. “He broke in? Why didn’t he just call?”

  Sawyer shook his head, his lips slightly tipped up in amusement. “That’s Oz. Hell, that’s all three of them. They have their own way of doing things. I’ve gotten used to it over the years.”

  He was
lucky to have them.

  Envy warmed her heart. “They really care about you.”

  He stepped into his boxers, sadly covering up that part of him she was hoping to see again soon. “We care about each other. And that includes you now. Are you good with that?”

  “What does that mean exactly?”

  He stopped dressing and faced her. “It means that if anything happened to me, they’d take care of you.”

  “How?” she asked, not wanting to think of a world in which he wasn’t with her.

  “Financially, emotionally, physically—”

  “Sexually?”

  He tilted his head to the side, his eyes sparkling. “If you required some sexual healing, I’m sure they’d be happy to help. But it’s not about the sex. There’s a bond between us, something unique that can never be broken.” He strode to her and snaked his arms around her waist. “You’re part of that bond now. That’s one of the reasons I flew them out here yesterday.”

  “What if I didn’t want to be part of that bond? What if I didn’t want you to share me with them?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “Then I wouldn’t.”

  “Would you . . . have sex with their women?”

  “Currently, none of them are seeing anyone, so it’s a moot point, but if they were, I wouldn’t do anything you weren’t comfortable with.”

  Comfortable? That wasn’t the word she’d use right now, since the last thing she felt was comfortable. All this talk about sex with other people had made her slick between her legs. And she’d bet anything that Sawyer knew it. “You didn’t tell me all this five years ago.”

  “I wasn’t sure you’d accept that part of me.” He stepped in closer to her, letting her feel the erection he was sporting. Good to know this conversation was affecting them both. “Now, I know how important it is for us to be honest with one another. Role play, BDSM, group sex, it’s all just icing on that delicious cake, but I can live without all of it. What I can’t live without is you.”

  “You’re never going to have to worry about that, because I’m not going anywhere. But for the record, I liked last night and I wouldn’t mind it happening again someday.” She kissed him gently on the lips, quickly pulling away before she forgot they had people waiting for them in the next room.

  Not that those men were easily forgettable. She had a feeling they’d star in her midnight fantasies for years to come.

  She brushed her thumb over the cool metal of his wedding ring. “Are Rowan and Oz a thing?”

  The arch of his brow and the tug of his lips told her he knew exactly why she was asking. “Unless something has changed without my knowledge, I don’t think so. They’re both bisexual and pretty sexually adventurous. It’s just sex to them. Nothing more than scratching an itch. I’ve never seen them kiss each other or anything.”

  She let go of his hands and trailed a finger down his chest, lower and lower. “It was pretty hot when Rowan fucked Oz. Have you ever . . . ?”

  He snatched her hand before she could get to her destination. “Not my thing. But I wouldn’t say no if you wanted to fuck my ass with a strap-on one day.” He winked and pulled her toward the door, leaving her breathless with that sinful image in her mind. “Come on, let’s go see what they want, so we can go back to bed.”

  He led her to the suite’s main room, where she found the three men having breakfast. She waited for the embarrassment over last night to wash over her, but it never came. If anything, she was having a difficult time not picturing what they all looked like naked and how she could still feel them on and in her body.

  Hunter reclined on the couch, the huge man looking completely at home drinking a cup of coffee. She hadn’t gotten a good look at him or the others last night, even after they’d removed their black ski masks. She’d been too punch-drunk on sex. But today, with the hotel lights on and the sunlight filtering in through the blinds, she took her chance.

  Among the group of self-professed techies, the bald Hunter appeared most out of place, with a full sleeve of tattoos decorating both his arms and tongue, lip, and eyebrow piercings. He was so broad and muscular, she couldn’t help thinking of the Incredible Hulk.

  Then again, as her gaze bounced to the dreadlocked Oz, who was eating a chocolate chip cookie while sitting next to Hunter, she realized she wouldn’t exactly have pictured him as a computer genius either. Of course, like last night’s Byte me T-shirt, his There’s no place like 127.0.0.1 T-shirt today proved how looks could be deceiving.

  Rowan’s appearance surprised her the most. He could have been a model, with his wavy black hair and perfect bone structure. When his intense gray eyes fixed on her, she felt as though he could see straight into her soul.

