The lobby cameras had gone dark for exactly thirty minutes the night before we went to check on her.Just enough time for someone to make a woman disappear.
Teo’s tearing his hair out trying to retrieve that missing half hour of footage.Luc combed through her client list and found jack shit.We’re chasing shadows.And in the silence between clues, all I can hear is the echo of that warning.
‘…before something precious is taken from you.’
I lock the front door behind me and double-check the alarm.I take no chances, not with her under this roof.Then I stride toward the bedroom.Ourbedroom, where my flower is sleeping.I can’t describe the feeling that surges through me, all I know is that it is raw and burning, like a visceral hunger only she can alleviate.
I have been keeping my distance for the last few days.She needed space, so I gave her space.But fuck, it was killing me not to see her or touch her every second of every hour.She is in danger, being near me.But I can’t fucking let her go.Selfishly, I want her.No, Ineedher.
So I keep her, even if it means I can have her only during the hours of the night where we stay hidden in the shadows.
I pause at the bedroom door, taking in the room.Her sleeping form is ethereal under the moonlight seeping in through the windows.Her skin is milky pale, her hair a dark halo on the pillow.She is a heavy sleeper and never hears me when I sneak into the room in the middle of the night.She never wakes either when I get up in the early morning to head to the home gym and get ready for the day.
I strip and step into the shower, washing off the day—the rage, the tension, the failure.Steam coils around me, scalding and unforgiving, but it doesn’t burn half as much as the ache clawing at my chest.When I slide under the sheets, my skin still damp, I am already hard from the scent of her—faint shampoo, her body wash, something that is entirely her.As if on instinct, her small body moves closer to mine and I let out a groan when her thigh grazes my hardening cock.I pull her against me, her back nestled to my front, and brush her hair gently from her neck, baring the curve of her throat.Then I press my mouth there, leaving open-mouthed, hot kisses, grazing her delicate skin with my tongue and lips and a hunger I can’t contain.I taste her, dragging my mouth slowly along her skin, and she moans softly in her sleep, the sound wrecking me more than anything else in this fucked-up world.Even in sleep she is so responsive to me, as if every fiber of our beings is attuned to each other.God, her scent.Her warmth.She undoes me without even waking.
I let my hand glide south over her tank top to her panties, and softly caress her pussy through the fabric until I feel her wetness seep through to my fingers.My heart hammers in my chest.I want to rip the damn clothes off of her and pound into her like a savage.But I force myself to take things slow.I slide my other hand under her top to caress her tits.Her nipples are hard pebbles under my fingers and she moans again, writhing under my touch.
She begins to rouse.“Dark?”Her sleepy murmur makes every cell of my body vibrate with the need to possess her.I undress her, all but tearing the clothes off of her.When she is bared to me like the most precious of offerings, I trail kisses down her body until I am hovering over her pussy.I can smell her arousal.
Fuck.I will die if I don’t taste her.Now.
I part her lips with my fingers and begin to gently circle her clit with my tongue.Her moans are hoarse and her hands grip my hair almost painfully.That is all I need as encouragement so I feast on her, making her squirm and moan.I alternate soft laps of my tongue with hungry sucks and nips and soft blows.
“Oh God, Dark.”
I suck her clit and her moans grow more urgent.I know she is close.I slip two fingers inside her, matching the rhythm of the movements to the licks of my tongue.Her pussy starts to pulse around my fingers so I graze my teeth over her clit and she explodes.I hold her by her thighs and keep eating her pussy like a starved man until her cries become pants and she begs me to stop.
I move up the bed and crush my lips against hers until she submits and lets me in.I dart my tongue into her mouth and let her taste her arousal.She kisses me back hungrily, tangling her tongue with mine until I can’t take it anymore.I push her thighs apart and position myself at her entrance and I slam into her in a single forceful thrust.
“Fuck, so wet.So tight.”I draw almost all the way out and slam back in, groaning from the sensation of her pussy gripping my cock.Her head is thrown back and I fist her hair to keep her there while I suck and nibble on her throat.Her hoarse whimpers and moans are music to my ear.My thrusts become erratic.I am overcome with the need to fill her, to pump her full of my cum and claim her as mine for the world to see.She is gripping my biceps and her nails dig into my skin.I am about to come.My spine tingles and my balls are drawn tight.I skim my hand over her down to her pussy and stroke her, desperate for her to come again.
“Come for me, love,” I all but beg.And she does.Her pussy convulses around my cock and she screams my name, sending me right over the edge with her.I slam in as deep as I can with a guttural growl and my cum shoots into her in hot spurts.
When our breathing has slowed and our heart rates are less erratic, I stand up and get a damp washcloth to clean her.Then I scoop her up into my arms so she is flush against me and kiss her temple.“Sleep now, little flower.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lily
Damiano is driving us to his family’s estate.
The car ride is quiet…too quiet.His jaw is tight as he stares out at the road, one hand gripping the wheel, the other clenched on the gear shift like it’s the sole thing anchoring him.The tension between us is thick enough to cut with a knife.
I steal a glance at him, but his expression is unreadable.Distant, distracted.
He’s been like this for days, vanishing for long hours, returning late, barely speaking.I should be used to the walls he builds, but tonight they feel colder than usual.
I keep my hands folded in my lap, pretending I’m not unraveling inside.
Then, out of nowhere, he breaks the silence.“You’ll pose as my fiancée.”
I blink.“What?”
He doesn’t look at me.“You’ll pretend we’re engaged in front of my mother.”The words are cold, calculated.Like it’s a business arrangement and I’m merely another pawn on his chessboard.
My stomach twists.“Wait,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady.“You want me tolieto your mother?”
His silence is answer enough.A horrible thought begins to settle in my gut, icy and sharp.
