War Of Hearts: A Wicked Hearts At War Book One

by Mallory Fox

  Seth, spooned in behind me, holding me tight like I might try to escape, grunts as I wiggle forward reaching for my phone. I feel him shift and he tugs my body backward, arms locking me in. Safe.

  But I’m wedged so tightly into his crotch that I can’t ignore the full extent of his erection poking me in the ass while holds me in his embrace.

  Damn, I’m horny now too.

  The very idea of Seth slipping inside me while we’re cocooned like this has a throb aching between my legs. I wriggle some more but he doesn’t move. His cock responds though, becoming rock hard, sticking right up against my butt cheeks.

  Is he even asleep?

  “Seth?”

  I guide my hand to his thigh and onto the soft material of his boxer shorts. The length of him sandwiched between us is too tempting not to stroke. He stiffens while I caress him some more.

  Damn.

  “Seth? Are you awake?”

  When he doesn’t answer, I slip my hand into the front my shorts and tease myself until I’m soaking wet and aching for him.

  “Seth, I need you,” I say into the darkness.

  As though answering my prayers, he mumbles and nuzzles the back of my neck. His hand slips into my shorts and his fingers entwine around my mine, replacing my strokes with his. I’m panting, making little noises while he circles my clit and then dips inside, finger fucking me. But it’s not enough.

  I need to be consumed with anything other than this heartbreaking pain. “Fuck me, Seth, please…”

  “You want me to fuck you?” he mumbles, still half asleep.

  “Yes…” I close my eyes, nodding against my pillow.

  He runs his lips over the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

  “How do you want me?” he whispers into my ear.

  “Deep,” I say, clenching my hands around the sheets. “I want to feel nothing but you.”

  Seth eases my shorts down and shrugs off his own, exposing my naked lower half to his raging hard on. He lifts my leg slightly while I angle myself. Kisses flutter and rain over the back of my neck, and he eases into my entrance ever so slowly.

  “Fuck, you’re tight. Is it okay, does it hurt?” his voice is full of honey, rich and thick at the base of my ear.

  “Deeper,” I say, with a tremble.

  He grunts and pushes further in while lifting my leg higher. I whimper as he keeps going, filling me up. The size of him is almost too much, stretching me until the only pain I feel is in my core and between my legs.

  Once completely in, he lowers my leg and brushes his hand under my pyjama top, cupping my breasts roughly with his hand, wrapping around to anchor himself in deeper. He thrusts again and I gasp and rock against him as he gets into rhythm. The feel of him inside me, stroking in and out, his hands under my pyjama vest tweaking my nipples until they’re raw and as erect as he is, has me moaning out loud.

  His hand slips over my mouth. “Shhhh, they’ll hear you.”

  Someone is talking outside my room.

  I don’t care. Let them hear.

  I bite on his finger, but he doesn’t move his hand.

  He nips my ear. “If you keep doing that, I’m going to have to punish you…”

  I shake my head and open my mouth to speak but his finger slips inside. I suck the length of it, making him moan instead.

  “Fuck, I’m not going to be able to hold back.” He pants. “I’m going to break you…” My belly tightens as draws his cock all the way out only to thrust the full length of it back inside me. He’s in so deep that I can’t help but cry out louder, the sound of it muffled under his palm.

  Eventually, the people outside move away. Seth wastes no time rolling me onto to my front, pulling my bottom higher and mounting me from behind. But deeper now. He fists my hair and pulls my head back and I twist up off the bed into some kind of yoga power move so I can meet his lips. He smells divine, like citrus and bergamot, and all the things that help me forget. The feel of him… sliding deep inside, his tongue locked with mine, his hands caressing every part of me, has my mind reeling and my body on the tip of ecstasy.

  How could I have waited so long for this?

  “Oh… I think I’m going to come…” I say, as he releases me from the kiss and waves of pleasure rush through me.