  “About time,” he said, his tone admonishing. “I thought you two would never get up.”

  Sawyer stole a couple of pieces of buttered toast off the plate in front of Hunter and handed her one. “Why the hell are you guys up so early? It’s like five in the morning out west.”

  “Never went to sleep,” Hunter said in his rough voice. “We found something that needed to be discussed with both of you.”

  Her pulse kicked up a notch.

  Sawyer stopped mid-bite. “Did you locate Jeff Marshall?”

  “Yeah. He’s in jail for armed robbery,” Rowan said. “Been there for more than a week.”

  Sawyer nodded as if not surprised. “Then he’s not our guy. So what did you find?”

  The guys shared a look between them.

  Oz’s gaze went to her. “Maybe we should talk to Annaliese first—”

  “No,” she said firmly. “Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of Sawyer.”

  After exchanging another ominous look with his friends, Oz scratched his head. “When Sawyer first had us check you out, we must have missed it. How many bank accounts do you have?”

  She frowned, surprised by his question. “Two. A checking account and a savings account with about three grand. Why?”

  Hunter got up from the couch and walked over to her and Sawyer. “We found another savings account in the name of Annaliese Hunt.”

  Never in her life had she opened an account in her real name. “Couldn’t it be another Annaliese?”

  Hunter shook his head. “Your social security number is listed.”

  She’d never used it. “Maybe my parents set it up in my name to hide money and forgot to close it.”

  “I don’t think they would’ve forgotten about this account,” Oz said. “It’s got more than a million dollars in it.”

  The room went silent.

  Panic surged through her as she spun to Sawyer. What if he believed the money was hers? What if he thought she’d lied to him?

  She couldn’t lose him. Not now. Not ever. “It’s not mine. I swear. You believe me, don’t you?”

  She waited for him to say something. Do something.

  But he kept his gaze on the floor as if he hadn’t even heard her.

  It felt as if someone was crushing her heart. She couldn’t breathe, the ache in her chest making it too painful to inhale.

  All that talk about trust.

  Well, last night she’d proven she trusted him.

  Now it was his turn.

  “Sawyer?” she whispered, taking his hand and placing it over her throat and to her collar. “You believe me, right?”

  His gaze flew to hers, and he cupped her face in his hands. “I believe you.”

  Relieved, she sucked in a breath and threw her arms around her husband, the heavy weight on her chest gone.

  Still eating his cookie, Oz joined their side. “Good thing you do, because someone only wanted it to look like it was her account. It was only opened a couple weeks ago. Unless you hid your money under the mattress, there’s no way it could belong to you. We were very thorough in our investigation of you.”

  “I never thought I’d be saying I’m glad you checked me out before you came to see me,” she said to Sawyer. She turned to Oz. “So who opened the
account?”

  “We’re working on figuring that out,” Oz said. “It’s through one of those online banks, and so far, I haven’t been able to hack my way into their system to retrieve anything other than the account names and amounts.”

  “Can you do it?” she asked.

  “Of course. I’m Oz,” he said, as if that explained everything. “My computer is currently running a program to find the match for the password. That will be quicker than accessing the system’s back door and shouldn’t leave any trail, so we won’t have the Feds knocking down our door in the middle of the night.”

  Unlike the other two men, Rowan stayed across the room from them. “Any ideas as to why someone would put a million in an account in your real name?”

  There was only one thing that made sense.

  “Yes,” she said. “To break up my marriage to Sawyer.” She lowered her voice as she spoke to her husband. “If you believed I’d kept the money and that I’d been lying to you these past few days, you’d leave me.”

  His eyes grew sad. Sad for her. “There are only a few people who know who you really are, Annaliese. And since I know no one in this room is responsible, that only leaves—”

  “My brothers, Mitch and Asa.”

  Sawyer scowled. “I told you I didn’t trust Asa.”

  “It’s not him. He would never do this to me. He wants to see me happy,” she said, even though she was plagued with doubt. She wasn’t ready to accept that Asa might be lying to her. “But the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to Mitch. He was evil even as a child. He’s got to be behind everything.”

  “Why target me?” Sawyer asked.

  She didn’t know, but she had a guess. “You’re the one thing that means the most to me. He’s punishing me for leaving the family.”

  Still, it didn’t feel right to her. Why would he have vandalized her condo and left the squirrel for her? Why not just kill Sawyer?