  “Wait,” he orders, and flips me over so I’m lying on my back with my arms held hostage above my head when he re-enters me. “I want to see your face when you come all over my cock.” The waves of pleasure have been building and building. I’m so close. I’m shaking all over. I look up at him, admiring for once just how he gorgeous is, how dark his blue eyes are filled with lust and something else, and how happy I am that he is all mine.

  “Christ, you’re so fucking beautiful,” he says as he takes me in.

  “Please don’t pull out. I want all of you. I want you to come inside me,” I say, flushing slightly.

  His eyes are shining and warm, melting me from the inside out. “You’re on the pill?”

  “Yes.”

  Then Seth claims my mouth with his. And everything…. the loss, the pain, even the shame. It all goes away the second his lips, teeth and tongue bruise mine into submission.

  Shivers explode over my entire body.

  Heat and warmth fill me up as I’m brought back to life.

  And my world shakes as I orgasm.

  “Fuck, I’m coming too,” he growls.

  I cry his name as he holds me down and fucks me over and over into some sort of oblivion. Until eventually he groans, and my core tightens as he empties himself inside of me with a shudder.

  Seconds, minutes, hours.

  I don’t know how long; we just lay there with him still sheathed inside me. But when we both rouse, he kisses me and I know he can taste the salt of my tears.

  As sleep takes us both, I wrap my arms and legs around him, holding on for dear life. Fearing for the first time in my life that if I let go, I’m going to regret it.

  * * *

  Dawn breaks and I’m restless. Seth is still snoring under the bedclothes, so I extract myself and put on a robe to go to bathroom, carrying my phone in my pocket. A million thoughts have been going through my head all night. When I emerge later, he’s awake, lying on top of the sheets in just his boxers, utterly relaxed and typing away on his phone.

  He glances up with the same adoring look he had for me last night, baby blues full of mirth, and I’m reminded again of why he’s one of the youngest eligible bachelors in the world. Dark hair, almost black and tousled from sleep, angular jaw, razor-sharp cheekbones, and body no schoolboy should have… it all takes my breath away.

  He’s devastatingly gorgeous in every sense.

  I’m also reminded why guys like him have the worst reputations.

  “Do you think they heard us?” I say, as I head to my dresser to start getting ready. Mostly because I can’t bear to be the only one looking like I got dragged through a hedge backwards.

  “Oh, they definitely heard,” he drawls. “Come here.” He opens one arm and beckons, so I skip the grooming session and move to the bed instead, climbing back under the covers and into his embrace.

  “What are we going to tell them?” I ask, biting my lower lip as I snuggle into him.

  “Tell who?” he says as he kisses me.

  I let him kiss me for about half a minute, but I can’t quite relax. Eventually, I break away and frown at him. “Your family. My family. The boards.”

  He strokes my bare shoulder with his finger. “Let’s just get it over with. It will be a shock, but there’s no way I’m giving you up now. Not for the fucking world.”

  A warmth hits my chest and teases a smile from my lips.

  “I thought you’d lose interest.”

  He props his head up by his elbow. “Now why would I do that?”

  I shoot him a playful look. “You have a certain reputation…”

  “I’m not the one they call heartbreaker.”

  “You know about that?”<
br />
  “Everyone fucking knows,” he snorts, but there’s affection in his eyes as he says it.

  In my robe pocket, my phone vibrates. It’s Sully returning my call. “I need to take this.”

  Seth nods and kisses my temple. I climb off the bed and escape to the landing to answer the phone.

  “Sully, did you locate the will?”

  “I did. Tell me you didn’t sign Seth’s deal, Pearl. We have a big problem if you did.”

  “What do you mean? Of course I signed it. You went through it with me.” Heat blooms in my cheeks. “If you’re talking about the virginity clause, that’s not an issue.”

  Not any more.

  He sighs. “I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about your father’s will.”

  “What about it?’ I snap.

  “Seth is named as joint heir.”

  All of a sudden, I feel dizzy. My skin too tight.

  “Wh… what...?” I finally manage to say.

  “Pearl, I found your father’s will. He’s named your stepbrother as joint heir.”

  I’m not really listening as Sully talks me through the ramifications of Seth’s deal now that my father and Nicole are six feet under, and he’s set to inherit half of everything. I’m staring at the patterns on the wallpaper while my whole world falls apart.

  Half! How could I have been so stupid? Of course Nicole would have persuaded my dad to add Seth to the will. And with the fifteen percent I now owe him, the bastard will one day have controlling share.

  Sully’s voice comes back into focus. “… without a solid CEO at the helm of Darlington, the board and major stakeholders are reconsidering Montford’s offer of a merger.”

  “A merger? And if it goes through?” I say, squeezing my eyes shut.

  “Montford International dissolving, Seth included in your father’s will, and the transfer of shares to him through your deal… It means you lose everything to him.”

  * * *

  I return to my room and close the door. My mouth falls open when I see Seth mostly naked. His body is a glorious thing to behold with a tattoo that stretches around to his spine. Up his shoulder and down one sleeve, is a beautiful ink drawing of Japanese koi, flowers, geishas and Hokusai-inspired waves. How have I never noticed that before?

  The urge to trace my fingers over the lines of it surfaces, but I push it down. If I’ve learned anything throughout this whole fucked up game of hot and cold, is that Seth Montford was never mine.

  Let some other girl trace her finger over his tattoo and swoon. I’m done.

  Not quite knowing where to look, I end up capturing his blue eyes with mine as he turns around. I don’t know how to say it, so I just come out with it.

  “Did you know about the merger and my father’s will?” I say, balling my hands into fists to keep myself from screaming. Keep calm, Pearl. Just keep calm.

  He tilts his head, eyes sharp. “None of that matters anymore. The merger’s fallen through.”

  My head shakes. “The board have reopened talks with your grandfather.”

  He frowns. “Are you sure?”

  “Am I sure? Your lawyers have kindly asked my lawyer if I’ll allow myself to be examined at a private clinic to verify that I’m no longer a virgin. They know we slept together last night, and I’d like to know how they know. Who the fuck did you tell, Seth?” My voice is a pitch higher than I would like but I don’t care.

  “Shit.” He sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “I promise you. I didn’t tell anyone.”

  “As if I believe that.” Pain flashes in my palms as I dig my nails into them. “You’ve well and truly played me, haven’t you?” I say with a snort.

  “In the beginning that was true, yes…” He rubs the back of his neck, not quite saying what I need him to.

  “And now?” His jaw tightens but he doesn’t answer.

  I unclench my fists and look away. I can’t look at him so I look out the window at the birds flying and neither of us say anything for the longest time.

  Eventually, my eyes find their way back to him. Should I be crushed to see there’s a hard edge to him all over again, like last night never happened? I can’t tell yet. I’ve no idea what I should be feeling anymore. “I can’t believe I trusted you. Is this the last part of my punishment? Is this regret?”

  “Babe, if you have regrets about last night…”

  My vision blurs and the pain in my throat threatens to choke me. “Oh, I have regrets. I regret everything. I regret meeting you. I regret listening to your fucking lies. I regret ever letting you touch me.”

  He regards me with calculating eyes, shutting me out. “A tad dramatic, don’t you think?” He’s putting up walls. Well, fuck him, two can play at that game.

  “Dramatic? You’re calling me dramatic after you stole my bloody company?” I shout at him. A small part of me is aware how much I’m actually losing it right now.

  “Not true. You and I inherit equally. I just have controlling stock.”

  I pick up the ceramic unicorn my mother bought me and fling it at his head. He ducks and it splinters against wall. “Get the fuck out.”

  He shakes his head, scoops up his shirt and jacket, and pulls an envelope out of his jacket pocket. He drops it on the table next to me. It has my father’s handwriting on the front. “I was planning on giving it to the executer of your father’s estate, Sullivan, at the funeral but then you showed up and it slipped my mind.”

  Then he’s gone.

  After a while, I open the paper inside and read it with shaking hands.

  The will was changed the day my father married Nicole, which means Seth knew as early as the wedding day that he was getting half of everything. Although he could have known well before.

  I need to get dressed. I’m still wearing my Care Bear heart pyjamas from before, when we were tangled up on the bed. My bed where he ran his hands through my hair as he kissed me. If I try hard enough, I can still taste him, smell him on my skin, feel him taking me away from everything.

  And it truly hurts.

  All I want to do shower and wash the feel of him off of me, but I’ve been ordered not to.

  My phone pings, and on the screen is a message from Sully.

  Part three, section five. That will get you clear.

  It takes me a while to dig out a copy of the contract on my phone. I scan through until I find the section Sully is referring to. There’s a lot of lawyer speak but I get the gist and it’s fucking brutal.

  It will ruin Seth, and maybe ruin me in the process.

  But it’s the only way to save my company.

  It’s the only way back from this.

  Chapter 19

  Seth

  The Pearl I knew is gone and in her place is the cold-hearted bitch everyone warned me about. I’m ready for her when I walk through the door of the Kensington apartment. I’m going to apologize, and I’ll tear up the contract in front of her, if that’s what it takes to get her to forgive me. In my pocket is my mother’s ring. It’s what I should have brought out when I left… not the will. She pissed me off when she said she regretted everything. And fuck, after that I just wanted to hurt her.

  What the hell was I thinking?

  Pearl shifts from foot to foot, not quite meeting my eyes. I glance down the hallway and see her lawyer standing in the kitchen with his arms folded. What the hell is going on?

  “What’s going on, Pearl?”

  Her eyes are dead, lifeless. “I went to your clinic.”

  “You didn’t have to—”

  “They verified what you did to me and I have the DNA evidence to prove it.”

  I’m immediately on edge. My gut is telling me this is all wrong. Why the hell is that lawyer here? And why won’t she look at me?

  When she messaged to say she wanted to meet here at this time, I assumed it was to talk through us. I shove my hands in my pockets and give her my full attention. She looks adorable in leggings and a hoodie, and even more fuckable. Aft
er everything, I still fancy the hell out of her.

  “Pearl, will you look at me?” When she doesn’t answer, I reach into my inside pocket and pull out my copy of her signed contract and hold it up so she can see it. Then I rip it up and let the pieces fall at her feet.

  “There. Can we fucking sort this out now?”

  Her lashes flutter. She looks up, meeting my eyes for the first time and the intensity of it shoots right into my chest.

  Ripping my fucking heart out.

  There’s a heavy knock at the door and someone announces from the other side that the police are here.

  “I’m sorry.” Her words aren’t quite what I was expecting.

  Epilogue

  Pearl

  I’ll never trust anyone again.

  His words or mine? I forget.

  Does it even matter?

  The plain clothes officers surrounding him create a barrier, dividing us with a wall of awkward silence so thick it reeks of broken promises and bad karma. I promised him nothing, I owe him nothing. So why does it fucking hurt?

  The dull but growing ache has penetrated the hole where my heart was. And it won’t stop throbbing, especially when he looks at me.

  And the way he looks at me, it’s like I’m nothing to him anymore.

  I deserve that look.

  My explanation for ‘why’ is stuck at the back of my throat, strangled, unable to come out. And there’s a dull, thick pain where my vocal cords should be.

  Breathe.

  I suck down air, straight into my chest. My eyes blur and something wet stings my eyes. I close them, making my cheeks equally wet as the tears run down. I never cry. Why the fuck am I crying?

  Pearl, you need to grow up.

  Reap what you sow.

  “You’re not even going to watch?”

  Venom filled words rip right through my soul. I tear my eyes open. His once angelic face being the first thing I see and the last thing I ever want to. There’s a hardness in his gaze I’ve not seen. A coldness that wasn’t there before. A darkness…